cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Dialysate Potassium and Mortality in a Prospective Hemodialysis Cohort

Author(s): Ferrey, Antoney; You, Amy S; Kovesdy, Csaba P; Nakata, Tracy; Veliz, Mary; Nguyen, Danh V; Kalantar-Zadeh, Kamyar; Rhee, Connie M | Abstract: BackgroundStudies examining the association of dialysate potassium concentration and mortality in hemodialysis patients show conflicting findings. We hypothesized that low dialysate potassium concentrations are associated with higher mortality, particularly in patients with high pre-dialysis serum potassium concentrations.MethodsWe evaluated 624 hemodialysis patients from the prospective Malnutrition, Diet, and Racial Disparities in Kidney Disease study recruited from 16 outpatient dialysis facilities over 2011-2015 who underwent protocolized collection of dialysis treatment characteristics every 6 months. We examined the association of dialysate potassium concentration, categorized as 1, 2, and 3 mEq/L, with all-cause mortality risk in the -overall cohort, and stratified by pre-dialysis serum potassium (l 5 vs. ≥5 mEq/L) using case-mix adjusted Cox models.ResultsIn baseline analyses, dialysate potassium concentrations of 1nmEq/L were associated with higher mortality, whereas concentrations of 3 mEq/L were associated with similar mortality in the overall cohort (reference: 2 mEq/L): adjusted hazard ratios (aHRs; 95% CI) 1.70 (1.01-2.88) and 0.95 (0.64-1.39), respectively. In analyses stratified by serum potassium, baseline dialysate potassium concentrations of 1 mEq/L were associated with higher mortality in patients with serum potassium ≥5 mEq/L but not in those with serum potassium l 5 mEq/L: aHRs (95% CI) 2.87 (1.51-5.46) and 0.74 (0.27-2.07), respectively (p interaction = 0.04). These findings were robust with incremental adjustment for serum potassium, potassium-binding resins, and potassium-modifying medications.ConclusionLow (1 mEq/L) dialysate potassium -concentrations were associated with higher mortality, particularly in hemodialysis patients with high pre-dialysis serum potassium. Further studies are needed to identify therapeutic strategies that mitigate inter-dialytic serum potassium accumulation and subsequent high dialysate serum potassium gradients in this population.
Technology, civic engagement and street science: hacking the future of participatory street design in the era of self-driving cars

Emerging technologies are fundamentally changing how we plan, develop, and manage our cities. Given trends of increasing mobile use, local governments are being required to adopt and use new technologies to plan, communicate and engage with citizens. In this context, this study then hypothesizes how technology trends will continue to impact planning and local government using the case of the participatory planning application ReStreet.com (app.restreet.com), a tool for visioning the future of streets in a future of autonomous or self-driving vehicles. While other work has detailed the importance of technology in the participatory process, this tool provides an example of how methods of digital representation and new technology can enrich community participation and democratize the planning process.
Impact of Building-Level Motor Protection on Power System Transient Behaviors

Protection strategies for transmission and distribution systems have been extensively investigated to facilitate better coordination of physical protection devices. A diverse range of functional motors with dedicated protection schemes are being used more and more in commercial, residential, and industrial buildings. This paper focuses on simulating several of the most popular protection schemes using the Electro-Magnetic Transient Program (EMTP) model for three-phase and single-phase induction motors in existing commercial buildings connected to typical distribution feeders. To investigate the behaviors of single-phase motors stalling, the actions of motor protection and reconnections, and the impacts of device-level protection on system-level dynamics, we imposed voltage depressions at the head of a feeder fully loaded with functional induction motors. Several distribution feeders are represented in a standard IEEE 39-bus transmission system to simulate fault-induced delayed voltage recovery (FIDVR) and explore mitigation strategies by optimally configuring the building-level motor protection settings.
The Incredible Years Teacher Classroom Management Program: Outcomes from a Group Randomized Trial

This group randomized controlled trial (RCT) evaluated the efficacy of the Incredible Years Teacher Classroom Management Program (IY TCM) on student social behavioral and academic outcomes among a large diverse sample of students within an urban context. Participants included 105 teachers and 1817 students in kindergarten to third grade. Three-level hierarchical linear models (HLM) were conducted to examine the overall treatment effects on teacher-reported student behavior and academic outcomes. In addition, multi-level moderation analyses were conducted to examine whether the treatment effects on student outcomes differed by demographic variables and pretest measures of social emotional and disruptive behavior and academics. Findings indicate that IY TCM reduced student emotional dysregulation (d = − 0.14) and increased prosocial behavior (d = 0.13) and social competence (d = 0.13). In addition, students initially lower on measures of social and academic competence demonstrated significant improvements on the same measure at outcome in comparison to similar peers in control classrooms. Practical significance of the findings and implications for schools and policy makers are discussed.
Unsupervised Hard Example Mining from Videos for Improved Object Detection

