cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Can a neural circuit support multiple signal patterns

In this study, a comprehensive cell-by-cell, synapse-by-synapse model of a living central pattern generator network was implemented in analog VLSI CMOS. In the final model, rhythms and waveforms for membrane potential in each cell were seen to compare faithfully and regularly with those of their living counterparts with nominal settings, but as key cell parameters were varied, the network assumed alternate signal patterns and rhythms. This suggests that neuromorphic structure is not enough to specify the signals that will occur in a nerve circuit. Cell parameters must be replicated as well.
CREDIT MARKET CONSTRAINTS AND PROFITABILITY IN TUNISIAN AGRICULTURE

This work investigates the link between constraints in agricultural credit markets and farm profitability in a developing country setting. Using data from rural Tunisia in a switching econometric model, this work directly estimates both the determinants of credit constraints and their effects on farm profits. Policy implications are down from the significant differences in estimated profit functions of constrained and unconstrained farmers.
An Introduction to Quantum Computing

Quantum Computing is a fascinating new field at the intersection of computer science, mathematics and physics. This field studies how to harness some of the strange aspects of quantum physics for use in computer science. Many of the texts to this field require knowledge of a large corpus of advanced mathematics or physics. We try to remedy this situation by presenting the basic ideas of quantum computing understandable to anyone who has had a course in pre-calculus or discrete structures. (A good course in linear algebra would help, but, the reader is reminded of many definitions in the footnotes.)
Variation of solar cell sensitivity and solar radiation on tilted surfaces

The validity is studied that one of various insolation models used to compute solar radiation incident on tilted surfaces from global data measured on horizontal surfaces. The variation of solar cell sensitivity to solar radiation is determined over a wide range of atmospheric condition. A new model was formulated that reduced the deviations between measured and predicted insolation to less than 3 percent. Evaluation of solar cell sensitivity data indicates small change (2-3 percent) in sensitivity from winter to summer for tilted cells. The feasibility of using such global data as a means for calibrating terrestrial solar cells is discussed.
One Hundred Years of Solicitude: Intellectual Property Law, 1900-2000

The elaboration of intellectual property law is closely intertwined with new technologies. This Review Essay draws on selected episodes from the past 100 years to illustrate the three typical stages by which the legal system accomodates new technologies: (1) disequilibrium; (2) adaptation and adjustment; and (3) legislative consolidation. The final section of the Article introduces a cautionary contemporary note. As a byproduct of the increasing value of intellectual property, there has recently been a rapid increase in legislative activity, and concomitant lobbying activity. This changing political economy is greatly compressing the traditional three-step process, and may bypass it entirely in some circumstances. As a counterbalance to overzealous legislation, courts may be forced to look to the constitutional foundations of intellectual property as a source of limiting principles.
Testing for a unit-root with a nonlinear Fourier function

The paper develops a unit-root test that allows for an unknown number of structural breaks with unknown functional forms. The test is based on the fact that the behavior of such series can often be captured using a single frequency component of a Fourier approximation. Hence, instead of selecting specific break dates, the number of breaks, and the form of the breaks, the specification problem is transformed into selecting the proper frequency component to include in the estimating equation. Our proposed test does not exhibit any serious size distortions, and shows decent power. The appropriate use of the test is illustrated using real GDP and the interest rate differential
Dynamic Feedback between Surface and Groundwater Systems: Implications for Conjunctive Management

A key feature of hydrologically connected surface and groundwater stocks is the two-way exchange of water between the systems. Increasing water scarcity, particularly in arid environments, has spurred debate on how to coordinate management of the two resources. In this paper, I present a model that describes the dynamic feedback loop between surface and groundwater systems when economic agents withdraw water from both for use in production. I use the model to describe optimal water extraction from both stocks and to evaluate how a conjunctive management policy shifts welfare between surface and groundwater user groups. Finally, I explore the importance of accounting for two-way feedback between the two stocks, when it exists, in estimating the benefits to a conjunctive management system. I estimate that the returns to conjunctive management in a closed system are greater than 6.5 times that in a system with an open feedback loop between water stocks.
Spatial aggregation: theory and applications

Visual thinking plays an important role in scientific reasoning. Based on the research in automating diverse reasoning tasks about dynamical systems, nonlinear controllers, kinematic mechanisms, and fluid motion, we have identified a style of visual thinking, imagistic reasoning. Imagistic reasoning organizes computations around image-like, analogue representations so that perceptual and symbolic operations can be brought to bear to infer structure and behavior. Programs incorporating imagistic reasoning have been shown to perform at an expert level in domains that defy current analytic or numerical methods. We have developed a computational paradigm, spatial aggregation, to unify the description of a class of imagistic problem solvers. A program written in this paradigm has the following properties. It takes a continuous field and optional objective functions as input, and produces high-level descriptions of structure, behavior, or control actions. It computes a multi-layer of intermediate representations, called spatial aggregates, by forming equivalence classes and adjacency relations. It employs a small set of generic operators such as aggregation, classification, and localization to perform bidirectional mapping between the information-rich field and successively more abstract spatial aggregates. It uses a data structure, the neighborhood graph, as a common interface to modularize computations. To illustrate our theory, we describe the computational structure of three implemented problem solvers - kam, maps, and hipair - in terms of the spatial aggregation generic operators by mixing and matching a library of commonly used routines.
The Equilibrium Approach to Labor Markets

