cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
How the Criminal Justice System Educates Citizens

There are at least two central pathways through which the modern democratic state interacts with citizens: public school systems and criminal justice systems. Rarely are criminal justice systems thought to serve the educational function that public school systems are specifically designed to provide. Yet for an increasing number of Americans, the criminal justice system plays a powerful and pervasive role in providing a civic education, in anticitizenry, that is the reverse of the education that public schools are supposed to offer. We deploy curriculum theory to analyze three primary processes of the criminal justice system—jury service, incarceration, and policing—and demonstrate the operation of two parallel curricula within them: a symbolic, overt curriculum rooted in positive civic conceptions of fairness and democracy; and a hidden curriculum, rooted in empty or negative conceptions of certain citizens and their relationship to the state.
The Equity Premium Implied by Production

This paper studies the determinants of the equity premium as implied by producers’ first-order conditions. A simple closed form expression is presented for the Sharpe ratio as a function of investment volatility and technology parameters. Calibrated to the US postwar economy, the model can match the historical first and second moments of the market return and the risk-free interest rate. The model also generates a very volatile Sharpe ratio and market price of risk.
Total Synthesis of Nominal Diazonamides—Part 1: Convergent Preparation of the Structure Proposed for (−)-Diazonamide A

Representative procedure for the preparation of 7: A solution of lithium hexamethyldisilazide in THF (1, 0.20 mL, 0.20 mmol) was added dropwise to a solution of 1 (0.038 g; 0.20 mmol) in THF (0.5 mL) at 78C. The resulting pale yellow solution was stirred for 10 min at the same temperature, and then a solution of coumarin 2b (0.032 g; 0.22 mmol) in THF (0.5 mL) was added dropwise at 78C. After 30 min, a solution of trans chalcone 5c (0.045 g, 0.22 mmol) was added dropwise. The reaction mixture was stirred for a further 30 min at the same temperature, and then a solution of trimethylsilyl chloride (0.31 mL) in methanol (5 mL) was added at 78C. The reaction mixture was warmed to room temperature overnight. The solvents were removed in vacuo to give the crude product, which was purified by column chromatography (1:1 petroleum ether/ethyl
Safety and feasibility of evaluating airway-protective reflexes during sleep: new technique and preliminary results.

Background The airway is vulnerable to aspiration during sleep. The integrity of aerodigestive-protective reflexes during sleep has not been studied previously because of a lack of adequate techniques. Objective To determine the safety and the feasibility of a new technique to elicit pharyngoglottal closure reflex (PGCR), pharyngo–upper-esophageal sphincter (UES) pressure contractile reflex (PUCR), and reflexive pharyngeal swallow (RPS) during sleep. Setting Outpatient sleep laboratory. Design and Intervention PGCR, PUCR, and RPS were elicited in 3 subjects by injecting colored water into the pharynx through a specially designed UES manometry catheter to which a thin videoendoscope was taped. This assembly was passed transnasally and positioned to obtain UES-pressure recordings and adequate endoscopic glottic views. Sleep was monitored by polysomnography, and all modalities were synchronized by using a timer. Subjects were evaluated while awake and during stage I sleep. Results All subjects were monitored for 3 hours of natural sleep, during which several periods of stage I sleep were observed. While awake, PGCR, PUCR, and RPS were elicited in all subjects. During sleep, PGCR was present in all, PUCR in 2, and RPS in 2 (1 after arousal) subjects. Threshold volumes for reflex elicitation were not significantly different between the awake state and stage I sleep. None of the subjects exhibited laryngeal penetration or aspiration. Limitations Small numbers of subjects were studied only in stage I sleep. Conclusions When using the above technique, it is safe and feasible to study aerodigestive reflexes during sleep. Preliminary data suggest that PGCR, PUCR, and RPS can be elicited during sleep.
How Fit are Feed-in Tariff Policies? Evidence from the European Wind Market

Feed-in tariffs have become the most widely used policy instrument to promote renewable energy deployment around the world. This paper examines the relation between tariff setting and policy outcome based on wind capacity expansion in 35 European countries over the 1991-2010 period. Using a dynamic panel data model, it estimates the long-run elasticity of wind deployment with respect to the level of feed-in support. The analysis finds that higher subsidies do not necessarily yield greater levels of wind installation. Non-economic barriers and rent-seeking may have contributed to the weak correlation. On the other hand, the length of feed-in contract and guaranteed grid access are important determinants of policy effectiveness. A one-year extension of an original 5-year agreement on average increases wind investment by 6 percent annually, while providing an interconnection guarantee almost doubles wind investment in one year.
Coding for computing

A sender communicates with a receiver who wishes to reliably evaluate a function of their combined data. We show that if only the sender can transmit, the number of bits required is a conditional entropy of a naturally defined graph. We also determine the number of bits needed when the communicators exchange two messages. Reference is made to the results of rate distortion in evaluating the function of two random variables.
Ricardian equivalence survives strategic behavior

