cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Is gravity a morphological determinant in plants at the cellular level

It is not yet known whether higher plants, which have evolved in a gravity oriented environment, can reproduce normally or develop via single cells (somatic or zygotic) and pass normally through all phases of development, tissue differentiation and reproduction through consecutive generations at near-zero g. Most published work deals with directional gravitational stimuli (geotropisms) as they operate on the subsequent growth of preformed plant organs that have acquired the ability to perceive and respond to gravity during development at 1 g. But it should be established whether plant development can proceed normally in the weightless state, especially that critical stage in which single cells produce multicellular units leading to embryos with the growing regions of shoot and root which, in turn, give rise to all the tissues of the plant body. We consider here an experiment that tested whether carrot embryos, capable of developing from cultured somatic cells, could do so under conditions of near-weightlessness. Space flight seemed to have no adverse affects on the induction of such embryos or on the initiation of their organs. But there are still reservations which are discussed. Other systems adaptable to the study of embryogenesis and development in space and to resolve the current reservations are described and their place in future space research is indicated.
Investigation of variances in belief networks

The belief network is a well-known graphical structure for representing independences in a joint probability distribution. The methods, which perform probabilistic inference in belief networks, often treat the conditional probabilities which are stored in the network as certain values. However, if one takes either a subjectivistic or a limiting frequency approach to probability, one can never be certain of probability values. An algorithm should not only be capable of reporting the probabilities of the alternatives of remaining nodes when other nodes are instantiated; it should also be capable of reporting the uncertainty in these probabilities relative to the uncertainty in the probabilities which are stored in the network. In this paper a method for determining the variances in inferred probabilities is obtained under the assumption that a posterior distribution on the uncertainty variables can be approximated by the prior distribution. It is shown that this assumption is plausible if their is a reasonable amount of confidence in the probabilities which are stored in the network. Furthermore in this paper, a surprising upper bound for the prior variances in the probabilities of the alternatives of all nodes is obtained in the case where the probability distributions of the probabilities of the alternatives are beta distributions. It is shown that the prior variance in the probability at an alternative of a node is bounded above by the largest variance in an element of the conditional probability distribution for that node.
Guarantees for the success frequency of an algorithm for finding Dodgson-election winners

In the year 1876 the mathematician Charles Dodgson, who wrote fiction under the now more famous name of Lewis Carroll, devised a beautiful voting system that has long fascinated political scientists. However, determining the winner of a Dodgson election is known to be complete for the Θ2 p level of the polynomial hierarchy. This implies that unless P=NP no polynomial-time solution to this problem exists, and unless the polynomial hierarchy collapses to NP the problem is not even in NP. Nonetheless, we prove that when the number of voters is much greater than the number of candidates—although the number of voters may still be polynomial in the number of candidates—a simple greedy algorithm very frequently finds the Dodgson winners in such a way that it “knows” that it has found them, and furthermore the algorithm never incorrectly declares a nonwinner to be a winner.
Vesicourethral suspension for urinary stress incontinence; a study of the results obtained in 82 patients.

Abstract Of 83 urethrovesical suspension operations performed on 82 patients with stress incontinence, 86 per cent have been successful and 14 per cent unsuccessful. The use of absorbable suture material may have been significant in the causation of 7 of the 11 operative failures. It appears that, compared with the Millin-Read and the Ingelman-Sundberg operative techniques, the Marshall-Marchetti-Krantz operation can be performed with less technical difficulty, with less postoperative bladder dysfunction, with a shorter period of hospitalization, and with equally successful results for the patient. Also, this procedure, frequently combined with preliminary vaginal repair of a cystourethrocele or dissection of a shortened, fixed urethra, is considered to be the operation of choice for most patients with recurrent stress incontinence, for incontinent patients with little relaxation of the vaginal wall, and for the incontinent patient in whom other pelvic disease demands a lower abdominal incision.
Evolving novel organizational forms

Computer simulations of organizations may provide a technique for discovering novel organizational forms, for example, forms that rely on extensive use of information technology. In this paper, I suggest the use of genetic algorithms to evolve organizational forms. Use of a genetic algorithm raises two key issues: representation and evaluation. I suggest representing an organization as a collection of individuals, which are in turn collections of routines for actions. I illustrate this approach by identifying relevant routines in a simple model of a task processing organization; other kinds of organizations could be represented by using different routines.
Visualizing Tree Structures in Genetic Programming

This paper presents methods to visualize the structure of trees that occur in genetic programming. These methods allow for the inspection of structure of entire trees even though several thousands of nodes may be involved. The methods also scale to allow for the inspection of structure for entire populations and for complete trials even though millions of nodes may be involved. Examples are given that demonstrate how this new way of "seeing" can afford a potentially rich way of understanding dynamics that underpin genetic programming. The examples indicate further studies that might be enabled by visualizing structure at these scales.
Spectral sequences, exact couples and persistent homology of filtrations

