cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Civic education and democratic capacity : how do teachers teach and what works?

Objectives In recent years, political scientists have found that civic education improves the democratic capacity of students, yet little research has been done to date on how and why civic education works when it does. In this study, we go inside the classroom to explore how teachers teach civics to find out what works best at preparing young people for responsible, democratic citizenship. Methods Using a survey of American students, principals, and teachers, we examine the varied instructional methods being employed by social studies teachers in ninth-grade classrooms across the country to determine which methods and which combinations of methods do the best job of enhancing students’ democratic capacity defined as their political knowledge, political efficacy, and intent to vote. Results Our results suggest that there are four broad teaching approaches employed by social studies teachers: traditional teaching, active learning, video teaching, and maintenance of an open classroom climate. Teachers may employ some combination of these approaches. The analysis indicates that approaches that foster an open classroom climate (encouraging student input) in combination with the others tend to be the most fruitful across the board. While any combination including an open classroom climate maximizes benefit, traditional teaching (i.e., use of methods including textbook reading, worksheets, memorization, and so forth) combined with an open classroom climate seems to do the best. Also, the results suggest that the combinations that work best for stimulating internal efficacy vary greatly from those stimulating the other citizenship outcomes. Conclusions Taken together, our results suggest that fostering an open classroom climate when teaching civics is the surest way to improve the democratic capacity of America's youth. Further, teachers should be attentive to the instructional tradeoffs necessary to creating student capacities for both active and informed citizenship.
Rhodium-catalyzed highly regioselective hydroaminomethylation of styrenes with tetraphosphorus ligands.

The highly linear-selective hydroaminomethylation of styrenes is very challenging. Herein, an efficient, highly chemoselective, and linear-selective hydroaminomethylation (l/b up to >99:1) of styrenes using Rh(nbd)2SbF6 with a pyrrole-based 3,3′,5,5′-substituted tetraphosphorus ligand is documented. This is in sharp contrast to other available processes leading to branched amines and provides a novel atom economic approach to 3-arylpropylamines.
Synthesis of 2-(alkylamino)benzimidazoles

Abstract A general and highly convenient procedure for the synthesis of 2-(alkylamino)benzimidazoles has been developed and a variety of analogs have been efficiently prepared. Included is a dipeptide mimetic in which the guanidine group of an arginine residue has been replaced with a 2-aminobenzimidazole.
The impact of early childhood education on early achievement gaps : evidence from the Indonesia early childhood education and development (ECED) project

This paper assesses whether the Indonesia Early Childhood Education and Development project had an impact on early achievement gaps as measured by an array of child development outcomes and enrollment. The analysis is based on longitudinal data collected in 2009 and 2010 on approximately 3,000 four-year-old children residing in 310 villages located in nine districts across Indonesia. The study begins by documenting the intent-to-treat impact of the project. It then compares the achievement gaps between richer and poorer children living in project villages with those of richer and poorer children living in non-project villages. There is clear evidence that in project villages, the achievement gap between richer and poorer children decreased on many dimensions. By contrast, in non-project villages, this gap either increased or stayed constant. Given Indonesia's interest in increasing access to early childhood services for all children, and the need to ensure more efficient spending on education, the paper discusses how three existing policies and programs could be leveraged to ensure that Indonesia's vision for holistic, integrated early childhood services becomes a reality. The lessons from Indonesia's experience apply more broadly to countries seeking to reduce early achievement gaps and expand access to pre-primary education.
Flow Structure in Continuous Flow Electrophoresis Chambers

There are at least two ways that hydrodynamic processes can limit continiuous flow electrophoresis. One arises from the sensitivity of the flow to small temerature gradients, especially at low flow rates and power levels. This sensitivity can be suppressed, at least in principle, by providing a carefully tailored, stabilizing temperature gradient in the cooling system that surrounds the flow channel. At higher power levels another limitation arises due to a restructuring of the main flow. This restructuring is caused by buoyancy, which is in turn affected by the electro-osmotic crossflow. Approximate solutions to appropriate partial differential equations have been computed by finite difference methods. One set of results is described here to illustrate the strong coupling between the structure of the main (axial) flow and the electro-osmotic flow.
Performance analysis of MPI collective operations

Previous studies of application usage show that the performance of collective communications are critical for high-performance computing. Despite active research in the field, both general and feasible solution to the optimization of collective communication problem is still missing. In this paper, we analyze and attempt to improve intra-cluster collective communication in the context of the widely deployed MPI programming paradigm by extending accepted models of point-to-point communication, such as Hockney, LogP/LogGP, and PLogP, to collective operations. We compare the predictions from models against the experimentally gathered data and using these results, construct optimal decision function for broadcast collective. We quantitatively compare the quality of the model-based decision functions to the experimentally-optimal one. Additionally, in this work, we also introduce a new form of an optimized tree-based broadcast algorithm, splitted-binary. Our results show that all of the models can provide useful insights into various aspects of the different algorithms as well as their relative performance. Still, based on our findings, we believe that the complete reliance on models would not yield optimal results. In addition, our experimental results have identified the gap parameter as being the most critical for accurate modeling of both the classical point-to-point-based pipeline and our extensions to fan-out topologies.
Water interfaces, solvation, and spectroscopy

