cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Optimal regulation with exemptions

Abstract Despite decades of research on mechanism design and on many practical aspects of cost-benefit analysis, one of the most basic and ubiquitous features of regulation as actually implemented throughout the world has received little theoretical attention: exemptions for small firms. These firms, although individually small, may generate a disproportionate share of harm due to their being exempt and because exemption induces additional harmful activity to be channeled their way. This article analyzes optimal regulation with exemptions where firms have different productivities that are unobservable to the regulator, regulated and unregulated output each cause harm although at different levels, and the regulatory regime affects entry as well as the output choices of regulated and unregulated firms. In many settings, optimal schemes involve subtle effects and have counterintuitive features: for example, higher regulatory costs need not favor higher exemptions, and the incentives of firms to drop output to become exempt can be too weak as well as too strong. A final section examines the optimal use of output taxation alongside regulation, which illustrates the contrast with the mechanism design approach that analyzes the optimal use of instruments of a type that are not in widespread use.
Genetic differences in the aryl hydrocarbon receptor and CYP1A2 affect sensitivity to developmental polychlorinated biphenyl exposure in mice: relevance to studies of human neurological disorders

Polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) are persistent organic pollutants that remain a human health concern with newly discovered sources of contamination and ongoing bioaccumulation and biomagnification. Children exposed during early brain development are at highest risk of neurological deficits, but highly exposed adults reportedly have an increased risk of Parkinson’s disease. Our previous studies found allelic differences in the aryl hydrocarbon receptor and cytochrome P450 1A2 (CYP1A2) affect sensitivity to developmental PCB exposure, resulting in cognitive deficits and motor dysfunction. High-affinity Ahr b Cyp1a2(−/−) mice were most sensitive compared with poor-affinity Ahr d Cyp1a2(−/−) and wild-type Ahr b Cyp1a2(+/+) mice. Our follow-up studies assessed biochemical, histological, and gene expression changes to identify the brain regions and pathways affected. We also measured PCB and metabolite levels in tissues to determine if genotype altered toxicokinetics. We found evidence of AHR-mediated toxicity with reduced thymus and spleen weights and significantly reduced thyroxine at P14 in PCB-exposed pups. In the brain, the greatest changes were seen in the cerebellum where a foliation defect was over-represented in Cyp1a2(−/−) mice. In contrast, we found no difference in tyrosine hydroxylase immunostaining in the striatum. Gene expression patterns varied across the three genotypes, but there was clear evidence of AHR activation. Distribution of parent PCB congeners also varied by genotype with strikingly high levels of PCB 77 in poor-affinity Ahr d Cyp1a2(−/−) while Ahr b Cyp1a2(+/+) mice effectively sequestered coplanar PCBs in the liver. Together, our data suggest that the AHR pathway plays a role in developmental PCB neurotoxicity, but we found little evidence that developmental exposure is a risk factor for Parkinson’s disease.
The Effects of Promising to Tell the Truth, the Putative Confession, and Recall and Recognition Questions on Maltreated and Non-Maltreated Children's Disclosure of a Minor Transgression

This study examined the utility of two interview instructions designed to overcome children's reluctance to disclose transgressions: eliciting a promise from children to tell the truth and the putative confession (telling children that a suspect "told me everything that happened and wants you to tell the truth"). The key questions were whether the instructions increased disclosure in response to recall questions and in response to recognition questions that were less or more explicit about transgressions and whether instructions were differentially effective with age. A total sample of 217 4- to 9-year-old maltreated and comparable non-maltreated children and a stranger played with a set of toys. For half of the children within each group, two of the toys appeared to break while they were playing. The stranger admonished secrecy. Shortly thereafter, children were questioned about what happened in one of three interview conditions. Some children were asked to promise to tell the truth. Others were given the putative confession, and still others received no interview instructions. When coupled with recall questions, the promise was effective at increasing disclosures only among older children, whereas the putative confession was effective regardless of age. Across interview instruction conditions, recognition questions that did not suggest wrongdoing elicited few additional transgression disclosures, whereas recognition questions that explicitly mentioned wrongdoing elicited some true reports but also some false alarms. No differences in disclosure emerged between maltreated and non-maltreated children. Results highlight the potential benefits and limitations of different interviewing approaches when questioning reluctant children.
A Single Mechanosensitive Channel Protects Francisella tularensis subsp. holarctica from Hypoosmotic Shock and Promotes Survival in the Aquatic Environment

