bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
How should doctors approach patients? A Confucian reflection on personhood
Authors: Tsai Daniel Fu-Chang 
Published: July 2002

The modern doctor-patient relationship displays a patient-centred, mutual-participation characteristic rather than the former active-passive or guidance-cooperation models in terms of medical decision making. Respecting the wishes of patients, amounting to more than mere concern for their welfare, has become the feature central to certain modern bioethics theories. A group of ethical principles such as respect for autonomy, beneficence, non-maleficence, and justice has been proposed by bioethicists and widely adopted by many medical societies as an ethical guide to how doctors, in their daily practice, should treat their patients. However, seeing patients as persons who are rational, self-conscious beings capable of valuing their own lives, and who are consequently entitled to the liberty and rights to choose for themselves, is in general the backbone of Western bioethical principles.Since Confucian philosophy has long been a representative of the East-Asia cultural tradition and Confucian bioethics has recently been developed as a theory of applied ethics, examining Confucius's idea of “persons” may shed some light on the current bioethical debates. Confucius's concept of persons, which is best interpreted via his theories of “chun-tze”, (the morally ideal person) encapsulating a two-dimensional approach, (the “autonomous person” and the “relational person”), provides a more comprehensive model regarding what a person is and how he/she should be treated. This two-dimensional approach sees a person not only as a rational, autonomous agent but also as a relational, altruistic identity whose self actualisation involves incessant participating in and promoting of the welfare of his fellow persons. Hence this may balance the current bioethical trend whereby “respect for autonomy” often triumphs.
Cross sectional study of a workforce exposed to hand-arm vibration: with objective tests and the Stockholm workshop scales
Authors: McGeoch Kenneth L , Gilmour W Harper 
Published: July 2002

OBJECTIVESMedical surveillance of workforces exposed to vibration has been recommended with the Stockholm workshop scales. The aims of this study were (a) to evaluate how the results of the objective tests individually and jointly associated with the final Stockholm workshop staging, (b) how this staging related to the history of exposure to vibration, and(c)how different trades were affected by the hazards from vibrating tools.METHODSAll workers exposed to vibration in a heavy engineering company were examined with a questionnaire and a battery of tests. An assessment of staging by the Stockholm workshop scales was made. Estimates of the daily exposure and lifetime dosage of vibration of the various trades were reached.RESULTSThe average years of tool use was 23.3 years (range 3–47 years) and the mean lifetime exposure was 11 022 (range 1012–46 125) hours. The individual neurological tests were all strongly associated with the Stockholm neurological staging but the cold provocation test was not associated with the Stockholm vascular staging. Neurological staging was significantly associated with age, years of tool use, and total hours of exposure to vibration, but not with trade or smoking. Vascular staging was significantly associated with age, years of tool use, total hours of exposure to vibration, and trade, but not with smoking. The mean neurological latent period was 19.7 (range 2–40) years and for the vascular component 19.1 (range 2–40) years. These means varied significantly by trade. The overall prevalence of neurological findings of 62% was greater than the overall prevalence of vascular findings, which was 33%.CONCLUSIONS(1) The neurological objective tests were found to be of use in neurological staging. The cold provocation test was not associated with the vascular staging and therefore was of little value. (2) Years of tool use was the exposure variable most significantly associated with evidence of damage to neurological component while years of tool use and trade were the variables most associated with vascular damage. (3) The prevalence of neurological symptoms (62%) was greater than the prevalence of vascular symptoms (33%). (4) Dressers and welders have shorter latent periods than platers and fitters.
Personal air sampling and biological monitoring of occupational exposure to the soil fumigantcis-1,3-dichloropropene
Authors: Brouwer E J , Verplanke A J W , Boogaard P J , Bloemen L J , Van Sittert N J , Christian F E , Stokkentreeff M , Dijksterhuis A , Mulder A , De Wolff F A 
Published: July 2002

