cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
OUTCOMES OF CORRECTING PAEDIATRIC LOWER LIMB ANGULAR DEFORMITIES USING TEMPORARY HEMIEPIPHYSIODESIS: AN EIGHT-YEAR STUDY

Background Temporary hemiepiphysiodesis using 8 plate guided growth has gained widespread acceptance for the treatment of paediatric angular deformities. This study aims to look at outcomes of coronal lower limb deformities corrected using temporary hemiepiphysiodesis over an extended period of follow up. Methods A retrospective analysis was undertaken of 56 children (92 legs) with coronal plane deformities around the knee which were treated with an extraperiosteal 2 holed titanium plate and screws between 2007 and 2015. Pre and post-op long leg radiographs and clinic letters were reviewed. Results The mean age was 11.9 years (range 3 to 16) with a mean angular deformity of 12.3 degrees (5.1 to 33.5). The mean rate of correction was 0.8 degrees per month. Isolated distal femur correction occurred at a mean rate of 0.6 degrees per month (0.2 to 1.4) and isolated tibia at a rate of 0.5 degrees per month (0.0 to 1.7). Children treated with concurrent treatment of both femur and tibia corrected at a rate of 1.4 degrees per month (0.1 to 2.7). Similar rates of correction occur in children aged 10 and over compared to those younger than 10 (0.8 degrees per month compared to 0.7). We also saw similar rates of correction with extended follow up. The average rate of correction over the first 9 months post op was 0.8 degrees compared to 0.6 degrees over the following 10 months. Conclusion This study is the largest long term follow up of 8 plate hemiepiphysiodesis which highlights the rate of correction in all age groups. Implications With this knowledge surgeons can make a more informed decision regarding placement of hemiepiphysiodesis plates and length of time required for correction of angular deformities. It may also lead to consideration of alternative, more powerful techniques if the rate of correction is insufficient. Conflict of Interest: None declared
Wilms’ Tumor—Treatment and Results: A Five-Decade Experience

During the past 53 years, 105 patients with Wilms' Tumor have been treated at the Children's Hospital of Buffalo. Prospective and retrospective staging of these cases has allowed comparison with other reported series. All-stage survival improved from 37% with operation alone to 46% with operation and planned radiotherapy. During the past 22 years, with the addition of adjunctive chemotherapy, all-stage survival is now 80% with lesser stage survival approaching 100%. Participation in the cooperative National Wilms' Tumor Study has brought the most effective proven treatment to the patient in the shortest period of time.
Prefibrotic versus overtly fibrotic primary myelofibrosis: clinical, cytogenetic, molecular and prognostic comparisons

Abstract Background The 2016 revised World Health Organization (WHO) classification system distinguishes prefibrotic (pre-PMF) from overtly fibrotic (overt PMF) primary myelofibrosis, based on the respective absence or presence of grade ≥2 bone marrow (BM) reticulin fibrosis (Blood. 2016;127:2391). The main objective of the current study was to determine the prognostic relevance of this distinction and compare clinical and genetic features between the two entities. Methods Study patients fulfilled the 2016 WHO criteria for the diagnosis of pre-PMF or overt PMF (Blood. 2016;127:2391). The degree of BM reticulin fibrosis was based on "real life" BM reports from Mayo Clinic hematopathologists and often in accordance with the European consensus scoring system (Haematologica 2005;90:1128). Targeted next generation sequencing was used to screen for prognostically-relevant mutations (Blood 2015 126:354). Statistical analyses considered clinical and laboratory parameters obtained at time of BM examination that was graded for reticulin fibrosis. Results Patient characteristics: Analysis was conducted on 467 patients (median age 64 years; 62% males), including 63 with pre-PMF and 404 with overt PMF. 302 (65%) patients harbored JAK2 mutations, 90 (19%) CALR, 24 (5%) MPL and 51 (11%) were "triple-negative"; among the 90 CALR-mutated cases, 74 (82%) were classified as "type 1/type 1-like". Dynamic international prognostic scoring system (DIPSS)-plus risk distribution (JCO 2011;29:392) was 30% high, 38% intermediate-2, 16% intermediate-1 and 15% low; 29% displayed red cell transfusion-dependency, 29% constitutional symptoms, 70% palpable splenomegaly and 37% abnormal karyotype, including 13% with unfavorable karyotype. 308 patients were screened for ASXL1 mutations with 39% mutated, 305 for SRSF2 mutations with 16% mutated, 291 for U2AF1 with 18% mutated, 264 for SF3B1 with 6% mutated, 240 for EZH2 with 5% mutated and 118 for IDH1/2 with 7% mutated. BM reticulin fibrosis was reported as grade '0' in 5 (1%) patients, grade '1' in 58 (12%), grade '2' in 169 (36%) and grade '3' in 235 (50%). After a median follow up of 3 years, 273 (59%) deaths and 42 (9%) leukemic transformations were documented. Clinical, cytogenetic and molecular comparisons between pre-PMF vs overt PMF: Significant differences included higher hemoglobin level (p Survival analysis: In univariate analysis, all 8 variables included in DIPSS-plus were significantly associated with shortened survival (p Conclusion The current study demonstrates the risk-adjusted prognostic relevance of the WHO distinction between pre-PMF and overt PMF. The two clinic-pathologic entities were otherwise similar in their spectrum of prognostically-relevant mutations or cytogenetic abnormalities, although pre-PMF clustered with thrombocythemic and triple-negative phenotype and overt PMF with adverse clinical features. Download : Download high-res image (115KB) Download : Download full-size image Disclosures No relevant conflicts of interest to declare.
A state space model of the economic fundamentals

