cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Surface Science and Stability of Networks Prepared from Hydroxy-Terminated Polydimethylsiloxane and Methyltriethoxysilane

Polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) hybrid networks have been prepared by the reaction of PDMS(OH)2, average molecular weight 26 × 103, 43.6 × 103 and 58 × 103, and methyltriethoxysilane (MeTEOS, 10–60 wt%) using a dibutyltin dilaurate or dibutyltin diacetate catalyst. By hydrolysis and homo- and co-condensation, MeTEOS forms a siliceous domain (MeSD) and acts as a crosslinker for the PDMS domain. Kinetic studies showed that high MeTEOS and catalyst concentrations and reduction of free surface area favor fast gelation and efficiency in converting MeTEOS to the MeSD. Under the water-sparse conditions utilized, cure was slow and substantial evaporative loss of MeTEOS occurred. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Multicopy crystallographic refinement of a relaxed glutamine synthetase from Mycobacterium tuberculosis highlights flexible loops in the enzymatic mechanism and its regulation.

The crystal structure of glutamine synthetase (GS) from Mycobacterium tuberculosis determined at 2.4 A resolution reveals citrate and AMP bound in the active site. The structure was refined with strict 24-fold noncrystallographic symmetry (NCS) constraints and has an R-factor of 22.7% and an R-free of 25.5%. Multicopy refinement using 10 atomic models and strict 24-fold NCS constraints further reduced the R-factor to 20.4% and the R-free to 23.2%. The multicopy model demonstrates the range of atomic displacements of catalytic and regulatory loops in glutamine synthesis, simulating loop motions. A comparison with loop positions in substrate complexes of GS from Salmonella typhimurium shows that the Asp50 and Glu327 loops close over the active site during catalysis. These loop closures are preceded by a conformational change of the Glu209 β-strand upon metal ion or ATP binding that converts the enzyme from a relaxed to a taut state. We propose a model of the GS regulatory mechanism based on the loop motions...
The Brown Dwarf Kinematics Project. II. Details on Nine Wide Common Proper Motion Very Low Mass Companions to Nearby Stars

We report on nine wide common proper motion systems containing late-type M, L, or T companions. We confirm six previously reported companions, and identify three new systems. The ages of these systems are determined using diagnostics for both stellar primaries and low-mass secondaries and masses for the secondaries are inferred using evolutionary models. Of our three new discoveries, the M3+T6.5 pair G 204-39 and SDSS J1758+4633 has an age constrained to 0.5-1.5 Gyr making the secondary a potentially useful brown dwarf benchmark. The G5+L4 pair G 200-28 and SDSS J1416+5006 has a projected separation of ~25,000 AU making it one of the widest and lowest binding energy systems known to date. The system containing NLTT 2274 and SDSS J0041+1341 is an older M4+L0 (>4.5 Gyr) pair which shows Hα activity in the secondary but not the primary making it a useful tracer of age/mass/activity trends. Two of the nine systems have discrepant component ages that emerge from stellar or ultracool diagnostics indicating possible shortcomings in our understanding of the age diagnostics of stars and brown dwarfs. We find a resolved binary frequency for widely separated (>100 AU) low-mass companions (i.e., at least a triple system) which is at least twice the frequency found for the field ultracool dwarf population. The ratio of triples to binaries and quadruples to binaries is also high for this sample: 3:5 and 1:4, respectively, compared to 8 pc sample values of 1:4 and 1:26. The additional components in these wide companion systems indicates a formation mechanism that requires a third or fourth component to maintain gravitational stability or facilitate the exchange of angular momentum. The binding energies for the nine multiples discussed in this text are among the lowest known for wide low-mass systems, suggesting that weakly bound, low-to-intermediate mass (0.2 M ☉ < M tot< 1.0 M ☉) multiples can form and survive to exist in the field (1-8 Gyr).
Method for recovering quantitative broadband diffuse optical spectra from layered media

We report the recovery of broadband (650-1000 nm) diffuse optical absorption and reduced scattering spectra stratified by layer in a two-layer phantom. The broadband optical properties of the phantom featured top and bottom layers designed to simulate adipose and muscle, respectively. The absolute value and dynamic variation of chromophore concentrations in both layers (top layer thickness greater than 5 mm) were calculated with an average 10% error and 3% error, respectively. In addition to spectra, the algorithm recovers the top layer thickness up to 12 mm within 10% error. It is insensitive to initial guesses of both layers' optical properties as long as the layer thickness initial guess is within ±2 mm.
Effect of Oxidation and Plume Formation on Low Power Nd-Yag Laser Metal Interaction

