cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Religion, Social Capital, and Business Bankruptcy in the United States, 1921-1932

We consider the value of social capital that derives from membership in a church. American states with larger churchgoing populations had lower business bankruptcy rates from 1921 to 1932, and states in which the churchgoing population was concentrated in few churches had business bankruptcy rates that were lower still. Both voluntary and involuntary bankruptcy were lower in states with higher church membership. The evidence suggests that church membership acted on bankruptcy through a safety net mechanism and not solely through indicating a preference for honouring commitment.
Time warps in photonic time stretch ADC and their mitigation

We demonstrate a 10-GHz bandwidth digitizer with 7-effective bits of resolution and 52 dB SFDR, using photonic time stretch technique. To the best of our knowledge, this is the highest resolution analog-to-digital converter (ADC) of the same bandwidth, with at least an order of magnitude higher SNR than previously achieved. This is made possible by correction of distortion due to time warps, and non-linearities due to wavelength dependent bias variation in the Mach-Zehnder modulator. We also demonstrate concatenation of 30 wavelength interleaved time segments with high fidelity on the path to achieving continuous time operation.
Manipulating atomic velocities using diode lasers

We have used counterpropagating radiation from a diode laser to cool and stop a beam of cesium atoms. The laser frequency was chirped to keep it in resonance with the slowing atoms. The same laser was used to probe the resulting velocity distributions. We have cooled more than 1010 atoms/sec to a temperature of 1 K. This is an extremely simple and inexpensive way to manipulate atomic velocities and has a wide range of possible applications.
Ensemble Methods for Convex Regression with Applications to Geometric Programming Based Circuit Design

Convex regression is a promising area for bridging statistical estimation and deterministic convex optimization. New piecewise linear convex regression methods (Hannah and Dunson, 2011; Magnani and Boyd, 2009) are fast and scalable, but can have instability when used to approximate constraints or objective functions for optimization. Ensemble methods, like bagging, smearing and random partitioning, can alleviate this problem and maintain the theoretical properties of the underlying estimator. We empirically examine the performance of ensemble methods for prediction and optimization, and then apply them to device modeling and constraint approximation for geometric programming based circuit design.
Fear of pain, not pain catastrophizing, predicts acute pain intensity, but neither factor predicts tolerance or blood pressure reactivity: an experimental investigation in pain-free individuals.

Previous studies of the Fear-Avoidance Model of Exaggerated Pain Perception have commonly included patients with chronic low back pain, making it difficult to determine which psychological factors led to the development of an “exaggerated pain perception”. This study investigated the validity of the Fear-Avoidance Model of Exaggerated Pain Perception by considering the influence of fear of pain and pain catastrophizing on acute pain perception, after considering sex and anxiety. Thirty-two males and 34 females completed the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory, the Fear of Pain Questionnaire, and the Coping Strategies Questionnaire. Subjects underwent a cold pressor procedure and tolerance, pain intensity, and blood pressure reactivity were measured. Sex, anxiety, fear of pain, and pain catastrophizing were simultaneously entered into separate multiple regression models to predict different components of pain perception. Tolerance was not predicted by fear of pain, pain catastrophizing, or anxiety. Pain intensity at threshold and tolerance were significantly predicted by fear of pain, only. Blood pressure reactivity to pain was significantly predicted by anxiety, only. These results suggest that fear of pain may have a stronger influence on acute pain intensity when compared to pain catastrophizing, while neither of the factors predicted tolerance or blood pressure reactivity.
Supernovae and gamma-ray bursts: Relativistic plasma physics in the Einstein centennial

Supernovae and gamma-ray bursts are violent explosive events that require both the heritage of Einstein and complex plasma physics to understand. Core collapse supernovae raise issues of astrophysical dynamos and the dynamics of magnetic fields under exotic conditions to account for the ubiquitous asymmetries, frequently axisymmetric, that are observed. Gamma-ray bursts are extreme examples of this phenomenon involving flows with Lorentz factor of order 100 and again fundamental issues of plasma physics in the production of the flow and the acceleration of radiating particles to high velocities. Other types of explosions, those involving thermonuclear combustion in white dwarf stars, have been used to discover the acceleration of the Universe, once more invoking the spirit of Einstein to challenge physics at the deepest levels.
A probabilistic approach for maintaining trust based on evidence

