cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Non-Monotonicity of the Tversky-Kahneman Probability-Weighting Function: A Cautionary Note

Cumulative Prospect Theory has gained a great deal of support as an alternative to Expected Utility Theory as it accounts for a number of anomalies in the observed behavior of economic agents. Expected Utility Theory uses a utility function and subjective or objective probabilities to compare risky prospects. Cumulative Prospect Theory alters both of these aspects. The concave utility function is replaced by a loss-averse utility function and probabilities are replaced by decision weights. The latter are determined with a weighting function applied to the cumulative probability of the outcomes. Several different probability weighting functions have been suggested. The two most popular are the original proposal of Tversky and Kahneman and the compound-invariant form proposed by Prelec. This note shows that the Tversky-Kahneman probability weighting function is not increasing for all parameter values and therefore can assign negative decision weights to some outcomes. This in turn implies that Cumulative Prospect Theory could make choices not consistent with first-order stochastic dominance.
Activation of Vinyl Iodides for the Highly Enantioselective Addition to Aldehydes

Vinylzinc reagents, generated in situ, undergo enantioselective addition to aldehydes to yield allylic alcohols in the presence of chiral catalyst ABN.
Asymptotics of the colored Jones function of a knot

To a knot in 3-space, one can associate a sequence of Laurent polynomials, whose nth term is the nth colored Jones polynomial. The paper is concerned with the asymptotic behavior of the value of the nth colored Jones polynomial at e�/n, whenis a fixed complex number and n tends to infinity. We analyze this asymptotic behavior to all orders in 1/n whenis a sufficiently small complex number. In addition, we give upper bounds for the coefficients and degree of thenth colored Jones polynomial, with applications to upper bounds in the Generalized Volume Conjecture. Work of Agol-Dunfield-Storm-W.Thurston implies that our bounds are asymptotically optimal. Moreover, we give results for the Generalized Volume Conjecture when � is near 2�i. Our proofs use crucially the cyclotomic expansion of the colored Jones function, due to Habiro.
Combining comparative genomics with de novo motif discovery to identify human transcription factor DNA-binding motifs

As more and more genomes are sequenced, comparative genomics approaches provide a methodology for identifying conserved regulatory elements that may be involved in gene regulations. We developed a novel method to combine comparative genomics with de novo motif discovery to identify human transcription factor binding motifs that are overrepresented and conserved in the upstream regions of a set of co-regulated genes. The method is validated by analyzing a well-characterized muscle specific gene set, and the results showed that our approach performed better than the existing programs in terms of sensitivity and prediction rate. The newly developed method can be used to extract regulatory signals in co-regulated genes, which can be derived from the microarray clustering analysis.
Efficacy of Flea Beetle Control of Leafy Spurge in Montana and South Dakota

Black (Aphthona lacertosa and Aphthona czwalinae) and brown (Aphthona nigriscutis) flea beetles are among the more successful biological control agents used in the control and management of leafy spurge on a relatively large scale in the Northern Great Plains. The objectives of this study were to document leafy spurge population dynamics in response to control by black and brown flea beetles, determine the role of selected site characteristics on establishment and persistence of the beetles, and evaluate the general response of the resident vegetation to control of leafy spurge. In late June 1998, about 3 000 insects of each species were released into permanently marked plots in northwestern South Dakota and southeastern Montana. Beetle abundance, density and foliar cover of leafy spurge, and foliar cover of the resident vegetation were evaluated each year from 1998 through 2004. Black beetles increased rapidly and peaked at 65% of their measurable potential abundance within 2 years (P < 0.05) following release and dominated all release plots throughout the study. Although population growth characteristics of black flea beetles were highly variable, the successful patterns in reducing the dominance of leafy spurge were fairly consistent. By 2004, foliar cover of leafy spurge on both release and nonrelease plots was significantly reduced compared to prerelease values. Foliar cover of grass and grasslike plants increased concomitantly with the reduction in leafy spurge dominance while cover of forbs on release and nonrelease plots remained consistently below noninfested values.
Semi-global stabilization of linear systems subject to output saturation☆

Abstract It is established that a SISO linear stabilizable and detectable system subject to output saturation can be semi-globally stabilized by linear output feedback if all its invariant zeros are in the closed left-half plane, no matter where the open loop poles are. This result complements a recent result that such systems can always be globally stabilized by discontinuous nonlinear feedback laws, and can be viewed as dual to a well-known result: a linear stabilizable and detectable system subject to input saturation can be semi-globally stabilized by linear output feedback if all its poles are in the open left-half plane, no matter where the invariant zeros are.
Evolution arrests invasions of cooperative populations

Population expansions trigger many biomedical and ecological transitions, from tumor growth to invasions of non-native species. Although population spreading often selects for more invasive phenotypes, we show that this outcome is far from inevitable. In cooperative populations, mutations reducing dispersal have a competitive advantage. Such mutations then steadily accumulate at the expansion front, bringing invasion to a halt. Our findings are a rare example of evolution driving the population into an unfavorable state, and they could lead to new strategies to combat unwelcome invaders.
Hyperbolic discounting and life-cycle portfolio choice*

