cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Mechanisms Coupling Thrombin-Mediated Proteolysis to Metastasis.

Multiple lines of evidence point to a link between coagulation factors and malignancy. Numerous clinical studies have demonstrated a strong correlation between tumor cell-associated tissue factor (TF) expression and poor outcome for many types of cancer. While TF expression by tumor cells could promote metastasis through several mechanisms, comparative analyses of TF-sufficient and TF-deficient tumor cell lines in mice with and without key circulating hemostatic factors point to thrombin as the premier downstream effector coupling TF to metastasis. Furthermore, it appears that thrombin supports metastasis through mechanism(s) that are highly dependent on the availability of fibrinogen, factor XIII, and platelet function. The metastatic potential of TF-expressing tumor cells has been shown to be strongly diminished in mice with genetic defects in either fibrin formation or stabilization (e.g., Fib−/−, fXIII−/−), or platelet disorders (e.g., NF-E2−/−, Gαq−/−, PAR-4−/−). Interestingly, one mechanism through which tumor-cell-associated TF, prothrombin, and the platelet/fibrinogen axis all appear to support metastasis is by impeding natural killer (NK) cell-mediated clearance of newly formed micrometastases. While these results demonstrate a novel link between the hemostatic and innate immune systems, limiting NK cell function is clearly not the only mechanism coupling thrombin to tumor cell metastasis. Signaling through protease activated receptors (PARs) on cells other than platelets has been suggested to support tumor stroma formation and angiogenesis. Furthermore, thrombin-mediated signaling via PARs expressed by tumor cells themselves has been shown to support metastatic potential. Finally, thrombin may support metastatic potential by acting in concert on multiple substrates (e.g., platelet and endothelial cell-associated PARs, fibrinogen, fXIII, etc.) to promote the sustained, stable adherence of circulating tumor cells in distant vascular beds. In summary, thrombinmediated proteolysis appears to influence both extracellular and intracellular events vital to tumor cell dissemination. Therapeutic strategies designed to block tumor cell-associated thrombin generation/activity could prove effective in preventing or eliminating metastatic disease.
Cusp singularity-based bistability criterion for geometrically nonlinear structures

Abstract This letter introduces a method of analyzing multi-stable truss structures and unit cells of engineered materials using the third order derivative of the formulated system’s potential energy function. The method can determine systematically all the cusp point singularities arising at the onset of bistability, and therefore identify the regions of hysteretic superelasticity and superplasticity from the usual geometrical nonlinearity in the solution space. The ability to design these behaviors is a great advantage that is highlighted with the example analysis of a bistable plane truss and a tetrahedral unit cell of a 3D lattice structure.
Discipline Boundaries in Innovation Studies: Operations Management and Allied Fields

In this essay we summarize the state-of-the art of innovation studies shadowed by the daunting challenges this eclectic subject domain incurs as a result of discipline silo structures in most universities. Indeed, developments in technology and other external forces like competition and regulatory changes have pushed organizations towards development and adoption of new approaches particularly salient in Operations Management (OM). We show, however, that in the academic community, these discipline-based efforts have created an impediment to development of a strategic theory of innovation processes. We conclude with an upbeat and optimistic appraisal of possible ways forward and suggest a process to accelerate theory-building that might deal with the growing feeling among many scholars that many academic journals are becoming irrelevant. Examples from the current literature and reflections on the past 40 years of research in the field are liberally sampled. Although our essay views innovation through a bro...
Functional status, healthcare utilization, and the costs of liver transplantation.

The Model for End-Stage Liver Disease (MELD) score predicts higher transplant healthcare utilization and costs; however, the independent contribution of functional status towards costs is understudied. The study objective was to evaluate the association between functional status, as measured by Karnofsky Performance Status (KPS), and liver transplant (LT) costs in the first posttransplant year. In a cohort of 598 LT recipients from July 1, 2009 to November 30, 2014, multivariable models assessed associations between KPS and outcomes. LT recipients needing full assistance (KPS 10%-40%) vs being independent (KPS 80%-100%) were more likely to be discharged to a rehabilitation facility after LT (22% vs 3%) and be rehospitalized within the first posttransplant year (78% vs 57%), all P < .001. In adjusted generalized linear models, in addition to MELD (P < .001), factors independently associated with higher 1-year post-LT transplant costs were older age, poor functional status (KPS 10%-40%), living donor LT, pre-LT hemodialysis, and the donor risk index (all P < .001). One-year survival for patients in the top cost decile was 83% vs 93% for the rest of the cohort (log rank P < .001). Functional status is an important determinant of posttransplant resource utilization; therefore, standardized measurements of functional status should be considered to optimize candidate selection and outcomes.
International Aid as Modern Imperialism—What Does Cross-Cultural Psychology Really Have to Offer? A Commentary on “The Positive Role of Culture: What Cross-Cultural Psychology Has to Offer to Developmental Aid Effectiveness Research, by Symen A. Brouwers”:

