cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
The Evolution of Health Insurer Costs in Massachusetts, 2010-12.

We analyze the evolution of health insurer costs in Massachusetts between 2010 and 2012, paying particular attention to changes in the composition of enrollees. This was a period in which Health Maintenance Organizations (HMOs) increasingly used physician cost control incentives but Preferred Provider Organizations (PPOs) did not. We show that cost growth and its components cannot be understood without accounting for (1) consumers’ switching between plans, and (2) differences in cost characteristics between new entrants and those leaving the market. New entrants are markedly less costly than those leaving (and their costs fall after their entering year), so cost growth of continuing enrollees in a plan is significantly higher than average per-member cost growth. Relatively high-cost HMO members switch to PPOs while low-cost PPO members switch to HMOs, so the impact of cost control incentives on HMO costs is likely different from their impact on market-wide insurer costs.
Aquifer Tests on Partially Penetrating Wells

Theory of nonsteady flow toward artesian wells partially penetrating infinite nonleaky aquifers is used to outline methods for determination of formation coefficients as well as thickness of water bearing formation; applications of these methods are illustrated by analyzing data from ground water basins in New Mexico.
Mitochondrial replacement therapy: the UK and US regulatory landscapes.

On October 29, 2015, the United Kingdom's regulations on mitochondrial donation (UK 2015 Regulations) came into force.1 This amendment to the UK Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act (the ‘HFE Act’) allows the use of mitochondrial donation techniques as part of in vitro fertilization (IVF) treatments. Mitochondrial replacement therapies (MRT) aim at preventing the transmission of mitochondrial disease from a mother to her genetically related children. In the USA, the use of MRT falls under the oversight of the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA), and its approval, which would require clinical trials under an investigational new drug application, has been currently halted through a rider included in the 2016 Congressional Appropriations Act.2 This note discusses the UK regulatory framework for MRT and compares it to the US landscape. It focuses on the regulatory and ethical discussions in both countries to find some lessons for debates about editing human germ cells.3 The first section introduces some biological characteristics of mitochondria and their implications for mitochondrial diseases, medical interventions and ethical and regulatory questions. The second section discusses the regulatory pathway leading to the adoption of the UK 2015 regulations and the main features of the approved text. The third section considers the current regulatory landscape in the USA. The fourth section discusses some regulatory and bioethical questions raised by MRT.
Vector boson production in joint resummation

We study the transverse momentum (Q T ) distribution of an electro-weak vector boson produced via the Drell-Yan mechanism, in the context of joint resummation. This formalism allows for the simultaneous resummation of logarithmic contributions that are enhanced at small Q T and at partonic threshold. We extend joint resummation to next-to-next-to leading logarithmic accuracy and we present resummed and matched results for three different phenomenological setups. In particular, we study the production of a Z boson at the Tevatron and at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC), as well as the production of a heavier Z ′ at the LHC. We compare our findings to standard Q T resummation, as well as to fixed-order perturbation theory. We find that joint resummation provides a moderate (but not flat) correction with respect to Q T resummation and it leads to a reduction of the scale dependence of the results. However, our study also shows some limitations of this formalism. While the use of joint resummation for Z production at the Tevatron and Z ′ production at the LHC appears to be justified, our implementation suffers from a stronger dependence on power corrections for processes which are further away from threshold, such as Z production at the LHC, for which we cannot claim an improvement over standard Q T resummation.
Foundational, First-Order, and Second-Order Classification Theory

Both basic and applied research on the construction, implementation, maintenance, and evaluation of classification schemes is called classification theory. If we employ Ritzer's metatheoretical method of analysis on the over one-hundred year-old body of literature, we can see categories of theory emerge. This paper looks at one particular part of knowledge organization work, namely classification theory, and asks 1) what are the contours of this intellectual space, and, 2) what have we produced in the theoretical reflection on constructing, implementing, and evaluating classification schemes? The preliminary findings from this work are that classification theory can be separated into three kinds: foundational classification theory, first-order classification theory, and second-order classification theory, each with its own concerns and objects of study.
Quantification of the responsiveness of on-orbit servicing infrastructure for modularized earth-orbiting platforms☆

