cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Must Historians Regress? An Answer to Lee Benson

In a recent symposium published in Historical Methods, Lee Beneon, once a forceful proponent of more systematic methods and models in history, announced that it had all been a mistake. Applied to human affairs, Occam's Razor merely result a in useless carnage. Women are too complex and contradictory to fit in to any simple theories, much less laws, and any attempt to formulate or test any such statements merely misleads. To redeem social science and save the world, we should abandon the attempt to postulate abstract, value-free, and often mathematicized hypotheses and to validate them through the use of sophisticated statistical techniques. Instead, we should return to a Marxism cleansed of the notion of class conflict, and to a combination of easy arithmetic methods that everyone can understand and careful analysis of qualitative data. In his 1961 Concept of Jacksonian Democracy, Benson now claims, he was wrong to adopt the ideas of voting cycles from economics, because the polity is more complicated than the economy, and to pretend that he had arrived at this conclusions on the basis of "hard" data, when he had used a mixture of qualitative and quantitative information. That historians have been wrong to adopt regression analysis to relate aggregate voting to socioeconomic indices he attempts to demonstrate by commenting on one table from my Shaping of Southern Politics. None of Benson's contention s except his mea culpa will stand up to rigorous examination. His conception of science is distorted, the economy is more complex than he imagines, and an extensive analysis of his scattershot critique of my table and of regression analysis reveals that he is wrong in every p articular. His charges of scholarly irresponsibility collapse when set against his own practice. Indeed, it seems possible that he found no evidence of a class basis for political divisions in Concept because he used a poor measure of it and performed no systematic multivariate tests. Benson's general anti-scientific stance would force historians and social scientists to abjure the use of powerful methods and theories, would make generalizations and the replication of results impossible, and would cause history needlessly to regress to a pre-scientific stage. The fallacy has not been in our mistransference of scientific modes of thought and analysis, but in his own misunderstanding, misconceptions, and mistaken arguments.
An Efficient Multi-carrier Resource Allocation with User Discrimination Framework for 5G Wireless Systems

In this paper, we present an efficient resource allocation with user discrimination framework for 5G Wireless Systems to allocate multiple carriers resources among users with elastic and inelastic traffic. Each application running on the user equipment (UE) is assigned an application utility function. In the proposed model, different classes of user groups are considered and users are partitioned into different groups based on the carriers coverage area. Each user has a minimum required application rate based on its class and the type of its application. Our objective is to allocate multiple carriers resources optimally among users, that belong to different classes, located within the carriers’ coverage area. We use a utility proportional fairness approach in the utility percentage of the application running on the UE. Each user is guaranteed a minimum quality of service with a priority criterion that is based on user’s class and the type of application running on the UE. In addition, we prove the existence of optimal solutions for the proposed resource allocation optimization problem and present a multi-carrier resource allocation with user discrimination algorithm. Finally, we present simulation results for the performance of the proposed algorithm.
FERMI-LAT OBSERVATIONS OF SUPERNOVA REMNANTS INTERACTING WITH MOLECULAR CLOUDS: W41, MSH 17-39, AND G337.7-0.1

We report the detection of γ-ray emission coincident with three supernova remnants (SNRs) using data from the Large Area Telescope on board the Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope. W41, G337.7-0.1, and MSH 17-39 are SNRs known to be interacting with molecular clouds, as evidenced by observations of hydroxyl (OH) maser emission at 1720 MHz in their directions and other observational information. SNR shocks are expected to be sites of cosmic-ray acceleration, and clouds of dense material can provide effective targets for production of γ-rays from π0-decay. The observations reveal unresolved sources in the direction of G337.7-0.1 and MSH 17-39 and an extended source coincident with W41. We model their broadband emission (radio to γ-ray) using a simple one-zone model, and after considering scenarios in which the MeV-TeV sources originate from either π0-decay or leptonic emission, we conclude that the γ-rays are most likely produced through the hadronic channel.
Quadrupole-induced resonant-particle transport in a pure electron plasma.

Small transverse magnetic quadrupole fields sharply degrade the confinement of non-neutral plasmas held in Malmberg-Penning traps. For example, a quadrupole magnetic field of only $0.02\text{ }\mathrm{G}/\mathrm{c}\mathrm{m}$ doubles the diffusion rate in a trap with a 100 G axial magnetic field. Larger quadrupole fields noticeably change the shape of the plasma. The transport is greatest at an orbital resonance. These results cast doubt on plans to use magnetic quadrupole neutral atom traps to confine antihydrogen atoms created in double-well positron/antiproton Malmberg-Penning traps.
Quantal Response Equilibria for Normal Form Games

