cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Computational Approaches to Simulation and Optimization of Global Aircraft Trajectories

This study examines three possible approaches to improving the speed in generating wind-optimal routes for air traffic at the national or global level. They are: (a) using the resources of a supercomputer, (b) running the computations on multiple commercially available computers and (c) implementing those same algorithms into NASAs Future ATM Concepts Evaluation Tool (FACET) and compares those to a standard implementation run on a single CPU. Wind-optimal aircraft trajectories are computed using global air traffic schedules. The run time and wait time on the supercomputer for trajectory optimization using various numbers of CPUs ranging from 80 to 10,240 units are compared with the total computational time for running the same computation on a single desktop computer and on multiple commercially available computers for potential computational enhancement through parallel processing on the computer clusters. This study also re-implements the trajectory optimization algorithm for further reduction of computational time through algorithm modifications and integrates that with FACET to facilitate the use of the new features which calculate time-optimal routes between worldwide airport pairs in a wind field for use with existing FACET applications. The implementations of trajectory optimization algorithms use MATLAB, Python, and Java programming languages. The performance evaluations are done by comparing their computational efficiencies and based on the potential application of optimized trajectories. The paper shows that in the absence of special privileges on a supercomputer, a cluster of commercially available computers provides a feasible approach for national and global air traffic system studies.
Morphological characterization via light and electron microscopy of Atlantic jackknife clam (Ensis directus) hemocytes

The Atlantic jackknife clam, Ensis directus, is currently being researched as a potential species for aquaculture operations in Maine. The goal of this study was to describe the hemocytes of this species for the first time and provide a morphological classification scheme. We viewed hemocytes under light microscopy (using Hemacolor, neutral red, and Pappenheim's stains) as well as transmission electron microscopy (TEM). The 2 main types of hemocytes found were granulocytes and hyalinocytes (agranular cells). The granulocytes were subdivided into large and small granulocytes while the hyalinocytes were subdivided into large and small hyalinocytes. The large hemocytes had both a larger diameter and smaller nucleus to cell diameter ratio than their smaller counterparts. A rare cell type, the vesicular cell, was also observed and it possessed many vesicles but few or no granules. Using TEM, granulocytes were found to contain both electron-lucent and electron-dense granules of various sizes. These numerous granules were the only structures that took up the neutral red stain. Hyalinocytes had few of these granules relative to granulocytes. Large hyalinocytes had both various organelles and large vesicles in their abundant cytoplasm while small hyalinocytes had little room for organelles in their scant cytoplasm. Total hemocyte counts averaged 1.96×10(6) cells mL(-1) while differential hemocyte counts averaged 11% for small hyalinocytes, 12% for large hyalinocytes, 59% for small granulocytes, and 18% for large granulocytes. The results of this study provide a starting point for future studies on E. directus immune function.
Threshold Effects in Meta-Analyses With Application to Benefit Transfer for Coral Reef Valuation

Abstract Policymakers and advocates often use benefit transfers to estimate the economic value of environmental amenities when primary valuation studies are infeasible. Benefit transfers based on meta-analyses, which synthesize site and methodological characteristics from valuation studies of similar underlying amenities, generally outperform traditional site-to-site transfers. We build on earlier meta-analyses of willingness-to-pay for tropical coral reef recreation by introducing a meta-regression model with threshold effects, with a goal of increasing transfer reliability. We estimate a threshold in coral reef quality and find that increases in live coral cover have a large impact on individuals' WTP for recreation at degraded coral reefs. Relaxing the assumption of users' constant valuation across the distribution of this characteristic improves the performance of coral reef benefit transfers in some instances: tests of convergent validity reveal that including the threshold effect reduces the mean transfer error and the interquartile range of transfer errors in 5 out of 8 tests.
The Rise And Fall of Chevron in tax: From the Early Days to King and Beyond

INTRODUCTION 19 I. CHEVRON’S RISE IN TAX 21 A. Before Chevron 21 B. Chevron and Its Immediate Aftermath 22 C. Mayo 23 II. THE FALL OF CHEVRON IN TAX (AND ELSEWHERE) 26 A. The Why of Limitation 26 B. The How of Limitation 28 1. Ignoring Chevron 28 2. Fashioning Exceptions 29 3. Conflating Chevron and Other Standards 30 4. Applying the Standard Non-Deferentially 30 CONCLUSION 31
Brachial plexus palsy involving the posterior shoulder at spontaneous vaginal delivery

Brachial plexus injuries sustained at birth have most often been attributed to the maneuvers performed when attempting to relieve a shoulder dystocia or to deliver a breech vaginally. In the case now reported, the brachial plexus injury involved the posterior shoulder. As the delivery was spontaneous and without forceps or manual rotation, with delivery effected using only the McRobert's maneuver, it is hypothesized that maternal expulsive forces in conjunction with lodging of the posterior shoulder on the sacral promontory resulted in the injury.
X-ray studies of interfacial strontium-extractant complexes in a model solvent extraction system.