Leading agent-based trust models address two important needs. First, they show how an agent may estimate the trustworthiness of another agent based on prior interactions. Second, they show how agents may share their knowledge in order to cooperatively assess the trustworthiness of others. However, in real-life settings, information relevant to trust is usually obtained piecemeal, not all at once. Unfortunately, the problem of maintaining trust has drawn little attention. Existing approaches handle trust updates in a heuristic, not a principled, manner. This paper builds on a formal model that considers probability and certainty as two dimensions of trust. It proposes a mechanism using which an agent can update the amount of trust it places in other agents on an ongoing basis. This paper shows via simulation that the proposed approach (a) provides accurate estimates of the trustworthiness of agents that change behavior frequently; and (b) captures the dynamic behavior of the agents. This paper includes an evaluation based on a real dataset drawn from Amazon Marketplace, a leading e-commerce site.
Profile sensing with an actuated whisker

Obstacle avoidance and object identification are important tasks for robots in unstructured environments. This paper develops an actuated whisker that determines contacted object profiles using a hub load cell. The shape calculation algorithm numerically integrates the elastica equations from the measured hub angle, displacement, forces, and torque until the bending moment vanishes, indicating the contact point. Sweeping the whisker across the object generates a locus of contact points that can be used for object identification. Experimental results demonstrate the ability to identify and differentiate square and curved objects at various orientations.
The Language of Discovery

Discovery, as a public attribution, and discovering, the act of conducting research, are experiences that entail “languaging” the unknown. This distinguishing property of language - its ability to bring forth, out of the unspoken realm, new knowledge, original ideas, and novel thinking – is essential to the discovery process. In sharing their ideas and views, scientists create co-negotiated linguistic distinctions that prompt the revision of established mental maps and the adoption of new ones. While scientific mastery entails command of the conversational domain unique to a specific discipline, there is an emerging conversational domain that must be mastered that goes beyond the language unique to any particular specialty. Mastery of this new conversational domain gives researchers access to their hidden mental maps that limit their ways of thinking about and doing science. The most effective scientists use language to recontextualize their approach to problem-solving, which triggers new insights (previously unavailable) that result in new discoveries. While language is not a replacement for intuition and other means of knowing, when we try to understand what’s outside of language we have to use language to do so.
Does successful investment in information technology solve the productivity paradox

Abstract Based on previous empirical research, there seems to be little relation between investment in information technology (IT) and financial performance (often referred to as the ‘productivity paradox’). We hypothesize that this is due to the fact that many companies implement IT projects ineffectively. Like any other asset, IT must be utilized effectively to result in increased financial performance. By comparing successful users of IT and less successful users of IT, we show that successful users of IT have superior financial performance relative to less successful users of IT. However, any financial performance advantage is short-lived, possibly due to the ability of competitors to copy IT projects.
Votes and Vetoes: The Political Determinants of Commercial Openness

Some theories of foreign economic policy stress the importance of domestic interest groups, whereas others focus on the effects of domestic institutions. Debates between advocates of these approaches are longstanding, but little systematic empirical research has been brought to bear on the relative merits of these theories. We argue that while interest group demands and institutions are often regarded as having independent and competing effects, it is more fruitful to view the influence of each type of factor as conditional on the other. As explanations emphasizing societal interests contend, deteriorating macroeconomic conditions are a potent source of protectionist sentiment. The extent to which such conditions reduce commercial openness, however, depends centrally on a country's political institutions, especially the number of veto points in a country's policy-making structure and its regime type. We expect the effects of macroeconomic conditions on trade policy to become weaker as the number of veto points increases. We also expect both veto points and the societal pressures stemming from the economy to have a more potent impact on trade policy in democracies than in other regimes. The results of our statistical tests covering almost 60 countries during the period from 1980 to 2000 strongly support these arguments.
Community factors in the development of antibiotic resistance.

AbstractThe global impact of antibiotic resistance is potentially devastating, threatening to set back progress against certain infectious diseases to the preantibiotic era. Although most antibiotic-resistant bacteria originally emerged in hospitals, drug-resistant strains are becoming more common in the community. Factors that facilitate the development of resistance within the community can be categorized as behavioral or environmental/policy. Behavioral factors include inappropriate use of antibiotics and ineffective infection control and hygiene practices. Environmental/policy factors include the continued use of antibiotics in agriculture and the lack of new drug development. A multifaceted approach that includes behavioral strategies in the community and the political will to make difficult regulatory decisions will help to minimize the problem of antimicrobial resistance globally.
Optimal Intertemporal Consumption under Uncertainty

Abstract We analyze the optimal consumption program of an infinitely lived consumer who maximizes the discounted sum of utilities subject to a sequence of budget constraints where both the interest rate and his income are stochastic. We show that if the income and interest rate processes are sufficiently stochastic and the long run average rate of interest is greater than or equal to the discount rate, then consumption eventually grows without bound with probability one. We also establish conditions under which the borrowing constraints must be binding and examine how the income process affects the optimal consumption program. Journal of Economic Literature Classification Number: D91.
Modulation transfer function of water

Particulate matter of the sizes, concentrations, and refractive indices found in situ renders the Optical Transfer Function of water a real quantity. Modulation Transfer Function (MTF) is measured in vitro by spatial filtering of the projected image of a slit in the Fourier Transform plane. Analysis is by Moire fringes with a smooth and continuous variation of spatial frequency (nominally 0-40,000 cycles/radian) obtained by counter-rotating Ronchi rulings. The analogue of convolution of impulse responses is tested as the cascadability in a scattering medium of true sinusoidal MTF's. Coulter Counter techniques are used to measure differential particulate count in 15 channels up to 100 \mu m. Experimental data for various ranges and particle distributions are compared to theoretical predictions based on volume scattering functions (VSF) obtained by Mie scattering calculations and the Fourier transform conversion relating MTF and VSF first obtained by Willard Wells. The equipment is being repackaged for in-situ measurements to accompany forthcoming flood-illuminated SEGAIP (SELF GATED IN-WATER PHOTOGRAPHY) trials.
Hill muscle model performance during natural activation and electrical stimulation

This study assessed the ability of the Hill model to predict muscle force for both electrically stimulated and naturally activated cat soleus muscle. Our results indicate that Hill model errors increase with increases in muscle velocity and decrease with increases in motor unit firing rates. For a given muscle velocity, errors were largest in for the range of firing frequencies most relevant for naturally activated muscle. During large muscle displacements, average Hill model errors often were greater than 100%.
Validity of electronic health record-derived quality measurement for performance monitoring.

Background Since 2007, New York City's primary care information project has assisted over 3000 providers to adopt and use a prevention-oriented electronic health record (EHR). Participating practices were taught to re-adjust their workflows to use the EHR built-in population health monitoring tools, including automated quality measures, patient registries and a clinical decision support system. Practices received a comprehensive suite of technical assistance, which included quality improvement, EHR customization and configuration, privacy and security training, and revenue cycle optimization. These services were aimed at helping providers understand how to use their EHR to track and improve the quality of care delivered to patients. Materials and Methods Retrospective electronic chart reviews of 4081 patient records across 57 practices were analyzed to determine the validity of EHR-derived quality measures and documented preventive services. Results Results from this study show that workflow and documentation habits have a profound impact on EHR-derived quality measures. Compared with the manual review of electronic charts, EHR-derived measures can undercount practice performance, with a disproportionately negative impact on the number of patients captured as receiving a clinical preventive service or meeting a recommended treatment goal. Conclusion This study provides a cautionary note in using EHR-derived measurement for public reporting of provider performance or use for payment.
An electrical conductivity relaxation study of oxygen transport in samarium doped ceria

The efficacy of the electrical conductivity relaxation (ECR) technique for investigating the oxygen transport properties of mixed conducting oxides has been evaluated. Fifteen mol% samarium doped ceria (SDC15), for which approximate values of the two principal transport properties, bulk oxygen diffusivity, DChem, and surface reaction rate constant, kS, can be found in the literature, was chosen as the benchmark material against which to validate the methodology. Measurements were carried out at temperatures between 750 and 850 °C and over a wide range of oxygen partial pressures. An unexpectedly high p-type electronic transference number enabled ECR measurements under oxidizing conditions. A systematic data analysis procedure was developed to permit reliable extraction of the kinetic parameters even in the general case of simultaneous bulk and surface limitation. The DChem from this study showed excellent qualitative and quantitative agreement with expected values, falling in the range from ∼2 × 10−5 to 2 × 10−4 cm2 s−1. The surface reaction constant under H2–H2O mixtures also showed good agreement with literature results. Remarkably, this value increased by a factor of 40 under mixtures of CO–CO2 or O2–Ar. This observation suggests kinetic advantages for production of CO rather than H2 in a two-step solar-driven thermochemical process based on samarium doped ceria.
Dissociation of perception and action in audiovisual multisensory integration

The 'temporal rule' of multisensory integration (MI) proposes that unisensory stimuli, and the neuronal responses they evoke, must fall within a window of integration. Ecological validity demands that MI should occur only for physically simultaneous events (which may give rise to non-simultaneous neural activations), and spurious neural response simultaneities unrelated to environmental multisensory occurrences must somehow be rejected. Two experiments investigated the requirements of simultaneity for facilitative MI. Experiment 1 employed an reaction time (RT)/race model paradigm to measure audiovisual (AV) MI as a function of AV stimulus-onset asynchrony (SOA) under fully dark adapted conditions for visual stimuli that were either rod- or cone-isolating. Auditory stimulus intensity was constant. Despite a 155-ms delay in mean RT to the scotopic vs. photopic stimulus, facilitative AV MI in both conditions occurred exclusively at an AV SOA of 0 ms. Thus, facilitative MI demands both physical and physiological simultaneity. Experiment 2 investigated the accuracy of simultaneity and temporal order judgements under the same stimulus conditions. Judgements of AV stimulus simultaneity or temporal order were significantly influenced by stimulus intensity, indicating different simultaneity requirements for these tasks. The possibility was considered that there are mechanisms by which the nervous system may take account of variations in response latency arising from changes in stimulus intensity in order to selectively integrate only those physiological simultaneities that arise from physical simultaneities. It was proposed that separate subsystems for AV MI exist that pertain to action and perception.
Integration of Business Event and Rule Management With the Web Services Model

