cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Arithmetic of abelian varieties in Artin-Schreier extensions

We study abelian varieties defined over function fields of curves in positive characteristic p, focusing on their arithmetic within the system of Artin-Schreier extensions. First, we prove that the L-function of such an abelian variety vanishes to high order at the center point of its functional equation under a parity condition on the conductor. Second, we develop an Artin-Schreier variant of a construction of Berger. This yields a new class of Jacobians over function fields for which the Birch and Swinnerton-Dyer con- jecture holds. Third, we give a formula for the rank of the Mordell-Weil groups of these Jacobians in terms of the geometry of their fibers of bad reduction and homomorphisms between Jacobians of auxiliary Artin-Schreier curves. We illustrate these theorems by computing the rank for explicit examples of Jaco- bians of arbitrary dimension g, exhibiting Jacobians with bounded rank and others with unbounded rank in the tower of Artin-Schreier extensions. Fi- nally, we compute the Mordell-Weil lattices of an isotrivial elliptic curve and a family of non-isotrivial elliptic curves. The latter exhibits an exotic phenom- enon whereby the angles between lattice vectors are related to point counts on elliptic curves over finite fields. Our methods also yield new results about supersingular factors of Jacobians of Artin-Schreier curves. MSC2000: Primary 11G10, 11G40, 14G05; Secondary 11G05, 11G30, 14H25, 14J20, 14K15
Technological advances in nanoscale biomaterials: the future of synthetic vascular graft design

Currently, autologous veins are the first choice for patients in need of bypass grafting materials. However, due to either pre-existing conditions or previous bypass surgery, some patients lack the necessary amount of host tissue for such procedures. Unfortunately, current synthetic vascular grafts of less than 6 mm in diameter have been plagued by a variety of problems. For this reason, there has been significant research aimed at finding more suitable small-diameter vascular graft materials. In order to improve vascular cell functions on such synthetic materials, several techniques are currently under development that attempt to mimic the natural nanometer architecture of the vascular basement membrane. This review presents several processes including colloidal lithography, chemical etching, electrospinning and solid free-form fabrication that could play a role in the future of vascular nanostructured biomaterial development.
Equilibrium default cycles

This paper analyzes Markov equilibria in a model of strategic lending in which (i) agents cannot commit to long-term contracts, (ii) contracts are incomplete, and (iii) incumbent lenders can coordinate their actions. Default cycles occur endogenously over time along every equilibrium path. After a sequence of bad shocks, the borrower in a competitive market accumulates debt so large that the incumbent lenders exercise monopoly power. Even though the incumbents could maintain this power forever, they find it profitable to let the borrower regain access to the competitive market after a sequence of good shocks. Equilibria are computed numerically, and their attributes are qualitatively consistent with numerous known empirical facts on sovereign lending. In addition, the model predicts that a borrower who accumulates debt overhang will regain access to the competitive credit market only after good shocks. This prediction is shown to be consistent with data on emerging market economies.
Complementarity endures: no firewall for an infalling observer

We argue that the complementarity picture, as interpreted as a reference frame change represented in quantum gravitational Hilbert space, does not suffer from the “firewall paradox” recently discussed by Almheiri, Marolf, Polchinski, and Sully. A quantum state described by a distant observer evolves unitarily, with the evolution law well approximated by semi-classical field equations in the region away from the (stretched) horizon. And yet, a classical infalling observer does not see a violation of the equivalence principle, and thus a firewall, at the horizon. The resolution of the paradox lies in careful considerations on how a (semi-)classical world arises in unitary quantum mechanics describing the whole universe/multiverse.
Variational Theory of Balance Systems

In this work, we apply the Poincare–Cartan formalism of Classical Field Theory to study the systems of balance equations (balance systems). We introduce the partial k-jet bundles of the configurational bundle π : Y → X and study their basic properties: partial Cartan structure, prolongation of vector fields, etc. A constitutive relation C of a balance system is realized as the mapping between a (partial) k-jet bundle and the extended dual bundle similar to the Legendre mapping of the Lagrangian Field Theory. The invariant (variational) form of the balance system corresponding to a constitutive relation is studied. Special cases of balance systems — Lagrangian systems of order 1 with arbitrary sources and RET (Rational Extended Thermodynamics) systems are characterized in geometrical terms. The action of automorphisms of the bundle π on the constitutive mappings is studied and it is shown that the symmetry group of acts on the sheaf of solutions of balance system . A suitable version of Noether theorem for an action of a symmetry group is presented together with the special forms for semi-Lagrangian and RET balance systems. Examples of energy momentum and gauge symmetries balance laws are provided. At the end, we introduce the secondary balance laws for a balance system and classify these laws for the Cattaneo heat propagation system.
Improved efficiency for private stable matching

