Tip Reporting In Independent Food And Beverage Establishments

Tip reporting has always been an issue for the IRS. What happens when individuals under-report their tip income? History has shown that a large burden is placed upon the restaurants for the additional taxes that are lost due to unreported tip income. Using focus group interviews and survey research, this study addresses four research questions: 1. Do restaurant employers understand the tip reporting requirements? ; 2. Where does the IRS place the burden of record keeping and payment of lost taxes? ; 3. Are restaurants aware of the tip reporting resources available to them? ; 4. What are the implications of under-reporting tip income

Laparoscopic Repair of Colonic Anastomotic Leak in an Elderly Patient

Laparoscopic surgery may be extended to a wider variety of colorectal emergencies in a carefully selected group of patients, including the elderly

Remote state preparation and teleportation in phase space

Continuous variable remote state preparation and teleportation are analyzed using Wigner functions in phase space. We suggest a remote squeezed state preparation scheme between two parties sharing an entangled twin beam, where homodyne detection on one beam is used as a conditional source of squeezing for the other beam. The scheme works also with noisy measurements, and provide squeezing if the homodyne quantum efficiency is larger than 50%. Phase space approach is shown to provide a convenient framework to describe teleportation as a generalized conditional measurement, and to evaluate relevant degrading effects, such the finite amount of entanglement, the losses along the line, and the nonunit quantum efficiency at the sender location.Comment: 2 figures, revised version to appear in J.Opt.

Sexual and social stimuli elicit rapid and contrasting genomic responses

Sensory physiology has been shown to influence female mate choice, yet little is known about the mechanisms within the brain that regulate this critical behaviour. Here we examine preference behaviour of 58 female swordtails, Xiphophorus nigrensis, in four different social environments (attractive and unattractive males, females only, non-attractive males only and asocial conditions) followed by neural gene expression profiling. We used a brain-specific cDNA microarray to identify patterns of genomic response and candidate genes, followed by quantitative PCR (qPCR) examination of gene expression with variation in behaviour. Our microarray results revealed patterns of genomic response differing more between classes of social stimuli than between presence versus absence of stimuli. We identified suites of genes showing diametrically opposed patterns of expression: genes that are turned ‘on’ while females interact with attractive males are turned ‘off’ when interacting with other females, and vice versa. Our qPCR results identified significant predictive relationships between five candidate genes and specific mate choice behaviours (preference and receptivity) across females exposed to males, with no significant patterns identified in female or asocial conditions or with overall locomotor activity. The identification of stimulus- and behaviour-specific responses opens an exciting window into the molecular pathways associated with social behaviour and mechanisms that underlie sexual selection

Quantum state engineering assisted by entanglement

We suggest a general scheme for quantum state engineering based on conditional measurements carried out on entangled twin-beam of radiation. Realistic detection schemes such as {\sc on/off} photodetection, homodyne detection and joint measurement of two-mode quadratures are analyzed in details. Imperfections of the apparatuses, such as nonunit quantum efficiency and finite resolution, are taken into account. We show that conditional {\sc on/off} photodetection provides a reliable scheme to verify nonclassicality, whereas conditional homodyning represents a tunable and robust source of squeezed light. We also describe optical teleportation as a conditional measurement, and evaluate the degrading effects of finite amount of entanglement, decoherence due to losses, and nonunit quantum efficiency.Comment: Some pics with low resolution. Originals at http://www.qubit.i

Multicentre evaluation of the Boehringer Mannheim/Hitachi 917 analysis system

The new selective access analysis system BM/Hitachi 917 was evaluated in an international multicentre study, mainly according to the ECCLS protocol for the evaluation of analysers in clinical chemistry. Forty-three different analytes, covering 56 different methods enzymes, substrates, electrolytes, specific proteins, drugs and urine applications were tested in seven European clinical chemistry laboratories. Additionally, the practicability of the BM/ Hitachi 917 was tested according to a standardized questionnaire. Within-run CVs (median of 3 days) for enzymes, substrates and electrolytes were <2% except for creatine-kinase MB isoform and lipase at low concentration. For proteins, drugs and urine analytes the within-run CVs were < 4% except for digoxin and albumin in urine. Between-day median CVs were generally < 3% for enzymes, substrates and electrolytes, and < 6% for proteins, drugs and urine analytes, except for lipase, creatine kinase and MB isoform, D-dimer, glycosylated haemoglobin, rheumatoid factors, digoxin, digitoxin, theophylline and albumin in urine in some materials. Linearity was found according to the test specifications or better and there were no relevant effects seen in drift and carry-over testing. The interference results clearly show that also for the BM/Hitachi 917 interference exists sometimes, as could be expected because of the chemistries applied. It is a situation that can be found in equivalent analysers as well. The accuracy is acceptable regarding a 95–105% recovery in standard reference material, with the exception of the creatinine Jaffé method. Most of the 160 method comparisons showed acceptable agreement according to our criteria: enzymes, substrates, urine analytes deviation of slope ± 5%, electrolytes ± 3%, and proteins and drugs ± 10%. The assessment of practicability for 14 groups of attributes resulted in a grading of one–three scores better for the BM/Hitachi 917 than the present laboratory situation. In conclusion, the results of the study showed good analytical performance and confirmed the usefulness of the system as a consolidated workstation in medium-sized to large clinical chemistry laboratories