This paper studies how hyperbolic discounting affects stock market participation, asset allocation, and saving decisions over the life cycle in an economy with Epstein–Zin preferences. Hyperbolic discounting affects saving and portfolio decisions through at least two channels: (1) it lowers desired saving, which decreases financial wealth relative to future earnings; and (2) it lowers the incentive to pay a fixed cost to enter the stock market. We find that hyperbolic discounters accumulate less wealth relative to their geometric counterparts and that they participate in the stock market at a later age. Because they have lower levels of financial wealth relative to future earnings, hyperbolic discounters who do participate in the stock market tend to hold a higher share of equities, particularly in the retirement years. We find that increasing the elasticity of intertemporal substitution, holding risk aversion constant, greatly magnifies the impact of hyperbolic discounting on all of the model's decision rules and simulated levels of participation, allocation, and wealth. Finally, we introduce endogenous financial knowledge accumulation and find that hyperbolic discounting leads to lower financial literacy and inefficient stock market investment.
Performance variation across benchmark suites

The performance ratio between two systems tends to vary across different benchmarks. Here we study this variation as a "signature" or "fingerprint" of the systems under consideration. This "fingerprint" can be used to guess the performance of programs not represented in a benchmark suite, assess the breadth and credibility of the benchmark suite, and infer details of the system design.
International Coordination and Precautionary Policies

ABSTRACTThis paper highlights the rare conditions that lead to international cooperation, and the reasons why eliciting this cooperation may be beneficial in preventing adverse tail shocks from spiraling into global depressions. In normal economic times, deeper macro cooperation among countries is associated with welfare gains akin to Harberger’s second-order magnitude triangle, thus making the odds of cooperation low. When bad tail events induce imminent threats of financial collapse, the perceived losses have a first-order magnitude of terminating the total Marshalian surpluses. The apprehension of these losses in perilous times may elicit rare and beneficial macro cooperation. We close the paper by overviewing the obstacles preventing cooperation and the proliferation of precautionary policies of emerging market economies as a second-best outcome of limited cooperation.
Conundrums for nonconsequentialists

There are a number of single-profile impossibility theorems in social choice theory and welfare economics that demonstrate the incompatibility of unanimity/dominance criteria with various nonconsequentialist principles given some rationality restrictions on the rankings being considered. This article is concerned with examining what they have in common and how they differ. Groups of results are identified that have similar formal structures and are established using similar proof strategies.
Graphics in APL

This document describes a graphic facility within APL. The terminals are assumed to be inexpensive timeshared graphic terminals equipped with an APL character set. We first describe functions in a graphic workspace and then APL primitives for graphing.Graphic APL is a shared processor at Irvine, called APLG. The current version is 6.1.
Multiplicative Invariants of Root Lattices

We describe the multiplicative invariant algebras of the root lattices of all irreducible root systems under the action of the Weyl group. In each case, a finite system of fundamental invariants is determined and the class group of the invariant algebra is calculated. In some cases, a presentation and a Hironaka decomposition of the invariant algebra is given.
Water Forces On Accelerated Cylinders

Semiempirical method has been developed at University of California for prediction of forces induced by waves in moderately deep water; for single horizontal cylinders drag coefficients during acceleration agreed with uniform motion values, but deviations occurred during deceleration; acceleration modulus did not correlate resistance coefficients near boundary layer transition.
Coase Revisited: Economic Efficiency under Externalities, Transaction Costs and Non-Convexity

This paper presents a general-equilibrium analysis of economic efficiency under externalities, transaction costs, and nonconvexity. It applies to market exchange as well as contractual arrangements. We show that the Coase theorem continues to hold under general conditions: The efficient management of externalities remains consistent with aggregate profit maximization under transaction costs and nonconvexity. We examine the role of transaction costs and explore how the minimization of transaction costs is an integral part of efficient allocations. We also show how our analysis applies under nonconvex technology, provided that we allow for nonlinear pricing in markets.
Trends in disability and program participation among U.S. veterans

Abstract Background Disability is increasingly part of the lives of veterans and more research is needed to understand its impact on veterans' participation in disability benefit programs. Objective/hypothesis We examine how recent trends in receipt of service-connected disability compensation from the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) compare to trends in self-reported disability and participation in Social Security Disability Insurance (DI) and Supplemental Security Income (SSI) among veterans. Methods We use 2002–2013 data from the Current Population Survey to describe trends in receipt of VA disability compensation and to compare between trends in self-reported disability and DI/SSI participation for veterans versus nonveterans. Results The percentage of veterans reporting they receive VA disability compensation increased substantially from 2002 to 2013 and was especially notable among younger (ages 18–39) and older (ages 50–64) veterans. From 2009 to 2013, self-reported disability increased among the younger and older veterans but not among middle-age veterans and nonveterans, and self-reported cognitive disability increased substantially among young veterans. DI/SSI participation among older veterans increased more than for nonveterans over the period examined. Conclusions Effective policies are needed to incentivize work among young veterans and to help them obtain both the skills they need to succeed in the labor force and the supports (such as psychiatric health services) they need to do so. Older veterans are facing increasing challenges in the labor market, and further research is needed to determine whether these challenges are primarily related to health, a growing skills gap, or poorly-aligned incentives.
The shell model Monte Carlo approach to level densities: Recent developments and perspectives

