cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
The GNSS Reflectometry response to the ocean surface

We investigate the Global Navigation Satellite System Reflectometry (GNSS-R) measurements collected by the Space GNSS Receiver-Remote Sensing Instrument (SGR-ReSI) on board the TechDemoSat-1 (TDS-1) satellite. The sensitivity of the SGR-ReSI measurements to the ocean surface winds and waves are characterized. The effects of sea surface temperature, wind direction, and rain are also investigated. The SGR-ReSI measurements exhibited sensitivity through the entire range of wind speeds sampled in this dataset, up to 35 m/s. A significant dependence on the larger waves was observed for winds 5 m/s. There appeared to be very little wind direction signal, and investigation of the rain impacts found no apparent sensitivity in the data. These results are shown through the analysis of global statistics and examination of a few case studies. This released SGR-ReSI dataset provided the first opportunity to comprehensively investigate the sensitivity of satellite-based GNSS-R measurements to various ocean surface parameters. The upcoming NASA's Cyclone Global Navigation Satellite System (CYGNSS) satellite constellation will utilize a similar receiver to SGI-ReSI and thus this data provides valuable pre-launch knowledge.
Top 15 Tips on Becoming an Effective Medical Simulation Performer/Writer/Director.

Xiao C Zhang1*, Scott Pasichow1, Melissa Bowler2 and David Lindquist3 1Alpert Medical School of Brown University, Emergency Medicine Residency, Providence, RI, USA 2Providence Improv Guild, Providence, RI, USA 3Alpert Medical School of Brown University, Department of Emergency Medicine, Providence, RI,USA *Corresponding author: Xiao C Zhang, Alpert Medical School of Brown University, Emergency Medicine Residency, Providence, RI, USA, Tel: +1401-863-1000; E-mail: xzhang09@gmail.com
The dynamic three-dimensional organization of the diploid yeast genome

The budding yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae is a long-standing model for the three-dimensional organization of eukaryotic genomes. However, even in this well-studied model, it is unclear how homolog pairing in diploids or environmental conditions influence overall genome organization. Here, we performed high-throughput chromosome conformation capture on diverged Saccharomyces hybrid diploids to obtain the first global view of chromosome conformation in diploid yeasts. After controlling for the Rabl-like orientation using a polymer model, we observe significant homolog proximity that increases in saturated culture conditions. Surprisingly, we observe a localized increase in homologous interactions between the HAS1-TDA1 alleles specifically under galactose induction and saturated growth. This pairing is accompanied by relocalization to the nuclear periphery and requires Nup2, suggesting a role for nuclear pore complexes. Together, these results reveal that the diploid yeast genome has a dynamic and complex 3D organization.
Firm Competitiveness and Detection of Bribery

Using survey data from firms around the world I analyze how detection of bribery has impacted a firm’s competitiveness over the past year. Managers report that the most significant impact was on employee morale, followed by business relations, and then reputation and regulatory relations. The impact on stock price has been much less significant and this could be attributed to stock prices not reflecting the impact on employee morale and business relations in less competitive labor and product markets. To better understand these bribery cases I analyze detailed data on the identity of the main perpetrator, detection method and organizational response following detection and find that both the method of detection and how an organization responds are systematically related to the seniority or type of the perpetrator. Finally, I examine how these factors are associated with the impact on competitiveness and find that internally initiated bribery from senior executives is more likely to be associated with a significant impact on firm competitiveness. Bribery detected by the control systems of the firm is less likely to be associated with a significant impact on regulatory relations. Finally, bribery cases where the main perpetrator is dismissed are less likely to be associated with a significant impact on firm competitiveness. These results shed light on the costs of bribery after detection.
The Complexity of Tensor Rank

We show that determining the rank of a tensor over a field has the same complexity as deciding the existential theory of that field. This implies earlier NP-hardness results by Hastad (J. Algorithm. 11(4), 644–654 1990). The hardness proof also implies an algebraic universality result.
THE DYNAMICAL SYSTEMS METHOD FOR SOLVING NONLINEAR EQUATIONS WITH MONOTONE OPERATORS

A review of the authors' results is given. Several methods are discussed for solving nonlinear equations F(u) = f, where F is a monotone operator in a Hilbert space, and noisy data are given in place of the exact data. A discrepancy principle for solving the equation is formulated and justified. Various versions of the Dynamical Systems Method (DSM) for solving the equation are formulated. These versions of the DSM include a regularized Newton-type method, a gradient-type method, and a simple iteration method. A priori and a posteriori choices of stopping rules for these methods are proposed and justified. Convergence of the solutions, obtained by these methods, to the minimal norm solution to the equation F(u) = f is proved. Iterative schemes with a posteriori choices of stopping rule corresponding to the proposed DSM are formulated. Convergence of these iterative schemes to a solution to equation F(u) = f is justified. New nonlinear differential inequalities are derived and applied to a study of large-time behavior of solutions to evolution equations. Discrete versions of these inequalities are established.
A theory of similarity functions for learning and clustering

