The Determinants of NFL Ticket Prices: What Managers May Consider when Pricing Tickets

Our purpose of this study is to determine what factors contribute to NFL ticket prices across teams and over time. After creating a theoretically sound model based on past economic studies, a panel data set was constructed based on the 32 NFL teams from the 2002 through the 2010 season. Results of this study show that a team’s previous season’s winning percentage, the average income of the area, the population of the area, and playing in a new stadium all have a positive, and significant, influence on ticket price. This study’s outcome allows fans and others to observe what team managers may consider when making price-changing decisions, and also by what percent a change in each factor will potentially change price. The study also shows what contributes to ticket price over time, an interesting observation given the rapid increase in the demand for football in the last decade

Isolated Photons in Deep Inelastic Scattering

Photon radiation at large transverse momenta at colliders is a detailed probe of hard interaction dynamics. The isolated photon production cross section in deep inelastic scattering was measured recently by the ZEUS experiment, and found to be considerably larger than theoretical predictions obtained with widely used event generators. To investigate this discrepancy, we perform a dedicated parton-level calculation of this observable, including contributions from fragmentation and large-angle radiation. Our results are in good agreement with all aspects of the experimental measurement.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figure

Retinoic acid induces the differentiation of B cell hybridomas from patients with common variable immunodeficiency.

Human-human B cell hybridomas constructed from B lymphocytes of common variable immunodeficiency (CVI) patients and the nonsecreting cell line WIL2/729 HF consistently secrete low levels of Ig and appear to retain a defect characteristic of the CVI patient's B cells. We assessed the differentiative capacity of retinoic acid (RA) on these hybridomas, as well as on hybridomas constructed from normal B cells and from patients with selective IgA deficiency. RA at concentrations varying between 10(-5) and 10(-9) M augmented IgM secretion 4-20-fold from four of four CVI hybridomas tested, but did not affect Ig secretion from normal or IgA-deficiency hybridomas. In support of this elevated Ig secretion, RA enhanced the de novo synthesis of biosynthetically labeled light (kappa) and heavy (mu) Ig (up to 4- and 15-fold, respectively) in the CVI hybridoma line JK32.1. The increase in IgM synthesis/secretion could not be accounted for by RA-induced alteration in the cell cycle. In inducing this increase in IgM production, RA was found to affect two aspects of Ig gene expression: (a) the steady-state levels of heavy and light chain mRNAs were enhanced, and (b) the processing of mu heavy chain transcripts to the secreted mRNA form became favored over the membrane mRNA form. We also show that expression of Leu-17 (CD38), a surface marker that is re-expressed in the late pre-plasma stage of B cell development, was increased by RA from less than 20% to greater than 90% of the total cell population, with a concomitant 4-10-fold augmentation in the mean fluorescence intensity. Changes in both Leu-17 expression and de novo Ig synthesis were prominent by 24 h, but could be observed as early as 8 h after induction. Taken together, our study demonstrates that RA affects a marked alteration in the differentiated state of the CVI hybridoma clones. This finding suggests that retinoids can enhance the functional capabilities of B cells with defects in maturation and support further studies to evaluate their clinical potential in CVI

Oral diabetes medication monotherapy and short-term mortality in individuals with type 2 diabetes and coronary artery disease