The effect of oxide formation and plume formation on laser energy absorption by metallic targets has been studied. The change in directional-hemispherical spectral reflectance of metallic targets during single-shot Nd-Yag laser pulse irradiation was measured using an integrating sphere under controlled environments of both oxygen and argon gas. The spectral transmittance of the plume formed over the targets was also measured using a He-Ne probe laser. The metal targets studied included A16061, Cu, 304 stainless steel, and low-carbon steel. Results obtained show that once a target is hot enough to form a vapor plume, in either argon or oxygen, absorption by the plume significantly limits the amount of laser energy available for absorption at the target surface. The formation of an oxide layer that occurs in an oxidizing environment generally has the effect of increasing the target absorptivity. The relative magnitude of the absorptivity enhancement due to oxide formation depends on the respective absorptivities of the oxide and metal.
Sexual Dysfunction in Female Hemodialysis Patients: a Multicenter Study

Sexual dysfunction in female hemodialysis patients: A multicenter study. Background. Sexual function is one aspect of physical func- tioning. Sexual dysfunction, no matter the etiology, could cause distress. In female hemodialysis patients, sexual problems have often been neglected in clinical performance and research. Methods. We conducted this study by use of self-reported questionnaires. A total of 578 female hemodialysis patients in northern Taiwan were included in this study. Demographic data, comorbid diseases, medications in use, biochemical, and hema- tologic parameters were analyzed. All patients were asked to complete by themselves three questionnaires: (1) the Index of Female Sexual Function (IFSF) to assess sexual function; (2) the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) (Chinese version) to rate the severity of depressive symptoms; and (3) the 36-item Short Form Health Survey Questionnaire (SF-36, Taiwan Standard Version 1.0) to survey their quality of life. Results. A total of 138 female patients were enrolled into further analysis. The mean age was 48.7 ± 11.2 years old. The mean IFSF score was 24.5 ± 9.3. Age, BDI score, and serum triglyceride levels were the independent factors of dysfunction in each sexual functional dimension. Patients with higher IFSF scores had significantly higher scores in physical functioning and mental health (P = 0.007 and 0.018, respectively). Patients with higher intercourse satisfaction had significantly higher general health scores (P = 0.001). Conclusion. Sexual dysfunction is frequent in the female hemodialysis population. It is strongly associated with increas- ing age, dyslipidemia, and depression. The subjects with sexual dysfunction had poorer quality of life. The diagnosis and treat- ment of sexual dysfunction should be included in the clinical assessment.
ImageNet Large Scale Visual Recognition Challenge

The ImageNet Large Scale Visual Recognition Challenge is a benchmark in object category classification and detection on hundreds of object categories and millions of images. The challenge has been run annually from 2010 to present, attracting participation from more than fifty institutions. This paper describes the creation of this benchmark dataset and the advances in object recognition that have been possible as a result. We discuss the challenges of collecting large-scale ground truth annotation, highlight key breakthroughs in categorical object recognition, provide a detailed analysis of the current state of the field of large-scale image classification and object detection, and compare the state-of-the-art computer vision accuracy with human accuracy. We conclude with lessons learned in the 5 years of the challenge, and propose future directions and improvements.
Private Interactive Communication Across an Adversarial Channel

Consider two parties, Alice and Bob, who hold private inputs $x$ and $y$ , and wish to compute a function $f(x,y)$ privately in the information theoretic sense; that is, each party should learn nothing beyond $f(x,y)$ . However, the communication channel available to them is noisy. This means that the channel can introduce errors in the transmission between the two parties. Moreover, the channel is adversarial in the sense that it knows the protocol that Alice and Bob are running, and maliciously introduces errors to disrupt the communication, subject to some bound on the total number of errors. A fundamental question in this setting is to design a protocol that remains private in the presence of large number of errors. If Alice and Bob are only interested in computing $f(x,y)$ correctly, and not privately, then quite robust protocols are known that can tolerate a constant fraction of errors. However, none of these solutions is applicable in the setting of privacy, as they inherently leak information about the parties’ inputs. This leads to the question whether we can simultaneously achieve privacy and error-resilience against a constant fraction of errors. We show that privacy and error-resilience are contradictory goals. In particular, we show that for every constant $c >0$ , there exists a function $f$ which is privately computable in the error-less setting, but for which no private and correct protocol is resilient against a $c$ -fraction of errors.
Lewis Base Catalyzed Enantioselective Additions of an N-Silyl Vinylketene Imine†

The anions derived from metalation of allylic nitriles represent a promising class of nucleophiles for carbon–carbon bond formation. The reactions of these species with electrophiles can proceed through either α or γ addition and provide access to synthetically useful building blocks containing nitrile and alkene functional groups (Scheme 1). Achieving high site selectivity in these reactions presents a significant challenge for reaction development, especially when considering the number of metalated intermediates that can form upon activation of the allylic nitrile. Notable progress has recently been made in site-selective additions of allyl and crotyl nitriles to carbonyl compounds using pro-azaphosphatranes[1] and palladium/pincer[2] catalysts. Despite these advances, and the utility that nucleophilic allylic nitriles offer in carbon–carbon bond-forming reactions, enantioselective processes involving these species are rare.
High-power Al-free coherent and incoherent diode lasers

