bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Introduction
Authors: Wilson David S. , Kirman Alan , Lupp Julia
Published: May 2017

How are we to understand economic institutions that are comprised of multiple, interacting individuals who operate on various spatial and temporal scales, all of which are impacted by a myriad of factors? Economics has based its efforts largely on general equilibrium theory, yet this dominant paradigm has two fundamental flaws: it assumes that economic systems are at equilibrium and utilizes Homo economicus (a fictitious being) to define preferences, behavior, and abilities. Because these assumptions deviate so drastically from reality, there is doubt whether incremental changes can ever render it effective. Thus, alternative approaches have emerged. Evolutionary theory has brought novel insight to explain the behavior of individuals and institutions, and complexity theory has provided context to understand economies as complex adaptive systems. To permit greater understanding of economics and public policy, this Ernst Strüngmann Forum explored the integration of concepts from complexity theory and evolutionary theory. The hope was that this discourse would spur a synthesis and lead to the creation of a new economic framework—one capable of modeling economic systems as complexly adaptive and frequently out of equilibrium, based on the preferences, behavior, and abilities of real human beings and the diverse processes involved.
Disequilibrium Adjustment and Economic Outcomes
Authors: Kirman Alan , Sethi Rajiv
Published: May 2017

A central organizing principle in contemporary economic theory is the notion of equilibrium: all individuals make plans that are optimal, given beliefs that are mutually consistent. The equilibrium method is effective in generating sharp predictions, but it sidesteps important questions about how equilibrium can be attained, optimality assessed, and available alternatives enumerated. This chapter describes an alternative approach in which the process of adjustment is a central theme. Individuals adapt to changes in their environment by making incremental changes in their behavior. These changes alter the environment faced by others, which leads to further dynamic adjustments. Trajectories may eventually converge to an equilibrium, but this is not inevitable. Even when convergence does occur, it may be to one of several conceivable equilibria, so that the dynamics operate as an equilibrium selection device. These ideas are explored primarily through the example of homophily in social interactions, with other potential applications also briefly considered.
Evolution and Market Complexity
Authors: Mayfield John E.
Published: May 2017

Many complexities in our world come about through the use of preexisting purposeful information. This information may be structured in various ways (e.g., instructions, recipes, algorithms, rules, rules of thumb, business plans, and expert knowledge) and, if followed, directs the formation of something which otherwise would not have existed. This chapter argues that information organized in this way must ultimately arise as the output of an evolutionary computation. Because of this, an evolutionary process underlies most everything that characterizes human existence. This principle includes economics and markets. This chapter addresses whether or not understanding the fundamental role of evolutionary computation for enabling human and biological complexity provides useful insight into market behaviors and introduces the basic concepts necessary to have this discussion.
Challenges of Integrating Complexity and Evolution into Economics
Authors: Axtell Robert , Kirman Alan , Couzin Iain D. , Fricke Daniel , Hens Thorsten , Hochberg Michael E. , Mayfield John E. , Schuster Peter , Sethi Rajiv
Published: May 2017

Complex systems theory and evolutionary theory hold important insight for economics, yet to date they have played a limited role in shaping modern economic theory. This chapter reviews different notions of equilibrium and explores four distinct areas relevant to the incorporation of evolutionary and complexity ideas into economics, finance, and policy. It investigates the determinants of major economic transitions, such as the Industrial Revolution or the collapse of the Soviet Union. It asks whether evolutionary processes should lead to an increase in complexity, on average, of economic and social systems over time. It reviews modern theories of group learning in biology, which have both evolutionary and complexity dimensions, to see if they might be relevant to human social institutions, such as firms. It analyzes whether the structure of human interactions or individual human intelligence is primarily responsible for the performance of our institutions. Finally, it finds that methods of evolutionary analysis and of complex systems to be extremely useful in capturing the open-ended, evolving nature of an economy composed of interactive agents and suggests that these methods be used to create to more realistic models of actual markets and economies.
Evolvability of Organizations and Institutions
Authors: Padgett John F.
Published: May 2017

To blend evolutionary theory with complexity theory,this chapter uses Padgett and Powell’s. The Emergence of Organizations and Markets to review the evolability of organizations and institutions. There “evolutionary theory” means “autocatalysis,” and “complexity theory” means “dynamic multiple networks in regulatory feedback.” Together (but not separately), these two theoretical building blocks can explain the sudden emergence or invention of novel forms of organizations not previously observed in history. This chapter draws on an empirical case study from the book, the emergence of international finance in medieval Tuscany, to illustrate the theory.
Not Half Bad
Authors: Page Scott E.
Published: May 2017

To understand a complex system (e.g., an economy, an ecosystem, the global climate system), scientists often rely on models. Models simplify reality by focusing on certain parts of a system, and the relationships between them, while ignoring, by necessity, other. Advocates of complexity theory often boldly claim (partly by virtue of greater realism) that they can improve upon the standard neoclassical economic framework. A much weaker claim supports the promotion of this new class of models or any class of models: even if the complexity framework makes less accurate predictions than the neoclassical approach, the complexity framework can be of use because its models differ.
Shaping the Evolution of Complex Societies
Authors: Gowdy John , Mazzucato Mariana , van den Bergh Jeroen C. J. M. , van der Leeuw Sander E. , Wilson David S.
Published: May 2017

