Common Premise Research Articles

What matters in testicular torsion? Association of hospital transfer, race and socioeconomic factors with testicular outcomes in a single center experience

IntroductionTesticular torsion is a surgical emergency that is managed with either septopexy-only or tunica vaginalis flap with septopexy if the testis is potentially viable or orchiectomy if not. Minimizing time from ischemia onset to surgery maximizes the likelihood of testicular preservation. While factors such as time from door to OR can be easily targeted, others such as inequalities in access to care are more difficult to address. ObjectiveWe sought to determine whether patient transfer affects testicular outcomes intraoperatively and in the long-term. Secondary goals included investigating the impact of race and Child Opportunity Index (COI) on testicular torsion outcomes and defining the optimal time cutoff from symptom onset to presentation that predicts salvage. MethodsWe reviewed our prospective testicular torsion database to identify boys who underwent operative intervention for testicular torsion between January 2015 and March 2022. The association of race and COI with testicular salvage, defined as septopexy-only, was evaluated with univariate and multivariate logistic regression controlling for time to presentation, while the association of transfer with salvage was evaluated with univariate and multivariate logistic regression controlling for age, time to presentation, and time to OR. To determine the optimal cutoff for time to presentation to predict testicular salvage, the Youden index was calculated. ResultsRace and COI were not associated with testicular salvage on either univariate or multivariate logistic regression that controlled for time to presentation. Transfer status was not associated with salvage, while age, time from symptoms to presentation, and time from institutional arrival to OR were associated with salvage. The optimal time cutoff to predict salvage using the Youden index was 10.5 hours from symptom onset to presentation and 14.5 hours from symptom onset to detorsion. DiscussionTime to presentation was the strongest, modifiable risk factor associated with testicular salvage. As it may be difficult for children to accurately communicate their symptoms, diagnosis and prompt management of testicular torsion can be delayed. Improvement in outcomes can be achieved by placing greater efforts into patient, parental, and primary care provider education of the signs and symptoms of testicular torsion. ConclusionsRace, COI, and transfer status were not found to have a statistically significant effect on testicular salvage outcomes in patients presenting with testicular torsion. Despite the common premise of a six-hour window until testicular loss, we found that intervention within the acute window of 14.5 hours from symptom onset is still associated with salvage.

Shopping centers challenging decline: Competitive strategies in three case studies from Madrid's urban area

Shopping centers are undergoing a period of crisis, leading to the decline and closure of multiple complexes. In response to this situation, they adopt competitive strategies to remain attractive, survive, and succeed. The aim of this research is to explore these strategies through three case studies in the metropolitan area of Madrid, namely Oasiz Madrid, intu Xanadu, and X-Madrid. A qualitative and mixed method approach is used, including literature review, observation, documentary analysis through newspaper articles and online media, and interviews. It is found that size, the new lifestyle center model, and experiences are the three strategies individually developed by each of the analyzed shopping centers. The common premise is that traditional retail and physical trade are being replaced by leisure and entertainment as key factors to attract visitors. From a management perspective, this study provides guidance for framing the future in shopping centers.

Plausible Mechanisms of Causation of Immediate Stroke by Cervical Spine Manipulation: A Narrative Review.

It has been proposed that cervical spine manipulation (CSM) can cause dissection in healthy cervical arteries, with resultant immediate stroke. However, research does not support a causal association between CSM and cervical artery dissection (CAD) in healthy cervical arteries. The objective of this study was to review the literature to identify plausible mechanisms of causation of immediate stroke by CSM. Immediate stroke is defined as a stroke occurring within seconds or minutes of CSM. Our review found plausible thromboembolic and thrombotic mechanisms of causation of immediate stroke by CSM in the literature. The common premise of these mechanisms is CAD being present before CSM, not occurring as a result of CSM. These mechanisms of causation have clinical and medicolegal implications for physicians performing CSM.

