cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Enabling Self-Healing Smart Grid Through Jamming Resilient Local Controller Switching

A key component of a smart grid is its ability to collect useful information from a power grid for enabling control centers to estimate the current states of the power grid. Such information can be delivered to the control centers via wireless or wired networks. It is envisioned that wireless technology will be widely used for local-area communication subsystems in the smart grid (e.g., in distribution networks). However, various attacks with serious impact can be launched in wireless networks such as channel jamming attacks and denial-of-service attacks. In particular, jamming attacks can cause significant damages to power grids, e.g., delayed delivery of time-critical messages can prevent control centers from properly controlling the outputs of generators to match load demands. In this paper, a communication subsystem with enhanced self-healing capability in the presence of jamming is designed via intelligent local controller switching while integrating a retransmission mechanism. The proposed framework allows sufficient readings from smart meters to be continuously collected by various local controllers to estimate the states of a power grid under various attack scenarios. The jamming probability is also analyzed considering the impact of jammer power and shadowing effects. In addition, guidelines on optimal placement of local controllers to ensure effective switching of smart meters under jamming are provided. Via theoretical, experimental and simulation studies, it is demonstrated that our proposed system is effective in maintaining communications between smart meters and local controllers even when multiple jammers are present in the network.
Relations of Preschoolers' Visual-Motor and Object Manipulation Skills With Executive Function and Social Behavior

Purpose: The purpose of this article was to examine specific linkages between early visual-motor integration skills and executive function, as well as between early object manipulation skills and social behaviors in the classroom during the preschool year. Method: Ninety-two children aged 3 to 5 years old (Mage = 4.31 years) were recruited to participate. Comprehensive measures of visual-motor integration skills, object manipulation skills, executive function, and social behaviors were administered in the fall and spring of the preschool year. Results: Our findings indicated that children who had better visual-motor integration skills in the fall had better executive function scores (B = 0.47 [0.20], p < .05, β = .27) in the spring of the preschool year after controlling for age, gender, Head Start status, and site location, but not after controlling for children's baseline levels of executive function. In addition, children who demonstrated better object manipulation skills in the fall showed significant...
Flexible processors: a promising application-specific processor design approach

A new approach to application specific processor design is presented in this paper. Existing application specific processors are either based on existing general purpose processors or custom designed special purpose processors. The availability of a new technology, the Xilinx Logic Cell Array, presents the opportunity for a new alternative. The Flexible Processor Cell is a prototype of an extremely reconfigurable application specific processor. Flexible processors can potentially provide the performance advantages of special purpose processors as well as the cost advantages of general purpose processors. The flexible processor concept opens many potential areas for future research in processor architecture and implementation. This paper presents the design, implementation, and preliminary performance evaluation of an experimental flexible processor.
Monolayer-crystal streptavidin support films provide an internal standard of cryo-EM image quality.

Analysis of images of biotinylated Escherichia coli 70S ribosome particles, bound to streptavidin affinity grids, demonstrates that the image-quality of particles can be predicted by the image-quality of the monolayer crystalline support film. The quality of the Thon rings is also a good predictor of the image-quality of particles, but only when images of the streptavidin crystals extend to relatively high resolution. When the estimated resolution of streptavidin was 5A or worse, for example, the ribosomal density map obtained from 22,697 particles went to only 9.5A, while the resolution of the map reached 4.0A for the same number of particles, when the estimated resolution of streptavidin crystal was 4A or better. It thus is easy to tell which images in a data set ought to be retained for further work, based on the highest resolution seen for Bragg peaks in the computed Fourier transforms of the streptavidin component. The refined density map obtained from 57,826 particles obtained in this way extended to 3.6A, a marked improvement over the value of 3.9A obtained previously from a subset of 52,433 particles obtained from the same initial data set of 101,213 particles after 3-D classification. These results are consistent with the hypothesis that interaction with the air-water interface can damage particles when the sample becomes too thin. Streptavidin monolayer crystals appear to provide a good indication of when that is the case.
Improving transient response of adaptive control systems using multiple models and switching

A well-known problem in adaptive control is the poor transient response which is observed when adaptation is initiated. In this paper we develop a stable strategy for improving the transient response by using multiple models of the plant to be controlled and switching between them. The models are identical except for initial estimates of the unknown plant parameters. The control to be applied is determined at every instant by the model which best approximates the plant. Simulation results are presented to indicate the improvement in performance that can be achieved. >
Inferring low-dimensional microstructure representations using convolutional neural networks

We apply recent advances in machine learning and computer vision to a central problem in materials informatics: the statistical representation of microstructural images. We use activations in a pretrained convolutional neural network to provide a high-dimensional characterization of a set of synthetic microstructural images. Next, we use manifold learning to obtain a low-dimensional embedding of this statistical characterization. We show that the low-dimensional embedding extracts the parameters used to generate the images. According to a variety of metrics, the convolutional neural network method yields dramatically better embeddings than the analogous method derived from two-point correlations alone.
Resolved Stellar Populations as Tracers of Outskirts

