cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Catalytic Intermolecular C-Alkylation of 1,2-Diketones with Simple Olefins: A Recyclable Directing Group Strategy

We describe the first example of Rh-catalyzed intermolecular C-alkylation of cyclic 1,2-diketones using simple terminal olefins as alkylating agents. Aminopyridine is employed as a recyclable directing group. First, it reacts with ketones to give enamines and delivers Rh to activate the vinyl C–H bonds in the same pot; second, it can be cleaved off and recovered via hydrolysis. A broad range of olefins can be utilized as substrates, including aliphatic, aromatic olefins and vinyl esters. The efficiency of this method is also demonstrated in the synthesis of a natural flavoring compound, 3-ethyl-5-methyl-1,2-cyclopentadione (one-pot 53% yield vs a previous four-step route 16% yield from the same starting material). This work is expected to serve as a seminal study toward catalytic ketone α-alkylation with unactivated olefins.
The Next Great Crisis in American Education: Computer Literacy

The information explosion in science and the shift in our economy from the production of industrial goods to a greater emphasis on science and knowledge-based industries has created a discontinuity...
Increasing the value of an alternative monetary reinforcer reduces cigarette choice in adolescents

INTRODUCTION Smoking can be conceptualized as an operant behavior maintained by the reinforcing effects of cigarettes. Changing the magnitude and availability of alternative reinforcers should shift behavior away from smoking. Adults' smoking behavior is sensitive to the magnitude and availability of alternative reinforcers; however, the extent to which the same is true for adolescents has not yet been shown in the laboratory. METHODS To test the sensitivity of adolescent smoking behavior to changes in the magnitude of alternative reinforcement, we gave adolescents who abstained overnight the opportunity to make 20 choices between receiving two puffs of their usual-brand cigarette or money. The magnitude of the monetary reinforcer was varied across sessions in counterbalanced order ($0.00, $0.10, and $0.50). RESULTS Results indicated that adolescents' choices for puffs decreased as a function of increasing monetary reinforcer magnitude, while money choices increased. This effect was moderated by baseline smoking level and by gender, such that heavier-smoking participants and males made more cigarette choices when the alternative monetary value was zero, and decreased their choices more steeply in response to increasing monetary value. CONCLUSIONS The current study validates a laboratory choice procedure for studying smoking in adolescents, and demonstrates that adolescent smoking behavior is sensitive to changes in the magnitude of concurrently available monetary reinforcers. The current paradigm can be adapted and applied to explore the effects of other variables that may affect cigarette choice in adolescents.
DC-SIGN a potential new target for antiretroviral (HTLV/HIV) drug discovery

August 20-22, 2012 D the susceptibility of dendritic cells (DCs) to human T-cell lymphotropic virus type 1 (HTLV-1) infection and the defined role of these cells in disease pathogenesis, the mechanisms of viral binding to DCs have not been fully delineated. Recently, a glucose transporter GLUT-1, heparan sulfate proteoglycans (HSPGs), and neuropilin-1 (NRP-1) were demonstrated to facilitate HTLV-1 entry into T cells. DCs express their own array of antigen receptors, the most important being the DC-specific intercellular adhesion molecule-3 (ICAM-3)-grabbing nonintegrin (DC-SIGN) with respect to retrovirus binding. Consequently, the role of DC-SIGN and other HTLV-1 attachment factors was analyzed in viral binding, transmission, and productive infection using monocyte-derived DCs (MDDCs), blood myeloid DCs, and B-cell lines expressing DC-SIGN. The relative expression of DC-SIGN, GLUT-1, HSPGs, and NRP-1 was first examined on both DCs and B-cell lines. Although inhibition of these molecules reduced viral binding, HTLV-1 transmission from DCs to T cells was mediated primarily by DC-SIGN. DC-SIGN was also shown to play a role in the infection of MDDCs as well as model B-cell lines. HTLV-1 infection of MDDCs was also achieved in blood myeloid DCs following the enhancement of virus-induced interleukin-4 production and subsequent DC-SIGN expression in this cell population. This study represents the first comprehensive analysis of potential HTLV-1 receptors on DCs and strongly suggests that DC-SIGN plays a critical role in HTLV-1 binding, transmission, and infection, thereby providing an attractive target for the development of antiretroviral therapeutics and microbicides. In this respect, we have developed both cell-based and cell-free high throughput screening assays in order to identify novel inhibitors of DC-SIGN interaction with HTLV-1 gp46 and HIV-1 gp120 proteins.
Fast Top-K Path-Based Relevance Query on Massive Graphs

Obtaining the items highly-relevant to a given set of query items is a key task for various applications, such as recommendation and relationship prediction. A family of path-based relevance metrics, which quantify item relevance based on the paths in an item graph, have been shown to be effective in capturing the relevance in many applications. Despite their effectiveness, path-based relevance normally requires time-consuming iterative computation. We propose an approach to obtain the top-k most relevant items for a given query item set quickly. Our approach uses novel score bounds to detect the emergence of the top-k items during the computation. The approach is designed for a distributed environment, which makes it scale for massive graphs having billions of nodes. Our experimental results show that the proposed approach can provide the results up to two order of magnitudes faster than previously proposed approaches and can scale well with both the size of input and the number of machines used in the computation.
A comparative analysis of the total syntheses of the amphidinolide T natural products.

