cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Competitive Poaching in Sponsored Search Advertising and Its Strategic Impact on Traditional Advertising

Traditional advertising, such as TV and print advertising, primarily builds awareness of a firm's product among consumers, whereas sponsored search advertising on a search engine can target consumers closer to making a purchase because they reveal their interest by searching for a relevant keyword. Increased consumer targetability in sponsored search advertising induces a firm to “poach” a competing firm's consumers by directly advertising on the competing firm's keywords; in other words, the poaching firm tries to obtain more than its “fair share” of sales through sponsored search advertising by free riding on the market created by the firm being poached. Using a game theory model with firms of different advertising budgets, we study the phenomenon of poaching, its impact on how firms allocate their advertising budgets to traditional and sponsored search advertising, and the search engine's policy on poaching. We find that, as budget asymmetry increases, the smaller-budget firm poaches more on the keywords of the larger-budget firm. This may induce the larger-budget firm to allocate more of its budget to traditional advertising, which, in turn, hurts the search engine's advertising revenues. Therefore, paradoxically, even though poaching increases competition in sponsored search advertising, the search engine can benefit from limiting the extent of poaching. This explains why major search engines use “ad relevance” measures to handicap poaching on trademarked keywords.
Bispyridinium-phenylene-based copolymers: low band gap n-type alternating copolymers

Bispyridinium-phenylene-based conjugated donor–acceptor copolymers were synthesized by a Stille cross-coupling and cyclization sequence. These polyelectrolytes are freely soluble in organic solvents and display broad optical absorption bands that extend into the near-infrared region. They show ambipolar redox properties with high electron affinities (LUMO levels) of 3.9–4.0 eV as well as high degrees of electroactivity. When reduced (n-doped) these materials display in situ conductivities as high as 180 S/cm. The high conductivity is attributed to the planar structure that is enforced by the cyclic structures of the polymer. The electron affinities are compared to PCBM, a C60 based n-type material and hence may find utility in photovoltaic devices.
Projecting Spatial Pattern of Housing Growth in Tennessee

Housing growth in Tennessee that incorporates spatial spillover and spatial heterogeneity at the level of census-block group is projected. A deterministic interpolation technique is adopted to create alternative neighborhood variables that captures spatial spillover of neighborhood effects on housing growth without multicollinearity. The maps drawn using the geographically weighted regression parameter estimates revealed that the local marginal effect of the housing price increases on housing growth gradually increases as one moves eastward. The population growth in the adjacent neighborhood-block group has about 10% of marginal effect of population growth in its own block group. The marginal effect of population growth is relatively higher in the approximate area of Cumberland Plateau while the local marginal effect of spatial spillover of population growth in adjacent neighbor is relatively higher in the East Tennessee and also the area South of Nashville.
Historical notes on the fast Fourier transform

The fast Fourier transform algorithm has a long and interesting history that has only recently been appreciated. In this paper, the contributions of many investigators are described and placed in historical perspective.
Modified Euclidean algorithms for decoding Reed-Solomon codes

The extended Euclidean algorithm (EEA) for polynomial greatest common divisors is commonly used in solving the key equation in the decoding of Reed-Solomon (RS) codes, and more generally in BCH decoding. For this particular application, the iterations in the EEA are stopped when the degree of the remainder polynomial falls below a threshold. While determining the degree of a polynomial is a simple task for human beings, hardware implementation of this stopping rule is more complicated. This paper describes a modified version of the EEA that is specifically adapted to the RS decoding problem. This modified algorithm requires no degree computation or comparison to a threshold, and it uses a fixed number of iterations. Another advantage of this modified version is in its application to the errors-and-erasures decoding problem for RS codes where significant hardware savings can be achieved via seamless computation.
A mutagenetic tree hidden Markov model for longitudinal clonal HIV sequence data.

SUMMARY RNA viruses provide prominent examples of measurably evolving populations. In human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection, the development of drug resistance is of particular interest because precise predictions of the outcome of this evolutionary process are a prerequisite for the rational design of antiretroviral treatment protocols. We present a mutagenetic tree hidden Markov model for the analysis of longitudinal clonal sequence data. Using HIV mutation data from clinical trials, we estimate the order and rate of occurrence of seven amino acid changes that are associated with resistance to the reverse transcriptase inhibitor efavirenz.
The poset of hypergraph quasirandomness

Chung and Graham began the systematic study of k-uniform hypergraph quasirandom properties soon after the foundational results of Thomason and Chung-Graham-Wilson on quasirandom graphs. One feature that became apparent in the early work on k-uniform hypergraph quasirandomness is that properties that are equivalent for graphs are not equivalent for hypergraphs, and thus hypergraphs enjoy a variety of inequivalent quasirandom properties. In the past two decades, there has been an intensive study of these disparate notions of quasirandomness for hypergraphs, and an open problem that has emerged is to determine the relationship between them.
Local turbulence properties in flames from time-averaged Raman spectroscopy measurements

