cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Exposing the neoclassical fallacy: McCloskey on ideas and the great enrichment

ABSTRACTIn this paper, I discuss Deirdre McCloskey’s argument that ‘ideas, not capital or institutions,’ were the cause of the ‘great enrichment,’ the spectacular growth of the world economy since 1800. I disagree that the ideas of liberty and equality alone caused the great enrichment but agree that these ideas were central and necessary for it. Most theorists of development and economic history fail to recognise the importance of these ideas despite implicitly assuming them in what I call the ‘neoclassical fallacy.’ I also extend McCloskey’s views to include a greater understanding of liberty and equality through their implementation, which necessarily involves institutions that provide political officials with incentives to honour these ideas in practice. Ideas of liberty and equality are not self-implementing, and most attempts to implement them fail. Finally, I argue that a range of political theorists from Hobbes to Madison studied the problem of implementing liberty and equality. In the 150 years p...
Network Structure Inference, A Survey: Motivations, Methods, and Applications

Networks represent relationships between entities in many complex systems, spanning from online social interactions to biological cell development and brain connectivity. In many cases, relationships between entities are unambiguously known: are two users “friends” in a social network? Do two researchers collaborate on a published article? Do two road segments in a transportation system intersect? These are directly observable in the system in question. In most cases, relationships between nodes are not directly observable and must be inferred: Does one gene regulate the expression of another? Do two animals who physically co-locate have a social bond? Who infected whom in a disease outbreak in a population? Existing approaches for inferring networks from data are found across many application domains and use specialized knowledge to infer and measure the quality of inferred network for a specific task or hypothesis. However, current research lacks a rigorous methodology that employs standard statistical validation on inferred models. In this survey, we examine (1) how network representations are constructed from underlying data, (2) the variety of questions and tasks on these representations over several domains, and (3) validation strategies for measuring the inferred network’s capability of answering questions on the system of interest.
High-intensity interval training, but not continuous training, reverses right ventricular hypertrophy and dysfunction in a rat model of pulmonary hypertension

Exercise is beneficial in pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH), although studies to date indicate little effect on the elevated pulmonary pressures or maladaptive right ventricle (RV) hypertrophy ...
A block based (t, n) visual cryptography scheme for unbounded n and t=2, 3

The (t, n) visual cryptography (VC) is a secret sharing scheme of decomposing a secret image into n transparencies, and the stacking of any t out of n transparencies reveals the secret content. The perfect security condition of VC scheme requires the strict requirement where any t−1 or fewer transparencies cannot extract any information about the secret. For n approaching infinity, previous studies consider the scenario where the probabilistic model is a pixel-to-pixel scheme that encodes each secret pixel to a corresponding pixel in each transparency. In this paper, we extend the pixel-to-pixel scheme to pixel-to-block scheme for the cases t=2 and 3. Given a secret image, the proposed VC scheme generates a transparency through coding each secret image pixel to a m-pixels shadow block on the corresponding position of the transparency. Experiments show that the stacking results reveal better visual quality than the probabilistic model scheme.
Strong inner inverses in endomorphism rings of vector spaces

For V a vector space over a field, or more generally, over a division ring, it is well-known that every x ∈ End(V ) has an inner inverse; that is, that there exists y ∈ End(V ) satisfying xyx = x. We show here that a large class of such x have inner inverses y that satisfy with x an infinite family of additional monoid relations, making the monoid generated by x and y what is known as an inverse monoid (definitionrecalled). We obtain consequences of these relations, and related results. P. Nielsen and J. Ster [ ˇ 16] show that a much larger class of elements x of rings R, including all elements of von Neumann regular rings, have inner inverses satisfying arbitrarily large finite subsets of the abovementioned set of relations. But we show by example that the endomorphism ring of any infinite-dimensional vector space contains elements having no inner inverse that simultaneously satisfies all those relations. A tangential result gives a condition on an endomap x of a set S that is necessary and sufficient for x to have a strong inner inverse in the monoid of all endomaps of S.
Output regulation with derivative information

Output regulation for a nonlinear plant driven by an exogenous signal is addressed in this paper. In the absence of the standard exosystem hypothesis, we assume availability of the instantaneous values of the exogenous signal and its first time-derivative for use in the control law. We formulate an approximate output regulation problem and characterize solvability in terms of the existence of a certain invariant manifold. The control law we obtain yields a closed-loop system with output exhibiting ultimate boundedness properties with respect to both the first- and the second-time derivatives of the exogenous signal. Performance characteristics are illustrated by application to the linear case and to specific nonlinear examples. >
A broadband low-noise front-end amplifier for ultra wideband in 0.13-/spl mu/m CMOS