We review recent advances in the shell model Monte Carlo approach for the microscopic calculation of statistical and collective properties of nuclei. We discuss applications to the calculation of i) level densities in nickel isotopes, implementing a recent method to circumvent the odd-particle sign problem; ii) state densities in heavy nuclei; iii) spin distributions of nuclear levels; and iv) finite-temperature quadrupole distributions.
Training Sequence Design for Feedback Assisted Hybrid Beamforming in Massive MIMO Systems

Massive multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) communication is an emerging technology that uses an excess of transmit antennas to realize high spectral efficiency. Achieving potential gains with large-scale antenna arrays hinges on sufficient channel estimation accuracy. Much prior work focuses on time-division duplex (TDD)-based networks, relying on reciprocity between the uplink and downlink channels. However, most currently deployed commercial wireless systems are frequency-division duplex (FDD)-based, making it difficult to exploit channel reciprocity. In massive MIMO FDD systems, the problem of channel estimation becomes even more challenging due to the substantial training resources and feedback requirements which scale with the number of antennas. In this paper, we consider the problem of training sequence design and the mapping of training signals to training periods. We focus on reduced-dimension training sequence designs, along with transmit precoder designs, aimed at reducing both hardware complexity and power consumption. The resulting designs are extended to hybrid analog-digital beamforming systems, which employ a limited number of active RF chains for transmit precoding, by applying the Toeplitz distribution theorem to large-scale linear antenna systems. A practical guideline for training sequence parameter selection is presented along with performance analysis.
Adjustment of inputs and measurement of technical efficiency: A dynamic panel data analysis of the Egyptian manufacturing sectors

The purpose of this article is to construct a dynamic stochastic production frontier incorporating the sluggish adjustment of inputs, to measure the speed of adjustment of output, and to compare the technical efficiency estimates from this dynamic model to those from a static model. By assuming instantaneous adjustment of all inputs, a static model may underestimate technical efficiency of a production unit in the short-run. However, in this article I show that under the assumption of similar adjustment speed for all inputs, a linear partial adjustment scheme for output characterizes the dynamic production frontier. The dynamic frontier with time-invariant technical efficiency is estimated using the system GMM (generalized method of moments) estimator. Applying the model and estimation method on a panel data set spanning 9 years of data on private manufacturing establishments in Egypt, I find that (1) the speed of adjustment of output is significantly lower than unity, (2) the static model underestimates technical efficiency by 4.5 percentage points on average, and (3) the ranking of production units based on their technical efficiency measures changes when the lagged adjustment process of inputs is taken into account.
Exploring the Intersection of Personal and Public Authorial Voice in the Works of Willa Cather

This research began in a class taught by Matthew Jockers and has continued under his direction as a project of the newly formed Nebraska Literary Lab. Our work focused on mining the fiction and non-fiction works of Willa Cather that are housed in the Willa Cather Archive at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln (Jewell, Andrew. The Willa Cather Archive. University of Nebraska-Lincoln, 2004–2013. Web). Largely regarded as a private person, Cather forbade the publication of her correspondence; only recently have her letters finally been published. With the publication of these letters comes the unique opportunity for scholars to research Cather’s personal thoughts and voice. Our research focused on using stylometrics to explore the ways in which the voice Cather used in her correspondence differs from the voice she used in her public writing; our conclusions point to similarities between Cather’s novel My Mortal Enemy , a work noted for both its economy of style and autobiographical features, and her recently published letters.
Innovations in information technology and the mortgage market

Abstract In this paper I analyze the effects of innovations in information technology on the mortgage and housing markets using a life-cycle model with incomplete markets and idiosyncratic income, as well as moving and house price shocks. I explicitly model the housing tenure choices of households. Lenders offer individual-specific mortgage contracts to home buyers, and the terms of these contracts are endogenously determined. I find that, as lenders have better information about the households, the average mortgage premium, foreclosure rate, and homeownership rate all increase while average down payment decreases. Hence, improvements in information technology can rationalize the relaxation of mortgage credit terms, which has been suggested as one of the main reasons for the latest financial crisis.
Wait until Next Year... Again

The author was asked to give remarks to a congregation at a service for the Jewish high holy days. This article are those remarks. The author relates the Cubs baseball team to the time on the Jewish calendar, as those hope for a good season for the Cubs, so too do the congregants hope for a good new year. Also, the author relates that devotion to a baseball team is much the same as devotion to one's religion.
The Demand for Crop Insurance: How Important are the Subsidies?

