cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
The effects of age, gender, race and concomitant disease on postoperative complications

The purpose of this study was to identify factors from simple past medical history which could alert surgeons to patients at increased risk of postoperative complications. Five hundred and fourteen patients undergoing elective surgery were studied prospectively. Factors evaluated included the patients' age, gender, race and the presence in the past medical history of coronary artery disease, congestive heart failure, cardiac dysrhythmias, respiratory disease, endocrine disease, peripheral atherosclerosis, renal disease, neuropsychiatric disease, hypertension, diabetes mellitus, prior major surgery and prior or active malignancy. All complications were recorded. The data were analysed by univariate and multivariate statistical methods. Gender, race and age were not associated with any complications. Coronary artery disease, respiratory disease, atherosclerotic peripheral vascular disease, neuropsychiatric disease, malignancy, the absence of prior major surgery, hypertension and diabetes mellitus were associated with specific postoperative complications by univariate analysis. Malignancy, diabetes mellitus, peripheral atherosclerosis, coronary artery disease, neuropsychiatric disease, renal disease and respiratory disease were independent predictors of complications as determined by multivariate analysis. Of interest is the phenomenon that the risk of postoperative complications when a combination of risk factors was present was greater than what would be predicted by the cumulative risk of these factors. This study helps identify those patients which by simple history may be at increased risk of postoperative complications and may require aggressive preoperative evaluation.
Studies of the Spinach PS II Core 28 kDa Protein Using a Monoclonal Antibody

Procedures have recently become available which allow the isolation of oxygen evolving photosystem II reaction center complexes and cores. These preparations are depleted of antennae light harvesting complexes (LHC) as well as other proteins (1). The reaction center complex contains the 47 and 43 kDa chlorophyll binding proteins, the hydrophilic 33 kDa species which is associated with oxygen evolution, the two hydrophobic proteins of 32 and 30 kDa which have been associated with the reaction center and four other proteins with molecular masses of 28, 20, 10 and 9 kDa (1). Reaction center cores differ from the complexes in that they lack the four small proteins. We have focused our studies on the 28 kDa protein which is stripped away as the PSII complex is processed to the PSII core. We are particularly interested in determining the identity and the transmembrane exposures of this protein. Our approach has been to isolate a monoclonal antibody (MAb) which is specific for the 28 kDa protein removed during reaction center core preparation. The MAb is then used to identify bands on Western blots of electrophoretic gels and exposed epitopes on various membrane preparations. The preliminary data reported here suggest that the 28 kDa protein of the core complex may be CP29 and that the MAb binding site on this protein is on the lumen side of the membrane such that the extrinsic hydrophilic proteins interfere with the MAb binding.
Molecular regulation of the chondrocyte phenotype.

The chondrocyte is a specialized mesenchymal cell that is responsible for synthesis of the matrix proteins that provide tensile strength and resistance to mechanical loading of the articular cartilage. The failure of chondrocytes within the joint to maintain the balance between synthesis and degradation of the cartilage extracellular matrix is a major component of the pathogenesis of osteoarthritis (OA). Repetitive mechanical injury, which may be exacerbated by genetic abnormalities that produce joint instability, is the primary causative factor in OA. Adult articular chondrocytes normally maintain a low turnover rate of replacement of cartilage matrix proteins, but have a limited capacity to repair major cartilage lesions. Early changes in OA include activation of chondrocyte proliferation and biosynthesis of inflammatory cytokines and matrixdegrading proteinase 1 . These early changes in synthetic activity also include the attempt by the resident chondrocytes to regenerate the matrix with cartilage-specific components such as collagens II, IX, and XI and aggrecan, although incorporation of these molecules into the normal cartilage architecture may be defective. There is also evidence of phenotypic modulation due to increased expression of collagen types I, IIA, III, IV, and X 2 . The central role of the proinflammatory, catabolic cytokines, particularly IL-1 and TNF-·, in promoting the destruction of articular cartilage in joint diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis and osteoarthritis is well established, based on in vitro and in vivo studies 1,3,4 . The earliest descriptions of IL-1 included “mononuclear cell factor”, a product of rheumatoid synovium that stimulated the synthesis of collagenase and prostaglandin E2 (PGE2), and “catabolin”, a product of normal porcine synovium that stimulated cartilage breakdown. The chondrocyte is the cellular target of cytokine action in cartilage, and IL-1‚ and TNF-· colocalize with matrix metalloproteinase (MMP) production in superficial regions of OA cartilage 5 . IL-1‚ also contributes to cartilage depletion by suppressing the expression of cartilage-specific genes, including types II, IX, and XI collagens and aggrecan 6-9 . Furthermore, IL-1 contributes to the loss of cartilage-specific phenotype by stimulating type I collagen gene expression 8,10,11 . IL-1 also stimulates cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) gene expression resulting in increased secretion of PGE2, which opposes the effects of IL-1 by inhibiting type I and stimulating type II collagen gene expression 8,10-12 . Interestingly, the IL-1-induced COX-2 response is dependent upon the differentiated phenotype of the chondrocytes 13 . The chondroprotective effects of exogenous COX-2 products or endogenously produced prostaglandins may be mediated by EP receptors or via activation of the transcription factor PPARA, which has been shown to reverse the IL-1-mediated inhibition of proteoglycan synthesis in chondrocytes 14 . Furthermore, the acute increases in COX-2 products may explain the early increases in cartilage
SU-G-TeP4-04: An Automated Monte Carlo Based QA Framework for Pencil Beam Scanning Treatments

