cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
The Cellular Features of Developing Carcinoma in Murine Urinary Bladder

Bladder cancer often results from a widespread reaction of urothelial cells to carcinogenic stimuli. Although developing carcinoma is widely considered to progress through various grades of epithelial atypia, well-controlled prospective studies detailing the morphologic features of these lesions at the cellular level have not appeared in the literature. This study was designed to document the cellular features of developing urothelial carcinoma in experimental animals using the BHBN model system. Developing lesions were monitored by periodic collection of urine and tissue. The specimens were coded and examined by cytology and histology using multiple discriminators. The morphologic changes in the treated bladders were statistically different from those in control tissue. They could be divided into three stages: 1) The earliest abnormalities were an increase in the number of cell layers, loss of polarity, and slight crowding of nuclei in the tissue sections. Among the cellular features, there were increased nuclear size and sharply angulated indentations (notches) in the nuclear borders. A few nuclei exhibited a finely granular pattern, but dusty chromatin predominated. 2) In the intermediate stage, nuclear crowding became more prominent, and there were numerous areas with finely granular, regularly distributed chromatin. A few nucleoli were identified. Mitoses were prominent in the tissue sections. 3) In the late stage, as papillary tumors developed elsewhere, the urothelium of the flat areas changed significantly. Nuclear crowding and notching remained constant but were overshadowed by the appearance of nucleoli and irregularly distributed chromatin. The pattern was finely granular in some cases but coarsely granular in most. Nuclear size decreased markedly as the cells became smaller and more numerous. Cytologically, it was not possible to distinguish these cells from neoplastic cells emanating from the papillary areas. This experimental study tends to confirm deductions made from clinical material that urothelial carcinoma develops through an orderly sequence of morphologic severity. It further indicates that invasive carcinoma can arise from neoplastic cells that neither occupy the full thickness of the epithelium nor represent lateral migration from an adjacent full thickness lesion. The detailed cellular features documented can be used to identify atypical cells in correlative cytologic preparations. Studies such as this could provide an experimental basis for future evaluations of the cytologic characteristics of human urothelial atypia.
The Abdominal Technetium Scan (A Decade of Experience)

Out of 270 children with gastrointestinal symptoms, the indications for technitium scanning were: gastrointestinal tract bleeding (165 patients), abdominal pain (99 patients) and a history of intussusception (6 patients). Thirty children had abnormal findings, while the remaining 240 patients had “normal” scans. Four of the 30 children with positive scans were not explored, while the others underwent laparotomy. Of the 26 operated patients, 12 (46%) had a Meckel's diverticulum. Nine patients (34%) had other pathologic lesions that were detected by the scan. Five had true “false positives” as no pathologic lesions were found. Of the 240 children with negative scans, 19 were eventually explored because of persistent symptoms or clinical findings. Two of these had a Meckel's diverticulum. Eleven had a negative exploration while six had other surgical lesions. Technitium scan should reliably detect around 80%–90% of Meckel's diverticula. It will also accurately exclude the diagnosis of Meckel's diverticulum in over 90% of patients.
Prophylactic and Remedial Therapy for the Intellectual Ailments of ’Biostatistics’

This issue contains Dr Gregory Hayden9s interesting survey of trends in the biostatistical components of Pediatrics during a 30-year period (Pediatrics 1983;72:84-87). After showing that biostatistical procedures are now used much more often than before, and that the methods have become more complicated, Hayden urges readers to learn more about statistics and urges editors to "institute more formal and thorough statistical review of manuscripts." Both of these recommendations seem eminently reasonable and sensible, but like many other reasonable and sensible policies, they may not be easy to carry out. Since biochemical, microbial, and molecular methods are now also used in medical research more often than previously, and have also become more complicated, investigative reports that contain these methods will also produce analogous problems for readers and editors who "arrested" at an earlier stage of methodologic maturation.
Members and Outsiders: An Examination of the Models of United States Citizenship As Well As Questions Concerning European Union Citizenship

Be it in the United States or across the Atlantic, notions of citizenship conjure up thoughts of nationalism, membership, equality, price and patriotism. Though these notions suggest a sense of inclusion, the term citizenship also conjures up, for many, feelings of exclusion and subordination. This article will examine the fact that despite the virtuous rhetoric associated with the term, the status of citizen is often an elusive ideal, notwithstanding the attainment of such status. While the status is theoretically to include a litany of rights as well as a perception of belonging, for many in this society, citizenship means neither. Although many consider citizenship as deriving from a few sources and resulting in one form of membership, this article will demonstrate that in the United States there are differing forms of the status and each containing various levels of participation and inclusion.' The various forms include the Fourteenth Amendment Citizens, the Other Fourteenth Amendment Citizens, and the Alien-Citizens. These various forms of the status demonstrate that becoming a United States citizen does not result in becoming an equal member of the body politic.
Nonlinear Optics at Low Powers: New Mechanism of On-Chip Optical Frequency Comb Generation

We present a new approach to nonlinear optical effects in microresonator systems, based on period-doubling bifurcations near nonlinear cavity anti-resonance, and apply it to low-power optical comb generation in a silicon chip.
Root resorptions associated with canine retraction treatment.

Introduction The hypothesis of this study was that multiple factors are dominant in causing external apical root resorption (EARR). The objective of this investigation was to better understand the clinical factors that may lead to EARR. Methods Maxillary cone-beam computed tomography scans of 18 subjects who were treated with bilateral canine retractions during orthodontics were used to calculate EARR. The subjects were treated using well-calibrated segmental T-loops for delivering a 124-cN retraction force and the moment-to-force ratio suitable for moving the canine under either translation or controlled tipping. The subjects' age, sex, treatment duration, and genotype were collected. Results Six subjects of the 18 showed definite EARR, meaning that load was not the only causing factor. All 5 subjects with the genotype identified had GG genotype of IL-1β rs11143634, indicating that people with this genotype may be at high risk. Longer treatment duration, female sex, and older age may also contribute to EARR, although the findings were not statistically significant. Conclusions EARR appears to be related to multiple factors. The orthodontic load and the genotype should be the focuses for future studies.
DVT PROPHYLAXIS: RISK STRATIFICATION SOLUTIONS

Venous thromboembolic (VTE) events including deep vein thrombosis (DVT) and pulmonary embolism (PE) remain a significant concern following total joint arthroplasty. The American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons (AAOS) guidelines for VTE prophylaxis have focused on the safety of prophylactic regimens, with the primary endpoint being prevention of symptomatic events while avoiding the risks of hematoma, infection, and re-operation associated with aggressive anticoagulation. In 2007, the AAOS clinical practice guideline recommended “risk stratification” of patients for VTE events and bleeding. Unfortunately, there remains limited evidence as to specific factors that should be used during pre-operative risk stratification. A prior investigation has demonstrated the effectiveness of using a history of VTE events, active cancer, and hypercoagulable state (i.e. Factor V Leiden) as criteria for high-risk patients undergoing total joint arthroplasty. In addition, large national database systems have been used to identify risk factors for VTE events. Unfortunately, these investigations emphasise different risk factors and their importance in increasing the risk of VTE events. Thus, criteria to be used for risk stratification of patients undergoing total joint arthroplasty remain unclear. What remains clear is that even in healthy patients who are aggressively anticoagulated, a VTE event can still occur.
Regulation of myocardial oxygen delivery in response to graded reductions in hematocrit: role of K + channels.

This study was designed to identify mechanisms responsible for coronary vasodilation in response to progressive decreases in hematocrit. Isovolemic hemodilution was produced in open-chest, anesthetized swine via concurrent removal of 500 ml of arterial blood and the addition of 500 ml of 37 °C saline or synthetic plasma expander (Hespan, 6% hetastarch in 0.9% sodium chloride). Progressive hemodilution with Hespan resulted in an increase in coronary flow from 0.39 ± 0.05 to 1.63 ± 0.16 ml/min/g (P < 0.001) as hematocrit was reduced from 32 ± 1 to 10 ± 1% (P < 0.001). Overall, coronary flow corresponded with the level of myocardial oxygen consumption, was dependent on arterial pressures ≥ ~ 60 mmHg, and occurred with little/no change in coronary venous PO2. Anemic coronary vasodilation was unaffected by the inhibition of nitric oxide synthase (l-NAME: 25 mg/kg iv; P = 0.92) or voltage-dependent K+ (K V) channels (4-aminopyridine: 0.3 mg/kg iv; P = 0.52). However, administration of the K ATP channel antagonist (glibenclamide: 3.6 mg/kg iv) resulted in an ~ 40% decrease in coronary blood flow (P < 0.001) as hematocrit was reduced to ~ 10%. These reductions in coronary blood flow corresponded with significant reductions in myocardial oxygen delivery at baseline and throughout isovolemic anemia (P < 0.001). These data indicate that vasodilator factors produced in response to isovolemic hemodilution converge on vascular smooth muscle glibenclamide-sensitive (K ATP) channels to maintain myocardial oxygen delivery and that this response is not dependent on endothelial-derived nitric oxide production or pathways that mediate dilation via K V channels.
Emergence of multi-drug resistant organisms (MDROs) causing Fournier's gangrene

Summary Background Fournier's gangrene is an uncommon but often devastating infection. There are few contemporary data on the risk factors and evolving microbiologic trends including drug-resistant organisms implicated in these life-threatening infections. Methods A retrospective study of Fournier's gangrene from 2006 to 2015 at a large academic hospital was conducted. Cases were identified using ICD codes (ICD-9: 608.83, V13.89; ICD-10: N49.3, Z87.438), and a review of medical, radiographic, and pathology records was performed to confirm each case. Data collected included socio-demographics, medical conditions, bacterial pathogens and their resistance patterns, treatments, and outcome. Descriptive and univariate statistics were performed. Results A total of 59 cases were evaluated with an overall incidence of 31.8 cases per 100,000 admissions which remained stable over the study period. Mean age was 56 years (range 18–91), 71% were male, and 44% white. Risk factors included overweight/obesity (61%), diabetes (44%, with a mean A1c of 9.6%), immunocompromised state (34%), and illicit use (20%). A causative organism was identified in all except 2 cases; 12 patients (21%) had a multidrug-resistant organism (MDRO) with MRSA being the most common pathogen (n = 8, 14% of all cases), followed by ESBL E. coli (n = 3) and MDRO Acinetobacter (n = 1). MRSA was the sole pathogen isolated in five (63%) of the eight cases involving this organism. Among those with an aerobic Gram-negative rod (GNR) isolated, 32% were fluoroquinolone-resistant. Overall, 30% of cases had a poor outcome (15% died and an additional 15% had loss of an organ/body part). Those with an MDRO were more likely to experience a poor outcome (42% vs. 28%), although this was not statistically significant (p = 0.48); of note, most (83%) MDRO cases were initially treated with an antibiotic that the organism was susceptible. Conclusions This report highlights the emergence of MDROs as an important cause of Fournier's gangrene including MRSA and drug-resistant GNRs. Antibiotics should be chosen with broad-spectrum, anti-MDRO activity given the high morbidity and mortality associated with these infections.
TURNING PINK SLIPS INTO RED TAPE: THE UNINTENDED EFFECTS OF EMPLOYMENT PROTECTION LEGISLATION

This paper presents evidence on the link between employment protection legislation (EPL), such as mandated severance packages for fired workers, and the rate of unemployment in a cross-country panel data set of OECD countries from 1990-2013. We use both a traditional fixed effects panel specification with lags of the policy variable, and also a unique structural panel vector autoregression (PVAR) method to determine the long-run dynamic interaction between employment protection legislation and unemployment. We confirm that a tightening of EPL for permanently employed workers causes a significant and persistent increase in unemployment, but the effect is only apparent at long lag lengths, some 2-5 years after the law has been implemented. We find weaker evidence that employment protection legislation specific to temporary worker contracts also increases unemployment.
State Differences in the Vocational Rehabilitation Experiences of Transition-Age Youth with Disabilities

BACKGROUND: State vocational rehabilitation (VR) agencies play a critical role in helping transition-age youth with disabilities attain their vocational goals, though there is insufficient knowledge about how agencies serve this population. OBJECTIVE: The study examines the extent to which states’ transition-age youth with disabilities apply for VR services, receive services, and are employed at case closure. METHODS: The analysis included five ratios for each state VR agency reflecting their involvement with transition-age youth at distinct stages, using data from the RSA-911 Case Service Report and other sources to identify a cohort of individuals who applied between 2004 and 2006. RESULTS: The percentage of a state’s transition-age youth population that applied for VR services ranged from 4 to 14 percent, the percentage of applicants who received VR services ranged from 31 to 82 percent, and the percentage of youth who received services and closed with an employment outcome ranged from 40 to 70 percent. Several agency- and state-level factors were correlated with these ratios. CONCLUSIONS: The wide variation in transition statistics suggests that policymakers could improve VR services for transitionage youth by developing specific standards and guidelines for VR agencies serving this population, though this study points out several limitations and challenges with such an approach.
Brainstem metastases treated with Gamma Knife stereotactic radiosurgery: the Indiana University Health experience

Brainstem metastases offer a unique challenge in cancer treatment, yet stereotactic radiosurgery (SRS) has proven to be an effective modality in treating these tumors. This report discusses the clinical outcomes of patients with brainstem metastases treated at Indiana University with Gamma Knife (GK) radiosurgery from 2008 to 2016. 19 brainstem metastases from 14 patients who had follow-up brain imaging were identified. Median tumor volume was 0.04 cc (range: 0.01-2.0 cc). Median prescribed dose was 17.5 Gy to the 50% isodose line (range: 14-22 Gy). Median survival after GK SRS treatment to brainstem lesion was 17.2 months (range: 2.8-45.6 months). The experience at Indiana University confirms the safety and efficacy of range of GK SRS prescription doses (14-22 Gy) to brainstem metastases.
Visual Detection of Structural Changes in Time-Varying Graphs Using Persistent Homology

Topological data analysis is an emerging area in exploratory data analysis and data mining. Its main tool, persistent homology, has become a popular technique to study the structure of complex, high-dimensional data. In this paper, we propose a novel method using persistent homology to quantify structural changes in time-varying graphs. Specifically, we transform each instance of the time-varying graph into a metric space, extract topological features using persistent homology, and compare those features over time. We provide a visualization that assists in time-varying graph exploration and helps to identify patterns of behavior within the data. To validate our approach, we conduct several case studies on real-world datasets and show how our method can find cyclic patterns, deviations from those patterns, and one-time events in time-varying graphs. We also examine whether a persistence-based similarity measure satisfies a set of well-established, desirable properties for graph metrics.
Kuiper test based modulation level classification under unknown frequency selective channels

In this paper, we address the problem of Identifying the modulation level of the received signal under an unknown frequency selective channel. The modulation level classification is performed using reduced-complexity Kuiper (rcK) test which utilizes the distribution of signal features such as magnitude of the received samples or phase difference in consecutive received samples. However, in frequency selective channels, these features are severely distorted resulting in a poor classification performance. We propose to use constant modulus algorithm (CMA) to mitigate the impact of the frequency selective channel on the signal feature. Simulation and analytical results show that the proposed CMA-rcK technique outperforms state-of-the-art cumulant-based technique as well as blind equalizer-based technique that uses Alphabet Matched Algorithm.
Synthetic hormone-responsive transcription factors can monitor and re-program plant development.

The genetic information of plants contains sets of instructions that shape a growing seedling. These ‘developmental programs’ are under the control of a range of hormones, such as auxin. Typically, the information from the hormones is relayed to the genetic material through proteins called transcription factors, which can act on DNA to turn specific genes on or off. Scientists have a good understanding of the roles of hormones, and they have created mathematical models that predict how changes in hormone levels affect the shape of a plant. However, it is still difficult to manipulate hormones inside a plant and test these models. Here, Khakhar et al. created artificial transcription factors, referred to as HACRs, and put them into a plant called Arabidopsis thaliana. An HACR is made of different molecular modules stitched together. Each module has a precise role; for example, one turns off a specific gene, while another targets the HACR for destruction if a given hormone is present. First, Khakhar et al. showed that HACRs could help track the levels of auxin in a developing plant. Arabidopsis plants were genetically engineered so that they would always produce a fluorescent protein. Then, an HACR was created that would switch off the gene for that fluorescent protein, so that no fluorescence would be present in the cell. If auxin was present, the HACR would get degraded, meaning fluorescence would appear. This helped to finely assess the amount of the hormone in various parts of the plant. By changing the modules in the HACRs, this approach could be applied to at least three other types of hormones. Second, HACRs were used to reprogram Arabidopsis and change its appearance. For example, it is well known that auxin controls the number and location of branches on a plant. This complex process depends on how strongly auxin promotes the expression of a gene called PIN1. Khakhar et al. engineered an HACR that represses PIN1, and created a mathematical model that described the impact of this intervention. As predicted by the simulation, the HACR changed the strength of the relationship between PIN1 and auxin, which resulted in plants with fewer branches – a trait that is of interest in farming. HACRs are a new type of technology that is likely to work in a wide range of species. Ultimately, these artificial transcription factors could help to engineer plants that can face the disruptions brought by climate change, which would ensure better food security for people around the world.
The Effects of Different Levels of Ambient Oxygen in an Oxygen-Enriched Surgical Environment and Production of Surgical Fires

Surgical fires require an oxygen-enriched environment, a flammable substrate, and an ignition source. We hypothesized ambient oxygen concentration is proportional to the latency time to combustion ...
Meloxicam increases epidermal growth factor receptor expression improving survival after hepatic resection in diet-induced obese mice.

Abstract Background Patients with fatty liver have delayed regenerative responses, increased hepatocellular injury, and increased risk for perioperative mortality. Currently, no clinical therapy exists to prevent liver failure or improve regeneration in patients with fatty liver. Previously we demonstrated that obese mice have markedly reduced levels of epidermal growth factor receptor in liver. We sought to identify pharmacologic agents to increase epidermal growth factor receptor expression to improve hepatic regeneration in the setting of fatty liver resection. Methods Lean (20% calories from fat) and diet-induced obese mice (60% calories from fat) were subjected to 70% or 80% hepatectomy. Results Using the BaseSpace Correlation Engine of deposited gene arrays we identified agents that increased hepatic epidermal growth factor receptor. Meloxicam was identified as inducing epidermal growth factor receptor expression across species. Meloxicam improved hepatic steatosis in diet-induced obese mice both grossly and histologically. Immunohistochemistry and Western blot analysis demonstrated that meloxicam pretreatment of diet-induced obese mice dramatically increased epidermal growth factor receptor protein expression in hepatocytes. After 70% hepatectomy, meloxicam pretreatment ameliorated liver injury and significantly accelerated mitotic rates of hepatocytes in obese mice. Recovery of liver mass was accelerated in obese mice pretreated with meloxicam (by 26% at 24 hours and 38% at 48 hours, respectively). After 80% hepatectomy, survival was dramatically increased with meloxicam treatment. Conclusion Low epidermal growth factor receptor expression is a common feature of fatty liver disease. Meloxicam restores epidermal growth factor receptor expression in steatotic hepatocytes. Meloxicam pretreatment may be applied to improve outcome after fatty liver resection or transplantation with steatotic graft.
Crowdsourcing Lung Nodules Detection and Annotation

We present crowdsourcing as an additional modality to aid radiologists in the diagnosis of lung cancer from clinical chest computed tomography (CT) scans. More specifically, a complete work flow is introduced which can help maximize the sensitivity of lung nodule detection by utilizing the collective intelligence of the crowd. We combine the concept of overlapping thin-slab maximum intensity projections (TS-MIPs) and cine viewing to render short videos that can be outsourced as an annotation task to the crowd. These videos are generated by linearly interpolating overlapping TS-MIPs of CT slices through the depth of each quadrant of a patient's lung. The resultant videos are outsourced to an online community of non-expert users who, after a brief tutorial, annotate suspected nodules in these video segments. Using our crowdsourcing work flow, we achieved a lung nodule detection sensitivity of over 90% for 20 patient CT datasets (containing 178 lung nodules with sizes between 1-30mm), and only 47 false positives from a total of 1021 annotations on nodules of all sizes (96% sensitivity for nodules>4mm). These results show that crowdsourcing can be a robust and scalable modality to aid radiologists in screening for lung cancer, directly or in combination with computer-aided detection (CAD) algorithms. For CAD algorithms, the presented work flow can provide highly accurate training data to overcome the high false-positive rate (per scan) problem. We also provide, for the first time, analysis on nodule size and position which can help improve CAD algorithms.
Schematic Polymorphism in the Abella Proof Assistant

The Abella interactive theorem prover has turned out to be an effective vehicle for reasoning about relational specifications. However, the system has a limitation that arises from the fact that it is based on a simply typed logic: formalizations that are identical except in the respect that they apply to different types have to be repeated at each type. We develop an approach that overcomes this limitation while preserving the logical underpinnings of the system. In this approach object constructors, formulas and other relevant logical notions are allowed to be parameterized by types, with the interpretation that they stand for the (infinite) collection of corresponding constructs that are obtained by instantiating the type parameters. The proof structures that we consider for formulas that are schematized in this fashion are limited to ones whose type instances are valid proofs in the simply typed logic. We develop schematic proof rules that ensure this property, a task that is complicated by the fact that type information influences the notion of unification that plays a key role in the logic. Our ideas, which have been implemented in an updated version of the system, accommodate schematic polymorphism with respect to the logic that Abella is based on as well as the executable specification logic that it embeds.
Computed Tomography Measures of Nutrition in Patients With End-Stage Liver Disease Provide a Novel Approach to Characterize Deficits.

Abstract Background Patients with cirrhosis and end-stage liver disease (ESLD) develop severe nutrition deficits that affect morbidity and mortality. Laboratory measures of nutrition fail to fully assess clinical deficits in muscle mass and fat stores. This study employs computed tomography imaging to assess muscle mass and subcutaneous and visceral fat stores in patients with ESLD. Methods This 1:1 case-control study design compares ESLD patients with healthy controls. Study patients were selected from a database of ESLD patients using a stratified method to assure a representative sample based on age, body mass index (BMI), sex, and model for end-stage liver disease score (MELD). Control patients were trauma patients with a low injury severity score ( Results There were 90 subjects and 90 controls. ESLD patients had lower albumin levels (P Conclusions These results support previous research demonstrating substantial nutrition deficits in ESLD patients that are not adequately measured by laboratory testing. Patients with ESLD have significant deficits of muscle and visceral fat stores, but a similar amount of subcutaneous fat.
The Impact of Transit-oriented Development on Housing Value Resilience: Evidence from the City of Atlanta:

This research examines whether transit-oriented development (TOD) contributes to housing value resilience in Atlanta, Georgia. We developed two spatial hedonic models using property sale records to...
Competing priorities: Women’s microenterprises and household relationships

Recent studies have suggested that women's business decisions are influenced by members of their household, especially their spouse, and that these intrahousehold dynamics contribute to gender gaps in entrepreneurship outcomes. This in-depth qualitative study among microentrepreneurs in urban Ghana sought to understand the connections between women's businesses and their households' management of economic resources. The findings show that women’s business decisions are influenced by: (1) a desire to reinforce their partner's responsibilities as a primary provider, (2) attempts to fulfill normative expectations regarding daily provision of needs for the family, and (3) a need to prepare for long-term security. To reinforce their husband's responsibilities as a provider, women hid income and savings, and sometimes explicitly limited business growth. To ensure their ability to smooth household consumption and respond to emergencies, women prioritized savings over investment. And, to plan for their long-term security, women opted for cautious business investment, maintaining pressure on their partner to meet current needs and investing in children and property for the future. More broadly, the findings illustrate that interpersonal interactions concerning the management of economic resources are an integral part of how household members negotiate their rights and responsibilities in relation to each other.
Non-Global and Clustering Effects for Groomed Multi-Prong Jet Shapes

