cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Blocking Self-Avoiding Walks Stops Cyber-Epidemics: A Scalable GPU-Based Approach

Cyber-epidemics, the widespread of fake news or propaganda through social media, can cause devastating economic and political consequences. A common countermeasure against cyber-epidemics is to disable a small subset of suspected social connections or accounts to effectively contain the epidemics. An example is the recent shutdown of 125,000 ISIS-related Twitter accounts. Despite many proposed methods to identify such a subset, none are scalable enough to provide high-quality solutions in nowadays’ billion-size networks. To this end, we investigate the Spread Interdiction problems that seek the most effective links (or nodes) for removal under the well-known Linear Threshold model. We propose novel CPU-GPU methods that scale to networks with billions of edges , yet possess rigorous theoretical guarantee on the solution quality. At the core of our methods is an $O(1)$ O ( 1 ) -space out-of-core algorithm to generate a new type of random walks, called Hitting Self-avoiding Walks ( $\mathsf{HSAW}$ HSAW s). Such a low memory requirement enables handling of big networks and, more importantly, hiding latency via scheduling of millions of threads on GPUs. Comprehensive experiments on real-world networks show that our algorithms provide much higher quality solutions and are several orders of magnitude faster than the state-of-the art. Comparing to the (single-core) CPU counterpart, our GPU implementations achieve significant speedup factors up to 177x on a single GPU and 338x on a GPU pair.
Timing skew enabler induced by fiber weave effect in high speed HDMI channel by angle routing technique in 3DFEM

Fiber skew is one of the most difficult problems to debug. This paper investigates the timing skew problem on high speed, high-definition multimedia interface (HDMI) channel due to the fiber weave effect of Printed circuit board (PCB). This skew causes an asymmetry between the signals in the two lines and converts some of the differential signal into common signal, thereby, distorting the rise time of the differential signal, causing ISI, resulting in the collapse of the eye, and leading to deterministic jitter. In this paper, a method is proposed to minimize intra pair skew and jitter induced by the fiber weave effect. It is a geometry based method to understand the physical degradations in the PCB. The proposed method verified by using the 3DFEM technique in the differential line.
A simpler proof of Jensen's coding theorem

Abstract Jensen's remarkable Coding Theorem asserts that the universe can be included in L[R] for some real R, via class forcing. The purpose of this article is to present a simpler proof of Jensen's theorem, obtained by implementing some changes first developed for the theory of Strong Coding. In particular, our proof avoids the split into cases, according to whether or not 0# exists in the ground model.
Competition and Selection Among Conventions

In many domains, a latent competition among different conventions determines which one will come to dominate. One sees such effects in the success of community jargon, of competing frames in political rhetoric, or of terminology in technical contexts. These effects have become widespread in the on-line domain, where the ease of information transmission makes them particularly forceful, and where the available data offers the potential to study competition among conventions at a fine-grained level. In analyzing the dynamics of conventions over time, however, even with detailed on-line data, one encounters two significant challenges. First, as conventions evolve, the underlying substance of their meaning tends to change as well; and such substantive changes confound investigations of social effects. Second, the selection of a convention takes place through the complex interactions of individuals within a community, and contention between the users of competing conventions plays a key role in the convention's evolution. Any analysis of the overall dynamics must take place in the presence of these two issues. In this work we study a setting in which we can cleanly track the competition among conventions while explicitly taking these sources of complexity into account. Our analysis is based on the spread of low-level authoring conventions in the e-print arXiv over 24 years and roughly a million posted papers: by tracking the spread of macros and other author-defined conventions, we are able to study conventions that vary even as the underlying meaning remains constant. We find that the interaction among co-authors over time plays a crucial role in the selection of conventions; the distinction between more and less experienced members of the community, and the distinction between conventions with visible versus invisible effects, are both central to the underlying processes. Through our analysis we make predictions at the population level about the ultimate success of different synonymous conventions over time --- and at the individual level about the outcome of ``fights'' between people over convention choices.
Prediction and experimental evaluation of planar wing spanloads for minimum drag

An evaluation and analysis of optimum wing spanloads was conducted by comparing wing performance values obtained from theoretical models and experimental wind-tunnel measurements. Three wing spanlo...
Undergraduate Computational Physics Education: Uneven History and Promising Future

While some physics educators have included computing in courses or have developed specialized courses for over 50 years, computational physics education has only slowly made inroads into the broader physics education community. Even now, when computation is arguably more important than ever in physics research and applications, it's rare that a physics department offers more than a single course in the topic to its undergraduate students. There have been several times over the years when interest in a more global approach to computational physics education has surged, only to subside without attaining the goal that computing finally take an essential role in the education of undergraduate physicists. The author reviews some of the history of computational physics education, briefly discusses his experience with the program at Illinois State University, and suggests some direction for the future.
Predictive Accuracy of Serial Transvaginal Cervical Lengths and Quantitative Vaginal Fetal Fibronectin Levels for Spontaneous Preterm Birth Among Nulliparous Women