In his article, Brouwers argues that cross-cultural psychologists (CCPs; a term he uses to include cultural psychologists and indigenous psychologists) should be a resource for agencies and organiz...
Panic Disorder and Agoraphobia

A traveler in the woods, not sure of his way, begins to get an uneasy feeling. His skin feels odd, he begins to sense danger as his heart starts racing, and he feels sweat beginning to seep through his clothes. He is overcome with a sense that something terrible is about to happen, that he is dying, or that he is losing his mind. He feels like running but he does not know where to run. This terror mounts like an unbelievable crescendo. Seemingly, Pan has found another unsuspecting victim for his afternoon sport.
Proximity-Based Anomaly Detection Using Sparse Structure Learning.

We consider the task of performing anomaly detection in highly noisy multivariate data. In many applications involving real-valued time-series data, such as physical sensor data and economic metrics, discovering changes and anomalies in the way variables depend on one another is of particular importance. Our goal is to robustly compute the “correlation anomaly” score of each variable by comparing the test data with reference data, even when some of the variables are highly correlated (and thus collinearity exists). To remove seeming dependencies introduced by noise, we focus on the most significant dependencies for each variable. We perform this “neighborhood selection” in an adaptive manner by fitting a sparse graphical Gaussian model. Instead of traditional covariance selection procedures, we solve this problem as maximum likelihood estimation of the precision matrix (inverse covariance matrix) under the L1 penalty. Then the anomaly score for each variable is computed by evaluating the distances between the fitted conditional distributions within the Markov blanket for that variable, for the (two) data sets to be compared. Using real-world data, we demonstrate that our matrix-based sparse structure learning approach successfully detects correlation anomalies under collinearities and heavy noise.
Management of the Neck in Squamous Cell Carcinomas of the Head and Neck

Publisher Summary This chapter focuses on the management of the neck in the treatment of patients with squamous cell carcinoma of the upper aerodigestive tract. The appropriate treatment planning requires the clinician to have a working understanding of the incidence, patterns, and prognostic implications of lymph node metastases for the different head and neck tumor sites and of the current treatment strategies. The carcinomas of the oropharynx have a tendency to metastasize to both sides of the neck, and therefore treatment of both sides of the neck is often indicated. Most head and neck surgeons prefer to treat the neck electively, even though the impact of this decision on patient survival remains controversial. Another alternative consists of performing intraoperative frozen sections of the jugulodigastric lymph nodes. Self-examination by the patient and reliable follow-up are essential for watchful waiting to succeed in the management of the N0 neck. Indications for elective treatment of the neck vary depending on the site of origin and extent of the primary tumor. Surgical treatment of the N0 neck is preferred when surgery is selected for the treatment of the primary tumor, particularly when the expectations of controlling the primary with surgery alone are reasonably good.
Using Case-Study Analysis in Technology Education Research.

Case-study analysis is an appropriate choice for educational researchers who investigate a topic in depth. There are a number of recent examples of the application of case-study models in Canadian and European research of technology and industrial education, but far fewer from the U.S. This paper provides researchers with information useful in identifying problems suitable for case-study research, conducting methodological literature reviews, and employing the methodologies associated with case-study analysis. Two types of sources were consulted to identify the theory and application of casestudy analysis for technology education: the recent methodological literature, and recent ethnographic studies which used case-study models. Such models were found to be appropriate to answer unresolved questions in technology education research. The paper concludes with recommendations for the application of case-study models to such research questions.
Pesticides, Solvents, and Polycyclic Agents

Compared with the literature that has assessed the immunotoxic potential of a variety of pesticides, solvents and polyaromatic hydrocarbons by oral, intraperitoneal, and dermal routes, very little has been done to assess the effect of the majority of substances from these chemical classes on the immune system after exposure via inhalation. With the exception of benzene, only one citation was found that discussed the immunotoxicity of the chemical under consideration by inhalation. Further, the effect of the chemical on the pulmonary immune defense system has not been assessed with any of these molecules based upon published literature. This is surprising given that occupational (and therefore the highest long-term exposures) exposures to these chemicals would probably occur via inhalation. Further, from a pharmacokinetic standpoint, the blood supply, surface area, membrane thickness of the lung and lack of first pass metabolism by the liver would maximize systemic exposure due to rapid uptake. For example, Hwang and Schanker (1974) found that the pulmonary absorption of carbaryl was 2.5 times faster than intestinal absorption. With oral administration, however, the liver is initially exposed to a larger dose of carbaryl (i.e., the first-pass effect) compared with inhalation administration.
Computation of the eigenprojection of a nonnegative matrix at its spectral radius