Inner- and Outer-Sphere Cross-Coupling of High Fsp3 Fragments.

Natural product research originates from a desire to explore, understand, and perturb biological function with atomic precision. To reach these goals at all, let alone efficiently, requires thoughtful and creative problem solving. Often this means bold disconnections that would simplify access to complex structures, if only the methods existed to bridge these theoretical gaps. Whereas biological interrogations provide long-term intellectual value and impetus, methods come as attractive fringe benefits of natural product synthesis. This Account describes strategic, methodological solutions to the syntheses of natural products [(-)-eugenial C, Galbulimima alkaloids GB18, GB22, GB13, and himgaline] featuring new, convergent disconnections as important problem-solving steps, which themselves were inspired by recent methods that arose from our group. Each target required the invention of first-row transition metal-catalyzed cross-coupling procedures to satisfy the biological goals of the project. In these cases, synthetic strategy identified the methodological gap (the absence of stereo- and chemoselective couplings of appropriate fragments), but the tactical advantage conferred by first-row metals met the challenge. These methods were competent to handle the dense, sterically encumbered motifs common to natural products due to, in many cases, elementary steps that did not require bond formation between the hindered substrate and the metal center. Instead, these sterically lenient reactions appeared to involve metal-ligand-substrate reactions (i.e., outer-sphere steps), in contrast to the metal-substrate, coordinative reactions of precious metals (i.e., inner-sphere steps). Key observations from our previous studies, combined with the observations in seminal publications from other laboratories (Mattay, Weix, and MacMillan), led to the optimization of ligand-controlled, stereoselective reactions and the introduction of complementary catalytic cycles that revealed new modes of reactivity and generated novel structural motifs. Optimized access to bioactive natural product space accelerated our timeline of biological characterization, fulfilling a common premise of natural products research. The integration of methodology, complex natural product synthesis, diversification, and bioassay into a single Ph.D. dissertation would have been unmanageable in a prior era. The unique ability of first-row transition metals to effect Csp3-Csp3 cross-coupling with high chemo- and stereoselectivity has significantly lowered the barrier to reach the avowed goal of natural product synthesis and reduced the burden (real or perceived) of integrating natural products into functional campaigns.

항우울제는 정말로 효과적인가?

In South Korea, an increasing number of people are complaining of depression and requesting antidepressants. The most widely prescribed type of antidepressant is selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRI). This practice is supported by the ‘serotonin hypothesis’― the belief that depression is caused by serotonin deficiency and can be corrected with SSRIs. With skepticism of such reductionist logic and overprescription of these drugs, I ask whether antidepressants are ‘really’ effective, and if so, why that is the case. The paper first analyses studies critical of antidepressants and shows that each provides only a limited perspective on the drug depending on its academic discipline. On the one hand, scientists attempt to determine SSRI’s unadulterated biological efficacy. On the other hand, social scientists tend to emphasize social forces such as marketing that promote SSRI consumption, or advocate patient agency and choice. I argue that these mutually exclusive analyses turn the debate over effectiveness into a political choice between nature and society. To seek a more relational and nuanced approach to understanding SSRIs, I establish a common premise that all parties can agree upon: when an SSRI is consumed, something unexpected may happen, be it beneficial or harmful. Dualisms of intended effect and side effect, as well as body and mind hinder our interpretation of these changes. Two approaches of New Materialism help move beyond binary thinking about antidepressants. The first is the flat ontology of assemblages, which connects disparate elements such as SSRIs, bodily changes, emotions, serotonin theory, and doctors on a flat ontological plane, and regards therapeutic effects as emerging from their interactions. The second is Elizabeth Wilson’s Gut Feminism. Wilson extends the serotonin hypothesis beyond the brain to the peripheral body and argues that SSRIs transverse and relate bodily substances, emotional states, and the social world. These two approaches are similar in distributing the action of SSRIs across a range of components both inside and outside the body. The curative experience that we attribute solely to the pill arises from attaining an alliance and balance between heterogeneous aspects of life.

