cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Attention Based Neural Architecture for Rumor Detection with Author Context Awareness

The prevalence of social media has made information sharing possible across the globe. The downside, unfortunately, is the wide spread of misinformation. Methods applied in most previous rumor classifiers give an equal weight, or attention, to words in the microblog, and do not take the context beyond microblog contents into account; therefore, the accuracy becomes plateaued. In this research, we propose an ensemble neural architecture to detect rumor on Twitter. The architecture incorporates word attention and context from the author to enhance the classification performance. In particular, the word-level attention mechanism enables the architecture to put more emphasis on important words when constructing the text representation. To derive further context, microblog posts composed by individual authors are exploited since they can reflect style and characteristics in spreading information, which are significant cues to help classify whether the shared content is rumor or legitimate news. The experiment on the real-world Twitter dataset collected from two well-known rumor tracking websites demonstrates promising results.
Trust and Truth in Shutter Island

This article examines questions of trust in cinema through the lens of Shutter Island (Martin Scorsese, 2010). With its self-referential allusion to the mechanical “eye” of a camera, a stage-manage...
Electrical manipulation of spin pumping signal through nonlocal thermal magnon transport

We study the magnon transport in the nonlocal configuration composed of two Pt strips on top of a yttrium iron garnet, with and without the presence of RF microwaves generated by an on-chip antenna. We find that the spin-Hall induced thermal magnon heating/cooling, the Oersted field, and the Joule heating generated by the alternating current in the Pt injector can significantly influence the spin-pumping signal measured by the Pt detector in the presence of RF microwaves, forcing the spin-pumping voltage to show up in the first and second harmonic signals in the nonlocal magnon transport measurement. These results indicate that the nonlocal magnon transport configuration can serve as a structure to electrically detect and manipulate the spin-pumping signal. Furthermore, certain caution is needed when studying the interplay between incoherent magnon and coherent magnon spin transport in the nonlocal transport configuration, since the change in microwave-induced spin-pumping voltage can overwhelm the incoherent magnon transport signals.
Light-sheet engineering using the Field Synthesis theorem

Recent advances in light-sheet microscopy have enabled sensitive imaging with high spatiotemporal resolution. However, the creation of thin light-sheets for high axial resolution is challenging, as the thickness of the sheet, field of view and confinement of the excitation need to be carefully balanced. Some of the thinnest light-sheets created so far have found little practical use as they excite too much out-of-focus fluorescence. In contrast, the most commonly used light-sheet for subcellular imaging, the square lattice, has excellent excitation confinement at the cost of lower axial resolving power. Here we leverage the recently discovered Field Synthesis theorem to create light-sheets where thickness and illumination confinement can be continuously tuned. Explicitly, we scan a line beam across a portion of an annulus mask on the back focal plane of the illumination objective, which we call it C-light-sheets. We experimentally characterize these light-sheets and their application on biological samples.
The Signaling Pathways Project, an integrated ‘omics knowledgebase for mammalian cellular signaling pathways

Mining of integrated public transcriptomic and ChIP-Seq (cistromic) datasets can illuminate functions of mammalian cellular signaling pathways not yet explored in the research literature. Here, we designed a web knowledgebase, the Signaling Pathways Project (SPP), which incorporates community classifications of signaling pathway nodes (receptors, enzymes, transcription factors and co-nodes) and their cognate bioactive small molecules. We then mapped over 10,000 public transcriptomic or cistromic experiments to their pathway node or biosample of study. To enable prediction of pathway node-gene target transcriptional regulatory relationships through SPP, we generated consensus ‘omics signatures, or consensomes, which ranked genes based on measures of their significant differential expression or promoter occupancy across transcriptomic or cistromic experiments mapped to a specific node family. Consensomes were validated using alignment with canonical literature knowledge, gene target-level integration of transcriptomic and cistromic data points, and in bench experiments confirming previously uncharacterized node-gene target regulatory relationships. To expose the SPP knowledgebase to researchers, a web browser interface was designed that accommodates numerous routine data mining strategies. SPP is freely accessible at https://www.signalingpathways.org .
Diverse cell junctions with unique molecular composition in tissues of a sponge (Porifera).

