2,643 research outputs found
Einstellungen zum eigenen Altern: Eine Alters- oder eine Ressourcenfrage?
Zusammenfassung : Generelle positive und negative Stereotype und Einstellungen zum Alter können erhebliche Auswirkungen auf den weiteren Verlauf kognitiver und körperlicher Leistungsfähigkeit im Alter haben. Wenig bekannt ist bisher, wie stark Einstellungen zum eigenen Altern von (a) der aktuellen Ressourcenlage einer Person, (b) den Veränderungen der Ressourcenlage oder (c) dem zunehmenden Alter von Personen abhängen. Ziel der vorliegenden Studie war es, die Zusammenhänge zwischen individuell verfügbaren körperlichen, psychischen und kognitiven Ressourcen einerseits und den Einstellungen zum eigenen Altern andererseits zu untersuchen. Diese Zusammenhänge wurden mit den Daten von N=500 1930-1932 geborenen Teilnehmenden (Alter: M=63,0, SD=0,9 zu T1 und M=66,9, SD=0,9 zu T2) der Interdisziplinären Längsschnittstudie des Erwachsenenalters (ILSE) geprüft. Die Ergebnisse zeigen, dass die Einstellungen zum eigenen Altern (a) mit zunehmendem Alter negativer werden, (b) wesentlich von der aktuellen Ressourcenlage abhängig sind, (c) Veränderungen der Ressourcenlage sich zusätzlich auf die Einstellungen zum eigenen Altern auswirken, und (d) das Alter eher als Verstärker des Zusammenhangs zwischen Ressourcen und Einstellungen denn als eigenständiger Einflussfaktor auf die Einstellungen zum eigenen Alter auftrit
Local interaction scale controls the existence of a non-trivial optimal critical mass in opinion spreading
We study a model of opinion formation where the collective decision of group
is said to happen if the fraction of agents having the most common opinion
exceeds a threshold value, a \textit{critical mass}. We find that there exists
a unique, non-trivial critical mass giving the most efficient convergence to
consensus. In addition, we observe that for small critical masses, the
characteristic time scale for the relaxation to consensus splits into two. The
shorter time scale corresponds to a direct relaxation and the longer can be
explained by the existence of intermediate, metastable states similar to those
found in [P.\ Chen and S.\ Redner, Phys.\ Rev.\ E \textbf{71}, 036101 (2005)].
This longer time-scale is dependent on the precise condition for
consensus---with a modification of the condition it can go away.Comment: 4 pages, 6 figure
Clinical manifestations of human brucellosis : a systematic review and meta-analysis
BACKGROUND: The objectives of this systematic review, commissioned by WHO, were to assess the frequency and severity of clinical manifestations of human brucellosis, in view of specifying a disability weight for a DALY calculation. METHODS/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: Thirty three databases were searched, with 2,385 articles published between January 1990-June 2010 identified as relating to human brucellosis. Fifty-seven studies were of sufficient quality for data extraction. Pooled proportions of cases with specific clinical manifestations were stratified by age category and sex and analysed using generalized linear mixed models. Data relating to duration of illness and risk factors were also extracted. Severe complications of brucellosis infection were not rare, with 1 case of endocarditis and 4 neurological cases per 100 patients. One in 10 men suffered from epididymo-orchitis. Debilitating conditions such as arthralgia, myalgia and back pain affected around half of the patients (65%, 47% and 45%, respectively). Given that 78% patients had fever, brucellosis poses a diagnostic challenge in malaria-endemic areas. Significant delays in appropriate diagnosis and treatment were the result of health service inadequacies and socioeconomic factors. Based on disability weights from the 2004 Global Burden of Disease Study, a disability weight of 0.150 is proposed as the first informed estimate for chronic, localised brucellosis and 0.190 for acute brucellosis. CONCLUSIONS: This systematic review adds to the understanding of the global burden of brucellosis, one of the most common zoonoses worldwide. The severe, debilitating, and chronic impact of brucellosis is highlighted. Well designed epidemiological studies from regions lacking in data would allow a more complete understanding of the clinical manifestations of disease and exposure risks, and provide further evidence for policy-makers. As this is the first informed estimate of a disability weight for brucellosis, there need for further debate amongst brucellosis experts and a consensus to be reache
Reinforced communication and social navigation generate groups in model networks
To investigate the role of information flow in group formation, we introduce
a model of communication and social navigation. We let agents gather
information in an idealized network society, and demonstrate that heterogeneous
groups can evolve without presuming that individuals have different interests.