Francisella tularensis subsp. holarctica is found in North America and much of Europe and causes the disease tularemia in humans and animals. An aquatic cycle has been described for this subspecies, which has caused waterborne outbreaks of tularemia in at least 10 countries. In this study, we sought to identify the mechanosensitive channel(s) required for the bacterium to survive the transition from mammalian hosts to freshwater, which is likely essential for the transmission of the bacterium between susceptible hosts. A single 165-amino-acid MscS-type mechanosensitive channel (FtMscS) was found to protect F. tularensis subsp. holarctica from hypoosmotic shock, despite lacking much of the cytoplasmic vestibule domain found in well-characterized MscS proteins from other organisms. The deletion of this channel did not affect virulence within the mammalian host; however, FtMscS was required to survive the transition from the host niche to freshwater. The deletion of FtMscS did not alter the sensitivity of F. tularensis subsp. holarctica to detergents, H2O2, or antibiotics, suggesting that the role of FtMscS is specific to protection from hypoosmotic shock. The deletion of FtMscS also led to a reduced average cell size without altering gross cell morphology. The mechanosensitive channel identified and characterized in this study likely contributes to the transmission of tularemia between hosts by allowing the bacterium to survive the transition from mammalian hosts to freshwater.IMPORTANCE The contamination of freshwater by Francisella tularensis subsp. holarctica has resulted in a number of outbreaks of tularemia. Invariably, the contamination originates from the carcasses or excreta of infected animals and thus involves an abrupt osmotic downshock as the bacteria enter freshwater. How F. tularensis survives this drastic change in osmolarity has not been clear, but here we report that a single mechanosensitive channel protects the bacterium from osmotic downshock. This channel is functional despite lacking much of the cytoplasmic vestibule domain that is present in better-studied organisms such as Escherichia coli; this report builds on previous studies that have suggested that parts of this domain are dispensable for downshock protection. These findings extend our understanding of the aquatic cycle and ecological persistence of F. tularensis, with further implications for mechanosensitive channel biology.
Ecocide, genocide and the disregard of alternative life-systems

Ecocide is a structurally reoccurring phenomenon contributing to a serious disequilibrium in the Earth-system that buttress all planetary life. Ecocide is also a possible method of genocide if it f...
Meso-Foundations of Interorganizational Relationships: How Team Power Structures Shape Partner Novelty

Novel external partnerships are valuable but risky, and scholars have examined the organization- and individual-level determinants of firms’ decisions to pursue these new relationships. Yet, in org...
Moʻokūʻauhau (Genealogies) of Care: Curating Aliʻi Collections at the Bernice Pauahi Bishop Museum

This paper explores the practice of moʻokūʻauhau (genealogy) in the care of Aliʻi (chiefly) museum collections at the Bernice Pauahi Bishop Museum (Honolulu, HI). Caring for aliʻi objects is a cultural imperative, rooted in a moʻokūʻauhau of curating aliʻi possessions that were and continue to be regarded as vessels of aliʻi mana (spiritual energy). Moʻokūʻauhau, as a relational practice of tracing one’s familial, academic, and practice-based ancestries, is central to Indigenous curation at the Bishop Museum, for it allows staff members who care for the Ethnology Collection to reveal moʻolelo (stories) of how they draw from their familial traditions and the teachings of their mentors within and outside of the museum in order to cultivate an environment where culturally-appropriate methods of care can be utilized. The moʻokūʻauhau of care that are revealed through these moʻolelo are crucial, for they reveal the importance of cultural training and mentorship as a core element of Indigenous curatorial practice. Acknowledging these experiences as a form of professional experience is exigent for supporting Kanaka ʻŌiwi and other Indigenous museum professionals who bridge institutional practice with Indigenous sensibilities. ## This research was supported in part by a research grant provided by the University of Denver's School of Arts, Humanities & Social Sciences. I would like to thank Karen Kosasa and Noelle Kahanu for our many discussions that have shaped this manuscript. I would also like to extend special thanks to the Cultural Collections staff members at the Bernice Pauahi Bishop Museum for their support and their willingness to share their stories with me. This publication would not have been possible without their insights and encouragement. One anonymous reviewer through the Studies in Arts and Humanities editorial team helped to clarify and strengthen this manuscript. All errors are my own.
Family history of cancer in first-degree relatives and risk of gastric cancer and its precursors in a Western population.

Family history may inform risks of gastric cancer and preneoplastic lesions. We examined associations with history of cancer in first-degree relatives for 307 incident gastric cancer cases among 20,720 male smokers in a prospective study in Finland. Cox regression was used to calculate gastric cancer hazard ratios (HR) and 95% confidence intervals (95% CI). Logistic regression was used to estimate odds ratios (OR) and 95% CIs for low serum pepsinogen, a marker of gastric atrophy. Gastric cancer risk was associated with gastric cancer history in first-degree relatives overall (HR 1.56, 95% CI 1.15–2.12), in fathers (HR 1.67, 95% CI 1.09–2.55) and in siblings (HR 2.05, 95% CI 1.25–3.38). Associations were significant for noncardia (HR 1.83, 95% CI 1.30–2.57) but not cardia (HR 0.93, 95% CI 0.46–1.87) cancers, and marginal for both intestinal—(HR 1.53, 95% CI 0.92–2.55) and diffuse-type (HR 1.47, 95% CI 0.72–3.03) histologies. Family history of other cancer types was not associated with gastric cancer risk. Family history of gastric cancer was associated with low pepsinogen (OR 1.29, 95% CI 1.11–1.50). Family history of gastric cancer is strongly associated with specific subtypes of gastric cancer as well as with gastric atrophy, a risk factor for developing this malignancy.
Theoretical Implications of “High Rent”

