cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Improving Research in Radiation Oncology through Interdisciplinary Collaboration

The contribution of radiation oncology to the future of cancer treatment depends significantly on our continued clinical progress and future research advancements. Such progress relies on multidisciplinary collaboration among radiation oncologists, medical physicists and radiobiologists. Cultivating collaborative educational and research opportunities among these three disciplines and further investing in the infrastructure used to train both clinicians and researchers will therefore help us improve the future of cancer care. This article evaluates the success of a short-term educational environment to foster multidisciplinary collaboration. The NIH-funded educational course developed at Wayne State University, called “Integration of Biology and Physics into Radiation Oncology” (IBPRO), was designed to facilitate the engagement of radiation oncologists, medical physicists and radiobiologists in activities that enhance collaborative investigation. Having now been delivered to nearly 200 participants over t...
Rethinking Crowdfunding Platform Design: Mechanisms to Deter Misconduct and Improve Efficiency

Lacking credible rule-enforcement mechanisms to punish misconduct, existing reward-based crowdfunding platforms can leave backers exposed to two risks: entrepreneurs may run away with backers’ mone...
A post-Cassini view of Titan's methane-based hydrologic cycle

The methane-based hydrologic cycle on Saturn’s largest moon, Titan, is an extreme analogue to Earth’s water cycle. Titan is the only planetary body in the Solar System, other than Earth, that is known to have an active hydrologic cycle. With a surface pressure of 1.5 bar and temperatures of 90 to 95 K, methane and ethane condense out of a nitrogen-based atmosphere and flow as liquids on the moon’s surface. Exchange processes between atmospheric, surface and subsurface reservoirs produce methane and ethane cloud systems, as well as erosional and depositional landscapes that have strikingly similar forms to their terrestrial counterparts. Over its 13-year exploration of the Saturn system, the Cassini–Huygens mission revealed that Titan’s hydrocarbon-based hydrology is driven by nested methane cycles that operate over a range of timescales, including geologic, orbital (for example, Croll–Milankovitch cycles), seasonal and that of a single convective storm. In this Review Article, we describe the dominant exchange processes that operate over these timescales and present a post-Cassini view of Titan’s methane-based hydrologic system. The Cassini mission revealed the complex workings of Titan’s methane-based hydrologic cycle over a range of timescales, providing a potential window into the future of Earth and its water cycle.
Physical descriptor for the Gibbs energy of inorganic crystalline solids and temperature-dependent materials chemistry.

The Gibbs energy, G, determines the equilibrium conditions of chemical reactions and materials stability. Despite this fundamental and ubiquitous role, G has been tabulated for only a small fraction of known inorganic compounds, impeding a comprehensive perspective on the effects of temperature and composition on materials stability and synthesizability. Here, we use the SISSO (sure independence screening and sparsifying operator) approach to identify a simple and accurate descriptor to predict G for stoichiometric inorganic compounds with ~50 meV atom−1 (~1 kcal mol−1) resolution, and with minimal computational cost, for temperatures ranging from 300–1800 K. We then apply this descriptor to ~30,000 known materials curated from the Inorganic Crystal Structure Database (ICSD). Using the resulting predicted thermochemical data, we generate thousands of temperature-dependent phase diagrams to provide insights into the effects of temperature and composition on materials synthesizability and stability and to establish the temperature-dependent scale of metastability for inorganic compounds. Materials databases currently neglect the temperature effect on compound thermodynamics. Here the authors introduce a Gibbs energy descriptor enabling the high-throughput prediction of temperature-dependent thermodynamics across a wide range of compositions and temperatures for inorganic solids.
Closure and Nonclosure Properties of the Compressible and Rankable Sets

The rankable and compressible sets have been studied for more than a quarter of a century, ever since Allender [2] and Goldberg and Sipser [7] introduced the formal study of polynomial-time ranking. Yet even after all that time, whether the rankable and compressible sets are closed under the most important boolean and other operations remains essentially unexplored. The present paper studies these questions for both polynomial-time and recursion-theoretic compression and ranking, and for almost every case arrives at a Closed, a Not-Closed, or a Closed-Iff-Well-Known-Complexity-Classes-Collapse result for the given operation. Even though compression and ranking classes are capturing something quite natural about the structure of sets, it turns out that they are quite fragile with respect to closure properties, and many fail to possess even the most basic of closure properties. For example, we show that with respect to the join (aka disjoint union) operation: the P-rankable sets are not closed, whether the semistrongly P-rankable sets are closed is closely linked to whether \(\mathrm{P}= \text {UP}\cap \text {coUP}\), and the strongly P-rankable sets are closed.
A Near-Complete Spatial Map of Olfactory Receptors in the Mouse Main Olfactory Epithelium