Galaxy haloes contain fundamental clues about the galaxy formation and evolution process: hierarchical cosmological models predict haloes to be ubiquitous and to be (at least in part) the product of past merger and/or accretion events. The advent of wide-field surveys in the last two decades has revolutionized our view of our own Galaxy and its closest “sister”, Andromeda, revealing copious tidal streams from past and ongoing accretion episodes, as well as doubling the number of their known faint satellites. The focus shall now be shifted to galaxy haloes beyond the Local Group: resolving individual stars over significant areas of galaxy haloes will enable estimates of their ages, metallicities and gradients. The valuable information collected for galaxies with a range of masses, morphologies and within diverse environments will ultimately test and quantitatively inform theoretical models of galaxy formation and shed light onto the many challenges faced by simulations on galactic scales.
Strong coupling of a single electron in silicon to a microwave photon

Silicon is vital to the computing industry because of the high quality of its native oxide and well-established doping technologies. Isotopic purification has enabled quantum coherence times on the order of seconds, thereby placing silicon at the forefront of efforts to create a solid-state quantum processor. We demonstrate strong coupling of a single electron in a silicon double quantum dot to the photonic field of a microwave cavity, as shown by the observation of vacuum Rabi splitting. Strong coupling of a quantum dot electron to a cavity photon would allow for long-range qubit coupling and the long-range entanglement of electrons in semiconductor quantum dots.
Deep Supervised Hashing with Triplet Labels

Hashing is one of the most popular and powerful approximate nearest neighbor search techniques for large-scale image retrieval. Most traditional hashing methods first represent images as off-the-shelf visual features and then produce hashing codes in a separate stage. However, off-the-shelf visual features may not be optimally compatible with the hash code learning procedure, which may result in sub-optimal hash codes. Recently, deep hashing methods have been proposed to simultaneously learn image features and hash codes using deep neural networks and have shown superior performance over traditional hashing methods. Most deep hashing methods are given supervised information in the form of pairwise labels or triplet labels. The current state-of-the-art deep hashing method DPSH [1], which is based on pairwise labels, performs image feature learning and hash code learning simultaneously by maximizing the likelihood of pairwise similarities. Inspired by DPSH [1], we propose a triplet label based deep hashing method which aims to maximize the likelihood of the given triplet labels. Experimental results show that our method outperforms all the baselines on CIFAR-10 and NUS-WIDE datasets, including the state-of-the-art method DPSH [1] and all the previous triplet label based deep hashing methods.
How is the slowdown affecting households in Latin America and the Caribbean

This paper shows evidence that suggests the economic slowdown in Latin America and the Caribbean has already translated into slowing social gains, including decelerating poverty reduction, stagnating growth of the middle class, and lower income growth. The countries of South America outperformed Mexico, Central America, and the Caribbean in poverty reduction during the decade up to 2012. But since then, a new story has emerged. In recent years, poverty reduction has been disappointing across the entire region, which seems to be converging toward low growth with slow poverty reduction and stagnant inequality. However, this apparent convergence in poverty reduction is driven by diverging labor market patterns. In a reversal of the trends seen during the commodity boom, real wages have been falling in South America and rising in Mexico, Central America, and the Caribbean. As lower economic growth is likely, the new normal will pose challenges for policy makers, in protecting the gains achieved and for societies as they face a mismatch between expectations and actual social mobility.
Glycerol Monolaurate (GML) Inhibits Human T Cell Signaling, Metabolism, and Function By Disrupting Lipid Dynamics

Glycerol Monolaurate (GML) is a naturally occurring fatty acid widely utilized in food, cosmetics, and homeopathic supplements. GML is a potent antimicrobial agent that targets a range of bacteria, fungi, and enveloped viruses. Interestingly, GML suppresses mitogen induced lymphocyte proliferation and inositol triphosphate production, suggesting that GML has immunomodulatory functions. In this study, we have mechanistically examined if GML affects the signaling, metabolism, and functional output of human primary T cells. We found that GML potently altered lipid order and disorder dynamics in the plasma membrane that resulted in reduced membrane localized clustering of the proteins LAT, PLC-γ, and AKT, events integral for proper T cell receptor (TCR) signal propagation. Altered membrane signaling events induced selective inhibition of TCR-induced phosphorylation of SLP-76, regulatory P85 subunit of PI3K, and AKT as well as abrogated calcium influx. In addition to signaling defects, GML treated cells have profoundly altered metabolism profiles characterized by suppressed oxidative phosphorylation and increased glycolysis. Functionally, GML treatment potently reduced TCR-induced production of the cytokines IL-2, IFN-γ, TNF-α, and IL-10. Our data reveal that the widely used anti-microbial agent GML alters the lipid dynamics of human T cells, leading to their defective signaling, metabolism, and function.
The Cross Section of Bank Value