A front-end amplifier for the Ultra Wideband (UWB) system is described. The amplifier has a single-ended input and a differential output, with 16 dB power gain, a flat-gain bandwidth of 2-5.2 GHz, an output 1-dB gain compression point of -8 dBm and a noise figure of 4.7-5.7 dB over the signal bandwidth. The amplifier is implemented in 0.13-/spl mu/m digital CMOS, occupies 0.4/spl times/0.6 mm/sup 2/, and consumes 38 mW.
Critical component requirements for compact pulse power system architectures

The fundamental limits on the volume and energy density of a pulse power that is to deliver a specific peak power pulse to a load depends upon the architecture of the system, the operational mode of the system, the energy storage geometries, the switching parameters employed, and the auxiliary equipment required. This paper examines these factors and develops the fundamental limits on the volume of a pulse power system for a given output pulse energy and pulse length. The fundamental limits on power density lead to the selection of an optimum architecture, which leads to critical specifications for the components involved. This paper develops and presents those specifications for the major components in a pulse power system with maximum power density. Two prototype systems, a short pulse (50 ns) system and a long pulse (1 /spl mu/s) system, are designed as examples of the optimum pulse power architecture and the resulting component requirements.
Random lasing in an Anderson localizing optical fiber.

A directional random laser mediated by transverse Anderson localization in a disordered glass optical fiber is reported. Previous demonstrations of random lasers have found limited applications because of their multi-directionality and chaotic fluctuations in the laser emission. The random laser presented in this paper operates in the Anderson localization regime. The disorder induced localized states form isolated local channels that make the output laser beam highly directional and stabilize its spectrum. The strong transverse disorder and longitudinal invariance result in isolated lasing modes with negligible interaction with their surroundings, traveling back and forth in a Fabry–Perot cavity formed by the air–fiber interfaces. It is shown that if a localized input pump is scanned across the disordered fiber input facet, the output laser signal follows the transverse position of the pump. Moreover, a uniformly distributed pump across the input facet of the disordered fiber generates a laser signal with very low spatial coherence that can be of practical importance in many optical platforms including image transport with fiber bundles. A random laser that produces spectrally stable and highly directional light could lead to new applications in micro and nanophotonics. Random lasers produce laser light from disordered materials, such as powders and porous glasses. They are attractive for creating useful optical structures, but their output suffers from multidirectionality and chaotic fluctuations. Now, Arash Mafi's group from the University of New Mexico and collaborators from Clemson University and University of California, San Diego in the USA have fabricated a random laser that produces highly directional and stable light thanks to local channels that form due to localized states induced by the disorder. The laser operated by confining light waves within a disordered glass optical fiber. It generated light with a very low spatial coherence and could find application in the transportation of images using fibre bundles.
Categorization-based stranger avoidance does not explain the uncanny valley effect.

Abstract The uncanny valley hypothesis predicts that an entity appearing almost human risks eliciting cold, eerie feelings in viewers. Categorization-based stranger avoidance theory identifies the cause of this feeling as categorizing the entity into a novel category. This explanation is doubtful because stranger is not a novel category in adults; infants do not avoid strangers while the category stranger remains novel; infants old enough to fear strangers prefer photographs of strangers to those more closely resembling a familiar person; and the uncanny valley’s characteristic eeriness is seldom felt when meeting strangers. We repeated our original experiment with a more realistic 3D computer model and found no support for categorization-based stranger avoidance theory. By contrast, realism inconsistency theory explains cold, eerie feelings elicited by transitions between instances of two different, mutually exclusive categories, given that at least one category is anthropomorphic: Cold, eerie feelings are caused by prediction error from perceiving some features as features of the first category and other features as features of the second category. In principle, realism inconsistency theory can explain not only negative evaluations of transitions between real and computer modeled humans but also between different vertebrate species.
Creating a Large Multi-Layered Representational Repository of Linguistic Code Switched Arabic Data.

We present our effort to create a large Multi-Layered representational repository of Linguistic Code-Switched Arabic data. The process involves developing clear annotation standards and Guidelines, streamlining the annotation process, and implementing quality control measures. We used two main protocols for annotation: in-lab gold annotations and crowd sourcing annotations. We developed a web-based annotation tool to facilitate the management of the annotation process. The current version of the repository contains a total of 886,252 tokens that are tagged into one of sixteen code-switching tags. The data exhibits code switching between Modern Standard Arabic and Egyptian Dialectal Arabic representing three data genres: Tweets, commentaries, and discussion fora. The overall Inter-Annotator Agreement is 93.1%.
An acoustoelectric transistor

A new kind of three-terminal amplifying device that works on the principle of nonlinear acoustic wave amplification is described. The device has an advantage of simple transistor-like operation while maintaining the long delay times of an acoustic wave amplifier. A piezoelectric semiconductor with three ohmic contacts forms the basic unit; transducers are not required. A theory of device operation, based on a linearized small-signal analysis of acoustic energy transport, is presented along with the resulting analytical expressions for the dc and RF gain and cutoff frequency. Experimental results are given for a test device made of epitaxial GaAs.
Randomized trial of inhaled nitric oxide to treat acute pulmonary embolism: The iNOPE trial

