15,929 research outputs found
Relationships between scores on the Jefferson Scale of physician empathy, patient perceptions of physician empathy, and humanistic approaches to patient care: a validity study.
BACKGROUND: Empathy is the backbone of a positive physician-patient relationship. Physician empathy and the patient\u27s awareness of the physician\u27s empathic concern can lead to a more positive clinical outcome.
MATERIAL/METHODS: The Jefferson Scale of Physician Empathy (JSPE) was completed by 36 physicians in the Family Medicine residency program at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital, and 90 patients evaluated these physicians by completing the Jefferson Scale of Patient Perceptions of Physician Empathy (JSPPPE), and a survey about physicians\u27 humanistic approaches to patient care.
RESULTS: A statistically significant correlation was found between scores of the JSPE and JSPPPE (r=0.48, p
CONCLUSIONS: These findings provide further support for the validity of the JSPE. Implications for the assessments of empathy in the physician-patient relationship as related to clinical outcomes are discussed
Billiard algebra, integrable line congruences, and double reflection nets
The billiard systems within quadrics, playing the role of discrete analogues
of geodesics on ellipsoids, are incorporated into the theory of integrable
quad-graphs. An initial observation is that the Six-pointed star theorem, as
the operational consistency for the billiard algebra, is equivalent to an
integrabilty condition of a line congruence. A new notion of the
double-reflection nets as a subclass of dual Darboux nets associated with
pencils of quadrics is introduced, basic properies and several examples are
presented. Corresponding Yang-Baxter maps, associated with pencils of quadrics
are defined and discussed.Comment: 18 pages, 8 figure
Glacial cycles promote greater dispersal, which can help explain larger clutch sizes, in north temperate birds
Earth’s glacial history and patterns in the life history traits of the planet’s avifauna suggest the following interpretations of how recent geological history has affected these key characteristics of the biota: 1) Increased colonizing ability has been an important advantage of increased dispersal, and life history strategies are better categorized by dispersive colonizing ability than by their intrinsic growth rates; 2) Birds of the North Temperate Zone show a greater tendency to disperse, and they disperse farther, than tropical or south temperate birds; 3) Habitat changes associated with glacial advance and retreat selected for high dispersal ability, particularly in the North; and 4) Selection for greater dispersal throughout the unstable Pleistocene has also resulted in other well-recognized life history contrasts, especially larger clutch sizes in birds of North Temperate areas
Lattice QCD at the end of 2003
I review recent developments in lattice QCD. I first give an overview of its
formalism, and then discuss lattice discretizations of fermions. We then turn
to a description of the quenched approximation and why it is disappearing as a
vehicle for QCD phenomenology. I describe recent claims for progress in
simulations which include dynamical fermions and the interesting theoretical
problems they raise. I conclude with brief descriptions of the calculations of
matrix elements in heavy flavor systems and for kaons.Comment: Review for Int J Mod Phys A. 58 pages, latex, WSPC macros,, 22
postscript figure
Diagnosing Energy Loss: PHENIX Results on High-pT Hadron Spectra
Measurements of inclusive spectra of hadrons at large transverse momentum
over a broad range of energy in different collision systems have been performed
with the PHENIX experiment at RHIC. The data allow to study the energy and
system size dependence of the suppression observed in RAA of high-pT hadrons at
sqrt(s_NN)= 200 GeV. Due to the large energy range from sqrt(s_NN)= 22 GeV to
200 GeV, the results can be compared to results from CERN SPS at a similar
energy. The large Au+Au dataset from the 2004 run of RHIC also allows to
constrain theoretical models that describe the hot and dense matter produced in
such collisions. Investigation of particle ratios such as eta/pi0 helps
understanding the mechanisms of energy loss.Comment: 4 pages, 6 figures. To appear in the proceedings of the 19th
International Conference on Ultra-Relativistic Nucleus-Nucleus Collisions
(Quark Matter 2006), Shanghai, China, November 14-20, 200
Describing transverse dynamics and space-time evolution at RHIC in a hydrodynamic model with statistical hadronization
A hydrodynamic model coupled to the statistical hadronization code
Therminator is used to study a set of observables in the soft sector at RHIC. A
satisfactory description of the pT-spectra and elliptic flow is obtained,
similarly to other hydrodynamic models. With the Gaussian initial conditions
the transverse femtoscopic radii are also reproduced, providing a possible
solution of the RHIC HBT puzzle.Comment: to appear in the conference proceedings for Quark Matter 2009, March
30 - April 4, Knoxville, Tennesse
A Mathematical Theory of Stochastic Microlensing II. Random Images, Shear, and the Kac-Rice Formula
Continuing our development of a mathematical theory of stochastic
microlensing, we study the random shear and expected number of random lensed
images of different types. In particular, we characterize the first three
leading terms in the asymptotic expression of the joint probability density
function (p.d.f.) of the random shear tensor at a general point in the lens
plane due to point masses in the limit of an infinite number of stars. Up to
this order, the p.d.f. depends on the magnitude of the shear tensor, the
optical depth, and the mean number of stars through a combination of radial
position and the stars' masses. As a consequence, the p.d.f.s of the shear
components are seen to converge, in the limit of an infinite number of stars,
to shifted Cauchy distributions, which shows that the shear components have
heavy tails in that limit. The asymptotic p.d.f. of the shear magnitude in the
limit of an infinite number of stars is also presented. Extending to general
random distributions of the lenses, we employ the Kac-Rice formula and Morse
theory to deduce general formulas for the expected total number of images and
the expected number of saddle images. We further generalize these results by
considering random sources defined on a countable compact covering of the light
source plane. This is done to introduce the notion of {\it global} expected
number of positive parity images due to a general lensing map. Applying the
result to microlensing, we calculate the asymptotic global expected number of
minimum images in the limit of an infinite number of stars, where the stars are
uniformly distributed. This global expectation is bounded, while the global
expected number of images and the global expected number of saddle images
diverge as the order of the number of stars.Comment: To appear in JM
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