cometadata/datacite-rtg-text-other-reclassification-records huggingface dataset:
Immuno-Modulating Properties of Tulathromycin in Porcine Reproductive and Respiratory Syndrome Virus-Infected Macrophages In Vitro.
Creators: name: Desmonts De Lamache, Dimitri
Publisher: name: Graduate Studies
Year: 2018
Subjects: subject: Antibiotics
subject: Virus
subject: Tulathromycin
subject: PRRSV
subject: Pigs
subject: Biology
subject: Veterinary Science
subject: Health Sciences

description: With a total cost of productivity losses estimated at $600 million annually in the U.S alone, porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome (PRRS) is a major concern in the swine industry. PRRS etiological agent, the porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome virus (PRRSV) is a small positive-strand RNA virus that primarily grows in alveolar macrophages. Due to its high antigenic variability, and poorly understood immunopathogenesis, there is currently no treatment to control PRRSV infection. Commercially available vaccines are inefficient and cannot meet practical needs encouraging more researchers to explore different approaches to treat PRRSV infections. The common occurrence of PRRSV infection with bacterial infections as well as its inflammatory-driven pathobiology raises the question of the value of antibiotics for the treatment of the disease it causes. Tulathromycin (TUL), a macrolide antibiotic previously studied in our laboratory has been shown to exhibit potent anti-inflammatory and immunomodulatory actions in cattle and pigs. The aim of this study was to identify and characterize anti-viral and immunomodulating properties of TUL in PRRSV-infected porcine macrophages. Our findings indicate that blood monocyte-derived macrophages are readily infected by PRRSV and can be used as a cellular model to study PRRSV pathogenesis. TUL was found to not change viral titers and viral receptors (CD163 and CD169) expression suggesting that the drug does not possess direct antiviral effects against PRRSV. In addition, we showed that TUL acts synergistically with PRRSV to induce apoptosis but prevents virus-induced early necrosis. TUL was also found to attenuate PRRSV-induced macrophage pro-inflammatory signaling (CXCL-8 and mitochondrial ROS production) and prevent phagocytosis inhibition. Together, these data demonstrate that tulathromycin downregulates PRRSV-induced inflammatory response in macrophages which may in turn reduce virus-related tissue injury. More importantly, this study sheds the light on the potential clinical benefits of an antibiotic in the context of a virus-induced inflammation.
Probing the role of Co substitution in the electronic structure of iron-pnictides
Creators: name: Levy, G.
name: Sutarto, R.
name: Chevrier, D.
name: Regier, T.
name: Blyth, R.
name: Geck, J.
name: Wurmehl, S.
name: Harnagea, L.
name: Wadati, H.
name: Mizokawa, T.
name: Elfimov, I. S.
name: Damascelli, A.
name: Sawatzky, G. A.
Publisher: name: arXiv
Year: 2012
Subjects: subject: Superconductivity (cond-mat.supr-con)
subject: FOS: Physical sciences

description: The role of Co substitution in the low-energy electronic structure of Ca(Fe$_{0.944}$Co$_{0.056}$)$_2$As$_2$ is investigated by resonant photoemission spectroscopy and density functional theory. The Co 3d-state center-of-mass is observed at 250 meV higher binding energy than Fe's, indicating that Co posses one extra valence electron, and that Fe and Co are in the same 2+ oxidation state. Yet, significant Co character is detected for the Bloch wavefunctions at the chemical potential, revealing that the Co 3d electrons are part of the Fermi sea determining the Fermi surface. This establishes the complex role of Co substitution in CaFe2As2, and the inadequacy of a rigid-band shift description.
description: 4 pages, 4 figures
Lexical Choice in Natural Language Generation
Creators: name: Robin, Jacques
Publisher: name: Columbia University
Year: 1990
Subjects: Computer science

description: In this paper we survey the issue of lexical choice in natural language generation. We first define lexical choice as the choice of open-class lexical items (whether phrasal patterns or individual words) appropriate to express the content units of the utterance being generated in a given situation of enunciation. We then distinguish between five major classes of constraints on lexical choice: grammatical, inter-lexical, encyclopedic, interpersonal and discursive. For each class we review how they have been represented and used in existing generators. We conclude by pointing out the common limitations of these generators with respect to lexical choice as well as some directions for future research in the field.
QCD With A Chemical Potential, Topology, And The 't Hooft 1/N Expansion
Creators: name: Armoni, Adi
name: Patella, Agostino
Publisher: name: arXiv
Year: 2012
Subjects: subject: High Energy Physics - Theory (hep-th)
subject: High Energy Physics - Lattice (hep-lat)
subject: FOS: Physical sciences

description: We discuss the dependence of observables on the chemical potential in 't Hooft's large-N QCD. To this end we use the worldline formalism to expand the fermionic determinant in powers of 1/N. We consider the hadronic as well as the deconfining phase of the theory. We discuss the origin of the sign problem in the worldline approach and elaborate on the planar equivalence between QCD with a baryon chemical potential and QCD with an isospin chemical potential. We show that for C-even observables the sign problem occurs at a subleading order in the 1/N expansion of the fermionic determinant. Finally, we comment on the finite N theory.
description: 8 pages RevTex. v2: minor changes, ref. added, typos fixed. To appear in Phys.Rev.D
The case for tradable remedies in WTO dispute settlement
Creators: name: Bagwell, Kyle
name: Mavroidis, Petros C.
name: Staiger, Robert W.
Publisher: name: Columbia University
Year: 2004
Subjects: Dispute resolution (Law)
Economics