Web services technology is emerging as a promising infrastructure to support loosely coupled, Internet-based applications that are distributed, heterogeneous and dynamic. It provides a standards-based, process-centric framework for achieving the sharing of distributed heterogeneous applications. While Web services technology provides a promising foundation for developing distributed applications for e-business, additional features are required to make this paradigm truly useful in the real world. In particular, interactions among business organizations need to follow the policies, regulations, security and other business rules of the organizations. An effective way to control, restrict and enforce business rules in the use of Web services is to integrate business event and rule management concepts and techniques into the Web services model. In this paper, we focus on incorporating the business event and rule-management concepts into the Web services model at the service provider side. Based on a code-generation approach, we have developed techniques and implemented tools to generate Web service â€œwrappersâ€ and other objects required to integrate an Event-Trigger-Rule (ETR) technology with the Web services technology.
Copper-Catalyzed Aerobic Oxidative C ? H Functionalizations: Trends and Mechanistic Insights

The selective oxidation of C-H bonds and the use of O(2) as a stoichiometric oxidant represent two prominent challenges in organic chemistry. Copper(II) is a versatile oxidant, capable of promoting a wide range of oxidative coupling reactions initiated by single-electron transfer (SET) from electron-rich organic molecules. Many of these reactions can be rendered catalytic in Cu by employing molecular oxygen as a stoichiometric oxidant to regenerate the active copper(II) catalyst. Meanwhile, numerous other recently reported Cu-catalyzed C-H oxidation reactions feature substrates that are electron-deficient or appear unlikely to undergo single-electron transfer to copper(II). In some of these cases, evidence has been obtained for the involvement of organocopper(III) intermediates in the reaction mechanism. Organometallic C-H oxidation reactions of this type represent important new opportunities for the field of Cu-catalyzed aerobic oxidations.
Fluorescence spectroscopy in cardiovascular disease Fundamental concepts and clinical applications.

Laser-induced fluorescence spectroscopy can distinguish atherosclerotic from normal arteries by their characteristic fluorescence spectra. The ability to perform remote spectroscopy through optical fibers can be incorporated into a "smart" laser angioplasty system. By detecting the presence of atherosclerosis, and by signaling completion of plaque ablation, fluorescence spectroscopy could guide selective laser ablation of atherosclerotic plaques. This guidance capability could result in safe and effective laser angioplasty systems.
The New Kaldor Facts: Ideas, Institutions, Population, and Human Capital

In 1961, Nicholas Kaldor used his list of six “stylized” facts both to summarize the patterns that economists had discovered in national income accounts and to shape the growth models that they were developing to explain them. Redoing this exercise today, nearly fifty years later, shows how much progress we have made. In contrast to Kaldor’s facts, which revolved around a single state variable, physical capital, our six updated facts force consideration of four far more interesting variables: ideas, institutions, population, and human capital. Dynamic models have uncovered subtle interactions between these variables and generated important insights about such big questions as: Why has growth accelerated? Why are there gains from trade?
In-plane thermally tuned silicon on insulator wavelength selective reflector

A wavelength selective reflector thermally tuned by semiconductor resistors placed in proximity to the microring elements is proposed as a mirror in a hybrid silicon tunable laser application. The Vernier effect is utilized to increase device free spectral range and decrease required temperature shifts.
Hydromythology and ethnohydrology in the New World.

From mythology, archeology, and chronicles of early explorers we can learn how early Americans viewed the cause and effect relations of hydrologic phenomena. Hopes and fears are the basis of religion, and it was through religion that water management was first practiced. Early people used their water resources to develop diverse civilizations in various parts of the western hemisphere. Not only was the rise of these earlier civilizations hydrologically influenced, but also the downfall of some was related to natural or man-made hydrological crises in which gods and mythology continued to play a role.
Debt-contingent inflation contracts and targets

Abstract This paper analyzes fiscal and monetary policy interaction in a simple policy game with debt and output shocks. Seigniorage provides revenue for the government but results in an inflation-bias. We analyze three mechanisms designed to eliminate some or all of the biases in monetary policy: an inflation performance contract, inflation target (both contingent on the stock of debt), and a zero-inflation rule. The performance contract and inflation target result in higher interest rate, remove all biases in monetary policy and achieve the pre-commitment policy, hence they are equivalent. The first two solutions also yield a higher expected welfare than a zero-inflation policy.
A New Method of Sternal Approximation