Abstract This paper aims to quantify the responsiveness of two on-orbit servicing infrastructures providing services to multiple serviceable platforms in coplanar medium Earth orbit (MEO) and geostationary orbit (GEO). The platforms to be serviced are assumed to be made of elementary units (EUs). EUs are small standardized structural units capable of aggregating with each other and gathering the key functions of a typical satellite within the size of a 6U cubesat. The first servicing infrastructure considered in this paper, called “Without Depot” (WoD), includes a launch vehicle and a robotic servicer. The second servicing infrastructure, called “With Depot” (WD) includes a launch vehicle, a robotic servicer and an orbital depot of EUs. The responsiveness of these infrastructures is quantified using a queueing theory-based stochastic simulation on Simulink taking into account the launch and platform random failures. The metrics used to quantify the responsiveness are the service completion rate and the average waiting time before an EU is replaced over a 10-year period of operation. With respect to those metrics, it is demonstrated that WD is more responsive than WoD. However, WD is also shown to be likely to cost more than WoD. Finally, the sensitivity of the responsiveness of WD to the capacity of the orbital depot is analyzed to find the minimum storage capacity for which WD is the most responsive. This last result could be of interest for space designers dealing with the sizing of on-orbit servicing infrastructures. We believe that the concept introduced in this paper will be a critical milestone in the design of a responsive integrated space infrastructure dedicated to the development and prosperity of a new MEO/GEO economy.
Communicating breast cancer risk information to young adult women: A pilot study

ABSTRACTObjective: To examine the effectiveness of a health promotion flyer to increase awareness of breast cancer risk and physical activity as a risk reduction strategy in young adult women. Methods: Young adult women (N = 123) viewed one of five health promotion flyers online and then completed measures of perceived breast cancer risk (PR) and perceived informativeness (PI) and a qualitative thought-listing activity. Results: Differences were observed in PI such that the control and low risk/low information messages were significantly less informative than the others. Qualitative analyses revealed two general themes: message content and flyer design. Additional analyses of the flyer design comments revealed four sub-themes: negative thoughts about the image, positive thoughts about the image, misunderstanding breast cancer risk information, and social comparison. Exploratory analyses controlling for message type indicated that image appraisal predicted PI such that those who commented on the image foun...
Design and Analysis of a Shaft Seal System for the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant

Abstract The Waste Isolation Pilot Plan requires a dependable shaft seal system to isolate the waste from the biosphere. This paper describes the shaft sealing system, which is designed to limit fluid transport through the four existing shafts. The design approach applies redundancy to functional elements and specifies multiple, common, low-permeability materials to ensure reliable performance. The system comprises 13 elements that completely fill the shafts with engineered materials possessing high density and low permeability. Laboratory and field measurements of component properties and performance provide the basis for the design and related evaluations. Hydrologic, mechanical, thermal, and physical features of the system are evaluated in a series of calculations. These calculations indicate that the design limits transport of fluids within the shafts, thereby limiting transport of hazardous material to regulatory boundaries. Additionally, the use or adaptation of existing technologies for seal construction combined with the use of available common materials assure that the design can be constructed.
Beyond the Membership Decision: How Do Trade Associations Manage Firm Involvement?:

A trade assocation’s effectiveness is more than a matter of attracting and retaining member firms. It must also manage member firm involvement in its activities. Herein, I outline three drivers of ...
The economical fuel cell

Fuel cells for the first time are becoming sufficiently simple, reliable, and low cost for consideration in a wide variety of practical applications. It takes careful consideration to determine where it is economically feasible to employ fuel cells. Both the initial cost of the fuel cell power source and its use cost in dollars per kilowatt hour must be evaluated. There are many applications where a high price per kilowatt hour is now paid for usable electrical power. For example, the conventional LeClanche cell costs about $30.00 per kilowatt hour in the packages of carbon-zinc cells commonly used to power radios, hand lanterns, and other lightweight portable equipment.
With a little help : shocks, agricultural income, and welfare in Uganda

Global poverty is becoming increasingly concentrated in Sub-Saharan Africa and among households engaged in subsistence agriculture in environments characterized by uncertainty. Understanding how to achieve sustainable increases in household incomes in this context is key to ending extreme poverty. Uganda offers important lessons in this regard. Uganda experienced conflict, drought, and price volatility in the decade from 2003 to 2013, while at the same time experiencing the second fastest percentage point reduction in extreme poverty per year in Sub-Saharan Africa. This study analyzes a nationally representative panel of 2,356 households visited four times between 2006 to 2012, in combination with data on conflict events, weather, and prices. The study describes the type of income growth households experienced and assesses the importance of these external events in determining progress. The study finds substantial growth in agricultural incomes, particularly among poorer households. Many of the gains in agricultural income growth came about because of good weather, peace, and prices, and not technological change or profound changes in agricultural production. Therefore, although overall progress during this period was good, there were years in which average income growth was negative. This was particularly the case in the poorer and more vulnerable Northern and Eastern regions, and thus their overall income growth was also slower.
Long crested wave models

Abstract This paper examines two long crested wave models. First, a traditional model is reviewed. It is based upon sums of a large number of sinusoids. It has found applications in oceanography, geology, and to some extent also in image analysis. Then, a new model is presented. It uses sums of three or fewer long crested narrow-band noise waveforms. It is designed specifically for the purpose of image analysis and synthesis. Results of experiments in the computer generation of textures are presented. This is the first texture model to be implemented in hardware in a real-time image generation system.
Imbibition Triggered by Capillary Condensation in Nanopores

