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Attractive Choice (attractive + choice)

Distribution by Scientific Domains
Medical Sciences33%

Selected Abstracts

The Role of Education in Self,Employment Success in Finland

GROWTH AND CHANGE, Issue 2 2002
Aki Kangasharju
This paper analyzes the effect of self,employed persons' education on the success of their firms during the economic downturn and upturn of the 1990's. It is found that the business cycle affects the relative closure rates of firms run by self,employed with any level of education. Exit probability is lower for the highly educated during bust, but higher in boom. This is accounted for by two facts. First, running a small firm is argued to be a less attractive choice to wage work, particularly for the highly educated, due to lower earning prospects, less stable stream of earnings, and the cultural tradition of working in large corporations. Second, the highly educated faced a higher outside demand for their labor than did the less educated during economic upturn. Finally, it was found that regardless of the state of aggregate economy, firms run by the highly educated have higher growth probabilities than those run by less educated persons. [source]

Polymer hydrogenation in pulsed flow systems with extrusion

AICHE JOURNAL, Issue 4 2008
Alan Bussard
Abstract The hydrogenation of poly(styrene) over a Pd/Al2O3 catalyst was studied in reactors where pulsed flows are present due to both extrusion and forced pulsing. The reaction was investigated over a range of flow rates, polymer concentrations, and pulsing conditions. Observed activities were highly related to gas-to-liquid mass transfer rates predicted by a correlation for slug flow in catalyst monoliths. A reactor fed by a liquid-starved extruder is an attractive choice for hydrogenation at low polymer concentrations, where intrinsic reaction rates are approached. Higher polymer concentrations (10 wt %) lead to higher mass transfer resistances and a decrease in observed activity. But in this case forced pulsing has a greater effect on productivity; an optimum pulsing frequency was observed. Selectivity was higher and power input lower than in a stirred tank at comparable conditions. The optimal frequency is higher than those found in previous work on hydrogenations. © 2008 American Institute of Chemical Engineers AIChE J, 2008 [source]

Stability analysis of an additive spline model for respiratory health data by using knot removal

JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL STATISTICAL SOCIETY: SERIES C (APPLIED STATISTICS), Issue 5 2009
Harald Binder
Summary., In many settings with possibly non-linear influence of covariates, such as in the present application with children's respiratory health data, generalized additive models are an attractive choice. Although techniques for fitting these have been extensively investigated, there are fewer results on stability of replication, i.e. stability of fitted model components with respect to perturbations in the data. Nevertheless, this aspect is essential for judging how useful the present model is for understanding predictors of lung function. We therefore investigate existing tools for stability analysis based on bootstrap samples, such as quantities for variability and bias, for our application. Furthermore, as the focus is on models based on B -splines, knot removal techniques are available. These can help to provide more insight into the stability of local features that are fitted in bootstrap samples. We analyse the bootstrap result matrix via log-linear models. Specifically, the relationship with respect to local features between the influence functions of potential lung function predictors is investigated. [source]

Mission applicability assessment of integrated power components and systems

PROGRESS IN PHOTOVOLTAICS: RESEARCH & APPLICATIONS, Issue 6 2002
R. P. Raffaelle
The need for smaller, lightweight, autonomous power systems has increased with the current focus on micro- and nanosatellites. Small-area, high-efficiency, thin-film batteries and solar cells are an attractive choice for such applications. The NASA Glenn Research Center, Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory, Lithium Power Technologies, MicroSat Systems, and others, have been working on the development of autonomous monolithic packages combining these elements, or what are called integrated power supplies (IPS). These supplies can be combined with individual satellite components and are capable of providing continuous power, even under intermittent illumination associated with a spinning or earth-orbiting satellite. This paper discusses the space mission applicability, benefits, and current development efforts associated with IPS components and systems. The characteristics and several mission concepts for an IPS that combines thin-film photovoltaic power generation with thin-film lithium ion energy storage are described. Based on this preliminary assessment, it is concluded that the most likely and beneficial application of an IPS will be for small ,nanosatellites' or in specialized applications serving as a decentralized or as a distributed power source or uninterruptible power supply. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source]

Remifentanil in paediatric anaesthetic practice

ANAESTHESIA, Issue 3 2009
D. F. Marsh
Summary Remifentanil is a synthetic opioid, first introduced into clinical practice in 1996. Its unique pharmacokinetic profile has resulted in a gradual increase in its popularity in paediatric anaesthesia. It is an opioid of high potency and rapid clearance, consequently lacking problems of accumulation. These characteristics give it a high degree of predictability and it has become an attractive choice for a wide variety of anaesthetic challenges, from premature neonates to the elderly. Neonates and infants have a higher clearance than older children and, as a result, remifentanil has additional benefits in this group. Remifentanil can be described as the only consistently predictable opioid in paediatric practice. [source]

Histone deacetylase inhibitors trichostatin A and valproic acid circumvent apoptosis in human leukemic cells expressing the RUNX1 chimera

CANCER SCIENCE, Issue 2 2008
Ko Sasaki
Disturbance of the normal functions of wild-type RUNX1 resulting from chromosomal translocations or gene mutations is one of the major molecular mechanisms in human leukemogenesis. RUNX1-related chimeras generated by the chromosomal translocations repress transcriptional activity of wild-type RUNX1 by recruiting the co-repressor/histone deacetylase complex. Thus, histone deacetylase inhibitors are expected to restore normal functions of wild-type RUNX1 and thereby affect the growth and differentiation ability of leukemic cells expressing the chimera. We investigated the in vitro effects of histone deacetylase inhibitors, trichostatin A and valproic acid, on human leukemic cell lines such as SKNO-1 and Kasumi-1 expressing RUNX1/ETO, Reh expressing TEL/RUNX1 and SKH-1 co-expressing RUNX1/EVI1 and BCR/ABL. We also employed K562 cells expressing BCR/ABL without such a chimera as a control. Treatment with each inhibitor increased acetylated histone 4 in all of these cell lines. Interestingly, proliferation of SKNO-1, Kasumi-1, SKH-1 and Reh cells was significantly suppressed after 3-day culture with trichostatin A or valproic acid, when compared to that of K562 cells. We observed cell cycle arrest and apoptotic induction in the RUNX1 chimera-expressing cells by the propidium iodide staining. Up- and downregulation of cell cycle regulator genes appeared to be the molecular basis for the former, and activation of both extrinsic and intrinsic apoptotic caspases for the latter. We propose histone deacetylase inhibitors to be an attractive choice in the molecular targeting therapy of RUNX1-related leukemia. (Cancer Sci 2008; 99: 414,422) [source]