cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Tax and Liquidity Effects in Pricing Government Bonds

Daily data from interdealer government bond brokers are examined for tax and liquidity effects. We use two approaches to create cash f low matching portfolios of similar securities and look for pricing discrepancies associated with liquidity or tax effects. We also look for the presence of tax and liquidity effects by including a liquidity term when fitting a cubic spline to the after-tax yield curve. We find evidence of tax timing options and liquidity effects. However, the effects are much smaller than previously reported and the effects of liquidity are primarily due to high volume bonds with long maturities. CASH F LOWS OF NON-CALLABLE Treasury securities are fixed and certain, simplifying the pricing of these assets to a present value calculation using the current term structure of interest rates. It is well known, however, that pricing errors exist when government securities are priced by discounting the cash f lows by any set of estimated spot rates even for non-f lower bonds without option features. A number of theories have been offered to explain these pricing discrepancies. Explanations include economic inf luences such as liquidity effects, tax regime effects, tax clienteles, tax timing options, and the use of bonds in the overnight repurchase market. Another potential source of pricing errors is data problems that arise from nonsynchronous trading and the fact that the prices found in common data sets may be estimates from a model or the best guess of a trader. It is difficult to distinguish between these various explanations because securities rarely exist that are affected by only one of the effects. For example, illiquid securities are likely to be associated with pricing errors due to nonsynchronous trading and may also have coupons that would lead to considerable tax effects. In addition, it is difficult to sort out the effect of model prices or dealer estimates on pricing errors. The purpose of this study is to try to separate out the various factors that lead to errors in the pricing of government securities. We examine a new
New analyticity constraints on the high energy behavior of hadron-hadron cross sections

We here comment on a series of recent papers by Igi and Ishida and Block and Halzen that fit high energy pp and pp cross section and ρ-value data, where ρ is the ratio of the real to the imaginary portion of the forward scattering amplitude. These authors used finite-energy sum rules and analyticity consistency conditions, respectively, to constrain the asymptotic behavior of hadron cross sections by anchoring their high energy asymptotic amplitudes – even under crossing – to low energy experimental data. Using analyticity, we here show that i) the two apparently very different approaches are in fact equivalent, ii) that these analyticity constraints can be extended to give new constraints, and iii) that these constraints can be extended to crossing-odd amplitudes. We also apply these extensions to photoproduction. A new interpretation of duality is given.
Evolution of a coupled marine ice sheet–sea level model

We investigate the stability of marine ice sheets by coupling a gravitationally self-consistent sea level model valid for a self-gravitating, viscoelastically deforming Earth to a 1-D marine ice sheet-shelf model. The evolution of the coupled model is explored for a suite of simulations in which we vary the bed slope and the forcing that initiates retreat. We find that the sea level fall at the grounding line associated with a retreating ice sheet acts to slow the retreat; in simulations with shallow reversed bed slopes and/or small external forcing, the drop in sea level can be sufficient to halt the retreat. The rate of sea level change at the grounding line has an elastic component due to ongoing changes in ice sheet geometry, and a viscous component due to past ice and ocean load changes. When the ice sheet model is forced from steady state, on short timescales (<∼500 years), viscous effects may be ignored and grounding-line migration at a given time will depend on the local bedrock topography and on contemporaneous sea level changes driven by ongoing ice sheet mass flux. On longer timescales, an accurate assessment of the present stability of a marine ice sheet requires knowledge of its past evolution.
SEMIPARAMETRIC LEAST SQUARES (SLS) AND WEIGHTED SLS ESTIMATION OF SINGLE-INDEX MODELS

Abstract For the class of single-index models, I construct a semiparametric estimator of coefficients up to a multiplicative constant that exhibits 1 √ n -consistency and asymptotic normality. This class of models includes censored and truncated Tobit models, binary choice models, and duration models with unobserved individual heterogeneity and random censoring. I also investigate a weighting scheme that achieves the semiparametric efficiency bound.
Efficiency issues for ray tracing

Ray casting is the bottleneck of many rendering algorithms. Although much work has been done on making ray casting more efficient, most published work is high level. This paper discusses efficiency at a slightly lower level, presenting optimizations for bounding volume hierarchies that many people use but are rarely described in the literature. A set of guidelines for optimization are presented that avoid some of the common pitfalls. Finally, the effects of the optimizations are shown for a set of models.
Using Automatic Differentiation to Create a Nonlinear Reduced-Order-Model Aerodynamic Solver