Abstract In this paper we study the relationship between a very classical algebraic object associated to a filtration of topological spaces, namely a spectral sequence introduced by Leray in the 1940s, and a more recently invented object that has found many applications—namely, its persistent homology groups. We show the existence of a long exact sequence of groups linking these two objects and using it derive formulas expressing the dimensions of each individual groups of one object in terms of the dimensions of the groups in the other object. The main tool used to mediate between these objects is the notion of exact couples first introduced by Massey in 1952.
The club within the club: the challenge of a soft law framework in a global Arctic context

Challenges to Arctic governance presented by rapid ice melt are assessed in light of structural problems facing the Arctic Council, the region’s “preeminent” soft law regime structure. This paper argues the territorializing temptations of the sub-regional Arctic 5 coastal states, which among themselves may overlap and conflict, nevertheless align to keep the Arctic Council focus on functional objectives, notwithstanding attempts at internal reform, calls for a new Arctic treaty, and emerging assessments of a global understanding of Arctic issues, as represented by the newly founded Arctic Circle Assembly. Various jurisdictional designs in the Arctic Ocean, including extended continental shelf delimitations, combine to preference Arctic 5 interests over revisions to the soft law and functional orientation of the current Arctic regime structure.
A Displacement Driven Real-Time Deformable Model For Haptic Surgery

We present a deformable graphical model for interactive modeling of three-dimensional objects representing organs and tissues in surgery simulations. The proposed model is a physically-based model, generating real-time deformations using a high resolution triangular surface mesh with minimal pre-processing of mesh data. The surface mesh of an object is modeled by a spring network according to the connectivity of mesh nodes. Object deformations are simulated by computing nodal deformations based on a force equation at each mesh node. A deformed node index table (DNIT) is proposed to model the deformation propagation driven by the displacement at a surface contact point (SCP). Surface nodes that undergo a deformation are added to the current DNIT according to the triangular mesh topology. A PHANToM device is integrated in the simulator to provide haptic feedback. Coupled with the real-time visual feedback generated by the proposed model, the simulator allows users to interactively manipulate virtual organs utilizing the PHANToM device. Results of a virtual kidney biopsy simulation are presented to illustrate the deformations.
Living on the edge : vulnerability to poverty and public transfers in Mexico

AbstractSocial policy in Mexico has focused on identifying and supporting households in extreme poverty. Yet, the country has a significant number of households just above the poverty line who are not eligible, by definition, for antipoverty programmes and are at risk of falling into poverty in the event of adverse shocks without appropriate social safety nets. This study uses cross-section and longitudinal data to understand better the profile of those ‘vulnerable’ households, their risk exposure, and the extent to which they are covered by public transfers and insurance mechanisms. The analysis shows that until 2010 most social programmes, including the few with productive components, barely covered the vulnerable. The study calls for public policies to pay attention to the vulnerable and find a policy mix on the continuum between targeted interventions and universal insurance schemes to serve this income group.
On the mathematical properties of linguistic theories

Metatheoretical findings regarding the decidability, generative capacity, and recognition complexity of several syntactic theories are surveyed. These include context-free, transformational, lexical-functional, generalized phrase structure, tree adjunct, and stratificational grammars. The paper concludes with a discussion of the implications of these results with respect to linguistic theory.
ALEXANDER INVARIANTS OF COMPLEX HYPERPLANE ARRANGEMENTS

LetA be an arrangement of n complex hyperplanes. The funda- mental group of the complement of A is determined by a braid monodromy homomorphism, fi : Fs ! Pn. Using the Gassner representation of the pure braid group, we flnd an explicit presentation for the Alexander invariant ofA. From this presentation, we obtain combinatorial lower bounds for the ranks of the Chen groups ofA. We also provide a combinatorial criterion for when these lower bounds are attained.
Generation of femtosecond synchrotron pulses from the Advanced Light Source

We report the generation of femtosecond synchrotron radiation pulses from the Advanced Light Source by using a femtosecond laser to accelerate an ultrashort slice of the electron beam. This is a new high-brightness source for ultrafast X-ray spectroscopy.
Health and Globalization

Health and disease are connected globally in that diseases now spread rapidly from continent to continent and efforts to contain them operate on a global level; markets for drugs and other health care commodities and the corporations that produce them span the globe; and global processes like pollution, modernization, and technological change impact on local environments. Consequently, globalization is a process of international networking that affects the health of populations either positively or negatively. This entry describes the globalization process, the spread of Western medicine, medical tourism, global pandemics, and the global governance of health and disease. Keywords: globalization; governance; health; international agencies; migration
Cardiac transplantation in African Americans: A single-center experience

