Medicare Program; Revisions to Payment Policies Under the Physician Fee Schedule and Other Revisions to Part B for CY 2017; Medicare Advantage Bid Pricing Data Release; Medicare Advantage and Part D Medical Loss Ratio Data Release; Medicare Advantage Provider Network Requirements; Expansion of Medicare Diabetes Prevention Program Model; Medicare Shared Savings Program Requirements. Final rule.

PubMed

2016-11-15

This major final rule addresses changes to the physician fee schedule and other Medicare Part B payment policies, such as changes to the Value Modifier, to ensure that our payment systems are updated to reflect changes in medical practice and the relative value of services, as well as changes in the statute. This final rule also includes changes related to the Medicare Shared Savings Program, requirements for Medicare Advantage Provider Networks, and provides for the release of certain pricing data from Medicare Advantage bids and of data from medical loss ratio reports submitted by Medicare health and drug plans. In addition, this final rule expands the Medicare Diabetes Prevention Program model.

Accuracy Maximization Analysis for Sensory-Perceptual Tasks: Computational Improvements, Filter Robustness, and Coding Advantages for Scaled Additive Noise

PubMed Central

Burge, Johannes

2017-01-01

Accuracy Maximization Analysis (AMA) is a recently developed Bayesian ideal observer method for task-specific dimensionality reduction. Given a training set of proximal stimuli (e.g. retinal images), a response noise model, and a cost function, AMA returns the filters (i.e. receptive fields) that extract the most useful stimulus features for estimating a user-specified latent variable from those stimuli. Here, we first contribute two technical advances that significantly reduce AMA’s compute time: we derive gradients of cost functions for which two popular estimators are appropriate, and we implement a stochastic gradient descent (AMA-SGD) routine for filter learning. Next, we show how the method can be used to simultaneously probe the impact on neural encoding of natural stimulus variability, the prior over the latent variable, noise power, and the choice of cost function. Then, we examine the geometry of AMA’s unique combination of properties that distinguish it from better-known statistical methods. Using binocular disparity estimation as a concrete test case, we develop insights that have general implications for understanding neural encoding and decoding in a broad class of fundamental sensory-perceptual tasks connected to the energy model. Specifically, we find that non-orthogonal (partially redundant) filters with scaled additive noise tend to outperform orthogonal filters with constant additive noise; non-orthogonal filters and scaled additive noise can interact to sculpt noise-induced stimulus encoding uncertainty to match task-irrelevant stimulus variability. Thus, we show that some properties of neural response thought to be biophysical nuisances can confer coding advantages to neural systems. Finally, we speculate that, if repurposed for the problem of neural systems identification, AMA may be able to overcome a fundamental limitation of standard subunit model estimation. As natural stimuli become more widely used in the study of psychophysical and

Did Babe Ruth Have a Comparative Advantage as a Pitcher?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Scahill, Edward M.

1990-01-01

Advocates using baseball statistics to illustrate the advantages of specialization in production. Using Babe Ruth's record as an analogy, suggests a methodology for determining a player's comparative advantage as a teaching illustration. Includes the team's statistical profile in five tables to explain comparative advantage and profit maximizing.…

An Overview on Additive Manufacturing of Polymers

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jasiuk, Iwona; Abueidda, Diab W.; Kozuch, Christopher; Pang, Siyuan; Su, Frances Y.; McKittrick, Joanna

2018-03-01

We present an overview on additive manufacturing (AM), also called three-dimensional printing, with a focus on polymers. First, we introduce the AM concept. Next, we outline several AM processes, including their advantages and limitations, and list common polymers that are used in commercial printers. Then, we state various AM applications and present two examples. We conclude with a global view of the AM field, its challenges, and future directions.

Systems and Methods for Fabricating Objects Including Amorphous Metal Using Techniques Akin to Additive Manufacturing

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Hofmann, Douglas (Inventor)

2017-01-01

Systems and methods in accordance with embodiments of the invention fabricate objects including amorphous metals using techniques akin to additive manufacturing. In one embodiment, a method of fabricating an object that includes an amorphous metal includes: applying a first layer of molten metallic alloy to a surface; cooling the first layer of molten metallic alloy such that it solidifies and thereby forms a first layer including amorphous metal; subsequently applying at least one layer of molten metallic alloy onto a layer including amorphous metal; cooling each subsequently applied layer of molten metallic alloy such that it solidifies and thereby forms a layer including amorphous metal prior to the application of any adjacent layer of molten metallic alloy; where the aggregate of the solidified layers including amorphous metal forms a desired shape in the object to be fabricated; and removing at least the first layer including amorphous metal from the surface.

Comparison of Home Advantage in College and Professional Team Sports in the United States.

PubMed

Pollard, Richard; Gómez, Miguel A

2015-09-01

Home advantage in seven American college team sports (baseball, basketball, football, hockey, lacrosse, soccer and women's basketball) was compared with professional leagues in the United States for the same sports and for the same time period. A total of 81,063 college games and 22,477 professional games were analyzed for the four seasons 2006-07 to 2009-10. There was a significant home advantage, as measured by home winning percentage, in all sports, both college and professional. The overall home advantage in college sports was significantly greater than in professional sports (p<0.015). The mean difference was 3.73 home winning percentage points, being greatest for baseball, basketball, and hockey (all p<0.001). Plausible explanations for these results include differences in college and professional competition in terms of familiarity with local conditions, referee bias, territoriality and psychological factors. However, the influence of travel fatigue was inconclusive. Only for soccer was the home advantage greater for professionals. This was the only sport where crowd size appeared to be having an effect. In addition the rules of college soccer allow more substitution and hence greater coach intervention than in professional soccer, a factor that could also be reducing home advantage.

Advantages and Disadvantages of Transtibial, Anteromedial Portal, and Outside-In Femoral Tunnel Drilling in Single-Bundle Anterior Cruciate Ligament Reconstruction: A Systematic Review.

PubMed

Robin, Brett N; Jani, Sunil S; Marvil, Sean C; Reid, John B; Schillhammer, Carl K; Lubowitz, James H

2015-07-01

Controversy exists regarding the best method for creating the knee anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) femoral tunnel or socket. The purpose of this study was to systematically review the risks, benefits, advantages, and disadvantages of the endoscopic transtibial (TT) technique, anteromedial portal technique, outside-in technique, and outside-in retrograde drilling technique for creating the ACL femoral tunnel. A PubMed search of English-language studies published between January 1, 2000, and February 17, 2014, was performed using the following keywords: "anterior cruciate ligament" AND "femoral tunnel." Included were studies reporting risks, benefits, advantages, and/or disadvantages of any ACL femoral technique. In addition, references of included articles were reviewed to identify potential studies missed in the original search. A total of 27 articles were identified through the search. TT technique advantages include familiarity and proven long-term outcomes; disadvantages include the risk of nonanatomic placement because of constrained (TT) drilling. Anteromedial portal technique advantages include unconstrained anatomic placement; disadvantages include technical challenges, short tunnels or sockets, and posterior-wall blowout. Outside-in technique advantages include unconstrained anatomic placement; disadvantages include the need for 2 incisions. Retrograde drilling technique advantages include unconstrained anatomic placement, as well as all-epiphyseal drilling in skeletally immature patients; disadvantages include the need for fluoroscopy for all-epiphyseal drilling. There is no one, single, established "gold-standard" technique for creation of the ACL femoral socket. Four accepted techniques show diverse and subjective advantages, disadvantages, risks, and benefits. Level V, systematic review of Level II through V evidence. Copyright © 2015 Arthroscopy Association of North America. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Including non-additive genetic effects in Bayesian methods for the prediction of genetic values based on genome-wide markers

PubMed Central

2011-01-01

Background Molecular marker information is a common source to draw inferences about the relationship between genetic and phenotypic variation. Genetic effects are often modelled as additively acting marker allele effects. The true mode of biological action can, of course, be different from this plain assumption. One possibility to better understand the genetic architecture of complex traits is to include intra-locus (dominance) and inter-locus (epistasis) interaction of alleles as well as the additive genetic effects when fitting a model to a trait. Several Bayesian MCMC approaches exist for the genome-wide estimation of genetic effects with high accuracy of genetic value prediction. Including pairwise interaction for thousands of loci would probably go beyond the scope of such a sampling algorithm because then millions of effects are to be estimated simultaneously leading to months of computation time. Alternative solving strategies are required when epistasis is studied. Methods We extended a fast Bayesian method (fBayesB), which was previously proposed for a purely additive model, to include non-additive effects. The fBayesB approach was used to estimate genetic effects on the basis of simulated datasets. Different scenarios were simulated to study the loss of accuracy of prediction, if epistatic effects were not simulated but modelled and vice versa. Results If 23 QTL were simulated to cause additive and dominance effects, both fBayesB and a conventional MCMC sampler BayesB yielded similar results in terms of accuracy of genetic value prediction and bias of variance component estimation based on a model including additive and dominance effects. Applying fBayesB to data with epistasis, accuracy could be improved by 5% when all pairwise interactions were modelled as well. The accuracy decreased more than 20% if genetic variation was spread over 230 QTL. In this scenario, accuracy based on modelling only additive and dominance effects was generally superior to

Comparing models of the combined-stimulation advantage for speech recognition.

PubMed

Micheyl, Christophe; Oxenham, Andrew J

2012-05-01

The "combined-stimulation advantage" refers to an improvement in speech recognition when cochlear-implant or vocoded stimulation is supplemented by low-frequency acoustic information. Previous studies have been interpreted as evidence for "super-additive" or "synergistic" effects in the combination of low-frequency and electric or vocoded speech information by human listeners. However, this conclusion was based on predictions of performance obtained using a suboptimal high-threshold model of information combination. The present study shows that a different model, based on Gaussian signal detection theory, can predict surprisingly large combined-stimulation advantages, even when performance with either information source alone is close to chance, without involving any synergistic interaction. A reanalysis of published data using this model reveals that previous results, which have been interpreted as evidence for super-additive effects in perception of combined speech stimuli, are actually consistent with a more parsimonious explanation, according to which the combined-stimulation advantage reflects an optimal combination of two independent sources of information. The present results do not rule out the possible existence of synergistic effects in combined stimulation; however, they emphasize the possibility that the combined-stimulation advantages observed in some studies can be explained simply by non-interactive combination of two information sources.

Views of Japanese patients on the advantages and disadvantages of hemodialysis and peritoneal dialysis.

PubMed

Nakamura-Taira, Nanako; Muranaka, Yoshimi; Miwa, Masako; Kin, Seikon; Hirai, Kei

2013-08-01

The preference for dialysis modalities is not well understood in Japan. This study explored the subjective views of Japanese patients undergoing dialysis regarding their treatments. The participants were receiving in-center hemodialysis (CHD) or continuous ambulatory peritoneal dialysis (CAPD). In Study 1, 34 participants (17 CHD and 17 CAPD) were interviewed about the advantages and disadvantages of dialysis modalities. In Study 2, 454 dialysis patients (437 CHD and 17 CAPD) rated the advantages and disadvantages of CHD and CAPD in a cross-sectional survey. Interviews showed that professional care and dialysis-free days were considered as advantages of CHD, while independence, less hospital visits, and flexibility were considered as advantages of CAPD. Disadvantages of CHD included restriction of food and fluids and unpleasant symptoms after each dialysis session. Catheter care was an additional disadvantage of CAPD. Survey showed that the highly ranked advantages were professional care in CHD and less frequent hospital visits in CAPD, while the highly ranked disadvantages were concerns about emergency and time restrictions in CHD, and catheter care and difficulty in soaking in a bath in CAPD. The total scores of advantages and disadvantages showed that CHD patients subjectively rated their own modality better CHD over CAPD, while CAPD patients had the opposite opinion. The results of this study indicate that the factors affecting the decision-making process of Japanese patients are unique to Japanese culture, namely considering the trouble caused to the people around patients (e.g., families, spouses, and/or caregivers).

Home advantage and player nationality in international club football.

PubMed

Poulter, Damian R

2009-06-01

The home advantage effect was investigated at a team and player level in Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) Champions League football using in-depth performance and disciplinary variables. Performance analysis revealed that the home team scored more goals, had more shots on and off target, had a greater share of possession, and won more corners than the away team. There was an opposite trend for disciplinary variables, with the home team committing less fouls than the away team, and receiving less yellow and red cards. There were home advantage effects at player level for goals, total shots, shots on target, assists, and yellow cards, as found in the team analysis. In addition, foreign players demonstrated a home advantage effect for goals scored, whereas domestic players scored an equivalent number of goals at home and away venues. Results are discussed in relation to the home advantage literature and wider implications for the sport.

Is bilingualism losing its advantage? A bibliometric approach

PubMed Central

López-Penadés, Raúl; Buil-Legaz, Lucía; Aguilar-Mediavilla, Eva; Adrover-Roig, Daniel

2017-01-01

This study uses several bibliometric indices to explore the temporal course of publication trends regarding the bilingual advantage in executive control over a ten-year window. These indices include the number of published papers, numbers of citations, and the journal impact factor. According to the information available in their abstracts, studies were classified into one of four categories: supporting, ambiguous towards, not mentioning, or challenging the bilingual advantage. Results show that the number of papers challenging the bilingual advantage increased notably in 2014 and 2015. Both the average impact factor and the accumulated citations as of June 2016 were equivalent between categories. However, of the studies published in 2014, those that challenge the bilingual advantage accumulated more citations in June 2016 than those supporting it. Our findings offer evidence-based bibliometric information about the current state of the literature and suggest a change in publication trends regarding the literature on the bilingual advantage. PMID:28426797

Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy: Part II. Advantages of FT-IR.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Perkins, W. D.

1987-01-01

This is Part II in a series on Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR). Described are various advantages of FT-IR spectroscopy including energy advantages, wavenumber accuracy, constant resolution, polarization effects, and stepping at grating changes. (RH)

Enhanced shoot investment makes invasive plants exhibit growth advantages in high nitrogen conditions.

PubMed

Liu, X A; Peng, Y; Li, J J; Peng, P H

2018-03-12

Resource amendments commonly promote plant invasions, raising concerns over the potential consequences of nitrogen (N) deposition; however, it is unclear whether invaders will benefit from N deposition more than natives. Growth is among the most fundamental inherent traits of plants and thus good invaders may have superior growth advantages in response to resource amendments. We compared the growth and allocation between invasive and native plants in different N regimes including controls (ambient N concentrations). We found that invasive plants always grew much larger than native plants in varying N conditions, regardless of growth- or phylogeny-based analyses, and that the former allocated more biomass to shoots than the latter. Although N addition enhanced the growth of invasive plants, this enhancement did not increase with increasing N addition. Across invasive and native species, changes in shoot biomass allocation were positively correlated with changes in whole-plant biomass; and the slope of this relationship was greater in invasive plants than native plants. These findings suggest that enhanced shoot investment makes invasive plants retain a growth advantage in high N conditions relative to natives, and also highlight that future N deposition may increase the risks of plant invasions.

Medicare Advantage Plans

MedlinePlus

... enrollment Find & compare doctors, hospitals, & other providers Medicare Advantage Plans A type of Medicare health plan offered ... a private company that contracts with Medicare. Medicare Advantage Plans provide all of your Part A and ...

Effects of additional data on Bayesian clustering.

PubMed

Yamazaki, Keisuke

2017-10-01

Hierarchical probabilistic models, such as mixture models, are used for cluster analysis. These models have two types of variables: observable and latent. In cluster analysis, the latent variable is estimated, and it is expected that additional information will improve the accuracy of the estimation of the latent variable. Many proposed learning methods are able to use additional data; these include semi-supervised learning and transfer learning. However, from a statistical point of view, a complex probabilistic model that encompasses both the initial and additional data might be less accurate due to having a higher-dimensional parameter. The present paper presents a theoretical analysis of the accuracy of such a model and clarifies which factor has the greatest effect on its accuracy, the advantages of obtaining additional data, and the disadvantages of increasing the complexity. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Additive manufacturing of tunable lenses

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Schlichting, Katja; Novak, Tobias; Heinrich, Andreas

2017-02-01

Individual additive manufacturing of optical systems based on 3D Printing offers varied possibilities in design and usage. In addition to the additive manufacturing procedure, the usage of tunable lenses allows further advantages for intelligent optical systems. Our goal is to bring the advantages of additive manufacturing together with the huge potential of tunable lenses. We produced tunable lenses as a bundle without any further processing steps, like polishing. The lenses were designed and directly printed with a 3D Printer as a package. The design contains the membrane as an optical part as well as the mechanical parts of the lens, like the attachments for the sleeves which contain the oil. The dynamic optical lenses were filled with an oil. The focal length of the lenses changes due to a change of the radius of curvature. This change is caused by changing the pressure in the inside of the lens. In addition to that, we designed lenses with special structures to obtain different areas with an individual optical power. We want to discuss the huge potential of this technology for several applications. Further, an appropriate controlling system is needed. Wéll show the possibilities to control and regulate the optical power of the lenses. The lenses could be used for illumination tasks, and in the future, for individual measurement tasks. The main advantage is the individuality and the possibility to create an individual design which completely fulfills the requirements for any specific application.

Technical and cost advantages of silicon carbide telescopes for small-satellite imaging applications

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kasunic, Keith J.; Aikens, Dave; Szwabowski, Dean; Ragan, Chip; Tinker, Flemming

2017-09-01

Small satellites ("SmallSats") are a growing segment of the Earth imaging and remote sensing market. Designed to be relatively low cost and with performance tailored to specific end-use applications, they are driving changes in optical telescope assembly (OTA) requirements. OTAs implemented in silicon carbide (SiC) provide performance advantages for space applications but have been predominately limited to large programs. A new generation of lightweight and thermally-stable designs is becoming commercially available, expanding the application of SiC to small satellites. This paper reviews the cost and technical advantages of an OTA designed using SiC for small satellite platforms. Taking into account faceplate fabrication quilting and surface distortion after gravity release, an optimized open-back SiC design with a lightweighting of 70% for a 125-mm SmallSat-class primary mirror has an estimated mass area density of 2.8 kg/m2 and an aspect ratio of 40:1. In addition, the thermally-induced surface error of such optimized designs is estimated at λ/150 RMS per watt of absorbed power. Cost advantages of SiC include reductions in launch mass, thermal-management infrastructure, and manufacturing time based on allowable assembly tolerances.

3D-printed Microfluidic Devices: Fabrication, Advantages and Limitations—a Mini Review

PubMed Central

Chen, Chengpeng; Mehl, Benjamin T.; Munshi, Akash S.; Townsend, Alexandra D.; Spence, Dana M.; Martin, R. Scott

2016-01-01

A mini-review with 79 references. In this review, the most recent trends in 3D-printed microfluidic devices are discussed. In addition, a focus is given to the fabrication aspects of these devices, with the supplemental information containing detailed instructions for designing a variety of structures including: a microfluidic channel, threads to accommodate commercial fluidic fittings, a flow splitter; a well plate, a mold for PDMS channel casting; and how to combine multiple designs into a single device. The advantages and limitations of 3D-printed microfluidic devices are thoroughly discussed, as are some future directions for the field. PMID:27617038

3D-printed Microfluidic Devices: Fabrication, Advantages and Limitations-a Mini Review.

PubMed

Chen, Chengpeng; Mehl, Benjamin T; Munshi, Akash S; Townsend, Alexandra D; Spence, Dana M; Martin, R Scott

2016-08-21

A mini-review with 79 references. In this review, the most recent trends in 3D-printed microfluidic devices are discussed. In addition, a focus is given to the fabrication aspects of these devices, with the supplemental information containing detailed instructions for designing a variety of structures including: a microfluidic channel, threads to accommodate commercial fluidic fittings, a flow splitter; a well plate, a mold for PDMS channel casting; and how to combine multiple designs into a single device. The advantages and limitations of 3D-printed microfluidic devices are thoroughly discussed, as are some future directions for the field.

Robustness of the Sequential Lineup Advantage

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gronlund, Scott D.; Carlson, Curt A.; Dailey, Sarah B.; Goodsell, Charles A.

2009-01-01

A growing movement in the United States and around the world involves promoting the advantages of conducting an eyewitness lineup in a sequential manner. We conducted a large study (N = 2,529) that included 24 comparisons of sequential versus simultaneous lineups. A liberal statistical criterion revealed only 2 significant sequential lineup…

Genomic BLUP including additive and dominant variation in purebreds and F1 crossbreds, with an application in pigs.

PubMed

Vitezica, Zulma G; Varona, Luis; Elsen, Jean-Michel; Misztal, Ignacy; Herring, William; Legarra, Andrès

2016-01-29

Most developments in quantitative genetics theory focus on the study of intra-breed/line concepts. With the availability of massive genomic information, it becomes necessary to revisit the theory for crossbred populations. We propose methods to construct genomic covariances with additive and non-additive (dominance) inheritance in the case of pure lines and crossbred populations. We describe substitution effects and dominant deviations across two pure parental populations and the crossbred population. Gene effects are assumed to be independent of the origin of alleles and allelic frequencies can differ between parental populations. Based on these assumptions, the theoretical variance components (additive and dominant) are obtained as a function of marker effects and allelic frequencies. The additive genetic variance in the crossbred population includes the biological additive and dominant effects of a gene and a covariance term. Dominance variance in the crossbred population is proportional to the product of the heterozygosity coefficients of both parental populations. A genomic BLUP (best linear unbiased prediction) equivalent model is presented. We illustrate this approach by using pig data (two pure lines and their cross, including 8265 phenotyped and genotyped sows). For the total number of piglets born, the dominance variance in the crossbred population represented about 13 % of the total genetic variance. Dominance variation is only marginally important for litter size in the crossbred population. We present a coherent marker-based model that includes purebred and crossbred data and additive and dominant actions. Using this model, it is possible to estimate breeding values, dominant deviations and variance components in a dataset that comprises data on purebred and crossbred individuals. These methods can be exploited to plan assortative mating in pig, maize or other species, in order to generate superior crossbred individuals in terms of performance.

Advanced Material Strategies for Next-Generation Additive Manufacturing

PubMed Central

Chang, Jinke; He, Jiankang; Zhou, Wenxing; Lei, Qi; Li, Xiao; Li, Dichen

2018-01-01

Additive manufacturing (AM) has drawn tremendous attention in various fields. In recent years, great efforts have been made to develop novel additive manufacturing processes such as micro-/nano-scale 3D printing, bioprinting, and 4D printing for the fabrication of complex 3D structures with high resolution, living components, and multimaterials. The development of advanced functional materials is important for the implementation of these novel additive manufacturing processes. Here, a state-of-the-art review on advanced material strategies for novel additive manufacturing processes is provided, mainly including conductive materials, biomaterials, and smart materials. The advantages, limitations, and future perspectives of these materials for additive manufacturing are discussed. It is believed that the innovations of material strategies in parallel with the evolution of additive manufacturing processes will provide numerous possibilities for the fabrication of complex smart constructs with multiple functions, which will significantly widen the application fields of next-generation additive manufacturing. PMID:29361754

Advanced Material Strategies for Next-Generation Additive Manufacturing.

PubMed

Chang, Jinke; He, Jiankang; Mao, Mao; Zhou, Wenxing; Lei, Qi; Li, Xiao; Li, Dichen; Chua, Chee-Kai; Zhao, Xin

2018-01-22

Additive manufacturing (AM) has drawn tremendous attention in various fields. In recent years, great efforts have been made to develop novel additive manufacturing processes such as micro-/nano-scale 3D printing, bioprinting, and 4D printing for the fabrication of complex 3D structures with high resolution, living components, and multimaterials. The development of advanced functional materials is important for the implementation of these novel additive manufacturing processes. Here, a state-of-the-art review on advanced material strategies for novel additive manufacturing processes is provided, mainly including conductive materials, biomaterials, and smart materials. The advantages, limitations, and future perspectives of these materials for additive manufacturing are discussed. It is believed that the innovations of material strategies in parallel with the evolution of additive manufacturing processes will provide numerous possibilities for the fabrication of complex smart constructs with multiple functions, which will significantly widen the application fields of next-generation additive manufacturing.

Icodextrin and peritoneal dialysis: advantages and new applications.

PubMed

Dousdampanis, Periklis; Musso, Carlos Guido; Trigka, Konstantina

2018-03-01

The impact of icodextrin (ico) on peritoneal dialysis (PD) extension and patient survival is well established. Predominantly, ico-based solutions were prescribed in high-transporter PD patients. Advantages of the ico-based solutions include increased biocompatibility, avoidance of glucotoxicity, enhanced ultrafiltration failure (UF), sodium removal rates, better metabolic and blood pressure control. Bimodal solutions and twice daily exchanges of ico-based solutions are two newly introduced strategies to avoid glucose exposure and/or enhance UF in PD patients with UF failure. In addition, a simplified schedule of PD using a single nocturnal exchange of ico in patients with refractory congestive heart failure may represent an alternative option to manage fluid removal and azotaemia. The use of a simplified schedule of PD with only two ico exchanges or a single ico exchange is a challenging approach for end-stage renal disease patients with preserved residual function who desire to initiate PD.

Thoracoscopic versus robotic approaches: advantages and disadvantages.

PubMed

Wei, Benjamin; D'Amico, Thomas A

2014-05-01

The overall advantages of thoracoscopy over thoracotomy in terms of patient recovery have been fairly well established. The use of robotics, however, is a newer and less proven modality in the realm of thoracic surgery. Robotics offers distinct advantages and disadvantages in comparison with video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery. Robotic technology is now used for a variety of complex cardiac, urologic, and gynecologic procedures including mitral valve repair and microsurgical treatment of male infertility. This article addresses the potential benefits and limitations of using the robotic platform for the performance of a variety of thoracic operations. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Future home hemodialysis - advantages of the NxStage System One.

PubMed

Takahashi, Susumu

2012-01-01

To improve the quality of life (QOL) of patients with renal failure who are on dialysis, we have been working to promote home hemodialysis (HHD), but it has not come into widespread use at present because of various problems, including limitations of the equipment, the large proportion of elderly patients, and difficulty performing self-care. With regard to problems with the equipment, dialysis equipment for home use has not yet been approved in Japan, so equipment designed for medical facilities has to be used for home dialysis. Such equipment is bulky and occupies living space, as well as involving the cost of home renovation and the need for a caregiver. The NxStage System One (NSO) artificial kidney has served advantages for HHD compared with conventional equipment, since it is compact, portable, and easy to operate (especially for preparation and cleaning), does not require a water supply, occupies less living space, and reduces the need for renovation of the home. Other advantages of the NSO include improvement of QOL by saving time travelling to hospitals and helping patients to participate in social activities. In addition, HHD with the NSO can improve sleep disorders, the restless legs syndrome, and depressive symptoms, resulting in a good outcome. Moreover, HHD with the NSO reduces the need for drugs, such as antihypertensive medications and erythropoietin, possibly leading to saving of healthcare costs. Copyright © 2012 S. Karger AG, Basel.

Advantages and Disadvantages of Aquatic Plant Management Techniques

DTIC Science & Technology

2000-09-01

This report provides an overview of the environmental and practical advantages and disadvantages of the major aquatic plant management methods, including biological, chemical, mechanical, and physical control techniques.

Privilege and status in an unequal society: shifting the focus of health promotion research to include the maintenance of advantage.

PubMed

Stephens, Christine

2010-10-01

There has been a great deal of social policy and health promotion practice directed toward the inclusion of underprivileged groups with the aim of improving their health. This focus on disadvantaged people and poor communities, to help them empower themselves and improve their lot, often fails because it ignores the role of the broader society. We neglect to note the crucial part that the advantaged play in perpetuating inequalities. Theory and empirical work from sociology and anthropology points to the everyday ways in which privileged people are able to maintain their advantage and even hi-jack the benefits of public health programmes designed to improve the health of the poor. Some examples from these other disciplines suggest ways in which a social psychological perspective can contribute to an understanding of how inequalities and poverty are perpetuated in everyday life. These understandings will inform the effectiveness of social programmes to reduce inequalities.

An overview of zinc addition for BWR dose rate control

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Marble, W.J.

1995-03-01

This paper presents an overview of the BWRs employing feedwater zinc addition to reduce primary system dose rates. It identifies which BWRs are using zinc addition and reviews the mechanical injection and passive addition hardware currently being employed. The impact that zinc has on plant chemistry, including the factor of two to four reduction in reactor water Co-60 concentrations, is discussed. Dose rate results, showing the benefits of implementing zinc on either fresh piping surfaces or on pipes with existing films are reviewed. The advantages of using zinc that is isotopically enhanced by the depletion of the Zn-64 precursor tomore » Zn-65 are identified.« less

Creating Competitive Advantage through Effective Management Education.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Longenecker, Clinton O.; Ariss, Sonny S.

2002-01-01

Managers trained in executive education programs (n=203) identified ways in which management education can increase an organization's competitive advantage: exposure to new ideas and practices, skill development, and motivation. Characteristics of effective management education included experience-based learning orientation, credible instructors,…

Lineup composition, suspect position, and the sequential lineup advantage.

PubMed

Carlson, Curt A; Gronlund, Scott D; Clark, Steven E

2008-06-01

N. M. Steblay, J. Dysart, S. Fulero, and R. C. L. Lindsay (2001) argued that sequential lineups reduce the likelihood of mistaken eyewitness identification. Experiment 1 replicated the design of R. C. L. Lindsay and G. L. Wells (1985), the first study to show the sequential lineup advantage. However, the innocent suspect was chosen at a lower rate in the simultaneous lineup, and no sequential lineup advantage was found. This led the authors to hypothesize that protection from a sequential lineup might emerge only when an innocent suspect stands out from the other lineup members. In Experiment 2, participants viewed a simultaneous or sequential lineup with either the guilty suspect or 1 of 3 innocent suspects. Lineup fairness was varied to influence the degree to which a suspect stood out. A sequential lineup advantage was found only for the unfair lineups. Additional analyses of suspect position in the sequential lineups showed an increase in the diagnosticity of suspect identifications as the suspect was placed later in the sequential lineup. These results suggest that the sequential lineup advantage is dependent on lineup composition and suspect position. (c) 2008 APA, all rights reserved

[Internet research methods: advantages and challenges].

PubMed

Liu, Yi; Tien, Yueh-Hsuan

2009-12-01

Compared to traditional research methods, using the Internet to conduct research offers a number of advantages to the researcher, which include increased access to sensitive issues and vulnerable / hidden populations; decreased data entry time requirements; and enhanced data accuracy. However, Internet research also presents certain challenges to the researcher. In this article, the advantages and challenges of Internet research methods are discussed in four principle issue areas: (a) recruitment, (b) data quality, (c) practicality, and (d) ethics. Nursing researchers can overcome problems related to sampling bias and data truthfulness using creative methods; resolve technical problems through collaboration with other disciplines; and protect participant's privacy, confidentiality and data security by maintaining a high level of vigilance. Once such issues have been satisfactorily addressed, the Internet should open a new window for Taiwan nursing research.

Building Information Model: advantages, tools and adoption efficiency

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Abakumov, R. G.; Naumov, A. E.

2018-03-01

The paper expands definition and essence of Building Information Modeling. It describes content and effects from application of Information Modeling at different stages of a real property item. Analysis of long-term and short-term advantages is given. The authors included an analytical review of Revit software package in comparison with Autodesk with respect to: features, advantages and disadvantages, cost and pay cutoff. A prognostic calculation is given for efficiency of adoption of the Building Information Modeling technology, with examples of its successful adoption in Russia and worldwide.

78 FR 67369 - National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program: Addition to the Vaccine Injury Table to Include All...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2013-11-12

... Vaccine Injury Compensation Program: Addition to the Vaccine Injury Table to Include All Vaccines Against...) announces that all FDA- approved vaccines against seasonal influenza are covered under the National Vaccine... individuals who have been injured by covered childhood vaccines. Prior to this publication, trivalent...

[Advantages and disadvantages of minimally invasive surgery in colorectal cancer surgery].

PubMed

Zheng, Minhua; Ma, Junjun

2017-06-25

Since the emergence of minimally invasive technology twenty years ago, as a surgical concept and surgical technique for colorectal cancer surgery, its obvious advantages have been recognized. Laparoscopic technology, as one of the most important technology platform, has got a lot of evidence-based support for the oncological safety and effectiveness in colorectal cancer surgery Laparoscopic technique has advantages in terms of identification of anatomic plane and autonomic nerve, protection of pelvic structure, and fine dissection of vessels. But because of the limitation of laparoscopic technology there are still some deficiencies and shortcomings, including lack of touch and lack of stereo vision problems, in addition to the low rectal cancer, especially male, obese, narrow pelvis, larger tumors, it is difficult to get better view and manipulating triangle in laparoscopy. However, the emergence of a series of new minimally invasive technology platform is to make up for the defects and deficiencies. The robotic surgical system possesses advantages, such as stereo vision, higher magnification, manipulator wrist with high freedom degree, filtering of tremor and higher stability, but still has disadvantages, such as lack of haptic feedback, longer operation time, high operation cost and expensive price. 3D system of laparoscopic surgery has similar visual experience and feelings as robotic surgery in the 3D view, the same operating skills as 2D laparoscopy and a short learning curve. The price of 3D laparoscopy is also moderate, which makes the 3D laparoscopy more popular in China. Transanal total mesorectal excision (taTME) by changing the traditional laparoscopic pelvic surgery approach, may have certain advantages for male cases with narrow pelvic and patients with large tumor, and it is in accordance with the technical concept of natural orifice, with less minimally invasive and better cosmetics, which can be regarded as a supplemental technique of the

Some Suggested Advantages and Disadvantages of Collective Bargaining. Special Report No. 1.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Angell, George W.

This report reviews briefly some advantages and disadvantages of collective bargaining in higher education. Advantages discussed include: efficiency, equality of power, legal force, impasse resolution, communication, understanding the institution, resolution of individual problems, definition of policy, rights guarantee, faculty compensation,…

Comparison of the home advantage in nine different professional team sports in Spain.

PubMed

Gómez, Miguel A; Pollard, Richard; Luis-Pascual, Juan-Carlos

2011-08-01

Home advantage is a well-established phenomenon in many sports. The present study is unique in that it includes different sports analysed in the same country, at the same level of competition, and over the same time period. Nine team sports from Spain were included: baseball, basketball, handball, indoor soccer, roller hockey, rugby, soccer, volleyball, and water polo. Data for five seasons (2005-2006 to 2009-2010) were obtained, totaling 9,472 games. The results confirmed the existence of home advantage in all nine sports. There was a statistically significant difference between the sports; home advantage was highest in rugby (67.0%), and lowest in volleyball (55.7%), water polo (56.2%), and roller hockey (58.3%). The design of the study controlled for some of the likely causes of home advantage, and the results suggested that the high home advantage for rugby was likely a reflection of the continuous, aggressive, and intense nature of the sport.

Advantages of thin silicon solar cells for use in space

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Denman, O. S.

1978-01-01

A system definition study on the Solar Power Satellite System showed that a thin, 50 micrometers, silicon solar cell has significant advantages. The advantages include a significantly lower performance degradation in a radiation environment and high power-to-mass ratios. The advantages of such cells for an employment in space is further investigated. Basic questions concerning the operation of solar cells are considered along with aspects of radiation induced performance degradation. The question arose in this connection how thin a silicon solar cell had to be to achieve resistance to radiation degradation and still have good initial performance. It was found that single-crystal silicon solar cells could be as thin as 50 micrometers and still develop high conversion efficiencies. It is concluded that the use of 50 micrometer silicon solar cells in space-based photovoltaic power systems would be advantageous.

End-to-end imaging information rate advantages of various alternative communication systems

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Rice, R. F.

1982-01-01

The efficiency of various deep space communication systems which are required to transmit both imaging and a typically error sensitive class of data called general science and engineering (gse) are compared. The approach jointly treats the imaging and gse transmission problems, allowing comparisons of systems which include various channel coding and data compression alternatives. Actual system comparisons include an advanced imaging communication system (AICS) which exhibits the rather significant advantages of sophisticated data compression coupled with powerful yet practical channel coding. For example, under certain conditions the improved AICS efficiency could provide as much as two orders of magnitude increase in imaging information rate compared to a single channel uncoded, uncompressed system while maintaining the same gse data rate in both systems. Additional details describing AICS compression and coding concepts as well as efforts to apply them are provided in support of the system analysis.

Comparative Advantages in Microelectronics,

DTIC Science & Technology

The initial point of departure for analyzing comparative advantages in microelectronics is to make certain explicit assumptions. First, technology...changes conditions but does not determine comparative advantages . Secondly, the entire industrial infrastructure is becoming increasingly abstract...that informatics will profoundly affect the productive infrastructure and the international division of labour.

Bilingual Education and L3 Learning: Metalinguistic Advantage or Not?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Rutgers, Dieuwerke; Evans, Michael

2017-01-01

Metalinguistic skills are highlighted in the literature as providing bilinguals with an advantage in additional language (L3) learning. The extent to which this may apply to bilingual education and content-and-language-integrated-learning settings, however, is as yet little understood. This article reports on a study exploring and comparing the…

Grapheme-colour synaesthesia yields an ordinary rather than extraordinary memory advantage: evidence from a group study.

PubMed

Rothen, Nicolas; Meier, Beat

2010-04-01

In synaesthesia, the input of one sensory modality automatically triggers an additional experience, not normally triggered by the input of that modality. Therefore, compared to non-synaesthetes, additional experiences exist and these may be used as retrieval cues when memory is tested. Previous case studies have suggested that synaesthesia may yield even extraordinary memory abilities. However, group studies found either a task-specific memory advantage or no performance advantage at all. The aim of the present study was to test whether grapheme-colour synaesthesia gives rise to a general memory benefit using a standardised memory test (Wechsler Memory Scale). The synaesthetes showed a performance advantage in episodic memory tests, but not in short-term memory tests. However, performance was still within the ordinary range. The results support the hypothesis that synaesthesia provides for a richer world of experience and as a consequence additional retrieval cues may be available and beneficial but not to the point of extraordinary memory ability.

Quasi-independence, fitness, and advantageousness.

PubMed

Brosnan, Kevin

2009-09-01

I argue that the idea of 'quasi-independence' [Lewontin, R. C. (1978). Adaptation. Scientific American, 239(3), 212-230] cannot be understood without attending to the distinction between fitness and advantageousness [Sober, E. (1993). Philosophy of biology. Boulder: Westview Press]. Natural selection increases the frequency of fitter traits, not necessarily of advantageous ones. A positive correlation between an advantageous trait and a disadvantageous one may prevent the advantageous trait from evolving. The quasi-independence criterion is aimed at specifying the conditions under which advantageous traits will evolve by natural selection in this type of situation. Contrary to what others have argued [Sterelny, K. (1992). Evolutionary explanations of human behavior. Australian Journal of Philosophy, 70(2), 156-172, and Sterelny, K., & Griffiths, P. (1999). Sex and death. Chicago: University of Chicago Press], these conditions must involve a precise quantitative measure of (a) the extent to which advantageous traits are beneficial, and (b) the degree to which they are correlated with other traits. Driscoll (2004) [Driscoll, C. (2004). Can behaviors be adaptations? Philosophy of Science, 71, 16-35] recognizes the need for such a measure, but I argue that she does not provide the correct formulation. The account of quasi-independence that I offer clarifies this point.

ADVANTAGES/DISADVANTAGES FOR ISCO METHODS IN-SITU FENTON OXIDATION IN-SITU PERMANGANATE OXIDATION

EPA Science Inventory

The advantages and disadvantages of in-situ Fenton oxidation and in-situ permanganate oxidation will be presented. This presentation will provide a brief overview of each technology and a detailed analysis of the advantages and disadvantages of each technology. Included in the ...

41 CFR 302-7.21 - If my HHG shipment includes an item for which a weight additive is assessed by the HHG carrier (e...

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-07-01

... includes an item for which a weight additive is assessed by the HHG carrier (e.g., boat, trailer... BAGGAGE ALLOWANCE General Rules § 302-7.21 If my HHG shipment includes an item for which a weight additive... payment? (a) No, you will not be responsible for the shipping charges that result from a weight additive...

41 CFR 302-7.21 - If my HHG shipment includes an item for which a weight additive is assessed by the HHG carrier (e...

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-07-01

... includes an item for which a weight additive is assessed by the HHG carrier (e.g., boat, trailer...) General Rules § 302-7.21 If my HHG shipment includes an item for which a weight additive is assessed by... will not be responsible for the shipping charges that result from a weight additive so long as the...

41 CFR 302-7.21 - If my HHG shipment includes an item for which a weight additive is assessed by the HHG carrier (e...

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-07-01

... includes an item for which a weight additive is assessed by the HHG carrier (e.g., boat, trailer...) General Rules § 302-7.21 If my HHG shipment includes an item for which a weight additive is assessed by... will not be responsible for the shipping charges that result from a weight additive so long as the...

Older Adults Make Less Advantageous Decisions than Younger Adults: Cognitive and Psychological Correlates

PubMed Central

Fein, George; McGillivray, Shannon; Finn, Peter

2007-01-01

This study tested the hypotheses that older adults make less advantageous decisions than younger adults on the Iowa gambling task (IGT). Less advantageous decisions, as measured by the IGT, are characterized by choices that favor larger versus smaller immediate rewards, even though such choices may result in long-term negative consequences. The IGT, and measures of neuropsychological function, personality, and psychopathology were administered to 164 healthy adults 18–85 years of age. Older adults performed less advantageously on the IGT compared with younger adults. Additionally, a greater number of older adult’s IGT performances were classified as ‘impaired’ when compared to younger adults. Less advantageous decisions were associated with obsessive symptoms in older adults and with antisocial symptoms in younger adults. Performance on the IGT was positively associated with auditory working memory and psychomotor function in young adults, and in immediate memory in older adults. PMID:17445297

Uniqueness, advantages, challenges, solutions, and perspectives in therapeutics applying RNA nanotechnology.

PubMed

Guo, Peixuan; Haque, Farzin; Hallahan, Brent; Reif, Randall; Li, Hui

2012-08-01

The field of RNA nanotechnology is rapidly emerging. RNA can be manipulated with the simplicity characteristic of DNA to produce nanoparticles with a diversity of quaternary structures by self-assembly. Additionally RNA is tremendously versatile in its function and some RNA molecules display catalytic activities much like proteins. Thus, RNA has the advantage of both worlds. However, the instability of RNA has made many scientists flinch away from RNA nanotechnology. Other concerns that have deterred the progress of RNA therapeutics include the induction of interferons, stimulation of cytokines, and activation of other immune systems, as well as short pharmacokinetic profiles in vivo. This review will provide some solutions and perspectives on the chemical and thermodynamic stability, in vivo half-life and biodistribution, yield and production cost, in vivo toxicity and side effect, specific delivery and targeting, as well as endosomal trapping and escape.

Mechanistic Basis of Cocrystal Dissolution Advantage.

PubMed

Cao, Fengjuan; Amidon, Gordon L; Rodríguez-Hornedo, Naír; Amidon, Gregory E

2018-01-01

Current interest in cocrystal development resides in the advantages that the cocrystal may have in solubility and dissolution compared with the parent drug. This work provides a mechanistic analysis and comparison of the dissolution behavior of carbamazepine (CBZ) and its 2 cocrystals, carbamazepine-saccharin (CBZ-SAC) and carbamazepine-salicylic acid (CBZ-SLC) under the influence of pH and micellar solubilization. A simple mathematical equation is derived based on the mass transport analyses to describe the dissolution advantage of cocrystals. The dissolution advantage is the ratio of the cocrystal flux to drug flux and is defined as the solubility advantage (cocrystal to drug solubility ratio) times the diffusivity advantage (cocrystal to drug diffusivity ratio). In this work, the effective diffusivity of CBZ in the presence of surfactant was determined to be different and less than those of the cocrystals. The higher effective diffusivity of drug from the dissolved cocrystals, the diffusivity advantage, can impart a dissolution advantage to cocrystals with lower solubility than the parent drug while still maintaining thermodynamic stability. Dissolution conditions where cocrystals can display both thermodynamic stability and a dissolution advantage can be obtained from the mass transport models, and this information is useful for both cocrystal selection and formulation development. Copyright © 2018 American Pharmacists Association®. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Airmen: Delivering Decision Advantage

DTIC Science & Technology

2012-12-01

Senior Leader Perspective November–December 2012 Air & Space Power Journal | 4 ISR Focus Airmen Delivering Decision Advantage Lt Gen Larry D. James...Air Force, the joint war fighter, and our nation. Our mission, in defense of America’s interests, is to enable de- cision advantage by operating...integrated, cross-domain ISR capabilities with joint, national, and international partners. Our Air Force ISR vi- sion is to be the preeminent ISR

Home advantage in retractable-roof baseball stadia.

PubMed

Romanowich, Paul

2012-10-01

This study examined whether the home advantage varies for open-air, domed, or retractable-roof baseball stadia, and whether having the roof open or closed affects the home advantage in retractable-roof baseball stadia. Data from Major League Baseball (MLB) games played between 2001 and 2009 were analyzed for whether or not the presence of a home-advantage was dependent on the type of home stadium used. Home advantage was robust for all three types of stadia. A significant effect of stadium type on home advantage was found, with a greater home advantage for teams playing home games in domed stadia relative to open-air stadia, replicating a previous study. There was a greater home advantage for teams playing home games in domed stadia relative to retractable-roof stadia. No other differences in the home advantage were found; results are discussed in terms of familiarity with the facility.

Self-Employment for People with Psychiatric Disabilities: Advantages and Strategies.

PubMed

Ostrow, Laysha; Nemec, Patricia B; Smith, Carina

2018-05-29

Self-employment is an alternative to wage employment and an opportunity to increase labor force participation by people with psychiatric disabilities. Self-employment refers to individuals who work for themselves, either as an unincorporated sole proprietor or through ownership of a business. Advantages of self-employment for people with psychiatric disabilities, who may have disrupted educational and employment histories, include opportunities for self-care, additional earning, and career choice. Self-employment fits within a recovery paradigm because of the value placed on individual preferences, and the role of resilience and perseverance in business ownership. Self-employment creates many new US jobs, but remains only a small percentage of employment closures for people with psychiatric disabilities, despite vocational rehabilitation and Social Security disability policies that encourage it. This commentary elucidates the positive aspects of self-employment in the context of employment challenges experienced by individuals with psychiatric disabilities and provides recommendations based on larger trends in entrepreneurship.

[Anterior lumbar interbody fusion. Indications, technique, advantages and disadvantages].

PubMed

Richter, M; Weidenfeld, M; Uckmann, F P

2015-02-01

Anterior lumbar interbody fusion (ALIF) for lumbar interbody fusion from L2 to the sacrum has been an established technique for decades. The advantages and disadvantages of ALIF compared to posterior interbody fusion techniques are discussed. The operative technique is described in detail. Complications and avoidance strategies are discussed. This article is based on a selective literature search using PubMed and the experience of the authors in this medical field. The advantages of ALIF compared to posterior fusion techniques are the free approach to the anterior disc space without opening of the spinal canal or the neural foramina. This gives the possibility of an extensive anterior release and placement of the largest possible cages without the risk of neural structure damage. The disadvantages of ALIF are the additional anterior approach and the related complications. The most frequent complication is due to damage of vessels. The rate of complications is significantly increased in revision surgery. The ALIF technique meaningfully expands the repertoire of the spinal surgeon especially for the treatment of non-union after interbody fusion, in patients with epidural scar tissue at the index level and spinal infections. Advantages and disadvantages should be considered when evaluating the indications for ALIF.

Comparison of home advantage in men's and women's football leagues in Europe.

PubMed

Pollard, Richard; Gómez, Miguel A

2014-01-01

Most research into home advantage is based on men's sports. This article analyses home advantage in the women's domestic football leagues of Europe and makes a comparison with the corresponding men's football leagues. A total of 47,042 games were included. From 2004 to 2010, home advantage existed in the domestic women's soccer leagues of all 26 European countries analysed, ranging from 51.0% to 58.8% and averaging 54.2%. In every country, this was less than the corresponding men's home advantage which averaged 60.0%. Crowd effects, both on players and referees, and different gender perceptions of territorial protection are plausible reasons for the differences found. Using a regression model that controlled for the competitive balance of each league, as well as for crowd size, the Gender Gap Index, which quantifies the status of women in each country, was a significant predictor of the difference between men's and women's home advantage. As the status of women becomes closer to that of men within a country, the difference in home advantage is less between the men's and women's football leagues.

Uniqueness, Advantages, Challenges, Solutions, and Perspectives in Therapeutics Applying RNA Nanotechnology

PubMed Central

Haque, Farzin; Hallahan, Brent; Reif, Randall; Li, Hui

2012-01-01

The field of RNA nanotechnology is rapidly emerging. RNA can be manipulated with the simplicity characteristic of DNA to produce nanoparticles with a diversity of quaternary structures by self-assembly. Additionally RNA is tremendously versatile in its function and some RNA molecules display catalytic activities much like proteins. Thus, RNA has the advantage of both worlds. However, the instability of RNA has made many scientists flinch away from RNA nanotechnology. Other concerns that have deterred the progress of RNA therapeutics include the induction of interferons, stimulation of cytokines, and activation of other immune systems, as well as short pharmacokinetic profiles in vivo. This review will provide some solutions and perspectives on the chemical and thermodynamic stability, in vivo half-life and biodistribution, yield and production cost, in vivo toxicity and side effect, specific delivery and targeting, as well as endosomal trapping and escape. PMID:22913595

Transnasal endoscopy: Technical considerations, advantages and limitations.

PubMed

Atar, Mustafa; Kadayifci, Abdurrahman

2014-02-16

Transnasal endoscopy (TNE) is an upper endoscopy method which is performed by the nasal route using a thin endoscope less than 6 mm in diameter. The primary goal of this method is to improve patient tolerance and convenience of the procedure. TNE can be performed without sedation and thus eliminates the risks associated with general anesthesia. In this way, TNE decreases the cost and total duration of endoscopic procedures, while maintaining the image quality of standard caliber endoscopes, providing good results for diagnostic purposes. However, the small working channel of the ultra-thin endoscope used for TNE makes it difficult to use for therapeutic procedures except in certain conditions which require a thinner endoscope. Biopsy is possible with special forceps less than 2 mm in diameter. Recently, TNE has been used for screening endoscopy in Far East Asia, including Japan. In most controlled studies, TNE was found to have better patient tolerance when compared to unsedated endoscopy. Nasal pain is the most significant symptom associated with endoscopic procedures but can be reduced with nasal pretreatment. Despite the potential advantage of TNE, it is not common in Western countries, usually due to a lack of training in the technique and a lack of awareness of its potential advantages. This paper briefly reviews the technical considerations as well as the potential advantages and limitations of TNE with ultra-thin scopes.

Transnasal endoscopy: Technical considerations, advantages and limitations

PubMed Central

Atar, Mustafa; Kadayifci, Abdurrahman

2014-01-01

Transnasal endoscopy (TNE) is an upper endoscopy method which is performed by the nasal route using a thin endoscope less than 6 mm in diameter. The primary goal of this method is to improve patient tolerance and convenience of the procedure. TNE can be performed without sedation and thus eliminates the risks associated with general anesthesia. In this way, TNE decreases the cost and total duration of endoscopic procedures, while maintaining the image quality of standard caliber endoscopes, providing good results for diagnostic purposes. However, the small working channel of the ultra-thin endoscope used for TNE makes it difficult to use for therapeutic procedures except in certain conditions which require a thinner endoscope. Biopsy is possible with special forceps less than 2 mm in diameter. Recently, TNE has been used for screening endoscopy in Far East Asia, including Japan. In most controlled studies, TNE was found to have better patient tolerance when compared to unsedated endoscopy. Nasal pain is the most significant symptom associated with endoscopic procedures but can be reduced with nasal pretreatment. Despite the potential advantage of TNE, it is not common in Western countries, usually due to a lack of training in the technique and a lack of awareness of its potential advantages. This paper briefly reviews the technical considerations as well as the potential advantages and limitations of TNE with ultra-thin scopes. PMID:24567791

Second-order advantage obtained from standard addition first-order instrumental data and multivariate curve resolution-alternating least squares. Calculation of the feasible bands of results.

PubMed

Mohseni, Naimeh; Bahram, Morteza; Olivieri, Alejandro C

2014-03-25

In order to achieve the second-order advantage, second-order data per sample is usually required, e.g., kinetic-spectrophotometric data. In this study, instead of monitoring the time evolution of spectra (and collecting the kinetic-spectrophotometric data) replicate spectra are used to build a virtual second order data. This data matrix (replicate mode×λ) is rank deficient. Augmentation of these data with standard addition data [or standard sample(s)] will break the rank deficiency, making the quantification of the analyte of interest possible. The MCR-ALS algorithm was applied for the resolution and quantitation of the analyte in both simulated and experimental data sets. In order to evaluate the rotational ambiguity in the retrieved solutions, the MCR-BANDS algorithm was employed. It has been shown that the reliability of the quantitative results significantly depends on the amount of spectral overlap in the spectral region of occurrence of the compound of interest and the remaining constituent(s). Copyright © 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Sex Differences in Music: A Female Advantage at Recognizing Familiar Melodies.

PubMed

Miles, Scott A; Miranda, Robbin A; Ullman, Michael T

2016-01-01

Although sex differences have been observed in various cognitive domains, there has been little work examining sex differences in the cognition of music. We tested the prediction that women would be better than men at recognizing familiar melodies, since memories of specific melodies are likely to be learned (at least in part) by declarative memory, which shows female advantages. Participants were 24 men and 24 women, with half musicians and half non-musicians in each group. The two groups were matched on age, education, and various measures of musical training. Participants were presented with well-known and novel melodies, and were asked to indicate their recognition of familiar melodies as rapidly as possible. The women were significantly faster than the men in responding, with a large effect size. The female advantage held across musicians and non-musicians, and across melodies with and without commonly associated lyrics, as evidenced by an absence of interactions between sex and these factors. Additionally, the results did not seem to be explained by sex differences in response biases, or in basic motor processes as tested in a control task. Though caution is warranted given that this is the first study to examine sex differences in familiar melody recognition, the results are consistent with the hypothesis motivating our prediction, namely that declarative memory underlies knowledge about music (particularly about familiar melodies), and that the female advantage at declarative memory may thus lead to female advantages in music cognition (particularly at familiar melody recognition). Additionally, the findings argue against the view that female advantages at tasks involving verbal (or verbalizable) material are due solely to a sex difference specific to the verbal domain. Further, the results may help explain previously reported cognitive commonalities between music and language: since declarative memory also underlies language, such commonalities may be

Expanding the North American Breeding Bird Survey analysis to include additional species and regions

USGS Publications Warehouse

Sauer, John; Niven, Daniel; Pardieck, Keith L.; Ziolkowski, David; Link, William

2017-01-01

The North American Breeding Bird Survey (BBS) contains data for >700 bird species, but analyses often focus on a core group of ∼420 species. We analyzed data for 122 species of North American birds for which data exist in the North American Breeding Bird Survey (BBS) database but are not routinely analyzed on the BBS Summary and Analysis Website. Many of these species occur in the northern part of the continent, on routes that fall outside the core survey area presently analyzed in the United States and southern Canada. Other species not historically analyzed occur in the core survey area with very limited data but have large portions of their ranges in Mexico and south. A third group of species not historically analyzed included species thought to be poorly surveyed by the BBS, such as rare, coastal, or nocturnal species. For 56 species found primarily in regions north of the core survey area, we expanded the scope of the analysis, using data from 1993 to 2014 during which ≥3 survey routes had been sampled in 6 northern strata (Bird Conservation regions in Alaska, Yukon, and Newfoundland and Labrador) and fitting log-linear hierarchical models for an augmented BBS survey area that included both the new northern strata and the core survey area. We also applied this model to 168 species historically analyzed in the BBS that had data from these additional northern strata. For both groups of species we calculated survey-wide trends for the both core and augmented survey areas from 1993 to 2014; for species that did not occur in the newly defined strata, we computed trends from 1966 to 2014. We evaluated trend estimates in terms of established credibility criteria for BBS results, screening for imprecise trends, small samples, and low relative abundance. Inclusion of data from the northern strata permitted estimation of trend for 56 species not historically analyzed, but only 4 of these were reasonably monitored and an additional 13 were questionably monitored; 39

Advantages of a Web-Based Real-Time Bed-Management System for Hospital Admission Monitoring in Iran.

PubMed

Abedian, Somayeh; Bitaraf, Ehsan; Askari, Marjan

2018-01-01

Lack of up-to-date information of hospitals beds, specifically in emergencies, is a significant problem in many large countries; The Ministry of Health and Medical Education of Iran (MOHME) designed and implemented a dynamic system that reports the status of beds in 2012. This system created great opportunities for national bed management, including real-time hospital admission monitoring, especially for emergency departments, ICUs and CCUs. Therefore, an additional online system was planned to be implemented for monitoring hospital admissions, including a national alert system. Prior to the design of this system, a study was done using literature study and expert opinion to investigate the advantages and features that this monitoring system was required to have. We used the MoSCoW method to prioritize the requirements of the system. This system was designed to have the following advantages, among other things: the hospitals as well as government should be able to track the patients, manage patient distribution in healthcare centers, and make policy for supplying extra beds. It should also be possible for the hospitals executive board, as well as the government, to monitor the performance of the hospitals regarding patient admissions (i.e., the rate of rejection of patients with severe conditions).

Method for assessment of stormwater treatment facilities - Synthetic road runoff addition including micro-pollutants and tracer.

PubMed

Cederkvist, Karin; Jensen, Marina B; Holm, Peter E

2017-08-01

Stormwater treatment facilities (STFs) are becoming increasingly widespread but knowledge on their performance is limited. This is due to difficulties in obtaining representative samples during storm events and documenting removal of the broad range of contaminants found in stormwater runoff. This paper presents a method to evaluate STFs by addition of synthetic runoff with representative concentrations of contaminant species, including the use of tracer for correction of removal rates for losses not caused by the STF. A list of organic and inorganic contaminant species, including trace elements representative of runoff from roads is suggested, as well as relevant concentration ranges. The method was used for adding contaminants to three different STFs including a curbstone extension with filter soil, a dual porosity filter, and six different permeable pavements. Evaluation of the method showed that it is possible to add a well-defined mixture of contaminants despite different field conditions by having a flexibly system, mixing different stock-solutions on site, and use bromide tracer for correction of outlet concentrations. Bromide recovery ranged from only 12% in one of the permeable pavements to 97% in the dual porosity filter, stressing the importance of including a conservative tracer for correction of contaminant retention values. The method is considered useful in future treatment performance testing of STFs. The observed performance of the STFs is presented in coming papers. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Phenylethynyl Containing Reactive Additives

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Connell, John W. (Inventor); Smith, Joseph G., Jr. (Inventor); Hergenrother, Paul M. (Inventor)

2002-01-01

Phenylethynyl containing reactive additives were prepared from aromatic diamines containing phenylethynyl groups and various ratios of phthalic anhydride and 4-phenylethynylphthalic anhydride in glacial acetic acid to form the imide in one step or in N-methyl-2-pyrrolidi none to form the amide acid intermediate. The reactive additives were mixed in various amounts (10% to 90%) with oligomers containing either terminal or pendent phenylethynyl groups (or both) to reduce the melt viscosity and thereby enhance processability. Upon thermal cure, the additives react and become chemically incorporated into the matrix and effect an increase in crosslink density relative to that of the host resin. This resultant increase in crosslink density has advantageous consequences on the cured resin properties such as higher glass transition temperature and higher modulus as compared to that of the host resin.