In this paper we give a general representation for a projection in terms of its range and the range of its adjoint projection. By combining this representation with recent results of the author on the structure of the algebraic eigenspace of a nonnegative matrix corresponding to its spectral radius, we develop a computational method to find the cigenprojection of a nonnegative matrix at its spectral radius. The results are illustrated by giving a closed formula for computing the limiting matrix of a stochastic matrix.
Burn injury alters the intestinal microbiome's taxonomic composition and functional gene expression

Burn patients have a high risk of sepsis-related mortality even after surviving the initial injury. Immunosuppression increases the risk of sepsis after burn injury, as does the disruption of the intestinal epithelial barrier, which allows the translocation of bacteria and bacterial products into the circulation. The integrity of the intestinal epithelial barrier is largely maintained by the intestinal microbiota. Burn injury has been reported to result in significant changes in the intestinal microbiome composition. In this mouse study, we confirm these taxonomic differences in a full-thickness scald injury model using CF-1 mice. For the first time, we also address alterations in functional gene expression of the intestinal microbiota after burn injury to assess the microbiome's physiological capabilities for overgrowth and pathogenic invasion: 38 pathways were differentially abundant between the sham and burn injury mice, including bacterial invasion of epithelial cells and gap- and adherens junction pathways.
Turnover in top management and de-escalation of commitment

We explore how de-escalation of commitment is linked to top management turnover and economic changes at the firm. Escalation of commitment occurs when managers continue investment in a project afte...
Impostor phenomenon and motivation: women in higher education

This article analyses the relationship between impostor phenomenon and motivation in academic women. These highly successful academics often express feelings of self-doubt, lack of belongingness, a...
Second Order Linear Difference Equations and Periodic Traits

This chapter’s aims are to solve second order linear difference equations explicitly, to determine the necessary and sufficient conditions for the existence and uniqueness of periodic solutions, and to determine specific patterns of periodic cycles of second order linear difference equations. We will break up this chapter into three sections: Periodic Solutions of Second Order Linear Homogeneous Difference Equations, Second Order Nonhomogeneous Difference Equations, and Second Order Nonautonomous Linear Difference Equations.
Assessment of PET and SPECT phantom image quality through automated binary classification of cold rod arrays.

Purpose Evaluation of positron emission tomography (PET) or single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) performance often involves qualitative assessment of phantom images, namely the visibility of hot or cold structures in a warm background. Structure-to-background contrast is a quantitative measure of scanner performance; however, contrast measurements do not account for image noise and its effect on task performance. Although task-based performance could be evaluated over an ensemble of phantom scans, a more practical approach is desired. Methods Repeated structures, such as the cold rod arrays of the American College of Radiography (ACR) PET and SPECT phantoms, offer an opportunity to evaluate image quality based on statistical decision theory. Images are co-registered to a digital template for placement of numerous regions of interest (ROIs) in multiple thick slices centered on each cold rod and on each midpoint between rods. The assumption is made that each ROI corresponds to a statistically independent measurement, known to be of either a cold rod or the background. A receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve then is generated for each cold rod sector of the phantom. The area under the ROC curve (AUC) provides a quantitative measure of cold rod visibility. In addition, signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) is calculated, under the assumption that the rod and background ROI measurements are distributed normally. Results Using this approach, data from PET and SPECT phantom studies from prior annual physics surveys were analyzed retrospectively. Rod and background ROI measurements had nearly normal (PET) or approximately normal (SPECT) distributions. Resultant ROC curves illustrated the varying degrees of overlap between rod and background histograms vs cold rod diameter. Both AUC and SNR correlated well with visual image assessment and had high consistency between phantom studies, demonstrating the quantitative accuracy of the automated analysis. AUC reliably quantified cases where cold rods were partially or mostly resolved, while SNR provided further characterization when cold rods were completely resolved. In comparison, contrast measurements often mirrored AUC and SNR but were inconsistent in cases of varying noise. Conclusions Automated analysis of phantom cold rod arrays using binary classification provides informative quantitative measures of image quality and is practical for routine use. This approach avoids observer dependencies associated with visual assessment and potentially can benefit quality assurance, physics surveys, laboratory accreditation, and harmonization of multicenter image quality.
Review of stability and thermal conductivity enhancements for salt hydrates