A novel nonlinear reduced-order-modeling technique for computational aerodynamics and aeroelasticity is presented. The method is based on a Taylor series expansion of a frequency-domain harmonic balance computational fluid dynamicsolver residual.The first- andsecond-order gradientmatrices andtensorsof the Taylorseries expansion are computed using automatic differentiation via FORTRAN 90=95 operator overloading. A Ritz-type expansion using proper orthogonal decomposition shapes is then used in the Taylor series expansion to create the nonlinearreduced-order model. The nonlinear reduced-order-modeling technique is applied to a viscous flow about anaeroelastic NLR 7301 airfoil modelto determine limit cycle oscillations. Computational times are decreased from hours to seconds using the nonlinear reduced-order model.
Context interchange: sharing the meaning of data

Previously, users and application developers, through manuals and experience, understood the context of the few systems that served their portion of the enterprise. But the number, types, and increased scope of data and systems that are now being integrated make it impossible to expect users to understand and remain current on the context or meaning of all information. Our research has the goal of representing, moving, and processing the context along with the information it describes. This requires both representations, models, manipulation languages and reconciliation algorithms for context knowledge. In this position paper we present a number of significant research areas which we believe must be resolved so that context knowledge can be used to simplify the integration of multiple disparate database systems. As shown in Figure 1, the export context defines the meaning of the data provided by a data source while the import context defines the context requirements for the data receiver. Providing this context knowledge requires an understanding of issues in context representation, context models, common metadata vocabularies, comparisons of contexts including transformations, and system's architectures and operations.
Detection of small changes in body composition by dual-energy x-ray absorptiometry.

The ability ofdual-energy x-ray absorptiometry (DEXA) to detect small changes in body composition was studied in I 7 men and women during a dehydration-rehydration pro- tocol. Scale weight (BW) and total mass (TM) from DEXA were highly related (r > 0.99) as were estimates of fat-free mass (r = 0.99) and percent fat (r = 0.97) from DEXA and densitometry. Changes in BW of � 1.5 kg due to fluid loss and gain were highly correlated (r = 0.90) with both changes in TM and soft-tissue mass (STM) by DEXA but less so (r = 0.67) with changes in lean-tissue mass (LTM). Mean changes in TM. STM. and LTM were not different (P > 0.05) from changes in BW. Estimates of bone mass and fat were unaffected by changes in hydration. We conclude that DEXA is able to detect small individual changes in TM and STM and is also useful for detecting group changes in LTM. .�1m J ('/in Nutr 1993:57:845-50.
Self-similarity in World Wide Web traffic: evidence and possible causes

The notion of self-similarity has been shown to apply to wide-area and local-area network traffic. We show evidence that the subset of network traffic that is due to World Wide Web (WWW) transfers can show characteristics that are consistent with self-similarity, and we present a hypothesized explanation for that self-similarity. Using a set of traces of actual user executions of NCSA Mosaic, we examine the dependence structure of WWW traffic. First, we show evidence that WWW traffic exhibits behavior that is consistent with self-similar traffic models. Then we show that the self-similarity in such traffic can be explained based on the underlying distributions of WWW document sizes, the effects of caching and user preference in file transfer, the effect of user "think time", and the superimposition of many such transfers in a local-area network. To do this, we rely on empirically measured distributions both from client traces and from data independently collected at WWW servers.
Global configuration stabilization for the VTOL aircraft with strong input coupling

Trajectory tracking and configuration stabilization for the vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL) aircraft has been so far considered in the literature only in the presence of a slight (or zero) input coupling (i.e., for a small /spl epsi/). In this paper, our main contribution is to address global configuration stabilization for the VTOL aircraft with a strong input coupling using a smooth static state feedback. In addition, the differentially flat outputs for the VTOL aircraft are automatically obtained as a by-product of applying a decoupling change of coordinates.
Manifestation of classical wave delays in a fully quantized model of the scattering of a single photon

We consider a fully quantized model of spontaneous emission, scattering an da bsorption, and study propagation of a single photon from an emitting atom to a detector atom both with and without an intervening scatterer. We find an exact quantum analogue to the classical complex analytic signal describing an electromagnetic wave scattered by a medium of charged oscillators. This quantum signal exhibits classical phase delays. We define a time of detection which, in the appropriate limits, exactly matches the predictions of a classically defined delay for light propagating through a medium of charged oscillators. The fully quantized model provides a simple, unambiguous and causal interpretation of delays that seemingly imply speeds greater than c in the region of anomalous dispersion.
Bounds for diluted mean-fields spin glass models

In an important recent paper, [2], S. Franz and M. Leone prove rigorous lower bounds for the free energy of the diluted p-spin model and the K-sat model at any temperature. We show that the results for these two models are consequences of a single general principle. Our calculations are significantly simpler than those of [2], even in the replica-symmetric case.
Public Utility Ownership in 19th-Century America: The “Aberrant” Case of Water