Phenylethynyl Containing Reactive Additives

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Connell, John W. (Inventor); Smith, Joseph G., Jr. (Inventor); Hergenrother, Paul M. (Inventor)

2002-01-01

Phenylethynyl containing reactive additives were prepared from aromatic diamine, containing phenylethvnvl groups and various ratios of phthalic anhydride and 4-phenylethynviphthalic anhydride in glacial acetic acid to form the imide in one step or in N-methyl-2-pvrrolidinone to form the amide acid intermediate. The reactive additives were mixed in various amounts (10% to 90%) with oligomers containing either terminal or pendent phenylethynyl groups (or both) to reduce the melt viscosity and thereby enhance processability. Upon thermal cure, the additives react and become chemically incorporated into the matrix and effect an increase in crosslink density relative to that of the host resin. This resultant increase in crosslink density has advantageous consequences on the cured resin properties such as higher glass transition temperature and higher modulus as compared to that of the host resin.

Advantageous Inequity Aversion Does Not Always Exist: The Role of Determining Allocations Modulates Preferences for Advantageous Inequity.

PubMed

Li, Ou; Xu, Fuming; Wang, Lei

2018-01-01

Previous studies have shown that people would like to sacrifice benefits to themselves in order to avoid inequitable outcomes, not only when they receive less than others (disadvantageous inequity aversion) but also when they receive more (advantageous inequity aversion). This feature is captured by the theory of inequity aversion. The present study was inspired by what appears to be asymmetry in the research paradigm toward advantageous inequity aversion. Specifically, studies that supported the existence of advantageous inequity aversion always relied on the paradigm in which participants can determine allocations. Thus, it is interesting to know what would occur if participants could not determine allocations or simply passed judgment on predetermined allocations. To address this, a behavioral experiment ( N = 118) and a skin conductance response (SCR) experiment ( N = 29) were adopted to compare participants' preferences for advantageous inequity directly when allocations were determined and when allocations were predetermined in an allocating task. In the determined condition, participants could divide by themselves a sum of money between themselves and a matched person, whereas in the predetermined condition, they could simply indicate their satisfaction with an equivalent program-generated allocation. It was found that, compared with those in the determined condition, participants in the predetermined condition behaved as if they liked the advantageous inequity and equity to the same degree (Experiment One) and that the SCRs elicited by advantageous inequity had no differences from those elicited by equity, suggesting that participants did not feel negatively toward advantageous inequity in this situation (Experiment Two). The present study provided mutual corroboration (behavioral and electrophysiological data) to document that advantageous inequity aversion may differ as a function of the individual's role in determining allocations, and it would disappear

Home advantage in Greek football.

PubMed

Armatas, Vasilis; Pollard, Richard

2014-01-01

Home advantage as it relates to team performance at football was examined in Superleague Greece using nine seasons of game-by-game performance data, a total of 2160 matches. After adjusting for team ability and annual fluctuations in home advantage, there were significant differences between teams. Previous findings regarding the role of territorial protection were strengthened by the fact that home advantage was above average for the team from Xanthi (P =0.015), while lower for teams from the capital city Athens (P =0.008). There were differences between home and away teams in the incidence of most of the 13 within-game match variables, but associated effect sizes were only moderate. In contrast, outcome ratios derived from these variables, and measuring shot success, had negligible effect sizes. This supported a previous finding that home and away teams differed in the incidence of on-the-ball behaviours, but not in their outcomes. By far the most important predictor of home advantage, as measured by goal difference, was the difference between home and away teams in terms of kicked shots from inside the penalty area. Other types of shots had little effect on the final score. The absence of a running track between spectators and the playing field was also a significant predictor of goal difference, worth an average of 0.102 goals per game to the home team. Travel distance did not affect home advantage.

The 'Adventist advantage'. Glendale Adventist Medical Center distinguishes itself.

PubMed

Botvin, Judith D

2002-01-01

Glendale Adventist Medical Center, Glendale, Calif., adopted an image-building campaign to differentiate the 450-bed hospital from its neighbors. This included the headline "Adventist Advantage," used in a series of sophisticated ads, printed in gold. In all their efforts, marketers consider the sensibilities of the sizable Armenian, Korean, Hispanic and Chinese populations.

Do the Advantages of Ungraded Schools Outweigh the Disadvantages?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kingston, Albert J.

1968-01-01

Concludes that at present it is not possible to state whether the advantages of the nongraded school outweigh the disadvantages because lack of operational meaning has resulted in a wide variety of organizational programs labeled nongraded, and non conclusive data are available which favor either the nongraded or graded organizations. Includes a…

76 FR 56262 - Community Advantage Pilot Program

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2011-09-12

... SMALL BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION [Docket No. SBA 2011-0003] Community Advantage Pilot Program AGENCY: U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA). ACTION: Notice of change to Community Advantage Pilot... Community Advantage Pilot Program. In that notice, SBA modified or waived as appropriate certain regulations...

Advantages and disadvantages of computer imaging in cosmetic surgery.

PubMed

Koch, R J; Chavez, A; Dagum, P; Newman, J P

1998-02-01

Despite the growing popularity of computer imaging systems, it is not clear whether the medical and legal advantages of using such a system outweigh the disadvantages. The purpose of this report is to evaluate these aspects, and provide some protective guidelines in the use of computer imaging in cosmetic surgery. The positive and negative aspects of computer imaging from a medical and legal perspective are reviewed. Also, specific issues are examined by a legal panel. The greatest advantages are potential problem patient exclusion, and enhanced physician-patient communication. Disadvantages include cost, user learning curve, and potential liability. Careful use of computer imaging should actually reduce one's liability when all aspects are considered. Recommendations for such use and specific legal issues are discussed.

Ferreting Out the Identity of Gasoline Additives

EPA Science Inventory

Chemical dispersing agents for oil spills, hydraulic fracturing fluids for natural-gas production, and chemicals serving as gasoline additives share a common characteristic—for the most part, they are proprietary compounds. In the name of competitive advantage, companies carefull...

Advantages and Challenges of Radiative Liquid Lithium Divertor

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ono, Masayuki

2017-10-01

Steady-state fusion power plant designs present major divertor technology challenges, including high divertor heat flux both in steady-state and during transients. In addition to these concerns, there are the unresolved technology issues of long term dust accumulation and associated tritium inventory and safety issues. The application of lithium (Li) in NSTX resulted in improved H-mode confinement, H-mode power threshold reduction, and reduction in the divertor peak heat flux while maintaining essentially Li-free core plasma operation even during H-modes. These promising results in NSTX and related modeling calculations motivated the radiative liquid Li divertor (RLLD) concept and its variant, the active liquid Li divertor concept (ARLLD), taking advantage of the enhanced Li radiation in relatively poorly confined divertor plasmas. It has been suggested that radiation-based liquid lithium (LL) divertor concepts with a modest Li-loop could provide a possible solution for the outstanding fusion reactor technology issues such as divertor heat flux mitigation and real time dust removal, while potentially improving the reactor plasma performance. Laboratory tests are also planned to investigate the Li-T recover efficiency and other relevant research topics of the RLLD. This work supported by DoE Contract No. DE-AC02-09CH11466.

Women's Heart Advantage Program: the impact 3 years later.

PubMed

Gombeski, William R; Kramer, R Kyle; Freed, Lisa; Foody, JoAnne; Parkosewich, Janet; Wilson, Tammi; Wack, Jeffery T; D'Onofrio, Gail

2005-01-01

Yale-New Haven Hospital, in partnership with Voluntary Hospital Association (VHA Inc), launched the Women's Heart Advantage program in March 2001. Major program components implemented include (1) a comprehensive initial and ongoing internal communication program; (2) a health promotion initiative including a 24-hour, 7-days-a-week women's heart line staffed by nurses and an Internet health question-and-answer forum; (3) significant ongoing communication with nurses and physicians; (4) a community outreach effort to educate poor and minority women; and (5) an aggressive effort to secure financial partners to underwrite the cost of the program. Before launching the program, a telephone survey of 300 randomly selected New Haven County women ages 40 to 70 years was initiated in January 2001 and repeated in January 2002, 2003, and 2004. Findings include (1) the percentage of women who recognize heart disease as the number-one killer of women their age increased from 26% in 2001 to 59% in 2004, (2) the percentage of women who would call 9-1-1 or go directly to a hospital emergency department increased from 63% in 2002 to 83% in 2004, and (3) the percentage of women aware of recent Women's Heart Advantage program promotion grew from 33% in 2002 to 50% in 2004. Perhaps most importantly, the number of women with heart problems admitted through the hospital's emergency department increased from 1528 per year in 2001 to 1870 per year in 2004 (7.5% annual increase), whereas the number of men with heart problems admitted through the emergency department during the same time period has been relatively low (0.8% annual increase). By linking clinical, public health, and marketing expertise along with finding ways to partner with other organizations, the Women's Heart Advantage program has contributed to remarkable changes in women's awareness, knowledge, and behaviors, suggesting a model for approaching similar health-related problems.

Food additives: an ethical evaluation.

PubMed

Mepham, Ben

2011-01-01

Food additives are an integral part of the modern food system, but opinion polls showing most Europeans have worries about them imply an urgent need for ethical analysis of their use. The existing literature on food ethics, safety assessment and animal testing. Food additives provide certain advantages in terms of many people's lifestyles. There are disagreements about the appropriate application of the precautionary principle and of the value and ethical validity of animal tests in assessing human safety. Most consumers have a poor understanding of the relative benefits and risks of additives, but concerns over food safety and animal testing remain high. Examining the impacts of food additives on consumer sovereignty, consumer health and on animals used in safety testing should allow a more informed debate about their appropriate uses.

Tackifier for addition polyimides

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Butler, J. M.; St.clair, T. L.

1980-01-01

A modification to the addition polyimide, LaRC-160, was prepared to improve tack and drape and increase prepeg out-time. The essentially solventless, high viscosity laminating resin is synthesized from low cost liquid monomers. The modified version takes advantage of a reactive, liquid plasticizer which is used in place of solvent and helps solve a major problem of maintaining good prepeg tack and drape, or the ability of the prepeg to adhere to adjacent plies and conform to a desired shape during the lay up process. This alternate solventless approach allows both longer life of the polymer prepeg and the processing of low void laminates. This approach appears to be applicable to all addition polyimide systems.

Evaluation of comparative advantages in the profitability and competitiveness of the small-scale dairy system of Tulancingo Valley, Mexico.

PubMed

Posadas-Domínguez, Rodolfo Rogelio; Del Razo-Rodríguez, Oscar Enrique; Almaraz-Buendía, Isaac; Pelaez-Acero, Armando; Espinosa-Muñoz, Verónica; Rebollar-Rebollar, Samuel; Salinas-Martínez, Jesús Armando

2018-06-01

This article combines a Policy Analysis Matrix with a sensitivity and poverty line analysis with the objective of evaluating the economic contribution of comparative advantages to the private profitability and competitiveness of small-scale dairy systems. For 1 year, socioeconomic data were collected from 82 farms selected from four strata via statistical sampling. Two scenarios were established to determine the quantitative contribution of comparative advantages: (1) a simulated scenario, which accounted for the cost of purchasing the total food and the opportunity cost of the family labour force (FLF), and (2) an actual production scenario, which accounted for the cost of producing food and eliminating the payment of the FLF and included other income. The E3 and E4 producers were the most profitable and competitive in the simulated scenario and actual production scenario. Of the four scales evaluated, the E2 and E1 producers were the most efficient in taking advantage of the economic contribution provided by the comparative advantages in their own production of food and employment of the FLF, in addition to accounting for other income, a condition that increased their profitability by 171 and 144% and competitiveness by 346 and 273%, respectively. The poverty results indicated that only E3 and E4 producers were non-vulnerable in the simulated scenario and actual production scenario. The purchase of food was the comparative advantage with the greatest sensitivity to cost increases in the two scenarios analysed, which exacerbated the effect on the E1 and E2 producers.

IR-laser assisted additive freeform optics manufacturing.

PubMed

Hong, Zhihan; Liang, Rongguang

2017-08-02

Computer-controlled additive manufacturing (AM) processes, also known as three-dimensional (3D) printing, create 3D objects by the successive adding of a material or materials. While there have been tremendous developments in AM, the 3D printing of optics is lagging due to the limits in materials and tight requirements for optical applicaitons. We propose a new precision additive freeform optics manufacturing (AFOM) method using an pulsed infrared (IR) laser. Compared to ultraviolet (UV) curable materials, thermally curable optical silicones have a number of advantages, such as strong UV stability, non-yellowing, and high transmission, making it particularly suitable for optical applications. Pulsed IR laser radiation offers a distinct advantage in processing optical silicones, as the high peak intensity achieved in the focal region allows for curing the material quickly, while the brief duration of the laser-material interaction creates a negligible heat-affected zone.

A sensitometric evaluation of a dental radiographic developer additive.

PubMed

Price, C

1982-04-01

The efficacy of a commercially available developer additive was investigated by a sensitometric method. The effects of the additive on two different manual developing solutions were evaluated immediately after mixing and at intervals of 5, 10, and 15 weeks. An automatic film processor was used to process control radiographs. Under the conditions of this investigation, no advantages were demonstrated following the use of the additive.

Travel and the home advantage.

PubMed

Pace, A; Carron, A V

1992-03-01

The purpose of the present study was to examine the relative contributions of various travel related variables to visiting team success in the National Hockey League. A multiple regression design was used with game outcome as the dependent variable. The independent variables of interest included, as main effects and interactions, number of time zones crossed, direction of travel, distance traveled, preparation/adjustment time, time of season, game number on the road trip, and the home stand. Visiting team success was negatively associated with the interaction of number of time zones crossed and increased preparation time between games, and was positively associated with game number on the road. It was concluded that only a small portion of the variance in the home advantage/visitor disadvantage can be explained by travel related factors.

Additives

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Smalheer, C. V.

1973-01-01

The chemistry of lubricant additives is discussed to show what the additives are chemically and what functions they perform in the lubrication of various kinds of equipment. Current theories regarding the mode of action of lubricant additives are presented. The additive groups discussed include the following: (1) detergents and dispersants, (2) corrosion inhibitors, (3) antioxidants, (4) viscosity index improvers, (5) pour point depressants, and (6) antifouling agents.

Pre-competition hormonal and psychological levels of elite hockey players: relationship to the "home advantage".

PubMed

Carré, Justin; Muir, Cameron; Belanger, Joey; Putnam, Susan K

2006-10-30

The home advantage is a robust phenomenon that occurs in the world of amateur and professional sport. Athletic teams have been shown to win significantly more games in their home venue as compared to their opponents' venue. Studies have suggested that the home advantage may be related to familiarity with the facility, increased crowd density and even pre-competition hormonal levels. The present study investigated pre-competition physiological and psychological states of elite hockey players in the home and away venues. Physiological measures included salivary cortisol and testosterone, which were assessed using enzyme immunoassays. In addition, pre-competition psychological states were assessed using the Competitive State Anxiety Inventory-2. Physiological measures indicated that the players had significantly higher pre-game testosterone when playing in their home venue as compared to their opponents' venue (t(13)=2.29, p=0.04); however, this difference was not due to a pre-game rise in testosterone while competing at home. Furthermore, players showed a trend toward higher pre-game cortisol when playing in their home venue (t(13)=1.96, p=0.07). Psychological measures indicated that players were more self-confident when playing in their home venue (t(13)=2.8, p=0.008) and also had higher somatic (t(13)=2.3, p=0.02) and cognitive anxiety (t(13)=1.87, p=0.04) when playing in their opponents' venue. The present study supports the notion that there are differences in pre-competition hormonal and psychological states that may play a key role in the "home advantage".

Modelling home advantage in the Summer Olympic Games.

PubMed

Balmer, N J; Nevill, A M; Williams, A M

2003-06-01

Home advantage in team games is well proven and the influence of the crowd upon officials' decisions has been identified as a plausible cause. The aim of this study was to assess the significance of home advantage for five event groups selected from the Summer Olympic Games between 1896 and 1996, and put home advantage in team games in context with other sports. The five event groups were athletics and weightlifting (predominantly objectively judged), boxing and gymnastics (predominantly subjectively judged) and team games (involving subjective decisions). The proportion of points won was analysed as a binomial response variable using generalized linear interactive modelling. Preliminary exploration of the data highlighted the need to control for the proportion of competitors entered and to split the analysis pre- and post-war. Highly significant home advantage was found in event groups that were either subjectively judged or rely on subjective decisions. In contrast, little or no home advantage (and even away advantage) was observed for the two objectively judged groups. Officiating system was vital to both the existence and extent of home advantage. Our findings suggest that crowd noise has a greater influence upon officials' decisions than players' performances, as events with greater officiating input enjoyed significantly greater home advantage.

Increasing component functionality via multi-process additive manufacturing

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Coronel, Jose L.; Fehr, Katherine H.; Kelly, Dominic D.; Espalin, David; Wicker, Ryan B.

2017-05-01

Additively manufactured components, although extensively customizable, are often limited in functionality. Multi-process additive manufacturing (AM) grants the ability to increase the functionality of components via subtractive manufacturing, wire embedding, foil embedding and pick and place. These processes are scalable to include several platforms ranging from desktop to large area printers. The Multi3D System is highlighted, possessing the capability to perform the above mentioned processes, all while transferring a fabricated component with a robotic arm. Work was conducted to fabricate a patent inspired, printed missile seeker. The seeker demonstrated the advantage of multi-process AM via introduction of the pick and place process. Wire embedding was also explored, with the successful interconnect of two layers of embedded wires in different planes. A final demonstration of a printed contour bracket, served to show the reduction of surface roughness on a printed part is 87.5% when subtractive manufacturing is implemented in tandem with AM. Functionality of the components on all the cases was improved. Results included optical components embedded within the printed housing, wires embedded with interconnection, and reduced surface roughness. These results highlight the improved functionality of components through multi-process AM, specifically through work conducted with the Multi3D System.

The Persistence of Wives' Income Advantage

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Winslow-Bowe, Sarah

2006-01-01

Recent reports using cross-sectional data indicate an increase in the percentage of wives who outearn their husbands, yet we know little about the persistence of wives' income advantage. The present analyses utilize the 1990-1994 waves of the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1979 (N = 3,481) to examine wives' long-term earnings advantage.…

THE HOME ADVANTAGE IN MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL.

PubMed

Jones, Marshall B

2015-12-01

Home advantage is smaller in baseball than in other major professional sports for men, specifically football, basketball, or soccer. This paper advances an explanation. It begins by reviewing the main observations to support the view that there is little or no home advantage in individual sports. It then presents the case that home advantage originates in impaired teamwork among the away players. The need for teamwork and the extent of it vary from sport to sport. To the extent that a sport requires little teamwork it is more like an individual sport, and the home team would be expected to enjoy only a small advantage. Interactions among players on the same side (teamwork) are much less common in baseball than in the other sports considered.

QSAR prediction of additive and non-additive mixture toxicities of antibiotics and pesticide.

PubMed

Qin, Li-Tang; Chen, Yu-Han; Zhang, Xin; Mo, Ling-Yun; Zeng, Hong-Hu; Liang, Yan-Peng

2018-05-01

Antibiotics and pesticides may exist as a mixture in real environment. The combined effect of mixture can either be additive or non-additive (synergism and antagonism). However, no effective predictive approach exists on predicting the synergistic and antagonistic toxicities of mixtures. In this study, we developed a quantitative structure-activity relationship (QSAR) model for the toxicities (half effect concentration, EC 50 ) of 45 binary and multi-component mixtures composed of two antibiotics and four pesticides. The acute toxicities of single compound and mixtures toward Aliivibrio fischeri were tested. A genetic algorithm was used to obtain the optimized model with three theoretical descriptors. Various internal and external validation techniques indicated that the coefficient of determination of 0.9366 and root mean square error of 0.1345 for the QSAR model predicted that 45 mixture toxicities presented additive, synergistic, and antagonistic effects. Compared with the traditional concentration additive and independent action models, the QSAR model exhibited an advantage in predicting mixture toxicity. Thus, the presented approach may be able to fill the gaps in predicting non-additive toxicities of binary and multi-component mixtures. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Home advantage in the Winter Olympics (1908-1998).

PubMed

Balmer, N J; Nevill, A M; Williams, A M

2001-02-01

We obtained indices of home advantage, based on the medals won by competing nations, for each event held at the Winter Olympics from 1908 to 1998. These indices were designed to assess home advantage while controlling for nation strength, changes in the number of medals on offer and the performance of 'non-hosting' nations. Some evidence of home advantage was found in figure skating, freestyle skiing, ski jumping, alpine skiing and short track speed skating. In contrast, little or no home advantage was observed in ice hockey, Nordic combined, Nordic skiing, bobsled, luge, biathlon or speed skating. When all events were combined, a significant home advantage was observed (P = 0.029), although no significant differences in the extent of home advantage were found between events (P > 0.05). When events were grouped according to whether they were subjectively assessed by judges, significantly greater home advantage was observed in the subjectively assessed events (P = 0.037). This was a reflection of better home performances, suggesting that judges were scoring home competitors disproportionately higher than away competitors. Familiarity with local conditions was shown to have some effect, particularly in alpine skiing, although the bobsled and luge showed little or no advantage over other events. Regression analysis showed that the number of time zones and direction of travel produced no discernible trends or differences in performance.

Quantile regression via vector generalized additive models.

PubMed

Yee, Thomas W

2004-07-30

One of the most popular methods for quantile regression is the LMS method of Cole and Green. The method naturally falls within a penalized likelihood framework, and consequently allows for considerable flexible because all three parameters may be modelled by cubic smoothing splines. The model is also very understandable: for a given value of the covariate, the LMS method applies a Box-Cox transformation to the response in order to transform it to standard normality; to obtain the quantiles, an inverse Box-Cox transformation is applied to the quantiles of the standard normal distribution. The purposes of this article are three-fold. Firstly, LMS quantile regression is presented within the framework of the class of vector generalized additive models. This confers a number of advantages such as a unifying theory and estimation process. Secondly, a new LMS method based on the Yeo-Johnson transformation is proposed, which has the advantage that the response is not restricted to be positive. Lastly, this paper describes a software implementation of three LMS quantile regression methods in the S language. This includes the LMS-Yeo-Johnson method, which is estimated efficiently by a new numerical integration scheme. The LMS-Yeo-Johnson method is illustrated by way of a large cross-sectional data set from a New Zealand working population. Copyright 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Exploring the sequential lineup advantage using WITNESS.

PubMed

Goodsell, Charles A; Gronlund, Scott D; Carlson, Curt A

2010-12-01

Advocates claim that the sequential lineup is an improvement over simultaneous lineup procedures, but no formal (quantitatively specified) explanation exists for why it is better. The computational model WITNESS (Clark, Appl Cogn Psychol 17:629-654, 2003) was used to develop theoretical explanations for the sequential lineup advantage. In its current form, WITNESS produced a sequential advantage only by pairing conservative sequential choosing with liberal simultaneous choosing. However, this combination failed to approximate four extant experiments that exhibited large sequential advantages. Two of these experiments became the focus of our efforts because the data were uncontaminated by likely suspect position effects. Decision-based and memory-based modifications to WITNESS approximated the data and produced a sequential advantage. The next step is to evaluate the proposed explanations and modify public policy recommendations accordingly.

Achieving competitive advantage through strategic human resource management.

PubMed

Fottler, M D; Phillips, R L; Blair, J D; Duran, C A

1990-01-01

The framework presented here challenges health care executives to manage human resources strategically as an integral part of the strategic planning process. Health care executives should consciously formulate human resource strategies and practices that are linked to and reinforce the broader strategic posture of the organization. This article provides a framework for (1) determining and focusing on desired strategic outcomes, (2) identifying and implementing essential human resource management actions, and (3) maintaining or enhancing competitive advantage. The strategic approach to human resource management includes assessing the organization's environment and mission; formulating the organization's business strategy; assessing the human resources requirements based on the intended strategy; comparing the current inventory of human resources in terms of numbers, characteristics, and human resource management practices with respect to the strategic requirements of the organization and its services or product lines; formulating the human resource strategy based on the differences between the assessed requirements and the current inventory; and implementing the appropriate human resource practices to reinforce the strategy and attain competitive advantage.

Technical advantages of disk laser technology in short and ultrashort pulse processes

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Graham, P.; Stollhof, J.; Weiler, S.; Massa, S.; Faisst, B.; Denney, P.; Gounaris, E.

2011-03-01

This paper demonstrates that disk-laser technology introduces advantages that increase efficiency and allows for high productivity in micro-processing in both the nanosecond (ns) and picosecond (ps) regimes. Some technical advantages of disk technology include not requiring good pump beam quality or special wavelengths for pumping of the disk, high optical efficiencies, no thermal lensing effects and a possible scaling of output power without an increase of pump beam quality. With cavity-dumping, the pulse duration of the disk laser can be specified between 30 and hundreds of nanoseconds, but is independent of frequency, thus maintaining process stability. TRUMPF uses this technology in the 750 watts average power laser TruMicro 7050. High intensity, along with fluency, is important for high ablation rates in thinfilm removal. Thus, these ns lasers show high removal rates, above 60 cm2/s, in thin-film solar cell production. In addition, recent results in paint-stripping of aerospace material prove the green credentials and high processing rates inherent with this technology as it can potentially replace toxic chemical processes. The ps disk technology meanwhile is used in, for example, scribing of solar cells, wafer dicing and drilling injector nozzles, as the pulse duration is short enough to minimize heat input in the laser-matter interaction. In the TruMicro Series 5000, the multi-pass regenerative amplifier stage combines high optical-optical efficiencies together with excellent output beam quality for pulse durations of only 6 ps and high pulse energies of up to 0.25 mJ.

Additive Manufacturing for Affordable Rocket Engines

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

West, Brian; Robertson, Elizabeth; Osborne, Robin; Calvert, Marty

2016-01-01

Additive manufacturing (also known as 3D printing) technology has the potential to drastically reduce costs and lead times associated with the development of complex liquid rocket engine systems. NASA is using 3D printing to manufacture rocket engine components including augmented spark igniters, injectors, turbopumps, and valves. NASA is advancing the process to certify these components for flight. Success Story: MSFC has been developing rocket 3D-printing technology using the Selective Laser Melting (SLM) process. Over the last several years, NASA has built and tested several injectors and combustion chambers. Recently, MSFC has 3D printed an augmented spark igniter for potential use the RS-25 engines that will be used on the Space Launch System. The new design is expected to reduce the cost of the igniter by a factor of four. MSFC has also 3D printed and tested a liquid hydrogen turbopump for potential use on an Upper Stage Engine. Additive manufacturing of the turbopump resulted in a 45% part count reduction. To understanding how the 3D printed parts perform and to certify them for flight, MSFC built a breadboard liquid rocket engine using additive manufactured components including injectors, turbomachinery, and valves. The liquid rocket engine was tested seven times in 2016 using liquid oxygen and liquid hydrogen. In addition to exposing the hardware to harsh environments, engineers learned to design for the new manufacturing technique, taking advantage of its capabilities and gaining awareness of its limitations. Benefit: The 3D-printing technology promises reduced cost and schedule for rocket engines. Cost is a function of complexity, and the most complicated features provide the largest opportunities for cost reductions. This is especially true where brazes or welds can be eliminated. The drastic reduction in part count achievable with 3D printing creates a waterfall effect that reduces the number of processes and drawings, decreases the amount of touch

Patient-specific instruments: advantages and pitfalls

PubMed Central

Hafez, Mahmoud A.; Moholkar, Kirti

2017-01-01

Patient-specific instruments (PSI) aim to improve the accuracy of total knee replacement (TKR) based on computer-assisted preoperative planning. In this work, the authors describe the advantages and pitfalls of PSI based on their clinical experience. The main conclusion of this work is that PSI has direct impact on the logistical and technical features of TKR with some advantages and pitfalls. PMID:29227785

Medicare Advantage: options for standardizing benefits and information to improve consumer choice.

PubMed

O'Brien, Ellen; Hoadley, Jack

2008-04-01

The Medicare Advantage (MA) program offers beneficiaries a choice of private health plans as alternatives to the traditional fee-for-service Medicare program. MA plans potentially provide additional value, but as plan choices have proliferated, consumers contemplating their options have had difficulty understanding how they differ. Through "standardization" more consistent types of information and a limited number of dimensions along which plans vary--MA plans could reduce complexity and improve beneficiaries' ability to make informed choices. Such standardization steps would offer more meaningful variation in the health coverage options available to beneficiaries, Medicare officials and their community partners would find it far easier to educate beneficiaries about their health plan choices, and beneficiaries would better understand what they were buying. Standardization might also strengthen the ability of the market-based Medicare Advantage program to incorporate beneficiary preferences.

Faculty Usage of Social Media and Mobile Devices: Analysis of Advantages and Concerns

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Roebuck, Deborah Britt; Siha, Samia; Bell, Reginald L.

2013-01-01

This study seeks to understand the perceptions of professors using social media (also called Web 2.0 tools) in the classroom, what kinds of mobile devices are used to access the social media used, and what drives individuals to use them. In addition, it seeks to identify the advantages and concerns faculty has with the use of social media for…

Tardigrada of Ireland: a review of records and an updated checklist of species including a new addition to the Irish fauna.

PubMed

DeMilio, Erica; Lawton, Colin; Marley, Nigel J

2016-01-01

The phylum Tardigrada was not recorded in Ireland until the Clare Island Survey of 1909-1911, with only rare subsequent reports on Irish tardigrade species. In recent decades, significant taxonomic revision has occurred within Tardigrada. This has resulted in the need for a review of all known historical records from Ireland and Northern Ireland in order to produce an updated checklist of valid taxa. The new checklist includes fifty-one tardigrade species and subspecies including a new addition to the Irish fauna reported herein, Echiniscus quadrispinosus quadrispinosus Richters, 1902 from Newtown, Ballyvaughan, Co. Clare.

Cumulative (Dis)Advantage and the Matthew Effect in Life-Course Analysis

PubMed Central

Bask, Miia; Bask, Mikael

2015-01-01

To foster a deeper understanding of the mechanisms behind inequality in society, it is crucial to work with well-defined concepts associated with such mechanisms. The aim of this paper is to define cumulative (dis)advantage and the Matthew effect. We argue that cumulative (dis)advantage is an intra-individual micro-level phenomenon, that the Matthew effect is an inter-individual macro-level phenomenon and that an appropriate measure of the Matthew effect focuses on the mechanism or dynamic process that generates inequality. The Matthew mechanism is, therefore, a better name for the phenomenon, where we provide a novel measure of the mechanism, including a proof-of-principle analysis using disposable personal income data. Finally, because socio-economic theory should be able to explain cumulative (dis)advantage and the Matthew mechanism when they are detected in data, we discuss the types of models that may explain the phenomena. We argue that interactions-based models in the literature traditions of analytical sociology and statistical mechanics serve this purpose. PMID:26606386

The ADVANTAGE seeding trial: a review of internal documents.

PubMed

Hill, Kevin P; Ross, Joseph S; Egilman, David S; Krumholz, Harlan M

2008-08-19

Seeding trials, clinical studies conducted by pharmaceutical companies that are designed to seem as if they answer a scientific question but primarily fulfill marketing objectives, have not been described in detail. To describe a known seeding trial, ADVANTAGE (Assessment of Differences between Vioxx and Naproxen To Ascertain Gastrointestinal Tolerability and Effectiveness), through documents of the trial sponsor, Merck & Co. (Whitehouse Station, New Jersey). Merck internal and external correspondence, reports, and presentations elicited to inform legal proceedings of Cona v Merck and Co., Inc., and McDarby v Merck and Co., Inc. The documents were created between 1998 and 2006. An iterative case-study process of review, discussion, and re-review of documents to identify themes relevant to the design and conduct of ADVANTAGE. To supplement the case-study review, the authors did a systematic review of the literature to identify published manuscripts focused on seeding trials and their conduct. Review of the documents revealed 3 key themes: The trial was designed by Merck's marketing division to fulfill a marketing objective; Merck's marketing division handled both the scientific and the marketing data, including collection, analysis, and dissemination; and Merck hid the marketing nature of the trial from participants, physician investigators, and institutional review board members. Although the systematic review of the literature identified 6 articles that focused on the practice of seeding trials, none provided documentary evidence of their existence or conduct. The legal documents in these cases provide useful, but limited, information about the practices of the pharmaceutical industry. This description of 1 company's actions is incomplete and may have limited generalizability. Documentary evidence shows that ADVANTAGE is an example of marketing framed as science. The documents indicate that ADVANTAGE was a seeding trial developed by Merck's marketing division to

An Analysis of the Advantages and Disadvantages Associated with the Consolidation of the HS And HSL Missions and Communities

DTIC Science & Technology

1994-03-01

DISADVANTAGES ASSOCIATED WITH THE CONSOLIDATION OF THE HS AND HSL MISSIONS AND COMMUNITIES by Raymond B. Roll March 1994 Thesis Advisor: Nancy C...REPORT TYPE AND DATES COVERED I March 1994 Master’s Thsis 4L. "M AND SUBTITLE S. FUNDING NUMBERS An Analysis of the Advantages and Disadvantages ...consolidation issue and proposes four combined community organizations. Additionally, the advantages and disadvantages of each new structure are reviewed to

Advantages of III-nitride laser diodes in solid-state lighting: Advantages of III-nitride laser diodes in solid-state lighting

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Wierer, Jonathan J.; Tsao, Jeffrey Y.

2015-01-14

III-nitride laser diodes (LDs) are an interesting light source for solid-state lighting (SSL). Modelling of LDs is performed to reveal the potential advantages over traditionally used light-emitting diodes (LEDs). The first, and most notable, advantage is LDs have higher efficiency at higher currents when compared to LEDs. This is because Auger recombination that causes efficiency droop can no longer grow after laser threshold. Second, the same phosphor-converted methods used with LEDs can also be used with LDs to produce white light with similar color rendering and color temperature. Third, producing white light from color mixed emitters is equally challenging formore » both LEDs and LDs, with neither source having a direct advantage. Fourth, the LD emission is directional and can be more readily captured and focused, leading to the possibility of novel and more compact luminaires. Finally, the smaller area and higher current density operation of LDs provides them with a potential cost advantage over LEDs. These advantages make LDs a compelling source for future SSL.« less

Tackifier for addition polyimides containing monoethylphthalate

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

St.clair, T. L.; Butler, J. M. (Inventor)

1981-01-01

An improvement of addition polyimides wherein an essentially solventless, high viscosity laminating resin is synthesized from low cost liquid monomers is disclosed. The improved process takes advantage of a reactive, liquid plasticizer such as monoethylphthalate (MEP) which is used in lieu of an alcohol solvent, and helps solve a major problem of maintaining good prepreg tack and drape, or the ability of the prepreg to adhere to adjacent plies and conform to a desired shape during the layup process. This improvement results in both longer life of the polymer prepreg and the processing of low void laminate and appears to be applicable to all addition polyimide systems.

Tardigrada of Ireland: a review of records and an updated checklist of species including a new addition to the Irish fauna

PubMed Central

DeMilio, Erica; Lawton, Colin; Marley, Nigel J.

2016-01-01

Abstract The phylum Tardigrada was not recorded in Ireland until the Clare Island Survey of 1909–1911, with only rare subsequent reports on Irish tardigrade species. In recent decades, significant taxonomic revision has occurred within Tardigrada. This has resulted in the need for a review of all known historical records from Ireland and Northern Ireland in order to produce an updated checklist of valid taxa. The new checklist includes fifty-one tardigrade species and subspecies including a new addition to the Irish fauna reported herein, Echiniscus quadrispinosus quadrispinosus Richters, 1902 from Newtown, Ballyvaughan, Co. Clare. PMID:27667947

Is There an Islamist Political Advantage?

PubMed Central

Cammett, Melani; Luong, Pauline Jones

2014-01-01

There is a widespread presumption that Islamists have an advantage over their opponents when it comes to generating mass appeal and winning elections. The question remains, however, as to whether these advantages—or, what we refer to collectively as an Islamist political advantage—actually exist. We argue that—to the extent that Islamists have a political advantage—the primary source of this advantage is reputation rather than the provision of social services, organizational capacity, or ideological hegemony. Our purpose is not to dismiss the main sources of the Islamist governance advantage identified in scholarly literature and media accounts, but to suggest a different causal path whereby each of these factors individually and sometimes jointly promotes a reputation for Islamists as competent, trustworthy, and pure. It is this reputation for good governance that enables Islamists to distinguish themselves in the streets and at the ballot box. PMID:25767370

A Reconstruction Approach to High-Order Schemes Including Discontinuous Galerkin for Diffusion

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Huynh, H. T.

2009-01-01

We introduce a new approach to high-order accuracy for the numerical solution of diffusion problems by solving the equations in differential form using a reconstruction technique. The approach has the advantages of simplicity and economy. It results in several new high-order methods including a simplified version of discontinuous Galerkin (DG). It also leads to new definitions of common value and common gradient quantities at each interface shared by the two adjacent cells. In addition, the new approach clarifies the relations among the various choices of new and existing common quantities. Fourier stability and accuracy analyses are carried out for the resulting schemes. Extensions to the case of quadrilateral meshes are obtained via tensor products. For the two-point boundary value problem (steady state), it is shown that these schemes, which include most popular DG methods, yield exact common interface quantities as well as exact cell average solutions for nearly all cases.

76 FR 14691 - Delphi Steering, Including On-Site Leased Workers From Acro Service Corporation, Aerotek, Inc...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2011-03-17

... Health Care and Advantage Technical Resourcing, Saginaw, MI; Amended Certification Regarding Eligibility... on-site leased workers from Advantage Technical Resourcing were employed on-site at the Saginaw... Department is amending this certification to include workers leased from Advantage Technical Resourcing...

The advantage of being slow: The quasi-neutral contact process.

PubMed

de Oliveira, Marcelo Martins; Dickman, Ronald

2017-01-01

According to the competitive exclusion principle, in a finite ecosystem, extinction occurs naturally when two or more species compete for the same resources. An important question that arises is: when coexistence is not possible, which mechanisms confer an advantage to a given species against the other(s)? In general, it is expected that the species with the higher reproductive/death ratio will win the competition, but other mechanisms, such as asymmetry in interspecific competition or unequal diffusion rates, have been found to change this scenario dramatically. In this work, we examine competitive advantage in the context of quasi-neutral population models, including stochastic models with spatial structure as well as macroscopic (mean-field) descriptions. We employ a two-species contact process in which the "biological clock" of one species is a factor of α slower than that of the other species. Our results provide new insights into how stochasticity and competition interact to determine extinction in finite spatial systems. We find that a species with a slower biological clock has an advantage if resources are limited, winning the competition against a species with a faster clock, in relatively small systems. Periodic or stochastic environmental variations also favor the slower species, even in much larger systems.

The Down Syndrome Advantage: Fact or Fiction?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Corrice, April M.; Glidden, Laraine Masters

2009-01-01

The "Down syndrome advantage" is the popular conception that children with Down syndrome are easier to rear than children with other developmental disabilities. We assessed whether mothers of children with developmental disabilities would demonstrate a consistent Down syndrome advantage as their children aged from 12 to 18 years. Results did not…

Generalized concentration addition: a method for examining mixtures containing partial agonists.

PubMed

Howard, Gregory J; Webster, Thomas F

2009-08-07

Environmentally relevant toxic exposures often consist of simultaneous exposure to multiple agents. Methods to predict the expected outcome of such combinations are critical both to risk assessment and to an accurate judgment of whether combinations are synergistic or antagonistic. Concentration addition (CA) has commonly been used to assess the presence of synergy or antagonism in combinations of similarly acting chemicals, and to predict effects of combinations of such agents. CA has the advantage of clear graphical interpretation: Curves of constant joint effect (isoboles) must be negatively sloped straight lines if the mixture is concentration additive. However, CA cannot be directly used to assess combinations that include partial agonists, although such agents are of considerable interest. Here, we propose a natural extension of CA to a functional form that may be applied to mixtures including full agonists and partial agonists. This extended definition, for which we suggest the term "generalized concentration addition," encompasses linear isoboles with slopes of any sign. We apply this approach to the simple example of agents with dose-response relationships described by Hill functions with slope parameter n=1. The resulting isoboles are in all cases linear, with negative, zero and positive slopes. Using simple mechanistic models of ligand-receptor systems, we show that the same isobole pattern and joint effects are generated by modeled combinations of full and partial agonists. Special cases include combinations of two full agonists and a full agonist plus a competitive antagonist.

The data sharing advantage in astrophysics

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Dorch, Bertil F.; Drachen, Thea M.; Ellegaard, Ole

2016-10-01

We present here evidence for the existence of a citation advantage within astrophysics for papers that link to data. Using simple measures based on publication data from NASA Astrophysics Data System we find a citation advantage for papers with links to data receiving on the average significantly more citations per paper than papers without links to data. Furthermore, using INSPEC and Web of Science databases we investigate whether either papers of an experimental or theoretical nature display different citation behavior.

Home advantage in the Winter Paralympic Games 1976-2014.

PubMed

Wilson, Darryl; Ramchandani, Girish

2017-01-01

There is a limited amount of home advantage research concerned with winter sports. There is also a distinct lack of studies that investigate home advantage in the context of para sport events. This paper addresses this gap in the knowledge by examining home advantage in the Winter Paralympic Games. Using a standardised measure of success, we compared the performances of host nations at home with their own performances away from home between 1976 and 2014. Both country level and individual sport level analysis is conducted for this time period. Comparisons are also drawn with the Winter Olympic Games since 1992, the point from which both the Winter Olympic Games and the Winter Paralympic Games have been hosted by the same nations and in the same years. Clear evidence of a home advantage effect in the Winter Paralympic Games was found at country level. When examining individual sports, only alpine skiing and cross country skiing returned a significant home advantage effect. When comparing home advantage in the Winter Paralympic Games with the Winter Olympic Games for the last seven host nations (1992-2014), we found that home advantage was generally more pronounced (although not a statistically significant difference) in the case of the former. The causes of home advantage in the Winter Paralympic Games are unclear and should be investigated further.

Additive manufacturing of hybrid circuits

DOE PAGES

Bell, Nelson S.; Sarobol, Pylin; Cook, Adam; ...

2016-03-26

There is a rising interest in developing functional electronics using additively manufactured components. Considerations in materials selection and pathways to forming hybrid circuits and devices must demonstrate useful electronic function; must enable integration; and must complement the complex shape, low cost, high volume, and high functionality of structural but generally electronically passive additively manufactured components. This article reviews several emerging technologies being used in industry and research/development to provide integration advantages of fabricating multilayer hybrid circuits or devices. First, we review a maskless, noncontact, direct write (DW) technology that excels in the deposition of metallic colloid inks for electrical interconnects.more » Second, we review a complementary technology, aerosol deposition (AD), which excels in the deposition of metallic and ceramic powder as consolidated, thick conformal coatings and is additionally patternable through masking. As a result, we show examples of hybrid circuits/devices integrated beyond 2-D planes, using combinations of DW or AD processes and conventional, established processes.« less

Practices of Weight Regulation Among Elite Athletes in Combat Sports: A Matter of Mental Advantage?

PubMed Central

Pettersson, Stefan; Ekström, Marianne Pipping; Berg, Christina M

2013-01-01

Context The combination of extensive weight loss and inadequate nutritional strategies used to lose weight rapidly for competition in weight-category sports may negatively affect athletic performance and health. Objective To explore the reasoning of elite combat-sport athletes about rapid weight loss and regaining of weight before competitions. Design Qualitative study. Setting With grounded theory as a theoretical framework, we employed a cross-examinational approach including interviews, observations, and Internet sources. Sports observations were obtained at competitions and statements by combat-sport athletes were collected on the Internet. Patients or Other Participants Participants in the interviews were 14 Swedish national team athletes (9 men, 5 women; age range, 18 to 36 years) in 3 Olympic combat sports (wrestling, judo, and taekwondo). Data Collection and Analysis Semistructured interviews with 14 athletes from the Swedish national teams in wrestling, judo, and taekwondo were conducted at a location of each participant's choice. The field observations were conducted at European competitions in these 3 sports. In addition, interviews and statements made by athletes in combat sports were collected on the Internet. Results Positive aspects of weight regulation other than gaining physical advantage emerged from the data during the analysis: sport identity, mental diversion, and mental advantage. Together and individually, these categories point toward the positive aspects of weight regulation experienced by the athletes. Practicing weight regulation mediates a self-image of being “a real athlete.” Weight regulation is also considered mentally important as a part of the precompetition preparation, serving as a coping strategy by creating a feeling of increased focus and commitment. Moreover, a mental advantage relative to one's opponents can be gained through the practice of weight regulation. Conclusions Weight regulation has mentally important functions

Practices of weight regulation among elite athletes in combat sports: a matter of mental advantage?

PubMed

Pettersson, Stefan; Ekström, Marianne Pipping; Berg, Christina M

2013-01-01

The combination of extensive weight loss and inadequate nutritional strategies used to lose weight rapidly for competition in weight-category sports may negatively affect athletic performance and health. To explore the reasoning of elite combat-sport athletes about rapid weight loss and regaining of weight before competitions. Qualitative study. With grounded theory as a theoretical framework, we employed a cross-examinational approach including interviews, observations, and Internet sources. Sports observations were obtained at competitions and statements by combat-sport athletes were collected on the Internet. Participants in the interviews were 14 Swedish national team athletes (9 men, 5 women; age range, 18 to 36 years) in 3 Olympic combat sports (wrestling, judo, and taekwondo). Semistructured interviews with 14 athletes from the Swedish national teams in wrestling, judo, and taekwondo were conducted at a location of each participant's choice. The field observations were conducted at European competitions in these 3 sports. In addition, interviews and statements made by athletes in combat sports were collected on the Internet. Positive aspects of weight regulation other than gaining physical advantage emerged from the data during the analysis: sport identity, mental diversion, and mental advantage. Together and individually, these categories point toward the positive aspects of weight regulation experienced by the athletes. Practicing weight regulation mediates a self-image of being "a real athlete." Weight regulation is also considered mentally important as a part of the precompetition preparation, serving as a coping strategy by creating a feeling of increased focus and commitment. Moreover, a mental advantage relative to one's opponents can be gained through the practice of weight regulation. Weight regulation has mentally important functions extending beyond the common notion that combat-sport athletes reduce their weight merely to gain a physical edge

Left hemispheric advantage for numerical abilities in the bottlenose dolphin.

PubMed

Kilian, Annette; von Fersen, Lorenzo; Güntürkün, Onur

2005-02-28

In a two-choice discrimination paradigm, a bottlenose dolphin discriminated relational dimensions between visual numerosity stimuli under monocular viewing conditions. After prior binocular acquisition of the task, two monocular test series with different number stimuli were conducted. In accordance with recent studies on visual lateralization in the bottlenose dolphin, our results revealed an overall advantage of the right visual field. Due to the complete decussation of the optic nerve fibers, this suggests a specialization of the left hemisphere for analysing relational features between stimuli as required in tests for numerical abilities. These processes are typically right hemisphere-based in other mammals (including humans) and birds. The present data provide further evidence for a general right visual field advantage in bottlenose dolphins for visual information processing. It is thus assumed that dolphins possess a unique functional architecture of their cerebral asymmetries. (c) 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

The effect of stimulus intensity on the right ear advantage in dichotic listening.

PubMed

Hugdahl, Kenneth; Westerhausen, René; Alho, Kimmo; Medvedev, Svyatoslav; Hämäläinen, Heikki

2008-01-24

The dichotic listening test is non-invasive behavioural technique to study brain lateralization and it has been shown, that its results can be systematically modulated by varying stimulation properties (bottom-up effects) or attentional instructions (top-down effects) of the testing procedure. The goal of the present study was to further investigate the bottom-up modulation, by examining the effect of differences in the right or left ear stimulus intensity on the ear advantage. For this purpose, interaural intensity difference were gradually varied in steps of 3 dB from -21 dB in favour of the left ear to +21 dB in favour of the right ear, also including a no difference baseline condition. Thirty-three right-handed adult participants with normal hearing acuity were tested. The dichotic listening paradigm was based on consonant-vowel stimuli pairs. Only pairs with the same voicing (voice or non-voiced) of the consonant sound were used. The results showed: (a) a significant right ear advantage (REA) for interaural intensity differences from 21 to -3 dB, (b) no ear advantage (NEA) for the -6 dB difference, and (c) a significant left ear advantage (LEA) for differences form -9 to -21 dB. It is concluded that the right ear advantage in dichotic listening to CV syllables withstands an interaural intensity difference of -9 dB before yielding to a significant left ear advantage. This finding could have implications for theories of auditory laterality and hemispheric asymmetry for phonological processing.

A genomic island provides Acidithiobacillus ferrooxidans ATCC 53993 additional copper resistance: a possible competitive advantage.

PubMed

Orellana, Luis H; Jerez, Carlos A

2011-11-01

There is great interest in understanding how extremophilic biomining bacteria adapt to exceptionally high copper concentrations in their environment. Acidithiobacillus ferrooxidans ATCC 53993 genome possesses the same copper resistance determinants as strain ATCC 23270. However, the former strain contains in its genome a 160-kb genomic island (GI), which is absent in ATCC 23270. This GI contains, amongst other genes, several genes coding for an additional putative copper ATPase and a Cus system. A. ferrooxidans ATCC 53993 showed a much higher resistance to CuSO(4) (>100 mM) than that of strain ATCC 23270 (<25 mM). When a similar number of bacteria from each strain were mixed and allowed to grow in the absence of copper, their respective final numbers remained approximately equal. However, in the presence of copper, there was a clear overgrowth of strain ATCC 53993 compared to ATCC 23270. This behavior is most likely explained by the presence of the additional copper-resistance genes in the GI of strain ATCC 53993. As determined by qRT-PCR, it was demonstrated that these genes are upregulated when A. ferrooxidans ATCC 53993 is grown in the presence of copper and were shown to be functional when expressed in copper-sensitive Escherichia coli mutants. Thus, the reason for resistance to copper of two strains of the same acidophilic microorganism could be determined by slight differences in their genomes, which may not only lead to changes in their capacities to adapt to their environment, but may also help to select the more fit microorganisms for industrial biomining operations. © Springer-Verlag 2011

Major histocompatibility complex harbors widespread genotypic variability of non-additive risk of rheumatoid arthritis including epistasis.

PubMed

Wei, Wen-Hua; Bowes, John; Plant, Darren; Viatte, Sebastien; Yarwood, Annie; Massey, Jonathan; Worthington, Jane; Eyre, Stephen

2016-04-25

Genotypic variability based genome-wide association studies (vGWASs) can identify potentially interacting loci without prior knowledge of the interacting factors. We report a two-stage approach to make vGWAS applicable to diseases: firstly using a mixed model approach to partition dichotomous phenotypes into additive risk and non-additive environmental residuals on the liability scale and secondly using the Levene's (Brown-Forsythe) test to assess equality of the residual variances across genotype groups per marker. We found widespread significant (P < 2.5e-05) vGWAS signals within the major histocompatibility complex (MHC) across all three study cohorts of rheumatoid arthritis. We further identified 10 epistatic interactions between the vGWAS signals independent of the MHC additive effects, each with a weak effect but jointly explained 1.9% of phenotypic variance. PTPN22 was also identified in the discovery cohort but replicated in only one independent cohort. Combining the three cohorts boosted power of vGWAS and additionally identified TYK2 and ANKRD55. Both PTPN22 and TYK2 had evidence of interactions reported elsewhere. We conclude that vGWAS can help discover interacting loci for complex diseases but require large samples to find additional signals.

Advantage and choice: social relationships and staff assistance in assisted living.

PubMed

Burge, Stephanie; Street, Debra

2010-05-01

OBJECTIVES. To understand how "cumulative inequality" (CI), expressed as individual advantage and choice, and "external social supports" contribute to the quality of social relationships and perceptions of staff assistance for older individuals in different assisted living (AL) settings. Data are from 429 cognitively intact AL residents aged 60 years and older interviewed for the Florida Study of Assisted Living. Bivariate and multivariate statistical analyses show how individual advantage and choice and external social networks influence respondents' social relationships and staff assistance in AL. Controlling for resident and facility characteristics, being able to pay privately enhances resident satisfaction with staff assistance and having control over the move to AL is positively associated with perceptions of staff relationships and assistance. Maintaining contact with pre-AL friends predicts quality of coresident relationships, as does family contact. Regular contact with family buffers some of the disadvantages associated with CI for perceptions of staff relationships but not perceptions of staff assistance. Discussion. Individual advantage and choice influence the quality of staff relationships and assistance for AL residents but matter little for coresident relationships. External social relationships buffer some of the risks associated with CI for perceptions of staff relationships but not perceived quality of staff assistance. Findings highlight outcomes associated with CI, including predictable risks that disadvantaged elders face in particular types of AL settings, differential advantages others enjoy that influence positive perceptions of staff relationships and staff assistance, and the enduring importance of supportive social relationships.

HOW MUCH FAVORABLE SELECTION IS LEFT IN MEDICARE ADVANTAGE?

PubMed Central

PRICE, MARY; MCWILLIAMS, J. MICHAEL; HSU, JOHN; MCGUIRE, THOMAS G.

2015-01-01

The health economics literature contains two models of selection, one with endogenous plan characteristics to attract good risks and one with fixed plan characteristics; neither model contains a regulator. Medicare Advantage, a principal example of selection in the literature, is, however, subject to anti-selection regulations. Because selection causes economic inefficiency and because the historically favorable selection into Medicare Advantage plans increased government cost, the effectiveness of the anti-selection regulations is an important policy question, especially since the Medicare Advantage program has grown to comprise 30 percent of Medicare beneficiaries. Moreover, similar anti-selection regulations are being used in health insurance exchanges for those under 65. Contrary to earlier work, we show that the strengthened anti-selection regulations that Medicare introduced starting in 2004 markedly reduced government overpayment attributable to favorable selection in Medicare Advantage. At least some of the remaining selection is plausibly related to fixed plan characteristics of Traditional Medicare versus Medicare Advantage rather than changed selection strategies by Medicare Advantage plans. PMID:26389127

Advantages and Disadvantages of Educational Email Alerts for Family Physicians: Viewpoint

PubMed Central

Badran, Hani; Grad, Roland

2015-01-01

Background Electronic knowledge resources constitute an important channel for accredited Continuing Medical Education (CME) activities. However, email usage for educational purposes is controversial. On the one hand, family physicians become aware of new information, confirm what they already know, and obtain reassurance by reading educational email alerts. Email alerts can also encourage physicians to search Web-based resources. On the other hand, technical difficulties and privacy issues are common obstacles. Objective The purpose of this discussion paper, informed by a literature review and a small qualitative study, was to understand family physicians’ knowledge, attitudes, and behavior in regard to email in general and educational emails in particular, and to explore the advantages and disadvantages of educational email alerts. In addition, we documented participants’ suggestions to improve email alert services for CME. Methods We conducted a qualitative descriptive study using the “Knowledge, Attitude, Behavior” model. We conducted semi-structured face-to-face interviews with 15 family physicians. We analyzed the collected data using inductive-deductive thematic qualitative data analysis. Results All 15 participants scanned and prioritized their email, and 13 of them checked their email daily. Participants mentioned (1) advantages of educational email alerts such as saving time, convenience and valid information, and (2) disadvantages such as an overwhelming number of emails and irrelevance. They offered suggestions to improve educational email. Conclusions The advantages of email alerts seem to compensate for their disadvantages. Suggestions proposed by family physicians can help to improve educational email alerts. PMID:25803184

Advantages and disadvantages of educational email alerts for family physicians: viewpoint.

PubMed

Badran, Hani; Pluye, Pierre; Grad, Roland

2015-02-27

Electronic knowledge resources constitute an important channel for accredited Continuing Medical Education (CME) activities. However, email usage for educational purposes is controversial. On the one hand, family physicians become aware of new information, confirm what they already know, and obtain reassurance by reading educational email alerts. Email alerts can also encourage physicians to search Web-based resources. On the other hand, technical difficulties and privacy issues are common obstacles. The purpose of this discussion paper, informed by a literature review and a small qualitative study, was to understand family physicians' knowledge, attitudes, and behavior in regard to email in general and educational emails in particular, and to explore the advantages and disadvantages of educational email alerts. In addition, we documented participants' suggestions to improve email alert services for CME. We conducted a qualitative descriptive study using the "Knowledge, Attitude, Behavior" model. We conducted semi-structured face-to-face interviews with 15 family physicians. We analyzed the collected data using inductive-deductive thematic qualitative data analysis. All 15 participants scanned and prioritized their email, and 13 of them checked their email daily. Participants mentioned (1) advantages of educational email alerts such as saving time, convenience and valid information, and (2) disadvantages such as an overwhelming number of emails and irrelevance. They offered suggestions to improve educational email. The advantages of email alerts seem to compensate for their disadvantages. Suggestions proposed by family physicians can help to improve educational email alerts.

Advantages of utilizing DMD based rapid manufacturing systems in mass customization applications

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

El-Siblani, A.

2010-02-01

The Use of DMD based Rapid Manufacturing Systems has proven to be very advantageous in the production of highly accurate plastic based components for use in mass customization market such as hearing aids, and dental markets. The voxelization process currently afforded with the DLP technology eliminates any layering effect associated with all existing additive Rapid Manufacturing technologies. The smooth accurate surfaces produced in an additive process utilizing DLP technology, through the voxelization approach, allow for the production of custom finished products. The implementation of DLP technology in rapid prototyping and rapid manufacturing systems allow for the usage of highly viscous photopolymer based liquid and paste composites for rapid manufacturing that could not be used in any other additive process prior to implementation of DLP technology in RP and RM systems. It also allowed for the greater throughput in production without sacrificing quality and accuracy.

[Advantages and disadvantages of direct-to-consumer genetic tests].

PubMed

Christiansen, Camilla Worm; Gerdes, Anne-Marie Axø

2017-03-13

Direct-to-consumer genetic tests are sold over the internet to consumers all over the world - including Denmark. No regulation of these tests has been introduced neither in Denmark nor in Europe, even though they have been on the market since 2007. Such tests have several advantages, but indeed also a long list of potential disadvantages, which are most often ignored, and among these is insufficient training of general practitioners in performing the necessary counselling but also the risk of increased expenses to unnecessary follow-up consultations.

Home advantage in the Six Nations Rugby Union tournament.

PubMed

Thomas, Sion; Reeves, Colin; Bell, Andrew

2008-02-01

This study examined whether home advantage occurred in the Six Nations Rugby Union tournament. Data were gathered using the final championship standings from the tournament's inception in 2000 to the recently completed 2007 season. Home advantage for each championship season was defined as the number of points won by teams playing at home, expressed as a percentage of all points gained either at home or away. An analysis of home advantage for each of eight seasons of competition ranged from 53% (2005) to 70% (2006). There was an overall statistically significant home advantage of 61% for 120 matches played in the Six Nations tournament between 2000 and 2007. Also analysed were the percentage of points won at home by each country. Again, evidence supported home advantage amongst all competing nations regardless of the team's quality.

Project safety as a sustainable competitive advantage.

PubMed

Rechenthin, David

2004-01-01

To be consistently profitable, a construction company must complete projects in scope, on schedule, and on budget. At the same time, the nature of the often high-risk work performed by construction companies can result in high accident rates. Clients and other stakeholders are placing increasing pressure on companies to decrease those accident rates. Clients routinely demand copies of safety plans and evidence of past results at the "pre-qualification" or "request for proposal" stages of the procurement process. Are high accident rates and the associated costs just a part of business? Companies that deliver on scope, schedule, and budget have a competitive advantage. Is it possible for projects with low accident rates to use it as a competitive advantage? Is the value added by safety just a temporary or parity issue, or does a successful safety program offer significant advantage to the company and the client? This article concludes that in the case of a high-risk industry, such as the construction industry, an organization with a successful safety program can promote safety performance as a sustainable competitive advantage. It is a choice the company can make.

