Publications by authors named "N M Smith"

Importance: Many physician groups are in 2-sided risk payment arrangements with Medicare Advantage plans (at-risk MA). Analysis of quality and health resource use under such arrangements may inform ongoing Medicare policy concerning payment and service delivery.

Objective: To compare quality and efficiency measures under 2 payment models: at-risk MA and fee-for-service (FFS) MA.

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Grasslands cover approximately a third of the Earth's land surface and account for about a third of terrestrial carbon storage. Yet, we lack strong predictive models of grassland plant biomass, the primary source of carbon in grasslands. This lack of predictive ability may arise from the assumption of linear relationships between plant biomass and the environment and an underestimation of interactions of environmental variables.

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The chemical reactivity of glass surfaces is often studied with elemental analysis techniques, and although such characterization methods provide insights on compositional changes from exposure to specific chemical conditions, molecule-specific chemical reactions are not determined unambiguously. This study demonstrates the use of reflection-absorption infrared spectroscopy (RAIRS) to detect molecular species on alkali-free boroaluminosilicate and alkali aluminosilicate glasses, using acetic acid vapor as a model reactant to probe reaction sites at the surface with or without pretreatment by aqueous solutions of varied pH. With the assistance of the theoretical calculation of spectral changes based on refractive indices of bulk materials, it was possible to identify the molecular species being removed and produced at the glass surface.

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Objective: To explore quality of life outcomes for caregivers of children with childhood dementia including the positive and negative impact of caregiving. The secondary aim was to explore caregivers' perspectives on healthcare services for children with dementia.

Design: Cross-sectional, mixed-methods study with analyses of quantitative and qualitative data collected via online survey.

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