Unlike other public utilities, most water in the United States is supplied by publicly owned and operated waterworks. The predominance of the public sector in the supply of water was not always the case, however; private firms dominated U.S. water supply throughout most of the nineteenth century. This paper analyzes the puzzle of why water and sanitation systems were the only major utilities to become predominantly public by reexamining historical accounts of the problems of contracting for water services in light of modern theories of economic organization and, then, evaluating hypotheses derived from those accounts using data on 373 waterworks serving U.S. municipalities with populations over 10,000 in 1890. Among other results, municipal ownership is found to be related to the distribution of population and commerce within a city in ways that suggest the importance of contractual frictions between cities and private water companies as a factor in the shift to public ownership.
The Enantioselective Tsuji Allylation

The first catalytic enantioselective examples of the Tsuji allylation using enol carbonates and enol silanes are described. The products possess a quaternary stereogenic center and are useful building blocks for synthetic chemistry.
Accurate estimation of the fisher information matrix for the PET image reconstruction problem

The Fisher information matrix (FIM) plays a key role in the analysis and applications of statistical image reconstruction methods based on Poisson data models. The elements of the FIM are a function of the reciprocal of the mean values of sinogram elements. Conventional plug-in FIM estimation methods do not work well at low counts, where the FIM estimate is highly sensitive to the reciprocal mean estimates at individual detector pairs. A generalized error look-up table (GELT) method is developed to estimate the reciprocal of the mean of the sinogram data. This approach is also extended to randoms precorrected data. Based on these techniques, an accurate FIM estimate is obtained for both Poisson and randoms precorrected data. As an application, the new GELT method is used to improve resolution uniformity and achieve near-uniform image resolution in low count situations.
Suburban Employment Centers: Probing the Influence of Site Features on the Journey-to-Work

Author(s): Cervero, Robert | Abstract: This paper argues that the low-density, single-use character of most suburban workplaces in the U.S. has contributed to worsening traffic congestion by making most workers highly dependent on their own automobiles for accessing jobs. To test this proposition, land use and transportation data are examined for fifty of the largest suburban employment centers in the nation. Differences in the share of trips made by various modes, commuting speeds, and levels of service on major thorough-fares connecting suburban centers are compared among clusters of centers. The densities, sizes, and land use mixtures of suburban workplaces are generally found to be important determinants of worker travel behavior and local traffic conditions.
Codebook organization to enhance maximum a posteriori detection of progressive transmission of vector quantized images over noisy channels

We describe a new way to organize a full-search vector quantization codebook so that images encoded with it can be sent progressively and have resilience to channel noise. The codebook organization guarantees that the most significant bits (MSBs) of the codeword index are most important to the overall image quality and are highly correlated. Simulations show that the effective channel error rates of the MSBs can be substantially lowered by implementing a maximum a posteriori (MAP) detector similar to one suggested by Phamdo and Farvardin (see IEEE Trans. Inform. Theory, vol.40, no.1, p.156-193, 1994). The performance of the scheme is close to that of pseudo-gray coding at lower bit error rates and outperforms it at higher error rates. No extra bits are used for channel error correction.
Raising school productivity: An x-efficiency approach

Abstract Attempts by economists to raise educational productivity have focused traditionally on educational production functions with the hope that their findings will influence educational policy. This article uses a more direct approach by taking five key dimensions of efficient production organizations and showing how they have been applied directly to improving school productivity through a national school reform effort, the Accelerated Schools Project. The specific dimensions of change and their implementation are presented as well as evidence of their impacts on improving productivity of schools serving at-risk student populations. It is asserted that substantial gains in productivity can be obtained at a marginal cost of less than 1 % of the school budget through transforming schools to improve their “x-efficiency”.
On the use of Gegenbauer reconstructions for shock wave propagation modeling

In therapeutic ultrasound, the presence of shock waves can be significant due to the use of high intensity beams, as well as due to shock formation during inertial cavitation. Although modeling of such strongly nonlinear waves can be carried out using spectral methods, such calculations are typically considered impractical, since accurate calculations often require hundreds or even thousands of harmonics to be considered, leading to prohibitive computational times. Instead, time-domain algorithms which generally utilize Godunov-type finite-difference schemes are commonly used. Although these time domain methods can accurately model steep shock wave fronts, unlike spectral methods they are inherently unsuitable for modeling realistic tissue dispersion relations. Motivated by the need for a more general model, the use of Gegenbauer reconstructions as a postprocess tool to resolve the band-limitations of the spectral methods are investigated. The present work focuses on eliminating the Gibbs phenomenon when representing a steep wave front using a limited number of harmonics. Both plane wave and axisymmetric 2D transducer problems will be presented to characterize the proposed method.
Knot Floer homology detects fibred knots

