Corollary Effect Research Articles

Enhancing the Segmentation Accuracy of the Otsu Method for Calculating Blood Vessel Rupture Volumes in CT-Scan Images

The precise quantification of cerebral hemorrhage volume assumes paramount significance, given its consequential impact on subsequent medical interventions. While antecedent scholarly endeavors have undertaken cerebral hemorrhage volume computations, the attendant accuracy remains amenable to refinement. The main contribution to this research is the development of a rectangle algorithm using the Otsu method, which can be used to calculate the total volume of brain hemorrhage in CT-Scan images of the human brain. The present investigation seeks to augment the segmentation paradigm inherent to the Otsu method, thereby advancing the precision of cerebral hemorrhage volume assessments. The Otsu method is conceived with the purpose of automating the segmentation of the hemorrhagic domain through the determination of threshold values. The refinement of the Otsu method’s accuracy is effectuated by the formulation of an algorithm aimed at maximizing the mean discrepancy between object and background intensities within the object image, predicated upon the ascertained threshold values. These determined thresholds subsequently govern the transformation of grayscale images into binary format, achieved through the quotient of the threshold value and the mean variance, thereby amplifying segmentation precision. The incorporation of variance and mean values in the binarization of grayscale images affords adaptability in threshold modulation commensurate with the intensity spectrum of the image. The research corpus leverages CT-Scan images sourced from RSUP M. Djamil Padang, West Sumatra, encompassing a compendium of 100 image slices culled from a quintet of patients. Empirical findings attest to the fortification of the Otsu method in the segmentation milieu, substantiating the augmentation of threshold value accuracy. This enhancement is conspicuously manifest in the outcomes of segmentation tests, underscoring the superior efficacy of the Otsu method in discerning between objects and backgrounds. The corollary effect is a discernibly more accurate computation of volumes employing the Otsu-T methodology. The import of this research rests in its successful establishment of automated threshold values and the concomitant elevation of segmentation precision.

Protecting “No Surprises” Journalism: Why Courts Should Preserve the Actual Malice Privilege for News Media that Include the Subject’s Response to Allegations of Misconduct

The recent onset of the “fake news” era has brought with it a wave of public discussion about the importance of ethical journalism. The sheer volume of misinformation from non-traditional online sources has had the corollary effect of also reducing the trust of many in traditional news sources. This is especially the case when the report involves alleged misconduct or scandal, which stands to potentially benefit opponents of the subject person or organization. Traditional news sources have fought vigorously to both differentiate “fake news” and reinstate public trust in sources committed to ethical journalism. But what exactly is “ethical journalism”? Do recognized legal protections relating to free speech and free press rights at all encourage ethical journalism over tactics used by those peddling fake news? The Society of Professional Journalists summarizes the concept well in providing simply that: “Ethical journalism should be accurate and fair.” A key tenet in ensuring both accuracy and fairness is the principle that a journalist should “diligently seek” out the person or organization that is the “subject” of a developing news report “to allow them to respond to criticism or allegations of wrongdoing.” This principle is referred to by many as the “no surprises rule” because it gives the subject a “fair chance to refute the facts” for publication. The Washington Post goes so far as to say in its current Policies and Standards that “[n]o story is fair if it covers individuals or organizations that have not been given the opportunity to address assertions or claims about them made by others.” It is this fundamental “discipline of verification” that “separates journalism from other forms of communication such as propaganda, advertising, fiction, or entertainment.” According to core principles established by the United States Supreme Court in a line of relevant cases, the free speech and free press rights guaranteed by the First Amendment should incentivize the “no surprises rule” and most often protect news media that include the subject person’s response to allegations of misconduct in the published report. Specifically, in most reports involving a public controversy, the news media defendant should be protected by the “actual malice privilege” in a subsequent libel lawsuit brought by the subject person because such person qualifies as a “limited purpose public figure.” However, a lingering dicta observation made in one Supreme Court opinion in this relevant line of cases has created the potential for confusion on this point. Perhaps even more problematic are two artificial self-defense-based exceptions to the actual malice privilege that have been established in two federal circuits, which remove protection of the news media in many relevant circumstances. These exceptions have only become more confused and conflated as they have spread. Given the increasing need to protect and encourage ethical journalism in the online age, and the recent interest from some members of the Supreme Court in reevaluating the scope of the actual malice privilege itself, consideration of the issue is critical at this time. This Article demonstrates that, in most circumstances involving a public controversy, a news media defendant should be protected by the actual malice privilege in a subsequent lawsuit brought by a libel plaintiff that responded to the alleged false statements in a published report. In sum, this Article shows why such a libel plaintiff should be considered a limited purpose public figure.