Robert Barro (1974) showed government debt has no real effects when generations are linked by altruistically motivated intergenerational transfers, a result now known widely as the Ricardian Equivalence Theorem. An important condition for debt neutrality is believed to be the absence of strategic interactions between members of different generations. I use a simple two-period, parent and child model in which the parent is altruistic, to show Ricardian equivalence holds in the presence of intergenerational strategic behavior for a broad class of utility functions. The intuition for this result derives from the fact that the child’s utility is a public good.
Leaf wax stable isotopes from Northern Tibetan Plateau: Implications for uplift and climate since 15 Ma

Abstract The growth of Tibetan Plateau is considered to have played a key role during the evolution of Asian climate. Our understanding of the relationship between the plateau growth and Asian climate changes is limited, however, due to the scarcity of well-dated sedimentary sequences that could provide parallel information of the evolution of elevation and climate. Here, we report a high-resolution time series record of the stable hydrogen isotopic composition of leaf-wax n -alkanes ( δ D n - alk ) from a continuous Neogene stratigraphic sequence (15–1.8 Ma) from the Qaidam basin on the northern Tibetan Plateau. These data are used to reconstruct the isotopic composition of meteoric waters ( δ D m ) and subsequently applied to interpret the history of paleotopography and climate in Qaidam. Our results indicate four stages in the evolution of hydrology in the Qaidam basin. In Stage I (15 Ma to 10.4 Ma), δ D m gradually decreases from − 24.9 ‰ to − 75.5 ‰ , synchronous with a period of active tectonism. The estimated topographic growth of 2.1 ± 0.3 km is comparable to the height of Qaidam basin relative to the foreland Hexi Corridor. We note that C 3 plants were dominant in this region since the Miocene; we take this as independent evidence that this area was mountainous before the C 4 expansion in late Miocene and Pliocene. δ D m variability in subsequent stages appears to be related to shifts in dry and moist conditions and independent of topographical changes — a conclusion supported by other independent climatic records on the Tibetan Plateau. High δ D m values in Stage II (10.4 Ma to 6.9 Ma) are related to severe aridity, and Stage III (6.9 Ma to 4.1 Ma) is marked by low δ D m values, suggestive of moist conditions related to the strengthening East Asia Summer Monsoon. High δ D m values in Stage IV (4.1 Ma to 1.8 Ma) reflect a climate, drier than the present.
Novel derivatives of pseudomonic acid

Abstract The synthesis of a new series of pseudomonic acid analogs is described. The synthetic approach is based on replacement of the C9C14 sidechain of the parent molecule with a modified amino substituent. The most potent member of the compound series contains a 3-chloropropyl sulfonamide moiety at the C-8 position.
The analysis of emerging policy issues in development finance

The author makes a case for improving capacity in developing countries to monitor and analyze data on private capital flows, especially portfolio investment flows (through both debt and non-debt instruments). He surveys recent economic literature and identifies unanswered international finance-related policy questions being grappled with in developing countries. From this he deduces the tremendous need for better data to analyze important economic issues (with a focus on data related to external debt and financial flows). The author also provides an overview of recent trends in financial flows to developing countries, highlighting the surge of private capital flows to a few such countries in the 1990s. He traces some of the major policy issues dealt with in the 1980s and describes the analysis and discussions behind policy decisions. He concludes by suggesting some policy issues that are important today in development finance - and which research agenda might be fruitful for examining changing debt structure and financial flows.
Motility of Catalytic Nanoparticles through Self-Generated Forces

Small-scale synthetic motors capable of generating their own motive forces by exploiting the chemical free energy of their environment represent an important step in developing practical nanomachines. Catalytic particles are capable of generating concentration and other gradients that can be used to self-propel small objects. However, the autonomous movement of catalytic nanoparticles by self-generated forces is a relatively unexplored area in colloid and interfacial chemistry. This paper explores the potential of catalytically self-generated forces for propulsion of small objects through fluids.
Helix versus coil polypeptide macromers: gel networks with decoupled stiffness and permeability

