cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Standing of Intervenor-Defendants in Public Law Litigation

Unless the plaintiff has a personal stake in the outcome, Article III of the United States Constitution requires federal courts to dismiss a plaintiff’s claim for lack of standing. That much is clearly established by decades of precedent. Less understood, however, is the degree to which Article III also requires defendants to possess a personal stake. The significance of defendant standing often goes unnoticed in case law and scholarship, because the standing of the defendant in most lawsuits is readily apparent: any defendant against whom the plaintiff seeks a remedy has a personal interest in defending against the plaintiff’s claim. But the issue of standing to defend takes on outsized importance when third parties who are not targeted by the plaintiff’s requested remedy seek leave to intervene in order to oppose the plaintiff’s claim for relief. In cases featuring intervenor-defendants—often cases that concern important issues of public law—the personal-stake requirement becomes a real and not merely theoretical concern for the defendant. The problem is well illustrated by pending cases that address the constitutionality of California’s Proposition 8 and the federal Defense of Marriage Act. In each case, the executive branch officials named as defendants declined to defend the challenged law, prompting a nonparty with a questionable personal stake to seek to intervene to defend against a plaintiff’s claim. The prevailing plaintiff-centered model of standing does not lend itself readily to assessing whether such volunteer defendants have an interest sufficient to create a case or controversy. This Article develops a model of defendant standing based on the functions that standing doctrine is intended to serve, and derived from the
Clustering, Spatial Correlations, and Randomization Inference

It is a standard practice in regression analyses to allow for clustering in the error covariance matrix if the explanatory variable of interest varies at a more aggregate level (e.g., the state level) than the units of observation (e.g., individuals). Often, however, the structure of the error covariance matrix is more complex, with correlations not vanishing for units in different clusters. Here, we explore the implications of such correlations for the actual and estimated precision of least squares estimators. Our main theoretical result is that with equal-sized clusters, if the covariate of interest is randomly assigned at the cluster level, only accounting for nonzero covariances at the cluster level, and ignoring correlations between clusters as well as differences in within-cluster correlations, leads to valid confidence intervals. However, in the absence of random assignment of the covariates, ignoring general correlation structures may lead to biases in standard errors. We illustrate our findings ...
Fiscal transparency or fiscal illusion? Housing and credit market responses to fiscal monitoring

Nongovernmental stakeholders, including taxpayers and investors of government bonds, have an interest in government financial information. Fiscal transparency entails both access to and understandability of government information. Analyses of a government borrower’s financial information, often facilitated by market intermediaries, directly affect investor return on the bond market. In contrast, taxpayers may lack the incentive or capacity to comprehend government financial data prepared based on complex accounting rules. State fiscal monitoring programs compile and analyze local government financial data to track fiscal stress. This paper examines how housing and municipal bond markets respond to the New York monitoring program implemented in 2013, which uses existing, account-level local government financial data to assign simple labels signifying local government insolvency. Housing prices decreased following significant fiscal stress designations, but not statistically significantly following the other more modest stress labels. In contrast, the bond market priced in government financial information even before the state monitoring.
Contact-dependent traits in Pseudomonas syringae B728a

Production of the biosurfactant syringafactin by the plant pathogen Pseudomonas syringae B728a is a surface contact-dependent trait. Expression of syfA, as measured using a gfp reporter gene fusion was low in planktonic cells in liquid cultures but over 4-fold higher in cells immobilized on surfaces as varied as glass, plastic, paper, parafilm, agar, membrane filters, and leaves. Induction of syfA as measured by GFP fluorescence was rapid, occurring within two hours after immobilization of cells on surfaces. Comparison of the global transcriptome by RNA sequencing of planktonic cells in a nutrient medium with that of cells immobilized for 2 hours on filters placed on this solidified medium revealed that, in addition to syfA, 3156 other genes were differentially expressed. Genes repressed in immobilized cells included those involved in quaternary ammonium compound (QAC) metabolism and transport, compatible solute production, carbohydrate metabolism and transport, organic acid metabolism and transport, phytotoxin synthesis and transport, amino acid metabolism and transport, and secondary metabolism. Genes induced in immobilized cells included syfA plus those involved in translation, siderophore synthesis and transport, nucleotide metabolism and transport, flagellar synthesis and motility, lipopolysaccharide (LPS) synthesis and transport, energy generation, transcription, chemosensing and chemotaxis, replication and DNA repair, iron-sulfur proteins, peptidoglycan/cell wall polymers, terpenoid backbone synthesis, iron metabolism and transport, and cell division. That many genes are rapidly differentially expressed upon transfer of cells from a planktonic to an immobilized state suggests that cells experience the two environments differently. It seems possible that surface contact initiates anticipatory changes in P. syringae gene expression, which enables rapid and appropriate physiological responses to the different environmental conditions such as might occur in a biofilm. Such responses could help cells survive transitions from aquatic habitats fostering planktonic traits to attachment on surfaces, conditions that alternatively occur on leaves.
Higher Signs for Coxeter Groups

