Visual onset expands subjective time

We report a distortion of subjective time perception in which the duration of a first interval is perceived to be longer than the succeeding interval of the same duration. The amount of time expansion depends on the onset type defining the first interval. When a stimulus appears abruptly, its duration is perceived to be longer than when it appears following a stationary array. The difference in the processing time for the stimulus onset and motion onset, measured as reaction times, agrees with the difference in time expansion. Our results suggest that initial transient responses for a visual onset serve as a temporal marker for time estimation, and a systematic change in the processing time for onsets affects perceived time

Orphan drugs : future viability of current forecasting models, in light of impending changes to influential market factors

Thesis (S.M.)--Harvard-MIT Division of Health Sciences and Technology, 2011.Cataloged from PDF version of thesis.Includes bibliographical references (p. 58-61).Interviews were conducted to establish a baseline for how orphan drug forecasting is currently undertaken by financial market and industry analysts with the intention of understanding the variables typically accounted for in such a model. A literature search formed the basis of subsequent interviews conducted with experts from industry, payers, providers, legislators, patient groups, and the FDA. Discussion then focused on elements of the market which are poised to change in the short-term, how such changes might be reflected in existing models, and/or how these models may instead need to be modified to adapt to the new environment. We hypothesized that impending changes in the healthcare sector would indeed impact the legitimacy of current forecasting models, and that significant changes would need to be introduced to account for these new market forces. Our hypothesis, however, was not confirmed, in that although much of the literature and, indeed, public outcry over rising healthcare costs in general and drug prices in particular make a strong case for implementing changes in the orphan market via payers, government, or other actors, an assessment of healthcare experts regarding market changes over the next five years revealed a general consensus that meaningful change will likely not occur during this timeframe for orphan products, with the exception of a possible increase in pharmacoeconomic requirements for drugs which are only marginally effective. Thus, current orphan drug forecasting models constructed for use by financial and industry analysts correctly avoid discounting for these potential changes, as they will likely not face significant changes in the US until closer to a ten year time horizon. Potential exceptions to this conclusion depend on implementation and regulatory treatment of the fields of personalized medicine and gene therapy, as developments in these areas may closely interact with existing orphan drug legislation. Our results have significant implications for all companies and stakeholders entering or currently operating in the orphan market, and open the door for further quantitative and qualitative analysis.by Joshua Gottlieb.S.M

Modelling and simulation of paradigms for printed circuit board assembly to support the UK's competency in high reliability electronics

The fundamental requirement of the research reported within this thesis is the provision of physical models to enable model based simulation of mainstream printed circuit assembly (PCA) process discrete events for use within to-be-developed (or under development) software tools which codify cause & effects knowledge for use in product and process design optimisation. To support a national competitive advantage in high reliability electronics UK based producers of aircraft electronic subsystems require advanced simulation tools which offer model based guidance. In turn, maximization of manufacturability and minimization of uncontrolled rework must therefore enhance inservice sustainability for ‘power-by-the-hour’ commercial aircraft operation business models. [Continues.

Increasing Cultural Participation: An Audience Development Planning Handbook for Presenters, Producers and Their Collaborators

Looks at how people-centered strategies for building public participation in high-quality arts programs can help institutions of varied disciplines and sizes to diversify, broaden, and deepen relationships with their communities

The Elastic Tournament: The Second Transformation of the Big Law Firm

In 1991, Galanter and Palay published \u27Tournament of Lawyers: The Transformation of the Big Law Firm\u27, which documented the regular and relentless growth of large U.S. law firms. The book advanced several structural and historical factors to explain these patterns, centering on the adoption of the promotion-to-partnership tournament. Systemic changes in the marketplace for corporate legal services in the intervening years suggest the need for an updated account of the modern large law firm. Using \u27Tournament of Lawyers\u27 as a starting point, we propose to fill this void in the literature. Marching through a wide array of empirical evidence covering the last twenty to thirty years, our findings corroborate some of the core theoretical insights of \u27Tournament of Lawyers\u27. For example, the continuous upward growth of the partnership based on the tournament is clearly evidenced by a \u27smooth\u27 upward trajectory in the partnership ranks while associate hiring hews more closely to the underlying business cycle. On the other hand, the widening ranks of permanent \u27off track\u27 attorneys and non-equity partners, including the prevalence of de-equitizations, suggest the emergence of a more complex and elongated tournament structure that applies to both partners and associates. Under a new model, which we dub the \u27elastic tournament,\u27 the equity core is primarily reserved for partners who control access to key clients. This structure reduces cross-subsidies between lawyers with differential value to the firm, thus reducing the potential for large-scale lateral defections. Yet, this reduced sharing of risks and benefits simultaneously creates an environment in which it becomes more costly - at the individual lawyer level - to faithfully adhere to professional and ethics principles that are in tension with client objectives. Arguably, these dynamics have made zealous advocacy the touchstone of ethical lawyering. The diminution in sharing also reduces the time horizons of individual lawyers and decreases their willingness to invest in firmwide initiatives that do not simultaneously optimize their own practice. Amidst this widening collective action problem, the \u27firm\u27 itself has remarkably little autonomy to pursue non-economic objectives, such as racial and gender diversity (particularly efforts directed at retention) or the training and mentoring of the next generation of lawyers. Further, except in some exceptional cases, the influence of firm culture, which may have moderated lawyer self-interest in an earlier era, is weakened by the sheer size and geographic dispersion of the modern big law firm. Although this model is fundamentally \u27stable\u27 in the economic sense, it raises several philosophical and practical issues regarding lawyer independence and the long-term viability of professional self-regulation

Author Retrospective for Array Expansion, Array Shrinking, or There and Back Again

International audienceThis paper has been written as a companion to "Array Dataflow Analysis",a paper I wrote in 1988, which is to be reprinted in the ACM InternationalConference on Supercomputing 25th Anniversary Volume. These reminescencesexplain the context which motivated this research, present some related works,including its opposite, array shrinking, and its application to theverification of parallel programs