Importance Spontaneous preterm birth is a leading cause of infant mortality. Prediction, largely based on prior pregnancy outcomes, is not possible in women pregnant for the first time. Objective To assess the accuracy of universal screening to predict spontaneous preterm birth in nulliparous women using serial measurements of vaginal fetal fibronectin levels and cervical length. Design, Settings, and Participants A prospective observational cohort study of nulliparous women with singleton pregnancies, from 8 clinical sites across the United States between October 2010 and May 2014. Women and clinicians were blinded to results unless cervical shortening less than 15 mm was identified. Exposures Transvaginal cervical length and quantitative vaginal fetal fibronectin levels were reviewed at 2 study visits 4 or more weeks apart. Main Outcomes and Measures Spontaneous preterm birth at less than 37 weeks was the primary outcome. Cervical length and quantitative fetal fibronectin were considered independently and together at each visit. Measurement distributions were compared for spontaneous preterm birth vs all other births. Spontaneous preterm birth before 32 weeks was a secondary outcome. Results The study included 9410 women (median age, 27.0 [interquartile range, 9.0] years; 60.7% non-Hispanic white, 13.8% non-Hispanic black, 16.5% Hispanic, 4.0% Asian, and 5.1% other), of whom 474 (5.0%) had spontaneous preterm births, 335 (3.6%) had medically indicated preterm births, and 8601 (91.4%) had term births. Among women with spontaneous preterm birth, cervical length of 25 mm or less occurred in 35 of 439 (8.0%) at 16 to 22 weeks’ gestation and in 94 of 403 (23.3%) at 22 to 30 weeks’ gestation. Fetal fibronectin levels of 50 ng/mL or greater at 16 to 22 weeks identified 30 of 410 women (7.3%) with spontaneous preterm birth and 31 of 384 (8.1%) at 22 to 30 weeks. The area under the receiver operating characteristic curve for screening between 22 and 30 weeks for fetal fibronectin level alone was 0.59 (95% CI, 0.56-0.62), for transvaginal cervical length alone was 0.67 (95% CI, 0.64-0.70), and for the combination as continuous variables was 0.67 (95% CI, 0.64-0.70). Conclusions and Relevance Among nulliparous women with singleton pregnancies, quantitative vaginal fetal fibronectin and serial transvaginal ultrasound cervical length had low predictive accuracy for spontaneous preterm birth. These findings do not support routine use of these tests in such women.
Prio: private, robust, and scalable computation of aggregate statistics

This paper presents Prio, a privacy-preserving system for the collection of aggregate statistics. Each Prio client holds a private data value (e.g., its current location), and a small set of servers compute statistical functions over the values of all clients (e.g., the most popular location). As long as at least one server is honest, the Prio servers learn nearly nothing about the clients' private data, except what they can infer from the aggregate statistics that the system computes. To protect functionality in the face of faulty or malicious clients, Prio uses secret-shared non-interactive proofs (SNIPs), a new cryptographic technique that yields a hundred-fold performance improvement over conventional zero-knowledge approaches. Prio extends classic private aggregation techniques to enable the collection of a large class of useful statistics. For example, Prio can perform a least-squares regression on high-dimensional client-provided data without ever seeing the data in the clear.
Oncogenic ARAF as a new driver in lung adenocarcinoma.

11034 Background: We recently identified a novel somatic mutation in ARAF in a lung adenocarcinoma from a patient that demonstrated a remarkable response to sorafenib. The S214C lies in a negative regulatory domain of ARAF, distinct from the catalytic domain mutations commonly found in BRAF. The aim herein was to evaluate the oncogenic potential and characterize the mechanism of ARAF S214C activation. Methods: ARAF constructs were generated and ectopically expressed in an immortalized bronchial epithelial cell line (BEAS-2B). We evaluated the acquisition of anchorage independence, MEK activation, and cell morphology. COS7 cells were used for co-immunoprecipitation (IP) and kinase assays. Results: Cells expressingARAF S214C substantially increased soft agar colony formation relative to vector, wild-type, kinase-dead (D429A), and double-mutant (S214C+D429A) variants. Accordingly, ARAF S214C cells exhibited increased phospho-MEK levels, suggesting that the transforming potential is dependent on its kinase ac...
BONE INGROWTH IN RETRIEVED POROUS COATED ACETABULAR COMPONENTS

