Sloth: America\u27s Ironic Structural Vice

Individualism is a popular cultural trope in the United States, often touted for its promotion of industriousness and rejection of laziness. This essay argues that, ironically, America\u27s brand of individualism actually promotes a more fundamental form of the very vice it purports to oppose. To make this case, the essay defines the unique form of individualism in the United States and then retrieves the classical definition of sloth as a vice against charity (not diligence), contrasting Aquinas and Barth with Weber to demonstrate that this peculiarly American individualist impulse undermines civic charity by reaping the benefits of civic relationships while denying any concomitant responsibilities. Identifying this narrative of individualism as a structural vice, the essay proposes structural remedies for reinvigorating civic charity, solidarity, and the common good in the United States

A double-hurdle model of Irish households' foodservice expenditure patterns

The aim of this paper is to analyse the various factors fuelling demand for Food- Away - From- Home (FAFH) in Ireland. The two largest components of this industry, the quick- service sector (fast food and takeaway) and the full- service sector (hotel and restaurant meals), are analysed using the most recently available Household Budget Survey data for Ireland. The results from a Box- Cox double hurdle model indicate that different variables affect expenditure in the different sectors in different ways. Income has a greater effect on full- service expenditure than on quick- service. Similarly households that are healthconscious indicate a greater preference for full- service meals while households with higher time values indicate a greater preference for quick- service. Households of a higher social class and those with higher education levels also appear to favour full- service expenditure. In addition, younger, urbanised households favour quick- service meal options. The results emphasise the merits of adopting a disaggregated approach to analysing foodservice expenditure patterns.Foodservice, Food- Away- From- Home, Quick- service, Fullservice, Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety, D12, D13, C34, R2,

Obtaining tissue diagnosis in lung cancer patients with poor performance status and its influence on treatment and survival

Introduction: 25% of patients with lung cancer have performance status 3 or 4. A pragmatic approach to investigative procedures is often adopted based on the risks and benefits in these patients and whether tissue diagnosis is necessary for anticipated future treatment. This cohort study investigated factors influencing a clinician's decision to pursue a tissue diagnosis in patients with lung cancer and performance status 3 and 4 and to examine the association of tissue diagnosis with subsequent management and survival. Methods: All patients with lung cancer diagnosed in North Glasgow from 2009 to 2012 were prospectively recorded in a registry. We investigated the relationships between achieving a tissue diagnosis, treatment and survival. Results: Of 2493 patients diagnosed with lung cancer, 490 patients (20%) were PS 3 and 122 patients (5%) were PS 4. Tissue diagnosis was attempted in 60% and 35% patients with PS 3 and PS 4 respectively. Younger age, better performance status and having stage 4 disease were independently associated with a diagnostic procedure being performed. Only 5% of patients with poor performance status received treatment conventionally requiring a tissue diagnosis. Age, stage and performance status were independent predictors of mortality. Achieving a tissue diagnosis was not associated with mortality. Receiving treatment requiring tissue diagnosis is associated with survival benefit. Conclusions: The majority of patients with poor fitness undergo a diagnostic procedure which does not influence further treatment or affect survival. However, the cohort of patients who do undergo therapy determined by tissue diagnosis have improved survival

Eating Out in the British Isles

This paper presents a comparative analysis of the foodservice industries in both Ireland and the UK. Each industry is analysed separately using the most recently available Household Budget Survey datasets for Ireland and the most recent Expenditure and Food Datasets for the UK and is disaggregated into quick-service (fast food and takeaway) and full-service (hotel and restaurant meals), the two largest components of each industry. A double hurdle model, adjusted for misspecification, is used in this analysis. A number of variables affect both dependent variables in the same way, for example, income and age and the number of workers variable, but differences are apparent throughout the discussion. Perhaps the most interesting point to highlight is how similar the Irish and UK results for both quick-service and full-service expenditure have been despite the UK industry being at a more mature stage of growth. Health awareness significantly reduces the likelihood of participation and reduces the amount of expenditure on quick-service but no similar effect is observed for full-service in either Ireland or the UK, which in itself is significant as the UK industry is more developed than its Irish equivalent.Food-Away-From-Home, Quick-service, Full-service, Double Hurdle Model, Box-Cox Transformation., Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety, D12, D13, C34, R2.,

