BTeV Level 1 Vertex Trigger

BTeV is a $B$-physics experiment that expects to begin collecting data at the C0 interaction region of the Fermilab Tevatron in the year 2006. Its primary goal is to achieve unprecedented levels of sensitivity in the study of CP violation, mixing, and rare decays in $b$ and $c$ quark systems. In order to realize this, it will employ a state-of-the-art first-level vertex trigger (Level 1) that will look at every beam crossing to identify detached secondary vertices that provide evidence for heavy quark decays. This talk will briefly describe the BTeV detector and trigger, focus on the software and hardware aspects of the Level 1 vertex trigger, and describe work currently being done in these areas

Gender and White-Collar Crime in Norway: An Empirical Study of Media Reports

This is the accepted, refereed and final manuscript to the article.Purpose: Recent work on gender and white-collar crime is extended through a case study examining gender differences in white-collar crime in Norway. Methods: Based on a content analysis of reports in Norwegian newspapers and court documents regarding white-collar crime cases that were of enough importance and notoriety so as to garner attention from national media outlets, this study investigates whether high level white-collar crime in Norway is gender neutral or gender specific (i.e., mostly male) as it is in the United States. Results: Even though gender inequality is much lower in Norway than the United States, the gender gap in Norwegian white-collar crime appears to be nearly identical to that observed in the United States. Out of 329 individuals identified in the newspaper reports only 22 (6.7%) were women. Conclusions: Formal gender equality does not appear to lead to increased involvement of women in white-collar crime, thus providing little support for the emancipation hypothesis and suggesting that theories focused on gendered focal concerns and gendered access to criminal opportunities have greater utility as explanations of the gender gap in white-collar crime.1, forfatterversjo

Empirical Evidence on Income Inequality in Industrialized Countries

The first draft of Chapter 3 in The Handbook of Income Distribution, edited by Anthony B. Atkinson and Francois Bourgignon, this paper reviews the empirical evidence on the level and trend in family income inequality in industrialized countries, primarily the OECD countries

Cross National Comparisons of Levels and Trends in Inequality

This article builds on other reviews of changes in earnings inequality in the U.S. in tow important directions. First, the review is expanded to include other major industrialized countries, and second, the focus is broadened from earnings to household income. The general finding is that the U.S. experience of increases in the dispersion of both individual earnings and total household income is not unique, but only the U.K. experienced as large or larger increases in inequality during the 1980's. While most countries experienced at least modest increases in earning and market income inequality, these were largely offset by changes in other sources of income, producing a more modest increase in the inequality of disposable income and even lesser changes in poverty in most nations

In Search of a Rational Sentence: A Return to the Concept of Appellate Review

I. Introduction II. Origin and Development of the Non-Review Doctrine … A. Appellate Jurisdiction: Early Judicial Construction … B. Supreme Court Precedents: Emerging Requirement of Individualized Sentences … C. Current Circuit Positions on Individualized Sentences … D. Abandonment of the Non-Review Doctrine III. Sources for a Doctrine of Appellate Review of Sentencing … A. Existing Statutory Exceptions … B. Pending Legislation … C. Reexamination of Judicial Arguments against Review … 1. Does the Trial Judge Have an Advantage? … 2. Should the Trial Judge State His Reasons? … D. Other Non-Legislative Recommendations … E. Recent Congressional Hearings IV. Conclusion and Recommendation Postscript Appendi

Protein self-association in solution: the bovine pancreatic trypsin inhibitor decamer.

We have used magnetic relaxation dispersion to study bovine pancreatic trypsin inhibitor (BPTI) self-association as a function of pH, salt type and concentration, and temperature. The magnetic relaxation dispersion method sensitively detects stable oligomers without being affected by other interactions. We find that BPTI decamers form cooperatively under a wide range of solution conditions with no sign of dimers or other small oligomers. Decamer formation is opposed by electrostatic repulsion among numerous cationic residues confined within a narrow channel. Accordingly, the decamer population increases with increasing pH, as cationic residues are deprotonated, and with increasing salt concentration. The salt effect cannot be described in terms of Debye screening, but involves the ion-specific sequestering of anions within the narrow channel. The lifetime of the BPTI decamer is 101 ± 4 min at 27°C. We propose that the BPTI decamer, with a heparin chain threading the decamer channel, plays a functional role in the mast cell. We also detect a higher oligomer that appears to be a subcritical nucleation cluster of 3–5 decamers. We argue that monomeric crystals form at high pH despite a high decamer population in solution, because the ion pairs that provide the critical decamer-decamer contacts are disrupted at high pH

