Relay Race Research Articles

Looking Forward to the End. /Ou Topos/: An Approach to the Art of Samuel Beckett

The way to /ou topos/ is the way of most characters in the plays of Samuel Beckett. However, because they are trapped inside the categories of time and place, they can go no further than stasis, to a waiting in hopelessly hopeful stagnation. Their journey has been a relay race ever since Milton’s angels turned Adam and Eve into homeless victims of memory and desire. They are waiting for someone or something to take over —but what: responsibility? power? control? Is the journey Beckett’s poetic of the desire of humans to communicate? Or is it an existential blueprint for the unanchored self? The eschatological catechism of mortality? The aim of my essay is to analyse this literary journey through the eyes, mouth and guts of several of Beckett’s always signal characters.

Lost in Translation: Challenges and Opportunities in Physician-to-Physician Communication During Patient Handoffs

Handoffs involve the transfer of rights, duties, and obligations from one person or team to another. In many high-precision, high-risk contexts such as a relay race or handling air traffic, handoff skills are practiced repetitively to optimize precision and anticipate errors. In medicine, wide variation exists in handoffs of hospitalized patients from one physician or team to another. Effective information transfer requires a solid foundation in communication skills. While these skills have received much attention in the medical literature, scholarship has focused on physician-to-patient, not physician-to-physician, communication. Little formal attention or education is available to reinforce this vital link in the continuity of patient care. The authors reviewed the literature on patient handoffs and evaluated the patient handoff process at Indiana University School of Medicine's internal medicine residency. House officers there rotate through four hospitals with three different computer systems. Two of the hospitals employ a computer-assisted patient handoff system; the other two utilize the standard pen-to-paper method. Considerable variation was observed in the quality and content of handoffs across these settings. Four major barriers to effective handoffs were identified: (1) the physical setting, (2) the social setting, (3) language barriers, and 4) communication barriers. The authors conclude that irrespective of local context, precise, unambiguous, face-to-face communication is the best way to ensure effective handoffs of hospitalized patients. They also maintain that the handoff process must be standardized and that students and residents must be taught the most effective, safe, satisfying, and efficient ways to perform handoffs.

Tacky and the Winter Games (review)

Reviewed by: Tacky and the Winter Games April Spisak Lester, Helen Tacky and the Winter Games; illus. by Lynn Munsinger. Lorraine/ Houghton, 2005 [32p] ISBN 0-618-55659-1$16.00 Reviewed from galleys R 4-7 yrs The Winter Games are approaching, and Tacky the penguin (from Tackylocks and the Three Bears, BCCB 12/02) has been enlisted into Team Nice Icy Land to compete for the Big Winner gold medal. As the event approaches, the team trains diligently—except for Tacky, who prepares in his own inimitable way. At the opening ceremony, the formal drumbeat gives way to a sudden interruption ("Ratty-tatty-tatty-boomby-ratty-tatty-boom—Hey!") as Tacky, standing on his head and holding the team flag with his feet, helps kick off the games with his own sense of flair. Humorous and suspenseful, this title is full of clever details such as the Winter Games Anthem (complete with musical score) and a dramatic relay race, the results of which can only be determined with x-rays after Tacky unwittingly swallows the baton. As in the previous titles, the line-and-watercolor illustrations create a visually appealing penguin-scape. The contrast between the mostly cool palette and the dark red accents, especially in the coat of the officiating grizzly bear, adds to the visual drama. Munsinger's illustrations often provide mischievous humor by directly contradicting the text: above the line "they ate special training meals," Tacky's teammates, a well-mannered row of spinach-consuming penguins, comply, while the bottom half of the page shows Tacky secretly gorging on pizza, doughnuts, and potato chips. Sure, Tacky could eat better or train harder, but he is extravagantly happy and he manages to compete successfully in the last event; what more could we ask of our heroes? With such events as bobsledless racing and ski jumping with frozen fish as skis, the penguin sports are just similar—and playful—enough to make this book a high-demand readaloud as the 2006 Winter Olympics approach. Copyright © 2005 The Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois

Letters

Letters

Blaming the Victim: A Response to the Proposal That Criminal Law Recognize a General Defense of Contributory Responsibility

