cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Adaptive lock-free data structures in Haskell: a general method for concurrent implementation swapping

A key part of implementing high-level languages is providing built- in and default data structures. Yet selecting good defaults is hard. A mutable data structure’s workload is not known in advance, and it may shift over its lifetime—e.g., between read-heavy and write- heavy, or from heavy contention by multiple threads to single- threaded or low-frequency use. One idea is to switch implementa- tions adaptively, but it is nontrivial to switch the implementation of a concurrent data structure at runtime. Performing the transition requires a concurrent snapshot of data structure contents, which normally demands special engineering in the data structure’s de- sign. However, in this paper we identify and formalize an relevant property of lock-free algorithms. Namely, lock-freedom is su cient to guarantee that freezing memory locations in an arbitrary order will result in a valid snapshot. Several functional languages have data structures that freeze and thaw, transitioning between mutable and immutable, such as Haskell vectors and Clojure transients, but these enable only single-threaded writers. We generalize this approach to augment an arbitrary lock-free data structure with the ability to gradually freeze and optionally transition to a new representation. This aug- mentation doesn’t require changing the algorithm or code for the data structure, only replacing its datatype for mutable references with a freezable variant. In this paper, we present an algorithm for lifting plain to adaptive data and prove that the resulting hy- brid data structure is itself lock-free, linearizable, and simulates the original. We also perform an empirical case study in the context of heating up and cooling down concurrent maps.
Beyond δ : Tailoring marked statistics to reveal modified gravity

Models that seek to explain cosmic acceleration through modifications to general relativity (GR) evade stringent Solar System constraints through a restoring, screening mechanism. Down-weighting the high-density, screened regions in favor of the low density, unscreened ones offers the potential to enhance the amount of information carried in such modified gravity models. In this work, we assess the performance of a new ``marked'' transformation and perform a systematic comparison with the clipping and logarithmic transformations, in the context of $\mathrm{\ensuremath{\Lambda}}\mathrm{CDM}$ and the symmetron and $f(R)$ modified gravity models. Performance is measured in terms of the fractional boost in the Fisher information and the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) for these models relative to the statistics derived from the standard density distribution. We find that all three statistics provide improved Fisher boosts over the basic density statistics. The model parameters for the marked and clipped transformation that best enhance signals and the Fisher boosts are determined. We also show that the mark is useful both as a Fourier and real-space transformation; a marked correlation function also enhances the SNR relative to the standard correlation function, and can on mildly nonlinear scales show a significant difference between the $\mathrm{\ensuremath{\Lambda}}\mathrm{CDM}$ and the modified gravity models. Our results demonstrate how a series of simple analytical transformations could dramatically increase the predicted information extracted on deviations from GR, from large-scale surveys, and give the prospect for a much more feasible potential detection.
Patterns and predictors of tic suppressibility in youth with Tic disorders

Tic suppression is the primary target of tic disorder treatment, but factors that influence voluntary tic inhibition are not well understood. Several studies using the Tic Suppression Task have demonstrated significant inter-individual variability in tic suppressibility but have individually been underpowered to address correlates of tic suppression. The present study explored patterns and clinical correlates of reward-enhanced tic suppression in youth with tic disorders using a large, pooled dataset. Individual-level data from nine studies using the Tic Suppression Task were pooled, yielding a sample of 99 youth with tic disorders. Analyses examined patterns of tic suppressibility and the relationship between tic suppressibility and demographic and clinical characteristics. A large majority of youth demonstrated a high degree of tic suppression, but heterogeneous patterns of tic suppressibility were also observed. Better tic suppressibility was related to older age and more frequent tics but unrelated to other clinical variables, including presence of psychiatric comorbidity, psychotropic medication status, tic and premonitory urge severity, and self-rated tic suppressibility. The mechanisms underlying the observed heterogeneity in reward-enhanced tic suppressibility warrant further investigation. The Tic Suppression Task is a promising method for testing mechanistic hypotheses related to tic suppression.
Is crime a real estate problem? A case study of the neighborhood of East Liberty, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

Abstract This study documents an intervention designed and implemented using the tenets of community operational research (community OR) approach to address crime in East Liberty, a neighborhood in the East End of the City of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The intervention was implemented by a community development organization (CDO) with active engagement by the community. The multi-pronged strategy included real estate acquisition of crime hot spots, use of uniformed off-duty police, effective property management and a strengthening of the neighborhood's informal social controls. We used the community OR approach to examine both the processes and outcomes of the intervention. We found that the initiative was associated with a 49% reduction in residential crime in the neighborhood over the period 2008–2012, a trend that held steady till 2015 which represents the latest data analyzed for the present study. Evidence of the lasting impact of our strategy is that there has been little observed decay in the crime reduction even after off-duty police were withdrawn. We conclude that a community-oriented approach that addresses crime should emphasize strategies to improve and leverage the neighborhood's social cohesion and informal social controls for crime reduction to be sustainable. Similar interventions in the future may benefit from the study by conceptualizing and implementing community-engaged initiatives that are closely aligned to community OR principles.
Comparative genomics of the major parasitic worms