In this article we compare and contrast the strategies and tactics used in the syntheses of the amphidinolide T family of natural products that have been reported by Furstner, Ghosh and ourselves. Similar approaches to the trisubstituted THF ring present in the targets are utilized in all of the syntheses, but each strategy showcases a different means of macrocyclization.
Universality of Poisson indicator and Fano factor of transport event statistics in ion channels and enzyme kinetics.

We consider a generic stochastic model of ion transport through a single channel with arbitrary internal structure and kinetic rates of transitions between internal states. This model is also applicable to describe kinetics of a class of enzymes in which turnover events correspond to conversion of substrate into product by a single enzyme molecule. We show that measurement of statistics of single molecule transition time through the channel contains only restricted information about internal structure of the channel. In particular, the most accessible flux fluctuation characteristics, such as the Poisson indicator (P) and the Fano factor (F) as function of solute concentration, depend only on three parameters in addition to the parameters of the Michaelis–Menten curve that characterizes average current through the channel. Nevertheless, measurement of Poisson indicator or Fano factor for such renewal processes can discriminate reactions with multiple intermediate steps as well as provide valuable informat...
Reappraising Stress Arousal Improves Performance and Reduces Evaluation Anxiety in Classroom Exam Situations

For students to thrive in the U.S. educational system, they must successfully cope with omnipresent demands of exams. Nearly all students experience testing situations as stressful, and signs of st...
Javorek v. Larson: Insurer's Obligation to Defend and Indemnify Insufficient to Establish Jurisdiction--Seider Sours in California

With its recent decision in Javorek v. Larson, the California Supreme Court has joined the growing number of states which have rejected the exercise of jurisdiction based upon the quasi in rem attachment of automobile liability insurance policies. This particular jurisdictional basis was first recognized in the New York case of Seider v. Roth, where the insurer's obligation to defend and indemnify the insured was found to be an attachable debt, yielding jurisdiction to the plaintiff's home state of New York, even though the defendant was a Canadian resident and the accident occurred in Vermont. The only requirement of a Seider attachment is that the defendant's insurance company be licensed to conduct business in the plaintiffs home state. Seider has gained few followers and has been the target of considerable criticism. This note will analyze the Javorek court's rejection of Seider and its potential impact on other states. Additionally, some constitutional problems not raised in Javorek will be examined. Finally, some proposals will be made concerning current jurisdictional trends.
Perioperative Outcomes, Health Care Costs, and Survival After Robotic-assisted Versus Open Radical Cystectomy: A National Comparative Effectiveness Study.

Abstract Background Radical cystectomy is the gold-standard management for muscle-invasive bladder cancer, and there is debate concerning the comparative effectiveness of robotic-assisted (RARC) versus open radical cystectomy (ORC). Objective To compare utilization, perioperative, cost, and survival outcomes of RARC versus ORC. Design, setting, and participants We identified bladder urothelial carcinoma treated with RARC ( n =439) or ORC ( n =7308) during 2002–2012 using the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results Program-Medicare linked data. Intervention Comparison of RARC versus ORC. Outcome measurements and statistical analysis We used propensity score matching to compare perioperative and survival outcomes, including lymph node yield, perioperative complications, and healthcare costs. Results and limitations Utilization of RARC increased from 0.7% of radical cystectomies in 2002 to 18.5% in 2012 ( p p =0.007) of RARC versus ORC, respectively. RARC was associated with greater lymph node yield with 41.5% versus 34.9% having ≥10 lymph nodes removed (relative risk 1.1, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.01–1.22, p =0.03) and shorter mean length of hospitalization at 10.1 (± standard deviation 7.1) d versus 11.2 (± 8.6) d ( p =0.004). While inpatient costs were similar, RARC was associated with increased home healthcare utilization (relative risk 1.14, 95% CI 1.04–1.26, p =0.009) and higher 30-d ( p p Conclusions RARC provides equivalent perioperative and intermediate term outcomes to ORC. Additional long-term and randomized studies are needed for continued comparative effectiveness assessment of RARC versus ORC. Patient summary Our population-based US study demonstrates that robotic-assisted radical cystectomy has similar perioperative and survival outcomes albeit at higher costs.
Radiographic characteristics of skull fractures resulting from child abuse

Radiographic characteristics of skull fractures in 39 cases of documented child abuse were compared with skull fractures in 95 cases of accidental injury to determine if differential features could be identified. All children were less than 2 years old. Emergency room and hospital records for these patients were also reviewed. The results of this study show that clinical features did not provide any clues as to whether the children had been injured by abuse or by accident. However, it was found that multiple fractures, bilateral fractures, and fractures crossing sutures occurred significantly more often in abuse cases than in accidental injury. When such fractures are present, abuse should be suspected.
Photoinduced Formation of Hybrid Aryl Pd-Radical Species Capable of 1,5-HAT: Selective Catalytic Oxidation of Silyl Ethers into Silyl Enol Ethers

A direct visible light-induced generation of a hybrid aryl Pd-radical species from aryl iodide and Pd(0) is reported to enable an unprecedented (for hybrid Pd-radical species) hydrogen atom-transfer event. This approach allowed for efficient desaturation of readily available silyl ethers into synthetically valuable silyl enols. Moreover, this oxidation reaction proceeds at room temperature without the aid of exogenous photosensitizers or oxidants.
Ter-pyridine catalyzed allylation of aldehydes and ketones under metal-free condition

Abstract Ter-pyridine derivatives were found to be potential catalyst for homoallylation of carbonyl groups. High yields of the products with short reaction times of ∼2 h were observed in several cases. These new catalysts work efficiently with the simple reagent such as allyl magnesium bromide and hence can avoid the use of other sensitive or toxic reagents. It was found that the presence of polar groups on the catalysts made them extremely efficient without the presence of any metal salts.
Synthesis of an esterase-sensitive cyclic prodrug of a model hexapeptide having enhanced membrane permeability and enzymatic stability using an acyloxyalkoxy promoiety.

The clinical development of orally active peptide drugs has been limited by their unfavorable physicochemical characteristics (e.g., charge, hydrogen bonding potential, size), which prevent them from permeating biological barriers such as the intestinal mucosa, and also their lack of stability against enzymatic degradation (1-12). Unfortunately, many of the structural features of peptides (i.e., the N-terminal amino group and C-terminal carboxyl group, and side chain carboxyl, amino, and hydroxyl groups) that bestow upon the molecule affinity and specificity for its pharmacological receptor severely restrict its ability to permeate biological barriers and make the molecules substrates for peptidases. Therefore, successful oral delivery of peptides depends on strategies designed to alter the physicochemical characteristics of these potential drugs without changing their biological activity in order to circumvent the intestinal epithelial cells.
Hepatitis B in Pregnancy

Chronic hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection is estimated to affect >350 million people worldwide and represents a significant cause of morbidity and mortality related to cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma. Mother-to-child transmission (MTCT) of HBV remains an important source of incident cases of HBV. Current barriers to eradication of incident HBV infections via MTCT include underutilization of immunoprophylaxis with hepatitis B vaccination and hepatitis B immune globulin in certain endemic regions as well as failure of immunoprophylaxis.
Immunodeficiency-associated lymphoproliferative disorders

The incidence of lymphoproliferative disease is significantly higher in individuals who have congenital, acquired, or iatrogenically induced immunodeficiency. The immunodeficiency-associated lymphoproliferative disorders are clinically and pathologically heterogeneous, are of variable clonal composition, and vary according to the immunodeficiency syndrome. Nonetheless, they share several features, including frequent origination in or involvement of extranodal sites, diffuse aggressive histology, B-cell lineage derivation, association with the Epstein-Barr virus (EBV), and, often, rapid clinical progression. Reactive and atypical lymphoid hyperplasias and malignant lymphomas occur in association with congenital (primary) immunodeficiency. Post-transplantation lymphoproliferative disorders are often comprised of a polymorphic cell population, making it difficult to identify their benign or malignant nature by histopathologic criteria alone. Recent studies suggest that they are divisible into plasmacytic hyperplasias, polymorphic lymphoproliferative disorders, and malignant lymphomas. The plasmacytic hyperplasias are polyclonal and generally regress spontaneously following withdrawal of immunosuppression. The malignant lymphomas are monoclonal, possess a variety of genetic alterations, and generally progress despite aggressive therapy. The polymorphic lymphoproliferative disorders are also monoclonal but display variable clinical behavior, their progression apparently correlating with bcl-6 gene mutation. Non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (NHL) is the second most common AIDS-related neoplasm and an AIDS-defining illness. AIDS-related NHLs are divisible by anatomic site of origin into systemic (nodal/extra nodal), primary central nervous system, and body cavity-based (primary effusion) lymphomas; and by histopathology into Burkitt's and Burkitt's-like lymphoma, large cell lymphoma, and large cell immunoblastic (plasmacytoid) lymphoma More than 90% are monoclonal B-cell neoplasms. The primary effusion lymphomas contain the Kaposi's sarcoma-associated herpesvirus. Multiple molecular pathways appear to operate in AIDS lymphomagenesis and some may be preferentially associated with specific histopathologic categories or anatomic sites of origin. In conclusion, the immunodeficiency-associated lymphoproliferative disorders often represent a significant diagnostic problem requiring correlative analysis of the clinical behavior of the patient with the histopathology, immunophenotype, clonal composition, viral content, and genetic alterations of the lymphoproliferative disorder. They also represent an important biological model for studying the development and progression of lymphoid neoplasia
One-Pot Ketone Synthesis with Alkylzinc Halides Prepared from Alkyl Halides via a Single Electron Transfer (SET) Process: New Extension of Fukuyama Ketone Synthesis

One-pot ketone synthesis has been developed with in situ activation of alkyl halides to alkylzinc halides in the presence of thioesters and Pd-catalyst. The new method provides us with a reliable option for a coupling at a late stage in a convergent synthesis of complex molecules, with use of a near 1:1 molar ratio of coupling partners. First, two facile, orthogonal methods have been developed for preparation of alkylzinc halides: (1) direct insertion of zinc dust to 1°- and 2°-alkyl halides in the presence of LiI in DMI and (2) early transition-metal assisted activation of alkyl halides via a single electron transfer (SET) process. CrCl2 has been found as an unprecedented, inevitable mediator for preparation of alkylzinc halides from alkyl halides, where CrCl2 likely functions to trap R·, generated via a SET process, and transfer it to Zn(II) to form RZnX. In addition to a commonly used CoPc, a new radical initiator NbCpCl4 has been discovered through the study. Second, with use of the two orthogonal met...
DeepFood: Deep Learning-Based Food Image Recognition for Computer-Aided Dietary Assessment

Worldwide, in 2014, more than 1.9 billion adults, 18 years and older, were overweight. Of these, over 600 million were obese. Accurately documenting dietary caloric intake is crucial to manage weight loss, but also presents challenges because most of the current methods for dietary assessment must rely on memory to recall foods eaten. The ultimate goal of our research is to develop computer-aided technical solutions to enhance and improve the accuracy of current measurements of dietary intake. Our proposed system in this paper aims to improve the accuracy of dietary assessment by analyzing the food images captured by mobile devices e.g., smartphone. The key technique innovation in this paper is the deep learning-based food image recognition algorithms. Substantial research has demonstrated that digital imaging accurately estimates dietary intake in many environments and it has many advantages over other methods. However, how to derive the food information e.g., food type and portion size from food image effectively and efficiently remains a challenging and open research problem. We propose a new Convolutional Neural Network CNN-based food image recognition algorithm to address this problem. We applied our proposed approach to two real-world food image data sets UEC-256 and Food-101 and achieved impressive results. To the best of our knowledge, these results outperformed all other reported work using these two data sets. Our experiments have demonstrated that the proposed approach is a promising solution for addressing the food image recognition problem. Our future work includes further improving the performance of the algorithms and integrating our system into a real-world mobile and cloud computing-based system to enhance the accuracy of current measurements of dietary intake.
Recycling randomness with structure for sublinear time kernel expansions

We propose a scheme for recycling Gaussian random vectors into structured matrices to approximate various kernel functions in sublinear time via random embeddings. Our framework includes the Fastfood construction of Le et al. (2013) as a special case, but also extends to Circulant, Toeplitz and Hankel matrices, and the broader family of structured matrices that are characterized by the concept of low-displacement rank. We introduce notions of coherence and graph-theoretic structural constants that control the approximation quality, and prove unbiasedness and low-variance properties of random feature maps that arise within our framework. For the case of low-displacement matrices, we show how the degree of structure and randomness can be controlled to reduce statistical variance at the cost of increased computation and storage requirements. Empirical results strongly support our theory and justify the use of a broader family of structured matrices for scaling up kernel methods using random features.
A Social Work Perspective on Paediatric and Adolescent Research Vulnerability

Children’s and adolescents’ capacity to provide valid informed consent is one of the key ethical concerns in pediatric research. This review of adolescent vulnerability is presented to highlight the complex interplay between capacity and other forms of vulnerability. This review is offered as an interdisciplinary analysis to better understand why the study of vulnerable populations is critical to the ethical advancement of clinical research. Results from this analysis suggest the need for enhanced screening techniques as well as the utilization of specialized staff to identify and reduce the impact of different forms of vulnerability. These findings also provide insights into ways to ethically involve youth in complex biomedical research.
Electrophysiology of ventricular tachycardia: a historical perspective.

The purpose of this article was to review the history of the use of programmed electrical stimulation (PES) and endocardial catheter mapping to evaluate the mechanisms of ventricular tachycardias (VTs) and develop therapy to treat them. While most of the information initially regarding tachycardia mechanism came from studies of VT in the setting of coronary artery disease, subsequent studies of VT in a variety of other conditions revealed mechanisms other than reentry were operative. The methods used to define mechanisms were then used to develop therapy for these arrhythmias. As such, this article is divided into two parts, Mechanisms and Therapy (Tables I and II)
Advanced Maternal Age and the Risk of Major Congenital Anomalies.