OBJECTIVESTo assess exposure of commercial application workers to the nematocidecis-1,3-dichloropropene (cis-DCP).METHODSThe study was conducted during the annual application season, August to 15 November, in the starch potato growing region in The Netherlands. 14 Application workers collected end of shift urine samples on each fumigation day (n=119). The mercapturic acid metabolite N-acetyl-S-(cis-3-chloro-2-propenyl)-L-cysteine (cis-DCP-MA) in urine was used for biological monitoring of thecis-DCP uptake. Inhalatory exposure was assessed by personal air sampling during a representative sample (n=37) of the fumigation days. Extensive information was collected on factors of possible relevance to the exposure and the application workers were observed for compliance with the statutory directions for use. The inhalatory exposure during all fumigation days was estimated from the relation between the personal air sampling data and the biological monitoring data. Exposure levels were correlated with the general work practice. The fumigation equipment and procedures were in accordance with the statutory directions of use, with the exception of the antidrip systems. Two antidrip systems were used: antidrip nozzles or a compressed air system.RESULTSThe geometric mean exposure of the application workers was 2.7 mg/m3(8 hour time weighted average); range 0.1–9.5 mg/m3. On 25 days (21%) the exposure exceeded the Dutch occupational exposure limit (OEL) of 5 mg/m3. This could mainly be explained by prolonged working days of more than 8 hours. The general work practice of the application workers was rated by the observers as good or poor. No difference in exposure tocis-DCP was found in the use of none, one, or two antidrip systems. Malfunctioning of the antidrip systems and lack of experience with the compressed air system were identified as possible causes for the lack of effectiveness of these antidrip systems. The use of personal protection was not always in accordance with the statutory directions of use. Dermal exposure to liquidcis-DCP was found four times during repair and maintenance, but the biological monitoring data did not suggest a significant increase incis-DCP uptake.CONCLUSIONSThe application ofcis-DCP in the potato growing industry can be performed at exposure concentrations below the Dutch OEL of 5 mg/m3if the working days are limited to 8 hours. An injector equipped with either kind of antidrip system which is in good working order, as well as the consistent use of personal protection in accordance with the statutory directions of use, may ensure exposure concentrations below the Dutch OEL.
Exposure to high concentrations of nitrosamines and cancer mortality among a cohort of rubber workers
Authors: Straif Kurt , Weiland Stephan K , Bungers Martina , Holthenrich Dagmar , Taeger Dirk , Yi Sun , Keil Ulrich 
Published: July 2002

OBJECTIVESTo examine if the occurrence of different cancers was increased among rubber workers, as the highest known exposures of humans to nitrosamines have occurred in the rubber industry.METHODSA cohort of 8933 rubber workers (hired after 1 January 1950, still active or retired on 1 January 1981 and employed for at least 1 year in one of five study factories) was followed up for mortality from 1 January 1981 to 31 December 1991. Work histories were reconstructed with routinely documented cost centre codes, which allowed identification by employment in specific work areas. For each cost centre code time and factory specific, semi-quantitative exposures to nitrosamines (three levels: low, medium, high) and other compounds were estimated by industrial hygienists. Rate ratios for medium (RRm) and high (RRh) exposures and 95% confidence intervals (95% CIs) were calculated with Cox's proportional hazards models with the low exposure as reference.RESULTSExposure to nitrosamines was significantly associated with an increased mortality from cancers of the oesophagus (13 deaths: RRm1.7, 95% CI 0.3 to 10.3; RRh7.3, 95% CI 1.9 to 27.8) and of the oral cavity and pharynx (17 deaths: RRm0.8, 95% CI 0.2 to 4.1; RRh3.9, 95% CI 1.4 to 11.1). A non-significant trend of increasing mortality with exposure to higher concentrations of nitrosamines was found for mortality from cancer of the prostate (26 deaths: RRm1.4, 95% CI 0.5 to 3.8; RRh2.2, 95% CI 0.9 to 5.6), and the brain (six deaths: RRm3.9, 95% CI 0.3 to 42.6; RRh6.0, 95% CI 0.6 to 57.6). No association was found between exposure to nitrosamines and cancer of the stomach (RRm0.8, 95% CI 0.4 to 1.8; RRh1.2, 95% CI 0.5 to 2.5) or lung (RRm1.0, 95% CI 0.6 to 1.5; RRh1.0, 95% CI 0.7 to 1.6).CONCLUSIONSExposure to high concentrations of nitrosamines is associated with increased mortality from cancers of the oesophagus, oral cavity, and pharynx, but not with increased mortality from cancers of the stomach or lung.
Reconstruction of occupational mercury exposures at a chloralkali plant
Authors: Williams P L , Frumkin H , Pierce M L , Manning C C , Elon L , Sanders A G 
Published: July 2002