At Financial Crypto 2006, Golle presented a novel framework for the privacy preserving computation of a stable matching (stable marriage). We show that the communication complexity of Golle's main protocol is substantially greater than what was claimed in that paper, in part due to surprising pathological behavior of Golle's variant of the Gale-Shapley stable matching algorithm. We also develop new protocols in Golle's basic framework with greatly reduced communication complexity.
Consumer information in a market for expert services

Abstract We present a model of credence goods in which the consumers are heterogenous in terms of the valuation they place for getting a serious problem fixed. We introduce consumer information into this framework by assuming that, prior to visiting an expert, some consumers receive an information signal about whether they have a serious or a minor problem. We show that when the fraction of consumers with low willingness to pay is sufficiently high, the expert does not cheat any low valuation consumer regardless of their information status, but cheats the high valuation consumers: those high-valuation consumers with bad signals are the most frequent victims of cheating, whereas those with good signals are the least likely victims. When the fraction of consumers with low willingness to pay is below a certain threshold, however, the unique equilibrium involves no cheating.
Design and analysis of fast text compression based on quasi-arithmetic coding

Abstract We give a detailed algorithm for fast text compression. Our algorithm, related to the PPM method, simplifies the modeling phase by eliminating the escape mechanism and speeds up coding by using a combination of quasi-arithmetic coding and Rice coding. We provide details of the use of quasi-arithmetic code tables, and analyze their compression performance. Our Fast PPM method is shown experimentally to be almost twice as fast as the PPMC method, while giving comparable compression.
Effects of urbanization on stream water quality in the city of Atlanta, Georgia, USA

A long-term stream water quality monitoring network was established in the city of Atlanta, Georgia during 2003 to assess baseline water quality conditions and the effects of urbanization on stream water quality. Routine hydrologically based manual stream sampling, including several concurrent manual point and equal width increment sampling, was conducted ¾12 times annually at 21 stations, with drainage areas ranging from 3Ð7 to 232 km 2 . Eleven of the stations are real-time (RT) stations having continuous measures of stream stage/discharge, pH, dissolved oxygen, specific conductance, water temperature and turbidity, and automatic samplers for stormwater collection. Samples were analyzed for field parameters, and a broad suite of water quality and sediment-related constituents. Field parameters and concentrations of major ions, metals, nutrient species and coliform bacteria among stations were evaluated and with respect to watershed characteristics and plausible sources from 2003 through September 2007. Most constituent concentrations are much higher than nearby reference streams. Concentrations are statistically different among stations for several constituents, despite high variability both within and among stations. Routine manual sampling, automatic sampling during stormflows and RT water quality monitoring provided sufficient information about urban stream water quality variability to evaluate causes of water quality differences among streams. Fecal coliform bacteria concentrations of most samples exceeded Georgia’s water quality standard for any water-usage class. High chloride concentrations occur at three stations and are hypothesized to be associated with discharges of chlorinated combined sewer overflows, drainage of swimming pool(s) and dissolution and transport during rainstorms of CaCl2, a deicing salt applied to roads during winter storms. One stream was affected by dissolution and transport of ammonium alum [NH4Al(SO4)2] from an alum-manufacturing plant; streamwater has low pH (<5), low alkalinity and high metals concentrations. Several trace metals exceed acute and chronic water quality standards and high concentrations are attributed to washoff from impervious surfaces. Published in 2009 by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Khovanov-Rozansky homology and topological strings

We conjecture a relation between the sl(N) knot homology, recently introduced by Khovanov and Rozansky, and the spectrum of BPS states captured by open topological strings. This conjecture leads to new regularities among the sl(N) knot homology groups and suggests that they can be interpreted directly in topological string theory. We use this approach in various examples to predict the sl(N) knot homology groups for all values of N. We verify that our predictions pass some non-trivial checks.
Key constraints for rural non-farm activity in Tanzania: combining investment climate and household surveys

We use a survey of small rural enterprises from Tanzania to identify subjective as well as objective obstacles to expansion and productivity of the country's rural non-farm sector. Our results suggest that infrastructure constraints significantly reduce participation in the sector and investment and productivity by existing enterprises. Such constraints are particularly harmful for small enterprises, suggesting that policies to improve delivery of key public services can provide a basis for rural non-farm development, with possible knock-on effects on poverty reduction. Copyright 2009 The author 2008. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Centre for the Study of African Economies. All rights reserved. For permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oxfordjournals.org, Oxford University Press.
Enantiopure 2,3-dihydro-4-pyridones as synthetic intermediates: asymmetric synthesis of 1-deoxynojirimycin

