cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Retroperitoneal Sarcomas: The Yale Experience and a Review of the Literature

Between 1964 and 1978, 23 patients were referred for radiation therapy for retroperitoneal sarcoma. Three patients had complete excision and negative resection margins and all survived for 5 years without recurrent disease. One patient had complete resection but positive margins, but had a local recurrence 3 1/2 years after radiation. One patient had partial excision with gross residual, and this patient survived only 17 months after an incomplete radiation treatment schedule. Ten cases had biopsy only and were then referred. We found that there were only four cases that survived longer than 1 year, and their average dose of radiation was 4,400 rads, as compared to only 2,691 rads for the remaining six. We conclude that for incompletely resected or only biopsied retroperitoneal sarcoma, doses of 4,000-5,000 rads should be given and then a re-evaluation for complete resection should be done with CT scan and re-exploration. For completely resected cases, we feel that postoperative radiation adds to the local control. We have reviewed the literature and presented the data in support of our conclusions.
STATUS OF THE MUON (g - 2) EXPERIMENT

The study of g-factors of subatomic particles can trace its roots back to the 1921 paper by Stern [2], which was a proposal to study space quantization with an apparatus which is now called a "Stern-Gerlach apparatus". By 1924, the famous experiments had been done [3] and a review paper was written summarizing their results [4]. Their final conclusion, that "to within 10% the magnetic moment of the electron was one Bohr magneton", meant in modern language that the g-value of the electron was 2, where the gyromagnetic ratio g is the proportionality constant between the magnetic moment and the spin,
The Impact of Corporate Governance Structures on the Agency Cost of Debt

This paper uses a stochastic continuous time model of the firm to study how different corporate governance structures affect the agency cost of debt. In the absence of asymmetric information, it shows that control of the firm by debtholders with a minority stake delays the exit decision and reduces the underinvestment problem. Such a governance structure may play an important role in diminishing conflicts between shareholders and debtholders.
Silencing of Repetitive DNA Is Controlled by a Member of an Unusual Caenorhabditis elegans Gene Family

Repetitive DNA sequences are subject to gene silencing in various animal species. Under specific circumstances repetitive DNA sequences can escape such silencing. For example, exogenously added, extrachromosomal DNA sequences that are stably inherited in multicopy repetitive arrays in the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans are frequently silenced in the germline, whereas such silencing often does not occur in the soma. This indicates that somatic cells might utilize factors that prevent repetitive DNA silencing. Indeed, such “antisilencing” factors have been revealed through genetic screens that identified mutant loci in which repetitive transgenic arrays are aberrantly silenced in the soma. We describe here a novel locus, pals-22 (for protein containing ALS2CR12 signature), required to prevent silencing of repetitive transgenes in neurons and other somatic tissue types. pals-22 deficiency also severely impacts animal vigor and confers phenotypes reminiscent of accelerated aging. We find that pals-22 is a member of a large family of divergent genes (39 members), defined by homology to the ALS2CR12 protein family. While gene family members are highly divergent, they show striking patterns of chromosomal clustering. The family expansion appears C. elegans-specific and has not occurred to the same extent in other nematode species for which genome sequences are available. The transgene-silencing phenotype observed upon loss of PALS-22 protein depends on the biogenesis of small RNAs. We speculate that the pals gene family may be part of a species-specific cellular defense mechanism.
At Attention: What Student Veteran Mission Statements Say About Public Flagships

Expanding Wilson, Meyer, and McNeal’s (2012) work focusing on university mission statements, this study further explicates the values expressed by public flagship institutions (n = 50) through the linguistic examination of student veteran services mission statements disseminated by student veterans services offices, representing a gap in the literature. A quantitative linguistic analysis reveals only 24% of student veteran services offices feature official mission statements on their websites, these mission statements do not support extant research or the U.S. Department of Education’s guidelines for supporting student veterans, and mission statements do not directly address student veterans, evidenced by first- and third-person pronouns. Implications for student veteran support and adult learning are addressed.
SpaceSearch: A Library for Building and Verifying Solver-Aided Tools