/Local fluctuations in temperature and composition in a turbulent flame are examined through their influence on Raman-scatter ing measurements of time-averaged flame properties. Using mean temperatures and number densities measured in a hydrogen diffusion flame, two approaches to investigating turbulence properties are examined. In the first, which is restricted to flame conditions where fluctuations are fairly small, the variation of measured number density with spectral resolution is used to determine values for particular correlations between fluctuations in number density and temperature. In the second approach, the Raman measurements are used to evaluate a particular model for concentration fluctuations. The shifting-equilibrium reaction model is combined with a clipped-Gaussi an probability density function for mixture fraction in order to predict time-averaged Raman signals. Comparisons with the Raman data determine particular radial distributions for the mean mixture fraction and for the intensity of concentration fluctuations. These distributions are then used to predict a variety of averaged flame properties, as well as the errors occurring in the time-averaged Raman measurements.
Fluoropropenoates as dienophiles in the Diels–Alder reaction

Several fluorinated alkenes were prepared from known ethyl (R)-2-fluoro-4,5-dihydroxyisopropylidine-2-pentenoate (1). The fluoroalkenoates were tested as dienophiles with several dienes and showed cycloaddition only with the very reactive diene, 1,3-diphenylisobenzofuran (5). Fluorobutenolide 2 reacted with 5 to produce the endo-syn adduct 9 in a highly stereoselective manner.
Comparison of image generation and processing techniques for 3D reconstruction of the human skull

The purpose of our study was to compare the accuracy of an unconventional, non-invasive and relatively inexpensive Microscribe (3D digitizer) with a standard widely used and expensive CT-Scan and/or MRI for 3D reconstruction of a human skull, which will be used for biomechanics studies. Two models of the human skull were developed (reconstructed), one using the 3D coordinates generated by the Microscribe 3D digitizing unit and another one using the CT-Scans (2D cross-sections) obtained from a GE scanner. Both models were then subjected to stress analysis using a Finite Element Analysis program. Additionally, a few image processing software - OSIRIS, SCION IMAGE, EFILM, 3D DOCTOR and OPTIMAS - were compared in order to find the best software that could function as an interface between medical and engineering software and in the same time to have a 3D reconstruction algorithm.
Baptist Hospital and the State of North Carolina: Alleged Malfeasance and Whistleblowing Aftermath

ABSTRACT: Do you know what choices you would make if faced with an ethical dilemma? This fact-based case includes situations and issues that a real citizen considered when faced with the knowledge that his employer may have been overbilling the state of North Carolina for health care. Professionals, especially those in accounting and finance positions, are likely to face serious dilemmas in the course of their careers. These situations may require them to choose between honoring a confidentiality clause in an employment contract and acting according to ethical and professional values. This case provides facts gathered from an actual case in which an individual faced this particular challenge. By working through the case, students should develop an appreciation of the pressures and personal ethical challenges they are likely to face in the workplace. By engaging in discussion and role-play, students will be more likely to recognize these issues when they occur, and will have already developed critical thin...
Enduring impacts of aid quality on job choices : the case of the 2004 tsunami in Aceh

After the tsunami in Aceh, Indonesia, the recovery of fishing was limited while non-fishing sectors temporarily expanded. This paper shows that fishermen's ex-post labor supply responses continued to be constrained by the provision of low quality production assets. The average fishing productivity also declined for the negative selection in response to the aggregate shock. In a natural experiment set-up, it shows widening income inequality after the tsunami for income losses to the recipients of poor quality aid. It suggests the importance of quality monitoring and private market access to sustainably promote rural development after the tsunami.
Laser Sources And Detectors For Guided Wave Optical Signal Processing

Significant advances have been made in the development of high- performance diode laser sources and photodiode detectors that will be essential for future optical signal processing systems. AIGaAs/GaAs diode lasers for 0.8 to 0.9 ^m wavelengths are now commercially available and GalnAsP/lnP for 0.9 to 1.7 /zm should soon become available. Recent achievements include long lifetime lasers (> 10,000 hours) in both materials systems, single longitudinal and transverse mode operation, high speed pulse modulation (1 Gbit/sec), and mode-locked operation with <20 psec pulses. High performance avalanche photodiodes have been developed in Si for wavelengths up to 0.9 jum and modest-performance diodes in Ge up to 1.5/zm. For wavelengths beyond 1 jum, III-V compounds, especially the GalnAsP/lnP system, show promise for fast, highly sensitive diodes that could be integrated into optical waveguide circuits along with diode lasers.
A Short History of Spin

The paper outlines the historical development of spin in physics from about 1920 to the present day. It aims to provide the student with an accurate chronology of important developments, both scientific and technical.
Syntheses and characterization of Ln4Yb11Se22 (Ln = Ce, Sm, Gd)