Abstract After sternotomy for a cardiac operation in adults, closure of the sternum is accomplished with five or six wire sutures with twisting of the wire ends. This method may not chieve rigid fixation of the sternum, and the bulky twisted wires may cause skin pain or actual perforation. We have developed a new method of approximating the split sides of the sternum using a new instrument, the Wolvek approximator. With this method rigid fixation is obtained and the ends of the wires are fixed by a small crimped metal plate. This method has been used clinically with success.
Recent Developments in the Factor Analysis of Categorical Variables

Despite known shortcomings of the procedure, exploratory factor analysis of dichotomous test items has been limited, until recently, to unweighted analyses of matrices of tetrachoric correlations. Superior methods have begun to appear in the literature, in professional symposia, and in computer programs. This paper places these developments in a unified framework, from a review of the classical common factor model for measured variables through generalized least squares and marginal maximum likelihood solutions for dichotomous data. Further extensions of the model are also reported as work in progress.
How Do Employers React to A Pay-or-Play Mandate? Early Evidence from San Francisco

Author(s): Colla, Carrie Hoverman; Dow, William H.; Dube, Arindrajit | Abstract: In 2006 San Francisco adopted major health reform, becoming the first city to implement a pay-or-play employer-health spending mandate. It also created Healthy San Francisco, a "public option" to promote affordable universal access to care. Using the 2008 Bay Area Employer Health Benefits Survey, we find that most employers (75%) had to increase health spending to comply with the law, yet most (64%) are supportive of the law. There is substantial employer demand for the public option, with 21% of firms using Healthy San Francisco for at least some employees, yet there is little evidence of firms dropping existing insurance offerings in the first year after implementation.
Block Share Purchases and Corporate Performance

This paper investigates the causes and consequences of activist block share purchases in the 1980s. We find that activist investors were most likely to purchase large blocks of shares in highly diversified firms with poor profitability. Activists were not less likely to purchase blocks in firms with shark repellents and employee stock ownership plans. Activist block purchases were followed by increases in asset divestitures, decreases in mergers and acquisitions, and abnormal share price appreciation. Industry-adjusted operating profitability also rose. This evidence supports the view that the market for partial corporate control plays an important role in limiting agency costs in U.S. corporations. IT IS NOW WELL UNDERSTOOD that the hostile takeovers and leveraged buyouts of the 1980s were typically followed by improvements in shareholder value and profitability. 1 Less well understood, but even more frequent, were attempts by activist minority investors to inf luence corporate policy and performance. By our count, 33 percent of the firms on the 1980 Fortune 500 list experienced an attempt by an activist minority investor to inf luence policy in the 1980s, whereas only 9 percent experienced a leveraged buyout and 8 percent experienced a hostile takeover. The decade of the 1990s has seen hostile takeover and leveraged buyout activity subside. Activist investors, however, continue their efforts to inf luence corporate policy. In recent years, activist investors such as Carl Icahn, Kirk Kerkorian, Bennett LeBow, and Bob Monks have purchased significant blocks of stock and have lobbied for
q gauge theory

We examine some issues that arise in the q deformation of a gauge theory. If the deformation is carried out by replacing the equal time commutators of free fields with the corresponding q commutators, the resulting propagators are not very much different from those of the undeformed theory as long as one is dealing with weak fields; but the theory still violates causality. If one postulates a q-deformed S matrix, the corresponding q causal commutator has two poles of different strength and the result again amounts to a deformation of the Lorentz group.
On tradeoffs between cross-ISP P2P traffic and P2P streaming performance

Peer-to-peer (P2P) technology greatly scales up traditional Internet streaming service. However, the philosophy that peers help one another distribute video content produces a large amount of cross-ISP P2P traffic. Newly proposed ISP-friendly P2P mechanisms reduce the cross-ISP P2P traffic by using locality-based peer selection mechanisms, in which the peers tend to connect to other peers in the same ISP domain. However, one unanswered question is how can we achieve the tradeoffs between the cross-ISP P2P traffic and the P2P streaming performance if there are conflicts between them. In this paper, we propose a rate allocation mechanism for achieving the tradeoffs between the cross-ISP P2P traffic and the P2P streaming performance. We model the tradeoffs as a multiobjective optimization problem and solve it using the Goal Attainment method. The evaluation result shows that our mechanism is able to achieve the tradeoffs between the conflicts and maintain good fairness among the peers and the streaming overlays.
Adaptive Mutations that Prevent Crosstalk Enable the Expansion of Paralogous Signaling Protein Families

