Causal Bulk Viscous Dissipative Isotropic Cosmologies with Variable Gravitational and Cosmological Constants

We consider the evolution of a flat Friedmann-Robertson-Walker Universe, filled with a causal bulk viscous cosmological fluid, in the presence of variable gravitational and cosmological constants. The basic equation for the Hubble parameter, generalizing the evolution equation in the case of constant gravitational coupling and cosmological term, is derived, under the supplementary assumption that the total energy of the Universe is conserved. By assuming that the cosmological constant is proportional to the square of the Hubble parameter and a power law dependence of the bulk viscosity coefficient, temperature and relaxation time on the energy density of the cosmological fluid, two classes of exact solutions of the field equations are obtained. In the first class of solutions the Universe ends in an inflationary era, while in the second class of solutions the expansion of the Universe is non-inflationary for all times. In both models the cosmological "constant" is a decreasing function of time, while the gravitational "constant" increases in the early period of evolution of the Universe, tending in the large time limit to a constant value.Comment: 14 pages, 15 figure

Adverse events following influenza immunization reported by healthcare personnel using active surveillance based on text messages

Studies have demonstrated that healthcare personnel (HCP) have concerns about the potential side effects of trivalent inactivate influenza vaccine (IIV3).1-3 A recent metaanalysis of reasons HCP refuse IIV3 indicates the strongest predictors of vaccine acceptance are belief that the vaccine is safe and belief the vaccine does not cause the disease it is meant to prevent.

Biomarkers in acute coronary syndromes and their role in diabetic patients

Diabetic patients with acute coronary syndromes are at high risk for cardiovascular complications but risk stratification in these patients remains challenging. Regularly, diabetic patients have a less typical clinical presentation, which could lead to delayed diagnosis and subsequent delayed initiation of treatment. Since diabetic patients derive particular benefit from aggressive anti-platelet therapy, early diagnostic and therapeutic risk stratification of these patients is of critical importance to improve their adverse outcome. Although the electrocardiogram remains a pivotal diagnostic tool in the evaluation of patients suspected of having an acute coronary syndrome, only significant STsegment changes provide reasonable prognostic information. Therefore, repeated assessment of circulating protein biomarkers represents a valuable diagnostic tool for improving efficacy and safety of decision-making in these patients. The combined use of biomarkers reflecting distinct pathophysiological aspects, such as myocardial necrosis, vascular inflammation, oxidative stress and neurohumoral activation, may significantly improve triage of patients with chest pain. These tools may identify those patients that are at particularly high risk for short-term and/or long-term cardiovascular events. Eventually, tailored medical and interventional treatment of diabetic patients should help to prevent these cardiac events in a cost-effective manner

Stability and collisions of moving semi-gap solitons in Bragg cross-gratings

We report results of a systematic study of one-dimensional four-wave moving solitons in a recently proposed model of the Bragg cross-grating in planar optical waveguides with the Kerr nonlinearity; the same model applies to a fiber Bragg grating (BG) carrying two polarizations of light. We concentrate on the case when the system's spectrum contains no true bandgap, but only semi-gaps (which are gaps only with respect to one branch of the dispersion relation), that nevertheless support soliton families. Solely zero-velocity solitons were previously studied in this system, while current experiments cannot generate solitons with the velocity smaller than half the maximum group velocity. We find the semi-gaps for the moving solitons in an analytical form, and demonstrated that they are completely filled with (numerically found) solitons. Stability of the moving solitons is identified in direct simulations. The stability region strongly depends on the frustration parameter, which controls the difference of the present system from the usual model for the single BG. A completely new situation is possible, when the velocity interval for stable solitons is limited not only from above, but also from below. Collisions between stable solitons may be both elastic and strongly inelastic. Close to their instability border, the solitons collide elastically only if their velocities c1 and c2 are small; however, collisions between more robust solitons are elastic in a strip around c1=-c2.Comment: 16 pages, 7 figures, Physics Letters A, in pres

Viscous Bianchi type I universes in brane cosmology

We consider the dynamics of a viscous cosmological fluid in the generalized Randall-Sundrum model for an anisotropic, Bianchi type I brane. To describe the dissipative effects we use the Israel-Hiscock-Stewart full causal thermodynamic theory. By assuming that the matter on the brane obeys a linear barotropic equation of state, and the bulk viscous pressure has a power law dependence on the energy density, the general solution of the field equations can be obtained in an exact parametric form. The obtained solutions describe generally a non-inflationary brane world. In the large time limit the brane Universe isotropizes, ending in an isotropic and homogeneous state. The evolution of the temperature and of the comoving entropy of the Universe is also considered, and it is shown that due to the viscous dissipative processes a large amount of entropy is created in the early stages of evolution of the brane world.Comment: 13 pages, 5 figures, to appear in Class. Quantum Gra

Supervision Training Needs: Perspectives of Social Work Supervisees

The topic of social work supervision has received a fair amount of attention in recent years, especially with new supervision training requirements for licensing supervisors recently implemented by the Minnesota Board of Social Work. However, the majority of the previous research on the topic of social work supervision training has been gathered from supervisors, rather than supervisees. The purpose of this survey research was to investigate the perceptions of social work supervisees surrounding the topic of supervision and supervision training. Using quantitative survey research, responses were received from thirty total survey respondents regarding their perceptions surrounding the topic of social work supervision and the possible need for additional training on the topic. The findings strongly supported previous research linking the provision of quality supervision to better service delivery and overall stress management for social workers. In addition, varying reported frequencies of supervision sessions indicated a concerning issue regarding the need for consistent provision of formal one-on-one supervision. The findings from this research study also provide implications for specific topics within social work supervision that may require additional training and also the need for supervision training for supervisees and supervisors alike

Supervision Training Needs: Perspectives of Social Work Supervisees

The topic of social work supervision has received a fair amount of attention in recent years, especially with new supervision training requirements for licensing supervisors recently implemented by the Minnesota Board of Social Work. However, the majority of the previous research on the topic of social work supervision training has been gathered from supervisors, rather than supervisees. The purpose of this survey research was to investigate the perceptions of social work supervisees surrounding the topic of supervision and supervision training. Using quantitative survey research, responses were received from thirty total survey respondents regarding their perceptions surrounding the topic of social work supervision and the possible need for additional training on the topic. The findings strongly supported previous research linking the provision of quality supervision to better service delivery and overall stress management for social workers. In addition, varying reported frequencies of supervision sessions indicated a concerning issue regarding the need for consistent provision of formal one-on-one supervision. The findings from this research study also provide implications for specific topics within social work supervision that may require additional training and also the need for supervision training for supervisees and supervisors alike