Abstract Salt hydrates can be used as phase change materials for thermal energy storage. Critical technical challenges for their widespread deployment include poor cycling stability, large supercooling, and low thermal conductivity. In this work, numerous enhancement techniques are reviewed. Related to stability, numerous existing methods to characterize the number of thermal cycles are summarized. Following this, 11 techniques to mitigate phase separation (plus 9 studies on macro-, micro-, and nano-encapsulation types) are reviewed. For supercooling, 38 nucleator-salt hydrate combinations to minimize subcooling are reviewed. The empirically observed effect of isomorphism in minimizing subcooling is explored and discussed, with cross-study trends depicted for 38 nucleators across 9 salt hydrates. In addition, several studies reporting combined effects on stability and supercooling are presented. Related to thermal conductivity, 32 combinations of conductivity enhancement material and salt hydrate are reviewed. For those using graphite, the dependence of conductivity enhancement on graphite mass fraction is shown across numerous studies for different graphite types. The performance and stability of calcium chloride hexahydrate, sodium sulfate decahydrate, and sodium acetate were explored and are discussed in-depth. Finally, the status of enhancement to salt hydrates is summarized, and remaining challenges are identified.
Exosomal biomarkers for cancer diagnosis and patient monitoring

Introduction: In recent years, extensive research has been conducted on using exosomes as biomarkers for cancer detection. Exosomes are 40–150 nm-sized extracellular vesicles released by all cell t...
Dopaminergic modulation of reward discounting: a systematic review and meta-analysis

Although numerous studies have suggested that pharmacological alteration of the dopamine (DA) system modulates reward discounting, these studies have produced inconsistent findings. Here, we conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis to evaluate DA drug-mediated effects on reward discounting in studies of healthy rodents. This produced a total of 1,343 articles to screen for inclusion/exclusion. From the literature, we identified 117 effects from approximately 1,549 individual rodents. Using random-effects with maximum-likelihood estimation, we meta-analyzed placebo-controlled drug effects for (1) DA transporters, (2) DA D1-like receptor agonists and (3) antagonists, and (4) D2-like agonists and (5) antagonists. Meta-analytic effects showed that DAT-binding drugs decreased reward discounting. While D1 and D2 antagonists both increased discounting, agonist drugs for those receptors had no significant effect on discounting behavior. These findings suggest a nuanced relationship between DA and discounting behavior and urge caution when drawing generalizations about the effects of pharmacologically manipulating dopamine on reward-based decision making.
Evaluation of diverse cover crops as hosts of two populations of soybean cyst nematode, Heterodera glycines

Abstract Soybean cyst nematode (SCN; Heterodera glycines) reproduces on a wide range of plants, including some cover crops. However, reproduction of SCN populations on a number of cover crops has not been investigated in the northern Great Plains. Thirty-five cover crop species/cultivars from four plant families were evaluated as hosts for SCN. Greenhouse evaluations were done with two common SCN populations, SCN103 (HG type 0) and SCN2W (HG type 7) under controlled conditions. The sources of two SCN populations were two soybean fields of North Dakota. After 35 days of growth, white SCN females were extracted from individual plants and counted to determine a female index (FI = average number of females on a tested crop/average number of females in a susceptible check x 100) for each crop. Out of the 35 cover crop species/cultivars tested, at least one of the SCN populations reproduced on seven crops/cultivars but did not reproduce on the other 28 crops/cultivars. Out of these seven crops, only white lupine (Lupinus albus L.) was a suitable host (FI ≥ 10) for both SCN populations in all the experiments, while others showed varied responses from poor host to suitable host for the SCN populations. The host crops were from the family Brassicaceae or Fabaceae, while all the crops in the Linaceae or Poaceae family tested were non-hosts. The non-host crops can be planted in SCN-infested fields without the concern of increasing SCN populations, while poor hosts with low female index should be evaluated for effects on reduction of SCN numbers in the fields before they are used as cover crops in a soybean cropping system.
3-T Multiparametric MRI Followed by In-Bore MR-Guided Biopsy for Detecting Clinically Significant Prostate Cancer After Prior Negative Transrectal Ultrasound-Guided Biopsy.

OBJECTIVE. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the rate of detection of clinically significant prostate cancer (csPCa), as assessed on the basis of Prostate Imaging Reporting and Data System ...
Ezra Pound, Italy, and The Cantos

Ezra Pound moved from Paris to Rapallo, Italy in January 1924. This small town on the Ligurian coast would be his home until events overtook him at the war's end. After being committed to a US Dete...
A Receding Horizon Approach for Simultaneous Active Learning and Control using Gaussian Processes.

This paper proposes a receding horizon active learning and control problem for dynamical systems in which Gaussian Processes (GPs) are utilized to model the system dynamics. The active learning objective in the optimization problem is presented by the exact conditional differential entropy of GP predictions at multiple steps ahead, which is equivalent to the log determinant of the GP posterior covariance matrix. The resulting non-convex and complex optimization problem is solved by the Sequential Convex Programming algorithm that exploits the first-order approximations of non-convex functions. Simulation results of an autonomous racing car example verify that using the proposed method can significantly improve data quality for model learning while solving time is highly promising for real-time applications.
Pvr and distinct downstream signaling factors are required for hemocyte spreading and epidermal wound closure at Drosophila larval wound sites.

Tissue injury is typically accompanied by inflammation. In Drosophila melanogaster, wound-induced inflammation involves adhesive capture of hemocytes at the wound surface followed by hemocyte spreading to assume a flat, lamellar morphology. The factors that mediate this cell spreading at the wound site are not known. Here, we discover a role for the Platelet-derived growth factor (PDGF)/Vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF)-related receptor (Pvr) and its ligand, Pvf1, in blood cell spreading at the wound site. Pvr and Pvf1 are required for spreading in vivo and in an in vitro spreading assay where spreading can be directly induced by Pvf1 application or by constitutive Pvr activation. In an effort to identify factors that act downstream of Pvr, we performed a genetic screen in which select candidates were tested to determine if they could suppress the lethality of Pvr overexpression in the larval epidermis. Some of the suppressors identified are required for epidermal wound closure, another Pvr-mediated wound response, some are required for hemocyte spreading in vitro, and some are required for both. One of the downstream factors, Mask, is also required for efficient wound-induced hemocyte spreading in vivo. Our data reveals that Pvr signaling is required for wound responses in hemocytes (cell spreading) and defines distinct downstream signaling factors that are required for either epidermal wound closure or hemocyte spreading.
Profit Sharing with Thresholds and Non-monotone Player Utilities

We study profit sharing games in which players select projects to participate in and share the reward resulting from that project equally. Unlike most existing work, in which it is assumed that the player utility is monotone in the number of participants working on their project, we consider non-monotone player utilities. Such utilities could result, for example, from "threshold" or "phase transition" effects, when the total benefit from a project improves slowly until the number of participants reaches some critical mass, then improves rapidly, and then slows again due to diminishing returns.Non-monotone player utilities result in a lot of instability: strong Nash equilibrium may no longer exist, and the quality of Nash equilibria may be far away from the centralized optimum. We show, however, that by adding additional requirements such as players needing permission to leave a project from the players currently on this project, or instead players needing permission to join a project from players on that project, we ensure that strong Nash equilibrium always exists. Moreover, just the addition of permission to leave already guarantees the existence of strong Nash equilibrium within a factor of 2 of the social optimum. In this paper, we provide results on the existence and quality of several different coalitional solution concepts, focusing especially on permission to leave and join projects, and show that such requirements result in the existence of good stable solutions even for the case when player utilities are non-monotone.
Multiscale Identification of Topological Domains in Chromatin

Recent chromosome conformation capture experiments have led to the discovery of dense, contiguous, megabase-sized topological domains that are similar across cell types, are conserved across species. These domains are strongly correlated with a number of chromatin markers and have since been included in a number of analyses. However, functionally relevant domains may exist at multiple length scales. We introduce a new and efficient algorithm that is able to capture persistent domains across various resolutions by adjusting a single scale parameter. The identified novel domains are substantially different from domains reported previously and are highly enriched for insulating factor CTCF binding and histone modifications at the boundaries.
Reactor Loose Part Damage Assessments on Steam Generator Tube Sheets

Local space and energy impact densities of various types of loose parts have been generated within a representative steam generator inlet plenum. This work expands upon previous experimental research to identify important mechanisms that govern accumulated loose part damage to steam generator tube sheets. As a result, a computational model for estimating loose part impact damage, including damage to steam generator tube ends from multiple impacts, was previously created. Damage effects were determined to be local effects that depended only on single impacts and impact overlaps in a small region of interest. It was found that the damage could be directly related to local impact density on the steam generator tube sheet.In this work, three-dimensional flow fields were generated, first for a previously used 1:8 scale experimental inlet plenum and then for a 1:1 scale Westinghouse type D steam generator. Monte Carlo simulations were carried out as a function of coolant temperature, coolant inlet velocity, loo...
Rational Proofs with Multiple Provers

Interactive proofs model a world where a verifier delegates computation to an untrustworthy prover, verifying the prover's claims before accepting them. These proofs have applications to delegation of computation, probabilistically checkable proofs, crowdsourcing, and more.In some of these applications, the verifier may pay the prover based on the quality of his work. Rational proofs, introduced by Azar and Micali (2012), are an interactive proof model in which the prover is rational rather than untrustworthy---he may lie, but only to increase his payment. This allows the verifier to leverage the greed of the prover to obtain better protocols: while rational proofs are no more powerful than interactive proofs, the protocols are simpler and more efficient. Azar and Micali posed as an open problem whether multiple provers are more powerful than one for rational proofs.We provide a model that extends rational proofs to allow multiple provers. In this model, a verifier can cross-check the answers received by asking several provers. The verifier can pay the provers according to the quality of their work, incentivizing them to provide correct information.We analyze rational proofs with multiple provers from a complexity-theoretic point of view. We fully characterize this model by giving tight upper and lower bounds on its power. On the way, we resolve Azar and Micali's open problem in the affirmative, showing that multiple rational provers are strictly more powerful than one (under standard complexity-theoretic assumptions). We further show that the full power of rational proofs with multiple provers can be achieved using only two provers and five rounds of interaction. Finally, we consider more demanding models where the verifier wants the provers' payment to decrease significantly when they are lying, and fully characterize the power of the model when the payment gap must be noticeable (i.e., at least 1/p where p is a polynomial).
Socio-Spatial Pareto Frontiers of Twitter Networks

Social media provides a rich source of networked data. This data is represented by a set of nodes and a set of relations (edges). It is often possible to obtain or infer multiple types of relations from the same set of nodes, such as observed friend connections, inferred links via semantic comparison, or relations based off of geographic proximity. These edge sets can be represented by one multi-layer network. In this paper we review a method to perform community detection of multi-layer networks, and illustrate its use as a visualization tool for analyzing different community partitions. The algorithm is illustrated on a dataset from Twitter, specifically regarding the National Football League (NFL).
Sterile neutrinos, coherent scattering, and oscillometry measurements with low-temperature bolometers

Coherent neutrino-nucleon scattering offers a unique approach in the search for physics beyond the Standard Model. When used in conjunction with mono-energetic neutrino sources, the technique can be sensitive to the existence of light sterile neutrinos. The ability to utilize such reactions has been limited in the past due to the extremely low energy threshold (10-50 eV) needed for detection. In this paper, we discuss an optimization of cryogenic solid state bolometers that enables reaching extremely low kinetic energy thresholds. We investigate the sensitivity of an array of such detectors to neutrino oscillations to sterile states. A recent analysis of available reactor data appears to favor the existence of such such a sterile neutrino with a mass splitting of $|\Delta m_{\rm sterile}|^2 \ge 1.5$ eV$^2$ and mixing strength of $\sin^2{2\theta_{\rm sterile}} = 0.17\pm 0.08$ at 95% C.L. An array of such low-threshold detectors would be able to make a definitive statement as to the validity of the interpretation.
Multi-platform multi-target tracking fusion via covariance intersection: Using fuzzy optimised modified Kalman Filters with measurement noise covariance estimation

Presented in this paper is a detailed novel approach to tracking multiple moving targets from multiple moving platforms and fusing the individual estimates within platform centric nodes via covariance intersection. The approach presents a method of deconstructing the target model into a nonlinear element and a Kalman filter, modelling the target position and velocity vectors of the targets. The method avoids the increased complexity of using extended Kalman filters. The model state noise covariance is restructured by considering the source of the noise within the simplified imposed model and the measurement noise covariance is estimated from a single coefficient optimized moving average filter. The filter coefficient is optimally determined by the minimization of the variance of the Frobenius norm of the current estimated measurement covariance matrix, via a fuzzy logic feedback structure.
SPOOK: a system for probabilistic object-oriented knowledge representation

In previous work, we pointed out the limitations of standard Bayesian networks as a modeling framework for large, complex domains. We proposed a new, richly structured modeling language, Object-oriented Bayesian Networks, that we argued would be able to deal with such domains. However, it turns out that OOBNs are not expressive enough to model many interesting aspects of complex domains: the existence of specific named objects, arbitrary relations between objects, and uncertainty over domain structure. These aspects are crucial in real-world domains such as battlefield awareness. In this paper, we present SPOOK, an implemented system that addresses these limitations. SPOOK implements a more expressive language that allows it to represent the battlespace domain naturally and compactly. We present a new inference algorithm that utilizes the model structure in a fundamental way, and show empirically that it achieves orders of magnitude speedup over existing approaches.
Learning teleoreactive logic programs from problem solving

In this paper, we focus on the problem of learning reactive skills for use by physical agents. We propose a new representation for such procedures, teleoreactive logic programs, along with an interpreter that utilizes them to achieve goals. After this, we describe a learning method that acquires these structures in a cumulative manner through problem solving. We report experiments in three domains that involve multiple levels of skilled behavior. We also review related work and discuss directions for future research.
Medical diagnostic ultrasound

Although the roots of medical ultrasound lie in military technology, many of the past decade's advances have come from exploiting new understandings in the physics of mammalian tissues.
The Asian liquidity crisis