We define and study cocycles on a Coxeter group in each degree generalizing the sign function. When the Coxeter group is a Weyl group, we explain how the degree three cocycle arises naturally from geometric representation theory.
PERCH 2.0 : Fast and Accurate GPU-based Perception via Search for Object Pose Estimation

Pose estimation of known objects is fundamental to tasks such as robotic grasping and manipulation. The need for reliable grasping imposes stringent accuracy requirements on pose estimation in cluttered, occluded scenes in dynamic environments. Modern methods employ large sets of training data to learn features in order to find correspondence between 3D models and observed data. However these methods require extensive annotation of ground truth poses. An alternative is to use algorithms that search for the best explanation of the observed scene in a space of possible rendered scenes. A recently developed algorithm, PERCH (PErception Via SeaRCH) does so by using depth data to converge to a globally optimum solution using a search over a specially constructed tree. While PERCH offers strong guarantees on accuracy, the current formulation suffers from low scalability owing to its high runtime. In addition, the sole reliance on depth data for pose estimation restricts the algorithm to scenes where no two objects have the same shape. In this work, we propose PERCH 2.0, a novel perception via search strategy that takes advantage of GPU acceleration and RGB data. We show that our approach can achieve a speedup of 100x over PERCH, as well as better accuracy than the state-of-the-art data-driven approaches on 6-DoF pose estimation without the need for annotating ground truth poses in the training data. Our code and video are available at https://sbpl-cruz.github.io/perception/.
Decentralized Control of Large Collaborative Swarms Using Random Finite Set Theory

Controlling large swarms of robotic agents presents many challenges including but not limited to computational complexity due to a large number of agents, uncertainty in the functionality of each agent in the swarm, and uncertainty in the swarm's configuration. The contribution of this work is to decentralize random finite set (RFS)-based control of large collaborative swarms for controlling individual agents. The RFS-based control formulation assumes a Gaussian mixture probability hypothesis density approximation and a complete topology for centralized swarm control. To generalize the control topology in a localized or decentralized manner, a sparse linear quadratic regulator (LQR) is used to sparsify the RFS-based control gain matrix obtained using iterative LQR. This allows agents to use information of agents near each other (localized topology) or only the agent's own information (decentralized topology) to make a control decision. Sparsity and performance for decentralized RFS-based control are compared for different degrees of localization in feedback control gains which show that the stability and performance compared to centralized control do not degrade significantly in providing RFS-based control for large collaborative swarms.
Edge Computing in the Dark: Leveraging Contextual-Combinatorial Bandit and Coded Computing

With recent advancements in edge computing capabilities, there has been a significant increase in utilizing the edge cloud for event-driven and time-sensitive computations. However, large-scale edge computing networks can suffer substantially from unpredictable and unreliable computing resources which can result in high variability of service quality. We consider the problem of computation offloading over unknown edge cloud networks with a sequence of timely computation jobs. Motivated by the MapReduce computation paradigm, we assume that each computation job can be partitioned to smaller Map functions which are processed at the edge, and the Reduce function is computed at the user after the Map results are collected from the edge nodes. We model the service quality of each edge device as function of context. The user decides the computations to offload to each device with the goal of receiving a recoverable set of computation results in the given deadline. By leveraging the coded computing framework in order to tackle failures or stragglers in computation, we formulate this problem using contextual-combinatorial multi-armed bandits (CC-MAB), and aim to maximize the cumulative expected reward. We propose an online learning policy called online coded edge computing policy , which provably achieves asymptotically-optimal performance in terms of regret loss compared with the optimal offline policy for the proposed CC-MAB problem. In terms of the cumulative reward, it is shown that the online coded edge computing policy significantly outperforms other benchmarks via numerical studies.
The FASB's Approach Toward Reviewing, Conducting, and Sponsoring Academic Research and to Engaging Academics

This is a historical account of the various approaches which the Financial Accounting Standards Board has used since 1973 in making use of academic research and in bringing academics into the standard-setting process.
Improving RNA Branching Predictions: Advances and Limitations

Minimum free energy prediction of RNA secondary structures is based on the Nearest Neighbor Thermodynamics Model. While such predictions are typically good, the accuracy can vary widely even for short sequences, and the branching thermodynamics are an important factor in this variance. Recently, the simplest model for multiloop energetics—a linear function of the number of branches and unpaired nucleotides—was found to be the best. Subsequently, a parametric analysis demonstrated that per family accuracy can be improved by changing the weightings in this linear function. However, the extent of improvement was not known due to the ad hoc method used to find the new parameters. Here we develop a branch-and-bound algorithm that finds the set of optimal parameters with the highest average accuracy for a given set of sequences. Our analysis shows that the previous ad hoc parameters are nearly optimal for tRNA and 5S rRNA sequences on both training and testing sets. Moreover, cross-family improvement is possible but more difficult because competing parameter regions favor different families. The results also indicate that restricting the unpaired nucleotide penalty to small values is warranted. This reduction makes analyzing longer sequences using the present techniques more feasible.
COVID-19 in childhood: Transmission, clinical presentation, complications and risk factors.