Kernel methods have proven to be powerful tools in machine learning. They perform well in many applications, and there is also a well-developed theory of sufficient conditions for a kernel to be useful for a given learning problem. However, while a kernel can be thought of as just a pairwise similarity function that satisfies additional mathematical properties, this theory requires viewing kernels as implicit (and often difficult to characterize) maps into high-dimensional spaces. In this talk I will describe work on developing a theory that applies to more general similarity functions (not just legal kernels) and furthermore describes the usefulness of a given similarity function in terms of more intuitive, direct properties, without need to refer to any implicit spaces. An interesting feature of the proposed framework is that it can also be applied to learning from purely unlabeled data, i.e., clustering. In particular, one can ask how much stronger the properties of a similarity function should be (in terms of its relation to the unknown desired clustering) so that it can be used to cluster well: to learn well without any label information at all. We find that if we are willing to relax the objective a bit (for example, allow the algorithm to produce a hierarchical clustering that we will call successful if some pruning is close to the correct answer), then this question leads to a number of interesting graph-theoretic and game-theoretic properties that are sufficient to cluster well. This work can be viewed as an approach to defining a PAC model for clustering. This talk is based on work joint with Maria-Florina Balcan and Santosh Vempala.
The Detection of Nanoscale Membrane Bending with Polarized Localization Microscopy

Abstract The curvature of biological membranes at the nanometer scale is critically important for vesicle trafficking, organelle morphology, and disease propagation. The initiation of membrane bending occurs at a length scale that is irresolvable by most superresolution optical microscopy methods. Here, we report the development of polarized localization microscopy (PLM), a pointillist optical imaging technique for the detection of nanoscale membrane curvature in correlation with single-molecule dynamics and molecular sorting. PLM combines polarized total internal reflection fluorescence microscopy and single-molecule localization microscopy to reveal membrane orientation with subdiffraction-limited resolution without reducing localization precision by point spread function manipulation. Membrane curvature detection with PLM requires fewer localization events to detect curvature than three-dimensional single-molecule localization microscopy (e.g., photoactivated localization microscopy or stochastic optical reconstruction microscopy), which enables curvature detection 10× faster via PLM. With rotationally confined lipophilic fluorophores and the polarized incident fluorescence excitation, membrane-bending events are revealed with superresolution. Engineered hemispherical membrane curvature with a radius ≥24 nm was detected with PLM, and individual fluorophore localization precision was 13 ± 5 nm. Further, deciphering molecular mobility as a function of membrane topology was enabled. The diffusion coefficient of individual DiI molecules was 25 ± 5× higher in planar supported lipid bilayers than within nanoscale membrane curvature. Through the theoretical foundation and experimental demonstration provided here, PLM is poised to become a powerful technique for revealing the underlying biophysical mechanisms of membrane bending at physiological length scales.
Hierarchical modeling and scalable algorithms for in-situ analysis of integrated circuit packages

The objective of this work is to investigate high-resolution and high-performance computational methods for the first-principles analysis of in-situ product-level integrated circuit (IC) packages. The novelties and key technical approaches of the proposed work include: (i) a scalable geometry-based domain decomposition (DD) method to conquer the geometric complexity of physical domain, which leads to quasi-optimal convergence that is provably scalable for multi-scale objects. Moreover, it results in parallel and scalable computational algorithms to reduce the time complexity via high performance computing facilities; (ii) a hierarchical multi-scale simulator for high-definition IC package systems, in which the technical ingredients include a skeleton-based multi-region multi-solver method and a variational macro-micro analysis for multi-scale modeling. The capability and benefits of the algorithms are explored and illustrated through several real-world 3D IC package applications.
The Road to Deterministic Matrices with the Restricted Isometry Property

The restricted isometry property (RIP) is a well-known matrix condition that provides state-of-the-art reconstruction guarantees for compressed sensing. While random matrices are known to satisfy this property with high probability, deterministic constructions have found less success. In this paper, we consider various techniques for demonstrating RIP deterministically, some popular and some novel, and we evaluate their performance. In evaluating some techniques, we apply random matrix theory and inadvertently find a simple alternative proof that certain random matrices are RIP. Later, we propose a particular class of matrices as candidates for being RIP, namely, equiangular tight frames (ETFs). Using the known correspondence between real ETFs and strongly regular graphs, we investigate certain combinatorial implications of a real ETF being RIP. Specifically, we give probabilistic intuition for a new bound on the clique number of Paley graphs of prime order, and we conjecture that the corresponding ETFs are RIP in a manner similar to random matrices.
2016: The Year of the Soda Tax

