Potential Risks Inherent in Robotic Process Automation

Robotic process automation (RPA) uses automation technologies to perform tasks typically performed by humans. Although such technology has been instrumental in expediting business operations and lowering costs, it has also created several risks that warrant scrutiny. When discussing the drawbacks of automation, many will point to the number of jobs lost to the influx of automation. However, there are technology risks that organizations must consider such as fraud and cybersecurity. Fraudsters may utilize RPA to commit more novel and subtle technological and cyber security fraud. Organizations may implement internal control measures to prevent or mitigate such schemes, segregation of duties, and change management. RPA has many benefits, but the effective use of such technology will ultimately come down to how businesses adapt to risks in such an ever-changing business environment

Covariant polarized radiative transfer on cosmological scales for investigating large-scale magnetic field structures

Polarization of radiation is a powerful tool to study cosmic magnetism and analysis of polarization can be used as a diagnostic tool for large-scale structures. In this paper, we present a solid theoretical foundation for using polarized light to investigate large-scale magnetic field structures: the cosmological polarized radiative transfer (CPRT) formulation. The CPRT formulation is fully covariant. It accounts for cosmological and relativistic effects in a self-consistent manner and explicitly treats Faraday rotation, as well as Faraday conversion, emission, and absorption processes. The formulation is derived from the first principles of conservation of phase-space volume and photon number. Without loss of generality, we consider a flat Friedmann-Robertson-Walker (FRW) space-time metric and construct the corresponding polarized radiative transfer equations. We propose an all-sky CPRT calculation algorithm, based on a ray-tracing method, which allows cosmological simulation results to be incorporated and, thereby, model templates of polarization maps to be constructed. Such maps will be crucial in our interpretation of polarized data, such as those to be collected by the Square Kilometer Array (SKA). We describe several tests which are used for verifying the code and demonstrate applications in the study of the polarization signatures in different distributions of electron number density and magnetic fields. We present a pencil-beam CPRT calculation and an all-sky calculation, using a simulated galaxy cluster or a model magnetized universe obtained from GCMHD+ simulations as the respective input structures. The implications on large-scale magnetic field studies are discussed; remarks on the standard methods using rotation measure are highlighted.Comment: 32 pages, 14 figure

Retinal Changes in a Mutant Form of Goldfish with Megalophthalmia

The retinal changes of a mutant strain of goldfish with megalophthalmia were studied by histology, electron microscopy and biochemistry. Changes in the morphology of the pigment epithelium, decrease in number of photoreceptors, thinning out of retinal layers and the existence of spaces in the retina were all features as the eyes grew in size. Invasion of macrophages was also evident in the retina. A decrease in leucine uptake per milligram of retina was also detected as the eye grew beyond 0.8 millilitre in volume. These changes, although related to volume changes (i.e., growth) of the eyes, were found to have little relationship with increase of intraocular pressure as intraocular pressures in the growing eyes of the mutant strain did not change much. Goldfish from a control strain with similar eye volumes and sizes (ages) were used for comparison and similar changes as in the mutant were not apparent

The Exact Critical Bubble Free Energy and the Effectiveness of Effective Potential Approximations

To calculate the temperature at which a first-order cosmological phase transition occurs, one must calculate $F_c(T)$, the free energy of a critical bubble configuration. $F_c(T)$ is often approximated by the classical energy plus an integral over the bubble of the effective potential; one must choose a method for calculating the effective potential when $V''<0$. We test different effective potential approximations at one loop. The agreement is best if one pulls a factor of $\mu^4/T^4$ into the decay rate prefactor [where $\mu^2 = V''(\phi_f)$], and takes the real part of the effective potential in the region $V''<0$. We perform a similar analysis on the 1-dimensional kink.Comment: 11 pages plus 3 figures in jyTeX; CALT-68-188

Prenatal antidepressant use and risk of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder in offspring:population based cohort study

textabstractObjective To assess the potential association between prenatal use of antidepressants and the risk of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) in offspring. Design Population based cohort study. Setting Data from the Hong Kong population based electronic medical records on the Clinical Data Analysis and Reporting System. Participants 190 618 children born in Hong Kong public hospitals between January 2001 and December 2009 and followed-up to December 2015. Main outcome measure Hazard ratio of maternal antidepressant use during pregnancy and ADHD in children aged 6 to 14 years, with an average follow-up time of 9.3 years (range 7.4-11.0 years). Results Among 190 618 children, 1252 had a mother who used prenatal antidepressants. 5659 children (3.0%) were given a diagnosis of ADHD or received treatment for ADHD. The crude hazard ratio of maternal antidepressant use during pregnancy was 2.26 (P<0.01) compared with non-use. After adjustment for potential confounding factors, including maternal psychiatric disorders and use of other psychiatric drugs, the adjusted hazard ratio was reduced to 1.39 (95% confidence interval 1.07 to 1.82, P=0.01). Likewise, similar results were observed when comparing children of mothers who had used antidepressants before pregnancy with those who were never users (1.76, 1.36 to 2.30, P<0.01). The risk of ADHD in the children of mothers with psychiatric disorders was higher compared with the children of mothers without psychiatric disorders even if the mothers had never used antidepressants (1.84, 1.54 to 2.18, P<0.01). All sensitivity analyses yielded similar results. Sibling matched analysis identified no significant difference in risk of ADHD in siblings exposed to antidepressants during gestation and those not exposed during gestation (0.54, 0.17 to 1.74, P=0.30). Conclusions The findings suggest that the association between prenatal use of antidepressants and risk of ADHD in offspring can be partially explained by confounding by indication of antidepressants. If there is a causal association, the size of the effect is probably smaller than that reported previously