We study the spatiotemporal dynamics of water uptake by capillary condensation from unsaturated vapor in mesoporous silicon layers (pore radius rp ≃ 2 nm), taking advantage of the local changes in optical reflectance as a function of water saturation. Our experiments elucidate two qualitatively different regimes as a function of the imposed external vapor pressure: at low vapor pressures, equilibration occurs via a diffusion-like process; at high vapor pressures, an imbibition-like wetting front results in fast equilibration toward a fully saturated sample. We show that the imbibition dynamics can be described by a modified Lucas–Washburn equation that takes into account the liquid stresses implied by Kelvin equation.
Developmental Relations Among Motor and Cognitive Processes and Mathematics Skills

This study explored transactional associations among visuomotor integration, attention, fine motor coordination, and mathematics skills in a diverse sample of one hundred thirty-five 5-year-olds (kindergarteners) and one hundred nineteen 6-year-olds (first graders) in the United States who were followed over the course of 2 school years. Associations were dynamic, with more reciprocal transactions occurring in kindergarten than in the later grades. Specifically, visuomotor integration and mathematics exhibited ongoing reciprocity in kindergarten and first grade, attention contributed to mathematics in kindergarten and first grade, mathematics contributed to attention across the kindergarten year only, and fine motor coordination contributed to mathematics indirectly, through visuomotor integration, across kindergarten and first grade. Implications of examining the hierarchical interrelations among processes underlying the development of children's mathematics skills are discussed.
Pediatric asthma severity score is associated with critical care interventions

AIM To determine if a standardized asthma severity scoring system (PASS) was associated with the time spent on continuous albuterol and length of stay in the pediatric intensive care unit (PICU). METHODS This is a single center, retrospective chart review study at a major children's hospital in an urban location. To qualify for this study, participants must have been admitted to the PICU with a diagnosis of status asthmaticus. There were a total of 188 participants between the ages of two and nineteen, excluding patients receiving antibiotics for pneumonia. PASS was calculated upon PICU admission. Subjects were put into one of three categories based on PASS: ≤ 7 (mild), 8-11 (moderate), and ≥ 12 (severe). The groups were compared based on different variables, including length of continuous albuterol and PICU stay. RESULTS The age distribution across all groups was similar. The median length of continuous albuterol was longest in the severe group with a duration of 21.5 h (11.5-27.5), compared to 15 (7.75-23.75) and 10 (5-15) in the moderate and mild groups, respectively (P = 0.001). The length of stay was longest in the severe group, with a stay of 35.6 h (22-49) compared to 26.5 (17-30) and 17.6 (12-29) in the moderate and mild groups, respectively (P = 0.001). CONCLUSION A higher PASS is associated with a longer time on continuous albuterol, an increased likelihood to require noninvasive ventilation, and a longer stay in the ICU. This may help safely distribute asthmatics to lower and higher levels of care in the future.
New estimates on the relationship between IQ, economic growth and welfare

Abstract Previous research has found that there is a statistically significant, positive link between country-level IQ and various measures of aggregate production, such as GDP. This study extends that analysis by estimating the relationship between IQ and a new measure of economic welfare. Developed by Jones and Klenow (2016), welfare is not a measure of spending on public assistance programs, but a theory-based empirical construct combining several metrics of economic well-being. Using this new economic welfare index for a large sample of countries (74), we find that IQ is a statistically significant (5% or better) and economically important predictor of welfare growth. A one-point increase in IQ is associated with a 4% increase in welfare growth for the average country. Our results support the view that national IQ is an important determinant of cross-country differences in economic activity and welfare.
Discovering objects and their relations from entangled scene representations

Our world can be succinctly and compactly described as structured scenes of objects and relations. A typical room, for example, contains salient objects such as tables, chairs and books, and these objects typically relate to each other by their underlying causes and semantics. This gives rise to correlated features, such as position, function and shape. Humans exploit knowledge of objects and their relations for learning a wide spectrum of tasks, and more generally when learning the structure underlying observed data. In this work, we introduce relation networks (RNs) - a general purpose neural network architecture for object-relation reasoning. We show that RNs are capable of learning object relations from scene description data. Furthermore, we show that RNs can act as a bottleneck that induces the factorization of objects from entangled scene description inputs, and from distributed deep representations of scene images provided by a variational autoencoder. The model can also be used in conjunction with differentiable memory mechanisms for implicit relation discovery in one-shot learning tasks. Our results suggest that relation networks are a potentially powerful architecture for solving a variety of problems that require object relation reasoning.
Gendered Violence and Victim-Blaming: The Law's Troubling Response to Cyber-Harassment and Revenge Pornography

