cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
A Large-Scale Empirical Study of Security Patches

Given how the "patching treadmill" plays a central role for enabling sites to counter emergent security concerns, it behooves the security community to understand the patch development process and characteristics of the resulting fixes. Illumination of the nature of security patch development can inform us of shortcomings in existing remediation processes and provide insights for improving current practices. In this work we conduct a large-scale empirical study of security patches, investigating more than 4,000 bug fixes for over 3,000 vulnerabilities that affected a diverse set of 682 open-source software projects. For our analysis we draw upon the National Vulnerability Database, information scraped from relevant external references, affected software repositories, and their associated security fixes. Leveraging this diverse set of information, we conduct an analysis of various aspects of the patch development life cycle, including investigation into the duration of impact a vulnerability has on a code base, the timeliness of patch development, and the degree to which developers produce safe and reliable fixes. We then characterize the nature of security fixes in comparison to other non-security bug fixes, exploring the complexity of different types of patches and their impact on code bases. Among our findings we identify that: security patches have a lower footprint in code bases than non-security bug patches; a third of all security issues were introduced more than 3 years prior to remediation; attackers who monitor open-source repositories can often get a jump of weeks to months on targeting not-yet-patched systems prior to any public disclosure and patch distribution; nearly 5% of security fixes negatively impacted the associated software; and 7% failed to completely remedy the security hole they targeted.
Semi-Degree Threshold for Anti-Directed Hamiltonian Cycles

In 1960 Ghouila-Houri extended Dirac's theorem to directed graphs by proving that if $D$ is a directed graph on $n$ vertices with minimum out-degree and in-degree at least $n/2$, then $D$ contains a directed Hamiltonian cycle. For directed graphs one may ask for other orientations of a Hamiltonian cycle and in 1980 Grant initiated the problem of determining minimum degree conditions for a directed graph $D$ to contain an anti-directed Hamiltonian cycle (an orientation in which consecutive edges alternate direction). We prove that for sufficiently large even $n$, if $D$ is a directed graph on $n$ vertices with minimum out-degree and in-degree at least $\frac{n}{2}+1$, then $D$ contains an anti-directed Hamiltonian cycle. In fact, we prove the stronger result that $\frac{n}{2}$ is sufficient unless $D$ is one of two counterexamples. This result is sharp.
The functional organization of descending sensory-motor pathways in Drosophila

In most animals, the brain controls the body via a set of descending neurons (DNs) that traverse the neck. DN activity activates, maintains or modulates locomotion and other behaviors. Individual DNs have been well-studied in species from insects to primates, but little is known about overall connectivity patterns across the DN population. We systematically investigated DN anatomy in Drosophila melanogaster and created over 100 transgenic lines targeting individual cell types. We identified roughly half of all Drosophila DNs and comprehensively map connectivity between sensory and motor neuropils in the brain and nerve cord, respectively. We find the nerve cord is a layered system of neuropils reflecting the fly’s capability for two largely independent means of locomotion -- walking and flight -- using distinct sets of appendages. Our results reveal the basic functional map of descending pathways in flies and provide tools for systematic interrogation of neural circuits.
Entrepreneurship and entrepreneurial ecosystems

This paper reviews the literature, concepts, and operationalizations of the concept of entrepreneurial ecosystems. Despite some interest at the national level, entrepreneurship is understood to take place in localities or, at most, regions, drawing on local resources, institutions, and networks. Bibliometric evidence shows that usage of the term entrepreneurial ecosystem has overtaken other concepts, such as environments for entrepreneurship, which also highlight the mechanisms, institutions, networks, and cultures that support entrepreneurs. This review addresses several specific topics: the choice of scale, universities as ecosystem hubs, and how such ecosystems evolve. This is followed by suggestions toward an agenda for future research, placing particular attention on methodologies.
Investor Demand for Internal Control Audits of Large U.S. Companies: Evidence from a Regulatory Exemption for M&A Transactions

ABSTRACT Because internal control audits never existed before the passage of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act (SOX), and these audits simultaneously became mandatory for all U.S. accelerated filer companies,...
Radial Basis Functions Neural Networks for Nonlinear Time Series Analysis and Time-Varying Effects of Supply Shocks

Abstract I propose a flexible Radial Basis Functions (RBFs) Artificial Neural Networks method for studying the time series properties of macroeconomic variables. To assess the validity of the RBF approach, I conduct a Monte Carlo experiment using the data generated from a nonlinear New Keynesian (NK) model. I find that the RBF estimator can uncover the structure of the NK model from the simulated data of 300 observations. Finally, I apply the RBF estimator to the quarterly US data and show that the positive supply shocks have significantly weaker expansionary effects during the periods of passive monetary policy regimes.
An Argument for the Basic Legal Rights of Farmed Animals

