cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Predicting Evolutionary Site Variability from Structure in Viral Proteins: Buriedness, Packing, Flexibility, and Design

Several recent works have shown that protein structure can predict site-specific evolutionary sequence variation. In particular, sites that are buried and/or have many contacts with other sites in a structure have been shown to evolve more slowly, on average, than surface sites with few contacts. Here, we present a comprehensive study of the extent to which numerous structural properties can predict sequence variation. The quantities we considered include buriedness (as measured by relative solvent accessibility), packing density (as measured by contact number), structural flexibility (as measured by B factors, root-mean-square fluctuations, and variation in dihedral angles), and variability in designed structures. We obtained structural flexibility measures both from molecular dynamics simulations performed on nine non-homologous viral protein structures and from variation in homologous variants of those proteins, where they were available. We obtained measures of variability in designed structures from flexible-backbone design in the Rosetta software. We found that most of the structural properties correlate with site variation in the majority of structures, though the correlations are generally weak (correlation coefficients of 0.1–0.4). Moreover, we found that buriedness and packing density were better predictors of evolutionary variation than structural flexibility. Finally, variability in designed structures was a weaker predictor of evolutionary variability than buriedness or packing density, but it was comparable in its predictive power to the best structural flexibility measures. We conclude that simple measures of buriedness and packing density are better predictors of evolutionary variation than the more complicated predictors obtained from dynamic simulations, ensembles of homologous structures, or computational protein design.
Baylis–Hillman chemistry: a one pot cross-coupling/allylboration reaction

A one pot sequential cross-coupling/allylboration is described. Baylis–Hillman acetate adducts couple with bis(pinacolato)diboron to form substituted allylboronates, which react with aldehydes in the presence of a silica supported BF3 catalyst to form highly functionalized homoallylic alcohols in excellent yields.
Psychiatry and Social Values: The American Psychiatric Association and Immigration Restriction, 1880-1930

From time to time during the late 19th and early 20th centuries, the issue of immigration came before the American Psychiatric Association (APA). Members of the APA who publicly discussed the problem of immigration often addressed it in ways that emphasized the importance of hereditary and racial factors in determining mental health. There was considerable feeling among psychiatrists that the immigrant population harbored a large number of "mental defectives" who would taint future generations of Americans if not restricted. Though psychiatrists were not as extreme in their advocacy of immigration restriction as some segments of American society (Grob 1983), many were nonetheless eager to see limits imposed upon the entry of defective and potentially defective immigrants, particularly those from Southern and Eastern Europe. Some practitioners were also deeply concerned about what might happen to the state of American mental health if the racial mixture of the nation's population were substantially altered. On the other hand, some psychiatrists, particularly in the period after 1910, were uncomfortable with views that emphasized hereditary determinism and therefore emphasized the role of environmental factors in the development of mental disease. The purpose of this paper is to examine how social and cultural forces interacted with contemporary scientific ideas to shape the way psychiatrists dealt with the problem of immigration at the turn of the century.
The impact of the global financial crisis on firms' capital structure

Using a data set covering about 277,000 firms across 79 countries over the period 2004-11, this paper examines the evolution of firms'capital structure during the global financial crisis and its aftermath in 2010-11. The study finds that firm leverage and debt maturity declined in advanced economies and developing countries, even in countries that did not experience a crisis. The deleveraging and maturity reduction were particularly significant for privately held firms, including small and medium enterprises. For small and medium-size enterprises, these effects were larger in countries with less efficient legal systems, weaker information-sharing mechanisms, shallower banking systems, and more restrictions on bank entry. In contrast, there is weaker evidence of a significant decline of leverage and debt maturity among firms listed on a stock exchange, which are typically much larger than other firms and likely benefit from the"spare tire"of easier access to capital market financing.
Digital preservation: communicating across cyberspace and time

This paper presents an overview of the challenges of preserving digital information assets over generations of information technology in a way that makes them discoverable, retrievable, and useful for a variety of purposes, including purposes that are independent of the aims that motivated the production of the assets. While most attention to date has focused on the systems, services, and institutions that do or might preserve digital information, this analysis explores the perspective of the consumers who wish to use digitally preserved assets.
Thermodynamic Properties of Molecular Borane Amines and the [BH4-][NH4+] Salt for Chemical Hydrogen Storage Systems from ab Initio Electronic Structure Theory