There is, perhaps, little that instills greater professional pride in academics than to watch former students go on to thriving careers within their disciplines. The success of one’s students within one’s own professional world seems proof that the pursuit of knowledge is a relay race in which the scholars of each generation pass the batons of the discipline to the next, with the promise that the strides of each will preserve the advances made by the strides of those who ran before. And so it is that I indulge a great deal of selfish pride in commenting upon the recent work of Professor Vera Bergelson, who, as a student of mine at the University of Pennsylvania Law School all too long ago, proved herself very adept at picking up and running with the batons she was handed by her admiring faculty members. The particularly slippery baton that Professor Bergelson so adeptly runs with in her provocative and insightful article, “Victims and Perpetrators: An Argument for Comparative Liability in Criminal Law,” is the chestnut puzzle concerning the criminal law’s refusal to recognize an explicit defense of “contributory responsibility,” as I shall call it, on the part of the victim. Consent is no defense to a crime, it is often said, nor is assumption of risk or contributory negligence. But are these mantras true? asks Professor Bergelson. And if they are true, why would this be? Can a refusal to take account of the victim’s own contributions to the harm for which the

駅伝を語る : 第51回九州一周駅伝の物語

The objective of this study was to treat media texts on sports as narratives, and then analyze their structure. In order to do so, a content analysis was performed on articles appearing in The Nishinippon Shimbun reporting the 51st Around The Kyushu Ekiden (long-distance relay race) held from November 1st to 10^<th>, 2002. It was confirmed that in these articles, various narratives appeared, such as "Competition Between Teams", "Competition Between Individuals, or Heroes' Achievements", "The Character of Kyushu", "Family Relationships", "Revival", "Revenge", "Love of Home Town", "The Relationship Between Generations", "Gratitude To One's Teammates", "The Tradition of Around The Kyushu Ekiden", and so on. The Around The Kyushu Ekiden narratives according to the media are structured so that the central story "Competition Between Teams" is connected with various sub-plots concerning competition, such as "Competition Between Individuals, or Heroes' Achievements", thus further asserting its position as part of other plots. In conclusion, it may be thought that the Around The Kyushu Ekiden narratives are structured to maximize the diversity of narration, or alternatively that a limit is placed on this diversity, or that such diversity can be added to a limited narration.

Tumour angiogenesis: vascular growth and survival

Angiogenesis starts at the edge of a malignant epithelial tumour concurrently with tumour cell invasion and stromatogenesis, i.e. the formation of specific connective tissue stroma amenable to easy penetration by endothelial and tumour cells. However, as the tumour continues its growth, the edge becomes the inner tumour area, and a new invading tumour front is formed by the multiplying malignant cells which outflank the initial edge. This process, which repeats itself again and again, forms the "relay race" model of tumour vascular growth and regression. At the heart of the tumour unfavourable environmental conditions prevail -- hypoxia, acidity, lack of nutrients, failure of waste removal, and apoptosis rather than proliferation. Blood vessels and tumour cells are greatly decreased, but do not vanish, as tumour cells are shifting to anaerobic glycolysis, and blood vessels are turning into anti-apoptotic pathways -- vascular survival ability (VSA). Thus, assessing vascular density (VD) by simply counting "hot spots" at the edge of a tumour, where conditions are most favourable, is futile; it may reflect tumour angiogenic activity (TAA), but is not representative of genuine tumour vasculature. By combining vessel counts at the invading tumour front with those of the inner tumour areas a complete picture of tumour VD can be achieved. The thus formed four patterns of vascularization, designated as "edvin" (edge vsinner tumour area), are: edvin 1: low TAA/low VSA; edvin 4: high TAA/high VSA; edvin 2: low TAA/high VSA; and edvin 3: high TAA/low VSA. It is expected that this scheme will prove useful in the field of chemoradiotherapy and anti-angiogenic treatment.

Analyse de la libéralisation des industries de réseaux au travers de la jurisprudence du Conseil de la Concurrence Français

THE FRENCH CONSEIL DE LA CONCURRENCE AND THE LIBERALISATION OF PUBLIC UTILITIES. A CASE-LAW ANALYSIS The purpose of this paper is to underline the role of independent agencies, such as the French Competition Council, in the liberalisation process of public utilities. In a sector like electricity, the shift in the legal framework is, in our view, less induced by the legislative acts than by the case-law produced by the Council decisions. In an institutionnalist approach, jurisprudence could be seen as one of the main source of law in regulation matters. The questions addressed by government, legislative bodies or constituted interests to the Council or the contentious actions initiated by economic actors play a significant role in the work of precision and enforcement of the public regulation. In our hypothesis, such actions, which use the law as a set of resources, in order to defend or to promote specific economic interests, could be one of the sources of an &#171;&#160;automatic judicial regulation process&#160;&#187;. We have built and analysed an exhaustive data base constituted by the decisions, opinions and interim measures of the French Competition Council, relative to electricity and public utilities, from 1996 to 2002. Descriptive data analyses enable us to appreciate the particularities of the liberalisation of electricity, comparing to the case of telecommunications. This analysis allows us to formulate the hypothesis of a relay race in the claims to the Council, from the State, to the regulation commission and finally to competitors, which could explain the dynamic of &#171;&#160;automatic judicial regulation process&#160;&#187;.