As a platform for investigating the individual effects of substrate stiffness, permeability, and ligand density on cellular behavior, we developed a set of hydrogels with stiffness tuned by polymer backbone rigidity, independent of cross-link density and concentration. Previous studies report that poly(propargyl-L-glutamate) (PPLG), synthesized by ring-opening polymerization of the N-carboxy anhydride of γ-propargyl-L-glutamate (γpLglu), adopts a rigid a-helix conformation: we hypothesized that a random copolymer (PPDLG) with equal amounts of γpLglu and γ-propargyl-D-glutamate (γpDglu) monomers would exhibit a more flexible random coil conformation. The resulting macromers exhibited narrow molecular weight distributions (PDI = 1.15) and were grafted with ethylene glycol groups using a highly efficient “click” azide/alkyne cycloaddition reaction with average grafting efficiency of 97% for PPLG and 85% for PPDLG. The polypeptide secondary structure, characterized via circular dichroism spectroscopy, FTIR spectroscopy, and dynamic light scattering, is indeed dependent upon monomer chirality: PPLG exhibits an α-helix conformation while PPDLG adopts a random coil conformation. Hydrogel networks produced by cross-linking either helical or random coil polypeptides with poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG) were analyzed for amount of swelling, gelation efficiency, and permeability to a model protein. In addition, the elastic modulus of helical and coil polypeptide gels was determined by AFM indentation in fluid. Importantly, we found that helical and coil polypeptide gels exhibited similar swelling and permeability but different stiffnesses, which correspond to predictions from the theory of semi-flexible chains.
Loop equations and Virasoro constraints in non-perturbative two-dimensional quantum gravity

We give a derivation of the loop equation for two-dimensional gravity from the KdV equations and the string equation of the one-matrix model. We find that the loop equation is equivalent to an infinite set of linear constraints on the square root of the partition function satisfying the Virasoro algebra. We give an interpretation of these equations in topological gravity and discuss their extension to multi-matrix models. For the multi-critical models the loop equation naturally singles out the operators corresponding to the primary fields of the minimal models.
On the Convergence Time of Asynchronous Distributed Quantized Averaging Algorithms

We introduce here a class of distributed quantized averaging algorithms for asynchronous communication networks with fixed and switching topologies. The focus of this technical note is on the study of the convergence time of the proposed quantized averaging algorithms. By appealing to random walks on graphs, we derive polynomial bounds on the expected convergence time of the algorithms presented, as a function of the number of agents in the network.
Glide Performance of Advanced Parawings

Glide and landing performance of twin-keel parawings, discussing wind tunnel, radio flight and simulator tests
Alkynyl germatranes as alternative reagents for the preparation of biarylethynes

Arylalkynyl germatranes react with aryl chlorides and triflates to give the corresponding biarylethynes in good yield. The reaction proceeds under mild conditions in the presence of a palladium phosphine catalyst and fluoride ions.
A preliminary evaluation of the hardware acceleration of the Cray Gemini interconnect for PGAS languages and comparison with MPI

The Gemini interconnect on the Cray XE6 platform provides for lightweight remote direct memory access (RDMA) between nodes, which is useful for implementing partitioned global address space (PGAS) languages like UPC and Co-Array Fortran. In this paper, we perform a study of Gemini performance using a set of communication microbenchmarks and compare the performance of one-sided communication in PGAS languages with two-sided MPI. Our results demonstrate the performance benefits of the PGAS model on Gemini hardware, showing in what circumstances and by how much one-sided communication outperforms two-sided in terms of messaging rate, aggregate bandwidth, and computation and communication overlap capability. For example, for 8-byte and 2KB messages the one-sided messaging rate is 5 and 10 times greater respectively than the twosided one. The study also reveals important information about how to optimize one-sided Gemini communication.
Weak instruments in growth regressions : implications for recent cross-country evidence on inequality and growth

This paper revisits four recent cross-country empirical studies on the effects of inequality on growth. All four studies report strongly significant negative effects, using the popular system generalized method of moments estimator that is frequently used in cross-country growth empirics. This paper shows that the internal instruments relied on by this estimator in these inequality-and-growth regressions are weak, and that weak instrument-consistent confidence sets for the effect of inequality on growth include a wide range of positive and negative values. This suggests that strong conclusions about the effect of inequality on growth— in either direction—cannot be drawn from these studies. This paper also systematically explores a wide range of alternative sets of internal instruments, and finds that problems of weak instruments are pervasive across these alternatives. More generally, the paper illustrates the importance of documenting instrument strength, basing inferences on procedures that are robust to weak instruments, and considering alternative instrument sets when using the system generalized method of moments estimator for cross-country growth empirics.
The Solution of Partial Differential Equations by Difference Methods Using the Electronic Differential Analyzer

Partial differential equations can be approximated by systems of simultaneous ordinary differential equations by replacing one or more of the partial derivatives by the appropriate finite differences. The resulting ordinary differential equations can sometimes be solved directly by an electronic differential analyzer employing feedback amplifiers. Both theoretical analysis of the accuracies attainable with the difference method and actual solution examples using the electronic differential analyzer are described. Types of partial differential equations considered include the heat, wave, and beam equations.
Compiling Circumscriptive Theories into Logic Programs

We study the possibility of reducing some special cases of circumscription to logic programming. The description of a given circumscriptive theory T can be sometimes transformed into a logic program II, so that, by running II, we can determine whether a given ground literal is provable in T. The method is applicable, in particular, to some formalizations of tree-structured inheritance systems with exceptions.
A novel estrogen receptor ligand template

