Clayton Act Scrutiny of Nonprofit Hospital Mergers: The Wrong Rx for Ailing Institutions

The Sherman and Clayton antitrust laws have long been used to challenge anticompetitive mergers between for-profit entities. Recently, the federal government began challenging mergers between nonprofit hospitals under the Clayton Act. Two federal circuit courts are divided on whether nonprofit mergers are subject to Clayton Act scrutiny. This Comment examines the statutory interpretations and the policy arguments suggested by the two cases, and concludes that the Clayton Act does not, and should not, apply to nonprofit hospital mergers

Research Into Tennessee\u27s Achievement School District: Autonomy, Incentives, and Guidance for Providers

This is the first in a series of reports based on a multi-year research project on the Tennessee Achievement School District (ASD). The purpose of these reports is to present independent analyses based on evidence, as well as the experience and judgment of the research team. The current discussion examines the ASD’s theory of action, and considers how its system of accountability and guidance could influence the nature of students’ educational experiences. Particular attention is given to the diversity of approaches among the organizations operating schools in the ASD, and the extent to which this could lead to meaningful comparisons, discussion, and ultimately organizational learning. Our focus on organizational learning is motivated by the belief that the capacity of ASD providers to learn and improve is critical to the success of the overall enterprise

Low temperature superlattice in monoclinic PZT

TEM has shown that the strongly piezoelectric material Pb(Zr0.52Ti0.48)O3 separates into two phases at low temperatures. The majority phase is the monoclinic phase previously found by x-ray diffraction. The minority phase, with a nanoscale coherence length, is a slightly distorted variant of the first resulting from the anti-phase rotation of the oxygen octahedra about [111]. This work clears up a recent controversy about the origin of superlattice peaks in these materials, and supports recent theoretical results predicting the coexistence of ferroelectric and rotational instabilities.Comment: REVTeX4, 4 eps figures embedded. JPG version of figs. 2&4 is also include

High-Performance Atomically-Thin Room-Temperature NO2 Sensor.

The development of room-temperature sensing devices for detecting small concentrations of molecular species is imperative for a wide range of low-power sensor applications. We demonstrate a room-temperature, highly sensitive, selective, stable, and reversible chemical sensor based on a monolayer of the transition-metal dichalcogenide Re0.5Nb0.5S2. The sensing device exhibits a thickness-dependent carrier type, and upon exposure to NO2 molecules, its electrical resistance considerably increases or decreases depending on the layer number. The sensor is selective to NO2 with only minimal response to other gases such as NH3, CH2O, and CO2. In the presence of humidity, not only are the sensing properties not deteriorated but also the monolayer sensor shows complete reversibility with fast recovery at room temperature. We present a theoretical analysis of the sensing platform and identify the atomically sensitive transduction mechanism

Study of ash deposition during coal combustion under oxyfuel conditions

This paper presents a comparative study on ash deposition of two selected coals, Russian coal and lignite, under oxyfuel (O₂/CO₂) and air combustion conditions. The comparison is based on experimental results and subsequent evaluation of the data and observed trends. Deposited as well as remaining filter ash (fine ash) samples were subjected to XRD and ICP analyses in order to study the chemical composition and mineral transformations undergone in the ash under the combustion conditions. The experimental results show higher deposition propensities under oxyfuel conditions; the possible reasons for this are investigated by analyzing the parameters affecting the ash deposition phenomena. Particle size seems to be larger for the Russian coal oxy-fired ash, leading to increased impaction on the deposition surfaces. The chemical and mineralogical compositions do not seem to differ significantly between air and oxyfuel conditions. The differences in the physical properties of the flue gas between air combustion and oxyfuel combustion, e.g. density, viscosity, molar heat capacity, lead to changes in the flow field (velocities, particle trajectory and temperature) that together with the ash particle size shift seem to play a role in the observed ash deposition phenomenaThe work presented was financially supported by the RFCS projects BOFCOM and ECOSCRUB, the Dutch National project CATO2, and the Dutch National program EOS-LT, Consortium Biomass Co-firing. The fine work of Peter Heere in operating the reactor is highly acknowledgedPublicad

In vivo correction of anaemia in beta-thalassemic mice by gammaPNA-mediated gene editing with nanoparticle delivery

The blood disorder, beta-thalassaemia, is considered an attractive target for gene correction. Site-specific triplex formation has been shown to induce DNA repair and thereby catalyse genome editing. Here we report that triplex-forming peptide nucleic acids (PNAs) substituted at the gamma position plus stimulation of the stem cell factor (SCF)/c-Kit pathway yielded high levels of gene editing in haematopoietic stem cells (HSCs) in a mouse model of human beta-thalassaemia. Injection of thalassemic mice with SCF plus nanoparticles containing gammaPNAs and donor DNAs ameliorated the disease phenotype, with sustained elevation of blood haemoglobin levels into the normal range, reduced reticulocytosis, reversal of splenomegaly and up to 7% beta-globin gene correction in HSCs, with extremely low off-target effects. The combination of nanoparticle delivery, next generation gammaPNAs and SCF treatment may offer a minimally invasive treatment for genetic disorders of the blood that can be achieved safely and simply by intravenous administration