The most abused beings in the United States are those whom we raise and kill for food. The numbers of dead are staggering. Most are victims of the severe and almost entirely unregulated practices that Americans permit on their factory farms. According to the United States Department of Agriculture’s National Agricultural Statistics Service, in 2007, a total of 10.4 billion land-based animals were killed by the American food industry. These included 9.4 billion broiler chickens, 450 million laying hens, 317 million turkeys, 121 million pigs, 39 million bovines, 28 million ducks, 10 million rabbits, and 4 million sheep and goats—fifty times the number killed in biomedical research, for sport, as pests, and for all other reasons combined, carrying a value of hundreds of billions of dollars a year. The degree to which animal enslavement is embedded in our society is difficult to calculate or fathom. In commenting on human slavery, slave historian David Brion Davis wrote in the New York Times that
A numerical and experimental investigation of the dissipation mechanisms of resonant acoustic liners

In a recent investigation, it was found by direct numerical simulation that sound waves at high intensity can induce vortex shedding at the mouths of the resonators of an acoustic liner. Measurements from their numerical simulations indicate that the rate at which kinetic energy is transferred to the shed vortices can be much higher than the viscous dissipation rate. Thus vortex shedding is a dominant dissipation mechanism of resonant acoustic liners. This paper reports the results of a co-ordinated investigation aiming at validating the observations and measurements of direct numerical simulation experimentally. The experiment uses a normal incidence impedance tube. Good agreements are found between the measured absorption coefficients of the physical experiment and direct numerical simulation over a broad range of frequencies and sound pressure levels. A separate visualization experiment confirms the observation of shed vortices at high incident sound intensity.
A Contextual and Historical Analysis of the International Law Commission’s 2017 Draft Articles for a New Global Treaty on Crimes Against Humanity

In 2017 the International Law Commission adopted 15 Draft Articles, a Draft Preamble, and a Draft Annex on Mutual Legal Assistance, comprising the nucleus of what might someday become a new global treaty on crimes against humanity. This essay examines the history of the ILC Draft and analyzes several of its major provisions in light of the existing corpus of international criminal law as well as the work of the Crimes Against Humanity Initiative that preceded it. The essay concludes that the ILC Draft provides an excellent point of departure for the negotiation of a new treaty on crimes against humanity. It incorporates many elements of the Rome Statute, such as the definition of crimes against humanity, and solidifies the obligations of States to prevent and punish crimes against humanity. It also builds upon modern UN conventions on corruption and transnational organized crime to construct a robust model for interstate cooperation, and has other progressive and positive elements. At the same time, the Commission’s work could be enhanced and the new treaty made more robust by addressing certain deficiencies in the draft, many of which would either reinforce the jus cogens nature of the crime or enhance the preventive regime the Draft seeks to bring into existence.
Impact of social complexity on outcomes in cystic fibrosis after transfer to adult care.

OBJECTIVE This study evaluates the roles of medical and social complexity in health care use outcomes in cystic fibrosis (CF) after transfer from pediatric to adult care. METHODS Retrospective cohort design included patients with CF who were transitioned into adult care at Indiana University from 2005 to 2015. Predictor variables included demographic and comorbidity data, age at transition, treatment complexity score (TCS), and an objective scoring measure of their social complexity (Bob's Level of Social Support, BLSS). Outcome variables included outpatient visit rates and hospitalization rates. Pearson's correlations and linear regression were used to analyze the data. RESULTS The median age of the patients (N = 133) at the time of transition was 20 (IQR 19-23) years. The mean FEV1 % predicted at transition was 69 ± 24%. TCS correlated with outpatient visit rates (r = 0.3, P = 0.003), as well as hospitalization rates (r = 0.4, P < 0.001); while the BLSS only correlated with hospitalization rates (r = 0.7, P < 0.001). After adjusting for covariates, the strongest predictors of post-transfer hospitalizations are BLSS (P < 0.0001) and pre-transfer hospitalization rate (P < 0.0001). CONCLUSION Greater treatment complexity is associated with greater healthcare utilization overall, while greater social complexity is associated with increased hospitalizations (but not outpatient visits). Screening young adults for social complexity may identify high-risk subpopulations and allow for patient centered interventions to support them and prevent avoidable health care use.
A new method for quantifying cation exchange capacity in clay minerals

Abstract In this paper, a new method is proposed to theoretically quantify cation exchange capacity (CEC) of pure clay minerals, by use of nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR), X-ray diffraction (XRD), and nitrogen adsorption-desorption isotherm analysis. A theoretical model is introduced to estimate CEC, which is derived based on energy balance between chemical potential and electric potential energy. The change in chemical potential is a function of relative humidity and volume of hydration water. The change in electric potential energy is a function of the CEC, basal spacing, and surface area of clay minerals. XRD measurements were performed on clay minerals before and after exposure to 95% relative humidity. These measurements were used to estimate the basal spacing before and after hydration as well as the number of interlayers in each particle of clay minerals. NMR laboratory measurements were performed on the clay mineral samples before and after hydration to obtain the volume of hydration water. The nitrogen adsorption-desorption isotherms provided the surface area of clay minerals. The estimates of CEC from the new method were cross-validated against the directly-measured CEC, obtained from ammonium acetate method by use of inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) measurements. The introduced method was successfully tested on six types of clay minerals (i.e., illite, kaolinite, chlorite, and three types of montmorillonite). The calculated CEC results from the new method were in agreement with those from the wet chemistry method, with less than 7 meq/100 g difference for all types of clay minerals. The experimental results on the performance of the new method demonstrated reliability of this method for quantification of CEC. The outcomes of this paper can be potentially applied to variety of formations with measurable concentrations of clay minerals such as shaly sands and organic-rich mudrocks for reliable assessment of CEC.
Datacenter RPCs can be general and fast

