cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Determination of Trace Level Iodine in Biological and Botanical Reference Materials by Isotope Dilution Mass Spectrometry.

A method has been developed for the determination of trace level iodine in biological and botanical materials. The method consists of spiking a sample with '^'I, equilibration of the spike with the natural iodine, wet ashing under carefully controlled conditions, and separation of the iodine by co-precipitation with silver chloride. Measurement of the '2'i/'"i ratio is accomplished by negative thermal ionization mass spectrometry using LaBs for ionization enhancement. The application of the method to the certification of trace iodine in two Standard Reference Materials is described.
Second stop and sbottom searches with a stealth stop

The top squarks (stops) may be the most wanted particles after the Higgs boson discovery. The searches for the lightest stop have put strong constraints on its mass. However, there is still a search gap in the low mass region if the spectrum of the stop and the lightest neutralino is compressed. In that case, it may be easier to look for the second stop since naturalness requires both stops to be close to the weak scale. The current experimental searches for the second stop are based on the simplified model approach with the decay modes $$ {\overset{\sim }{t}}_2\to {\overset{\sim }{t}}_1Z $$ and $$ {\overset{\sim }{t}}_2\to {\overset{\sim }{t}}_1h $$ . However, in a realistic supersymmetric spectrum there is always a sbottom lighter than the second stop, hence the decay patterns are usually more complicated than the simplified model assumptions. In particular, there are often large branching ratios of the decays $$ {\overset{\sim }{t}}_2\to {\overset{\sim }{b}}_1W $$ and $$ {\overset{\sim }{b}}_1\to {\overset{\sim }{t}}_1W $$ as long as they are open. The decay chains can be even more complex if there are intermediate states of additional charginos and neutralinos in the decays. By studying several MSSM benchmark models at the 14 TeV LHC, we point out the importance of the multi-W final states in the second stop and the sbottom searches, such as the same-sign dilepton and multilepton signals, aside from the traditional search modes. The observed same-sign dilepton excesses at LHC Run 1 and Run 2 may be explained by some of our benchmark models. We also suggest that the vector boson tagging and a new kinematic variable may help to suppress the backgrounds and increase the signal significance for some search channels. Due to the complex decay patterns and lack of the dominant decay channels, the best reaches likely require a combination of various search channels at the LHC for the second stop and the lightest sbottom.
RANKINGS AND TRENDS IN FINANCE PUBLISHING: AN ITERATIVE APPROACH

Using a sample of 20 finance journals from 1985 to 2014, we develop a robust, iterative loop ranking system for journals, universities, and doctoral programs across five-year intervals. Unlike past models, our dynamic model requires minimal reliance on external rankings. New journals create an immediate impact on rankings, likely because they attract high-profile authors in early issues. Niche journals rank higher than broad-based journals outside the top five. Our results demonstrate increased productivity of international universities and nonacademic institutions relative to U.S. universities. International doctoral programs experience similar increases in graduate productivity. Over time, collaboration between authors at different institutions increases.
Combining dependent P-values with an empirical adaptation of Brown’s method

Motivation: Combining P -values from multiple statistical tests is a common exercise in bioinformatics. However, this procedure is non-trivial for dependent P -values. Here, we discuss an empirical adaptation of Brown’s method (an extension of Fisher’s method) for combining dependent P -values which is appropriate for the large and correlated datasets found in high-throughput biology. Results : We show that the Empirical Brown’s method (EBM) outperforms Fisher’s method as well as alternative approaches for combining dependent P -values using both noisy simulated data and gene expression data from The Cancer Genome Atlas. Availability and Implementation : The Empirical Brown’s method is available in Python, R, and MATLAB and can be obtained from https://github.com/IlyaLab/CombiningDependentPvalues UsingEBM . The R code is also available as a Bioconductor package from https://www.bioconductor.org/packages/devel/bioc/html/EmpiricalBrownsMethod.html . Contact: Theo.Knijnenburg@systemsbiology.org Supplementary information: Supplementary data are available at Bioinformatics online.
When Do Differences in Credit Rating Methodologies Matter? Evidence from High Information Uncertainty Borrowers

ABSTRACT: This study investigates whether and when differences in the credit rating agencies' methodologies result in differences in rating properties. In particular, this study focuses on differences in information processing constraints between a rating agency that utilizes qualitative analysis and direct access to borrowers' management in its rating process (Standard & Poor's) compared to one that does not (Egan Jones Ratings Company) and how these differences affect rating quality. We find that as information uncertainty about borrowers increases, Egan Jones's rating accuracy, informativeness, and timeliness decrease relative to Standard & Poor's. Our findings suggest that Egan Jones's more restricted rating methodology can lead to limitations in information processing and, thus, reductions in Egan Jones's rating quality advantage for borrowers with greater information uncertainty. JEL Classifications: G10; G24.
Bias-aware sketches

