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1. Vascular comorbidities worsen prognosis of patients with heart failure hospitalised with COVID-19

   https://doi.org/10.1136/openhrt-2021-001668  

   Mok, Jacob; Malpartida, Juan Carlos; O'Dell, Kimberly; Davis, Joshua; Gao, Cuilan; Manyam, Harish (June 2021, Open Heart)

   null (Ed.)

   Background Prior diagnosis of heart failure (HF) is associated with increased length of hospital stay (LOS) and mortality from COVID-19. Associations between substance use, venous thromboembolism (VTE) or peripheral arterial disease (PAD) and its effects on LOS or mortality in patients with HF hospitalised with COVID-19 remain unknown. Objective This study identified risk factors associated with poor in-hospital outcomes among patients with HF hospitalised with COVID-19. Methods Case–control study was conducted of patients with prior diagnosis of HF hospitalised with COVID-19 at an academic tertiary care centre from 1 January 2020 to 28 February 2021. Patients with HF hospitalised with COVID-19 with risk factors were compared with those without risk factors for clinical characteristics, LOS and mortality. Multivariate regression was conducted to identify multiple predictors of increased LOS and in-hospital mortality in patients with HF hospitalised with COVID-19. Results Total of 211 patients with HF were hospitalised with COVID-19. Women had longer LOS than men (9 days vs 7 days; p<0.001). Compared with patients without PAD or ischaemic stroke, patients with PAD or ischaemic stroke had longer LOS (7 days vs 9 days; p=0.012 and 7 days vs 11 days, p<0.001, respectively). Older patients (aged 65 and above) had increased in-hospital mortality compared with younger patients (adjusted OR: 1.04; 95% CI 1.00 to 1.07; p=0.036). Prior diagnosis of VTE increased mortality more than threefold in patients with HF hospitalised with COVID-19 (adjusted OR: 3.33; 95% CI 1.29 to 8.43; p=0.011). Conclusion Vascular diseases increase LOS and mortality in patients with HF hospitalised with COVID-19. 

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2. The role of category- and exemplar-specific experience in ensemble processing of objects

   https://doi.org/10.3758/s13414-020-02162-4  

   Cha, Oakyoon; Blake, Randolph; Gauthier, Isabel (January 2020, Attention, Perception, & Psychophysics)

   null (Ed.)

   People can relatively easily report summary properties for ensembles of objects, suggesting that this information can enrich visual experience and increase the efficiency of perceptual processing. Here, we ask whether the ability to judge diversity within object arrays improves with experience. We surmised that ensemble judgments would be more accurate for commonly experienced objects, and perhaps even more for objects of expertise like faces. We also expected improvements in ensemble processing with practice with a novel category, and perhaps even more with repeated experience with specific exemplars. We compared the effect of experience on diversity judgments for arrays of objects, with participants being tested with either a small number of repeated exemplars or with a large number of exemplars from the same object category. To explore the role of more prolonged experience, we tested participants with completely novel objects (random-blobs), with objects familiar at the category level (cars), and with objects with which observers are experts at subordinate-level recognition (faces). For objects that are novel, participants showed evidence of improved ability to distribute attention. In contrast, for object categories with long-term experience, i.e., faces and cars, performance improved during the experiment but not necessarily due to improved ensemble processing. Practice with specific exemplars did not result in better diversity judgments for all object categories. Considered together, these results suggest that ensemble processing improves with experience. However, the role of experience is rapid, does not rely on exemplar-level knowledge and may not benefit from subordinate-level expertise. 

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3. Multisections with divides and Weinstein 4-manifolds

   https://doi.org/10.4310/jsg.240921005038  

   Islambouli, Gabriel; Starkston, Laura (January 2024, Journal of Symplectic Geometry)

   We introduce a new decomposition of Weinstein 4-manifolds called multisections with divides and show these can be encoded diagrammatically by a sequence of cut systems on a surface, together with a separating collection of curves. We give two algorithms to construct a multisection with divides for a Weinstein 4-manifold, one starting with a Kirby-Weinstein handle decomposition and the other starting with a positive, allowable Lefschetz fibration (PALF). Through the connections with PALFs, we define a monodromy of a multisection and show how to symplectically carry out monodromy substitution on multisections with divides. 

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4. Queue-Sharing Multiple Access

   https://doi.org/10.1145/3416010.3423230  

   Garcia-Luna-Aceves, J.J.; Cirimelli-Low, Dylan (November 2020, MSWiM '20)

   Queue-Sharing Multiple Access (QSMA) is introduced and analyzed. The new channel-access method consists of establishing and maintaining a distributed transmission queue among nodes sharing a common channel and results in a sequence of queue cycles, with each cycle having one or multiple queue turns with collision-free transmissions from nodes that have joined the transmission queue, followed by a joining period for the current cycle. Nodes can take advantage of carrier sensing to improve the efficiency with which nodes join and use the shared transmission queue. The through- put of ALOHA with priority ACK’s, CSMA with priority ACK’s, CSMA/CD with priority ACK’s, TDMA with a fixed schedule, and QSMA with and without carrier sensing is compared analytically and by simulation in ns-3. The results show that QSMA is more efficient than TDMA with the simplicity of CSMA or ALOHA. 

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5. Promise for Whom? “Free-College” Programs and Enrollments by Race and Gender Classifications at Public, 2-Year Colleges

   https://doi.org/10.3102/0162373720962472  

   Gándara, Denisa; Li, Amy (December 2020, Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis)

   null (Ed.)

   Promise programs are proliferating across the United States, with wide variation in their design. Using national data on 33 Promise programs affecting single, 2-year colleges, this study examines program effects on first-time, full-time college enrollments of students by race/ethnicity and gender classification. Results suggest Promise programs are associated with large percent increases in enrollments of Black and Hispanic students, especially students classified as females, at eligible colleges. Promise programs with merit requirements are associated with higher enrollment of White and Asian, Native Hawaiian, or Pacific Islander female students; those with income requirements are negatively associated with enrollment of most demographic groups. More generous Promise programs are associated with greater enrollment increases among demographic groups with historically higher levels of postsecondary attainment. 

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