We investigate the use of standard statistical models for quantal choice in a game theoretic setting. Players choose strategies based on relative expected utility and assume other players do so as well. We define a quantal response equilibrium (ORE) as a fixed point of this process and establish existence. For a logit specification of the error structure, we show that as the error goes to zero, QRE approaches a subset of Nash equilibria and also implies a unique selection from the set of Nash equilibria in generic games. We fit the model to a variety of experimental data sets by using maximum likelihood estimation. Journal of Economic Literature Classification Numbers: C19, C44, C72, C92.
Precision of Market-Generated Information in Economies with Coordination Motives

a class of economies where firms display coordination motives in presence of dispersed information and where the outcome of the coordination is traded in a competitive asset market Â´a-la Grossman and Stiglitz (1980). We show that when more private information is injected in the coordination economy the equilibrium asset price becomes less informative. To showcase the relevance of our result we present an application to a problem of endogenous information choice where the "Knowing What Others Know" property of information acquisition derived by Hellwig and Veldkamp (2009) breaks down in presence of market-generated information.
Mechanistic Considerations for Enhancing Flow Boiling Heat Transfer in Microchannels

Research efforts on flow boiling in microchannels were focused on stabilizing the flow during the early part of the last decade. After achieving that goal through inlet restrictors and distributed nucleation sites, the focus has now shifted on improving its performance for high heat flux dissipation. The recent worldwide efforts described in this paper are aimed at increasing the critical heat flux (CHF) and reducing the pressure drop, with an implicit goal of dissipating 1 kW/cm2 for meeting the high-end target in electronics cooling application. The underlying mechanisms in these studies are identified and critically evaluated for their potential in meeting the high heat flux dissipation goals. Future need to simultaneously increase the CHF and the heat transfer coefficient (HTC) has been identified and hierarchical integration of nanoscale and microscale technologies is deemed necessary for developing integrated pathways toward meeting this objective.
Inside China's Automobile Factories

In Inside China's Automobile Factories, Lu Zhang explores the current conditions, subjectivity, and collective actions of autoworkers in the world's largest and fastest-growing automobile manufacturing nation. Based on years of fieldwork and extensive interviews conducted at seven large auto factories in various regions of China, Zhang provides an inside look at the daily factory life of autoworkers and a deeper understanding of the roots of rising labor unrest in the auto industry. Combining original empirical data and sophisticated analysis that moves from the shop floor to national political economy and global industry dynamics, the book develops a multilayered framework for understanding how labor relations in the auto industry and broader social economy can be expected to develop in China in the coming decades.
The Effect of Personal Economic Values on Economic Policy Preferences

Objectives Citizens often express that the government should be run like a business or household in the way that money is saved and spent, though individuals vary in their personal financial preferences and attitudes toward money. To explore the relationship between the personal and political, we draw upon research in psychology, economics, and consumer science on personal economic values, such as materialism and the importance of saving money. Methods Using a survey of 340 adults, we test connections between political ideology, the Big Five personality traits, and money conservation and material values. Results Our data suggest that values regarding personal money conservation are unrelated to economic policy attitudes like welfare spending and wealth redistribution, but the value individuals place on material items is predictive of these political preferences. Conclusion By showing the political significance of personal (and nonpolitical) materialism values, we contribute to a rapidly growing literature showing that political attitudes and behaviors are best understood in the context of the larger social world.
Prior investment outcomes and stock investment in defined contribution plans

ABSTRACTIn this study, we employ the 2001–2013 Survey of Consumer Finances to examine how prior investment outcomes affect portfolio allocation in defined contribution (DC) plans. Results show that investors with prior gains are more likely to invest all DC plan assets in stocks. Factors such as risk tolerance and investment horizon positively affect investors’ tendency to allocate all DC assets to stocks. These findings have important implications for investors, researchers and financial professionals.
MOON: A Mixed Objective Optimization Network for the Recognition of Facial Attributes

Attribute recognition, particularly facial, extracts many labels for each image. While some multi-task vision problems can be decomposed into separate tasks and stages, e.g., training independent models for each task, for a growing set of problems joint optimization across all tasks has been shown to improve performance. We show that for deep convolutional neural network (DCNN) facial attribute extraction, multi-task optimization is better. Unfortunately, it can be difficult to apply joint optimization to DCNNs when training data is imbalanced, and re-balancing multi-label data directly is structurally infeasible, since adding/removing data to balance one label will change the sampling of the other labels. This paper addresses the multi-label imbalance problem by introducing a novel mixed objective optimization network (MOON) with a loss function that mixes multiple task objectives with domain adaptive re-weighting of propagated loss. Experiments demonstrate that not only does MOON advance the state of the art in facial attribute recognition, but it also outperforms independently trained DCNNs using the same data. When using facial attributes for the LFW face recognition task, we show that our balanced (domain adapted) network outperforms the unbalanced trained network.
Defective graphene as a high-capacity anode material for Na- and Ca-ion batteries

Because of their abundance, sodium and calcium can be attractive in ion batteries for large-scale grid storage. However, many of the anode materials being pursued have limitations including volume expansion, lack of passivating films, and slow kinetics. Here, we investigate the adsorption of Na and Ca on graphene with divacancy and Stone–Wales defects in graphene. Our results show that although adsorption of Na and Ca is not possible on pristine graphene, enhanced adsorption is observed on defective graphene because of increased charge transfer between the adatoms and defects. We find that the capacity of graphene increases with the density of the defects. For the maximum possible divacancy defect densities, capacities of 1450 and 2900 mAh/g for Na- and Ca-ion batteries, respectively, can be achieved. For Stone–Wales defects, we find maximum capacities of 1071 and 2142 mAh/g for Na and Ca, respectively. Our results provide guidelines to create better high-capacity anode materials for Na- and Ca-ion batteries.
Crystallization and the Relaxation of Stress in Stretched Unvulcanized Natural Rubber

