TEAM-UP for quality: a cluster randomized controlled trial protocol focused on preventing pressure ulcers through repositioning frequency and precipitating factors

Background: Pressure ulcers/injuries (PrUs), a critical concern for nursing homes (NH), are responsible for chronic wounds, amputations, septic infections, and premature deaths. PrUs occur most commonly in older adults and NH residence is a risk factor for their development, with at least one of every nine U.S. NH residents experiencing a PrU and many NHs having high incidence and prevalence rates, in some instances well over 20%. PrU direct treatment costs are greater than prevention costs, making prevention-focused protocols critical. Current PrU prevention protocols recommend repositioning residents at moderate, high, and severe risk every 2 h. The advent of visco- elastic (VE) high-density foam support-surfaces over the past decade may now make it possible to extend the repositioning interval to every 3 or 4 h without increasing PrU development. The TEAM-UP (Turn Everyone And Move for Ulcer Prevention) study aims to determine: 1) whether repositioning interval can be extended for NH residents without compromising PrU incidence and 2) how changes in medical severity interact with changes in risk level and repositioning schedule to predict PrU development. Methods: In this proposed cluster randomized study, 9 NHs will be randomly assigned to one of three repositioning intervals (2, 3, or 4 h) for a 4-week period. Each enrolled site will use a single NH-wide repositioning interval as the standard of care for residents at low, moderate, and high risk of PrU development (N = 951) meeting the following criteria: minimum 3-day stay, without PrUs, no adhesive allergy, and using VE support surfaces (mattresses). An FDA-cleared patient monitoring system that records position/movement of these residents via individual wireless sensors will be used to visually cue staff when residents need repositioning and document compliance with repositioning protocols. Discussion: This study will advance knowledge about repositioning frequency and clinically assessed PrU risk level in relation to PrU incidence and medical severity. Outcomes of this research will contribute to future guidelines for more precise preventive nursing practices and refinement of PrU prevention guidelines. Trial registration: Clinical Trial Registration: NCT02996331

Optics and Quantum Electronics

Contains table of contents for Section 2 and reports on eleven research projects.Joint Services Electronics Program Contract DAAL03-89-C-0001National Science Foundation Grant EET 87-00474U.S. Air Force - Office of Scientific Research Contract F49620-88-C-0089Charles S. Draper Laboratory Contract DL-H-404179National Center for Integrated PhotonicsNational Science Foundation Grant ECS 87-18417NEC Research InstituteNational Science Foundation Grant ECS 85-52701Medical Free Electron Laser Program Contract N00014-86-K-0117National Institutes of Health Grant 5-RO1-GM35459Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory Contract B048704U.S. Department of Energy Grant DE-FG02-89-ER14012Columbia University Contract P016310

Optics and Quantum Electronics

Contains table of contents for Section 3 and reports on twenty-three research projects.Joint Services Electronics Program Contract DAAL03-92-C-0001U.S. Air Force - Office of Scientific Research Contract F49620-91-C-0091Charles S. Draper Laboratories Contract DL-H-441629MIT Lincoln LaboratoryNational Science Foundation Grant ECS 90-12787Fujitsu LaboratoriesU.S. Navy - Office of Naval Research Grant N00014-92-J-1302National Center for Integrated PhotonicsNational Center for Integrated Photonics TechnologyNational Science Foundation Grant EET 88-15834Joint Services Electronics Program Contract DAAL03-91-C-0001National Science Foundation Fellowship ECS-85-52701U.S. Navy - Office of Naval Research (MGH) Contract N00014-91-C-0084U.S. Navy - Office of Naval Research Grant N00014-91-J-1956National Institutes of Health Grant NIH-5-RO1-GM35459-08Bose CorporationLawrence Livermore National Laboratories Subcontract B160530U.S. Department of Energy Grant DE-FG02-89-ER14012Rockwell International CorporationSpace Exploration AssociatesFuture Energy Applied Technology, Inc

Investigating the muti-scaling properties and connectedness of the sovereign bond yields: Hurst exponent and network analysis approach

Using daily yield data of 14 sovereign bond markets from emerging and developed economies from July 10, 2000, to July 10, 2022, we examine their scaling properties using generalized Hurst exponent and spectral density analysis and investigate the connectedness based on a network analysis approach. We consider the yields of 2-year and 10-year bond yields to investigate the scaling properties for short- and long-term sovereign bonds. This selection also allows us to examine sovereign bond spreads with respect to the USA. We also use regularized partial correlation network analysis to connect different countries in communities based on yields. We find that the scaling behavior of the bond yields for both terms fits well using the Hurst exponent and spectral analysis confirms this finding. Moreover, we also find that even though bonds in both cohorts show anti-persistent behavior except that of the USA, the developed economies' bond yields are relatively less anti-persistent as compared to those of emerging economies. The networks of both the 2-year and 10-year yields indicate community formation in various countries which provides diversification benefits to the investors. Most of the emerging countries are classified into one community in the long-tenure bonds as well but this concentration is more evident in the short-tenure bonds