Objective This study aims to determine if advanced maternal age (AMA) is a risk factor for major congenital anomalies, in the absence of aneuploidy. Study Design Retrospective cohort study of all patients with a singleton gestation presenting for second trimester anatomic survey over a 19-year study period. Aneuploid fetuses were excluded. Study groups were defined by maternal age ≤ 34 and ≥ 35 years. The primary outcome was the presence of one or more major anomalies diagnosed at the second trimester ultrasound. Univariable and multivariable logistic regression analyses were used to estimate the risk of major anomalies in AMA patients. Results Of 76,156 euploid fetuses, 2.4% (n = 1,804) were diagnosed with a major anomaly. There was a significant decrease in the incidence of major fetal anomalies with increasing maternal age until the threshold of age 35 (p Conclusion AMA is associated with an overall decreased risk for major anomalies. These findings may suggest that the “all or nothing” phenomenon plays a more robust role in embryonic development with advancing oocyte age, with anatomically normal fetuses being more likely to survive.
Polarization without Parties: Term Limits and Legislative Partisanship in Nebraska's Unicameral Legislature

Despite a long history of nonpartisanship, the Nebraska state legislature has polarized rapidly within the past decade. Using interviews and campaign finance records, we examine politics in the modern Unicam to investigate nonpartisan polarization. We find that newly instituted term limits created opportunities for the state’s political parties to recruit and finance candidates in an increasingly partisan fashion. Social network analysis suggests that there is a growing level of structure to campaign donations, with political elites increasingly less likely to contribute across party lines. The results offer a compelling example of parties overcoming institutions designed to eliminate them.
Covert channels in combinatorial games

A general framework for exploiting covert channels in combinatorial games is presented. The framework is applicable to all combinatorial games, including Chess and Go, but is applied to the game of Tic-Tac-Toe for ease of experimental analysis. The security and capacity of the resulting covert channel are analyzed experimentally. By considering the ways in which a passive adversary can attempt to detect and neutralize the usage of the channel, it is shown that the passive adversary cannot distinguish games which contain hidden information from games which do not. It is also shown that, even by enforcing a perfect-play requirement, the adversary cannot reduce the capacity of the channel to zero in order to prevent covert communication. Additionally, the framework is shown to be generalizable to multiplayer games and games without perfect information by identifying covert channels in two other games.
On Connectivity and Robustness in Random Intersection Graphs

Random intersection graphs have received much attention recently and been used in a wide range of applications ranging from key predistribution in wireless sensor networks to modeling social networks. For these graphs, each node is equipped with a set of objects in a random manner, and two nodes have an undirected edge in between if they have at least one object in common. In this paper, we investigate connectivity and robustness in a general random intersection graph model. Specifically, we establish sharp asymptotic zero-one laws for $k$ -connectivity and $k$ -robustness, as well as the asymptotically exact probability of $k$ -connectivity, for any positive integer $k$ . The $k$ -connectivity property quantifies how resilient is the connectivity of a graph against node or edge failures, while $k$ -robustness measures the effectiveness of local-information-based consensus algorithms (which do not use global graph topology information) in the presence of adversarial nodes. In addition to presenting the results under the general random intersection graph model, we consider two special cases of the general model, a binomial random intersection graph and a uniform random intersection graph, which both have numerous applications as well. For these two specialized graphs, we present asymptotically exact probabilities of $k$ -connectivity and asymptotic zero-one laws for $k$ -robustness.
A data-driven alternative to the fractional Fokker–Planck equation

Anomalous diffusion processes are ubiquitous in biology and arise in the transport of proteins, vesicles and other particles. Such anomalously diffusive behavior is attributed to a number of factors within the cell including heterogeneous environments, active transport processes and local trapping/binding. There are a number of microscopic principles—such as power law jump size and/or waiting time distributions—from which the fractional Fokker-Planck equation (FFPE) can be derived and used to provide mechanistic insight into the origins of anomalous diffusion. On the other hand, it is fair to ask if other microscopic principles could also have given rise to the evolution of an observed density profile that appears to be well fit by an FFPE. Here we discuss another possible mechanistic alternative that can give rise to densities like those generated by FFPEs. Rather than to fit a density (or concentration profile) using a solution to the spatial FFPE, we reconstruct the profile generated by an FFPE using a regular FPE with a spatial and time-dependent force. We focus on the special case of the spatial FFPE for superdiffusive processes. This special case is relevant to, for example, active transport in a biological context. We devise a prescription for extracting such forces on synthetically generated data and provide an interpretation to the forces extracted. In particular, the time-dependence of forces could tell us about ATP depletion or changes in the cell's metabolic activity. Modeling anomalous behavior with normal diffusion driven by these effective forces yields an alternative mechanistic picture that, ultimately, could help motivate future experiments.
SEEING (FROM) DIGITAL PERIPHERIES: Technology and Transparency in Kenya's Silicon Savannah

This article focuses on how the recent proliferation of digital technologies in Nairobi, Kenya—a place many refer to as Silicon Savannah—is shaping the aspirations and anxieties of the city's poor. Taking as its point of departure an NGO project that enlisted settlement residents to digitally map their own neighborhood, I explore how geospatial technologies came to embody the shared dreams that animated Kenya's ambitious development plans and became implicated in debates about expertise, transparency, visibility, and truth. In particular, I discuss how utopian ideologies about technology, transparency, and mediation structured beliefs about the maps and map-makers, and how the symbolic and material qualities of the digital form alternately enabled and challenged settlement residents’ self-actualization. By foregrounding the ways in which subjectivity and social relations of power inform understandings of transparency, I suggest that settlement residents invoked transparency discourse as a form of claim-making about technological expertise; through making their neighborhood visible through digital mapping, the mappers also attempted to make themselves visible as technical experts. In their struggle to become socially visible, however, the mapmakers’ status as technical experts was thrown into question. I argue that to see the inequalities (re)produced through technological imaginaries and sociotechnical engagements, we must analyze new media technologies as both potential vectors of sociopolitical recognition—that is, as technologies that make social relations of power visible—and as battlegrounds on which the urban poor's claims to transparency and expertise are affirmed or ignored, heeded or disregarded.
Primary Congenital Glaucoma Versus Glaucoma Following Congenital Cataract Surgery: Comparative Clinical Features and Long-term Outcomes.

