Tackling two crises at once

Metrics for more than two points at once

The conventional definition of a topological metric over a space specifies properties that must be obeyed by any measure of “how separated” two points in that space are. Here it is shown how to extend that definition, and in particular the triangle inequality, to concern arbitrary numbers of points. Such a measure of how separated the points within a collection are can be bootstrapped, to measu...

Seeing two doctors at once in general practice.

We report the reactions of 250 patients who saw two doctors together, a general-practitioner trainer and a vocational trainee, when they came to a general practice for consultation.Over 80 per cent were neutral and the remainder were almost equally divided between those who preferred to see two doctors and those who preferred to see their own doctor alone.Selected favourable statements outnumbe...

Maximal Lyapunov exponent at crises.

We study the variation of Lyapunov exponents of simple dynamical systems near attractor-widening and attractor-merging crises. The largest Lyapunov exponent has universal behaviour, showing abrupt variation as a function of the control parameter as the system passes through the crisis point, either in the value itself, in the case of the attractor-widening crisis, or in the slope, for attractor...

Tackling psychosocial hazards at work

This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial No Derivatives (by-nc-nd) License. Workplaces are surrounded by a variety of hazards. Psychosocial factors in particular can become a significant hazard. As reported in the current issue1), long working hours are closely connected with health disorders2, 3). Some types of work schedules...

How can you be two places at once when you're not anywhere at all?