Important gains have recently been obtained in object detection by using training objectives that focus on hard negative examples, i.e., negative examples that are currently rated as positive or ambiguous by the detector. These examples can strongly influence parameters when the network is trained to correct them. Unfortunately, they are often sparse in the training data, and are expensive to obtain. In this work, we show how large numbers of hard negatives can be obtained automatically by analyzing the output of a trained detector on video sequences. In particular, detections that are isolated in time, i.e., that have no associated preceding or following detections, are likely to be hard negatives. We describe simple procedures for mining large numbers of such hard negatives (and also hard positives) from unlabeled video data. Our experiments show that retraining detectors on these automatically obtained examples often significantly improves performance. We present experiments on multiple architectures and multiple data sets, including face detection, pedestrian detection and other object categories.
Neural Article Pair Modeling for Wikipedia Sub-article Matching

Nowadays, editors tend to separate different subtopics of a long Wiki-pedia article into multiple sub-articles. This separation seeks to improve human readability. However, it also has a deleterious effect on many Wikipedia-based tasks that rely on the article-as-concept assumption, which requires each entity (or concept) to be described solely by one article. This underlying assumption significantly simplifies knowledge representation and extraction, and it is vital to many existing technologies such as automated knowledge base construction, cross-lingual knowledge alignment, semantic search and data lineage of Wikipedia entities. In this paper we provide an approach to match the scattered sub-articles back to their corresponding main-articles, with the intent of facilitating automated Wikipedia curation and processing. The proposed model adopts a hierarchical learning structure that combines multiple variants of neural document pair encoders with a comprehensive set of explicit features. A large crowdsourced dataset is created to support the evaluation and feature extraction for the task. Based on the large dataset, the proposed model achieves promising results of cross-validation and significantly outperforms previous approaches. Large-scale serving on the entire English Wikipedia also proves the practicability and scalability of the proposed model by effectively extracting a vast collection of newly paired main and sub-articles. Code related to this paper is available at: https://github.com/muhaochen/subarticle.
Learning Neural Templates for Text Generation

While neural, encoder-decoder models have had significant empirical success in text generation, there remain several unaddressed problems with this style of generation. Encoder-decoder models are largely (a) uninterpretable, and (b) difficult to control in terms of their phrasing or content. This work proposes a neural generation system using a hidden semi-markov model (HSMM) decoder, which learns latent, discrete templates jointly with learning to generate. We show that this model learns useful templates, and that these templates make generation both more interpretable and controllable. Furthermore, we show that this approach scales to real data sets and achieves strong performance nearing that of encoder-decoder text generation models.
More than Peripheral: How Provinces Influence China's Foreign Policy

Most analyses of China's foreign and security policies treat China as a unitary actor, assuming a cohesive grand strategy articulated by Beijing. I challenge this conventional wisdom, showing how Chinese provinces can affect the formulation and implementation of foreign policy. This contributes to existing research on the role of subnational actors in China, which has focused on how they shape domestic and economic policies. Using Hainan and Yunnan as case studies, I identify three mechanisms of provincial influence – trailblazing, carpetbagging, and resisting – and illustrate them with examples of key provincial policies. This analysis provides a more nuanced argument than is commonly found in international relations for the motivations behind evolving and increasingly activist Chinese foreign policy. It also has important policy implications for understanding and responding to Chinese behaviour, in the South China Sea and beyond.
The Role of Permanent Income and Demographics in Black/White Differences in Wealth

We explore the extent to which the large race gap in wealth can be explained with properly constructed income and demographic variables. In some instances we explain the entire wealth gap with income and demographics, provided that we estimate the wealth model on a sample of whites. However, we typically explain a much smaller fraction when we estimate the wealth model on a black sample. Using sibling fixed-effects models to control for intergenerational transfers and the effects of adverse history, we find that these factors are not likely to account for the lower explanatory power of the black wealth models. Our analysis of growth models of wealth suggests that differences in savings behavior and/or rates of return play an important role.
A HYBRID NEURAL NETWORK FRAMEWORK AND APPLICATION TO RADAR AUTOMATIC TARGET RECOGNITION

Deep neural networks (DNNs) have found applications in diverse signal processing (SP) problems. Most efforts either directly adopt the DNN as a black-box approach to perform certain SP tasks without taking into account of any known properties of the signal models, or insert a pre-defined SP operator into a DNN as an add-on data processing stage. This paper presents a novel hybrid-NN framework in which one or more SP layers are inserted into the DNN architecture in a coherent manner to enhance the network capability and efficiency in feature extraction. These SP layers are properly designed to make good use of the available models and properties of the data. The network training algorithm of hybrid-NN is designed to actively involve the SP layers in the learning goal, by simultaneously optimizing both the weights of the DNN and the unknown tuning parameters of the SP operators. The proposed hybrid-NN is tested on a radar automatic target recognition (ATR) problem. It achieves high validation accuracy of 96% with 5,000 training images in radar ATR. Compared with ordinary DNN, hybrid-NN can markedly reduce the required amount of training data and improve the learning performance.
Preliminary study of the subjective comfort and emotional effects of on-body compression

