Reciprocity as a foundation of financial economics

This paper argues that the subsistence of the fundamental theorem of contemporary financial mathematics is the ethical concept ‘reciprocity’. The argument is based on identifying an equivalence between the contemporary, and ostensibly ‘value neutral’, Fundamental Theory of Asset Pricing with theories of mathematical probability that emerged in the seventeenth century in the context of the ethical assessment of commercial contracts in a framework of Aristotelian ethics. This observation, the main claim of the paper, is justified on the basis of results from the Ultimatum Game and is analysed within a framework of Pragmatic philosophy. The analysis leads to the explanatory hypothesis that markets are centres of communicative action with reciprocity as a rule of discourse. The purpose of the paper is to reorientate financial economics to emphasise the objectives of cooperation and social cohesion and to this end, we offer specific policy advice

Prevalence, associated factors and outcomes of pressure injuries in adult intensive care unit patients: the DecubICUs study

Funder: European Society of Intensive Care Medicine; doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.13039/501100013347Funder: Flemish Society for Critical Care NursesAbstract: Purpose: Intensive care unit (ICU) patients are particularly susceptible to developing pressure injuries. Epidemiologic data is however unavailable. We aimed to provide an international picture of the extent of pressure injuries and factors associated with ICU-acquired pressure injuries in adult ICU patients. Methods: International 1-day point-prevalence study; follow-up for outcome assessment until hospital discharge (maximum 12 weeks). Factors associated with ICU-acquired pressure injury and hospital mortality were assessed by generalised linear mixed-effects regression analysis. Results: Data from 13,254 patients in 1117 ICUs (90 countries) revealed 6747 pressure injuries; 3997 (59.2%) were ICU-acquired. Overall prevalence was 26.6% (95% confidence interval [CI] 25.9–27.3). ICU-acquired prevalence was 16.2% (95% CI 15.6–16.8). Sacrum (37%) and heels (19.5%) were most affected. Factors independently associated with ICU-acquired pressure injuries were older age, male sex, being underweight, emergency surgery, higher Simplified Acute Physiology Score II, Braden score 3 days, comorbidities (chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, immunodeficiency), organ support (renal replacement, mechanical ventilation on ICU admission), and being in a low or lower-middle income-economy. Gradually increasing associations with mortality were identified for increasing severity of pressure injury: stage I (odds ratio [OR] 1.5; 95% CI 1.2–1.8), stage II (OR 1.6; 95% CI 1.4–1.9), and stage III or worse (OR 2.8; 95% CI 2.3–3.3). Conclusion: Pressure injuries are common in adult ICU patients. ICU-acquired pressure injuries are associated with mainly intrinsic factors and mortality. Optimal care standards, increased awareness, appropriate resource allocation, and further research into optimal prevention are pivotal to tackle this important patient safety threat

Correction to: Prevalence, associated factors and outcomes of pressure injuries in adult intensive care unit patients: the DecubICUs study

The original version of this article unfortunately contained a mistake

Prevalence, associated factors and outcomes of pressure injuries in adult intensive care unit patients: the DecubICUs study

Funder: European Society of Intensive Care Medicine; doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.13039/501100013347Funder: Flemish Society for Critical Care NursesAbstract: Purpose: Intensive care unit (ICU) patients are particularly susceptible to developing pressure injuries. Epidemiologic data is however unavailable. We aimed to provide an international picture of the extent of pressure injuries and factors associated with ICU-acquired pressure injuries in adult ICU patients. Methods: International 1-day point-prevalence study; follow-up for outcome assessment until hospital discharge (maximum 12 weeks). Factors associated with ICU-acquired pressure injury and hospital mortality were assessed by generalised linear mixed-effects regression analysis. Results: Data from 13,254 patients in 1117 ICUs (90 countries) revealed 6747 pressure injuries; 3997 (59.2%) were ICU-acquired. Overall prevalence was 26.6% (95% confidence interval [CI] 25.9–27.3). ICU-acquired prevalence was 16.2% (95% CI 15.6–16.8). Sacrum (37%) and heels (19.5%) were most affected. Factors independently associated with ICU-acquired pressure injuries were older age, male sex, being underweight, emergency surgery, higher Simplified Acute Physiology Score II, Braden score 3 days, comorbidities (chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, immunodeficiency), organ support (renal replacement, mechanical ventilation on ICU admission), and being in a low or lower-middle income-economy. Gradually increasing associations with mortality were identified for increasing severity of pressure injury: stage I (odds ratio [OR] 1.5; 95% CI 1.2–1.8), stage II (OR 1.6; 95% CI 1.4–1.9), and stage III or worse (OR 2.8; 95% CI 2.3–3.3). Conclusion: Pressure injuries are common in adult ICU patients. ICU-acquired pressure injuries are associated with mainly intrinsic factors and mortality. Optimal care standards, increased awareness, appropriate resource allocation, and further research into optimal prevention are pivotal to tackle this important patient safety threat