The integrity and organization of animal tissues depend upon specialized protein complexes that mediate adhesion between cells with each other (cadherin-based adherens junctions), and with the extracellular matrix (integrin-based focal adhesions). Reconstructing how and when these cell junctions evolved is central to understanding early tissue evolution in animals. We examined focal adhesion protein homologs in tissues of the freshwater sponge, Ephydatia muelleri (phylum Porifera; class Demospongiae). Our principal findings are that (1) sponge focal adhesion homologs (integrin, talin, focal adhesion kinase, etc.) co-precipitate as a complex, separate from adherens junction proteins; (2) that actin-based structures resembling focal adhesions form at the cell–substrate interface, and their abundance is dynamically regulated in response to fluid shear; (3) focal adhesion proteins localize to both cell–cell and cell–extracellular matrix adhesions, and; (4) the adherens junction protein β-catenin is co-distributed with focal adhesion proteins at cell–cell junctions everywhere except the choanoderm, and at novel junctions between cells with spicules, and between cells with environmental bacteria. These results clarify the diversity, distribution and molecular composition of cell junctions in tissues of E. muelleri, but raise new questions about their functional properties and ancestry.
Lock-Free Transactional Adjacency List

Adjacency lists are frequently used in graphing or map based applications. Although efficient concurrent linked-list algorithms are well known, it can be difficult to adapt these approaches to build a high-performance adjacency list. Furthermore, it can often be desirable to execute operations in these data structures transactionally, or perform a sequence of operations in one atomic step. In this paper, we present a lock-free transactional adjacency list based on a multi-dimensional list (MDList). We are able to combine known linked list strategies with the capability of the MDList in order to efficiently organize graph vertexes and their edges. We design our underlying data structure to be node-based and linearizable, then use the Lock-Free Transactional Transformation (LFTT) methodology to efficiently enable transactional execution. In our performance evaluation, our lock-free transactional adjacency list achieves an average of 50% speedup over a transactional boosting implementation.
Polishability of some groups of interval and circle diffeomorphisms

Let $M=I$ or $M=\mathbb{S}^1$ and let $k\geq 1$. We exhibit a new infinite class of Polish groups by showing that each group $\mathop{\rm Diff}_+^{k+AC}(M)$, consisting of those $C^k$ diffeomorphisms whose $k$-th derivative is absolutely continuous, admits a natural Polish group topology which refines the subspace topology inherited from $\mathop{\rm Diff}_+^k(M)$. By contrast, the group $\mathop{\rm Diff}_+^{1+BV}(M)$, consisting of $C^1$ diffeomorphisms whose derivative has bounded variation, admits no Polish group topology whatsoever.
Closed ideals of operators acting on some families of sequence spaces

We study the lattice of closed ideals in the algebra of continuous linear operators acting on pth Tandori and $$p'$$th Cesaro sequence spaces, $$1\leqslant p<\infty $$, which we show are isomorphic to the classical sequence spaces $$(\oplus _{n=1}^\infty \ell _\infty ^n)_p$$ and $$(\oplus _{n=1}^\infty \ell _1^n)_{p'}$$, respectively. We also show that Tandori sequence spaces are complemented in certain Lorentz sequence spaces, and that the lattice of closed ideals for certain other Lorentz and Garling sequence spaces has infinite cardinality.
Asymptotic Consistency of Loss‐Calibrated Variational Bayes

This paper establishes the asymptotic consistency of the {\it loss-calibrated variational Bayes} (LCVB) method. LCVB was proposed in~\cite{LaSiGh2011} as a method for approximately computing Bayesian posteriors in a `loss aware' manner. This methodology is also highly relevant in general data-driven decision-making contexts. Here, we not only establish the asymptotic consistency of the calibrated approximate posterior, but also the asymptotic consistency of decision rules. We also establish the asymptotic consistency of decision rules obtained from a `naive' variational Bayesian procedure.
Toward Fast and Optimal Robotic Pick-and-Place on a Moving Conveyor

Robotic pick-and-place ( PnP ) operations on moving conveyors find a wide range of industrial applications. In practice, simple greedy heuristics (e.g., prioritization based on the time to process a single object) are applied that achieve reasonable efficiency. We show analytically that, under a simplified telescoping robot model, these greedy approaches do not ensure time optimality of PnP operations. To address the shortcomings of classical solutions, we develop algorithms that compute optimal object picking sequences for a predetermined finite horizon. Employing dynamic programming techniques and additional heuristics, our methods scale to up to tens to hundreds of objects. In particular, the fast algorithms we develop come with running time guarantees, making them suitable for real-time PnP applications demanding high throughput. Extensive evaluation of our algorithmic solution over dominant industrial PnP robots used in real-world applications, i.e., Delta robots and Selective Compliance Assembly Robot Arm (SCARA) robots, shows that a typical efficiency gain of around $\text{10}{\%}$ – $\text{40}{\%}$ over greedy approaches can be realized.
Long live the king: chromosome-level assembly of the lion ( Panthera leo ) using linked-read, Hi-C, and long-read data