In 1994, some 56 years after initial authorization, the Federal crop insurance program remained characterized by low enrollment levels. Many argued for increased coverage and subsequent major pieces of legislation in 1994, and 2000 expanded the program and increased premium subsidies. Enrollment jumped, transforming the Federal crop insurance program from a minor program into one of the major pillars of support for US crop farmers, covering over 200 million acres by 1995. The quantity of crop insurance demanded has often been ascribed to the levels of subsidies offered to producers. How important are the subsidies, and what might happen to enrollment if support for subsidies were to change? This draft shows that between 1997 and 2002, premium subsidies appeared to induce farmers to enroll more land, but that the effect on coverage levels appears more pronounced. At the national level, it appears likely that changes in the price of crop insurance did little to alter the demand for insurance as subsidy changes did not appear to change the demand for crop insurance uniformly across either crops or locations.
Stability of the World Trade Web over time – An extinction analysis

Abstract The World Trade Web (WTW) is a weighted network whose nodes correspond to countries while edge weights reflecting the value of imports and/or exports between countries. In this paper we introduce to this macroeconomic system the notion of extinction analysis, a technique often used in the analysis of ecosystems, for the purpose of investigating the robustness of this network. In particular, we subject the WTW to a principled set of in silico “knockout experiments,” akin to those carried out in the investigation of food webs, but suitably adapted to this macroeconomic network. Informed by results in network theory as well as studies of contagion in economic networks, we seek to understand the role of connectance in the robustness of the system. We interpret increasing connectance as one aspect of a move towards globalization and liberalized trade policy. Broadly, our experiments confirm two conjectures. First, that the WTWs are “robust yet fragile” networks — robust to random failures but fragile under targeted attack. Second, that growing connectance has both positive and negative impacts on robustness. More specifically, we find that increasing connectance corresponds to increasing robustness for small shocks but to decreasing robustness in the face of large, cascading shocks up to the system. This yields evidence in support of the view that globalization, as witnessed by increasing connectance, increases the ability of a system to absorb shock up until a certain size, whereupon the shock overwhelms the system and sparks a broader contagion. We anticipate that experiments and measures like these can play an important role in the evaluation of the stability of economic systems.
Renewable Energy-Aware Inter-Datacenter Virtual Machine Migration over Elastic Optical Networks

Datacenters (DCs) are deployed in a large scale to support the ever increasing demand for data processing to support various applications. The energy consumption of DCs becomes a critical issue. Powering DCs with renewable energy can effectively reduce the brown energy consumption and thus alleviates the energy consumption problem. Owing to geographical deployments of DCs, the renewable energy generation and the data processing demands usually vary in different DCs. Migrating virtual machines (VMs) among DCs according to the availability of renewable energy helps match the energy demands and the renewable energy generation in DCs, and thus maximizes the utilization of renewable energy. Since migrating VMs incurs additional traffic in the network, the VM migration is constrained by the network capacity. The inter-datacenter (inter-DC) VM migration with network capacity constraints is an NP-hard problem. In this paper, we propose two heuristic algorithms that approximate the optimal VM migration solution. Through extensive simulations, we show that the proposed algorithms, by migrating VM among DCs, can reduce up to 31% of brown energy consumption.
External Balances, Trade and Financial Conditions

Abstract I present a new model for the U.S. external position that accounts for the accumulation of international debt over the past 60 years. The model is based on the present value restriction that links a country's external position to future trade flows and financial conditions in the absence of arbitrage opportunities and Ponzi schemes. It features the role played by the stochastic discount factor, the trade and valuation adjustment channels and provides a decomposition of the U.S. external position into secular and cyclical components. The model shows that shocks operating via the valuation channel are the dominant drivers of cyclical dynamics, accounting for approximately 80% of the variance over the 60-year sample. This channel works primarily via capital gains and losses on U.S. foreign assets and is closely tied to the international value of the U.S. dollar. In contrast, there is no evidence that valuation channel adjustments contribute to the secular dynamics, but differences between the average returns on foreign assets and liabilities raise the steady-state debt-to-GDP ratio from approximately 12 to 15%. The long-term deterioration in the U.S. position represents a move towards the steady-state before the early 1990s and a move away from the steady-state thereafter. I quantify the expected improvement in future U.S. trade balances needed to justify this as a sustainable path and show that they are very different from its actual behavior during the last 60 years. I also study the behavior of the U.S. position during the 2007–2008 financial crisis.
Reduction in Unnecessary Clinical Laboratory Testing Through Utilization Management at a US Government Veterans Affairs Hospital

