cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Electronic packing frustration in complex intermetallic structures: the role of chemical pressure in Ca2Ag7.

The assignment of distinct roles to electronics and sterics has a long history in our rationalization of chemical phenomena. Exploratory synthesis in the field of intermetallic compounds challenges this dichotomy with a growing list of phases whose structural chemistry points to an interplay between atomic size effects and orbital interactions. In this paper, we begin with a simple model for how this interdependence may arise in the dense atomic packing of intermetallics: correlations between interatomic distances lead to the inability of a phase to optimize bonds without simultaneously shortening electronically under-supported contacts, a conflict we term electronic packing frustration (EPF). An anticipated consequence of this frustration is the emergence of chemical pressures (CPs) acting on the affected atoms. We develop a theoretical method based on DFT-calibrated μ2-Huckel calculations for probing these CP effects. Applying this method to the Ca2Ag7 structure, a variant of the CaCu5 type with defect ...
Abstract 2397: Fat soluble vitamin B1 analogue, benfotiamine, prevents colon cancer cell growth and aberrant crypt foci formation in murine models of colon cancer

Chronic inflammatory diseases and oxidative stress are major risk factors of colorectal cancer (CRC), the third most common cause of death among cancer patients. Although several agents such as antioxidants, plant products and nutritional supplements have been shown to have some chemopreventive effects on colon cancer, none are very effective to completely. Recent studies indicate that a fat soluble analogue of vitamin B1, benfotiamine is an excellent antioxidant and anti-inflammatory. However, the chemo-preventive or -therapeutic efficacy of benfotiamine in preventing CRC is not known. Our hypothesis is that benfotiamine through its anti-oxidant and anti-inflammatory properties could be very effective in preventing CRC. We therefore investigated the role of benfotiamine in the prevention of carcinogenic signals leading to CRC in cell culture as well as murine models of CRC. Our results show that treatment of human colon cancer cells (HT-29 and Caco-2) in culture with benfotiamine prevented the cancer cell proliferation. Further, benfotiamine also prevented the growth of human adenocarcinoma cells (SW480) -induced tumor growth in nude mice xenografts. Our studies also indicate that benfotiamine prevented NF-kB-dependent survival signals and activated caspase-3 dependent apoptotic signals in colon cancer cells. Further, benfotiamine supplementation also suppressed azoxymethane (AOM)-induced aberrant crypt foci (ACF) formation in mice and AOM-induced inflammatory changes such as activation of Cox-2 and iNOS, and carcinogenic changes such as expression of cyclin D1 and β-catenin in mice colons. In conclusion, our results indicate that benfotiamine prevents colon cancer cell growth in culture and nude mice xenografts as well as formation of ACF in AOM-treated mice. Thus benfotiamine supplementation could be used as an excellent chemopreventive agent for the treatment of CRC. Citation Format: {Authors}. {Abstract title} [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 102nd Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2011 Apr 2-6; Orlando, FL. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2011;71(8 Suppl):Abstract nr 2397. doi:10.1158/1538-7445.AM2011-2397
Study on the extraction process of volatile oils from Zijing

OBJECTIVE To select the best extraction process of volatile oils from Zi-Jing.METHODS Steam distillation was chosen to extract volatile oils of Schizonepetae spica and Perillae folium.Taking the yield rate of volatile oils as the standard,the L9(34) orthogonal experimental method was used to study the effects of multiples of water(A),soaking period(B),extraction duration(C) on the yield rate of volatile oils.RESULTS The factors impacting the extraction of volatile oils in a decreasing order were extraction duration,soaking period,multiples of water.The optimum conditions for extraction process were as follows: ratio of material and liquid was 1∶9,soaking period was 1.5 h,and extraction duration was 2 h.The yield rate of volatile oil was 120.00%.CONCLUSION The optimum conditions for extraction process obtained from the experiments can be used in large-scale production.
Bias-tunable IR photodetector based on asymmetrically doped GaAs/AlGaAs double-quantum-well nanomaterial for remote temperature sensing

We designed, fabricated, and characterized multi-color IR photodetectors with asymmetrical doping of GaAs/AlGaAs double quantum wells (DQW). We measured and analyzed spectral and noise characteristics to evaluate feasibility of these photodetectors for remote temperature sensing at liquid nitrogen temperatures. The bias voltage controls the charge distribution between the two wells in a DQW unit and provides effective tuning of IR induced electron transitions. We have found that the responsivity of our devices is symmetrical and weakly dependent on the bias voltage because the doping asymmetry compensates the effect of dopant migration in the growth direction. At the same time, the asymmetrical doping strongly enhances the selectivity and tunability of spectral characteristics by bias voltage. Multicolor detection of our QWIP is realized by varying the bias voltage. Maximum detection wavelength moves from 7.5 μm to 11.1 μm by switching applied bias from -5 V to 4 V. Modeling shows significant dependence of the photocurrent ratio on the object temperature regardless of its emissivity and geometrical factors. We also experimentally investigated the feasibility of our devices for remote temperature sensing by measuring the photocurrent as a response to blackbody radiation with the temperature from 300°C to 1000°C in the range of bias voltages from -5 V to 5 V. The agreement between modelling and experimental results demonstrates that our QWIP based on asymmetrically doped GaAs/AlGaAs DQW nanomaterial is capable of remote temperature sensing. By optimizing the physical design and varying the doping level of quantum wells, we can generalize this approach to higher temperature measurements. In addition, continuous variation of bias voltage provides fast collection of large amounts of photocurrent data at various biases and improves the accuracy of remote temperature measurements via appropriate algorithm of signal processing.
Discussion Leader Comments