Liquid water consistently expands our appreciation of the rich statistical mechanics that can emerge from simple molecular constituents. Here I review several interrelated areas of recent work on aqueous systems that aim to explore and explain this richness by revealing molecular arrangements, their thermodynamic origins, and the timescales on which they change. Vibrational spectroscopy of OH stretching features prominently in these discussions, with an emphasis on efforts to establish connections between spectroscopic signals and statistics of intermolecular structure. For bulk solutions, the results of these efforts largely verify and enrich existing physical pictures of hydrogen-bond network connectivity, dynamics, and response. For water at interfaces, such pictures are still emerging. As an important example I discuss the solvation of small ions at the air-water interface, whose surface propensities challenge a basic understanding of how aqueous fluctuations accommodate solutes in heterogeneous environments.
Catalytic stereocontrol of a radical cyclization

Abstract The stereochemistry of the free-radical chain mediated methylenecyclopentane annulation of olefins with 1 can be influenced significantly by the choice of catalyst radical. This suggests a new approach to the general problem of stereocontrol in radical reactions.
Community health worker training and certification programs in the United States: Findings from a national survey

Abstract Objective To analyze trends and various approaches to professional development in selected community health worker (CHW) training and certification programs in the United States. We examined the expected outcomes and goals of different training and certification programs related to individual CHWs as well as the community they serve. Method A national survey of CHW training and certification programs. Data collection was performed through personal interviews, phone interviews and focus groups. Data sources included public health officials, healthcare associations, CHW networks, community colleges, and service providers. Initial screening interviews resulted in in-depth interviews with participants in 19 states. We applied human capital theory concepts to the analysis of the rich qualitative data collected in each state. Results CHW programs in the U.S. seem to have been initiated mainly due to lack of access to healthcare services in culturally, economically, and geographically isolated communities. Three trends in CHW workforce development were identified from the results of the national survey: (1) schooling at the community college level—provides career advancement opportunities; (2) on-the-job training—improves standards of care, CHW income, and retention; and (3) certification at the state level—recognizes the work of CHWs, and facilitates Medicaid reimbursement for CHW services. Conclusion Study findings present opportunities for CHW knowledge and skill improvement approaches that can be targeted at specific individual career, service agency, or community level goals. Trained and/or certified community health workers are a potential new and skilled healthcare workforce that could help improve healthcare access and utilization among underserved populations in the United States.
Heterogeneous Technology Diffusion and Ricardian Trade Patterns

Migration and trade are often linked through ethnic networks boosting bilateral trade. This study uses migration to quantify the importance of Ricardian technology differences for international trade. The framework provides the first panel estimates connecting country-industry productivity and exports, and the study exploits heterogeneous technology diffusion from immigrant communities in the United States for identification. The latter instruments are developed by combining panel variation on the development of new technologies across US cities with historical settlement patterns for migrants from countries. The instrumented elasticity of export growth on the intensive margin with respect to the exporter's productivity growth is between 1.6 and 2.4, depending upon weighting. This provides an important contribution to the trade literature of Ricardian advantages, and it establishes a connection of migration to home country exports beyond bilateral networks.
Electroweak measurements from W, Z and photon final states

We present the most recent precision electroweak measurements of single W and Z boson cross section and properties from the LHC and Tevatron colliders, analyzing data collected by ATLAS, CDF, CMS, D0, and LHCb detectors. The results include the measurement of the single W and Z boson cross section at LHC, the differential cross section measurements, the measurement of W boson mass, the measurement of W and Z charge asymmetry. These measurements provide precision tests on the electroweak theory, high order predictions and the information can be used to constraint parton distribution functions.
Quantum order: a quantum entanglement of many particles

Abstract It is pointed out that quantum states, in general, contain a new kind of orders that cannot be characterized by symmetry. A concept of quantum order is introduced to describe such orders. As two concrete examples, we discussed quantum orders in free fermion systems and in 2D spin-1/2 systems. We generalize the Landau's theory for the classical orders and introduce projective symmetry group and Fermi surface topology to characterize different quantum orders.
Dynamics and Patterning of Screw Dislocations in Two Dimensions

To understand how dislocations form ordered structures during the deformation of metals, we perform computer simulation studies of the dynamics and patterning of screw dislocations in two dimensions. The simulation is carried out using an idealized atomistic model with anti-plane displacements only; we show that this system is an analog of the two-dimensional XY rotor model. Simulation studies show that under a constant applied shear strain rate, the flow of dislocations spontaneously coalesces to form narrow dislocation-rich channels separated by wide dislocation-free regions, so that the applied strain is localized into slip bands. We argue that this pattern formation represents a phase separation into low/high defect density phases associated with the XY model, and conjecture that thermodynamic forces drive strain localization.
Codeword Stabilized Quantum Codes