Objectives : To implement an electronic laboratory utilization management system (laboratory expert system [LES]) to provide safe and effective reductions in unnecessary clinical laboratory testing. Methods : The LES is a set of frequency filter subroutines within the Veterans Affairs hospital and laboratory information system that was formulated by an interdisciplinary medical team. Results: Since implementing the LES, total test volume has decreased by a mean of 11.18% per year compared with our pre-LES test volume. This change was not attributable to fluctuations in outpatient visits or inpatient days of care. Laboratory cost savings were estimated at $151,184 and $163,751 for 2012 and 2013, respectively. A significant portion of these cost savings was attributable to reductions in high-volume, large panel testing. No adverse effects on patient care were reported, and mean length of stay for patients remained unchanged. Conclusions: Electronic laboratory utilization systems can effectively reduce unnecessary laboratory testing without compromising patient care.
Determination of optimal intermediate storage capacity

Abstract A system of two machines running in batches and three storage used for storing raw materials, intermediate items, and finished products is considered. The system maintains enough WIP to assure no stockout will happen. Each machine has a finite production rate greater than or equal to the demand rate and thus operates with periodic start-ups and shut-downs. Using analytical results, total production cost as function of set-up costs, safety stocks, carrying costs and storage costs is presented. The problem reduces to a nonlinear, dynamic, constrained optimization one, for which a heuristic is developed that determines capacity of the buffers, the optimum safety stocks, cycle times for delivery of the raw material, and production runs such that overall costs are minimized.
The Public Benefits of Private Technology Adoption

The Public Benefits of Private Technology Adoption Author, Author Affiliation, and Author email Anil K. Bhargava, University of California, Davis akbhargava@ucdavis.edu Travis J. Lybbert, University of California, Davis David J. Spielman, International Food Policy Research Institute Selected Paper prepared for presentation at the Agricultural & Applied Economics Association’s
Onion ORAM: A Constant Bandwidth Blowup Oblivious RAM

We present Onion ORAM, an Oblivious RAM (ORAM) with constant worst-case bandwidth blowup that leverages poly-logarithmic server computation to circumvent the logarithmic lower bound on ORAM bandwidth blowup. Our construction does not require fully homomorphic encryption, but employs an additively homomorphic encryption scheme such as the Damgard-Jurik cryptosystem, or alternatively a BGV-style somewhat homomorphic encryption scheme without bootstrapping. At the core of our construction is an ORAM scheme that has “shallow circuit depth” over the entire history of ORAM accesses. We also propose novel techniques to achieve security against a malicious server, without resorting to expensive and non-standard techniques such as SNARKs. To the best of our knowledge, Onion ORAM is the first concrete instantiation of a constant bandwidth blowup ORAM under standard assumptions (even for the semi-honest setting).
Deletion of Arid1a in Reproductive Tract Mesenchymal Cells Reduces Fertility in Female Mice

Women with endometriosis can suffer from decreased fecundity or complete infertility via abnormal oocyte function or impaired placental-uterine interactions required for normal pregnancy establishment and maintenance. Although AT-rich interactive domain 1A (SWI-like) (ARID1A) is a putative tumor suppressor in human endometrial cancers and endometriosis-associated ovarian cancers, little is known about its role in normal uterine function. To study the potential function of ARID1A in the female reproductive tract, we generated mice with a conditional knockout of Arid1a using anti-Mullerian hormone receptor 2-Cre Female Arid1a conditional knockout mice exhibited a progressive decrease in number of pups per litter, with a precipitous decline after the second litter. We observed no tumors in virgin mice, although one knockout mouse developed a uterine tumor after pregnancy. Unstimulated virgin female knockout mice showed normal oviductal, ovarian, and uterine histology. Uteri of Arid1a knockout mice showed a normal decidualization response and appropriate responses to estradiol and progesterone stimulation. In vitro studies using primary cultures of human endometrial stromal fibroblasts revealed that small interfering RNA knockdown of ARID1A did not affect decidualization in vitro. Timed pregnancy studies revealed the significant resorption of embryos at Embryonic Day 16.5 in knockout mice in the third pregnancy. In addition to evidence of implantation site hemorrhage, pregnant Arid1a knockout mice showed abnormal placental morphology. These results suggest that Arid1a supports successful pregnancy through its role in placental function.
Statistical Models for Unsupervised Prepositional Phrase Attachment

We present several unsupervised statistical models for the prepositional phrase attachment task that approach the accuracy of the best supervised methods for this task. Our unsupervised approach uses a heuristic based on attachment proximity and trains from raw text that is annotated with only part-of-speech tags and morphological base forms, as opposed to attachment information. It is therefore less resource-intensive and more portable than previous corpus-based algorithm proposed for this task. We present results for prepositional phrase attachment in both English and Spanish.
Nickel-catalyzed enantioselective arylation of pyridine

We report an enantioselective Ni-catalyzed cross coupling of arylzinc reagents with pyridinium ions formed in situ from pyridine and a chloroformate. This reaction provides enantioenriched 2-aryl-1,2-dihydropyridine products that can be elaborated to numerous piperidine derivatives with little or no loss in ee. This method is notable for its use of pyridine, a feedstock chemical, to build a versatile, chiral heterocycle in a single synthetic step.
Middle School Learners' Use of Latin Roots to Infer the Meaning of Unfamiliar Words