description: It has been almost two years since the process leading to the reform of the Dispute Settlement Understanding (DSU) was initiated. The Ministerial Conference in Doha provided the legal mandate (Â§30) to do so. Negotiations started in early March 2002 and were supposed to be concluded by end of May 2003. This has not been the case. The situation is quite ambivalent from a purely legal perspective right now: negotiators seem to take the view (WTO Doc. TN/DS/9 of 6 June 2003) that although the deadline for concluding negotiations has lapsed, they still have the mandate to continue negotiating, which is what they have been doing ever since. The negotiations so far reveal convergence on some issues and divergence on others. The proposals with a "high level of support" have been reflected in a document (WTO Doc. TN/DS/9 of 6 June 2003) and those that could not gather momentum are, at least for the time being, kept aside (although, technically, they are still on the negotiating table since it is up to the country proposing them to introduce them at some stage). In this paper we essentially focus on one proposal of the latter kind, the Mexican proposal to allow WTO Members to trade their rights for retaliation. This proposal is definitely the most ambitious and innovative proposal (judging by the pace of institutional reforms throughout the history of dispute settlement in the GATT/WTO) ever submitted in this context. At the same time, it is a meritorious proposal and deserves to be discussed in a comprehensive manner. This paper aims to offer arguments in this perspective.
Promoting the relationships of plants and health within Westbank First Nation
Creators: name: Liman, Joel
Publisher: name: University of British Columbia
Year: 2011

description: In this thesis I present a community-based participatory research project analyzing principles for the management of non-timber forest products within Westbank First Nation (WFN). This work situated WFN perspectives within current research on Aboriginal understandings of human and ecological health. The mixed method approach of this project utilized qualitative community knowledge and quantitative, field-based research. The results from the qualitative components detail community understandings of the connection between plants, health, and the environment. These connections were summarized in community principles for managing native flora and creating culturally-grounded ecological education. The quantitative research component analyzed the current distribution characteristics of Shepherdia canadensis (L.) Nutt., Elaeagnaceae within the Central Okanagan. Distribution characteristics and various plant community associations were analyzed using a plot-based field methodology. This information was compared to community input regarding the historical distribution of Shepherdia canadensis (Okanagan - sxʷusəm) in the region. The current fragmented distribution of Shepherdia canadensis implies the potential for a broad historical access to this plant at low elevations. This broad distribution was in accordance to the accounts of some community members. This particular information provided an example of how traditional ecological knowledge (TEK) has the potential to improve questions within resource management practice. On a broader level, this data provided some context to discuss effectively co-managing for resources within changing ecosystems. As a whole, this thesis presents an example of how Aboriginal perspectives of health and ecology relate to their conceptions of managing resources and how these perspectives should be engaged to promote effective management practice.
一种用于“以太”测量的新型实验装置（A novel experimental device for ether measurements）
Creators: name: 杨, 林
Publisher: name: figshare
Year: 2021
Subjects: subject: 20102 Astronomical and Space Instrumentation
subject: FOS: Physical sciences

description: 对空间方法绝对参考系（）进行测量，最好的就是对不同方向的以太测量的单向直接传播速度的测量，所以可以解释一个全新的对光速和“以太”测量的实验装置。测量绝对参考系（以太），最好的办法是直接测量光在不同方向的单向传播速度，所以这里设计了一种新的实验装置来测量光和“以太”的速度。
Experimental scaling law for the sub-critical transition to turbulence in plane Poiseuille flow
Creators: name: Lemoult, Grégoire
name: Aider, Jean-Luc
name: Wesfreid, José-Eduardo
Publisher: name: arXiv
Year: 2011
Subjects: subject: Fluid Dynamics (physics.flu-dyn)
subject: FOS: Physical sciences

description: We present an experimental study of transition to turbulence in a plane Poiseuille flow. Using a well-controlled perturbation, we analyse the flow using extensive Particule Image Velocimetry and flow visualisation (using Laser Induced Fluorescence) measurements and use the deformation of the mean velocity profile as a criterion to characterize the state of the flow. From a large parametric study, four different states are defined depending on the values of the Reynolds number and the amplitude of the perturbation. We discuss the role of coherent structures, like hairpin vortices, in the transition. We find that the minimal amplitude of the perturbation triggering transition scales like Re^-1.
An Object-Based Approach to Implementing Distributed Concurrency Control
Creators: name: Popovich, Steven S.
name: Kaiser, Gail E.
name: Wu, Shyhtsun Felix
Publisher: name: Columbia University
Year: 1990
Subjects: Computer science

description: We have added distributed concurrency control to the MELD object system by representing in progress transactions as simulated objects. Transaction objects exploit MELD‘s normal message passing facilities to support the concurrency control mechanism. We have completed the implementation of an optimistic mechanism using transaction objects and have designed a two phase locking mechanism based on the same paradigm. We discuss the tradeoffs made and lessons learned, dealing both with transactions on objects and with transactions as objects.
Improved Model Reduction and Tuning of Fractional Order PIλDμ Controllers for Analytical Rule Extraction with Genetic Programming
Creators: name: Das, Saptarshi
name: Pan, Indranil
name: Das, Shantanu
name: Gupta, Amitava
Publisher: name: arXiv
Year: 2012
Subjects: subject: Systems and Control (eess.SY)
subject: Neural and Evolutionary Computing (cs.NE)
subject: FOS: Electrical engineering, electronic engineering, information engineering
subject: FOS: Computer and information sciences

description: Genetic Algorithm (GA) has been used in this paper for a new approach of sub-optimal model reduction in the Nyquist plane and optimal time domain tuning of PID and fractional order (FO) PIλDμ controllers. Simulation studies show that the Nyquist based new model reduction technique outperforms the conventional H2 norm based reduced parameter modeling technique. With the tuned controller parameters and reduced order model parameter data-set, optimum tuning rules have been developed with a test-bench of higher order processes via Genetic Programming (GP). The GP performs a symbolic regression on the reduced process parameters to evolve a tuning rule which provides the best analytical expression to map the data. The tuning rules are developed for a minimum time domain integral performance index described by weighted sum of error index and controller effort. From the reported Pareto optimal front of GP based optimal rule extraction technique a trade-off can be made between the complexity of the tuning formulae and the control performance. The efficacy of the single-gene and multi-gene GP based tuning rules has been compared with original GA based control performance for the PID and PIλDμ controllers, handling four different class of representative higher order processes. These rules are very useful for process control engineers as they inherit the power of the GA based tuning methodology, but can be easily calculated without the requirement for running the computationally intensive GA every time. Three dimensional plots of the required variation in PID/FOPID controller parameters with reduced process parameters have been shown as a guideline for the operator. Parametric robustness of the reported GP based tuning rules has also been shown with credible simulation examples.
description: 41 pages, 29 figures
Auctioning the NFL overtime possession
Creators: name: Che, Yeon-Koo
name: Hendershott, Terry
Publisher: name: Columbia University
Year: 2006
Subjects: Economics

description: In an National Football League overtime, a coin is tossed to determine which team will receive the kick off. In the sudden death format starting on offense has a significantly higher chance of winning. This makes coin tossing one of the most climatic moments and immediately confers an advantage to one team. Proposals to improve the ex post fairness by guaranteeing each team one possession reduce the efficiency and excitement of the sudden-death format. We propose a simple approach motivated by economics: the coaches of opposing teams bid on the yardage from its end zone at which his team would begin offense, with the low bidder winning the offense right. For instance, if coaches of teams A and B bid 18 and 21 yards, respectively, team A would win and begin its offense at 18 from its end zone. This note analyzes the equilibrium outcome of such an auction and discusses its properties.
The INPOP10a planetary ephemeris and its applications in fundamental physics
Creators: name: Fienga, A.
name: Laskar, J.
name: Kuchynka, P.
name: Manche, H.
name: Desvignes, G.
name: Gastineau, M.
name: Cognard, I.
name: Theureau, G.
Publisher: name: arXiv
Year: 2011
Subjects: subject: Earth and Planetary Astrophysics (astro-ph.EP)
subject: General Relativity and Quantum Cosmology (gr-qc)
subject: FOS: Physical sciences

description: Compared to the previous INPOP versions, the INPOP10a planetary and lunar ephemeris has several improvements. For the planets of our solar system, no big change was brought in the dynamics but improvements were implemented in the fitting process, the data sets used in the fit and in the selection of fitted parameters. We report here the main characteristics of the planetary part of INPOP10a like the fit of the product of the Solar mass with the gravitational constant (GM$_{\odot}$) instead of the astronomical unit. Determinations of PPN parameters as well as adjustments of the Sun J2 and of asteroid masses are also presented. New advances of nodes and perihelia of planets were also estimated and are given here. As for INPOP08, INPOP10a provides to the user, positions and velocities of the planets, the moon, the rotation angles of the Earth and the Moon as well as TT-TDB chebychev polynomials at http://www.imcce.fr/inpop
description: accepted for publication in celestial mechanics and dynamical astronomy
Tree Dependent Identically Distributed Learning
Creators: name: Jebara, Tony
name: Long, Philip M.
Publisher: name: Columbia University
Year: 2005
Subjects: Computer science

description: We view a dataset of points or samples as having an underlying, yet unspecified, tree structure and exploit this assumption in learning problems. Such a tree structure assumption is equivalent to treating a dataset as being tree dependent identically distributed or tdid and preserves exchange-ability. This extends traditional iid assumptions on data since each datum can be sampled sequentially after being conditioned on a parent. Instead of hypothesizing a single best tree structure, we infer a richer Bayesian posterior distribution over tree structures from a given dataset. We compute this posterior over (directed or undirected) trees via the Laplacian of conditional distributions between pairs of input data points. This posterior distribution is efficiently normalized by the Laplacian's determinant and also facilitates novel maximum likelihood estimators, efficient expectations and other useful inference computations. In a classification setting, tdid assumptions yield a criterion that maximizes the determinant of a matrix of conditional distributions between pairs of input and output points. This leads to a novel classification algorithm we call the Maximum Determinant Machine. Unsupervised and supervised experiments are shown.
Rethinking Venice from an Ecosystem Services Perspective
Creators: name: Da Mosto, Jane
name: Bertolini, Camilla
name: Markandya, Anil
name: Nunes, Paulo A.L.D.
name: Spencer, Tom
name: Palaima, Arnas
name: Onofri, Laura
name: Da Mosto, Jane
name: Bertolini, Camilla
name: Markandya, Anil
name: Nunes, Paulo A.L.D.
name: Spencer, Tom
name: Palaima, Arnas
name: Onofri, Laura
Publisher: name: Unknown
Year: 2020
Subjects: subject: Community/Rural/Urban Development
subject: Natural Capital
subject: Ecosystem Services
subject: Economic Valuation
subject: Sustainability
subject: Venice Lagoon
subject: Alternative Management Strategies

description: Safeguarding the future of Venice is a globally recognised challenge of urban sustainability. We propose a sustainable management model, alternative to the current strategy, that primarily focuses on the built heritage and which interprets the city together with its encircling lagoon as a matrix of interlinked natural, cultural and social capital. In particular, Venetian natural capital can be valued as a stock of wealth that produces a flow of income, its ecosystem services. Such values can be measured in economic, including monetary, terms. Using the examples of salt marsh and seagrass carbon sequestration, together with sediment retention, water purification and artisanal fishery and aquaculture, we show that it is economically viable to develop and reorientate the nearfuture trajectory of Venice and its lagoon with reference to a more sustainable pathway, where the natural capital is a driver of future economic development and, as such, is comparable with the value of currently dominant economic activities (port and mass tourism).
Additional file 2 of Genomic profiling of colorectal cancer with isolated lung metastasis
Creators: name: Zhang, Nan
name: Di, Jiabo
name: Wang, Zaozao
name: Gao, Pin
name: Jiang, Beihai
name: Su, Xiangqian
Publisher: name: figshare
Year: 2020
Subjects: subject: Medicine
subject: Genetics
subject: FOS: Biological sciences
subject: Pharmacology
subject: Biological Sciences not elsewhere classified
subject: Cancer

description: Additional file 2: Table S2. Sequencing information of the five primary tumors, five metastatic tumors and five non-cancerous comparators.
Time delays for 11 gravitationally lensed quasars revisited
Creators: name: Eulaers, Eva
name: Magain, Pierre
Publisher: name: arXiv
Year: 2011
Subjects: subject: Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics (astro-ph.CO)
subject: Instrumentation and Methods for Astrophysics (astro-ph.IM)
subject: FOS: Physical sciences

description: We test the robustness of published time delays for 11 lensed quasars by using two techniques to measure time shifts in their light curves. We chose to use two fundamentally different techniques to determine time delays in gravitationally lensed quasars: a method based on fitting a numerical model and another one derived from the minimum dispersion method introduced by Pelt and collaborators. To analyse our sample in a homogeneous way and avoid bias caused by the choice of the method used, we apply both methods to 11 different lensed systems for which delays have been published: JVAS B0218+357, SBS 0909+523, RX J0911+0551, FBQS J0951+2635, HE 1104-1805, PG 1115+080, JVAS B1422+231, SBS 1520+530, CLASS B1600+434, CLASS B1608+656, and HE 2149-2745 Time delays for three double lenses, JVAS B0218+357, HE 1104-1805, and CLASS B1600+434, as well as the quadruply lensed quasar CLASS B1608+656 are confirmed within the error bars. We correct the delay for SBS 1520+530. For PG 1115+080 and RX J0911+0551, the existence of a second solution on top of the published delay is revealed. The time delays in four systems, SBS 0909+523, FBQS J0951+2635, JVAS B1422+231, and HE 2149-2745 prove to be less reliable than previously claimed. If we wish to derive an estimate of H_0 based on time delays in gravitationally lensed quasars, we need to obtain more robust light curves for most of these systems in order to achieve a higher accuracy and robustness on the time delays.
First and second variation formulae for the sub-Riemannian area in three-dimensional pseudo-hermitian manifolds
Creators: name: Galli, Matteo
Publisher: name: arXiv
Year: 2011
Subjects: subject: Differential Geometry (math.DG)
subject: FOS: Mathematics