If You Want War, Prepare for Peace: The Role of Peace in Clausewitz’s On War

This study proposes a new reading of Clausewitz’s On War, with emphasis on the idea of peace. Scholarship regarding the book usually focuses on placing it in historical context or on insights and strategic contexts relevant to our time. For example, a common premise is that Clausewitz encouraged the separation of powers and placed political authority above military authority with the phrase “War is the continuation of policy by other means.” In contrast, this study, by examining the work through the prism of the role of peace, shows that the purpose of the book is to use government and the people instrumentally and lessen their influence on war. This would limit the government’s range of options and leave it with little choice but to accept the military leaders’ recommendations regarding the type of war to be waged. The people also become a tool, i.e., just another means of leaving the country’s defense in the hands of the army.

The intellectual history of Chan Buddhism in the Tang and Song Dynasties and Japanese Zen: borrowing the perspective of D.T. Suzuki

ABSTRACT Under the common premise that everyone has buddha-nature (foxing 佛性) and original mind (benxin 本心), there are different ways of thinking about how to relate one’s ‘original self’ as a buddha to one’s living, physical ‘actual self’. There are four types of thought in the history of Tang-Song Chan Buddhism. The first is the so-called ‘Northern’ Chan 北宗禪, which seeks to overcome the ‘actual self’ and restore the ‘original self’ through seated meditation. The second is the Mazu 馬祖 (709–788) lineage of Chan, which treats the two as one. The third type of Chan is the Shitou 石頭 (710–790) lineage which, while criticizing the Mazu lineage, grasps the relationship between the two as one and one as two. The fourth is Dahui’s 大慧 (1089–1163) kanhua chan 看話禪 (Chan of Phrase-observing), which returns to the first type of thought and adds the new technique of koan 公案 to it. They each had a strong influence on Medieval Japanese Zen Buddhism, with Bankei 盤珪 (1622–1693) inheriting the second type, the Sōtō 曹洞 school inheriting the third type, Hakuin 白隱 (1686–1769) inheriting the fourth type, and Dōgen 道元 (1200–1253)—in order to transcend both the second and the fourth types—producing a unique reflection on the honshō myōshu 本證妙修 (‘Wondrous cultivation in fundamental realization’).

We Begin Bombing in Five Minutes: Late Cold War Culture in the Age of Reagan

We Begin Bombing in Five Minutes: Late Cold War Culture in the Age of Reagan

Integral Ecology As Theosemiotic: A Case For A Pragmatist Theological Ethics

Integral Ecology As Theosemiotic: A Case For A Pragmatist Theological Ethics

Did the charcoal-based iron industry really drive the forest cover decline in the Northern Pyrenees?

Through a reconstruction of the chronology and intensity of charcoal-making activities, this paper re-opens the debate about the supposed impact of the charcoal iron industry on forest cover in the French Pyrenees. This reappraisal focuses on the former territory of the communities of Haut-Vicdessos valley. This more refined chronology, based on the analyses of historical documents (n = 617) and charcoal kiln remains (n = 42), has highlighted the non-linear industrial development. The emergence of water-powered bloomeries during the early 14th c. led to a brief expansion of the iron industry, but was followed by a slowdown in the 15th c. The combined effect of regulation and the outsourcing of a part of the charcoal supply on other territories, mitigated the impact of the iron industry on local forest, avoiding a forest crisis. The most significant industrial growth occurred from the mid-17th c. with development of the Catalan bloomery. Forests underwent major changes in structure and composition but cover was maintained to satisfy the local economy and people's needs. Charcoal production always occurred in well-stocked forests dominated by beech and fir. The increase of charcoal supply combined to the agro-pastoral growth led to the prohibition of charcoal-making in the mid-18th c. and to the exclusive recourse to an external fuel supply. Minimum forest cover was only reached in the mid-19th c. due to the demographic explosion resulting in the increase of daily needs and in the refocus on agro-pastoral economy. Conversely to the common premise, the iron charcoal industry in European mountains did not necessarily induce forest depletion but rather its maintenance through sustainable management and policies. • We revisited the chronology and intensity of the charcoal iron industry in Vicdessos. • The spread of water-powered bloomeries did not lead to a 14th c. forest crisis. • The iron industry’s real impulse occurred in the 17th c. with the Catalan bloomery. • Local communities preserved woodland cover through efficient management. • The iron industry was not a major driver of the mid-19th c. forest-cover minimum.

