cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Juries and the Political Economy of Legal Origin

Abstract Legal origin has been brought forward as a key influence on modern finance, because common law institutions protect investors better than do civil law institutions, it is claimed. These institutional differences are said, in the legal origin explanation, to have been hard-wired into nations centuries ago. Daniel Klerman and Paul Mahoney challenge the legal origin description of the jury as emerging and achieving prominence in 12th- and 13th-century England while remaining unimportant in France. That contrast has been offered as a key difference between common and civil law, one dependent on the differences in relative power between the English monarch and the French one in the 13th century. But the investigation of the jury here should give pause to those promoting the overall legal origin thesis. The first reason to hesitate is that the jury is not central to protecting outside investors in common law nations. Indeed America's premier corporate court—the Delaware Chancery court—sits without a jury, and the usual view in legal circles is that the jury's absence (and the resulting decision-making by expert judges, not juries) is a strength of the court, not a weakness. The second reason is that Britain did not generally transfer the jury system to its colonies, because to have done so would have conflicted with its colonial goals. That is not a secondary point: political economy issues regularly trump issues like legal origin—colonial policy was just one example of how political goals displace secondary institutions. The third reason is that analysis for the jury differences between civil and common law nations depends on political economy differences centuries ago. But if political economy differences determined institutional differences in the earlier centuries, it is plausible that political economy differences in the intervening centuries would also have affected financial outcomes. Indeed modern political economy differences that lead some nations to support capital markets and others to denigrate them could explain modern financial differences as much as, or more than, 13th century political differences. Journal of Comparative Economics 35 (2) (2007) 294–308.
A local spectral method for graphs: with applications to improving graph partitions and exploring data graphs locally

The second eigenvalue of the Laplacian matrix and its associated eigenvector are fundamental features of an undirected graph, and as such they have found widespread use in scientific computing, machine learning, and data analysis. In many applications, however, graphs that arise have several local regions of interest, and the second eigenvector will typically fail to provide information fine-tuned to each local region. In this paper, we introduce a locally-biased analogue of the second eigenvector, and we demonstrate its usefulness at highlighting local properties of data graphs in a semi-supervised manner. To do so, we first view the second eigenvector as the solution to a constrained optimization problem, and we incorporate the local information as an additional constraint; we then characterize the optimal solution to this new problem and show that it can be interpreted as a generalization of a Personalized PageRank vector; and finally, as a consequence, we show that the solution can be computed in nearly-linear time. In addition, we show that this locally-biased vector can be used to compute an approximation to the best partition near an input seed set in a manner analogous to the way in which the second eigenvector of the Laplacian can be used to obtain an approximation to the best partition in the entire input graph. Such a primitive is useful for identifying and refining clusters locally, as it allows us to focus on a local region of interest in a semi-supervised manner. Finally, we provide a detailed empirical evaluation of our method by showing how it can applied to finding locally-biased sparse cuts around an input vertex seed set in social and information networks.
A Mars rover for the 1990's

Some technical issues concerning a Mars rover launched in the 1990’s are discussed. Two particular modes of controlling the travelling of the vehicle are described. In one mode, most of the control is from Earth, by human operators viewing stereo pictures sent from the rover and designating short routes to follow. In the other mode, computer vision is used in order to make the rover more autonomous, but reliability is aided by the use of orbital imagery and approximate long routes sent from Earth. In the latter case, it is concluded that average travel rates of around 10 km/day are feasible.
Reference electronic structure calculations in one dimension

Large strongly correlated systems provide a challenge to modern electronic structure methods, because standard density functionals usually fail and traditional quantum chemical approaches are too demanding. The density-matrix renormalization group method, an extremely powerful tool for solving such systems, has recently been extended to handle long-range interactions on real-space grids, but is most efficient in one dimension where it can provide essentially arbitrary accuracy. Such 1d systems therefore provide a theoretical laboratory for studying strong correlation and developing density functional approximations to handle strong correlation, if they mimic three-dimensional reality sufficiently closely. We demonstrate that this is the case, and provide reference data for exact and standard approximate methods, for future use in this area.
Open Debridement and Soft Tissue Release as a Salvage Procedure for the Severely Arthrofibrotic Knee

