Trials and tribulations in the removal of dextropropoxyphene from the Australian register of therapeutic goods

The Therapeutic Goods Administration determined in November 2011 that dextropropoxyphene should be removed from the Australian Register of Therapeutic Goods. This is consistent with this drug's removal from the market in many other developed countries. H

Establishing Religious Freedom: Jefferson\u27s Statute in Virginia

https://digitalcommons.lmu.edu/facultypubnight/1029/thumbnail.jp

The Edges of Areal Units: a case study in the heterogeneous effects of assessment district edges

Dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Degree of Master of Science in Geospatial TechnologiesAreal units are used in a broad range of demographic and physical description and analysis related to surveying, reporting, navigation, and modeling. In The Modifiable Areal Unit Problem, Openshaw (1983) described how the arbitrariness of an areal unit’s boundaries means that any measurement aggregated to it is to some extent arbitrary as well. Therefore, those who survey, model, and report information based on these units must be aware of their shortcomings as models for describing phenomena that they aggregate. Here we propose to test an aspect of the Modifiable Areal Unit Problem, namely that the boundaries used by an application of modeling with areal units are not homogeneous in their relationship to the phenomena that they model. That is, here we focus on the general problem that the boundaries of a set of areal units aren’t entirelyarbitrary. Boundaries for these areal units specifically—and many others generally—are along physical and social features of the environment, which may have an internal effect on the phenomenathat they describe as homogenous in the aggregate. In this thesis, we use real estate sales data and assessor’s neighborhood boundaries to develop a method for describing differences in the effect of the boundaries of areal units. It is hoped that the methods developed here could be applied to the analysisof other urban phenomena that are restricted, afforded, described, and modeled by boundaries

Psychological Sense of Community Among Older Adults in Puerto Rico Two Years After Hurricane María

Hurricane María devastated Puerto Rico in 2017 and resulted in adverse long-term outcomes. Psychological sense of community (PSOC) may serve as a protective factor against the effects of Hurricane María for older adults in Puerto Rico. Using a three-paper format, this dissertation draws on a resilience framework and theories of PSOC and the Ecological Theory of Aging to examine the role of PSOC among older adults in Puerto Rico two years after Hurricane María. Paper one is a scoping review of the concept of PSOC in research with community dwelling older adults. I begin by presenting findings on study characteristics and conceptualization and operationalization of PSOC in the final sample of 33 articles. I then use deductive thematic analysis to explore topical research areas. These themes were (1) built environment and neighborhoods; (2) social participation and connection; (3) civic participation; (4) PSOC as a protective factor; (5) health and well-being; (6) relocation; and (7) scale development. PSOC was a consistent predictor of health and well-being for older adults and served as a mechanism to link neighborhood or environmental characteristics with health and well-being. I present relevance to theory, policy and practice, and suggestions for future directions of research. Papers two and three used data from a cross-sectional study of 154 older adults in Puerto Rico two years after Hurricane María. Paper two presents psychometric testing of the Brief Sense of Community Scale (BSCS), which is a popular measure of PSOC but has yet to be tested with older adults. The BSCS showed good internal consistency reliability (α = .85) and was correlated in expected directions with measures of social network size (r = .34, p \u3c .001) and loneliness (r = -.27, p \u3c .001). Confirmatory factor analysis results showed a higher-order four-factor model was the best fit (χ2 (16) = 20.78, p = .187; CFI = .997, TLI = .995, SRMR = .026, RMSEA= .044, 90% CI [\u3c .001, .092]). Paper three used two hierarchical linear regression models to examine the association of PSOC with self-rated health (SRH) and quality of life (QOL), while accounting for relevant risk factors and covariates. Higher levels of PSOC was associated with better SRH (B = 0.03, p = .04) and higher QOL (B = 0.26, p \u3c .001). This dissertation provides evidence of the importance of PSOC for health and well-being for older adults in general, and in Puerto Rico following María. The BSCS is a valid and reliable measure of PSOC for this population and should be used in research and clinical practice settings. I present strategies for building and maintaining PSOC in a culturally relevant framework for older adults in Puerto Rico. Findings may also be relevant to other areas that experience natural disasters and population aging

Insider Guaranties: Their Effect on the Bankruptcy Preference Reach Back Period and Possible Use in Getting an Ordinary Course Exception Avoidance

In 1990 the Sixth Circuit decided two bankrupcty preference cases, Ray v. City Bank & Trust Co. (In re C-L Cartage Co.) ( Cartage ) and Gosch v. Burns (In re Finn) ( Finn ), that will have important consequences in the administration of bankruptcy proceedings and will also influence the way lenders and borrowers do business with each other in the future, whether or not a bankruptcy ever ensues. This article first describes briefly the mechanics of preference law and the application of it in Cartage and Finn. The article then focuses primarily on the Cartage decision, because the analytic approach taken by the court in Cartage has implications for other preference issues. Finally, the article suggests what lenders can do to lessen the impact of Cartage

The Use of Ohio\u27s Preference Law in Bankruptcy: An Alternative to Section 547 with a Longer Reach-Back Period

Ohio is one of the few states with a preference law of general application among its debtor-creditor statutes. Ohio Revised Code sections 1313.56 and 1313.57 give creditors an avoidance power similar to a bankruptcy trustee\u27s avoidance power under federal bankruptcy law. While this article compares the federal and state preference rules, evaluating the pratical significance of the differences between them, the relative strength of the two laws is less important than the fact that the bankruptcy trustee can choose whichever of the two laws is more effective with respect to any given prebankruptcy transaction. Thus, both laws might be applied in the same case, each to a separate transfer. Therefore, the real test of the importance of the Ohio preference law will have to be made in the courts when and if trustees begin to exercise this neglected avoidance power. This article may stimulate that process