A forecasting tool for a hospital to plan inbound transfers of COVID-19 patients from other regions.

BACKGROUND: In April 2021, the province of Ontario, Canada, was at the peak of its third wave of the COVID-19 pandemic. Intensive Care Unit (ICU) capacity in the Toronto metropolitan area was insufficient to handle local COVID patients. As a result, some patients from the Toronto metropolitan area were transferred to other regions. METHODS: A spreadsheet-based Monte Carlo simulation tool was built to help a large tertiary hospital plan and make informed decisions about the number of transfer patients it could accept from other hospitals. The model was implemented in Microsoft Excel to enable it to be widely distributed and easily used. The model estimates the probability that each ward will be overcapacity and percentiles of utilization daily for a one-week planning horizon. RESULTS: The model was used from May 2021 to February 2022 to support decisions about the ability to accept transfers from other hospitals. The model was also used to ensure adequate inpatient bed capacity and human resources in response to various COVID-related scenarios, such as changes in hospital admission rates, managing the impact of intra-hospital outbreaks and balancing the COVID response with planned hospital activity. CONCLUSIONS: Coordination between hospitals was necessary due to the high stress on the health care system. A simple planning tool can help to understand the impact of patient transfers on capacity utilization and improve the confidence of hospital leaders when making transfer decisions. The model was also helpful in investigating other operational scenarios and may be helpful when preparing for future outbreaks or public health emergencies.

An IT-based self-checking system of spreadsheet exercises for learners with visual impairments.

PURPOSE: In vocational education and training of computer literacy as part of vocational rehabilitation, learners often work on problem-solving exercises as self-study assignments, and check if their answers are correct. Sighted learners can get information on their incorrect answers by comparing their answers with the correct answers. However, learners with visual impairments largely depend on their teachers for getting this feedback. To remove this dependence, we designed a self-checking system for learners with visual impairments to verify the correctness of their answers. In this paper, we report the results of a usability study to evaluate whether learners with visual impairments can self-check spreadsheet problem-solving exercises using our system in a teacherless environment. METHODS: Usability evaluation experiment was conducted using 2 × 2 crossover design with people with visual impairments (n = 11). The participants checked their answers (detected and corrected errors) after working on problem-solving exercises in two ways: (i) manually; and (ii) using our system. The system usability was evaluated by measuring Detection-And-Correction (DAC) ratio as effectiveness, time taken and the number of steps required for DAC as efficiency, and System Usability Scale score as satisfaction. RESULTS AND CONCLUSIONS: The results show that all the participants could complete the DAC task by using our system, and the time required for DAC task was significantly reduced by using our system as compared to by checking manually. Our system enables learners with visual impairments to self-check problem-solving exercises answers. However, to increase the user satisfaction, the number of required keystrokes needs to be decreased.

Vocational rehabilitation for learners with visual impairments to improve their computer literacy is becoming increasingly important.Learners with visual impairments have the potential to acquire computer literacy in a teacherless environment by using simple assistive software like our self-checking system.Simple assistive software for learners with visual impairments like our self-checking system may have a positive effect not only on learners with visual impairments but also on sighted people.Moreover, our system reduces the teaching load of the teachers so that they can be more effective in helping learners with visual impairments.

Development and Application of a Weighted Gingivitis and Periodontitis (W-G/P) Score System in Cats.

The adaptation for use in cats of a weighted periodontal scoring system developed in dogs is described. The system uses standardized methods to score the extent of gingivitis and periodontitis of buccal tooth surfaces, weighted by size of teeth and adjusted for missing teeth and size of the cat.

The Comparative Pathology Workbench: Interactive visual analytics for biomedical data.