Parasitic nematodes (roundworms) and platyhelminths (flatworms) cause debilitating chronic infections of humans and animals, decimate crop production and are a major impediment to socioeconomic development. Here we report the broadest comparative study to date of the genomes of parasitic and non-parasitic worms, involving 81. We have identified gene family births and hundreds of expanded gene families at key nodes in the phylogeny that are relevant to parasitism. Examples include gene families that modulate host immune responses, enable parasite migration though host tissues or allow the parasite to feed. We reveal extensive lineage-specific differences in core metabolism and protein families historically targeted for drug development. From an in silico screen, we have identified and prioritised new potential drug targets and compounds for testing. This comparative genomics resource provides a much needed boost for the research community to understand and combat parasitic worms.
Do Employee Spinoffs Learn Markets From Their Parents? Evidence From International Trade

Abstract It is well established that employee spinoffs learn their parents’ technologies, but little is known about their demand-side learning. We exploit the identification in international trade data of parent markets (countries) to investigate whether exporting employee spinoffs of exporting parents have an advantage in accessing their parents’ markets over exporting comparison firms well positioned to learn those markets at arm’s length. We find that, controlling for the greater overlap of spinoffs with their parents’ export products, at entry spinoffs access 51 percent more parent markets than exporting firms in the same 4-digit industries and municipalities as the parents. This advantage shrinks monotonically with time, becoming statistically insignificant four years after entry, indicating that intrafirm learning provides spinoffs with a four-year head start over learning at arm’s length. Spinoffs do not overlap more than comparison firms with parent markets that the parents did not serve at spinoff entry, providing evidence against the alternative hypothesis that product overlap inadequately controls for greater technological similarity of spinoffs to parents. Firm entry into parent markets predicted by spinoff status does not lead to entry into “adjacent” markets the following year.
Citizen typography and political brands in the 2016 US presidential election campaign

The 2016 presidential campaign between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump saw citizen typography emerge in highly visible and highly impactful ways, particularly as the candidates made seemingly litt...
Transparency and firm innovation

Abstract Firm innovation drives both firm competitiveness and economic growth. Constructing a novel firm-patent panel database from 29 countries, I find that transparency directly boosts innovative effort by reducing managerial career concerns. This effect operates through transparency's implicit contracting role: it reduces the sensitivity of management turnover to poor innovative output. Transparency also increases innovative efficiency through its governance role in facilitating efficient allocation of R&D capital. Nonetheless, the benefit of transparency is fully offset in environments with greater proprietary cost. These findings illuminate the unique roles and mechanisms of transparency in promoting innovation incentives and outcomes.
Retaining volunteer mediators: Comparing predictors of burnout

Retention of the estimated 30,000 U.S. volunteer community mediators is critical to provision of high‐quality services. Although workers’ retention and burnout is well researched, retention of volunteers such as community mediators is less understood. Survey data of 53 volunteer mediators were analyzed. For volunteer mediators, burnout and intent to remain for 2 years were significantly negatively associated. Using a self‐determination‐based basic needs satisfaction scale, more relatedness satisfaction predicted lower burnout for volunteer mediators, while competence satisfaction and autonomy satisfaction did not. This association held, even when controlling for mediators’ experience in the field and self‐care behaviors.
Augmenting the Simple View of Reading for Struggling Adult Readers: A Unique Role for Background Knowledge

This study explored the background knowledge (BK) and reading comprehension (RC) relationship for struggling adult readers. Using confirmatory factor analyses, a single-factor BK model exhibited be...
Governance and the dimensions of autocracy

Recent work at the frontiers of classical liberal political economy has reconsidered the idea that certain autocratic political institutions may improve on the consensus liberal, constitutional democratic political institutions. This paper will discuss conceptually how these new arguments, predatory forms of autocracy, the status quo of constitutional democracy, and the proponents of more majoritarian forms of democratic governance should be understood in terms of one another. It will then perform a simple empirical examination of the modern world, looking at the quality of governance by country by the quality of its democracy, conditional on a country’s economic output, education, and culture. Examples of autocracy with good governance, even when conditioning on these other variables, are sufficiently rare to raise serious questions for the new classical liberal proponents of autocracy.
The “Roll Yield” Myth

Futures investors are frequently said to periodically pay or receive the difference in futures prices across contracts with different delivery dates. But this “roll yield” is mythical: No such cash flow occurs—at the time of roll trades or on any other date. However, although the term is a misnomer, the roll yield does contain useful information. It explains when futures gains exceed or fall short of spot-price changes, and for storable assets, it provides information regarding benefits to the marginal holder of a spot position. This article clarifies the actual role of the roll yield.
When Prospect Theory Meets Consumer Choice Models: Assortment and Pricing Management with Reference Prices