description: We calculate the first and the second variation formula for the sub-Riemannian area in three dimensional pseudo-hermitian manifolds. We consider general variations that can move the singular set of a C^2 surface and non-singular variation for C_H^2 surfaces. These formulas enable us to construct a stability operator for non-singular C^2 surfaces and another one for C2 (eventually singular) surfaces. Then we can obtain a necessary condition for the stability of a non-singular surface in a pseudo-hermitian 3-manifold in term of the pseudo-hermitian torsion and the Webster scalar curvature. Finally we classify complete stable surfaces in the roto-traslation group RT .
description: 36 pages. Misprints corrected. Statement of Proposition 9.8 slightly changed and Remark 9.9 added
MOESM9 of A field-based modeling study on ecological characterization of hourly host-seeking behavior and its associated climatic variables in Aedes albopictus
Creators: name: Yin, Qingqing
name: Li, Li
name: Guo, Xiang
name: Wu, Rangke
name: Shi, Benyun
name: Wang, Yuji
name: Liu, Yingjie
name: Wu, Shang
name: Pan, Yicheng
name: Wang, Qi
name: Xie, Tian
name: Hu, Tian
name: Xia, Dan
name: Xia, Shang
name: Kambalame, Dzinkambani
name: Li, Wanyu
name: Song, Zhangyao
name: Zhou, Siyun
name: Deng, Ye
name: Xie, Yu
name: Zhou, Xiao-Nong
name: Wang, Chunmei
name: Chen, Xiao-Guang
name: Zhou, Xiaohong
Publisher: name: figshare
Year: 2019
Subjects: subject: Environmental Sciences not elsewhere classified
subject: Ecology
subject: FOS: Biological sciences
subject: Sociology
subject: FOS: Sociology
subject: Biological Sciences not elsewhere classified

description: Additional file 9: Table S6. R2 values for the models with time points within a day and month and different variables.
Experimental consequences of predicted charge rigidity of superconductors
Creators: name: Hirsch, J. E.
Publisher: name: arXiv
Year: 2012
Subjects: subject: Superconductivity (cond-mat.supr-con)
subject: FOS: Physical sciences

description: The theory of hole superconductivity predicts that in superconductors the charged superfluid is about a million times more rigid than the normal electron fluid. We point out that this physics should give rise to large changes in the bulk and surface plasmon dispersion relations of metals entering the superconducting state, that have not yet been experimentally detected and would be in stark contradiction with the expected behavior within conventional BCS-London theory. We also propose that this explains the puzzling experimental observations of Avramenko et al\cite{sound} on electron sound propagation in superconductors and the puzzling experiments of W. de Heer et al\cite{clusters} detecting large electric dipole moments in small metal clusters, as well as the Tao effect\cite{tao} on aggregation of superconducting microparticles in an electric field. Associated with the enhanced charge rigidity is a large increase in the electric screening length of superconductors at low temperatures that has not yet been experimentally detected. The physical origin of the enhanced charge rigidity and its relation to other aspects of the theory of hole superconductivity is discussed.
description: 9 pages, 4 figures
FUF: the Universal Unifier User Manual Version 5.0
Creators: name: Elhadad, Michael
Publisher: name: Columbia University
Year: 1991
Subjects: Computer science

description: This report is the user manual for FUF version 5.0, a natural language generator program that uses the technique of unification grammars. The program is composed of two main modules: a unifier and a linearizer. The unifier takes as input a semantic description of the text to be generated and a unification grammar, and produces as output a rich syntactic description of the text. The linearizer interprets this syntactic description and produces an English sentence. This manual includes a detailed presentation of the technique of unification grammars and a reference manual for the current implementation (FUF 5.0). Version 5.0 now includes novel techniques in the unification allowing the specification of types and the expression of complete information. It also allows for procedural unification and supports sophisticated forms of control.
BSSN equations in spherical coordinates without regularization: vacuum and non-vacuum spherically symmetric spacetimes
Creators: name: Montero, Pedro J.
name: Cordero-Carrion, Isabel
Publisher: name: arXiv
Year: 2012
Subjects: subject: General Relativity and Quantum Cosmology (gr-qc)
subject: Instrumentation and Methods for Astrophysics (astro-ph.IM)
subject: FOS: Physical sciences

description: Brown has recently introduced a covariant formulation of the BSSN equations which is well suited for curvilinear coordinate systems. This is particularly desirable as many astrophysical phenomena are symmetric with respect to the rotation axis or are such that curvilinear coordinates adapt better to their geometry. However, the singularities associated with such coordinate systems are known to lead to numerical instabilities unless special care is taken (e.g., regularization at the origin). Cordero-Carrion will present a rigorous derivation of partially implicit Runge-Kutta methods in forthcoming papers, with the aim of treating numerically the stiff source terms in wave-like equations that may appear as a result of the choice of the coordinate system. We have developed a numerical code solving the BSSN equations in spherical symmetry and the general relativistic hydrodynamic equations written in flux-conservative form. A key feature of the code is that it uses a second-order partially implicit Runge-Kutta method to integrate the evolution equations. We perform and discuss a number of tests to assess the accuracy and expected convergence of the code, namely a pure gauge wave, the evolution of a single black hole, the evolution of a spherical relativistic star in equilibrium, and the gravitational collapse of a spherical relativistic star leading to the formation of a black hole. We obtain stable evolutions of regular spacetimes without the need for any regularization algorithm at the origin.
description: 10 pages, 8 figures, version to be published in PRD
Tax-collection costs, public welfare and the predatory state
Creators: name: Findlay, Ronald E.
name: Wellisz, Stanislaw H.
Publisher: name: Columbia University
Year: 2003
Subjects: Economics
Public policy (Law)