Summary form only given. Al-free diode lasers are experiencing a veritable revolution due to several key advantages over their Al-containing counterparts: 1) vastly enhanced reliability for wavelengths below 0.82 /spl mu/m; 2) lower series resistances leading to higher wallplug efficiencies; and 3) ease of regrowth(s) needed for spatial- and frequency-mode control.
Trading Volume Reaction to the Earnings Reconciliation from IAS to U. S. GAAP

This paper examines trading volume reaction to the reconciliation of IAS-based earnings to U.S. GAAP-based earnings. The sample includes foreign firms listed in the U.S. that use IAS as their primary reporting standards and reconcile their earnings to U.S. GAAP during the period of 1995-2004. The research question is of particular interest to policy makers, especially the SEC, when evaluating the necessity of reconciling the earnings from IAS to U.S. GAAP. We find that the absolute magnitude of earnings reconciliation is significantly and positively associated with abnormal trading volume both in the U.S. markets and in the local markets around Form 20-F filing dates, which supports the assertion that earnings reconciliation provides additional information content to investors beyond that provided by IAS earnings. We also find limited evidence that investors use book value reconciliations in their trading decisions. These findings also hold for various event windows. Additional analyses after the Core Standards Project and for several model specifications generally show a stronger and faster reaction in the U.S. markets than in the local markets. Our results have implications for recent SEC consideration of eliminating the reconciliation requirement for foreign firms that use IFRS in preparing their financial statements.
Structural Studies of Gels and Gel‐Glasses in the SiO2‐GeO2 System Using Vibrational Spectroscopy

GeO2 gel and gels in the SiO2-GeO2 system synthesized by the hydrolytic polycondensation of metal alkoxides have been studied by infrared and Raman spectroscopic techniques. The molecular structures, hydroxyl contents, and crystallinity of gels and gel-glasses in relation to the thermal history and GeO2 concentration were investigated. The binary compositions having up to 70 mol percent GeO2 were examined.
FEMALE EXCESS IN ANENCEPHALY AND SPINA BIFIDA: POSSIBLE GESTATIONAL INFLUENCES

Data are presented on th sex-specific frequency and the sex ratios of anencephaly and spina bifida from 1945 through 1971. Dramatic changes in the overall rate of these malformations occurred during that period. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the concept of sex-specific thresholds for an unidentified environmental teratogen, a concept which had recently been proposed. The observed epidemiologic relationship between the frequencies and the sex ratios of these malformations is too complex to reconcile with the action of a single teratogen. On hypothetical grounds, a deficiency of human chorionic gonadotrophin (HCG) could explain the sex ratio pattern. These malformations might be caused by yet unidentified factors which produce a deficiency in HCG function. These factors could be placental teratogens, or they could be some other type of environmental agent which is capable of producing a long-term effect on maternal endocrine function.
How the global call for elimination of pediatric HIV can support HIV-positive women to achieve their pregnancy intentions.

Abstract The global call to eliminate new pediatric HIV infections requires a comprehensive approach, including consideration of the pregnancy intentions of HIV-positive women. This paper presents a literature review on the interface between pediatric HIV elimination and the pregnancy intentions of HIV-positive women, focusing on the four prongs of prevention of mother-to-child transmission: primary prevention of HIV infection in women; preventing unintended pregnancies in HIV-positive women; preventing transmission of HIV from infected women to their infants; and providing care, support and treatment to HIV-positive women, their children and their families. The paper describes the role of pregnancy intentions in determining appropriate health services for HIV-positive women – including family planning, reproductive and obstetric care, and HIV-related services – and explains how these essential health services are linked to improving maternal health, reducing child mortality and eliminating pediatric HIV. The paper provides context for the recent UNAIDS-led call to eliminate pediatric HIV, which will require a complete, integrated approach to providing family planning, maternal and child health, and HIV-related services for all HIV-affected individuals and families. Ensuring that HIV-positive women have access to high-quality health services to enable them to choose whether and when to have children is an essential component of this approach.
The Gromov-Lawson-Rosenberg conjecture for cocompact Fuchsian groups

We prove the Gromov-Lawson-Rosenberg conjecture for cocompact Fuchsian groups, thereby giving necessary and sufficient conditions for a closed spin manifold of dimension greater than four with fundamental group cocompact Fuchsian to admit a metric of positive scalar curvature.
Lost Decades: Postindependence Performance in Latin America and Africa

Africa and Latin America secured independence from European colonial rule a century and half apart: most of Latin America by the 1820s and most of Africa by 1960. Despite the distance in time and space, they share important similarities. In each case independence was followed by political instability, violent conflict, and economic stagnation lasting for about a half-century. The parallels suggest that Africa might be exiting from a period of postimperial collapse and entering one of relative political stability and economic growth, as did Latin America almost two centuries ago.
An Empirical Evaluation of Probabilistic Lexicalized Tree Insertion Grammars

