The Octo Mom Meets Constitutional Law: Testing the Constitutionality of Restricting Fertility Treatments

On 26 January 2009, Nadya Suleman gave birth to eight children. 1 The public outpouring of support quickly turned into widespread condemnation as more information about Ms. Suleman’s multiple pregnancies and financial situation was released.2 Once the public learned not only that Ms. Suleman had six other children but also that all fourteen children had been conceived using in vitro fertilization, the public began to question both her judgment and the judgment of her doctor.3 The public apparently was willing to accept the birth if it was the non-deliberate product of a hormone-based fertility treatment but was less willing to accept the birth if it was the result of a deliberate choice on the part of Ms. Suleman and her physician

A study of the effect of exsanguination on the rate of decomposition of Sus scrofa in the northeastern United States

Thesis (M.S.)--Boston University.A significant portion of the research in the field of forensic anthropology involves examining cadaveric remains that have undergone some degree of decomposition. There have been many studies published focusing on a multitude of variables that affect the decomposition process, such as temperature, carcass size, insect access, animal scavenging, and weather patterns. There are however, very few studies which focus on the rate of decomposition in remains that have experienced significant trauma and/or blood loss. Accordingly, this study will assess the effects of exsanguination on the rate of the decomposition process in a northeastern United States environment. Four porcine cadavers (Sus scrota domesticus) were used to model human decomposition. Based upon prior unpublished observations, the intent of the present study was to evaluate the hypothesis that exsanguination of remains would delay the onset and progression of the decomposition process. Observed delay of the arrival of insects will likely be linked to the lack of blood as an attractant. The three porcine carcasses utilized as the experimental group for this study were exsanguinated by captive-bolt sacrifice and use of a large-gauge syringe to remove blood directly from the heart. Each individual carcass was placed in a cage to isolate them from the effects of larger scavengers and were allowed to completely decompose to the point of only dry skeletal material over a period of two months. Although the small sample size limits any definitive statistical analysis, the results generated by this study depict a trend towards the exsanguinated individuals decomposing at a faster rate than the unaltered control group

The moderating role of mindful awareness in the associations of adverse childhood experiences and coronavirus exposure with sleep patterns

Although many studies have focused on the associations between adverse childhood experiences (ACE) and sleep outcomes (Chapman et al., 2011; Kajeepeta et al., 2015), the role of mindful awareness has not been explored in this interaction. Additionally, few studies have explored the impact of COVID-19 on sleep outcomes. The current study worked to bridge these gaps in the current literature. Data in this study was collected by asking students at the University of Northern Iowa to self-report their current sleep patterns, exposure to COVID-19, and mindful awareness while retrospectively reporting their past ACEs (N = 143). Past literature in this field has shown a connection between ACE score and lowered sleep quality, partially consistent with the results of this study (Koskenvuo et al., 2010). Findings indicated experiencing one or more ACE factor was associated with higher rates of sleep complaints affecting daytime functioning, increased factors inducing sleep (e.g. light and temperature of sleeping environment), poorer overall sleep quantity and quality (indicated by the PSQI sleep measure), and increased daytime sleepiness. Additionally, results indicated that with low levels of mindful awareness, there were increases in sleep disturbances, including nightmares, insomnia, sleep-inducing factors, sleep complaints affecting daily functioning, troubles sleeping, daytime sleepiness, and sleep quality. Thus, greater levels of mindful awareness were linked with lower levels of these sleep disturbances. A majority of the results did not support associations between COVID-19 and sleep outcomes. Furthermore, at low levels of mindful awareness, participants with high exposure to ACE reported increased trouble sleeping. Finally, at low and medium levels of mindful awareness, participants who were exposed to COVID-19 reported higher rates of daytime sleepiness. Keywords:sleep, ACE score, Coronavirus (COVID-19), mindful awarenes

Film - der Retter des Theaters?

