cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Swarm Group Mobility Model

The swarm group mobility model that generates the realistic movements of living creatures or objects controlled by living creatures by mimicking perception, physics, and psychological behaviors is described. The SGM model is applied to mobile ad hoc networks because traditional mobility models like RW and RWP are not suitable in many realistic scenarios of the MANET. The simulation experimental results are provided verifying the analytical model.
HPV-associated neuroendocrine carcinomas of the head and neck in FNA biopsies: Clinicopathologic features of a rare entity

Background The majority of human papillomavirus (HPV)-associated oropharyngeal carcinomas are squamous cell carcinomas; however, there are rare reports of HPV-associated neuroendocrine carcinomas (HPV-NECs) in the upper aerodigestive tract. The aim of this study was to characterize the diagnostic features of fine-needle aspiration (FNA) cases of head and neck HPV-NEC. Methods Cytology cases of HPV-NEC were identified over a 3-year period from 2 institutions. Clinical, cytomorphologic, and ancillary test results were evaluated. Results Five FNA cases of HPV-NEC were identified from 4 patients with cervical lymph node metastases with primaries in the oropharynx (n = 2), nasopharynx (n = 1), and larynx (n = 1). Three cases showed mixed small cell and large cell neuroendocrine morphologies; 1 case was a small cell carcinoma, and the last case appeared as a large cell neuroendocrine carcinoma. All tumors were strongly positive for synaptophysin and p16 and negative for p63/p40. Two cases tested for INSM1 showed diffuse nuclear staining. HPV was confirmed by in situ hybridization in 4 cases, and HPV-18 was detected by polymerase chain reaction in the fifth case. Retinoblastoma (Rb) staining was moderate to weak (5/5), and p53 was weakly positive (5/5). Conclusions Head and neck HPV-NEC is a rare, aggressive entity that can show mixed small and large cell features and p16 upregulation; p53 and Rb are variable with limited diagnostic utility. Because p16 positivity can be nonspecific, confirmatory HPV testing is required and may be helpful in determining the primary site for neuroendocrine carcinoma of an unknown primary. The accurate diagnosis of HPV-NEC is also important because of its worse prognosis in comparison with HPV-associated squamous cell carcinoma.
Microsurgical Clipping of Unruptured Aneurysms: The Basics

In the case of elective clipping of unruptured aneurysms, the surgeon has the luxuries of time and careful planning, which he or she should leverage fully to ensure a fully optimized case. Prior to entering the operating theater, it is important to reassess the patient’s history, specifically reviewing their history for any prior subarachnoid hemorrhage (SAH) or cranial trauma, cranial surgery, endovascular therapy – both neurosurgical and otherwise – and medications, including antiplatelets, anticoagulation, and antiepileptics. Next, review all imaging modalities obtained in the workup of their lesion, including catheter-based angiogram, computed tomography angiography, and magnetic resonance angiography. These images should be reviewed with careful attention paid to any vascular variants or anomalies, aneurysm dome projection and configuration, distance from the Sylvian fissure to the aneurysm when applicable, presence of multiple aneurysms, estimating the skull thickness, anterior clinoid process (ACP) anatomy, frontal sinus size and configuration, and cortical veins. Finally, the patient should be asked for any changes in their medical history since their last office visit, and a brief physical examination should be performed.
Mapping the functional network of medial prefrontal cortex by combining optogenetics and fMRI in awake rats

The medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) plays a critical role in multiple cognitive and limbic functions. Given its vital importance, investigating the function of individual mPFC circuits in animal models has provided critical insight into the neural basis underlying different behaviors and psychiatric conditions. However, our knowledge regarding the mPFC whole-brain network stays largely at the anatomical level, while the functional network of mPFC, which can be dynamic in different conditions or following manipulations, remains elusive especially in awake rodents. Here we combined optogenetic stimulation and functional magnetic resonance imaging (opto-fMRI) to reveal the network of brain regions functionally activated by mPFC outputs in awake rodents. Our data showed significant increases in blood-oxygenation-level dependent (BOLD) signals in prefrontal, striatal and limbic regions when mPFC was optically stimulated. This activation pattern was robust, reproducible, and did not depend on the stimulation period in awake rats. BOLD signals, however, were substantially reduced when animals were anesthetized. In addition, regional brain activation showing increased BOLD signals during mPFC stimulation was corroborated by electrophysiological recordings. These results expand the applicability of the opto-fMRI approach from sensorimotor processing to cognition-related networks in awake rodents. Importantly, it may help elucidate the circuit mechanisms underlying numerous mPFC-related functions and behaviors that need to be assessed in the awake state.
Reduced-complexity Deep Neural Network-aided Channel Code Decoder: A Case Study for BCH Decoder