Molecular pathways in placental-fetal development and disruption

The first trimester of pregnancy ranks high in priority when minimizing harmful exposures, given the wide-ranging types of organogenesis occurring between 4- and 12-weeks’ gestation. One way to quantify potential harm to the fetus in the first trimester is to measure a corollary effect on the placenta. Placental biomarkers are widely present in maternal circulation, cord blood, and placental tissue biopsied at birth or at the time of pregnancy termination. Here we evaluate ten diverse pathways involving molecules expressed in the first trimester human placenta based on their relevance to normal fetal development and to the hypothesis of placental-fetal endocrine disruption (perturbation in development that results in abnormal endocrine function in the offspring), namely: human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG), thyroid hormone regulation, peroxisome proliferator activated receptor protein gamma (PPARγ), leptin, transforming growth factor beta, epiregulin, growth differentiation factor 15, small nucleolar RNAs, serotonin, and vitamin D. Some of these are well-established as biomarkers of placental-fetal endocrine disruption, while others are not well studied and were selected based on discovery analyses of the placental transcriptome. A literature search on these biomarkers summarizes evidence of placenta-specific production and regulation of each biomarker, and their role in fetal reproductive tract, brain, and other specific domains of fetal development. In this review, we extend the theory of fetal programming to placental-fetal programming.

How Level is the 'Cognitive Playing Field'?

In Philosophy of Psychedelics, Letheby provides a convincing basis for the idea that psychedelics primarily derive their therapeutic potential through mediating favourable changes to self-related belief systems. In this commentary, we take a closer look at the role that contextual factors (‘set’ and ‘setting’) play in Letheby’s two-factor account of psychedelic therapy. While Letheby acknowledges that psychedelic effects are highly context-dependent, the exact role that context plays in self-modelling during the acute experience is not entirely clear. We argue that context plays an essential role in shaping the ‘discovery’ of alternate self-conceptions during the acute experience. Specifically, users are more likely to experience alterations in self-conception that are consistent with context-dependent features, such as one’s prior mindset (‘set’) and aspects of the external environment (‘setting’). This is consistent with a REBUS model of psychedelic effects, where a corollary effect of relaxing high-level prior beliefs is that the system becomes increasingly sensitised to bottom-up information (‘prediction errors’) from lower-level intrinsic sources and the sensory periphery. Furthermore, it may explain why a positive well-intentioned state of mind and a supportive therapeutic environment are more likely to result in positive acute experiences and long-term improvements in mental wellbeing. We see this position as being largely compatible with Letheby’s proposal, but may shift some aspects of its emphasis and framing. In particular, it may conflict with Letheby’s notion that psychedelics lead to a ‘level cognitive playing field’, where self-related hypotheses are thought to be assigned more or less equal probability.

Investigating social factors and their impact on value co-creation in supply chain ecosystems

PurposeAs coopetition often characterizes relationships in ecosystems, social factors are particularly important to ensure resilient and reliable relationships, therefore efficient collaboration, and a corresponding outcome. Social factors have so far only been considered as peripheral factors in the ecosystem literature. Thus, this study aims to analyse the current state of literature to provide initial insights into the impact of social factors on value co-creation in supply chain ecosystems.Design/methodology/approachA structured literature review was conducted. Eleven articles were identified which explicitly examined social factors in the context of supply chain ecosystems.FindingsThe findings showed that in current research contributions, especially three social factors are considered crucial for value co-creation within supply chain ecosystems: trust, commitment and mindset. Moreover, researchers focus so far only on positive-affected social factors.Research limitations/implicationsThe findings enable ecosystem orchestrators as well as actors to strengthen social factors in supply chain ecosystems. The cultivation and proactive consideration of social factors is crucial for efficient and effective collaboration and has a corollary effect on supply chain ecosystems value co-creation.Originality/valueThis paper extends the limited literature on social factors within supply chain ecosystems, notably from a strategic management perspective. The findings help scholars to understand why social factors do play a crucial role regarding the value co-creation in supply chain ecosystem and how specific social factors influence the overall business outcome. By raising awareness of the importance of social factors for all ecosystem actors, complementary cooperation in the ecosystem improves, which in turn has a positive impact on value co-creation.