Purpose To report and compare visual and glaucoma outcomes in primary congenital glaucoma (PCG) vs glaucoma following congenital cataract surgery (GFCS). Design Retrospective, observational, comparative case series. Methods Setting: Emory Eye Center, Atlanta, Georgia. Study Population: Pediatric glaucoma patients (age 0-18 years) treated at Emory by 1 clinician with ≥2-year follow-up. Glaucoma was defined according to the 9th Consensus Report of the World Glaucoma Association. Main Outcome Measures: Snellen-equivalent logMAR visual acuity (VA) and glaucoma control (IOP ≤21, no devastating complications, no recommendation for further glaucoma surgery). Asymptotic Wilcoxon-Mann-Whitney rank sum tests were employed to compare glaucoma subgroups. Results Included were 72 PCG and 56 GFCS cases, with mean follow-up time of 7.4 ± 4.1 and 8.0 ± 3.8 years, respectively. At last follow-up, PCG showed better median VA than GFCS in worse-seeing eyes (20/60 [interquartile range (IQR) 20/30-20/200] vs 20/400 [IQR 20/70-hand motion], respectively, P P = .024).The following variables characterized the PCG and GFCS groups' glaucoma status, respectively: mean age at diagnosis (years), 0.70 ± 1.3 vs 3.3 ± 3.5 ( P P = .037; median number of glaucoma medications at last follow-up, 1.49 [IQR 0-2] vs 2.54 [IQR 1-4], P P = .09. Conclusions Children with PCG (vs those with GFCS) presented earlier, had better vision, required fewer medications to control disease, and had lower IOP at last follow-up.
The increasing importance of atmospheric demand for ecosystem water and carbon fluxes

US Department of Energy; National Science Foundation (NSF) [DEB 1552747]; NSF [DEB 1552976, EF 1241881, EAR 125501, EAR 155489]; NOAA/GFDL-Princeton University Cooperative Institute for Climate Science
The Chicago Climate Exchange and market efficiency: an empirical analysis

This study provides the first empirical investigation of informational efficiency for the Chicago Climate Exchange. Using daily settlement price and trading volume data for the Carbon Financial Instruments, we conduct a battery of econometric tests in assessing weak-form market efficiency for the Chicago Climate Exchange during its Phases I and II. Results of the empirical tests collectively suggest an absence of weak-form informational efficiency during Phase I, yet signs of improvement in informational efficiency during Phase II. Our results highlight the dual roles of trading activity and government regulation in promoting informationally efficient and well-functioning carbon markets in the United States.
Cross-Pollinating Culturally Sustaining Pedagogy and Universal Design for Learning: Toward an Inclusive Pedagogy That Accounts for Dis/Ability.

In this article, Federico R. Waitoller and Kathleen A. King Thorius extend recent discussions on culturally sustaining pedagogy (CSP) in order to explicitly account for student dis/ability. The authors engage in this work as part of an inclusive education agenda. Toward this aim, they discuss how CSP and universal design for learning will benefit from cross-pollination and then conclude by suggesting interdisciplinary dialogue as a means to building emancipatory pedagogies that attend to intersecting markers of difference (e.g., dis/ability, class, gender, race, language, and ethnicity).
Can the culture of honor lead to inefficient conventions ? experimental evidence from India

Experiments in the United States have found that pairs of individuals are generally able to form socially efficient conventions in coordination games of common interest in a remarkably short time. This paper shows that this ability is not universal. The paper reports the results of a field experiment in India in which pairs of men from high and low castes repeatedly played a coordination game of common interest. Low-caste pairs overwhelmingly coordinated on the efficient equilibrium, consistent with earlier findings. In contrast, high-caste pairs coordinated on the efficient equilibrium at a much lower rate, with only 47 percent in efficient coordination in the final period of the experiment. The study traces the divergence in outcomes to how an individual responds to the low payoff he obtains when he attempts efficient coordination but his partner does not. After this event, high-caste men are significantly less likely than low-caste men to continue trying for efficiency. The limited ability to form the efficient convention can be explained by the framing effect of the culture of honor among high-caste men, which may lead them to interpret this event as a challenge to their honor, which triggers a retaliatory response.
Clinical presentation and outcome of pediatric ANCA-associated glomerulonephritis