Postoperative loss of knee motion is a well-recognized phenomenon. This paper reports our results with open debridement and soft tissue release as a salvage procedure in the treatment of patients with severe arthrofibrosis on whom arthroscopic surgical techniques had failed. Eight knees (eight patients) were identified retrospectively. There were four men and four women; mean age was 29 years. All had severely restricted motion with extensive intraarticular and periarticular fibrosis. Range of motion averaged 62.5° preoperatively (flexion 81°, loss of extension 18.8°). Patients underwent open debridement and soft tissue release to restore motion. There were no complications. Motion improved to an average of 124° after surgery. Average flexion improved from 81° to 125°. Loss of extension improved from 18.8° to 1.25°. Functional outcome was good, with Lysholm II scores averaging 79. Patient satisfaction was high. There was a high incidence of patellofemoral arthritis at follow-up. Furthermore, the patellar ...
Mining heterogeneous information networks: the next frontier

Real world physical and abstract data objects are interconnected, forming gigantic, interconnected networks. By structuring these data objects into multiple types, such networks become semi-structured heterogeneous information networks. Most real world applications that handle big data, including interconnected social media and social networks, scientific, engineering, or medical information systems, online e-commerce systems, and most database systems, can be structured into heterogeneous information networks. For example, in a medical care network, objects of multiple types, such as patients, doctors, diseases, medication, and links such as visits, diagnosis, and treatments are intertwined together, providing rich information and forming heterogeneous information networks. Effective analysis of large-scale heterogeneous information networks poses an interesting but critical challenge.In this talk, we present a set of data mining scenarios in heterogeneous information networks and show that mining heterogeneous information networks is a new and promising research frontier in data mining research. Departing from many existing network models that view data as homogeneous graphs or networks, the semi-structured heterogeneous information network model leverages the rich semantics of typed nodes and links in a network and can uncover surprisingly rich knowledge from interconnected data. This heterogeneous network modeling will lead to the discovery of a set of new principles and methodologies for mining interconnected data. The examples to be used in this discussion include (1) meta path-based similarity search, (2) rank-based clustering, (3) rank-based classification, (4) meta path-based link/relationship prediction, (5) relation strength-aware mining, as well as a few other recent developments. We will also point out some promising research directions and provide convincing arguments on that mining heterogeneous information networks is the next frontier in data mining.
A New Hybrid Phosphine Ligand for Palladium-Catalyzed Amination of Aryl Halides

A new hybrid phosphine was designed. The phosphine combines two common structural characteristics found among the effective phosphine ligands reported recently, namely, three tert-alkyl substituents binding to the phosphorus and an aryl group at an appropriate position. A hybrid phospine/palladium system is versatile and effective for the coupling reaction of various aryl halides with primary and secondary amines including carbazole.
PRICING AND SEMIMARTINGALE REPRESENTATIONS OF VULNERABLE CONTINGENT CLAIMS IN REGIME-SWITCHING MARKETS

Using a suitable change of probability measure, we obtain a Poisson series representation for the arbitrage-free price process of vulnerable contingent claims in a regime-switching market driven by an underlying continuous-time Markov process. As a result of this representation, along with a short-time asymptotic expansion of the claim's price process, we develop an efficient novel method for pricing claims whose payoffs may depend on the full path of the underlying Markov chain. The proposed approach is applied to price not only simple European claims such as defaultable bonds, but also a new type of path-dependent claims that we term self-decomposable, as well as the important class of vulnerable call and put options on a stock. We provide a detailed error analysis and illustrate the accuracy and computational complexity of our method on several market traded instruments, such as defaultable bond prices, barrier options, and vulnerable call options. Using again our Poisson series representation, we show differentiability in time of the predefault price function of European vulnerable claims, which enables us to rigorously deduce Feynman-Kac representations for the predefault pricing function and new semimartingale representations for the price process of the vulnerable claim under both risk-neutral and objective probability measures.
Cation exchange at the secondary building units of metal–organic frameworks

Cation exchange is an emerging synthetic route for modifying the secondary building units (SBUs) of metal–organic frameworks (MOFs). This technique has been used extensively to enhance the properties of nanocrystals and molecules, but the extent of its applications for MOFs is still expanding. To harness cation exchange as a rational tool, we need to elucidate its governing factors. Not nearly enough experimental observations exist for drawing these conclusions, so we provide a conceptual framework for approaching this task. We address which SBUs undergo exchange, why certain ions replace others, how the framework influences the process, the role of the solvent, and current applications. Using these guidelines, certain trends emerge from the available data and missing experiments become obvious. If future studies follow this framework, then a more comprehensive body of observations will furnish a deeper understanding of cation exchange and inspire future applications.
A stochastic differential equation with a sticky point