Abstract New interlanthanide selenides Ln 4 Yb 11 Se 22 (Ln = Ce, Sm, Gd) were synthesized from reactions of their constituent elements at 1123 K. These ordered compounds are isostructural with Ce 4 Lu 11 S 22 , crystallizing with two formula units in the monoclinic space group C 2/ m . The structure consists of a network of six- and seven-coordinate Yb atoms penetrated by Ln 2 Se 13 infinite chains. Gd 4 Yb 11 Se 22 has an antiferromagnetic transition at T N = 2.29 K. Gd 4 Yb 11 Se 22 is a semiconductor with a resistivity of 103 Ω cm at 298 K.
Deep reinforcement learning with double Q-Learning

The popular Q-learning algorithm is known to overestimate action values under certain conditions. It was not previously known whether, in practice, such overestimations are common, whether they harm performance, and whether they can generally be prevented. In this paper, we answer all these questions affirmatively. In particular, we first show that the recent DQN algorithm, which combines Q-learning with a deep neural network, suffers from substantial overestimations in some games in the Atari 2600 domain. We then show that the idea behind the Double Q-learning algorithm, which was introduced in a tabular setting, can be generalized to work with large-scale function approximation. We propose a specific adaptation to the DQN algorithm and show that the resulting algorithm not only reduces the observed overestimations, as hypothesized, but that this also leads to much better performance on several games.
Holographic reconstruction of general bulk surfaces

We propose a reconstruction of general bulk surfaces in any dimension in terms of the dierential entropy in the boundary eld theory. In particular, we extend the proof of Headrick et al. to calculate the area of a general class of surfaces, which have a 1-parameter foliation over a closed manifold. The area can be written in terms of extremal surfaces whose boundaries lie on ring-like regions in the eld theory. We discuss when this construction has a description in terms of spatial entanglement entropy and suggest lessons for a more complete and covariant approach.
Breaking CP and supersymmetry with orbifold moduli dynamics

Abstract We consider the stabilization of string moduli and resulting soft supersymmetry-breaking terms in heterotic string orbifolds. Among the results obtained are: formulae for the scalar interaction soft terms without integrating out the hidden sector gaugino condensate, which reduce to standard expressions in the usual “truncated” limit; an expression for the modular transformation of A-terms; a study of the minima of the scalar potential in the Kahler modulus direction; and a discussion of the implications for CP violation phenomenology. Some closely related results have appeared in a recent paper of Khalil, Lebedev and Morris, namely, the exact modular invariance of A-terms up to unitary mixing, and the existence of certain complex minima for string moduli.
Consumer perception of salesperson influence strategies: an examination of the influence of consumer goals

Consumers regularly interact with retail salespeople in order to make purchases across a wide range of products and services. Retail sales encounters occur on a daily basis yet we know little about these complex interactions, especially from the consumer's perspective in terms of his or her perceptions with regard to these types of persuasive attempts. Understanding consumer perceptions is an important precursor to understanding consumer behavior during retail sales encounters. In three experiments subjects' perceptions of specific influence strategies were measured with regard to the degree of sales-orientation of each strategy. Support was found for hypotheses that proposed that certain influence strategies would be perceived as significantly more sales-oriented than others and that the interaction of consumer goals with salesperson influence would affect how influence strategies are perceived. Willingness to interact with and purchase from a salesperson using specific influence strategies was also examined in order to shed light on how the use of specific influence strategies is likely to affect consumers' intentions. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Wide-range robust control of combustion instability

This paper presents the concept and design of a two-layer robust control system for suppression of combustion instabilities over a wide range of operation. The control law is synthesized based on a multiple-time-scale model of combustion dynamics. Control actions on the fast-time scale are provided by secondary fuel injection, and are gain-scheduled according to the variations of mean-flow temperature and velocity on the slow-time scale. A linear parameter varying (LPV) L2-gain control law is formulated in the setting of differential game theory. Simulation experiments have been conducted to evaluate the control law under wide-range operation of a generic combustor in terms of the trade-off among: (1) fuel injection rate and pressure oscillation; (2) transient and steady responses; and (3) stability robustness and performance. © 2002 by The Combustion Institute
The Interplay of Evidence and Consequences in the Validation of Performance Assessments

Authentic and direct assessments of performances and products are examined in the light of contrasting functions and purposes having implications for validation, especially with respect to the need for specialized validity criteria tailored for performance assessment. These include contrasts between performances and products, between assessment of performance per se and performance assessment of competence or other constructs, between structured and unstructured problems and response modes, and between breadth and depth of domain coverage. These distinctions are elaborated in the context of an overarching contrast between task-driven and construct-driven performance assessment. Rhetoric touting performance assessments because they eschew decomposed skills and decontextualized tasks is viewed as misguided, in that component skills and abstract problems have a legitimate place in pedagogy. Hence, the essence of authentic assessment must be sought elsewhere, that is, in the quest for complete construct repre...
Clairvoyant scheduling of random walks