There are abundant examples of relatively small lobbying expenditures yielding very high returns. At the same time, lobbying is not very widespread. This article considers lobbying as a form of rent seeking and addresses the question raised previously by economists as to why more rent seeking does not occur, given the very high payoffs that it may garner. It looks at various reasons that might explain why rent seeking is not very prevalent, but the article finds them unsatisfactory. It is suggested that, instead of mainstream economic theory, a new theoretical approach may be required to understand this phenomenon.
Data Dissemination Using Instantly Decodable Binary Codes in Fog-Radio Access Networks

This paper considers a device-to-device (D2D) fog-radio access network wherein a set of users are required to store/receive a set of files. The D2D devices are connected to a subset of the cloud data centers and thus possess a subset of the data. This paper is interested in reducing the total time of communication, i.e., the completion time, required to disseminate all files among all devices using instantly decodable network coding (IDNC). Unlike previous studies that assume a fully connected communication network, this paper tackles the more realistic scenario of a partially connected network in which devices are not all in the transmission range of one another. The joint optimization of selecting the transmitting device(s) and the file combination(s) is first formulated, and its intractability is exhibited. The completion time is approximated using the celebrated decoding delay approach by deriving the relationship between the quantities in a partially connected network. The paper introduces the cooperation graph and demonstrates that the problem is equivalent to a maximum weight clique problem over the newly designed graph. Extensive simulations reveal that the proposed solution provides noticeable performance enhancement and outperforms previously proposed IDNC-based schemes.
Law and economics versus economic analysis of law

I agree with Calabresi’s general distinction between Economic Analysis of Law and Law and Economics. However, these broad categories may obscure important differences between types of law and economics scholarship. I would distinguish positive economic analysis from normative economic analysis, and positivist legal analysis from nonpositivist analysis. The four categories generated by these distinctions provide a more fine-grained map of the styles of reasoning in law and economics, and has implications for the future of law and economics.
Distributed Statistical Estimation of Matrix Products with Applications

We consider statistical estimations of a matrix product over the integers in a distributed setting, where we have two parties Alice and Bob; Alice holds a matrix A and Bob holds a matrix B, and they want to estimate statistics of $A \cdot B$. We focus on the well-studied $\ell_p$-norm, distinct elements ($p = 0$), $\ell_0$-sampling, and heavy hitter problems. The goal is to minimize both the communication cost and the number of rounds of communication. This problem is closely related to the fundamental set-intersection join problem in databases: when $p = 0$ the problem corresponds to the size of the set-intersection join. When $p = infty$ the output is simply the pair of sets with the maximum intersection size. When $p = 1$ the problem corresponds to the size of the corresponding natural join. We also consider the heavy hitters problem which corresponds to finding the pairs of sets with intersection size above a certain threshold, and the problem of sampling an intersecting pair of sets uniformly at random.
Microbiota-accessible carbohydrates suppress Clostridium difficile infection in a murine model

Clostridium difficile is an opportunistic diarrhoeal pathogen, and C. difficile infection (CDI) represents a major health care concern, causing an estimated 15,000 deaths per year in the United States alone 1 . Several enteric pathogens, including C. difficile, leverage inflammation and the accompanying microbial dysbiosis to thrive in the distal gut 2 . Although diet is among the most powerful available tools for affecting the health of humans and their relationship with their microbiota, investigation into the effects of diet on CDI has been limited. Here, we show in mice that the consumption of microbiota-accessible carbohydrates (MACs) found in dietary plant polysaccharides has a significant effect on CDI. Specifically, using a model of antibiotic-induced CDI that typically resolves within 12 days of infection, we demonstrate that MAC-deficient diets perpetuate CDI. We show that C. difficile burdens are suppressed through the addition of either a diet containing a complex mixture of MACs or a simplified diet containing inulin as the sole MAC source. We show that switches between these dietary conditions are coincident with changes to microbiota membership, its metabolic output and C. difficile-mediated inflammation. Together, our data demonstrate the outgrowth of MAC-utilizing taxa and the associated end products of MAC metabolism, namely, the short-chain fatty acids acetate, propionate and butyrate, are associated with decreased C. difficile fitness despite increased C. difficile toxin expression in the gut. Our findings, when placed into the context of the known fibre deficiencies of a human Western diet, provide rationale for pursuing MAC-centric dietary strategies as an alternate line of investigation for mitigating CDI. A murine diet high in microbiota-accessible carbohydrates (MACs) reduces Clostridium difficile colonization compared to a low-MAC diet, which is associated with changes in microbiota composition, short-chain fatty acid concentrations and inflammation.
HIPAA and Protecting Health Information in the 21st Century.

