cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
The reincarnation of Keynesian economics

This paper discusses the reemergence of Keynesian economics during the past decade. It highlights the substantial differences between new Keynesian economics and the convictions of early Keynesians. In particular, it points out that new Keynesians have adopted many views that were once considered "monetarist" or "classical." It concludes that the term "Keynesian" may have outlived its usefulness.
"Guilty But Mentally ill": The Real Verdict Is Guilty

This article will first explore the reasons for the controversy over the insanity defense to provide insights, both historical and contemporary, into the purposes and functions of that defense. A brief examination will be made of judicial decisions in the last twenty years, which have largely, but not completely, eliminated the distinctions drawn historically between the "civilly" and "criminally" mentally ill. The article will then examine the growing numbers of "Guilty But Mentally Ill" (GBMI) laws, with some emphasis upon the Michigan statute as the archetypal GBMI law. It will be argued that the GBMI laws are fatally flawed in two fundamental respects. First, they unconstitutionally undercut a criminal defendant's due process right to present an insanity defense, by encouraging juries to reach a compromise GBMI verdict in cases of mentally ill defendants charged with particularly heinous crimes. Second, because they do not guarantee, and usually do not provide, psychiatric treatment to defendants found "guilty but mentally ill," these laws deny those defendants their constitutional right to such treatment." In conclusion, the article will explain why the insanity defense is essential to the integrity of the criminal law, and explore the alternative of conditional release as a way in which the many competing demands on the insanity defense can be reconciled while still passing constitutional muster.
GENFOLD2: A General Unfolding Methodology for the Analysis of Preference/Dominance Data

This paper is a brief description of the GENFOLD2 methodology which is a set of multidimensional unfolding models and algorithms for the analysis of preference or dominance data (cf. DeSarbo & Rao, 1984, 1986). GENFOLD2 allows one to perform internal or external analyses, constrained or unconstrained analyses, conditional or unconditional analyses, metric or nonmetric analyses, as well as providing the flexibility of specifying and/or testing a variety of different types of unfolding-type preference models including simple, weighted, and general unfolding analysis. An alternating least-squares algorithm is utilized in the estimation of the specified parameters. The methodology is illustrated in this paper with a set of preference data for over-the-counter pain relievers. Some future research directions are also identified.
TexPool's Experiences in the 1990s: Policy Implications for Other State Investment Pools

The State of Texas's local government investment pool, TexPool, has faced major challenges in the 1990s. This article provides an overview of two major events involving TexPool: (1) a $2.2 billion “run” on the pool in 1994 and (2) the out-sourcing of TexPool's functions in 1997. The article describes these events and analyzes potential implications for other state-administered investment pools. The article addresses issues such as: (1) the need to develop investment policies and practices that are suitable for a particular pool's objectives and purpose, (2) whether a state government has a responsibility to ensure that participants in a state investment pool do not incur losses, (3) the possible implications of having an elected official as the person with primary responsibility for overseeing the pool, and (4) concerns related to the outsourcing of state investment pools. This article is intended to encourage debate on the policies and practices of state investment pools, which currently are serving more than 15,000 local governments in the United States.
Reflections of a First-Time Expert Witness

This Essay offers reflections of my first experience as an expert witness in a child pornography sentencing hearing. I contemplate the worth of sentencing experts, and ultimately conclude that experts should be used more often, especially in advisory guideline systems like the federal system. Certainly, a sentencing expert can relay valuable information uncovered through her sentencing research. More importantly, though, a sentencing expert can, perhaps, inspire the court to explore appropriate sentences outside of Guidelines ranges. Consciously or unconsciously, judges may desire support before stepping out on such a journey. I think this is a hugely important function, and counsel in criminal cases should seriously consider this option.
Unconscionable: Financial Exploitation of Elderly Persons with Dementia

Millions of Americans must deal with the affects of dementia on an elderly family member. Once a person develops dementia it creates an acute potential for financial abuse. This article recounts the real life financial exploitation of Gladys Smith, an elderly woman with dementia. It then analyzes Gladys's estate plan in order to show how her exploitation could have been avoided or mitigated. The article offers four steps to preventing financial exploitation: (1) expecting the worst-case scenarios; (2) advance planning; (3) periodic communication; and (4) creating layers of protection to guard against the worst-case scenarios.
Apology Accepted: The Benefits of an Apology for a Deficient Audit Following an Audit Failure

