Thesis (Ph.D)--Industrial and Systems Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology, 2009. / Committee Chair: Vidakovic, Branislav; Committee Member: Edwards, Paula; Committee Member: Griffin, Paul; Committee Member: Grinter, Rebecca; Committee Member: Mullis, Rebecca. Part of the SMARTech Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Collection.

Thesis (M.S.A.)--University of North Carolina at Wilmington, 2003. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves : [57]-58).

The purpose of this study was to investigate the impact of Medicare Part D on prescription utilization, health services utilization, and health care expenditures in the general Medicare population – as well as Medicare sub-populations, including non-Hispanic blacks (NHBs), Hispanics, near poor individuals, and persons with higher disease burden. A retrospective analysis of Medicare beneficiaries (N=32,228) was conducted using the Medical Expenditure Panel Survey 2002 to 2009 data. Multivariable quantile regression was used to estimate the following outcomes, adjusting for socio-demographic characteristics: 1) number of prescription fills; 2) out-of-pocket (OOP) drug expenditures; 3) total drug expenditures; 4) OOP health care expenditures; 5) total health care expenditures; 6) number of hospitalizations; and 7) number of emergency department (ED) visits between the pre-Part D (2002-2005) and post-Part D (2006-2009) periods. All expenditures were inflation-adjusted to 2009 dollars. The average age of the study sample was 71.0 (SD=14.5). In the general Medicare population, Part D was associated with decreases in OOP drug expenditures (-25.7% to -33.6%; p<0.0001) and OOP health care expenditures (-22.1% to -24.3%; p<0.0001) as well as increases in the number of prescription fills (5.8% to 8.4%; p<0.0001) and total drug expenditures (75th percentile: 5.5%; 90th percentile: 10.2%; p<0.0001). Part D was not associated with changes in total health care expenditures in the general Medicare population. Changes in hospitalizations and ED visits were tested at the 90th percentile, and the results were not statistically significant. In sub-group analyses based on race/ethnicity, non-Hispanic whites (NHWs) experienced more significant reductions in OOP drug and/or health care expenditures when compared with NHBs and Hispanics. Near poor beneficiaries experienced larger reductions in OOP drug expenditures than beneficiaries with middle- to high-income, while Medicare beneficiaries with three or more conditions experienced more substantial reductions in OOP drug and OOP health expenditures after Part D was introduced, compared with those with fewer than three conditions. Part D resulted in increases in medication utilization and reductions in OOP drug and OOP health care expenditures among Medicare beneficiaries. Part D was not associated with differences in total health care spending. The effects of Part D were more pronounced in Medicare subgroups, including NHWs, near poor individuals, and patients with higher chronic disease burden. / text

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The analysis of the literature and results of research allow to formulate the following conclusions: the national politics of Lithuania helps to keep to national minorities identity, to be integrated into economic and cultural life of the country. There is a line of the documents regulating the rights of national minorities. Schools of national minorities give enough attention to civic education. It is proved with the analysis of documents of education and the analysis of the contents of education. National minorities of Lithuania have favorable conditions not only for keeping identity, integration into cultural and economic life of the country, but also for civil education of youth. The most effective form of citizenship education is the lesson “Me and the World” (it 59 % of pupils and 56 % of teachers have specified). 49 % of pupils consider that to be the good citizen to them helps conversations with the teacher. During research of understanding by pupils of concept about “the good citizen” we have found out, that the good citizen is that men, who will always protect the country (so 32 % think). 66 % of pupils think, that become the good citizen is important not because of opinion of other people, and for the sake of itself. It specifies strong motivation of pupils to be active citizens in future. It has been found out, that 68 % of teachers have opinion what to teach civic education important from 1 class because all pupils of initial classes should be interested in the... [to full text]

This qualitative study examined the experiences of race scholars whose agenda include investigating and writing about racial issues which run counter to the entrenched ideas, values and philosophies of the dominant academic culture. It questioned the possible risks associated with race work, and it examined the available support and validation for race scholars within the academy. Perceived prejudices and micro-aggressions are examined, as well as coping strategies for navigating the political academic landscape. Designed as a narrative inquiry, the study utilized in-depth interviews and the analysis of written documents of four prominent race scholars, while critical race theory (CRT) served as the theoretical framework that guided the analysis. Critical race theory (CRT) serves as the theoretical framework for this study. CRT emphasizes the social constructs of race and the ensuing issues of racism, racial subordination and discrimination. Within the literature, CRT scholars suggest that the scholarship of faculty of color is often resisted, rejected, devalued, or subjugated by the dominant political regime in power. Further, research suggests that scholars of color and the race issues they examine are often the targets of a biased scrutiny within the academy. The results of this study reveal that race research carries potential personal and professional risks. Some of these are anticipated, others not. The results further support the importance of CRT concept of counterspace as both a coping strategy and a form of intellectual insurgence for race scholars within the academy. In addition, findings suggest that the impact and intersection of culture and language affect the experiences of scholars of color in significantly negative ways. Mentoring generally, and specifically amidst the politics of publishing, is very important to the scholar of color and is often the difference between success and failure. Also, micro-aggressions and racial subjugations, such as the assignation of Other seem to operate as a way to devalue the scholars and the research work they do. Finally, implications for better support for graduate students and emerging scholars are clearly evidenced.

