Reliability, Validity, and Responsiveness of InFLUenza Patient-Reported Outcome (FLU-PRO©) Scores in Influenza-Positive Patients

Objectives: To assess the reliability, validity, and responsiveness of InFLUenza Patient-Reported Outcome (FLU-PRO©) scores for quantifying the presence and severity of influenza symptoms. Methods: An observational prospective cohort study of adults (≥18 years) with influenza-like illness in the United States, the United Kingdom, Mexico, and South America was conducted. Participants completed the 37-item draft FLU-PRO daily for up to 14 days. Item-level and factor analyses were used to remove items and determine factor structure. Reliability of the final tool was estimated using Cronbach α and intraclass correlation coefficients (2-day reliability). Convergent and known-groups validity and responsiveness were assessed using global assessments of influenza severity and return to usual health. Results: Of the 536 patients enrolled, 221 influenza-positive subjects comprised the analytical sample. The mean age of the patients was 40.7 years, 60.2% were women, and 59.7% were white. The final 32-item measure has six factors/domains (nose, throat, eyes, chest/respiratory, gastrointestinal, and body/systemic), with a higher order factor representing symptom severity overall (comparative fit index = 0.92; root mean square error of approximation = 0.06). Cronbach α was high (total = 0.92; domain range = 0.71–0.87); test-retest reliability (intraclass correlation coefficient, day 1–day 2) was 0.83 for total scores and 0.57 to 0.79 for domains. Day 1 FLU-PRO domain and total scores were moderately to highly correlated (≥0.30) with Patient Global Rating of Flu Severity (except nose and throat). Consistent with known-groups validity, scores differentiated severity groups on the basis of global rating (total: F = 57.2, P < 0.001; domains: F = 8.9–67.5, P < 0.001). Subjects reporting return to usual health showed significantly greater (P < 0.05) FLU-PRO score improvement by day 7 than did those who did not, suggesting score responsiveness. Conclusions: Results suggest that FLU-PRO scores are reliable, valid, and responsive to change in influenza-positive adults

Ad Allocation for Browse Sessions

A user’s session of information need often goes well beyond his search query and first click on the search result page and therefore is characterized by both search and browse activities on the web. Such a session can be effectively represented by the browse graph over the nodes visited by the user in the session. Thus as the user transitions between pages in the browse graph, the effectiveness of ads (clickto-conversion ratio) he sees on these pages could change. On the other hand, the advertisers valuation for a user also depends upon past events in the browse session (a.k.a. an externality), e.g. a shoe company may value a user differently in a browse session if he has not been shown any other shoe ads. In another instance, his valuation may be concave in the number of times the ad is shown to the user in the same session. We note that the advertiser’s valuation is derived from the conversion that a click might lead to. Often, this is not correlated with the click for which the advertiser typically pays. The first contribution of our study is to show that the click to conversion ratio (CtoC) of a user depends on the past events in the session. To this end, we analyze logs of user activity over a period of one month from Microsoft AdCenter Delivery Engine to identify the source, nature and the extent of externality present in the CtoC ratio as a function of past events. Specifically, we address externalities from past exposure of the user to self and competing advertisers. We then propose a new bidding language that allows the advertiser to specify his valuation of a user’s click as a function of these externalities. We show the hardness of computing an optimal ad allocation in this setting and give efficient algorithms under some practical assumptions. Finally, we conduct an extensive empirical analysis on real data to measure effectiveness of our proposed allocation schemes using the Bing AdCenter delivery engine logs. Work done while the author was an intern at Microsof

Efficacy and mechanistic insights into endocrine disruptor degradation using atmospheric air plasma

Endocrine disruptors are a class of contaminants found in water and process effluents at low concentrations. They are of concern due to their high estrogenic potency. Their presence in the environment has led to the search for effective techniques for their removal in wastewater. For this purpose, an atmospheric air plasma reactor was employed for the study of the degradation of three endocrine disruptor chemicals (EDC) namely; bisphenol A (BPA), estrone (E1) and 17β-estradiol (E2) within a model dairy effluent. Identification of the plasma induced active species both in the gas and liquid phases were performed. Also studied was the influence of an inhibitor, namely tertiary butanol, on the degradation of the EDCs. The results demonstrate that air plasma could successfully degrade the tested EDCs, achieving efficacies of 93% (k = 0.189 min−1) for BPA, 83% (k = 0.132 min−1) for E1 and 86% (k = 0.149 min−1) for E2, with the process following first order kinetics. The removal efficacy was reduced in the presence of a radical scavenger confirming the key role of oxygen radicals such as radical dotOH in the degradation process. The intermediate and final products generated in the degradation process were identified using UHPLC-MS and LC-MS. Based on the intermediates identified a proposed degradation pathway is presented

Measurement of grass uptake of the urease inhibitor NBPT and of the nitrification inhibitor dicyandiamide co-applied with granular urea

Grass uptake and phytoaccumulation factors of N-(n-butyl) thiophosphoric triamide (NBPT) and dicyandiamide (DCD) were quantified. Following the application of urea fertilizer treated with the inhibitors in Irish grassland, grass samples were collected at 5, 10, 15, 20, and 30 day time intervals following five application cycles. Uptake of NBPT by grass was below the limit of quantitation of the analytical method (0.010 mg NBPT kg-1). Dicyandiamide concentrations in grass ranged from 0.004 to 28 mg kg-1 with the highest concentrations measured on days 5 and 10. A reducing trend in concentration was found after day 15. The DCD phytoaccumulation factor was ranged from 0.004% to 1.1% showing that DCD can be taken up by grass at low levels when co-applied with granular urea. In contrast, NBPT was not detected indicating that grass uptake is unlikely when co-applied with granular urea fertilizer. The contrasting results are likely due to very different longevity of DCD and NBPT along with the much lower rate of NBPT, which is used compared with DCD

Creating sustainable practice in a museum context: adopting service-centricity in non-profit museums

The main purpose of this study is the identification of issues from a consumer perspective that can assist in the creation of sustainable museums. This work specifically focuses on customer research including the service encounter experience. It has been suggested museum sustainability is questionable in the long term, with a need for fundamental change in the mental modes and attitudes assumed in the management of the sector, in particular the need for more effective and appropriate marketing strategies. Adopting a qualitative research approach, twenty consultant customers kept a service encounter diary and were subsequently interviewed in-depth. These scripts were analyzed thematically until theoretical saturation was achieved. Findings indicate many issues focusing on the creation of reflective spaces, self-paced consumption, solitude versus social exchange, the need for supplementary service to be more effectively developed, improvement in non custodial servicescapes and the relationships of satisfaction to process and amenities. Implications for management and research have been highlighted