Introduction Cementless acetabular components are commonly used in primary and revision total hip arthroplasty, and most designs have been successful despite differences in the porous coating structure. Components with 2D titanium fiber mesh coating (FM) have demonstrated high survivorships up to 97% at 20 years1. 3D tantalum porous coatings (TPC) have been introduced in an attempt to improve osseointegration and therefore implant fixation. Animal models showed good results with this new material one year after implantation2, and clinical and radiographic studies have demonstrated satisfactory outcomes3. However, few retrieval studies exist evaluating in vivo bone ingrowth into TPC components in humans. We compared bone ingrowth between well-fixed FM and TPC retrieved acetabular shells using backscatter scanning electron microscopy (BSEM). Methods 16 retrieved, well-fixed, porous coated acetabulum components, 8 FM matched to 8 TPC by gender, BMI and age, all revised for reasons other than loosening and infection, were identified from our retrieval archive (Fig. 1). The mean time in-situ was 42 months for TPC and 172 for FM components. Components were cleaned, dehydrated, and embedded in PMMA. They were then sectioned, polished, and examined using BSEM. Cross-sectional slices were analyzed for percent bone ingrowth and percent depth of bone ingrowth (Fig. 2). Analysis was done using manual segmentation and grayscale thresholding to calculate areas of bone, metal, and void space. Percent bone ingrowth was determined by assessing the area of bone compared to the void space that had potential for bone ingrowth. Results The average bone ingrowth was 19.2% for the eight FM components and 6.9% for the eight TPC components. Bone ingrowth in the FM components was quite variable, ranging from as little as 2.3% to as much as 71.6%. Conversely, the amount of bone ingrowth seen in the TCP acetabular cups was less variable, ranging from 0.4% to 13%. By design, TPC cups were more porous; the retrieved TPC cups had ∼65–75% porosity (area void space divided by total area of void space plus metal), while the retrieved FM cups had ∼40–50% porosity. No relation was found between bone ingrowth measured in the retrievals at the length of time that they had been implanted. Discussion The TPC retrievals were well-fixed at revision surgery, despite the small percent of the coating that had bone ingrowth. Other factors, such as high coefficient of friction, leading to effective initial fixation and sufficient bone ongrowth rather than ingrowth, may impact clinical performance. A previous study of post-mortem, well-fixed retrieved FM cups found 12 ±8% bone area ingrowth4, similar to our findings. Ongoing retrieval analysis will provide further insight into possible regional trends and material ingrowth differences.
Honest confidence sets in nonparametric IV regression and other ill-posed models

This paper provides novel methods for inference in a very general class of ill-posed models in econometrics, encompassing the nonparametric instrumental regression, different functional regressions, and the deconvolution. I focus on uniform confidence sets for the parameter of interest estimated with Tikhonov regularization, as in Darolles, Fan, Florens, and Renault (2011). I first show that it is not possible to develop inferential methods directly based on the uniform central limit theorem. To circumvent this difficulty I develop two approaches that lead to valid confidence sets. I characterize expected diameters and coverage properties uniformly over a large class of models (i.e. constructed confidence sets are honest). Finally, I illustrate that introduced confidence sets have reasonable width and coverage properties in samples commonly used in applications with Monte Carlo simulations and considering application to Engel curves.
Multi-frequency spin manipulation using rapidly tunable superconducting coplanar waveguide microresonators

In this work, we demonstrate the use of frequency-tunable superconducting NbTiN coplanar waveguide microresonators for multi-frequency pulsed electron spin resonance (ESR) experiments. By applying a bias current to the center pin, the resonance frequency (∼7.6 GHz) can be continuously tuned by as much as 95 MHz in 270 ns without a change in the quality factor of 3000 at 2 K. We demonstrate the ESR performance of our resonators by measuring donor spin ensembles in silicon and show that adiabatic pulses can be used to overcome magnetic field inhomogeneities and microwave power limitations due to the applied bias current. We take advantage of the rapid tunability of these resonators to manipulate both phosphorus and arsenic spins in a single pulse sequence, demonstrating pulsed double electron-electron resonance. Our NbTiN resonator design is useful for multi-frequency pulsed ESR and should also have applications in experiments where spin ensembles are used as quantum memories.
Learning Gaussian Graphical Models Using Discriminated Hub Graphical Lasso

We develop a new method called Discriminated Hub Graphical Lasso (DHGL) based on Hub Graphical Lasso (HGL) by providing the prior information of hubs. We apply this new method in two situations: with known hubs and without known hubs. Then we compare DHGL with HGL using several measures of performance. When some hubs are known, we can always estimate the precision matrix better via DHGL than HGL. When no hubs are known, we use Graphical Lasso (GL) to provide information of hubs and find that the performance of DHGL will always be better than HGL if correct prior information is given, and will rarely degenerate when the prior information is incorrect.
Addressing current challenges in cancer immunotherapy with mathematical and computational modelling

The goal of cancer immunotherapy is to boost a patient's immune response to a tumour. Yet, the design of an effective immunotherapy is complicated by various factors, including a potentially immuno...
The Intrinsic Geometry on Bounded Pseudoconvex Domains

We study bounded pseudoconvex domains in 2-dimensional complex Euclidean spaces. We are interested in developing sufficient and necessary conditions for the Diederich–Fornaess index to be 1. It was known that an obstructive complex Hessian prevents the index from 1. We derive two estimates on this obstructive complex Hessian and its multiplicative inverse, respectively. A consequence of the first estimate gives almost an equivalent condition of the index to be 1. Our method is a new way to resolve problems with the Diederich–Fornaess index. This method contains a localization to the boundary and a geometric analysis on its Levi-flat sets.
Computed Tomography and Radiotherapy in the Treatment of Cancer