In our scenario, individuals' access to global information is constrained by
local communication with the nearest neighbors on a dynamic network. The result
is reinforced interests among like-minded agents in modular networks; the flow
of information works as a glue that keeps individuals together. The model
explains group formation in terms of limited information access and highlights
global broadcasting of information as a way to counterbalance this
fragmentation. To illustrate how the information constraints imposed by the
communication structure affects future development of real-world systems, we
extrapolate dynamics from the topology of four social networks.Comment: 7 pages, 3 figure
Nonequilibrium phase transition in the coevolution of networks and opinions
Models of the convergence of opinion in social systems have been the subject
of a considerable amount of recent attention in the physics literature. These
models divide into two classes, those in which individuals form their beliefs
based on the opinions of their neighbors in a social network of personal
acquaintances, and those in which, conversely, network connections form between
individuals of similar beliefs. While both of these processes can give rise to
realistic levels of agreement between acquaintances, practical experience
suggests that opinion formation in the real world is not a result of one
process or the other, but a combination of the two. Here we present a simple
model of this combination, with a single parameter controlling the balance of
the two processes. We find that the model undergoes a continuous phase
transition as this parameter is varied, from a regime in which opinions are
arbitrarily diverse to one in which most individuals hold the same opinion. We
characterize the static and dynamical properties of this transition
Improvement of lung preservation - From experiment to clinical practice
Background. Reperfusion injury represents a severe early complication following lung transplantation. Among the pathogenetic factors, the high potassium content of Euro-Collins(R) solution is discussed. Material and Methods: In a pig model of orthotopic left-sided lung transplantation we investigated the effect of Euro-Collins solution (EC: n=6) versus low potassium dextran (LPD: Perfadex(R): n = 6). Sham-operated (n = 6) animals served as control. Transplant function, cellular energy metabolism and endothelial morphology served as parameters. In a clinical investigation, 124 patients were evaluated following single (EC: n = 31; LPD n = 37) or double (EC: n = 17; LPD n = 39) lung transplantation, whose organs where preserved with EC (n = 48) or LPD (n = 76). Duration of ischemia, duration of ventilation and stay on ICU were registered. Primary transplant function was evaluated according to AaDO(2) values. Cause of early death (30 days) was declared. Results: Experimental results: After flush with EC and 18 h ischemia, a reduction of tissue ATP content (p < 0.01 vs inital value and LPD) was noted. Endothelial damage after ischemia was severe (p < 0.05 vs control), paO(2) was significantly decreased. Clinical results: In the LPD group, duration of ischemia was longer for the grafts transplanted first (SLTx and DLTx: p = 0.0009) as well as second (2. organ DLTx: p = 0.045). Primary transplant function was improved (day 0: SLTx: p = 0.0015; DLTx: p = 0.0095, both vs EC). Duration of ventilation and stay on ICU were shorter (n.s.). Reperfusion injury-associated death was reduced from 8% (EC) to 0 (LPD). Conclusion: In experimental lung preservation, LPD lead to an improved graft function. These results were confirmed in clinical lung transplantation. Clinical lung preservation, therefore, should be carried out by use of LPD. Copyright (C) 2002 S. Karger AG, Basel
Effective Free Energy for Individual Dynamics
Physics and economics are two disciplines that share the common challenge of
linking microscopic and macroscopic behaviors. However, while physics is based
on collective dynamics, economics is based on individual choices. This
conceptual difference is one of the main obstacles one has to overcome in order
to characterize analytically economic models. In this paper, we build both on
statistical mechanics and the game theory notion of Potential Function to
introduce a rigorous generalization of the physicist's free energy, which
includes individual dynamics. Our approach paves the way to analytical
treatments of a wide range of socio-economic models and might bring new
insights into them. As first examples, we derive solutions for a congestion
model and a residential segregation model.Comment: 8 pages, 2 figures, presented at the ECCS'10 conferenc
Role of Activity in Human Dynamics
The human society is a very complex system; still, there are several
non-trivial, general features. One type of them is the presence of power-law
distributed quantities in temporal statistics. In this Letter, we focus on the
origin of power-laws in rating of movies. We present a systematic empirical
exploration of the time between two consecutive ratings of movies (the
interevent time). At an aggregate level, we find a monotonous relation between
the activity of individuals and the power-law exponent of the interevent-time
distribution. At an individual level, we observe a heavy-tailed distribution
for each user, as well as a negative correlation between the activity and the
width of the distribution. We support these findings by a similar data set from
mobile phone text-message communication. Our results demonstrate a significant
role of the activity of individuals on the society-level patterns of human
behavior. We believe this is a common character in the interest-driven human
dynamics, corresponding to (but different from) the universality classes of
task-driven dynamics.Comment: 5 pages, 6 figures. Accepted by EP
Similarity based cooperation and spatial segregation
We analyze a cooperative game, where the cooperative act is not based on the
previous behaviour of the co-player, but on the similarity between the players.
This system has been studied in a mean-field description recently [A. Traulsen
and H. G. Schuster, Phys. Rev. E 68, 046129 (2003)]. Here, the spatial
extension to a two-dimensional lattice is studied, where each player interacts
with eight players in a Moore neighborhood. The system shows a strong
segregation independent on parameters. The introduction of a local conversion
mechanism towards tolerance allows for four-state cycles and the emergence of
spiral waves in the spatial game. In the case of asymmetric costs of
cooperation a rich variety of complex behavior is observed depending on both
cooperation costs. Finally, we study the stabilization of a cooperative fixed
point of a forecast rule in the symmetric game, which corresponds to
cooperation across segregation borders. This fixed point becomes unstable for
high cooperation costs, but can be stabilized by a linear feedback mechanism.Comment: 7 pages, 9 figure
- …