SUMMARY: This paper examines the use of an apology for conducting a deficient audit that indirectly leads to an audit failure. Audit failures can be costly to accounting firms in terms of litigation costs and reputational harm. These costs are potentially much higher when the audit failure stems from a deficient audit. Using an experiment, I test whether the use of an apology containing various components (expression of sympathy, acceptance of responsibility, and/or promise to refrain) is beneficial or harmful to an accounting firm. The results of the experiment reveal that only one component, the expression of sympathy, has a significant effect on participant assessments of punishment. On the other hand, combining all three apology components leads to a significantly higher perception of the accounting firm's reputation.
Organizational de-development

Organizational decline prompts leaders to downsize, reducing the size of the workforce in an attempt to cut costs. This paper discusses some of the dangers of downsizing in which organizations experience an unanticipated and unwanted loss of core competencies. An alternative to downsizing is offered, showing how organizations can 'de-develop' by slowly and deliberately moving to a lower order of organized complexity, retaining essential core competencies and supporting functions. To produce a 'soft-landing' that preserves core competencies, a new identity is forged and connections to the new identity are uncovered. The connections point out what must be preserved, such as a crucial channel for key products, for the new identity to survive and flourish. The de-developed organization preserves customers, products, markets, channels, revenue sources, alliances, skilled people, ways to organize, and/or image crucial to the new strategic identity before letting go of the remaining customers, products, etc. The paper identifies conditions under which de-development can be desirable and suggests a 'devolutionary' process that points out some of the key moves needed to reduce organized complexity and realize a soft landing.
A Semi-Automated Method of Network Text Analysis Applied to 150 Original Screenplays

In this paper I apply a novel method of network text analysis to a sample of 150 original screenplays. That sample is divided evenly between unproduced, original screenplays (n = 75) and those that were nominated for Best Original Screenplay by either the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences or by major film critics associations (n = 75). As predicted, I find that the text networks derived from unproduced screenplays are significantly less complex, i.e. they contain fewer concepts (nodes) and statements (links). Unexpectedly, I find that those same networks are more cohesive, i.e. they exhibit higher density and coreness.
Slavery, amenities, and factor price equalization: A note on migration and freedom

The paper examines the role of self-ownership versus other ownership of labor with implications for the interpretation of the historical evidence regarding timing of black migration from the South to the North after emancipation.
Civility and Civil Courage

Prompted by Emily Chamlee-Wright’s fine essay “Self-censorship and Associational Life in the Liberal Academy” (the symposium lead essay), I present a scheme that focuses on something that might not seem to fit Emily’s focus on self-censorship. But after presenting my Scheme I will suggest that it does. My scheme focuses on the wrestling we engage in to alter the composite character of the communities we belong to. It turns out that one of the dimensions of dissimilitude within the community, a dimension to some extent beyond politics, is liberal arts affirmation versus solidaric political affirmation.
Evidence Code Section 802: The Neglected Key to Rationalizing the California Law of Expert Testimony

California courts probably rely on expert testimony to a greater extent than any other jurisdiction’s courts. In a study supported by the Rand Corporation, researchers found that 86% of the civil trials conducted in California Superior courts involved expert testimony. On average, there were 3.3 experts per trial. A recent line of California expert testimony cases, In re Lockheed Litigation Cases, attracted special attention from both the legal community and the media. In the coordinated Lockheed actions, the plaintiffs were former and current employees of Lockheed. They claimed that their illnesses were caused by exposure to toxic chemicals while they were employed by Lockheed. In order to establish general causation, they offered both epidemiological and animal studies. The trial judge, however, excluded the testimony about the studies. The trial judge barred the epidemiological testimony offered by Dr. Daniel Teitelbaum on two grounds: (1) the studies he submitted
The World Price of Insider Trading

The existence and the enforcement of insider trading laws in stock markets is a phenomenon of the 1990s. A study of the 103 countries that have stock markets reveals that insider trading laws exist in 87 of them, but enforcement—as evidenced by prosecutions—has taken place in only 38 of them. Before 1990, the respective numbers were 34 and 9. We find that the cost of equity in a country, after controlling for a number of other variables, does not change after the introduction of insider trading laws, but decreases significantly after the first prosecution.
Serial bankruptcy: plan infeasibility or just bad luck?