High-Cost Patients Had Substantial Rates Of Leaving Medicare Advantage And Joining Traditional Medicare

PubMed Central

Rahman, Momotazur; Keohane, Laura; Trivedi, Amal N.; Mor, Vincent

2015-01-01

Medicare Advantage payment regulations include risk-adjusted capitated reimbursement, which was implemented to discourage favorable risk selection and encourage the retention of members who incur high costs. However, the extent to which risk-adjusted capitation has succeeded is not clear, especially for members using high-cost services not previously considered in assessments of risk selection. We examined the rates at which participants who used three high-cost services switched between Medicare Advantage and traditional Medicare. We found that the switching rate from 2010 to 2011 away from Medicare Advantage and to traditional Medicare exceeded the switching rate in the opposite direction for participants who used long-term nursing home care (17 percent versus 3 percent), short-term nursing home care (9 percent versus 4 percent), and home health care (8 percent versus 3 percent). These results were magnified among people who were enrolled in both Medicare and Medicaid. Our findings raise questions about the role of Medicare Advantage plans in serving high-cost patients with complex care needs, who account for a disproportionately high amount of total health care spending. PMID:26438743

LASIK vs LASEK vs PRK: advantages and indications.

PubMed

Ambrósio, Renato; Wilson, Steven

2003-03-01

The advent of the excimer laser as an instrument for use in reshaping the corneal stroma was a great step forward in refractive surgery. Laser energy can be delivered on the stromal surface in the photorefractive keratectomy (PRK) procedure or deeper on the corneal stroma by the means of a lamellar surgery in which a flap is created with the microkeratome in the laser in situ keratomileusis (LASIK) procedure. LASIK is currently the dominant procedure in refractive surgery. The main advantage of LASIK over PRK is related to maintaining the central corneal epithelium. This increases comfort during the early post-operative period, allows for rapid visual recovery, and reduces the wound healing response. Reduced wound healing correlates with less regression for high corrections and a lower rate of complications such as significant stromal opacity (haze). PRK, however, remains as an excellent option for mild to moderate corrections, particularly for cases associated with thin corneas, recurrent erosions, or a predisposition for trauma (Martial arts, military, etc.). Recently, a modification of PRK, laser subepithelial keratomileusis (LASEK), was introduced. In the LASEK procedure, an epithelial flap is created and replaced after the ablation. The benefits, if any, of the creation of an epithelial flap compared to traditional PRK are not fully appreciated. Advocates of LASEK suggest that there is less discomfort in the early postoperative period, faster visual recovery, and less haze compared to standard PRK for correction of similar levels of refractive error. Additional long-term clinical studies, along with laboratory research, will be crucial to validate these potential advantages of LASEK procedure.

Performance of a peroxide-based cetane improvement additive in different diesel fuels

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Nandi, M.K.; Jacobs, D.C.; Liotta, F.J. Jr.

The implementation of stringent diesel engine emissions regulations is growing worldwide. The use of high cetane diesel fuels is a cost-effective option that can be used to reduce engine emissions. A direct comparison of heavy-duty diesel engine emissions for three different low sulfur diesel fuels treated with di-t-butyl peroxide and 2-ethylhexyl nitrate, at the same cetane level, was evaluated. Both the peroxide and the nitrate cetane improvement additive significantly reduced all regulated and unregulated emissions including the oxides of nitrogen (NOx) emission. Di-t-butyl peroxide shows a small advantage over ethylhexyl nitrate in reducing NOx in all the three fuels. Compatibilitymore » of the peroxide and the nitrate additives, when mixed in a fuel blend, has been demonstrated by cetane response and engine emissions for the fuel blend. 13 refs., 2 figs., 9 tabs.« less

Age-related differences in advantageous decision making are associated with distinct differences in functional community structure.

PubMed

Moussa, Malaak Nasser; Wesley, Michael J; Porrino, Linda J; Hayasaka, Satoru; Bechara, Antoine; Burdette, Jonathan H; Laurienti, Paul J

2014-04-01

Human decision making is dependent on not only the function of several brain regions but also their synergistic interaction. The specific function of brain areas within the ventromedial prefrontal cortex has long been studied in an effort to understand choice evaluation and decision making. These data specifically focus on whole-brain functional interconnectivity using the principles of network science. The Iowa Gambling Task (IGT) was the first neuropsychological task used to model real-life decisions in a way that factors reward, punishment, and uncertainty. Clinically, it has been used to detect decision-making impairments characteristic of patients with prefrontal cortex lesions. Here, we used performance on repeated blocks of the IGT as a behavioral measure of advantageous and disadvantageous decision making in young and mature adults. Both adult groups performed poorly by predominately making disadvantageous selections in the beginning stages of the task. In later phases of the task, young adults shifted to more advantageous selections and outperformed mature adults. Modularity analysis revealed stark underlying differences in visual, sensorimotor and medial prefrontal cortex community structure. In addition, changes in orbitofrontal cortex connectivity predicted behavioral deficits in IGT performance. Contrasts were driven by a difference in age but may also prove relevant to neuropsychiatric disorders associated with poor decision making, including the vulnerability to alcohol and/or drug addiction.

Use of vascularised cartilage as an additional interposition in temporomandibular ankylosis surgery: Rationale, advantages and potential benefits.

PubMed

Jagannathan, Mukund; Devale, Maksud; Kesari, Prashantha; Karanth, Siddharth

2008-07-01

Surgery for the release of temporomandibular joint (TMJ) ankylosis is a commonly performed procedure. Various interposition materials have been tried with varying success rates. However, none of these procedures attempt to recreate the architecture of the joint as the glenoid surface is usually left raw. We aimed to use a vascularised cartilage flap and to line the raw surface of the bone to recreate the articular surface of the joint. There is a rich blood supply in the region of the helical root, based on branches from the Superficial Temporal Artery (STA), which enables the harvest of vascularised cartilage from the helical root for use in the temporomandibular joint. Two cases, one adult and the other a child, of unilateral ankylosis were operated upon using this additional technique. The adult patient had a bony segment excised along with a vascularised cartilage flap for lining the glenoid. The child was managed with an interposition graft of costochondral cartilage following the release of the ankylosis, in addition to the vascularised cartilage flap for lining the glenoid. The postoperative mouth opening was good in both the cases with significant reduction in pain. However, the long-term results of this procedure are yet to be ascertained. The vascularised cartilage flap as an additional interposition material in temporomandibular joint surgery enables early and painless mouth-opening with good short-term results. The potential applicability of this flap in various pathologies of the temporomandibular joint is enormous.

A photon spectrometric dose-rate constant determination for the Advantage Pd-103 brachytherapy source

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Chen, Zhe Jay; Bongiorni, Paul; Nath, Ravinder

Purpose: Although several dosimetric characterizations using Monte Carlo simulation and thermoluminescent dosimetry (TLD) have been reported for the new Advantage Pd-103 source (IsoAid, LLC, Port Richey, FL), no AAPM consensus value has been established for the dosimetric parameters of the source. The aim of this work was to perform an additional dose-rate constant ({Lambda}) determination using a recently established photon spectrometry technique (PST) that is independent of the published TLD and Monte Carlo techniques. Methods: Three Model IAPD-103A Advantage Pd-103 sources were used in this study. The relative photon energy spectrum emitted by each source along the transverse axis wasmore » measured using a high-resolution germanium spectrometer designed for low-energy photons. For each source, the dose-rate constant was determined from its emitted energy spectrum. The PST-determined dose-rate constant ({sub PST}{Lambda}) was then compared to those determined by TLD ({sub TLD}{Lambda}) and Monte Carlo ({sub MC}{Lambda}) techniques. A likely consensus {Lambda} value was estimated as the arithmetic mean of the average {Lambda} values determined by each of three different techniques. Results: The average {sub PST}{Lambda} value for the three Advantage sources was found to be (0.676{+-}0.026) cGyh{sup -1} U{sup -1}. Intersource variation in {sub PST}{Lambda} was less than 0.01%. The {sub PST}{Lambda} was within 2% of the reported {sub MC}{Lambda} values determined by PTRAN, EGSnrc, and MCNP5 codes. It was 3.4% lower than the reported {sub TLD}{Lambda}. A likely consensus {Lambda} value was estimated to be (0.688{+-}0.026) cGyh{sup -1} U{sup -1}, similar to the AAPM consensus values recommended currently for the Theragenics (Buford, GA) Model 200 (0.686{+-}0.033) cGyh{sup -1} U{sup -1}, the NASI (Chatsworth, CA) Model MED3633 (0.688{+-}0.033) cGyh{sup -1} U{sup -1}, and the Best Medical (Springfield, VA) Model 2335 (0.685{+-}0.033) cGyh{sup -1} U{sup -1} {sup 103

An Analysis Of Additive Manufacturing Production Problems And Solutions

DTIC Science & Technology

2016-12-01

democratization of manufacturing (Hornick, 2015). AM has three distinct advantages over subtractive manufacturing : product customization, design flexibility...58 develops software and other technology solutions for the design , analysis, testing, manufacture , and validation of products (Diane Ryan, personal...NAVAL POSTGRADUATE SCHOOL MONTEREY, CALIFORNIA MBA PROFESSIONAL REPORT AN ANALYSIS OF ADDITIVE MANUFACTURING PRODUCTION

Process development for green part printing using binder jetting additive manufacturing

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Miyanaji, Hadi; Orth, Morgan; Akbar, Junaid Muhammad; Yang, Li

2018-05-01

Originally developed decades ago, the binder jetting additive manufacturing (BJ-AM) process possesses various advantages compared to other additive manufacturing (AM) technologies such as broad material compatibility and technological expandability. However, the adoption of BJ-AM has been limited by the lack of knowledge with the fundamental understanding of the process principles and characteristics, as well as the relatively few systematic design guideline that are available. In this work, the process design considerations for BJ-AM in green part fabrication were discussed in detail in order to provide a comprehensive perspective of the design for additive manufacturing for the process. Various process factors, including binder saturation, in-process drying, powder spreading, powder feedstock characteristics, binder characteristics and post-process curing, could significantly affect the printing quality of the green parts such as geometrical accuracy and part integrity. For powder feedstock with low flowability, even though process parameters could be optimized to partially offset the printing feasibility issue, the qualities of the green parts will be intrinsically limited due to the existence of large internal voids that are inaccessible to the binder. In addition, during the process development, the balanced combination between the saturation level and in-process drying is of critical importance in the quality control of the green parts.

Home advantage in southern hemisphere rugby union: national and international.

PubMed

Morton R, Hugh

2006-05-01

This study evaluates home advantages both for national (Super 12) and international (Tri-nations) rugby union teams from South Africa, Australia and New Zealand, over the five-year period 2000 - 2004 using linear modelling. These home advantages are examined for statistical and practical significance, for variability between teams, for stability over time and for inter-correlation. These data reveal that the overall home advantage in elite rugby union has a mean of +6.7 points, and that this changes little from year to year. Closer scrutiny nevertheless reveals a high degree of variability. Different teams can and do have different home advantages, which ranges from a low of -0.7 to a high of +28.3 points in any one year. Furthermore, some team home advantages change up or down from one year to the next, by as much as -36.5 to +31.4 points at the extremes. There is no evidence that the stronger teams have the higher home advantages, or that a high home advantage leads to a superior finishing position in the competition.

Disadvantages and advantages of transtibial technique for creating the anterior cruciate ligament femoral socket.

PubMed

Robin, Brett N; Lubowitz, James H

2014-10-01

Anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) femoral socket techniques have distinct advantages and disadvantages when considering the following techniques: transtibial, anteromedial portal, outside-in, and outside-in retroconstruction. There is no one perfect technique and we have an incomplete understanding of anatomical, biomechanical, isometry, stability, and clinical outcomes. Our primary focus is transtibial technique for creating the ACL femoral socket. Advantages include less invasive, isometric graft placement, stable Lachman exam, and minimal graft impingement with the tunnel and notch. Disadvantages include nonanatomic vertical graft placement that can cause rotational instability and positive pivot shift, interference screw divergence, graft-tunnel length mismatch, femoral socket constraint, posterior cruciate ligament impingement, and a short, oblique tibial tunnel that may undermine the medial plateau in an attempt to achieve anatomic ACL reconstruction. Thieme Medical Publishers 333 Seventh Avenue, New York, NY 10001, USA.

Creating corporate advantage.

PubMed

Collis, D J; Montgomery, C A

1998-01-01

What differentiates truly great corporate strategies from the merely adequate? How can executives at the corporate level create tangible advantage for their businesses that makes the whole more than the sum of the parts? This article presents a comprehensive framework for value creation in the multibusiness company. It addresses the most fundamental questions of corporate strategy: What businesses should a company be in? How should it coordinate activities across businesses? What role should the corporate office play? How should the corporation measure and control performance? Through detailed case studies of Tyco International, Sharp, the Newell Company, and Saatchi and Saatchi, the authors demonstrate that the answers to all those questions are driven largely by the nature of a company's special resources--its assets, skills, and capabilities. These range along a continuum from the highly specialized at one end to the very general at the other. A corporation's location on the continuum constrains the set of businesses it should compete in and limits its choices about the design of its organization. Applying the framework, the authors point out the common mistakes that result from misaligned corporate strategies. Companies mistakenly enter businesses based on similarities in products rather than the resources that contribute to competitive advantage in each business. Instead of tailoring organizational structures and systems to the needs of a particular strategy, they create plain-vanilla corporate offices and infrastructures. The company examples demonstrate that one size does not fit all. One can find great corporate strategies all along the continuum.

Additive manufacturing of titanium alloys in the biomedical field: processes, properties and applications.

PubMed

Trevisan, Francesco; Calignano, Flaviana; Aversa, Alberta; Marchese, Giulio; Lombardi, Mariangela; Biamino, Sara; Ugues, Daniele; Manfredi, Diego

2018-04-01

The mechanical properties and biocompatibility of titanium alloy medical devices and implants produced by additive manufacturing (AM) technologies - in particular, selective laser melting (SLM), electron beam melting (EBM) and laser metal deposition (LMD) - have been investigated by several researchers demonstrating how these innovative processes are able to fulfil medical requirements for clinical applications. This work reviews the advantages given by these technologies, which include the possibility to create porous complex structures to improve osseointegration and mechanical properties (best match with the modulus of elasticity of local bone), to lower processing costs, to produce custom-made implants according to the data for the patient acquired via computed tomography and to reduce waste.

The POP Program: the patient education advantage.

PubMed

Claeys, M; Mosher, C; Reesman, D

1998-01-01

In 1992, a preoperative education program was developed for total joint replacement patients in a small community hospital. The goals of the program were to increase educational opportunities for the joint replacement patients, prepare patients for hospitalization, plan for discharge needs, and increase efficiency of the orthopaedic program. Since 1992, approximately 600 patients have attended the education program. Outcomes have included positive responses from patients regarding their preparedness for surgery, increased participation in their plan of care, coordinated discharge planning, decreased length of stay, and progression across the continuum of care. A multidisciplinary approach to preparing patients for surgery allows for a comprehensive and efficient education program. Marketing of successful programs can enhance an institution's competitive advantage and help ensure the hospital's viability in the current health care arena.

Letter to the Editor: On "Advantages and disadvantages of stiffness instructions when studying postural control" by C.T. Bonnet: You just can't win: Advantages and disadvantages of the postural stability requirement.

PubMed

Lajoie, Y; Richer, N; Jehu, D A; Polskaia, N; Saunders, D

2016-05-01

In the examination of postural control, instructions to stand as still as possible are common and promote a relatively unnatural sway pattern. The validity of the stability requirement is discussed in the present commentary in response to the discussion initiated by Cedrick T. Bonnet. The advantages of using the stability requirement include: evaluating unbiased postural control, reducing variability in postural sway, manipulating focus of attention, examining the ability to maintain an upright stance, and ecological validity of testing. The disadvantages include: constraining natural postural sway, increasing the complexity of the control condition, promoting an internal focus of attention, and reducing the ability to detect exploratory behaviour. After evaluating the aforementioned advantages and disadvantages, the present commentary suggests that researchers should strive to provide specific instructions to maintain feet, arm and eye position without specifically requiring participants to reduce their postural sway. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

2015 Summer Design Challenge: Team A&E (2241) Additively Manufactured Discriminator.

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Miller, Sarah E.; Moore, Brandon James

Current discriminator designs are based on historical designs and traditional manufacturing methods. The goal of this project was to form non-traditional groups to create novel discriminator designs by taking advantage of additive manufacturing. These designs would expand current discriminator designs and provide insight on the applicability of additive manufacturing for future projects. Our design stretched the current abilities of additive manufacturing and noted desired improvements for the future. Through collaboration with NSC, we noted several additional technologies which work well with additive manufacturing such as topology optimization and CT scanning and determined how these technologies could be improved to bettermore » combine with additive manufacturing.« less

Stereoscopic advantages for vection induced by radial, circular, and spiral optic flows.

PubMed

Palmisano, Stephen; Summersby, Stephanie; Davies, Rodney G; Kim, Juno

2016-11-01

Although observer motions project different patterns of optic flow to our left and right eyes, there has been surprisingly little research into potential stereoscopic contributions to self-motion perception. This study investigated whether visually induced illusory self-motion (i.e., vection) is influenced by the addition of consistent stereoscopic information to radial, circular, and spiral (i.e., combined radial + circular) patterns of optic flow. Stereoscopic vection advantages were found for radial and spiral (but not circular) flows when monocular motion signals were strong. Under these conditions, stereoscopic benefits were greater for spiral flow than for radial flow. These effects can be explained by differences in the motion aftereffects generated by these displays, which suggest that the circular motion component in spiral flow selectively reduced adaptation to stereoscopic motion-in-depth. Stereoscopic vection advantages were not observed for circular flow when monocular motion signals were strong, but emerged when monocular motion signals were weakened. These findings show that stereoscopic information can contribute to visual self-motion perception in multiple ways.

A visual short-term memory advantage for objects of expertise

PubMed Central

Curby, Kim M.; Glazek, Kuba; Gauthier, Isabel

2014-01-01

Visual short-term memory (VSTM) is limited, especially for complex objects. Its capacity, however, is greater for faces than for other objects, an advantage that may stem from the holistic nature of face processing. If the holistic processing explains this advantage, then object expertise—which also relies on holistic processing—should endow experts with a VSTM advantage. We compared VSTM for cars among car experts to that among car novices. Car experts, but not car novices, demonstrated a VSTM advantage similar to that for faces; this advantage was orientation-specific and was correlated with an individual's level of car expertise. Control experiments ruled out accounts based solely on verbal- or long-term memory representations. These findings suggest that the processing advantages afforded by visual expertise result in domain-specific increases in VSTM capacity, perhaps by allowing experts to maximize the use of an inherently limited VSTM system. PMID:19170473

Advantages and disadvantages of pinless external fixation.

PubMed

Thomas, S R; Giele, H; Simpson, A H

2000-12-01

The AO pinless external fixator (PEF) uses trocar tipped clamps to grip the outer tibial cortex rather than pins to transfix it. Its main advantage is to avoid further contamination of the medullary canal in open tibial fractures where a nail may subsequently be used. We tested the anatomical safety of this device and its effect on plastic surgical procedures compared with a standard unilateral external fixator (UEF).The PEF and UEF were placed on two amputated limbs which were then dissected. Structures at risk were traced on ten cadaver limbs. We found that important anatomical structures were endangered by the PEF and that safe zones could not always be defined. The UEF avoided these structures. Plastic surgical approaches were made more difficult by the PEF which imposed limitations on local flap design and endangered the arterial perforators which supply them. We conclude that safety is compromised by the PEF because margins for error are small. It poses additional problems in soft tissue reconstruction and highlights the need for co-operation between plastic surgical and orthopaedic teams in choice of fixation device.

Additive manufacturing of liquid/gas diffusion layers for low-cost and high-efficiency hydrogen production

DOE PAGES

Mo, Jingke; Zhang, Feng -Yuan; Dehoff, Ryan R.; ...

2016-01-14

The electron beam melting (EBM) additive manufacturing technology was used to fabricate titanium liquid/gas diffusion media with high-corrosion resistances and well-controllable multifunctional parameters, including two-phase transport and excellent electric/thermal conductivities, has been first demonstrated. Their applications in proton exchange membrane eletrolyzer cells have been explored in-situ in a cell and characterized ex-situ with SEM and XRD. Compared with the conventional woven liquid/gas diffusion layers (LGDLs), much better performance with EBM fabricated LGDLs is obtained due to their significant reduction of ohmic loss. The EBM technology components exhibited several distinguished advantages in fabricating gas diffusion layer: well-controllable pore morphology and structure,more » rapid prototyping, fast manufacturing, highly customizing and economic. In addition, by taking advantage of additive manufacturing, it possible to fabricate complicated three-dimensional designs of virtually any shape from a digital model into one single solid object faster, cheaper and easier, especially for titanium. More importantly, this development will provide LGDLs with control of pore size, pore shape, pore distribution, and therefore porosity and permeability, which will be very valuable to develop modeling and to validate simulations of electrolyzers with optimal and repeatable performance. Further, it will lead to a manufacturing solution to greatly simplify the PEMEC/fuel cell components and to couple the LGDLs with other parts, since they can be easily integrated together with this advanced manufacturing process« less

High-Cost Patients Had Substantial Rates Of Leaving Medicare Advantage And Joining Traditional Medicare.

PubMed

Rahman, Momotazur; Keohane, Laura; Trivedi, Amal N; Mor, Vincent

2015-10-01

Medicare Advantage payment regulations include risk-adjusted capitated reimbursement, which was implemented to discourage favorable risk selection and encourage the retention of members who incur high costs. However, the extent to which risk-adjusted capitation has succeeded is not clear, especially for members using high-cost services not previously considered in assessments of risk selection. We examined the rates at which participants who used three high-cost services switched between Medicare Advantage and traditional Medicare. We found that the switching rate from 2010 to 2011 away from Medicare Advantage and to traditional Medicare exceeded the switching rate in the opposite direction for participants who used long-term nursing home care (17 percent versus 3 percent), short-term nursing home care (9 percent versus 4 percent), and home health care (8 percent versus 3 percent). These results were magnified among people who were enrolled in both Medicare and Medicaid. Our findings raise questions about the role of Medicare Advantage plans in serving high-cost patients with complex care needs, who account for a disproportionately high amount of total health care spending. Project HOPE—The People-to-People Health Foundation, Inc.

Prochlorococcus: Advantages and Limits of Minimalism

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Partensky, Frédéric; Garczarek, Laurence

2010-01-01

Prochlorococcus is the key phytoplanktonic organism of tropical gyres, large ocean regions that are depleted of the essential macronutrients needed for photosynthesis and cell growth. This cyanobacterium has adapted itself to oligotrophy by minimizing the resources necessary for life through a drastic reduction of cell and genome sizes. This rarely observed strategy in free-living organisms has conferred on Prochlorococcus a considerable advantage over other phototrophs, including its closest relative Synechococcus, for life in this vast yet little variable ecosystem. However, this strategy seems to reach its limits in the upper layer of the S Pacific gyre, the most oligotrophic region of the world ocean. By losing some important genes and/or functions during evolution, Prochlorococcus has seemingly become dependent on co-occurring microorganisms. In this review, we present some of the recent advances in the ecology, biology, and evolution of Prochlorococcus, which because of its ecological importance and tiny genome is rapidly imposing itself as a model organism in environmental microbiology.

Prochlorococcus: advantages and limits of minimalism.

PubMed

Partensky, Frédéric; Garczarek, Laurence

2010-01-01

Prochlorococcus is the key phytoplanktonic organism of tropical gyres, large ocean regions that are depleted of the essential macronutrients needed for photosynthesis and cell growth. This cyanobacterium has adapted itself to oligotrophy by minimizing the resources necessary for life through a drastic reduction of cell and genome sizes. This rarely observed strategy in free-living organisms has conferred on Prochlorococcus a considerable advantage over other phototrophs, including its closest relative Synechococcus, for life in this vast yet little variable ecosystem. However, this strategy seems to reach its limits in the upper layer of the S Pacific gyre, the most oligotrophic region of the world ocean. By losing some important genes and/or functions during evolution, Prochlorococcus has seemingly become dependent on co-occurring microorganisms. In this review, we present some of the recent advances in the ecology, biology, and evolution of Prochlorococcus, which because of its ecological importance and tiny genome is rapidly imposing itself as a model organism in environmental microbiology.

A Kantian argument against comparatively advantageous genetic modification.

PubMed

Jensen, David

2011-08-01

The genetic modification of children is becoming a more likely possibility given our rapid progress in medical technologies. I argue, from a broadly Kantian point of view, that at least one kind of such modification-modification by a parent for the sake of a child's comparative advantage-is not rationally justified. To argue this, I first characterize a necessary condition on reasons and rational justification: what is a reason for an agent to do an action in one set of circumstances must be a reason for any in those circumstances to do the action. I then show that comparatively advantageous genetic modification violates this principle since a child's "getting ahead" through genetic modification cannot be rationally justified unless other children also could receive the modification, thus rendering the advantage useless. Finally, I consider the major objection to this it seems to disallow all cases of a parent's helping a child get ahead, something that parents normally engage in with their children. I argue that typical practices of developing a comparative advantage in a child, as well as practices of societal competition in general, do not conflict because they involve circumstances that mitigate the universal character of reasons. Many ordinary cases of competitive advantage that we think of as unjust, in fact, can be explained by my argument.

Methodological requirements to test a possible in-group advantage in judging emotions across cultures: comment on Elfenbein and Ambady (2002) and evidence.

PubMed

Matsumoto, David

2002-03-01

H. A. Elfenbein and N. Ambady's (2002) conclusions concerning a possible in-group advantage in judging emotions across cultures are unwarranted. The author discusses 2 methodological requirements for studies to test adequately the in-group advantage hypothesis and an additional requirement in reviewing multiple judgment studies and examining variance in judgment effects across those studies. The few studies that Elfenbein and Ambady reported that support the in-group advantage hypothesis need to be examined for whether they meet the criteria discussed; if they do not, their data cannot be used to support any contention of cultural differences in judgments, let alone the in-group advantage hypothesis. Furthermore, the role of signal clarity needs to be explored in possibly moderating effects across studies; however, this was not done.

Polysemy Advantage with Abstract but Not Concrete Words

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Jager, Bernadet; Cleland, Alexandra A.

2016-01-01

It is a robust finding that ambiguous words are recognized faster than unambiguous words. More recent studies (e.g., Rodd et al. in "J Mem Lang" 46:245-266, 2002) now indicate that this "ambiguity advantage" may in reality be a "polysemy advantage": caused by related senses (polysemy) rather than unrelated meanings…

Advantages and disadvantages of interdisciplinary consultation in the prescription of assistive technologies for mobility limitations.

PubMed

de Laat, Fred A; van Heerebeek, Bart; van Netten, Jaap J

2018-03-28

To explore the advantages and disadvantages experienced by professionals in interdisciplinary consultation involving the user, prescriber and technician in the prescription of assistive technologies for mobility limitations. Cross-sectional study. Prescribers (N = 39) and orthopaedic technicians (N = 50), who were regularly involved in an interdisciplinary consultation completed a questionnaire about advantages and disadvantages of the interdisciplinary consultation. Advantages of the interdisciplinary consultation were mentioned within all CanMEDS areas of medical practice, including better and quicker prescription of the assistive technology, shared knowledge of medical diagnosis and device possibilities, shared decision making of the device prescription and clear communication rules. Disadvantages were mentioned in the CanMEDS areas management and collaboration, including planning problems (financial) reimbursement of this type of consultation, and time efficiency. On a 10-point scale, mean (standard deviation) rates of interdisciplinary consultations were 7.9 (0.6) according to prescribers, and 7.8 (0.9) by technicians. All participants wanted to continue the interdisciplinary consultation. Prescribers and technicians in the field of assistive technologies for walking mobility limitations appreciate an interdisciplinary consultation. Advantages are found in all CanMEDS areas, whereas disadvantages only concern coordination. It should be encouraged to realize this kind of consultation in all situations where such technologies are prescribed. Implications for rehabilitation Interdisciplinary consultation involving the user, prescriber and technician to prescribe assistive technologies for mobility limitations has many advantages in all CanMEDS areas of medical practice, and few disadvantages, related to management and collaboration only. The disadvantages of interdisciplinary consultation, such as (financial) reimbursement by health insurance companies

Benchmarking DoD Use of Additive Manufacturing and Quantifying Costs

DTIC Science & Technology

2017-03-01

46 VI. Cost Benefit ...developing a cost model. The US Army Logistics Innovation Agency published a study called “Additive Manufacturing Cost - Benefit Analysis”. This...to over fifteen thousand dollars on GSA Advantage. Desktop printers do not require extensive support equipment. 47    VI. Cost Benefit

Energy Advantages for Green Schools

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Griffin, J. Tim

2012-01-01

Because of many advantages associated with central utility systems, school campuses, from large universities to elementary schools, have used district energy for decades. District energy facilities enable thermal and electric utilities to be generated with greater efficiency and higher system reliability, while requiring fewer maintenance and…

Back to Basics: A Bilingual Advantage in Infant Visual Habituation

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Singh, Leher; Fu, Charlene S. L.; Rahman, Aishah A.; Hameed, Waseem B.; Sanmugam, Shamini; Agarwal, Pratibha; Jiang, Binyan; Chong, Yap Seng; Meaney, Michael J.; Rifkin-Graboi, Anne

2015-01-01

Comparisons of cognitive processing in monolinguals and bilinguals have revealed a bilingual advantage in inhibitory control. Recent studies have demonstrated advantages associated with exposure to two languages in infancy. However, the domain specificity and scope of the infant bilingual advantage in infancy remains unclear. In the present study,…

Competitive Advantage and its Sources in an Evolving Market

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zaridis, Apostolos D.

2009-08-01

In a continuously altered and evolving Market, as is the food manufacturing market, the main and long-lasting objective of firm that is the maximization of its wealth and consequently the continuous remaining in profit regions, appears that it is possible to be achieved via the obtainment and maintenance of diachronically long-term competitive advantage, which it will render the firm unique or leader force in a inexorable competition that is continuously extended in a globalized market. Various definitions and different regards are developed in regard to the competitive advantage and the way with which a firm it is possible, acquiring it, to star in the market in which it is activated. As result of sustainable competitive advantage in a firm comes the above the average performance. Abundance of resources and competences that are proposed as sources of competitive advantage in the resource-based view literature exists, while they are added continuously new based on empiric studies. In any case, it appears to suffer hierarchy of sources of competitive advantage, with regard to sustainability of these.

Advantages and limitations of teleneurology.

PubMed

Wechsler, Lawrence R

2015-03-01

The growing disparity between the demand for neurological services and the need for neurologists requires new and innovative strategies for delivering care. Teleneurology allows neurological expertise to be delivered to remote locations to supplement or replace in-person neurological care. To summarize the current status of teleneurology. Applications of teleneurology include acute care, outpatient teleneurology, and teleconsultations. Existing barriers to further expansion of teleneurology are also discussed. Published studies pertaining to teleneurology were reviewed. Practical experience with telemedicine in neurological practice contributed to the conclusions. Outcomes after intravenous tissue plasminogen activator treatment via telemedicine (telestroke) are similar to those achieved with in-person evaluations. Other aspects of teleneurology are less established but have demonstrated feasibility, high patient satisfaction, and, in some cases, cost savings. Teleneurology provides neurological expertise to rural areas with limited availability of neurologists and improves care for patients with difficulty traveling owing to neurological disease. It is likely that use of teleneurology will continue to grow and become incorporated into many aspects of neurological practice. Understanding the advantages and limitations of teleneurology is vital to delivering optimal clinical care for patients with neurological disease regardless of the setting.

Non-Foster Circuits for High Performance Antennas: Advantages and Practical Limitations

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jacob, Minu Mariam

The demand for miniaturized, broadband communication systems has created a need for electrically small, broadband antennas. However, all passive electrically small antennas have a fundamental gain-bandwidth limitation related to their electrical size, as first described by Wheeler and Chu. This limitation can be overcome using active non-Foster circuits (negative inductors and/or negative capacitors), which can deliver a broadband input match with active matching techniques, or can help reduce phase dispersion using negative delay effects. This thesis will illustrate the advantages of non-Foster circuits in obtaining broadband small antennas, in addition to examining their practical limitations due to noise in receive applications, and nonlinearity in transmit applications.

Regulation of Small Mitochondrial DNA Replicative Advantage by Ribonucleotide Reductase in Saccharomyces cerevisiae

PubMed Central

Bradshaw, Elliot; Yoshida, Minoru; Ling, Feng

2017-01-01

Small mitochondrial genomes can behave as selfish elements by displacing wild-type genomes regardless of their detriment to the host organism. In the budding yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae, small hypersuppressive mtDNA transiently coexist with wild-type in a state of heteroplasmy, wherein the replicative advantage of the small mtDNA outcompetes wild-type and produces offspring without respiratory capacity in >95% of colonies. The cytosolic enzyme ribonucleotide reductase (RNR) catalyzes the rate-limiting step in dNTP synthesis and its inhibition has been correlated with increased petite colony formation, reflecting loss of respiratory function. Here, we used heteroplasmic diploids containing wild-type (rho+) and suppressive (rho−) or hypersuppressive (HS rho−) mitochondrial genomes to explore the effects of RNR activity on mtDNA heteroplasmy in offspring. We found that the proportion of rho+ offspring was significantly increased by RNR overexpression or deletion of its inhibitor, SML1, while reducing RNR activity via SML1 overexpression produced the opposite effects. In addition, using Ex Taq and KOD Dash polymerases, we observed a replicative advantage for small over large template DNA in vitro, but only at low dNTP concentrations. These results suggest that dNTP insufficiency contributes to the replicative advantage of small mtDNA over wild-type and cytosolic dNTP synthesis by RNR is an important regulator of heteroplasmy involving small mtDNA molecules in yeast. PMID:28717049

Explaining Asian Americans' academic advantage over whites.

PubMed

Hsin, Amy; Xie, Yu

2014-06-10

The superior academic achievement of Asian Americans is a well-documented phenomenon that lacks a widely accepted explanation. Asian Americans' advantage in this respect has been attributed to three groups of factors: (i) socio-demographic characteristics, (ii) cognitive ability, and (iii) academic effort as measured by characteristics such as attentiveness and work ethic. We combine data from two nationally representative cohort longitudinal surveys to compare Asian-American and white students in their educational trajectories from kindergarten through high school. We find that the Asian-American educational advantage is attributable mainly to Asian students exerting greater academic effort and not to advantages in tested cognitive abilities or socio-demographics. We test explanations for the Asian-white gap in academic effort and find that the gap can be further attributed to (i) cultural differences in beliefs regarding the connection between effort and achievement and (ii) immigration status. Finally, we highlight the potential psychological and social costs associated with Asian-American achievement success.

Explaining Asian Americans’ academic advantage over whites

PubMed Central

Hsin, Amy; Xie, Yu

2014-01-01

The superior academic achievement of Asian Americans is a well-documented phenomenon that lacks a widely accepted explanation. Asian Americans’ advantage in this respect has been attributed to three groups of factors: (i) socio-demographic characteristics, (ii) cognitive ability, and (iii) academic effort as measured by characteristics such as attentiveness and work ethic. We combine data from two nationally representative cohort longitudinal surveys to compare Asian-American and white students in their educational trajectories from kindergarten through high school. We find that the Asian-American educational advantage is attributable mainly to Asian students exerting greater academic effort and not to advantages in tested cognitive abilities or socio-demographics. We test explanations for the Asian–white gap in academic effort and find that the gap can be further attributed to (i) cultural differences in beliefs regarding the connection between effort and achievement and (ii) immigration status. Finally, we highlight the potential psychological and social costs associated with Asian-American achievement success. PMID:24799702

Additive Manufacture (3D Printing) of Plasma Diagnostic Components and Assemblies for Fusion Experiments

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Quinley, Morgan; Chun, Katherine; Melnik, Paul; Sieck, Paul; Smith, Trevor; Stuber, James; Woodruff, Simon; Romero-Talamas, Carlos; Rivera, William; Card, Alexander

2016-10-01

We are investigating the potential impact of additive manufacturing (3D printing) on the cost and complexity of plasma diagnostics. We present a survey of the current state-of-the-art in additive manufacture of metals, as well as the design of diagnostic components that have been optimized for and take advantage of these processes. Included among these is a set of retarding field analyzer probe heads that have been printed in tungsten with internal heat sinks and cooling channels. Finite element analysis of these probe heads shows the potential for a 750K reduction in peak temperature, allowing the probe to take data twice as often without melting. Results of the evaluation of these probe heads for mechanical strength and outgassing, as well as their use on Alcator C-Mod will be presented. Supported by DOE SBIR Grant DE-SC0011858.

Commit to Building on New England's "Employability" Advantage!

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gittell, Ross

2017-01-01

Higher education has provided New England with an economic advantage, as the region without strong natural resource advantages has relied on its higher education institutions (HEIs) and brainpower. A higher education-based economic advantage has enabled the region to develop strong well-paying technology and knowledge-based industries tied to New…

The temporal advantage for individuating objects of expertise: perceptual expertise is an early riser.

PubMed

Curby, Kim M; Gauthier, Isabel

2009-06-10

The identification of faces has a temporal advantage over that of other object categories. The orientation-specific nature of this advantage suggests that it stems from our extensive experience and resulting expertise with upright faces. While experts can identify objects faster than novices, it is unclear exactly how the temporal dynamics of identification are changed by expertise and whether the nature of this temporal advantage is similar for face and non-face objects of expertise. Here, we titrated encoding time using a backward-masking paradigm with variable stimulus-mask onset-asynchronies and mapped the resulting effect on recognition for upright and inverted faces (Experiment 1) and for cars among car experts and car novices (Experiment 2). Performance for upright faces and cars among car experts rose above chance between 33 and 70 ms before that for inverted faces or cars among car novices. A shifted exponential function fitted to these data suggested that performance started to rise earlier for experts than for novices, but that additional encoding time increased performance at a similar rate. Experience influences the availability of information early in processing, possibly through the recruitment of more category-selective neurons, while the rate of perceptual processing may be less flexible and limited by inherent physiological constraints.

Hiding effort to gain a competitive advantage: Evidence from China.

PubMed

Zhao, Li; Heyman, Gail D

2018-06-01

Previous studies with Western populations have shown that adolescents' tendency to downplay their academic effort is affected by two kinds of motives: ability-related motives (e.g., to appear competent) and social approval motives (e.g., to be popular). In this research, we test for the presence of additional competition-related motives in China, a culture placing strong emphasis on academic competition. Study 1 (N = 150) showed that, in response to a scenario in which a hard-working high-school junior hid effort from classmates, the most highly endorsed explanation was "to influence others to work less hard to maintain a competitive advantage." Study 2 (N = 174) revealed that competition-related explanations were endorsed relatively more often when the speaker and audience had similar academic rankings. This tendency was most evident when both speaker and audience were top performers, and when this was the case, participants' desire to demonstrate superiority over others was a positive predictor of endorsement of competition-related motives. Study 3 (N = 137) verified that competition-related motives were more strongly endorsed among Chinese participants than U.S. These results suggest that at least in cultures that emphasize academic competition and in contexts where competition is salient, hiding effort is often about attempting to gain strategic advantage. © 2016 International Union of Psychological Science.

Advantages of soft subdural implants for the delivery of electrochemical neuromodulation therapies to the spinal cord

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Capogrosso, Marco; Gandar, Jerome; Greiner, Nathan; Moraud, Eduardo Martin; Wenger, Nikolaus; Shkorbatova, Polina; Musienko, Pavel; Minev, Ivan; Lacour, Stephanie; Courtine, Grégoire

2018-04-01

Objective. We recently developed soft neural interfaces enabling the delivery of electrical and chemical stimulation to the spinal cord. These stimulations restored locomotion in animal models of paralysis. Soft interfaces can be placed either below or above the dura mater. Theoretically, the subdural location combines many advantages, including increased selectivity of electrical stimulation, lower stimulation thresholds, and targeted chemical stimulation through local drug delivery. However, these advantages have not been documented, nor have their functional impact been studied in silico or in a relevant animal model of neurological disorders using a multimodal neural interface. Approach. We characterized the recruitment properties of subdural interfaces using a realistic computational model of the rat spinal cord that included explicit representation of the spinal roots. We then validated and complemented computer simulations with electrophysiological experiments in rats. We additionally performed behavioral experiments in rats that received a lateral spinal cord hemisection and were implanted with a soft interface. Main results. In silico and in vivo experiments showed that the subdural location decreased stimulation thresholds compared to the epidural location while retaining high specificity. This feature reduces power consumption and risks of long-term damage in the tissues, thus increasing the clinical safety profile of this approach. The hemisection induced a transient paralysis of the leg ipsilateral to the injury. During this period, the delivery of electrical stimulation restricted to the injured side combined with local chemical modulation enabled coordinated locomotor movements of the paralyzed leg without affecting the non-impaired leg in all tested rats. Electrode properties remained stable over time, while anatomical examinations revealed excellent bio-integration properties. Significance. Soft neural interfaces inserted subdurally provide the

Advantages and pitfalls in the application of mixed-model association methods.

PubMed

Yang, Jian; Zaitlen, Noah A; Goddard, Michael E; Visscher, Peter M; Price, Alkes L

2014-02-01

Mixed linear models are emerging as a method of choice for conducting genetic association studies in humans and other organisms. The advantages of the mixed-linear-model association (MLMA) method include the prevention of false positive associations due to population or relatedness structure and an increase in power obtained through the application of a correction that is specific to this structure. An underappreciated point is that MLMA can also increase power in studies without sample structure by implicitly conditioning on associated loci other than the candidate locus. Numerous variations on the standard MLMA approach have recently been published, with a focus on reducing computational cost. These advances provide researchers applying MLMA methods with many options to choose from, but we caution that MLMA methods are still subject to potential pitfalls. Here we describe and quantify the advantages and pitfalls of MLMA methods as a function of study design and provide recommendations for the application of these methods in practical settings.

Plant circadian clocks increase photosynthesis, growth, survival, and competitive advantage.

PubMed

Dodd, Antony N; Salathia, Neeraj; Hall, Anthony; Kévei, Eva; Tóth, Réka; Nagy, Ferenc; Hibberd, Julian M; Millar, Andrew J; Webb, Alex A R

2005-07-22

Circadian clocks are believed to confer an advantage to plants, but the nature of that advantage has been unknown. We show that a substantial photosynthetic advantage is conferred by correct matching of the circadian clock period with that of the external light-dark cycle. In wild type and in long- and short-circadian period mutants of Arabidopsis thaliana, plants with a clock period matched to the environment contain more chlorophyll, fix more carbon, grow faster, and survive better than plants with circadian periods differing from their environment. This explains why plants gain advantage from circadian control.

An Experiment in Comparative Advantage.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Haupert, Michael J.

1996-01-01

Describes an undergraduate economics course experiment designed to teach the concepts of comparative advantage and opportunity costs. Students have a limited number of labor hours and can chose to produce either wheat or steel. As the project progresses, the students trade commodities in an attempt to maximize use of their labor hours. (MJP)

Potential end-to-end imaging information rate advantages of various alternative communication systems

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Rice, R. F.

1978-01-01

Various communication systems were considered which are required to transmit both imaging and a typically error sensitive, class of data called general science/engineering (gse) over a Gaussian channel. The approach jointly treats the imaging and gse transmission problems, allowing comparisons of systems which include various channel coding and data compression alternatives. Actual system comparisons include an Advanced Imaging Communication System (AICS) which exhibits the rather significant potential advantages of sophisticated data compression coupled with powerful yet practical channel coding.

Comparison of DSMC and CFD Solutions of Fire II Including Radiative Heating

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Liechty, Derek S.; Johnston, Christopher O.; Lewis, Mark J.

2011-01-01

The ability to compute rarefied, ionized hypersonic flows is becoming more important as missions such as Earth reentry, landing high mass payloads on Mars, and the exploration of the outer planets and their satellites are being considered. These flows may also contain significant radiative heating. To prepare for these missions, NASA is developing the capability to simulate rarefied, ionized flows and to then calculate the resulting radiative heating to the vehicle's surface. In this study, the DSMC codes DAC and DS2V are used to obtain charge-neutral ionization solutions. NASA s direct simulation Monte Carlo code DAC is currently being updated to include the ability to simulate charge-neutral ionized flows, take advantage of the recently introduced Quantum-Kinetic chemistry model, and to include electronic energy levels as an additional internal energy mode. The Fire II flight test is used in this study to assess these new capabilities. The 1634 second data point was chosen for comparisons to be made in order to include comparisons to computational fluid dynamics solutions. The Knudsen number at this point in time is such that the DSMC simulations are still tractable and the CFD computations are at the edge of what is considered valid. It is shown that there can be quite a bit of variability in the vibrational temperature inferred from DSMC solutions and that, from how radiative heating is computed, the electronic temperature is much better suited for radiative calculations. To include the radiative portion of heating, the flow-field solutions are post-processed by the non-equilibrium radiation code HARA. Acceptable agreement between CFD and DSMC flow field solutions is demonstrated and the progress of the updates to DAC, along with an appropriate radiative heating solution, are discussed. In addition, future plans to generate more high fidelity radiative heat transfer solutions are discussed.

Cryptic Fitness Advantage: Diploids Invade Haploid Populations Despite Lacking Any Apparent Advantage as Measured by Standard Fitness Assays

PubMed Central

Gerstein, Aleeza C.; Otto, Sarah P.

2011-01-01

Ploidy varies tremendously within and between species, yet the factors that influence when or why ploidy variants are adaptive remains poorly understood. Our previous work found that diploid individuals repeatedly arose within ten replicate haploid populations of Saccharomyces cerevisiae, and in each case we witnessed diploid takeover within 1800 asexual generations of batch culture evolution in the lab. The character that allowed diploids to rise in frequency within haploid populations remains unknown. Here we present a number of experiments conducted with the goal to determine what this trait (or traits) might have been. Experiments were conducted both by sampling a small number of colonies from the stocks frozen every two weeks (93 generations) during the original experiment, as well through sampling a larger number of colonies at the two time points where polymorphism for ploidy was most prevalent. Surprisingly, none of our fitness component measures (lag phase, growth rate, biomass production) indicated an advantage to diploidy. Similarly, competition assays against a common competitor and direct competition between haploid and diploid colonies isolated from the same time point failed to indicate a diploid advantage. Furthermore, we uncovered a tremendous amount of trait variation among colonies of the same ploidy level. Only late-appearing diploids showed a competitive advantage over haploids, indicating that the fitness advantage that allowed eventual takeover was not diploidy per se but an attribute of a subset of diploid lineages. Nevertheless, the initial rise in diploids to intermediate frequency cannot be explained by any of the fitness measures used; we suggest that the resolution to this mystery is negative frequency-dependent selection, which is ignored in the standard fitness measures used. PMID:22174734

Battle of the Bacteria: Characterizing the Evolutionary Advantage of Stationary Phase Growth †

PubMed Central

Kram, Karin E.; Yim, Kristina M.; Coleman, Aaron B.; Sato, Brian K.

2016-01-01

Providing students with authentic research opportunities has been shown to enhance learning and increase retention in STEM majors. Accordingly, we have developed a novel microbiology lab module, which focuses on the molecular mechanisms of evolution in E. coli, by examining the growth advantage in stationary phase (GASP) phenotype. The GASP phenotype is demonstrated by growing cells into long-term stationary phase (LTSP) and then competing them against un-aged cells in a fresh culture. This module includes learning goals related to strengthening practical laboratory skills and improving student understanding of evolution. In addition, the students generate novel data regarding the effects of different environmental stresses on GASP and the relationship between evolution, genotypic change, mutation frequency, and cell stress. Pairs of students are provided with the experimental background, select a specific aspect of the growth medium to modify, and generate a hypothesis regarding how this alteration will impact the GASP phenotype. From this module, we have demonstrated that students are able to achieve the established learning goals and have produced data that has furthered our understanding of the GASP phenotype. Journal of Microbiology & Biology Education PMID:27158307

Changing appetites: The adaptive advantages of fuel choice

PubMed Central

Stanley, Illana A.; Ribeiro, Sofia M.; Giménez-Cassina, Alfredo; Norberg, Erik; Danial, Nika N.

2013-01-01

Cells are capable of metabolizing a variety of carbon substrates, including glucose, fatty acids, ketone bodies, and amino acids. Cellular fuel choice not only fulfills specific biosynthetic needs, but also enables programmatic adaptations to stress conditions beyond compensating for changes in nutrient availability. Emerging evidence indicates that specific switches from utilization of one substrate to another can have protective or permissive roles in disease pathogenesis. Understanding the molecular determinants of cellular fuel preference may provide insights into the homeostatic control of stress responses, and unveil therapeutic targets. Here, we highlight overarching themes encompassing cellular fuel choice, its link to cell fate and function, its advantages in stress protection, and its contribution to metabolic dependencies and maladaptations in pathologic conditions. PMID:24018218

CT image segmentation methods for bone used in medical additive manufacturing.

PubMed

van Eijnatten, Maureen; van Dijk, Roelof; Dobbe, Johannes; Streekstra, Geert; Koivisto, Juha; Wolff, Jan

2018-01-01

The accuracy of additive manufactured medical constructs is limited by errors introduced during image segmentation. The aim of this study was to review the existing literature on different image segmentation methods used in medical additive manufacturing. Thirty-two publications that reported on the accuracy of bone segmentation based on computed tomography images were identified using PubMed, ScienceDirect, Scopus, and Google Scholar. The advantages and disadvantages of the different segmentation methods used in these studies were evaluated and reported accuracies were compared. The spread between the reported accuracies was large (0.04 mm - 1.9 mm). Global thresholding was the most commonly used segmentation method with accuracies under 0.6 mm. The disadvantage of this method is the extensive manual post-processing required. Advanced thresholding methods could improve the accuracy to under 0.38 mm. However, such methods are currently not included in commercial software packages. Statistical shape model methods resulted in accuracies from 0.25 mm to 1.9 mm but are only suitable for anatomical structures with moderate anatomical variations. Thresholding remains the most widely used segmentation method in medical additive manufacturing. To improve the accuracy and reduce the costs of patient-specific additive manufactured constructs, more advanced segmentation methods are required. Copyright © 2017 IPEM. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

An investigation of home advantage in the Summer Paralympic Games.

PubMed

Wilson, Darryl; Ramchandani, Girish

2017-01-01

There is a paucity of home advantage research set in the context of para-sport events. It is this gap in the knowledge that this paper addresses by investigating the prevalence and size of home advantage in the Summer Paralympic Games. Using a standardised measure of success, we compared the performances of nations when competing at home with their own performances away from home in the competition between 1960 and 2016. Both country-level and individual sport-level analyses were conducted for this time frame. A Wilcoxon signed rank test was used to determine whether there was a genuine difference in nations' performance under host and non-host conditions. Spearman's rank-order correlation was run to assess the relationship between nation quality and home advantage. Strong evidence of a home advantage effect in the Summer Paralympic Games was found at country level ( p  < 0.01). When examining individual sports, only athletics, table tennis, and wheelchair fencing returned a significant home advantage effect ( p  < 0.05). Possible explanations for these findings are discussed. The size of the home advantage effect was not significantly correlated with the quality or strength of the host nation ( p  > 0.10). While our results confirm that home advantage is prevalent in the Summer Paralympic Games at an overall country level and within specific sports, they do not explain fully why such an effect does exist. Future studies should investigate the causes of home advantage in the competition and also draw comparisons with the Summer Olympic Games to explore any differences between para-sport events and able-bodied events.

Vacuum-assisted drainage in cardiopulmonary bypass: advantages and disadvantages

PubMed Central

de Carvalho Filho, Élio Barreto; Marson, Fernando Augusto de Lima; da Costa, Loredana Nilkenes Gomes; Antunes, Nilson

2014-01-01

Systematic review of vacuum assisted drainage in cardiopulmonary bypass, demonstrating its advantages and disadvantages, by case reports and evidence about its effects on microcirculation. We conducted a systematic search on the period 1997-2012, in the databases PubMed, Medline, Lilacs and SciELO. Of the 70 selected articles, 26 were included in the review. Although the vacuum assisted drainage has significant potential for complications and requires appropriate technology and professionalism, prevailed in literature reviewed the concept that vacuum assisted drainage contributed in reducing the rate of transfusions, hemodilutions, better operative field, no significant increase in hemolysis, reduced complications surgical, use of lower prime and of smaller diameter cannulas. PMID:25140478

Vacuum-assisted drainage in cardiopulmonary bypass: advantages and disadvantages.

PubMed

Carvalho Filho, Elio Barreto de; Marson, Fernando Augusto de Lima; Costa, Loredana Nilkenes Gomes da; Antunes, Nilson

2014-01-01

Systematic review of vacuum assisted drainage in cardiopulmonary bypass, demonstrating its advantages and disadvantages, by case reports and evidence about its effects on microcirculation. We conducted a systematic search on the period 1997-2012, in the databases PubMed, Medline, Lilacs and SciELO. Of the 70 selected articles, 26 were included in the review. Although the vacuum assisted drainage has significant potential for complications and requires appropriate technology and professionalism, prevailed in literature reviewed the concept that vacuum assisted drainage contributed in reducing the rate of transfusions, hemodilutions, better operative field, no significant increase in hemolysis, reduced complications surgical, use of lower prime and of smaller diameter cannulas.

Medicare Advantage Plans Pay Hospitals Less Than Traditional Medicare Pays.

PubMed

Baker, Laurence C; Bundorf, M Kate; Devlin, Aileen M; Kessler, Daniel P

2016-08-01

There is ongoing debate about how prices paid to providers by Medicare Advantage plans compare to prices paid by fee-for-service Medicare. We used data from Medicare and the Health Care Cost Institute to identify the prices paid for hospital services by fee-for-service (FFS) Medicare, Medicare Advantage plans, and commercial insurers in 2009 and 2012. We calculated the average price per admission, and its trend over time, in each of the three types of insurance for fixed baskets of hospital admissions across metropolitan areas. After accounting for differences in hospital networks, geographic areas, and case-mix between Medicare Advantage and FFS Medicare, we found that Medicare Advantage plans paid 5.6 percent less for hospital services than FFS Medicare did. Without taking into account the narrower networks of Medicare Advantage, the program paid 8.0 percent less than FFS Medicare. We also found that the rates paid by commercial plans were much higher than those of either Medicare Advantage or FFS Medicare, and growing. At least some of this difference comes from the much higher prices that commercial plans pay for profitable service lines. Project HOPE—The People-to-People Health Foundation, Inc.

Structured functional additive regression in reproducing kernel Hilbert spaces.

PubMed

Zhu, Hongxiao; Yao, Fang; Zhang, Hao Helen

2014-06-01

Functional additive models (FAMs) provide a flexible yet simple framework for regressions involving functional predictors. The utilization of data-driven basis in an additive rather than linear structure naturally extends the classical functional linear model. However, the critical issue of selecting nonlinear additive components has been less studied. In this work, we propose a new regularization framework for the structure estimation in the context of Reproducing Kernel Hilbert Spaces. The proposed approach takes advantage of the functional principal components which greatly facilitates the implementation and the theoretical analysis. The selection and estimation are achieved by penalized least squares using a penalty which encourages the sparse structure of the additive components. Theoretical properties such as the rate of convergence are investigated. The empirical performance is demonstrated through simulation studies and a real data application.

Contextual Advantage for State Discrimination

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Schmid, David; Spekkens, Robert W.

2018-02-01

Finding quantitative aspects of quantum phenomena which cannot be explained by any classical model has foundational importance for understanding the boundary between classical and quantum theory. It also has practical significance for identifying information processing tasks for which those phenomena provide a quantum advantage. Using the framework of generalized noncontextuality as our notion of classicality, we find one such nonclassical feature within the phenomenology of quantum minimum-error state discrimination. Namely, we identify quantitative limits on the success probability for minimum-error state discrimination in any experiment described by a noncontextual ontological model. These constraints constitute noncontextuality inequalities that are violated by quantum theory, and this violation implies a quantum advantage for state discrimination relative to noncontextual models. Furthermore, our noncontextuality inequalities are robust to noise and are operationally formulated, so that any experimental violation of the inequalities is a witness of contextuality, independently of the validity of quantum theory. Along the way, we introduce new methods for analyzing noncontextuality scenarios and demonstrate a tight connection between our minimum-error state discrimination scenario and a Bell scenario.

The Advantages and Disadvantages of Seeking Commonality in Military Equipment

DTIC Science & Technology

2011-01-01

rand 2011 www.rand.org The Advantages and Disadvantages of Seeking Commonality in Military Equipment I ncreasingly, the Army and the Department...advantages and disadvantages of commonality and developed a decision aid to help Army policymakers manage these tradeoffs. The study drew upon...TITLE AND SUBTITLE The Advantages and Disadvantages of Seeking Commonality in Military Equipment 5a. CONTRACT NUMBER 5b. GRANT NUMBER 5c. PROGRAM

The second leg home advantage: evidence from European football cup competitions.

PubMed

Page, Lionel; Page, Katie

2007-12-01

The home advantage is a widely acknowledged sporting phenomenon, especially in association football. Here, we examine the second leg home advantage, an effect that is discussed in the public domain but which has received very little scientific attention. The second leg home advantage effect occurs when on average teams are more likely to win a two-stage knock-out competition when they play at home in the second leg. That is, both teams have a home advantage but this advantage is significantly greater for the team that plays at home second. Examining data from three different European Cup football competitions spanning 51 years, we show that the second leg home advantage is a real phenomenon. The second leg home team has more than a 50% probability to qualify for the next round in the competition even after controlling for extra time and team ability as possible alternative explanations. The second leg home advantage appears, however, to have decreased significantly over the past decade. Possible reasons for its existence and subsequent decline are presented.

Research on Mechanisms and Controlling Methods of Macro Defects in TC4 Alloy Fabricated by Wire Additive Manufacturing.

PubMed

Ji, Lei; Lu, Jiping; Tang, Shuiyuan; Wu, Qianru; Wang, Jiachen; Ma, Shuyuan; Fan, Hongli; Liu, Changmeng

2018-06-28

Wire feeding additive manufacturing (WFAM) has broad application prospects because of its advantages of low cost and high efficiency. However, with the mode of lateral wire feeding, including wire and laser additive manufacturing, gas tungsten arc additive manufacturing etc., it is easy to generate macro defects on the surface of the components because of the anisotropy of melted wire, which limits the promotion and application of WFAM. In this work, gas tungsten arc additive manufacturing with lateral wire feeding is proposed to investigate the mechanisms of macro defects. The results illustrate that the defect forms mainly include side spatters, collapse, poor flatness, and unmelted wire. It was found that the heat input, layer thickness, tool path, and wire curvature can have an impact on the macro defects. Side spatters are the most serious defects, mainly because the droplets cannot be transferred to the center of the molten pool in the lateral wire feeding mode. This research indicates that the macro defects can be controlled by optimizing the process parameters. Finally, block parts without macro defects were fabricated, which is meaningful for the further application of WFAM.

Twinkling artifact on color Doppler ultrasound: an advantage or a pitfall?

PubMed

Ozan, Ebru; Atac, Gokce Kaan; Gundogdu, Sadi

2016-07-01

The twinkling artifact (TA) or color comet-tail artifact is characterized by a rapidly changing mixture of red and blue color Doppler signals. Even though many diseases and clinical conditions have been shown to produce this artifact, its source is not clearly understood yet. The TA may provide additional information to gray-scale ultrasound findings in several clinical situations. However, there may be pitfalls to keep in mind. We must first be aware of the TA to benefit from the advantages and avoid the pitfalls. In this review, we aim to give practicing radiologists an overview of the mechanisms and clinical applications of the TA by illustrating sample cases we have encountered.

