The bumping set and the characteristic submanifold

We show here that the Nielsen core of the bumping set of the domain of discontinuity of a Kleinian group $\Gamma$ is the boundary of the characteristic submanifold of the associated 3-manifold with boundary. Some examples of interesting characteristic submanifolds are given. We also give a construction of the characteristic submanifold directly from the Nielsen core of the bumping set. The proofs are from "first principles", using properties of uniform domains and the fact that quasi-conformal discs are uniform domains.Comment: 12 pages, 2 figures; non-mathematical error fixed (The author's name is now on the title page.

Spatial Graphs with Local Knots

It is shown that for any locally knotted edge of a 3-connected graph in $S^3$, there is a ball that contains all of the local knots of that edge and is unique up to an isotopy setwise fixing the graph. This result is applied to the study of topological symmetry groups of graphs embedded in $S^3$.Comment: 20 pages, 3 figures; in v. 2 the proof of Theorem 1 has been clarified, and other minor revisions have been mad

Expected length of the longest common subsequence for large alphabets

We consider the length L of the longest common subsequence of two randomly uniformly and independently chosen n character words over a k-ary alphabet. Subadditivity arguments yield that the expected value of L, when normalized by n, converges to a constant C_k. We prove a conjecture of Sankoff and Mainville from the early 80's claiming that C_k\sqrt{k} goes to 2 as k goes to infinity.Comment: 14 pages, 1 figure, LaTe

Palliative care in interstitial lung disease: living well

Progressive fibrotic interstitial lung diseases (ILDs) are characterised by major reductions in quality of life and survival and have similarities to certain malignancies. However, palliative care expertise is conspicuously inaccessible to many patients with ILD. Unmet patient and caregiver needs include effective pharmacological and psychosocial interventions to improve quality of life throughout the disease course, sensitive advanced care planning, and timely patient-centred end-of-life care. The incorrect perception that palliative care is synonymous with end-of-life care, with no role earlier in the course of ILD, has created a culture of neglect. Interventions that aim to improve life expectancy are often prioritised without rigorous assessment of the individual's health and psychosocial needs, thereby inadvertently reducing quality of life. As in malignant disorders, radical interventions to slow disease progression and palliative measures to improve quality of life should both be prioritised. Efficient patient-centred models of palliative care must be validated, taking into account religious and cultural differences, as well as variability of resources. Effective implementation of palliative care for ILD will require multidisciplinary participation from clinicians, specialist nurses, psychologists, social workers, and, in some countries, non-governmental faith and community-based organisations with access to palliative care expertise

Intrauterine Growth and Offspring Neurodevelopmental Traits: A Mendelian Randomization Analysis of the Norwegian Mother, Father and Child Cohort Study (MoBa)

This is the final version. Available on open access from the American Medical Association via the DOI in this recordData Sharing Statement: See Supplement 3.IMPORTANCE: Conventional epidemiological analyses have suggested that lower birth weight is associated with later neurodevelopmental difficulties; however, it is unclear whether this association is causal. OBJECTIVE: To investigate the relationship between intrauterine growth and offspring neurodevelopmental difficulties. DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS: MoBa is a population-based pregnancy cohort that recruited pregnant women from June 1999 to December 2008 included approximately 114 500 children, 95 200 mothers, and 75 200 fathers. Observational associations between birth weight and neurodevelopmental difficulties were assessed with a conventional epidemiological approach. Mendelian randomization analyses were performed to investigate the potential causal association between maternal allele scores for birth weight and offspring neurodevelopmental difficulties conditional on offspring allele scores. EXPOSURES: Birth weight and maternal allele scores for birth weight (derived from genetic variants robustly associated with birth weight) were the exposures in the observational and mendelian randomization analyses, respectively. MAIN OUTCOMES AND MEASURES: Clinically relevant maternal ratings of offspring neurodevelopmental difficulties at 6 months, 18 months, 3 years, 5 years, and 8 years of age assessing language and motor difficulties, inattention and hyperactivity-impulsivity, social communication difficulties, and repetitive behaviors. RESULTS: The conventional epidemiological sample included up to 46 970 offspring, whereas the mendelian randomization sample included up to 44 134 offspring (median offspring birth year, 2005 [range, 1999-2009]; mean [SD] maternal age at birth, 30.1 [4.5] years; mean [SD] paternal age at birth, 32.5 [5.1] years). The conventional epidemiological analyses found evidence that birth weight was negatively associated with several domains at multiple offspring ages (outcome of autism-related trait scores: Social Communication Questionnaire [SCQ]-full at 3 years, β = -0.046 [95% CI, -0.057 to -0.034]; SCQ-Restricted and Repetitive Behaviors subscale at 3 years, β = -0.049 [95% CI, -0.060 to -0.038]; attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder [ADHD] trait scores: Child Behavior Checklist [CBCL]-ADHD subscale at 18 months, β = -0.035 [95% CI, -0.045 to -0.024]; CBCL-ADHD at 3 years, β = -0.032 [95% CI, -0.043 to -0.021]; CBCL-ADHD at 5 years, β = -0.050 [95% CI, -0.064 to -0.037]; Rating Scale for Disruptive Behavior Disorders [RS-DBD]-ADHD at 8 years, β = -0.036 [95% CI, -0.049 to -0.023]; RS-DBD-Inattention at 8 years, β = -0.037 [95% CI, -0.050 to -0.024]; RS-DBD-Hyperactive-Impulsive Behavior at 8 years, β = -0.027 [95% CI, -0.040 to -0.014]; Conners Parent Rating Scale-Revised [Short Form] at 5 years, β = -0.041 [95% CI, -0.054 to -0.028]; motor scores: Ages and Stages Questionnaire-Motor Difficulty [ASQ-MOTOR] at 18 months, β = -0.025 [95% CI, -0.035 to -0.015]; ASQ-MOTOR at 3 years, β = -0.029 [95% CI, -0.040 to -0.018]; and Child Development Inventory-Gross and Fine Motor Skills at 5 years, β = -0.028 [95% CI, -0.042 to -0.015]). Mendelian randomization analyses did not find any evidence for an association between maternal allele scores for birth weight and offspring neurodevelopmental difficulties. CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE: This study found that the maternal intrauterine environment, as proxied by maternal birth weight genetic variants, is unlikely to be a major determinant of offspring neurodevelopmental outcomes.Research Council of NorwayWellcome TrustNational Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR)QUEX Accelerator grantAustralian Government Research Training ProgramAustralian Research Council (ARC)South East Norway Regional Health AuthorityNils Norman mindefondAustralian National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC

Including Smart Architecture in environments for people with dementia

Environments which aim to promote human well-being must address both functional and psychosocial needs. This paper comprises a description of a framework for a smart home environment, which aims to comprehensively address issues of environmental fit, in particular for a person with cognitive impairment associated with dementia, by means of introducing sensing of user affect as a factor in system management of a smart personal life space, and in generation of environmental response, adapting to changing user need. The introduction of affective computing into an intelligent system managing environmental response and adaptation is seen as a critical component in successfully realizing an interactive personal life-space, where a continuous feedback loop operates between user and environment, in real time. The overall intention is to maximize environmental congruence for the user, both functionally and psychosocially, by factoring in adjustment to changing user status. Design thinking, at all scales, is perceived as being essential to achieving a coherent smart environment, where architecture is reframed as interaction design

Prevalence and characteristics of progressive fibrosing interstitial lung disease in a prospective registry

Rationale Progressive fibrosing interstitial lung disease (PF-ILD) is characterized by progressive physiologic, symptomatic, and/or radiographic worsening. The real-world prevalence and characteristics of PF-ILD remain uncertain. Methods Patients were enrolled from the Canadian Registry for Pulmonary Fibrosis between 2015-2020. PF-ILD was defined as a relative forced vital capacity (FVC) decline ≥10%, death, lung transplantation, or any 2 of: relative FVC decline ≥5 and <10%, worsening respiratory symptoms, or worsening fibrosis on computed tomography of the chest, all within 24 months of diagnosis. Time-to-event analysis compared progression between key diagnostic subgroups. Characteristics associated with progression were determined by multivariable regression. Results Of 2,746 patients with fibrotic ILD (mean age 65±12 years, 51% female), 1,376 (50%) met PFILD criteria in the first 24 months of follow-up. PF-ILD occurred in 427 (59%) patients with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF), 125 (58%) with fibrotic hypersensitivity pneumonitis (HP), 281 (51%) with unclassifiable ILD (U-ILD), and 402 (45%) with connective tissue diseaseassociated ILD (CTD-ILD). Compared to IPF, time to progression was similar in patients with HP (hazard ratio [HR] 0.96, 95% confidence interval, CI 0.79-1.17), but was delayed in patients with U-ILD (HR 0.82, 95% CI 0.71-0.96) and CTD-ILD (HR 0.65, 95% CI 0.56-0.74). Background treatment varied across diagnostic subtypes with 66% of IPF patients receiving antifibrotic therapy, while immunomodulatory therapy was utilized in 49%, 61%, and 37% of patients with CHP, CTD-ILD, and U-ILD respectively. Increasing age, male sex, gastroesophageal reflux disease, and lower baseline pulmonary function were independently associated with progression. Interpretation Progression is common in patients with fibrotic ILD, and is similarly prevalent in HP and IPF. Routinely collected variables help identify patients at risk for progression and may guide therapeutic strategie

Scents of Adolescence: The Maturation of the Olfactory Phenotype in a Free-Ranging Mammal

Olfaction is an important sensory modality for mate recognition in many mammal species. Odorants provide information about the health status, genotype, dominance status and/or reproductive status. How and when odor profiles change during sexual maturation is, however often unclear, particularly in free-ranging mammals. Here, we investigated whether the wing sac odorant of male greater sac-winged bats (Saccopteryx bilineata, Emballonuridae) differs between young and adults, and thus offers information about sexual maturity to potential mating partners. Using gas chromatography – mass spectrometry, we found differences in the odorants of young and adult males prior and during, but not after the mating period. The wing sac odorant of adult males consists of several substances, such as Pyrocoll, 2,6,10-trimethyl-3-oxo-6,10-dodecadienolide, and a so far unidentified substance; all being absent in the odor profiles of juveniles prior to the mating season. During the mating season, these substances are present in most of the juvenile odorants, but still at lower quantities compared to the wing sac odorants of adults. These results suggest that the wing sac odorant of males encodes information about age and/or sexual maturity. Although female S. bilineata start to reproduce at the age of half a year, most males of the same age postpone the sexual maturation of their olfactory phenotype until after the first mating season

The Data Acquisition and Calibration System for the ATLAS Semiconductor Tracker

The SemiConductor Tracker (SCT) data acquisition (DAQ) system will calibrate, configure, and control the approximately six million front-end channels of the ATLAS silicon strip detector. It will provide a synchronized bunch-crossing clock to the front-end modules, communicate first-level triggers to the front-end chips, and transfer information about hit strips to the ATLAS high-level trigger system. The system has been used extensively for calibration and quality assurance during SCT barrel and endcap assembly and for performance confirmation tests after transport of the barrels and endcaps to CERN. Operating in data-taking mode, the DAQ has recorded nearly twenty million synchronously-triggered events during commissioning tests including almost a million cosmic ray triggered events. In this paper we describe the components of the data acquisition system, discuss its operation in calibration and data-taking modes and present some detector performance results from these tests