Resource allocation, health mobility and adaptation to illness

The increased availability of panel data has made it possible to estimate and measure health mobility for population subgroups who may have systematically different levels of mobility. The objective of this paper is to stimulate discussion on what estimated differences across subgroups may mean for resource allocation. We use a straightforward hypothetical example to investigate the implications of different levels of health mobility on health outcomes, considering in addition the effects of adaptation to illness over time. We also discuss some of the ethical and political implications of health mobility

Extratropical Large-Scale Traveling Weather Systems in the Southern Hemisphere on Mars

From late-autumn through early-spring, the middle- and high-latitudes of both hemispheres of Mars and its predominantly carbon-dioxide atmosphere support mean equator-to-pole thermal contrasts, and then, support a strong mean westerly polar vortex. Observations from orbiting spacecraft indicate that this intense mean baroclinicity-barotropicity supports large-scale eastward traveling weather systems (i.e., transient, traveling synoptic-period waves, on the order of the Rossby deformation scale). On Earth, extratropical weather disturbances arise from wind-shear instabilities, and these are critical components of the terrestrial global circulation. So it is the case for Mars. Large-scale traveling weather systems on Mars serve as agents in the transport of heat, momentum and scalar and tracer quantities (e.g., atmospheric dust, watervapor, ice clouds, chemical species, etc). Such weather systems interact with other large-scale atmospheric circulation components, namely, quasi-stationary (i.e., forced Rossby) modes; global thermal tidal modes; and then, upon large-/continental- geographical scales, upslope/ down-slope flows amongst high relief, low relief, impact basins, and volcanic rises, and more. The character of Mars' traveling extratropical weather disturbances in its southern hemisphere during late winter through early spring is investigated using a high-resolution Mars global climate model (i.e., Mars GCM), and one from the Agency's Mars Climate Modeling Center (MCMC) based at the NASA Ames Research Center. The climate model includes several complex atmospheric physical packages. With such physics modules, our global climate simulations present comparatively well with observations of the planet's current water cycle (Haberle et al.,2019). The climate model is "forced" with an annual dust cycle (i.e., nudged based on MGS/TES observations). Compared to the northern-hemisphere counterparts, the southern synoptic-period weather disturbances and accompanying frontal waves have smaller meridional and zonal scales, and are less intense. Influences of the zonally asymmetric (i.e., east-west varying) topography on southern large-scale weather are investigated, in addition to large-scale up-slope/down-slope flows and the diurnal cycle. A southern storm zone in late winter and early spring presents in the western hemisphere via orographic influences from the Tharsis highlands, and the Argyre and Hellas impact basins. Geographically localized transient-wave activity diagnostics are constructed that illuminate dynamical differences amongst the simulations and these are presented

A study of the feasibility of using sea and wind information from the ERS-1 satellite. Part 1: Wind scatterometer data

The use of scatterometer and altimeter data in wind and wave assimilation, and the benefits this offers for quality assurance and validation of ERS-1 data were examined. Real time use of ERS-1 data was simulated through assimilation of Seasat scatterometer data. The potential for quality assurance and validation is demonstrated by documenting a series of substantial problems with the scatterometer data, which are known but took years to establish, or are new. A data impact study, and an analysis of the performance of ambiguity removal algorithms on real and simulated data were conducted. The impact of the data on analyses and forecasts is large in the Southern Hemisphere, generally small in the Northern Hemisphere, and occasionally large in the Tropics. Tests with simulated data give more optimistic results than tests with real data. Errors in ambiguity removal results occur in clusters. The probabilities which can be calculated for the ambiguous wind directions on ERS-1 contain more information than is given by a simple ranking of the directions