Pathologists need to compare histopathological images of normal and diseased tissues between different samples, cases, and species. We have designed an interactive system, termed Comparative Pathology Workbench (CPW), which allows direct and dynamic comparison of images at a variety of magnifications, selected regions of interest, as well as the results of image analysis or other data analyses such as scRNA-seq. This allows pathologists to indicate key diagnostic features, with a mechanism to allow discussion threads amongst expert groups of pathologists and other disciplines. The data and associated discussions can be accessed online from anywhere in the world. The Comparative Pathology Workbench (CPW) is a web-browser-based visual analytics platform providing shared access to an interactive "spreadsheet" style presentation of image and associated analysis data. The CPW provides a grid layout of rows and columns so that images that correspond to matching data can be organised in the form of an image-enabled "spreadsheet". An individual workbench can be shared with other users with read-only or full edit access as required. In addition, each workbench element or the whole bench itself has an associated discussion thread to allow collaborative analysis and consensual interpretation of the data. The CPW is a Django-based web-application that hosts the workbench data, manages users, and user-preferences. All image data are hosted by other resource applications such as OMERO or the Digital Slide Archive. Further resources can be added as required. The discussion threads are managed using WordPress and include additional graphical and image data. The CPW has been developed to allow integration of image analysis outputs from systems such as QuPath or ImageJ. All software is open-source and available from a GitHub repository.

Analysis of an event study using the Fama-French five-factor model: teaching approaches including spreadsheets and the R programming language.

The current financial education framework has an increasing need to introduce tools that facilitate the application of theoretical models to real-world data and contexts. However, only a limited number of free tools are available for this purpose. Given this lack of tools, the present study provides two approaches to facilitate the implementation of an event study. The first approach consists of a set of MS Excel files based on the Fama-French five-factor model, which allows the application of the event study methodology in a semi-automatic manner. The second approach is an open-source R-programmed tool through which results can be obtained in the context of an event study without the need for programming knowledge. This tool widens the calculus possibilities provided by the first approach and offers the option to apply not only the Fama-French five-factor model but also other models that are common in the financial literature. It is a user-friendly tool that enables reproducibility of the analysis and ensures that the calculations are free of manipulation errors. Both approaches are freely available and ready-to-use.

Enhanced-Precision Measurement of Glutathionyl Hemoglobin by MALDI-ToF MS.

Glutathionyl-hemoglobin (HbSSG) is used as a human biomarker to pinpoint systemic oxidative stress caused by various pathological conditions, noxious lifestyles, and exposure to drugs and environmental or workplace toxicants. Measurement by MALDI mass spectrometry is most frequently used, however, the method suffers from excessive uncontrolled variability. This article describes the improvement of a MALDI-ToF mass spectrometry method for HbSSG measurement through enhanced precision, based on strict control of sample preparation steps and spreadsheet-based data analysis. This improved method displays enhanced precision in the analysis of several hundred samples deriving from studies in different classes of healthy and diseased human subjects. Levels span from 0.5% (lower limit of detection) up to 30%, measured with a precision (as SE%) < 0.5%. We optimized this global procedure to improve data quality and to enable the Operator to work with a reduced physical and psychological strain. Application of this method, for which full instruction and the data analysis spreadsheet are supplied, can encourage the exploitation of HbSSG to study human oxidative stress in a variety of pathological and living conditions and to rationally test the efficacy of antioxidant measures and treatments in the frame of health promotion.

Online Managerial Accounting education during the COVID-19 pandemic: A case study from Poland.

The COVID-19 pandemic made the higher education providers give up traditional face-to-face education and change completely into distance learning. The primary objective of the study was to learn the opinions of the students majoring in Finance and Accounting at the Faculty of Management, UTP University of Science and Technology in Bydgoszcz on the Managerial Accounting (MA) course in computer laboratory taught in a form of e-learning with the use of spreadsheet. The study questions covered the effectiveness of online learning, its disadvantages and advantages, the evaluation of the skills acquired, the tutors' preparation and engagement, education quality enhancement in the second e-learning semester and suggestions in terms of the use of e-learning in post-pandemic time. The survey study involved 85 students out of all the 113 third-year B.A. students. The study results point to a very positive rating of the tutorials. More than 90% of the people consider the education method effectiveness very good or good. The results of the study are show that e-learning does not necessarily have to be less effective than traditional learning. This is yet another evidence of the advantage of an active learning over a passive learning approach.