Purpose: Prior to treating new PBS field, multiple (three) patient-field-specific QA measurements are performed: two 2D dose distributions at shallow depth (M1) and at the tumor depth (M2) with treatment hardware at zero gantry angle; one 2D dose distribution at iso-center (M3) without patient specific devices at the planned gantry angle. This patient-specific QA could be simplified by the use of MC model. The results of MC model commissioning for a spot-scanning system and the fully automated TOPAS/MC-based QA framework will be presented. Methods: We have developed in-house MC interface to access a TPS (Astroid) database from a computer cluster remotely. Once a plan is identified, the interface downloads information for the MC simulations, such as patient images, apertures points, and fluence maps and initiates calculations in both the patient and QA geometries. The resulting calculations are further analyzed to evaluate the TPS dose accuracy and the PBS delivery. Results: The Monte Carlo model of our system was validated within 2.0 % accuracy over the whole range of the dose distribution (proximal/shallow part, as well as target dose part) due to the location of the measurements. The averaged range difference after commissioning was 0.25 mm over entire treatment ranges, e.g., 6.5 cm to 31.6 cm. Conclusion: As M1 depths range typically from 1 cm to 4 cm from the phantom surface, The Monte Carlo model of our system was validated within +− 2.0 % in absolute dose level over a whole treatment range. The averaged range difference after commissioning was 0.25 mm over entire treatment ranges, e.g., 6.5 cm to 31.6 cm. This work was supported by NIH/NCI under CA U19 21239
Siblings in Child and Adolescent Family Therapy

Attending to sibling issues in therapy with children and adolescents can offer therapeutic value beyond sibling relationship enhancement. Working with siblings within a family context can help in the assessment and intervention of overall family dysfunction. Sibling problems in some situations may be a cover for underlying marital or parenting tensions. Including siblings in therapy in these instances can help in the assessment of the marital or parental hostilities and can direct couples to focus on the real issues they are facing.
An algebraic multigrid method for Q2−Q1 mixed discretizations of the Navier–Stokes equations

Summary Algebraic multigrid (AMG) preconditioners are considered for discretized systems of partial differential equations (PDEs) where unknowns associated with different physical quantities are not necessarily colocated at mesh points. Specifically, we investigate a Q2−Q1 mixed finite element discretization of the incompressible Navier–Stokes equations where the number of velocity nodes is much greater than the number of pressure nodes. Consequently, some velocity degrees of freedom (DOFs) are defined at spatial locations where there are no corresponding pressure DOFs. Thus, AMG approaches leveraging this colocated structure are not applicable. This paper instead proposes an automatic AMG coarsening that mimics certain pressure/velocity DOF relationships of the Q2−Q1 discretization. The main idea is to first automatically define coarse pressures in a somewhat standard AMG fashion and then to carefully (but automatically) choose coarse velocity unknowns so that the spatial location relationship between pressure and velocity DOFs resembles that on the finest grid. To define coefficients within the intergrid transfers, an energy minimization AMG (EMIN-AMG) is utilized. EMIN-AMG is not tied to specific coarsening schemes and grid transfer sparsity patterns, and so it is applicable to the proposed coarsening. Numerical results highlighting solver performance are given on Stokes and incompressible Navier–Stokes problems.
Corrections to “Noninvasive Imaging of the High Frequency Brain Activity in Focal Epilepsy Patients”

Physical units in Figs 3-5 in the above-named work [ibid., vol. 61, no. 6, pp. 1660–1667, Jun. 2014] were found mistyped. The corrected figures are provided here.
Energy efficiency in fading relay channels under secrecy and QoS constraints

Transmission over a half-duplex relay channel with secrecy and quality-of-service (QoS) constraints is studied. It is assumed that data is stored in buffers prior to transmission and transmitters operate with a constraint on the buffer overflow probability. Using the effective capacity formulation, secrecy throughput is derived for the half duplex two-hop fading relay system operating in the presence of an eavesdropper. The scenario without security considerations is also addressed. For both scenarios, minimum energy per bit is obtained. The impact of QoS exponents and channel correlation on the throughput is investigated via numerical analysis. Taking into account the path loss effect, the effect of the relay and eavesdropper locations on the throughput and energy efficiency is studied in a simple linear network.
User Acceptance of Voice Interfaces in the Automobile

New technologies are increasingly being implemented into the automobile. However, little is known about what factors most influence user acceptance. This study investigates factors and relationships described in the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) to explore the effects of perceived usefulness and perceived ease-of-use on people’s attitudes and behavioral intentions to use new technologies in the automobile. In particular, this study draws upon in-vehicle voice interfaces as an example of rapidly evolving in-vehicle technologies. An experiment was conducted where an age- and gender-balanced sample of 80 participants completed tasks using voice interface in one of two vehicles while driving on-road. As part of the debriefing, participants answered a structured questionnaire about their experience with the technology. The results confirmed the applicability of TAM for describing the effects of perceived usefulness and perceived ease-of-use on attitudes and behavioral intentions to use the voice interface ...
Pee no more? Urine light chains down the drain

In this issue of Blood , [Dejoie et al][1] demonstrate the superiority of serum free light chain (sFLC) testing in the response measurement of light-chain multiple myeloma (MM) over urine in accuracy, sensitivity, and prognosis.[1][2] Light-chain production in MM occurs in nearly 80% of patients,
Advancing Professional Learning in Libraries: An Exploratory Study of Cataloging and Metadata Professionals' Experiences and Perspectives on Continuing Education Issues

ABSTRACTBased on a set of web survey data, this study examines cataloging and metadata professionals' perspectives on issues surrounding continuing education. The results show that emerging data standards such as the Semantic Web and BIBFRAME, as well as metadata and digital library-related topics, are subject areas currently central to their professional concerns, in addition to RDA, for professional development. Topics such as ontologies, social tagging, and automatic metadata generation were rarely reported. Meaningful interactions were often found to be lacking in online education. The results provide evidence of the need to expand the pool of shared expertise to meet our collective needs for continuing education in the cataloging and metadata community.
Neurobiologically Informed Psychotherapy of Borderline Personality Disorder

Freud’s prediction that one day neurobiology would be systematically considered as part of psychoanalytic practice is now beginning to come to fruition. We have preliminary data on the neurobiological aspects of borderline personality disorder (BPD) such that it is actually possible to begin to build bridges between psychotherapeutic technique and what we know about brain functioning in this particular disorder [1,2]. In this chapter, I will point out what I believe are linkages between the therapeutic action of psychotherapy and our knowledge from research on BPD that it is neurobiologically based. In this integrative effort, I will explore both the possible ways in which psychotherapy changes the brain and how we might shape psychotherapeutic efforts with patients who have BPD to incorporate our knowledge of neurobiology.
Basal Dendritic Morphology of Cortical Pyramidal Neurons in Williams Syndrome: Prefrontal Cortex and Beyond.

Williams syndrome (WS) is a unique neurodevelopmental disorder with a specific behavioral and cognitive profile, which includes hyperaffiliative behavior, poor social judgment, and lack of social inhibition. Here we examined the morphology of basal dendrites on pyramidal neurons in the cortex of two rare adult subjects with WS. Specifically, we examined two areas in the prefrontal cortex (PFC) – the frontal pole (Brodmann area 10) and the orbitofrontal cortex (Brodmann area 11) – and three areas in the motor, sensory, and visual cortex (BA4, BA3-2-1, BA18). The findings suggest that the morphology of basal dendrites on the pyramidal neurons is altered in the cortex of WS, with differences that were layer-specific, more prominent in PFC areas, and displayed an overall pattern of dendritic organization that differentiates WS from other disorders. In particular, and unlike what was expected based on typically developing brains, basal dendrites in the two PFC areas did not display longer and more branched dendrites compared to motor, sensory and visual areas. Moreover, dendritic branching, dendritic length, and the number of dendritic spines differed little within PFC and between the central executive region (BA 10) and BA 11 that is part of the orbitofrontal region involved into emotional processing. In contrast, the relationship between the degree of neuronal branching in supra- versus infra-granular layers was spared in WS. Although this study utilized tissue held in formalin for a prolonged period of time and the number of neurons available for analysis was limited, our findings indicate that WS cortex, similar to that in other neurodevelopmental disorders such as Down syndrome, Rett syndrome, Fragile X, and idiopathic autism, has altered morphology of basal dendrites on pyramidal neurons, which appears more prominent in selected areas of the PFC. Results were examined from developmental perspectives and discussed in the context of other neurodevelopmental disorders. We have proposed hypotheses for further investigations of morphological changes on basal dendrites in WS, a syndrome of particular interest given its unique social and cognitive phenotype.
Magnetic design considerations of bidirectional inductive wireless power transfer system for EV applications

This paper introduces the general considerations for achieving the optimum design of bidirectional inductive wireless power transfer system (BIWPTS) for electric vehicle (EV) applications from electromagnetic field computations. The interface is used to charge and discharge the EV battery without physical connection. A FE model was developed based a proposed design strategy. The results are verified with previously developed theoretical model for the same system.
Analysis of sparse co-prime sensing array performance using wideband noise signals

A pair of co-prime receiving arrays with sparse inter-element spacing is capable of sampling a wide sense stationary signal at a set of points more densely relative to the element spacing. The properties of co-prime arrays make them attractive options for use in radar systems. In this paper, two-dimensional lattices are generated from a pair of co-prime matrices with array elements placed on these lattices. The transmission, reflection off of a target, and reception of signals by these arrays were simulated for both narrowband and wideband signals. Two waveform types were simulated. These include band-limited Gaussian noise, along with chirp waveforms so that the noise waveform performance could be assessed relative to a more traditional radar waveform. Several parameters were tested to measure the performance of the co-prime sensing arrays for the two signal types. First, the peak cross-correlation between the transmitted and received signals was studied over a range of signal bandwidths. Additionally, the quality of the arrays' estimation of the incidence direction of arrival (DOA) was determined. It was found that the band-limited noise waveforms demonstrated comparable performance to chirp signals with equivalent bandwidth. Additionally, it was found that multi-dimensional co-prime arrays were able to generate very accurate DOA estimations for both signal types.
The use of a disease state simulation assignment increased students' empathy and comfort with diabetes nutrition counseling.

Abstract Background and purpose To determine if a disease state simulation assignment increases empathy, comfort, and knowledge in diabetes nutrition counseling. Educational activity and setting One-hundred forty students completing ambulatory care experiential rotations over two academic years were invited to participate in the study. Students in the intervention group completed an empathy assignment, which involved developing and following a diet plan appropriate for a patient with diabetes followed by a reflection of their experiences. Students completed a pre- and post-intervention survey assessing empathy, comfort with counseling, and knowledge of diabetes nutrition. Findings Fifty-three students (31 in the intervention, 22 in the non-intervention group) completed the pre- and post-survey and provided informed consent. Empathy scores on the Kiersma Chen Empathy Scale (range 15–105) improved by 6.4 points in students in the intervention group compared to a decline of 1.2 in students in the non-intervention group (p = 0.045). Comfort in counseling on a diabetes diet, measured on a 10-point scale, increased significantly more in students completing the empathy assignment (4.7 vs 3.5; p = 0.044). Knowledge (0–100%) improved by 9.7% and 8.6% in the intervention and non-intervention groups, respectively (p = 0.859). Discussion Similar to other studies using disease state simulations, the findings of this study show increased confidence in counseling and empathy. Given that the assignment used in this study is more specific to nutrition counseling, its use may be most helpful in settings where pharmacists are responsible for diabetes nutrition counseling. Summary Implementation of a similar assignment could be considered for experiential rotations with nutrition counseling.
Book Review Colloquy: How Do We Redeem the Time?

This is a review of Jack Balkin’s two recent books, Constitutional Redemption: Political Faith in an Unjust World (2011) and Living Originalism (2011). I concentrate on understanding Balkin’s encompassing vision of American constitutionalism along two dimensions – his theory of constitutional change and his theory of constitutional “construction.” I applaud Balkin’s historicist approach to constitutional change, although I am skeptical of his treatment of the New Deal and a crucial aspect of his argument with respect to the adoption of the Constitution. On matters of interpretation or “construction,” I react against Balkin’s denial of the relevance of judicial supremacy and have a more skeptical take on judicial review generally. I conclude that both of these books are well worth reading and Living Originalism, in particular, may well become a standard touchstone for constitutional theory.
Multistep mutational transformation of a protein fold through structural intermediates.

New protein folds may evolve from existing folds through metamorphic evolution involving a dramatic switch in structure. To mimic pathways by which amino acid sequence changes could induce a change in fold, we designed two folded hybrids of Xfaso 1 and Pfl 6, a pair of homologous Cro protein sequences with ~40% identity but different folds (all-α vs. α + β, respectively). Each hybrid, XPH1 or XPH2, is 85% identical in sequence to its parent, Xfaso 1 or Pfl 6, respectively; 55% identical to its noncognate parent; and ~70% identical to the other hybrid. XPH1 and XPH2 also feature a designed hybrid chameleon sequence corresponding to the C-terminal region, which switched from α-helical to β-sheet structure during Cro evolution. We report solution nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) structures of XPH1 and XPH2 at 0.3 A and 0.5 A backbone root mean square deviation (RMSD), respectively. XPH1 retains a global fold generally similar to Xfaso 1, and XPH2 retains a fold similar to Pfl 6, as measured by TM-align scores (~0.7), DALI Z-scores (7-9), and backbone RMSD (2-3 A RMSD for the most ordered regions). However, these scores also indicate significant deviations in structure. Most notably, XPH1 and XPH2 have different, and intermediate, secondary structure content relative to Xfaso 1 and Pfl 6. The multistep progression in sequence, from Xfaso 1 to XPH1 to XPH2 to Pfl 6, thus involves both abrupt and gradual changes in folding pattern. The plasticity of some protein folds may allow for "polymetamorphic" evolution through intermediate structures.
Transfer of Operant Discrimination and Respondent Elicitation Via Emergent Relations of Compound Stimuli