It is commonly believed that datacenter networking software must sacrifice generality to attain high performance. The popularity of specialized distributed systems designed specifically for niche technologies such as RDMA, lossless networks, FPGAs, and programmable switches testifies to this belief. In this paper, we show that such specialization is not necessary. eRPC is a new general-purpose remote procedure call (RPC) library that offers performance comparable to specialized systems, while running on commodity CPUs in traditional datacenter networks based on either lossy Ethernet or lossless fabrics. eRPC performs well in three key metrics: message rate for small messages; bandwidth for large messages; and scalability to a large number of nodes and CPU cores. It handles packet loss, congestion, and background request execution. In microbenchmarks, one CPU core can handle up to 10 million small RPCs per second, or send large messages at 75 Gbps. We port a production-grade implementation of Raft state machine replication to eRPC without modifying the core Raft source code. We achieve 5.5 µs of replication latency on lossy Ethernet, which is faster than or comparable to specialized replication systems that use programmable switches, FPGAs, or RDMA.
Robust Inductive Matrix Completion Strategy to Explore Associations Between LincRNAs and Human Disease Phenotypes

Over the past few years, it has been established that a number of long intergenic non-coding RNAs (lincRNAs) are linked to a wide variety of human diseases. The relationship among many other lincRNAs still remains as puzzle. Validation of such link between the two entities through biological experiments is expensive. However, piles of information about the two are becoming available, thanks to the High Throughput Sequencing (HTS) platforms, Genome Wide Association Studies (GWAS), etc., thereby opening opportunity for cutting-edge machine learning and data mining approaches. However, there are only a few in silico lincRNA-disease association inference tools available to date, and none of these utilizes side information of both the entities. The recently developed Inductive Matrix Completion (IMC) technique provides a recommendation platform among two entities considering respective side information. But, the formulation of IMC is incapable of handling noise and outliers that may present in the dataset, while data sparsity consideration is another issue with the standard IMC method. Thus, a robust version of IMC is needed that can solve these two issues. As a remedy, in this paper, we propose Robust Inductive Matrix Completion (RIMC) using $\ell _{2,1}$ l 2 , 1 norm loss function as well as $\ell _{2,1}$ l 2 , 1 norm based regularization. We applied RIMC to the available association data between human lincRNAs and OMIM disease phenotypes as well as a diverse set of side information about the lincRNAs and the diseases. Our method performs better than the state-of-the-art methods in terms of $precision@k$ p r e c i s i o n @ k and $recall@k$ r e c a l l @ k at the top- $k$ k disease prioritization to the subject lincRNAs. We also demonstrate that RIMC is equally effective for querying about novel lincRNAs, as well as predicting rank of a newly known disease for a set of well-characterized lincRNAs. Availability : All the supporting datasets are available at the publicly accessible URL located at http://biomecis.uta.edu/~ashis/res/RIMC/ .
AMC: AutoML for Model Compression and Acceleration on Mobile Devices

Model compression is an effective technique to efficiently deploy neural network models on mobile devices which have limited computation resources and tight power budgets. Conventional model compression techniques rely on hand-crafted features and require domain experts to explore the large design space trading off among model size, speed, and accuracy, which is usually sub-optimal and time-consuming. In this paper, we propose AutoML for Model Compression (AMC) which leverages reinforcement learning to efficiently sample the design space and can improve the model compression quality. We achieved state-of-the-art model compression results in a fully automated way without any human efforts. Under 4\(\times \) FLOPs reduction, we achieved 2.7% better accuracy than the hand-crafted model compression method for VGG-16 on ImageNet. We applied this automated, push-the-button compression pipeline to MobileNet-V1 and achieved a speedup of 1.53\(\times \) on the GPU (Titan Xp) and 1.95\(\times \) on an Android phone (Google Pixel 1), with negligible loss of accuracy.
Auditor Industry Specialization and Accounting Estimates: Evidence from Asset Impairments

SUMMARY This study examines whether auditor competencies developed through industry specialization play a role in monitoring client firms' accounting estimates. Specifically, I focus on asset impai...
Mergers and marginal costs: New evidence on hospital buyer power

We estimate the effects of horizontal mergers on marginal cost efficiencies – an ubiquitous merger justification – using data containing supply purchase orders from a large sample of US hospitals 2009-2015. The data provide a level of detail that has been difficult to observe previously, and a variety of product categories that allows us to examine economic mechanisms underlying “buyer power.” We find that merger target hospitals save on average $176 thousand (or 1.5 percent) annually, driven by geographically local efficiencies in price negotiations for high-tech “physician preference items.” We find only mixed evidence on savings by acquirers.
Delegating Computations with (Almost) Minimal Time and Space Overhead