Abstract The first observation made in this laboratory in 1946 on the effect of crystallization on stress decay at constant extension was made on a vulcanized Neoprene GN gum stock. It was found that this rubber showed only slight stress decay after 100 hours at 35° C and 50 per cent extension. However, a complete decay of stress to zero stress was observed after only 50 hours at 0° C and 50 per cent extension. Furthermore, the sample after reaching zero stress began to increase in length (spontaneous elongation). This phenomenon was attributed to crystallization. Observations of spontaneous elongation, but no stress decay measurements, were previously reported for vulcanized and unvulcanized natural rubber and for vulcanized and unvulcanized ether polysulfide rubber. It was decided to make a careful study of the effect of temperature and elongation on the stress-decay curves of unvulcanized rubber (cast latex sheet) in the temperature region of crystallization. Some time after these studies were complete...
Metal-Free Arylation of Ethyl Acetoacetate with Hypervalent Diaryliodonium Salts: An Immediate Access to Diverse 3-Aryl-4(1H)-Quinolones

A clean arylation protocol of ethyl acetoacetate was developed using hypervalent diaryliodonium salts under mild and metal-free conditions. The scope of the reaction, using symmetric and unsymmetric iodonium salts with varying sterics and electronics, was examined. Further, this method has been applied for the synthesis of antimalarial compound ELQ-300, which is currently in preclinical development.
Insertion of Reactive Rhodium Carbenes into Boron–Hydrogen Bonds of Stable N-Heterocyclic Carbene Boranes

Readily available rhodium(II) salts catalyze reactions between NHC-boranes (NHC-BH3) and diazocarbonyl compounds (N2CRCOR′). Stable α-NHC-boryl carbonyl compounds (NHC-BH2–CHRCOR′) are isolated in good yields. The reaction is a reliable way to make boron–carbon bonds with good tolerance for variation in both the NHC-borane and diazocarbonyl components. It presumably occurs by insertion of a transient rhodium carbene into a boron–hydrogen bond of the NHC-borane. Competitive experiments show that a typical NHC-borane is highly reactive toward rhodium carbenes.
Novel aerobic oxidation of primary sulfones to carboxylic acids.

Primary alkyl aryl sulfones are converted to the corresponding carboxylic acids in fair to excellent yield through double deprotonation and exposure to atmospheric oxygen. The methodology allows for the convenient synthesis of 13C labeled carboxylic acids.
Synthesis of (-)-pseudotabersonine, (-)-pseudovincadifformine, and (+)-coronaridine enabled by photoredox catalysis in flow.

Natural product modification with photoredox catalysis allows for mild, chemoselective access to a wide array of related structures in complex areas of chemical space, providing the possibility for novel structural motifs as well as useful quantities of less abundant congeners. While amine additives have been used extensively as stoichiometric electron donors for photocatalysis, the controlled modification of amine substrates through single-electron oxidation is ideal for the synthesis and modification of alkaloids. Here, we report the conversion of the amine (+)-catharanthine into the natural products (−)-pseudotabersonine, (−)-pseudovincadifformine, and (+)-coronaridine utilizing visible light photoredox catalysis.
Gas phase uranyl activation: formation of a uranium nitrosyl complex from uranyl azide.

Activation of the oxo bond of uranyl, UO22+, was achieved by collision induced dissociation (CID) of UO2(N3)Cl2– in a quadrupole ion trap mass spectrometer. The gas phase complex UO2(N3)Cl2– was produced by electrospray ionization of solutions of UO2Cl2 and NaN3. CID of UO2(N3)Cl2– resulted in the loss of N2 to form UO(NO)Cl2–, in which the “inert” uranyl oxo bond has been activated. Formation of UO2Cl2– via N3 loss was also observed. Density functional theory computations predict that the UO(NO)Cl2– complex has nonplanar Cs symmetry and a singlet ground state. Analysis of the bonding of the UO(NO)Cl2– complex shows that the side-on bonded NO moiety can be considered as NO3–, suggesting a formal oxidation state of U(VI). Activation of the uranyl oxo bond in UO2(N3)Cl2– to form UO(NO)Cl2– and N2 was computed to be endothermic by 169 kJ/mol, which is energetically more favorable than formation of NUOCl2– and UO2Cl2–. The observation of UO2Cl2– during CID is most likely due to the absence of an energy barrie...
The pentadehydro-Diels–Alder reaction

