cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Differentially Private Naïve Bayes Classifier Using Smooth Sensitivity

With the increasing collection of users' data, protecting individual privacy has gained more interest. Differential Privacy is a strong concept of protecting individuals. Naive Bayes is one of the popular machine learning algorithm, used as a baseline for many tasks. In this work, we have provided a differentially private Naive Bayes classifier that adds noise proportional to the Smooth Sensitivity of its parameters. We have compared our result to Vaidya, Shafiq, Basu, and Hong in which they have scaled the noise to the global sensitivity of the parameters. Our experiment results on the real-world datasets show that the accuracy of our method has improved significantly while still preserving $\varepsilon$-differential privacy.
Computer Vision and Conflicting Values: Describing People with Automated Alt Text

Scholars have recently drawn attention to a range of controversial issues posed by the use of computer vision for automatically generating descriptions of people in images. Despite these concerns, automated image description has become an important tool to ensure equitable access to information for blind and low vision people. In this paper, we investigate the ethical dilemmas faced by companies that have adopted the use of computer vision for producing alt text: textual descriptions of images for blind and low vision people. We use Facebook's automatic alt text tool as our primary case study. First, we analyze the policies that Facebook has adopted with respect to identity categories, such as race, gender, age, etc., and the company's decisions about whether to present these terms in alt text. We then describe an alternative---and manual---approach practiced in the museum community, focusing on how museums determine what to include in alt text descriptions of cultural artifacts. We compare these policies, using notable points of contrast to develop an analytic framework that characterizes the particular apprehensions behind these policy choices. We conclude by considering two strategies that seem to sidestep some of these concerns, finding that there are no easy ways to avoid the normative dilemmas posed by the use of computer vision to automate alt text.
Minimax Group Fairness: Algorithms and Experiments

We consider a recently introduced framework in which fairness is measured by worst-case outcomes across groups, rather than by the more standard differences between group outcomes. In this framework we provide provably convergent oracle-efficient learning algorithms (or equivalently, reductions to non-fair learning) for minimax group fairness. Here the goal is that of minimizing the maximum loss across all groups, rather than equalizing group losses. Our algorithms apply to both regression and classification settings and support both overall error and false positive or false negative rates as the fairness measure of interest. They also support relaxations of the fairness constraints, thus permitting study of the tradeoff between overall accuracy and minimax fairness. We compare the experimental behavior and performance of our algorithms across a variety of fairness-sensitive data sets and show empirical cases in which minimax fairness is strictly and strongly preferable to equal outcome notions.
Period sets of linear recurrences over finite fields and related commutative rings

After giving an overview of the existing theory regarding the periods of sequences defined by linear recurrences over finite fields, we give explicit descriptions of the sets of periods that arise if one considers all sequences over &#120125; q generated by linear recurrences for a fixed choice of the degree k in the range 1 ≤ k ≤ 4 . We also investigate the periods of sequences generated by linear recurrences over rings of the form &#120125; q 1 ⊕ ⋯ ⊕ &#120125; q r .
What Is Originalism? The Evolution of Contemporary Originalist Theory

Debates over “originalism” have been a central focus of contemporary constitutional theory for three decades. One of the features of this debate has been disagreement about what “originalism” is. More worrisome is the possibility that the arguments between contemporary originalists and their opponents, the “living constitutionalists”, are confused – with each side of the debate making erroneous assumptions about the content of their opponent’s theories.The aim of this chapter is to clarify these debates by providing a history of contemporary originalism and then developing an account of the core or focal content of originalist theory. The history reveals that contemporary originalist theory has evolved – the mainstream of originalist theory began with an emphasis on the original intentions of the framers but has gradually moved to the view that the “original meaning” of the constitution is the “original public meaning” of the text. Even today, originalists disagree among themselves about a variety of important questions, including the normative justification for a constitutional practice that adheres to original meaning. Despite evolution and continued disagreement, however, contemporary originalist theory has a core of agreement on two propositions. First, almost all originalists agree that the linguistic meaning of each constitutional provision was fixed at the time that provision was adopted. Second, originalists agree that our constitutional practice both is (albeit imperfectly) and should be committed to the principle that the original meaning of the Constitution constrains judicial practice.The question whether living constitutionalists actually disagree with these core principles of originalist theory is a complex one. On one interpretation, living constitutionalism and originalism are (mostly) compatible: the constitution lives inside the “construction zone,” the boundaries of which are marked by the original meaning of the text. On another interpretation, living constitutionalism is incompatible with originalism: living constitutional doctrine and practices can override even original meaning of the text, even when that meaning is clear.
A Scalable Algorithm for Anomaly Detection via Learning-Based Controlled Sensing