This paper exposits the modern theory of equalizing differences,viewed as optimal assignments of workers to jobs. The basic ideas are first illustrated in a simple model with binary choices of work attributes.Multinominal choices are briefly considered after that. Empirical implications are stressed, with special emphasis on elements of selectivity and stratification by tastes and technology. Applications are sketched for certain aspects of the economics of discrimination, human capital, the value of safety and the theory of implicit contracts. Issues raised by assignment stratification according to worker traits and productivities are discussed, and the principle sorting model by comparative advantageis outlined. The implied valuation system on personal traits and its relationship to factor-analytic models, as well as selectivity issues in educational and occupational choice illustrate this aspect of the theory.(This abstract was borrowed from another version of this item.)
From conditional oughts to qualitative decision theory

The primary theme of this investigation is a decision theoretic account of conditional ought statements (e.g., "You ought to do A, if C") that rectifies glaring deficiencies in classical deontic logic. The resulting account forms a sound basis for qualitative decision theory, thus providing a framework for qualitative planning under uncertainty. In particular, we show that adding causal relationships (in the form of a single graph) as part of an epistemic state is sufficient to facilitate the analysis of action sequences, their consequences their interaction with observations, their expected utilities and, hence, the synthesis of plans and strategies under uncertainty.
Design of RF Conditioner Cavities

Abstract Theoretical studies are made of radio frequency structures which can be used to condition electron beams so as to greatly reduce the stringent emittance requirements for successful lasing in a free-electron laser. The basic strategy of conditioning calls for modulating an electron beam in the transverse dimension, by a periodic focusing channel, while it traverses a series of rf cavities, each operating in a TM210 mode. In this paper, we analyze the cavities both analytically and numerically (using MAFIA simulations). We find that when cylindrical symmetry is broken the coupling impedance can be greatly enhanced. We present results showing various performance characteristics as a function of cavity parameters, as well as possible designs for conditioning cavities.
Handling Oversampling in Dynamic Networks Using Link Prediction

Oversampling is a common characteristic of data representing dynamic networks. It introduces noise into representations of dynamic networks, but there has been little work so far to compensate for it. Oversampling can affect the quality of many important algorithmic problems on dynamic networks, including link prediction. Link prediction seeks to predict edges that will be added to the network given previous snapshots. We show that not only does oversampling affect the quality of link prediction, but that we can use link prediction to recover from the effects of oversampling. We also introduce a novel generative model of noise in dynamic networks that represents oversampling. We demonstrate the results of our approach on both synthetic and real-world data.
Photometry and Kinematics of the Magellanic Type Galaxy NGC 4618

NGC 4618 is an excellent example of an asymmetric, late-type Magellanic barred spiral (de Vaucouleurs and Freeman 1972). Detailed surface photometry of this galaxy has been obtained from photoelectrically calibrated V and I CCD images from Asiago Observatory, and from BVR CCD images, UBV electronographic plates, and one filtered IIa-O 2.1-m photographic plate from McDonald Observatory. This material, reduced with the McDonald Observatory Galaxy Photometry Package, is used to derive standard photometric parameters for comparison with previous studies of late type systems, such as that of NGC 4027 (Pence and de Vaucouleurs 1985). The luminosity distribution is decomposed into three distinct components: 1) an elliptical bar, 2) an exponential old disk, and 3) a young H II region/arm population; comprising 23, 50, and 27 percent of the total luminosity, respectively. A detailed mapping of the V — I color index, and Hα imagery are used to study the distribution of young star forming regions with respect to the bar, which is significantly offset from the center of the exponential disk defined by the outer isophotes.
Spin Structure with Lepton Beams

The next several years should see a significant increase in the amount of data. Precise semi-inclusive data is expected from HERMES. CEBAF 39 has an extensive program of measurements planned at large x and low Q 2. The new CERN proposal COMPASS 32 will extend the high Q 2 data and provide information on semi-inclusive charm production, that may shed light on the contribution of gluons to the nucleon’s spin. RHIC30 (via polarized proton-proton collisions) also has great potential to provide direct information on the gluon contribution. In addition an improved theoretical understanding may be forthcoming with further improvements in the most advanced QCD calculations.
Accuracy of Ground-reference Calibration of Imaging Spectroradiometers at Large Sensor View Angles

