The Pareto Dominant Strategy-Proof and Equitable Rule for Problems with Indivisible Goods

We study the problem of allocating indivisible goods to agents when monetary compensations are not allowed. Our central requirements are strategy-proofness and equity. For each of two different cases of this problem we identify a strategy-proof and equitable [in the sense of equal-treatment-of-equals, or envy-freeness] rule that Pareto dominates all other equitable and strategy-proof rules

Dramatic Response to Intravenous Immunoglobulin Treatment of Epilepsia Partialis Continua: A Phenomenon Observed in Older Age

WOS: 000408861900009Rasmussen's encephalitis is characterized by treatment-resistant focal episodes and is generally observed during childhood, rarely occurring in adults. An 83-year-old man with involuntary contractions in his left arm and leg was brought to emergency care. Patient was conscious during diagnosis, displaying contractions, and Babinski reflex-positive on his left side. Biochemical parameters were within normal values. Dizepam treatment applied in emergency care did not show positive results. A hypodensity was diagnosed in the right brain hemisphere via CT. The patient's EEG could not be evaluated due to intense artifact movements. During this process, midazolam infusion was applied. Parenteral valproic acid treatment was applied, and dose was incrementally increased to 2000 mg/day. With no results, dose was incrementally increased to 3000 mg/day with the addition of levetiracetam. Extensive T1 and T2 hypointensity was observed, without any contrasts, in the total right hemisphere via MRI during the episode. Cortical diffusion restriction was observed in diffusion-weighted imaging. The patient was determined to be positive for Rasmussen's encephalitis with the diagnosis of antiepileptic epilepsia partialis continua in the clinic. An initial treatment of IV immunoglobulin (0.4 mg/kg/day) was initiated, and episodes gradually decreased and finally ended within 3 days. IV immunoglobulin treatment was completed in 5 days. No recurrence was observed. While Rasmussen's encephalitis is rarely seen in older adults, complete control was achieved with IV immunoglobulin in the present case

Cross-factor analysis of software engineering practices versus practitioner demographics: An exploratory study in Turkey

Context: Understanding the types of software engineering practices and techniques used in the industry is important. There is a wide spectrum in terms of the types and maturity of software engineering practices conducted in each software team and company. Furthermore, it is important to understand the cross-factor relationship of software engineering practices and practitioner demographics including their companies and projects, e.g., is it the case that practitioners developing software for sectors such as military would utilize software size measurement approaches more, or use different software development methodologies, compared to practitioners developing software for other sectors?, and what kinds of practices are conducted by practitioners in small versus large companies

Small bowel intussusception together with appendicitis in childhood: A case report

Simultaneous diagnosis of intussusception and appendicitis in the same patient have rarely been described in the pediatric population. We reported a small bowel intussusception case together with acute suppurative appendicitis. A 9 years old boy had abdominal colic pain and he had vomit frequently. On physical examination, he was awake, active and uncomfortable. Abdominal ultrasound (US) suggested ileoileocolic intussusception. Laparotomy was performed and an ileoileocolic intussusception was visualized. Ileoileocolic intussusception was reducted manually. After reduction appendix was visualized and it was acute suppurative appendicitis. Appendectomy was performed. Neither medical nor surgical problem occurred during long term follow-up. In conclusion, we though that it is important to examine the other pathologic conditions such as leading points, bowel complications and even appendicitis in case of intussusception

Essays in matching theory

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Rochester. Dept. of Economics, 2012. "The first chapter is based upon a paper, coauthored with Onur Kesten, which has been accepted for publication in Economic Theory. The second and third chapters consist of solo essays. The fourth chapter is based upon a joint work with Flip Klijn"--Foreword.In two-sided matching problems, there are two disjoint sets of agents, for instance, firms and workers, hospitals and interns. Each agent has a preference order over agents on the other side. An outcome of the problem is a match. Stability has been considered to be the main property that accounts for the success of many matching processes. It is a robustness property: no coalition has a good reason to disrupt the suggested match. A well-studied question is to what extent it is reasonable for agents to be truthful about their preferences. Agents may have an incentive to misrepresent their preferences. Therefore, procedures that produce stable matches with respect to the announced preferences may not produce stable matches with respect to the true preferences. Then, a natural question to ask is: What are Nash equilibria? A significant portion of this volume is devoted to full-fledged game theoretic analysis in one-to-one, many-to-one and many-to-many matching problems. In the first chapter, we study the problem of allocating indivisible goods to agents when monetary transfers are not allowed. Our main requirement is strategy-proofness. Our second goal is fairness. Fairness is incompatible with efficiency. We consider two instances of this problem: (1) the supply of each object is one; and (2) the supply of each object may be greater than one. For each instance, we identify a fair and strategy-proof rule that Pareto dominates any other rule satisfying the two properties. In the second chapter, we consider many-to-one and many-to-many matching problems where each agent has substitutable and separable preferences. We analyze the stochastic dominance (sd) Nash equilibria of the game induced by any vii probabilistic stable matching rule. In the third chapter, we model decentralized matching as a sequential game in which firms sequentially make job offers to workers. The complex and uncertain aspects of decentralized processes are represented by a randomly selected order according to which firms make offers. We study the sd-Nash and realization independent equilibria of the Decentralized Game we define. In the fourth chapter, we show that the so-called ‘rural hospital theorem’ generalizes to many-to-many matching problems where agents on both sides of the problem have substitutable and weakly separable preferences. We also show that this domain of preferences is maximal

Effects of low-dose Milrinone on weaning from cardiopulmonary bypass and after in patients with mitral stenosis and pulmonary hypertension

The phosphodiesterase inhibitor milrinone is usually preferred in patients with pulmonary hypertension and myocardial dysfunction after cardiopulmonary bypass. We investigated the effects of low-dose milrinone on pulmonary hypertension in the immediate pre- and postoperative period. Forty-seven patients were randomized to the control and milrinone groups. All patients had mean pulmonary artery pressure greater than 30 mmHg and pulmonary capillary wedge pressure greater than 20 mmHg and were candidates for mitral valve replacement for rheumatic mitral stenosis. Twenty-four patients received a loading dose of milrinone 25 mu g/kg(-1) during weaning from cardiopulmonary bypass, followed by a maintenance dose of 0.25 mu g/kg(-1)/min(-1) to the end of the surgery. Cardiac output and other hemodynamic variables were noted at induction, weaning from bypass, and postoperative 1 h. Pulmonary artery pressure, capillary wedge pressure, and central venous pressure were significantly lower in the milrinone group during weaning after cardiopulmonary bypass, while other variables were roughly similar. However, patients in the control group required higher doses of vasodilators, inotropes, and antiarrhythmic agents. Mean arterial pressure in the milrinone group was significantly lower at 1 h postoperatively than in the control group; however, the patients did not need many more vasopressors. Fluid restriction and diuretic agent use were more significant in the control group. Systemic arterial hypotension and vasopressor requirements with milrinone use at inotropic doses were not observed at the doses used for the study. A total of 21.7% of the patients in the control group required vasopressors in the perioperative period. Both groups demonstrated similar hematologic variables except that the hemoglobin level in the control group was significantly lower during postoperative days 1 and 7. Low-dose milrinone for a short-term during weaning from cardiopulmonary bypass may be used in patients with mitral stenosis and pulmonary hypertension for its effects on pulmonary artery pressures, less inotropic and vasopressor requirements, and fluid balance