The Privilege Against Self-Incrimination as Applied to Custodians of Organizational Records

One of the most critical areas of the courts\u27 inquisitorial power involves organizational documents—books and records of the business, social, and political combines so much a part of the modern American scene. The development of the organization man, and the diverse associations to which he belongs, has focused government attention—and regulation—upon the activities of large numbers of combinations, associations, and organizations. Perhaps it is pertinent to ask what areas of organization activity remain immune from the government subpoena. When may an officer or member rely upon the privileges he could assert with regard to his private affairs

A Survey of Methods for Addressing Class Imbalance in Deep-Learning Based Natural Language Processing

Many natural language processing (NLP) tasks are naturally imbalanced, as some target categories occur much more frequently than others in the real world. In such scenarios, current NLP models still tend to perform poorly on less frequent classes. Addressing class imbalance in NLP is an active research topic, yet, finding a good approach for a particular task and imbalance scenario is difficult. With this survey, the first overview on class imbalance in deep-learning based NLP, we provide guidance for NLP researchers and practitioners dealing with imbalanced data. We first discuss various types of controlled and real-world class imbalance. Our survey then covers approaches that have been explicitly proposed for class-imbalanced NLP tasks or, originating in the computer vision community, have been evaluated on them. We organize the methods by whether they are based on sampling, data augmentation, choice of loss function, staged learning, or model design. Finally, we discuss open problems such as dealing with multi-label scenarios, and propose systematic benchmarking and reporting in order to move forward on this problem as a community

High-level synthesis for medical image processing on Systems on Chip : a case study

Adaptive radiotherapy is a technique intended to increase the accuracy of radiotherapy. Currently, it is not clinically feasible due to the time required to process the images of patient anatomy. Hardware acceleration of image processing algorithms may allow them to be carried out in a clinically acceptable timeframe. This paper presents the experiences encountered using high-level synthesis tools to design an accelerated segmentation algorithm for computed tomography images targeted for implementation on a System on Chip. Hardware coprocessors and their interfaces for optimal threshold generation and 3D mean filter algorithms were synthesised from C++ functions. Hardware acceleration significantly outperformed the software only implementation. The high-level synthesis tools allowed the rapid exploration of different design options. However, hardware design knowledge was still necessary in order to interpret the results effectively

An Electrochemical Color-Switchable RGB Dye: Tristable [2]Catenane

We propose a design for an electrochemically driven RGB dye based on a tristable [2]catenane, in which the color of the molecule can be switched between Red, Green, and Blue by merely changing voltage. Based on DFT calculations, we conclude that the tristable [2]catenane should consist of a CBPQT^(4+) ring interlocked with a polyether macrocyle containing DNP (red), TTF (green), and FBZD (blue) units as the tunable RGB color-generating donors. Thus, at controllable voltages 0, V_1, and V_2, the [2]catenane is expected to display green, blue, and red colors, respectively. The advent of these RGB tristable molecules may have potential applications in low cost paperlike electronic displays

The impact of oxidation on spore and pollen chemistry

Sporomorphs (pollen and spores) have an outer wall composed of sporopollenin. Sporopollenin chemistry contains both a signature of ambient ultraviolet-B flux and taxonomic information, but it is currently unknown how sensitive this is to standard palynological processing techniques. Oxidation in particular is known to cause physical degradation to sporomorphs, and it is expected that this should have a concordant impact on sporopollenin chemistry. Here, we test this by experimentally oxidizing Lycopodium (clubmoss) spores using two common oxidation techniques: acetolysis and nitric acid. We also carry out acetolysis on eight angiosperm (flowering plant) taxa to test the generality of our results. Using Fourier Transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy, we find that acetolysis removes labile, non-fossilizable components of sporomorphs, but has a limited impact upon the chemistry of sporopollenin under normal processing durations. Nitric acid is more aggressive and does break down sporopollenin and reorganize its chemical structure, but when limited to short treatments (i.e. ≤10 min) at room temperature sporomorphs still contain most of the original chemical signal. These findings suggest that when used carefully oxidation does not adversely affect sporopollenin chemistry, and that palaeoclimatic and taxonomic signatures contained within the sporomorph wall are recoverable from standard palynological preparations

The impact of a managed care obesity intervention on clinical outcomes and costs: A prospective observational study

Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/100261/1/oby20597.pd

Heavy cannabis use is associated with low bone mineral density and an increased risk of fractures

