On Birthing Dancing Stars: The Need for Bounded Chaos in Information Interaction

While computers causing chaos is acommon social trope, nearly the entirety of the history of computing is dedicated to generating order. Typical interactive information retrieval tasks ask computers to support the traversal and exploration of large, complex information spaces. The implicit assumption is that they are to support users in simplifying the complexity (i.e. in creating order from chaos). But for some types of task, particularly those that involve the creative application or synthesis of knowledge or the creation of new knowledge, this assumption may be incorrect. It is increasingly evident that perfect order—and the systems we create with it—support highly-structured information tasks well, but provide poor support for less-structured tasks.We need digital information environments that help create a little more chaos from order to spark creative thinking and knowledge creation. This paper argues for the need for information systems that offerwhat we term ‘bounded chaos’, and offers research directions that may support the creation of such interface

Genomic insights into rapid speciation within the world’s largest tree genus Syzygium

Species radiations, despite immense phenotypic variation, can be difficult to resolve phylogenetically when genetic change poorly matches the rapidity of diversification. Genomic potential furnished by palaeopolyploidy, and relative roles for adaptation, random drift and hybridisation in the apportionment of genetic variation, remain poorly understood factors. Here, we study these aspects in a model radiation, Syzygium, the most species-rich tree genus worldwide. Genomes of 182 distinct species and 58 unidentified taxa are compared against a chromosome-level reference genome of the sea apple, Syzygium grande. We show that while Syzygium shares an ancient genome doubling event with other Myrtales, little evidence exists for recent polyploidy events. Phylogenomics confirms that Syzygium originated in Australia-New Guinea and diversified in multiple migrations, eastward to the Pacific and westward to India and Africa, in bursts of speciation visible as poorly resolved branches on phylogenies. Furthermore, some sublineages demonstrate genomic clines that recapitulate cladogenetic events, suggesting that stepwise geographic speciation, a neutral process, has been important in Syzygium diversification

Representational predicaments for employees: Their impact on perceptions of supervisors\u27 individualized consideration and on employee job satisfaction

A representational predicament for a subordinate vis-à-vis his or her immediate superior involves perceptual incongruence with the superior about the subordinate\u27s work or work context, with unfavourable implications for the employee. An instrument to measure the incidence of two types of representational predicament, being neglected and negative slanting, was developed and then validated through an initial survey of 327 employees. A subsequent substantive survey with a fresh sample of 330 employees largely supported a conceptual model linking being neglected and negative slanting to perceptions of low individualized consideration by superiors and to low overall job satisfaction. The respondents in both surveys were all Hong Kong Chinese. Two case examples drawn from qualitative interviews illustrate and support the conceptual model. Based on the research findings, we recommend some practical exercises to use in training interventions with leaders and subordinates. © 2013 Copyright Taylor and Francis Group, LLC

Search for Gravitational Waves from Intermediate Mass Binary Black Holes

We present the results of a weakly modeled burst search for gravitational waves from mergers of non-spinning intermediate mass black holes (IMBH) in the total mass range 100--450 solar masses and with the component mass ratios between 1:1 and 4:1. The search was conducted on data collected by the LIGO and Virgo detectors between November of 2005 and October of 2007. No plausible signals were observed by the search which constrains the astrophysical rates of the IMBH mergers as a function of the component masses. In the most efficiently detected bin centered on 88+88 solar masses, for non-spinning sources, the rate density upper limit is 0.13 per Mpc^3 per Myr at the 90% confidence level.Comment: 13 pages, 4 figures: data for plots and archived public version at https://dcc.ligo.org/cgi-bin/DocDB/ShowDocument?docid=62326, see also the public announcement at http://www.ligo.org/science/Publication-S5IMBH