We study the determinants of value creation within U.S. commercial banks. We focus on three theoretically-motivated drivers of bank value: screening and monitoring, "safe" deposit production, and synergies between deposit-taking and lending. To assess the relative contributions of each, we develop novel measures of banks' deposit productivity and asset productivity and use these measures to evaluate the cross-section of bank value. We find that variation in deposit productivity explains the majority of variation in bank value, consistent with theories emphasizing safe-asset production. We also find evidence of meaningful value creation from synergies between deposit-taking and lending. Overall, our findings suggest that banks are primarily "special" due to their unique liability structure rather than their ability to screen and monitor borrowers.
High resolution geolocation with a multi-static radar

We consider a multi-static radar where the transmitted signal is reflected from scatterers on the ground and received by multiple widely spaced sensors. Conventional geolocation algorithms are based on variants of the maximum likelihood estimator optimized for a single reflector. These algorithms have a natural resolution limit determined by the time-bandwidth product of the signal and the sensor-reflector geometry. Here we present a localization algorithm capable of resolving reflectors whose separation is less than this limit. The algorithm requires knowledge of the illuminating waveform. Two different algorithms are derived for the single snapshot and the multiple snapshot cases.
The transverse entropy functional and the Sasaki-Ricci flow

We introduce two new functionals on Sasaki manifolds, inspired by the work of Perelman, which are monotonic along the Sasaki-Ricci flow. We relate their gradient flow, via diffeomorphisms preserving the foliated structure of the manifold, to the transverse Ricci flow. Finally, when the basic first Chern class is positive, we employ these new functionals to prove a uniform $C^{0}$ bound for the transverse scalar curvature, and a uniform $C^{1}$ bound for the transverse Ricci potential along the Sasaki-Ricci flow.
Pufferfish Privacy Mechanisms for Correlated Data

Many modern databases include personal and sensitive correlated data, such as private information on users connected together in a social network, and measurements of physical activity of single subjects across time. However, differential privacy, the current gold standard in data privacy, does not adequately address privacy issues in this kind of data. This work looks at a recent generalization of differential privacy, called Pufferfish, that can be used to address privacy in correlated data. The main challenge in applying Pufferfish is a lack of suitable mechanisms. We provide the first mechanism -- the Wasserstein Mechanism -- which applies to any general Pufferfish framework. Since this mechanism may be computationally inefficient, we provide an additional mechanism that applies to some practical cases such as physical activity measurements across time, and is computationally efficient. Our experimental evaluations indicate that this mechanism provides privacy and utility for synthetic as well as real data in two separate domains.
Treatment with LY2409021, a glucagon receptor antagonist, increases liver fat in patients with type 2 diabetes

AIMS To evaluate whether treatment with LY2409021, a novel, selective glucagon receptor antagonist, is associated with changes in hepatic fat and other safety variables related to the benefit-risk profile for chronic use in patients with type 2 diabetes (T2D). METHODS Safety and efficacy were assessed in patients with T2D taking metformin and sulphonylurea who were randomized to LY2409021 20 mg (n = 65), placebo (n = 68), or sitagliptin 100 mg (n = 41). Key endpoints included change from baseline to month 6 in hepatic fat fraction (HFF), assessed by magnetic resonance imaging; hepatic aminotransferases; blood pressure; lipid profile; fasting plasma glucose; and glycated haemoglobin (HbA1c). RESULTS A significant increase in HFF was seen with LY2409021 vs sitagliptin (least squares [LS] mean difference 3.72%; P < .001) and placebo (4.44%; P < .001), accompanied by significant elevations in alanine aminotransferase levels with LY2409021 vs sitagliptin (6.8 U/L; P = .039) and vs placebo (10.7 U/L; P < .001). No patients had concomitant elevations in bilirubin levels. LY2409021 treatment showed significant HbA1c reductions vs placebo (LS mean difference -0.77%; P < .001) but not sitagliptin (-0.20%; P = .383). Similar results were observed for fasting plasma glucose. LY2409021 was also associated with significant increases in systolic blood pressure vs sitagliptin (4.9 mm Hg; P = .030) and vs placebo (4.3 mm Hg; P = .029), as well as significant increases in body weight and total cholesterol. All effects of LY2409021 were reversible. CONCLUSION In this cohort of patients with T2D, chronic glucagon receptor antagonism with LY2409021 was associated with glucose-lowering but also demonstrated increases in hepatic fat, hepatic aminotransferases, and other adverse effects.
A general method to fine-tune fluorophores for live-cell and in vivo imaging

Pushing the frontier of fluorescence microscopy requires the design of enhanced fluorophores with finely tuned properties. We recently discovered that incorporation of four-membered azetidine rings into classic fluorophore structures elicits substantial increases in brightness and photostability, resulting in the Janelia Fluor (JF) series of dyes. We refined and extended this strategy, finding that incorporation of 3-substituted azetidine groups allows rational tuning of the spectral and chemical properties of rhodamine dyes with unprecedented precision. This strategy allowed us to establish principles for fine-tuning the properties of fluorophores and to develop a palette of new fluorescent and fluorogenic labels with excitation ranging from blue to the far-red. Our results demonstrate the versatility of these new dyes in cells, tissues and animals.
The Influence of Everyday Interpersonal Communication on the Medical Encounter: An Extension of Street's Ecological Model.