In the classic Diels-Alder [4 + 2] cycloaddition reaction, the overall degree of unsaturation (or oxidation state) of the 4π (diene) and 2π (dienophile) pairs of reactants dictates the oxidation state of the newly formed six-membered carbocycle. For example, in the classic Diels-Alder reaction, butadiene and ethylene combine to produce cyclohexene. More recent developments include variants in which the number of hydrogen atoms in the reactant pair and in the resulting product is reduced by, for example, four in the tetradehydro-Diels-Alder (TDDA) and by six in the hexadehydro-Diels-Alder (HDDA) reactions. Any oxidation state higher than tetradehydro (that is, lacking more than four hydrogens) leads to the production of a reactive intermediate that is more highly oxidized than benzene. This increases the power of the overall process substantially, because trapping of the reactive intermediate can be used to increase the structural complexity of the final product in a controllable and versatile manner. Here we report an unprecedented overall 4π + 2π cycloaddition reaction that generates a different, highly reactive intermediate known as an α,3-dehydrotoluene. This species is in the same oxidation state as a benzyne. Like benzynes, α,3-dehydrotoluenes can be captured by various trapping agents to produce structurally diverse products that are complementary to those arising from the HDDA process. We call this new cycloisomerization process a pentadehydro-Diels-Alder (PDDA) reaction-a nomenclature chosen for chemical taxonomic reasons rather than mechanistic ones. In addition to alkynes, nitriles (RC≡N), although non-participants in aza-HDDA reactions, readily function as the 2π component in PDDA cyclizations to produce, via trapping of the α,3-(5-aza)dehydrotoluene intermediates, pyridine-containing products.
Variation in Cup Orientation Using Conventional Cup Alignment Techniques as Measured by CT

Introduction Cup malposition in hip arthroplasty and hip resurfacing is associated with instability, accelerated wear, and the need for revision. The current study similarly assesses the variation in cup position using conventional techniques as measured by CT. Methods We have performed CT-based navigation of hip arthroplasty and revision arthroplasty on a routine basis since 2003 and also use CT imaging to quantify periprosthetic osteolysis. In our image database, we have identified 91 hips in 87 patients (51 female, 36 male) who had a previously conventionally-placed cup on CT imaging. For each hip, cup orientation was determined in operative anteversion and operative inclination (according to the definitions of Murray) using an application specific software application (HipSextant Research Application 1.0.7, Surgical Planning Associates Inc., Boston, Massachusetts). This application allows for determination of the Anterior Pelvic Plane coordinates from a 3D surface model. A multiplanar reconstruction module allows for creation of a plane parallel with the opening plane of the acetabulum and subsequent calculation of plane orientation in the AP Plane coordinate space. Results The conventionally placed cups ranged from −7.2° to 57.5° in operative anteversion (mean = 30.2°, SD = 11.6°) and 18.4° to 68.1° in operative inclination (mean = 37.6, SD = 8.2°). If a safe zone goal of 27 degrees of operative anteversion (± 10°) and 42 degrees of operative inclination (± 10°) is assumed, 29.7% of hips are out of the safe zone of operative anteversion, and 25.3% of hips are out of the safe zone of operative inclination. 45.1% of all hips are out of the safe zone in either operative anteversion, operative inclination, or both. If a goal of 20° of operative anteversion (± 10°) and 45° of operative inclination (± 10°) is assumed, 55.0% of hips are out of the safe zone in operative anteversion, 44.0% of hips are out of the safe zone in operative inclination, and 70.3% of hips are out of one or both safe zones. Discussion Most conventionally placed acetabular components are malpositioned and the current study confirms prior reports of the incidence of cup malposition as measure both by CT and plain radiographs. It is curious that most experienced surgeons who perform total hip arthroplasty using conventional methods of cup alignment believe that their accuracy quite good. Yet, multiple objective studies of cup alignment demonstrate that accuracy is quite poor. Since cup malposition is so closely associated with instability, impingement, wear, bearing fracture, osteolysis and loosening, questions remain as to how conventional methods of cup alignment remain an acceptable standard of care in our field.
Single crystal growth and characterization of NaxLn1−xMoO4, Ln=La, Ce, Pr, Nd, Sm, and Eu (x=0.397–0.499)

Abstract Single crystals of La0.516(3)Na0.484(3)MoO4, Ce0.512(2)Na0.488(2)MoO4, Pr0.502(2)Na0.498(2)MoO4, Nd0.501(2)Na0.499(2)MoO4, Sm0.509(2)Na0.491(2)MoO4, and Eu0.603(2)Na0.397(2)MoO4 were grown for the first time out of an alkali metal halide eutectic flux. All compounds crystallize in the tetragonal space group I41/a. UV/Vis measurements show the presence of an absorption edge for all compounds except Eu0.603(2)Na0.397(2)MoO4. The temperature dependence of the magnetic susceptibility was measured for all compounds and found to be paramagnetic across the entire 2–300 K temperature range measured.
TensorFlow: a system for large-scale machine learning