This chapter calls for an approach to economic policy that takes evolutionary and complex systems theory into account. Such an approach alters the way that economic policy is framed and how policy co-depends on understanding markets as outcomes of nonmarket interactions, incomplete information, path dependency, and coordination failures. Through illustrative examples, it explores the application of evolutionary and complexity thinking to policy criteria, goals, instruments, and policy assessment. These examples—the transition to a low carbon economy, the use of multilevel selection to inform group design for human organizations, policy making as shaping and creating markets, government failures in Greek farm policy, and protecting the Sudd Wetland in South Sudan—are used to identify key issues for an evolutionary and complexity approach to public policy.
Financial Crises and the Slow Mutation of Conventional Wisdom
Authors: Calvo Guillermo
Published: May 2017

This chapter sets the stage for the rest of the book by offering a brief narrative of financial crises since Mexico's Tequila crisis in 1994/5 and including the Great Recession in developed-market economies, which are hard to rationalize in terms of mainstream models. The objective is to highlight factors common to these crises, in particular systemic crisis episodes in which several economies are involved at about the same time. These crises are accompanied by sudden and sharp falls in credit flows with serious consequences on the real economy. In emerging market economies, for example, output bounce-back did not entail an equivalent credit recovery. These episodes of asymmetric bust/recovery are called Phoenix Miracles. The chapter also highlights the efficacy of central banks in preventing a replay of the Great Deflation but it also points out their inability to prevent major recession.
The Liquidity Approach to Financial Crises1
Authors: Calvo Guillermo
Published: May 2017

The chapter focuses sharply on liquid assets, and is the heart of the book. It distinguishes between intrinsic and extrinsic liquidity, centering on the latter. Extrinsic liquidity may break down on the spur of the moment and generate socially costly Liquidity Crunch. A substantive part of the chapter is devoted to discussing relative resilience of liquid assets, and focuses on Keynes's Price Theory of Money, the resilience of the US dollar, the weakness of bonds denominated in that currency, and of currencies of emerging-market economies. The chapter claims that recent financial crises can realistically be modeled as old-fashioned bank runs, and that assets' liquidity may be a function of policy. Special attention is paid to a phenomenon called Liquidity Deflation, which helps to rationalize Liquidity Trap as a consequence of loss of money liquidity rather than on the conventional explanation based on the infinite interest elasticity of money demand.
Monetary Theory: Overview and Liquidity Extensions
Authors: Calvo Guillermo
Published: May 2017

The chapter points out some deficiencies of the mainstream model utilized by many central banks. It also reviews the Fiscal Theory of the Price level. Extending the barebones version of the central banks' model presented here to the case in which "land" is endowed with liquidity, the chapter shows, among other things, that if land is subject to Liquidity Crunch, increasing the supply of liquidity by pump-priming high-powered money fails to send land's relative price back to pre-liquidity-shock level. This helps to give a rationale for Quantitative Easing in which the central bank purchases "toxic assets" with high-powered money. The chapter includes extensions to account for banks and liquidity as a factor of production, and it ends with a critique of the new crop of financial crisis models, especially those stressing non-linear constraints.
Liquidity Crunch/Trap: Some Unconventional Output/Employment/Growth Implications1
Authors: Calvo Guillermo
Published: May 2017

The chapter shows that a sudden and sufficiently large contraction of bonds' liquidity could generate a fall in output, liquidity trap and price deflation, suggesting that there is no contradiction between Liquidity Crunch and Liquidity Trap, in line with the discussion in Chapter 2. The discussion is based on a simple model in which there are two types of liquid assets: fiat money and liquid bonds (e.g., Asset-Backed securities) under flexible prices. Fiat money is the liquid asset of choice for households, while under normal conditions firms have a preference for bonds. The model is employed to discuss quantitative easing (QE) in exchange for 'toxic' assets, and to show that the loss of bond liquidity could give rise to secular stagnation.
Systemic Sudden Stops: Crises and Recoveries in EMs
Authors: Calvo Guillermo , Ottonello Pablo
Published: May 2017

The chapter presents stylized facts about recession episodes associated with Systemic Sudden Stops (3S), i.e., large and abrupt reversals in capital inflows in which several economies are hit at about the same time. This choice is motivated by the conjecture that 3S are mostly triggered by liquidity malfunction, which is a central topic of the book. The chapter documents that the contraction of economic activity during 3S recession episodes is mostly driven by measured TFP, and is accompanied by a collapse in bank credit, investment, little consumption smoothing, and a large adjustments of real wages and the real exchange rate. The recovery from these episode occurs with a precarious recovery of credit (“Phoenix Miracles”) and displays persistent effects on economic activity, investment, and real wages.
Systemic Sudden Stops: The Relevance of Balance-Sheet Effects and Financial Integration
Authors: Calvo Guillermo , Izquierdo Alejandro , Mejía Luis-Fernando
Published: May 2017