We present a unifying approach to quantum error correcting code design that encompasses additive (stabilizer) codes, as well as all known examples of nonadditive codes with good parameters. We use this framework to generate new codes with superior parameters to any previously known. In particular, we find ((10,18,3)) and ((10,20,3)) codes. We also show how to construct encoding circuits for all codes within our framework.
Coherence Pattern-Guided Compressive Sensing with Unresolved Grids

Highly coherent sensing matrices arise in discretization of continuum imaging problems such as radar and medical imaging when the grid spacing is below the Rayleigh threshold. Algorithms based on techniques of band exclusion (BE) and local optimization (LO) are proposed to deal with such coherent sensing matrices. These techniques are embedded in the existing compressed sensing algorithms, such as Orthogonal Matching Pursuit (OMP), Subspace Pursuit (SP), Iterative Hard Thresholding (IHT), Basis Pursuit (BP), and Lasso, and result in the modified algorithms BLOOMP, BLOSP, BLOIHT, BP-BLOT, and Lasso-BLOT, respectively. Under appropriate conditions, it is proved that BLOOMP can reconstruct sparse, widely separated objects up to one Rayleigh length in the Bottleneck distance independent of the grid spacing. One of the most distinguishing attributes of BLOOMP is its capability of dealing with large dynamic ranges. The BLO-based algorithms are systematically tested with respect to four performance metrics: dynamic range, noise stability, sparsity, and resolution. With respect to dynamic range and noise stability, BLOOMP is the best performer. With respect to sparsity, BLOOMP is the best performer for high dynamic range, while for dynamic range near unity BP-BLOT and Lasso-BLOT with the optimized regularization parameter have the best performance. In the noiseless case, BP-BLOT has the highest resolving power up to certain dynamic range. The algorithms BLOSP and BLOIHT are good alternatives to BLOOMP and BP/Lasso-BLOT: they are faster than both BLOOMP and BP/Lasso-BLOT and share, to a lesser degree, BLOOMP's amazing attribute with respect to dynamic range. Detailed comparisons with the algorithms Spectral Iterative Hard Thresholding (SIHT) and the frame-adapted BP demonstrate the superiority of the BLO-based algorithms for the problem of sparse approximation in terms of highly coherent, redundant dictionaries.
Mediator and Survivor Perspectives on Screening for Intimate Partner Abuse

This study illuminates how family mediators and domestic violence survivors in Nebraska perceive the process used to screen parents for intimate partner abuse prior to parenting plan mediation. In-depth interviews and a focus group discussion were conducted and qualitatively analyzed to compare the mediators' and survivors' perspectives and suggest what the mediators might learn about screening from the standpoint of the survivors. Both similarities and differences in perspective emerged, with mediators less attentive than survivors to several concerns that appear central to screening from the survivors' standpoint. Implications for the screening practices of family mediators are discussed.
An introduction to key event mapping: A primer for nurse researchers

To fully understand the events leading to a diagnosis, retrospective recall can help nurse researchers reconstruct important health behavior-related events. However, retrospective recall can be a challenge. Key event mapping offers nurse researchers a method beyond retrospective chart review to elicit date data to explore the pre-diagnosis time frame of an illness. The purpose of this paper is to introduce the key event mapping method to nurse researchers in search of a method of eliciting date data from participants when designing research studies that include a retrospective recall component.
A multi-moment vortex method for 2D viscous fluids

In this paper we introduce simplified, exact, combinatorial formulas that arise in the vortex interaction model found in [33]. These combinatorial formulas allow for the efficient implementation and development of a new multi-moment vortex method (MMVM) using a Hermite expansion to simulate 2D vorticity. The method naturally allows the particles to deform and become highly anisotropic as they evolve without the added cost of computing the non-local Biot-Savart integral. We present three examples using MMVM. We first focus our attention on the implementation of a single particle, large number of Hermite moments case, in the context of quadrupole perturbations of the Lamb-Oseen vortex. At smaller perturbation values, we show the method captures the shear diffusion mechanism and the rapid relaxation (on Re^1^/^3 time scale) to an axisymmetric state. We then present two more examples of the full multi-moment vortex method and discuss the results in the context of classic vortex methods. We perform numerical tests of convergence of the single particle method and show that at least in simple cases the method exhibits the exponential convergence typical of spectral methods. Lastly, we numerically investigate the spatial accuracy improvement from the inclusion of higher Hermite moments in the full MMVM.
New trialkylsilyl enol ether chemistry: new regiospecific methodology for the synthesis of α,β-unsaturated cyclic ketones