The year 2016 was pivotal in the history of the “soda wars” – the politically divisive conflict between soda as a joy of life or as a uniquely harmful food. This past year, the soft beverage industry lost its battle against soda taxes. At the beginning of 2016, only 121,000 Americans, residents of Berkeley, California, paid public health based taxes on sugary drinks. Throughout the year, six cities and counties followed suit, and when these new measures take effect, that number is predicted to grow to more than 8.3 million nationally. Evidence from early adopters shows great promise. Mexico’s 1-peso-per-liter tax produced a 6% average decline in purchases during its first year, reaching 12% by December. In Berkeley, California, consumption of sugary beverages in low-income neighborhoods decreased by 21%. Soda taxes are an innovative method of reducing consumption of added sugars, which increase risk of obesity, type 2 diabetes, and other noncommunicable diseases. Taxes aim to discourage consumption of sugary drinks by raising prices, and offer the dual benefit of generating revenue, which can be used to fund other public health and community programs. Not surprisingly, “Big Soda” has unleashed well-coordinated, heavily resourced opposition campaigns against soda taxes, including lobbying and litigation. The successes of 2016 show that local governments can overcome industry opposition and provide leadership and innovation in tackling rising rates of obesity and noncommunicable diseases. Now, faced with an administration that has offered few (if any) reasons to be optimistic about disease prevention and health promotion at the federal level, local leaders and public health advocates should consider soda taxes as a key pillar of obesity prevention.
The CASTER Black Hole Finder Probe

Abstract The primary scientific mission of the Black Hole Finder Probe (BHFP), part of the NASA Beyond Einstein program, is to survey the local Universe for black holes over a wide range of mass and accretion rate. One approach to such a survey is a hard X-ray coded-aperture imaging mission operating in the 10–600 keV energy band, a spectral range that is considered to be especially useful in the detection of black hole sources. The development of new inorganic scintillator materials provides improved performance (for example, with regards to energy resolution and timing) that is well suited to the BHFP science requirements. Detection planes formed with these materials coupled with a new generation of readout devices represent a major advancement in the performance capabilities of scintillator-based gamma cameras. Here, we discuss the Coded Aperture Survey Telescope for Energetic Radiation (CASTER), a concept that represents a BHFP based on the use of the latest scintillator technology.
Efficacy of transsphenoidal surgery in achieving biochemical cure of growth hormone-secreting pituitary adenomas among patients with cavernous sinus invasion: a systematic review and meta-analysis

Objectives: Growth hormone-secreting pituitary adenomas in adults can result in severe craniofacial disfigurement and potentially fatal medical complications. Surgical resection leading to remissio...
Antibiotic resistance in severe orofacial infections

Purpose This study assessed the antibiotic resistance profile in patients with severe orofacial infections treated at a single institution from 2009 through 2014. Factors contributing to resistance were studied. The resistance profile was compared with that of a cohort of similar patients treated a decade previously to identify changes in antibiotic resistance. In addition, the effect of antibiotic resistance on in-hospital course was studied. Materials and Methods This was a 5-year retrospective cohort study. Patients were identified through the oral and maxillofacial surgery data registry. Inclusion criteria were patients treated for orofacial infection requiring hospital admission, surgical drainage, and availability of complete medical, surgical, and microbiological data. Patients with incomplete data or treated as outpatients or nonsurgically were excluded. Sixty patient charts were identified for review. Demographic data; medical, dental, and surgical histories; and hospital course and treatment specifics were obtained for each patient. Linear regression and logistic analyses were used to analyze the data. Results Men composed 60% of the cohort (mean age, 45 yr). Average hospital stay was 5.5 days. Penicillin resistance was found in 32.5% of aerobic isolates and clindamycin resistance was found in 29.3%. Streptococcus viridans and Staphylococcus species showed increased resistance to clindamycin and erythromycin compared with historic controls. Younger patient age, surgical history, and number of cultured aerobes showed a relevant correlation to antibiotic resistance. The need for changes in antibiotics, repeat surgical drainage, and increased serum urea nitrogen levels correlated with longer hospital stay. Conclusion A serious increase in clindamycin and erythromycin resistance was found for S viridans and Staphylococcus species. Age, surgical history, and number of cultured aerobes showed a statistically meaningful correlation to antibiotic resistance. Presence of antibiotic resistance failed to show statistically relevant correlations to prolongation of hospital stay. Rather, the need for change in antibiotic regimen, the need for re-drainage, and increased serum urea nitrogen level were associated with longer hospital stay.
Deep Embedding Forest: Forest-based Serving with Deep Embedding Features