We present an empirical study of the applicability of Probabilistic Lexicalized Tree Insertion Grammars (PLTIG), a lexicalized counterpart to Probabilistic Context-Free Grammars (PCFG), to problems in stochastic natural-language processing. Comparing the performance of PLTIGs, with non-hierarchical N-gram models and PCFGs, we show that PLTIG combines the best aspects of both, with language modeling capability comparable to N-gram models and PCFGs, we show that PLTIG combines the best aspects of both, with language modeling capability comparable to N-grams, and improved parsing performance over its nonlexicalized counterpart. Furthermore, training of PLTIGs displays faster convergence than PCFGs.
Power Spectrum Tomography with Weak Lensing

Upcoming weak lensing surveys on wide fields will provide the opportunity to reconstruct the structure along the line of sight tomographically by employing photometric redshift information about the source distribution. We define power spectrum statistics (including cross-correlation between redshift bins), quantify the improvement that redshift information can make in cosmological parameter estimation, and discuss ways to optimize the redshift binning. We find that within the adiabatic cold dark matter class of models, crude tomography using two or three redshift bins is sufficient to extract most of the information and improve, by up to an order of magnitude, the measurements of cosmological parameters that determine the growth rate of structure.
COMPUTATIONAL GEOMETRY COLUMN 43

The concept of pointed pseudo-triangulations is defined and a few of its applications described.
Nonlinearity at California Generic Soil Sites from Modeling Recent Strong-Motion Data

The average strong- to weak-motion amplification ratios during the 1989 Loma Prieta and 1987 Whittier Narrows earthquakes in California are estimated by modeling strong ground motions at soil sites in the linear-response assumption and comparing the simulated and observed records. The linear amplification function, used to synthesize ground motions, is the generic transfer function developed for California soil. The database consists of 22 and 80 soil stations for the Loma Prieta and Whittier Narrows events, respectively. A statistically significant (at 95% confidence) reduction in amplification for the Loma Prieta event, within 40 km from the fault, is observed between approximately 1 and 3 Hz. Examining individual strong- to weak-motion amplifications as a function of peak acceleration at the base of soil, within this frequency range, shows that detectable reduction in amplification occurs at accelerations above about 200 cm/sec2. The strong-motion amplification is reduced by a factor of 1.7–2 on average, relative to a generic weak-motion response. The results of this study suggest the magnitude of the reduction in amplification, caused by soil nonlinearity at large strain, that can be expected on average at California soil sites.
Maximum entropy and robust prediction on a simplex

The related problems of (finite-length) robust prediction and maximizing spectral entropy over a simplex of covariance matrices are considered. General properties of iterative solutions of these problems are developed, and monotone convergence proofs are presented for two algorithms that provide such solutions. The analogous problems for simplexes of spectral densities are also considered.
Application of linear statistical models of earthquake magnitude versus fault length in estimating maximum expectable earthquakes

Correlation or linear regression estimates of earthquake magnitude from data on historical magnitude and length of surface rupture should be based upon the correct regression. For example, the regression of magnitude on the logarithm of the length of surface rupture L can be used to estimate magnitude, but the regression of log L on magnitude cannot. Regression estimates are most probable values, and estimates of maximum values require consideration of one-sided confidence limits.
Biological applications of the theory of birth-and-death processes

In this review, we discuss applications of the theory of birth-and-death processes to problems in biology, primarily, those of evolutionary genomics. The mathematical principles of the theory of these processes are briefly described. Birth-and-death processes, with some straightforward additions such as innovation, are a simple, natural and formal framework for modeling a vast variety of biological processes such as population dynamics, speciation, genome evolution, including growth of paralogous gene families and horizontal gene transfer and somatic evolution of cancers. We further describe how empirical data, e.g. distributions of paralogous gene family size, can be used to choose the model that best reflects the actual course of evolution among different versions of birth-death-and-innovation models. We conclude that birth-and-death processes, thanks to their mathematical transparency, flexibility and relevance to fundamental biological processes, are going to be an indispensable mathematical tool for the burgeoning field of systems biology.
Medial Border of the Perirenal Space: CT and Anatomic Correlation

PURPOSE: To explore the mode of spread of disease between the perirenal space and the perivascular central retroperitoneum and to determine the anatomy along the medial border of the perirenal space. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Anatomic dissection, injection of latex, and observation of cross sections of the abdomen were performed in nine cadavers. Attention was paid to the juncture of the central prevertebral, perivascular, and extraperitoneal regions, and the perirenal space. Anatomic findings were correlated with observations made at computed tomography (CT) in 82 patients with retroperitoneal hemorrhage (n = 24), inflammation (n = 37), and neoplasia (n = 21) involving the perirenal spaces or the central retroperitoneum. RESULTS: Along most of the length of each kidney, no apparent fascia separates the perirenal space from the central retroperitoneum. At this location, septa between fat lobules form a fenestrated multitier barrier. These septa were imperceptible on CT scans obtained in healthy individuals. ...
Influence on Confidence Regions for Regression Coefficients in Generalized Linear Models

Abstract Influence on confidence regions has received less attention than the problem of influence on regression coefficients in generalized linear models. Diagnostics are given for examining influence on confidence intervals or the confidence region for all of the regression coefficients. These diagnostics permit one to check whether the standard errors of the coefficients are sensitive to the exact specification of case weights, or the observed values of the explanatory variables or the response. The diagnostics are illustrated with an example and compared to standard diagnostic methods.
Theoretical assessment of a synthetic aperture beamformer for real-time 3-D imaging