Abstract An asymmetric synthesis of 1-deoxynojirimycin ( 2 ) mediated by a chiral auxiliary is reported. The dihydropyridone 4 was converted to diol 11 in three steps by acetoxylation, hydrolysis, and stereoselective reduction. Dihydroxylation of 11 followed by catalytic reduction afforded 2 .
A network economic game theory model of a service-oriented internet with choices and quality competition

This paper develops a new dynamic network economic model of Cournot-Nash competition for a service-oriented Internet in the case of service differentiation and quality competition. Each service provider seeks to maximize its own profit by determining its service volumes and service quality. We utilize variational inequality theory for the formulation of the governing Nash equilibrium as well as for the computational approach. We then construct the projected dynamical systems model, which provides a continuous-time evolution of the service providers service volumes and service quality levels, and whose set of stationary points coincides with the set of solutions to the variational inequality problem. We recall stability analysis results using a monotonicity approach and construct a discrete-time version of the continuous-time adjustment process, which yields an algorithm, with closed form expressions at each iteration. The algorithm is then utilized to compute the solutions to several numerical examples. A sensitivity analysis is also conducted.
HOST-HOST communication protocol in the ARPA network

The Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA) Computer Network (hereafter referred to as the "ARPA network") is one of the most ambitious computer networks attempted to date. The types of machines and operating systems involved in the network vary widely. For example, the computers at the first four sites are an XDS 940 (Stanford Research Institute), an IBM 360/75 (University of California, Santa Barbara), an XDS SIGMA-7 (University of California, Los Angeles), and a DEC PDP-10 (University of Utah). The only commonality among the network membership is the use of highly interactive time-sharing systems; but, of course, these are all different in external appearance and implementation. Furthermore, no one node is in control of the network. This has insured generality and reliability but complicates the software.
Food-based safety nets and related programs

This paper discusses the range of food-based transfers that are typically used in social safety net programs. The authors have tried to provide guidance as to the appropriate context for different kinds of programs, the necessary operational considerations in implementing them, and reasonable expectations for their effectiveness in achieving a variety of objectives. Safety net programs have the goal of assuring household income, either directly or through the provision of goods and services. However, food-based programs are usually implemented with other goals in mind, related to dietary adequacy, nutrition and health and to the increased use of social services that contribute to human capital formation. The programs discussed here include the direct provision of food and the provision of benefits that are linked to food. Because of the potential costs and distortions involved in using food-based programs, cash-based programs may be considered as the benchmark against which food-based programs should be judged. It is very difficult to generalize about the effectiveness or cost-effectiveness of different kinds of food-based safety net programs because the details of implementation-such as the size of the transfer or wage, its specific composition, the target group reached, and the severity of the problem addressed-vary so widely. It is these details, not only the choice of program, that determine both cost and impact.
Limitations Of Infrared Thermography

The state of the art of quantitative infrared thermography is addressed. We are asking more and more of thermography in the field of energy conservation. An energy and dollar conscious public wants to know how much heat is being lost and how much money can be saved by retrofit. Many mission oriented approaches have been developed to address these questions. However, many fundamental questions about how thermography works and how far its capabilities can be pushed have not been addressed. In addition, the theoretical and practical limits of doing benefit cost studies with thermography have not been seriously addressed. This paper discusses the limitations of the current technology and describes many unanswered but important questions facing the future use of thermography for quantitative heat loss analysis.
The Niche as a Theoretical Tool

AbstractFor several decades, the concept of the niche has enriched sociological theory. The niche represents the position or function of an entity, such as an organization or population of organizations, within a larger community environment. Using the concept of the niche allows researchers to go beyond classifying entities to understanding (a) their life chances under different and changing environmental conditions and (b) how they interact under the competitive conditions induced by a finite environment. We briefly review the intellectual history of the niche concept as it came from bioecology to sociology. The bulk of the article reviews the two major streams of sociological research that use the niche concept: the population ecology of organizations and McPherson's ecology of affiliation. Finally, we survey commonalities between these approaches and highlight new directions, including applications that take the niche concept well beyond its origins in organizational studies.
Effective elastic modulus of underfill material for flip-chip applications

In this paper, a micromechanics model based on the Mori-Tanaka method was developed to estimate the elastic modulus of underfill materials. An explicit expression of the underfill modulus was derived as a function of filler content and the properties of the matrix and the fillers. Predictions of the modulus from this theory were compared with experimentally measured values. Excellent agreement was observed.
Information, Trading, and Product Market Interactions: Cross-sectional Implications of Informed Trading