Linear sketching algorithms have been widely used for processing large-scale distributed and streaming datasets. Their popularity is largely due to the fact that linear sketches can be naturally composed in the distributed model and be efficiently updated in the streaming model. The errors of linear sketches are typically expressed in terms of the sum of coordinates of the input vector excluding those largest ones, or, the mass on the tail of the vector. Thus, the precondition for these algorithms to perform well is that the mass on the tail is small, which is, however, not always the case - in many real-world datasets the coordinates of the input vector have a bias, which will generate a large mass on the tail. In this paper we propose linear sketches that are bias- aware. We rigorously prove that they achieve strictly better error guarantees than the corresponding existing sketches, and demonstrate their practicality and superiority via an extensive experimental evaluation on both real and synthetic datasets.
Ligand-induced and small-molecule control of substrate loading in a hexameric helicase

Processive, ring-shaped protein and nucleic acid protein translocases control essential biochemical processes throughout biology and are considered high-prospect therapeutic targets. The Escherichia coli Rho factor is an exemplar hexameric RNA translocase that terminates transcription in bacteria. As with many ring-shaped motor proteins, Rho activity is modulated by a variety of poorly understood mechanisms, including small-molecule therapeutics, protein–protein interactions, and the sequence of its translocation substrate. Here, we establish the mechanism of action of two Rho effectors, the antibiotic bicyclomycin and nucleic acids that bind to Rho’s primary RNA recruitment site. Using small-angle X-ray scattering and a fluorescence-based assay to monitor the ability of Rho to switch between open-ring (RNA-loading) and closed-ring (RNA-translocation) states, we found bicyclomycin to be a direct antagonist of ring closure. Reciprocally, the binding of nucleic acids to its N-terminal RNA recruitment domains is shown to promote the formation of a closed-ring Rho state, with increasing primary-site occupancy providing additive stimulatory effects. This study establishes bicyclomycin as a conformational inhibitor of Rho ring dynamics, highlighting the utility of developing assays that read out protein conformation as a prospective screening tool for ring-ATPase inhibitors. Our findings further show that the RNA sequence specificity used for guiding Rho-dependent termination derives in part from an intrinsic ability of the motor to couple the recognition of pyrimidine patterns in nascent transcripts to RNA loading and activity.
Stochastic location-allocation of TCSC devices on a power system with large scale wind generation

We present a model for finding the optimal investment strategy for installing TCSC devices on a transmission network while considering the wind generation and load uncertainties. The proposed TCSC location-allocation problem is a non-linear non-convex mathematical program. We use the general linearization technique to convexify the polynomial constraints. To address the uncertainty of wind power and load a two-stage stochastic mixed integer linear programming is used to model the problem. Results show that the power flow control capability of TCSC provides a better operation of a test network and increases the penetration of the wind power.
Links between sedimentary basin development and Pacific Basin plate kinematics recorded in Jurassic to Miocene strata on the western Alaska Peninsula

Late Jurassic to Miocene strata exposed on the western Alaska Peninsula record major changes in plate kinematics and sedimentary basin development along the northern Pacific region. These changes include Late Jurassic to Late Cretaceous accretion of the oceanic Wrangellia composite terrane, subsequent establishment of a Late Cretaceous continental volcanic arc, and middle Eocene Pacific plate reorganization and subduction initiation marked by the Alaska Peninsula–Aleutian volcanic arc. Stratigraphic descriptions and detrital zircon geochronology allow reconstruction of sediment dispersal and basinal response to these plate-scale events. Upper Jurassic strata, for example, contain a dominant population of Late Triassic;Late Jurassic detrital zircons that reflect sediment input from the adjacent oceanic Talkeetna arc located to the north into a marine forearc basin situated on the outboard side of the Wrangellia composite terrane. The dominant population of 180–140 Ma detrital zircons in the Jurassic strata is related to a large-magmatic-flux event that extended throughout the northwestern Cordillera. By Late Cretaceous time, after final suturing of the Wrangellia composite terrane, detrital zircon ages indicate the presence of a new coeval continental volcanic arc system to the north with minor sediment input from older inboard terranes. With final subduction of the Resurrection plate during early Eocene time, the southern margin of the northwestern Cordillera was again reconfigured. Along the western Alaska Peninsula, the Aleutian and Meshik volcanic arcs initiated in response to a shift toward more orthogonal subduction. These arcs are part of a mainly oceanic arc system that initiated in middle-late Eocene time and extend over 3000 km on the northern rim of the Pacific Basin. The basinal response to this event was a shift from nonmarine to marine depositional systems and to a southerly provenance. Middle Eocene through Miocene strata have detrital zircon ages that indicate recycling of the older Mesozoic forearc strata into a developing backarc basin. Dynamic subsidence associated with the change in subduction parameters and flexural subsidence associated with loading from the volcanic arc and backarc basin strata produced the southward-thickening asymmetric sedimentary package observed today. Results from this study provide insight into both the development and the reconfiguration of sedimentary basins associated with changing plate parameters along a convergent margin.
Management of hallux valgus deformity in patients with severe metatarsus adductus: a proposed treatment algorithm