The interfacial behavior of a model solvent extraction liquid–liquid system, consisting of solutions of dihexadecyl phosphate (DHDP) in dodecane and SrCl2 in water, was studied to determine the structure of the interfacial ion–extractant complex and its variation with pH. Previous experiments on a similar extraction system with ErCl3 demonstrated that the kinetics of the extraction process could be greatly retarded by cooling through an adsorption transition, thus providing a method to immobilize ion–extractant complexes at the interface and further characterize them with X-ray interface-sensitive techniques. Here, we use this same method to study the SrCl2 system. X-ray reflectivity and fluorescence near total reflection measured the molecular-scale interfacial structure above and below the adsorption transition for a range of pH. Below the transition, DHDP molecules form a homogeneous monolayer at the interface with Sr2+ coverage increasing from zero to saturation (one Sr2+ per two DHDP) within a narrow...
Treatment of cytomegalovirus retinitis in patients with the acquired immunodeficiency syndrome

Until recently, long-term regimens consisting of daily intravenous infusions of ganciclovir or foscarnet were the only available treatments for patients with cytomegalovirus (CMV) retinitis, a sight-threatening complication that affects approximately one third of patients in the United States with the acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS).1,2 In the past three years, the results of 11 randomized clinical trials of four new treatments for AIDS-related CMV retinitis have been reported.3–13 Thus, there are now new therapies from which clinicians can choose. Incidence and Natural History of CMV Retinitis CMV end-organ disease has emerged as one of the most common serious complications . . .
Organocatalyzed Anodic Oxidation of Aldehydes

A method for the catalytic formation of electroauxiliaries and subsequent anodic oxidation has been developed. The process interfaces N-heterocyclic carbene-based organocatalysis with electro-organic synthesis to achieve direct oxidation of catalytically generated electroactive intermediates. We demonstrate the applicability of this method as a one-pot conversion of aldehydes to esters for a broad range of aldehyde and alcohol substrates. Furthermore, the anodic oxidation reactions are very clean, producing only H(2) gas as a result of cathodic reduction.
Efficient Heck reactions catalyzed by a highly recyclable palladium(II) complex of a pyridyl-functionalized imidazolium-based ionic liquid

The reactions of 2-(2-pyridyl)imidazole with alkyl iodides at 25 °C in the presence of base gave rise to 1-alkyl-2-(2-pyridyl)imidazole. Subsequent neat reactions with alkyl or polyfluoroalkyl halides at 100 °C, followed by anion exchange with LiN(SO2CF3)2, generated the mono-quaternary ionic liquids 3a–3l. All of them have excellent thermal stability and wide liquid range. Most of the salts with asymmetric N-substituents are liquid at room temperature. The effect of N-substituent variation and symmetry on NMR, TGA and DSC is discussed. Reaction of 3f with palladium(II) chloride produced a mononuclear palladium ionic liquid complex 4, the structure of which was confirmed by single-crystal X-ray diffraction analysis. The Heck cross-coupling reactions using 4 in ionic liquid 3f demonstrated excellent stability and recyclability.
Regioselective 1,4-Conjugate Addition of Grignard Reagents to Nitrodienes in the Presence of Catalytic Amounts of Zn(II) Salts

Grignard reagents undergo facile regioselective 1,4-conjugate addition to nitrodienes in the presence of catalytic amounts of Zn(II) salts with excellent yields. A wide range of ligands such as alkyl, aryl, heteroaryl, allyl, vinyl, 1-alkynyl, and alkoxy ligands were transferred, while a thiolate ligand afforded 1,6-regioselectivity. The reactions were successfully carried out on δ-alkyl- or aryl-substituted α,β,γ,δ-diunsaturated nitrodiene substrates. Regioselectivity is minimally influenced by temperature or choice of solvent.
Palladium-catalyzed chemoselective decarboxylative ortho acylation of benzoic acids with α-oxocarboxylic acids.

Palladium-catalyzed chemoselective decarboxylative cross coupling of benzoic acids with α-oxocarboxylic acids was realized via an arene sp2 C–H functionalization process. This work represents the first example of transition-metal-catalyzed cross-coupling reactions with two acids acting in different roles. The synthetic utility of this method was confirmed by the synthesis of pitofenone, an antispasmodic used in the combined drug Spasmalgon.
An Unusual Cause of Iatrogenic Hypertension

A 26-year-old woman was referred for management of resistant hypertension after admission for hypertensive emergency. Her past medical history was notable for attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder and a motor vehicle accident 6 years before presentation that was complicated by subdural hematoma
Automobile Ownership Model That Incorporates Captivity and Proximate Covariance