I present a simple model of informed trading in which asset values are derived from imperfectly competitive product markets and private information events occur at individual firms. The model predicts that informed traders may have incentives to make information-based trades in the stocks of competitors, especially when events occur at firms with large market shares. In the context of 759 earnings announcements, I use intraday transactions data to test the hypothesis that net order flow and returns in the stocks of nonannouncing competitors have information content for announcing firms. HOW DOES AN INFORMED TRADER’S PROPENSITY to trade on inside information in a given company’s stock vary with industry and firm characteristics? Using a simple model of informed trading in which asset values are derived from imperfectly competitive product markets and private information events occur at individual firms, I examine the question of where informed traders choose to transact. 1 This paper adds to existing research by explicitly linking informed trading in stock markets to the structure of competition in product markets. It also provides new evidence on the process of information diffusion across stocks as we vary the location at which private information is observed. Given privately observed information at a particular location, informed traders may choose to trade in the stocks of related firms (in the same industry, for example). ∗Heather E. Tookes is at the Yale School of Management. This paper is based on part of my dis
On the mix‐down times of dynamically active potential vorticity filaments

A simple model is used to study the evolution of potential vorticity filaments, viewed in cross-section, subject to steady shear and deformation flows representative of the large-scale atmospheric circulation. It is found that the balanced, ageostrophic circulation induced by the anomalous potential vorticity can cause the evolution of a dynamically active filament to differ substantially from that of a dynamically passive filament in a similar background flow. It is suggested that estimates of the mix-down time of material contained in atmospheric filaments need to be corrected to allow for this effect.
GOLOD–SHAFAREVICH GROUPS: A SURVEY

In this paper we survey the main results about Golod–Shafarevich groups and their applications in algebra, number theory and topology.
Going the Distance: The Price of Projecting Power

The central purpose of this article is to establish the relationship between power projection, technology, and economic power. How economically powerful does a state need to be before it can afford the capital intensive technologies, foreign bases, and military and logistical forces associated with global power projection? The specific research question we focus on in this article is: What determines how far states send their military forces? We argue that as the costs associated with projecting power decrease or as the wealth necessary to project power increases, states will project power more frequently and at greater distances. We use a system level time series analysis from 1870–1936 and a dispute level analysis on all militarized international disputes from 1870–2000 to test these propositions. This article is the first to demonstrate empirically that the distance and frequency of power projection is a function of the cost of projecting power. We close with a discussion of contemporary states buildin...
Analysis of multiconjugate adaptive optics.

We investigate a method for widening the compensated field of view of an adaptive-optical telescope with multiple deformable mirrors and an array of artificial guide stars. An ensemble of wavefront sensor measurements, made with the individual guide stars in the array, is used to estimate the contribution of a region of the atmosphere to the cumulative phase distortion. Our analysis includes the effects of measurement noise, wavefront-sensor sampling, and reconstruction of the wave front from slope measurements. We performed numerical computations for an atmosphere consisting of two turbulent layers: one at 1% of the guide-star altitude with 90% of the total turbulence strength and one at 10% of the guide-star altitude with the remaining 10% of the total turbulence strength. If we assume that r0 = 0.15 m and that a photon-limited wave-front sensor detecting 50 photons/r0-sized subaperture is used, the results indicate that a 0.9-m-square telescope with a diagonal field of view of ~92 μrad ≈ 19 arcsec can use two deformable mirrors, four laser guide stars, and a natural tilt reference star to achieve an rms residual phase error that is <λ/7 over its entire field of view.
Three-dimensional surface reconstruction from multistatic SAR images

This paper discusses reconstruction of three-dimensional surfaces from multiple bistatic synthetic aperture radar (SAR) images. Techniques for surface reconstruction from multiple monostatic SAR images already exist, including interferometric processing and stereo SAR. We generalize these methods to obtain algorithms for bistatic interferometric SAR and bistatic stereo SAR. We also propose a framework for predicting the performance of our multistatic stereo SAR algorithm, and, from this framework, we suggest a metric for use in planning strategic deployment of multistatic assets.
Sanctuary markets and antidumping: an empirical analysis of U.S. exporters

Antidumping proponents in the United States often argue that foreign firms use profits obtained behind home market barriers to “subsidize” allegedly “unfair” pricing abroad. This paper examines this “sanctuary market” hypothesis for antidumping petitions filed against U.S. manufacturing exporters. Econometric results suggest that there is little evidence that the U.S. manufacturing firms facing antidumping actions abroad are beneficiaries of a home market sanctuary during the 1994–2007 time period. This evidence suggests that current WTO disciplines are inadequate to protect firms from antidumping investigations that do not benefit from sanctuary markets.
Monomolecular Films and Long-Range Dipole Forces

Abstract Domain structures of ferromagnetic substances and lipid monolayers at the air-water interface are compared. It will be seen that there are some remarkable qualitative similarities between these seemingly unrelated systems. These similarities arise from the effects of long-range dipole forces.
Sex differences in sports across 50 societies