The sensation of touch is integral to everyday life. Current haptics research focuses mainly on vibrations, tap, and point pressures, but the sensation of distributed pressures such as compression are often overlooked. We investigated the subjective comfort and emotional effects of applied on-body compression, specifically on the torso and upper arms, through a pilot user study incorporating a novel, low-profile, and actively-controllable compression garment. The active compression garment was embedded with contractile shape memory alloys (SMAs) to create dynamic compression on the body. Qualitative interview data collected (n=8) were used to generate a list of findings to inform the future creation of a computer-mediated compression garment that is wearable, comfortable, and safe for use.
The origin, ownership and use of cash flows in leveraged buyouts

Abstract This paper uses cash flow statements to study leveraged buyouts between 1980 and 2006 of large publicly traded U.S. firms by private equity funds. Presenting the origin, ownership and use of cash in these transactions, I show that once they are controlled by private equity funds, these firms exhibit a significant decline in investment and growth. I also use cash flow statements to evaluate the free cash flow proxies frequently used in the literature and show that the gains in free cash flows are due to a significant reduction in investment post-LBO and not operating improvements. The leveraged capital structure forces a change in investment philosophy, which is reflected in lagged declines in growth rates.
Forecasting oil futures market volatility in a financialized world: Why speculative activities matter

Abstract We analyze the relation between volatility and speculative activities in the crude oil futures market and provide short-term forecasts accordingly. By incorporating trading volume and opening interest (speculative ratio) into the volatility dynamics, we document the subtle interaction between the two measures of which the volatility-averse behavior of speculative activities plays a considerable role in the market. Moreover, by accounting for structural changes, we find significant evidence that this behavior currently becomes weaker than in the past, which implies the oil futures market is less informative and/or less risk-averse in recent time period. Our forecasts based on these features perform very well under the predictive preferences that are consistent with the volatility-averse behavior in the oil futures market. We provide discussions and policy inferences.
Climate Change and Underserved Communities

Climate change is the greatest global health threat of the twenty-first century, yet it is not widely understood as a health hazard by primary care providers in the United States. Aside from increasing displacement of populations and acute trauma resulting from increasing frequency of natural disasters, the impact of climate change on temperature stress, vector-borne illnesses, cardiovascular and respiratory illnesses, and mental health is significant, with disproportionate impact on underserved and marginalized populations. Primary care providers must be aware of the impact of climate change on the health of their patients and advocate for adaptation and mitigation policies for the populations they serve.
Identifying Naturally Occurring Direct Assessments of Social-Emotional Competencies: The Promise and Limitations of Survey and Assessment Disengagement Metadata:

Social-emotional learning (SEL) is gaining increasing attention in education policy and practice due to growing evidence that related constructs are strongly predictive of long-term academic achiev...
Undersampled Windowed Exponentials and Their Applications

We characterize the completeness and frame/basis property of a union of under-sampled windowed exponentials of the form $$ {\mathcal{F}}(g): =\bigl\{ e^{2\pi i n x}: n\ge 0\bigr\} \cup \bigl\{ g(x)e^{2\pi i nx}: n< 0\bigr\} $$ for $L^{2}[-1/2,1/2]$ by the spectra of the Toeplitz operators with the symbol $g$ . Using this characterization, we classify all real-valued functions $g$ such that ${\mathcal{F}}(g)$ is complete or forms a frame/basis. Conversely, we use the classical non-harmonic Fourier series theory to determine all $\xi $ such that the Toeplitz operators with the symbol $e^{2\pi i \xi x}$ is injective or invertible. These results demonstrate an elegant interaction between frame theory of windowed exponentials and Toeplitz operators. Finally, we use our results to answer some open questions in dynamical sampling, and derivative samplings on Paley-Wiener spaces of bandlimited functions.
A generalized Lieb's theorem and its applications to spectrum estimates for a sum of random matrices

In this paper we prove the concavity of the k-trace functions, A↦(Tr_k[exp(H+lnA)])^(1/k), on the convex cone of all positive definite matrices. Tr_k[A] denotes the k_(th) elementary symmetric polynomial of the eigenvalues of A. As an application, we use the concavity of these k-trace functions to derive tail bounds and expectation estimates on the sum of the k largest (or smallest) eigenvalues of a sum of random matrices.
Practical Algorithms for Multi-Stage Voting Rules with Parallel Universes Tiebreaking

STV and ranked pairs (RP) are two well-studied voting rules for group decision-making. They proceed in multiple rounds, and are affected by how ties are broken in each round. However, the literature is surprisingly vague about how ties should be broken. We propose the first algorithms for computing the set of alternatives that are winners under some tiebreaking mechanism under STV and RP, which is also known as parallel-universes tiebreaking (PUT). Unfortunately, PUT-winners are NP-complete to compute under STV and RP, and standard search algorithms from AI do not apply. We propose multiple DFS-based algorithms along with pruning strategies, heuristics, sampling and machine learning to prioritize search direction to significantly improve the performance. We also propose novel ILP formulations for PUT-winners under STV and RP, respectively. Experiments on synthetic and realworld data show that our algorithms are overall faster than ILP.
Small-Molecule Covalent Modification of Conserved Cysteine Leads to Allosteric Inhibition of the TEAD⋅Yap Protein-Protein Interaction

