Degree of Complementarity Determines the Nonlocality in Quantum Mechanics

Complementarity principle is one of the central concepts in quantum mechanics which restricts joint measurement for certain observables. Of course, later development shows that joint measurement could be possible for such observables with the introduction of a certain degree of unsharpness or fuzziness in the measurement. In this paper, we show that the optimal degree of unsharpness, which guarantees the joint measurement of all possible pairs of dichotomic observables, determines the degree of nonlocality in quantum mechanics as well as in more general no-signaling theories.Comment: Close to published versio

FTIR-based spectroscopic analysis in the identification of clinically aggressive prostate cancer

Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy is a vibrational spectroscopic technique that uses infrared radiation to vibrate molecular bonds within the sample that absorbs it. As different samples contain different molecular bonds or different configurations of molecular bonds, FTIR allows us to obtain chemical information on molecules within the sample. Fourier transform infrared microspectroscopy in conjunction with a principal component-discriminant function analysis (PC-DFA) algorithm was applied to the grading of prostate cancer (CaP) tissue specimens. The PC-DFA algorithm is used alongside the established diagnostic measures of Gleason grading and the tumour/node/metastasis system. Principal component-discriminant function analysis improved the sensitivity and specificity of a three-band Gleason score criterion diagnosis previously reported by attaining an overall sensitivity of 92.3% and specificity of 99.4%. For the first time, we present the use of a two-band criterion showing an association of FTIR-based spectral characteristics with clinically aggressive behaviour in CaP manifest as local and/or distal spread. This paper shows the potential for the use of spectroscopic analysis for the evaluation of the biopotential of CaP in an accurate and reproducible manner

Prácticas cotidianas y Reproducción social. Un estudio de los ámbitos residenciales del primer milenio D.C. en el Valle de Tafí.

Esta investigación problematizará el análisis de las actividades realizadas dentro de unidades residenciales durante el primer milenio d.C. (entre 200 años a.C. y 800 años d.C.) en el sitio La Bolsa 1. Éste se ubica en el norte del Valle de Tafí, noroeste de la provincia de Tucumán (Argentina), y está conformado por 21 unidades residenciales y algunas estructuras de cultivo. Dicho estudio será encarado desde la Arqueología Doméstica, intentando construir una visión acerca de las actividades cotidianas de esta sociedad, de las prácticas sociales de los agentes y de sus relaciones sociales a partir del análisis de la Unidad 14publishedVersio

Calculation of Costs of Pregnancy- and Puerperium-related Care: Experience from a Hospital in a Low-income Country

Calculation of costs of different medical and surgical services has numerous uses, which include monitoring the performance of service-delivery, setting the efficiency target, benchmarking of services across all sectors, considering investment decisions, commissioning to meet health needs, and negotiating revised levels of funding. The role of private-sector healthcare facilities has been increasing rapidly over the last decade. Despite the overall improvement in the public and private healthcare sectors in Bangladesh, lack of price benchmarking leads to patients facing unexplained price discrimination when receiving healthcare services. The aim of the study was to calculate the hospital-care cost of disease-specific cases, specifically pregnancy- and puerperium-related cases, and to indentify the practical challenges of conducting costing studies in the hospital setting in Bangladesh. A combination of micro-costing and step-down cost allocation was used for collecting information on the cost items and, ultimately, for calculating the unit cost for each diagnostic case. Data were collected from the hospital records of 162 patients having 11 different clinical diagnoses. Caesarean section due to maternal and foetal complications was the most expensive type of case whereas the length of stay due to complications was the major driver of cost. Some constraints in keeping hospital medical records and accounting practices were observed. Despite these constraints, the findings of the study indicate that it is feasible to carry out a large-scale study to further explore the costs of different hospital-care services

A systematic review of economic evaluations of health and health-related interventions in Bangladesh

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Economic evaluation is used for effective resource allocation in health sector. Accumulated knowledge about economic evaluation of health programs in Bangladesh is not currently available. While a number of economic evaluation studies have been performed in Bangladesh, no systematic investigation of the studies has been done to our knowledge. The aim of this current study is to systematically review the published articles in peer-reviewed journals on economic evaluation of health and health-related interventions in Bangladesh.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Literature searches was carried out during November-December 2008 with a combination of key words, MeSH terms and other free text terms as suitable for the purpose. A comprehensive search strategy was developed to search Medline by the PubMed interface. The first specific interest was mapping the articles considering the areas of exploration by economic evaluation and the second interest was to scrutiny the methodological quality of studies. The methodological quality of economic evaluation of all articles has been scrutinized against the checklist developed by Evers Silvia and associates.</p> <p>Result</p> <p>Of 1784 potential articles 12 were accepted for inclusion. Ten studies described the competing alternatives clearly and only two articles stated the perspective of their articles clearly. All studies included direct cost, incurred by the providers. Only one study included the cost of community donated resources and volunteer costs. Two studies calculated the incremental cost effectiveness ratio (ICER). Six of the studies applied some sort of sensitivity analysis. Two of the studies discussed financial affordability of expected implementers and four studies discussed the issue of generalizability for application in different context.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Very few economic evaluation studies in Bangladesh are found in different areas of health and health-related interventions, which does not provide a strong basis of knowledge in the area. The most frequently applied economic evaluation is cost-effectiveness analysis. The majority of the studies did not follow the scientific method of economic evaluation process, which consequently resulted into lack of robustness of the analyses. Capacity building on economic evaluation of health and health-related programs should be enhanced.</p