cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Single-task and dual-task tandem gait test performance after concussion

Objective To examine tandem gait test (TGT) performance during single-task and dual-task conditions. Design Prospective, longitudinal observational study Setting Motion analysis laboratory Participants Ten post-concussion (30% F, 19.0 [95% CI=15.6–22.4] years) and 7 control (57% F, 20.0 [16.7 -23.3] years) participants completed the TGT in single-task and dual-task conditions within 72 hours of sustaining a concussion and again at 1 week, 2 weeks, 1 month, and 2 months post-injury. Exclusion criteria included a current lower extremity injury, diagnosed learning disability, or documented prior concussion within the past year. Independent variables TGT trials were performed without (single-task) and while concurrently performing a cognitive test (dual-task). Outcome measures Participants completed 3 trials in each condition while whole body motion capture was performed. Outcome variables included the average completion time for the 3 trials, mean center-of-mass gait velocity, and cadence. Main results Concussion participants took significantly longer to complete the dual-task TGT than controls (16.4 [13.4 -19.4] vs. 10.1 [6.4 -13.7] seconds) at the 72 hour, 1 week, and 2 week time points (p=.03); single-task TGT times were significantly lower 72 hours post-injury only (p=.04). Cadence was significantly lower for concussion participants across the two month testing period during dual-task TGT (89.5 [68.6 -110.4] vs. 127.0 [97.4 -156.6] steps/minute; p=.04). Mean gait velocity was lower for concussion participants at 72 hours post-injury in both conditions. Conclusions Dual-task TGT deficits lasted longer for concussion participants than single-task TGT deficits. Including a secondary task during dynamic assessments of gait after concussion may increase the sensitivity to movement deficits that are undetectable using single-tasks. Competing interests The authors have no conflicts of interest to report.
The effects of health insurance within families: experimental evidence from Nicaragua

This paper measures the causal effects of parent enrollment into voluntary health insurance on healthcare utilization among insured and uninsured children in Nicaragua. The study utilizes a randomized trial and age-eligibility cut-off in which insurance subsidies were randomly allocated to parents that covered their dependent children under 12; children ages 12 and older were not eligible for coverage. Among eligible children, the insurance increased utilization at covered providers by 0.56 visits and increased overall utilization by 1.3 visits. Ineligible children with insured parents experienced 1.7 fewer healthcare visits, driven by parent, not sibling enrollment. The results suggest complementarities across healthcare provider type, and provide evidence that households reallocate resources across all members, in response to changes in healthcare prices for some.
A space-time adaptive method for reservoir flows: formulation and one-dimensional application

This paper presents a space-time adaptive framework for solving porous media flow problems, with specific application to reservoir simulation. A fully unstructured mesh discretization of space and time is used instead of a conventional time-marching approach. A space-time discontinuous Galerkin finite element method is employed to achieve a high-order discretization on the anisotropic, unstructured meshes. Anisotropic mesh adaptation is performed to reduce the error of a specified output of interest, by using a posteriori error estimates from the dual-weighted residual method to drive a metric-based mesh optimization algorithm. The space-time adaptive method is tested on a one-dimensional two-phase flow problem, and is found to be more efficient in terms of computational cost (degrees-of-freedom and total runtime) required to achieve a specified output error level, when compared to a conventional first-order time-marching finite volume method and the space-time discontinuous Galerkin method on structured meshes.
Bacteriologic Evaluation of Electric Clippers for Surgical Hair Removal

Clipper blade assemblies for electric clippers used repeatedly without sterilization demonstrated high levels of bacterial contaminations that are potential sources of infection. A technique of sterilization of the clipper blade has been reported that eliminates the exogenous bacterial contamination.
Stage‐discharge relationship in tidal channels

Long-term records of the flow of water through tidal channels are essential to constrain the budgets of sediments and biogeochemical compounds in salt marshes. Statistical models which relate discharge to water level allow the estimation of such records from more easily obtained records of water stage in the channel. Here, we compare four different types of stage-discharge models, each of which captures different characteristics of the stage-discharge relationship. We estimate and validate each of these models on a 2-month long time series of stage and discharge obtained with an acoustic Doppler current profiler in a salt marsh channel. We find that the best performance is obtained by models that account for the nonlinear and time-varying nature of the stage-discharge relationship. Good performance can also be obtained from a simplified version of these models, which captures nonlinearity and nonstationarity without the complexity of the fully nonlinear or time-varying models.
Urinary Tract Infection in Children

During 1968-77, 572 consecutive children with one or more positive urine cultures who were referred by their family doctors to one paediatric surgical outpatient clinic were investigated and prospectively recorded. An abnormality requiring treatment was found in 45%. The yield of positive findings and need for operation were greater in those referred after one infection than in those with recurrent infection. Among those under 2 years old 90% had an abnormality. One third of children with vesicoureteric reflux showed renal scarring at the time of first attendance. The results of medical and surgical treatment over five to 15 years of follow up were analysed. They emphasised the importance of culturing the urine whenever there may be urinary infection in a child and of investigating immediately those with a positive urine culture.
Dynamic interplay between tumour, stroma and immune system can drive or prevent tumour progression

In the tumour microenvironment, cancer cells directly interact with both the immune system and the stroma. It is firmly established that the immune system, historically believed to be a major part of the body's defence against tumour progression, can be reprogrammed by tumour cells to be ineffective, inactivated, or even acquire tumour promoting phenotypes. Likewise, stromal cells and extracellular matrix can also have pro-and anti-tumour properties. However, there is strong evidence that the stroma and immune system also directly interact, therefore creating a tripartite interaction that exists between cancer cells, immune cells and tumour stroma. This interaction contributes to the maintenance of a chronically inflamed tumour microenvironment with pro-tumorigenic immune phenotypes and facilitated metastatic dissemination. A comprehensive understanding of cancer in the context of dynamical interactions of the immune system and the tumour stroma is therefore required to truly understand the progression toward and past malignancy.
An earnings, liquidity, and market model

We combine the market with earnings, liquidity and their respective growth, with motivation via a simple pricing equation, to model the cross-section with three, four and five factors. As first-ord...
Use of Alternative Medicine for Cancer and Its Impact on Survival

There is limited available information on patterns of utilization and efficacy of alternative medicine (AM) for patients with cancer. We identified 281 patients with nonmetastatic breast, prostate, lung, or colorectal cancer who chose AM, administered as sole anticancer treatment among patients who did not receive conventional cancer treatment (CCT), defined as chemotherapy, radiotherapy, surgery, and/or hormone therapy. Independent covariates on multivariable logistic regression associated with increased likelihood of AM use included breast or lung cancer, higher socioeconomic status, Intermountain West or Pacific location, stage II or III disease, and low comorbidity score. Following 2:1 matching (CCT = 560 patients and AM = 280 patients) on Cox proportional hazards regression, AM use was independently associated with greater risk of death compared with CCT overall (hazard ratio [HR] = 2.50, 95% confidence interval [CI] = 1.88 to 3.27) and in subgroups with breast (HR = 5.68, 95% CI = 3.22 to 10.04), lung (HR = 2.17, 95% CI = 1.42 to 3.32), and colorectal cancer (HR = 4.57, 95% CI = 1.66 to 12.61). Although rare, AM utilization for curable cancer without any CCT is associated with greater risk of death.
The range and valence of a real Smirnov function

We give a complete description of the possible ranges of real Smirnov functions (quotients of two bounded analytic functions on the open unit disk where the denominator is outer and such that the radial boundary values are real almost everywhere on the unit circle). Our techniques use the theory of unbounded symmetric Toeplitz operators, some general theory of unbounded symmetric operators, classical Hardy spaces, and an application of the uniformization theorem. In addition, we completely characterize the possible valences for these real Smirnov functions when the valence is finite. To do so we construct Riemann surfaces we call disk trees by welding together copies of the unit disk and its complement in the Riemann sphere. We also make use of certain trees we call valence trees that mirror the structure of disk trees.
System-Level Assessment of Active Flow Control for Commercial Aircraft High-Lift Devices

The use of active flow control technology for augmentation of aircraft aerodynamic performance is of considerable interest to the aerospace industry. Research to date has included subscale and full...
Co-optimization of distribution transformer aging and energy arbitrage using electric vehicles

The advent of electric vehicles (EVs) will bring forth increases in power transmitted over longer periods of time through the distribution power grid. Such an effect will result in accelerated loss-of-life of distribution grid assets including pole-top transformers. As preventive and corrective measures, the charging of the set of EVs connected to a particular pole-top transformer can be centrally managed (e.g., by a distribution system operator or independent aggregator). This paper proposes a centralized model to co-optimize the transformer loss-of-life with the benefits for EVs' owners on charging/discharging management. The proposed model is compared against a decentralized optimization model in which EVs' owners optimize their benefits, while ignoring the effect on the transformer. Results show the benefit of the centralized strategy in maintaining the grid assets, while modestly reducing consumers' arbitrage benefits.
Integrated analysis of flow, form, and function for river management and design testing

Author(s): Lane, BA; Pasternack, GB; Sandoval Solis, S | Abstract: The extent and timing of many river ecosystem functions is controlled by the interplay of streamflow dynamics with the river corridor shape and structure. However, most river management studies evaluate the role of either flow or form without regard to their dynamic interactions. This study develops an integrated modelling approach to assess changes in ecosystem functions resulting from different river flow and form configurations. Moreover, it investigates the role of temporal variability in such flow–form–function trade-offs. The use of synthetic, archetypal channel forms in lieu of high-resolution topographic data reduces time and financial requirements, overcomes site-specific topographic features, and allows for evaluation of any morphological structure of interest. In an application to California's Mediterranean-montane streams, the interacting roles of channel form, water year type, and hydrologic impairment were evaluated across a suite of ecosystem functions related to hydrogeomorphic processes and aquatic habitat. Channel form acted as the dominant control on hydrogeomorphic processes, whereas water year type controlled salmonid habitat functions. Streamflow alteration for hydropower increased redd dewatering risk and altered aquatic habitat availability. Study results highlight critical trade-offs in ecosystem function performance and emphasize the significance of spatio-temporal diversity of flow and form at multiple scales for maintaining river ecosystem integrity. The proposed approach is broadly applicable and extensible to other systems and ecosystem functions, where findings can be used to inform river management and design testing.
Effect of Parity on Fetal and Maternal Microchimerism: Interaction of Grafts Within a Host?

Small amounts of genetically foreign cells (microchimerism, Mc) traffic between a mother and fetus during pregnancy. Commonly, these grafts durably persist. For women, multiple naturally acquired Mc grafts can accrue, as they harbor Mc from their own mothers (maternal Mc, MMc) and subsequently acquire fetal Mc (FMc) through pregnancy. The nature of interactions between these naturally acquired grafts may inform, and be informed by, observations in transplantation, including the effect of noninherited maternal HLA antigens (NIMA) and double-unit cord blood transplantation (CBT). We asked whether FMc and MMc are impacted by the addition of new grafts as evaluated by increasing parity. Mc was identified by quantitative PCR for a nonshared polymorphism unique to the Mc source. Despite increasing sources of Mc, FMc did not increase with increasing parity. MMc concentration was significantly lower with increasing parity. The odds ratio for detection of MMc for 2 or more births compared with 1 birth was .11 (95% CI 0.03-0.42, P = .001). These observations suggest that interactions occur among naturally acquired grafts and are of interest in light of recent observations of graft-graft interaction resulting in predominance of 1 unit in double-unit CBT and the correlation of MMc with the NIMA effect.
Tripartite Chromatin Localization of Budding Yeast Shugoshin Involves Higher-Ordered Architecture of Mitotic Chromosomes

The spindle assembly checkpoint (SAC) is key to faithful segregation of chromosomes. One requirement that satisfies SAC is appropriate tension between sister chromatids at the metaphase-anaphase juncture. Proper tension generated by poleward pulling of mitotic spindles signals biorientation of the underlying chromosome. In the budding yeast, the tension status is monitored by the conserved Shugoshin protein, Sgo1p, and the tension sensing motif (TSM) of histone H3. ChIP-seq reveals a unique TSM-dependent, tripartite domain of Sgo1p in each mitotic chromosome. This domain consists of one centromeric and two flanking peaks 3 - 4 kb away, present exclusively in mitosis. Strikingly, this trident motif coincides with cohesin localization, but only at the centromere and the two immediate adjacent loci, despite that cohesin is enriched at numerous regions throughout mitotic chromosomes. Chromosome conformation capture assays reveal apparent looping at the centromeric and pericentric regions. The TSM-Sgo1p-cohesin triad is therefore at the center stage of higher-ordered chromatin architecture for error-free segregation.
Earnings-Announcement Narrative and Investor Judgment

SYNOPSIS This study examines how emphasis framing in narrative disclosures, and the investor characteristics of numeracy and persuadability, affect investors' ability to discriminate between firms'...
The Age Demographics of Librarians and the Organizational Challenge Facing Academic Libraries

The age demographics of the librarian workforce will create organizational challenges for academic libraries. The large baby boomer cohort, which is approaching retirement, needs to be replaced by millennials. There are a relatively small number of librarians in the Gen X cohort and in most cases, they have come late to leadership opportunities. Creating an organization that uses the skills and abilities of all three generations will be challenging and will require attention to both organizational structure and culture. It will also require a purposeful focus on leadership development and the provision of opportunities for people throughout the organization so that all can make significant contributions and can meaningfully influence the work and direction of the library.
Nanomedicine and Phage Capsids.

Studies of phage capsids have at least three potential interfaces with nanomedicine. First, investigation of phage capsid states potentially will provide therapies targeted to similar states of pathogenic viruses. Recently detected, altered radius-states of phage T3 capsids include those probably related to intermediate states of DNA injection and DNA packaging (dynamic states). We discuss and test the idea that some T3 dynamic states include extensive α-sheet in subunits of the capsid’s shell. Second, dynamic states of pathogenic viral capsids are possible targets of innate immune systems. Specifically, α-sheet-rich innate immune proteins would interfere with dynamic viral states via inter-α-sheet co-assembly. A possible cause of neurodegenerative diseases is excessive activity of these innate immune proteins. Third, some phage capsids appear to have characteristics useful for improved drug delivery vehicles (DDVs). These characteristics include stability, uniformity and a gate-like sub-structure. Gating by DDVs is needed for (1) drug-loading only with gate opened; (2) closed gate-DDV migration through circulatory systems (no drug leakage-generated toxicity); and (3) drug release only at targets. A gate-like sub-structure is the connector ring of double-stranded DNA phage capsids. Targeting to tumors of phage capsid-DDVs can possibly be achieved via the enhanced permeability and retention effect.
A comparative study of fabrication of sand casting mold using additive manufacturing and conventional process

In this study, two processes to fabricate casting mold, conventional sand casting process and additive manufacturing or 3D printing process, are comparatively investigated. The two processes were compared in terms of their weight saving, surface finish, design allowance, and fettling work. The results show that there are significant advantages in using additive manufacturing in the production of mold. The 3D printed molds provide substantial saving of sand used, design allowances, and fettling work. The mechanical properties of 3D printed molds are also higher than the conventional ones due to good bonding strength during 3D printing.
Comparison of an additional early visit to routine postpartum care on initiation of long-acting reversible contraception: A randomized trial.

Abstract Objective To investigate whether an early 3-week postpartum visit in addition to the standard 6-week visit increases long-acting reversible contraception (LARC) initiation by 8 weeks postpartum compared to the routine 6-week visit alone. Study design We enrolled pregnant and immediate postpartum women into a prospective randomized, non-blinded trial comparing a single 6-week postpartum visit (routine care) to two visits at 3 and 6 weeks postpartum (intervention), with initiation of contraception at the 3-week visit, if desired. All participants received structured contraceptive counseling. Participants completed surveys in-person at baseline and at the time of each postpartum visit. A sample size of 200 total participants was needed to detect a 2-fold difference in LARC initiation (20% vs. 40%). Results Between May 2016 and March 2017, 200 participants enrolled; outcome data are available for 188. The majority of LARC initiation occurred immediately postpartum (25% of the intervention arm and 27% of the routine care arm). By 8 weeks postpartum, 34% of participants in the intervention arm initiated LARC, compared to 41% in the routine care arm (p=.35). Overall contraceptive initiation by 8 weeks was 83% and 84% in the intervention and routine care arms, respectively (p=.79). There was no difference between the arms in the proportion of women who attended at least one postpartum visit (70% vs. 74%, p=.56). Conclusion The addition of a 3-week postpartum visit to routine care does not increase LARC initiation by 8 weeks postpartum. The majority of LARC users desired immediate rather than interval postpartum initiation. Clinical trial registration Clinicaltrials.gov NCT02769676 Implications The addition of a 3-week postpartum visit to routine care does not increase LARC or overall contraceptive initiation by 8 weeks postpartum when the option of immediate postpartum placement is available. The majority of LARC users desired immediate rather than interval postpartum initiation.
A brief summary and critique of criminal liability rules for intoxicated conduct

This essay provides an overview of the legal issues relating to intoxication, including the effect of voluntary intoxication in imputing to an offender a required culpable state of mind that he may...
Performance analysis and optimization of in-situ integration of simulation with data analysis: zipping applications up

This paper targets an important class of applications that requires combining HPC simulations with data analysis for online or real-time scientific discovery. We use the state-of-the-art parallel-IO and data-staging libraries to build simulation-time data analysis workflows, and conduct performance analysis with real-world applications of computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations and molecular dynamics (MD) simulations. Driven by in-depth performance inefficiency analysis, we design an end-to-end application-level approach to eliminating the interlocks and synchronizations existent in the present methods. Our new approach employs both task parallelism and pipeline parallelism to reduce synchronizations effectively. In addition, we design a fully asynchronous, fine-grain, and pipelining runtime system, which is named Zipper. Zipper is a multi-threaded distributed runtime system and executes in a layer below the simulation and analysis applications. To further reduce the simulation application's stall time and enhance the data transfer performance, we design a concurrent data transfer optimization that uses both HPC network and parallel file system for improved bandwidth. The scalability of the Zipper system has been verified by a performance model and various empirical large scale experiments. The experimental results on an Intel multicore cluster as well as a Knight Landing HPC system demonstrate that the Zipper based approach can outperform the fastest state-of-the-art I/O transport library by up to 220% using 13,056 processor cores.
Implementation of a point-of-care ultrasound skills practicum for hospitalists

IntroductionPoint-of-care ultrasound is recognized as a safe and valuable diagnostic tool for patient evaluation. Hospitalists are prime candidates for advancing the point-of-care ultrasound field ...
Integrated externally and internally generated task predictions jointly guide cognitive control in prefrontal cortex

Cognitive control proactively configures information processing to suit expected task demands. Predictions of forthcoming demand can be driven by explicit external cues or be generated internally, based on past experience (cognitive history). However, it is not known whether and how the brain reconciles these two sources of information to guide control. Pairing a probabilistic task-switching paradigm with computational modeling, we found that external and internally generated predictions jointly guide task preparation, with a bias for internal predictions. Using model-based neuroimaging, we then show that the two sources of task prediction are integrated in dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, and jointly inform a representation of the likelihood of a change in task demand, encoded in frontoparietal cortex. Upon task-stimulus onset, dorsomedial prefrontal cortex encoded the need for reactive task-set adjustment. These data reveal how the human brain integrates external cues and cognitive history to prepare for an upcoming task.
The impact of the Philadelphia beverage tax on purchases and consumption by adults and children

Numerous U.S. cities have recently enacted taxes on sweetened beverages. To examine the effects of the beverage tax of 1.5 cents per ounce in Philadelphia, we surveyed adults and children in Philadelphia and nearby comparison communities both before the tax and nearly one year after implementation. We find that the tax reduced purchases in Philadelphia stores and that Philadelphia residents increased purchases of taxed beverages outside of the city. The tax reduced the frequency of adults' soda consumption by 31 percent, but had no detectable impacts on adults' consumption of other beverages. The tax had no detectable impact on children's consumption of soda or all taxed beverages, although children who were frequent consumers prior to the tax reduced their consumption after the tax.
A Functional Framework for Ultrasound Imaging

Delay-And-Sum (DAS), the state-of-art in ultrasound imaging, is known to be sub-optimal, resulting in low resolution and contrast. Most proposed improvements involve ad-hoc re-weighting, or hit computational bottlenecks given real-time requirements. This paper takes a fresh perspective on the problem, leveraging a functional framework to obtain a regularized least-squares estimate of the tissue reflectivity function. An explicit solution is derived, which - for specific cases – can be efficiently implemented, making it suitable for real-time imaging. In our formulation, DAS appears as a back-projection without any optimal properties. We illustrate the framework through first a one-dimensional set-up, and then a two-dimensional extension with Synthetic Aperture Focusing Technique (SAFT). The one-dimensional simulations show a 77% resolution improvement with respect to DAS, which artificially limits the available bandwidth. On a standard performance-assessment phantom, simulations show that SAFT depth resolution can be improved by 71%.
Mixture theory modeling for characterizing solute transport in breast tumor tissues

Tumor numerical models have been used to quantify solute transport with a single capillary embedded in an infinite tumor expanse, but measurements from different mammalian tumors suggest that a tissue containing a single capillary with an infinite intercapillary distance assumption is not physiological. The present study aims to investigate the limits of the intercapillary distance within which nanoparticle transport resembles solute extravasation in a breast tumor model as a function of the solute size, the intercapillary separation, and the flow direction in microvessels. Solute transport is modeled in a breast tumor for different vascular configurations using mixture theory. A comparison of a single capillary configuration (SBC) with two parallel cylindrical blood vessels (2 BC) and a lymph vessel parallel to a blood vessel (BC_LC) embedded in the tissue cylinder is performed for five solute molecular weights between 0.1 kDa and 70 kDa. The effects of counter flow (CN) versus co-current flow (CO) on the solute accumulation were also investigated and the scaling of solute accumulation-decay time and concentration was explored. We found that the presence of a second capillary reduces the extravascular concentration compared to a single capillary and this reduction is enhanced by the presence of a lymph vessel. Varying the intercapillary distance with respect to vessel diameter shows a deviation of 10–30% concentration for 2 BC and 45–60% concentration for BC_LC configuration compared to the reference SBC configuration. Finally, we introduce a non-dimensional time scale that captures the concentration as a function of the transport and geometric parameters. We find that the peak solute concentration in the tissue space occurs at a non-dimensional time, $$ {T}_{peak}^{\ast } $$ = 0.027 ± 0.018, irrespective of the solute size, tissue architecture, and microvessel flow direction. This work suggests that the knowledge of such a unique non-dimensional time would allow estimation of the time window at which solute concentration in tissue peaks. Hence this can aid in the design of future therapeutic efficacy studies as an example for triggering drug release or laser excitation in the case of photothermal therapies.
Multi-Cell Multi-User Massive FD-MIMO: Downlink Precoding and Throughput Analysis

In this paper, downlink (DL) precoding and power allocation strategies are identified for a time-division-duplex multi-cell multi-user massive full-dimension MIMO network. Utilizing channel reciprocity, DL channel state information feedback is eliminated and the DL multi-user MIMO precoding is linked to the uplink (UL) direction of arrival (DoA) estimation through the estimation of signal parameters via rotational invariance technique. Assuming non-orthogonal/non-ideal spreading sequences of the UL pilots, the performance of the UL DoA estimation is analytically characterized and the characterized DoA estimation error is incorporated into the corresponding DL precoding and power allocation strategy. The simulation results verify the accuracy of our analytical characterization of the DoA estimation and demonstrate that the introduced multi-user MIMO precoding and power allocation strategy outperforms the existing zero-forcing-based massive MIMO strategies.
RNA polymerases display collaborative and antagonistic group behaviors over long distances through DNA supercoiling

Transcription by RNA polymerases (RNAPs) is essential for cellular life. Genes are often transcribed by multiple RNAPs. While the properties of individual RNAPs are well appreciated, it remains less explored whether group behaviors can emerge from co-transcribing RNAPs under most physiological levels of gene expression. Here, we provide evidence in Escherichia coli that well-separated RNAPs can exhibit collaborative and antagonistic group dynamics. Co-transcribing RNAPs translocate faster than a single RNAP, but the density of RNAPs has no significant effect on their average speed. When a promoter is inactivated, RNAPs that are far downstream from the promoter slow down and experience premature dissociation, but only in the presence of other co-transcribing RNAPs. These group behaviors depend on transcription-induced DNA supercoiling, which can also mediate inhibitory dynamics between RNAPs from neighboring divergent genes. Our findings suggest that transcription on topologically-constrained DNA, a norm across organisms, can provide an intrinsic mechanism for modulating the speed and processivity of RNAPs over long distances according to the promoter9s on/off state.
Rationalizing Choice: A Review Essay on Peter Leeson's WTF?!: An Economic Tour of the Weird

The methodology of economics has been applied with increasing frequency to nonmarket behavior and interactions. Peter Leeson's book WTF?!: An Economic Tour of the Weird illustrates both the promise and the perils of this practice. When applied judiciously to environments in which the strategic obfuscation of true motives is widespread, the economic approach can yield valuable insights. But when applied without proper attention to prevailing norms and values, the attempt to rationalize behavior can fall flat and invite ridicule. Economists seeking to understand cultural practices would do well to import insights from other disciplines, and temper their eagerness to export narrow conceptions of rationality.
A Critique of Adjudication [fin de siècle]

Part 1 Ideological stakes in adjudication: the distinction between adjudication and legislation ideological conflict over the definition of legal rules. Part 2 The problem of judicial legislation: the paradox of American critical legalism policy and coherence. Part 3 Ideology in adjudication: policy and ideology ideologically oriented legal work strategizing strategic behaviour in interpretation. Part 4 Consequences of adjudication: the moderation and empowerment effects the legitimation effect adjudication in social theory. Part 5 Post rights: rights in American legal consciousness the critique of rights conclusion - landscapes along the highway of infinite regress.
Distributed Cooperative Spectrum Sharing in UAV Networks Using Multi-Agent Reinforcement Learning

In this paper, we develop a distributed mechanism for spectrum sharing among a network of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) and licensed terrestrial networks. This method can provide a practical solution for situations where the UAV network may need external spectrum when dealing with congested spectrum or need to change its operational frequency due to security threats. Here we study a scenario where the UAV network performs a remote sensing mission. In this model, the UAVs are categorized to two clusters of relaying and sensing UAVs. The relay UAVs provide a relaying service for a licensed network to obtain spectrum access for the rest of UAVs that perform the sensing task. We develop a distributed mechanism in which the UAVs locally decide whether they need to participate in relaying or sensing considering the fact that communications among UAVs may not be feasible or reliable. The UAVs learn the optimal task allocation using a distributed reinforcement learning algorithm. Convergence of the algorithm is discussed and simulation results are presented for different scenarios to verify the convergence.
An Unintended Consequence of Mortgage Financing Regulation – a Racial Disparity

This study investigates whether mortgage financing regulation unintentionally leads to minorities paying a higher loan contract rate under a risk-based pricing system. We provide evidence that minority borrowers prepay less frequently than comparable non-minority borrowers and thus have lower termination risk. Racially neutral lending policies prohibit the lender from considering this reduced termination risk, resulting in a disparate impact from the overstatement of a minority borrower’s termination risk. While we find little evidence of a rate differential among borrowers under the current regulatory structure, results show minorities pay a higher rate when the variation in termination risk is recognized.
Deep Learning Architect: Classification for Architectural Design through the Eye of Artificial Intelligence

This paper applies state-of-the-art techniques in deep learning and computer vision to measure visual similarities between architectural designs by different architects. Using a dataset consisting of web-scraped images and an original collection of images of architectural works, we first train a deep convolutional neural network (DCNN) model capable of achieving 73% accuracy in classifying works belonging to 34 different architects. By examining the weights in the trained DCNN model, we are able to quantitatively measure the visual similarities between architects that are implicitly learned by our model. Using this measure, we cluster architects that are identified to be similar and compare our findings to conventional classification made by architectural historians and theorists. Our clustering of architectural designs remarkably corroborates conventional views in architectural history, and the learned architectural features also cohere with the traditional understanding of architectural designs.
Consultation for Classroom Management and Targeted Interventions: Examining Benchmarks for Teacher Practices That Produce Desired Change in Student Behavior.

In the context of best practices consultation with high needs teachers, we examined (a) relations between teachers’ appropriate response to student rule violations and rates of rule violations, and...
A perpetual switching system in pulmonary capillaries.

The fluctuating flow patterns of red blood cells within the pulmonary capillary networks have been assumed to be actively controlled within the pulmonary microcirculation. Here we show that the cap...
Who Creates Stable Jobs? Evidence from Brazil

Recent research shows that start‐ups are important for job creation, but these firms are also inherently volatile. We use linked employer–employee data to examine the relative importance of firm age and firm size for job creation and destruction in Brazil. Firm age is a more important determinant of job creation in Brazil than firm size; young firms and start‐ups create a relatively high number of jobs. However, young firms are also more likely to exit the market and have higher levels of employment volatility. We, therefore, condition the job creation analysis on job stability. Young firms and large firms create relatively more stable jobs in Brazil.
Image processing

Digital image processing deals with the systematic manipulation of an input image to produce an output image that is better suited for viewing or subsequent analysis. The processed images are either examined by a human observer, such as a radiologist viewing an X-ray, or they form input to an automatic machine vision system. The machine vision system then analyzes the image to derive an interpretation of the scene. A digital image is represented as a discrete two-dimensional array of numbers. Each element in the array is known as a pixel (for picture element). These pixels are assigned values that correspond to the relative brightness of the tiny portions of the image that they depict. These values are known as gray levels. Digital image processing deals with the systematic manipulation of the pixel gray levels and their distribution.
Proceedings of the 2nd Workshop on High Performance Computational Finance

Computational finance is an important multi-disciplinary research field. The traditional approaches are falling short, as the volume of data and complexity of the models increase at an astonishing rate. Financial companies increasingly rely on high performance computers to analyze high volumes of financial data, automatically execute trades, and manage risk. As financial market data continues to grow in volume and complexity, and algorithmic trading becomes increasingly popular, there is increased demand for computational power. This is transforming the way that financial markets do business and it offers potential major innovations. Yet, the field is still in its infancy. Only in recent years have we started to see growth in relevant research and in the number of workshops in the area of high performance computational finance. When we organized the First Workshop on High Performance Computational Finance in 2008, we had envisioned bringing together practitioners, researchers, vendors, and scholars from the complementary fields of computational finance and high performance computing. Our goal was to promote an exchange of ideas and research, discuss future research collaborations and develop new research directions. The success of that first workshop motivated us to organize this second edition. Recent events in the world economy have demonstrated a great need for better models and tools to perform risk analysis and risk management. Therefore, we selected risk management as a focus area for the 2009 workshop. We have assembled a diverse program, consisting of three keynotes, one invited talk and five presentations selected from the set of submitted papers. Our speakers come from the financial industry, from computer vendors and from academia. Topics range from management of value at risk to frameworks for market data processing to exploitation of new computer architectures. We are confident that this workshop will help stimulate the research in the area of high performance computational finance.
Tunable nonlinear and active THz devices based on hybrid graphene metasurfaces

Graphene is a two-dimensional layer of carbon atoms arranged in a honeycomb lattice, whose outstanding properties makes it an excellent material for future electronic and photonic terahertz (THz) devices. In this work, we design hybrid graphene metasurfaces by using a monolayer graphene placed over a metallic grating, operating in the THz frequency range. Perfect absorption can be achieved at the resonance, where the electric field is greatly enhanced due to the coupling between the graphene and the grating plasmonic responses. The enhancement of the electric field along the graphene monolayer, as well as the large nonlinear conductivity of graphene, can dramatically boost the nonlinear response of the proposed THz device. In addition, the presented enhanced nonlinear effects can be significantly tuned by varying the doping level of graphene. The proposed structure can be used in the design of THz-frequency generators and all-optical processors.
Coherence Analysis of the Noise from a Simulated Highly Heated Laboratory-Scale Jet

Measurements of full-scale high-performance military aircraft reveal phenomena that are not widely seen at laboratory scales. However, recent modifications to large eddy-simulation (LES) methods al...
Experimental warming alters the community composition, diversity, and N 2 fixation activity of peat moss (Sphagnum fallax) microbiomes.

Sphagnum-dominated peatlands comprise a globally important pool of soil carbon (C) and are vulnerable to climate change. While peat mosses of the genus Sphagnum are known to harbor diverse microbial communities that mediate C and nitrogen (N) cycling in peatlands, the effects of climate change on Sphagnum microbiome composition and functioning are largely unknown. We investigated the impacts of experimental whole-ecosystem warming on the Sphagnum moss microbiome, focusing on N2 fixing microorganisms (diazotrophs). To characterize the microbiome response to warming, we performed next-generation sequencing of small subunit (SSU) rRNA and nitrogenase (nifH) gene amplicons and quantified rates of N2 fixation activity in Sphagnum fallax individuals sampled from experimental enclosures over 2 years in a northern Minnesota, USA bog. The taxonomic diversity of overall microbial communities and diazotroph communities, as well as N2 fixation rates, decreased with warming (p < 0.05). Following warming, diazotrophs shifted from a mixed community of Nostocales (Cyanobacteria) and Rhizobiales (Alphaproteobacteria) to predominance of Nostocales. Microbiome community composition differed between years, with some diazotroph populations persisting while others declined in relative abundance in warmed plots in the second year. Our results demonstrate that warming substantially alters the community composition, diversity, and N2 fixation activity of peat moss microbiomes, which may ultimately impact host fitness, ecosystem productivity, and C storage potential in peatlands.
Hierarchical multistage Gaussian signaling games in noncooperative communication and control systems

Abstract We analyze in this paper finite horizon hierarchical signaling games between (information provider) senders and (decision maker) receivers in a dynamic environment. The underlying information evolves in time while sender and receiver interact repeatedly. Different from the classical communication (control) models, however, the sender (sensor) and the receiver (controller) have different objectives and there is a hierarchy between the players such that the sender leads the game by announcing his policies beforehand. He needs to anticipate the reaction of the receiver and the impact of the actions on the horizon while controlling the transparency of the disclosed information at each interaction. With quadratic cost functions and multivariate Gaussian processes, evolving according to first order auto-regressive models, we show that memoryless “linear” sender signaling rules are optimal (in the sense of game-theoretic hierarchical equilibrium) within the general class of measurable policies in the noncooperative communication context. In the noncooperative control context, we also analyze the hierarchical equilibrium for linear signaling rules and provide an algorithm to compute the optimal linear signaling rules numerically with global optimality guarantees.
Stereoselective [3,3]-Sigmatropic Rearrangement Promoted by the Metal [1,3]-Shift of Binuclear Fischer Carbene Complexes

Reaction of chiral homobinuclear Fischer chromium carbene complexes with allyl alcohol in the presence of NaH and the following oxidative demetalation gave alpha-allyl esters in up to 97% ee via [3,3]-sigmatropic rearrangement reaction promoted by the metal 1,3-shift. On the other hand, chiral heterobinuclear tungsten carbene complexes with arene chromium complexes afforded alpha-allyl-beta-hydroxy esters as a major product in up to 92/8 dr by the same reaction sequence.
THE OSMIUM-CATALYZED AMINOHYDROXYLATION OF BAYLIS-HILLMAN OLEFINS

Abstract The Baylis-Hillman class of olefins undergoes a facile osmium-catalyzed aminohydroxylation reaction. The diastereoselectivity for the aminohydroxylation is influenced by the aldehyde-derived substituent, while the acrylate-derived substituent has a minimal effect. A variety of derivatives and close analogs of the Baylis-Hillman product-core failed to aminohydroxylate, emphasizing the unique reactivity of this class of olefins.
Identifying Editor Roles in Argumentative Writing from Student Revision Histories

We present a method for identifying editor roles from students’ revision behaviors during argumentative writing. We first develop a method for applying a topic modeling algorithm to identify a set of editor roles from a vocabulary capturing three aspects of student revision behaviors: operation, purpose, and position. We validate the identified roles by showing that modeling the editor roles that students take when revising a paper not only accounts for the variance in revision purposes in our data, but also relates to writing improvement.
Aromatic nitration with bismuth nitrate in ionic liquids and in molecular solvents: a comparative study of Bi(NO3)3·5H2O/[bmim][PF6] and Bi(NO3)3·5H2O/1,2-DCE systems

Abstract A suspension of bismuth nitrate pentahydrate (BN) in [bmim][PF6] or [bmim][BF4] imidazolium ionic liquid (IL) is an effective reagent for ring nitration of activated aromatics under mild conditions without the need for external promoters. Nitration can also be effected in 1,2-DCE, MeCN, or MeNO2 without additives. Nitration of activated arenes (anisole, toluene, ethylbenzene, cumene, p-xylene, mesitylene, durene, and 1,3-dimethoxybenzene) is considerably faster (time to completion) in BN/[bmim][PF6] relative to BN/1,2-DCE and there are also differences in isomer distributions (for anisole, toluene, and ethylbenzene). With introduction of strongly deactivating substituents (–CHO; –MeCO; –NO2) the BN/IL system is no longer active but reactions still proceed with BN/1,2-DCE in reasonable yields. The ready availability and low cost of BN, simple operation, and absence of promoters, coupled to recycling and reuse of the IL, provide an attractive alternative to classical nitration methods for activated arenes. Switching from Bi(NO3)3·5H2O/[bmim][PF6] to Bi(NO3)3·5H2O/1,2-DCE increases the scope of the substrates that can be nitrated.