Organizational Form and Performance: Evidence from the Hotel Industry

International audienceWe use a unique proprietary panel data set from a large hotel company to study how organizational form affects hotel pricing and performance. Aggregate data patterns suggest sizable performance differences between franchised and company-operated hotels. However, after controlling for other factors, we find that if significant at all, such differences are economically small. Moreover, once we endogenize the choice of organizational form, the differences become insignificant. We conclude that the company chooses which hotels to franchise and operate corporately such that, conditional on hotel and market characteristics, it obtains consistent outcomes across organizational forms

Regions important for the adhesin activity of Moraxella catarrhalis Hag

© 2007 Bullard et al; licensee BioMed Central Ltd. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Licens

Evaluating the Impacts of NASA/SPoRT Daily Greenness Vegetation Fraction on Land Surface Model and Numerical Weather Forecasts

The NASA Short-term Prediction Research and Transition (SPoRT) Center has developed a Greenness Vegetation Fraction (GVF) dataset, which is updated daily using swaths of Normalized Difference Vegetation Index data from the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) data aboard the NASA EOS Aqua and Terra satellites. NASA SPoRT began generating daily real-time GVF composites at 1-km resolution over the Continental United States (CONUS) on 1 June 2010. The purpose of this study is to compare the National Centers for Environmental Prediction (NCEP) climatology GVF product (currently used in operational weather models) to the SPoRT-MODIS GVF during June to October 2010. The NASA Land Information System (LIS) was employed to study the impacts of the SPoRT-MODIS GVF dataset on a land surface model (LSM) apart from a full numerical weather prediction (NWP) model. For the 2010 warm season, the SPoRT GVF in the western portion of the CONUS was generally higher than the NCEP climatology. The eastern CONUS GVF had variations both above and below the climatology during the period of study. These variations in GVF led to direct impacts on the rates of heating and evaporation from the land surface. In the West, higher latent heat fluxes prevailed, which enhanced the rates of evapotranspiration and soil moisture depletion in the LSM. By late Summer and Autumn, both the average sensible and latent heat fluxes increased in the West as a result of the more rapid soil drying and higher coverage of GVF. The impacts of the SPoRT GVF dataset on NWP was also examined for a single severe weather case study using the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model. Two separate coupled LIS/WRF model simulations were made for the 17 July 2010 severe weather event in the Upper Midwest using the NCEP and SPoRT GVFs, with all other model parameters remaining the same. Based on the sensitivity results, regions with higher GVF in the SPoRT model runs had higher evapotranspiration and lower direct surface heating, which typically resulted in lower (higher) predicted 2-m temperatures (2-m dewpoint temperatures). Portions of the Northern Plains states experienced substantial increases in convective available potential energy as a result of the higher SPoRT/MODIS GVFs. These differences produced subtle yet quantifiable differences in the simulated convective precipitation systems for this event

NanoWalker: a fully autonomous highly integrated miniature robot for nanoscale measurements

The aim of this project is to develop the smallest and most sophisticated wireless fully autonomous instrumented robot capable of subatomic movements. The robot named 'NanoWalker' should bring a new paradigm in the way instruments are built while providing a sophisticated platform for a new range of applications. The project involves primarily the investigation of a new legged locomotion based on piezo-actuators with advanced micro-assembly techniques applied to complex embedded electronic systems; the development of new miniature instruments, micro-manipulators, integrated behavior for controlling, searching and scanning at the atomic scale; and the development of a subatomic navigation system. Besides all the new technologies and techniques that we intend to develop and which will be applicable to many areas and systems, the NanoWalker should provide a suitable yet more flexible and powerful platform compared to traditional macro-scaled instruments. It is anticipated that this new form of highly integrated autonomous microsystem will be used as the main building block for a new generation of measurement and inspection systems. In this paper, the main components of the NanoWalker are briefly described.Seaver Institut

Investigating the Quality Dynamics of American Aroma Hops Intended for Dry-Hopping Beer