The problem of verifiable delegation of computation considers a setting in which a client wishes to outsource an expensive computation to a powerful, but untrusted, server. Since the client does not trust the server, we would like the server to certify the correctness of the result. Delegation has emerged as a central problem in cryptography, with a flurry of recent activity in both theory and practice. In all of these works, the main bottleneck is the overhead incurred by the server, both in time and in space. Assuming (sub-exponential) LWE, we construct a one-round argument-system for proving the correctness of any time T and space S RAM computation, in which both the verifier and prover are highly efficient. The verifier runs in time n ⋅ polylog(T) and space polylog(T), where n is the input length. The prover runs in time quasilinear in T, in space S + o(S), and in some cases even space S + polylog(T). Our solution uses somewhat homomorphic encryption but, surprisingly, only requires homomorphic evaluation of arithmetic circuits having multiplicative depth (which is the main efficiency bottleneck in such schemes) that is lg(lg T)+O(1). Prior works based on standard assumptions had a poly(T) time prover, with an exponent of 3 at the very least. As for the space usage, we are unaware of any work, even based on non-standard assumptions, that has space usage S + polylog(T). Along the way to constructing our delegation scheme, we introduce several technical tools that we hope will be useful for future work.
Selection and comparative advantage in technology adoption

This paper investigates an empirical puzzle in technology adoption for developing countries: the low adoption rates of technologies like hybrid maize that increase average farm profits dramatically. I offer a simple explanation for this: benefits and costs of technologies are heterogeneous, so that farmers with low net returns do not adopt the technology. I examine this hypothesis by estimating a correlated random coefficient model of yields and the corresponding distribution of returns to hybrid maize. This distribution indicates that the group of farmers with the highest estimated gross returns does not use hybrid, but their returns are correlated with high costs of acquiring the technology (due to poor infrastructure). Another group of farmers has lower returns and adopts, while the marginal farmers have zero returns and switch in and out of use over the sample period. Overall, adoption decisions appear to be rational and well explained by (observed and unobserved) variation in heterogeneous net benefits to the technology.
How to Survive a Learning Management System (LMS) Implementation?: A Stakeholder Analysis Approach

To survive a learning management system (LMS) implementation an understanding of the needs of the various stakeholders is necessary. The goal of every LMS implementation is to ensure the use of the system by instructors and students to enhance teaching and communication thereby enhancing learning outcomes of the students. If the teachers and students do not use the system, the system is useless. This research is motivated by the importance of identifying and understanding various stakeholders involved in the LMS implementation process in order to anticipate possible challenges and identify critical success factors essential for the effective implementation and adoption of a new LMS system. To this end, we define the term stakeholder. We conducted a stakeholder analysis to identify the key stakeholders in an LMS implementation process. We then analyze their goals and needs, and how they collaborate in the implementation process. The findings of this work will provide institutions of higher learning an overview of the implementation process and useful insights into the needs of the stakeholders, which will in turn ensure an increase in the level of success achieved when implementing a LMS.
Computing the invariants of intersection algebras of principal monomial ideals

We continue the study of intersection algebras ℬ = ℬR(I,J) of two ideals I,J in a commutative Noetherian ring R. In particular, we exploit the semigroup ring and toric structures in order to calcul...
Measuring the Effects of Scalar and Spherical Colormaps on Ensembles of DMRI Tubes

We report empirical study results on the color encoding of ensemble scalar and orientation to visualize diffusion magnetic resonance imaging (DMRI) tubes. The experiment tested six scalar colormaps for average fractional anisotropy (FA) tasks (grayscale, blackbody, diverging, isoluminant-rainbow, extended-blackbody, and coolwarm) and four three-dimensional (3D) spherical colormaps for tract tracing tasks (uniform gray, absolute, eigenmaps, and Boy's surface embedding). We found that extended-blackbody, coolwarm, and blackbody remain the best three approaches for identifying ensemble average in 3D. Isoluminant-rainbow colormap led to the same ensemble mean accuracy as other colormaps. However, more than 50 percent of the answers consistently had higher estimates of the ensemble average, independent of the mean values. The number of hues, not luminance, influences ensemble estimates of mean values. For ensemble orientation-tracing tasks, we found that both Boy's surface embedding (greatest spatial resolution and contrast) and absolute colormaps (lowest spatial resolution and contrast) led to more accurate answers than the eigenmaps scheme (medium resolution and contrast), acting as the uncanny-valley phenomenon of visualization design in terms of accuracy. Absolute colormap broadly used in brain science is a good default spherical colormap. We could conclude from our study that human visual processing of a chunk of colors differs from that of single colors.
Exports, jobs, growth! Congressional hearings on US trade agreements

Who testifies on US trade agreements before Congress and what do they say? We examine the content of Congressional testimony on US trade agreements, and the selection process which determines who testifies in the first place. We find that testimony is systematically tilted toward a sunny view of trade's positive economic effects, while import competition and offshoring are generally downplayed. We argue that trade's supporters strategically frame their motives for supporting trade agreements, and that pro‐trade committee chairs’ decisions on who testifies further skew testimony away from the distributive consequences of globalization within the United States. Congressional hearings on trade agreements therefore represent a key site where the influence of dominant pro‐trade interests is both revealed and reinforced.
Modern Management and the Demand for Technical Skill