The Remote Sensing Group at the University of Arizona has been successfully using vicarious calibration techniques since the mid-1980s to calibrate both airborne and satellite-based imaging spectroradiometers using vicarious techniques. These approaches use ground-based measurements of atmospheric and surface properties of a selected test site as input to a radiative transfer code to predict at-sensor radiances at 1-nm intervals from 350-2500 nm for a given sensor overpass. Past work has focused on sensors with view angles less than 30 degrees from nadir but recently-developed sensors use much larger view angles and these sensors will still benefit from vicarious calibrations. However, calibrations at such angles require more accurate atmospheric and surface characterizations. This paper examines the sensitivity of vicarious calibrations at large view angles to uncertainties in the atmospheric characterization and surface bi-directional reflectance. The results show that the inclusion of surface BRDF effects are critical to ensuring accurate results. Furthermore, the uncertainty in the vicarious calibration of a large view angle sensor will be of the same level as or less than that of the near-nadir case when aerosol optical thickness is less than 0.10, the aerosols have low imaginary index, and the solar zenith angle is less than 50 degrees. From the results of this study it is found that currently-used test sites are adequate for use in the vicarious calibration of large view-angle sensors and should give reflectance-based results with uncertainties less than 5%.
Income shocks reduce human capital investments : evidence from five east European countries

This paper empirically investigates whether households affected by income shocks cope by reducing human capital investments. The analysis uses Crisis Response Surveys conducted in Armenia, Bulgaria, Montenegro, Romania, and Turkey during 2009 and 2010. A propensity score matching technique is adopted to compare health and education investment decisions among households that were affected by income shocks to the matched comparison group. The authors find that households affected by income shocks reduced some human capital investments. Interestingly, households in these five countries were more likely to adopt health-related coping strategies as opposed to education-related coping strategies. The results from Armenia, Bulgaria, Montenegro, and Turkey show that households affected by income shocks reduced their visits to doctors and reduced their spending on medicine and medical care significantly more than the matched comparison group. Households affected by income shocks reduced their education investments, but did not adopt harmful education-related coping strategies, such as withdrawing children from schools or moving children from costly private to cheaper public schools. These findings reveal that long-term and possibly intergenerational household welfare could be affected by short-run income shocks and hence underscore the need for governments to employ mitigation measures.
Vitamin D and prostate cancer.

An analysis of the rising incidence and mortality rate of prostate cancer reveals the extraordinary importance of this disease in the world. Adenocarcinoma of the prostate is the most common cancer diagnosed in American males, reaching an estimated incidence of 32%, with 200,000 cases of newly diagnosed cancer cases expected in 1994.1 In addition, clinically inapparent prostate cancer is an extremely common finding. Over the age of 80, subclinical prostate cancer is found in approximately 60% of all men.2 Overall, it is estimated that there are 11 million men in the U.S. with lesions within their prostates that are histologically identifiable as cancer.3 Mortality from prostate cancer represents a considerable problem. It is expected that prostate cancer will account for 13% (38,000 cases) of male cancer deaths in 1994.1 This makes prostate cancer the second leading cause of cancer-related death in U.S. men after lung cancer. Mortality rates from prostate cancer appear to be on the rise. From 1970 to 1990 the age-adjusted mortality rate from prostate cancer increased approximately 7 % among U.S. caucasians. Since prostate cancer rates increase with age, as the longevity of the population increases, it is projected that prostate cancer will become the leading cause of cancer and cancer death in men. These observations demonstrate that prostate cancer is one of the major adverse factors in the health of the male population in the United States and for that matter, in the rest of the world as well.
On implementing usual values

In many cases commonsense knowledge consists of knowledge of what is usual. In this paper we develop a system for reasoning with usual information. This system is based upon the fact that these pieces of commonsense information involve both a probabilistic aspect and a granular aspect. We implement this system with the aid of possibility-probability granules.
Corruption and decentralized public governance

This paper examines the conceptual and empirical basis of corruption and governance and concludes that decentralized local governance is conducive to reduced corruption in the long run. This is because localization helps to break the monopoly of power at the national level by bringing decisionmaking closer to people. Localization strengthens government accountability to citizens by involving citizens in monitoring government performance and demanding corrective actions. Localization as a means to making government responsive and accountable to people can help reduce corruption and improve service delivery. Efforts to improve service delivery usually force the authorities to address corruption and its causes. However, one must pay attention to the institutional environment and the risk of local capture by elites. In the institutional environments typical of some developing countries, when in a geographical area, feudal or industrial interests dominate and institutions of participation and accountability are weak or ineffective and political interference in local affairs is rampant, localization may increase opportunities for corruption. This suggests a pecking order of anticorruption policies and programs where the rule of law and citizen empowerment should be the first priority in any reform efforts. Localization in the absence of rule of law may not prove to be a potent remedy for combating corruption.
Dynacache: dynamic cloud caching

