Beliefs in advance care planning among Chinese Americans: Similarities and differences between the younger and older generations

The purpose of this research is to explore behavioral, normative, and control beliefs in the discussion of advance care planning (ACP) among older and younger Chinese Americans. Ethnic minority groups have been identified as less engaged in ACP and this represents an ethnic and cultural gap. Older Chinese American adults often have different beliefs and values compared to the younger generation who are more acculturated to American mainstream culture. These differences may hinder the discussion of ACP with Chinese older adults. A qualitative design was used. The Theory of Planned Behavior guided the development of the interview guide. We recruited 60 Chinese Americans. Prior experience was identified as a theme that influenced attitudes about ACP. We found that older and younger Chinese participants had different beliefs in the norm and control related to ACP discussions, but not in the belief of attitudes about ACP discussions. Both younger and older Chinese American participants believed that ACP was important and necessary. Participants in both clusters expressed that they were ready and willing to engage in ACP discussions with their family members but hesitant to initiate these discussions. The reluctance in discussing ACP with Chinese older adults may be related to the expectations and obligations of Xiao (filial piety) in Chinese culture. This study describes the similarities and differences of beliefs in ACP between older and younger Chinese Americans. We identified barriers and facilitators in behavioral, normative, and control beliefs that can be used to promote ACP for Chinese Americans

Scaling analysis of the screening length in concentrated electrolytes

The interaction between charged objects in an electrolyte solution is a fundamental question in soft matter physics. It is well-known that the electrostatic contribution to the interaction energy decays exponentially with object separation. Recent measurements reveal that, contrary to the conventional wisdom given by classic Poisson-Boltzmann theory, the decay length increases with ion concentration for concentrated electrolytes and can be an order of magnitude larger than the ion diameter in ionic liquids. We derive a simple scaling theory that explains this anomalous dependence of the decay length on ion concentration. Our theory successfully collapses the decay lengths of a wide class of salts onto a single curve. A novel prediction of our theory is that the decay length increases linearly with the Bjerrum length, which we experimentally verify by surface force measurements. Moreover, we quantitatively relate the measured decay length to classic measurements of the activity coefficient in concentrated electrolytes, thus showing that the measured decay length is indeed a bulk property of the concentrated electrolyte as well as contributing a mechanistic insight into empirical activity coefficients.Comment: To appear in Physical Review Letter

Positive semidefinite diagonal minus tail forms are sums of squares

By a diagonal minus tail form (of even degree) we understand a real homogeneous polynomial F(x1, ..., xn) = F(x) = D(x) − T(x), where the diagonal part D(x) is a sum of terms of the form bix2d i with all bi ≥ 0 and the tail T(x) a sum of terms ai1i2...inxi1 1 ...xin n with ai1i2...in > 0 and at least two i ≥ 1. We show that an arbitrary change of the signs of the tail terms of a positive semidefinite diagonal minus tail form will result in a sum of squares of polynomials

Overcoming Isolation: Making the Case for the Development of Blended Service Learning and Social Work Interprofessional Field Education Experiences to Improve University-Community Engagement

We argue in this paper that if social workers are to engage in more equal and just ways of working with people and communities then there is a need to reconceptualise the field education experience. While the teaching in the classroom of particular theories such as social justice and anti- oppressive practice can influence how students come to view the world it is not likely to impact upon their eventual practice unless it is reinforced in their field placements. Traditional settings reinforcing traditional interactions between students and consumers are not the means by which changes will occur. The blending together of the three learning modes of service learning, field placement and interprofessional education offer a chance to reinforce classroom teachings in a new way during the practicum experience

A New Look on Ekphrasis : an Eye-tracking Experiment on a Cinematic Example

Taking the modern definition of ekphrasis as a verbal representation of a work of art as a starting point, we try to broaden it in this contribution. We agree with intermediality theorist Lars Elleström that ekphrasis falls into the category of “media representation”, defined as the representation of a source medium in a target medium. We argue that the target medium does not need to be a verbal one and what matters is the energeia, the vividness of the description, leading in turn to enargeia, a vivid image in the mind of the receiver. The energeia-enargeia relation is an aspect that is often neglected in modern theoretical debates about ekphrasis. We believe that there cannot be ekphrasis without a description making the receiver “see” the object with his/her inner eye. At the same time, following Seymour Chatman and Werner Wolf, we argue that description is not a prerogative of the verbal medium and that even the cinematic medium can describe, using different strategies. In the second part of this contribution, these hypotheses are tested empirically with the help of the eye-tracking technique. A short sequence of Christian Petzold’s film Barbara (2012), which constitutes an example of cinematic ekphrasis, is shown to thirty-three participants. The evidence gathered from the recording of their eye-movements confirms the relevance of the energeia-enargeia relation: the eye activity increases at some particular points of the sequence, points corresponding to the descriptive activity of the camera. Ekphrasis is thus a kind of embodied experience

Evaluation of T1 relaxation time in prostate cancer and benign prostate tissue using a Modified Look-Locker inversion recovery sequence

Purpose of this study was to evaluate the diagnostic performance of T1 relaxation time (T1) for differentiating prostate cancer (PCa) from benign tissue as well as high- from low-grade PCa. Twenty-three patients with suspicion for PCa were included in this prospective study. 3 T MRI including a Modified Look-Locker inversion recovery sequence was acquired. Subsequent targeted and systematic prostate biopsy served as a reference standard. T1 and apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) value in PCa and reference regions without malignancy as well as high- and low-grade PCa were compared using the Mann-Whitney U test. The performance of T1, ADC value, and a combination of both to differentiate PCa and reference regions was assessed by receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysis. T1 and ADC value were lower in PCa compared to reference regions in the peripheral and transition zone (p < 0.001). ROC analysis revealed high AUCs for T1 (0.92; 95%-CI, 0.87-0.98) and ADC value (0.97; 95%-CI, 0.94 to 1.0) when differentiating PCa and reference regions. A combination of T1 and ADC value yielded an even higher AUC. The difference was statistically significant comparing it to the AUC for ADC value alone (p = 0.02). No significant differences were found between high- and low-grade PCa for T1 (p = 0.31) and ADC value (p = 0.8). T1 relaxation time differs significantly between PCa and benign prostate tissue with lower T1 in PCa. It could represent an imaging biomarker for PCa

Gromov-Wasserstein Distance based Object Matching: Asymptotic Inference

In this paper, we aim to provide a statistical theory for object matching based on the Gromov-Wasserstein distance. To this end, we model general objects as metric measure spaces. Based on this, we propose a simple and efficiently computable asymptotic statistical test for pose invariant object discrimination. This is based on an empirical version of a $\beta$-trimmed lower bound of the Gromov-Wasserstein distance. We derive for $\beta\in[0,1/2)$ distributional limits of this test statistic. To this end, we introduce a novel $U$-type process indexed in $\beta$ and show its weak convergence. Finally, the theory developed is investigated in Monte Carlo simulations and applied to structural protein comparisons.Comment: For a version with the complete supplement see [v2

Mark Sandman vs. Triumph Group and Liberty Mutal Insurance Company: Reply Brief

Petition for Review from the Board of Review of the Industrial Commission of Utah Benjamin A. Sims Administrative Law Judg