We present a resummation of the non-global and clustering effects in groomed (with modified mass drop tagger) multi-pronged observables, valid to next-to leading logarithmic accuracy in the D2 distribution (all single logarithmic terms), focusing on the non-global and clustering effects which cannot be removed by normalizing the cross-section. These effects are universal in the sense that they depend only on the flavor structure of the 1 → 2 splitting forming the multi-pronged subjets and the opening angle of the splitting, being insensitive to the underlying hard process or underlying event. The differential spectra with and without the non-global and clustering effects are presented, and the change in the spectra is found to be small.
Human use of landforms on the Deccan Volcanic Plateau: Formation of a geocultural region

Abstract This paper takes its inspiration from Karl W. Butzer's course on the Human Use of Landforms at the University of Chicago. It builds upon that concept through an exploration of regional settlement patterns and landforms in the Deccan volcanic province of west-central India. The first section develops a conceptual framework for analyzing human adjustment to landforms on regional, settlement, and site scales. The second section employs that framework to analyze four major landform-settlement configurations in the Deccan from antiquity to the end of the eighteenth century. The Satavahana kingdom (ca. 100 BCE to 200 CE) had a strong southeast to northwest alignment along the Godavari River. Their capital city of Paithan was located at a navigable sacred ford across the river (tirtha), which was linked with upstream confluences (sangams), tanks (kunds), mountain passes (ghats), and port cities on the Arabian Sea. Subsequent Hindu dynasties (ca. 850–1300 CE) shifted from fluvial landforms to a north-south alignment along steep mesa escarpments and buttes in the central Deccan that provided defensive fortress and cave temple sites. Sultanate and Mughal forces expanded the urban footprint on nearby plateau lands at sites protected by surrounding mesas (ca. 1330–1700 CE). These cities were supported by local watershed runoff and long distance water channels. The final precolonial phase of Deccan settlement entailed a shift from the semiarid central plateaus to humid headwaters of the Western Ghats, whose buttes and scarps provided sites for scores of forts controlled by the founder of the Maratha empire Chhatrapati Shivaji in the seventeenth century. Maratha success led to development downstream at the capital city of Pune (1627–1803 CE), located at a river confluence flanked by mesas, which combined the strategies of previous periods. Over two millennia these four distinct, yet intersecting, patterns of human-landform relations have shaped an evolving geocultural region on the Deccan plateau that deserves comparison with other flood basalt regions.
Leapfrog Time-Stepping for Hermite Methods

We introduce Hermite-leapfrog methods for first order linear wave systems. The new Hermite-leapfrog methods pair leapfrog time-stepping with the Hermite methods of Goodrich and co-authors et al. (Math Comput 75(254):595–630, 2006). The new schemes stagger field variables in both time and space and are high-order accurate for equations with smooth solutions and coefficients. We provide a detailed description of the method and demonstrate that the method conserves variable quantities. Higher dimensional versions of the method are constructed via tensor products. Numerical evidence and rigorous analysis in one space dimension establish stability and high-order convergence. Experiments demonstrating efficient implementations on a graphics processing unit are also presented.
“It takes a village” to support entrepreneurship: intersecting economic and community dynamics in small town entrepreneurial ecosystems

Despite the ubiquity of small towns, the forces shaping entrepreneurship in cities of limited size, reach, and scope are unexamined. To address the lack of attention to small town entrepreneurship, a comparative-case study of two small towns (Newton Falls, Ohio and Geneva, Ohio) was conducted. The study examines how and to what extent entrepreneurial activity manifests in small towns and identifies the strategies and contextual forces that promote and hinder small town entrepreneurship. Findings reveal (a) a variety of entrepreneurial activities occur in small towns, (b) community members engage in market and community-based strategies to encourage entrepreneurship, and (c) there is an ecosystem of economic and community dynamics that spur and discourage entrepreneurial activity. The findings contribute to research on entrepreneurship and economic development in small towns and generate practical implications for policymakers and entrepreneurs.
Liquidity vs. Wealth in Household Debt Obligations: Evidence from Housing Policy in the Great Recession

We exploit variation in mortgage modifications to disentangle the impact of reducing long-term obligations with no change in short-term payments ("wealth"), and reducing short-term payments with no change in long-term obligations ("liquidity"). Using regression discontinuity and difference-in-differences research designs with administrative data measuring default and consumption, we find that principal reductions that increase wealth without affecting liquidity have no effect, while maturity extensions that increase only liquidity have large effects. This suggests that liquidity drives default and consumption decisions for borrowers in our sample and that distressed debt restructurings can be redesigned with substantial gains to borrowers, lenders, and taxpayers.
Are patients with high-risk polycythemia vera (PV) receiving cytoreductive medications? A retrospective analysis of real-world data.

e18031Background: Risk-adapted therapy in PV is aimed at preventing thrombotic events (TE). Under current treatment recommendations (including European LeukemiaNet), high-risk patients (age ≥ 60 y ...
Quality of life in hypoparathyroidism