ABSTRACTThis study investigated how middle school students leverage information about bound Latin roots (e.g., voc in advocate and vociferous) to infer meanings of unfamiliar words, and how instruction may facilitate morphological analysis using roots. A dynamic assessment of morphological analysis was administered to 29 sixth graders (n = 17 intervention students) and 30 seventh graders (n = 18 intervention students). Qualitative analyses of analytic strategies revealed patterns of morphological problem solving that included direct (i.e., direct application of roots to analyze unfamiliar words) and indirect routes (i.e., use of known words that carry the roots to analyze unfamiliar words). Intervention students applied a direct route at higher rates than control students. Correlational analyses revealed a small but significant treatment effect on establishing meaning memory representations for roots and a significant, positive treatment effect for use of roots to infer unfamiliar word meanings. Overall r...
A hitherto undescribed pair of isoagglutination elements in human beings

Landsteiner, in 1901, discovered three human blood groups, and soon afterward, Decastello and Sturli, pursuing the study with Landsteiner's knowledge and encouragement, found the fourth group. Landsteiner recognized the existence in human serum of two isohemagglutinins, which were designated with small letters a and b, or (by von Dungern and Hirschfeld) α and β and two isoagglutinable substances in the corpuscles which were called A and B.Quite recently Guthrie and Huck have reported the discovery of a third pair of isoagglutination elements, which, to bring the terminology into conformity with the previously existing one, we will refer to as isoagglutinin c and agglutinable substance C.The relation of the exceptional individuals observed by Guthrie and Huck to the original four blood groups is shown in Table I.In the course of a class demonstration of the two original pairs of isoagglutination elements, the serum of one of us (A. F. C., a Group I individual) was absorbed, first with the washed corpuscles...
Heterocycle Formation via Palladium-Catalyzed C-H Functionalization.

Heterocyclic compounds are ubiquitous in natural products, pharmaceuticals, and agrochemicals. Therefore, the design of novel protocols to construct heterocycles more efficiently is a major area of focus in organic chemistry. In the past several years, cyclization reactions based upon palladium-catalyzed C–H activation have received substantial attention due to their capacity for expediting heterocycle synthesis. This review discusses strategies for heterocycle synthesis via palladium-catalyzed C–H bond activation and highlights recent examples from the literature. 1 Introduction 2 Intramolecular Cyclization via C–C Bond Formation 2.1 Arene/Arene Coupling 2.1.1 C–H Arylation with Aryl Halides 2.1.2 C(sp2)–H/C(sp2)–H Coupling 2.2 Arene/Alkene Coupling or Arene/Alkyne Coupling 2.2.1 Arene/Alkene Coupling 2.2.2 Arene/Alkyne Coupling 2.3 Arene/Alkane Coupling 2.3.1 C(sp2)–H Alkylation with Alkyl Halides 2.3.2 C(sp3)–H Arylation with Aryl Halides 2.3.3 C(sp2)–H/C(sp3)–H Coupling 3 Intramolecular Cyclization via C–N Bond Formation 4 Intramolecular Cyclization via C–O or C–S Bond Formation 5 Incorporation with Carbon Monoxide 6 Incorporation with Isonitrile 7 Incorporation with Olefin 8 Conclusions
229 a Prospective, Randomized Trial of Adenoma Miss Rates At Colonoscopy Associated With 3-Minute vs. 6-Minute Withdrawal Time