Cyber-harassment and Revenge pornography are international problems that can cause psychological, financial and physical harm to their victims. And yet, despite legal efforts in several countries, the law has yet to fully address these issues. Instead, enactment and enforcement of laws is undermined by the gendered nature of these acts, which leads to typically male police and prosecutors to treat victims with ambivalence and even scorn. This article shows that, despite the prevalence and dangers involved with cyber-harassment and revenge porn, victims are still often left without redress. This article also analyzes law enforcement's tendency to minimize victims' harm and blame victims for their own suffering. Finally, this article discusses how perceptions may begin to change, which could lead to a better understanding of the full range of behaviors and effects of cyber-harassment and revenge pornography and, consequently, better legal outcomes for victims.
Etching of Cr tips for scanning tunneling microscopy of cleavable oxides

We report a detailed three-step roadmap for the fabrication and characterization of bulk Cr tips for spin-polarized scanning tunneling microscopy. Our strategy uniquely circumvents the need for ultra-high vacuum preparation of clean surfaces or films. First, we demonstrate the role of ex situ electrochemical etch parameters on Cr tip apex geometry, using scanning electron micrographs of over 70 etched tips. Second, we describe the suitability of the in situ cleaved surface of the layered antiferromagnet La1.4Sr1.6Mn2O7 to evaluate the spin characteristics of the Cr tip, replacing the ultra-high vacuum-prepared test samples that have been used in prior studies. Third, we outline a statistical algorithm that can effectively delineate closely spaced or irregular cleaved step edges, to maximize the accuracy of step height and spin-polarization measurements.
Revised theory of tachyons in general relativity

A minus sign is inserted, for good reason, into the formula for the energy–momentum tensor for tachyons. This leads to remarkable theoretical consequences and a plausible explanation for the phenomenon called dark energy in the cosmos.
TRANEXAMIC ACID REDUCES BLOOD LOSS DURING JOINT REPLACEMENT IN OBESE PATIENTS

Background While tranexamic acid (TXA) has been well shown to reduce blood loss after joint replacement surgery, little is known regarding its effectiveness in obese patients. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of TXA on packed red blood cell (PRBC) blood transfusion rates and change in hemoglobin (HGB) and hematocrit (HCT) for obese patients undergoing joint replacement at our institution. Material and methods Between January and December 2014, 117 consecutive primary joint replacements (THA n=23; TKA n=94) were performed in obese patients (BMI ≥ 30kg/m2) by two surgeons. Medical records were reviewed and identified that TXA was utilized in 45 (38.5%) arthroplasties. TXA was given intravenously (IV) in two doses: (1) one gram prior to incision and (2) one gram at the time of femoral preparation in THA or prior to cementation in TKA. Topical TXA was utilized in cases where IV TXA was contraindicated. PRBC transfusion rates, changes in HBG and HCT, and occurrence of thrombolytic events were recorded from hospital records. Results There was no difference in the mean BMI between the group that received TXA and those that did not (36.3±4.6 kg/m2 vs. 37.8±6.6kg/m2; p=0.184). The mean operative time for the TXA group (110.1±42.1 min)was significantly longer than group that did not receive TXA (94.5±32.2 min) (p<0.026). Both the incidence (11.1% vs. 34.7%) and total number (7 vs. 51) of PRBC blood transfusions were significantly reduced with TXA use (p=0.005). The change in HBG (2.7 ± 1.3 g/dl vs. 3.6 ±1.3 g/dl) and the change in HCT (4.5±3.5% vs. 9.7±4.6%) were significantly reduced in the group that received TXA (p<0.001and p<0.001, respectively). Two pulmonary emboli were reported in the group that did not receive TXA, whereas no thrombolytic events were reported in the group that did receive TXA. Conclusion The use of TXA in obese patients undergoing total joint arthroplasty significantly reduced the number of PRBC blood transfusions, change in HGB and HCT and was not associated with any thrombolytic events.
THE ROLE OF ROBOTIC SURGERY ON IMPLANT ALIGNMENT AND POLYETHYLENE DEFORMATION PATTERNS IN UNICOMPARTMENTAL KNEE ARTHROPLASTY