Antineutrophil cytoplasmic antibody (ANCA)-associated vasculitis is a small- and medium-sized vasculitis classically seen in adult patients, with peak onset near the fifth to seventh decade of life. There is little data on ANCA-associated vasculitis in pediatric patients, and most studies have limited follow-up. This is a retrospective chart review of 22 patients with ANCA-positive glomerulonephritis in a single institution from 1991 to 2013. Of the 22 patients, eight (36 %) required renal replacement therapy (RRT) at diagnosis; four of these patients recovered sufficient renal function to initially discontinue dialysis. Five patients (23 %) were treated with plasmapheresis at presentation. The median time from presentation until first clinical or serologic relapse was 1.7 ± 1.2 years. After a median follow-up of 5.8 years, just over half of our patients had chronic kidney disease (CKD) stages 1–3 (55 %). Seven (32 %) patients progressed to end-stage renal disease (ESRD) and eventually required kidney transplant. ANCA-associated glomerulonephritis is a rare disorder in children. Presentation and outcomes vary significantly among patients. More research is required to follow these patients who are diagnosed in childhood to further characterize the long-term outcome of the disease.
Facilitation of Psychiatric Advance Directives by Peers and Clinicians on Assertive Community Treatment Teams

Objective:Psychiatric advance directives (PADs) provide a legal mechanism for competent adults to document care preferences and authorize a surrogate to make treatment decisions. In a controlled research setting, an evidence-based intervention, the facilitated psychiatric advance directive (FPAD), was previously shown to overcome most barriers to PAD completion. This study examined implementation of the FPAD intervention in usual care settings as delivered by peer support specialists and nonpeer clinicians on assertive community treatment (ACT) teams.Methods:A total of 145 ACT consumers were randomly assigned, within teams, to FPAD with facilitation by either a peer (N=71) or a clinician (N=74). Completion rates and PAD quality were compared with the previous study’s standard and across facilitator type. Logistic regression was used to estimate effects on the likelihood of PAD completion.Results:The completion rate of 50% in the intent-to-treat sample (N=145) was somewhat inferior to the prior standard (6...
Jointly learning to align and convert graphemes to phonemes with neural attention models

We propose an attention-enabled encoder-decoder model for the problem of grapheme-to-phoneme conversion. Most previous work has tackled the problem via joint sequence models that require explicit alignments for training. In contrast, the attention-enabled encoder-decoder model allows for jointly learning to align and convert characters to phonemes. We explore different types of attention models, including global and local attention, and our best models achieve state-of-the-art results on three standard data sets (CMU-Dict, Pronlex, and NetTalk).
Broadcast Coded Modulation: Multilevel and Bit-Interleaved Construction

The capacity of the AWGN broadcast channel is achieved by superposition coding, but the superposition of individual coded modulations expands the modulation alphabet and distorts its configuration. Hierarchical modulations, which appear in the literature mostly in the context of unequal error protection, can approach only a few isolated points on the boundary of the broadcast capacity region. This paper studies multilevel coding (MLC) for constellation-constrained broadcast-coded modulation. The conditions under which multilevel codes can achieve the constellation-constrained capacity of the AWGN broadcast channel are derived. We propose a pragmatic multilevel design technique with near-constellation-constrained-capacity performance where the coupling of the superposition inner and outer codes is localized to each bit-level. It is shown that this can be further relaxed to a code coupling on only one bit-level, with a little or no penalty under natural labeling. The rate allocation problem between the bit levels of the two users is studied and a pragmatic method is proposed, again with near-capacity performance. In further pursuit of lower complexity, a hybrid MLC-bit-interleaved-coded modulation is proposed, whose performance is shown to be very close to the boundary of the constellation-constrained capacity region. Simulation results show that good point-to-point LDPC codes produce excellent performance in the proposed coded modulation framework.
Pseudo-wealth and Consumption Fluctuations

This paper provides an explanation for situations in which the state variables describing the economy do not change, but aggregate consumption experiences significant changes. We present a theory of pseudo-wealth—individuals’ perceived wealth that is derived from heterogeneous beliefs and expectations of gains in a bet. This wealth is divorced from real assets that may exist in society. The creation of a market for bets will imply positive pseudo-wealth. Changes in the differences of prior beliefs will lead to changes in expected wealth and hence to changes in consumption, implying ex-post intertemporal individual and aggregate consumption misallocations and instabilities. Thus, in the environment we describe, completing markets increases macroeconomic volatility, raising unsettling welfare questions.
Capital market effects of media synthesis and dissemination: evidence from robo-journalism

In 2014, the Associated Press (AP) began using algorithms to write articles about firms’ earnings announcements. These “robo-journalism” articles synthesize information from firms’ press releases, analyst reports, and stock performance and are widely disseminated by major news outlets a few hours after the earnings release. The articles are available for thousands of firms on a quarterly basis, many of which previously received little or no media attention. We use AP’s staggered implementation of robo-journalism to examine the effects of media synthesis and dissemination, in a setting where the articles are devoid of private information and are largely exogenous to the firm’s earnings news and disclosure choices. We find compelling evidence that automated articles increase firms’ trading volume and liquidity. The effects are most likely driven by retail traders. We find no evidence that the articles improve or impede the speed of price discovery. Our study provides novel evidence on the impact of pure synthesis and dissemination of public information in capital markets and initial insights into the implications of automated journalism for market efficiency.
Hierarchically consistent control systems