The Hippo pathway coordinates extracellular signals onto the control of tissue homeostasis and organ size. Hippo signaling primarily regulates the ability of Yap1 to bind and co-activate TEA domain (TEAD) transcription factors. Yap1 tightly binds to TEAD4 via a large flat interface, making the development of small-molecule orthosteric inhibitors highly challenging. Here, we report small-molecule TEAD⋅Yap inhibitors that rapidly and selectively form a covalent bond with a conserved cysteine located within the unique deep hydrophobic palmitate-binding pocket of TEADs. Inhibition of TEAD4 binding to Yap1 by these compounds was irreversible and occurred on a longer time scale. In mammalian cells, the compounds formed a covalent complex with TEAD4, inhibited its binding to Yap1, blocked its transcriptional activity, and suppressed expression of connective tissue growth factor. The compounds inhibited cell viability of patient-derived glioblastoma spheroids, making them suitable as chemical probes to explore Hippo signaling in cancer.
A Capstone for the Capstone: An Experiential Exercise in Strategic Management:

The content of most MBA capstone strategic management courses emphasizes general management theory and analytical skill development. Additionally, the design of the capstone is often tasked with pr...
Making intersections safer with I2V communication

Abstract Intersections are hazardous places. Threats arise from interactions among pedestrians, bicycles and vehicles, more complicated vehicle trajectories in the absence of lane markings, phases that prevent determining who has the right of way, invisible vehicle approaches, vehicle obstructions, and illegal movements. These challenges are not fully addressed by the “road diet” and road redesign prescribed in Vision Zero plans, nor will they be completely overcome by autonomous vehicles with their many sensors and tireless attention to surroundings. Accidents can also occur because drivers, cyclists and pedestrians do not have the information they need to avoid wrong decisions. In these cases, the missing information can be computed and broadcast by an intelligent intersection. The information gives the current full signal phase, an estimate of the time when the phase will change, and the occupancy of the blind spots of the driver or autonomous vehicle. The paper develops a design of the intelligent intersection, motivated by the analysis of an accident at an intersection in Tempe, AZ, between an automated Uber Volvo and a manual Honda CRV and culminates in a proposal for an intelligent intersection infrastructure. The intelligent intersection also serves as a software-enabled version of the ‘protected intersection’ design to improve the passage of cyclists and pedestrians through an intersection.
Salient Object Detection with Convex Hull Overlap

Salient object detection plays an important part in a vision system to detect important regions. Convolutional neural network (CNN) based methods directly train their models with large-scale datasets, but what is the crucial feature for saliency is still a problem. In this paper, we establish a novel bottom-up feature named convex hull overlap (CHO), combining with appearance contrast features, to detect salient objects. CHO feature is a kind of enhanced Gestalt cue. Psychologists believe that surroundedness reflects objects overlap relationship. An object which is on the top of the others is attractive. Our method significantly differs from other earlier works in (1) We set up a hand-crafted feature to detect salient object that our model does not need to be trained by large-scale datasets, (2) Previous works only focus on appearance features, while our CHO feature makes up the gap between the spatial object covering and the object’s saliency. Our experiments on a large number of public datasets have obtained very positive results.
Estimating bicycle trip volume for Miami-Dade county from Strava tracking data

Abstract Sports and fitness apps on GPS enabled cell phones and smart watches have become a rich source of GPS tracking data for nonmotorized traffic, including walking, running, and cycling. These crowd-sourced data can be analyzed to better understand the cycling behavior of a large user community. Using Strava tracking data from the Miami-Dade County area, this study identifies which transport network measures, characteristics of the built environment, and sociodemographic factors are associated with increased or decreased bicycle ridership in census block groups. For this purpose, a set of linear regression models are estimated to predict non-commute and commute bicycle kilometers travelled per block group, as well as bicycle kilometers travelled on weekends and weekdays. Eigenvector spatial filtering is applied to explicitly model spatial autocorrelation and to avoid parameter estimation bias. Results suggest that Strava data, due to its high spatial resolution and coverage, can identify in detail how the influence of explanatory variables on estimated bicycle trip volume varies between different trip purposes and days of the week. Based on the regression results, the paper presents a set of guidelines for practical design detailing which groups of cyclists would benefit most from specific bicycle infrastructure improvements.
UPPER TIBIAL OSTEOTOMY: STILL A ROLE IN 2012?

