University of Valley Forge

The Triassic MontneyFormation hosts major oil and gas resourcesin Western Canada. Despite significant historical development of theseresources, the origin of its hydrocarbons remains unclear, partlydue to limited evidence of primary organic matter within the formation.Most of the hydrocarbons in the Triassic Montney Formation are trappedin low-permeability siltstone facies. For the purposes of this study,however, we investigated the lesser-known and understudied organic-and clay-rich mudstone beds, typically ranging from 2 to 8 cm in thickness,which are interbedded with the siltstone reservoir facies. Petrographicand organic geochemical analyses were conducted on core samples froma well located in west-central Alberta with thermal maturity of 0.95–1.16%Ro.Petrographic analysis, including kerogen maceral composition and fluorescenceof petroleum fluid inclusions, reveals that the organic matter inthe Montney Formation is closely linked to its host lithology. Organic-richmudstone facies, with TOC values up to 3.5 wt %, contain primary kerogen(32–74 vol %) and solid bitumen (29–68 vol %). In contrast,the more organic-lean siltstone facies (TOC < 0.8 wt %) containprimarily pore-filling solid bitumen and lack structured kerogen.Kerogen within the organic-rich mudstone facies is mainly composedof liptinite macerals, including amorphinite, liptodetrinite, andalginite, subordinate amounts of acritarch and sporinite, and tracesof inertinite and vitrinite macerals. The primary organic matter inthe mudstone facies is presumed to be derived from marine sources(i.e., phytoplanktonic algae and bacterial biomass). Its preservationmay result from the balance between periodic high productivity (potentiallydriven by river floods), rapid sedimentation to bury and preserveorganic matter, and low dilution by siliciclastic material. Organicpetrology analysis suggests an in situ generation of hydrocarbonsin the mudstone beds and a potential subsequent short-distance migrationto adjacent siltstone beds. Biomarker analysis supports the geneticlinkage between rock extracts from these beds. Additionally, threefamilies of petroleum fluid inclusions were systematically observed(using fluorescence microscopy) in several sets of contiguous siltstoneand mudstone beds. These findings suggest that the organic-rich mudstonefacies partially contributed to the present-day hydrocarbons of theMiddle Montney Member in the study area.

BackgroundThe COVID-19 pandemic has impacted the life sciences field worldwide. Life sciences organizations (eg, pharmaceutical and med-tech companies) faced a rapidly increasing need for vital medical products, patient support, and vaccine development. Learning and development (L&D) departments play a crucial role in life sciences organizations as they apply learning initiatives to organizational strategy within a constantly evolving sector. During the COVID-19 pandemic, the work of L&D professionals in life sciences organizations changed profoundly during the abrupt shift to remote work, since learning and training normally occur in a face-to-face environment. Given the complex and dynamic situation of the pandemic, both individuals and organizations needed to learn quickly and apply what they learned to solve new, unprecedented problems. This situation presents an opportunity to study how characteristics of learning agility were evidenced by life sciences organizations and individual employees in the remote working mode.ObjectiveIn collaboration with Life Sciences Trainers & Educators Networks (LTEN), this study investigated the responses and learning agility of L&D professionals and their organizational leadership within the life sciences sector to the work changes due to the pandemic. The study answered the following questions: (1) How did L&D professionals in the life sciences sector respond to the changes in their work environment during the COVID-19 pandemic? (2) How did L&D professionals in the life sciences sector demonstrate learning agility during remote working?MethodsWe adopted a mixed methods approach that included a semistructured interview and a survey. Participants who were life sciences or health care L&D practitioners and in relevant positions were recruited via email through the LTEN and its partner pharmaceutical, biotech, or medical devices organizations. Interviews with 12 L&D professionals were conducted between June and August 2020 through phone or online conferencing, covering 22 open-ended questions to stimulate ideas that could be explored further in the survey. The semistructured interview questions were grounded in theory on learning agility. In total, 4 themes were developed from the interviews, which formed the basis for developing the survey items. The subsequent survey regarding 4 specific themes was conducted from August to October 2020 using Qualtrics. Both interview and survey data were analyzed based on a learning agility framework.ResultsFindings revealed generally positive organizational and individual responses toward the changes brought about by the pandemic. Results also indicated that a disruptive crisis, such as the shift from working in the office to working from home (WFH), required professionals’ learning agility to both self-initiate their own learning and to support the learning agility of others in the organization.ConclusionsThis study was designed to better understand education and training in the life sciences field, particularly during the unique circumstances of the global COVID-19 pandemic. We put forward several directions for future research on the learning agility of L&D professionals in life sciences organizations.