OBJECTIVETo reconstruct historical workplace exposure to mercury (Hg) from 1956 to 1994 at a large chloralkali factory for use in a current epidemiology study of the factory.METHODSAll job activities of the employees were classified into one of 16 exposure categories, and the dates of changes in the processes were identified. Exposures to Hg for each job category, at each period of the plant's operation, were then reconstructed from several data sources. A job-time period-exposure matrix was created, and the individual exposures of former workers were calculated. Data on exposure to Hg in air were compared with modelled concentrations of Hg in air and data on urinary Hg of the employees.RESULTSWithin an exposure category, concentrations of Hg in air were fairly constant for the first 20 years of the factory's operation, but began to increase in the late 1970s. Employees working in the cell room had the greatest exposures to Hg. The exposure estimates had significant correlations (p<0.001) with the urinary data and were well within the modelled range of concentrations of Hg in air.CONCLUSIONSThe highest exposures occurred from 1987 until the plant closed in early 1994 with some exposure categories having time weighted average exposures to Hg greater than 140 μg/m3.
Exposures and cancer incidence near oil fields in the Amazon basin of Ecuador
Authors: Sebastián M San , Armstrong B , Córdoba J A , Stephens C 
Published: July 2002

OBJECTIVESTo examine environmental exposure and incidence and mortality of cancer in the village of San Carlos surrounded by oil fields in the Amazon basin of Ecuador.METHODSWater samples of the local streams were analyzed for total petroleum hydrocarbons (TPHs). A preliminary list of potential cancer cases from 1989 to 1998 was prepared. Cases were compared with expected numbers of cancer morbidity and mortality registrations from a Quito reference population.RESULTSWater analysis showed severe exposure to TPHs by the residents. Ten patients with cancer were diagnosed while resident in the village of San Carlos. An overall excess for all types of cancer was found in the male population (8 observedv3.5 expected) with a risk 2.26 times higher than expected (95% confidence interval (95% CI) 0.97 to 4.46). There was an overall excess of deaths for all types of cancer (6v1.6 expected) among the male population 3.6 times higher than the reference population (95% CI 1.31 to 7.81).CONCLUSIONSThe observed excess of cancer might be associated with the pollution of the environment by toxic contaminants coming from the oil production.
Not if, but how: one way to talk with patients about forgoing life support
Authors: Löfmark Rurik , Nilstun Tore 
Published: July 2002

Summary
May the common clinical conversation be used to explore whether or not seriously ill patients want to talk about possible limitations of life support? In order to answer this question, a series of 20 seriously ill patients took part in an interview. The clinical conversations were taped and transcribed, and recurrent themes were identified and organised into categories. After talking about their diagnosis and prognosis, most patients said it was natural to talk about possible limitations of life support, and a substantial number immediately indicated that they did not want any life-sustaining treatment. Although their emotional reactions were different, no one seemed to be upset by talking about such issues. Many but not all patients said that they wanted a family member and possibly also a nurse to participate in the conversation. Every doctor learns to conduct a clinical conversation and this approach may be applied when talking with seriously ill patients about difficult treatment decisions.
Pulmonary arteriovenous malformations: a clinical review
Authors: Iqbal Mobeen , Rossoff Leonard J , Steinberg Harry N , Marzouk Kamel A , Siegel David N 
Published: July 2002

Abstract
Pulmonary arteriovenous malformations (PAVMs) are a rare clinical entity. Most of them are associated with hereditary haemorrhagic telangiectasia. The usual clinical presentation is exertional dyspnoea and hypoxaemia. The initial test of choice for screening is the 100% oxygen method. A pulmonary angiogram is needed to define the anatomy and guide transcatheter embolisation (TCE). TCE has been shown to be effective and safe with a very low recanalisation rate and has largely replaced surgery for PAVMs. Computed tomography of the chest can be used for the follow up of asymptomatic PAVMs and TCE.
Guillain-Barré syndrome
Authors: Seneviratne Udaya 
Published: July 2002