We address the problem of sequentially selecting and observing processes from a given set to find the anomalies among them. The decision maker observes one process at a time and obtains a noisy binary indicator of whether or not the corresponding process is anomalous. In this setting, we develop an anomaly detection algorithm that chooses the process to be observed at a given time instant, decides when to stop taking observations, and makes a decision regarding the anomalous processes. The objective of the detection algorithm is to arrive at a decision with an accuracy exceeding a desired value while minimizing the delay in decision making. Our algorithm relies on a Markov decision process defined using the marginal probability of each process being normal or anomalous, conditioned on the observations. We implement the detection algorithm using the deep actor-critic reinforcement learning framework. Unlike prior work on this topic that has exponential complexity in the number of processes, our algorithm has computational and memory requirements that are both polynomial in the number of processes. We demonstrate the efficacy of our algorithm using numerical experiments by comparing it with the state-of-the-art methods.
Discourse-Aware Neural Extractive Model for Text Summarization.

Recently BERT has been adopted in state-of-the-art text summarization models for document encoding. However, such BERT-based extractive models use the sentence as the minimal selection unit, which often results in redundant or uninformative phrases in the generated summaries. As BERT is pre-trained on sentence pairs, not documents, the long-range dependencies between sentences are not well captured. To address these issues, we present a graph-based discourse-aware neural summarization model - DiscoBert. By utilizing discourse segmentation to extract discourse units (instead of sentences) as candidates, DiscoBert provides a fine-grained granularity for extractive selection, which helps reduce redundancy in extracted summaries. Based on this, two discourse graphs are further proposed: ($i$) RST Graph based on RST discourse trees; and ($ii$) Coreference Graph based on coreference mentions in the document. DiscoBert first encodes the extracted discourse units with BERT, and then uses a graph convolutional network to capture the long-range dependencies among discourse units through the constructed graphs. Experimental results on two popular summarization datasets demonstrate that DiscoBert outperforms state-of-the-art methods by a significant margin.
Automatic amortized resource analysis with the Quantum physicist’s method

We present a novel method for working with the physicist's method of amortized resource analysis, which we call the quantum physicist's method. These principles allow for more precise analyses of resources that are not monotonically consumed, like stack. This method takes its name from its two major features, worldviews and resource tunneling, which behave analogously to quantum superposition and quantum tunneling. We use the quantum physicist's method to extend the Automatic Amortized Resource Analysis (AARA) type system, enabling the derivation of resource bounds based on tree depth. In doing so, we also introduce remainder contexts, which aid bookkeeping in linear type systems. We then evaluate this new type system's performance by bounding stack use of functions in the Set module of OCaml's standard library. Compared to state-of-the-art implementations of AARA, our new system derives tighter bounds with only moderate overhead.
Bethe Ansatz Equations for Orthosymplectic Lie Superalgebras and Self-dual Superspaces

We study solutions of the Bethe ansatz equations associated to the orthosymplectic Lie superalgebras $$\mathfrak {osp}_{2m+1|2n}$$ and $$\mathfrak {osp}_{2m|2n}$$ . Given a solution, we define a reproduction procedure and use it to construct a family of new solutions which we call a population. To each population we associate a symmetric rational pseudo-differential operator $$\mathcal R$$ . Under some technical assumptions, we show that the superkernel W of $$\mathcal R$$ is a self-dual superspace of rational functions, and the population is in a canonical bijection with the variety of isotropic full superflags in W and with the set of symmetric complete factorizations of $$\mathcal R$$ . In particular, our results apply to the case of even Lie algebras of type D $${}_m$$ corresponding to $$\mathfrak {osp}_{2m|0}=\mathfrak {so}_{2m}$$ .
Geographic Mobility, Immobility, and Geographic Flexibility – A Review and Agenda for Research on the Changing Geography of Work

I review and integrate a wide range of literature that has examined how geographic mobility of high-skilled workers creates value for organizations and individuals. Drawing on this interdisciplinar...
Incorporating baseline covariates to validate surrogate endpoints with a constant biomarker under control arm.

A surrogate endpoint S in a clinical trial is an outcome that may be measured earlier or more easily than the true outcome of interest T. In this work, we extend causal inference approaches to validate such a surrogate using potential outcomes. The causal association paradigm assesses the relationship of the treatment effect on the surrogate with the treatment effect on the true endpoint. Using the principal surrogacy criteria, we utilize the joint conditional distribution of the potential outcomes T, given the potential outcomes S. In particular, our setting of interest allows us to assume the surrogate under the placebo, S(0) , is zero-valued, and we incorporate baseline covariates in the setting of normally distributed endpoints. We develop Bayesian methods to incorporate conditional independence and other modeling assumptions and explore their impact on the assessment of surrogacy. We demonstrate our approach via simulation and data that mimics an ongoing study of a muscular dystrophy gene therapy.
Long-term exposures to air pollutants affect FeNO in children: a longitudinal study