The lion (Panthera leo) is one of the most popular and iconic feline species on the planet, yet in spite of its popularity, the last century has seen massive declines for lion populations worldwide. Genomic resources for endangered species represent an important way forward for the field of conservation, enabling high-resolution studies of demography, disease, and population dynamics. Here, we present a chromosome-level assembly from a captive African lion from the Exotic Feline Rescue Center (Center Point, IN) as a resource for current and subsequent genetic work of the sole social species of the Panthera clade. Our assembly is composed of 10x Genomics Chromium data, Dovetail Hi-C, and Oxford Nanopore long-read data. Synteny is highly conserved between the lion, other Panthera genomes, and the domestic cat. We find variability in the length of runs of homozygosity across lion genomes, indicating contrasting histories of recent and possibly intense inbreeding and bottleneck events. Demographic analyses reveal similar ancient histories across all individuals during the Pleistocene except the Asiatic lion, which shows a more rapid decline in population size. We show a substantial influence on the reference genome choice in the inference of demographic history and heterozygosity. We demonstrate that the choice of reference genome is important when comparing heterozygosity estimates across species and those inferred from different references should not be compared to each other. In addition, estimates of heterozygosity or the amount or length of runs of homozygosity should not be taken as reflective of a species, as these can differ substantially among individuals. This high-quality genome will greatly aid in the continuing research and conservation efforts for the lion, which is rapidly moving towards becoming a species in danger of extinction.
Destructive technologies as driving forces of new technological cycles for industrial and corporate change

Abstract. This study suggests a new concept of technology that is a main element of the system of technological change in society: killer or disruptive technology is a based on new products and/or processes that destroys the usage of established products/processes sold and used. The behavior of killer technologies is operationalized here with a simple model that shows how new technologies substitute old ones. technologies. Several examples illustrate this vital concept for economics of technology that can explain the drivers of technological cycles and technological change in society. Empirical evidence of this theoretical framework is based on data of some example technologies. Theoretical framework and empirical evidence hint at general properties of the behavior of killer technologies: a) killer technology is always associated with some comparable established technology in markets; b) killer technology has a disproportionate growth in relation to victim technology; c) in the long run, killer technology has a series of technological advances of its own resulting from various major and minor innovations to pave the way for the dominance over other established technologies in markets; d) learning via diffusion and diffusion by learning are driving forces underlying the development and adoption of killer technology in turbulent markets. The proposed theoretical framework can explain industrial, economic and social change and support strategies of management of technology for competitive advantage of firms and nations. Keywords. Killer technology, Diffusion of innovation; Radical innovation, Destructive creation, Evolution of technology, Development of technology, Technological cycles, Dynamics of technological innovation, Technology change, Management of technology, Allometric process, Learning processes. JEL. O30, O32, O33, B50.
Curve Fitting from Probabilistic Emissions and Applications to Dynamic Item Response Theory

Item response theory (IRT) models are widely used in psychometrics and educational measurement, being deployed in many high stakes tests such as the GRE aptitude test. IRT has largely focused on estimation of a single latent trait (e.g. ability) that remains static through the collection of item responses. However, in contemporary settings where item responses are being continuously collected, such as Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs), interest will naturally be on the dynamics of ability, thus complicating usage of traditional IRT models. We propose DynAEsti, an augmentation of the traditional IRT Expectation Maximization algorithm that allows ability to be a continuously varying curve over time. In the process, we develop CurvFiFE, a novel non-parametric continuous-time technique that handles the curve-fitting/regression problem extended to address more general probabilistic emissions (as opposed to simply noisy data points). Furthermore, to accomplish this, we develop a novel technique called grafting, which can successfully approximate distributions represented by graphical models when other popular techniques like Loopy Belief Propogation (LBP) and Variational Inference (VI) fail. The performance of DynAEsti is evaluated through simulation, where we achieve results comparable to the optimal of what is observed in the static ability scenario. Finally, DynAEsti is applied to a longitudinal performance dataset (80-years of competitive golf at the 18-hole Masters Tournament) to demonstrate its ability to recover key properties of human performance and the heterogeneous characteristics of the different holes. Python code for CurvFiFE and DynAEsti is publicly available at github.com/chausies/DynAEstiAndCurvFiFE.
Quantizing Deformation Theory II

A quantization of classical deformation theory, based on the Maurer-Cartan Equation $dS + \frac{1}{2}[S,S] = 0$ in dg-Lie algebras, a theory based on the Quantum Master Equation $dS + \hbar \Delta S + \frac{1}{2} \{S,S\} = 0$ in dg-BV-algebras, is proposed. Representability theorems for solutions of the Quantum Master Equation are proven. Examples of "quantum" deformations are presented.
Photon Management for Silicon Solar Cells featuring Hole-Selective Molybdenum Oxide Rear Contacts: An Optical Simulation Study

Passivated, hole-selective contacts play important role in reducing surface recombination by lowering the concentration of electrons in the rear side of a solar cell. However, parasitic optical losses in these contacts can still limit the performance of the cell. In this work, the long wavelength optical losses of silicon solar cells featuring hole-selective molybdenum oxide (MoOx) rear contacts are investigated using optical simulations. The potential of these selective contacts for possible enhancement of photogenerated current density was also investigated for their use with nanostructured dielectric layers.
Standard conjecture D for matrix factorizations