Abstract This paper presents a state space model of the economic fundamentals. In theory the economic fundamentals—tastes, technology, stochastic shocks, and initial wealth—determine the allocation of real resources and the values of financial assets. We show that in a recursive competitive equilibrium the minimal dimensional dynamic programming state vector is a sufficient statistic for the economic fundamentals. The dynamic programming state vector drives the allocation of real resources and the values of financial assets. We test this representation using the state space time series techniques recently introduced by Aoki. Financial and real capital do not have the same state space representation.
Acute Tubular Necrosis After Inhalation Exposure to Methylene Chloride. Report of a Case

• Nephrotoxic reaction occurred after inhalation exposure to methylene chloride. This exposure is associated with acute renal failure, myoglobinuria, hypocomplementemia, and liver enzyme elevations. Pathologic specimens, both light and electron microscopic, demonstrate renal tubular damage. We conclude that methylene chloride may have potential as both a hepatotoxic and nephrotoxic agent when inhaled at high concentrations over an extended period of time. ( Arch Intern Med 1985;145:145-146)
Monoclonal Antibodies to Human Prostate and Bladder Tumor-Associated Antigens

Monoclonal antibodies to human prostate adenocarcinoma membrane antigens were produced by fusion of spleen cells from Balb/C mice immunized against the prostate cancer cells line DU145, and the P3X63/Ag8 mouse myeloma line. The hybrids were screened for antibody production using glutaraldehyde-fixed or live cells in an in vitro binding radioimmunoassay (RIA). Antibody binding specificity was also checked by quantitative adsorption studies. A hybridoma clone (83.21) was isolated that secreted antibodies which preferentially bound to prostate and bladder cancer cells but did not bind to a variety of other normal and malignant human cell lines. This antibody also reacted with a cytomegalovirus-transformed human embryonic lung cell line but not to normal human embryonic lung cells. Conventional and competitive binding studies indicate that the 83.21 monoclonal antibody does not bind to alpha-fetoprotein, carcino-embryonic antigen, prostatic acid phosphatase, HLA, β 2-microglobulin, fibronectin, prostate specific antigen or DR antigens. Freliminary immuno-precipitation data with 125I-labeled, detergent soluble, DU145 membrane proteins and the 83.21 monoclonal antibody suggest that this antibody binds two proteins with molecular weights of 210 and 97 kilodaltons. (Supported by an N.I.H. Biomedical Research Support Grant #218 and a grant from the National Prostatic Cancer Project, NCI CA-26659.)
Staphylococcus Haemolyticus Urinary Tract Infection in a Male Patient

Urinary tract infections caused by staphylococci are usually attributed to Staphylococcus epidermidis or S. saprophyticus. The case study reported here describes a persistent urinary tract infection caused by S. haemolyticus in a 38-year-old male whose infection was ultimately resolved through the use of the antibiotic trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole.
Irreversible Thermodynamic Bound for the Efficiency of Light-Emitting Diodes

Energy-efficient lighting is an important goal, but what is the ultimate limit that we can expect from our technology, and how close are we? Thermodynamic analyses of LED efficiency have been discussed in the reversible case. Incorporating the concept of passive optical extraction, the authors propose an $i\phantom{\rule{0}{0ex}}r\phantom{\rule{0}{0ex}}r\phantom{\rule{0}{0ex}}e\phantom{\rule{0}{0ex}}v\phantom{\rule{0}{0ex}}e\phantom{\rule{0}{0ex}}r\phantom{\rule{0}{0ex}}s\phantom{\rule{0}{0ex}}i\phantom{\rule{0}{0ex}}b\phantom{\rule{0}{0ex}}l\phantom{\rule{0}{0ex}}e$ model for LED operation, for a more realistic view of theoretical efficiency. Even so, the maximum wall-plug efficiency is $u\phantom{\rule{0}{0ex}}n\phantom{\rule{0}{0ex}}b\phantom{\rule{0}{0ex}}o\phantom{\rule{0}{0ex}}u\phantom{\rule{0}{0ex}}n\phantom{\rule{0}{0ex}}d\phantom{\rule{0}{0ex}}e\phantom{\rule{0}{0ex}}d$ as emission intensity diminishes, and in the range useful for indoor lighting, output can significantly exceed the electrical input power, as the LED cools the room while it shines.
Note on symmetric utility

Abstract This note studies necessary and sufficient conditions for consumer demand data to be generated by a symmetric utility function. We find that a dataset of prices and consumption decisions can be rationalized by a symmetric utility function if and only if the symmetrized dataset satisfies the generalized axiom of revealed preference.
Balanced forms: Canonicity and parameterization