The biomechanical rationale for osteotomy and the pathogenesis of degenerative arthrosis accompanying malalignment has been delineated well. Malalignment of the limb results in added stress on damaged articular cartilage and causes further loss of articular cartilage that subsequently exacerbates the limb malalignment. A downward spiral of progressive deformity and additional loss of articular cartilage occurs over time. Osteotomy can be used to realign the limb, reduce stress on the articular cartilage at risk and share the load with the opposite compartment of the knee. In appropriately selected patients osteotomy is a reliable operation to improve pain and function. Over the past two decades osteotomy has been viewed largely as a temporising measure to buy time for patients before they ultimately have a total knee arthroplasty. In this role, osteotomy has largely been accepted as successful. Substantial improvements in pain and function have been documented and seem to hold up well over a 7 to 10 year period after the osteotomy. Medial opening wedge osteotomy has recently gained in popularity in the United States after a long period of use in Europe. Potential advantages of the medial opening wedge technique include the ability to easily adjust the degree of correction intra-operatively, the ability to correct deformities in the sagittal plane as well as the coronal plane, the need to make only one bone cut, and avoiding the tibiofibular joint. The downsides of the opening wedge technique include the need for bone graft to fill the created defect, a potentially higher rate of non-union or delayed union, and a longer period of restricted weight bearing after the procedure.
A Practical Method to Reduce Privacy Loss when Disclosing Statistics Based on Small Samples

We develop a simple method to reduce privacy loss when disclosing statistics such as OLS regression estimates based on samples with small numbers of observations. We focus on the case where the dataset can be broken into many groups (“cells”) and one is interested in releasing statistics for one or more of these cells. Building on ideas from the differential privacy literature, we add noise to the statistic of interest in proportion to the statistic's maximum observed sensitivity, defined as the maximum change in the statistic from adding or removing a single observation across all the cells in the data. Intuitively, our approach permits the release of statistics in arbitrarily small samples by adding sufficient noise to the estimates to protect privacy. Although our method does not offer a formal privacy guarantee, it generally outperforms widely used methods of disclosure limitation such as count-based cell suppression both in terms of privacy loss and statistical bias. We illustrate how the method can be implemented by discussing how it was used to release estimates of social mobility by Census tract in the Opportunity Atlas. We also provide a step-by-step guide and illustrative Stata code to implement our approach.
The effect of a one-time 15-minute guided meditation (Isha Kriya) on stress and mood disturbances among operating room professionals: a prospective interventional pilot study

Background: Operating room professionals are exposed to high levels of stress and burnout. Besides affecting the individual, it can compromise patient safety and quality of care as well. Meditation practice is getting recognized for its ability to improve wellness among various populations, including healthcare providers. Methods: Baseline stress levels of perioperative healthcare providers were measured via an online survey using a Perceived Stress Scale (PSS) questionnaire. An in-person meditation workshop was demonstrated during surgical grand rounds and an international anesthesia conference using a 15-minute guided Isha Kriya meditation. The participants were then surveyed for mood changes before and after meditation using a Profile of Mood States (POMS) questionnaire. Results: Surgeons and anesthesiologists were found to have higher median (interquartile range) Perceived Stress Scores as compared to nurses respectively (17 [12, 20] and 17 [12, 21] vs 14 [9, 19]; P = 0.01). Total mood disturbances were found to be significantly reduced after meditation in both the surgical grand rounds (pre-meditation median [IQR] 99 [85, 112] vs 87 [80, 93] post-meditation; P < 0.0001) and anesthesia conference cohorts (pre-meditation 92 [86, 106] vs 87 [81, 92] post-meditation; P < 0.0001). Conclusions: Isha Kriya, a guided meditation, is easy to learn and takes less than 15 minutes to complete. This meditation technique improves mood changes and negative emotions among operating room professionals and could be used as a potential tool for improving wellness.
Designs of continuous-flow pharmaceutical crystallizers: developments and practice

Crystallization is an effective, low-cost purification & formulation process widely applied to pharmaceuticals and fine chemicals. This review describes recent advances in research on lab-scale solution-based continuous crystallization, including (1) a 5-step general design procedure; (2) key design/operational parameters; (3) process intensification strategies; and (4) a case study. The continuous crystallizers reviewed include mixed-suspension mixed-product removal, fluidized beds, oscillatory baffled flow, and tubular laminar/segmented/slug-flow crystallizers. Their corresponding design and operational considerations are summarized in terms of general parameters (e.g., residence time), and crystallizer-specific parameters and strategies (e.g., mixing strategies). In-line nucleation and crystal modification methods are categorized, including use of micromixers, wet milling, ultrasonication, temperature cycling, and recycling selection (filtration, sedimentation). Throughout the article, links are drawn with extensive existing knowledge of batch crystallizers, to facilitate the understanding and design of continuous crystallizers.
Neurosurgical Flexible Probe Microscopy with Enhanced Architectural and Cytological Detail.

Background Microscopic delineation and clearance of tumor cells at neurosurgical excision margins potentially reduce tumor recurrence and increase patient survival. Probe-based in vivo fluorescence microscopy technologies are promising for neurosurgical in vivo microscopy. Objective We sought to demonstrate a flexible fiberoptic epifluorescence microscope capable of enhanced architectural and cytological imaging for in vivo microscopy during neurosurgical procedures. Methods Eighteen specimens were procured from neurosurgical procedures. These specimens were stained with acridine orange and imaged with a 3-dimensional (3D)-printed epifluorescent microscope that incorporates a flexible fiberoptic probe. Still images and video sequence frames were processed using frame alignment, signal projection, and pseudo-coloring, resulting in resolution enhancement and an increased field of view. Results Images produced displayed good nuclear contrast and architectural detail. Grade 1 meningiomas demonstrated 3D chords and whorls. Low-grade meningothelial nuclei showed streaming and displayed regularity in size, shape, and distribution. Oligodendrogliomas showed regular round nuclei and a variably staining background. Glioblastomas showed high degrees of nuclear pleomorphism and disarray. Mitoses, vascular proliferation, and necrosis were evident. Conclusions We demonstrate the utility of a 3D-printed, flexible probe microscope for high-resolution microscopic imaging with increased architectural detail. Enhanced in vivo imaging using this device may improve our ability to detect and decrease microscopic tumor burden at excision margins during neurosurgical procedures.
Web-based Assessment of Social-Emotional Skills in School-Aged Youth with Autism Spectrum Disorder.