Abstract We prove the non-commutative analogue of Grothendieck's Standard Conjecture D for the dg-category of matrix factorizations of an isolated hypersurface singularity in characteristic 0. Along the way, we show the Euler pairing for such dg-categories of matrix factorizations is positive semi-definite.
IR dynamics from UV divergences: UV/IR mixing, NCFT, and the hierarchy problem

The persistence of the hierarchy problem points to a violation of effective field theory expectations. A compelling possibility is that this results from a physical breakdown of EFT, which may arise from correlations between ultraviolet (UV) and infrared (IR) physics. To this end, we study noncommutative field theory (NCFT) as a toy model of UV/IR mixing which generates an emergent infrared scale from ultraviolet dynamics. We explore the range of such theories where ultraviolet divergences are transmogrified into infrared scales, focusing particularly on the properties of Yukawa theory, where we identify a new infrared pole accessible in the s-channel of the Lorentzian theory. We further investigate the interplay between UV-finiteness and UV/IR mixing by studying properties of the softly-broken noncommutative Wess-Zumino model as soft terms are varied relative to the cutoff. While the Lorentz violation inherent to noncommutative theories may limit their direct application to the hierarchy problem, these toy models provide general lessons to guide the realization of UV/IR mixing in more realistic theories.
Approximate Gram-Matrix Interpolation for Wideband Massive MU-MIMO Systems

Linear and non-linear data-detection and precoding algorithms for wideband massive multi-user (MU) multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) wireless systems that rely on orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing (OFDM) or single-carrier frequency-division multiple access (SC-FDMA) often require computation of the Gram matrix for each active subcarrier. Computing the Gram matrix for each active subcarrier, however, results in excessively high computational complexity. In this paper, we propose novel, approximate algorithms that significantly reduce the complexity of Gram-matrix computation by simultaneously exploiting channel hardening and correlation across subcarriers. We show analytically that a small fraction of Gram-matrix computations in combination with approximate interpolation schemes are sufficient to achieve near-optimal error-rate performance at low computational complexity in massive MU-MIMO systems. We furthermore demonstrate that our approximate interpolation algorithms are more robust against channel-estimation errors than exact Gram-matrix interpolation algorithms that require high computational complexity.
Mechanism of Coupled Folding-upon-Binding of an Intrinsically Disordered Protein

Intrinsically disordered proteins (IDPs), which in isolation do not adopt a well-defined tertiary structure but instead populate a structurally heterogeneous ensemble of interconverting states, play important roles in many biological pathways. IDPs often fold into ordered states upon binding to their physiological interaction partners (a so-called "folding-upon-binding" process), but it has proven difficult to obtain an atomic-level description of the structural mechanisms by which they do so. Here, we describe in atomic detail the folding-upon-binding mechanism of an IDP segment to its binding partner, as observed in unbiased molecular dynamics simulations. In our simulations, we observed over 70 binding and unbinding events between the α-helical molecular recognition element (α-MoRE) of the intrinsically disordered C-terminal domain of the measles virus nucleoprotein (NTAIL) and the X domain (XD) of the measles virus phosphoprotein complex. We found that folding-upon-binding primarily occurred through induced-folding pathways (in which intermolecular contacts form before or concurrently with the secondary structure of the disordered protein)-an observation supported by previous experiments-and that the transition state ensemble was characterized by formation of just a few key intermolecular contacts and was otherwise highly structurally heterogeneous. We found that when a large amount of helical content was present early in a transition path, NTAIL typically unfolded and then refolded after additional intermolecular contacts formed. We also found that, among conformations with similar numbers of intermolecular contacts, those with less helical content had a higher probability of ultimately forming the native complex than conformations with more helical content, which were more likely to unbind. These observations suggest that even after intermolecular contacts have formed, disordered regions can have a kinetic advantage over folded regions in the folding-upon-binding process.
Chapter 3 – Actuarial Jobs

Publisher Summary Actuarial employers come in all sizes, large and small. Actuaries work not only in consulting firms and insurance companies but also in government departments, and in the human resource offices of most major companies. Small firms also specialize in a variety of actuarial tasks. It is difficult to present an accurate snapshot of the state of the actuarial world at any given moment in time. It is possible to find basic information about some of the top employers of actuaries. Globalization of economies and changes in financial regulations and structures often blur the distinction between the actuarial and non-actuarial role of many companies. This chapter focuses on representative companies, large and diversified enough to illustrate the spectrum of actuarial careers. The list does not include alternative forms of employment in business, banking, teaching, human resource management, administration, government, and so on. The profiles vary from company to company illustrating the different aspects of actuarial employment.
The evolution of security designs

