“It’s just a bunch of Hocus Pocus”: an exploration into ways the portrayal of witches on screen effect the way witches and witchcraft are viewed in real life

Introduction

The absolutely continuous spectrum of one-dimensional Schr"odinger operators

This paper deals with general structural properties of one-dimensional Schr"odinger operators with some absolutely continuous spectrum. The basic result says that the omega limit points of the potential under the shift map are reflectionless on the support of the absolutely continuous part of the spectral measure. This implies an Oracle Theorem for such potentials and Denisov-Rakhmanov type theorems. In the discrete case, for Jacobi operators, these issues were discussed in my recent paper [19]. The treatment of the continuous case in the present paper depends on the same basic ideas.Comment: references added; a few very minor change

New insights into the genetic etiology of Alzheimer's disease and related dementias

Characterization of the genetic landscape of Alzheimer's disease (AD) and related dementias (ADD) provides a unique opportunity for a better understanding of the associated pathophysiological processes. We performed a two-stage genome-wide association study totaling 111,326 clinically diagnosed/'proxy' AD cases and 677,663 controls. We found 75 risk loci, of which 42 were new at the time of analysis. Pathway enrichment analyses confirmed the involvement of amyloid/tau pathways and highlighted microglia implication. Gene prioritization in the new loci identified 31 genes that were suggestive of new genetically associated processes, including the tumor necrosis factor alpha pathway through the linear ubiquitin chain assembly complex. We also built a new genetic risk score associated with the risk of future AD/dementia or progression from mild cognitive impairment to AD/dementia. The improvement in prediction led to a 1.6- to 1.9-fold increase in AD risk from the lowest to the highest decile, in addition to effects of age and the APOE ε4 allele

Mechanical Properties and Microstructural Characterization of Aged Nickel-based Alloy 625 Weld Metal

The aim of this work was to evaluate the different phases formed during solidification and after thermal aging of the as-welded 625 nickel-based alloy, as well as the influence of microstructural changes on the mechanical properties. The experiments addressed aging temperatures of 650 and 950 A degrees C for 10, 100, and 200 hours. The samples were analyzed by electron microscopy, microanalysis, and X-ray diffraction in order to identify the secondary phases. Mechanical tests such as hardness, microhardness, and Charpy-V impact test were performed. Nondestructive ultrasonic inspection was also conducted to correlate the acquired signals with mechanical and microstructural properties. The results show that the alloy under study experienced microstructural changes when aged at 650 A degrees C. The aging was responsible by the dissolution of the Laves phase formed during the solidification and the appearance of gamma aEuro(3) phase within interdendritic region and fine carbides along the solidification grain boundaries. However, when it was aged at 950 A degrees C, the Laves phase was continuously dissolved and the excess Nb caused the precipitation of the delta-phase (Ni3Nb), which was intensified at 10 hours of aging, with subsequent dissolution for longer periods such as 200 hours. Even when subjected to significant microstructural changes, the mechanical properties, especially toughness, were not sensitive to the dissolution and/or precipitation of the secondary phases

Collaborative Cohort of Cohorts for COVID-19 Research (C4R) Study: Study Design

The Collaborative Cohort of Cohorts for COVID-19 Research (C4R) is a national prospective study of adults comprising 14 established US prospective cohort studies. Starting as early as 1971, investigators in the C4R cohort studies have collected data on clinical and subclinical diseases and their risk factors, including behavior, cognition, biomarkers, and social determinants of health. C4R links this pre-coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) phenotyping to information on severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection and acute and postacute COVID-related illness. C4R is largely population-based, has an age range of 18-108 years, and reflects the racial, ethnic, socioeconomic, and geographic diversity of the United States. C4R ascertains SARS-CoV-2 infection and COVID-19 illness using standardized questionnaires, ascertainment of COVID-related hospitalizations and deaths, and a SARS-CoV-2 serosurvey conducted via dried blood spots. Master protocols leverage existing robust retention rates for telephone and in-person examinations and high-quality event surveillance. Extensive prepandemic data minimize referral, survival, and recall bias. Data are harmonized with research-quality phenotyping unmatched by clinical and survey-based studies; these data will be pooled and shared widely to expedite collaboration and scientific findings. This resource will allow evaluation of risk and resilience factors for COVID-19 severity and outcomes, including postacute sequelae, and assessment of the social and behavioral impact of the pandemic on long-term health trajectories

Our nutrient world: the challenge to produce more food and energy with less pollution

This report draws attention to the multiple benefits and threats of human nutrient use. It highlights how nitrogen and phosphorus fertilizers are estimated to feed half the human population alive today, and how they will remain critical in the future, especially given increasing population and potential bioenergy needs. Yet high nutrient use has created a web of pollution affecting the environment and human health, while insufficient access to nutrients has led to soil degradation, causing food insecurity and exacerbating loss of natural ecosystems. The report shows how these problems cross all global change challenges, threatening water, air and soil quality, climate balance, stratospheric ozone and biodiversity

A computer-assisted analysis of some matrix groups

We use algorithms developed recently for the study of linear groups to investigate a sequence of matrix groups defined over GF(2); these are images of representations of certain finitely presented groups considered by Soicher in a study of simplicial complexes related to the Suzuki sequence graphs. (c) 2006 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved