cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Ocean Bi‐Polar Seesaw and Climate: Southern Versus Northern Meltwater Impacts

Model simulations targeting the ocean circulation response to changes in surface salinity in the high latitudes of both Northern and Southern Hemispheres demonstrate that meltwater impacts in one hemisphere may lead to a strengthening of the thermohaline conveyor driven by the source in the opposite hemisphere. This, in turn, leads to significant changes in poleward heat transport. Further, meltwater events caused largely by sea ice melting can lead to deep-sea warming and thermal expansion of abyssal water, that in turn can cause a substantial sea level change even without a major ice sheet melting. Experiments with a glacial ocean circulation regime prone to northern and southern meltwater events imply that glacial cycles may have been influenced by both northern and southern deepwater sources. Importantly, the experiments suggest that the southern source can be a more powerful modulator of the meridional deep-ocean conveyor that the northern source, which challenges our current vision of the North Atlantic Deep Water as an ultimate driver of deep-ocean circulation. Our experiments show that the southern impact can overpower northern ones. Even in the experiment in which the amplitude of the perturbation in the North Atlantic was as high as -3 psu, and the amplitude in the Southern Ocean was only-1 psu, the deep-water regime was qualitatively the same as in the pure Southern Ocean scenario, with somewhat less deep-ocean warming, yet still global and substantial.
A generalized zooming technique for pictorial database systems

Pictorial information processing relies heavily on the establishment of an efficient pictorial database system. Present-day database management systems are designed primarily for efficient storage, retrieval and manipulation of alphanumeric data. Until very recently, little attention has been paid to the storage, retrieval and manipulation of non-alphanumeric information such as digitized images which require a large amount of storage even for pictures of average complexity. With the growing list of new applications in picture processing, such as geographic data processing, demographic data processing, computed tomography, whole-body scanner, earth resources survey satellite (LANDSAT) image processing, regional economic and health data processing, cartographic and mapping applications, etc., the problem of efficient, economical storage, retrieval and manipulation of vast amounts of pictorial information becomes more important and requires careful considerations.
Real options and the costs of the local telecommunications network

The Telecommunications Act of 1996 invites entry in the local telecommunications networks whereby entrants will lease parts of the network (“unbundled network elements”) from incumbents “at cost plus reasonable profit.” A crucial question in the implementation of the Act is the appropriate measure of cost. This paper examines the economic principles on which the cost calculation should be based. It concludes that the appropriate measure of cost (maximizing allocative, productive, and dynamic efficiency) is forward-looking economic cost and not the historical, accounting, or embedded cost of the incumbent’s network. In calculating costs, demand and supply uncertainty, as well as the asymmetric position of incumbents and entrants, should be taken into account. A close examination of the issue of uncertainty in the local telecommunications network reveals that 1) for most unbundled network elements, there is little demand uncertainty, and 2) those elements that face significant uncertainty do not have sunk value. Thus, the incumbent does not face higher expected costs by investing. Moreover, the rewards to the incumbent can be higher because buyers prefer to buy services from the owner of the network. Finally, strategic considerations in oligopolistic interaction are likely to dominate any uncertainty considerations and will increase the incentive of incumbents to invest.
Influence of stress interaction on the behavior of off-axis unidirectional composites

The influence of combined states of stress on the shear response along material principal directions in off-axis, unidirectional, composite coupons is examined for systems whose matrix material obeys the von Mises yield condition. Such analysis is motivated by trends in experimental data observed for at least two composite systems that indicate deviations from pure shear behavior along material directions for various off-axis configurations.
Game Theoretic Methods

Protecting homeland security against intentional attacks on homeland security is fundamentally different from protecting against accidents or acts of nature. In particular, an intelligent and adaptable adversary may adopt a different offensive strategy in response to our protective security measures, in order to circumvent or disable them. Game theory provides a way of taking this into account analytically. Thus, security can benefit from game-theoretic methods. This article discusses approaches for applying game theory to the problem of defending systems against attack. The results yield insights into the nature of optimal defensive investments. Keywords: homeland security; game theory; uncertainty; resource allocation; terrorism; counterterrorism; risk management
Doable General Equilibrium Models: Comments on Three Papers Presented to the AAEA Summer Meetings 1986

Adelman, I., and S. Robinson. "The Application of General Equilibrium Models to Analyze U.S. Agriculture." Clarets, R.L., and J. A. Roumasset. "Comparative Equilibrium Models and Development Policy Analysis: Problems, Pitfalls, and Challenges." Derpanopoulos, J. "Optimal Control of General Equilibrium Models." The three papers listed above are different yet have a common theme: the application of computable general equilibrium (CGE) modeling in agricultural policy analysis. Adelman and Robinson emphasize the agricultural sector in a social accounting matrix (SAM) for the United States. Derpanopoulos provides an optimal control formulation for CGE-like models. It is interesting and telling that the papers, although advocating the CGE approach, are about models only partially incorporating the associated concepts (Scarf 1983). After some general comments on CGE modeling, brief observations are offered on the three papers.
The fetal electrocardiogram in multiple pregnancy.

Abstract 1. 1. The fetal electrocardiogram is shown to be a useful tool in the study of multiple pregnancy. 2. 2. Recordings from 9 sets of twins, one set of triplets, and one set of quadruplets are presented. 3. 3. Diagnosis of a twin pregnancy at 16 weeks is demonstrated. 4. 4. The possibility of studying the presentation of the fetuses is discussed. 5. 5. The fetal electrocardiogram is suggested as an alternate method of diagnosis when x-ray technique may not be desired.
The Laplace transform, mirror symmetry, and the topological recursion of Eynard-Orantin

This paper is based on the author’s talk at the 2012 Workshop on Geometric Methods in Physics held in Bialowieza, Poland. The aim of the talk is to introduce the audience to the Eynard–Orantin topological recursion. The formalism is originated in random matrix theory. It has been predicted, and in some cases it has been proven, that the theory provides an effective mechanism to calculate certain quantum invariants and a solution to enumerative geometry problems, such as open Gromov–Witten invariants of toric Calabi–Yau threefolds, single and double Hurwitz numbers, the number of lattice points on the moduli space of smooth algebraic curves, and quantum knot invariants. In this paper we use the Laplace transform of generalized Catalan numbers of an arbitrary genus as an example, and present the Eynard–Orantin recursion. We examine various aspects of the theory, such as its relations to mirror symmetry, Gromov–Witten invariants, integrable hierarchies such as the KP equations, and the Schrodinger equations.
On the Word Problem for Combinators

In 1936 Alonzo Church observed that the “word problem” for combinators is undecidable. He used his student Kleene’s representation of partial recursive functions as lambda terms. This illustrates very well the point that “word problems” are good problems in the sense that a solution either way - decidable or undecidable - can give useful information. In particular, this undecidability proof shows us how to program arbitrary partial recursive functions as combinators.
Pricing Water and Sanitation Services

This chapter describes the main options for designing water and sanitation (W&S) tariffs, including the basic ideas of dynamic marginal cost pricing in the W&S sector. The chapter discusses the different objectives of water tariff design and the reasons why water pricing is controversial. Cost estimates of providing W&S network services are presented in order to illustrate the challenges associated with the objective of cost recovery. Alternative W&S development paths are explored for moving from low levels of W&S service (or no service at all) to modern piped services, as well as the costs associated with various incremental changes. The chapter shows how a two part tariff can be used to achieve both economic efficiency and cost recovery objectives. It also discusses how subsidies can be best used in the W&S sector to reach poor households.
Logarithmic time parallel Bayesian inference

I present a parallel algorithm for exact probabilistic inference in Bayesian networks. For polytree networks with n variables, the worstcase time complexity is O(logn) on a CREW PRAM (concurrent-read, exclusive-write parallel random-access machine) with n processors, for any constant number of evidence variables. For arbitrary networks, the time complexity is O(r3w log n) for n processors, or O(w log n) for r3w log n processors, where r is the maximum range of any variable, and w is the induced width (the maximum clique size), after moralizing and triangulating the network.
Combination of Kinematics with Flow Visualization to Compute Total Circulation

A method is described in which kinematics is exploited to compute the total circulation of a vortex from relatively simple flow visualization experiments. There are several advantages in the technique, including the newly acquired ability to calculate the changes in strength of a single vortex as it evolves. The main concepts and methodology are discussed in a general way for application to vortices which carry along with them definable regions of essentially irrotational fluid; however, the approach might be generalized to other flows which contain regions of concentrated vorticity. As an illustrative example, an application to the study of the transient changes in total circulation of individual vortex rings as they travel up a tube is described, taking into account the effect of the tube boundary. The accuracy of the method, assessed in part by a direct comparison with a laser Doppler measurement is felt to be well within experimental precision for vortex rings over a wide range of Reynolds numbers.
An Active Conceptual Model for Fixed Income Securities Analysis for Multiple Financial Institutions

The practical implementation and use of a mediator for fixed income securities analysis demonstrated the potential for extending the application of conceptual modeling from the system design stage to providing query access to both data and computational resources. The mediator product was designed as a general interpretive engine specialized and controlled by the declarative knowledge from the conceptual model. The fixed income conceptual model included securities ranging in complexity from Treasury bills to collateralized mortgage obligations, as well as standard and proprietary analytic methodologies and calculations. All information, whether computed or retrieved from databases, was offered to clients in the form of attributes of conceptual entities. Client preference entities and attributes were used to control selection among conceptually interchangeable source data and procedural components. Experience from this implementation provides insight into the requirements for successful application of a conceptual model in mediating among heterogeneous, autonomous users and information resources.
The impact of pro-vulnerable income transfers : Leisure, dependency and a distribution hypothesis

This paper studies a transmission mechanism through which pro-vulnerable income transfers may affect individual decision-making of non-beneficiaries in an extreme poverty context, leading to labor supply contraction and the so-called dependency syndrome. The argument is based on the distributional distortion this transfer may provoke to the relative quality of leisure, enjoyed by the population in an extreme poverty scenario. Assuming the existence of vulnerable individuals and different income groups based on certain physical, economic, or social characteristics, the author studies their decision processes and, in particular, their reactions to the aid program. The results of this theoretical research provide some insights on the conditions that an optimal pro-poor income transfer should present. A literature review is presented in support of the arguments made in the theoretical part.
The effects of personality traits on adult labor market outcomes: Evidence from siblings

Abstract While large literatures have shown that cognitive ability and schooling increases employment and wages, an emerging literature examines the importance of so-called “non-cognitive skills” in producing labor market outcomes. However, this smaller literature has not typically used causal methods in estimating the results. One source of heterogeneity that may play an important role in producing both personality and other non-cognitive skills and labor market outcomes is family background, including genetic endowments. This paper is the first to use sibling differences to estimate the associations between personality on employment and wages and is also able to control for many other sources of heterogeneity, including attractiveness, cognitive ability, schooling, occupation, and other factors. Overall, the findings suggest that personality measures have important associations with labor market outcomes in adulthood and that the results vary considerably by demographic group. The findings also highlight the potential role of extraversion in being associated with favorable labor market outcomes, which has not been documented in many other studies.
Some new light on a few classical results

The purpose of this paper is to describe a unified approach to proving vector-valued inequalities without relying on the full strength of weighted theory. Our applications include the Fefferman–Stein and Cordoba–Fefferman inequalities, as well as the vector-valued Carleson operator. Using this approach we also produce a proof of the boundedness of the classical bi-parameter multiplier operators, which does not rely on product theory. Our arguments are inspired by the vector-valued restricted type interpolation used by Bateman and Thiele (2013).
Distributed dynamic partial order reduction based verification of threaded software

Runtime (dynamic) model checking is a promising verification methodology for real-world threaded software because of its many features, the prominent ones being: (i) it avoids the need to extract a model and instead runs the actual code, and (ii) the precision of information available at run-time allows techniques such as dynamic partial order reduction (DPOR) [1] to dramatically cut down the number of interleavings examined. Unfortunately, DPOR does not have many implementations for real thread libraries such as POSIX Pthreads, and suffers from high computational overheads due to a stateless search that requires re-executions. In our previous work [2], we designed a runtime model checker, inspect, that overcomes the first of these drawbacks. Inspect has been shown capable of detecting data races, deadlocks and other incorrect API usages in real-world PThreads C programs. In this paper, we describe a distributed version of inspect, which implements an extended DPOR algorithm. Our two key contributions are: (i) a practical algorithm for distributed dynamic partial order reduction; (ii) the innovations that helped distributed inspect attain nearly linear (with respect to the number of CPUs) speedup on realistic examples.
Joint density of eigenvalues in spiked multivariate models

The classical methods of multivariate analysis are based on the eigenvalues of one or two sample covariance matrices. In many applications of these methods, for example to high dimensional data, it is natural to consider alternative hypotheses which are a low rank departure from the null hypothesis. For rank one alternatives, this note provides a representation for the joint eigenvalue density in terms of a single contour integral. This will be of use for deriving approximate distributions for likelihood ratios and ‘linear’ statistics used in testing.
Child labor across the developing world : patterns and correlations

The aim of this study is two-fold. First, based on summary data at the country-level for an unusually large set of developing countries originally obtained from household sample surveys conducted between 1993 and 2003, the authors construct a detailed profile of child economic activity and child labor, attempting, wherever the data permit, to identify similarities and differences across regions and between genders. Second, they link the country-level data on child economic activity and child labor to country-level indicators of the state of economic and social development in the same time period in order to (1) ascertain if cross-country correlations previously identified in the literature are found in the data, and (2) illumine other possible correlations that may exist. As part of this exercise, the authors examine one important relationship that has thus far not been directly investigated in the literature, namely, the cross-country correlation between child labor, agriculture, and poverty.
Projections Onto Efficient Frontiers: Theoretical and Computational Extensions to DEA

Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) has been widely studied in the literature since its inception in 1978. The methodology behind the classical DEA, the oriented method, is to hold inputs (outputs) constant and to determine how much of an improvement in the output (input) dimensions is necessary in order to become efficient. This paper extends this methodology in two substantive ways. First, a method is developed that determines the least-norm projection from an inefficient DMU to the efficient frontier in both the input and output space simultaneously, and second, introduces the notion of the “observable” frontier and its subsequent projection. The observable frontier is the portion of the frontier that has been experienced by other DMUs (or convex combinations of such) and thus, the projection onto this portion of the frontier guarantees a recommendation that has already been demonstrated by an existing DMU or a convex combination of existing DMUs. A numerical example is used to illustrate the importance of these two methodological extensions.
THE FIRST Pv-Pv COMPOUND: BIS(CYCLENPHOSPHORANE), (C8H16N4P)2

