cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Analysis of Marketing Margins under Food Recalls and BSE Outbreaks in the U.S. Beef Industry

It is generally observed that whenever there are cases of disease outbreaks or food recalls, there is a concomitant decline in commodity prices. However, it is still not clear what happens to price spreads among affected agents in the marketing chain. To shed light on this issue, we estimate the collective impact of Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE) and food recalls on marketing margins associated with the U.S. beef industry over time. In previous research, the effects of these variables on the market demand of meat were estimated separately. By including these variables together in the same model specification we avoid the possibility of confounding their effects, and we are in position to obtain more precise estimates of elasticities of price transmission along the marketing chain.
One-pass HMQV and asymmetric key-wrapping

Consider the task of asymmetric key-wrapping, where a key-management server encrypts a cryptographic key under the public key of a client. When used in storage and access-control systems, it is often the case that the server has no knowledge about the client (beyond its public key) and no means of coordinating with it. For example, a wrapped key used to encrypt a backup tape may be needed many years after wrapping, when the server is no longer available, key-wrapping standards have changed, and even the security requirements of the client might have changed. Hence we need a flexible mechanism that seamlessly supports different options depending on what the original server was using and the current standards and requirements. We show that one-pass HMQV (which we call HOMQV) is a perfect fit for this type of applications in terms of security, efficiency and flexibility. It offers server authentication if the server has its own public key, and degenerates down to the standardized DHIES encryption scheme if the server does not have a public key. The performance difference between the unauthenticated DHIES and the authenticated HOMQV is very minimal (essentially for free for the server and only 1/2 exponentiation for the client). We provide a formal analysis of the protocol's security showing many desirable properties such as sender's forward-secrecy and resilience to compromise of ephemeral data. When adding a DEM part (as needed for key-wrapping) it yields a secure signcryption scheme (equivalently a UC-secure messaging protocol). The combination of security, flexibility, and efficiency, makes HOMQV a very desirable protocol for asymmetric key wrapping, one that we believe should be incorporated into implementations and standards.
Social distance and quality ratings in charity choice

Abstract We conduct a laboratory experiment to examine how third-party ratings impact charity choice and donative behavior, particularly in regards to preferences for local charities. Subjects are given a menu of ten charities, with a mix of local and non-local organizations included. We vary whether third-party ratings are displayed on this menu. Subjects perform an effort task to earn money and can choose to donate to their selected charity. We find evidence that subjects’ choice of charity is impacted by third-party evaluations but, somewhat surprisingly, there are no obvious preferences for local charities. These third-party assessments have some impact on the percent of earnings that subjects allocate to their selected charity; local charities also accrue more donations, though these results are imprecise.
A thermal pressure inside the local bubble, as revealed by CI fine-structure excitation

Ultraviolet absorption lines from carbon atoms within a neutral cloud inside or near the edge of the Local Bubble can reveal the thermal pressure of the gas, since the relative populations of the fine-structure levels are determined by a balance between collisional excitation and radiative decay. Features from a C I multiplet appearing in the uv spectrum of the star δ Cyg (l = 97°, b = +10°, d = 52 pc) were observed with the echelle spectrograph of the Goddard High Resolution Spectrograph on HST. An interpretation of absorptions detected from the two lowest levels gives a thermal pressure range 102.7 < p/k < 103.7cm−3K.
On vector-valued inequalities for Sidon sets and sets of interpolation

Let E be a Sidon subset of the integers and suppose X is a Banach space. Then Pisier has shown that E-spectral polynomials with values in X behave like Rademacher sums with respect to Lp-norms. We consider the situation when X is a quasi-Banach space. For general quasi-Banach spaces we show that a similar result holds if and only if E is a set of interpolation (I0-set). However, for certain special classes of quasi-Banach spaces we are able to prove such a result for larger sets. Thus if X is restricted to be “natural” then the result holds for all Sidon sets. We also consider spaces with plurisubharmonic norms and introduce the class of analytic Sidon sets.
A Lobbying Approach to Evaluating the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002

We evaluate the net benefits of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act (SOX) for shareholders by studying the lobbying behavior of investors and corporate insiders to affect the final implemented rules under the Act. Investors lobbied overwhelmingly in favor of strict implementation of SOX, while corporate insiders and business groups lobbied against strict implementation. We identify the firms most affected by the law as those whose insiders lobbied against strict implementation. Lobbying firms appear likely to be characterized by agency problems, rather than primarily motivated by concerns over high compliance costs. We compare the returns of lobbying firms to the returns of less affected firms. Cumulative returns during the five and a half months leading up to passage of SOX were approximately 7 percent higher for corporations whose insiders lobbied against one or more of the SOX disclosure-related provisions than for similar non-lobbying firms. Analysis of returns in the post-passage implementation period indicates that investors’ positive expectations with regards to the effects of these provisions of the law were warranted.
Recognition Performance of a Structured Language Model