description: The collection of taxes, in any economic system, clearly requires the use of resources. In modern democratic states tax legislation is almost always controversial, and subject to extensive lobbying. In developing counties the wealthy often successfully avoid payment of taxes and the burden has to be borne by relatively impoverished rural classes, who are themselves not easy to tax directly because of poor record -keeping and difficulty of communications. In earlier times kings and princes often lacked the necessary means of direct taxation and were forced to rely on decentralized institutions such as feudalism. To convince the skeptical reader that the issue of tax-collection costs is neither trivial nor obvious, we pose the following question. What is the effect of greater efficiency in tax collection on the welfare of the tax-paying public? If the government is benign, taxing only to defray socially necessary public expenditure, a reduction in the costs of collecting these minimal taxes would clearly be a 'good thing'. What, however, if the state is inherently "predatory" in nature, as argued by Brennan and Buchanan (1980) and a number of others? In this case the state taxes not only to pay for public services but also to raise revenue for its own, possibly nefarious, purposes. Would an increase in the efficiency if tax-collection be undesirable under this alternative scenario?
Physical reasoning for intelligent agents in simulated environments
Creators: name: Ge, Xiaoyu
Publisher: name: The Australian National University
Year: 2017

description: Developing Artificial Intelligence (AI) that is capable of understanding and interacting with the real world in a sophisticated way has long been a grand vision of AI. There is an increasing number of AI agents coming into our daily lives and assisting us with various daily tasks ranging from house cleaning to serving food in restaurants. While different tasks have different goals, the domains of the tasks all obey the physical rules (classic Newtonian physics) of the real world. To successfully interact with the physical world, an agent needs to be able to {u0300}{u0300}understand" its surrounding environment, to predict the consequences of its actions and to draw plans that can achieve a goal without causing any unintended outcomes. Much of AI research over the past decades has been dedicated to specific sub-problems such as machine learning and computer vision, etc. Simply plugging in techniques from these subfields is far from creating a comprehensive AI agent that can work well in a physical environment. Instead, it requires an integration of methods from different AI areas that considers specific conditions and requirements of the physical environment.In this thesis, we identified several capabilities that are essential for AI to interact with the physcial world, namely, visual perception, object detection, object tracking, action selection, and structure planning. As the real world is a highly complex environment, we started with developing these capabilities in virtual environments with realistic physics simulations. The central part of our methods is the combination of qualitative reasoning and standard techniques from different AI areas. For the visual perception capability, we developed a method that can infer spatial properties of rectangular objects from their minimum bounding rectangles. For the object detection capability, we developed a method that can detect unknown objects in a structure by reasoning about the stability of the structure. For the object tracking capability, we developed a method that can match perceptually indistinguishable objects in visual observations made before and after a physical impact. This method can identify spatial changes of objects in the physical event, and the result of matching can be used for learning the consequence of the impact. For the action selection capability, we developed a method that solves a hole-in-one problem that requires selecting an action out of an infinite number of actions with unknown consequences. For the structure planning capability, we developed a method that can arrange objects to form a stable and robust structure by reasoning about structural stability and robustness.
Odevixibat: First Approval
Creators: name: Deeks, Emma D.
Publisher: name: Adis Journals
Year: 2021
Subjects: Medicine

description: Declarations

Funding The preparation of this review was not supported by any external funding.
Authorship and Conflict of Interest During the peer review process the manufacturer of the agent under review was offered an opportunity to comment on the article. Changes resulting from any comments received were made by the authors on the basis of scientific completeness and accuracy. Emma Deeks is a contracted employee of Adis International Ltd/Springer Nature, and declares no relevant conflicts of interest. All authors contributed to the review and are responsible for the article content.
Ethics approval, Consent to participate, Consent to publish, Availability of data and material, Code availability Not applicable.
Additional information about this Adis Drug Review can be found here.

Abstract
Odevixibat (Bylvay™) is a small molecule inhibitor of the ileal bile acid transporter being developed by Albireo Pharma, Inc. for the treatment of various cholestatic diseases, including progressive familial intrahepatic cholestasis (PFIC). In July 2021, odevixibat received its first authorization in the EU for the treatment of PFIC in patients aged ≥ 6 months, followed shortly by its approval in the USA for the treatment of pruritus in patients aged ≥ 3 months with PFIC. Odevixibat is also in clinical development for the treatment of other cholestatic diseases, including Alagille syndrome and biliary atresia, in various countries. This article summarizes the milestones in the development of odevixibat leading to this first approval for PFIC.
© Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021
Stratigraphic Characterization of an Early Cretaceous Channel-belt Avulsion: Implications for Paleoenvironmental Interpretations of the McMurray Formation, Alberta
Creators: name: Martin, Harrison Kirby
Publisher: name: Graduate Studies
Year: 2018
Subjects: subject: Avulsion
subject: Paleoenvironment
subject: McMurray
subject: Channel-belt
subject: Fluvial
subject: Backwater
subject: Geology
subject: FOS: Earth and related environmental sciences

