The lateral stress profile of a lipid bilayer constitutes a valuable link between molecular simulation and mesoscopic elastic theory. Even though it is frequently calculated in simulations, its statistical precision (or that of observables derived from it) is often left unspecified. This omission can be problematic, as uncertainties are prerequisite to assessing statistical significance. In this chapter, we provide a comprehensive yet accessible overview of the statistical error analysis for the lateral stress profile. We detail two relatively simple but powerful techniques for generating error bars: block-averaging and bootstrapping. Combining these methods allows us to reliably estimate uncertainties, even in the presence of both temporal and spatial correlations, which are ubiquitous in simulation data. We illustrate these techniques with simple examples like stress moments, but also more complex observables such as the location of stress profile extrema and the monolayer neutral surface.

Observational studies are frequently used to estimate the effect of an exposure or treatment on an outcome. To obtain an unbiased estimate of the treatment effect, it is crucial to measure the exposure accurately. A common type of exposure misclassification is recall bias, which occurs in retrospective cohort studies when study subjects may inaccurately recall their past exposure. Particularly challenging is differential recall bias in the context of self-reported binary exposures, where the bias may be directional rather than random and its extent varies according to the outcomes experienced. This paper makes several contributions: (1) it establishes bounds for the average treatment effect even when a validation study is not available; (2) it proposes multiple estimation methods across various strategies predicated on different assumptions; and (3) it suggests a sensitivity analysis technique to assess the robustness of the causal conclusion, incorporating insights from prior research. The effectiveness of these methods is demonstrated through simulation studies that explore various model misspecification scenarios. These approaches are then applied to investigate the effect of childhood physical abuse on mental health in adulthood.

There is strong political assortment of Americans on social media networks. This is typically attributed to preferential tie formation (i.e. homophily) among those with shared partisanship. Here, we demonstrate an additional factor beyond homophily driving assorted networks: preferential prevention of social ties. In two field experiments on Twitter, we created human-looking bot accounts that identified as Democrats or Republicans, and then randomly assigned users to be followed by one of these accounts. In addition to preferentially following-back copartisans, we found that users were 12 times more likely to block counter-partisan accounts compared to copartisan accounts in the first experiment, and 4 times more likely to block counter-partisan accounts relative to a neutral account or a copartisan account in the second experiment. We then replicated these findings in a survey experiment and found evidence of a key motivation for blocking: wanting to avoid seeing any content posted by the blocked user. Additionally, we found that Democrats preferentially blocked counter-partisans more than Republicans, and that this asymmetry was likely due to blocking accounts who post low-quality or politically slanted content (rather than an asymmetry in identity-based blocking). Our results demonstrate that preferential blocking of counter-partisans is an important phenomenon driving political assortment on social media.

OBJECTIVE: To assess the effectiveness of bilateral superficial cervical plexus block (BSCPB) in treating post-thyroidectomy pain.
METHODS: MEDLINE, Embase, Google Scholar, LILACS, and the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials, were extensively searched. The search period extended from 1968 until December 2022. Randomized controlled trials comparing BSCPB to placebo, no block in patients with thyroidectomy for benign or malignant thyroid disease were included. Outcomes were pain in the first 24 h after surgery. Analgesic rescue, period before the first rescue dosage, and 24-h opioid usage were secondary outcomes. The RoB 2 instrument was used to evaluate the risk of bias.
RESULTS: 34 of 354 studies were eligible. There were 2,519 patients. BSCPB reduced the intensity of pain postoperatively [SMD: - 1.17 (95% CI: - 1.54 to - 0.81)] and in the first 24 h [- 0.62 (95%: 0.91 to 0.33)]. A considerable delay for the first opioid dose, rescue analgesics, and postoperative opioid usage was also found.
CONCLUSIONS: BSCPB\'s 24-h analgesic efficacy minimizes the requirement for rescue analgesia, postoperative opioid intake, and rescue analgesia start time. The choice of anesthetic and different application methods might affect its effectiveness.

Constructed wetland systems have been widely used in China due to their advantages of good treatment effect, low cost and environmental friendliness. However, traditional constructed wetlands have challenges in application such as deactivation due to filler clogging, difficulty in filler replacement and low adaptability. To address the above problems, this research proposes a modular filler design constructed wetland based on the concept of assembly construction, which can quickly replace the clogged filler without destroying the overall structure of the wetland. Four commonly used fillers were selected and applied to the pilot system of the assembled constructed wetland in this study, in order to investigate the purification effect of the constructed wetland system with different filler module combinations (CW1, CW2, CW3) on the simulated wastewater. The results showed that the filler combination CW1 was the best for the removal of NH4+-N, and for TP and COD, CW2 has the best removal effect. Therefore, the assembled constructed wetland is adjustable and substantially reduces the maintenance cost, which provides technical guidance for its application in engineering.