A real-time 3-D imaging system requires the development of a beamformer that can generate many beams simultaneously. In this paper, we discuss and evaluate a suitable synthetic aperture beamformer. The proposed beamformer is based on a pipelined network of high speed digital signal processors (DSP). By using simple interpolation-based beamforming, only a few calculations per pixel are required for each channel, and an entire 2-D synthetic aperture image can be formed in the time of one transmit event. The performance of this beamformer was explored using a computer simulation of the radiation pattern. The simulations were done for a full 64-element array and a sparse array with the same receive aperture but only five transmit elements. We assessed the effects of changing the sampling rate and amplitude quantization by comparing the relative levels of secondary lobes in the radiation patterns. The results show that the proposed beamformer produces a radiation pattern equivalent to a conventional beamformer using baseband demodulation, provided that the sampling rate is approximately 10 times the center frequency of the transducer (34% bandwidth pulse). The simulations also show that the sparse array is not significantly more sensitive to delay or amplitude quantization than the full array.
Role of Thermochemical Conversion in Livestock Waste-to-Energy Treatments: Obstacles and Opportunities

Integrating thermochemical conversion (TCC) technologies with current animal waste treatment practices can treat and reduce quantities of manure from consolidated animal feeding operations. Additionally, TCC technologies can produce value-added, renewable energy products. These products can meet heating and power needs or be catalytically converted into liquid fuels. The primary objectives of this study were to assess opportunities and obstacles in the treatment and energy conversion using currently available TCC processes. Both dry and wet livestock manures were assessed. Dry wastes like poultry litter and feedlot manures can be processed directly via pyrolysis and air/steam gasification technology. The solids in the aqueous waste streams from dairy and swine operations can undergo wet gasification or direct liquefaction processes. Alternatively, these solids can be separated and dried before conversion. Due to high ash and sulfur contents, pretreatment of manure is necessary to prevent catalyst poisoning and promote effective unit operation. While the energy input requirements for a conceptual wet gasification manure treatment system of a model swine farm is larger than a traditional anaerobic digestion operation, there are many significant advantages in implementing TCC technology including the following: compact design; faster treatment times; reduction of odors, BOD, and pharmaceutically activated compounds; and elimination of sludge.
Fibered knots and potential counterexamples to the Property 2R and Slice-Ribbon Conjectures

If there are any 2‐component counterexamples to the Generalized Property R Conjecture, a least genus component of all such counterexamples cannot be a fibered knot. Furthermore, the monodromy of a fibered component of any such counterexample has unexpected restrictions. The simplest plausible counterexample to the Generalized Property R Conjecture could be a 2‐component link containing the square knot. We characterize all twocomponent links that contain the square knot and which surger to #2.S 1 S 2 /. We exhibit a family of such links that are probably counterexamples to Generalized Property R. These links can be used to generate slice knots that are not known to be ribbon.
Remote Functionalization of the Cholestane Side-chain by Chromyl Acetates

Chromyl acetate and chromyl trifluoroacetate are effective reagents for the oxidation of C-25 on cholestane side-chains to the corresponding C-25 hydroxy derivative.
Quality mesh generation for molecular skin surfaces using restricted union of balls

Quality surface meshes for molecular models are desirable in the studies of protein shapes and functionalities. However, there is still no robust software that is capable to generate such meshes with good quality. In this paper, we present a Delaunay-based surface triangulation algorithm generating quality surface meshes for the molecular skin model. We expand the restricted union of balls along the surface and generate an @e-sampling of the skin surface incrementally. At the same time, a quality surface mesh is extracted from the Delaunay triangulation of the sample points. The algorithm supports robust and efficient implementation and guarantees the mesh quality and topology as well. Our results facilitate molecular visualization and have made a contribution towards generating quality volumetric tetrahedral meshes for the macromolecules.
Numeraire choice in agricultural supply analysis

Should the choice of numeraire price for modelling profit functions be arbitrary, or is more careful study needed? Here, the choice of numeraire is examined using tests for models specification and out-of-sample predictive accuracy based on the crop and livestock data obtained from Iowa. The results of this study indicate that, for this data set and functional form, it does indeed make a difference which numeraire you choose. This is in contrast to previous studies which, in general, indicated that the choice of numeraire equation is arbitrary or, more commonly, offered no justification for the netput chosen.
The Toda hierarchy and the KdV hierarchy

This paper considers the relation between the periodic KdV hierarchy and the limit of the periodic Toda hierarchies. By choosing the initial data of the Toda flows in a canonical way, the behavior of a certain Toda flow can mimic KdV flows. Conjecturally, a method of deforming the KdV hierarchy is given.
Area-preserving structure of massless matter-gravity fields in 1+1 dimensions

We derive anomalous Ward identities in two different approaches to the quantization of massless matter-gravity fields in 1+1 dimensions.
Electromagnetic Hadronic Form-Factors