SUMMARY Orthologous proteins often harbor numerous substitutions, but whether these differences result from neutral or adaptive processes is usually unclear. To tackle this challenge, we examined the divergent evolution of a model bacterial signaling pathway comprising the kinase PhoR and its cognate substrate PhoB. We show that the specificity-determining residues of these proteins are typically under purifying selection but have, in a-proteobacteria, undergone a burst of diversification followed by extended stasis. By reversing mutations that accumulated in an a-proteobacterial PhoR, we demonstrate that these substitutions were adaptive, enabling PhoR to avoid crosstalk with a paralogous pathway that arose specifically in a-proteobacteria. Our findings demonstrate that duplication and the subsequent need to avoid crosstalk strongly influence signaling protein evolution. These results provide a concrete example of how system-wide insulation can be achieved postduplication through a surprisingly limited number of mutations. Our work may help explain the apparent ease with which paralogous protein families expanded in all organisms.
ACHIEVABLE RANKS OF INTERSECTIONS OF FINITELY GENERATED FREE GROUPS

We answer a question due to A. Myasnikov by proving that all expected ranks occur as the ranks of intersections of finitely generated subgroups of free groups.
Can Carpooling Clear the Road and Clean the Air? Evidence from the Literature on the Impact of HOV Lanes on VMT and Air Pollution

Proponents of High Occupancy Vehicle (HOV) lanes claim the lanes reduce vehicle-trips by encouraging more people to carpool, but the evidence is mixed. This article reviews studies on the impacts of HOV lanes with a focus on behavioral models. This research makes a case for performance measures with direct welfare, congestion, or air pollution effects and focuses on papers that explicitly model carpool formation and allow for induced demand. Papers on individual regions find that HOV lanes may increase or decrease welfare, while more general papers find that the impact of HOV lanes depends on underlying parameters. The Clean Air Act assumes that HOV lanes reduce traffic volume and improve air quality and recommends HOV lanes to areas with poor air quality. This research finds there is no consensus on HOV lane impacts and, that using HOV lanes as a travel control measure may be misguided, but that further research is warranted.
Dynamic Financial Analysis

Dynamic financial analysis (DFA) is an approach used by organizations to model financial results of the entity under a variety of conditions. The modeling techniques embedded in DFA developed as advances in the computational power of business computers made running large numbers of complex simulations feasible. The models have gradually become more complex, more realistic, and more widely applicable. Companies, rating agencies, and regulators now routinely use DFA type models to evaluate the financial condition of an organization and assess operational changes. This article describes this approach, compares simulation with other financial planning methods, and provides the details of a publicly accessible DFA model that has been extensively used in research and education. DFA is most widely used by insurance companies and other financial institutions, but many nonfinancial firms utilize similar techniques. Keywords: financial planning; scenario testing; sensitivity analysis; financial modeling; term structure models; catastrophe models
Alone in the Crowd: The Structure and Spread of Loneliness in a Large Social Network

The discrepancy between an individual's loneliness and the number of connections in a social network is well documented, yet little is known about the placement of loneliness within, or the spread of loneliness through, social networks. The authors use network linkage data from the population-based Framingham Heart Study to trace the topography of loneliness in people's social networks and the path through which loneliness spreads through these networks. Results indicated that loneliness occurs in clusters, extends up to 3 degrees of separation, is disproportionately represented at the periphery of social networks, and spreads through a contagious process. The spread of loneliness was found to be stronger than the spread of perceived social connections, stronger for friends than family members, and stronger for women than for men. The results advance understanding of the broad social forces that drive loneliness and suggest that efforts to reduce loneliness in society may benefit by aggressively targeting the people in the periphery to help repair their social networks and to create a protective barrier against loneliness that can keep the whole network from unraveling.
Civil Conflict: Ended or Never Ending?

In many historical cases victory by a challenger for political dominance over an initially dominant group has ended civil consict. But, in other places victory by a challenger has provided only a temporary respite, a brief intermission before the resumption of civil consict. This paper uses a theoretical model of civil consict to identify the factors that determine whether civil consict is ended or never ending. This theory focuses on how the values that rival groups attach to political dominance relate to each other and to the technology of consict. These relations determine whether there is civil consict and, if there is civil consict, whether civil consict ends whenever the initial challenger group becomes politically dominant or whether civil consict is never ending. For example, we Þnd that for civil consict to be never ending the ratio of values attached to political dominance can be neither too large nor too small. The implications of the theory seem to be consistent with the evolution of twentieth-century civil consicts in the such diverse places as Russia, China, Iran, South Africa, the Balkans, Israel/Palestine, and many parts of central Africa.
A Nearly Linear-Time PTAS for Explicit Fractional Packing and Covering Linear Programs

