Why some politicians are more dangerous than others

Politicians and the political process, even in ostensibly democratic countries, can be deadly. James Gilligan’s book details how over the past century, whenever America’s conservative party have gained the presidency, the country has repeatedly suffered from epidemics of suicide and homicide. Daniel Sage finds the book an enlightening study, and also an important example of the increasingly powerful relationship between epidemiology and social science. Why Some Politicians Are More Dangerous Than Others. James Gilligan. Polity Books. September 2011

Neurocognitive findings in adults who played youth football

Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy (CTE) has been linked to contact sports, most notably boxing and American football, due to their propensity for repetitive head impacts. Concerns in the community for the safety of athletes in all contact sports has driven a significant amount of research into concussions, their long term effects, and strategies for treatment and prevention. Knowledge of long term brain health in response to neurotrauma is limited, a gap especially noticeable in the literature on non-catastrophic brain injuries sustained as a child. Concussion is a common injury that is often self-resolving with no lasting neurologic or cognitive deficits. Although repetitive brain trauma is hypothesized to be necessary and sufficient to lead to CTE, no human or animal models have definitively demonstrated the pathophysiologic connection or confirmed the mechanism of symptoms. The research to date has been case based, lacking prospective cohorts, with data complicated by convenience sampling. These factors limit the generalizability of conclusions. CTE is neuropathologically defined with variable symptoms; however, it is only diagnosable at postmortem autopsy making the etiology and prevalence difficult to understand. As more research is published to understand if there is an association between a neurocognitive degenerative disease and contact sports, the concentration is on professional athletes. Yet professional athletes do not represent the overwhelming majority of all contact sport participants. The proposed study will compare adults who participated in youth football, but not beyond the high school level, to a control group of adults who did not play contact sports. Evaluating their cognitive function with an online assessment, the Behavior Rating Inventory of Executive Function – Adult Version (BRIEF-A), data will be analyzed for signs of clinical cognitive impairment. The objective is to measure adults who represent the high percentage of youth football players who do not continue to the advanced levels. Data obtained from this study will help communities make informed decisions, and create the foundation for future studies on long term benefits and risks of contact sports for children

Atomistic subsemirings of the lattice of subspaces of an algebra

Let A be an associative algebra with identity over a field k. An atomistic subsemiring R of the lattice of subspaces of A, endowed with the natural product, is a subsemiring which is a closed atomistic sublattice. When R has no zero divisors, the set of atoms of R is endowed with a multivalued product. We introduce an equivalence relation on the set of atoms such that the quotient set with the induced product is a monoid, called the condensation monoid. Under suitable hypotheses on R, we show that this monoid is a group and the class of k1_A is the set of atoms of a subalgebra of A called the focal subalgebra. This construction can be iterated to obtain higher condensation groups and focal subalgebras. We apply these results to G-algebras for G a group; in particular, we use them to define new invariants for finite-dimensional irreducible projective representations.Comment: 14 page

Utilization of the MARC II Format for Serials in an Inter-University Environment

This paper deals with a relatively small project undertaken by the libraries of the three state universities of Iowa that standardized their handling of machine-readable serial records using the MARC II format. The first section deals exclusively with programming techniques and conventions employed in the MARC II format. The second section describes procedures, generalization, and compromises that permitted the development of a generalized packaged program to serve three academic libraries. The third section outlines the early work environment with special emphasis placed on the library/data processing center relationship. Current environment is also described and projections are made about the next phase this project will enter. Conclusions drawn from this project bear on future handling of computer applications in libraries.published or submitted for publicatio

Managed Care’s Crimea: Medical Necessity, Therapeutic Benefit, and the Goals of Administrative Process in Health Insurance

En brotyp som är vanlig bland brokonstruktioner är plattrambron. Denna brotyp byggs både med slak- och spännarmering. Det är dock vanligare att bygga med slakarmering än spännarmering, vilket övervägs särskilt då spännvidderna är ungefär 25- 30 meter eller mer. Inledningsvis har en noggrann litteraturstudie genomförts tillsammans med en intervju av en kunnig brokonstruktör för att säkerställa en interaktion mellan teori och aktuell praxis. Detta arbete har haft ett huvudmål, vilket är att ur ett struktur- och kostnadsperspektiv jämföra och utvärdera hur behovet av slakarmering varierar i en plattrambros farbana då spännvidder varieras och betongtvärsnitt ändras. Arbetet har utförts med hjälp av finita elementprogrammet ”Brigade Standard”, vilket erbjuder en tre-dimensionell strukturanalys. Fyra olika tvärsnitt för spännvidder mellan 10-20 meter analyseras. Dimensioner på brodelar bestäms med hjälp av tumregler samt generella råd från intervjuperson; höjd i fält enligt L/20, L/25, L/30 samt L/35, där L är spännvidden. Resultatet visar främst att för ökade spännvidder mot 20 meter ökar lasteffekten på grund av egentyngd drastiskt och då särskilt det tvärsnitt som är störst, det vill säga L/20. Vidare visas även att slankare tvärsnitt resulterar i aningen högre armeringsmängd. Dock påverkas betongkostnaden i större utsträckning av slankare tvärsnitt och särskilt större spännvidder. Även om större spännvidd och slankare tvärsnitt föranleder ett större armeringsbehov, fås en lägre totalkostnad. Det bör noteras att priset på betong och stål är starkt beroende av konjunktur och tillgång till material. Denna studie kan bli ännu intressantare då priset varierar kraftigt för stål och föranleder att betongpriset blir mindre dominerande än vad det är idag. Huvudprodukten från detta arbete är att med hjälp av tabeller och nya priser kunna beräkna en preliminär totalkostnad för plattrambrons farbana för olika spännvidder och hur olika tvärsnittsalternativ påverkar denna kostnad