Error-correcting codes are very important in modern communication systems. In this paper, we investigate efficient reduced-complexity deep neural network (DNN)-aided channel decoders. Specifically, we leverage DNN training to obtain individual scaling parameters for normalized min-sum algorithms, thereby leading to much faster convergence for the same target bit error rate (BER). Also, we propose to compress the DNN-aided channel decoders via weight sharing. A case study on DNN-aided BCH decoders is investigated. Simulation results and hardware complexity analysis show that our method can reduce 2.59 times of memory cost than non-compressed DNN-aided BCH decoders. Meanwhile, compared to the conventional BCH decoders, our method can improve convergence rate by 6 times with similar decoding performance.
The 5Ws and 1H of Digital Journalism

Digital journalism is the networked production, distribution, and consumption of news and information. It is characterized by networked settings and practices that expand the opportunities and spac...
One Size Does Not Fit All: A Comprehensive Clinical Approach to Reducing Suicidal Ideation, Attempts, and Deaths

While the existence of mental illness has been documented for centuries, the understanding and treatment of such illnesses has evolved considerably over time. Ritual exorcisms and locking mentally ill patients in asylums have been fundamentally replaced by the use of psychotropic medications and evidence-based psychological practices. Yet the historic roots of mental health management and care has left a certain legacy. With regard to suicidal risk, the authors argue that suicidal patients are by definition seen as mentally ill and out of control, which demands hospitalization and the treatment of the mental disorder (often using a medication-only approach). Notably, however, the evidence for inpatient care and a medication-only approach for suicidal risk is either limited or totally lacking. Thus, a “one-size-fits-all” approach to treating suicidal risk needs to be re-considered in lieu of the evolving evidence base. To this end, the authors highlight a series of evidence-based considerations for suicide-focused clinical care, culminating in a stepped care public health model for optimal clinical care of suicidal risk that is cost-effective, least-restrictive, and evidence-based.
Genetic Indicators for Calcium Signaling Studies in Toxoplasma gondii.

Fluctuations of the cytosolic calcium ion (Ca2+) concentration regulate a variety of cellular functions in all eukaryotes. Cells express a sophisticated set of mechanisms to balance the cytosolic Ca2+ levels and the signals that elevate Ca2+ in the cytosol are compensated by mechanisms that reduce it. Alterations in Ca2+-dependent homeostatic mechanisms are the cause of many prominent diseases in humans, such as heart failure or neuronal death.The genetic tractability of Toxoplasma gondii and the availability of genetic tools enabled the use of Genetically Encoded Calcium Indicators (GECIs) expressed in the cytoplasm, which started a new era in the studies of Toxoplasma calcium signaling. It was finally possible to see Ca2+ oscillations prior to exit of the parasite from host cells. Years after Endo et al showed that ionophores triggered egress, the assumption that oscillations occur prior to egress from host cells has been validated by experiments using GECIs. GECIs allowed the visualization of specific Ca2+ signals in live intracellular parasites and to distinguish these signals from host cell calcium fluctuations. In this chapter we present an overview describing "tried and true" methods of our lab who pioneered the first use of GECI's in Toxoplasma, including GECI choice, methodology for transfection and selection of ideal clones, their characterization, and the use of GECI-expressing parasites for fluorometric and microscopic analysis.
Review: I'd Fight the World: A Political History of Old-Time, Hillbilly, and Country Music by Peter La Chapelle

Peter La Chapelle, I'd Fight the World: A Political History of Old-Time, Hillbilly, and Country Music . Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2019. 336 pp. Given the recent intersections of electoral politics and popular music, where Cardi B discusses democratic socialism with Bernie Sanders and
Do African American Male and Female Adolescents Differ in Technological Engagement?: The Effects of Parental Encouragement and Adolescent Technological Confidence

African Americans, especially African American women, remain one of the most underrepresented groups in technology-based degrees and careers. However, little is known about whether gender differences permeate African American adolescents’ engagement in technology in earlier development, such as in middle and high school (ages 12–18). Drawing on an ecological and intersectional framework, we examined if African American male and female adolescents differed in technological engagement and what contextual factors affected their engagement. We hypothesized that parental encouragement would be associated with greater technological confidence in adolescents, which would be linked to more experiences with and interests in technology. Further, we investigated if these associations would vary by adolescents’ and parents’ gender. Survey data from 1041 African American parent-adolescent dyads highlighted that adolescents had less experience and interest with technical activities than with creative activities, especially among female adolescents. More parents encouraged adolescent sons but limited daughters to use technology, yet female adolescents reported greater technological confidence. Moderated mediation analyses revealed that adolescents’ technological confidence mediated the positive association between parental encouragement and adolescents’ technological engagement across all parent-adolescent dyads, but with some nuances. Our findings suggest that prospective gender studies and educational programs should consider the influences of parenting and gender on promoting African American adolescents’ technological involvement and confidence.
Experiential Development and Cultural Tourist, Through the Example of the Settlement “Katomera” in Trikeri in the Prefecture of Magnesia