Karyn Lai, Rick Benitez, and Hyun Jin Kim, editors. Cultivating a Good Life in Early Chinese and Ancient Greek Philosophy: Perspectives and Reverberations. London, Great Britain: Bloomsbury Academic, 2019. 262 pp. Hardcover $130.00, ISBN 978-1-3500-4957-4.

Karyn Lai, Rick Benitez, and Hyun Jin Kim, editors. Cultivating a Good Life in Early Chinese and Ancient Greek Philosophy: Perspectives and Reverberations. London, Great Britain: Bloomsbury Academic, .  pp. Hardcover $., ISBN ----. As the title of this volume of essays states plainly, its subject is the objective of a good life, the means by which it may be cultivated, and the philosophical traditions of early China and ancient Greece that pursued these means and ends. There is much promise in this seemingly pedestrian title, not least for what it might do to nourish our professionally siloed mentalities as philosophers today. It would not be a rash generalization to claim that academic philosophy in the present day does not concern itself primarily with how to live well and what a cultivated “good” life can look like in this world. Surely there are exceptions to such a generalization, and I am not perturbed by any fingerwagging this claim of mine might generate. What I mean to suggest is that, in the context of a predominantly Western-centric, male, and white history of philosophy, the field (at least in the Anglo-American world, but arguably across the globe) has sedimented into a stratification of expertise—“logic,” “metaphysics,” “ethics,” “epistemology,” and other standard titular fare. Moreover, under these rubrics, the thick, lived lives of philosophers are often stitched together with the false allure of logic-chopping, the unavoidable thrust of plain, brute dogma, and the breach of sense that increasingly segregates the classroom from the “real world” outside. Between the lines of the essays that comprise this volume, then, there is the silent burden that is ours to confront: does what we do as philosophy today bear any resemblance to an art of living, a tekhnē biou, that was a, if not the, fundamental paradigm in antiquity? Or, put more directly, to what end is it that we do what we do when we call that thing “philosophy” today? A refreshing selection of possibilities for thinking through these questions is available in the traditions of Greek and Chinese antiquity, where philosophy, as the diverse themes of this volume demonstrate, was first, and perhaps only, a “lived” experience, an assortment of dialectical “exercises” that comprised a larger art of cultivation, and an art in which pure theoria brought with it the risk of vacuity—a grave risk, to be sure, for the consequences it spelled in the context of living a good life. “Cultivation,” nevertheless, opens the gates to highly fraught terminology. If “self-cultivation” has been the prism through which texts of Chinese antiquity Review©  by University of Hawai‘i Press have been traditionally rendered, this has had the corollary effect of keeping such “non-Western” traditions either completely outside the jurisdiction of Philosophy departments in the Anglo-American world or at least at a comfortable arm’s length. Whether such terminology is deemed to fail some alleged standard of rigor, or whether it is seen as not concerned with the strictly dialectical methods and goals at the heart of any act that we call philosophical, the study of traditions of self-cultivation, especially those of Asia, has always found a warmer home, disciplinarily speaking, elsewhere. Certainly, things in the professional world of academic philosophy might be changing (or not), but the point is this: “cultivation,” as a lens for the study of philosophy, has a checkered history in our contemporary professional landscape, and its association with non-Western traditions of philosophy has often been the reason for barring them access to canonical spaces of study and philosophical dialogue. The editors of this volume deserve our commendation, first, for working against this grain and, second, for the philosophically engaging and sophisticated quality of essays they have commissioned to give the topic of cultivation a robust philosophical standing. There is undoubtedly the precedent set by scholars like Nussbaum and Hadot, who some years ago brought into sharp relief the cultivation practices of Hellenistic philosophy. The essays here pay due homage to this lineage, but crucially also expand in multiple directions that demonstrate at least two salient implications of thinking comparatively about philosophy as an art of living: one, that between the traditions of Chinese...