Synthesizing frameworks and tools to develop a plan for evaluating an online data utilization curriculum for teachers.

This paper presents an overview of how a plan was developed for evaluating Develop Your Data Mindset: Essentials of Educational Data Use, an online curriculum intended to improve in-service and pre-service educators' knowledge and skills relevant to data utilization. Five categories of assessment, a program evaluation framework, logic model, theory of change, project plan, metrics spreadsheet, and the A+ Inquiry model are synthesized to demonstrate how they supported the development of an evaluation plan. Types of evidence are described to provide an overview of the need for improved instructional supports relevant to educator data utilization, how the activities to develop and implement an online curriculum are appropriate to meet the need, how well the activities are implemented as planned, and the extent to which intended outcomes of the curriculum are achieved. Applying the methods outlined in this paper yielded a plan to help ensure the curriculum would be assessed through a comprehensive evaluation lens. Limitations are acknowledged. Methods described in this paper could be adapted to support program evaluation planning and implementation beyond the scope of this project.

A Spreadsheet-Based Short Time Forecasting Method for the COVID-19 Pandemic.

As we are writing this paper, the number of daily affected COVID patients is around 0.38 million and with active cases over 3 million in India. This large number of active cases is putting the medical facilities under severe strain. Many researchers have proposed many ways of forecasting the COVID-19 patients but they mainly worked on the cumulative cases and moreover, all those methods required considerable skill and computational cost. In this work, a simple spreadsheet-based forecasting model has been developed which will help to predict the number of active cases in the immediate future i.e., the next few days. This information can be useful for emergency management. The difficulty which is generally faced in predicting the active cases is that the dynamics of active cases has a complex dependence on a number of Non-Pharmaceutical Interventions (NPI) and social factors and can undergo sharp changes. Quadratic, cubic and quartic polynomial functions have been applied to capture these peaks and observed that the quadratic function helps in better prediction of the peak. The accuracy of the prediction methods is measured as well as it is tried to observe how the methods predict data for the next 1 day, 3 days and 6 days. A prediction method analogous to weather forecasting method is recommended in this work where the prediction for each day gets updated depending on the most recent data available. This method has also been found to perform well even in the period there were sharp changes in the trend due to imposition of strict NPI measures.

RNA Sequencing Data Analysis on the Maser Platform and the Tag-Count Comparison Graphical User Interface.

The RNA sequencing (RNA-seq) process that allows for comprehensive transcriptome analysis has become increasingly simple. Analysis and interpretation of RNA-seq output data are indispensable for research, but bioinformatics experts are not always available to assist. Currently, however, even a wet-lab specialist can perform the pipeline analysis of RNA-seq described in this chapter using the Maser platform and the Tag-Count Comparison Graphical User Interface (TCC-GUI). These are free of charge for scientific use.

Optimization-Based Economical Flexural Design of Singly Reinforced Concrete Beams: A Parametric Study.

In the past, many studies have been conducted on the optimization of reinforced concrete (RC) structures. These studies have demonstrated the effectiveness of different optimization techniques to obtain an economical design. However, the use of optimization techniques to an obtain economical design is not so practical due to the difficulty in applying most of the optimization techniques to achieve an optimal solution. The RC beam is one of the most common structural elements encountered by a practising design engineer. The current study is designed to highlight the potential of the Solver tool in MS Excel as an easy-to-use option for optimizing the design of simply supported RC beams. A user-friendly interface was developed in a spreadsheet in which beam design parameters from a typical design can be entered and an economical design can be obtained using the Evolutionary Algorithm available in the MS Excel Solver tool. To demonstrate the effectiveness of the developed optimization tool, three examples obtained from the literature have been optimized. The results showed that up to 24% economical solution can be obtained by keeping the same material strengths that were assumed in the original design. However, if material strength is also considered as a variable, up to 44% of the economical solution can be obtained. A parametric study was also conducted to investigate the effect of different design variables on the economical design of simply supported RC beams and to derive useful rules of thumb for their design and proportioning, with the objective of cost minimization. The results of the parametric study suggest that the grade of the reinforcing steel is one of the most influential factors that affect the cost of simply supported RC beams. Practicing engineers can use the trends derived from this research to further refine their optimal designs.