Hypoparathyroidism is a rare endocrine disorder where deficiency (or lack of effect) of parathyroid hormone results in disordered mineral metabolism leading to hypocalcemia and hyperphosphatemia. Many patients with this disorder have physical, emotional and cognitive complaints suggestive of impaired quality of life (QOL). Several recent studies have demonstrated that hypoparathyroid patients treated with calcium and vitamin D (conventional therapy) have reduced QOL compared to either suitable controls or general population. QOL has also been studied during treatment with PTH1-84, which has been FDA approved in the USA as an adjunct to calcium and vitamin D in patients not adequately controlled on conventional therapy. In open label studies, PTH therapy has resulted in dramatic improvements in SF-36 scores. In placebo-controlled, double-blinded studies the effect of PTH on QOL has been less striking. In one such study there was no improvement, possibly due to high incidence of hypercalcemia in the PTH-treated group. In contrast, in the pivotal trial leading to PTH1-84 approval, were hypercalcemia was less common, SF36 scores improved in the PTH-treated but not in the placebo group although between-group differences were not statistically significant. In the same study, patients who started with lower baseline QOL scores had greater improvements, suggesting that patients with poor wellbeing may be particularly suitable for this new therapy. In the future, it will be necessary to develop disease specific instruments to better define the nature of QOL impairments in this disease. In addition, further studies should focus on the possible relationship between biochemical variables and QOL parameters during treatment with different regimens.
Crash histories, safety perceptions, and attitudes among Virginia bicyclists

Abstract Introduction Cycling injury and fatality rates are on the rise, yet there exists no comprehensive database for bicycle crash injury data. Method Widely used for safety analysis, police crash report datasets are automobile-oriented and widely known to under-report bicycle crashes. This research is one attempt to address gaps in bicycle data in sources like police crash reports. A survey was developed and deployed to enhance the quality and quantity of available bicycle safety data in Virginia. The survey captures bicyclist attitudes and perceptions of safety as well as bicycle crash histories of respondents. Results The results of this survey most notably show very high levels of under-reporting of bicycle crashes, with only 12% of the crashes recorded in this survey reported to police. Additionally, the results of this work show that lack of knowledge concerning bicycle laws is associated with lower levels of cycling confidence. Count model results predict that bicyclists who stop completely at traffic signals are 40% less likely to be involved in crashes compared to counterparts who sometimes stop at signals. In this dataset, suburban and urban roads with designated bike lanes had more favorable injury severity profiles, with lower percentages of severe and minor injury crashes compared to similar roads with a shared bike/automobile lane or no designated bike infrastructure.
The Capacity of Anonymous Communications

We consider the communication scenario where $K$ transmitters are each connected to a common receiver with an orthogonal noiseless link. One of the transmitters has a message for the receiver, who is prohibited from learning anything in the information theoretic sense about which transmitter sends the message (transmitter anonymity is guaranteed). The capacity of anonymous communications is the maximum number of bits of desired information that can be anonymously communicated per bit of total communication. For this anonymous communication problem over a parallel channel with $K$ transmitters and one receiver, we show that the capacity is $1/K$ , i.e., to communicate 1 bit anonymously, each transmitter must send a 1 bit signal. Furthermore, it is required that each transmitter has at least 1 bit correlated randomness (that is independent of the messages and is not available to the receiver) per message bit and the size of correlated randomness at all $K$ transmitters is at least $K-1$ bits per message bit.
A Semismooth Predictor Corrector Method for Real-Time Constrained Parametric Optimization with Applications in Model Predictive Control

Real-time optimization problems are ubiquitous in control and estimation, and are typically parameterized by incoming measurement data and/or operator commands. This paper proposes solving parameterized constrained nonlinear programs using a semismooth predictor-corrector (SSPC) method. Nonlinear complementarity functions are used to reformulate the first order necessary conditions of the optimization problem into a parameterized non-smooth root-finding problem. Starting from an approximate solution, a semismooth Euler-Newton algorithm is proposed for tracking the trajectory of the primal-dual solution as the parameter varies in time. Active set changes are naturally handled by the SSPC method, which only requires the solution of linear systems of equations. The paper establishes conditions under which the solution trajectories of the root-finding problem are well behaved and provides sufficient conditions for ensuring boundedness of the tracking error. Numerical case studies, featuring the application of the SSPC method to nonlinear model predictive control, are reported and demonstrate the advantages of the proposed method.
Employee relations and firm risk: Evidence from court rooms

Abstract In this study, we examine the relation between employee lawsuit and risk in U.S. public firms. We hand collect more than 20,000 employee lawsuits and find that labor-related allegations significantly affect firm risk after controlling for various firm characteristics. We document that a greater number of employee litigation increases firm risk. Our results remain robust when we use alternative measures of employee lawsuits, including other work-related complaints, violations, disputes, and allegations. Our study reveals that case characteristics - charging parties, outcomes, and duration - play a significant role in defining the firm risk. Our results show the importance of employee treatment which may have important implications for policy makers and business owners.
Very high brightness and power LCLS-II hard X-ray pulses