Background The study hypothesis is that administration of inhaled nitric oxide (NO) plus oxygen to subjects with submassive pulmonary embolism (PE) will improve right ventricular (RV) systolic function and reduce RV strain and necrosis, while improving patient dyspnea, more than treatment with oxygen alone. Methods This article describes the rationale and protocol for a registered (NCT01939301), nearly completed phase II, 3-center, randomized, double-blind, controlled trial. Eligible patients have pulmonary imaging–proven acute PE. Subjects must be normotensive, and have RV dysfunction on echocardiography or elevated troponin or brain natriuretic peptide and no fibrinolytics. Subjects receive NO plus oxygen or placebo for 24 hours (±3 hours) with blood sampling before and after treatment, and mandatory echocardiography and high-sensitivity troponin posttreatment to assess the composite primary end point. The sample size of N=78 was predicated on 30% more NO-treated patients having a normal high-sensitivity troponin ( Results We have enrolled 78 patients over a 31-month period. No patient has been withdrawn as a result of a safety concern, and no patient has had a serious adverse event related to NO. Conclusions We present methods and a protocol for the first double-blinded, randomized trial of inhaled NO to treat PE.
Smoothed projections over weakly Lipschitz domains

We develop finite element exterior calculus over weakly Lipschitz domains. Specifically, we construct commuting projections from $L^p$ de~Rham complexes over weakly Lipschitz domains onto finite element de~Rham complexes. These projections satisfy uniform bounds for finite element spaces with bounded polynomial degree over shape-regular families of triangulations. Thus we extend the theory of finite element differential forms to polyhedral domains that are weakly Lipschitz but not strongly Lipschitz. As new mathematical tools, we use the collar theorem in the Lipschitz category, and we show that the degrees of freedom in finite element exterior calculus are flat chains in the sense of geometric measure theory.
Scratch Community Blocks: Supporting Children as Data Scientists

In this paper, we present Scratch Community Blocks, a new system that enables children to programmatically access, analyze, and visualize data about their participation in Scratch, an online community for learning computer programming. At its core, our approach involves a shift in who analyzes data: from adult data scientists to young learners themselves. We first introduce the goals and design of the system and then demonstrate it by describing example projects that illustrate its functionality. Next, we show through a series of case studies how the system engages children in not only representing data and answering questions with data but also in self-reflection about their own learning and participation.
The Cancer Loneliness Scale and Cancer-related Negative Social Expectations Scale: development and validation.

Purpose Loneliness is a known risk factor for poor mental and physical health outcomes and quality of life in the general population, and preliminary research suggests that loneliness is linked to poorer health outcomes in cancer patients as well. Various aspects of the cancer experience contribute to patients feeling alone and misunderstood. Furthermore, loneliness theory suggests that negative social expectations, which may specifically relate to the cancer experience, precipitate and sustain loneliness. Cancer-specific tools are needed to assess key constructs of this theory. In the current study, we developed and tested measures of (1) loneliness attributed to cancer (i.e., cancer-related loneliness) and (2) negative social expectations related to cancer.
Supersymmetry and the Hartmann potential of theoretical chemistry.

An exactly solvable ring-shaped potential in quantum chemistry given by $$V = \eta \sigma ^2 \varepsilon _{\text{o}} \left( {\frac{{2a_{\text{O}} }}{r} - \frac{{\eta a_{\text{O}}^2 }}{{r^2 {\text{sin}}^{\text{2}} \theta }}} \right)$$ was introduced by Hartmann in 1972 to describe ring-shaped molecules like benzene. In this article, the supersymmetric features of the Hartmann potential are discussed, We first review the results of a previous paper in which we rederived the eigenvalues and radial eigenfunctions of the Hartmann potential using a formulation of one-dimensional supersymmetric quantum mechanics (SUSYQM) on the half-line [0, ∞). A reformulation of SUSYQM in the full line (− ∞, ∞) is subsequently developed. It is found that the second formulation makes a connection between states having the same quantum number L but different values of ησ2 and quantum number N. This is in contrast to the first formulation, which relates states with identical values of the quantum number N and ησ2 but different values of the quantum number L.
Probabilistic Completeness of Randomized Possibility Graphs Applied to Bipedal Walking in Semi-unstructured Environments