Web-scale applications are heavily reliant on memory cache systems such as Memcached to improve throughput and reduce user latency. Small performance improvements in these systems can result in large end-to-end gains, for example a marginal increase in hit rate of 1% can reduce the application layer latency by over 25%. Yet, surprisingly many of these systems use generic first-come-first-serve designs with simple fixed size allocations that are oblivious to the application's requirements. In this paper, we use detailed empirical measurements [3] to show that these simple default policies can lead to significant performance penalties, in some cases increasing the number of cache misses by as much as 3×. Motivated by these empirical analyses, we propose Dynacache, a cache controller that significantly improves the hit rate of web applications, by profiling applications and dynamically tailoring memory resources and eviction policies. We show that for certain applications in our real-world traces from Memcachier, Dynacache reduces the number of misses by more than 65% with a minimal overhead on the average request performance. We also show that Memcachier would need to more than double the number of Memcached servers in order to achieve the same reduction of misses that is achieved by Dynacache. In addition, Dynacache allows Memcached operators to better plan their resource allocation and manage server costs, by estimating the cost of cache hits as a function of memory.
Electron spin relaxation due to charge noise

We study decoherence of an electron spin qubit in a quantum dot due to charge noise. We find that at the lowest order in spin-orbit interaction, the pure dephasing channel is suppressed for both $1/f$ charge noise and Johnson noise, so that charge noise leads to a pure relaxation channel of decoherence. Because of the weaker magnetic field dependence, the spin relaxation rate due to charge noise could dominate over phonon noise at low magnetic fields in a gate-defined GaAs or Si quantum dot or an InAs self-assembled quantum dot. Furthermore, in a large InAs self-assembled quantum dot, spin relaxation due to phonon noise could be suppressed in high magnetic fields due to the suppression of the coupling matrix element, so that the spin relaxation due to charge noise could dominate in both low and high magnetic fields. Numerically, in a 1 T magnetic field, the spin relaxation time due to typical charge noise is about 100 s in Si, $0.1$ s in GaAs for a gate-defined quantum dot with a 1 meV confinement, and 10 $\ensuremath{\mu}$s (or 1 s) in InAs self-assembled quantum dot with a 4 meV (or 30 meV) confinement.
The first Fe-based Na+-ion cathode with two distinct types of polyanions: Fe3P5SiO19

Herein, we report the synthesis, structure, and electrochemistry of the first Na+-ion cathode with two distinct types of polyanions: Fe3P5SiO19. The Fe-based cathode has a reversible capacity of ca. 70 mA h g−1; ca. 1.7 Na+ ions per formula can be inserted/extracted at an average voltage of 2.5 V versus Na+/Na.
Height and Thickness of a Scattering (Aerosol or Cloud) Layer from Space-Based O2 A-Band Spectroscopy: An Analytical Approach

Simplified radiative transfer modeling is used to show that both altitude and thickness of a scattering layer (in pressure units) can be inferred from spectral satellite observations in the O 2 A-band at high-enough resolution, and with prior information about optical thickness. For simplicity, the surface is assumed black (water-like). This confirms previous claims but using closed-form analytical methods, hence more physical insight. For optically thin aerosol or cirrus, the single-scattering limit is used; for optically thick clouds or aerosol plumes, a diffusion-type model is invoked.
Eccentricity sums in trees

The eccentricity of a vertex, ecc T ( v ) = max u ? T d T ( v , u ) , was one of the first, distance-based, tree invariants studied. The total eccentricity of a tree, Ecc ( T ) , is the sum of the eccentricities of its vertices. We determine extremal values and characterize extremal tree structures for the ratios Ecc ( T ) / ecc T ( u ) , Ecc ( T ) / ecc T ( v ) , ecc T ( u ) / ecc T ( v ) , and ecc T ( u ) / ecc T ( w ) where u , w are leaves of T and v is in the center of T . In addition, we determine the tree structures that minimize and maximize total eccentricity among trees with a given degree sequence.
Multilevel Projection Methods for Partial Differential Equations

1. Fundamentals. Introduction Notation and Conventions Prototype Problems Discretization by Projections Realizability and Nodal Representations Interlevel Transfer Matrices Error Measures 2. Multilevel Projections Methods. Abstract Framework. The Multilevel Projection Method (PML) The Multigrid Method (MG) the Fast Adaptive Composite Grid Method (FAC) Prototype Problems Relaxation Coarse-Level Realizability and Recursiveness Parallelization: Asynchronous FAC (AFAC) Other Practical Matters Summary 3. Unigrid. Basic Unigrid Scheme Multgrid Simulation FAC Simulation Performance Assessment Caveats 4. Paradigms. Rayleigh-Ritz 1: Parameter Estimation Rayleigh-Ritz 2: Transport Equations: Galerkin 1. General Eigenvalue Problems Galerkin 2: Riccati Equations Petrov-Galerkin 1: The Finite Volume Element Method (FVE) Petrov-Galerkin 2: Image Reconstruction 5. Perspectives. References Appendix A. Simple Unigrid Code Appendix B. More Efficient Unigrid Code Appendix C. Modification to Unigrid Code for Local Refinement.
Multifragmentation at Intermediate Energy: Dynamics or Statistics?