description: Deposits of the Early Cretaceous McMurray Formation, in the southeast Athabasca Oil Sands Region (AOSR) Alberta, Canada, compose a world-class archive of fluvial-deltaic deposition. The integration of uniquely dense wireline well log and drill core data provides a unique opportunity to investigate the stratigraphic and spatial distribution of economically-important reservoir sandstone across a large area. A lithostratigraphic framework is used to map stratigraphically-associated deposits across >11,000 km^2. The youngest and best-preserved channel-belt is interpreted to contain the deposits of an ancient channel-belt-scale avulsion. An understanding of avulsion mechanics, derived from previous studies of modern or geologically-recent rivers, allows for investigation of the evolutionary history of the ancient river. This has implications for paleoenvironmental interpretations, including a possible recognition of the effects of the backwater length in a large, shallow Early Cretaceous fluvial-deltaic system. These deposits provide insight into the geologic history of the Western Interior Seaway, the preservation potential of large-scale fluvial features in the stratigraphic record, and their use in the reconstruction of ancient river systems.
Hume's ethics of belief
Creators: name: Kelleher, James
Publisher: name: University of British Columbia
Year: 2011

description: Hume’s theory of belief and his normative standard or ethics of belief are founded on empirically observable, natural principles, principles which have been misunderstood by those who view Hume’s belief theory as one based on the forcefulness and liveliness of our ideas. In this dissertation, I argue that, according to Hume, both factual and value judgments are arrived at via the same basic, natural processes of the mind. All human judgments are ultimately derived from feeling or affect, that is, from internal impressions which arise within the human mind in tandem with, or in reaction to, its experience of ideational content, that is, the “parts or composition of the idea, which we conceive.” According to Hume, then, our feelings, operating in concert with the sensory and cognitive functions of the mind, provide us with our final standards of judgment, whether factual or evaluative. Our ethics of belief—our normative standards of belief—are therefore, like belief itself, more properly ascribable to the “sensitive” or feeling part of our nature, than to the non-affective, rational, or cogitative aspects of cognition. In sum, for Hume, belief is a complex but wholly natural cognitive phenomenon, consisting of, firstly, our experience of ideational content, and secondly, our feeling of cognitive commitment—the feeling of believing in the ideational content experienced. All judgments, factual and evaluative, are composed in this way.
Modeling temporal and spatial variation in pronghorn antelope population dynamics in southern Alberta in relation to environmental gradients
Creators: name: Sheriff, Katherine A.
Publisher: name: Environmental Design
Year: 2006

description: Bibliography: p. 175-188
description: Some pages are in colour.
description: The Grasslands Natural Region of Alberta is considered the most threatened ecosystem in the province. It provides habitat for numerous species of native plants and animals, including 75% of Alberta's 'species at risk'. Among the diversity of prairie wildlife, the pronghorn antelope (Antilocapra americana) is the most representative remaining large mammal. Pronghorn antelope are a highly valued resource in Alberta, experiencing high demand as big game species. However, in Alberta they are at the northern limit of their range and are susceptible to dramatic fluctuations in the population due to climatic extremes. The purpose of my research was to examine the key environmental drivers of pronghorn population dynamics in Alberta. I examined the influences of temporal and spatial variation in landscape composition, forage productivity, climate, coyote predation, and pronghorn density on pronghorn densitydistribution and population dynamics. Forage production, driven by moisture availability, and subsequent doe condition were key drivers of fawn production, while winter severity had a significant impact on population growth. The presence of native prairie had a profound positive influence on the spatial distribution of pronghorn, and influenced density-dependent effects on doe population growth and fawn production. I developed a generic system dynamics population model representing the key environmental and management factors that influence pronghorn population dynamics in Antelope Management Areas across Alberta. It was based on known empirical relationships supplemented with inferences and assumptions from published literature on pronghorn ecology. Recommendations for researching areas of key unknowns and reevaluating current management strategies are provided.
Who merits financial aid? Massachusetts' Adams scholarship
Creators: name: Goodman, Joshua
Publisher: name: Columbia University
Year: 2007
Subjects: Education
Economics

description: The majority of states in the U.S. now fund merit-based financial aid programs, the effects of which depend on how strongly students react to changes in college costs. I estimate such reactions using quasi-experimental aspects of a recent Massachusetts merit scholarship program intended to attract talented students to the state's public colleges. This paper is the first to document heterogeneity in price sensitivity among students of varying academic abilities. My primary result is that, in spite of its small monetary value, the scholarship induced 6% of winners to choose four-year public colleges over four-year private colleges, the average of a large effect on the lowest ability winners and no effect on the highest ability winners. The bulk of funds nonetheless flowed to students who would have attended public colleges anyway, and the scholarship had no effect on the overall college attendance rate, which for winners was already above 90%. These findings have implications for the design of future government-sponsored financial aid programs.
Image Properties of Embedded Lenses
Creators: name: Kantowski, Ronald
name: Chen, Bin
name: Dai, Xinyu
Publisher: name: arXiv
Year: 2012
Subjects: subject: Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics (astro-ph.CO)
subject: High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena (astro-ph.HE)
subject: General Relativity and Quantum Cosmology (gr-qc)
subject: FOS: Physical sciences