Fractional exhaled nitric oxide (FeNO) is a marker of airway inflammation shown to be responsive to short-term air pollution exposures [1–4]. Although a number of cross-sectional studies have related FeNO to either location-based proxies for long-term exposures to traffic/industrial activity or long-term (seasonal to annual average) ambient pollution [5–9], there is lack of longitudinal study and the effects of longer-term air pollution exposures on FeNO are still not well studied, especially for school children. To fill the knowledge gap, we conducted a new study on longitudinal assessments of FeNO to air pollutant exposures in the Southern California Children’s Health Study (CHS) to determine whether FeNO is a marker for chronic effects of air pollution exposures after accounting for short-term exposures. Footnotes This manuscript has recently been accepted for publication in the European Respiratory Journal . It is published here in its accepted form prior to copyediting and typesetting by our production team. After these production processes are complete and the authors have approved the resulting proofs, the article will move to the latest issue of the ERJ online. Please open or download the PDF to view this article. Conflict of interest: Dr. zhang has nothing to disclose. Conflict of interest: Dr. Eckel has nothing to disclose. Conflict of interest: Dr. Berhane has nothing to disclose. Conflict of interest: Dr. Garcia has nothing to disclose. Conflict of interest: Dr. Muchmore has nothing to disclose. Conflict of interest: Dr. Molshatzki has nothing to disclose. Conflict of interest: Dr. Rappaport has nothing to disclose. Conflict of interest: Dr. Linn has nothing to disclose. Conflict of interest: Dr. Habre has nothing to disclose. Conflict of interest: Dr. Gilliland has nothing to disclose.
Using geometry to rank evenness measures: Towards a deeper understanding of divergence.

Abstract While recent work has established divergence as a key framework for understanding evenness, there is currently no research exploring how the families of measures within the divergence-based framework relate to each other. This paper uses geometry to show that, holding order and richness constant, the families of divergence-based evenness measures nest. This property allows them to be ranked based on their reactivity to changes in relatively even assemblages or changes in relatively uneven ones. We establish this ranking and explore how the distance-based measures relate to it for both order q = 2 and q = 1. We also derive a new family of distance-based measures that captures the angular distance between the vector of relative abundances and a perfectly even vector and is highly reactive to changes in even assemblages. Finally, we show that if we only require evenness to be a divergence, then any smooth, monotonically increasing function of diversity can be made into an evenness measure. A deeper understanding of how to measure evenness will require empirical or theoretical research that uncovers which kind of divergence best reflects the underlying concept.
Interface quality in GaSb/AlSb short period superlattices

Heterostructures including the members of the 6.1 A semiconductor family (AlSb, GaSb, and InAs) are used in infrared optoelectronic devices as well as a variety of other applications. Short-period superlattices of these materials are also of interest for creating composite materials with designer infrared dielectric functions. The conditions needed to create sharp InAs/GaSb and InAs/AlSb interfaces are well known but the AlSb/GaSb interface is much less well-understood. In this article, we test a variety of interventions designed to improve interface sharpness in AlSb/GaSb short-period superlattices. These interventions include the substrate temperature, the III:Sb flux ratio, and the use of a bismuth surfactant. Superlattices are characterized by high-resolution x-ray diffraction and infrared spectroscopy. We find that AlSb/GaSb short-period superlattices have a wide growth window over which sharp interfaces can be obtained.
Design of a Microwave Assisted Discharge Inductive Plasma Accelerator

The design and construction of a thruster that employs electrodeless plasma preionization and pulsed inductive acceleration is described. Preionization is achieved through an electron cyclotron resonance discharge that produces a weakly-ionized plasma at the face of a conical theta pinch-shaped inductive coil. The presence of the preionized plasma allows for current sheet formation at lower discharge voltages than those employed in other pulsed inductive accelerators that do not employ preionization. The location of the electron cyclotron resonance discharge is controlled through the design of the applied magnetic field in the thruster. Finite element analysis shows that there is an arrangement of permanent magnets that yields a small volume of resonant magnetic field at the coil face. Preionization in the resonant zone leads to current sheet formation at the coil face, which minimizes the initial inductance of the pulse circuit and maximizes the potential electrical efficiency of the accelerator. A magnet assembly was constructed around an inductive coil to provide structural support to the selected arrangement of neodymium magnets. Measured values of the resulting magnetic field compare favorably with the finite element model.
A world without pythons would be so simple

We show that bulk operators lying between the outermost extremal surface and the asymptotic boundary admit a simple boundary reconstruction in the classical limit. This is the converse of the Python's lunch conjecture, which proposes that operators with support between the minimal and outermost (quantum) extremal surfaces - e.g. the interior Hawking partners - are highly complex. Our procedure for reconstructing this "simple wedge" is based on the HKLL construction, but uses causal bulk propagation of perturbed boundary conditions on Lorentzian timefolds to expand the causal wedge as far as the outermost extremal surface. As a corollary, we establish the Simple Entropy proposal for the holographic dual of the area of a marginally trapped surface as well as a similar holographic dual for the outermost extremal surface. We find that the simple wedge is dual to a particular coarse-grained CFT state, obtained via averaging over all possible Python's lunches. An efficient quantum circuit converts this coarse-grained state into a "simple state" that is indistinguishable in finite time from a state with a local modular Hamiltonian. Under certain circumstances, the simple state modular Hamiltonian generates an exactly local flow; we interpret this result as a holographic dual of black hole uniqueness.
Webster sequences, apportionment problems, and just-in-time sequencing