We present a theoretical analysis of a recent whole body motion planning method, the Randomized Possibility Graph, which uses a high-level decomposition of the feasibility constraint manifold in order to rapidly find routes that may lead to a solution. These routes are then examined by lower-level planners to determine feasibility. In this paper, we show that this approach is probabilistically complete for bipedal robots performing quasi-static walking in "semi-unstructured" environments. Furthermore, we show that the decomposition into higher and lower level planners allows for a considerably higher rate of convergence in the probability of finding a solution when one exists. We illustrate this improved convergence with a series of simulated scenarios.
Efficient methodology for modeling structure of high-speed long transmission lines

A practical approach for accurately modeling high-speed link structures is presented and named as the “cut and stitch” (C&S) methodology. To generate S-parameters for the whole system, C&S first cuts the structure into different parts with different electromagnetic (EM) features and also provides auto-generated ports at the cutting interfaces to do system connection later, then selects the proper EM solver for individual design partition's modeling, and finally automatically stitches all of the S-parameter models together. Numerical experiments show that the approach can achieve more than one order of the speedup ratio with the acceptable accuracy.
Recent advances in the determination of some Galactic constants in the Milky Way

Here we statistically evaluate recent advances in determining the Sun-Galactic Center distance ( $R_{\mathit{sun}}$ ) as well as recent measures of the orbital velocity around the Galactic Center ( $V_{\mathit{lsr}}$ ), and the angular rotation parameters of various objects. Recent statistical results point to $R_{\mathit{sun}} = 8.0 \pm 0.2~\mbox{kpc}$ , $V_{\mathit{lsr}}= 230 \pm 3~\mbox{km}/\mbox{s}$ , and angular rotation at the Sun ( $\omega$ ) near $29 \pm 1~\mbox{km}/\mbox{s}/\mbox{kpc}$ for the gas and stars at the Local Standard of Rest, and near $23 \pm 2~\mbox{km}/\mbox{s}/\mbox{kpc}$ for the spiral pattern itself. This angular difference is similar to what had been predicted by density wave models, along with the observation that the galactic longitude of each spiral arm tracer (dust, cold CO) for each spiral arm becomes reversed across the Galactic Meridian (Vallee in Astrophys. J. 821:53, 2016b).
Conversation Modeling on Reddit Using a Graph-Structured LSTM

This paper presents a novel approach for modeling threaded discussions on social media using a graph-structured bidirectional LSTM (long-short term memory) which represents both hierarchical and te...
Laminar-Turbulent Transition of a Low Reynolds Number Rigid or Flexible Airfoil

4-10 5 . In order to gain better understanding of the fluid physics and associated aerodynamics characteristics, we have coupled (i) a NavierStokes solver, (ii) the e N method transition model, and (iii) a Reynolds-averaged two-equation closure to study the low Reynolds number flow characterized with laminar separation and transition. A new intermittency distribution function suitable for low Reynolds number transitional flow is proposed and tested. To support the MAV applications, we investigate both rigid and flexible airfoils, which has a portion of the upper surface mounted with a flexible membrane, using SD7003 as the configuration. Good agreement is obtained between the prediction and experimental measurements regarding the transition location as well as overall flow structures. In the current transitional flow regime, though the Reynolds number affects the size of the laminar separation bubble, it does not place consistent impact on lift or drag. The gust exerts a major influence on the transition position, resulting in the lift and drag coefficients hysterisis. It is also observed that thrust instead of drag can be generated under certain gust condition. At α=4 o , for a flexible wing, self-excited vibration affects the separation and transition positions; however, the time-averaged lift and drag coefficients are close to those of the rigid airfoil.
Contemplating China’s Future

China’s future is one of the most important variables in international affairs. While the world has witnessed the extraordinary socio-economic growth and development of China over the past four decades, the country is now at a series of junctures and faces unprecedentedly complex challenges. It has achieved “middle income” status, but in order to navigate through the “middle income trap” and become a fully developed and modern economy will require not only multiple structural adjustments in the economic structure, but also a significant liberalization of the political system. This article explores four alternative pathways that China might follow in the coming years, and it posits potential consequences of each path.
A Clinically Derived Terminology: Qualification to Reduction

Mayo Foundation is developing synonym rich entry points for the recording of patient problems by clinicians, which will map to the KP-Mayo Convergent Medical Terminology. We describe the empirical sources for these terminology components, and how the number and complexity of the terms could be substantially reduced by the introduction of a Qualifier axis. The expressive power of these entry points is dramatically enhanced by this axis. This work is being integrated into terminology navigation modules being jointly developed with Lexical Technology, which leverages UMLS content. It will from the basis for structured problem entry into Mayo's Computer-based Electronic Record.
Pseudo-Separation for Assessment of Structural Vulnerability of a Network

