Price Tag Research Articles

Deep learning-based common skin disease image classification

Skin disease is currently considered to be one of the most common diseases in the globe. Most of the human population has experienced it at some point but not all skin illnesses are as severe as others. There are some diseases that are symptomless or show fewer symptoms. Skin cancer is a potentially fatal outcome of serious skin illnesses that might develop if they are not detected in time. Due to the fact that medical professionals aren’t always quick or reliable enough to make a proper diagnosis. There is a hefty price tag attached to employing sophisticated equipment. Therefore, we propose a system capable of classifying skin diseases using deep learning approaches, such as CNN architecture and six preset models including MobileNet, VGG19, ResNet, EfficientNet, Inception, and DenseNet. Acne, blisters, cold sores, psoriasis, and vitiligo are some of the most often seen skin conditions, thus we scoured the web resources for relevant photographs of these conditions. We have applied data augmentation methods to extend the size of the dataset and include more image variations. In the validation dataset, we achieved an accuracy rate of approx 99 percent, while in the test dataset; we achieved an accuracy rate of approx 90 percent. Our proposed method would help to diagnose skin diseases in a faster and more cost-effective way.

Advancements in CAR-NK therapy: lessons to be learned from CAR-T therapy.

Advancements in chimeric antigen receptor engineered T-cell (CAR-T) therapy have revolutionized treatment for several cancer types over the past decade. Despite this success, obstacles including the high price tag, manufacturing complexity, and treatment-associated toxicities have limited the broad application of this therapy. Chimeric antigen receptor engineered natural killer cell (CAR-NK) therapy offers a potential opportunity for a simpler and more affordable "off-the-shelf" treatment, likely with fewer toxicities. Unlike CAR-T, CAR-NK therapies are still in early development, with few clinical trials yet reported. Given the challenges experienced through the development of CAR-T therapies, this review explores what lessons we can apply to build better CAR-NK therapies. In particular, we explore the importance of optimizing the immunochemical properties of the CAR construct, understanding factors leading to cell product persistence, enhancing trafficking of transferred cells to the tumor, ensuring the metabolic fitness of the transferred product, and strategies to avoid tumor escape through antigen loss. We also review trogocytosis, an important emerging challenge that likely equally applies to CAR-T and CAR-NK cells. Finally, we discuss how these limitations are already being addressed in CAR-NK therapies, and what future directions may be possible.

THE EFFORTS TO DEVELOPMENT OF BUSINESS INNOVATION BY MICRO SMALL AND MEDIUM (MSMES) THE TASTY CAKE MBAK YUL IN PANDEGLANG BANTEN

Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) are businesses that have a small scale with a limited number of employees and relatively low turnover. MSMEs are often owned and run by the owners themselves or on a family scale. The decline in consumer purchasing power is a major challenge for MSME players. However, online sales can be an opportunity to survive this pandemic. Considering that there are still many MSMEs who do not understand online sales, empowering them to try online markets and to compare superior products is very important. By using and managing the right digital media, economic actors should be able to increase public interest in their products. The approach used in this community service, namely direct assistance to the field in developing MSME business innovation, is a very effective step to increase brand awareness and assist business actors in developing offline marketing strategies. Several points that can be applied in this approach, namely: innovation development, offline promotion: direct assistance, sharing best practices, evaluation and follow-up support. The MSME assistance activity at the Kue Enak location, Pandeglang Regency, Banten Province consists of several stages involving interviews with business owners and the community service team. The steps that can be followed in this mentoring process are: Interviews with Business Owners, Making Snack Box Orders, Making Banners and Price Tags, Training on Marketing and Branding, Evaluation and Follow Up. Through this assistance, it is hoped that Cake Delicious business owners can increase public interest in their products, strengthen brand awareness, and maximize sales opportunities online and offline