description: We give analytic expressions for image properties of objects seen around point mass lenses embedded in a flat $Λ$CDM universe. An embedded lens in an otherwise homogeneous universe offers a more realistic representation of the lens's gravity field and its associated deflection properties than does the conventional linear superposition theory. Embedding reduces the range of the gravitational force acting on passing light beams thus altering all quantities such as deflection angles, amplifications, shears and Einstein ring sizes. Embedding also exhibits the explicit effect of the cosmological constant on these same lensing quantities. In this paper we present these new results and demonstrate how they can be used. The effects of embedding on image properties, although small i.e., usually less than a fraction of a percent, have a more pronounced effect on image distortions in weak lensing where the effects can be larger than 10%. Embedding also introduces a negative surface mass density for both weak and strong lensing, a quantity altogether absent in conventional Schwarzschild lensing. In strong lensing we find only one additional quantity, the potential part of the time delay, which differs from conventional lensing by as much as 4%, in agreement with our previous numerical estimates.
description: 17 pages, 6 figures
Early emission from type Ia supernovae
Creators: name: Rabinak, Itay
name: Livne, Eli
name: Waxman, Eli
Publisher: name: arXiv
Year: 2011
Subjects: subject: High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena (astro-ph.HE)
subject: Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics (astro-ph.CO)
subject: Astrophysics of Galaxies (astro-ph.GA)
subject: FOS: Physical sciences

description: A unique feature of deflagration-to-detonation (DDT) white dwarf explosion models of SNe of type Ia is the presence of a strong shock wave propagating through the outer envelope. We consider the early emission expected in such models, which is produced by the expanding shock-heated outer part of the ejecta and precedes the emission driven by radioactive decay. We expand on earlier analyses by considering the modification of the pre-detonation density profile by the weak-shocks generated during the deflagration phase, the time evolution of the opacity, and the deviation of the post-shock equation of state from that obtained for radiation pressure domination. A simple analytic model is presented and shown to provide an acceptable approximation to the results of 1D numerical DDT simulations. Our analysis predicts a thousand second long UV/optical flash with a luminosity of ~1 to 3*1e39 erg/s. Lower luminosity corresponds to faster (turbulent) deflagration velocity. The predicted luminosity of the UV flash is an order of magnitude lower than that of earlier estimates, and is expected to be strongly suppressed at times longer than an hour due to the deviation from pure radiation domination.
description: 10 pages, 4 figures
Additional file 2 of Eravacycline susceptibility was impacted by genetic mutation of 30S ribosome subunits, and branched-chain amino acid transport system II carrier protein, Na/Pi cotransporter family protein in Staphylococcus aureus
Creators: name: Wang, Zhanwen
name: Lin, Zhiwei
name: Bai, Bing
name: Xu, Guangjian
name: Li, Peiyu
name: Yu, Zhijian
name: Deng, Qiwen
name: Shang, Yongpeng
name: Zheng, Jinxin
Publisher: name: figshare
Year: 2020
Subjects: subject: Genetics
subject: FOS: Biological sciences

description: Additional file 2 Table S2 MICs values and MLST of the S. aureus isolates used in this study.
Central bank communication and expectations stabilization
Creators: name: Eusepi, Stefano
name: Preston, Bruce J.
Publisher: name: Columbia University
Year: 2007
Subjects: Finance

description: The value of communication in monetary policy is analyzed in a model in which expectations need not be consistent with central bank policy - and, therefore, "unanchored" - because agents face difficult forecasting problems. When the central bank implements optimal policy without communication, the Taylor principle is not sufficient for macroeconomic stability: expectations are unanchored and self-fulfilling expectations are possible. To mitigate this instability, three communication strategies are contemplated to ensure consistency between private forecasts and monetary policy strategy: i) communicating the precise details of the monetary policy - that is, the variables and coefficients; ii) communicating only the variables on which monetary policy decisions are conditioned; and iii) communicating the inflation target. The first two strategies restore the Taylor principle as a sufficient condition for anchoring expectations. In contrast, in economies with persistent shocks, communicating the inflation target fails to protect against expectations driven fluctuations. These results underscore the importance of communicating the systematic component of monetary policy strategy: announcing an inflation target is not enough to stabilize expectations - one must also announce how this target will be achieved.
Pediatric Preparedness for Disasters and Terrorism: A National Consensus Conference: Executive Summary
Creators: name: Markenson, David
name: Redlener, Irwin E.
Publisher: name: Columbia University
Year: 2003
Subjects: Emergency management--Planning
Disaster medicine--Planning
Pediatrics
Child disaster victims
Children and terrorism

description: In a time of crisis, it is essential to ensure the needs of children are being met in planning and preparing for disasters and terrorist events. The current adult models and guidelines cannot be applied to the care of children. We convened experts from the multiple areas of expertise and disciplines involved in the planning for and care of children during times of disaster and terrorist events. The goals of this unprecedented meeting were to: 1) Build collaboration among individuals with expertise in pediatrics, pediatric emergency medicine, pediatric critical care, pediatric surgery, and emergency management, including disaster planning, management, and response; 2) Review and summarize the existing data on the needs of children in disasters, including planning, preparation, and response; 3) Develop consensus on the needs of children in disasters; 4) Create a research agenda to address knowledge gaps based on the limited data that exist on the needs of children in disasters.