cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Citrus consumption and risk of basal cell carcinoma and squamous cell carcinoma of the skin

Animal experiments have demonstrated the photocarcinogenic properties of furocoumarins, a group of naturally occurring chemicals that are rich in citrus products. We conducted a prospective study for citrus consumption and risk of basal cell carcinoma (BCC) and squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) of the skin based on data from 41530 men in the Health Professionals Follow-up Study (1986-2010) and 63759 women in the Nurses' Health Study (1984-2010) who were free of cancers at baseline. Over 24-26 years of follow-up, we documented 20840 incident BCCs and 3544 incident SCCs. Compared to those who consumed citrus products less than twice per week, the pooled multivariable-adjusted hazard ratios were 1.03 [95% confidence interval (95% CI): 0.99-1.08] for BCC and 1.14 (95% CI: 1.00-1.30) for SCC for those who consumed two to four times per week, 1.06 (95% CI: 1.01-1.11) for BCC and 1.15 (95% CI: 1.02-1.28) for SCC for five to six times per week, 1.11 (95% CI: 1.06-1.16) for BCC and 1.22 (95% CI: 1.08-1.37) for SCC for once to 1.4 times per day and 1.16 (95% CI: 1.09-1.23) for BCC and 1.21 (95% Cl: 1.06-1.38) for SCC for 1.5 times per day or more (P trend = 0.001 for BCC and 0.04 for SCC). In contrast, consumption of non-citrus fruit and juice appeared to be inversely associated with risk of BCC and SCC. Our findings support positive associations between citrus consumption and risk of cutaneous BCC and SCC in two cohorts of men and women, and call for further investigations to better understand the potential photocarcinogenesis associated with dietary intakes.
What is the role of the automatic stabilizers in the U.S. business cycle

Every developed country has automatic rules in its tax-and-transfer system that are, at least partly, intended to stabilize economic fluctuations. While there is great dispute on whether discretionary fiscal policy can be used as a countercyclical policy, there is wide agreement that these automatic stabilizers are effective. We re-evaluate this conclusion by studying the role of the main economic stabilizers in a modern business-cycle model. Our model has roles for aggregate demand, as in Keynesian theories, as well as for intertemporal labor supply and capital accumulation, as in neoclassical theories. Moreover, there is household heterogeneity and incomplete financial markets, so that redistribution resources affects macroeconomic aggregates. Our first finding is that this last ingredient is crucial: without it, the automatic stabilizers have a negligible effect on the volatility of economic activity. Our second finding is that, in the existing tax code and transfer system, some feature attenuate the business cycle but others accentuate it; overall, the effect is stabilizing but only mildly. Our third finding is that, with some small changes to some social programs, our model predicts that the automatic stabilizers could be much more effective.
Generic Identifiability of Linear Structural Equation Models by Ancestor Decomposition

Linear structural equation models, which relate random variables via linear interdependencies and Gaussian noise, are a popular tool for modelling multivariate joint distributions. The models correspond to mixed graphs that include both directed and bidirected edges representing the linear relationships and correlations between noise terms, respectively. A question of interest for these models is that of parameter identifiability, whether or not it is possible to recover edge coefficients from the joint covariance matrix of the random variables. For the problem of determining generic parameter identifiability, we present an algorithm building upon the half-trek criterion. Underlying our new algorithm is the idea that ancestral subsets of vertices in the graph can be used to extend the applicability of a decomposition technique.
Synthesizing Transformations for Locality Enhancement of Imperfectly-Nested Loop Nests

Linear loop transformations and tiling are known to be very effective for enhancing locality of reference in perfectly-nested loops. However, they cannot be applied directly to imperfectly-nested loops. Some compilers attempt to convert imperfectly-nested loops into perfectly-nested loops by using statement sinking, loop fusion, etc., and then apply locality enhancing transformations to the resulting perfectly-nested loops, but the approaches used are fairly ad hoc and may fail even for simple programs. In this paper, we present a systematic approach for synthesizing transformations to enhance locality in imperfectly-nested loops. The key idea is to embed the iteration space of each statement into a special iteration space called the product space. The product space can be viewed as a perfectly-nested loop nest, so embedding generalizes techniques like statement sinking and loop fusion which are used in ad hoc ways in current compilers to produce perfectly-nested loops from imperfectly-nested ones. In contrast to these ad hoc techniques however, our embeddings are chosen carefully to enhance locality. The product space can itself be transformed to increase locality further, after which fully permutable loops can be tiled. The final code generation step may produce imperfectly-nested loops as output if that is desirable. We present experimental evidence for the effectiveness of this approach, using dense numerical linear algebra benchmarks, relaxation codes, and the tomcatv code from the SPEC benchmarks.
SINk: A Middleware for Synchronization of Heterogeneous Software Interfaces