We show that balanced forms are canonical and continuously parametrize the set of systems of a given order which are asymptotically stable, minimal, and have distinct singular values. The advantage of the balanced canonical form over other classical canonical forms lies precisely in the guaranteed stability and minimality of the parametrization.
Stacked Generalization: An Introduction to Super Learning

Stacked generalization is an ensemble method that allows researchers to combine several different prediction algorithms into one. Since its introduction in the early 1990s, the method has evolved several times into a host of methods among which is the "Super Learner". Super Learner uses V-fold cross-validation to build the optimal weighted combination of predictions from a library of candidate algorithms. Optimality is defined by a user-specified objective function, such as minimizing mean squared error or maximizing the area under the receiver operating characteristic curve. Although relatively simple in nature, use of Super Learner by epidemiologists has been hampered by limitations in understanding conceptual and technical details. We work step-by-step through two examples to illustrate concepts and address common concerns.
Differential COMT expression and behavioral effects of COMT inhibition in male and female Wistar and alcohol preferring rats

Polymorphisms of the catechol-O-methyl transferase (COMT) gene have been associated with alcoholism, suggesting that alterations in the metabolism of catecholamines may be a critical component of the neuropathology of alcoholism. In the current experiments, the COMT inhibitor tolcapone was utilized in an operant behavioral model of reinforcer-seeking and drinking to determine if this compound was capable of remediating the excessive seeking and drinking phenotype of the alcohol-preferring P rat. Tolcapone was administered to male and female alcohol-reinforced P and Wistar rats. Additionally, tolcapone was administered to male sucrose-reinforced P and Wistar rats to determine if its effects also extended to a natural reinforcer. Animals were trained to make an operant response that resulted in 20 min uninterrupted access to the reinforcer solutions. Tolcapone had no effect in female rats on either seeking or consumption of ethanol. However, reductions of both reinforcer seeking and consumption were observed in male P rats, but only of seeking in Wistars. In separate experiments, using reinforcer naive male and female animals, COMT expression was assessed via Western Blot analysis. Sex differences in COMT expression were also observed, where male P rats exhibited a marked reduction in protein expression relative to females in the PFC. Sex differences were not observed for Wistars or in the striatum and hippocampus. These data complement our previous findings in which tolcapone reduced cue-evoked responses in P rats and further suggest clinical utility of COMT inhibitors in the treatment of addiction disorders, specifically in male high drinkers.
MONETARY POLICY SURPRISES, INVESTMENT OPPORTUNITIES, AND ASSET PRICES

Recent evidence shows that monetary policy announcements convey significant information about expected market returns and are therefore good candidates for innovations in intertemporal asset pricing state variables. I propose an asset pricing model with the market return and a mimicking portfolio for unexpected changes in the federal funds rate on days of Federal Open Market Committee announcements. This economically motivated two-factor model prices portfolios formed on size, value, momentum, investment, and profitability with an R2 of 80% and an average annual pricing error of 0.93%, performing as well as standard four-, five-, and six-factor models designed to price these assets.
A new program to prevent primary school absenteeism: Results of a pilot study in five schools

Abstract Frequent absences in the primary grades are associated with school disengagement, academic failure, and eventual dropout. The Early Truancy Prevention Project (ETPP) was designed to improve attendance of primary-grade children by facilitating communication between teachers and parents and giving the teachers the lead role in intervening with students when attendance problems emerge. In 2013–14, the current version of ETPP was implemented in 20 classrooms in five high-poverty public elementary schools, with 21 other classrooms in the same schools serving as controls. Our analysis of attendance data indicated that ETPP significantly reduced the prevalence of absenteeism without excessively burdening teachers. Teachers reported improved communication between parents and teachers and had a positive assessment of the effects of specific program elements.
Endothelial stem and progenitor cells (stem cells): (2017 Grover Conference Series):

The capacity of existing blood vessels to give rise to new blood vessels via endothelial cell sprouting is called angiogenesis and is a well-studied biologic process. In contrast, little is known about the mechanisms for endothelial cell replacement or regeneration within established blood vessels. Since clear definitions exist for identifying cells with stem and progenitor cell properties in many tissues and organs of the body, several groups have begun to accumulate evidence that endothelial stem and progenitor cells exist within the endothelial intima of existing blood vessels. This paper will review stem and progenitor cell definitions and highlight several recent papers purporting to have identified resident vascular endothelial stem and progenitor cells.
LTE Multimedia Broadcast Multicast Service Provisioning Based on Robust Header Compression