We present a calculation of the nucleon electromagnetic form-factors as well as the pion and rho to pion transition form-factors in a hybrid calculation with domain wall valence quarks and improved staggered (Asqtad) sea quarks.
Alcohol & Drug Abuse: A Research-Based Analysis of the Moderation Management Controversy

Perhaps the biggest controversy of the 1990s in the U.S. alcohol treatment field concerned Moderation Management (MM), the only mutual-help organization to offer its members the goal of achieving moderate drinking. MM’s supporters argued that the option of this goal would attract problem drinkers who were not dependent on alcohol and not interested in abstinence-only organizations such as Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) and professionally operated 12-step treatment programs (1). In contrast, prominent figures in the treatment and research communities denounced MM as a “dangerous temptation to alcoholics” that was “built on the illusion” that alcoholics could return to controlled drinking (2). This debate only became more intense and bitter after MM’s founder, Audrey Kishline, left MM, joined AA, and several months later caused the deaths of two people in a horrific car accident while severely intoxicated (2). This column addresses the central debates about MM by summarizing the findings of a recently completed study of the organization, described in detail elsewhere (3), and other relevant research. Fundamental argument over MM MM’s primary text, Moderate Drinking (1), and AA’s Big Book (4) actually agree on several important points. Both books make explicit distinctions between problem drinkers who are able to return to controlled drinking and alcoholics. Both texts also concur that failure at the goal of moderate drinking indicates that a drinking problem is serious and is best addressed by abstinence. These shared assumptions have been supported in prospective studies showing that, broadly speaking, when problem drinkers recover, abstinence is more common among those who are highly dependent on alcohol, are male, are older, and are socially and economically unstable, whereas moderate drinking is more common among problem drinkers who do not belong to these sociodemographic groups— for example, young women with low levels of dependence (5–7). MM’s proponents differ from advocates of abstinence-only approaches in their views on who can be trusted to judge the difference between a moderation-bound problem drinker and an alcoholic rather than in their views on whether such a distinction exists. A large proportion of the 12-step treatment community in the United States has incorporated the psychodynamic concept of denial into its theory of alcoholism; AA’s texts describe alcoholics as having a grandiose penchant for overestimating their ability to control drinking (4). Thus many 12-step advocates fear that despite MM’s intention to serve only nondependent problem drinkers, the organization’s members are in fact alcoholics who are deceiving themselves into thinking that they can drink moderately. Severity of MM members’ alcohol problems
Coping with substituent effects in divinylcyclopropyl diazene rearrangements

Surprising differences between the chemistry of ester and ketone derivatives of C-7-substituted divinylcyclopropyl [2.2.1]diazenes was discovered. While the ester does not, the ketone undergoes facile Cope rearrangement. These topics, the chemistry of the product, and mechanistic implications are discussed.
Ordered one‐component plasmas: Phase transitions, normal modes, large systems, and experiments in a storage ring

A summary of numerical simulations and some new experimental results and some new experimental results on cold one‐component plasmas, confined by external forces is presented. A system of 20,000 ions in isotropic confinement with a constant harmonic force had been explored by the molecular dynamics calculation. The simulation shows a dimensional phase transition and oscillations of an ion cloud which has been observed experimentally. (AIP)
The Jupiter Twin HD 154345b

We announce the discovery of a twin of Jupiter orbiting the slightly metal-poor ([Fe/H] = − 0.1) nearby (d = 18 pc) G8 dwarf HD 154345. This planet has a minimum mass of 0.95 MJup and a 9.2 year, circular orbit with radius 4.2 AU. There is currently little or no evidence for other planets in the system, but smaller or exterior planets cannot yet be ruled out. We also detect a ~ 9 year activity cycle in this star photometrically and in chromospheric emission. We rule out activity cycles as the source of the radial velocity variations by comparison with other cycling late G dwarfs.
Performance of a very high voltage photoemission electron gun for a high brightness, high average current erl injector

We have constructed a very high voltage DC photoemission electron gun as the electron source of an injector for an Energy Recovery Linac (ERL) based synchrotron radiation light source. The gun is designed to deliver 100 mA average beam current in a 1300 MHz CW bunch train (77 pC/bunch), and to operate up to 750 kV cathode potential. Negative electron affinity (NEA) photocathodes are used for their small thermal emittance and high quantum efficiency. A load-lock system allows introduction, cleaning, and activation of cathodes outside of the electron gun. Cathodes are cleaned by heating and exposure to atomic hydrogen, and activated with cesium and nitrogen trifluoride. Cathode electrodes of 316 LN stainless and Ti4V6Al have been used with a beryllium anode. The internal surface of the ceramic insulator has a high resistivity fired coating, providing a charge drainage path. Non-evaporable getter (NEG) pumps provide a very high pumping speed for hydrogen. Operating experience with this gun will be presented.
Palladium-catalyzed regiocontrolled and stereoselective alkylations of bis(trifluoroethyl) malonates with dienyl alcohols

