Biopsy Artifact in Laser Interstitial Thermal Therapy: A Technical Note

PurposeThe safety and effectiveness of laser interstitial thermal therapy (LITT) relies critically on the ability to continuously monitor the ablation based on real-time temperature mapping using magnetic resonance thermometry (MRT). This technique uses gradient recalled echo (GRE) sequences that are especially sensitive to susceptibility effects from air and blood. LITT for brain tumors is often preceded by a biopsy and is anecdotally associated with artifact during ablation. Thus, we reviewed our experience and describe the qualitative signal dropout that can interfere with ablation.MethodsWe retrospectively reviewed all LITT cases performed in our intraoperative MRI suite for tumors between 2017 and 2020. We identified a total of 17 LITT cases. Cases were reviewed for age, sex, pathology, presence of artifact, operative technique, and presence of blood/air on post-operative scans.ResultsWe identified six cases that were preceded by biopsy, all six had artifact present during ablation, and all six were noted to have air/blood on their post-operative MRI or CT scans. In two of those cases, the artifactual signal dropout qualitatively interfered with thermal damage thresholds at the borders of the tumor. There was no artifact in the 11 non-biopsy cases and no obvious blood or air was noted on the post-ablation scans.ConclusionAdditional consideration should be given to pre-LITT biopsies. The presence of air/blood caused an artifactual signal dropout effect in cases with biopsy that was severe enough to interfere with ablation in a significant number of those cases. Additional studies are needed to identify modifying strategies.

Subsidizing unit donations: matches, rebates, and discounts compared

An influential result in the literature on charitable giving is that matching subsidies dominate rebate subsidies in raising funds. We investigate whether this result extends to “unit donation” schemes, a popular alternative form of soliciting donations. There, the donors’ choices are over the number of units of a charitable good to fund at a given unit price, rather than the amount of money to give. Comparing matches and rebates as well as simple discounts on the unit price, we find no evidence of dominance in our online experiment: the three subsidy types are equally effective overall. At a more disaggregated level, rebates lead to a higher likelihood of giving, while matching and discount subsidies lead to larger donations by donors. This suggests that charities using a unit donation scheme enjoy additional degrees of freedom in choosing a subsidy type. Rebates merit additional consideration if the primary goal is to attract donors.

Conceptions of Choice, Equity, & Rurality in Educational Research

Although school choice advocates often promote a vision of additional schooling options for all students, the predominant target of school choice researchers has been densely populated, urban cores in the United States. However, this belies the fact that many rural communities have similarly engaged in forms of school choice decision-making. While we do not argue for further encroachment of school choice policies in rural contexts, we believe there are myriad, novel opportunities for meaningful education research regarding school choice, equity, and conceptions of rurality. To advance toward a robust agenda for rural school choice, we review the existing literature on school choice and rural education, provide key recommendations, and assert the need for additional consideration of the following: critical socio-political histories and theories; methodological diversity; issues of race, racism, sexual orientation, and equity; social-emotional learning and development; impacts of the COVID-19 global pandemic; and broadened understandings of rurality.

Role of Machine Learning in WSN and VANETs

Dynamic nature of Vehicular Ad-hoc Networks (VANETs) and Wireless Sensor Networks (WSN) makes them hard to deal accordingly. For such dynamicity, Machine learning (ML) approaches are considered favourable. ML can be described as the process or method of self-learning without human intervention that can assist through various tools to deal with heterogeneous data to attain maximum benefits from the network. In this paper, a quick summary of primary ML concepts are discussed along with several algorithms based on ML for WSN and VANETs. Afterwards, ML based WSN and VANETs application, open issues, challenges of rapidly changing networks and various algorithms in relation to ML models and techniques are discussed. We have listed some of the ML techniques to take additional consideration of this emergent field. A summary is given for ML techniques application with their complexities to cover on open issues to kick start further research investigation. This paper provides excellent coverage of state-of-the-art ML applications that are being used in WSN and VANETs with their comparative analysis.

Gender Inequality and Well-Being: Concepts and Their Measures Are Cultural Products—A Reflection on Li et al. (2021)

This Further Reflections piece was invited by the Editors of the journal to provide additional consideration of some of the significant issues under study in “Culture Moderates the Relation Between Gender Inequality and Well-Being” (Li et al., 2021) available online at https://doi.org/10.1177/0956797620972492 and on pages XXX–XXX of this issue. Further Reflections are not commentaries on a particular article, though they are inspired by one. Rather, they provide broader perspectives on issues considered in Research Articles, beyond those that authors are able to provide in the Introduction and Discussion sections of their articles. The Editors’ objective with Further Reflections is that they will raise the level of conversation around psychological issues of societal importance. Further Reflections are by invitation only.

Quality evaluation for recommendations of the antitrust regulator in the development of the legal system of Ukraine

The formation of a competitive system in a country’s economy is always determined by the possibilities of using tools that stimulate development and form an independent picture for the external environment. In this regard, the study determines the efficiency of antimonopoly regulatory authorities in establishing the criteria and limits of regulation. At the same time, there are cases when antitrust regulation is understood primarily as a form of economic pressure on business entities. The novelty of the study lies in a new consideration of the limits of antitrust regulation. The authors demonstrate that antitrust regulation in its current capacity constitutes a form of limiting the growth of the company and is aimed primarily at reducing the dependence of the market on one stakeholder. The paper identifies the possibilities of additional consideration of the criteria for limiting antitrust regulation in the context of the formation of economic security of a business entity. The paper covers the aspects of determining the limits of state support of economic security of business entities. The practical significance of the study is determined by the need for a more practical harmonization of the legislation of the country with global business standards and a decrease in the level of regulation of the business environment, coupled with its protection from hostile takeovers. The study presents the structure of economic security assurance in the context of the economic system development

Early 20th Century Studio and Theatre Innovations of Vs. E. Meyerhold and S. E. Radlov

The experience of the pedagogical work of the Studio Vsevolod Meyerhold on Borodinskaya Street (1914–1917) to a large extent can be considered one of the important sources of the methodological and pedagogical model inherent in the modern Leningrad — Petersburg theatre school. The education principles of the synthetic actor and director, developed within the studio, combined innovations in the work of teachers and their students both at individual stages of the pedagogical process and on the path to creating a “new” theatre, in a broad understanding of this phenomenon of cultural life at the beginning of the XX century. The unique theatre school-studio became an autonomous art structure, independent of the staffing and financial demands of repertoire and private theatres that studios during this period experienced. For Meyerhold and other teachers of the Studio, particularly, Vladimir Solov’ev, a top priority was reviving the stage technique commedia dell’arte. The student plays of the studio fully reflected the undoubted successes and, naturally, the vulnerabilities inherent in such innovative searches. The article analyzes the detailed list of stylistic, mise-en-scenic and decoration production solutions proposed by Meyerhold and Yuri Bondi, the opportunity to improvise in a pre-prepared directorial plan. Sergei Radlov, a participant in the Studio at Borodinskaya, continued his creative search in the approach proposed by Meyerhold for the development of an improvisational synthetic theatre. Radlov’s directorial and pedagogical work in the studios of Kurmascep, “Popular comedy” (Narodnaya Comediya), etc., at the Institute (later Technical School) of stage arts deserves additional consideration in terms of the scientific analysis of the evolution of his innovative views at the beginning of the century and their interconnection with traditional approaches to theater education and stage practice of those years.