Introduction Robotically-assisted unicondylar knee arthroplasty (UKA) is intended to improve the precision with which the components are implanted, but the impact of alignment using this technique on subsequent polyethylene surface damage has not been determined. Therefore, we examined retrieved ultra-high-molecular-weight polyethylene UKA tibial inserts from patients who had either robotic-assisted UKA or UKA performed using conventional manual techniques and compared differences in polyethylene damage with differences in implant component alignment between the two groups. We aimed to answer the following questions: (1) Does robotic guidance improve UKA component position compared to manually implanted UKA? (2) Is polyethylene damage or edge loading less severe in patients who had robotically aligned UKA components? (3) Is polyethylene damage or edge loading less severe in patients with properly aligned UKA components? Methods We collected 13 medial compartment, non-conforming, fixed bearing, polyethylene tibial inserts that had been implanted using a passive robotic-arm system and 21 similarly designed medial inserts that had been manually implanted using a conventional surgical technique. Pre-revision radiographs were used to determine the coronal and sagittal alignment of the tibial components. Retrieval analysis of the tibial articular surfaces included damage mapping and 3D laser scanning to determine the extent of polyethylene damage and whether damage was consistent with edge loading of the surface by the opposing femoral component. Results Though the individual planar alignments did not differ between the two groups, overall 69% of the 13 robotically aligned components were well-positioned in both the coronal and sagittal planes, as opposed to only 18% of the manually aligned tibial components (Fig.1). Robotically aligned inserts had significantly less pitting, burnishing, and deformation than manually aligned inserts, and the maximum surface deviations (wear and deformation) were significantly smaller, though these differences could be explained by a longer length of implantation for the manually aligned inserts. Interestingly, no difference was found in the incidence of edge loading between the robotically aligned and manually aligned groups. When comparing polyethylene damage on the basis of alignment rather than surgical technique, neither the polyethylene damage nor surface deviation was different, aside from more burnishing and deformation in mal-positioned components and greater deviation in components mal-positioned in the sagittal plane. Conclusions Static radiographic alignment measurements were not useful in predicting the wear patterns that the tibial inserts experienced while implanted, suggesting that other factors, such as the patient's functional kinematics, influence the mechanical burden placed on the polyethylene articular surfaces (Fig. 2).
Longitudinal Gait and Balance Decline in Friedreich’s Ataxia: A Pilot Study

Abstract Introduction Friedreich’s Ataxia (FA) is a devastating, progressive, neurodegenerative disease. Objective measures that detect changes in neurological function in FA patients are needed to facilitate therapeutic clinical trials. The purpose of this pilot study was to analyze longitudinal changes in gait and balance in subjects with FA using the GAITRite Walkway System ® and Biodex Balance System™, respectively, and to test the ability of these measures to detect change over time compared to the Friedreich’s Ataxia Rating Scale (FARS). Methods This was a 24-month longitudinal study comparing ambulatory FA subjects with age- and gender-matched, healthy controls. Eight FA subjects and 8 controls were tested at regular intervals using the GAITRite and Biodex Balance systems and the FARS. Results In the FA group, comfortable and fast gait velocity declined 8.0% and 13.9% after 12 months and 24.1% and 30.3% after 24 months, respectively. Postural stability indices increased in FA subjects an average of 41% from baseline to 24 months, representing a decline in balance. Subjects with FA also demonstrated a 17.7% increase in FARS neurological exam scores over 24 months. There were no changes in gait or balance variables in controls. In the FA group, multiple gait and balance measures correlated significantly with FARS neurological exam scores. Conclusions The GAITRite and Biodex Balance systems provided objective and clinically relevant measures of functional decline in subjects with FA that correlated significantly with performance measures in the FARS. Gait velocity may be an important objective measure to identify disease progression in adults with FA.
Database Learning: Toward a Database that Becomes Smarter Every Time

In today's databases, previous query answers rarely benefit answering future queries. For the first time, to the best of our knowledge, we change this paradigm in an approximate query processing (AQP) context. We make the following observation: the answer to each query reveals some degree of knowledge about the answer to another query because their answers stem from the same underlying distribution that has produced the entire dataset. Exploiting and refining this knowledge should allow us to answer queries more analytically, rather than by reading enormous amounts of raw data. Also, processing more queries should continuously enhance our knowledge of the underlying distribution, and hence lead to increasingly faster response times for future queries. We call this novel idea---learning from past query answers---Database Learning. We exploit the principle of maximum entropy to produce answers, which are in expectation guaranteed to be more accurate than existing sample-based approximations. Empowered by this idea, we build a query engine on top of Spark SQL, called Verdict. We conduct extensive experiments on real-world query traces from a large customer of a major database vendor. Our results demonstrate that database learning supports 73.7% of these queries, speeding them up by up to 23.0x for the same accuracy level compared to existing AQP systems.
Cooperative Raman Spectroscopy for Real-Time In Vivo Nano-Biosensing

In the last few decades, the development of miniature biological sensors that can detect and measure different phenomena at the nanoscale has led to transformative disease diagnosis and treatment techniques. Among others, biofunctional Raman nanoparticles have been utilized in vitro and in vivo for multiplexed diagnosis and detection of different biological agents. However, existing solutions require the use of bulky lasers to excite the nanoparticles and similarly bulky and expensive spectrometers to measure the scattered Raman signals, which limit the practicality and applications of this nano-biosensing technique. In addition, due to the high path loss of the intra-body environment, the received signals are usually very weak, which hampers the accuracy of the measurements. In this paper, the concept of cooperative Raman spectrum reconstruction for real-time in vivo nano-biosensing is presented for the first time. The fundamental idea is to replace the single excitation and measurement points (i.e., the laser and the spectrometer, respectively) by a network of interconnected nano-devices that can simultaneously excite and measure nano-biosensing particles. More specifically, in the proposed system, a large number of nanosensors jointly and distributively collect the Raman response of nano-biofunctional nanoparticles (NBPs) travelling through the blood vessels. This paper presents a detailed description of the sensing system and, more importantly, proves its feasibility, by utilizing the accurate models of optical signal propagation in intra-body environment and low-complexity estimation algorithms. The numerical results show that with a certain density of NBPs, the reconstructed Raman spectrum can be recovered and utilized to accurately extract the targeting intra-body information.
Coordinating Filters for Faster Deep Neural Networks