Children less than 18 years of age account for an estimated 2%-5% of reported severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) cases globally. Lower prevalence of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) among children, in addition to higher numbers of mild and asymptomatic cases, continues to provide challenges in determining appropriate prevention and treatment courses. Here, we summarize the current evidence on the transmission, clinical presentation, complications and risk factors in regard to SARS-CoV-2 in children, and highlight crucial gaps in knowledge going forward. Based on current evidence, children are rarely the primary source of secondary transmission in the household or in child care and school settings and are more likely to contract the virus from an adult household member. Higher transmission rates are observed in older children (10-19 years old) compared with younger children ( <10 years old). While increasing incidence of COVID-19 in neonates raises the suspicion of vertical transmission, it is unlikely that breast milk is a vehicle for transmission from mother to infant. The vast majority of clinical cases of COVID-19 in children are mild, but there are rare cases that have developed complications such as multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children, which often presents with severe cardiac symptoms requiring intensive care. Childhood obesity is associated with a higher risk of infection and a more severe clinical presentation. Although immediate mortality rates among children are low, long-term respiratory, and developmental implications of the disease remain unknown in this young and vulnerable population.
Mental disorder prevalence among populations impacted by coronavirus pandemics: A multilevel meta-analytic study of COVID-19, MERS & SARS.

Abstract Objective Through a systematic review and meta-analysis of research on COVID-19, severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) and middle east respiratory syndrome (MERS) pandemics, we investigated whether mental disorder prevalence: (a) was elevated among populations impacted by coronavirus pandemics (relative to unselected populations reported in the literature), and (b) varied by disorder (undifferentiated psychiatric morbidity, anxiety, depressive, posttraumatic stress disorders [PTSD]) and impacted population (community, infected/recovered, healthcare provider, quarantined). Method From 68 publications (N = 87,586 participants), 808 estimates were included in a series of multilevel meta-analyses/regressions including random effects to account for estimates nested within studies. Results Median summary point prevalence estimates varied by disorder and population. Psychiatric morbidity (20–56%), PTSD (10–26%) and depression (9–27%) were most prevalent in most populations. The highest prevalence of each disorder was found among infected/recovered adults (18–56%), followed by healthcare providers (11–28%) and community adults (11–20%). Prevalence estimates were often notably higher than reported for unselected samples. Sensitivity analyses demonstrated that overall prevalence estimates moderately varied by pandemic, study location, and mental disorder measure type. Conclusion Coronavirus pandemics are associated with multiple mental disorders in several impacted populations. Needed are investigations of causal links between specific pandemic-related stressors, threats, and traumas and mental disorders.
Learning about risk-factor exposures from earnings: Implications for asset pricing and manipulation

Abstract When valuing a firm, investors must assess not only its expected future cash flows but also the systematic risk inherent in these cash flows. In this paper, we model the process by which investors may learn about firms' betas from earnings and how this learning process affects the relationship between earnings, announcement returns, and expected future returns. The model's main predictions are: (i) earnings response coefficients vary with macroeconomic conditions and are lower in upswings than downturns; (ii) earnings positively and negatively predict future returns in economic upswings and downturns, respectively, leading to return autocorrelation; and (iii) real earnings management rises in economic downturns and contributes to systematic risk in the economy. These predictions are directly attributable to investors' uncertainty regarding firms' exposures to systematic risk.
The Impact of Sirolimus as a Primary Immunosuppressant on Myocardial Fibrosis and Diastolic Function Following Heart Transplantation

Purpose Myocardial fibrosis is an important contributor for development of diastolic dysfunction (DD) following heart transplantation (HT). Small studies have reported superiority of sirolimus (SRL) over calcineurin inhibitor (CNI) in mitigating DD assessed by echocardiography. However, data on invasive hemodynamic assessment is lacking, and the impact of SRL on myocardial fibrosis progression remains unclear. We aimed to investigate the impact of SRL on DD and fibrosis progression among HT recipients. Methods A cohort of 100 HT recipients who were either treated with CNI alone (n =51) or converted from CNI to SRL (n=49) as primary immunosuppression was analyzed. Diastolic function parameters were assessed using serial echocardiograms and right heart catheterizations (RHC). Myocardial fibrosis was quantified on serial myocardial biopsies by automated digital analysis, blinded to the type of therapy. Results After 3 years, left ventricular end diastolic diameter (LVEDD) increased in the SRL group (45.7 ± 5.1 to 48.3 ± 5.5 mm, paired p Conclusion Early conversion to SRL is associated with improvement in DD and LV filling pressures which can be partially explained by attenuation of myocardial fibrosis progression as compared to CNI therapy.
Cycles in asymptotically stable and chaotic fractional maps

