Survival Analysis of Transitions from Benefit to Work Using Administrative Data

What factors affect the probability that a person makes a transition from benefit to employment? What is the effect of those factors? Given information such as age, sex, most recent occupation and industry, can we estimate the probability of such a transition? We applied the proportional hazard’s model to Linked Employer-Employee Data (LEED) to answer those questions. The anonymous longitudinal administrative data is from Inland Revenue and is based on monthly returns. Our principal finding was that, of the limited variables available, age and sex have the most significant impact, and that the difference between sexes is greatest in under-35-year-olds. We also found differences by industry and occupation, as well as some regional differences and time effects

Longitudinal Analysis of Labour Force Data

The Household Labour Force Survey (HLFS) is a quarterly panel survey that is used to provide a snapshot of the New Zealand labour force at a point in time. Although originally intended for cross-sectional purposes, the fact that the occupants of the same households are interviewed for up to eight quarters makes it possible to extract longitudinal information, such as labour force dynamics. This paper will discuss some of the longitudinal uses of the data, and some potential problems and issues. One issue discussed is data cleaning. The HLFS imputes some variables, such as age and sex, when data has not been provided by respondents. However, as the main objective is to produce cross-sectional estimates, there is no attempt to achieve longitudinal consistency, so apparently people may change sex or be rejuvenated. I will discuss some methods for cleaning the data and investigate whether this has any significant effects on longitudinal estimates, such as hazard rates. The results suggest that it is feasible to obtain longitudinal information about transitions in labour force status from the HLFS data, but it is necessary to concatenate panels to obtain reasonable accuracy. Editing seemed to make little difference to the conclusions

Immune Complexes in Juvenile Idiopathic Arthritis

Abstract for invited review in Molecular Mechanisms of Immune Complex Pathophysiology thematic issue to be published in Frontiers in Immunology. Immune Complexes(IC)in Juvenile Idiopathic Arthritis (JIA) Terry L. Moore, MD, FAAP, FACR, MACR Professor of Internal Medicine,Pediatrics, and Molecular Biology and Immunology Director of Adult and Pediatric Rheumatology Saint Louis University School of Medicine Saint Louis, Missouri 631`04,USA Juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA) reflects a group of clinically heterogeneous, autoimmune disorders in children characterized by chronic arthritis and hallmarked by elevated levels of circulating immune complexes (CICs) and associated complement activation by-products in their sera. ICs have been detected in patients’ sera with JIA utilizing a variety of methods, including the anti-human IgM affinity column,C1q solid phase assay, polyethylene glycol precipitation, Staphylococcal Protein A separation method, anti-C1q/C3 affinity columns, and FcγRIII affinity method. As many as 75% of JIA patients have had IC detected in their sera. The CIC proteome in JIA patients has been examined to elucidate disease-associated proteins that are expressed in active disease. Evaluation of these IC s have shown the presence of multiple peptide fragments by SDS-PAGE and 2-DE. Subsequently, all isotypes of rheumatoid factor (RF), isotypes of anti-cyclic citrullinated (CCP) peptide antibodies, IgG, C1q, C4, C3, and the membrane attack complex (MAC) were detected in these IC. Complement activation and levels of IC correlate with disease activity in JIA, indicating their role in the pathophysiology of the disease. This review will summarize the existing literature and discuss the role of possible protein modification that participates in the generation of immune response. We will address the possible role of these events in the development of ectopic germinal centers that become the secondary site of plasma cell development in JIA. We will further address possible therapeutic modalities that could be instituted as a result of the information gathered by the presence of ICs in JIA