Abstract
Guillain-Barré syndrome is an autoimmune disorder encompassing a heterogeneous group of pathological and clinical entities. Antecedent infections are thought to trigger an immune response, which subsequently cross reacts with nerves leading to demyelination or axonal degeneration. Both intravenous immunoglobulin treatment and plasma exchange have been found to be equally beneficial. Several factors are useful in predicting the outcome of these patients.
Enteral feeding. Nasogastric, nasojejunal, percutaneous endoscopic gastrostomy, or jejunostomy: its indications and limitations
Authors: Pearce C B , Duncan H D 
Published: July 2002

Abstract
The following article is intended to provide a review of the current state of enteral feeding; a rapidly changing and developing field. It covers the type of feed, the routes of access, and the problems that can occur with enteral feeding.
GROUP THEORETIC FORMULATION OF THE SEGAL-WILSON APPROACH TO INTEGRABLE SYSTEMS WITH APPLICATIONS
Authors: HAAK G. , SCHMIDT M. , SCHRADER R. 
Published: July 2002

A general group theoretic formulation of integrable systems is presented. The approach generalizes the discussion of the KdV equations of Segal and Wilson based on ideas of Sato. The starting point is the construction of commuting flows on the group via left multiplication with elements from an abelian subgroup. The initial data are then coded by elements, called abstract scattering data, in a certain coset space. The resulting equations of motion are then derived from a suitably formulated Maurer-Cartan equation (zero curvature condition) given an abstract Birkhoff factorization. The resulting equations of motion are of the Zakharov-Shabat type. In the case of flows periodic in x-space, the integrals of motion have a natural group theoretic interpretation. A first example is provided by the generalized nonlinear Schrödinger equation, first studied by Fordy and Kulish with integrals of motion which may be local or nonlocal. A suitable reduction gives the mKdV equations of Drinfeld and Sokolov. On the level of abstract scattering data the generalized Miura transformation from solutions of the mKdV equations to the KdV type equations is then just the canonical map from a coset space to a double coset space. This group theoretic approach is related to the algebraic geometric discussion of integrable systems via an affine map from the abelian group describing flows restricted to a suitable set of abstract scattering data, called algebraic geometric, onto a connected component of the Picard variety.
A SIMPLE ALGORITHM FOR COMPUTING THE GLOBAL CRYSTAL BASIS OF AN IRREDUCIBLE Uq(sln)-MODULE
Authors: LECLERC BERNARD , TOFFIN PHILIPPE 
Published: July 2002

We describe a simple algorithm for computing Kashiwara's global crystal basis of a finite-dimensional irreducible representation of Uq(sln). Résumé: Nous décrivons un algorithme simple pour calculer la base cristalline globale de Kashiwara d'une représentation irréductible de dimension finie de Uq(sln).
A POLYNOMIAL TIME ALGORITHM FOR LOCAL TESTABILITY AND ITS LEVEL
Authors: TRAHTMAN A. N. 
Published: July 2002

A locally testable semigroup S is a semigroup with the property that for some non-negative integer k, called the order or level of local testability, two words u and v in some set of generators for S are equal in the semigroup if (1) the prefix and suffix of the words of length k coincide, and (2) the set of intermediate substrings of length k of the words coincide. The local testability problem for semigroups is, given a finite semigroup, to decide, if the semigroup is locally testable or not. Recently, we introduced a polynomial time algorithm for the local testability problem and to find the level of local testability for semigroups based on our previous description of identities of k-testable semigroups and the structure of locally testable semigroups. The first part of the algorithm we introduce solves the local testability problem. The second part of the algorithm finds the order of local testability of a semigroup. The algorithm is of order n2, where n is the order of the semigroup.
MATHEMATICAL MODELLING AND SIMULATION OF NON-ISOTHERMAL CRYSTALLIZATION OF POLYMERS
Authors: BURGER MARTIN , CAPASSO VINCENZO 
Published: July 2002