In this report the authors consider two contradictory claims that have been advanced recently: (1) the claim for a predominantly dynamical fragment production mechanism; and (2) the claim for a dominant statistical and thermal process. They present a new analysis in terms of Poissonian reducibility and thermal scaling, which addresses some of the criticisms of the binomial analysis.
Evidence-based recommendations for designing free-sorting experiments

The card-sorting task is a flexible research tool that is widely used across many of the subfields of psychology. Yet this same great flexibility requires researchers to make several (seemingly arbitrary) decisions in their designs, such as fixing a sufficient number of objects to sort, setting task requirements, and creating task instructions for participants. In the present research, we provide a systematic empirical investigation of the consequences of typical researcher design choices while administering sorting tasks. Specifically, we studied the effects of seven sorting task design factors by collecting data from over 1,000 online participants assigned to one of 36 sorting tasks, as part of a fractional factorial experimental design. Analyses show the effects of the various researcher decisions on the probability that participants would quit the task, the amount of time spent on the task, the number of piles made, and posttask measures such as satisfaction and depletion. Research design recommendations are provided.
A Dynamic Network Formation Model for Understanding Bacterial Self-Organization Into Micro-Colonies

We propose a general parametrizable model to capture the dynamic interaction among bacteria in the formation of micro-colonies. Micro-colonies represent the first social step towards the formation of structured multicellular communities known as bacterial biofilms, which protect the bacteria against antimicrobials. In our model, bacteria can form links in the form of intercellular adhesins (such as polysaccharides) to collaborate in the production of resources that are fundamental to protect them against antimicrobials. Since maintaining a link can be costly, we assume that each bacterium forms and maintains a link only if the benefit received from the link is larger than the cost, and we formalize the interaction among bacteria as a dynamic network formation game. We rigorously characterize some of the key properties of the network evolution depending on the parameters of the system. In particular, we derive the parameters under which it is guaranteed that all bacteria will join micro-colonies and the parameters under which it is guaranteed that some bacteria will not join micro-colonies. Importantly, our study does not only characterize the properties of networks emerging in equilibrium, but it also provides important insights on how the network dynamically evolves and on how the formation history impacts the emerging networks in equilibrium. This analysis can be used to develop methods to influence on-the-fly the evolution of the network, and such methods can be useful to treat or prevent biofilm-related diseases.
Dual form signatures: an approach for proving security from static assumptions

In this paper, we introduce the abstraction of Dual Form Signatures as a useful framework for proving security (existential unforgeability) from static assumptions for schemes with special structure that are used as a basis of other cryptographic protocols and applications. We demonstrate the power of this framework by proving security under static assumptions for close variants of pre-existing schemes: the LRSW-based Camenisch-Lysyanskaya signature scheme, and the identity-based sequential aggregate signatures of Boldyreva, Gentry, O'Neill, and Yum. The Camenisch-Lysyanskaya signature scheme was previously proven only under the interactive LRSW assumption, and our result can be viewed as a static replacement for the LRSW assumption. The scheme of Boldyreva, Gentry, O'Neill, and Yum was also previously proven only under an interactive assumption that was shown to hold in the generic group model. The structure of the public key signature scheme underlying the BGOY aggregate signatures is quite distinctive, and our work presents the first security analysis of this kind of structure under static assumptions.
Beyond Discretion: Prosecution, the Logic of Sovereignty, and the Limits of Law

Today it is widely recognized in both academic literature and the mainstream media that prosecutors have substantial discretion. Yet prosecutorial decisions involve, in our view, something more than a straightforward exercise of discretion. In this article we move from the language of discretion to that of sovereignty to describe prosecutorial power. In so doing we want to move from the language of administration to the language of power. Focusing on the decision not to prosecute, we argue that prosecutorial decisions participate in, and exemplify, the logic of sovereignty and its complex relationship to legality. By drawing on Carl Schmitt and Giorgio Agamben, we seek to recast prosecutorial decision making as something that allows prosecutors to grant exemptions from the reach of valid law. The sovereign power of prosecutors is most vividly on display when they decline to bring charges where there is a legally sufficient basis for doing so. By exercising what is, in most jurisdictions, an all but unreviewable power, they can and do exempt individuals from the reach of valid law.
Vacuum Impregnation with Epoxy of Large Superconducting Magnet Structures

The Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory (LBL) has been building a series of thin solenoid magnets for use in high energy physics experiments.1, 2 , 3 The LBL thin-magnet concept integrates a superconducting coil, a shorted secondary and a tubular cooling system into a single-coil package. The magnet coil is vacuum impregnated with a low viscosity epoxy which, after casting and curing, forms an integrated crack-resistant package.
NUDGING LIFE INSURANCE HOLDINGS IN THE WORKPLACE