Background In view of limited data on the subject of graft and patient survival differences between African American (AA) and non-AA heart transplant recipients, we reviewed our experience. Hypothesis There is a higher mortality among AA recipients compared with non-AA recipients after cardiac transplantation. Methods The study included all AA patients who have received a heart transplant in our center since 1983. Stepwise Cox regression was used for covariates affecting the survival. The χ2 test was employed to identify the effects of a mechanical assist device and pretransplant creatinine (Cr) on the outcomes in AA and non-AA patients. Kaplan-Meier curves were used to examine survival. Results The average survival among AA recipients was 5.4 years, compared with 12 years for the non-AA recipients, with 1-, 5-, and 10-year survival rates of 80%, 55%, and 25%, respectively. This was found to be statistically inferior to the survival probabilities of 92%, 78%, and 58% for the non-AA group (P < 0.005). Based on stepwise Cox regression, the variables such as ethnicity (P < 0.05), pretransplant Cr (P < 0.05), presence of a mechanical assist device (P < 0.005), and United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS) status at transplant (P < 0.05) independently predicted the outcomes. Kaplan-Meier analysis of pretransplant Cr level and survival showed that the AA group did significantly worse for all Cr classes. Conclusions There is a statistically significant difference in outcomes between AA and non-AA patients after cardiac transplantation. African American patients have decreased survival over a period of time. Pretransplant Cr, ethnicity, presence of a mechanical assist device, and UNOS status at transplantation are independent predictors of outcomes.
Association of long‐term tacrolimus (FK506) therapy with abnormal megakaryocytosis, bone marrow fibrosis, and dyserythropoiesis

Haematopoietic abnormalities associated with tacrolimus are relatively rare with reversible pure red cell aplasia being the most common. We report for the first time, to our best knowledge, tacrolimus therapy associated with bone marrow fibrosis, abnormal megakaryocytosis, and dyserythopoiesis in a 17-year-old male treated with tacrolimus for nephrotic syndrome.
Using prosody for automatic sentence segmentation of multi-party meetings

We explore the use of prosodic features beyond pauses, including duration, pitch, and energy features, for automatic sentence segmentation of ICSI meeting data We examine two different approaches to boundary classification: score-level combination of independent language and prosodic models using HMMs, and feature-level combination of models using a boosting-based method (BoosTexter) We report classification results for reference word transcripts as well as for transcripts from a state-of-the-art automatic speech recognizer (ASR) We also compare results using the lexical model plus a pause-only prosody model, versus results using additional prosodic features Results show that (1) information from pauses is important, including pause duration both at the boundary and at the previous and following word boundaries; (2) adding duration, pitch, and energy features yields significant improvement over pause alone; (3) the integrated boosting-based model performs better than the HMM for ASR conditions; (4) training the boosting-based model on recognized words yields further improvement.
Geometry and product states

As separable states are a convex combination of product states, the geometry of the manifold of product states, Σ+, is studied. Prior results by Sanpera, Vidal and Tarrach are extended. Furthermore, it is proven that states in the set tangent to Σ+ at the maximally mixed state are separable; the set normal contains, among others, all extended GHZ states. A canonical decomposition is given. A surprising result is that for the case of two particles, the closest product state to the maximally entangled state is the maximally mixed state. An algorithm is provided to find the closest product state.
Introduction: Evolving Standards in Juvenile Justice from Gault to Graham and Beyond

As suggested by the title of this symposium, the juvenile justice system is in flux. This state of transformation is nothing new, however. It is a process that has been in progress for over one hundred years. It is one that is likely to continue. And it is the topic explored in this volume by leading youth advocate-scholars who, collectively, have spent over one hundred years representing young people in juvenile courts and through law school clinical programs across the country. This collection of articles explores the ongoing evolution of juvenile justice standards, sharing important theoretical insights about the current state of the law as well as experience-based lessons from committed juvenile practitioners who confront important youth justice issues in our communities and courts. It is being published in conjunction with Washington University‘s 12th annual Access to Equal Justice Colloquium, which this year sought to bring together stakeholders from the national, state, and local levels to share and build juvenile justice expertise during a day-long conference. Our goal was to consider where we have been, where we are now, and where we might go in the future to ensure the delivery of substantive justice for vulnerable youth, with some emphasis on the particular challenges presented by Missouri‘s juvenile justice system.
The Mass Spectrum of Molecular Clouds in Computational Studies of Spiral Galaxies

