The Value System as a Source of Political Attitudes

The field of political psychology focuses on specific political behavior as it relates to a total measure of the individual. This research effort chose as a possible summation of that totality the value system, defined as any individual\u27s description of his total image of the world and the behavior which he prefers in dealing with that world. Within this perspective, political attitudes are the result of the expression of a broad and abstract value system with reference to a specific attitude object. The research design utilized Q methodology to gather empirical descriptions of values systems toward a political issue, i.e., welfare in the United States, from a sample of college students chosen to represent different fields of study. Q factor analysis of the results of a Q sort of values and a Q sort of welfare attitudes revealed types of persons with similar value systems and types of persons with similar welfare attitudes. The relationships between the two then were examined. The results confirmed, to a degree, the expected projection of value systems into specific attitudes. The attitudinal structures of individuals could be explained in part by reference to value systems which were associated with each attitude. Q methodology proved to be a useful approach to the measurement of the subjective nature of values and attitudes, despite the unavoidable shortcomings of the research design. Finally, the results provided a basis for the discussion of the general nature of value systems and their implications for American politics

Study of tornado proximity data and an observationally derived model of tornado genesis, A

November 1973.Includes bibliographical references.Sponsored by NOAA 04-3-158-51

Candidate Images Among Voters And Non-Voters In 1976

An analysis of 1976 data indicates that nonvoters\u27 images of presidential candidates do not differ drastically from the images expressed by voters. Nonvoters respond to fewer candidates and tend to rate some outsider figures more positively and establishment figures less positively. With regard to most candidates, however, nonvoters\u27 perceptions resemble those of fellow partisan identifiers more than those of fellow nonvoters. Tests of candidate-related explanations of turnout provide more support for the indifference and other preference hypotheses than for alienation, but the utility of these explanations varies across partisan groupings

Public Support for the Supreme-Court in the 1970S

In the 1960s, Murphy and Tanenhaus examined the linkages between public opinion and the U.S. Supreme Court. This article represents a new look at that question within the context of the 1970s, using national survey data. Four clusters of explanations are developed, based upon the previous literature, and tested, using trust in the Court as the dependent vanable. The two most important explanatory variables found are race and education, but race is declining as an explanation for variations in support for the Court

Stop N\u27 Go: Save Time, Save Lives

A poster presented by Maddox Alexander, William He, James Rodgers, Sahil Konduru, Paige Omohundro and Brandon Smith for the class Business, Accounting, and Entrepreneurship.https://scholarworks.moreheadstate.edu/gsp_projects_2019/1011/thumbnail.jp

Dynamics of glomerular ultrafiltration: VI. Studies in the primate

Dynamics of glomerular ultrafiltration: VI. Studies in the primate. Pressures and flows were measured in accessible surface glomeruli of the squirrel monkey under conditions of normal hydropenia. Mean glomerular capillary hydrostatic pressure and the mean glomerular transcapillary hydrostatic pressure difference (ΔP) averaged approximately 45 mm Hg and 35 mm Hg, respectively. These findings are in close accord with recent direct estimates in the rat. The net driving force for ultrafiltration was found to decline from a maximum value of about 12 mm Hg at the afferent end of the glomerular capillary network essentially to zero by the efferent end, indicating that, in the monkey as in the rat, filtration pressure equilibrium is achieved under normal hydropenic conditions. The monkey differs from the rat in one important respect, however, in that, as has long been recognized, the monkey tends to have higher systemic total plasma protein concentrations (CA) than the rat. This is of interest since monkey, like man, is found to have lower filtration fractions than the rat. Since ΔP is found to be essentially similar in monkey and rat, and since, at filtration pressure equilibrium, filtration fraction is determined by ΔP and CA, these observed differences in filtration fraction between rodent and primate must therefore be due to these differences in CA

Accounting for the growth of observation stays in the assessment of Medicare\u27s Hospital Readmissions Reduction Program