Abstract The triethylborane-promoted and palladium-catalyzed reactions of 2,4-dienyl alcohols or the corresponding isomeric divinyl alcohols with bis(trifluoroethyl) malonates provide an improved method for the regio- and stereoselective dienylation of malonates. The phosphine ligand is an important control element in the reaction. Combinations of Pd(OAc) 2 with BIPHEP or BINAP give dienylated malonates in good yield and higher isomeric purity than the traditional combination of Pd(OAc) 2 and Ph 3 P affords in the catalyzed reactions of dienyl acetates.
Allocation of copies of a file in an information network

We consider a mathematical model of an information network of n nodes, some of which contain copies of a given data file. Within this network, every node is able to communicate with every other node over communication links (a process which may entail routing through intermediate nodes). In particular, we are concerned with transactions with the multiply-located file. Such transactions fall into one of two classes: (1) query traffic between a node and the file, and (2) update traffic. An update message is assumed to be transmitted to every copy of the file, whereas a query is communicated only to a single copy.
Higher-order derivative correlations and the alignment of small-scale structures in isotropic numerical turbulence

In a three dimensional simulation higher order derivative correlations, including skewness and flatness factors, are calculated for velocity and passive scalar fields and are compared with structures in the flow. The equations are forced to maintain steady state turbulence and collect statistics. It is found that the scalar derivative flatness increases much faster with Reynolds number than the velocity derivative flatness, and the velocity and mixed derivative skewness do not increase with Reynolds number. Separate exponents are found for the various fourth order velocity derivative correlations, with the vorticity flatness exponent the largest. Three dimensional graphics show strong alignment between the vorticity, rate of strain, and scalar-gradient fields. The vorticity is concentrated in tubes with the scalar gradient and the largest principal rate of strain aligned perpendicular to the tubes. Velocity spectra, in Kolmogorov variables, collapse to a single curve and a short minus 5/3 spectral regime is observed.
The Effects of Imprecise Probabilities and Outcomes in Evaluating Investment Options

Vagueness attitudes have been used to explain anomalies and irregularities in investment behavior. It is generally assumed (Ellsberg 1961) that decision makers (DMs) dislike vagueness, but this assumption has been challenged by empirical results documenting systematic alternative attitudes to vagueness as a function of its source, the domain of the decisions, and the response mode used. We investigate these three factors in a within-subjects design that was embedded in an investment context. DMs evaluated investment options that varied in terms of their sources of vagueness (probabilities and/or outcomes), in both domains (gains or losses), and employed two response modes (pricing or choice). We confirm that individuals' vagueness attitudes are malleable, contingent on the dimension salience and the reference domain. In particular, we observed three distinct patterns of "reversals of attitudes" towards vagueness. Our results indicate that the ability of vagueness attitudes to predict investment behavior is limited, as decisions can be systematically influenced by task context and/or perceived gain or loss positions. Economic models may be improved by incorporating more flexible assumptions about individuals' attitudes toward vagueness.
Sequence to Sequence Learning with Neural Networks

Deep Neural Networks (DNNs) are powerful models that have achieved excellent performance on difficult learning tasks. Although DNNs work well whenever large labeled training sets are available, they cannot be used to map sequences to sequences. In this paper, we present a general end-to-end approach to sequence learning that makes minimal assumptions on the sequence structure. Our method uses a multilayered Long Short-Term Memory (LSTM) to map the input sequence to a vector of a fixed dimensionality, and then another deep LSTM to decode the target sequence from the vector. Our main result is that on an English to French translation task from the WMT-14 dataset, the translations produced by the LSTM achieve a BLEU score of 34.8 on the entire test set, where the LSTM's BLEU score was penalized on out-of-vocabulary words. Additionally, the LSTM did not have difficulty on long sentences. For comparison, a phrase-based SMT system achieves a BLEU score of 33.3 on the same dataset. When we used the LSTM to rerank the 1000 hypotheses produced by the aforementioned SMT system, its BLEU score increases to 36.5, which is close to the previous state of the art. The LSTM also learned sensible phrase and sentence representations that are sensitive to word order and are relatively invariant to the active and the passive voice. Finally, we found that reversing the order of the words in all source sentences (but not target sentences) improved the LSTM's performance markedly, because doing so introduced many short term dependencies between the source and the target sentence which made the optimization problem easier.
Highly enantioselective synthesis of cyclic and functionalized α-amino acids by means of a chiral phase transfer catalyst

Abstract The chiral quaternary ammonium salt 1 serves as phase transfer catalyst for the enantioselective conversion of the glycine derivative 2 to a variety of cyclic and acyclic chiral α-amino acids with enantioselectivities as high as 200:1 in alkylation and Michael addition reactions.
Benzhydryldimethylsilyl Allylic Silanes: Syntheses and Applications to [3 + 2] Annulation Reactions