Based upon the idea that network functionality is impaired if two nodes in a network are sufficiently separated in terms of a given metric, we introduce two combinatorial pseudocut problems generalizing the classical min-cut and multi-cut problems. We expect the pseudocut problems will find broad relevance to the study of network reliability. We comprehensively analyze the computational complexity of the pseudocut problems and provide three approximation algorithms for these problems. Motivated by applications in communication networks with strict Quality-of-Service (QoS) requirements, we demonstrate the utility of the pseudocut problems by proposing a targeted vulnerability assessment for the structure of communication networks using QoS metrics; we perform experimental evaluations of our proposed approximation algorithms in this context.
Man Vs. Machine: An Investigation of Speeding Ticket Disparities Based on Gender and Race

This paper analyzes the extent to which police behavior in giving speeding tickets differs from the ticketing pattern of automated cameras, which provide an estimate of the population of speeders. The novel data are obtained from Lafayette, Louisiana court records, and provide specific details about the ticketed driver as well as a wide range of violation characteristics. In contrast to the automated cameras, the probability of a ticketed driver being female is consistently and significantly higher when the ticket was given by a police officer. For African-American drivers this effect is less robust, though in general still positive and significant. This implies that police use gender and race as a determining factor in issuing a speeding ticket. Potential behavioral reasons for this outcome are discussed. The validity of using automated cameras as a population measure for police-issued tickets is thoroughly investigated and supportive evidence is provided.
Communication-space tradeoffs for unrestricted protocols

Communicating branching programs are introduced, and a general technique for demonstrating communication-space tradeoffs for pairs of communicating branching programs is developed. The technique is used to prove communication-space tradeoffs for any pair of communicating branching programs that hashes according to a universal family of hash functions. Other tradeoffs follow from this result. For example any pair of communicating Boolean branching programs that computes matrix-vector products over GF(2) requires communication-space product Omega (n/sup 2/). These are the first examples of communication-space tradeoffs on a completely general model of communicating processes. >
Search Advertising: Budget Allocation Across Search Engines

We investigate advertisers’ budgeting and bidding strategies across multiple platforms; we find that symmetric advertisers may pursue asymmetric budget allocation strategies.
The Complexity of Non-Monotone Markets

We introduce the notion of non-monotone utilities, which covers a wide variety of utility functions in economic theory. We then prove that it is PPAD-hard to compute an approximate Arrow-Debreu market equilibrium in markets with linear and non-monotone utilities. Building on this result, we settle the long-standing open problem regarding the computation of an approximate Arrow-Debreu market equilibrium in markets with CES utility functions, by proving that it is PPAD-complete when the Constant Elasticity of Substitution parameter ρ is any constant less than − 1.
Hickman-Broviac Catheter Use in Cancer Patients

Seventy-nine patients who had Hickman-Broviac (H-B) catheters inserted over a 1-year period were studied. There were 52 patients in the hematological group and 27 patients in the solid tumor group. Complications associated with the H-B catheters were infection and venous thrombosis, with infection being more common. Nine patients experienced local infection, ten had local infection with bacteremia, and 14 had severe infection, respectively. Infectious complications were more prevalent in the hematological group; 13 of the 14 severe infections were found in patients with hematological disorders. Severe infection was more common in patients with two catheters in place as compared to those with only one catheter (P less than 0.05). In particular, the presence of two catheters significantly increased the risk of infection in hematological patients. The risk of infection may be reduced by using only one catheter with either a single or double lumen.
Reactive Lymph Node Hyperplasia with Giant Follicles

Twenty-two cases are presented of patients whose solitary painless, enlarged lymph nodes demonstrated an extreme degree of reactive hyperplasia with giant follicles which were misdiagnosed as lymphoma in 11 (50%) instances. Parotid or submandibular nodes were involved most frequently, and the mass was thought clinically to be a salivary gland tumor in at least one-third of the cases. Occurrence in men predominated (6.3:1) with a median age of 24.5 years (mean, 26.8 years). There were no recurrences during follow-up periods which ranged from 6 months to 15 years. No specific etiologic factors were identified. Microscopically, the enlarged giant follicles involved the entire surface area of the lymph node, frequently assuming a serpentine configuration resulting from coalescence. The description of findings in these exemplary cases is followed by discussion of the histologic differential diagnosis.
The Role of Surgery in Localized Neuroblastoma

A 30-year experience with 83 patients, median age two years, with Children's Cancer Study Group (CCSG) Stages I, II, and III localized neuroblastoma was studied to determine, factors that influence outcome. In addition, histology was reclassified in all patients based on the Shimada system, which is divided into five subtypes according to age and cytohistologic criteria. A multivariant survival analysis was carried out and patients were considered to have failed if they relapsed or died from any cause. Initial analysis determined that CCSG stage, Shimada histologic classification, and presence of disease in lymph nodes were statistically significant predictors of failure. Histology was the most important factor with Shimada subtypes 1, 2, and 4 having good outcome and 3 and 5 poor outcome. The latter three variables were combined to create four prognostic groups that had distinctly different rates of survival. Further analysis showed that after controlling for prognostic groups, extent of surgery was a statistically significant predictor. Patients who had more complete surgical resection has better disease-free survival.
Acute Renal Artery Occlusion. The Role of Collateral Circulation