Treatment of TIPS enol ethers with PhIO/TMSN3 followed by desilylation/elimination with fluoride ion gives good yields of the a,s-unsaturated ketone. Treatment of triisopropylsilyl enol ethers with PhIO/TMSN3 followed by fluoride ion gives good yields of the a,s-unsaturated ketone.
Complex-argument universal nonlinear cell for rapid prototyping

The development of generic cells to perform linear and nonlinear arithmetic is critical to cost-effective rapid prototyping. Our LARP architecture deploys generic cells, thereby offering the capability of mapping a wide variety of signal and image processing algorithms on to the same pool of resources. This paper presents a further advance in this direction. Specifically, it reports on the development of a complex-argument nonlinear universal cell, which achieves both high speed and high accuracy. To accomplish this, low-degree MIP polynomials are used, as explained in the paper. Four specific functions, namely the reciprocal, absolute value, logarithm, and the square-root, are considered, but the procedure is extendible to other functions as well. A 24and a 16-b chip are described. Finally, their application to an antenna array processor is presented which is amenable to large-area-device implementation.
Diastereomeric process control in the synthesis of 2'-O-(2-methoxyethyl) oligoribonucleotide phosphorothioates as antisense drugs.

Abstract Coupling of 2′-O-methoxyethylsubstituted nucleoside phosphoramidites to 5′-hydroxyl group of a nucleoside or nucleotide on solid support is under stereochemical process control and is independent of scale, concentration, synthesizer, ratio of amidite diastereomers, solid support etc. However, activators and phosphate protecting groups do play a role in influencing the ratio of phosphorothioate diesters obtained by sulfurization of phosphite triesters.
The Education Satellite: A Systems Model

The educational satellite is a new innovation under the broad concept of educational technology. While satellites have been used for nearly a decade for various kinds of scientific experimentation ...
Synthesis of 2,3-Disubstituted Benzo[b]selenophenes via Electrophilic Cyclization

2,3-Disubstituted benzo[b]selenophenes have been prepared by the electrophilic cyclization of various 1-(1-alkynyl)-2-(methylseleno)arenes by Br2, NBS, I2, ICl, PhSeCl, PhSeBr, and Hg(OAc)2. This method tolerates a wide variety of functional groups, including alcohol, ester, nitrile, nitro, and silyl groups, and proceeds under exceptionally mild reaction conditions.
Detection Of Short-Lived Particles Using Holography

Vertex detectors with good spatial resolution are ideal devices for the detection of short-lived particles (mean lifetime > 10-13 s; mean distance traveled before decay- um) produced in high energy interactions. The bubble chamber equipped with high resolution photography is one such vertex detector. However, improving the resolution in photography results in a very rapid decrease of the depth of field, thereby rendering most of the chamber optically inaccessible. Using holography instead of photography remedies this problem by decoupling resolution and depth of field. This paper reports on our recent work in the use of a two-beam holographic technique for a large Freon bubble chamber (80 cm in diameter and 100 cm deep). The results reported here are for a full-scale setup in air with test targets to simulate bubble chamber tracks and in some cases a full-scale 28 cm thick glass plate to simulate chamber windows. This bubble chamber is the vertex detector for a hybrid spectrometer system that will be used for two of our forthcoming experiments at the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory: the first to search for the short-lived charmed particles and the second to establish the existence of the T neutrino by observing the decay of the T lepton. We demonstrate that a 30 resolution can be achieved throughout the entire volume of the chamber. Specific details pertinent to achieving this resolution are also discussed. We also report on the construction of a semiautomated high precision measuring apparatus that will be used to scan and measure bubble chamber holograms.
Asymmetries: a fuzzy topic in the process of integration

FTAs have gained prominence in the trade policy of Latin American countries to the detriment of otherforms of economic integration. In this trend there is a predominance of south-north schemes, whereall kinds of asymmetries are evident. The aim of this paper is to demonstrate that the reduction ofasymmetries should be a primary goal of the FTAs. The methodology is a review of literature on LatinAmerican FTAs with the United States, particularly those signed by Mexico, Chile and Colombia.As a result, we see that an appropriate treatment of the differences between involved economiesis not only desirable for the development of Latin American countries but also it is possible throughmonetary and industrial policy adjusted to the reality of these countries.Key words: economic integration, free trade agreements, NAFTA, asymmetries, trade policy.
Type your listenership: An exploration of listenership in instant messages

This case study investigates how people ‘listen’ and act as ‘listeners’ in instant messages. Little research has been done on listenership and listeners in text-based digital discourse; to address this gap, I analyze a group instant message conversation among five Korean young women via KakaoTalk, a free instant messaging application. Demonstrating previous studies on listenership and listeners in spoken discourse and defining ‘listenership’ as the act of giving feedback on prior messages, I identify and explicate four ways of showing listenership in instant message interaction: (1) minimal responses, (2) machine gun listenership, (3) laughing and (4) sticker reaction. My analysis illuminates how verbal and non-verbal forms of listenership are adapted to typed-based online contexts as well as how listenership contributes to the construction of talk in typed-based digital environments.
Buckling of One-Story Frames and Buildings