Abstract This paper examines the relationship between modern management practices and the demand for different occupational skills utilizing a unique context in South Korea after the Asian financial crisis. Management practices in South Korea had traditionally emphasized the organizational harmony over individual performance, and firm growth over short-term profits. However, as South Korea opened up to foreign firms after the financial crisis, domestic firms started to adopt western or more ``modern" management practices. Using the industry level variation in management practices generated by the average industry management index of five advanced economies (the US, Britain, France, Germany, and Italy), I find that modern management increases the demand for technical skill. Moreover, modern management practices help achieve various organizational changes that utilize information technology. I also find that performance measured as the return on asset increases with modern management practices, and document the complementarity between modern management practices and technical workers in increasing the return on assets. In short, this paper finds that modern management practices may increase the earnings difference between skilled - in particular, technically skilled - and unskilled workers.
Cloud Adiabaticity and Its Relationship to Marine Stratocumulus Characteristics Over the Northeast Pacific Ocean

Cloud adiabaticity (α) is defined as the ratio of the actual liquid water path (LWP_(measured)) in a cloud to its corresponding adiabatic value (LWP_(ad)). Processes such as drizzle and entrainment can lead to subadiabatic LWP_(measured). This study examines α and its relationship to microphysical properties for 86 cloud events over the Northeast Pacific Ocean based on data collected during four separate summertime airborne campaigns. For the study region, α was found to be 0.766 ± 0.134. For most cases, clouds with a low value of α were found to have lower droplet number concentration (N_d), higher droplet effective radius (r_e), higher relative dispersion (d), and higher rain rate (R). The subcloud aerosol concentration (N_a) was often less for the low‐α cases. The relationship between α and the vertical profiles and cloud‐top characteristics for both the cloud droplet‐only spectrum and full spectrum (cloud and rain droplets) is also examined. Inclusion of rain droplets produced a larger change in d for the low‐α clouds as compared to the high‐α clouds. On average, R increased at cloud top for high‐α clouds but decreased at cloud top for low‐α clouds. Accounting for α when estimating N_d from Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer retrievals results in better agreement with in situ N_d values. Results of this work motivate the need for additional focus on the factors governing α, such as cloud type, and implications of its value, especially for remote‐sensing retrievals.
Large dynamic range autorefraction with a low-cost diffuser wavefront sensor.

Wavefront sensing with a thin diffuser has emerged as a potential low-cost alternative to a lenslet array for aberrometry. Here we show that displacement of caustic patterns can be tracked for estimating wavefront gradient in a diffuser wavefront sensor (DWFS), enabling large dynamic-range wavefront measurements with sufficient accuracy for eyeglass prescription measurements. We compare the dynamic range, repeatability, precision, and number of resolvable prescriptions of a DWFS to a Shack-Hartmann wavefront sensor (SHWFS) for autorefraction measurement. We induce spherical and cylindrical errors in a model eye and use a multi-level Demon’s non-rigid registration algorithm to estimate caustic displacements relative to an emmetropic model eye. When compared to spherical error measurements with the SHWFS using a laser diode with a laser speckle reducer, the DWFS demonstrates a ∼5-fold improvement in dynamic range (−4.0 to +4.5 D vs. −22.0 to +19.5 D) with less than half the reduction in resolution (0.072 vs. 0.116 D), enabling a ∼3-fold increase in the number of resolvable prescriptions (118 vs. 358). In addition to being lower-cost, the unique, non-periodic nature of the caustic pattern formed by a diffuser enables a larger dynamic range of aberration measurements compared to a lenslet array.
Autonomous multi-material construction with a heterogeneous robot team

Abstract We present a construction model that allows robots with different construction capabilities, using materials of different physical properties and sizes, to modify unstructured environments in a distributed system. Building steps are computed reactively so that they can respond to changes in the environment and imperfect assembly. The reactive approach allows robots to coordinate and add material to the same structure. Each robotic agent uses an abstract model of the environment to compute a set of legal construction steps based on its current knowledge of the world, and we show that in this setting more knowledge results in more legal moves. We exploit this capability by letting the system use a variety of materials and choose the most appropriate material given its current knowledge of the state of the structure. We demonstrate the approach by running the system on a variety of terrains and with mixed materials, including both deformable and rigid components.
One Way Designs: Nonparametric and Resampling Approaches†

Resampling-based variants of the one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) are discussed, including their assumptions, computation, and interpretation. Although resampling approaches to comparing groups offer some appealing advantages to ANOVA, they are not a panacea to assumption violations. Caution must be exercised in the interpretation of a resampling version of ANOVA because the null hypothesis tested depends on the test statistic and the method of resampling used. Keywords: bootstrapping; randomization tests; ANOVA ; equality of variance; resampling; nonparametric statistics
Coordinated Voltage Control Strategy for Voltage Regulators and Voltage Source Converters Integrated Distribution System