Two infinite walks on the same finite graph are called compatible if it is possible to introduce delays into them in such a way that they never collide. Years ago, Peter Winkler asked the question: for which graphs are two independent random walks compatible with positive probability. Up to now, no such graphs were found. We show in this paper that large complete graphs have this property. The question is equivalent to a certain dependent percolation with a power-law behavior: the probability that the origin is blocked at distance n but not closer decreases only polynomially fast and not, as usual, exponentially. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Random Struct. Alg., 2011 © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
A Novel Dilithiation Approach to 3,4-Dihydro-2H-1,3-benzothiazines, 3,4-Dihydro-2H-1,3-benzoxazines, and 2,3,4,5-Tetrahydro-1,3-benzothiazepines

3,4-Dihydro-2H-1,3-benzothiazines 4, 3,4-dihydro-2H-1,3-benzoxazines 9, and 2,3,4,5-tetrahydro-1,3-benzothiazepines 6 were synthesized by directed ortho-lithiation of thiophenols and phenols and by side-chain lithiation of substituted thiophenols, respectively, in one-pot by reacting with N,N-bis[(benzotriazol-1-yl)methyl]amines 3 as 1,3-biselectrophile synthons.
Can natural variability explain observed Antarctic sea ice trends? New modeling evidence from CMIP5

[1] The recent observed positive trends in total Antarctic sea ice extent are at odds with the expectation of melting sea ice in a warming world. More problematic yet, climate models indicate that sea ice should decrease around Antarctica in response to both increasing greenhouse gases and stratospheric ozone depletion. The resolution of this puzzle, we suggest, may lie in the large natural variability of the coupled atmosphere‒ocean‒sea‒ice system. Contrasting forced and control integrations from four state‒of‒the‒art Coupled Model Intercomparison Project Phase 5 (CMIP5) models, we show that the observed Antarctic sea ice trend falls well within the distribution of trends arising naturally in the system, and that the forced response in the models is small compared to the natural variability. From this, we conclude that it may prove difficult to attribute the observed trends in total Antarctic sea ice to anthropogenic forcings, although some regional features might be easier to explain.
Gravitational Instability in Radiation Pressure-Dominated Backgrounds

I consider the physics of gravitational instabilities in th e presence of dynamically important radiation pressure and gray radiative diffusion, governed by a constant op acity �. For any non-zero radiation diffusion rate on an optically-thick scale k -1 , the medium is unstable unless the classical gas-only isoth ermal Jeans criterion is satisfied. If the radiation acoustic sound crossing times cale on a scale k -1 (tr) is less than the geometric mean of the dynamical and radiative diffusion timescales (tdiff and tdyn), then diffusion is “slow.” In this limit, although the dynamical Jeans instability is stabilized by r adiation pressure on scales smaller than the adiabatic Jeans length, on these same spatial scales the medium is unstable to a diffusive mode. In this regime, neglecting gas pressure, the characteristic timescale for growth o f this mode is independent of spatial scale and given by (3�c 2 )=(4�Gc), where cs is the adiabatic sound speed. This characteristic timescal e is that required for a fluid parcel to radiate away its thermal energy content at the Eddington limit, the Kelvin-Helmholz timescale for a radiation pressure-supported self-gravitating obje ct. In the limit of “rapid” diffusion — defined by the inequality tr > (tdiff tdyn) 1=2 — radiation does nothing to suppress the Jeans instability a nd the medium is dynamically unstable unless the gas-only Jeans criterion is s atisfied. I connect with treatments of Silk damping in the early universe. I briefly discuss several astrophysical applications, including photons diffusing in regions of extreme star formation (starburst galaxies & pc-scale AGN disks), and the diffusion of cosmic rays in normal galaxies and galaxy clusters. The former (particularly, st arbursts) are “rapidly” diffusing and thus cannot be supported against dynamical instability in the linear regi me by radiation pressure alone. The latter are more nearly “slowly” diffusing. I speculate that the turbulence in starbursts may be driven by the dynamical coupling between the radiation field and the self-gravitating g as, perhaps mediated by magnetic fields, and that this diffusive instability operates in individual massive stars. Appendices contain a more detailed treatment of radiation transport and consideration of uniform rotation in the background medium.
Atomic data from the Iron Project XLIV. Transition probabilities and line ratios for Fe VI with fluorescent excitation in planetary nebulae

