cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
The Missed Opportunity of Primary Care Providers' Online Biographies: a Content Analysis of US Health Systems in 2020.

Prospective patients are increasingly going to health systems’ online directories to find their next primary care providers (PCP), making this channel of communication important to assess to determine if it is meeting patients’ needs. When seeking a new PCP, patients want to know not only educational credentials but also providers’ communication traits, and personal information to showcase providers as real people. Offering this information, to help patients find providers best suited to meet their needs, is a key attribute of patient-centered care. To analyze whether health systems’ online PCP biographies are including the information prospective patients deem important when selecting a PCP. Using the AHRQ’s Compendium of US Health Systems, 523 health systems’ PCP biographies were content analyzed (n = 5004 biographies) from December 2019 to March 2020. Forty-eight unique pieces of information were coded for either their presence or absence (e.g., education, photo, languages spoken, insurance accepted, patient reviews, philosophy of care, video provided, personal hobbies/interests). Providers’ alphabetic credentials (e.g., MD, DO, APRN) were also documented. The majority of biographies stated the provider’s medical education (83.6%) and included a photo (81.4%). However, information patients also desire (e.g., communication traits and personal information) were less prevalent. Only 33.7% listed languages spoken, 18.2% offered patient reviews, 14.4% had personal hobbies/interests, and 10.6% included a video. There were also 192 unique alphabetic credential combinations listed next to providers’ names. Two health systems clearly included information within biographies to help prospective patients understand what these credentials meant. Health systems could make simple changes to their providers’ online biographies in order to help patients make more informed decisions of PCPs. Doing so may decrease doctor shopping, and also lead to a greater likelihood of developing longer-term relationships with PCPs.
Renal insufficiency in children born preterm: examining the role of neonatal acute kidney injury.

Objective To identify the prevalence of renal insufficiency (RI) in children with a history of prematurity and acute kidney injury (AKI). Study design This prospective cohort study evaluated renal function in children born preterm at 5-9 years of age. Univariable analyses compared perinatal and follow-up data from subjects with and without AKI history, and with and without current RI. Regression analyses were attempted to model RI as a function of AKI and other clinical risk factors. Results Fifteen of 43 (35%) participants had previously undiagnosed RI. Only children with no AKI history or neonatal stage 1 AKI presented for follow-up. Children born preterm with a history of stage 1 AKI had higher serum creatinine (sCr) at follow-up, but were not more likely to have RI compared to children without stage 1 AKI history (RI prevalence 30% and 36% in AKI and non-AKI group, respectively). Conclusion The high prevalence of RI in this preterm cohort at middle childhood follow-up highlights the need for routine kidney health assessments in this population. Large multicenter studies are needed to further characterize the impact of premature birth and mild AKI on renal function throughout childhood.
Female Mice Are Protected from Metabolic Decline Associated with Lack of Skeletal Muscle HuR

Male mice lacking HuR in skeletal muscle (HuRm−/−) have been shown to have decreased gastrocnemius lipid oxidation and increased adiposity and insulin resistance. The same consequences have not been documented in female HuRm−/− mice. Here we examine this sexually dimorphic phenotype. HuRm−/− mice have an increased fat mass to lean mass ratio (FM/LM) relative to controls where food intake is similar. Increased body weight for male mice correlates with increased blood glucose during glucose tolerance tests (GTT), suggesting increased fat mass in male HuRm−/− mice as a driver of decreased glucose clearance. However, HuRm−/− female mice show decreased blood glucose levels during GTT relative to controls. HuRm−/− mice display decreased palmitate oxidation in skeletal muscle relative to controls. This difference is more robust for male HuRm−/− mice and more exaggerated for both sexes at high dietary fat. A high-fat diet stimulates expression of Pgc1α in HuRm−/− male skeletal muscle, but not in females. However, the lipid oxidation Pparα pathway remains decreased in HuRm−/− male mice relative to controls regardless of diet. This pathway is only decreased in female HuRm−/− mice fed high fat diet. A decreased capacity for lipid oxidation in skeletal muscle in the absence of HuR may thus be linked to decreased glucose clearance in male but not female mice.
Wide-Range Stability of Concurrent Load Regulation and Frequency Synchronization for a 7-Level Switched Capacitor WPT Rectifier

Active rectifiers enhance WPT systems via tunability, high efficiency, and low waveform distortion. However, utilizing these benefits requires that two circuit characteristics are managed simultaneously: the switching frequency must be synchronized to the transmitter and the output must be regulated. Furthermore, the fundamental benefit of impedance tunability inherent to the active rectifier necessitates that this dual-objective control problem remains stable over a wide range of operating points. Either control loop can be designed in isolation, and under this premise, this work contributes a closed form derivation for the cross-coupling behaviors in the control architecture for a 7-level switched capacitor WPT system. Finally, regions of attenuated cross-coupling effects are identified and used to experimentally demonstrate wide-range control with stable output regulation and frequency synchronization.
Scale-space on image profiles about an object boundary