The importance of collective action and the power of the natural wealth of a place are two factors that could be considered critical for the survival of a society. At a time when the Internet is an essential component of everyday life, pictures, images and information that individuals receive are common to all regions of the world. Through globalization occurs disappearance of local characteristics, customs and traditions of each place and forms a uniform perception of things and eventually a common aesthetic people. At such a time the places that have remained unchanged and far from this reality are examples of authenticity and challenge for many. Such places are the areas that have been abandoned and have preserved their structure and aesthetic value. The revival of such areas could be an element of development of experiential and cultural tourism interest. Using the principles of agrotourism and through the living experience of habitation, the concept of collective living can be redefined. The purpose of this study is to highlight the way of revival and recovery sites have been abandoned in the past 40 and more years, through the example of «Katomeri» settlement in Trikeri in the prefecture of Magnesia. In a small and remote area, like Triker, the bonds created between people and their needs for a self-sustaining society have led to the formation of a collective way of action. The inhabitants of this village have created in the past a settlement in the place where their crops were located. There they built small churches where many families lived together in different periods. This settlement at the time of urbanization was abandoned and ruined as in many other areas of rural Greece. So in the last few years what can be seen are these huts, to dissolve day by day. The results of this research resulted from the local observation and recording of the local data but also from the largest local “encyclopedia”, the village square, where older people carry the stories of the place to young people. The imprinting of the buildings of the settlement was carried out in the framework of the dissertation entitled “The Old Habits” to be used as a case study.
Optimal Investment–Consumption Decisions with Partially Observed Inflation: A Discrete-Time Formulation

We consider a discrete-time optimal consumption and investment problem of an investor who is interested in maximizing his utility from consumption and terminal wealth subject to a random inflation in the consumption basket price over time. We consider two cases: (i) when the investor observes the basket price and (ii) when he receives only noisy signals on the basket price. We derive the optimal policies and show that a modified Mutual Fund Theorem consisting of three funds holds in both cases, as it does in the continuous-time setting. The compositions of the funds in the two cases are the same but, in general, the investor’s allocations of his wealth into these funds differ.
A Method to Determine Human-Likeness in Social Motions of Anthropomorphic Robots

The hand waving motion of a human was considered as a representative social motion because a human can use such motions for social interaction and communication. Twenty healthy human subjects were recruited to participate in a study, where each subject separately showed the hand waving motion at three different conditions: (i) both hands waved, (ii) only left hand waved, and (iii) only right hand waved. The hand waving motion was captured by a motion capture system for each subject in each condition separately. Then, the kinematics (absolute linear displacements, velocities and accelerations) along different axes at three different joints such as wrist, elbow and shoulder were analyzed. Then, the hand waving motion was generated in two different anthropomorphic robotic platforms where the robots were enabled to show their hand waving motions at the same three conditions. The kinematic features for hand waving of the robots along different axes at three different joints were captured using the motion capture system and analyzed in the same way as it was done for the humans. Then, a dynamic similarity metric called the Froude number was proposed and used to determine human-likeness in the form of dynamic equivalence between human and robot motions. Human-likeness between human and robot motions were also assessed through a human subject study to crosscheck the results obtained through the use of the Froude number. An agreement was found in the results obtained through two different methods (Froude number, subjective study). The proposed approach can help determine human-likeness of motions generated by anthropomorphic robots that can bring balance in human-like appearance and human-like motions or actions of anthropomorphic robots and virtual characters, which can enhance their chance of being accepted by their human counterparts for coexistence and collaboration.
Impacts of Fluorescent Base Analogue Substitution on the Folding of a Riboswitch

Riboswitches are gene-regulating mRNA segments most commonly found in bacteria. A riboswitch contains an aptamer domain that binds to a ligand, causing a conformational change in a downstream expression platform. The aptamer domain of the Class I preQ1 riboswitch from Bacillus subtilis, which consists of a stem-loop structure and an adenine-rich single-stranded tail (L3), re-folds into a pseudoknot structure upon binding of its ligand, preQ1. To study the role of L3 in ligand recognition, we inserted 2-aminopurine (2-AP), a fluorescent base analogue of adenine (A), into the riboswitch at six different positions within L3. 2-AP differs from A in the relocation of its amino group from C6 to C2, allowing us to directly probe the significance of this specific functional group. We used circular dichroism spectroscopy and thermal denaturation experiments to study the structure and stability, respectively, of the riboswitch in the absence and presence of preQ1. At all labeling positions tested, 2-AP substitution inhibited the ability of preQ1 to stabilize the pseudoknot structure, with its location impacting the severity of the effect. Structural studies of the riboswitch suggest that at the most detrimental labeling sites, 2-AP substitution disrupts non-canonical base pairs. Our results show that these base pairs and tertiary interactions involving other residues in L3 play a critical role in ligand recognition by the preQ1 riboswitch, even at positions that are distal to the ligand binding pocket. They also highlight the importance of accounting for perturbations that fluorescent analogues like 2-AP may exert on the system being studied.
An Accessible Autonomous Vehicle Ridesharing Ecosystem