We measure the assembly of GMCs based on the distribution of clouds over the disk. The model requires no assumptions of "sticky" cloud coalescence. A clumping algorithm has been devised that uses a critical distance parameter, rcrit, to determine whether neighboring clouds are close enough to be considered part of a GMC. If a cloud is within rcrit of any cloud in a GMC, it is considered to be part of the GMC. The range of realistic rcrit is fairly small. Too large a value gives GMCs that are strung out over large portions of the disk; too small a value gives GMCs that consist of only a couple of clouds. A value of rcrit = 120 pc is used. This method is a first approximation to the determination of the degree of clumping in the disk.
Interpolation Theorems for Nonmonotonic Reasoning Systems

Craig's interpolation theorem [3] is an important theorem known for propositional logic and first-order logic. It says that if a logical formula s logically follows from a formula ?, then there is a formula ?, including only symbols that appear in both ?, s, such that s logically follows from ? and ? logically follows from ?. Such theorems are important and useful for understanding those logics in which they hold as well as for speeding up reasoning with theories in those logics. In this paper we present interpolation theorems in this spirit for three nonmonotonic systems: circumscription, default logic and logic programs with the stable models semantics (a.k.a. answer set semantics). These results give us better understanding of those logics, especially in contrast to their nonmonotonic characteristics. They suggest that some monotonicity principle holds despite the failure of classic monotonicity for these logics. Also, they sometimes allow us to use methods for the decomposition of reasoning for these systems, possibly increasing their applicability and tractability. Finally, they allow us to build structured representations that use those logics.
Teaching Parallel Programming Using Both High-Level and Low-Level Languages

We discuss the use of both high-level and low-level languages in the teaching of senior undergraduate and junior graduate classes in parallel and distributed computing. We briefly introduce several language standards and discuss why we have chosen to use OpenMP and MPI in our parallel computing class. Major features of OpenMP are briefly introduced and advantages of using OpenMP over message passing methods are discussed. We also include a brief enumeration of some of the drawbacks of using OpenMP and how these drawbacks are being addressed by supplementing OpenMP with additional MPI codes and projects. Several projects given in our class are also described in this paper.
The True Colors of Cuprates

In the early days of superconductivity, superconductors were expected to be good reflectors of high-frequency radiation. Initial experiments did not fulfill this expectation, however, and were abandoned after theory failed to find a mechanism for such reflectivity. In his Perspective, [Hirsch][1] highlights the report by [ Molegraaf et al .][2], who have found experimental evidence for enhanced high-frequency reflection from high-temperature superconductors. The results suggest that high-temperature superconductivity is driven by charge carriers being happy "moving" together, even if they are uncomfortable in each other's presence. [1]: http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/full/295/5563/2226 [2]: http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/short/295/5563/2239
Trapped Oscillations in the Chromosphere in the Presence of a Magnetic Field

In the presence of a magnetic field, three types of magnetoatmospheric waves — magnetoacoustic mode, magnetogravitational mode, and hydromagnetic mode — can propagate in a stratified atmosphere, in contrast to the propagation of two types of atmospheric waves — acoustic mode and gravitational mode — in the absence of a magnetic field. The exact manner of propagation of the magnetoatmospheric wave is extremely complex, and most studies have been confined to certain specific circumstances, such as an isothermal atmosphere permeated by a uniform magnetic field (McLellan and Winterberg, 1968; Bel and Mein, 1971; Michalitsanos, 1973), and atmosphere in magnetohydrostatic equilibrium (Yu, 1965; Chen and Lykoudis, 1972) and the propagation across a density discontinuity (Stein, 1971).
Density estimation in linear time

We consider the problem of choosing a density estimate from a set of densities F , minimizing the L1-distance to an unknown distribution. Devroye and Lugosi [DL01] analyze two algorithms for the problem: Scheffe tournament winner and minimum distance estimate. The Scheffe tournament estimate requires fewer computations than the minimum distance estimate, but has strictly weaker guarantees than the latter. We focus on the computational aspect of density estimation. We present two algorithms, both with the same guarantee as the minimum distance estimate. The first one, a modification of the minimum distance estimate, uses the same number (quadratic in |F|) of computations as the Scheffe tournament. The second one, called “efficient minimum loss-weight estimate,” uses only a linear number of computations, assuming that F is preprocessed. We then apply our algorithms to bandwidth selection for kernel estimates and bin-width selection for histogram estimates, yielding efficient procedures for these problems. We also give examples showing that the guarantees of the algorithms cannot be improved and explore randomized algorithms for density estimation.
IMMIGRATION, MEAT PACKING, AND TRADE: IMPLICATIONS FOR IOWA