Three synthetic routes towards a novel estrogen receptor ligand template based on a rigid bicyclo-[3.3.1]-nonene core have been investigated. The prototype compound exhibits potent binding at the ERbeta receptor and promising estrogen receptor subtype selectivity.
Structural Basis for a Switch in Receptor Binding Specificity of Two H5N1 Hemagglutinin Mutants

Avian H5N1 influenza viruses continue to spread in wild birds and domestic poultry with sporadic infection in humans. Receptor binding specificity changes are a prerequisite for H5N1 viruses and other zoonotic viruses to be transmitted among humans. Previous reported hemagglutinin (HA) mutants from ferret-transmissible H5N1 viruses of A/Vietnam/1203/2004 and A/Indonesia/5/2005 showed slightly increased, but still very weak, binding to human receptors. From mutagenesis and glycan array studies, we previously identified two H5N1 HA mutants that could more effectively switch receptor specificity to human-like α2-6-linked sialosides with avidity comparable to wild-type H5 HA binding to avian-like α2-3-linked sialosides. Here, crystal structures of these two H5 HA mutants free and in complex with human and avian glycan receptor analogs reveal the structural basis for their preferential binding to human receptors. These findings suggest continuous surveillance should be maintained to monitor and assess human-to-human transmission potential of H5N1 viruses.
Synthesis of C1-alkyl- and acylglycals from glycals using a B-alkyl Suzuki-Miyaura cross coupling approach

Abstract A B-alkyl Suzuki–Miyaura cross coupling approach provides a flexible, efficient means to convert glycals to C1-alkylglycals and C1-acylglycals that are versatile synthetic intermediates. This approach uses readily available glycal starting materials and overcomes major limitations associated with direct alkylation or acylation of glycals. Further, a commonly observed side reaction involving reduction of the halide coupling partner is suppressed by preincubation of the borane coupling partner with aqueous base, providing new mechanistic insights into the side reaction.
A review of greenhouse gas emission liabilities as the value of renewable energy for mitigating lawsuits for climate change related damages

Abstract Anthropogenic global climate change has large and mounting negative economic impacts. Companies and nations responsible for greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions are thus acquiring considerable potential liabilities. If litigation becomes widespread, renewable energy technologies (RETs) potentially offer emitters reduced liability for climate change. This benefit has been ignored because of the lack of knowledge of potential liabilities. To overcome this information deficit, this paper reviews recent literature on the potential for climate change litigation and methods to quantify liability for climate change. Next, the top 10 emitters in the U.S. are identified and their potential liability is quantified using standard GHG emission costs. Potential liabilities are explored in depth with a single case study company comparing the results of the fractional liability from only natural disasters within the U.S. for a single year to a sensitivity of the future costs of carbon emissions from other sources of emission-related liability. Then classes of potential climate change litigants are identified and their capacity to bring such lawsuits is evaluated. The results show that the net income available to shareholders of large companies could see a significant reduction from the emissions liability related to only natural disasters in the U.S. from a single coal-fired power plant. Finally, a rough estimate of the economic risk associated with future scenarios and existing organized international potential litigants is quantified. The results show that potential liability for climate change for the Alliance of Small Island States is over $570 trillion. It is concluded that as emitters begin to be held liable for damages resulting from GHG emissions resulting in climate change, a high value for liability mitigation would provide additional powerful incentives for deployment of renewable energy technologies.
Keys to Successful Community Health Worker Supervision

Abstract For many years community health workers (CHW) have been important to the implementation of many of our health system's community health interventions. Through this experience, we have recognized some unique challenges in community health worker supervision and have highlighted what we have learned in order to help other organizations effectively employ CHWs. We have identified seven keys to successful community health worker supervision: (1) Advocate for CHWs; (2) Recruit thoughtfully; (3) Develop field sensitivity; (4) Trust and respect the CHW; (5) Clarify boundaries and scope of practice; (6) Develop structure, but be flexible; and (7) Encourage continued learning. Effective supervision can improve and support the abilities of the CHW as he or she helps clients cope with life's challenges. When the CHW's cultural and interpersonal strengths are combined with effective supervision and support, they become a vital member of the health care team.
Competition Effects of Supermarket Services

This article investigates the competition effects of supermarket services using fluid milk as a case study. A simultaneous equation model for services and price competition is estimated with scanner data from fifteen supermarket chains using two alternative measures of services, namely store size and principal components of in-store services. Empirical results show that increasing services results in economies of scope, greater supermarket chain-level demand, lower price elasticity of demand, and enhanced market power, leading to higher milk prices and quantity sold. We conclude that, as result of service competition, supermarkets differentiate themselves from competitors and successfully attract less price-sensitive consumers. Copyright 2007, Oxford University Press.
Disagreement in Markets with Matching and Bargaining