Sports have been frequently explored in cross-cultural studies, yet scant attention has been paid to female participation. Here we coded the occurrence of sports and related activities for males and females in the societies comprising the Human Relations Area Files (HRAF) probability sample. We then tested several predictions derived from evolutionary theory. As predicted, in all 50 societies with documented sports, there were more male sports than female sports; hunting and combat sports were almost exclusively male activities; and the sex difference in sports was greater in patriarchal than in nonpatriarchal societies. These results show that a robust sex difference in direct physical competition co-occurs with meaningful variation in its expression.
Nonholonomic path planning with inequality constraints

This paper presents an algorithm for finding a kinematically feasible path which satisfies a given set of nonholonomic constraints while enforcing both equality and inequality constraints on the configuration vector. The path planning problem is transformed from a finite time nonlinear control problem into a static root finding problem which is iteratively solved. By using an exterior penalty function method, the constrained root finding problem is converted to an unconstrained problem. Convergence of the algorithm depends upon a certain gradient operator being full rank. It has recently been shown that, in the absence of any configuration inequality constraints, the full rank condition is generic. In this paper, we show the full rank condition for a special inequality constraint case. An experiment in which the algorithm is applied to an actual double tractor-trailer vehicle is presented. >
A Symbolic Dynamical System Approach to Lossy Source Coding with Feedforward

It is known that modeling an information source via a symbolic dynamical system evolving over the unit interval, leads to a natural lossless compression scheme attaining the entropy rate of the source, under general conditions. We extend this notion to the lossy compression regime assuming a feedforward link is available, by modeling a source via a two-dimensional symbolic dynamical system where one component corresponds to the compressed signal, and the other essentially corresponds to the feedforward signal. For memoryless sources and an arbitrary bounded distortion measure, we show this approach leads to a family of simple deterministic compression schemes that attain the rate-distortion function of the source. The construction is dual to a recent optimal scheme for channel coding with feedback.
Guiding Patients Through the Choices for Treating Vestibular Schwannomas: Balancing Options and Ensuring Informed Consent

Counseling patients who are diagnosed with vestibular schwannomas, formerly known as acoustic neuromas, can be challenging. The health care provider has the responsibility to explain, in understandable language, to the patient or legal representative the proposed treatment options, risks and complications associated with each form of treatment, and alternatives to treatment, including no therapy. Patients should be encouraged to gather information before making a treatment decision. For the physicians managing these patients, information should be delivered in a balanced way to ensure patient understanding of their options leading to adequate informed consent.
Insecure Property Rights and Government Ownership of Firms

We develop a theory of the ownership of firms in an environment without secure property rights against state encroachment. "Private ownership" leads to excessive revenue hiding and "state ownership" (i.e., national government ownership) fails to provide incentives for managers and local governments in a credible way. Because "local government ownership" integrates local government activities and business activities, local government may better serve the interests of the national government, and thus local government ownership may credibly limit state predation, increase local public goods provision, and reduce costly revenue hiding. We use our theory to interpret the relative success of local government-owned firms during China's transition to a market economy.
Cell-cycle regulated transcription associates with DNA replication timing in yeast and human.

Background Eukaryotic DNA replication follows a specific temporal program, with some genomic regions consistently replicating earlier than others, yet what determines this program is largely unknown. Highly transcribed regions have been observed to replicate in early S-phase in all plant and animal species studied to date, but this relationship is thought to be absent from both budding yeast and fission yeast. No association between cell-cycle regulated transcription and replication timing has been reported for any species.
The Political Determinants of Federal Expenditure at the State Level

It has been shown that states with higher per capita senate representation have higher federal spending per capita (Atlas, C. M., Gilligan, T. A., Hendershott, R. J. and Zupan, M. A. (1995). American Economic Review 85: 624–629). With a more recent data sample, more highly disaggregated data and a different set of political control variables, we are able to confirm the main result of Atlas et al. that per capita senate representation is positively related to federal expenditure. This effect is strongest for procurement expenditures. By contrast, we do not find support for their result that spending increases with per capita representation in the House of Representatives. Several other political variables are found to be significant in a subset of the expenditure equations.
Answer sets for logic programs with arbitrary abstract constraint atoms

In this paper, we present two alternative approaches to defining answer sets for logic programs with arbitrary types of abstract constraint atoms (c-atoms). These approaches generalize the fixpoint-based and the level mapping based answer set semantics of normal logic programs to the case of logic programs with arbitrary types of c-atoms. The results are four different answer set definitions which are equivalent when applied to normal logic programs. The standard fixpoint-based semantics of logic programs is generalized in two directions, called answer set by reduct and answer set by complement. These definitions, which differ from each other in the treatment of negation-as-failure (naf) atoms, make use of an immediate consequence operator to perform answer set checking, whose definition relies on the notion of conditional satisfaction of c-atoms w.r.t. a pair of interpretations. The other two definitions, called strongly and weakly well-supported models, are generalizations of the notion of well-supported models of normal logic programs to the case of programs with c-atoms. As for the case of fixpoint-based semantics, the difference between these two definitions is rooted in the treatment of naf atoms. We prove that answer sets by reduct (resp. by complement) are equivalent to weakly (resp. strongly) well-supported models of a program, thus generalizing the theorem on the correspondence between stable models and well-supported models of a normal logic program to the class of programs with c-atoms. We show that the newly defined semantics coincide with previously introduced semantics for logic programs with monotone c-atoms, and they extend the original answer set semantics of normal logic programs. We also study some properties of answer sets of programs with c-atoms, and relate our definitions to several semantics for logic programs with aggregates presented in the literature.
Multicolor Ramsey Numbers For Complete Bipartite Versus Complete Graphs