ABSTRACTStreet’s ecological model has shaped the research-examining communication during medical encounters for over a decade. Although the model accounts for the variety of contexts that shape the conversations in which patients and health-care providers engage, the model does not adequately address the way that everyday conversations about health carry over into patient–provider interactions. In this essay, we propose an extension of Street’s model that adds the context of everyday communication about health as a contributing factor in the medical encounter. We support the need for this extension by discussing research that points to the ways these conversations with our social network influence communication during the medical encounter and propose new areas for research based on this extension.
Chance constrained optimal power flow with primary frequency response

Primary frequency response is provided by synchronized generators through their speed-droop governor characteristic in response to instant frequency deviations that exceed a certain threshold, also known as the governor dead zone. This paper presents an Optimal Power Flow (OPF) formulation that explicitly models i) the primary frequency response constraints using a nonlinear speed-droop governor characteristic with a dead zone and ii) chance constraints on power outputs of conventional generators and line flows imposed by the uncertainty of renewable generation resources. The proposed formulation is evaluated and compared to the standard CCOPF formulation on a modified 118-bus IEEE Reliability Test System.
A Piggybacking Design Framework for Read-and Download-Efficient Distributed Storage Codes

Erasure codes are being extensively deployed in distributed storage systems instead of replication to achieve fault tolerance in a storage efficient manner. While traditional erasure codes are storage efficient, they can result in a significant increase in the amount of data access and downloaded during rebuilding of failed or otherwise unavailable nodes. In this paper, we present a new framework, which we call piggybacking , for constructing distributed storage codes that are efficient in the amount of data read and downloaded during rebuilding, while meeting requirements arising out of system considerations in data centers—maximum-distance-separability (MDS), high-rate, and a small number of so-called substripes. Under this setting, to the best of our knowledge, piggyback codes achieve the minimum average amount of data access and downloaded during rebuilding among all existing explicit solutions. The piggybacking framework also offers a rich design space for constructing codes for a variety of other settings. In particular, we construct codes that require minimum amount of data access and downloaded for rebuilding among all existing solutions for: 1) binary MDS array codes with more than two parities and 2) MDS codes with the smallest locality during rebuilding. In addition, we show how piggybacking can be employed to enable efficient repair of parity nodes in codes that address the rebuilding of only systematic nodes. The basic idea behind the piggybacking framework is to take multiple instances of existing codes and add carefully designed functions of the data from one instance to the others. This framework provides 25% to 50% savings in the average amount of data access and downloaded during rebuilding depending on the choice of the code parameters.
Spatially Dependent Transfer Function for Nuclear Systems

The concept of a transfer function for a nuclear system is extended to include spatial effects. The general equation is derived using the time-dependent Fermi age and diffusion theories for a singl...
M2RC: multiplicative-increase/additive-decrease multipath routing control for wireless sensor networks

Routing protocols in wireless sensor networks (WSN) face two main challenges: first, the challenging environments in which WSN's are deployed negatively affect the quality of the routing process. Therefore, routing protocols for WSN's should recognize and react to node failures and packet losses. Second, sensor nodes are battery-powered, which makes power a scarce resource. Routing protocols should optimize power consumption to prolong the lifetime of the WSN. In this paper, we present a new adaptive routing protocol for WSN's, we call it M2RC. M2RC has two phases: mesh establishment phase and data forwarding phase. In the first phase, M2RC establishes the routing state to enable multipath data forwarding. In the second phase, M2RC forwards data packets from the source to the sink. Targeting hop-by-hop reliability, an M2RC forwarding node waits for an acknowledgement (ACK) that its packets were correctly received at the next neighbor. Based on this feedback, an M2RC node applies multiplicative-increase/additive-decrease (MIAD) to control the number of neighbors targeted by its packet broadcast. We simulated M2RC in the ns-2 simulator [4] and compared it to GRAB [1], Max-power, and Min-power routing schemes. Our simulations show that M2RC achieves the highest throughput with at least 10-30% less consumed power per delivered report in scenarios where a certain numberof nodes unexpectedly fail.-
Code-Based Key Encapsulation from McEliece’s Cryptosystem

In this paper we show that it is possible to extend the framework of Persichetti’s Nierreiter-based KEM [11] and create a secure KEM based on the McEliece protocol. This provides greater flexibility in the application of coding theory as a basis for cryptographic purposes.
Experience with the Amplatz Retrievable Vena Caval Filter. Work in Progress