Historically, brewers have used dry-hopping (a cold extraction of nonvolatile and volatile chemicals from hops into fermenting or finished beer) to increase the microbial stability and shelf life of their beer. As hoppy beer styles have gained in popularity over the last decade (2007-2017), the objective of dry-hopping has turned to imparting hop aroma and flavor to beer while minimizing bitterness extraction. To extract hop aroma into beer, brewers have been using extreme hopping rates (sometimes > 0.7 kg/hL, equivalent to more than 18 lb/US bbl), which are mostly driven by increases in dry-hopping rates. These addition rates may be unsustainable from an agronomic perspective, potentially wasteful due to beer losses, and suboptimal at efficiently extracting aroma from hops. Therefore, the extraction efficiencies of a number of key hop volatile and nonvolatile constituents related to hoppy beer aroma and flavor were investigated over a range of commercially relevant Cascade dry-hopping rates (0, 0.2, 0.4, 0.8, and 1.6 kg/hL). It was determined that adding more hops during dry-hopping did not simply lead to increased aroma intensity but also changes aroma quality in the finished beer. Dry-hopping rates >0.8 kg/hL had hop aromas that were more herbal/tea in quality than citrus. To maintain a more balanced hop aroma quality, the use of a static dry-hopping rate between 0.4 and 0.8 kg/hL was suggested. Also, using dry- hopping rates >0.8 kg/hL lead to diminishing returns in terms of increasing hop aroma and is an inefficient use of raw material. From 2007-2017, Cascade and Centennial hops were the most commercially important aroma varieties to the American hop and craft brewing industries. They were very popular with US (and global) brewers because of the unique aroma and flavor they impart to hop-forward beer styles, especially during dry-hopping. However, there is no scientifically-validated method to predict beer aroma intensity and quality during dry-hopping. Many brewers rely a hop’s total oil content as a measure of its aroma potential, but to date the connection between total oil content and a hop’s aromatic intensity has not been proven. Additionally, the variation that exists in the hop volatile profiles and dry-hop aroma potential within these important commercial hop varieties over a given harvest year is not documented. Over the 2014, 2015, and 2016 hop harvests a large sample of Cascade (n=51) and Centennial (n=33) hops were procured from farms throughout the Pacific Northwest (WA, ID and OR). Within each of these harvest years, significant differences were observed in the hop volatile chemical profiles and the aroma intensities/qualities that these hops attributed to beer. These results indicate that at the same static dry-hopping rate of 3.86 g/L, there were significant and measurable differences in the aroma intensity as well as the quality of aroma attributed to beer from different commercially available Cascade and Centennial samples from the same harvest year. In agreement with prior research, it was also determined that total oil content (mL oil/100g hop) did not serve as an effective predictor of dry-hop aroma performance in beer. Instead, the concentration (mg/ 100g hop) of specific hop volatiles in hydrodistilled hop oil (geraniol for Cascade and β-pinene for Centennial) served as superior indicators of dry-hop aroma performance. Strategies both on the farm and in the brewery were investigated as ways to promote or modify aroma quality and intensity during dry hopping. On the farm, the impact of harvest maturity on Cascade quality and dry-hop aroma potential was evaluated using a unique weekly sampling protocol, whereby, 5-6 samples were collected from the same location within a commercial hopyard over three consecutive harvest years. For this specific hopyard, hop aroma intensity (OHAI) and citrus quality attributed to the beer during dry-hopping increased as a function of harvest date. Total hop essential oil content and a number of different hop essential oil volatiles (notably geraniol) displayed a significant positive trend with harvest date. For the first time, concentrations of thiol precursors (mainly S-3-(hexan-1-ol)-l-cysteine) were observed to decrease over harvest, while the concentrations of free thiols (mainly 3-mercaptohexanol) increased. Taken together these findings suggests that for brewers to best utilize Cascade hops, early harvested hops might be better for bittering or kettle/whirlpool additions, while later harvested hops might be better for dry-hopping or aroma additions. In the brewery, a sensory directed study on beers dry-hopped with Cascade, Centennial, and Chinook was used to evaluate the qualitative changes in the aroma of dry-hopped beers when these hops were used individually and in different blended combinations for dry-hopping. Blending hops as opposed to dry-hopping with single varieties produced the most intense aromas. In addition, specific blends of hops were found to achieve similar aroma qualities to single varieties. Therefore, by utilizing hop blends brewers may be able to make substitutions when faced with shortages due to cost and/or quality while maintaining similar aroma profiles. Overall, the results from these studies provide hop breeders with aromatic quality and metabolite targets for creating new / replacement hop varieties that have similar aroma profiles to these important American varieties. Growers benefit by being able to fine tune growing and post-harvest processing conditions to promote the concentrations of these hop volatiles in these varieties. Finally, this research will help brewers maximize the efficiency of aroma extraction during dry-hopping and guide the development of more sustainable techniques to better utilize this raw ingredient, improve beer quality, and obtain consistent hoppy aroma in beer