American Girl Dolls as Professionals

American Girl Dolls as Professionals

The Social Cost of Carbon When We Wish for Full-Path Robustness

We compute the social cost of carbon (SCC) when decision makers want robust estimates in the face of deep (or “Knightian”) uncertainty. We introduce the notion of full-path accumulated robust preferences from stochastic control theory to an integrated assessment model. Robust preferences are appropriate for analyzing climate-related problems because, given the large uncertainty in climate science, they enable decision makers to attain solutions that are robust to a wide range of climate change scenarios. We solve the resulting model, which includes uncertainty about climate change and the ensuing economic damage and show the existence of optimal solutions and time-consistent optimal deterministic Markov policies. Additionally, we also prove that the standard Hansen–Sargent recursive utility provides an upper bound of this full-path utility. In our baseline model specification, we find that the year 2020’s optimal SCC is US$162 per tCO2with an average annual growth rate of 2.5%, setting the world on a 1.37°C path, which requires full decarbonization by 2068. We introduce the notion of the SCC robustness premium, which we define as the additional SCC price tag for robustness. For a plausible range of preference parameters, the SCC robustness premium in 2020 is between US$1.41 and US$25.89 per tCO2with US$2.20 per tCO2in our baseline calibration. Over time, this premium grows significantly. The forecasts of our model facilitate managerial decision making during the world’s transition from a carbon- and emission-intensive economy to a regenerative economy. The high estimates for the SCC predict drastic rises in emission costs for high-emission industries.This paper was accepted by Elke Weber, Special Section of Management Science on Business and Climate Change.Funding: Y. Zhao and T. S. Lontzek acknowledge funding by the German Ministry of Research and Education (BMBF), Project CDR: “DAC-Tales”, under [Grant 01LS2196A].Supplemental Material: The data files are available at https://doi.org/10.1287/mnsc.2023.4736 .

ФОРМУВАННЯ МАРКЕТИНГОВОЇ ЦІНОВОЇ ПОЛІТИКИ ПІДПРИЄМСТВА З ВРАХУВАННЯМ ПСИХОЛОГІЧНИХ ЕФЕКТІВ СПРИЙНЯТТЯ ЦІНИ

This study aims to explore the main objectives of marketing price policy and the various pricingstrategies available to achieve these objectives. The research distinguishes between two types ofprices in marketing price policy: basic price, which is seller-oriented, and fair price, which isbuyer-oriented. Additionally, the study differentiates between price policy and pricemanagement policy, with the former involving setting the maximum price for the product and itspositioning, and the latter maintaining actual prices and regulating conditional prices through discounts and price discrimination.
 The research delves into an extensive analysis of different marketing pricing strategies, such aspricing above or below market prices, pricing based on competitors or consumer properties, pricing based on demand dynamics, pricing with discounts, special conditions, and price tiers, and the strategies of penetrating prices and psychological pricing.
 Furthermore, the study identifies three main objectives that a well-formulated pricing policy should achieve: achieving the company №9, financial objectives, meeting market realities, andsupporting product positioning, quality, and distribution. The research also highlights thepsychological effects that must be considered when forming marketing price policies. Theseinclude the effect of tying a cheap product to an expensive one, the Weber-Fechner law, the useof the number 9 to sell products better, the combination of frequently purchased products, theimportance of details in advertising, and the emphasis on benefit or pleasure. Additionally, thestudy emphasizes the use of the word “free”; the focus on time spent or saved, the taboo on unjustified price comparison, the power of context, testing different price levels, and the impact of price tag matters and likeness on sales.

Billion-Dollar Drugs with Misallocated Rewards

Billion-Dollar Drugs with Misallocated Rewards

Anzalone Prime: An Interview with Prime Editing Developer Andrew Anzalone

Anzalone Prime: An Interview with Prime Editing Developer Andrew Anzalone

Better Than Ice: Advancing the Technology of Donor Heart Storage With the Paragonix SherpaPak.

Better Than Ice: Advancing the Technology of Donor Heart Storage With the Paragonix SherpaPak.

Hybrid Beamforming for Multi User Massive MIMO Systems

The increasing demand in wireless communications for enhanced spectral efficiency (SE) and throughput makes massive multiple input multiple output (MIMO) a great choice for meeting those demands by using a vast set of antennas. Despite the advantages of massive MIMO, to implement such systems comes with a huge price tag and consumes a lot of power. Hybrid beamforming (HBF) architecture has drawn considerable attention in the past few years, by significantly decreasing the amount of employed radio frequency (RF) chains and combining high dimensional analog beamforming (ABF) using phase shifters (PS) together with low dimensional digital beamforming (DBF). However, because of the extreme energy consumption and hardware complexity, traditional precoding designs are difficult to implement. In this paper, two HBF techniques are proposed to address the above issue. (i) low complexity precoding known as phased zero forcing (PZF) precoding, which controls phase only in the RF domain (ii) singular value decomposition (SVD) based optimal unconstrained precoding, that can be implemented on inexpensive RF components.