Retrospective review of prospective data from multicenter registry. Compare outcomes of posterior spinal fusion (PSF) versus magnetically controlled growing rods (MCGR) versus vertebral body tethers (VBT) in 8- to 11-year-old idiopathic early onset scoliosis (EOS) patients. In EOS, it is unclear at what age the benefit of growth-sparing strategies outweighs increased risks of surgical complications, compared with PSF. One hundred thirty idiopathic EOS patients, 81% female, aged 8-11 at index surgery (mean 10.5 yrs), underwent PSF, MCGR, or VBT. Scoliosis curve, kyphosis, thoracic and spinal height, complications, and Quality of Life (QoL) were assessed preoperatively and at most recent follow-up (prior to final fusion for VBT/MCGR). Of 130 patients, 28.5% received VBT, 39.2% MCGR, and 32.3% PSF. The VBT cohort included more females (P < 0.0005), was older (P < 0.0005), more skeletally mature (P < 0.0005), and had smaller major curves (P < 0.0005). At follow-up, scoliosis curve corrected 41.1 ± 22.4% in VBT, 52.2 ± 19.9% in PSF, and 27.4 ± 23.9% in MCGR (P < 0.0005), however, not all VBT/MCGR patients finished treatment. Fifteen complications occurred in 10 VBTs, 6 requiring unplanned surgeries; 45 complications occurred in 31 MCGRs, 11 requiring unplanned surgeries, and 9 complications occurred in 6 PSFs, 3 requiring unplanned revisions. Cox proportional hazards regression adjusted for age, gender, and preoperative scoliosis curve revealed that MCGR (hazard ratio [HR] = 21.0, 95% C.I. 4.8-92.5; P < 0.001) and VBT (HR = 7.1, 95% C.I. 1.4-36.4; P = 0.019) patients were at increased hazard of requiring revision, but only MCGR patients (HR = 5.6, 95% C.I. 1.1-28.4; P = 0.038) were at an increased hazard for unplanned revisions compared with PSF. Thoracic and spinal height increased in all groups. QoL improved in VBT and PSF patients, but not in MCGR patients. In older idiopathic EOS patients, MCGR, PSF, and VBT controlled curves effectively and increased spinal height. However, VBT and PSF have a lower hazard for an unplanned revision and improved QoL.Level of Evidence: 3.

In this study, we introduce Efficiency Frontier, an economic assessment framework for business operations. The proposed framework emphasizes efficiency and sustainability. It aims to help organizations translate a complex metric system into a value index, conduct performance evaluation, and determine efficient resource planning strategies. Unlike the traditional methods that majorly focus on the achievement of performance targets, the proposed framework also accounts for the amount of resource that is invested in the achievement, which encourages managers to implement sustainable strategies that aim for long-term success. To validate the new framework, we systematically study the case of the City of Chicago’s 311 contact center with a base case analysis and a sensitivity analysis. In the base case, an Efficiency Frontier architected by a set of efficient solutions from 2013 to 2016 is used to identify outperforming scenarios given resource constraints. In the sensitivity analysis, we demonstrate the application of Efficiency Frontier in determining optimal resource planning strategies in conservative, moderate, and aggressive business investment scenarios. The base case Efficiency Frontier reveals that the marginal return on investment in improving the performance may diminish as investment increases. The sensitivity study suggests that optimal resource planning strategies should be adjusted according to value propositions. This work builds a framework for business leaders to economically assess their operational decision-making.Article highlightsEfficient strategies can be identified by exploring the maximum value increase per unit of resource given cost scenariosThe fund of a strategy should be reduced when the marginal return of the strategy begins to diminish.The framework’s ability to suggest cost-saving strategies is especially informative in resource-limited settings.