The Digital Undertow: How the Corollary Effects of Digital Transformation Affect Industry Standards

Digital transformation research shows how waves of digitalization produce strategic changes within and across firms, enabling new forms of value creation. We argue that different but no less important processes of digital transformation are generated by the undertow produced by these waves. Digital undertow, a corollary effect of waves of digitalization, profoundly influences how firms operate by transforming the industry standards that coordinate and regulate their core business activities. This is producing what we refer to as digital displacement, a process that is significantly challenging the capacity of standards to effectively manage industry operations in the digital age.

Stock market reactions to adverse ESG disclosure via media channels

This study examines the value relevance of corporate reputation risks (CRR) from adverse media coverage of environmental, social and governance (ESG) issues on stock performance at the firm level. Empirical results advance signalling theory and resource-based view by providing evidence that corporate reputation is considered a valuable intangible asset by investors and adverse ESG disclosure via media channels have a significant and negative impact on firm valuation. The research is extended using various factors and indicates that heightened CRR have a substantially negative corollary effect on stock price of smaller and less liquid firms that are typically not S&P500 constituents. Further analysis using industry classifications reveals that stock performance of companies in the ‘sin’ triumvirate (i.e., alcohol, tobacco, and gaming) is not significantly affected by negative ESG media coverage. Instead, firms in candy & soda, steel works, banking, and insurance industries are the most susceptible to investors' repercussion from undesirable media spotlight. These findings provide new insights and indicate that beyond the type and delivery method of ESG disclosures, firm characteristics, corporate reputation status and industry explain differences in investors' reaction to ‘bad’ news.

Manufacturer’s channel strategy with retailer’s store brand

This paper examines the manufacturer’s channel strategy as it considers introducing an online channel to sell its own national brand (NB) product, when the brick-and-mortar retailer sells both the NB and its own lower-quality store brand (SB) product. The manufacturer is motivated to introduce an online channel when the customers’ ‘hassle cost' of shopping online is relatively low and their transportation cost is relatively high. However, our results also demonstrate that when the online shopping hassle cost is high and the transportation cost is low, and even when there are very few sales in the online channel, the online-sales strategy can still contribute positively to the manufacturer’s profit. The introduction of the online channel by the manufacturer may result in a win-win situation for the manufacturer and the retailer. As a corollary effect, when the retailer is able to determine the SB quality, it should position the SB at a lower quality level to avoid competition with the manufacturer’s online channel.

Spatial external noise and detection

In vision, a change in target position can cause an otherwise stationary target to perceptually “pop out,” thereby increasing its detectability. Previous work in this lab and others has shown that there is no corollary effect for auditory detection. The explanation most often given for this “null result” is that, while vision is encoded spatiotopically, audition is encoded tonotopically, and therefore changes in sound source position should not be expected to impact auditory detection in the way that target movement affects visual detection. This argument assumes that detection is largely a peripheral task. However, Green, Watson, and others have shown that auditory detection is affected by listener uncertainty about the frequency of presented target tones—this “external noise,” in terms of frequency, suggests that detection involves processing at higher levels beyond the periphery (e.g., attention). It therefore stands to reason that auditory target stimuli may be less detectable when sound source location is randomized—a spatial manifestation of external noise. We will present data testing this hypothesis.