Many verification tools build on automated solvers. These tools reduce problems in a specific application domain (e.g., compiler optimization validation) to queries that can be discharged with a highly optimized solver. But the correctness of the reductions themselves is rarely verified in practice, limiting the confidence that the solver's output establishes the desired domain-level property. This paper presents SpaceSearch, a new library for developing solver-aided tools within a proof assistant. A user builds their solver-aided tool in Coq against the SpaceSearch interface, and the user then verifies that the results provided by the interface are sufficient to establish the tool's desired high-level properties. Once verified, the tool can be extracted to an implementation in a solver-aided language (e.g., Rosette), where SpaceSearch provides an efficient instantiation of the SpaceSearch interface with calls to an underlying SMT solver. This combines the strong correctness guarantees of developing a tool in a proof assistant with the high performance of modern SMT solvers. This paper also introduces new optimizations for such verified solver-aided tools, including parallelization and incrementalization. We evaluate SpaceSearch by building and verifying two solver-aided tools. The first, SaltShaker, checks that RockSalt's x86 semantics for a given instruction agrees with STOKE's x86 semantics. SaltShaker identified 7 bugs in RockSalt and 1 bug in STOKE. After these systems were patched by their developers, SaltShaker verified the semantics' agreement on 15,255 instruction instantiations in under 2h. The second tool, BGProof, is a verified version of an existing Border Gateway Protocol (BGP) router configuration checker. Like the existing checker, BGProof scales to checking industrial configurations spanning over 240 KLOC, identifying 19 configuration inconsistencies with no false positives. However, the correctness of BGProof has been formally proven, and we found 2 bugs in the unverified implementation. These results demonstrate that SpaceSearch is a practical approach to developing efficient, verified solver-aided tools.
Low-Rank RNN Adaptation for Context-Aware Language Modeling

A context-aware language model uses location, user and/or domain metadata (context) to adapt its predictions. In neural language models, context information is typically represented as an embedding and it is given to the RNN as an additional input, which has been shown to be useful in many applications. We introduce a more powerful mechanism for using context to adapt an RNN by letting the context vector control a low-rank transformation of the recurrent layer weight matrix. Experiments show that allowing a greater fraction of the model parameters to be adjusted has benefits in terms of perplexity and classification for several different types of context.
Executive compensation and corporate financing policies: Evidence from CEO inside debt☆

Abstract We examine the relation between chief executive officer (CEO) inside debt holdings and the firm's choice between debt and equity financing when it accesses external capital markets. We find positive relations between CEO inside debt holdings and both the firm's likelihood to issue debt and the proportion of debt of their total external financing. Additional analysis indicates that CEO inside debt is negatively related to the cost of debt and positively related to the stock price reaction around the public debt issue announcement. Our results are consistent with the argument that inside debt aligns managers' and debtholders' interests leading to favorable debt terms that motivate firms to raise debt to meet their capital needs.
Neuroscience nuance: dissecting the relevance of neuroscience in adjudicating criminal culpability.

Most scholars who have written about the role of neuroscience in determining criminal liability and punishment take a stance somewhere between those who assert that neuroscience has virtually nothing to say about such determinations and those that claim it will upend the assumption that most choices to commit crime are blameworthy. At the same time, those who take this intermediate position have seldom clarified how they think neuroscience can help. This article tries to answer that question more precisely than most works in this vein. It identifies five types of neuroscience evidence that might be presented by the defense and discusses when that evidence is material under accepted legal doctrine. It concludes that, even on the assumption that the data presented are accurate, much commonly proffered neuroscientific evidence is immaterial or only weakly material, not only at trial but also at sentencing. At the same time, it recognizes that certain types of neuroscience evidence can be very useful in criminal adjudication, especially at sentencing.
Biophysics of object segmentation in a collision-detecting neuron.

Whether you are a flying insect or a driver on a freeway, your survival will depend on avoiding collisions. Many species have nerve cells or neurons within their visual system that respond to objects headed towards them on a collision course. In locusts, for example, a neuron called the lobula giant movement detector (LGMD) triggers an escape response upon detecting an impending collision. But how does it do this? The answer may also help us understand how neurons process other complex inputs. This is because like most neurons, the LGMD contains thousands of branches called dendrites. The job of the dendrites is to receive input from other neurons and collect that input for processing. In the LGMD’s case, each piece of input reveals what is happening at a single point in the locust’s field of vision. The cell combines all the inputs and uses the end result to decide whether to trigger an escape response. An object on a collision course will generate a specific sequence of images in the locust’s eye. These images will activate LGMD dendrites in a specific pattern. To test whether LGMD neurons use this pattern to detect approaching objects, Dewell and Gabbiani showed locusts two sets of movies. One set featured an object looming towards the insect on a collision course. But in the other set, the same movies had been scrambled. These movies thus activated LGMD dendrites in a different pattern than the movies showing looming objects. Both the LGMD neurons, and the locusts themselves, responded more to the non-scrambled movies. This suggests that they do use the pattern of activity in dendrites to detect impending collisions. Blocking two types of ion channels in the membrane of the dendrites prevented the neurons from distinguishing between scrambled and non-scrambled movies. Both of these ion channels are also present in the dendrites in our own brains. This suggests that many neurons can detect the spatial pattern in which their dendrites become active. By revealing how neurons process complex visual inputs, the results of Dewell and Gabbiani could help improve algorithms for man-made collision avoidance systems. These could be used in self-driving cars, or in technology to help visually impaired people navigate independently.
Paraneoplastic Syndromes and Thymic Malignancies: An Examination of the International Thymic Malignancy Interest Group Retrospective Database.