Let H1,...,Hk be graphs. The multicolor Ramsey number rH1,...,Hk is the minimum integer r such that in every edge-coloring of Kr by k colors, there is a monochromatic copy of Hi in color i for some 1i¾?ii¾?k. In this paper, we investigate the multicolor Ramsey number rK2,t,...,K2,t,Km, determining the asymptotic behavior up to a polylogarithmic factor for almost all ranges of t and m. Several different constructions are used for the lower bounds, including the random graph and explicit graphs built from finite fields. A technique of Alon and Rodl using the probabilistic method and spectral arguments is employed to supply tight lower bounds. A sample result isc1m2tlog4mti¾?rK2,t,K2,t,Kmi¾?c2m2tlog2mfor any t and m, where c1 and c2 are absolute constants.
Understanding the U.S. Generic Advertising System and Its Role in Information Management Among Commodities and Food Systems

Information is essential to growing demand and maintaining efficiency throughout the supply chain for any commodity. The U.S. model for facilitating producers and first handlers having a proactive role in the flow of information about their products is through commodity checkoff programs. These industry administrated programs fund generic advertising and promotions usually through a mandatory assessment. Success of any of these programs depend on the administrative structure, the message, the ability to judge performance, and the overall equity in sharing in the program created benefits.
A general method for the preparation of 2,3,5-trisubstituted-furo[3,2-b]pyridines

Abstract The preparation of 2,3,5-trisubstituted-furo[3,2- b ]pyridines via a Pd(0)-catalyzed intramolecular cyclization of methyl 4-(6-chloro-2-iodopyridin-3-yloxy)-substituted-butenoates 9a – f is described. This approach was both efficient and general, and provided the highly functionalized heterocyclic ring system in high yield. Among the several examples provided is the preparation of 3-[2-( N , N -dimethylamino)ethyl]-5-(4-fluorobenzoyl)amino-2-methylfuro[3,2- b ]pyridine 4 , a selective 5-HT 1F receptor agonist.
Intramolecular alkene hydroaminations catalyzed by simple amido derivatives of the Group 3 metals

Bis(trimethylsilyl) amides of the type Ln[N(TMS)2]3 have been found to be competent catalysts for representative intramolecular alkene hydroaminations. The catalytic cyclization of an aminodiene proceeds in a stepwise manner to provide the corresponding monocycle and bicycle in a highly stereocontrolled manner.
Conflict management as part of an integrated exception handling approach

Collaborative design conflicts are an important type of process “exception”, i.e. a reallife contingency such as a process change, execution error or missed opportunity that leads to sub-optimal performance of a collaborative process. This chapter presents an integrated computational approach to collaborative process exception handling that avoids important weaknesses in current conflict management methods through the synergistic integration of conflict, workflow and rationale technology. The approach is based on an inclusive dependency language plus co ordination services for dependency capture, process enactment and exception handling. An initial implementation of this model called “iDCSS” is presented and challenges for future evolution of this technology are identified.
Respiratory Therapist Job Perceptions: The Impact of Protocol Use

BACKGROUND: Demand for respiratory care services and staffing levels of respiratory therapists (RTs) is expected to increase over the next several years. Hence, RT job satisfaction will be a critical factor in determining recruitment and retention of RTs. Determinants of RT job satisfaction measures have received little attention in the literature. This study examines the use of respiratory care protocols and associated levels of RT job satisfaction, turnover intentions, and job stress. METHODS: Four-hundred eighty-one RTs at 44 hospitals responded to an online survey regarding job satisfaction, turnover intentions, and job stress. Random coefficient modeling was used for analysis and to account for the nested structure of the data. RESULTS: Higher levels of RT protocol use were associated with higher levels of job satisfaction, lower rates of turnover intentions, and lower levels of job stress. In addition, RTs with greater experience had higher levels of job satisfaction, and RTs working at teaching hospitals had lower rates of turnover intentions. CONCLUSIONS: The study extends prior research by examining how the use of respiratory care protocols favorably affects RTs9 perceptions of job satisfaction, turnover intention, and job stress. In a time of increasing demand for respiratory care services, protocols may enhance retention of RTs.
Efficient synthesis of 3-oxygenated benzothiophene derivatives

