Allegory and Nietzschean Values in Kafka, Camus, and Kazantzakis

The purpose of this these is to explore Nietzschean values as they appear in three modern allegories: Franz Kafka\u27s The Castle, Albert Camus\u27 The Plague, and Nikos Kazantzakis\u27 Zorba the Greek. The intent is to illustrate Friedrich Nietzsche\u27s three stages of the overman as they apply to Kafka, Camus, and Kazantzakis. (91 pages)

Exploring the social context of risk perception and behaviour: Farmers’ response to bovine tuberculosis

While agricultural risk and risk perception has received significant attention in the literature, few studies have explored the factors that influence the way farmers respond to particular risks. This paper uses the case of bovine tuberculosis (bTB), one of the most significant risks currently facing the English cattle farming industry, to explore these factors, with a particular focus on the role of social networks. A large scale postal survey distributed to beef and dairy farmers in the south west of England provides representative data which are subjected to factor and cluster analysis in order explore farmer views towards and responses to disease risk. Two groups of farmers are identified which can be distinguished from each other based on their attitudes towards bTB and the nature of their social networks. Farmers with wider, more externally focussed social networks are found to be more resilient than those whose social networks are restricted to family members and other farmers. However, while differences between the two groups are found in terms of their attitudes towards bTB, no differences are found in relation to their risk management behaviour, with few farmers taking clear action to reduce the risk of their herds contracting the disease. In order to address the identified disconnection between attitudes and behaviour, a number of potential interventions are put forward and discussed

The Submillimeter Array

The Submillimeter Array (SMA), a collaborative project of the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory (SAO) and the Academia Sinica Institute of Astronomy and Astrophysics (ASIAA), has begun operation on Mauna Kea in Hawaii. A total of eight 6-m telescopes comprise the array, which will cover the frequency range of 180-900 GHz. All eight telescopes have been deployed and are operational. First scientific results utilizing the three receiver bands at 230, 345, and 690 GHz have been obtained and are presented in the accompanying papers.Comment: 10 pages, 4 figure

Quality Improvement in IBD Care: The Influence of a QI Specific Conference for Fellows

Given the complexity of management of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), medical societies such as the American Gastroenterological Association (AGA) and Crohn’s and Colitis Foundation of America (CCFA) have established measures aimed at defining quality of care. In 2011, the AGA proposed 10 quality metrics for IBD, eight of these measures relate to outpatient management and two focus on inpatient management. Our objective was to evaluate compliance with these measures in our own general GI practice and determine whether a GI conference discussing quality improvement (QI) in 2017 was effective

Critical Importance of Using FibroScan to Identify Patients with Cirrhosis in a Predominantly African American Patient Population

Introduction: Identifying patients with cirrhosis is complicated, but the availability of Transient Elastography by FibroScan for non-invasive assessment of fibrosis appears to have resolved this issue. The objective of our study was to use a Fibroscan database to identify patients with cirrhosis in our primarily African American Hepatitis C patients and to track outcome especially of patients with Hepatitis C (HCV). Methods: The electronic medical records of 79 out of the 332 individuals (24%) with a Fibroscan between 2014 and 2016 and a score of \u3e12.5 kPa laboratory values recorded, and etiology and outcomes evaluated. AST to Platelet Ratio Index (APRI) and Fibrosis-4 (FIB-4) scores were calculated. An APRI score \u3e0.7 and FIB-4 score \u3e3.25 was used for predicting advanced fibrosis. Results: Cirrhotic patients were 92% AA, 52% male, and the majority had Hepatitis C (92%). In patients who had FibroScan-defined cirrhosis, neither their APRI nor FIB-4 scores were as reliable as FibroScan for identifying cirrhosis. The lack of accuracy for APRI and FIB-4 was due to low serum-based scores in patients with early onset cirrhosis. Outcomes for patients with HCV who were treated or not treated were tracked using improvement in FibroScan scores, and development of decompensated cirrhosis. For patients who had a subsequent FibroScan performed after HCV eradication (SVR), there was a statistically significant improvement in fibrosis, as compared to the non-treated patients (p Conclusions: FibroScan is useful for evaluating for cirrhosis in a predominantly African American population, including regression of fibrosis after HCV eradication