Through a comparison of serial and once bankrupt firms over the period 1970–1996, those factors that lead to a successful reorganization are examined. It is found that serial bankrupt firms generally fail to restructure their top management around the time of their initial reorganization while over 70% of the sample of once bankrupt firms replace their senior executives. Serial bankrupt firms increase their level of fixed payments, are less able to lower their debt coupon rate and issue more equity than their once-bankrupt matches. It is further found that firm growth, performance, liquidity and size are associated with a greater likelihood of a successful reorganization. Firm risk as measured by financial leverage increases the probability of a subsequent bankruptcy. These results are useful to both bankruptcy courts and corporate managers seeking to discriminate between feasible and unrealistic reorganization plans following bankruptcy.
Continuous-Time Linear Models

I translate familiar concepts of discrete-time time series to contnuoustime equivalent. I cover lag operators, ARMA models, the relation between levels and differences, integration and cointegration, and the Hansen–Sargent prediction formulas.
The Internal Organization of the Family: Economic Analysis and Psychological Advice

In this article, I suggest that the advice (informal rules) provided by clinical psychologists for allocating and enforcing entitlements within families reflects sound economic judgement. Economics and clinical psychology appear to be as far apart as is possible for two fields concerned with human behavior. Unlike the imperialistic encroachment of economic theory into law and politics and the symbiotic relationship between evolutionary biology and game theory, the intellectual intersection between economics and clinical psychology has been non-existent. Part of the explanation is methodological. In contrast to economics, books providing psychological advice have no theorems and few statistics. Even their fellow psychologists in cognitive and social psychology criticize the clinical approach for being non-scientific and non-experimental. And above all, clinical psychology appears to deal with ‘irrational’ behavior of individuals. Hence, it should not be at all surprising that economics and clinical psychology have had little overlap. Despite the apparent gulf between these two fields, I will show that, in practice, the advice given by marriage and family counselors regarding behavior within the family is consistent with economic thinking and in some ways is more advanced. Ultimately, this is a more satisfying relationship between the two disciplines – one theory of human psychology is better than two theories. If economists correctly believe that people are rational, then the help that rational people get from their psychologists and from popular psychology books should be consistent with rationality, especially so since patients can apply the advice and see whether it works in practice. In the following pages, I show that clinical psychologists who employ codependency theory use the same conceptual apparatus as economists: rationality, choice, property rights, and fixity of preferences (or emotions). I argue that the
Scale Economies, Returns to Variety, and the Productivity of Public Infrastructure

Abstract We examine the productivity of public infrastructure in a general equilibrium context. In our model, infrastructure lowers costs in a manufacturing sector characterized by both firm-level returns to scale and industry-level external returns to variety. Infrastructure alters factor prices, intermediate prices and the allocation of factors across sectors. However, the effect on manufacturing or aggregate output is indeterminate. In particular, our theory suggests that the degree of monopoly power influences public capital's productivity effect. We test the model using state-level, panel data. We confirm the absence of direct effects on output, but find evidence to suggest a positive impact of public capital on manufacturing variety as measured by the number of manufacturing establishments. These results indicate the need for future research on potentially important indirect channels by which public capital affects manufacturing productivity.
Where do firms locate? Testing competing models of agglomeration

Abstract Firms' location decisions often drive economic models of agglomeration, so distinguishing the causes of agglomeration requires understanding those decisions. Firms value proximity to (1) customers in market access models, (2) other firms as sources of positive externalities in production externality models, and (3) specialized inputs in natural advantage models. Special cases of production externalities are localization and urbanization externalities. Each model predicts different relationships between land rents in regions where an industry operates, that industry's productivity, that industry's share of regional employment, and how diverse is the regional workforce across industries. I use these predictions to empirically determine which model best explains the location decisions of firms in different US manufacturing industries.
Optimal transport provision to a tourist destination: A contract theory perspective

Abstract How to provide transport infrastructure to a tourist destination optimally is a salient question in tourism economics. Even so, this question has received no theoretical attention in the literature. Hence, we use contract theory to provide the first theoretical analysis of the optimal provision of transport infrastructure by an asymmetrically informed tourist agency (TA) interested in promoting a particular destination to tourists. Specifically, we first delineate our model and then solve for the first-best contract describing the interaction between the TA and a transport infrastructure providing firm. Second, we study the optimal second-best contract with asymmetric information when the above firm can be of two possible types. Third, we generalize the previous analysis by analyzing the case in which the firm can be of infinitely many types. Finally, we note that policy makers can reduce the negative effects of asymmetric information in practical settings by engaging in underwriting or obtaining additional information, by asking the firm to provide references, and by inspecting past transport infrastructure projects completed by the firm.
A right to no meaningful review under the due process clause: the aftermath of judicial deference to the federal administrative agencies.