Theory of buckling of plane one-story frames is applied to collapse of rectilinear frames using generalization of slope-deflection method; symmetrical and antisymmetrical or lurching modes of collapse of plane frames are considered; it is shown that buckling analysis of complete structure can be reduced to sequence of computationally simple problems; illustrative examples.
A Trainable Rule-Based Algorithm for Word Segmentation

This paper presents a trainable rule-based algorithm for performing word segmentation. The algorithm provides a simple, language-independent alternative to large-scale lexical-based segmenters requiring large amounts of knowledge engineering. As a stand-alone segmenter, we show our algorithm to produce high performance Chinese segmentation. In addition, we show the transformation-based algorithm to be effective in improving the output of several existing word segmentation algorithms in three different languages.
Lipschitz Metrics for a Class of Nonlinear Wave Equations

The nonlinear wave equation $${u_{tt}-c(u)(c(u)u_x)_x=0}$$ determines a flow of conservative solutions taking values in the space $${H^1(\mathbb{R})}$$ . However, this flow is not continuous with respect to the natural H 1 distance. The aim of this paper is to construct a new metric which renders the flow uniformly Lipschitz continuous on bounded subsets of $${H^1(\mathbb{R})}$$ . For this purpose, H 1 is given the structure of a Finsler manifold, where the norm of tangent vectors is defined in terms of an optimal transportation problem. For paths of piecewise smooth solutions, one can carefully estimate how the weighted length grows in time. By the generic regularity result proved in [7], these piecewise regular paths are dense and can be used to construct a geodesic distance with the desired Lipschitz property.
A Rate-Optimizing Compiler for Non-malleable Codes Against Bit-Wise Tampering and Permutations

A non-malleable code protects messages against a class of tampering functions. Informally, a code is non-malleable if the effect of applying any tampering function on an encoded message is to either retain the message or to replace it with an unrelated message. Two main challenges in this area – apart from establishing the feasibility against different families of tampering – are to obtain explicit constructions and to obtain high-rates for such constructions.
Proportionate adaptive filtering for block-sparse system identification

In this paper, a new family of proportionate normalized least mean square (PNLMS) adaptive algorithms that improve the performance of identifying block-sparse systems is proposed. The main proposed algorithm, called block-sparse PNLMS (BS-PNLMS), is based on the optimization of a mixed ${{l}_{2,1}}$ norm of the adaptive filter’s coefficients. It is demonstrated that both the NLMS and the traditional PNLMS are special cases of BS-PNLMS. Meanwhile, a block-sparse improved PNLMS (BS-IPNLMS) is also derived for both sparse and dispersive impulse responses. Simulation results demonstrate that the proposed BS-PNLMS and BS-IPNLMS algorithms outperformed the NLMS, PNLMS and IPNLMS algorithms with only a modest increase in computational complexity.
Unsupervised regenerative learning of hierarchical features in Spiking Deep Networks for object recognition

We present a spike-based unsupervised regenerative learning scheme to train Spiking Deep Networks (SpikeCNN) for object recognition problems using biologically realistic leaky integrate-and-fire neurons. The training methodology is based on the Auto-Encoder learning model wherein the hierarchical network is trained layer wise using the encoder-decoder principle. Regenerative learning uses spike-timing information and inherent latencies to update the weights and learn representative levels for each convolutional layer in an unsupervised manner. The features learnt from the final layer in the hierarchy are then fed to an output layer. The output layer is trained with supervision by showing a fraction of the labeled training dataset and performs the overall classification of the input. Our proposed methodology yields 0.95%/24.58% classification error on MNIST/CIFAR10 datasets which is comparable with state-of-the-art results. The proposed methodology also introduces sparsity in the hierarchical feature representations on account of event-based coding resulting in computationally efficient learning.
Policy and healthy weight

"Policy" is defined as a definite course of action adopted for reasons of expedience, prudence, wisdom, or common sense. What can be said about policy and healthy weights? We must draw conclusions from the evidence offered for the comorbidities associated with overweight. Then we must ask, what is a healthy weight? How much gain or loss will suffice to arrive at a healthy weight? What other issues such as economics and mental health costs affect policy? To facilitate the process, I will review the policy issues for which there is already a consensus and then outline the evidence available from which this group might gain perspective for formulating practical public health recommendations.
Old techniques for new join algorithms: A case study in RDF processing

