EQUINE CLIENT SATISFACTION AT THE VETERINARY TEACHING HOSPITAL, MICHIGAN STATE UNIVERSITY--JULY 1, 1999 THROUGH JUNE 30, 2000

Understanding clients' wants and needs is vital to the sustained success of any service business, and veterinary medicine offers no exception. The Veterinary Teaching Hospital (VTH) at the Michigan State University College of Veterinary Medicine (MSU-CVM) has successfully maintained a position at the forefront of the veterinary profession throughout most of its history. The staff has consistently been composed of clinicians who have been chosen because of their excellence and expertise. However, the assumption that emphasis on clinical excellence will, by itself, provide the foundation for sustained success in the client flow and business at the hospital has been unchallenged to date. In order to provide the best possible customer service, our clients' likes, dislikes, wants, and needs must be fully characterized and quantified. To assess client satisfaction with the VTH, a study was designed whose objective was to identify the areas in the VTH that are most valued and highly regarded versus those that need improvement in order to sustain the current success of the equine hospital. The results of this study can be used as an outline for the development of a plan to maintain and improve customer satisfaction and, ultimately, to sustain the teaching caseload and business of the hospital. In addition, this endeavor will serve to set a good example for our students by modeling the best management practices and establishing a critical blend of quality medicine/surgery and customer service.Teaching/Communication/Extension/Profession,

EQUINE REFERRING VETERINARIAN SATISFACTION WITH THE VETERINARY TEACHING HOSPITAL, MICHIGAN STATE UNIVERSITY - JULY 1, 1999 THROUGH JUNE 30, 2000

Understanding clients' wants and needs is vital to the sustained success of any service business, and veterinary medicine offers no exception. The Veterinary Teaching Hospital (VTH) at the Michigan State University College of Veterinary Medicine (MSU-CVM) has successfully maintained a position at the forefront of the veterinary profession throughout most of its history. The staff has consistently been composed of clinicians who have been chosen because of their excellence and expertise. However, the assumption that emphasis on clinical excellence will, by itself, provide the foundation for sustained success in the client flow and business at the hospital has been unchallenged to date. Additionally, there are many areas in veterinary medicine that are becoming increasingly popular (e.g. oncology). Addition of, or attention to, these services is crucial in retaining our leadership role within the veterinary community. The results of a previous study indicated that 75.4% of equine clients chose MSU-VTH because they were referred by their primary veterinarian. One of the objectives of this study was to determine which factors influenced referring veterinarians in determining whether they refer their patients to MSU-VTH. Additionally, this study was designed to identify areas for possible expansion/contraction of our current service offerings in order to better serve the needs of our clients and referring veterinarians. The results of this study can be used as an outline for the development of a plan to maintain and improve referring veterinarian satisfaction and, ultimately, to sustain the teaching caseload and business of the hospital. In addition, this endeavor will serve to set a good example for our students by modeling the best management practices and establishing a critical blend of quality medicine/surgery and customer service.Teaching/Communication/Extension/Profession,

Evaluation of the ASK (Asking Saves Kids) Campaign in Two Midwestern Cities

We implemented a year-long community-based campaign to encourage parents to ask about firearms in homes that their children visit, in a small Midwestern city. Along with community residents and local leaders, we disseminated campaign messages through multiple communication channels. To assess message recall, attitudes, and whether parents asked about firearms, we conducted pre- and posttest surveys with randomly sampled adults in the intervention city and in a neighboring city. The posttest survey showed that parents in the intervention city were concerned about the danger of firearms when their child visits a friend's home, suggesting that the campaign influenced their attitudes

Sugary Drink FACTS 2014: Some Progress but Much Room for Improvement in Marketing to Youth

This report updates a 2011 report on the same topic. Using the same methods as the last report, researchers examined changes in the nutritional content of sugar-sweetened drinks including sodas, fruit drinks, flavored waters, sports drinks, iced teas, as well as zero-calorie energy drinks and shots. They also analyzed marketing tactics for 23 companies that advertised these products, including amount spent to advertise in all media; child and teen exposure to advertising and brand appearances on TV and visits to beverage company websites, including differences for black and Hispanic youth; advertising on websites popular with children and teens; and marketing in newer media like mobile apps and social media. Researchers also examined changes in advertising of diet beverages, 100% juice, and water

