Enhancing Value in Medicare: Demonstrations and Other Initiatives to Improve the Program

Examines Medicare's efforts to be more proactive in the purchase of appropriate, high-quality, and efficient health care for its beneficiaries, and provides an overview of Medicare pilot programs and initiatives in chronic care and provider performance

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Short public scholarship piece about targeted violence, hate speech, and prememory

Two Contemporary Metaethical Schemes Considered

This thesis examines two of the more modern developments in the field of metaethics, expressivism and rational choice metaethics. Metaethics deals with a number of questions surrounding what we actually do when we engage in moral thought and speak in moral language. I approach the debate through the question of the objects of moral language. As metaethics has diversified away from straightforward moral realism, a number of candidates have been proposed as the actual referents of the moral terms we use. In expressivism, the object of moral language is taken to be certain nonpropositional attitudes held by the speaker of a morally tinged sentence. In rational choice metaethics, the object of moral language is taken to be choices made by agents, evaluated through the lens of rational choice theory. I examine expressivism and rational choice metaethics, concluding that both retain serious problems. For expressivism, I attempt to defend against a serious semantic issue, the negation problem, proposing a solution based on what I call implicit planning. Ultimately, I find the negation problem cannot be evaded and that expressivism is therefore unworkable. For rational choice metaethics, I show that its creator, David Gauthier, does not believe that the view can support some of our moral intuitions, even though all of them are meant to be derivable from its starting principles. For this reason, I find rational choice metaethics also unsuccessful

Hadronic Phases and Isospin Amplitudes in D(B)→ππD(B) \to \pi \pi and D(B)→KKˉD(B) \to K \bar K Decays

Hadronic phase in $\pi \pi$ and $K \bar K$ channels are calculated a la Regge. At the D mass one finds $\delta_{\pi \pi} \approx \pi/3$ and $\delta_{K \bar K} \approx -\pi/6$ in good agreement with the CLEO data while at the B mass these angles are predicted to be, respectively, $11^\circ$ and $-7^\circ$. With the hadronic phase $e^{i \delta_{K \bar K}}$ taken into account, a quark diagram decomposition of the isospin invariant amplitudes in $D \to K \bar K$ decays fits the data provided the exchange diagram contribution is about 1/3 of the tree level one.Comment: 10pages,late

Final State Interaction Phases in B→Kπ B \to K \pi Decay Amplitudes

A simple Regge pole model for $K\pi$ scattering explains the large $e^{i \delta}$ between isospin amplitudes which is observed at the D meson mass ($\delta \approx \pi/2$). It predicts $\delta \approx 14^{\circ}- 20^{\circ}$ at the B mass. Implications for ($B \to K \pi$) decays and extensions of the model to other two-body decay channels are briefly discussed.Comment: 8pages,late

Vacuum polarization induced by a uniformly accelerated charge

We consider a point charge fixed in the Rindler coordinates which describe a uniformly accelerated frame. We determine an integral expression of the induced charge density due to the vacuum polarization at the first order in the fine structure constant. In the case where the acceleration is weak, we give explicitly the induced electrostatic potential.Comment: 13 pages, latex, no figures, to appear in Int. J. Theor. Phys

Completing the puzzle of the 2004-2005 outburst in V0332+53: The brightening phase included

Analysis of the data obtained with the RXTE observatory during a powerful outburst of the X-ray pulsar V0332+53 in 2004-2005 is presented. Observational data covering the outburst brightening phase are analysed in detail for the first time. A comparison of source parameters and their evolution during the brightening and fading phases shows no evidence for any hysteretic behaviour. It is found that the dependences of the energy of the cyclotron absorption line on the luminosity during the brightening and fading phases are almost identical. The complete data sequence including the outburst brightening and fading phases makes it possible to impose the more stringent constraints on the magnetic field in the source. The pulse profile and pulsed fraction are studied as functions of the luminosity and photon energy. © 2009 RAS

Characterization of INO80 Chromatin-Remodeling Activity During Germ Cell Development

The ability to faithfully transmit genetic information across generations via the germ cells is a critical aspect of mammalian reproduction. The process of germ cell development requires a number of large-scale chromatin modifications within the nucleus. One such occasion arises during meiotic recombination, when hundreds of DNA double-strand breaks are induced and subsequently repaired, enabling the transfer of genetic information between homologous chromosomes. The inability to properly repair DNA damage is known to lead to an arrest in the developing germ cells and sterility within the animal. Chromatin-remodeling activity, and in particular the BRG1 subunit of the SWI/SNF complex, has been shown to be required for successful completion of meiosis. In contrast, remodeling complexes of the ISWI and CHD families are required for post-meiotic processes. Little is known regarding the contribution of the INO80 family of chromatin-remodeling complexes, which is a particularly interesting candidate due to its well-described functions during DNA double-strand break repair. Here we show that INO80 is expressed in developing spermatocytes during the early stages of meiotic prophase I. Based on this information, we used a conditional allele to delete the INO80 core ATPase subunit, thereby eliminating INO80 chromatin-remodeling activity in this lineage. The loss of INO80 resulted in sterility of the animal due to the failure to repair DNA damage during meiotic recombination. Specifically, we observed a disruption in the Fanconi Anemia repair pathway, where early elements of the pathway were present on the chromosomal axes while BRCA1 remained absent. From these observations, we propose a model where INO80 activity is required to prepare the chromatin landscape local to the break site, creating the physical space necessary for the localization of downstream DNA repair proteins. In conclusion, this work provides deeper insight in to the critical nature of chromatin-remodeling activity for spermatogenesis, particularly during meiotic recombination, and a foundation for future studies into the genomic functions of the INO80 complex.Doctor of Philosoph