Software is everywhere. The increasing requirement of supporting a wide variety of domains has rapidly increased the complexity of software systems, making them hard to maintain and the training process harder for end-users, which in turn ultimately demanded the development of user-friendly application software with simple interfaces that makes them easy, especially for non-professional personnel, to employ, and interact with.However, due to the lack of source code access for third-party software and the lack of non-graphical interfaces such as web-services or RMI (Remote Method Invocation) access to application functionality, synchronization between heterogeneous closed-box software interfaces and a user-friendly version of those interfaces has become a major challenge. In this paper, we design SINk1, a middleware that enables synchronization of multiple heterogeneous software applications, using only graphical interface, without the need for source code access or access to the entire platform's control. SINk helps with synchronization of closed-box industry software, where in fact the only possible way of communication is through software interfaces. It leverages efficient client sever architecture, socket based protocol, adaptation to resolution changes, and parameter mapping mechanisms to transfer control events to ensure the real-time requirements of synchronization among multiple interfaces are met. Our proof-of-concept evaluation shows there is in fact potential usage of our middleware in a wide variety of domains.
Forest Productivity, Leaf Area, and Terrain in Southern Appalachian Deciduous Forests

Leaf area index (LAI) is an important structural characteristic of forest ecosystems which has been shown to be strongly related to forest mass and energy cycles and forest productivity. LAI is more easily measured than forest productivity, and so a strong relationship between LAI and productivity would be a valuable tool in forest management. While a linear relationship has been observed between LA1 and forest productivity, most ofthese data have been collected in needle-leaved evergreen stands. The generality and consistency of the relationship between LAI and productivity has not been as well established for deciduous forests. Leaf area index (LAI) and aboveground net primary production (ANPP) were measured on 16 forest stands in the southern Appalachian Mountains. These stands span a range of elevation, slope position, temperature, and moisture regimes. LAI averaged 5.8 m2 me2 and ranged from 2.7 to 8.2. ANPP averaged 9.2 Mg ha-l yrl and ranged from 5.2 to II.8 Mg ha-l yrl. LAI and ANPP decreased significantly from cove to ridge sites, and ANPP decreases significantly from low to high elevation (P c 0.05, linear regression slope). Elevation-related differences in ANPP do not appearto be due to changes in precipitation , leaf nitrogen content, or site N mineralization rates. Linear ANPP-LAI equations fit to the data measured in this study were significant (P c 0.05). These relationships were not significantly different (P> 0.1) from linear relationships based on data reported in most other studies of ANPP and IAI in eastern deciduous forests of North America. However, the slope of a linear regression model based ..on North American eastern deciduous forests was significantly different (P < 0.05) from one based on data collected in temperate deciduous forests for the rest of the globe. The differences were slight over the range of observed data, however, and the difference may be due to a narrower range of data for North American deciduous forests. For. Sci. 47(3):419-427.
Dr Brasilia and Mr. Nacala: the apparent duality behind the Brazilian state-capital nexus

In August 2010 Brazil decided to limit foreign direct investments (FDIs) in land, and attracted the attention of politicians as much as the fears of businessmen. However, few months before, in September 2009, it had concluded a trilateral agreement with Japan and Mozambique to implement agribusiness and contract farming on an area of ten million hectares in the Mozambican region of Nacala. In light of that, the paper analyses the apparent duality of the Brazilian politics, and concludes that, exactly like in the case of the novel by Robert Louis Stevenson, it is not a matter of pathology, but a voluntarily induced double personality which is strategic in positioning Brazil at the core of the global capitalist system.
Synthesis, crystal structure and magnetic properties of the two polymorphs of novel S=1 osmate; Li4MgOsO6

Abstract Li 4 MgOsO 6 was synthesized by two different solid-state reaction procedures. The crystal structures were determined by X-ray powder diffraction technique and it was revealed that Li 4 MgOsO 6 crystallizes in two different crystal symmetries in ordered rock salt structure type, namely monoclinic C2/m and orthorhombic Fddd . The unit cell constants for the monoclinic system are a =5.1074(4) A, b= 8.8182(4) A, c= 5.0902(2) A, and β =109.845 ( 4)° and those of the orthorhombic structure are a =5.8485(1) A, b =8.3821(1) A, and c =17.6212(3) A. In both systems, Os 6+ ions reside exclusively in a specific crystallographic position while Li + and Mg 2+ ions exhibit mix occupancy. The temperature dependent magnetic susceptibility data for both S=1 osmate systems do not support the occurrence of any magnetic transition down to 2 K. The Curie–Weiss fit to the paramagnetic regime of the magnetic susceptibility data reveal highly negative θ value (−114.81 K and −121.87 K for C2/m and for Fddd systems , respectively ) , which are indicative of predominant antiferromagnetic (AFM) interactions in both systems. The experimental effective magnetic moment ( μ eff ) value for the monoclinic phase is 2.13 μB and that of the orthorhombic system is 2.34 μB . Due to the rather strong AFM interactions and lack of magnetic transition down to 2 K, both of these novel osmates are placed in the class of highly frustrated magnets. Low temperature magnetic susceptibility (below 2 K) and dynamic magnetic properties studies (μsr studies) are in order to better understand the magnetic ground states of these two polymorphs of Li 4 MgOsO 6 .
Maximum likelihood estimation for semiparametric transformation models with interval-censored data

