Conditional adaptive strategies

A general class of adaptive strategies in Hart and Mas-Colell (2001) may be extended to conditional strategies in the same way as smooth fictitious play in Fudenberg and Levine (1999). We show that a generalized version of universal conditional consistency (UCC) obtains for conditional adaptive strategies under some assumption.

Bilateral diaphragm paralysis after simultaneous cardiac surgery and Nuss procedure in the infant

AbstractThe case of a 15-month-old boy with bilateral diaphragm paralysis after simultaneous cardiac surgery for tetralogy of Fallot, and Nuss procedure for pectus excavatum, is presented. Extubated one day after his first operation, the boy suffered severe respiratory distress soon after, due to bilateral diaphragmatic paralysis. Diaphragm paralysis restricted abdominal respiration, while thoracic respiration was inhibited by metallic bar after the Nuss Procedure, which combined prevented extubation for 47 days. Thoracoplasty, such as the Nuss Procedure, should not be performed simultaneously with cardiac surgery because abdominal and thoracic respiration can be restricted in infants, causing prolonged, severe, post-surgical respiratory failure

Concern over radiation exposure and psychological distress among rescue workers following the Great East Japan Earthquake

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>On March 11, 2011, the Great East Japan Earthquake and tsunami that followed caused severe damage along Japans northeastern coastline and to the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant. To date, there are few reports specifically examining psychological distress in rescue workers in Japan. Moreover, it is unclear to what extent concern over radiation exposure has caused psychological distress to such workers deployed in the disaster area.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>One month after the disaster, 424 of 1816 (24%) disaster medical assistance team workers deployed to the disaster area were assessed. Concern over radiation exposure was evaluated by a single self-reported question. General psychological distress was assessed with the Kessler 6 scale (K6), depressive symptoms with the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale (CES-D), fear and sense of helplessness with the Peritraumatic Distress Inventory (PDI), and posttraumatic stress symptoms with the Impact of Event Scale-Revised (IES-R).</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Radiation exposure was a concern for 39 (9.2%) respondents. Concern over radiation exposure was significantly associated with higher scores on the K6, CES-D, PDI, and IES-R. After controlling for age, occupation, disaster operation experience, duration of time spent watching earthquake news, and past history of psychiatric illness, these associations remained significant in men, but did not remain significant in women for the CES-D and PDI scores.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>The findings suggest that concern over radiation exposure was strongly associated with psychological distress. Reliable, accurate information on radiation exposure might reduce deployment-related distress in disaster rescue workers.</p

Scattered X-rays in Obscured Active Galactic Nuclei and their Implications for Geometrical Structure and Evolution

We construct a new sample of 32 obscured active galactic nuclei (AGNs) selected from the Second XMM-Newton Serendipitous Source Catalogue to investigate their multiwavelength properties in relation to the "scattering fraction", the ratio of the soft X-ray flux to the absorption-corrected direct emission. The sample covers a broad range of the scattering fraction (0.1%-10%). A quarter of the 32 AGNs have a very low scattering fraction (smaller than 0.5%), which suggests that they are buried in a geometrically thick torus with a very small opening angle. We investigate correlations between the scattering fraction and multiwavelength properties. We find that AGNs with a small scattering fraction tend to have low [O III]lambda5007/X-ray luminosity ratios. This result agrees with the expectation that the extent of the narrow-line region is small because of the small opening angle of the torus. There is no significant correlation between scattering fraction and far-infrared luminosity. This implies that a scale height of the torus is not primarily determined by starburst activity. We also compare scattering fraction with black hole mass or Eddington ratio and find a weak anti-correlation between the Eddington ratio and scattering fraction. This implies that more rapidly growing supermassive black holes tend to have thicker tori.Comment: 13 pages, 10 figures, accepted for publication in Ap

ALSET - Japanese Air Launch System Ground Tests and Applications

The Air Launch System Enabling Technology (ALSET) project is a Japanese Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) funded project whose purpose is to study air launch orbital payload delivery systems and related technologies. The project is a first step toward an operational commercial air launch system that will use a multistage solid rocket to deliver small payloads on the order of 100 to 200 kilograms into Low Earth Orbit (LEO). An air drop type launch approach to space transportation provides high reliability, flexibility, and responsiveness to meet the future needs of small satellite operators. ALSET culminates in a series of drop tests of an inert launch vehicle (a mass simulator) to demonstrate the technologies necessary for the operational system. The baseline system design uses a carriage extraction system method whereby the rocket is extracted from a C-130 aircraft on a TYPE-V platform. Two 28-foot extraction parachutes are used to pull the platform from the aircraft. Three 100-foot cargo parachutes are then deployed for deceleration prior to release of the rocket from the platform for launch. The baseline test site selected for the drop test is the Yuma Test Center (YTC) in Arizona, USA. The large drop zones available at the YTC are ideal for ALSET testing. Additionally, the YTC’s considerable experience with similar test activities, including the NASA Ares Jumbo Drop Test Vehicle drop tests, minimizes technical risks. The authors’ efforts to date completed the Critical Design Review (CDR) for the ALSET Drop Test in February and March 2015. The ALSET program is now ready for manufacturing for the ALSET Drop Test. As the prospective applications of ALSET to C4ISR missions, two case studies were conducted. The studies demonstrated the effectiveness of the air launch system. The responsiveness and flexibility of the air launch system enables small satellites to collect the ground information desired in short time, and to observe the target highfrequently by sequential satellite launches and forming a constellation

Preventive effect of statin pretreatment on contrast-induced acute kidney injury in patients undergoing coronary angioplasty: Propensity score analysis from a multicenter registry

BackgroundThe prophylactic benefit of statins in reducing the incidence of contrast-induced acute kidney injury (CI-AKI) has been investigated in several studies with conflicting results. We sought to investigate whether statin pretreatment prevents CI-AKI in coronary artery disease (CAD) patients undergoing percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI).MethodsA total of 2198 CAD patients who underwent PCI, except for those undergoing dialysis or who died within 7 days after angioplasty, were analyzed from the ICAS (Ibaraki Cardiovascular Assessment Study) multicenter registry. Analyzed subjects were divided into 2 groups according to statin pretreatment: statin pretreatment (n = 839) and non-statin pretreatment (n = 1359). Selection bias of statin pretreatment was adjusted by propensity score-matching method: pretreatment statin (n = 565) and non-statin pretreatment (n = 565). CI-AKI was defined as an increase in serum creatinine of ≥ 25% or 0.5 mg/dl from baseline within 1 week of contrast medium exposure.ResultsA total of 192 (8.7%) patients developed CI-AKI. No significant differences were observed in baseline patient characteristics between the statin and non-statin pretreatment groups after propensity score matching. In the propensity score-matched groups, the incidence of CI-AKI was significantly lower in patients with statin pretreatment than in those without statin pretreatment (3.5% vs.10.6%, odds ratio [OR]: 0.31, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.18–0.52, P < 0.001). Multivariate logistic regression analysis showed that statin pretreatment remained an independent negative predictor of CI-AKI (OR: 0.31, 95% CI: 0.18–0.53, P < 0.001) among propensity score-matched subjects.ConclusionsStatin pretreatment was associated with a significant decrease in the risk of CI-AKI in CAD patients undergoing PCI in the ICAS Registry