A new silyl group, the benzhydryldimethylsilyl group, has been developed that is easily synthesized and that undergoes facile oxidation. The [3 + 2] annulation reactions of allylic silanes with this silyl group provide a variety of highly substituted five-membered carbocycles and heterocycles with high stereoselectivities. The silyl groups of these cyclic compounds have been oxidized to hydroxyl groups to demonstrate the general synthetic utility of the method.
Two philosophical applications of algorithmic information theory

Two philosophical applications of the concept of program-size complexity are discussed. First, we consider the light program-size complexity sheds on whether mathematics is invented or discovered, i.e., is empirical or is a priori. Second, we propose that the notion of algorithmic independence sheds light on the question of being and how the world of our experience can be partitioned into separate entities.
Methanobactin‐promoted dissolution of Cu‐substituted borosilicate glass

Mineral weathering plays an important role in the global cycling of carbon and metals and there is an increasing realization that subsurface microbial activity may be a key factor controlling specific biogeochemical reactions and their rates. Methanobactin (mb) is an extracellular copper-binding compound excreted by methanotrophs to acquire copper for the regulation of methane oxidation. Bioavailable Cu regulates the expression and activity of pMMO vs. sMMO (particulate vs. soluble methane monooxygenase, respectively), key enzymes responsible for bacterial methane oxidation. In this study, we investigate the effect of mb on the dissolution of Cu-substituted borosilicate glass at low temperature and near neutral pH conditions, using batch dissolution experiments. Methanobactin promotes the dissolution of Cu-substituted glasses at rates faster than control experiments. Glasses with lower concentrations of copper (80 p.p.m.) or no copper are dissolved more rapidly by mb than those with more abundant copper (800 p.p.m.). Within the first 2 h of reaction, mb sorption onto glass surfaces limits mass transfer of Cu into solution, and at higher concentrations (100 ∝ mol) of the ligand, inhibits dissolution rates of all glass formulations. These results suggest that both the concentration of mb in solution and the solid phase Cu concentration impact silicate weathering rates and related cycling of carbon in near-surface geological settings.
Visualizing electron rearrangement in space and time during the transition from a molecule to atoms

Abstract Imaging and controlling reactions in molecules and materials at the level of electrons is a grand challenge in science, relevant to our understanding of charge transfer processes in chemistry, physics, and biology, as well as material dynamics. Direct access to the dynamic electron density as electrons are shared or transferred between atoms in a chemical bond would greatly improve our understanding of molecular bonding and structure. Using reaction microscope techniques, we show that we can capture how the entire valence shell electron density in a molecule rearranges, from molecular-like to atomic-like, as a bond breaks. An intense ultrashort laser pulse is used to ionize a bromine molecule at different times during dissociation, and we measure the total ionization signal and the angular distribution of the ionization yield. Using this technique, we can observe density changes over a surprisingly long time and distance, allowing us to see that the electrons do not localize onto the individual Br atoms until the fragments are far apart (∼5.5 A), in a region where the potential energy curves for the dissociation are nearly degenerate. Our observations agree well with calculations of the strong-field ionization rates of the bromine molecule.
Bilateral M&A Activity from the Global South

This paper studies the factors associated with outbound bilateral mergers and acquisitions (M&A) activity by firms located in emerging economies. The authors document recent trends in emerging market M&A flows, which have risen dramatically over the past decade, and explore the factors that may have contributed to this rise. They find distinct patterns for M&A deals according to whether the acquisition targets are in other emerging economies or advanced countries, and that these differences can be attributed to differing theoretical motivations behind foreign direct investment. The authors also consider the implications of their model for future M&A originating in the global South, in light of the global financial crisis of 2008.
CUR from a Sparse Optimization Viewpoint

The CUR decomposition provides an approximation of a matrix X that has low reconstruction error and that is sparse in the sense that the resulting approximation lies in the span of only a few columns of X. In this regard, it appears to be similar to many sparse PCA methods. However, CUR takes a randomized algorithmic approach, whereas most sparse PCA methods are framed as convex optimization problems. In this paper, we try to understand CUR from a sparse optimization viewpoint. We show that CUR is implicitly optimizing a sparse regression objective and, furthermore, cannot be directly cast as a sparse PCA method. We also observe that the sparsity attained by CUR possesses an interesting structure, which leads us to formulate a sparse PCA method that achieves a CUR-like sparsity.
Prevention of Pinking, Off-odor, and Lipid Oxidation in Irradiated Pork Loin Using Double Packaging

ABSTRACT: Lipid oxidation, color, volatiles, and sensory evaluation of double-packaged pork loin were determined to establish a modified packaging method that can improve the quality of irradiated pork loins. Vacuum-packaged irradiated samples produced dimethyl sulfide and dimethyl disulfide responsible for irradiation off-odor, whereas lipid oxidation was promoted under aerobic conditions. Exposing double-packaged irradiated pork to aerobic conditions for 1 to 3 d was effective in controlling both lipid oxidation and irradiation off-odor, regardless of packaging sequence. Sensory panels could distinguish the decrease in irradiation off-odor intensities by modifying the packaging method. However, carbon monoxide heme pigments, responsible for the increased redness by irradiation, were not effectively controlled by double packaging alone.