Interval censoring arises frequently in clinical, epidemiological, financial and sociological studies, where the event or failure of interest is known only to occur within an interval induced by periodic monitoring. We formulate the effects of potentially time-dependent covariates on the interval-censored failure time through a broad class of semiparametric transformation models that encompasses proportional hazards and proportional odds models. We consider nonparametric maximum likelihood estimation for this class of models with an arbitrary number of monitoring times for each subject. We devise an EM-type algorithm that converges stably, even in the presence of time-dependent covariates, and show that the estimators for the regression parameters are consistent, asymptotically normal, and asymptotically efficient with an easily estimated covariance matrix. Finally, we demonstrate the performance of our procedures through simulation studies and application to an HIV/AIDS study conducted in Thailand.
Binary response panel data models with sample selection and self-selection

Summary We consider estimating binary response models on an unbalanced panel, where the outcome of the dependent variable may be missing due to nonrandom selection, or there is self-selection into a treatment. In the present paper, we first consider estimation of sample selection models and treatment effects using a fully parametric approach, where the error distribution is assumed to be normal in both primary and selection equations. Arbitrary time dependence in errors is permitted. Estimation of both coefficients and partial effects, as well as tests for selection bias, are discussed. Furthermore, we consider a semiparametric estimator of binary response panel data models with sample selection that is robust to a variety of error distributions. The estimator employs a control function approach to account for endogenous selection and permits consistent estimation of scaled coefficients and relative effects.
Rhodium-Catalyzed, Enantioselective Hydroacylation of ortho-Allylbenzaldehydes.

The development of a rhodium catalyst for endo- and enantioselective hydroacylation of ortho-allylbenzaldehydes is reported. A catalyst generated in situ from [Rh(COD)Cl]2, (R)-DTBM-SEGPHOS, and NaBARF promotes the desired hydroacylation reactions and minimizes the formation of byproducts from competitive alkene isomerization and ene/dehydration pathways. These rhodium-catalyzed processes generate the 3,4-dihydronaphthalen-1(2H)-one products in moderate-to-high yields (49–91%) with excellent enantioselectivities (96–99% ee).
Leveraging Contact Network Structure in the Design of Cluster Randomized Trials

Background:In settings like the Ebola epidemic, where proof-of-principle trials have provided evidence of efficacy but questions remain about the effectiveness of different possible modes of implem...
Using DEA and VEA to Evaluate Quality of Life in the Mid-Atlantic States

In this study we use data envelopment analysis (DEA) and an extension of DEA called value efficiency analysis (VEA) to explore the “production” of quality of life within counties in the mid-Atlantic region and the extent to which production frontiers and efficiency differ between rural and urban counties. These methods allow us to identify counties that are inefficient in their quality of life production, and to rank (using DEA) those counties according to their distance from a performance standard established by other observed counties, or (using VEA) by a single unit designated as “most preferred.”
Epidemic Threshold of an SIS Model in Dynamic Switching Networks

In this paper, we analyze dynamic switching networks, wherein the networks switch arbitrarily among a set of topologies. For this class of dynamic networks, we derive an epidemic threshold, considering the susceptible-infected-susceptible epidemic model. First, an epidemic probabilistic model is developed assuming independence between states of nodes. We identify the conditions under which the epidemic dies out by linearizing the underlying dynamical system and analyzing its asymptotic stability around the origin. The concept of joint spectral radius is then used to derive the epidemic threshold, which is later validated using several networks (Watts–Strogatz, Barabasi–Albert, MIT reality mining graphs, Regular, and Gilbert). A simplified version of the epidemic threshold is proposed for undirected networks. Moreover, in the case of static networks, the derived epidemic threshold is shown to match conventional analytical results. Then, analytical results for the epidemic threshold of dynamic networks are proved to be applicable to periodic networks. For dynamic regular networks, we demonstrate that the epidemic threshold is identical to the epidemic threshold for static regular networks. An upper bound for the epidemic spread probability in dynamic Gilbert networks is also derived and verified using simulation.
Quantum-Secure Message Authentication Codes

We construct the first Message Authentication Codes (MACs) that are existentially unforgeable against a quantum chosen message attack. These chosen message attacks model a quantum adversary’s ability to obtain the MAC on a superposition of messages of its choice. We begin by showing that a quantum secure PRF is sufficient for constructing a quantum secure MAC, a fact that is considerably harder to prove than its classical analogue. Next, we show that a variant of Carter-Wegman MACs can be proven to be quantum secure. Unlike the classical settings, we present an attack showing that a pair-wise independent hash family is insufficient to construct a quantum secure one-time MAC, but we prove that a four-wise independent family is sufficient for one-time security.
ENDOSCOPIC SINUS SURGERY: A Review