Large-scale control systems typically possess a hierarchical architecture in order to manage complexity. Higher levels of the hierarchy utilize coarser models of the system, resulting from aggregating the detailed lower level models. In this layered control paradigm, the notion of hierarchical consistency is important, as it ensures the implementation of high-level objectives by the lower level system. In this paper, we define a notion of modeling hierarchy for continuous control systems and obtain characterizations for hierarchically consistent linear systems with respect to controllability objectives. As an interesting byproduct, we obtain a hierarchical controllability criterion for linear systems from which we recover the best of the known controllability algorithms from numerical linear algebra.
Innate Immune Pathways Associated with Lung Radioprotection by Soy Isoflavones

Introduction: Radiation therapy for lung cancer causes pneumonitis and fibrosis. Soy isoflavones protect against radiation-induced lung injury, but the mediators of radioprotection remain unclear. We investigated the effect of radiation on myeloid-derived suppressor cell (MDSCs) in the lung and their modulation by soy isoflavones for a potential role in protection from radiation-induced lung injury. Methods: BALB/c mice (5-6 weeks old) received a single 10 Gy dose of thoracic irradiation and soy isoflavones were orally administrated daily prior to and after radiation at 1 mg/day. Arginase-1 (Arg-1) and NF-kB p65 were detected in lung tissue by western blot and immunohistochemistry. Lung MDSC subsets and their Arg-1 expression were analyzed by flow cytometry. Cytokine levels in lungs were measured by ELISA. Results: At 1 week after radiation, CD11b+ cells expressing Arg-1 were decreased by radiation in lung tissue yet maintained in lungs treated with radiation and soy isoflavones. Arg-1 was predominantly expressed by CD11b+Ly6ClowLy6G+ granulocytic MDSCs (gr-MDSCs). Arg-1 expression in gr-MDSCs was reduced by radiation and preserved by supplementation with soy isoflavones. A persistent increase in Arg-1+ cells was observed in lung tissue treated with combined radiation and soy isoflavones at early and late time points, compared to radiation alone. The increase in Arg-1 expression mediated by soy isoflavones could be associated with the inhibition of radiation-induced activation of NF-κB and the control of pro-inflammatory cytokine production demonstrated in this study. Conclusion: A radioprotective mechanism of soy isoflavones may involve the promotion of Arg-1 expressing gr-MDSCs that could play a role in downregulation of inflammation and lung radioprotection.
Appellate Determinacy: The Sentencing Philosophy of The United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit

This article is about the evolution of sentencing in the Third Circuit of the United States Courts of Appeals and the alternating between determinate and indeterminate sentencing.
Air spacer for 10nm FinFET CMOS and beyond

For the first time, we report integration of air spacers with FinFET technology at 10nm node dimensions. The benefit of parasitic capacitance reduction by air spacers has been successfully demonstrated both at transistor level (15–25% reduction in overlap capacitance (C OT )) and at ring oscillator level (10–15% reduction in effective capacitance (Cf)). Key process challenges and device implications of integrating air spacers in FinFET are identified. We propose a partial air spacer scheme, in which air spacers are formed only above fin top and sandwiched by two dielectric liners, as a viable option to adopt air spacers in FinFET technology with minimal risks to yield and reliability.
Reinforcement learning and apprenticeship learning for robotic control

Many control problems, such as autonomous helicopter flight, legged robot locomotion, and autonomous driving are difficult because (i) It is hard to write down, in closed form, a formal specification of the control task (for example, what is the cost function for ”driving well”?), (ii) It is difficult to learn good models of the robot's dynamics, and (iii) It is expensive to find closed-loop controllers for high dimensional, highly stochastic domains. Using apprenticeship learning—in which we learn from a human demonstration of a task—as a unifying theme, I will present formal results showing how many control problems can be efficiently addressed given access to a demonstration. In presenting these ideas, I will also draw from a number of case studies, including applications in autonomous helicopter flight, quadruped obstacle negotiation, snake robot locomotion, and high-speed off-road navigation. Finally, I will also describe the application of these ideas to the STAIR (STanford AI Robot) project, which has the long term goal of integrating methods from all major areas of AI—including spoken dialog/NLP, manipulation, vision, navigation, and planning—to build a general-purpose, “intelligent” home/office robotic assistant.
Optimal design of a model energy conversion device

Fuel cells, batteries, and thermochemical and other energy conversion devices involve the transport of a number of (electro-) chemical species through distinct materials so that they can meet and react at specified multi-material interfaces. Therefore, morphology or arrangement of these different materials can be critical in the performance of an energy conversion device. In this paper, we study a model problem motivated by a solar-driven thermochemical conversion device that splits water into hydrogen and oxygen. We formulate the problem as a system of coupled multi-material reaction-diffusion equations where each species diffuses selectively through a given material and where the reaction occurs at multi-material interfaces. We introduce a phase-field formulation of the optimal design problem and numerically study selected examples.