Virtual Consumption, Sustainability & Human Well-Being

There is widespread consensus that present patterns of consumption could lead to the permanent impossibility of maintaining those patterns and, perhaps, the existence of the human race. While many patterns of consumption qualify as ‘sustainable’ there is one in particular that deserves greater attention: virtual consumption. We argue that virtual consumption — the experience of authentic consumptive experiences replicated by alternative means — has the potential to reduce the deleterious consequences of real consumption by redirecting some consumptive behavior from shifting material states to shifting information states

Professor Charles C. Fries *

Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/98137/1/j.1467-1770.1987.tb00384.x.pd

Problems In The Teaching Of Practical Phonemics

Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/98379/1/j.1467-1770.1948.tb00874.x.pd

DISCUSSION PAPER: COMMENTS ON GLEASON'S “GRAMMATICAL PREREQUISITES”

Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/75546/1/j.1749-6632.1973.tb49464.x.pd

Is There a Doctor in the House? Medical Ethics and the Doctoral Honorific

The proliferation of professional doctorates has reinvigorated debate over the use of the doctoral honorific. Doctorate holders are often addressed as “doctor” in academic contexts, but idiomatic American English associates “doctor” with physicians—licensed clinicians with doctoral degrees in medicine. The possibility of patient confusion has historically justified proscription of the doctoral honorific by others, including nurses, but recently such proscriptions have been withdrawn. An examination of history, language, and ethical reasoning leads us to conclude that, in the context of patient interaction, clinicians should eschew the doctoral honorific entirely. We think it appropriate for professionals to rely on training-pathway titles as part of their professional duty to inform. In particular, we argue that licensed clinicians with doctoral degrees in medicine should embrace the title of “physician.

The Noise Model of the SEIS Seismometer of the InSight Mission to Mars

The SEIS (Seismic Experiment for Interior Structures) instrument on board the InSight mission to Mars is the critical instrument for determining the interior structure of Mars, the current level of tectonic activity and the meteorite flux. Meeting the performance requirements of the SEIS instrument is vital to successfully achieve these mission objectives. The InSight noise model is a key tool for the InSight mission and SEIS instrument requirement setup. It will also be used for future operation planning. This paper presents the analyses made to build a model of the Martian seismic noise as measured by the SEIS seismometer, around the seismic bandwidth of the instrument (from 0.01 Hz to 1 Hz). It includes the instrument self-noise, but also the environment parameters that impact the measurements. We present the general approach for the model determination, the environment assumptions, and we analyze the major and minor contributors to the noise model

Frailty in Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease and Risk of Exacerbations and Hospitalizations

Background: Frailty is a complex clinical syndrome associated with vulnerability to adverse health outcomes. While frailty is thought to be common in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), the relationship between frailty and COPD-related outcomes such as risk of acute exacerbations of COPD (AE-COPD) and hospitalizations is unclear.Purpose: To examine the association between physical frailty and risk of acute exacerbations, hospitalizations, and mortality in patients with COPD.Methods: A longitudinal analysis of data from a cohort of 280 participants was performed. Baseline frailty measures included exhaustion, weakness, low activity, slowness, and undernutrition. Outcome measures included AE-COPD, hospitalizations, and mortality over 2 years. Negative binomial regression and Cox proportional hazard modeling were used.Results: Sixty-two percent of the study population met criteria for pre-frail and 23% were frail. In adjusted analyses, the frailty syndrome was not associated with COPD exacerbations. However, among the individual components of the frailty syndrome, weakness measured by handgrip strength was associated with increased risk of COPD exacerbations (IRR 1.46, 95% CI 1.09– 1.97). The frailty phenotype was not associated with all-cause hospitalizations but was associated with increased risk of non-COPD-related hospitalizations.Conclusion: This longitudinal cohort study shows that a high proportion of patients with COPD are pre-frail or frail. The frailty phenotype was associated with an increased risk of non-COPD hospitalizations but not with all-cause hospitalizations or COPD exacerbations. Among the individual frailty components, low handgrip strength was associated with increased risk of COPD exacerbations over a 2-year period. Measuring handgrip strength may identify COPD patients who could benefit from programs to reduce COPD exacerbations