Autonomous ridesharing vehicles provide a potential alternative and affordable mode of transportation for older adults and users with disabilities or special needs, but relatively few studies have ...
Using Online Education to Transition Teaching Assistants to Teacher Certification: Examining the Differences Among Teacher Education Programs

ABSTRACTElementary education teacher candidates who studied under two delivery methods—online and face to face—were compared to determine if there was a significant difference in professional knowledge and skills using Praxis II test scores. The participants included 60 teaching assistant program (TAP) online candidates and 564 face-to-face candidates. The two groups’ perceptions of self-efficacy were also compared. Results indicated a significant difference in professional knowledge based on Praxis II test scores and no significant difference in perceptions of self-efficacy. Although both groups felt confident in their teaching abilities, the traditional candidates outperformed TAP candidates on Praxis II. However, in the ancillary findings of this study, 41.6% of traditional candidates were admitted to the teacher education program with a Praxis I exemption, whereas only 23.4% of TAP candidates were exempt from the requirement. This suggests that traditional candidates entered the program at a more adva...
stereographic cloud analysis from Apollo 6 photographs over a cold front

Twenty-three overlapping photographs from the Apollo 6 mission were stereographically analyzed to determine the three dimensional cloud structure over a strong cold front in the southeastern United States on 4 April 1968. The analysis extended from near Tyler, Texas, eastward to the Georgia coast. Four major cloud regions were observed: a zone of altocumulus behind the front, a vigorous thunderstorm complex along and just ahead of the front, a chaotic region of multilayer clouds for a few hundred kilometers east of the thunderstorms and a large region of cloud streets parallel to the surface winds near the coast. The cloud top altitudes in the thunderstorm complex were extraordinary, reaching a maximum height of 22.375 km, whereas the tropopause was located at 12–13 km and the maximum tops reported by radar 30 min before the Apollo pass were at 12.5 km. An area of approximately 2 × 104 km2 was covered with maximum tops of ⩾ 18 km. The accuracy of the stereographic technique was confirmed with cloud top al...
Human Behavior and the Social Environment

The author presents the vulnerability, risk, and resilience model as a mechanism for improved content integration in the Human Behavior and the Social Environment sequence in social work education. The model demonstrates the interaction of community and social context variables with individual characteristics in the development of social work problems. The five steps in the model are (1) define the social work problem of concern, (2) identify risk and protective factors in the social context, (3) identify intrinsic vulnerability and invulnerability characteristics, (4) intersect these two, and (5) explore intervention: and prevention options. In addition, she provides a rationale and background for the model, describes the model itself, and develops an example from social work practice (adolescent substance abuse) for social work education.
Learning Functions of Halfspaces Using Prefix Covers

We present a simple query-algorithm for learning arbitrary functions of k halfspaces under any product distribution on the Boolean hypercube. Our algorithms learn any function of k halfspaces to within accuracy e in time O((nk/e)) under any product distribution on {0, 1} using read-once branching programs as a hypothesis.. This gives the first poly(n, 1/e) algorithm for learning even the intersection of 2 halfspaces under the uniform distribution on {0, 1}; previously known algorithms had an exponential dependence either on the accuracy parameter e or the dimension n. To prove this result, we identify a new structural property of Boolean functions that yields learnability with queries: that of having a small prefix cover.
Coupling on weighted branching trees

In this paper we consider linear functions constructed on two different weighted branching processes and provide explicit bounds for their Kantorovich–Rubinstein distance in terms of couplings of their corresponding generic branching vectors. Motivated by applications to the analysis of random graphs, we also consider a variation of the weighted branching process where the generic branching vector has a different dependence structure from the usual one. By applying the bounds to sequences of weighted branching processes, we derive sufficient conditions for the convergence in the Kantorovich–Rubinstein distance of linear functions. We focus on the case where the limits are endogenous fixed points of suitable smoothing transformations.
Proceedings of the 2nd international workshop on Scalable stream processing system

This Second Workshop on Scalable Stream Processing System (SSPS) continued the success of the First Workshop on SSPS. The focus of the workshop is on the scalability issues of a stream processing system challenged by ever increasing load and stringent requirement on the system. Being co-located with EDBT '08 was an ideal setting for the workshop, considering the reputation of EDBT as a top conference on database technology.
SIMULATION OF EPIDERMAL CELL MOVEMENT

ABSTRACT A two dimensional Monte Carlo computer simulation of epidermal cell movement is constructed using an hydraulic pressure transient postulated as arising from random mitosis of basal layer cells. Results show little lateral cell movement and essentially constant rate of progress of cells from the basal layer to the stratum corneum. Cell movements associated with “proliferative cell units” and wound healing cannot be accounted for by this postulation. Other forces contributing to cell dynamics, three dimensional simulations and stimuli and protocols necessary for more complex cell motions are discussed.
Paleobiogeography of Chitinozoa