Abstract An efficient synthesis of 2-bromo-3-aryloxybenzothiophene derivatives by a conjugate addition–elimination sequence of 2,3-dibromo benzothiophene dioxides with phenolic nucleophiles has been developed. These benzothiophene derivatives serve as important intermediates for the synthesis of SERM analogues.
Iterated snap rounding with bounded drift

Snap Rounding and its variant, Iterated Snap Rounding, are methods for converting arbitrary-precision arrangements of segments into a fixed-precision representation (we call them SR and ISR for short). Both methods approximate each original segment by a polygonal chain, and both may lead, for certain inputs, to rounded arrangements with undesirable properties: in SR the distance between a vertex and a non-incident edge of the rounded arrangement can be extremely small, inducing potential degeneracies. In ISR, a vertex and a non-incident edge are well separated, but the approximating chain may drift far away from the original segment it approximates. We propose a new variant, Iterated Snap Rounding with Bounded Drift, which overcomes these two shortcomings of the earlier methods. The new solution augments ISR with simple and efficient procedures that guarantee the quality of the geometric approximation of the original segments, while still maintaining the property that a vertex and a non-incident edge in the rounded arrangement are well separated. We investigate the properties of the new method and compare it with the earlier variants. We have implemented the new scheme on top of CGAL, the Computational Geometry Algorithms Library, and report on experimental results.
DeepSat: a learning framework for satellite imagery

Satellite image classification is a challenging problem that lies at the crossroads of remote sensing, computer vision, and machine learning. Due to the high variability inherent in satellite data, most of the current object classification approaches are not suitable for handling satellite datasets. The progress of satellite image analytics has also been inhibited by the lack of a single labeled high-resolution dataset with multiple class labels. The contributions of this paper are twofold -- (1) first, we present two new satellite datasets called SAT-4 and SAT-6, and (2) then, we propose a classification framework that extracts features from an input image, normalizes them and feeds the normalized feature vectors to a Deep Belief Network for classification. On the SAT-4 dataset, our best network produces a classification accuracy of 97.95% and outperforms three state-of-the-art object recognition algorithms, namely - Deep Belief Networks, Convolutional Neural Networks and Stacked Denoising Autoencoders by ~11%. On SAT-6, it produces a classification accuracy of 93.9% and outperforms the other algorithms by ~15%. Comparative studies with a Random Forest classifier show the advantage of an unsupervised learning approach over traditional supervised learning techniques. A statistical analysis based on Distribution Separability Criterion and Intrinsic Dimensionality Estimation substantiates the effectiveness of our approach in learning better representations for satellite imagery.
Rare Disasters and Asset Markets in the Twentieth Century

The potential for rare economic disasters explains a lot of asset-pricing puzzles. I calibrate disaster probabilities from the twentieth century global history, especially the sharp contractions associated with World War I, the Great Depression, and World War II. The puzzles that can be explained include the high equity premium, low risk-free rate, and volatile stock returns. Another mystery that may be resolved is why expected real interest rates were low in the United States during major wars, such as World War II. The model, an extension of work by Rietz, maintains the tractable framework of a representative agent, timeadditive and isoelastic preferences, and complete markets. The results hold with i.i.d. shocks to productivity growth in a Lucas-tree type economy and also with the inclusion of capital formation. The Mehra-Prescott [1985] article on the equity risk-premium puzzle has received a great deal of attention. An article published three years later by Rietz [1988] purported to solve the puzzle by bringing in low-probability economic disasters, such as the Great Depression. I think that Rietz’s basic reasoning is correct, but the profession seems to think differently, as gauged by the continued attempts to find more and more complicated ways to resolve the equity-premium puzzle. I think the major reason for skepticism about Rietz’s argument is the belief that it depends on counterfactually high probabilities and sizes of economic disasters. Thus, a key aspect of my empirical analysis is the measurement of the frequency and sizes of the international economic disasters that occurred during the twentieth century. The three principal events are World War I, the Great Depression, and World War II, but post-World War II depressions have also been significant outside of OECD countries. My analysis of these events suggests a disaster probability of 1.5–2 percent per year with a distribution of declines in per capita GDP ranging between 15 percent and 64 percent. I construct a model of the equity premium that extends Lucas
Retrospective Evaluation of the Epidemiology and Practice Variation of Dexmedetomidine Use in Invasively Ventilated Pediatric Intensive Care Admissions, 2007–2013