Introduction: A minimum withdrawal time for screening colonoscopy of 6 minutes has been proposed, based on an observational study. The 6-minute withdrawal time remains controversial and has not been compared in a standardized fashion to alternate withdrawal times. Aim: To perform a prospective, randomized trial to compare adenoma miss rates (AMR) associated with withdrawal times of 6 minutes vs. 3 minutes. Methods: Consecutive patients undergoing colonoscopy at Stanford University and Palo Alto Veterans Administration Hospital were randomized to undergo either a 3-minute or 6-minute withdrawal (1st pass), followed immediately by a tandem 6-minute withdrawal (2nd pass). AMR was defined as the number of adenomas detected on the 2nd pass divided by total number of adenomas found. A chi-square statistic was used to directly compare AMR. A z-statistic was used to determine effect of polyp size/location on AMR. A mixed-effects logistic regression model was then created to compare AMR, controlling for endoscopist, size/location of adenoma, and patient. Finally, a Cochrane-Armitage test for trend was used to evaluate the trend of adenoma detection associated with increasing withdrawal time. Results: 200 subjects were enrolled (99 in the 3-minute group, 101 in the 6-minute group). Demographics and indications for colonoscopy were similar between the two groups (Table 1). AMR was significantly higher in the 3-minute withdrawal group compared to the 6-minute withdrawal group (48.5% vs 21.8%; p≤0.0001). Adenomas were significantly more likely to be missed in the 3-minute withdrawal group in all 3 locations of the colon (right, transverse and left colon). AMR was higher in the 3-minute withdrawal group among adenomas that were ≤5mm; there was no significant difference in AMR for adenomas that were 6-9mm or ≥10mm. After controlling for endoscopist, size/location of the polyp/adenoma, and the patient, AMR remained significantly higher in the 3-minute withdrawal group compared to the 6-minute withdrawal group (OR 2.92, 95% CI=1.54-5.55) (Table 1). Adenoma detection rate (ADR) was similar between both 3 and 6 minute withdrawal groups (38.4% vs 40.6%, p=0.75); however, this study was not powered to detect differences in ADR. There was a significant trend towards higher total number of adenomas detected as withdrawal time increased (52 at 3 minutes, 87 at 6 minutes, 101 at 9 minutes, and 111 at 12 minutes; p<0.001) (Figure 1). Conclusions: A 3-minute withdrawal time leads to an unacceptably high AMR. A 6minute withdrawal time is more appropriate for colorectal cancer screening. Location did not affect AMR; however, adenomas that were ≤5mm were more likely to be missed in the 3-minute withdrawal group. Further research into the optimal withdrawal time, including evaluation of withdrawal times longer than 6 minutes, is warranted.
Effect of Temperature on the Sorption of Chelated Radionuclides

Temperature effects in the near-field radioactive waste disposal environment can result in changes in the adsorptive capacity and character of the substrate and the chemistry of the reacting fluids. This work examines the effect of temperature on 1) the kinetics of radionuclide sorption onto clays from 25°-75°C and 2) the degradation and metal-binding ability of two organic complexing agents found in chelated radioactive wastes and natural groundwaters. Clay-solution mixtures containing U, Co, Sr and Cs with kaolinite or montmorillonite were sampled over a 100-hour period for kinetic results at 25°, 50° and 75°C with and without EDTA. Three thermal degradation experiments with EDTA and oxalic acid were maintained at 250° for one week. Initial equilibrium concentrations were attained in the kinetics runs within 30 minutes in most cases. Possible sorption/retention mechanisms include ion exchange, physical adsorption and/or precipitation. EDTA decreased U and Co sorption, but slightly enhanced Sr and Cs sorption. Complexing of Al by EDTA may drive Sr and Cs to the clay surface to satisfy the resulting charge imbalance. Adsorption increased with increasing temperature for U, Co without EDTA and Sr, while Cs sorption decreased from 25°-75°C. Primary EDTA degration (at ∼200°C) products were mostly ethyl- and methyl-substituted amines with no metal-binding ability; therefore, to inhibit transport of low-level chelated radioactive wastes thermal or biological degradation is recommended. Interaction of high-level radioactive wastes with naturally-occurring organics in repository groundwaters may enhance migration of the actinides and 60Co.
Enforcing an Algebraic Constraint in Extended Kalman Filter Design

A new method is presented for optimally enforcing an algebraic constraint in Kalman filtering. The method is illustrated in the setting of inertial navigation using extended Kalman filtering. It is...
Mutual Dimension

We define the lower and upper mutual dimensions mdim(xc y) and Mdim(xc y) between any two points x and y in Euclidean space. Intuitively, these are the lower and upper densities of the algorithmic information shared by x and y. We show that these quantities satisfy the main desiderata for a satisfactory measure of mutual algorithmic information. Our main theorem, the data processing inequality for mutual dimension, says that if fc Rm → Rn is computable and Lipschitz, then the inequalities mdim(f(x)c y) ≤ mdim(xc y) and Mdim(f(x)c y) ≤ Mdim(xc y) hold for all x ∈ Rm and y ∈ Rt. We use this inequality and related inequalities that we prove in like fashion to establish conditions under which various classes of computable functions on Euclidean space preserve or otherwise transform mutual dimensions between points.
Participation cost estimation: Private versus non-private study

In our study, we seek to learn the real-time crowd levels at popular points of interests based on users continually sharing their location data. We evaluate the benefits of users sharing their location data privately and non-privately, and show that suitable privacy-preserving mechanisms provide incentives for user participation in a private study as compared to a non-private study.
Diagnosis and evaluation of intracranial arteriovenous malformations.