Family (Dis)Advantage and Life Course Expectations*

PubMed Central

Johnson, Monica Kirkpatrick; Hitlin, Steven

2016-01-01

Optimistic assessments of life chances can positively influence life outcomes, but conflicting theories suggest these assessments either reflect structural privilege or develop as a result of childhood hardship. In addition, competing hypotheses suggest that these assessments may matter differently depending on who holds them. We examine whether family socioeconomic status shapes adolescents’ expectations about how successful their lives will turn out. We distinguish generalized life expectations (GLE), capturing anticipated success in life across multiple domains, from intergenerational comparative expectations (ICE), which register expectations about improvement relative to observed success within the respondent’s family lineage. We find that adolescents from higher socioeconomic status families are simultaneously more optimistic about their likely success in life (GLE) but less likely to anticipate relative improvement in life success across generations (ICE). Holding high GLE in combination with low ICE predicted doing better in adulthood across a range of health, attainment, and well-being outcomes, though in most cases high GLE, regardless of ICE, was the key. These beneficial patterns are, for the most part, at least as beneficial for socioeconomically disadvantaged youth as they are for advantaged youth. PMID:28408766

Information Technology: Tomorrow's Advantage Today.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Haag, Stephen; Keen, Peter

This textbook is designed for a one-semester introductory course in which the goal is to give students a foundation in the basics of information technology (IT). It focuses on how the technology works, issues relating to its use and development, how it can lend personal and business advantages, and how it is creating a globally networked society.…

Achieving a sustainable service advantage.

PubMed

Coyne, K P

1993-01-01

Many managers believe that superior service should play little or no role in competitive strategy; they maintain that service innovations are inherently copiable. However, the author states that this view is too narrow. For a company to achieve a lasting service advantage, it must base a new service on a capability gap that competitors cannot or will not copy.

Clinical advantages of carbon-ion radiotherapy

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tsujii, Hirohiko; Kamada, Tadashi; Baba, Masayuki; Tsuji, Hiroshi; Kato, Hirotoshi; Kato, Shingo; Yamada, Shigeru; Yasuda, Shigeo; Yanagi, Takeshi; Kato, Hiroyuki; Hara, Ryusuke; Yamamoto, Naotaka; Mizoe, Junetsu

2008-07-01

Carbon-ion radiotherapy (C-ion RT) possesses physical and biological advantages. It was started at NIRS in 1994 using the Heavy Ion Medical Accelerator in Chiba (HIMAC); since then more than 50 protocol studies have been conducted on almost 4000 patients with a variety of tumors. Clinical experiences have demonstrated that C-ion RT is effective in such regions as the head and neck, skull base, lung, liver, prostate, bone and soft tissues, and pelvic recurrence of rectal cancer, as well as for histological types including adenocarcinoma, adenoid cystic carcinoma, malignant melanoma and various types of sarcomas, against which photon therapy could be less effective. Furthermore, when compared with photon and proton RT, a significant reduction of overall treatment time and fractions has been accomplished without enhancing toxicities. Currently, the number of irradiation sessions per patient averages 13 fractions spread over approximately three weeks. This means that in a carbon therapy facility a larger number of patients than is possible with other modalities can be treated over the same period of time.

The Real Transformation: Building and Maintaining Long-Term Competitive Advantage

DTIC Science & Technology

2003-01-01

TERM COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE LTC EDWARD C. CARDON, USA A TRANFORMATION PAPER FOR THE CHAIRMAN OF THE JOINT CHIEFS OF STAFF SEMINAR...SUBTITLE The Real Transformation: Building and Maintaining Long-Term Competitive Advantage 5a. CONTRACT NUMBER 5b. GRANT NUMBER 5c. PROGRAM ELEMENT...long-term military competitive advantage in comparison to the rest of the world.4 This approach suggests a model that places competition as the

The Advantages of the MGL-140 for the Marine Corps

DTIC Science & Technology

2006-02-07

comparison of the specifications of the M203 and MGL-140 portrays the fundamental benefits of modern weapon systems technology, the true advantages of the...The Advantages of the MGL-140 for the Marine Corps Subject Area Warfighting EWS 2006 Contemporary Issues Paper The... Advantages of the MGL-140 for the Marine Corps Submitted by Captain OF Adeyemi to Majors AL Shaw & WC Stophel, CG 3 7 February 2006

Child center closures: Does nonprofit status provide a comparative advantage?

PubMed

Lam, Marcus; Klein, Sacha; Freisthler, Bridget; Weiss, Robert E

2013-03-01

Reliable access to dependable, high quality childcare services is a vital concern for large numbers of American families. The childcare industry consists of private nonprofit, private for-profit, and governmental providers that differ along many dimensions, including quality, clientele served, and organizational stability. Nonprofit providers are theorized to provide higher quality services given comparative tax advantages, higher levels of consumer trust, and management by mission driven entrepreneurs. This study examines the influence of ownership structure, defined as nonprofit, for-profit sole proprietors, for-profit companies, and governmental centers, on organizational instability, defined as childcare center closures. Using a cross sectional data set of 15724 childcare licenses in California for 2007, we model the predicted closures of childcare centers as a function of ownership structure as well as center age and capacity. Findings indicate that for small centers (capacity of 30 or less) nonprofits are more likely to close, but for larger centers (capacity 30+) nonprofits are less likely to close. This suggests that the comparative advantages available for nonprofit organizations may be better utilized by larger centers than by small centers. We consider the implications of our findings for parents, practitioners, and social policy.

Child center closures: Does nonprofit status provide a comparative advantage?

PubMed Central

Lam, Marcus; Klein, Sacha; Freisthler, Bridget; Weiss, Robert E.

2013-01-01

Reliable access to dependable, high quality childcare services is a vital concern for large numbers of American families. The childcare industry consists of private nonprofit, private for-profit, and governmental providers that differ along many dimensions, including quality, clientele served, and organizational stability. Nonprofit providers are theorized to provide higher quality services given comparative tax advantages, higher levels of consumer trust, and management by mission driven entrepreneurs. This study examines the influence of ownership structure, defined as nonprofit, for-profit sole proprietors, for-profit companies, and governmental centers, on organizational instability, defined as childcare center closures. Using a cross sectional data set of 15724 childcare licenses in California for 2007, we model the predicted closures of childcare centers as a function of ownership structure as well as center age and capacity. Findings indicate that for small centers (capacity of 30 or less) nonprofits are more likely to close, but for larger centers (capacity 30+) nonprofits are less likely to close. This suggests that the comparative advantages available for nonprofit organizations may be better utilized by larger centers than by small centers. We consider the implications of our findings for parents, practitioners, and social policy. PMID:23543882

Undermatched? School-Based Linguistic Status, College Going, and the Immigrant Advantage

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Callahan, Rebecca M.; Humphries, Melissa H.

2016-01-01

Considerable research investigates the immigrant advantage--the academic benefit first- and second-generation students experience relative to native-born peers. However, little work examines how school-based linguistic status may influence this advantage. Contradictory patterns exist: Research identifies both an immigrant advantage and a language…

Restoration of US Aid to Fiji: The Advantages of Obscurity

DTIC Science & Technology

1991-12-20

RESTORATION OF US AID TO FIJI: THE ADVANTAGES OF OBSCURITY Elizabeth McKune NWC Class of 󈨠 December 20, 1991 Report Documentation Page Form...COVERED 20-12-1991 to 20-12-1991 4. TITLE AND SUBTITLE Restoration of US Aid to Fiji: The Advantages of Obscurity 5a. CONTRACT NUMBER 5b...unimportance were advantageous . PHASE ONE Background In the context of the South Pacific, however, Fiji was prominent, frequently cited as a model

Optimal Control Design Advantages Utilizing Two-Degree-of-Freedom Controllers

DTIC Science & Technology

1993-12-01

AFrTIGAE/ENYIV3D-27 AD--A273 839 D"TIC OPTIMAL CONTROL DESIGN ADVANTAGES UTILIZING TWO-DEGREE-OF-FREEDOM CONTROLLERS THESIS Michael J. Stephens...AFIT/GAE/ENY/93D-27 OPTIMAL CONTROL DESIGN ADVANTAGES UTILIZING TWO-DEGREE-OF-FREEDOM CONTROLLERS THESIS Presented to the Faculty of the Graduate...measurement noises compared to the I- DOF model. xvii OPTIMAL CONTROL DESIGN ADVANTAGES UTILIZING TWO-DEGREE-OF-FREEDOM CONTROLLERS I. Introduction L1

Seeking the competitive advantage: it's more than cost reduction.

PubMed

South, S F

1999-01-01

Most organizations focus considerable time and energy on reducing operating costs as a way to attain marketplace advantage. This strategy was not inappropriate in the past. To be competitive in the future, however, focus must be placed on other issues, not just cost reduction. The near future will be dominated by service industries, knowledge management, and virtual partnerships, with production optimization and flexibility, innovation, and strong partnerships defining those organizations that attain competitive advantage. Competitive advantage will reside in clarifying the vision and strategic plan, reviewing and redesigning work processes to optimize resources and value-added work, and creating change-ready environments and empowered workforces.

Reasoning about Other People's Beliefs: Bilinguals Have an Advantage

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Rubio-Fernandez, Paula; Glucksberg, Sam

2012-01-01

Bilingualism can have widespread cognitive effects. In this article we investigate whether bilingualism might have an effect on adults' abilities to reason about other people's beliefs. In particular, we tested whether bilingual adults might have an advantage over monolingual adults in false-belief reasoning analogous to the advantage that has…

Advantages and limits of hemorrhoidal dearterialization in the treatment of symptomatic hemorrhoids

PubMed Central

Giamundo, Paolo

2016-01-01

In the last two decades, hemorrhoidal dearterialization has become universally accepted as a treatment option for symptomatic hemorrhoids. The rationale for this procedure is based on the assumption that arterial blood overflow is mainly responsible for dilatation of the hemorrhoidal plexus due to the absence of capillary interposition between the arterial and venous systems within the anal canal. Dearterialization, with either suture ligation (Doppler-guided hemorrhoid artery ligation/transanal hemorrhoidal dearterialization) or laser (hemorrhoidal laser procedure), may be successfully performed alone or with mucopexy. Although the added value of Doppler-guidance in association with dearterialization has recently been challenged, this imaging method still plays an important role in localizing hemorrhoidal arteries and, therefore, minimizing the effect of anatomic variation among patients. However, it is important to employ the correct Doppler transducer. Some Doppler transducers may not easily detect superficial arteries due to inadequate frequency settings. All techniques of dearterialization have the advantage of preserving the anatomy and physiology of the anal canal, when compared to other surgical treatments for hemorrhoids. This advantage cannot be underestimated as impaired anal function, including fecal incontinence and other defecation disorders, may occur following surgical treatment for hemorrhoids. Furthermore, this potentially devastating problem can occur in patients of all ages, including younger patients. PMID:26843909

Advantages and limits of hemorrhoidal dearterialization in the treatment of symptomatic hemorrhoids.

PubMed

Giamundo, Paolo

2016-01-27

In the last two decades, hemorrhoidal dearterialization has become universally accepted as a treatment option for symptomatic hemorrhoids. The rationale for this procedure is based on the assumption that arterial blood overflow is mainly responsible for dilatation of the hemorrhoidal plexus due to the absence of capillary interposition between the arterial and venous systems within the anal canal. Dearterialization, with either suture ligation (Doppler-guided hemorrhoid artery ligation/transanal hemorrhoidal dearterialization) or laser (hemorrhoidal laser procedure), may be successfully performed alone or with mucopexy. Although the added value of Doppler-guidance in association with dearterialization has recently been challenged, this imaging method still plays an important role in localizing hemorrhoidal arteries and, therefore, minimizing the effect of anatomic variation among patients. However, it is important to employ the correct Doppler transducer. Some Doppler transducers may not easily detect superficial arteries due to inadequate frequency settings. All techniques of dearterialization have the advantage of preserving the anatomy and physiology of the anal canal, when compared to other surgical treatments for hemorrhoids. This advantage cannot be underestimated as impaired anal function, including fecal incontinence and other defecation disorders, may occur following surgical treatment for hemorrhoids. Furthermore, this potentially devastating problem can occur in patients of all ages, including younger patients.

The health advantage of a vegan diet: exploring the gut microbiota connection.

PubMed

Glick-Bauer, Marian; Yeh, Ming-Chin

2014-10-31

This review examines whether there is evidence that a strict vegan diet confers health advantages beyond that of a vegetarian diet or overall healthy eating. Few studies include vegan subjects as a distinct experimental group, yet when vegan diets are directly compared to vegetarian and omnivorous diets, a pattern of protective health benefits emerges. The relatively recent inclusion of vegan diets in studies of gut microbiota and health allows us the opportunity to assess whether the vegan gut microbiota is distinct, and whether the health advantages characteristic of a vegan diet may be partially explained by the associated microbiota profile. The relationship between diet and the intestinal microbial profile appears to follow a continuum, with vegans displaying a gut microbiota most distinct from that of omnivores, but not always significantly different from that of vegetarians. The vegan gut profile appears to be unique in several characteristics, including a reduced abundance of pathobionts and a greater abundance of protective species. Reduced levels of inflammation may be the key feature linking the vegan gut microbiota with protective health effects. However, it is still unclear whether a therapeutic vegan diet can be prescribed to alter the gut microflora for long-term health benefits.

The Health Advantage of a Vegan Diet: Exploring the Gut Microbiota Connection

PubMed Central

Glick-Bauer, Marian; Yeh, Ming-Chin

2014-01-01

This review examines whether there is evidence that a strict vegan diet confers health advantages beyond that of a vegetarian diet or overall healthy eating. Few studies include vegan subjects as a distinct experimental group, yet when vegan diets are directly compared to vegetarian and omnivorous diets, a pattern of protective health benefits emerges. The relatively recent inclusion of vegan diets in studies of gut microbiota and health allows us the opportunity to assess whether the vegan gut microbiota is distinct, and whether the health advantages characteristic of a vegan diet may be partially explained by the associated microbiota profile. The relationship between diet and the intestinal microbial profile appears to follow a continuum, with vegans displaying a gut microbiota most distinct from that of omnivores, but not always significantly different from that of vegetarians. The vegan gut profile appears to be unique in several characteristics, including a reduced abundance of pathobionts and a greater abundance of protective species. Reduced levels of inflammation may be the key feature linking the vegan gut microbiota with protective health effects. However, it is still unclear whether a therapeutic vegan diet can be prescribed to alter the gut microflora for long-term health benefits. PMID:25365383

Structured functional additive regression in reproducing kernel Hilbert spaces

PubMed Central

Zhu, Hongxiao; Yao, Fang; Zhang, Hao Helen

2013-01-01

Summary Functional additive models (FAMs) provide a flexible yet simple framework for regressions involving functional predictors. The utilization of data-driven basis in an additive rather than linear structure naturally extends the classical functional linear model. However, the critical issue of selecting nonlinear additive components has been less studied. In this work, we propose a new regularization framework for the structure estimation in the context of Reproducing Kernel Hilbert Spaces. The proposed approach takes advantage of the functional principal components which greatly facilitates the implementation and the theoretical analysis. The selection and estimation are achieved by penalized least squares using a penalty which encourages the sparse structure of the additive components. Theoretical properties such as the rate of convergence are investigated. The empirical performance is demonstrated through simulation studies and a real data application. PMID:25013362

Cytometric methods for measuring bacteria in water: advantages, pitfalls and applications.

PubMed

Hammes, Frederik; Egli, Thomas

2010-06-01

Rapid detection of microbial cells is a challenge in microbiology, particularly when complex indigenous communities or subpopulations varying in viability, activity and physiological state are investigated. Flow cytometry (FCM) has developed during the last 30 years into a multidisciplinary technique for analysing bacteria. When used correctly, FCM can provide a broad range of information at the single-cell level, including (but not limited to) total counts, size measurements, nucleic acid content, cell viability and activity, and detection of specific bacterial groups or species. The main advantage of FCM is that it is fast and easy to perform. It is a robust technique, which is adaptable to different types of samples and methods, and has much potential for automation. Hence, numerous FCM applications have emerged in industrial biotechnology, food and pharmaceutical quality control, routine monitoring of drinking water and wastewater systems, and microbial ecological research in soils and natural aquatic habitats. This review focuses on the information that can be gained from the analysis of bacteria in water, highlighting some of the main advantages, pitfalls and applications.

Problem-Based Learning in Biomechanics: Advantages, Challenges, and Implementation Strategies.

PubMed

Clyne, Alisa Morss; Billiar, Kristen L

2016-07-01

Problem-based learning (PBL) has been shown to be effective in biomedical engineering education, particularly in motivating student learning, increasing knowledge retention, and developing problem solving, communication, and teamwork skills. However, PBL adoption remains limited by real challenges in effective implementation. In this paper, we review the literature on advantages and challenges of PBL and present our own experiences. We also provide practical guidelines for implementing PBL, including two examples of PBL modules from biomechanics courses at two different institutions. Overall, we conclude that the benefits for both professors and students support the use of PBL in biomedical engineering education.

A Longitudinal Study of Memory Advantages in Bilinguals

PubMed Central

Ljungberg, Jessica K.; Hansson, Patrik; Andrés, Pilar; Josefsson, Maria; Nilsson, Lars-Göran

2013-01-01

Typically, studies of cognitive advantages in bilinguals have been conducted previously by using executive and inhibitory tasks (e.g. Simon task) and applying cross-sectional designs. This study longitudinally investigated bilingual advantages on episodic memory recall, verbal letter and categorical fluency during the trajectory of life. Monolingual and bilingual participants (n = 178) between 35–70 years at baseline were drawn from the Betula Prospective Cohort Study of aging, memory, and health. Results showed that bilinguals outperformed monolinguals at the first testing session and across time both in episodic memory recall and in letter fluency. No interaction with age was found indicating that the rate of change across ages was similar for bilinguals and monolinguals. As predicted and in line with studies applying cross-sectional designs, no advantages associated with bilingualism were found in the categorical fluency task. The results are discussed in the light of successful aging. PMID:24023803

Combustion Performance of a Staged Hybrid Rocket with Boron addition

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lee, D.; Lee, C.

2018-04-01

In this paper, the effect of boron on overall system specific impulse was investigated. Additionally, a series of combustion tests was carried out to analyze and evaluate the effect of boron addition on O/F variation and radial temperature profiles. To maintain the hybrid rocket engine advantages, upper limit of boron contents in solid fuel was set to be 10 wt%. The results also suggested that, when adding boron to solid fuel, it helped to provide more uniform radial temperature distribution and also to increase specific impulse by 3.2%.

NASA/ORNL/AFRL Project Work on EBM LSHR: Additive Manufacturing of High-Temperature Gamma-Prime Strengthened Ni-Based Superalloys

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Sudbrack, Chantal K.; Kirka, Michael M.; Dehoff, Ryan R.; Carter, Robert W.; Semiatin, Sheldon L.; Gabb, Timothy P.

2016-01-01

Powder-bed fabrication of aerospace alloys may revolutionize production by eliminating the need for extensive machining and expensive tooling. Heated-bed electron-beam melting (EBM) offers advantages over non-heated laser additive manufacturing (AM) methods, including lower residual stress, reduced risk of contamination, slower cooling rates, and faster build times. NASA Glenn Research Center has joint project work with Oak Ridge National Lab and the Air Force Research Laboratory to explore the feasibility of fabricating advanced Ni-based gamma-prime superalloys with EBM AM.

Electrophysiological explorations of the bilingual advantage: evidence from a Stroop task.

PubMed

Coderre, Emily L; van Heuven, Walter J B

2014-01-01

Bilinguals have been shown to exhibit a performance advantage on executive control tasks, outperforming their monolingual counterparts. Although a wealth of research has investigated this 'bilingual advantage' behaviourally, electrophysiological correlates are lacking. Using EEG with a Stroop task that manipulated the stimulus onset asynchrony (SOA) of word and colour presentation, the current study addressed two facets of the bilingual advantage. The possibility that bilinguals experience superior conflict processing relative to monolinguals (a 'conflict-specific advantage') was investigated by comparing behavioural interference effects as well as the amplitude of the Ninc, a conflict-related ERP component occurring from approximately 300-500 ms after the onset of conflict. In contrast, the hypothesis that bilinguals experience domain-general, conflict-independent enhancements in executive processing (a 'non-conflict-specific advantage') was evaluated by comparing the control condition (symbol strings) between groups. There was some significant, but inconsistent, evidence for a conflict-specific bilingual advantage. In contrast, strong evidence emerged for a non-conflict-specific advantage, with bilinguals demonstrating faster RTs and reduced ERP amplitudes on control trials compared to monolinguals. Importantly, when the control stimulus was presented before the colour, ERPs to control trials revealed group differences before the onset of conflict, suggesting differences in the ability to ignore or suppress distracting irrelevant information. This indicates that bilinguals experience superior executive processing even in the absence of conflict and semantic salience, and suggests that the advantage extends to more efficient proactive management of the environment.

"Anti-Michael addition" of Grignard reagents to sulfonylacetylenes: synthesis of alkynes.

PubMed

Esteban, Francisco; Boughani, Lazhar; García Ruano, José L; Fraile, Alberto; Alemán, José

2017-05-10

In this work, the addition of Grignard reagents to arylsulfonylacetylenes, which undergoes an "anti-Michael addition", resulting in their alkynylation under very mild conditions is described. The simplicity of the experimental procedure and the functional group tolerance are the main features of this methodology. This is an important advantage over the use of organolithium at -78 °C that we previously reported. Moreover, the synthesis of diynes and other examples showing functional group tolerance in this anti-Michael reaction is also presented.

The half-truth of first-mover advantage.

PubMed

Suarez, Fernando; Lanzolla, Gianvito

2005-04-01

Many executives take for granted that the first company in a new product category gets an unbeatable head start and reaps long-lasting benefits. But that doesn't always happen. The authors of this article discovered that much depends on the pace at which the category's technology is changing and the speed at which the market is evolving. By analyzing these two factors, companies can improve their odds of succeeding as first movers with the resources they possess. Gradual evolution in both the technology and the market provides a first mover with the best conditions for creating a dominant position that is long lasting (Hoover in the vacuum cleaner industry is a good example). In such calm waters, a company can defend its advantages even without exceptional skills or extensive financial resources. When the market is changing rapidly and the product isn't, a first entrant with extensive resources can obtain a long-lasting advantage (as Sony did with its Walkman personal stereo); a company with only limited resources probably must settle for a short-term benefit. When the market is static but the product is changing constantly, first-mover advantages of either kind--durable or short-lived--are unlikely. Only companies with very deep pockets can survive (think of Sony and the digital cameras it pioneered). Rapid churn in both the technology and the market creates the worst conditions. But if companies have an acute sense of when to exit-as Netscape demonstrated when it agreed to be acquired by AOL-a worthwhile short-term gain is possible. Before venturing into a newly forming market, you need to analyze the environment, assess your resources, then determine which type offirst-mover advantage is most achievable. Once you've gone into the water, you have no choice but to swim.

Metabolic engineering of microbial competitive advantage for industrial fermentation processes.

PubMed

Shaw, A Joe; Lam, Felix H; Hamilton, Maureen; Consiglio, Andrew; MacEwen, Kyle; Brevnova, Elena E; Greenhagen, Emily; LaTouf, W Greg; South, Colin R; van Dijken, Hans; Stephanopoulos, Gregory

2016-08-05

Microbial contamination is an obstacle to widespread production of advanced biofuels and chemicals. Current practices such as process sterilization or antibiotic dosage carry excess costs or encourage the development of antibiotic resistance. We engineered Escherichia coli to assimilate melamine, a xenobiotic compound containing nitrogen. After adaptive laboratory evolution to improve pathway efficiency, the engineered strain rapidly outcompeted a control strain when melamine was supplied as the nitrogen source. We additionally engineered the yeasts Saccharomyces cerevisiae and Yarrowia lipolytica to assimilate nitrogen from cyanamide and phosphorus from potassium phosphite, and they outcompeted contaminating strains in several low-cost feedstocks. Supplying essential growth nutrients through xenobiotic or ecologically rare chemicals provides microbial competitive advantage with minimal external risks, given that engineered biocatalysts only have improved fitness within the customized fermentation environment. Copyright © 2016, American Association for the Advancement of Science.

[Virtual CT-pneumocystoscopy: indications, advantages and limitations. Our experience].

PubMed

Regine, Giovanni; Atzori, Maurizio; Buffa, Vitaliano; Miele, Vittorio; Ialongo, Pasquale; Adami, Loredana

2003-09-01

sensitivity was 77%; this was higher for pedunculated lesions (79%) than for sessile lesions (50%). The virtual technique is less invasive and tends to be associated with fewer complications than is conventional cystoscopy. It also demonstrated a good sensitivity for evaluating pedunculated lesions, allowing evaluation of the bladder base and anterior wall, sites that are commonly poorly accessible at conventional cystoscopy. Further advantages of the virtual technique include the possibility of accurately measuring the extent of the lesion and obtaining virtual images even in patients with severe urethral obstruction and active bleeding. The limitations include the inability to obtain tissue for histologic examination or to perform endoscopic resection of pedunculated lesions. The technique is less sensitive than conventional cystoscopy in the detection of sessile lesions or very small polyps (<5 mm). Furthermore, diffuse wall thickening reduces bladder distension thereby preventing optimal evaluation. The most valuable indication appears to be the follow-up of treated wall lesions. Virtual CT-pneumocystoscopy can replace conventional cystoscopy in cases with pedunculated lesions when there is no need for biopsy, when the lesions are located at the bladder base or when cystoscopic instrumentation cannot be introduced into the bladder due to stenosis. Virtual pneumocystoscopy can also be used in the follow-up of treated polypoid lesions in association with pelvic CT-angiography.

Demonstration of quantum advantage in machine learning

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ristè, Diego; da Silva, Marcus P.; Ryan, Colm A.; Cross, Andrew W.; Córcoles, Antonio D.; Smolin, John A.; Gambetta, Jay M.; Chow, Jerry M.; Johnson, Blake R.

2017-04-01

The main promise of quantum computing is to efficiently solve certain problems that are prohibitively expensive for a classical computer. Most problems with a proven quantum advantage involve the repeated use of a black box, or oracle, whose structure encodes the solution. One measure of the algorithmic performance is the query complexity, i.e., the scaling of the number of oracle calls needed to find the solution with a given probability. Few-qubit demonstrations of quantum algorithms, such as Deutsch-Jozsa and Grover, have been implemented across diverse physical systems such as nuclear magnetic resonance, trapped ions, optical systems, and superconducting circuits. However, at the small scale, these problems can already be solved classically with a few oracle queries, limiting the obtained advantage. Here we solve an oracle-based problem, known as learning parity with noise, on a five-qubit superconducting processor. Executing classical and quantum algorithms using the same oracle, we observe a large gap in query count in favor of quantum processing. We find that this gap grows by orders of magnitude as a function of the error rates and the problem size. This result demonstrates that, while complex fault-tolerant architectures will be required for universal quantum computing, a significant quantum advantage already emerges in existing noisy systems.

Less Intense Postacute Care, Better Outcomes For Enrollees In Medicare Advantage Than Those In Fee-For-Service

PubMed Central

Huckfeldt, Peter J.; Escarce, Jose J.; Rabideau, Brendan; Karaca-Mandic, Pinar; Sood, Neeraj

2017-01-01

Traditional fee-for-service (FFS) Medicare’s prospective payment systems for postacute care provide little incentive to coordinate care or control costs. In contrast, Medicare Advantage plans pay for postacute care out of monthly capitated payments and thus have stronger incentives to use it efficiently. We compared the use of postacute care in skilled nursing and inpatient rehabilitation facilities by enrollees in Medicare Advantage and FFS Medicare after hospital discharge for three high-volume conditions: lower extremity joint replacement, stroke, and heart failure. After accounting for differences in patient characteristics at discharge, we found lower intensity of postacute care for Medicare Advantage patients compared to FFS Medicare patients discharged from the same hospital, across all three conditions. Medicare Advantage patients also exhibited better outcomes than their FFS Medicare counterparts, including lower rates of hospital readmission and higher rates of return to the community. These findings suggest that payment reforms such as bundling in FFS Medicare may reduce the intensity of postacute care without adversely affecting patient health. PMID:28069851

Less Intense Postacute Care, Better Outcomes For Enrollees In Medicare Advantage Than Those In Fee-For-Service.

PubMed

Huckfeldt, Peter J; Escarce, José J; Rabideau, Brendan; Karaca-Mandic, Pinar; Sood, Neeraj

2017-01-01

Traditional fee-for-service (FFS) Medicare's prospective payment systems for postacute care provide little incentive to coordinate care or control costs. In contrast, Medicare Advantage plans pay for postacute care out of monthly capitated payments and thus have stronger incentives to use it efficiently. We compared the use of postacute care in skilled nursing and inpatient rehabilitation facilities by enrollees in Medicare Advantage and FFS Medicare after hospital discharge for three high-volume conditions: lower extremity joint replacement, stroke, and heart failure. After accounting for differences in patient characteristics at discharge, we found lower intensity of postacute care for Medicare Advantage patients compared to FFS Medicare patients discharged from the same hospital, across all three conditions. Medicare Advantage patients also exhibited better outcomes than their FFS Medicare counterparts, including lower rates of hospital readmission and higher rates of return to the community. These findings suggest that payment reforms such as bundling in FFS Medicare may reduce the intensity of postacute care without adversely affecting patient health. Project HOPE—The People-to-People Health Foundation, Inc.

Food additives

MedlinePlus

... or natural. Natural food additives include: Herbs or spices to add flavor to foods Vinegar for pickling ... Certain colors improve the appearance of foods. Many spices, as well as natural and man-made flavors, ...

Testosterone, territoriality, and the 'home advantage'.

PubMed

Neave, Nick; Wolfson, Sandy

2003-02-01

The consistently better performance seen by teams in various sporting contexts when playing at home is referred to as the 'home advantage'. Various explanations have been put forward to account for this robust phenomenon, though none has yet focussed on possible hormonal factors. In an initial study, we showed that salivary testosterone levels in soccer players were significantly higher before a home game than an away game.In a second study involving a different group of soccer players, this finding was replicated over two home games, two away games, and three training sessions. Perceived rivalry of the opposing team was important as testosterone levels were higher before playing an 'extreme' rival than a 'moderate' rival. Self-reported measures of mood in both studies were not linked to testosterone level. The present results corroborate and extend earlier findings on the relationships between testosterone, territoriality, and dominance in human competitive encounters and further suggest an important role for testosterone in the home advantage seen in various team sports.

Extensions of the survival advantage in memory: examining the role of ancestral context and implied social isolation.

PubMed

Kostic, Bogdan; McFarlan, Chastity C; Cleary, Anne M

2012-07-01

Recent work (e.g., Nairne & Pandeirada, 2010) has shown that words are remembered better when they have been processed for their survival value in a grasslands context than when processed in other contexts. It has been suggested that this is because human memory systems were shaped by evolution specifically to help humans survive. Thus far, the survival processing advantage has mainly been shown with grasslands contexts, which are thought to be particularly relevant to human evolution. The present study demonstrated the survival processing advantage with other contexts (e.g., lost in a jungle), including with contexts that should not, in and of themselves, be relevant to human evolution (e.g., lost in outer space). We further examined whether implied social isolation plays a critical role in the survival advantage to memory by comparing scenarios in which the person is alone versus with other people present (e.g., lost at sea alone or with others), and whether the perceived source of danger is social isolation or other human attackers. A survival advantage was shown in both the isolation and the group settings, and whether the primary source of danger was isolation or other human attackers did not matter. These findings suggest that the survival advantage in memory is not dependent on evolutionarily relevant physical contexts (e.g., grasslands) or particular sources of perceived danger (social isolation vs. perceived attackers), showing the advantage to be robust and applicable to a variety of scenarios. 2012 APA, all rights reserved

Advantages and disadvantages of 3-dimensional printing in surgery: A systematic review.

PubMed

Martelli, Nicolas; Serrano, Carole; van den Brink, Hélène; Pineau, Judith; Prognon, Patrice; Borget, Isabelle; El Batti, Salma

2016-06-01

Three-dimensional (3D) printing is becoming increasingly important in medicine and especially in surgery. The aim of the present work was to identify the advantages and disadvantages of 3D printing applied in surgery. We conducted a systematic review of articles on 3D printing applications in surgery published between 2005 and 2015 and identified using a PubMed and EMBASE search. Studies dealing with bioprinting, dentistry, and limb prosthesis or those not conducted in a hospital setting were excluded. A total of 158 studies met the inclusion criteria. Three-dimensional printing was used to produce anatomic models (n = 113, 71.5%), surgical guides and templates (n = 40, 25.3%), implants (n = 15, 9.5%) and molds (n = 10, 6.3%), and primarily in maxillofacial (n = 79, 50.0%) and orthopedic (n = 39, 24.7%) operations. The main advantages reported were the possibilities for preoperative planning (n = 77, 48.7%), the accuracy of the process used (n = 53, 33.5%), and the time saved in the operating room (n = 52, 32.9%); 34 studies (21.5%) stressed that the accuracy was not satisfactory. The time needed to prepare the object (n = 31, 19.6%) and the additional costs (n = 30, 19.0%) were also seen as important limitations for routine use of 3D printing. The additional cost and the time needed to produce devices by current 3D technology still limit its widespread use in hospitals. The development of guidelines to improve the reporting of experience with 3D printing in surgery is highly desirable. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

The challenges, advantages and future of phenome-wide association studies.

PubMed

Hebbring, Scott J

2014-02-01

Over the last decade, significant technological breakthroughs have revolutionized human genomic research in the form of genome-wide association studies (GWASs). GWASs have identified thousands of statistically significant genetic variants associated with hundreds of human conditions including many with immunological aetiologies (e.g. multiple sclerosis, ankylosing spondylitis and rheumatoid arthritis). Unfortunately, most GWASs fail to identify clinically significant associations. Identifying biologically significant variants by GWAS also presents a challenge. The GWAS is a phenotype-to-genotype approach. As a complementary/alternative approach to the GWAS, investigators have begun to exploit extensive electronic medical record systems to conduct a genotype-to-phenotype approach when studying human disease - specifically, the phenome-wide association study (PheWAS). Although the PheWAS approach is in its infancy, this method has already demonstrated its capacity to rediscover important genetic associations related to immunological diseases/conditions. Furthermore, PheWAS has the advantage of identifying genetic variants with pleiotropic properties. This is particularly relevant for HLA variants. For example, PheWAS results have demonstrated that the HLA-DRB1 variant associated with multiple sclerosis may also be associated with erythematous conditions including rosacea. Likewise, PheWAS has demonstrated that the HLA-B genotype is not only associated with spondylopathies, uveitis, and variability in platelet count, but may also play an important role in other conditions, such as mastoiditis. This review will discuss and compare general PheWAS methodologies, describe both the challenges and advantages of the PheWAS, and provide insight into the potential directions in which PheWAS may lead. © 2013 The Authors. Immunology Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Laparoscopic radical nephrectomy: incorporating advantages of hand assisted and standard laparoscopy.

PubMed

Ponsky, Lee E; Cherullo, Edward E; Banks, Kevin L W; Greenstein, Marc; Streem, Stevan B; Klein, Eric A; Zippe, Craig D

2003-06-01

We present an approach to laparoscopic radical nephrectomy and intact specimen extraction, which incorporates hand assisted and standard laparoscopic techniques. A refined approach to laparoscopic radical nephrectomy is described and our experience is reviewed. A low, muscle splitting Gibson incision is made just lateral to the rectus muscle and the hand port is inserted. A trocar is placed through the hand port and pneumoperitoneum is established. With the laparoscope in the hand port trocar 2 additional trocars are placed under direct vision. The laparoscope is then repositioned through the middle trocar and standard laparoscopic instruments are used through the other 2 trocars including the one in the hand port. If at any time during the procedure the surgeon believes the hand would be useful or needed, the trocar is removed from the hand port and the hand is inserted. This approach has been applied to 7 patients. Mean estimated blood loss was 200 cc (range 50 to 300) and mean operative time was 276.7 minutes (range 247 to 360). Mean specimen weight was 767 gm. (range 538 to 1,170). Pathologically 6 specimens were renal cell carcinoma (grades 2 to 4) and 1 was oncocytoma. Mean length of hospital stay was 3.71 days (range 2 to 7). There were no major complications. We believe that this approach enables the surgeon to incorporate the advantages of the hand assisted and standard laparoscopic approaches.

Loss of DNA mismatch repair imparts a selective advantage in planarian adult stem cells.

PubMed

Hollenbach, Jessica P; Resch, Alissa M; Palakodeti, Dasaradhi; Graveley, Brenton R; Heinen, Christopher D

2011-01-01

Lynch syndrome (LS) leads to an increased risk of early-onset colorectal and other types of cancer and is caused by germline mutations in DNA mismatch repair (MMR) genes. Loss of MMR function results in a mutator phenotype that likely underlies its role in tumorigenesis. However, loss of MMR also results in the elimination of a DNA damage-induced checkpoint/apoptosis activation barrier that may allow damaged cells to grow unchecked. A fundamental question is whether loss of MMR provides pre-cancerous stem cells an immediate selective advantage in addition to establishing a mutator phenotype. To test this hypothesis in an in vivo system, we utilized the planarian Schmidtea mediterranea which contains a significant population of identifiable adult stem cells. We identified a planarian homolog of human MSH2, a MMR gene which is mutated in 38% of LS cases. The planarian Smed-msh2 is expressed in stem cells and some progeny. We depleted Smed-msh2 mRNA levels by RNA-interference and found a striking survival advantage in these animals treated with a cytotoxic DNA alkylating agent compared to control animals. We demonstrated that this tolerance to DNA damage is due to the survival of mitotically active, MMR-deficient stem cells. Our results suggest that loss of MMR provides an in vivo survival advantage to the stem cell population in the presence of DNA damage that may have implications for tumorigenesis.

Loss of DNA Mismatch Repair Imparts a Selective Advantage in Planarian Adult Stem Cells

PubMed Central

Hollenbach, Jessica P.; Resch, Alissa M.; Palakodeti, Dasaradhi; Graveley, Brenton R.; Heinen, Christopher D.

2011-01-01

Lynch syndrome (LS) leads to an increased risk of early-onset colorectal and other types of cancer and is caused by germline mutations in DNA mismatch repair (MMR) genes. Loss of MMR function results in a mutator phenotype that likely underlies its role in tumorigenesis. However, loss of MMR also results in the elimination of a DNA damage-induced checkpoint/apoptosis activation barrier that may allow damaged cells to grow unchecked. A fundamental question is whether loss of MMR provides pre-cancerous stem cells an immediate selective advantage in addition to establishing a mutator phenotype. To test this hypothesis in an in vivo system, we utilized the planarian Schmidtea mediterranea which contains a significant population of identifiable adult stem cells. We identified a planarian homolog of human MSH2, a MMR gene which is mutated in 38% of LS cases. The planarian Smed-msh2 is expressed in stem cells and some progeny. We depleted Smed-msh2 mRNA levels by RNA-interference and found a striking survival advantage in these animals treated with a cytotoxic DNA alkylating agent compared to control animals. We demonstrated that this tolerance to DNA damage is due to the survival of mitotically active, MMR-deficient stem cells. Our results suggest that loss of MMR provides an in vivo survival advantage to the stem cell population in the presence of DNA damage that may have implications for tumorigenesis. PMID:21747960

The Advantage of Same-Sex Programs.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wollam, Jean

1990-01-01

Considered are advantages of summer science programs limited to young high school women. Same sex courses are seen to eliminate unconscious gender bias in instruction and counter tendencies for female students to be less involved in science, mathematics, and computer activities. Four specific programs are briefly described. (DB)

The Growth Advantage in Stationary-Phase Phenotype Conferred by rpoS Mutations Is Dependent on the pH and Nutrient Environment

PubMed Central

Farrell, Michael J.; Finkel, Steven E.

2003-01-01

Escherichia coli cells that are aged in batch culture display an increased fitness referred to as the growth advantage in stationary phase, or GASP, phenotype. A common early adaptation to this culture environment is a mutant rpoS allele, such as rpoS819, that results in attenuated RpoS activity. However, it is important to note that during long-term batch culture, environmental conditions are in flux. To date, most studies of the GASP phenotype have focused on identifying alleles that render an advantage in a specific environment, Luria-Bertani broth (LB) batch culture. To determine what role environmental conditions play in rendering relative fitness advantages to E. coli cells carrying either the wild-type or rpoS819 alleles, we performed competitions under a variety of culture conditions in which either the available nutrients, the pH, or both were manipulated. In LB medium, we found that while the rpoS819 allele confers a strong competitive fitness advantage at basic pH, it confers a reduced advantage under neutral conditions, and it is disadvantageous under acidic conditions. Similar results were found using other media. rpoS819 conferred its greatest advantage in basic minimal medium in which either glucose or Casamino Acids were the sole source of carbon and energy. In acidic medium supplemented with either Casamino Acids or glucose, the wild-type allele conferred a slight advantage. In addition, populations were dynamic under all pH conditions tested, with neither the wild-type nor mutant rpoS alleles sweeping a culture. We also found that the strength of the fitness advantage gained during a 10-day incubation is pH dependent. PMID:14645263

Explant culture: An advantageous method for isolation of mesenchymal stem cells from human tissues.

PubMed

Hendijani, Fatemeh

2017-04-01

Mesenchymal stem cell (MSC) research progressively moves towards clinical phases. Accordingly, a wide range of different procedures were presented in the literature for MSC isolation from human tissues; however, there is not yet any close focus on the details to offer precise information for best method selection. Choosing a proper isolation method is a critical step in obtaining cells with optimal quality and yield in companion with clinical and economical considerations. In this concern, current review widely discusses advantages of omitting proteolysis step in isolation process and presence of tissue pieces in primary culture of MSCs, including removal of lytic stress on cells, reduction of in vivo to in vitro transition stress for migrated/isolated cells, reduction of price, processing time and labour, removal of viral contamination risk, and addition of supporting functions of extracellular matrix and released growth factors from tissue explant. In next sections, it provides an overall report of technical highlights and molecular events of explant culture method for isolation of MSCs from human tissues including adipose tissue, bone marrow, dental pulp, hair follicle, cornea, umbilical cord and placenta. Focusing on informative collection of molecular and methodological data about explant methods can make it easy for researchers to choose an optimal method for their experiments/clinical studies and also stimulate them to investigate and optimize more efficient procedures according to clinical and economical benefits. © 2017 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Gene-environment studies: any advantage over environmental studies?

PubMed

Bermejo, Justo Lorenzo; Hemminki, Kari

2007-07-01

Gene-environment studies have been motivated by the likely existence of prevalent low-risk genes that interact with common environmental exposures. The present study assessed the statistical advantage of the simultaneous consideration of genes and environment to investigate the effect of environmental risk factors on disease. In particular, we contemplated the possibility that several genes modulate the environmental effect. Environmental exposures, genotypes and phenotypes were simulated according to a wide range of parameter settings. Different models of gene-gene-environment interaction were considered. For each parameter combination, we estimated the probability of detecting the main environmental effect, the power to identify the gene-environment interaction and the frequency of environmentally affected individuals at which environmental and gene-environment studies show the same statistical power. The proportion of cases in the population attributable to the modeled risk factors was also calculated. Our data indicate that environmental exposures with weak effects may account for a significant proportion of the population prevalence of the disease. A general result was that, if the environmental effect was restricted to rare genotypes, the power to detect the gene-environment interaction was higher than the power to identify the main environmental effect. In other words, when few individuals contribute to the overall environmental effect, individual contributions are large and result in easily identifiable gene-environment interactions. Moreover, when multiple genes interacted with the environment, the statistical benefit of gene-environment studies was limited to those studies that included major contributors to the gene-environment interaction. The advantage of gene-environment over plain environmental studies also depends on the inheritance mode of the involved genes, on the study design and, to some extend, on the disease prevalence.

Competitive Advantage, Uncertainty, and Weapons Procurement: Striking Balance for the Future

DTIC Science & Technology

2009-05-02

position of the Department of the Army, Department of Defense, or the U.S. Government. COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE , UNCERTAINTY, AND WEAPONS PROCUREMENT: STRIKING...Competitive Advantage , Uncertainty, and Weapons Procurement: Striking Balance for the Future 5b. GRANT NUMBER 5c. PROGRAM ELEMENT NUMBER 6. AUTHOR(S) 5d...the right balance of investments all leading to a sustained competitive advantage . This paper presents an analysis of how effective this overhaul has

Application and testing of additive manufacturing for mirrors and precision structures

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sweeney, Michael; Acreman, Martyn; Vettese, Tom; Myatt, Ray; Thompson, Mike

2015-09-01

Additive Manufacturing (aka AM, and 3-D printing) is widely touted in the media as the foundation for the next industrial revolution. Beneath the hype, AM does indeed offer profound advantages in lead-time, dramatically reduced consumption of expensive raw materials, while enabling new and innovative design forms that cannot be produced by other means. General Dynamics and their industry partners have begun to embrace this technology for mirrors and precision structures used in the aerospace, defense, and precision optical instrumentation industries. Aggressively lightweighted, open and closed back test mirror designs, 75-150 mm in size, were first produced by AM from several different materials. Subsequent optical finishing and test experiments have exceeded expectations for density, surface finish, dimensional stability and isotropy of thermal expansion on the optical scale of measurement. Materials currently under examination include aluminum, titanium, beryllium, aluminum beryllium, Inconel 625, stainless steel/bronze, and PEKK polymer.

Advantages of isofocal printing in maskmaking with the ALTA 3500

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Fuller, Scott E.; Pochkowski, Mike

1999-04-01

The ALTA 3500, an advanced scanned-laser mask lithography tool produced by Etec, was introduced to the marketplace in 1997. The system architecture was described and an initial performance evaluation was presented. This system, based on the ALTA 3000 system, uses a new 33.3X, 0.8 NA final reduction lens to reduce the spot size to 0.27 micrometers FWHM, thereby affording improved resolution and pattern acuity on the mask. An anisotropic chrome etch process was developed and introduced along with a TOK iP3600 resist to take advantage of the improved resolution. In this paper we will more extensively describe the performance of the ALTA 3500 scanned laser system and the performance of these new processes. In addition, an investigation of the benefits of operating in the optimal isofocal print region is examined and compared to printing at the nominal process conditions.

Numerical and Experimental Study of Ti6Al4V Components Manufactured Using Powder Bed Fusion Additive Manufacturing

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zielinski, Jonas; Mindt, Hans-Wilfried; Düchting, Jan; Schleifenbaum, Johannes Henrich; Megahed, Mustafa

2017-12-01

Powder bed fusion additive manufacturing of titanium alloys is an interesting manufacturing route for many applications requiring high material strength combined with geometric complexity. Managing powder bed fusion challenges, including porosity, surface finish, distortions and residual stresses of as-built material, is the key to bringing the advantages of this process to production main stream. This paper discusses the application of experimental and numerical analysis towards optimizing the manufacturing process of a demonstration component. Powder characterization including assessment of the reusability, assessment of material consolidation and process window optimization is pursued prior to applying the identified optima to study the distortion and residual stresses of the demonstrator. Comparisons of numerical predictions with measurements show good correlations along the complete numerical chain.

The whole relationship between environmental variables and firm performance: competitive advantage and firm resources as mediator variables.

PubMed

López-Gamero, María D; Molina-Azorín, José F; Claver-Cortés, Enrique

2009-07-01

The examination of the possible direct link between environmental protection and firm performance in the literature has generally produced mixed results. The present paper contributes to the literature by using the resource-based view as a mediating process in this relationship. The study specifically tests whether or not the resource-based view of the firm mediates the positive relationships of proactive environmental management and improved environmental performance with competitive advantage, which also has consequences for financial performance. We also check the possible link between the adoption of a pioneering approach and good environmental management practices. Our findings support that early investment timing and intensity in environmental issues impact on the adoption of a proactive environmental management, which in turn helps to improve environmental performance. The findings also show that a firm's resources and competitive advantage act as mediator variables for a positive relationship between environmental protection and financial performance. This contribution is original because the present paper develops a comprehensive whole picture of this path process, which has previously only been partially discussed in the literature. In addition, this study clarifies a relevant point in the literature, namely that the effect of environmental protection on firm performance is not direct and can vary depending on the sector considered. Whereas competitive advantage in relation to costs influences financial performance in the IPPC law sector, the relevant influence in the hotel sector comes from competitive advantage through differentiation.

Generalized neurofuzzy network modeling algorithms using Bézier-Bernstein polynomial functions and additive decomposition.

PubMed

Hong, X; Harris, C J

2000-01-01

This paper introduces a new neurofuzzy model construction algorithm for nonlinear dynamic systems based upon basis functions that are Bézier-Bernstein polynomial functions. This paper is generalized in that it copes with n-dimensional inputs by utilising an additive decomposition construction to overcome the curse of dimensionality associated with high n. This new construction algorithm also introduces univariate Bézier-Bernstein polynomial functions for the completeness of the generalized procedure. Like the B-spline expansion based neurofuzzy systems, Bézier-Bernstein polynomial function based neurofuzzy networks hold desirable properties such as nonnegativity of the basis functions, unity of support, and interpretability of basis function as fuzzy membership functions, moreover with the additional advantages of structural parsimony and Delaunay input space partition, essentially overcoming the curse of dimensionality associated with conventional fuzzy and RBF networks. This new modeling network is based on additive decomposition approach together with two separate basis function formation approaches for both univariate and bivariate Bézier-Bernstein polynomial functions used in model construction. The overall network weights are then learnt using conventional least squares methods. Numerical examples are included to demonstrate the effectiveness of this new data based modeling approach.

The spillover effects of Medicare managed care: Medicare Advantage and hospital utilization.

PubMed

Baicker, Katherine; Chernew, Michael E; Robbins, Jacob A

2013-12-01

More than a quarter of Medicare beneficiaries are enrolled in Medicare Advantage, which was created in large part to improve the efficiency of health care delivery by promoting competition among private managed care plans. This paper explores the spillover effects of the Medicare Advantage program on the traditional Medicare program and other patients, taking advantage of changes in Medicare Advantage payment policy to isolate exogenous increases in Medicare Advantage enrollment and trace out the effects of greater managed care penetration on hospital utilization and spending throughout the health care system. We find that when more seniors enroll in Medicare managed care, hospital costs decline for all seniors and for commercially insured younger populations. Greater managed care penetration is not associated with fewer hospitalizations, but is associated with lower costs and shorter stays per hospitalization. These spillovers are substantial - offsetting more than 10% of increased payments to Medicare Advantage plans. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

The Spillover Effects of Medicare Managed Care: Medicare Advantage and Hospital Utilization

PubMed Central

Baicker, Katherine; Chernew, Michael; Robbins, Jacob

2013-01-01

More than a quarter of Medicare beneficiaries are enrolled in Medicare Advantage, which was created in large part to improve the efficiency of health care delivery by promoting competition among private managed care plans. This paper explores the spillover effects of the Medicare Advantage program on the traditional Medicare program and other patients, taking advantage of changes in Medicare Advantage payment policy to isolate exogenous increases in Medicare Advantage enrollment and trace out the effects of greater managed care penetration on hospital utilization and spending throughout the health care system. We find that when more seniors enroll in Medicare managed care, hospital costs decline for all seniors and for commercially insured younger populations. Greater managed care penetration is not associated with fewer hospitalizations, but is associated with lower costs and shorter stays per hospitalization. These spillovers are substantial – offsetting more than 10% of increased payments to Medicare Advantage plans. PMID:24308880

Enforced Clonality Confers a Fitness Advantage

PubMed Central

Martínková, Jana; Klimešová, Jitka

2016-01-01

In largely clonal plants, splitting of a maternal plant into potentially independent plants (ramets) is usually spontaneous; however, such fragmentation also occurs in otherwise non-clonal species due to application of external force. This process might play an important yet largely overlooked role for otherwise non-clonal plants by providing a mechanism to regenerate after disturbance. Here, in a 5-year garden experiment on two short-lived, otherwise non-clonal species, Barbarea vulgaris and Barbarea stricta, we compared the fitness of plants fragmented by simulated disturbance (“enforced ramets”) both with plants that contemporaneously originate in seed and with individuals unscathed by the disturbance event. Because the ability to regrow from fragments is related to plant age and stored reserves, we compared the effects of disturbance applied during three different ontogenetic stages of the plants. In B. vulgaris, enforced ramet fitness was higher than the measured fitness values of both uninjured plants and plants established from seed after the disturbance. This advantage decreased with increasing plant age at the time of fragmentation. In B. stricta, enforced ramet fitness was lower than or similar to fitness of uninjured plants and plants grown from seed. Our results likely reflect the habitat preferences of the study species, as B. vulgaris occurs in anthropogenic, disturbed habitats where body fragmentation is more probable and enforced clonality thus more advantageous than in the more natural habitats preferred by B. stricta. Generalizing from our results, we see that increased fitness yielded by enforced clonality would confer an evolutionary advantage in the face of disturbance, especially in habitats where a seed bank has not been formed, e.g., during invasion or colonization. Our results thus imply that enforced clonality should be taken into account when studying population dynamics and life strategies of otherwise non-clonal species in disturbed

An evolutionary advantage for extravagant honesty.

PubMed

Bullock, Seth

2012-01-07

A game-theoretic model of handicap signalling over a pair of signalling channels is introduced in order to determine when one channel has an evolutionary advantage over the other. The stability conditions for honest handicap signalling are presented for a single channel and are shown to conform with the results of prior handicap signalling models. Evolutionary simulations are then used to show that, for a two-channel system in which honest signalling is possible on both channels, the channel featuring larger advertisements at equilibrium is favoured by evolution. This result helps to address a significant tension in the handicap principle literature. While the original theory was motivated by the prevalence of extravagant natural signalling, contemporary models have demonstrated that it is the cost associated with deception that stabilises honesty, and that the honest signals exhibited at equilibrium need not be extravagant at all. The current model suggests that while extravagant and wasteful signals are not required to ensure a signalling system's evolutionary stability, extravagant signalling systems may enjoy an advantage in terms of evolutionary attainability. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Influence of ball type on home advantage in French professional soccer.

PubMed

Dosseville, Fabrice E M

2007-04-01

The home advantage has been consistently found in soccer matches, but conclusive evidence of the origin of this home advantage has yet to be identified. One factor often thought to contribute is familiarity with a local facility. The present study examined home advantage in the French professional soccer male championships (20 teams in each Ligue 1 and 2) and explored the influence of soccer ball type on this phenomenon. Whether it is knowing how a soccer ball rolls on a particular grass surface or some other aspect, the home team can react to the situation better if they know from experience what is likely to happen. The results suggest that type of soccer ball may have an influence on home advantage. Confounding factors are discussed.

A Visual Short-Term Memory Advantage for Objects of Expertise

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Curby, Kim M.; Glazek, Kuba; Gauthier, Isabel

2009-01-01

Visual short-term memory (VSTM) is limited, especially for complex objects. Its capacity, however, is greater for faces than for other objects; this advantage may stem from the holistic nature of face processing. If the holistic processing explains this advantage, object expertise--which also relies on holistic processing--should endow experts…

[Advantages and disadvantages of warfarin and pradaxa therapy for venous thromboembolism].

PubMed

Sukovatykh, B S; Belikov, L N; Savchuk, O F; Sukovatykh, M B

2014-01-01

An analysis of complex examination of 110 patients with venous thromboembolism was made. The patients were separated into 2 groups. The first group included 60 patients, who had the start heparin therapy during 7 days with the following 6-month warfarin therapy. Warfarin was substituted by pradaxa (dabigatran) for 50 patients of the second group. The efficacy of pradaxa could be compared with warfarin. However, pradaxa had a number of advantages such as the predictable anticoagulant effect, standard dosages. This medicine is more predictable and doesn't require a control of homeostasis and an adjustment of drug dosage.

3D printed microfluidic circuitry via multijet-based additive manufacturing†

PubMed Central

Sochol, R. D.; Sweet, E.; Glick, C. C.; Venkatesh, S.; Avetisyan, A.; Ekman, K. F.; Raulinaitis, A.; Tsai, A.; Wienkers, A.; Korner, K.; Hanson, K.; Long, A.; Hightower, B. J.; Slatton, G.; Burnett, D. C.; Massey, T. L.; Iwai, K.; Lee, L. P.; Pister, K. S. J.; Lin, L.

2016-01-01

The miniaturization of integrated fluidic processors affords extensive benefits for chemical and biological fields, yet traditional, monolithic methods of microfabrication present numerous obstacles for the scaling of fluidic operators. Recently, researchers have investigated the use of additive manufacturing or “three-dimensional (3D) printing” technologies – predominantly stereolithography – as a promising alternative for the construction of submillimeter-scale fluidic components. One challenge, however, is that current stereolithography methods lack the ability to simultaneously print sacrificial support materials, which limits the geometric versatility of such approaches. In this work, we investigate the use of multijet modelling (alternatively, polyjet printing) – a layer-by-layer, multi-material inkjetting process – for 3D printing geometrically complex, yet functionally advantageous fluidic components comprised of both static and dynamic physical elements. We examine a fundamental class of 3D printed microfluidic operators, including fluidic capacitors, fluidic diodes, and fluidic transistors. In addition, we evaluate the potential to advance on-chip automation of integrated fluidic systems via geometric modification of component parameters. Theoretical and experimental results for 3D fluidic capacitors demonstrated that transitioning from planar to non-planar diaphragm architectures improved component performance. Flow rectification experiments for 3D printed fluidic diodes revealed a diodicity of 80.6 ± 1.8. Geometry-based gain enhancement for 3D printed fluidic transistors yielded pressure gain of 3.01 ± 0.78. Consistent with additional additive manufacturing methodologies, the use of digitally-transferrable 3D models of fluidic components combined with commercially-available 3D printers could extend the fluidic routing capabilities presented here to researchers in fields beyond the core engineering community. PMID:26725379

Belowground advantages in construction cost facilitate a cryptic plant invasion

PubMed Central

Caplan, Joshua S.; Wheaton, Christine N.; Mozdzer, Thomas J.

2014-01-01

The energetic cost of plant organ construction is a functional trait that is useful for understanding carbon investment during growth (e.g. the resource acquisition vs. tissue longevity tradeoff), as well as in response to global change factors like elevated CO2 and N. Despite the enormous importance of roots and rhizomes in acquiring soil resources and responding to global change, construction costs have been studied almost exclusively in leaves. We sought to determine how construction costs of aboveground and belowground organs differed between native and introduced lineages of a geographically widely dispersed wetland plant species (Phragmites australis) under varying levels of CO2 and N. We grew plants under ambient and elevated atmospheric CO2, as well as under two levels of soil nitrogen. We determined construction costs for leaves, stems, rhizomes and roots, as well as for whole plants. Across all treatment conditions, the introduced lineage of Phragmites had a 4.3 % lower mean rhizome construction cost than the native. Whole-plant construction costs were also smaller for the introduced lineage, with the largest difference in sample means (3.3 %) occurring under ambient conditions. In having lower rhizome and plant-scale construction costs, the introduced lineage can recoup its investment in tissue construction more quickly, enabling it to generate additional biomass with the same energetic investment. Our results suggest that introduced Phragmites has had an advantageous tissue investment strategy under historic CO2 and N levels, which has facilitated key rhizome processes, such as clonal spread. We recommend that construction costs for multiple organ types be included in future studies of plant carbon economy, especially those investigating global change. PMID:24938305

Bioinspired Cellular Structures: Additive Manufacturing and Mechanical Properties

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Stampfl, J.; Pettermann, H. E.; Liska, R.

