SciCombinator

Politicians world-wide frequently promise a better life for their citizens. We find that the probability that a country will increase its per capita GDP (gdp) rank within a decade follows an exponential distribution with decay constant λ = 0.12. We use the Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) and the Global Competitiveness Index (GCI) and find that the distribution of change in CPI (GCI) rank follows exponential functions with approximately the same exponent as λ, suggesting that the dynamics of gdp, CPI, and GCI may share the same origin. Using the GCI, we develop a new measure, which we call relative competitiveness, to evaluate an economy’s competitiveness relative to its gdp. For all European and EU countries during the 2008-2011 economic downturn we find that the drop in gdp in more competitve countries relative to gdp was substantially smaller than in relatively less competitive countries, which is valuable information for policymakers.

SUMMARY: Pathview is a novel tool set for pathway based data integration and visualization. It maps and renders user data on relevant pathway graphs. Users only need to supply their data and specify the target pathway. Pathview automatically downloads the pathway graph data, parses the data file, maps and integrates user data onto the pathway, and renders pathway graphs with the mapped data. Although built as a stand-alone program, Pathview may seamlessly integrate with pathway and functional analysis tools for large-scale and fully automated analysis pipelines. AVAILABILITY: The package is freely available under the GPLv3 licence through Bioconductor and R-Forge. It is available at http://bioconductor.org/packages/release/bioc/html/pathview.html and at http://Pathview.r-forge.r-project.org/. CONTACT: luo_weijun@yahoo.com.

The cylindrical Bessel differential equation and the spherical Bessel differential equation in the interval [Formula: see text] with Neumann boundary conditions are considered. The eigenfunctions are linear combinations of the Bessel function [Formula: see text] or linear combinations of the spherical Bessel functions [Formula: see text]. The orthogonality relations with analytical expressions for the normalization constant are given. Explicit expressions for the Lommel integrals in terms of Lommel functions are derived. The cross product zeros [Formula: see text] and [Formula: see text] are considered in the complex plane for real as well as complex values of the index [Formula: see text] and approximations for the exceptional zero [Formula: see text] are obtained. A numerical scheme based on the discretization of the two-dimensional and three-dimensional Laplace operator with Neumann boundary conditions is presented. Explicit representations of the radial part of the Laplace operator in form of a tridiagonal matrix allow the simple computation of the cross product zeros.

We have conducted a population-based study of pleural mesothelioma patients with occupational histories and measured asbestos lung burdens in occupationally exposed workers and in the general population. The relationship between lung burden and risk, particularly at environmental exposure levels, will enable future mesothelioma rates in people born after 1965 who never installed asbestos to be predicted from their asbestos lung burdens.

Although the health effects of long term exposure to air pollution are well established, it is difficult to effectively communicate the health risks of this (largely invisible) risk factor to the public and policy makers. The purpose of this study is to develop a method that expresses the health effects of air pollution in an equivalent number of daily passively smoked cigarettes.

In 2007, the province of British Columbia implemented incentive payments to primary care physicians for the provision of comprehensive, continuous, guideline-informed care for patients with 2 or more chronic conditions. We examined the impact of this program on primary care access and continuity, rates of hospital admission and costs.

Legitimate opioid use is associated with an increased risk of long-term opioid use and possibly misuse in adults. The objective of this study was to estimate the risk of future opioid misuse among adolescents who have not yet graduated from high school.

This article describes a community-engaged study with the Los Angeles House and Ball scene in which the perspectives of the leaders of these communities are captured to better understand how the House and Ball communities may protect or increase its members' risks for HIV infection. Data were collected through in-depth interviews with House parents (N = 26). This study identified key features of both support (e.g., family and support, acceptance, and validation and recognition) and risk (e.g., members' struggles to maintain status in the Ballroom scene, sex work, substance use, danger of becoming too involved in the Ball community, and perception and stigma of the Ballroom scene within the larger gay community) within these communities. Findings are discussed in relation to framing how to leverage the supportive aspects of the House and Ball communities to design relevant HIV-prevention interventions.

Major forms of corruption constitute a strong threat to the functioning of societies. The most frequent explanation of how severe corruption emerges is the slippery-slope metaphor-the notion that corruption occurs gradually. While having widespread theoretical and intuitive appeal, this notion has barely been tested empirically. We used a recently developed paradigm to test whether severely corrupt acts happen gradually or abruptly. The results of four experimental studies revealed a higher likelihood of severe corruption when participants were directly given the opportunity to engage in it (abrupt) compared with when they had previously engaged in minor forms of corruption (gradual). Neither the size of the payoffs, which we kept constant, nor evaluations of the actions could account for these differences. Contrary to widely shared beliefs, sometimes the route to corruption leads over a steep cliff rather than a slippery slope.

Reoperation for failing stentless aortic valve replacement is a technically demanding procedure that has traditionally been tackled in one of two ways: either root replacement or the more conservative option of implanting a stented valve within the valve. We sought to determine the relative operative risks, follow-up status and medium to long-term survival of these two methods.