Introduction Metatarsus adductus (MA) increases the risk of recurrence following surgery for hallux valgus (HV). The goal of this study was to analyze patients with severe MA and identify clinical/surgical factors that are associated with a lower rate of recurrent deformity. Methods 587 patients underwent correction of HV deformity. The rate of recurrence of HV was 15% (63 out of 414 patients) in patients without MA (MA angle 31°) were identified; 8 of 19 had associated tarsometatarsal arthritis, and two patients had a skew foot deformity. Ten patients had severe valgus lesser toe deformities. Clinical information collected included associated diagnoses, the presence of arthritis of the tarsometatarsal joints, the presence and degree of lesser toe valgus deformities and surgical procedures performed. Radiographic recurrence was defined as a postoperative HVA > 20°. Results 9/19 patients were treated with a modified Lapidus procedure and 10 patients underwent a distal first metatarsal osteotomy. Of the 9 patients who were treated with a modified Lapidus procedure, 6 patients underwent simultaneous realignment lesser metatarsal osteotomy or arthrodesis of the 2 nd /3 rd TMT joints. 1/9 of these patients had radiographic recurrence of deformity. Of the 10 patients who underwent a distal first metatarsal osteotomy without realignment proximal osteotomy or arthrodesis, 5 had recurrence of deformity. Of the 11 patients with severe valgus lesser toe deformity, those who were treated with simultaneous additional distal lesser metatarsal osteotomies, did not have recurrence of hallux valgus. Conclusion The use of a modified Lapidus procedure led to a lower rate of HV deformity recurrence in comparison to isolated distal first metatarsal osteotomies. Treatment of lesser toe deformity with distal osteotomy should be included as part of the treatment algorithm.
Graphene layer growth: Collision of migrating five-member rings

Abstract A reaction pathway is explored in which two cyclopenta groups combine on the zigzag edge of a graphene layer. The process is initiated by H addition to a five-membered ring, followed by opening of that ring and the formation of a six-membered ring adjacent to another five-membered ring. The elementary steps of the migration pathway are analyzed using density functional theory to examine the region of the potential energy surface associated with the pathway. The calculations are performed on a substrate modeled by the zigzag edge of tetracene. Based on the obtained energetics, the dynamics of the system are analyzed by solving the energy transfer master equations. The results indicate energetic and reaction-rate similarity between the cyclopenta combination and migration reactions. Also examined in the present study are desorption rates of migrating cyclopenta rings which are found to be comparable to cyclopenta ring migration.
Multi-modal Automatic Montaging of Adaptive Optics Retinal Images

We present a fully automated adaptive optics (AO) retinal image montaging algorithm using classic scale invariant feature transform with random sample consensus for outlier removal. Our approach is capable of using information from multiple AO modalities (confocal, split detection, and dark field) and can accurately detect discontinuities in the montage. The algorithm output is compared to manual montaging by evaluating the similarity of the overlapping regions after montaging, and calculating the detection rate of discontinuities in the montage. Our results show that the proposed algorithm has high alignment accuracy and a discontinuity detection rate that is comparable (and often superior) to manual montaging. In addition, we analyze and show the benefits of using multiple modalities in the montaging process. We provide the algorithm presented in this paper as open-source and freely available to download.
Total Variation Denoising Via the Moreau Envelope

Total variation denoising is a nonlinear filtering method well suited for the estimation of piecewise-constant signals observed in additive white Gaussian noise. The method is defined by the minimization of a particular nondifferentiable convex cost function. This letter describes a generalization of this cost function that can yield more accurate estimation of piecewise constant signals. The new cost function involves a nonconvex penalty (regularizer) designed to maintain the convexity of the cost function. The new penalty is based on the Moreau envelope. The proposed total variation denoising method can be implemented using forward-backward splitting.
Self-adjusting nuclei segmentation (SANS) of Hematoxylin-Eosin stained histopathological breast cancer images

Hematoxylin-Eosin (H&E) stained breast cancer (BC) histopathological images are widely used in breast cancer diagnosis, for which segmenting the cells/nuclei from the images is a major operation. However, most of current methods are sensitive to the characteristics of the images. In this paper, we propose a self-adjusting method for adaptive cell/nuclei segmentation from HE BC images, which works on BC images of different types and quality. To deal with the diversity of nuclei sizes, our approach employs an ellipse detector to estimate nuclei size, which is essential for noise elimination and for addressing the cell overlap issue. Then we propose a novel seed detection method based on the topological skeleton model in the marker-controlled watershed transform framework. The experiment result shows that our method is effective and efficient, and outperforms the state-of-the-art approaches on various types of HE BC images.
Perfecting the Market's Knowledge of Monetary Policy