A simple spreadsheet-based method for relative quantification using quantitative real-time PCR.

Relative quantification is a popular analysis in gene expression studies using quantitative real-time PCR (qPCR). However, the calculation steps using the major algorithms for this analysis are rather complicated. In this study, we developed an easy-to-use spreadsheet-based method for relative quantification. The inputs from end-users are the efficiencies of both target and reference genes and the Cq values of those genes from cases and controls. This method performed normalization (with one or more reference genes), calculation of fold change of gene expression, and statistical analysis to analyze the difference between the groups in a step-by-step manner, which would allow the end-users to understand how the analysis arrived at the conclusion. Four previously published data sets with different experimental designs were used as examples. The calculated results were concordant with the results computed by the Relative Expression Software Tool (REST) 2009, a popular tool for relative quantification. Altogether, our method, which offers easy-to-understand calculation steps and does not require specialized instruments, software, or expertise to operate, would be a useful tool for students, educators, and scientists in the field of molecular biology.

Spreadsheet analysis of the field-driven start-up flow in a microfluidic channel.

We discuss, in this article, the solution method of the unsteady electroosmotic flow of Newtonian fluid in a square microfluidic channel cross-section in the framework of spreadsheet analysis. We demonstrate the implementation of the finite difference scheme, which is used for the discretization of the transport equations governing the flow dynamics of the present problem, in the spreadsheet tool. Also, we have shown the implementation details of different boundary conditions, which are typically used for the underlying electrohydrodynamics in a microfluidic channel, in the spreadsheet analysis tool. We show that the results obtained from the spreadsheet analysis match accurately with the numerical solutions for both the electrostatic potential distribution and the flow velocity. Our results of this analysis justify the credibility of the spreadsheet tool for capturing the intricate details of the electrically actuated microflows during the initial transiences, that is, for the start-up flows and the phenomenon due to the electrical double layer effect, quite effectively. The inferences of this analysis will open up a new research paradigm of microfluidics and microscale transport processes by providing the potential applicability of the spreadsheet tools to obtain the flow physics of our interest in a very intuitive and less expensive manner.

Data, data flows, and model specifications for linking multi-level contribution margin accounting with multi-level fixed-charge problems.

This article describes the data, data flows, and spreadsheet implementations for linking multi-level contribution margin accounting as a subsystem in cost accounting with several versions of a multi-level fixed-charge problem (MLFCP), the latter based on the optimization approach in operations research. This linkage can reveal previously hidden optimization potentials within the framework of multi-level contribution margin accounting, thus providing better information for decision making in companies and other organizations. For the data, plausible fictitious values have been assumed taking into consideration the calculation principles in cost accounting where applicable. They include resource-related data, market-related data, and data from cost accounting needed to analyze the profitability of a company´s products and organizational entities in the presence of hierarchically structured fixed costs. The data are processed and analyzed by means of mathematical optimization techniques and sensitivity analysis. The linkage between multi-level contribution margin accounting and MLFCP is implemented in three spreadsheet files, including versions for deterministic optimization, stochastic optimization, and robust optimization. This paper provides specifications for compatible solver add-ins and for executing sensitivity analysis. The data and spreadsheet implementations described in this article were used in a research article entitled "Making better decisions by applying mathematical optimization to cost accounting: An advanced approach to multi-level contribution margin accounting" [1]. The data sets and the spreadsheet implementations may be reused a) by researchers in management and cost accounting as well as in operations research and quantitative methods for verification and for further development of the linkage concept and of the underlying optimization models; b) by practitioners for gaining insight into the data requirements, methods, and benefits of the proposed linkage, thus supporting continuing education; and c) by instructors in academia who may find the data and spreadsheets valuable for classroom use in advanced courses. The complete spreadsheet implementations in the form of three ready-to-use Excel files (deterministic, stochastic, and robust version) are available for download at Mendeley Data. They may serve as customizable templates for various use cases in research, practice, and education.