Different regions of the mammalian nose smell different odors. In the mouse olfactory system, spatially regulated expression of >1000 olfactory receptors (ORs) along the dorsomedial-ventrolateral (DV) axis forms a topological map in the main olfactory epithelium (MOE). However, the locations of most ORs along the DV axis are currently unknown. By sequencing mRNA of 12 isolated MOE pieces, we mapped out the DV locations-as quantified by "zone indices" on a scale of 1-5-of 1033 OR genes with an estimated error of 0.3 zone indices. Our map covered 81% of all intact OR genes and 99.4% of the total OR mRNA abundance. Spatial regulation tended to vary gradually along chromosomes. We further identified putative non-OR genes that may exhibit spatial expression along the DV axis.
Energy Storage to Improve Reliability of Wind Integrated Systems Under Frequency Security Constraint

The integration of wind power into the grid causes numerous stability and reliability issues due to its low inertia and intermittent nature. To ensure system stability, wind power production has to be restricted, which implies that the system cannot absorb the entire output available from wind generation, especially if the output is high. Consequently, the reliability of the integrated system is adversely affected. In order to improve the system reliability, energy storage can be used, which is emerging as a prominent solution for enhancing supply continuity. Complete utilization of an energy storage device can be achieved if it is properly coordinated with wind and conventional generation. This paper proposes a new method to coordinate energy storage with the existing system to improve the system reliability while maintaining the system frequency security. The effectiveness of the model is demonstrated on the IEEE RTS-79 system.
Isoform-specific deletion of PKM2 constrains tumor initiation in a mouse model of soft tissue sarcoma.

Alternative splicing of the Pkm gene product generates the PKM1 and PKM2 isoforms of the glycolytic enzyme pyruvate kinase. PKM2 expression is associated with embryogenesis, tissue regeneration, and cancer. PKM2 is also the pyruvate kinase isoform expressed in most wild-type adult tissues, with PKM1 restricted primarily to skeletal muscle, heart, and brain. To interrogate the functional requirement for PKM2 during tumor initiation in an autochthonous mouse model for soft tissue sarcoma (STS), we used a conditional Pkm2 allele (Pkm2 fl ) to abolish PKM2 expression. PKM2 deletion slowed tumor onset but did not abrogate eventual tumor outgrowth. PKM2-null sarcoma cells expressed PKM1 with tumors containing a high number of infiltrating PKM2 expressing stromal cells. End-stage PKM2-null tumors showed increased proliferation compared to tumors with a wild-type Pkm2 allele, and tumor metabolite analysis revealed metabolic changes associated with PKM2 loss. While PKM2 is not required for soft tissue sarcoma growth, PKM2 expression may facilitate initiation of this tumor type. Because these data differ from what has been observed in other cancer models where PKM2 has been deleted, they argue that the consequences of PKM2 loss during tumor initiation are dependent on the tumor type.
Cefadroxil kinetics in patients with renal insufficiency

Kinetic parameters and bioavailability of cefadroxil were studied in 20 subjects with differing renal function as measured by endogenous creatinine clearance (CCr). Two subjects were on hemodialysis. After an overnight fast, each subject ingested two 500-mg capsules of cefadroxil. The peak serum concentration was variable (12 to 57 mg/l) and correlated inversely with the CCr. All but one patient had maximum absorption within 4 hr of ingestion and in most patients the peak was reached within the 2-hr sample. Urinary recovery within 48 hr was 45% to 106% when CCr > 8 ml/min. Even in patients with the most severe renal failure (CCr < 10 ml/min), urine concentrations of cefadroxil were adequate to treat susceptible bacteria. The rate of oral absorption, ka, was not affected by the state of renal function and was 0.76 ± 0.50 hr−1. The apparent distribution volume Vd ext was 0.28 ± 0.09 l/kg. The plasma elimination rate was dependent on CCr with a small fraction of drug being removed by nonrenal routes. Except in advanced renal failure, tubular secretion was present since renal clearance of cefadroxil exceeded CCr. The data suggest that little drug accumulation will occur with the usual 8- to 12-hr dosing schedule except when the CCr is less than 25 ml/min.
Bounded G-theory with fibred control

Abstract We use filtered modules over a Noetherian ring and fibred bounded control on homomorphisms to construct a new kind of controlled algebra with applications in geometric topology. The resulting theory can be thought of as a “pushout” of bounded K-theory with fibred control and bounded G-theory constructed and used by the authors. Bounded G-theory was geared toward constructing a G-theoretic version of assembly maps and proving the Novikov injectivity conjecture for them. The G-theory with fibred control is needed in the study of surjectivity of the assembly map. The relation between the K- and G-theories is the classical one: K-theory is meaningful, however G-theory is easier to compute, and the relationship is expressed via a Cartan map. This map turns out to be an equivalence under very mild constraints in terms of metric geometry such as finite decomposition complexity. The fibred theory is certainly more complicated than the absolute theory. This paper contains the non-equivariant theory including fibred controlled excision theorems known to be crucial for computations.
What Patients Look for When Browsing Online for Pancreatic Cancer: The Bait Behind the Byte.