Effects of Real-Time NASA Vegetation Data on Model Forecasts of Severe Weather

The NASA Short-term Prediction Research and Transition (SPoRT) Center has developed a Greenness Vegetation Fraction (GVF) dataset, which is updated daily using swaths of Normalized Difference Vegetation Index data from the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) data aboard the NASA-EOS Aqua and Terra satellites. NASA SPoRT started generating daily real-time GVF composites at 1-km resolution over the Continental United States beginning 1 June 2010. A companion poster presentation (Bell et al.) primarily focuses on impact results in an offline configuration of the Noah land surface model (LSM) for the 2010 warm season, comparing the SPoRT/MODIS GVF dataset to the current operational monthly climatology GVF available within the National Centers for Environmental Prediction (NCEP) and Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) models. This paper/presentation primarily focuses on individual case studies of severe weather events to determine the impacts and possible improvements by using the real-time, high-resolution SPoRT-MODIS GVFs in place of the coarser-resolution NCEP climatological GVFs in model simulations. The NASA-Unified WRF (NU-WRF) modeling system is employed to conduct the sensitivity simulations of individual events. The NU-WRF is an integrated modeling system based on the Advanced Research WRF dynamical core that is designed to represents aerosol, cloud, precipitation, and land processes at satellite-resolved scales in a coupled simulation environment. For this experiment, the coupling between the NASA Land Information System (LIS) and the WRF model is utilized to measure the impacts of the daily SPoRT/MODIS versus the monthly NCEP climatology GVFs. First, a spin-up run of the LIS is integrated for two years using the Noah LSM to ensure that the land surface fields reach an equilibrium state on the 4-km grid mesh used. Next, the spin-up LIS is run in two separate modes beginning on 1 June 2010, one continuing with the climatology GVFs while the other uses the daily SPoRT/MODIS GVFs. Finally, snapshots of the LIS land surface fields are used to initialize two different simulations of the NU-WRF, one running with climatology LIS and GVFs, and the other running with experimental LIS and NASA/SPoRT GVFs. In this paper/presentation, case study results will be highlighted in regions with significant differences in GVF between the NCEP climatology and SPoRT product during severe weather episodes

Use of thyroid hormones in hypothyroid and euthyroid patients: A survey of members of the Endocrine Society of Australia

\ua9 2024 The Authors. Clinical Endocrinology published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.Objective: Hypothyroidism is a common endocrine condition usually managed with levothyroxine (LT4). However, controversy remains around the use of liothyronine (LT3). We aimed to investigate the practices of Australian endocrinologists when managing patients with hypothyroidism, their use of LT3 + LT4 combination therapy and use of thyroid hormones in euthyroid patients. Design and Participants: Members of the Endocrine Society of Australia (ESA) were invited to participate in an online questionnaire. Measurements: We analysed questionnaires that had complete demographic data. Results: Eighty-seven questionnaires fulfilled the criteria. LT4 was used as first line treatment for hypothyroidism by all respondents. Only 45% reported that their patients were dispensed the brand of LT4 that they recommend. LT3 (alone or in combination) was prescribed by 44% in their clinical practice. Although 49% of respondents would consider LT3 + LT4 in patients with normal TSH who had ongoing symptoms of hypothyroidism, the inability of LT4 to restore normal physiology was ranked the least likely explanation for persistent symptoms and only 32% would consider it for themselves if they were diagnosed with hypothyroidism. The majority (55%), in accordance with evidence, would not prescribe thyroid hormone to euthyroid individuals but 39% would consider use in euthyroid female infertility with high levels of thyroid antibodies and 11% in euthyroid patients with a simple goitre growing over time. LT4 use in pregnancy was variable among members. Conclusions: Australian endocrinologists mostly follow international guidelines when prescribing thyroid hormone therapy and many prescribe combination LT3 and LT4 therapy, particularly for patients who remain symptomatic on LT4 monotherapy. Prescribing practices are largely similar to other countries who have completed similar questionnaires

Sensory Directed Mixture Study of Beers Dry-Hopped with Cascade, Centennial, and Chinook

American craft beer style and flavor is often driven by the unique qualities of American hops. Cascade, Chinook, and Centennial hops are used prominently for dry-hopping singly and/or in blends to impart an intense hoppy aroma to beer. A sensory directed dry-hopping mixture study was performed to understand the contribution that each of these hops make to beer aroma. Utilizing a 4th degree simplex-lattice mixture-design, sixteen beers were prepared (including an "unhopped" control) by dry-hopping a common "unhopped" base beer with different blends of ground whole cone hops made from the three hop cultivars. The treatments were evaluated by trained panelists using descriptive analysis, where the response variables used by the panel encompassed the sensory attributes that described the unique aromatic features of these three hops, (i.e., citrus, tropical/fruity, tropical/catty, and herbal). Using these outputs, the sensory contributions of each individual cultivar, as well as mixtures of the cultivars, were examined on a per attribute basis. These results can be used to select combinations or blends of the three hops for use during dry-hopping that provide similar or dissimilar overall aroma intensity and quality in dry-hopped beer