The Due Process Clause of the Fifth Amendment has been perverted in the federal administrative system. For example, federal agencies, such as the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), regularly deprive individuals of liberty and property with little to no review. In its regulation of the health care industry through the Medicare program, HHS often turns a blind eye to procedural Due Process protections, such as providing individuals an opportunity to challenge the deprivation of property at a hearing, even though the Constitution, the Administrative Procedure Act, and the Medicare Act grant these protections. The Medicare compliance hearing process of nursing homes presents an excellent opportunity to study the procedural Due Process rights granted individuals challenging the actions of Federal Administrative Agencies. In Medicare compliance hearings, nursing homes are not afforded an opportunity to be heard in most instances; for the nursing homes are denied a hearing or when granted a hearing, the process is so limited as to be meaningless. These issues are particularly compelling now because the federal government and insurance industry are using the findings of nursing home compliance hearings as the basis for fraud and abuse actions and for determining if a nursing home will receive liability insurance. Consequently, the amount of process provided during compliance hearings is even more essential to protect Due Process. Furthermore, although the Supreme Court seemingly granted nursing homes procedural Due Process rights in Shalala v. Illinois Council on Long Term Care, Inc., the reality is that nursing homes have negligible procedural Due Process rights. Moreover, what the Supreme Court deemed as sufficient process in 2000 is no longer what HHS provides under the Medicare regulations, thus calling into question whether the process given nursing homes is Constitutional.
An Investigation of Risk and Return in Forward Foreign Exchange

This paper examines the determination of risk premiums in foreign exchange markets. The statistical model is based on a theoretical model of asset pricing, which leads to severe cross-equation constraints. Statistical tests lead to a rejection of these constraints. We examine the robustness of these tests to time variation in parameters and to the presence of heteroskedasticity. We find that there is evidence for heteroskedasticity and that the conditional expectation of the risk premium is a nonlinear function of the forward premium. Accounting for this nonlinearity, the specification appears to be time invariant. Out of sample portfolio speculation is profitable but risky. Since the advent of generally flexible exchange rates for the major currencies of the world in 1973, there has been considerable interest among policy makers, commercial firms, and research economists into questions related to the efficiency of the forward foreign exchange market. ’ Policy makers and their advisors are concerned that the volatility of spot exchange rates reflects an incorrect amount of speculation in the forward market, and evidence on the predictive ability of forward exchange rates in forecasting future spot exchange rates is used in arguments for or against intervention by central banks in the exchange markets.2 Commercial firms are concerned with obtaining accurate information on the price that they pay to hedge exchange risk where the price of hedging is the deviation between the forward exchange rate and the firm’s expected future spot rate. In response to this demand, a large number of advisory services now sell forecasts of future spot rates.’
Conservatism Research: Historical Development and Future Prospects*

Over the last decade, there has been much empirical research on Chinese accounting conservatism. This research started with Ball, Robin and Wu (2000) that was one of the first papers to apply modern research methods to Chinese data. In this paper, I survey the early research on conservatism to provide the background and context for a discussion of my dissertation paper, Basu (1997). I describe some lessons I have learnt from the unexpected success of my dissertation, review recent Chinese research on accounting conservatism and suggest a few directions for future (Chinese) conservatism research. Finally, I describe how my current research on the origins of accounting (including Chinese accounting) is related to my search for an ultimate explanation for conservative accounting.
The International Trend Toward Requiring Good Cause for Tenant Eviction: Dangerous Portents for the United States?

The developed world has made much progress in improving social conditions over the last several centuries. Safe and plentiful food and water, while once a daily struggle to achieve, are now significantly easier to come by. Technological advancements have made access to medical care more readily available to the masses. Both in Europe and in the United States, times have changed and societies have responded by innovating with new and beneficial legal constructs. But no matter how far modern society progresses, there is one social problem that it seems no society has gotten just right: housing. Almost every major economic player on the globe has faced a selfdescribed housing crisis in the last seventy-five years, and many of these are perceived to continue even today. Although housing crises may take many forms, they often manifest themselves as shortages of
Corporate green bonds

Abstract I examine corporate green bonds, whose proceeds finance climate-friendly projects. These bonds have become more prevalent over time, especially in industries where the environment is financially material to firm operations. I show that investors respond positively to the issuance announcement, a response that is stronger for first-time issuers and bonds certified by third parties. The issuers improve their environmental performance post-issuance (i.e., higher environmental ratings and lower CO2 emissions) and experience an increase in ownership by long-term and green investors. Overall, the findings are consistent with a signaling argument—by issuing green bonds, companies credibly signal their commitment toward the environment.
QPS-r: A cost-effective iterative switching algorithm for input-queued switches