The modeling effort in this paper is distinguished from previous models of automobile ownership primarily by the use of the dogit ordered generalized extreme value (DOGEV) model rather than the commonly used multinomial logit and ordered probit or logit models. In comparison with other models, the DOGEV model has two distinct features. First, it recognizes the ordinal nature of automobile ownership levels (zero cars, one car, two cars, and three or more cars) by allowing those levels to be correlated in close proximity (i.e., proximate covariance: ownership levels that are close to each other in the ordering have error terms that are correlated). Second, the DOGEV model allows a household’s automobile ownership choice to be captive or constrained to a particular automobile ownership level and, therefore, avoids the potential misspecification of the choice sets for individual households. The modeling approach is based on a behavioral analysis that explains the factors that influence household automobile ow...
Dependence of Electrostatic Field Strength on Voltage Ramp Rate for Spacecraft Materials

This paper investigated the dependence of electrostatic field strength for spacecraft materials on voltage ramp rate, by applying an increasing incremental electrostatic field until electrostatic breakdown occurred. Tests on Kapton E found that at ramp rates two or three orders of magnitude lower than the maximum recommended rate, the electrostatic breakdown field, $F_{\mathrm {ESD}}$ was lower by a factor of two or more. This suggests that the tabulated values of $F_{\mathrm {ESD}}$ , which have been used by the spacecraft charging community, could substantially overestimate $F_{\mathrm {ESD}}$ in common slowly evolving spacecraft situations. This paper expanded these ramp rate tests to include a wider range of ramp rates and additional materials. By contrast, Kapton HN and biaxially oriented polypropylene (BOPP) data were found to be consistent with a single mean value $F_{\mathrm {ESD}}$ , rather than the proposed mean field and incremental voltage step ramp rate models.
F-theory and {N} = 1 SCFTs in four dimensions

Using the F-theory realization, we identify a subclass of 6d (1,0) SCFTs whose compactification on a Riemann surface leads to $$ \mathcal{N} $$ = 1 4d SCFTs where the moduli space of the Riemann surface is part of the moduli space of the theory. In particular we argue that for a special case of these theories (dual to M5 branes probing ADE singularities), we obtain 4d $$ \mathcal{N} $$ = 1 theories whose space of marginal deformations is given by the moduli space of flat ADE connections on a Riemann surface.
Cross-Generational Differences in Educational Outcomes in the Second Great Wave of Immigration.

We use matched birth records and longitudinal student records in Florida to investigate whether first-, second-, and third-generation Asian and Hispanic immigrants have different educational succes...
Significance of CT in Head Injury: Correlation with Intracranial Pressure

The authors correlated the computed tomographic (CT) findings and intracranial pressure (lCP) in 150 consecutive comatose head injury patients to determine if noninvasive CT can help identify the patients not requiring ICP monitoring. The study reveals that a majority of patients (55%) with hemorrhagic lesions shown by CT suffer from intracranial hypertension and require ICP monitoring for proper management. Of the patients with normal initial CT, 98% had normal ICP during the first 24 hr. Of the patients with normal CT, 15% developed intracranial hypertension later, irrespective of the initial Glasgow coma scale score or age. More than half of the patients who developed intracranial hypertension subsequently had normal ICP through the first 48 hr. The study indicates that ICP monitoring need not routinely be performed on admission on severe head injury patients with a normal CT. However, repeat CT at 24–48 hr before ICP monitoring in patients with initially normal CT may be valuable, particularly if their clinical status deteriorates.
Truncated Vector Lattices.

In analysis, truncation is the operation of replacing a nonnegative real-valued function a (x) by its pointwise meet a (x) ∧ 1 with the constant 1 function. A vector lattice A is said to be closed under truncation if a ∧ 1 ∈ A for all a ∈ A. Note that A need not contain 1 itself. Truncation is fundamental to analysis. To give only one example, Lebesgue integration generalizes beautifully to any vector lattice of real-valued functions on a set X, provided the vector lattice is closed under truncation. But vector lattices lacking this property may have integrals which cannot be represented by any measure on X ([5]). Nevertheless, when the integral is formulated in a context broader than R , for example in pointfree analysis, the question of truncation inevitably arises. What is truncation, or more properly, what are its essential properties? In this talk we answer this question by providing the appropriate axiomatization, and then go on to present several representation theorems. The first is a direct generalization of the classical Yosida representation of an archimedean vector lattice with order unit. The second is a direct generalization of Madden’s pointfree representation of archimedean vector lattices. If time permits, we briefly discuss a third sheaf representation which has no direct antecedent in the literature. However, in all three representations the lack of a unit forces a crucial distinction from the corresponding unital representation theorem. The universal object in each case is some sort of family of continuous real-valued functions. The difference is that these functions must vanish at a specified point of the underlying space or locale or sheaf space. With that adjustment, the generalization from units to truncations goes remarkably smoothly. (Details are available from the author [1], [2].)
Luteal phase serum progesterone levels after follicle aspiration with and without clomiphene citrate treatment

Peripheral serum progesterone (P) levels were studied on random days after the spontaneous luteinizing hormone (LH) surge in women who underwent follicle aspiration. Comparisons were made with ovulatory women treated with clomiphene citrate (CC) undergoing follicle aspiration and women undergoing midcycle general anesthesia and laparoscopy without follicle aspiration. There were no differences in mean P levels in the group of women who underwent follicle aspiration, compared with the group who did not. Women treated with CC showed higher P levels during the first week of the luteal phase. During the second week of the luteal phase P levels were similar, regardless of follicle aspiration alone or in combination with CC use. In the groups not using CC, more individual women had P levels
Optical coherence tomography enables imaging of tumor initiation in the TAg-RB mouse model of retinoblastoma.