Endoscopic sinus surgery has progressed from a limited surgical intervention for chronic sinus disease to a viable approach for diffuse sinonasal polyposis, benign tumors, skull base defects, and orbital lesions. Some aspects of endoscopic diagnosis and treatment, however, remain controversial and are poorly understood. Controversies in endoscopic sinus surgery are reviewed and the primary critical issues with regard to the more recently developed instrumentation and the newer extended approaches are presented.
Multi-sensor surface analysis for robotic ironing

Robotic manipulation of deformable objects remains a challenging task. One such task is to iron a piece of cloth autonomously. Given a roughly flattened cloth, the goal is to have an ironing plan that can iteratively apply a regular iron to remove all the major wrinkles by a robot. We present a novel solution to analyze the cloth surface by fusing two surface scan techniques: a curvature scan and a discontinuity scan. The curvature scan can estimate the height deviation of the cloth surface, while the discontinuity scan can effectively detect sharp surface features, such as wrinkles. We use this information to detect the regions that need to be pulled and extended before ironing, and the other regions where we want to detect wrinkles and apply ironing to remove the wrinkles. We demonstrate that our hybrid scan technique is able to capture and classify wrinkles over the surface robustly. Given detected wrinkles, we enable a robot to iron them using shape features. Experimental results show that using our wrinkle analysis algorithm, our robot is able to iron the cloth surface and effectively remove the wrinkles.
Diagnostic Yield and Clinical Utility of Abdominopelvic CT Following Emergent Laparotomy for Trauma

Postoperative CT is a useful adjunct to emergent laparotomy in the trauma setting for identifying unexpected injuries, confirming suspected injuries that were not fully explored at initial surgery, and aiding management after both blunt and penetrating trauma.
On the existence of price equilibrium in economies with excess demand functions

This paper provides a price equilibrium existence theorem in economies where commodities may be indivisible and excess demand functions may not be continuous. We introduce a weak notion of continuity, called recursive transfer lower semi-continuity, which, together with Walras’ law, guarantees the existence of price equilibrium in economies with excess demand functions. The condition is also necessary, and thus our results generalize all the existing results on the existence of price equilibrium in economies where excess demand is a function.
Mild and expedient asymmetric reductions of α,β-unsaturated alkenyl and alkynyl ketones by TarB-NO2 and mechanistic investigations of ketone reduction.

A facile and mild reduction procedure is reported for the preparation of chiral allylic and propargyl alcohols in high enantiomeric purity. Under optimized conditions, alkynyl and alkenyl ketones were reduced by TarB-NO2 and NaBH4 at 25 °C in 1 h to produce chiral propargyl and allylic alcohols with enantiomeric excesses and yields up to 99%. In the case of α,β-unsaturated alkenyl ketones, α-substituted cycloalkenones were reduced with up to 99% ee, while more substituted and acyclic derivatives exhibited lower induction. For α,β-ynones, it was found that highly branched aliphatic ynones were reduced with optimal induction up to 90% ee, while reduction of aromatic and linear aliphatic derivatives resulted in more modest enantioselectivity. Using the (l)-TarB-NO2 reagent derived from (l)-tartaric acid, we routinely obtained highly enantioenriched chiral allylic and propargyl alcohols with (R) configuration. Since previous models and a reduction of a saturated analogue predicted propargyl products of (S) co...
The New Antibiotic Era: For Better or for Worse?

field of pure science, such disagreements are usually best resolved by the presentation of carefully controlled data, which bear specifically on the points at issue. However, a number of clinical investigators who are intimately interested in the proper evaluation and use of antibiotics, including several members of this editorial board, have been deeply concerned about the interpretations and the immediate and broad implications of some recent trends in the use of antibiotic combinations
A New Extrapolation-Based Uncertainty Estimator for Computational Fluid Dynamics

A new Richardson extrapolation-based uncertainty estimator is developed which utilizes a global order of accuracy. Various metrics are used to quantitatively evaluate the uncertainty estimators the most important of which is conservativeness which the percentage of uncertainty estimates which bracket the true solution. Another metric is the effectivity index which is a relative measure of accuracy (of either the error or the uncertainty estimate) compared to the true solution. Conservativeness and effectivity of the discretization uncertainty estimators are used to assess the proposed uncertainty estimator compared to other uncertainty estimators such as the GCI and the Factor of Safety method. Four two-dimensional, inviscid flow fields with exact solutions are used to calibrate the uncertainty estimator. Numerous additional solutions computed using different computational fluid dynamics codes with exact solutions and a zero pressure gradient, turbulent flat plate numerical benchmark are used to test the new uncertainty estimator. The proposed uncertainty estimator is developed with a focus on local variables and shows significant improvement in effectivity and conservativeness compared to existing extrapolation-based uncertainty estimates.
An empirical approach to the extragalactic background light from AEGIS galaxy SED-type fractions