Suitability is a patient-centered metric defined as how appropriately health information is targeted to specific populations to increase knowledge. However, suitability is most commonly evaluated exclusively by healthcare professionals without collaboration from intended audiences. Suitability (as rated by intended audiences), accuracy and readability have not been evaluated on websites discussing pancreatic cancer. Ten healthy volunteers evaluated fifty pancreatic cancer websites using the suitability assessment of materials (SAM instrument) for the materials’ overall suitability. Readability and accuracy were correlated. Ten recruited volunteers (ages 23–63, 50% female) found websites to be on average “adequate” or “superior” in suitability. Surgery, radiotherapy and nonprofit websites had higher suitability scores as compared to counterparts (p ≤ 0.03). There was no correlation between readability and accuracy levels and suitability scores (p ≥ 0.3). Presence of visual aids was associated with better suitability scores after controlling for website quality (p ≤ 0.01). Suitability of websites discussing pancreatic cancer treatments as rated by lay audiences differed based on therapy type and website affiliation, and was independent of readability level and accuracy of information. Nonprofit affiliation websites focusing on surgery or radiotherapy were most suitable. Online information should be assessed for suitability by target populations, in addition to readability level and accuracy, to ensure information reaches the intended audience.
On the MISO Channel With Feedback: Can Infinitely Massive Antennas Achieve Infinite Capacity?

We consider communication over a multiple-input single-output block fading channel in the presence of an independent noiseless feedback link. We assume that the transmitter and receiver have no prior knowledge of the channel state realizations, but the transmitter and receiver can acquire the channel state information (CSIT/CSIR) via downlink training and feedback. For this channel, we show that increasing the number of transmit antennas to infinity will not achieve an infinite capacity, for a finite channel coherence length and a finite input constraint on the second or fourth moment. This insight follows from our new capacity bounds that hold for any linear and nonlinear coding strategies, and any channel training schemes. In addition to the channel capacity bounds, we also provide a characterization on the beamforming gain that is also known as array gain or power gain, at the regime with a large number of antennas.
Bayesian placement of fossils on phylogenies using quantitative morphometric data

Jointly developing a comprehensive tree of life from living and fossil taxa has long been a fundamental goal in evolutionary biology. One major challenge has stemmed from difficulties in merging evidence from extant and extinct organisms. While these efforts have resulted in varying stages of synthesis, they have been hindered by their dependence on qualitative descriptions of morphology. Though rarely applied to phylogenetic inference, traditional and geometric morphometric data can improve these issues by generating more rigorous ways to quantify variation in morphological structures. They may also facilitate the rapid and objective aggregation of large morphological datasets. I describe a new Bayesian method that leverages quantitative trait data to reconstruct the positions of fossil taxa on fixed reference trees composed of extant taxa. Unlike most formulations of phylogenetic Brownian motion models, this method expresses branch lengths in units of morphological disparity, suggesting a new framework through which to construct Bayesian node calibration priors for molecular dating and explore comparative patterns in morphological disparity. I am hopeful that the approach described here will help to facilitate a deeper integration of neo- and paleontological data to move morphological phylogenetics further into the genomic era.
The nuclear physics of neutron stars

Un hecho sorprendente acerca de las estrellas de neutrones con simetria esferica y en equilibrio hidroestatico — las llamadas estrellas de Schwarzschild — es que su dinamica solo depende de la ecuacion de estado de materia nuclear asimetrica. Por lo tanto, las estrellas de neutrones proporcionan una gran diversidad de observables que pueden ser utilizadas para determinar las interacciones nucleares bajo condiciones extremas de densidad. Despues de introducir varias fases presentes en las estrellas de neutrones, discutire como usar argumentos teoricos, experimentales y observacionales para limitar la ecuacion de estado de materia nuclear asimetrica
The Value of Privacy: Strategic Data Subjects, Incentive Mechanisms, and Fundamental Limits

We study the value of data privacy in a game-theoretic model of trading private data, where a data collector purchases private data from strategic data subjects (individuals) through an incentive mechanism. One primary goal of the data collector is to learn some desired information from the elicited data. Specifically, this information is modeled by an underlying state, and the private data of each individual represents his of her knowledge about the state. Departing from most of the existing work on privacy-aware surveys, our model does not assume the data collector to be trustworthy. Further, an individual takes full control of his or her own data privacy and reports only a privacy-preserving version of his or her data.In this article, the value of e units of privacy is measured by the minimum payment among all nonnegative payment mechanisms, under which an individual’s best response at a Nash equilibrium is to report his or her data in an e-locally differentially private manner. The higher e is, the less private the reported data is. We derive lower and upper bounds on the value of privacy that are asymptotically tight as the number of data subjects becomes large. Specifically, the lower bound assures that it is impossible to use a lower payment to buy e units of privacy, and the upper bound is given by an achievable payment mechanism that we design. Based on these fundamental limits, we further derive lower and upper bounds on the minimum total payment for the data collector to achieve a given accuracy target for learning the underlying state and show that the total payment of the designed mechanism is at most one individual’s payment away from the minimum.
Unconventional planar Hall effect in exchange-coupled topological insulator–ferromagnetic insulator heterostructures

The Dirac electrons occupying the surface states (SSs) of topological insulators (TIs) have been predicted to exhibit many exciting magnetotransport phenomena. Here we report the experimental observation of an unconventional planar Hall effect (PHE) and a gate-tunable hysteretic planar magnetoresistance in EuS/TI heterostructures, in which EuS is a ferromagnetic insulator (FMI) with an in-plane magnetization. In such exchange-coupled FMI/TI heterostructures, we find a significant (suppressed) PHE when the in-plane magnetic field is parallel (perpendicular) to the electric current. This behavior differs from previous observations of the PHE in ferromagnets and semiconductors. Furthermore, as the thickness of the 3D TI films is reduced into the 2D limit, in which the Dirac SSs develop a hybridization gap, we find a suppression of the PHE around the charge-neutral point indicating the vital role of Dirac SSs in this phenomenon. To explain our findings, we outline a symmetry argument that excludes linear Hall mechanisms and suggest two possible nonlinear Hall mechanisms that can account for all the essential qualitative features in our observations.
Policies and Practices of High-Performing Let’s Go! Schools

ABSTRACTBackground: Let’s Go! is a Maine-based, nationally recognized childhood obesity prevention program. Purpose: The purpose of this study was to identify specific program and school characteristics, policies, and practices associated with schools achieving Let’s Go!’s priority strategies for increasing opportunities for healthy eating/active living in schools and suggest areas for program improvement. Methods: A serial cross-sectional design over 3 years was used to identify characteristics of higher-performing Let’s Go! schools and suggestions for program improvement. Logistic regressions used data from Let’s Go! school surveys and Common Core of Data. Results: Outcome variables were the 5 priority strategies for each year (2013, 2014, and 2015). Strongest predictors were having a Let’s Go! team at the school (P < .01), having enforced district policy on the priority strategy (P < .05), and educating families in adopting a lifestyle supporting healthy eating/active living (P < .01). Discussion: Enfo...
The arsenal of democracy: Production and politics during WWII

Abstract We study the geographic distribution of military supply contracts during World War II. This is a unique case, where $3 trillion current day dollars was spent. We find robust evidence consistent with the hypothesis that economic factors dominated the allocation of supply contracts, and that political factors—or at least winning the 1944 presidential election—were at best of secondary importance. General industrial capacity in 1939, as well as specialized industrial capacity for aircraft production, are strong predictors of contract spending across states. Electoral college pivot probabilities are weak predictors of contract (and new facilities) spending, and under the most plausible assumptions they are essentially unrelated to spending. This is true over the entire period 1940–1944, and also for shorter periods leading up to the election in November 1944. That is, we find no evidence of an electoral cycle in the distribution of funds.
The value premium and expected business conditions

Abstract Prior research finds no discernible relation between the realized value premium (the spread between the returns on value and growth stocks) and forecasts of real GDP growth produced by professional economists. This finding appears to be driven by an unmodeled structural break. During the post-break period, the relation between the realized value premium and the forecasts is positive and statistically significant, which points to a procyclical relation between the expected value premium and expected business conditions. The evidence suggests that the expected value premium becomes negative during periods when economic growth is expected to be either negative or relatively weak.
How Hawkish Is the Chinese Public? Another Look at “Rising Nationalism” and Chinese Foreign Policy

Chinese leaders often invoke the feelings of the Chinese people in international disputes. However, most survey research on Chinese public opinion on international affairs has looked at measures of...
Dynamic control of hydrogel crosslinking via sortase-mediated reversible transpeptidation