The heats of formation for the borane amines BH3NH3, BH2NH2, and HBNH, tetrahedral BH4-, and the BN molecule have been calculated by using ab initio molecular orbital theory. Coupled cluster calculations with single and double excitations and perturbative triples (CCSD(T)) were employed for the total valence electronic energies. Correlation consistent basis sets were used, up through the augmented quadruple-ζ, to extrapolate to the complete basis set limit. Core/valence, scalar relativistic, and spin−orbit corrections were included in an additive fashion to predict the atomization energies. Geometries were calculated at the CCSD(T) level up through at least aug-cc-pVTZ and frequencies were calculated at the CCSD(T)/aug-cc-pVDZ level. The heats of formation (in kcal/mol) at 0 K in the gas phase are ΔHf(BH3NH3) = −9.1, ΔHf(BH2NH2) = −15.9, ΔHf(BHNH) = 13.6, ΔHf(BN) = 146.4, and ΔHf(BH4-) = −11.6. The reported experimental value for ΔHf(BN) is clearly in error. The heat of formation of the salt [BH4-][NH4+](...
A geographic view of expansion choices by U.S. firms in China

abstractHow does geography matter for explaining the location patterns of U.S. companies in China? We combine insights from the literature on economic geography and spatial interdependence in foreign direct investment (FDI) activity to provide a comparative analysis using both sectoral regression results and maps that illustrate patterns in the data. We use a unique sample of publicly traded U.S. firms that announced expansion of operations into China between 1980 and 2005. Regression results show that, relative to the tertiary sector, firm characteristics matter more for primary sector firms, whereas province characteristics matter more for secondary sector firms. Additionally, our GIS analysis reveals a high level of locational concentration and differences in provincial characteristics over time. Overall, we find that combining GIS methods with FDI data can provide a richer picture of economic activity that is highly accessible to both academics and practitioners.
A fast lattice Green's function method for solving viscous incompressible flows on unbounded domains

A computationally efficient method for solving three-dimensional, viscous, incompressible flows on unbounded domains is presented. The method formally discretizes the incompressible Navier-Stokes equations on an unbounded staggered Cartesian grid. Operations are limited to a finite computational domain through a lattice Green's function technique. This technique obtains solutions to inhomogeneous difference equations through the discrete convolution of source terms with the fundamental solutions of the discrete operators. The differential algebraic equations describing the temporal evolution of the discrete momentum equation and incompressibility constraint are numerically solved by combining an integrating factor technique for the viscous term and a half-explicit Runge-Kutta scheme for the convective term. A projection method that exploits the mimetic and commutativity properties of the discrete operators is used to efficiently solve the system of equations that arises in each stage of the time integration scheme. Linear complexity, fast computation rates, and parallel scalability are achieved using recently developed fast multipole methods for difference equations. The accuracy and physical fidelity of solutions are verified through numerical simulations of vortex rings.
Positively curved manifolds with large spherical rank

Rigidity results are obtained for Riemannian d-manifolds with sec > 1 and spherical rank at least d − 2 > 0. Conjecturally, all such manifolds are locally isometric to a round sphere or complex projective space with the (symmetric) Fubini– Study metric. This conjecture is verified in all odd dimensions, for metrics on dspheres when d 6= 6, for Riemannian manifolds satisfying the Rakic duality principle, and for Kahlerian manifolds.
Global Prospects in an Interdependent World

What are the characteristics of a working international order that is concerned with the evolution of underdeveloped regions in a growing world economy with an equitable distribution of the gains from growth?
Finding Eyewitness Tweets During Crises

Disaster response agencies incorporate social media as a source of fast-breaking information to understand the needs of people affected by the many crises that occur around the world. These agencies look for tweets from within the region affected by the crisis to get the latest updates on the status of the affected region. However only 1% of all tweets are “geotagged” with explicit location information. In this work we seek to identify non-geotagged tweets that originate from within the crisis region. Towards this, we address three questions: (1) is there a difference between the language of tweets originating within a crisis region, (2) what linguistic patterns differentiate within-region and outside-region tweets, and (3) can we automatically identify those originating within the crisis region in real-time?
In-field Spatial Variability and Profitability of Precision Nitrogen Application On Corn in Buchanan County, Iowa

Despite the intuitive appeal of precision farming, adoption of precision technology options has been well below expectations. A review of precision farming studies suggests as expected that precision farming becomes more profitable as in-field spatial variability increases. However, no studies have attempted to quantify infield variability at any reasonable scale beyond a few experimental fields. This study contributes to the assessment of precision farming by introducing an approach that can help characterize the relative profitability of precision farming methods as compared to conventional farming. Using readily available geographic information systems databases on crop cover, soil type, and weather, we assess the viability of precision nitrogen applications on corn in Buchanan County, Iowa. We find little evidence for viability of precision nitrogen applications in contrast to uniform application rates, largely because of the lack of significant in-field spatial variability in soil types.
In medio stat virtus: coexistence policies for GM and non-GM production in spatial equilibrium

This article develops a spatial equilibrium model suitable to analyse the economic impacts of measures (such as isolation distances and buffer zones) meant to ensure coexistence between genetically modified (GM) and non-GM crops. We show that policies that put the cost of such measures exclusively on GM producers lead to ac ompetitive equilibrium that is biased against GM products (relative to the welfare maximising allocation). Efficient allocation is restored if the cost of implementingcoexistencemeasuresissharedequallybetweenadjacentGM andnon-GM farms.
A simple empirical investigation into the optimal size of the NGDP Target and Level targeting