Ozsvath and Szabo conjectured that knot Floer homology detects fibred knots in S^3. We will prove this conjecture for null-homologous knots in arbitrary closed 3-manifolds. Namely, if K is a knot in a closed 3-manifold Y, Y-K is irreducible, and \hat{HFK}(Y,K) is monic, then K is fibred. The proof relies on previous works due to Gabai, Ozsvath–Szabo, Ghiggini and the author. A corollary is that if a knot in S^3 admits a lens space surgery, then the knot is fibred.
SYNTHESIS AND PROPERTIES OF PSICO-NUCLEOSIDES

(2006). SYNTHESIS AND PROPERTIES OF PSICO-NUCLEOSIDES. Organic Preparations and Procedures International: Vol. 38, No. 2, pp. 101-176.
Why Gaussian macro-finance term structure models are (nearly) unconstrained factor-VARs

This paper explores the impact of simultaneously enforcing the no-arbitrage structure of a Gaussian macro-nance term structure model ( MTSM) and accommodating measurement errors on bond yield through ltering on the maximum likelihood estimates of the model-implied conditional distributions of the macro risk factors and bond yields. For the typical yield curves and macro variables studied in this literature, the estimated joint distribution within a canonical MTSM is nearly identical to the estimate from an economic-model-free factor vector-autoregression (factor-VAR), even when measurement errors are large. It follows that a canonical MTSM does not oer any new insights into economic questions regarding the historical distribution of the macro risk factors and yields, over and above what is learned from a factor-VAR. In particular, the discipline of a canonical MTSM is empirically inconsequential for analyses of impulse response functions of bond yields and macro factors or empirical studies of term premiums. These results are rotation-invariant and, therefore, apply to many of the specications of risk factors in the literature. In deriving these results we develop a new canonical form for MTSMs that is particularly revealing about the nature of the over-identifying restrictions implied by MTSMs relative to yield-based factor models.
The Creation of Output and Quality in Services: A Framework to Analyze Information Technology-Worker Systems

Information technology has profoundly impacted the operations of firms in the service industry and service environments within manufacturing. Two models are introduced that establish a conceptual framework linking firm profit to attributes of the IT-worker system. The framework considers the impact of IT capabilities (such as functionality and ease-of-use) and worker skill as drivers of output volume and quality. The framework contrasts attributes of the IT-worker systems when services are mass-produced (flow shop) versus customized (job shop). Mathematical models are introduced to formalize the conceptual framework. Numerical examples are presented that illustrate the types of insights that can be obtained from the models.
Old Inequalities, New Disease: HIV/AIDS in Sub-Saharan Africa

AbstractIt is especially the social aspects of the disease that make HIV/AIDS in sub-Saharan Africa different—and worse—than HIV/AIDS in the United States or Europe. By making Africans more vulnerable to economic and sexual exploitation, poverty first increases the likelihood that they will be infected. By making them unattractive customers for pharmaceuticals, poverty also puts therapies out of the reach of most Africans who need them. This review examines research on the integration of sub-Saharan Africa into the international worlds of the pharmaceutical trade, public health, and medical research. It finds that the pull of these institutions diminishes but does not disappear as we move from the realms of trade treaties to the clinics where testing and treatment occur and, finally, to the daily lives of people living with HIV.
The Design of Rate-Compatible Protograph LDPC Codes

This paper presents a simple yet effective method for designing nested families of LDPC codes. Rate compatible codes are essential for many communication applications, e.g. hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) systems, and their design is nontrivial due to the difficulty of simultaneously guaranteeing the quality of several related codes. Puncturing can be used to generate rate-compatible LDPC codes, but it produces a gap to capacity that, in practice, often significantly exceeds the gap of the mother code. We propose an alternative method based on successively extending a high-rate protograph. The resulting codes not only inherit the advantages of protograph codes, namely low encoding complexity and efficient decoding algorithms, but also cover a wide range of rates and have very good performance with iterative decoding thresholds that are within 0.2 dB of their capacity limits.
OPEN CLUSTERS AS GALACTIC DISK TRACERS. I. PROJECT MOTIVATION, CLUSTER MEMBERSHIP, AND BULK THREE-DIMENSIONAL KINEMATICS

We have begun a survey of the chemical and dynamical properties of the Milky Way disk as traced by open star clusters. In this first contribution, the general goals of our survey are outlined and the strengths and limitations of using star clusters as a Galactic disk tracer sample are discussed. We also present medium-resolution (R ~ 15, 0000) spectroscopy of open cluster stars obtained with the Hydra multi-object spectrographs on the Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory 4 m and WIYN 3.5 m telescopes. Here we use these data to determine the radial velocities of 3436 stars in the fields of open clusters within about 3 kpc, with specific attention to stars having proper motions in the Tycho-2 catalog. Additional radial velocity members (without Tycho-2 proper motions) that can be used for future studies of these clusters were also identified. The radial velocities, proper motions, and the angular distance of the stars from cluster center are used to derive cluster membership probabilities for stars in each cluster field using a non-parametric approach, and the cluster members so identified are used, in turn, to derive the reliable bulk three-dimensional motion for 66 of 71 targeted open clusters. The high-probability cluster members that we identify help to clarify the color-magnitude sequences for many of the clusters, and are prime targets for future echelle resolution spectroscopy as well as astrometric study with the Space Interferometry Mission (SIM Planetquest).
Stochastic analysis of biochemical reaction networks with absolute concentration robustness