Deep Neural Networks (DNN) have demonstrated superior ability to extract high level embedding vectors from low level features. Despite the success, the serving time is still the bottleneck due to expensive run-time computation of multiple layers of dense matrices. GPGPU, FPGA, or ASIC-based serving systems require additional hardware that are not in the mainstream design of most commercial applications. In contrast, tree or forest-based models are widely adopted because of low serving cost, but heavily depend on carefully engineered features. This work proposes a Deep Embedding Forest model that benefits from the best of both worlds. The model consists of a number of embedding layers and a forest/tree layer. The former maps high dimensional (hundreds of thousands to millions) and heterogeneous low-level features to the lower dimensional (thousands) vectors, and the latter ensures fast serving. Built on top of a representative DNN model called Deep Crossing, and two forest/tree-based models including XGBoost and LightGBM, a two-step Deep Embedding Forest algorithm is demonstrated to achieve on-par or slightly better performance as compared with the DNN counterpart, with only a fraction of serving time on conventional hardware. After comparing with a joint optimization algorithm called partial fuzzification, also proposed in this paper, it is concluded that the two-step Deep Embedding Forest has achieved near optimal performance. Experiments based on large scale data sets (up to 1 billion samples) from a major sponsored search engine proves the efficacy of the proposed model.
Intravital imaging of the kidney in a rat model of salt-sensitive hypertension

Hypertension is one of the most prevalent diseases worldwide and a major risk factor for renal failure and cardiovascular disease. The role of albuminuria, a common feature of hypertension and robu...
A Multilevel Longitudinal Nested Logit Model for Measuring Changes in Correct Response and Error Types.

This article presents a multilevel longitudinal nested logit model for analyzing correct response and error types in multilevel longitudinal intervention data collected under a pretest–posttest, cl...
Partially paradoxist Smarandache geometries

A paradoxist Smarandache geometry combines Euclidean, hyperbolic, and elliptic geometry into one space along with other non-Euclidean behaviors of lines that would seem to require a discrete space. A class of continuous spaces is presented here together with specific examples that exhibit almost all of these phenomena and suggest the prospect of a continuous paradoxist geometry.
An improved conditional branching scheme for a single instruction computer architecture

A conditional branching scheme for the single instruction computer described in [3] is described. The new scheme is more practical than the one previously given.
Timing and deformation conditions of the Tallulah Falls dome, NE Georgia: Implications for the Alleghanian orogeny

Structural domes composed of crystalline rocks metamorphosed to midcrustal conditions are present in every major orogen and record deformation of the deep interior of mountain ranges. The Tallulah Falls dome in northeast Georgia is a shear zone−bounded body of metasedimentary rocks that is defined by a foliation pattern that crosscuts the regional fabric of the Eastern Blue Ridge crystalline nappe in the southern Appalachian Mountains. Previously, the Tallulah Falls dome was interpreted as the expression of duplexed underlying slices of Laurentian margin sedimentary rocks imbricated during Alleghanian emplacement of the allochthonous Blue Ridge thrust sheet under greenschist-facies conditions. We provide new observations of quartz and feldspar recrystallization fabrics and new 40 Ar/ 39 Ar dates from muscovite that complement existing thermochronometric ages to determine the timing and conditions of doming within the Tallulah Falls dome. Our microstructural observations are consistent with deformation mechanisms active dominantly at amphibolite-facies conditions, with some samples recording temperatures in excess of 650 °C. Thermochronometric ages define a period of relatively rapid cooling from ∼550 °C to 340 °C within and around the Tallulah Falls dome between 321 and 317 Ma, with differential cooling across the northwestern dome-bounding shear zone lasting until at least 313 Ma. Our observations reveal a period of early Alleghanian cooling from amphibolite- to greenschist-facies conditions associated with displacement along a shear zone bounding the Tallulah Falls dome. Across the Blue Ridge, the Alleghanian orogeny has long been characterized only by thrusting at greenschist-facies conditions. Similarly, dome formation has been interpreted as the result of duplexing within the thin-skinned Blue Ridge crystalline thrust sheet as it was emplaced upon the Laurentian margin. Both of these interpretations are inconsistent with the new data presented here, which suggest more complex Alleghanian deformation over a broader range in temperatures, and perhaps a diverse suite of structural styles. Our results are best explained by doming of the footwall of a normal-displacement shear zone at amphibolite-facies conditions during the earliest Alleghanian period.
Battery-powered digital CMOS design

In this paper, we consider the problem of maximizing the battery life (or duration of service) in battery-powered CMOS circuits. We first show that the battery efficiency (or utilization factor) decreases as the average discharge current from the battery increases. The implication is that the battery life is a superlinear function of the average discharge current. Next we show that even if the average discharge current remains the same, different discharge current profiles (distributions) may result in very different battery lifetimes. In particular, the maximum battery life is achieved when the variance of the discharge current distribution is minimized. Analytical derivations and experimental results underline the importance of the correct modeling of the battery-hardware system as a whole and provide a more accurate basis (i.e., the battery discharge times delay product) for comparing various low-power optimization methodologies and techniques targeted toward battery-powered electronics. Finally, we calculate the optimal value of V/sub dd/ for a battery-powered VLSI circuit so as to minimize the product of the battery discharge times circuit delay.
Imputation Approaches for Animal Movement Modeling