This paper constructs an index to study two questions within a growing school of macroeconomic thought, Market Monetarism. This school argues that the central bank has full control over all nominal variables in the economy and is solely responsible for aggregate demand management. To manage aggregate demand, Market Monetarism argues the central bank should target Nominal GDP. We address two issues of contention. First, we measure the optimal size of the optimal NGDP target. Second, we measure the extent to which central banks should engage in level targeting, i.e., whether central banks should correct for past errors when hitting their targets. We find evidence consistent with a five percent target but are unable to find consistent evidence regarding level targeting.
CERAMIC ON CERAMIC THA IN PATIENTS <60: A NEW STANDARD – AFFIRMS

Properly designed ceramic-on-ceramic total hip arthroplasty has consistently shown excellent clinical outcomes without the problems associated with crosslinked polyethylene bearings such as liner dissociation, debris associated osteolysis, polyethylene fracture, clinically measurable wear, and taper-corrosion associated adverse tissue reaction when metal heads are used. The recognition of these results has been affected by the confusion with the poorer results of designs with elevated metal rims especially when coupled with the use of femoral components made of beta-titanium alloys. Our clinical experience, now at 18 years, with flush mounted liners and Ti-Al6-V4 stem and cup alloy demonstrate consistently excellent outcomes without osteolysis or ALTR. Ceramic-Ceramic THA remains the gold standard for the young active patient.
In situ evidence of electron energization in the electron diffusion region of magnetotail reconnection

Magnetic reconnection is an explosive energy-release process in laboratory, space, and astrophysical plasmas. While magnetic fields can “break” and “reconnect” in a very small region called the electron diffusion region (EDR), there have been conflicting theories as to whether this region can be a place of rapid energization of plasmas. Here we report a fortuitous encounter of the EDR by The Time History of Events and Macroscale Interactions during Substorms (THEMIS) in the Earth's magnetotail where significant heating and demagnetization of electrons were observed. Additional energization was observed on both sides (immediate upstream and downstream) of the EDR, leading to a total of more than an order of magnitude energization across this region. The results demonstrate that despite its minuscule size, the EDR does indeed contribute to the overall process of electron energization via magnetic reconnection.
Additive technology of soluble mold tooling for embedded devices in composite structures: A study on manufactured tolerances

Abstract Composite textiles have found widespread use and advantages in various industries and applications. The constant demand for high-quality products and services requires companies to minimize their manufacturing costs and delivery time in order to compete with general and niche marketplaces. Creation of molding and tooling options for advanced composites encompasses a large portion of fabrication time, making it a costly process and a restraining factor. This research discusses a preliminary investigation into the use and control of soluble polymer compounds and additive manufacturing to fabricate sacrificial molds. These molds suffer from dimensional errors due to several factors, which have also been characterized. The basic soluble mold of a composite is 3D printed to meet the desired dimensions and geometry of holistic structures or spliced components. The time taken to dissolve the mold depends on the rate of agitation of the solvent. This process is steered towards enabling the implantation of optoelectronic devices within the composite to provide a sensing capability for structural health monitoring. The shape deviation of the 3D printed mold is also studied and compared to its original dimensions to optimize the dimensional quality to produce dimensionally accurate parts of up to 0.02% error.
The Structure of Rubber and the Mechanism of Elastic Stretching

Abstract A theory of the mechanism of elastic stretch in rubber is described. It is christened a “hydrogen-evaporation-condensation” mechanism. In an attempt to develop a unified theory of rubber behavior, some of the more important properties of the various forms of rubber are discussed, from the point of view of strict adherence to the principles of geometry and of structural organic chemistry. Among the topics discussed are: shape of the rubber molecule, the work of stretching rubber, the shape of the stress-strain curve, heat effects in rubber (including the Joule effect), Staudinger's hydrogenated rubber, factors controlling cis and trans addition, x-ray diffraction pattern, properties of synthetic rubbers, inversion, and sluggishness.
The effect of articulation agreements on community college transfers and bachelor’s degree attainment

abstractFor more than a century, community colleges have provided a postsecondary education alternative to the traditional, 4-year university. Enrolling disproportionate numbers of both disadvantaged and nontraditional students, the community college sector has seen unparalleled gains in enrollment over the past few decades. Along with these increases in enrollment, there has been a shift in focus toward transfer to 4-year institutions, as well as the development of articulation agreements. Established in order to ease the transfer process from community colleges to 4-year colleges/universities—for those students interested in obtaining a bachelor’s degree—these agreements currently exist in more than 30 states. Via two-level, hierarchical linear modeling, this article examines the student and school level characteristics of community colleges that affect transfer and bachelor’s degree attainment rates. Also examined is the impact of articulation agreements. Ultimately, while articulation agreements are n...
Palladium(0)-mediated cyclization-coupling of β,γ-unsaturated oximes and aryl iodides