Geology of the Stateline District, Utah-Nevada

The rocks exposed in the Stateline District, Iron County, Utah and Lincoln County, Nevada, are Tertiary volcanics, which serve as hosts for gold and silver bearing quartz veins. The Miocene rhyolites and dellenites, a possible caldera, cupola-associated rock textures, and the faults and styles of deformations indicate the geologic setting of Stateline is in harmony with the tectonic framework of the southern Great Basin. Four map units, subdivided into nine members, are recognized. X-ray fluorescence analyses for SiO₂, TiO₂, Fe₂O₃, CaO, and K₂O differentiated the map units, while variations in the primary quartz, sanadine, plagioclase, biotite, hornblende, and total crystal content characterized members. Secondary minerals, determined by optical and X-ray techniques, are scarce in the second rhyolites, whereas the first rhyolites have secondary quartz and possibly clays, and the dellenite flows and lithic pumice tuff map unit have secondary calcite. Bixbyite and associated topaz are found in the volcanic rocks of Stateline Mining District. These bixbyites have a lattice parameter of 9.415Å while reference specimens from other localities have parameters of 9.393Å to 9.428Å. Visible alteration and high K₂O content are coincident with the distribution of veins. Gains or losses of major components, and density and porosity changes during alteration are the result of leaching, cavity filling, replacement, and recrystallization processes. Except for the pervasive recrystallization, these processes altered the rocks selectively. Chemical variations, including high SiO₂, TiO₂, Fe₂O₃, and K₂O near one Stateline vein, are comparable with mineralogical variations adjacent to veins in a nearby fluorspar district --Abstract, pages ii-iii

Examining the Impact of Quality Assurance Manning Practices in USAF Aircraft Maintenance Units

The purpose of this research was to examine the impact that current USAF Quality Assurance (QA) manning practices has on key aircraft wing- and unit-level metrics. Interviews and surveys culminated in development of a QA Manning Effectiveness Matrix. We then used the matrix to calculate historical QA manning effectiveness at 16 ACC bases. Effectiveness scores were regressed with associated historical data for 26 metrics derived from a Delphi survey. Nine metrics were deemed statistically significant, including break rates, cannibalization rates, flying schedule effectiveness rates, key task list pass rates, maintenance scheduling effectiveness rates, quality verification inspection pass rates, repeat rates, dropped objects counts and safety/technical violations counts. An example benefit cost analysis for changes in QA manning effectiveness was performed, using reasonable cost values. The results present compelling evidence for maintenance managers to carefully weigh decisions to leave QA manning slots empty, or to assign personnel possessing other than authorized credentials. Maintenance managers can use this tool to help determine mitigating strategies for improving unit performance with respect to the nine metrics

The Effect of Binaural Auditory Beats on the Anxiety and Psychological Hardiness Levels of Graduate Students

Three graduate students from a Midwestern urban university were selected from a pool of volunteers based on elevated levels of anxiety. The students were initially tested using the Self-Evaluation Questionnaire and Hardiness Scale. Students were provided with audio tapes using binaural beats. Each Self-Evaluation Questionnaire score was tracked for the purpose of determining the affect of the audio tapes on levels of anxiety and hardiness. All three students showed reduced levels of anxiety after using the tapes, with either a similar or higher level of Hardiness

How We Ruined The Internet

At the end of the 19th century the logician C.S. Peirce coined the term "fallibilism" for the "... the doctrine that our knowledge is never absolute but always swims, as it were, in a continuum of uncertainty and of indeterminacy". In terms of scientific practice, this means we are obliged to reexamine the assumptions, the evidence, and the arguments for conclusions that subsequent experience has cast into doubt. In this paper we examine an assumption that underpinned the development of the Internet architecture, namely that a loosely synchronous point-to-point datagram delivery service could adequately meet the needs of all network applications, including those which deliver content and services to a mass audience at global scale. We examine how the inability of the Networking community to provide a public and affordable mechanism to support such asynchronous point-to-multipoint applications led to the development of private overlay infrastructure, namely CDNs and Cloud networks, whose architecture stands at odds with the Open Data Networking goals of the early Internet advocates. We argue that the contradiction between those initial goals and the monopolistic commercial imperatives of hypergiant overlay infrastructure operators is an important reason for the apparent contradiction posed by the negative impact of their most profitable applications (e.g., social media) and strategies (e.g., targeted advertisement). We propose that, following the prescription of Peirce, we can only resolve this contradiction by reconsidering some of our deeply held assumptions