A country's financial system is internationally illiquid if its potential short term obligations in foreign currency exceed the amount of foreign currency it can have access to in short notice. This condition may be crucial for the existence of financial crises and/or exchange rate collapses (Chang and Velasco 1998a, b). In this paper we argue that the 1997-98 crises in Asia were in fact a consequence of international illiquidity. This follows from an analysis of empirical indicators of illiquidity as well as other macroeconomic statistics. We trace the emergence of illiquidity to financial liberalization, the shortening of the foreign debt structure, and the currency denomination of assets versus liabilities. We explain how financial crises became exchange rate collapses due to a government policy of both fixing exchange rates and acting as lender of last resort. Finally, we outline the policy implications of our view for both preventing crises and dealing with them.
Solving quantified boolean formulas with circuit observability don't cares

Traditionally the propositional part of a Quantified Boolean Formula (QBF) instance has been represented using a conjunctive normal form (CNF). As with propositional satisfiability (SAT), this is motivated by the efficiency of this data structure. However, in many cases, part of or the entire propositional part of a QBF instance can often be represented as a combinational logic circuit. In a logic circuit, the limited observability of the internal signals at the circuit outputs may make their assignments irrelevant for specific assignments of values to other signals in the circuit. This circuit observability don't care (ODC) information has been used to advantage in circuit based SAT solvers. A CNF encoding of the circuit, however, does not capture the signal direction and this limited observability, and thus cannot directly take advantage of this. However, recently it has been shown that this don't care information can be encoded in the CNF description and taken advantage of in a DPLL based SAT solver by modifying the decision heuristics/Boolean constraint propagation/conflict-driven-learning to account for these don't cares. Thus far, however, the use of these don't cares in the CNF encoding has not been explored for QBF solvers. In this paper, we examine how this can be done for QBF solvers as well as evaluate its practical benefits through experimentation. We have developed and implemented the usage of circuit ODCs in various parts of the DPLL-based procedure of the Quaffle QBF solver. We show that DPLL search based QBF solvers can use circuit ODC information to detect satisfying branches earlier during search and make satisfiability directed learning more effective. Our experiments demonstrate that significant performance gain can be obtained by considering circuit ODCs in checking the satisfiability of QBFs.
ElasTraS: an elastic transactional data store in the cloud

Over the last couple of years, "Cloud Computing" or "Elastic Computing" has emerged as a compelling and successful paradigm for internet scale computing. One of the major contributing factors to this success is the elasticity of resources. In spite of the elasticity provided by the infrastructure and the scalable design of the applications, the elephant (or the underlying database), which drives most of these web-based applications, is not very elastic and scalable, and hence limits scalability. In this paper, we propose ElasTraS which addresses this issue of scalability and elasticity of the data store in a cloud computing environment to leverage from the elastic nature of the underlying infrastructure, while providing scalable transactional data access. This paper aims at providing the design of a system in progress, highlighting the major design choices, analyzing the different guarantees provided by the system, and identifying several important challenges for the research community striving for computing in the cloud.
Robust position/force control of robot manipulators during contact tasks

In this paper, a new approach employing smooth robust controllers is proposed for simultaneous position and force control of uncertain robots in contact with uncertain environments. By employing Lyapunov's direct method, the authors have shown that the closed-loop system is globally and asymptotically stable, furthermore, the closed-loop system is robust to the uncertain system parameters, as well as the frictional forces at both the internal joints and on the contact surface. The employed controller is insensitive to the variation of the stiffness of the environment. Thus, it is more practical in the sense that there is no need to switch between controllers for robots to perform contact tasks in dynamically changing environments. Unlike other commonly used robust controllers, the proposed one can simultaneously guarantee both asymptotic stability of the closed-loop system and smooth control input. A numerical example of a two-link robot with its end-effector moving along a stiffness changing surface is presented for illustration.
Environmental Conditions, Reservation Prices, and Time on the Market for Housing

A general analytical model to describe the impact of environmental disamenities on duration of sales is derived. A statistical technique to recover a seller’s reservation price is proposed. An econometric procedure that consistently estimates market duration and a seller’s reservation price is described. An application to the impact of highway noise on property values and market duration is presented. The estimation results show that, while highway noise has a significant negative impact on forming reservation prices and predicting sale prices, the noise effect on duration of sales is not statistically significant. Empirical evidence also shows a negative impact of market duration on reservation prices, which indicates an updating process for reservation prices over time.
Constrained non-monotone submodular maximization: offline and secretary algorithms

Constrained submodular maximization problems have long been studied, most recently in the context of auctions and computational advertising, with near-optimal results known under a variety of constraints when the submodular function is monotone. In this paper, we give constant approximation algorithms for the non-monotone case that work for p-independence systems (which generalize constraints given by the intersection of p matroids that had been studied previously), where the running time is poly(n, p). Our algorithms and analyses are simple, and essentially reduce non-monotone maximization to multiple runs of the greedy algorithm previously used in the monotone case. We extend these ideas to give a simple greedy-based constant factor algorithms for non-monotone submodular maximization subject to a knapsack constraint, and for (online) secretary setting (where elements arrive one at a time in random order and the algorithm must make irrevocable decisions) subject to uniform matroid or a partition matroid constraint. Finally, we give an O(log k) approximation in the secretary setting subject to a general matroid constraint of rank k.
An Improved Algorithm for Arithmetic on a Family of Elliptic Curves