It has recently been shown that structural conditions on the reaction network, rather than a ‘fine-tuning’ of system parameters, often suffice to impart ‘absolute concentration robustness’ (ACR) on a wide class of biologically relevant, deterministically modelled mass-action systems. We show here that fundamentally different conclusions about the long-term behaviour of such systems are reached if the systems are instead modelled with stochastic dynamics and a discrete state space. Specifically, we characterize a large class of models that exhibit convergence to a positive robust equilibrium in the deterministic setting, whereas trajectories of the corresponding stochastic models are necessarily absorbed by a set of states that reside on the boundary of the state space, i.e. the system undergoes an extinction event. If the time to extinction is large relative to the relevant timescales of the system, the process will appear to settle down to a stationary distribution long before the inevitable extinction will occur. This quasi-stationary distribution is considered for two systems taken from the literature, and results consistent with ACR are recovered by showing that the quasi-stationary distribution of the robust species approaches a Poisson distribution.
Synthesis of a new class of isothiocyanatopeptide bifunctional chelating agents for coupling to monoclonal antibodies.

The preparation of a new class of isothiocyanatopeptide bifunctional chelating agents, Boc-glycyl-L-(p-NCS)phenylalanylglycylglycine ethyl ester 1, N-(S-acetylmercaptoacetyl)-L-(p-NCS)phenylalanyl-glycylglycine ethyl ester 2, and N-(S-acetylmercaptoacetyl)glycyl-L-(p-NCS)phenylalanylglycine ethyl ester 3, starting from Boc-L-(p-nitro)phenylalanine 5 is described. The key intermediates, nitropeptides 7, 8 and 12, were prepared by standard DCC coupling and a deprotection procedure. The nitropeptides 7 and 12 on condensation with N-succinimidyl-S-acetylthioacetate provided a good yield of the corresponding S-(acetylmercaptoacetyl) nitropeptides 10 and 13, respectively. Catalytic hydrogenolysis of compounds 8, 10 and 13, followed by thiophosgenyation gave 28-95% yield of target products 1, 2 and 3, respectively. Compounds 1-3 were conjugated to the monoclonal antibody D612 reactive with human colon carcinoma using 12/1 to 60/1 ligand to antibody molar ratios, and the conjugates were labeled with 99mTc. The in vitro cell binding results of these immunoconjugates demonstrate that they retained their antibody binding specificity. © Munksgaard 1996.
Variation of large elastodynamic earthquakes on complex fault systems

[1] One of the biggest assumptions, and a source of some of the biggest uncertainties in earthquake hazard estimation is the role of fault segmentation in controlling large earthquake ruptures. Here we apply a new model which produces sequences of elastodynamic earthquake events on complex segmented fault systems, and use these simulations to quantify the variation of large events. We find a number of important systematic effects of segment geometry on the slip variation and the repeat time variation of large events, including an increase in variation at the ends of segments and a decrease in variation for the longest segments.
Self potentials in cave detection

The major application of the self potential (SP) method has been in mineral exploration and in recent years increasingly in environmental and engineering investigations. The SP method simply measures a naturally occurring potential between electrodes on the surface or in boreholes. There are three mechanisms that generate self potentials: streaming potentials due to fluid flow, electrochemical potentials generated by concentration differences of electrolytes, and thermoelectric potentials from temperature gradients.
Economic Decision-Making in Poverty Depletes Behavioral Control

Economic theory and common sense suggest that time preference can cause or per- petuate poverty. Might poverty also or instead cause impatient or impulsive behavior? This paper reports a randomized lab experiment and a partially randomized field ex- periment, both in India, and analysis of the American Time Use Survey. In all three studies, poverty is associated with diminished behavioral control. The primary contri- bution is to isolate the direction of causality from poverty to behavior; three theoretical mechanisms from psychology cannot be deffinitively separated. One supported expla- nation is that poverty, by making economic decision-making more difficult for the poor, depletes cognitive control.
Risk Management Instruments for Water Reallocations