Biological materials (e.g., wood, trabecular bone, marine skeletons) rely heavily on the use of cellular architecture, which provides several advantages. (1) The resulting structures can bear the variety of "real life" load spectra using a minimum of a given bulk material, featuring engineering lightweight design principles. (2) The inside of the structures is accessible to body fluids which deliver the required nutrients. (3) Furthermore, cellular architectures can grow organically by adding or removing individual struts or by changing the shape of the constituting elements. All these facts make the use of cellular architectures a reasonable choice for nature. Using additive manufacturing technologies (AMT), it is now possible to fabricate such structures for applications in engineering and biomedicine. In this chapter, we present methods that allow the 3D computational analysis of the mechanical properties of cellular structures with open porosity. Various different cellular architectures including disorder are studied. In order to quantify the influence of architecture, the apparent density is always kept constant. Furthermore, it is shown that how new advanced photopolymers can be used to tailor the mechanical and functional properties of the fabricated structures.

Epistasis and the selective advantage of sex and recombination

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

de Oliveira, Viviane M.; da Silva, Juliana K.; Campos, Paulo R. A.

2008-09-01

The understanding of the central mechanisms favoring sex and recombination in real populations is one of the fundamental issues in evolutionary biology. Based on a previous stochastic formulation for the study of sex, here we aim to investigate the conditions under which epistasis favors the fixation of the sexual mode of reproduction in a given population. In addition, we try to identify the evolutionary forces which contribute to this process. One considers a finite population model which assumes the existence of a recombination modifier allele that can activate the recombination mechanism. We have found that sex is very little favored in a scenario of antagonistic epistasis, and this advantage only occurs in a narrow range of values of the selection coefficient sd . On the other hand, synergistic epistasis favors recombination in a very broad domain. However, the major mechanism contributing to the spreading of the modifier allele depends on the range of values of sd . At large sd , background selection favors recombination since it increases the efficacy of selection, while at low sd Muller’s ratchet is the leading mechanism.

On the Shallow Processing (Dis)Advantage: Grammar and Economy.

PubMed

Koornneef, Arnout; Reuland, Eric

2016-01-01

In the psycholinguistic literature it has been proposed that readers and listeners often adopt a "good-enough" processing strategy in which a "shallow" representation of an utterance driven by (top-down) extra-grammatical processes has a processing advantage over a "deep" (bottom-up) grammatically-driven representation of that same utterance. In the current contribution we claim, both on theoretical and experimental grounds, that this proposal is overly simplistic. Most importantly, in the domain of anaphora there is now an accumulating body of evidence showing that the anaphoric dependencies between (reflexive) pronominals and their antecedents are subject to an economy hierarchy. In this economy hierarchy, deriving anaphoric dependencies by deep-grammatical-operations requires less processing costs than doing so by shallow-extra-grammatical-operations. In addition, in case of ambiguity when both a shallow and a deep derivation are available to the parser, the latter is actually preferred. This, we argue, contradicts the basic assumptions of the shallow-deep dichotomy and, hence, a rethinking of the good-enough processing framework is warranted.

On the Shallow Processing (Dis)Advantage: Grammar and Economy

PubMed Central

Koornneef, Arnout; Reuland, Eric

2016-01-01

In the psycholinguistic literature it has been proposed that readers and listeners often adopt a “good-enough” processing strategy in which a “shallow” representation of an utterance driven by (top-down) extra-grammatical processes has a processing advantage over a “deep” (bottom-up) grammatically-driven representation of that same utterance. In the current contribution we claim, both on theoretical and experimental grounds, that this proposal is overly simplistic. Most importantly, in the domain of anaphora there is now an accumulating body of evidence showing that the anaphoric dependencies between (reflexive) pronominals and their antecedents are subject to an economy hierarchy. In this economy hierarchy, deriving anaphoric dependencies by deep—grammatical—operations requires less processing costs than doing so by shallow—extra-grammatical—operations. In addition, in case of ambiguity when both a shallow and a deep derivation are available to the parser, the latter is actually preferred. This, we argue, contradicts the basic assumptions of the shallow–deep dichotomy and, hence, a rethinking of the good-enough processing framework is warranted. PMID:26903897

The relation between proactive environmental strategies and competitive advantage

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Butnariu, A.; Avasilcăi, S.

2015-11-01

There are two distinct orientations of the environmental management that companies may adopt: the model of compliance and the strategic model. The strategic model treats environmental expenses as investments that will lead to competitive advantage for the company. Nevertheless, there are few scientific works that prove the relation between corporate environmental investments and competitive advantage. Thereby, in order to bring clarifications about the profound implications of environmental investments, in the first stage of our research we have proposed the hypothesis that the environmental investments would probably lead to competitive advantage by creating capabilities that are mediators of this relation. In the second stage we have tested this hypothesis, using the research method of survey. A questionnaire was sent to managers in textile Romanian industry, and 109 answers were received. The data was analysed using the linear multiple regression method and the results confirm our hypothesis.

Medicare Advantage: Issues, Insights, and Implications for the Future

PubMed Central

Cotton, Paul; Newhouse, Joseph P.; Volpp, Kevin G.; Fendrick, A. Mark; Oesterle, Susan Lynne; Oungpasuk, Pat; Aggarwal, Ruchi; Wilensky, Gail; Sebelius, Kathleen

2016-01-01

Medicare Advantage: Issues, Insights, and Implications for the Future Paul Cotton, Joseph P. Newhouse, PhD, Kevin G. Volpp, MD, PhD, A. Mark Fendrick, MD, Susan Lynne Oesterle, Pat Oungpasuk, Ruchi Aggarwal, Gail Wilensky, PhD, and Kathleen Sebelius Editorial   S-2 D.B. Nash, and A.Y. Schwartz The History, Impact, and Future of the Medicare Advantage Star Ratings System   S-3 P. Cotton Medicare Advantage and Traditional Fee-For-Service Medicare   S-4 J.P. Newhouse Behavioral Economics: Key to Effective Care Management Programs for Patients, Payers, and Providers   S-5 K.G. Volpp Value-Based Insurance Design: A Promising Strategy for Medicare Advantage   S-6 A.M. Fendrick, S.L. Oesterle, P. Oungpasuk, and R. Aggarwal Two Perspectives on the Future of Medicare Advantage   S-7 G. Wilensky and K. Sebelius PMID:27834576

Competitive advantage and higher fitness in native populations of genetically structured planktonic diatoms.

PubMed

Sildever, Sirje; Sefbom, Josefin; Lips, Inga; Godhe, Anna

2016-12-01

It has been shown that the planktonic diatom Skeletonema from neighbouring areas are genetically differentiated despite absence of physical dispersal barriers. We revisited two sites, Mariager Fjord and Kattegat, NE Atlantic, and isolated new strains. Microsatellite genotyping and F-statistics revealed that the populations were genetically differentiated. An experiment was designed to investigate if populations are locally adapted and have a native competitive advantage. Ten strains from each location were grown individually in native and foreign water to investigate differences in produced biomass. Additionally, we mixed six pairs, one strain from each site, and let them grow together in native and foreign water. Strains from Mariager Fjord and Kattegat produced higher biomass in native water. In the competition experiment, strains from both sites displayed higher relative abundance and demonstrated competitive advantage in their native water. The cause of the differentiated growth is unknown, but could possibly be attributed to differences in silica concentration or viruses in the two water types. Our data show that dispersal potential does not influence the genetic structure of the populations. We conclude that genetic adaptation has not been overruled by gene flow, but instead the responses to different selection conditions are enforcing the observed genetic structure. © 2016 Society for Applied Microbiology and John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Advantages and disadvantages of technologies for HER2 testing in breast cancer specimens.

PubMed

Furrer, Daniela; Sanschagrin, François; Jacob, Simon; Diorio, Caroline

2015-11-01

Human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2) plays a central role as a prognostic and predictive marker in breast cancer specimens. Reliable HER2 evaluation is central to determine the eligibility of patients with breast cancer to targeted anti-HER2 therapies such as trastuzumab and lapatinib. Presently, several methods exist for the determination of HER2 status at different levels (protein, RNA, and DNA level). In this review, we discuss the main advantages and disadvantages of the techniques developed so far for the evaluation of HER2 status in breast cancer specimens. Each technique has its own advantages and disadvantages. It is therefore not surprising that no consensus has been reached so far on which technique is the best for the determination of HER2 status. Currently, emphasis must be put on standardization of procedures, internal and external quality control assessment, and competency evaluation of already existing methods to ensure accurate, reliable, and clinically meaningful test results. Development of new robust and accurate diagnostic assays should also be encouraged. In addition, large clinical trials are warranted to identify the technique that most reliably predicts a positive response to anti-HER2 drugs. Copyright© by the American Society for Clinical Pathology.

The Advantages of Using Planned Comparisons over Post Hoc Tests.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kuehne, Carolyn C.

There are advantages to using a priori or planned comparisons rather than omnibus multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) tests followed by post hoc or a posteriori testing. A small heuristic data set is used to illustrate these advantages. An omnibus MANOVA test was performed on the data followed by a post hoc test (discriminant analysis). A…

Home Field Advantage Calculation for Physical Education and Sport Students

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Inan, Tugbay

2018-01-01

It is a well-established fact that playing at home field is an advantageous condition for professional sport teams. For this reason, the home field advantage in team sports is an important issue to be explored. It is also one of the different topics that physical education and sports students can use when they want to perform performance analysis…

Advantages and Disadvantages of Health Care Accreditation Mod-els.

PubMed

Tabrizi, Jafar S; Gharibi, Farid; Wilson, Andrew J

2011-01-01

This systematic review seeks to define the general advantages and disadvan-tages of accreditation programs to assist in choosing the most appropriate approach. Systematic search of SID, Ovid Medline & PubMed databases was conducted by the keywords of accreditation, hospital, medical practice, clinic, accreditation models, health care and Persian meanings. From 2379 initial articles, 83 articles met the full inclusion criteria. From initial analysis, 23 attributes were identified which appeared to define advantages and disadvantages of different accreditation approaches and the available systems were compared on these. Six systems were identified in the international literature including the JCAHO from USA, the Canadian program of CCHSA, and the accreditation programs of UK, Australia, New Zealand and France. The main distinguishing attributes among them were: quality improve-ment, patient and staff safety, improving health services integration, public's confi-dence, effectiveness and efficiency of health services, innovation, influence global standards, information management, breadth of activity, history, effective relationship with stakeholders, agreement with AGIL attributes and independence from government. Based on 23 attributes of comprehensive accreditation systems we have defined from a systematic review, the JCAHO accreditation program of USA and then CCHSA of Can-ada offered the most comprehensive systems with the least disadvantages. Other programs such as the ACHS of Australia, ANAES of France, QHNZ of New Zealand and UK accredita-tion programs were fairly comparable according to these criteria. However the decision for any country or health system should be based on an assessment weighing up their specific objec-tives and needs.

Risk approximation in decision making: approximative numeric abilities predict advantageous decisions under objective risk.

PubMed

Mueller, Silke M; Schiebener, Johannes; Delazer, Margarete; Brand, Matthias

2018-01-22

Many decision situations in everyday life involve mathematical considerations. In decisions under objective risk, i.e., when explicit numeric information is available, executive functions and abilities to handle exact numbers and ratios are predictors of objectively advantageous choices. Although still debated, exact numeric abilities, e.g., normative calculation skills, are assumed to be related to approximate number processing skills. The current study investigates the effects of approximative numeric abilities on decision making under objective risk. Participants (N = 153) performed a paradigm measuring number-comparison, quantity-estimation, risk-estimation, and decision-making skills on the basis of rapid dot comparisons. Additionally, a risky decision-making task with exact numeric information was administered, as well as tasks measuring executive functions and exact numeric abilities, e.g., mental calculation and ratio processing skills, were conducted. Approximative numeric abilities significantly predicted advantageous decision making, even beyond the effects of executive functions and exact numeric skills. Especially being able to make accurate risk estimations seemed to contribute to superior choices. We recommend approximation skills and approximate number processing to be subject of future investigations on decision making under risk.

Advantages and Disadvantages in Image Processing with Free Software in Radiology.

PubMed

Mujika, Katrin Muradas; Méndez, Juan Antonio Juanes; de Miguel, Andrés Framiñan

2018-01-15

Currently, there are sophisticated applications that make it possible to visualize medical images and even to manipulate them. These software applications are of great interest, both from a teaching and a radiological perspective. In addition, some of these applications are known as Free Open Source Software because they are free and the source code is freely available, and therefore it can be easily obtained even on personal computers. Two examples of free open source software are Osirix Lite® and 3D Slicer®. However, this last group of free applications have limitations in its use. For the radiological field, manipulating and post-processing images is increasingly important. Consequently, sophisticated computing tools that combine software and hardware to process medical images are needed. In radiology, graphic workstations allow their users to process, review, analyse, communicate and exchange multidimensional digital images acquired with different image-capturing radiological devices. These radiological devices are basically CT (Computerised Tomography), MRI (Magnetic Resonance Imaging), PET (Positron Emission Tomography), etc. Nevertheless, the programs included in these workstations have a high cost which always depends on the software provider and is always subject to its norms and requirements. With this study, we aim to present the advantages and disadvantages of these radiological image visualization systems in the advanced management of radiological studies. We will compare the features of the VITREA2® and AW VolumeShare 5® radiology workstation with free open source software applications like OsiriX® and 3D Slicer®, with examples from specific studies.

Novel techniques in stress echocardiography: a focus on the advantages and disadvantages.

PubMed

Vamvakidou, Anastasia; Gurunathan, Sothinathan; Senior, Roxy

2016-01-01

Stress echocardiography (SE) is an established tool not only for the assessment of coronary artery disease (CAD), but also for the evaluation of valvular disease and cardiomyopathy. New techniques, namely contrast echocardiography for function and perfusion including assessment of coronary flow reserve, strain imaging, 3-dimensional echocardiography, Doppler-derived coronary flow reserve and multimodality echocardiography, have been incorporated into stress protocols for improving assessment of cardiac disease. In this review, the advantages and disadvantages of these novel SE techniques are examined in terms of feasibility, accuracy, reproducibility and applications.

Strategic Choice: United States Special Forces’ Comparative Advantage in Irregular Warfare

DTIC Science & Technology

2017-03-01

UNITED STATES SPECIAL FORCES’ COMPARATIVE ADVANTAGE IN IRREGULAR WARFARE by Steven F. Payne March 2017 Thesis Advisor: Hy S. Rothstein...REPORT TYPE AND DATES COVERED Master’s thesis 4. TITLE AND SUBTITLE STRATEGIC CHOICE: UNITED STATES SPECIAL FORCES’ COMPARATIVE ADVANTAGE IN...methodology, this thesis concludes that U.S. Army Special Forces have a comparative advantage over conventional forces to provide the National Command

[Overdenture supported by natural teeth: analysis of clinical advantages].

PubMed

Scotti, R; Melilli, D; Pizzo, G

2003-05-01

Hybrid prosthesis supported by natural teeth (overdenture) is widely used in clinical practice and should be executed whenever the clinical conditions suggest it. Through a critical review of the literature, the anatomical, functional, psychological and clinical advantages are emphasized. Among the first ones, the prophylaxis of residual anatomical components, due to the limitation of bone resorption, and the preservation of sensorial proprioception are relevant. Important advantages are also represented by a better crown-root ratio of residual teeth supporting overdenture, with the consequent improvement of the longitudinal prognosis of such teeth. The greater retention and stability of overdenture in comparison with complete denture greatly improve the masticatory efficacy. The psychological advantages resulting from the dental anchorage, which allows the patient to be more confident in social life, are also relevant. Finally, when the dental support is lost, converting overdenture into complete denture is simple and quick, and makes easier the longitudinal clinical maintenance of the denture.

Move-by-move dynamics of the advantage in chess matches reveals population-level learning of the game.

PubMed

Ribeiro, Haroldo V; Mendes, Renio S; Lenzi, Ervin K; del Castillo-Mussot, Marcelo; Amaral, Luís A N

2013-01-01

The complexity of chess matches has attracted broad interest since its invention. This complexity and the availability of large number of recorded matches make chess an ideal model systems for the study of population-level learning of a complex system. We systematically investigate the move-by-move dynamics of the white player's advantage from over seventy thousand high level chess matches spanning over 150 years. We find that the average advantage of the white player is positive and that it has been increasing over time. Currently, the average advantage of the white player is 0.17 pawns but it is exponentially approaching a value of 0.23 pawns with a characteristic time scale of 67 years. We also study the diffusion of the move dependence of the white player's advantage and find that it is non-Gaussian, has long-ranged anti-correlations and that after an initial period with no diffusion it becomes super-diffusive. We find that the duration of the non-diffusive period, corresponding to the opening stage of a match, is increasing in length and exponentially approaching a value of 15.6 moves with a characteristic time scale of 130 years. We interpret these two trends as a resulting from learning of the features of the game. Additionally, we find that the exponent [Formula: see text] characterizing the super-diffusive regime is increasing toward a value of 1.9, close to the ballistic regime. We suggest that this trend is due to the increased broadening of the range of abilities of chess players participating in major tournaments.

Move-by-Move Dynamics of the Advantage in Chess Matches Reveals Population-Level Learning of the Game

PubMed Central

Ribeiro, Haroldo V.; Mendes, Renio S.; Lenzi, Ervin K.; del Castillo-Mussot, Marcelo; Amaral, Luís A. N.

2013-01-01

The complexity of chess matches has attracted broad interest since its invention. This complexity and the availability of large number of recorded matches make chess an ideal model systems for the study of population-level learning of a complex system. We systematically investigate the move-by-move dynamics of the white player’s advantage from over seventy thousand high level chess matches spanning over 150 years. We find that the average advantage of the white player is positive and that it has been increasing over time. Currently, the average advantage of the white player is 0.17 pawns but it is exponentially approaching a value of 0.23 pawns with a characteristic time scale of 67 years. We also study the diffusion of the move dependence of the white player’s advantage and find that it is non-Gaussian, has long-ranged anti-correlations and that after an initial period with no diffusion it becomes super-diffusive. We find that the duration of the non-diffusive period, corresponding to the opening stage of a match, is increasing in length and exponentially approaching a value of 15.6 moves with a characteristic time scale of 130 years. We interpret these two trends as a resulting from learning of the features of the game. Additionally, we find that the exponent characterizing the super-diffusive regime is increasing toward a value of 1.9, close to the ballistic regime. We suggest that this trend is due to the increased broadening of the range of abilities of chess players participating in major tournaments. PMID:23382876

Quantized Advantages to a Proposed Satellite at L5 from Simulated Synoptic Magnetograms

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Schwarz, A. M.; Petrie, G. J. D.

2017-12-01

The dependency the Earth and its inhabitants have on the Sun is delicate and complex and sometimes dangerous. At the NSO, we provide 24/7 coverage of the full-disk solar magnetic field used in solar forecasting, however this only includes data from the Sun's Earth facing side. Ideally we would like to have constant coverage of the entire solar surface, however we are limited in our solar viewing angle. Our project attempts to quantify the advantages of full-disk magnetograms from a proposed satellite at L5. With instrumentation at L5 we would have an additional 60 degrees of solar surface coverage not seen from Earth. These 60 degrees crucially contain the solar longitudes that are about to rotate towards Earth. Using a full-surface flux-transport model of the evolving solar photospheric field, I created a simulation of full-disk observations from Earth and L5. Using standard solar forecasting tools we quantify the relative accuracy of the Earth-Only and Earth plus L5 forecasts relative to the "ground truth" of the full surface field model, the ideal case. My results gauge exactly how much polar coverage is improved, contrast the spherical multipoles of each model, and use a Potential-Field Source-Surface (PFSS) magnetic field analysis model to find comparisons in the neutral lines and open field coverage.

Bioremediation techniques-classification based on site of application: principles, advantages, limitations and prospects.

PubMed

Azubuike, Christopher Chibueze; Chikere, Chioma Blaise; Okpokwasili, Gideon Chijioke

2016-11-01

Environmental pollution has been on the rise in the past few decades owing to increased human activities on energy reservoirs, unsafe agricultural practices and rapid industrialization. Amongst the pollutants that are of environmental and public health concerns due to their toxicities are: heavy metals, nuclear wastes, pesticides, green house gases, and hydrocarbons. Remediation of polluted sites using microbial process (bioremediation) has proven effective and reliable due to its eco-friendly features. Bioremediation can either be carried out ex situ or in situ, depending on several factors, which include but not limited to cost, site characteristics, type and concentration of pollutants. Generally, ex situ techniques apparently are more expensive compared to in situ techniques as a result of additional cost attributable to excavation. However, cost of on-site installation of equipment, and inability to effectively visualize and control the subsurface of polluted sites are of major concerns when carrying out in situ bioremediation. Therefore, choosing appropriate bioremediation technique, which will effectively reduce pollutant concentrations to an innocuous state, is crucial for a successful bioremediation project. Furthermore, the two major approaches to enhance bioremediation are biostimulation and bioaugmentation provided that environmental factors, which determine the success of bioremediation, are maintained at optimal range. This review provides more insight into the two major bioremediation techniques, their principles, advantages, limitations and prospects.

Estimating Additive and Non-Additive Genetic Variances and Predicting Genetic Merits Using Genome-Wide Dense Single Nucleotide Polymorphism Markers

PubMed Central

Su, Guosheng; Christensen, Ole F.; Ostersen, Tage; Henryon, Mark; Lund, Mogens S.

2012-01-01

Non-additive genetic variation is usually ignored when genome-wide markers are used to study the genetic architecture and genomic prediction of complex traits in human, wild life, model organisms or farm animals. However, non-additive genetic effects may have an important contribution to total genetic variation of complex traits. This study presented a genomic BLUP model including additive and non-additive genetic effects, in which additive and non-additive genetic relation matrices were constructed from information of genome-wide dense single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) markers. In addition, this study for the first time proposed a method to construct dominance relationship matrix using SNP markers and demonstrated it in detail. The proposed model was implemented to investigate the amounts of additive genetic, dominance and epistatic variations, and assessed the accuracy and unbiasedness of genomic predictions for daily gain in pigs. In the analysis of daily gain, four linear models were used: 1) a simple additive genetic model (MA), 2) a model including both additive and additive by additive epistatic genetic effects (MAE), 3) a model including both additive and dominance genetic effects (MAD), and 4) a full model including all three genetic components (MAED). Estimates of narrow-sense heritability were 0.397, 0.373, 0.379 and 0.357 for models MA, MAE, MAD and MAED, respectively. Estimated dominance variance and additive by additive epistatic variance accounted for 5.6% and 9.5% of the total phenotypic variance, respectively. Based on model MAED, the estimate of broad-sense heritability was 0.506. Reliabilities of genomic predicted breeding values for the animals without performance records were 28.5%, 28.8%, 29.2% and 29.5% for models MA, MAE, MAD and MAED, respectively. In addition, models including non-additive genetic effects improved unbiasedness of genomic predictions. PMID:23028912

Synthesis of biodiesel fuel additives from glycerol using green chemistry and supercritical fluids

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

For every 3 moles of fatty acid esters produced, 1 mole of glycerol remains, ~11% of the biodiesel volume. One new method of glycerol use could be as a biodiesel fuel additive/extender using eco-friendly heterogeneous catalysts and supercritical fluids (SFs). SFs have advantages such as greater diff...

The UNIX/XENIX Advantage: Applications in Libraries.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gordon, Kelly L.

1988-01-01

Discusses the application of the UNIX/XENIX operating system to support administrative office automation functions--word processing, spreadsheets, database management systems, electronic mail, and communications--at the Central Michigan University Libraries. Advantages and disadvantages of the XENIX operating system and system configuration are…

Sustainable competitive advantage for accountable care organizations.

PubMed

Macfarlane, Michael Alex

2014-01-01

In the current period of health industry reform, accountable care organizations (ACOs) have emerged as a new model for the delivery of high-quality and cost-effective healthcare. However, few ACOs operate in direct competition with one another, and the accountable care business model has yet to present a means of continually developing new marginal value for patients and network partners. With value-based purchasing and patient consumerism strengthening as market forces, ACOs must build organizational sustainability and competitive advantage to meet the value demands set by customers and competitors. This essay proposes a strategy, adapted from the disciplines of agile software development and Lean product development, through which ACOs can engage internal and external customers in the development of new products that will provide sustainability and competitive advantage to the organization by decreasing waste in development, promoting specialized knowledge, and closely targeting customer value.

Student Perceptions of the Advantages and Disadvantages of Geologic Note-taking with iPads

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Dohaney, J. A.; Kennedy, B.; Gravley, D. M.

2015-12-01

During fieldwork, students and professionals record information and hypotheses into their geologic notebook. In a pilot study, students on an upper-level volcanology field trip were given iPads, with an open-source geology note-taking application (GeoFieldBook) and volunteered to record notes at two sites (i.e., Tongariro Volcanic Complex and Orakei Korako) in New Zealand. A group of students (n=9) were interviewed several weeks after fieldwork to reflect on using this technology. We aimed to characterise their experiences, strategies and examine the perceived benefits and challenges of hardcopy and digital note-taking. Students reported having a diverse range of strategies when taking notes but the most common strategies mentioned were: a) looking for/describing the differences, b) supporting note-taking with sketches, c) writing everything down, and d) focusing first on structure, texture and then composition of an outcrop. Additionally, students said they that the strategies they used were context-dependent (i.e., bedrock mapping versus detailed outcrop descriptions). When using the iPad, students reported that they specifically used different strategies: varying the length of text (from more to less), increasing the number of sites described (i.e., preferring to describe sites in more spatial detail rather than summarising several features in close proximity), and taking advantage of the 'editability' of iPad notes (abandoning rigid, systematic approaches). Overall, the reported advantages to iPad note-taking included allowing the user to be more efficient, organised and using the GPS mapping function to help them make observations and interpretations in real-time. Students also reported a range of disadvantages, but focused predominantly on the inability to annotate/draw sketches with the iPad in the same manner as pen and paper methods. These differences likely encourage different overall approaches to note-taking and cognition in the field environment, and

Biomechanical Reconstructions and Selective Advantages of Neck Poses and Feeding Strategies of Sauropods with the Example of Mamenchisaurus youngi

PubMed Central

Christian, Andreas; Peng, Guangzhao; Sekiya, Toru; Ye, Yong; Wulf, Marco G.; Steuer, Thorsten

2013-01-01

A very long neck is a characteristic feature of most sauropod dinosaurs. In the genus Mamenchisaurus, neck length is extreme, greater than 40 percent of total body length. However, the posture, utilization, and selective advantage of very long necks in sauropods are still controversial. An excellently preserved skeleton of Mamenchisaurus youngi, including a complete neck, provides an opportunity for a comprehensive biomechanical analysis of neck posture and mobility. The biomechanical evidence indicates that Mamenchisaurus youngi had a nearly straight, near horizontal neck posture and browsed at low or medium heights. The results differ from the findings for some other sauropod species, like Euhelopus, Diplodocus, and Giraffatitan (Brachiosaurus) that had been analyzed in previous studies with similar methods. The selective advantage of extreme neck length in sauropods is likely advantageous for different feeding strategies. PMID:24204557

Incorporation of Indigenous Forces in Major Theater War: Advantages, Risks and Considerations

DTIC Science & Technology

2004-05-03

USAWC STRATEGY RESEARCH PROJECT INCORPORATION OF INDIGENOUS FORCES IN MAJOR THEATER WAR: ADVANTAGES , RISKS AND CONSIDERATIONS by Ms. Priscilla... Advantages , Risks and Considerations 5a. CONTRACT NUMBER 5b. GRANT NUMBER 5c. PROGRAM ELEMENT NUMBER 6. AUTHOR(S) Priscilla Sellers 5d. PROJECT NUMBER...Std Z39-18 ii iii ABSTRACT AUTHOR: Priscilla Sellers TITLE: Incorporation of Indigenous Forces in Major Theater War: Advantages , Risks and

Value-based contracting innovated Medicare advantage healthcare delivery and improved survival.

PubMed

Mandal, Aloke K; Tagomori, Gene K; Felix, Randell V; Howell, Scott C

2017-02-01

In Medicare Advantage (MA) with its CMS Hierarchical Condition Categories (CMS-HCC) payment model, CMS reimburses private plans (Medicare Advantage Organizations [MAOs]) with prospective, monthly, health-based or risk-adjusted, capitated payments. The effect of this payment methodology on healthcare delivery remains debatable. How value-based contracting generates cost efficiencies and improves clinical outcomes in MA is studied. A difference in contracting arrangements between an MAO and 2 provider groups facilitated an intervention-control, preintervention-postintervention, difference-in-differences approach among statistically similar, elderly, community-dwelling MA enrollees within one metropolitan statistical area. Starting in 2009, for intervention-group MA enrollees, the MAO and a provider group agreed to full-risk capitation combined with a revenue gainshare. The gainshare was based on increases in the Risk Adjustment Factor (RAF), which modified the CMS-HCC payments. For the control group, the MAO continued to reimburse another provider group through fee-for-service. RAF, utilization, and survival were followed until December 31, 2012. The intervention group's mean RAF increased significantly (P <.001), estimating $2,519,544 per 1000 members of additional revenue. The intervention increased office-based visits (P <.001). Emergency department visits (P <.001) and inpatient hospital admissions (P = .002) decreased. This change in utilization saved $2,071,293 per 1000 enrollees. By intensifying office-based care for these MA enrollees with multiple comorbidities, a 6% survival benefit with a 32.8% lower hazard of death (P <.001) was achieved. Value-based contracting can drive utilization patterns and improve clinical outcomes among chronically ill, elderly MA members.

A microbial model of economic trading and comparative advantage.

PubMed

Enyeart, Peter J; Simpson, Zachary B; Ellington, Andrew D

2015-01-07

The economic theory of comparative advantage postulates that beneficial trading relationships can be arrived at by two self-interested entities producing the same goods as long as they have opposing relative efficiencies in producing those goods. The theory predicts that upon entering trade, in order to maximize consumption both entities will specialize in producing the good they can produce at higher efficiency, that the weaker entity will specialize more completely than the stronger entity, and that both will be able to consume more goods as a result of trade than either would be able to alone. We extend this theory to the realm of unicellular organisms by developing mathematical models of genetic circuits that allow trading of a common good (specifically, signaling molecules) required for growth in bacteria in order to demonstrate comparative advantage interactions. In Conception 1, the experimenter controls production rates via exogenous inducers, allowing exploration of the parameter space of specialization. In Conception 2, the circuits self-regulate via feedback mechanisms. Our models indicate that these genetic circuits can demonstrate comparative advantage, and that cooperation in such a manner is particularly favored under stringent external conditions and when the cost of production is not overly high. Further work could involve implementing the models in living bacteria and searching for naturally occurring cooperative relationships between bacteria that conform to the principles of comparative advantage. Copyright © 2014 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.

Internet Usage and Competitive Advantage: The Impact of the Internet on an Old Economy Industry in Spain.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

del Aguila Obra, Ana Rosa; Bruque Camara, Sebastian; Padilla Melendez, Antonio

2002-01-01

Considers whether Internet technologies have led to competitive advantage for companies operating in traditional industries. Highlights include a literature review; using the resource-based view (RBV) of firms as a theoretical framework for an empirical investigation; and a survey that investigated Internet technologies and competitive advantage…

Principles and advantages of robotics in urologic surgery.

PubMed

Renda, Antonio; Vallancien, Guy

2003-04-01

Although the available minimally invasive surgical techniques (ie, laparoscopy) have clear advantages, these procedures continue to cause problems for patients. Surgical tools are limited by set axes of movement, restricting the degree of freedom available to the surgeon. In addition, depth perception is lost with the use of two-dimensional viewing systems. As surgeons view a "virtual" target on a television screen, they are hampered by decreased sensory input and a concurrent loss of dexterity. The development of robotic assistance systems in recent years could be the key to overcoming these difficulties. Using robotic systems, surgeons can experience a more natural and ergonomic surgical "feel." Surgical assistance, dexterity and precision enhancement, systems networking, and image-guided therapy are among the benefits offered by surgical robots. In return, the surgeon gains a shorter learning curve, reduced fatigue, and the opportunity to perform complex procedures that would be difficult using conventional laparoscopy. With the development of image-guided technology, robotic systems will become useful tools for surgical training and simulation. Remote surgery is not a routine procedure, but several teams are working on this and experiencing good results. However, economic concerns are the major drawbacks of these systems; before remote surgery becomes routinely feasible, the clinical benefits must be balanced with high investment and running costs.

PLAYERS' PERCEPTIONS OF HOME ADVANTAGE IN THE AUSTRALIAN RUGBY LEAGUE COMPETITION.

PubMed

Mcguckin, Teneale A; Sinclair, Wade H; Sealey, Rebecca M; Bowman, Paul W

2015-12-01

This study was designed to pilot a survey to explore players' perception of home advantage in a rugby league. Twenty-seven players from one team with an identified home advantage believed a home advantage existed as a result of their home crowd (52%), family and friends' support (41%), normal travel (45%) and sleeping arrangements (37%), home weather conditions (48%), and familiarity with playing amenities (37%). However, the players were less definite about influences while playing away from home. The current sample of players identified differing influences, highlighting individual variations in perceived determinants. Individual interviews or focus groups will be required for further exploration.

The Advantages of Parental Involvement in Cognitive-Behavioral Treatment of Childhood Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder: A Single-Case Example.

PubMed

Oldham-Cooper, Rose; Glasman, David; Loades, Maria

2016-04-01

Interventions for the treatment of anxiety disorders in children have a growing evidence base. Cognitive-behavioral therapy for the treatment of specific anxiety disorders in children and adolescents, including obsessive-compulsive disorder, is now an established intervention. However, a question remains concerning the benefits of parental involvement in treatment. Some studies report limited or no benefit of including parents in treatment, whereas other studies have indicated additional advantages of parental involvement. The present case report describes the treatment of an 11-year-old girl with obsessive-compulsive disorder using cognitive-behavioral therapy derived largely from the treatment approaches outlined in Carr (2006), March and Mulle (1998), and Derisley, Heyman, Robinson, and Turner (2008). The child's mother attended all sessions and also a one-off parent-only session toward the end of treatment. The report considers the benefits of involving the child's mother in treatment and possible factors that could suggest parental involvement is indicated in future cases. Both child and mother, and the therapist, believed that parental involvement had been an important and useful element of treatment. Possible reasons for benefits of parental involvement were considered to be high parental anxiety at the outset of treatment, age of the client, and involvement of the parent in obsessions and compulsions. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Bilinguals’ Working Memory (WM) Advantage and Their Dual Language Practices

PubMed Central

Yang, Eunju

2017-01-01

The present study investigates a possible working memory (WM) difference between monolingual and bilingual groups and explores the relationship between their WM advantage and language practices. A mixed methods design was employed for the study. To measure participants’ WM, auditory and visual digit span tasks were conducted on the different language groups: 20 Korean near-monolinguals, and 40 Korean–English bilinguals with two different levels of second language (L2) proficiency. Bilinguals’ daily language practices were explored through semi-structured interviews with eight bilinguals. The convergence of the findings from both tests and interview data suggests that knowing two languages does not guarantee bilingual WM advantages over monolinguals, but the advantage might be linked to bilinguals’ unique L2 use environment where they need to hold incoming L2 information while decoding it. PMID:28718840

Design and fabrication of the progressive addition lenses

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Qin, Linling; Qian, Lin; Yu, Jingchi

2011-11-01

The use of progressive addition lenses (PALs) for the correction of presbyopia has increased dramatically in recent years. These lenses are now being used as the preferred alternative to bifocal and trifocal lenses in many parts of the world. Progressive addition lenses are a kind of opthalmic lenses with freeform surface. The surface curvature of the Progressive addition lenses varies gradually from a minimum value in the upper area, to a maximum value in the lower area. Thus a PAL has a surface with three zones which have very small astigmatism: far-view zone, near-view zone, and intermediate zone. The far view zone and near view zone have relatively constant powers and connected by the intermediate zone with power varies progressively. The design and fabrication technologies of progressive addition lenses have fast progresses because of the massive development of the optical simulation software, multi-axis ultraprecision machining technologies and CNC machining technologies. The design principles of progressive addition lenses are discussed in a historic review. Several kinds of design methods are illustrated, and their advantages and disadvantages are also represented. In the current study, it is shown that the optical characteristics of the different progressive addition lenses designs are significantly different from one another. The different fabrication technologies of Progressive addition lenses are also discussed in the paper. Plastic injection molding and precision-machine turning are the common fabrication technologies for exterior PALs and Interior PALs respectively.

Muscle-Specific Effective Mechanical Advantage and Joint Impulse in Weightlifting.

PubMed

Kipp, Kristof; Harris, Chad

2017-07-01

Kipp, K, and Harris, C. Muscle-specific effective mechanical advantage and joint impulse in weightlifting. J Strength Cond Res 31(7): 1905-1910, 2017-Lifting greater loads during weightlifting exercises may theoretically be achieved through increasing the magnitudes of net joint impulses or manipulating the joints' effective mechanical advantage (EMA). The purpose of this study was to investigate muscle-specific EMA and joint impulse as well as impulse-momentum characteristics of the lifter-barbell system across a range of external loads during the execution of the clean. Collegiate-level weightlifters performed submaximal cleans at 65, 75, and 85% of their 1-repetition maximum (1-RM), whereas data from a motion analysis system and a force plate were used to calculate lifter-barbell system impulse and velocity, as well as net extensor impulse generated at the hip, knee, and ankle joints and the EMA of the gluteus maximus, hamstrings, quadriceps, and triceps surae muscles. The results indicated that the lifter-barbell system impulse did not change as load increased, whereas the velocity of the lifter-barbell system decreased with greater load. In addition, the net extensor impulse at all joints increased as load increased. The EMA of all muscles did not, however, change as load increased. The load-dependent effects on the impulse-velocity characteristics of the lifter-barbell system may reflect musculoskeletal force-velocity behaviors, and may further indicate that the weightlifting performance is limited by the magnitude of ground reaction force impulse. In turn, the load-dependent effects observed at the joint level indicated that lifting greater loads were due to greater net extensor impulses generated at the joints of the lower extremity and not greater EMAs of the respective extensor muscles. In combination, these results suggest that lifting greater external loads during the clean is due to the ability to generate large extensor joint impulses, rather than

An Experimental Investigation of the Functional Hypothesis and Evolutionary Advantage of Stone-Tipped Spears

PubMed Central

Wilkins, Jayne; Schoville, Benjamin J.; Brown, Kyle S.

2014-01-01

Stone-tipped weapons were a significant innovation for Middle Pleistocene hominins. Hafted hunting technology represents the development of new cognitive and social learning mechanisms within the genus Homo, and may have provided a foraging advantage over simpler forms of hunting technology, such as a sharpened wooden spear. However, the nature of this foraging advantage has not been confirmed. Experimental studies and ethnographic reports provide conflicting results regarding the relative importance of the functional, economic, and social roles of hafted hunting technology. The controlled experiment reported here was designed to test the functional hypothesis for stone-tipped weapons using spears and ballistics gelatin. It differs from previous investigations of this type because it includes a quantitative analysis of wound track profiles and focuses specifically on hand-delivered spear technology. Our results do not support the hypothesis that tipped spears penetrate deeper than untipped spears. However, tipped spears create a significantly larger inner wound cavity that widens distally. This inner wound cavity is analogous to the permanent wound cavity in ballistics research, which is considered the key variable affecting the relative ‘stopping power’ or ‘killing power’ of a penetrating weapon. Tipped spears conferred a functional advantage to Middle Pleistocene hominins, potentially affecting the frequency and regularity of hunting success with important implications for human adaptation and life history. PMID:25162397

Dissociation between recognition and detection advantage for facial expressions: a meta-analysis.

PubMed

Nummenmaa, Lauri; Calvo, Manuel G

2015-04-01

Happy facial expressions are recognized faster and more accurately than other expressions in categorization tasks, whereas detection in visual search tasks is widely believed to be faster for angry than happy faces. We used meta-analytic techniques for resolving this categorization versus detection advantage discrepancy for positive versus negative facial expressions. Effect sizes were computed on the basis of the r statistic for a total of 34 recognition studies with 3,561 participants and 37 visual search studies with 2,455 participants, yielding a total of 41 effect sizes for recognition accuracy, 25 for recognition speed, and 125 for visual search speed. Random effects meta-analysis was conducted to estimate effect sizes at population level. For recognition tasks, an advantage in recognition accuracy and speed for happy expressions was found for all stimulus types. In contrast, for visual search tasks, moderator analysis revealed that a happy face detection advantage was restricted to photographic faces, whereas a clear angry face advantage was found for schematic and "smiley" faces. Robust detection advantage for nonhappy faces was observed even when stimulus emotionality was distorted by inversion or rearrangement of the facial features, suggesting that visual features primarily drive the search. We conclude that the recognition advantage for happy faces is a genuine phenomenon related to processing of facial expression category and affective valence. In contrast, detection advantages toward either happy (photographic stimuli) or nonhappy (schematic) faces is contingent on visual stimulus features rather than facial expression, and may not involve categorical or affective processing. (c) 2015 APA, all rights reserved).

77 FR 67433 - Community Advantage Pilot Program

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2012-11-09

... comments. SUMMARY: The Community Advantage (``CA'') Pilot Program is a pilot program to increase SBA... small businesses and entrepreneurs in underserved markets, SBA is issuing this Notice to extend the term... Pilot Program was introduced to increase the number of SBA-guaranteed loans made to small businesses in...

The Use of ICT in Kindergarten for Teaching Addition Based on Realistic Mathematics Education

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Zaranis, Nicholas

2016-01-01

The purpose of this study is to investigate if information and communications technology (ICT) helps improve kindergarten students' basic mathematical achievement regarding addition. Our research compares the level of mathematical competence of the students taught using our ICT oriented learning method which specifically takes advantage of…

Prevalence and Citation Advantage of Gold Open Access in the Subject Areas of the Scopus Database

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Dorta-González, Pablo; Santana-Jiménez, Yolanda

2018-01-01

The potential benefit of open access (OA) in relation to citation impact has been discussed in the literature in depth. The methodology used to test the OA citation advantage includes comparing OA vs. non-OA journal impact factors and citations of OA vs. non-OA articles published in the same non-OA journals. However, one problem with many studies…

Advantages of semiconductor CZT for medical imaging

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wagenaar, Douglas J.; Parnham, Kevin; Sundal, Bjorn; Maehlum, Gunnar; Chowdhury, Samir; Meier, Dirk; Vandehei, Thor; Szawlowski, Marek; Patt, Bradley E.

2007-09-01

Cadmium zinc telluride (CdZnTe, or CZT) is a room-temperature semiconductor radiation detector that has been developed in recent years for a variety of applications. CZT has been investigated for many potential uses in medical imaging, especially in the field of single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT). CZT can also be used in positron emission tomography (PET) as well as photon-counting and integration-mode x-ray radiography and computed tomography (CT). The principal advantages of CZT are 1) direct conversion of x-ray or gamma-ray energy into electron-hole pairs; 2) energy resolution; 3) high spatial resolution and hence high space-bandwidth product; 4) room temperature operation, stable performance, high density, and small volume; 5) depth-of-interaction (DOI) available through signal processing. These advantages will be described in detail with examples from our own CZT systems. The ability to operate at room temperature, combined with DOI and very small pixels, make the use of multiple, stationary CZT "mini-gamma cameras" a realistic alternative to today's large Anger-type cameras that require motion to obtain tomographic sampling. The compatibility of CZT with Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI)-fields is demonstrated for a new type of multi-modality medical imaging, namely SPECT/MRI. For pre-clinical (i.e., laboratory animal) imaging, the advantages of CZT lie in spatial and energy resolution, small volume, automated quality control, and the potential for DOI for parallax removal in pinhole imaging. For clinical imaging, the imaging of radiographically dense breasts with CZT enables scatter rejection and hence improved contrast. Examples of clinical breast images with a dual-head CZT system are shown.

Ecology. The advantages of togetherness.

PubMed

Cox, E; Bonner, J

2001-04-20

What would be the advantage of unicellular organisms becoming multicellular? For organisms that feed on organic food (heterotrophs), the most efficient way to produce energy is to metabolize the food by aerobic respiration, but the fastest way is to metabolize it by fermentation. In their Perspective, Cox and Bonner discuss a mathematical model (Pfeiffer et al.), which shows that when these two kinds of organisms (respirators and fermenters) compete for a limited food source, the respirators manage best when they are grouped in clusters rather than remaining as separate cells. In this way, multicellularity could have originated.

Apology in the criminal justice setting: evidence for including apology as an additional component in the legal system.

PubMed

Petrucci, Carrie J

2002-01-01

The criminal justice system has reached unprecedented scope in the United States, with over 6.4 million people under some type of supervision. Remedies that have the potential to reduce this number are continually being sought. This article analyzes an innovative strategy currently being reconsidered in criminal justice: the apology. Despite a legal system that only sporadically acknowledges it, evidence for the use of apology is supported by social science research, current criminal justice theories, case law, and empirical studies. Social psychological, sociological and socio-legal studies pinpoint the elements and function of apology, what makes apologies effective, and concerns about apology if it were implemented in the criminal justice system. Theoretical evidence is examined (including restorative justice, therapeutic jurisprudence, crime, shame, and reintegration) to explore the process of apology in the criminal justice context. Attribution theory and social conduct theory are used to explain the apology process specifically for victims and offenders. A brief examination of case law reveals that though apology has no formal place in criminal law, it has surfaced recently under the federal sentencing guidelines. Finally, empirical evidence in criminal justice settings reveals that offenders want to apologize and victims desire an apology. Moreover, by directly addressing the harmful act, apology may be the link to reduced recidivism for offenders, as well as empowerment for victims. This evidence combined suggests that apology is worthy of further study as a potentially valuable addition to the criminal justice process. Copyright 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Additive Manufactured Product Integrity

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Waller, Jess; Wells, Doug; James, Steve; Nichols, Charles

2017-01-01

NASA is providing key leadership in an international effort linking NASA and non-NASA resources to speed adoption of additive manufacturing (AM) to meet NASA's mission goals. Participants include industry, NASA's space partners, other government agencies, standards organizations and academia. Nondestructive Evaluation (NDE) is identified as a universal need for all aspects of additive manufacturing.

Advantages of a Beveled Osteotomy on the Zygomatic Arch During Reduction Malarplasty.

PubMed

Lee, Tae Sung; Park, Sanghoon

2017-10-01

During a conventional reduction malarplasty procedure, a dual approach including intraoral incisions and preauricular incisions is made to reduce both the zygomatic body and arch. As the preauricular approach is performed to cut the zygomatic arch, there are several remarkable advantages that can be achieved by simply beveling the osteotomy anteriorly on the zygomatic arch. This has the benefits of enhancing bone union by the increase in cross-sectional area for bone contact, decreasing palpability on the osteotomy site, placing the osteotomy more posteriorly, preventing depression in the anterior malar region, and reducing the need for metal fixtures.

Stealing Zeus’s Thunder: Physical Space-Control Advantages Against Hostile Satellites

DTIC Science & Technology

2006-01-01

UNCLASSIFIED Defense Technical Information Center Compilation Part Notice ADP023956 TITLE: Stealing Zeus’s Thunder: Physical Space-Control Advantages ...e .d co ne t to a pj@naxwel af. ni Stealing eus’s Thunder Physical Space-Control Advantages against Hostile Satellites CAPT JOSEPH T. PAGE 11, USAF...and ICBM combat crew comander (Squadron Command Post) at he 741st Mi6sse Squadon, 91st Spae Wing, Minor AFB, North akota. 26 its advantage via active

Improving the strength of additively manufactured objects via modified interior structure

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Al, Can Mert; Yaman, Ulas

2017-10-01

Additive manufacturing (AM), in other words 3D printing, is becoming more common because of its crucial advantages such as geometric complexity, functional interior structures, etc. over traditional manufacturing methods. Especially, Fused Filament Fabrication (FFF) 3D printing technology is frequently used because of the fact that desktop variants of these types of printers are highly appropriate for different fields and are improving rapidly. In spite of the fact that there are significant advantages of AM, the strength of the parts fabricated with AM is still a major problem especially when plastic materials, such as Acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS), Polylactic acid (PLA), Nylon, etc., are utilized. In this study, an alternative method is proposed in which the strength of AM fabricated parts is improved employing direct slicing approach. Traditional Computer Aided Manufacturing (CAM) software of 3D printers takes only the geometry as an input in triangular mesh form (stereolithography, STL file) generated by Computer Aided Design software. This file format includes data only about the outer boundaries of the geometry. Interior of the artifacts are manufactured with homogeneous infill patterns, such as diagonal, honeycomb, linear, etc. according to the paths generated in CAM software. The developed method within this study provides a way to fabricate parts with heterogeneous infill patterns by utilizing the stress field data obtained from a Finite Element Analysis software, such as ABAQUS. According to the performed tensile tests, the strength of the test specimen is improved by about 45% compared to the conventional way of 3D printing.

Widening Life Expectancy Advantage of Hispanics in the United States: 1990-2010.

PubMed

Fenelon, Andrew; Blue, Laura

2015-08-01

We examine trends in the Hispanic longevity advantage between 1990 and 2010, focusing on the contribution of cigarette smoking. We calculate life expectancy at age 50 for Hispanics and non-Hispanic whites between 1990 and 2010. We use an indirect method to calculate the contribution of smoking to changes over time in life expectancy. Among women, the Hispanic advantage in life expectancy grows from 2.14 years in 1990 (95 % CI 1.99-2.30 years) to 3.53 years in 2010 (3.42-3.64 years). More than 40 % of this increase reflects widening differences in smoking-attributable mortality. The advantage for Hispanic men increases from 2.27 years (2.14-2.41 years) to 2.91 years (2.81-3.01 years), although smoking makes only a small contribution. Despite persistent disadvantage, US Hispanics have increased their longevity advantage over non-Hispanic whites since 1990, much of which reflects the continuing importance of cigarette smoking to the Hispanic advantage.

Utilization of Minor Actinides as a Fuel Component for Ultra-Long Life Bhr Configurations: Designs, Advantages and Limitations

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Dr. Pavel V. Tsvetkov

2009-05-20

This project assessed the advantages and limitations of using minor actinides as a fuel component to achieve ultra-long life Very High Temperature Reactor (VHTR) configurations. Researchers considered and compared the capabilities of pebble-bed and prismatic core designs with advanced actinide fuels to achieve ultra-long operation without refueling. Since both core designs permit flexibility in component configuration, fuel utilization, and fuel management, it is possible to improve fissile properties of minor actinides by neutron spectrum shifting through configuration adjustments. The project studied advanced actinide fuels, which could reduce the long-term radio-toxicity and heat load of high-level waste sent to a geologicmore » repository and enable recovery of the energy contained in spent fuel. The ultra-long core life autonomous approach may reduce the technical need for additional repositories and is capable to improve marketability of the Generation IV VHTR by allowing worldwide deployment, including remote regions and regions with limited industrial resources. Utilization of minor actinides in nuclear reactors facilitates developments of new fuel cycles towards sustainable nuclear energy scenarios.« less

Rural Development: Problems and Advantages of Rural Locations for Industrial Plants.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bishop, C. E.; And Others

The problems and advantages of locating industry in a rural setting were discussed in this conference report. The 10 individual speeches covered: changes in employment and the labor force; problems and advantages of rural locations, rural labor, and site selection; the importance of involving the Black community; the nature of the food processing…

When Do First-Movers Have an Advantage? A Stackelberg Classroom Experiment

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Rebelein, Robert; Turkay, Evsen

2016-01-01

The timing of moves can dramatically affect firm profits and market outcomes. When firms choose output quantities, there is a first-mover advantage, and when firms choose prices, there is a second-mover advantage. Students often find it difficult to understand the differences between these two situations. This classroom experiment simulates each…

Why Do British Indian Children Have an Apparent Mental Health Advantage?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Goodman, Anna; Patel, Vikram; Leon, David A.

2010-01-01

Background: Previous studies document a mental health advantage in British Indian children, particularly for externalising problems. The causes of this advantage are unknown. Methods: Subjects were 13,836 White children and 361 Indian children aged 5-16 years from the English subsample of the British Child and Adolescent Mental Health Surveys. The…

Content Analysis of Advantages and Disadvantages of Drinking Among Individuals With the Lived Experience of Homelessness and Alcohol Use Disorders.

PubMed

Collins, Susan E; Taylor, Emily; Jones, Connor; Haelsig, Laura; Grazioli, Véronique S; Mackelprang, Jessica L; Holttum, Jessica; Koker, Molly; Hatsukami, Alyssa; Baker, Madeline; Clifasefi, Seema L

2018-01-02

Alcohol use disorders (AUDs) are more prevalent among people who are homeless than in the general population. Thus, homeless individuals experience disproportionately high levels of alcohol-related problems and associated publicly funded criminal justice and healthcare system utilization. Available treatment services, however, are not effective at engaging and treating this population. To better tailor treatment services to their needs, it is imperative we understand this population's perceptions of their alcohol use. The aim of this study was to provide description and relative rankings of the advantages and disadvantages of alcohol use from this population's perspectives. Participants were 44 individuals with lived experiences of AUDs and homelessness who received services at community-based agencies in Seattle, Washington. Open-ended prompts were used in interviews conducted in 2013-2014 to assess the perceived role of alcohol in participants' lives, including participants' perceptions of the advantages and disadvantages of their current drinking, and a conventional content analysis was conducted. The most frequently mentioned advantages of drinking included positively and negatively reinforcing psychological reasons, perceived control over drinking, and social benefits. Physical effects, concerns about dependence on alcohol, and health problems were the most commonly mentioned disadvantages. Conclusions/importance: By documenting the perceived advantages and disadvantages of drinking among people with the lived experience of homelessness and AUDs, this study supplies information providers may use to better tailor treatment services to this multimorbid, high service-utilizing population's needs and interests.

Bio-sensing applications of cerium oxide nanoparticles: Advantages and disadvantages.

PubMed

Charbgoo, Fahimeh; Ramezani, Mohammad; Darroudi, Majid

2017-10-15

Cerium oxide nanoparticles (CNPs) contain several properties such as catalytic activity, fluorescent quencher and electrochemical, high surface area, and oxygen transfer ability, which have attracted considerable attention in developing high-sensitive biosensors. CNPs can be used as a whole sensor or a part of recognition or transducer element. However, reports have shown that applying these nanoparticles in sensor design could remarkably enhance detection sensitivity. CNP's outstanding properties in biosensors which go from high catalytic activity and surface area to oxygen transfer and fluorescent quenching capabilities are also highlighted. Herein, we discuss the advantages and disadvantages of CNPs-based biosensors that function through various detection modes including colorimetric, electrochemistry, and chemoluminescent regarding the detection of small organic chemicals, metal ions and biomarkers. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

On an additive partial correlation operator and nonparametric estimation of graphical models.

PubMed

Lee, Kuang-Yao; Li, Bing; Zhao, Hongyu

2016-09-01

We introduce an additive partial correlation operator as an extension of partial correlation to the nonlinear setting, and use it to develop a new estimator for nonparametric graphical models. Our graphical models are based on additive conditional independence, a statistical relation that captures the spirit of conditional independence without having to resort to high-dimensional kernels for its estimation. The additive partial correlation operator completely characterizes additive conditional independence, and has the additional advantage of putting marginal variation on appropriate scales when evaluating interdependence, which leads to more accurate statistical inference. We establish the consistency of the proposed estimator. Through simulation experiments and analysis of the DREAM4 Challenge dataset, we demonstrate that our method performs better than existing methods in cases where the Gaussian or copula Gaussian assumption does not hold, and that a more appropriate scaling for our method further enhances its performance.

On an additive partial correlation operator and nonparametric estimation of graphical models

PubMed Central

Li, Bing; Zhao, Hongyu

2016-01-01

Abstract We introduce an additive partial correlation operator as an extension of partial correlation to the nonlinear setting, and use it to develop a new estimator for nonparametric graphical models. Our graphical models are based on additive conditional independence, a statistical relation that captures the spirit of conditional independence without having to resort to high-dimensional kernels for its estimation. The additive partial correlation operator completely characterizes additive conditional independence, and has the additional advantage of putting marginal variation on appropriate scales when evaluating interdependence, which leads to more accurate statistical inference. We establish the consistency of the proposed estimator. Through simulation experiments and analysis of the DREAM4 Challenge dataset, we demonstrate that our method performs better than existing methods in cases where the Gaussian or copula Gaussian assumption does not hold, and that a more appropriate scaling for our method further enhances its performance. PMID:29422689

Taking advantage of an unerupted third molar: a case report.

PubMed

Pereira, Igor Figueiredo; Santiago, Fernando Zander Mucci; Sette-Dias, Augusto Cesar; Noronha, Vladimir Reimar Augusto de Souza

2017-01-01

Treatments with dental surgery seek to displace tooth to the correct position within the dental arch. To report a clinical case that took advantage of an unerupted third molar. A male patient, 18 years of age, was referred by his dentist to evaluate the third molars. The clinical exam revealed no visible lower third molars. The computed tomography (CT) exam showed the presence of a supernumerary tooth in the region of the mandibular ramus, on the left side, and impaction of the third molar, which was causing root resorption on the second molar, thus making it impossible to remain in the buccal cavity. The preferred option, therefore, was to remove both second molar and the supernumerary tooth, in addition to attaching a device to the third molar during surgery for further traction. After 12 months, the third molar reached the proper position. When a mandibular second permanent molar shows an atypical root resorption, an impacted third molar can effectively substitute the tooth by using an appropriate orthodontic-surgical approach.

Platelet Function Tests: Preanalytical Variables, Clinical Utility, Advantages, and Disadvantages.

PubMed

Hvas, Anne-Mette; Grove, Erik Lerkevang

2017-01-01

Platelet function tests are mainly used in the diagnostic work-up of platelet disorders. During the last decade, the additional use of platelet function tests to evaluate the effect of antiplatelet therapy has also emerged in an attempt to identify patients with an increased risk of arterial thrombosis. Furthermore, platelet function tests are increasingly used to measure residual effect of antiplatelet therapy prior to surgery with the aim of reducing the risk of bleeding. To a limited extend, platelet function tests are also used to evaluate hyperaggregability as a potential marker of a prothrombotic state outside the setting of antiplatelet therapy. This multifaceted use of platelet function tests and the development of simpler point-of-care tests with narrower application have increased the use of platelet function testing and also facilitated the use of platelet function tests outside the highly specialized laboratories. The present chapter describes the preanalytical variables, which should be taken into account when planning platelet function testing. Also, the most widely used platelet function tests are introduced, and their clinical utility and their relative advantages and disadvantages are discussed.

Results of industrial tests of carbonate additive to fuel oil

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zvereva, E. R.; Dmitriev, A. V.; Shageev, M. F.; Akhmetvalieva, G. R.