The Amplatz retrievable vena caval filter was designed in an attempt to decrease complications associated with the placement of Mobin-Uddin or Kimray-Greenfield filters. The design allows percutaneous retrieval, thus expanding application of the filter to situations requiring temporary prophylaxis against pulmonary embolism. Filters have been placed in 16 patients, nine (56%) for prophylactic purposes. All filters were easily inserted percutaneously. Complications occurred in three patients; these included complete thrombosis of the inferior vena cava below the filter, misplacement of one filter into the pericaval retroperitoneal tissue, and development of thrombus cranial to the filter. With the current introduction system, the possibility of filter misplacement has been essentially eliminated. No patient experienced symptoms suggestive of pulmonary embolism after filter insertion. One filter retrieval has been performed, with no complications.
Evaluation of Obstructive Uropathy With Diuretic Renography

• Diuretic renography has been recommended as a useful test to distinguish obstructed from dilated, but not obstructed, urinary systems. Twenty-four diuretic renograms were performed in 20 children, and a good correlation was found with other indicators of obstruction. The sensitivity for identifying obstruction was 83%, with a specificity of 94%. Severe hydroureteronephrosis may blunt or even mask the effect of diuresis on causing emptying of the tracer from the renal pelvis. Some kidneys did not drain well with the patient in a supine position but did empty with a change of position; these kidneys should be regarded as nonobstructed. ( Am J Dis Child 1983;137:236-240)
Does Ethics Training Neutralize the Incentives of the Prisoner's Dilemma? Evidence from a Classroom Experiment

Teaching economics has been shown to encourage students to defect in a prisoner's dilemma game. However, can ethics training reverse that effect and promote cooperation? We conducted an experiment to answer this question. We found that students who had the ethics module had higher rates of cooperation than students without the ethics module, even after controlling for communication and other factors expected to affect cooperation. We conclude that the teaching of ethics can mitigate the possible adverse incentives of the prisoner's dilemma, and, by implication, the adverse effects of economics and business training.
Do “Good Guys” Finish Last? The Relationship between Morningstar Sustainability Ratings and Mutual Fund Performance

Given the rapid growth of investment products focused on socially responsible investing (SRI), in March 2016, Morningstar began reporting standardized metrics to “grade” the sustainability (i.e., SRI) level of thousands of mutual funds. By analyzing this new metric, the authors aim to help clarify the ongoing debate surrounding whether SRI positively or negatively affects investor returns. They find that funds with high sustainability scores have about the same risk-adjusted returns (i.e., alphas) as other funds. Thus, SRI investors can apparently follow a social mandate without sacrificing financial performance, but also without garnering any incremental financial benefit as well. They find, however, that the vast majority of high sustainability funds are concentrated in the large-cap space, which implies that strict adherence to social criteria could inadvertently result in less diversified investor portfolios. They also find that funds with high Morningstar sustainability scores generally mimic those of self-proclaimed SRI funds, suggesting that the new metric opens up a larger pool of potential funds for investors focused on SRI. Lastly, they find that funds that specifically designate and market a social mandate experience more stable cash flows; therefore, the self-proclaimed mandate may be more beneficial for the fund company than it is for investors.
Categorizing Health Outcomes and Efficacy of mHealth Apps for Persons With Cognitive Impairment: A Systematic Review.

Background: Use of mobile health (mHealth) apps is growing at an exponential rate in the United States and around the world. Mild cognitive impairment (MCI), Alzheimer disease, and related dementias are a global health problem. Numerous mHealth interventions exist for this population, yet the effect of these interventions on health has not been systematically described. Objective: The aim of this study is to catalog the types of health outcomes used to measure effectiveness of mHealth interventions and assess which mHealth interventions have been shown to improve the health of persons with MCI, Alzheimer disease, and dementia. Methods: We searched 13 databases, including Ovid MEDLINE, PubMed, EMBASE, the full Cochrane Library, CINAHL, PsycINFO, Ei Compendex, IEEE Xplore, Applied Science & Technology Source, Scopus, Web of Science, ClinicalTrials.gov, and Google Scholar from inception through May 2017 for mHealth studies involving persons with cognitive impairment that were evaluated using at least one quantitative health outcome. Proceedings of the Annual ACM Conferences on Human Factors in Computing Systems, the ACM User Interface Software and Technology Symposium, and the IEEE International Symposium on Wearable Computers were searched in the ACM Digital Library from 2012 to 2016. A hand search of JMIR Publications journals was also completed in July 2017. Results: After removal of duplicates, our initial search returned 3955 records. Of these articles, 24 met final inclusion criteria as studies involving mHealth interventions that measured at least one quantitative health outcome for persons with MCI, Alzheimer disease, and dementia. Common quantitative health outcomes included cognition, function, mood, and quality of life. We found that 21.2% (101/476) of the fully reviewed articles were excluded because of a lack of health outcomes. The health outcomes selected were observed to be inconsistent between studies. For those studies with quantitative health outcomes, more than half (58%) reported postintervention improvements in outcomes. Conclusions: Results showed that many mHealth app interventions targeting those with cognitive impairment lack quantitative health outcomes as a part of their evaluation process and that there is a lack of consensus as to which outcomes to use. The majority of mHealth app interventions that incorporated health outcomes into their evaluation noted improvements in the health of persons with MCI, Alzheimer disease, and dementia. However, these studies were of low quality, leading to a grade C level of evidence. Clarification of the benefits of mHealth interventions for people with cognitive impairment requires more randomized controlled trials, larger numbers of participants, and trial designs that minimize bias. Trial Registration: PROSPERO Registration: PROSPERO 2016:CRD42016033846; http://www.crd.york.ac.uk/PROSPERO/ display_record.asp?ID=CRD42016033846 (Archived by WebCite at http://www.webcitation.org/6sjjwnv1M) [J Med Internet Res 2017;19(8):e301]
When Do Auditors Use Specialists' Work to Improve Problem Representations of and Judgments about Complex Estimates?