Herschel SPIRE FTS Relative Spectral Response Calibration

Herschel/SPIRE Fourier transform spectrometer (FTS) observations contain emission from both the Herschel Telescope and the SPIRE Instrument itself, both of which are typically orders of magnitude greater than the emission from the astronomical source, and must be removed in order to recover the source spectrum. The effects of the Herschel Telescope and the SPIRE Instrument are removed during data reduction using relative spectral response calibration curves and emission models. We present the evolution of the methods used to derive the relative spectral response calibration curves for the SPIRE FTS. The relationship between the calibration curves and the ultimate sensitivity of calibrated SPIRE FTS data is discussed and the results from the derivation methods are compared. These comparisons show that the latest derivation methods result in calibration curves that impart a factor of between 2 and 100 less noise to the overall error budget, which results in calibrated spectra for individual observations whose noise is reduced by a factor of 2-3, with a gain in the overall spectral sensitivity of 23% and 21% for the two detector bands, respectively.Comment: 15 pages, 13 figures, accepted for publication in Experimental Astronom

Measuring workplace bullying

Workplace bullying is increasingly being recognized as a serious problem in society today; it is also a problem that can be difficult to define and evaluate accurately. Research in this area has been hampered by lack of appropriate measurement techniques. Social scientists can play a key part in tackling the phenomenon of workplace bullying by developing and applying a range of research methods to capture its nature and incidence in a range of contexts. We review current methods of research into the phenomenon of bullying in the workplace. We examine definitional issues, including the type, frequency, and duration of bullying acts, and consider the role of values and norms of the workplace culture in influencing perception and measurement of bullying behavior. We distinguish methods that focus on: (a) inside perspectives on the experience of bullying (including questionnaires and surveys, self-report through diary-keeping, personal accounts through interviews, focus groups and critical incident technique, and projective techniques such as bubble dialogue); (b) outside perspectives (including observational methods and peer nominations); (c) multi-method approaches that integrate both inside and outside perspectives (including case studies). We suggest that multi-method approaches may offer a useful way forward for researchers and for practitioners anxious to assess and tackle the problem of bullying in their organizations.CIFPEC/CIEC - Centro de Investigação em Estudos da Criança, UM (UI 644 e 317 da FCT)

CHARACTERISTICS OF PATIENTS WITH LOW HEPATITIS C TREATMENT RATES IN URBAN MEDICAL CENTER CLINICS

The objective of this study was to determine whether there were different characteristics between HCV patients who were treated and those not treated after their first visit to a Gastroenterology (GI) or Infectious Disease (ID) clinic. This information might identify potential targets for remedial actions that could be performed to increase the number of treated patients. Data was collected from 2019 HCV patient EMR charts including patient demographics, treatment history, and laboratory studies. We defined success as receiving treatment by July 2020 (6-18 months after the first visit). We found that of 587 patients with HCV who were seen at least once in the Wayne Health system, 441 patients (441/587=75%) were not treated and only 189 (189/441= 43%) were treated by July 2020. Treated and not treated patients were similar with respect to race, gender, age, and median income defined by zip code. They were also not different with respect to the clinic seen (ID vs GI), the type of insurance, or the degree of fibrosis. However, patients with an average of 4 visits were more likely to be treated than those having 2 visits. Having 1 visit was the most dramatic factor in the lack of treatment (42% vs 8% p\u3c0.0001). PCR available at first visit was an important factor with respect to treatment (treated 38% vs not treated 25% p\u3c0.02)

Crohn’s Disease and Treatment in a Predominantly African American General GI Clinic

Given the high percentage of African Americans (AA) in our GI clinics and the paucity of AA focused studies on Crohn’s Disease (CD), we assessed racial disparity of the disease and its treatment in our predominately AA patient population. Patient records were examined to determine the accuracy of the CD diagnosis and to obtain relevant information for characterizing patients’ characteristics and treatments. In addition to race, patients were also categorized by GI visits to distinguish between patients under long term care (three or more visits) and those being seen to establish care (one or two visits). The 146 CD patients were 55% male, 71% AA, and the average age at diagnosis was 28 years. Patients with 3 or more visits were not significantly different with respect to therapy as compared to patients with only 1 or 2 visits to GI. AA patients with multiple visits had higher C-Reactive Protein (CRP) early in their disease as compared to non-AA patients (40.7 ng/ml vs 18.8 ng/ml). Although Non-AA patients were more likely to be on combination therapy, the difference was not statistically significant (single therapy (AA 61% vs non-AA 56%); combination therapy (AA 29% vs non-AA 37%)). When improvement of CRP was used as the objective criteria of therapeutic efficacy of the current therapy, both AA and Non-AA patients improved in individual CRP, but only the AA improvement was statistically significant