Involuntary civil commitment for substance use disorders in puerto rico: Neglected rights violations and implications for legal reform

Laws facilitating the involuntary civil commitment (ICC) of people with substance use disorders vary considerably internationally and across the United States. Puerto Rico, a colonial territory of the United States since 1898, currently harbors the most punitive ICC legislation in the country. It is the only place in the United States where self-sufficient adults who pose no grave danger to themselves or others can be involuntarily committed to restrictive residential facilities for over a year at a time without ever being assessed by a health care professional. The involuntary commitment of otherwise-able citizens—many of whom have never been diagnosed with a substance use disorder—continues to be ignored nationally and internationally. In this paper, we specify how Puerto Rican ICC law and procedures systematically violate rights and liberties that are supposed to be guaranteed by Puerto Rico’s Mental Health Act, the US Federal Supreme Court, and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. To ensure that Puerto Rico’s ICC procedures conform to prevailing local, national, and international standards, we propose a series of legislative reforms. Finally, we highlight the importance of addressing the preponderance of poorly constructed ICC laws both within the United States and internationally

The Simplest Resonant Spin--Flavour Solution to the Solar Neutrino Problem

We re-analyse the resonant spin-flavour (RSF) solutions to the solar neutrino problem in the framework of analytic solutions to the solar magneto-hydrodynamics (MHD) equations. By substantially eliminating the arbitrariness associated to the magnetic field profile due to both mathematical consistency and physical requirements we propose the simplest scheme (MHD-RSF, for short) for solar neutrino conversion using realistic static MHD solutions. Using such effective two-parameter scheme we perform the first global fit of the recent solar neutrino data, including event rates as well as zenith angle distributions and recoil electron spectra induced by solar neutrino interactions in Superkamiokande. We compare quantitatively our simplest MHD-RSF fit with vacuum oscillation (VAC) and MSW-type (SMA, LMA and LOW) solutions to the solar neutrino problem using a common well-calibrated theoretical calculation and fit procedure. We find our MHD-RSF fit to be somewhat better than those obtained for the favored neutrino oscillation solutions, though not in a statistically significant way. We briefly discuss the prospects to disentangle our MHD-RSF scenario at future solar neutrino experiments, giving some predictions for the SNO experiment.Comment: 26 pages with 6 postscript figures included. Improved presentation and misprints corrected. Final version to appear in Nucl. Phys.

Modeling Women's Elective Choices in Computing

Evidence-based strategies suggest ways to reduce the gender gap in computing. For example, elective classes are valuable in enabling students to choose in which directions to expand their computing knowledge in areas aligned with their interests. The availability of electives of interest may also make computing programs of study more meaningful to women. However, research on which elective computing topics are more appealing to women is often class or institution specific. In this study, we investigate differences in enrollment within undergraduate-level elective classes in computing to study differences between women and men. The study combined data from nine institutions from both Western Europe and North America and included 272 different classes with 49,710 student enrollments. These classes were encoded using ACM curriculum guidelines and combined with the enrollment data to build a hierarchical statistical model of factors affecting student choice. Our model shows which elective topics are less popular with all students (including fundamentals of programming languages and parallel and distributed computing), and which elective topics are more popular with women students (including mathematical and statistical foundations, human computer interaction and society, ethics, and professionalism). Understanding which classes appeal to different students can help departments gain insight of student choices and develop programs accordingly. Additionally, these choices can also help departments explore whether some students are less likely to choose certain classes than others, indicating potential barriers to participation in computing

Solar neutrino problem accounting for self-consistent magnetohydrodynamics solution for solar magnetic fields

The analysis of the resonant spin-flavour (RSF) solutions to the solar neutrino problem in the framework of simplest analytic solutions to the solar magneto-hydrodynamics (MHD) equations is presented. We performed the global fit of the recent solar neutrino data, including event rates as well as day and night recoil electron spectra induced by solar neutrino interactions in SuperKamiokande. We compare quantitatively our simplest MHD-RSF fit with vacuum oscillation (VAC) and MSW--type (SMA, LMA and LOW) solutions to the solar neutrino problem using a common well-calibrated theoretical calculation and fit procedure and find MHD-RSF fit to be somewhat better than those obtained for the favored neutrino oscillation solutions. We made the predictions for future experiments to disentangle the MHD-RSF scenario from other scenarios

Spin Flavor Conversion of Neutrinos in Loop Quantum Gravity

Loop quantum gravity theory incorporates a new scale length ${\cal L}$ which induces a Lorentz invariance breakdown. This scale can be either an universal constant or can be fixed by the momentum of particles (${\cal L}\sim p^{-1}$). Effects of the scale parameter ${\cal L}$ and helicity terms occurring in the dispersion relation of fermions are reviewed in the framework of spin-flip conversion of neutrino flavors.Comment: 7 pages, no figur

A Methodology for Investigating Women's Module Choices in Computer Science

At ITiCSE 2021, Working Group 3 examined the evidence for teaching practices that broaden participation for women in computing, based on the National Center for Women & Information Technology (NCWIT) Engagement Practices framework. One of the report's recommendations was "Make connections from computing to your students' lives and interests (Make it Matter) but don't assume you know what those interests are; find out! " The goal of this 2023 working group is to find out what interests women students by bringing together data from our institutions on undergraduate module enrollment, seeing how they differ for women and men, and what drives those choices. We will code published module content based on ACM curriculum guidelines and combine these data to build a hierarchical statistical model of factors affecting student choice. This model should be able to tell us how interesting or valuable different topics are to women, and to what extent topic affects choice of module - as opposed to other factors such as the instructor, the timetable, or the mode of assessment. Equipped with this knowledge we can advise departments how to focus curriculum development on areas that are of value to women, and hence work towards making the discipline more inclusive

