How Labor-Management Partnerships Improve Patient Care, Cost Control, and Labor Relations: Case Studies of Fletcher Allen Health Care, Kaiser Permanente, and Montefiore Medical Center’s Care Management Corporation

[Excerpt] This paper explores the ways in which healthcare unions and their members are strategically engaging with management through partnership to control costs and improve the patient experience, clinical outcomes, workplace environment, and labor relations. These initiatives depend on making use of the knowledge of front-line healthcare workers, improving communication between all staff members, and increasing transparency. In turn, these initiatives can also lead to more robust and dynamic local unions. Through participating in joint work activities, many union members note feeling more respected in their workplace and more connected to their union. Unions can benefit from these activities by offering their members the ability to inform decisions about how work gets done

Stop-Catalyzed Baryogenesis Beyond the MSSM

Non-minimal supersymmetric models that predict a tree-level Higgs mass above the Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model (MSSM) bound are well motivated by naturalness considerations. Indirect constraints on the stop sector parameters of such models are significantly relaxed compared to the MSSM; in particular, both stops can have weak-scale masses. We revisit the stop-catalyzed electroweak baryogenesis (EWB) scenario in this context. We find that the LHC measurements of the Higgs boson production and decay rates already rule out the possibility of stop-catalyzed EWB. We also introduce a gauge-invariant analysis framework that may generalize to other scenarios in which interactions outside the gauge sector drive the electroweak phase transition.Comment: 9 pages, 3 figures. v2: Minor changes. Added appendix with the details of the higgs couplings fit. References adde

Biological control of the cherry fruit fly, Rhagoletis cerasi L. (Diptera, Tephriti-dae) by use of entomopathogenic nematodes: first experiences towards practi-cal implementation.

The use of entomopathogenic nematodes (EPN) is a promising approach to control the cherry fruit fly, Rhagoletis cerasi L.. We already demonstrated the high potential of EPN to infect larvae after leaving the cherry for pupation in the soil in laboratory and field experiments. For practice, an appli-cation technique is needed, that is both, grower- and EPN friendly. We tested a tractor mounted spray boom for treatment under the canopy area. The achieved rate of EPN in the soil met the ex-pectations. The activity of EPN in soil samples was high after application, but dropped to 60% of the initial activity within one week. Exact forecasting of larval drop from cherries is another major chal-lenge. To obtain basic data, we recorded the phenology of infestation and larval emergence on trees which were not harvested. Sequential infestation on the same cherry variety was observed and larvae dropped from individual trees for several weeks

Secondary Photons from High-energy Protons Accelerated in Hypernovae

Recent observations show that hypernovae may deposit some fraction of their kinetic energy in mildly relativistic ejecta. In the dissipation process of such ejecta in a stellar wind, cosmic ray protons can be accelerated up to $\sim 10^{19}$ eV. We discuss the TeV to MeV gamma-ray and the X-ray photon signatures of cosmic rays accelerated in hypernovae. Secondary X-ray photons, emitted by electron-positron pairs produced via cascade processes due to high-energy protons, are the most promising targets for X-ray telescopes. Synchrotron photons emitted by protons can appear in the GeV band, requiring nearby ($<40$ Mpc) hypernovae for detection with GLAST. In addition, air Cherenkov telescopes may be able to detect regenerated TeV photons emitted by electron-positron pairs generated by CMB attenuation of $\pi^0$ decay photons.Comment: Accepted by ApJ

Glacial cycles drive variations in the production of oceanic crust

Glacial cycles redistribute water between oceans and continents causing pressure changes in the upper mantle, with consequences for melting of Earth's interior. Using Plio-Pleistocene sea-level variations as a forcing function, theoretical models of mid-ocean ridge dynamics that include melt transport predict temporal variations in crustal thickness of hundreds of meters. New bathymetry from the Australian-Antarctic ridge shows significant spectral energy near the Milankovitch periods of 23, 41, and 100 ky, consistent with model predictions. These results suggest that abyssal hills, one of the most common bathymetric features on Earth, record the magmatic response to changes in sea level. The models and data support a link between glacial cycles at the surface and mantle melting at depth, recorded in the bathymetric fabric of the sea floor.Comment: 30 pages, 6 figures (including supplementary information). Resubmitted to Science on 12 December 201