Using a sample of 110 developed and developing countries for the period 1990-2004, the chapter claims that a small supply of tradable goods relative to their domestic absorption, and large foreign-exchange denominated debts towards the domestic banking system, denoted Domestic Liability Dollarization, are key determinants of the probability of Systemic Sudden Stop (3S). Moreover, the larger is financial integration, the larger is likely to be the probability of 3S; however, beyond a critical point the relationship gets a sign reversion.
Complexity and Heterogeneity in Psychiatric Disorders
Authors: Totah Nelson , Akil Huda , Huys Quentin J. M. , Krystal John H. , MacDonald Angus W. , Maia Tiago V. , Malenka Robert C. , Pauli Wolfgang M.
Published: May 2017

Psychiatry faces numerous challenges: the reconceptualization of symptoms and diagnoses, disease prevention, treatment development and monitoring of its effects, and the provision of individualized, precision medicine. To confront the complexity and heterogeneity intrinsic to brain disorders, psychiatry needs better biological, quantitative, and theoretical grounding. This chapter seeks to identify the sources of complexity and heterogeneity, which include the interplay between genetic and epigenetic factors with the environment and their impact on neural circuits. Computational approaches provide a framework to address complexity and heterogeneity, which cannot be seen as noise to be eliminated from diagnosis and treatment of disorders. Complexity and heterogeneity arise from intrinsic features of brain function, and thus present opportunities for computational models to provide a more accurate biological foundation for diagnosis and treatment of psychiatric disorders. Challenges to be addressed by a computational framework include: (a) improving the search for risk factors and biomarkers, which can be used toward primary prevention of disease; (b) representing the biological ground truth of psychiatric disorders, which will improve the accuracy of diagnostic categories, assist in discovering new treatments, and aid in precision medicine; (c) representing how risk factors, biomarkers, and the underlying biology change through the course of development, disease progression, and treatment process.
Computational Approaches for Studying Mechanisms of Psychiatric Disorders
Authors: Kurth-Nelson Zeb , O’Doherty John P. , Barch Deanna M. , Denève Sophie , Durstewitz Daniel , Frank Michael J. , Gordon Joshua A. , Mathew Sanjay J. , Niv Yael , Ressler Kerry , Tost Heike
Published: May 2017

Vast spectra of biological and psychological processes are potentially involved in the mechanisms of psychiatric illness. Computational neuroscience brings a diverse toolkit to bear on understanding these processes. This chapter begins by organizing the many ways in which computational neuroscience may provide insight to the mechanisms of psychiatric illness. It then contextualizes the quest for deep mechanistic understanding through the perspective that even partial or nonmechanistic understanding can be applied productively. Finally, it questions the standards by which these approaches should be evaluated. If computational psychiatry hopes to go beyond traditional psychiatry, it cannot be judged solely on the basis of how closely it reproduces the diagnoses and prognoses of traditional psychiatry, but must also be judged against more fundamental measures such as patient outcomes.
Computational Cognitive Neuroscience Approaches to Deconstructing Mental Function and Dysfunction
Authors: Frank Michael J.
Published: May 2017

Advances in our understanding of brain function and dysfunction require the integration of heterogeneous sources of data across multiple levels of analysis, from biophysics to cognition and back. This chapter reviews the utility of computational neuroscience approaches across these levels and how they have advanced our understanding of multiple constructs relevant for mental illness, including working memory, reward-based decision making, model-free and model-based reinforcement learning, exploration versus exploitation, Pavlovian contributions to motivated behavior, inhibitory control, and social interactions. The computational framework formalizes these processes, providing quantitative and falsifiable predictions. It also affords a characterization of mental illnesses not in terms of overall deficit but rather in terms of aberrations in managing fundamental trade-offs inherent within healthy cognitive processing.
How Could We Get Nosology from Computation?
Authors: Mathys Christoph
Published: May 2017

Psychiatry has found it difficult to develop a nosology that allows for the targeted treatment of disorders of the mind. This article sets out a possible way forward: harnessing systems theory to provide the conceptual constraints needed to link clinical phenomena with neurobiology. This approach builds on the insight that the mind is a system which, to regulate its environment, needs to have a model of that environment and needs to update predictions about it using the rules of inductive logic. It can be shown that Bayesian inference can be reduced to updating beliefs based on precision-weighted prediction errors, where a prediction error is the difference between actual and predicted input, and precision is the confidence associated with the input prediction. Precision weighting of prediction errors entails that a given discrepancy between outcome and prediction means more, and leads to greater belief updates, the more confidently the prediction was made. This provides a conceptual framework linking clinical experience with the pathophysiology underlying disorders of the mind. Limitations of this approach are discussed and ways to work around them illustrated. Initial steps and possible future directions toward a nosology based on failures of precision weighting are discussed.
Computational Nosology and Precision Psychiatry
Authors: Friston Karl J.
Published: May 2017