Abstract Introduction Thymic epithelial tumors (TETs) are associated with paraneoplastic/autoimmune (PN/AI) syndromes. Myasthenia gravis is the most common PN/AI syndrome associated with TETs. Methods The International Thymic Malignancy Interest Group retrospective database was examined to determine (1) baseline and treatment characteristics associated with PN/AI syndromes and (2) the prognostic role of PN/AI syndromes for patients with TETs. The competing risks model was used to estimate cumulative incidence of recurrence (CIR) and the Kaplan-Meier method was used to calculate overall survival (OS). A Cox proportional hazards model was used for multivariate analysis. Results A total of 6670 patients with known PN/AI syndrome status from 1951 to 2012 were identified. PN/AI syndromes were associated with younger age, female sex, thymoma histologic type, earlier stage, and an increased rate of total thymectomy and complete resection status. There was a statistically significant lower CIR in the group with a PN/AI syndrome than in the group without a PN/AI syndrome (10-year CIR 17.3% versus 21.2%, respectively [ p = 0.0003]). The OS was improved in the group with a PN/AI syndrome compared to the group without a PN/AI syndrome (median OS 21.6 years versus 17.0 years, respectively [hazard ratio = 0.63, 95% confidence interval: 0.54–0.74, p Discussion Previously, there have been mixed data regarding the prognostic role of PN/AI syndromes for patients with TETs. Here, using the largest data set in the world for TETs, PN/AI syndromes were associated with favorable features (i.e., earlier stage and complete resection status) but were not an independent prognostic factor for patients with TETs.
The Case for Technical Performance Standards for Radiation Inspection Systems

Technical performance standards operate within the homeland security enterprise to save significant time and money while increasing public safety. This is illustrated in this white paper through the lens of the standards infrastructure that is being developed to ensure the imaging performance and radiation safety of security screening systems in the United States that use active radiation probes to detect explosives and other contraband. The products of this effort include standard test objects, test methods, objective scoring algorithms, minimum performance requirements, technical guidance documents, and dosimetry protocols supported by National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) measurement science and computational modeling. This project responds to government requirements for 100 % screening of transnational cargo and airline passengers and baggage while also establishing the means to harmonize national standards across disparate agencies and with international norms. This report will show how standards gaps are identified and anticipated and outline the standards development process, especially highlighting issues unique to technical performance standardization. Specific use cases are offered that document the impact of measurement standards when applied across the life cycle of radiation inspection systems in ways that complement and inform threat-based and operational testing and evaluation (T&E). Finally, a list of specific benefits to both public- and private-sector actors is given that, based upon experience to date, demonstrates the manifold and leveraged returns from applying technical performance standards to security screening.
SOS Is Not Obviously Automatizable, Even Approximately

Suppose we want to minimize a polynomial p(x) = p(x_1,...,x_n), subject to some polynomial constraints q_1(x),...,q_m(x) >_ 0, using the Sum-of-Squares (SOS) SDP hierarachy. Assume we are in the "explicitly bounded" ("Archimedean") case where the constraints include x_i^2 <_ 1 for all 1 <_ i <_ n. It is often stated that the degree-d version of the SOS hierarchy can be solved, to high accuracy, in time n^O(d). Indeed, I myself have stated this in several previous works. The point of this note is to state (or remind the reader) that this is not obviously true. The difficulty comes not from the "r" in the Ellipsoid Algorithm, but from the "R"; a priori, we only know an exponential upper bound on the number of bits needed to write down the SOS solution. An explicit example is given of a degree-2 SOS program illustrating the difficulty.
Personality Traits of Entrepreneurs: A Review of Recent Literature

We review the extensive literature since 2000 on the personality traits of entrepreneurs. We first consider baseline personality traits like the Big-5 model, self-efficacy and innovativeness, locus of control, and the need for achievement. We then consider risk attitudes and goals and aspirations of entrepreneurs. Within each area, we separate studies by the type of entrepreneurial behavior considered: entry into entrepreneurship, performance outcomes, and exit from entrepreneurship. This literature shows common results and many points of disagreement, reflective of the heterogeneous nature of entrepreneurship. We label studies by the type of entrepreneurial population studied (e.g., Main Street vs. those backed by venture capital) to identify interesting and irreducible parts of this heterogeneity, while also identifying places where we anticipate future large-scale research and the growing depth of the field are likely to clarify matters. There are many areas, like how firm performance connects to entrepreneurial personality, that are woefully understudied and ripe for major advances if the appropriate cross-disciplinary ingredients are assembled.
Exchange-rate volatility and international trade performance: Evidence from 12 African countries

Abstract In this paper, we study a sample of twelve African countries to examine the impact of the real exchange-rate volatility on their trade flows. In order to distinguish the distinct impact of the real exchange-rate volatility on their exports and imports, both in the short-run and long-run, we use the bounds-testing approach. We find that while exchange rate volatility affects trade flows of many of the countries in our sample in the short run, the long-run effects were restricted only on the exports of five countries and on the imports of only one country. The level of economic activity in the world and at home were identified to be major determinants of exports and imports, respectively.
The Minimum Wage, EITC, and Criminal Recidivism

