Stuff White People Like #1863

There I sat: sun burning my neck, sweat pouring down my face, watching grown men play at death. I’d been meaning for years to get to Gettysburg to see the reenactment, and this past July, I was lucky enough to be there for the 150th anniversary of the battle. And so there I was, sitting in a grandstand in the middle of a farm in rural Pennsylvania, surrounded by fellow white people, watching a Confederate soldier get shot in the back for pretending to desert in the face of the Union cavalry. He flopped to the ground in front of the grandstand; the announcer gave us paying customers a resounding play-by-play. “They love doing that,” my wife said in my ear, “Very dramatic.” [excerpt

The Dynamics of Twisted Tent Maps

This paper is a study of the dynamics of a new family of maps from the complex plane to itself, which we call twisted tent maps. A twisted tent map is a complex generalization of a real tent map. The action of this map can be visualized as the complex scaling of the plane followed by folding the plane once. Most of the time, scaling by a complex number will "twist" the plane, hence the name. The "folding" both breaks analyticity (and even smoothness) and leads to interesting dynamics ranging from easily understood and highly geometric behavior to chaotic behavior and fractals.Comment: 87 pages. This is my Ph.D. thesis from IUPU

Predictors of positive growth after traumatic brain injury : a longitudinal study

Primary objective: To investigate long-term positive psychological growth in individuals with traumatic brain injury (TBI) and to relate growth to injury characteristics and early outcomes. Research design: Longitudinal study. Method and Procedure: Long-term follow-up of a group of TBI survivors recruited between 1991-1995. In 2004, 240 of the 563 original participants were invited to take part in a follow-up study. At follow-up, survivors completed the Positive Changes in Outlook Questionnaire (CiOP) along with a structured interview/questionnaire which permitted a Glasgow Outcome Scale (GOSE) score to be assigned. Results: 165 TBI survivors completed both questionnaire and CiOP. 103(62%) participants had suffered severe TBI, 24(15%) moderate and 38(23%) mild. Mean length of follow-up was 11.5 years post-injury (range 9-25 years). On the GOSE at follow-up, 43(26%) had severe disability; 72(44%) moderate disability; and 50(30%) good recovery. Scores on the CiOP indicated positive psychological growth in over half of the sample, as evidenced by agreement with items such as “I don’t take life for granted anymore” and “I value my relationships much more now”. CiOP total scores did not correlate with any injury or early outcome variables. However, at long-term follow-up there was a negative correlation between positive growth and anxiety and depression. Conclusion: Survivors of mild, moderate and severe TBI showed evidence of long-term positive changes in outlook

Coronary heart disease and diabetes mellitus

Much of the excess mortality in diabetic subjects is due to cardiovascular disease. Diabetic subjects are at increased risk of developing coronary artery disease and have a higher case fatality after acute myocardial infarction and after unstable angina. Diabetes is associated with microvascular disease, accelerated atherogenesis and left ventricular dysfunction. We review the data on the epidemiology, pathogenesis and management of coronary artery disease in diabetic patients.peer-reviewe

Estimating Water Demand Schedules for Selected Industries in Arkansas

Water demand functions for the paper and chemical industries in the state of Arkansas were estimated utilizing data collected from individual plants throughout the state. Regression analysis was used to estimate demand functions from a data base which included information on intake and gross water use by source, recirculated water use, costs of acquiring, treating, and discharging water, plant output, employment, and level of technology. The demand for intake water was estimated as an exponential function of average water costs and the level of technology primarily. Price elasticities of demand were estimated as approximately equal to one for both industries. The results of this study could be used to determine the effects of various public policies on the withdrawal of water for industrial purposes