The five papers in the Perspectives on Organizational Learning Session increase the potential for understanding the relationships, as well as the intervening and antecedent variables, among the concepts of market orientation, organizational learning, and innovativeness in organizational performance. Based on the results of the research in these five papers, Figure 1 provides an expanded framework for exploring the mechanisms of organizational learning. The role of each paper in the track is indicated on Figure 1 and discussed below.
Fundamental limits on the electro-optic device figure of merit

Device figures of merit are commonly employed to assess bulk material properties for a particular device class, yet these properties ultimately originate in the linear and nonlinear susceptibilities of the material, which are not independent of each other. In this work, we calculate the electro-optic device figure of merit based on the half-wave voltage and linear loss, which is important for phase modulators and serves as the simplest example of the approach. This figure of merit is then related back to the microscopic properties in the context of a dye-doped polymer, and its fundamental limits are obtained to provide a target. Surprisingly, the largest figure of merit is not always associated with a large nonlinear optical response, the quantity that is most often the focus of optimization. An important lesson for materials design is that the figure of merit alone should be optimized. The best device materials can have low nonlinearity provided that the loss is low, or near resonance high loss may be desirable because it is accompanied by a resonantly enhanced, ultralarge nonlinear response, so device lengths are short. Our work shows which frequency range of operation is most promising for optimizing the material figure of merit for electro-optic devices.
High Temperature Boost (HTB) Anode Power Supply for a modular and scalable power processing unit

A concept of a modular and scalable 10kW to 80kW High Temperature Boost (HTB) Power Processing Unit (PPU) capable of operating at temperatures beyond the standard military temperature range was proposed for solar electric in-space propulsion. Within the PPU, the Anode Power Supply (APS) module is a 10kW modular power stage and is the key to the HTB PPU. This paper is to present the design, development, fabrication, testing and thermal demonstration of the 10kW HTB APS. The system architecture and the paradigm shift of the HTB PPU is also to be described. In addition, the extreme environments electronic and packaging technologies are addressed as the fundamental technology path. The HTB PPU is intended for power processing in the area of space solar electric propulsion, where reduction of inspace mass and volume are desired, and sometimes even critical, to achieve the goals of future space flight missions. The concept of the HTB PPU can also be applied to other extreme environment applications, such as geothermal and petroleum deep-well drilling, where higher temperature operation is required.
Working With Female Juvenile Delinquents: What Youth Practitioners Need to Know

This article is organized in a way to help youth practitioners recognize the most pertinent issues faced by female juveniles and to provide help in guiding professional interactions, communication and decision-making. The guidelines discussed are suggestions for practice based on an empirical review of the literature. Recent research has identified ten characteristics of female juvenile offenders to consider when working with this population. These areas include: (a) impaired cognitive functioning, (b) low academic achievement, (c) weak language skills, (d) peer relationships, (e) onset of menarche, (f) early sexual experiences, (g) mental illness, (h) victimization (i) low self-esteem and (j) race.
Laser-Induced Breakdown in Liquid Helium

We report on experiments in which focused laser light is used to induce optical breakdown in liquid helium-4. The threshold intensity has been measured over the temperature range from 1.1 to 2.8 K with light of wavelength 1064 nm. In addition to the measurement of the threshold, we have performed experiments to study how the breakdown from one pulse modifies the probability that a subsequent pulse will result in breakdown.
Abstract 246: Assessing microbial dysbiosis of electronic cigarettes and cigarette smokers using oral and lung microbiome