The tandem palladium(0)-mediated nucleometalation-cross coupling of β,γ-unsaturated oximes with aryl iodides has been shown to provide the expected 3,5-disubstituted 2-isoxazolines in acceptable yields (11–78%). The addition of a weak base is required for product formation. Some influence on the yield of the reaction is noted in the electronic character of the aryl iodide used in the reaction. Exploration of the substitution patterns on the reactants has led to a proposed mechanism involving a palladium(II)-catalyzed nucleometalation/cyclization followed by reductive elimination of palladium(0) with concomitant coupling to an arene.
A Mechanical Analyzer for the Prediction of Earthquake Stresses

The earthquake stresses in a structure are generally greater than those which would be produced by a constant acceleration equal to the maximum value reached during the earthquake; there is an amplification due to resonance. This effect depends on the period of the structure and is measured by a function of the period, designated here as the spectrum of the earthquake. A mechanical analyzer is described by which the spectrum curves for several strong-motion earthquakes have been plotted. It is shown how the spectrum can be used for the evaluation of earthquake stresses in complicated structures, and the particular example is treated of a multistory building with an elastic first story.
Effect of excluded volume on the force-extension of wormlike chains in slit confinement.

We use pruned-enriched Rosenbluth method simulations to develop a quantitative phase diagram for the stretching of a real wormlike chain confined in a slit. Our simulations confirm the existence of a “confined Pincus” regime in slit confinement, analogous to the Pincus regime in free solution, where excluded volume effects are sensible. The lower bound for the confined Pincus regime in the force-molecular weight plane, as well as the scaling of the extension with force and slit size, agree with an existing scaling theory for this regime. The upper bound of the confined Pincus regime depends on the strength of the confinement. For strong confinement, the confined Pincus regime ends when the contour length in the Pincus blob is too short to have intrablob excluded volume. As a result, the chain statistics become ideal and the confined Pincus regime at low forces is connected directly to ideal chain stretching at large forces. In contrast, for weak confinement, the confined Pincus regime ends when the Pincus blobs no longer fit inside the slit, even though there is sufficient contour length to have excluded volume inside the Pincus blob. As a result, weak confinement leads to a free-solution Pincus regime intervening between the confined Pincus regime for weak forces and ideal chain stretching at strong forces. Our results highlight shortcomings in existing models for the stretching of wormlike chains in slits.
Real-Time Drawing Assistance through Crowdsourcing

We propose a new method for the large-scale collection and analysis of drawings by using a mobile game specifically designed to collect such data. Analyzing this crowdsourced drawing database, we build a spatially varying model of artistic consensus at the stroke level. We then present a surprisingly simple stroke- correction method which uses our artistic consensus model to improve strokes in real-time. Importantly, our auto-corrections run interactively and appear nearly in- visible to the user while seamlessly preserving artistic intent. Closing the loop, the game itself serves as a plat- form for large-scale evaluation of the effectiveness of our stroke correction algorithm.
Autonomous pedestrians

We address the difficult open problem of emulating the rich complexity of real pedestrians in urban environments. Our artificial life approach integrates motor, perceptual, behavioral, and cognitive components within a model of pedestrians as individuals. Our comprehensive model feature innovations in these components, as well as in their combination, yielding results of unprecedented fidelity and complexity for fully autonomous multi-human simulation in a large urban environment. We represent the environment using hierarchical data structures, which efficiently support the perceptual queries of the autonomous pedestrians that drive their behavioral responses and sustain their ability to plan their actions on local and global scales.
New Bounds and Extended Relations Between Prefix Arrays, Border Arrays, Undirected Graphs, and Indeterminate Strings

We extend earlier works on the relation of prefix arrays of indeterminate strings to undirected graphs and border arrays. If integer array y is the prefix array for indeterminate string w, then we say w satisfies y. We use a graph theoretic approach to construct a string on a minimum alphabet size which satisfies a given prefix array. We relate the problem of finding a minimum alphabet size to finding edge clique covers of a particular graph, allowing us to bound the minimum alphabet size by n+n$n+\sqrt {n}$ for indeterminate strings, where n is the size of the prefix array. When we restrict ourselves to prefix arrays for partial words, we bound the minimum alphabet size by 2n$\left \lceil \sqrt {2n} \right \rceil $. Moreover, we show that this bound is tight up to a constant multiple by using Sidon sets. We also study the relationship between prefix arrays and border arrays. We give necessary and sufficient conditions for a border array and prefix array to be satisfied by the same indeterminate string. We show that the slowly-increasing property completely characterizes border arrays for indeterminate strings, whence there are exactly Cn distinct border arrays of size n for indeterminate strings (here Cn is the nth Catalan number). We give an algorithm to enumerate all prefix arrays for partial words of a given size, n. Our algorithm has a time complexity of n3 times the output size, that is, the number of valid prefix arrays for partial words of length n. We also bound the number of prefix arrays for partial words of a given size using Stirling numbers of the second kind.
The informational feedback effect of stock prices on management forecasts