Abstract Cell-laden hydrogels whose crosslinking density can be dynamically and reversibly tuned are highly sought-after for studying pathophysiological cellular fate processes, including embryogenesis, fibrosis, and tumorigenesis. Special efforts have focused on controlling network crosslinking in poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG) based hydrogels to evaluate the impact of matrix mechanics on cell proliferation, morphogenesis, and differentiation. In this study, we sought to design dynamic PEG-peptide hydrogels that permit cyclic/reversible stiffening and softening. This was achieved by utilizing reversible enzymatic reactions that afford specificity, biorthogonality, and predictable reaction kinetics. To that end, we prepared PEG-peptide conjugates to enable sortase A (SrtA) induced tunable hydrogel crosslinking independent of macromer contents. Uniquely, these hydrogels can be completely degraded by the same enzymatic reactions and the degradation rate can be tuned from hours to days. We further synthesized SrtA-sensitive peptide linker (i.e., KCLPRTGCK) for crosslinking with 8-arm PEG-norbornene (PEG8NB) via thiol-norbornene photocrosslinking. These hydrogels afford diverse softening paradigms through control of network structures during crosslinking or by adjusting enzymatic parameters during on-demand softening. Importantly, user-controlled hydrogel softening promoted spreading of human mesenchymal stem cells (hMSCs) in 3D. Finally, we designed a bis-cysteine-bearing linear peptide flanked with SrtA substrates at the peptide’s N- and C-termini (i.e., NH2-GGGCKGGGKCLPRTG-CONH2) to enable cyclic/reversible hydrogel stiffening/softening. We show that matrix stiffening and softening play a crucial role in growth and chemoresistance in pancreatic cancer cells. These results represent the first dynamic hydrogel platform that affords cyclic gel stiffening/softening based on reversible enzymatic reactions. More importantly, the chemical motifs that affords such reversible crosslinking were built-in on the linear peptide crosslinker without any post-synthesis modification. Statement of Significance Cell-laden ‘dynamic’ hydrogels are typically designed to enable externally stimulated stiffening or softening of the hydrogel network. However, no enzymatic reaction has been used to reversibly control matrix crosslinking. The application of SrtA-mediated transpeptidation in crosslinking and post-gelation modification of biomimetic hydrogels is innovative because of the specificity of the reaction and reversible tunability of crosslinking kinetics. While SrtA has been previously used to crosslink and fully degrade hydrogels, matrix softening and reversible stiffening of cell-laden hydrogels has not been reported. By designing simple peptide substrates, this unique enzymatic reaction can be employed to form a primary network, to gradually soften hydrogels, or to reversibly stiffen hydrogels. As a result, this dynamic hydrogel platform can be used to answer important matrix-related biological questions that are otherwise difficult to address.
The workforce of pioneer plants

Abstract Does technology require labour mobility to diffuse? To explore this, we use German social-security data and ask how plants that pioneer an industry in a location – and for which the local labour market offers no experienced workers – assemble their workforces. These pioneers use different recruiting strategies than plants elsewhere: they hire more workers from outside their industry and from outside their region, especially when workers come from closely related industries or are highly skilled. The importance of access to experienced workers is highlighted in the diffusion of industries from western Germany to the post-reunification economy of eastern German. While manufacturing employment declined in most advanced economies, eastern German regions managed to reindustrialise. The pioneers involved in this process relied heavily on expertise from western Germany: while establishing new manufacturing industries in the East, they sourced half of their experienced workers from the West.
Nonlinearities in the real exchange rates: new evidence from developed and developing countries

This paper investigates nonlinearities in the dynamics of real exchange rates. We use Monte Carlo simulations to establish the size properties of the Terasvirta-Anderson test, when the dynamics of ...
Genetic, Inflammatory, and Epithelial Cell Differentiation Factors Control Expression of Human Calpain-14.

Eosinophilic esophagitis (EoE) is a chronic, food-driven allergic disease resulting in eosinophilic esophageal inflammation. We recently found that EoE susceptibility is associated with genetic variants in the promoter of CAPN14, a gene with reported esophagus-specific expression. CAPN14 is dynamically up-regulated as a function of EoE disease activity and after exposure of epithelial cells to interleukin-13 (IL-13). Herein, we aimed to explore molecular modulation of CAPN14 expression. We identified three putative binding sites for the IL-13-activated transcription factor STAT6 in the promoter and first intron of CAPN14. Luciferase reporter assays revealed that the two most distal STAT6 elements were required for the ∼10-fold increase in promoter activity subsequent to stimulation with IL-13 or IL-4, and also for the genotype-dependent reduction in IL-13-induced promoter activity. One of the STAT6 elements in the promoter was necessary for IL-13-mediated induction of CAPN14 promoter activity while the other STAT6 promoter element was necessary for full induction. Chromatin immunoprecipitation in IL-13 stimulated esophageal epithelial cells was used to further support STAT6 binding to the promoter of CAPN14 at these STAT6 binding sites. The highest CAPN14 and calpain-14 expression occurred with IL-13 or IL-4 stimulation of esophageal epithelial cells under culture conditions that allow the cells to differentiate into a stratified epithelium. This work corroborates a candidate molecular mechanism for EoE disease etiology in which the risk variant at 2p23 dampens CAPN14 expression in differentiated esophageal epithelial cells following IL-13/STAT6 induction of CAPN14 promoter activity.
Sky Wave Propagation at Medium and High Frequencies

In this article, we shall discuss the following topics: 1. Basic physical properties of sky wave propagation (namely, refraction, reflection, penetration, and absorption) 2. relationships between vertical propagation and oblique propagation 3. ionospheric models 4. characteristics of medium frequencies 5. characteristics of high frequencies 6. prediction programs for ionospheric sky wave performance 7. real-time channel evaluation Keywords: ionosphere; sky wave propagation; medium frequency; high frequency; broadcasting; point-to-point communications
Financial Markets with Trade on Risk and Return

