NBCUniversal (United States)

Abstract The Advanced Television Systems Committee (ATSC) is introducing a new broadcast signal (ATSC 3.0), also called NextGen TV, that utilizes technology that can offer better-quality audio and video, a more user-focused experience including rich-format graphics, and location-based services. These technological advancements have great utility for improving the way weather warnings and other alerts are consumed by the public. To best utilize this opportunity, social scientists must work alongside broadcast professionals to assure that warning and alert information is displayed in a way that is user centric, targeted, and informative, while excluding extraneous information. This article outlines the importance of bringing together an interdisciplinary team from the academic, private, and government sectors to accomplish this goal. The team draws on literature on cognitive psychology, user interaction, and visual communication to show how the organization and presentation of risk information in a noisy environment can facilitate or impede effective decision-making. Preliminary analyses of current weather warning and information displays have shown variability between local and national networks. Future work using eye-tracking experiments and focus groups will be used to observe human interactions with various existing and proposed warning information displays is described. This research is the first step in designing effective warning systems that consider human behavior in addition to technology to utilize the full potential of NextGen TV.

While the Global Health Organization was able to officially declare the spread of COVID-19 as a global pandemic late in Q1 2020, the most effective responses from both governmental and private organizations were by no means clear. Very little was known about what was then frequently referred to as the novel coronavirus, and medical professionals had few recommendations specific to this disease. Still, what was abundantly clear was stay-at-home and lockdown orders were needed to bend the curve or slow transmission. As customers sheltered in place and businesses closed their doors, the impact on small businesses was expected to be devastating. With so many sources for potential aid from U.S. governments, and private and philanthropic entities available C2CB, aided by SWB, focused on helping small businesses identify relevant aid resources. SWB, consulting with C2CB, built a multistage data pipeline using machine learning techniques to automatically curate a national list of small-business aid programs, presenting users with results to efficiently research and find relevant aid programs. While this project curates business relief grants, it is a proof-of-concept for a no-cost data pipeline using machine learning techniques with automated website relevancy classification.

BackgroundWhile the effects of prolonged sleep deprivation (≥24 h) on seizure occurrence has been thoroughly explored, little is known about the effects of day-to-day variations in the duration and quality of sleep on seizure probability. A better understanding of the interaction between sleep and seizures may help to improve seizure management.MethodsTo explore how sleep and epileptic seizures are associated, we analysed continuous intracranial electroencephalography (EEG) recordings collected from 10 patients with refractory focal epilepsy undergoing ordinary life activities between 2010 and 2012 from three clinical centres (Austin Health, The Royal Melbourne Hospital, and St Vincent's Hospital of the Melbourne University Epilepsy Group). A total of 4340 days of sleep-wake data were analysed (average 434 days per patient). EEG data were sleep scored using a semi-automated machine learning approach into wake, stages one, two, and three non-rapid eye movement sleep, and rapid eye movement sleep categories.FindingsSeizure probability changes with day-to-day variations in sleep duration. Logistic regression models revealed that an increase in sleep duration, by 1·66 ± 0·52 h, lowered the odds of seizure by 27% in the following 48 h. Following a seizure, patients slept for longer durations and if a seizure occurred during sleep, then sleep quality was also reduced with increased time spent aroused from sleep and reduced rapid eye movement sleep.InterpretationOur results suggest that day-to-day deviations from regular sleep duration correlates with changes in seizure probability. Sleeping longer, by 1·66 ± 0·52 h, may offer protective effects for patients with refractory focal epilepsy, reducing seizure risk. Furthermore, the occurrence of a seizure may disrupt sleep patterns by elongating sleep and, if the seizure occurs during sleep, reducing its quality.