This chapter provides an illustrative treatment of psychiatric morbidity that offers an alternative to the standard nosological model in psychiatry. It considers what would happen if we treated diagnostic categories not as putative causes of signs and symptoms, but as diagnostic consequences of psychopathology and pathophysiology. This reconstitution (of the standard model) opens the door to a more natural formulation of how patients present and their likely response to therapeutic interventions. The chapter describes a model that generates symptoms, signs, and diagnostic outcomes from latent psychopathological states. In turn, psychopathology is caused by pathophysiological processes that are perturbed by (etiological) causes (e.g., predisposing factors, life events, therapeutic interventions). The key advantages of this nosological formulation include: (a) the formal integration of diagnostic categories and latent psychopathological constructs; (b) the provision of a hypothesis or model space that accommodates formal evidence-based hypothesis testing or model selection; (c) the ability to predict therapeutic responses; and (d) a framework that allows one to test hypotheses about the interactions between pharmacological and psychotherapeutic interventions. This chapter shows what might be possible, through the use of idealized simulations. These simulations can be regarded as a (conceptual) prospectus that motivates a computational nosology for psychiatry.
Candidate Examples for a Computational Approach to Address Practical Problems in Psychiatry
Authors: Moran Rosalyn , Stephan Klaas Enno , Botvinick Matthew , Breakspear Michael , Carter Cameron S. , Kalivas Peter W. , Montague P. Read , Paulus Martin P. , Petzschner Frederike
Published: May 2017

Scientists and clinicians can utilize a model-based framework to develop computational approaches to psychiatric practice and bring scientific discoveries to a clinical interface. This chapter describes a general modeling perspective, which complements those derived in previous chapters, and provides distinct examples to highlight the scientific and preclinical research that can evolve out of a computational framework to offer new tools for clinical practice. It begins by reviewing areas of theoretical and modeling studies that have reached a critical mass and outlines the pathophysiological insights that have been revealed. The phasic dopamine temporal difference model shows how neurophysiological and neuroanatomical research, incorporated into a learning circuit model, provides a constrained hypothesis testing framework, related to the likely multiple mechanisms contributing to addiction. A potential application of generative models of neuroimaging measurements (dynamic causal models of EEG data) is described to predict individual treatment responses in patients with schizophrenia. The third example offers a novel approach to quantifying patient outcomes under a “recovery model” of psychiatric illness. In conclusion, consideration is given to the community efforts needed to support the validation of these and future applications.
A Valuation Framework for Emotions Applied to Depression and Recurrence
Authors: Huys Quentin J. M.
Published: May 2017

The burden of depression is substantially aggravated by relapses and recurrences, and these become more inevitable with every episode of depression. This chapter describes how computational psychiatry can provide a normative framework for emotions and an integrative approach to core cognitive components of depression and relapse. Central to this is the notion that emotions effectively imply a valuation; thus they are amenable to description and dissection by reinforcement-learning methods. It is argued that cognitive accounts of emotion can be viewed in terms of model-based valuation, and that automatic emotional responses relate to model-free valuation and the innate recruitment of fixed behavioral patterns. This model-based view captures phenomena such as helplessness, hopelessness, attributions, and stress sensitization. Considering it in more atomic algorithmic detail opens up the possibility of viewing rumination and emotion regulation in this same normative framework. The problem of treatment selection for relapse and recurrence prevention is outlined and suggestions made on how the computational framework of emotions might help improve this. The chapter closes with a brief overview of what we can hope to gain from computational psychiatry.
From Psychiatry to Computation and Back Again
Authors: Redish A. David , Gordon Joshua A.
Published: May 2017

In the opening chapters of this volume, we outlined a series of challenges facing psychiatry, as well as a description of its various promises, and suggested that taking a computational perspective could potentially illuminate a way forward. In this concluding chapter, we revisit these challenges and promises, in the context of what transpired at this Ernst Strüngmann Forum, to highlight the connections between the various themes raised. In particular, we will bring out the points of agreement and disagreement between the discussion groups and the chapters that arose from those discussions. We conclude with a description of the efforts, current and ongoing, to bring the potential synergy between psychiatry and computational neuroscience emphasized in this volume to a reality in the scientific and clinical arenas.
Introductory Observations, Personal and Otherwise
Authors: Morison Elting E.
Published: May 2017

In this introduction, the author reflects on how he began to think about problems and questions related to the nature of technological change and society's reaction to that change. He recalls how he discovered a series of papers in a house built by a great-uncle, who wrote the volume in the 1890s under the title The New Epoch. The thesis of this volume was that humankind's unprecedented ability to manufacture power would usher in “an era of destruction…” Drawing on the ideas of The New Epoch, the author has come up with this book, the main topic of which is innovation, and more specifically, the hyper-production of change that is the cause of the coming era of destruction. Throughout the book, the author keeps returning to the conflict between innovation and conservation. While he emphasizes the stupidity of culture-bound resistance to change, he also appreciates the logic of such resistance.
Gunfire at Sea: A Case Study of Innovation
Authors: Morison Elting E.
Published: May 2017