Using administrative data from a large public university, we analyze a policy designed to increase employer-sponsored life insurance. The University always had a supplemental life insurance plan available for its workers. In 2008, it increased its provision of basic coverage from a $10,000 to 1x salary. Workers initially paying for supplemental life insurance were in a position to completely undo the increase in basic coverage by scaling back supplemental elections, yet their default choice in 2008 was to continue at their existing level from 2007. The increased provision of basic coverage therefore represents a nudge for employees to increase life insurance. The nudge increased life insurance holdings one-for-one, both in the short and long-run, even for workers who actively made changes to other fringe benefits. New hires, who had to make an active choice, elected less supplemental coverage after 2008 relative to earlier cohorts of new hires, providing additional evidence of a significant degree of inertia among existing workers. Additionally, we find evidence of inertia for high earners constrained by the maximum limits. Data from a national sample of job changers show minimal crowd-out of individual market coverage from increased employer- sponsored life insurance. Further, we discuss the desirability of the nudge and find that the increase in basic coverage decreased life insurance dis- parities for two-thirds of employees
Land Leasing and Land Sale as an Infrastructure-Financing Option

Municipal land sales provide one option for financing urban infrastructure investment. In countries where land is owned by the public sector, land is by far the most valuable asset on the municipal balance sheet. Selling land or long-term leasing rights to land use while investing the proceeds in infrastructure facilities can be viewed as a type of portfolio asset adjustment. This paper shows that in China many municipalities have financed more than half of their high rates of infrastructure investment from land sales, for periods of 10 to 15 years. Much of the remaining investment has been financed by municipal borrowing against the collateral of land values. Other countries also have turned to land sales and leasing for infrastructure finance. From a local perspective, land sales have the advantage that they typically are free from the intergovernmental restrictions that require higher-level approval for increases in local tax rates or user fees and that restrict local government borrowing. However, financing municipal infrastructure investment through land sales creates special risks that are not recognized in most intergovernmental fiscal frameworks. One danger involves the use of proceeds to finance operating budgets. Risk exposure is exaggerated by the highly volatile nature of urban land markets and evidence that in some countries urban land values in 2006 reflected a real estate bubble. In the past, Hong Kong, a jurisdiction that has relied heavily on land-leasing to finance its infrastructure budget, has seen land sales fall to zero at the bottom of the real estate cycle. The greatest financial sector risk stems from municipal borrowing based on inflated land values offered as collateral to banks. Sound intergovernmental fiscal management will require tighter regulation of municipalities' financial leveraging of land assets to avoid excessive risk taking by local governments.
Optical self-routing in a self-clocked photonic switch using pulse-interval encoding

Self-routing of 100 Mbit/s data through a photonic switch is demonstrated. Individual bits are sub-encoded with a destination address using a pulse-interval technique at 12.5 GBaud. Self-clocked optical processing is used at the switch to read addresses. >
Objective versus Subjective Indicators of Managerial Performance

ABSTRACT: Managerial bonus payments are frequently determined by both objective and subjective indicators of managerial performance. By its very nature, subjective information is not verifiable for contracting purposes. The inclusion of such information in managerial bonus schemes therefore requires a principal to retain discretion in authorizing actual bonus payments. At the same time, the principal must be able to commit to an overall bonus pool that will be paid out either inside or outside the agency. Our analysis examines the structure of optimal bonus pool arrangements. The non‐verifiability of the subjective indicators changes many of the predictions obtained in traditional agency settings with verifiable performance indicators. In particular, our results address the contractual value of additional information variables, the desirability of compressed incentive schemes, and the nature of relative performance evaluation in settings with multiple agents.
The Cache Complexity of Multithreaded Cache Oblivious Algorithms

We present a technique for analyzing the number of cache misses incurred by multithreaded cache oblivious algorithms on an idealized parallel machine in which each processor has a private cache. We specialize this technique to computations executed by the Cilk work-stealing scheduler on a machine with dag-consistent shared memory. We show that a multithreaded cache oblivious matrix multiplication incurs cache misses when executed by the Cilk scheduler on a machine with P processors, each with a cache of size Z, with high probability. This bound is tighter than previously published bounds. We also present a new multithreaded cache oblivious algorithm for 1D stencil computations incurring cache misses with high probability, one for Gaussian elimination and back substitution, and one for the length computation part of the longest common subsequence problem incurring cache misses with high probability.
Plasma cell dyscrasias and leukemias