Purpose Retinoblastoma is the most common primary intraocular malignancy in children. Although significant advances in treatment have decreased mortality in recent years, morbidity continues to be associated with these therapies, and therefore, there is a pressing need for new therapeutic options. Transgenic mouse models are popular for testing new therapeutics as well as studying the pathophysiology of retinoblastoma. The T-antigen retinoblastoma (TAg-RB) model has close molecular and histological resemblance to human retinoblastoma tumors; these mice inactivate pRB by retinal-specific expression of the Simian Virus 40 T-antigens. Here, we evaluated whether optical coherence tomography (OCT) imaging could be used to document tumor growth in the TAg-RB model from the earliest stages of tumor development.
How Wounding via Lasers Has Potential Photocarcinogenic Preventative Effects via Dermal Remodeling

As the incidence of non-melanoma skin cancer (NMSC) is increasing, there is a growing need to identify effective preventive strategies. A recently proposed hypothesis states that NMSC photocarcinogenesis is tightly linked to insufficient insulin growth factor-1 expression by agglomerated senescent fibroblasts in geriatric dermis. This paucity of IGF-1 expression in senile skin allows basal keratinocytes to mitotically propagate their UVB-altered genome and potentially initiate an actinic neoplasm. Here, we review the role of the dermal microenvironment in NMSC pathogenesis, describe the impact of fibroblast senescence on this process, and discuss how laser-induced dermal wounding can be effectively used to prevent NMSC development in geriatric patients.
ILIZAROV HIP RECONSTRUCTION FOR THE ADOLESCENT DIFFICULT PROBLEM HIP

The Pelvic Support Osteotomy (PSO) or Ilizarov Hip Reconstruction(IHR) is well described for the treatment of septic sequelae of infancy. The purpose of this study was to clinically, functionally and radiographically assess our short-term results of this procedure. 25 patients (16 boys, 9 girls) who had undergone a IHR using the Ilizarov/TSF construct over a period of 10 years for a variety of pathologies were reviewed. The mean age at surgery was 15 years 4 months. The pre-operative diagnoses were SCFE(10), hip sepsis (6), DDH (6) and Perthes (3). All had significant leg length discrepancies, 16 had a painful stiff hip, 6 had a painful mobile hip and 3 had a painless unstable hip. At surgery, a mean measured proximal valgus angle of 51° and a mean extension angle of 15° was achieved. Distal femoral lengthening averaged 4.2 cm and distal varus correction was a mean of 8°. The mean fixator time was 173 days. At a mean of 2 years and 7 months follow-up the lower-extremity length discrepancy had improved from a mean of 5.6 cm apparent shortening to 2.3 cm. Trendelenberg sign was eliminated in 18/25 cases. Improvements in range of hip movements and gait parameters were observed. Stance time asymmetry, step length asymmetry, pelvic dip and trunk lurch improved significantly. One patient had conversion to a total hip replacement after 7 years, 4 patients required re-do PSO due to remodelling of the proximal osteotomies, two had heterotopic ossification and two had significant knee stiffness due to lack of compliance. The early results of IHR are encouraging to equalise limb lengths, negate trendelenburg gait, provide a mobile hip with a reasonable axis and the possibility of conversion to THR in the future if needed. Complications need to be anticipated and the effects of remodelling and maintaining adequate knee range of motion must be emphasised.
Computational Investigation of Step Excrescence Sensitivity in a Swept-Wing Boundary Layer

The interaction between an existing stationary crossflow instability and a two-dimensional step excrescence placed into a swept boundary layer on a lifting surface has been investigated computationally. Backward-facing steps were found to not amplify the stationary modes. The existence of an additional local traveling instability was found in the recirculation region following the step. Further time-resolved calculations were recommended to confirm this mode as the cause of breakdown. Forward-facing steps were found to affect the transition location only once a critical step height was exceeded. This height was associated with sudden amplification of stationary crossflow modes and transition moving forward to the step. A physics-based correlation based on linear stability theory and associated with the height of the core of the stationary crossflow vortex was proposed for that critical height, which agreed well with results for the geometry and Reynolds numbers tested experimentally. Critical forward-faci...
Precision atom interferometry

