Complexity Science Models of Financing Health and Social Security Fiscal Gaps

Many think health and Social Security markets and social insurance programs are broken because they are increasingly unaffordable for too many Americans. Bending the cost curve down has become a standard reference term for the main objective of reform proposals to slow cost increases or even reduce them. This paper presents an alternative model with preliminary results of statistical analyses of complexity science simulation models with historical data that quickly bend the GDP curve up to increase affordability. This paper looks beyond popular reform models to self-organizing complexity science models based on chemistry, physics, and biology theories to suggest sustainable, long-term financial reform proposals. The foundation of these proposals is not based on orthodox market failure economic models but rather on thermodynamics in general and the time evolution of Shannon information entropy in particular:complexity science,financing fiscal gaps, health and Social Security, & macroeconomics

Characterisation of host growth after infection with a broad-range freshwater cyanopodophage

Freshwater cyanophages are poorly characterised in comparison to their marine counterparts, however, the level of genetic diversity that exists in freshwater cyanophage communities is likely to exceed that found in marine environments, due to the habitat heterogeneity within freshwater systems. Many cyanophages are specialists, infecting a single host species or strain; however, some are less fastidious and infect a number of different host genotypes within the same species or even hosts from different genera. Few instances of host growth characterisation after infection by broad host-range phages have been described. Here we provide an initial characterisation of interactions between a cyanophage isolated from a freshwater fishing lake in the south of England and its hosts. Designated ΦMHI42, the phage is able to infect isolates from two genera of freshwater cyanobacteria, Planktothrix and Microcystis. Transmission Electron Microscopy and Atomic Force Microscopy indicate that ΦMHI42 is a member of the Podoviridae, albeit with a larger than expected capsid. The kinetics of host growth after infection with ΦMHI42 differed across host genera, species and strains in a way that was not related to the growth rate of the uninfected host. To our knowledge, this is the first characterisation of the growth of cyanobacteria in the presence of a broad host-range freshwater cyanophage

Evaluating the Rationale for Folding Wing Tips Comparing the Exergy and Breguet Approaches

The design and development processes for future aircraft aims to address the environmental and efficiency challenges needed to facilitate the engineering of concepts that are far more integrated and require a multidisciplinary approach. This study investigates the benefit of incorporating span extension wing tips onto future aircraft configurations as a method of providing improved aerodynamic efficiency, whilst allowing the extension to fold on the ground to meet airport gate size constraints. Although the actuated wing tips are not studied in detail, the focus of this study is to compare two different methods of analysis that can be used to identify the benefit and limitations of adding such devices. The two methods considered are a quasi-steady implicit energy analysis based on the Breguet Range Equation and an explicit energy analysis based on the first and second laws of thermodynamics known as Exergy Analysis. It has been found that both methods provide agreeable results and have individual merits. The Breguet Range Equation can provide quick results in early design, whilst the Exergy Analysis has been found to be far more extensive and allows the complete dynamic behaviour of the aircraft to be assessed through a single metric. Hence, allowing comparison of losses from multiple subsystems

An investigation into the effect on skin surface temperature of three cryotherapy modalities

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the comparative cooling effect at the knee, of Crushed Ice and two commonly used commercial cryotherapy modalities, following a clinically relevant application of 20 minutes. DESIGN: Within subjects, randomised cross over design. SETTING: University Laboratory PARTICIPANTS: Eleven healthy male participants MAIN OUTCOME Measures: Skin temperature over the anterior knee measured by thermal imaging camera. RESULTS: Mean absolute baseline skin surface temperature (Tsk) was 28.4ºC (±1.2 ºC). The greatest reduction in Tsk was produced by Crushed Ice D14.6 ºC (±3.7 ºC) resulting in an absolute Tsk of 13.8 ºC; followed by Ice Man D12.3 ºC (±2.4 ºC) resulting in an absolute Tsk of 16.1ºC and then Arctic Flow D4.9 ºC (±1.3 ºC) resulting in an absolute Tsk of 23.5ºC. One-way ANOVA revealed significant differences (p<.05) between modalities for change in Tsk. CONCLUSIONS: Crushed Ice and Ice Man produced very similar results following a 20 minute application to healthy adult male knees, however only Crushed Ice resulted in a skin temperature in the desired 10-15°C therapeutic range, results for Ice Man were just above this range. The resultant skin temperature following a similar application of Arctic Flow was well above the therapeutic range

Effects of Thermal Processing on Peach Puree of Different Cultivars: Analysis of Biochemical Alteration, Non-enzymatic Browning Reaction, and Color Changes

The effects of pasteurization temperature and time on the change in seven peach puree variables over a 6-week accelerated shelf-life test (35°C) were evaluated. The variables of interest were three color measures [ L* (lightness), a* (redness), and b* (yellowness)]; two brown pigment measures [spectrophotometric absorption at 420 nm (Browning Index) and 443 nm (Hydroxymethylfurfural)]; °Brix; and pH). Puree was collected from three different cultivars (2 freestone and 1 clingstone) and puree samples from each cultivar were subjected to 20 combinations of pasteurization temperatures (70°C, 80°C, 90 °C, 100°C) and same hold times (0 minutes, 1 minute, 3 minutes, 5 minutes, and 10 minutes). This resulted in 60 total combinations of cultivar, temperature, and hold times. The changes in the seven total peach puree variables over the 6-week accelerated shelf-life test were evaluated for all 60 combinations. Resulting data on the effects of increasing temperature and hold time on shelf-life changes in the seven variables varied inconsistently throughout this study; yet some minute trends were detected. Inconsistency in the results may be due to the imitated duration time of testing. This experimentation should be repeated with an increased testing period

A LAYERED FRAMEWORK FOR SURGICAL SIMULATION DEVELOPMENT

The field of surgical simulation is still in its infancy, and a number of projects are attempting to take the next step towards becoming the de facto standard for surgical simulation development, an ambition shared by the framework described here. Dubbed AutoMan, this framework has four main goals: a) to provide a common interface to simulation subsystems, b) allow the replacement of these underlying technologies, c) encourage collaboration between independent research projects and, d) expand the on targeted user base of similar frameworks. AutoMan\u27s layered structure provides an abstraction from implementation details providing the common user interface. Being highly modular and built on SOFA, the framework is highly extensible allowing algorithms and modules to be replaced or modified easily. This extensibility encourages collaboration as newly developed modules can be incorporated allowing the framework itself to grow and evolve with the industry. Also, making the programming interface easy to use caters to casual developers who are likely to add functionality to the system