Cost of lifetime immunosuppression coverage for kidney transplant recipients.

On January 1, 2000, Medicare extended the coverage of immunosuppression medications from 3 years to life for elderly and disabled kidney transplant recipients. This research estimates the impact of extending this lifetime coverage to all kidney transplant recipients on Medicare\u27s cash flows. The study finds that extending coverage to all kidney transplant recipients would have increased Medicare\u27s net cash outflows if the coverage were extended for patients of all income levels. There is evidence that extending coverage to only patients in the lowest income quartile could have resulted in a net cost savings to Medicare

Blue and purple Labour challenges to the welfare state: How should 'statist' social democrats respond?

This article explores two influential strands of thinking about the welfare state, Blue Labour and Purple Labour, that have emerged following New Labour's defeat at the 2010 General Election. It is argued that although both of these new approaches raise some important issues about the relational and associational dimensions of social welfare as well as diversity and pluralism, those committed to universal and egalitarian goals should not abandon the ‘statist’ social democratic approach to the welfare state

Some unusual natural areas in Illinois

Bibliography: p. 42-43

Propfan experimental data analysis

A data reduction method, which is consistent with the performance prediction methods used for analysis of new aircraft designs, is defined and compared to the method currently used by NASA using data obtained from an Ames Res. Center 11 foot transonic wind tunnel test. Pressure and flow visualization data from the Ames test for both the powered straight underwing nacelle, and an unpowered contoured overwing nacelle installation is used to determine the flow phenomena present for a wind mounted turboprop installation. The test data is compared to analytic methods, showing the analytic methods to be suitable for design and analysis of new configurations. The data analysis indicated that designs with zero interference drag levels are achieveable with proper wind and nacelle tailoring. A new overwing contoured nacelle design and a modification to the wing leading edge extension for the current wind tunnel model design are evaluated. Hardware constraints of the current model parts prevent obtaining any significant performance improvement due to a modified nacelle contouring. A new aspect ratio wing design for an up outboard rotation turboprop installation is defined, and an advanced contoured nacelle is provided

A Cost-Benefit Approach to Drinking Water and Cancer

The problem of controlling carcinogens in drinking water is one of decision-making under uncertainty. Although much information has been gained in the last eight years, pervasive uncertainties remain. The paper identifies some of the trends in the accumulation of the evidence, and attempts to evaluate the currently existing uncertainty

The SIST-GIRE Plate-form, an example of link between research and communication for the development

La gestion intégrée de l'eau est un défi pour le monde entier et particulièrement pour les pays en développement. Elle demande la mobilisation des chercheurs, des décideurs, des agences de bassin et en général de tous les usagers. La mobilisation de la communauté scientifique internationale a conduit à la mise en place du Challenge Programme " Eau et alimentation " qui rassemble des équipes de recherche du monde entier sur cette thématique. 9 bassins de référence ont été choisis dans les pays en développement. Scientific and Technical Information and Rural Development IAALD XIIIth World Congress, Montpellier, 26-29 April 2010 2 Parmi ces bassins, le Ministère français des Affaires Etrangères a choisi deux bassins, celui du Limpopo et celui du Mékong. Le bassin du Niger a été ajouté. Un projet de recherche développement appelé Echel-eau a été mis en oeuvre et a permis de financer sept projets sur les trois bassins et des actions de formation. Ces projets ont produit de nouveaux outils, de nouveaux modules de formation et de nouvelles méthodes partagées entre les trois bassins. Dans le même temps, le Ministère français des Affaires Etrangères a financé un autre projet appelé " projet SIST " pour mettre en place une plate forme collaborative. Elle consiste en un site Internet comprenant plusieurs modules, facile à utiliser pour diffuser des documentations et des informations en continu et des moyens d'échange d'informations et d'idées (Forum, Wiki). Les utilisateurs de cette plate forme sont des chercheurs et des acteurs du développement. Quelques plates formes sont thématiques et, en particulier la plate forme sur la gestion intégrée des ressources en eau (GIRE) a été mise en place, gérée par l'Autorité du Bassin du Niger en qualité de président du Réseau africain des organismes de bassin (RAOB). Les deux projets se sont rapprochés et ceci a permis de nourrir la plate forme avec de nouveaux outils, des modules de formation et des méthodes non seulement mis au point dans le bassin du Niger mais surtout des deux autres bassins dans le cadre du projet Echel-Eau. Cette plateforme permet donc une bonne valorisation et une diffusion des résultats de recherche sur les autres bassins du continent africain. (Résumé d'auteur

Removal of Carcinogens from Drinking Water: A Cost-Benefit Analysis

This study is an analysis is of the costs and benefits of implementing the amendment to the interim primary drinking water regulations proposed by the Environmental Protection Agency in January, 1978 (EPA, 1978). Specifically, the study will consider the benefits and costs involved for those water supply systems which would be required to remove organic contaminants by installing granular activated carbon (GAC) as a post-filtration adsorbent

Superstars and Giant Gravitons in M-theory

Following hep-th/0109127, we show that a certain class of BPS naked singularities (superstars) found in compactifications of M-theory can be interpreted as being composed of giant gravitons. More specifically, we study superstars which are asymptotically AdS_7 x S^4 and AdS_4 x S^7 and show that these field configurations can be interpreted as being sourced by continuous distributions of spherical M2- and M5-branes, respectively, which carry internal momenta and have expanded on the spherical component of the space-time.Comment: 13 page

Relativistic Diskoseismology

We will summarize results of calculations of the modes of oscillation trapped within the inner region of accretion disks by the strong-field gravitational properties of a black hole (or a compact, weakly-magnetized neutron star). Their driving and damping will also be addressed. The focus will be on the most observable class: the analogue of internal gravity modes in stars. Their frequencies which corrrespond to the lowest mode numbers depend almost entirely upon only the mass and angular momentum of the black hole. Such a feature may have been detected in the X-ray power spectra of two galactic `microquasars', allowing the angular momentum of the black hole to be determined in one case.Comment: To be published in Physics Reports, proceedings of the conference Astrophysical Fluids: From Atomic Nuclei to Stars and Galaxies; 10 pages, 5 postscript figure