Computed tomography (CT) has shown to be of great value in the treatment of cancer with radiation therapy. It is used more and more in the estimation of tumor volume and for treatment planning, with the aid of the computerized treatment unit. At the James Graham Brown Cancer Center, Department of Radiation Oncology, CT has been used routinely for the treatment planning. From October 1, 1981 to June 30, 1982, we performed 180 CT scans for the treatment planning, 380 simple dose calculations, 237 complex treatment plans, and 42 intracavitary dosimetry using the treatment planning unit. This is a review of our experience with some illustrations. Accurate tumor dose can be delivered with reducing the complications with the use of CT and the computerized treatment unit.
Immunochemical Measurement of Serum Prostatic Acid Phosphatase (PAP). Clinical Evaluation of Radioimmunoassay and Counter Immunoelectrophoresis

Gupta, Manjula K., Rajaraman, Srinivasan, Gupta, Satyendra K., Hewitt, Clarence B., and Deodhar, Sharad D.: Immunochemical measurement of serum prostatic acid phosphatase (PAP). Clinical evaluation of radioimmunoassay and counter Immunoelectrophoresis. Am J Clin Pathol 76: 430-436, 1981. Two radioimmunoassay procedures (RIA-1 and RIA-2) were evaluated for the quantitation of prostatic acid phosphatase in serum and compared with the enzymatic method and counter immunoelectrophoresis method for their specificity and sensitivity. Sera from 168 patients were analyzed and these included: normals, 27; untreated prostatic cancer patients Stage A, 2; Stage C, 3; Stage D, 17; cancer of prostate treated with different modalities, 42; sarcoma of prostate, 1; prostatitis, 3; nonprostatic carcinoma, 17; and benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH), 56. RIA-1 procedure appeared more sensitive (82% sensitivity) and specific (94.5% specificity) than the RIA-2 procedure (68% sensitivity and 91.8% specificity), but the differences were not statistically significant. The enzymatic method was found to be least sensitive (63.6% sensitivity) but also the most specific (100% specificity). Only 69 of the specimens were analyzed by counter immunoelectrophoresis, which showed sensitivity of 87% and specificity of 51.4%. False positives were observed more often in patients with nonprostatic cancer and BPH. The variations in diagnostic specificity of immunologic assays suggest the need of characterization of each antibody specificity. (
Risk of Recurrence after First Episodes of Genital Herpes. Relation to HSV Type and Antibody Response

Abstract To define risk factors associated with recurrent genital herpes-simplex-virus infection caused by either Type 1 or 2 herpesvirus (HSV-1 or HSV-2), we prospectively studied 137 patients with a first symptomatic episode of the disease and 87 with a recurrent episode. First episodes were divided into 78 primary infections (no antibodies to HSV in acute-phase serum) and 59 nonprimary infections (antibodies present). HSV-1 infections were less frequent and less likely to recur than HSV-2 infections. Fifteen per cent of primary first episodes were caused by HSV-1, as compared with 3 per cent of nonprimary first episodes and 2 per cent of recurrent episodes. Moreover, during follow-up of first-episode patients, only 14 per cent of HSV-1 infections recurred, as compared with 60 per cent of HSV-2 infections. Recurrences were more likely to follow an index recurrent episode than an index first episode, whether primary or nonprimary, and were more likely to occur in men than in women. Among patients with pr...
Polaroid Confirmation of the ‘Difficult-to-Demonstrate’ Inguinal Hernia

Pediatric surgeons are often confronted with a child referred for an inguinal hernia, in which the hernia cannot be elicited or demonstrated at physical examination. The mother usually gives an excellent history, but in spite of pushing and prodding of the baby, and making the baby cry, the hernia does not appear. This report will demonstrate how a clever mother confirmed the presence of a bulge in spite of the surgeon9s inability to demonstrate it on three visits. CASE REPORT A 15-month-old male infant was seen because the mother had noticed a left inguinal bulge. On physical examination, in spite of every maneuver attempted, no bulge was demonstrated.
Late Mortality and Morbidity in Recipients of Long-Term Renal Allografts

The experience of the Peter Bent Brigham Hospital with 217 renal allografts functioning for more than 5 years is reviewed. Patient and graft survival were similar after 5 years, with patient survival being 88 and 66% at 10 and 15 years, respectively, and graft survival 85 and 75% at the same time intervals. Actuarial graft survival at 15 years was higher than patient survival because death with a functioning graft was not considered to be graft failure. No differences in patients or graft survival were found between living related and cadaver donor allografts. There were 33 deaths (15.2%), occurring from 5 1/2 to 20 1/2 years post-transplantation. Chronic liver failure and sepsis were the most common causes of death. Thirty-two patients (14.7%) lost their grafts after 5 years, most commonly from chronic rejection. Another 33 patients (15.2%) had evidence of graft dysfunction secondary to chronic rejection, recurrent glomerulonephritis, ureteral obstruction, or renal artery stenosis. Chronic rejection was generally not responsive to alterations in immunosuppressive medication. Complications of varying severity were common affecting 204 (94%) of the patients. The most frequent were hypertension, cataracts, avascular necrosis, malignancy, urinary tract infection, and pneumonia. These data demonstrate that transplant-related mortality and morbidity continue to occur in recipients of long-term renal allografts. These patients require careful and continuing care in medical centers experienced in transplantation.
Design Optimization of Plastic Injection Tooling for Additive Manufacturing