• It is not known if or when the probability of success is sufficient to warrant emergency revascularization of acute renal artery occlusion. This probability depends on the ability of collateral circulation to maintain viability. The role of collateral circulation in maintaining renal viability during six and 48 hours of renal artery occlusion has been studied in mongrel dogs. Collateral circulation is sufficient to maintain renal viability beyond the three hours of warm complete ischemia known to cause infarction. It is not sufficient to prevent progressive loss of renal function. Hypertension frequently results. Emergency revascularization of acute bilateral renal artery occlusion, therefore, is indicated. It is not indicated for unilateral occlusion with adequate contralateral function because of the high probability of resulting hypertension. (Arch Surg1982;117:801-804)
Risk-Factor Disclosure and Asset Prices

ABSTRACT: While researchers and practitioners alike estimate firms' exposures to systematic risk factors, the disclosure literature typically assumes that exposures are common knowledge. We develop a model where the firm's exposure to a factor is unknown, and analyze the effects of factor-exposure uncertainty on share price and the effects of disclosure about the exposure. We find that: (1) factor-exposure uncertainty introduces skewness and excess kurtosis in the cash flow distribution relative to the commonly used normal distribution; (2) risk-factor disclosure affects all moments of that distribution; and (3) the pricing of higher moments affects the price response of disclosure and the incentives to disclose. For example, factor-exposure uncertainty may actually increase price when the uncertainty implies positive skewness in the cash flow distribution. Hence, a reduction in uncertainty through disclosure may increase cost of capital. We also extend our model to multiple firms and show that factor-exp...
The economics of precision guidance with auto-boom control for farmer-owned agricultural sprayers

Precision guidance and precision sprayer control have substantial promise to reduce input application overlap, thus saving chemicals, fuel, and time during the application process. In this article we provide preliminary estimates of the magnitude of the private benefits for a precision guidance system combined with auto-boom control for agricultural sprayers (precision spraying). Hypothetical farm fields are analyzed, allowing comparison of the performance of the precision system to a traditional, non-precision system for different field shapes. An analysis of the impact of size of farm on system profitability also is explored. Our analyses suggest that, even when considering only private benefits of input savings, the value derived from a precision spraying system can be substantial. This is especially true when the sprayer patterns become more complex due to non-rectangular fields and due to the presence of waterways, drainage ditches or similar obstructions. Economic benefits of the precision spraying system increase proportionally to the cost of the spray material being applied and with the number of annual applications. Benefits also increase with increases in driver error rates for non-precision systems. Because most of the costs of the precision spraying system relate to the fixed investment, these costs are largely constant regardless of farm size. This translates to net benefits of precision spraying that increase with increased farm size.
Numerous uncharacterized and highly divergent microbes which colonize humans are revealed by circulating cell-free DNA

Blood circulates throughout the human body and contains molecules drawn from virtually every tissue, including the microbes and viruses which colonize the body. Through massive shotgun sequencing of circulating cell-free DNA from the blood, we identified hundreds of new bacteria and viruses which represent previously unidentified members of the human microbiome. Analyzing cumulative sequence data from 1,351 blood samples collected from 188 patients enabled us to assemble 7,190 contiguous regions (contigs) larger than 1 kbp, of which 3,761 are novel with little or no sequence homology in any existing databases. The vast majority of these novel contigs possess coding sequences, and we have validated their existence both by finding their presence in independent experiments and by performing direct PCR amplification. When their nearest neighbors are located in the tree of life, many of the organisms represent entirely novel taxa, showing that microbial diversity within the human body is substantially broader than previously appreciated.
Neural network dose models for knowledge-based planning in pancreatic SBRT.