Making better decisions by applying mathematical optimization to cost accounting: An advanced approach to multi-level contribution margin accounting.

The purpose of multi-level contribution margin accounting in cost accounting is to analyze the profitability of products and organizational entities with appropriate allocation of fixed costs and to provide relevant information for short-term, medium- and longer-term decisions. However, the conventional framework of multi-level contribution margin accounting does not usually incorporate a mathematical optimization method that simultaneously integrates variable and fixed costs to determine the best possible product mix within hierarchically structured organizations. This may be surprising in that operations research provides an optimization model in the form of the fixed-charge problem (FCP) that takes into account not only variable costs but also fixed costs of the activities to be planned. This paper links the two approaches by expanding the FCP to a multi-level fixed-charge problem (MLFCP), which maps the hierarchical decomposition of fixed costs in accordance with multi-level contribution margin accounting. In this way, previously hidden optimization potentials can be made visible within the framework of multi-level contribution margin accounting. Applying the linkage to a case study illustrates that the original assessment of profitability gained on the sole basis of a multi-level contribution margin calculation might turn out to be inappropriate or even inverted as soon as mathematical optimization is utilized: products, divisions, and other reference objects for fixed cost allocation, which at first glance seem to be profitable (or unprofitable) might be revealed as actually unprofitable (or profitable), when the multi-level contribution margin calculation is linked to the MLFCP. Furthermore, the proposed concept facilitates assessment of the costs of an increasing variant diversity, which also demonstrates that common rules on how to interpret a multi-level contribution margin calculation may have to be revised in some cases from the viewpoint of optimization. Finally, the impact of changes in the fixed cost structure and other parameters is tested via sensitivity analyses and stochastic optimization.

Full Analysis of Lung Cancer Mortality/Radon Relationship with Simple Nonlinear Concepts.

We analyze the relationship between the lung cancer mortality and the indoor radon intensity from the viewpoint of nonlinear mathematics. We conclude that their relationship is governed by the proportionality law where the cumulative lung cancer mortality Y is negatively proportional to the cumulative radon intensity X; or specifically, the nonlinear change of nonlinear face value (qYu - qY) is negatively proportional to the nonlinear change of nonlinear face value (X - Xb). The author obtained a set of data from late Professor Cohen on the lung-cancer mortality rate versus indoor radon level collected from 1,597 counties and territory of the USA. We initially presented the data as various primitive elementary graphs; then extended them to the primary graphs, leading graphs, and the proportionality graphs. The article emphasizes the building of a straight-line proportionality relationship for the dose-response data in a log-linear and/or log-log graphs. It demonstrates a straightforward methodology for solving the key upper asymptotes (Yu) for the proportionality equation using the Microsoft Excel via determining the "coefficient of determination". (Note: q = log, Yu = upper asymptote of Y, Xb = bottom asymptote of X).

Computational evaluation of a new digital tandem quadrupole mass filter.