The link between smoking tobacco and changes in the oral microbiome in response to tobacco smoking are well established. It is not known if there are changes in response to electronic cigarettes (e-cig). These changes in the microbiome are associated with increased numbers of disease causing pathogens. Currently there are no published studies that have investigated the relationship of smoking tobacco on both the oral and lung microbiome. There is insufficient evidence showing whether changes in oral cavity and lung microbiome are also seen in e-cig users. We will study the oral cavity and lung of non-smokers, smokers and e-cig users to examine concordance between oral cavity and the lungs as well as comparing the three groups, examining the microbiomes and expression of inflammatory markers. We hypothesize that microbial dysbiosis and expression of inflammatory cytokines will differ for smokers and non-smokers; and that e-cig users will have microbial dysbiosis similar to cigarette smokers. A cross-sectional study is being conducted on three groups, 1) never-smokers, 2) cigarette smokers, and 3) e-cig users. For each study participant, saliva and bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) are being collected to measure microbiome. RNA is extracted from saliva and BAL samples for total transcriptome analysis using RNA-seq. This analysis will detect human and bacterial reads thereby allowing observations of bacterial communities as well as human inflammatory cytokine response to bacterial presence. 85% to 98% of BAL sample reads aligned to the human genome compared to less than 50% from saliva samples. The alignment results allow us to deduce that the majority of reads from BAL samples are human and that the majority of the reads in saliva samples are bacterial. Preliminary results show detection of human RNA expression and of bacterial reads are present in both saliva and BAL samples. More samples are being processed and the comparison of BAL and saliva samples between the three groups will be discussed. Citation Format: Kevin Ying, Min-Ae Song, Daniel Y. Weng, Quentin Nickerson, David Frankhouser, Pearlly S. Yan, Ralf Bundschuh, Mark D. Wewers, Ewy Mathe, Jo L. Freudenheim, Peter G. Shields. Assessing microbial dysbiosis of electronic cigarettes and cigarette smokers using oral and lung microbiome [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting 2017; 2017 Apr 1-5; Washington, DC. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2017;77(13 Suppl):Abstract nr 246. doi:10.1158/1538-7445.AM2017-246
Low PTEN levels and PIK3CA mutations predict resistance to neoadjuvant lapatinib and trastuzumab without chemotherapy in patients with HER2 over-expressing breast cancer

Aberrant activation of the PI3K pathway has been implicated in resistance to HER2-targeted therapy, but results of clinical trials are confounded by the co-administration of chemotherapy. We investigated the effect of perturbations of this pathway in breast cancers from patients treated with neoadjuvant anti-HER2-targeted therapy without chemotherapy. Baseline tumor samples from patients with HER2-positive breast cancer enrolled in TBCRC006 (NCT00548184), a 12-week neoadjuvant clinical trial with lapatinib plus trastuzumab [plus endocrine therapy for estrogen receptor (ER)-positive tumors], were assessed for PTEN status by immunohistochemistry and PIK3CA mutations by sequencing. Results were correlated with pathologic complete response (pCR). Of 64 evaluable patients, PTEN immunohistochemistry and PIK3CA mutation analysis were performed for 59 and 46 patients, respectively. PTEN status (dichotomized by H-score median) was correlated with pCR (32% in high PTEN vs. 9% in low PTEN, p = 0.04). PIK3CA mutations were identified in 14/46 tumors at baseline (30%) and did not correlate with ER or PTEN status. One patient whose tumor harbored a PIK3CA mutation achieved pCR (p = 0.14). When considered together (43 cases), 1/25 cases (4%) with a PIK3CA mutation and/or low PTEN expression levels had a pCR compared to 7/18 cases (39%) with wild-type PI3KCA and high PTEN expression levels (p = 0.006). PI3K pathway activation is associated with resistance to lapatinib and trastuzumab in breast cancers, without chemotherapy. Further studies are warranted to investigate how to use these biomarkers to identify upfront patients who may respond to anti-HER2 alone, without chemotherapy.
LACTATE DEHYDROGENASE FROM LIVER, MORRIS HEPATOMAS, AND HTC CELLS

ABSTRACT: Lactate Dehydrogenase (LDH) from adult rat liver was isolated in the author's laboratory as a pure enzyme and characterized in 1953. Since that time many studies dealing with catalytic function and with the structure of the enzyme have been reported. The present report concerns three advances: (1) An improved isolation procedure involving the use of a Sepharose-Blue Dextran affinity column makes it possible to obtain 100-mg quantities of pure enzyme within 24 hours; (2) Comparison of pure LDH from liver and from Morris hepatomas grown in vivo and in cell culture (HTC cells) reveals no structural or functional differences when catalytic function, immunochemical properties, heat inactivation, oxamate inhibition, ethanol sensitivity, and electrophoretic behavior are studied; (3) Further experiments involving ultraviolet difference spectrophotometry have been directed toward an understanding of the slow changes in NAD + and NADH chromophoric behavior which result when binary complexes with LDH are formed and full catalytic activity of the enzyme is retained.
Abstract IA19: Homologous recombination repair deficiency and breast cancer progression in high-risk populations

Analysis of cancer genomes has rapidly become an integral part of the practice of clinical oncology, with implications for diagnosis, prognosis, treatment, and prevention. Inherited and sporadic cancers often share common mutational events. When inherited mutations are identified, genetic counseling is an essential component of care. Pathogenic BRCA1 and BRCA2 mutations are the strongest predictors of breast cancer risk and may be the strongest predictors of other inherited forms of solid tumors and hematologic malignancies as well. Waiting to treat advanced breast cancer with targeted therapies is a failure of primary prevention, and population-based strategies for risk management in high-risk populations will be needed. Understanding breast cancer progression in genetic defined subgroups has the potential to accelerate progress in precision medicine. I will discuss ongoing research in our group, our recent findings in defining the genomic landscape of early-onset breast cancer, and future directions for the early detection, treatment, and prevention of breast cancer in high-risk populations. Citation Format: Olufunmilayo I. Olopade. Homologous recombination repair deficiency and breast cancer progression in high-risk populations [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the AACR Special Conference: Advances in Breast Cancer Research; 2017 Oct 7-10; Hollywood, CA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Mol Cancer Res 2018;16(8_Suppl):Abstract nr IA19.
Simultaneous Robustness against Random Initialization and Optimal Order Selection in Bag-of-Words Modeling