Enterprise Liability and the Emerging Managed Health Care System

“Enterprise medical liability” is a term used to describe a system in which health care organizations bear responsibility for medical malpractice in addition to or instead of individual health professionals. Enterprise liability is in many senses a natural outgrowth of the increasing dependence of medical practice on institutional resources and expertise. Proposals for enterprise liability surfaced briefly from the academic literature into the political spotlight during the 1993-94 health care reform debate. At that time, objections to the concept as a basis for medical malpractice liability, even in a restructured health care system, were nearly universal. Just five years later, many of the groups vehemently opposing the Clinton malpractice reform have become vigorous supporters of managed care liability. Moreover, courts and legislatures are holding managed care organizations accountable for malpractice in ways superficially compatible with the Clinton proposal. In the process, however, enterprise liability has been transformed from a theory without a movement to a movement without a theory. This article explores why this happened, whether it is likely to be a transitory phase or a sustained trend, and what it portends for the public policy objectives of medical tort law. Part II of this article describes the theoretical justifications for imposing liability for medical malpractice on managed care organizations, emphasizing proposals that were made in connection with the national health care reform debate. Part III explains why enterprise liability failed to attract support in 1993-94. Part IV discusses the very different attitudes that prevail in 1998, and details the legal manifestations of the current movement to expand malpractice liability in managed care. Parts V and VI of the article analyze the relationship among theoretical constructs of enterprise liability, the reality of today’s managed care marketplace, and the legal response managed care has provoked. Specifically, Part V outlines several respects in which the market and the legal system have moved away from characteristics that previously made enterprise liability desirable, and Part VI identifies potentially significant trends that could lead to a rapprochement between our health care system and the public policy justifications for extending malpractice liability to managed care organizations. Finally, Part VII suggests that federal legislation is necessary for malpractice liability to serve socially constructive purposes in managed care, and identifies a set of principles that should guide future legislative action

Treatment of Low Quality Water by Foam Fractionation

Project Number: A-015-ALAS Agreement Number: 14-01-0001-896 Project Duration: July 1, 1966 - June 30, 1967The removal of iron from Alaskan groundwaters by a foam fractionation technique has been shown to very effective. Finished waters with less than 0.2 mg/l iron have been produced from raw waters containing in excess of 25 mg/l. Ethylhexadecyldimethylammonium bromide was used as the principal foaming agent. Low temperature oxidation of the ferrous iron tended to interfere with the removal rates, but high temperature oxidation followed by low temperature fractionation did not exhibit the same adverse influence. All experiments were performed in four-liter laboratory batch columns. For the Alaskan environment batch processing is thought to have advantages over continuous processes because of the need for uncomplicated equipment.The work upon which this report is based was supported in part by funds provided by the U.S. Department of the Interior, Office of Water Resources Research, as authorized under the Water Resources Research Act of 1964

Practical Application of Foam Fractionation Treatment of Low Quality Water

The foaming technique has found extensive use for organic, ion, and colloid separations from liquid systems. When used to remove an ion or a colloid, a specific surface-active agent of opposite charge to the particle being removed is added to the solution and floated to the surface of the suspension by gas bubbles. The ion or colloid is adsorbed at the bubble interfaces and collected within the froth formed at the surface of the container. The froth, with the contaminant or concentrated material (depending upon the process and its use) is physically separated at this point and further processed or discharged to waste. The clarified bottom liquid is therefore suitable for other uses. In the water supply field, the bottom liquid is the important product that is to be recovered and used for consumptive purposes. Much research has been performed on the theory and applications of various adsorptive bubble separation methods. These studies are well documented in the literature for various industries and applications which might take advantage of the method. It was not the intent of this work to amplify the findings of other research. The project was undertaken in an attempt to scale-up laboratory experiments previously performed at this Institute. No extension of theory, new processes, or revolutionary findings were attempted.The work upon which this report is based was supported by funds provided by the U.S. Department of the Interior, Office of Water Resources Research, as authorized under the Water Resources Research Act of 1964. Project Number: A-024-ALAS Agreement Number: 14-01-0001-107