Abstract In an input-queued switch, a crossbar schedule, or a matching between the input ports and the output ports needs to be computed in each switching cycle, or time slot. Designing switching algorithms with very low computational complexity, that lead to high throughput and small delay is a challenging problem. There appears to be a fundamental tradeoff between the computational complexity of the switching algorithm and the resultant throughput and delay. Parallel maximal matching algorithms (adapted for switching) appear to have stricken a sweet spot in this tradeoff, and prior work has shown the following performance guarantees. Using maximal matchings in every time slot results in at least 50% switch throughput and order-optimal (i.e., independent of the switch size N ) average delay bounds for various traffic arrival processes. On the other hand, their computational complexity can be as low as O ( log 2 N ) per port/processor, which is much lower than those of the algorithms such as maximum weighted matching which ensures better throughput performance. In this work, we propose QPS-r, a parallel iterative switching algorithm that has the lowest possible computational complexity: O ( 1 ) per port. Using Lyapunov stability analysis, we show that the throughput and delay performance are identical to those of maximal matching algorithm. Although QPS-r builds upon an existing technique called Queue-Proportional Sampling (QPS), in this paper, we provide analytical guarantees on its throughput and delay under i.i.d. traffic as well as a Markovian traffic model which can model many realistic traffic patterns. We also demonstrate that QPS-3 (running 3 iterations) has comparable empirical throughput and delay performances as iSLIP (running log 2 N iterations), a refined and optimized representative maximal matching algorithm adapted for switching.
Integrative genomics reveals paths to sex dimorphism in Salix purpurea L

Sex dimorphism and gene expression were studied in developing catkins in 159 F2 individuals from the bioenergy crop Salix purpurea, and potential mechanisms and pathways for regulating sex development were explored. Differential expression, eQTL, bisulfite sequencing, and network analysis were used to characterize sex dimorphism, detect candidate master regulator genes, and identify pathways through which the sex determination region (SDR) may mediate sex dimorphism. Eleven genes are presented as candidates for master regulators of sex, supported by gene expression and network analyses. These include genes putatively involved in hormone signaling, epigenetic modification, and regulation of transcription. eQTL analysis revealed a suite of transcription factors and genes involved in secondary metabolism and floral development that were predicted to be under direct control of the sex determination region. Furthermore, data from bisulfite sequencing and small RNA sequencing revealed strong differences in expression between males and females that would implicate both of these processes in sex dimorphism pathways. These data indicate that the mechanism of sex determination in Salix purpurea is likely different from that observed in the related genus Populus. This further demonstrates the dynamic nature of SDRs in plants, which involves a multitude of mechanisms of sex determination and a high rate of turnover.
Vaccination plus Decarceration - Stopping Covid-19 in Jails and Prisons.

Vaccination plus Decarceration With the rollout of Covid vaccines, public debate regarding health in jails and prisons has increasingly shifted from decarceration toward vaccination of incarcerated...
Strong Coordination Over Noisy Channels

We study the problem of strong coordination of the actions of two nodes $\mathsf X$ and $\mathsf Y$ that communicate over a discrete memoryless channel (DMC) such that the actions follow a prescribed joint probability distribution. We propose two novel random coding schemes and a polar coding scheme for this noisy strong coordination problem, and derive inner and outer bounds for the respective strong coordination capacity region. The first scheme is a joint coordination-channel encoding scheme that utilizes the randomness provided by the communication channel to reduce the amount of local randomness required to generate the sequence of actions at Node $\mathsf Y$ . Based on this random coding scheme, we provide a characterization of the capacity region for a special case of the noisy strong coordination setup, namely, when the DMC is a deterministic channel. The second scheme exploits separate coordination and channel encoding where local randomness is extracted from the channel after decoding. Moreover, by leveraging the random coding results for this problem, we present an example in which the proposed joint encoding scheme is able to strictly outperform the separate encoding scheme in terms of achievable communication rate for the same amount of injected randomness into both systems. Thus, we establish the sub-optimality of the separation of strong coordination and channel encoding with respect to the communication rate over the DMC in this problem. Finally, the third scheme is a joint coordination-channel polar coding scheme for strong coordination. We show that polar codes are able to achieve the established inner bound to the strong noisy coordination capacity region and thus provide a constructive alternative to a random coding proof. Our polar coding scheme also offers a constructive solution to a channel simulation problem where a DMC and shared randomness are employed together to simulate another DMC.
Average time to sell a property and credit conditions: Evidence from the Italian housing market survey

This study examines the effect of housing credit conditions on the Time on Market for residential properties in Italy, using a unique dataset from the Bank of Italy survey on the Italian housing market. The analysis was carried out on a sample of roughly 1,000 real estate agents over the period 2011-2015 using panel data techniques. The results support the view that an increase in housing market liquidity, measured by the Loan-to-Value Ratio, reduces the average TOM of a property, thus improving the matching process between buyers and sellers. The results are found to be robust to specifications including the traditional determinants of TOM, used as controls (i.e. price revisions, potential buyers, mandates to sell, the role of brokers and so on). The results also show that a higher price reduction, possibly associated with an initial mispricing by the seller when setting the initial listing price, seems to be associated with a higher TOM for residential properties.
BTK inhibitors for Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2): A Systematic Review