The presence of the power-law memory is a significant feature of many natural (biological, physical, etc.) and social systems. Continuous and discrete fractional calculus is the instrument to describe the behavior of systems with the power-law memory. Existence of chaotic solutions is an intrinsic property of nonlinear dynamics (regular and fractional). Behavior of fractional systems can be very different from the behavior of the corresponding systems with no memory. Finding periodic points is essential for understanding regular and chaotic dynamics. Fractional systems do not have periodic points except fixed points. Instead, they have asymptotically periodic points (sinks). There have been no reported results (formulae) which would allow calculations of asymptotically periodic points of nonlinear fractional systems so far. In this paper, we derive the equations that allow calculations of the coordinates of the asymptotically periodic sinks.
Biogeochemical variability in the California Current System

Abstract The biological productivity and diversity of the California Current System (CCS) is at the leading edge of major emerging climate trends, including hypoxia and acidification. We present results from a hindcast simulation (reanalysis) of an eddy-resolving oceanic physical-biogeochemical model of the CCS, to characterize its mean state and its patterns and drivers of variability in marine biogeochemical and ecosystem processes from 1995 to 2010. This is a companion paper to a physical analysis in Renault et al. (2021). The model reproduces long-term mean distributions of key ecosystem metrics, including surface nutrients and productivity and subsurface O 2 and carbonate undersaturation. The spatial patterns of Net Primary Productivity (NPP) are broadly consistent with measured and remotely sensed rates, and they reflect a predominant limitation by nitrogen, with seasonal and episodic limitation by Fe nearshore in the central CCS, and in the open ocean northern CCS. The vertical distribution of NPP is governed by the trade-off between nutrient and light limitation, a balance that reproduces and explains the observed spatial variations in the depth of the deep Chl maximum. The seasonal to interannual variability of biogeochemical properties and rates is also well captured by model simulations. Because of the prevailing nutrient limitation, fluctuations in the depth of the pycnocline and associated nutricline are the leading single factor explaining interannual variability in the interior biogeochemical state, and the relationships between density and biogeochemical rates and tracers are consistent between model and observations. The magnitude and relationship between density structure and biogeochemical processes is illustrated by the 1997–98 El Nino event, which faithfully reproduces the single largest deviation from the mean state in the simulated period. A slower decadal shoaling of the pycnocline also accounts for the concomitant trends in hypoxic and corrosive conditions on the shelf. The resulting variability is key to understanding the vulnerability of marine species to oceanic change, and to the detection of such changes, soon projected to exceed the range of conditions in the past century.
Shapes of Centrally Symmetric Octahedra with Prescribed Cone-Deficits

In his paper "Shapes of Polyhedra and Triangulations of the Sphere", Thurston found that the set of shapes of convex polyhedra with prescribed cone-deficits has a complex hyperbolic structure. Inspired by his work, this paper studies the set of shapes of centrally symmetric octahedra with prescribed cone-deficits. We show that this set forms a real hyperbolic ideal tetrahedron, whose dihedral angles are half of the prescribed cone-deficits.
Examining a stepped-care telehealth program for parents of young children with autism: a proof-of-concept trial.

Intervention during the first years of life for children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) may have the strongest impact on long-term brain development and functioning. Yet, barriers such as a shortage of trained professionals contribute to significant delays in service. The goal of this proof-of-concept study was to explore strategies that support timely and equitable deployment of ASD-specific interventions. This 15-week, randomized proof-of-concept study explored the acceptability of a digital parent mediated intervention online reciprocal imitation training (RIT; a naturalistic developmental behavioral intervention) and compared it to a treatment as usual (TAU) control on parent and child outcomes. Eligible children were between 18 and 60 months, met the cutoff for ASD on the Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule-2nd Edition and demonstrate significant social imitation deficits. Primary outcomes include the acceptability of RIT (Scale of Treatment Perceptions) and the feasibility of the Online RIT digital intervention (online RIT attributes). Secondary outcomes included parent fidelity (RIT parent fidelity form) and parental self-efficacy (Early Intervention Parenting Self-Efficacy Scale). Exploratory outcome measures included child social communication (Social Communication Checklist), child imitation skills (Unstructured Imitation Assessment), and family quality of life (Beach Center Family Quality of Life Scale). Twenty participants were randomized in a 1:1 fashion. The acceptability and feasibility of RIT and the Online RIT digital intervention were rated highly. Among the secondary outcomes, there were significant group differences in parent fidelity (p < .001) and self-efficacy (p = .029). On exploratory outcomes, there were group differences in child social communication (p = .048). There were no significant group differences in imitation ability (p = .05) or family quality of life (p = .22). There are several limitations with this study, including the small sample size as well as lack of data on enactment and website engagement. This study was not able to address questions related to which variables predict program engagement and treatment response, which will be critical for determining which families may benefit from such a stepped-care delivery model. Overall, the Online RIT program delivered in a stepped-care format shows strong acceptability and holds promise as an innovative delivery model. Trial registration ClinicalTrials.gov, NCT04467073. Registered 10 July 2020- Retrospectively registered, https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT04467073
Semidefinite Programming for Community Detection With Side Information