Defining the Price Tag of Complications Following Pancreatic Surgery: A US National Perspective

IntroductionPancreatic surgery tends to have a high rate of postoperative complications due to its complex nature, significantly increasing hospital costs. Our aim was to describe the true association between complications and hospital costs in a national cohort of US patients. MethodsThe National Inpatient Sample was used to conduct a retrospective analysis of elective pancreatic resections performed between 2004 and 2017, categorizing them based on whether patients experienced major complications (MaC), minor complications (MiC), or no complications (NC). Multivariable quantile regression was used to analyze how costs varied at different percentiles of the cost curve. ResultsOf 37,893 patients, 45.3%, 28.6%, and 26.1% experienced NC, MiC, and MaC, respectively. Factors associated with MaC were a Charlson Comorbidity Index of ≥4, prolonged length of stay, proximal pancreatectomy, older age, male sex, and surgery performed at hospitals with a small number of beds or at urban nonteaching hospitals (all P < 0.01). Multivariable quantile regression revealed significant variation in MiC and MaC across the cost curve. At the 50th percentile, MiC increased the cost by $3352 compared to NC while MaC almost doubled the cost of the surgery, increasing it by $20,215 (both P < 0.01). The association between complications and cost was even greater at the 95th percentile, increasing the cost by $10,162 and $108,793 for MiC and MaC, respectively (P < 0.01). ConclusionsMiC and MaC were significantly associated with increased hospital costs. Furthermore, the relationship between MaC and costs was especially apparent at higher percentiles of the cost curve.

Broken Compass: A Screenplay Exploring Economic Inequality in Indonesia’s Education System

Good quality education should be accessible to everyone, regardless of their economic status. Unfortunately, often better education in Indonesia comes with a heavy price tag that eliminates working class people from accessing it. This thesis attempts to find out why the working class people are economically discriminated and how they face the discrimination. Using screenplay and young adult dystopian genre, this thesis tries to show the side effects of said economic inequality if taken to the extreme. With Pierre Bourdieu’s theory of school as cultural reproduction, the working class students, including the protagonist Thalia, are discriminated against because they are seen as threats to their resources. To reciprocate, Thalia challenges the system, which sparks a rebellion inside the school. The worldbuilding aspect of the genre is based on Pierre Bourdieu's concepts of social space, capitals, and agency. Thalia from the working class utilizes her agency to face the discrimination.

“You Can Put a Price Tag on Complexion”: Understanding Colorism Among African-Born and African American Black Men in America

ABSTRACT: This study explores how young Black men talk about colorism and identity. Few studies have investigated how men of color make meaning of colorism. Providing an open-arena for dialogue about colorism, we conducted two focus groups to examine the perceptions of colorism among young African American and African-born Black males. One focus group consisted of African-born Black men, the other consisted of African American Black men. Participants were recruited from a public four-year research university in the northwestern region of the US and ranged in age from 18 to 25. Findings indicate that to this day, young African American and African-born Black males are significantly impacted by their skin tone in their pursuit of access and opportunity in society, and just like women of color, skin tone influences their relationships, identity, and social mobility.

“You Can Put a Price Tag on Complexion”: Understanding Colorism Among African-Born and African American Black Men in America

ABSTRACT: This study explores how young Black men talk about colorism and identity. Few studies have investigated how men of color make meaning of colorism. Providing an open-arena for dialogue about colorism, we conducted two focus groups to examine the perceptions of colorism among young African American and African-born Black males. One focus group consisted of African-born Black men, the other consisted of African American Black men. Participants were recruited from a public four-year research university in the northwestern region of the US and ranged in age from 18 to 25. Findings indicate that to this day, young African American and African-born Black males are significantly impacted by their skin tone in their pursuit of access and opportunity in society, and just like women of color, skin tone influences their relationships, identity, and social mobility.