We consider a degenerate stochastic differential equation that has a sticky point in the Markov process sense. We prove that weak existence and weak uniqueness hold, but that pathwise uniqueness does not hold nor does a strong solution exist.
Enantioselective β‐Arylation of Ketones Enabled by Lithiation/Borylation/1,4‐Addition Sequence Under Flow Conditions

The three-step protocol uses readily available and inexpensive aryl bromides instead of arylboron reagents and affords β-arylated ketones in good yields with high levels of enantioselectivity.
The Market for Children: Evidence from Early Modern Japan

Using a data set of about 1,000 Japanese contracts, I study the relationships among urban labor markets, peasant employment contracts, and parental control over work-age children. From 1600 to the mid-18th century, the use of contracts for the sale, pledge, or long-term employment of children fell drastically. The reason apparently lies in the development of a large nonagricultural labor market. Because this market (with its informal, at-will contractual terms) made it profitable for so many children to abscond, it threatened any property right that parents may once have had in their children's work. And absent that property right, most employers no longer offered long-term contracts on attractive terms. By making it profitable for dissatisfied children to abscond, this new labor market also reduced the control that parents had over their children. Indirectly to be sure, it shaped relations within the family and constrained domestic exploitation as well. Copyright 1995 by Oxford University Press.
The life and death of star clusters

We report on the development of a framework for understanding the demographics of star cluster systems. The model incorporates a universal initial power-law mass function, selected formation histories, selected disruption laws, and a convolution with common artifacts and selection effects found in observational data. An important component of our model is the use of a ‘two-stage’ disruption process, with a very high ‘infant mortality’ rate for the clusters with ages less than ≈108 yr (i.e., roughly 80 to 90% are lost each factor of ten in time, τ, independent of mass), and two-body relaxation, which becomes the dominant disruption mechanism at older ages, preferentially removing the lower-mass clusters. Stars from the dissolved clusters form the field population, and hence the galaxies themselves. We also report on efforts to distinguish stars from clusters in the Antennae galaxies, allowing us to show that the power-law luminosity function for star clusters extends roughly three magnitudes fainter than previously demonstrated, contrary to reports that there is a turnover. Finally, we briefly show that, while triggered star formation in several regions of the Antennae is relatively mild (i.e., producing roughly 10% as many stars as in the previous generation), in some regions there can be an amplification of a factor of four or more.
The Escape of Planetary Atmospheres

The problem of escape of atmospheres from the Moon and planets has roots deep in ancient history. Many of the great philosophers of the past regarded the Earth’s atmosphere as a medium extending to infinity, with a stationary Earth imbedded at the center. Indeed, it was this concept that led Ptolemy, among many others, to conclude that the Earth could not be moving, for otherwise it would be subject to a gale-force wind caused by its own motion. This idea fostered many of the early stories of interplanetary visitations. Lucian, for example, writing in the second century A.D., has his Icarome nippus fly to the Moon and beyond by means of wings attached to his body.
Periodic maps of composite order on positive definite 4-manifolds

The possibilities for new or unusual kinds of topological, locally linear periodic maps of non-prime order on closed, simply connected 4-manifolds with positive definite intersection pairings are explored. On the one hand, certain permuta- tion representations on homology are ruled out under appropriate hypotheses. On the other hand, an interesting homologically nontrivial, pseudofree, action of the cyclic group of order 25 on a connected sum of ten copies of the complex projective plane is constructed.
Methyl mercury toxicity in the chick embryo.