Energy balance during an ultraendurance mountain bike relay race in female cyclists

Energy balance during an ultraendurance mountain bike relay race in female cyclists

Book review

Book review

Augmented monocytic proinflammatory cytokines in acute coronary syndromes: Relation with plaque inflammation and rupture, and with neointimal thickening

This paper proposes a novel nature-inspired method, so-called ripple-spreading algorithm (RSA) for multi-objective path optimization problem (MOPOP). Unlike most existing methods mainly capable of finding partial or approximated Pareto front, this paper focuses on calculating the complete Pareto front. This is achieved by taking advantage of the optimality principle in natural ripple-spreading phenomenon. Basically, the proposed RSA carries out a one-off ripple relay race in the route network, and then the complete Pareto front will be identified with guaranteed optimality by backtracking those Pareto non-dominated ripples (PNDRs) which reached the destination node. Theoretical analyses and comprehensive experiments show that all complete Pareto fronts of a one-to-all MOPOP can also be found in just a single run of ripple relay race, and the reported method can be further extended to calculate all Pareto optimal paths in dynamical networks, which have rarely been touched by existing MOPOP methods. Since many real-world application problems can be converted into MOPOP, the reported method has a great potential of applications.

Mitigating global warming: traditional versus alternative approaches in a planning versus a market context

Economic efficiency tends to be an important argument when different means of environmental control are assessed and suggested. Considering that the most cost-efficient means are not the ones most frequently chosen and used, some other qualities seem to play an equally important role. I use findings from organisational theory and negotiation theory to better understand what is concealed in the black-box of decision-making and implementation. My empirical material consists of case studies of four different means of environmental control used in Sweden during the 1990s to mitigate the threat of global warming. These are an environmental tax, a licensing trial, municipal energy planning, and technology procurement. Each represents a particular discipline (economic, legal, physical planning, or technological) in which a context (planning or market) and an approach (traditional relay race or alternative process-oriented) are combined. Although each means has its particular niche, some qualities stand out as superior. Such means need to be divisible in space as well as in time. It is then easier to get started. Since it is just as easy to deviate from, rather than adhere to, the predetermined course after a while, some incentive must be given to the person in charge of implementation. In other words, the classic proverb of using sticks and carrots is still valid although it is not always taken to heart and practised.

Securing PC applications: the relay race approach

Securing PC applications: the relay race approach

Dramatic Prefiguration in Plato's Republic

PLATO IS THE SUPREME STYLIST of European literature. His pre-eminent ranking is more nearly unanimous, and has been so for a longer period of time, than for any other author of our civilization. While his work is as perfectly lucid as any writing can be, at the same time his words shimmer with endless and inexhaustible reflections, casting ever more light upon themselves and his great themes. Plato's art appears artless, yet we are told that even in his eighties, he did not cease from currying and wreathing his dialogues, and braiding them up in every way (Dionysius of Hallicarnassis, de Compositione Verborum). I shall try to interpret some of that braidwork in the dramatic prefiguration which I find in the opening pages of the Republic. After defining dramatic prefiguration, I shall discuss three images: (1) the initial meeting between Polemarchus' party and the smaller group of Socrates and Glaucon; (2) the upcoming event of a relay race of torches carried on horseback; (3) the opening image of Socrates descending to the Piraeus. I begin with a review of dramatic apprehension and irony in the framework of the first book of the Republic.

Phanerozoic biodiversity: rocks or real?

The marine biodiversity curve is an icon of paleobiology. The familiar curve shows increasing global diversity in the early Paleozoic, then a plateau, followed by increasing diversity through the Mesozoic and Cenozoic. The curve also gives us often quoted magnitudes of mass extinctions and the relay race of Evolutionary Faunas. When Sepkoski initially published his compilation, Raup, his colleague at the University of Chicago, questioned whether the curve represented a biological signal or was an artifact of the rock record. Raup's argument was compelling but his data modest, so the objection was tabled in the flush of new insight from Sepkoski's database.