Abstract Given a real number α ∈ ( 0 , 1 ) , we define the Webster sequence of density α to be W α = ( ⌈ ( n − 1 / 2 ) / α ⌉ ) n ∈ N , where ⌈ x ⌉ is the ceiling function. It is known that if α and β are irrational with α + β = 1 , then W α and W β partition N . On the other hand, an analogous result for three-part partitions does not hold: There does not exist a partition of N into sequences W α , W β , W γ with α , β , γ irrational. In this paper, we consider the question of how close one can come to a three-part partition of N into Webster sequences with prescribed densities α , β , γ . We show that if α , β , γ are irrational with α + β + γ = 1 , there exists a partition of N into sequences of densities α , β , γ , in which one of the sequences is a Webster sequence and the other two are “almost” Webster sequences that are obtained from Webster sequences by perturbing some elements by at most 1. We also provide two efficient algorithms to construct such partitions. The first algorithm outputs the n th element of each sequence in O ( 1 ) time and the second algorithm gives the assignment of the m th positive integer to a sequence in O ( 1 ) time. We show that the results are best-possible in several respects. Moreover, we describe applications of these results to apportionment and optimal scheduling problems.
CRISPR-cas13 enzymology rapidly detects SARS-CoV-2 fragments in a clinical setting

Abstract Background The well-recognized genome editing ability of the CRISPR-Cas system has triggered significant advances in CRISPR diagnostics. This has prompted an interest in developing new biosensing applications for nucleic acid detection. Recently, such applications have been engineered for detection of SARS-CoV-2. Increased demand for testing and consumables of RT-PCR assays has led to the use of alternate testing options. Here we evaluate the accuracy and performance of a novel fluorescence-based assay that received EUA authorization for detecting SARS-CoV-2 in clinical samples. Methods The Specific High-Sensitivity Enzymatic Reporter UnLOCKing (SHERLOCK) technology forms the basis of the Sherlock CRISPR SARS-CoV-2 kit using the CRISPR-Cas13a system. Our experimental strategy included selection of COVID-19 patient samples from previously validated RT-PCR assays. Positive samples were selected based on a broad range of cycle thresholds. Results A total of 60 COVID-19 patient samples were correctly diagnosed with 100% detection accuracy (relative fluorescence ratios: N gene 95% CI 29.9–43.8, ORF1ab gene 95% CI 30.1–46.3). All controls, including RNase P, showed expected findings. Overall ratios were robustly distinct between positive and negative cases relative to the pre-established 5-fold change in fluorescence. Conclusions We have evaluated the accuracy of detecting conserved targets of SARS-CoV-2 across a range of viral loads, including low titers, using SHERLOCK CRISPR collateral detection in a clinical setting. These findings demonstrate encouraging results, at a time when COVID-19 clinical diagnosis and screening protocols remain in demand; especially as new variants emerge and vaccine mandates evolve. This approach highlights new thinking in infectious disease identification and can be expanded to measure nucleic acids in other clinical isolates.
The Evolutionary Force of Behavioral Economics in Law

Many of the behavioral insights in economics arise out of experiments or examples in which the conventional claims of economics, and rational choice quite generally, are contradicted by observed results. The conventional view – that people and firms maximize utility and profit, and often do so rather cleverly, even accounting for various feedback effects and thinking about marginal costs and benefits – is rationalist, marginalist, or incentive-based (the expression I will usually use in this Article). In contrast, behavioral economics tries to find patterns in the observations that do not match the conventional approach advanced by economists. There are more than twenty widely-recognized categories or behavioralist theories of this kind. By now, every economics – and even law – student knows to look for endowment effects as much as she looks for profit maximization. Theories like utility maximization remain at center stage, but papers that demonstrate a failure to conform to this long-serving king-of-the-mountain get more attention than those that contradict the belief in endowment effects or other behavioral standbys. The two approaches are in every social scientist and legal academic’s bag of tools. Both behavioral insights and rationality calculations are modestly predictive, but a good deal of modern academic work is conducted as if the two approaches are in competition. The argument and the many examples presented in this Article suggest that joint work, motivated by behavioral as well as incentive-based thinking, is a better perspective than is the instinct to look for a winner and a loser in a competition between the two approaches.
Disentangling Representations of Text by Masking Transformers