Problem definition: Reference prices arise as price expectations against which consumers evaluate products in their purchase scenarios. We investigate what will happen when prospect theory (e.g., reference prices) meets consumer choice models from the perspectives of both the consumers and the firm. Academic/practical relevance: Consumers see multiple relevant products on a particular purchase occasion and often compare their prices to form the willingness to pay when considering whether to purchase a particular product. Reference prices, which are not included in many choice models, may impact consumer choice behavior, so we incorporate reference prices into consumer choice models and investigate the operations management problems. Methodology: We take the widely used multinomial logit model as a showcase to examine the effects of reference prices through analytical and empirical study. We consider the optimization problems on assortment planning and pricing under consumer choice models with a variety of...
Mating system does not predict niche breath

AIM: Self‐pollinating plants (‘selfers’) have larger geographical ranges and inhabit higher latitudes than their outcrossing relatives. This finding has led to the hypothesis that selfers also have broader climatic niches (‘niches’) because the increased likelihood of successful colonization into new areas and the initial purging of deleterious mutations could offset the inability of selfers to adapt to new environments owing to low heterozygosity. Here, we examine the niches of hundreds of closely related selfing and outcrossing species to determine whether selfers do indeed have larger niche breadths. LOCATION: Global. TIME PERIOD: Current. MAJOR TAXA STUDIED: Twenty clades of flowering plants comprising 424 species. METHODS: We estimated and compared the climatic niches of 194 pairs of sister species across 15 families, which differed in mating system. We incorporated these results into models predicting niche breadth and its change over time to estimate the effects of mating system on niche breadth. Furthermore, we compared the degree of niche divergence between sister‐species pairs of various mating system combinations. RESULTS: Selfers did not have wider niche breadths than their outcrossing sister taxa. Sister pairs of selfers also exhibited greater niche overlap than outcrossing sisters, implying that niche expansion becomes limited after the transition to selfing. Furthermore, the niche breadth of selfers was predicted to decrease significantly faster than that of closely related outcrossers. MAIN CONCLUSIONS: Our results demonstrate a decoupling in the range size and niche breadth of selfers. The larger geographical range and comparable niche breadths of many selfers is most likely to be a temporary phenomenon caused by a transiently expanded realized niche, and both will become constricted over time in comparison to outcrossers.
Quality of Explanation as an Indicator of Fraction Magnitude Understanding.

Students’ explanations of their mathematical thinking and conclusions have become a greater part of the assessment landscape in recent years. With a sample of 71 fourth-grade students at risk for m...
Single-cell replication profiling to measure stochastic variation in mammalian replication timing.

Mammalian DNA replication is regulated via multi-replicon segments that replicate in a defined temporal order during S-phase. Further, early/late replication of RDs corresponds to active/inactive chromatin interaction compartments. Although replication origins are selected stochastically, variation in replication timing is poorly understood. Here we devise a strategy to measure variation in replication timing using DNA copy number in single mouse embryonic stem cells. We find that borders between replicated and unreplicated DNA are highly conserved between cells, demarcating active and inactive compartments of the nucleus. Fifty percent of replication events deviated from their average replication time by ± 15% of S phase. This degree of variation is similar between cells, between homologs within cells and between all domains genomewide, regardless of their replication timing. These results demonstrate that stochastic variation in replication timing is independent of elements that dictate timing or extrinsic environmental variation. While DNA replication is temporally regulated during S-phase, variation in replication timing is not well understood. Here, the authors measure variation in replication timing using DNA copy number in single mouse ESCs and find stochastic variation to be independent of elements that regulate timing.
Freeze-on limits bed strength beneath sliding glaciers.

Discharge from sliding outlet glaciers controls uncertainty in projections for future sea level. Remarkably, over 90% of glacial area is subject to gravitational driving stresses below 150 kPa (median ∼70 kPa). Longstanding explanations that appeal to the shear-thinning rheology of ice tend to overpredict driving stresses and are restricted to areas where ice sheets only deform (roughly 50%). Over the more dynamic portions that slide, driving stresses must be balanced by thermo-mechanical interactions that control basal strength. Here we show that median bed strength is comparable to a threshold effective stress set by ice–liquid surface energy and till pore size. Above this threshold, ice infiltrates sediment to produce basal layers of debris-rich ice, even where net melting takes place. We demonstrate that the narrow range of inferred bed strengths can be explained by the mechanical resistance to sliding where roughness is enhanced by heterogeneous freeze-on. Across all glaciers, ice caps, and ice sheets, the gravitational driving stress, and therefore the average basal shear stress falls in a narrow range that tops out around 1 bar. Here, the authors show that the mechanical resistance posed by heterogeneous infiltration of ice into sediments governs the peak bed strength.
Price reversals and price continuations following large price movements