Abstract This work presents a systematic and practical finite element based design optimization approach for the injection tooling adaptive to additive manufacturing (AM) technology using stereo-lithography (SLA) and powder bed fusion (PBF). First a thermomechanical optimization of conformal cooling is implemented to obtain the optimal parameters associated with conformal cooling design. Then, a multiscale thermomechanical topology optimization is implemented to obtain a lightweight lattice injection tooling without compromising the thermal and mechanical performance. The design approach is implemented to optimize a real design mold and the final optimal design is prototyped in SLA and the manufacturability in PBF has been discussed.
Modeling Water Vapor and Clouds as Passive Tracers in an Idealized GCM

AbstractThis paper introduces an idealized general circulation model (GCM) in which water vapor and clouds are tracked as tracers, but are not allowed to affect circulation through either latent heat release or cloud radiative effects. The cloud scheme includes an explicit treatment of cloud microphysics and diagnoses cloud fraction from a prescribed subgrid distribution of total water. The model is capable of qualitatively capturing many large-scale features of water vapor and cloud distributions outside of the boundary layer and deep tropics. The subtropical dry zones, midlatitude storm tracks, and upper-tropospheric cirrus are simulated reasonably well. The inclusion of cloud microphysics (namely rain re-evaporation) has a modest but significant effect of moistening the lower troposphere in this model. When being subjected to a uniform fractional increase of saturated water vapor pressure, the model produces little change in cloud fraction. A more realistic perturbation, which considers the nonlinearit...
Particle measurements with liquid-borne particle counters: Effects of Counting Efficiency

Liquid extraction of semiconductor tool components followed by particle measurements with a liquid-borne particle counter (LPC) is an effective method to determine surface particle contamination on parts. As device geometries continue to shrink, nanoparticles (100 nm or smaller) have attracted more and more attention. Unfortunately, light-scattering based counters capable of measuring these nanoparticles operate at Less Than Perfect Counting Efficiency (<100%, LTPCE) due to design limitations. With limited understanding of this limitation, testing results from different labs with different counters can be drastically different and thus confusing. This work studies the effect of counting efficiency on measurement results through comparative measurements with counters of different counting efficiencies. This study showed counting efficiency affects measurement accuracy significantly but has limited or no effect on measurement precision on the same counter. The effect of counting efficiency on accuracy depends on the composition of the particle as well as particle size and/or distribution. It is difficult to find a universal and straightforward way to correct the adverse effect of LTPCE in order to achieve standardized particle measurements among those counters.
Measures of global uncertainty and carry-trade excess returns

Abstract Asset market participants generally do not like uncertainty. In studying the cross-section of carry-trade-generated currency excess returns and their exposure to macroeconomic uncertainty, we find it also to be true for those participating in this market. A global, news-based measure of macroeconomic uncertainty is negatively and robustly priced into these excess returns, which is consistent with the existence of a global uncertainty factor.
Sensor Cloud: A Cloud of Sensor Networks

Traditional model of computing with wireless sensors imposes restrictions on how efficiently wireless sensors can be used due to resource constraints. Newer models for interacting with wireless sensors such as Internet of Things and Sensor Cloud aim to overcome these restrictions. In this tutorial, I will discuss sensor cloud architectures, which enable different wireless sensor networks, spread in a huge geographical area to connect together and be used by multiple users at the same time on demand basis. I will further discuss how virtual sensors assist in creating a multiuser environment on top of resource constrained physical wireless sensors and can help in supporting multiple applications on-demand basis. I will then present some security issues and provide overview of the solutions to the problems from the literature. In particular, I will discuss energy efficient privacy and data integrity preserving data aggregation algorithm, risk assessment in sensor cloud as well as attribute-based access control for sensor cloud applications. The topics covered will be: 1. Cloud of Sensors - Sensor Cloud Architectures 2. Virtualization in Sensor Cloud 3. Scheduling and QoS in Sensor Cloud 4. Data compression and Secure Aggregation in Sensor Cloud 5. Security, Privacy and Risk Issues in Sensor Cloud
WN4 Variability in DMSP Ion Densities Across Season, Solar Cycle, and Local Time

Non-migrating tides are a major coupling mechanism between the different regions of the atmosphere and ionosphere. The wave-number 4 (WN4) pattern in the ionosphere has been recognized as originating primarily with the diurnal eastward propagating wave-3 non-migrating tide (DE3) in the troposphere, and significant effort has been devoted in recent years to understanding how tidal effects manifest in various physical parameters across a very wide range of altitudes. While DE3 and WN4 signatures have been much studied in the mesosphere-lower thermosphere region, relatively little is known about how WN4 impacts the ionosphere above the F-peak. We present an analysis of WN4 in the topside ionosphere as measured by the Defense Meteorological Satellite Program (DMSP) spacecraft, using monthly averages of total ion densities and composition binned by latitude and longitude. We found that WN4 is most strongly present during September equinox. In May-August, ion densities near 180-270 GLON are enhanced, and the WN4 pattern moves 5-10 degrees north; in November-February, ion densities are reduced in this region, and WN4 moves 5-10 degrees south. No solar cycle effects were found in the magnitude of dN/N. The longitude position of the peaks (phase) was observed to vary by about 10° with F10.7, moving eastward with increasing F10.7. The latitude variation was less than 5° and did not show a trend with F10.7. The WN4 pattern changes rapidly near dawn, but is very constant throughout the afternoon and evening in terms of dN/N, and drifts eastward at about 2o GLON per hour MLT.
Carry trade strategies based on option-implied information: Evidence from a cross-section of funding currencies