2017-08-01

Fuel oil plays an important role in the energy balance of our country. The quality of fuel oil significantly affects the conditions of its transport, storage, and combustion; release of contaminants to atmosphere; and the operation of main and auxiliary facilities of HPPs. According to the Energy Strategy of Russia for the Period until 2030, the oil-refining ratio gradually increases; as a result, the fraction of straight-run fuel oil in heavy fuel oils consistently decreases, which leads to the worsening of performance characteristics of fuel oil. Consequently, the problem of the increase in the quality of residual fuel oil is quite topical. In this paper, it is suggested to treat fuel oil by additives during its combustion, which would provide the improvement of ecological and economic indicators of oil-fired HPPs. Advantages of this method include simplicity of implementation, low energy and capital expenses, and the possibility to use production waste as additives. In the paper, the results are presented of industrial tests of the combustion of fuel oil with the additive of dewatered carbonate sludge, which is formed during coagulation and lime treatment of environmental waters on HPPs. The design of a volume delivery device is developed for the steady additive input to the boiler air duct. The values are given for the main parameters of the condition of a TGM-84B boiler plant. The mechanism of action of dewatered carbonate sludge on sulfur oxides, which are formed during fuel oil combustion, is considered. Results of industrial tests indicate the decrease in the mass fraction of discharged sulfur oxides by 36.5%. Evaluation of the prevented damage from sulfur oxide discharged into atmospheric air shows that the combustion of the fuel oil of 100 brand using carbonate sludge as an additive (0.1 wt %) saves nearly 6 million rubles a year during environmental actions at the consumption of fuel oil of 138240 t/year.

Potential advantages of solar electric propulsion for outer planet orbiters.

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Sauer, C. G.; Atkins, K. L.

1972-01-01

Past studies of solar electric propulsion for outer planet orbiters have generally emphasized the advantages of flight time reduction and payload increases. However, several subtle advantages exist, which may become important in an environment of increasingly difficult requirements as ways to extend current technology are sought. These advantages accrue primarily because of the inherent capability, unique to electric propulsion, to efficiently shape a trajectory while enroute. Stressed in this paper are: the ability to meet orbital constraints due to assumed radiation belts, science flexibility in a dual launch program, increased numbers of observational passes, and the lengthening of launch periods. These are examined for years representative of relatively easy and difficult ballistic missions. The results indicate that an early investment in solar electric technology will provide a strong performance foundation for a long range outer planet exploration program which evolves from current spacecraft technology.

Advantages, Disadvantages, and Trend of Integrative Medicine in the Treatment of Heart Failure.

PubMed

Zhang, PeiYing

2015-06-01

Integrative medicine therapy using traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) combined with western medicine has shown some advantages in treating heart failure (HF), such as holistic concept; multi-target treatment; dialectical logic; personalized therapy; formulae compatibility; and reduction of side effects of western medicine. However, problems still exist in TCM treatment of HF, including non-uniformed categorization of TCM, lack of standardized syndrome differentiation and lack of an evidence base. The future of treatment of HF seems to be focused on reversing ventricular remodeling, improving cardiac rehabilitation, and accelerating experimental research and drug discovery in TCM.

Does cultural integration explain a mental health advantage for adolescents?

PubMed Central

Bhui, Kamaldeep S; Lenguerrand, Erik; Maynard, Maria J; Stansfeld, Stephen A; Harding, Seeromanie

2012-01-01

Background A mental health advantage has been observed among adolescents in urban areas. This prospective study tests whether cultural integration measured by cross-cultural friendships explains a mental health advantage for adolescents. Methods A prospective cohort of adolescents was recruited from 51 secondary schools in 10 London boroughs. Cultural identity was assessed by friendship choices within and across ethnic groups. Cultural integration is one of four categories of cultural identity. Using gender-specific linear-mixed models we tested whether cultural integration explained a mental health advantage, and whether gender and age were influential. Demographic and other relevant factors, such as ethnic group, socio-economic status, family structure, parenting styles and perceived racism were also measured and entered into the models. Mental health was measured by the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire as a ‘total difficulties score’ and by classification as a ‘probable clinical case’. Results A total of 6643 pupils in first and second years of secondary school (ages 11–13 years) took part in the baseline survey (2003/04) and 4785 took part in the follow-up survey in 2005–06. Overall mental health improved with age, more so in male rather than female students. Cultural integration (friendships with own and other ethnic groups) was associated with the lowest levels of mental health problems especially among male students. This effect was sustained irrespective of age, ethnicity and other potential explanatory variables. There was a mental health advantage among specific ethnic groups: Black Caribbean and Black African male students (Nigerian/Ghanaian origin) and female Indian students. This was not fully explained by cultural integration, although cultural integration was independently associated with better mental health. Conclusions Cultural integration was associated with better mental health, independent of the mental health advantage

Does cultural integration explain a mental health advantage for adolescents?

PubMed

Bhui, Kamaldeep S; Lenguerrand, Erik; Maynard, Maria J; Stansfeld, Stephen A; Harding, Seeromanie

2012-06-01

A mental health advantage has been observed among adolescents in urban areas. This prospective study tests whether cultural integration measured by cross-cultural friendships explains a mental health advantage for adolescents. A prospective cohort of adolescents was recruited from 51 secondary schools in 10 London boroughs. Cultural identity was assessed by friendship choices within and across ethnic groups. Cultural integration is one of four categories of cultural identity. Using gender-specific linear-mixed models we tested whether cultural integration explained a mental health advantage, and whether gender and age were influential. Demographic and other relevant factors, such as ethnic group, socio-economic status, family structure, parenting styles and perceived racism were also measured and entered into the models. Mental health was measured by the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire as a 'total difficulties score' and by classification as a 'probable clinical case'. A total of 6643 pupils in first and second years of secondary school (ages 11-13 years) took part in the baseline survey (2003/04) and 4785 took part in the follow-up survey in 2005-06. Overall mental health improved with age, more so in male rather than female students. Cultural integration (friendships with own and other ethnic groups) was associated with the lowest levels of mental health problems especially among male students. This effect was sustained irrespective of age, ethnicity and other potential explanatory variables. There was a mental health advantage among specific ethnic groups: Black Caribbean and Black African male students (Nigerian/Ghanaian origin) and female Indian students. This was not fully explained by cultural integration, although cultural integration was independently associated with better mental health. Cultural integration was associated with better mental health, independent of the mental health advantage found among specific ethnic groups: Black Caribbean and

Measure Guideline: Summary of Interior Ducts in New Construction, Including an Efficient, Affordable Method to Install Fur-Down Interior Ducts

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Beal, D.; McIlvaine , J.; Fonorow, K.

2011-11-01

This document illustrates guidelines for the efficient installation of interior duct systems in new housing, including the fur-up chase method, the fur-down chase method, and interior ducts positioned in sealed attics or sealed crawl spaces. This document illustrates guidelines for the efficient installation of interior duct systems in new housing. Interior ducts result from bringing the duct work inside a home's thermal and air barrier. Architects, designers, builders, and new home buyers should thoroughly investigate any opportunity for energy savings that is as easy to implement during construction, such as the opportunity to construct interior duct work. In addition tomore » enhanced energy efficiency, interior ductwork results in other important advantages, such as improved indoor air quality, increased system durability and increased homeowner comfort. While the advantages of well-designed and constructed interior duct systems are recognized, the implementation of this approach has not gained a significant market acceptance. This guideline describes a variety of methods to create interior ducts including the fur-up chase method, the fur-down chase method, and interior ducts positioned in sealed attics or sealed crawl spaces. As communication of the intent of an interior duct system, and collaboration on its construction are paramount to success, this guideline details the critical design, planning, construction, inspection, and verification steps that must be taken. Involved in this process are individuals from the design team; sales/marketing team; and mechanical, insulation, plumbing, electrical, framing, drywall and solar contractors.« less

Stepping to phase-perturbed metronome cues: multisensory advantage in movement synchrony but not correction

PubMed Central

Wright, Rachel L.; Spurgeon, Laura C.; Elliott, Mark T.

2014-01-01

Humans can synchronize movements with auditory beats or rhythms without apparent effort. This ability to entrain to the beat is considered automatic, such that any perturbations are corrected for, even if the perturbation was not consciously noted. Temporal correction of upper limb (e.g., finger tapping) and lower limb (e.g., stepping) movements to a phase perturbed auditory beat usually results in individuals being back in phase after just a few beats. When a metronome is presented in more than one sensory modality, a multisensory advantage is observed, with reduced temporal variability in finger tapping movements compared to unimodal conditions. Here, we investigate synchronization of lower limb movements (stepping in place) to auditory, visual and combined auditory-visual (AV) metronome cues. In addition, we compare movement corrections to phase advance and phase delay perturbations in the metronome for the three sensory modality conditions. We hypothesized that, as with upper limb movements, there would be a multisensory advantage, with stepping variability being lowest in the bimodal condition. As such, we further expected correction to the phase perturbation to be quickest in the bimodal condition. Our results revealed lower variability in the asynchronies between foot strikes and the metronome beats in the bimodal condition, compared to unimodal conditions. However, while participants corrected substantially quicker to perturbations in auditory compared to visual metronomes, there was no multisensory advantage in the phase correction task—correction under the bimodal condition was almost identical to the auditory-only (AO) condition. On the whole, we noted that corrections in the stepping task were smaller than those previously reported for finger tapping studies. We conclude that temporal corrections are not only affected by the reliability of the sensory information, but also the complexity of the movement itself. PMID:25309397

Stepping to phase-perturbed metronome cues: multisensory advantage in movement synchrony but not correction.

PubMed

Wright, Rachel L; Elliott, Mark T

2014-01-01

Humans can synchronize movements with auditory beats or rhythms without apparent effort. This ability to entrain to the beat is considered automatic, such that any perturbations are corrected for, even if the perturbation was not consciously noted. Temporal correction of upper limb (e.g., finger tapping) and lower limb (e.g., stepping) movements to a phase perturbed auditory beat usually results in individuals being back in phase after just a few beats. When a metronome is presented in more than one sensory modality, a multisensory advantage is observed, with reduced temporal variability in finger tapping movements compared to unimodal conditions. Here, we investigate synchronization of lower limb movements (stepping in place) to auditory, visual and combined auditory-visual (AV) metronome cues. In addition, we compare movement corrections to phase advance and phase delay perturbations in the metronome for the three sensory modality conditions. We hypothesized that, as with upper limb movements, there would be a multisensory advantage, with stepping variability being lowest in the bimodal condition. As such, we further expected correction to the phase perturbation to be quickest in the bimodal condition. Our results revealed lower variability in the asynchronies between foot strikes and the metronome beats in the bimodal condition, compared to unimodal conditions. However, while participants corrected substantially quicker to perturbations in auditory compared to visual metronomes, there was no multisensory advantage in the phase correction task-correction under the bimodal condition was almost identical to the auditory-only (AO) condition. On the whole, we noted that corrections in the stepping task were smaller than those previously reported for finger tapping studies. We conclude that temporal corrections are not only affected by the reliability of the sensory information, but also the complexity of the movement itself.

Why Teachers Find It Difficult to Include Students with EBD in Mainstream Classes

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gidlund, Ulrika

2018-01-01

In Sweden, teachers in mainstream schools show frustration and insecurity about how to organise education for inclusion and diversity. This article contributes to the understanding of how they articulate their view of the advantages and disadvantages of including students with EBD in mainstream classes. To study teachers' understanding, an…

Competitive Advantage in Intercollegiate Athletics: Role of Intangible Resources.

PubMed

Won, Doyeon; Chelladurai, Packianathan

2016-01-01

The present research explored the dynamics of competitive advantages in intercollegiate athletics by investigating the contribution of intangible resources (i.e., athletic and academic reputations) on the generation of more tangible resources (i.e., human and financial resources), which in turn influence the athletic performance (i.e., winning record) and academic performance (i.e., graduation rates), and gender equity. The research was based entirely on archival data of 324 NCAA Division I member institutions. The results of the SEM supported the study's basic arguments that tangible resources are the sources of competitive advantages in Division I intercollegiate athletics, and that intangible resources contribute to the generation of tangible resources.

What's your number? The effects of trial order on the one-target advantage.

PubMed

Bested, Stephen R; Khan, Michael A; Lawrence, Gavin P; Tremblay, Luc

2018-05-01

When moving our upper-limb towards a single target, movement times are typically shorter than when movement to a second target is required. This is known as the one-target advantage. Most studies that have demonstrated the one-target advantage have employed separate trial blocks for the one- and two-segment movements. To test if the presence of the one-target advantage depends on advance knowledge of the number of segments, the present study investigated whether the one-target advantage would emerge under different trial orders/sequences. One- and two-segment responses were organized in blocked (i.e., 1-1-1, 2-2-2), alternating (i.e., 1-2-1-2-1-2), and random (i.e., 1-1-2-1-2-2) trial sequences. Similar to previous studies, where only blocked schedules have typically been utilized, the one-target advantage emerged during the blocked and alternate conditions, but not in the random condition. This finding indicates that the one-target advantage is contingent on participants knowing the number of movement segments prior to stimulus onset. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Electrophysiological Explorations of the Bilingual Advantage: Evidence from a Stroop Task

PubMed Central

Coderre, Emily L.; van Heuven, Walter J. B.

2014-01-01

Bilinguals have been shown to exhibit a performance advantage on executive control tasks, outperforming their monolingual counterparts. Although a wealth of research has investigated this ‘bilingual advantage’ behaviourally, electrophysiological correlates are lacking. Using EEG with a Stroop task that manipulated the stimulus onset asynchrony (SOA) of word and colour presentation, the current study addressed two facets of the bilingual advantage. The possibility that bilinguals experience superior conflict processing relative to monolinguals (a ‘conflict-specific advantage’) was investigated by comparing behavioural interference effects as well as the amplitude of the Ninc, a conflict-related ERP component occurring from approximately 300–500 ms after the onset of conflict. In contrast, the hypothesis that bilinguals experience domain-general, conflict-independent enhancements in executive processing (a ‘non-conflict-specific advantage’) was evaluated by comparing the control condition (symbol strings) between groups. There was some significant, but inconsistent, evidence for a conflict-specific bilingual advantage. In contrast, strong evidence emerged for a non-conflict-specific advantage, with bilinguals demonstrating faster RTs and reduced ERP amplitudes on control trials compared to monolinguals. Importantly, when the control stimulus was presented before the colour, ERPs to control trials revealed group differences before the onset of conflict, suggesting differences in the ability to ignore or suppress distracting irrelevant information. This indicates that bilinguals experience superior executive processing even in the absence of conflict and semantic salience, and suggests that the advantage extends to more efficient proactive management of the environment. PMID:25068723

Evaluation of certain food additives.

PubMed

2017-01-01

This report represents the conclusions of a Joint FAO/WHO Expert Committee convened to evaluate the safety of various food additives, including flavouring agents, with a view to concluding as to safety concerns and to preparing specifications for identity and purity. The first part of the report contains a general discussion of the principles governing the toxicological evaluation of and assessment of dietary exposure to food additives, including flavouring agents. A summary follows of the Committee’s evaluations of technical, toxicological and dietary exposure data for 10 food additives (Allura Red AC; carob bean gum; lutein esters from Tagetes erecta; octenyl succinic acid (OSA)– modified gum arabic; pectin; Quinoline Yellow; rosemary extract; steviol glycosides; tartrazine; and xanthan gum) and five groups of flavouring agents (alicyclic, alicyclic-fused and aromatic-fused ring lactones; aliphatic and aromatic amines and amides; aliphatic secondary alcohols, ketones and related esters; cinnamyl alcohol and related substances; and tetrahydrofuran and furanone derivatives). Specifications for the following food additives were revised: aspartame; cassia gum; citric and fatty acid esters of glycerol (CITREM); modified starches; octanoic acid; starch sodium octenyl succinate; and total colouring matters. Annexed to the report are tables summarizing the Committee’s recommendations for dietary exposures to and toxicological evaluations of all of the food additives, including flavouring agents, considered at this meeting.

The dynamic-stimulus advantage of visual symmetry perception.

PubMed

Niimi, Ryosuke; Watanabe, Katsumi; Yokosawa, Kazuhiko

2008-09-01

It has been speculated that visual symmetry perception from dynamic stimuli involves mechanisms different from those for static stimuli. However, previous studies found no evidence that dynamic stimuli lead to active temporal processing and improve symmetry detection. In this study, four psychophysical experiments investigated temporal processing in symmetry perception using both dynamic and static stimulus presentations of dot patterns. In Experiment 1, rapid successive presentations of symmetric patterns (e.g., 16 patterns per 853 ms) produced more accurate discrimination of orientations of symmetry axes than static stimuli (single pattern presented through 853 ms). In Experiments 2-4, we confirmed that the dynamic-stimulus advantage depended upon presentation of a large number of unique patterns within a brief period (853 ms) in the dynamic conditions. Evidently, human vision takes advantage of temporal processing for symmetry perception from dynamic stimuli.

Airtraq optical laryngoscope: advantages and disadvantages.

PubMed

Saracoglu, Kemal Tolga; Eti, Zeynep; Gogus, Fevzi Yilmaz

2013-06-01

Difficult or unsuccesful tracheal intubation is one of the important causes for morbidity and mortality in susceptible patients. Almost 30% of the anesthesia-related deaths are induced by the complications of difficult airway management and more than 85% of all respiratory related complications cause brain injury or death. Nowadays, due to the advances in technology, new videolaryngoscopic devices became available. Airtraq is a novel single-use laryngoscope which provides glottis display without any deviation in the normal position of the oral, pharyngeal or the tracheal axes. With the help of the display lens glottis and the surrounding structures are visualised and under direct view of its tip the tracheal tube is introduced between the vocal cords. In patients having restricted neck motion or limited mouth opening (provided that it is greater than 3 cm) Airtraq offers the advantage of a better display. Moreover the video image can be transfered to an external monitor thus an experienced specialist can provide assistance and an educational course can be conducted simultaneously. On the other hand the Airtraq videolaryngoscopic devices possess certain disadvantages including the need of experience and the time demand for the operator to learn how to use them properly, the rapid deterioration of their display in the presence of a swelling or a secretion and the fact that they are rather complicated and expensive devices. The Airtraq device has already documented benefits in the management of difficult airways, however serial utilization obviously necessitates experience.

75 FR 13131 - General Services Administration Acquisition Regulation; Submission for OMB Review; GSA Advantage...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2010-03-18

... Services Administration Acquisition Regulation; Submission for OMB Review; GSA Advantage![reg] and... requirement regarding GSA Advantage![reg] and Electronic Commerce-FACNET. A request for public comments was..., Washington, DC 20405. Please cite OMB Control No. 3090-00XX, GSA Advantage![reg] and Electronic Commerce...

Advantages of High vs. Low Earth Orbit for SIRTF

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Eisenhardt, Peter; Werner, Michael W.

1989-01-01

While the subject of this workshop, which we will refer to as ET (for Enlightenment Telescope), is a dazzling successor to the Hubble Space Telescope, its location is unlikely to be the Low Earth Orbit (LEO) used by HST. Locations suggested for ET include High Earth Orbit (HEO) and the moon. The first space telescope to occupy HEO will be the liquid helium cooled Space Infrared Telescope Facility (SIRTF). The selection of HEO for SIRTF was the outcome of a recent study led by the Ames Research Center which showed significant advantages for SIRTF in HEO vs. LEO. This article summarizes the main results of that study. We begin with a review of SIRTF's rationale and requirements, in part because the IR capabilities and low temperature proposed for ET make it something of a successor to SIRTF as well as to HST. We conclude with some comments about another possible location for both SIRTF and ET, the Earth-Sun L2 Lagrangian point.

Collegiate Licensing in Canada and the Statutory Advantage.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Burshtein, Sheldon

1985-01-01

Discusses a specific provision in a Canadian statute enabling universities and other educational institutions to obtain protection and financial gain in a collegiate licensing program, an advantage not held in other countries or by other trademark licensers in Canada. (MSE)

Ionic liquids, electrolyte solutions including the ionic liquids, and energy storage devices including the ionic liquids

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Gering, Kevin L.; Harrup, Mason K.; Rollins, Harry W.

2015-12-08

An ionic liquid including a phosphazene compound that has a plurality of phosphorus-nitrogen units and at least one pendant group bonded to each phosphorus atom of the plurality of phosphorus-nitrogen units. One pendant group of the at least one pendant group comprises a positively charged pendant group. Additional embodiments of ionic liquids are disclosed, as are electrolyte solutions and energy storage devices including the embodiments of the ionic liquid.

Gender differences in episodic memory and visual working memory including the effects of age.

PubMed

Pauls, Franz; Petermann, Franz; Lepach, Anja Christina

2013-01-01

Analysing the relationship between gender and memory, and examining the effects of age on the overall memory-related functioning, are the ongoing goals of psychological research. The present study examined gender and age group differences in episodic memory with respect to the type of task. In addition, these subgroup differences were also analysed in visual working memory. A sample of 366 women and 330 men, aged between 16 and 69 years of age, participated in the current study. Results indicate that women outperformed men on auditory memory tasks, whereas male adolescents and older male adults showed higher level performances on visual episodic and visual working memory measures. However, the size of gender-linked effects varied somewhat across age groups. Furthermore, results partly support a declining performance on episodic memory and visual working memory measures with increasing age. Although age-related losses in episodic memory could not be explained by a decreasing verbal and visuospatial ability with age, women's advantage in auditory episodic memory could be explained by their advantage in verbal ability. Men's higher level visual episodic memory performance was found to result from their advantage in visuospatial ability. Finally, possible methodological, biological, and cognitive explanations for the current findings are discussed.

Formulation and Testing of Paraffin-Based Solid Fuels Containing Energetic Additives for Hybrid Rockets

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Larson, Daniel B.; Boyer, Eric; Wachs,Trevor; Kuo, Kenneth K.; Story, George

2012-01-01

Many approaches have been considered in an effort to improve the regression rate of solid fuels for hybrid rocket applications. One promising method is to use a fuel with a fast burning rate such as paraffin wax; however, additional performance increases to the fuel regression rate are necessary to make the fuel a viable candidate to replace current launch propulsion systems. The addition of energetic and/or nano-sized particles is one way to increase mass-burning rates of the solid fuels and increase the overall performance of the hybrid rocket motor.1,2 Several paraffin-based fuel grains with various energetic additives (e.g., lithium aluminum hydride (LiAlH4) have been cast in an attempt to improve regression rates. There are two major advantages to introducing LiAlH4 additive into the solid fuel matrix: 1) the increased characteristic velocity, 2) decreased dependency of Isp on oxidizer-to-fuel ratio. The testing and characterization of these solid-fuel grains have shown that continued work is necessary to eliminate unburned/unreacted fuel in downstream sections of the test apparatus.3 Changes to the fuel matrix include higher melting point wax and smaller energetic additive particles. The reduction in particle size through various methods can result in more homogeneous grain structure. The higher melting point wax can serve to reduce the melt-layer thickness, allowing the LiAlH4 particles to react closer to the burning surface, thus increasing the heat feedback rate and fuel regression rate. In addition to the formulation of LiAlH4 and paraffin wax solid-fuel grains, liquid additives of triethylaluminum and diisobutylaluminum hydride will be included in this study. Another promising fuel formulation consideration is to incorporate a small percentage of RDX as an additive to paraffin. A novel casting technique will be used by dissolving RDX in a solvent to crystallize the energetic additive. After dissolving the RDX in a solvent chosen for its compatibility

Achieving a competitive advantage in managed care.

PubMed

Stahl, D A

1998-02-01

When building a competitive advantage to thrive in the managed care arena, subacute care providers are urged to be revolutionary rather than reactionary, proactive rather than passive, optimistic rather than pessimistic and growth-oriented rather than cost-reduction oriented. Weaknesses must be addressed aggressively. To achieve a competitive edge, assess the facility's strengths, understand the marketplace and comprehend key payment methods.

Surgical options for lumbosacral fusion: biomechanical stability, advantage, disadvantage and affecting factors in selecting options.

PubMed

Yoshihara, Hiroyuki

2014-07-01

Numerous surgical procedures and instrumentation techniques for lumbosacral fusion (LSF) have been developed. This is probably because of its high mechanical demand and unique anatomy. Surgical options include anterior column support (ACS) and posterior stabilization procedures. Biomechanical studies have been performed to verify the stability of those options. The options have their own advantage but also disadvantage aspects. This review article reports the surgical options for lumbosacral fusion, their biomechanical stability, advantages/disadvantages, and affecting factors in option selection. Review of literature. LSF has lots of options both for ACS and posterior stabilization procedures. Combination of posterior stabilization procedures is an option. Furthermore, combinations of ACS and posterior stabilization procedures are other options. It is difficult to make a recommendation or treatment algorithm of LSF from the current literature. However, it is important to know all aspects of the options and decision-making of surgical options for LSF needs to be tailored for each patient, considering factors such as biomechanical stress and osteoporosis.

Competitive Advantage in Intercollegiate Athletics: Role of Intangible Resources

PubMed Central

Won, Doyeon; Chelladurai, Packianathan

2016-01-01

The present research explored the dynamics of competitive advantages in intercollegiate athletics by investigating the contribution of intangible resources (i.e., athletic and academic reputations) on the generation of more tangible resources (i.e., human and financial resources), which in turn influence the athletic performance (i.e., winning record) and academic performance (i.e., graduation rates), and gender equity. The research was based entirely on archival data of 324 NCAA Division I member institutions. The results of the SEM supported the study’s basic arguments that tangible resources are the sources of competitive advantages in Division I intercollegiate athletics, and that intangible resources contribute to the generation of tangible resources. PMID:26731118

Additive manufacturing of RF absorbers

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mills, Matthew S.

The ability of additive manufacturing techniques to fabricate integrated electromagnetic absorbers tuned for specific radio frequency bands within structural composites allows for unique combinations of mechanical and electromagnetic properties. These composites and films can be used for RF shielding of sensitive electromagnetic components through in-plane and out-of-plane RF absorption. Structural composites are a common building block of many commercial platforms. These platforms may be placed in situations in which there is a need for embedded RF absorbing properties along with structural properties. Instead of adding radar absorbing treatments to the external surface of existing structures, which adds increased size, weight and cost; it could prove to be advantageous to integrate the microwave absorbing properties directly into the composite during the fabrication process. In this thesis, a method based on additive manufacturing techniques of composites structures with prescribed electromagnetic loss, within the frequency range 1 to 26GHz, is presented. This method utilizes screen printing and nScrypt micro dispensing to pattern a carbon based ink onto low loss substrates. The materials chosen for this study will be presented, and the fabrication technique that these materials went through to create RF absorbing structures will be described. The calibration methods used, the modeling of the RF structures, and the applications in which this technology can be utilized will also be presented.

17 CFR 230.408 - Additional information.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-04-01

... 17 Commodity and Securities Exchanges 2 2013-04-01 2013-04-01 false Additional information. 230... RULES AND REGULATIONS, SECURITIES ACT OF 1933 General Requirements § 230.408 Additional information. (a) In addition to the information expressly required to be included in a registration statement, there...

Informal leadership support: an often overlooked competitive advantage.

PubMed

Peters, L H; O'Connor, E J

2001-01-01

As environmental pressures mount, the advantage of using the same strategies and tactics employed by competitors continues to shrink. An alternative is adapting and applying answers successfully employed in other industries to health care organizations. Working with informal influence leaders to share your change management efforts represents one such example. Informal influence leaders offer an often-overlooked source of competitive advantage--they have already earned credibility and respect from others, who regularly look to them for guidance. When sharing their views, they significantly influence the acceptance or rejection of new initiatives. Influence leaders reach into every conversation, every meeting, and every decision made in an organization. The important question is whether they will exert their leadership in support or in opposition to changes you propose. By identifying influence leaders and inviting them to join a group to discuss change initiatives, physician executives can create a positive force for change.

Competitive Advantage of PET/MRI

PubMed Central

Jadvar, Hossein; Colletti, Patrick M.

2013-01-01

Multimodality imaging has made great strides in the imaging evaluation of patients with a variety of diseases. Positron emission tomography/computed tomography (PET/CT) is now established as the imaging modality of choice in many clinical conditions, particularly in oncology. While the initial development of combined PET/magnetic resonance imaging (PET/MRI) was in the preclinical arena, hybrid PET/MR scanners are now available for clinical use. PET/MRI combines the unique features of MRI including excellent soft tissue contrast, diffusion-weighted imaging, dynamic contrast-enhanced imaging, fMRI and other specialized sequences as well as MR spectroscopy with the quantitative physiologic information that is provided by PET. Most evidence for the potential clinical utility of PET/MRI is based on studies performed with side-by-side comparison or software-fused MRI and PET images. Data on distinctive utility of hybrid PET/MRI are rapidly emerging. There are potential competitive advantages of PET/MRI over PET/CT. In general, PET/MRI may be preferred over PET/CT where the unique features of MRI provide more robust imaging evaluation in certain clinical settings. The exact role and potential utility of simultaneous data acquisition in specific research and clinical settings will need to be defined. It may be that simultaneous PET/MRI will be best suited for clinical situations that are disease-specific, organ-specific, related to diseases of the children or in those patients undergoing repeated imaging for whom cumulative radiation dose must be kept as low as reasonably achievable. PET/MRI also offers interesting opportunities for use of dual modality probes. Upon clear definition of clinical utility, other important and practical issues related to business operational model, clinical workflow and reimbursement will also be resolved. PMID:23791129

Competitive advantage of PET/MRI.

PubMed

Jadvar, Hossein; Colletti, Patrick M

2014-01-01

Multimodality imaging has made great strides in the imaging evaluation of patients with a variety of diseases. Positron emission tomography/computed tomography (PET/CT) is now established as the imaging modality of choice in many clinical conditions, particularly in oncology. While the initial development of combined PET/magnetic resonance imaging (PET/MRI) was in the preclinical arena, hybrid PET/MR scanners are now available for clinical use. PET/MRI combines the unique features of MRI including excellent soft tissue contrast, diffusion-weighted imaging, dynamic contrast-enhanced imaging, fMRI and other specialized sequences as well as MR spectroscopy with the quantitative physiologic information that is provided by PET. Most evidence for the potential clinical utility of PET/MRI is based on studies performed with side-by-side comparison or software-fused MRI and PET images. Data on distinctive utility of hybrid PET/MRI are rapidly emerging. There are potential competitive advantages of PET/MRI over PET/CT. In general, PET/MRI may be preferred over PET/CT where the unique features of MRI provide more robust imaging evaluation in certain clinical settings. The exact role and potential utility of simultaneous data acquisition in specific research and clinical settings will need to be defined. It may be that simultaneous PET/MRI will be best suited for clinical situations that are disease-specific, organ-specific, related to diseases of the children or in those patients undergoing repeated imaging for whom cumulative radiation dose must be kept as low as reasonably achievable. PET/MRI also offers interesting opportunities for use of dual modality probes. Upon clear definition of clinical utility, other important and practical issues related to business operational model, clinical workflow and reimbursement will also be resolved. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

The Ethics of Conferring Parental Advantage: A Question of Parental Liberty versus Societal Equality

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Roberts, J. Kessa

2016-01-01

In raising their children, parents confer certain advantages upon them. Harry Brighouse and Adam Swift argue that because these parental advantages increase inequality, parents should have the right to confer only advantages that are integral to the core good of the parent-child relationship: building an intimate relationship between parent and…

Advantages from Mixed Storage of Ammunition

DTIC Science & Technology

1983-07-01

A^dN^MM ADy^->6y 7<^ TECHNICAL REPORT ARBRL-TR-02506 ADVANTAGES FROM MIXED STORAGE OF AMMUNITION Ona R. Lyman July 1983 US ARMY ARMAMENT...that "weigh out." Benefits can be derived from mixing an ammunition that "weighs out" with ammunition that "cubes out." In principle, it is...accessible. Below is listed a step-by-step procedure for determining benefits to be derived. Step 1. Select a munition that "weighs out" and note if more

A Critical Boundary to the Left-Hemisphere Advantage in Visual-Word Processing

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Deason, R.G.; Marsolek, C.J.

2005-01-01

Two experiments explored boundary conditions for the ubiquitous left-hemisphere advantage in visual-word recognition. Subjects perceptually identified words presented directly to the left or right hemisphere. Strong left-hemisphere advantages were observed for UPPERCASE and lowercase words. However, only a weak effect was observed for…

Quantum communication complexity advantage implies violation of a Bell inequality

PubMed Central

Buhrman, Harry; Czekaj, Łukasz; Grudka, Andrzej; Horodecki, Michał; Horodecki, Paweł; Markiewicz, Marcin; Speelman, Florian; Strelchuk, Sergii

2016-01-01

We obtain a general connection between a large quantum advantage in communication complexity and Bell nonlocality. We show that given any protocol offering a sufficiently large quantum advantage in communication complexity, there exists a way of obtaining measurement statistics that violate some Bell inequality. Our main tool is port-based teleportation. If the gap between quantum and classical communication complexity can grow arbitrarily large, the ratio of the quantum value to the classical value of the Bell quantity becomes unbounded with the increase in the number of inputs and outputs. PMID:26957600

Remembering faces and scenes: The mixed-category advantage in visual working memory.

PubMed

Jiang, Yuhong V; Remington, Roger W; Asaad, Anthony; Lee, Hyejin J; Mikkalson, Taylor C

2016-09-01

We examined the mixed-category memory advantage for faces and scenes to determine how domain-specific cortical resources constrain visual working memory. Consistent with previous findings, visual working memory for a display of 2 faces and 2 scenes was better than that for a display of 4 faces or 4 scenes. This pattern was unaffected by manipulations of encoding duration. However, the mixed-category advantage was carried solely by faces: Memory for scenes was not better when scenes were encoded with faces rather than with other scenes. The asymmetry between faces and scenes was found when items were presented simultaneously or sequentially, centrally, or peripherally, and when scenes were drawn from a narrow category. A further experiment showed a mixed-category advantage in memory for faces and bodies, but not in memory for scenes and objects. The results suggest that unique category-specific interactions contribute significantly to the mixed-category advantage in visual working memory. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved).

Launching a medicare advantage plan: smart planning saves headaches.

PubMed

Abrams, Robert J; Mullaney, Teri L

2007-11-01

If you're considering setting up a Medicare Advantage plan, the following are important considerations: Financial analysis. Payment rates. Medical costs. Marketing and operational costs. Technology infrastructure. Staffing.

Relatively fast! Efficiency advantages of comparative thinking.

PubMed

Mussweiler, Thomas; Epstude, Kai

2009-02-01

Comparisons are a ubiquitous process in information processing. Seven studies examine whether, how, and when comparative thinking increases the efficiency of judgment and choice. Studies 1-4 demonstrate that procedurally priming participants to engage in more vs. less comparison influences how they process information about a target. Specifically, they retrieve less information about the target (Studies 1A, 1B), think more about an information-rich standard (Study 2) about which they activate judgment-relevant information (Study 3), and use this information to compensate for missing target information (Study 4). Studies 2-5 demonstrate the ensuing efficiency advantages. Participants who are primed on comparative thinking are faster in making a target judgment (Studies 2A, 2B, 4, 5) and have more residual processing capacities for a secondary task (Study 5). Studies 6 and 7 establish two boundary conditions by demonstrating that comparative thinking holds efficiency advantages only if target and standard are partly characterized by alignable features (Study 6) that are difficult to evaluate in isolation (Study 7). These findings indicate that comparative thinking may often constitute a useful mechanism to simplify information processing. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2009 APA, all rights reserved).

A Latino advantage in oral health-related quality of life is modified by nativity status.

PubMed

Sanders, Anne E

2010-07-01

Explanations for the social gradient in health status are informed by the rare exceptions. This cross-sectional observational study examined one such exception, the "Latino paradox" by investigating the presence of a Latino advantage in oral health-related quality of life and the effect of nativity status on this relationship. A nationally representative sample of adults (n=4208) completed the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) 2003-2004. The impact of oral disorders on oral health-related quality of life was evaluated using the NHANES Oral Health Impact Profile. Exposures of interest were race, ethnicity and nativity status. Covariates included sociodemographic characteristics, smoking status, self-rated health, access to dental care and number of teeth. Unconditional logistic regression models estimated odds of impaired oral health-related quality of life for racial/ethnic and nativity groups compared to the Non-Latino white population. Overall, prevalence of impaired oral health-related quality of life was 15.1%. A protective effect of Latino ethnicity was modified by nativity status, such that Latino immigrants experienced substantially better outcomes than non-Latino whites. However, the effect was limited to first-generation Latinos. U.S. born Latinos did not share the oral health-related quality of life advantage of their foreign-born counterparts. This advantage was not attributable to the healthy migrant phenomenon since immigrants of non-Latino origin did not differ from Non-Latino whites. The excess risk among Non-Hispanic Blacks was rendered non-significant after adjustment for socioeconomic position. A protective effect conferred by Latino nativity is unexpected given relatively disadvantaged socioeconomic position of this group, their language barrier and restrictions to needed dental care. As the Latino advantage in oral health-related quality of life is not explained by healthy immigrant selection, cultural explanations seem

TAKING SCIENTIFIC ADVANTAGE OF A DISASTROUS OIL SPILL

EPA Science Inventory

On 19 January 1996, the North Cape barge ran aground on Moonstone Beach in southern Rhode Island, releasing 828,000 gallons of refined oil. This opportunistic study was designed to take scientific advantage of the most severely affected seabird, the common loon (Gavia immer) . As...

Environmental and Economic Implications of Distributed Additive Manufacturing: The Case of Injection Mold Tooling: Environmental Implications of Additive Manufacturing

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Huang, Runze; Riddle, Matthew E.; Graziano, Diane

Additive manufacturing (AM) holds great potentials in enabling superior engineering functionality, streamlining supply chains, and reducing life cycle impacts compared to conventional manufacturing (CM). This study estimates the net changes in supply-chain lead time, life cycle primary energy consumption, greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, and life cycle costs (LCC) associated with AM technologies for the case of injection molding, to shed light on the environmental and economic advantages of a shift from international or onshore CM to AM in the United States. A systems modeling framework is developed, with integrations of lead-time analysis, life cycle inventory analysis, LCC model, and scenariosmore » considering design differences, supply-chain options, productions, maintenance, and AM technological developments. AM yields a reduction potential of 3% to 5% primary energy, 4% to 7% GHG emissions, 12% to 60% lead time, and 15% to 35% cost over 1 million cycles of the injection molding production depending on the AM technology advancement in future. The economic advantages indicate the significant role of AM technology in raising global manufacturing competitiveness of local producers, while the relatively small environmental benefits highlight the necessity of considering trade-offs and balance techniques between environmental and economic performances when AM is adopted in the tooling industry. The results also help pinpoint the technological innovations in AM that could lead to broader benefits in future.« less

Environmental and Economic Implications of Distributed Additive Manufacturing: The Case of Injection Mold Tooling: Environmental Implications of Additive Manufacturing

DOE PAGES

Huang, Runze; Riddle, Matthew E.; Graziano, Diane; ...

2017-08-26

Additive manufacturing (AM) holds great potentials in enabling superior engineering functionality, streamlining supply chains, and reducing life cycle impacts compared to conventional manufacturing (CM). This study estimates the net changes in supply-chain lead time, life cycle primary energy consumption, greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, and life cycle costs (LCC) associated with AM technologies for the case of injection molding, to shed light on the environmental and economic advantages of a shift from international or onshore CM to AM in the United States. A systems modeling framework is developed, with integrations of lead-time analysis, life cycle inventory analysis, LCC model, and scenariosmore » considering design differences, supply-chain options, productions, maintenance, and AM technological developments. AM yields a reduction potential of 3% to 5% primary energy, 4% to 7% GHG emissions, 12% to 60% lead time, and 15% to 35% cost over 1 million cycles of the injection molding production depending on the AM technology advancement in future. The economic advantages indicate the significant role of AM technology in raising global manufacturing competitiveness of local producers, while the relatively small environmental benefits highlight the necessity of considering trade-offs and balance techniques between environmental and economic performances when AM is adopted in the tooling industry. The results also help pinpoint the technological innovations in AM that could lead to broader benefits in future.« less

Cleaning Process Development for Metallic Additively Manufactured Parts

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Tramel, Terri L.; Welker, Roger; Lowery, Niki; Mitchell, Mark

2014-01-01

Additive Manufacturing of metallic components for aerospace applications offers many advantages over traditional manufacturing techniques. As a new technology, many aspects of its widespread utilization remain open to investigation. Among these are the cleaning processes that can be used for post finishing of parts and measurements to verify effectiveness of the cleaning processes. Many cleaning and drying processes and measurement methods that have been used for parts manufactured using conventional techniques are candidates that may be considered for cleaning and verification of additively manufactured parts. Among these are vapor degreasing, ultrasonic immersion and spray cleaning, followed by hot air drying, vacuum baking and solvent displacement drying. Differences in porosity, density, and surface finish of additively manufactured versus conventionally manufactured parts may introduce new considerations in the selection of cleaning and drying processes or the method used to verify their effectiveness. This presentation will review the relative strengths and weaknesses of different candidate cleaning and drying processes as they may apply to additively manufactured metal parts for aerospace applications. An ultrasonic cleaning technique for exploring the cleanability of parts will be presented along with an example using additively manufactured Inconel 718 test specimens to illustrate its use. The data analysis shows that this ultrasonic cleaning approach results in a well-behaved ultrasonic cleaning/extraction behavior. That is, it does not show signs of accelerated cavitation erosion of the base material, which was later confirmed by neutron imaging. In addition, the analysis indicated that complete cleaning would be achieved by ultrasonic immersion cleaning at approximately 5 minutes, which was verified by subsequent cleaning of additional parts.

Changes in root length during orthodontic treatment: advantages for immature teeth.

PubMed

Mavragani, Maria; Bøe, Olav Egil; Wisth, Per Johan; Selvig, Knut Andreas

2002-02-01

The purpose of the study was to investigate root lengthening during orthodontic treatment in relation to the age of the patient, the developmental stage of the root, and the anticipated growth. Specifically, the potential benefit of treating young teeth was addressed. The sample consisted of 80 patients with Angle Class II division 1 malocclusions, treated with extraction of at least two maxillary first premolars, and edgewise technique with 0.018-inch slot brackets. Additionally, a cross-sectional control group of 66 untreated individuals matched to gender, and pre- and post-treatment age of the experimental group was included. Crown and root lengths of the maxillary incisors were measured on peri-apical radiographs before and after treatment, and corrected for image distortion. The stage of root development before treatment was recorded. Root elongation during treatment was found for 50 out of the 280 examined teeth. Age at treatment start was significantly higher among the patients showing root shortening of the lateral incisors during treatment than among those showing root elongation (P < 0.05). The stage of root development was significantly related to the direction of root length change, i.e. shortening or elongation. Roots elongated during treatment did not differ in length from untreated teeth of similarly aged individuals. There was no significant difference in the extent of root lengthening between the roots elongated during treatment and the normal root lengthening in age-matched untreated individuals. Post-treatment root length was significantly related to pre-treatment age. Roots that were incompletely developed before treatment reached a significantly greater length than those that were fully developed at the start of treatment. The results of this study show a definite advantage for younger teeth with regard to post-treatment root length. This finding may influence treatment planning strategy.

Taking Advantage of Student Engagement Results in Student Affairs

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kinzie, Jillian; Hurtado, Sarah S.

2017-01-01

This chapter urges student affairs professionals committed to enhancing student success through data-informed decision making to take full advantage of opportunities to apply and use student engagement results.

Additive Manufacturing of Nickel Superalloys: Opportunities for Innovation and Challenges Related to Qualification

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Babu, S. S.; Raghavan, N.; Raplee, J.; Foster, S. J.; Frederick, C.; Haines, M.; Dinwiddie, R.; Kirka, M. K.; Plotkowski, A.; Lee, Y.; Dehoff, R. R.

2018-06-01

Innovative designs for turbines can be achieved by advances in nickel-based superalloys and manufacturing methods, including the adoption of additive manufacturing. In this regard, selective electron beam melting (SEBM) and selective laser melting (SLM) of nickel-based superalloys do provide distinct advantages. Furthermore, the direct energy deposition (DED) processes can be used for repair and reclamation of nickel alloy components. The current paper explores opportunities for innovation and qualification challenges with respect to deployment of AM as a disruptive manufacturing technology. In the first part of the paper, fundamental correlations of processing parameters to defect tendency and microstructure evolution will be explored using DED process. In the second part of the paper, opportunities for innovation in terms of site-specific control of microstructure during processing will be discussed. In the third part of the paper, challenges in qualification of AM parts for service will be discussed and potential methods to alleviate these issues through in situ process monitoring, and big data analytics are proposed.

Pharmaceutical Additive Manufacturing: a Novel Tool for Complex and Personalized Drug Delivery Systems.

PubMed

Zhang, Jiaxiang; Vo, Anh Q; Feng, Xin; Bandari, Suresh; Repka, Michael A

2018-06-25

Inter-individual variability is always an issue when treating patients of different races, genders, ages, pharmacogenetics, and pharmacokinetic characteristics. However, the development of novel dosage forms is limited by the huge investments required for production line modifications and dosages diversity. Additive manufacturing (AM) or 3D printing can be a novel alternative solution for the development of controlled release dosages because it can produce personalized or unique dosage forms and more complex drug-release profiles. The primary objective of this manuscript is to review the 3D printing processes that have been used in the pharmaceutical area, including their general aspects, materials, and the operation of each AM technique. Advantages and shortcomings of the technologies are discussed with respect to practice and practical applications. Thus, this review will provide an overview and discussion on advanced pharmaceutical AM technologies, which can be used to produce unique controlled drug delivery systems and personalized dosages for the future of personalized medicine.

A category-specific advantage for numbers in verbal short-term memory: evidence from semantic dementia.

PubMed

Jefferies, Elizabeth; Patterson, Karalyn; Jones, Roy W; Bateman, David; Lambon Ralph, Matthew A

2004-01-01

This study explored possible reasons for the striking difference between digit span and word span in patients with semantic dementia. Immediate serial recall (ISR) of number and non-number words was examined in four patients. For every case, the recall of single-digit numbers was normal whereas the recall of non-number words was impaired relative to controls. This difference extended to multi-digit numbers, and remained even when frequency, imageability, word length, set size and size of semantic category were matched for the numbers and words. The advantage for number words also applied to the patients' reading performance. Previous studies have suggested that semantic memory plays a critical role in verbal short-term memory (STM) and reading: patients with semantic dementia show superior recall and reading of words that are still relatively well known compared to previously known but now semantically degraded words. Additional assessments suggested that this semantic locus was the basis of the patients' category-specific advantage for numbers. Comprehension was considerably better for number than non-number words. Number knowledge may be relatively preserved in semantic dementia because the cortical atrophy underlying the condition typically spares the areas of the parietal lobes thought to be crucial in numerical cognition but involves the inferolateral temporal-lobes known to support general conceptual knowledge.

Regioselective 1,4- and 1,6-Conjugate Additions of Grignard Reagent-Derived Organozinc(II)ates to Polyconjugated Esters.

PubMed

Hatano, Manabu; Mizuno, Mai; Ishihara, Kazuaki

2016-09-16

Regioselective synthetic methods were developed for 1,4- and 1,6-conjugate additions of Grignard reagent-derived organozinc(II)ates to malonate-derived polyconjugated esters. By taking advantage of the tight ion-pair control of organozinc(II)ates, it was possible to switch between 1,4- and 1,6-conjugate additions by introducing a terminal ethoxy moiety in the conjugation.

Advantages and Disadvantages of Health Care Accreditation Mod­els

PubMed Central

Tabrizi, Jafar S.; Gharibi, Farid; Wilson, Andrew J.

2011-01-01

Background: This systematic review seeks to define the general advantages and disadvan­tages of accreditation programs to assist in choosing the most appropriate approach. Method: Systematic search of SID, Ovid Medline & PubMed databases was conducted by the keywords of accreditation, hospital, medical practice, clinic, accreditation models, health care and Persian meanings. From 2379 initial articles, 83 articles met the full inclusion criteria. From initial analysis, 23 attributes were identified which appeared to define advantages and disadvantages of different accreditation approaches and the available systems were compared on these. Results: Six systems were identified in the international literature including the JCAHO from USA, the Canadian program of CCHSA, and the accreditation programs of UK, Australia, New Zealand and France. The main distinguishing attributes among them were: quality improve­ment, patient and staff safety, improving health services integration, public’s confi­dence, effectiveness and efficiency of health services, innovation, influence global standards, information management, breadth of activity, history, effective relationship with stakeholders, agreement with AGIL attributes and independence from government. Conclusion: Based on 23 attributes of comprehensive accreditation systems we have defined from a systematic review, the JCAHO accreditation program of USA and then CCHSA of Can­ada offered the most comprehensive systems with the least disadvantages. Other programs such as the ACHS of Australia, ANAES of France, QHNZ of New Zealand and UK accredita­tion programs were fairly comparable according to these criteria. However the decision for any country or health system should be based on an assessment weighing up their specific objec­tives and needs. PMID:24688896

The Incongruency Advantage for Environmental Sounds Presented in Natural Auditory Scenes

PubMed Central

Gygi, Brian; Shafiro, Valeriy

2011-01-01

The effect of context on the identification of common environmental sounds (e.g., dogs barking or cars honking) was tested by embedding them in familiar auditory background scenes (street ambience, restaurants). Initial results with subjects trained on both the scenes and the sounds to be identified showed a significant advantage of about 5 percentage points better accuracy for sounds that were contextually incongruous with the background scene (e.g., a rooster crowing in a hospital). Further studies with naïve (untrained) listeners showed that this Incongruency Advantage (IA) is level-dependent: there is no advantage for incongruent sounds lower than a Sound/Scene ratio (So/Sc) of −7.5 dB, but there is about 5 percentage points better accuracy for sounds with greater So/Sc. Testing a new group of trained listeners on a larger corpus of sounds and scenes showed that the effect is robust and not confined to specific stimulus set. Modeling using spectral-temporal measures showed that neither analyses based on acoustic features, nor semantic assessments of sound-scene congruency can account for this difference, indicating the Incongruency Advantage is a complex effect, possibly arising from the sensitivity of the auditory system to new and unexpected events, under particular listening conditions. PMID:21355664

Seeking help for depression from family and friends: a qualitative analysis of perceived advantages and disadvantages.

PubMed

Griffiths, Kathleen M; Crisp, Dimity A; Barney, Lisa; Reid, Russell

2011-12-15

People with depression often seek help from family and friends and public health campaigns frequently encourage such help seeking behaviours. However, there has been little systematically collected empirical data concerning the effects of such informal help seeking. The current study sought to investigate the views of consumers about the advantages and disadvantages of seeking support from family and friends for depression. Participants were the subset of 417 respondents to a survey, sent to 7000 randomly selected members of an Australian electoral community, who indicated that they had sought help for depression from family or friends. One item on the survey asked participants to indicate the advantages or disadvantages of seeking help from family or friends. A coding system was developed based on a content analysis of the responses to the item. Each of the responses was then coded by two raters. Respondents identified both advantages and disadvantages of seeking support from friends. The most commonly cited advantage was social support (n = 282) including emotional support (n = 154), informational support (n = 93), companionship support (n = 36) and instrumental support (n = 23). Other advantages related to family's or friend's background knowledge of the person and their circumstances (n = 72), the opportunity to offload the burden associated with depression (n = 62), the personal attributes of family and friends (n = 49), their accessibility (n = 36), and the opportunity to educate family and friends and increase their awareness about the respondent's depression (n = 30). The most commonly cited disadvantages were stigma (n = 53), inappropriate support (n = 45), the family member's lack of knowledge, training and expertise (n = 32) and the adverse impact of the help seeking on the family/friend (n = 20) and the relationship (n = 18). Family and friends are well placed to provide support which consumers perceive to be positive and which can assist them in

Seeking help for depression from family and friends: A qualitative analysis of perceived advantages and disadvantages

PubMed Central

2011-01-01

Background People with depression often seek help from family and friends and public health campaigns frequently encourage such help seeking behaviours. However, there has been little systematically collected empirical data concerning the effects of such informal help seeking. The current study sought to investigate the views of consumers about the advantages and disadvantages of seeking support from family and friends for depression. Methods Participants were the subset of 417 respondents to a survey, sent to 7000 randomly selected members of an Australian electoral community, who indicated that they had sought help for depression from family or friends. One item on the survey asked participants to indicate the advantages or disadvantages of seeking help from family or friends. A coding system was developed based on a content analysis of the responses to the item. Each of the responses was then coded by two raters. Results Respondents identified both advantages and disadvantages of seeking support from friends. The most commonly cited advantage was social support (n = 282) including emotional support (n = 154), informational support (n = 93), companionship support (n = 36) and instrumental support (n = 23). Other advantages related to family's or friend's background knowledge of the person and their circumstances (n = 72), the opportunity to offload the burden associated with depression (n = 62), the personal attributes of family and friends (n = 49), their accessibility (n = 36), and the opportunity to educate family and friends and increase their awareness about the respondent's depression (n = 30). The most commonly cited disadvantages were stigma (n = 53), inappropriate support (n = 45), the family member's lack of knowledge, training and expertise (n = 32) and the adverse impact of the help seeking on the family/friend (n = 20) and the relationship (n = 18). Conclusions Family and friends are well placed to provide support which consumers perceive to be

Complexity, Competitive Intelligence and the "First Mover" Advantage

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Fellman, Philip Vos; Post, Jonathan Vos

In the following paper we explore some of the ways in which competitive intelligence and game theory can be employed to assist firms in deciding whether or not to undertake international market diversification and whether or not there is an advantage to being a market leader or a market follower overseas. In attempting to answer these questions, we take a somewhat unconventional approach. We first examine how some of the most recent advances in the physical and biological sciences can contribute to the ways in which we understand how firms behave. Subsequently, we propose a formal methodology for competitive intelligence. While space considerations here do not allow for a complete game-theoretic treatment of competitive intelligence and its use with respect to understanding first and second mover advantage in firm internationalization, that treatment can be found in its entirety in the on-line proceedings of the 6th International Conference on Complex Systems at http://knowledgetoday.org/wiki/indec.php/ICCS06/89

Complexity, Competitive Intelligence and the "First Mover" Advantage

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Fellman, Philip Vos; Post, Jonathan Vos

In the following paper we explore some of the ways in which competitive intelligence and game theory can be employed to assist firms in deciding whether or not to undertake international market diversification and whether or not there is an advantage to being a market leader or a market follower overseas. In attempting to answer these questions, we take a somewhat unconventional approach. We first examine how some of the most recent advances in the physical and biological sciences can contribute to the ways in which we understand how firms behave. Subsequently, we propose a formal methodology for competitive intelligence. While space considerations here do not allow for a complete game-theoretic treatment of competitive intelligence and its use with respect to understanding first and second mover advantage in firm internationalization, that treatment can be found in its entirety in the on-line proceedings of the 6th International Conference on Complex Systems at e">http://knowledgetoday.org/wiki/indec.php/ICCS06/89.

Review of ADHD Pharmacotherapies: Advantages, Disadvantages, and Clinical Pearls

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Daughton, Joan M.; Kratochvil, Christopher J.

2009-01-01

The advantages, disadvantages, as well as helpful hints on when to use several drug therapies against attention deficit hyperactivity disorder are discussed. The drugs discussed are methylphenidate, atomoxetine, clonidine, and bupropion.

Advantages and disadvantages of stiffness instructions when studying postural control.

PubMed

Bonnet, Cédrick T

2016-05-01

To understand the maintenance of upright stance, researchers try to discover the fundamental mechanisms and attentional resources devoted to postural control and eventually to the performance of other tasks (e.g., counting in the head). During their studies, some researchers require participants to stand as steady as possible and other simply ask participants to stand naturally. Surprisingly, a clear and direct explanation of the usefulness of the steadiness requirement seems to be lacking, both in experimental and methodological discussions. Hence, the objective of the present note was to provide advantages and disadvantages of this steadiness requirement in studies of postural control. The advantages may be to study fundamental postural control, to eliminate useless postural variability, to control spurious body motions and to control the participants' thoughts. As disadvantages, this steadiness requirement only leads to study postural control in unnatural upright stance, it changes the focus of attention (internal vs. external) and the nature of postural control (unconscious vs. conscious), it increases the difficulty of a supposedly easy control task and it eliminates or reduces the opportunity to record exploratory behaviors. When looking carefully at the four advantages of the steadiness requirement, one can believe that they are, in fact, more disadvantageous than advantageous. Overall therefore, this requirement seems illegitimate and it is proposed that researchers should not use it in the study of postural control. They may use this requirement only if they search to know the limit until which participants can consciously reduce their postural sway. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Advantages and limitations of remotely operated sea floor drill rigs

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Freudenthal, T.; Smith, D. J.; Wefer, G.

2009-04-01

A variety of research targets in marine sciences including the investigation of gas hydrates, slope stability, alteration of oceanic crust, ore formation and palaeoclimate can be addressed by shallow drilling. However, drill ships are mostly used for deep drillings, both because the effort of building up a drill string from a drill ship to the deep sea floor is tremendous and control on drill bit pressure from a movable platform and a vibrating drill string is poor especially in the upper hundred meters. During the last decade a variety of remotely operated drill rigs have been developed, that are deployed on the sea bed and operated from standard research vessels. These developments include the BMS (Bentic Multicoring System, developed by Williamson and Associates, operated by the Japanese Mining Agency), the PROD (Portable Remotely Operated Drill, developed and operated by Benthic Geotech), the Rockdrill 2 (developed and operated by the British geological Survey) and the MeBo (German abbreviation for sea floor drill rig, developed and operated by Marum, University of Bremen). These drill rigs reach drilling depths between 15 and 100 m. For shallow drillings remotely operated drill rigs are a cost effective alternative to the services of drill ships and have the major advantage that the drilling operations are performed from a stable platform independent of any ship movements due to waves, wind or currents. Sea floor drill rigs can be deployed both in shallow waters and the deep sea. A careful site survey is required before deploying the sea floor drill rig. Slope gradient, small scale topography and soil strength are important factors when planning the deployment. The choice of drill bits and core catcher depend on the expected geology. The required drill tools are stored on one or two magazines on the drill rig. The MeBo is the only remotely operated drill rig world wide that can use wire line coring technique. This method is much faster than conventional

50 CFR 86.132 - What are the advantages to doing a plan?

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-10-01

... 50 Wildlife and Fisheries 6 2010-10-01 2010-10-01 false What are the advantages to doing a plan? 86.132 Section 86.132 Wildlife and Fisheries UNITED STATES FISH AND WILDLIFE SERVICE, DEPARTMENT OF... advantages to doing a plan? Plans provide the information necessary to fully understand the needs of boaters...

Choosy Wolves? Heterozygote Advantage But No Evidence of MHC-Based Disassortative Mating.

PubMed

Galaverni, Marco; Caniglia, Romolo; Milanesi, Pietro; Lapalombella, Silvana; Fabbri, Elena; Randi, Ettore

2016-03-01

A variety of nonrandom mate choice strategies, including disassortative mating, are used by vertebrate species to avoid inbreeding, maintain heterozygosity and increase fitness. Disassortative mating may be mediated by the major histocompatibility complex (MHC), an important gene cluster controlling immune responses to pathogens. We investigated the patterns of mate choice in 26 wild-living breeding pairs of gray wolf (Canis lupus) that were identified through noninvasive genetic methods and genotyped at 3 MHC class II and 12 autosomal microsatellite (STR) loci. We tested for deviations from random mating and evaluated the covariance of genetic variables at functional and STR markers with fitness proxies deduced from pedigree reconstructions. Results did not show evidences of MHC-based disassortative mating. Rather we found a higher peptide similarity between mates at MHC loci as compared with random expectations. Fitness values were positively correlated with heterozygosity of the breeders at both MHC and STR loci, whereas they decreased with relatedness at STRs. These findings may indicate fitness advantages for breeders that, while avoiding highly related mates, are more similar at the MHC and have high levels of heterozygosity overall. Such a pattern of MHC-assortative mating may reflect local coadaptation of the breeders, while a reduction in genetic diversity may be balanced by heterozygote advantages. © The American Genetic Association 2015. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.