While the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) has been relatively effective at protecting health-data privacy in traditional healthcare settings, the era of big data poses significant challenges to safeguarding personal health information that could nonetheless put individuals at risk of discrimination, invasive marketing, and other objectionable practices. This article explores some of the challenges of existing American legal infrastructure to protect health-data privacy and proposes a number of potential approaches to improving privacy protections.
Superradiance in ultracold Rydberg gases

Experiments in dense, ultracold gases of rubidium Rydberg atoms show a considerable decrease of the radiative excited state lifetimes compared to dilute gases. This accelerated decay is explained by collective and cooperative effects, leading to superradiance. A formalism to calculate effective decay times in a dense Rydberg gas shows that for these atoms the decay into nearby levels increases by up to three orders of magnitude. Excellent agreement between theory and experiment follows from this treatment of Rydberg decay behavior.
Degradation of dendritic cargos requires Rab7-dependent transport to somatic lysosomes.

Neurons are large and long lived, creating high needs for regulating protein turnover. Disturbances in proteostasis lead to aggregates and cellular stress. We characterized the behavior of the short-lived dendritic membrane proteins Nsg1 and Nsg2 to determine whether these proteins are degraded locally in dendrites or centrally in the soma. We discovered a spatial heterogeneity of endolysosomal compartments in dendrites. Early EEA1-positive and late Rab7-positive endosomes are found throughout dendrites, whereas the density of degradative LAMP1- and cathepsin (Cat) B/D–positive lysosomes decreases steeply past the proximal segment. Unlike in fibroblasts, we found that the majority of dendritic Rab7 late endosomes (LEs) do not contain LAMP1 and that a large proportion of LAMP1 compartments do not contain CatB/D. Second, Rab7 activity is required to mobilize distal predegradative LEs for transport to the soma and terminal degradation. We conclude that the majority of dendritic LAMP1 endosomes are not degradative lysosomes and that terminal degradation of dendritic cargos such as Nsg1, Nsg2, and DNER requires Rab7-dependent transport in LEs to somatic lysosomes.
Learning One-hidden-layer ReLU Networks via Gradient Descent

We study the problem of learning one-hidden-layer neural networks with Rectified Linear Unit (ReLU) activation function, where the inputs are sampled from standard Gaussian distribution and the outputs are generated from a noisy teacher network. We analyze the performance of gradient descent for training such kind of neural networks based on empirical risk minimization, and provide algorithm-dependent guarantees. In particular, we prove that tensor initialization followed by gradient descent can converge to the ground-truth parameters at a linear rate up to some statistical error. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first work characterizing the recovery guarantee for practical learning of one-hidden-layer ReLU networks with multiple neurons. Numerical experiments verify our theoretical findings.
Switching between Limit Cycles in a Model of Running Using Exponentially Stabilizing Discrete Control Lyapunov Function

This paper considers the problem of switching between two periodic motions, also known as limit cycles, to create agile running motions. For each limit cycle, we use a control Lyapunov function to estimate the region of attraction at the apex of the flight phase. We switch controllers at the apex, only if the current state of the robot is within the region of attraction of the subsequent limit cycle. If the intersection between two limit cycles is the null set, then we construct additional limit cycles till we are able to achieve sufficient overlap of the region of attraction between sequential limit cycles. Additionally, we impose an exponential convergence condition on the control Lyapunov function that allows us to rapidly transition between limit cycles. Using the approach we demonstrate switching between 5 limit cycles in about 5 steps with the speed changing from 2 m/s to 5 m/s.
Multilevel PWM methods at low modulation indices

When utilized at low amplitude modulation indices, existing multilevel carrier-based PWM strategies have no special provisions for this operating region, and several levels of the inverter go unused. This paper proposes some novel multilevel PWM strategies to take advantage of the multiple levels in both a diode-clamped inverter and a cascaded H-bridges inverter by utilizing all of the levels in the inverter even at low modulation indices. Simulation results show what effects the different strategies have on the active device utilization. A prototype 6-level diode-clamped inverter and an 11-level cascaded H-bridges inverter have been built and controlled with the novel PWM strategies proposed in this paper.
Coupled State-Dependent Riccati Equation Control for Continuous Time Nonlinear Mechatronics Systems

This manuscript considers the coupled state-dependent Riccati equation approach for systematically designing nonlinear quadratic regulator and $H_{\infty}$ control of mechatronics systems. The state-dependent feedback control solutions can be obtained by solving a pair of coupled state-dependent Riccati equations, guaranteeing nonlinear quadratic optimality with inherent stability property in combination with robust $\mathscr{L}_{2}$ type of disturbance reduction. The derivation of this control strategy is based on Nash's game theory. Both of finite and infinite horizon control problems are discussed. An under-actuated robotic system, Furuta rotary pendulum, is used to examine the effectiveness and robustness of this novel nonlinear control approach.
Cognitive Imprecision and Small-Stakes Risk Aversion

