Asymmetric Labor Adjustment, Organizational Capital and Aggregate Job Flows

This paper illustrates how the destruction of firm-specific organizational capital associated with changes in firm-level employment can influence the behavior of ag- gregate job flows, even in the presence of heterogeneity across rms and even in the absence of aggregate shocks. Our analysis highlights the potential importance of the distinction between adjustment costs that are associated with a loss of output (output-costs of labor adjustment) and those associated with a loss of organizational capital (OC-costs of labor adjustment). In particular, the analysis indicates how this link between organizational capital and labor demand can shape the behavior of net employment growth and gross job reallocation when conventional hiring and bring costs of adjustment may be unable to do so.

Thoracoamniotic shunt placement for a right-sided congenital diaphragmatic hernia complicated by hydrops

AbstractMortality associated with congenital diaphragmatic hernia (CDH) is high, and the role of prenatal management continues to evolve. We report a case of a right-sided CDH complicated by fetal hydrops successfully managed with thoracoamniotic shunt placement. Subsequent ultrasounds indicated resolution of hydrops. Despite preterm premature rupture of membrane and preterm delivery at 32 3/7 weeks gestation, the infant survived to hospital discharge at 2.5 months of life. This is the first case of a hydropic right-sided CDH successfully treated with a thoracoamniotic shunt

Reproducibility and construct validity of three non-invasive instruments for assessing the trunk range of motion in patients with low back pain

Mismo con una gran variabilidad de métodos e instrumentos disponibles para evaluar la amplitud de movimiento de la columna, son raros los métodos cuantitativos precisos de mensuración. El objetivo de eso estudio fue verificar la reproductibilidad intra- e inter-examinadores y validad del constructo entre medidas de amplitud de movimiento de la columna en pacientes con dolor en la región lumbar, las cuales fueron obtenidas con los instrumentos goniómetro, inclinómetro y electrogoniómetro. La reproductibilidad y validad del constructo de instrumentos fueron testadas en 58 pacientes con dolor en la región lumbar en un diseño de test y re-test, en la línea de base y después de 24 a 72 horas. Todos los instrumentos presentaron buena correlación entre sí (r>;0,60), lo que reflete buena validad del constructo, y tuvieron buenos niveles de confiabilidades inter- e intra-examinadores. Entre todos los movimientos evaluados, el inclinómetro presentó un error absoluto inter- e intra-examinador que varió del 6,20 al 7,52 y 6,75 al 11,89 grados; y lo goniómetro mostró uno del 15 al 7,85 y 2,83 al 8,06 grados; y lo electrogoniómetro con uno entre 3,27 al 16,42 y 2,72 al 8,06 grados. Por lo tanto, los instrumentos aplicados pueden ser considerados con buenos niveles de validad del constructo y reproducibles para evaluación de la amplitud de movimiento en pacientes con dolor en la región lumbar.Although there is a wide variety of methods and instruments aiming to assess the trunk range of motion, there is uncertainty regarding their construct validity and reproducibility. The objective of this study was to verify the construct validity and intra and inter-rater reproducibility of the goniometer, inclinometer and electrogoniometer in measuring the trunk range of motion in patients with history of low back pain. The measurement properties of reliability, agreement and construct validity were tested in 58 patients with low back pain using a test-retest design at baseline and after 24 to72 hours. All instruments showed good construct validity (r>;0.60) as well as good levels of intra and inter-rater reliability with measurement errors ranging from 2.83 to 16.42 degrees. Among the assessed movements, the inclinometer, goniometer and electrogoniometer instruments can be considered as having good levels of construct validity and reproducibility for the assessment of trunk range of motion in patients with low back pain.Apesar da grande variabilidade de métodos e instrumentos disponíveis para avaliar a amplitude de movimento da coluna, são escassos os métodos quantitativos precisos de mensuração. O objetivo do estudo foi verificar a reprodutibilidade intra e interexaminadores e a validade de construto entre as medidas de amplitude de movimento da coluna em pacientes com dor lombar, obtidas com os instrumentos goniômetro, inclinômetro e eletrogoniômetro. A reprodutibilidade e a validade do construto dos instrumentos foram testadas em 58 pacientes com dor lombar num delineamento de teste-reteste, na linha de base e após 24 a 72 horas. Todos os instrumentos apresentaram boa correlação entre si (r>;0,60), refletindo boa validade do construto, e obtiveram bons níveis de confiabilidades inter e intraexaminadores. Entre todos os movimentos avaliados, o inclinômetro apresentou um erro absoluto inter e intraexaminador que variou de 6,20 a 7,52 e 6,75 a 11,89 graus respectivamente; o goniômetro mostrou um erro de 3,15 a 7,85 e 2,83 a 8,06 graus, respectivamente; e o eletrogoniômetro, entre 3,27 a 16,42 e 2,72 a 8,06 graus, respectivamente. Dessa forma, todos os instrumentos utilizados podem ser considerados com bons níveis de validade do construto e reprodutíveis para avaliação da amplitude de movimento em pacientes com dor lombar