Abstract We concurrently examine price reversals and price continuations that follow extreme one-day price changes in the period 1986–2015. Consistent with the overreaction and underreaction hypotheses, we find that investors overreact to non-information-based price movements and underreact to public announcements containing firm-specific information. We also find that, consistent with the liquidity hypothesis, smaller firms and firms with lower institutional ownership are more likely to experience price reversals relative to price continuations. The magnitudes of reversals and continuations are also greater for smaller firms and firms with lower institutional ownership. Liquidity improvement following the post-decimalization period led to the reduction in the magnitudes of both, price reversals and continuations. These findings have implications for future debate about underlying reasons of observed price movements and the impact of decimalization on financial markets.
Large-scale genome-wide enrichment analyses identify new trait-associated genes and pathways across 31 human phenotypes

Genome-wide association studies (GWAS) aim to identify genetic factors associated with phenotypes. Standard analyses test variants for associations individually. However, variant-level associations are hard to identify and can be difficult to interpret biologically. Enrichment analyses help address both problems by targeting sets of biologically related variants. Here we introduce a new model-based enrichment method that requires only GWAS summary statistics. Applying this method to interrogate 4,026 gene sets in 31 human phenotypes identifies many previously-unreported enrichments, including enrichments of endochondral ossification pathway for height, NFAT-dependent transcription pathway for rheumatoid arthritis, brain-related genes for coronary artery disease, and liver-related genes for Alzheimer’s disease. A key feature of our method is that inferred enrichments automatically help identify new trait-associated genes. For example, accounting for enrichment in lipid transport genes highlights association between MTTP and low-density lipoprotein levels, whereas conventional analyses of the same data found no significant variants near this gene. In genome-wide association studies, variant-level associations are hard to identify and can be difficult to interpret biologically. Here, the authors develop a new model-based enrichment analysis method, and apply it to identify new associated genes, pathways and tissues across 31 human phenotypes.
Racial disparities in eligibility for low-dose computed tomography lung cancer screening among older adults with a history of smoking.

Lung cancer early detection screening has been demonstrated to decrease lung cancer mortality among high-risk smokers. This study aimed to examine whether current screening guidelines may disproportionately exclude African American smokers who are at higher overall risk for lung cancer. Data from the 2014 Health and Retirement Study were analyzed. Older African Americans and Whites with a history of smoking were included in the analyses (n = 7,348). Eligibility criteria established by the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) for LDCT lung cancer screening were used. Multivariate logistic regression analyses were conducted to examine racial differences in eligibility for LDCT lung cancer screening. Overall, 21.1% of current and 10.5% of former smokers met USPSTF’s eligibility criteria for LDCT screening. In multivariate logistic regression analyses, African American smokers were less likely to be eligible for LDCT lung cancer screening compared to Whites (odds ratio = 0.5; p < 0.001). African American smokers were less likely to meet established lung cancer screening eligibility criteria compared to Whites. Current lung cancer screening criteria may not adequately capture African Americans at risk and may widen the health disparities in African Americans. Further longitudinal studies are needed to evaluate the efficacy of current lung cancer screening guideline.
REES: A Registry of Efficacy and Effectiveness Studies in Education.

Calls for improving transparency across the social science are increasing. One strategy that is gaining momentum in the quest to increase transparency is the practice of preregistering a study and ...
Evaluating Bad Norms

Some norms are bad. Norms of revenge, female genital mutilation, honor killings, and other norms strike us as destructive, cruel, and wasteful. The puzzle is why so many people see these norms as authoritative and why these norms often resist change. To answer these questions, we need to look at what “bad” norms are and how we can evaluate them. Here I develop an integrative analysis of norms that aims to avoid parochialism in norm evaluation. After examining and rejecting several evaluative standards, I propose what I call a comparative-functional analysis of norms that is both operationalizable/testable and nonparochial, and that can sort better and worse norms. One conclusion of this approach is that norms are not so much “bad” and “good” as “better” and “worse.” This approach should be of interest to theorists and practitioners alike.
Buying water for the environment: A hydro-economic analysis of Salton Sea inflows