Recently there has been significant interest around designing specialized RDF engines, as traditional query processing mechanisms incur orders of magnitude performance gaps on many RDF workloads. At the same time researchers have released new worst-case optimal join algorithms which can be asymptotically better than the join algorithms in traditional engines. In this paper we apply worst-case optimal join algorithms to a standard RDF workload, the LUBM benchmark, for the first time. We do so using two worst-case optimal engines: (1) LogicBlox, a commercial database engine, and (2) EmptyHeaded, our prototype research engine with enhanced worst-case optimal join algorithms. We show that without any added optimizations both LogicBlox and EmptyHeaded outperform two state-of-the-art specialized RDF engines, RDF-3X and TripleBit, by up to 6× on cyclic join queries—the queries where traditional optimizers are suboptimal. On the remaining, less complex queries in the LUBM benchmark, we show that three classic query optimization techniques enable EmptyHeaded to compete with RDF engines, even when there is no asymptotic advantage to the worst-case optimal approach. We validate that our design has merit as EmptyHeaded outperforms MonetDB by three orders of magnitude and LogicBlox by two orders of magnitude, while remaining within an order of magnitude of RDF-3X and TripleBit.
Why Are Banks Not Recapitalized During Crises

I develop a model where the sovereign debt capacity depends on the capitalization of domestic banks. Low-capital banks optimally tilt their government bond portfolio toward domestic securities, linking their destiny to that of the sovereign. If the sovereign risk is sufficiently high, low-capital banks reduce private lending to further increase their holdings of domestic government bonds, lowering sovereign yields and supporting the home sovereign debt capacity. The model rationalizes, in the context of the eurozone periphery, the increase in domestic government bond holdings, the reduction of bank credit supply, and the prolonged fragility of the financial sector.
Micromechanics Measurements Applied to Integrated Circuit Microelectronics

As in other engineered structures, fracture occasionally occurs in integrated microelectronic circuits. Fracture can take a number of forms including voiding of metallic interconnect lines, decohesion of interfaces, and stress-induced microcracking of thin films. The characteristic feature that distinguishes such fracture phenomena from similar behaviors in other engineered structures is the length scales involved, typically micron and sub-micron. This length scale necessitates new techniques for measuring mechanical and fracture properties. In this work, we describe non-contact optical techniques for probing strains and a microscopic "decohesion" test for measuring interface fracture resistance in integrated circuits.
Carrier Transport Effects in High Speed Quantum Well Lasers

The high speed properties of quantum well lasers, like the amplitude modulation (AM) and frequency modulation (FM) response, and wavelength chirping are significantly affected by the carrier transport across the optical and current confining layers, and thermionic emission out of the quantum well active area.
Spatial Correlations in Nematic Liquid Crystals

Liquid crystals are liquids. At such densities, spatial correlations between molecules are expected to play an important role in the determination of their collective and phase transition properties. At short range, these correlations are quite anisotropic as a result of anisotropic intermolecular repulsions. We recall a molecular potential model that takes into account anisotropic forces. We show how spatial correlations are accounted for in the “orientationally averaged pair correlations” approximation (OAPC) to affect the macroscopic properties of nematic liquid crystals. We then perform a cell model calculation in which both the molecular orientational distribution and the spatial distribution about lattice sites are determined self-consistently, by solving coupled Euler-Lagrange equations which minimize the free energy. Numerical work is carried out for a simple potential without anisotropicters. We are able to determine the potential parameters which reproduce earlier OAPC results. Such an exercise illustrates how the cell approximation works and provides us with a theoretical framework for introducing anisotropic forces and pair correlations into later work. It is hoped that the latter would help remove some of the serious discrepancies between molecular theories and esperiment.
Flourish or Fail?: The Risky Reward of Elite High School Admission in Mexico City

Admission to an elite school imposes substantial risks on many students while offering modest academic benefits relative to admission in their most preferred nonelite school. Using variation in school assignment generated by the allocation mechanism, we find that admission to a system of elite public high schools in Mexico City increases the probability of high school dropout by 9.4 percentage points. Students with weaker middle school grades and whose commutes are lengthened by elite admission experience a larger rise in dropout probability. On the other hand, elite admission raises end-of-high-school math test scores for the marginal admittee, even when accounting for potential bias due to admission-induced dropout.
An examination of double‐diffusive processes in a mesoscale eddy in the Arctic Ocean

Temperature and salinity measurements of an Atlantic Water mesoscale eddy in the Arctic Ocean's Canada Basin are analyzed to understand the effects of velocity shear on a range of double-diffusive processes. Double-diffusive structures in and around the eddy are examined through the transition from low shear (outside the eddy and within its solid body core) to high geostrophic shear zones at the eddy flanks. The geostrophic Richardson number takes large values where a double-diffusive staircase is observed and lowest values at the eddy flanks where geostrophic velocity is largest and a well-formed staircase is not present. A Thorpe scale analysis is used to estimate turbulent diffusivities in the flank regions. Double-diffusive and turbulent heat, salt, and buoyancy fluxes from the eddy are computed, and used to infer that the eddy decays on time scales of around 4–9 years. Fluxes highlight that Atlantic Water heat within the eddy can be fluxed downward into deeper water layers by means of both double-diffusive and turbulent mixing. Estimated lateral variations in vertical fluxes across the eddy allow for speculation that double diffusion speeds up the eddy decay, having important implications for the transfer of Atlantic Water heat in the Arctic Ocean.
Quantum lower bound for recursive Fourier sampling