For recently released prisoners, the minimum wage and the availability of state Earned Income Tax Credits (EITCs) can influence both their ability to find employment and their potential legal wages relative to illegal sources of income, in turn affecting the probability they return to prison. Using administrative prison release records from nearly six million offenders released between 2000 and 2014, we use a difference-in-differences strategy to identify the effect of over two hundred state and federal minimum wage increases, as well as 21 state EITC programs, on recidivism. We find that the average minimum wage increase of $0.50 reduces the probability that men and women return to prison within 1 year by 2.8%. This implies that on average the effect of higher wages, drawing at least some released prisoners into the legal labor market, dominates any reduced employment in this population due to the minimum wage. These reductions in returns to incarcerations are observed for the potentially revenue generating crime categories of property and drug crimes; prison reentry for violent crimes are unchanged, supporting our framing that minimum wages affect crime that serves as a source of income. The availability of state EITCs also reduces recidivism, but only for women.
Conformation and Trimer Association of the Transmembrane Domain of the Parainfluenza Virus Fusion Protein in Lipid Bilayers from Solid-State NMR: Insights into the Sequence Determinants of Trimer Structure and Fusion Activity.

Enveloped viruses enter cells by using their fusion proteins to merge the virus lipid envelope and the cell membrane. While crystal structures of the water-soluble ectodomains of many viral fusion proteins have been determined, the structure and assembly of the C-terminal transmembrane domain (TMD) remains poorly understood. Here we use solid-state NMR to determine the backbone conformation and oligomeric structure of the TMD of the parainfluenza virus 5 fusion protein. 13C chemical shifts indicate that the central leucine-rich segment of the TMD is α-helical in POPC/cholesterol membranes and POPE membranes, while the Ile- and Val-rich termini shift to the β-strand conformation in the POPE membrane. Importantly, lipid mixing assays indicate that the TMD is more fusogenic in the POPE membrane than in the POPC/cholesterol membrane, indicating that the β-strand conformation is important for fusion by inducing membrane curvature. Incorporation of para-fluorinated Phe at three positions of the α-helical core allowed us to measure interhelical distances using 19F spin diffusion NMR. The data indicate that, at peptide:lipid molar ratios of ~1:15, the TMD forms a trimeric helical bundle with inter-helical distances of 8.2-8.4A for L493F and L504F and 10.5A for L500F. These data provide high-resolution evidence of trimer formation of a viral fusion protein TMD in phospholipid bilayers, and indicate that the parainfluenza virus 5 fusion protein TMD harbors two functions: the central α-helical core is the trimerization unit of the protein, while the two termini are responsible for inducing membrane curvature by transitioning to a β-sheet conformation.
A Radio Frequency Non-Reciprocal Network Based on Switched Low-Loss Acoustic Delay Lines

This work demonstrates the first 4-port radio frequency circulator based on switched low-loss acoustic delay lines. The 4-port circulator is built upon a recently reported frequency-independent, programmable, and non-reciprocal framework based on switched delay lines. Large delays provided by the in-house fabricated, low-loss, and wide-band lithium niobate (LiNbO 3 )SH0 mode acoustic delay lines are leveraged to produce high performance and reduce the modulation effort simultaneously for enabling non-reciprocity. The implemented 4-port circulator has been demonstrated with an 18.8 dB non-recip-rocal contrast between the insertion loss (IL = 6.6 dB)and isolation (25.4 dB)over a fractional bandwidth of 8.8% at a center frequency 155 MHz, using a record low switching frequency of 877.19 kHz. The circulator also shows 25.9 dB suppression for the intra-modulated tones. Upon further development, such a system can potentially lead to wide-band, low-loss chip-scale nonreciprocal RF systems with unprecedented programmability.
Mathematical Framework for Hydromechanical Time-Domain Simulation of Wave Energy Converters

Efficient design of wave energy converters based on floating body motion heavily depends on the capacity of the designer to accurately predict the device’s dynamics, which ultimately leads to the power extraction. We present a (quasi-nonlinear) time-domain hydromechanical dynamic model to simulate a particular type of pitch-resonant WEC which uses gyroscopes for power extraction. The dynamic model consists of a time-domain three-dimensional Rankine panel method coupled, during time integration, with a MATLAB algorithm that solves for the equations of the gyroscope and Power Take-Off (PTO). The former acts as a force block, calculating the forces due to the waves on the hull, which is then sent to the latter through TCP/IP, which couples the external dynamics and performs the time integration using a 4th-order Runge-Kutta method. The panel method, accounting for the gyroscope and PTO dynamics, is then used for the calculation of the optimal flywheel spin, PTO damping, and average power extracted, completing the basic design cycle of the WEC. The proposed numerical method framework is capable of considering virtually any type of nonlinear force (e.g., nonlinear wave loads) and it is applied and verified in the paper against the traditional frequency domain linear model. It proved to be a versatile tool to verify performance in resonant conditions.
Real Estate Betas and the Implications for Asset Allocation