Purpose: To investigate possible associations between recreational cannabis use and bone health in humans.  Methods: Cross-sectional study of individuals recruited from primary care in the UK between 2011 and 2014. Cases were regular smokers of cannabis divided into moderate (n=56) and heavy user (n=144) subgroups depending on whether they reported fewer or more than 5000 cannabis smoking episodes during their lifetime. Controls comprised 114 cigarette smokers.  Results: Heavy cannabis users had lower total hip bone mineral density (mean ± SD Z-score: -0.20±0.9 vs. +0.2±0.9, p<0.0005), lower spine bone mineral density (-0.5±1.2 vs. 0.0±1.2, p<0.0005) and lower BMI (26.5±6.0 vs 29.0±7.0, p=0.01) than controls. Fracture rate was also increased in heavy users (rate ratio=2.17, 95% confidence interval 1.59 to 2.95; p<0.001). When compared with controls, CTX serum concentrations were raised in heavy cannabis users (0.3±0.1 vs. 0.2±0.1 pg/ml, p=0.045) as were P1NP concentrations (47.1±19.2 vs. 41.2±17.8 pg/ml, p=0.01). Serum 25(OH)D concentrations were reduced in heavy users compared with controls (25.3±16.8 vs. 36.9±26.7 nmol/l, p=0.002). Multiple regression analysis revealed that heavy cannabis use was an independent predictor of spine bone mineral density accounting for 5.4% of the variance (p=0.035) and total hip bone mineral density accounting for 5.8% of the variance (p=0.001) but mediation analysis suggested that the effect on spine bone mineral density was indirect and mediated through low BMI.  Conclusion: Heavy cannabis use is associated with low bone mineral density, low BMI, high bone turnover and an increased risk of fracture. Heavy cannabis use negatively impacts on bone health both directly and indirectly through an effect on BMI

A concise synthesis of isoguanine 2’-deoxyriboside and its adenine-like triplex formation when incorporated into DNA

A concise synthesis of 2’-deoxyisoguanosine is achieved whereby 2,6-dichloropurine is glycosylated using the Hoffer sugar to give a pair of beta-configured nucleoside N9/N7 regioisomers that are aminated using methanolic ammonia with concomitant deprotection of the sugar. Following chromatographic separation, pure 2-chloro-2’-deoxyadenosine was isolated as a single isomer. Displacement of the C2 chlorine atom using sodium benzyloxide, followed by hydrogenolysis of the benzyl group, gives 2’-deoxyisoguanosine. Isoguanine was incorporated into DNA by solid supported synthesis using the suitably protected 2-allyloxy-2’-deoxyadenosine phosphoramidite with the allyl group being removed post-oligomerisation under Noyori conditions. DNA melting studies showed isoguanine to exhibit adenine-like triplex formation

A double-blind randomized controlled trial of maternal postpartum deworming to improve infant weight gain in the Peruvian Amazon

Background : Nutritional interventions targeting the critical growth and development period before two years of age can have the greatest impact on health trajectories over the life course. Compelling evidence has demonstrated that interventions investing in maternal health in the first 1000 days of life are beneficial for both mothers and their children. One such potential intervention is deworming integrated into maternal postpartum care in areas where soil-transmitted helminth (STH) infections are endemic. Methodology/Principal Findings : From February to August 2014, 1010 mother-infant pairs were recruited into a trial aimed at assessing the effectiveness of maternal postpartum deworming on infant and maternal health outcomes. Following delivery, mothers were randomly assigned to receive either single-dose 400 mg albendazole or placebo. Participants were followed-up at 1 and 6 months postpartum. There was no statistically significant difference in mean weight gain between infants in the experimental and control groups (mean difference: -0.02; 95% CI: -0.1, 0.08) at 6 months of age. Further, deworming had no effect on measured infant morbidity indicators. However, ad hoc analyses restricted to mothers who tested positive for STHs at baseline suggest that infants of mothers in the experimental group had greater mean length gain in cm (mean difference: 0.8; 95% CI: 0.1, 1.4) and length-for-age z-score (mean difference: 0.5; 95% CI: 0.2, 0.8) at 6 months of age. Conclusions/Significance : In a study population composed of both STH-infected and uninfected mothers, maternal postpartum deworming was insufficient to impact infant growth and morbidity indicators up to 6 months postpartum. Among STH-infected mothers, however, important improvements in infant length gain and length-for-age were observed. The benefits of maternal postpartum deworming should be further investigated in study populations having higher overall prevalences and intensities of STH infections and, in particular, where whipworm and hookworm infections are of public health concern