Observed choices between risky lotteries are difficult to reconcile with expected utility maximization, both because subjects appear to be too risk averse with regard to small gambles for this to be explained by diminishing marginal utility of wealth, as stressed by Rabin (2000), and because subjects’ responses involve a random element. We propose a unified explanation for both anomalies, similar to the explanation given for related phenomena in the case of perceptual judgments: they result from judgments based on imprecise (and noisy) mental representations of the decision situation. In this model, risk aversion results from a sort of perceptual bias—but one that represents an optimal decision rule, given the limitations of the mental representation of the situation. We propose a quantitative model of the noisy mental representation of simple lotteries, based on other evidence regarding numerical cognition, and test its ability to explain the choice frequencies that we observe in a laboratory experiment.
Vehicle Localization and Control on Roads with Prior Grade Map

We propose a map-aided vehicle localization method for GPS-denied environments. This approach exploits prior knowledge of the road grade map and vehicle on-board sensor measurements to accurately estimate the longitudinal position of the vehicle. Real-time localization is crucial to systems that utilize position-dependent information for planning and control. We validate the effectiveness of the localization method on a hierarchical control system. The higher level planner optimizes the vehicle velocity to minimize the energy consumption for a given route by employing traffic condition and road grade data. The lower level is a cruise control system that tracks the position-dependent optimal reference velocity. Performance of the proposed localization algorithm is evaluated using both simulations and experiments.
CRED: A Deep Residual Network of Convolutional and Recurrent Units for Earthquake Signal Detection

Earthquake signal detection is at the core of observational seismology. A good detection algorithm should be sensitive to small and weak events with a variety of waveform shapes, robust to background noise and non-earthquake signals, and efficient for processing large data volumes. Here, we introduce the Cnn-Rnn Earthquake Detector (CRED), a detector based on deep neural networks. CRED uses a combination of convolutional layers and bi-directional long-short-term memory units in a residual structure. It learns the time-frequency characteristics of the dominant phases in an earthquake signal from three component data recorded on individual stations. We train the network using 500,000 seismograms (250k associated with tectonic earthquakes and 250k identified as noise) recorded in Northern California. The robustness of the trained model with respect to the noise level and non-earthquake signals is shown by applying it to a set of semi-synthetic signals. We also apply the model to one month of continuous data recorded at Central Arkansas to demonstrate its efficiency, generalization, and sensitivity. Our model is able to detect more than 800 microearthquakes as small as −1.3 ML induced during hydraulic fracturing far away than the training region. We compare the performance of the model with the STA/LTA, template matching, and FAST algorithms. Our results indicate an efficient and reliable performance of CRED. This framework holds great promise for lowering the detection threshold while minimizing false positive detection rates.
The Wasserstein Transform

We introduce the Wasserstein transform, a method for enhancing and denoising datasets defined on general metric spaces. The construction draws inspiration from Optimal Transportation ideas. We establish precise connections with the mean shift family of algorithms and establish the stability of both our method and mean shift under data perturbation.
STRESS-BUFFERING EFFECTS OF VOLUNTEERING ON SALIVARY CORTISOL: RESULTS FROM A DAILY DIARY STUDY

Abstract Based on the theoretical foundations of the caregiving system model, which holds that prosocial behavior can be conceptualized in relation to a neurobiological stress-buffering mechanism, we addressed the question of whether daily volunteering yields buffering effects in terms of suppressing a neuroendocrine response (i.e., salivary cortisol) to daily stressors. We used daily diary data from the second wave of the National Study of Daily Experiences (NSDE II), which is part of the Midlife in the United States study (MIDUS II), a nationally representative survey of middle-aged and older adults. Analyzing a sample of volunteers (N = 340), we tested the buffering role of daily volunteer work for the same day stressors-salivary cortisol response relationship (person-day observations, N = 1,042). Findings from multilevel models indicated that the relationship between daily stressors and cortisol output was attenuated on days when volunteering was performed compared to days volunteering was not performed. Our findings are suggestive of a unique, but unobserved, neurobiological mechanism underlying the link between volunteering and better health. Volunteer programs designed to help others in need may be considered as an intervention strategy for individuals living under stressful conditions.
Hepatic JARID1a ablation disrupts the transcription adaptation to feeding and alters systemic metabolism

The liver is a key regulator of systemic energy homeostasis whose proper function is dependent on the circadian clock. Here, we show that livers deficient in the oscillator component JARID1a exhibit a dysregulation of genes involved in energy metabolism. Importantly, we find that mice that lack hepatic JARID1a have decreased lean body mass, decreased respiratory exchange ratios, faster production of ketones and increased glucose production in response to fasting. Finally, we find that JARID1a loss compromises the response of the hepatic transcriptome to nutrient availability. In all, ablation of hepatic JARID1a disrupts the coordination of hepatic metabolic programs with whole-body consequences.
Physics-informed machine learning approach for augmenting turbulence models: A comprehensive framework

We present a comprehensive framework for augmenting turbulence models with physics-informed machine learning, illustrating a complete workflow from identification of input/output to prediction of mean velocities. The learned model has Galilean invariance and coordinate rotational invariance.
Government investment in publicly traded firms