Abstract As societies confront greater levels of water scarcity, conflict follows. Water transfers are increasing with irrigation water regularly considered in such discussions given it often comprises the bulk of water rights within a particular region, especially in water scarce environments. Here we analyze the impacts of three widely considered and implemented strategies to purchase water from irrigated agriculture—land fallowing, improvements in irrigation efficiency, and direct leasing. Our empirical application involves water transfers from Colorado River water rights holders to the Salton Sea, a critical ecological resource that has been in decline for many decades, with environmental damages estimated in the tens of billions of dollars. We develop a regional hydro-economic model that accounts for essential field-level agro-hydrologic processes related to crop production, irrigation, and salinity to evaluate the cost-effectiveness of these three programs. Results indicate that both fallow and direct water lease programs are capable of generating significant environmental water flows with relatively small decreases in agricultural production and no appreciable decrease in grower profits. Because these policies focus on a single input (applied water) rather than overall inflows to the Sea, the direct lease program—which is the most cost-effective approach for generating water conservation— may result in less inflows into the Sea than a land fallowing program.
Revolution by Customary International Law

B.S. Chimni's Customary International Law: A Third World Perspective announces a provocative normative approach to customary international law (CIL) designed to develop progressive norms by deemphasizing state practice and promoting deliberative reasoning as the basis for opinio juris rather than the general acceptance of states. Many of his historical concerns are compelling: the unfairness and dubious validity of the persistent objector principle, the lack of access and attention to non-European state practice, and the questionable legitimacy of CIL norms developed without the participation of a majority of states or their consent. While Chimni makes a compelling case for the problematic origins of much of CIL, his approach to reform raises serious legitimacy and practical questions that undermine the viability of his proposed solution. Problems such as extreme poverty, environmental degradation, and nuclear weapons are best resolved through democratic political institutions rather than weak and undemocratic international tribunals. I will analyze Chimni's approach first as a theory of customary law and then as a theory of the role of international tribunals. Finally, I will raise concerns about his normative goals.
Certifying the ‘Climate’ in climate bonds

The market for climate bonds is expanding quickly, but the continued vitality of the market will depend in large part of the quality of the reviews and assurances provided by climate bond verifiers, who assure that the bond proceeds will be used to fund climate-related projects. The Climate Bond Initiative (CBI), a self-regulatory organization that promotes the climate bond market, employs an existing regulatory framework (ISAE 3000) to manage potential conflicts of interest. However, additional steps may help the climate verification market develop and maintain credibility. Because CBI has adopted an issuer-pays model, CBI should consider encouraging the use of entity forms by climate verifiers that either limit profit incentives (such as mutual, cooperatives and non-profits) or that encourage attentive risk management (such as general partnerships). As the climate verification market matures and an oligopoly of verifiers emerges, CBI should consider allowing investors and issuers to pursue claims against climate verifiers for poor quality verifications.
Misinterpretation of online surgical outcomes: The British Association of Urological Surgeons Surgical Outcomes Audit:

Objective:The purpose of this study was to evaluate whether the information presented in the British Association of Urological Surgeons Surgical Outcomes Audit is comprehended by the general popula...
Adjuvant chemotherapy for elderly patients with stage I non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) with tumors ≥ 4 cm: A SEER-Medicare analysis.

e18508 Background: The role of adjuvant chemotherapy for early stage NSCLC stage I patients with tumors size ≥ 4 cm is not well established. Secondary analysis of CALBG 9633, the only randomized cl...
Can a firm find the balance between openness and secrecy? Towards a theory of an optimum level of disclosure

The purpose of this article is not merely to counter assertions about technology leakage/spillovers being innocuous or benevolent, but to go further and illuminate an under-researched question: How can companies seek the optimum balance between conscious disclosure and secrecy? The article works towards a theory of optimum disclosure, by identifying possible benefits and costs of disclosure or openness. In Paradigm 1, most companies find the net benefits of disclosure/openness to be negative. In Paradigm 2, applicable to a few highly networked or open-source MNEs, there could be net benefits over a limited range and up to an optimum point.
Highly efficient hypothesis testing methods for regression-type tests with correlated observations and heterogeneous variance structure

For many practical hypothesis testing (H-T) applications, the data are correlated and/or with heterogeneous variance structure. The regression t-test for weighted linear mixed-effects regression (LMER) is a legitimate choice because it accounts for complex covariance structure; however, high computational costs and occasional convergence issues make it impractical for analyzing high-throughput data. In this paper, we propose computationally efficient parametric and semiparametric tests based on a set of specialized matrix techniques dubbed as the PB-transformation. The PB-transformation has two advantages: 1. The PB-transformed data will have a scalar variance-covariance matrix. 2. The original H-T problem will be reduced to an equivalent one-sample H-T problem. The transformed problem can then be approached by either the one-sample Student’s t-test or Wilcoxon signed rank test. In simulation studies, the proposed methods outperform commonly used alternative methods under both normal and double exponential distributions. In particular, the PB-transformed t-test produces notably better results than the weighted LMER test, especially in the high correlation case, using only a small fraction of computational cost (3 versus 933 s). We apply these two methods to a set of RNA-seq gene expression data collected in a breast cancer study. Pathway analyses show that the PB-transformed t-test reveals more biologically relevant findings in relation to breast cancer than the weighted LMER test. As fast and numerically stable replacements for the weighted LMER test, the PB-transformed tests are especially suitable for “messy” high-throughput data that include both independent and matched/repeated samples. By using our method, the practitioners no longer have to choose between using partial data (applying paired tests to only the matched samples) or ignoring the correlation in the data (applying two sample tests to data with some correlated samples). Our method is implemented as an R package ‘PBtest’ and is available at https://github.com/yunzhang813/PBtest-R-Package .
Performance of preconditioned iterative linear solvers for cardiovascular simulations in rigid and deformable vessels.

