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Assessing whether a solution is optimal, or near-optimal, is fundamental in optimization. We describe a simple simulation-based procedure for assessing the quality of a candidate solution to a stochastic program. The procedure is easy to implement, widely applicable, and yields point and interval estimators on the candidate solutions optimality gap. Our simplest procedure allows for significant computational improvements. The improvements we detail aim to reduce computational effort through single- and two-replication procedures, reduce bias via a class of generalized jackknife estimators, and reduce variance by using a randomized quasi-Monte Carlo scheme. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Several protection and advocacy organizations that appeared in issue of "Nolo's Guide to Social Security Disability," are presented.

A variety of medical-vocational rules including age, education and work experience that appeared in the issue of "Nolo's Guide to Social Security Disability," is presented.

A variety of examples related to technical rationales for denials that appeared in the issue of "Nolo's Guide to Social Security Disability," is presented.

A glossary of bureaucratic terms related to the U.S. Social Security Administration (SSA).

Chapter 15 of the book "Nolo's Guide to Social Security Disability," is presented. It mentions about an authorized representative of an individual who receives disability benefits from the U.S. Social Security Administration (SSA). It mentions that in such cases the SSA works with the authorized representative instead of the claimant. It further mentions that an authorized representative could be either an attorney representative or a nonattorney representative.

Chapter 14 of the book "Nolo's Guide to Social Security Disability," is presented. It offers information about the continuing disability review (CDR). It mentions that the U.S. Social Security Administration (SSA) reviews all the individuals who receive disability benefits, at regular intervals. CDR is a complex process and is conducted by the officials of the Disability Determination Services (DDS) along with a disability examiner and a doctor.

Chapter 13 of the book "Nolo's Guide to Social Security Disability," is presented. It discusses the situation after an individual has been granted disability benefits from the U.S. Social Security Administration (SSA). It mentions that a Certificate of Award is given to the person who has been granted disability benefits. This certificate contains, answers to the questions concerning SSA. It further mentions on how a payment is decided for a person.

Chapter of the book "Nolo's Guide to Social Security Disability," is presented. It offers information about the request for reconsideration of the application by the claimant applying for disability benefits to the U.S. Social Security Administration (SSA). If the SSA has rejected a claim even after reconsideration then the claimant can appeal to an administrative law judge, SSA Appeals Council and federal courts.

Chapter 11 of the book "Nolo's Guide to Social Security Disability," is presented. It discusses the reasons for which an individual may be denied disability benefits offered by the U.S. Social Security Administration (SSA). The various factors contributing to the denial of services include, an individual having enough income and possessions, lack of communication between the claimant and SSA and absence of proper medical records from the claimant.

Chapter 10 of the book "Nolo's Guide to Social Security Disability," is presented. It offers information on the onset date used by the U.S. Social Security Administration (SSA) which represents the date on which the person became disabled. The several onset dates used by the SSA include Alleged onset date, Medical onset date and Established onset date. It mentions that the onset dates are important because the SSA may pay disability benefits prior to application.

Chapter 9 of the book "Nolo's Guide to Social Security Disability," is presented. It focuses on the medical-vocational factors considered by the U.S. Social Security Administration (SSA), while deciding the level of disability of an individual. The various vocational factors include, age, education and work experience. It further mentions that age, ability and work experience are important vocational factors as these determines an individual's capability and ability to adopt to work situation.

Chapter 8 of the book "Nolo's Guide to Social Security Disability," is presented. It offers information about the Residual Functional Capacity (RFC) of the U.S. Social Security Administration (SSA). It mentions that RFC is an assessment from the SSA under which an individual is considered to be capable of doing some work despite of his physical disabilities, impairments and related symptoms. The RFC assessment is a medical decision that determines an individual's degree or level of disability.

Chapter 7 of the book "Nolo's Guide to Social Security Disability," is presented. It discusses the process of scrutinizing the applications for disability benefits. It mentions that whether an application is processed at the Disability Determination Service (DDS), in the federal court and an administrative law judge (ALJ), the U.S. Social Security Administration (SSA) require that issues must be evaluated in a particular order. It further discusses the various steps which are followed.

Chapter 6 of the book "Nolo's Guide to Social Security Disability," is presented. It offers information on the Disability Determination Services (DDS) of the U.S. Social Security Administration (SSA). It mentions that the DDS makes a final decision on the applications claiming for disability benefits. The DDS offices receive, funds from the federal government and follows federal laws and regulations.

Chapter 5 of the book "Nolo's Guide to Social Security Disability," is presented. It discusses the documents required while applying for the disability benefits offered by the U.S. Social Security Administration (SSA). It mentions that any individual applying for the disability benefits must provide the SSA authentic, thorough and sufficient medical records. It further mentions that after receiving the documents the SSA reviews the genuineness of the records and the source hospital or clinic.

Chapter 4 of the book "Nolo's Guide to Social Security Disability," is presented. It offers information on the presumptive disability (PD) payments offered by the U.S. Social Security Administration (SSA). It mentions that PD are offered to those individuals who while applying for Supplemental Security Income (SSI) program are found eligible for the disabled payments. An individual may receive PD from SSA up to 6 months while the application for disability benefits is still under process.

