Design: Cross-sectional study of pediatric encounters motivated by cold symptoms between October 1, 2000, and June 30, 2001. Each encounter was videotaped. Physicians completed a postvisit survey that measured whether they perceived the parent as expecting antibiotics. Coded communication variables were merged with survey variables. Multivariate analyses identified key predictors of parent-phys...

We study the formation of a ruling coalition in political environments. Each individual is endowed with a level of political power. The ruling coalition consists of a subset of the individuals in the society and decides the distribution of resources. A ruling coalition needs to contain enough powerful members to win against any alternative coalition that may challenge it, and it needs to be sel...

the person, who, on his way, encounters a fruit-bearing tree belonging to others, can eat from its fruit as much as fulfilling his need, provided that his reaching to that tree has been accidental rather than on purpose; and that he should not take away any fruit with him and damage a tree or a fruit. in this respect, the owner’s consent is not considered a sine qua non. the reason for this rul...

We describe a diffuse control system for household appliances rooted in an Internet of Thing network empowered by a cognitive system. The key idea is that these appliances constitute an ecosystem populated by a plenty of devices with common features, yet called to satisfy in an almost repetitive way needs that may be very diversified, depending on the user preferences. This calls for a network ...