This paper develops an explanation of why bargainers often terminate negotiations in disagreement in spite of positive expected gains from continued negotiation. The key to the analysis is a model which embeds bargaining activity within a market. Agents are continually faced with the choice between continuing to bargain with an existing partner or searching for a new partner. Bargainers may then terminate negotiations without an agreement, in spite of positive expected gains from continued bargaining, because seeking a new bargaining partner promises a higher return.
Real Balances, the Exchange Rate, and Indexation: Real Variables in Disinflation

The paper shows first that real exchange rate appreciation typically reduces, but may increase, the output costs of disinflation. The direct favorable effects of cheaper imports on consumer prices, on the prices of imported inputs, on wage demands, and on the demand for money may be outweighed by the unemployment caused by the trade deficit. Second, the effects of wage indexation on the costs of disinflation are reexamined. Ex ante indexation speeds up disinflation. Ex post indexation, the type observed in practice, automatically increases the real wage at the start of a disinflation and may therefore increase the sacrifice ratio.
The Long and the Short of Asset Prices: Using Long Run Consumption-Return Correlations to Test Asset Pricing Models

expected returns to the cyclical fluctuations in consumption. The models by Bansal and Yaron (2004) and Panageas and Yu (2005) provide examples of such models.
Negative Stereotypes and Willingness to Change Them: Testing Theories of Discrimination in South Africa

This paper proposes a new test to distinguish between the two leading theories of discrimination: preference versus information. Discrimination based on preferences occurs when people behave as if they refuse to change their stereotypes about the capabilities of discriminated individuals. Those who discriminate based on information are willing to alter their stereotypes. Using data from a quasi-experiment in South Africa, I test for discrimination against women and non-whites. The preliminary results show no discrimination against the former. In the case of racial discrimination, players' stereotypes benefit non-whites instead of white opponents, but they are reluctant to change their impression for the former. However, they are willing to change their initial impression about white opponents. This has severe implications about the permanency of affirmative action policies.
The Staggers Act and Firm Performance: Long-Run Evidence

One of the primary purposes of the Staggers Act of 1980 was to increase the profitability of the railroad industry. The paper examines the industry’s financial performance from 1963 to 2013 and provides evidence that railroads outperformed most other industries from pre- to post-deregulation using accounting-based measures. However, using a market-based measure, the railroad industry underperforms two-thirds of industries. Additionally, the post-Staggers accounting performance improvements were not at the expense of firms from commodity groups that are reliant on rail transportation. Importantly, there exists considerable skewness and heterogeneity across measures, which affects the effectiveness of inferences that are based on the mean of the distribution to reflect economic reality.
Domestic Violence and Social Justice A Structural Intersectional Framework for Teaching About Domestic Violence

My Domestic Violence and Social Justice law school course is organized around a structural intersectional framework to encourage students to recognize how structural inequalities inform the types of abuse perpetrated, individual and community responses to abuse, meanings that a victim ascribes to abuse, and factors that increase the risk of abuse. The course challenges the dominant neoliberal ideology focus on individual responsibility that eclipses shared responsibility. The course combines experiential exercises, a presentation by members of a community-based survivor organization, discussion of a hypothetical case with a legal practitioner, and court observation to help students apply theoretical insights to practical issues of individual representation and policy-making.
The customer engagement ecosystem

ABSTRACTConsumer engagement has been widely discussed in both the academic and practitioner literature, but there is no consensus about its meaning, what phenomena constitute engagement or what its antecedents and consequences are. Therefore, we propose that the term engagement should be eluded and that more specific terms should be used for the different phenomena. Building on the previous literature, we propose the customer engagement ecosystem, a conceptual model that encompasses brand actions, other actors, customer brand experience, shopping behaviours, brand consumption and brand-dialogue behaviours. The model posits that interactions between these elements are non-linear and reactive; meaning that each action causes a reaction of not only the intended recipient of the message, but the whole ecosystem. Hence, the model reflects the interconnected character of today’s marketing environment. It also recognises the growing importance of empowered consumers by distinguishing different forms of brand dia...
Market Competitiveness, Demographic Profiling of Demand and Tax Policies Associated with Sparkling and Non-Sparkling Bottled Water in the United States

Bottled water has become the second largest in the nonalcoholic beverage market just behind the market for soft drinks. Knowledge of price sensitivity, substitutes or complements, and demographic profiling and tax issues with respect to consumption of sparkling and non-sparkling bottled water is important for manufacturers, retailers, advertisers, and other stakeholders from a competitive intelligence and strategic decision-making perspective. Using nationally representative household level data from 62,092 households (Nielsen Homescan), and tobit econometric procedure, factors affecting the demand for sparkling and non-sparkling bottled water will be determined. Moreover, own-price, cross-price, and income elasticities for sparkling and non-sparkling bottled water will be estimated. Finally, we evaluate the effect of a 10% tax on bottled water as they affect for non-sparkling bottled water and sparkling bottled water consumption.
N-Heterocyclic Carbene-Copper-Catalyzed Group-, Site-, and Enantioselective Allylic Substitution with a Readily Accessible Propargyl(pinacolato)boron Reagent: Utility in Stereoselective Synthesis and Mechanistic Attributes.