This chapter presents a case study of innovation: the introduction of continuous-aim firing in the U.S. Navy. It first provides a background on the technical aspects of gunfire at sea prior to the introduction of continuous-aim firing, first devised by an English officer, Admiral Sir Percy Scott, in 1898. It then considers the benefits brought by Scott's invention, in particular in terms of improving gunnery accuracy in the U.S. Navy. It also discusses Washington's responses to William S. Sims's recommendations for adopting continuous-aim firing in the U.S. Navy, citing the reasons for what must be considered the weird response to the proposed technological change. It shows that personal identification with a concept, a convention, or an attitude appears to be a powerful explanation for resistance to change. The chapter suggests an “adaptive society” in which humans adapt to their own technological changes.
The Pertinence of the Past in Computing the Future
Authors: Morison Elting E.
Published: May 2017

This chapter discusses the pertinence of the past, or “what possible use is there in history,” in computing the future. It begins with a brief account of a situation that occurred in March 1943, when German submarines sank in the Atlantic Ocean 567,401 tons of U.S. merchant shipping. A conference was called in Washington to discuss ways to reduce the attrition caused by the submarine, and it was agreed—after much debate—that the convoy system would be the primary means of protection for the merchant tonnage. The chapter proceeds by considering the capacities of the computer: remembering, learning, discerning patterns, making surprising combinations of data. It examines the emotional and intellectual responses to computers, the role of the computer in fostering creativity, and the impersonality of the computer. It suggests that since the computer can only simulate, the work of creating the future still rests in man's hands.
A Little More on the Computer
Authors: Morison Elting E.
Published: May 2017

This chapter talks about the computer, first by putting it in historical perspective. After discussing how new machines and men have got on together in the past and what some men think they have found out about the perplexing dialogue between question and answer, problem and solution, the chapter considers earlier devices such as looms, engines, and generators that resisted at critical points human ignorance and stupidity; that is, they set clear limits to man's ineptitudes. For the computer the limits are not so obvious. Used in ignorance or stupidity, asked a foolish question, it does not collapse; it goes on to answer a fool according to his folly. The chapter also reflects on the role of computers in history and describes proper programming before concluding with proposals for exploring the machine in a series of experiments in which the machine would be asked to reconstrue a series of situations out of the past; for example, the machine would be used not so much in problem solving as a learning machine.
“Almost the Greatest Invention”
Authors: Morison Elting E.
Published: May 2017

This chapter describes the development of the Bessemer steel process. In spring 1862, a rail of Bessemer steel was laid down between two abutting iron rails in the Camden yard of the London and Northwestern Railway. Three years later, in May 1865, the first rail manufactured from Bessemer steel in the United States was produced at the North Chicago Rolling Mill. The chapter first provides an overview of steelmaking and metallurgy before discussing the commercial and intellectual development of the Bessemer steel process, along with the use of Bessemer steel in making railroads. It also considers innovations in the production of the Bessemer steel process and the patent controversy sparked by the technology, tariff protection for the process, and the Bessemer Association's price-fixing scheme. The chapter concludes by highlighting the stages involved in the innovating process: the inventive stage, the stage in which the invention is applied by the first entrepreneurs, the stage in which other entrepreneurs and engineers refine and consolidate, and the stage in which still other entrepreneurs take over to expand.
Some Proposals
Authors: Morison Elting E.
Published: May 2017

This chapter makes a number of proposals on how to organize and manage the system of ideas, energies, and machinery so it will conform to all the human dimensions. The problem is how to reverse the process by which technology tends to create its own environment and set of conditions. If we are to manage the powerful system we have created in our own interests, we must also create a new sort of culture that will give clear definition to what, in the new scheme of things, our interests really are. This chapter recommends an “experimental society” that will collectively weigh and sort through innovations, accepting some and rejecting others. This experimental society does not necessarily adapt to its technological means, but finds other means to control its ends.
Practical considerations of linear accelerator‐based frameless extracranial radiosurgery for treatment of occipital neuralgia for nonsurgical candidates
Authors: Denton Travis R. , Shields Lisa B.E. , Howe Jonathan N. , Shanks Todd S. , Spalding Aaron C.
Published: May 2017