A new language model for speech recognition inspired by linguistic analysis is presented. The model develops hidden hierarchical structure incrementally and uses it to extract meaningful information from the word history — thus enabling the use of extended distance dependencies — in an attempt to complement the locality of currently used trigram models. The structured language model, its probabilistic parameterization and performance in a two-pass speech recognizer are presented. Experiments on the SWITCHBOARD corpus show an improvement in both perplexity and word error rate over conventional trigram models.
Shape rectangularization problems in intensity-modulated radiation therapy

In this paper, we present a theoretical study of several geometric shape approximation problems, called shape rectangularization (SR), which arise in intensity-modulated radiation therapy (IMRT). Given a piecewise linear function f such that f(x) ≥0 for any x∈ℝ, the SR problems seek an optimal set of constant window functions to approximate f under a certain error criterion, such that the sum of the resulting constant window functions equals (or well approximates) f. A constant window function W is defined on an interval I such that W(x) is a fixed value h>0 for any x ∈I and is 0 otherwise. Geometrically, a constant window function can be viewed as a rectangle (or a block). The SR problems find applications in micro-MLC scheduling and dose calculation of the IMRT treatment planning process, and are closely related to some well studied geometric problems. The SR problems are NP-hard, and thus we aim to develop theoretically efficient and provably good quality approximation SR algorithms. Our main results include a polynomial time $(\frac{3}{2}+\epsilon)$-approximation algorithm for a general key SR problem and an efficient dynamic programming algorithm for an important SR case that has been studied in medical literature. Our key ideas include the following. (1) We show that a crucial subproblem of the key SR problem can be reduced to the multicommodity demand flow (MDF) problem on a path graph (which has a known (2+e)-approximation algorithm); further, by extending the result of the known (2+e)-approximation MDF algorithm, we develop a polynomial time $(\frac{3}{2}+\epsilon)$-approximation algorithm for our first target SR problem. (2) We show that the second target SR problem can be formulated as a k-MST problem on a certain geometric graph G; based on a set of interesting geometric observations and a non-trivial dynamic programming scheme, we are able to compute an optimal k-MST in G efficiently.
LRBAC: a location-aware role-based access control model

With the growing use of wireless networks and mobile devices, we are moving towards an era where location information will be necessary for access control. The use of location information can be used for enhancing the security of an application, and it can also be exploited to launch attacks. For critical applications, a formal model for location-based access control is needed that increases the security of the application and ensures that the location information cannot be exploited to cause harm. In this paper, we show how the Role-Based Access Control (RBAC) model can be extended to incorporate the notion of location. We show how the different components in the RBAC model are related with location and how this location information can be used to determine whether a subject has access to a given object. This model is suitable for applications consisting of static and dynamic objects, where location of the subject and object must be considered before granting access.
High-fidelity single-qubit gates using non-adiabatic rapid passage

Numerical simulation results are presented which suggest that a class of nonadiabatic rapid passage sweeps first realized experimentally in 1991 should be capable of implementing a set of quantum gates that is universal for one-qubit unitary operations and whose elements operate with error probabilities Pe < 10-4. The sweeps are noncomposite and generate controllable quantum interference effects which allow the onequbit gates produced to operate non-adiabatically while maintaining high accuracy. The simulations suggest that the one-qubit gates produced by these sweeps show promise as possible elements of a fault-tolerant scheme for quantum computing.
The Telecommunications and Data Acquisition Report

This quarterly publication (July-September 1987) provides archival reports on developments in programs managed by JPL's Office of Telecommunications and Data Acquisition (TDA). In space communications, radio navigation, radio science, and ground-based radio astronomy, it reports on activities of the Deep Space Network (DSN) and its associated Ground Communications Facility (GCF) in planning, in supporting research and technology, in implementation, and in operations. This work is performed for NASA's Office of Space Tracking and Data Systems (OSTDS). In geodynamics, the publication reports on the application of radio interferometry at microwave frequencies for geodynamic measurements. In the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI), it reports on implementation and operations for searching the microwave spectrum. The latter two programs are performed for NASA's Office of Space Science and Applications (OSSA).
General issues in small x and diffractive physics

A selected review of topics at the border of hard and soft physics is given. Particular emphasis is placed on diffraction dissociation at Fermilab and HERA. Recently, significant differences between diffraction dissociation at HERA and at Fermilab have become apparent. This may suggest that one already is reaching nonlinear (unitarity) effects which are extending from the soft physics region into the semihard regime of QCD.
Statistical estimation and clustering of group-invariant orientation parameters

