Evaluation of the Linear Relationship Between Pulse Arrival Time and Blood Pressure in ICU Patients: Potential and Limitations

A variety of techniques based on the indirect measurement of blood pressure (BP) by Pulse Transit Time (PTT) have been explored over the past few years. Such an approach has the potential in providing continuous and non-invasive beat to beat blood pressure without the use of a cuff. Pulse Arrival Time (PAT) which includes the cardiac pre-ejection period has been proposed as a surrogate of PTT, however, the balance between its questioned accuracy and measurement simplicity has yet to be established. The present work assessed the degree of linear relationship between PAT and blood pressure on 96 h of continuous electrocardiography and invasive radial blood pressure waveforms in a group of 11 young ICU patients. Participants were selected according to strict exclusion criteria including no use of vasoactive medications and presence of clinical conditions associated with cardiovascular diseases. The average range of variation for diastolic BP was 60 to 79 mmHg while systolic BP varied between 123 and 158 mmHg in the study database. The overall Pearson correlation coefficient for systolic and diastolic blood pressure was −0.5 and −0.42, respectively, while the mean absolute error was 3.9 and 7.6 mmHg. It was concluded that the utilization of PAT for the continuous non-invasive blood pressure estimation is rather limited according to the experimental setup, nonetheless the correlation coefficient performed better when the range of variation of blood pressure was high over periods of 30 min suggesting that PAT has the potential to be used as indicator of changes relating to hypertensive or hypotensive episodes

The labor wedge as a matching friction

The labor wedge accounts for a large fraction of business cycle fluctuations. This paper uses a search and matching model to decompose the labor wedge into three classes of labor market frictions and evaluate their role. We find that frictions to job destruction and bargaining commonly considered in the search literature are not helpful in explaining the labor wedge. We also identify an asymmetric effect of separation, bargaining and matching frictions on unemployment, as well as a potential solution to Shimer's puzzle.Business cycles - Econometric models ; Labor supply ; Unemployment ; Labor turnover

Synchronization in large directed networks of coupled phase oscillators

We extend recent theoretical approximations describing the transition to synchronization in large undirected networks of coupled phase oscillators to the case of directed networks. We also consider extensions to networks with mixed positive/negative coupling strengths. We compare our theory with numerical simulations and find good agreement

Critical behavior of ferromagnetic pure and random diluted nanoparticles with competing interactions: variational and Monte Carlo approaches

The magnetic properties and critical behavior of both ferromagnetic pure and metallic nanoparticles having concurrently atomic disorder, dilution and competing interactions, are studied in the framework of an Ising model. We have used both the free energy variational principle based on the Bogoliubov inequality and Monte Carlo simulation. As a case of study for random diluted nanoparticles we have considered the Fe$_{0.5}$Mn$_{0.1}$Al$_{0.4}$ alloy characterized for exhibiting, under bulk conditions, low temperature reentrant spin glass (RSG) behavior and for which experimental and simulation results are available. Our results allow concluding that the variational model is successful in reproducing features of the particle size dependence of the Curie temperature for both pure and random diluted particles. In this last case, low temperature magnetization reduction was consistent with the same type of RSG behavior observed in bulk in accordance with the Almeida-Thouless line at low fields and a linear dependence of the freezing temperature with the reciprocal of the particle diameter was also obtained. Computation of the correlation length critical exponent yielded the values $\nu=0.926\pm 0.004$ via Bogoliubov and$\nu =0.71\pm 0.04$ via Monte Carlo. This fact indicates that even though thermodynamical models can be indeed used in the study of nanostructures and they can reproduce experimental features, special attention must be paid regarding critical behavior. From both approaches, differences in the $\nu$ exponent with respect to the pure Ising model agree with Harris and Fisher arguments.Comment: 11 pages, 11 figures. Submitted to Phys. Rev.

Negative-energy perturbations in cylindrical equilibria with a radial electric field

The impact of an equilibrium radial electric field $E$ on negative-energy perturbations (NEPs) (which are potentially dangerous because they can lead to either linear or nonlinear explosive instabilities) in cylindrical equilibria of magnetically confined plasmas is investigated within the framework of Maxwell-drift kinetic theory. It turns out that for wave vectors with a non-vanishing component parallel to the magnetic field the conditions for the existence of NEPs in equilibria with E=0 [G. N. Throumoulopoulos and D. Pfirsch, Phys. Rev. E 53, 2767 (1996)] remain valid, while the condition for the existence of perpendicular NEPs, which are found to be the most important perturbations, is modified. For $|e_i\phi|\approx T_i$ ($\phi$ is the electrostatic potential) and $T_i/T_e > \beta_c\approx P/(B^2/8\pi)$ ($P$ is the total plasma pressure), a case which is of operational interest in magnetic confinement systems, the existence of perpendicular NEPs depends on $e_\nu E$, where $e_\nu$ is the charge of the particle species $\nu$. In this case the electric field can reduce the NEPs activity in the edge region of tokamaklike and stellaratorlike equilibria with identical parabolic pressure profiles, the reduction of electron NEPs being more pronounced than that of ion NEPs.Comment: 30 pages, late

The Need for Increased Possibility of Director Liability: Refusal to Dismiss \u3cem\u3eIn re Wells Fargo & Co. Shareholder Derivative Litigation\u3c/em\u3e, a Step in the Right Direction

The frequency and magnitude of corporate scandals call into question the effectiveness of the current mechanism to police director misconduct. Presently, directors are rarely held personally liable for failing to fulfill their fiduciary duties. The combination of multiple judicial and statutory protections and the courts’ hesitance to impose director liability shields directors and makes it difficult for shareholder plaintiffs to succeed on such claims. In fact, most claims are dismissed before courts have an opportunity to hear the merits of the case. This Note focuses on the oversight liability doctrine and argues that it is applied too narrowly, at least at the motion to dismiss stage, to deter director misconduct and encourage adequate oversight by directors. This Note uses the Wells Fargo corporate scandal and the directors’ failure of oversight as a case study. In In re Wells Fargo & Co. Shareholder Derivative Litigation, the United States District Court for the Northern District of California denied the director defendants’ motion to dismiss, allowing shareholder plaintiffs the opportunity to prove their claims against the directors. This Note argues that this rare decision is a positive step that sends a firm message to directors that they cannot disregard their duties and expect complete protection from liability

From old wars to new wars and global terrorism

The 9/11 attacks created an urgent need to understand contemporary wars and their relationship to older conventional and terrorist wars, both of which exhibit remarkable regularities. The frequency-intensity distribution of fatalities in "old wars", 1816-1980, is a power-law with exponent 1.80. Global terrorist attacks, 1968-present, also follow a power-law with exponent 1.71 for G7 countries and 2.5 for non-G7 countries. Here we analyze two ongoing, high-profile wars on opposite sides of the globe - Colombia and Iraq. Our analysis uses our own unique dataset for killings and injuries in Colombia, plus publicly available data for civilians killed in Iraq. We show strong evidence for power-law behavior within each war. Despite substantial differences in contexts and data coverage, the power-law coefficients for both wars are tending toward 2.5, which is a value characteristic of non-G7 terrorism as opposed to old wars. We propose a plausible yet analytically-solvable model of modern insurgent warfare, which can explain these observations.