This paper produces an efficient semidefinite programming (SDP) solution for community detection that incorporates non-graph data, which in this context is known as side information. SDP is an efficient solution for standard community detection on graphs. We formulate a semi-definite relaxation for the maximum likelihood estimation of node labels, subject to observing both graph and non-graph data. This formulation is distinct from the SDP solution of standard community detection, but maintains its desirable properties. We calculate the exact recovery threshold for three types of non-graph information, which in this paper are called side information: partially revealed labels, noisy labels, as well as multiple observations (features) per node with arbitrary but finite cardinality. We find that SDP has the same exact recovery threshold in the presence of side information as maximum likelihood with side information. Thus, the methods developed herein are computationally efficient as well as asymptotically accurate for the solution of community detection in the presence of side information. Simulations show that the asymptotic results of this paper can also shed light on the performance of SDP for graphs of modest size.
Disorder upon disorder: Localization effects in the Kitaev spin liquid

Abstract In recent years, several magnetic Mott insulators with strong spin–orbit couplings were suggested to be proximate to the Kitaev quantum spin liquid (QSL) whose one of the most exciting features is the fractionalization of spin excitations into itinerant Majorana fermions and static Z 2 fluxes. Motivated by the emergence of this plethora of 4d and 5d transition metal Kitaev materials and by the fact that some level of disorder is inevitable in real materials, here we study how the Kitaev QSL responds to various forms of disorder, such as vacancies, impurities, and bond randomness. First, we argue that the presence of the quenched disorder in the Kitaev QSL can lead to the Anderson localization of Majorana fermions and the appearance of Lifshitz tails. We point out that the Anderson localization of low-energy states is particularly strong in the extended Kitaev model with the time reversal symmetry breaking term. Second, we show that the disorder effects on the low-energy Majorana fermion modes can be detected in thermal transport. Third, we show that at finite temperatures the Z 2 fluxes become thermally excited and give rise to an additional disorder for the Majorana fermions. This source of the disorder dominates at high temperatures. Fourth, we demonstrate that both the structure of the energy spectrum and the thermal transport properties of the disordered Kitaev QSL depend strongly on the character of disorder. While we find that both the site disorder and the bond randomness suppress the longitudinal thermal conductivity, the low-energy localization is stronger in the case of the site disorder.
The Mitochondrial Carrier SFXN1 is Critical for Complex III Integrity and Cellular Metabolism

Mitochondrial carriers (MC) mediate the passage of small molecules across the inner mitochondrial membrane (IMM) enabling regulated crosstalk between compartmentalized reactions. Despite MCs representing the largest family of solute carriers in mammals, most have not been subjected to a comprehensive investigation, limiting our understanding of their metabolic contributions. Here, we functionally characterized SFXN1, a member of the non-canonical, sideroflexin MC family. We find that SFXN1, an integral membrane protein in the IMM with an uneven number of transmembrane domains, is a novel TIM22 substrate. SFXN1 deficiency specifically impairs Complex III (CIII) biogenesis, activity, and assembly, compromising coenzyme Q levels. This CIII dysfunction is independent of one-carbon metabolism, the known primary role for SFXN1 as a mitochondrial serine transporter. Instead, SFXN1 supports CIII function by participating in heme and central carbon metabolism. Our findings highlight the multiple ways that SFXN1-based amino acid transport impacts mitochondrial and cellular metabolic efficiency.
Examples of Homological Torsion and Volume Growth

We provide examples of towers of covers of cusped hyperbolic 3-manifolds whose exponential homological torsion growth is explicitly computed in terms of volume growth. These examples arise from abelian covers of alternating links in the thickened torus. A corollary is that the spanning tree entropy for each regular planar lattice is given by the volume of a hyperbolic polyhedron.
Functional tricuspid regurgitation of degenerative mitral valve disease: A crucial determinant of survival