Abstract Biogeographic distribution of Ordovician to Silurian Chitinozoa of the ancient Atlantic borderlands is discussed. The classification system followed is that of Jansonius (1970). The genus Conochitina is restricted to forms with a mucro or copula; some forms designated Conochitina by previous authors are assigned to Euconochitina , therefore, Conochitina sensu strieto, has rarely been reported from North America. The genus Cyathochitina is subdivided into two informal groups: Cyathochitina I which includes the conical forms, and, Cyathochitina II which includes the cylindrical forms. Cosmopolitan or provincial genera and species are noted.
Solving Polynomial Systems in the Cloud with Polynomial Homotopy Continuation

Polynomial systems occur in many fields of science and engineering. Polynomial homotopy continuation methods apply symbolic-numeric algorithms to solve polynomial systems. We describe the design and implementation of our web interface and reflect on the application of polynomial homotopy continuation methods to solve polynomial systems in the cloud. Via the graph isomorphism problem we organize and classify the polynomial systems we solved. The classification with the canonical form of a graph identifies newly submitted systems with systems that have already been solved.
Striking while the iron is hot: The effect of vocational rehabilitation service wait times on employment outcomes for applicants receiving Social Security disability benefits

BACKGROUND: State vocational rehabilitation (VR) agencies play a significant role in supporting the employment goals of people with disabilities, but delays in the receipt of vocational services could adversely affect employment outcomes of applicants for services. OBJECTIVE: We explore how exogenous variation in the duration to service receipt for VR applicants receiving Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) benefits affects their employment outcomes. METHODS: We constructed a data set for an annual cohort of SSDI applicants for VR services and followed them for 48 months after their application month using VR and Social Security Administration (SSA) administrative records. We then estimated multivariate models to predict employment-related outcomes based on agency order of selection characteristics and a measure of the usual wait time experienced by all SSDI applicants to the same agency in the same month. RESULTS: Having wait lists for services and experiencing longer wait times for services are associated with lower employment outcomes at VR closure and employment outcomes observed through SSA administrative data. CONCLUSIONS: Longer wait times harm the economic well-being of SSDI VR applicants, reduce VR agency revenues, and increase SSA benefit costs. An experimental test of the effect of accelerating the pace of service delivery seems worthwhile.
The economic impact of the Friuli-Venezia Giulia autonomy: a synthetic control analysis of asymmetric Italian federalism

This article illustrates a case study on the economic impact of autonomy of one of the five Italian special-statute regions, namely Friuli-Venezia Giulia. This region had, and continues to have, legislative, administrative and financial prerogatives in areas of public intervention that are the duty of the central government in the 15 Italian ordinary regions. Accordingly, Friuli-Venezia Giulia could have year by year exploited such prerogatives to achieve an economic development higher than that attainable in the absence of its autonomy. In other words, Friuli-Venezia Giulia long-run economic growth would have been less than that actually experienced if the region had been an ordinary one. To test this hypothesis, the synthetic control method has been adopted. A suitable synthetic Friuli-Venezia Giulia has been constructed to contrast the evolution of regional real per capita GDP, observed over the post-autonomy-policy period, with the corresponding evolution of the same aggregate for the synthetic counterpart. This comparison reveals that if Friuli-Venezia Giulia were not an autonomous region, its per capita GDP would be significantly lower than that effectively observed.
Dynamics of ion temperature gradient turbulence and transport with a static magnetic island

Understanding the interaction mechanisms between large-scale magnetohydrodynamic instabilities and small-scale drift-wave microturbulence is essential for predicting and optimizing the performance of magnetic confinement based fusion energy experiments. We report progress on understanding these interactions using both analytic theory and numerical simulations performed with the BOUT++ [Dudson et al., Comput. Phys. Commun. 180, 1467 (2009)] framework. This work focuses upon the dynamics of the ion temperature gradient instability in the presence of a background static magnetic island, using a weakly electromagnetic two-dimensional five-field fluid model. It is found that the island width must exceed a threshold size (comparable with the turbulent correlation length in the no-island limit) to significantly impact the turbulence dynamics, with the primary impact being an increase in turbulent fluctuation and heat flux amplitudes. The turbulent radial ion energy flux is shown to localize near the X-point, but...
Circumstellar Molecular Spectra Towards Evolved Stars

In this paper we discuss the relevance, and possible scientific gains, which can be acquired from studying circumstellar molecular spectra toward evolved stars. Where can we expect circumstellar molecular spectra, why would we want to study these spectra, which molecules might be present, and what can we learn from these studies? We present an overview of reported detections, and discuss some of the results.
Societal benefits of ocean altimetry data