Traditionally, image blurring by diffusion is done in Euclidean space, in an image-based coordinate system. This will blur edges at object boundaries, making segmentation difficult. Geometry-driven diffusion [1] uses a geometric model to steer the blurring, so as to blur along the boundary (to overcome noise) but edge-detect across the object boundary. In this paper, we present a scale-space on image profiles taken about the object boundary, in an object-intrinsic coordinate system. The profiles are sampled from the image in the fashion of Active Shape Models [2], and a scale-space is constructed on the profiles, where diffusion is run only in directions tangent to the boundary. Features from the scale-space are then used to build a statistical model of the image structure about the boundary, trained on a population of images with corresponding geometric models. This statistical image match model can be used in an image segmentation framework. Results are shown in 2D on synthetic and real-world objects; the methods can also be extended to 3D.
Monakow, Constantin von

Constantin von Monakow, son of a Russian nobleman and a Polish mother, was born in 1853 on the family country estate Bobretzovo, located in Vologda, just north of Moscow. His father, Iwan Monakow, was a wealthy and well-educated nobleman who served as a censor of the political press during the reigns of Nicolas I and Alexander II. The family moved to Zurich in 1867 after brief stays in Dresden and Paris. With the exception of intervals of training, Constantin was to spend the rest of his life in Zurich and regarded Switzerland as his intellectual ‘cradle.’
Acceptable Daily Intake (ADI)

The acceptable daily intake (ADI) is commonly defined as the maximum amount of a chemical to which a person can be exposed, on a daily basis over an extended period of time, usually without suffering a deleterious effect. It represents a daily intake level of a chemical in humans that is associated with minimal or no risk of adverse effects, and if the ingestion exceeds, this amount may cause toxic effects. It is a numerical estimate of daily oral exposure to the human population, including sensitive subgroups such as children, that is not likely to cause harmful effects during a lifetime. The ADI is expressed in milligrams of the chemical, as it appears in the food, per kilogram of body weight per day (mg kg − 1 day − 1 ).
Models of human problem solving: detection, diagnosis, and compensation for system failures

Abstract The role of the human operator as a problem solver in man-machine systems such as vehicles, process plants, transportation networks, etc. is considered. Problem solving is discussed in terms of detection, diagnosis, and compensation. A wide variety of models of these phases of problem solving are reviewed and an overall model proposed.
Performance evaluation of generalized polynomial chaos

In this paper we review some applications of generalized polynomial chaos expansion for uncertainty quantification. The mathematical framework is presented and the convergence of the method is demonstrated for model problems. In particular, we solve the first-order and second-order ordinary differential equations with random parameters, and examine the efficiency of generalized polynomial chaos compared to Monte Carlo simulations. It is shown that the generalized polynomial chaos can be orders of magnitude more efficient than Monte Carlo simulations when the dimensionality of random input is low, e.g. for correlated noise.
The p -adic Shintani modular symbol and evil Eisenstein series

We compute the p-adic L-functions of evil Eisenstein series using an explicit Eisenstein modular symbol constructed from Shintani cocycles.
A Case for Proposition 209

The California bishops' statement and the longer testimonies of Cardinal Mahony against Proposition 209 [hereinafter "Prop 209"] show that their authors are not exercising their teaching office, but speaking as church leaders to all persons of good will. The bishops "ask" "all people of good will" to reject Prop. 209 as "bad public policy"; affirmative action "can be", if "judiciously administered," an "expression[ ]" of the "drive for solidarity", and "one practical way" to work toward justice. In his 1995 statement, Cardinal Mahony sets forth "principles that should help shape the debate on affirmative action."' He recognizes, however, that "people of good will may disagree with the application of them", and aims to "assist[ ]" people to resolve the issue in a "thoughtful and prayerful way." In 1996 Cardinal Mahony "announc[ed]" his "own opposition" to Prop 209 and "urg[ed]" voters to "carefully consider the impact of this measure" before voting. Here, the bishops' statements are redolent of the 1986 Economics Pastoral, which distinguished between the moral principles which must govern debate and application of them, a matter which could not be treated authoritatively and which depended upon a range of debatable factual judgments, including speculations about the likely future effects of particular initiatives.
Computing with Cells: Membrane Systems