A tandem mass filter consists of two low-resolution mass filters arranged in series that operate with a small offset between their mass windows. In principle, the overlap of the two individual mass windows defines the tandem window. Tandem operation provides improved resolution and transmission compared to a single mass filter operated with the same mass window. The improvement in transmission is owed to the larger acceptance of the low-resolution quadrupoles. The tandem filter resolution and transmission are adjusted by changing the amount of offset separating the mass windows of the individual filters. Sine wave systems create this offset through voltage changes. Digital tandem mass filters depart from convention because they do not change voltage. The tandem mass window is created when the individual filters are operated with two slightly different duty cycles. Both quadrupoles operate at the same frequency, phase, and voltage. When the frequency, phase, and voltage of each quadrupole are identical, there theoretically are no changes to the Mathieu parameters to cause ion excitation and loss during transition between the quadrupole pair. The work presented here shows that a fixed AC voltage digital tandem mass filter can only operate in higher stability zones. However, unlike sine mass filters, the mass range of a digital system is not limited. This makes the digital tandem mass filter feasible as a commercial product. For the tandem digital mode to be successful, the duty cycles of each quadrupole must be precisely controlled because the duty cycle differences required to shift the mass windows are small. The creation of these mass window offsets requires waveform generation that can obtain high duty cycle resolution. Our method of generating waveforms can meet this demand; however, modifications to our current printed circuit board must be made. These modifications are minor and will be discussed.

Quantifying the operation of sinusoidal mass filters.

Even though sinusoidal quadrupole mass filters have been around for more than 50 years, the relationships defining resolution, resolving power, and transmission from the applied voltages have not been rigorously quantified or discussed. Traditional quadrupole mass filter theory implies that voltages are scanned at constant direct current (DC) to alternating current (AC) voltage ratios with the scanline passing through the origin of the voltage stability diagram. A prominent feature of constant voltage ratio scans is constant baseline theoretical resolving power (m/Δm) that is the same for all masses. Commercial quadrupole instruments rarely scan at constant resolving power because ion transmission increases with mass. Instead, they scan at constant resolution, meaning that the mass window width is fixed. Constant resolution mass scans are preferred because ion transmission does not change with mass. Commercial mass filter systems create constant resolution scans by linearly changing the DC and AC voltages at a fixed ratio in the presence of an additional negative DC voltage offset. This manuscript systematically quantifies the effects of the DC and AC voltages on resolution, resolving power, pseudopotential well depth, and transmission. To quantify these properties, recently developed spreadsheet tools that calculate the laboratory frame stability of ions from the matrix solutions of Hill's equation were used. Voltage scanning methods and their effects on theoretically determined transmission and sensitivity will be discussed.

SynBio2Easy-a biologist-friendly tool for batch operations on SBOL designs with Excel inputs.

Practical delivery of Findable, Accessible, Reusable and Interoperable principles for research data management requires expertise, time resource, (meta)data standards and formats, software tools and public repositories. The Synthetic Biology Open Language (SBOL2) metadata standard enables FAIR sharing of the designs of synthetic biology constructs, notably in the repository of the SynBioHub platform. Large libraries of such constructs are increasingly easy to produce in practice, for example, in DNA foundries. However, manual curation of the equivalent libraries of designs remains cumbersome for a typical lab researcher, creating a barrier to data sharing. Here, we present a simple tool SynBio2Easy, which streamlines and automates operations on multiple Synthetic Biology Open Language (SBOL) designs using Microsoft Excel® tables as metadata inputs. The tool provides several utilities for manipulation of SBOL documents and interaction with SynBioHub: for example, generation of a library of plasmids based on an original design template, bulk deposition into SynBioHub, or annotation of existing SBOL component definitions with notes and authorship information. The tool was used to generate and deposit a collection of 3661 cyanobacterium Synechocystis plasmids into the public SynBioHub repository. In the process of developing the software and uploading these data, we evaluated some aspects of the SynBioHub platform and SBOL ecosystem, and we discuss proposals for improvement that could benefit the user community. With software such as SynBio2Easy, we aim to deliver a user-driven tooling to make FAIR a reality at all stages of the project lifecycle in synthetic biology research. Graphical Abstract.