This paper is devoted to the study of mathematical problems arising in the modelling of nonisothermal polymer crystallization under industrial conditions. A review of the hybrid stochastic-deterministic modelling procedure, which yields an averaged model,5,8 is given and supplied by the study of mathematical problems arising from it. Furthermore, multiple scale effects in the crystallization process are studied using different scalings, focussing either on the heat conduction or on the crystallization part. It is shown that in the limit of fast nucleation and slow growth, the model is equivalent to a direct extension of the classical Avrami–Kolmogorov model equations. In addition, numerical simulations are presented to illustrate the behavior during crystallization. Finally, open questions from mathematical and engineering view points are discussed.
Branching time and abstraction in bisimulation semantics
Authors: van Glabbeek Rob J. , Weijland W. Peter 
Published: July 2002

In comparative concurrency semantics, one usually distinguishes between
linear time
and
branching time
semantic equivalences. Milner's notion of
observatin equivalence
is often mentioned as the standard example of a branching time equivalence. In this paper we investigate whether observation equivalence really does respect the branching structure of processes, and find that in the presence of the unobservable action τ of CCS this is not the case.

Therefore, the notion of
branching bisimulation equivalence
is introduced which strongly preserves the branching structure of processes, in the sense that it preserves computations together with the potentials in all intermediate states that are passed through, even if silent moves are involved. On closed CCS-terms branching bisimulation congruence can be completely axiomatized by the single axion scheme:
a.(τ.(y+z)+y)=a.(y+z)
(where
a
ranges over all actions) and the usual loaws for strong congruence.

We also establish that for sequential processes observation equivalence is not preserved under refinement of actions, whereas branching bisimulation is.
For a large class of processes, it turns out that branching bisimulation and observation equivalence are the same. As far as we know, all protocols that have been verified in the setting of observation equivalence happen to fit in this class, and hence are also valid in the stronger setting of branching bisimulation equivalence.
Random numbers for simulation
Authors: L'Ecuyer Pierre 
Published: July 2002

In the mind of the average computer user, the problem of generating uniform variates by computer has been solved long ago. After all, every computer :system offers one or more function(s) to do so. Many software products, like compilers, spreadsheets, statistical or numerical packages, etc. also offer their own. These functions supposedly return numbers that could be used, for all practical purposes, as if they were the values taken by independent random variables, with a uniform distribution between 0 and 1. Many people use them with faith and feel happy with the results. So, why bother?Other (less naive) people do not feel happy with the results and with good reasons. Despite renewed crusades, blatantly bad generators still abound, especially on microcomputers [55, 69, 85, 90, 100]. Other generators widely used on medium-sized computers are perhaps not so spectacularly bad, but still fail some theoretical and/or empirical statistical tests, and/or generate easily detectable regular patterns [56, 65].Fortunately, many applications appear quite robust to these defects. But with the rapid increase in desktop computing power, increasingly sophisticated simulation studies are being performed that require more and more “random” numbers and whose results are more sensitive to the quality of the underlying generator [28, 40, 65, 90]. Sometimes, using a not-so-good generator can give totally misleading results. Perhaps this happens rarely, but can be disastrous in some cases. For that reason, researchers are still actively investigating ways of building generators. The main goal is to design more robust generators without having to pay too much in terms of portability, flexibility, and efficiency. In the following sections, we give a quick overview of the ongoing research. We focus mainly on efficient and recently proposed techniques for generating uniform pseudorandom numbers. Stochastic simulations typically transform such numbers to generate variates according to more complex distributions [13, 25]. Here, “uniform pseudorandom” means that the numbers behave from the outside as if they were the values of i.i.d. random variables, uniformly distributed over some finite set of symbols. This set of symbols is often a set of integers of the form {0, . . . , m - 1} and the symbols are usually transformed by some function into values between 0 and 1, to approximate the U(0, 1) distribution. Other tutorial-like references on uniform variate generation include [13, 23, 52, 54, 65, 84, 89].