The analysis of telemetry data is common in animal ecological studies. While the collection of telemetry data for individual animals has improved dramatically, the methods to properly account for inherent uncertainties (e.g., measurement error, dependence, barriers to movement) have lagged behind. Still, many new statistical approaches have been developed to infer unknown quantities affecting animal movement or predict movement based on telemetry data. Hierarchical statistical models are useful to account for some of the aforementioned uncertainties, as well as provide population-level inference, but they often come with an increased computational burden. For certain types of statistical models, it is straightforward to provide inference if the latent true animal trajectory is known, but challenging otherwise. In these cases, approaches related to multiple imputation have been employed to account for the uncertainty associated with our knowledge of the latent trajectory. Despite the increasing use of imputation approaches for modeling animal movement, the general sensitivity and accuracy of these methods have not been explored in detail. We provide an introduction to animal movement modeling and describe how imputation approaches may be helpful for certain types of models. We also assess the performance of imputation approaches in two simulation studies. Our simulation studies suggests that inference for model parameters directly related to the location of an individual may be more accurate than inference for parameters associated with higher-order processes such as velocity or acceleration. Finally, we apply these methods to analyze a telemetry data set involving northern fur seals (Callorhinus ursinus) in the Bering Sea. Supplementary materials accompanying this paper appear online.
Socially responsible investing: moral and optimal?

I evaluate the performance of static and dynamic strategies involving socially responsible investments (SRI). I show that although the average SRI fund underperforms a market index, a portfolio that accounts for time variation in the number of SRI funds available to investors, actually outperforms the market index. An examination of the dynamic performance of the SRI portfolio shows that returns to SRI funds are less sensitive to unanticipated shifts in the business cycle than the returns to a market portfolio. I show that a sector rotation strategy which involves timing business cycle shifts by reallocating between the CRSP index and the SRI portfolio earns a positive and statistically significant return. Finally, I find weak evidence that an SRI investment represents a flight to quality during periods of high relative risk aversion. INTRODUCTION The Social Investment Forum (SIF) defines socially responsible investing (SRI) as integrating personal values and societal concerns with investment decisions. Statman (2000) provides a description of the exclusionary and qualitative screens that are applied by funds that adhere to SRI. The SIF claims that socially responsible investing allows an investor to earn a competitive return while ‘working to build a better tomorrow’. Geczy, Stambaugh and Levin (2003) perform utility calculations to test this claim. They find that for an investor who believes strongly in the Capital Asset Pricing Model (CAPM) of Sharpe (1964) and Lintner (1965), the cost of imposing the SRI constraint reduces the Sharpe ratio by a few basis points a month. Anecdotal evidence suggests that SRI funds may outperform a passive index during certain periods in time. The TIAA social fund outperformed TIAA’s equity index fund by 3.21% over the five year period ended Sept. 30, 2004. In Figure 1, I plot the number of SRI funds offered each year from 1992 to 2003 against the annual return to a proxy for the market portfolio, the value weighted CRSP index. The graph shows that the number of SRI mutual funds offered each year is negatively correlated with the return to the CRSP index. These correlations are particularly evident in the years 2002 and 2003. The number of SRI funds reached its maximum of 69 funds in the year 2002 when the return on the CRSP index was -21.49%. The number of SRI funds dropped to 68 when the return on the CRSP index increased in 2003. I construct a portfolio of SRI funds that accounts for these temporal variations in the number of SRI funds offered each year. Each month, starting in 1992, and ending in 2003, I invest $100 in a portfolio which consists of a $1 investment in each SRI fund that
Chronic-Stress-Induced Behavioral Changes Associated with Subregion-Selective Serotonin Cell Death in the Dorsal Raphe

The current study examined the neurochemical mechanisms and neuroanatomical changes underlying coexisting behavioral effects associated with chronic-stress-induced alterations in serotonin (5HT) neurons. Chronic unpredictable stress (CUS) to adult male rats produced depression-like changes with cognitive dysfunction and selective cell death in the interfascicular nucleus of the dorsal raphe (DRif), resulting in decreased 5HTergic innervation of medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC). Twenty-one days of CUS decreased basal plasma levels of corticosterone and produced a shorter latency to immobility and longer durations of immobility in the force-swim test that persisted for 1 month after CUS. Deficits in acquisition, recall, perseveration, and reversal learning were evident 1 month after CUS. MK801 treatment during CUS blocked the changes in the forced-swim test and deficits in memory recall. These behavioral changes were associated with terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase dUTP nick end labeling (TUNEL)-positive soma and the eventual loss of 5HT neurons in the DRif and its projections to the mPFC as evidenced by fewer labeled cells in the DRif after retrograde tracer injections into the mPFC of stressed rats. Similar to the effects of MK801 on behavior, MK801 pretreatment during stress blocked the CUS-induced decreases in 5HT soma within the DRif and its projections to the mPFC. Finally, the depression-like behaviors were blocked by acute injection of the 5HT2A/C agonist (-)-2,5-dimethoxy-4-iodoamphetamine hydrochloride into the mPFC before forced-swim testing. These results identify a cause and mechanism of 5HTergic dysfunction of the mPFC and associated mood and cognitive behaviors.SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT Chronic stress causes persistent mood and cognitive changes typically associated with dysregulated serotonin (5HT) transmission in the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC), but the cause of this dysregulation is unknown. Prior studies have focused on 5HTergic terminals in this region, but this study shows that chronic stress causes NMDA-receptor-dependent and subregion-specific cell death of 5HT neurons in the dorsal raphe. The consequent decreased 5HT innervation of the mPFC was associated with mood and cognitive changes that persisted long after the termination of stress. These findings identify a mechanism of subregion-selective death of 5HT neurons in the dorsal raphe, a defined neuroanatomical pathway, and a behavioral phenotype that mirror stress-associated diseases such as major depressive disorder.
Examining Spillovers between Long and Short Repeated Prisoner's Dilemma Games Played in the Laboratory.