The toxicity of methyl mercury (mHg) in the developing chick embryo was investigated. The relationship of dose, time of administration (i.e., days 4-9 of development), and body levels of mercury was examined. The LD50 for mHg injected into the yolk sac on day 5 of incubation was 40-50 micrograms. Embryos dying within 24 hours showed increased total body mHg levels when compared to survivors (219 +/- 67 vs. 105 +/- 41 micrograms/gm, mean +/- SD). Absorption was dose-related, with a good correlation between mortality and body, blood, and brain levels. Daily analysis of body mHg levels after injection on day 5 showed continued mHg accumulation (0.88 +/- 0.35 micrograms/embryo/day). However, the rate of embryo growth exceeded the rate of mHg absorption, resulting in a progressive decrease in mHg in concentration in tissues (from 94.5 +/- 34.2 micrograms/gm on day 6 to 45.3 +/- 13.4 on day 9). Administration after day 5 resulted in a significant reduction in levels of mHg in the brain on day 18 (from 11.4 +/- 2.1 micrograms/gm when given on day 5 to 8.4 +/- 2.3 when given on day 9) and in mortality (from 64% to 33%). Because blood mHg levels remained unchanged, the increased brain levels and higher mortality early in embryogenesis may reflect facilitated transfer of mHg across a poorly developed blood-brain barrier. Later in development, the reduced mortality and lower brain mHg levels correspond to the formation of specialized interendothelial junctions and a more effective blood-brain barrier.
Optimal arrays for compressed sensing in snapshot-mode radio interferometry

Context. Radio interferometry has always faced the problem of incomplete sampling of the Fourier plane. A possible remedy can be found in the promising new theory of compressed sensing (CS), which allows for the accurate recovery of sparse signals from sub-Nyquist sampling given certain measurement conditions.Aims. We provide an introductory assessment of optimal arrays for CS in snapshot-mode radio interferometry, using orthogonal matching pursuit (OMP), a widely used CS recovery algorithm similar in some respects to CLEAN. We focus on comparing centrally condensed (specifically, Gaussian) arrays to uniform arrays, and randomized arrays to deterministic arrays such as the VLA.Methods. The theory of CS is grounded in a ) sparse representation of signals and b ) measurement matrices of low coherence. We calculate the mutual coherence of measurement matrices as a theoretical indicator of arrays’ suitability for OMP, based on the recovery error bounds in Donoho et al. (2006, IEEE Trans. Inform. Theory, 52, 1289). OMP reconstructions of both point and extended objects are also run from simulated incomplete data. Optimal arrays are considered for objects represented in 1) the natural pixel basis and 2) the block discrete cosine transform (BDCT).Results. We find that reconstructions of the pixel representation perform best with the uniform random array, while reconstructions of the BDCT representation perform best with normal random arrays. Slight randomization to the VLA also improves it dramatically for CS recovery with the pixel basis. Conclusions. In the pixel basis, array design for CS reflects known principles of array design for small numbers of antennas, namely of randomness and uniform distribution. Differing results with the BDCT, however, emphasize the need to study how sparsifying bases affect array design before CS can be optimized for radio interferometry.
The Effect of Disability Insurance on Health Investment: Evidence from the VA Disability Compensation Program

I examine whether individuals respond to monetary incentives to detect latent medical conditions. The effect is identified by an amendment to Title 38 that deemed diabetes associated with Agent Orange exposure a compensable disability under the VA's Disability Compensation program. Since a diagnosis is a requisite for benefit eligibility, and nearly one-third of diabetics remain undiagnosed, the advent of disability insurance may have encouraged the detection of diabetes among the previously undiagnosed population. Evidence from the National Health Interview Survey suggests that the policy increased the prevalence of diabetes b 2.7 percentage ponts among veterans. This paper is forthcoming in the Journal of Human Resources and therefore the online working paper has been removed from the CPR working paper website.
The future of emissions trading

Over the past 15 years, carbon markets have been set up by private and public actors at various geographic scales and with varying financial scope. The history of the early stage of carbon markets reveals a mixed record: the instrument diffused widely across the globe, while existing carbon markets performed rather slow, though anecdotal evidence suggests positive side effects on climate policymaking. Going forward, three key driving forces are likely to shape the future of emissions trading: (1) the source and sustainability of political demand for climate action in general and carbon markets in particular, (2) the governance of operating carbon markets including questions of bureaucratic capacity and regulatory capture, and (3) the pattern of market globalization, which encompasses issues of carbon price comparability, market linkage, and expansion. Depending on how these driving forces and fault lines play out, a number of scenarios are possible, ranging from strongly embedded and effective carbon markets to their collapse. The trajectory to any one of these scenarios could be characterized by tipping points, which are likely to come about incrementally. WIREs Clim Change 2014, 5:569–576. doi: 10.1002/wcc.293 For further resources related to this article, please visit the WIREs website. Conflict of interest: The author has declared no conflicts of interest for this article.
Monitoring protein kinases in cellular media with highly selective chimeric reporters.