I correct a technical error in [1]. The conclusions about Recursive Fourier Sampling are unaffected.
Panorama: A Framework to Support Collaborative Context Monitoring on Co-located Mobile Devices

A key challenge in wide adoption of sophisticated context-aware applications is the requirement of continuous sensing and context computing. This paper presents Panorama, a middleware that identifies collaboration opportunities to offload context computing tasks to nearby mobile devices as well as cloudlets/cloud. At the heart of Panorama is a multi-objective optimizer that takes into account different constraints such as access cost, computation capability, access latency, energy consumption and data privacy, and efficiently computes a collaboration plan optimized simultaneously for different objectives such as minimizing cost, energy and/or execution time. Panorama provides support for discovering nearby devices and cloudlets/cloud, computing an optimal collaboration plan, distributing computation to participating devices, and getting the results back. The paper provides an extensive evaluation of Panorama via two representative context monitoring applications over a set of Android devices and a cloudlet/cloud under different constraints.
Exploring the Minimal 4D $\mathcal{N}=1$ SCFT

We study the conformal bootstrap constraints for 4D $$ \mathcal{N}=1 $$ superconformal field theories containing a chiral operator φ and the chiral ring relation ϕ 2 = 0. Hints for a minimal interacting SCFT in this class have appeared in previous numerical bootstrap studies. We perform a detailed study of the properties of this conjectured theory, establishing that the corresponding solution to the bootstrap constraints contains a U(1) R current multiplet and estimating the central charge and low-lying operator spectrum of this theory.
Deal or no deal : strictly business for China in Kenya ?

Existing work on China's economic influence in Africa refers to Africa in broad terms, thereby generalizing the results to an extent that is unhelpful for policy-makers in a specific country. Moreover, the emphasis is on oil exporters. This paper remedies this by focusing on a single, oil-importing country: Kenya. The paper examines China's economic presence in Kenya and some of the popular myths surrounding Chinese economic activity. The first myth is that Chinese companies do not employ local workers. In fact, 78 percent of full-time and 95 percent of part-time employees in Chinese companies are locals. Second, although China represents a large potential market for local exporters, the study finds that China has a better chance of expanding its exports to Kenya than Kenya does to China based on existing specializations. This may change with recent oil discoveries in Kenya, increasing the space for Kenyan exports to China, as well as from China's shift to a consumption-driven economy which will increase demand for services, a growing strength of Kenya's economy (World Bank Country Economic Memorandum 2016). The paper emphasizes that Kenyan policy makers should be less concerned about bilateral trade imbalances and worry about Kenya's overall trade balance. However, the Standard Gauge Railway and Thika superhighway experiences suggest that Chinese firms offer relatively few technology transfer or supplier opportunities for local firms and academia. Third, the popular focus of Chinese competition is on the impact on well-organized Kenyan producers and not on consumers, thereby underestimating the benefits Kenyan consumer derive from the availability of more affordable Chinese goods. The paper concludes with policy directions for improving export competitiveness and transparency in infrastructure projects, and local content.
Enantioselective cyclopropenation of alkynes with acceptor/acceptor-substituted diazo reagents via Co(II)-based metalloradical catalysis.

The cobalt(II) complex of a new D2-symmetric chiral porphyrin 3,5-diMes-ChenPhyrin, [Co(P2)], has been shown to be a highly effective chiral metalloradical catalyst for enantioselective cyclopropenation of alkynes with acceptor/acceptor-substituted diazo reagents, such as α-cyanodiazoacetamides and α-cyanodiazoacetates. The [Co(P2)]-mediated metalloradical cyclopropenation is suitable to a wide range of terminal aromatic and related conjugated alkynes with varied steric and electronic properties, providing the corresponding trisubstituted cyclopropenes in high yields with excellent enantiocontrol of the all-carbon quaternary stereogenic centers. In addition to mild reaction conditions, the Co(II)-based metalloradical catalysis for cyclopropenation features a high degree of functional group tolerance.
Synthesis, structure, and properties of BaAl2Si2.

Single crystals of BaAl2Si2 were grown from an Al molten flux and characterized using single-crystal X-ray diffraction at 10 and 90 K and neutron diffraction at room temperature. BaAl2Si2 crystallizes with the α-BaCu2S2 structure type (Pnma), is isostructural with α-BaAl2Ge2, and is an open 3D framework compound, where Al and Si form a covalent cagelike network with Ba2+ cations residing in the cages. BaAl2Si2 has a unit cell of a = 10.070(3) A, b = 4.234(1) A, and c = 10.866(3) A, as determined by room-temperature single-crystal neutron diffraction (R1 = 0.0533, wR2 = 0.1034). The structure as determined by single-crystal neutron and X-ray diffraction (10 and 90 K) indicates that BaAl2Si2 (Pnma) is strictly isostructural to other (α)-BaCu2S2-type structures, requiring site specificity for Al and Si. Unlike BaAl2Ge2, no evidence for an α to β (BaZn2P2-type, I4/mmm) phase transition was observed. This compound shows metallic electronic resistivity and Pauli paramagnetic behavior.
Total synthesis of dixiamycin B by electrochemical oxidation.