The NASA/CNES Jason satellite, follow-on to the highly successful TOPEX/Poseidon mission, continues to provide oceanographers and marine operators across the globe with a continuous twelve-year, high quality stream of sea surface height data. The mission is expected to extend through 2007, when the NASA/NOAA/CNES follow-on mission, OSTM, will be launched with the wide-swath ocean altimeter on board. This unprecedented resource of valuable ocean data is being used to map sea surface height, geostrophic velocity, significant wave height, and wind speed over the global oceans. Altimeter data products are currently used by hundreds of researchers and operational users to monitor ocean circulation and improve our understanding of the role of the oceans in climate and weather. Ocean altimeter data has many societal benefits and has proven invaluable in many practical applications including: (1) Ocean forecasting systems, (2) Climate research and forecasting, (3) Ship routing, (4) Precision marine operations such as cable-laying and oil production, (5) Fisheries management, (6) Marine mammal habitat monitoring, (7) Hurricane forecasting and tracking, (8) Debris tracking. The data has been cited in nearly 2,000 research and popular articles since the launch of TOPEX/Poseidon in 1992, and almost 200 scientific users receive the global coverage altimeter data on a monthly basis. In addition to the scientific and operational uses of the data, the educational community has seized the unique concepts highlighted by these altimeter missions as a resource for teaching ocean science to students from grade school through college. This presentation will highlight societal benefits of ocean altimetry data in the areas of climate studies, marine operations, marine research, and nonocean investigations.
The introduction of new product qualities by incumbent firms: market proliferation versus cannibalization

Diese Studie analysiert das optimale Angebot von Guetern, die sich in der Qualitaet untescheiden. Wir betrachten ein Modell, in dem zwei insaessige Unternehmen neue Produkte mit unterschiedlicher Qualitaet in den Markt einfuehren koennen. Zudem koennen die Innovatoren entscheiden, ob ihre existierenden Produkte weiterhin im Markt angeboten oder abgezogen werden sollen. Wir zeigen, dass strategische Effekte und Kannibalisierungseffekte keine Diskriminierung zwischen den Konsumenten zulassen. Der Innovator zieht das existierende Produkt immer aus dem Markt, um einen erhoehten Preiswettbewerb und eine Kannibilisierung der eigenen Nachfrage zu vermeiden. Im Gegensatz zu horizontal differenzierten Maerkten, stellen sich Unternehmen in vertikal differenzierten Maerkten besser, eine geringere Produktvielfalt anzubieten.
ASSESSMENT BY MIDWESTERN AGRICULTURAL FIRMS OF DOING BUSINESS IN CHINA AND INDIA

China and India are two of the world's biggest countries and potentially large markets for U.S. agricultural products. This study reports the assessment by midwestern agricultural firms of doing business in the two countries. The data, collected by mail questionnaire, suggests that China posed less of a problem than did India with respect to economic and market conditions, tariff and investment barriers, and physcial and cultural barriers. On the other hand, India posed less of a problem than did China with respect to language, protection of property rights, and the legal system. Firms already doing business in these countries had more favorable comments than those with no previous experience. The study also reports results of telephone interviews with selected firms. These conversations provide a more personal account of challenges faced by firms that are testing markets in the two countries.
Multi-cluster protocol for ad hoc mobile underwater acoustic networks

An autonomous network of underwater vehicles is considered in which there is no central node, but the vehicles communicate in a distributed manner over multiple hops. The focus of network design is on a scalable multiple access technique which is applicable to varying coverage areas as well as varying number of vehicles. The proposed scheme relies on grouping the adjacent vehicles into clusters, and using time-division multiple access within each cluster. Interference among clusters is managed by assigning different spreading codes to adjacent clusters, while scalability is achieved by spatial reuse of the codes. Network operation begins with an initialization phase, and moves on to continuous maintenance during which mobility is managed. Performance is quantified through measures of connectivity, successful transmission rate, average delay and energy consumption. Simulation analysis is used to obtain optimal cluster size and transmission power for a network with given density of vehicles.
Gas flows and star formation in the ringed galaxy NGC 4736

We present high-resolution (∼5″) BIMA CO observations of the ringed galaxy NGC 4736, along with previously published VLA HI data (Braun, 1995). Strong CO emission is detected from the star-forming ring at r=45″ and in the central region, where a molecular bar is apparent. The azimuthally averaged gas surface density is still much less than the Toomre critical density within r=60″, despite the starburst conditions in the ring (gas depletion time ≲1Gyr). Both CO and HI velocity fields show strong departures from a circular rotating disc model. The velocity residuals are consistent with inflowing gas near the ends of the central bar, outflowing gas between the bar and the ring, and inflowing gas outside the ring. We propose that the high star formation efficiency in the ring results from gas being driven out towards the OLR of the bar and in towards the ILR of the larger oval distortion. However, the strong signature of inflow outside the ring is probably due in part to gas motion in elliptical orbits.
Convergent Gradient Ascent in General-Sum Games

