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One Objective (one + objective)
Selected AbstractsElasticities of market shares and social health insurance choice in germany: a dynamic panel data approachHEALTH ECONOMICS, Issue 3 2007Marcus Tamm Abstract In 1996, free choice of health insurers was introduced to the German social health insurance system. One objective was to increase efficiency through competition. A crucial precondition for effective competition among health insurers is that consumers search for lower-priced health insurers. We test this hypothesis by estimating the price elasticities of insurers' market shares. We use unique panel data and specify a dynamic panel model to explain changes in market shares. Estimation results suggest that short-run price elasticities are smaller than previously found by other studies. In the long-run, however, estimation results suggest substantial price effects. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source] Structured reminiscence: an intervention to decrease depression and increase self-transcendence in older womenJOURNAL OF CLINICAL NURSING, Issue 2 2006Cynthia Kellam Stinson MSN Aims/objectives., The purpose of this study was to assess the effect of group reminiscing on depression and self-transcendence of older women residing in an assisted living facility in southeast Texas. There were two major objectives for this study. One objective was to determine if depression decreased in older women after structured reminiscence group sessions held twice weekly for a six-week period. A second objective was to determine if self-transcendence increased after structured reminiscence group sessions held twice weekly for a six-week period. Background., Reminiscence has been studied to determine its impact on a variety of conditions including but not limited to depression, self-esteem, fatigue, isolation, socialization, well-being, language acquisition and cognitive functioning. This review of research specifically focused on reminiscence, depression, self-transcendence and older people. Design/methods., Two groups were assessed at baseline, three and six weeks to answer the research questions. A sample of 24 women between the ages of 72 and 96 years were randomly assigned to either a reminiscence (experimental) group or the activity (control) group of the facility. Pearson's r was used to determine the magnitude of the relationship between subjects' responses on the Geriatric Depression Scale and the Self-Transcendence Scale. A mixed design analysis of variance (anova) was used to determine if there was a difference between the experimental and control groups on scores of the Geriatric Depression Scale and the Self-Transcendence Scale at baseline, three and six weeks. Conclusions., Data revealed a non-significant decrease in depression and increase in self-transcendence in the reminiscence group at the completion of six weeks, indicating a trend toward a positive result with reminiscence group sessions. The study also revealed an inverse relationship between depression and self-transcendence. These findings underscore the importance of screening older people for depression. Relevance to clinical practice., One of the primary modalities used for the treatment of depression in elderly women is medication. Antidepressant medications lead to harmful side effects without alleviating the underlying depression. For these reasons, there is a need to research alternative therapies for treatment of depression in the older female. Reminiscence offers a possible intervention for treatment of depression in older women. [source] MAIN FACTORS CONTROLLING THE COMPOSITIONAL VARIABILITY OF SEEPAGE OILS FROM TRUJILLO STATE, WESTERN VENEZUELAJOURNAL OF PETROLEUM GEOLOGY, Issue 3 2010F. Galarraga The organic geochemistry of eighteen samples of seepage oils from Trujillo State, Western Venezuela, was investigated. These oils are probably derived from the predominantly marine Cretaceous La Luna Formation which is near peak maturity for oil generation. A range of biomarkers (n-alkanes, acyclic isoprenoids, phenanthrene and alkyl-phenanthrenes, as well as dibenzothiophene and alkyl-dibenzothiophenes) were analysed by gas chromatography - mass spectrometry (GC-MS). The seepage oils have been modified as a result of water washing and biodegradation. A first group of samples were slightly biodegraded with the partial loss of n- and iso-alkanes. Other samples fall into two groups: those that are moderately degraded, with partial depletion of acyclic isoprenoids; and those that are severely altered, as indicated by the partial or total absence of hopanes. One objective of this work was to evaluate the factors influencing the compositional differences of the three samples sets. In-situ measurements, together with the interpretation of the geochemical data, suggest that diverse factors were responsible for these variations. These included different degrees of alteration due to biodegradation and water washing, as well as differences in flow rate towards the surface. [source] Genetic differentiation among the Maculinea species (Lepidoptera: Lycaenidae) in eastern Central EuropeBIOLOGICAL JOURNAL OF THE LINNEAN SOCIETY, Issue 1 2007KATALIN PECSENYE The present study aimed to analyse the level of genetic variation in the eastern Central European (Slovenia, Hungary, and Romania/Transylvania) populations of the Large Blues (Maculinea) to analyse the pattern of differentiation both between and within the species. One objective was to compare the level of differentiation between the two disputed species (Maculinea alcon and Maculinea rebeli) with that among the other species. Imagos were collected from 23 localities in eastern Central Europe in 2002. Enzyme polymorphism was analysed using polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis. Fourteen enzyme loci were studied in all samples. In the analysis of the data, F -statistics and Nei's genetic distances were calculated and a dendrogram (unweighted pair group method with arithmetic mean) was constructed on the basis of the distance matrix. A multivariate analysis of variance was performed to study the pattern of genetic differentiation among the samples. Principal component analysis analysis was also carried out using the allele frequency data of the samples. Our results indicated that the large blues are generally less polymorphic than other European lycaenid butterflies studied. At the same time, the level of genetic differentiation was high, even among local populations within the species. A low level of genetic variation within the populations coupled with strong differentiation among them implies the effect of genetic drift. Strong genetic differentiation of four Maculinea species (M. alcon, Maculinea teleius, Maculinea nausithous, and Maculinea arion) was confirmed. Significant differentiation was not found between M. alcon and M. rebeli. © 2007 The Linnean Society of London, Biological Journal of the Linnean Society, 2007, 91, 11,21. [source] Multi-objective learning control for robotic manipulatorJOURNAL OF FIELD ROBOTICS (FORMERLY JOURNAL OF ROBOTIC SYSTEMS), Issue 10 2004Khin Kyu Kyu Win Several types of learning controllers have been proposed in the literature to improve the tracking performance of robot manipulators. In most cases, the learning algorithms emphasize mainly on a single objective of learning a desired motion of the end-effector. In some applications, more than one objective may be specified at the same time. For example, a robot may be required to follow a desired trajectory (primary objective) and at the same time avoid an obstacle (secondary objective). Thus, multi-objective learning control can be more effective to realize the collision-free tasks. In this paper, a multi-objective learning control problem is formulated and solved. In the proposed learning control system, the primary objective is to track a desired end-effector's motion and several secondary objectives can be specified for the desired orientation and for obstacles avoidance. To avoid obstacles in the workspace, a new learning concept called "region learning control" is also proposed in this paper. The proposed learning controllers do not require the exact knowledge of robot kinematics and dynamics. Sufficient condition is presented to guarantee the convergence of the learning system. The proposed learning controllers are applied to a four-link planar redundant manipulator and simulation results are presented to illustrate the performance. © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. [source] | ||||||||||