ABSTRACT Auditors are more likely to identify misstatements in complex estimates if they recognize problematic patterns among an estimate's underlying assumptions. Rich problem representations aid ...
Bent-waveguide modeling of large-mode-area, double-clad fibers for high-power lasers

The design and optimization of high-power fiber lasers and amplifiers requires a detailed understanding of several important physical processes, both linear and nonlinear. The influence of bending on the overlap of the propagating mode as well as its resistance to deleterious nonlinear effects such as self-focusing must be accurately predicted. To this end we have developed a number of models, both analytic and numerical, that allow us to treat these effects in detail.
Defining Threshold Values of Encapsulant and Backsheet Adhesion for PV Module Reliability

The width-tapered cantilever beam method is used to quantify the debond energy (adhesion) of encapsulant and backsheet structures of 32 modules collected from the field. The collected population of modules contains both those that have remained intact and those with instances of either or both encapsulant and backsheet delamination. From this survey, initial threshold values (an adhesion value above which a module should remain intact throughout its lifetime) for encapsulant and backsheet interfaces are proposed. For encapsulants this value is ∼ $160\,{\text{J}\text{/}\text{m}}^{2}$ and for backsheets ∼ $10\,{\text{J}\text{/}\text{m}}^{2}$ . It is expected that these values will continue to be refined and evolve as the width-tapered cantilever beam method gets adopted by the PV industry, and that they may aid in the future improvement of accelerated lifetime tests and the development of new, low-cost materials.
Economic resilience of the firm: A production theory approach

Abstract As a result of catastrophic events, firms and other organizations are faced with input shortages and price shocks. Firms can respond to these events using a variety of “resilience” actions, or tactics. Here we provide a microeconomic foundation for analyzing a comprehensive range of these tactics, incorporating both inherent and adaptive concepts of resilience. We classify these tactics and derive optimality conditions for production with the use of each class of resilience in the context of a nested Constant Elasticity of Substitution (CES) function consisting of aggregated Capital (K), Labor (L), Infrastructure (I), and Materials (M). The framework has broad applicability, including measurement and scoring of resilience, cost-effectiveness assessment of resilience tactics individually and as a group, calculation of resilience indices, and supply-chain management.
Sentiment, Loss Firms, and Investor Expectations of Future Earnings

This study investigates the mispricing of market‐wide investor sentiment by exploring the relation between sentiment and investor expectations of future earnings. Prior research argues that sentiment‐driven mispricing should be most pronounced for hard‐to‐value firms, such as those reporting losses (Baker and Wurgler 2006). Using investor expectations of future earnings, we provide empirical results consistent with this behavioral finance theory. We predict and find that investors perceive losses to be more (less) persistent during periods of low (high) sentiment; that (in contrast) investors perceive profit persistence to be lower (higher) during periods of low (high) sentiment; and that the effects appear stronger for loss firms relative to profit firms. We also document predictable cross‐sectional variation within losses (with the mispricing mitigated for losses associated with activities expected to generate future benefits), RD les investisseurs percoivent par ailleurs la persistance des profits comme etant faible (elevee) durant les periodes ou la confiance est faible (elevee) ; et ces observations semblent plus marquees dans le cas des societes affichant des pertes que dans celui des societes affichant des profits. Les auteurs documentent egalement une variation transversale previsible en ce qui a trait aux pertes, l'erreur d’evaluation etant moindre pour les pertes associees aux activites susceptibles d'engendrer ulterieurement des avantages : R&D, croissance, elements exceptionnels negatifs importants et difficultes financieres graves. Dans l'ensemble, les resultats qu'obtiennent les auteurs viennent etayer l'idee nouvelle et importante selon laquelle les attentes des investisseurs quant aux resultats futurs peuvent expliquer les erreurs d’evaluation decoulant de la confiance.
Educational attainment effects of public and private school choice

The two fastest growing school choice options are charter schools and private school choice programs, which include vouchers, tax credit scholarships, and education savings accounts. Most research ...
Thrombocytopenia and disseminated histoplasmosis in immunocompetent adults.