The extragalactic background light (EBL) is of fundamental importance both for understanding the entire process of galaxy evolution and for γ-ray astronomy. However, the overall spectrum of the EBL between 0.1 and 1000 μm has never been determined directly, neither from observed luminosity functions (LFs), over a wide redshift range, nor from any multiwavelength observation of galaxy spectral energy distributions (SEDs). The evolving overall spectrum of the EBL is derived here utilizing a novel method based on observations only. It is emphasized that the local EBL seems already well constrained from the UV up to the mid-IR. Different independent methodologies such as direct measurement, galaxy counts, γ-ray attenuation and realistic EBL modelings point towards the same EBL intensity level. Therefore, a relevant contribution from Pop III stars to the local EBL seems unlikely.
An Application of Infrared Spectroscopy to Rubber Chemistry

The applicability of infrared methods to some problems arising in the chemistry of rubber has been demonstrated. The spectra of isoprene, styrene, polymerized butadiene, and several types of rubber have been studied and certain variations in the 5.5μ—6.5μ regions are attributed to changes occurring during the processes of polymerization. The effects of vulcanization also appear in the spectra of the rubber samples. The methods of infrared analysis do not necessitate the use of solutions of rubber compounds in carbon tetrachloride or carbon disulphide as in the case of previous Raman work.
Quantum critical points of j =3/2 Dirac electrons in antiperovskite topological crystalline insulators

We study the effect of the long-range Coulomb interaction in $j=3/2$ Dirac electrons in cubic crystals with the ${O}_{h}$ symmetry, which serves as an effective model for antiperovskite topological crystalline insulators. The renormalization group analysis reveals three fixed points that are Lorentz invariant, rotationally invariant, and ${O}_{h}$ invariant. Among them, the Lorentz- and ${O}_{h}$-invariant fixed points are stable in the low-energy limit, while the rotationally invariant fixed point is unstable. The existence of a stable ${O}_{h}$-invariant fixed point of Dirac fermions with finite velocity anisotropy presents an interesting counterexample to emergent Lorentz invariance in solids.
Differences in the F0 Patterns of Speech: Tone Language Versus Stress Language

A comparison was made between the fundamental frequency (F0) patterns of continuous speech in Mandarin Chinese and American English. Seven adult male native speakers of each language were asked to ...
Complete Instantiation-Based Interpolation

Craig interpolation has been a valuable tool in program analysis and verification. Modern SMT solvers implement interpolation procedures for the theories that are most commonly used in these applications. However, many application-specific theories remain unsupported, which limits the class of problems to which interpolation-based techniques apply. In this paper, we present a generic framework to build new interpolation procedures via a reduction to existing interpolation procedures. We consider the case where an application-specific theory can be formalized as an extension of a base theory with additional symbols and axioms. Our technique uses finite instantiation of the extension axioms to reduce an interpolation problem in the theory extension to one in the base theory. We identify a model-theoretic criterion that allows us to detect the cases where our technique is complete. We discuss specific theories that are relevant in program verification and that satisfy this criterion. In particular, we obtain complete interpolation procedures for theories of arrays and linked lists. The latter is the first complete interpolation procedure for a theory that supports reasoning about complex shape properties of heap-allocated data structures.
Soil water improvements with the long-term use of a winter rye cover crop

Abstract The Midwestern United States, a region that produces one-third of maize and one-quarter of soybean grain globally, is projected to experience increasing rainfall variability. One approach to mitigate climate impacts is to utilize crop and soil management practices that enhance soil water storage and reduce the risks of flooding as well as drought-induced crop water stress. While some research indicates that a winter cover crop in maize-soybean rotations increases soil water availability, producers continue to be concerned that water use by cover crops will reduce water for a following cash crop. We analyzed continuous in-field soil water measurements from 2008 to 2014 at a Central Iowa research site that has included a winter rye cover crop in a maize-soybean rotation for thirteen years. This period of study included years in the top third of the wettest on record (2008, 2010, 2014) as well as drier years in the bottom third (2012, 2013). We found the cover crop treatment to have significantly higher soil water storage at the 0–30 cm depth from 2012 to 2014 when compared to the no cover crop treatment and in most years greater soil water content on individual days analyzed during the cash crop growing season. We further found that the cover crop significantly increased the field capacity water content by 10–11% and plant available water by 21–22%. Finally, in 2013 and 2014, we measured maize and soybean biomass every 2–3 weeks and did not see treatment differences in crop growth, leaf area or nitrogen uptake. Final crop yields were not statistically different between the cover and no cover crop treatment in any of the seven years of this analysis. This research indicates that the long-term use of a winter rye cover crop can improve soil water dynamics without sacrificing cash crop growth in maize-soybean crop rotations in the Midwestern United States.
The lipophosphoglycan of Leishmania.