Abstract We document carry trade returns based on the moments extracted from options on the underlying currencies. We establish three important results. First, a currency pair is predicted to have greater excess returns if option-implied returns are more volatile, are more left-skewed, and have fatter tails than the returns of other currency pairs. Second, strategies based on option-implied information improve on benchmark strategies based on realized market returns and macroeconomic data. Third, if the option-implied returns of a currency pair are more left-skewed than in the past, anti-carry trades rather than carry trades perform better.
Crystal growth of ternary and quaternary alkali metal bismuth chalcogenides using Bridgman technique

Our exploratory research in new thermoelectric materials has identified the ternary and quaternary bismuth chalcogenides β-K2Bi8Se13, K2.5Bi8.5Se14 and K1+xPb4-2xBi7+xSe15, to have promising properties for thermoelectric applications. These materials have needlelike morphology so they are highly anisotropic in their electrical and thermal properties. In order to achieve long and well-oriented needles for which, consequently, the best thermoelectric performance is expected, we developed a modified Bridgman technique for their bulk crystal growth. The preliminary results of our crystal growth experiments as well as electrical conductivity, Seebeck coefficient and thermal conductivity for the compounds obtained from this technique are presented.
ROBUST M-TESTS

This paper investigates the local robustness properties of a general class of multidimensional tests based on M-estimators. These tests are shown to inherit the efficiency and robustness properties of the estimators on which they are based. In particular, it is shown that small perturbations of the distribution of the observations can have arbitrarily large effects on the asymptotic level and power of tests based on estimators that do not possess a bounded influence function. An asymptotic 'admissibility' result is also presented, which provides a justification for tests based on optimal bounded-influence estimators. The problem of the robustness of a test, that is, the stability of its level and power under small changes in the underlying probability distribution of the observations, has received considerable attention in the statistical literature, mainly with reference to one-dimensional tests or the linear model (Rieder [18], Schrader and Hettmansperger [22], Lambert [14], Rousseeuw and Ronchetti [21], Kent [12], Ronchetti [19], Wang [25], and Hampel et al. [7]), but has been largely ignored by econometricians. This paper investigates the local robustness properties of a broad class of multidimensional tests, called M-tests because they are based on M-estimators. This class of tests includes most common tests in econometrics, such as Wald, score and Hausman tests. We study the asymptotic properties of M-tests under small perturbations of the assumed probability distribution of the observations. The particular kind of perturbations that we consider are "contamination models" where the assumed distribution is contaminated, with small but positive probability, by some extraneous distribution. This is a convenient way of representing the fact that an econometric model is at best an approximation to the true data-generation process, and this approximation may be adequate for the majority but not all the observations. Our approach builds on earlier work of Rieder [18], Rousseeuw and Ronchetti [21], Ronchetti [19], and Wang [25] for one-dimensional, one-sided tests, and on results of Hampel et al. [7] for the linear model. We show that contamination of the assumed model can
Distributed Simulation of Continuous Random Variables

We establish the first known upper bound on the exact and Wyner’s common information of $n$ continuous random variables in terms of the dual total correlation between them (which is a generalization of mutual information). In particular, we show that when the pdf of the random variables is log-concave, there is a constant gap of $n^{2}\log e+9n\log n$ between this upper bound and the dual total correlation lower bound that does not depend on the distribution. The upper bound is obtained using a computationally efficient dyadic decomposition scheme for constructing a discrete common randomness variable $W$ from which the $n$ random variables can be simulated in a distributed manner. We then bound the entropy of $W$ using a new measure, which we refer to as the erosion entropy.
Comparative transcriptome profiling of the human and mouse dorsal root ganglia: an RNA-seq–based resource for pain and sensory neuroscience research

Molecular neurobiological insight into human nervous tissues is needed to generate next-generation therapeutics for neurological disorders such as chronic pain. We obtained human dorsal root ganglia (hDRG) samples from organ donors and performed RNA-sequencing (RNA-seq) to study the hDRG transcriptional landscape, systematically comparing it with publicly available data from a variety of human and orthologous mouse tissues, including mouse DRG (mDRG). We characterized the hDRG transcriptional profile in terms of tissue-restricted gene coexpression patterns and putative transcriptional regulators, and formulated an information-theoretic framework to quantify DRG enrichment. Relevant gene families and pathways were also analyzed, including transcription factors, G-protein-coupled receptors, and ion channels. Our analyses reveal an hDRG-enriched protein-coding gene set (∼140), some of which have not been described in the context of DRG or pain signaling. Most of these show conserved enrichment in mDRG and were mined for known drug-gene product interactions. Conserved enrichment of the vast majority of transcription factors suggests that the mDRG is a faithful model system for studying hDRG, because of evolutionarily conserved regulatory programs. Comparison of hDRG and tibial nerve transcriptomes suggests trafficking of neuronal mRNA to axons in adult hDRG, and are consistent with studies of axonal transport in rodent sensory neurons. We present our work as an online, searchable repository (https://www.utdallas.edu/bbs/painneurosciencelab/sensoryomics/drgtxome), creating a valuable resource for the community. Our analyses provide insight into DRG biology for guiding development of novel therapeutics and a blueprint for cross-species transcriptomic analyses.
Magnetic field influenced electron-impurity scattering and magnetotransport