Abstract There has been remarkable progress in our understanding of plasma cell dyscrasias and leukemias in recent years. New prognostic factors have come to light. Del(1)(p12) and t(4;14) confer poor prognoses on patients with myeloma. COX-2 positivity is associated with poorer progression-free and overall survival in myeloma patients and a role for COX-2 inhibitors in myeloma has been suggested. Thalidomide (400 mg/day) and dexamethasone (20 mg/m2 daily for 4 days) has emerged as first-line treatment for myelomas. Serious toxicities have been recognized, however. The thalidomide derivative, lenalidomide may be more active and less toxic than the parent compound and may replace it. Lenolidomide is also highly active against 5q-syndrome. Bortezomib is at least as active as thalidomide and less toxic, and the two drugs are not cross-resistant. Although marrow transplantation was the standard of care for newly diagnosed myeloma patients, recent prospective randomized studies cast doubt on its role. ZAP-70 and CD38 expression have major prognostic impact on outcome of chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL). The former may be a stronger predictor of the need for treatment than the presence of an unmutated IgV(H) gene. Although fludarabine is highly active in CLL, it may be associated with a higher number of second malignancies than are other treatments. Rituximab has major activity against CLL. However, at standard dose its effectiveness is limited by the fact that CD20 density is relatively low on CLL cells and circulating CD20 binds a significant fraction of administered drug. Either combining rituximab with other agents, or giving it in mega doses, which are safe and highly effective, can overcome these impediments. Imatinib has revolutionized the treatment of chronic phase chronic myelocytic leukemia (CML) and markedly decreased the number of allogeneic bone marrow transplants done for this neoplasm. However, the development of rapid resistance to the agent in blast crisis of CML or Philadelphia chromosome-positive acute lymphocytic leukemia gives the agent only a minor role in those diseases. More effective tyrosine kinase inhibitors currently under development may prove to be more useful in acute leukemias with the Philadelphia chromosome. Clofarabine is a successful new drug for acute myeloid leukemias of childhood and juvenile myelomonocytic leukemia. Drugs such as gemtuzumab ozogamicin, FLT3 inhibitors and farnesyl transferase inhibitors have been disappointing in acute leukemia. Histone deacetylase inhibition, especially in combination with proteasome inhibition, may be effective acute leukemia treatment.
Minimum Drag Control Allocation

Continued research into the direct control allocation problem with rate limiting has led to consideration of a modified problem in which control generated drag is considered as a fourth objective (in addition to the 3 moments). This allocation scheme uses the controls' effectiveness in generating moments as well as their effectiveness in generating drag to obtain an admissible solution in moment space while, simultaneously, driving the controls toward their minimum drag configurations. The control allocation algorithm was tested in a non-linear, six degree of freedom simulation of an F-18. Also implemented in the simulation were a maneuver generator and a dynamic inversion control law to provide the moment inputs to the allocator. The simulation results show that while minimum drag allocation is not an optimization algorithm, it continuously drives the controls toward their minimum drag configurations while satisfying the control law moment demands during maneuvers. It is also shown that in non-maneuvering flight, the allocation scheme actually achieves a minimum drag configuration.
An implementation of the look-ahead Lanczos algorithm for non-Hermitian matrices

The nonsymmetric Lanczos method can be used to compute eigenvalues of large sparse non-Hermitian matrices or to solve large sparse non-Hermitian linear systems. However, the original Lanczos algorithm is susceptible to possible breakdowns and potential instabilities. An implementation is presented of a look-ahead version of the Lanczos algorithm that, except for the very special situation of an incurable breakdown, overcomes these problems by skipping over those steps in which a breakdown or near-breakdown would occur in the standard process. The proposed algorithm can handle look-ahead steps of any length and requires the same number of matrix-vector products and inner products as the standard Lanczos process without look-ahead.
VIRTUAL BRIDGE NUMBER ONE KNOTS

We define the virtual bridge number vb(K) and the virtual unknotting number vu(K) invariants for virtual knots. For ordinary knots K they are closely related to the bridge number b(K) and the unknotting number u(K) and we have vu(K) ≤ u(K), vb(K) ≤ b(K). There are no ordinary knots K with b(K) = 1. We show there are infinitely many homotopy classes of virtual knots each of which contains infinitely many isotopy classes of K with vb(K) = 1. In fact for each i ∈ ℕ there exists K virtually homotopic (but not virtually isotopic) to the unknot with vb(K) = 1 and vu(K) = i.
Efficient Bayesian mixed-model analysis increases association power in large cohorts

Linear mixed models are a powerful statistical tool for identifying genetic associations and avoiding confounding. However, existing methods are computationally intractable in large cohorts and may not optimize power. All existing methods require time cost O(MN(2)) (where N is the number of samples and M is the number of SNPs) and implicitly assume an infinitesimal genetic architecture in which effect sizes are normally distributed, which can limit power. Here we present a far more efficient mixed-model association method, BOLT-LMM, which requires only a small number of O(MN) time iterations and increases power by modeling more realistic, non-infinitesimal genetic architectures via a Bayesian mixture prior on marker effect sizes. We applied BOLT-LMM to 9 quantitative traits in 23,294 samples from the Women's Genome Health Study (WGHS) and observed significant increases in power, consistent with simulations. Theory and simulations show that the boost in power increases with cohort size, making BOLT-LMM appealing for genome-wide association studies in large cohorts.
Managerial compensation and the threat of takeover