Abstract Synthetic routes leading to the formation of the first Pv-Pv compound, bis(cyclenphosphorane) (C8H16N4P)2 (3), are described. The coupling reaction between the lithiated derivative of cyclenphosphorane (1) and cyclenfluorophosphorane (2) yields 3. Bis(cyclenphosphorane) has also been detected as one of the products formed in the reaction of 1 and benzyl bromide. Single-crystal X-ray diffraction analysis, shows that the macrocyclic nitrogen-containing ligands, N4(CH2)8, are arranged around the phosphorus atoms, giving a pentacoordinate geometry displaced 33% from the idealized trigonal bipyramid toward the square pyramid. 3 crystallizes in the orthorhombic space group Ccca, with a = 14.777 (6) A, b = 14.549 (6) A, c = 8.664 (3) A, and Z = 4. Data were collected with an automated Enraf-Nonius CAD 4 diffractometer, out to a maximum 2θMoKαmoica of 55°. Full-matrix least-squares refinement techniques led to the final agreement factors of R = 0.038 and Rw = 0.055 based on the 850 reflections having I ≥...
Limits on the Detection of Transients Imposed by Scattering

Three scattering mechanisms that limit the observable properties low-frequency emission from transient sources are discussed. Both Induced Compton and Induced Raman scattering hinder the escape of the bright radiation envisaged to be generated from the compact extragalactic transients and that many hope to detect with future widefield radio teles copes. In cases where the radiation is observed, these processes place strong constraints on the nature of the mechanism responsible for the emission. Scattering in the Intergalactic Medium is a potentially powerful tool for probing the structure of all the ionized baryons in the IGM (in which most of the baryonic mass of the universe resides at z . 7), but is also likely to strongly hinder the observability o f short-timescale events at frequencies below ∼ 300 MHz. We apply this scattering physics to the transient recently reported by Lorimer et al. to show that: (i) the actual event r ate of these sorts of transients, after taking beaming into account, must exceed ∼ 10 13 day −1 over the sky and (ii) the duration of the event implies that turbulence exists in the IGM down to scales less than ∼ 7 × 10 7 m, from which we estimate the magnetic field in the IGM scaattering region t o be & 4(Te/10 3 K) 1/2 nG.
Infrared Light Curves of Mira Variable Stars from COBE DIRBE Data

We have used the COBE DIRBE database to derive near- and mid-infrared light curves for a well-defined sample of 38 infrared-bright Mira variable stars and compared with optical data from the AAVSO. In general the 3.5 and 4.9 lm DIRBE bandpasses provide the light curves with the best signal-to-noise ratio (S/N), with S/N decreasing with wavelength at longer wavelengths. At 25 lm good light curves are only available for � 10% of our stars, and at wavelengths � 60 lm extracting high quality light curves is not possible. The amplitude of variability is typically less in the near-infrared than in the optical and less in the mid-infrared than in the near-infrared, with decreasing amplitude with increasing wavelength. On average there are 0.20 � 0.01 mag variation at 1.25 lm and 0.14 � 0.01 mag variation at 4.9 lm for each magnitude variation in V. The observed amplitudes are consistent with results of recent theoretical models of circumstellar dust shells around Mira variables. For a few stars in our sample we find clear evidence of time lags between the optical and near-infrared maxima of phase � 0.05–0.13, with no lags in the minima. For three stars mid-infrared maximum appears to occur slightly before that in the near-infrared, but after optical maximum. We find three examples of secondary maxima in the rising portions of the DIRBE light curves, all of which have optical counterparts in the AAVSO data, supporting the hypothesis that they are due to shocks rather than newly formed dust layers. We find no conclusive evidence for rapid (hours to days) variations in the infrared brightnesses of these stars.
Interannual variability of mid-tropospheric CO2 from Atmospheric Infrared Sounder

Atmospheric Infrared Sounder (AIRS) offers a unique opportunity to investigate the variability of mid-tropospheric CO_2 over the entire globe. In this paper, we use AIRS data to examine the interannual variability of CO_2 and find significant correlations between AIRS mid-tropospheric CO_2 and large-scale atmospheric dynamics. During El Nino events, mid-tropospheric CO_2 over the central Pacific Ocean is enhanced whereas it is reduced over the western Pacific Ocean as a result of the change in the Walker circulation. The variation of AIRS CO_2 in the high latitudes of the northern hemisphere is closely related to the strength of the northern hemispheric annular mode. These results contribute to a better understanding of the influence of large-scale dynamics on tracer distributions.
Contracting into Liability Rules: Intellectual Property Rights and Collective Rights Organizations