The rational expectations revolution made clear that a complete macro model requires a specification of the government's economic policy. We argue that monetary policy should be conducted in such a way that the market can predict policy actions. An implication of market success in predicting policy actions is that interest rates move ahead of the policy actions, and such a timing relationship may appear to some as the central bank following the market instead of leading it. Another implication of the market predicting policy actions is that nominal interest rate changes provide no useful information to the central bank about the strength of aggregate demand or inflationary expectations. Finally, failure of the market to predict policy actions reflects a problem that needs to be addressed.
Anchoring and Probability Weighting in Option Prices

Cumulative prospect theory argues that the human decision-making process tends to improperly weight unlikely events. Another behavioral phenomenon, anchoring bias, is the failure to update beliefs away from established anchor points. In this study, we find evidence that equity option market investors both anchor to prices and incorporate a probability weighting function similar to that proposed by cumulative prospect theory. The biases result in inefficient prices for put options when firms have relatively high or relatively low implied volatilities. This has implications for the cost of hedging long portfolios and long individual equity positions. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Jrl Fut Mark 37:614–638, 2017
Neurologic Complications of Transplantation

Neurologic disturbances including encephalopathy, seizures, and focal deficits complicate the course 10-30% of patients undergoing organ or stem cell transplantation. While much or this morbidity is multifactorial and often associated with extra-cerebral dysfunction (e.g., graft dysfunction, metabolic derangements), immunosuppressive drugs also contribute significantly. This can either be through direct toxicity (e.g., posterior reversible encephalopathy syndrome from calcineurin inhibitors such as tacrolimus in the acute postoperative period) or by facilitating opportunistic infections in the months after transplantation. Other neurologic syndromes such as akinetic mutism and osmotic demyelination may also occur. While much of this neurologic dysfunction may be reversible if related to metabolic factors or drug toxicity (and the etiology is recognized and reversed), cases of multifocal cerebral infarction, hemorrhage, or infection may have poor outcomes. As transplant patients survive longer, delayed infections (such as progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy) and post-transplant malignancies are increasingly reported.
Exploratory bioinformatics investigation reveals importance of “junk” DNA in early embryo development

Instead of testing predefined hypotheses, the goal of exploratory data analysis (EDA) is to find what data can tell us. Following this strategy, we re-analyzed a large body of genomic data to study the complex gene regulation in mouse pre-implantation development (PD). Starting with a single-cell RNA-seq dataset consisting of 259 mouse embryonic cells derived from zygote to blastocyst stages, we reconstructed the temporal and spatial gene expression pattern during PD. The dynamics of gene expression can be partially explained by the enrichment of transposable elements in gene promoters and the similarity of expression profiles with those of corresponding transposons. Long Terminal Repeats (LTRs) are associated with transient, strong induction of many nearby genes at the 2-4 cell stages, probably by providing binding sites for Obox and other homeobox factors. B1 and B2 SINEs (Short Interspersed Nuclear Elements) are correlated with the upregulation of thousands of nearby genes during zygotic genome activation. Such enhancer-like effects are also found for human Alu and bovine tRNA SINEs. SINEs also seem to be predictive of gene expression in embryonic stem cells (ESCs), raising the possibility that they may also be involved in regulating pluripotency. We also identified many potential transcription factors underlying PD and discussed the evolutionary necessity of transposons in enhancing genetic diversity, especially for species with longer generation time. Together with other recent studies, our results provide further evidence that many transposable elements may play a role in establishing the expression landscape in early embryos. It also demonstrates that exploratory bioinformatics investigation can pinpoint developmental pathways for further study, and serve as a strategy to generate novel insights from big genomic data.
Regularity of geodesic rays and Monge-Ampère equations

It is shown that the geodesic rays constructed as limits of Bergman geodesics from a test configuration are always of class , . An essential step is to establish that the rays can be extended as solutions of a Dirichlet problem for a Monge-Ampere equation on a Kahler manifold which is compact.
Reading the 13th Five-Year Plan: Reflections on China’s ICT Policy

China’s 13th Five-Year Plan (FYP) is the first chance for the Xi-Li administration, which assumed leadership at the 18th Party Congress, to solidify a new course. Notably, ICT is the highest priority sector in the 13th FYP. This article highlights the ascent of the Internet in China’s national strategy. It illustrates why and how ICT development—accelerated by the spread of high-speed Internet—is tasked to underpin China’s rise as a global power and its internal transformation. More important, drawing on the geopolitical economy approach that emphasizes the economic roles of states in sustaining and animating the capitalist world order on the one hand, and the digital capitalism literature that deems the political economy of ICT as an increasingly primary dimension of global capitalism on the other, this article sets up a conceptual framework for interpreting this key policy document and China’s ICT policy in general.
Cyclical Dispersion in Expected Defaults