Relativistic atomic structure calculations for electric dipole (E1), electric quadrupole (E2) and mag- netic dipole (M1) transition probabilities among the rst 80 ne-structure levels of Fe VI, dominated by congu- rations 3d 3 ; 3d 2 4s, and 3d 2 4p, are carried out using the Breit-Pauli version of the code SUPERSTRUCTURE. Experimental energies are used to improve the accuracy of these transition probabilities. Employing the 80-level collision-radiative (CR) model with these dipole and for- bidden transition probabilities, and Iron ProjectR-matrix collisional data, we present a number of (Fe VI) line ratios applicable to spectral diagnostics of photoionized H II re- gions. It is shown that continuum fluorescent excitation needs to be considered in CR models in order to interpret the observed line ratios of optical (Fe VI) lines in plan- etary nebulae NGC 6741, IC 351, and NGC 7662. The analysis leads to parametrization of line ratios as function of, and as constraints on, the electron density and tem- perature, as well as the eective radiation temperature of the central source and a geometrical dilution factor. The spectral diagnostics may also help ascertain observational uncertainties. The method may be generally applicable to other objects with intensive background radiation elds, such as novae and active galactic nuclei. The extensive new Iron Project radiative and collisional calculations enable a consistent analysis of many line ratios for the complex iron ions 1 .
Coherent coupling of laser gain media using phase conjugation.

We have experimentally demonstrated a laser energy-scaling technique, based on a phase-conjugate oscillator/amplifier scheme that permits the coupling of several parallel amplifiers to form a single coherent output beam. This, is achieved despite dramatic differences in the individual amplifier energies and optical path lengths. When many amplifiers are coupled together, energy can be scaled significantly beyond the limit imposed by the maximum available volume of a single active medium. Although the present demonstration utilized Nd:YAG, this technique is quite general and can be applied to a variety of laser media.
Predicting the Inflow Distortion Tone Noise of the NASA Glenn Advanced Noise Control Fan with a Combined Quadrupole-Dipole Model

A combined quadrupole-dipole model of fan inflow distortion tone noise has been extended to calculate tone sound power levels generated by obstructions arranged in circumferentially asymmetric locations upstream of a rotor. Trends in calculated sound power level agreed well with measurements from tests conducted in 2007 in the NASA Glenn Advanced Noise Control Fan. Calculated values of sound power levels radiated upstream were demonstrated to be sensitive to the accuracy of the modeled wakes from the cylindrical rods that were placed upstream of the fan to distort the inflow. Results indicate a continued need to obtain accurate aerodynamic predictions and measurements at the fan inlet plane as engineers work towards developing fan inflow distortion tone noise prediction tools.
Magnetic instability of thin-film recording heads

Two forms of magnetic head instability are investigated: Write and read instability. Write instability generates noise directly after writing which impairs sector-servo performance. This noise peaks at write currents saturating the apex or backgap. The noise amplitude is exponentially distributed. The noise is caused by cooling off of the yoke after write as well as by thermally activated domain wall jumps in the upper yoke. Read instability produces read pulse distortion, predominantly on the signal's trailing edges. The only form of instability in dedicated-servo drives, read instability is best characterized by pulsewidth measurements. The degree of instability changes with intermediate writes. Read instability is caused by hysteretic domain wall motion in the pole tips in response to signal excitation and/or stray magnetic fields. >
Decarboxylative ring contractions and olefin insertions of vinyl oxazinanones.

6-Vinyl oxazinanones undergo catalytic, diastereoselective, decarboxylative ring contraction to form vinyl azetidines in good yield. Performing the decarboxylation in the presence of Michael acceptors results in decarboxylative olefin insertion to provide diastereoenriched substituted vinyl piperidines.
INTRINSIC BUBBLES AND FAT TAILS IN STOCK PRICES: A NOTE

We study the constant discount rate present value model for stock pricing in a stochastic setting where the exogenous dividend stream is modeled as a random walk with innovations drawn from the family of stable distributions. We derive an exact analytical solution for the fundamental stock price. We evaluate the ability of the model fundamentals and the dividends-driven intrinsic bubbles to explain the observed variation in annual U.S. stock prices. We compare results obtained in this setting with those from the traditional model where all stochastic processes are driven by Gaussian shocks.
An energy-based limit state function for estimation of structural reliability in shock environments

limit state function is developed for the estimation of structural reliability in shock environments. This limit state function uses peak modal strain energies to characterize environmental severity and modal strain energies at failure to characterize the structural capacity. The Hasofer-Lind reliability index is briefly reviewed and its computation for the energy-based limit state function is discussed. Applications to two degree of freedom mass-spring systems and to a simple finite element model are considered. For these examples, computation of the reliability index requires little effort beyond a modal analysis, but still accounts for relevant uncertainties in both the structure and environment. For both examples, the reliability index is observed to agree well with the results of Monte Carlo analysis. In situations where fast, qualitative comparison of several candidate designs is required, the reliability index based on the proposed limit state function provides an attractive metric which can be used to compare and control reliability.
A counterpart to Nagata idealization

Abstract Idealization of a module K over a commutative ring S produces a ring having K as an ideal, all of whose elements are nilpotent. We develop a method that under suitable field-theoretic conditions produces from an S-module K a subring R of S that behaves like the idealization of K but is such that when S is a domain, so is R. The ring S is contained in the normalization of R but is finite over R only when R = S . We determine conditions under which R is Noetherian, Cohen–Macaulay, Gorenstein, a complete intersection or a hypersurface. When R is local, then its m-adic completion is the idealization of the m-adic completions of S and K.
Location–Scale Family