Accretion of Chaplygin gas upon black holes: Formation of faster outflowing winds

We study the accretion of modified Chaplygin gas upon different types of black hole. Modified Chaplygin gas is one of the best candidates for a combined model of dark matter and dark energy. In addition, from a field theoretical point of view the modified Chaplygin gas model is equivalent to that of a scalar field having a self-interacting potential. We formulate the equations related to both spherical accretion and disc accretion, and respective winds. The corresponding numerical solutions of the flow, particularly of velocity, are presented and are analyzed. We show that the accretion-wind system of modified Chaplygin gas dramatically alters the wind solutions, producing faster winds, upon changes in physical parameters, while accretion solutions qualitatively remain unaffected. This implies that modified Chaplygin gas is more prone to produce outflow which is the natural consequence of the dark energy into the system.Comment: 21 pages including 7 figures; published in Classical and Quantum Gravit

How does Inflation Depend Upon the Nature of Fluids Filling Up the Universe in Brane World Scenario

By constructing different parameters which are able to give us the information about our universe during inflation,(specially at the start and the end of the inflationary universe) a brief idea of brane world inflation is given in this work. What will be the size of the universe at the end of inflation,i.e.,how many times will it grow than today's size is been speculated and analysed thereafter. Different kinds of fluids are taken to be the matter inside the brane. It is observed that in the case of highly positive pressure grower gas like polytropic,the size of the universe at the end of inflation is comparitively smaller. Whereas for negative pressure creators (like chaplygin gas) this size is much bigger. Except thse two cases, inflation has been studied for barotropic fluid and linear redshift parametrization $\omega(z) = \omega_{0} + \omega_{1} z$ too. For them the size of the universe after inflation is much more high. We also have seen that this size does not depend upon the potential energy at the end of the inflation. On the contrary, there is a high impact of the initial potential energy upon the size of inflation.Comment: 20 page

Plantar fascia segmentation and thickness estimation in ultrasound images

Ultrasound (US) imaging offers significant potential in diagnosis of plantar fascia (PF) injury and monitoring treatment. In particular US imaging has been shown to be reliable in foot and ankle assessment and offers a real-time effective imaging technique that is able to reliably confirm structural changes, such as thickening, and identify changes in the internal echo structure associated with diseased or damaged tissue. Despite the advantages of US imaging, images are difficult to interpret during medical assessment. This is partly due to the size and position of the PF in relation to the adjacent tissues. It is therefore a requirement to devise a system that allows better and easier interpretation of PF ultrasound images during diagnosis. This study proposes an automatic segmentation approach which for the first time extracts ultrasound data to estimate size across three sections of the PF (rearfoot, midfoot and forefoot). This segmentation method uses artificial neural network module (ANN) in order to classify small overlapping patches as belonging or not-belonging to the region of interest (ROI) of the PF tissue. Features ranking and selection techniques were performed as a post-processing step for features extraction to reduce the dimension and number of the extracted features. The trained ANN classifies the image overlapping patches into PF and non-PF tissue, and then it is used to segment the desired PF region. The PF thickness was calculated using two different methods: distance transformation and area-length calculation algorithms. This new approach is capable of accurately segmenting the PF region, differentiating it from surrounding tissues and estimating its thickness