We formulate a classical theory $({\ensuremath{\omega}}_{c}\ensuremath{\tau}\ensuremath{\lesssim}1$ with ${\ensuremath{\omega}}_{c}$ as the cyclotron frequency and $\ensuremath{\tau}$ as the relaxation time) to study the influence of perpendicular magnetic field on the electron-impurity scattering process in two-dimensional electron gas. To describe the curved incoming and outgoing trajectories, we introduce a general recipe based on an abstraction of the actual impurity scattering process to define the scattering parameters such as the incoming and outgoing momentum and coordinate jump. In this picture, we can conveniently describe the skew scattering and coordinate jump, which will eventually modify the Boltzmann equation. We find an anomalous Hall resistivity different from the conventional Boltzmann-Drude result and a negative magnetoresistivity as a parabolic function of magnetic field. The origin of these results is analyzed. The relevance between our theory and recent simulation and experimental works is also discussed.
Boldness-aggression syndromes can reduce population density: behavior and demographic heterogeneity

Author(s): Kendall, BE; Fox, GA; Stover, JP | Abstract: Behavioral syndromes are widely recognized as important for ecology and evolution, but most predictions about ecological impacts are based on conceptual models and are therefore imprecise. Borrowing insights from the theory of demographic heterogeneity, we derived insights about the population-dynamic effects of behavioral syndromes. If some individuals are consistently more aggressive than others, not just in interspecific contests, but also in foraging, mating, and antipredator behavior, then population dynamics could be affected by the resulting heterogeneity in demographic rates. We modeled a population with a boldness-aggressiveness syndrome (with the individual's trait constant through life), showing that the mortality cost of boldness causes aggressive individuals to die earlier, on average, than their nonaggressive siblings. The equilibrium frequency of the aggressive type is strongly affected by the mortality cost of boldness, but not directly by the reproductive benefit of aggressiveness. Introducing aggressive types into a homogeneous nonaggressive population increases the average per-capita mortality rate at equilibrium; under many conditions, this reduces the equilibrium density. One such condition is that the reproductive benefit of aggression is frequency dependent and the population has evolved to equalize the expected fitness of the two types. Finally, if the intensity of aggressiveness can evolve, then the population is likely to evolve to an evolutionarily stable trait value under biologically reasonable assumptions. This analysis shows how a formal model can predict both how a syndrome affects population dynamics and how the population processes constrain evolution of the trait.
An exact operator that knows its location

We use conformal symmetry to define an AdS3 proto-field ϕ as an exact linear combination of Virasoro descendants of a CFT2 primary operator $$ \mathcal{O} $$ . We find that both symmetry considerations and a gravitational Wilson line formalism lead to the same results. The operator ϕ has many desirable properties; in particular it has correlators that agree with gravitational perturbation theory when expanded at large c, and that automatically take the correct form in all vacuum AdS3 geometries, including BTZ black hole backgrounds. In the future it should be possible to use ϕ to probe bulk locality and black hole horizons at a non-perturbative level.
Budding Yeast Has a Minimal Endomembrane System.

Summary The endomembrane system consists of the secretory and endocytic pathways, which communicate by transport to and from the trans- Golgi network (TGN). In mammalian cells, the endocytic pathway includes early, late, and recycling endosomes. In budding yeast, different types of endosomes have been described, but the organization of the endocytic pathway has remained unclear. We performed a spatial and temporal analysis of yeast endosomal markers and endocytic cargoes. Our results indicate that the yeast TGN also serves as an early and recycling endosome. In addition, as previously described, yeast contains a late or prevacuolar endosome (PVE). Endocytic cargoes localize to the TGN shortly after internalization, and manipulations that perturb export from the TGN can slow the passage of endocytic cargoes to the PVE. Yeast apparently lacks a distinct early endosome. Thus, yeast has a simple endocytic pathway that may reflect the ancestral organization of the endomembrane system.
Development and Evaluation of a Powered Artificial Gastrocnemius for Transtibial Amputee Gait