A growing literature shows that credit indicators forecast aggregate real outcomes. While researchers have proposed various explanations, the economic mechanism behind these results remains an open question. In this paper, we show that a simple, frictionless model explains empirical findings commonly attributed to credit cycles. Our key assumption is that firms have heterogeneous exposures to underlying economy-wide shocks. This leads to endogenous dispersion in credit quality that varies over time and predicts future excess returns and real outcomes.
Probabilistic reasoning and risk-constrained dynamic spectrum access

Uncertainties regarding wireless propagation environments pose challenges for spectrum management in general and specifically hinder the implementation of dynamic spectrum sharing systems. Without the ability to reliably evaluate interference risks, spectrum sharing policies specify spectrum access behaviors such as exclusion zones and maximum transmit powers based on risk thresholds applied to statistical results from propagation models and measurements. Because the models can contain significant levels of uncertainty, establishing behavior limits for low interference risk necessarily results in significant spectrum access inefficiencies. It is only by reducing the degree of uncertainty that risk thresholds can be maintained while increasing spectrum access efficiency. Probabilistic reasoning applied to dynamic spectrum sharing systems provides potential to increase spectrum sharing by reducing situational uncertainty. Further, probabilistic reasoning approaches enable risk-constrained spectrum access, a concept in which regulators and spectrum users establish spectrum access rules defining acceptable levels of interference and spectrum access risks. This paper develops the concepts and underlying theory of probabilistic reasoning and risk-constrained spectrum access for spectrum sharing. It further presents simulation results showing that situation-specific probabilistic reasoning combined with risk-constrained spectrum access potentially enables greater spectrum sharing. Specifically, probabilistic reasoning with real-time spectrum sensing is shown to greatly reduce situational uncertainty, which then results in better interference prevention and more effective spectrum sharing as measured by user capacity and overall network density.
From Clarity to Efficiency for Distributed Algorithms

This article describes a very high-level language for clear description of distributed algorithms and optimizations necessary for generating efficient implementations. The language supports high-level control flows in which complex synchronization conditions can be expressed using high-level queries, especially logic quantifications, over message history sequences. Unfortunately, the programs would be extremely inefficient, including consuming unbounded memory, if executed straightforwardly.We present new optimizations that automatically transform complex synchronization conditions into incremental updates of necessary auxiliary values as messages are sent and received. The core of the optimizations is the first general method for efficient implementation of logic quantifications. We have developed an operational semantics of the language, implemented a prototype of the compiler and the optimizations, and successfully used the language and implementation on a variety of important distributed algorithms.
Two-Scale Topology Optimization with Microstructures

In this article, we present a novel two-scale framework to optimize the structure and the material distribution of an object given its functional specifications. Our approach utilizes multi-material microstructures as low-level building blocks of the object. We start by precomputing the material property gamut—the set of bulk material properties that can be achieved with all material microstructures of a given size. We represent the boundary of this material property gamut using a level set field. Next, we propose an efficient and general topology optimization algorithm that simultaneously computes an optimal object topology and spatially varying material properties constrained by the precomputed gamut. Finally, we map the optimal spatially varying material properties onto the microstructures with the corresponding properties to generate a high-resolution printable structure. We demonstrate the efficacy of our framework by designing, optimizing, and fabricating objects in different material property spaces on the level of a trillion voxels, that is, several orders of magnitude higher than what can be achieved with current systems.
Pure Small-Cell Carcinoma of the Prostate With Fatal Liver Metastasis

A case of small-cell carcinoma (SCC) of the prostate is described with extensive liver metastases in a 60-year-old man. The case is unique because of the rare histologic pattern coupled with death secondary to hepatic failure. A spectrum of neuroendocrine tumors are found in the prostate similar to those found in the lung. Ten cases of prostatic SCC or carcinoid, identified in the English-language literature over a period of 14 years, are summarized. In the absence of an apparent pulmonary lesion, surgical pathologists should also consider the prostate as a primary site for extrapulmonary SCC when confronted with biopsy material of metastatic SCC.
EAR: An e-mail Attachment Receiver to Search Concerning Images in the Context of Insider Threat.

Organizations often suffer devastating consequences at the hands of insiders. These consequences include theft of intellectual property, fraud, loss of reputation, and reduced confidence from customers. The main focus of this paper is with organizations that use Google Mail (Gmail) for business, and potentially malicious insiders who may send, receive, and store email images as attachments. We introduce a new custom-built application known as the Email Attachments Receiver (EAR) that can search Gmail for images. To test our application, we use the freely available Enron dataset and migrated it over to Gmail. The results of our application tested with the Enron dataset are provided. We conclude by discussing privacy and civil liberty concerns and providing directions for future research.
Short-Term Protein Loading in Assessment of Patients With Renal Disease