We give an approximation algorithm for fractional packing and covering linear programs (linear programs with non-negative coefficients). Given a constraint matrix with n non-zeros, r rows, and c columns, the algorithm (with high probability) computes feasible primal and dual solutions whose costs are within a factor of 1+? of opt (the optimal cost) in time O((r+c)log(n)/? 2+n).
Optimizing frequency and pulse shape for ultrasound current source density imaging

Electric field mapping is commonly used to identify irregular conduction pathways in the heart (e.g., arrhythmia) and brain (e.g., epilepsy). Ultrasound current source density imaging (UCSDI), based on the acoustoelectric (AE) effect, is a promising new technique for mapping electrical current in four dimensions with enhanced resolution. The frequency and pulse shape of the ultrasound beam affect the sensitivity and spatial resolution of UCSDI. In this study, we explore the effects of ultrasound transducer frequency bandwidth and coded excitation pulses for UCSDI and the inherent tradeoff between sensitivity and spatial resolution. We used both simulations and bench-top experiments to image a time-varying electrical dipole in 0.9% NaCl solution. To study the effects of ultrasound bandwidth, we chose two ultrasound transducers with different center frequencies (1.0 and 2.25 MHz). For coded excitation, we measured the AE voltage signal with different chirp excitations. As expected, higher bandwidth correlated with improved spatial resolution at the cost of sensitivity. On the other hand, chirp excitation significantly improved sensitivity (3.5 μV/mA) compared with conventional square pulse excitation (1.6 μV/mA) at 1 MHz. Pulse compression achieved spatial resolution similar to that obtained using square pulse excitation, demonstrating enhanced detection sensitivity without loss of resolution. Optimization of the time duration of the chirp pulse and frequency sweep rate can be further used to improve the quality of UCSDI.
Secure composition of cryptographic protocols

General positive results for secure computation were obtained more than two decades ago. These results were for the setting where each protocol execution is done in isolation. With the proliferation of the network setting (and especially the internet), an ambitious effort to generalize these results and obtain concurrently secure protocols was started. However it was soon shown that designing secure protocols in the concurrent setting is unfortunately impossible in general. In this talk, we will first describe the so called chosen protocol attack. This is an explicit attack which establishes general impossibility of designing secure protocols in the concurrent setting. The negative results hold for the so called plain model where there is no trusted party, no honest majority, etc.
An Ozsvath-Szabo Floer homology invariant of knots in a contact manifold ⋆

Abstract Using the knot Floer homology filtration, we define invariants associated to a knot in a three-manifold possessing non-vanishing Floer co(homology) classes. In the case of the Ozsvath–Szabo contact invariant we obtain an invariant of knots in a contact three-manifold. This invariant provides an upper bound for the Thurston–Bennequin plus rotation number of any Legendrian realization of the knot. We use it to demonstrate the first systematic construction of prime knots in contact manifolds other than S 3 with negative maximal Thurston–Bennequin invariant. Perhaps more interesting, our invariant provides a criterion for an open book to induce a tight contact structure. A corollary is that if a manifold possesses contact structures with distinct non-vanishing Ozsvath–Szabo invariants, then any fibered knot can realize the classical Eliashberg–Bennequin bound in at most one of these contact structures.
An evaluation of generalized likelihood ratio outlier detection to identification of seismic events in western China

The generalized likelihood ratio outlier detection technique for seismic event identification is evaluated using synthetic test data and frequency-dependent Pg/Lg measurements from western China. For most seismic stations that are to be part of the proposed International Monitoring System (IMS) for the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT), there will be few or no nuclear explosions in the magnitude range of interest (e.g., mb < 4) on which to base an event-identification system using traditional classification techniques. Outlier detection is a reasonable alternative approach to the seismic discrimination problem when no calibration explosions are available. Distance-corrected Pg/Lg data in seven different frequency bands ranging from 0.5 to 8 Hz from the Chinese Digital Seismic Station WMQ are used to evaluate the technique. The data are collected from 157 known earthquakes, 215 unknown events (presumed earthquakes and possibly some industrial explosions), and 18 known nuclear explosions (1 from the Chinese Lop Nor test site and 17 from the East Kazakh test site). A feature selection technique is used to find the best combination of discriminants to use for outlier detection. Good discrimination performance is found by combining a low-frequency (0.5 to 1 Hz) Pg/Lg ratio with high-frequency ratios (e.g., 2 to 4 and 4 to 8 Hz). Although the low-frequency ratio does not discriminate between earthquakes and nuclear explosions well by itself, it can be effectively combined with the high-frequency discriminants. Based on the tests with real and synthetic data, the outlier detection technique appears to be an effective approach to seismic monitoring in uncalibrated regions.
ON ENUMERATING AND SELECTING DISTANCES

