bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Racial and ethnic differences in survival of pediatric patients with brain and central nervous system cancer in the United States
Authors: Siegel David A. , Li Jun , Ding Helen , Singh Simple D. , King Jessica B. , Pollack Lori A. 
Published: October 2018

AbstractBackgroundBrain and central nervous system (CNS) cancer is the leading cause of cancer death among children and adolescents in the United States. Data from earlier studies suggested racial and ethnic differences in survival among pediatric patients with brain tumor. This study examined racial/ethnic difference in survival using national data and considered the effects of demographic and clinical factors.MethodsUsing National Program of Cancer Registries data, 1‐, 3‐, and 5‐year relative survival (cancer survival in the absence of other causes of death) was calculated for patients with brain and CNS cancer aged < 20 years diagnosed during 2001–2008 and followed up through 2013. Racial and ethnic differences in survival were measured by sex, age, economic status, stage, anatomic location, and histology. Adjusted racial and ethnic difference in 5‐year cancer specific survival was estimated using multivariable Cox regression analysis.ResultsUsing data from 11 302 patients, 5‐year relative survival was 77.6% for non‐Hispanic white patients, 69.8% for non‐Hispanic black patients, and 72.9% for Hispanic patients. Differences in relative survival by race/ethnicity existed within all demographic groups. Based on multivariable analysis, non‐Hispanic black patients had a higher risk of death at 5 years after diagnosis compared to non‐Hispanic white patients (adjusted hazard ratio = 1.2, 95% confidence interval, 1.1–1.4).ConclusionsPediatric brain and CNS cancer survival differed by race/ethnicity, with non‐Hispanic black patients having a higher risk of death than non‐Hispanic white patients. Future investigation of access to care, social and economic barriers, and host genetic factors might identify reasons for disparities in survival.
Pinpointing a potential role for CLEC12B in cancer predisposition through familial exome sequencing
Authors: Derpoorter Charlotte , Vandepoele Karl , Diez‐Fraile Araceli , Vandemeulebroecke Katrien , De Wilde Bram , Speleman Frank , Van Roy Nadine , Lammens Tim , Laureys Geneviève 
Published: October 2018

AbstractPredisposition to cancer is only partly understood, and thus, the contribution of still undiscovered cancer predisposing variants necessitates further research. In search of such variants, we performed exome sequencing on the germline DNA of a family with two children affected by ganglioneuroma and neuroblastoma. Applying stringent selection criteria, we identified a potential deleterious, missense mutation in CLEC12B, coding for a lectin C‐type receptor that is predicted to regulate immune function. Although further screening in a larger population and functional characterization is needed, we propose CLEC12B as a candidate cancer predisposition gene.
Treatment of hepatic veno‐occlusive disease in children with N‐acetylcysteine
Authors: Lee Anselm Chi‐wai , Aung LeLe 
Published: October 2018

AbstractIn our institution, hepatic veno‐occlusive disease/sinusoidal obstruction syndrome (VOD/SOS) has been treated with N‐acetylcysteine (NAC) since 2008—a loading dose of 150 mg/kg, followed by 12 doses of 70 mg/kg 6 hourly. Nine children were diagnosed with hepatic VOD/SOS. Hepatic VOD/SOS occurred in seven children after stem cell transplantation and two were receiving chemotherapy for Wilms tumor. Their clinical severity was classified as moderate in two and severe in seven by the European Society for Blood and Marrow Transplantation criteria. All children recovered and were discharged from 4 to 16 days after diagnosis. No side effects were observed. Intravenous NAC is an effective treatment for hepatic VOD/SOS.
Large‐scale mining, spatial mobility, place‐making and development in the Peruvian Andes
Authors: Castillo Gerardo , Brereton David 
Published: October 2018

AbstractThis paper focuses on population mobility dynamics in and around mining areas in the Peruvian Andes. We use a case study of Rio Tinto's La Granja exploration project in Cajamarca Region to highlight the complexity and fluidity of the population movements around that project and the significant level of agency exercised by local people, as well as how people have been impacted by corporate decisions. We argue that, far from being a relatively static system of social and production relationships, the Andes has long been a place of movement, where individuals and families have used a broad range of mobility strategies to improve their economic well‐being and mitigate the impact of external shocks. In the case of La Granja, the use of such strategies has helped local people to cope with variations in the level of project activity, maintain a connection with the area (even while living outside of it), and to access project‐related benefits such as jobs and compensation payments. At some points in the history of the project, corporate decisions and actions have had a clearly deleterious impact on the local community. However, in more recent times the project also revitalised La Granja as a place, at least for a time, and created new opportunities for individuals and families. In the final section of the paper, we address some broader questions about the role that spatial mobility and family networks can play in diffusing the impacts and benefits of mining projects.
Public contracting for private innovation: Government capabilities, decision rights, and performance outcomes
Authors: Bruce Joshua R. , de Figueiredo John M. , Silverman Brian S. 
Published: October 2018

