Toward a High Performance Health System for the United States

Describes the features of the U.S. healthcare system and measures ten areas of performance, including access to appropriate care, quality care from the patient's perspective, affordability, and capacity for improvement. Provides recommendations

The Normal State of the Hydrogen Molecule

A simple wave function for the normal state of the hydrogen molecule, taking into account both the atomic and ionic configurations, was set up and treated by a variational method. The dissociation energy was found to be 4.00 v.e. as compared to the experimental value of 4.68 v.e. and Rosen's value of 4.02 v.e. obtained by use of a function involving complicated integrals. It was found that the atomic function occurs with a factor 3.9 times that of the ionic function. A similar function with different screening constants for the atomic and ionic parts was also tried. It was found that the best results are obtained v1hen these screening constants are equal. The addition of Rosen's term to the atomic-ionic function resulted in a value of 4.10 v.e. for the dissociation energy.</p

A Mathematical Model of Oxygen Transport in Skeletal Muscle During Hindlimb Unloading

During hindlimb unloading (HU) dramatic fluid shifts occur within minutes of the suspension, leading to a less precise matching of blood flow to O2 demands of skeletal muscle. Vascular resistance directs blood away from certain muscles, such as the soleus (SOL). The muscle volume gradually reduces in these muscles so that eventually the relative blood flow returns to normal. It is generally believed that muscle volume change is not due to O2 depletion, but a consequence of disuse. However, the volume of the unloaded rat muscle declines over the course of weeks, whereas the redistribution of blood flow occurs immediately. Using a Krogh Cylinder Model, the distribution of O2 was predicted in two skeletal muscles: SOL and gastrocnemius (GAS). Effects of the muscle blood flow, volume, capillary density, and O2 uptake, are included to calculate the pO2 at rest and after 10 min and 15 days of unloading. The model predicts that 32 percent of the SOL muscle tissue has a pO2 1.25 mm Hg within 10 min, whereas the GAS maintains normal O2 levels, and that equilibrium is reached only as the SOL muscle cells degenerate. The results provide evidence that there is an inadequate O2 supply to the mitochondria in the SOL muscle after 10 min HU

Thinking About Cement

A discussion and analysis of contemporary cement production, environmental impact and industry innovations

Unjust Enrichment: An Alternative to Tort Law and Human Rights in the Climate Change Context?

It is generally accepted within the scholarly international community that global climate change is occurring and is due at least in part to anthropogenic activity. Strategies to mitigate climate change harms and adapt to inevitable climate change-induced consequences are influencing legal, political, and human rights frameworks. Thus far, international litigation attempts to hold emitters accountable have been unsuccessful: Tuvalu’s threat to sue the United States and Australia at the International Court of Justice, and the Inuit’s petition to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights were both hampered by procedural and substantive legal issues. Perhaps in response, the United Nations and a range of other actors have taken steps since 2005 to enhance the linkages between climate change and human rights as a way to augment the obligations of states to protect their citizens and enhance international cooperation in addressing climate change. While necessary in the grand scheme, this progress does not immediately create a remedy for some Small Island Developing States (“SIDS”), such as Tuvalu. This comment argues that tort and human rights-based litigation may not be the most effective approach for SIDS facing the dire consequences of climate change. Rather, SIDS may benefit from pursuing compensation based on unjust enrichment, focusing on benefits conferred on emitters rather than harms caused or rights violated. If successful, unjust enrichment litigation would allow these States to avoid the specific proximate cause, cause-in-fact, and sanction requirements associated with torts, and the legal obligation and enforcement problems associated with the process of developing and clarifying human rights law, while simultaneously securing necessary funding to implement adaptation strategies