Abstract The effect of short-term protein loading on the glomerular filtration rate in normal persons and patients with renal disease was evaluated. Previous studies have demonstrated that in healthy subjects, protein loading results in an increased glomerular filtration rate. By determining the glomerular filtration rate preceding (baseline glomerular filtration rate) and following (test glomerular filtration rate) oral protein loading, it was possible to define (1) the filtration capacity (test glomerular filtration rate) and (2) the renal reserve (test glomerular filtration rate — baseline glomerular filtration rate) of the kidney. In normal persons, filtration capacity averaged 157 ± 13 ml per minute and renal reserve 34 ml per minute. The test glomerular filtration rate was reproducible and independent of protein intake, whereas baseline glomerular filtration rate was significantly Influenced by diet. Patients with renal disease were found to have a reduced renal reserve and/or a diminished filtration capacity. The reduction in filtration capacity appears to correlate with the damage sustained by the organ. It is suggested that an abnormal response to protein loading in renal disease may herald the fall in the baseline glomerular filtration rate and the rise in plasma creatinine level.
Experimental Cancer of the Bowel in the Nb Rat

An animal model of bowel cancer, induced by 1,2-dimethyl hydrazine, has been developed in the Nb rat. Invasive polypoid carcinomas of the colon were noted in nine rats surviving 29 weeks after the carcinogen was first administered. Two of these nine rats also developed duodenal carcinomas. Because dosage schedules are known from previous experiments with the Nb rat, this animal model may be useful for evaluating the effects of cytotoxic drugs on experimental bowel cancer.
Wave breaking in the Whitham equation

Abstract We prove wave breaking — bounded solutions with unbounded derivatives — in the nonlinear nonlocal equation which combines the dispersion relation of water waves and a nonlinearity of the shallow water equations, provided that the slope of the initial datum is sufficiently negative, whereby we solve a Whitham's conjecture. We extend the result to equations of Korteweg–de Vries type for a range of fractional dispersion.
Airport, airline and departure time choice and substitution patterns: An empirical analysis

Abstract This paper uses the random-coefficients logit methodology that controls for potential endogeneity of prices and allows for general substitution patterns to estimate various demand systems. The estimation takes advantage of an original ticket-level revealed preference data set on travels from the New York City area to Toronto that contains prices and characteristics of not only flight choices but also of all non-booked alternative flights. Consistent with having higher valuations, our results show that travelers buying closer to departure have a higher utility of flying. Moreover, consumers’ heterogeneity decreases as the flight date nears. At the carrier level, we identify which carriers have more price-sensitive consumers and which carriers face greater competition. In addition, the results suggest that our multi-airport metropolitan area can be considered as a single market and that JFK and Newark are relatively closer substitutes. Overall, consumers are more willing to switch to alternative carriers than between airports or departure times.
The Polymorphic Apocrine Nevus: A Study of a Unique Tumor Including Carcinoembryonic Antigen Staining

The apocrine nevus is a rare tumor. We report a 32-year-old man with a neck nodule, histologically an apocrine nevus displaying mature and immature apocrine structures in a distinctive pattern. The carcinoembryonic antigen staining was positive intracellularly only in the smaller luminal structures. We have named this unique tumor a polymorphic apocrine nevus.
Renal Cell Carcinoma Arising in a Multicystic Dysplastic Kidney

Surgical management of the patient with a multicystic dysplastic kidney is a subject of major controversy. Significant improvement in diagnostic techniques has persuaded many clinicians to advocate nonoperative management. The malignant potential of cystic renal dysplasia remains underfined.
The Benign Appearance of Wilms’ Tumor

Intrarenal masses in children are uncommon, with Wilms’ tumor the most prevalent of these. Two cases are presented in which the preoperative evaluation of renal masses was highly suggestive of benign disease, renal abscess, and multilocular cyst. Surgical exploration was performed in both patients, and Wilms’ tumor was found and treated successfully with radical nephrectomy. These two cases emphasize the need for surgical exploration to accurately diagnose intrarenal masses in children even when all diagnostic modalities are suggestive, but not confirmatory, of benign disease.
Immunoreactive Secretory Component of IgA in Human Tissues and Tumors

Secretory component (SC) of IgA is known to be produced by many glandular epithelial cells. To assess the usefulness of this antigen as a glandular tumor differentiation marker, the authors evaluated its normal body distribution and tested a variety of glandular neoplasms. The known normal distribution of SC was confirmed and extended to include the prostate. Immunoreactive SC was detected only in epithelial and glandular tumors. Many types of well-differentiated adenocarcinomas, (ovary, prostate, small bowel, pancreas, stomach, biliary) however, contained little or no immunoreactive SC. Therefore, the authors conclude that immunoreactive SC cannot be used as a general differentiation marker in tumors of glandular derivation. A high frequency of antigenic expression was found in adenocarcinomas of the lung (4/10), breast (5/10), and colon (24/27). No correlation between expression and tumor differentiation was observed in pulmonary or mammary tumors. Only in colonic neoplasia was such a relationship detected. SC expression in colonic tumors was not related to mucin content but was associated with the presence of a visible brush border.
Reducing Turbulent Transfer to Increase Water-Use Efficiency