This paper embeds security design in a model of evolutionary learning. We consider a competitive and perfect financial market where agents, as in Allen and Gale (1988), have heterogeneous valuations for cash flows. Our point of departure is that, instead of assuming that agents are endowed with rational expectations, we model their behavior as the product of adaptive learning. Our results demonstrate that adaptive learning profoundly affects security design. Securities are mispriced even in the long run and optimal designs trade off under pricing against intrinsic value maximization. The evolutionary dominant security design calls for issuing securities that engender large losses with a small but positive probability, and otherwise produce stable payoffs. These designs are almost the exact opposite of the pure state claims which are optimal in the rational expectations framework.
Chapter 2 – Membrane History

The current concept of membrane structure is based on the fluid mosaic model outlined by Singer and Nicolson in 1972. Not surprisingly, this model did not just spring to life in a fully developed form but instead was conceived slowly over centuries. This chapter discusses the two seemingly unrelated but parallel historical paths taken: the study of oil on water and the study of the cell outer barrier (plasma membrane). These two approaches did not converge until the classic experiment of Gorter and Grendel in 1925.
Automating regression testing using web-based application similarities

Web-based applications are one of the most widely used types of software, and have become the backbone of many e-commerce and communications businesses. These applications are often mission-critical for many organizations, motivating their precise validation. Although regression testing has been widely used to gain confidence in the reliability of software by providing information about the quality of an application, it has suffered limited use in this domain due to the frequent nature of updates to web-sites and the difficulty of automatically comparing test case output. We present techniques to address these challenges in regression testing web-based applications. Without precise comparators, test cases that fail due to benign program evolutions must be manually inspected. Our approach harnesses the inherent similarities between unrelated web-based applications to provide fully automated solutions to reduce the number of such false positives, while simultaneously returning true faults. By applying a model derived from regression testing other programs, our approach can predict which test cases merit human inspection. Our method is 2.5 to 50 times as accurate as current industrial practice, but requires no user annotations.
First-principles prediction of the information processing capacity of a simple genetic circuit

Given the stochastic nature of gene expression, genetically identical cells exposed to the same environmental inputs will produce different outputs. This heterogeneity has been hypothesized to have consequences for how cells are able to survive in changing environments. Recent work has explored the use of information theory as a framework to understand the accuracy with which cells can ascertain the state of their surroundings. Yet the predictive power of these approaches is limited and has not been rigorously tested using precision measurements. To that end, we generate a minimal model for a simple genetic circuit in which all parameter values for the model come from independently published data sets. We then predict the information processing capacity of the genetic circuit for a suite of biophysical parameters such as protein copy number and protein-DNA affinity. We compare these parameter-free predictions with an experimental determination of protein expression distributions and the resulting information processing capacity of E. coli cells. We find that our minimal model captures the scaling of the cell-to-cell variability in the data and the inferred information processing capacity of our simple genetic circuit up to a systematic deviation.
Eyewitness confidence malleability: Misinformation as post-identification feedback.

Objective: Feedback from lineup administrators about identification accuracy significantly impacts witness confidence. In the current studies, we investigated the effect of post-identification feedback given 1-week after an initial, pristine lineup. We tested 2 kinds of feedback: typical feedback (i.e., about identification accuracy) and misinformation feedback. Misinformation feedback came in the form of suggestive questioning that falsely suggested the participant was either more or less confident in their initial identification than they actually reported. Hypotheses: We hypothesized both confirming misinformation and typical feedback would significantly inflate witness confidence relative to no feedback controls while disconfirming misinformation and typical feedback would deflate witness confidence relative to controls. Method: Across 2 studies, participants (N = 907), recruited via Amazon Mechanical Turk, watched a mock crime video, made an identification, and reported their confidence under unbiased lineup conditions. One week later, they received either confirming or disconfirming misinformation or typical feedback. They then provided a retrospective confidence judgment. Results: Misinformation feedback caused significant confidence change. Participants given false feedback that they were more confident in their initial identification than they reported later recalled greater initial confidence. Even when pristine identification conditions were used, typical confirming feedback caused participants to later remember greater confidence than they initially reported at the time of the lineup. Even in the absence of any feedback, control participants showed significant confidence inflation over time. Conclusion: These results highlight the need for lineup administrators to both ask for and document verbatim witness confidence at the time of the initial identification. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved).
Synthesis of 3-substituted 4-aroylisoquinolines via Pd-catalyzed carbonylative cyclization of 2-(1-alkynyl)benzaldimines

A number of 3-substituted 4-aroylisoquinolines have been prepared in good yields by treating N-tert-butyl-2-(1-alkynyl)benzaldimines with aryl halides in the presence of CO and a palladium catalyst. Synthetically the methodology provides a simple and convenient route to isoquinolines containing an aryl, alkyl, or vinylic group at C-3 and an aroyl group at C-4 of the isoquinoline ring. The reaction is believed to proceed via cyclization of the alkyne containing a proximate nucleophilic center promoted by an acylpalladium complex.
CHAPTER 3 – Researching a Bioethical Question