Revisiting modular inversion hidden number problem and its applications

The Modular Inversion Hidden Number Problem (MIHNP), which was proposed at Asiacrypt 2001 by Boneh, Halevi, and Howgrave-Graham, is summarized as follows: Assume that the δ most significant bits of z are denoted by MSBδ(z). The goal is to retrieve the hidden number α ϵ ℤp given many samples (ti,MSBδ((α + ti)-1 mod p)) for random ti ϵ ℤp. MIHNP is a significant subset of Hidden Number Problems. Eichenauer and Lehn introduced the Inversive Congruential Generator (ICG) in 1986. It is basically characterized as follows: For iterated relations vi+1 = (avi-1 + b) mod p with a secret seed v0 ϵ ℤp, each iteration produces MSBδ(vi+1) where i ≥ 0. The ICG family of pseudorandom number generators is a significant subclass of number-theoretic pseudorandom number generators. Sakai-Kasahara scheme is an identity-based encryption (IBE) system proposed by Sakai and Kasahara. It is one of the few commercially implemented identity-based encryption schemes. We explore the Coppersmith approach for solving a class of modular polynomial equations, which is derived from the recovery issue for the hidden number α in MIHNP and the secret seed v0 in ICG, respectively. Take a positive integer n = d3+o(1) for some positive integer constant d. We propose a heuristic technique for recovering the hidden number α or secret seed v0 with a probability close to 1 when δ/log2 p > 1/d+1 +o(1/d ). The attack's total time complexity is polynomial in the order of log2 p, with the complexity of the LLL algorithm increasing as dO(d) and the complexity of the Grobner basis computation increasing as dO(n). When d > 2, this asymptotic bound surpasses the asymptotic bound δ/log2 p > 1/3 established by Boneh, Halevi, and Howgrave-Graham at Asiacrypt 2001. This is the first time a more precise constraint for solving MIHNP is established, implying that the claim that MIHNP is difficult is violated whenever δ/log2 p < 1/3 . Then we study ICG. To our knowledge, we achieve the best performance for attacking ICG to date. Finally, we provide an MIHNP-based lattice approach that recovers the signer's secret key in the Sakai-Kasahara type signatures when the most (least) significant bits of the signing exponents are exposed. This improves the existing work in this direction.Ministry of Education (MOE)National Research Foundation (NRF)The work of Jun Xu was supported in part by the National Natural Science Foundation of China under Grant 62272454; and in part by the Innovation Program for Quantum Science and Technology, China, under Grant 2021ZD0302902. The work of Huaxiong Wang was supported in part by the Singapore Ministry of Education Academic Research Fund Tier 2 under Grant MOE2019-T2-2-083; and in part by the National Research Foundation, Singapore, under its Strategic Capability Research Centres Funding Initiative. The work of Yanbin Pan was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China under Grant 62032009 and Grant 12226006

Extrinsic Spin–Orbit Coupling-Induced Large Modulation of Gilbert Damping Coefficient in CoFeB Thin Film on the Graphene Stack with Different Defect Density

Control of Gilbert damping parameter is imperative for various spintronic and magnonic devices, and various schemes have been attempted to achieve that. We report a large tunability of Gilbert damping by varying the underlayer of CoFeB thin film from few-layer graphene (FLG) to graphite layer. We measured the ultrafast magnetization dynamics of CoFeB, FLG/CoFeB, and graphite/CoFeB by using time-resolved magneto-optical Kerr effect (TR-MOKE) magnetometry. While the magnetization precession frequency remained independent of the underlayer, a very large variation (∼200%) in the value of the Gilbert damping coefficient α is observed from FLG/CoFeB (α ≈ 0.035 ± 0.005) to graphite/CoFeB (α ≈ 0.008 ± 0.001). This large variation of the damping coefficient is understood in terms of the extrinsic spin–orbit interaction of FLG and graphite films, which is very large in FLG due to the presence of large amount of surface defects in it. A faster demagnetization time and fast relaxation time (τ₁) were noted for graphite/CoFeB bilayer system than that of FLG/CoFeB. In general, we infer that interfacial spin physics is primarily governed by the growth of CoFeB layer from our bilayer systems. This finding suggests a new direction toward the control of precessional magnetization dynamics, leading to applications in miniaturized high-speed magnetic devices

Inhibition of PAD2 Improves Survival in a Mouse Model of Lethal LPS-Induced Endotoxic Shock

Endotoxemia induced by lipopolysaccharide (LPS) is an extremely severe syndrome identified by global activation of inflammatory responses. Neutrophil extracellular traps (NETs) play an important role in the development of endotoxemia. Histone hypercitrullination catalyzed by peptidylarginine deiminases (PADs) is a key step of NET formation. We have previously demonstrated that simultaneous inhibition of PAD2 and PAD4 with pan-PAD inhibitors can decrease NETosis and improve survival in a mouse model of LPS-induced endotoxic shock. However, the effects of PAD2 specific inhibition during NETosis and endotoxic shock are poorly understood. Therefore, in the present study, we aimed to investigate the effect of the specific PAD2 or PAD4 inhibitor on LPS-induced endotoxic shock in mice. We found that PAD2 inhibition but not PAD4 inhibition improves survival. Also, the levels of proinflammatory cytokines and NETosis were significantly reduced by PAD2 inhibitor. To our knowledge, this study demonstrates for the first time that PAD2 inhibition can reduce NETosis, decrease inflammatory cytokine production, and protect against endotoxin-induced lethality. Our findings provided a novel therapeutic strategy for the treatment of endotoxic shock