Research AbstractWe examine how the US Federal Government governs R&D contracts with private‐sector firms. The government chooses between two contractual forms: grants and cooperative agreements. The latter provides the government substantially greater discretion over, and monitoring of, project progress. Using novel data on R&D contracts and on the technical expertise available in specific government bureau locations, we test implications from the organizational economics and capabilities literatures. We find that cooperative agreements are more likely to be used for early‐stage projects and those for which local government scientific personnel have relevant technical expertise; in turn, cooperative agreements yield greater innovative output as measured by patents, controlling for endogeneity of contract form. The results are consistent with multitask agency and transaction‐cost approaches that emphasize decision rights and monitoring.
Managerial AbstractWhen one private firm outsources an R&D project to another, it can use a range of sophisticated contractual provisions to elicit proper innovative effort. However, government entities are often constrained from employing such provisions due to legal and regulatory restrictions. Policymakers thus face a difficult challenge when contracting with private firms for innovation. We study the US Federal government's R&D contracts, which are restricted to two contractual types: “grants,” which offer little in‐process oversight, and “cooperative agreements,” which provide decision rights during the project. We demonstrate that policymakers can enhance outcomes by using cooperative agreements for earlier‐stage, higher‐uncertainty projects, but only when government scientists with relevant expertise are located near the firm's R&D site.
CEO equity risk bearing and strategic risk taking: The moderating effect of CEO personality
Authors: Benischke Mirko H. , Martin Geoffrey P. , Glaser Lotte 
Published: October 2018

Research SummaryWe draw upon applied psychology literature to explore interagent differences in perceived risk to their equity when making strategic risk decisions. Our theory suggests behavioral agency's predicted negative relationship between equity risk bearing and strategic risk taking is contingent upon four personality traits. Our empirical analyses, based on personality profiles of 158 Chief Executive Officers (CEOs) of S&P 1,500 firms in manufacturing industries, indicate the relationship between executive risk bearing and strategic risk taking crosses from negative to positive for high extraversion, greater openness, and low conscientiousness. These findings demonstrate that agency based predictions of CEO risk taking in response to compensation—and board attempts at creating incentive alignment using compensation—are enhanced by integrating insights from personality trait literature.Managerial SummaryWe study the effect of CEO personality on their behavioral responses to stock option pay. Our findings reveal that CEOs that score high on extraversion or openness and low on conscientiousness are less likely to decrease their firm's strategic risk taking as the value of their stock options increases. That is, the tendency of CEOs to become more risk averse in their strategic choices as their option wealth increases (due to loss aversion) is weaker for highly extraverted and more open CEOs, but stronger for more conscientiousness CEOs. Overall, our findings suggest that board of directors need to consider personality traits of their CEOs when designing compensation packages with the intention to align incentives of CEOs with shareholder risk preferences.
Protein Amyloid Fibrils as Template for the Synthesis of Silica Nanofibers, and Their Use to Prepare Superhydrophobic, Lotus‐Like Surfaces
Authors: Rima Simonetta , Lattuada Marco 
Published: October 2018

AbstractIn this work, amyloid fibrils are used as a template for the preparation of long silica fibers, with a variety of aspect ratios and surface roughness. Starting with β‐lactoglobulin fibrils with typical diameters of about 20 nm and a length of several micrometers, two different strategies are followed to grow silica: either in water at acidic pH values, or in ethanol–water mixtures under Stöber conditions and an excellent control of both the thickness and the roughness of the silica layer has been achieved. Silica nanofibers with a thickness ranging from a few nanometers to hundreds of nanometers are prepared. As an application, the rough silica nanotubes are used to create superhydrophobic surfaces by mimicking the structure of the lotus leaf. The papillary structure of the lotus leaf is replicated by depositing 10 μm colloidal particles in either a single colloidal crystal, or in a binary colloidal crystal made with smaller sub‐micrometer particles. Then, silica nanofibers are deposited on the binary colloidal crystal surfaces through a layer‐by‐layer deposition procedure to replicate the nanoscale roughness provided by wax nanotubes. Upon hydrophobization of the silica nanotubes, the final surfaces are highly superhydrophobic, with a water contact angle of 165.5°.
Non-universal gaugino masses in the NMSSM
Authors: Kawamura Junichiro , Kobayashi Tatsuo , Nagata Natsumi 
Published: October 2018

