Relationship value benefits of membership programs, heterogeneous stakeholders and museum impact beyond fees

In times of decreasing public funding, cultural institutions such as museums increasingly develop new stakeholder management practices to build a different or more diversified support base. Recently, membership programs have especially been gaining popularity. In this paper, we adopt a relationship value approach to study the poorly understood behaviors of members that can benefit museums beyond membership fees. In particular, we focus on the extent to which membership level and the perceived prestige of the museum drive value co-creation through prestige leveraging. We study this by using a sample of 430 members and non-members of the Hermitage Museum in Amsterdam. We find that membership level is positively related with cross-buying behavior at the museum store and restaurant, and recommending the museum. In addition, these value creating behaviors are mediated by members leveraging the museum's prestige in their social environment. In contrast, we find a negative relationship between membership level and recruiting new members into the program, which could be explained by status dilution effects

Volume Tracking: A new method for quantitative assessment and visualization of intracardiac blood flow from three-dimensional, time-resolved, three-component magnetic resonance velocity mapping

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Functional and morphological changes of the heart influence blood flow patterns. Therefore, flow patterns may carry diagnostic and prognostic information. Three-dimensional, time-resolved, three-directional phase contrast cardiovascular magnetic resonance (4D PC-CMR) can image flow patterns with unique detail, and using new flow visualization methods may lead to new insights. The aim of this study is to present and validate a novel visualization method with a quantitative potential for blood flow from 4D PC-CMR, called Volume Tracking, and investigate if Volume Tracking complements particle tracing, the most common visualization method used today.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Eight healthy volunteers and one patient with a large apical left ventricular aneurysm underwent 4D PC-CMR flow imaging of the whole heart. Volume Tracking and particle tracing visualizations were compared visually side-by-side in a visualization software package. To validate Volume Tracking, the number of particle traces that agreed with the Volume Tracking visualizations was counted and expressed as a percentage of total released particles in mid-diastole and end-diastole respectively. Two independent observers described blood flow patterns in the left ventricle using Volume Tracking visualizations.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Volume Tracking was feasible in all eight healthy volunteers and in the patient. Visually, Volume Tracking and particle tracing are complementary methods, showing different aspects of the flow. When validated against particle tracing, on average 90.5% and 87.8% of the particles agreed with the Volume Tracking surface in mid-diastole and end-diastole respectively. Inflow patterns in the left ventricle varied between the subjects, with excellent agreement between observers. The left ventricular inflow pattern in the patient differed from the healthy subjects.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Volume Tracking is a new visualization method for blood flow measured by 4D PC-CMR. Volume Tracking complements and provides incremental information compared to particle tracing that may lead to a better understanding of blood flow and may improve diagnosis and prognosis of cardiovascular diseases.</p

Removal of Lattice Imperfections that Impact the Optical Quality of Ti:Sapphire using Advanced Magnetorheological Finishing Techniques

Advanced magnetorheological finishing (MRF) techniques have been applied to Ti:sapphire crystals to compensate for sub-millimeter lattice distortions that occur during the crystal growing process. Precise optical corrections are made by imprinting topographical structure onto the crystal surfaces to cancel out the effects of the lattice distortion in the transmitted wavefront. This novel technique significantly improves the optical quality for crystals of this type and sets the stage for increasing the availability of high-quality large-aperture sapphire and Ti:sapphire optics in critical applications

Removal of Lattice Imperfections that Impact the Optical Quality of Ti:Sapphire using Advanced Magnetorheological Finishing Techniques

Ti:sapphire has become the premier lasing medium material for use in solid-state femtosecond high-peak power laser systems because of its wide wavelength tuning range. With a tuneable range from 680 to 1100 nm, peaking at 800 nm, Ti:sapphire lasing crystals can easily be tuned to the required pump wavelength and provide very high pump brightness due to their good beam quality and high output power of typically several watts. Femtosecond lasers are used for precision cutting and machining of materials ranging from steel to tooth enamel to delicate heart tissue and high explosives. These ultra-short pulses are too brief to transfer heat or shock to the material being cut, which means that cutting, drilling, and machining occur with virtually no damage to surrounding material. Furthermore, these lasers can cut with high precision, making hairline cuts of less than 100 microns in thick materials along a computer-generated path. Extension of laser output to higher energies is limited by the size of the amplification medium. Yields of high quality large diameter crystals have been constrained by lattice distortions that may appear in the boule limiting the usable area from which high quality optics can be harvested. Lattice distortions affect the transmitted wavefront of these optics which ultimately limits the high-end power output and efficiency of the laser system, particularly when operated in multi-pass mode. To make matters even more complicated, Ti:sapphire is extremely hard (Mohs hardness of 9 with diamond being 10) which makes it extremely difficult to accurately polish using conventional methods without subsurface damage or significant wavefront error. In this presentation, we demonstrate for the first time that Magnetorheological finishing (MRF) can be used to compensate for the lattice distortions in Ti:sapphire by perturbing the transmitted wavefront. The advanced MRF techniques developed allow for precise polishing of the optical inverse of lattice distortions with magnitudes of about 70 nm in optical path difference onto one or both of the optical surfaces to produce high quality optics from otherwise unusable Ti:sapphire crystals. The techniques include interferometric, software, and machine modifications to precisely locate and polish sub-millimeter sites onto the optical surfaces that can not be polished into the optics conventionally. This work may allow extension of Ti:sapphire based systems to peak powers well beyond one petawatt

Intra-arterial peptide-receptor radionuclide therapy for neuro-endocrine tumour liver metastases:an in-patient randomised controlled trial (LUTIA)