The Self Selected Speed of Running in Recreational Long Distance Runners

The aim of this study was to test the hypothesis that the self selected speed in running (vss) is dependent upon the same factors that determine maximal speed in endurance events (e. g. the anaerobic threshold). Experiments were carried out on 8 recreational long distance runners (42.1 +/- 8.6 years of age, 70.1 +/- 10.6 kg of body mass, 1.74 +/- 0.06 m of body height) while they were participating in a 14 day relay race. During the "race" the subjects were not requested to perform maximally but only to cover their running turn (1 hour per day) at their preferred pace. The relationships between heart rate (HR), perceived exertion (RPE), blood lactate concentration ([La]b) and speed (v) were determined in each subject, before the race, during an incremental running test. From these relationships the speed corresponding to a 4 mM concentration of lactate in blood (v4mM) was calculated and found to be 14.3 +/- 1.8 km x h(-1) (n = 8). At this speed the RPE and HR values were 13.6 +/- 1.4 and 156.4 +/- 12.8 bpm, respectively. The average values of speed (vss, 13.4 +/- 0.6 km x h(-1)), RPE (13.5 +/- 1.4) and HR (154.4 +/- 7.6 bpm) measured during the race (n = 47) were not significantly different from those measured at the lactate threshold (v4mM, RPE4mM and v4mM). However, vss and the average HR during the race showed significantly lower variances than v4mM and HR4mM suggesting that, besides the need of avoiding lactate accumulation in blood, other factors must be involved in the choice of speed in running.

Passing the Baton: New gene might get the handoff from growth hormone

In a relay race, the lead and anchor legs get the glory. But the middle runners are crucial for propelling the team from start to finish. A newly identified gene might run the second stretch in a cellular signaling race by taking the stick from growth hormone (GH). Mounting evidence suggests that a cellular signaling pathway triggered by GH in mammals can influence life-span in fruit flies, worms, and possibly mice: Some animals that carry mutations in the insulin/insulin-like growth factor 1 (IGF-1) pathway live significantly longer than normal. Although the binding of GH to cells eventually stimulates IGF-1, the genes that respond directly to GH remain mysterious. New work points to a potential target. Lu and colleagues engineered rat heart muscle cells to produce the GH receptor and then added growth hormone to half of the cells. Using microarrays, the team analyzed messenger RNA (mRNA) from treated and untreated samples to identify genes that ramped up or down in response to the hormone. The amount of one gene's transcript increased fourfold. When the researchers injected mice with GH, mRNA production from the mouse version of this gene--which they called Grtp1 , for GH-regulated TBC protein-1--increased in testes (where the gene is most highly expressed, even at base levels). The amount of Grtp1 mRNA decreased in kidney and liver. This result suggests that GH controls expression of Grtp1 in intact animals as well as in isolated cells. No one knows the function of Grtp1 , but its predicted amino acid sequence contains a so-called TBC motif. This domain lies in activators of GTPases, proteins that use the small signaling molecule GTP to turn on and off cellular signaling pathways. Together, these proteins flip molecular switches to control processes such as cell division. The team found genes that resemble Grtp1 in humans and fruit flies in addition to rats and mice. This observation hints that Grtp1 's function--whatever it might be--is well conserved. It also gives researchers multiple systems in which to test whether Grtp1 runs a leg in the aging race. C. Lu, J. Kasik, D. A. Stephan, S. Yang, M. A. Sperling, R. K. Menon, Grtp1 , a novel gene regulated by growth hormone. Endocrinology 142 , 4568-4571 (2001). [Abstract] [Full Text] --Suggested by James M. Harper

Passing the baton: The importance of sequence, timing, technique and communication in executive succession

The extensive literature on executive succession gives only scant attention to the actual process of succession. To better understand the dynamics of the succession process, the analogy of a relay race is suggested, where success is influenced by four factors: sequence, timing, baton-passing technique, and communication. These four factors are used as a framework for a longitudinal examination of a failed executive succession in a small, family-owned manufacturing firm. In-depth examination of the attempted succession showed that the four themes are helpful in working toward the development of a general theory of executive succession.

The immunological relay race: B cells take antigen by synapse

T cells, move over. B cells are now reported, in a recent paper in Nature, to have their own immunological synapses with APCs. Only this time the antigen is whole and B cells don't keep it to themselves.

Spotlight on the Principles/Standards: Algebra in the Middle Grades

When asked, “How long do you think it would take you to ride a fifty-mile bicycle race?” a class of Indiana sixth graders offered answers ranging from two to twelve hours. Some admitted that their answers were blatant guesses, whereas others offered interesting and thoughtful rationales for their estimates: a car can drive fifty miles in about one hour, and a cyclist might take twice as long for the same distance; because bicycling on hills is tiring, race times will depend on how hilly the course is; and an individual race takes longer than a relay race because team members can take turns bicycling and resting.