Key Clinical Message Disseminated histoplasmosis among immunocompetent patients is rare, but may be associated with clinically significant refractory thrombocytopenia. Platelet counts often return to normal levels following antifungal therapy. Therefore, the most important management of this refractory thrombocytopenia is the recognition and treatment of histoplasmosis infection.
Do Imports and Exports Adjust Nonlinearly? Evidence from 100 Countries

A country is said to live within its international budget constraint if its exports and imports are cointegrated. Previous studies that tried to verify the cointegration between exports and imports used linear models and supported the theory in almost 50% of countries. In this paper, when we use the nonlinear ARDL approach and asymmetry cointegration method, we support the long-run link between imports and exports in 94 out of 100 countries in our sample. This study is not only the most comprehensive study in the literature, but it is also the first to show that, indeed, trade flows adjust in a nonlinear fashion.
Optimized mid-infrared thermal emitters for applications in aircraft countermeasures

We introduce an optimized aperiodic multilayer structure capable of broad angle and high temperature thermal emission over the 3 μm to 5 μm atmospheric transmission band. This aperiodic multilayer structure composed of alternating layers of silicon carbide and graphite on top of a tungsten substrate exhibits near maximal emittance in a 2 μm wavelength range centered in the mid-wavelength infrared band traditionally utilized for atmospheric transmission. We optimize the layer thicknesses using a hybrid optimization algorithm coupled to a transfer matrix code to maximize the power emitted in this mid-infrared range normal to the structure’s surface. We investigate possible applications for these structures in mimicking 800–1000 K aircraft engine thermal emission signatures and in improving countermeasure effectiveness against hyperspectral imagers. We find these structures capable of matching the Planck blackbody curve in the selected infrared range with relatively sharp cutoffs on either side, leading to i...
Airway exposure initiates peanut allergy by involving the IL-1 pathway and T follicular helper cells in mice

Background Little is currently known regarding the immunologic mechanism(s) that initiate peanut allergy. Notably, peanut proteins have been detected in house dust, and their levels correlate with peanut allergy prevalence. Objective This study aimed to develop a new mouse model for peanut allergy and to investigate the immunologic mechanisms involved in peanut allergen sensitization. Methods To mimic environmental exposure, naive mice were exposed to peanut flour by inhalation for up to 4 weeks. We then analyzed serum levels of IgE antibody and challenged mice with peanut proteins. Immunological mechanisms involved in sensitization were analyzed using cytokine reporter mice, an adoptive cell transfer model, and gene knockout mice. Results When exposed to peanut flour by inhalation, both BALB/c and C57BL/6 mice developed peanut allergy, as demonstrated by the presence of peanut-specific IgE antibodies and manifestation of acute anaphylaxis on challenge. A large number of follicular helper T (Tfh) cells were also detected in draining lymph nodes of allergic mice. These cells produced IL-4 and IL-21, and they more robustly promoted peanut-specific IgE production than T h 2 cells did. Genetic depletion of Tfh cells decreased IgE antibody levels and protected mice from anaphylaxis, without affecting T h 2 cells. Furthermore, peanut flour exposure increased lung levels of IL-1α and IL-1β, and mice deficient in the receptor for these cytokines showed a significant decrease in Tfh cells compared with in wild-type mice. Conclusions Tfh cells play a key role in peanut allergy, and the IL-1 pathway is involved in the Tfh response to peanut allergen exposure.
BOTÁNICAS UNPLUGGED: LATINOS’ RELIGIOUS HEALING AND THE IMPACT OF THE IMMIGRANT CONTINUUM

Background: Botanicas (literally botanies) are local dispensaries that offer spiritual, healing, and religious services to a mostly Latino and Caribbean population in the United States (U.S). Despite the vast literature on Latinos’ alternative medical systems, little is known on the role of the informal economy of healing in the urban milieu. This paper attempts to fill this vacuum by addressing the role of botanicas in meeting the religious healing and mental health needs of the growing Latino population in New York City (NYC). Materials and Methods: A two-stage ethnographic study on botanicas took place between 2004 and 2016 in NYC. During the first stage (2004–2006), a research team conducted participant observation and ethnographic mapping. This entailed the identification of two major concentrations of botanicas in Queens and the Bronx, with smaller clusters found in Manhattan and Brooklyn. Participant observation and in-depth interviews were conducted with fifty-six healers during this phase of the project, and thirty in-depth interviews were accomplished during the second phase (2014–2016), which focused on the products and services offered by botanicas in Queens. Results: Botanica providers and spiritual counselors construct a language of illness — supported by the sociosoma model — that calls attention to the contextual factors of distress, including the harmful effect of troubled relationships in Latinos’ lives. Most providers identified the “immigrant continuum” as one of the main causes of their patients’ suffering. In this vein, they highlighted the impact of Latinos’ undocumented status, family conflicts and financial concerns as key triggers of their deleterious mental health conditions. Participants also shared a holistic explanatory model of mental illness, which combines social stressors and divine causas (causes) as the main source of Latinos’ mental and emotional suffering. Two main ailments, depression and nervios (nervousness) were seen as complementary and closely related to the multifarious impact of the immigrant continuum in Latinos’ lives. These conditions were treated with natural medicines (e.g., herbs), informal counseling and religious ceremonies, such as prayer and ritual cleansing. Conclusion: The paper sheds light on the role of botanicas, and their providers, in supporting a shared language of illness among Latinos in the U.S. The prevalence of two mental ailments among Latinos, depression and nervios, informs culturally-based processes of diagnosis and treatment in an urban multiethnic milieu. The article ultimately highlights the need for additional theoretical models and empirical research focused on Latinos’ growing mental-health issues in the U.S.
Berry–Esseen estimates for regenerative processes under weak moment assumptions

