Strategic Interaction and Trade Policymaking: Formal Analysis and Simulation

Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/73499/1/j.1467-9701.2006.00797.x.pd

Historical survey of the progressivity of the U.S. income tax

While filing the 1988 tax returns, many taxpayers will see the full impact of the Tax Reform Act of 1986. Perhaps the most important changes made by this Act altered the progressivity of the federal income tax. . Given these very significant changes to the U.S. income tax and also given that the full impact of this tax law is effective on the seventy-fifth anniversary of the 1913 adoption of the income tax, it is worth the time to look back and contemplate how progressivity of the income tax structure has changed over time. This paper summarizes the historical findings

Inflation and the Present Value of Future Economic Damages

The extent to which damage awards realistically reflect the plaintiff\u27s future loss or expense depends largely on the discounting method employed and on the economic variables different methods incorporate and emphasize. The authors present a method for accurately assessing the present value of future economic damages and explore the dynamics of accounting for economic factors. In explaining and comparing other damages formulae popularly used by the courts, the authors conclude that their recommended approach produces the fairest possible result

Inflation and the Present Value of Future Economic Damages

The extent to which damage awards realistically reflect the plaintiff\u27s future loss or expense depends largely on the discounting method employed and on the economic variables different methods incorporate and emphasize. The authors present a method for accurately assessing the present value of future economic damages and explore the dynamics of accounting for economic factors. In explaining and comparing other damages formulae popularly used by the courts, the authors conclude that their recommended approach produces the fairest possible result

Observations of Hierarchical Solar-Type Multiple Star Systems

Twenty multiple stellar systems with solar-type primaries were observed at high angular resolution using the PALM-3000 adaptive optics system at the 5 m Hale telescope. The goal was to complement the knowledge of hierarchical multiplicity in the solar neighborhood by confirming recent discoveries by the visible Robo-AO system with new near-infrared observations with PALM-3000. The physical status of most, but not all, of the new pairs is confirmed by photometry in the Ks band and new positional measurements. In addition, we resolved for the first time five close sub-systems: the known astrometric binary in HIP 17129AB, companions to the primaries of HIP 33555, and HIP 118213, and the companions to the secondaries in HIP 25300 and HIP 101430. We place the components on a color-magnitude diagram and discuss each multiple system individually.Comment: Accepted to Astronomical Journa

<i>Rehabilitation doxa</i> and practitioner judgment. An analysis of symbolic violence on health care provision in the Scottish prison system

This paper presents an analysis of the symbolic conditions which govern health care provision in the Scottish prison system. The paper considers the wider context of Scottish prisons, where health care provision follows a similar structure both in juvenile and adult prisons. Our intention is to provoke a debate about the doxa (Bourdieu, 1977), which underlies decision making in respect of health care in prison, in a political environment where pragmatism, allied to the ‘pathologisation’ of social policies, health and criminal justice has been a hegemonic force.<br/

Specificity characteristics of 7 commercial creatinine measurement procedures by enzymatic and jaffe method principles

Journal ArticleStandardized calibration does not change a creatinine measurement procedure?s susceptibility to potentially interfering substances

Know the Star, Know the Planet. III. Discovery of Late-Type Companions to Two Exoplanet Host Stars

We discuss two multiple star systems that host known exoplanets: HD 2638 and 30 Ari B. Adaptive optics imagery revealed an additional stellar companion to both stars. We collected multi-epoch images of the systems with Robo-AO and the PALM-3000 adaptive optics systems at Palomar Observatory and provide relative photometry and astrometry. The astrometry indicates that the companions share common proper motion with their respective primaries. Both of the new companions have projected separations less than 30 AU from the exoplanet host star. Using the projected separations to compute orbital periods of the new stellar companions, HD 2638 has a period of 130 yrs and 30 Ari B has a period of 80 years. Previous studies have shown that the true period is most likely within a factor of three of these estimated values. The additional component to the 30 Ari makes it the second confirmed quadruple system known to host an exoplanet. HD 2638 hosts a hot Jupiter and the discovery of a new companion strengthens the connection between hot Jupiters and binary stars. We place the systems on a color-magnitude diagram and derive masses for the companions which turn out to be roughly 0.5 solar mass stars.Comment: Accepted to Astronomical Journal, 16 pages, 5 Figure

Relationships between high-stakes clinical skills exam scores and program director global competency ratings of first-year pediatric residents

Responding to mandates from the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) and American Osteopathic Association (AOA), residency programs have developed competency-based assessment tools. One such tool is the American College of Osteopathic Pediatricians (ACOP) program directors&#x2019; annual report. High-stakes clinical skills licensing examinations, such as the Comprehensive Osteopathic Medical Licensing Examination Level 2-Performance Evaluation (COMLEX-USA Level 2-PE), also assess competency in several clinical domains.The purpose of this study is to investigate the relationships between program director competency ratings of first-year osteopathic residents in pediatrics and COMLEX-USA Level 2-PE scores from 2005 to 2009.The sample included all 94 pediatric first-year residents who took COMLEX-USA Level 2-PE and whose training was reviewed by the ACOP for approval of training between 2005 and 2009. Program director competency ratings and COMLEX-USA Level 2-PE scores (domain and component) were merged and analyzed for relationships.Biomedical/biomechanical domain scores were positively correlated with overall program director competency ratings. Humanistic domain scores were not significantly correlated with overall program director competency ratings, but did show moderate correlation with ratings for interpersonal and communication skills. The six ACGME or seven AOA competencies assessed empirically by the ACOP program directors&#x2019; annual report could not be recovered by principal component analysis; instead, three factors were identified, accounting for 86% of the variance between competency ratings.A few significant correlations were noted between COMLEX-USA Level 2-PE scores and program director competency ratings. Exploring relationships between different clinical skills assessments is inherently difficult because of the heterogeneity of tools used and overlap of constructs within the AOA and ACGME core competencies