Protein kinases are important regulators of cellular function, and the dynamics of their activities are critical indicators of the health or pathology of living systems.[1, 2] In particular, extracellular-signal regulated kinases 1 and 2 (ERK1/2) play a pivotal role in the mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) signaling pathway responsible for regulated cell survival and proliferation.[3] The centrality of these enzymes in normal and diseased cell states underscores the need for high throughput, selective, and sensitive methods that accurately and directly diagnose kinase activities. The benchmark phosphorylation assays for ERK1/2 rely on transfer of radioactive γ-phosphate of [γ-32P]ATP to peptide or protein substrates.[4] While broadly employed, this approach has limitations, including the discontinuous nature of the radioactive assay and the non-native ATP concentrations that are employed. Alternatively, for cellular imaging, genetically-encoded sensors that rely on phosphorylation-based changes in fluorescence resonance energy transfer (FRET) between fluorescent protein pairs[5, 6] have been constructed for several kinases, including ERK1/2.[7–10] These sensors are powerful because they can be expressed in cells, however, they cannot be used for high throuput screening of recombinant enzymes and unfractionated cell lysates due to the very limited fluorescence changes that accompany phosphorylation. As a complementary approach, probes based on small, organic fluorophores with direct readouts[6, 11] can give sensitive and robust signals under physiogical conditions and are thus amenable to high throughput applications. For example, we have incorporated a sulfonamido-oxine (Sox) chromophore into peptides[12, 13] to report phosphorylation via chelation-enhanced fluorescence (CHEF) (Figure 1a). The weak binding affinity of the unphosphorylated substrate for Mg2+ increases significantly upon phosphorylation, resulting in robust (2- to 12-fold) fluorescence enhancements. This versatile peptide-based sensor design has been applied to monitor the activity of numerous Ser/Thr and Tyr kinases both in vitro[13] and in cell lysates.[12]
REQUEST: A Recursive QUEST Algorithm for Sequential Attitude Determination

In order to find the attitude of a spacecraft with respect to a reference coordinate system, vector measurements are taken. The vectors are pairs of measurements of the same generalized vector, taken in the spacecraft body coordinates, as well as in the reference coordinate system. We are interested in finding the best estimate of the transformation between these coordinate system.s The algorithm called QUEST yields that estimate where attitude is expressed by a quarternion. Quest is an efficient algorithm which provides a least squares fit of the quaternion of rotation to the vector measurements. Quest however, is a single time point (single frame) batch algorithm, thus measurements that were taken at previous time points are discarded. The algorithm presented in this work provides a recursive routine which considers all past measurements. The algorithm is based on on the fact that the, so called, K matrix, one of whose eigenvectors is the sought quaternion, is linerly related to the measured pairs, and on the ability to propagate K. The extraction of the appropriate eigenvector is done according to the classical QUEST algorithm. This stage, however, can be eliminated, and the computation simplified, if a standard eigenvalue-eigenvector solver algorithm is used. The development of the recursive algorithm is presented and illustrated via a numerical example.
The carbon footprint of water management policy options

Abstract The growing concerns of global warming and climate change have forced water providers to scrutinize the energy for water production and the greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions associated with it. A system dynamics model is developed to estimate the energy requirements to move water from the water source to the distribution laterals of the Las Vegas Valley and to analyze the carbon footprint associated with it. The results show that at present nearly 0.85 million megawatt hours per year (MWh/y) energy is required for conveyance of water in distribution laterals of the Valley from Lake Mead resulting in approximately 0.53 million metric tons of CO 2 emissions per year. Considering the current mix of fuel source, the energy and CO 2 emissions will increase to 1.34 million MWh/y and 0.84 million metric tons per year, respectively, by the year 2035. Various scenarios including change in population growth rate, water conservation, increase in water reuse, change in the Lake level, change in fuel sources, change in emission rates, and combination of multiple scenarios are analyzed to study their impact on energy requirements and associated CO 2 emissions.
HIGH-RESOLUTION SPECTROSCOPIC FOLLOW-UP OF OGLE PLANETARY TRANSIT CANDIDATES IN THE GALACTIC BULGE: TWO POSSIBLE JUPITER-MASS PLANETS AND TWO BLENDS

