The relative order of difficulty of several types of study skills in the intermediate grades

Thesis (Ed. M.)--Boston University, 193

Modeling Returns on Carbon Emission Allowances: An Application to RGGI

This thesis attempts to model the returns on Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI) allowances using logged monthly returns from 2011-2018. This asset, shown to be a useful diversifier in portfolios, has been identified by previous literature to behave similarly to commodities. I used auto-regressive, GARCH, and Markov regime switching models to analyze the returns because the returns displayed changing volatility. These models were comparatively analyzed both in and out-of-sample. In this limited data analysis, the Markov model outperformed both alternatives in-sample. The Markov and Garch models displayed similar predictive power out-of-sample, however neither were particularly effective

An achievement test in mathematics for grade seven New Bedford as related to course of study

Thesis (M.A.)--Boston University, 1948. This item was digitized by the Internet Archive

The relative order of difficulty of several types of study skills in the intermediate grades

Thesis (Ed. M.)--Boston University, 193

A Markov Decision Process Model for the Optimal Dispatch of Military Medical Evacuation Assets

We develop a Markov decision process (MDP) model to examine military evacuation (MEDEVAC) dispatch policies in a combat environment. The problem of deciding which aeromedical asset to dispatch to which service request is complicated by threat conditions at the service locations and the priority class of each casualty event, assuming MEDEVAC requests arrive sequentially, with the location and the priority of each casualty known upon arrival. The United States military uses a 9-line MEDEVAC request system to classify casualties using three priority levels. An armed escort may be required depending on the threat level indicated by the request. The proposed MDP model indicates how to optimally dispatch ambulatory helicopters to casualty events in order to maximize the steady-state system utility. Utility depends on casualty numbers, priority classes, and the locations of MEDEVAC units and casualty event. Instances of the dispatching problem are solved using a value iteration dynamic programming algorithm. Computational examples investigate optimal dispatch policies under different threat situations and potential armed escort delay

The implications of regional and national demographic projections for future GMS costs in Ireland through to 2026

As the health services in Ireland have become more resource-constrained, pressure has increased to reduce public spending on community drug schemes such as General Medical Services (GMS) drug prescribing and to understand current and future trends in prescribing. The GMS scheme covers approximately 37% of the Irish population in 2011 and entitles them, inter alia, to free prescription drugs and appliances. This paper projects the effects of future changes in population, coverage, claims rates and average claims cost on GMS costs in Ireland

The Lazy Bureaucrat Scheduling Problem

We introduce a new class of scheduling problems in which the optimization is performed by the worker (single ``machine'') who performs the tasks. A typical worker's objective is to minimize the amount of work he does (he is ``lazy''), or more generally, to schedule as inefficiently (in some sense) as possible. The worker is subject to the constraint that he must be busy when there is work that he can do; we make this notion precise both in the preemptive and nonpreemptive settings. The resulting class of ``perverse'' scheduling problems, which we denote ``Lazy Bureaucrat Problems,'' gives rise to a rich set of new questions that explore the distinction between maximization and minimization in computing optimal schedules.Comment: 19 pages, 2 figures, Latex. To appear, Information and Computatio

Kimberley Transitions, Collaborating to Care for Our Common Home: Beginnings...

This scoping paper is a preliminary introduction to the aspirations, interrelated literature and research involved in development of the Kimberley Transitions Project. Our focus is on Western Australia’s Kimberley region, a landscape of immense natural and cultural significance. Along with the rest of Australia, and indeed the world in which we all live, the Kimberley is on the verge of major climate, political, social and economic change. The direction of changes being proposed by governments and industry are regularly criticised, both globally and locally, by individuals and organisations concerned about damage to its rich biodiversity and cultural integrity. With the aim of collaboratively generating Kimberley-based responses grounded in local knowledges, a mix of disciplines and emerging international theories, scholars and relevant groups have come together to form a Kimberley-wide practical and shared research agenda. One of the key influences behind the project is an international transitions movement which aims to generate collaborative change incorporating a process of transition. Locally identified issues using local knowledges and capacity are central to its evolution. A conceptual and theoretical framing known as ‘transitions discourse’ is also emerging internationally and nationally, one that foregrounds diverse epistemologies and challenges mainstream economics and associated ideologies, such as neoliberalism. Via the Kimberley Transitions project, Kimberley-based researchers and collaborators aim to support and further document social, cultural and economic change inspired by the transitions movement and informed by transition discourses. It has the Kimberley landscape and people at its heart; a transformative approach featuring cultural healing, intellectual rigour and an ethos aimed at enduring, practical and interconnected sustainable outcomes.https://researchonline.nd.edu.au/nulungu_research/1001/thumbnail.jp

Saints, heroes, sages, and villains

This essay explores the question of how to be good. My starting point is a thesis about moral worth that I’ve defended in the past: roughly, that an action is morally worthy if and only it is performed for the reasons why it is right. While I think that account gets at one important sense of moral goodness, I argue here that it fails to capture several ways of being worthy of admiration on moral grounds. Moral goodness is more multi-faceted. My title is intended to capture that multi-facetedness: the essay examines saintliness, heroism, and sagacity. The variety of our common-sense moral ideals underscores the inadequacy of any one account of moral admirableness, and I hope to illuminate the distinct roles these ideals play in our everyday understanding of goodness. Along the way, I give an account of what makes actions heroic, of whether such actions are supererogatory, and of what, if anything, is wrong with moral deference. At the close of the essay, I begin to explore the flipside of these ideals: villainy