Parasites of the genus Leishmania have the striking ability to survive in hydrolytic environments encountered throughout their digenetic life cycle. In one part of the life cycle, the parasite assumes an extracellular, flagellate promastigote form in the alimentary tract of its insect vector, the phlebotomine sandfly. Upon inoculation into a human or other suitable host, the parasite proliferates as an intracellular, nonflagellate amastigote in the phagolysosomes of phagocytic cells. Thus, to survive, the Leishmania must avoid destruction in (1) the sandfly gut where the parasite could be vulnerable to a variety of digestive enzymes, (2) the bloodstream of the host where the organism transiently exists and would be exposed to the lytic complement pathway, and, most spectacularly, (3) in the phagolysosome of host macrophages where the parasite would be subject to a number of hydrolytic enzymes and the microbicidal oxidative burst. Little is known about the molecular details of how this pathogen survives in obviously hostile environments. Cell surface glycoconjugates undoubtedly play a key role in the survival of the Leishmania parasite throughout its existence. The major cell surface glycoconjugate of the promastigote form is a polydisperse lipid-containing polysaccharide called lipophosphoglycan (LPG). Current information is reviewed that suggests that this interesting molecule is multifunctional.
String order via Floquet interactions in atomic systems

We study the transverse-field Ising model with interactions that are modulated in time. In a rotating frame, the system is described by a time-independent Hamiltonian with many-body interactions, similar to the cluster Hamiltonians of measurement-based quantum computing. In one dimension, there is a three-body interaction, which leads to string order instead of conventional magnetic order. We show that the string order is robust to power-law interactions that decay with the cube of distance. In two and three dimensions, there are five- and seven-body interactions. We discuss adiabatic preparation of the ground state as well as experimental implementation with trapped ions, Rydberg atoms, and polar molecules.
Results of a hubble space telescope search for natural satellites of dwarf planet 1 ceres

Abstract In order to prepare for the arrival of the Dawn spacecraft at Ceres, a search for satellites was undertaken by the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) to enhance the mission science return and to ensure spacecraft safety. Previous satellite searches from ground-based telescopes have detected no satellites within Ceres’ Hill sphere down to a size of 3 km ( Gehrels et al. 1987 ) and early HST investigations searched to a limit of 1–2 km (Bieryla et al. 2011). The Wide Field Camera 3 (WFC3) on board the HST was used to image Ceres between 14 April–28 April 2014. These images cover approximately the inner third of Ceres’ Hill sphere, where the Hill sphere is the region surrounding Ceres where stable satellite orbits are possible. We performed a deep search for possible companions orbiting Ceres. No natural companions were located down to a diameter of 48 m, over most of the Hill sphere to a distance of 205,000 km (434 Ceres radii) from the surface of Ceres. It was impossible to search all the way to the surface of Ceres because of scattered light, but at a distance of 2865 km (five Ceres radii), the search limit was determined to be 925 m.
Dupuytren’s Contracture

DUPUYTREN'S contracture was first shown to be a disease of the palmar fascia by Dupuytren just 120 years ago. Since that time an exhaustive literature has grown up about it, but knowledge concerning its exact etiology is still not complete, nor is there agreement as to the nature of the pathologic changes which are found in the excised fascia. There is less argument relative to the treatment. It is generally admitted that the condition should be managed surgically; no conservative measures have proved to be satisfactory. There is some argument among surgeons as to how extensive the surgical treatment should be. In general it can be said that most surgeons advise complete removal of the palmar fascia and of prolongations into the fingers if they are involved. Removal should be done fairly early, before secondary changes and extensive skin involvement have taken place. There has been a recrudesence of subcutaneous
Random classification noise defeats all convex potential boosters

A broad class of boosting algorithms can be interpreted as performing coordinate-wise gradient descent to minimize some potential function of the margins of a data set. This class includes AdaBoost, LogitBoost, and other widely used and well-studied boosters. In this paper we show that for a broad class of convex potential functions, any such boosting algorithm is highly susceptible to random classification noise. We do this by showing that for any such booster and any nonzero random classification noise rate ?, there is a simple data set of examples which is efficiently learnable by such a booster if there is no noise, but which cannot be learned to accuracy better than 1/2 if there is random classification noise at rate ?. This holds even if the booster regularizes using early stopping or a bound on the L 1 norm of the voting weights. This negative result is in contrast with known branching program based boosters which do not fall into the convex potential function framework and which can provably learn to high accuracy in the presence of random classification noise.
Tree-ring reconstructed hydroclimate of the upper Klamath basin

Summary This work presents the first tree-ring reconstructions of hydroclimate for the Upper Klamath River basin, which stretches from northern California into southern Oregon. The extended record provides a centuries-long perspective on the region’s hydroclimatic variability and context for water-related political issues that have erupted in recent years. Reconstructions of water-year precipitation for Klamath Falls, Oregon (extending 1564–2004 and 1000–2010 CE) were developed to compare past drought severity with drought severity of the instrumental record (extending 1896–2011). The reconstructions suggest that variability exhibited during the instrumental period captures extremes of moderate-to-long-duration (6-, 10-, and 20-year) droughts, but not of short (single-year and 3-year) and very long (50-year) droughts, which were more severe during the 11th–13th centuries. The late-16th-century “mega drought” is present in the Klamath River basin, though with less strength than in the neighboring Sacramento River basin. Cool-season storm tracks appear to be a direct driver of hydroclimatic variability, leading to instances of see-saw like relationships with neighboring regions, such as in the mid-14th century. In contrast, the larger area of drought in the 12th century is suggestive of a long-term northward shift in cool-season storm tracks.
XMRF: an R package to fit Markov Networks to high-throughput genetics data.