Federal and state governments are searching for programs and/or policies to deal with the risks linked with uncertainty in water supplies and demands. Within the United States, competition among agricultural, urban, and environmental concerns for water is increasing. Drought conditions and water use restrictions have, at times, limited water supplies for these varied uses. The federal government stands in a unique position as both a major supplier and demander of water. As such, the federal government has put forward several programs for water conservation, information, and usage. One area in which the federal government has not made significant progress is the issue of risk management and compensation for water reallocations. When natural forces or government policies trigger water use restrictions, the restricted water users may or may not be compensated by current programs. This paper explores how current policies may or may not cover agricultural losses due to water use restrictions and outlines several government policy proposals and market-based methods to mitigate the risks from water restrictions. Given the diversity of the agents involved and the watersheds covered, it is likely that no one program will be the "best" program to address the issue. The "best" program for a given combination of agents in a watershed will depend upon the types of agents and the possible uses of the water.
Warpage measurement comparison using shadow Moire and projection Moire methods

Microelectronic and photonic packaging are progressing toward integrating more devices with more functions into a smaller confined space, while requiring higher yield and superior reliability. New electronic components, materials, fabrication processes, and configurations are emerging to achieve these goals. As expected, surface flatness is playing a more crucial role in integrated circuits and integrated optics manufacturing. Out-of-plane displacement (warpage) is a global effect of interfacial stress and displacement. It is also the cause of mis-registration and noncontact between components and their substrates. Moire methods offer noncontact, full-field, high-resolution approaches for measuring warpage. In this paper, two types of Moire methods are introduced and analyzed. They carry distinct features and grant more options to measure warpage under various scenarios. It has been shown through system analysis and experimental results that these systems are powerful tools for studying warpage mechanisms. Specifically, they can help to investigate the effects of materials, manufacturing processes, and packaging configurations on warpage.
Political hazards and firms' geographic concentration

Research summary: We examine the relationship between the geographic concentration of a firm's sales and the firm's vulnerability to expropriation hazards. Although expanding outside the home location can initially increase a firm's exposure to government expropriation, we find that this effect reverses when a firm's sales outside its home location have reached a point at which it has sufficient resources to better influence government actions and to pose a credible threat to exit the market in which it is being targeted. We supplement this main result by identifying two moderating factors: the firm's level of political capital and the effectiveness of institutional constraints on government behavior. We find support for these hypotheses from survey data on privately owned enterprises in China. Managerial summary: This research advises firm managers that certain market activities might knock their firms' economic interests out of alignment with the government's political interests, and thus, influence the political hazards they face, particularly in emerging markets such as China, which has attracted strong interest of many firms with respect to entering the market. Here, all else being equal, the firms' geographic concentration exposes them to different levels of state expropriation—but not in a simple linear fashion as suggested by the conventional wisdom of local protectionism or that of the bargaining advantage generated by the threat of relocation: Those who are “stuck in the middle” ended up paying twice or even three times as much unauthorized levies as the purely local or the most expansive firms. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Rule 10b5‐1 Trading Plans and Insiders' Incentive to Misrepresent

Rule 10b5-1 plans provide an affirmative defense against insider trading charges if, at a time when the insider had no material inside information, the insider commits to the future trades that otherwise might then be subject to insider trading charges. The article first describes insider trading regulation under Rule 10b-5, including how trades by an insider can be the primary violation of Rule 10b-5 or instead serve as evidence of scienter in a broader Rule 10b-5 case (e.g., misrepresentation, such as distorted financial statements). The article then details Rule 10b5-1 and then considers existing case law that has substantively addressed trading under plans, and which has largely evidenced a tendency to heavily discount sales under plans as evidence of scienter. The article then reviews economics-based research and details the incentive for insider sellers, especially those now selling under a 10b5-1 plan, to misrepresent. It criticizes the extent to which the affirmative defense insulates an insider from Rule 10b-5 primary violation liability even if the insider’s information is self-created (as opposed to external information, such as learning of a failed or successful drug trial). It also recommends that parties in Rule 10b-5 cases look more closely at the scienter element given the documented incentives insiders have to prop up a stock price before a 10b5-1 plan sale whether or not the plan was initially made in good faith.
Bench-style network research in an Internet Instance Laboratory

Network researchers employ a variety of experimental methods and tools including analytic modeling techniques, simulators, and widely depolyed measurement infrastructures. It is natural to assume that the overall scope of network research may be limited by the type and capability of the tools and test systems that are available. In this paper we describe a new, bench-style approach for conducting network research that we argue is essential for effectively investigating different classes of important problems. We describe the architecture for the workbench environment that enables this approach-what we call the Internet Instance Laboratory (IIL). The conceptual model for an IIL is a highly configurable laboratory environment containing commercial networking equipment typical of any end-to-end path in the Internet. An IIL would also have the capability to create accurately a broad range of conditions across all networking layers. The two most important advantages of an IIL are the ability to instrument entire end-to-end paths and the ability to install new equipment or protocols in any location in the environment. Clearly, neither of these opporutnities is available in the live Internet. while an IIL offers significant challenges. We describe these challenges and approaches for addressing them. Finnlay, we discuss different classes of research questions that would become tractable if an IIL were available.
Diastereoselective Synthesis of Pentasubstituted γ‐Butyrolactones from Silyl Glyoxylates and Ketones through a Double Reformatsky Reaction