Abstract We prove Berry–Esseen type rates of convergence for central limit theorems (CLTs) of regenerative processes which generalize previous results of Bolthausen under weaker moment assumptions. We then show how this general result can be applied to obtain rates of convergence for (1) CLTs for additive functionals of positive recurrent Markov chains under certain conditions on the strong mixing coefficients, and (2) annealed CLTs for certain ballistic random walks in random environments.
Forbidden mass ranges for shower meteoroids

Abstract Burns et al. (1979) use the parameter β to describe the ratio of radiation pressure to gravity experienced by a small particle in the solar system. The central potential that these particles experience is effectively reduced by a factor of (1 − β), lowering the escape velocity. Burns et al. (1979) also provide a simple expression for the value of β at which particles ejected from a comet follow parabolic orbits and thus leave the solar system; this paper expands on this to calculate critical β values that take ejection velocity into account. We first derive an expression for the speed at which particles are ejected from a comet that is valid at all particle sizes. We then calculate β values for both idealized and real materials to determine which particles will be lost from meteor streams. We perform these calculations for cometary ejecta leading, trailing, and following the parent comet's nucleus for 10 major meteor showers. These values bound mass regimes within which meteoroids are ejected from the solar system and therefore cannot contribute to meteor showers.
The male–female gap in post-baccalaureate school quality

Abstract Women are less likely than men to earn degrees from high quality post-baccalaureate programs, and this tendency has been growing over time. I show that, aside from the biomedical sciences, this cannot be explained by changes in the type of program where women tend to earn degrees. Instead, sorting by quality within degree program is the main contributor to the growing gap. Most of this sorting is due to the initial choice in which program type to apply to. No gender differences in selection with respect to ability or program quality arise as students progress through the admissions, enrollment or persistence choices.
Unsupervised embedding of single-cell Hi-C data

Motivation Single-cell Hi-C (scHi-C) data promises to enable scientists to interrogate the 3D architecture of DNA in the nucleus of the cell, studying how this structure varies stochastically or along developmental or cell-cycle axes. However, Hi-C data analysis requires methods that take into account the unique characteristics of this type of data. In this work, we explore whether methods that have been developed previously for the analysis of bulk Hi-C data can be applied to scHi-C data. We apply methods designed for analysis of bulk Hi-C data to scHi-C data in conjunction with unsupervised embedding. Results We find that one of these methods, HiCRep, when used in conjunction with multidimensional scaling (MDS), strongly outperforms three other methods, including a technique that has been used previously for scHi-C analysis. We also provide evidence that the HiCRep/MDS method is robust to extremely low per-cell sequencing depth, that this robustness is improved even further when high-coverage and low-coverage cells are projected together, and that the method can be used to jointly embed cells from multiple published datasets.
Obscured Transparency? Compensation Benchmarking and the Biasing of Executive Pay

The disclosure of compensation peer groups is argued to provide shareholders with valuable information that can be used to scrutinize chief executive officer (CEO) compensation. However, research s...
Microtubule Acetylation Is Required for Mechanosensation in Drosophila.

Summary At the cellular level, α-tubulin acetylation alters the structure of microtubules to render them mechanically resistant to compressive forces. How this biochemical property of microtubule acetylation relates to mechanosensation remains unknown, although prior studies have shown that microtubule acetylation influences touch perception. Here, we identify the major Drosophila α-tubulin acetylase (dTAT) and show that it plays key roles in several forms of mechanosensation. dTAT is highly expressed in the larval peripheral nervous system (PNS), but it is largely dispensable for neuronal morphogenesis. Mutation of the acetylase gene or the K40 acetylation site in α-tubulin impairs mechanical sensitivity in sensory neurons and behavioral responses to gentle touch, harsh touch, gravity, and vibration stimuli, but not noxious thermal stimulus. Finally, we show that dTAT is required for mechanically induced activation of NOMPC, a microtubule-associated transient receptor potential channel, and functions to maintain integrity of the microtubule cytoskeleton in response to mechanical stimulation.