The feasibility of generating X-ray pulses in the 4–8 keV fundamental photon energy range with 0.65 TW peak power, 15 fs pulse duration and 9 × 10−5 bandwidth using the LCLS-II copper linac and hard X-ray (HXR) undulator is shown. In addition, third-harmonic pulses with 8–12 GW peak power and narrow bandwidth are also generated. High-power and small-bandwidth X-rays are obtained using two electron bunches separated by about 1 ns, one to generate a high-power seed signal, the other to amplify it through the process of the HXR undulator tapering. The bunch delay is compensated by delaying the seed pulse with a four-crystal monochromator. The high-power seed leads to higher output power and better spectral properties, with more than 94% of the X-ray power within the near-transform-limited bandwidth. Some of the experiments made possible by X-ray pulses with these characteristics are discussed, such as single-particle imaging and high-field physics.
Rapid Cycle-Accurate Simulator for High-Level Synthesis

A large semantic gap between the high-level synthesis (HLS) design and the low-level (on-board or RTL) simulation environment often creates a barrier for those who are not FPGA experts. Moreover, such low-level simulation takes a long time to complete. Software-based HLS simulators can help bridge this gap and accelerate the simulation process; however, we found that the current FPGA HLS commercial software simulators sometimes produce incorrect results. In order to solve this correctness issue while maintaining the high speed of a software-based simulator, this paper proposes a new HLS simulation flow named FLASH. The main idea behind the proposed flow is to extract the scheduling information from the HLS tool and automatically construct an equivalent cycle-accurate simulation model while preserving C semantics. Experimental results show that FLASH runs three orders of magnitude faster than the RTL simulation.
DefunT: A Tool for Automating Termination Proofs by Using the Community Books (Extended Abstract).

We present a tool that automates termination proofs for recursive definitions by mining existing termination theorems.
Tip rates, phylogenies and diversification: What are we estimating, and how good are the estimates?

Abstract Species-specific diversification rates, or “tip rates”, can be computed quickly from phylogenies and are widely used to study diversification rate variation in relation to geography, ecology, and phenotypes. These tip rates provide a number of theoretical and practical advantages, such as the relaxation of assumptions of rate homogeneity in trait-dependent diversification studies. However, there is substantial confusion in the literature regarding whether these metrics estimate speciation or net diversification rates. Additionally, no study has yet compared the relative performance and accuracy of tip rate metrics across simulated diversification scenarios. We compared the statistical performance of three model-free rate metrics (inverse terminal branch lengths; node density metric; DR statistic) and a model-based approach (BAMM). We applied each method to a large set of simulated phylogenies that had been generated under different diversification processes; scenarios included multi-regime time-constant and diversity-dependent trees, as well as trees where the rate of speciation evolves under a diffusion process. We summarized performance in relation to the type of rate variation, the magnitude of rate heterogeneity and rate regime size. We also compared the ability of the metrics to estimate both speciation and net diversification rates. We show decisively that model-free tip rate metrics provide a better estimate of the rate of speciation than of net diversification. Error in net diversification rate estimates increases as a function of the relative extinction rate. In contrast, error in speciation rate estimates is low and relatively insensitive to extinction. Overall, and in particular when relative extinction was high, BAMM inferred the most accurate tip rates and exhibited lower error than non-model-based approaches. DR was highly correlated with true speciation rates but exhibited high error variance, and was the best metric for very small rate regimes. We found that, of the metrics tested, DR and BAMM are the most useful metrics for studying speciation rate dynamics and trait-dependent diversification. Although BAMM was more accurate than DR overall, the two approaches have complementary strengths. Because tip rate metrics are more reliable estimators of speciation rate, we recommend that empirical studies using these metrics exercise caution when drawing biological interpretations in any situation where the distinction between speciation and net diversification is important.
The Impact of Eliminating the 20-F Reconciliation on the Cost of Debt: An Exploratory Study

ABSTRACT In 2007, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission voted to eliminate the 20-F reconciliation requirement for foreign issuers listing their stocks or bonds in the U.S. capital markets an...
Proceedings of the First International Workshop on Extreme Scale Programming Models and Middleware

Welcome to ESPM2 '15 workshop! As the HPC field is heading to Exascale, the role of Programming Models and Middleware is getting more important. The objectives of this workshop are to bring together researchers working in this area and discuss the stateof- the-art developments in the field. The detailed workshop program is indicated in the previous page. We would like to thank all authors who submitted papers to this workshop. Special thanks go to the program committee members for providing us with high-quality reviews under tight deadlines. For each submitted paper, we were able to collect at least four reviews. We were able to receive 100% reviews on a tight deadline. Based on the reviews and online discussion among the PC members, a set of five regular papers and two short papers were selected. These papers reflect the state-of-the-art research and developments being conducted in the community in the emerging programming models and middleware area.