As intellectual property rights have gained in prominence, businesspeople and scholars alike have complained of the increasing burden of obtaining intellectual property licenses and, failing this, litigating intellectual property disputes. Intellectual property experts, especially scholars, have responded to this burgeoning thicket of rights with a series of initiatives to expedite deal making by means of statutory compulsory licensing. These licenses are classic examples of "liability rulesh" in the foundational legal entitlements framework of Guido Calabresi and A. Douglas Melamed. They appear to be a compromise: they address the mushrooming transactional hurdle created by new and stronger intellectual property rights, while preserving most of the economic advantages that accompany strengthened rights. In this Article, Professor Merges argues that proposals to create more compulsory licenses are rooted in a faulty theoretical framework. Based on a survey of the diverse institutions various industries have cultivated to handle intellectual property transactions, Merges contends that "repeat players" (individuals and firms that frequently need to exchange rights) can and often do take steps to overcome transactional bottlenecks. Whether through copyright collectives, such as ASCAP and BMI in the music industry, or undertakings such as patent pools in automobile and aircraft manufacturing, those with a recurring need to transact in intellectual property rights invest in administrative structures that lower the costs of exchanging rights. Among other functions, these collective rights organizations promulgate rules and procedures for placing a monetary value on members' property rights. They thus conserve on transaction costs either by making it easier to identify and locate rightholders, or by creating the occasion for repeat-play, reciprocal bargaining, versus more costly one-shot exchanges. Drawing on a body of academic literature known as the new institutional economics, Professor Merges explains and analyzes the origins and operation of these organizations. He also argues that entitlement theory must be adjusted to recognize the possibility that such institutions will evolve out of a background of strong property rights. More generally, he points out that entitlement theory ought to incorporate a more dynamic understanding of the importance of contracting after entitlements are granted. Professor Merges applies his observations and theoretical insights to an important contemporary controversy: whether Congress ought to legislate a compulsory license for digital content needed by the multimedia industry. He argues that it should not. Given the underlying economics, and consistent with experience in other industries, existing intellectual property rights will force industry participants to invest in institutions to conduct transactions. Indeed, consistent with the analysis in this Article, evidence indicates this is already occurring.
On the Complexity of Local Search in Unconstrained Quadratic Binary Optimization

We consider the problem of finding a local minimum of a binary quadratic function and show by an elementary construction that every descending local search algorithm takes exponential time in the worst case.
Synthesis of 7-norbornenols via Diels–Alder cycloadditions of cyclopentadienol generated by decomposition of ferrocenium cation

Ferrocenium hexafluorophosphate, Cp2FePF6, was determined to be a convenient source of cyclopentadienol when stirred open to air in a mixture of acetonitrile and water. The cyclopentadienol was intercepted via Diels–Alder reaction with a variety of dienophiles to afford cycloadducts having 7-norbornenol cores. Reactions were stereoselective, producing single diastereomers from endo approach of the dienophile syn to the OH substituent of the cyclopentadienol.
Moduli Spaces of Phylogenetic Trees Describing Tumor Evolutionary Patterns

Cancers follow a clonal Darwinian evolution, with fitter subclones replacing more quiescent cells, ultimately giving rise to macroscopic disease. High-throughput genomics provides the opportunity to investigate these processes and determine specific genetic alterations driving disease progression. Genomic sampling of a patient’s cancer provides a molecular history, represented by a phylogenetic tree. Cohorts of patients represent a forest of related phylogenetic structures. To extract clinically relevant information, one must represent and statistically compare these collections of trees. We propose a framework based on an application of the work by Billera, Holmes and Vogtmann on phylogenetic tree spaces to the case of unrooted trees of intra-individual cancer tissue samples. We observe that these tree spaces are globally nonpositively curved, allowing for statistical inference on populations of patient histories. A projective tree space is introduced, permitting visualizations of evolutionary patterns. Published data from four types of human malignancies are explored within our framework.
Fractional Cointegration and the False Rejection of the Law of One Price in International Commodity Markets

This study examines the Law of One Price (LOP) in international commodity markets using fractional cointegration analysis. For proper evaluation of the LOP, fractional cointegration analysis seems to be appropriate because of its flexibility in capturing a wider range of mean reversion behavior than standard cointegration analysis. Out of nine pairs of price series examined, fractional cointegration supports the existence of the LOP in eight cases, as compared to three cases using standard cointegration procedures. Overall, these results suggest that there is a long-run tendency for the LOP to hold for commodity prices.
Prison crowding, recidivism, and early release in early Rhode Island

Prison crowding is a pervasive modern problem with deep historical roots. The long-term solution to crowding has been more prisons; the short-term solution is early release. Early release programs can be effective when they balance the savings of reduced prison costs against the costs of recidivism by released convicts. This paper uses historical data to investigate how prison officials altered their early release policies in the face of prison crowding and rising real detention costs. The empirical evidence is consistent with the hypothesis that prison officials make use of information about the risks of recidivism revealed at trial and during incarceration to make informed decisions about whom to release and when.
Quantum Bruhat graph and Schubert polynomials