Marronage, Here and There: Liberia, Enslavement's Conversion, and the Settler-Not

AbstractThis proposed contribution to the special issue of ILWCH offers a theoretical re-consideration of the Liberian project. If, as is commonly supposed in its historiography and across contemporary discourse regarding its fortunes into the twenty-first century, Liberia is a notable, albeit contested, instance of the modern era's correctable violence in that it stands as an imperfect realization of the emancipated slave, the liberated colony, and the freedom to labor unalienated, then such representation continues to hide more than it reveals. This essay, instead, reads Liberia as an instructive leitmotif for the conversion of racial slavery's synecdochical plantation system in the Americas into the plantation of the world writ large: the global scene of antiblackness and the immutable qualification for enslavement accorded black positionality alone. Transitions between political economic systems—from slave trade to “re-colonization,” from Firestone occupation to dictatorial-democratic regimes—reemerge from this re-examination as crucial but inessential to understanding Liberia's position, and thus that of black laboring subjects, in the modern world. I argue that slavery is the simultaneous primitive accumulation of black land and bodies, but that this reality largely escapes current conceptualization of not only the history of labor but also that of enslavement. In other words, the African slave trade (driven first by Arabs in the Indian Ocean region, then Europeans in the Mediterranean, and, subsequently, Euro-Americans in the Atlantic) did not simply leave as its corollary effect, or byproduct, the underdevelopment of African societies. The trade in African flesh was at once the co-production of a geography of desire in which blackness is perpetually fungible at every scale, from the body to the nation-state to its soil—all treasures not simply for violation and exploitation, but more importantly, for accumulation and all manner of usage. The Liberian project elucidates this ongoing reality in distinctive ways—especially when we regard it through the lens of the millennium-plus paradigm of African enslavement. Conceptualizing slavery's “afterlife” entails exploring the ways that emancipation extended, not ameliorated, the chattel condition, and as such, impugns the efficacy of key analytic categories like “settler,” “native,” “labor,” and “freedom” when applied to black existence. Marronage, rather than colonization or emancipation, situates Liberia within the intergenerational struggle of, and over, black work against social death. Read as enslavement's conversion, this essay neither impugns nor heralds black action and leadership on the Liberian project at a particular historical moment, but rather agitates for centering black thought on the ongoing issue of black fungibility and social captivity that Liberia exemplifies. I argue that such a reading of Liberia presents a critique of both settler colonialism and of a certain conceptualization of the black radical tradition and its futures in heavily optimist, positivist, and political economic terms that are enjoying considerable favor in leading discourse on black struggle today.

Amplifying Riboswitch Signal Output Using Cellular Wiring.

If fieldable riboswitch-based biological sensors are to fulfill their potential, it is necessary to increase their signal output. Here we report a novel modular amplification system using a riboswitch to initiate signaling between a sensing strain and a reporter strain of E.coli. A quorum sensing signaling molecule biologically wires the sensing and reporter strains together. The amplification circuit increased the amount of fluorescence generated on ligand binding compared to when the riboswitch controlled fluorescence expression directly. This had the corollary effect of increasing the sensitivity of the system, and allowed riboswitch-based reporting in E.coli strains that did not produce a detectable output when the riboswitch directly controlled reporter expression. The amplification circuit also reduced the time required to detect a signal output. The modularity of this amplification system coupled with the achievable increases in output can advance the development of riboswitches and biological sensors.

Lean-Green models for eco-efficient and sustainable production

Lean-Green is a concept that associates value aggregation and efficiency in operational and environmental terms. This concept arises as a corollary effect of companies’ challenges for rethinking their goals and strategies in order to add more value while contributing to social equity and prevent environmental burdens. The eco-efficiency concept translates the idea of “creating more with less”, in order to reduce ecological impacts and resource intensity. Lean is a strategy that encompasses a wide variety of management practices, in an integrated system, to streamline business processes, minimize waste and improve financial performance. When Lean and Green are associated in the so called Lean-Green link, many of those savings also result in environmental benefits. This paper reports the ongoing effort to provide models for the Lean-Green integration. A comparative analysis of the few models identified is provided, and the most frequently used KPI acknowledged. Findings show the existence of a limited number of Lean-Green models, published from 2012, denoting a narrow breadth of dissemination. The fundamental goal of Lean-Green models was mostly found to be related to improve the systems productivity while reducing the environmental impacts. Integrate Lean-Green initiatives constitute a valuable approach to sustain and endure a greener industrial activity.