Two experiments investigated transfer of stimulus functions via emergent relations of compound stimuli. In Experiment 1, 4 college students were taught nine conditional relations of compound stimuli and unitary stimuli (A1B1-C1, A1B2-C3, A1B3-C2, A2B1-C3, A2B2-C2, A2B3-C1, A3B1-C2, A3B2-C1, and A3B3-C3), then tested for 18 untrained stimulus relations derived from the trained relations (e.g., A1C1-B1; B1C1-A1). Participants were then taught to sequence the A stimuli (A1 →A2→A3), and tested for transfer of this sequencing response to BC compounds. Two participants demonstrated transfer of the sequencing response. Two participants demonstrated transfer of the sequencing response after additional experimental phases. In Experiment 2, 5 college students were taught nine AB-C relations and then tested for 18 AC-B and BC-A relations as in Experiment 1. A skin conductance response was conditioned to A1 by pairing this stimulus with mild electric shock. Participants were then tested for transfer of this skin conductance response to B1C1 and B3C2. Three participants showed the transfer of conditioning. One participant did not demonstrate conditioning of the skin conductance response. One participant showed transfer of the skin conductance response after a supplemental conditioning phase. Initial failures to show transfer for some participants suggest that transfer of function sometimes depends upon a history of differential responding to compound stimuli. These results suggest that emergent relations involving compound stimuli and stimulus equivalence are related phenomena.
Representation of Spatial and Feature Information in the Monkey Dorsal and Ventral Prefrontal Cortex

The primate prefrontal cortex is critical for executive functions including working memory, task switching, and response selection. The functional organization of this area has been a matter of debate over a period of decades. Early models proposed segregation of spatial and object information represented in working memory in the dorsal and ventral prefrontal cortex, respectively. Other models emphasized the integrative ability of the entire prefrontal cortex depending on task demands, not necessarily tied to working memory. An anterior-posterior hierarchy of specialization has also been speculated, in which progressively more abstract information is represented more anteriorly. Here we revisit this debate, updating these arguments in light of recent evidence in non-human primate neurophysiology studies. We show that spatial selectivity is predominantly represented in the posterior aspect of the dorsal prefrontal cortex, regardless of training history and task performed. Objects of different features excite both dorsal and ventral prefrontal neurons, however neurons highly specialized for feature information are located predominantly in the posterior aspect of the ventral prefrontal cortex. In accordance with neuronal selectivity, spatial working memory is selectively impaired by inactivation or lesion of the dorsal prefrontal cortex and object working memory by ventral inactivation or lesion. Neuronal responses are plastic depending on task training, but training too has dissociable effects on ventral and dorsal prefrontal cortex, with the latter being more plastic. Despite the absence of an overall topography, evidence exists for the orderly localization of stimulus information at a sub-millimeter scale, within the dimensions of a cortical column. Unresolved questions remain, regarding the existence or not of a functional map at the areal and columnar scale, and the link between behavior and neuronal activity for different prefrontal subdivisions.
Using the Anisotropic Laplace Equation to Compute Cortical Thickness.

Automatic computation of cortical thickness is a critical step when investigating neuroanatomical population differences and changes associated with normal development and aging, as well as in neuro-degenerative diseases including Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s. Limited spatial resolution and partial volume effects, in which more than one tissue type is represented in each voxel, have a significant impact on the accuracy of thickness estimates, particularly if a hard intensity threshold is used to delineate cortical boundaries. We describe a novel method based on the anisotropic heat equation that explicitly accounts for the presence of partial tissue volumes to more accurately estimate cortical thickness. The anisotropic term uses gray matter fractions to incorporate partial tissue voxels into the thickness calculation, as demonstrated through simulations and experiments. We also show that the proposed method is robust to the effects of finite voxel resolution and blurring. In comparison to methods based on hard intensity thresholds, the heat equation based method yields results with in-vivo data that are more consistent with histological findings reported in the literature. We also performed a test-retest study across scanners that indicated improved consistency and robustness to scanner differences.
Presumptions of Tax Motivation