Introduction To assess functional tricuspid regurgitation (FTR) determinants, consequences and independent impact on outcome in degenerative mitral regurgitation (DMR). Method All patients diagnosed with isolated DMR 2003–2011, structurally normal tricuspid leaflets, prospective FTR grading, pulmonary artery pressure (sPAP) estimation by Doppler-echocardiography at diagnosis were identified and long-term outcome analysed. Results The 5083 DMR eligible patients (63 ± 16years, 47%female, ejection-fraction (EF) 63 ± 7% and sPAP 35 ± 13 mmHg) presented with FTR graded trivial in 45%, mild in 37%, moderate in 15%, and severe in 3%. While pulmonary hypertension (PHTN) was the most powerful FTR severity determinant, other FTR determinants were older age, female sex, DMR, and Atrial Fibrillation (P ≤ 0.002). FTR moderate/severe independently linked to worse clinical presentation. Survival throughout follow-up (70% at 10-year) was strongly associated with FTR-severity (82% for trivial, 69% for mild, 51% for moderate and 26% for severe, P Fig. 1 ). Conclusion In this large DMR cohort, FTR was frequent, not only linked to PHTN and associated with worse clinical presentation. Long term, FTR is independently of all confounders, associated with considerably worse mortality. FTR moderate and severe is profoundly undertreated. Thus careful assessment, consideration for TR surgery and testing of new transcatheter therapy is warranted.
Seeing through health information technology: the need for transparency in software, algorithms, data privacy, and regulation.

The paper discusses transparency issues related to the four areas of software and algorithms, data and privacy, contracts and liability, and intellectual property through the lens of health information technologies. Arguing that an interdisciplinary approach makes the scope of issues more apparent and can lead to multi-faceted recommendations for addressing these issues, the paper contributes by bringing together scholarship and studies in law, medical informatics, ethics, and other domains. Software (algorithms, clinical decision support and electronic record systems, and popular commercial applications and devices) is too opaque to be used with confidence. Data and processes on which software is based are unknown, and, like system contracts, shrouded in intellectual privacy protections that prevent disseminating knowledge of software problems. Regulatory distinctions (e.g., between clinical and research data in HIPAA and the Common Rule) and the multiple agencies (e.g., FDA, FCC, FTC) governing different aspects of health-related information technologies make it difficult to understand what is regulated and how. Click-through privacy policies and end-user agreements for commercial applications are not generally comprehensible and make informed consent impossible. Most people are unaware of how data is gathered, aggregated, re-identified, and used in ways they may not sanction. Because big data makes all data health data, existing regulatory boundaries are increasingly irrelevant, people are affected in all aspects of their lives without their knowledge, and privacy and autonomy are compromised. The paper suggests potential remedies so that transparency and a multi-faceted interdisciplinary approach can inform robust public discussion and corrective regulatory, technological, organizational, educational, and social actions concerning information technologies.
The effect of vascular health factors on white matter microstructure mediates age-related differences in executive function performance.

Abstract Even within healthy aging, vascular risk factors can detrimentally influence cognition, with executive functions (EF) particularly vulnerable. Fronto-parietal white matter (WM) connectivity in part, supports EF and may be particularly sensitive to vascular risk. Here, we utilized structural equation modeling in 184 healthy adults (aged 20–94 years of age) to test the hypotheses that: 1) fronto-parietal WM microstructure mediates age effects on EF; 2) higher blood pressure (BP) and white matter hyperintensity (WMH) burden influences this association. All participants underwent comprehensive cognitive and neuropsychological testing including tests of processing speed, executive function (with a focus on tasks that require switching and inhibition) and completed an MRI scanning session that included FLAIR imaging for semi-automated quantification of white matter hyperintensity burden and diffusion-weighted imaging for tractography. Structural equation models were specified with age (as a continuous variable) and blood pressure predicting within-tract WMH burden and fractional anisotropy predicting executive function and processing speed. Results indicated that fronto-parietal white matter of the genu of the corpus collosum, superior longitudinal fasciculus, and the inferior frontal occipital fasciculus (but not cortico-spinal tract) mediated the association between age and EF. Additionally, increased systolic blood pressure and white matter hyperintensity burden within these white matter tracts contribute to worsening white matter health and are important factors underlying age-brain-behavior associations. These findings suggest that aging brings about increases in both BP and WMH burden, which may be involved in the degradation of white matter connectivity and in turn, negatively impact executive functions as we age.
The autophagy protein Becn1 improves insulin sensitivity by promoting adiponectin secretion via exocyst binding