The quantum Bruhat graph, which is an extension of the graph formed by covering relations in the Bruhat order, is naturally related to the quantum cohomology ring of G/B. We enhance a result of Fulton and Woodward by showing that the minimal monomial in the quantum parameters that occurs in the quantum product of two Schubert classes has a simple interpretation in terms of directed paths in this graph. We define path Schubert polynomials, which are quantum cohomology analogs of skew Schubert polynomials recently introduced by Lenart and Sottile. They are given by sums over paths in the quantum Bruhat graph of type A. The 3-point Gromov-Witten invariants for the flag manifold are expressed in terms of these polynomials. This construction gives a combinatorial description for the set of all monomials in the quantum parameters that occur in the quantum product of two Schubert classes.
Financial Development, Gender and Entrepreneurship

Female entrepreneurs are much less frequent than male entrepreneurs. In this paper we investigate a possible culprit: access to financial services. We use a dataset with entrepreneurship rates by opportunity and by need from the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor and indicators of financial institutions from Beck, Demirguc-Kunt and Levine (2000) for 41 developed and developing countries from 2001 to 2004. Our conclusions are that financial development, though generally encouraging entrepreneurial activity, is unlikely, by itself, to contribute to bring male and female entrepreneurship rates closer together. Moreover, our results suggest that it is entrepreneurship by need that is most affected by financial development, suggesting that the possible more complex aspects of evaluating projects associated with market or technological opportunities are not overcome by aggregate financial development and need more specific measures.
Faster phase estimation

We develop several algorithms for performing quantum phase estimation based on basic measurements and classical post-processing. We present a pedagogical review of quantum phase estimation and simulate the algorithm to numerically determine its scaling in circuit depth and width. We show that the use of purely random measurements requires a number of measurements that is optimal up to constant factors, albeit at the cost of exponential classical post-processing; the method can also be used to improve classical signal processing. We then develop a quantum algorithm for phase estimation that yields an asymptotic improvement in runtime, coming within a factor of log* of the minimum number of measurements required while still requiring only minimal classical post-processing. The corresponding quantum circuit requires asymptotically lower depth and width (number of qubits) than quantum phase estimation.
Time-dependent utility and action under uncertainty

We discuss representing and reasoning with knowledge about the time-dependent utility of an agent's actions. Time-dependent utility plays a crucial role in the interaction between computation and action under bounded resources. We present a semantics for time-dependent utility and describe the use of time-dependent information in decision contexts. We illustrate our discussion with examples of time-pressured reasoning in Protos, a system constructed to explore the ideal control of inference by reasoners with limit abilities.
Tropical Cyclone Diurnal Cycle as Observed by TRMM

AbstractPrevious work has indicated a clear, consistent diurnal cycle in rainfall and cold cloudiness coverage around tropical cyclones. This cycle may have important implications for structure and intensity changes of these storms and the forecasting of such changes. The goal of this paper is to use passive and active microwave measurements from the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) Microwave Imager (TMI) and Precipitation Radar (PR), respectively, to better understand the tropical cyclone diurnal cycle throughout a deep layer of a tropical cyclone’s clouds.The composite coverage by PR reflectivity ≥20 dBZ at various heights as a function of local standard time (LST) and radius suggests the presence of a diurnal signal for radii <500 km through a deep layer (2–10-km height) of the troposphere using 1998–2011 Atlantic tropical cyclones of at least tropical storm strength. The area covered by reflectivity ≥20 dBZ at radii 100–500 km peaks in the morning (0130–1030 LST) and reaches a minimum 1030–1...
Religiosity and the Volatility of Stock Prices: A Cross-Country Analysis

Prior research argues that religiosity increases the ethical behavior and levels of risk aversion of firm managers. To the extent that this is true, more religious countries might exhibit more stability in stock prices. This study tests this assertion by determining whether religiosity in countries is negatively associated with volatility in financial markets. Using a unique empirical design, we account for the possibility that the structure of financial markets is endogenously related to a country’s religiosity by examining the volatility of American Depositary Receipts (ADRs) while conditioning on a number of home country variables capturing religiosity. We also control for the possibility of endogeneity bias by identifying an appropriate instrumental variable. Interestingly, our tests show that religious affiliation and, to a lesser extent, religious adherence and religious beliefs negatively affect the level of ADR volatility.
Partitioning into expanders