TensorFlow is a machine learning system that operates at large scale and in heterogeneous environments. Tensor-Flow uses dataflow graphs to represent computation, shared state, and the operations that mutate that state. It maps the nodes of a dataflow graph across many machines in a cluster, and within a machine across multiple computational devices, including multicore CPUs, general-purpose GPUs, and custom-designed ASICs known as Tensor Processing Units (TPUs). This architecture gives flexibility to the application developer: whereas in previous "parameter server" designs the management of shared state is built into the system, TensorFlow enables developers to experiment with novel optimizations and training algorithms. TensorFlow supports a variety of applications, with a focus on training and inference on deep neural networks. Several Google services use TensorFlow in production, we have released it as an open-source project, and it has become widely used for machine learning research. In this paper, we describe the TensorFlow dataflow model and demonstrate the compelling performance that TensorFlow achieves for several real-world applications.
Wound Healing and Aging

From these observations and others not described in the article, it is clear that there are age-dependent differences in wound healing. Classically, observers have divided the response to injury into three large phases: inflammatory, proliferative, and remodeling. As indicated elsewhere in this volume, the inflammatory response is decreased with age, and undoubtedly this bears on some of the alterations in healing. The proliferative phase traditionally includes cell migration, proliferation, and maturation, all of which are changed with age. Remodeling encompasses the tertiary binding of collagen molecules, which is also altered with age. Although all of these stages of wound healing differ with age, the changes are qualitative. Events begin later, proceed more slowly, and often do not reach the same level. However, there are neither new events nor an absence of expected events. This is clearly evident by the ease with which the most radical elective surgical wounds heal in the elderly patient. The ability of the aged to heal so well illustrates, therefore, not that their healing processes are equal to those of the young, but rather that our healing capacity is far in excess of what is needed.
Examining the Correlates of Sex Offender Residence Restriction Violation Rates

This research examines the contribution of social ecological factors to the variation in sex offender residence restriction (SORR) violation rates, operationalized as a sex offender residing within a buffer zone around a school or a day care. Drawing on data from two Midwestern states, we utilize a quasi-experimental cohort-control group design to examine the correlates of county-level SORR violation rates among a cohort of post-SORR sex offender parolees, and three counterfactual cohorts (pre-SORR sex offenders, pre- and post-SORR non-sex offender parolees). We model the violation rate using a series of fractional logit regressions, examining the contribution of housing market, environmental justice, and system resource variables. We observe that county-level variation in post-SORR sex offender violation rates is directly associated with concentrated disadvantage and the density of residence restrictions. The direct effect of concentrated disadvantage was unique to the post-SORR sex offender cohort. Model predictions suggest that the relationship between SORR density and concentrated disadvantage varies across the study states. The results suggest that factors found to be associated with sex offender clustering (i.e., housing market characteristics) are not associated with SORR violation rates. Instead, this research suggests a model which allows for the simultaneous influence of environmental justice and system resource effects. Future research on the mechanisms underlying these effects is warranted.
Alcohol drinking increases the dopamine-stimulating effects of ethanol and reduces D2 auto-receptor and group II metabotropic glutamate receptor function within the posterior ventral tegmental area of alcohol preferring (P) rats.

Repeated local administration of ethanol (EtOH) sensitized the posterior ventral tegmental area (pVTA) to the local dopamine (DA)-stimulating effects of EtOH. Chronic alcohol drinking increased nucleus accumbens (NAC) DA transmission and pVTA glutamate transmission in alcohol-preferring (P) rats. The objectives of the present study were to determine the effects of chronic alcohol drinking by P rats on the (a) sensitivity and response of the pVTA DA neurons to the DA-stimulating actions of EtOH, and (b) negative feedback control of DA (via D2 auto-receptors) and glutamate (via group II mGlu auto-receptors) release in the pVTA. EtOH (50 or 150 mg%) or the D2/3 receptor antagonist sulpiride (100 or 200 μM) was microinjected into the pVTA while DA was sampled with microdialysis in the NAC shell (NACsh). The mGluR2/3 antagonist LY341495 (1 or 10 μM) was perfused through the pVTA via reverse microdialysis and local extracellular glutamate and DA levels were measured. EtOH produced a more robust increase of NACsh DA in the 'EtOH' than 'Water' groups (e.g., 150 mg% EtOH: to ∼ 210 vs 150% of baseline). In contrast, sulpiride increased DA release in the NACsh more in the 'Water' than 'EtOH' groups (e.g., 200 μM sulpiride: to ∼ 190-240 vs 150-160% of baseline). LY341495 (at 10 μM) increased extracellular glutamate and DA levels in the 'Water' (to ∼ 150-180% and 180-230% of baseline, respectively) but not the 'EtOH' groups. These results indicate that alcohol drinking enhanced the DA-stimulating effects of EtOH, and attenuated the functional activities of D2 auto-receptors and group II mGluRs within the pVTA.
Disparity Between Fusion Center Web Content and Self-Reported Activity

The fusion center literature is limited and lacks consensus regarding operational focus and strategic priorities. Perhaps the lone consistent finding in this literature is the lack of awareness amo...
How is she?: information and the surgical waiting lounge

