Who candidates are influences the emotional appeals they can make in their campaigns

In many elections, emotions are often just as, or even more important than, facts in voters’ minds. But how do candidates’ characteristics affect the way they use emotional appeals in their campaigns? In new research, Zack Scott and Jared McDonald find that women candidates use more appeals to joy than men, Republicans invoke fear more than Democrats, but not disgust, and that White and Black candidates use emotional appeals in the same ways. They write that these findings show that there is an unequal playing field in US politics, where some candidates can lean into emotions that reflect public sentiment, while others must steer clear

Surprise! Out-of-network billing for emergency care in the United States

Using insurance claims data capturing 8.9 million emergency episodes, we show that in 22% of cases, patients attended in-network hospitals, but were treated by out-of-network physicians. We find that out-of-network billing is concentrated in a small group of primarily for-profit hospitals. Within 50% of hospitals in our sample, fewer than 5% of patients saw out-of-network physicians. In contrast, at 15% of hospitals, more than 80% of patients saw out-of-network physicians. Out-of-network billing allows physicians to substantially increase their payment rates relative to what they would be paid for treating in-network patients and significantly improve their outside option when bargaining over in-network payments. Because patients cannot avoid out-of-network physicians during an emergency, physicians have an incentive to remain out-of-network and receive higher payment rates. Hospitals incur costs when out-of-network billing occurs within their facilities. We illustrate in a model and confirm empirically via analysis of two leading physician-outsourcing firms that physicians offer transfers to hospitals to offset the hospitals’ costs of allowing out-of-network billing to occur within their facilities. We find that a New York State law that introduced binding arbitration between physicians and insurers to settle surprise bills reduced out-of-network billing rates

Mini-Hand Extension

Lam Research supplies equipment for manufacturing silicon wafers used in semiconductor manufacturing. Their equipment is highly sophisticated and therefore costly, both in time and money, to repair. Much of the time and money spent to service those machines when they require maintenance or repair is spent on disassembly, so Lam seeks a faster way to service their equipment. Al Schoepp, a Senior Technical Director at Lam Research, came to Cal Poly seeking a team of students to design and build a device that could emulate the human hand well enough to handle hardware and thread nuts and bolts but also be usable inside one of the manufacturing machines at Lam. Team R.E.A.C.H., consisting of Aulivia Bounchaleun, Haden Cory, Scott Onsum, and Zack Phillips, have designed a device called the R.E.A.C.H. device, which stands for Reach Extender And Component Handler, to help Lam Research save both time and money when servicing their equipment. The device is operable with one hand, has an integrated vision and lighting system with a wireless monitor, can extend the user’s reach up to almost 24 inches, and can fit through a two inch diameter hole while carrying a ½-13 nut. This report details the design process that Team R.E.A.C.H. used to develop the R.E.A.C.H. device starting from the initial background research and problem definition all the way up through the detailed analysis and technical drawings of the prototype

Senior Recital: Simon Needle, guitar

This recital is presented in partial fulfillment of requirements for the degree Bachelor of Music in Performance. Mr. Needle studies guitar with Trey Wright.https://digitalcommons.kennesaw.edu/musicprograms/2144/thumbnail.jp

TRI-PLANE DIAGRAMS FOR SIMPLE SURFACES IN \u3ci\u3eS\u3c/i\u3e\u3csup\u3e4\u3c/sup\u3e

Meier and Zupan proved that an orientable surface K in S4 admits a tri-plane diagram with zero crossings if and only if K is unknotted, so that the crossing number of K is zero. We determine the minimal crossing numbers of nonorientable unknotted surfaces in S4, proving that c(Pn,m) = max{1, |n−m|}, where Pn,m denotes the connected sum of n unknotted projective planes with normal Euler number +2 and m unknotted projective planes with normal Euler number −2. In addition, we convert Yoshikawa’s table of knotted surface ch-diagrams to tri-plane diagrams, finding the minimal bridge number for each surface in the table and providing upper bounds for the crossing numbers