Representations in large language models such as BERT encode a range of features into a single vector, which are predictive in the context of a multitude of downstream tasks. In this paper, we explore whether it is possible to learn disentangled representations by identifying subnetworks in pre-trained models that encode distinct, complementary aspects of the representation. Concretely, we learn binary masks over transformer weights or hidden units to uncover the subset of features that correlate with a specific factor of variation. This sidesteps the need to train a disentangled model from scratch within a particular domain. We evaluate the ability of this method to disentangle representations of syntax and semantics, and sentiment from genre in the context of movie reviews. By combining this method with magnitude pruning we find that we can identify quite sparse subnetworks. Moreover, we find that this disentanglement-via-masking approach performs as well as or better than previously proposed methods based on variational autoencoders and adversarial training.
Firm size, corporate debt, R&D activity, and agency costs: Exploring dynamic and non-linear effects

Abstract This paper empirically investigates firm-specific determinants of agency costs, a relatively new and unexplored area in corporate finance. We estimate dynamic agency costs models, linking debt, firm size, and R&D activity to agency costs for a panel of U.S. information and communication technology (ICT) firms over 1990–2013. We adopt the Blundell and Bond (1998) two-step system GMM technique, which explicitly accounts for persistence, endogeneity, and unobservable firm heterogeneity. We provide the first evidence that our inverse proxy for agency costs, namely asset turnover (Ang et al., 2000), exhibits an inverted U-shaped relationship with debt and a U-shaped relationship with firm size and R&D activity. These findings imply that agency costs experience a minimum value (in case of debt) and a maximum value (in case of firm size and R&D activity) and, therefore, that agency costs are higher at both low and high levels of debt, and lower at both low and high levels of firm size and R&D activity. We find that the level of debt of the average firm in the sample falls below the level that minimizes agency costs. We also document that, consistent with the agency literature, short-term debt provides an additional effective monitoring mechanism to alleviate agency costs. Our findings reveal that agency costs are dynamic in nature, mean-reverting, and persistent over time. This notion confirms the Florackis and Ozkan (2009) conjecture that managers behave as though an optimal level of agency costs exist that they pursue. Finally, we find a positive association between firm profitability and agency costs and a negative association between agency costs and firm growth. Extensive additional analysis confirms the robustness of our results.
An economic approach to energy budgets: HOW many resources should living organisms spare?

Abstract Ramsey's economic theory of saving (RTS) estimates how much of its commodities a nation should save to safeguard the well-being of future generations. Since RTS retains many attractive qualities such as simplicity, strength, breadth and generality, here we ask if it would be useful to investigate biophysical issues. Specifically, we focus on a biological topic that lends itself as a backdrop for the study of the imbalance between intake and expenditure, i.e., the evaluation of the multicellular living organisms' energetic requirements and constraints. Our problem is to find at each time the optimum distribution and the right balance of the cellular energy budget between consumption and storage: how much must a living organism spare to increase its chances of survival over long periods? To give an operational example, we discuss the ATP requirements in the central nervous system during the spontaneous and the evoked activity of the brain, showing that the experimentally detected values of energetic expenditure during neural computations match well with the estimations provided by RTS. Suggesting how to find the optimum allocation of the available energy between expenditure and saving at each time, RTS approaches to biological energy budgets may have a wide range of experimental applications, such as: a) optimization of the long-term survival chances of either immortalized cell cultures, or beneficial bacterial colonies and exogenous probiotic mixtures; b) eradication of detrimental biofilms, such as, e.g., heart valves' Streptococcus colonies; c) novel anti-stress and anti-ageing strategies.
The Use of Role-Playing in the Teaching of Economics

This paper provides a framework for using role-playing exercises in the economics classroom. Also known as goal-based scenarios, role-playing exercises are based on the theory that students learn more effectively through cognitive conflict. Such exercises give students the opportunity to consider opposing theories and positions in an uncertain environment. Using two scenarios - one for a course on economic development and the other for an intermediate class in macroeconomics - the author provides step-by-step explanations of how role-playing can be used to provide students with a deeper appreciation of the complexities encountered in formulating economic policies. Finally, this paper demonstrates how these exercises can be augmented with writing assignments that may qualify a course for a writing-across-the-curriculum (WAC) designation.
Olfactory marker protein mRNA is found in axons of olfactory receptor neurons.