This paper describes an exploratory ethnographic study of the information-seeking behavior of visitors in the Surgical Waiting Lounge at the UCSF Medical Center at Mount Zion in December 2013. A model of information practice is examined in relation to existing information-seeking behavior theories, frameworks, and approaches. The finding that visitors' information poverty and inhibited information-seeking behavior manifested in a process of information gleaning---notable for its hypervigilance and meaning inference---is discussed. Similarities are drawn between this behavior, crisis situations, and situational anxiety disorder. Finally, recommendations are described in the context of anxiety-reducing interventions and established post-operative information practices.
Willingness to Pay for Retail Location and Product Origin of Christmas Trees

Christmas tree sales are considerable throughout the United States. Understanding the drivers of purchase for Christmas trees is critical for producers and stakeholders within states with tree production. Using data from a choice experiment in combination with latent class modeling, we find that tree height is important, but tree species is less important. Further, we show that local labeling does not influence all consumers. With respect to retail location, we show that nursery/greenhouse and choose-and-cut retail outlets are preferred by a majority of consumers but not by all consumers. Recommendations for the varying retail outlets are provided.
Time-Steered Array with a Chirped Grating Beamformer

Optical techniques for time-steered control of phased array antennas have been under intense study in recent years [1].
On Measuring the Social Opportunity Cost of Public Funds

The literature on project evaluation abounds with competing recommendations as to what rate of interest should be used to discount to a single point in time the estimated costs and benefits of public-sector projects. Official policy in the United States, as established in the Green Book1 and in Senate Resolutions, is to base public-sector investment decisions on interest rates prevailing or expected to prevail in the market for government bonds. An alternative, proposed by such authors as Hirshleifer, DeHaven and Milliman, Strotz, and Stockfisch, is to discount benefits and costs at the estimated marginal productivity of capital in the private sector of the economy. A third group, to which Marglin and Sen belong, asserts that market interest rates give an exaggerated picture of the rate of ‘social time preference’, and suggests that that rate be chosen which represents the consensus of the policy-makers (or of the society as a whole) concerning what the social time preference rate really is or should be. I shall defer discussion of social time preference rates, thus arbitrarily defined, to a later point, and shall instead assume that the ‘social rate of time preference’ refers to an appropriately weighted average of the different marginal rates of time preference applicable to the individuals who compose the society.
Agricultural Productivity and Climate Change in the Greater Middle East

The main purpose of this research is to determine the potential impact of weather variables on agricultural productivity for Afghanistan, Iran, Pakistan, Turkey and Syria. A translog production function was used in estimating TFP growth in agriculture over the period 1980-2010. Precipitation, temperature, drought and irrigation were included in the analysis. The results indicate increasing agricultural productivity during the period with innovations contributing approximately 30% to agricultural output growth. Temperature and precipitation play a significant role in agricultural production and most frequent extreme drought episodes and irrigation affect, substantially, agricultural productivity growth in the region.
Unresolved Judicial Conflict and Critical Infrastructure

Choice of law affects legal outcomes at the core of Anglo-American law. This Article analyzes what electricity is, how the law regards it, and concludes by examining the confusion and inconsistency created by many courts. Even finishing second among the most important inventions in history (second behind only the movable type printing press) highlights the essential role of electricity in the American economy: Among the most important inventions in human history, electricity is the only one which also is essential and irreplaceable to operate seven other of the “top 50” inventions of all time: the Internet, computers, air-conditioning, radio, television, the telephone, and semiconductors.
JTAM: a joint threshold administration model

We propose a Joint Threshold Administration Model (JTAM) for performing certain critical and sensitive system operations such as user/role creation, user/role permission assignment, and so forth. The key idea is that a JTAM enabled operation is incomplete unless it is authorized by at least k^1 additional administrators. We present the design details of JTAM based on a cryptographic threshold signature scheme. We implement JTAM in the PostgreSQL DBMS, and demonstrate the execution of the JTAM enabled Create User SQL command. We also show how to prevent malicious modifications to the JTAM enabled operations.
Photoredox Catalysis in Organic Chemistry

In recent years, photoredox catalysis has come to the forefront in organic chemistry as a powerful strategy for the activation of small molecules. In a general sense, these approaches rely on the ability of metal complexes and organic dyes to convert visible light into chemical energy by engaging in single-electron transfer with organic substrates, thereby generating reactive intermediates. In this Perspective, we highlight the unique ability of photoredox catalysis to expedite the development of completely new reaction mechanisms, with particular emphasis placed on multicatalytic strategies that enable the construction of challenging carbon–carbon and carbon–heteroatom bonds.
The Impact of Personal Factors on Self-Determination and Early Adulthood Outcome Constructs in Youth With Disabilities:

Data from the National Longitudinal Transition Study–2 (NLTS2) were used to examine the impact of three personal factors—race/ethnicity, gender, and family income—on self-determination (i.e., auton...
He 3 ( α , γ ) Be 7 Reaction

The ${\mathrm{He}}^{3}(\ensuremath{\alpha}, \ensuremath{\gamma}){\mathrm{Be}}^{7}$ reaction has been investigated using gaseous helium targets behind thin nickel foils and using monoenergetic alpha-particle beams with energies from 0.42 to 5.80 MeV. The prompt gamma rays were detected using NaI(Tl) scintillation spectrometers, and the resulting pulse-height spectra were analyzed to determine both the total capture cross section and the branching ratio between the cascade and the crossover transitions as functions of energy. These cross-section measurements have been used to obtain a new value for the zero-energy intercept of the cross-section factor $S(E)$ for this reaction: ${S}_{0}=0.47\ifmmode\pm\else\textpm\fi{}0.05$ keV-b, and ${(\frac{\mathrm{dS}}{\mathrm{dE}})}_{0}=\ensuremath{-}2.8\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}{10}^{\ensuremath{-}4}$ b.
Balancing the Interactions of Mg2+ in Aqueous Solution and with Nucleic Acid Moieties For a Polarizable Force Field Based on the Classical Drude Oscillator Model.