Mathematical Model Creation for Cancer Chemo-Immunotherapy

One of the most challenging tasks in constructing a mathematical model of cancer treatment is the calculation of biological parameters from empirical data. This task becomes increasingly difficult if a model involves several cell populations and treatment modalities. A sophisticated model constructed by de Pillis et al., Mixed immunotherapy and chemotherapy of tumours: Modelling, applications and biological interpretations, J. Theor. Biol. 238 (2006), pp. 841–862; involves tumour cells, specific and non-specific immune cells (natural killer (NK) cells, CD8 T cells and other lymphocytes) and employs chemotherapy and two types of immunotherapy (IL-2 supplementation and CD8 T-cell infusion) as treatment modalities. Despite the overall success of the aforementioned model, the problem of illustrating the effects of IL-2 on a growing tumour remains open. In this paper, we update the model of de Pillis et al. and then carefully identify appropriate values for the parameters of the new model according to recent empirical data. We determine new NK and tumour antigen-activated CD8 T-cell count equilibrium values; we complete IL-2 dynamics; and we modify the model in de Pillis et al. to allow for endogenous IL-2 production, IL-2-stimulated NK cell proliferation and IL-2-dependent CD8 T-cell self-regulations. Finally, we show that the potential patient-specific efficacy of immunotherapy may be dependent on experimentally determinable parameters

Seeking Bang-Bang Solutions of Mixed Immuno-Chemotherapy of Tumors

It is known that a beneficial cancer treatment approach for a single patient often involves the administration of more than one type of therapy. The question of how best to combine multiple cancer therapies, however, is still open. In this study, we investigate the theoretical interaction of three treatment types (two biological therapies and one chemotherapy) with a growing cancer, and present an analysis of an optimal control strategy for administering all three therapies in combination. In the situations with controls introduced linearly, we find that there are conditions on which the controls exist singularly. Although bang-bang controls (on-off) reflect the drug treatment approach that is often implemented clinically, we have demonstrated, in the context of our mathematical model, that there can exist regions on which this may not be the best strategy for minimizing a tumor burden. We characterize the controls in singular regions by taking time derivatives of the switching functions. We will examine these representations and the conditions necessary for the controls to be minimizing in the singular region. We begin by assuming only one of the controls is singular on a given interval. Then we analyze the conditions on which a pair and then all three controls are singular

YouthBuild Providence Sustainability Learning Center Design

Renee integrated coarse stucco and horizontal corrugated metal in white and black as a pattern signifying the major spaces. Over the entry and in the main construction space, she played with pattern in the curtain walls by replacing some glass panels with metal panels that are orange, the YouthBuild school color. The orange color is very prominent in the main entry and the construction facility, emphasizing the importance of construction to the YouthBuild philosophy

In Global Health Research, Is It Legitimate To Stop Clinical Trials Early on Account of Their Opportunity Costs?

This debate examines the ethics of reallocating resources invested in existing trials of older products into new trials of more scientifically advanced products

TRY plant trait database – enhanced coverage and open access

Plant traits - the morphological, anatomical, physiological, biochemical and phenological characteristics of plants - determine how plants respond to environmental factors, affect other trophic levels, and influence ecosystem properties and their benefits and detriments to people. Plant trait data thus represent the basis for a vast area of research spanning from evolutionary biology, community and functional ecology, to biodiversity conservation, ecosystem and landscape management, restoration, biogeography and earth system modelling. Since its foundation in 2007, the TRY database of plant traits has grown continuously. It now provides unprecedented data coverage under an open access data policy and is the main plant trait database used by the research community worldwide. Increasingly, the TRY database also supports new frontiers of trait‐based plant research, including the identification of data gaps and the subsequent mobilization or measurement of new data. To support this development, in this article we evaluate the extent of the trait data compiled in TRY and analyse emerging patterns of data coverage and representativeness. Best species coverage is achieved for categorical traits - almost complete coverage for ‘plant growth form’. However, most traits relevant for ecology and vegetation modelling are characterized by continuous intraspecific variation and trait–environmental relationships. These traits have to be measured on individual plants in their respective environment. Despite unprecedented data coverage, we observe a humbling lack of completeness and representativeness of these continuous traits in many aspects. We, therefore, conclude that reducing data gaps and biases in the TRY database remains a key challenge and requires a coordinated approach to data mobilization and trait measurements. This can only be achieved in collaboration with other initiatives