Autophagy dysregulation is implicated in metabolic diseases, including type 2 diabetes. However, the mechanism by which the autophagy machinery regulates metabolism is largely unknown. Autophagy is generally considered a degradation process via lysosomes. Here, we unveil a metabolically important non-cell-autonomous, non-degradative mechanism regulated by the essential autophagy protein Becn1 in adipose tissue. Upon high-fat diet challenge, autophagy-hyperactive Becn1F121A mice show systemically improved insulin sensitivity and enhanced activation of AMP-activated protein kinase (AMPK), a central regulator of energy homeostasis, via a non-cell-autonomous mechanism mediated by adiponectin, an adipose-derived metabolic hormone. Adipose-specific Becn1F121A expression is sufficient to activate AMPK in non-adipose tissues and improve systemic insulin sensitivity by increasing adiponectin secretion. Further, Becn1 enhances adiponectin secretion by interacting with components of the exocyst complex via the coiled-coil domain. Together, our study demonstrates that Becn1 improves insulin sensitivity by facilitating adiponectin secretion through binding the exocyst in adipose tissue.
A new algorithm for Euclidean shortest paths in the plane

Given a set of pairwise disjoint polygonal obstacles in the plane, finding an obstacle-avoiding Euclidean shortest path between two points is a classical problem in computational geometry and has been studied extensively. Previously, Hershberger and Suri [SIAM J. Comput. 1999] gave an algorithm of O(nlogn) time and O(nlogn) space, where n is the total number of vertices of all obstacles. Recently, by modifying Hershberger and Suri’s algorithm, Wang [SODA 2021] reduced the space to O(n) while the runtime of the algorithm is still O(nlogn). In this paper, we present a new algorithm of O(n+hlogh) time and O(n) space, provided that a triangulation of the free space is given, where h is the number of obstacles. Our algorithm builds a shortest path map for a source point s, so that given any query point t, the shortest path length from s to t can be computed in O(logn) time and a shortest s-t path can be produced in additional time linear in the number of edges of the path.
Electric Dipole Polarizability of Neutron Rich Nuclei

Insights into the equation of state of neutron rich matter obtained from the neutron skin thickness of 208Pb are in sharp conflict with earlier measurements of the electric dipole polarizability. We use a set of accurately calibrated energy density functionals to highlight the tension and to articulate how plans for a highly-intense Gamma Factory may alleviate the tension.
On planar graphs of uniform polynomial growth

Consider an infinite planar graph with uniform polynomial growth of degree $$d > 2$$ . Many examples of such graphs exhibit similar geometric and spectral properties, and it has been conjectured that this is necessary. We present a family of counterexamples. In particular, we show that for every rational $$d > 2$$ , there is a planar graph with uniform polynomial growth of degree d on which the random walk is transient, disproving a conjecture of Benjamini (Coarse Geometry and Randomness, Volume 2100 of Lecture Notes in Mathematics. Springer, Cham, 2011). By a well-known theorem of Benjamini and Schramm, such a graph cannot be a unimodular random graph. We also give examples of unimodular random planar graphs of uniform polynomial growth with unexpected properties. For instance, graphs of (almost sure) uniform polynomial growth of every rational degree $$d > 2$$ for which the speed exponent of the walk is larger than 1/d, and in which the complements of all balls are connected. This resolves negatively two questions of Benjamini and Papasoglou (Proc Am Math Soc 139(11):4105–4111, 2011).
Dichotic listening deficits in amblyaudia are characterized by aberrant neural oscillations in auditory cortex.

Abstract Objective Children diagnosed with auditory processing disorder (APD) show deficits in processing complex sounds that are associated with difficulties in higher-order language, learning, cognitive, and communicative functions. Amblyaudia (AMB) is a subcategory of APD characterized by abnormally large ear asymmetries in dichotic listening tasks. Methods Here, we examined frequency-specific neural oscillations and functional connectivity via high-density electroencephalography (EEG) in children with and without AMB during passive listening of nonspeech stimuli. Results Time-frequency maps of these “brain rhythms” revealed stronger phase-locked beta-gamma (~35 Hz) oscillations in AMB participants within bilateral auditory cortex for sounds presented to the right ear, suggesting a hypersynchronization and imbalance of auditory neural activity. Brain-behavior correlations revealed neural asymmetries in cortical responses predicted the larger than normal right-ear advantage seen in participants with AMB. Additionally, we found weaker functional connectivity in the AMB group from right to left auditory cortex, despite their stronger neural responses overall. Conclusion Our results reveal abnormally large auditory sensory encoding and an imbalance in communication between cerebral hemispheres (ipsi- to -contralateral signaling) in AMB. Significance These neurophysiological changes might lead to the functionally poorer behavioral capacity to integrate information between the two ears in children with AMB.
Necessary Optimality Conditions in Discrete Nonsmooth Optimal Control

In this paper, we provide a simple proof of the maximum principle for a nonsmooth discrete-time optimal control problem. The methodology is general and encompasses all generalized derivatives for which the Lagrange multiplier rule and the chain rule hold. This includes, but is not limited to, limiting (Mordukhovich) and Michel–Penot subdifferentials.
A New Achievable Rate-Distortion Region for Distributed Source Coding