Mg2+ ions are important in biological systems, particularly in stabilizing compact RNA folds. Mg2+ is strongly polarizing, and representing its interactions in heterogeneous environments is a challenge for empirical force field development. To date, the most commonly used force fields in molecular dynamics simulations utilize a pairwise-additive approximation for electrostatic interactions, which cannot account for the significant polarization response in systems containing Mg2+. In the present work, we refine the interactions of Mg2+ with water, Cl– ions, and nucleic acid moieties using a polarizable force field based on the classical Drude oscillator model. By targeting gas-phase quantum mechanical interaction energies and geometries of hydrated complexes, as well as condensed-phase osmotic pressure calculations, we present a model for Mg2+ that yields quantitative agreement with experimental measurements of water dissociation free energy and osmotic pressure across a broad range of concentrations. Nota...
The Impacts of Neighborhoods on Intergenerational Mobility I: Childhood Exposure Effects

We show that the neighborhoods in which children grow up shape their earnings, college attendance rates, and fertility and marriage patterns by studying more than seven million families who move across commuting zones and counties in the U.S. Exploiting variation in the age of children when families move, we find that neighborhoods have significant childhood exposure effects: the outcomes of children whose families move to a better neighborhood – as measured by the outcomes of children already living there – improve linearly in proportion to the amount of time they spend growing up in that area, at a rate of approximately 4% per year of exposure. We distinguish the causal effects of neighborhoods from confounding factors by comparing the outcomes of siblings within families, studying moves triggered by displacement shocks, and exploiting sharp variation in predicted place effects across birth cohorts, genders, and quantiles to implement overidentification tests. The findings show that neighborhoods affect intergenerational mobility primarily through childhood exposure, helping reconcile conflicting results in the prior literature.
Inventory Allocation in the Presence of Service‐Level Agreements

Retailers often use service-level agreements (SLAs) to evaluate their supplier's performance. Based on an examination of 70 SLAs from practice, we conclude that in terms of evaluating fill rate, these SLAs vary in at least three key dimensions: (i) Supplier performance can be evaluated for each demand request or over some longer horizon, (ii) the acceptable fill rate can be 100% or something less than 100%, and (iii) the non-compliance charge can be a flat fee, a per-unit-short fee, or both. For a supplier operating a periodic-review inventory system and serving multiple retailers, each with an SLA, we investigate the impact of inventory allocation rules on SLA compliance and expected non-compliance costs across the three dimensions of review horizon, fill rate target and non-compliance cost structure. We derive several analytic results when retailers are symmetric. For the single-period setting and a fill rate target of 100%, we characterize the optimal allocation rule and rank other rules common in practice and the literature. We also characterize the optimal rule for the single-period setting when the fill rate target is less than 100% and the SLA specifies a flat-fee non-compliance charge. In the multiple-period case, we characterize the optimal rule when the fill rate target is 100%. When the fill rate target is less than 100% and the performance review horizon is more than one period, we develop a simple heuristic that outperforms common allocation rules.
Moving Participants Turtle Consensus

We present Moving Participants Turtle Consensus (MPTC), an asynchronous consensus protocol for crash and Byzantine-tolerant distributed systems. MPTC uses various moving target defense strategies to tolerate certain Denial-of-Service (DoS) attacks issued by an adversary capable of compromising a bounded portion of the system. MPTC supports on the fly reconfiguration of the consensus strategy as well as of the processes executing this strategy when solving the problem of agreement. It uses existing cryptographic techniques to ensure that reconfiguration takes place in an unpredictable fashion thus eliminating the adversary’s advantage on predicting protocol and execution-specific information that can be used against the protocol. We implement MPTC as well as a State Machine Replication protocol and evaluate our design under different attack scenarios. Our evaluation shows that MPTC approximates best case scenario performance even under a well-coordinated DoS attack.
Bioorthogonal pro-metabolites for profiling short chain fatty acylation