We report the results of our campaign to follow up spectroscopically several candidate extrasolar transiting planets from the OGLE-III survey in the direction of the Galactic center, announced in 2001. All of these objects present shallow and periodic dips in brightness that may be due to planetary companions. Our Keck I/High Resolution Echelle Spectrometer (HIRES) observations have revealed two interesting cases (OGLE-TR-10 with a period of 3.1 days and OGLE-TR-58 with a period of 4.3 days) that show no radial velocity variations at the level of 100-200 m s-1. If orbited by companions, their masses would be similar to Jupiter. With the information in hand (including the light curves) we are not able to rule out that these candidates are instead the result of contamination from an eclipsing binary in the same line of sight (a "blend"). We also discuss the case of OGLE-TR-56, which was recently reported by Konacki et al. to have a Jupiter-size companion, on the basis of an earlier analysis of our data and we present supporting information. Two other candidates, OGLE-TR-3 and OGLE-TR-33, show clear evidence that they are blends. We describe tests carried out to characterize the stability of the HIRES spectrograph and its impact on the determination of precise velocities for faint stars (V ≥ 15 mag) using exposures of a thorium-argon lamp as the wavelength reference. Systematic effects are at the level of 100 m s-1 or smaller and tend to dominate the total error budget. We also evaluate the precision attainable using the iodine gas absorption cell as an alternative fiducial, and we propose a simplified version of the standard procedure employed for high-precision Doppler planet searches that is very promising. Results from both this method and the classical ThAr technique show the feasibility of spectroscopic follow-up for faint targets in the range V = 14-17. We point out also that the high incidence of contamination from blends and other false positives in the OGLE-III survey already mentioned by Konacki et al. is potentially a serious concern not only for other similar surveys of relatively faint stars but also for future space missions to search for transits due to extrasolar planets as small as the Earth.
On Communication Cost of Distributed Statistical Estimation and Dimensionality

We explore the connection between dimensionality and communication cost in distributed learning problems. Specifically we study the problem of estimating the mean θ→ of an unknown d dimensional gaussian distribution in the distributed setting. In this problem, the samples from the unknown distribution are distributed among m different machines. The goal is to estimate the mean θ→ at the optimal minimax rate while communicating as few bits as possible. We show that in this setting, the communication cost scales linearly in the number of dimensions i.e. one needs to deal with different dimensions individually. Applying this result to previous lower bounds for one dimension in the interactive setting [1] and to our improved bounds for the simultaneous setting, we prove new lower bounds of Ω(md/ log(m)) and Ω(md) for the bits of communication needed to achieve the minimax squared loss, in the interactive and simultaneous settings respectively. To complement, we also demonstrate an interactive protocol achieving the mini-max squared loss with O(md) bits of communication, which improves upon the simple simultaneous protocol by a logarithmic factor. Given the strong lower bounds in the general setting, we initiate the study of the distributed parameter estimation problems with structured parameters. Specifically, when the parameter is promised to be s-sparse, we show a simple thresholding based protocol that achieves the same squared loss while saving a d/s factor of communication. We conjecture that the tradeoff between communication and squared loss demonstrated by this protocol is essentially optimal up to logarithmic factor.
C-H bond functionalization via hydride transfer: formation of α-arylated piperidines and 1,2,3,4-tetrahydroisoquinolines via stereoselective intramolecular amination of benzylic C-H bonds.

We here report a study of the intramolecular amination of sp3 C–H bonds via the hydride transfer cyclization of N-tosylimines (HT-amination). In this transformation, 5-aryl aldehydes are subjected to N-toluenesulfonamide in the presence of BF3·OEt2 to effect imine formation and HT-cyclization, leading to 2-arylpiperidines and 3-aryl-1,2,3,4-tetrahydroisoquinolines in a one-pot procedure. We examined the reactivity of a range of aldehyde substrates as a function of their conformational flexibility. Substrates of higher conformational rigidity were more reactive, giving higher yields of the desired products. However, a single substituent on the alkyl chain linking the N-tosylimine and the benzylic sp3 C–H bonds was sufficient for HT-cyclization to occur. In addition, an examination of various arenes revealed that the electronic character of the hydridic C–H bonds dramatically affects the efficiency of the reaction. We also found that this transformation is highly stereoselective; 2-substituted aldehydes yie...
Effect of impeller blade trimming on the performance of a 5.5:1 pressure ratio centrifugal compressor