Fabrication of anti-biofouling and antibacterial polysulfone membrane via impregnation of silver nanoparticles

Biofouling is amongst the paramount complications in membrane filtration systems, which are used to purify wastewater. It increases the price tag on processes, whereas decreases the membrane permeability and period efficiency. Utilizing the strong attributes of silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) as antibacterial agents, mycological originated AgNPs were evaluated in the study. Development of polysulfone membrane (Psf) infused with AgNPs for wastewater treatment, having antibacterial along with antifouling properties were included in the study. Several water-drainage microbial insulates, e.g, Enterobacter aerogenes, Escherichia coli, Klebsiella pneumonia, Salmonella choleraesuis, Shigella sonnei, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, and Staphylococcus aureus appeared to be restrained against AgNPs of concentration 50-500 ppm. The AgNPs impregnated Psf ultrafiltration membranes reduced the bacterial count (cfu/cm2) at the 7th, 21st, 30th and 45th day of experimentation in contrast to standard Psf membrane. The efficacy of this anti-biofouling was confirmed by employing FTIR and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) characterization techniques. Within FTIR, in addition to characteristic highs of Psf layer, a new top at 687 cm-1 showing a -CH=CH- pattern in the cis transfiguration was also present, proving the particular degradation of membrane on account of biofouling. The SEM images confirmed that AgNPs tried their best to hinder biofouling, hence, AgNPs proved to be a beneficial solution for restraining the biofilm expansion and increasing membrane life. Keywords: Anti-biofouling, Polysulfone membrane, silver nanoparticles, Wastewater treatment

AWS compliance with the ethical principle of proportionality: three possible solutions

The ethical Principle of Proportionality requires combatants not to cause collateral harm excessive in comparison to the anticipated military advantage of an attack. This principle is considered a major (and perhaps insurmountable) obstacle to ethical use of autonomous weapon systems (AWS). This article reviews three possible solutions to the problem of achieving Proportionality compliance in AWS. In doing so, I describe and discuss the three components Proportionality judgments, namely collateral damage estimation, assessment of anticipated military advantage, and judgment of “excessiveness”. Some possible approaches to Proportionality compliance are then presented, such as restricting AWS operations to environments lacking civilian presence, using AWS in targeted strikes in which proportionality judgments are pre-made by human commanders, and a ‘price tag’ approach of pre-assigning acceptable collateral damage values to military hardware in conventional attritional warfare. The article argues that application of these three compliance methods would result in AWS’ achieving acceptable Proportionality compliance levels in many combat environments and scenarios, allowing AWS to perform most key tasks in conventional warfare.

How to construct liquid-crystal spectacles to control vision of real-world objects and environments

A major challenge in studying naturalistic vision lies in controlling stimulus and scene viewing time. This is especially the case for studies using real-world objects as stimuli (rather than computerized images) because real objects cannot be “onset” and “offset” in the same way that images can be. Since the late 1980s, one solution to this problem has been to have the observer wear electro-optic spectacles with computer-controlled liquid-crystal lenses that switch between transparent (“open”) and translucent (“closed”) states. Unfortunately, the commercially available glasses (PLATO Visual Occlusion Spectacles) command a high price tag, the hardware is fragile, and the glasses cannot be customized. This led us to explore how to manufacture liquid-crystal occlusion glasses in our own laboratory. Here, we share the products of our work by providing step-by-step instructions for researchers to design, build, operate, and test liquid-crystal glasses for use in experimental contexts. The glasses can be assembled with minimal technical knowledge using readily available components, and they can be customized for different populations and applications. The glasses are robust, and they can be produced at a fraction of the cost of commercial alternatives. Tests of reliability and temporal accuracy show that the performance of our laboratory prototype was comparable to that of the PLATO glasses. We discuss the results of our work with respect to implications for promoting rigor and reproducibility, potential use cases, comparisons with other liquid-crystal shutter glasses, and how users can find information regarding future updates and developments.

Opening a Crack in the Door: An Interview with Haydar Frangoul

Opening a Crack in the Door: An Interview with Haydar Frangoul

Une thérapie très attendue… et un prix exorbitant !

After many years of development, a gene therapy for haemophilia B has demonstrated effectiveness and durability, at least over a time span of three years. It has just been approved (as Hemgenix®) by the FDA in the USA and by the EMA in the EU. However, the multimillion price tag of this treatment is a serious problem for healthcare systems and for patients, and raises a number of thorny issues about marketing practices of the pharmaceutical industry.

Commentary: Astronomy from space after the JWST

Commentary: Astronomy from space after the <i>JWST</i>