Short chain fatty acids (SCFAs) play a central role in health and disease. One function of these signaling molecules is to serve as precursors for short chain fatty acylation, a class of metabolically-derived posttranslational modifications (PTMs) that are established by lysine acetyltransferases (KATs) and lysine deacetylases (KDACs). Via this mechanism, short chain fatty acylation serves as an integrated reporter of metabolism as well as KAT and KDAC activity, and has the potential to illuminate the role of these processes in disease. However, few methods to study short chain fatty acylation exist. Here we report a bioorthogonal pro-metabolite strategy for profiling short chain fatty acylation in living cells. Inspired by the dietary component tributyrin, we synthesized a panel of ester-caged bioorthogonal short chain fatty acids. Cellular evaluation of these agents led to the discovery of an azido-ester that is metabolized to its cognate acyl-coenzyme A (CoA) and affords robust protein labeling profiles. We comprehensively characterize the metabolic dependence, toxicity, and histone deacetylase (HDAC) inhibitor sensitivity of these bioorthogonal pro-metabolites, and apply an optimized probe to identify novel candidate protein targets of short chain fatty acids in cells. Our studies showcase the utility of bioorthogonal pro-metabolites for unbiased profiling of cellular protein acylation, and suggest new approaches for studying the signaling functions of SCFAs in differentiation and disease.
On Variants of the Matroid Secretary Problem

We present a number of positive and negative results for variants of the matroid secretary problem. Most notably, we design a constant-factor competitive algorithm for the “random assignment” model where the weights are assigned randomly to the elements of a matroid, and then the elements arrive on-line in an adversarial order (extending a result of Soto, SODA 2011, pp. 1275–1284, 2011). This is under the assumption that the matroid is known in advance. If the matroid is unknown in advance, we present an O(logrlogn)-approximation, and prove that a better than O(logn/loglogn) approximation is impossible. This resolves an open question posed by Babaioff et al. (SODA 2007, pp. 434–443, 2007). As a natural special case, we also consider the classical secretary problem where the number of candidates n is unknown in advance. If n is chosen by an adversary from {1,…,N}, we provide a nearly tight answer, by providing an algorithm that chooses the best candidate with probability at least 1/(H N−1+1) and prove that a probability better than 1/H N cannot be achieved (where H N is the N-th harmonic number).
Transitioning the U.S. Air Transportation System to Higher Fuel Costs

The air transportation system enables economic growth and provides significant social benefits. Future increases and volatility in oil prices, as well as climate change policies, are likely to increase the effective cost of fuel. This paper investigates the expected impacts of higher fuel costs on the U.S. domestic air transportation system and discusses policy options to reduce negative economic and social effects. The 2004 to 2008 fuel price surge is used as a historic case study. A stochastic simulation model is developed with the use of price elasticity-of-demand assumptions and flight leg fuel burn estimates to under-stand the impacts of higher fuel costs. It was found that a 50% increase in fuel prices was expected to result in a 12% reduction in available seat miles if all cost increases passed through to passengers. System revenues are expected to decrease marginally for fuel price increases up to 50%, but higher increases may result in significant revenue reductions. Small airports are expected t...
Hybrid RF-mmWave communications to achieve low latency and high energy efficiency in 5G cellular systems

We propose a hybrid architecture to integrate RF (i.e., sub-6 GHz) and millimeter wave (mmWave) interfaces for 5G cellular systems. To alleviate the challenges associated with mmWave communications, our proposed architecture integrates the RF and mmWave interfaces for beamforming and data transfer, and exploits the spatio-temporal correlations between the interfaces. Based on extensive experimentation in indoor and outdoor settings, we demonstrate that an integrated RF/mmWave signaling and channel estimation scheme can remedy the problem of high training overhead associated with mmWave beamforming. In addition, cooperation between two interfaces at the higher layers effectively addresses the high delays caused by highly intermittent connectivity in mmWave channels. Subsequently, we formulate an optimal scheduling problem over the RF and mmWave interfaces where the goal is to maximize the delay-constrained throughput of the mmWave interface. We prove using subadditivity analysis that the optimal scheduling policy is based on a single threshold that can be easily adopted despite high link variations. We design an optimal scheduler that opportunistically schedules the packets over the mmWave interface, while the RF link acts as a fallback mechanism to prevent high delay.
Measurement of the Persistence Length of Cytoskeletal Filaments using Curvature Distributions

Cytoskeletal filaments such as microtubules and actin filaments play important roles in the mechanical integrity of cells and the ability of cells to respond to their environment. Measuring the mechanical prop- erties of cytoskeletal structures is crucial for gaining insight into intracellular mechanical stresses and their role in regulating cellular processes. One of the ways to characterize these mechanical properties is by measuring their persistence length, the average length over which filaments stay straight. There are several approaches in the literature for measuring filament deformations, including Fourier analysis of images obtained using fluorescence microscopy. Here, we show how curvature distributions can be used as an alternative tool to quantify bio-filament deformations, and investigate how the apparent stiffness of filaments depends on the resolution and noise of the imaging system. We present analytical calculations of the scaling curvature distributions as a function of filament discretization, and test our predictions by comparing Monte Carlo simulations to results from existing techniques. We also apply our approach to microtubules and actin filaments obtained from in vitro gliding assay experiments with high densities of non-functional motors, and calculate the persistence length of these filaments. The presented curvature analysis is significantly more accurate compared to existing approaches for small data sets, and can be readily applied to both in vitro or in vivo filament data through the use of an ImageJ plugin we provide.