Centrifugal compressor blade trimming can be used for the purpose of changing the performance characteristics of an impeller or allowing a single impeller design to be used for a range of operating conditions. There are different methods of impeller blade trimming that may be employed to change the impeller flow rate, the pressure ratio, or both. In this study, computational fluid dynamics is used to model the effects of two different methods of blade trimming on a single centrifugal compressor design. Impeller performance characteristics and analysis of the flow field are presented for a series of trims. Trimming the passage area from inlet to outlet along the meridional length reduced the flow rate of the impeller and narrowed the effective operating range. The head coefficient and efficiency relative to the choked flow coefficient remained unchanged as the passage area is reduced; however, the flow rate is reduced by a greater amount than the inlet area is reduced. Trimming the impeller blades by shift...
Execution information rate for some classes of automata

We study the Shannon information rate of accepting runs of various forms of automata. This rate is a complexity indicator for executions of these automata. Accepting runs of finite automata and reversal-bounded nondeterministic counter machines, as well as their restrictions and variations, are investigated and are shown, in many cases, to have computable execution rates. We also study the information rate of behaviors in discrete timed automata. We conduct experiments on C programs showing that estimating the information rates for their executions is feasible in many cases.
A portable accelerator control toolkit

In recent years, the expense of creating good control software has led to a number of collaborative efforts among laboratories to share this cost. The EPICS collaboration is a particularly successful example of this trend. More recently another collaborative effort has addressed the need for sophisticated high level software, including model driven accelerator controls. This work builds upon the CDEV (Common DEVice) software framework, which provides a generic abstraction of a control system, and maps that abstraction onto a number of site-specific control systems including EPICS, the SLAC control system, CERN/PS and others. In principle, it is now possible to create portable accelerator control applications which have no knowledge of the underlying and site-specific control system. Applications based on CDEV now provide a growing suite of tools for accelerator operations, including general purpose displays, an on-line accelerator model, beamline steering, machine status displays incorporating both hardware and model information (such as beam positions overlaid with beta functions) and more. A survey of CDEV compatible portable applications will be presented, as well as plans for future development.
Eigenfunctions of composition operators on Bloch- type spaces

Suppose φ is a holomorphic self map of the unit disk and Cφ is a composition operator with symbol φ that fixes the origin and 0 0. In the second part of the paper, the results obtained for composition operators are extended to the case of weighted composition operators.
Characterizing Mammography Reports for Health Analytics

As massive collections of digital health data are becoming available, the opportunities for large-scale automated analysis increase. In particular, the widespread collection of detailed health information is expected to help realize a vision of evidence-based public health and patient-centric health care. Within such a framework for large scale health analytics we describe the transformation of a large data set of mostly unlabeled and free-text mammography data into a searchable and accessible collection, usable for analytics. We also describe several methods to characterize and analyze the data, including their temporal aspects, using information retrieval, supervised learning, and classical statistical techniques. We present experimental results that demonstrate the validity and usefulness of the approach, since the results are consistent with the known features of the data, provide novel insights about it, and can be used in specific applications. Additionally, based on the process of going from raw data to results from analysis, we present the architecture of a generic system for health analytics from clinical notes.
The Dynamics of Brand Value in the Carbonated Soft Drinks Industry

This study examines how brand values of different carbonated soft drink (CSD) products change over time and how advertising and social media exposure contribute to brand building. The model consists of two stages. In the first stage, we adopt a structural approach to estimate the brand equities of 12 CSD products and measure the brand values in a Bertrand-Nash equilibrium. In the second stage, we study the impacts of marketing-mix variables on brand values. The empirical results show that both advertising expenditure and the quality of social media activity are important to brand value while the increase in the total social media activity has little effect.
An explanation of economic impact: why positive impacts can exist for smaller sports

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to understand why some sports show a positive economic impact and other sports do not, and to identify a common set of explanatory factors explaining the differences. Design/methodology/approach – This explanatory research reviews the economic impact literature to identify the underlying conditions that would theoretically allow any sport, large or small, to generate positive economic effects. Findings – Nine conditions are identified that, when present, could allow a community to experience a positive economic impact from a team or stadium. These are then used to explain the discrepancy in known empirical outcomes in major and minor league baseball (MiLB). It appears as if major league teams are more likely to violate the conditions than minor league teams. This research finds theoretical support for previous suggestions that smaller teams and events may be beneficial to local economies. In doing so, it also explains previous empirical results that found some MiLB c...
SMALL BUSINESS BORROWING AND PEER‐TO‐PEER LENDING: EVIDENCE FROM LENDING CLUB