Occipital neuralgia generally responds to medical or invasive procedures. Repeated invasive procedures generate increasing complications and are often contraindicated. Stereotactic radiosurgery (SRS) has not been reported as a treatment option largely due to the extracranial nature of the target as opposed to the similar, more established trigeminal neuralgia. A dedicated phantom study was conducted to determine the optimum imaging studies, fusion matrices, and treatment planning parameters to target the C2 dorsal root ganglion which forms the occipital nerve. The conditions created from the phantom were applied to a patient with medically and surgically refractory occipital neuralgia. A dose of 80 Gy in one fraction was prescribed to the C2 occipital dorsal root ganglion. The phantom study resulted in a treatment achieved with an average translational magnitude of correction of 1.35 mm with an acceptable tolerance of 0.5 mm and an average rotational magnitude of correction of 0.4° with an acceptable tolerance of 1.0°. For the patient, the spinal cord was 12.0 mm at its closest distance to the isocenter and received a maximum dose of 3.36 Gy, a dose to 0.35 cc of 1.84 Gy, and a dose to 1.2 cc of 0.79 Gy. The brain maximum dose was 2.20 Gy. Treatment time was 59 min for 18, 323 MUs. Imaging was performed prior to each arc delivery resulting in 21 imaging sessions. The average deviation magnitude requiring a positional or rotational correction was 0.96 ± 0.25 mm, 0.8 ± 0.41°, whereas the average deviation magnitude deemed within tolerance was 0.41 ± 0.12 mm, 0.57 ± 0.28°. Dedicated quality assurance of the treatment planning and delivery is necessary for safe and accurate SRS to the cervical spine dorsal root ganglion. With additional prospective study, linear accelerator‐based frameless radiosurgery can provide an accurate, noninvasive alternative for treating occipital neuralgia where an invasive procedure is contraindicated.
Impact of Aeration on Mixed Liquor in Submerged‐Membrane Bioreactors for Wastewater Treatment
Authors: Braak Etienne , Albasi Claire , Anne-Archard Dominique , Schetrite Sylvie , Alliet Marion
Published: May 2017

In submerged‐membrane bioreactors (SMBRs) for wastewater treatment, aeration with coarse bubbles is applied to limit fouling. The understanding of the different mechanisms between aeration and fouling helps to manage the aeration policy. The impact of aeration (macro scale) on shear stress and mixed‐liquor properties (local scale) is evaluated. Experimental characterization of gas‐liquid flow in membrane modules, computational fluid dynamics simulation, and controlled breakdown of SMBR mixed‐liquor samples are reported. Mean bubble velocities were significantly lower in mixed liquor than in water and the shear stress was one order of magnitude higher in mixed liquor than in water. The floc size decreased and soluble protein concentrations increased with higher shear stress values. Considering the known impacts of these mixed‐liquor properties on fouling, the obtained local results explain stronger fouling when coarse bubble aeration increases.
Cleave but not leave: Astrotactin proteins in development and disease
Authors: Chang Hao
Published: May 2017

Over the years, animal studies have identified astrotactins as important membrane proteins for glial‐guided neuronal migration during central nervous system development and hair follicle polarity control during skin development. Biochemical studies have revealed intramembrane proteolysis as an important feature of astrotactins. The two fragments of astrotactins remain linked together by a disulfide bond after the proteolytic cleavage. In humans, mutations in astrotactin genes have also been linked to a wide range of diseases, including several developmental brain disorders, neurodegenerative diseases and cancer. In this review, I will summarize the current knowledge of the biological function of astrotactins in development, highlight the linkage between mutations in astrotactin genes and human disease and discuss several outstanding questions that remain unanswered. © 2017 IUBMB Life, 69(8):572–577, 2017
Constraining or Constructive? The Effects of Examples on Idea Novelty
Authors: George Tim , Wiley Jennifer , Koppel Rebecca H. , Storm Benjamin C.
Published: May 2017

The tendency to conform to prior examples can be viewed as a form of mental fixation that has negative consequences and limits the scope and quality of designs. Two experiments using the Smith, S. M., Ward, T. B., & Schumacher, J. S. [(1993) Memory & Cognition, 21, 837‐845] toy invention task were conducted to determine whether participants who viewed example toys would subsequently generate toys rated as less novel compared to a control group viewing no examples. Although participants who viewed examples tended to incorporate the example features into their own ideas, the novelty of their ideas was rated as higher than those of the control group. This effect occurred both with no specific instruction regarding the examples (Experiment 1), as well as when specifically instructed to be different from the examples (Experiment 2). These results indicate that examples do not always have a negative impact on creativity, and suggest they may sometimes help lead to more unusual ideas.
Improve student‐edited law journals: Eliminate the acceptance period
Authors: Manley Stewart
Published: May 2017

Key points

The vast majority – and the most prestigious – of US law journals are edited by law students, without peer review.

Overwhelming numbers of simultaneous submissions contribute to over‐reliance on author credentials for article selection.

Authors ‘trade up’ by leveraging offers to publish with higher‐ranked journals.

Law journals should learn from literary reviews, which expect immediate acceptance of offers.