Chapter 3 of the book "Nolo's Guide to Social Security Disability," is presented. It focuses on the disability benefits offered to children by the U.S. Social Security Administration (SSA). It mentions that children under the age of 18 years are considered for Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) and Supplemental Security Income (SSI), if the child depends on a person receiving disability benefits or death of the person receiving disability benefits on whom, the child was dependent.

Chapter 2 of the book "Nolo's Guide to Social Security Disability," is presented. It offers suggestions to apply for a disability claim at the U.S. Social Security Administration (SSA). The basic information required by the SSA include proper documentation of the symptoms, medical record from the doctor and record related to the impact of illness on the job. It also offers information on applying disability benefits at the local office, over phone and Internet and lists the documents required.

Chapter 1 of the book "Nolo's Guide to Social Security Disability," is presented. It focuses on the programs under which the U.S. Social Security Administration (SSA) grant disability payments. These program are Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI), for workers who have contributed to Social Security trust fund and Supplemental Security Income (SSI), for disabled individuals with limited income. It also discusses the various eligibility criteria to qualify for SSDA and SSI.

The article focuses on the Social Security disability benefits provided by the U.S. government. It mentions that the social security disability benefits are supervised by the U.S. Social Security Administration (SSA) of the U.S. The benefits offered by the SSA include financial support to the individuals with mental or physical disorders. It further mentions that the SSA grant disability payments under Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) and Supplemental Security Income (SSI).

Other chapters in this book have drawn the reader's attention to the devastation caused by HIV infection, not only to the individuals concerned but also to their families and dependants. Moreover, there are direct effects on others in the community such as doctors, nurses, health workers and care givers and; as well as running the risk of themselves becoming infected, they are exposed daily to the harrowing tragedies of those afflicted by this disease. AIDS not only drastically reduces life expectancy of the individual, but also the quality of that life. In addition to these costs are the indirect costs that further burden a stretched national economy, particularly in regard to health care services, as spending on AIDS reduces unit resources for all those that are in the system. A choice between caring for someone with AIDS in their last few weeks or days of life, or saving the life of a newborn, or repairing a fractured bone, should never have to be faced, but it is in many countries on a daily basis. Set against this background how can some people value the lives of nonhuman animals to the point where they might want to restrict or even stop the use of animals to gain insights and cures for these HIV diseases? [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This chapter has dealt with various practical aspects of working with laboratory animals and this conclusion tries to draw its seemingly disparate aspects together. The laws in Europe require that all animals should be anaesthetised for the whole of the experiment unless that would mean that the scientific objective could not be achieved, or unless the adverse effects of giving an anaesthetic would cause more animal suffering that not doing so. Most of the time animals are not anaesthetized for the scientific procedure, and in the UK statistics show that this happens in more than 90% of cases. However, it becoming increasingly apparent that procedures such as handling, dosing and sampling, and even the giving of an appropriate anaesthetic suitable for the species and duration of the procedure, are important for both the welfare of the animal as well as for the scientific output. Poor animal welfare can often lead to poor science because of the increased variance of results. Furthermore, the results may be skewed as a direct result of the incidental suffering. In some cases it may not matter scientifically but legally and ethically it does. We should always aim to minimise animal suffering in research and it is because of that imperative we have to be able to recognize when animals are in pain and distress. Only then can we take steps to avoid it, to minimise it, or to relieve it and so act humanely. We should cause only the minimum level of suffering in an experiment and we should cause no more than that to the fewest number of animals consistent with good science. To cause more suffering than is necessary would be to act inhumanely. Sometimes it may be possible to implement early endpoints and so reduce animal suffering, e.g. when the scientific objective has been achieved, but at other times animals have to be killed as they have come to the end of the experiment or occasionally their suffering is too great to be justified. Even killing animals can be done badly and so that too should be done causing as little pain and distress as possible. I hope that this chapter in some small way will provide helpful practical guidance and will act as a stimulus for the reader to always try to promote better animal wellbeing as well as good science. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It is now well established that protein phosphorylation is one of the most common forms of posttranslational modification of proteins and that it is of major importance in regulating the activity of proteins (Krebs and Beavo, 1979; Wold, 1983). Furthermore, protein phosphorylation regulates many aspects of cell physiology (e.g., Cohen, 1982). In 1976, Paul Greengard first described a model for explaining the molecular basis by which various neurotransmitters act via the intracellular messenger, CAMP. (Greengard, 1976). He proposed that these effects were mediated by the action of cAMP-dependent protein kinase (A-kinase), which catalyzed the phosphorylation of various proteins in the postsynaptic membrane. Furthermore, he also described how presynaptic effects could be regulated by the action of CAMP and A-kinase (Greengard, 1976). Since then, many studies have revealed the types of proteins phosphorylated in the nervous system, not by only A-kinase, but by other kinases, and how protein phosphorylation may regulate and modulate various aspects of neuronal function (Browning et al., 1985; Nairn et al., 1985b; Greengard, 1987). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]