 ĐẶT VẤN ĐỀKỹ thuật laser nội tĩnh mạch (EVLT) điều trị bệnh suy tĩnh mạch (TM) nông chi dưới đã chứng tỏ được những ưu thế vượt trội và có thể thay thế phẫu thuật trong tương lai. Trên thế giới, kỹ thuật này đã được áp dụng cách nay một thập niên. Tại Việt Nam, Bv Bình Dân và Trung tâm Y khoa Medic TPHCM đã áp dụng kỹ thuật này từ 2008. Mục đích của nghiên cứu là đánh giá kết quả điều trị sau theo dõi 2 năm, so sánh với kết quả của nhóm bệnh nhân được phẫu thuật tại Bv Bình Dân.2. ĐỐI TƯỢNG VÀ PHƯƠNG PHÁP NGHIÊN CỨUTiền cứu so sánh không ngẫu nhiên các bệnh nhân được điều trị EVLT tại Medic từ 1/2009 - 12/2010 và phẫu thuật tại Bv Bình Dân trong cùng thời điểm.3. KẾT QUẢ - BÀN LUẬNQua nghiên cứu 79 TM hiển lớn (61Bn) được điều trị EVLT, từ 1/2009-12/2010, sau 24 tháng theo dõi:Tỉ lệ thành công- Lâm sàng:• 95,08% Bn không còn TM nông dãn,• Thang điểm đánh giá độ nặng của bệnh là CEAP, VCSS giảm có ý nghĩa so với trước thủ thuật.- Siêu âm: 98,73% TM hiển lớn tắc, co nhỏ, khó thấy trên siêu âm, kích thước TB chỉ còn 1,97 ±0,34mm sau 24 tháng. Có ít biến chứng được ghi nhận trong và sau thủ thuật, không có biến chứng nặng để lại di chứng và tử vong.• 40,5% có cảm giác đau, căng dọc đường đi TM hiển, đáp ứng tốt với thuốc điều trị kháng viêm thôngthường trong 1 tuần,• 69,7% có vết bầm ở đùi kéo dài khoảng 1 – 2 tuần, không ảnh hưởng đáng kể đến sức khỏe và thẩmmỹ của Bn. Tỉ lệ tái phát thấp (1,26%).Kết quả so sánh với 58 Bn được phẫu thuật cột quai và rút bỏ thân TM hiển lớn tại Bv Bình Dân, với độ tuổi TB, độ nặng của bệnh như nhau, trong khoảng thời gian tương đương, cho thấy EVLT hiệu quả như phẫu thuật kinh điển nhưng ít xâm lấn, có thể điều trị trong ngày, ngoại trú, thời gian hồi phục nhanh hơn, ít đau và thẩm mỹ hơn so với phẫu thuật. *4. KẾT LUẬNQua kết quả thu được từ nghiên cứu, chúng tôi có thể kết luận rằng EVLT có hiệu quả trong điều trịbệnh suy TM chi dưới, không xâm lấn, ít biến chứng, thực hiện trong ngày, ngoài phòng mổ và có thể thực hiện được trong điều kiện kinh tế và môi trường của nước ta. EVLT có thể thay thế phẫu thuật trong tương lai ở nước ta.

My journey into data journalism did not begin with some massive database. It was a long way off before I would get involved in combing through secret diplomatic cables or the Snowden trove of spy documents. It was before I really appreciated how statistics could further my journalism, to the point where it would be using statistics that would lead to the recall of a quarter of a million Nissan Altimas because its airbags were blinding passengers. The arrests of those involved in defrauding a major railway’s disability pension system. Or spark the Pentagon to overhaul the way it delivers medical care to its soldiers and their families. It was before I learned about computerized mapping, and how it could help uncover policing that disproportionally targets African Americans, or how real estate developers reshape flood maps that later haunt unsuspecting property owners when hurricanes strike.

The subjects of this study are the modeling and simulation of electromagnetic interference (EMI) in power distribution networks and its consequences for grid stability. The key goals are to find the sources of EMI, assess how they affect grid performance, and create mitigation plans. A thorough study of research articles and literature on EMI modeling, simulation methods, and grid stability assessment is part of the methodology. Important discoveries emphasize the various origins and traits of electromagnetic interference (EMI), how it affects voltage control, frequency stability, and power quality, and how to mitigate and improve grid resilience. The policy implications emphasize the significance of standards, research projects, and regulatory frameworks in tackling EMI issues and guaranteeing the dependability of distribution networks. Stakeholders can ensure a consistent and adequate supply of energy to consumers by strengthening the resilience of power distribution networks and including electromagnetic interference (EMI) considerations in design, planning, and operational procedures.