The paper examines changes in employment and wage patterns, industrial restructuring, and foreign competition that affect opportunities of recent immigrants to the non-metropolitan Midwest, especially to Iowa. The focus is on food and kindred products where meat and poultry packing and processing are major components. Although total employment in this industry declined between 1980 and 1990, a significant increase in employment of Hispanic- and Asian- origin persons occurred in Iowa. As unions weakened and the real wage rate declined sharply during 1980-85 in meat and poultry packing and processing, new job opportunities for recent immigrants became available. These jobs provided full-time year-round work at significantly above the minimum wage and made regular schooling for their children and frequently home ownership possible. Note: Tables are not included in the PDF file--contact the authors for more information.
Modeling chromosomes: beyond pretty pictures

Recently, Chromosome Conformation Capture (3C) based experiments have highlighted the importance of computational models for the study of chromosome organization. In this review, we propose that current computational models can be grouped into roughly four classes, with two classes of data-driven models: consensus structures and data-driven ensembles, and two classes of de novo models: structural ensembles and mechanistic ensembles. Finally, we highlight specific questions mechanistic ensembles can address.
Measuring State Environmental Policy

Studies of environmental policy employ various empirical strategies for measuring state environmental effort. The majority of these strategies can be divided into four categories: indices of state programmatic indicators, government expenditures, pollution abatement costs, and regulatory enforcement actions. In this article, we argue that these measures are empirically distinct, capture different attributes of state environmental policy, and are correlated with different intrastate factors. Thus, the choice among environmental policy measures is substantively important for researchers to consider, and we conclude by providing advice to scholars concerning choosing among these measures.
Faults in large distributed systems and what we can do about them

Scientists are increasingly using large distributed systems built from commodity off-the-shelf components to perform scientific computation. Grid computing has expanded the scale of such systems by spanning them across organizations. While such systems are cost-effective, the usage of large number of commodity components causes high fault and failure rates. Some of these faults result in silent data corruption leaving users with possibly incorrect results. In this work, we analyzed the faults and failures that occurred in Condor pools at UW-Madison having a few thousand CPUs and in two large distributed applications: US-CMS and BMRB BLAST, each of which used hundreds of thousands of CPU hours. We propose ‘silent-fail-stutter' fault-model to correctly model the silent failures and detail how to handle them. Based on the model, we have designed mechanisms that automatically detect and handle silent failures and ensure that users get correct results. Our mechanisms perform automated fault location and can transparently adapt applications to avoid faulty machines. We also designed a data provenance mechanism that tracks the origin of the results, enabling scientists to selectively purge results from faulty components.
Trade in Services Negotiations: A Guide for Developing Countries

The aim of this book is to help policy makers, especially in the least developed countries, address the complexities of the organization, formulation, and implementation of trade-related reforms in the service sector. The book provides a conceptual framework for trade policy making and negotiation and practical tools that may be used to guide negotiations on policies that affect the trade and investment in services. The aim is not to be prescriptive, but to provide practical recommendations and tools that may be applied in the pursuit of negotiations on services, including consultations and regulatory audits. Negotiators often have little basic information regarding existing regulations and the purpose of these regulations. This problem is compounded by the difficulty of translating existing regulations into the terminology and concepts used in trade agreements. Different methodological approaches are needed to manage different sets of laws and regulations. This book offers a simple tool to help countries organize information to address these challenges. The book also provides practical examples and negotiation exercises that aim to enhance understanding of ways to use the conceptual framework and related tools.
Sending an avatar to do a human's job: Compliance with authority persists despite the uncanny valley

Just as physical appearance affects social influence in human communication, it may also affect the processing of advice conveyed through avatars, computer-animated characters, and other human-like interfaces. Although the most persuasive computer interfaces are often the most human-like, they have been predicted to incur the greatest risk of falling into the uncanny valley, the loss of empathy attributed to characters that appear eerily human. Previous studies compared interfaces on the left side of the uncanny valley, namely, those with low human likeness. To examine interfaces with higher human realism, a between-groups factorial experiment was conducted through the internet with 426 midwestern U.S. undergraduates. This experiment presented a hypothetical ethical dilemma followed by the advice of an authority figure. The authority was manipulated in three ways: depiction digitally recorded or computer animated, motion quality smooth or jerky, and advice disclose or refrain from disclosing sensitive information. Of these, only the advice changed opinion about the ethical dilemma, even though the animated depiction was significantly eerier than the human depiction. These results indicate that compliance with an authority persists even when using an uncannily realistic computer-animated double.
Staged mixture modelling and boosting

In this paper, we introduce and evaluate a data-driven staged mixture modeling tcchnique for building density, regression, and classification models. Our basic approach is to sequentially add components to a finite mixture model using the structural expectation maximization (SEM) algorithm. We show that our technique is qualitatively similar to boosting. This correspondence is a natural byproduct of the fact that we use the SEM algorithm to sequentially fit the mixture model. Finally, in our experimental evaluation, we demonstrate the effectiveness of our approach on a variety of prediction and density estimation tasks using real-world data.
Leukocyte expression of heme oxygenase-1 [hmox1] varies inversely with severity of tricuspid regurgitation in acute pulmonary embolism