Membrane computing is a part of the general research effort of describing and investigating computing models, ideas, architectures, and paradigms from processes taking place in nature, especially in biology. It identifies an unconventional computing model, namely a P system, which abstracts from the way living cells process chemical compounds in their compartmental structure. P systems are a class of distributed maximally parallel computing devices of a biochemical type. We give a brief overview of the area and present results that answer some interesting and fundamental questions concerning issues such as determinism versus nondeterminism, membrane and alphabet-size hierarchies, various notions of parallelism, reachability, computational complexity. We also look at neural-like systems, called spiking neural P systems. Such systems incorporate the idea of spiking neurons in membrane computing. We study various classes and characterize their computing power and complexity.
Race and Rapport: Homophily and Racial Disadvantage in Large Law Firms

* Assistant Professor, Drexel University Thomas R. Kline School of Law. B.A., Columbia University; J.D., Yale Law School; Ph.D., Princeton University. This Article benefited greatly from the many useful comments that I received at this colloquium and at earlier presentations at the 2013 Northeast People of Color Legal Scholarship Conference, the John Mercer Langston Black Male Law Faculty Writing Workshop, and the Thomas R. Kline School of Law Faculty Colloquium. I would like to thank Bret Asbury for his perceptive feedback, Andrew Bond, Peter McCall, Ian Oakley, and Phil Volkov for superb research assistance, and Dean Roger Dennis for his generous support. This Article is part of a larger colloquium entitled The Challenge of Equity and Inclusion in the Legal Profession: An International and Comparative Perspective held at Fordham University School of Law. For an overview of the colloquium, see Deborah L. Rhode, Foreword: Diversity in the Legal Profession: A Comparative Perspective, 83 FORDHAM L. REV. 2241 (2015).
Comparative Effectiveness Analysis of Treatment Options for Single Brain Metastasis

Background Brain metastases (BMs) occur in up to 30% of patients with cancer. Treatments include surgery, whole-brain radiotherapy (WBRT), and stereotactic radiosurgery (SRS), alone or in combination. Although guidelines exist, data to inform individualized approaches to therapy remain sparse. We sought to compare semiquantitatively the effectiveness of various modalities in the treatment of single brain metastasis. Methods We performed a comparative effectiveness analysis (CEA) that integrated efficacy, cost, and quality of life (QoL) data for alternate BM treatments. Efficacy data were obtained from a comprehensive review of current literature. Cost estimates were based on publicly available data. QoL data included the Karnofsky Performance Status (KPS) and other questionnaires. Six treatment strategies using combinations of surgery, WBRT, and SRS were compared with decision tree software. Results The clinical efficacy, cost, and QoL effects of each strategy were scored semiquantitatively. We constructed a model to integrate individual preferences regarding the relative importance of efficacy, QoL, and cost to provide personalized rankings of the effectiveness of each strategy. Conclusion The choice of strategy must be individualized for patients with a single BM. Our CEA and decision model combines empirical data with patient priorities to produce a ranking of alternate management strategies.
Scheduled sampling for sequence prediction with recurrent Neural networks

Recurrent Neural Networks can be trained to produce sequences of tokens given some input, as exemplified by recent results in machine translation and image captioning. The current approach to training them consists of maximizing the likelihood of each token in the sequence given the current (recurrent) state and the previous token. At inference, the unknown previous token is then replaced by a token generated by the model itself. This discrepancy between training and inference can yield errors that can accumulate quickly along the generated sequence. We propose a curriculum learning strategy to gently change the training process from a fully guided scheme using the true previous token, towards a less guided scheme which mostly uses the generated token instead. Experiments on several sequence prediction tasks show that this approach yields significant improvements. Moreover, it was used succesfully in our winning entry to the MSCOCO image captioning challenge, 2015.
All Bot Net: A Need for Smartphone P2P Awareness

This paper is a call for law enforcement and other members of the digital forensic community to be aware of smartphones connecting to Peer-to-Peer networks. This paper also offers a review of botnet concepts and research surrounding smartphone malware.
Variability in Data Streams

We consider the problem of tracking with small relative error an integer function f(n) defined by a distributed update stream f'(n) in the distributed monitoring model. In this model, there are k sites over which the updates f'(n) are distributed, and they must communicate with a central coordinator to maintain an estimate of f(n).Existing streaming algorithms with worst-case guarantees for this problem assume f(n) to be monotone; there are very large lower bounds on the space requirements for summarizing a distributed non-monotonic stream, often linear in the size n of the stream. However, the input streams obtaining these lower bounds are highly variable, making relatively large jumps from one timestep to the next; in practice, the impact on f(n) of any single update f'(n) is usually small. What has heretofore been lacking is a framework for non-monotonic streams that admits algorithms whose worst-case performance is as good as existing algorithms for monotone streams and degrades gracefully for non-monotonic streams as those streams vary more quickly.In this paper we propose such a framework. We introduce a stream parameter, the "variability" v, deriving its definition in a way that shows it to be a natural parameter to consider for non-monotonic streams. It is also a useful parameter. From a theoretical perspective, we can adapt existing algorithms for monotone streams to work for non-monotonic streams, with only minor modifications, in such a way that they reduce to the monotone case when the stream happens to be monotone, and in such a way that we can refine the worst-case communication bounds from θ(n) to Ov. From a practical perspective, we demonstrate that v can be small in practice by proving that v is O(log f(n)) for monotone streams and o(n) for streams that are "nearly" monotone or that are generated by random walks. We expect v to be o(n) for many other interesting input classes as well.
The Customization Landscape for Embedded Systems

The explosive growth of embedded systems in existing and emerging application domains is accompanied by unique constraints and performance requirements along multiple dimensions such as speed, power, and real-time behavior. Typically, these requirements are encapsulated in a few important components, or kernels, for example, for audio and video encoding/decoding, data compression, and encryption. Software implementations of these kernels executing on embedded microprocessors are inadequate to meet the requirements. Customization plays a central role in meeting these unique and specialized needs and has historically been realized by the development of custom hardware solutions such as fully custom application specific integrated circuits (ASICs).However, each new generation of semiconductor technology is increasing the nonrecurring engineering (NRE) costs associated with ASIC development and thereby making it feasible for only high volume applications and those with product lifetimes amenable to a long time to market design cycle. The increasing pervasiveness of embedded systems encompasses applications with smaller product lifetimes, shorter development cycles, and increasing cost containment pressures. Sustaining the continued growth demanded by the market will require technology to deliver performance characteristics of custom solutions while overcoming the twin hurdles of high NRE costs and long time to market of current ASIC solutions. Further, the embedded market is comprised of application segments covering a range of costs, volumes, and time to market needs. For example, components of 3G phones, set top boxes, color laser printers, color copiers, and network attached storage devices span a range of prices from on the order of a few hundred to a few thousand dollars and a range of volumes ranging from thousands to tens of millions of units. Consequently the approaches to customization are diverse.As new products and services are envisioned, these evolving workload requirements will place more pressure on the need to innovate in overcoming the high NRE costs and time to market considerations of custom hardware solutions. The challenge for future embedded systems is to reconcile the demands of hardware customization, cost, and time to market constraints. This talk presents the emerging landscape of solutions, identifies key trends, and describes some representative approaches.
Informedness of Economic Agents and the Quantity Theory of Money

Historically, informedness of economic agents via price stability has been a rationale for the money supply rule derived from the Quantity Theory of Money. The monetarists maintain that changes in the price level are attributable to the level of the money supply; hence, a money supply rule is adopted as the means to curb inflation. Given the adopted monetary policy, agents are informed of expected price level changes. From a relativist perspective, in the absence of monetary dislocation or revaluation, this paper maintains that changes in the general price level are attributable to the net effect of the realignment of relative prices. If as posited that changes in the general level of prices are not a function of changes in the supply of money but of changes in the composition of aggregate demand and supply, the money supply rule for monetary policy would be ineffective at best and disruptive at worst. Apart from adverse financial impacts on business, the ‘quantity theory’ inflation-designed short-term interest rate policy has induced several significant negative effects on the capital markets in 1987 and 2006. Apparently, economic agents are better informed under the ‘relativist’ approach than under the ‘monetarist’ approach.
Exporter Dynamics, Firm Size and Growth, and Partial Year Effects

Two otherwise identical firms that enter the same market in different months, one in January and one in December, will report dramatically different annual sales for the first calendar year of operations. This partial year effect in annual data leads to downward biased observations of the level of activity upon entry and upward biased growth rates between the year of entry and the following year. This paper examines the implications of partial year effects using Peruvian export data. The partial year bias is very large: the average level of first-year exports of new exporters is understated by 65 percent and the average growth rate between the first and second year of exporting is overstated by 112 percentage points. This paper re-examines a number of stylized facts about firm size and growth that have motivated rapidly expanding theoretical and empirical literatures on firm export dynamics. Correcting the partial year effect eliminates unusually high growth rates in the first year of exporting, raises initial export levels, and shifts 10 percent of market entrants from below to above the median size. Revisiting an older set of facts on firm size and growth, the paper finds that correcting for partial year biases reduces the number of small firms in the firm size distribution and weakens the negative relationship between firm growth and firm size.
Design and Analysis of Dynamic Multithreaded Algorithms

Dynamic multithreaded languages provide low-overhead fork-join primitives to express parallelism. One such language is Cilk [3, 5], which was developed in the MIT Laboratory for Computer Science (now the MIT Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory). Cilk minimally extends the C programming language to allow interactions among computational threads to be specified in a simple and high-level fashion. Cilk’s provably efficient runtime system dynamically maps a user’s program onto available physical resources using a randomized “work-stealing” scheduler, freeing the programmer from concerns of communication protocols and load balancing.
Real-time event extraction for infectious disease outbreaks

We describe a system for creating and automatically updating a data base of information on infectious disease outbreaks. A web crawler is used to retrieve current news stories; potentially relevant stories are fed to an information extraction engine, whose output is used to update the data base. A web-based browser allows users to examine the data base and select records based on date, disease, location, and other fields. The browser can also display the source text from which the data base information is derived. The data base provides an alternative to conventional search engines for retrieving documents in this domain; the advantages and disadvantages of this approach are discussed.
Beyond complete positivity

We provide a general and consistent formulation for linear subsystem quantum dynamical maps, developed from a minimal set of postulates, primary among which is a relaxation of the usual, restrictive assumption of uncorrelated initial system-bath states. We describe the space of possibilities admitted by this formulation, namely that, far from being limited to only completely positive (CP) maps, essentially any $${\mathbb {C}}$$C-linear, Hermiticity-preserving, trace-preserving map can arise as a legitimate subsystem dynamical map from a joint unitary evolution of a system coupled to a bath. The price paid for this added generality is a trade-off between the set of admissible initial states and the allowed set of joint system-bath unitary evolutions. As an application, we present a simple example of a non-CP map constructed as a subsystem dynamical map that violates some fundamental inequalities in quantum information theory, such as the quantum data processing inequality.
Mining Process Models from Workflow Logs

Modern enterprises increasingly use the workflow paradigm to prescribe how business processes should be performed. Processes are typically modeled as annotated activity graphs. We present an approach for a system that constructs process models from logs of past, unstructured executions of the given process. The graph so produced conforms to the dependencies and past executions present in the log. By providing models that capture the previous executions of the process, this technique allows easier introduction of a workflow system and evaluation and evolution of existing process models. We also present results from applying the algorithm to synthetic data sets as well as process logs obtained from an IBM Flowmark installation.
Latin Squares Designs

Latin squares designs have an equal number of values for three variables. The designs provide information about the variables with fewer observations than three-variable factorial designs, but confound interactions with main effects. Models for Latin squares are displayed and computational examples described, together with information about replicated Latin squares. Keywords: carryover effects; confounding; fixed effects; period effects; random effects; Williams squares
Electrochemistry and On‐Cell Reformation Modeling for Solid Oxide Fuel Cell Stacks

ABSTRACT Providing adequate and efficient cooling schemes for solid-oxide-fuel-cell (SOFC) stacks continues to be a challenge coincident with the development of larger, more powerful stacks. The endothermic steam-methane reformation reaction can provide cooling and improved system efficiency when performed directly on the electrochemically active anode. Rapid kinetics of the endothermic reaction typically causes a localized temperature depression on the anode near the fuel inlet. It is desirable to extend the endothermic effect over more of the cell area and mitigate the associated differences in temperature on the cell to alleviate subsequent thermal stresses. In this study, modeling tools validated for the prediction of fuel use, on-cell methane reforming, and the distribution of temperature within SOFC stacks, are employed to provide direction for modifying the catalytic activity of anode materials to control the methane conversion rate. Improvements in thermal management that can be achieved through on-cell reforming is predicted and discussed. Two operating scenarios are considered: one in which the methane fuel is fully pre-reformed, and another in which a substantial percentage of the methane is reformed on-cell. For the latter, a range of catalytic activity is considered and the predicted thermal effects on the cell are presented. Simulations of themore » cell electrochemical and thermal performance with and without on-cell reforming, including structural analyses, show a substantial decrease in thermal stresses for an on-cell reforming case with slowed methane conversion.« less
Stability and migration of small copper clusters in amorphous dielectrics

We use density functional theory (DFT) to study the thermodynamic stability and migration of copper ions and small clusters embedded in amorphous silicon dioxide. We perform the calculations over an ensemble of statistically independent structures to quantify the role of the intrinsic atomic-level variability in the amorphous matrix affect the properties. The predicted formation energy of a Cu ion in the silica matrix is 2.7 ± 2.4 eV, significantly lower the value for crystalline SiO2. Interestingly, we find that Cu clusters of any size are energetically favorable as compared to isolated ions; showing that the formation of metallic clusters does not require overcoming a nucleation barrier as is often assumed. We also find a broad distribution of activation energies for Cu migration, from 0.4 to 1.1 eV. This study provides insights into the stability of nanoscale metallic clusters in silica of interest in electrochemical metallization cell memories and optoelectronics.
Public Perceptions of Climate Change: A "Willingness to Pay" Assessment

In this paper, we examine for a sample of Los Angeles residents their willingness to pay to prevent significant climate change. We employ a fractional factorial design in which various climate change scenarios differing in ways consistent with existing variation in climate are presented to respondents. These are contrasted to respondents' current climate before willingness to pay is elicited. Thus, the focus is on climate change as it may be experienced locally. We also try to determine the kinds of value that are driving respondents' concerns. Among the key findings are that for these respondents, climate change leading to warmer local temperatures is a greater worry than climate change leading to colder local temperatures. In addition, climate change leading to less precipitation locally is of more concern that climate change leading to more precipitation locally. Finally, use value may be the most important kind of value, but a more cautious interpretation is that respondents are not yet able to clearly distinguish between different climate change consequences.
INTERNATIONAL MARKET INTEGRATION UNDER WTO: EVIDENCE IN THE PRICE BEHAVIORS OF CHINESE AND US WHEAT FUTURES

China's 10-year old wheat futures market, the China Zhengzhou Commodity Exchange (CZCE) has been in stable development since establishment and is expected to be integrated to the world market after China joined WTO. This paper compares the price behavior of CZCE with that of the Chicago Board of trade (CBOT) in the US using ARCH/GARCH based univariate and multivariate time series models for the period between 1999 and 2003, around when China joined the World Trade Organization (WTO). Results show both markets can be modeled by an ARCH (1) or a GARCH (1,1), and the models have better fit when conditional error variance is t distributed. The price series in CZCE and CBOT are interrelated but not cointegrated. The existing interrelations between the two markets are significant and asymmetric, where CBOT holds a dominant position in the interactions while CZCE is more like a follower.
Empowerment and local level conflict mediation in Indonesia : a comparative analysis of concepts, measures, and project efficacy

The notion of empowerment has been more often deductively claimed than carefully defined or inductively assessed by development scholars and practitioners alike. The authors define and assess empowerment through an in-depth examination of the extent to which a large community development project in rural Indonesia empowers participants (especially members of marginalized groups) through building their capacity to manage local conflict. Although the project induces conflict through its deployment of a competitive bidding process, the authors argue that, when well implemented, it can also enable otherwise unequal groups to more peacefully, equitably, and effectively engage one another. Using a mixed methods approach, they compare cases from otherwise similar treatment and control villages to shed light on the chief components of villagers' capacity to manage local conflict. They discuss the interdependencies of two major analytical realms-routines of inter-group collaboration, and sources of countervailing power-and their relation to local conflict processes and outcomes.
Revenue Protection for Organic Producers: Too Much or Too Little?

A framework is developed to examine organic crop insurance established by the Risk Management Agency (RMA). Given that the RMA links organic and conventional crop prices, the model is calibrated to reflect both markets to illustrate the impacts that pricing has on insurance coverage. Findings indicate that at the 75% coverage level, the RMA’s fixed-price factor implies an effective coverage ranging from 43% to 105% depending on the ratio of planting-time organic to conventional market prices. Results suggest the RMA’s program is likely to induce adverse selection because the nominal coverage level is likely to deviate substantially from the effective coverage.
Simplifying the complex: The paradigms of ecological function and structure

Abstract Ecosystem change has usefully been seen as controlled by two functions: exploitation, where rapid colonization of recently disturbed land is emphasized, and conservation where slow accumulation and storage of energy and material are emphasized. Analysis of a series of ecosystems—managed and unmanaged—indicates there are two additional functions. One is that of creative destruction where the tightly bound accumulation of biomass and nutrients is suddenly released by agents such as forest fires, insect pests, or intense grazing. The second function is one of renewal where released material is mobilized to become available for the next exploitive phase. That pattern is discontinuous and is dependent on the existence of multistable states. Resilience and recovery are emphasized during the release and renewal sequence, and stability and productivity during the exploitation and conservation sequence. Such studies of resilience are beginning to combine with hierarchy theory and with the theory of dissipative structures to deepen our understanding of change and how to manage change.
Trade Policy Reforms in the Cereals Sector of the SADC Region: Implications on Food Security

This study evaluates the welfare implications of tariff reforms in the cereals sector of the SADC region. Applying the global simulation model (GSIM), a multi-country partial equilibrium model, to the cereals industries of thirteen SADC countries, the study computes price and welfare effects of tariff reforms on different economic groups in each country, and evaluates responsiveness to external supply shocks. Results indicate that on net, elimination of intra-regional tariffs is welfare reducing for the region - a robust result as indicated by the sensitivity tests. South Africa emerges as the sole beneficiary of intra-regional tariff elimination, with positive net welfare gains attained through higher producer surplus; whereas the rest of SACU experiences losses in consumer surplus, and the rest of SADC experiences losses in producer surplus. Imports from the rest of the world drop for most net-importer SADC countries, whereas trade with the SADC region generally increases, indicating that both trade diversion and trade creation result from these tariff reforms. The negative net welfare effects suggest that the trade diversion effects exceed the trade creation effects for most of SADC. Larger, positive welfare effects are expected for all of SADC, except South Africa and Zimbabwe, when countries implement indiscriminate reform of MFN tariff rates, although gains come at major costs to regional producers. Imports from both the region and the world are also expected to increase. Tariff reforms also seem to serve the purpose of spreading price and quantity risk, albeit meagerly, from supply shocks generated within the region, making it less intense in countries of origin, and more intense for the rest of SADC.
Context-Aware Data Mining Framework for Wireless Medical Application

Data mining, which aims at extracting interesting information from large collections of data, has been widely used as an effective decision making tool. Mining the datasets in the presence of context factors may improve performance and efficacy of data mining by identifying the unknown factors, which are not easily detectable in the process of generating an expected outcome. This paper proposes a Context-aware data mining framework, by which contexts will be automatically captured to maximize the adaptive capacity of data mining. Context could consist of any circumstantial factors of the user and domain that may affect the data mining process. The factors that may affect the mining behavior are delineated and how each factor affects the behavior is discussed. It is also observed that a medical application of the model in wireless devices offers the advantages of Context-aware data mining. A Context-aware data mining framework is quantified through a partial implementation that would be used to test the behavior of the mining system under varied context factors. The results obtained from the implementation process are elucidated on how the prediction output or the behavior of the system changes from the similar set of inputs in view of different context factors.
Convexity in Real Analysis

We treat the classical notion of convexity in the context of hard real analysis. Definitions of the concept are given in terms of defining functions and quadratic forms, and characterizations are provided of different concrete notions of convexity. This analytic notion of convexity is related to more classical geometric ideas. Applications are given both to analysis and geometry.
Arbitrage and Existence of Equilibrium in Infinite Asset Markets

This paper develops a framework for a general equilibrium analysis of asset markets when the number of assets is infinite. Such markets have been studied in financial economics in the context of asset pricing theories. A distinctive feature of an equilibrium model of asset markets is that investors' portfolio-choice sets are typically not bounded below. We prove that an equilibrium exists under a condition that markets are arbitrage-free. The markets are arbitrage-free if there is a price system under which no investor has an arbitrage opportunity. The concept of an arbitrage opportunity used in this paper differs from the standard concept on an arbitrage portfolio in financial markets which is a portfolio that guarantees a non-negative payoff in every event, a positive payoff in some event and has zero price. We provide an extensive discussion of concepts of an arbitrage opportunity.
Markerless human motion transfer

We develop a computer vision-based system to transfer human motion from one subject to another. Our system uses a network of eight calibrated and synchronized cameras. We first build detailed kinematic models of the subjects based on our algorithms for extracting shape from silhouette across time (G. Cheung et al., 2003). These models are then used to capture the motion (joint angles) of the subjects in new video sequences. Finally we describe an image-based rendering algorithm to render the captured motion applied to the articulated model of another person. Our rendering algorithm uses an ensemble of spatially and temporally distributed images to generate photo-realistic video of the transferred motion. We demonstrate the performance of the system by rendering throwing and kungfu motions on subjects who did not perform them.
Efficient transition probability computation for continuous-time branching processes via compressed sensing

Branching processes are a class of continuous-time Markov chains (CTMCs) with ubiquitous applications. A general difficulty in statistical inference under partially observed CTMC models arises in computing transition probabilities when the discrete state space is large or uncountable. Classical methods such as matrix exponentiation are infeasible for large or count-ably infinite state spaces, and sampling-based alternatives are computationally intensive, requiring integration over all possible hidden events. Recent work has successfully applied generating function techniques to computing transition probabilities for linear multi-type branching processes. While these techniques often require significantly fewer computations than matrix exponentiation, they also become prohibitive in applications with large populations. We propose a compressed sensing framework that significantly accelerates the generating function method, decreasing computational cost up to a logarithmic factor by only assuming the probability mass of transitions is sparse. We demonstrate accurate and efficient transition probability computations in branching process models for blood cell formation and evolution of self-replicating transposable elements in bacterial genomes.
What can be expected from African regional trade arrangements? some empirical evidence

Sub-Saharan Africa must adopt appropriate trade and structural adjustment policies to become more competitive internationally and to capitalize on opportunities in foreign markets. The exchange of regional preferences alone cannot reverse Africa's unfavorable export trends. A far more promising policy approach would be broad-based reductions in African trade barriers, on a most-favored-nation basis. For over three decades, Sub-Saharan African countries have had an interest in regional integration initiatives to accelerate their industrialization and growth. With the help of a more comprehensive database on intra-African trade than was previously available, Yeats examines a proposal to exchange trade preferences among Sub-Saharan African countries. The data suggest that problems with African regional trade arrangements are more daunting than is generally recognized. Africa's non-oil exports are concentrated in a few products, none of them important regional imports. There is relatively little intra-African trade and the noncomplementarity problem in African trade cannot be resolved quickly. Moreover, intra-African trade is highly concentrated, geographically, with almost no trade between East and West Africa. This finding makes less compelling the arguments that regional trade can help overcome problems of small domestic markets. The range of processed products African countries export competitively is extremely narrow and many have a comparative advantage in the same items. Excluding refined petroleum, one or more African countries have a comparative advantage in products that account for about 5 percent of regional imports. In short, regional trade agreements seem to present Africa with a lose-lose situation. If Africa does not develop export capacity in key machinery and transport equipment, the region will continue to depend heavily on third countries for those exports. Dependence on non-African suppliers would seemingly reduce the likelihood of regional arrangements succeeding. However, machinery and transport equipment are normally manufactured using capital-intensive production techniques and Africa has no comparative advantage in those goods. If Africa tries to develop an export capacity in this sector, the goods will be relatively high in cost and probably less reliable than similar products from efficient suppliers. Attempts to use such equipment would undercut the competitive position of Sub-Saharan African exporters in global markets. Trade reform on a most-favored-nation basis is a more promising option. Evidence shows a strong positive association between lower trade barriers and economic growth. This paper - a product of Trade, Development Research Group - is part of a larger effort in the group to accelerate the trade and growth of developing countries. The author may be contacted at ayeats@worldbank.org.
Development of leaky wave antennas for layered ridge dielectric waveguide

A frequency scanning antenna has been fabricated and tested at Ka-band using a layered ridge dielectric waveguide feed to an array of radiating strips. The antenna is easy to fabricate from low-cost microwave Teflon substrates. The radiation pattern for this antenna at 29 GHz is shown. >
Rethinking Verifiably Encrypted Signatures: A Gap in Functionality and Potential Solutions

Verifiably encrypted signatures were introduced by Boneh, Gentry, Lynn, and Shacham in 2003, as a non-interactive analogue to interactive protocols for verifiable encryption of signatures. As their name suggests, verifiably encrypted signatures were intended to capture a notion of encryption, and constructions in the literature use public-key encryption as a building block.
Square turning maps and their compactifications

In this paper we introduce some infinite rectangle exchange transformations which are based on the simultaneous turning of the squares within a sequence of square grids. We will show that such noncompact systems have higher dimensional dynamical compactifications. In good cases, these compactifications are polytope exchange transformations based on pairs of Euclidean lattices. In each dimension $$8m+4$$ there is a $$4m+2$$ dimensional family of them. Here $$m=0,1,2,\ldots $$ We studied the case $$m=0$$ in depth in Schwartz (The octagonal PETs, research monograph, 2012).
Instantons and quaternions

We relate the moduli space of Yang-Mills instantons to quaternionic manifolds. For instanton number one, the Wolf spaces play an important role. We apply these ideas to instanton calculations in N = 4 SYM theory.
A framework for high assurance security of distributed objects

High assurance security is difficult to achieve in distributed computer systems and databases because of their complexity, non-determinism and inherent heterogeneity. The practical application of formal methods is the key to high assurance security in open, distributed environments. This paper proposes the use of formal methods and a special layered architecture to achieve secure interoperation of heterogeneous distributed objects. The foundation is provided by ROC, a process calculus tailored for concurrent objects. Lying above ROC in the layered architecture is a meta-object model for creating object models with various programming constructs, mega-programming facilities and security mechanisms. Successive layers of the architecture represent more sophisticated toolkits for modeling distributed objects. Since each layer inherits ROC’s formal foundation, it automatically has an unambiguous semantics and supports verification.
The Local Equicontinuity of a Maximal Monotone Operator

The local equicontinuity of an operator defined in a barreled locally convex space has been shown to hold on the algebraic interior of the projection of its proper Fitzpatrick function domain onto the base space. The current note presents direct consequences of the aforementioned result with regard to the local equicontinuity of a maximal monotone operator defined in a barreled locally convex space.
Mars' core and magnetism

The detection of strongly magnetized ancient crust on Mars is one of the most surprising outcomes of recent Mars exploration, and provides important insight about the history and nature of the martian core. The iron-rich core probably formed during the hot accretion of Mars approximately 4.5 billion years ago and subsequently cooled at a rate dictated by the overlying mantle. A core dynamo operated much like Earth's current dynamo, but was probably limited in duration to several hundred million years. The early demise of the dynamo could have arisen through a change in the cooling rate of the mantle, or even a switch in convective style that led to mantle heating. Presently, Mars probably has a liquid, conductive outer core and might have a solid inner core like Earth.