One important issue that confronts network service providers is the need to provide reliable multimedia data service efficiently over cellular networks for a large number of subscribers under dynamic channel conditions. In long term evolution (LTE) networks, multimedia broadcast multicast service (MBMS) is a bandwidth efficient data service to simultaneously support multiple users at high bandwidth efficiency. In this paper, instead of considering spectrum resource allocation, we investigate MBMS provisioning for each mobile user based on the higher layer robust header compression (ROHC) consideration in response to user channel quality to reduce packet losses. We formulate a profit maximization problem for two different MBMS channel models and further propose a new MBMS assignment scheme for each user to be assigned a target MBMS with optimal ROHC parameters. We further develop a dynamic programming algorithm for user assignment and ROHC parameters optimization to achieve maximal profit with high spectrum resource utility. Our numerical results demonstrate substantial profit gain achieved by the proposed method in LTE systems.
Protective Effects of Estradiol and Dihydrotestosterone following Spinal Cord Injury

Spinal cord injury (SCI) results in lesions that destroy tissue and disrupt spinal tracts, producing deficits in locomotor and autonomic function. We previously demonstrated that motoneurons and the muscles they innervate show pronounced atrophy after SCI, and these changes are prevented by treatment with testosterone. Here, we assessed whether the testosterone active metabolites estradiol and dihydrotestosterone have similar protective effects after SCI. Young adult female rats received either sham or T9 spinal cord contusion injuries and were treated with estradiol, dihydrotestosterone, both, or nothing via Silastic capsules. Basso-Beattie-Bresnahan locomotor testing was performed weekly and voiding behavior was assessed at 3 weeks post-injury. Four weeks after SCI, lesion volume and tissue sparing, quadriceps muscle fiber cross-sectional area, and motoneuron dendritic morphology were assessed. Spontaneous locomotor behavior improved after SCI, but hormone treatments had no effect. Voiding behavior was disrupted after SCI, but was significantly improved by treatment with either estradiol or dihydrotestosterone; combined treatment was maximally effective. Treatment with estradiol reduced lesion volume, but dihydrotestosterone alone and estradiol combined with dihydrotestosterone were ineffective. SCI-induced decreases in motoneuron dendritic length were attenuated by all hormone treatments. SCI-induced reductions in muscle fiber cross-sectional areas were prevented by treatment with either dihydrotestosterone or estradiol combined with dihydrotestosterone, but estradiol treatment was ineffective. These findings suggest that deficits in micturition and regressive changes in motoneuron and muscle morphology seen after SCI are ameliorated by treatment with estradiol or dihydrotestosterone, further supporting a role for steroid hormones as neurotherapeutic agents in the injured nervous system.
Dynamic Optimization with Particle Swarms (DOPS): a meta-heuristic for parameter estimation in biochemical models

Mathematical modeling is a powerful tool to analyze, and ultimately design biochemical networks. However, the estimation of the parameters that appear in biochemical models is a significant challenge. Parameter estimation typically involves expensive function evaluations and noisy data, making it difficult to quickly obtain optimal solutions. Further, biochemical models often have many local extrema which further complicates parameter estimation. Toward these challenges, we developed Dynamic Optimization with Particle Swarms (DOPS), a novel hybrid meta-heuristic that combined multi-swarm particle swarm optimization with dynamically dimensioned search (DDS). DOPS uses a multi-swarm particle swarm optimization technique to generate candidate solution vectors, the best of which is then greedily updated using dynamically dimensioned search. We tested DOPS using classic optimization test functions, biochemical benchmark problems and real-world biochemical models. We performed $\mathcal {T}$ = 25 trials with $\mathcal {N}$ = 4000 function evaluations per trial, and compared the performance of DOPS with other commonly used meta-heuristics such as differential evolution (DE), simulated annealing (SA) and dynamically dimensioned search (DDS). On average, DOPS outperformed other common meta-heuristics on the optimization test functions, benchmark problems and a real-world model of the human coagulation cascade. DOPS is a promising meta-heuristic approach for the estimation of biochemical model parameters in relatively few function evaluations. DOPS source code is available for download under a MIT license at http://www.varnerlab.org .
Accelerating Chemical Discovery with Machine Learning: Simulated Evolution of Spin Crossover Complexes with an Artificial Neural Network

Machine learning (ML) has emerged as a powerful complement to simulation for materials discovery by reducing time for evaluation of energies and properties at accuracy competitive with first-principles methods. We use genetic algorithm (GA) optimization to discover unconventional spin-crossover complexes in combination with efficient scoring from an artificial neural network (ANN) that predicts spin-state splitting of inorganic complexes. We explore a compound space of over 5600 candidate materials derived from eight metal/oxidation state combinations and a 32-ligand pool. We introduce a strategy for error-aware ML-driven discovery by limiting how far the GA travels away from the nearest ANN training points while maximizing property (i.e., spin-splitting) fitness, leading to discovery of 80% of the leads from full chemical space enumeration. Over a 51-complex subset, average unsigned errors (4.5 kcal/mol) are close to the ANN’s baseline 3 kcal/mol error. By obtaining leads from the trained ANN within seco...
Prostate Cancer Screening.