The elimination of acceptance periods would reduce simultaneous submissions and optimize matching between manuscripts and journals.
Renal and hematologic side effects of long‐term intravenous immunoglobulin therapy in patients with neurologic disorders
Authors: Levine Aidan A. , Levine Todd D. , Clarke Kathie , Saperstein David
Published: May 2017

Introduction: For patients receiving intravenous immunoglobulin (IVIg), renal and hemolytic side effects are well recognized. However, there are very few data on the effects of chronic IVIg therapy. Methods: We retrospectively analyzed laboratory data on 166 patients who received IVIg for 12 months with a dose range of 0.441–2.58 g/kg/month, measuring changes in hematocrit and glomerular filtration (GFR) rates at 6 and 12 months. Results: Of the 2,232 infusions, there were no incidents of clinical hemolysis. However, after 12 months of treatment, 21% of patients had a ≥3‐g/dl decline in hematocrit and 10% had a ≥20% decline in GFR. Discussion: No clinically significant hemolysis was observed in patients receiving chronic IVIg therapy. However, a significant number of patients had a decline in hematocrit and/or GFR while on therapy. This emphasizes the need for observation of hematologic and renal function in patients treated with chronic IVIg. Muscle Nerve 56: 1173–1176, 2017
Cinema’s poetics of history
Authors: Steimatsky Noa
Published: May 2017

In the movie theatre, history risks drowning in sensory response, in pleasure, or in shock. Yet the cinema can also contribute to a special knowledge of history. Cutting across genres and modes of filmmaking, exploring the effects of duration, gesture, movement,mise-en-scène, framing and editing, recognising affective connotations and the intricacy of figural-poetic devices, this article weighs the impact of the senses and the imagination vis-à-vis the cinema’s historical task. In transforming the narrative past tenses of both fiction and history into the present tense of film viewing, the cinema may be said to loosen the critical grip of writing (history’s ‘proper medium’), to destabilise legibility and interpretation, to interfere with the retrospective, synthetic work of history. But this variability, the inherent ‘impurity’, even promiscuity of the medium also invests cinematic experience with a vitality and urgency: it implicates us in what we see, it animates our response, which is at once aesthetic and ethical.
Combined high-dose rate brachytherapy (HDR-BT) and whole pelvic radiation therapy (WPRT) in node negative, intermediate- to high-risk localised prostate cancer: clinical outcomes and patient behaviours across ethnicities
Authors: Panichevaluk Apichart , Akarasakul Danaiphand , Pongpirul Krit , Tharavichitkul Ekkasit , Galalae Razvan M.
Published: May 2017

Background

This retrospective study aimed to report clinical outcomes of high-dose rate brachytherapy (HDR-BT) and whole pelvic radiation therapy (WPRT) in intermediate- to high-risk localised prostate cancer and to gain a better understanding of how behavioural variability of patients from various ethnic origins affects clinical practice.

Materials and methods

In total, 116 localised intermediate- to high-risk prostate cancer patients who were treated during 2004–12 were enroled into the study. WPRT was delivered to the full pelvis (50 Gy per conventional fractionation) and two fractions (15 Gy per fraction) of high-dose rate brachytherapy were designed for all patients to the peripheral zone of McNeal. The reported results were biochemical control rate, toxicity profiles and behavioural variations of patients.

Results

The median follow-up time was 51 months. The 4-year biochemical control rates, according to the American Society for Therapeutic Radiology and Oncology was 93·1%. T stage was the prognostic factor for biochemical control. No significant differences in biochemical control could be identified across ethnic groups (p>0·05). Five patients developed grade 3–4 gastrointestinal toxicity. Prior knowledge was commonly found among Caucasian patients and urinary functions seemed to be more concerned among Caucasian and Middle East patients than those from other ethnic origins.

Conclusions

Clinical outcomes of intermediate- to high-risk prostate cancer patients from various ethnic origins were comparable with that of the Caucasian-only population reported previously. A number of detected ethnic-related factors might be beneficial for treatment decision-making for patients with different cultural background and could be utilised to better personalise/optimise cancer care and aftercare.
River Plumes near the Equator Have Major Effects on Oceans
Authors: Witman Sarah
Published: May 2017

Every second, the Congo sends millions of gallons of freshwater deep into the Atlantic, influencing marine plants and wildlife.
An optimized strategy to measure protein stability highlights differences between cold and hot unfolded states
Authors: Alfano Caterina , Sanfelice Domenico , Martin Stephen R. , Pastore Annalisa , Temussi Piero Andrea
Published: May 2017

Macromolecular crowding ought to stabilize folded forms of proteins, through an excluded volume effect. This explanation has been questioned and observed effects attributed to weak interactions with other cell components. Here we show conclusively that protein stability is affected by volume exclusion and that the effect is more pronounced when the crowder’s size is closer to that of the protein under study. Accurate evaluation of the volume exclusion effect is made possible by the choice of yeast frataxin, a protein that undergoes cold denaturation above zero degrees, because the unfolded form at low temperature is more expanded than the corresponding one at high temperature. To achieve optimum sensitivity to changes in stability we introduce an empirical parameter derived from the stability curve. The large effect of PEG 20 on cold denaturation can be explained by a change in water activity, according to Privalov’s interpretation of cold denaturation.
Improving 10-deacetylbaccatin III-10-β-O-acetyltransferase catalytic fitness for Taxol production
Authors: Li Bing-Juan , Wang Hao , Gong Ting , Chen Jing-Jing , Chen Tian-Jiao , Yang Jin-Ling , Zhu Ping
Published: May 2017