The first instances of catalytic allylic substitution reactions involving a propargylic nucleophilic component are presented; reactions are facilitated by 5.0 mol % of a catalyst derived from a chiral N-heterocyclic carbene (NHC) and a copper chloride salt. A silyl-containing propargylic organoboron compound, easily prepared in multigram quantities, serves as the reagent. Aryl- and heteroaryl-substituted disubstituted alkenes within allylic phosphates and those with an alkyl or a silyl group can be used. Functional groups typically sensitive to hard nucleophilic reagents are tolerated, particularly in the additions to disubstituted alkenes. Reactions may be performed on the corresponding trisubstituted alkenes, affording quaternary carbon stereogenic centers. Incorporation of the propargylic group is generally favored (vs allenyl addition; 89:11 to >98:2 selectivity); 1,5-enynes can be isolated in 75–90% yield, 87:13 to >98:2 SN2′/SN2 (branched/linear) selectivity and 83:17–99:1 enantiomeric ratio. Utilit...
“War is not the Only Trauma:” Rethinking Psychosocial Healing in Complex Emergencies

War inevitably leads to a degree of psychological trauma among affected populations. This paper critiques Western-based, clinical interventions as detrimental to an already demoralized population. Ager’s (2002) framework of psychosocial intervention – human capacity, social ecology, and culture and values – is appropriate in the context of complex emergencies. Building upon an ecosystems perspective, Ager’s framework considers the whole individual and promotes strengths and resiliencies. Social workers are ideal facilitators of this type of community-based, culturally-salient, psychosocial programming, due to its application of the field’s core principles and its commitment to empowering community members to participate in their own recovery.
Segmented strings coupled to a B-field

In this paper we study segmented strings in AdS3 coupled to a background two-form whose field strength is proportional to the volume form. By changing the coupling, the theory interpolates between the Nambu-Goto string and the SL(2, ℝ) Wess-Zumino-Witten model. In terms of the kink momentum vectors, the action is independent of the coupling and the classical theory reduces to a single discrete-time Toda-type theory. The WZW model is a singular point in coupling space where the map into Toda variables degenerates.
Left Atrial Appendage Exclusion for Atrial Fibrillation

Percutaneous left atrial appendage (LAA) closure is being increasingly used as a treatment strategy to prevent stroke in patients with atrial fibrillation (AF) who have contraindications to anticoagulants. Several approaches and devices have been developed in the last few years, each with their own unique set of advantages and disadvantages. In this article, the published studies on surgical and percutaneous approaches to LAA closure are reviewed, focusing on stroke mechanisms in AF, LAA structure and function relevant to stroke prevention, practical differences in procedural approach, and clinical considerations surrounding management.
Glacier response to climate perturbations: an accurate linear geometric model

In order to understand the fundamental parameters governing glacier advance and retreat, and also the spectral properties of fluctuations in glacier length in response to noisy weather, we examine outputs of a numerical flowline model solving the shallow-ice equations with sliding. The numerical results reveal a surprising simplicity: the time evolution and spectral shape of glacier excursions depend on a single parameter, a time constant determined by the geometrical properties of the glacier. Furthermore, the numerical results reveal that perturbations in mass balance over the glacier surface set in motion a sequence of events that can be roughly described as occurring in three overlapping stages: (1) changes in interior thickness drive (2) changes in terminus flux, which in turn drive (3) changes in glacier length. A simple, third-order linear differential equation, which extends previous models in the literature, successfully captures these important features of the glacier flow. This three-stage linear model is readily invertible to recover climate history. It provides clear physical insight and analytical expressions for some important metrics of glacier behavior, such as variance, sensitivity and excursion probabilities. Finally, it facilitates uncertainty analysis. The linear model can also be adapted for arbitrary catchment geometry, and is applied to Nigardsbreen, Norway.
Perceptual and conceptual disturbances in anorexia nervosa.

SummaryClinical symptoms and psychodynamic data on 12 patients with the classic anorexia nervosa syndrome were examined as manifestations of disturbances in the perceptual and conceptual fields.Disturbances in body image of delusional proportions were present in all patients. This is an important di
The Receptor For Advanced Glycation End-Products Is A Central Mediator Of Asthma Pathogenesis