This paper presents a situational-aware, data-driven, and agnostic-coordinated control methodology for voltage regulation in the active distribution systems (DS) considering voltage source converters (VSCs) as reactive power sources that work in conjunction with the existing legacy controllers. The approach uses time-scale coordination based on regulator warnings such that the voltage support from regulators is time separated from the reactive power support using VSCs. Two type of voltage changes are considered; a slow changing one based on the feeder load and a fast-changing one based on sudden changes in load or PV output. The reactive support for both these changes is then designed based on the voltage to reactive power sensitivities. The combined reactive support is then used as a set-point to dispatch reactive power from the VSCs. The proposed control technique has been tested in the field verified model of a real feeder and the scalability is verified on an 8500-node real feeder. Results show that the proposed coordination approach has major economic as well and power quality benefits in the operation of DS. It has also been shown that this can be achieved without major changes in the communication framework currently utilized by the utility.
The Wrong Kind of AI? Artificial Intelligence and the Future of Labor Demand

Artificial intelligence (AI) is set to influence every aspect of our lives, not least the way production is organised. AI, as a technology platform, can automate tasks previously performed by labour or create new tasks and activities in which humans can be productively employed. Recent technological change has been biased towards automation, with insufficient focus on creating new tasks where labour can be productively employed. The consequences of this choice have been stagnating labour demand, declining labour share in national income, rising inequality and lowering productivity growth. The current tendency is to develop AI in the direction of further automation, but this might mean missing out on the promise of the ‘right’ kind of AI, with better economic and social outcomes.
The embrittlement and toughening of metallic glasses from nano-crystallization

Metallic glasses with secondary crystalline phase have been reported to either enhance or degrade the global plasticity. Here, we employed molecular dynamics simulation to investigate a generic glass-forming system, in which crystal-glass composites can be obtained via in situ crystallization. Ex situ composite samples were also constructed by embedding perfect crystals into monolithic glasses in order to delineate the precise influences of the composite microstructure. Our simulations demonstrate both toughening and embrittlement effects due to nanocrystallization. The double-edged-sword role of nanocrystals is mainly controlled by elasticity mismatch between the crystalline phase and the glass matrix. The effects of volume fraction and the size of nanocrystals can be understood in the perspective of cumulative probability of shear bands formation and propagation being interfered by the presence of nanocrystals.
Low-Frequency Noise in SiO2/AlGaN/GaN Heterostructures on SiC and Sapphire Substrates

The low-frequency noise in GaN-based Metal-Oxide-Semiconductor Heterostructure Field Effect Transistors (MOS-HFETs) and HFETs on sapphire and n-SiC substrates were studied. Hooge parameter at zero gate bias was calculated about 8 × 10−4 for both types of the devices. The AlGaN/GaN MOS-HFETs exhibited extremely low gate leakage current and much lower noise at both positive and negative gate biases. These features demonstrate the high quality of the SiO2/AlGaN heterointerface and feasibility of this technology for high-power microwave transmitter and high-power, high-temperature switches.
The Highest Common Factor: Heterodox Archaeology and the Perennialist Milieu

This article differentiates two universalist rhetorical strategies in common use among producers of alternative archaeological narratives: hyperdiffusionism and perennialism. Both strategies seek to account for perceived similarities in archaeological monuments worldwide by tracing them to a single ur-source. However, each takes a distinct epistemic position with respect to the identity of that source. Hyperdiffusionism and perennialism represent shifting ideological trends within the modern cultic milieu, and, therefore, noting the distinction is important in tracing the reception history of archaeological monuments and artifacts.
Subxiphoid Minimally Invasive Epicardial Ablation (Convergent Procedure) With Left Thoracoscopic Closure of the Left Atrial Appendage

The Convergent Procedure is a combined epicardial and endocardial ablation performed by a cardiac surgeon and electrophysiologist to treat symptomatic persistent and long standing persistent atrial fibrillation. The epicardial ablation is performed on the entire width of the posterior left atrial wall using monopolar radiofrequency via a subxiphoid incision. There is no sternotomy and cardiopulmonary bypass is not utilized. The surgical ablation is then followed by endocardial voltage mapping and ablation, allowing for complete lesion set creation. Left atrial appendage exclusion can be performed via left thoracoscopic approach at the same time as the surgical ablation. The Convergent Procedure is a truly hybrid, collaborative procedure which combines the strengths of minimally invasive cardiac surgery and percutaneous electrophysiologic techniques to treat a challenging disease process.
Semantic Interior Mapology: A Toolbox For Indoor Scene Description From Architectural Floor Plans

A computer implemented method or system including a map conversion toolkit and a map Population toolkit. The map conversion toolkit allows one to quickly trace the layout of a floor plan, generating a file (e.g., GeoJSON file) that can be rendered in two dimensions (2D) or three dimensions (3D) using web tools such as Mapbox. The map population toolkit takes the scan (e.g., 3D scan) of a room in the building (taken from an RGB-D camera), and, through a semi- automatic process, generates individual objects, which are correctly dimensioned and positioned in the (e.g., GeoJSON) representation of the building. In another example, a computer implemented method for diagraming a space comprises obtaining a layout of the space; and annotating or decorating the layout with meaningful labels that are translatable to glanceable visual signals or audio signals.
Phosphine-catalyzed regiospecific allylic amination and dynamic kinetic resolution of Morita-Baylis-Hillman acetates.