Purpose Stereotactic body radiation therapy (SBRT) for pancreatic cancer requires a skillful approach to deliver ablative doses to the tumor while limiting dose to the highly sensitive duodenum, stomach, and small bowel. Here, we develop knowledge-based artificial neural network dose models (ANN-DMs) to predict dose distributions that would be approved by experienced physicians. Methods Arc-based SBRT treatment plans for 43 pancreatic cancer patients were planned, delivering 30–33 Gy in five fractions. Treatments were overseen by one of two physicians with individual treatment approaches, with variations in prescribed dose, target volume delineation, and primary organs at risk. Using dose distributions calculated by a commercial treatment planning system (TPS), physician-approved treatment plans were used to train ANN-DMs that could predict physician-approved dose distributions based on a set of geometric parameters (vary from voxel to voxel) and plan parameters (constant across all voxels for a given patient). Patient datasets were randomly allocated, with two-thirds used for training, and one-third used for validation. Differences between TPS and ANN-DM dose distributions were used to evaluate model performance. ANN-DM design, including neural network structure and parameter choices, was evaluated to optimize dose model performance. Results Remarkable improvements in ANN-DM accuracy (i.e., from > 30% to < 5% mean absolute dose error, relative to the prescribed dose) were achieved by training separate dose models for the treatment style of each physician. Increased neural network complexity (i.e., more layers, more neurons per layer) did not improve dose model accuracy. Mean dose errors were less than 5% at all distances from the PTV, and mean absolute dose errors were on the order of 5%, but no more than 10%. Dose–volume histogram errors (in cm3) demonstrated good model performance above 25 Gy, but much larger errors were seen at lower doses. Conclusions ANN-DM dose distributions showed excellent overall agreement with TPS dose distributions, and accuracy was substantially improved when each physician's treatment approach was taken into account by training their own dedicated models. In this manner, one could feasibly train ANN-DMs that could predict the dose distribution desired by a given physician for a given treatment site.
Silencing the seventh trumpet: Analyzing the effect of private schooling on voting behavior:

The United States has one of the lowest election turnout rates in the developed world. Consequently, social scientists are perpetually seeking to expand upon their knowledge of what factors are ass...
El mercado de aguas en california

Hablar de un “mercado” de aguas es complicado, el concepto se presta a engano. Gran parte del debate sobre el tema se desenvuelve en terminos de la teoria economica neoclasica, pero estan involucrados muchos factores juridicos, politicos, historicos y geograficos que hacen que aquella teoria diste de la realidad concreta. En los EE.UU., entonces, cuando se habla del “mercado de aguas” no hay que entenderlo como algo sacado de un texto economico, que funciona de manera automatica, sino como un mecanismo institucional bastante restringido, respecto del cual deberiamos bajar nuestras expectativas.
Last Place Aversion in Queues

This paper documents the effects of last-place aversion in queues and its implications for customer experiences and behaviors, as well as for operating performance. An observational analysis of cus...
The Faculty Flutie Factor: Does Football Performance Affect a University's US News and World Report Peer Assessment Score? *

Analyzing the peer assessment category of the US News and World Report's America's Best Colleges rankings, we find that universities fielding a Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) team are more highly rated by administrators and faculty at peer institutions. Universities are also more highly rated if their football team receives a greater number of votes in either the final Associated Press or Coaches’ Poll. Controlling for unobserved heterogeneity, our estimates suggest that a one standard deviation increase in votes from one season to the next is associated with a peer score increase that is about equal (in absolute value terms) to the mean year-over-year peer score decline witnessed by the institutions in our sample. Performance matters even if we only focus on FBS schools.
Short-Term Solar Modulation of the Madden–Julian Climate Oscillation

AbstractNormalized occurrence rates of daily Madden–Julian oscillation (MJO) events are calculated as a function of phase lag relative to peaks and minima in solar ultraviolet flux occurring on the...
Human Placental Syncytiotrophoblasts Restrict Toxoplasma gondii Attachment and Replication and Respond to Infection by Producing Immunomodulatory Chemokines

ABSTRACT Toxoplasma gondii is a major source of congenital disease worldwide, but the cellular and molecular factors associated with its vertical transmission are largely unknown. In humans, the placenta forms the key interface between the maternal and fetal compartments and forms the primary barrier that restricts the hematogenous spread of microorganisms. Here, we utilized primary human trophoblast (PHT) cells isolated from full-term placentas and human midgestation chorionic villous explants to determine the mechanisms by which human trophoblasts restrict and respond to T. gondii infection. We show that placental syncytiotrophoblasts, multinucleated cells that are in direct contact with maternal blood, restrict T. gondii infection at two distinct stages of the parasite lytic cycle—at the time of attachment and also during intracellular replication. Utilizing comparative transcriptome sequencing (RNA-seq) transcriptional profiling, we also show that human placental trophoblasts from both the second and third trimesters respond uniquely to T. gondii infection compared to trophoblast cell lines, typified by the upregulation of several immunity-related genes. One of the most differentially induced genes was the chemokine CCL22, which relies on the secretion of a parasite effector(s) either during or after invasion for its induction. Collectively, our findings provide new insights into the mechanisms by which the human placenta restricts the vertical transmission of T. gondii at early and late stages of human pregnancy and demonstrate the existence of at least two interferon-independent pathways that restrict T. gondii access to the fetal compartment. IMPORTANCEToxoplasma gondii is a major source of congenital disease worldwide and must breach the placental barrier to be transmitted from maternal blood to the developing fetus. The events associated with the vertical transmission of T. gondii are largely unknown. Here, we show that primary human syncytiotrophoblasts, the fetus-derived cells that comprise the primary placental barrier, restrict T. gondii infection at two distinct stages of the parasite life cycle and respond to infection by inducing a unique immunomodulatory transcriptional profile. Collectively, our findings provide important insights into the mechanisms by which human syncytiotrophoblasts restrict T. gondii infection at early and late stages of human pregnancy, identify both permissive and resistant human placental cell types, and identify the placenta-enriched signaling pathways induced in response to infection.
Collaborating With Writing Centers on Interdisciplinary Peer Tutor Training to Improve Writing Support for Engineering Students