Measurement of the mass and lifetime of the Ωb−\Omega_b^- baryon

A proton-proton collision data sample, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 3 fb$^{-1}$ collected by LHCb at $\sqrt{s}=7$ and 8 TeV, is used to reconstruct $63\pm9$ $\Omega_b^-\to\Omega_c^0\pi^-$, $\Omega_c^0\to pK^-K^-\pi^+$ decays. Using the $\Xi_b^-\to\Xi_c^0\pi^-$, $\Xi_c^0\to pK^-K^-\pi^+$ decay mode for calibration, the lifetime ratio and absolute lifetime of the $\Omega_b^-$ baryon are measured to be \begin{align*} \frac{\tau_{\Omega_b^-}}{\tau_{\Xi_b^-}} &= 1.11\pm0.16\pm0.03, \\ \tau_{\Omega_b^-} &= 1.78\pm0.26\pm0.05\pm0.06~{\rm ps}, \end{align*} where the uncertainties are statistical, systematic and from the calibration mode (for $\tau_{\Omega_b^-}$ only). A measurement is also made of the mass difference, $m_{\Omega_b^-}-m_{\Xi_b^-}$, and the corresponding $\Omega_b^-$ mass, which yields \begin{align*} m_{\Omega_b^-}-m_{\Xi_b^-} &= 247.4\pm3.2\pm0.5~{\rm MeV}/c^2, \\ m_{\Omega_b^-} &= 6045.1\pm3.2\pm 0.5\pm0.6~{\rm MeV}/c^2. \end{align*} These results are consistent with previous measurements.Comment: 11 pages, 5 figures, All figures and tables, along with any supplementary material and additional information, are available at https://lhcbproject.web.cern.ch/lhcbproject/Publications/LHCbProjectPublic/LHCb-PAPER-2016-008.htm

Varespladib and cardiovascular events in patients with an acute coronary syndrome: the VISTA-16 randomized clinical trial

IMPORTANCE: Secretory phospholipase A2(sPLA2) generates bioactive phospholipid products implicated in atherosclerosis. The sPLA2inhibitor varespladib has favorable effects on lipid and inflammatory markers; however, its effect on cardiovascular outcomes is unknown. OBJECTIVE: To determine the effects of sPLA2inhibition with varespladib on cardiovascular outcomes. DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS: A double-blind, randomized, multicenter trial at 362 academic and community hospitals in Europe, Australia, New Zealand, India, and North America of 5145 patients randomized within 96 hours of presentation of an acute coronary syndrome (ACS) to either varespladib (n = 2572) or placebo (n = 2573) with enrollment between June 1, 2010, and March 7, 2012 (study termination on March 9, 2012). INTERVENTIONS: Participants were randomized to receive varespladib (500 mg) or placebo daily for 16 weeks, in addition to atorvastatin and other established therapies. MAIN OUTCOMES AND MEASURES: The primary efficacy measurewas a composite of cardiovascular mortality, nonfatal myocardial infarction (MI), nonfatal stroke, or unstable angina with evidence of ischemia requiring hospitalization at 16 weeks. Six-month survival status was also evaluated. RESULTS: At a prespecified interim analysis, including 212 primary end point events, the independent data and safety monitoring board recommended termination of the trial for futility and possible harm. The primary end point occurred in 136 patients (6.1%) treated with varespladib compared with 109 patients (5.1%) treated with placebo (hazard ratio [HR], 1.25; 95%CI, 0.97-1.61; log-rank P = .08). Varespladib was associated with a greater risk of MI (78 [3.4%] vs 47 [2.2%]; HR, 1.66; 95%CI, 1.16-2.39; log-rank P = .005). The composite secondary end point of cardiovascular mortality, MI, and stroke was observed in 107 patients (4.6%) in the varespladib group and 79 patients (3.8%) in the placebo group (HR, 1.36; 95% CI, 1.02-1.82; P = .04). CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE: In patients with recent ACS, varespladib did not reduce the risk of recurrent cardiovascular events and significantly increased the risk of MI. The sPLA2inhibition with varespladib may be harmful and is not a useful strategy to reduce adverse cardiovascular outcomes after ACS. TRIAL REGISTRATION: clinicaltrials.gov Identifier: NCT01130246. Copyright 2014 American Medical Association. All rights reserved

Measurement of the Bs0→J/ψηB_{s}^{0} \rightarrow J/\psi \eta lifetime

Using a data set corresponding to an integrated luminosity of $3 fb^{-1}$, collected by the LHCb experiment in $pp$ collisions at centre-of-mass energies of 7 and 8 TeV, the effective lifetime in the $B^0_s \rightarrow J/\psi \eta$ decay mode, $\tau_{\textrm{eff}}$, is measured to be $\tau_{\textrm{eff}} = 1.479 \pm 0.034~\textrm{(stat)} \pm 0.011 ~\textrm{(syst)}$ ps. Assuming $CP$ conservation, $\tau_{\textrm{eff}}$ corresponds to the lifetime of the light $B_s^0$ mass eigenstate. This is the first measurement of the effective lifetime in this decay mode.Comment: All figures and tables, along with any supplementary material and additional information, are available at https://lhcbproject.web.cern.ch/lhcbproject/Publications/LHCbProjectPublic/LHCb-PAPER-2016-017.htm