Broadband sensitivity enhancement of detuned dual-recycled Michelson interferometers with EPR entanglement

We demonstrate the applicability of the EPR entanglement squeezing scheme for enhancing the shot-noise-limited sensitivity of a detuned dual-recycled Michelson interferometers. In particular, this scheme is applied to the GEO\,600 interferometer. The effect of losses throughout the interferometer, arm length asymmetries, and imperfect separation of the signal and idler beams are considered

Fundamental Limitations of Cavity-assisted Atom Interferometry

Atom interferometers employing optical cavities to enhance the beam splitter pulses promise significant advances in science and technology, notably for future gravitational wave detectors. Long cavities, on the scale of hundreds of meters, have been proposed in experiments aiming to observe gravitational waves with frequencies below 1 Hz, where laser interferometers, such as LIGO, have poor sensitivity. Alternatively, short cavities have also been proposed for enhancing the sensitivity of more portable atom interferometers. We explore the fundamental limitations of two-mirror cavities for atomic beam splitting, and establish upper bounds on the temperature of the atomic ensemble as a function of cavity length and three design parameters: the cavity g-factor, the bandwidth, and the optical suppression factor of the first and second order spatial modes. A lower bound to the cavity bandwidth is found which avoids elongation of the interaction time and maximizes power enhancement. An upper limit to cavity length is found for symmetric two-mirror cavities, restricting the practicality of long baseline detectors. For shorter cavities, an upper limit on the beam size was derived from the geometrical stability of the cavity. These findings aim to aid the design of current and future cavity-assisted atom interferometers.Comment: 11 pages, 12 figure

Reliability and Minimal Detectable Change Values for Predictions of Knee Forces during Gait and Stair Ascent Derived from the FreeBody Musculoskeletal Model of the Lower Limb

FreeBody is a musculoskeletal model of the lower limb used to calculate predictions of muscle and joint contact forces. The validation of FreeBody has been described in a number of publications however its reliability has yet to be established. The purpose of this study was therefore to establish the test-retest reliability of FreeBody in a population of healthy adults in order to add support to previous and future research using FreeBody that demonstrates differences between cohorts after an intervention. We hypothesized that test-retest estimations of knee contact forces from FreeBody would demonstrate a high intra-class correlation. Kinematic and kinetic data from nine older participants (4 men: mean age = 63±11 years; 5 women: mean age = 49±4 years) performing level walking and stair ascent was collected on consecutive days and then analysed using FreeBody. There was a good level of intra-session agreement between the waveforms for the individual trials of each activity during testing session 1 (R = 0.79-0.97). Similarly, overall there was a good inter-session agreement within subjects (R = 0.69-0.97) although some subjects showed better agreement than others. There was a high level of agreement between the group mean waveforms of the two sessions for all variables (R = 0.882-0.997). The intra-class correlation coefficients (ICC) were very high for peak tibiofemoral joint contact forces (TFJ) and hamstring forces during gait, for peak patellofemoral joint contact forces and quadriceps forces during stair ascent and for peak lateral TFJ and the proportion of TFJ accounted for by the medial compartment during both tasks (ICC = 0.86-0.96). Minimal detectable change (MDC) of the peak knee forces during gait ranged between 0.43 and 1.53 × body weight (18-170% of the mean peak values). The smallest MDCs were found for medial TFJ share (4.1 % and 5.8% for walking and stair ascent respectively, or 4.8% and 6.7% of the mean peak values). In conclusion, the results of this study support the use of FreeBody to investigate the effect of interventions on muscle and joint contact forces at the cohort level, but care should be taken if using FreeBody at the subject level