Abstract I examine shareholder wealth effects associated with different types of government investors in an international sample. I develop a taxonomy to identify government political, financial, and industrial arms. State investments, similar in dollar amount to state privatizations , have increased target shareholder wealth by over USD 50 billion. But market participants differentiate among government entities as target shareholders lose over USD 14 billion, when the investment is announced by the political arms of government rather than the industrial or the financial arms. The apparent intent of government agency is considered by private investors. Post-investment performance tests, institutional environment analysis, and access to credit tests corroborate this.
PUMA: A Programmable Ultra-efficient Memristor-based Accelerator for Machine Learning Inference

Memristor crossbars are circuits capable of performing analog matrix-vector multiplications, overcoming the fundamental energy efficiency limitations of digital logic. They have been shown to be effective in special-purpose accelerators for a limited set of neural network applications. We present the Programmable Ultra-efficient Memristor-based Accelerator (PUMA) which enhances memristor crossbars with general purpose execution units to enable the acceleration of a wide variety of Machine Learning (ML) inference workloads. PUMA's microarchitecture techniques exposed through a specialized Instruction Set Architecture (ISA) retain the efficiency of in-memory computing and analog circuitry, without compromising programmability. We also present the PUMA compiler which translates high-level code to PUMA ISA. The compiler partitions the computational graph and optimizes instruction scheduling and register allocation to generate code for large and complex workloads to run on thousands of spatial cores. We have developed a detailed architecture simulator that incorporates the functionality, timing, and power models of PUMA's components to evaluate performance and energy consumption. A PUMA accelerator running at 1 GHz can reach area and power efficiency of 577 GOPS/s/mm 2 and 837~GOPS/s/W, respectively. Our evaluation of diverse ML applications from image recognition, machine translation, and language modelling (5M-800M synapses) shows that PUMA achieves up to 2,446× energy and 66× latency improvement for inference compared to state-of-the-art GPUs. Compared to an application-specific memristor-based accelerator, PUMA incurs small energy overheads at similar inference latency and added programmability.
Data privacy

There is increasing need to build information systems that protect the privacy and ownership of data without impeding the flow of information. We will present some of our current work to demonstrate the technical feasibility of building such systems.
A predicate-based caching scheme for client-server database architectures

We propose a new client-side data-caching scheme for relational databases with a central server and multiple clients. Data are loaded into each client cache based on queries executed on the central database at the server. These queries are used to form predicates that describe the cache contents. A subsequent query at the client may be satisfied in its local cache if we can determine that the query result is entirely contained in the cache. This issue is called cache completeness. A separate issue, cache currency, deals with the effect on client caches of updates committed at the central database. We examine the various performance tradeoffs and optimization issues involved in addressing the questions of cache currency and completeness using predicate descriptions and suggest solutions that promote good dynamic behavior. Lower query-response times, reduced message traffic, higher server throughput, and better scalability are some of the expected benefits of our approach over commonly used relational server-side and object ID-based or page-based client-side caching.
Supervenience, Repeatability, & Expressivism

Expressivists traditionally explain normative supervenience by saying it is a conceptual truth. I argue against this tradition in two steps. First, I show the modal claim that stands in need of explanation has been stated imprecisely. Classic arguments in metaethics for normative supervenience and those that rely on it as a premise presuppose a constraint on the supervenience base that is rarely (if ever) made explicit: the repeatability of the non-normative properties on which the normative supervenes. Non-normative properties are repeatable when it is possible for numerically distinct individuals to share them. Second, I show if the modal truth that stands in need of explanation entails that there are individuals exactly alike in repeatable non-normative respects that cannot normatively differ, then standard expressivist accounts of normative supervenience as a conceptual truth are unsuccessful. Expressivist metasemantics for normative terms, together with constitutive facts about the non-cognitive attitudes essentially involved in normative thought, strongly suggest that repeatable supervenience could not be a conceptual truth. I argue, finally, that although repeatable supervenience bears the marks of a conceptual truth, expressivists should be content to treat it as an ordinary normative truth, and to explain it the same way they explain other normative truths.
Determinants of cyber readiness

Why are some countries better prepared against cyberattacks than others? Whilst previous studies have revealed discrepancies in countries’ cyber readiness, there has not been any rigorous analysis ...
Distributed Generalized Cross-Validation for Divide-and-Conquer Kernel Ridge Regression and Its Asymptotic Optimality

Tuning parameter selection is of critical importance for kernel ridge regression. To date, a data-driven tuning method for divide-and-conquer kernel ridge regression (d-KRR) has been lacking in the...
Modeling of Dynamic Rock–Fluid Interaction Using Coupled 3-D Discrete Element and Lattice Boltzmann Methods