Thank You to Our 2020 Peer Reviewers

Thank you to the reviewers of AGU Advances. In 2020, we all faced the enormous and unexpected challenges of the Covid‐19 pandemic, with its host of new and competing demands on our time. Thus, we are especially grateful to the 154 people who provided reviews for AGU Advances and helped our fledgling journal complete its first year. Peer‐review is essential to the process of doing and publishing science, and our reviewers have helped define our new journal by indicating papers expected to have broad impact that advance a discipline, have broad impact across disciplines, or have policy relevance. All papers submitted to AGU Advances first go through an editorial consultation. We are committed to respecting reviewers’ time and only send papers for review that the consulting editors agree meet our criteria. Sometimes this means we send papers back to the authors with suggestions how to improve the fit to our journal. Another way we try to streamline the review process is by giving the authors the option to transfer reviews if after review we decide the paper is better suited to another AGU journal. As a relatively new journal, we still have few enough reviewers that we do not want to identify them by name. Nonetheless, you know who you are. Please accept our sincere thanks for generously sharing your expertise and working to improve AGU Advances

Confronting Racism to Advance Our Science

As individuals serving on the AGU Advances editorial board, we condemn racism, affirm that Black Lives Matter, and recognize that inequality is built into the systems that have allowed us to prosper. We aim to persistently foster discussion about racism, inequity, and the need to make our community more diverse and inclusive. This will help AGU Advances do a better job in publishing important science that inclusively reflects the ideas and contributions of all in our community

Assessment of ultra-sensitive malaria diagnosis versus standard molecular diagnostics for malaria elimination : an in-depth molecular community cross-sectional study

Submicroscopic malaria infections contribute to transmission in exposed populations but their extent is underestimated even by standard molecular diagnostics. Sophisticated sampling and ultra-sensitive molecular methods can maximise test sensitivity but are not feasible in routine surveillance. Here we investigate the gains achievable by using increasingly sensitive methods with the aim to understand what diagnostic sensitivity is necessary to guide malaria interventions.; Venous blood samples were collected from participants in a cross-sectional survey in two coastal medium-endemic villages in Madang province, Papua New Guinea. Using ultra-sensitive quantitative PCR (us-qPCR) on concentrated high-volume blood samples (2 mL) as reference, we quantified the proportion of Plasmodium falciparum and Plasmodium vivax infections and gametocyte carriers detectable in fingerprick blood volumes (200 μL) by standard 18S rRNA qPCR, us-qPCR, rapid diagnostic test (RDT), and ultra-sensitive P falciparum RDT. We further compared the epidemiological patterns observed with each diagnostic approach in the study population.; Venous blood samples were collected from 300 participants between Dec 5, 2016, and Feb 24, 2017 (ie, during peak rainy season). Standard qPCR identified 87 (54%) of 161 P falciparum infections and 73 (52%) of 141 P vivax infections detected by the reference method. us-qPCR identified an additional 11 (7%) P falciparum infections and 14 (10%) P vivax infections. 80 (86%) of 93 P falciparum gametocyte carriers and 75 (91%) of 82 P vivax gametocyte carriers were found among infections detectable by us-qPCR. Ultra-sensitive RDT missed half of P falciparum infections detected by standard qPCR, including high gametocytaemic infections. Epidemiological patterns corresponded well between standard qPCR and the reference method. As the prevalence of P vivax decreased with increasing age, the proportion of P vivax infections undetectable by standard qPCR increased.; Almost all potentially transmitting parasite carriers were identified with us-qPCR on fingerprick blood volumes. Analysing larger blood volumes revealed a large pool of ultra-low-density P falciparum and P vivax infections, which are unlikely to be transmitted. Therefore, current RDTs cannot replace molecular diagnostics for identifying potential P falciparum transmitters.; Swiss National Science Foundation