Supporting Common Core Instruction With Literacy Design Collaborative

The article examines the results of two quasi-experimental studies of the implementation and impact of the Literacy Design Collaborative (LDC), an intervention designed to support secondary teachers’ transition to Common Core State Standards in English language arts. The first study examines LDC implementation by eighth-grade social studies and science teachers in districts across Kentucky; the second study is set in sixth-grade advanced reading classes in a large urban district in Florida. Based on teacher surveys, logs, and analysis of classroom artifacts, the LDC was implemented with reasonable fidelity across both studies. Based on available assessment scores, results show statistically significant positive effects in Kentucky for reading but no corollary effect in Florida. There were no significant differences in writing scores in either site. The conclusion shares hypotheses that may explain the differences in results and reflects on implications for evidence-based practice.

Racial Reflections

Racial Reflections Ben Railton (bio) A Chosen Exile: A History of Racial Passing in America Allyson Hobbs Harvard University Press www.hup.harvard.edu 400 Pages; Print, $29.95 Even without a back-cover blurb from Isabel Wilkerson, it seems inevitable that Allyson Hobbs’s A Chosen Exile: A History of Racial Passing in America would be compared to Wilkerson’s The Warmth of Other Suns: The Epic Story of America’s Great Migration (2010). Both books focus on an American history with which we’re all vaguely familiar but know far too little of its specifics and complexities. Both works use the individual, intimate stories of American lives, families, and communities to consider these sweeping cultural and historical issues. And both are entirely successful in bringing their readers into those stories and histories, helping them understand American identities and communities in a way that perhaps no prior work has accomplished. However, Hobbs’s most fundamental choice to structure each of her chapters around a different time period differentiates her book from Wilkerson’s in an important way. That is, most of the collective narratives of passing have focused on the same late nineteenth–through mid–twentieth–century time period that comprised the Great Migration—the period between, let’s say, Charles Chesnutt’s The House Behind the Cedars (1900) and the 1950s version of the film Imitation of Life (1959; a remake of the 1934 original), with James Weldon Johnson’s Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man (1912) and Nella Larsen’s Passing (1929) marking significant stages along the way. Hobbs’s third and fourth chapters also focus on this period, but through her extended attention to all the aforementioned works and figures and many others (such as the pioneering turn of the century sociologist E. Franklin Frazier, who both analyzed and experienced these issues of identity; or the Harlem Renaissance poet and novelist Jean Toomer, whose writings and life complement each other to provide a rounded picture of passing in 1920s and 1930s), she urges the reader to better understand breadth and depth of the era. But by the time Hobbs brings her readers to those chapters and that new look at a somewhat familiar time period, she has already provided an even more striking shift in our perspectives on passing through her first and second chapters. In those chapters, she narrates and analyzes the far different yet still interconnected histories and stories of passing in the pre-Civil War and Reconstruction periods, convincingly portraying the issue as one that has persisted and evolved alongside American society and culture throughout the centuries. Indeed, these earlier chapters expanded and challenged some of my most basic understandings of passing: it’s impossible to think of it as simply a choice between different possible identities and communities, for example, when considering the case of William and Ellen Craft, the fugitive slaves who used both racial and gender passing as a conjoined strategy to gain their freedom. Is passing a choice if it is necessary for freedom and even survival? If not, might that also help us see the necessities and even at times inevitabilities of twentieth-century acts of passing as well? Such are the kinds of questions prompted by Hobbs’s Chapter 1 investigation of antebellum passing. These striking earlier chapters have another, corollary effect: they also force us to reexamine the time periods under consideration through the new lens provided by the issue of passing. Ever since Frederick Douglass highlighted in the first chapter of his Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass (1845) the prevalence of master-slave rape and thus miscegenation on plantations, we’ve had at least some collective sense of how arbitrary the racial categories and definitions by which the slave system was divided were—of why Douglass was defined as an African American slave while his father’s other children were free white men and women. But what Hobbs’s stories and analyses remind us is that, thanks to such racial mixing as well as many other factors, race was also a slippery, liminal category in the era—one that could be manipulated and altered in the right...

Risk factors for infection and the effect of an institutional shunt protocol on the incidence of ventricular access device infections in preterm infants.