During the prostate-specific antigen-based prostate cancer (PCa) screening era there has been a 53% decrease in the US PCa mortality rate. Concerns about overdiagnosis and overtreatment combined with misinterpretation of clinical trial data led to a recommendation against PCa screening, resulting in a subsequent reversion to more high-risk disease at diagnosis. Re-evaluation of trial data and increasing acceptance of active surveillance led to a new draft recommendation for shared decision making for men aged 55 to 69 years old. Further consideration is needed for more intensive screening in men with high-risk factors. PCa screening significantly reduces PCa morbidity and mortality.
Effect of Mars Atmospheric Loss on Snow Melt Potential in a 3.5 Gyr Mars Climate Evolution Model

Post-Noachian Martian paleochannels indicate the existence of liquid water on the surface of Mars after about 3.5 Gya [Irwin et al., 2015; Palucis et al., 2016]. In order to explore the effects of variations in CO2 partial pressure and obliquity on the possibility of surface water, we created a zero-dimensional surface energy balance model. We combine this model with physically consistent orbital histories to track conditions over the last 3.5 Gyr of Martian history. We find that melting is allowed for atmospheric pressures corresponding to exponential loss rates of dP/dt∝t−3.73 or faster, but this rate is within 0.5σ of the rate calculated from initial measurements made by the Mars Atmosphere and Volatile EvolutioN (MAVEN) mission, if we assume all the escaping oxygen measured by MAVEN comes from atmospheric CO2[Lillis et al., 2017; Tu et al., 2015]. Melting at this loss rate matches selected key geologic constraints on the formation of Hesperian river networks, assuming optimal melt conditions during the warmest part of each Mars year [Irwin et al., 2015; Stopar et al., 2006; Kite et al., 2017a,b].. The atmospheric pressure has a larger effect on the surface energy than changes in Mars's mean obliquity. These results show that initial measurements of atmosphere loss by MAVEN are consistent with atmospheric loss being the dominant process that switched Mars from a melt-permitting to a melt-absent climate [Jakosky et al., 2017], but non-CO2 warming will be required if <2 Gya paleochannels are confirmed, or if most of the escaping oxygen measured by MAVEN comes from H2O.
Long-Acting Reversible Contraception Free of Charge, Method Initiation, and Abortion Rates in Finland

Objectives. To evaluate whether a public program providing long-acting reversible contraceptive (LARC) methods free of charge increases the LARC initiation rate and reduces the unintended pregnancy rate in the general population.Methods. Since 2013, all women in Vantaa, Finland, have been entitled to 1 LARC method free of charge. With time-series analysis between 2000 and 2015, we assessed whether this public program was associated with changes in steady-state mean rates of LARC initiation and abortions.Results. The initiation rate of LARCs (1/1000 women) increased 2.2-fold from 1.9 to 4.2 after the intervention (P < .001). Concomitantly, the abortion rate (1/1000 women) declined by 16% from 1.1 to 0.9 in the total sample (P < .001), by 36% from 1.3 to 0.8 among those aged 15 to 19 years (P < .001), and by 14% from 2.0 to 1.7 among those aged 20 to 24 years (P = .01).Conclusions. The LARC program was associated with increased uptake of LARC methods and fewer abortions in the population.Public Health Impli...
Do Report Cards Predict Future Quality? The Case of Skilled Nursing Facilities

Report cards on provider performance are intended to improve consumer decision-making and address information gaps in the market for quality. However, inadequate risk adjustment of report-card measures often biases comparisons across providers. We test whether going to a skilled nursing facility (SNF) with a higher star rating leads to better quality outcomes for a patient. We exploit variation over time in the distance from a patient's residential ZIP code to SNFs with different ratings to estimate the causal effect of admission to a higher-rated SNF on health care outcomes, including mortality. We found that patients who go to higher-rated SNFs achieved better outcomes, supporting the validity of the SNF report card ratings.
Longitudinal Assessment of Illnesses, Stress Dosing, and Illness Sequelae in Patients With Congenital Adrenal Hyperplasia.

Context Patients with congenital adrenal hyperplasia (CAH) are at risk for life-threatening adrenal crises. Management of illness episodes aims to prevent adrenal crises. Objective We evaluated rates of illnesses and associated factors in patients with CAH followed prospectively and receiving repeated glucocorticoid stress dosing education. Methods Longitudinal analysis of 156 patients with CAH followed at the National Institutes of Health Clinical Center over 23 years was performed. The rates of illnesses and stress-dose days, emergency room (ER) visits, hospitalizations, and adrenal crises were analyzed in relation to phenotype, age, sex, treatment, and hormonal evaluations. Results A total of 2298 visits were evaluated. Patients were followed for 9.3 ± 6.0 years. During childhood, there were more illness episodes and stress dosing than adulthood (P < 0.001); however, more ER visits and hospitalizations occurred during adulthood (P ≤ 0.03). The most robust predictors of stress dosing were young age, low hydrocortisone and high fludrocortisone dose during childhood, and female sex during adulthood. Gastrointestinal and upper respiratory tract infections (URIs) were the two most common precipitating events for adrenal crises and hospitalizations across all ages. Adrenal crisis with probable hypoglycemia occurred in 11 pediatric patients (ages 1.1 to 11.3 years). Undetectable epinephrine was associated with ER visits during childhood (P = 0.03) and illness episodes during adulthood (P = 0.03). Conclusions Repeated stress-related glucocorticoid dosing teaching is essential, but revised age-appropriate guidelines for the management of infectious illnesses are needed for patients with adrenal insufficiency that aim to reduce adrenal crises and prevent hypoglycemia, particularly in children.
Robust control for the tracking of robot motion