Recent advances in atom optics and atom interferometry have enabled observation of atomic de Broglie wave interference when atomic wavepackets are separated by distances exceeding 50 cm and times of 2 seconds [1]. With further refinements, these methods may lead to meter-scale superpositions. In addition to providing new tests of quantum mechanics, these methods allow inertial force sensors of unprecedented sensitivity. We will describe methods demonstrated and results obtained in a 10 m atomic fountain configuration, their implications for technological applications in geodesy, and their relevance to fundamental studies in gravitational physics. We will describe how entangled atomic ensembles can be used to obtain further performance gains, following our demonstration of 18 dB measurement noise reduction using spin-squeezed atomic states [2].
Temporal Convolutional Networks: A Unified Approach to Action Segmentation

The dominant paradigm for video-based action segmentation is composed of two steps: first, compute low-level features for each frame using Dense Trajectories or a Convolutional Neural Network to encode local spatiotemporal information, and second, input these features into a classifier such as a Recurrent Neural Network (RNN) that captures high-level temporal relationships. While often effective, this decoupling requires specifying two separate models, each with their own complexities, and prevents capturing more nuanced long-range spatiotemporal relationships. We propose a unified approach, as demonstrated by our Temporal Convolutional Network (TCN), that hierarchically captures relationships at low-, intermediate-, and high-level time-scales. Our model achieves superior or competitive performance using video or sensor data on three public action segmentation datasets and can be trained in a fraction of the time it takes to train an RNN.
Agencies of Social Movements: Experiences of Bangladesh’s Shahbag Movement and Hefazat-e-Islam:

This paper aims to address the emergence of parallel yet contradictory social movements in Bangladesh and explore the following question: what political factors in Bangladesh led to the emergence of these parallel movements? Unlike what social movements discourse has addressed, Bangladesh has seen the rise of two powerful and binary camps. To understand the growth of such conflicting movements, this paper hypothesizes that the framing of identity and ideology by the movement participants and the media have engendered the concurrent yet conflicting movements in Bangladesh. The paper focuses on how framing strategies led to ideological polarization between these movements.
Moving forward with an immunotherapy for the prevention of breast cancer recurrence

B cancers cells over express Tumor Associated Carbohydrate Antigens (TACA) but TACA as immunogens is restricted by a limited cooperation between TACA reactive B cell and T cells. To circumvent this draw back we have developed carbohydrate mimetic peptides (CMPs) with overlapping B and T cell epitopes to link TACA reactive humoral responses with anti-tumor cellular responses. Using molecular modeling we have designed a CMP reactive with anti-GD2 and anti-Lewis Y antibodies. CMP immunization leads to an inhibition of tumor cell growth in animal models, which proved dependent on cellular cytotoxicity in the context of Th1 responses induced by CMP vaccination and activation of NK cells. Combination with Cyclophosphamide and IL-12 augments survival in murine tumor models. We observe that the limited and targeted attack resembles more the selflimited disease in models of autoimmune inflammation in non-autoimmune prone individuals. Preclinical safety studies indicate that the CMP induces anti-tumor responses in the absence of autoimmunity. These findings encourage us to hypothesize about the possible cascade of immune events initiated by CMP immunization. Apparently, it can reshape cellular responses in vivo facilitating a multifaceted anti-tumor immune response. Such responses targeting TACA parallel those associated with immune surveillance mechanisms required for prevention of recurrence of breast cancer disease and blood borne dissemination of breast cancer cells. In a limited Phase I study CMP immunization is tolerable and induces an anti-CMP response that is cross-reactive with TACA expressing human tumor cells. Immune modulation based on CMPs provides a new intervention for enhancing antitumor immunotherapy. Thomas Kieber-Emmons, J Cancer Sci Ther 2012, 4:10 http://dx.doi.org/10.4172/1948-5956.S1.023
No-regret replanning under uncertainty

This paper explores the problem of path planning under uncertainty. Specifically, we consider online receding horizon based planners that need to operate in a latent environment where the latent information can be modelled via Gaussian Processes. Online path planning in latent environments is challenging since the robot needs to explore the environment to get a more accurate model of latent information for better planning later and also achieves the task as quick as possible. We propose UCB style algorithms that are popular in the bandit settings and show how those analyses can be adapted to the online robotic path planning problems. The proposed algorithm trades-off exploration and exploitation in near-optimal manner and has appealing no-regret properties. We demonstrate the efficacy of the framework on the application of aircraft flight path planning when the winds are partially observed.
Institutional Investor Participation and Stock Market Anomalies

This paper investigates the impact of institutional trading volume on stock market anomalies. The paper proposes a measure that evaluates the percentage of total trading volume of a stock accounted for by institutional trades. The empirical analyses using a large sample of firms from 1980–2005 provide strong evidence that the strength of stock market anomalies such as price momentum, post-earnings announcement drift, the value premium, and the investment anomaly is decreasing in institutional trading volume. Additionally, the effects of institutional trading volume are stronger than those of institutional ownership, the major measure of institutional investor participation in the finance literature. These findings suggest that institutional trading significantly improves stock price efficiency.
Managers: Their Effects on Accruals and Firm Policies