The separation between the cell bodies of olfactory receptor neurons in the nasal cavity and their axon terminals in the olfactory bulb make them attractive for studying axonal transport. Although high molecular weight RNAs are generally believed to be excluded from axons of mature neurons, we demonstrate here that mRNA for olfactory marker protein (OMP), an abundant cytoplasmic protein selectively expressed in mature receptor cells, is present in rodent olfactory receptor axons. OMP RNA was detected by in situ hybridization at the light microscope level in axons and in terminals. By nuclease protection, the level of OMP RNA in the olfactory bulb was 5–10% of that in the olfactory epithelium where the cell bodies reside. In contrast to axonally transported vasopressin and oxytocin mRNAs, which are deficient in their 3′ polyA tails, axonal OMP RNA fractionated as polyA+. OMP RNA was lost from axons and terminals after deafferentation, suggesting that OMP RNA was synthesized in receptor cell bodies in the epithelium and was transported into axons and terminals in the olfactory bulb. RNA for G(olf), a G-protein highly expressed in dendrites of mature olfactory receptor neurons, was not detected in the olfactory bulb. We hypothesize that the immature nature of the cytoskeleton and, specifically, the lack of tightly bundled microtubules allows transport of particular mRNAs in olfactory receptor axons.
Protecting Financial Institutions from Brute-Force Attacks

We examine the problem of protecting online banking accounts from password brute-forcing attacks. Our method is to create a large number of honeypot userID-password pairs. Presentation of any of these honeypot credentials causes the attacker to be logged into a honeypot account with fictitious attributes. For the attacker to tell the difference between a honeypot and a real account he must attempt to transfer money out. We show that is simple to ensure that a brute-force attacker will encounter hundreds or even thousands of honeypot accounts for every real break-in. His activity in the honeypots provides the data by which the bank learns the attackers attempts to tell real from honeypot accounts, and his cash out strategy.
Bayes's Theorem and Reliability: A Reply to Levin

Psychological research appears to show that people are bad at inductive reasoning. In a well known experiment due to Kahneman and Tversky, I subjects are told that a cab was involved in an accident in a city in which 15% of the cabs are blue and 85% are green, and that a witness testified that the cab was blue. Kahneman and Tversky ask subjects to estimate the probability that the testimony is correct given that the witness can reliably identify blue and green cabs 80% of the time. The majority say the probability that the offending cab was blue, given the testimony, is around .8. Using Bayes's theorem, the experimenters calculate the probability to be .41. Levin is not the first to argue that this experiment does not show that people are bad at inductive reasoning. But he is the first to argue that the experiment fails because the Bayesian calculation involves a mistaken analysis of reliability. Further, he contends that given the correct analysis of reliability, the probability that the witness's testimony is correct is indeed .8. The court tests a witness's reliability by showing him a series of blue and green cabs in conditions similar to those in which the accident occurred. As Levin puts it, the test shows the witness is "right 80% of the time about when a cab is a Blue and when it is a Green" (63). According to the Bayesians the witness's reliability is (1) P(witness testifies blue/cab was blue) == .8. In evaluating the testimony, however, Bayesians must determine (2) P(cab was blue/witness testifies blue),which requires Bayes's theorem as well as the prior probability that the cab was blue (.15)2, the prior probability that the cab was green (.85), and the probability that the witness testified the cab was blue even though it was green (.2). By Bayes's theorem, (2) is
Lipid Peroxidation by the Manganese Peroxidase of Phanerochaete chrysosporium Is the Basis for Phenanthrene Oxidation by the Intact Fungus.

The manganese peroxidase (MnP) of Phanerochaete chrysosporium supported Mn(II)-dependent, H2O2-independent lipid peroxidation, as shown by two findings: linolenic acid was peroxidized to give products that reacted with thiobarbituric acid, and linoleic acid was peroxidized to give hexanal. MnP also supported the slow oxidation of phenanthrene to 2,2′-diphenic acid in a reaction that required Mn(II), oxygen, and unsaturated lipids. Phenanthrene oxidation to diphenic acid by intact cultures of P. chrysosporium occurred to the same extent that oxidation in vitro did and was stimulated by Mn. These results support a role for MnP-mediated lipid peroxidation in phenanthrene oxidation by P. chrysosporium.
Intergalactic Leadership: Practical Tips for Leading Where No One Has Gone Before

Most of the transformational, inclusive, partnership leadership literature, while brilliant and inspirational, does not provide day-to-day ideas for practitioners. Drawing on several key leadership theories and theorists (Kouzes and Posner’s five core behaviors of successful leaders, the Athena Model based on research on women leaders, Centered Leadership from the McKinsey Project, the Research-Productivity and Engagement Model, Burn’s and Bass’ Transformational Leadership Theory, Riane Eisler’s partnership leadership, multicultural leadership theorist Juana Bordas, and feminist leadership theorists), the author describes how she has translated and implemented day-to-day leadership practices which she calls Intergalactic Leadership.
Isolation and properties of two actin-binding domains in gelsolin