The receptor for advanced glycation end products (RAGE) is a multiligand receptor that has been shown to contribute to the pathogenesis of diabetes, atherosclerosis, and neurodegeneration. However, its role in asthma and allergic airway disease is largely unknown. These studies use a house dust mite (HDM) mouse model of asthma/allergic airway disease. Respiratory mechanics were assessed and compared between wild-type and RAGE knockout mice. Bronchovascular architecture was assessed with quantitative scoring, and expression of RAGE, immunoglobulins, and relevant cytokines was assessed by standard protein detection methods and/or quantitative RT-PCR. The absence of RAGE abolishes most assessed measures of pathology, including airway hypersensitivity (resistance, tissue damping, and elastance), eosinophilic inflammation, and airway remodeling. IL-4 secretion, isotype class switching, and antigen recognition are intact in the absence of RAGE. In contrast, normal increases in IL-5, IL-13, eotaxin, and eotaxin-2 production are abrogated in the RAGE knockouts. IL-17 indicates complex regulation, with elevated baseline expression in RAGE knockouts, but no induction in response to allergen. Treatment of WT mice with an inhibitor of RAGE markedly reduces inflammation in the HDM model, suggesting that RAGE inhibition may serve as a promising therapeutic strategy. Finally, the results in the HDM model are recapitulated in an ovalbumin model of asthma, suggesting that RAGE plays a role in asthma irrespective of the identity of the allergens involved.
John A. Popplestone (1928-2013)

Try as we might, few of us are able to leave a lasting legacy to psychology. John A. Popplestone, who was born in Louisville, Kentucky, on October 30, 1928 and died September 15, 2013, in Akron, Ohio, is someone who did just that. Along with his wife, the late Marion White McPherson, John established the Archives of the History of American Psychology at the University of Akron in 1965. In doing so he assured that the historical record of psychology would have a home and the care and attention needed to allow us to understand the development of our science and practice. John was part of a pioneering group that sought to make the history of psychology a serious area of scholarship, research, and teaching in American psychology.
Private interaction between firm management and sell-side analysts

Although sell-side analysts often privately interact with managers of publicly traded firms, the private nature of this contact has historically obscured direction examination. By examining a set of proprietary records compiled by a large-cap NYSE-traded firm, I offer insights into which analysts privately meet with management, when analysts privately interact with management, and why these interactions occur. I also compare private interaction to public interaction between analysts and managers on conference calls. The evidence suggests that private interaction with management is an important communication channel for analysts for reasons other than firm-specific forecasting news
Advanced colonoscopy techniques and technologies

Abstract Colonoscopy is the most frequently performed endoscopic procedure in the United States. It is the mainstay of diagnostic and therapeutic options for the practicing gastroenterologist. It plays a fundamental role in colorectal cancer (CRC) prevention, with a dominant position among the screening options for CRC and precancerous lesions. Over the past decade, there have been significant advances in the field of CRC and colonoscopy, including a better understanding of the importance of right-sided lesions, the sessile serrated pathway, and recognition of the significance of operator dependence in colonoscopy. This has been paralleled by an array of technological and technical advances that has transformed the field of colonoscopy and improved patient care. This article addresses the diverse and expanding field of advanced colonoscopy techniques and technologies. It is intended to be a primer on recent and effective developments in advanced technologies for screening or imaging, mucosal resection techniques, and endoscopic management of CRC.
Prediction and Welfare in Ad Auctions

We study how standard auction objectives in sponsored search markets are affected by refinement in the prediction of ad relevance (click-through rates). As the prediction algorithm takes more features into account, its predictions become more refined; a natural question is whether this is desirable from the perspective of auction objectives. Our focus is on mechanisms that optimize for a convex combination of economic efficiency and revenue, and our starting point is the observation that the objective of such a mechanism can only improve with refined prediction, making refinement in the best interest of the search engine. We demonstrate that the impact of refinement on market efficiency is not always positive; nevertheless we are able to identify natural --- and to some extent necessary --- conditions under which refinement is guaranteed to also improve economic efficiency. Our main technical contribution is in explaining how refinement changes the ranking of advertisers by value (efficiency-optimal ranking), moving it either towards or away from their ranking by virtual value (revenue-optimal ranking). These results are closely related to the literature on signaling in auctions.
Spies in the Skies: Dirtboxes and Airplane Electronic Surveillance

Electronic surveillance in the digital age is essentially a cat-and-mouse game between governmental agencies that are developing new techniques and technologies for surveillance, juxtaposed against privacy rights advocates who voice concerns about such technologies. In November 2014, there was a discovery of a new twist on a relatively old theme. Recently, the Wall Street Journal reported that the U.S. Marshals Service was running a surveillance program employing devices—dirtboxes—that gather all cell phone numbers in the surrounding area.1 Other federal agencies, including the Drug Enforcement Agency, Immigration and Custom Enforcement, and the Department of Homeland Security, are also documented to have used dirtboxes.2 These dirtboxes are manufactured by
Use of a Local Approximation to the Ancestral Recombination Graph for Fine Mapping Disease Genes

We describe a novel coalescent-based method for estimating the location of a disease susceptibility locus. This is designed for the situation where we have genotype data from a sample of cases and controls, in a region that is believed to contain a disease mutation. For a given position on the marker-map, we use the marker information of both cases and controls to reconstruct local approximations of the ancestral recombination graph using Markov Chain Monte Carlo. From this, we can compute the likelihood of the phenotype data assuming a susceptibility gene at this position; the procedure is repeated at a series of locations across the region to estimate the posterior density.
CloudBuild: Microsoft's distributed and caching build service