N–N-linked dimeric indole alkaloids represent an unexplored class of natural products for which chemical synthesis has no practical solution. To meet this challenge, an electrochemical oxidative dimerization method was developed, which was applied as the pivotal step of the first total synthesis of dixiamycin B. This method is also general for N–N dimerization of substituted carbazoles and β-carbolines, providing entry into seldom explored chemical space.
Enantioselective total synthesis of (-)-kibdelone C.

The kibdelones are aromatic polyketide natural products featuring isoquinolinone and tetrahydroxanthone ring systems. They display potent cytotoxicity toward a range of human cancer cell lines. Here, we present an enantioselective total synthesis of kibdelone C that utilizes a Shi epoxidation to establish the absolute and relative stereochemistry, an acid-catalyzed cyclization to form the tetrahydroxanthone, and a C–H arylation to complete the hexacyclic skeleton.
Steroid Pathway Genes and Neonatal Respiratory Distress After Betamethasone Use in Anticipated Preterm Birth

Objective:To test several key glucocorticoid genes that are enhanced in lung development for associations with respiratory distress syndrome (RDS) after antenatal corticosteroid use.Methods:A prospective cohort of women received betamethasone to accelerate fetal lung maturity for threatened preterm delivery. DNA was obtained from mothers and newborns. Neonatal RDS was the primary outcome. Genotyping for single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in 68 glucocorticoid genes found to be differentially expressed during lung development was performed. Multivariable analysis tested for associations of SNPs in the candidate genes with RDS.Results:Genotypic results for 867 SNPs in 96 mothers and 73 babies were included. Thirty-nine (53.4%) babies developed RDS. Maternal SNPs in the centromeric protein E (CENPE), GLRX, CD9, and AURKA genes provided evidence of association with RDS (P < .01). In newborns, SNPs in COL4A3, BHLHE40, and SRGN provided evidence of association with RDS (P < .01).Conclusion:Single-nucleotide ...
Improving dependability of component-based systems via multi-versioning connectors

The promise of architecture-based software development is that complex systems can be built and evolved reasonably quickly and reliably using coarse-grained components. However, practice has shown that many problems of traditional software development still persist in a component-based setting, and even that new problems are introduced. A class of such problems stems from the opportunity to perform system upgrade at the component level. The problems include errors in the functionality introduced by a new version of a component, decreased reliability of a new component version, inefficiency of components designed for reuse, component interaction mismatches, and so on. This paper presents an approach intended to alleviate the problems caused by component upgrades. Our approach focuses on software architectures both at system design and implementation levels. Specifically, our approach leverages explicit software connectors, called multi-versioning connectors (M-V-Cs), in ensuring dependable system composition and evolution, possibly during runtime. M-V-Cs unintrasively collect and analyze the execution statistics of one or more running components versions, and address three aspects of dependability: correctness, reliability, and efficiency. Our approach has been implemented and evaluated in the context of a family of architectural implementation platforms. We illustrate our approach with the help of an example apphcation developed in coordination with a third-party organization.
Estimation of high dimensional mean regression in the absence of symmetry and light tail assumptions

Data subject to heavy-tailed errors are commonly encountered in various scientific fields. To address this problem, procedures based on quantile regression and Least Absolute Deviation (LAD) regression have been developed in recent years. These methods essentially estimate the conditional median (or quantile) function. They can be very different from the conditional mean functions, especially when distributions are asymmetric and heteroscedastic. How can we efficiently estimate the mean regression functions in ultra-high dimensional setting with existence of only the second moment? To solve this problem, we propose a penalized Huber loss with diverging parameter to reduce biases created by the traditional Huber loss. Such a penalized robust approximate quadratic (RA-quadratic) loss will be called RA-Lasso. In the ultra-high dimensional setting, where the dimensionality can grow exponentially with the sample size, our results reveal that the RA-lasso estimator produces a consistent estimator at the same rate as the optimal rate under the light-tail situation. We further study the computational convergence of RA-Lasso and show that the composite gradient descent algorithm indeed produces a solution that admits the same optimal rate after sufficient iterations. As a byproduct, we also establish the concentration inequality for estimating population mean when there exists only the second moment. We compare RA-Lasso with other regularized robust estimators based on quantile regression and LAD regression. Extensive simulation studies demonstrate the satisfactory finite-sample performance of RA-Lasso.