Gelsolin is a Ca2+-sensitive 90-kDa protein which regulates actin filament length. A molecular variant of gelsolin is present in plasma as a 93-kDa protein. Functional studies have shown that gelsolin contains two actin-binding sites which are distinct in that after Ca2+-mediated binding, removal of free Ca2+ releases actin from one site but not from the other. We have partially cleaved human plasma gelsolin with alpha-chymotrypsin and identified two distinct actin-binding domains. Peptides CT17 and CT15, which contain one of the actin-binding domains, bind to actin independently of Ca2+; peptides CT54 and CT47, which contain the other domain, bind to actin reversibly in response to changes in Ca2+ concentration. These peptides sequester actin monomers inhibiting polymerization. Unlike intact gelsolin, neither group of peptides nucleates actin assembly or forms stable filament end caps. CT17 and CT15 can however sever actin filaments. Amino acid sequence analyses place CT17 at the NH2 terminus of gelsolin and CT47 at the carboxyl-terminal two-thirds of gelsolin. Circular dichroism measurements show that Ca2+ induces an increase in the alpha-helical content of CT47. These studies provide a structural basis for understanding the interaction of gelsolin with actin and allow comparison with other Ca2+-dependent actin filament severing proteins.
Effect of graded umbilical cord compression in fetal sheep at 0.6-0.7 gestation.

To define responses of immature fetuses to asphyxia, we occluded the umbilical cord of 11 chronically instrumented fetal sheep at 82-94 days gestation and measured hemodynamic and catecholamine responses. The fetuses became acidemic, hypoxemic, and hypercarbic: arterial pH and PO2 decreased from 7.36 +/- 0.04 and 22 +/- 3 Torr to 7.10 +/- 0.04 (mean +/- SD, P less than 0.01) and 15 +/- 4 Torr (P less than 0.01), respectively, and PCO2 increased from 56 +/- 5 to 86 +/- 8 Torr (P less than 0.01) when umbilical blood flow was reduced by 75-88%. This degree of reduction in umbilical blood flow decreased cardiac output from 606 +/- 101 to 247 +/- 67 ml.min-1.kg-1 (P less than 0.01) and blood flow to hepatic, renal, musculoskeletal, and pulmonary vascular beds. Plasma norepinephrine concentrations increased from 1,557 +/- 975 to 16,718 +/- 14,672 pg/ml (P less than 0.05) with a 75-88% reduction, but mean arterial blood pressure did not increase. The absence of a hypertensive response probably relates to the decrease in cardiac output. These data indicate that asphyxia severely compromises cardiac output and organ perfusion in the midgestation fetus.
The search for a profile of aptitudes that characterize dentists

This article is a reinterpretation of an unsuccessful attempt to develop a standard battery of aptitude measures to distinguish practicing dentists. Of 22 potential predictors used by a firm specializing in aptitude testing and career counseling, the national sample of 116 dentists tested showed few differences from the norm group, and some differences were counterintuitive. For example dentists performed no better than the norm on spatial visualization and worse than the norm on several measures of language skill and on finger dexterity. Based on these findings, this paper argues that a broad conceptualization is required when attempting to characterize the aptitudes necessary to complete dental education and to maintain a dental practice. The apparent inconsistency between these findings and successful prediction of performance in laboratory courses using available admissions instruments is explained.
NEIGHBORHOOD CONTEXT AND NONLINEAR PEER EFFECTS ON ADOLESCENT VIOLENT CRIME

Although evidence of the strong correlation between deviant behavior and exposure to deviant peers is overwhelming, researchers have yet to investigate whether a nonlinear functional form better captures this relationship than does a linear form. Researchers also have yet to examine the extent to which peer effects vary as a function of the neighborhood context. To address these issues, we use data from the Project on Human Development in Chicago Neighborhoods (PHDCN) to examine 1) the functional form of the relationship between peer violence exposure and self-reported violent crime and 2) the extent to which the effect of exposure to violent peers on violence is ecologically structured. Estimates from logistic hierarchical models indicate that the effect of peer violence exposure on violent crime decreases at higher values of peer violence, as reflected in a nonlinear relationship (expressed in terms of log-odds). Furthermore, exposure to violent peers increases along with neighborhood disadvantage, and the effect of peer violence exposure on violent crime is attenuated as neighborhood disadvantage increases, which is reflected in a cross-level peer violence/disadvantage interaction.
Repetition and rated truth value of statements.

Two experiments investigated the "truth effect"; i.e., the finding that, when statements of uncertain truth value are repeated, the repetition tends to shift their truth-value ratings toward the "true" end of the scale. In Experiment 1, one group of subjects rated statements on a 7-point truth-value scale while another group rated the same statements on a 7-point scale of preexperimental familiarity. Presentation of statements in the experimental context before the rating task increased both their perceived truth value and their perceived preexperimental familiarity, but there was evidence against the hypothesis that judgments of truth value were mediated directly by judgments of preexperimental familiarity. In Experiment 2, the truth effect was found regardless of whether the repeated statements were shown in the context of other repeated statements or in the context of new statements, thus ruling out the possibility that the effect depends on a mixed-list contrast or sensitization effect. The present results greatly extend the generality of the truth effect found in earlier experiments, and they make more plausible the suggestion that increments in belief as the result of repetition may be an important factor in the accumulation of general knowledge.
A High Resolution Bar Code Reader

