Probate Procedures Available to Beneficiaries

The purpose of the probate function is to provide for the orderly devolution of property upon the death of the owner after payment of taxes and debts. Usually this is done through the probate court, which is the county court in Nebraska. It is possible to eliminate resort to the probate court in administration by careful planning with an inter vivos trust, or even by the use of joint tenancy. In any event proceedings in the county court are required to determine the inheritance taxes imposed by the laws of Nebraska. This discussion is limited to the performance of the probate function by court proceedings, and is directed primarily to questions of what courts and proceedings are available or required to perform the function. Paper delivered at the Institute on Probate Administration presented by the University of Nebraska College of Law and the Junior Bar Section of the Nebraska State Bar Association, September 18 and 19, 1959

Improved Streaming Algorithms for Weighted Matching, via Unweighted Matching

We present a (4 + epsilon) approximation algorithm for weighted graph matching which applies in the semistreaming, sliding window, and MapReduce models; this single algorithm improves the previous best algorithm in each model. The algorithm operates by reducing the maximum-weight matching problem to a polylog number of copies of the maximum-cardinality matching problem. The algorithm also extends to provide approximation guarantees for the more general problem of finding weighted independent sets in p-systems (which include intersections of p matroids and p-bounded hypergraph matching)

Metatheorems for Dynamic Weighted Matching

We consider the maximum weight matching (MWM) problem in dynamic graphs. We provide two reductions. The first reduces the dynamic MWM problem on m-edge, n-node graphs with weights bounded by N to the problem with weights bounded by (n/eps)^2, so that if the MWM problem can be alpha-approximated with update time t(m,n,N), then it can also be (1+eps)alpha-approximated with update time O(t(m,n,(n/eps)^2)log^2 n+log n loglog N)). The second reduction reduces the dynamic MWM problem to the dynamic maximum cardinality matching (MCM) problem in which the graph is unweighted. This reduction shows that if there is an alpha-approximation algorithm for MCM with update time t(m,n) in m-edge n-node graphs, then there is also a (2+eps)alpha-approximation algorithm for MWM with update time O(t(m,n)eps^{-2}log^2 N). We also obtain better bounds in our reductions if the ratio between the largest and the smallest edge weight is small. Combined with recent work on MCM, these two reductions substantially improve upon the state-of-the-art of dynamic MWM algorithms

Good intra-operative anaesthesia is more than an “ABCD with a three, two and a one".

The adoption of checklists within healthcare leads to improvements in patient safety. Perioperative management of patients with comorbidity and polypharmacy is complex and whilst physical checklists, aviation style computerised checklists, and mnemonics can all be used to make anaesthesia safer, these cannot cover the entirety or the complexity of perioperative care, and in particular, the principles by which anaesthetists work to promote restoration of function. Restoration of function is increasingly being seen as the marker of good anaesthetic care.Wellcome Trus

Performance of cardiopulmonary exercise testing for the prediction of post-operative complications in non cardiopulmonary surgery: A systematic review

Funder: Wellcome Trust; funder-id: http://dx.doi.org/10.13039/100010269; Grant(s): Clinician PhD Fellowship paid from [Overarching grant: 486 204017/Z/16/ZIntroduction: Cardiopulmonary exercise testing (CPET) is widely used within the United Kingdom for preoperative risk stratification. Despite this, CPET’s performance in predicting adverse events has not been systematically evaluated within the framework of classifier performance. Methods: After prospective registration on PROSPERO (CRD42018095508) we systematically identified studies where CPET was used to aid in the prognostication of mortality, cardiorespiratory complications, and unplanned intensive care unit (ICU) admission in individuals undergoing non-cardiopulmonary surgery. For all included studies we extracted or calculated measures of predictive performance whilst identifying and critiquing predictive models encompassing CPET derived variables. Results: We identified 36 studies for qualitative review, from 27 of which measures of classifier performance could be calculated. We found studies to be highly heterogeneous in methodology and quality with high potential for bias and confounding. We found seven studies that presented risk prediction models for outcomes of interest. Of these, only four studies outlined a clear process of model development; assessment of discrimination and calibration were performed in only two and only one study undertook internal validation. No scores were externally validated. Systematically identified and calculated measures of test performance for CPET demonstrated mixed performance. Data was most complete for anaerobic threshold (AT) based predictions: calculated sensitivities ranged from 20-100% when used for predicting risk of mortality with high negative predictive values (96-100%). In contrast, positive predictive value (PPV) was poor (2.9-42.1%). PPV appeared to be generally higher for cardiorespiratory complications, with similar sensitivities. Similar patterns were seen for the association of Peak VO2 (sensitivity 85.7-100%, PPV 2.7-5.9%) and VE/VCO2 (Sensitivity 27.8%-100%, PPV 3.4-7.1%) with mortality. Conclusions: In general CPET’s ‘rule-out’ capability appears better than its ability to ‘rule-in’ complications. Poor PPV may reflect the frequency of complications in studied populations. Our calculated estimates of classifier performance suggest the need for a balanced interpretation of the pros and cons of CPET guided pre-operative risk stratification

Morphological convergence obscures functional diversity in sabre-toothed carnivores

The acquisition of elongated, sabre-like canines in multiple vertebrate clades during the last 265 Myr represents a remarkable example for convergent evolution. Due to striking superficial similarities in the cranial skeleton, the same or similar skull and jaw functions have been inferred for sabre-toothed species and interpreted as an adaptation to subdue large-bodied prey. However, although some sabre-tooth lineages have been classified into different ecomorphs (dirk-tooths and scimitar-tooths) the functional diversity within and between groups and the evolutionary paths leading to these specializations are unknown. Here, we use a suite of biomechanical simulations to analyse key functional parameters (mandibular gape angle, bending strength, bite force) to compare the functional performance of different groups and to quantify evolutionary rates across sabre-tooth vertebrates. Our results demonstrate a remarkably high functional diversity between sabre-tooth lineages and that different cranial function and prey killing strategies evolved within clades. Moreover, different biomechanical adaptations in coexisting sabre-tooth species further suggest that this functional diversity was at least partially driven by niche partitioning