Objective To determine whether sulfonylurea use, compared with non-sulfonylurea oral diabetes medication use, was associated with 2-year mortality in individuals with well-controlled diabetes and coronary artery disease (CAD). Research design and methods We studied 5352 US veterans with type 2 diabetes, obstructive CAD on coronary angiography, hemoglobin A1c ≤7.5% at the time of catheterization, and taking zero or one oral diabetes medication (categorized as no medications, non-sulfonylurea medication, or sulfonylurea). We estimated the association between medication category and 2-year mortality using inverse probability of treatment-weighted (IPW) standardized mortality differences and IPW multivariable Cox proportional hazards regression. Results 49%, 35%, and 16% of the participants were on no diabetes medications, non-sulfonylurea medications, and sulfonylureas, respectively. In individuals on no medications, non-sulfonylurea medications, and sulfonylureas, the unadjusted mortality rates were 6.6%, 5.2%, and 11.9%, respectively, and the IPW-standardized mortality rates were 5.9%, 6.5%, and 9.7%, respectively. The standardized absolute 2-year mortality difference between non-sulfonylurea and sulfonylurea groups was 3.2% (95% CI 0.7 to 5.7) (p=0.01). In Cox proportional hazards models, the point estimate suggested that sulfonylurea use might be associated with greater hazard of mortality than non-sulfonylurea medication use, but this finding was not statistically significant (HR 1.38 (95% CI 1.00 to 1.93), p=0.05). We did not observe significant mortality differences between individuals on no diabetes medications and non-sulfonylurea users. Conclusions Sulfonylurea use was common (nearly one-third of those taking medications) and was associated with increased 2-year mortality in individuals with obstructive CAD. The significance of the association between sulfonylurea use and mortality was attenuated in fully adjusted survival models. Caution with sulfonylurea use may be warranted for patients with well-controlled diabetes and CAD, and metformin or newer diabetes medications with cardiovascular safety data could be considered as alternatives when individualizing therapy

Exact results for `bouncing' Gaussian wave packets

We consider time-dependent Gaussian wave packet solutions of the Schrodinger equation (with arbitrary initial central position, x_0, and momentum, p_0, for an otherwise free-particle, but with an infinite wall at x=0, so-called bouncing wave packets. We show how difference or mirror solutions of the form psi(x,t)-psi(-x,t) can, in this case, be normalized exactly, allowing for the evaluation of a number of time-dependent expectation values and other quantities in closed form. For example, we calculate _t explicitly which illustrates how the free-particle kinetic (and hence total) energy is affected by the presence of the distant boundary. We also discuss the time dependence of the expectation values of position, _t, and momentum, _t, and their relation to the impulsive force during the `collision' with the wall. Finally, the x_0,p_0 --> 0 limit is shown to reduce to a special case of a non-standard free-particle Gaussian solution. The addition of this example to the literature then expands on the relatively small number of Gaussian solutions to quantum mechanical problems with familiar classical analogs (free particle, uniform acceleration, harmonic oscillator, unstable oscillator, and uniform magnetic field) available in closed form.Comment: 14 pages, 1 embedded .eps figur

The Contribution of Therapist Effects to Patient Dropout and Deterioration in the Psychological Therapies

BACKGROUND: In the psychological therapies, patient outcomes are not always positive. Some patients leave therapy prematurely (dropout), while others experience deterioration in their psychological well-being. METHODS: The sample for dropout comprised patients (n = 10 521) seen by 85 therapists, who attended at least the initial session of one-to-one therapy and completed a Clinical Outcomes in Routine Evaluation-Outcome Measure (CORE-OM) at pre-treatment. The subsample for patient deterioration comprised patients (n = 6405) seen by the same 85 therapists but who attended two or more sessions, completed therapy and returned a CORE-OM at pre-treatment and post-treatment. Multilevel modelling was used to estimate the extent of therapist effects for both outcomes after controlling for patient characteristics. RESULTS: Therapist effects accounted for 12.6% of dropout variance and 10.1% of deterioration variance. Dropout rates for therapists ranged from 1.2% to 73.2%, while rates of deterioration ranged from 0% to 15.4%. There was no significant correlation between therapist dropout rate and deterioration rate (Spearman's rho = 0.07, p = 0.52). CONCLUSIONS: The methods provide a reliable means for identifying therapists who return consistently poorer rates of patient dropout and deterioration compared with their peers. The variability between therapists and the identification of patient risk factors as significant predictors has implications for the delivery of safe psychological therapy services. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. KEY PRACTITIONER MESSAGE: Therapists play an important role in contributing to patient dropout and deterioration, irrespective of case mix. Therapist effects on patient dropout and deterioration appear to act independently. Being unemployed as a patient was the strongest predictor of both dropout and deterioration. Patient risk to self or others was also an important predictor