Musical works, types and modal flexibility reconsidered

Abstract Guy Rohrbaugh and Allan Hazlett have provided two arguments against the thesis that musical works are types. In short, they assume that, according to our modal talk and intuitions, musical works are modally flexible entities; since types are modally inflexible entities, musical works are not types. I argue that Rohrbaugh’s and Hazlett’s arguments fail and that the type/token theorist can preserve the truth of our modal claims and intuitions even if types are modally inflexible entities. First, I consider two alternatives for the type/token theorist proposed in recent literature about the topic: the created types’ solution and the created abstract objects’ solution. I argue that none of them is attractive for the type/token theorist because they do not preserve the theoretical advantages of type/token theories to explain musical works’ repeatable nature. Then, I focus on the arguments’ common premise that musical works are modally flexible entities. A deeper analysis of musical practice will show that this premise is not true: our modal claims do not imply that musical works could have had different intrinsic but, instead, extrinsic properties. Finally, I show how the nested types theory may offer a satisfactory explanation of this fact and how it captures the truth of our modal talk about musical works.

From residency training to professional life: which competencies and skills are most valued by haematologists in Brazil?

Since the end of the last century, outcomes of medical education have been systematised in conceptual frameworks describing the most important competencies for physicians. These frameworks were constructed considering the evolving picture of health-care provision, which shifted to a patient-centred perspective and faces emerging challenges such as the pace of scientific innovation, heterogenous access to health care, and expectations for more effective and humane care. Although using different languages and schemes, these frameworks share the common premise that medical knowledge and skills that used to be intuitively associated with medical care are not sufficient to deliver these goals to society, and thus need to be complemented by non-clinical competencies, such as being capable of critical and continuous learning, effective communication with patients, ethical and humane practice, and understanding and using health-care systems to improve care and advocate for patients.

Сотворение мира как онтология творческой предопределенности: геопоэтика и теопоэтика (на примере генезиса донецкой словесности)

The article examines the ontological prerequisites of regional creative paradigmatics on the example of the formation of a new Donetsk literature. The Creation concept is chosen as an identification marker repeated in the works of famous Donetsk poets (Boris Lastovenko, Natalia Khatkina, etc.) and Donetsk philologists (Mikhail Girshman, Vladimir Fedorov, etc.). The author analyses poems from N. Khatkina’s debut poetry collection «Touch» (1981), characterizing its literary and conceptuality, as well as a polemical orientation in relation to the methodological principles of the Donetsk philological school. The main theses of M. Girshman’s theory of integrity and V. Fedorov’s cosmogonic concept are also presented. The integrity category is shown as the main integrating principle of the Donetsk philological school, which, accordingly, tested philological integrity. It is claimed by Donetsk philologists to be a universal principle of the artistic world. M. Girshman’s theory is complemented with the philological cosmogony by V. Fedorov who proceeds from the premise of literature as the root quality of the universe, since «In the beginning was the Word». Accordingly, philology appears as an internal form of all sciences and all forms of knowledge. Based on the thematic similarity and conceptual correlation of the leading Donetsk poets and philologists and in view of their mutual independence, a hypothesis is expressed about the presence of a common geopoetic premise of their creativity, and the laws of the Creation are interpreted as an ontology of creative predestination. As one of the confirmations of this assumption, the author’s literary experiments are presented.