Exposure of Morita−Baylis−Hillman (MBH) acetates to tertiary phosphine catalysts in the presence of 4,5-dichlorophthalimide enables regiospecific allylic substitution through a tandem SN2‘−SN2‘ mechanism. Through the use of the chiral phosphine catalyst (R)-Cl-MeO-BIPHEP, chiral racemic MBH acetate 4 is converted to the corresponding allylic amination product in 80% yield and 56% enantiomeric excess, thus establishing the feasibility of dynamic kinetic resolution.
Regioselective alkylation reactions of 2,4-diphenyl-3H-1-benzazepine give either 3-alkyl-3H-1-benzazepines or 1-alkyl-1H-1-benzazepines

2,4-Diphenyl-3H-1-benzazepine is deprotonated with either LDA or KHMDS. The resulting anion is alkylated with alkyl halides or MeOTs, giving either products of alkylation at C3, or at N, or a mixture of both. The regioselectivity depends on the base, presence of the complexing agent HMPA, and the leaving group of the alkylating agent. Using MeI as alkylating agent gives exclusively the C3-methylated product, while using MeOTs gives exclusively the N-methylated product. The N-alkylated products show evidence of stereodynamic behavior in their NMR spectra.
Isolation and structural characterization of unsolvated lithium aryls

The synthesis and characterization of three examples of unsolvated lithium aryls are described. The compounds (Li(Trip)} 4 (1, Trip=2,4,6-i-Pr 3 C 6 H 2 ), (Li(2,6-Mes 2 C 6 H 3 )} 2 (2, Mes= 2,4,6-Me 3 C 6 H 2 ), (Li(n-Bu)) 2 (LiMes * ) 2 (3), and (Li(n-Bu)} 2 (LiMes * ) 2 -Mes * Br(3-Mes * Br, Mes * =2,4,6-t-Bu 3 C 6 H 2 ) were synthesized by a metal-halogen exchange reaction between n-butyllithium and the appropriate aryl bromide (1 and 3) or iodide (2). The X-ray crystal structures of 1 and 3 show that they are tetrametallic lithium species involving almost planar arrays of four lithium atoms
(Z)- and (E)-2-((hydroxymethyl)cyclopropylidene)methyladenine and -guanine. New nucleoside analogues with a broad-spectrum antiviral activity.

New nucleoside analogues 14−17 based on a methylenecyclopropane structure were synthesized and evaluated for antiviral activity. Reaction of 2,3-dibromopropene (19) with adenine (18) led to bromoalkene 20, which was benzoylated to give N6,N6-dibenzoyl derivative 23. Attempts to convert 20 or 23 to bromocyclopropanes 21 and 22 by reaction with ethyl diazoacetate catalyzed by Rh2(OAc)4 were futile. By contrast, 2,3-dibromopropene (19) afforded smoothly (E)- and (Z)-dibromocyclopropane carboxylic esters 24 + 25. Alkylation of adenine (18) with 24 + 25 gave (E)- and (Z)-bromo derivatives 21 + 22. Base-catalyzed elimination of HBr resulted in the formation of (Z)- and (E)-methylenecyclopropanecarboxylic esters 26 + 27. More convenient one-pot alkylation−elimination of adenine (18) or 2-amino-6-chloropurine (30) with 24 + 25 afforded (Z)- and (E)-methylenecyclopropane derivatives 26 + 27 and 31 + 32. The Z-isomers were always predominant in these mixtures (Z/E ∼ 2/1). Reduction of 26 + 27 and 31 + 32 with DIBAL...
Synthesis and spectroscopic properties of 4-(4-carboxyphenyl)-3,3′,5′-trimethyl-2,2′-pyrromethen-1,1′-BF2 complex and its methyl ester

A new, strongly absorbing red dipyrrole chromophore 1 suitable for exciton coupling studies has been synthesized and shown to exhibit an intense absorption (ϵ˜ 57,000) at λ (max) ˜520 nm and a strong fluorescence at λ (em) ˜555 nm.
Advances in Simulations of Generic Black-Hole Binaries

We review some of the recent dramatic developments in the fully nonlinear simulation of generic, highly-precessing, black-hole binaries, and introduce a new approach for generating hybrid post-Newtonian/numerical waveforms for these challenging systems.
Characterization of Emetic and Diarrheal Bacillus cereus Strains From a 2016 Foodborne Outbreak Using Whole-Genome Sequencing: Addressing the Microbiological, Epidemiological, and Bioinformatic Challenges.