Scour of rock is a challenging and interesting problem that combines rock mechanics and hydraulics of turbulent flow. On a practical level, rock erosion is a critical issue facing many of the world’s dams at which excessive scour of the dam foundation or spillway can compromise the stability of the dam resulting in significant remediation costs, if not direct personal property damage or even loss of life. This interaction between the blocky rock mass and water is analyzed by directly modeling the solid and fluid phases—the individual polyhedral blocks are modeled using the discrete element method (DEM) while water is modeled using the lattice Boltzmann method (LBM). The LBM mesh is entirely independent of the DEM discretization, making it possible to refine the LBM mesh such that transient and varied fluid pressures acting on the rock surfaces are directly modeled. This provides the capability to investigate the effect of water pressure inside the fractured rock mass, along potential sliding planes, and can be extended to rock falls and slides into standing bodies of water such as lakes and reservoirs. Results show that the coupled DEM–LBM implementation is able to accurately capture the interaction between polyhedral rock blocks and fluid by analytically solving for the solid volume fraction in the coupling computations using convex optimization and simplex integration; however, further performance improvements are necessary to simulate realistic, field-scale problems. Particularly, adaptive mesh refinement and multigrid methods implemented in a parallel computing environment will be essential for capturing the highly computationally intensive and multiscale nature of rock–fluid interaction.
Synthesis of the bifunctional BINOL ligands and their applications in the asymmetric additions to carbonyl compounds

Abstract Efficient one-step syntheses of the bifunctional BINOL and H8BINOL ligands (S)-6 and (S)-8 have been developed from the reaction of BINOL and H8BINOL with morpholinomethanol, respectively. The X-ray analyses of these compounds have revealed their structural similarity and difference. The bifunctional H8BINOL (S)-8 is found to be highly enantioselective for the reaction of diphenylzinc with many aliphatic and aromatic aldehydes and especially is the most enantioselective catalyst for linear aliphatic aldehydes. Unlike other catalysts developed for the diphenylzinc addition which often require the addition of a significant amount of diethylzinc with cooling (or heating) the reaction mixture in order to achieve high enantioselectivity, using (S)-8 needs no additive and gives excellent results at room temperature. (S)-8 in combination with diethylzinc and Ti(OiPr)4 can catalyze the highly enantioselective phenylacetylene addition to aromatic aldehydes. It can also promote the phenylacetylene addition to acetophenone at room temperature though the enantioselectivity is not very high yet. Without using Ti(OiPr)4 and a Lewis base additive, (S)-8 in combination with diethylzinc can catalyze the reaction of methyl propiolate with an aldehyde to form the highly functional γ-hydroxy-α,β-acetylenic esters except that the enantioselectivity is low at this stage. The bifunctional BINOL ligand (S)-6 in combination with Me2AlCl is found to be a highly enantioselective catalyst for the addition of TMSCN to both aromatic and aliphatic aldehydes.
Gamma-Ray Burst Hubble Diagram to z = 4.5

Gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) are tremendous explosions visible across most of the universe, certainly out to redshifts of z = 4.5 and likely out to z ~ 10. Recently, GRBs have been found to have a roughly constant explosive energy as well as to have two luminosity indicators (the spectral lag time and the variability) that can be used to derive the burst's luminosity distance from the gamma-ray light curve alone. There currently exists enough information to calibrate luminosity distances and independent redshifts for nine bursts. From these, a GRB Hubble diagram can be constructed, in which the observed shape of the curve provides a record of the expansion history of our universe. The current nine-burst diagram is sparse, yet formal limits can be placed on the mass density of a flat universe. This first GRB Hubble diagram provides a proof of concept for a new technique in cosmology at very high redshifts. With the launch of the Swift satellite in 2003, we should get ~120 bursts to produce a Hubble diagram impervious to all effects of dust extinction and out to redshifts impossible to reach by any other method.
Copper-Catalyzed Cross-Coupling of Aryl- and Heteroaryltriethoxysilanes with Aryl and Heteroaryl Iodides and Bromides

Copper(I)-catalyzed coupling of aryl- and heteroaryltriethoxysilanes with aryl and heteroaryl iodides is described. The transformation also proceeds with activated aryl bromides, but in this case it requires a stoichiometric amount of the catalyst for best product yields. The current reaction requires a P,N-based bidentate ligand for aryl–aryl coupling while it proceeds without external ligands for aryl–heteroaryl coupling to afford good product yields. The reaction protocol can also be applied to achieve biarylation of diiodoarenes in reasonable yields.
Total synthesis of (±)-rhopaloic acid A

Abstract A six-step synthesis of rhopaloic acid A ( 1E ) was accomplished in 25% overall yield using the Pd(II)-mediated cyclization and methoxycarbonylation of allenyl alcohol 3 , which affords 83% of a 6:1 mixture of tetrahydropyranylacrylates 2 and 8 , as the key step.
Wasserstein covariance for multiple random densities