Safety of overlapping inpatient orthopaedic surgery: A multicenter study

BackgroundAlthough overlapping surgery is used to maximize efficiency, more empirical data are needed to guide patient safety. We conducted a retrospective cohort study to evaluate the safety of overlapping inpatient orthopaedic surgery, as judged by the occurrence of perioperative complications.MethodsAll inpatient orthopaedic surgical procedures performed at 5 academic institutions from January 1, 2015, to December 31, 2015, were included. Overlapping surgery was defined as 2 skin incisions open simultaneously for 1 surgeon. In comparing patients who underwent overlapping surgery with those who underwent non-overlapping surgery, the primary outcome was the occurrence of a perioperative complication within 30 days of the surgical procedure, and secondary outcomes included all-cause 30-day readmission, length of stay, and mortality. To determine if there was an association between overlapping surgery and a perioperative complication, we tested for non-inferiority of overlapping surgery, assuming a null hypothesis of an increased risk of 50%. We used an inverse probability of treatment weighted regression model adjusted for institution, procedure type, demographic characteristics (age, sex, race, comorbidities), admission type, admission severity of illness, and clustering by surgeon.ResultsAmong 14,135 cases, the frequency of overlapping surgery was 40%. The frequencies of perioperative complications were 1% in the overlapping surgery group and 2% in the non-overlapping surgery group. The overlapping surgery group was non-inferior to the non-overlapping surgery group (odds ratio [OR], 0.61 [90% confidence interval (CI), 0.45 to 0.83]; p < 0.001), with reduced odds of perioperative complications (OR, 0.61 [95% CI, 0.43 to 0.88]; p = 0.009). For secondary outcomes, there was a significantly lower chance of all-cause 30-day readmission in the overlapping surgery group (OR, 0.67 [95% CI, 0.52 to 0.87]; p = 0.003) and shorter length of stay (e, 0.94 [95% CI, 0.89 to 0.99]; p = 0.012). There was no difference in mortality.ConclusionsOur results suggest that overlapping inpatient orthopaedic surgery does not introduce additional perioperative risk for the complications that we evaluated. The suitability of this practice should be determined by individual surgeons on a case-by-case basis with appropriate informed consent.Level of evidenceTherapeutic Level III. See Instructions for Authors for a complete description of levels of evidence

Social Work Intervention with the Aged: Toward a Change in the Institutionalized Thought Structure

The social problems associated with aging are viewed as derived from a series of socially defined meanings in the areas of: (1) power/authority,(2) responsibility, (3) productivity/work, (4) dependence/ independence,and (5) knowledge/rationality. A parallel series of alternative meanings is proposed which make possible the creation of alternative institutional forms which hold promise for making contemporary problems substantially obsolete. An era of post-professinalism is envisioned in which helping agents become political activists committed to social change on the cognitive, as well as the material level

Successful use of long acting octreotide in two cases with Beckwith-Wiedemann syndrome and severe hypoglycemia

INTRODUCTION: Hyperinsulinism associated with Beckwith-Wiedemann syndrome (BWS) can occur in about 50% of cases, causing hypoglycemia of variable severity. Parenteral use of octreotide may be indicated if unresponsive to diazoxide. There is limited data on use of octreotide in BWS. OBJECTIVE: Chart review describing 2 cases with BWS and hypoglycemia treated with long acting Octreotide as a monthly injection. CASES: We describe two unrelated females born large for gestational age found to have clinical features consistent with BWS, who developed severe hypoglycemia. Genetic diagnosis of BWS was confirmed. The first patient was born at 37 weeks and developed hypoglycemia shortly after birth. She was initially started on diazoxide but developed pulmonary congestion and was therefore switched to depot octreotide (LAR). She maintained euglycemia with LAR. In the second patient (born at 26-4/7 weeks), onset of hypoglycemia was delayed till 11 weeks of age due to hydrocortisone (indicated hemodynamically) and continuous feeding, and was partially responsive to diazoxide. She was switched to octreotide 4 times daily, treated till at age 18 months. Despite frequent feeds, she required treatment again between ages 4–6.5 years, initially with diazoxide but due to severe hypertrichosis she was switched to LAR with an excellent response. Both patients treated with LAR for over two years achieved euglycemia above 70 mg/dl and had normal height gain, without side effects. CONCLUSION: Successful treatment of hypoglycemia can be achieved and maintained with LAR in infants and children with BWS who are either resistant or cannot tolerate diazoxide