We treat the problem of estimation of orientation parameters whose values are invariant to transformations from a spherical symmetry group. Previous work has shown that any such group-invariant distribution must satisfy a restricted finite mixture representation, which allows the orientation parameter to be estimated using an Expectation Maximization (EM) maximum likelihood (ML) estimation algorithm. In this paper, we introduce two parametric models for this spherical symmetry group estimation problem: 1) the hyperbolic Von Mises Fisher (VMF) mixture distribution and 2) the Watson mixture distribution. We also introduce a new EM-ML algorithm for clustering samples that come from mixtures of group-invariant distributions with different parameters. We apply the models to the problem of mean crystal orientation estimation under the spherically symmetric group associated with the crystal form, e.g., cubic or octahedral or hexahedral. Simulations and experiments establish the advantages of the extended EM-VMF and EM-Watson estimators for data acquired by Electron Backscatter Diffraction (EBSD) microscopy of a polycrystalline Nickel alloy sample.
Almost periodic dynamics of perturbed infinite-dimensional dynamical systems

Abstract This paper is concerned with the dynamics of an infinite-dimensional gradient system under small almost periodic perturbations. Under the assumption that the original autonomous system has a global attractor given as the union of unstable manifolds of a finite number of hyperbolic equilibrium solutions, we prove that the perturbed non-autonomous system has exactly the same number of almost periodic solutions. As a consequence, the pullback attractor of the perturbed system is given by the union of unstable manifolds of these finitely many almost periodic solutions. An application of the result to the Chafee–Infante equation is discussed.
Galaxy Evolution in Clusters

The galaxy populations in present-day clusters are distinctly different from those of the field, indicating that environment plays a strong role in galaxy evolution. This review discusses some of the recent observations of moderate to high redshift clusters. A consistent picture of galaxy evolution in clusters appears to be emerging, which includes a population of galaxies which formed early in the cluster history, as well as field galaxies which have had their star formation truncated upon falling into the cluster potential. Galaxy interactions probably play an important role in exhausting star formation in some of these galaxies. However, there is significant variation in the populations of different cluster samples, with substantial evidence that some galaxies have their star formation terminated more gradually. This suggests that different mechanisms may dominate in different clusters, perhaps because of the recent merging history of the clusters. We also present a recent analysis of population gradients in clusters which suggests that the observed evolution in cluster populations is consistent with a scenario where changing infall rates drive the fraction of star forming galaxies in clusters, rather than a changing physical mechanism within the cluster. Thus, galaxy populations may provide a fundamental measure of the growth of large scale structure.
Joint source-channel secrecy using hybrid coding

The secrecy performance of a source-channel model is studied in the context of lossy source compression over a noisy broadcast channel. The source is causally revealed to the eavesdropper during decoding. The fidelity of the transmission to the legitimate receiver and the secrecy performance at the eavesdropper are both measured by a distortion metric. Two achievability schemes using the technique of hybrid coding are analyzed and compared with an operationally separate source-channel coding scheme. A numerical example is provided and the comparison results show that the hybrid coding schemes outperform the operationally separate scheme.
Semantic understanding of professional soccer commentaries

This paper presents a novel approach to the problem of semantic parsing via learning the correspondences between complex sentences and rich sets of events. Our main intuition is that correct correspondences tend to occur more frequently. Our model benefits from a discriminative notion of similarity to learn the correspondence between sentence and an event and a ranking machinery that scores the popularity of each correspondence. Our method can discover a group of events (called macro-events) that best describes a sentence. We evaluate our method on our novel dataset of professional soccer commentaries. The empirical results show that our method significantly outperforms the state-of-the-art.
The Costs of Using Pre-Paid Incentives in a Physician Survey

The use of pre-paid monetary incentives in surveys of respondents with specialized knowledge, such as business executives and physicians, has been shown to help reduce overall survey administration costs. Current research suggests that by offering a cash incentive to respondents at the outset of data collection, survey managers may reduce the need for follow-up efforts. This paper uses the results of a survey of office-based physicians in the United States to put a finer point to another, perhaps overlooked component of this “cost saving.” Respondents and non-respondents alike often choose not to cash the checks. Almost all sample members who decline to complete a survey forego cashing the incentive check. About 1/3 of the physicians who responded, also did not cash their checks. This paper addresses two questions. The first question is: to what extent are pre-paid cash incentives misdirected to sample members who cash the check, but do not respond to the survey? A secondary question is: which physician specialties accept pre-paid monetary incentive? The answers to these questions have practical value. Survey managers need to anticipate the extent to which their funds (pre-paid incentives) will be misdirected to non-cooperating or ineligible sample members. Similarly, having a foundation on which to anticipate this risk can inform the proposed price of service to clients. Since this project sampled a variety of medical specialties, the results allow one to anticipate need for funds with some granularity, in that the results allow us to identify which medical specialties were most inclined to cash checks.
Thermal and geometrical effects on bulk permittivity of porous mixtures containing bound water