We had participants play two sets of repeated Prisoner’s Dilemma (RPD) games, one with a large continuation probability and the other with a small continuation probability, as well as Dictator Games (DGs) before and after the RPDs. We find that, regardless of which is RPD set is played first, participants typically cooperate when the continuation probability is large and defect when the continuation probability is small. However, there is an asymmetry in behavior when transitioning from one continuation probability to the other. When switching from large to small, transient higher levels of cooperation are observed in the early games of the small continuation set. Conversely, when switching from small to large, cooperation is immediately high in the first game of the large continuation set. We also observe that response times increase when transitioning between sets of RPDs, except for altruistic participants transitioning into the set of RPDs with long continuation probabilities. These asymmetries suggest a bias in favor of cooperation. Finally, we examine the link between altruism and RPD play. We find that small continuation probability RPD play is correlated with giving in DGs played before and after the RPDs, whereas high continuation probability RPD play is not.
Analytical Modeling of Mutually Coupled Switched Reluctance Machines Under Saturation Based on Design Geometry

An analytical calculation of the winding flux linkages and torque is proposed for fully pitched mutual coupled switched reluctance motors to develop a machine model without using numerical methods. The proposed technique is not empirical and does not require any finite-element analysis (FEA). The design parameters and the material properties of the machine are the only inputs to the model, which can predict the winding flux linkages and torque at any phase currents and rotor positions. The model is applicable for the rotor positions where the stator and rotor poles overlap. Initial assumptions and then the step-by-step procedure for flux linkage, co-energy, and torque calculations are provided. The flux linkages and torque predicted through the proposed modeling technique are compared with the FEA results. Finally, experimental results of flux linkage and torque are provided to verify the accuracy of the proposed modeling technique.
“Athleticated” Versus Educated: A Qualitative Investigation of Campus Perceptions, Recruiting and African American Male Student-Athletes

The purpose of this study was to conduct a qualitative investigation of student narratives (N=167) about the contemporary issue of recruiting high-profile African American male student-athletes. Participants were asked to view a scene on recruiting from the film, The Program (1994). Participants were then presented with questions regarding a recruiting trip by an African American football player to a traditionally white campus. Findings indicate that both Black and White students perceived the African American male student-athletes in the film scene to be more “athleticated” than educated. They were also perceived as stereotypical sex-objects. When athletes (especially male) show up at the school, the program does everything it can to show the athlete how fun it would be to go to school there, i.e., greeted by beautiful women, surrounded by beautiful women and taken to parties with beautiful women. Nothing academic is shown to them (016).
Airport Noise in Atlanta: The Inequality of Sound

We examine how changes in the geographic concentrations of Hispanic and African-American populations are correlated with changes in probabilities of airport noise, in Atlanta, during 2003 and 2012. We estimate ordered probit and locally weighted ordered probit regressions for three different noise categories to determine the correlations between these two demographic groups and the aircraft noise levels experienced by people in individual houses that sold. Then we determine the average coefficient for all houses sold in each Census block group, and we plot each year’s coefficients for each block group against the percentiles of the minority population. While the absolute level of noise has declined over the geographic area considered in 2012 compared with 2003, we find that the distribution of noise coefficients among Hispanics and blacks became more inequitable in 2012 compared with 2003. At least two potential mechanisms could generate these correlations. Due to residential mobility, income and preferences could combine to produce a concentration of minorities in certain neighborhoods. Or, perhaps noisier flight paths are imposed upon higher minority neighborhoods as a result of discrimination. Our findings contribute to the broader literature on environmental justice, even though we cannot definitively infer the mechanisms at work.
Finding concurrency-related bugs using random isolation