Intraventricular hemorrhage in premature infants often leads to progressive ventricular dilation and the need for ventricular reservoir placement. Unfortunately, these reservoirs have a higher rate of infection than ventriculoperitoneal shunts in premature babies. The authors analyzed the risk factors for infection in this population and studied whether the implementation of an institutional protocol for shunt placement had a corollary effect on ventricular access device (VAD) infection rates in premature neonates with intraventricular hemorrhage. The authors conducted a retrospective cohort review of consecutive premature neonates in whom VADs were inserted in the operating room at Primary Children's Hospital between June 2003 and June 2011 to identify risk factors for infection. Medical records were reviewed for information on infection (culture proven or eroded hardware at 90 days), gestational age at birth, weight, gestational age at surgery, intrathecal antibiotics, hemorrhage, death, and surgeon. The institution used a pilot protocol for shunt infection reduction in 2006-2007, and then the full Hydrocephalus Clinical Research Network protocol from June 2007 to 2011, and the rates of infection during these periods were analyzed. Confounding factors such as sepsis, necrotizing enterocolitis, and a history of meningitis were also analyzed. The overall infection rate was 10.5% (11 patients) in the 105 patients identified. Gestational age at procedure was a significant risk factor for infection (p=0.05). Meningitis was significantly associated with infection, with 63% of the infected group having had prior meningitis compared with 7% for the noninfected group (p<0.001). Concurrent with the implementation of the protocol to reduce shunt infection, the VAD infection rate decreased from 14.7% to 5.4% (p=0.2). Gestational age at procedure and previous meningitis were significant risk factors for VAD infections. In addition, the implementation of an institutional standardized shunt protocol for ventriculoperitoneal shunts may have altered the operating room team's behavior, indicated by a nonmandated use of intrathecal antibiotics in VAD surgeries, contributing to a reduced VAD infection rate. Although the observed difference was not statistically significant with the small sample size, the authors believe that these findings deserve further study.

The Double Edged Sword of Prison Video Visitation: Claiming to Keep Families Together While Furthering the Aims of the Prison Industrial Complex

Each year, the United States (“U.S.”) spends billions to house the country’s massive prison population. The need to board over 2.3 million incarcerated human beings has U.S. correctional departments looking for ways to increase revenues and offset costs. According to these correctional agencies, one major expense is prison visitation. In order to reduce spending and alleviate safety concerns, U.S. federal, state, and private correctional facilities have turned to video visitation as an alternative to in-person visits.The use of prison video visitation systems started in 1995. Since then, many private telecommunications companies have professed to have the solution to correctional visitation problems. These companies promote video visitation as a cheap, safe, and easy alternative to in-person visits, as well as a profitable means of generating revenues. Government and private correctional institutions, buying into these endorsements, have reduced or completely eliminated face-to-face visits and installed video visitation systems within their walls. Under this structure, inmates use video stations in their cellblock to visit family and friends at corresponding video kiosks within the institution; or inmates visit loved-ones who are at home or elsewhere outside prison walls via computer Internet video visitation.In order to sell this method of visitation to the public, U.S. correctional agencies contend that video visitation helps to keep families together by allowing inmates greater contact opportunities with loved ones. In some regards, it may be argued that video visitation does assist in the preservation of family units. Inmates are often forced to serve time in prisons miles away from their homes, so outside visits are far and few between. Yet, through the use of in-home video visitation configurations, inmates are able to connect with relatives who reside hours away.At first glance, this visitation scheme may seem beneficial, but this Article argues that prison video visitation is a double edge sword. First, prison video visitation may help preserve family units while people are incarcerated, but the elimination of face-to-face visits robs inmates of much needed human contact with their children, spouses, and other family members. Second, almost all in-home prison video visitation systems exploit the relatives and friends of inmates because they charge excessive fees to visit. Third, the economic success of prison video visitation systems is contingent on the number of incarcerated humans. So, like other profiteering schemes of the Prison Industrial Complex (“PIC”), prison video visitation incentivizes incarceration: A decrease in the prison population has a corollary effect on million dollar revenues and corporate profits, hence compelling the need to detain more U.S. inhabitants.Consequently, this Article argues that face-to-face visitation should be the primary means of contact for families that visit at prison facilities. In order to accomplish this goal, inmates must be assigned to correctional facilities close to their homes if space is available and there is no proven risk to security. Additionally, if prison video visitation is utilized, any fees associated with its use must be regulated to insure that the financial expense is not exorbitant.