AbstractThe Next-to-Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model (NMSSM) provides a natural framework to realize a low-scale supersymmetric (SUSY) model, where a singlet superfield is added to the minimal model to generate a SUSY-scale higgsino mass term with its vacuum expectation value. Due to the presence of the extra singlet field, the vacuum conditions to realize the correct electroweak symmetry-breaking become fairly restrictive especially if we impose universality conditions at the unification scale. In this paper, we show that a non-universal gaugino mass spectrum can significantly relax this restriction even though the scalar masses and trilinear couplings are subject to universality conditions. With the gaugino non-universality, we find that higgsino can be the lightest SUSY particle and its thermal relic abundance can reproduce the observed dark matter density in a wide range of parameter space in which the 125 GeV Higgs-boson mass is obtained. This higgsino-like dark matter may be probed in direct detection experiments. We also find that there is an upper bound on the masses of supersymmetric particles in this scenario, and many model points predict colored particles such as gluino to be within the reach of a future 100 TeV collider. Implications for no-scale/gaugino-mediation models are also discussed.
An Efficient Rule-Based Distributed Reasoning Framework for Resource-bounded Systems
Authors: Rakib Abdur , Uddin Ijaz 
Published: October 2018

AbstractOver the last few years, context-aware computing has received a growing amount of attention among the researchers in the IoT and ubiquitous computing community. In principle, context-aware computing transforms a physical environment into a smart space by sensing the surrounding environment and interpreting the situation of the user. This process involves three major steps: context acquisition, context modelling, and context-aware reasoning. Among other approaches, ontology-based context modelling and rule-based context reasoning are widely used techniques to enable semantic interoperability and interpreting user situations. However, implementing rich context-aware applications that perform reasoning on resource-bounded mobile devices is quite challenging. In this paper, we present a context-aware systems development framework for smart spaces, which includes a lightweight efficient rule engine and a wide range of user preferences to reduce the number of rules while inferring personalized contexts. This shows rules can be reduced in order to optimize the inference engine execution speed, and ultimately to reduce total execution time and execution cost.
Analysis of question text properties for equality monitoring
Authors: Zahra Daniel , Burr Steven A. 
Published: October 2018

Introduction Ongoing monitoring of cohort demographic variation is an essential part of quality assurance in medical education assessments, yet the methods employed to explore possible underlying causes of demographic variation in performance are limited. Focussing on properties of the vignette text in single-best-answer multiple-choice questions (MCQs), we explore here the viability of conducting analyses of text properties and their relationship to candidate performance. We suggest that such analyses could become routine parts of assessment evaluation and provide an additional, equality-based measure of an assessment’s quality and fairness.
Methods We describe how a corpus of vignettes can be compiled, followed by examples of using Microsoft Word’s native readability statistics calculator and the koRpus text analysis package for the R statistical analysis environment for estimating the following properties of the question text: Flesch Reading Ease (FRE), Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level (Grade), word count, sentence count, and average words per sentence (WpS). We then provide examples of how these properties can be combined with equality and diversity variables, and the process automated to provide ongoing monitoring.
Conclusions Given the monitoring of demographic differences in assessment for assurance of equality, the ability to easily include textual analysis of question vignettes provides a useful tool for exploring possible causes of demographic variations in performance where they occur. It also provides another means of evaluating assessment quality and fairness with respect to demographic characteristics.
Time‐scale separation and stochasticity conspire to impact phenotypic dynamics in the canonical and inverted Bacillus subtilis core genetic regulation circuits
Authors: Hao Lijie , Yang Zhuoqin , Turcotte Marc 
Published: October 2018

BackgroundIn this work, we study two seemingly unrelated aspects of core genetic nonlinear dynamical control of the competence phenotype in Bacillus subtilis, a common Gram‐positive bacterium living in the soil.MethodsWe focus on hitherto unchartered aspects of the dynamics by exploring the effect of time‐scale separation between transcription and translation and, as well, the effect of intrinsic molecular stochasticity. We consider these aspects of regulatory control as two possible evolutionary handles.ResultsHence, using theory and computations, we study how the onset of oscillations breaks the excitability‐based competence phenotype in two topologically close evolutionary‐competing circuits: the canonical “wild‐type” regulation circuit selected by Evolution and the corresponding indirect‐feedback inverted circuit that failed to be selected by Evolution, as was shown elsewhere, due to dynamical reasons.ConclusionsRelying on in‐silico perturbation of the living state, we show that the canonical core genetic regulation of excitability‐based competence is more robust against switching to phenotype‐breaking oscillations than the inverted feedback organism. We show how this is due to time‐scale separation and stochasticity.
Analysis of cyclin E co‐expression genes reveals nuclear transcription factor Y subunit alpha is an oncogene in gastric cancer
Authors: Bie Liang‐Yu , Li Dan , Mu Yu , Wang Sheng , Chen Bei‐Bei , Lyu Hui‐Fang , Han Li‐Li , Nie Cai‐Yun , Yang Chang‐Cheng , Wang Lin , Ren Chuan‐Chuan , Zhang Wei‐Jie , Guo Ping , Shi Feng , Fan Qing‐Xia , Wang Liu‐Xing , Chen Xiao‐Bing , Luo Su‐Xia 
Published: October 2018