A set of random variables has a location-scale family distribution if their joint distribution function can be expressed as a function of the standardized observations (xi -μ)/s, where μ and s are, respectively, the location and scale parameters. Important examples are the uniform, normal, and Cauchy distributions. Least squares estimation and minimum risk equivariant estimation are described. Keywords: standardized deviate; uniform; normal; cauchy; least squares; minimum risk equivariant; UMVUE ; order statistics
Development of the Metareview Assessment of Reporting Quality (MARQ) Checklist

Background. Systematic reviews and meta-analysis often come to conflicting conclusions on key issues and have a number of potentially important methodological limitations. A metareview represents one approach to a descriptive investigation of such issues in review literatures; this involves a systematic review of previously published reviews. Metareviews report on the areas that systematic reviews and meta-analyses have covered, investigating the methodological quality of such reviews, comparing methods for reporting results with recommended standards in the field of systematic reviewing and highlighting areas which could benefit from further research. Objective.The present report was aimed at critically examining the reporting quality of available medical metareviews and encouraging the use of such innovative approach to develop an instrument for assessing metareviews’ methodological quality. Materials and methods. PsycINFO, MEDLINE, EMBASE, and CINAHL were searched for previous medical metareviews as of February 11th, 2012. References regarding identified reports and annotated bibliographies were used to supplement the search. Results. Four metareviews meeting the inclusion criteria were identified and descriptively analysed. The first set of standardised metareview reporting guidelines’ checklist (metareview assessment of reporting quality - MARQ), using quality checklists developed for primary studies and reviews as models, was introduced to enable transparent and consistent reporting of metareview methodology. An average of 15 (SD = 3) MARQ criteria were met when applied to the four metareviews identified during the systematic search. This indicated a moderate level of reporting quality which should be improved in subsequent applications of the methodology by using the standardised checklist. A high level of inter-rater agreement was found (κ = 0.93). Conclusion. The standardised set of guidelines outlined in this report should assist future researchers in conducting more transparent and methodologically rigorous metareviews
The counterintuitive effects of thank-you gifts on charitable giving

Abstract Six experiments examined the effects of thank-you gifts on charitable giving. Results indicate that although people expect that the offer of thank-you gifts will increase donations, such offers actually reduce charitable donations. This effect was obtained across a wide variety of charities and gifts types, regardless of whether the donations were hypothetical or real, the gift was desirable or undesirable, the charity was familiar or unfamiliar, or the gift was more or less valuable. Moreover, such patterns cannot solely be explained in terms of inferences about the charity’s quality (e.g., either their efficacy or current wealth), the undesirability of the gift itself, or simple anchoring effects. These results are discussed within a broader theoretical framework concerning the effects of extrinsic incentives on altruistic behavior.
Specification of Spatial Relationships in Directed Graphs of Cell Signaling Networks

Graph theory provides a useful and powerful tool for the analysis of cellular signaling networks. Intracellular components such as cytoplasmic signaling proteins, transcription factors, and genes are connected by links, representing various types of chemical interactions that result in functional consequences. However, these graphs lack important information regarding the spatial distribution of cellular components. The ability of two cellular components to interact depends not only on their mutual chemical affinity but also on colocalization to the same subcellular region. Localization of components is often used as a regulatory mechanism to achieve specific effects in response to different receptor signals. Here we describe an approach for incorporating spatial distribution into graphs and for the development of mixed graphs where links are specified by mutual chemical affinity as well as colocalization. We suggest that such mixed graphs will provide more accurate descriptions of functional cellular networks and their regulatory capabilities and aid in the development of large-scale predictive models of cellular behavior.
Bedside tracheostomy in the intensive care unit: a prospective randomized trial comparing open surgical tracheostomy with endoscopically guided percutaneous dilational tracheotomy.

Objectives Objectives of the study were 1) to analyze the complication incidence and resource utilization of two methods of bedside tracheostomy and 2) to define selection criteria for bedside tracheostomy. Study Design Prospective randomized trial in the setting of a tertiary care center at a university hospital. Methods One hundred sixty-four consecutive intubated patients selected for elective tracheostomy were enrolled. One hundred patients met selection criteria for bedside tracheostomy and were randomly assigned to either open surgical tracheostomy (50) or endoscopically guided percutaneous dilational tracheotomy(50). The remaining 64 patients received open surgical tracheostomies in the operating room. Main outcome measures were 1) perioperative and postoperative complication incidence and 2) resource utilization. Results Patients meeting our selection criteria for bedside tracheostomy had a significantly reduced perioperative complication rate compared with those who failed to meet these criteria, and subsequently underwent tracheostomy placement in the operating room (5% vs. 20%, P less than or equal to .01). No statistically significant difference was found in the perioperative complication incidence between the two methods of bedside tracheostomy. However, percutaneous tracheostomy placement at the bedside resulted in a significant increase in postoperative complication incidence (16% vs. 2%, P <.05) and incurred an additional patient charge of $436 per bedside procedure. Conclusions This investigation prospectively confirms the safety of bedside tracheostomy placement in properly selected patients. Complication incidence and resource utilization are defined for two methods of bedside tracheostomy. The results of this study confirm that open surgical tracheostomy represents the standard of care in bedside tracheostomy placement by providing a more secure airway at a markedly reduced patient charge. These findings will aid in the development of protocols and pathways for surgical airway management in critically ill patients to maximize cost-effective, high-quality care.
New Perspectives on Retinoblastoma Family Functions in Differentiation