For a long time a need has existed for an inexpensive, highly reliable, optical "wand" with extremely fine resolution, to provide the capability of very dense bar code reading. This need has been fulfilled through the development of a wand that was initially used in conjunction with a speaking learning aid. To date, approximately 100,000 of these wands have been manufactured and used with the initially intended learning aid, but uses with other existing products, and with future products are already planned.
DELAY EFFECT IN LASER AMPLIFIERS

In the Stanford Free Electron Laser it is necessary to desynchronize the electron pulses from the accelerator with the light pulses. This effect is a major complication in the data analysis of the FEL. In this presentation, the desynchronism effect is considered for a Laser amplifier. The equations are substantially simpler than the FEL, and most of the results can be obtained analytically. Both the gain (linear) and saturation (nonlinear) regimes are investigated.
General quantum mechanical theory of pure dephasing

Abstract We consider the pure dephasing of a two-level system interacting linearly and quadratically with a bath of harmonic oscillators; the system studied is the most general harmonic two-surface problem. The temperature-dependent pure dephasing rate is calculated exactly to all orders in the system-bath interaction. Often this interaction can be expressed in terms of a small number of collective coordinates (linear combinations of bath modes). For the case of two such coordinates, we provide explicit expressions for the dephasing rate. If there is only a single collective coordinate, we recover our result from previous publications.
Ten critical reasons for treating tobacco dependence in inpatient psychiatry.

Lawn and Pols reviewed 26 studies of inpatient psychiatry units reporting on the effectiveness of smoking bans and concluded (1) there were few problems, and (2) staff often anticipated far more problems than actually occurred (Lawn & Pols, 2005). Consistency, coordination, and full administrative support were identified as key elements to success. Units with partial, rather than complete, smoking bans were more likely to experience difficulties.
Frequency and time domain hybrid optical memory

We describe the first experiments to validate the concept of a high-speed, high-density random access memory. This technique is based on a hybrid of the time-domain stimulated echo and the frequency domain scheme. The basic approach we have developed is the partitioning of the absorption frequency domain into smaller bins, so that each frequency bin stores a smaller portion of information independently. The advantage of the approach is the flexibility it offers in tailoring the memory system to match the computational processor. We have demonstrated storage and retrieval of data for long time in frequency bins separated by 750 MHz. We have achieved data rates of 40 MHz.© (1993) COPYRIGHT SPIE--The International Society for Optical Engineering. Downloading of the abstract is permitted for personal use only.
Evaluation of harmonic methods for calculating the free energy of defects in solids.

The free energy of defects in solids is computed with Monte Carlo simulation techniques and by various approximate techniques. The results are compared in order to determine the accuracy and range of applicability of the various approximate methods. The systems studied are a bulk crystal, a vacancy, a (100) free surface, and a \ensuremath{\Sigma}5(310)/[001] symmetric tilt boundary in Cu described by embedded-atom method potentials. The Monte Carlo simulations employ both the Frenkel-Ladd method and thermodynamic integration. The approximate techniques include quasiharmonic calculations and the recently proposed local harmonic method. The results indicate that the harmonic methods significantly underestimate the temperature variation of the defect-free energies for this potential. The discrepancies become large for temperatures above about half of the melting point.
Schistosome female reproductive development

Schistosome parasites have evolved to produce a number of unique features in their life history; one of these is separate sexes. This has, in turn, led to a novel interplay between the male and female parasite that has been recognized for over 50 years: the growth and reproductive development of the female parasite is in some way regulated by the male schistosome. Early classical and later experimental studies established that the presence of the male schistosome is necessary not only for the initiation of female development but also for the maintenance of her mature state. The male parasite regulates the reproductive development of the female, partly by providing a stimulus that is necessary for the development of the vitelline gland. The cells of the vitelline gland provide nutrients and shell precursors for the egg. Also in this review by Philip LoVerde and Li-ly Chen, it is interesting to note that recent molecular studies have confirmed early work by showing that gene expression in the female parasite is developmentally regulated in a tissue-specific manner and that this gene expression is controlled by the presence of a male parasite.
Response to ‘constructing the “other”: construction of Russian identity in the discourse of James Bond films’

I appreciate this opportunity to respond to ‘Constructing the “Other”: Construction of Russian Identity in the Discourse of James Bond Films’ (Lawless, 2014), a contribution that I think makes head...
Hydrodynamic Forces and Band Formation in Swimming Magnetotactic Bacteria

Dense suspensions of magnetotactic bacteria form long, thin, stable bands perpendicular to the common, net direction of motion of the cells in a magnetic field. A mechanism for this phenomenon is proposed in which the hydrodynamic coupling between two swimming cells is described in terms of an approximate, far-field solution for the flow around one swimming cell. The calculated hydrodynamic interaction force and torque based upon this analysis are of the correct orders of magnitude and in the right directions to provide a reasonable explanation for band formation and stability.