Few tools are available to comprehensively describe the unique social-emotional skill profiles of youth with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). The present study describes the usability, reliability, and validity of SELweb, a normed, web-based assessment designed to measure four core social-emotional domains, when used to measure these skills in a sample of 57 well-characterized youth with ASD (ages 6-10 years with IQ ≥ 80). SELweb measures facial emotion recognition, theory of mind, social problem solving, and self-control. SELweb was well tolerated and yielded scores with reliabilities comparable to those found in normative samples. SELweb scores showed good evidence of convergent and discriminant validity for three of the four skills it was designed to assess. Mean deficits were found for theory of mind, social problem solving, and self-control, whereas no mean deficits were found for emotion recognition. Individual profiles varied considerably, suggesting the sensitivity of SELweb to the within- and between-person individual differences among youth with ASD. Findings support the usefulness and accessibility of SELweb as a tool for measuring complex social-emotional skill profiles in youth with ASD. Autism Res 2019, 12: 1260-1271. © 2019 International Society for Autism Research, Wiley Periodicals, Inc. LAY SUMMARY: No single, simple, high-quality test exists that measures multiple social thinking skills directly in children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). The present study suggests that SELweb, a web-based assessment system, is an effective and valid way to measure how children with ASD think about and understand social and emotional information, and is able to capture strengths and weaknesses experienced by children with ASD.
Distinguishing among modes of convergent adaptation using population genomic data

Geographically separated populations can convergently adapt to the same selection pressure. Convergent evolution at the level of a gene may arise via three distinct modes. The selected alleles can (1) have multiple independent mutational origins, (2) be shared due to shared ancestral standing variation, or (3) spread throughout subpopulations via gene flow. We present a model-based, statistical approach that utilizes genomic data to detect cases of convergent adaptation at the genetic level, identify the loci involved and distinguish among these modes. To understand the impact of convergent positive selection on neutral diversity at linked loci, we make use of the fact that hitchhiking can be modeled as an increase in the variance in neutral allele frequencies around a selected site within a population. We build on coalescent theory to show how shared hitchhiking events between subpopulations act to increase covariance in allele frequencies between subpopulations at loci near the selected site, and extend this theory under different models of migration and selection on the same standing variation. We incorporate this hitchhiking effect into a multivariate normal model of allele frequencies that also accounts for population structure. Based on this theory, we present a composite-likelihood-based approach that utilizes genomic data to identify loci involved in convergence, and distinguishes among alternate modes of convergent adaptation. We illustrate our method on genome-wide polymorphism data from two distinct cases of convergent adaptation. First, we investigate the adaptation for copper toxicity tolerance in two populations of the common yellow monkey flower, Mimulus guttatus. We show that selection has occurred on an allele that has been standing in these populations prior to the onset of copper mining in this region. Lastly, we apply our method to data from four populations of the killifish, Fundulus heteroclitus, that show very rapid convergent adaptation for tolerance to industrial pollutants. Here, we identify a single locus at which both independent mutation events and selection on an allele shared via gene flow, either slightly before or during selection, play a role in adaptation across the species’ range.
REDUCTIVE AMINATION OF NITROIMIDAZOLE ALDEHYDE WITH DIAMINES USING SODIUM TRIACETOXYBOROHYDRIDE

Abstract Nitroimidazole Aldehyde reacts with various diamines under a nitrogen atmosphere at room temperature, using sodium triacetoxyborohydride as a reducing agent, to give the corresponding tertiary amines.
Alkyl C−O Ring Cleavage of Bicyclic β-Lactones with Normant Reagents: Synthesis of a Merck IND Intermediate

Highly diastereoselective Cu(I)-mediated, bicyclic β-lactone ring cleavage reactions with either alkyl or aryl cuprates proceeded with inversion of stereochemistry to give optically active trans-substituted cyclopentanes and cyclohexanes. Optimization of typically problematic aryl cuprate additions was made possible by minimization of a competing bromide-induced ring cleavage process. The utility of this process was demonstrated by an efficient synthesis of a Merck investigational new drug (IND) intermediate for an anti-HIV CCR5 antagonist.
Two solar neutrino problems