In this paper we examine the stability of a proportional derivative (PD) controller for the trajectory-following problem of a robot manipulator. We use Lyapunov's second method to derive a uniform boundness result for the PD controller. We show that if the PD controller gains are chosen greater than a specific bound and if the initial tracking error is zero, the velocity and position tracking errors are uniformly bounded. We then develop two additional controllers that use auxiliary control inputs along with the PD controller. Both of these controllers are shown to yield a uniform ultimate boundness property for the tracking error.
Site-Selective Cysteine-Cyclooctyne Conjugation.

We report a site-selective cysteine-cyclooctyne conjugation reaction between a seven-residue peptide tag (DBCO-tag, Leu-Cys-Tyr-Pro-Trp-Val-Tyr) at the N or C terminus of a peptide or protein and various aza-dibenzocyclooctyne (DBCO) reagents. Compared to a cysteine peptide control, the DBCO-tag increases the rate of the thiol-yne reaction 220-fold, thereby enabling selective conjugation of DBCO-tag to DBCO-linked fluorescent probes, affinity tags, and cytotoxic drug molecules. Fusion of DBCO-tag with the protein of interest enables regioselective cysteine modification on proteins that contain multiple endogenous cysteines; these examples include green fluorescent protein and the antibody trastuzumab. This study demonstrates that short peptide tags can aid in accelerating bond-forming reactions that are often slow to non-existent in water.
Horizontal gene transfer constrains the timing of methanogen evolution.

Microbial methanogenesis may have been a major component of Earth’s carbon cycle during the Archaean eon, generating a methane greenhouse that increased global temperatures enough for a liquid hydrosphere, despite the Sun’s lower luminosity at the time. Evaluation of potential solutions to the ‘faint young Sun’ hypothesis by determining the age of microbial methanogenesis has been limited by ambiguous geochemical evidence and the absence of a diagnostic fossil record. To overcome these challenges, we use a temporal constraint: a horizontal gene transfer event from within archaeal methanogens to the ancestor of Cyanobacteria, one of the few microbial clades with recognized crown-group fossils. Results of molecular clock analyses calibrated by this horizontal-gene-transfer-propagated constraint show methanogens diverging within Euryarchaeota no later than 3.51 billion years ago, with methanogenesis itself probably evolving earlier. This timing provides independent support for scenarios wherein microbial methane production was important in maintaining temperatures on the early Earth.
Prioritizing Tests of Epistasis Through Hierarchical Representation of Genomic Redundancies

Epistasis is defined as a statistical interaction between two or more genomic loci in terms of their association with a phenotype of interest. Epistatic loci that are identified using data from Genome-Wide Association Studies (GWAS) provide insights into the interplay among multiple genetic factors, with applications including assessment of susceptibility to complex diseases, decision making in precision medicine, and gaining insights into disease mechanisms. Since the number of genomic loci assayed by GWAS is extremely large (usually in the order of millions), identification of epistatic loci is a statistically difficult and computationally intensive problem. Even when only pairwise interactions are considered, the size of the search space ranges from hundreds of millions to billions of locus pairs. The large number of statistical tests performed also makes sufficient type one error correction imperative. Consequently, efficient algorithms are required to filter the tests that are performed and evaluate large GWAS data sets in a reasonable amount of computation time. It has been observed that many pairwise tests are redundant due to correlations in their genotype values across samples, known as linkage disequilibrium. However, algorithms that have been developed for efficient identification of epistatic loci do not systematically exploit linkage disequilibrium. Here, we propose a new algorithm for fast epistasis detection based on hierarchical representation of linkage disequilibrium (LinDen). We utilize redundancies in genotype patterns between neighboring loci to generate a hierarchical structure and execute a branch-and-bound search to prioritize loci testing based on approximations of a test statistic for pairs of locus groups. The hierarchical organization of tests performed by LinDen allows for efficient scaling based on the screened loci. We test LinDen comprehensively on three data sets obtained from the Wellcome Trust Case Control Consortium: type two diabetes, psoriasis, and hypertension. Our results show that, as compared other state-of-the-art tools for fast epistasis detection, LinDen drastically reduces the number of tests performed while discovering statistically significant locus pairs. LinDen is implemented in C++ and is available as open source at http://compbio. Case edu/linden/.
Theoretical Disagreement, Legal Positivism, and Interpretation

Ronald Dworkin famously argued that legal positivism is a defective account of law because it has no account of Theoretical Disagreement. In this article I argue that legal positivism—as advanced by H.L.A. Hart—does not need an account of Theoretical Disagreement. Legal positivism does, however, need a plausible account of interpretation in law. I provide such an account in this article.
A Visual Interaction Framework for Dimensionality Reduction Based Data Exploration