Adaptive Cardinal Heading Aided for Low Cost Foot-Mounted Inertial Pedestrian Navigation

The use of a low-cost MEMS-based Inertial Measurement Unit (IMU) provides a cost-effective approach for navigation purposes. Foot-mounted IMU is a popular option for indoor inertial pedestrian navigation, as a small and light MEMS-based inertial sensor can be tied to a pedestrian's foot or shoe. Without relying on GNSS or other external sensors to enhance navigation, the foot-mounted pedestrian navigation system can autonomously navigate, relying solely on the IMU. This is typically performed with the standard strapdown navigation algorithm in a Kalman filter, where Zero Velocity Updates (ZVU) are used together to restrict the error growth of the low-cost inertial sensors. ZVU is applied every time the user takes a step since there exists a zero velocity condition during stance phase. While velocity and correlated attitude errors can be estimated correctly using ZVUs, heading error is not because it is unobservable. In this paper, we extend our previous work to correct the heading error by aiding it using Multiple Polygon Areas (MPA) with adaptive weighting factor. We termed the approach as Adaptive Cardinal Heading Aided Inertial Navigation (A-CHAIN). We formulated an adaptive weighting factor applied to measurement noise to enhance measurement confidence. We then incorporated MPA heading into the algorithm, whereas multiple buildings with the same orientation are grouped together and assigned a specific heading information as a priori. Results shown that against the original CHAIN, the proposed Adaptive-CHAIN improved the position accuracy by more than five-fold

The structure and dynamics of an environment forming high-mass stars

A detailed investigation is presented of the physical environment associated with high-mass star formation. This is carried out by means of an in-depth multi-wavelength study of one such region in W75N. An analysis is made of the nature of the major em­bedded luminosity sources and the cloud core from which they have recently formed,from the hot dust very close to each object to the cold dust and molecular gas sur­rounding them. The dynamical relationship between the large molecular outflow and the ambient cloud is studied with regard to limitations that might be placed on plausi­ble flow generation mechanisms. The details of the reflection nebulae associated with the mass outflows are interpreted in terms of the scattering properties of dust.A recently-formed stellar cluster has been found, associated with the known signs of higli-mass star formation in W75N (compact HII regions, O H and H2O masers,CO outflow etc.). The main heating source and origin of the molecular outflow is identified and found to be very deeply embedded (Av > 90 mag). Imaging near-infrared polarimetry, millimetre-wave molecular line spectroscopy and submillimetre continuum observations at scales of 0.01 to 0.2 pc have shown no disk or torus structure in the dense obscuring material around this source. However, circumstantial evidence exists in the near-infrared colours for significant amounts of dusty material close to the major luminosity sources. Therefore very small-scale (few X100 A.U.) disk-like formations may exist and play an important dynamical role.The large molecular outflow in W75N is found to be unable to overcome the gravitational binding force of the large surrounding core unless the flow is initially highly collimated. The lobes of high-velocity gas possess a large degree of collimation,probably induced through confinement by the ambient material, but the outflow as a whole is irregular and possibly multipolar and appears to be intrinsically largely isotropic. The flow lobes are not wind-blown bubbles but are filled with high velocity molecular material. The driving mechanism is most likely to be a massive, semi-isotropic stellar wind but there could still be a cylindrically symmetrical, rotation-driven mechanism acting close to the star.Of the two reflection nebulae in the region the largest and brightest is associ­ated with the blue-shifted molecular outflow lobe. Features in the nebula, similar to those in other such objects, are consistent with scattering from large grains which produce diffraction-affected and strongly forward-biased scattering patterns. It is shown that large grains should dominate the scattering in the near-infrared, regardless of the detailed grain size distribution. The ubiquitous suppression of backward-directed re­flection lobes in bipolar sources may be caused by forward scattering and not by large obscuring disks. A smaller reflection nebula surrounds the less luminous source IRS-2,indicating a limited-scale outflow from this object also. Hydrogen recombination line ratios in IRS-2 are consistent with current models of massive, partly-ionised stellar winds