In this paper, I develop a model in which risk-averse investors possess private information regarding both a stock’s expected payoff and its risk. These investors trade in the stock and a derivative whose payoff is driven by the stock’s risk. In equilibrium, the derivative is used to speculate on the stock’s risk and to hedge against adverse fluctuations in the stock’s risk. I analyze the derivative price and variance risk premium that arise in this equilibrium and their predictive power for stock returns. Finally, I examine the relationship between prices and trading volume in the stock and derivative.Received July 31, 2017; editorial decision December 3, 2018 by Editor Stijn Van Nieuwerburgh. Authors have furnished an Internet Appendix, which is available on the Oxford University Press Web site next to the link to the final published paper online.
Attenuation compensation for time-reversal imaging in VTI media

ABSTRACTTime reversal is a key component in reverse-time migration (RTM) and source localization using wavefield extrapolation. The successful implementation of time reversal depends on the time sy...
Of Governance and Revenue : Participatory Institutions and Tax Compliance in Brazil

Traditionally, governments seek to mobilize tax revenues by expanding their enforcement of existing tax regimes and facilitating tax payments. However, enforcement and facilitation can be costly and produce diminishing marginal returns if citizens are unwilling to pay their taxes. This paper addresses gaps in knowledge about tax compliance, by asking a basic question: what explains why citizens and businesses comply with tax rules? To answer this question, the paper shows how the voluntary adoption of two different types of participatory governance institutions influences municipal tax collection in Brazil. Municipalities that voluntarily adopt participatory institutions collect significantly higher levels of taxes than similar municipalities without these institutions. The paper provides evidence that moves scholarship on tax compliance beyond enforcement and facilitation paradigms, while offering a better assessment of the role of local democratic institutions for government performance and tax compliance.
A bipartite iron-dependent transcriptional regulation of the tryptophan salvage pathway in Chlamydia trachomatis

During infection, pathogens are starved of essential nutrients such as iron and tryptophan by host immune effectors. Without conserved global stress response regulators, how the obligate intracellular bacterium Chlamydia trachomatis arrives at a physiologically similar 'persistent' state in response to starvation of either nutrient remains unclear. Here, we report on the iron-dependent regulation of the trpRBA tryptophan salvage pathway in C. trachomatis. Iron starvation specifically induces trpBA expression from a novel promoter element within an intergenic region flanked by trpR and trpB. YtgR, the only known iron-dependent regulator in Chlamydia, can bind to the trpRBA intergenic region upstream of the alternative trpBA promoter to repress transcription. Simultaneously, YtgR binding promotes the termination of transcripts from the primary promoter upstream of trpR. This is the first description of an iron-dependent mechanism regulating prokaryotic tryptophan biosynthesis that may indicate the existence of novel approaches to gene regulation and stress response in Chlamydia.
Chronic heavy drinking drives distinct transcriptional and epigenetic changes in splenic macrophages

Abstract Background Chronic heavy alcohol drinking (CHD) leads to significant organ damage, increased susceptibility to infections, and delayed wound healing. These adverse outcomes are believed to be mediated by alterations in the function of myeloid cells; however, the mechanisms underlying these changes are poorly understood. Methods We determined the impact of CHD on the phenotype of splenic macrophages using flow cytometry. Changes in functional responses to LPS were measured using luminex and RNA-Seq. Finally, alterations in chromatin accessibility were uncovered using ATAC-Seq. Findings A history of CHD led to increased frequency of splenic macrophages that exhibited a heightened activation state at resting. Additionally, splenic macrophages from CHD animals generated a larger inflammatory response to LPS, both at protein and gene expression levels. Finally, CHD resulted in increased levels of H3K4me3, a histone mark of active promoters, as well as chromatin accessibility at promoters and intergenic regions that regulate inflammatory responses. Interpretation These findings suggest that a history of CHD alters the immune fitness of tissue-resident macrophages via epigenetic mechanisms. Fund National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA), National Institutes of Health (NIH) - R24AA019431, U01 AA13641, U01 AA13510, R21AA021947, and R21AA025839.
Indifferentiability for public key cryptosystems

We initiate the study of indifferentiability for public key encryption and other public key primitives. Our main results are definitions and constructions of public key cryptosystems that are indifferentiable from ideal cryptosystems, in the random oracle model. Cryptosystems include: Public key encryption; Digital signatures; Non-interactive key agreement.
Viral invasion fitness across a continuum from lysis to latency.

