An Unfolding Analysis Of Cognitive Preferences

This study represents a reanalysis of Heath's (1963) data using Coombs' unfolding technique. Some additional objectives of this study are to find the dimensions underlying the cognitive preferences, to test Heath's first two hypotheses in terms of individuals as well as clusters, and to compare cluster and individual analyses. The first dimension, which goes from Applications to Memory to Principles to Questioning , accounts for over half of the individuals and over two‐thirds of the clusters. A two‐dimensional configuration accounts for 90% of the individuals and 99% of the clusters. The ordering along the second dimension goes from Memory to Application to Questioning to Principles. The analyses of clusters and individuals were shown to give identical solutions. With respect to the first dimension alone as well as with consideration of both dimensions, the following hypotheses were supported: (a) that the Physical Science Study Curriculum group and the control group would be generally located in different regions of the same joint space, the PSSC group being more densely distributed than controls in regions near Principles and Questioning, the controls being more densely distributed than the PSSC group in regions near Memory and Applications; (b) that achievement scores for PSSC clusters would be higher in regions near Principles and Questioning than in regions near Applications and Memory; and (c) that the region‐achievement relationship hypothesized in “b” would be stronger in the PSSC group than in the control group. Implications following from the analysis were discussed.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/108304/1/ets200128.pd

Will There Be a Role for a Short-Acting Biosimilar Erythropoiesis-Stimulating Agent in US Nephrology Practice?

Patent protection for pharmaceuticals in the United States is very robust and perhaps there is no greater example than epoetin alfa. Since the approval of epoetin alfa by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in 1989, the developer, Amgen (Thousand Oaks, CA), has successfully defended its patent against competing agents, such as epoetin beta (Chugai-Upjohn, Rosemont, IL), epoetin delta (Shire, Lexington, MA), and methoxy polyethylene glycol-epoetin beta (CERA; Roche, Basel, Switzerland). The US patent on epoetin alfa expired in 2015, opening the way for competition by products other than Amgen’s own darbepoetin. The first non-Amgen erythropoiesis-stimulating agent (ESA) to enter the US market was CERA, which had previously been approved by the FDA as a new drug under a biologic license application 351(a). Drugs approved through the 351(a) pathway must undergo expensive clinical testing, the cost of which is ultimately passed on to the consumer. ESAs are biologic drugs, defined by the FDA as “a virus, therapeutic serum, toxin, antitoxin, blood, blood component or derivative, allergenic product, protein (except any chemically synthesized polypeptide), or analogous product . . . applicable to the prevention, treatment of cure of a disease or condition of human beings.

A Patient-Centered Approach to Hemodialysis Vascular Access in the Era of Fistula First

The primary vascular access options for the hemodialysis population are arteriovenous fistulas (AVF), arteriovenous grafts, and cuffed central venous catheters (CVC). AVFs are associated with the most favorable outcomes with respect to complications, interventions required to maintain functionality and patency, and overall cost. These population-based outcomes, in conjunction with the efforts of the Fistula First Breakthrough Initiative, have propelled the prevalence of AVFs in the US hemodialysis population. While this endeavor remains steadfast in assuring the continued dominance of this policy for AVF preference, it fails to take into account a subset of the dialysis population who will fail to see the benefits of an AVF. This subset of patients may include the elderly, those with poor vasculature anatomy, those with slowly progressive CKD who are more likely to die than progress to ESRD, and those with an overall poor long-term prognosis and shortened life expectancy. Thus, in an effort to avoid numerous unnecessary surgical and interventional procedures with minimal to no gains in clinical outcomes, an individualized patient approach must be adopted. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services–instituted quality incentive program is designed to reward high AVF prevalence while also penalizing high CVC prevalence. The current model is devoid of case-based adjustment, thus penalties are disbursed to dialysis providers in accordance with a “one-size-fits-all” fistula only approach. The most suitable access for a patient remains the one that takes into account the characteristics unique to the individual patient with a primary focus on patient comfort, satisfaction, quality of life, and clinical outcomes

Tailoring Explanations for the User

In order for an expert system to provide the most effective explanations, it should be able to tailor its responses to the concerns of the user. One way in which explanations may be tailored is by point of view A method is presented for representing the knowledge to support different points of view in the current domain. In addition, we present a method for determining the point of view to take by inferring the user's goal within a brief discourse segment. The advising system's response to the derived goal depends on the strength of its belief in the inference for which a method of determination is also provided. This information enables the system to decide what answer to give to a question, which kind of justification is relevant, and when to provide it. Some details of the current implementation are included

Modelling Illegal Drug Participation

We contribute to the small, but important, literature exploring the incidence and implications of misreporting in survey data. Specifically, when modelling ‘social bads’, such as illegal drug consumption, researchers are often faced with exceptionally low reported participation rates. We propose a modelling framework where firstly an individual decides whether to participate or not and, secondly, for participants there is a subsequent decision to misreport or not. We explore misreporting in the context of the consumption of a system of drugs and specify a multivariate inflated probit model. Compared with observed participation rates of 12.2%, 3.2% and 1.3% (for use of marijuana, speed and cocaine respectively) the true participation rates are estimated to be almost double for marijuana (23%), and more than double for speed (8%) and cocaine (5%). The estimated chances that a user would misreport their participation is a staggering 65% for a hard drug like cocaine, and still about 31% and 17%, for the softer drugs of marijuana and speed

Harvey Wish to Jim, 18 December 1961

Professional correspondenc

OPERATIONAL PLANNING AND OPTIMIZATION OF SMALL DOMAIN SWARM DEFENSE STRATEGIES

This thesis considers the case of a drone defending a high-value target from a number of inbound attacking drones. The defending drone is equipped with short-range weapons and must destroy each of the attacking drones in the most efficient manner. This problem sits at the intersection of several open problems in applied mathematics, such as optimal motion planning in the presence of attrition, as well as solving a “traveling salesman problem” (TSP) with moving targets. The purpose of our research was to analyze this problem by decomposing it into the component problems and then presenting proof-of-concept solutions of each component. The primary results of this thesis include a modeling framework where optimization can be performed without requiring constraints; comparing the strengths of using different types of cost functions for optimization (e.g., minimizing the chance of high-value unit destruction versus a metric based on the path of the defender relative to attackers); and solving moving-target TSP in certain limits by mapping it onto standard TSP or using machine learning.Cruiser/ONRMajor, United States Marine CorpsApproved for public release. Distribution is unlimited