Computing the solution of linear systems of equations is invariably the most time consuming task in the numerical solutions of PDEs in many fields of computational science. In this study, we focus on the numerical simulation of cardiovascular hemodynamics with rigid and deformable walls, discretized in space and time through the variational multiscale finite element method. We focus on three approaches: the problem agnostic generalized minimum residual and stabilized bi-conjugate gradient (BICGS) methods, and a recently proposed, problem specific, bi-partitioned (BIPN) method. We also perform a comparative analysis of several preconditioners, including diagonal, block-diagonal, incomplete factorization, multigrid, and resistance based methods. Solver performance and matrix characteristics (diagonal dominance, symmetry, sparsity, bandwidth and spectral properties) are first examined for an idealized cylindrical geometry with physiologic boundary conditions and then successively tested on several patient-specific anatomies representative of realistic cardiovascular simulation problems. Incomplete factorization preconditioners provide the best performance and results in terms of both strong and weak scalability. The BIPN method was found to outperform other methods in patient-specific models with rigid walls. In models with deformable walls, BIPN was outperformed by BICG with diagonal and incomplete LU preconditioners.
Cost-Effectiveness Analysis of the Management of Distal Ureteral Stones in Children.

ABSTRACT Objective To determine the most cost-effective approach to the management of distal ureteral stones in children given the potential for recurrent renal colic during a trial of passage versus potential stent discomfort and complications of ureteroscopy. Methods We developed a decision tree to project costs and clinical outcomes associated with observation, medical explusive therapy (MET), and ureteroscopy for the management of an index patient with a 4-mm-distal ureteral stone. We determined which strategy would be least costly and offer the most pain-free days within 30days of diagnosis. We performed a one-way sensitivity analysis on the probability of successful stone passage with MET. We obtained probabilities from the literature and costs from the 2016 Pediatric Health Information System Database. Results Ureteroscopy was the costliest strategy but maximized the number of pain-free days within 30days of diagnosis ($5282/29 pain-free days). MET was less costly than ureteroscopy but also less effective ($615/21.8 pain-free days). Observation cost more than MET and was also less effective ($2139/15.5 pain-free days). The one-way sensitivity analysis on the probability of successful stone passage with MET demonstrated that ureteroscopy always has the highest net monetary benefits value and is therefore the recommended strategy given a fixed willingness-to-pay. Discussion Using a rigorous decision-science approach, we found that ureteroscopy is the r ecommended strategy in children with small distal ureteral stones. Although it costs more than MET, it resulted in more pain-free days in the first 30days following diagnosis given the faster resolution of the stone episode.
Cholesterol Sulfotransferase SULT2B1b Modulates Sensitivity to Death Receptor Ligand TNFα in Castration-Resistant Prostate Cancer

Cholesterol sulfotransferase, SULT2B1b, has been demonstrated to modulate both androgen receptor activity and cell growth properties. However, the mechanism(s) by which SULT2B1b alters these properties within prostate cancer cells has not been described. Furthermore, specific advantages of SULT2B1b expression in prostate cancer cells are not understood. In these studies, single-cell mRNA sequencing was conducted to compare the transcriptomes of SULT2B1b knockdown (KD) versus Control KD LNCaP cells. Over 2,000 differentially expressed genes were identified along with alterations in numerous canonical pathways, including the death receptor signaling pathway. The studies herein demonstrate that SULT2B1b KD increases TNFα expression in prostate cancer cells and results in NF-κB activation in a TNF-dependent manner. More importantly, SULT2B1b KD significantly enhances TNF-mediated apoptosis in both TNF-sensitive LNCaP cells and TNF-resistant C4-2 cells. Overexpression of SULT2B1b in LNCaP cells also decreases sensitivity to TNF-mediated cell death, suggesting that SULT2B1b modulates pathways dictating the TNF sensitivity capacity of prostate cancer cells. Probing human prostate cancer patient datasets further supports this work by providing evidence that SULT2B1b expression is inversely correlated with TNF-related genes, including TNF, CD40LG, FADD, and NFKB1. Together, these data provide evidence that SULT2B1b expression in prostate cancer cells enhances resistance to TNF and may provide a growth advantage. In addition, targeting SULT2B1b may induce an enhanced therapeutic response to TNF treatment in advanced prostate cancer. IMPLICATIONS: These data suggest that SULT2B1b expression enhances resistance to TNF and may promote prostate cancer.
Alternating Phase Projected Gradient Descent with Generative Priors for Solving Compressive Phase Retrieval