Rebuttable presumptions are scattered throughout the Internal Revenue Code and the Treasury Regulations. In many cases, they are employed in service of determining a taxpayer’s motive or state of mind. They are not, however, always utilized when motive or state of mind must be assessed. In some contexts, courts are called upon to examine all relevant facts and circumstances in order to divine a taxpayer’s state of mind – which facts are relevant and the weight to be accorded to various facts are not specified ahead of time except to the extent set forth in judicial precedent. At the other extreme, in yet another subset of situations in which tax outcome turns on motive or state of mind, tax law provides that a given fact establishes an irrebuttable presumption of a given motive. In between the two extremes, tax law makes use of a variety of tools including rebuttable presumptions. When a rebuttable presumption is at work, the proof of a specified fact is deemed to establish the existence of a given state of mind, unless the party who is disadvantaged by that state of mind determination presents sufficient evidence to overcome it. Despite their prevalence, existing literature contains virtually no discussion of the use of rebuttable presumptions in tax law generally or when used for the purpose of determining motive or state of mind. This Article begins to address the gap in the existing literature and focuses on rebuttable presumptions that guide the assessment of motive or state of mind. It analyzes the purposes that rebuttable presumptions can serve and uses that analysis to craft recommendations for making better use of them. The recommendations include supplementing some facts and circumstances tests with rebuttable presumptions, converting some irrebuttable presumptions into presumptions that are rebuttable in specific ways, and modifying the design of existing rebuttable presumptions to increase the odds of the IRS receiving relevant information and to provide clearer guidance regarding how the presumptions can be rebutted.
The Progressivity Ratchet

This Article evaluates the consequences of the 2017 tax legislation for the future of progressive tax reform. The 2017 tax legislation introduced significant preferences for business income, including a cut in the corporate rate and the new Section 199A deduction for “pass-through” income. Many commentators criticized the design of the pass-through deduction and the legislation’s generally regressive effects but tacitly accepted or applauded the corporate rate cut as a desirable response to inter-national pressures. These changes also prompted renewed calls for progressive tax reforms, to increase the share of tax revenues raised from the wealthy. For one example, in early 2019, recently elected Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez proposed a 70% top individual rate on taxpayers with the highest incomes. This Article bridges these conversations on the 2017 legislation’s new preferences for business income and the future of progressive tax reform and introduces the “progressivity ratchet” as a theoretical framework for understanding their interaction. This framework first explains how poorly targeted tax preferences can increase the degree of tax avoidance in response to rate increases on other portions of the tax base. The framework then shows how this effect from poorly targeted preferences can interact with political economy constraints to limit the progressive potential of the income tax. This Article then applies this framework to reassess the corporate rate cut and the pass-through deduction in the 2017 legislation. Both changes are examples of poorly targeted preferences which, if maintained, are likely to constrain progressive reforms in other parts of the income tax base, including reforms like that suggested by Representative Ocasio-Cortez. This “path dependency” threatens to be a lasting, regressive legacy of the 2017 legislation. This Article concludes by evaluating different options to “re-verse” the ratchet and enable future progressive reforms. This discussion argues that a reversion to the rate dynamic under prior law—with a relative corporate penalty for most taxpayers and firms—is likely the most effective way to facilitate future progressive reforms, absent more fundamental changes to the tax base or the taxation of business entities.
Developing Moral Standards for Taxation

Decisions regarding the proper levels and forms of taxation are not merely questions of economics. Instead, taxation should be seen as the manifestation of a nation’s philosophical ideals of distributive justice. As such, legislators must consider the underlying philosophical beliefs of their constituents in determining the tax laws. Those philosophical beliefs should then inform decisions regarding the form those taxes should take, and amount of tax that the government should impose. This Chapter considers a variety of political philosophical positions that are common in contemporary societies, and then evaluates how a legislator might incorporate those views into the creation of a system of tax laws that properly reflect those political perspectives. In order to consider these issues in a variety of circumstances, this Chapter contemplates the philosophical positions of libertarianism, political liberalism, and utilitarianism, and then thinks through how each of these positions would apply to the creation of a variety of tax laws, including sales taxes, property taxes, wealth taxes, and income taxes. Rather than being an exhaustive analysis of the development of moral standards for taxation, this Chapter is meant to be an example of how a legislator could go about developing such standards in her own particular circumstances.
Size as a Proxy for Survival in Aedes aegypti (Diptera: Culicidae) Mosquitoes