Abstract This article proposes an Enhanced Stochastically Robust and Optimized Bag-of-Words (ESRO-BoW) modeling technique that simultaneously accounts for the problems of robustness against random initialization and optimal model-order selection in BoW modeling. To address the aforementioned problems, the modeling performance of multiple executions of the BoW technique is considered as a discrete random variable and the ESRO-BoW is developed such that a convergence in mean is guaranteed for the resulting sequence of random variables. The BoW model order is tuned such that the expected value of the limit of the random variable of the classification performance is maximized. Hence, the ESRO-BoW realizes both robustness against random initializations and selects the optimal BoW model order. In order to evaluate its efficiency, the ESRO-BoW is applied to the classification of Caltech 101 image set and excellent performance is obtained. Comparison with the state-of-the-art approaches, employed for classifying Caltech 101 image set, demonstrates the superiority of the suggested ESRO-BoW modeling technique.
Outcomes and Predictors of Readmissions with GI Bleeding in Patients with Left Ventricular Assist Devices.

OBJECTIVES Gastrointestinal (GI) bleeding is a major comorbidity in patients with left ventricular assist devices (LVADs). The study aim was to estimate the rate of hospital readmissions for GI bleeding in patients with LVADs using a nationally representative database. Additionally, we evaluated the etiologies, costs, endoscopy utilization, mortality, and predictors of GI bleeding readmissions in these patients. METHODS We analyzed data from the National Readmissions Database (NRD) from 2010 through 2014. We compared hospitalized adult patients with congestive heart failure (CHF) who underwent LVAD implantation (cases) with CHF patients without LVAD or heart transplant (controls). Three age- and sex-matched controls were randomly selected per single case. A multivariate Cox regression model was used to compare the hazards of 60-day all-cause and GI bleeding readmission between the groups, controlling for significant confounders. RESULTS A total of 3293 hospitalized patients with CHF who had LVAD placement (cases) and 9879 who did not have LVADs (controls) were included in the study. At 60 days, patients with LVAD had a significantly higher readmission rate with GI bleeding (8.7% vs 2.3%, adjusted hazard ratio [aHR] 4.45, 95% confidence interval 3.71-5.33, P < 0.0001). The all-cause readmission rate also was higher (43.3% vs 35.7%, aHR 1.23, 95% confidence interval 1.12-1.34, P < 0.0001). The most common etiologies of bleeding in patients with LVADs were gastroduodenal and small intestinal arteriovenous malformations (28.6%). During bleeding readmissions, patients with LVAD were more likely to undergo endoscopy (72.1% vs 33.5%, P < 0.0001) and receive packed red blood cell transfusions (62% vs 36.6%, P< 0.0001) compared with controls. GI bleeding readmissions were more costly ($40,936 vs $35,313, P< 0.0001), and longer (12 vs 10.9 days, P< 0.0001) in patients with LVADs compared with controls. Independent risk factors for 60-day GI bleeding readmission were increasing age (aHR 1.04, P< 0.0001) and GI bleeding during index admission (aHR 2.68, P< 0.0001). In those without bleeding during index admission, increasing age and chronic anemia were associated with 60-day GI bleeding readmission. Mortality during bleeding readmission was similarly low in patients with LVADs compared with CHF controls (0.2% vs 0.3%, P = 0.14). CONCLUSIONS After LVAD implantation, there is a fivefold increased risk of readmission with GI bleeding within 60 days. Gastroduodenal and small intestinal arteriovenous malformations are the most common culprit lesions. These findings suggest that small bowel enteroscopy should be considered as the initial test of choice in patients with suspected upper gastroduodenal bleeding. Readmissions with bleeding in patients with LVADs increase morbidity and cost of care but not mortality. Older patients and those with a history of bleeding during LVAD implantation are at higher risk of bleeding readmission and may benefit from close monitoring and cautious anticoagulation to prevent rebleeding.
The Link Between Valuation and CEO Compensation for Intangible-Intensive Firms Through Nonrecurring Items

Nonrecurring times are ambiguously defined and whether they play a role in valuation and CEO compensation is unclear. I focus on intangible-intensive firms and find convincing evidence that special items and discontinued operations contain useful information to assess the value of unrecorded intangibles. I also find weak evidence that heavy reliance on market-based compensation for intangible-intensive firms is associated with the ability of nonrecurring items to convey information about intangible related activities. My results link the valuation and compensation literature and suggest that the incentive relevance of special items and discounted operations depends upon a tradeoff between the value relevance and reliability of these items.
Measurements of plasma densities in laser filamentation in solids at various wavelengths spanning from near and mid infrared