A Narrative Analysis of Stories Told about Engineering in the Public Discourse: Implications for Equity and Inclusion in Engineering

<strong>Background:</strong> Stories are a natural and powerful way for humans to make sense of complex situations. Prior research suggests that when people are faced with complex problems, like underrepresentation in engineering, they construct and defer to stories, sometimes even in the face of contradicting evidence, as a basis for decision making and action. <strong>Purpose/Hypothesis:</strong> We examined the public discourse to identify stories about underrepresentation in engineering, and about engineering more broadly, that inform and underwrite efforts to address the dual problem of a general lack of interest in engineering careers and a lack of diversity in engineering graduates and professionals. <strong>Design/Method:</strong> Drawing on the theory of framing and concepts from narrative policy analysis (NPA), we qualitatively analyzed one year of online news articles (from August 2011 to August 2012) sourced from a news briefing service for engineering educators. <strong>Results:</strong> We describe five dominant stories about engineering that define the field in terms of math and science, building things, the need for societal appreciation, diversity-driven innovation, and hard-earned career rewards, respectively. These stories share a common premise—that a chronic shortage of engineers threatens the economic growth and international competitiveness of the United States. Each story includes explanations for perceived low levels of interest in the field and recommendations to address this problem. We note that increasing the participation of groups from diverse ethnic backgrounds was not a prominent theme in the discourse we analyzed compared to, for example, attracting more women or increasing the overall number of young people who are interested in engineering careers. Consistent with NPA, we also describe a nonstory that critiques the premise of the dominant stories. <strong>Conclusions:</strong> We discuss how the dominant stories reflect a particular set of values and practices, centered on competition, economic gain, and the design of technological artifacts that, in turn, shape efforts to attract, educate, and retain students. We further discuss how alternative narratives may open up new opportunities for systemic, cultural change in engineering education with important implications for diversifying the field.

Stability and control of fuzzy time delay systems with unmatched preconditions

The stability and control of nonlinear time-delay systems of Takagi-Sugeno (T-S) fuzzy model are studied in this paper. The integral inequality of a free weight matrix is chosen to give a less conservative delay-dependent stability criterion in the form of linear matrix inequalities (LMIs). The premise mismatch strategy is applied, it is combined with Finsler lemma, a more flexible design method of fuzzy state feedback controller is proposed. This method does not require the controller and system to share the common premise membership function and the number of rules. The controller design strategy proposed in this paper can effectively solve the control problem of fuzzy systems when the number of state variables is not equal to the number of input variables (r≠c), or mi⁢(x⁢(t))≠hi⁢(x⁢(t)),i=1,2,…,r. Finally, two simulation examples are given to prove the advancement and effectiveness of the proposed theory.

Harnessing Policy Authenticity for Hidden Ciphertext Policy Attribute-Based Encryption

The field of cryptography has endeavored to solve numerous security problems. However, a common premise of many of those problems is that the encryptor always generates the ciphertext correctly. Around 10 years ago, this premise was not a problem. However, due to the rapid development and the use of the cloud, which has introduced various access policies and functionalities to provide higher security, it is not correct to assume that this premise is always applied. A “Fake Policy Attack”, which we introduce in this article, is an attack that incorrectly sets the access policy of the ciphertext against the system rules so that users who do not meet the rules can decrypt the ciphertext. In other words, it is an attack that ignores the rules of the system and eventually breaks the security and leaks information. This attack can be more critical for the application environments that require strong security not to leak any related information about ciphertext. In this article, we demonstrate the possible threat of the Fake Policy Attack by providing two relevant examples. Then, we propose a scheme called Policy Authenticable ABE (PA-ABE) to resolve this issue. We provide a formal security analysis of the proposed scheme and performance evaluation results based on our implementation.