Death by neurologic criteria (DNC) (also known as brain death) is legally equivalent to death by cardiopulmonary criteria. Patients who are declared DNC are candidates for organ donation. It is often difficult to obtain consent for organ donation from a brain dead patient's family. Tessmer et al1 found that if a patient endorsed desire for organ donation, 80% of people would agree to donation if they were told their family member died, but only 63% would agree if they were told their family member was brain dead. This discrepancy appears to be related to poor public understanding that DNC is irreversible and is functionally synonymous with cardiopulmonary death. The media plays an important role in educating the public on medical topics and can impact public behavior and decision-making in situations, such as requests for organ donation.2 In a review of 519 articles in American media that contained the words “brain dead” or “brain death,” Daoust and Racine3 found that a definition of brain death was provided in only 2.7% of articles, 50% of which contained incomplete definitions. Legal issues were addressed in only 7.3% of articles. Organ donation after DNC was discussed in only 21.2% of articles. Journalists often struggle with disseminating medical information due to lack of time, knowledge, space, and sources, but the public frequently relies on stories in the media to provide them with education on medical topics.2 When highly publicized cases about brain dead patients, such as Jahi McMath and Marlise Muñoz,4 are in the news, it is important that expert sources, such as physicians, ethicists, and transplant coordinators, communicate with the public via reporters to provide them with medicolegal facts about brain death. To facilitate this communication, it would be beneficial for professional societies to provide up-to-date background information on brain death online and to reach out to the media when brain death is in the headlines.2 This would help to circulate reliable, detailed, medically, and legally accurate information to the public at a propitious time for education on brain death to occur. Specific things to emphasize include: (1) medical criteria for brain death including mention of the prerequisites for evaluation, the clinical examination findings, the apnea test findings, and the use of ancillary tests if needed as described by the American Academy of Neurology; (2) clarification of the distinction between brain death, a persistent vegetative state, a minimally conscious state, and a coma; (3) the fact that brain death is legally equivalent to cardiopulmonary death and that organ support is routinely discontinued after declaration of brain death unless organ donation is planned5; and (4) the fact that some states have accommodation laws that address religious or moral objection to declaration of death by neurologic criteria. Provision of a clear explanation of these facts to journalists would surely enhance the caliber of reporting on brain death in the media. Hopefully, this would lead to improved public understanding of the meaning of brain death and subsequently lead to increased rates of organ donation after DNC.

The new ATSC 3.0 physical layer will provide broadcasters with new transmission capabilities. Broadcasters will have options as they adjust their future broadcast coverage to best suit local terrain and future populations. Broadcasters will have the option to provide fill-in transmitters to cover previously unserved or under-served areas and populations. Broadcasters will also have the option to use single frequency networks to serve their viewers. In order to estimate and illustrate these new capabilities coverage mapping tools are used to create broadcast coverage maps and to develop an estimate of future served populations. Four U.S. broadcast markets were selected as examples to illustrate the potential future coverage of ATSC 3.0. The four markets—Washington, DC, USA, San Francisco, CA, USA, Atlanta, GA, USA, and Des Moines, IA, USA—were selected as markets with very different terrains and population distributions. Various example coverage maps were created to illustrate performances of individual transmitters and all transmission systems in combination. These examples will be presented as a work-in-progress to illustrate some of the future capabilities of ATSC 3.0.

Purpose – Hispanic female (Latina) adolescents have high rates of suicidal behavior. Latinas face suicide risks common to all adolescents, but also face unique risks, including family and acculturation struggles. Life is Precious (LIP), a community-based organization operating in Brooklyn and the Bronx, has developed a comprehensive suicide prevention intervention for Latinas that has been well-received by adolescents, their parents, and the community. The purpose of this paper is to describe an academic-community partnership that has been created to evaluate the program and develop an evidence-based practice (EBP) that can be replicated in other settings. Design/methodology/approach – A quantitative and qualitative research design has been developed to evaluate the current program and identify how it can be scaled into an EBP. Findings – To date, 55 participants have completed the baseline interview. All participants are Latinas age 12-18. In total, 84 percent were born in the USA and 89 percent report fluency in English. About one-third report having repeated a grade in school and over a quarter report a history of sexual abuse. Preliminary findings indicate the effectiveness of LIP. Since the program's inception in 2008, only three participants have been hospitalized for mental health reasons and none have attempted suicide. Participants report improvements in school and family functioning. Practical implications – Findings may be useful in design of programs (not necessarily suicide prevention) serving immigrant, low income, and urban populations. Originality/value – LIP is an innovative program that addresses the unique risk factors facing Latina adolescents. LIP's success makes it a promising avenue to learn about preventing suicidal behavior in this vulnerable population.