Abstract It is shown that there are two solar neutrino problems: (1) the incompatibility of the chlorine and Kamiokande solar neutrino experiments; and (2) the low counting rates in the gallium experiments. Eleven recently-published solar models give 7 Be neutrino fluxes that lie within a range of ±10% of the average value, a convergence that is independent of uncertainties in the measured laboratory rate of the 7 Be (p,γ) 8 B reaction. If nothing happens to solar neutrinos after they are created (a la standard electroweak theory) and the operating solar neutrino experiments are correct, then the 7 Be solar neutrino flux must be less than 50% of the solar model value. At least three of the four existing solar neutrino experiments must be wrong if . (1) standard electroweak theory is correct, and (2) the true 7 Be neutrino flux lies within the range predicted by standard solar models.
Deoxygenation of Polynuclear Metal−Oxo Anions: Synthesis, Structure, and Reactivity of the Condensed Polyoxoanion [(C4H9)4N]4(NbW5O18)2O

The deoxygenation of the mixed-metal polyoxoanion [(C4H9)4N]3NbW5O19 with benzoyl chloride in dichloromethane forms quantitatively the condensed polyoxanion [(C4H9)4N]4(NbW5O18)2O, in which two polyoxoanion fragments are linked together by a Nb−O−Nb oxo bridge. The product is characterized by a strong IR band at 692 cm-1 assigned to a Nb−O−Nb stretch and a broad single 93Nb NMR resonance at 975 ppm. Partial hydrolysis of [(C4H9)4N]4(NbW5O18)2O to NbW5O19O3- in wet acetonitrile was observed by IR and 17O NMR spectroscopy. The reaction of [(C4H9)4N]4(NbW5O18)2O with a variety of alcohols and phenol forms alkoxide-derivatized polyoxoanions [(C4H9)4N]2Nb(OR)W5O18 (R = methyl, ethyl, isopropyl, cholesteryl, phenyl). The similarity of the IR spectra of these deriviatives suggests that functionalization occurs at the terminal NbO oxygen. A crystallographic study of [(C4H9)4N]4(NbW5O18)2O revealed a crystallographically imposed linear Nb−O−Nb oxo bridge (Nb−Obridge = 1.887(3) A) and a structure in which the termi...
Emergence of trait variability through the lens of nitrogen assimilation in Prochlorococcus

Intraspecific trait variability has important consequences for the function and stability of marine ecosystems. Here we examine variation in the ability to use nitrate across hundreds of Prochlorococcus genomes to better understand the modes of evolution influencing intraspecific allocation of ecologically important functions. Nitrate assimilation genes are absent in basal lineages but occur at an intermediate frequency that is randomly distributed within recently emerged clades. The distribution of nitrate assimilation genes within clades appears largely governed by vertical inheritance, gene loss, and homologous recombination. By mapping this process onto a model of Prochlorococcus' macroevolution, we propose that niche-constructing adaptive radiations and subsequent niche partitioning set the stage for loss of nitrate assimilation genes from basal lineages as they specialized to lower light levels. Retention of these genes in recently emerged lineages has likely been facilitated by selection as they sequentially partitioned into niches where nitrate assimilation conferred a fitness benefit.
THE JUPITER ELECTRON SCATTERING PROGRAM AT JEFFERSON LAB

JUPITER (Jlab Unified Program to Investigate nuclear Targets and Electroproduction of Resonances) is a new collaboration between the Nuclear Physics electron scattering and High Energy Physics neutrino scattering communities to investigate the structure of nucleons and nuclei with electron and neutrino Beams. The first phase of JUPITER is Hall C experiment E04-001 on Inclusive Electron Scattering from Nuclear Targets. First data run of E04-001 is currently scheduled for January of 2005.
Expanded scope in ethylene-alkyne cross-metathesis: coordinating heteroatom functionality at the propargylic position.

The Grubbs 1,3-dimesityl-4,5-dihydroimidazol-2-ylidene-substituted ruthenium complex 1 catalyzed ethylene−alkyne cross-metathesis and was shown to tolerate free hydroxyl groups and coordinating functionality at the propargylic and homopropargylic positions. Hindered and enantiomerically enriched 1-substituted alkynes also react efficiently under the reported conditions.
Information sharing for a coordination game in fluctuating environments.

Abstract Collective action dilemmas pervade the social and biological sciences - from human decision-making to bacterial quorum sensing. In these scenarios, individuals sense cues from the environment to adopt a suitable phenotype or change in behavior. However, when cues include signals from other individuals, then the appropriate behavior of each individual is linked. Here, we develop a framework to quantify the influence of information sharing on individual behavior in the context of two player coordination games. In this framework, the environment stochastically switches between two states, and the state determines which one of two actions players must coordinate on. Given a stochastically switching environment, we then consider two versions of the game that differ in the way players acquire information. In the first model, players independently sense private environmental cues, but do not communicate with each other. We find there are two types of strategies that emerge as Nash equilibria and fitness maximizers - players prefer to commit to one particular action when private information is poor, or prefer to employ phenotypic plasticity when it is good. The second model adds an additional layer of communication, where players share social cues as well. When the quality of social information is high, we find the socially optimal strategy is a novel “majority logic” strategy that bases decision-making on social cues. Our game-theoretic approach offers a principled way of investigating the role of communication in group decision-making under uncertain conditions.
Syntheses of 1,5,6-trimethyl-2-aminoimidazo[4,5-b]pyridine and 3,5,6-trimethyl-2-aminoimidazo[4,5-b]pyridine