Die Diplomarbeit setzt sich mit den Bedeutungszusammenhängen zwischen dem Pulitzer-Preis für Drama und der filmischen Adaption von Stücken, die diesen Preis gewonnen haben, auseinander. Es werden sowohl die Entstehungsgeschichte des Preises und seine kulturelle Bedeutung als auch das Phänomen der Adaption analysiert. Hierbei ist es notwendig, die Mechanismen dieses Preises zu verstehen, um seinen Wirkungsbereich zu erkennen. Über die Adaption kommt es zu Vergleichen zwischen Film und Theater, die ausch erklären, welchen Wert die filmische Übertragung eines Bühnenwerkes für den Autor selbst hat. Exemplarisch werden in der Folge David Auburn und sein Werk untersucht. Proof war im letzten Jahrzehnt das meist gespielte Stück am Broadway und Auburn hat 2001 den Pulitzer-Preis für Theater gewonnen. Der Blick auf einen Autor und sein Werk erlaubt einen intensiveren Einblick in die Wirkungszusammenhänge zwischen Theaterstück, Preis und Verfilmung. Im Rahmen der gesamten Arbeit werden natürlich immer wieder auch Theaterstücke anderer Dramatiker erwähnt, um auch hier den Vergleich zu ermöglichen. Das letzte Unterkapitel behandelt schließlich kurz den Misserfolg oder Erfolg anderer Adaptionen, um einen Überblick zu schaffen. Der Schwerpunkt liegt auf Werken der letzten 20 Jahre; es werden aber auch andere Werke erwähnt. Die Schwierigkeit der Adaption wird untersucht, aber auch ihre Notwendigkeit erklärt

Promoting Generalization in Cross-Dataset Remote Photoplethysmography

Remote Photoplethysmography (rPPG), or the remote monitoring of a subject's heart rate using a camera, has seen a shift from handcrafted techniques to deep learning models. While current solutions offer substantial performance gains, we show that these models tend to learn a bias to pulse wave features inherent to the training dataset. We develop augmentations to mitigate this learned bias by expanding both the range and variability of heart rates that the model sees while training, resulting in improved model convergence when training and cross-dataset generalization at test time. Through a 3-way cross dataset analysis we demonstrate a reduction in mean absolute error from over 13 beats per minute to below 3 beats per minute. We compare our method with other recent rPPG systems, finding similar performance under a variety of evaluation parameters.Comment: 8 pages, accepted for publication at CVPM 202

Converting sounds to meaning with ventral semantic language networks: integration of interdisciplinary data on brain connectivity, direct electrical stimulation and clinical disconnection syndromes

Numerous traditional linguistic theories propose that semantic language pathways convert sounds to meaningful concepts, generating interpretations ranging from simple object descriptions to communicating complex, analytical thinking. Although the dual-stream model of Hickok and Poeppel is widely employed, proposing a dorsal stream, mapping speech sounds to articulatory/phonological networks, and a ventral stream, mapping speech sounds to semantic representations, other language models have been proposed. Indeed, despite seemingly congruent models of semantic language pathways, research outputs from varied specialisms contain only partially congruent data, secondary to the diversity of applied disciplines, ranging from fibre dissection, tract tracing, and functional neuroimaging to neuropsychiatry, stroke neurology, and intraoperative direct electrical stimulation. The current review presents a comprehensive, interdisciplinary synthesis of the ventral, semantic connectivity pathways consisting of the uncinate, middle longitudinal, inferior longitudinal, and inferior fronto-occipital fasciculi, with special reference to areas of controversies or consensus. This is achieved by describing, for each tract, historical concept evolution, terminations, lateralisation, and segmentation models. Clinical implications are presented in three forms: (a) functional considerations derived from normal subject investigations, (b) outputs of direct electrical stimulation during awake brain surgery, and (c) results of disconnection syndromes following disease-related lesioning. The current review unifies interpretation of related specialisms and serves as a framework/thinking model for additional research on language data acquisition and integration

Algorithms for Automatic Data Validation and Performance Assessment of MOX Gas Sensor Data Using Time Series Analysis

The following work presents algorithms for semi-automatic validation, feature extraction and ranking of time series measurements acquired from MOX gas sensors. Semi-automatic measurement validation is accomplished by extending established curve similarity algorithms with a slope-based signature calculation. Furthermore, a feature-based ranking metric is introduced. It allows for individual prioritization of each feature and can be used to find the best performing sensors regarding multiple research questions. Finally, the functionality of the algorithms, as well as the developed software suite, are demonstrated with an exemplary scenario, illustrating how to find the most power-efficient MOX gas sensor in a data set collected during an extensive screening consisting of 16,320 measurements, all taken with different sensors at various temperatures and analytes