Testing team reasoning: group identification is related to coordination in pure coordination games

Games of pure mutual interest require players to coordinate their choices without being able to communicate. One way to achieve this is through team-reasoning, asking ‘what should we choose’, rather than just assessing one’s own options from an individual perspective. It has been suggested that team-reasoning is more likely when individuals are encouraged to think of those they are attempting to coordinate with as members of an in-group. In two studies, we examined the effects of group identity, measured by the ‘Inclusion of Other in Self’ (IOS) scale, on performance in nondescript coordination games, where there are several equilibria but no descriptions that a player can use to distinguish any one strategy from the others apart from the payoff from coordinating on it. In an online experiment, our manipulation of group identity did not have the expected effect, but we found a correlation of .18 between IOS and team-reasoning-consistent choosing. Similarly, in self-reported strategies, those who reported trying to pick an option that stood out (making it easier to coordinate on) also reported higher IOS scores than did those who said they tended to choose the option with the largest potential payoff. In a follow-up study in the lab, participants played either with friends or with strangers. Experiment 2 replicated the relationship between IOS and team-reasoning in strangers but not in friends. Instead, friends’ behavior was related to their expectations of what their partners would do. A hierarchical cluster analysis showed that 46.4% of strangers played a team reasoning strategy, compared to 20.6% of friends. We suggest that the strangers who group identify may have been team reasoning but friends may have tried to use their superior knowledge of their partners to try to predict their strategy

A modern approach to cough management

Coughing is one of the most common symptomatic reasons for patients to consult their healthcare practitioners. Their coughing may be caused by various factors such as respiratory tract infections, asthma, inhaled irritants, postnasal drip syndrome and gastro-oesophageal reflux disease. Coughing can be classified as either acute or chronic cough, and acute coughing is usually self-limiting. Patients can present with either 'wet' (chesty or productive) or 'dry' (non-productive) coughs. Unfortunately, a cough is generally uncomfortable and may interfere with daily activities, including sleep. Understanding how coughs manifest enables the health professional to provide adequate therapy. Evidence suggests that cough mixtures' effectiveness is disputable, but many patients have reported good results; hence, the medication is used in various combinations. This article provides an overview of the pathophysiology, causes and treatment of acute cough.http://www.sapj.co.za/index.php/sapjam2023Pharmacolog

A modern approach to cough management

Coughing is one of the most common symptomatic reasons for patients to consult their healthcare practitioners. Their coughing may be caused by various factors such as respiratory tract infections, asthma, inhaled irritants, postnasal drip syndrome and gastro-oesophageal reflux disease. Coughing can be classified as either acute or chronic cough, and acute coughing is usually self-limiting. Patients can present with either 'wet' (chesty or productive) or 'dry' (non-productive) coughs. Unfortunately, a cough is generally uncomfortable and may interfere with daily activities, including sleep. Understanding how coughs manifest enables the health professional to provide adequate therapy. Evidence suggests that cough mixtures' effectiveness is disputable, but many patients have reported good results; hence, the medication is used in various combinations. This article provides an overview of the pathophysiology, causes and treatment of acute cough.http://www.sapj.co.za/index.php/SAPJdm2022Pharmacolog

Hexa-Acylated Lipid A Is Required for Host Inflammatory Response to Neisseria gonorrhoeae in Experimental Gonorrhea

ABSTRACT Neisseria gonorrhoeae causes gonorrhea, a sexually transmitted infection characterized by inflammation of the cervix or urethra. However, a significant subset of patients with N. gonorrhoeae remain asymptomatic, without evidence of localized inflammation. Inflammatory responses to N. gonorrhoeae are generated by host innate immune recognition of N. gonorrhoeae by several innate immune signaling pathways, including lipooligosaccharide (LOS) and other pathogen-derived molecules through activation of innate immune signaling systems, including toll-like receptor 4 (TLR4) and the interleukin-1β (IL-1β) processing complex known as the inflammasome. The lipooligosaccharide of N. gonorrhoeae has a hexa-acylated lipid A. N. gonorrhoeae strains that carry an inactivated msbB (also known as lpxL1 ) gene produce a penta-acylated lipid A and exhibit reduced biofilm formation, survival in epithelial cells, and induction of epithelial cell inflammatory signaling. We now show that msbB -deficient N. gonorrhoeae induces less inflammatory signaling in human monocytic cell lines and murine macrophages than the parent organism. The penta-acylated LOS exhibits reduced toll-like receptor 4 signaling but does not affect N. gonorrhoeae -mediated activation of the inflammasome. We demonstrate that N. gonorrhoeae msbB is dispensable for initiating and maintaining infection in a murine model of gonorrhea. Interestingly, infection with msbB -deficient N. gonorrhoeae is associated with less localized inflammation. Combined, these data suggest that TLR4-mediated recognition of N. gonorrhoeae LOS plays an important role in the pathogenesis of symptomatic gonorrhea infection and that alterations in lipid A biosynthesis may play a role in determining symptomatic and asymptomatic infections

Understanding the costs of investigating coliform and E. coli detections during routine drinking water quality monitoring

Bacteriological failure investigations are crucial in the provision of safe, clean drinking water as part of a process of quality assurance and continual improvement. However, the financial implications of investigating coliform and Escherichia coli failures during routine water quality monitoring are poorly understood in the industry. The investigations for 737 coliform and E. coli failures across five UK water companies were analysed in this paper. The principal components of investigation costs were staff hours worked, re-samples collected, transportation, and special investigatory activities related to the sample collection location. The average investigation costs ranged from £575 for a customer tap failure to £4,775 for a water treatment works finished water failure. These costs were compared to predictions for US utilities under the Revised Total Coliform Rule. Improved understanding of the financial and staffing implications of investigating bacteriological failures can be used to budget operational expenditures and justify increased funding for preventive strategies