We measure plasma densities in laser filamentation in fused silica using single-shot time-resolved interferometry when the filament driver wavelength is varied between 1.2 and $2.3\ \mu \mathrm{m}$ . The experimental results are compared with numerical simulations. © 2019 The Author(s)
Tuning the magnetic and structural properties of a three-metal boride alloy: Mn0.95−δFe1.05+δ−xCoxB

Abstract We present a comprehensive study of the three-metal boride alloys Mn0.95−δFe1.05 + δ−xCoxB ( δ = 0 − 0.15 and x = 0 − 1.05 ) synthesized via arc melting and annealing. The alloys crystallize in a body-centered tetragonal unit cell in the same space group ( I 4 / m c m ) as the parent compound Mn2B. A small amount of MB (M = Mn, Fe, Co) impurity forms in the as-cast samples which is removed by acid treatment. Rietveld refinement on the powder X-ray data reveals an anisotropic variation of lattice parameters in the series. The c-axis increases with increasing Co content but the a-axis decreases. Magnetic measurements show a non-monotonic variation of both T c and the saturated magnetization M s as a function of x. These findings highlight the tunable nature of Mn0.95−δFe1.05 + δ−xCoxB and motivate further studies of metal-rich boride alloys.
The Two Faces of Janus: Web Analytics Companies and the Shifting Culture of News

In Greek mythology, the God of Transitions, Janus, is usually represented as having two faces: one looking at the future and the other at the past, illustrating a change from one condition to the o...
Plasma concentrations of steroid precursors, steroids, neuroactive steroids, and neurosteroids in healthy neonatal foals from birth to 7 days of age

Background Transient hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis dysfunction occurs in critically ill foals with sepsis and neonatal maladjustment syndrome (NMS). Cortisol is the most commonly measured steroid. However, a complex interaction of various steroid compounds might play a role in pathophysiology of this disorder. Objective To identify steroid compounds present at high concentrations at birth that rapidly and steadily decrease within the first 7 days of life in healthy foals and that might be supportive diagnosis of NMS and other neonatal disorders. Animals Ten healthy neonatal Quarter Horse foals (5 females and 5 males). Methods Prospective study. Blood was collected in heparinized tubes within 30 minutes after birth, and at 12, 24, 48, 72, 96, 120, 144, and 168 hours of age. Plasma was separated and a panel of steroid compounds was analyzed using liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry. A nonlinear regression model was used to determine decay concentrations over time. Confidence intervals (CIs) were calculated and significance was set a P ≤ .05. Results Five compounds were identified: pregnenolone, progesterone, deoxycorticosterone, dehydroepiandrosterone, and dehydroepiandrosterone sulfate. Pregnenolone and progesterone concentrations rapidly decreased by 24 hours of age and remained low throughout the first 7 days of life. Their half-life (95% CI) was short at 3.7 (3.4, 4.0) and 4.5 (2.8, 6.1) hours, respectively. No statistical differences in the concentrations of these compounds were found between males and females. Conclusions and clinical relevance Progesterone might be a useful marker for identifying continuous endogenous production of neuroactive steroids in foals with suspected NMS and other neonatal diseases.
Impact of Social Media on Mental Health

Social media and Social Networking Sites (SNS) represent an area of rapid advancement in digital communication, with direct impact on the lives and communication strategies of athletes. SNS allow for a high degree of connectivity with relative ease. Frequency of social media use and preferred applications tend to differ by age. Younger athletes are more likely to engage in social networks and are specifically at risk for negative effects of social media use. While social networking improves interconnectivity, activity enhancement, and exercise encouragement, it can also lead to issues of cyberbullying, harassment, and depression. Direct access afforded to athletes puts them at risk for being targeted by the public. Harassment and associated emotional distress are amplified due to the ease of publicly available through social media communication. This chapter reviews the present information available on rates of cyberbullying and resulting mental and emotional distress and the impact on athlete’s mental health and well-being. The benefits of social media are also explored with a focus on how collegiate athletic departments can help student-athletes use social media safely and effectively.
Gender, Law Enforcement, and Access to Justice: Evidence from All-Women Police Stations in India

Can gender-based “enclaves” facilitate women’s access to justice? I examine all-female police stations in India and test whether group-specific institutions assist victims of gender-based violence and female officers in law enforcement. I create an original dataset based on Indian police reports and leverage the manner in which all-women police stations were opened in Haryana state to estimate their causal effect. The creation of enclaves in law enforcement does not increase registered crime. In fact, the intervention lowers the caseload at standard stations by justifying the deflection of gendered crimes, reduces responsibilities for policewomen, and increases travel cost for victims seeking redress. The institutions formalize the “counseling” of victims by encouraging reconciliation with abusers at the expense of arrest of suspects, and survey evidence suggests that all-women stations might not be associated with positive perceptions of policewomen. Broadly, I argue that representation as separation may have unintended consequences.
Studying Black Student Life on Campus: Toward a Theory of Black Placemaking in Higher Education:

This essay outlines how Black placemaking, a sociological framework used to study Black residents in urban contexts, might be used to study Black students’ experiences at historically White institu...
Why Are Delaware and New York Bankruptcy Reorganizations Failing

Forthcoming V ANDERBILT L AW R EVIEW (November, 2002) Why Are Delaware and New York Reorganizations Failing? Lynn M. LoPucki 1 & Joseph W. Doherty 2 I. Methodology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 II. Do Delaware’s and New York’s bankruptcies fail more often? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 A. Measured by refiling . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 B. Measured by business failure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 C. Measured by business performance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 D. Measured by plan failure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12 E. Conclusions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14 III. Possible Failure Causes Exogenous to Delaware . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14 A. What firm characteristics make reorganization difficult? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14 1. Degree of financial distress prior to filing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16 a. Prefiling leverage. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16 b. Abnormal prefiling leverage. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16 c. Prefiling losses. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17 d. Recency of decline in prefiling profits. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18 2. Size and complexity of capital structure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20 a. Size. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20 b. Complexity of capital structure. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21 3. Industry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23 Lynn M. LoPucki is the Security Pacific Bank Professor of Law at the UCLA Law School. lopucki@law.ucla.edu. We thank the Council on Research of the UCLA Academic Senate and the UCLA Law School for the financial support that made this study possible. We thank Stephen Choi, Hulya Eraslan, Frances Foster, Matthias Kahl, Ken Klee, Harvey Miller, John Pottow, Bob Rasmussen, Alan Schwartz, David Skeel, Lynn Stout, Elizabeth Warren, Jay Westbrook, and participants in the Convergence on Delaware conference at the Vanderbilt Law School for comments on earlier drafts. We thank Jason Burnett, Steve Cademartori, Paul Ham, and Chris Wichrowski for assistance with research. The data used in statistical testing is posted at http://www.law.ucla.edu/erg/pubs.html along with the SPSS command file for the statistical tests reported. Joseph W. Doherty is Associate Director of the UCLA Law School’s Empirical Research Group. September 13, 2002 draft
Circulating Hybrid Cells: A Novel Liquid Biomarker of Treatment Response in Gastrointestinal Cancers.

Real-time monitoring of treatment response with a liquid biomarker has potential to inform treatment decisions for patients with rectal adenocarcinoma (RAC), esophageal adenocarcinoma (EAC), and colorectal liver metastasis (CRLM). Circulating hybrid cells (CHCs), which have both immune and tumor cell phenotypes, are detectable in the peripheral blood of patients with gastrointestinal cancers, but their potential as an indicator of treatment response is unexplored. Peripheral blood specimens were collected from RAC and EAC patients after neoadjuvant therapy (NAT) or longitudinally during therapy and evaluated for CHC levels by immunostaining. Receiver operating characteristics (ROCs) and the Kaplan-Meier method were used to analyze the CHC level as a predictor of pathologic response to NAT and disease-specific survival (DSS), respectively. Patients with RAC (n = 23) and EAC (n = 34) were sampled on the day of resection, and 11 patients (32%) demonstrated a pathologic complete response (pCR) to NAT. On ROC analysis, CHC levels successfully discriminated pCR from non-pCR with an area under the curve of 0.82 (95% confidence interval [CI], 0.71–0.92; P < 0.001). Additionally, CHC levels in the EAC patients correlated with residual nodal involvement (P = 0.026) and 1-year DSS (P = 0.029). The patients with RAC who were followed longitudinally during NAT (n = 2) and hepatic arterial infusion therapy for CRLM (n = 2) had CHC levels that decreased with therapy response and increased before clinical evidence of disease progression. Circulating hybrid cells are a novel blood-based biomarker with potential for monitoring treatment response and disease progression to help guide decisions for further systemic therapy, definitive resection, and post-therapy surveillance. Additional validation studies of CHCs are warranted.
Draft Syllabus for Health Care Law and Policy Course Using Huberfeld, Weeks, and Outterson 'The Law of American Health Care' (2d Ed.)

Draft syllabus for a law school Health Care Law & Policy course using Huberfeld, Weeks, and Outterson, “The Law of American Health Care,” Second Edition (Wolters-Kluwer 2018).
State-of-the-art short-term electricity market operation with solar generation: A review

Abstract With the accelerating penetration of solar energy in energy systems, market operations concerning the solar-associated intermittency are widely discussed. How to correctly model the solar generation in the market and solve the uncertainty-based operation problems call for solutions. Unlike other renewable resources, solar power can be more easily applied to the demand side through behind-the-meter installations in a distributed manner with significant future extensibility. The corresponding operational rules in the markets are largely being revised. Over the past two decades, with the development of deregulated power markets, numerous studies related to uncertainty-based market operations tend to transform the market from a deterministic and centralized framework to a stochastic and decentralized one. As the relevant literature is most recent, this paper reviews their contributions to electricity market operations with solar integration and underlines the research directions of this topic and ongoing industry practices. A thorough review of the electricity markets worldwide with solar energy is provided. A variety of proposed mathematical solutions to the problem are also discussed.
NRC: A Machine Translation Approach to Cross-Lingual Word Sense Disambiguation (SemEval-2013 Task 10)