Very large-scale Deep Neural Networks (DNNs) have achieved remarkable successes in a large variety of computer vision tasks. However, the high computation intensity of DNNs makes it challenging to deploy these models on resource-limited systems. Some studies used low-rank approaches that approximate the filters by low-rank basis to accelerate the testing. Those works directly decomposed the pre-trained DNNs by Low-Rank Approximations (LRA). How to train DNNs toward lower-rank space for more efficient DNNs, however, remains as an open area. To solve the issue, in this work, we propose Force Regularization, which uses attractive forces to enforce filters so as to coordinate more weight information into lower-rank space1. We mathematically and empirically verify that after applying our technique, standard LRA methods can reconstruct filters using much lower basis and thus result in faster DNNs. The effectiveness of our approach is comprehensively evaluated in ResNets, AlexNet, and GoogLeNet. In AlexNet, for example, Force Regularization gains 2× speedup on modern GPU without accuracy loss and 4:05× speedup on CPU by paying small accuracy degradation. Moreover, Force Regularization better initializes the low-rank DNNs such that the fine-tuning can converge faster toward higher accuracy. The obtained lower-rank DNNs can be further sparsified, proving that Force Regularization can be integrated with state-of-the-art sparsity-based acceleration methods.
Objective model using only gender, age and medication list predicts in-hospital morbidity after elective surgery.

Abstract Background Most current surgical risk models contain many variables: some of which may be esoteric, require a physician's assessment or must be obtained intraoperatively. Early preoperative risk stratification is essential to identify high risk, elective surgical patients for medical optimization and care coordination across the perioperative period. We sought to create a simple, patient-driven scoring system using: gender, age and list of medications to predict in-hospital postoperative morbidity. We hypothesized that certain medications would elevate risk, as indices of underlying conditions. Methods Two Logistic regression models were created based on patient's gender, age, and medications: GAMMA (Gender, age and type of medications to predict in-hospital morbidity) and GAMMA-N (Gender, age and number of medications to predict in-hospital morbidity). A logistic regression models predicting in-hospital morbidity based on ASA score alone was also created (ASA-M). The predictive performance of these models was tested in a large surgical patient database. Results Our GAMMA model predicts postoperative morbidity after perioperative care with high accuracy (c-statistic 0.819, Brier score 0.034). This result is similar to a model using only the ASA score (c-statistic 0.827, Brier score 0.033) and better than our GAMMA-N model (c-statistic 0.795, Brier score 0.050). Conclusions The combination of a patient's gender, age, and medication list provided reliable prediction of postoperative morbidity. Our model has the added benefit of increased objectivity, can be conducted preoperatively, and is amenable to patient-use as it requires only limited medical knowledge.
HETEROTOPIC BONE: PREVENTION AND TREATMENT

Heterotopic ossification (HO) is a relatively common complication of total hip arthroplasty (THA), but is rather rare after total knee arthroplasty (TKA). In both cases, it is usually asymptomatic and is most commonly identified as an incidental finding on post-operative radiographs. However, in severe cases it can result in decreased range of motion and pain. There are several risk factors that have been shown to be associated with development of HO. These include male gender, ceramic-on-ceramic bearings, prior stroke, and hypertrophic osteoarthritis. Heterotopic ossification can be treated with physical therapy during the maturation phase (12 to 24 weeks), but surgical intervention is required if the stiffness persists. All heterotopic bone should be excised with careful attention to neurovascular structures. Patients should begin prophylaxis following HO excision and prior to any subsequent surgeries. Heterotopic ossification prophylaxis consists of NSAIDs, radiotherapy, or a combination of both modalities. These therapies are not without complications, therefore, routine administration of prophylaxis for all patients is not indicated. Several new pathways of inhibiting extra-skeletal bone formation in HO are under investigation (retinoid acid receptor agonists, apyrase, and LDN-193189). Future studies should focus on identification of patients at risk for HO as well as better therapeutic options with less side effects.
Large-Scale Sleep Condition Analysis Using Selfies from Social Media