Publisher Summary Bioethical issues can be classified into six different types. Each of these types of issues raises many specific questions that can be subjected to research. During the past 35 years, there has been a significant increase in interest in bioethical questions. These questions are not merely matters of opinion or feelings. They are bioethical questions that require rigorous research. And like other types of clinical research, research into bioethical issues utilizes a variety of methodologies that should adhere to the same standards of rigor. However, there are some special considerations that relate to bioethical research. First, some of the methods used are not well known to clinical researchers and are not the ones in which they have been trained. Second, clinical researchers may perceive some of the distinctions made in conceptual analysis as difficult. This chapter reviews different types of bioethical issues, different types of research methodologies, examples of how these research methodologies have been utilized to answer important bioethical questions, and special considerations in bioethical research. There are five main bioethical research methodologies: historical inquiry, conceptual analysis, crosscultural comparisons, empirical studies, and policy analysis.
A Quasi-static Model and Simulation Approach for Pushing, Grasping, and Jamming

Quasi-static models of robotic motion with frictional contact provide a computationally efficient framework for analysis and have been widely used for planning and control of non-prehensile manipulation. In this work, we present a novel quasi-static model of planar manipulation that directly maps commanded manipulator velocities to object motion. While quasi-static models have traditionally been unable to capture grasping and jamming behaviors, our approach solves this issue by explicitly modeling the limiting behavior of a velocity-controlled manipulator. We retain the precise modeling of surface contact pressure distributions and efficient computation of contact-rich behaviors of previous methods and additionally prove existence of solutions for any desired manipulator motion. We derive continuous and time-stepping formulations, both posed as tractable Linear Complementarity Problems (LCPs).
Extracting Inflation from Stock Returns to Test Purchasing Power Parity

We provide a novel method for extracting estimates of realized pure price inflation from stock returns. The key is recognizing that pure price inflation should a®ect nominal returns of all traded assets by exactly the same amount. The popular Fama- French three-factor model is employed to purge stock returns of real economic factors. We uncover evidence that purchasing power parity holds quite well using the extracted inflation measures.
A global comparison of corporate value adjustments to news of cyber-attacks

The growing threat of cyber breach as become one of the most feared risks corporations around the world are currently dealing with. The dynamic nature of cyber risk, along with evolving global regulations, necessitates that corporate management strategically address cyber risk to minimize effects on corporate value. This paper uses event study methodology to analyze global shareholder value effects of cyber breaches occurring between the periods 1990 to 2019. Cumulative Average Returns (CARs) are calculated by country, and in aggregate, from first notice date to periods of up to 90 days post announcement to compare short term and long term effects of cyber breaches on stock price. Similar to other smaller studies, results for this much larger data set show significant negative returns for US corporations in all sample windows. However, the changes in shareholder value are much smaller than were previously seen in other studies. Unlike its US counterparts, short term results for the five major non-US countries in this sample show no significant changes to price as a result of cyber breach announcements, even though the non-US firms also trade on US exchanges. Long term results for the aggregate non-US sample show significance only at the 0 to 30 day window. Long term results for some of the individual countries do support some various positive and negative event windows, but no common patterns are seen among countries. These results point to differences in how news of a cyber breach, by country, is perceived in the market. These results are interesting in that they also follow some of the patterns that insurance companies have seen in the reticent buying habits of global companies with respect to cyber insurance worldwide.
Dual-level autoregulation of the E. coli DeaD RNA helicase via mRNA stability and Rho-dependent transcription termination.

DEAD-box proteins (DBPs) are RNA remodeling factors associated with RNA helicase activity that are found in nearly all organisms. Despite extensive studies on the mechanisms used by DBPs to regulate RNA function, very little is known about how DBPs themselves are regulated. In this work, we have analyzed the expression and regulation of DeaD/CsdA, the largest of the DBPs in Escherichia coli (E. coli). We show that deaD transcription initiates 838 nts upstream of the start of the coding region. We have also found that DeaD is autoregulated through a negative feedback mechanism that operates both at the level of mRNA stability and Rho-dependent transcription termination, and this regulation is dependent upon its mRNA 5' untranslated region (5' UTR). These findings suggest that DeaD might be regulating the conformation of its own mRNA through its RNA helicase activity to facilitate ribonuclease and Rho access to its 5' UTR.
A High-Throughput Extraction and Analysis Method for Steroidal Glycoalkaloids in Tomato