Background: Ideal management of intracranial arteriovenous malformations (AVMs) remains poorly defined. Decisions regarding management of AVMs are based on the expected natural history of the lesion and risk prediction for peritreatment morbidity. Microsurgical resection, stereotactic radiosurgery, and endovascular embolization alone or in combination are all viable treatment options, each with different risks. The authors attempt to clarify the existing literature's understanding of the natural history of intracranial AVMs, and risk-assessment grading scales for each of the three treatment modalities.
Graph mining for next generation sequencing: leveraging the assembly graph for biological insights

The assembly of Next Generation Sequencing (NGS) reads remains a challenging task. This is especially true for the assembly of metagenomics data that originate from environmental samples potentially containing hundreds to thousands of unique species. The principle objective of current assembly tools is to assemble NGS reads into contiguous stretches of sequence called contigs while maximizing for both accuracy and contig length. The end goal of this process is to produce longer contigs with the major focus being on assembly only. Sequence read assembly is an aggregative process, during which read overlap relationship information is lost as reads are merged into longer sequences or contigs. The assembly graph is information rich and capable of capturing the genomic architecture of an input read data set. We have developed a novel hybrid graph in which nodes represent sequence regions at different levels of granularity. This model, utilized in the assembly and analysis pipeline Focus, presents a concise yet feature rich view of a given input data set, allowing for the extraction of biologically relevant graph structures for graph mining purposes. Focus was used to create hybrid graphs to model metagenomics data sets obtained from the gut microbiomes of five individuals with Crohn’s disease and eight healthy individuals. Repetitive and mobile genetic elements are found to be associated with hybrid graph structure. Using graph mining techniques, a comparative study of the Crohn’s disease and healthy data sets was conducted with focus on antibiotics resistance genes associated with transposase genes. Results demonstrated significant differences in the phylogenetic distribution of categories of antibiotics resistance genes in the healthy and diseased patients. Focus was also evaluated as a pure assembly tool and produced excellent results when compared against the Meta-velvet, Omega, and UD-IDBA assemblers. Mining the hybrid graph can reveal biological phenomena captured by its structure. We demonstrate the advantages of considering assembly graphs as data-mining support in addition to their role as frameworks for assembly.
Rolex: Resilience-oriented language extensions for extreme-scale systems

Future exascale high-performance computing (HPC) systems will be constructed from VLSI devices that will be less reliable than those used today, and faults will become the norm, not the exception. This will pose significant problems for system designers and programmers, who for half-a-century have enjoyed an execution model that assumed correct behaviour by the underlying computing system. The mean time to failure of the system scales inversely to the number of components in the system and, therefore, faults and resultant system level failures will increase, as systems scale in terms of the number of processor cores and memory modules used. However, every error detected need not cause catastrophic failure. Many HPC applications are inherently fault resilient. Yet it is the application programmers who have this knowledge but lack mechanisms to convey it to the system. In this paper, we present new Resilience Oriented Language Extensions (Rolex) which facilitate the incorporation of fault resilience as an intrinsic property of the application code. We describe the syntax and semantics of the language extensions as well as the implementation of the supporting compiler infrastructure and runtime system. Our experiments show that an approach that leverages the programmer’s insight to reason about the context and significance of faults to the application outcome significantly improves the probability that an application runs to a successful conclusion.
Macroergonomic factors in the patient work system: examining the context of patients with chronic illness

Human factors/ergonomics recognises work as embedded in and shaped by levels of social, physical and organisational context. This study investigates the contextual or macroergonomic factors present in the health-related work performed by patients. We performed a secondary content analysis of findings from three studies of the work of chronically ill patients and their informal caregivers. Our resulting consolidated macroergonomic patient work system model identified 17 factors across physical, social and organisational domains and household and community levels. These factors are illustrated with examples from the three studies and discussed as having positive, negative or varying effects on health and health behaviour. We present three brief case studies to illustrate how macroergonomic factors combine across domains and levels to shape performance in expected and unexpected ways. Findings demonstrate not only the importance of context for patients' health-related activities but also specific factors to consider in future research, design and policy efforts. Practitioner Summary: Health-related activities of patients are embedded in and shaped by levels of social, physical and organisational context. This paper combined findings from three studies to specify 17 contextual or macroergonomic factors in home- and community-based work systems of chronically ill patients. These factors have research, design and policy implications.
Nonadherence to Oral Antihyperglycemic Agents: Subsequent Hospitalization and Mortality among Patients with Type 2 Diabetes in Clinical Practice.

Using real-world clinical data from the Indiana Network for Patient Care, we analyzed the associations between non-adherence to oral antihyperglycemic agents (OHA) and subsequent diabetes-related hospitalization and all-cause mortality for patients with type 2 diabetes. OHA adherence was measured by the annual proportion of days covered (PDC) for 2008 and 2009. Among 24,067 eligible patients, 35,507 annual PDCs were formed. Over 90% (n=21,798) of the patients had a PDC less than 80%. In generalized linear mixed model analyses, OHA non-adherence is significantly associated with diabetes related hospitalizations (OR: 1.2; 95% CI [1.1,1.3]; p<0.0001). Older patients, white patients, or patients who had ischemic heart disease, stroke, or renal disease had higher odds of hospitalization. Similarly, OHA non-adherence increased subsequent mortality (OR: 1.3; 95% CI [1.02, 1.61]; p<0.0001). Patient age, male gender, income and presence of ischemic heart diseases, stroke, and renal disease were also significantly associated with subsequent all-cause death.