Dimensionality reduction is a common method for analyzing and visualizing high-dimensional data. However, reasoning dynamically about the results of a dimensionality reduction is difficult. Dimensionality-reduction algorithms use complex optimizations to reduce the number of dimensions of a dataset, but these new dimensions often lack a clear relation to the initial data dimensions, thus making them difficult to interpret. Here we propose a visual interaction framework to improve dimensionality-reduction based exploratory data analysis. We introduce two interaction techniques, forward projection and backward projection, for dynamically reasoning about dimensionally reduced data. We also contribute two visualization techniques, prolines and feasibility maps, to facilitate the effective use of the proposed interactions. We apply our framework to PCA and autoencoder-based dimensionality reductions. Through data-exploration examples, we demonstrate how our visual interactions can improve the use of dimensionality reduction in exploratory data analysis.
Derivations on the algebra of Rajchman measures

For a locally compact Abelian group G, the algebra of Rajchman measures, denoted by $${M}_{0}(G)$$ , is the set of all bounded regular Borel measures on G Fourier transform of which vanish at infinity. In this paper, we investigate the spectral structure of the algebra of Rajchman measures, and illustrate aspects of the residual analytic structure of its maximal ideal space. In particular, we show that $${M}_{0}(G)$$ has a nonzero continuous point derivation, whenever G is a nondiscrete locally compact Abelian group. We then give the definition of the Rajchman algebra for a general (not necessarily Abelian) locally compact group, and prove that for a noncompact connected SIN group, the Rajchman algebra admits a nonzero continuous point derivation. Moreover, we discuss the analytic behavior of the spectrum of $${M}_{0}(G)$$ . Namely, we show that for every nondiscrete metrizable locally compact Abelian group G, the maximal ideal space of $${M}_{0}(G)$$ contains analytic disks.
The difficulty of discerning the effect of neuroscience: a peer commentary of Shen et al. 2018.

In a recent issue of The Journal of Law and the Biosciences, Francis Shen and his coauthors offer a new dataset examining the extent to which mock jurors place weight on neuroscience-based memory recognition detection evidence, which seeks to detect whether an individual possesses knowledge that allows an inference as to that person’s role in a prior event (such as a crime). In this brief commentary, I seek to critically examine what we can learn from that dataset, and provide some framework for future research in this area.
Influence of the Fluctuating Velocity Field on the Surface Pressures in a Jet/Fin Interaction

The mechanism by which aerodynamic effects of jet/fin interaction arise from the flow structure of a jet in crossflow is explored using particle image velocimetry measurements of the crossplane vel...
Evaluation of Multiple Hardware and Software in the Loop Signal Controllers in Simulation Environment

This study evaluates two groups of methods to model traffic signal operations in microscopic simulation: hardware-in-the-loop simulation (HILS) and software-in-the-loop simulation (SILS). These met...
Hybridized Discontinuous Galerkin Methods for Wave Propagation

We present the recent development of hybridizable and embedded discontinuous Galerkin (DG) methods for wave propagation problems in fluids, solids, and electromagnetism. In each of these areas, we describe the methods, discuss their main features, display numerical results to illustrate their performance, and conclude with bibliography notes. The main ingredients in devising these DG methods are (1) a local Galerkin projection of the underlying partial differential equations at the element level onto spaces of polynomials of degree k to parametrize the numerical solution in terms of the numerical trace; (2) a judicious choice of the numerical flux to provide stability and consistency; and (3) a global jump condition that enforces the continuity of the numerical flux to obtain a global system in terms of the numerical trace. These DG methods are termed hybridized DG methods, because they are amenable to hybridization (static condensation) and hence to more efficient implementations. They share many common advantages of DG methods and possess some unique features that make them well-suited to wave propagation problems.
Electron mobility in graphene without invoking the Dirac equation

The Dirac point and linear band structure in graphene bestow it with remarkable electronic and optical properties, a subject of intense ongoing research. Explanations of high electronic mobility in graphene often invoke the masslessness of electrons based on the effective relativistic Dirac-equation behavior, which are inaccessible to most undergraduate students and are not intuitive for non-physics researchers unfamiliar with relativity. Here, we show how to use only basic concepts from semiconductor theory and the linear band structure of graphene to explain its unusual effective mass and mobility, and compare them with conventional metals and semiconductors. We discuss the more intuitive concept of transverse effective mass, which emerges naturally from these basic derivations, and which approaches zero in the limit of undoped graphene at low temperature and is responsible for its extremely high mobility.
Stemming the tide of illiberalism? Legal mobilization and adversarial legalism in Central and Eastern Europe

Abstract This paper explores the rise of rights-based regulation through litigation as a distinctive feature of legal culture in Central and Eastern Europe post-1989. This type of adversarial legalism was born at the intersection of post-communist, European integration, and neoliberal discourses, and is characterized by legal mobilization at national and supranational levels, selective adaptation of adversarial mechanisms, and the growth of rights consciousness. The paper distinguishes Eastern European developments from both American and Western European types of adversarial legalism, assesses the first quarter century of post-communism and represents a first step towards constructing a genealogy of the region's legal culture post-1989.
Targeted assembly and synchronization of self-spinning microgears