Abstract Objective Pulmonary embolism (PE) can cause intracardiac hemolysis and increased plasma hemoglobin and arginase-1, which can worsen pulmonary vasoconstriction. We test the hypothesis that patients with PE that causes tricuspid regurgitation (TR), indicative of higher pulmonary arterial pressures, have decreased leukocyte expression of hmox -1 compared with patients with PE and no TR and patients without PE. Design Prospective, noninterventional study. Patients Normotensive patients with suspected PE (n=87) who underwent CT pulmonary angiography and transthoracic Doppler-echocardiography. Measurements Significant TR was defined as a jet velocity >2.7m/s. Leukocyte expression of hmox -1, haptoglobin, haptoglobin related gene, the haptoglobin receptor, CD163 and cox -2 genes were assessed by quantitative rtPCR, and the hmox -1 promoter was examined for the −413 A→T SNP and GT repeat polymorphisms. Results Of the 44 (50%) with PE+, 22 had TR+, and their mean pulmonary vascular occlusion (39±32%) did not differ significantly from patients who were TR− (28±26%, P=0.15). Patients with PE+ and TR+ had significantly lower expression of hmox -1 and haptoglobin genes than patients without PE+ and no TR. Expression of hmox -1 varied inversely with TR velocity (r 2 =0.45, P Hmox -1 expression did not vary significantly with genotype. Cox -2 did not differ between groups and had no correlation with TR. Conclusions Severity of TR varied inversely with hmox -1 expression, suggesting that hmox -1 expression affects pulmonary vascular reactivity after PE.
Trade and financial development

The differences in financial development between advanced and developing countries are pronounced. It has been observed, both theoretically and empirically, that these differences in countries' financial systems are a source of comparative advantage and trade. This paper points out that to the extent a country's financial development is endogenous, it will in turn be influenced by trade. The paper builds a model in which a country's financial development is an equilibrium outcome of the economy's productive structure: in countries with large financially intensive sectors financial systems are more developed. When a wealthy and a poor country open to trade, the financially dependent sectors grow in the wealthy country, and so does the financial system. By contrast, as the financially intensive sectors shrink in the poor country, demand for external finance decreases and the domestic financial system deteriorates. This paper describes the authors' test model using data on financial development for a sample of 77 countries. The authors find that the main predictions of the model are borne out in the data: trade openness is associated with faster financial development in wealthier countries, and with slower financial development in poorer ones.
Measurement and Model Validation of Nanofluid Specific Heat Capacity with Differential Scanning Calorimetry

Nanofluids are being considered for heat transfer applications; therefore it is important to know their thermophysical properties accurately. In this paper we focused on nanofluid specific heat capacity. Currently, there exist two models to predict a nanofluid specific heat capacity as a function of nanoparticle concentration and material. Model I is a straight volume-weighted average; Model II is based on the assumption of thermal equilibrium between the particles and the surrounding fluid. These two models give significantly different predictions for a given system. Using differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), a robust experimental methodology for measuring the heat capacity of fluids, the specific heat capacities of water-based silica, alumina, and copper oxide nanofluids were measured. Nanoparticle concentrations were varied between 5 wt% and 50 wt%. Test results were found to be in excellent agreement with Model II, while the predictions of Model I deviated very significantly from the data. Therefo...
Sufficient condition on noise correlations for scalable quantum computing

I study the effectiveness of fault-tolerant quantum computation against correlated Hamiltonian noise, and derive a sufficient condition for scalability. Arbitrarily long quantum computations can be executed reliably provided that noise terms acting collectively on k system qubits are sufficiently weak, and decay sufficiently rapidly with increasing k and with increasing spatial separation of the qubits.
Distributed Estimation of Generalized Matrix Rank: Efficient Algorithms and Lower Bounds

We study the following generalized matrix rank estimation problem: given an n × n matrix and a constant c ≥ 0, estimate the number of eigenvalues that are greater than c. In the distributed setting, the matrix of interest is the sum of m matrices held by separate machines. We show that any deterministic algorithm solving this problem must communicate Ω(n2) bits, which is order equivalent to transmitting the whole matrix. In contrast, we propose a randomized algorithm that communicates only e O(n) bits. The upper bound is matched by an Ω(n) lower bound on the randomized communication complexity. We demonstrate the practical effectiveness of the proposed algorithm with some numerical experiments.
Infrastructure and economic growth in Egypt