Abstract Introduction The Bruton tyrosine kinase (BTK) regulates B cell and macrophage signaling, development, survival, and activation. Inhibiting BTK has been hypothesized to ameliorate lung injury in patients with severe COVID-19, however clinical outcome data is inconclusive. Objective To evaluate the clinical outcomes of BTK inhibitors (BTKinibs) in patients with COVID-19. Evidence review We searched PubMed, Embase, and Web of Science:Core on December 30, 2020. Clinical studies with at least 5 COVID-19 patients treated with BTKinibs were included. Case reports and reviews were excluded. Findings 125 articles were identified, 6 of which met inclusion criteria. The most common clinical outcomes measured were oxygen requirements (4/6) and hospitalization rate or duration (3/6). Three studies showed decreased oxygen requirements in patients who started or continued BTKinibs. All three studies that evaluated hospitalization rate or duration found favorable outcomes in those on BTKinibs. Conclusions and relevance BTKinib use was associated with decreased oxygen requirements and decreased hospitalization rates and duration.
SGK1 signaling promotes glucose metabolism and survival in extracellular matrix detached cells

Summary Loss of integrin-mediated attachment to extracellular matrix (ECM) proteins can trigger a variety of cellular changes that affect cell viability. Foremost among these is the activation of anoikis, caspase-mediated cell death induced by ECM detachment. In addition, loss of ECM attachment causes profound alterations in cellular metabolism, which can lead to anoikis-independent cell death. Here, we describe a surprising role for serum and glucocorticoid kinase-1 (SGK1) in the promotion of energy production when cells are detached. Our data demonstrate that SGK1 activation is necessary and sufficient for ATP generation during ECM detachment and anchorage-independent growth. More specifically, SGK1 promotes a substantial elevation in glucose uptake because of elevated GLUT1 transcription. In addition, carbon flux into the pentose phosphate pathway (PPP) is necessary to accommodate elevated glucose uptake and PPP-mediated glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate (G3P) is necessary for ATP production. Thus, our data show SGK1 as master regulator of glucose metabolism and cell survival during ECM-detached conditions.
Cross-layer TCP flow aware model for energy efficient use of FP lasers in passive optical networks

In the access part of the network, passive optical networks (PON) are the top priority due to their robustness and large data carrying capacity. The customer premises equipment consumes 65% of the total power. We propose a cross layer model for saving energy in the optical network units (ONU). Our solution involves analysis of TCP traffic by extracting session information from the traffic and determining idle times between sessions. These idle times allow us to turn-off the laser diodes in ONUs at the user end. The Fabry-perot laser diodes (FP) typically run on 10mA of current and produce approximately 2.5 volts of output. By turning off the diode we intend to save energy for periods of time when there is no data to transmit. We also investigate the effects of turning the laser diode on off frequently on the diode itself. Our experimental data shows no significant degradation in the output power stability. Moreover, we can cumulatively save considerable amount of energy.
Prior sample size extensions for assessing prior impact and prior-likelihood discordance

This paper outlines a framework for quantifying the prior’s contribution to posterior inference in the presence of prior‐likelihood discordance, a broader concept than the usual notion of prior‐likelihood conflict. We achieve this dual purpose by extending the classic notion of prior sample size, M, in three directions: (I) estimating M beyond conjugate families; (II) formulating M as a relative notion that is as a function of the likelihood sample size k, M(k), which also leads naturally to a graphical diagnosis; and (III) permitting negative M, as a measure of prior‐likelihood conflict, that is, harmful discordance. Our asymptotic regime permits the prior sample size to grow with the likelihood data size, hence making asymptotic arguments meaningful for investigating the impact of the prior relative to that of likelihood. It leads to a simple asymptotic formula for quantifying the impact of a proper prior that only involves computing a centrality and a spread measure of the prior and the posterior. We use simulated and real data to illustrate the potential of the proposed framework, including quantifying how weak is a ‘weakly informative’ prior adopted in a study of lupus nephritis. Whereas we take a pragmatic perspective in assessing the impact of a prior on a given inference problem under a specific evaluative metric, we also touch upon conceptual and theoretical issues such as using improper priors and permitting priors with asymptotically non‐vanishing influence.
Hepatitis A vaccine.