The natural concentration of the anticancer drug Taxol is about 0.02% in yew trees, whereas that of its analogue 7-β-xylosyl-10-deacetyltaxol is up to 0.5%. While this compound is not an intermediate in Taxol biosynthetic route, it can be converted into Taxol by de-glycosylation and acetylation. Here, we improve the catalytic efficiency of 10-deacetylbaccatin III-10-O-acetyltransferase (DBAT) ofTaxustowards 10-deacetyltaxol, a de-glycosylated derivative of 7-β-xylosyl-10-deacetyltaxol to generate Taxol using mutagenesis. We generate a three-dimensional structure of DBAT and identify its active site using alanine scanning and design a double DBAT mutant (DBATG38R/F301V) with a catalytic efficiency approximately six times higher than that of the wild-type. We combine this mutant with a β-xylosidase to obtain anin vitroone-pot conversion of 7-β-xylosyl-10-deacetyltaxol to Taxol yielding 0.64 mg ml−1Taxol in 50 ml at 15 h. This approach represents a promising environmentally friendly alternative for Taxol production from an abundant analogue.
MiRNA-29c regulates the expression of inflammatory cytokines in diabetic nephropathy by targeting tristetraprolin
Authors: Guo Jia , Li Jing , Zhao Jing , Yang Shuguang , Wang Luyao , Cheng Genyang , Liu Dong , Xiao Jing , Liu Zhangsuo , Zhao Zhanzheng
Published: May 2017

Diabetic nephropathy is one of the most prevalent chronic complications of Diabetes mellitus, but its pathogenesis remains elusive. This study was designed to determine the role of tristetraprolin (TTP), inflammatory cytokines and microRNAs (miRNAs) in DN. The blood and urine samples were obtained from 32 patients with DN, 33 patients with type 2 DM, and 35 normal healthy subjects as controls. Renal tissue samples were also obtained from 10 DN patients and 10 normal controls. The miRNA microarray analyses were performed in pooled plasma and urine sediment samples of eight DN patients and eight age- and sex-matched health control subjects and three paired renal tissues from patients with DN and normal controls. Conditionally immortalized mouse podocytes (MPC5) were used a cell model. The expressions of TTP and cytokines in patient samples and cultured cells were determined by qRT-PCR and Western blotting or ELISA. Our results indicated that miRNA-29c directly targeted TTP and promoted inflammatory response under hyperglycemic conditions. Overexpression of miRNA-29c in podocytes resulted in an increase in inflammatory cytokines and inhibition of miRNA-29c by using its inhibitor reduced the inflammatory cytokines in podocytes. Finally, miRNA-29c promoted the progression of DN by targeting TTP, providing a target for a therapeutic intervention of DN.
Assembly of gold nanoparticles into aluminum nanobowl array
Authors: Fan Xingce , Hao Qi , Jin Renchao , Huang Hao , Luo Zhengwei , Yang Xiaozhi , Chen Yile , Han Xingzhi , Sun Meng , Jing Qihua , Dong Zhenggao , Qiu Teng
Published: May 2017

We mimic unique honeycomb structure as well as its functions of storing honey and pollen to assemble Au nanoparticle pattern on honeycomb-like Al nanobowl array by utilizing solid state dewetting process. Patterned Au nanoarrays of ‘one particle per bowl’ with tunable plasmonic bands ranging from the visible to the near-infrared region are fabricated by finely selecting the initial thickness of Au film, the geometry of Al nanobowl array and the thermal treatment parameters. This work presents a powerful approach to assemble Au nanoparticles into high density nanoarrays with superior spatial resolution, offering highly concentrated electromagnetic fields for plasmonic sensor applications.
The Effect of Two Amino acid Residue Substitutions via RNA Editing on Dark-operative Protochlorophyllide Oxidoreductase in the Black Pine Chloroplasts
Authors: Yamamoto Haruki , Kusumi Junko , Yamakawa Hisanori , Fujita Yuichi
Published: May 2017

Dark-operative protochlorophyllide oxidoreductase (DPOR) is a key enzyme to produce chlorophyll in the dark. Among photosynthetic eukaryotes, all three subunits chlL, chlN, and chlB are encoded by plastid genomes. In some gymnosperms, two codons of chlB mRNA are changed by RNA editing to codons encoding evolutionarily conserved amino acid residues. However, the effect of these substitutions on DPOR activity remains unknown. We first prepared cyanobacterial ChlB variants with amino acid substitution(s) to mimic ChlB translated from pre-edited mRNA. Their activities were evaluated by measuring chlorophyll content of dark-grown transformants of a chlB-lacking mutant of the cyanobacterium Leptolyngbya boryana that was complemented with pre-edited mimic chlB variants. The chlorophyll content of the transformant cells expressing the ChlB variant from the fully pre-edited mRNA was only one-fourth of the control cells. Co-purification experiments of ChlB with Strep-ChlN suggested that a stable complex with ChlN is greatly impaired in the substituted ChlB variant. We then confirmed that RNA editing efficiency was markedly greater in the dark than in the light in cotyledons of the black pine Pinus thunbergii. These results indicate that RNA editing on chlB mRNA is important to maintain appropriate DPOR activity in black pine chloroplasts.