This paper investigates whether top executives have significant individual-specific effects on accruals that cannot be explained by firm characteristics. Exploiting individual executive and firm data from a period of 37 years, we find that individual executives play a significant role in determining firms’ accruals. We examine whether executives’ effects on accruals are related to their personal styles on firm policies, investment, financing and operating decisions. Our results show that individual executives’ effects on accruals are more correlated with their operating decisions than investment and financing decisions. We next investigate whether managers themselves also have a personal style for directly affecting accruals. We compare effects exerted by CEOs to CFOs. We find CEOs are more likely to affect accruals through firm policy decisions and CFOs are more likely to affect accruals through accounting decisions. CFOs tend to report more ‘solid’ earnings than CEOs, i.e., CFOs are more likely to push accruals to zero.
Achieving Perfect Location Privacy in Wireless Devices Using Anonymization

The popularity of mobile devices and location-based services (LBSs) has raised significant concerns regarding the location privacy of their users. A popular approach to protect location privacy is anonymizing the users of LBS systems. In this paper, we introduce an information-theoretic notion for location privacy, which we call perfect location privacy. We then demonstrate how anonymization should be used by LBS systems to achieve the defined perfect location privacy. We study perfect location privacy under two models for user movements. First, we assume that a user’s current location is independent from her past locations. Using this independent identically distributed (i.i.d.) model, we show that if the pseudonym of the user is changed before $O\left({n^{\frac {2}{r-1}}}\right)$ observations are made by the adversary for that user, then the user has perfect location privacy. Here, $n$ is the number of the users in the network and $r$ is the number of all possible locations. Next, we model users’ movements using Markov chains to better model real-world movement patterns. We show that perfect location privacy is achievable for a user if the user’s pseudonym is changed before $O\left({n^{\frac {2}{|E|-r}}}\right)$ observations are collected by the adversary for that user, where $|E|$ is the number of edges in the user’s Markov chain model.
Statistics and performance under combined impairments induced by polarization-dependent-loss in polarization-division-multiplexing digital coherent transmission

Two-dimensional statistics and Q-penalty performance under the combination of two major impairments induced by polarization-dependent loss, namely level imbalance and loss of orthogonality between polarization-multiplexed tributaries, for a polarization-division-multiplexing digital coherent transmission at over 100-Gb/s are presented for the first time to estimate the outage probability needed for designing the system.
Spatio-temporal sentiment hotspot detection using geotagged photos

We perform spatio-temporal analysis of public sentiment using geotagged photo collections. We develop a deep learning-based classifier that predicts the emotion conveyed by an image. This allows us to associate sentiment with place. We perform spatial hotspot detection and show that different emotions have distinct spatial distributions that match expectations. We also perform temporal analysis using the capture time of the photos. Our spatio-temporal hotspot detection correctly identifies emerging concentrations of specific emotions and year-by-year analyses of select locations show there are strong temporal correlations between the predicted emotions and known events.
Involutions on surfaces

We use equivariant surgery to classify all involutions on closed surfaces, up to isomorphism. Work on this problem is classical, dating back to the nineteenth century, with a complete classification finally appearing in the 1990s. In this paper we give a different approach to the classification, using techniques that are more accessible to algebraic topologists as well as a new invariant (which we call the double-Dickson invariant) for distinguishing the “hard” cases.
Metnase Mediates Loading of Exonuclease 1 onto Single Strand Overhang DNA for End Resection at Stalled Replication Forks

Stalling at DNA replication forks generates stretches of single-stranded (ss) DNA on both strands that are exposed to nucleolytic degradation, potentially compromising genome stability. One enzyme crucial for DNA replication fork repair and restart of stalled forks in human is Metnase (also known as SETMAR), a chimeric fusion protein consisting of a su(var)3-9, enhancer-of-zeste and trithorax (SET) histone methylase and transposase nuclease domain. We previously showed that Metnase possesses a unique fork cleavage activity necessary for its function in replication restart and that its SET domain is essential for recovery from hydroxyurea-induced DNA damage. However, its exact role in replication restart is unclear. In this study, we show that Metnase associates with exonuclease 1 (Exo1), a 5'-exonuclease crucial for 5'-end resection to mediate DNA processing at stalled forks. Metnase DNA cleavage activity was not required for Exo1 5'-exonuclease activity on the lagging strand daughter DNA, but its DNA binding activity mediated loading of Exo1 onto ssDNA overhangs. Metnase-induced enhancement of Exo1-mediated DNA strand resection required the presence of these overhangs but did not require Metnase's DNA cleavage activity. These results suggest that Metnase enhances Exo1-mediated exonuclease activity on the lagging strand DNA by facilitating Exo1 loading onto a single strand gap at the stalled replication fork.
Computing possible and necessary equilibrium actions (and bipartisan set winners)