Tri-plane diagrams for simple surfaces in S4S^4

Meier and Zupan proved that an orientable surface $\mathcal{K}$ in $S^4$ admits a tri-plane diagram with zero crossings if and only if $\mathcal{K}$ is unknotted, so that the crossing number of $\mathcal{K}$ is zero. We determine the minimal crossing numbers of nonorientable unknotted surfaces in $S^4$, proving that $c(\mathcal{P}^{n,m}) = \max\{1,|n-m|\}$, where $\mathcal{P}^{n,m}$ denotes the connected sum of $n$ unknotted projective planes with normal Euler number $+2$ and $m$ unknotted projective planes with normal Euler number $-2$. In addition, we convert Yoshikawa's table of knotted surface ch-diagrams to tri-plane diagrams, finding the minimal bridge number for each surface in the table and providing upper bounds for the crossing numbers.Comment: 25 pages, 29 figure

A Federal and State Transport Plan for Movement of Eggs and Egg Products from Commercial Egg Production Premises in a High-Pathogenicity Avian Influenza Control Area

The FAST Eggs Plan is a voluntary plan for commercial egg producers intended to facilitate business continuity following an outbreak of HPAI. Participation in the FAST Eggs Plan will reduce the time required for regulatory officials to determine that it is safe for eggs and egg products from noninfected chickens located within a control area to move into market channels located outside the control area. The FAST Eggs Plan has 5 components. First, a Biosecurity Checklist for Egg Production Premises and Auditors includes biosecurity measures that will help prevent introduction of avian influenza virus onto egg-production premises. Second, registration with the National Animal Identification System is required for participating egg-production premises, and the premises location is verified by GPS coordinates. Third, epidemiological data are used to determine whether an egg farm has been exposed directly or indirectly to birds and other animals, products, materials, people, or aerosols from premises on which HPAI virus has been confirmed. Fourth, the absence of HPAI virus on FAST Eggs Plan premises is verified by negative RRT-PCR assay results from a minimum of 5 dead chickens selected from those that die each day from each house on the farm. Fifth, the risk of exposure to HPAI virus is estimated by use of an equation based on risks not mitigated by quarantine and distance from infected premises

Dusquetide: Reduction in Oral Mucositis Associated with Enduring Ancillary Benefits in Tumor Resolution and Decreased Mortality in Head and Neck Cancer Patients

Innate immunity is a key component in the pathogenesis of oral mucositis, a universal toxicity of chemoradiation therapy (CRT). Dusquetide, a novel Innate Defense Regulator, has demonstrated both nonclinical and clinical efficacy in ameliorating severe oral mucositis (SOM). Long term follow-up studies from the Phase 2 clinical study evaluating dusquetide as a treatment for SOM in head and neck cancer (HNC) patients receiving CRT have now been completed. Extended analysis indicates that dusquetide therapy was well-tolerated and did not contribute to increased infection, tumor growth or mortality. Potential ancillary benefits of duquetide therapy were also identified

Engineering Antigen-Specific T Cells from Genetically Modified Human Hematopoietic Stem Cells in Immunodeficient Mice

There is a desperate need for effective therapies to fight chronic viral infections. The immune response is normally fastidious at controlling the majority of viral infections and a therapeutic strategy aimed at reestablishing immune control represents a potentially powerful approach towards treating persistent viral infections. We examined the potential of genetically programming human hematopoietic stem cells to generate mature CD8+ cytotoxic T lymphocytes that express a molecularly cloned, “transgenic” human anti-HIV T cell receptor (TCR). Anti-HIV TCR transduction of human hematopoietic stem cells directed the maturation of a large population of polyfunctional, HIV-specific CD8+ cells capable of recognizing and killing viral antigen-presenting cells. Thus, through this proof-of-concept we propose that genetic engineering of human hematopoietic stem cells will allow the tailoring of effector T cell responses to fight HIV infection or other diseases that are characterized by the loss of immune control