In the past half a century, Egypt has experienced remarkable progress in the provision of infrastructure in all areas, including transportation, telecommunication, power generation, and water and sanitation. Judging from an international perspective, Egypt has achieved an infrastructure status that closely corresponds to what could be expected given its national income level. The present infrastructure status is the result of decades of purposeful investment. In the past 15 years, however, a worrisome trend has emerged: Infrastructure investment has suffered a substantial decline, which may be at odds with the countrys goals of raising economic growth. Improving infrastructure in Egypt would require a combination of larger infrastructure expenditures and more efficient investment. The analysis provided in this paper suggests that an increase in infrastructure expenditures from 5 to 6 percent of gross domestic product would raise the annual per capita growth rate of gross domestic product by about 0.5 percentage points in a decades time and 1 percentage point by the third decade. If the increase in infrastructure investment did not imply a heavier government burden (for instance, by cutting down on inefficient expenditures), the corresponding increase in growth of per capita gross domestic product would be substantially larger, in fact twice as large by the end of the first decade. This highlights the importance of considering renewed infrastructure investment in the larger context of public sector reform.
Extended maximum likelihood halo-independent analysis of dark matter direct detection data

We extend and correct a recently proposed maximum-likelihood halo-independent method to analyze unbinned direct dark matter detection data. Instead of the recoil energy as independent variable we use the minimum speed a dark matter particle must have to impart a given recoil energy to a nucleus. This has the advantage of allowing us to apply the method to any type of target composition and interaction, e.g. with general momentum and velocity dependence, and with elastic or inelastic scattering. We prove the method and provide a rigorous statistical interpretation of the results. As rst applications, we nd that for dark matter particles with elastic spin-independent interactions and neutron to proton coupling ratio fn=fp = 0:7, the WIMP interpretation of the signal observed by CDMS- II-Si is compatible with the constraints imposed by all other experiments with null results. We also nd a similar compatibility for exothermic inelastic spin-independent interactions with fn=fp = 0:8.
New Evidence on Taxes and the Timing of Birth

This paper uses data from the universe of tax returns filed between 2001 and 2010 to provide new evidence on the extent to which taxpayers are willing to shift births from the beginning of January to the end of December in order to claim child-related tax benefits in an earlier tax year. Filers have an incentive to shift births, through induction or cesarean delivery, into December because child-related tax benefits are not prorated. We find evidence of a positive but very small e↵ect of tax incentives on birth timing, which contrasts sharply with previous research. In addition, we leverage variation in birth timing and the relationship between household structure and tax incentives to provide novel evidence of tax evasion. As compared to those with an early-January newborn, low-income filers with a late-December newborn are substantially more likely to report income that maximizes their benefits from the Earned Income Tax Credit. This di↵erence, which is driven entirely by self-employment income not subject to third-party verification, is inconsistent with real labor supply di↵erences and is likely driven by strategic misreporting.
Domestic investigation of suspected law of armed conflict violations: United States procedures, policies, and practices

The author outlines the investigative procedures available under current United States domestic law for suspected LOAC violations. Formal and informal procedures available under both civil and military justice systems are explored and special attention given to evidence of U.S. investigative procedures, policies, and protocols that are influenced by or are functions of perceived international legal obligations.
Polarization switching by stimulated orientational scattering in birefringent nonlinear nematic liquid crystal film

Summary form only given. Broadband birefringence, occurring in the visible through the far infrared spectral regime, is one of the many unique optical properties of nematic liquid crystals responsible for their emergence as an technologically important electro-optical material. Nematic liquid crystals are also optically highly nonlinear, through the large susceptibilities of their refractive indices to temperature or orientation fluctuations caused by applied optical fields. In this paper, we report the result of a recent study which demonstrated that these birefringent nonlinearities of nematic liquid crystals could be utilized for polarization switching via laser induced stimulated orientational scattering process. >
Integration of the personal computer into undergraduate electromagnetics courses

This article describes the integration of personal computer PC use into the academic program in electromagnetics within electrical engineering at Virginia Tech. The specific approach found to be successful in a curriculum that requires students to have their own PC is presented. The associated principles are general and can be applied to any engineering instructional program.
FlashGraph: processing billion-node graphs on an array of commodity SSDs

Graph analysis performs many random reads and writes, thus, these workloads are typically performed in memory. Traditionally, analyzing large graphs requires a cluster of machines so the aggregate memory exceeds the graph size. We demonstrate that a multicore server can process graphs with billions of vertices and hundreds of billions of edges, utilizing commodity SSDs with minimal performance loss. We do so by implementing a graph-processing engine on top of a user-space SSD file system designed for high IOPS and extreme parallelism. Our semi-external memory graph engine called FlashGraph stores vertex state in memory and edge lists on SSDs. It hides latency by overlapping computation with I/O. To save I/O bandwidth, FlashGraph only accesses edge lists requested by applications from SSDs; to increase I/O throughput and reduce CPU overhead for I/O, it conservatively merges I/O requests. These designs maximize performance for applications with different I/O characteristics. FlashGraph exposes a general and flexible vertex-centric programming interface that can express a wide variety of graph algorithms and their optimizations. We demonstrate that FlashGraph in semi-external memory performs many algorithms with performance up to 80% of its in-memory implementation and significantly outperforms PowerGraph, a popular distributed in-memory graph engine.
Module extensions over classical Lie superalgebras