Let G = (V, E) be an undirected graph, λk be the kth smallest eigenvalue of the normalized laplacian matrix of G. There is a basic fact in algebraic graph theory that λk > 0 if and only if G has at most k -- 1 connected components. We prove a robust version of this fact. If λk > 0, then for some 1 ≤ e ≤ k -- 1, V can be partitioned into e sets P1, ..., Pe such that each Pi is a low-conductance set in G and induces a high conductance induced subgraph. In particular, [EQUATION] and [EQUATION]-expander.We make our results algorithmic by designing a simple polynomial time spectral algorithm to find such partitioning of G with a quadratic loss in the inside conductance of Pi's. Unlike the recent results on higher order Cheeger's inequality [6, 9], our results does not use higher order eigenfunctions of G. If there is a sufficiently large gap between λk and λk+1, more precisely if [EQUATION] then our algorithm finds a k partitioning of V into sets P1, ..., Pk such that the induced subgraph G[Pi] has a singnificantly larger conductance than the conductance of Pi in G. Such a partitioning may represent the best k clusterings of G. Our algorithm is a simple local search that only uses the Spectral Partitioning algorithm as a subroutine. We expect to see further applications of this simple algorithm in clustering applications.Let ρ(k) = [EQUATION] be the order k conductance constant of G, in words, ρ(k) is the smallest value of the maximum conductance of any k disjoint subsets of V. Our main technical lemma shows that if (1+e)ρ(k)
Trocar injuries in laparoscopic surgery.

Abstract BACKGROUND: Disposable trocars with safety shields are widely used for laparoscopic access. The aim of this study was to analyze risk factors associated with injuries resulting from their use as reported to the Food and Drug Administration. STUDY DESIGN: Manufacturers are required to report medical device-related incidents to the Food and Drug Administration. We analyzed the 629 trocar injuries reported from 1993 through 1996. RESULTS: There were three types of injury: 408 injuries of major blood vessels, 182 other visceral injuries (mainly bowel injuries), and 30 abdominal wall hematomas. Of the 32 deaths, 26 (81%) resulted from vascular injuries and 6 (19%) resulted from bowel injuries. Eighty-seven percent of deaths from vascular injuries involved the use of disposable trocars with safety shields and 9% involved disposable trocars with a direct-viewing feature. The aorta (23%) and inferior vena cava (15%) were the vessels most commonly traumatized in the fatal vascular injuries. Ninety-one percent of bowel injuries involved trocars with safety shields and 7% involved direct-view trocars. The diagnosis of an enterotomy was delayed in 10% of cases, and the mortality rate in this group was 21%. In 41 cases (10%) the surgeon initially thought the trocar had malfunctioned, but in only 1 instance was malfunction subsequently found when the device was examined. The likelihood of injury was not related to any specific procedure or manufacturer. CONCLUSIONS: These data show that safety shields and direct-view trocars cannot prevent serious injuries. Retroperitoneal vascular injuries should be largely avoidable by following safe techniques. Bowel injuries often went unrecognized, in which case they were highly lethal. Device malfunction was rarely a cause of trocar injuries.
Proportional Fair Traffic Splitting and Aggregation in Heterogeneous Wireless Networks

Traffic load balancing and resource allocation is set to play a crucial role in leveraging the dense and increasingly heterogeneous deployment of multiradio wireless networks. Traffic aggregation across different access points (APs)/radio access technologies (RATs) has become an important feature of recently introduced cellular standards on LTE dual connectivity and LTE-WLAN aggregation (LWA). Low complexity traffic splitting solutions for scenarios where the APs are not necessarily collocated are of great interest for operators. In this letter, we consider a scenario, where traffic for each user may be split across macrocell and an LTE or WiFi small cells connected by nonideal backhaul links, and develop a closed form solution for optimal aggregation accounting for the backhaul delay. The optimal solution lends itself to a “water-filling” based interpretation, where the fraction of user’s traffic sent over macrocell is proportional to ratio of user’s peak capacity on that macrocell and its throughput on the small cell. Using comprehensive system level simulations, the developed optimal solution is shown to provide substantial edge and median throughput gain over algorithms representative of current 3GPP-WLAN interworking solutions. The achievable performance benefits hold promise for operators expecting to introduce aggregation solutions with their existing WLAN deployments.
A probabilistic threshold for monochromatic arithmetic progressions

Let f r ( k ) = k ? r k / 2 (where r ? 2 is fixed) and consider r-colorings of 1 , n k = { 1 , 2 , ? , n k } . We show that f r ( k ) is a threshold function for k-term arithmetic progressions in the following sense: if n k = ω ( f r ( k ) ) , then lim k ? ∞ ? P ( 1 , n k contains a monochromatic k -term arithmetic progression ) = 1 ; while, if n k = o ( f r ( k ) ) , then lim k ? ∞ ? P ( 1 , n k ?contains a k -term monochromatic arithmetic progression ) = 0 .
New chiral fermions, a new gauge interaction, Dirac neutrinos, and dark matter

We propose that all light fermionic degrees of freedom, including the Standard Model (SM) fermions and all possible light beyond-the-standard-model fields, are chiral with respect to some spontaneously broken abelian gauge symmetry. Hypercharge, for example, plays this role for the SM fermions. We introduce a new symmetry, U(1) ν , for all new light fermionic states. Anomaly cancellations mandate the existence of several new fermion fields with nontrivial U(1) ν charges. We develop a concrete model of this type, for which we show that (i) some fermions remain massless after U(1) ν breaking — similar to SM neutrinos — and (ii) accidental global symmetries translate into stable massive particles — similar to SM protons. These ingredients provide a solution to the dark matter and neutrino mass puzzles assuming one also postulates the existence of heavy degrees of freedom that act as “mediators” between the two sectors. The neutrino mass mechanism described here leads to parametrically small Dirac neutrino masses, and the model also requires the existence of at least four Dirac sterile neutrinos. Finally, we describe a general technique to write down chiral-fermions-only models that are at least anomaly-free under a U(1) gauge symmetry.
Large deviations for multidimensional state-dependent shot noise processes