The classical problem of phase retrieval arises in various signal acquisition systems. Due to the ill-posed nature of the problem, the solution requires assumptions on the structure of the signal. In the last several years, sparsity and support-based priors have been leveraged successfully to solve this problem. In this work, we propose replacing the sparsity/support priors with generative priors and propose two algorithms to solve the phase retrieval problem. Our proposed algorithms combine the ideas from AltMin approach for non-convex sparse phase retrieval and projected gradient descent approach for solving linear inverse problems using generative priors. We empirically show that the performance of our method with projected gradient descent is superior to the existing approach for solving phase retrieval under generative priors. We support our method with an analysis of sample complexity with Gaussian measurements.
A Data-Compressive Wired-OR Readout for Massively Parallel Neural Recording

This paper describes an architecture for the massively parallel digitization of neural action potentials. The scheme achieves simultaneous data compression and channel multiplexing through wired-OR interactions within an array of single-slope A/D converters. The achieved compression is lossy but effective at retaining the critical samples belonging to action potential spikes. Simulation results using ex-vivo experimental data from a 512-channel array show compression rates up to ∼73x while maintaining ≥90% reconstruction coverage for parasol cells in the primate retina.
ARSM: Augment-REINFORCE-Swap-Merge Estimator for Gradient Backpropagation Through Categorical Variables

To address the challenge of backpropagating the gradient through categorical variables, we propose the augment-REINFORCE-swap-merge (ARSM) gradient estimator that is unbiased and has low variance. ARSM first uses variable augmentation, REINFORCE, and Rao-Blackwellization to re-express the gradient as an expectation under the Dirichlet distribution, then uses variable swapping to construct differently expressed but equivalent expectations, and finally shares common random numbers between these expectations to achieve significant variance reduction. Experimental results show ARSM closely resembles the performance of the true gradient for optimization in univariate settings; outperforms existing estimators by a large margin when applied to categorical variational auto-encoders; and provides a "try-and-see self-critic" variance reduction method for discrete-action policy gradient, which removes the need of estimating baselines by generating a random number of pseudo actions and estimating their action-value functions.
Pre-trade hedging: Evidence from the issuance of retail structured products

Abstract We find evidence consistent with previously unrecognized market manipulation by broker-dealers. Specifically, we show that pre-trade hedging, which is distinct from front-running, alters prices at which derivative trades occur. We show this behavior is intentional by exploiting variation in the design of structured equity products (SEPs). We find positive abnormal returns on SEP pricing dates for which issuers benefit from altering closing stock prices but no such returns on pricing dates of otherwise similar SEPs. We also show that large buy trades near the close of trading are more frequent when SEP issuers have incentives to alter closing stock prices.
The effect of direct and vicarious police contact on the educational achievement of urban teens

In response to changes in policing practices, scholarship has increasingly begun to explore whether police contact has negative implications for youth. A small subset of scholarship has examined the implications of police contact for educational outcomes. This research has generally focused on serious police contact (arrest, court involvement, and incarceration) and has found that police contact is associated with worse educational outcomes. In this paper, we build on this research in three ways: 1) By differentiating between arrests and stops that do not result in arrest; 2) By examining the implications of vicarious police contact; and 3) By examining the pathways through which experiencing arrest, experiencing a police stop without an arrest, and vicariously experiencing police contact may impact educational achievement. Using data from the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study, we find that arrest, police contact that does not result in arrest, and vicarious police contact are all associated with reductions in educational achievement. We also find that these associations are mediated at least in part by the impact of police contact on teen delinquency, teen attitudes towards teachers, and teen mental health.
Branched Plasmonic Nanoparticles with High Symmetry

Branched plasmonic nanoparticles (NPs) composed of noble metals are an interesting subclass of plasmonic NPs due to their unique properties that arise from the strong electric field enhancements th...
Selective hydroboration of terminal alkenes in the presence of aldehydes and ketones

Abstract The hydroboration of olefinic ketones and aldehydes with dicyclohexylborane gives the corresponding hydroxy aldehydes and ketones in good yields after oxidation with sodium perborate.
Commonly used FRET fluorophores promote collapse of an otherwise disordered protein

