Subjective Experiences of Space and Time: Self, Sensation, and Phenomenal Time

The investigation of subjective experiences (SEs) of space and time is at the core of consciousness research. The term ‘space’ includes the subject and objects. The SE of subject, I-ness, is defined as ‘Self’. The SEs of objects, subject’s external body, and subject’s internal states such as feelings, thoughts, and so on can be investigated using the proto-experience (PE)-SE framework. The SE of time is defined as ‘phenomenal time’ (which includes past, present and future) and the SE of space as ‘phenomenal space’. The three non-experiential materialistic models are as follows: (I) The quantum-dissipation model [25] can connect the discrete neural signals to classical electromagnetic field to ‘quantum field theory and chaos theory’ for explaining memory. (II) The soliton-catalytic model [8] hypothesizes that all living processes including micro- and macro-processes can be explained by catalysis process. (III) The ‘sensation from evolution of action’ model [13] proposes that SEs are internalized during evolution. All these models can address to some extent the function of structures, such as perception. They cannot address explanatory gap. The complementary experiential PE-SE framework [37] addresses this psycho-physical gap and elucidates the SEs of space and time

Healthcare Cost Savings Through Telemedicine Use At Correctional State Facilities

Telemedicine offers both soft and hard return on investment, including cost savings avoidance and convenience of access to care. Incarcerated individuals represent a patient population that uniquely benefit from receiving care via telemedicine. They lack access to subspecialty care as prison facilities are located outside of urban areas, which is compounded by security risks, risk to individuals around inmates, and transportation cost to tertiary care facilities. To attend a brief in-office medical visit, an inmate requires hours of administrative support and logistical coordination, including appointment scheduling, transport arrangement and related fuel expense, and guard accompaniment - all at a financial cost to taxpayers. Telemedicine stands as a proven solution to decrease these costs and improve access to the care of inmates. The Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) Office of Telemedicine has provided telemedicine visits to more than 45,000 patients over 22 years and encompasses over 15 subspecialties, which have facilitated care to incarcerated patients at 30 Department of Corrections (DOC) sites in Virginia. Cost savings analysis was performed by the VCU Office of Telemedicine for the 2016 fiscal year. The amount saved per telemedicine visit was estimated by calculating officer costs and transportation costs associated with transporting an inmate to an on-site visit. It was found that each telemedicine visit represents a cost avoidance of $800 per visit. There were 2,850 Virginia DOC telemedicine visits in the fiscal year 2016, resulting in over 2 million dollars in estimated cost savings.https://scholarscompass.vcu.edu/gradposters/1034/thumbnail.jp

Hybrid Similarity Function for Big Data Entity Matching with R-Swoosh

Entity Matching (EM) is the problem of determining if two entities in a data set refer to the same real-world object. For example, it decides if two given mentions in the data, such as “Helen Hunt” and “H. M. Hunt”, refer to the same real-world entity by using different similarity functions. This problem plays a key role in information integration, natural language understanding, information processing on the World-Wide Web, and on the emerging Semantic Web. This project deals with the similarity functions and thresholds utilized in them to determine the similarity of the entities. The work contains two major parts: implementation of a hybrid similarity function, which contains three different similarity functions to determine the similarity of entities, and an efficient method to determine the optimum threshold value for similarity functions to get accurate results

Adding Syntax Parameters to the Sweet.JS Macro Library for JavaScript

Lisp and Scheme have demonstrated the power of macros to enable programmers to evolve and craft languages. A macro is a rule or pattern that specifies how a certain input sequence should be mapped to an output sequence according to some defined procedure. Using a macro system a programmer can introduce new syntactic elements to the programming language. Macros found in a program are expanded by a macro expander and allow a programmer to enable code reuse. Mozilla Sweet.JS provides a way for developers to enrich their JavaScript code by adding new syntax to the language through the use of macros. Sweet.JS provides the possibility to define hygienic macros inspired by Scheme. “In this paper, I present the implementation of a “syntax parameter” feature for the Sweet.JS library. A syntax parameter is a mechanism for rebinding a macro defi- nition within the dynamic context of a macro expansions thereby introducing implicit identifiers in a hygienic fashion. Some time hygienic macro bindings are insufficient such as with “anaphoric conditionals where the value of the tested expression is avail- able as an it binding. With syntax parameters, instead of introducing the binding unhygienically each time, we instead create one binding for the keyword, which we can then adjust later when we want the keyword to have a different meaning. As no new bindings are introduced hygiene is preserved

Improving the efficacy of the lean index through the quantification of qualitative lean metrics

Multiple lean metrics representing performance for various aspects of lean can be consolidated into one holistic measure for lean, called the lean index, of which there are two types. In this article it was established that the qualitative based lean index are subjective while the quantitative types lack scope. Subsequently, an appraisal is done on techniques for quantifying qualitative lean metrics so that the lean index is a hybrid of both, increasing the confidence in the information derived using the lean index. This ensures every detail of lean within a system is quantified, allowing daily tracking of lean. The techniques are demonstrated in a print packaging manufacturing case