We study certain filtrations of indecomposable injective modules over classical Lie superalgebras, applying a general approach for noetherian rings developed by Brown, Jategaonkar, Lenagan, and Warfield. To indicate the consequences of our analysis, suppose that $g$ is a complex classical simple Lie superalgebra and that $E$ is an indecomposable injective $g$-module with nonzero (and so necessarily simple) socle $L$. (Recall that every essential extension of $L$, and in particular every nonsplit extension of $L$ by a simple module, can be formed from $g$-subfactors of $E$.) A direct transposition of the Lie algebra theory to this setting is impossible. However, we are able to present a finite upper bound, easily calculated and dependent only on $g$, for the number of isomorphism classes of simple highest weight $g$-modules appearing as $g$-subfactors of $E$.
Median Survival Time

The median is an important summary measure for survival data. A confidence interval for the median estimated from censored survival data is easily obtained from the pointwise confidence interval around the Kaplan–Meier estimator. A test for equality of k medians is also given. Keywords: survival analysis; confidence interval; Kaplan–Meier estimator
A Step Toward Risk Mitigation During Conceptual Product Design: Component Selection for Risk Reduction

The objective of this article is to introduce a method that will mitigate product risks during the conceptual design phase by identifying design variables that affect product failures. By using this comprehensive, step-by-step process that combines existing techniques in a new way, designers can begin with a simple functional model and emerge from the conceptual design phase with specific components selected with many risks already mitigated. The risk in early design (RED) method plays a significant role in identifying failure modes by functions, and these modes are then analyzed through modeling equations or lifespan analyses, in such a manner that emphasizes variables under the designers’ control. With the valuable insight this method provides, informed decisions can be made early in the process, thereby eliminating costly changes later on.
Factor analysis of permanent and transitory dynamics of the US economy and the stock market

We analyze dynamics of the permanent and transitory components of the U.S. economic activity and the stock market obtained by multivariate dynamic factor modeling. We capture asymmetries over the phases of economic and stock market trends and cycles using independent Markov-switching processes. We show that both output and stock prices contain significant transitory components, while consumption and dividends are useful to identify their respective permanent components. The extracted economic trend perfectly predicts all post-war recessions. Our results shed light to the nature of the bilateral predictability of the economy and the stock market. The transitory stock market component signals recessions with an average lead of one quarter, whereas the market trend is correlated with the economic trend with varying lead/lag times.
Study of the superfluid transition in two-dimensional He 4 films

We have studied the superfluid transition of thin two-dimensional $^{4}\mathrm{He}$ films adsorbed on an oscillating substrate. The superfluid mass and dissipation support the Kosterlitz-Thouless picture of the phase transition in a two-dimensional superfluid. In addition we observe finitevelocity effects which are not explained by current dynamic theories. We also report data on two-dimensional $^{3}\mathrm{He}$-$^{4}\mathrm{He}$ mixtures.
The AdS/QCD correspondence: still undelivered

We consider the particle spectrum and event shapes in large N gauge theories in different regimes of the short-distance 't Hooft coupling, λ. The mesons in the small λ limit should have a Regge spectrum in order to agree with perturbation theory, while generically the large λ theories with gravity duals produce spectra reminiscent of KK modes. We argue that these KK-like states are qualitatively different from QCD modes: they are deeply bound states which are sensitive to short distance interactions rather than the flux tube-like states expected in asymptotically free, confining gauge theories. In addition, we also find that the characteristic event shapes for the large λ theories with gravity duals are close to spherical, very different from QCD-like (small λ, small N) and Nambu-Goto-like (small λ, large N) theories which have jets. This observation is in agreement with the conjecture of Strassler on event shapes in large 't Hooft coupling theories, which was recently proved by Hofman and Maldacena for the conformal case. This conclusion does not change even when considering soft-wall backgrounds for the gravity dual. The picture that emerges is the following: theories with small and large λ are qualitatively different, while theories with small and large N are qualitatively similar. Thus it seems that it is the relative smallness of the 't Hooft coupling in QCD that prevents a reliable AdS/QCD correspondence from emerging, and that reproducing characteristic QCD-like behavior will require genuine stringy dynamics to be incorporated into any putative dual theory.