Beyond Gay: Denton Welch’s In Youth is Pleasure

ABSTRACT This essay considers Denton Welch’s autobiographical novel In Youth is Pleasure (1945) as a queer response to the classic bildungsroman design. It argues, first, that the novel exists structurally within Welch’s oeuvre as an instance of failed development or maturity, evidencing his inability to move beyond the ‘precious’, adolescent stories of his youth. I turn in this context to consider In Youth is Pleasure as a novel that is itself about immobile, unproductive forms of living. While the novel is structured around a common bildungsroman premise – a sensitive, isolated boy yearning for independence – it also resists the generic movement toward maturity and resolution. This is especially marked in the novel as a question of sexuality. In contrast to queer ‘coming of age’ stories that emphasise a progression toward sexual identification, Welch’s novel ultimately refuses the narrative logic of the closet. There is no single, illicit desire at the centre of the novel waiting to be exposed and claimed, but rather, an unlimited copia of pleasure that exists ‘beyond’ the terms of sexual identity altogether.

Behavioral Teleporting of Individual Ethograms onto Inanimate Robots: Experiments on Social Interactions in Live Zebrafish.

SummarySocial behavior is widespread in the animal kingdom, and it remarkably influences human personal and professional lives. However, a thorough understanding of the mechanisms underlying social behavior is elusive. Integrating the seemingly different fields of robotics and preclinical research could bring new insight on social behavior. Toward this aim, we established “behavioral teleporting” as an experimental solution to independently manipulate multiple factors underpinning social interactions. Behavioral teleporting consists of real-time transfer of the complete ethogram of a live zebrafish onto a remotely-located robotic replica. Through parallel and simultaneous behavioral teleporting, we studied the interaction between two live fish swimming in remotely-located tanks: each live fish interacted with an inanimate robot that mirrored the behavior of the other fish, and the morphology of each robot was independently tailored. Our results indicate that behavioral teleporting can preserve natural interaction between two live animals, while allowing fine control over morphological features that modulate social behavior.

Cкептическая проблема - псевдопроблема. Открытая лекция: Существует ли внешний мир? Часть II. Cкептический сценарий бессмыслен

Duncan Pritchard’s hinge-disjunctivist approach is not purely therapeutic, it represents a significant step forward. But, within it, the nature of the hinge propositions themselves is not fully disclosed. We interpret the hinge propositions as reality-rooted Wittgenstein rules.This allows us to strengthen the joint interpretation of the sceptical paradox. Finally, we express our doubts about the need for a disjunctivist component to solve/dissolve the sceptical problem. A sceptical scenario is meaningless, because any understanding involves the use of concepts, which, in turn, make sense only if they are rooted in reality. Our point of view is consistent with Jocelyn Benoist’s contextual realism, as well as with Robert Brandom’s position, according to which rationalists and materialistic reductionists share a common false semantic premise about the possibility of a clear separation and independent treatment of semantics and epistemology.

Trade-off between urban heat island mitigation and air quality in urban valleys

The number of studies on urban cooling strategies has been continuously growing. A common premise is that urban heat island (UHI) mitigation has a net beneficial effect on urban environmental quality and sustainability. Here we evaluate how UHI mitigation affects air quality in an idealized urban valley by means of large-eddy simulations. A passive tracer represents air pollution transport in three UHI mitigation scenarios and under two initial stability conditions. Contrary to the common premise, our results demonstrate that UHI mitigation can worsen air quality in urban valleys, via the alteration of the mechanisms of air pollution transport. Our results also show the theoretical possibility of finding moderate UHI mitigation strategies in which UHI is reduced while limiting the impacts on air quality. A fundamental implication is that this strategies should be explored through case-specific realistic simulations for guiding decision-making in real systems. Large and often expensive urban transformations should not be accomplished under the generalized assumption that UHI mitigation improves environmental quality. Building a more general understanding of the potential impacts of UHI mitigation, as well as of the mechanisms behind, is a continuing challenge with important implications for urban management and planning.