Technological advances in medicine have led to a rapid proliferation of high-throughput “omics” data. Tools to mine this data and discover disrupted disease networks are needed as they hold the key to understanding complicated interactions between genes, mutations and aberrations, and epi-genetic markers. We developed an R software package, XMRF, that can be used to fit Markov Networks to various types of high-throughput genomics data. Encoding the models and estimation techniques of the recently proposed exponential family Markov Random Fields (Yang et al., 2012), our software can be used to learn genetic networks from RNA-sequencing data (counts via Poisson graphical models), mutation and copy number variation data (categorical via Ising models), and methylation data (continuous via Gaussian graphical models). XMRF is the only tool that allows network structure learning using the native distribution of the data instead of the standard Gaussian. Moreover, the parallelization feature of the implemented algorithms computes the large-scale biological networks efficiently. XMRF is available from CRAN and Github ( https://github.com/zhandong/XMRF ).
Impact of the lower atmosphere on the ionosphere response to a geomagnetic superstorm

Numerical simulations in the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) Thermosphere-Ionosphere-Electrodynamics General Circulation Model (TIE-GCM) are performed to elucidate the impacts of lower atmosphere forcing on the ionosphere response to a geomagnetic superstorm. In particular, how the ionosphere variability due to the October 2003 Halloween storm would be different if it occurred in January coincident with a major sudden stratosphere warming (SSW) event is investigated. The TIE-GCM simulations reveal that the E×B vertical drift velocity and total electron content (TEC) respond differently to the geomagnetic forcing when the lower atmosphere forcing is representative of SSW conditions compared to climatological lower atmosphere forcing conditions. Notably, the storm time variations in the E×B vertical drift velocity differ when the SSW induced zonal mean and tidal variability in the lower thermosphere is considered, and this is in part due to effects of the SSW on the equatorial ionosphere being potentially misinterpreted as being of geomagnetic origin. Differences in the TEC response to the geomagnetic storm can be up to 100% (∼30 TECU) of the storm induced TEC change, and the temporal variability of the TEC during the storm recovery phase is considerably different if SSW effects are considered. The results demonstrate that even during periods of extreme geomagnetic forcing it is important to consider the effects of lower atmosphere forcing on the ionosphere variability.
Optimally achieving milk bulk tank somatic cell count thresholds

High somatic cell count in milk leads to reduced shelf life in fluid milk and lower processed yields in manufactured dairy products. As a result, farmers are often penalized for high bulk tank somatic cell count or paid a premium for low bulk tank somatic cell count. Many countries also require all milk from a farm to be lower than a specified regulated somatic cell count. Thus, farms often cull cows that have high somatic cell count to meet somatic cell count thresholds. Rather than naively cull the highest somatic cell count cows, a mathematical programming model was developed that determines the cows to be culled from the herd by maximizing the net present value of the herd, subject to meeting any specified bulk tank somatic cell count level. The model was applied to test-day cows on 2 New York State dairy farms. Results showed that the net present value of the herd was increased by using the model to meet the somatic cell count restriction compared with naively culling the highest somatic cell count cows. Implementation of the model would be straightforward in dairy management decision software.
Estimating Mean Time to Compromise Using Non-homogenous Continuous-Time Markov Models

Mean time to compromise is a commonly used comparative metric to determine a system's weakness and aid in risk mitigation strategies. In this paper, we provide a unified framework for measuring a network's mean time to compromise by considering both the skill level of an attacker as well as the causal relationship that exists between all the vulnerabilities in the network. Unlike existing approaches, we provide a methodology for estimating the skill coefficient of different categories of attackers (Beginner, Intermediate, Expert) by analyzing 15 years of vulnerability data in the NVD database. We then extend our predictive cybersecurity stochastic model into a nonhomogeneous continuous model to derive the overall mean time to compromise by modeling the sojourn time in each state as a random variable based on the skill level of an attacker. Finally, we demonstrate through a case study how our framework can enable security practitioners to visualize the future security state and optimize the necessary steps to harden the enterprise network from external threats.
Estimation of Heterogeneous Individual Treatment Effects With Endogenous Treatments

This article estimates individual treatment effects (ITE) and its probability distribution in a triangular model with binary-valued endogenous treatments. Our estimation procedure takes two steps. ...
Infinite horizon quadratic optimal control of a class of nonlinear stochastic systems

