Singularity analysis, Hadamard products, and tree recurrences

We present a toolbox for extracting asymptotic information on the coefficients of combinatorial generating functions. This toolbox notably includes a treatment of the effect of Hadamard products on singularities in the context of the complex Tauberian technique known as singularity analysis. As a consequence, it becomes possible to unify the analysis of a number of divide-and-conquer algorithms, or equivalently random tree models, including several classical methods for sorting, searching, and dynamically managing equivalence relationsComment: 47 pages. Submitted for publicatio

Series Expansions for three-dimensional QED

Strong-coupling series expansions are calculated for the Hamiltonian version of compact lattice electrodynamics in (2+1) dimensions, with 4-component fermions. Series are calculated for the ground-state energy per site, the chiral condensate, and the masses of `glueball' and positronium states. Comparisons are made with results obtained by other techniques.Comment: 13 figure

Educational and decision-support tools for asthma-management guideline implementation

Many international and national asthma guidelines are now available in large parts of the world, but they are not yet implemented appropriately. There is a gap between scientific evidence-based medicine and real clinical practice. Implementation of guidelines is highly complex. Special strategies are needed to encourage guideline-based, high-quality care. It is important to understand the contents, the format, and the learning strategies which physicians prefer for the dissemination of guidelines. Physicians prefer more concise and immediately available guidelines that are practical to use. Thus, asthma guidelines should be disseminated as convenient and easily accessible tools. Various education programs and decision-support tools have been designed and applied to the clinical management of asthma to solve these challenging problems. Many of them have been shown to be effective at increasing physicians' knowledge and adherence to asthma guidelines and improving patients' clinical outcomes. These educational and decision-support tools are expected to contribute to a narrowing of the gap between asthma guidelines and practice/implementation of the guidelines

Christianity as Public Religion::A Justification for using a Christian Sociological Approach for Studying the Social Scientific Aspects of Sport

The vast majority of social scientific studies of sport have been secular in nature and/or have tended to ignore the importance of studying the religious aspects of sport. In light of this, Shilling and Mellor (2014) have sought to encourage sociologists of sport not to divorce the ‘religious’ and the ‘sacred’ from their studies. In response to this call, the goal of the current essay is to explore how the conception of Christianity as ‘public religion’ can be utilised to help justify the use of a Christian sociological approach for studying the social scientific aspects of sport. After making a case for Christianity as public religion, we conclude that many of the sociological issues inherent in modern sport are an indirect result of its increasing secularisation and argue that this justifies the need for a Christian sociological approach. We encourage researchers to use the Bible, the tools of Christian theology and sociological concepts together, so to inform analyses of modern sport from a Christian perspective

The art of face-saving and culture-changing: sculpting Chinese football’s past, present and future

In this paper, we consider the football statues of China, whose football team has dramatically underperformed relative to its population size and economic power. Although China lacks a participative grassroots football culture and has struggled to establish a credible domestic league, recent government intervention and investment has seen football’s profile rise dramatically. China’s many football statues are largely atypical in comparison to the rest of the world, including their depiction of anonymous figures rather than national or local heroes, the incorporation of tackling scenes in their designs, and their location at training camps. Through four specific examples and reference to a global database, we illustrate how these statues reflect the tensions and difficulties inherent in China’s desire to integrate itself into global football, and achieve its stated goal of hosting and winning the FIFA World Cup, whilst simultaneously upholding national, cultural and political values such as the primacy of hard work and learning, and saving face in defeat

State of the Art Review: Emerging Therapies: The Use of Insulin Sensitizers in the Treatment of Adolescents with Polycystic Ovary Syndrome (PCOS)

PCOS, a heterogeneous disorder characterized by cystic ovarian morphology, androgen excess, and/or irregular periods, emerges during or shortly after puberty. Peri- and post-pubertal obesity, insulin resistance and consequent hyperinsulinemia are highly prevalent co-morbidities of PCOS and promote an ongoing state of excess androgen. Given the relationship of insulin to androgen excess, reduction of insulin secretion and/or improvement of its action at target tissues offer the possibility of improving the physical stigmata of androgen excess by correction of the reproductive dysfunction and preventing metabolic derangements from becoming entrenched. While lifestyle changes that concentrate on behavioral, dietary and exercise regimens should be considered as first line therapy for weight reduction and normalization of insulin levels in adolescents with PCOS, several therapeutic options are available and in wide use, including oral contraceptives, metformin, thiazolidenediones and spironolactone. Overwhelmingly, the data on the safety and efficacy of these medications derive from the adult PCOS literature. Despite the paucity of randomized control trials to adequately evaluate these modalities in adolescents, their use, particularly that of metformin, has gained popularity in the pediatric endocrine community. In this article, we present an overview of the use of insulin sensitizing medications in PCOS and review both the adult and (where available) adolescent literature, focusing specifically on the use of metformin in both mono- and combination therapy