The prevailing paradigm in ecological studies of viruses and their microbial hosts is that the reproductive success of viruses depends on the proliferation of the ‘predator’, that is, the virus particle. Yet, viruses are obligate intracellular parasites, and the virus genome—the actual unit of selection—can persist and proliferate from one cell generation to the next without lysis or the production of new virus particles. Here, we propose a theoretical framework to quantify the invasion fitness of viruses using an epidemiological cell-centric metric that focuses on the proliferation of viral genomes inside cells instead of virus particles outside cells. This cell-centric metric enables direct comparison of viral strategies characterized by obligate killing of hosts (e.g. via lysis), persistence of viral genomes inside hosts (e.g. via lysogeny), and strategies along a continuum between these extremes (e.g. via chronic infections). As a result, we can identify environmental drivers, life history traits, and key feedbacks that govern variation in viral propagation in nonlinear population models. For example, we identify threshold conditions given relatively low densities of susceptible cells and relatively high growth rates of infected cells in which lysogenic and other chronic strategies have higher potential viral reproduction than lytic strategies. Altogether, the theoretical framework helps unify the ongoing study of eco-evolutionary drivers of viral strategies in natural environments.
Use of gestational surrogates for women with Eisenmenger syndrome: a cost-effectiveness analysis.

Objective: Eisenmenger syndrome (ES) is regarded as a contraindication to pregnancy, with therapeutic abortion recommended in the event of unintended pregnancy. However, women with ES continue to d...
Risk and resources: A qualitative perspective on low-level sentencing in Virginia.

Virginia's sentencing guidelines include alternative sanctions based on the use of a quantitative instrument called the Nonviolent Risk Assessment (NVRA) that identifies individuals convicted of drug and property crimes that are considered to be at lower risk of recidivism. Although nondispositive, the NVRA affords judges the discretion to grant alternative sentences to eligible low-risk defendants. In this study, we explore how judges make use of the NVRA instrument when sentencing individuals convicted of low-level drug and property crimes. Through semistructured interviews (N = 24) and inductive thematic analysis, the research team identified contextual factors that influence the use of the NVRA results, including: the availability of alternative programs in a community, the role of court actors, particularly prosecutors, in shaping the sentencing outcomes, as well as an individual judge's willingness to defer to or reject negotiated plea agreements offered by the prosecutor. Our research shows that while some judges are aware of and embrace the benefits of the instrument, others lack knowledge altogether of its function and empirical basis. We identified seven themes that account for variation in how actuarial risk is utilized in the sentencing process. Our findings provide insight into the practical challenges of using risk-based assessment as a tool for the sentencing of low-level convictions. As more states adopt risk-based approaches to sentencing, studying Virginia, which has gone farther than other states in legislating this strategy, becomes increasingly important.
Medieval European Traditions in Representation and State Capacity Today

Rich economies are characterized by the coincidence of, on the one hand, high state capacity and, on the other, well-functioning markets and the rule of law. They have states that are powerful and centralized and yet also limited. Furthermore, relatively low rates of shadow economic activity and tax evasion suggest that citizens perceive their states’ limitations to be credible. This suggests that a state’s ability to be credibly limited may facilitate its investments in state capacity. Consistent with this, we explore the potential link between historical traditions of representative governance institutions and state capacity today. We report that medieval and early modern representative assembly experiences positively correlate with higher tax revenues, smaller shadow economies, greater state control of violence and yet fewer state resources dedicated to violence. Relative to tax revenues, the evidence regarding shadow economies and violence is more robust to various controls and samples.
Unequally Powered Cryptography With Physical Unclonable Functions for Networks of Internet of Things Terminals

In this paper, cryptographic architectures based on unequal computing resources are modelled, and experimentally verified with Window-10 PCs powered with Intel I-7 processor. Low power IoT terminal devices generate keys from physical unclonable functions, which can be recognized by the server through a matching engine. We are here proposing methods to modulate the efficiency of the matching engine by injecting erratic bits in the keys, and/or by fragmenting the keys in smaller sub-keys. When the environment is hostile, the difficulty in matching the keys can be adjusted in such a way that the server needs access to increasingly powerful computing power to recognize the terminal device thereby placing attackers with inferior computing power at a strong disadvantage. The objective of this research work is to find, through the modelling effort, the conditions where unequally powered cryptography can take advantage of high performance computers to protect networks of IoT terminals.
Alcohol-responsive genes identified in human iPSC-derived neural cultures.

Alcohol use contributes to numerous diseases and injuries. The nervous system is affected by alcohol in diverse ways, though the molecular mechanisms of these effects are not clearly understood. Using human-induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs), we developed a neural cell culture model to identify the mechanisms of alcohol’s effects. iPSCs were generated from fibroblasts and differentiated into forebrain neural cells cultures that were treated with 50 mM alcohol or sham conditions (same media lacking alcohol) for 7 days. We analyzed gene expression using total RNA sequencing (RNA-seq) for 34 samples derived from 10 subjects and for 10 samples from 5 subjects in an independent experiment that had intermittent exposure to the same dose of alcohol. We also analyzed genetic effects on gene expression and conducted a weighted correlation network analysis. We found that differentiated neural cell cultures have the capacity to recapitulate gene regulatory effects previously observed in specific primary neural tissues and identified 226 genes that were differentially expressed (FDR < 0.1) after alcohol treatment. The effects on expression included decreases in INSIG1 and LDLR, two genes involved in cholesterol homeostasis. We also identified a module of 58 co-expressed genes that were uniformly decreased following alcohol exposure. The majority of these effects were supported in independent alcohol exposure experiments. Enrichment analysis linked the alcohol responsive genes to cell cycle, notch signaling, and cholesterol biosynthesis pathways, which are disrupted in several neurological disorders. Our findings suggest that there is convergence between these disorders and the effects of alcohol exposure.
The Interaction of Genotype and Environment Determines Variation in the Maize Kernel Ionome.