This paper describes the NRC submission to the Spanish Cross-Lingual Word Sense Disambiguation task at SemEval-2013. Since this word sense disambiguation task uses Spanish translations of English words as gold annotation, it can be cast as a machine translation problem. We therefore submitted the output of a standard phrase-based system as a baseline, and investigated ways to improve its sense disambiguation performance. Using only local context information and no linguistic analysis beyond lemmatization, our machine translation system surprisingly yields top precision score based on the best predictions. However, its top 5 predictions are weaker than those from other systems.
The NASA Orbiting Carbon Observatory (OCO) Mission: Objectives, Approach, and Status

The Orbiting Carbon Observatory (OCO) is a NASA Earth System Science Pathfinder (ESSP) mission that is currently under development at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL). OCO will make global, space-based measurements of atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) with the precision, resolution, and coverage needed to characterize regional-scale sources and sinks of this important greenhouse gas. The observatory consists of a dedicated spacecraft bus that carries a single instrument. The bus employs single-string version of Orbital Sciences Corporation (OSC) LEOStar-2 architecture. This 3-axis stabilized bus includes a propulsion system for orbit insertion and maintenance, provides power, points the instrument, receives and processes commands from the ground, and records, stores, and downlinks science and engineering data. The OCO instrument incorporates 3 oboresighted, high resolution grating spectrometers that will make coincident measurements of reflected sunlight in near-infrared CO2 and molecular oxygen (O2) bands. The instrument was designed and manufactured by Hamilton Sundstrand (Pomona, CA), and then integrated, flight qualified, and calibrated by JPL. It is scheduled for delivery to OSC (Dulles, VA) for integration with the spacecraft bus in the spring of 2008. OCO will be launched from the Vandenberg Air Force Base on a dedicated OSC Taurus XL launch vehicle in December 2008. It will fly in formation with the Earth Observing System Afternoon Constellation, a group of satellites that files in a 98.8 minute, 705 km altitude, sun-synchronous orbit. This orbit provides coverage of the sunlit hemisphere with a 16-day ground track repeat cycle. OCO will fly approx.4 minutes ahead of the EOS Aqua platform, with an ascending nodal crossing time of approx.1:26 PM. The OCO science data will be transmitted to the NASA Ground Network Stations in Alaska and Virginia, and then transferred to the OCO Ground Data System at JPL. There, the CO2 and O2 spectra will be analyzed by the OCO Science Team to provide spatially resolved estimates of the column-averaged CO2 dry air mole fraction, XCO2. These measurements are expected to improve our understanding of the nature and processes that regulate atmospheric CO2 enabling more reliable forecasts of CO2 buildup and its impact on climate change.
Introduction to Helio- and Astro- Seismology

During the 1970’s, the subject of helioseismology developed rapidly as generally satisfactory theoretical explanations for the by-then frequently-observed solar 5-minute oscillation appeared in the literature (Ulrich, 1970; Leibacher and Stein, 1971; Ando and Osaki, 1975, 1977). Stated simply, the observed oscillation in the photosphere was shown to represent an evanescent wave, a response of the photosphere to standing wave pulsations in the underlying convection zone. The properties of these standing waves were determined by, and thus offered a diagnostic probe of, the physical conditions in these lower regions, thus affording the possibility of using the observed properties of these oscillations at the solar surface to determine the physical characteristics of the directly unobservable regions below. This represented a truely giant step forward in solar physics, offering an observational method for determining the nature of solar subsurface convection and differential rotation, of placing meaningful constraints on theoretical models for the postulated solar dynamo (which depends on the interaction of subsurface convection and differential rotation), and even of probing the physical conditions in the solar core, as we shall see in the following paper presented by Deubner. Thus the field of helioseismology was born.
Ribosomopathies: Global process, tissue specific defects

Disruptions in ribosomal biogenesis would be expected to have global and in fact lethal effects on a developing organism. However, mutations in ribosomal protein genes have been shown in to exhibit tissue specific defects. This seemingly contradictory finding - that globally expressed genes thought to play fundamental housekeeping functions can in fact exhibit tissue and cell type specific functions - provides new insight into roles for ribosomes, the protein translational machinery of the cell, in regulating normal development and disease. Furthermore it illustrates the surprisingly dynamic nature of processes regulating cell type specific protein translation. In this review, we discuss our current knowledge of a variety of ribosomal protein mutations associated with human disease, and models to better understand the molecular mechanisms associated with each. We use specific examples to emphasize both the similarities and differences between the effects of various human ribosomal protein mutations. Finally, we discuss areas of future study that are needed to further our understanding of the role of ribosome biogenesis in normal development, and possible approaches that can be used to treat debilitating ribosomopathy diseases.
On the fidelity of DNA replication. The accuracy of Escherichia coli DNA polymerase I in copying natural DNA in vitro.