The dimensions that unfolded proteins, including intrinsically disordered proteins (IDPs), adopt in the absence of denaturant remain controversial. We developed an analysis procedure for small-angle X-ray scattering (SAXS) profiles and used it to demonstrate that even relatively hydrophobic IDPs remain nearly as expanded in water as they are in high denaturant concentrations. In contrast, as demonstrated here, most fluorescence resonance energy transfer (FRET) measurements have indicated that relatively hydrophobic IDPs contract significantly in the absence of denaturant. We use two independent approaches to further explore this controversy. First, using SAXS we show that fluorophores employed in FRET can contribute to the observed discrepancy. Specifically, we find that addition of Alexa-488 to a normally expanded IDP causes contraction by an additional 15%, a value in reasonable accord with the contraction reported in FRET-based studies. Second, using our simulations and analysis procedure to accurately extract both the radius of gyration (Rg) and end-to-end distance (Ree) from SAXS profiles, we tested the recent suggestion that FRET and SAXS results can be reconciled if the Rg and Ree are "uncoupled" (i.e., no longer simply proportional), in contrast to the case for random walk homopolymers. We find, however, that even for unfolded proteins, these two measures of unfolded state dimensions remain proportional. Together, these results suggest that improved analysis procedures and a correction for significant, fluorophore-driven interactions are sufficient to reconcile prior SAXS and FRET studies, thus providing a unified picture of the nature of unfolded polypeptide chains in the absence of denaturant.
A SIMPLE AND EFFICIENT SYNTHESIS OF 2-(N-PHENYLAMINO)- BENZOIC ACIDS

A new method for the synthesis of 2-(N-phenylamino)benzoic acids is presented, with 2-fluorobenzoic acids and anilines as starting materials. Several experimental conditions as well as the factors influencing the outcome of the reaction are described.
Synthesis and Properties of 2-Alkyl-1-(2-aminoethyl)pyrroles

3-Chloropropenyl alkyl ketones or 2-methoxy-3-chloropropyl alkyl ketones in reaction withethylenediamine furnish previously unknown 2-alkyl-1-(2-aminoethyl) pyrroles. Their reaction with 2'2'-dichlorodiethyl ether gave rise to 2-alkyl-1-(2-morpholinoethyl)pyrroles, with anhydrides ofdicarboxylic acids the corresponding amidoacids and imides of dicarboxylic acids were obtained.
Asymmetric Synthesis of C4‘α-Carboxylated 2‘-Deoxynucleosides. Preparation of Oxetanone Derivatives and Influence of Solvent on the Stereochemistry of Base Introduction

A synthesis of methyl 5-O-benzyl-3-O-tert-butyldimethylsilyl-4α-methoxycarbonyl-2-deoxyribofuranoside from dimethyl l-tartrate is presented. Coupling of this substance with standard purine and pyri...
Partial-width injuries of the rat rotator cuff heal with fibrosis

ABSTRACTPurpose: Identify the healing outcomes following a partial-width, full-thickness injury to the rotator cuff tendon-bone attachment and establish if the adult attachment can regenerate the m...
A Scalable Algorithm for Structure Identification of Complex Gene Regulatory Network from Temporal Expression Data

Motivation: Gene regulatory interactions are of fundamental importance to various biological functions and processes. However, only a few previous computational studies have claimed success in revealing genome-wide regulatory landscapes from temporal gene expression data, especially for complex eukaryotes like human. Moreover, recent work suggests that these methods still suffer from the curse of dimensionality if network size increases to 100 or higher. Result: We present a novel scalable algorithm for identifying genome-wide regulatory network structures. The highlight of our method is that its superior performance does not degenerate even for a network size on the order of $10^4$, and is thus readily applicable to large-scale complex networks. Such a breakthrough is achieved by considering both prior biological knowledge and multiple topological properties (i.e., sparsity and hub gene structure) of complex networks in the regularized formulation. We also illustrate the application of our algorithm in practice using the time-course expression data from an influenza infection study in respiratory epithelial cells. Availability and Implementation: The algorithm described in this article is implemented in MATLAB®. The source code is freely available from https://github.com/Hongyu-Miao/DMI.git. Contact: jliu@cs.rochester.edu; hongyu.miao@uth.tmc.edu Supplementary information: Supplementary data are available online.
An intramolecular arylation route to the kinafluorenones

Intramolecular palladium-mediated arylation approaches to benzo[b]fluorenes have been investigated. The methodology has been applied in a short synthesis of kinafluorenone 2, providing an effective alternative to Friedel–Crafts-based approaches.
Organic chemical reaction mechanisms clarified for deuterium- and carbon-13-labeled hydrocarbons

Questions bearing on just how organic chemical structures are converted to other compounds can be addressed in numerous ways through syntheses and studies of appropriately designed stable–isotope-labeled analogs. Most of the examples in the present review summarize studies of various thermal isomerizations and fragmentations that have provided information on mechanistic details, determinations of reaction stereochemistry, tests for possible interventions of short-lived reaction intermediates, and relevant checks of theory-based predictions and rationalizations. Such work serves either to reinforce generally accepted conceptual constructs for posited reaction mechanisms or to prompt reinterpretations of imperfect mechanistic understandings, as the experimental findings may require. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.