Osteocytes and mechanical loading: The Wnt connection

Bone adapts to the mechanical forces that it experiences. Orthodontic tooth movement harnesses the cell‐ and tissue‐level properties of mechanotransduction to achieve alignment and reorganization of the dentition. However, the mechanisms of action that permit bone resorption and formation in response to loads placed on the teeth are incompletely elucidated, though several mechanisms have been identified. Wnt/Lrp5 signalling in osteocytes is a key pathway that modulates bone tissue's response to load. Numerous mouse models that harbour knock‐in, knockout and transgenic/overexpression alleles targeting genes related to Wnt signalling point to the necessity of Wnt/Lrp5, and its localization to osteocytes, for proper mechanotransduction in bone. Alveolar bone is rich in osteocytes and is a highly mechanoresponsive tissue in which components of the canonical Wnt signalling cascade have been identified. As Wnt‐based agents become clinically available in the next several years, the major challenge that lies ahead will be to gain a more complete understanding of Wnt biology in alveolar bone so that improved/expedited tooth movement becomes a possibility

Acid-Labile Traceless Click Linker for Protein Transduction

Intracellular delivery of active proteins presents an interesting approach in research and therapy. We created a protein transduction shuttle based on a new traceless click linker that combines the advantages of click reactions with implementation of reversible pH-sensitive bonds. The azidomethyl-methylmaleic anhydride (AzMMMan) linker was found compatible with different click chemistries, demonstrated in bioreversible protein modification with dyes, polyethylene glycol, or a transduction carrier. Linkages were stable at physiological pH but reversible at the mild acidic pH of endosomes or lysosomes. We show that pH-reversible attachment of a defined endosome-destabilizing three-arm oligo(ethane amino)amide carrier generates an effective shuttle for protein delivery. The cargo protein nlsEGFP, when coupled via the traceless AzMMMan linker, experiences efficient cellular uptake and endosomal escape into the cytosol, followed by import into the nucleus. In contrast, irreversible linkage to the same shuttle hampers nuclear delivery of nlsEGFP which after uptake remains trapped in the cytosol. Successful intracellular delivery of bioactive ß-galactosidase as a model enzyme was also demonstrated using the pH-controlled shuttle system

The Stark effect in linear potentials

We examine the Stark effect (the second-order shift in the energy spectrum due to an external constant force) for two 1-dimensional model quantum mechanical systems described by linear potentials, the so-called quantum bouncer (defined by V(z) = Fz for z>0 and V(z) infinite for z<0) and the symmetric linear potential (given by V(z) = F|z|). We show how straightforward use of the most obvious properties of the Airy function solutions and simple Taylor expansions give closed form results for the Stark shifts in both systems. These exact results are then compared to other approximation techniques, such as perturbation theory and WKB methods. These expressions add to the small number of closed-form descriptions available for the Stark effect in model quantum mechanical systems.Comment: 15 pages. To appear in Eur. J. Phys. Needs Institute of Physics (iopart) style file

Weak localization of light by cold atoms: the impact of quantum internal structure

Since the work of Anderson on localization, interference effects for the propagation of a wave in the presence of disorder have been extensively studied, as exemplified in coherent backscattering (CBS) of light. In the multiple scattering of light by a disordered sample of thermal atoms, interference effects are usually washed out by the fast atomic motion. This is no longer true for cold atoms where CBS has recently been observed. However, the internal structure of the atoms strongly influences the interference properties. In this paper, we consider light scattering by an atomic dipole transition with arbitrary degeneracy and study its impact on coherent backscattering. We show that the interference contrast is strongly reduced. Assuming a uniform statistical distribution over internal degrees of freedom, we compute analytically the single and double scattering contributions to the intensity in the weak localization regime. The so-called ladder and crossed diagrams are generalized to the case of atoms and permit to calculate enhancement factors and backscattering intensity profiles for polarized light and any closed atomic dipole transition.Comment: 22 pages Revtex, 9 figures, to appear in PR