The Australasian Resuscitation In Sepsis Evaluation : fluids or vasopressors in emergency department sepsis (ARISE FLUIDS), a multi-centre observational study describing current practice in Australia and New Zealand

Objectives: To describe haemodynamic resuscitation practices in ED patients with suspected sepsis and hypotension. Methods: This was a prospective, multicentre, observational study conducted in 70 hospitals in Australia and New Zealand between September 2018 and January 2019. Consecutive adults presenting to the ED during a 30-day period at each site, with suspected sepsis and hypotension (systolic blood pressure <100 mmHg) despite at least 1000 mL fluid resuscitation, were eligible. Data included baseline demographics, clinical and laboratory variables and intravenous fluid volume administered, vasopressor administration at baseline and 6- and 24-h post-enrolment, time to antimicrobial administration, intensive care admission, organ support and in-hospital mortality. Results: A total of 4477 patients were screened and 591 were included with a mean (standard deviation) age of 62 (19) years, Acute Physiology and Chronic Health Evaluation II score 15.2 (6.6) and a median (interquartile range) systolic blood pressure of 94 mmHg (87–100). Median time to first intravenous antimicrobials was 77 min (42–148). A vasopressor infusion was commenced within 24 h in 177 (30.2%) patients, with noradrenaline the most frequently used (n = 138, 78%). A median of 2000 mL (1500–3000) of intravenous fluids was administered prior to commencing vasopressors. The total volume of fluid administered from pre-enrolment to 24 h was 4200 mL (3000–5661), with a range from 1000 to 12 200 mL. Two hundred and eighteen patients (37.1%) were admitted to an intensive care unit. Overall in-hospital mortality was 6.2% (95% confidence interval 4.4–8.5%). Conclusion: Current resuscitation practice in patients with sepsis and hypotension varies widely and occupies the spectrum between a restricted volume/earlier vasopressor and liberal fluid/later vasopressor strategy

Differential cross section measurements for the production of a W boson in association with jets in proton–proton collisions at √s = 7 TeV

Measurements are reported of differential cross sections for the production of a W boson, which decays into a muon and a neutrino, in association with jets, as a function of several variables, including the transverse momenta (pT) and pseudorapidities of the four leading jets, the scalar sum of jet transverse momenta (HT), and the difference in azimuthal angle between the directions of each jet and the muon. The data sample of pp collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of 7 TeV was collected with the CMS detector at the LHC and corresponds to an integrated luminosity of 5.0 fb[superscript −1]. The measured cross sections are compared to predictions from Monte Carlo generators, MadGraph + pythia and sherpa, and to next-to-leading-order calculations from BlackHat + sherpa. The differential cross sections are found to be in agreement with the predictions, apart from the pT distributions of the leading jets at high pT values, the distributions of the HT at high-HT and low jet multiplicity, and the distribution of the difference in azimuthal angle between the leading jet and the muon at low values.United States. Dept. of EnergyNational Science Foundation (U.S.)Alfred P. Sloan Foundatio

Optimasi Portofolio Resiko Menggunakan Model Markowitz MVO Dikaitkan dengan Keterbatasan Manusia dalam Memprediksi Masa Depan dalam Perspektif Al-Qur`an

Risk portfolio on modern finance has become increasingly technical, requiring the use of sophisticated mathematical tools in both research and practice. Since companies cannot insure themselves completely against risk, as human incompetence in predicting the future precisely that written in Al-Quran surah Luqman verse 34, they have to manage it to yield an optimal portfolio. The objective here is to minimize the variance among all portfolios, or alternatively, to maximize expected return among all portfolios that has at least a certain expected return. Furthermore, this study focuses on optimizing risk portfolio so called Markowitz MVO (Mean-Variance Optimization). Some theoretical frameworks for analysis are arithmetic mean, geometric mean, variance, covariance, linear programming, and quadratic programming. Moreover, finding a minimum variance portfolio produces a convex quadratic programming, that is minimizing the objective function ðð¥with constraintsð ð 𥠥 ðandð´ð¥ = ð. The outcome of this research is the solution of optimal risk portofolio in some investments that could be finished smoothly using MATLAB R2007b software together with its graphic analysis

Juxtaposing BTE and ATE – on the role of the European insurance industry in funding civil litigation

One of the ways in which legal services are financed, and indeed shaped, is through private insurance arrangement. Two contrasting types of legal expenses insurance contracts (LEI) seem to dominate in Europe: before the event (BTE) and after the event (ATE) legal expenses insurance. Notwithstanding institutional differences between different legal systems, BTE and ATE insurance arrangements may be instrumental if government policy is geared towards strengthening a market-oriented system of financing access to justice for individuals and business. At the same time, emphasizing the role of a private industry as a keeper of the gates to justice raises issues of accountability and transparency, not readily reconcilable with demands of competition. Moreover, multiple actors (clients, lawyers, courts, insurers) are involved, causing behavioural dynamics which are not easily predicted or influenced. Against this background, this paper looks into BTE and ATE arrangements by analysing the particularities of BTE and ATE arrangements currently available in some European jurisdictions and by painting a picture of their respective markets and legal contexts. This allows for some reflection on the performance of BTE and ATE providers as both financiers and keepers. Two issues emerge from the analysis that are worthy of some further reflection. Firstly, there is the problematic long-term sustainability of some ATE products. Secondly, the challenges faced by policymakers that would like to nudge consumers into voluntarily taking out BTE LEI