Real estate is an important asset class, but what specifically does real estate contribute to improve diversified stock–bond portfolios? The author decomposes real estate investment trust returns into their factor betas to show that real estate is a hybrid asset class, with returns explained by a rich mix of compensated risk factors plus uncompensated sector risk. He shows that the same is true for private real estate, but with the additional contribution to risk from misappraisals. It is the rich mix of common factors contained in real estate that can improve the Sharpe ratios of diversified, multiasset portfolios. He discusses the implications for asset allocation from the perspectives of mean–variance optimization of asset classes, the capital asset pricing model with efficient markets, and factor-based asset allocation.
Citizen-Based Brand Equity: A Model and Experimental Evaluation

Government agencies carry reputations in the public imagination. Agency names, images, and icons help form a brand that conveys information about that agency’s competency in a given area of public policy. This article brings the concept of consumer-based brand equity from business marketing to public administration research on agency reputation. Like their commercial counterparts, public organizations may enjoy positive brand equity that provides political leverage and facilitates effective management, or negative brand equity that weakens an agency politically and frustrates administration. Just as different commercial products appeal to different kinds of consumers, an agency’s brand value might differ with various segments of the public. We adapt a classic model of consumer branding to the public administration context, developing a framework for analyzing citizen-based brand equity for public agencies. A series of experiments embedded in a national survey is then used to gauge brand favorability for four U.S. federal agencies as first-order test of the concept. We find consistent evidence that agencies’ brands positively affect support for federal management, but also that partisanship conditions agencies’ brand favorability.
Collagen stiffness modulates MDA-MB231 cell metabolism through adhesion-mediated contractility

Extracellular matrix (ECM) mechanical properties play a key role in cancer cell aggressiveness. Increasing substrate stiffness upregulates cancer invasion, cell contractility and focal adhesion formation. In addition to matrix properties, alteration in energy metabolism is a known characteristic of cancer cells (i.e., Warburg effect) and modulates cell invasion. However, there has been little evidence to show that substrate stiffness is able to affect cancer cell metabolism. Thus, we investigated changes in energy metabolism in response to varying collagen matrix stiffness in different cancer cells, MDA-MB231, AA375MM and U251MG and non-tumorigenic breast cell line MCF10A. Using the phasor approach to fluorescent lifetime imaging microscopy (FLIM), we measured the lifetime ratio of the free:bound state of NADH and determined if these cells altered their metabolism when plated on varying ECM density. This approach is a powerful tool that allows us to map the metabolic trajectory of each living cell within its cellular compartments. In our studies, we found that MDA-MB231 cells had an increase in bound NADH, indicating oxidative phosphorylation (OXPHOS), as collagen substrate density decreased. When inhibiting myosin-II contractility with Y-27632 or blebbistatin, the MDA-MB231 cells on glass shifted from glycolysis (GLY) to OXPHOS, confirming the intricate relationship between mechanosensing and metabolism in these highly invasive tumor cells. The human glioblastoma cell line, U251MG, showed an opposite trend compared to the invasive MDA-MB231 cells. However, the human melanoma cell line, A375MM did not show any significant changes in metabolic indices when they were grown on surfaces with varying collagen density but changed when grown on glass surfaces. MCF10A cells showed no changes in metabolism across all surfaces. In addition, OXPHOS or GLY inhibitors to MDA-MB231 cells showed dramatic shifts from OXPHOS to GLY or vice versa. There were slight changes detected in MCF10A cells. These results provide an important link between cellular metabolism, contractility and ECM stiffness in human breast cancer.
Learning Generative Models of Tissue Organization with Supervised GANs

A key step in understanding the spatial organization of cells and tissues is the ability to construct generative models that accurately reflect that organization. In this paper, we focus on building generative models of electron microscope (EM) images in which the positions of cell membranes and mitochondria have been densely annotated, and propose a two-stage procedure that produces realistic images using Generative Adversarial Networks (or GANs) in a supervised way. In the first stage, we synthesize a label "image" given a noise "image" as input, which then provides supervision for EM image synthesis in the second stage. The full model naturally generates label-image pairs. We show that accurate synthetic EM images are produced using assessment via (1) shape features and global statistics, (2) segmentation accuracies, and (3) user studies. We also demonstrate further improvements by enforcing a reconstruction loss on intermediate synthetic labels and thus unifying the two stages into one single end-to-end framework.
SFQmap: A Technology Mapping Tool for Single Flux Quantum Logic Circuits