A common feature of methods for analyzing samples of probability density functions is that they respect the geometry inherent to the space of densities. Once a metric is specified for this space, the Frechet mean is typically used to quantify and visualize the average density from the sample. For one-dimensional densities, the Wasserstein metric is popular due to its theoretical appeal and interpretive value as an optimal transport metric, leading to the Wasserstein-Frechet mean or barycenter as the mean density. We extend the existing methodology for samples of densities in two key directions. First, motivated by applications in neuroimaging, we consider dependent density data, where a $p$-vector of univariate random densities is observed for each sampling unit. Second, we introduce a Wasserstein covariance measure and propose intuitively appealing estimators for both fixed and diverging $p$, where the latter corresponds to continuously-indexed densities. We also give theory demonstrating consistency and asymptotic normality, while accounting for errors introduced in the unavoidable preparatory density estimation step. The utility of the Wasserstein covariance matrix is demonstrated through applications to functional connectivity in the brain using functional magnetic resonance imaging data and to the secular evolution of mortality for various countries.
Microtubule minus-end aster organization is driven by processive HSET-tubulin clusters

Higher-order structures of the microtubule (MT) cytoskeleton are comprised of two architectures: bundles and asters. Although both architectures are critical for cellular function, the molecular pathways that drive aster formation are poorly understood. Here, we study aster formation by human minus-end-directed kinesin-14 (HSET/KIFC1). We show that HSET is incapable of forming asters from preformed, nongrowing MTs, but rapidly forms MT asters in the presence of soluble (non-MT) tubulin. HSET binds soluble (non-MT) tubulin via its N-terminal tail domain to form heterogeneous HSET-tubulin clusters containing multiple motors. Cluster formation induces motor processivity and rescues the formation of asters from nongrowing MTs. We then show that excess soluble (non-MT) tubulin stimulates aster formation in HeLa cells overexpressing HSET during mitosis. We propose a model where HSET can toggle between MT bundle and aster formation in a manner governed by the availability of soluble (non-MT) tubulin.
Disassembly of Actin and Keratin Networks by Aurora B Kinase at the Midplane of Cleaving Xenopus laevis Eggs.

Summary The large length scale of Xenopus laevis eggs facilitates observation of bulk cytoplasm dynamics far from the cortex during cytokinesis. The first furrow ingresses through the egg midplane, which is demarcated by chromosomal passenger complex (CPC) localized on microtubule bundles at the boundary between asters. Using an extract system, we found that local kinase activity of the Aurora B kinase (AURKB) subunit of the CPC caused disassembly of F-actin and keratin between asters and local softening of the cytoplasm as assayed by flow patterns. Beads coated with active CPC mimicked aster boundaries and caused AURKB-dependent disassembly of F-actin and keratin that propagated ∼40 μm without microtubules and much farther with microtubules present. Consistent with extract observations, we observed disassembly of the keratin network between asters in zygotes fixed before and during 1st cytokinesis. We propose that active CPC at aster boundaries locally reduces cytoplasmic stiffness by disassembling actin and keratin networks. Possible functions of this local disassembly include helping sister centrosomes move apart after mitosis, preparing a soft path for furrow ingression, and releasing G-actin from internal networks to build cortical networks that support furrow ingression.
Recent advances in biaryl-type bisphosphine ligands

Biaryl-type bisphosphine ligands of recent vintage and their effective applications to asymmetric syntheses are reviewed. The report contains 155 references.
Kahakamides A and B, new neosidomycin metabolites from a marine-derived actinomycete

Abstract Two new indole nucleosides kahakamides A ( 1 ) and B ( 2 ) were isolated from the actinomycete Nocardiopsis dassonvillei , obtained from a shallow water sediment sample collected on the island of Kauai, Hawaii. Compounds 1 and 2 are related to the neosidomycin antibiotics, a group of rare indole- N -glycosides, and their structures were determined using spectroscopic methods. Compound 1 exhibited antimicrobial activity toward the Gram positive bacterium Bacillus subtilis .
3,5-Disubstituted 2-Aminopyridines via Nickel-Catalyzed Cycloaddition of Terminal Alkynes and Cyanamides

The regioselectivity of the Ni/SIPr-catalyzed cycloaddition of terminal alkynes and cyanamides was explored. In general, 3,5-disubstituted 2-aminopyridines were formed as the major product.
GEM-DISUBSTITUENT EFFECTS IN SMALL RING FORMATION : NOVEL KETAL RING SIZE EFFECT

Abstract While reaction of the bromoalkene with a 5-membered ketal 6a with tributyltin hydride gave only the acyclic product 18a , reaction of the corresponding bromoalkene with a 6-membered ketal 6b gave good yields of the cyclobutane 17b , in a novel ketal ring size effect. Also the gem -dicarboalkoxy effect was operative in these systems, e.g., cyclization of the bromo alkene triester 11a afforded reasonable yields of the cyclobutane 19 .
Molecular mechanisms of human papillomavirus-related carcinogenesis in head and neck cancer

This review examines the general cellular and molecular underpinnings of human papillomavirus (HPV)-related carcinogenesis in the context of head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) and focuses on HPV-positive oropharyngeal squamous cell carcinoma in areas for which specific data is available. It covers the major pathways dysregulated in HPV-positive HNSCC and the genome-wide changes associated with this disease.