In many multiagent environments, a designer has some, but limited control over the game being played. In this paper, we formalize this by considering incompletely specified games, in which some entries of the payoff matrices can be chosen from a specified set. We show that it is NP-hard for the designer to make this choices optimally, even in zero-sum games. In fact, it is already intractable to decide whether a given action is (potentially or necessarily) played in equilibrium. We also consider incompletely specified symmetric games in which all completions are required to be symmetric. Here, hardness holds even in weak tournament games (symmetric zero-sum games whose entries are all -1, 0, or 1) and in tournament games (symmetric zero-sum games whose non-diagonal entries are all -1 or 1). The latter result settles the complexity of the possible and necessary winner problems for a social-choice-theoretic solution concept known as the bipartisan set. We finally give a mixed-integer linear programming formulation for weak tournament games and evaluate it experimentally.
Comparative evaluation of big-data systems on scientific image analytics workloads

Scientific discoveries are increasingly driven by analyzing large volumes of image data. Many new libraries and specialized database management systems (DBMSs) have emerged to support such tasks. It is unclear how well these systems support real-world image analysis use cases, and how performant the image analytics tasks implemented on top of such systems are. In this paper, we present the first comprehensive evaluation of large-scale image analysis systems using two real-world scientific image data processing use cases. We evaluate five representative systems (SciDB, Myria, Spark, Dask, and TensorFlow) and find that each of them has shortcomings that complicate implementation or hurt performance. Such shortcomings lead to new research opportunities in making large-scale image analysis both efficient and easy to use.
Energy-based adaptive multiple access in LPWAN IoT systems with energy harvesting

This paper develops a control framework for a network of energy harvesting nodes connected to a Base Station (BS) over a multiple access channel. Due to fluctuations in energy availability and, possibly, energy outages, the number of nodes attempting channel access is random and varies over time. Thus, each node must carefully adapt its access probability to the network state to optimize network performance. In order to reduce the complexity of network control, a lightweight and flexible design framework is proposed where energy storage dynamics are replaced by dynamic average power constraints at each node, induced by the time correlated energy supply. The BS adapts the access probability of the “active” nodes (those currently under a favorable energy harvesting state) so as to maximize throughput. The resulting policy takes the form of access probability as a function of the local energy harvesting state and number of active nodes. The structure of the throughput-optimal policy is analytically derived for the genie-aided case of non-causal knowledge of the number of active nodes. Inspired by it, a Bayesian estimation approach is presented for the more practical scenario where the BS estimates the number of active nodes. The proposed scheme is shown to outperform by 20% a scheme in which the nodes operate based only on local state information, and to be robust against the impact of energy storage dynamics at a fraction of the complexity.
Convergence of approximate solutions to conservation laws

Publisher Summary This chapter discusses a few results on the theoretical side of conservation laws concerning the convergence of approximate solutions. The general setting is a system of n conservation laws in one space dimension. In the context of conservation laws, the maximum norm and the total variation norm provide a natural pair of metrics in which to investigate stability; the maximum norm serving as a measure of the amplitude of the solution and the total variation norm as a measure of the gradient of the solution. Their role is indicated by the theorem concerning the stability and convergence of Glimm's random choice method applied to the Cauchy problem with initial data having small total variation.
Design and Dynamic Pricing of Vertically Differentiated Inventories

We study a model in which a monopoly firm designs the quality profile of its inventory and then dynamically updates its pricing menu for a finite selling horizon to maximize revenue. In a counterfa...
Cell Phone Information Seeking Explains Blood Pressure in African American Women

Although cell phone use and Internet access via cell phone is not marked by racial disparities, little is known about how cell phone use relates to blood pressure and health information seeking behaviors. The purposes of this study were to (a) describe Internet activities, cell phone use, and information seeking; (b) determine differences in blood pressure and information seeking between cell phone information seekers and nonseekers; and (c) examine cell phone information seeking as a predictor of blood pressure in African American women. Participants ( N = 147) completed a survey and had their blood pressure measured. Independent-sample t tests showed a significant difference in systolic blood pressure in cell phone information seekers and nonseekers. Linear regression revealed cell phone information seeking as an independent predictor of systolic blood pressure, despite confounders. It is possible that cell phone information seekers were using health information to make decisions about self-management of blood pressure.
An Efficient Algebraic Solution to the Perspective-Three-Point Problem

In this work, we present an algebraic solution to the classical perspective-3-point (P3P) problem for determining the position and attitude of a camera from observations of three known reference points. In contrast to previous approaches, we first directly determine the cameras attitude by employing the corresponding geometric constraints to formulate a system of trigonometric equations. This is then efficiently solved, following an algebraic approach, to determine the unknown rotation matrix and subsequently the cameras position. As compared to recent alternatives, our method avoids computing unnecessary (and potentially numerically unstable) intermediate results, and thus achieves higher numerical accuracy and robustness at a lower computational cost. These benefits are validated through extensive Monte-Carlo simulations for both nominal and close-to-singular geometric configurations.
Adapting mumble: experience with natural language generation