The Bacillus cereus group comprises multiple species capable of causing emetic or diarrheal foodborne illness. Despite being responsible for tens of thousands of illnesses each year in the U.S. alone, whole-genome sequencing (WGS) is not yet routinely employed to characterize B. cereus group isolates from foodborne outbreaks. Here, we describe the first WGS-based characterization of isolates linked to an outbreak caused by members of the B. cereus group. In conjunction with a 2016 outbreak traced to a supplier of refried beans served by a fast food restaurant chain in upstate New York, a total of 33 B. cereus group isolates were obtained from human cases (n =7) and food samples (n = 26). Emetic (n = 30) and diarrheal (n = 3) isolates were most closely related to B. paranthracis (group III) and B. cereus sensu stricto (group IV), respectively. WGS indicated that the 30 emetic isolates (24 and 6 from food and humans, respectively) were closely related and formed a well-supported clade distinct from publicly available emetic group III genomes with an identical sequence type (ST 26). The 30 emetic group III isolates from this outbreak differed from each other by a mean of 8.3 to 11.9 core single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs), while differing from publicly available emetic group III ST 26 B. cereus group genomes by a mean of 301.7 to 528.0 core SNPs, depending on the SNP calling methodology used. Using a WST-1 cell proliferation assay, the strains isolated from this outbreak had only mild detrimental effects on HeLa cell metabolic activity compared to reference diarrheal strain B. cereus ATCC 14579. We hypothesize that the outbreak was a single source outbreak caused by emetic group III B. cereus belonging to the B. paranthracis species, although food samples were not tested for presence of the emetic toxin cereulide. In addition to showcasing how WGS can be used to characterize B. cereus group strains linked to a foodborne outbreak, we also discuss potential microbiological and epidemiological challenges presented by B. cereus group outbreaks, and we offer recommendations for analyzing WGS data from the isolates associated with them.
Triisopropylsilyloxycarbonyl (“Tsoc”): A New Protecting Group for 1° and 2° Amines

The plethora of protecting groups for basic nitrogen which can be found in the literature attest to the importance of this aspect of amine chemistry.1 While interesting and clever new choices continue to appear on a quite frequent basis,2 the field is nonetheless essentially dominated by use of the Boc,3 Cbz,4 and Fmoc5 moieties, presumably owing to their proven service. Unlike protecting group chemistry of alcohols, which is heavily weighted toward silicon, relatively few amine derivatives are available which take advantage of a chemospecific fluoride-mediated unmasking. The hydrolytic lability of silylated amines (e.g., sta-base)6 has encouraged use of heartier carbamate (e.g., Teoc; C(O)OCH2CH2SiMe3) and sulfonamide (e.g., SES; SO2CH2CH2TMS) residues. However, these are rather expensive and require steps for precursor preparation. Moreover, while deprotection of Teoc is oftentimes effected by mild fluoride ion, a SES derivative requires CsF in refluxing CH3CN. Noticeably absent from this repertoire is the direct preparation9 of a stable protecting group analogous to Boc, Cbz, and Fmoc (i.e., a carbamate) which contains a readily available trisubstituted silicon atom attached directly to oxygen (Figure 1). In this report we describe the triisopropylsilyloxycarbonyl moiety (i.e., the Tsoc group) as a novel, easily formed, and isolable carbamate protecting group for primary and secondary amines. Protection. N-Tsoc derivatives are easily fashioned by initially treating the amine dissolved in DMF or CH2Cl2 containing Et3N (1-3 equiv) at -78 °C with dry CO2 gas or with crushed dry ice. After ca. 30-60 min, the mixture containing the carbamic acid salt 1 is treated with TIPS-OTf (1 equiv).10 Warming to room temperature followed by a standard aqueous extractive workup and chromatography on SiO2 affords the protected material (Scheme 1). Several illustrative examples can be found in Table 1. Yields tend to be good in most cases. Notably, hydroxyl group protection is not necessary (entries 2, 8, and 9). While less basic anilines lead to the anticipated carbamates, anilines which are further deactivated by attachment of an electronwithdrawing group (entry 7) did not go to completion. Other silyl carbamates, such as that formed using t-BuPh2SiCl (to give 2, Scheme 2), can also be isolated, an alternative should
Quantum Chemical Calculations of Proposed Multicage Boron Fullerenes.

The Descartes−Euler formula, P + F = C + 2, which is known to apply to single cage carbon and boron fullerenes, is shown here to apply to multicage fullerenes as well. Every carbon multicage fullerene has a corresponding boron multicage geometrical dual, of identical symmetry, as for example in the case of C47 and B30H302-, shown here. The proposed boron multicage fullerenes are studied with molecular orbital calculations to establish their energetic stability, bond lengths, and ionic charge state.
Theta Oscillations Organize Spiking Activity in Higher-Order Visual Thalamus during Sustained Attention

Abstract Higher-order visual thalamus plays a fundamental but poorly understood role in attention-demanding tasks. To investigate how neuronal dynamics in higher-order visual thalamus are modulated by sustained attention, we performed multichannel electrophysiological recordings in the lateral posterior-pulvinar complex (LP/pulvinar) in the ferret (Mustela putorius furo). We recorded single unit activity and local field potential (LFP) during the performance of the five-choice serial reaction time task (5-CSRTT), which is used in both humans and animals as an assay of sustained attention. We found that half of the units exhibited an increasing firing rate during the delay period before stimulus onset (attention-modulated units). In contrast, the non-attention-modulated units responded to the stimulus, but not during the delay period. Spike-field coherence (SFC) of only the attention-modulated neurons significantly increased from the start of the delay period until screen touch, predominantly in the θ frequency band. In addition, θ power and θ/γ phase amplitude coupling (PAC) were elevated throughout the delay period. Our findings suggest that the θ oscillation plays a central role in orchestrating thalamic signaling during sustained attention.