Advantages and Disadvantages of Student Loans Repayment Patterns

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Shen, Hua

2010-01-01

It is a difficulty problem to choice repayment patterns of student loan. "Conventional mortgage-type loan" and "Income contingent loan" has been performed in many countries. These loan repayment manners have their own characteristics. In this paper, we discuss their advantages and disadvantages, and would provide policy choice…

Intermediary LEO propagation including higher order zonal harmonics

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hautesserres, Denis; Lara, Martin

2017-04-01

Two new intermediary orbits of the artificial satellite problem are proposed. The analytical solutions include higher order effects of the geopotential, and are obtained by means of a torsion transformation applied to the quasi-Keplerian system resulting after the elimination of the parallax simplification, for the first intermediary, and after the elimination of the parallax and perigee simplifications, for the second one. The new intermediaries perform notably well for low Earth orbits propagation, are free from special functions, and result advantageous, both in accuracy and efficiency, when compared to the standard Cowell integration of the J_2 problem, thus providing appealing alternatives for onboard, short-term, orbit propagation under limited computational resources.

50 CFR 86.112 - What are the advantages of doing a survey?

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-10-01

... 50 Wildlife and Fisheries 6 2010-10-01 2010-10-01 false What are the advantages of doing a survey? 86.112 Section 86.112 Wildlife and Fisheries UNITED STATES FISH AND WILDLIFE SERVICE, DEPARTMENT OF... INFRASTRUCTURE GRANT (BIG) PROGRAM How States Will Complete Access Needs Surveys § 86.112 What are the advantages...

Advantages and Limitations of Wearable Activity Trackers: Considerations for Patients and Clinicians.

PubMed

Walker, Rachel K; Hickey, Amanda M; Freedson, Patty S

2016-12-01

Exercise, light physical activity, and decreased sedentary time all have been associated with health benefits following cancer diagnoses. Commercially available wearable activity trackers may help patients monitor and self-manage their behaviors to achieve these benefits. This article highlights some advantages and limitations clinicians should be aware of when discussing the use of activity trackers with cancer survivors. Limited research has assessed the accuracy of commercially available activity trackers compared to research-grade devices. Because most devices use confidential, proprietary algorithms to convert accelerometry data to meaningful output like total steps, assessing whether these algorithms account for differences in gait abnormalities, functional limitations, and different body morphologies can be difficult. Quantification of sedentary behaviors and light physical activities present additional challenges. The global market for activity trackers is growing, which presents clinicians with a tremendous opportunity to incorporate these devices into clinical practice as tools to promote activity. This article highlights important considerations about tracker accuracy and usage by cancer survivors.

Wastes as Aggregates, Binders or Additions in Mortars: Selecting Their Role Based on Characterization.

PubMed

Farinha, Catarina Brazão; de Brito, Jorge; Veiga, Rosário; Fernández, J M; Jiménez, J R; Esquinas, A R

2018-03-20

The production of waste has increased over the years and, lacking a recycle or recovery solution, it is forwarded to landfill. The incorporation of wastes in cement-based materials is a solution to reduce waste deposition. In this regard, some researchers have been studying the incorporation of wastes with different functions: aggregate, binder and addition. The incorporation of wastes should take advantage of their characteristics. It requires a judicious analysis of their particles. This research involves the analysis of seven industrial wastes: biomass ashes, glass fibre, reinforced polymer dust, sanitary ware, fluid catalytic cracking, acrylic fibre, textile fibre and glass fibre. The main characteristics and advantages of each waste are enunciated and the best type of introduction in mortars is discussed. The characterization of the wastes as particles is necessary to identify the most suitable incorporation in mortars. In this research, some wastes are studied with a view to their re-use or recycling in mortars. Thus, this research focuses on the chemical, physical and mechanical characterization of industrial wastes and identification of the potentially most advantageous type of incorporation.

Wastes as Aggregates, Binders or Additions in Mortars: Selecting Their Role Based on Characterization

PubMed Central

de Brito, Jorge; Veiga, Rosário

2018-01-01

The production of waste has increased over the years and, lacking a recycle or recovery solution, it is forwarded to landfill. The incorporation of wastes in cement-based materials is a solution to reduce waste deposition. In this regard, some researchers have been studying the incorporation of wastes with different functions: aggregate, binder and addition. The incorporation of wastes should take advantage of their characteristics. It requires a judicious analysis of their particles. This research involves the analysis of seven industrial wastes: biomass ashes, glass fibre, reinforced polymer dust, sanitary ware, fluid catalytic cracking, acrylic fibre, textile fibre and glass fibre. The main characteristics and advantages of each waste are enunciated and the best type of introduction in mortars is discussed. The characterization of the wastes as particles is necessary to identify the most suitable incorporation in mortars. In this research, some wastes are studied with a view to their re-use or recycling in mortars. Thus, this research focuses on the chemical, physical and mechanical characterization of industrial wastes and identification of the potentially most advantageous type of incorporation. PMID:29558418

Additive Manufacturing of Aerospace Propulsion Components

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Misra, Ajay K.; Grady, Joseph E.; Carter, Robert

2015-01-01

The presentation will provide an overview of ongoing activities on additive manufacturing of aerospace propulsion components, which included rocket propulsion and gas turbine engines. Future opportunities on additive manufacturing of hybrid electric propulsion components will be discussed.

Advantageous developmental outcomes of advancing paternal age

PubMed Central

Janecka, M; Rijsdijk, F; Rai, D; Modabbernia, A; Reichenberg, A

2017-01-01

Advanced paternal age (APA) at conception has been associated with negative outcomes in offspring, raising concerns about increasing age at fatherhood. Evidence from evolutionary and psychological research, however, suggests possible link between APA and a phenotypic advantage. We defined such advantage as educational success, which is positively associated with future socioeconomic status. We hypothesised that high IQ, strong focus on the subject of interest and little concern about ‘fitting in’ will be associated with such success. Although these traits are continuously distributed in the population, they cluster together in so-called ‘geeks’. We used these measures to compute a ‘geek index’ (GI), and showed it to be strongly predictive of future academic attainment, beyond the independent contribution of the individual traits. GI was associated with paternal age in male offspring only, and mediated the positive effects of APA on education outcomes, in a similar sexually dimorphic manner. The association between paternal age and GI was partly mediated by genetic factors not correlated with age at fatherhood, suggesting contribution of de novo factors to the ‘geeky’ phenotype. Our study sheds new light on the multifaceted nature of the APA effects and explores the intricate links between APA, autism and talent. PMID:28632201

Printability of alloys for additive manufacturing

DOE PAGES

Mukherjee, T.; Zuback, J. S.; De, A.; ...

2016-01-22

Although additive manufacturing (AM), or three dimensional (3D) printing, provides significant advantages over existing manufacturing techniques, metallic parts produced by AM are susceptible to distortion, lack of fusion defects and compositional changes. Here we show that the printability, or the ability of an alloy to avoid these defects, can be examined by developing and testing appropriate theories. A theoretical scaling analysis is used to test vulnerability of various alloys to thermal distortion. A theoretical kinetic model is used to examine predisposition of different alloys to AM induced compositional changes. A well-tested numerical heat transfer and fluid flow model is usedmore » to compare susceptibilities of various alloys to lack of fusion defects. These results are tested and validated with independent experimental data. Here, the findings presented in this paper are aimed at achieving distortion free, compositionally sound and well bonded metallic parts.« less

Printability of alloys for additive manufacturing

PubMed Central

Mukherjee, T.; Zuback, J. S.; De, A.; DebRoy, T.

2016-01-01

Although additive manufacturing (AM), or three dimensional (3D) printing, provides significant advantages over existing manufacturing techniques, metallic parts produced by AM are susceptible to distortion, lack of fusion defects and compositional changes. Here we show that the printability, or the ability of an alloy to avoid these defects, can be examined by developing and testing appropriate theories. A theoretical scaling analysis is used to test vulnerability of various alloys to thermal distortion. A theoretical kinetic model is used to examine predisposition of different alloys to AM induced compositional changes. A well-tested numerical heat transfer and fluid flow model is used to compare susceptibilities of various alloys to lack of fusion defects. These results are tested and validated with independent experimental data. The findings presented in this paper are aimed at achieving distortion free, compositionally sound and well bonded metallic parts. PMID:26796864

High Bypass Ratio Jet Noise Reduction and Installation Effects Including Shielding Effectiveness

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Thomas, Russell H.; Czech, Michael J.; Doty, Michael J.

2013-01-01

An experimental investigation was performed to study the propulsion airframe aeroacoustic installation effects of a separate flow jet nozzle with a Hybrid Wing Body aircraft configuration where the engine is installed above the wing. Prior understanding of the jet noise shielding effectiveness was extended to a bypass ratio ten application as a function of nozzle configuration, chevron type, axial spacing, and installation effects from additional airframe components. Chevron types included fan chevrons that are uniform circumferentially around the fan nozzle and T-fan type chevrons that are asymmetrical circumferentially. In isolated testing without a pylon, uniform chevrons compared to T-fan chevrons showed slightly more low frequency reduction offset by more high frequency increase. Phased array localization shows that at this bypass ratio chevrons still move peak jet noise source locations upstream but not to nearly the extent, as a function of frequency, as for lower bypass ratio jets. For baseline nozzles without chevrons, the basic pylon effect has been greatly reduced compared to that seen for lower bypass ratio jets. Compared to Tfan chevrons without a pylon, the combination with a standard pylon results in more high frequency noise increase and an overall higher noise level. Shielded by an airframe surface 2.17 fan diameters from nozzle to airframe trailing edge, the T-fan chevron nozzle can produce reductions in jet noise of as much as 8 dB at high frequencies and upstream angles. Noise reduction from shielding decreases with decreasing frequency and with increasing angle from the jet inlet. Beyond an angle of 130 degrees there is almost no noise reduction from shielding. Increasing chevron immersion more than what is already an aggressive design is not advantageous for noise reduction. The addition of airframe control surfaces, including vertical stabilizers and elevon deflection, showed only a small overall impact. Based on the test results, the best

Online Dutch L2 Learning in Adult Education: Educators' and Providers' Viewpoints on Needs, Advantages and Disadvantages

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

De Paepe, Liesbeth; Zhu, Chang; Depryck, Koen

2018-01-01

This study critically addresses the assumptions made by educators and providers in the field of Dutch second language (L2) acquisition about the online learning of Dutch L2. These include assumptions about advantages and disadvantages of online language learning, such as flexibility, learner autonomy, enhanced opportunities for remediation and…

Evaluation of certain food additives.

PubMed

2015-01-01

This report represents the conclusions of a Joint FAO/WHO Expert Committee convened to evaluate the safety of various food additives, including flavouring agents, and to prepare specifications for identity and purity. The first part of the report contains a general discussion of the principles governing the toxicological evaluation of and assessment of dietary exposure to food additives, including flavouring agents. A summary follows of the Committee's evaluations of technical, toxicological and dietary exposure data for eight food additives (Benzoe tonkinensis; carrageenan; citric and fatty acid esters of glycerol; gardenia yellow; lutein esters from Tagetes erecta; octenyl succinic acid-modified gum arabic; octenyl succinic acid-modified starch; paprika extract; and pectin) and eight groups of flavouring agents (aliphatic and alicyclic hydrocarbons; aliphatic and aromatic ethers; ionones and structurally related substances; miscellaneous nitrogen-containing substances; monocyclic and bicyclic secondary alcohols, ketones and related esters; phenol and phenol derivatives; phenyl-substituted aliphatic alcohols and related aldehydes and esters; and sulfur-containing heterocyclic compounds). Specifications for the following food additives were revised: citric acid; gellan gum; polyoxyethylene (20) sorbitan monostearate; potassium aluminium silicate; and Quillaia extract (Type 2). Annexed to the report are tables summarizing the Committee's recommendations for dietary exposures to and toxicological evaluations of all of the food additives and flavouring agents considered at this meeting.

Advantages of Social Network Analysis in Educational Research

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ushakov, K. M.; Kukso, K. N.

2015-01-01

Currently one of the main tools for the large scale studies of schools is statistical analysis. Although it is the most common method and it offers greatest opportunities for analysis, there are other quantitative methods for studying schools, such as network analysis. We discuss the potential advantages that network analysis has for educational…

Visual Advantage of Enhanced Flight Vision System During NextGen Flight Test Evaluation

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Kramer, Lynda J.; Harrison, Stephanie J.; Bailey, Randall E.; Shelton, Kevin J.; Ellis, Kyle K.

2014-01-01

Synthetic Vision Systems and Enhanced Flight Vision System (SVS/EFVS) technologies have the potential to provide additional margins of safety for aircrew performance and enable operational improvements for low visibility operations in the terminal area environment. Simulation and flight tests were jointly sponsored by NASA's Aviation Safety Program, Vehicle Systems Safety Technology project and the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to evaluate potential safety and operational benefits of SVS/EFVS technologies in low visibility Next Generation Air Transportation System (NextGen) operations. The flight tests were conducted by a team of Honeywell, Gulfstream Aerospace Corporation and NASA personnel with the goal of obtaining pilot-in-the-loop test data for flight validation, verification, and demonstration of selected SVS/EFVS operational and system-level performance capabilities. Nine test flights were flown in Gulfstream's G450 flight test aircraft outfitted with the SVS/EFVS technologies under low visibility instrument meteorological conditions. Evaluation pilots flew 108 approaches in low visibility weather conditions (600 feet to 3600 feet reported visibility) under different obscurants (mist, fog, drizzle fog, frozen fog) and sky cover (broken, overcast). Flight test videos were evaluated at three different altitudes (decision altitude, 100 feet radar altitude, and touchdown) to determine the visual advantage afforded to the pilot using the EFVS/Forward-Looking InfraRed (FLIR) imagery compared to natural vision. Results indicate the EFVS provided a visual advantage of two to three times over that of the out-the-window (OTW) view. The EFVS allowed pilots to view the runway environment, specifically runway lights, before they would be able to OTW with natural vision.

Homeland Security Technologies Creating an Asymmetric Advantage

DTIC Science & Technology

2002-04-01

solution. Sustaining the Asymmetric Advantage: A Manhattan Project for the 21st Century This nation’s greatest technological endeavors have been inspired...bomb stimulated the Manhattan Project —a top—secret engineering venture that engaged the best available scientific expertise and delivered a working...term Manhattan Project is now “a byword for an enormous breakneck effort involving vast resources and the best scientific minds in the world.” [15] The

Testcross additive and dominance effects in best linear unbiased prediction of maize single-cross performance.

PubMed

Bernardo, R

1996-11-01

Best linear unbiased prediction (BLUP) has been found to be useful in maize (Zea mays L.) breeding. The advantage of including both testcross additive and dominance effects (Intralocus Model) in BLUP, rather than only testcross additive effects (Additive Model), has not been clearly demonstrated. The objective of this study was to compare the usefulness of Intralocus and Additive Models for BLUP of maize single-cross performance. Multilocation data from 1990 to 1995 were obtained from the hybrid testing program of Limagrain Genetics. Grain yield, moisture, stalk lodging, and root lodging of untested single crosses were predicted from (1) the performance of tested single crosses and (2) known genetic relationships among the parental inbreds. Correlations between predicted and observed performance were obtained with a delete-one cross-validation procedure. For the Intralocus Model, the correlations ranged from 0.50 to 0.66 for yield, 0.88 to 0.94 for moisture, 0.47 to 0.69 for stalk lodging, and 0.31 to 0.45 for root lodging. The BLUP procedure was consistently more effective with the Intralocus Model than with the Additive Model. When the Additive Model was used instead of the Intralocus Model, the reductions in the correlation were largest for root lodging (0.06-0.35), smallest for moisture (0.00-0.02), and intermediate for yield (0.02-0.06) and stalk lodging (0.02-0.08). The ratio of dominance variance (v D) to total genetic variance (v G) was highest for root lodging (0.47) and lowest for moisture (0.10). The Additive Model may be used if prior information indicates that VD for a given trait has little contribution to VG. Otherwise, the continued use of the Intralocus Model for BLUP of single-cross performance is recommended.

Energy production advantage of independent subcell connection for multijunction photovoltaics

DOE PAGES

Warmann, Emily C.; Atwater, Harry A.

2016-07-07

Increasing the number of subcells in a multijunction or "spectrum splitting" photovoltaic improves efficiency under the standard AM1.5D design spectrum, but it can lower efficiency under spectra that differ from the standard if the subcells are connected electrically in series. Using atmospheric data and the SMARTS multiple scattering and absorption model, we simulated sunny day spectra over 1 year for five locations in the United States and determined the annual energy production of spectrum splitting ensembles with 2-20 subcells connected electrically in series or independently. While electrically independent subcells have a small efficiency advantage over series-connected ensembles under the AM1.5Dmore » design spectrum, they have a pronounced energy production advantage under realistic spectra over 1 year. Simulated energy production increased with subcell number for the electrically independent ensembles, but it peaked at 8-10 subcells for those connected in series. As a result, electrically independent ensembles with 20 subcells produce up to 27% more energy annually than the series-connected 20-subcell ensemble. This energy production advantage persists when clouds are accounted for.« less

Fitness effects of advantageous mutations in evolving Escherichia coli populations

PubMed Central

Imhof, Marianne; Schlötterer, Christian

2001-01-01

The central role of beneficial mutations for adaptive processes in natural populations is well established. Thus, there has been a long-standing interest to study the nature of beneficial mutations. Their low frequency, however, has made this class of mutations almost inaccessible for systematic studies. In the absence of experimental data, the distribution of the fitness effects of beneficial mutations was assumed to resemble that of deleterious mutations. For an experimental proof of this assumption, we used a novel marker system to trace adaptive events in an evolving Escherichia coli culture and to determine the selective advantage of those beneficial mutations. Ten parallel cultures were propagated for about 1,000 generations by serial transfer, and 66 adaptive events were identified. From this data set, we estimate the rate of beneficial mutations to be 4 × 10−9 per cell and generation. Consistent with an exponential distribution of the fitness effects, we observed a large fraction of advantageous mutations with a small effect and only few with large effect. The mean selection coefficient of advantageous mutations in our experiment was 0.02. PMID:11158603

Energy production advantage of independent subcell connection for multijunction photovoltaics

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Warmann, Emily C.; Atwater, Harry A.

Increasing the number of subcells in a multijunction or "spectrum splitting" photovoltaic improves efficiency under the standard AM1.5D design spectrum, but it can lower efficiency under spectra that differ from the standard if the subcells are connected electrically in series. Using atmospheric data and the SMARTS multiple scattering and absorption model, we simulated sunny day spectra over 1 year for five locations in the United States and determined the annual energy production of spectrum splitting ensembles with 2-20 subcells connected electrically in series or independently. While electrically independent subcells have a small efficiency advantage over series-connected ensembles under the AM1.5Dmore » design spectrum, they have a pronounced energy production advantage under realistic spectra over 1 year. Simulated energy production increased with subcell number for the electrically independent ensembles, but it peaked at 8-10 subcells for those connected in series. As a result, electrically independent ensembles with 20 subcells produce up to 27% more energy annually than the series-connected 20-subcell ensemble. This energy production advantage persists when clouds are accounted for.« less

Telepsychotherapy and the Therapeutic Relationship: Principles, Advantages, and Case Examples.

PubMed

Kocsis, Barbara J; Yellowlees, Peter

2018-05-01

As the use of technology continues to expand within our mental healthcare system, there has been an increasing interest in conducting psychotherapy online using videoconferencing. Literature pertaining to telepsychotherapy has explored possible drawbacks of this modality on the therapeutic relationship, although several studies have shown that the efficacy of online psychotherapy is equivalent to in-person approaches. Little is written about the potential advantages to the psychotherapeutic relationship when psychotherapy is carried out over videoconferencing. The available literature was reviewed, as were the general principles of telepsychotherapy and the therapeutic relationship, followed by a more in-depth consideration of patient populations for whom telepsychotherapy may offer distinct advantages. The current literature, as well as our own clinical experience, suggests that telepsychotherapy may be effective for a broad range of patients, and it may offer distinct advantages in the building of a trusting psychotherapeutic relationship. Telepsychotherapy offers a novel way to reach and form strong psychotherapeutic relationships with many different types of patients, and it may foster therapeutic intimacy in ways that in-person psychotherapy cannot. More research is needed to further explore this unique modality.

Should Relational Aggression Be Included in DSM-V?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Keenan, Kate; Coyne, Claire; Lahey, Benjamin B.

2008-01-01

The study examines whether relational aggression should be included in DSM-V disruptive behavior disorders. The results conclude that some additional information is gathered from assessing relational aggression but not enough to be included in DSM-V.

Codigestion of solid wastes: a review of its uses and perspectives including modeling.

PubMed

Mata-Alvarez, Joan; Dosta, Joan; Macé, Sandra; Astals, Sergi

2011-06-01

The last two years have witnessed a dramatic increase in the number of papers published on the subject of codigestion, highlighting the relevance of this topic within anaerobic digestion research. Consequently, it seems appropriate to undertake a review of codigestion practices starting from the late 1970s, when the first papers related to this concept were published, and continuing to the present day, demonstrating the exponential growth in the interest shown in this approach in recent years. Following a general analysis of the situation, state-of-the-art codigestion is described, focusing on the two most important areas as regards publication: codigestion involving sewage sludge and the organic fraction of municipal solid waste (including a review of the secondary advantages for wastewater treatment plant related to biological nutrient removal), and codigestion in the agricultural sector, that is, including agricultural - farm wastes, and energy crops. Within these areas, a large number of oversized digesters appear which can be used to codigest other substrates, resulting in economic and environmental advantages. Although the situation may be changing, there is still a need for good examples on an industrial scale, particularly with regard to wastewater treatment plants, in order to extend this beneficial practice. In the last section, a detailed analysis of papers addressing the important aspect of modelisation is included. This analysis includes the first codigestion models to be developed as well as recent applications of the standardised anaerobic digestion model ADM1 to codigestion. (This review includes studies ranging from laboratory to industrial scale.).

Physical education policy compliance and Latino children’s fitness: Does the association vary by school neighborhood socioeconomic advantage?

PubMed Central

Sanchez-Vaznaugh, Emma V.; Goldman Rosas, Lisa; Fernández-Peña, José Ramón; Baek, Jonggyu; Egerter, Susan; Sánchez, Brisa N.

2017-01-01

Objectives To investigate the contribution of school neighborhood socioeconomic advantage to the association between school-district physical education policy compliance in California public schools and Latino students’ physical fitness. Methods Cross-sectional Fitnessgram data for public-school students were linked with school- and district-level information, district-level physical education policy compliance from 2004–2005 and 2005–2006, and 2000 United States Census data. Multilevel logistic regression models examined whether income and education levels in school neighborhoods moderated the effects of district-level physical education policy compliance on Latino fifth-graders’ fitness levels. Results Physical education compliance data were available for 48 California school districts, which included 64,073 Latino fifth-graders. Fewer than half (23, or 46%) of these districts were found to be in compliance, and only 16% of Latino fifth-graders attended schools in compliant districts. Overall, there was a positive association between district compliance with physical education policy and fitness (OR, 95%CI: 1.38, 1.07, 1.78) adjusted for covariates. There was no significant interaction between school neighborhood socioeconomic advantage and physical education policy compliance (p>.05): there was a positive pattern in the association between school district compliance with physical education policy and student fitness levels across levels of socioeconomic advantage, though the association was not always significant. Conclusions Across neighborhoods with varying levels of socioeconomic advantage, increasing physical education policy compliance in elementary schools may be an effective strategy for improving fitness among Latino children. PMID:28591139

Advantages of genome sequencing by long-read sequencer using SMRT technology in medical area.

PubMed

Nakano, Kazuma; Shiroma, Akino; Shimoji, Makiko; Tamotsu, Hinako; Ashimine, Noriko; Ohki, Shun; Shinzato, Misuzu; Minami, Maiko; Nakanishi, Tetsuhiro; Teruya, Kuniko; Satou, Kazuhito; Hirano, Takashi

2017-07-01

PacBio RS II is the first commercialized third-generation DNA sequencer able to sequence a single molecule DNA in real-time without amplification. PacBio RS II's sequencing technology is novel and unique, enabling the direct observation of DNA synthesis by DNA polymerase. PacBio RS II confers four major advantages compared to other sequencing technologies: long read lengths, high consensus accuracy, a low degree of bias, and simultaneous capability of epigenetic characterization. These advantages surmount the obstacle of sequencing genomic regions such as high/low G+C, tandem repeat, and interspersed repeat regions. Moreover, PacBio RS II is ideal for whole genome sequencing, targeted sequencing, complex population analysis, RNA sequencing, and epigenetics characterization. With PacBio RS II, we have sequenced and analyzed the genomes of many species, from viruses to humans. Herein, we summarize and review some of our key genome sequencing projects, including full-length viral sequencing, complete bacterial genome and almost-complete plant genome assemblies, and long amplicon sequencing of a disease-associated gene region. We believe that PacBio RS II is not only an effective tool for use in the basic biological sciences but also in the medical/clinical setting.

Assessing advantages and barriers to telemedicine adoption in the practice setting: A MyCareTeam(TM) exemplar.

PubMed

L'Esperance, Shaun T; Perry, Donna J

2016-06-01

Telemedicine is an evolving field that holds great potential to improve patient outcomes. The National Organization of Nurse Practitioner Faculties core competencies now require all nurse practitioners (NPs) to be competent utilizing telemedicine to address various patient and healthcare system needs. While telemedicine offers advantages to patient care, adoption of new technologies can be challenging. An assessment of perceived advantages and barriers to MyCareTeam, an online diabetes management system, was conducted at an adult diabetes clinic. Two survey questionnaires were developed based on the Diffusion of Innovations (DOI) theory. The surveys were administered to patients in the clinic waiting room and sent to all clinical staff via an e-mail link. The findings of this project suggested a novel way to classify patients with regard to their use of the technology with implications for practice. Recommendations include outreach to enhance knowledge and awareness of MyCareTeam, reinforcing the full scope of the system, and improved technical support. DOI theory is a framework that may be utilized by NPs as a tool for assessing advantages and barriers to telemedicine applications in the practice setting in order to identify strategies to promote adoption and use. ©2015 American Association of Nurse Practitioners.

When semantics aids phonology: A processing advantage for iconic word forms in aphasia.

PubMed

Meteyard, Lotte; Stoppard, Emily; Snudden, Dee; Cappa, Stefano F; Vigliocco, Gabriella

2015-09-01

Iconicity is the non-arbitrary relation between properties of a phonological form and semantic content (e.g. "moo", "splash"). It is a common feature of both spoken and signed languages, and recent evidence shows that iconic forms confer an advantage during word learning. We explored whether iconic forms conferred a processing advantage for 13 individuals with aphasia following left-hemisphere stroke. Iconic and control words were compared in four different tasks: repetition, reading aloud, auditory lexical decision and visual lexical decision. An advantage for iconic words was seen for some individuals in all tasks, with consistent group effects emerging in reading aloud and auditory lexical decision. Both these tasks rely on mapping between semantics and phonology. We conclude that iconicity aids spoken word processing for individuals with aphasia. This advantage is due to a stronger connection between semantic information and phonological forms. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Crowd noise as a cue in referee decisions contributes to the home advantage.

PubMed

Unkelbach, Christian; Memmert, Daniel

2010-08-01

The home advantage is one of the best established phenomena in sports (Courneya & Carron, 1992), and crowd noise has been suggested as one of its determinants (Nevill & Holder, 1999). However, the psychological processes that mediate crowd noise influence and its contribution to the home advantage are still unclear. We propose that crowd noise correlates with the criteria referees have to judge. As crowd noise is a valid cue, referee decisions are strongly influenced by crowd noise. Yet, when audiences are not impartial, a home advantage arises. Using soccer as an exemplar, we show the relevance of this influence in predicting outcomes of real games via a database analysis. Then we experimentally demonstrate the influence of crowd noise on referees' yellow cards decisions in soccer. Finally, we discuss why the focus on referee decisions is useful, and how more experimental research could benefit investigations of the home advantage.

Should Age at Diagnosis Be Included as an Additional Variable in the Risk of Recurrence Classification System in Patients with Differentiated Thyroid Cancer.

PubMed

Pitoia, Fabián; Jerkovich, Fernando; Smulever, Anabella; Brenta, Gabriela; Bueno, Fernanda; Cross, Graciela

2017-07-01

To evaluate the influence of age at diagnosis on the frequency of structural incomplete response (SIR) according to the modified risk of recurrence (RR) staging system from the American Thyroid Association guidelines. We performed a retrospective analysis of 268 patients with differentiated thyroid cancer (DTC) followed up for at least 3 years after initial treatment (total thyroidectomy and remnant ablation). The median follow-up in the whole cohort was 74.3 months (range: 36.1-317.9) and the median age at diagnosis was 45.9 years (range: 18-87). The association between age at diagnosis and the initial and final response to treatment was assessed with analysis of variance (ANOVA). Patients were also divided into several groups considering age younger and older than 40, 50, and 60 years. Age at diagnosis was not associated with either an initial or final statistically significant different SIR to treatment ( p = 0.14 and p = 0.58, respectively). Additionally, we did not find any statistically significant differences when the percentages of SIR considering the classification of RR were compared between different groups of patients by using several age cutoffs. When patients are correctly risk stratified, it seems that age at diagnosis is not involved in the frequency of having a SIR at the initial evaluation or at the final follow-up, so it should not be included as an additional variable to be considered in the RR classifications.

Should Age at Diagnosis Be Included as an Additional Variable in the Risk of Recurrence Classification System in Patients with Differentiated Thyroid Cancer

PubMed Central

Pitoia, Fabián; Jerkovich, Fernando; Smulever, Anabella; Brenta, Gabriela; Bueno, Fernanda; Cross, Graciela

2017-01-01

Objective To evaluate the influence of age at diagnosis on the frequency of structural incomplete response (SIR) according to the modified risk of recurrence (RR) staging system from the American Thyroid Association guidelines. Patients and Methods We performed a retrospective analysis of 268 patients with differentiated thyroid cancer (DTC) followed up for at least 3 years after initial treatment (total thyroidectomy and remnant ablation). The median follow-up in the whole cohort was 74.3 months (range: 36.1-317.9) and the median age at diagnosis was 45.9 years (range: 18-87). The association between age at diagnosis and the initial and final response to treatment was assessed with analysis of variance (ANOVA). Patients were also divided into several groups considering age younger and older than 40, 50, and 60 years. Results Age at diagnosis was not associated with either an initial or final statistically significant different SIR to treatment (p = 0.14 and p = 0.58, respectively). Additionally, we did not find any statistically significant differences when the percentages of SIR considering the classification of RR were compared between different groups of patients by using several age cutoffs. Conclusions When patients are correctly risk stratified, it seems that age at diagnosis is not involved in the frequency of having a SIR at the initial evaluation or at the final follow-up, so it should not be included as an additional variable to be considered in the RR classifications. PMID:28785543

Home Advantage in Men's and Women's Spanish First and Second Division Water Polo Leagues.

PubMed

Prieto, Jaime; Gómez, Miguel-Ángel; Pollard, Richard

2013-01-01

The purpose of this study was to quantify the home advantage in both men's and women's First and Second Division water polo leagues, to compare the results obtained according to sex of participants and the level of competition, and to test for possible differences in home advantage when considering the interaction between these two factors. The sample comprised four seasons from 2007-2008 to 2010-2011 for a total of 1942 games analyzed. The results showed the existence of home advantage in both men's and women's First and Second Divisions. After controlling for the competitive balance of each league in each season, there was a significant difference between men's and women's leagues, with higher home advantage for men's leagues (58.60% compared with 53.70% for women's leagues). There was also a significant difference between the levels of competition, with greater home advantage for the Second Division (57.95% compared with 54.35% for First Division). No significant differences in home advantage were found when considering the interaction between sex of participants and the level of competition. The results in relation to sex of participants and the level of competition are consistent with previous studies in other sports such as football or handball.

Extreme Quantum Memory Advantage for Rare-Event Sampling

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Aghamohammadi, Cina; Loomis, Samuel P.; Mahoney, John R.; Crutchfield, James P.

2018-02-01

We introduce a quantum algorithm for memory-efficient biased sampling of rare events generated by classical memoryful stochastic processes. Two efficiency metrics are used to compare quantum and classical resources for rare-event sampling. For a fixed stochastic process, the first is the classical-to-quantum ratio of required memory. We show for two example processes that there exists an infinite number of rare-event classes for which the memory ratio for sampling is larger than r , for any large real number r . Then, for a sequence of processes each labeled by an integer size N , we compare how the classical and quantum required memories scale with N . In this setting, since both memories can diverge as N →∞ , the efficiency metric tracks how fast they diverge. An extreme quantum memory advantage exists when the classical memory diverges in the limit N →∞ , but the quantum memory has a finite bound. We then show that finite-state Markov processes and spin chains exhibit memory advantage for sampling of almost all of their rare-event classes.

Green synthesis of nanoparticles: Their advantages and disadvantages

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Parveen, Khadeeja; Banse, Viktoria; Ledwani, Lalita

2016-04-01

The nanotechnology and biomedical sciences opens the possibility for a wide variety of biological research topics and medical uses at the molecular and cellular level. The biosynthesis of nanoparticles has been proposed as a cost-effective and environmentally friendly alternative to chemical and physical methods. Plant-mediated synthesis of nanoparticles is a green chemistry approach that connects nanotechnology with plants. Novel methods of ideally synthesizing NPs are thus thought that are formed at ambient temperatures, neutral pH, low costs and environmentally friendly fashion. Keeping these goals in view nanomaterials have been synthesized using various routes. Among the biological alternatives, plants and plant extracts seem to be the best option. Plants are nature's "chemical factories". They are cost efficient and require low maintenance. The advantages and disadvantages of nanotechnology can be easily enumerated. This study attempts to review the diversity of the field, starting with the history of nanotechnology, the properties of the nanoparticle, various strategies of synthesis, the many advantages and disadvantages of different methods and its application.

A comparative analysis of sex change in Labridae supports the size advantage hypothesis.

PubMed

Kazancioğlu, Erem; Alonzo, Suzanne H

2010-08-01

The size advantage hypothesis (SAH) predicts that the rate of increase in male and female fitness with size (the size advantage) drives the evolution of sequential hermaphroditism or sex change. Despite qualitative agreement between empirical patterns and SAH, only one comparative study tested SAH quantitatively. Here, we perform the first comparative analysis of sex change in Labridae, a group of hermaphroditic and dioecious (non-sex changer) fish with several model sex-changing species. We also estimate, for the first time, rates of evolutionary transitions between sex change and dioecy. Our analyses support SAH and indicate that the evolution of hermaphroditism is correlated to the size advantage. Furthermore, we find that transitions from sex change to dioecy are less likely under stronger size advantage. We cannot determine, however, how the size advantage affects transitions from dioecy to sex change. Finally, contrary to what is generally expected, we find that transitions from dioecy to sex change are more likely than transitions from sex change to dioecy. The similarity of sexual differentiation in hermaphroditic and dioecious labrids might underlie this pattern. We suggest that elucidating the developmental basis of sex change is critical to predict and explain patterns of the evolutionary history of sequential hermaphroditism.

Dropwise additive manufacturing of pharmaceutical products for amorphous and self emulsifying drug delivery systems.

PubMed

Içten, Elçin; Purohit, Hitesh S; Wallace, Chelsey; Giridhar, Arun; Taylor, Lynne S; Nagy, Zoltan K; Reklaitis, Gintaras V

2017-05-30

The improvements in healthcare systems and the advent of the precision medicine initiative have created the need to develop more innovative manufacturing methods for the delivery and production of individualized dosing and personalized treatments. In accordance with the changes observed in healthcare systems towards more innovative therapies, this paper presents dropwise additive manufacturing of pharmaceutical products (DAMPP) for small scale, distributed manufacturing of individualized dosing as an alternative to conventional manufacturing methods A dropwise additive manufacturing process for amorphous and self-emulsifying drug delivery systems is reported, which utilizes drop-on-demand printing technology for automated and controlled deposition of melt-based formulations onto inert tablets. The advantages of drop on demand technology include reproducible production of droplets with adjustable sizing and high placement accuracy, which enable production of individualized dosing even for low dose and high potency drugs. Flexible use of different formulations, such as lipid-based formulations, allows enhancement of the solubility of poorly water soluble and highly lipophilic drugs with DAMPP. Here, DAMPP is used to produce solid oral dosage forms from melts of an active pharmaceutical ingredient and a surfactant. The dosage forms are analyzed to show the amorphous nature, self-emulsifying drug delivery system characteristics and dissolution behavior of these formulations. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Upward Wealth Mobility: Exploring the Roman Catholic Advantage

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Keister, Lisa A.

2007-01-01

Wealth inequality is among the most extreme forms of stratification in the United States, and upward wealth mobility is not common. Yet mobility is possible, and this paper takes advantage of trends among a unique group to explore the processes that generate mobility. I show that non-Hispanic whites raised in Roman Catholic families have been…

Advantages and Disadvantages of Weighted Grading. Research Brief

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Walker, Karen

2004-01-01

What are the advantages and disadvantages of weighted grading? The primary purpose of weighted grading has been to encourage high school students to take more rigorous courses. This effort is then acknowledged by more weight being given to the grade for a specified class. There are numerous systems of weighted grading cited in the literature from…

Elasticity and Mechanical Advantage in Cables and Ropes

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

O'Shea, M. J.

2007-01-01

Abstract. The conditions under which one can gain mechanical advantage by pulling with a force F perpendicular to a cable (or rope) that is fixed at both ends are examined. While this is a commonly discussed example in introductory physics classes, its solution in terms of fundamental properties of the cable requires one to model the elasticity of…

From Equal Educational Opportunity to Diversity Advantaged Learning

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hawley, Willis D.

2007-01-01

The case for desegregation has been based largely on research showing its contributions to the educational opportunities and life chances of students of color. However, this has led to remedies that have placed much of the burden of desegregation on people of color and has failed to develop awareness that there are substantial advantages to all…

Children’s Inequity Aversion in Procedural Justice Context: A Comparison of Advantageous and Disadvantageous Inequity

PubMed Central

Qiu, Xiaoju; Yu, Jing; Li, Tingyu; Cheng, Nanhua; Zhu, Liqi

2017-01-01

There are two forms of unfairness widely studied in resource allocation settings: disadvantageous inequity (DI) in which one receives less than the partner and advantageous inequity (AI) in which one receives more than the other. We investigated children’s aversion to AI and DI in a procedural justice context. Children of 4-, 6-, and 8- years old were asked to spin a wheel (procedure) to decide how to allocate two different rewards with others. In each condition, they chose between a fair procedure providing equal chances for the two parties to get the bigger reward, and an unfair procedure (either a disadvantageous procedure in the DI condition, or an advantageous procedure in the AI condition). Results showed that children in the two younger age groups had a preference for the unfair procedure that would maximize their own profit in AI, but a greater aversion to the unfair procedure that would disadvantage them in DI. Eight-year-olds, however, had a greater preference for the fair procedure in AI than the 6-year-olds. In addition, the discrepancy between aversion to AI and DI disappeared in the 8-year-olds. The findings indicate children’s development of other-oriented concerns such as fairness concern and altruism in procedural justice, consistent with previous findings in distributive justice. PMID:29093697

Start hard, finish better: further evidence for the reversal of the RAE advantage.

PubMed

McCarthy, Neil; Collins, Dave; Court, David

2016-08-01

The relative age effect (RAE) has been highlighted extensively within literature as influencing selection and identification within sports. However, this initial bias appears to not be systemic in some talent development systems. Accordingly, we report an investigation into the initial identification, selection and conversion of academy players from professional Rugby Union and Cricket at national level. Reflecting previous studies, data again demonstrated a reversal of RAE advantage whereby relatively young players from both sports were less likely to be selected into their respective national academy systems but were more likely to transition into senior national squads. On the basis of our observations, we further propose a psychological explanation for the mechanism of such a reversal, based on the influence of additional challenge experienced throughout the development journey. As such, we also highlight the need for further qualitative investigation to explore this phenomenon in greater depth.

Comparison of progressive addition lenses for general purpose and for computer vision: an office field study.

PubMed

Jaschinski, Wolfgang; König, Mirjam; Mekontso, Tiofil M; Ohlendorf, Arne; Welscher, Monique

2015-05-01

Two types of progressive addition lenses (PALs) were compared in an office field study: 1. General purpose PALs with continuous clear vision between infinity and near reading distances and 2. Computer vision PALs with a wider zone of clear vision at the monitor and in near vision but no clear distance vision. Twenty-three presbyopic participants wore each type of lens for two weeks in a double-masked four-week quasi-experimental procedure that included an adaptation phase (Weeks 1 and 2) and a test phase (Weeks 3 and 4). Questionnaires on visual and musculoskeletal conditions as well as preferences regarding the type of lenses were administered. After eight more weeks of free use of the spectacles, the preferences were assessed again. The ergonomic conditions were analysed from photographs. Head inclination when looking at the monitor was significantly lower by 2.3 degrees with the computer vision PALs than with the general purpose PALs. Vision at the monitor was judged significantly better with computer PALs, while distance vision was judged better with general purpose PALs; however, the reported advantage of computer vision PALs differed in extent between participants. Accordingly, 61 per cent of the participants preferred the computer vision PALs, when asked without information about lens design. After full information about lens characteristics and additional eight weeks of free spectacle use, 44 per cent preferred the computer vision PALs. On average, computer vision PALs were rated significantly better with respect to vision at the monitor during the experimental part of the study. In the final forced-choice ratings, approximately half of the participants preferred either the computer vision PAL or the general purpose PAL. Individual factors seem to play a role in this preference and in the rated advantage of computer vision PALs. © 2015 The Authors. Clinical and Experimental Optometry © 2015 Optometry Australia.

It was/wasn't everything I had imagined: advantages and disadvantages after kidney transplantation.

PubMed

Santos, Bianca Pozza Dos; Viegas, Aline da Costa; Feijó, Aline Machado; Lise, Fernanda; Schwartz, Eda

2016-10-31

To know the advantages and difficulties that people with chronic kidney disease experience after renal transplantation. A qualitative and descriptive study with 20 kidney transplant patients in a city in Southern Brazil, from May to July of 2013. Semi-structured interviews were used, analyzed according to the critical incident technique. The main advantages were presented in the similarity to "normal" living: advantages resulting from the kidney transplant category, related to the patient's discharge from dialysis, food and water restriction, among others. The difficulties were presented in the permanent chronic condition and the need for care category. The advantages and disadvantages depend on each person's experience. The health professionals need to understand and promote health actions that promote the uniqueness and context of renal transplant.

How Successful Is Medicare Advantage?

PubMed Central

Newhouse, Joseph P; McGuire, Thomas G

2014-01-01

Context Medicare Part C, or Medicare Advantage (MA), now almost 30 years old, has generally been viewed as a policy disappointment. Enrollment has vacillated but has never come close to the penetration of managed care plans in the commercial insurance market or in Medicaid, and because of payment policy decisions and selection, the MA program is viewed as having added to cost rather than saving funds for the Medicare program. Recent changes in Medicare policy, including improved risk adjustment, however, may have changed this picture. Methods This article summarizes findings from our group's work evaluating MA's recent performance and investigating payment options for improving its performance even more. We studied the behavior of both beneficiaries and plans, as well as the effects of Medicare policy. Findings Beneficiaries make “mistakes” in their choice of MA plan options that can be explained by behavioral economics. Few beneficiaries make an active choice after they enroll in Medicare. The high prevalence of “zero-premium” plans signals inefficiency in plan design and in the market's functioning. That is, Medicare premium policies interfere with economically efficient choices. The adverse selection problem, in which healthier, lower-cost beneficiaries tend to join MA, appears much diminished. The available measures, while limited, suggest that, on average, MA plans offer care of equal or higher quality and for less cost than traditional Medicare (TM). In counties, greater MA penetration appears to improve TM's performance. Conclusions Medicare policies regarding lock-in provisions and risk adjustment that were adopted in the mid-2000s have mitigated the adverse selection problem previously plaguing MA. On average, MA plans appear to offer higher value than TM, and positive spillovers from MA into TM imply that reimbursement should not necessarily be neutral. Policy changes in Medicare that reform the way that beneficiaries are charged for MA plan

How successful is Medicare Advantage?

PubMed

Newhouse, Joseph P; McGuire, Thomas G

2014-06-01

Medicare Part C, or Medicare Advantage (MA), now almost 30 years old, has generally been viewed as a policy disappointment. Enrollment has vacillated but has never come close to the penetration of managed care plans in the commercial insurance market or in Medicaid, and because of payment policy decisions and selection, the MA program is viewed as having added to cost rather than saving funds for the Medicare program. Recent changes in Medicare policy, including improved risk adjustment, however, may have changed this picture. This article summarizes findings from our group's work evaluating MA's recent performance and investigating payment options for improving its performance even more. We studied the behavior of both beneficiaries and plans, as well as the effects of Medicare policy. Beneficiaries make "mistakes" in their choice of MA plan options that can be explained by behavioral economics. Few beneficiaries make an active choice after they enroll in Medicare. The high prevalence of "zero-premium" plans signals inefficiency in plan design and in the market's functioning. That is, Medicare premium policies interfere with economically efficient choices. The adverse selection problem, in which healthier, lower-cost beneficiaries tend to join MA, appears much diminished. The available measures, while limited, suggest that, on average, MA plans offer care of equal or higher quality and for less cost than traditional Medicare (TM). In counties, greater MA penetration appears to improve TM's performance. Medicare policies regarding lock-in provisions and risk adjustment that were adopted in the mid-2000s have mitigated the adverse selection problem previously plaguing MA. On average, MA plans appear to offer higher value than TM, and positive spillovers from MA into TM imply that reimbursement should not necessarily be neutral. Policy changes in Medicare that reform the way that beneficiaries are charged for MA plan membership are warranted to move more

Advantages of a Modular Mars Surface Habitat Approach

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Rucker, Michelle A.; Hoffman, Stephan J.; Andrews, Alida; Watts, Kevin

2018-01-01

Early crewed Mars mission concepts developed by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) assumed a single, large habitat would house six crew members for a 500-day Mars surface stay. At the end of the first mission, all surface equipment, including the habitat, -would be abandoned and the process would be repeated at a different Martian landing site. This work was documented in a series of NASA publications culminating with the Mars Design Reference Mission 5.0 (NASA-SP-2009-566). The Evolvable Mars Campaign (EMC) explored whether re-using surface equipment at a single landing site could be more affordable than the Apollo-style explore-abandon-repeat mission cadence. Initial EMC assumptions preserved the single, monolithic habitat, the only difference being a new requirement to reuse the surface habitat for multiple expedition crews. A trade study comparing a single large habitat versus smaller, modular habitats leaned towards the monolithic approach as more mass-efficient. More recent work has focused on the operational aspects of building up Mars surface infrastructure over multiple missions, and has identified compelling advantages of the modular approach that should be considered before making a final decision. This paper explores Mars surface mission operational concepts and integrated system analysis, and presents an argument for the modular habitat approach.

Assessment of potential advantages of relevant ions for particle therapy: a model based study.

PubMed

Grün, Rebecca; Friedrich, Thomas; Krämer, Michael; Zink, Klemens; Durante, Marco; Engenhart-Cabillic, Rita; Scholz, Michael

2015-02-01

Different ion types offer different physical and biological advantages for therapeutic applications. The purpose of this work is to assess the advantages of the most commonly used ions in particle therapy, i.e., carbon ((12)C), helium ((4)He), and protons ((1)H) for different treatment scenarios. A treatment planning analysis based on idealized target geometries was performed using the treatment planning software TRiP98. For the prediction of the relative biological effectiveness (RBE) that is required for biological optimization in treatment planning the local effect model (LEM IV) was used. To compare the three ion types, the peak-to-entrance ratio (PER) was determined for the physical dose (PERPHY S), the RBE (PERRBE), and the RBE-weighted dose (PERBIO) resulting for different dose-levels, field configurations, and tissue types. Further, the dose contribution to artificial organs at risk (OAR) was assessed and a comparison of the dose distribution for the different ion types was performed for a patient with chordoma of the skull base. The study showed that the advantages of the ions depend on the physical and biological properties and the interplay of both. In the case of protons, the consideration of a variable RBE instead of the clinically applied generic RBE of 1.1 indicates an advantage in terms of an increased PERRBE for the analyzed configurations. Due to the fact that protons show a somewhat better PERPHY S compared to helium and carbon ions whereas helium shows a higher PERRBE compared to protons, both protons and helium ions show a similar RBE-weighted dose distribution. Carbon ions show the largest variation of the PERRBE with tissue type and a benefit for radioresistant tumor types due to their higher LET. Furthermore, in the case of a two-field irradiation, an additional gain in terms of PERBIO is observed when using an orthogonal field configuration for carbon ions as compared to opposing fields. In contrast, for protons, the PERBIO is almost

Advantages and limitations of Internet-based interventions for common mental disorders

PubMed Central

Andersson, Gerhard; Titov, Nickolai

2014-01-01

Several Internet interventions have been developed and tested for common mental disorders, and the evidence to date shows that these treatments often result in similar outcomes as in face-to-face psychotherapy and that they are cost-effective. In this paper, we first review the pros and cons of how participants in Internet treatment trials have been recruited. We then comment on the assessment procedures often involved in Internet interventions and conclude that, while online questionnaires yield robust results, diagnoses cannot be determined without any contact with the patient. We then review the role of the therapist and conclude that, although treatments including guidance seem to lead to better outcomes than unguided treatments, this guidance can be mainly practical and supportive rather than explicitly therapeutic in orientation. Then we briefly describe the advantages and disadvantages of treatments for mood and anxiety disorders and comment on ways to handle comorbidity often associated with these disorders. Finally we discuss challenges when disseminating Internet interventions. In conclusion, there is now a large body of evidence suggesting that Internet interventions work. Several research questions remain open, including how Internet interventions can be blended with traditional forms of care. PMID:24497236

Effusion plate using additive manufacturing methods

DOEpatents

Johnson, Thomas Edward; Keener, Christopher Paul; Ostebee, Heath Michael; Wegerif, Daniel Gerritt

2016-04-12

Additive manufacturing techniques may be utilized to construct effusion plates. Such additive manufacturing techniques may include defining a configuration for an effusion plate having one or more internal cooling channels. The manufacturing techniques may further include depositing a powder into a chamber, applying an energy source to the deposited powder, and consolidating the powder into a cross-sectional shape corresponding to the defined configuration. Such methods may be implemented to construct an effusion plate having one or more channels with a curved cross-sectional geometry.

Competitive advantage of diferric transferrin in delivering iron to reticulocytes.

PubMed Central

Huebers, H A; Csiba, E; Huebers, E; Finch, C A

1983-01-01

Radioiron- and radioiodine-labeled forms of human diferric and monoferric transferrin and apotransferrin, isolated by preparative isoelectric focusing, were used to define transferrin-iron uptake by human reticulocytes. In mixtures of human diferric and monoferric transferrin, the diferric molecule had a constant 7-fold advantage in delivering iron to reticulocytes, as compared with the 2-fold advantage when single solutions of mono- and diferric transferrins were compared. This was shown to be due to competitive interaction in iron delivery, probably at a common membrane-receptor binding site for transferrin. Apotransferrin did not interfere with the iron-donating process and its limited cellular uptake was inhibited in noncompetitive fashion by diferric transferrin. PMID:6572005

Developing a competitive advantage in the market for radiology services.

PubMed

Kropf, R; Szafran, A J

1988-01-01

This article describes how managers of outpatient diagnostic radiology services can develop a competitive advantage by increasing the value of services to patients and referring physicians. A method is presented to identify changes to services that increase their value. The method requires the definition of the "value chains" of patients and referring physicians. Particular attention is paid to the use of information systems technology to suggest and implement service changes. A narrow range of health services was selected because the approach requires a detailed understanding of consumers and how they use services. The approach should, however, be examined carefully by managers seeking to develop a competitive advantage for a wide range of health services.

Advantages and limitations for users of double pit pour-flush latrines: a qualitative study in rural Bangladesh.

PubMed

Hussain, Faruqe; Clasen, Thomas; Akter, Shahinoor; Bawel, Victoria; Luby, Stephen P; Leontsini, Elli; Unicomb, Leanne; Barua, Milan Kanti; Thomas, Brittany; Winch, Peter J

2017-05-25

In rural Bangladesh, India and elsewhere, pour-flush pit latrines are the most common sanitation system. When a single pit latrine becomes full, users must empty it themselves and risk exposure to fresh feces, pay an emptying service to remove pit contents or build a new latrine. Double pit pour-flush latrines may serve as a long-term sanitation option including high water table areas because the pits do not need to be emptied immediately and the excreta decomposes into reusable soil. Double pit pour-flush latrines were implemented in rural Bangladesh for 'hardcore poor' households by a national NGO, BRAC. We conducted interviews, focus groups, and spot checks in two low-income, rural areas of Bangladesh to explore the advantages and limitations of using double pit latrines compared to single pit latrines. The rural households accepted the double pit pour-flush latrine model and considered it feasible to use and maintain. This latrine design increased accessibility of a sanitation facility for these low-income residents and provided privacy, convenience and comfort, compared to open defecation. Although a double pit latrine is more costly and requires more space than a single pit latrine the households perceived this sanitation system to save resources, because households did not need to hire service workers to empty pits or remove decomposed contents themselves. In addition, the excreta decomposition process produced a reusable soil product that some households used in homestead gardening. The durability of the latrine superstructures was a problem, as most of the bamboo-pole superstructure broke after 6-18 months of use. Double pit pour-flush latrines are a long-term improved sanitation option that offers users several important advantages over single pit pour-flush latrines like in rural Bangladesh which can also be used in areas with high water table. Further research can provide an understanding of the comparative health impacts and effectiveness of the model

SEARCHING FOR EXTRATERRESTRIAL INTELLIGENCE SIGNALS IN ASTRONOMICAL SPECTRA, INCLUDING EXISTING DATA

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Borra, Ermanno F., E-mail: borra@phy.ulaval.ca

The main purpose of this article is to make astronomers aware that Searches for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETIs) can be carried out by analyzing standard astronomical spectra, including those they have already taken. Simplicity is the outstanding advantage of a search in spectra. The spectra can be analyzed by simple eye inspection or a few lines of code that uses Fourier transform software. Theory, confirmed by published experiments, shows that periodic signals in spectra can be easily generated by sending light pulses separated by constant time intervals. While part of this article, like all articles on SETIs, is highly speculative themore » basic physics is sound. In particular, technology now available on Earth could be used to send signals having the required energy to be detected at a target located 1000 lt-yr away. Extraterrestrial Intelligence (ETI) could use these signals to make us aware of their existence. For an ETI, the technique would also have the advantage that the signals could be detected both in spectra and searches for intensity pulses like those currently carried out on Earth.« less

Does hydroxyapatite coating have no advantage over porous coating in primary total hip arthroplasty? A meta-analysis.

PubMed

Chen, Yun-Lin; Lin, Tiao; Liu, An; Shi, Ming-Min; Hu, Bin; Shi, Zhong-Li; Yan, Shi-Gui

2015-01-28

There are some arguments between the use of hydroxyapatite and porous coating. Some studies have shown that there is no difference between these two coatings in total hip arthroplasty (THA), while several other studies have shown that hydroxyapatite has advantages over the porous one. We have collected the studies in Pubmed, MEDLINE, EMBASE, and the Cochrane library from the earliest possible years to present, with the search strategy of "(HA OR hydroxyapatite) AND ((total hip arthroplasty) OR (total hip replacement)) AND (RCT* OR randomiz* OR control* OR compar* OR trial*)". The randomized controlled trials and comparative observation trials that evaluated the clinical and radiographic effects between hydroxyapatite coating and porous coating were included. Our main outcome measurements were Harris hip score (HHS) and survival, while the secondary outcome measurements were osteolysis, radiolucent lines, and polyethylene wear. Twelve RCTs and 9 comparative observation trials were included. Hydroxyapatite coating could improve the HHS (p < 0.01), reduce the incidence of thigh pain (p = 0.01), and reduce the incidence of femoral osteolysis (p = 0.01), but hydroxyapatite coating had no advantages on survival (p = 0.32), polyethylene wear (p = 0.08), and radiolucent lines (p = 0.78). Hydroxyapatite coating has shown to have an advantage over porous coating. The HHS and survival was duration-dependent-if given the sufficient duration of follow-up, hydroxyapatite coating would be better than porous coating for the survival. The properties of hydroxyapatite and the implant design had influence on thigh pain incidence, femoral osteolysis, and polyethylene wear. Thickness of 50 to 80 μm and purity larger than 90% increased the thigh pain incidence. Anatomic design had less polyethylene wear.

Fire-Retardant Polymeric Additives

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Williams, Martha K.; Smith, Trent M.

2011-01-01

Polyhydroxyamide (PHA) and polymethoxyamide (PMeOA) are fire-retardant (FR) thermoplastic polymers and have been found to be useful as an additive for imparting fire retardant properties to other compatible, thermoplastic polymers (including some elastomers). Examples of compatible flammable polymers include nylons, polyesters, and acrylics. Unlike most prior additives, PHA and PMeOA do not appreciably degrade the mechanical properties of the matrix polymer; indeed, in some cases, mechanical properties are enhanced. Also, unlike some prior additives, PHA and PMeOA do not decompose into large amounts of corrosive or toxic compounds during combustion and can be processed at elevated temperatures. PMeOA derivative formulations were synthesized and used as an FR additive in the fabrication of polyamide (PA) and polystyrene (PS) composites with notable reduction (>30 percent for PS) in peak heat release rates compared to the neat polymer as measured by a Cone Calorimeter (ASTM E1354). Synergistic effects were noted with nanosilica composites. These nanosilica composites had more than 50-percent reduction in peak heat release rates. In a typical application, a flammable thermoplastic, thermoplastic blend, or elastomer that one seeks to render flame-retardant is first dry-mixed with PHA or PMeOA or derivative thereof. The proportion of PHA or PMeOA or derivative in the mixture is typically chosen to lie between 1 and 20 weight percent. The dry blend can then be melt-extruded. The extruded polymer blend can further be extruded and/or molded into fibers, pipes, or any other of a variety of objects that may be required to be fire-retardant. The physical and chemical mechanisms which impart flame retardancy of the additive include inhibiting free-radical oxidation in the vapor phase, preventing vaporization of fuel (the polymer), and cooling through the formation of chemical bonds in either the vapor or the condensed phase. Under thermal stress, the cyclic hydroxyl/ methoxy

Cognitive advantages and disadvantages in early and late bilinguals.

PubMed

Pelham, Sabra D; Abrams, Lise

2014-03-01

Previous research has documented advantages and disadvantages of early bilinguals, defined as learning a 2nd language by school age and using both languages since that time. Relative to monolinguals, early bilinguals manifest deficits in lexical access but benefits in executive function. We investigated whether becoming bilingual after childhood (late bilinguals) can produce the cognitive advantages and disadvantages typical of early bilinguals. Participants were 30 monolingual English speakers, 30 late English-Spanish bilinguals, and 30 early Spanish-English bilinguals who completed a picture naming task (lexical access) and an attentional network task (executive function). Late and early bilinguals manifested equivalent cognitive effects in both tasks, demonstrating lexical access deficits and executive function benefits. These findings provide support for the hypothesis that cognitive effects associated with bilingualism arise as the result of proficient, habitual use of 2 languages and not of developmental changes associated with becoming bilingual during childhood.

The broader the base, the taller the tower: including underserved minority students in the quest to explore the great beyond

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wilson-Comer, M.; Lindsey, R.; Banks, F.

