Problems in the Reform of Educational Finance: A Case Study

Educational finance reform proposals emphasize too heavily features of desirable financing systems, and underplay the significant constraints facing any reform proposal. Persons interested in finance reform should pay more attention to factors affecting both adoption and implementation, including limits on decision makers' time, attention, and understanding; the difficulty of integrating all relevant considerations; political limitations; and problems of implementation. We illustrate these constraints and their implications for finance reform through a case study of a Canadian province. Les projets de réforme des finances en matière d'éducation insistent trop sur les caractéristiques des systèmes de financement souhaités et minimisent les con- traintes importantes auxquelles est soumis tout projet de réforme. Les personnes qui s'intéressent à cette question devraient davantage prendre en compte les facteurs ayant une incidence sur l'adoption et l'implantation d'une réforme, y compris les contraintes de temps et les connaissances limitées des décideurs, la difficulté d'intégrer toutes les considérations pertinentes, les contraintes politiques et les problèmes liés à la mise en oeuvre d'une réforme. Nous illustrons ces contraintes et leurs répercussions sur les réformes des finances à l'aide d'une étude de cas tirée d'une province canadienne.

3D Security, 3Dsec: Trustworthy System Security through 3D Integrated Hardware [poster]

Poster, Wednesday Poster Session, NSF Secure and Trustworthy Cyberspace (SaTC) Principal Investigators Meeting, National Harbor, MD, 28 November 2012. [Poster] [Meeting] [Final Report]This project is investigating a novel approach to trustworthy system development based on 3D integration, an emerging chip fabrication technique in which two or more integrated circuit dies are combined into a single stack using vertical conductive posts. Since the dies may be manufactured separately, 3D circuit integration offers the option of enhancing a commodity processor with a variety of custom security functions, which are manufacturing options applicable only to those systems that require them. This research introduces a fundamentally new method to incorporate security mechanisms into hardware and has the potential to significantly shift the economics of trustworthy systems

Managing Costs and Variability of Security Services

Approved for public release; distribution is unlimited

Design of a Flexible Component Gathering Algorithm for Converting Cell-based Models to Graph Representations for Use in Evolutionary Search

Background The ability of science to produce experimental data has outpaced the ability to effectively visualize and integrate the data into a conceptual framework that can further higher order understanding. Multidimensional and shape-based observational data of regenerative biology presents a particularly daunting challenge in this regard. Large amounts of data are available in regenerative biology, but little progress has been made in understanding how organisms such as planaria robustly achieve and maintain body form. An example of this kind of data can be found in a new repository (PlanformDB) that encodes descriptions of planaria experiments and morphological outcomes using a graph formalism. Results We are developing a model discovery framework that uses a cell-based modeling platform combined with evolutionary search to automatically search for and identify plausible mechanisms for the biological behavior described in PlanformDB. To automate the evolutionary search we developed a way to compare the output of the modeling platform to the morphological descriptions stored in PlanformDB. We used a flexible connected component algorithm to create a graph representation of the virtual worm from the robust, cell-based simulation data. These graphs can then be validated and compared with target data from PlanformDB using the well-known graph-edit distance calculation, which provides a quantitative metric of similarity between graphs. The graph edit distance calculation was integrated into a fitness function that was able to guide automated searches for unbiased models of planarian regeneration. We present a cell-based model of planarian that can regenerate anatomical regions following bisection of the organism, and show that the automated model discovery framework is capable of searching for and finding models of planarian regeneration that match experimental data stored in PlanformDB. Conclusion The work presented here, including our algorithm for converting cell-based models into graphs for comparison with data stored in an external data repository, has made feasible the automated development, training, and validation of computational models using morphology-based data. This work is part of an ongoing project to automate the search process, which will greatly expand our ability to identify, consider, and test biological mechanisms in the field of regenerative biology

Distilled: The Narrative Transformed (Exhibition Catalogue)

Inspired by place and process, Pinkney Herbert\u27s work is a spirited exploration in color and line derived from the sights, sounds, and energies of the two principal cities – Memphis and New York – in which this body of work was created. Graffiti-like gestures scrawl atop digital prints, which are collaged and integrated into his paintings. In this 30-year survey, we follow Pinkney Herbert on his transformative journey from the narrative into abstraction

U.S. Drinking Water Challenges in the Twenty-First Century

The access of almost all 270 million U.S. residents to reliable, safe drinking water distinguishes the United States in the twentieth century from that of the nineteenth century. The United States is a relatively water-abundant country with moderate population growth; nonetheless, current trends are sufficient to strain water resources over time, especially on a regional basis. We have examined the areas of public water infrastructure, global climate effects, waterborne disease (including emerging and resurging pathogens), land use, groundwater, surface water, and the U.S. regulatory history and its horizon. These issues are integrally interrelated and cross all levels of public and private jurisdictions. We conclude that U.S. public drinking water supplies will face challenges in these areas in the next century and that solutions to at least some of them will require institutional changes

The Effect of Medicaid Expansion on Utilization in Maryland Emergency Departments

Study objective A proposed benefit of expanding Medicaid eligibility under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA) was a reduction in emergency department (ED) utilization for primary care needs. Pre-ACA studies found that new Medicaid enrollees increased their ED utilization rates, but the effect on system-level ED visits was less clear. Our objective was to estimate the effect of Medicaid expansion on aggregate and individual-based ED utilization patterns within Maryland. Methods We performed a retrospective cross-sectional study of ED utilization patterns across Maryland, using data from Maryland’s Health Services Cost Review Commission. We also analyzed utilization differences between pre-ACA (July 2012 to December 2013) uninsuredpatients who returned post-ACA (July 2014 to December 2015). Results The total number of ED visits in Maryland decreased by 36,531 (–1.2%) between the 6 quarters pre-ACA and the 6 quarters post-ACA. Medicaid-covered ED visits increased from 23.3% to 28.9% (159,004 additional visits), whereas uninsured patient visits decreased from 16.3% to 10.4% (181,607 fewer visits). Coverage by other insurance types remained largely stable between periods. We found no significant relationship between Medicaid expansion and changes in ED volume by hospital. For patients uninsured pre-ACA who returned post-ACA, the adjusted visits per person during 6 quarters was 2.38 (95% confidence interval 2.35 to 2.40) for those newly enrolled in Medicaid post-ACA compared with 1.66 (95% confidence interval 1.64 to 1.68) for those remaining uninsured. Conclusion There was a substantial increase in patients covered by Medicaid in the post-ACA period, but this did not significantly affect total ED volume. Returning patients newly enrolled in Medicaid visited the ED more than their uninsured counterparts; however, this cohort accounted for only a small percentage of total ED visits in Maryland

Audio facilitates the perception of cinematic continuity by first-time viewers

Previous studies concluded that first-time film viewers often had difficulty integrating shots into a coherent representation of the depicted events in the absence of a familiar action through the film cuts or a salient eye-gazing of a character in the film. In this study, we investigated whether diegetic sound (i.e., sound that seems to originate from the depicted cinematic space) could effectively bridge shots for first-time viewers. Across a range of films, both dialog, and salient environmental sound (e.g., barking dogs) helped first-time viewers connect shots. However, sound was not always successful in supporting first-time viewers’ interpretations. While experienced viewers were able to understand less-familiar linking sounds and environments, first-time viewers found this difficult. Overall, a range of diegetic sounds helped first-time viewers understand spatiotemporal relations between shots, but these viewers still had difficulty integrating views of unfamiliar environments