For steels and aluminum alloys, liquid quenching is the most effective method to achieve fast cooling rates. In the example of water quenching an aluminum 319 cylinder head, the temperature drops rapidly within 30 seconds from solutionizing temperatures at 495 °C to water pool temperature below 100 °C. In this temperature range, the water boiling in the quenching process goes through three boiling regimes, film boiling, transition boiling and nucleate boiling, before reducing to convection heat transfer. Since each boiling regime has unique heat transfer characteristics that are governed by different physics, modeling the water quenching processes by computer simulation requires a heat transfer framework, instead of just a few equations, that can describe all the boiling regimes. Among several heat transfer frameworks found in the literature, we had successes in developing a CFD methodology to simulate the boiling process by adapting a heat transfer framework based on Leidenfrost point (LFP), minimum heat flux (MHF) and critical heat flux (CHF). This CFD methodology, when integrated with FEA structural analysis, is the key enabler for virtual process verification. This is achieved by first calculating temperature histories and profiles in CFD and then applying the temperature data as thermal load to FEA to predict thermal residual stress and distortion. Although the LFP, MHF and CHF framework have been proven useful to model the water quenching process, these parameters are not constants and they have to be calibrated through experiments for each quenching condition. The objective of this paper is to develop a consistent method to calibrate the boiling heat transfer framework using cooling curves obtained by the ASTM D6200 quenchometer. Also included in this paper is a preliminary discussion on broadening the standard in order to support: (1) generic cooling curve characteristics for any quenchant, (2) the analytical cooling curve for computation model calibration.

The purpose of this study is to evaluate whether patients with high-tone neuromuscular early-onset scoliosis have different surgical outcome and complication rate, when compared to patients with low-tone neuromuscular early-onset scoliosis treated with a rib-to-pelvis rib-based dual growing system. This is a retrospective cohort study of 67 neuromuscular early-onset scoliosis patients, collected from a multicenter database, treated with a rib-to-pelvis rib-based dual growing system. All patients were divided into two groups: high tone and low tone. Pre-, intra- and postoperative data were compared between both groups. Complications were reported by a standardized system. Twenty-six high-tone and 41 low-tone patients were found homogeneous regarding gender, age at surgery, weight, height, estimated blood loss and surgery time. High-tone group (19/26 = 73.1%) experiences more postoperative complications than low-tone group (22/41 = 53.7%). Most common complications were infection, device migration, death and hardware failure. Permanent abandonment of rib-based growing technique and device removal was required in 21% of high-tone patients (P < 0.001). None of the low-tone patients required abandonment. High-tone patients had more complications than those with low tone in management of neuromuscular early-onset scoliosis treated with a rib-to-pelvis rib-based dual growing system. A different surgical approach may be required to treat the high-tone neuromuscular early-onset scoliosis.

Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a chronic progressive disease and many patients transition from an initial relapsing–remitting course to a secondary progressive pattern. Accurate classification of disease status is critical to ensure that patients are treated appropriately and kept informed of their prognosis. Consensus terms defining the different forms of MS are available but were developed primarily for healthcare professionals (HCPs) and may be of limited value to patients. This article provides direct insights from four patients with MS, at different points in their disease trajectory, regarding their understanding of, and attitudes toward, MS progression. We also examine the utility of the current classification systems from the perspectives of patients and HCPs. Responses collected during in-depth, structured interviews and questionnaires portrayed the difficulties patients face accepting their MS diagnosis and treatment, revealed how understanding of the term “disease progression” varies considerably, and highlighted the challenges surrounding the period of transition to secondary progressive MS (SPMS). The terms describing different MS types were considered confusing and can make patients feel “compartmentalized” or “labeled”. Patients also struggled to relate these terms to their reality of living with MS, were reluctant to discuss progression with their HCPs, and feared being diagnosed with SPMS owing to concerns about treatment access. These insights highlight the need to develop patient-friendly language to describe MS progression; it may also be preferable for HCPs to describe MS as a disease spectrum in discussions with their patients.FundingNovartis Pharmaceuticals Corporation.Plain Language SummaryPlain language summary available for this article.

This overview of the 1968 African American Olympic protest movement provides historical context and a comparative touchstone for understanding the current wave of Black athletic activism in the United States. At a basic level, the exercise reminds us that sport-based activism is not unprecedented and, when it emerges, tends to be connected with the larger social movements of the day (the Civil Rights movement in the 1960s and Black Lives Matter more recently). The comparison also shows contemporary activism to be the biggest and broadest mobilization of African American athletes and their supporters in American history, propelled especially by the participation of women and athletes across multiple sports and levels of participation. However, athletic activism remains as polarizing as ever and the most significant impacts of athletic activism still appear to be primarily symbolic or cultural. The final section of the paper highlights the cultural dimensions of sport—its “serious play” status, normative prohibitions against politics, and its individualistic, colorblind visions of race and social justice—that make athletically-based activism of all sorts challenging.