Sleep condition is closely related to an individual’s health. Poor sleep conditions such as sleep disorder and sleep deprivation affect one’s daily performance, and may also cause many chronic diseases. Many efforts have been devoted to monitoring people’s sleep conditions. However, traditional methodologies require sophisticated equipment and consume a significant amount of time. In this paper, we attempt to develop a novel way to predict individual’s sleep condition via scrutinizing facial cues as doctors would. Rather than measuring the sleep condition directly, we measure the sleep-deprived fatigue which indirectly reflects the sleep condition. Our method can predict a sleep-deprived fatigue rate based on a selfie provided by a subject. This rate is used to indicate the sleep condition. To gain deeper insights of human sleep conditions, we collected around 100,000 faces from selfies posted on Twitter and Instagram, and identified their age, gender, and race using automatic algorithms. Next, we investigated the sleep condition distributions with respect to age, gender, and race. Our study suggests among the age groups, fatigue percentage of the 0–20 youth and adolescent group is the highest, implying that poor sleep condition is more prevalent in this age group. For gender, the fatigue percentage of females is higher than that of males, implying that more females are suffering from sleep issues than males. Among ethnic groups, the fatigue percentage in Caucasian is the highest followed by Asian and African American.
Unsteady three-dimensional boundary element method for self-propelled bio-inspired locomotion

Abstract An unsteady three-dimensional boundary element method is developed to provide fast calculations of biological and bio-inspired self-propelled locomotion. The approach uniquely combines an unsteady three-dimensional boundary element method, a boundary layer solver and self-propelled equations of motion. This novel implementation allows for the self-propelled speed, power, efficiency and economy to be accurately calculated. A Dirichlet formulation is used with a combination of constant strength source and doublet elements to represent a deforming body with a nonlinearly deforming wake. The wake elements are desingularized to numerically stabilize the evolution of the wake vorticity. Weak coupling is used in solving the equations of motion and in the boundary layer solution. The boundary layer solver models both laminar and turbulent behavior along the deforming body to estimate the total skin friction drag acting on the body. The results from the method are validated with analytical solutions, computations and experiments. Finally, a bio-inspired self-propelled undulatory fin is modeled. The computed self-propelled speeds and wake structures agree well with previous experiments. The computations go beyond the experiments to gain further insight into the propulsive efficiency for self-propelled undulating fins. It is found that the undulating fin produces a time-averaged momentum jet at 76% of the span that accelerates fluid in the streamwise direction and in turn generates thrust. Additionally, it is discovered that high amplitude motions suppress the formation of a bifurcating momentum jet and instead form a single core jet. Consequently, this maximizes the amount of streamwise momentum compared to the amount of wasted lateral momentum and leads to a propulsive efficiency of 78% during self-propelled locomotion.
Cryptography with Updates

Starting with the work of Bellare, Goldreich and Goldwasser [CRYPTO’94], a rich line of work has studied the design of updatable cryptographic primitives. For example, in an updatable signature scheme, it is possible to efficiently transform a signature over a message into a signature over a related message without recomputing a fresh signature.
From broken windows to broken bonds: Militarized police and social fragmentation

Abstract Expansion of police militarization in the U.S. raises questions about how such policing affects society and minority communities. We estimate the impact of one particular aspect of police militarization—the Department of Defense’s Excess Property Program 1033—on civic engagement—which we capture primarily by examining charitable giving among households—via an instrumental variables approach. The instrument stems from plausibly exogenous variation in federal defense spending, which affects awareness of military culture and capabilities, and thus encourages the adoption of military equipment and tactics by local police departments. Estimates show that the 1033 Program has a fragmenting effect on society: As the transfer of surplus military equipment to local law enforcement increases, black households reduce their total charitable donations more than all other households.
High-dimensional covariance decomposition into sparse Markov and independence models

Fitting high-dimensional data involves a delicate tradeoff between faithful representation and the use of sparse models. Too often, sparsity assumptions on the fitted model are too restrictive to provide a faithful representation of the observed data. In this paper, we present a novel framework incorporating sparsity in different domains. We decompose the observed covariance matrix into a sparse Gaussian Markov model (with a sparse precision matrix) and a sparse independence model (with a sparse covariance matrix). Our framework incorporates sparse covariance and sparse precision estimation as special cases and thus introduces a richer class of high-dimensional models. We characterize sufficient conditions for identifiability of the two models, viz., Markov and independence models. We propose an efficient decomposition method based on a modification of the popular l1-penalized maximum-likelihood estimator (l1-MLE). We establish that our estimator is consistent in both the domains, i.e., it successfully recovers the supports of both Markov and independence models, when the number of samples n scales as n = Ω(d2 log p), where p is the number of variables and d is the maximum node degree in the Markov model. Our experiments validate these results and also demonstrate that our models have better inference accuracy under simple algorithms such as loopy belief propagation.
A New Class of Fully Discrete Sparse Fourier Transforms: Faster Stable Implementations with Guarantees