Plants obtain soil-resident elements that support growth and metabolism from the water-flow facilitated by transpiration and active transport processes. The availability of elements in the environment interacts with the genetic capacity of organisms to modulate element uptake through plastic adaptive responses, such as homeostasis. These interactions should cause the elemental contents of plants to vary such that the effects of genetic polymorphisms will be dramatically dependent on the environment in which the plant is grown. To investigate genotype by environment interactions underlying elemental accumulation, we analyzed levels of elements in maize kernels of the Intermated B73 × Mo17 (IBM) recombinant inbred population grown in 10 different environments, spanning a total of six locations and five different years. In analyses conducted separately for each environment, we identified a total of 79 quantitative trait loci (QTL) controlling seed elemental accumulation. While a set of these QTL was found in multiple environments, the majority were specific to a single environment, suggesting the presence of genetic by environment interactions. To specifically identify and quantify QTL by environment interactions (QEIs), we implemented two methods: linear modeling with environmental covariates, and QTL analysis on trait differences between growouts. With these approaches, we found several instances of QEI, indicating that elemental profiles are highly heritable, interrelated, and responsive to the environment.
Computational analysis of lifespan experiment reproducibility.

Independent reproducibility is essential to the generation of scientific knowledge. Optimizing experimental protocols to ensure reproducibility is an important aspect of scientific work. Genetic or pharmacological lifespan extensions are generally small compared to the inherent variability in mean lifespan even in isogenic populations housed under identical conditions. This variability makes reproducible detection of small but real effects experimentally challenging. In this study, we aimed to determine the reproducibility of C. elegans lifespan measurements under ideal conditions, in the absence of methodological errors or environmental or genetic background influences. To accomplish this, we generated a parametric model of C. elegans lifespan based on data collected from 5,026 wild-type N2 animals. We use this model to predict how different experimental practices, effect sizes, number of animals, and how different ‘shapes’ of survival curves affect the ability to reproduce real longevity effects. We find that the chances of reproducing real but small effects are exceedingly low and would require substantially more animals than are commonly used. Our results indicate that many lifespan studies are underpowered to detect reported changes and that, as a consequence, stochastic variation alone can account for many failures to reproduce longevity results. As a remedy, we provide power of detection tables that can be used as guidelines to plan experiments with statistical power to reliably detect real changes in lifespan and limit spurious false positive results. These considerations will improve best-practices in designing lifespan experiment to increase reproducibility.
Diastereoselective formation of β-hydroxyketones by the reduction of Ketene dimers

Abstract A general method for the diastereoselective formation of β-hydroxyketones by the reduction of ketene dimers was developed. The reduction of ketene homodimers, derived from alkylarylketenes and dimethylketene, and ketene heterodimers, derived from methylketene and ethylphenylketene or diphenylketene, was investigated. Methylphenylketene dimer was reduced with optimal diastereoselectivity (dr = 6:1) using LiBH 4 . However, more generally, LiAlH 4 was found to be the most effective reducing system with respect to diastereoselectivity (dr up to >99:1) and yield (62–>99% for 10 examples).
Health Information Needs and Health Seeking Behavior During the 2014-2016 Ebola Outbreak: A Twitter Content Analysis.

Introduction For effective public communication during major disease outbreaks like the 2014-2016 Ebola epidemic, health information needs of the population must be adequately assessed. Through content analysis of social media data, like tweets, public health information needs can be effectively assessed and in turn provide appropriate health information to address such needs. The aim of the current study was to assess health information needs about Ebola, at distinct epidemic time points, through longitudinal tracking. Methods Natural language processing was applied to explore public response to Ebola over time from July 2014 to March 2015. A total 155,647 tweets (unique 68,736, retweet 86,911) mentioning Ebola were analyzed and visualized with infographics. Results Public fear, frustration, and health information seeking regarding Ebola-related global priorities were observed across time. Our longitudinal content analysis revealed that due to ongoing health information deficiencies, resulting in fear and frustration, social media was at times an impediment and not a vehicle to support health information needs. Discussion Content analysis of tweets effectively assessed Ebola information needs. Our study also demonstrates the use of Twitter as a method for capturing real-time data to assess ongoing information needs, fear, and frustration over time.