ABSTRACT Hagen, L. J. and Skidmore, E. L., 1974. Reducing turbulent transfer to increase water-use efficiency. Agric. Meteorol., 14: 153–168. Because of limited precipitation in the Great Plains, it is necessary to increase crop water-use efficiency (WUE) to increase crop yields. However, to understand how windspeed affects WUE, both the energy budget and photosynthesis rate must be considered. On the leaf scale, an incremental change in windspeed changes transpiration most at windspeeds less than 100 cm sec -1 . Increasing windspeed may increase, decrease, or have no effect on transpiration, depending upon stomatal resistance of the leaf. High WUE often is associated with small leaves, which have significant stomatal resistance. On a canopy scale, the transfer of sensible heat to the surface (advection) is a significant source of energy used in evapotranspiration ( ET ). The amount of advection varies with season, crop, and location in the Great Plains, but in some crops a third of the energy used in ET comes from advection. In such cases, reducing turbulent exchange with the atmosphere should significantly increase WUE. Using shorter crops or sheltering a crop with windbreaks or a few interspersed tall plants can reduce turbulent exchange with the crop. To realize the full potential from reducing turbulent exchange, crops must be adapted specifically for a shelter environment. Such adapted plants would maintain high WUE in shelter to conserve water until needed for critical growth periods and would not grow tall enough to induce lodging. Adapted tall plants are also needed to provide shelter. These should be compatible with the sheltered crop, produce little shade under low light, have high WUE, and reach heights of at least 20 cm above the sheltered crop.
Insights into the Diagnostic Potential of Extracellular Vesicles and Their miRNA Signature from Liquid Biopsy as Early Biomarkers of Diabetic Micro/Macrovascular Complications

Extracellular vesicles (EVs) represent a heterogeneous population of small vesicles, consisting of a phospholipidic bilayer surrounding a soluble interior cargo. Almost all cell types release EVs, thus they are naturally present in all body fluids. Among the several potential applications, EVs could be used as drug delivery vehicles in disease treatment, in immune therapy because of their immunomodulatory properties and in regenerative medicine. In addition to general markers, EVs are characterized by the presence of specific biomarkers (proteins and miRNAs) that allow the identification of their cell or tissue origin. For these features, they represent a potential powerful diagnostic tool to monitor state and progression of specific diseases. A large body of studies supports the idea that endothelial derived (EMPs) together with platelet-derived microparticles (PMPs) are deeply involved in the pathogenesis of diseases characterized by micro- and macrovascular damages, including diabetes. Existing literature suggests that the detection of circulating EMPs and PMPs and their specific miRNA profile may represent a very useful non-invasive signature to achieve information on the onset of peculiar disease manifestations. In this review, we discuss the possible utility of EVs in the early diagnosis of diabetes-associated microvascular complications, specifically related to kidney.
Chapter 7 – Transfer Function Approach

This chapter introduces the transfer function as a Laplace-domain operator, which characterizes the properties of a given dynamic system and connects the input to the output. The transfer function for single-input, single-output (SISO) systems and transfer function matrix for multiple-input, multiple-output (MIMO) systems can be used to determine the forced time response and the free time response with nonzero initial conditions. The complex impedance is introduced as a transfer function at the element level, which enables deriving the transfer function of dynamic systems directly in the Laplace domain. The transfer function can be utilized to study the stability of dynamic systems. MATLAB and Simulink examples illustrating the use of transfer function by means of built-in capabilities are incorporated alongside many solved examples that use the standard transfer function formulation and solution.
Profiling and Leveraging Relatedness in a Precision Medicine Cohort of 92,455 Exomes.

Large-scale human genetics studies are ascertaining increasing proportions of populations as they continue growing in both number and scale. As a result, the amount of cryptic relatedness within these study cohorts is growing rapidly and has significant implications on downstream analyses. We demonstrate this growth empirically among the first 92,455 exomes from the DiscovEHR cohort and, via a custom simulation framework we developed called SimProgeny, show that these measures are in line with expectations given the underlying population and ascertainment approach. For example, within DiscovEHR we identified ∼66,000 close (first- and second-degree) relationships, involving 55.6% of study participants. Our simulation results project that >70% of the cohort will be involved in these close relationships, given that DiscovEHR scales to 250,000 recruited individuals. We reconstructed 12,574 pedigrees by using these relationships (including 2,192 nuclear families) and leveraged them for multiple applications. The pedigrees substantially improved the phasing accuracy of 20,947 rare, deleterious compound heterozygous mutations. Reconstructed nuclear families were critical for identifying 3,415 de novo mutations in ∼1,783 genes. Finally, we demonstrate the segregation of known and suspected disease-causing mutations, including a tandem duplication that occurs in LDLR and causes familial hypercholesterolemia, through reconstructed pedigrees. In summary, this work highlights the prevalence of cryptic relatedness expected among large healthcare population-genomic studies and demonstrates several analyses that are uniquely enabled by large amounts of cryptic relatedness.
Competitive retail electricity market under continuous price regulation

