112,205 research outputs found
On the product of balanced sequences
The product w = u ⊗ v of two sequences u and v is a naturally defined sequence on the alphabet of pairs of symbols. Here, we study when the product w of two balanced sequences u,v is balanced too. In the case u and v are binary sequences, we prove, as a main result, that, if such a product w is balanced and deg(w) = 4, then w is an ultimately periodic sequence of a very special form. The case of arbitrary alphabets is approached in the last section. The partial results obtained and the problems proposed show the interest of the notion of product in the study of balanced sequences
Effects of age and gender in patients receiving doses of opioids for breakthrough pain proportional to background opioid doses
Aim: To identify the role of age and gender in analgesic and adverse effects after administering fentanyl products for breakthrough pain (BT), given in doses proportional to opioid doses given for background pain. Methods: Data from nine studies, in which patients with BP were given fentanyl products in doses proportional to their basal opioid regimen, were analyzed. Results: A total 462 patients presenting 1905 episodes of BP were included in this analysis. In older patients, the decrease in pain intensity was more pronounced 15 min after administration of a BP medication. No gender differences were found. No significant differences in frequency and intensity of adverse effects for age and gender were found. Conclusion: Fentanyl products given for BP in doses proportional to background opioid regimen were more effective in older patients without adding risks of adverse effects. Gender did not influence analgesia and adverse effects of fentanyl products
Varieties of codes and Kraft inequality
Decipherability conditions for codes are investigated by using the approach of Guzman, who introduced in [7] the notion of variety of codes and established a connection between classes of codes and varieties of monoids. The class of Uniquely Decipherable (UD) codes is a special case of variety of codes, corresponding to the variety of all monoids. It is well known that the Kraft inequality is a necessary condition for UD codes, but it is not sufficient, in the sense that there exist codes that are not UD and that satisfy the Kraft inequality. The main result of the present paper states that, given a variety V of codes, if all the elements of V satisfy the Kraft inequality, then V is the variety of UD codes. Thus, in terms of varieties, Kraft inequality characterizes UD codes
Equity v. Revenge in Shakespeare: re-considering The Merchant of Venice, As You Like It, Hamlet
Potential risks and factors of women’s health promotion
In addition to diseases shared by both sexes, there are a number of illnesses and injuries that are primarily associated with women [...]
Vaccination and vaccine effectiveness: A commentary of special issue editors
The Special Issue “Vaccination and Vaccine Effectiveness”, published in the journal Vaccines, has the main aim to increase international literature data on vaccine effectiveness and safety and on vaccination strategies in order to reduce vaccine hesitancy and improve vaccination coverage rates. The main topics included in the call for papers were vaccines administered to infants, adolescents, adults, elderly people, at-risk populations (due to comorbidities and personal risk factors) and healthcare workers and strategies adopted to promote vaccination adherence among these categories. This Special Issue started from the assumption that, despite vaccination being universally recognized as one of the best strategies to increase duration and quality of life during the last centuries, vaccination coverage rates are often under the levels recommended to reduce circulation and to extinguish vaccine-preventable diseases. Vaccine hesitancy involves at least 15% of the general population, and healthcare workers also sometimes demonstrate doubts on vaccination effectiveness and safety. At the end of the six-month submission period, 16 articles (15 research article and one review) were accepted after the peer-review processes and published online
Urban sprawl and health outcome associations in sicily
Urban sprawl has several negative impacts on the environment, the economy, and human health. The main objective of this work was to formulate and validate a sprawl/compactness index for Sicilian municipalities and evaluate its association with health outcomes. An ecological study was conducted with 110 municipalities in Sicily, Italy. Principal component analysis was adopted to create the sprawl/compactness Sicilian index, and linear regression analysis was used to evaluate the association between the sprawl index and health outcomes. More variance of the new sprawl index was explained by the working factor, followed by density, surface extension, and land use mix. When validating the index, we found that public transportation had an inverse relation with sprawl increase (p < 0.001), and private transportation was directly related to the increase in sprawl (p < 0.001). After controlling for the Sicilian socio-economic deprivation index and overall mortality, cardiovascular mortality was the only outcome directly associated with the increase in the sprawl index (odds ratio = 0.0068, p < 0.001). Urban sprawl has to be monitored in Sicily over time to understand the evolution of the urbanization phenomenon and its relationship with health outcomes such as cardiovascular mortality. The use of the sprawl index should help policymakers define the necessary strategic aspects and actions to improve human health and quality of life in cities through a multi-sectorial approach
Patterns in words and languages
A word p, over the alphabet of variables E, is a pattern of a word w over A if there exists a non-erasing morphism
h from E. to A. such that h(p) = w. If we take E = A, giventwo words u; v ¡ô A., we write u6v if u is a patternof v.
The restrictionof 6 to aA., where A is the binary alphabet {a; b}, is a partial order relation. We introduce, given a word
v, the set P(v) of all words u such that u6v. P(v), with the relation 6, is a poset and it is called the pattern poset
of v. The 5rst part of the paper is devoted to investigate the relationships between the structure of the poset P(v) an d
the combinatorial properties of the word v. Inthe last section, for a givenlan guage L, we consider the language P(L) of
all patterns of words in L. The mainresult of this sectionshows that, if L is a regular language, then P(L) is a regular
language to
author-bios-SRD-19-0063.R1 – Supplemental material for The Network Structure of Police Misconduct
Supplemental material, author-bios-SRD-19-0063.R1 for The Network Structure of Police Misconduct by George Wood, Daria Roithmayr and Andrew V. Papachristos in Socius</p
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