Lignin deposits formed on the surface of pretreated lignocellulosic substrates during acidic pretreatments can non-productively adsorb costly enzymes and thereby influence the enzymatic hydrolysis efficiency of cellulose. In this article, peanut protein (PP), a biocompatible non-catalytic protein, was separated from defatted peanut flour (DPF) as a lignin blocking additive to overcome this adverse effect. With the addition of 2.5 g/L PP in enzymatic hydrolysis medium, the glucose yield of the bamboo substrate pretreated by phenylsulfonic acid (PSA) significantly increased from 38 to 94% at a low cellulase loading of 5 FPU/g glucan while achieving a similar glucose yield required a cellulase loading of 17.5 FPU/g glucan without PP addition. Similar promotion effects were also observed on the n-pentanol-pretreated bamboo and PSA-pretreated eucalyptus substrates. The promoting effect of PP on enzymatic hydrolysis was ascribed to blocking lignin deposits via hydrophobic and/or hydrogen-bonding interactions, which significantly reduced the non-productive adsorption of cellulase onto PSA lignin. Meanwhile, PP extraction also facilitated the utilization of residual DPF as the adhesive for producing plywood as compared to that without protein pre-extraction. This scheme provides a sustainable and viable way to improve the value of woody and agriculture biomass. Peanut protein, a biocompatible non-catalytic protein, can block lignin, improve enzymatic hydrolysis efficiency and thereby facilitate the economics of biorefinery.

Two Wolbachia strains, wMel and wAlbB, have been transinfected into Aedes aegypti mosquitoes for population replacement with the aim of reducing dengue transmission. Epidemiological data from various endemic sites suggest a pronounced decrease in dengue transmission after implementing this strategy. In this study, we investigated the impact of the Wolbachia strains wMel and wAlbB on Ae. aegypti fitness in a common genetic background. We found that Ae. aegypti females infected with the wMel strain exhibited several significant differences compared with those infected with the wAlbB strain. Specifically, wMel-infected females laid significantly fewer eggs, ingested a lower amount of blood, had a reduced egg production rate, and exhibited a decreased Wolbachia density at a later age compared with mosquitoes infected with the wAlbB strain. Conversely, the wAlbB strain showed only mild negative effects when compared with Wolbachia-uninfected specimens. These differential effects on Ae. aegypti fitness following infection with either wMel or wAlbB may have important implications for the success of population replacement strategies in invading native Ae. aegypti populations in endemic settings. Further research is needed to better understand the underlying mechanisms responsible for these differences in fitness effects and their potential impact on the long-term efficacy of Wolbachia-based dengue control programs.IMPORTANCEThe transmission of arboviruses such as dengue, Zika, and chikungunya is on the rise globally. Among the most promising strategies to reduce arbovirus burden is the release of one out of two strains of Wolbachia-infected Aedes aegypti: wMel and wAlbB. One critical aspect of whether this approach will succeed involves the fitness cost of either Wolbachia strains on mosquito life history traits. For instance, we found that wMel-infected Ae. aegypti females laid significantly fewer eggs, ingested a lower amount of blood, had a reduced egg production rate, and exhibited a decreased Wolbachia density at a later age compared with mosquitoes infected with the wAlbB strain. Conversely, the wAlbB strain showed only mild negative effects when compared with Wolbachia-uninfected specimens. These differential effects on mosquito fitness following infection with either wMel or wAlbB may have important implications for the success of population replacement strategies in invading native Ae. aegypti populations.

Human learning is sensitive to rule-like structure and the curriculum of examples used for training. In tasks governed by succinct rules, learning is more robust when related examples are blocked across trials, but in the absence of such rules, interleaving is more effective. To date, no neural model has simultaneously captured these seemingly contradictory effects. Here we show that this same tradeoff spontaneously emerges with \"in-context learning\" (ICL) both in neural networks trained with metalearning and in large language models (LLMs). ICL is the ability to learn new tasks \"in context\" - without weight changes - via an inner-loop algorithm implemented in activation dynamics. Experiments with pretrained LLMs and metalearning transformers show that ICL exhibits the blocking advantage demonstrated in humans on a task involving rule-like structure, and conversely, that concurrent in-weight learning reproduces the interleaving advantage observed in humans on tasks lacking such structure.

The inclusion of private events in the philosophy of our science is integral to avoid dualism and remain objective rather than making assumptions about an unseen mind. However, the inclusion of behaviors and stimuli which cannot be observed in an analysis poses obvious issues. One established method of studying covert behavior is to examine tasks that are presumed to require verbal mediation, and observing how a participant\'s performance is affected when they are required to speak out loud during the task (often called \"blocking\"), again presuming this will make it difficult or impossible to simultaneously talk to yourself covertly. This study investigated the effects of vocal blocking on a sequencing task, or lining things up in a specified order. In one experiment, the items sequenced were abstract line drawings, and a second experiment used differently textured fabric stimuli (or \"tactile cards\"). In the second experiment, participants learned to tact and then sequence the tactile stimuli while they were blindfolded. The effect of vocal blocking on putative covert rehearsal was dissimilar across the two modalities of the experiments. This preliminary study provides insight into the nature of covert behavior as it relates to different senses and opens questions about the generality of studies examining covert mediation.

Based on six detailed case studies of languages in which focus is marked morphosyntactically, we propose a novel formal theory of focus marking, which can capture these as well as the familiar English-type prosodic focus marking. Special attention is paid to the patterns of focus syncretism, that is, when different size and/or location of focus are indistinguishably realized by the same form. The key ingredients to our approach are that complex constituents (not just words) may be directly focally marked, and that the choice of focal marking is governed by blocking.