Abstract A greater threat of takeover has two opposing effects on managerial compensation. The competition effect in the market for managers reduces compensation. The risk effect increases compensation by making managers' implicitly deferred compensation and firm-specific human capital less secure. Using a sample of about 450 large firms, we find that an increase in the threat of takeover from the first to the third quartile reduces a typical CEO's salary and bonus by $22,800–211,600 due to the competition effect, but raises salary and bonus by $41,500–255,300 due to the risk effect. The net effect is an increase of $18,700–43,700.
A Numerical Minimization Scheme for the Complex Helmholtz Equation

We use the work of Milton, Seppecher, and Bouchitte on variational principles for waves in lossy media to formulate a finite element method for solving the complex Helmholtz equation that is based entirely on minimization. In particular, this method results in a finite element matrix that is symmetric positive-definite and therefore simple iterative descent methods and preconditioning can be used to solve the resulting system of equations. We also derive an error bound for the method and illustrate the method with numerical experiments.
GLOBAL HEALTH AND JUSTICE

In Australia, Japan, Sweden, and Switzerland, the average life expectancy is now greater than 80 years. But in Angola, Malawi, Sierra Leone, and Zimbabwe, the average life expectancy is less than 40 years. The situation is even worse than these statistics suggest because average figures tend to mask inequalities within countries. What are we to make of a world with such inequal health prospects? What does justice demand in terms of global health? To address these problems, I characterize justice at the local level, at the domestic or social level, and at the international or global level. Because social conditions, structures, and institutions have such a profound influence on the health of populations, I begin by focusing attention on the relationship between social justice and health prospects. Then I go on to discuss health prospects and the problem of global justice. Here I distinguish two views: a cosmopolitan view and a political view of global justice. In my account of global justice, I modify and use the political view that John Rawls developed in The Law of Peoples. I try to show why an adequate political account must include three duties: a duty not to harm, a duty to reconstruct international arrangements, and a duty to assist.
Renal Oncocytoma: A Reappraisal of Morphologic Features With Clinicopathologic Findings in 80 Cases

Renal oncocytoma has several features that overlap with other renal neoplasms with a preponderance of granular cytoplasm, such as chromophobe, granular, and papillary renal cell carcinomas. Lack of knowledge of this entire spectrum of eosinophilic renal cell neoplasms has led to several misconceptions in the literature regarding renal oncocytoma. These include the "grading of oncocytomas," "metastatic oncocytomas," and the impression that renal oncocytoma is usually low grade and lacks prominent nucleoli. In order to further characterize the histologic features and embelLish diagnostic criteria, we evaluated 93 tumors from 80 patients. Four tumors were bilateral and two were multifocal. The mean age was 67.2 years (32-89 years), men were more commonly affected (3.1:1), and 82.7% tumors were incidental findings. Grossly, the tumors were mahogany brown, lacked necrosis, and averaged 4.4 cm in size (range 0.6-15 cm). Histologically, renal oncocytoma was composed of an exclusive or predominant component of acidophilic cells with three architectural patterns of disposition: (a) The "classic" pattern (57.5%), composed of a characteristic nested or organoid arrangement of cells, each surrounded by a distinct reticulin framework; (b) a "tubulocystic pattern" (6.3%) with numerous closely packed cystically dilated tubular structures; and (c) "mixed pattern" (36.2%), which had both the organoid and tubulocystic patterns. A gross or microscopic scar was noted in 53.8% cases, and histologically a distinctive myxoid and/or hyalinized stroma separated nests of cells. Generally, the nuclei of renal oncocytoma were round with uniform nuclear contours. Nearly half of the tumors had prominent nucleoli (42.5% had prominent nucleoli equivalent to Fuhrman's grade III or IV). Pleomorphism was absent in 50% of cases but was conspicuous in 12.5% of cases including foci of bizarre cells. Other atypical features included perinephric fat involvement (11.3%), renal parenchymal invasion not associated with desmoplasia (10%), and hemorrhage (31.3%). Renal oncocytoma by definition lacks areas of clear cell carcinoma, significant lesional necrosis, or conspicuous papillary formations. Ancillary features noted included normal-appearing renal tubules within the lesion (15%), intranuclear holes (20%), psammoma bodies (7.5%), and foam cells (7.5%). 15% of tumors were locally excised, and 85% resulted in radical nephrectomy. Mean follow-up of 7.6 years (range 15-200 months) showed no evidence of recurrence, metastasis, or death due to tumor. In conclusion, renal oncocytoma, herein described, is a benign neoplasm and therefore does not merit a nuclear grading scheme. It has unique histologic features including an organoid and tubulocystic architecture, myxoid or hyalinized stroma, and occasionally some atypical findings including nuclear pleomorphism, prominent nucleoli, and adjacent renal parenchymal and perinephric fat involvement.