Cell differentiation is a coordinated process that includes cell cycle exit and the expression of unique genes to specify tissue identity. The focus of this review is the recent progress in understanding the functions of the retinoblastoma (RB) family (RB, p130, p107) in cell differentiation. Much work has focused on the functions of RB in G1 regulation. However, much evidence now suggests a diverse function in differentiation. For discussion, differentiation is divided into three general steps: cell cycle exit, apoptosis protection, and tissue-specific gene expression. These processes are coordinated to provide the final and unique tissue characteristics. The RB family and targets such as E2F and HBP1 have functions in each step. While there is much knowledge on each separate step of differentiation, the mechanisms that coordinate cell cycle and tissue-specific events are still not known. New evidence suggests that this coordination contains both positive and negative regulation of tissue-specific gene e...
Oprah's Paton, or south Africa and the Globalization of Suffering

This article emerges from the author's work for Oprah.com: the website of Harpo Inc., Oprah Winfrey's vast multinational media corporation. From December 2003 to January 2004, Barnard served as the official “literary guide” to members of Oprah's Book Club as they made their way through Alan Paton's novel Cry, the Beloved Country. The essay meditates on this most recent chapter in this “hypercanonical” book's transnational reception. Barnard agrues that, as mediated by Oprah, Cry, the Beloved Country is no longer the problematic, urbophobic “Jim Goes to Joburg” story that South African readers (including such important figures as Esk'ia Mphahlele, Stephen Watson, Tony Morphet, and J.M. Coetzee) have often subjected to sharp critique. It is transformed into an “Oprah” product: a narrative in which “the glamour of misery,” as Eva Illouz has termed Oprah's chief stock-in-trade, generates a highly sentimental and commercialized form of global thinking and feeling. The essay closes with a series of reflections ...
First Countable Continua and Proper Forcing

Assuming the Continuum Hypothesis, there is a compact first countable connected space of weight ℵ1 with no totally disconnected perfect subsets. Each such space, however, may be destroyed by some proper forcing order which does not add reals.
Examining the Link Between Issue Attitudes and News Source: The Case of Latinos and Immigration Reform

This paper explores whether an individual’s news source can explain their attitudes on immigration. We focus on the Spanish-speaking population in the U.S., since they have the option of accessing their news in English, Spanish or in both languages. Our audience influence hypothesis predicts that Spanish-language news will cover immigration in a more positive and informative manner than will English-language news. Thus, Latinos who use Spanish-language news may have a higher likelihood of possessing pro-immigrant sentiments than Latinos who only use English-language news. Content analysis of Spanish and English-language television news segments reveals variations in the tone and substance of these news outlets. Analysis of Latino survey respondents indicates that immigration attitudes vary by news source. Generational status also influences Latinos’ immigration attitudes, though its impact is not as great as one’s news source.
Submental Pedicled Perforator Flap: V-Y Advancement for Chin Reconstruction

The chin is a unique anatomic subunit of the face bordered by the lower lip and the mandible. 1 It is an important esthetic subunit with interplay of multiple convexities and concavities and bears significant functional importance. Multiple components of soft tissue involving the chin, including the vermilion component of the lip, multiple muscle layers, and the gonion, with its firm muscular as well as bony attachments, all add to this complexity. 2 All of these reasons make reconstructing large soft tissue defects of the chin very challenging. 3-5 Inappropriate or poorly designed reconstruction can lead to significant functional disabilities involving the lower lip as well as the neck. The area also has a relative paucity of tissue available for reconstruction. 6 Classically, full-thickness grafts on the chin yield a poor reconstructive result because of the inability to correct the contour deformity. Other techniques using bilobed or rhomboid flaps, lateral V-Y advancements, 2,5 and laterally based platysmal flaps 1,6,7 have been described. This article describes a technique for chin reconstruction that takes advantage of the loose soft tissue of the submental area while maintaining the esthetic subunits of the chin, preventing lower lip retraction, and allowing reconstruction and maintenance of the submental esthetic contour.
Transparently reconciling transactions with locking for java synchronization