Low incidence of colorectal cancer in Australian ulcerative colitis patients

Background: Ulcerative colitis (UC) causes significant morbidity and patients may ultimately require colectomy. UC is also associated with an increased risk of developing colorectal cancer (CRC), which may be as high as 18% after 30 years although some recent studies have reported lower rates. Aims: This study aimed to ascertain the cumulative incidences of colectomy and CRC in Australian UC patients. Methods: The study is based on a prevalence cohort (1977–1992) of Sydney IBD patients was fi rst described in 1995 and longitudinally followed. UC patients were included in this analysis if they were either diagnosed after 1977 or had yet to experience colectomy or CRC in 1977 Cumulative incidences for colectomy and CRC were calculated by competing risk survival analysis using the statistical software R. Phenotyping was performed using the Montreal Classification. The influence of extent of colitis, sex, age at diagnosis and year of diagnosis on cumulative incidences were also examined. Results: 504 patients (267 males, median age at diagnosis 34 years) were followed up for a median of 14 years (8006 patient years). The cumulative incidence of colectomy was 15% (95% CI 11%–19%) after 10 years, 26% (95% CI 21%–30%) after 20 years and 31% (95% CI 25–36%) by 30 years. Pancolitis was associated with an increased risk of colectomy (hazard ratio of 13.15; 95% CI 3.2–54.01, P < 0.001), but neither age at diagnosis nor year of diagnosis influenced colectomy risk. CRC occurred in 24 patients for a cumulative incidence of CRC of 1% (95% CI 0–2%) at 10 years, 3% (95% CI 1–5%) at 20 years and 7% (95% CI 4%–10%) at 30 years. Patients diagnosed before 1980 had a hazard ratio for CRC of 5.2 (95% CI 1.74–15.5, P = 0.003) compared to those diagnosed ≥1980. The extent of colitis (left-sided versus pancolitis) was not found to influence CRC risk possibly due the small number of cancers (P = 0.8).Conclusion: We have demonstrated a very low incidence of CRC in this Australian cohort of UC patients. The decreased risk of developing CRC in patients diagnosed after 1980 suggests a positive effect from modern management by dedicated gastroenterologists. The finding of lower cancer rates than in other cohorts should reassure patients and physicians alike. Only a quarter of patients required colectomy within 20 years and the risk was higher for patients with pancolitis.Christian Selinger, Jane Andrews, Andrew Titman, Rupert W Leon

Mortality in a large Australian metropolitan cohort of Crohn's disease patients

Background: Crohn’s disease (CD) causes significant morbidity and can cause fatal complications. Data from Europe and North America suggest that mortality (CD) is increased by up to 50% in CD. There is a paucity of data from Australia. Methods: This longitudinal study of CD patients diagnosed between 1971 and 1992 builds upon a cohort previously described in 1995 by extending follow-up to 2008. Survival status and cause of death (COD) data were extracted from the National Death Index (Australian Institute of Health and Welfare) with complete follow-up of available data. Relative survival analysis (SURV2, Finnish Cancer Registry) was used to compare the observed survival of patients with the expected survival of a comparable group based upon official life tables for the population of New South Wales, adjusting for year of birth, year of diagnosis and sex. The relation between COD and CD was judged independently by two Gastroenterologists. Results: Of 373 CD patients (153 M, 220 F) 82 (21.9%) had died at the end of the study period. Median follow up was 22.7 years [M] and 22.2 years [F] respectively. There was no difference in mortality compared to the general population. Relative survival was 1.03 [M] (95%CI 0.98–1.08) and 0.98 ([F] 95%CI 0.94–1.0) at 10 years, 0.98 ([M] 95%CI 0.89–1.06) and 0.98 ([F] 95%CI 0.93–1.04) at 20 years, 0.98 ([M] 95%CI 0.86–1.1) and 0.88 ([F] 95%CI 0.76–0.99) at 30 years. There was no difference in survival between patients diagnosed from 1971 to 1979 and those diagnosed from 1980 to 1992. Death from all malignant diseases occurred in 22.1% (lung 2.9%, pancreas 2.9%, bile duct 2.9%, colorectal 2.9%). A definite or possible relation between CD and COD was found in 27.9%.Conclusion Over a quarter of deaths are caused by CD itself, but overall survival is similar to that of the general population. This finding stands in contrast to current and older data from Europe and North America. This discrepancy could be due to differences in disease severity, health care system, social or environmental factors.S Bath, J Andrews, O Dent, RW Leon

A comparison of inflammatory bowel disease patients aged with disease and those diagnosed late in life