Abstract The introduction of retail competition in various states in United States was expected to lower electricity bills, expand the choice set of consumers, and encourage horizontal differentiation by providing value-added services. However, to date, most regulators in states with retail choice often maintain their interventions on retail electricity rates, particularly for residential consumers. In this paper, we use data from the State of Connecticut as a case study to describe a competitive retail electricity market under continuous price regulation, and discuss policy implications.
The semi-autonomous judge in colonial India: Chivalric imperialism meets Anglo-Islamic dower and divorce law

Through a survey of 19 leading cases on Islamic dower and divorce between 1855 and 1924, this article explores the ways in which judges acted as semi-autonomous agents by undermining the colonial l...
Statistical Discrimination and Duration Dependence in the Job Finding Rate

This article models a frictional labour market where employers endogenously discriminate against the long-term unemployed. The estimated model replicates recent experimental evidence which documents that interview invitations for observationally equivalent workers fall sharply as unemployment duration progresses. We use the model to quantitatively assess the consequences of such employer behaviour for job finding rates and long-term unemployment and find only modest effects given the large decline in callbacks. Interviews lost to duration impact individual job finding rates solely if they would have led to jobs. We show that such instances are rare when firms discriminate in anticipation of an ultimately unsuccessful application. Discrimination in callbacks is thus largely a response to dynamic selection, with limited consequences for structural duration dependence and long-term unemployment.
Two-photon spectroscopy of the NaLi triplet ground state

We employ two-photon spectroscopy to study the vibrational states of the triplet ground state potential (a3Σ+) of the 23Na6Li molecule. Pairs of Na and Li atoms in an ultracold mixture are photoassociated into an excited triplet molecular state, which in turn is coupled to vibrational states of the triplet ground potential. Vibrational state binding energies, line strengths, and potential fitting parameters for the triplet ground a3Σ+ potential are reported. We also observe rotational splitting in the lowest vibrational state.
Trajectory classes of cannabis use and heavy drinking among rural African American adolescents: multi-level predictors of class membership.

AIMS To inform research on the etiology and prevention of substance use among rural African American youth by (a) identifying developmental trajectory classes of cannabis use and heavy drinking across adolescence and young adulthood and (b) examining associations between trajectory class membership and multi-level assessments of risk factors. DESIGN A prospective study spanning 9 years with assessments of cannabis use and heavy drinking, the catecholamines epinephrine and norepinephrine, perceived stress and psychosocial risk factors. SETTING Rural communities in the southeastern United States. PARTICIPANTS African American youth (n = 518). MEASUREMENTS Participants were assessed for cannabis use and heavy drinking at seven assessments beginning at 16 years of age and continuing to 25 years of age. At age 19, participants provided overnight urine voids that were assayed for catecholamines, a biological marker of life stress resulting from sympathetic nervous system activation. At ages 16 and 19, participants provided information on malleable psychosocial risk factors. FINDINGS Latent class growth models revealed three distinct trajectory classes for cannabis use and for heavy drinking. Higher levels of circulating stress hormones and perceived stress were associated with classes reporting greater substance use over time (all Ps < 0.05). A composite of selected risk factors discriminated class membership (all Ps < 0.05). Trajectory classes characterized by rapid usage increases in early adulthood exhibited the greatest increase in deviant peer affiliations between ages 16 and 19 years. CONCLUSIONS Rural African American youth's cannabis use and heavy drinking across adolescence and young adulthood demonstrate distinct developmental courses; a small number of risk factors and measures of biological and perceived stress differentiate class membership prognostically. Variability over time in these measures, specifically an increase in deviant peer affiliation, may help to account for steep increases in young adulthood.
Near Perfect Neural Critic from Motor Cortical Activity Toward an Autonomously Updating Brain Machine Interface

We are developing an autonomously updating brain machine interface (BMI) utilizing reinforcement learning principles. One aspect of this system is a neural critic that determines reward expectations from neural activity. This critic is then used to update a BMI decoder toward an improved performance from the user's perspective. Here we demonstrate the ability of a neural critic to classify trial reward value given activity from the primary motor cortex (M1), using neural features from single/multi units (SU/MU), and local field potentials (LFPs) with prediction accuracies up to 97% correct. A nonhuman primate subject conducted a cued center out reaching task, either manually, or observationally. The cue indicated the reward value of a trial. Features such as power spectral density (PSD) of the LFPs and spike-field coherence (SFC) between SU/MU and corresponding LFPs were calculated and used as inputs to several classifiers. We conclude that hybrid features of PSD and SFC show higher classification performance than PSD or SFC alone (accuracy was 92% for manual tasks, and 97% for observational). In the future, we will employ these hybrid features toward our autonomously updating BMI.