Concurrent data accesses in high-level languages like Java and C# are typically mediated using mutual-exclusion locks. Threads use locks to guard the operations performed while the lock is held, so that the lock's guarded operations can never be interleaved with operations of other threads that are guarded by the same lock. This way both atomicity and isolation properties of a thread's guarded operations are enforced. Recent proposals recognize that these properties can also be enforced by concurrency control protocols that avoid well-known problems associated with locking, by transplanting notions of transactions found in database systems to a programming language context. While higher-level than locks, software transactions incur significant implementation overhead. This overhead cannot be easily masked when there is little contention on the operations being guarded. We show how mutual-exclusion locks and transactions can be reconciled transparently within Java's monitor abstraction. We have implemented monitors for Java that execute using locks when contention is low and switch over to transactions when concurrent attempts to enter the monitor are detected. We formally argue the correctness of our solution with respect to Java's execution semantics and provide a detailed performance evaluation for different workloads and varying levels of contention. We demonstrate that our implementation has low overheads in the uncontended case (7% on average) and that significant performance improvements (up to 3×) can be achieved from running contended monitors transactionally.
Curvature and Optimal Algorithms for Learning and Minimizing Submodular Functions

We investigate three related and important problems connected to machine learning: approximating a submodular function everywhere, learning a submodular function (in a PAC-like setting [28]), and constrained minimization of submodular functions. We show that the complexity of all three problems depends on the "curvature" of the submodular function, and provide lower and upper bounds that refine and improve previous results [2, 6, 8, 27]. Our proof techniques are fairly generic. We either use a black-box transformation of the function (for approximation and learning), or a transformation of algorithms to use an appropriate surrogate function (for minimization). Curiously, curvature has been known to influence approximations for submodular maximization [3, 29], but its effect on minimization, approximation and learning has hitherto been open. We complete this picture, and also support our theoretical claims by empirical results.
Joint Dynamics Of The U.S. Treasury Maturity Rates: Policy Implications For Central Banks

This paper examines whether there is a direct relationship between yields of differing maturities for the U.S. Treasury market. The hypothesis that long horizon rates may help to predict future short horizon rates, in addition to short horizon rates helping to predict future long horizon rates, provides the motivation for the present study. The proposed inter-relationship between the different interest rates exhibits important implications for central bank policy-making. Employing a multivariate time-series analysis, we find that spreads in the short-term rate tend to rise (fall) in response to rises in prior short-term (long-term) rate spreads. Additionally, spreads in the long term rates tend to decrease in response to prior rises in the 1 year Treasury rate spread. Finally, positive impulse responses for long term spreads largely derive from shocks to shorter term maturity spreads, while shocks to longer term maturity rates result in gradual negative impulse responses for maturity rates of shorter horizons. In sum, this paper provides evidence of important feedback relationships across the maturity spectrum in the U.S. Treasury market. An understanding of the maturity rate dynamics is crucial for future central bank interventions and for the pricing of options and other related financial instruments.
The Paradox of Progress: Translating Evan Stark’s Coercive Control Into Legal Doctrine for Abused Women

This article examines Evan Stark's model of coercive control and what this paradigm shift might mean for the law. Coercive control can help redefine both criminal offenses involving domestic violence and defenses available to women who kill their abusers. This redefinition would shift the law away from incident-based violence and toward a more comprehensive and accurate paradigm that accounts for the deprivation of a woman's autonomy within the context of an abusive relationship. Such a change would likely provide more effective state intervention into what were once considered private relationships. Yet, this approach may also have some unintended consequences, including refocusing the law on a victim's mental state and complicity in her own abuse rather than on the harm caused by abusive men. Thus, although the law should more fully account for coercive control, lawyers must be cautiously optimistic in implementing Stark's proposed reforms.
Environmentally benign multiphase catalysis with dense phase carbon dioxide

Abstract Environmental concerns stemming from the use of conventional solvents and from hazardous waste generation have propelled research efforts aimed at developing benign chemical processing techniques that either eliminate or significantly mitigate pollution at the source. This paper provides an overview of heterogeneous and homogeneous catalysis in dense phase CO 2 , considered a green solvent. In addition to solvent replacement, the demonstrated advantages of using dense phase CO 2 include the enhanced miscibility of reactants, such as O 2 and H 2 which eliminate interphase transport limitations, and the chemical inertness of CO 2 . Further, the physicochemical properties of CO 2 -based reaction media can be pressure-tuned to obtain unique fluid properties (e.g. gas-like transport properties, liquid-like solvent power and heat capacities). The advantages of CO 2 -based reaction media for optimizing catalyst activity and product selectivity are highlighted for a variety of reactions including alkylation on solid-acid catalysts, hydrogenation on supported noble metal catalysts and a broad range of homogeneous oxidations with transition metal catalysts and dioxygen as an oxidant. Through these examples, the need is emphasized for a systematic approach to research and development of supercritical carbon dioxide based processes, taking into account conventional multiphase reaction engineering principles, catalytic chemistry and phase behavior.