Residential Mobility and the Underclass: Impact of Moving in the \u27Hood

Studies of residential mobility amongst disadvantaged populations and juveniles in particular have attracted a great deal of attention with projects such as the Moving to Opportunity Study and policies aimed at reducing concentrated disadvantage by providing alternative housing assistance to low-income families. The results of these studies, however, have been inconclusive and have often not concentrated on the effects of this mobility on a broad spectrum of delinquent behaviors. Previous studies have found that residential mobility negatively affects juveniles, while other studies find that there is little effect after controlling for a wide variety of variables with scant theoretical considerations regarding modeling. This dissertation sought to address these gaps and deficiencies in the literature by examining the effects of residential mobility on a sample of highly impoverished youth by analyzing a variety of delinquent behaviors with theoretically relevant variables in order to better understand the mechanisms driving delinquent behavior. In order to test hypotheses developed from these questions, longitudinal binary and ordinal mixed-effects logit models were utilized on data drawn from the Mobile Youth Survey, which was conducted in areas of extreme poverty. The findings of the current research demonstrated that residential mobility has a weak and inconsistent effect between types of delinquent behavior. Theoretically relevant variables comprised of social bonding and strain constructs were found to mediate the significant relationship for several delinquent outcomes, indicating that these variables play a critical role in predicting delinquent behavior rather than residential mobility. Low correlations between residential mobility and delinquent outcomes indicated that for this particular population, mobility has a differential effect compared to higher socioeconomic groups analyzed in previous studies. Conclusions and implications of the current study suggested that residential mobility is not a particular concern regarding highly impoverished populations. Policies aimed at moving individuals to better neighborhoods would not have a negative effect due to the stress of moving. Addressing strain and the attenuation of social bonds would be more effective at preventing juvenile delinquency even if that means displacement of the individuals into environments that provide opportunities for the creation of stronger social bonds and lessened strain

The effects of therapist self-disclosure on the therapeutic alliance : a relational perspective

This exploratory/descriptive quantitative/qualitative study surveyed clinicians to ask their views about the effects of voluntary self-disclosure by therapists when the issue to be disclosed is one the therapist shares with the client. Clinicians surveyed were 51 licensed clinical social workers, or those with at least a year of postgraduate experience and working towards licensure. Opinions about this topic were often mixed. A majority of the clinicians who participated in the study said they rarely disclosed, but 72% had disclosed an issue shared by a client at least once; when they did so, 94% said their disclosures concerned issues that had been resolved for them. Many respondents said the effects of such disclosing on the therapeutic alliance would depend on several factors, and could only be foreseen on a case-by-case basis, but 86.5% said that foreseeing client benefit was the reason for disclosure. Clinicians were fairly evenly split as to how well or not well their graduate educations prepared them to handle issues of self-disclosure. These findings suggest that therapist self-disclosure may be so nuanced and difficult to generalize about in graduate coursework that it might best be handled in supervision. Future research could benefit from focusing also on clients\u27 opinions about the effects of such therapist disclosures

Validating Auditors Assumptions: A Measure of the Quality of Performance

This study extends prior study to include formal training as an additional component of experience. Three research hypotheses tested the quality of auditor performance. Results showed formal training as significant. The sample consisted of 96 auditors with approximately two to nineteen years of audit and accounting experience. Previous work on auditors’ experience and judgment produced mixed results. Those results do not consistently show that experience leads to better judgments. However, such work does not investigate the second component of experience included in this study. The study did not find on-the-job training to be effectively related to auditors’ performance.  

Quantum Mechanical Interference in the Field Ionization of Rydberg Atoms

Rydberg atoms are traditionally alkali metal atoms with their valence electron excited to a state of very large principle quantum number. They possess exaggerated properties, and are consequently an attractive area of study for physicists. An example of their exaggerated properties is seen in their response to the presence of an applied electric field. In this work, we study the energy distribution of Rydberg atoms when subjected to a dynamic electric field intended to ionize them. We excite 85Rb atoms to a superposition of the 46D5/2 |mj| = 1/2 and |mj| = 3/2 states in the presence of a small initial electric field. After a delay time, the electric field is pulsed in order to ionize the atoms. The current produced by the ejected electrons is measured. Calculations and experimental data are presented which display interference effects between the amplitude from the components of the initial superposition