The Aedes aegypti mosquito is the primary vector of dengue, yellow fever, chikungunya, and Zika viruses. Infection with the dengue virus alone occurs in an estimated 400 million people each year. Likelihood of infection with a virus transmitted by Ae. aegypti is most commonly attributed to abundance of the mosquito. However, the Arizona-Sonora desert region has abundant Ae. aegypti in most urban areas, yet local transmission of these arboviruses has not been reported in many of these cities. Previous work examined the role of differential Ae. aegypti longevity as a potential explanation for these discrepancies in transmission. To determine factors that were associated with Ae. aegypti longevity in the region, we collected eggs from ovitraps in Tucson, AZ and reared them under multiple experimental conditions in the laboratory to examine the relative impact of temperature and crowding during development, body size, fecundity, and relative humidity during the adult stage. Of the variables studied, we found that the combination of temperature during development, relative humidity, and body size produced the best model to explain variation in age at death. El mosquito Aedes aegypti es el vector primario de los virus de dengue, fiebre amarilla, chikungunya y Zika. Solamente las infecciones con los virus de dengue ocurren en aproximadamente 400 millones de personas cada ano. La probabilidad de infeccion con un virus transmitido por Ae. aegypti es frecuentemente atribuido a la abundancia del mosquito. No obstante, la region del desierto de Arizona-Sonora tiene una abundancia de Ae. aegypti en la mayoria de las areas urbanas, pero la transmision local de estos arbovirus no ha sido reportada en muchas de estas ciudades. Trabajos previos han examinado el rol de las diferencias de longevidad en Ae. aegypti como explicacion potencial por estas discrepancias en la transmision. Para determinar que factores fueron asociados con longevidad en Ae. aegypti en la region, colectamos huevos de ovitrampas en Tucson, Arizona y los criamos debajo de multiples condiciones experimentales en el laboratorio para examinar el impacto relativo de temperatura y competencia para nutricion durante desarrollo, tamano del cuerpo, capacidad reproductiva, y humedad relativa durante adultez. De las variables estudiados, encontramos que la combinacion de temperatura durante desarrollo, humedad relativa, y tamano del cuerpo produjo el mejor modelo para explicar variacion en edad al tiempo de la muerte.
Culturally Competent and Racially Conscious Professional Development for School Leaders: A Review of the Literature

Scholars have argued that leaders should be more culturally competent in light of the changing demographics and dynamics of schools. While professional development has historically been used as a m...
Ludics as Transgression: From Surrealism to the Absurd to Pataphysics

In my essay, I present my own work as a playwright, which stands at the intersection between surrealism, the absurd and pataphysics. I establish esthetic and philosophical distinctions between these three literary schools and movements. But I also stress the fact that they are never mutually exclusive: instead, they complement each other in the creation of an original language that exceeds the narrow boundaries of realism and rationalism. I then study the issue of ludics by showing that it holds a definite power of transgression. This transgression is both of a linguistic and of a political nature. In my perspective, ludics necessarily includes a form of critical thinking that engages the theatrical text within the community and radically questions the values and the norms of both the social order and mainstream culture.
Circadian Clock Components Offer Targets for Crop Domestication and Improvement

During plant domestication and improvement, farmers select for alleles present in wild species that improve performance in new selective environments associated with cultivation and use. The selected alleles become enriched and other alleles depleted in elite cultivars. One important aspect of crop improvement is expansion of the geographic area suitable for cultivation; this frequently includes growth at higher or lower latitudes, requiring the plant to adapt to novel photoperiodic environments. Many crops exhibit photoperiodic control of flowering and altered photoperiodic sensitivity is commonly required for optimal performance at novel latitudes. Alleles of a number of circadian clock genes have been selected for their effects on photoperiodic flowering in multiple crops. The circadian clock coordinates many additional aspects of plant growth, metabolism and physiology, including responses to abiotic and biotic stresses. Many of these clock-regulated processes contribute to plant performance. Examples of selection for altered clock function in tomato demonstrate that with domestication, the phasing of the clock is delayed with respect to the light-dark cycle and the period is lengthened; this modified clock is associated with increased chlorophyll content in long days. These and other data suggest the circadian clock is an attractive target during breeding for crop improvement.
Disposable Linear Bandits for Online Recommendations

We study the classic stochastic linear bandit problem under the restriction that each arm may be selected for limited number of times. This simple constraint, which we call disposability, captures a common restriction that occurs in recommendation problems from a diverse array of applications ranging from personalized styling services to dating platforms. We show that the regret for this problem is characterized by a previously-unstudied function of the reward distribution among optimal arms. Algorithmically, our upper bound relies on an optimism-based policy which, while computationally intractable, lends itself to approximation via a fast alternating heuristic initialized with a classic similarity score. Experiments show that our policy dominates a set of benchmarks which includes algorithms known to be optimal for the linear bandit without disposability, along with natural modifications to these algorithms for the disposable setting.
Novel temporal and spatial patterns of metastatic colonization from breast cancer rapid-autopsy tumor biopsies