Hepatitis A is an infectious disease frequently reported in the United States. An average of 26,000 cases were reported each year during 1980 to 1999; probably 3 times as many occurred. Hepatitis A vaccines provide a powerful new prevention tool. The 2 inactivated hepatitis A vaccines available as pediatric and adult formulations in the United States and in many other countries are safe, immunogenic, and efficacious. A single dose provides excellent short-term protection; the second dose is thought to be important for long-term protection. Because hepatitis A virus (HAV) is excreted in high concentrations in the stool, the principal mode of transmission is person-to-person by the fecal-oral route, most commonly among household and sexual contacts of people with HAV infection. Children can be important in transmission because they frequently have unrecognized or asymptomatic infection. Implementation of recommendations for routine hepatitis A vaccination of children living in areas with consistently elevated hepatitis A rates appears to be resulting in dramatic declines in the overall incidence of the disease. Improved vaccination coverage and continued monitoring of incidence rates are needed to determine the overall long-term impact of this strategy.
Variable Selection with ABC Bayesian Forests

Few problems in statistics are as perplexing as variable selection in the presence of very many redundant covariates. The variable selection problem is most familiar in parametric environments such as the linear model or additive variants thereof. In this work, we abandon the linear model framework, which can be quite detrimental when the covariates impact the outcome in a non‐linear way, and turn to tree‐based methods for variable selection. Such variable screening is traditionally done by pruning down large trees or by ranking variables based on some importance measure. Despite heavily used in practice, these ad hoc selection rules are not yet well understood from a theoretical point of view. In this work, we devise a Bayesian tree‐based probabilistic method and show that it is consistent for variable selection when the regression surface is a smooth mix of p > n covariates. These results are the first model selection consistency results for Bayesian forest priors. Probabilistic assessment of variable importance is made feasible by a spike‐and‐slab wrapper around sum‐of‐trees priors. Sampling from posterior distributions over trees is inherently very difficult. As an alternative to Markov Chain Monte Carlo (MCMC), we propose approximate Bayesian computation (ABC) Bayesian forests, a new ABC sampling method based on data‐splitting that achieves higher ABC acceptance rate. We show that the method is robust and successful at finding variables with high marginal inclusion probabilities. Our ABC algorithm provides a new avenue towards approximating the median probability model in non‐parametric setups where the marginal likelihood is intractable.
Constraints on the deformation of the vibrissa within the follicle

Nearly all mammals have a vibrissal system specialized for tactile sensation, composed of whiskers growing from sensor-rich follicles in the skin. When a whisker deflects against an object, it deforms within the follicle and exerts forces on the mechanoreceptors inside. In addition, during active whisking behavior, muscle contractions around the follicle and increases in blood pressure in the ring sinus will affect the whisker deformation profile. To date, however, it is not yet possible to experimentally measure how the whisker deforms in an intact follicle or its effects on different groups of mechanoreceptors. The present study develops a novel model to predict vibrissal deformation within the follicle sinus complex. The model is based on experimental results from a previous ex vivo study on whisker deformation within the follicle, and on a new histological analysis of follicle tissue. It is then used to simulate whisker deformation within the follicle during passive touch and active whisking. Results suggest that the most likely whisker deformation profile is "S-shaped," crossing the midline of the follicle right below the ring sinus. Simulations of active whisking indicate that an increase in overall muscle stiffness, an increase in the ratio between deep and superficial intrinsic muscle stiffness, and an increase in sinus blood pressure will all enhance tactile sensitivity. Finally, we discuss how the deformation profiles might map to the responses of primary afferents of each mechanoreceptor type. The mechanical model presented in this study is an important first step in simulating mechanical interactions within whisker follicles.
Reverse Plasticity Underlies Rapid Evolution by Clonal Selection within Populations of Fibroblasts Propagated on a Novel Soft Substrate

Mechanical properties such as substrate stiffness are a ubiquitous feature of a cell's environment. Many types of animal cells exhibit canonical phenotypic plasticity when grown on substrates of differing stiffness, in vitro and in vivo. Whether such plasticity is a multivariate optimum due to hundreds of millions of years of animal evolution, or instead is a compromise between conflicting selective demands, is unknown. We addressed these questions by means of experimental evolution of populations of mouse fibroblasts propagated for approximately 90 cell generations on soft or stiff substrates. The ancestral cells grow twice as fast on stiff substrate as on soft substrate and exhibit the canonical phenotypic plasticity. Soft-selected lines derived from a genetically diverse ancestral population increased growth rate on soft substrate to the ancestral level on stiff substrate and evolved the same multivariate phenotype. The pattern of plasticity in the soft-selected lines was opposite of the ancestral pattern, suggesting that reverse plasticity underlies the observed rapid evolution. Conversely, growth rate and phenotypes did not change in selected lines derived from clonal cells. Overall, our results suggest that the changes were the result of genetic evolution and not phenotypic plasticity per se. Whole-transcriptome analysis revealed consistent differentiation between ancestral and soft-selected populations, and that both emergent phenotypes and gene expression tended to revert in the soft-selected lines. However, the selected populations appear to have achieved the same phenotypic outcome by means of at least two distinct transcriptional architectures related to mechanotransduction and proliferation.
The Unlikely Story of American Regulatory Socialism