Determination of the water content of porous media (e.g., soil, powders, cereal grains) from measured bulk dielectric, 6*, is based on the dominance of the high dielectric permittivity of liquid water relative to that of solids and air. Dielectric measurements in many minerals comprising soils for example, exhibit behavior described by a general empirical relationship [1], while measurements in high surface area materials or in particles of high aspect ratio exhibit unique and varied dielectric-water content relationships. Factors contributing to the unique dielectric-water content relation of certain porous media include water binding and dipole interactions that arise from particle geometry and water-phase configuration in addition to measurement frequency and dielectric loss. Thermal perturbation of high surface area porous media demonstrates strong interactions between bound and free water that have been shown to produce either an increase or decrease in bulk dielectric for a fixed water content. This effect is demonstrated by modeling the dielectric permittivity of bound and free water-phases, where the surface area-dependent bound water fihn thickness and the temperature-dependent permittivity of free water are combined. The water-phase permittivity is the least well-defined constituent and yet the most critical for predicting the bulk permittivity of a three-phase water-, solidand air-system. A three-phase dielectric mixture model is shown to provide a physically-based approach for modeling porous media permittivity. Phase configuration in addition to estimates of particle and packing densities facilitate volume tracking with water content change.
Eikonalization of conformal blocks

Classical field configurations such as the Coulomb potential and Schwarzschild solution are built from the t-channel exchange of many light degrees of freedom. We study the CFT analog of this phenomenon, which we term the ‘eikonalization’ of conformal blocks. We show that when an operator T appears in the OPE $$ \mathcal{O}(x)\mathcal{O}(0) $$ , then the large spin Fock space states [TT ⋯ T]l also appear in this OPE with a computable coefficient. The sum over the exchange of these Fock space states in an $$ \left\langle \mathcal{OOOO}\right\rangle $$ correlator build the classical ‘T field’ in the dual AdS description. In some limits the sum of all Fock space exchanges can be represented as the exponential of a single T exchange in the 4-pt correlator of $$ \mathcal{O} $$ . Our results should be useful for systematizing 1/l perturbation theory in general CFTs and simplifying the computation of large spin OPE coefficients. As examples we obtain the leading log l dependence of Fock space conformal block coefficients, and we directly compute the OPE coefficients of the simplest ‘triple-trace’ operators.
Gauge-String Dualities and Some Applications

The first part of these lectures contains an introductory review of the AdS/CFT duality and of its tests. Applications to thermal gauge theory are also discussed briefly. The second part is devoted to a review of gauge-string dualities based on various warped conifold backgrounds, and to their cosmological applications.
A New Empirical Constraint on the Prevalence of Technological Species in the Universe

Abstract In this article, we address the cosmic frequency of technological species. Recent advances in exoplanet studies provide strong constraints on all astrophysical terms in the Drake equation. Using these and modifying the form and intent of the Drake equation, we set a firm lower bound on the probability that one or more technological species have evolved anywhere and at any time in the history of the observable Universe. We find that as long as the probability that a habitable zone planet develops a technological species is larger than ∼10−24, humanity is not the only time technological intelligence has evolved. This constraint has important scientific and philosophical consequences. Key Words: Life—Intelligence—Extraterrestrial life. Astrobiology 2016, 359–362.
Like mother, like daughter: familial patterns of overweight are mediated by mothers' dietary disinhibition

Background: Obese parents are more likely to have obese children. Parents provide both the genes and eating environment for their children and familial patterns of adiposity are the result of gene-environment interactions. Environmental factors are implicated in the rapid increases in prevalence of childhood overweight that have occurred in the past 2 decades. Examination of aspects of the family environment may provide insight into increases in childhood overweight over time. Objective: We examined parental characteristics associated with overweight and eating behaviors in preschool children. Design: Seventy-five preschool children and their parents were recruited from local daycare centers. Information was obtained on parents' body mass indexes (BMIs), dietary restraint, and dietary disinhibition. A behavioral index of disinhibited eating in children was used to measure children's eating when given free access to palatable snack foods in the absence of hunger. Children's weight-for-height values were also calculated. Results: Maternal dietary disinhibition (R 2 = 0.35. P < 0.01) and maternal BMI (R 2 = 0.19, P < 0.05) positively predicted daughters' overweight. Maternal disinhibition (R 2 = 0.35, P < 0.05) mediated the relation between mothers' BMI and daughters' overweight when both maternal disinhibition and maternal BMI were used to predict daughters' overweight. Furthermore, when both mothers' disinhibition and daughters' free access intakes were used to predict daughters' overweight, mothers' disinhibition (P < 0.05) showed independent prediction. Conclusions: These findings suggest that familial influences on child overweight differ according to parent and child sex. Also, these results suggest that mothers' dietary disinhibition mediates familial similarities in degree of overweight for mothers and daughters.
Continuous-discrete entanglement: an example with non-relativistic particles

This article discusses entanglement between two subsystems, one with discrete degrees of freedom and the other with continuous degrees of freedom. The overlap integral between continuous variable wave functions emerges as an important parameter to characterize this kind entanglement. "Beam-like" entanglement and "shape-like" entanglement are contrasted. One example of this kind of entanglement is between between the spin degrees of freedom and the momentum degrees of freedom for a non-relativistic particle. This intraparticle entanglement is Galilean invariant.
Globalization and Growth

Abstract How does globalization affect economic growth? We discuss mechanisms that link international integration to the incentives for knowledge accumulation and the efficacy of that process. First, integration facilitates the flow of knowledge across national borders. Second, integration affords innovators a larger potential market even as it subjects them to additional competition from foreign rivals. Third, integration encourages specialization according to comparative advantage. Finally, integration affects the incentives for technological diffusion. Taken together, the literature offers many theoretical insights. Some progress has also been made on the empirical side, although data and methodological impediments have left assessment and measurement lagging behind.
Hybrid uranyl-vanadium nano-wheels.

Hybrid uranyl–vanadium oxide clusters intermediate between transition metal polyoxometalates and uranyl peroxide cage clusters were obtained by dissolving uranyl nitrate in the ionic liquid 3-ethyl-1-methylimidazolium ethyl sulfate mixed with an aqueous solution containing vanadium. Where sulfate was present, wheel-shaped {U20V20} crystallized and contains ten sulfate tetrahedra, and in the absence of added sulfate, {U2V16}, a derivative of {V18}, was obtained.
Chandra Estimate of the Magnetic Field Strength near the Cold Front in A3667

We use the Chandra observation of the cold front in the intracluster gas of A3667 to estimate the magnetic field strength near the front. The front is seen in the Chandra data as a sharp discontinuity in the gas density that delineates a large body of dense cool gas moving with near-sonic velocity through the less dense, hotter gas. Without a magnetic field, the front should be quickly disturbed by the Kelvin-Helmholtz instability arising from tangential motion of gas layers. However, the Chandra image shows that the front is stable within a ±30° sector in the direction of the cloud motion, beyond which it gradually disappears. We suggest that the Kelvin-Helmholtz instability within the ±30° sector is suppressed by the surface tension of the magnetic field whose field lines are parallel to the front. The required field strength is B ~ 10 μG. The magnetic field near the front is expected to be stronger and to have a very different structure compared with the bulk of the intergalactic medium because the field lines are stretched by the tangential gas motions. Such a magnetic configuration, once formed, would effectively stop the plasma diffusion and heat conduction across the front and may inhibit gas mixing during the subcluster merger. We note that even the increased magnetic field near the front contributes only 10%-20% to the total gas pressure, and therefore magnetic pressure is unimportant for hydrostatic cluster mass estimates.
Electronic excitations and metal-insulator transition in poly(3-hexylthiophene) organic field-effect transistors

We carry out a comprehensive theoretical and experimentalstudy of charge injection in poly(3-hexylthiophene) (P3HT) to determinethe most likely scenario for metal-insulator transition in this system.Wecalculate the optical-absorption frequencies corresponding to a polaronand a bipolaron lattice in P3HT. We also analyze the electronicexcitations for three possible scenarios under which a first- or asecond-order metal-insulator transition can occur in doped P3HT. Thesetheoretical scenarios are compared with data from infrared absorptionspectroscopy on P3HT thin-film field-effect transistors (FETs). Ourmeasurements and theoretical predictions suggest that charge-inducedlocalized states in P3HT FETs are bipolarons and that the highest dopinglevel achieved in our experiments approaches that required for afirst-order metal-insulator transition.
An inexpensive and recyclable silver-foil catalyst for the cyclopropanation of alkenes with diazoacetates under mechanochemical conditions.

The diastereoselective cyclopropanation of various alkenes with diazoacetate derivatives can be achieved under mechanochemical conditions using metallic silver foil and a stainless-steel vial and ball system. This solvent-free method displays analogous reactivity and selectivity to solution-phase reactions without the need for slow diazoacetate addition or an inert atmosphere. The heterogeneous silver-foil catalyst system is easily recyclable without any appreciable loss of activity or selectivity being observed. The cyclopropanation products were obtained with excellent diastereoselectivities (up to 98:2 d.r.) and in high yields (up to 96 %).
Paroxetine-mediated GRK2 inhibition reverses cardiac dysfunction and remodeling after myocardial infarction