Self-assembly is the autonomous organization of components into patterns or structures: an essential ingredient of biology and a desired route to complex organization1. At equilibrium, the structure is encoded through specific interactions2–8, at an unfavourable entropic cost for the system. An alternative approach, widely used by nature, uses energy input to bypass the entropy bottleneck and develop features otherwise impossible at equilibrium9. Dissipative building blocks that inject energy locally were made available by recent advances in colloidal science10,11 but have not been used to control self-assembly. Here we show the targeted formation of self-powered microgears from active particles and their autonomous synchronization into dynamical superstructures. We use a photoactive component that consumes fuel, haematite, to devise phototactic microswimmers that form self-spinning microgears following spatiotemporal light patterns. The gears are coupled via their chemical clouds by diffusiophoresis12 and constitute the elementary bricks of synchronized superstructures, which autonomously regulate their dynamics. The results are quantitatively rationalized on the basis of a stochastic description of diffusio-phoretic oscillators dynamically coupled by chemical gradients. Our findings harness non-equilibrium phoretic phenomena to program interactions and direct self-assembly with fidelity and specificity. It lays the groundwork for the autonomous construction of dynamical architectures and functional micro-machinery. Active colloidal particles are shown to be capable of aggregating into stable spinning clusters that constitute self-powered microgears. The demonstration reveals a new design principle for micromachinery using dissipative building blocks.
Long term biochar effects on corn yield, soil quality and profitability in the US Midwest

Abstract Corn production in the US Midwest has the potential to generate a large amount of crop residue for bioenergy production. However, unconstrained harvesting of crop residues is associated with a long-term decline in soil quality. Biochar applications can mitigate many of the negative effects of residue removal but data and economic analyses to support decision making are lacking. To explore sustainable and profitable practices for residue harvesting in central Iowa we used 11 years of soil, crop yield, and management data to calibrate the Agricultural Production Systems sIMulator (APSIM) biochar model. We then used the model to evaluate how different biochar types and application rates impact productivity and environmental performance of conventional corn and corn-soybean cropping systems in Iowa under different N fertilizer application rates and residue harvesting scenarios. A cost-benefit analysis was also employed to identify the economically optimal biochar application rate from both producer and societal perspectives. Modeling results showed for both continuous corn and corn-soybean rotations that as biochar application rate increased (0–90 Mg ha−1) nitrate leaching decreased (2.5–20%) and soil carbon levels increased (8–115%), but there was only a small impact on corn yields (–2.6 to 0.6%). The cost-benefit analysis revealed that public benefits, evaluated from decreased nitrate leaching and increased soil carbon levels, significantly outweighed the private revenue accrued from crop yield gains, and that a biochar application rate of 22 Mg ha−1 was more cost-effective (per ton) compared to higher biochar rates. Overall, this study found that applying biochar once at a rate of 22 Mg ha−1 allows for the sustainable annual removal of 50% of corn residue for 32 years, is profitable for farmers even with minimal impact on grain yield, and beneficial to society through reduced nitrate leaching and increased soil organic carbon levels.
A Study of Integer Sorting on Multicores

Integer sorting on multicores and GPUs can be realized by a variety of approaches that include variants of distribution-based methods such as radix-sort, comparison-oriented algorithms such as dete...
An Iterative Participatory Approach to Developing an Early Childhood Problem-based STEM Curriculum

This paper describes an iterative participatory curriculum design approach to developing a problem-based STEM curriculum for preschool children. The curriculum aims to teach young children problem-solving using an adapted version of the engineering design process (EDP). Despite evidence showing that a rigorous, integrated STEM curriculum promotes cognitive development and curiosity, very little STEM or engineering instruction occurs in classrooms for three- to five-year-old children, and few studies include teachers in the curriculum design process. Research has shown that, when children experience an engineering curriculum, they show an increase in engagement, in the number of engineering behaviors displayed, and in persistence in completing activities. As well, when teachers are involved in designing curriculum, they are more likely to feel empowered and sustain implementation. Qualitative analysis of semi-structured interviews with 13 preschool teachers after the development process showed that teachers who participated in the process perceived increased knowledge and self-efficacy in teaching STEM in their classrooms. These reflections support using a participatory curriculum design approach for empowering teachers and enhancing self-efficacy in teaching STEM to young children. High teacher self-efficacy has been associated with positive classroom outcomes and teacher retention in the profession.
Dynamic Corrective Taxes with Time-Varying Salience

Abstract Economies across the globe are becoming increasingly cashless and many payment systems have become automated, driving a temporal wedge between consumption and payment and generally making the costs of consumption intermittently salient. Since this inconsistent price salience alters demand elasticities, it is a particular concern for goods that generate externalities and the price-based policies deployed to address them. This paper derives optimal dynamic corrective taxes for suboptimal and persistent consumption decisions. These taxes depend on the agent's ability to commit to a future consumption path. We also characterize a second-best constant tax and the excess burden from time-invariant tax rates. When calibrated to U.S. residential electricity consumption, the model shows that the second-best constant tax is more than twice the marginal external cost of carbon emissions.