AbstractObjectiveTo explore genes potentially co‐expressed with cyclin E in gastric cancer and discover possible targets for gastric cancer treatment.MethodsThe Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) stomach adenocarcinoma sequencing data were used to predict genes co‐expressed with cyclin E. Co‐expression genes predicted by cBioPortal online analysis with Pearson correlation coefficient ≥0.4 were analyzed by gene ontology (GO) enrichment annotation using the PANTHER online platform (Ver. 7). Interactions between proteins encoded by these genes were analyzed using the STRING online platform (Ver. 10.5) and Cytoscape software (Ver. 3.5.1). Genes displaying a high degree of connection were analyzed by transcription factor enrichment prediction using FunRich software (Ver. 3). The significant transcription factor and cyclin E expression levels and their impact on gastric cancer progression were analyzed by Western blotting and Kaplan–Meier survival curve analysis.ResultsAfter filtering the co‐expression gene prediction results, 78 predicted genes that included 73 protein coding genes and 5 non‐coding genes with Pearson correlation coefficient ≥0.4 were selected. The expressions of the genes were considered to be correlated with cyclin E expression. Among the 78 genes co‐expressed with cyclin E, 19 genes at the central of the regulatory network associated with cyclin E were discovered. Nuclear transcription factor Y subunit alpha (NF‐YA) was identified as a significant transcription factor associated with cyclin E co‐expressing genes. Analysis of specimen donors’ clinical records revealed that high expression of NF‐YA tended to be associated with increased cyclin E expression. The expression of both was associated with progression of gastric cancer. Western blotting results showed that compared with normal tissues, NF‐YA and cyclin E were highly expressed in tumor tissues (P < 0.001). Survival curve analysis clearly demonstrated relatively poor overall survival of gastric cancer patients with high cyclin E or high NF‐YA expression level, compared to patients with low cyclin E or NF‐YA expression (P < 0.05).ConclusionsNF‐YA may promote gastric cancer progression by increasing the transcription of cyclin E and other cell cycle regulatory genes. NF‐YA might be a potential therapeutically useful prognostic factor for gastric cancer.
Policy competition in clean technology: Scaling up or innovating up?
Authors: Hughes Llewelyn , Meckling Jonas 
Published: October 2018

AbstractGovernments support clean technologies to advance both environmental goals and national competitiveness. By adopting environmental policies early on, governments are argued to create durable competitive advantages for domestic companies that develop clean technologies for export to late adopters. This paper argues that policy competition between lead and follower markets conditions the ability of governments to create durable competitive advantages in low-carbon technologies. Depending on the complexity of the technology, we observe two patterns of green industrial policy competition. In low-complexity technologies, such as solar photovoltaics, follower markets are likely to adopt policies that support manufacturing capacity to rapidly achieve price advantages from economies of scale, with global supply chains intensifying this competition (“scaling up”). In high-complexity technologies, such as electric vehicles, follower markets are likely to adopt policies that support research and development to develop differentiated high-tech products for export (“innovating up”). We also suggest that new forms of interdependence in policy competition can affect the political sustainability of lead market policies. Competition in scaling-up is more likely to undermine political coalitions in favor of government support for low-carbon technologies, while innovating-up dynamics embed political coalitions that support lead market policies for low-carbon technologies.
THE IRRATIONALITY OF PLURALISTIC IGNORANCE
Authors: Grosz Daniel 
Published: October 2018

ABSTRACTPluralistic ignorance is a social-psychological phenomenon in which an agent believes that their attitudes, feelings, and beliefs are different from those of others, despite the fact that their public behavior is identical. I argue that agents in standard cases of pluralistic ignorance are epistemically irrational. I accomplish this, first, by rebutting a recent argument for the rationality of pluralistic ignorance. Next, I offer a defeat-based argument against the epistemic rationality of pluralistic ignorance. Third, I examine a type of case in which the pluralistically ignorant agent's belief is irrational, despite the fact that this belief lacks a defeater. Finally, I consider instances of pluralistically ignorant agents whose beliefs are not irrational, but explain why such cases are not problematic for my main thesis. This critical discussion allows me to offer an important amendment to an extant account of pluralistic ignorance.
A LOGICAL AND ALGEBRAIC CHARACTERIZATION OF ADJUNCTIONS BETWEEN GENERALIZED QUASI-VARIETIES
Authors: MORASCHINI TOMMASO 
Published: October 2018

AbstractWe present a logical and algebraic description of right adjoint functors between generalized quasi-varieties, inspired by the work of McKenzie on category equivalence. This result is achieved by developing a correspondence between the concept of adjunction and a new notion of translation between relative equational consequences.