Introduction: Faculty members have little time and usually lack expertise to provide writing feedback on lab reports. Sending students to a writing center, an existing resource on virtually all college campuses, could fill that gap. However, the majority of peer writing tutors are in nontechnical majors, and little research exists on training them to provide support for engineering students. Research question: Can peer writing tutors without technical backgrounds be trained to provide effective feedback to engineering students? About the case: Previously, sending students to the writing center was ineffective. The students did not see the value, and the tutors did not feel capable of providing feedback to them. To remedy this situation, an interdisciplinary training method was developed collaboratively by an engineering professor and the writing center director. Situating the case: Researchers have suggested that effective writing center help for engineering students is possible, and the authors have designed an interdisciplinary training method that has produced positive results. Supporting literature includes the use of generalist tutors, writing in the disciplines, genre theory, and knowledge transfer. Methods/approach: This was a three-year experiential project conducted in a junior-level engineering course. The assignment, a lab report, remained the same. Qualitative and quantitative data were collected from students and tutors. Results/discussion: Tutor feedback and student satisfaction significantly improved. However, a few students who were satisfied overall still expressed interest in having their reports reviewed by a tutor with a technical background. Conclusions: Interdisciplinary tutor training can improve the feedback of peer writing tutors, providing support for faculty efforts to improve student writing. The method requires minimal faculty time and capitalizes on existing resources.
Low CD34+ Cell Doses Are Associated with Increased Cost and Worse Outcome after Tandem Autologous Stem Cell Transplantation in Patients with Relapsed or Refractory Germ Cell Tumors.

Abstract Tandem autologous stem cell transplantation (ASCT) improves long-term survival of platinum-refractory germ cell tumors (GCT) patients. Studies, predominantly in lymphoma, showed that CD34+ cell doses > 5.0 × 106/kg/single transplant led to decreased resource utilization. Because most GCT patients have received prior cisplatin-based treatment, collecting >10 × 106 CD34+ cells/kg is challenging. We analyzed the effect of CD34+ cell dose on resource utilization and outcome in 131 GCT patients, median age 29.5 years (range, 16 to 58), undergoing tandem ASCT. Of 262 individual transplants performed, 120 were performed as inpatient and 142 as planned outpatient. Overall, median CD34+ dose per transplant was 3.1 × 106/kg (range, 0.8 to 16.0), with no significant difference between inpatient and outpatient transplants. Patients were divided into quartiles based on the CD34 cell dose infused: Q1, 0.8 to 1.9 × 106/kg; Q2, 2.0 to 2.9 × 106/kg; Q3, 3.0 to 4.1 × 106/kg; and Q4, 4.2 to 16.0 × 106/kg. For all patients higher CD34+ cell doses were associated with significantly shorter times to neutrophil (P
Pregnancy Medicaid Expansions and Fertility: Differentiating Between the Intensive and Extensive Margins

The theoretical and empirical links between public health insurance access and fertility in the United States remain unclear. Utilizing a demographic cell-based estimation approach with panel data (1987–1997), we revisit the large-scale Medicaid expansions to pregnant women during the 1980s to estimate the heterogeneous impacts of public health insurance access on childbirth. While the decision to become a parent (i.e., the extensive margin) appears to be unaffected by increased access to Medicaid, we find that increased access to public health insurance positively influenced the number of high parity births (i.e., the intensive margin) for select groups of women. In particular, we find a robust, positive birth effect for unmarried women with a high school education, a result which is consistent across the two racial groups examined in our analysis: African American and white women. This result suggests that investigating effects along both the intensive and extensive margin is important for scholars who study the natalist effects of social welfare policies, and our evidence provides a more nuanced understanding of the influence of public health insurance on fertility.
Fitness and dementia risk: Further evidence of the heart-brain connection.

Cardiovascular dysfunction and vascular aging are systemic conditions that affect all major target organs, including the brain.1 It follows that cardiovascular disease (CVD), subclinical cardiovascular conditions, and cardiovascular risk factors are associated with an elevated risk for developing dementia. These associations are important because they reveal a potential opportunity to prevent dementia through management and treatment of CVD and its risk factors with both pharmaceutical options (such as promising examples from antihypertension medication trials)1 and lifestyle interventions that improve cardiovascular health.