Background: Australia has one of the highest incidences of inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD). Previous findings from our cohort have shown no reduction in life expectancy in patients with IBD compared to the general population. In an aging population this will lead to an increase prevalence of IBD in the elderly. Currently, there is limited data addressing disease progression and therapeutic interventions in the older IBD population. Aims: The aim of this study was to describe IBD in the elderly and compare those aged with disease and those diagnosed late in life. Methods: The Sydney IBD Cohort database (1942–2012) was interrogated. All patients older than 60 years at the time of last follow-up were included in the analysis. Patient demographics, disease characteristics, drug treatments and information on any surgical procedures were reviewed. Continuous variables are presented as medians and ranges. Categorical variables are presented as percentages and comparison of frequencies was made by the chi square test. Results: A total of 205 elderly patients (51.2% females) were recruited with mean age of 71.2 years (IQR: 64–79). Of these, 121 (61.5%) were diagnosed before the age of 60 years. The mean length of follow-up was 16.5 years (IQR: 6–22) and there were 3,380 patient-years of follow-up. Crohn’s disease (CD) was found in 38% at diagnosis, ulcerative colitis (UC) in 54% and indeterminate colitis (IC) in 8%. In the diagnosis before 60 years-old group, CD-related surgery (P = 0.017) and immunomodulator use (P = 0.016) were significantly higher than the late-in life diagnosis group. No differences were found in the sex, disease location or disease behaviour at diagnosis, presence of perianal involvement at diagnosis, smoking, use of 5-ASA or use of biological agents in the two groups. In the UC group, the use of 5-ASA was significantly higher in patients diagnosed before 60 years old (P = 0.02). Immunomodulator use was higher but did not reach statistical significance (P = 0.06). No significant differences were observed in the sex, disease location at diagnosis, smoking and the use of biological agents. Conclusion: In elderly IBD patients, younger age of onset was associated with increased prevalence of surgery and immunomodulator use in CD, as well as increased use of 5-ASA drugs and likely immunomodulators in UC. Disease severity in patients diagnosed after 60 is observed to be milder and less complicated compared to patients with an early age of diagnosis.Kate L Middleton, Viraj C Kariyawasam, Paul C Lunney, Rosy R Wang, Christian Selinger, Peter Katelaris, Jane Andrews, Rupert W Leon

Effects of a combination hemoglobin based oxygen carrier-hypertonic saline solution on oxygen transport in the treatment of traumatic shock

10.1016/j.resuscitation.2011.03.018Resuscitation827937-943RSUS

Natural history of Crohn's disease and changes in the use of immunomodulators over time: the Sydney inflammatory bowel disease cohort 1942-2012

Background: Immunomodulators (IM) are proven to be effective in the induction and maintenance of remission in Crohn’s disease (CD). However, few studies have evaluated changes in its use over longitudinal follow-up and impact this has made on the natural history of CD.Aims The study aims to determine the changes in use of immunomodulators during longitudinal follow-up in a large metropolitan cohort of ambulatory inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) patients. Methods: The Sydney IBD Cohort is a cohort study based around the Sydney Local Health District with recruitment by specialists in private rooms and hospitals. The medical records were reviewed for patient demographics, disease characteristics, drug treatments and surgical management. Three time periods were assessed: pre-1990, 1990–2000, and post-2000. Kaplan-Meier analysis was used to estimate the cumulative probability of initiation of IM and the log rank test to determine significance. Predictive factors affecting the likelihood of IM initiation over time were investigated using the Cox proportional hazard regression model. Results: A total of 406 CD patients (53% females) with complete follow-up data were included in the analysis. The median length of follow-up was 9 years (IQR 4–17) with an overall 4,800 patient-years of follow-up. Age of diagnoses was over 16 years old in 92.6%. Location phenotypes were ileo-colonic 39.8%, ileal 24.6%, and colonic 35.6%. The stricturing phenotype was found in 20.4%, the penetrating phenotype in 5.3% of patients and perianal disease in 17.9%. Ever smokers comprised of 36% of the cohort. There were total of 241 (60.2%) patients who were exposed to IM with 146 (36.1%) being current users (31.8% thiopurines and 4.7% methotrexate at the time of follow-up). Percentage of patients on IM in the 3 time periods considered did not differ (P = 0.6). However, the time of introduction of an IM significantly reduced over the three time periods [P < 0001], Figure 1.On multivariate Cox regression analysis, earlier time periods of diagnosis (hazard ratio (HR): 7.81, 95% CI: 3.7–16.48, P < 0001 and 21.23, 95% CI: 9.51–47.40, P < 0.001), age at onset (HR: 0.977, 95% CI: 0.96–0.99, P < 0.0001), perianal involvement at diagnosis (HR: 1.69, 95% CI: 1.14–2.52, P = 0.009), need for systemic steroids (HR: 2.83, 95% CI: 1.69–3.35, P < 0.001) and requirement for surgical resection (HR: 1.493, 95% CI: 1.00–2.22, P = 0.05) were all significantly associated with the time to initiation of IM therapy. In total, 138 first surgical resections were noted in the cohort, and 41.3% of these had surgical recurrence. IM significantly decreased the need for subsequent surgical recurrence (P = 0.039).Conclusion: Earlier introduction of IM over time is associated with reduced surgical recurrence rate.Viraj C Kariyawasam, Paul C Lunney, Rosy R Wang, Kate L Middleton, Christian Selinger, Peter Katelaris, Jane Andrews, Rupert W Leon