The author considers a class of discrete-time nonlinear stochastic control systems whose nonlinearities are described by statistical means. By introducing the proper mean-square stabilizability and detectability properties of such systems and giving a characterization of these properties in terms of system parameters, he examines the steady-state properties of quadratically optimal controllers. A robustness property of these controllers is pointed out. >
Genetic architecture of age-related cognitive decline in African Americans

Objective To identify genetic risk factors associated with susceptibility to age-related cognitive decline in African Americans (AAs). Methods We performed a genome-wide association study (GWAS) and an admixture-mapping scan in 3,964 older AAs from 5 longitudinal cohorts; for each participant, we calculated a slope of an individual's global cognitive change from neuropsychological evaluations. We also performed a pathway-based analysis of the age-related cognitive decline GWAS. Results We found no evidence to support the existence of a genomic region which has a strongly different contribution to age-related cognitive decline in African and European genomes. Known Alzheimer disease (AD) susceptibility variants in the ABCA7 and MS4A loci do influence this trait in AAs. Of interest, our pathway-based analyses returned statistically significant results highlighting a shared risk from lipid/metabolism and protein tyrosine signaling pathways between cognitive decline and AD, but the role of inflammatory pathways is polarized, being limited to AD susceptibility. Conclusions The genetic architecture of aging-related cognitive in AA individuals is largely similar to that of individuals of European descent. In both populations, we note a surprising lack of enrichment for immune pathways in the genetic risk for cognitive decline, despite strong enrichment of these pathways among genetic risk factors for AD.
A natural language interface to a graph-based bibliographic information retrieval system

Abstract With the ever-increasing volume of scientific literature, there is a need for a natural language interface to bibliographic information retrieval systems to retrieve relevant information effectively. In this paper, we propose one such interface, NLI-GIBIR, which allows users to search for a variety of bibliographic data through natural language. NLI-GIBIR makes use of a novel framework applicable to graph-based bibliographic information retrieval systems in general. This framework incorporates algorithms/heuristics for interpreting and analyzing natural language bibliographic queries via a series of text- and linguistic-based techniques, including tokenization, named entity recognition, and syntactic analysis. We find that our framework, as implemented in NLI-GIBIR, can effectively represent and address complex bibliographic information needs. Thus, the contributions of this paper are as follows: First, to our knowledge, it is the first attempt to propose a natural language interface for graph-based bibliographic information retrieval. Second, we propose a novel customized natural language processing framework that integrates a few original algorithms/heuristics for interpreting and analyzing bibliographic queries. Third, we show that the proposed framework and natural language interface provide a practical solution for building real-world bibliographic information retrieval systems. Our experimental results show that the presented system can correctly answer 39 out of 40 example natural language queries with varying lengths and complexities.
Accelerated Time-of-Flight Mass Spectrometry

We study a simple modification to the conventional time-of-flight mass spectrometry (TOFMS) where a variable and (pseudo)-random pulsing rate is used, which allows for traces from different pulses to overlap. This modification requires little alteration to the currently employed hardware. However, it requires a reconstruction method to recover the spectrum from highly aliased traces. We propose and demonstrate an efficient algorithm that can process massive TOFMS data using computational resources that can be considered modest by today's standards. This approach can be used to improve duty cycle, speed, and mass resolving power of TOFMS at the same time. We demonstrate the efficacy of our method by running an experiment using a conventional TOFMS instrument and simulating the output of the modified scheme using these observations. Our result shows that the new scheme can result in a ten fold speed up of the instrument. We expect this to extend the applicability of TOFMS to new domains. Moreover, we detailed how our work represents an example in the statistically sparse signal acquisition paradigm. In this regime, a (possibly dense) signal x can be observed only through noisy sparse measurements where all but a small, random, unknown fraction of the entries are set to zero in each observation. We argue that improving the acquisition efficiency through random linear measurements in this regime has many possible applications and represents a host of both practical and theoretical challenges.
Making Sense of Institutions as a Factor Shaping Economic Performance

Abstract There has recently been a resurgence of interest in how institutions affect economic performance. A review of this literature reveals that the concept of an “institution” means different things to different scholars, both within economics and across the social sciences. We discuss what factors unify the different definitions of institutions, and develop a concept of institutions useful for the analysis of economic performance, and economic growth in particular. Specifically, we develop the notion of institutions as standard “social technologies”. Economic growth results from the co-evolution of physical and social technologies.
CDF RESULTS ON TOP

CDF has established the existence of the top quark. Results from $p\bar p$ collisions at $\sqrt{s} = 1.8$ TeV are presented. In the dilepton final state we find seven events with a background of 1.3±0.3. In the e, μ+v+jets channel with a b identified via a secondary vertex detector (SVX), we find 21 events with a background of 5.5±1.8. We measure the top quark mass to be 176±8 (stat) ±10 (syst) GeV/c2, and the $t\bar t$ production cross section to be $7.6_{ - 2.0}^{ + 2.4} Pb$ . The integrated luminosity for the results presented in this paper is 67 pb−1. The CDF detector needs to be upgraded for our next run. The integrated luminosity for the next run is expected to be more than 1000 pb−1.