Shot-noise processes are used in applied probability to model a variety of physical systems in, for example, teletraffic theory, insurance and risk theory, and in the engineering sciences. In this paper we prove a large deviation principle for the sample-paths of a general class of multidimensional state-dependent Poisson shot-noise processes. The result covers previously known large deviation results for one-dimensional state-independent shot-noise processes with light tails. We use the weak convergence approach to large deviations, which reduces the proof to establishing the appropriate convergence of certain controlled versions of the original processes together with relevant results on existence and uniqueness.
The effects of refractive index heterogeneity within kidney tissue on multiphoton fluorescence excitation microscopy.

Although multiphoton fluorescence excitation microscopy has improved the depth at which useful fluorescence images can be collected in biological tissues, the reach of multiphoton fluorescence excitation microscopy is nonetheless limited by tissue scattering and spherical aberration. Scattering can be reduced in fixed samples by mounting in a medium whose refractive index closely matches that of the fixed material. Using optical ‘clearing’, the effects of refractive index heterogeneity on signal attenuation with depth are investigated. Quantitative measurements show that by mounting kidney tissue in a high refractive index medium, less than 50% of signal attenuates in 100 µm of depth.
The TPTP world - infrastructure for automated reasoning

The TPTP World is a well known and established infrastructure that supports research, development, and deployment of Automated Theorem Proving (ATP) systems for classical logics. The data, standards, and services provided by the TPTP World have made it increasingly easy to build, test, and apply ATP technology. This paper reviews the core features of the TPTP World, describes key service components of the TPTP World, presents some successful applications, and gives an overview of the most recent developments.
A CMOS spiking neuron for dense memristor-synapse connectivity for brain-inspired computing

Neuromorphic systems that densely integrate CMOS spiking neurons and nano-scale memristor synapses open a new avenue of brain-inspired computing. Existing silicon neurons have molded neural biophysical dynamics but are incompatible with memristor synapses, or used extra training circuitry thus eliminating much of the density advantages gained by using memristors, or were energy-inefficient. Here we describe a novel CMOS spiking leaky integrate-and-fire neuron circuit. Building on a reconfigurable architecture with a single opamp, the described neuron accommodates a large number of memristor synapses, and enables online spike timing dependent plasticity (STDP) learning with optimized power consumption. Simulation results of an 180nm CMOS design showed 97% power efficiency metric when realizing STDP learning in 10,000 memristor synapses with a nominal 1MΩ memristance, and only 13µA current consumption when integrating input spikes. Therefore, the described CMOS neuron contributes a generalized building block for large-scale brain-inspired neuromorphic systems.
Evaluation of the effects of circular Descemet's membrane incision on the biomechanical, topographic and optical properties of rabbit corneas

Background: Prospective interventional animal case series to investigate quantitatively changes in corneal light-scattering, corneal hysteresis, keratometry and pachymetry induced by circular Descemet's membrane incision. Methods: Thirty mature New Zealand White rabbits were divided into three study groups: (i) surgical intervention with circular Descemet's incision; (ii) surgical control; and (iii) medical control. Group 1 eyes had two paracenteses placed 120 degrees apart and an 8.5-mm-diameter Descemetorhexis was created with a reverse Sinskey hook. Group 2 eyes had two paracenteses placed 120 degrees apart. The main outcome measures were scatterometry, corneal hysteresis, pachymetry and keratometry measurements, which were performed prior to and 2 weeks following the interventions. Histology and transmission electron microscopy were performed post-mortem in representative eyes. Results: Eyes that had undergone circular Descemet's incision had significantly decreased mean keratometry (43.9 ± 0.7 dioptres [mean ± standard deviation] preoperatively vs. 43.5 ± 0.9 dioptres postoperatively, P = 0.007). Circular Descemet's membrane incision did not significantly change corneal hysteresis (4.4 ± 1.1 mmHg preoperatively vs. 4.6 ± 0.9 mmHg postoperatively, P = 0.664). Corneal light scattering decreased after Descemet's scoring (0.00254 ± 0.00059 preoperatively vs. 0.00206 ± 0.00031 postoperatively, P = 0.0025). Pachymetry measurements remained relatively stable (341.3 ± 18.6 µm preoperatively vs. 330.6 ± 20.0 µm postoperatively) without postoperative oedema. Conclusions: Circular Descemet's scoring flattened the corneal curvature by a mean of 0.4 dioptres without affecting corneal hysteresis in rabbit corneas. These findings may have important implications for ongoing developments in endothelial keratoplasty.