Geelong community\u27s priorities and expectations of public health care

Abstract This thesis set out to achieve the following objectives: (1) To identify the priorities and expectations that the Geelong community has of its public health care system. (2) To determine if there is a common view on the attributes of a just health system. (3) To consider a method of utilising the data in the determination of health care priority setting in Barwon Health. (4) To determine a model of community participation which enables ongoing input into the decision making processes of Barwon Health. The methodology involved a combination of qualitative and quantitative research. The qualitative work involved the use of focus groups that were conducted with 64 members of the Geelong community. The issues raised informed the development of the interview schedule that was the basis of the quantitative study, which surveyed a representative sample of 400 members of the Geelong community. Prior to reporting on this work, the areas of distributive justice, scarcity and community participation in health care were considered. The research found that timely access to public hospitals, emergency care and aged care services were the major priorities; for many people, the cost was less relevant than a quality service. Shorter waiting times and increased staffing levels were strongly supported. Increased taxes were nominated as the best means of financing the health system they sought. Community based services were less relevant than hospital services but health education was supported. An egalitarian approach to resource distribution was favoured although the community was prepared to discriminate in favour of younger people and against older people. There was strong support for the community to be involved in decision making in the public health care system through surveys or focus groups but very little support was given to priorities being determined by politicians, administrators and to a lesser extent, medical professionals

Duration discrimination in younger and older adults

Ten normal hearing young adults and ten older adults were asked to identify the longer of two sequentially presented tones. The duration of the standard tones ranged from 1.5 ms to 1000 ms across blocks. Duration discrimination was not related to audiometric thresholds. These results show that older adults are much more disadvantaged than young adults when discriminating very short durations (i.e., below 40 ms) that are characteristic of speech sounds, and that this disadvantage cannot be accounted for by hearing levels

Optimum linear and adaptive polynomial smoothers

The design of optimum polynomial digital data smoothers (filters) is considered for linear and adaptive processing systems. It is shown that a significant improvement in performance can be obtained by using linear smoothers that take into account known a priori constraints or distributions of the input signal. The procedure for designing optimum (minimum mean square error) adaptive polynomial data smoothers is then discussed and analyzed. The optimum smoother makes use of a priori signal statistics combined with an adaptive Bayesian weighting of a bank of conditionally optimum smoothers. Use of this technique permits large improvements in performance with a minimum of additonal system complexity

The Role of Inflation and Price Escalation Adjustments in Properly Estimating Program Costs: F-35 Case Study

Naval Postgraduate School Acquisition Research Progra

Small Fast Spectrum Reactor Designs Suitable for Direct Nuclear Thermal Propulsion

Advancement of U.S. scientific, security, and economic interests through a robust space exploration program requires high performance propulsion systems to support a variety of robotic and crewed missions beyond low Earth orbit. Past studies, in particular those in support of the Space Exploration Initiative (SEI), have shown nuclear thermal propulsion systems provide superior performance for high mass high propulsive delta-V missions. The recent NASA Design Reference Architecture (DRA) 5.0 Study re-examined mission, payload, and transportation system requirements for a human Mars landing mission in the post-2030 timeframe. Nuclear thermal propulsion was again identified as the preferred in-space transportation system. A common nuclear thermal propulsion stage with three 25,000-lbf thrust engines was used for all primary mission maneuvers. Moderately lower thrust engines may also have important roles. In particular, lower thrust engine designs demonstrating the critical technologies that are directly extensible to other thrust levels are attractive from a ground testing perspective. An extensive nuclear thermal rocket technology development effort was conducted from 1955-1973 under the Rover/NERVA Program. Both graphite and refractory metal alloy fuel types were pursued. Reactors and engines employing graphite based fuels were designed, built and ground tested. A number of fast spectrum reactor and engine designs employing refractory metal alloy fuel types were proposed and designed, but none were built. The Small Nuclear Rocket Engine (SNRE) was the last engine design studied by the Los Alamos National Laboratory during the program. At the time, this engine was a state-of-the-art graphite based fuel design incorporating lessons learned from the very successful technology development program. The SNRE was a nominal 16,000-lbf thrust engine originally intended for unmanned applications with relatively short engine operations and the engine and stage design were constrained to fit within the payload volume of the then planned space shuttle. The SNRE core design utilized hexagonal fuel elements and hexagonal structural support elements. The total number of elements can be varied to achieve engine designs of higher or lower thrust levels. Some variation in the ratio of fuel elements to structural elements is also possible. Options for SNRE-based engine designs in the 25,000-lbf thrust range were described in a recent (2010) Joint Propulsion Conference paper. The reported designs met or exceeded the performance characteristics baselined in the DRA 5.0 Study. Lower thrust SNRE-based designs were also described in a recent (2011) Joint Propulsion Conference paper. Recent activities have included parallel evaluation and design efforts on fast spectrum engines employing refractory metal alloy fuels. These efforts include evaluation of both heritage designs from the Argonne National Laboratory (ANL) and General Electric Company GE-710 Programs as well as more recent designs. Results are presented for a number of not-yet optimized fast spectrum engine options

DESIGN AND ANALYSIS OF BIOLOGICAL ASSAYS OF MIXTURES

The simultaneous activity of multiple stimuli can be difficult to analyze, particularly on biological systems. However, these analyses are becoming increasingly important in drug or pesticide formulation for efficacy. This article will review techniques for the design and analysis of bioassays of mixtures. The two major techniques that will be reviewed are based upon the concepts of response and potency. Particular emphasis will be placed upon measuring levels of synergy, i.e., when the activity is greater than the sum of its parts, and antagonism, i.e., when the activity is less than would be expected. Theoretical examples will be given to demonstrate the application of each technique. The method based on potency was used in the design and analysis of Dr. Gregory Armel’s study of the differential response of atrazine mixtures with bleaching herbicides that target different sites in carotenoid biosynthesis. Examples from this mixture study are presented

Loyalty to the profession? A study of Australian financial planners

The purpose of this paper is to examine the demographic variables of age and gender in conjunction with three independent variables: Internal versus external locus of control personality dimension, individualist versus collectivist personality dimension, and perceived environmental uncertainty and to relate same to the professional commitment (PC) of financial planners in Australia. A questionnaire was used to survey a sample of 312 financial planners nationally, with a 36% response rate and statistically significant results. At the 90% confidence level (p=0.10) respondents over the age of 35 demonstrated no difference between their levels of professional commitment than did those under the age of 35, while at the same level of confidence, females demonstrated a statistically significant higher level of PC than did their male counterparts. Respondents with an external locus of control displayed lower levels of PC (p=0.10) that those with an internal locus of control. These findings contribute to our understanding of the professional commitment of financial planners, and are important from a public policy perspective in an era of increasing attention to, and likely increased regulation of, the financial planning industry.<br /