Metastatic breast cancer is a deadly disease with a low 5-year survival rate. Tracking metastatic spread in living patients is difficult and thus poorly understood. Via rapid autopsy, we have collected 30 tumor samples over 3 timepoints and across 8 organs from a triple-negative metastatic breast cancer patient. The large number of sites sampled, together with deep whole-genome sequencing and advanced computational analysis, allowed us to comprehensively reconstruct the tumor’s evolution at subclonal resolution. The most unique, previously unreported aspect of the tumor’s evolution that we observed in this patient was the presence of “subclone incubators,” defined as metastatic sites where substantial tumor evolution occurs before colonization of additional sites and organs by subclones that initially evolved at the incubator site. Overall, we identified four discrete waves of metastatic expansions, each of which resulted in a number of new, genetically similar metastasis sites that also enriched for particular organs (e.g., abdominal vs bone and brain). The lung played a critical role in facilitating metastatic spread in this patient: the lung was the first site of metastatic escape from the primary breast lesion, subclones at this site were likely the source of all four subsequent metastatic waves, and multiple sites in the lung acted as subclone incubators. Finally, functional annotation revealed that many known drivers or metastasis-promoting tumor mutations in this patient were shared by some, but not all metastatic sites, highlighting the need for more comprehensive surveys of a patient’s metastases for effective clinical intervention. Our analysis revealed the presence of substantial tumor evolution at metastatic incubator sites in a patient, with potentially important clinical implications. Our study demonstrated that sampling of a large number of metastatic sites affords unprecedented detail for studying metastatic evolution.
Site and Structural Considerations

We are at the stage where we could perform a reasonable job of designing and constructing some kind of cleanroom or clean space, as we now know something about microcontamination and controlled environments. However, we may still ask ourselves, “Where would be a good site for the facility?” This is a tricky question as the answer could depend on a number of diverse factors, including emotional as well as technological elements. However, assuming that economics and the whims of the company president do not present a problem, where is an ideal site? The air should be as free of particulate and gaseous contamination as possible. Non-ideal sites in this respect are adjacent to a heavy industrial area or right next to the ocean. However, the site should be close enough to population centers and other industries so that personnel and material supplies can reach it with ease.
Teleoperation of a Redundant Manipulator

For an interactive real-time simulation of teleoperation, this paper describes an iterative form of resolved motion rate control in which the constraint Jacobian is constructed on-line in real time and is used in the pseudoinverse method, as the manipulator is teleoperated. The operator’s command is interpreted as a series of increments in Cartesian space, and then the constraint Jacobian is developed between two successive increments by viewing the predecessor as the initial configuration and the successor as the target configuration. The Jacobian constructed in this way enables us to treat both free motion and environmental contact in the same way. Although this method requires numerical iterations, its convergence is fast enough to allow real-time control.
Rating the Rating Scales

Rating scales are used quite frequently in research, especially in surveys. Typically, an itemized rating scale asks subjects to choose one response category from several arranged in hierarchical order. Dishonest researchers can, of course, purposefully manipulate the outcome of their research, if they wish, but such biasing may also be totally unintentional. This paper examines issues involved in creating a relatively unbiased rating scale. These include: (1) Connotations of category labels; (2) Response alternative effects; (3) Implicit assumptions of the question; (4) Forced-choice vs. non-forced-choice rating scales; (5) Unbalanced and balanced rating scales; (6) Order effects; (7) Direction of comparison; (8) Optimal number of points; (9) Context effects; (10) Rating approach, e.g., improvement needed, performance, comparison to expectations, comparison to ideal, etc.
TonB system, in vivo assays and characterization.

The multiprotein TonB system of Escherichia coli involves proteins in both the cytoplasmic membrane and the outer membrane. By a still unclear mechanism, the proton-motive force of the cytoplasmic membrane is used to catalyze active transport through high-affinity transporters in the outer membrane. TonB, ExbB, and ExbD are required to transduce the cytoplasmic membrane energy to these transporters. For E. coli, transport ligands consist of iron-siderophore complexes, vitamin B(12), group B colicins, and bacteriophages T1 and o80. Our experimental philosophy is that data gathered in vivo, where all known and unknown components are present at balanced chromosomal levels in the whole cell, can be interpreted with less ambiguity than when a subset of components is overexpressed or analysed in vitro. This chapter describes in vivo assays for the TonB system and their application.
Deliveries of babies with neural tube defects in Omdurman, Sudan

Background Whilst the incidence births of babies with open neural tube defects (NTD's) is falling in the USA and Western Europe, these congenital abnormalities remain a significant cause of morbidity and mortality in Africa. As a first move, prior to looking at the use of folic acid supplementation, we have attempted to define the magnitude of the problem in a Hospital based population in Sudan.
Visible Identities, Visual Rhetoric: The Self-Labeled Body as a Popular Platform for Political Persuasion

This study examines how political T-shirts—i.e., those featuring printed images, symbols, or words that make explicit reference to electoral politics—are used by their wearers as identity labels for the purpose of advancing persuasive messages in the public sphere. Drawing upon 28 in-depth interviews with wearers, I consider how making one’s political identity publicly visible with legible markers is conceptualized as a rhetorical act with the potential to challenge public perceptions of who “the people” out there really are. The discussion poses larger questions about how the visual expression of identity endemic to a wide variety of popular culture-related practices may be used by citizens to gain an empowering sense of participation in the sphere of “mainstream” political communication.