Tomato steroidal glycoalkaloids (tSGAs) are a class of cholesterol-derived metabolites uniquely produced by the tomato clade. These compounds provide protection against biotic stress due to their fungicidal and insecticidal properties. Although commonly reported as being anti-nutritional, both in vitro as well as pre-clinical animal studies have indicated that some tSGAs may have a beneficial impact on human health. However, the paucity of quantitative extraction and analysis methods presents a major obstacle for determining the biological and nutritional functions of tSGAs. To address this problem, we developed and validated the first comprehensive extraction and ultra-high-performance liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry (UHPLC-MS/MS) quantification method for tSGAs. Our extraction method allows for up to 16 samples to be extracted simultaneously in 20 min with 93.0 ± 6.8 and 100.8 ± 13.1% recovery rates for tomatidine and alpha-tomatine, respectively. Our UHPLC-MS/MS method was able to chromatographically separate analytes derived from 18 tSGA peaks representing 9 different tSGA masses, as well as two internal standards, in 13 min. Tomato steroidal glycoalkaloids that did not have available standards were annotated using high resolution mass spectrometry as well as product ion scans that provided fragmentation data. Lastly, we utilized our method to survey a variety of commonly consumed tomato-based products. Total tSGA concentrations ranged from 0.2 to 3.4 mg/serving and represent some of the first reported tSGA concentrations in tomato-based products. Our validation studies indicate that our method is sensitive, robust, and able to be used for a variety of applications where concentrations of biologically relevant tSGAs need to be quantified.
An analog of nilpotence arising from supercharacter theory

Abstract The goal of this paper is to generalize several group theoretic concepts such as the center and commutator subgroup, central series, and ultimately nilpotence to a supercharacter theoretic setting, and to use these concepts to show that there can be a strong connection between the structure of a group and the structure of its supercharacter theories. We then use these concepts to show that the upper and lower annihilator series of J can be described in terms of certain central series for the algebra group G = 1 + J defined by S , when S is the algebra group supercharacter theory defined by Diaconis–Isaacs.
Rapidity evolution of gluon TMD from low to moderate x

We study how the rapidity evolution of gluon transverse momentum dependent distribution changes from nonlinear evolution at small x ≪ 1 to linear evolution at moderate x ∼ 1.
Hierarchical Entity Typing via Multi-level Learning to Rank

We propose a novel method for hierarchical entity classification that embraces ontological structure at both training and during prediction. At training, our novel multi-level learning-to-rank loss compares positive types against negative siblings according to the type tree. During prediction, we define a coarse-to-fine decoder that restricts viable candidates at each level of the ontology based on already predicted parent type(s). Our approach significantly outperform prior work on strict accuracy, demonstrating the effectiveness of our method.
Tracheostomy post liver transplant: Predictors, complications, and outcomes

BACKGROUND Liver transplant (LT) patients have an increased risk of postoperative respiratory failure requiring tracheostomy. This study sought to characterize objective clinical predictors of tracheostomy. MATERIAL AND METHODS The records for 2017 LT patients at a single institution were reviewed. Patients requiring tracheostomy were first compared with all other patients. A case-control subgroup analysis was conducted in which 98 tracheostomy patients were matched with 98 non-tracheostomy LT patients. For the case-control study, muscle mass was assessed using preoperative computed tomography scans. RESULTS Among 2017 LT patients, 98 required tracheostomy (5%), with a 19% complication rate. Tracheostomy patients were older and had a higher model for end-stage liver disease score, a lower body mass index (BMI), and a greater smoking history. Tracheostomy patients had a longer hospital stay (45 vs. 10 days, P<0.001) and worse 1-year survival (65% vs. 91%, P<0.001). Ten-year Cox regression patient survival for tracheostomy patients was significantly worse (32% vs. 68%, P<0.001). In the case-control analysis, respiratory failure patients were older (P<0.01) and had a lower BMI (P=0.05). They also had a muscle mass deficit of -39% compared with matched LT controls (P<0.001). No significant differences were seen with pre-LT total protein or albumin or with forced expiratory volume in 1 s divided by forced vital capacity (FEV1/FVC) values. CONCLUSIONS Predictors for respiratory failure requiring post-LT tracheostomy include higher model for end-stage liver disease score, older age, lower BMI, greater smoking history, and worse sarcopenia. Patients requiring tracheostomy have dramatically longer hospital stays and worse survival.
p for political: Participation Without Agency Is Not Enough

Participatory Design’s vision of democratic participation assumes participants’ feelings of agency in envisioning a collective future. But this assumption may be leaky when dealing with vulnerable populations. We reflect on the results of a series of activities aimed at supporting agentic-future-envisionment with a group of sex-trafficking survivors in Nepal. We observed a growing sense among the survivors that they could play a role in bringing about change in their families. They also became aware of how they could interact with available institutional resources. Reflecting on the observations, we argue that building participant agency on the small and personal interactions is necessary before demanding larger Political participation. In particular, a value of PD, especially for vulnerable populations, can lie in the process itself if it helps participants position themselves as actors in the larger world.
Microampere Electric Current Causes Bacterial Membrane Damage and Two-Way Leakage in a Short Period of Time.