Review of Clinical Features, Microbiological Spectrum, and Treatment Outcomes of Endogenous Endophthalmitis over an 8-Year Period

Purpose. To evaluate the clinical features, microbiological spectrum, and treatment outcomes of endogenous endophthalmitis. Methods. Retrospective review of consecutive cases with infective endogenous endophthalmitis presenting from 2000 to 2007. The main outcome measure was the visual outcome at the latest follow-up visit. Other outcome measures included microbiological investigations, anatomical and clinical outcomes. Results. 22 eyes of 21 patients were included, and the mean follow-up duration was 2.7 years. Eyes with fungal endogenous endophthalmitis were more likely to have visual acuity of finger counting or better at presentation compared with those with bacterial endogenous endophthalmitis (odds ratio=15.0, =0.013). Gram-negative microorganisms accounted for 50% of infections, while fungal and gram-positive organisms accounted for 27.3% and 22.7%, respectively. Despite treatment, the visual outcome was poor in general as 10 (45.5%) eyes had no light perception at the latest follow-up visit and 6 (27.3%) eyes required enucleation or evisceration. Contrary to previous studies, fungal endogenous endophthalmitis did not appear to have better visual outcome compared with bacterial endogenous endophthalmitis. Conclusion. Gram-negative microorganisms were the main causative pathogens of endogenous endophthalmitis in Hong Kong. The visual prognosis of endogenous endophthalmitis is generally poor as almost 50% of eyes were blind despite treatment

Cytokine Response Patterns in Severe Pandemic 2009 H1N1 and Seasonal Influenza among Hospitalized Adults

BACKGROUND: Studying cytokine/chemokine responses in severe influenza infections caused by different virus subtypes may improve understanding on pathogenesis. METHODS: Adults hospitalized for laboratory-confirmed seasonal and pandemic 2009 A/H1N1 (pH1N1) influenza were studied. Plasma concentrations of 13 cytokines/chemokines were measured at presentation and then serially, using cytometric-bead-array with flow-cytometry and ELISA. PBMCs from influenza patients were studied for cytokine/chemokine expression using ex-vivo culture (Whole Blood Assay,±PHA/LPS stimulation). Clinical variables were prospectively recorded and analyzed. RESULTS: 63 pH1N1 and 53 seasonal influenza patients were studied. pH1N1 patients were younger (mean±S.D. 42.8±19.2 vs 70.5±16.7 years), and fewer had comorbidities. Respiratory/cardiovascular complications were common in both groups (71.4% vs 81.1%), although severe pneumonia with hypoxemia (54.0% vs 28.3%) and ICU admissions (25.4% vs 1.9%) were more frequent with pH1N1. Hyperactivation of the proinflammatory cytokines IL-6, CXCL8/IL-8, CCL2/MCP-1 and sTNFR-1 was found in pH1N1 pneumonia (2-15 times normal) and in complicated seasonal influenza, but not in milder pH1N1 infections. The adaptive-immunity (Th1/Th17)-related CXCL10/IP-10, CXCL9/MIG and IL-17A however, were markedly suppressed in severe pH1N1 pneumonia (2-27 times lower than seasonal influenza; P-values<0.01). This pattern was further confirmed with serial measurements. Hypercytokinemia tended to be sustained in pH1N1 pneumonia, associated with a slower viral clearance [PCR-negativity: day 3-4, 55% vs 85%; day 6-7, 67% vs 100%]. Elevated proinflammatory cytokines, particularly IL-6, predicted ICU admission (adjusted OR 12.6, 95%CI 2.6-61.5, per log(10)unit increase; P = 0.002), and correlated with fever, tachypnoea, deoxygenation, and length-of-stay (Spearman's rho, P-values<0.01) in influenza infections. PBMCs in seasonal influenza patients were activated and expressed cytokines ex vivo (e.g. IL-6, CXCL8/IL-8, CCL2/MCP-1, CXCL10/IP-10, CXCL9/MIG); their 'responsiveness' to stimuli was shown to change dynamically during the illness course. CONCLUSIONS: A hyperactivated proinflammatory, but suppressed adaptive-immunity (Th1/Th17)-related cytokine response pattern was found in severe pH1N1 pneumonia, different from seasonal influenza. Cytokine/immune-dysregulation may be important in its pathogenesis

Ions in mixed dielectric solvents: density profiles and osmotic pressure between charged interfaces

The forces between charged macromolecules, usually given in terms of osmotic pressure, are highly affected by the intervening ionic solution. While in most theoretical studies the solution is treated as a homogeneous structureless dielectric medium, recent experimental studies concluded that, for a bathing solution composed of two solvents (binary mixture), the osmotic pressure between charged macromolecules is affected by the binary solvent composition. By adding local solvent composition terms to the free energy, we obtain a general expression for the osmotic pressure, in planar geometry and within the mean-field framework. The added effect is due to the permeability inhomogeneity and nonelectrostatic short-range interactions between the ions and solvents (preferential solvation). This effect is mostly pronounced at small distances and leads to a reduction in the osmotic pressure for macromolecular separations of the order 1--2 nm. Furthermore, it leads to a depletion of one of the two solvents from the charged macromolecules (modeled as planar interfaces). Lastly, by comparing the theoretical results with experimental ones, an explanation based on preferential solvation is offered for recent experiments on the osmotic pressure of DNA solutions.Comment: 13 pages, 8 figure