The Price-Quality Paradox in Healthcare

This data brief compares average state-level prices against quality measures for asthma, diabetes and hypertension care and finds that higher prices for medical services are not always indicative of higher quality of care

Hippocampal BDNF regulates a shift from flexible, goal-directed to habit memory system function following cocaine abstinence.

The transition from recreational drug use to addiction involves pathological learning processes that support a persistent shift from flexible, goal-directed to habit behavioral control. Here, we examined the molecular mechanisms supporting altered function in hippocampal (HPC) and dorsolateral striatum (DLS) memory systems following abstinence from repeated cocaine. After 3 weeks of cocaine abstinence (experimenter- or self-administered), we tested new behavioral learning in male rats using a dual-solution maze task, which provides an unbiased approach to assess HPC- versus DLS-dependent learning strategies. Dorsal hippocampus (dHPC) and DLS brain tissues were collected after memory testing to identify transcriptional adaptations associated with cocaine-induced shifts in behavioral learning. Our results demonstrate that following prolonged cocaine abstinence rats show a bias toward the use of an inflexible, habit memory system (DLS) in lieu of a more flexible, easily updated memory system involving the HPC. This memory system bias was associated with upregulation and downregulation of brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) gene expression and transcriptionally permissive histone acetylation (acetylated histone H3, AcH3) in the DLS and dHPC, respectively. Using viral-mediated gene transfer, we overexpressed BDNF in the dHPC during cocaine abstinence and new maze learning. This manipulation restored HPC-dependent behavioral control. These findings provide a system-level understanding of altered plasticity and behavioral learning following cocaine abstinence and inform mechanisms mediating the organization of learning and memory more broadly

Drainage Considerations and Stormwater Structure Rehabilitation

Throughout the United States there are millions of culverts that have exceeded their design life. Some of these antique structures were built by stone masons and craftsmen over 100 years ago, while others were installed using common materials that have rusted or crumbled over time. This presentation will address common drainage considerations, the factors that lead to culvert deterioration, and considerations for utilizing rehabilitation methods for long-term service and preservation

Central Asia and the globalisation of the contemporary legal consciousness

What is the logic which governs the processes of legal globalization? How does the transnational proliferation of legal forms operate in the contemporary geo-juridical space? What are the main defining characteristics of the currently dominant mode of transnational legal consciousness and how can the concept of legal consciousness help us understand better the historical ebb and flow of the Western-led projects of good governance promotion in regions like Central Asia after the fall of the Soviet Union? Using Duncan Kennedy’s seminal essay Three Globalizations of Law and Legal Thought as its starting platform, this essay seeks to explore these and a series of other related questions, while also drawing on the work of the Greek Marxist lawyer-philosopher Nicos Poulantzas to help elucidate some latent analytical stress-points in Kennedy’s broader theoretical framework. Reacting against the neo-Orientalist tone adopted across much of the contemporary field of Central Asian studies, it develops an alternative account of the internal history of the legal-globalizational encounter between the Western-based reform entrepreneurs and the national legal-political elites in Central Asia in the post-1991 period, complementing it with a detailed description of the general institutional and discursive structures within which this encounter took place

CO2 Sequestration by Allam Cycle

Natural gas powerplants account for 40% of the electricity generation in the United States[1] and 617 million tons of CO2 emissions a year[2]. The largest powerplants with carbon capture technology utilize a post-combustion absorption technology that must treat a large volume of flue gas and compress CO2 to pipeline specifications from near-ambient pressure. The Allam cycle, patented in 2013 by Rodney Allam, uses oxy-combustion and a supercritical CO2 stream as the working fluid to produce high-purity liquid pipeline CO2. While it was developed commercially at a 50-megawatt thermal (MWt) plant in 2018, the economics for a larger, 300 MW plant had not been documented. This project shows that under the current US tax code, the Allam cycle is less economical than the traditional natural gas combined cycle (NGCC) and NGCC with CDR. However, due to the over 99% capture rate, compared to 90% in post-combustion capture, the breakeven credit to traditional NGCC of $112/tonne for the Allam cycle is lower than the NGCC with CDR breakeven credit of$121/tonne. Similarly, for a desired IRR of 15%, the CO2 credit required for the Allam cycle is $163/tonne compared to$188/tonne for the NGCC with CDR. The Allam cycle provides increasingly better financial returns than the NGCC with CDR as the tax credit for sequestration rises. The results of this analysis were produced by first simulating both powerplants in Aspen Plus, and then conducting a discounted cash flow analysis for various scenarios

CCTV as a Tool for Early Police Intervention: Preliminary Lessons from Nine Case Studies.

This study explores the prospect of utilizing CCTV as an early intervention mechanism to detect and disrupt street-level activity that can lead to violence. The analysis focuses on nine case studies in Newark, NJ, incorporating data from several sources, including video footage, computer-aided dispatch (CAD) system incident data, CAD event chronologies and face-to-face interviews with CCTV operators. The findings suggest that the benefits offered by CCTV, namely the instantaneous discovery and reporting of crime, may be rendered incon- sequential by the process times associated with the differential-response policy of police dispatch. Potential methods by which police can more proactively utilize CCTV to prevent crime are discussed

An Appraisal of Rural and Community Banks in Ghana

MSMEs comprise essential elements in the lubrication and development of any economy. In Ghana, the story makes no remarkable difference as MSMEs outnumber the large businesses in the economy. Over the years the government of Ghana has devised a number of policies aimed at developing MSMEs including the establishment of NBSSI. While most policies actually failed due to poor implementation, others however, succeeded. Few studies have been made in the past to identify the role of MSMEs to the development of Ghana’s economy, its problems and prospects which created a vacuum on the role of government and other financial institutions in the development of MSMEs. This study evaluates the role of Rural and Community Banks as a powerful tool for the poverty alleviation and entrepreneurial development in Ghana. Relevant literatures were reviewed to bring out salient issues on the subject matter of this paper. It was discovered that Ghanaian MSMEs face many domestic challenges in achieving economies of scale. It was concluded that these challenges are question marks on the viability of the RCBs. Many factors were found to contribute to mediocre performance of RCBs. These factors include inadequate cohesive regulatory and supervisory system for the RCBs, shortage of human capital, lack of capital, inadequacy of IT knowledge and entrepreneurs’ personal shortcomings. The researchers recommend introduction of good legal, policy and regulatory environment for the RCBs. In addition, Government should pursue its decentralisation policies, particularly financial decentralisation, and ensure that funds meant for district assemblies are channelled through RCBs in their catchment areas. Keywords: Challenges, Employment generation, RCBs, MSMEs, Ghan