The significant differences found in certain areas of science learning between ninth grade, rural, and urban pupils

Thesis (Ed.M.)--Boston Universit

Use of harm reduction strategies in an occupational therapy life skills intervention

Thesis (M.S.)--Boston UniversityObjectives of Study: Harm reduction intervention strategies have the potential to support positive health outcomes. However, no studies have explored how these strategies can be implemented in an occupational therapy intervention. This study addresses this knowledge gap by examining harm reduction strategies that were discussed during group and individual sessions of an occupational therapist-led life skills intervention for people who have a mental illness and are or were homeless. Methods: This study is a secondary analysis of a larger study that used a longitudinal repeated measures design to implement a life skills intervention. This secondary analysis uses a mixed methods design. Qualitative methods were used for data collection and initial analysis. Quantitative methods were then used to analyze differences between settings. Results: Three major themes emerged from the data: Financial, Physical, and Psychosocial Hann Reduction. The most prevalent theme was Financial Harm Reduction. All three themes were present throughout all of the different life skills intervention modules. There was no significant difference in the themes used between settings. Limitations and Recommendations for Further Research: This study was limited to what was documented in the therapy notes. Although the notes may not include every discussion that occurred, these results suggest that harm-reduction strategies can be utilized in an occupational therapy intervention. Additional research is needed to investigate how harm reduction can be implemented in other areas of occupational therapy practice

Bargaining Set Solution Concepts in Dynamic Cooperative Games

This paper is concerned with the question of defining the bargaining set, a cooperative game solution, when cooperation takes place in a dynamic setting. The focus is on dynamic cooperative games in which the players face (finite or infinite) sequences of exogenously specified TU-games and receive sequences of imputations against those static cooperative games in each time period. Two alternative definitions of what a ‘sequence of coalitions’ means in such a context are considered, in respect to which the concept of a dynamic game bargaining set may be defined, and existence and non-existence results are studied. A solution concept we term ‘subgame-stable bargaining set sequences’ is also defined, and sufficient conditions are given for the non-emptiness of subgame-stable solutions in the case of a finite number of time periods.Cooperative game; Repeated game; Bargaining set

Common Knowledge and Disparate Priors: When it is O.K. to Agree to Disagree

Abandoning the oft-presumed common prior assumption, partitioned type spaces with disparate priors are studied. It is shown that in the two-player case, a unique fundamental pair of priors can be identified in each type space, from whose properties boundaries on the possible ranges of expected values under common knowledge can be derived. In the limit as the elements of this pair approach each other,a common prior is identified, and standard results stemming from the common prior assumption are recapitulated. It is further shown that this two-player fundamental pair of priors is a special case of the n-player situation, where a representative n-tuple of fundamentally associated priors can be selected, out of at most n-1 such n-tuples, to play an analogous role.common knowledge; heterogeneous prior beliefs; common prior assumption

Numerical homogenization of elliptic PDEs with similar coefficients

We consider a sequence of elliptic partial differential equations (PDEs) with different but similar rapidly varying coefficients. Such sequences appear, for example, in splitting schemes for time-dependent problems (with one coefficient per time step) and in sample based stochastic integration of outputs from an elliptic PDE (with one coefficient per sample member). We propose a parallelizable algorithm based on Petrov-Galerkin localized orthogonal decomposition (PG-LOD) that adaptively (using computable and theoretically derived error indicators) recomputes the local corrector problems only where it improves accuracy. The method is illustrated in detail by an example of a time-dependent two-pase Darcy flow problem in three dimensions

Bayesian games with a continuum of states

We show that every Bayesian game with purely atomic types has a measurable Bayesian equilibrium when the common knowl- edge relation is smooth. Conversely, for any common knowledge rela- tion that is not smooth, there exists a type space that yields this common knowledge relation and payoffs such that the resulting Bayesian game will not have any Bayesian equilibrium. We show that our smoothness condition also rules out two paradoxes involving Bayesian games with a continuum of types: the impossibility of having a common prior on components when a common prior over the entire state space exists, and the possibility of interim betting/trade even when no such trade can be supported ex ante

Evaluation Summary of the Teagle Foundation's College -Community Connections Initiative

Established in 2005 by the Teagle Foundation, the College?Community Connections (CCC) initiative funds partnerships between New York City community?based organizations and New York City metropolitan area colleges and universities to help talented and underserved high school students prepare for and succeed in college by engaging them in academically ambitious programs.  Exhibit 1 provides an overview of the CCC partnerships. 

Contemporary views on inflammatory pain mechanisms: TRPing over innate and microglial pathways.

Tissue injury, whether by trauma, surgical intervention, metabolic dysfunction, ischemia, or infection, evokes a complex cellular response (inflammation) that is associated with painful hyperalgesic states. Although in the acute stages it is necessary for protective reflexes and wound healing, inflammation may persist well beyond the need for tissue repair or survival. Prolonged inflammation may well represent the greatest challenge mammalian organisms face, as it can lead to chronic painful conditions, organ dysfunction, morbidity, and death. The complexity of the inflammatory response reflects not only the inciting event (infection, trauma, surgery, cancer, or autoimmune) but also the involvement of heterogeneous cell types including neuronal (primary afferents, sensory ganglion, and spinal cord), non-neuronal (endothelial, keratinocytes, epithelial, and fibroblasts), and immune cells. In this commentary, we will examine 1.) the expression and regulation of two members of the transient receptor potential family in primary afferent nociceptors and their activation/regulation by products of inflammation, 2.) the role of innate immune pathways that drive inflammation, and 3.) the central nervous system's response to injury with a focus on the activation of spinal microglia driving painful hyperalgesic states