Using management earnings forecasts over the period 1996–2010, I find that the sensitivity of forecast revisions to contemporaneous stock returns is increasing in the amount of investors’ private information in prices. This effect remains after controlling for various confounds and is robust to the use of mutual fund redemptions as a shock to price changes that is exogenous to fundamental news. Furthermore, investors’ private information helps managers improve their forecast accuracy. Together, these findings suggest that stock prices contain information that managers do not otherwise have regarding firms’ fundamentals, and that managers incorporate this information in their earnings forecasts.
Storage for Irrigation Water in Humid Areas

Factors affecting development of irrigation storage facilities; requirements in 31 eastern states; modifications in design and planning criteria that are necessary in order to properly utilize engineering knowledge gained on western irrigation projects.
Is there tight channelling in the tricarboxylic acid cycle metabolon

Is there tight channelling in the tricarboxylic acid cycle metabolon? Balazs Sumegi,§ A. Dean Sherry,§ Craig R. Malloy,*$ Claudia Evans*t and Paul A. Srere*t *Pre-Clinical Science Unit of the Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center, tDepartment of Biochemistry and $The Mary Nell & Ralph B. Rogers N.M.R. Center, The University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas, 4500 South Lancaster Road, Dallas, TX 752 16, U.S.A. and §Chemistry Department, The University of Texas at Dallas, Richardson, TX 75083-0688, U.S.A.
Regio- and Enantioselective Synthesis of Azole Hemiaminal Esters by Lewis Base Catalyzed Dynamic Kinetic Resolution

We report a modular three-component dynamic kinetic resolution (DKR) that affords enantiomerically enriched hemiaminal esters derived from azoles and aldehydes. The novel and scalable reaction can be used to synthesize valuable substituted azoles in a regioselective manner by capping (e.g., acylation) of the equilibrating azole-aldehyde adduct. With the use of a prolinol-derived DMAP catalyst as the chiral Lewis base, the products can be obtained in high chemical yield and with high enantiomeric excess. The DKR was performed on a multikilogram scale to produce a tetrazole prodrug fragment for a leading clinical candidate that posed formidable synthesis challenges.
Homoallylboration and Homocrotylboration of Aldehydes

A simple method for addition of homoallylic fragments to aldehydes is described. Cyclopropanated allylboration reagents react with aldehydes in the presence of PhBCl2 to give high yields of bishomoallyl alcohols. Cyclopropanated cis- and trans-crotyl reagents afford the corresponding 1,3-anti- and 1,3-syn-methyl-substituted “homocrotylated” alcohols with high selectivity, consistent with a Zimmerman–Traxler transition state. Accordingly, the optically active α-substituted reactant affords the E-substituted product in 97:3 er.
Experimental Investigation of Single-Mode Responses in a Fixed-Fixed Buckled Beam

The nonlinear, single-mode responses of a fixed-fixed, buckled beam are investigated under the case of a uniform, transverse, harmonic excitation. In order to avoid axial slipping and to obtain meaningful data, a clamping apparatus was designed to maximize the clamping force applied to the beam. To fully characterize the single-mode responses, data were obtained at various levels of buckling up to 3.3 times the thickness of the beam. The data demonstrate that at a low level of buckling, supercritical period doubling occurs during an amplitude sweep in which the first mode is directly excited. However, as the buckling level increases, the period-doubling bifurcation becomes subcritical during such amplitude sweeps. In addition, a period-five motion, broadband responses, and responses with an unexplained sideband structure were observed.
A Warning to States — Accepting this Invitation May Be Hazardous to Your Health (Safety, and Public Welfare): An Analysis of Post-Kelo Legislative Activity

Focusing on Delaware, this article will argue that the United States Supreme Court's decision in Kelo v. New London gave state legislatures an open invitation to shape their public use frameworks, but their responses must be measured and well-reasoned because the consequences of reactionary legislation may put a stranglehold on state and local governments trying to exercise eminent domain for unanimously accepted public uses. Part I will trace the most pertinent federal jurisprudence through Kelo. Part II will survey Delaware’s public use jurisprudence. Part III will introduce the Delaware General Assembly’s legislative response to Kelo. Part IV will serve as a warning to the states generally that many seemingly innocuous clauses in their responsive legislation could have substantial consequences if not carefully considered.
Current issues in the epidemiology and toxicology of occupational exposure to lead.