The conventional wisdom has it that US Democrats and those on the American left support incremental steps in the direction of socialism, if not an all-out endorsement of the concept. However, in at least one area—regulation—Republicans and the American political right have also, albeit unwittingly, spread the seeds of socialism not just in Washington, DC, but all across the world. This article reviews the history of federal regulation in the United States, and in particular the arcane, technical history of cost-benefit analysis (CBA), a tool that has become increasingly central in battles over regulation between the Left and the Right. Although right-wing political operatives latched on to CBA in the late 1970s and early 1980s, the tool has a long, complicated history, aspects of which could even be called socialist in nature.
The Quasi-reversibility Method to Numerically Solve an Inverse Source Problem for Hyperbolic Equations

We propose a numerical method to solve an inverse source problem of computing the initial condition of hyperbolic equations from the measurements of Cauchy data. This problem arises in thermo- and photo-acoustic tomography in a bounded cavity, in which the reflection of the wave makes the widely-used approaches, such as the time reversal method, not applicable. In order to solve this inverse source problem, we approximate the solution to the hyperbolic equation by its Fourier series with respect to a special orthonormal basis of $$L^2$$ . Then, we derive a coupled system of elliptic equations for the corresponding Fourier coefficients. We solve it by the quasi-reversibility method. The desired initial condition follows. We rigorously prove the convergence of the quasi-reversibility method as the noise level tends to 0. Some numerical examples are provided. In addition, we numerically prove that the use of the special basic above is significant.
A Note on the Refined Strichartz Estimates and Maximal Extension Operator

There are two parts for this paper. In the first part we extend some results in a recent paper by Du, Guth, Li and Zhang to a more general class of phase functions. The main methods are Bourgain–Demeter’s $$l^2$$ decoupling theorem and induction on scales. In the second part we prove some positive results for the maximal extension operator for hypersurfaces with positive principal curvatures. The main methods are sharp $$L^2$$ estimates by Du and Zhang, and the bilinear method by Wolff and Tao.
Judicial Capacities and Patent Claim Construction: An Ordinary Reader Standard

Patent claim construction is a mess. The Federal Circuit’s failure to provide adequate guidance has created significant problems for the patent system. The problems with claim construction result from the Federal Circuit’s inability to resolve whether claim terms should be given (1) the general, acontextual meaning they would have to a skilled person in the field; (2) the specific meaning they have in the context of the patent; or (3) some combination of the two. Largely missing from the claim construction debate is consideration of what approach is best suited for the generalist judges who must implement claim construction. This Article fills that gap, concluding that existing approaches are difficult, costly, and error-prone for generalist judges because they force the judge to step into the shoes of a scientist. It is time to abandon the legal fiction that claims should be construed from the perspective of a skilled person in the field and instead construe claims from the perspective of an ordinary reader discerning meaning from the context of the patent. The ordinary reader standard is more familiar to generalist judges, easier and cheaper to apply, and less error prone. Perhaps surprisingly, it is also consistent with the nature of claim construction. Rather than eliminate technical context, an ordinary reader standard focuses on the technical context that was provided by the patentee, is publicly-available to everyone, and is by definition at the skill level, in the field, and at the time of the invention. And rather than ignore the audience for patent claims, it provides a common ground for the varied consumers of modern patent claims: skilled people, business people, patent examiners, lawyers, and judges.
Enabling Software Resilience in GPGPU Applications via Partial Thread Protection

Graphics Processing Units (GPUs) are widely used by various applications in a broad variety of fields to accelerate their computation but remain susceptible to transient hardware faults (soft errors) that can easily compromise application output. By taking advantage of a general purpose GPU application hierarchical organization in threads, warps, and cooperative thread arrays, we propose a methodology that identifies the resilience of threads and aims to map threads with the same resilience characteristics to the same warp. This allows engaging partial replication mechanisms for error detection/correction at the warp level. By exploring 12 benchmarks (17 kernels) from 4 benchmark suites, we illustrate that threads can be remapped into reliable or unreliable warps with only 1.63% introduced overhead (on average), and then enable selective protection via replication to those groups of threads that truly need it. Furthermore, we show that thread remapping to different warps does not sacrifice application performance. We show how this remapping facilitates warp replication for error detection and/or correction and achieves an average reduction of 20.61% and 27.15% execution cycles, respectively comparing to standard duplication/triplication.