Physical agents such as low electric voltage and current have recently gained attention for antimicrobial treatment due to their bactericidal capability. Although microampere electric current was shown to suppress the growth of bacteria, it remains unclear to what extent the microampere current damaged the bacterial membrane. Here, we investigated the membrane damage and two-way leakage caused by microampere electric current (≤ 100 μA) with a short exposure time (30 min). Based on MitoTracker staining, propidium iodide staining, filtration assays, and quantitative single-molecule localization microscopy, we observed significant membrane damage, which allowed two-way leakage of ions, small molecules, and proteins. This study paves the way to new development and antimicrobial applications of ultra-low electric voltage and current. Importance Although electric voltage and current have been studied for a long time in terms of their ability to suppress the growth of bacteria and kill bacteria, increasing interest has been aroused more recently due to the prevalence of antibiotic resistance of microbes in the past decades. Toward understanding the antimicrobial mechanism of low electric voltage and current, previous studies showed that treating bacteria with milliampere electric currents (≥ 5 mA) for ≥ 72 hours led to significant damage of the bacterial membrane, which likely resulted in leakage of cellular contents and influx of toxic substances through the damaged membrane. However, it remains unclear to what extent membrane damage and two-way (i.e. inward and outward) leakage are caused by lower (i.e., microampere) electric current in a shorter time frame. In this work, we set out to answer this question. We observed that the membrane damage was caused by microampere electric current in half an hour, which allowed two-way leakage of ions, small molecules, and proteins.
Uncertainty and robustness of surplus extraction

Abstract This paper studies a robust version of the classic surplus extraction problem, in which the designer knows only that the beliefs of each type belong to some set, and designs mechanisms that are suitable for all possible beliefs in that set. We derive necessary and sufficient conditions for full extraction in this setting, and show that these are natural set-valued analogues of the classic convex independence condition identified by Cremer and McLean ( 1985 , 1988 ). We show that full extraction is neither generically possible nor generically impossible, in contrast to the standard setting in which full extraction is generic. When full extraction fails, we show that natural additional conditions can restrict both the nature of the contracts a designer can offer and the surplus the designer can obtain.
Dicamba effects on fruiting in sensitive cotton

Since the release of dicamba-tolerant cotton in 2016, preplant and POST applications of dicamba to control glyphosate-resistant Palmer amaranth have increased. With the increase in area treated with dicamba, the risk of off-target movement to nontarget crops has increased. A field study was conducted at the Texas Tech University New Deal Research Farm equipped with subsurface drip irrigation in 2017 and 2018 to evaluate non-dicamba tolerant cotton response to dicamba when applied at four crop growth stages [first square (FS) + 2 wk, first bloom (FB), FB + 2 wk, and FB + 5 wk]. Dicamba at 0.56 (1×), 0.056 (1/10×), 0.0112 (1/50×), 0.0056 (1/100×), and 0.00112 (1/500×) kg ae ha–1 was applied to ‘FM 1830GLT’ cotton. When applications were made at FS + 2 wk, a shift in boll nodal position was apparent following dicamba at the 1/50× rate in 2017 and at 1/10× in 2018 compared to the nontreated control (NTC). A shift in boll distribution from the 1/50× rate of dicamba was apparent at FB in 2017, but not in 2018. Dicamba applied at the 1× rate at FB + 2 wk resulted in reduced boll numbers. No change in boll number or boll position was apparent following any dicamba rate when applied at FB + 5 wk in both years. Dicamba applied at 1/500×, 1/100×, and 1/50× rates at all timings did not affect yield relative to the NTC. When dicamba was applied at the 1/10× rate, the greatest yield loss was observed at FS + 2 wk followed by FB and FB + 2 wk. Micronaire increased following dicamba applied at 1/10× at FS + 2 wk, FB, and FB + 2 wk in 2017. In 2018, micronaire decreased following dicamba applied at 1/10× at FB + 5 wk.Nomenclature: Dicamba; Palmer amaranth, Amaranthus palmeri S. Wats; cotton, Gossypium hirsutum L.
Single-Molecule 3D Orientation Imaging Reveals Nanoscale Compositional Heterogeneity in Lipid Membranes

In soft matter, thermal energy causes molecules to continuously translate and rotate, even in crowded environments, thereby impacting the spatial organization and function of most molecular assemblies, such as lipid membranes. Directly measuring the orientation and spatial organization of large collections (>3000 molecules μm-2 ) of single molecules with nanoscale resolution remains elusive. In this paper, we utilize SMOLM, single-molecule orientation localization microscopy, to directly measure the orientation spectra (3D orientation plus "wobble") of lipophilic probes transiently bound to lipid membranes, revealing that Nile red's (NR) orientation spectra are extremely sensitive to membrane chemical composition. SMOLM images resolve nanodomains and enzyme-induced compositional heterogeneity within membranes, where NR within liquid-ordered vs. liquid-disordered domains shows a ≈4° difference in polar angle and a ≈0.3π sr difference in wobble angle. As a new type of imaging spectroscopy, SMOLM exposes the organizational and functional dynamics of lipid-lipid, lipid-protein, and lipid-dye interactions with single-molecule, nanoscale resolution.