This paper describes the construction of a MUMBLE-based [5] tactical component for the TEXT text generation system [7]. This new component, which produces fluent English sentences from the sequence of structured message units output from TEXT'S strategic component, has produced a 60-fold speed-up in sentence production. Adapting MUMBLE required work on each of the three parts of the MUMBLE framework: the interpreter, the grammar, and the dictionary. It also provided some insight into the organization of the generation process and the consequences of MUMBLE'S commitment to a deterministic model.
Identification and optimal control of large-scale systems using selective decentralization

In this paper, we explore the capability of selective decentralization in improving the control performance for unknown large-scale systems using model-based approaches. In selective decentralization, we explore all of the possible communication policies among subsystems and show that with the appropriate switching among the resulting multiple identification models (with corresponding communication policies), such selective decentralization significantly outperforms a centralized identification model when the system is weakly interconnected, and performs at least equivalent to the centralized model when the system is strongly interconnected. To derive the sub-optimal control, our control design include two phases. First, we apply system identification to train the approximation model for the unknown system. Second, we find the suboptimal solution of the Halminton-Jacobi-Bellman (HJB) equation to derive the suboptimal control. In linear systems, the HJB equation transforms to the well-solved Riccati equation with closed-form solution. In nonlinear systems, we discretize the approximation model in order to acquire the control unit by using dynamic programming methods for the resulting Markov Decision Process (MDP). We compare the performance among the selective decentralization, the complete decentralization and the centralization in our two-phase control design. Our results show that selective decentralization outperforms the complete decentralization and the centralization approaches when the systems are completely decoupled or strongly interconnected.
SURGICAL RELEASES FOR THE PRIMARY KNEE: FOR EVERYTHING THERE IS A SEASON

An important goal of total knee replacement is deformity correction. Arthritic narrowing can be accompanied by a fixed shortening of the collateral ligament on the same side of the narrowing. There can also be ligamentous laxity that develops in the opposite compartment. Flexion contracture can develop with tightening of the posterior capsule. Successful total knee replacement requires proper bone resection along with gap balancing and balanced collateral ligament tensioning. Beware of correctable deformities, as the collateral ligament may have kept its resting length and therefore the knee becomes stable after the bone resections are made and the spacer block is inserted to test the stability of the knee in flexion and extension. In the varus knee, the MCL may be contracted. A medial release of the superficial medial collateral ligament may be necessary. This can be done by stripping the periosteal insertion of the MCL. A stretch may be accomplished by placing a laminar spreader in the narrow medial joint space and opening the space until the MCL stretches from its insertion. This maneuver will require a further increase in polyethylene thickness height of 2 – 4mm. Krackow has also on occasion done a surgical imbrication of the LCL, if it appears attenuated on the lateral side of a severe varus deformity. For valgus deformities, the LCL, arcuate ligament and popliteus and ITB can be contracted. At this time, most authors recommend preservation of the popliteus tendon as it affects primarily the flexion gap. In extension there has been consensus that the surgeon should release what is tight. This may include the ITB release in a pie-crust fashion, or off the Gerdy9s tubercle and then a selective release of the arcuate ligament complex. Krackow has also utilised tightening imbrication of the MCL if it is severely attenuated and lax. This has been used infrequently, however. To avoid overlengthening of the knee by referencing balance off of the lengthened, attenuated MCL in cases of severe valgus deformity, less release is performed and a CCK implant may be used. For severe flexion contractures, the posterior osteophytes should be first aggressively removed. The posterior joint capsule can be stripped off the distal femur and sometimes the gastrocnemius muscle insertions can be dissected free. After these maneuvers, proximal raising of the joint line by resection of the distal femur can be utilised. In ankylosis with severe flexion contracture, constrained implants will be needed if the proximal resection extends above the insertion of the collateral ligaments. Recurvatum is a rarely seen deformity that is usually associated with an extraordinarily weak or paretic quadriceps. The joint capsule has become stretched over time. Careful balancing of the knee is necessary. But, if the recurvatum still persists, distally augmenting the femur is an option. And no releases are required.
Grafting Charged Species to Membrane-Embedded Scaffolds Dramatically Increases the Rate of Bilayer Flipping

The cell membrane is a barrier to the passive diffusion of charged molecules due to the chemical properties of the lipid bilayer. Surprisingly, recent experiments have identified processes in which synthetic and biological charged species directly transfer across lipid bilayers on biologically relevant time scales. In particular, amphiphilic nanoparticles have been shown to insert into lipid bilayers, requiring the transport of charged species across the bilayer. The molecular factors facilitating this rapid insertion process remain unknown. In this work, we use atomistic molecular dynamics simulations to calculate the free energy barrier associated with “flipping” charged species across a lipid bilayer for species that are grafted to a membrane-embedded scaffold, such as a membrane-embedded nanoparticle. We find that the free energy barrier for flipping a grafted ligand can be over 7 kcal/mol lower than the barrier for translocating an isolated, equivalent ion, yielding a 5 order of magnitude decrease in...