Background: Natriuretic peptides ProANP and Pro BNP are translated as biologically-inactive pro-hormones that require proteolytic cleavage into biologically active carboxyl-terminal fragments by the serine protease Corin. Activated ANP and BNP bind to GC-A or natriuretic peptide receptor A (NPRA), which increases intracellular second messenger cGMP, and further stimulates three known cGMP effector molecules: cGMP-dependent protein kinases (PKGs), cGMP-dependent phosphodiesterases (PDEs), and cGMP-dependent ion channels. This produces anti-hypertension, anti-hypertrophy and anti-fibrosis effects. The two linked SNP mutations in Corin gene are associated with risk for hypertension and left-ventricular hypertrophy in Blacks. Novel drugs are needed to target this pathway to improve cardiac functions that impaired by the genetic defects and complications caused by many types of heart failure. Methods and Results: We tested a NPR-A agonist PL3994, synthetic molecule made by Palatin Pharmaceutical Company for its potential therapeutic effects on heart failure and cardiac defects. By using our unique Tamoxifen inducible Corin cardiac specific knockout mouse model and Corin T623I/Q636P knockin mouse model, we implant osmotic pumps with PL3994 or PBS into the mice for four weeks while simultaneously constricted mouse aorta artery by TAC by microsurgery. We recorded cardiac function changes by blood pressure, ECHO, and at end stage measured gene expression profiles, hypertrophy, fibrosis and natriuretic pathway molecule: cGMP, cGMP dependent kinases, ANP28/ProANP128, BNP45/proBNP95 in the explanted hearts and plasma. Results. As compared to WT controls, Corin knockout mice and Corin T623I/Q636P knockin mice showed much worse cardiac hypertrophy by ECHO and heart weight and much worse cardiac fibrosis by Trichrome staining. These phenotypes are also supported by the evidences of less signaling cGMP, less PKG kinase activity in the Corin knockout and knockin mice. However, compared to placebo PBS saline, NPR-A agonist PL3994 significantly improved cardiac conditions with less cardiac hypertrophy and fibrosis, also together with increased signaling cGMP, less PKG kinase activity. Conclusions: NPR-A agonist PL3994 is a potential therapeutic drug to treat patients with Corin genetic defects and patients of heart failure caused by malfunctions of natriuretic pathways.
Survivorship of cemented knee replacements

The survivorship method of analysis has been used to compare the failure rate and overall success of 1,430 cemented primary total knee arthroplasties performed at The Hospital for Special Surgery over a 15-year period. There were 224 total condylar prostheses with a polyethylene tibia, 289 of the posterior stabilised type with an all polyethylene tibia, and 917 posterior stabilised with a metal-backed tibial component. There were 12 failures in the total condylar series, giving an average annual failure rate of 0.65% and a 15-year success rate of 90.56%. The posterior stabilised prosthesis with a polyethylene tibia showed an average annual failure rate of 0.27% and a 10-year success rate of 97.34%, and this prosthesis with a metal-backed tibial component gave an annual failure rate of 0.19% and a seven-year success rate of 98.75%. The overall survival rate was not influenced by sex or age, diagnosis or the percentage of ideal body weight. No metal-backed tibial components have yet needed revision for loosening. It seems that infection will be the major cause of failure.
Capacity of Electron-Based Communication Over Bacterial Cables: The Full-CSI Case

Motivated by recent discoveries of microbial communities that transfer electrons across centimeter-length scales, this paper studies the information capacity of bacterial cables via electron transfer, which coexists with molecular diffusion, under the assumption of full causal channel state information (CSI). The bacterial cable is modeled as an electron queue that transfers electrons from the encoder at the electron donor source, which controls the desired input electron intensity, to the decoder at the electron acceptor sink. Local clogging due to ATP saturation of the cells is modeled, as well as interference and leakage due to electron donors and acceptors along the cable. A discrete-time scheme is investigated, enabling the computation of an achievable rate. The regime of asymptotically small time-slot duration is analyzed, and the optimality of binary input distributions is proved, i.e., the encoder transmits at either maximum or minimum intensity, as dictated by the physical constraints of the cable. A dynamic programming formulation of the capacity is proposed, and the optimal binary signaling is determined via policy iteration. It is proved that the optimal signaling has smaller intensity than that given by the myopic policy , which greedily maximizes the instantaneous information rate but neglects its effect on the steady-state cable distribution. In contrast, the optimal scheme balances the tension between achieving high instantaneous information rate, and inducing a favorable steady-state distribution, such that those states characterized by high information rates are visited more frequently, thus revealing the importance of CSI. This work represents a first contribution towards the design of electron signaling schemes in complex microbial communities, e.g., bacterial cables and biofilms, where the tension between maximizing the transfer of information and guaranteeing the well-being of the overall bacterial community arises, and motivates further research on the design of more practical schemes, where CSI is only partially available.
A Bayesian method for constructing Bayesian belief networks from databases

This paper presents a Bayesian method for constructing Bayesian belief networks from a database of cases. Potential applications include computer-assisted hypothesis testing, automated scientific discovery, and automated construction of probabilistic expert systems. Results are presented of a preliminary evaluation of an algorithm for constructing a belief network from a database of cases. We relate the methods in this paper to previous work, and we discuss open problems.
Systemic shocks and social protection : role and effectiveness of public works programs