Three contiguous stereocenters can be established with remarkable diastereoselectivity in a double Reformatsky sequence. Densely functionalized gamma-butyrolactones were assembled rapidly by this approach, in which a ketone is used as the terminal electrophile (see scheme). Secondary transformations of the lactone products enhance their synthetic utility. R(1) = Me, H; R(2) = alkyl, aryl, CF(3); Bn = benzyl, TBS = tert-butyldimethylsilyl.
Ecosystem Management and the Florida Everglades: The Role of Social Scientists

Recently many state and federal agencies in the U.S. have embraced an ecosystems management approach to environmental protection and regulation. This approach requires a high degree of cooperation between natural and social scientists to translate policy objectives into research hypotheses, models, and evaluation procedures to guide implementation decisions. An adaptive procedure to guide interdisciplinary research is described and illustrated with highlights of recent progress and pitfalls from the restoration initiative for the Everglades/South Florida ecosystem.
The Making of an Economist, Redux

Preface vii CHAPTER ONE: Introduction: Understanding Economics and Economists 1 PART I: THE SURVEY RESULTS 17 CHAPTER TWO: The Making of an Economist, Redux 19 CHAPTER THREE: Further Results from the Survey 60 CHAPTER FOUR: How the Views of the Original Survey Respondents Have Changed 84 PART II: CONVERSATIONS WITH GRADUATE STUDENTS 107 CHAPTER FIVE: Harvard Interview 109 CHAPTER SIX: Princeton Interviews 126 CHAPTER SEVEN: Stanford Interview 148 CHAPTER EIGHT: MIT Interviews 165 CHAPTER NINE: Chicago Interviews 188 CHAPTER TEN: Columbia Interview 215 PART III: REFLECTIONS ON THE SURVEY AND INTERVIEWS 225 CHAPTER ELEVEN: Does This Have to Be Our Future? (Arjo Klamer) 227 CHAPTER TWELVE: Reflections on the Survey (Robert M. Solow) 234 CHAPTER THIRTEEN: The Academic Research Game and Graduate Economics Education 239 Notes 251 Bibliography 259 Index 261
Medical image search and retrieval using local binary patterns and KLT feature points

In the medical domain, experts usually look at specific anatomical structures to identify the cause of a pathology, and therefore they can largely benefit from automated tools that retrieve relevant slices(s) from a patient's image volume in diagnosis. Accordingly, this paper introduces a novel search and retrieval work for finding relevant slices in brain MR (magnetic resonance) volumes. As intensity is non-standard in MR we explore performance of two complementary intensity invariant features, local binary patterns and Kanade-Lucas-Tomasi feature points, their extended versions with spatial context, and a simple edge descriptor with spatial context. Experiments on real and simulated data showed that the local binary patterns with spatial context is fast, highly accurate, and robust to geometric deformations and intensity variations.
Split sfermion families, Yukawa unification and muon g − 2

We consider two distinct classes of Yukawa unified supersymmetric SO(10) models with non-universal and universal soft supersymmetry breaking (SSB) gaugino masses at M GUT. In both cases, we assume that the third family SSB sfermion masses at M GUT are different from the corresponding sfermion masses of the first two families (which are equal). For the SO(10) model with essentially arbitrary (non-universal) gaugino masses at M GUT, it is shown that t-b-τ Yukawa coupling unification is compatible, among other things, with the 125 GeV Higgs boson mass, the WMAP relic dark matter density, and with the resolution of the apparent muon g − 2 anomaly. The colored sparticles in this case all turn out to be quite heavy, of order 5 TeV or more, but the sleptons (smuon and stau) can be very light, of order 200 GeV or so. For the SO(10) model with universal gaugino masses and NUHM2 boundary conditions, the muon g − 2 anomaly cannot be resolved. However, the gluino in this class of models is not too heavy, ≲ 3 TeV, and therefore may be found at the LHC.
Allyldimethyltritylsilane: construction of enantiomerically pure cyclobutano[c]fused pyrrolidines

Abstract Cyclobutannulation of the bicyclic lactam with allyldimethyltritylsilane is accomplished in high yield with good diastereoselectivity. The resulting tricyclic system is converted to a enantiomerically pure cyclobutane-fused pyrrolidine.
Utility of beamforming strategies for secrecy in multiuser MIMO wiretap channels