In this work, lossy distributed compression of a pair of correlated sources is considered. Conventionally, Shannon’s random coding arguments — using randomly generated unstructured codebooks whose blocklength is taken to be asymptotically large — are used to derive achievability results. However, in some multi-terminal communications scenarios, using random codes with constant finite blocklength in certain coding architectures leads to improved achievable regions compared to the conventional approach. In other words, in some network communication scenarios, there is a finite optimal value in the blocklength of the randomly generated code used for distributed processing of information sources. Motivated by this, a coding scheme is proposed which consists of two codebook layers: i) the primary codebook which has constant finite blocklength, and ii) the secondary codebook whose blocklength is taken to be asymptotically large. The achievable performance is analyzed in two steps. In the first step, a characterization of an inner bound to the achievable region is derived in terms information measures which are functions of multi-letter probability distributions. In the next step, a computable single-letter inner-bound to the achievable region is extracted. It is shown through an example that the resulting rate-distortion region is strictly larger than the Berger-Tung achievable region.
The paradox of second-order homophily in networks.

Homophily—the tendency of nodes to connect to others of the same type—is a central issue in the study of networks. Here we take a local view of homophily, defining notions of first-order homophily of a node (its individual tendency to link to similar others) and second-order homophily of a node (the aggregate first-order homophily of its neighbors). Through this view, we find a surprising result for homophily values that applies with only minimal assumptions on the graph topology. It can be phrased most simply as “in a graph of red and blue nodes, red friends of red nodes are on average more homophilous than red friends of blue nodes”. This gap in averages defies simple intuitive explanations, applies to globally heterophilous and homophilous networks and is reminiscent of but structurally distinct from the Friendship Paradox. The existence of this gap suggests intrinsic biases in homophily measurements between groups, and hence is relevant to empirical studies of homophily in networks.
Stress Analysis Study in Cooled Radial Inflow Turbine

With increased turbine inlet temperatures, numerical methods of thermal and stress analysis are becoming more valuable in the design of air-cooled turbines. This paper presents a study of the stresses associated with different cooling patterns in a radial inflow turbine rotor. The finite element method is used in the stress calculations taking into consideration centrifugal, thermal and aerodynamic loading. The effects of temperature distribution and the presence of internal cooling passages are discussed.
Experimental simulation of space plasma interactions with high voltage solar arrays

Operating high voltage solar arrays in the space environment can result in anomalously large currents being collected through small insulation defects. Tests of simulated defects have been conducted in a 45-cm vacuum chamber with plasma densities of 100,000 to 1,000,000/cu cm. Plasmas were generated using an argon hollow cathode. The solar array elements were simulated by placing a thin sheet of polyimide (Kapton) insulation with a small hole in it over a conductor. Parameters tested were: hole size, adhesive, surface roughening, sample temperature, insulator thickness, insulator area. These results are discussed along with some preliminary empirical correlations.
Rank-Adaptive Tensor Methods for High-Dimensional Nonlinear PDEs

We present a new rank-adaptive tensor method to compute the numerical solution of high-dimensional nonlinear PDEs. The method combines functional tensor train (FTT) series expansions, operator splitting time integration, and a new rank-adaptive algorithm based on a thresholding criterion that limits the component of the PDE velocity vector normal to the FTT tensor manifold. This yields a scheme that can add or remove tensor modes adaptively from the PDE solution as time integration proceeds. The new method is designed to improve computational efficiency, accuracy and robustness in numerical integration of high-dimensional problems. In particular, it overcomes well-known computational challenges associated with dynamic tensor integration, including low-rank modeling errors and the need to invert covariance matrices of tensor cores at each time step. Numerical applications are presented and discussed for linear and nonlinear advection problems in two dimensions, and for a four-dimensional Fokker–Planck equation.
Competitive Caching with Machine Learned Advice

Traditional online algorithms encapsulate decision making under uncertainty, and give ways to hedge against all possible future events, while guaranteeing a nearly optimal solution, as compared to ...
Aspect Classification for Legal Depositions

Attorneys have interest in having a digital library with suitable services (e.g., summarizing, searching, and browsing) to help them work with large legal deposition corpora. Their needs often involve understanding the semantics of such documents. In the case of tort litigation associated with property and casualty insurance claims, such as relating to an injury, it is important to know not only about liability, but also about events, accidents, physical conditions, and treatments.
A Note on the Concordance Invariant Epsilon

We compare the smooth concordance invariants Upsilon, phi and epsilon. Previous work gave examples of knots with one of the Upsilon and phi invariants zero but the epsilon invariant nonzero. We build an infinite family of linearly independent knots with both the Upsilon and phi invariants zero but the epsilon invariant nonzero.