Occupational exposure to lead is widespread in the United States. Clinically evident lead poisoning as well as subclinical toxicity occur in populations with occupational lead exposure. The focus of current research on lead toxicity in industrial populations is in the definition of dose-response relationships, particularly at low levels of exposure. Major interest surrounds the development of biochemical and physiologic markers of subclinical toxicity. Need exists to better delineate the toxicity of lead on the peripheral and central nervous system, the kidneys, the cardiovascular system, and the reproductive organs using newly developed markers. To obtain more accurate information on cumulative individual exposure to lead, future research on lead toxicity will increasingly use X-ray fluorescence analysis for determination of the lead content in bone.
What’s a Cup Worth?: A Hedonic Analysis of U.S. Retail Coffees Prices

The marginal retail value of coffee attributes are estimated for the U.S. marketHedonic implicit prices identify the marginal market values of alternative products and market strategies. Results indicate that Estate and Fair Trade designations detract, rather than add, value to coffees sold in U.S. retail markets. Organic certification offers no net value-added relative to natural production. Market premiums for origin labeling are limited to coffee exporting areas with long-standing reputations for high quality coffee. There are positive and economically significant rewards to flavor characteristics, roast type and recent innovations in single-serve packaging. Overall, the greatest value opportunity for coffee supplier is in the cup, not in ancillary, non-flavor characteristics.
Does Pre-hospital Telephone Communication With A Clinician Result In More Appropriate Medication Administration By Parents During Childhood Asthma Exacerbations?

Background. The National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute asthma guidelines recommend that parents communicate with a clinician during childhood asthma exacerbations when symptoms worsen or do not improve with initial therapy. This study tested the hypothesis that communication by parents with a clinician before an Emergency Department visit was associated with more appropriate medication administration for children with asthma exacerbations. Methods. This was a retrospective cohort study using data gathered from parents of children presenting with an asthma exacerbation to the emergency department. The communicating cohort included parents who communicated by telephone with a clinician during the exacerbation and the non-communicating cohort included parents who did not. Multivariate logistic regression models were used to test three hypotheses; communication with a clinician is associated with (1) administration of short-acting β-agonists (SABAs), (2) increased dosing frequency of SABAs, and (3) administ...
Gold-Catalyzed 1,3-Transposition of Ynones

An efficient, regioselective gold-catalyzed 1,3-transposition reaction of ynones and diynones has been developed. It was found that stereoelectronic (interrupted conjugation) and electronic (extended conjugation) factors could efficiently govern the regioselectivity of this thermodynamically controlled transformation. The produced conjugated diynones were efficiently transformed into diverse alkyne-substituted five- and six-membered heterocycles.
Comparison of robot-assisted nephrectomy with laparoscopic and hand-assisted laparoscopic nephrectomy.

Objective To compare the initial perioperative outcomes of our robot-assisted laparoscopic nephrectomies with laparoscopic and hand-assisted nephrectomies performed by 2 experienced laparoscopic surgeons. Patients and methods We retrospectively evaluated all patients who underwent laparoscopic (LN), hand-assisted (HALN), and robot-assisted laparoscopic nephrectomy (RALN) for benign and malignant diseases between August 2006 and December 2008. Data collected included patient age, body mass index, operative times, estimated blood loss, complications, and hospital stay. Radical nephrectomy was performed for renal neoplasms, and simple nephrectomy was performed for suspected benign diseases. In addition, average direct costs and total costs were calculated for each laparoscopic approach. Results Forty-six patients underwent LN, 20 underwent HALN, and 13 underwent RALN. The median operative time was 171, 210, and 168 minutes, respectively. LN, HALN, and RALN groups had similar median EBL [(100 mL (IQR=113 mL), 100mL (IQR=150 mL), and 100mL (IQR=125 mL); P=0.695], length of hospital stay [2.0d (IQR=1.0d), 3.0d (IQR=2.0d), and 2.0d (IQR=3.0d); P=0.233], and postoperative morphine equivalent analgesic requirements [33 mg (IQR=43 mg), 45 mg (IQR=50 mg), and 30 mg (IQR=16 mg); P=0.766]. Three patients (6%) in the LN group had complications, 2 (10%) in the HALN group had complications, and 4 (30%) in the RALN group had complications. The average total direct operating room costs were $5,500, $6,979, and $6,869 for the LN, HALN, and RALN groups, respectively. Conclusions Early experience with robotic assistance for radical and simple nephrectomy offers no significant advantage over traditional laparoscopic or hand-assisted approaches. It was also more costly.
Examining Inequities in Teacher Pension Benefits

From funding to teacher quality, inequities exist between school districts. This paper adds to the literature on inequities by examining the impact of pension plan formulas on pension benefits. Using data from the salary schedules of 464 Missouri school districts, this paper analyzes how various final average salary calculations would impact the benefits of teachers in different districts. All of the schools in this analysis belong to Missouri’s Public Employee Retirement System, which is a defined-benefit pension plan. A teacher’s benefit in this plan is based on her years of experience and her final average salary. The system uses a three-year final average salary calculation. This captures salaries when they are most inequitable, at the end of the schedule. When more years of service are used in the final average salary calculation, inequities in benefits are reduced, but not eliminated.
Recognition of Lumbar Disk Disease: Comparison of Myelography and Computed Tomography

A retrospective study was devised to determine the correlation between myelography and computed tomography (CT) in the recognition of abnormalities of the lumbar intervertebral disk. A group of 106 patients was studied who had had both myelography and CT within a 6 week period. Each examination was interpreted separately by a neuroradiologist who had no access to the patients9 clinical findings or the results of any radiologic studies. On comparison of 290 interspace levels, there was agreement in definite abnormalities in 70%. Most discrepancies were due to suspicious findings and inconclusive studies of both kinds. In particular, there was poor correlation between the two examinations in the diagnosis of a slightly bulging disk. The major discrepancy rate was less than 5% overall and less than 1% among patients without prior surgery. On the basis of these findings, a diagnostic algorithm is suggested that would facilitate the workup of a similar group of patients.
Symptomatic presentation as a predictor of recurrence in gastroenteropancreatic neuroendocrine tumors: A single institution experience over 15 years.