POLÍTICAS DE TRADUCCIÓN Y PUBLICACIÓN DE LAS REVISTAS DE CIENCIA FICCIÓN ARGENTINAS (1979- 1987)

This paper analyses the translation, publication and promotion of Argentinian science fiction magazines in the eighties. It is proposed that such translation functioned essentially in two different ways: first of all, it acted as a means of presenting and reconstructing a European branch of the genre, an operation which aimed at crea- ting a genealogy in which Argentinian science fiction may be situated and thought of in evolutionary terms. Secondly, translation was a procedure which enabled and promoted local narrative and critical production. Finally, it is argued that the translation and publication of these magazines had the corollary effect of promoting certain local authors, among them the Uruguayan writer Mario Levrero.

Functional responses and ecosystem dynamics: how clearance rates explain the influence of satiation, food-limitation and acclimation

Modellers have long been aware that the mathematical form of zooplankton mortality, or closure, significantly affects the dynamics of planktonic ecosystem models. Another important formulation is the functional response, i.e. how ingestion rates change with prey density. Here we explain why different grazing responses can have profoundly differing influences on modelled dynamics, and how common practices may limit models due to misguided characterization of feeding behaviours. Use of different ingestion functions in a Nutrient-Phytoplankton-Zooplankton (NPZ) model results in oscillating versus constant densities. Contrary to the conclusions of previous studies, it is shown that these results are not due to zooplankton satiation versus non-satiation. Analysis of a predator-prey model is used to derive the necessary condition for ecological stability, which is related to food-limited clearance rates. Sensitivity studies demonstrate that zooplankton clearance rates have a strong influence on the dynamics of more complex models. Moreover, it is shown that acclimation time lags can dramatically alter results from those where zooplankton instantly adapt to changing prey densities due to the corollary effect on clearance rates. These results are discussed in terms of practical advice to modellers who face uncertainty in choosing expressions for the functional response.

The Effects of Electro-Acupuncture and Transcutaneous Electrical Nerve Stimulation on Patients with Painful Osteoarthritic Knees: A Randomized Controlled Trial with Follow-Up Evaluation

To examine the relative effectiveness of electro-acupuncture (EA) and transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation (TENS) in alleviating osteoarthritic (OA)-induced knee pain. Single-blinded, randomized controlled study. Twenty-four (24) subjects (23 women and 1 man), mean age 85, were recruited from eight subsidized Care & Attention Homes for the elderly. Subjects were randomly assigned to the EA, TENS, or control groups. Subjects in the EA group (n = 8) received low-frequency EA (2 Hz) on two acupuncture points (ST-35, Dubi and EX-LE-4, Neixiyan) of the painful knee for 20 minutes. Subjects in the TENS group (n = 8) received low-frequency TENS of 2 Hz and pulse width of 200 micros on the same acupuncture points for 20 minutes. In both treatment groups, electrical treatment was carried out for a total of eight sessions in 2 weeks. Eight subjects received osteoarthritic knee care and education only in a control group. All subjects were evaluated before the first treatment, after the last treatment, and at 2-week follow-up periods. After eight sessions of treatment, there was significant reduction of knee pain in both EA group and TENS group, as measured by the Numeric Rating Scale (NRS) of pain (p < 0.01). Prolonged analgesic effect was maintained in the EA and the TENS groups at a 2-week follow-up evaluation. The Timed Up-and-Go Test (TUGT) score of the EA group was significantly lower than that of the control group (p < 0.05), but such change was not observed in the TENS group. Both EA and TENS treatments were effective in reducing OA-induced knee pain. EA had the additional advantage of enhancing the TUGT results as opposed to TENS treatment or no treatment, which did not produce such corollary effect.