In Asia and Africa particularly, public works programs have significantly mitigated the negative effects of climatic risks on poor farmers, and farm laborers. These programs typically provide unskilled manual workers with short-term employment on projects such as road construction and maintenance, irrigation infrastructure, reforestation, and soil conservation. The implementation of these programs is being handled by small-scale private contractors, Non-Government Officials (NGOs), or social funds. The main constraint in implanting public works programs in much of Africa is due to lack of capacity. These constraints can be eased if donors coordinate their activities, and provide assistance to build private contracting capacity. This paper discusses the rationale behind workfare programs in Africa and Asia with respect to such design features as wage rates, labor intensity, and how they were selected and implemented. Available estimates and evaluations are used, and whether these programs have achieved their goals is presented. The paper concludes with summary lessons from experience.
Resource Allocation During the Transition to a Market Economy: Political Implications of Supply Bottlenecks and Adjustment Costs

The paper discusses the case against a laissez faire approach to resource allocation and develops a model of supply bottlenecks. It argues that: (1) once budget constraints are hardened and credit markets begin to function appropriately, externalities associated with production bottlenecks and adjustment costs--other considerations aside--provide a case for subsidizing the costs of critical inputs for the state sector but not the new private sector; (2) the optimal subsidy declines as the private sector grows; and (3) the subsidy should be "financed" by taxing wage income in the state sector, which will strengthen incentives for workers to move.
Holomorphic disks and knot invariants

Abstract We define a Floer-homology invariant for knots in an oriented three-manifold, closely related to the Heegaard Floer homologies for three-manifolds defined in an earlier paper. We set up basic properties of these invariants, including an Euler characteristic calculation, and a description of the behavior under connected sums. Then, we establish a relationship with HF + for surgeries along the knot. Applications include calculation of HF + of three-manifolds obtained by surgeries on some special knots in S 3 , and also calculation of HF + for certain simple three-manifolds which fiber over the circle.
Shock compression of liquid silicates to 125 GPa: The anorthite-diopside join

We determined the equation of state (EOS) of three silicate liquid compositions by shock compression of preheated samples up to 127 GPa. Diopside (Di; Ca_2Mg_2SiO_6) at 1773 K, anorthite (An; CaAl_2Si_2O_8) at 1923 K and the eutectic composition Di_(64)An_(36) at 1673 K were previously studied by shock compression to 38 GPa. The new data extend the EOS of each composition nearly to the Earth’s core-mantle boundary. The previously reported anomaly at 25 GPa for Di_(64)An_(36) eutectic was not reproduced; rather all data for this composition fit within error a straight line Hugoniot in particle velocity vs. shock velocity. Di also displays a linear Hugoniot consistent with ultrasonic data and a third-order finite strain EOS. The full anorthite data set is complex; we examine a model with a transition between two structural states and a fourth‐order finite strain model excluding two points that may not display relaxed behavior. We also report an experiment on room-temperature solid Di_(64)An_(36) aggregate that clearly demonstrates increase upon compression of the Gruneisen parameter of this liquid, much as experiment and theory have shown for forsterite and enstatite liquids. We construct isentropes and isotherms from our Hugoniots using Mie-Gruneisen thermal pressure and evaluate the model of ideal mixing of volumes. Volume may mix almost linearly at high temperature, but deviates strongly when calculated along an isotherm; it remains difficult to reach a firm conclusion. We compare the densities of liquids to lower mantle solids. Our results suggest that basaltic liquids rich in CaO and Al_2O_3 are notably denser than liquids in the MgO-SiO_2 binary and, subject to uncertainties in the behavior of FeO and in corrections for thermal pressure, such liquids may be the most likely candidates for achieving negative buoyancy in the lowermost mantle.
Recent progress and challenges in exploiting graphics processors in computational fluid dynamics

The progress made in accelerating simulations of fluid flow using GPUs, and the challenges that remain, are surveyed. The review first provides an introduction to GPU computing and programming, and discusses various considerations for improved performance. Case studies comparing the performance of CPU- and GPU-based solvers for the Laplace and incompressible Navier---Stokes equations are performed in order to demonstrate the potential improvement even with simple codes. Recent efforts to accelerate CFD simulations using GPUs are reviewed for laminar, turbulent, and reactive flow solvers. Also, GPU implementations of the lattice Boltzmann method are reviewed. Finally, recommendations for implementing CFD codes on GPUs are given and remaining challenges are discussed, such as the need to develop new strategies and redesign algorithms to enable GPU acceleration.
INTERACTION EFFECTS AND PHASE RELAXATION IN DISORDERED SYSTEMS