Single flux quantum (SFQ) logic is a promising candidate to replace the CMOS logic for high speed and low power applications due to its superiority in providing high performance and energy efficient circuits. However, developing effective Electronic Design Automation (EDA) tools, which cater to special characteristics and requirements of SFQ circuits such as depth minimization and path balancing, are essential to automate the whole process of designing large SFQ circuits. In this paper, a novel technology mapping tool, called SFQmap, is presented, which provides optimization methods for minimizing first the circuit depth and path balancing overhead and then the worst-case stage delay of mapped SFQ circuits. Compared with the state-of-the-art technology mappers, SFQmap reduces the depth and path balancing overhead by an average of 14% and 31%, respectively.
Dietary Cholesterol Intake and Sources among U.S Adults: Results from National Health and Nutrition Examination Surveys (NHANES), 2001⁻2014.

The 2015 Dietary Guidelines for Americans recommends that individuals should minimize their dietary cholesterol intake. However, current dietary cholesterol intake and its food sources have not been well-characterized. We examined dietary cholesterol intake by age, sex, race, and food sources using 24-h dietary recall data from a nationally representative sample of 5047 adults aged 20 years or older who participated in NHANES (2013–2014 survey cycle). We also reported trends in cholesterol intake across the past seven NHANES surveys. Mean dietary cholesterol intake was 293 mg/day (348 mg/day for men and 242 mg/day for women) in the 2013–2014 survey cycle; 39% of adults had dietary cholesterol intake above 300 mg/day (46% for men and 28% for women). Meat, eggs, grain products, and milk were the highest four food sources of cholesterol, contributing to 96% of the total consumption. Both average cholesterol intake and food source varied by age, sex, and race (each p < 0.05). Mean cholesterol intake of the overall population had been relatively constant at ~290 mg/day from 2001–2002 to 2013–2014 (p-trend = 0.98). These results should inform public health efforts in implementing dietary guidelines and tailoring dietary recommendations.
UAT ADS-B Data Anomalies and the Effect of Flight Parameters on Dropout Occurrences

An analysis of the performance of automatic dependent surveillance-broadcast (ADS-B) data received from the Grand Forks, North Dakota International Airport was carried out in this study. The purpose was to understand the vulnerabilities of the universal access transceiver (UAT) ADS-B system and recognize the effects on present and future air traffic control (ATC) operation. The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) mandated all the general aviation aircraft to be equipped with ADS-B. The aircraft flying within United States and below the transition altitude (18,000 feet) are more likely to install a UAT ADS-B. At present, unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) and autonomous air traffic control (ATC) towers are being integrated into the aviation industry and UAT ADS-B is a basic sensor for both class 1 and class 2 detect-and-avoid (DAA) systems. As a fundamental component of future surveillance systems, the anomalies and vulnerabilities of the ADS-B system need to be identified to enable a fully-utilized airspace with enhanced situational awareness. The data received was archived in GDL-90 format, which was parsed into readable data. The anomaly detection of ADS-B messages was based on the FAA ADS-B performance assessment report. The data investigation revealed ADS-B message suffered from different anomalies including dropout, missing payload, data jump, low confidence data, and altitude discrepancy. Among those studied, the most severe was dropout and 32.49% of messages suffered from this anomaly. Dropout is an incident where ADS-B failed to update within a specified rate. Considering the potential danger being imposed, an in-depth analysis was carried out to characterize message dropout. Three flight parameters were selected to investigate their effect on dropout. Statistical analysis was carried out and the Friedman Statistical Test identified that altitude affected dropout more than any other flight parameter.
Cryptocurrencies: Stylized facts on a new investible instrument

We present stylized facts on the asset pricing properties of cryptocurrencies: summary statistics on cryptocurrency return properties and measures of common variation for secondary market returns on 222 digital coins. In our sample, secondary market returns of all other currencies are strongly correlated with Bitcoin returns. We also provide some investment characteristics of a sample of 64 initial coin offerings.
The Rationale for Motions in the Design of Adjudication

The conduct of adjudication is often influenced by motions—requests made by litigants to modify the course of adjudication. The question studied in this article is why adjudication should be designed so as to permit the use of motions. The answer developed is that litigants will naturally know a great deal about their specific matter, whereas a court will ordinarily know little except to the degree that the court has already invested effort to appreciate it. By giving litigants the right to bring motions, the judicial system leads litigants to efficiently provide information to courts that is relevant to the adjudicative process.
Proprioception-Based Grasping for Unknown Objects Using a Series-Elastic-Actuated Gripper