In this paper we consider sparse Fourier transform (SFT) algorithms for approximately computing the best s-term approximation of the discrete Fourier transform (DFT) $${\hat{\mathbf {f}}}\in {{\mathbb {C}}}^N$$ of any given input vector $$\mathbf {f}\in {{\mathbb {C}}}^N$$ in just $$\left( s \log N\right) ^{{{\mathcal {O}}}(1)}$$ -time using only a similarly small number of entries of $$\mathbf {f}$$ . In particular, we present a deterministic SFT algorithm which is guaranteed to always recover a near best s-term approximation of the DFT of any given input vector $$\mathbf {f}\in {{\mathbb {C}}}^N$$ in $${{\mathcal {O}}} \left( s^2 \log ^{\frac{11}{2}} (N) \right) $$ -time. Unlike previous deterministic results of this kind, our deterministic result holds for both arbitrary vectors $$\mathbf {f}\in {{\mathbb {C}}}^N$$ and vector lengths N. In addition to these deterministic SFT results, we also develop several new publicly available randomized SFT implementations for approximately computing $${\hat{\mathbf {f}}}$$ from $$\mathbf {f}$$ using the same general techniques. The best of these new implementations is shown to outperform existing discrete sparse Fourier transform methods with respect to both runtime and noise robustness for large vector lengths N.
Renal Failure Obfuscates the Diagnosis of Cushing’s Disease

THE DIAGNOSIS of Cushing's syndrome can be challenging in the patient with chronic renal failure (RF). Spurious overestimation of plasma cortisol, 1 abnormal cortisol binding, 2,3 poor gastrointestinal tract absorption of dexamethasone, 4 and abnormal response to dexamethasone 5 have all been reported to occur in this setting. The hypophyseal-pituitary-adrenal axis appears to be altered in RF, even in patients who lack overt features of Cushing's syndrome, although diurnal variation of plasma cortisol is usually preserved. 5 While much attention has been focused on the laboratory abnormalities in RF patients, little has been published about the occasional RF patient with clinical manifestations of hypercortisolism. The usual diagnostic criteria, standardized for patients with normal renal function, may not be adequate to make the diagnosis. Report of a Case A 43-year-old man had a history of type II diabetes mellitus of eight years' duration, hypertension, congestive heart failure, hypertriglyceridemia, and chronic RF
Does It Matter How and How Much Politicians are Paid

An important question in representative democracies is how to ensure that politicians behave in the best interest of citizens rather than their own private interests. Aside from elections, one of the few institutional devices available to regulate the actions of politicians is their pay structure. In this paper, we provide fresh insights into the impact of politician salaries on their performance using a unique law change implemented in 2012 in Turkey. Specifically, the members of the parliament (MPs) in Turkey who are retired from their pre-political career jobs earn a pension bonus on top of their MP salaries. The law change in 2012 significantly increased the pension bonus by pegging it to 18 percent of the salary of the President of Turkey, while keeping the salaries of non-retired MPs unchanged. By exploiting the variation in total salaries caused by the new law in a difference-in-differences framework, we find that the salary increase had a negative impact on the performance of the retired MPs. In particular, the overall performance of these MPs was lowered by 12.3 percent of a standard deviation as a result of the increase in salary caused by the new law. This finding is robust to numerous specification tests. Furthermore, results obtained from an auxiliary analysis suggest that one of the mechanisms through which MPs reduce their performance is absenteeism.
Logical information theory: new logical foundations for information theory

here is a new theory of information based on logic. The definition of Shannon entropy as well as the notions on joint, conditional, and mutual entropy as defined by Shannon can all be derived by a uniform transformation from the corresponding formulas of logical information theory. Information is first defined in terms of sets of distinctions without using any probability measure. When a probability measure is introduced, the logical entropies are simply the values of the (product) probability measure on the sets of distinctions. The compound notions of joint, conditional, and mutual entropies are obtained as the values of the measure, respectively, on the union, difference, and intersection of the sets of distinctions. These compound notions of logical entropy satisfy the usual Venn diagram relationships (e.g., inclusion-exclusion formulas) since they are values of a measure (in the sense of measure theory). The uniform transformation into the formulas for Shannon entropy is linear so it explains the long-noted fact that the Shannon formulas satisfy the Venn diagram relations--as an analogy or mnemonic--since Shannon entropy is not a measure (in the sense of measure theory) on a given set. What is the logic that gives rise to logical information theory? Partitions are dual (in a category-theoretic sense) to subsets, and the logic of partitions was recently developed in a dual/parallel relationship to the Boolean logic of subsets (the latter being usually mis-specified as the special case of "propositional logic"). Boole developed logical probability theory as the normalized counting measure on subsets. Similarly the normalized counting measure on partitions is logical entropy--when the partitions are represented as the set of distinctions that is the complement to the equivalence relation for the partition. In this manner, logical information theory provides the set-theoretic and measure-theoretic foundations for information theory. The Shannon theory is then derived by the transformation that replaces the counting of distinctions with the counting of the number of binary partitions (bits) it takes, on average, to make the same distinctions by uniquely encoding the distinct elements--which is why the Shannon theory perfectly dovetails into coding and communications theory.