New Developments in Aniconic Jaina Iconography

The article analyses for the first time the phenomenon of burial ad sanctos and of the necropolis in the aniconic Jaina traditions, which in certain respects serves as a functional equivalent of the temple city as the principla pilgrimage site, tīrtha, in the Mūrtipūjaka and Digambara traditions. Many originally anti-iconic traditions came to accept and worship certain aniconic images, such as relic shrines, empty thrones or stylised footprint images, that is, real or simulated relics of contact, and hence have become, to varying degrees, “image-worshipping” traditions in their need and desire to establish networks of abodes and of sacred sites, whether labelled tīrtha, dhām or aitihāsik sthal. A problem for the cult of the multi-shrined necropolis is that it invokes primarily the example, values and powers of a particular deceased mendicant and of his or her lineage or monastic order, not of the Jaina tradition in general. This limits the potential for symbolic universalisation within the aniconic traditions and draws them back towards either idol-worship or imageless meditation – or both as the example of a new ecumenical shrine featuring for the first time multiple three-dimensional portrait statues of prominent Sthānakavāsī mendicants in the Panjab shows. Only in combination with representations of the Namaskāra Mantra, the "Jaina prayer", can relic shrines, footprint images or photographs of individual Jaina saints can gain universal appeal

Myocardial dysfunction after out-of-hospital cardiac arrest: predictors and prognostic implications.

We aim to determine the incidence of early myocardial dysfunction after out-of-hospital cardiac arrest, risk factors associated with its development, and association with outcome. A retrospective chart review was performed among consecutive out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA) patients who underwent echocardiography within 24 h of return of spontaneous circulation at three urban teaching hospitals. Our primary outcome is early myocardial dysfunction, defined as a left ventricular ejection fraction \u3c 40% on initial echocardiogram. We also determine risk factors associated with myocardial dysfunction using multivariate analysis, and examine its association with survival and neurologic outcome. A total of 190 patients achieved ROSC and underwent echocardiography within 24 h. Of these, 83 (44%) patients had myocardial dysfunction. A total of 37 (45%) patients with myocardial dysfunction survived to discharge, 39% with intact neurologic status. History of congestive heart failure (OR 6.21; 95% CI 2.54-15.19), male gender (OR 2.27; 95% CI 1.08-4.78), witnessed arrest (OR 4.20; 95% CI 1.78-9.93), more than three doses of epinephrine (OR 6.10; 95% CI 1.12-33.14), more than four defibrillations (OR 4.7; 95% CI 1.35-16.43), longer duration of resuscitation (OR 1.06; 95% CI 1.01-1.10), and therapeutic hypothermia (OR 3.93; 95% CI 1.32-11.75) were associated with myocardial dysfunction. Cardiopulmonary resuscitation immediately initiated by healthcare personnel was associated with lower odds of myocardial dysfunction (OR 0.40; 95% CI 0.17-0.97). There was no association between early myocardial dysfunction and mortality or neurological outcome. Nearly half of OHCA patients have myocardial dysfunction. A number of clinical factors are associated with myocardial dysfunction, and may aid providers in anticipating which patients need early diagnostic evaluation and specific treatments. Early myocardial dysfunction is not associated with neurologically intact survival

Demographic Trends in Jaina Monasticism

The study of Jainism as a lived religion is still hampered by a lack of reliable sociological and demographic information both on the Jain laity and Jain mendicants. Most empirical studies to date have been thematically oriented or were of an exploratory nature, based on the methods advanced by the classical anthropological village studies or on small surveys of a non-representative nature. In both cases, the units of investigation were defined in terms of observer categories which were often created ad hoc in the field due to the advantages of snowball sampling under conditions of limited resources. Despite the pioneering studies of Vilas Sangave (1959/1980) on the social divisions of the Jain lay community and of Muni Uttam Kamal Jain (1975) on the pre-modern history of the religious divisions of the Jain mendicants, most students of Jainism, and indeed most Jains, have still no way of knowing how many independent mendicant orders exist today and how they are organised. The aim of this article is to fill this gap and to provide a brief overview of the present schools, orders and sects within both the Śvetāmbara- and the Digambara-denomination by bringing together the available demographic data on the current Jain monastic traditions with a synopsis of their schismogenesis and an analysis of the principal dimensions of social organisation. It is argued that the reinvention of the tradition of the naked Digambara munis in the early twentieth century and the increasing level of education of Jain women together with organisational reforms of the Śvetāmbara orders are amongst several decisive causal factors informing the current exponential increase of the number of Jain mendicants. The most interesting result of this study is the emerging, nearly complete, pattern of the group structure of the current Jain mendicant traditions, including the Digambara traditions whose modern history is described for the first time. A comprehensive analysis of the Jain lay movements is beyond the scope of this article