Grasping unknown objects has been an active research topic for decades. Approaches range from using various sensors (e.g. vision, tactile) to gain information about the object, to building passively compliant hands that react appropriately to contacts. In this paper, we focus on grasping unknown objects using proprioception (the combination of joint position and torque sensing). Our hypothesis is that proprioception alone can be the basis for versatile performance, including multiple types of grasps for objects with multiple shapes and sizes, and transitions between grasps. Using a series-elastic-actuated gripper, we propose a method for performing stable fingertip grasps for unknown objects with unknown contacts, formulated as multi-input-multi-output (MIMO) control. We also show that the proprioceptive gripper can perform enveloping grasps, as well as the transition from fingertip grasps to enveloping grasps.
Battery Swapping Station as an Energy Storage for Capturing Distribution-Integrated Solar Variability

Managing the inherent variability of solar generation is a critical challenge for utility grid operators, particularly as the distribution grid-integrated solar generation is making fast inroads in power systems. This paper proposes to leverage Battery Swapping Station (BSS) as an energy storage for mitigating solar photovoltaic (PV) output fluctuations. Using mixed-integer programming, a model for the BSS optimal scheduling is proposed to capture solar generation variability. The proposed model aims at minimizing the BSS total operation cost, which represents the accumulated cost of exchanging power with the utility grid. The model is subject to four sets of constraints associated with the utility grid, the BSS system, individual batteries, and solar variability. Numerical simulations on a test BSS demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed model and show its viability in helping the utility grids host a higher penetration of solar generation.
Influence of solvent quality on conformations of crowded polymers

The structure and function of polymers in confined environments, e.g., biopolymers in the cytoplasm of a cell, are strongly affected by macromolecular crowding. To explore the influence of solvent quality on conformations of crowded polymers, we model polymers as penetrable ellipsoids, whose shape fluctuations are governed by the statistics of self-avoiding walks, appropriate for a polymer in a good solvent. Within this coarse-grained model, we perform Monte Carlo simulations of mixtures of polymers and hard-nanosphere crowders, including trial changes in polymer size and shape. Penetration of polymers by crowders is incorporated via a free energy cost predicted by polymer field theory. To analyze the impact of crowding on polymer conformations in different solvents, we compute the average polymer shape distributions, radius of gyration, volume, and asphericity over ranges of the polymer-to-crowder size ratio and crowder volume fraction. The simulation results are accurately predicted by a free-volume theory of polymer crowding. Comparison of results for polymers in good and theta solvents indicates that excluded-volume interactions between polymer segments significantly affect crowding, especially in the limit of crowders much smaller than polymers. Our approach may help to motivate future experimental studies of polymers in crowded environments, with possible relevance for drug delivery and gene therapy.
From head to tail: a neuromechanical model of forward locomotion in Caenorhabditis elegans.

With 302 neurons and a near-complete reconstruction of the neural and muscle anatomy at the cellular level, Caenorhabditis elegans is an ideal candidate organism to study the neuromechanical basis ...
Varieties of Ethnic Self-Identities: Children of Immigrants in Middle Adulthood

This mixed-methods longitudinal study examines ethnic self-identity change from mid-adolescence to middle adulthood among a representative sample of adult children of immigrants first surveyed in 1992 in San Diego. Findings reveal the complexities of ethnic identity. Ethnic identity labels are often used interchangeably yet usually stabilize by middle adulthood. While the importance of ethnic identity often diminishes, immigrants’ children in their late thirties express distinct ethnic identity formations, ranging from strong ethnic attachments to indifference, that vary within and between nativity and national-origin groups. Ethnic identities relate to political views and behaviors, interethnic friendships, and cultural practices, but not interethnic unions. Consistent with life course theory, results show how identities develop across nearly a quarter century, influenced by sociohistorical contexts and relationships with others.
Patch-Based Image Similarity for Intraoperative 2D/3D Pelvis Registration During Periacetabular Osteotomy

Periacetabular osteotomy is a challenging surgical procedure for treating developmental hip dysplasia, providing greater coverage of the femoral head via relocation of a patient’s acetabulum. Since fluoroscopic imaging is frequently used in the surgical workflow, computer-assisted X-Ray navigation of osteotomes and the relocated acetabular fragment should be feasible. We use intensity-based 2D/3D registration to estimate the pelvis pose with respect to fluoroscopic images, recover relative poses of multiple views, and triangulate landmarks which may be used for navigation. Existing similarity metrics are unable to consistently account for the inherent mismatch between the preoperative intact pelvis, and the intraoperative reality of a fractured pelvis. To mitigate the effect of this mismatch, we continuously estimate the relevance of each pixel to solving the registration and use these values as weightings in a patch-based similarity metric. Limiting computation to randomly selected subsets of patches results in faster runtimes than existing patch-based methods. A simulation study was conducted with random fragment shapes, relocations, and fluoroscopic views, and the proposed method achieved a 1.7 mm mean triangulation error over all landmarks, compared to mean errors of 3 mm and 2.8 mm for the non-patched and image-intensity-variance-weighted patch similarity metrics, respectively.
Taxation and market power in the legal marijuana industry