This paper concerns automatically verifying safety properties of concurrent programs. In our work, the safety property of interest is to check for multi-location data races in concurrent Java programs, where a multi-location data race arises when a program is supposed to maintain an invariant over multiple data locations, but accesses/updates are not protected correctly by locks. The main technical challenge that we address is how to generate a program model that retains (at least some of) the synchronization operations of the concrete program, when the concrete program uses dynamic memory allocation. Static analysis of programs typically begins with an abstraction step that generates an abstract program that operates on a finite set of abstract objects. In the presence of dynamic memory allocation, the finite number of abstract objects of the abstract program must represent the unbounded number of concrete objects that the concrete program may allocate, and thus by the pigeon-hole principle some of the abstract objects must be summary objects—they represent more than one concrete object. Because abstract summary objects represent multiple concrete objects, the program analyzer typically must perform weak updates on the abstract state of a summary object, where a weak update accumulates information. Because weak updates accumulate rather than overwrite, the analyzer is only able to determine weak judgements on the abstract state, i.e., that some property possibly holds, and not that it definitely holds. The problem with weak judgements is that determining whether an interleaved execution respects program synchronization requires the ability to determine strong judgements, i.e., that some lock is definitely held, and thus the analyzer needs to be able to perform strong updates—an overwrite of the abstract state—to enable strong judgements. We present the random-isolation abstraction as a new principle for enabling strong updates of special abstract objects. The idea is to associate with a program allocation site two abstract objects, $${r^{\sharp}}$$ and $${o^{\sharp}}$$, where $${r^{\sharp}}$$ is a non-summary object and $${o^{\sharp}}$$ is a summary object. Abstract object $${r^{\sharp}}$$ models a distinguished concrete object that is chosen at random in each program execution. Because $${r^{\sharp}}$$ is a non-summary object—i.e, it models only one concrete object—strong updates are able to be performed on its abstract state. Because which concrete object $${r^{\sharp}}$$ models is chosen randomly, a proof that a safety property holds for $${r^{\sharp}}$$ generalizes to all objects modeled by $${o^{\sharp}}$$. We implemented the random isolation abstraction in a tool called Empire, which verifies atomic-set serializability of concurrent Java programs (atomic-set serializability is one notion of multi-location data-race freedom). Random isolation allows Empire to track lock states in ways that would not otherwise have been possible with conventional approaches.
A new field-plated GaN HEMT structure with improved power and noise performance

Field-plated structures can dramatically improve power capacity of GaN HEMT devices. In this paper, two different field-plated GaN HEMT structures were demonstrated and compared to each other. The results show that a new GaN HEMT structure improves both power and noise performance without additional processing or costs.
Coupling autotrophic denitrification with partial nitritation-anammox (PNA) for efficient total inorganic nitrogen removal

Abstract The performance of and the microbial ecology in an integrated lab scale set up comprising of a PN/A bioreactor and an elemental sulfur-supported packed bed autotrophic denitrification (ESSAD) are reported. The PN/A reactor exhibited an average removal rate of 0.56 ± 0.103 kg N m −3 d −1 , whereas the ESSAD reactor removed an average of 0.0018 kg NO 3 − -N m −3 d −1 . The combined average removal rate was 0.6 kg N m −3 d −1 , yielding an overall total inorganic nitrogen efficiency of 97%. Based on 16S rRNA gene clone libraries from the ESSAD reactor, the extracted Operational Taxonomic Units (OTUs) formed a clade with Thiobacillus denitrificans sp. indicating a common ancestral relationship. High throughput amplicon sequencing targeting V3 region of 16S rRNA gene for the biofilm in the ESSAD also revealed an abundance of the Thiobacillus genus. Additionally, 16s rRNA amplicon sequencing of the genomic DNA from the PN/A reactor reflected a dominance of the Planctomycetes phylum.
Polymer conjugated retinoids for controlled transdermal delivery

Abstract All-trans retinoic acid (ATRA), a derivative of vitamin A, is a common component in cosmetics and commercial acne creams as well as being a first-line chemotherapeutic agent. Today, formulations for the topical application of ATRA rely on creams and emulsions to incorporate the highly hydrophobic ATRA drug. These strategies, when applied to the skin, deliver ATRA as a single bolus, which is immediately taken up into the skin and contributes to many of the known adverse side effects of ATRA treatment, including skin irritation and hair loss. Herein we present a new concept in topical delivery of retinoids by covalently bonding the drug through a hydrolytically degradable ester linkage to a common hydrophilic polymer, polyvinyl alcohol (PVA), creating an amphiphilic nanomaterial that is water-soluble. This PVA bound ATRA can then act as a pro-drug and accumulate within the skin to allow for the sustained controlled delivery of active ATRA. This approach was demonstrated to release active ATRA out to 10 days in vitro while significantly enhancing dermal accumulation of the ATRA in explant pig skin. In vivo we demonstrate that the pro-drug formulation reduces application site inflammation compared to free ATRA and retains the drug at the application site at measurable quantities for up to six days.
Primary Lymph. Node Pathology in AIDS and AIDS- Related Lymphadenopathy