In this work we look at the recent results in policy gradient learning in a general-sum game scenario, in the form of two algorithms, IGA and WoLF-IGA. We address the drawbacks in convergence properties of these algorithms, and propose a more accurate version of WoLF-IGA that is guaranteed to converge to Nash Equilibrium policies in self-play (or against an IGA learner). We also present a control theoretic interpretation of variable learning rate which not only justifies WoLF-IGA, but also shows it to achieve fastest convergence under some constraints. Finally we derive optimal learning rates for fastest convergence in practical simulations.
Simulation-Based graph similarity

We present symmetric and asymmetric similarity measures for labeled directed rooted graphs that are inspired by the simulation and bisimulation relations on labeled transition systems. Computation of the similarity measures has close connections to discounted Markov decision processes in the asymmetric case and to perfect-information stochastic games in the symmetric case. For the symmetric case, we also give a polynomial-time algorithm that approximates the similarity to any desired precision.
Hydro System Power Analysis by Digital Computer

Studies in North Pacific Div Office of Corps of Engineers made on electronic digital computer with program that can handle systems of up to 70 hydroelectric projects in 2000-word internal memory of IBM 650; program computes power generation at each project in system, tests for limits, adjusts regulation where necessary to avoid violation of these limits, regulates storages to produce energy equal to specified system load, and derives additional information that is used in system regulation analysis. (J Hydraulics Div)
Improved Two-Point Codes on Hermitian Curves

One-point codes on the Hermitian curve produce long codes with excellent parameters. Feng and Rao introduced a modified construction that improves the parameters while still using one-point divisors. A separate improvement of the parameters was introduced by Matthews considering the classical construction but with two-point divisors. Those two approaches are combined to describe an elementary construction of two-point improved codes. Upon analysis of their minimum distance and redundancy, it is observed that they improve on the previous constructions for a large range of designed distances.
PathFinder: A Tool for Design Exploration

In this paper we present a tool called PathFinder, which exploits the power of model checking for developing and debugging newly-written hardware designs. Our tool targets the community of design engineers, who—in contrast to verification engineers—are not versed in formal verification, and therefore have traditionally been distant from the growing industry momentum in the area of model checking.
Sequential Hypothesis Tests for Adaptive Locality Sensitive Hashing

All pairs similarity search is a problem where a set of data objects is given and the task is to find all pairs of objects that have similarity above a certain threshold for a given similarity measure-of-interest. When the number of points or dimensionality is high, standard solutions fail to scale gracefully. Approximate solutions such as Locality Sensitive Hashing (LSH) and its Bayesian variants (BayesLSH and BayesLSHLite) alleviate the problem to some extent and provide substantial speedup over traditional index based approaches. BayesLSH is used for pruning the candidate space and computation of approximate similarity, whereas BayesLSHLite can only prune the candidates, but similarity needs to be computed exactly on the original data. Thus where ever the explicit data representation is available and exact similarity computation is not too expensive, BayesLSHLite can be used to aggressively prune candidates and provide substantial speedup without losing too much on quality. However, the loss in quality is higher in the BayesLSH variant, where explicit data representation is not available, rather only a hash sketch is available and similarity has to be estimated approximately. In this work we revisit the LSH problem from a Frequentist setting and formulate sequential tests for composite hypothesis (similarity greater than or less than threshold) that can be leveraged by such LSH algorithms for adaptively pruning candidates aggressively. We propose a vanilla sequential probability ratio test (SPRT) approach based on this idea and two novel variants. We extend these variants to the case where approximate similarity needs to be computed using fixed-width sequential confidence interval generation technique. We compare these novel variants with the SPRT variant and BayesLSH/Bayes-LSHLite variants and show that they can provide tighter qualitative guarantees over BayesLSH/BayesLSHLite -- a state-of-the-art approach -- while being upto 2.1x faster than a traditional SPRT and 8.8x faster than AllPairs.
The Galaxy Structure-Redshift Relationship

There exists a gradual, but persistent, evolutionary effect in the galaxy popu-lation such that galaxy structure and morphology change with redshift. This galaxy structure-redshift relationship is such that an increasingly large fraction of all bright and massive galaxies at redshifts 2 < z < 3 are morphologically peculiar at all wavelengths from rest-frame ultraviolet to rest-frame optical. There are however many examples of morphologically selected spirals and ellipticals at these redshifts. At lower redshifts, the bright galaxy population smoothly transforms into normal ellipticals and spirals. The rate of this transformation strongly depends on redshift, with the swiftest evolution occurring between 1 < z < 2. This review characterizes the galaxy structure-redshift relationship, discusses its various physical causes, and how these are revealing the mechanisms responsible for galaxy formation.
Sensitivity of Rural Housing Values to Aggregate Economic Policy

This paper has a two-fold contribution, 1) Examine the importance of aggregate economic policy on housing prices and rural housing prices, and 2) delineate factors resulting in divergent housing prices between urban and rural markets. Empirical application to US state level data from 1975-2006 indicates general economic variables are consistently influencing both urban and rural housing prices. While the farm economic variables do have differential influences on the housing and rural housing prices, their effects are transitory. Finally regional effects have greater impact on differential effects on urban rural housing price indexes than national farm programs.
Discussion of "The Source of Historical Economic Fluctuations: An Analysis using Long-Run Restrictions" by Neville Francis and Valerie A. Ramey

