Suchergebnisse

At top of each page: Colorado State University: SHRP 2 C21A, April 2012. ; August 2012. ; Includes bibliographical references (pages 121-123). ; Awareness of the need for more effective, streamlined, and integrated planning of transportation improvements has permeated all levels of government, and has become a top priority to advance the level of sophistication and integration for transportation planning. For example, the Federal Highways Administration (FHWA) has committed to the use of collaborative approaches to transportation planning, and has established environmental streamlining and stewardship as a major strategic direction for the agency. These approaches are now being recognized for their effectiveness and impact on reduced costs, fewer delays, and better environmental outcomes. Modernized, integrated concepts of transportation planning are the focus of research being supported through the Strategic Highways Research Programs. A significant advancement in this field is the development of the Integrated EcoLogical Framework (referred to hereafter as IEF or Framework) that has resulted from the SHRP 2 CO6 projects. Given the progressive approaches that have been embraced and implemented by the Colorado Department of Transportation (CDOT), such as the Shortgrass Prairie Initiative, the Framework has a strong potential to further advance efforts to insert proactive natural resource conservation into the transportation planning process. At this stage in the evolution of these practices, a process has been developed that holds great promise for improving ecosystem and species recovery and watershed restoration, but it has yet to be adequately tested. This approach represents a major paradigm shift for transportation planning, and before it is (or should be) embraced by the planning community it requires testing, followed, if necessary, by refinements and adjustments. Thus, the Framework, while leading towards better answers and better results, leaves planners with many crucial questions at this juncture. According to the results of C06 research, three main barriers to successful environmental outcomes of transportation projects include lack of resources, lack of data, and resistance to change. CO6 identified three recommended solutions: 1) integrated planning (incorporating transportation, land use, and conservation in practical and effective ways), 2) making data available to support project and planning needs, and 3) the identification of priority conservation areas where opportunities for avoidance, preservation, and restoration can be seized. In this project, the research team addressed all three of these needs, as well as the other questions defined by the research team.

No modern intervention is intended to endure indefinitely; indeed some fashion of exit is always envisioned from the outset. This commitment to an exit is normally informed by an exit strategy. Whilst strategies of closure have been scrutinised recently, not least in light of charges of defective intentions and planning, the relations between the strategies, operations and tactics of exit have not been contextualised. Focus on the local, specific and bottom-up manifestations of transitions offers significant enhances to historical, theoretical and applied understandings. This book is an introduction not just to the issues of transition, handover and withdrawal, but to exit as a package of theoretical concepts and how these have been understood, shaped and employed in historic and contemporary perspective. Drawing on a wide range of post-1945 examples derived from a variety of regions and periods, this book provides researchers and practitioners with a source book on what forms a crucial and often overlooked element of past and present interventions

Introduction -- Descriptive Statistics -- Data Visualization -- Descriptive Data Mining -- Probability: An Introduction to Modeling Uncertainty -- Statistical Inference -- Linear Regression -- Time Series Analysis and Forecasting -- Predictive Data Mining -- Spreadsheet Models -- Monte Carlo Simulation -- Linear Optimization Models -- Integer Linear Optimization Models -- Nonlinear Optimization Models -- Decision Analysis -- Basics of Excel -- Database Basics with Microsoft Access -- Solutions to Even-Numbered Questions (MindTap Reader)

Pediatric value-based payment reform has been hindered by limited return on investment (ROI) for child-focused measures and the accrual of financial benefits to non-health care sectors. States participating in the federally-funded Integrated Care for Kids (InCK) models are required to design child-centered alternative payment models (APMs) for Medicaid-enrolled children. The North Carolina InCK pediatric APM launched in January 2023 and includes innovative measures focused on school readiness and social needs. We interviewed experts at NC Medicaid managed care organizations, NC Medicaid, and actuaries with pediatric value-based payment experience to assess the NC InCK APM design process and develop strategies for future child-focused value-based payment reform. Key principles emerging from conversations included: accounting for payer priorities and readiness to implement measures; impact of data uncertainty on investment in novel measures; misalignment of a short-term ROI framework with whole child health measures; and state levers like mandates and financial incentives to promote implementation.

AbstractFarm bill programs impacting beef cattle producers have been dispersed throughout previous farm bills. Greater attention on cattle markets in recent years is likely to lead to increased debate on beef cattle topics ahead of the 2023 Farm Bill. We examine cattle topics found in previous farm bills as indicators of future farm bill inclusion. We then discuss recent market events and resulting policy requests by producers. We subsequently focus on current topics that seem likely to spill over into farm bill debate, and we finish with suggestions regarding where agricultural economists can provide useful input into the policy process.

Purpose.To assess the relationship between modifiable health risks and total health care expenditures for a large employee group.Design.Risk data were collected through voluntary participation in health risk assessment (HRA) and worksite biometric screenings and were linked at the individual level to health care plan enrollment and expenditure data from employers' fee-for-service plans over the 6-year study period.Setting.The setting was worksite health promotion programs sponsored by six large private-sector and public-sector employers.Subjects.Of the 50% of employees who completed the HRA, 46,026 (74.7%) met all inclusion criteria for the analysis.Measures.Eleven risk factors (exercise, alcohol use, eating, current and former tobacco use, depression, stress, blood pressure, cholesterol, weight, and blood glucose) were dichotomized into high-risk and lower-risk levels. The association between risks and expenditures was estimated using a two-part regression model, controlling for demographics and other confounders. Risk prevalence data were used to estimate group-level impact of risks on expenditures.Results.Risk factors were associated with 25% of total expenditures. Stress was the most costly factor, with tobacco use, overweight, and lack of exercise also being linked to substantial expenditures.Conclusions.Modifiable risk factors contribute substantially to overall health care expenditures. Health promotion programs that reduce these risks may be beneficial for employers in controlling health care costs.

AbstractHuman newborns can propel themselves to their mother's breast when positioned skin to skin on her abdomen just after birth. For decades, researchers have considered this primitive crawling behavior a spinal reflex, immune to supra spinal control. However, recent research suggests that neonatal crawling is already responsive to visual and olfactory stimuli processed at a supra spinal level. Here we report that a few hours post birth, French newborns can also modulate their crawling in response to their native language – a source of information that is processed supra‐spinally. The crawling patterns of 23 French‐born newborns were recorded on video and via an infrared motion capture system during two randomly ordered 2‐min trials. The newborns were secured on a mini skateboard to facilitate arm and leg movements during their crawling propulsion. They heard a repetitive sequence of the same sentences either in French, their native language, or in English, a rhythmically different and hence discriminable unfamiliar language, on each trial. In French, compared to English, crawling was enhanced, with significantly more arm and leg steps and significantly more and larger trunk rotations in the cephalo‐caudal axis. Moreover, newborns rotated their heads and trunk toward the appropriate loud speaker when hearing French but not English. These preliminary findings suggest that newborn crawling is not a simple stereotyped reflex under spinal control, but a complex pattern that can be modulated in response to higher‐order, supra‐spinally processed stimuli. The findings open fascinating questions about the range of stimuli to which newborn crawling is responsive.