Abstract This paper is intended to demonstrate that there is no need to revise the existing theory of the transport properties of disordered conductors in the so-called weak localization regime. In particular, we demonstrate explicitly that recent attempts to justify theoretically that the dephasing rate (extracted from the magnetoresistance) remains finite at zero temperature are based on a profoundly incorrect calculation. This demonstration is based on a straightforward evaluation of the effect of the electron-electron interaction on the weak localization correction to the conductivity of disordered metals. Using well controlled perturbation theory with the inverse conductance g as the small parameter, we show that this effect consists of two contributions. The first contribution comes from the processes with energy transfer smaller than the temperature, and is responsible for setting the energy scale for the magnetoresistance. The second contribution originates from the virtual processes with energy t...
Quantum optical coherence tomography of a biological sample

Abstract Quantum optical coherence tomography (QOCT) makes use of an entangled-photon light source to carry out dispersion-immune axial optical sectioning. We present the first experimental QOCT images of a biological sample: an onion-skin tissue coated with gold nanoparticles. 3D images are presented in the form of 2D sections of different orientations. In the context of quantum information, this represents the first experiment in which a quantum-entangled entity interacts with a biological specimen, generating a collection of quantum interferograms, from which an image is constructed.
Black hole entropy and entropy of entanglement

Abstract We compare the one-loop corrections to the entropy of a black hole, from quantum fields of spin zero, one-half, and one, to the entropy of entanglement of the fields. For fields of spin zero and one-half the black hole entropy is identical to the entropy of entanglement. For spin one the two entropies differ by a contact interaction with the horizon which appears in the black hole entropy but not in the entropy of entanglement. The contact interaction can be expressed as a path integral over particle paths which begin and end on the horizon; it is the field theory limit of the interaction proposed by Susskind and Uglum, which couples a closed string to an open string stranded on the horizon.
LOCALLY INNER AUTOMORPHISMS OF OPERATOR ALGEBRAS

In this paper an automorphism of a unital C∗-algebra is said to be locally inner if on any element it agrees with some inner automorphism. We make a fairly complete study of local innerness in von Neumann algebras, incorporating comparison with the pointwise innerness of Haagerup-Stormer. On some von Neumann algebras, including all with separable predual, a locally inner automorphism must be inner. But a transfinitely recursive construction demonstrates that this is not true in general. As an application, we show that the diagonal sum (x, y) 7→ ( x 0 0 y ) descends to a welldefined map on the automorphism orbits of a unital C∗-algebra if and only if all its automorphisms are locally inner. “ ‘The inner truth is hidden — luckily, luckily. But I felt it all the same. . . .’ ” (Joseph Conrad, Heart of Darkness)
Preparation of radioactive rare earth targets for neutron capture study

The neutron capture behavior of certain radioactive rare earth nuclides, among them 171Tm and 151Sm, is of interest for astrophysical reasons and for the interpretation of radiochemical data from underground nuclear tests. In order to measure neutron capture excitation functions for these radionuclides, targets were produced that met stringent requirements. This paper describes the purification chemistry and target preparation methods that were employed in order to deliver appropriate samples for study.
Multiscale Computation with Interpolating Wavelets

Multiresolution analyses based upon interpolets, interpolating scaling functions introduced by Deslauriers and Dubuc, are particularly well-suited to physical applications because they allowexactrecovery of the multiresolution representation of a function from its sample values on afiniteset of points in space. We present a detailed study of the application of wavelet concepts to physical problems expressed in such bases. The manuscript describes algorithms for the associated transforms which for properly constructed grids of variable resolution compute correctly without having to introduce extra grid points. We demonstrate that for the application of local homogeneous operators in such bases, the nonstandard multiply of Beylkin, Coifman, and Rokhlin also proceeds exactly for inhomogeneous grids of appropriate form. To obtain less stringent conditions on the grids, we generalize the nonstandard multiply so that communication may proceed between nonadjacent levels. The manuscript concludes with timing comparisons against nai#x0308;ve algorithms and an illustration of the scale-independence of the convergence rate of the conjugate gradient solution of Poisson's equation using a simple preconditioning.
The maximal abelian gauge, monopoles, and vortices in SU(3) lattice gauge theory

Abstract We report on calculations of the heavy quark potential in SU(3) lattice gauge theory. Full SU(3) results are compared to three cases which involve gauge-fixing and projection. All of these start from the maximal abelian gauge (MAG), in its simplest form. The first case is abelian projection to U(1)×U(1). The second keeps only the abelian fields of monopoles in the MAG. The third involves an additional gauge-fixing to the indirect maximal center gauge (IMCG), followed by center projection to Z(3). At one gauge fixing/configuration, the string tensions calculated from MAG U(1)×U(1), MAG monopoles, and IMCG Z(3) are all less than the full SU(3) string tension. The projected string tensions further decrease, by approximately 10%, when account is taken of gauge ambiguities. Comparison is made with corresponding results for SU(2). It is emphasized that the formulation of the MAG is more subtle for SU(3) than for SU(2), and that the low string tensions may be caused by the simple MAG form used. A generalized MAG for SU(3) is formulated.