Two potential mutagens found in food, 1,5,6-trimethyl-2-aminoimidazo[4,5-b]pyridine and 3,5,6-trimethyl-2-aminoimidazo[4,5-b]pyridine, are synthesized.
Arylsilsesquioxane gels and related materials. New hybrids of organic and inorganic networks

Molecular building blocks for the preparation of amorphous hybrid organic-inorganic network materials have been synthesized. Hydrolysis and condensation of bis(triethoxysilyl)aryl 1-4 and -ethynyl 5 monomers results in formation of aryl- and ethynyl-bridged polysilsequioxanes in the form of xerogels. The gels were glasslike materials composed of uniform aggregate of particles between 50 and 80 nm in diameter. Atomic force microscopy was used to examine the fine grained aggregate characteristics of phenyl-bridged polysilsesquioxane
Differences in neural activity, but not behavior, across social contexts in guppies, Poecilia reticulata

Animals are continually faced with the challenge of producing context-appropriate social behaviors. In many instances, appropriate behaviors differ by social situation. However, in some instances, the same behaviors are employed across different social contexts, albeit in response to distinct stimuli and with distinct purposes. We took advantage of behavioral similarities across mating and aggression contexts in guppies, Poecilia reticulata, to understand how patterns of neural activity differ across social contexts when behaviors are nonetheless shared. While there is growing interest in understanding behavioral mechanisms in guppies, resources are sparse. As part of this study, we developed a neuroanatomical atlas of the guppy brain as a research community resource. Using this atlas, we found that neural activity in the preoptic area reflected social context, whereas individual differences in behavioral motivation paralleled activity in the posterior tuberculum and ventral telencephalon (teleost homologs of the mammalian ventral tegmental area and lateral septum, respectively). Our findings suggest independent coding of social salience versus behavioral motivation when behavioral repertoires are shared across social contexts. Choosing behaviors appropriate to the current social situation is of central importance to animals. Interactions with different social partners (e.g., mates, competitors, or offspring) generally require distinct behavioral repertories. However, in some cases, similar behaviors are used across social contexts. The neural mechanisms underlying social behavior are particularly intriguing in these situations, where the same behaviors are produced in response to distinct social stimuli and for distinct purposes. We took advantage of behavioral similarities across mating and aggression interactions in Trinidadian guppies to explore how social information is reflected in the brain when fish perform a common set of behaviors across contexts. We found that activity in distinct brain regions reflects social context versus behavioral motivation, suggesting a means by which social inputs and behavioral outputs can be coded independently of one another.
M current regulates firing mode and spike reliability in a collision-detecting neuron.

The ability to reliably detect impending collisions is a critical survival skill. The nervous systems of many animals have developed dedicated neurons for accomplishing this task. We used a mix of ...
Design, synthesis, and evaluation of acyclic C-nucleoside and N-methylated derivatives of the ribitylaminopyrimidine substrate of lumazine synthase as potential enzyme inhibitors and mechanistic probes.

Lumazine synthase and riboflavin synthase catalyze the last two steps in the biosynthesis of riboflavin, a vitamin that is involved in many critical biochemical reactions that are essential for the maintenance of life. To obtain inhibitors and structural probes that could be useful in studying the structures of bound reaction intermediates, the ribitylamino N−H moiety of the lumazine synthase substrate was replaced by CH2 and N−CH3 groups. The CH2 replacement unexpectedly and completely abolished the affinity for lumazine synthase, thus revealing a critical, yet unexplained, role of the ribitylamino N−H moiety in conferring affinity for the enzyme. In contrast, the N−CH3 replacement resulted in an inhibitor of both lumazine synthase and riboflavin synthase. Replacement of the ribitylamino N−H moiety with epimeric C−F moieties led to inhibition of lumazine synthase and riboflavin synthase when combined with the replacement of the 5-amino group with a nitro substituent.
New synthesis of α-nitroalkyl- and α-nitroaralkylcarboxylic esters from α-nitroalkyl- and α-nitroaralkyl-2-oxazolines

2-Nitroalkyl- and 2-nitroaralkyl-2-oxazolines are readily converted, in one step, to α-nitroalkyl- and α-nitroaralkylcarboxylic esters on treatment with the appropriate alcohol and trifluoroacetic acid (TFA). The initial products of the ring cleavage are the TFA salts of the ammonioalkyl esters of α-nitroalkyl- and α-nitroaralkylcarboxylic acids. These salts undergo facile transesterification to the α-nitrocarboxylic esters on refluxing with the appropriate alcohol.
Solvent effects in a carbenoid N–H insertion route to triarylamines via 2-diazo-1,3-cyclohexanedione

The Rh-carbenoid derived from 2-diazo-1,3-cyclohexanedione inserts into the N–H bond of arylalkylamines and diarylamines. A solvent for this reactive carbenoid is suggested. The insertion products undergo a Pd-mediated aromatization to afford alkyldiarylamines and triarylamines.