Existing robotic transtibial prostheses provide only ankle joint actuation and do not restore biarticular function of the gastrocnemius muscle. This paper presents the first powered biarticular transtibial prosthesis, which is a combination of a commercial powered ankle-foot prosthesis and a motorized robotic knee orthosis. The orthosis is controlled to emulate the human gastrocnemius based on neuromuscular models of matched nonamputees. Together with the ankle-foot prosthesis, the devices provide biarticular actuation. We evaluate differences between this biarticular condition and a monoarticular condition with the orthosis behaving as a free-joint. Six participants with transtibial amputation walk with the prosthesis on a treadmill while motion, force, and metabolic data are collected and analyzed for differences between conditions. The biarticular prosthesis reduces affected-side biological knee flexion moment impulse and hip positive work during late-stance knee flexion, compared to the monoarticular condition. The data do not support our hypothesis that metabolism decreases for all participants, but some participants demonstrate large metabolic reductions with the biarticular condition. These preliminary results suggest that a powered artificial gastrocnemius may be capable of providing large metabolic reductions compared to a monoarticular prosthesis, but further study is warranted to determine an appropriate controller for achieving more consistent metabolic benefits.
Economic Incentives and Conservation: Crowding-in Social Norms in a Groundwater Commons

Abstract Price-based interventions can be corrective where users extract from a common resource, but may also impact existing social norms, often crowding them out. In contrast, I find a pumping fee implemented by a group of irrigators in Southern Colorado effectively crowds-in pro-conservation norms, enhancing the financial incentive's impact. Using a unique, spatially oriented panel-data set of groundwater wells, I separate the direct role of increased pumping costs from the indirect effect transmitted through altered conservation norms. To quantify conservation behavior, I estimate how pumping at one well responds to pumping at nearby wells – using instrumental variables to address simultaneity bias – and interact that behavior with a difference-in-difference framework to assess the influence of the intervention. In the preferred specification, the fee directly accounts for approximately 74% of the reduced pumping and the remaining 26% comes from crowding-in conservation norms.
Rifampin modulation of xeno- and endobiotic conjugating enzyme mRNA expression and associated microRNAs in human hepatocytes.

Rifampin is a pleiotropic inducer of multiple drug metabolizing enzymes and transporters. This work utilized a global approach to evaluate rifampin effects on conjugating enzyme gene expression with relevance to human xeno- and endo-biotic metabolism. Primary human hepatocytes from 7 subjects were treated with rifampin (10 μmol/L, 24 hours). Standard methods for RNA-seq library construction, EZBead preparation, and NextGen sequencing were used to measure UDP-glucuronosyl transferase UGT, sulfonyltransferase SULT, N acetyltransferase NAT, and glutathione-S-transferase GST mRNA expression compared to vehicle control (0.01% MeOH). Rifampin-induced (>1.25-fold) mRNA expression of 13 clinically important phase II drug metabolizing genes and repressed (>1.25-fold) the expression of 3 genes (P < .05). Rifampin-induced miRNA expression changes correlated with mRNA changes and miRNAs were identified that may modulate conjugating enzyme expression. NAT2 gene expression was most strongly repressed (1.3-fold) by rifampin while UGT1A4 and UGT1A1 genes were most strongly induced (7.9- and 4.8-fold, respectively). Physiologically based pharmacokinetic modeling (PBPK) was used to simulate the clinical consequences of rifampin induction of CYP3A4- and UGT1A4-mediated midazolam metabolism. Simulations evaluating isolated UGT1A4 induction predicted increased midazolam N-glucuronide exposure (~4-fold) with minimal reductions in parent midazolam exposure (~10%). Simulations accounting for simultaneous induction of both CYP3A4 and UGT1A4 predicted a ~10-fold decrease in parent midazolam exposure with only a ~2-fold decrease in midazolam N-glucuronide metabolite exposure. These data reveal differential effects of rifampin on the human conjugating enzyme transcriptome and potential associations with miRNAs that form the basis for future mechanistic studies to elucidate the interplay of conjugating enzyme regulatory elements.
The Influence of Aerosol Absorption on the Extratropical Circulation

AbstractThis study examines how aerosol absorption affects the extratropical circulation by analyzing the response to a globally uniform increase in black carbon (BC) simulated with an atmospheric general circulation model forced by prescribed sea surface temperatures. The model includes aerosol direct and semidirect effects, but not indirect or cloud-absorption effects. BC-induced heating in the free troposphere stabilizes the mid-latitude atmospheric column, which results in less energetic baroclinic eddies and thus reduced meridional energy transport at mid-latitudes. Upper tropospheric BC also decreases the meridional temperature gradient on the equatorward flank of the tropospheric jet and yields a weakening and poleward shift of the jet, while boundary layer BC has no significant influence on the large-scale circulation since most of the heating is diffused by turbulence in the boundary layer. The effectiveness of BC in altering circulation generally increases with height.Dry baroclinic eddy theorie...
A Thermal Imaging Instrument with Uncooled Detectors

In this work, we perform an instrument concept study for sustainable thermal imaging over land with uncooled detectors. We define the science and instrument requirements and evaluate three different uncooled detector technologies, which have been conceptualized by our team (and are presently at low-TRL). We will also build-up and demonstrate the materials characterization infrastructure required for progressing the TRL of a chosen uncooled detector technology.
Transport of Energetic Ion and Electron Energy Through the Vapor Shield During a Tokamak Plasma Disruption

Energetic (> 10-keV) particles incident on divertor plate surfaces may penetrate the vapor shield formed under extremely high heat flux conditions (> 1010 W/m2). In this case, the total energy tran...