CONTEXT: Although a large body of epidemiologic evidence suggests that socioeconomic status (SES) is one of the associated risk factors for poor health outcome, its impact on the prevalence of asthma in minority populations is not well understood. AIM: The purpose of this study is to examine the association of SES with asthma in American minority children. Specifically, this study is designed to determine the role of poverty status, insurance coverage, parental education, living conditions, and employment on the risks of asthma in non-Hispanic Black and Hispanic Americans. METHOD: The data (n=77,601) used in this study were retrieved from the National Survey of Children’s Health (NSCH) and the National Center for Health Statistics of 2003. Data on children aged 3-17 years were included in the analysis. Odds ratio from the multivariate logistic regression analysis was used to determine the association between SES variables and the risk of asthma. RESULTS: Non-Hispanic black children were 4 times more likely to develop asthma if their parents had a less than college education, 18 times more likely to develop asthma if they lived in a poverty-stricken environment, 11 times more likely to develop asthma if someone in the household smoked, and 25 times more likely to develop asthma if they were uninsured. Hispanic children are 35 times more likely to develop asthma if someone within the home smoked, and 145 times more likely to develop asthma if they were uninsured. Both African American and Hispanic children were over two times more likely to be hospitalized because of asthma than their non-Hispanic white counterparts. After adjusting for SES, there were no statistically significant differences in odds of asthma in non-Hispanic Black and Hispanic American children. CONCLUSION: Racial/ethnic differences in asthma are not fully explained by their differences in SES. Thus, a reduction and elimination of asthma among minority and Caucasian children requires a comprehensive understanding of the role of other factors. More research is needed to examine genetic and other social and environmental contributors to racial/ethnic differences in asthma.

The master graduation paper analyses the subject “Implementation of the Council of Europe Framework Convention for the protection of National Minorities by the Republic of Lithuania”. The goal of the graduation paper is to define implementation problems of the Framework Convention and to find possible solutions. At the first chapter a problem of defining a national minority in the international law and domestic law of the Republic of Lithuania is discussed. Since there is no definition of a national minority in the international law, it is being identified through analysis of international documents, traveaux préparatoires, expert opinions and doctrine. It is also analysed, if a notion in the domestic law is compatible with a conception in the international law. At the second chapter the main provisions of the Framework Convention are overviewed. Rights and freedoms of persons belonging to national minorities are analysed according to the case-law of the Advisory Committee of Council of Europe Committee of Ministers. Due to this analysis the main problems of implementation of the Framework Convention by Member States are identified. Moreover, the best practises according to the opinion of the Advisory Committee are presented, which may be used while protecting national minorities in Lithuania. At the third chapter implementation of the Framework Convention by the Republic of Lithuania is discussed. According to the analysis of the Advisory Committee the main problems of... [to full text]

Darbo tikslas - atskleisti teisinio ugdymo ypatumus tautinių mažumų mokyklose. Tyrimo objektas - tautinės mažumos mokyklos mokinių rašinių analizė teisinio ugdymo aspektu. Tikslui pasiekti vadovautasi moksline ir metodine literatūra, naudotas kokybinis tyrimo metodas – rašinių analizė. Darbo uždaviniai: 1) Išnagrinėti teisinio ugdymo ir tautinių mažumų sampratas; 2) Apžvelgti pagrindinius įstatymus, reglamentuojančius tautinių mažumų mokyklų teisinį švietimą; 3) Ištirti mokinių teisinį sąmoningumą rašto darbuose. Pirmoje dalyje išnagrinėtos ugdymo bei teisinio ugdymo sąvokos. Taip pat analizuojami teisės aktai, reglamentuojantys teisinį ugdymą. Antroje dalyje aptarta tautinių mažumų sąvoka ir išanalizuoti dokumentai, reglamentuojantys tautinių mažumų švietimą. Trečioje dalyje analizuojami mokinių rašiniai teisinio ugdymo aspektu. Darbą apibendrina išvados, teigiančios, kad tautinių mažumų mokiniai laiko save Lietuvos piliečiais. Jų pilietinė savimonė remiasi teisės normomis, galiojančiomis šalyje. / The aim of work – to reveal peculiarities of legal education at national minorities school. The object of this work – national minorities schoolchild’s analysis of an essay by legal education aspect. Scientific and methodical literature was going to reach the aim, was used a qualitative research – essays analysis. Tasks of the work: 1) To scrutinize the terms of legal education and national minorities; 2) To review the main laws which regulates the legal education of the school of national minorities; 3) To explore schoolchild’s consciousness at written work. The first part of this paper explore the terms of the education and legal education. Besides, will be analysed the legislation of legal education. The second part tries to scrutinize the term of national minority and to review the main laws which regulates the legal education of the school of national minorities. The third part explores an essays of schoolchild’s by legal education aspect. Conclusions of this work state that the national minorities schoolchild believe themselves as the citizens of Lithuania. Their civil self-consciousness is in conformity with the rules initiated in State.