This paper examines linear beamforming methods for secure communications in a multiuser wiretap channel with a single transmitter, multiple legitimate receivers, and a single eavesdropper, where all nodes are equipped with multiple antennas. No information regarding the eavesdropper is presumed at the transmitter, and we examine both the broadcast MIMO downlink with independent information, and the multicast MIMO downlink with common information for all legitimate receivers. In both cases the information signal is transmitted with just enough power to guarantee a certain SINR at the desired receivers, while the remainder of the power is used to broadcast artificial noise. The artificial interference selectively degrades the passive eavesdropper's signal while remaining orthogonal to the desired receivers. We analyze the confidentiality provided by zero-forcing and optimal minimum-power beamforming designs for the broadcast channel, and optimal minimum-MSE beamformers for the multicast channel. Numerical simulations for the relative SINR and BER performance of the eavesdropper demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed physical-layer security schemes.
Externalities and Corporate Objectives in a World with Diversified Shareholder/Consumers

If shareholders own diversified portfolios, and if companies impose externalities on one another, shareholders do not want value maximization to be corporate policy. Instead, shareholders want companies to maximize portfolio values. This occurs when firms internalize between-firm externalities. Any kind of externality, pecuniary or nonpecuniary, vertical or horizontal, suffices. What matters is simply that one company's actions affect another's value. Thus, besides the traditional benefit of risk reduction, portfolio diversifi? cation offers additional benefits to shareholders through helping internalize externalities. This paper documents the extent of diversification and cross-ownership of stocks among companies where these externalities are likely to be large and provides a capital market test of how merger offers vary with the extent of cross-ownership.
Contrasting Multiple Social Network Autocorrelations for Binary Outcomes, With Applications To Technology Adoption

The rise of socially targeted marketing suggests that decisions made by consumers can be predicted not only from their personal tastes and characteristics, but also from the decisions of people who are close to them in their networks. One obstacle to consider is that there may be several different measures for closeness that are appropriate, either through different types of friendships, or different functions of distance on one kind of friendship, where only a subset of these networks may actually be relevant. Another is that these decisions are often binary and more difficult to model with conventional approaches, both conceptually and computationally. To address these issues, we present a hierarchical auto-probit model for individual binary outcomes that uses and extends the machinery of the auto-probit method for binary data. We demonstrate the behavior of the parameters estimated by the multiple network-regime auto-probit model (m-NAP) under various sensitivity conditions, such as the impact of the prior distribution and the nature of the structure of the network. We also demonstrate several examples of correlated binary data outcomes in networks of interest to information systems, including the adoption of caller ring-back tones, whose use is governed by direct connection but explained by additional network topologies.
Ferromagnetic instabilities in atomically thin lithium and sodium wires

Using density functional theory, the ground-state structural, electronic, and magnetic properties of monoatomic lithium and sodium chains with low average density are investigated. A metallic, zigzag ground-state structure is predicted, but, most interestingly, stable equilibria for chains under tension are predicted to be ferromagnetic, which can be traced to exchange effects arising from occupation of the second subband as a function of the interatomic distance. © 2002 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Int J Quantum Chem, 2003
Quarterly Fiscal Policy Experiments with a Multiplier-Accelerator Model

In an earlier paper, i.e. Kendrick and Amman (A Taylor Rule for fiscal policy?, 2010), we raised the question of whether adjusting fiscal policy more frequently than its current pace of once a year could be used to improve stabilization. Also, we proposed a method for shedding light on that question by using a small macroeconometric model in a quadratic linear tracking stochastic control framework with an implicit feedback rule to compare a scenario in which fiscal policy was changed quarterly to a scenario in which it was only changed once a year. In this paper we first report on the use of counterfactual experiments in the 2007---2010 period of a major downturn in the economy. We find in one experiment that quarterly changes in policy stabilize output levels in the economy better than annual changes with a slightly larger increase in debt over the counterfactual period. In a second experiment we find that when weight changes are used to get roughly equal stabilization results, the increase in the debt level over the counterfactual periods is substantially less with quarterly than with annual policy changes. In the second part of the paper we repeat the two experiments but do so in a Monte Carlo framework. The results in this more general framework also point the way to a finding that a relatively simple shift from annual to quarterly fiscal policy could provide either better stabilization results with a slightly larger increase in the debt level or similar stabilization results but with a smaller increase in the debt level.
On Repetition Protocols and Power Control for Multiple Access Block-Fading Channels

In this paper we study the long-term throughput performance of repetition protocols coupled with power control for multiple access block-fading channels. We propose to use the feedback bits to inform the transmitter about the decoding status and the instantaneous channel quality. We determine the throughput of simple and practically inspired protocols; we show remarkable throughput improvements, especially at low and moderate SNR, when compared to protocols where the feedback bits are used for acknowledgment only or for power control only; we show that the throughput is very close to the ultimate ergodic multi-user water-filling capacity for small number of feedback bits and/or retransmissions. For symmetric Rayleigh fading channels, numerical results show that the throughput improvement is mainly due to the ability to perform a power control, rather than to retransmit.