Purpose: Peptide receptor radionuclide therapy (PRRT) using [177Lu]Lu-DOTATATE has been shown to effectively prolong progression free survival in grade 1–2 gastroenteropancreatic neuroendocrine tumours (GEP-NET), but is less efficacious in patients with extensive liver metastases. The aim was to investigate whether tumour uptake in liver metastases can be enhanced by intra-arterial administration of [177Lu]Lu-DOTATATE into the hepatic artery, in order to improve tumour response without increasing toxicity. Methods: Twenty-seven patients with grade 1–2 GEP-NET, and bi-lobar liver metastases were randomized to receive intra-arterial PRRT in the left or right liver lobe for four consecutive cycles. The contralateral liver lobe and extrahepatic disease were treated via a “second-pass” effect and the contralateral lobe was used as the control lobe. Up to three metastases (&gt; 3 cm) per liver lobe were identified as target lesions at baseline on contrast-enhanced CT. The primary endpoint was the tumour-to-non-tumour (T/N) uptake ratio on the 24 h post-treatment [177Lu]Lu-SPECT/CT after the first cycle. This was calculated for each target lesion in both lobes using the mean uptake. T/N ratios in both lobes were compared using paired-samples t-test. Findings: After the first cycle, a non-significant difference in T/N uptake ratio was observed: T/NIA = 17·4 vs. T/Ncontrol = 16·2 (p = 0·299). The mean increase in T/N was 17% (1·17; 95% CI [1·00; 1·37]). Of all patients, 67% (18/27) showed any increase in T/N ratio after the first cycle. Conclusion: Intra-arterial [177Lu]Lu-DOTATATE is safe, but does not lead to a clinically significant increase in tumour uptake.</p

Inertial Fusion Energy's Role in Developing the Market for High Power Laser Diodes

Production-cost models for high-power laser-diodes indicate systems of 10GW peak power coupled with facilitization of semi-conductor manufacturing capacity could yield costs below $0.02/Watt. This is sufficient to make IFE competitive with other nuclear power technologies

Full System Operations of Mercury; A Diode-Pumped Solid-State Laser

Operation of the Mercury laser with two amplifiers activated has yielded 30 Joules at 1 Hz and 12 Joules at 10 Hz and over 8 x 10{sup 4} shots on the system. Static distortions in the Yb:S-FAP amplifiers were corrected by magneto rheological finishing technique

Diode-pumped solid-state lasers: next generation drivers for inertial fusion energy and high energy density plasma physics

We are in the process of developing and building a laser system as the first in a series of a new generation of diode-pumped solid-state Inertial Confinement Fusion (ICF) lasers at LLNL (see Fig. 1 below). This laser system named �Mercury� will be the first integrated demonstration of a scalable laser architecture compatible with advanced high energy density (HED) physics applications. Primary performance goals include 10% efficiencies at 10 Hz and a 1- 10 ns pulse with lo energies of 100 J and with 2(omega)J/3(omega) frequency conversion

Comprehensive 4D velocity mapping of the heart and great vessels by cardiovascular magnetic resonance

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Phase contrast cardiovascular magnetic resonance (CMR) is able to measure all three directional components of the velocities of blood flow relative to the three spatial dimensions and the time course of the heart cycle. In this article, methods used for the acquisition, visualization, and quantification of such datasets are reviewed and illustrated.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Currently, the acquisition of 3D cine (4D) phase contrast velocity data, synchronized relative to both cardiac and respiratory movements takes about ten minutes or more, even when using parallel imaging and optimized pulse sequence design. The large resulting datasets need appropriate post processing for the visualization of multidirectional flow, for example as vector fields, pathlines or streamlines, or for retrospective volumetric quantification.</p> <p>Applications</p> <p>Multidirectional velocity acquisitions have provided 3D visualization of large scale flow features of the healthy heart and great vessels, and have shown altered patterns of flow in abnormal chambers and vessels. Clinically relevant examples include retrograde streams in atheromatous descending aortas as potential thrombo-embolic pathways in patients with cryptogenic stroke and marked variations of flow visualized in common aortic pathologies. Compared to standard clinical tools, 4D velocity mapping offers the potential for retrospective quantification of flow and other hemodynamic parameters.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Multidirectional, 3D cine velocity acquisitions are contributing to the understanding of normal and pathologically altered blood flow features. Although more rapid and user-friendly strategies for acquisition and analysis may be needed before 4D velocity acquisitions come to be adopted in routine clinical CMR, their capacity to measure multidirectional flows throughout a study volume has contributed novel insights into cardiovascular fluid dynamics in health and disease.</p

4D Flow cardiovascular magnetic resonance consensus statement: 2023 update

Hemodynamic assessment is an integral part of the diagnosis and management of cardiovascular disease. Four-dimensional cardiovascular magnetic resonance flow imaging (4D Flow CMR) allows comprehensive and accurate assessment of flow in a single acquisition. This consensus paper is an update from the 2015 '4D Flow CMR Consensus Statement'. We elaborate on 4D Flow CMR sequence options and imaging considerations. The document aims to assist centers starting out with 4D Flow CMR of the heart and great vessels with advice on acquisition parameters, post-processing workflows and integration into clinical practice. Furthermore, we define minimum quality assurance and validation standards for clinical centers. We also address the challenges faced in quality assurance and validation in the research setting. We also include a checklist for recommended publication standards, specifically for 4D Flow CMR. Finally, we discuss the current limitations and the future of 4D Flow CMR. This updated consensus paper will further facilitate widespread adoption of 4D Flow CMR in the clinical workflow across the globe and aid consistently high-quality publication standards