Background and Objectives The prognostic implication of symptomatic presentation of gastroenteropancreatic neuroendocrine tumors (GEP-NETs) remains unclear. Methods Patients who underwent resection of nonfunctional GEP-NETs (2000–2014) were analyzed. Primary outcomes were overall survival (OS) and distant recurrence-free survival (RFS). Results Symptomatic presentation was seen in 208 (61%) of 339 patients and was associated with younger age (55 vs. 59 yrs, P = 0.001), higher tumor grade (38% vs. 21%, P = 0.027), presence of lymphovascular invasion (58% vs. 33%, P < 0.001), presence of perineural invasion (54% vs. 29%, P = 0.002), and advanced disease (T3/T4/N1/M1 [63% vs. 44%, P = 0.002]), but not tumor size (2.6 vs. 2.5 cm, P = 0.74). Symptomatic presentation was associated with decreased 3-yr distant-RFS (80% vs. 89%, P = 0.012), but not OS. When accounting for adverse features, symptomatic presentation remained independently associated with reduced distant-RFS (HR 3.51, P = 0.007). On subgroup-analysis of advanced disease patients, symptomatology was associated with reduced 3-yr distant-RFS (67% vs. 79%, P = 0.012) and persisted as an independent risk-factor for decreased distant-RFS (HR 3.01, P = 0.027). Conclusions Symptomatic presentation of GEP-NETs is associated with aggressive features and worse distant-RFS. Trials assessing adjuvant therapy for advanced GEP-NETs are needed, and symptomatic presentation may be considered as one inclusion criterion. Following resection, symptomatic presentation should be taken into account when planning surveillance. J. Surg. Oncol. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
IN Like Flint: How the Innovation Incubator at UM-Flint Fosters Social Entrepreneurship in a City Remaking Itself

This paper focuses on how the University of Michigan- Flint’s Innovation Incubator supports emerging for-profit businesses and non-profit organizations through programming, business plan development and ongoing mentorship. The incubator is especially interested in supporting start-ups that address key social issues in the surrounding community, including economic vitality. This goal aligns with the university’s mission, which emphasizes that engaged citizens can exercise some control over the social, environmental, and economic factors in the larger community.
Microstructure-based knowledge systems for capturing process-structure evolution linkages

Abstract This paper reviews and advances a data science framework for capturing and communicating critical information regarding the evolution of material structure in spatiotemporal multiscale simulations. This approach is called the MKS (Materials Knowledge Systems) framework, and was previously applied successfully for capturing mainly the microstructure-property linkages in spatial multiscale simulations. This paper generalizes this framework by allowing the introduction of different basis functions, and explores their potential benefits in establishing the desired process-structure-property (PSP) linkages. These new developments are demonstrated using a Cahn-Hilliard simulation as an example case study, where structure evolution was predicted three orders of magnitude faster than an optimized numerical integration algorithm. This study suggests that the MKS localization framework provides an alternate method to learn the underlying embedded physics in a numerical model expressed through Green’s function based influence kernels rather than differential equations, and potentially offers significant computational advantages in problems where numerical integration schemes are challenging to optimize. With this extension, we have now established a comprehensive framework for capturing PSP linkages for multiscale materials modeling and simulations in both space and time.
Killer-mobiles - The Way Towards Energy Efficient High Performance Computers?

Summary form only given. It is widely recognized that Exascale systems will be constrained by power. The Mont-Blanc project aims to build an alternative approach towards Exascale based on aggregating parts from the embedded and mobile market, which offer a better FLOPS/Watt ratio and a lower unit cost, at the expense of lower peak performance per chip. HPC systems built from these parts will require a higher number of processors, or resort to extensive use of compute accelerators. Using a higher number of chips increases the available memory bandwidth, alleviating the bandwidth wall, but increases the pressure on the interconnection network. The use of a high number of processors and accelerators, and the increased pressure on the interconnect require extensive code optimizations to achieve strong scaling, point to point synchronizations, and overlap data transfer with computation. The role of the OmpSs parallel programming model is paramount, as the key enabling technology that hides the complexity from the programmer, and transparently performs all the required optimizations. In this talk, we will review the design philosophies of several vendors, including HPC compute accelerators, and ARM-based mobile application processors in terms of peak performance, memory bandwidth, and energy efficiency; and we will review how the OmpSs programming models exploits the benefits of the Mont-Blanc approach while overcoming the drawbacks.
Automatic web security unit testing: XSS vulnerability detection