Given an n-point set, the problems of enumerating the k closest pairs and selecting the k-th smallest distance are revisited. For the enumeration problem, we give simpler randomized and determinist...
Internal Relative Price Stationarity in Long-Run Purchasing Power Parity

This study demonstrates that the joint relationship among domestic traded-goods prices, dometic nontraded-goods prices, foreign traded-goods prices, and foreign nontraded-goods prices is important to understanding rejections or confirmations of long-run PPP. This joint relationship is defined as the “cross-country internal relative price structure.” For nine of the ten pairs of countries studied, the cross-country internal relative price structure is found to be stationary; thus, factors other than the influence of nontraded-goods prices must be responsible for the rejections of long-run PPP.
B. F. Skinner’S Radical Behaviorism: Historical Misconstructions and Grounds for Feminist Reconstructions

Feminist critiques of traditional psychological approaches have generated thorough feminist revisions most notably in psychoanalytic and developmental theory. Although behaviorism has attracted strong objections from feminist critics, claims of its antithetical positioning vis-A¥-vis feminist theory construction have practically remained unchallenged. A preliminary step in formulating grounds for a synthesis is to clarify the multiple meanings of behaviorism. Specifically, the fusion of Watson’ s methodological behaviorism and Skinner’ s radical behaviorism in the literature must be disentangled in order to address the latter’ s potential as a conceptual framework for constructing feminist theory. Key conceptual features of radical behaviorism that suggest its potential as a vehicle for building a feminist epistemology include: radical behaviorism’ s contextualistic world view, its interpretation of agency, its treatment of private experience and self knowledge, and its understanding of the pivotal functions of the verbal community.
Velocity selection in 3D dendrites: Phase field computations and microgravity experiments

Abstract The growth of a single needle of succinonitrile (SCN) is studied in three-dimensional (3D) space by using a phase field model. For realistic physical parameters, namely, the large differences in the length scales, i.e., the capillarity length ( 10 - 8 – 10 - 6 cm ), the radius of the curvature at the tip of the interface ( 10 - 3 – 10 - 2 cm ) and the diffusion length ( 10 - 3 – 10 - 1 cm ), resolution of the large differences in length scale necessitates a 500 3 grid on the supercomputer. The parameters, initial and boundary conditions used are identical to those of the microgravity experiments of Glicksman et al. for SCN. The numerical results for the tip velocity are (i) largely consistent with the Space Shuttle experiments, (ii) compatible with the experimental conclusion that tip velocity does not increase with increased anisotropy, (iii) different for 2D versus 3D by a factor of approximately 1.9 , (iv) essentially identical for fully versus rotationally symmetric 3D.
On-line optimization for a flow control strategy

We consider the problem of optimizing a threshold-dependent flow control strategy by using state information available on-line. It is assumed that a sample realization of a queueing system using this strategy is available, for which the threshold parameter is fixed. In contrast to earlier work, perturbation analysis in this case requires tracking queue lengths in addition to event times, in order to obtain performance sensitivity estimates. In this note we formally derive perturbation equations and describe their algorithmic implementation, which requires partial state memory in the form of arrival time information. Because this may impose serious storage limitations (unless the arrival process is deterministic), a capacity constraint is imposed. The effect of this constraint on our approach is finally investigated and experimental results are included.
Processes of Migration in Latin America and the Caribbean (1950-2008)

The main characteristic of the Latin American migration on the 20th century was the change of flow. Until the 1950s, Latin America received migrants from Europe and the Middle East. As a result of economic change, political instability, and economic crisis, Latin America started exporting migrant workers. Now, Latin American migrants mainly go to the U.S., and in less extend to Europe (i.e. Spain, Italy, and Portugal), and in some cases to Japan as it is the case of Peru and Brazil. Several migrant patterns follow this process, which is characteristic to the massive emigration at the dawn of the 21st century.
Existence of Saddle Points in Discrete Markov Games and Its Application in Numerical Methods for Stochastic Differential Games

This work establishes sufficient conditions for existence of saddle points in discrete Markov games. The result reveals the relation between dynamic games and static games using dynamic programming equations. This result enables us to prove existence of saddle points of non-separable stochastic differential games of regime-switching diffusions under appropriate conditions.
The Rising Strength of Management, High Unemployment and Slow Growth: Revisiting Okun’s Law

Why is economic growth so slow and why are we having jobless recoveries? I address these questions here by revisiting Okun’s Law, focusing not just on its cyclical component but also upon its implied estimates of trend growth. Some observers argue that the rising strength of management (falling strength of labor) since the 1980s has led to a more volatile labor market and therefore to the decay of Okun’s Law. Using cross-state data since 1964 I examine whether Okun’s Law has changed in response to the decline of unionism. I find that the cyclical component of Okun’s Law does not need revision and that the trend growth component has declined moderately.