Abstract The accuracy with which Escherichia coli DNA polymerase I (Pol I) copies natural DNA in vitro has been determined. When phi X174 viral DNA containing an amber mutation (am3) is primed with a single restriction endonuclease fragment, copied in vitro with Pol I and then expressed in E. coli spheroplasts (Weymout, L. A., and Loeb, L. A. (1978) Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U. S. A. 75, 1924), the reversion frequency of this DNA is greater than that of uncopied DNA. This change in reversion frequency can be increased by selectively increasing the concentration of either dATP or dCTP relative to the other deoxyribonucleotide substrates. DNA sequence analyses of revertants obtained from substrate pool bias experiments demonstrates that the revertants contain the selectively biased nucleotide as an incorrect substitution at position 587 of the am3 codon. We have analyzed the product of the in vitro Pol I reaction using neutral and alkaline sucrose gradients. Fifty per cent of the input phi X174 DNA template molecules are copied past the am3 site. The phenotypic expression of the product (revertant) strand in the spheroplast assay was estimated using a model heteroduplex molecule similar in structure to the product of the reaction and containing a single base mismatch (A:A or A:C) at position 587. Using these data, and by extrapolation from pool bias experiments, we estimate the error rate of Pol I in Mg2+-activated reactions using equimolar concentrations of the four deoxynucleotide substrates is 1/680,000 for an A:C mispair and < 1/6,300,000 for an A:A mispair at position 587 of the am3 codon in phi X174 DNA.
Estimation of centralized spectrum sensing overhead for cognitive radio networks

We study a cognitive radio network in which a group of secondary users sense the presence of a primary user and convey this information to a fusion center. The trade-off between the bit rate required and the accuracy of the sensed information is captured using a rate-distortion framework, which provides a lower bound on the overhead required for any spectrum sensing protocol. The effect of the number of sensors and the measurement noise at the sensors on the trade-off is quantified.
Flow-Based Correspondence Matching in Stereovision

Accurate and efficient correspondence matching between two rectified images is critical for stereo reconstruction. Essentially, correspondence matching co-registers the two rectified images subject to an epipolar constraint (i.e., registration is performed along the horizontal direction). Most algorithms are based on windowed block matching that optimizes cross-correlation or its variants (e.g., sum of squared differences, SSD) between two sub-images to generate a sparse disparity map. In this work, we utilize unrestricted optical flow for a full-field correspondence matching. Relative to surface point measurements sampled with a tracked stylus as ground-truth, we show that the point-to-surface distance from the flow-based method is comparable and often superior to that from the SSD algorithm (e.g., 1.0 mm vs. 1.2 mm, respectively) but with a substantial increase in computational efficiency (56 sec for a full field of 41 K vs. 2030 sec for a sparse subset of 1 K sampling points, respectively). In addition, the flow-based stereovision offers ability for feature identification based on the full-field horizontal disparity map that is directly related to reconstruction pixel depth values, whereas the vertical disparity provides an assessment of the accuracy confidence level in stereo reconstruction, which are not available with SSD methods.
On the interaction between steps in vicinal fcc surfaces : I. Steps along 〈001〉

Atomistic computer simulations are used to study the zero-temperature interaction between steps in vicinal free fcc surfaces in order to test the continuum-elastic theory of Marchenko and Parshin (MP). Two different types of surface steps, both parallel to 〈001〉 but situated, respectively, on the (100) and (110) planes, are investigated using two qualitatively different interatomic potentials, one of the embedded-atom-method type and the other the Lennard-Jones potential. In agreement with the MP theory, for the largest step separations δ the energy due to the step-step repulsion is found to decrease as δ−2, with a strength given by the surface-stess tensor and the elastic moduli of the material. Surprisingly, for both potentials and for both types of steps the δ−2 power law appears to be obeyed even for the smallest step separations, albeit with a 2–3 times smaller interaction strength. The relationship of our simulation results with a nearest-neighbor broken-bond model is also explored.
Ethical Issues in Psychological Assessment

Psychologists who conduct assessments face many ethical challenges in conducting their work. Assessment is unique among the services offered by professional psychologists because it is service seldom performed solely at the behest of a single individual. More typically, people who arrive at the psychologist's office for assessment have been sent by concerned parents or school teachers, potential employers, disability insurance companies, attorneys, or other professionals. The referring parties are invariably seeking answers to questions that may or may not be found in the analysis of psychometric data. The people being tested may benefit or suffer as a consequence of the assessment, no matter how competently it is carried out. Ethical issues arise before assessments are undertaken, during the testing process or collection of data, and after the information collected is scored, interpreted, and translated into a report. This chapter explores the ethical problems inherent in the sequence of steps involved in psychological assessment (i.e., before, during, and following the actual contact with the person being assessed). In addition, because the chapter was completed during a period of flux in the evolution of the American Psychological Association's (APA) Ethical Standards of Psychologists and Code of Conduct, proposed changes in the professional standards and the reasoning behind them are discussed. Keywords: confidentiality; ethical standards; ethics; psychological assessment; psychological testing