Publication Scaffold

Temple Bar Gallery + Studios presents Publication Scaffold, a series of events, performances, installations and discussions held during the opening weekend of Dublin Art Book Fair 2019, curated by artists Michele Horrigan and Sean Lynch, and curator Jo Melvin. Publication Scaffold finds practical and metaphorical ways of envisaging the process of publishing. It points to books not solely as objects, but as conversation and encounter, as discursive notions surrounding their own existence. Publication Scaffold plans to go up, down and around Temple Bar Gallery + Studios, to be encountered in surprising places and times throughout the fair’s schedule. It is fitted and bolted together both by hand and by thought, making operative spaces for wide-ranging and digressive territories. Pages turn, words are uttered, platforms for communal discovery emerge. Juxtaposition and serendipity are fundamental to these investigations, leading to new ways of thinking about the portable, malleable exhibition format as a publication itself. Highlights include a launch of John Hutchinson’s new publication, and Ruth Clinton and Niamh Moriarty present a talk on their practice. Emanuele De Donno reveals the inner workings of Viaindustriae, an expansive publishing and research initiative based in Foligno, Italy, while John Carson and Conor Kelly’s sprawling psychogeographic artwork, Evening Echoes, presented at TBG+S back in 1995, is reprised. Gareth Bell-Jones speaks of artist John Latham’s challenges to ideas of perceived knowledge. Vukašin Nedeljkovic urgently interrogates the social conditions and experiences of asylum seeker accommodation in Ireland. Renata Pekowska showcases her continuing research on the role and history of artists’ books in Ireland, while Wayne Daly entangles himself with the legacies of visionary architect Cedric Price. Dan Starling skypes in from Vancouver his adaption of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, and as Adam Chodzko’s world revolves at pace, surprising relationships and connections occur through his affirmative actions. Gene Beery’s self-published artist books are pithy critiques of arts institutions and social mores, while Ramon Kassam navigates the neoliberal cultural infrastructures that have appeared in Ireland. Cesare Pietrousti exposes the inherent commodification in distribution networks and trans-active exchange. Barry Flanagan’s concrete poetry will be performed at Publication Scaffold, as Elisabetta Benassi recontextualises the archives of 20th-century news into sculptures, film, books and slides. Juan Sandoval explores the concept of land, extracting soil from industrial sites and places of political and social conflict to make ceramic objects. Publication Scaffold at Dublin Art Book Fair has been made possible by an Arts Council Arts Grant, along with support from the Artist Residency Programme at the Irish Museum of Modern Art, Dublin; Askeaton Contemporary Arts, Limerick, and Mahler & Lewitt Studios, Spoleto

A squared rank assessment of the difference between US and European firm valuation ratios

Financial ratios are useful in determining the financial strengths and weaknesses of firms. The most commonly used methods for comparing firms through financial ratios are multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) and multiple discriminant analysis (MDA). These methods have been very often used for inferential purposes when the underlying assumptions (e.g. random sampling, normality, homogeneity of variances...) are not met. A method for comparing firm financial ratios is proposed, it is based on squared ranks and does not require any particular assumption because it is a descriptive method. The proposed method is devised to explicitly consider the possible difference in variances and to take also into account the dependence among the financial ratios. It is robust against skewness and heavy tailness. This aspect is very important because usually financial ratios, even after removing outliers, are highly skewed and heavy tailed. An application for studying the difference between US and European firms is discussed