This paper discusses the paper 'The Source of Historical Economic Fluctuations: An Analysis using Long-Run Restrictions' by Neville Francis and Valerie A. Ramey. It argues that these authors have made great progress both in the precise measurement of labor input as well as determining the effect of productivity shocks on labor, but a number of questions remain. As for measurement, the issue of schooling needs further work. As for calculating the long-run impact of labor productivity shocks, unreasonable results emerge for the response of the capital stock, if included in the VAR. Using medium-term identification delivers more reasonable results.
A faster algorithm for finding maximum independent sets in sparse graphs

An algorithm is presented for finding a maximum independent set in a connected graph with n vertices and m edges in time O(poly(n)1.2365m−n). As a consequence, we find a maximum independent set in a graph of degree 3 in time O(poly(n)1.1120n), which improves the currently best results of O(1.1254n) of Chen, Kanj and Xia.
Dissolved Nitrogen Uptake by a Cyanobacterial Bloom (Anabaena flos-aquae) in a Subarctic Lake.

Uptake of dissolved nitrogen (NH4+ + NO3- + urea + N2) by a cyanobacterial [Anabaena flos-aquae (Lyngb.)] De Breb population in Smith Lake, Alaska, was measured every 2 to 4 days during the spring of 1990. Total dissolved nitrogen uptake ranged from 0.34 to 24.75 μmol liter-1 h-1, with a mean of 5.75 μmol liter-1 h-1; the euphotic zone accounted for 91% of the uptake. The mean turnover time for dissolved combined nitrogen (NH4+ + NO3- + urea) in the euphotic zone was less than 14 h, and that for NH4+ was only 3.6 h. The mean relative preference indices for NH4+ (2.4), NO3- (0.4), and urea (0.5) established NH4+ as the preferred nitrogenous nutrient. The uptake rates were apparently dependent on biomass, temperature, and light. Regeneration, probably due to zooplankton excretion and bacterial remineralization of dissolved organic nitrogen, was the main source of NH4+ for the cyanobacterial growth. The high half-saturation constant for NH4+ with low ambient NH4+ concentration nevertheless resulted in the simultaneous utilization of several forms of nitrogen.
Twin photon pairs in a high-Q silicon microresonator

We report the generation of high-purity twin photon pairs in a high-Q silicon microdisk resonator, with a pair flux of 5.31 × 10s pairs/s within a bandwidth of 0.73 GHz, and a high CAR as large as 155, the highest value reported to date for twin photon pairs.
Group-Randomized Trials

The purpose of this article is to put group-randomized trials (GRTs) in context in terms of other kinds of designs and in terms of the terminology used in other fields, to summarize their development in public health, to characterize the range of public health research areas that now employ GRTs, to characterize the state of practice with regard to the design and analysis of GRTs, to consider their future in public health research, and to review the steps required to plan a new GRT. Keywords: clinical trials; randomization; RCT; group identifier; condition; design; public health
Rapid Formation of Regression Tables for Research Purposes

The ostensible reason for a preparation of regression tables is to have them submitted to journals for publication purposes. Contrary to this professed view, regression tables are mostly used during research and not after. Journals require regression tables because they allow visual comparisons across regressions. It is difficult to compare specifications without placing them in close proximities, even if it means printing hardcopies. Past users of statistical packages have often resorted to printing hundreds of pages and flipping them back and forth. The technology for postestimation display has historically lagged behind the production of estimation itself. A bottleneck existed in the research process when regressions were produced much faster than they could be interpreted. The next logical step in the development of statistical packages is to be able to produce regression tables as fast and as naturally as performing regressions themselves. Regression tables ought to be produced easily, rapidly, and sequentially; they need to be displayed immediately on the computer screen. The usefulness of regression tables is much reduced if postponed until the end of your research. outreg, a program by John Gallup, has been modified and augmented extensively for this purpose. outreg2 will immediately produce and open formatted regression tables in programs associated with LaTeX, Word, or Excel files. seeout will immediately display a regression table in the Stata Data Browser.
Improving quality through user-centered design

The software interface — whether graphical, command-oriented, menu-driven, or in the form of subroutine calls — shapes the user’s perception of what software can do. It also establishes upper bounds on software learnability and usability. Numerical software interfaces typically are based on the designer’s understhow the software should be used. That is a poor foundation for usability, since the features that are “instinctively right” from the developrogrammers find most objectionable or most difficult to learn. This paper discusses how numerby involving users more actively in design, a process known as user-centered design (UCD). While UCD requires extra organization and effort, it results in much higher levels of usability and can actually reduce software costs. This is true not just for graphical user interfaces, but for all software interfaces. Examples show how UCD improved the usability of a subroutine library, a command language, and an invocation interface.