Integrating security testing into the workflow of software developers not only can save resources for separate security testing but also reduce the cost of fixing security vulnerabilities by detecting them early in the development cycle. We present an automatic testing approach to detect a common type of Cross Site Scripting (XSS) vulnerability caused by improper encoding of untrusted data. We automatically extract encoding functions used in a web application to sanitize untrusted inputs and then evaluate their effectiveness by automatically generating XSS attack strings. Our evaluations show that this technique can detect 0-day XSS vulnerabilities that cannot be found by static analysis tools. We will also show that our approach can efficiently cover a common type of XSS vulnerability. This approach can be generalized to test for input validation against other types injections such as command line injection.
Which Performs Better on In-Vocabulary Word Segmentation: Based on Word or Character?

Since the first Chinese Word Segmentation (CWS) Bakeoff on 2003, CWS has experienced a prominent flourish because Bakeoff provides a platform for the participants, which helps them recognize the merits and drawbacks of their segmenters. However, the evaluation metric of bakeoff is not sufficient enough to measure the performance thoroughly, sometimes even misleading. One typical example caused by this insufficiency is that there is a popular belief existing in the research field that segmentation based on word can yield a better result than character-based tagging (CT) on in-vocabulary (IV) word segmentation even within closed tests of Bakeoff. Many efforts were paid to balance the performance on IV and out-ofvocabulary (OOV) words by combining these two methods according to this belief. In this paper, we provide a more detailed evaluation metric of IV and OOV words than Bakeoff to analyze CT method and combination method, which is a typical way to seek such balance. Our evaluation metric shows that CT outperforms dictionary-based (or so called word-based in general) segmentation on both IV and OOV words within Bakeoff * The work is done when the first author is working in MSRA as an intern. closed tests. Furthermore, our analysis shows that using confidence measure to combine the two segmentation results should be under certain limitation.
Cliptography: Clipping the Power of Kleptographic Attacks

Kleptography, introduced 20 years ago by Young and Yung [Crypto '96], considers the insecurity of malicious implementations or instantiations of standard cryptographic primitives that may embed a "backdoor" into the system. Remarkably, crippling subliminal attacks are possible even if the subverted cryptosystem produces output indistinguishable from a truly secure "reference implementation." Bellare, Paterson, and Rogaway [Crypto '14] recently initiated a formal study of such attacks on symmetric key encryption algorithms, demonstrating that kleptographic attacks can be mounted in broad generality against randomized components of cryptographic systems. We enlarge the scope of current work on the problem by permitting adversarial subversion of randomized key generation; in particular, we initiate the study of cryptography in the complete subversion model, where all relevant cryptographic primitives are subject to kleptographic attacks. We construct secure one-way permutations and trapdoor one-way permutations in this "complete subversion" model, describing a general, rigorous immunization strategy to clip the power of kleptographic subversions. Our strategy can be viewed as a formal treatment of the folklore "nothing up my sleeve" wisdom in cryptographic practice. We also describe a related "split program" model that can directly inform practical deployment. We additionally apply our general immunization strategy to directly yield a backdoor-free PRG. This notably amplifies previous results of Dodis, Ganesh, Golovnev, Juels, and Ristenparti¾?[Eurocrypt '15], which require an honestly generated random key. We then examine two standard applications of trapdoor one-way permutations in this complete subversion model and construct "higher level" primitives via black-box reductions. We showcase a digital signature scheme that preserves existential unforgeability when all algorithms including key generation, which was not considered to be under attack before are subject to kleptographic attacks. Additionally, we demonstrate that the classic Blum---Micali pseudorandom generator PRG, using an "immunized" one-way permutation, yields a backdoor-free PRG. Alongside development of these secure primitives, we set down a hierarchy of kleptographic attack models which we use to organize past results and our new contributions; this taxonomy may be valuable for future work.
Semistochastic Quadratic Bound Methods for Convex and Nonconvex Learning Problems.

Partition functions arise in a variety of settings, including conditional random fields, logistic regression, and latent gaussian models. In this paper, we consider semistochastic quadratic bound (SQB) methods for maximum likelihood inference based on partition function optimization. Batch methods based on the quadratic bound were recently proposed for this class of problems, and performed favorably in comparison to state-of-the-art techniques. Semistochastic methods fall in between batch algorithms, which use all the data, and stochastic gradient type methods, which use small random selections at each iteration. We build semistochastic quadratic bound-based methods, and prove both global convergence (to a stationary point) under very weak assumptions, and linear convergence rate under stronger assumptions on the objective. To make the proposed methods faster and more stable, we consider inexact subproblem minimization and batch-size selection schemes. The efficacy of SQB methods is demonstrated via comparison with several state-of-the-art techniques on commonly used datasets.