Objectives: The study assessed dexmedetomidine utilization and practice variation over time in ventilated pediatric intensive care (PICU) patients; and evaluated differences in hospital outcomes between high- and low-dexmedetomidine utilization hospitals. Study Design: This serial cross-sectional analysis used administrative data from PICU admissions in the Pediatric Health Information System (37 US tertiary care pediatric hospitals). Included admissions from 2007-13 had simultaneous dexmedetomidine and invasive mechanical ventilation charges, <18 years of age, excluding neonates. Patient and hospital characteristics were compared as well as hospital-level severity adjusted, indexed length of stay (LOS), charges, and mortality. Results: The utilization of dexmedetomidine increased from 6.2 to 38.2 per 100 ventilated PICU patients among pediatric hospitals. Utilization ranged from 3.8 to 62.8 per 100 in 2013. Few differences in patient demographics and no differences in hospital-level volume/severity of illness measures between high and low utilization hospitals occurred. No differences in hospital-level, severity-adjusted indexed outcomes (LOS, charges, and mortality) were found. Conclusions: Wide practice variation in utilization of dexmedetomidine for ventilated PICU patients existed even as use has increased 6-fold. Higher utilization was not associated with increased hospital charges or reduced hospital LOS. Further work should define the expected outcome benefits of dexmedetomidine and its appropriate use.
Rate analysis for detection of sparse mixtures

In this paper, we study the rate of decay of the probability of error for distinguishing between a sparse signal with noise, modeled as a sparse mixture, from pure noise. This problem has many applications in signal processing, evolutionary biology, bioinformatics, astrophysics and feature selection for machine learning. We let the mixture probability tend to zero as the number of observations tends to infinity and derive oracle rates at which the error probability can be driven to zero for a general class of signal and noise distributions. In contrast to the problem of detection of non-sparse signals, we see the log-probability of error decays sublinearly rather than linearly and is characterized through the x2-divergence rather than the Kullback-Leibler divergence. This work provides the first characterization of the rate of decay of the error probability for this problem.
Perceptions and expected immediate reactions to tornado warning polygons

To provide people with more specific information about tornado threats, the National Weather Service has replaced its county-wide warnings with smaller warning polygons that more specifically indicate the risk area. However, tornado warning polygons do not have a standardized definition regarding tornado strike probabilities (p s) so it is unclear how warning recipients interpret them. To better understand this issue, 155 participants responded to 15 hypothetical warning polygons. After viewing each polygon, they rated the likelihood of a tornado striking their location and the likelihood that they would take nine different response actions ranging from continuing normal activities to getting in a car and driving somewhere safer. The results showed participants inferred that the p s was highest at the polygon’s centroid, lower just inside the edges of the polygon, still lower (but not zero) just outside the edges of the polygon, and lowest in locations beyond that. Moreover, higher p s values were associated with lower expectations of continuing normal activities and higher expectations of seeking information from social sources (but not environmental cues) and higher expectations of seeking shelter (but not evacuating in their cars). These results indicate that most people make some errors in their p s judgments but are likely to respond appropriately to the p s they infer from the warning polygons. Overall, the findings from this study and other research can help meteorologists to better understand how people interpret the uncertainty associated with warning polygons and, thus, improve tornado warning systems.
Applicability of an extant batch respirometric assay in describing dynamics of ammonia and nitrite oxidation in a nitrifying bioreactor.

Several techniques have been proposed for biokinetic estimation of nitrification. Recently, an extant respirometric assay has been presented that yields kinetic parameters for both nitrification steps with minimal physiological change to the microorganisms during the assay. Herein, the ability of biokinetic parameter estimates from the extant respirometric assay to adequately describe concurrently obtained NH 4 + -N and NO 2 − -N substrate depletion profiles is evaluated. Based on our results, in general, the substrate depletion profiles resulted in a higher estimate of the maximum specific growth rate coefficient, μ max for both NH 4 + -N to NO 2 − -N oxidation and NO 2 − -N to NO 3 − -N oxidation compared to estimates from the extant respirograms. The trends in the kinetic parameter estimates from the different biokinetic estimation techniques are paralleled in the nature of substrate depletion profiles obtained from best-fit parameters. Based on a visual inspection, in general, best-fit parameters from optimally designed complete respirograms provided a better description of the substrate depletion profiles than estimates from isolated respirograms. Nevertheless, the sum of the squared errors for the best-fit respirometry based parameters was outside the 95% joint confidence interval computed for the best-fit substrate depletion based parameters. Notwithstanding the difference in kinetic parameter estimates determined in this study, the different biokinetic estimation techniques still are close to estimates reported in literature. Additional parameter identifiability and sensitivity analysis of parameters from substrate depletion assays revealed high precision of parameters and high parameter correlation. Although biokinetic estimation via automated extant respirometry is far more facile than via manual substrate depletion measurements, additional sensitivity analyses are needed to test the impact of differences in the resulting parameter values on continuous reactor performance.