In 2012 the state of Washington created a legal framework for production and retail sales of marijuana. Nine other U.S. states and Canada have followed. These states hope to generate tax revenue for their state budgets while limiting harms associated with marijuana consumption. We use a unique administrative dataset containing all transactions in the history of the industry in Washington to evaluate the effectiveness of different tax and regulatory policies under consideration by policymakers and study the role of imperfect competition in determining these results. We examine 3 main research questions. First, how effective is Washington’s excise tax at raising revenue? With the nation’s highest tax rate on marijuana, is Washington maximizing revenue or potentially overtaxing, leading to reduced legal sales and lower tax revenue. Second, what is the incidence of taxes in this industry? Finally, most states have restricted entry, resulting in firms with substantial market power. What is the role of imperfect competition in studying these basic questions on tax policy? We combine structural methods and a reduced form sufficient statistic approach to show a number of results. First, Washington’s 37% excise tax is still on the upward sloping portion of the Laffer curve and state revenue could be substantially higher with a higher tax rate. The amount of revenue generated by a tax increase is significantly larger due to retailer market power than it would be under perfect competition. In addition, these taxes are primarily borne by consumers and not by firms, and there is a large social cost associated with each dollar raised.
The Role of Substrate Type, Moisture and Temperature on the Vertical Growth of Terricolous Lichens

Lichens are traditionally divided into short "crustose", intermediate "foliose" and tall "fruticose" types, a practice that hides a growth continuum. Substrate, temperature and water are thought to affect vertical growth, but such factors are difficult to measure, because, for example, the water actually available to lichens does not match rainfall patterns or even ground water levels. To reliably assess the effect of those factors, I recorded temperature, moisture, and substrate in and under individual terricolous lichen colonies in 60 fixed quadrats on April, August, October, and December of 2015 (Cerro de la Muerte, Costa Rica). The measurements were taken inside the colonies themselves (rather than on the general environment), covering an annual cycle of the relatively simple paramo habitat, where animals and vegetation have less impact than in lower ecosystems. The hypotheses were that lichens would grow taller on softer, warmer, and moister ground; on the Caribbean versant; and on the rainy season. Results matched the hypotheses, with one exception: lichens on soft ground were not taller than those on rock. Caribbean colonies were, on the average, 7 cm taller than those on the drier Pacific versant. Physiologically available water seems to be the main determinant of lichen vertical growth: more water means taller lichens and greater protection from climatic change for both the lichens and their microcommunities.
Governing the banking system: an assessment of resilience based on Elinor Ostrom's design principles

The problem of financial stability is political and institutional, rather than narrowly economic. To achieve a more resilient financial system, we need to pay attention to the incentives of actors who have the power to act discretionarily, and to the knowledge limitations of such actors in the face of substantial complexity and uncertainty. The literature on polycentric governance and institutional resilience provides key insights that the literature on financial stability has thus far neglected. We offer an analysis based on the “design principles” for robust governance institutions proposed by Nobel laureate Elinor Ostrom. We apply these principles to banking systems and explore under what conditions a banking system can be expected to discover rules that align private incentives with broader financial stability, and generate the necessary knowledge to govern such a complex system. This perspective challenges both “microprudential” and “macroprudential” approaches, which assume a monocentric financial and banking regulator.
Does social capital mitigate agency problems? Evidence from Chief Executive Officer (CEO) compensation

Abstract We find that social capital, as captured by secular norms and social networks surrounding corporate headquarters, is negatively associated with levels of CEO compensation. This relation holds in a range of robustness tests including those that address omitted variable bias and reverse causality. Additionally, social capital reduces the likelihood that firms make opportunistic option grant awards that unduly favor CEOs, including lucky awards, backdated awards, and unscheduled awards. Social capital also lessens the accretive effect of CEO power on CEO compensation. These findings indicate that social capital mitigates agency problems by restraining managerial rent extraction in CEO compensation.
Algorithms for Joint Sensor and Control Nodes Selection in Dynamic Networks

Abstract The problem of placing or selecting sensors and control nodes plays a pivotal role in the operation of dynamic networks. This paper proposes optimal algorithms and heuristics to solve the Simultaneous Sensor and Actuator Selection Problem (SSASP) in linear dynamic networks. In particular, a sufficiency condition of static output feedback stabilizability is used to obtain the minimal set of sensors and control nodes needed to stabilize an unstable network. We then show that SSASP can be written as a mixed-integer nonconvex problem. To solve this nonconvex combinatorial problem, three methods based on (i) mixed-integer nonlinear programming, (ii) binary search algorithms, and (iii) simple heuristics are proposed. The first method yields optimal solutions to SSASP—given that some constants are appropriately selected. The second method requires a database of binary sensor/actuator combinations, returns optimal solutions, and necessitates no tuning parameters. The third approach is a heuristic that yields suboptimal solutions but is computationally attractive. The theoretical properties of these methods are discussed and numerical tests on dynamic networks showcase the trade-off between optimality and computational time.