The Saturday Academy for Space Science SASS a National Aeronautical and Space Administration NASA outreach program implemented at Chicago State University on the south side of Chicago brought space scientists into contact with underserved high school students The program included instruction in astronomy physics chemistry and mathematics Hands-on construction of telescopes allowed the students to gain insights into the development of tools needed for scientific investigation For thirty six Saturdays each year for three years African American Latino American and Asian American high school students took leadership roles in developing and carrying out space science research As a result of the program over one hundred students participated in overnight observations at the Yerkes Observatory In addition six students went to space camp at the NASA space center in Huntsville Alabama and twelve students took advantage of the space science program at the University of Illinois Urbana Champaign A number of the students who participated in the SASS program are currently graduating from high school and many of those are seeking college studies in various science disciplines Equally important was the degree of parent participation Parents of the students were intensely involved with the program they volunteered to chaperone field trips participated in meetings prepared snacks for students and staff and assisted students in projects and experiments Parents gained insights into the advantages of studying science and the demands on

Advantages and challenges of dissimilar materials in automotive lightweight construction

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Weberpals, Jan-Philipp; Schmidt, Philipp A.; Böhm, Daniel; Müller, Steffen

2015-03-01

The core of future automotive lightweight materials is the joining technology of various material mixes. The type of joining will be essential, particularly in electrified propulsion systems, especially as an improved electrical energy transmission leads to a higher total efficiency of the vehicle. The most evident parts to start the optimization process are the traction battery, the electrical performance modules and the engines. Consequently aluminum plays a very central role for lightweight construction applications. However, the physical-technical requirements of components often require the combination with other materials. Thus the joining of mixed material connections is an essential key technology for many of the current developments, for example in the areas E-Mobility, solar energy and lightweight construction. Due to these advantages mixed material joints are already established in the automotive industry and laser beam remote welding is now a focus technology for mixed material connections. The secret of the laser welding process with mixed materials lies within the different areas of the melting phase diagram depending on the mixing ratio and the cooling down rate. According to that areas with unwanted, prim, intermetallic phases arise in the fusion zone. Therefore, laser welding of mixed material connections can currently only be used with additional filler in the automotive industry.

Enduring Advantages of Early Cochlear Implantation for Spoken Language Development

PubMed Central

Geers, Ann E.; Nicholas, Johanna G.

2013-01-01

Purpose To determine whether the precise age of implantation (AOI) remains an important predictor of spoken language outcomes in later childhood for those who received a cochlear implant (CI) between 12–38 months of age. Relative advantages of receiving a bilateral CI after age 4.5, better pre-CI aided hearing, and longer CI experience were also examined. Method Sixty children participated in a prospective longitudinal study of outcomes at 4.5 and 10.5 years of age. Twenty-nine children received a sequential second CI. Test scores were compared to normative samples of hearing age-mates and predictors of outcomes identified. Results Standard scores on language tests at 10.5 years of age remained significantly correlated with age of first cochlear implantation. Scores were not associated with receipt of a second, sequentially-acquired CI. Significantly higher scores were achieved for vocabulary as compared with overall language, a finding not evident when the children were tested at younger ages. Conclusion Age-appropriate spoken language skills continued to be more likely with younger AOI, even after an average of 8.6 years of additional CI use. Receipt of a second implant between ages 4–10 years and longer duration of device use did not provide significant added benefit. PMID:23275406

Endoscopic endonasal skull base surgery: advantages, limitations, and our techniques to overcome cerebrospinal fluid leakage: technical note.

PubMed

Ishii, Yudo; Tahara, Shigeyuki; Teramoto, Akira; Morita, Akio

2014-01-01

In recent years, resections of midline skull base tumors have been conducted using endoscopic endonasal skull base (EESB) approaches. Nevertheless, many surgeons reported that cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) leakage is still a major complication of these approaches. Here, we report the results of our 42 EESB surgeries and discuss the advantages and limits of this approach for resecting various types of tumors, and also report our technique to overcome CSF leakage. All 42 cases involved midline skull base tumors resected using the EESB technique. Dural incisions were closed using nasoseptal flaps and fascia patch inlay sutures. Total removal of the tumor was accomplished in seven pituitary adenomas (33.3%), five craniopharyngiomas (62.5%), five tuberculum sellae meningiomas (83.3%), three clival chordomas (100%), and one suprasellar ependymoma. Residual regions included the cavernous sinus, the outside of the intracranial part of the internal carotid artery, the lower lateral part of the posterior clivus, and the posterior pituitary stalk. Overall incidence of CSF leakage was 7.1%. Even though the versatility of the approach is limited, EESB surgery has many advantages compared to the transcranial approach for managing mid-line skull base lesions. To avoid CSF leakage, surgeons should have skills and techniques for complete closure, including use of the nasoseptal flap and fascia patch inlay techniques.

The Mechanisms Underlying the ASD Advantage in Visual Search.

PubMed

Kaldy, Zsuzsa; Giserman, Ivy; Carter, Alice S; Blaser, Erik

2016-05-01

A number of studies have demonstrated that individuals with autism spectrum disorders (ASDs) are faster or more successful than typically developing control participants at various visual-attentional tasks (for reviews, see Dakin and Frith in Neuron 48:497-507, 2005; Simmons et al. in Vis Res 49:2705-2739, 2009). This "ASD advantage" was first identified in the domain of visual search by Plaisted et al. (J Child Psychol Psychiatry 39:777-783, 1998). Here we survey the findings of visual search studies from the past 15 years that contrasted the performance of individuals with and without ASD. Although there are some minor caveats, the overall consensus is that-across development and a broad range of symptom severity-individuals with ASD reliably outperform controls on visual search. The etiology of the ASD advantage has not been formally specified, but has been commonly attributed to 'enhanced perceptual discrimination', a superior ability to visually discriminate between targets and distractors in such tasks (e.g. O'Riordan in Cognition 77:81-96, 2000). As well, there is considerable evidence for impairments of the attentional network in ASD (for a review, see Keehn et al. in J Child Psychol Psychiatry 37:164-183, 2013). We discuss some recent results from our laboratory that support an attentional, rather than perceptual explanation for the ASD advantage in visual search. We speculate that this new conceptualization may offer a better understanding of some of the behavioral symptoms associated with ASD, such as over-focusing and restricted interests.

ITERATIVE CIRCUIT COMPUTER: CHARACTERIZATION AND RESUME OF ADVANTAGES AND DISADVANTAGES.

DTIC Science & Technology

universal embedding spaces follows. The report concludes with a discussion of some of the advantages and disadvantages of i.c.c. rganiation for computers constructed of microelectric modules. (Author)

75 FR 32858 - Medicare Program; Policy and Technical Changes to the Medicare Advantage and the Medicare...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2010-06-10

... Medicare Advantage and the Medicare Prescription Drug Benefit Programs; Corrections AGENCY: Centers for... Advantage and the Medicare Prescription Drug Benefit Programs'' which appeared in the April 15, 2010 Federal... and Technical Changes to the Medicare Advantage and the Medicare Prescription Drug Benefit Programs...

78 FR 43820 - Medicare Program; Medical Loss Ratio Requirements for the Medicare Advantage and the Medicare...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2013-07-22

... Advantage and the Medicare Prescription Drug Benefit Programs; Correction AGENCY: Centers for Medicare... Medicare Advantage and the Medicare Prescription Drug Benefit Programs final rule and does not make... Register titled ``Medicare Program; Medical Loss Ratio Requirements for the Medicare Advantage and the...

Sustainable Competitive Advantage for Educational Institutions: A Suggested Model.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Mazzarol, Tim; Soutar, Geoffrey Norman

1999-01-01

Outlines a model of factors critical to establishing and maintaining sustainable competitive advantage for education-services enterprises in international markets. The model, which combines industrial economics, management theory, and services marketing, seeks to explain the strategic decision-making environment in which the education exporter…

Building a Competitive Edge with Additive Manufacturing

DTIC Science & Technology

2013-02-14

construct ceramic molds for complex metal parts using a 3D printing technique. They estimate the new 6 technique could eliminate all of the...processes. They include 3D printing and Additive Beam Techniques.15 Most Additive Manufacturing techniques are specific to certain classes of materials...9 Example Additive Manufacturing Techniques16 3D Printing Additive Beam Stereolithography (SLA) Direct Metal Laser Sintering (DMLS

Foreword: Additive Manufacturing: Interrelationships of Fabrication, Constitutive Relationships Targeting Performance, and Feedback to Process Control

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Carpenter, John S.; Beese, Allison M.; Bourell, David L.

Additive manufacturing (AM) offers distinct advantages over conventional manufacturing processes including the capability to both build and repair complex part shapes; to integrate and consolidate parts and thus overcome joining concerns; and to locally tailor material compositions as well as properties. Moreover, a variety of fields such as aerospace, military, automotive, and biomedical are employing this manufacturing technique as a way to decrease costs, increase manufacturing agility, and explore novel geometry/functionalities. In order to increase acceptance of AM as a viable processing method, pathways for qualifying both the material and the process need to be developed and, perhaps, standardized. Thismore » symposium was designed to serve as a venue for the international AM community—including government, academia, and industry—to define the fundamental interrelationships between feedstock, processing, microstructure, shape, mechanical behavior/materials properties, and function/performance. Eventually, insight into the connections between processing, microstructure, property, and performance will be achieved through experimental observations, theoretical advances, and computational modeling of physical processes. Finally, once this insight matures, AM will be able to move from the realm of making parts to making qualified materials that are certified for use with minimal need for post-fabrication characterization.« less

Foreword: Additive Manufacturing: Interrelationships of Fabrication, Constitutive Relationships Targeting Performance, and Feedback to Process Control

DOE PAGES

Carpenter, John S.; Beese, Allison M.; Bourell, David L.; ...

2015-06-26

Additive manufacturing (AM) offers distinct advantages over conventional manufacturing processes including the capability to both build and repair complex part shapes; to integrate and consolidate parts and thus overcome joining concerns; and to locally tailor material compositions as well as properties. Moreover, a variety of fields such as aerospace, military, automotive, and biomedical are employing this manufacturing technique as a way to decrease costs, increase manufacturing agility, and explore novel geometry/functionalities. In order to increase acceptance of AM as a viable processing method, pathways for qualifying both the material and the process need to be developed and, perhaps, standardized. Thismore » symposium was designed to serve as a venue for the international AM community—including government, academia, and industry—to define the fundamental interrelationships between feedstock, processing, microstructure, shape, mechanical behavior/materials properties, and function/performance. Eventually, insight into the connections between processing, microstructure, property, and performance will be achieved through experimental observations, theoretical advances, and computational modeling of physical processes. Finally, once this insight matures, AM will be able to move from the realm of making parts to making qualified materials that are certified for use with minimal need for post-fabrication characterization.« less

Evidence for a Right-Ear Advantage in Newborn Hearing Screening Results

PubMed Central

Hildesheimer, Minka; Roziner, Ilan; Henkin, Yael

2016-01-01

The aim of the present study was to investigate the effect of ear asymmetry, order of testing, and gender on transient-evoked otoacoustic emission (TEOAE) pass rates and response levels in newborn hearing screening. The screening results of 879 newborns, of whom 387 (study group) passed screening successfully in only one ear in the first TEOAE screening, but passed screening successfully in both ears thereafter, and 492 (control group) who passed screening successfully in both ears in the first TEOAE, were retrospectively examined for pass rates and TEOAE characteristics. Results indicated a right-ear advantage, as manifested by significantly higher pass rates in the right ear (61% and 39% for right and left ears, respectively) in the study group, and in 1.75 dB greater TEOAE response amplitudes in the control group. The right-ear advantage was enhanced when the first tested ear was the right ear (76%). When the left ear was tested first, pass rates were comparable in both ears. The right-ear advantage in pass rates was similar in females versus males, but manifested in 1.5 dB higher response amplitudes in females compared with males, regardless of the tested ear and order of testing in both study and control groups. The study provides further evidence for the functional lateralization of the auditory system at the cochlear level already apparent soon after birth in both males and females. While order of testing plays a significant role in the asymmetry in pass rates, the innate right-ear advantage seems to be a more dominant contributor. PMID:27927982

Coping with divided attention: the advantage of familiarity.

PubMed

Griffiths, S W; Brockmark, S; Höjesjö, J; Johnsson, J I

2004-04-07

The ability of an animal to perform a task successfully is limited by the amount of attention being simultaneously focused on other activities. One way in which individuals might reduce the cost of divided attention is by preferentially focusing on the most beneficial tasks. In territorial animals where aggression is lower among familiar individuals, the decision to associate preferentially with familiar conspecifics may therefore confer advantages by allowing attention to be switched from aggression to predator vigilance and feeding. Wild juvenile brown trout were used to test the prediction that familiar fishes respond more quickly than unfamiliar fishes to a simulated predator attack. Our results confirm this prediction by demonstrating that familiar trout respond 14% faster than unfamiliar individuals to a predator attack. The results also show that familiar fishes consume a greater number of food items, foraging at more than twice the rate of unfamiliar conspecifics. To the best of our knowledge, these results provide the first evidence that familiarity-biased association confers advantages through the immediate fitness benefits afforded by faster predator-evasion responses and the long-term benefits provided by increased feeding opportunities.

An Own-Race Advantage for Components as Well as Configurations in Face Recognition

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hayward, William G.; Rhodes, Gillian; Schwaninger, Adrian

2008-01-01

The own-race advantage in face recognition has been hypothesized as being due to a superiority in the processing of configural information for own-race faces. Here we examined the contributions of both configural and component processing to the own-race advantage. We recruited 48 Caucasian participants in Australia and 48 Chinese participants in…

No childhood advantage in the acquisition of skill in using an artificial language rule.

PubMed

Ferman, Sara; Karni, Avi

2010-10-27

A leading notion is that language skill acquisition declines between childhood and adulthood. While several lines of evidence indicate that declarative ("what", explicit) memory undergoes maturation, it is commonly assumed that procedural ("how-to", implicit) memory, in children, is well established. The language superiority of children has been ascribed to the childhood reliance on implicit learning. Here we show that when 8-year-olds, 12-year-olds and young adults were provided with an equivalent multi-session training experience in producing and judging an artificial morphological rule (AMR), adults were superior to children of both age groups and the 8-year-olds were the poorest learners in all task parameters including in those that were clearly implicit. The AMR consisted of phonological transformations of verbs expressing a semantic distinction: whether the preceding noun was animate or inanimate. No explicit instruction of the AMR was provided. The 8-year-olds, unlike most adults and 12-year-olds, failed to explicitly uncover the semantic aspect of the AMR and subsequently to generalize it accurately to novel items. However, all participants learned to apply the AMR to repeated items and to generalize its phonological patterns to novel items, attaining accurate and fluent production, and exhibiting key characteristics of procedural memory. Nevertheless, adults showed a clear advantage in learning implicit task aspects, and in their long-term retention. Thus, our findings support the notion of age-dependent maturation in the establishment of declarative but also of procedural memory in a complex language task. In line with recent reports of no childhood advantage in non-linguistic skill learning, we propose that under some learning conditions adults can effectively express their language skill acquisition potential. Altogether, the maturational effects in the acquisition of an implicit AMR do not support a simple notion of a language skill learning advantage

Chir99021 and Valproic acid reduce the proliferative advantage of Apc mutant cells.

PubMed

Langlands, Alistair J; Carroll, Thomas D; Chen, Yu; Näthke, Inke

2018-02-15

More than 90% of colorectal cancers carry mutations in Apc that drive tumourigenesis. A 'just-right' signalling model proposes that Apc mutations stimulate optimal, but not excessive Wnt signalling, resulting in a growth advantage of Apc mutant over wild-type cells. Reversal of this growth advantage constitutes a potential therapeutic approach. We utilised intestinal organoids to compare the growth of Apc mutant and wild-type cells. Organoids derived from Apc Min/+ mice recapitulate stages of intestinal polyposis in culture. They eventually form spherical cysts that reflect the competitive growth advantage of cells that have undergone loss of heterozygosity (LOH). We discovered that this emergence of cysts was inhibited by Chiron99021 and Valproic acid, which potentiates Wnt signalling. Chiron99021 and Valproic acid restrict the growth advantage of Apc mutant cells while stimulating that of wild-type cells, suggesting that excessive Wnt signalling reduces the relative fitness of Apc mutant cells. As a proof of concept, we demonstrated that Chiron99021-treated Apc mutant organoids were rendered susceptible to TSA-induced apoptosis, while wild-type cells were protected.

Examining the competitive advantage of Diuraphis noxia (Hemiptera: Aphididae) biotype 2 over biotype 1.

PubMed

Merrill, Scott C; Randolph, Terri L; Peairs, Frank B; Michels, G J; Walker, C B

2014-08-01

The Russian wheat aphid, Diuraphis noxia (Kurdjumov) is a serious pest of small grains, such as wheat and barley. High population growth rates and a broad gramineae host range have allowed this aphid to successfully establish and become pestiferous across much of North America since its invasion in the mid-1980s. Resistant wheat cultivars were developed and provided control ofD. noxia until 2003, when a new biotype (designated RWA2, as contrasted with the original biotype's designation, RWA1) emerged and rapidly spread through dryland winter wheat-growing regions. RWA2 displaced RWA1 more quickly than expected, based on RWA2's advantage in RWA1-resistant wheat cultivars. Previous research suggested that RWA2 may out-compete RWA1 in cooler temperatures. Thus, we sought to determine if RWA2 had a competitive advantage over RWA1 during the overwintering period. We placed a known distribution of RWA1 and RWA2 aphids in the field for the winter at three sites across a latitudinal gradient (from northern Colorado to Texas) to test for a competitive advantage between these biotypes. We found overwhelming support for an overwintering competitive advantage by RWA2 over RWA1, with evidence suggesting a > 10-fold advantage even at our Texas site (i.e., the site with the mildest winter). This substantial overwintering advantage helps explain the quick dispersion and displacement of RWA1 by RWA2.

Recognition memory and awareness: A high-frequency advantage in the accuracy of knowing.

PubMed

Gregg, Vernon H; Gardiner, John M; Karayianni, Irene; Konstantinou, Ira

2006-04-01

The well-established advantage of low-frequency words over high-frequency words in recognition memory has been found to occur in remembering and not knowing. Two experiments employed remember and know judgements, and divided attention to investigate the possibility of an effect of word frequency on know responses given appropriate study conditions. With undivided attention at study, the usual low-frequency advantage in the accuracy of remember responses, but no effect on know responses, was obtained. Under a demanding divided attention task at encoding, a high-frequency advantage in the accuracy of know responses was obtained. The results are discussed in relation to theories of knowing, particularly those incorporating perceptual and conceptual fluency.

Does the advantage of the upper part of words occur at the lexical level?

PubMed

Perea, Manuel; Comesaña, Montserrat; Soares, Ana P

2012-11-01

Several recent studies have shown that the upper part of words is more important than the lower part in visual word recognition. Here, we examine whether or not this advantage arises at the lexical or at the letter (letter feature) level. To examine this issue, we conducted two lexical decision experiments in which words/pseudowords were preceded by a very brief (50-ms) presentation of their upper or lower parts (e.g., ). If the advantage for the upper part of words arises at the letter (letter feature) level, the effect should occur for both words and pseudowords. Results revealed an advantage for the upper part of words, but not for pseudowords. This suggests that the advantage for the upper part of words occurs at the lexical level, rather than at the letter (or letter feature) level.

Modeling additive and non-additive effects in a hybrid population using genome-wide genotyping: prediction accuracy implications

PubMed Central

Bouvet, J-M; Makouanzi, G; Cros, D; Vigneron, Ph

2016-01-01

Hybrids are broadly used in plant breeding and accurate estimation of variance components is crucial for optimizing genetic gain. Genome-wide information may be used to explore models designed to assess the extent of additive and non-additive variance and test their prediction accuracy for the genomic selection. Ten linear mixed models, involving pedigree- and marker-based relationship matrices among parents, were developed to estimate additive (A), dominance (D) and epistatic (AA, AD and DD) effects. Five complementary models, involving the gametic phase to estimate marker-based relationships among hybrid progenies, were developed to assess the same effects. The models were compared using tree height and 3303 single-nucleotide polymorphism markers from 1130 cloned individuals obtained via controlled crosses of 13 Eucalyptus urophylla females with 9 Eucalyptus grandis males. Akaike information criterion (AIC), variance ratios, asymptotic correlation matrices of estimates, goodness-of-fit, prediction accuracy and mean square error (MSE) were used for the comparisons. The variance components and variance ratios differed according to the model. Models with a parent marker-based relationship matrix performed better than those that were pedigree-based, that is, an absence of singularities, lower AIC, higher goodness-of-fit and accuracy and smaller MSE. However, AD and DD variances were estimated with high s.es. Using the same criteria, progeny gametic phase-based models performed better in fitting the observations and predicting genetic values. However, DD variance could not be separated from the dominance variance and null estimates were obtained for AA and AD effects. This study highlighted the advantages of progeny models using genome-wide information. PMID:26328760

Compensatory Advantage as a Mechanism of Educational Inequality: A Regression Discontinuity Based on Month of Birth

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bernardi, Fabrizio

2014-01-01

Compensatory advantage is a mechanism of social stratification that complements cumulative advantage and path dependence. In this article, I first discuss the theoretical foundations of the compensatory advantage and path dependence mechanisms and the methodological challenges that complicate identification of their effects. Next, I present a…

Strategic Mergers of Strong Institutions to Enhance Competitive Advantage

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Harman, Grant; Harman, Kay

2008-01-01

Strategic mergers are formal combinations or amalgamations of higher education institutions with the aim of enhancing competitive advantage, or merging for "mutual growth". Recently, in a number of countries, there has been a decided shift from mergers initiated by governments, and dealing mainly with "problem" cases, towards…

36 CFR 1290.4 - Types of materials included in scope of assassination record and additional records and information.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-07-01

..., Forests, and Public Property NATIONAL ARCHIVES AND RECORDS ADMINISTRATION JFK ASSASSINATION RECORDS... COLLECTION ACT OF 1992 (JFK ACT) § 1290.4 Types of materials included in scope of assassination record and... information includes, for purposes of interpreting and implementing the JFK Act: (a) Papers, maps, and other...

36 CFR 1290.4 - Types of materials included in scope of assassination record and additional records and information.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-07-01

..., Forests, and Public Property NATIONAL ARCHIVES AND RECORDS ADMINISTRATION JFK ASSASSINATION RECORDS... COLLECTION ACT OF 1992 (JFK ACT) § 1290.4 Types of materials included in scope of assassination record and... information includes, for purposes of interpreting and implementing the JFK Act: (a) Papers, maps, and other...

36 CFR 1290.4 - Types of materials included in scope of assassination record and additional records and information.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-07-01

..., Forests, and Public Property NATIONAL ARCHIVES AND RECORDS ADMINISTRATION JFK ASSASSINATION RECORDS... COLLECTION ACT OF 1992 (JFK ACT) § 1290.4 Types of materials included in scope of assassination record and... information includes, for purposes of interpreting and implementing the JFK Act: (a) Papers, maps, and other...

36 CFR 1290.4 - Types of materials included in scope of assassination record and additional records and information.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

..., Forests, and Public Property NATIONAL ARCHIVES AND RECORDS ADMINISTRATION JFK ASSASSINATION RECORDS... COLLECTION ACT OF 1992 (JFK ACT) § 1290.4 Types of materials included in scope of assassination record and... information includes, for purposes of interpreting and implementing the JFK Act: (a) Papers, maps, and other...

Amazon Business And GSA Advantage: A Comparative Analysis

DTIC Science & Technology

2017-12-01

training for businesses or a customer -ordering guide; however, the site does offer a help center where businesses and users can submit questions...Electronic Offer FAR Federal Acquisition Regulation FAS Federal Acquisition Service FASA Federal Acquisition Streamlining Act FGO Field Grade Officer...component of GSA Advantage, is an online procurement tool that allows customers to request quotes for (1) commercial supplies and services under

Effective Use of Java Data Objects in Developing Database Applications; Advantages and Disadvantages

DTIC Science & Technology

2004-06-01

DATA OBJECTS IN DEVELOPING DATABASE APPLICATIONS. ADVANTAGES AND DISADVANTAGES Paschalis Zilidis June 2004 Thesis Advisor: Thomas...Objects in Developing Database Applications. Advantages and Disadvantages 6. AUTHOR(S) Paschalis ZILIDIS 5. FUNDING NUMBERS 7. PERFORMING...database for the backend datastore. The major disadvantage of this approach is the well-known “impedance mismatch” in which some form of mapping is

The kinematic advantage of electric cars

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Meyn, Jan-Peter

2015-11-01

Acceleration of a common car with with a turbocharged diesel engine is compared to the same type with an electric motor in terms of kinematics. Starting from a state of rest, the electric car reaches a distant spot earlier than the diesel car, even though the latter has a better specification for engine power and average acceleration from 0 to 100 km h-1. A three phase model of acceleration as a function of time fits the data of the electric car accurately. The first phase is a quadratic growth of acceleration in time. It is shown that the tenfold higher coefficient for the first phase accounts for most of the kinematic advantage of the electric car.

In vitro evaluation of nutrients that selectively confer a competitive advantage to lactobacilli.

PubMed

Vongsa, R A; Minerath, R A; Busch, M A; Tan, J; Koenig, D W

2016-01-01

An assay was developed that tested the ability of Lactobacillus acidophilus to outcompete a challenge of Escherichia coli in a mixed culture containing different test nutrients. Using this assay, addition of fructo-oligosaccharide to the media allowed L. acidophilus to outcompete a challenge of E. coli, whereas in a mixed culture without the prebiotic the trend was reversed. Growth curves generated for E. coli in a single culture showed that fructo-oligosaccharide did not affect growth, indicating that the carbohydrate was not toxic to E. coli. This indicates that fructo-oligosaccharides may increase the ability of beneficial microbes to outcompete a pathogenic challenge. These results were confirmed using a skin simulant model that incorporates growth of the organisms at an air-surface interface to mimic the vulvar environment. It is possible to use a co-culture assay as an in vitro screening tool to define nutrients that confer a competitive advantage to beneficial flora specific to the female urogenital tract.

Environmental structure and competitive scoring advantages in team competitions.

PubMed

Merritt, Sears; Clauset, Aaron

2013-10-29

In most professional sports, playing field structure is kept neutral so that scoring imbalances may be attributed to differences in team skill. It thus remains unknown what impact environmental heterogeneities can have on scoring dynamics or competitive advantages. Applying a novel generative model of scoring dynamics to roughly 10 million team competitions drawn from an online game, we quantify the relationship between the structure within a competition and its scoring dynamics, while controlling the impact of chance. Despite wide structural variations, we observe a common three-phase pattern in the tempo of events. Tempo and balance are highly predictable from a competition's structural features alone and teams exploit environmental heterogeneities for sustained competitive advantage. Surprisingly, the most balanced competitions are associated with specific environmental heterogeneities, not from equally skilled teams. These results shed new light on the design principles of balanced competition, and illustrate the potential of online game data for investigating social dynamics and competition.

Environmental structure and competitive scoring advantages in team competitions

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Merritt, Sears; Clauset, Aaron

2013-10-01

In most professional sports, playing field structure is kept neutral so that scoring imbalances may be attributed to differences in team skill. It thus remains unknown what impact environmental heterogeneities can have on scoring dynamics or competitive advantages. Applying a novel generative model of scoring dynamics to roughly 10 million team competitions drawn from an online game, we quantify the relationship between the structure within a competition and its scoring dynamics, while controlling the impact of chance. Despite wide structural variations, we observe a common three-phase pattern in the tempo of events. Tempo and balance are highly predictable from a competition's structural features alone and teams exploit environmental heterogeneities for sustained competitive advantage. Surprisingly, the most balanced competitions are associated with specific environmental heterogeneities, not from equally skilled teams. These results shed new light on the design principles of balanced competition, and illustrate the potential of online game data for investigating social dynamics and competition.

Inhibition of fungal colonization by Pseudoalteromonas tunicata provides a competitive advantage during surface colonization.

PubMed

Franks, A; Egan, S; Holmström, C; James, S; Lappin-Scott, H; Kjelleberg, S

2006-09-01

The marine epiphytic bacterium Pseudoalteromonas tunicata produces a range of extracellular secondary metabolites that inhibit an array of common fouling organisms, including fungi. In this study, we test the hypothesis that the ability to inhibit fungi provides P. tunicata with an advantage during colonization of a surface. Studies on a transposon-generated antifungal-deficient mutant of P. tunicata, FM3, indicated that a long-chain fatty acid-coenzyme A ligase is involved in the production of a broad-range antifungal compound by P. tunicata. Flow cell experiments demonstrated that production of an antifungal compound provided P. tunicata with a competitive advantage against a marine yeast isolate during surface colonization. This compound enabled P. tunicata to disrupt an already established fungal biofilm by decreasing the number of yeast cells attached to the surface by 66% +/- 9%. For in vivo experiments, the wild-type and FM3 strains of P. tunicata were used to inoculate the surface of the green alga Ulva australis. Double-gradient denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis analysis revealed that after 48 h, the wild-type P. tunicata had outcompeted the surface-associated fungal community, whereas the antifungal-deficient mutant had no effect on the fungal community. Our data suggest that P. tunicata is an effective competitor against fungal surface communities in the marine environment.

TCR-engineered, customized, antitumor T cells for cancer immunotherapy: advantages and limitations.

PubMed

Chhabra, Arvind

2011-01-05

The clinical outcome of the traditional adoptive cancer immunotherapy approaches involving the administration of donor-derived immune effectors, expanded ex vivo, has not met expectations. This could be attributed, in part, to the lack of sufficient high-avidity antitumor T-cell precursors in most cancer patients, poor immunogenicity of cancer cells, and the technological limitations to generate a sufficiently large number of tumor antigen-specific T cells. In addition, the host immune regulatory mechanisms and immune homeostasis mechanisms, such as activation-induced cell death (AICD), could further limit the clinical efficacy of the adoptively administered antitumor T cells. Since generation of a sufficiently large number of potent antitumor immune effectors for adoptive administration is critical for the clinical success of this approach, recent advances towards generating customized donor-specific antitumor-effector T cells by engrafting human peripheral blood-derived T cells with a tumor-associated antigen-specific transgenic T-cell receptor (TCR) are quite interesting. This manuscript provides a brief overview of the TCR engineering-based cancer immunotherapy approach, its advantages, and the current limitations.

Is there a bilingual advantage in the ANT task? Evidence from children

PubMed Central

Antón, Eneko; Duñabeitia, Jon A.; Estévez, Adelina; Hernández, Juan A.; Castillo, Alejandro; Fuentes, Luis J.; Davidson, Douglas J.; Carreiras, Manuel

2014-01-01

Bilinguals have been shown to outperform monolinguals in a variety of tasks that do not tap into linguistic processes. The origin of this bilingual advantage has been questioned in recent years. While some authors argue that the reason behind this apparent advantage is bilinguals' enhanced executive functioning, inhibitory skills and/or monitoring abilities, other authors suggest that the locus of these differences between bilinguals and monolinguals may lie in uncontrolled factors or incorrectly matched samples. In the current study we tested a group of 180 bilingual children and a group of 180 carefully matched monolinguals in a child-friendly version of the ANT task. Following recent evidence from similar studies with children, our results showed no bilingual advantage at all, given that the performance of the two groups in the task and the indices associated with the individual attention networks were highly similar and statistically indistinguishable. PMID:24847298

COMPETITIVE BIDDING IN MEDICARE ADVANTAGE: EFFECT OF BENCHMARK CHANGES ON PLAN BIDS

PubMed Central

Song, Zirui; Landrum, Mary Beth; Chernew, Michael E.

2013-01-01

Bidding has been proposed to replace or complement the administered prices in Medicare pays to hospitals and health plans. In 2006, the Medicare Advantage program implemented a competitive bidding system to determine plan payments. In perfectly competitive models, plans bid their costs and thus bids are insensitive to the benchmark. Under many other models of competition, bids respond to changes in the benchmark. We conceptualize the bidding system and use an instrumental variable approach to study the effect of benchmark changes on bids. We use 2006–2010 plan payment data from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, published county benchmarks, actual realized fee-for-service costs, and Medicare Advantage enrollment. We find that a $1 increase in the benchmark leads to about a $0.53 increase in bids, suggesting that plans in the Medicare Advantage market have meaningful market power. PMID:24308881

Competitive bidding in Medicare Advantage: effect of benchmark changes on plan bids.

PubMed

Song, Zirui; Landrum, Mary Beth; Chernew, Michael E

2013-12-01

Bidding has been proposed to replace or complement the administered prices that Medicare pays to hospitals and health plans. In 2006, the Medicare Advantage program implemented a competitive bidding system to determine plan payments. In perfectly competitive models, plans bid their costs and thus bids are insensitive to the benchmark. Under many other models of competition, bids respond to changes in the benchmark. We conceptualize the bidding system and use an instrumental variable approach to study the effect of benchmark changes on bids. We use 2006-2010 plan payment data from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, published county benchmarks, actual realized fee-for-service costs, and Medicare Advantage enrollment. We find that a $1 increase in the benchmark leads to about a $0.53 increase in bids, suggesting that plans in the Medicare Advantage market have meaningful market power. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Is there a bilingual advantage in the ANT task? Evidence from children.

PubMed

Antón, Eneko; Duñabeitia, Jon A; Estévez, Adelina; Hernández, Juan A; Castillo, Alejandro; Fuentes, Luis J; Davidson, Douglas J; Carreiras, Manuel

2014-01-01

Bilinguals have been shown to outperform monolinguals in a variety of tasks that do not tap into linguistic processes. The origin of this bilingual advantage has been questioned in recent years. While some authors argue that the reason behind this apparent advantage is bilinguals' enhanced executive functioning, inhibitory skills and/or monitoring abilities, other authors suggest that the locus of these differences between bilinguals and monolinguals may lie in uncontrolled factors or incorrectly matched samples. In the current study we tested a group of 180 bilingual children and a group of 180 carefully matched monolinguals in a child-friendly version of the ANT task. Following recent evidence from similar studies with children, our results showed no bilingual advantage at all, given that the performance of the two groups in the task and the indices associated with the individual attention networks were highly similar and statistically indistinguishable.

Muscle mechanical advantage of human walking and running: implications for energy cost.

PubMed

Biewener, Andrew A; Farley, Claire T; Roberts, Thomas J; Temaner, Marco

2004-12-01

Muscular forces generated during locomotion depend on an animal's speed, gait, and size and underlie the energy demand to power locomotion. Changes in limb posture affect muscle forces by altering the mechanical advantage of the ground reaction force (R) and therefore the effective mechanical advantage (EMA = r/R, where r is the muscle mechanical advantage) for muscle force production. We used inverse dynamics based on force plate and kinematic recordings of humans as they walked and ran at steady speeds to examine how changes in muscle EMA affect muscle force-generating requirements at these gaits. We found a 68% decrease in knee extensor EMA when humans changed gait from a walk to a run compared with an 18% increase in hip extensor EMA and a 23% increase in ankle extensor EMA. Whereas the knee joint was extended (154-176 degrees) during much of the support phase of walking, its flexed position (134-164 degrees) during running resulted in a 5.2-fold increase in quadriceps impulse (time-integrated force during stance) needed to support body weight on the ground. This increase was associated with a 4.9-fold increase in the ground reaction force moment about the knee. In contrast, extensor impulse decreased 37% (P < 0.05) at the hip and did not change at the ankle when subjects switched from a walk to a run. We conclude that the decrease in limb mechanical advantage (mean limb extensor EMA) and increase in knee extensor impulse during running likely contribute to the higher metabolic cost of transport in running than in walking. The low mechanical advantage in running humans may also explain previous observations of a greater metabolic cost of transport for running humans compared with trotting and galloping quadrupeds of similar size.

A Modular Aerospike Engine Design Using Additive Manufacturing

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Peugeot, John; Garcia, Chance; Burkhardt, Wendel

2014-01-01

A modular aerospike engine concept has been developed with the objective of demonstrating the viability of the aerospike design using additive manufacturing techniques. The aerospike system is a self-compensating design that allows for optimal performance over the entire flight regime and allows for the lowest possible mass vehicle designs. At low altitudes, improvements in Isp can be traded against chamber pressure, staging, and payload. In upper stage applications, expansion ratio and engine envelope can be traded against nozzle efficiency. These features provide flexibility to the System Designer optimizing a complete vehicle stage. The aerospike concept is a good example of a component that has demonstrated improved performance capability, but traditionally has manufacturing requirements that are too expensive and complex to use in a production vehicle. In recent years, additive manufacturing has emerged as a potential method for improving the speed and cost of building geometrically complex components in rocket engines. It offers a reduction in tooling overhead and significant improvements in the integration of the designer and manufacturing method. In addition, the modularity of the engine design provides the ability to perform full scale testing on the combustion devices outside of the full engine configuration. The proposed design uses a hydrocarbon based gas-generator cycle, with plans to take advantage of existing powerhead hardware while focusing DDT&E resources on manufacturing and sub-system testing of the combustion devices. The major risks for the modular aerospike concept lie in the performance of the propellant feed system, the structural integrity of the additive manufactured components, and the aerodynamic efficiency of the exhaust flow.

Accessing 2-substituted piperidine iminosugars by organometallic addition/intramolecular reductive amination: aldehyde vs. nitrone route.

PubMed

Mirabella, S; Fibbi, G; Matassini, C; Faggi, C; Goti, A; Cardona, F

2017-11-07

A dual synthetic strategy to afford 2-substituted trihydroxypiperidines is disclosed. The procedure involved Grignard addition either to a carbohydrate-derived aldehyde or to a nitrone derived thereof, and took advantage of an efficient ring-closure reductive amination strategy in the final cyclization step. An opposite diastereofacial preference was demonstrated in the nucleophilic attack to the two electrophiles, which would finally produce the same piperidine diastereoisomer as the major product. However, use of a suitable Lewis acid in the Grignard addition to the nitrone allowed reversing the selectivity, giving access to 2-substituted piperidines with the opposite configuration at C-2.

The Critical Advantage: Developing Critical Thinking Skills in School

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gormley, William T., Jr.

2017-01-01

In "The Critical Advantage," noted scholar and early childhood expert William T. Gormley, Jr. takes a wide ranging look at the important role of critical thinking in preparing students for college, careers, and civic life. Drawing on research from psychology, philosophy, business, political science, neuroscience, and other disciplines,…

A Bilateral Advantage for Storage in Visual Working Memory

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Umemoto, Akina; Drew, Trafton; Ester, Edward F.; Awh, Edward

2010-01-01

Various studies have demonstrated enhanced visual processing when information is presented across both visual hemifields rather than in a single hemifield (the "bilateral advantage"). For example, Alvarez and Cavanagh (2005) reported that observers were able to track twice as many moving visual stimuli when the tracked items were presented…

Cognitive Advantages and Disadvantages in Early and Late Bilinguals

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Pelham, Sabra D.; Abrams, Lise

2014-01-01

Previous research has documented advantages and disadvantages of early bilinguals, defined as learning a 2nd language by school age and using both languages since that time. Relative to monolinguals, early bilinguals manifest deficits in lexical access but benefits in executive function. We investigated whether becoming bilingual "after"…

High performance, durable polymers including poly(phenylene)

DOEpatents

Fujimoto, Cy; Pratt, Harry; Anderson, Travis Mark

2017-02-28

The present invention relates to functionalized polymers including a poly(phenylene) structure. In some embodiments, the polymers and copolymers of the invention include a highly localized concentration of acidic moieties, which facilitate proton transport and conduction through networks formed from these polymers. In addition, the polymers can include functional moieties, such as electron-withdrawing moieties, to protect the polymeric backbone, thereby extending its durability. Such enhanced proton transport and durability can be beneficial for any high performance platform that employs proton exchange polymeric membranes, such as in fuel cells or flow batteries.

Large- and small-size advantages in sneaking behaviour in the dusky frillgoby Bathygobius fuscus.

PubMed

Takegaki, Takeshi; Kaneko, Takashi; Matsumoto, Yukio

2012-04-01

Sneaking tactic, a male alternative reproductive tactic involving sperm competition, is generally adopted by small individuals because of its inconspicuousness. However, large size has an advantage when competition occurs between sneakers for fertilization of eggs. Here, we suggest that both large- and small-size advantages of sneaker males are present within the same species. Large sneaker males of the dusky frillgoby Bathygobius fuscus showed a high success rate in intruding into spawning nests because of their advantage in competition among sneaker males in keeping a suitable position to sneak, whereas small sneakers had few chances to sneak. However, small sneaker males were able to stay in the nests longer than large sneaker males when they succeeded in sneak intrusion. This suggests the possibility of an increase in their paternity. The findings of these size-specific behavioural advantages may be important in considering the evolution of size-related reproductive traits.

Large- and small-size advantages in sneaking behaviour in the dusky frillgoby Bathygobius fuscus

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Takegaki, Takeshi; Kaneko, Takashi; Matsumoto, Yukio

2012-04-01

Sneaking tactic, a male alternative reproductive tactic involving sperm competition, is generally adopted by small individuals because of its inconspicuousness. However, large size has an advantage when competition occurs between sneakers for fertilization of eggs. Here, we suggest that both large- and small-size advantages of sneaker males are present within the same species. Large sneaker males of the dusky frillgoby Bathygobius fuscus showed a high success rate in intruding into spawning nests because of their advantage in competition among sneaker males in keeping a suitable position to sneak, whereas small sneakers had few chances to sneak. However, small sneaker males were able to stay in the nests longer than large sneaker males when they succeeded in sneak intrusion. This suggests the possibility of an increase in their paternity. The findings of these size-specific behavioural advantages may be important in considering the evolution of size-related reproductive traits.

Building an Online Community: Student Teachers' Perceptions on the Advantages of Using Social Networking Services in a Teacher Education Program

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Habibi, Akhmad; Mukinin, Amirul; Riyanto, Yatim; Prasohjo, Lantip Diat; Sulistiyo, Urip; Sofwan, Muhammad; Saudagar, Ferdiaz

2018-01-01

This inquiry examined student teachers' perceptions on the advantages of using Social Networking Services (SNS) in an English teacher education program at a public university in Jambi, Indonesia to ease the communication, supervision, discussion, and report submissions between supervisors and student teachers. The networking types included in the…

A Study of Comparative Advantage and Intra-Industry Trade in the Pharmaceutical Industry of Iran.

PubMed

Yusefzadeh, Hassan; Rezapour, Aziz; Lotfi, Farhad; Ebadifard Azar, Farbod; Nabilo, Bahram; Abolghasem Gorji, Hassan; Hadian, Mohammad; Shahidisadeghi, Niusha; Karami, Atiyeh

2015-04-23

Drug costs in Iran accounts for about 30% of the total health care expenditure. Moreover, pharmaceutical business lies among the world's greatest businesses. The aim of this study was to analyze Iran's comparative advantage and intra-industry trade in pharmaceuticals so that suitable policies can be developed and implemented in order to boost Iran's trade in this field. To identify Iran's comparative advantage in pharmaceuticals, trade specialization, export propensity, import penetration and Balassa and Vollrath indexes were calculated and the results were compared with other pharmaceutical exporting countries. The extent and growth of Iran's intra-industry trade in pharmaceuticals were measured and evaluated using the Grubel-Lloyd and Menon-Dixon indexes. The required data was obtained from Iran's Customs Administration, Iran's pharmaceutical Statistics, World Bank and International Trade Center. The results showed that among pharmaceutical exporting countries, Iran has a high level of comparative disadvantage in pharmaceutical products because it holds a small share in world's total pharmaceutical exports. Also, the low extent of bilateral intra-industry trade between Iran and its trading partners in pharmaceuticals shows the trading model of Iran's pharmaceutical industry is mostly inter-industry trade rather than intra-industry trade. In addition, the growth of Iran's intra-industry trade in pharmaceuticals is due to its shares of imports from pharmaceutical exporting countries to Iran and exports from Iran to its neighboring countries. The results of the analysis can play a valuable role in helping pharmaceutical companies and policy makers to boost pharmaceutical trade.

Small and Large Animal Models in Cardiac Contraction Research: Advantages and Disadvantages

PubMed Central

Milani-Nejad, Nima; Janssen, Paul M.L.

2013-01-01

The mammalian heart is responsible for not only pumping blood throughout the body but also adjusting this pumping activity quickly depending upon sudden changes in the metabolic demands of the body. For the most part, the human heart is capable of performing its duties without complications; however, throughout many decades of use, at some point this system encounters problems. Research into the heart’s activities during healthy states and during adverse impacts that occur in disease states is necessary in order to strategize novel treatment options to ultimately prolong and improve patients’ lives. Animal models are an important aspect of cardiac research where a variety of cardiac processes and therapeutic targets can be studied. However, there are differences between the heart of a human being and an animal and depending on the specific animal, these differences can become more pronounced and in certain cases limiting. There is no ideal animal model available for cardiac research, the use of each animal model is accompanied with its own set of advantages and disadvantages. In this review, we will discuss these advantages and disadvantages of commonly used laboratory animals including mouse, rat, rabbit, canine, swine, and sheep. Since the goal of cardiac research is to enhance our understanding of human health and disease and help improve clinical outcomes, we will also discuss the role of human cardiac tissue in cardiac research. This review will focus on the cardiac ventricular contractile and relaxation kinetics of humans and animal models in order to illustrate these differences. PMID:24140081

Small and large animal models in cardiac contraction research: advantages and disadvantages.

PubMed

Milani-Nejad, Nima; Janssen, Paul M L

2014-03-01

The mammalian heart is responsible for not only pumping blood throughout the body but also adjusting this pumping activity quickly depending upon sudden changes in the metabolic demands of the body. For the most part, the human heart is capable of performing its duties without complications; however, throughout many decades of use, at some point this system encounters problems. Research into the heart's activities during healthy states and during adverse impacts that occur in disease states is necessary in order to strategize novel treatment options to ultimately prolong and improve patients' lives. Animal models are an important aspect of cardiac research where a variety of cardiac processes and therapeutic targets can be studied. However, there are differences between the heart of a human being and an animal and depending on the specific animal, these differences can become more pronounced and in certain cases limiting. There is no ideal animal model available for cardiac research, the use of each animal model is accompanied with its own set of advantages and disadvantages. In this review, we will discuss these advantages and disadvantages of commonly used laboratory animals including mouse, rat, rabbit, canine, swine, and sheep. Since the goal of cardiac research is to enhance our understanding of human health and disease and help improve clinical outcomes, we will also discuss the role of human cardiac tissue in cardiac research. This review will focus on the cardiac ventricular contractile and relaxation kinetics of humans and animal models in order to illustrate these differences. © 2013.

Minimal access portoenterostomy: advantages and disadvantages of standard laparoscopic and robotic techniques.

PubMed

Dutta, Sanjeev; Woo, Russell; Albanese, Craig T

2007-04-01

Minimal access portoenterostomy (Kasai procedure) for biliary atresia represents a technically challenging operation. The standard laparoscopic approach yields results comparable to the open technique. After an initial experience with standard laparoscopy, we assessed the potentially superior optics and dexterity of a surgical robotic system for performing portoenterostomy. We reviewed our experience with minimal access portoenterostomy to compare the relative advantages and disadvantages of standard laparoscopic and robotic approaches to biliary atresia. We reviewed the charts of all patients who underwent either laparoscopic or robotic portoenterostomy at our institution between October 2002 and October 2005. Outcome measures included the need to convert to laparotomy, complications, functional outcome expressed either as the direct bilirubin at most recent follow-up (> or = 3 months) or age at transplant, and density of adhesions at transplant. Surgeons' impressions of the two minimal access modalities were also reviewed. A total of 10 patients underwent minimal access portoenterostomy (7 standard laparoscopy; 3 robotic-assisted). Mean follow-up was 20 months (range, 1-36 months). There were no conversions to laparotomy and no intraoperative complications. There was one port site infection that resolved with antibiotics. Five patients (4 laparoscopic, 1 robotic) had progressed to transplantation at the time of follow-up. At transplant, one patient had mild adhesions and two had dense adhesions. Adhesions were not noted for 2 patients. We believe both surgical modalities are feasible from a technical point of view. However, the optical and dexterity advantages of the robotic system were offset by the large instrument size and lack of force feedback.

Snapshot advantage: a review of the light collection improvement for parallel high-dimensional measurement systems

PubMed Central

Hagen, Nathan; Kester, Robert T.; Gao, Liang; Tkaczyk, Tomasz S.

2012-01-01

The snapshot advantage is a large increase in light collection efficiency available to high-dimensional measurement systems that avoid filtering and scanning. After discussing this advantage in the context of imaging spectrometry, where the greatest effort towards developing snapshot systems has been made, we describe the types of measurements where it is applicable. We then generalize it to the larger context of high-dimensional measurements, where the advantage increases geometrically with measurement dimensionality. PMID:22791926

Hematopoietic stem cells with controllable tEpoR transgenes have a competitive advantage in bone marrow transplantation.

PubMed

Kirby, S; Walton, W; Smithies, O

2000-06-15

In a previous study, it was found that a truncated erythropoietin receptor transgene (tEpoR tg) enables multilineage hematopoietic progenitor amplification after treatment with erythropoietin (epo) in vitro and in vivo. This study used competitive bone marrow (BM) repopulation to show that tEpoR tg facilitates transplantation by hematopoietic stem cells (HSC). Individual multilineage colonies, committed myeloid progenitor colonies, and lymphoid colonies (pre-B colony-forming units) were grown from the marrow of animals 6 months after they received a 50/50 mixture of transgene and wild-type BM cells. In epo-treated recipients, the transgene-bearing cells significantly outcompeted the wild-type cells (84%-100% versus 16%-0%, respectively). In recipients treated with phosphate-buffered saline, the repopulation was minimally different from the donor mixture (49%-64% transgene versus 51%-36% wild-type). The epo-induced repopulation advantage is maintained in secondary transplants. In addition, neither accelerated HSC depletion nor uncontrollable proliferation occurred during epo-stimulated serial transplants of transgene-containing BM. Thus, the tEpoR tg functions in a benign fashion in HSC and allows for a significant and controllable repopulation advantage in vivo without excessive HSC depletion relative to wild-type BM. (Blood. 2000;95:3710-3715)

Home advantage in high-level volleyball varies according to set number.

PubMed

Marcelino, Rui; Mesquita, Isabel; Palao Andrés, José Manuel; Sampaio, Jaime

2009-01-01

The aim of the present study was to identify the probability of winning each Volleyball set according to game location (home, away). Archival data was obtained from 275 sets in the 2005 Men's Senior World League and 65,949 actions were analysed. Set result (win, loss), game location (home, away), set number (first, second, third, fourth and fifth) and performance indicators (serve, reception, set, attack, dig and block) were the variables considered in this study. In a first moment, performance indicators were used in a logistic model of set result, by binary logistic regression analysis. After finding the adjusted logistic model, the log-odds of winning the set were analysed according to game location and set number. The results showed that winning a set is significantly related to performance indicators (Chisquare(18)=660.97, p<0.01). Analyses of log-odds of winning a set demonstrate that home teams always have more probability of winning the game than away teams, regardless of the set number. Home teams have more advantage at the beginning of the game (first set) and in the two last sets of the game (fourth and fifth sets), probably due to facilities familiarity and crowd effects. Different game actions explain these advantages and showed that to win the first set is more important to take risk, through a better performance in the attack and block, and to win the final set is important to manage the risk through a better performance on the reception. These results may suggest intra-game variation in home advantage and can be most useful to better prepare and direct the competition. Key pointsHome teams always have more probability of winning the game than away teams.Home teams have higher performance in reception, set and attack in the total of the sets.The advantage of home teams is more pronounced at the beginning of the game (first set) and in two last sets of the game (fourth and fifth sets) suggesting intra-game variation in home advantage.Analysis by sets

Evidence for a Right-Ear Advantage in Newborn Hearing Screening Results.

PubMed

Ari-Even Roth, Daphne; Hildesheimer, Minka; Roziner, Ilan; Henkin, Yael

2016-12-06

The aim of the present study was to investigate the effect of ear asymmetry, order of testing, and gender on transient-evoked otoacoustic emission (TEOAE) pass rates and response levels in newborn hearing screening. The screening results of 879 newborns, of whom 387 (study group) passed screening successfully in only one ear in the first TEOAE screening, but passed screening successfully in both ears thereafter, and 492 (control group) who passed screening successfully in both ears in the first TEOAE, were retrospectively examined for pass rates and TEOAE characteristics. Results indicated a right-ear advantage, as manifested by significantly higher pass rates in the right ear (61% and 39% for right and left ears, respectively) in the study group, and in 1.75 dB greater TEOAE response amplitudes in the control group. The right-ear advantage was enhanced when the first tested ear was the right ear (76%). When the left ear was tested first, pass rates were comparable in both ears. The right-ear advantage in pass rates was similar in females versus males, but manifested in 1.5 dB higher response amplitudes in females compared with males, regardless of the tested ear and order of testing in both study and control groups. The study provides further evidence for the functional lateralization of the auditory system at the cochlear level already apparent soon after birth in both males and females. While order of testing plays a significant role in the asymmetry in pass rates, the innate right-ear advantage seems to be a more dominant contributor. © The Author(s) 2016.

Assessment of potential advantages of relevant ions for particle therapy: A model based study

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Grün, Rebecca, E-mail: r.gruen@gsi.de; Institute of Medical Physics and Radiation Protection, University of Applied Sciences Gießen, Gießen 35390; Medical Faculty of Philipps-University Marburg, Marburg 35032

2015-02-15

Purpose: Different ion types offer different physical and biological advantages for therapeutic applications. The purpose of this work is to assess the advantages of the most commonly used ions in particle therapy, i.e., carbon ({sup 12}C), helium ({sup 4}He), and protons ({sup 1}H) for different treatment scenarios. Methods: A treatment planning analysis based on idealized target geometries was performed using the treatment planning software TRiP98. For the prediction of the relative biological effectiveness (RBE) that is required for biological optimization in treatment planning the local effect model (LEM IV) was used. To compare the three ion types, the peak-to-entrance ratiomore » (PER) was determined for the physical dose (PER{sub PHY} {sub S}), the RBE (PER{sub RBE}), and the RBE-weighted dose (PER{sub BIO}) resulting for different dose-levels, field configurations, and tissue types. Further, the dose contribution to artificial organs at risk (OAR) was assessed and a comparison of the dose distribution for the different ion types was performed for a patient with chordoma of the skull base. Results: The study showed that the advantages of the ions depend on the physical and biological properties and the interplay of both. In the case of protons, the consideration of a variable RBE instead of the clinically applied generic RBE of 1.1 indicates an advantage in terms of an increased PER{sub RBE} for the analyzed configurations. Due to the fact that protons show a somewhat better PER{sub PHY} {sub S} compared to helium and carbon ions whereas helium shows a higher PER{sub RBE} compared to protons, both protons and helium ions show a similar RBE-weighted dose distribution. Carbon ions show the largest variation of the PER{sub RBE} with tissue type and a benefit for radioresistant tumor types due to their higher LET. Furthermore, in the case of a two-field irradiation, an additional gain in terms of PER{sub BIO} is observed when using an orthogonal field

Advantages of Residual Stresses in Dynamically Riveted Joints.

DTIC Science & Technology

1978-02-01

strain distribution around a rivet hole, and describes an experimental method for measuring the radial velocity of an expanding rivet. The advantages of... benefits of compressive residual stresses in riveted joints, fatigue specimens made of 2024-T81 aluminum were used. The specimens were tested at constant...concentration of in-service tensile stresses near the hole surfaze. Substan;Aal and significant benefits in design life and structural weight can be

Advantages and Uses of AMTEC

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lodhi, M. A. K.

2012-10-01

Static conversion systems are gaining importance in recent times because of newer applications of electricity like in spacecraft, hybrid-electric vehicles, military uses and domestic purposes. Of the many new static energy conversion systems that are being considered, one is the Alkali Metal Thermal Electric Converter (AMTEC). It is a thermally regenerative, electrochemical device for the direct conversion of heat to electrical power. As the name suggests, this system uses an alkali metal in its process. The electrochemical process involved in the working of AMTEC is ionization of alkali metal atoms at the interface of electrode and electrolyte. The electrons produced as a result flow through the external load thus doing work, and finally recombine with the metal ions at the cathode. AMTECs convert the work done during the nearly isothermal expansion of metal vapor to produce a high current and low voltage electron flow. Due to its principle of working it has many inherent advantages over other conventional generators. These will be discussed briefly.

TEACHING FORMAL OPERATIONS TO PRESCHOOL ADVANTAGED AND DISADVANTAGED CHILDREN.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

ENGELMANN, SIEGFRIED

TO DETERMINE HOW TRAINING WOULD AFFECT CHILDREN FROM DIFFERENT LEVELS OF DEVELOPMENT, FIVE DISADVANTAGED AND FIVE ADVANTAGED PRESCHOOLERS WERE GIVEN SPECIFIC PROBLEM SOLVING TRAINING TO PREPARE TO SOLVE A CRITERION PROBLEM. THIS STUDY WAS AN ATTEMPT TO DISPROVE PIAGET'S THEORY THAT CHILDREN MUST HAVE REACHED A CERTAIN STAGE OF CONCRETE-OPERATIONAL…

Emerging technologies for long-term antimicrobial device coatings: advantages and limitations

PubMed Central

Cyphert, Erika L

2017-01-01

Over the past 20 years, the field of antimicrobial medical device coatings has expanded nearly 30-fold with technologies shifting their focus from diffusion-only based (short-term antimicrobial eluting) coatings to long-term antimicrobial eluting and intrinsically antimicrobial functioning materials. A variety of emergent coatings have been developed with the goal of achieving long-term antimicrobial activity in order to mitigate the risk of implanted device failure. Specifically, the coatings can be grouped into two categories: those that use antibiotics in conjunction with a polymer coating and those that rely on the intrinsic properties of the material to kill or repel bacteria that come into contact with the surface. This review covers both long-term drug-eluting and non-eluting coatings and evaluates the inherent advantages and disadvantages of each type while providing an overview of variety applications that the coatings have been utilized in. Impact statement This work provides an overview, with advantages and limitations of the most recently developed antibacterial coating technologies, enabling other researchers in the field to more easily determine which technology is most advantageous for them to further develop and pursue. PMID:28110543

Advantages of a Lunar Cryogenic Astronomical Observatory

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Burke, James; Kaltenegger, Lisa

2017-04-01

ESA and collaborating agencies are preparing to establish a Moon Village at a south polar site. Robotic precursor missions will include resource prospecting in permanently shadowed cold traps. The environment there is favorable for infrared and millimeter-wave astronomy. In this paper we examine the evolutionary development of a cryogenic observatory, beginning with small telescopes robotically installed and operated in conjunction with prospecting precursor missions, and continuing into later phases supported from the Moon Village. Relay communications into and out of the cold traps may be shared or else provided by dedicated links. Candidate locations can be selected with the help of data from the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter. The first telescope will be primarily a proof-of-concept demonstrator but it can have scientific and applications uses too, supplementing other space-based survey instruments observing astrophysical objects and potentially hazardous asteroids and comets. A south polar site sees only half or the sky but that half includes the galactic center and many other interesting targets. The telescopes can stare at any object for as long as desired, providing monitoring capabilities for transiting or radial velocity planet searches, like NASA's TESS mission. In addition such telescopes are opening the prospect of gathering spectroscopic data on exoplanet atmospheres and cool stars - from UV information to assess the activity of a star to VIS to IR spectral data of the atmosphere and even atmospheric biosignatures. Preliminary design of the first telescope might be funded under a NASA call for lunar science payload concepts. An important additional product can be educational and outreach uses of the observatory, especially for the benefit of people in the developing world who can do southern hemisphere follow-up observations.