It has become increasingly common to implement discrete-logarithm based public-key protocols on elliptic curves over finite fields. The basic operation is scalar multiplication: taking a given integer multiple of a given point on the curve. The cost of the protocols depends on that of the elliptic scalar multiplication operation.
Electron donors and acceptors in the initial steps of photosynthesis in purple bacteria: a personal account

The discovery by Louis N. M. Duysens in the 1950s that illumination of photosynthetic purple bacteria can cause oxidation of either a bacteriochlorophyll complex (P) or a cytochrome was followed by an extended period of uncertainty as to which of these processes was the `primary' photochemical reaction. Similar questions arose later about the roles of bacteriopheophytin (BPh) and quinones as the initial electron acceptor. This is a personal account of kinetic measurements that showed that electron transfer from P to BPh occurs in the initial step, and that the oxidized bacteriochlorophyll complex (P+) then oxidizes the cytochrome while the reduced BPh transfers an electron to a quinone.
Connecting Bits with Floating-Point Numbers: Model Checking and Theorem Proving in Practice

Model checking and theorem proving have largely complementary strengths and weaknesses. Thus, a research goal for many years has been to find effective and practical ways of combining these approaches. However, this goal has been much harder to reach than originally anticipated, and several false starts have been reported in the literature. In fact, some researchers have gone so far as to question whether there even exists an application domain in which such a hybrid solution is needed. In this talk I will argue that formal verification of the floating-point circuits of modern high-performance microprocessors is such a domain. In particular, when a correctness statement linking the actual low-level (gate-level) implementation with abstract floating-point numbers is needed, a combined model checking and theorem proving based approach is essential. To substantiate the claim, I will draw from data we have collected during the verification of the floating point units of several generations of Intel microprocessors. In addition, I will discuss the in-house formal verification environment we have created that has enabled this effort with an emphasis on how model checking and theorem proving have been integrated without sacrificing usability.
The ethics of social honeypots

This paper considers some of the ethical issues surrounding the study of malicious activity in social networks, specifically using a technique known as social honeypots combined with the use of dec...
Representing context-sensitive knowledge in a network formalism: a preliminary report

Automated decision making is often complicated by the complexity of the knowledge involved. Much of this complexity arises from the context-sensitive variations of the underlying phenomena. We propose a framework for representing descriptive, context-sensitive knowledge. Our approach attempts to integrate categorical and uncertain knowledge in a network formalism. This paper outlines the basic representation constructs, examines their expressiveness and efficiency, and discusses the potential applications of the framework.
The Effect of Child Health Insurance Access on Schooling: Evidence from Public Insurance Expansions

Although a sizable literature analyzes the effects of public health insurance programs on short-run health outcomes, little prior work has examined their long-term effects. We examine the effects of public insurance expansions among children in the 1980s and 1990s on their future educational attainment. We find that expanding health insurance coverage for low-income children increases the rate of high school and college completion. These estimates are robust to only using federal Medicaid expansions and mostly are due to expansions that occur when the children are not newborns. Our results indicate that the long-run benefits of public health insurance are substantial.
The Overlap Dirac Operator

This introductory presentation describes the Overlap Dirac Operator, why it could be useful in numerical QCD, and how it can be implemented.
The Economics of International Aid

This paper presents an overview of the economics of international aid, highlighting the historical literature and the contemporary debates. It reviews the “trade-theoretic” and the “contract-theoretic” analytical literature, and the empirical and institutional literature. It demonstrates a great degree of continuity in the policy concerns of the aid discourse in the twentieth century, and shows how the theoretical, empirical and institutional literature has evolved to address specific policy concerns of each period.
Geometry of valley growth

Although amphitheatre-shaped valley heads can be cut by groundwater flows emerging from springs, recent geological evidence suggests that other processes may also produce similar features, thus confounding the interpretations of such valley heads on Earth and Mars. To better understand the origin of this topographic form, we combine field observations, laboratory experiments, analysis of a high-resolution topographic map and mathematical theory to quantitatively characterize a class of physical phenomena that produce amphitheatre-shaped heads. The resulting geometric growth equation accurately predicts the shape of decimetre-wide channels in laboratory experiments, 100 m-wide valleys in Florida and Idaho, and kilometre-wide valleys on Mars. We find that, whenever the processes shaping a landscape favour the growth of sharply protruding features, channels develop amphitheatre-shaped heads with an aspect ratio of π.