Thousands of Microsoft engineers build and test hundreds of software products several times a day. It is essential that this continuous integration scales, guarantees short feedback cycles, and functions reliably with minimal human intervention. This paper describes CloudBuild, the build service infrastructure developed within Microsoft over the last few years. CloudBuild is responsible for all aspects of a continuous integration workflow, including builds, test and code analysis, as well as drops, package and symbol creation and storage. CloudBuild supports multiple build languages as long as they fulfill a coarse grained, file IO based contract. CloudBuild uses content based caching to run build-related tasks only when needed. Lastly, it builds on many machines in parallel. CloudBuild offers a reliable build service in the presence of unreliable components. It aims to rapidly onboard teams and hence has to support non-deterministic build tools and specification languages that under-declare dependencies. We will outline how we addressed these challenges and characterize the operations of CloudBuild. CloudBuild has on-boarded hundreds of codebases with only man-months of effort each. Some of these codebases are used by thousands of developers. The speed ups of build and test range from 1.3× to 10×, and service availability is 99%.
Micro-scale extensional rheometry using hyperbolic converging/diverging channels and jet breakup

Understanding the elongational rheology of dilute polymer solutions plays an important role in many biological and industrial applications ranging from microfluidic lab-on-a-chip diagnostics to phenomena such as fuel atomization and combustion. Making quantitative measurements of the extensional viscosity for dilute viscoelastic fluids is a long-standing challenge and it motivates developments in microfluidic fabrication techniques and high speed/strobe imaging of millifluidic capillary phenomena in order to develop new classes of instruments. In this paper, we study the elongational rheology of a family of dilute polymeric solutions in two devices: first, steady pressure-driven flow through a hyperbolic microfluidic contraction/expansion and, second, the capillary driven breakup of a thin filament formed from a small diameter jet ([Formula: see text]). The small length scale of the device allows very large deformation rates to be achieved. Our results show that in certain limits of low viscosity and elasticity, jet breakup studies offer significant advantages over the hyperbolic channel measurements despite the more complex implementation. Using our results, together with scaling estimates of the competing viscous, elastic, inertial and capillary timescales that control the dynamics, we construct a dimensionless map or nomogram summarizing the operating space for each instrument.
Labor market frictions and production efficiency in public schools

Abstract State-specific licensing policies and pension plans create mobility costs for educators who cross state lines. We empirically test whether these costs affect production in schools – a hypothesis that follows directly from economic theory on labor frictions – using geocoded data on school locations and state boundaries. We find that achievement is lower in mathematics, and to a lesser extent in reading, at schools that are more exposed to state boundaries. A detailed investigation of the selection of schools into boundary regions yields no indication of systematic differences between boundary and non-boundary schools along other measured dimensions. Moreover, we show that cross-district labor frictions do not explain state boundary effects. Our findings are consistent with the hypothesis that mobility frictions in educator labor markets near state boundaries lower student achievement.
Expanding Boundaries: N2 Cleavage and Functionalization beyond Early Transition Metals

Early transition metals are well known to catalyze the cleavage and functionalization of N2 . In this Highlight, recent work showing that a rhenium catalyst is also capable of carrying out this difficult task is summarized, and a synthetic cycle for the stoichiometric incorporation of atmospheric N2 into acetonitrile is presented.
Model uncertainty approximation using a copula-based approach for reliability based design optimization

Reliability-based design optimization (RBDO) has been widely used to design engineering products with minimum cost function while meeting reliability constraints. Although uncertainties, such as aleatory uncertainty and epistemic uncertainty, have been well considered in RBDO, they are mainly considered for model input parameters. Model uncertainty, i.e., the uncertainty of model bias indicating the inherent model inadequacy for representing the real physical system, is typically overlooked in RBDO. This paper addresses model uncertainty approximation in a product design space and further integrates the model uncertainty into RBDO. In particular, a copula-based bias modeling approach is proposed and results are demonstrated by two vehicle design problems.
Risk Assessment and Management of Offshore Structures

AbstractDuring the past 30 years, reliability based risk assessment & management processes have been developed and applied in assessing and maintaining the integrity of a worldwide infrastructure of offshore structure systems. These systems are characterized as a combination of structures, hardware / equipment, operating personnel, organizations, environments and the interfaces between these components. Background on current and future trends in development of comprehensive programs to help improve the quality and reliability of offshore structure systems are outlined. The importance and characteristics of human and organizational factors are discussed. A combination of proactive, reactive, and interactive approaches have been developed that employ three strategies to achieve desirable quality and reliability: reduce likelihoods of malfunctions, increase detection and correction of malfunctions, and decrease the effects and consequences of malfunctions. System robustness and fail-safe design are key eleme...