IMPORTANCE: Decreases in 30-day readmissions following the implementation of the Medicare Hospital Readmissions Reduction Program (HRRP) have occurred against the backdrop of increasing hospital observation stay use, yet observation stays are not captured in readmission measures. OBJECTIVE: To examine whether the HRRP was associated with decreases in 30-day readmissions after accounting for observation stays. DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS: This retrospective cohort study included a 20% sample of inpatient admissions and observation stays among Medicare fee-for-service beneficiaries from January 1, 2009, to December 31, 2015. Data analysis was performed from November 2021 to June 2022. A differences-in-differences analysis assessed changes in 30-day readmissions after the announcement of the HRRP and implementation of penalties for target conditions (heart failure, acute myocardial infarction, and pneumonia) vs nontarget conditions under scenarios that excluded and included observation stays. MAIN OUTCOMES AND MEASURES: Thirty-day inpatient admissions and observation stays. RESULTS: The study included 8 944 295 hospitalizations (mean [SD] age, 78.7 [8.2] years; 58.6% were female; 1.3% Asian; 10.0% Black; 2.0% Hispanic; 0.5% North American Native; 85.0% White; and 1.2% other or unknown). Observation stays increased from 2.3% to 4.4% (91.3% relative increase) of index hospitalizations among target conditions and 14.1% to 21.3% (51.1% relative increase) of index hospitalizations for nontarget conditions. Readmission rates decreased significantly after the announcement of the HRRP and returned to baseline by the time penalties were implemented for both target and nontarget conditions regardless of whether observation stays were included. When only inpatient hospitalizations were counted, decreasing readmissions accrued into a -1.48 percentage point (95% CI, -1.65 to -1.31 percentage points) absolute reduction in readmission rates by the postpenalty period for target conditions and -1.13 percentage point (95% CI, -1.30 to -0.96 percentage points) absolute reduction in readmission rates by the postpenalty period for nontarget conditions. This reduction corresponded to a statistically significant differential change of -0.35 percentage points (95% CI, -0.59 to -0.11 percentage points). Accounting for observation stays more than halved the absolute decrease in readmission rates for target conditions (-0.66 percentage points; 95% CI, -0.83 to -0.49 percentage points). Nontarget conditions showed an overall greater decrease during the same period (-0.76 percentage points; 95% CI, -0.92 to -0.59 percentage points), corresponding to a differential change in readmission rates of 0.10 percentage points (95% CI, -0.14 to 0.33 percentage points) that was not statistically significant. CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE: The findings of this study suggest that the reduction of readmissions associated with the implementation of the HRRP was smaller than originally reported. More than half of the decrease in readmissions for target conditions appears to be attributable to the reclassification of inpatient admission to observation stays

Association between community-level social risk and spending among Medicare beneficiaries: Implications for social risk adjustment and health equity

IMPORTANCE: Payers are increasingly using approaches to risk adjustment that incorporate community-level measures of social risk with the goal of better aligning value-based payment models with improvements in health equity. OBJECTIVE: To examine the association between community-level social risk and health care spending and explore how incorporating community-level social risk influences risk adjustment for Medicare beneficiaries. DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS: Using data from a Medicare Advantage plan linked with survey data on self-reported social needs, this cross-sectional study estimated health care spending health care spending was estimated as a function of demographics and clinical characteristics, with and without the inclusion of Area Deprivation Index (ADI), a measure of community-level social risk. The study period was January to December 2019. All analyses were conducted from December 2021 to August 2022. EXPOSURES: Census block group-level ADI. MAIN OUTCOMES AND MEASURES: Regression models estimated total health care spending in 2019 and approximated different approaches to social risk adjustment. Model performance was assessed with overall model calibration (adjusted R2) and predictive accuracy (ratio of predicted to actual spending) for subgroups of potentially vulnerable beneficiaries. RESULTS: Among a final study population of 61 469 beneficiaries (mean [SD] age, 70.7 [8.9] years; 35 801 [58.2%] female; 48 514 [78.9%] White; 6680 [10.9%] with Medicare-Medicaid dual eligibility; median [IQR] ADI, 61 [42-79]), ADI was weakly correlated with self-reported social needs (r = 0.16) and explained only 0.02% of the observed variation in spending. Conditional on demographic and clinical characteristics, every percentile increase in the ADI (ie, more disadvantage) was associated with a $11.08 decrease in annual spending. Directly incorporating ADI into a risk-adjustment model that used demographics and clinical characteristics did not meaningfully improve model calibration (adjusted R2 = 7.90% vs 7.93%) and did not significantly reduce payment inequities for rural beneficiaries and those with a high burden of self-reported social needs. A postestimation adjustment of predicted spending for dual-eligible beneficiaries residing in high ADI areas also did not significantly reduce payment inequities for rural beneficiaries or beneficiaries with self-reported social needs. CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE: In this cross-sectional study of Medicare beneficiaries, the ADI explained little variation in health care spending, was negatively correlated with spending conditional on demographic and clinical characteristics, and was poorly correlated with self-reported social risk factors. This prompts caution and nuance when using community-level measures of social risk such as the ADI for social risk adjustment within Medicare value-based payment programs