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This paper reports preliminary findings from the National Hospital Rate-Setting Study regarding the effects of State prospective reimbursement (PR) programs on measures of payroll costs and employment in hospitals. PR effects were estimated through reduced-form equations, using American Hospital Association Annual Survey data on over 2,700 hospitals from 1969 through 1978. These tests suggest t...

Feminine mysticism, practical devotion, and Cape Pietism, 1700–1860. In the last phase of Middle Ages, medieval piety mysticism converged in movement called Devotio Moderna (Modern Devotion). decades fourteenth century, Modern Devotion arose as a new religious northern Low Countries, had major influence upon life Europe. It was particularly popular with women; but until now, there has been litt...

Tattoos play an important role in many religions. Tattoos have been used for thousands of years as important tools in ritual and tradition. Judaism, Christianity, and Islam have been hostile to the use of tattoos, but many religions, in particular Buddhism and Hinduism, make extensive use of them. This article examines their use as tools for protection and devotion.

Philosophers of science increasingly recognize the importance of idealization: the intentional introduction of distortion into scientific theories. Yet this recognition has not yielded consensus about the nature of idealization. e literature of the past thirty years contains disparate characterizations and justifications, but little evidence of convergence towards a common position. Despite th...

This report considers the problems of scheduling transmissions in broadcast environments, including, wireless environments. Issues that affect the design of fair scheduling algorithms, and several alternative approaches to implementing fair scheduling in single-hop and multi-hop environments are identified.

Convergence of communication technologies and innovative product features are expanding themarkets for technological products and services. Prior literature on technology acceptance and use has focused on utilitarian belief factors as predictors of rational adoption decisions and subsequent user behavior. This presupposes that consumers’ intentions to use technology are based on functional or u...

The purpose of this position paper is to discuss the authors’ reflections on the use of Assistive Technologies to support user’s autonomy to perform the necessary Activities of Daily Living (ADL). In special, we will address the use of Agent-based robotic services.