Lymph nodes of patients symptomatically infected with the acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) virus show a spectrum of morphologic changes ranging from marked lymphoid hyperplasia to marked lymphocytic depletion. These changes can be grouped into three distinct patterns. The type I pattern features follicular and paracortical hyperplasia, and is associated with chronic lymphadenopathy. The type II pattern, which shows diffuse lymphoid hyperplasia but loss of germinal centers, signifies evolution of chronic lymphadenopathy to AIDS. The type III pattern shows marked lymphocytic depletion and represents the end-stage lymph node seen in fatal AIDS. These histologic patterns are closely correlated with the clinical and immunologic status of patients infected with the AIDS virus.
Estimation of the two-tiered stochastic frontier model with the scaling property

The two-tiered stochastic frontier model has enjoyed success across a range of application domains where it is believed that incomplete information on both sides of the market leads to surplus which buyers and sellers can extract. Currently, this model is hindered by the fact that estimation relies on very restrictive distributional assumptions on the behavior of incomplete information on both sides of the market. However, this reliance on specific parametric distributional assumptions can be eschewed if the scaling property is invoked. The scaling property has been well studied in the stochastic frontier literature, but as of yet, has not been used in the two-tier frontier setting.
New methodologies: Development of focus monitoring on product

Several focus monitoring methods for high volume manufacturing (HVM) have been developed to improve general tool stability maintenance, fleet matching and focus uniformity on product. One technique involving the usage of diffractive gratings requires special targets that need to be designed and optimized at the individual mask level, which will increase the development cycle time.
Participation of an Energy Storage Aggregator in Electricity Markets

An important function of aggregators is to enable the participation of small energy storage units in electricity markets. This paper studies two generally overlooked aspects related to aggregators of energy storage: 1) the relationship between the aggregator and its constituent storage units and 2) the aggregator’s effect on system welfare. Regarding 1), we show that short-term outcomes can be Pareto-inefficient: all players could be better-off. In practice, however, aggregators and storage units are likely to engage in long rather than short-term relationships. Using Nash bargaining theory, we show that aggregators and storage units are likely to cooperate in the long-term. A rigorous understanding of the aggregator-storage unit relationship is fundamental to model the aggregator’s participation in the market. Regarding 2), we first show that a profit-seeking energy storage aggregator is always beneficial to the system when compared to a system without storage, regardless of size or market power the aggregator may have. However, due to market power, a monopolist aggregator may act in a socially suboptimal manner. We propose a pricing scheme designed to mitigate market power abuse by the aggregator. This pricing scheme has several important characteristics: its formulation requires no private information, it incentivizes a rational aggregator to behave in a socially optimal manner, and allows for regulation of the aggregator’s profit.
Gene expression changes in the ventral hippocampus and medial prefrontal cortex of adolescent alcohol-preferring (P) rats following binge-like alcohol drinking.

Binge drinking of alcohol during adolescence is a serious public health concern with long-term consequences, including decreased hippocampal and prefrontal cortex volume and defects in memory. We used RNA sequencing to assess the effects of adolescent binge drinking on gene expression in these regions. Male adolescent alcohol-preferring (P) rats were exposed to repeated binge drinking (three 1-hour sessions/d during the dark/cycle, 5 days/week for 3 weeks starting at 28 days of age; ethanol intakes of 2.5 to 3 g/kg/session). Ethanol significantly altered the expression of 416 of 11,727 genes expressed in the ventral hippocampus. Genes and pathways involved in neurogenesis, long-term potentiation and axonal guidance were decreased, which could relate to the impaired memory function found in subjects with adolescent alcohol binge-like exposure. The decreased expression of myelin and cholesterol genes and apparent decrease in oligodendrocytes in P rats could result in decreased myelination. In the medial prefrontal cortex, 638 of 11,579 genes were altered; genes in cellular stress and inflammatory pathways were increased, as were genes involved in oxidative phosphorylation. Overall, the results of this study suggest that adolescent binge-like alcohol drinking may alter the development of the ventral hippocampus and medial prefrontal cortex and produce long-term consequences on learning and memory, and on control of impulsive behaviors.
Social behaviour in bees influences the abundance of Sodalis (Enterobacteriaceae) symbionts.

Social interactions can facilitate transmission of microbes between individuals, reducing variation in gut communities within social groups. Thus, the evolution of social behaviours and symbiont co...
Delineating the Polarized and Unpolarized Partonic Structure of the Nucleon

Reports on our latest extractions of parton distribution functions of the nucleon are given. First an overview of the recent JR14 upgrade of our unpolarized PDFs, including NNLO determinations of the strong coupling constant and a discussion of the role of the input scale in parton distribution analysis. In the second part of the talk recent results on the determination of spin-dependent PDFs from the JAM collaboration are reported, including a careful treatment of hadronic and nuclear corrections, as well as reports on the impact of present and future data in our understanding of the spin of the nucleon.