We investigate the ability of small business borrowers to signal to investors their credit worthiness through the use of text descriptions in the peerâtoâpeer lending market. Specifically, we examine the relationship between the loan description written by a borrower and whether or not the project is funded by investors. Using textual analysis, we find that small business loan descriptions can be used to predict the likelihood that the loan will be funded. We also find that an index, created from a textual analysis of the words used in the loan description, can forecast the performance of the loan, specifically whether or not the loan defaults. This index has the strongest impact when we focus on borrowers with low FICO scores, suggesting that for these individuals the description can signal information that standard measures used for lending purposes cannot. Overall, it appears as though investors are making investment decisions based on proper and relevant signals given by the borrowers through the loan description. (JEL D47, D53, D82, D83, G14, G21)
Lightweight Capability Domains: Towards Decomposing the Linux Kernel

Despite a number of radical changes in how computer systems are used, the design principles behind the very core of the systems stack--an operating system kernel--has remained unchanged for decades.We run monolithic kernels developed with a combination ofan unsafe programming language, global sharing of data structures, opaque interfaces, and no explicit knowledge of kernel protocols. Today, the monolithic architecture of a kernel is the main factor undermining its security, and even worse, limiting its evolution towards a safer, more secure environment. Lack of isolation across kernel subsystems allows attackers to take control over the entire machine with a single kernel vulnerability. Furthermore, complex, semantically rich monolithic code with globally shared data structures and no explicit interfaces is not amenable to formal analysis and verification tools. Even after decades of work to make monolithic kernels more secure, over a hundred serious kernel vulnerabilities are still reported every year.Modern kernels need decomposition as a practical means of confining the effects of individual attacks. Historically, decomposed kernels were prohibitively slow. Today, the complexity of a modern kernel prevents a trivial decomposition effort. We argue, however, that despite all odds modern kernels can be decomposed. Careful choice of communication abstractions and execution model, a general approach to decomposition, a path for incremental adoption, and automation through proper language tools can address complexity of decomposition and performance overheads of decomposed kernels. Our work on lightweight capability domains (LCDs) develops principles, mechanisms, and tools that enable incremental, practical decomposition of a modern operating system kerne.
Downlink scheduling over Markovian fading channels

We consider the scheduling problem in downlink wireless networks with heterogeneous, Markov-modulated, ON/OFF channels. It is well known that the performance of scheduling over fading channels relies heavily on the accuracy of the available channel state information (CSI), which is costly to acquire. Thus, we consider the CSI acquisition via a practical ARQ-based feedback mechanism whereby channel states are revealed at the end of only scheduled users' transmissions. In the assumed presence of temporally correlated channel evolutions, the desired scheduler must optimally balance the exploitation - exploration tradeoff, whereby it schedules transmissions both to exploit those channels with up-to-date CSI and to explore the current state of those with outdated CSI. In earlier works, Whittle's Index Policy had been suggested as a low-complexity and high-performance solution to this problem. However, analyzing its performance in the typical scenario of statistically heterogeneous channel state processes has remained elusive and challenging, mainly because of the highly coupled and complex dynamics it possesses. In this work, we overcome these difficulties to rigorously establish the asymptotic optimality properties of Whittle's Index Policy in the limiting regime of many users. More specifically: 1) we prove the local optimality of Whittle's Index Policy, provided that the initial state of the system is within a certain neighborhood of a carefully selected state; (2) we then establish the global optimality of Whittle's Index Policy under a recurrence assumption that is verified numerically for our problem. These results establish that Whittle's Index Policy possesses analytically provable optimality characteristics for scheduling over heterogeneous and temporally correlated channels.
Ethnic Divisions and Production in Firms

A body of literature suggests that ethnic heterogeneity limits economic growth. This paper provides microeconometric evidence on the direct eect of ethnic divisions on productivity. In team production at a plant in Kenya, an upstream worker supplies and distributes owers to two downstream workers who assemble them into bunches. The plant uses an essentially random rotation process to assign workers to positions, leading to three types of teams: (a) ethnically homogeneous teams, and teams in which (b) one or (c) both downstream workers belong to a tribe in rivalry with the upstream worker’s tribe. I nd strong evidence that upstream workers undersupply non-coethnic downstream workers (vertical discrimination) and shift
The Relationship between Competitive Strategy Choice and the Components of Firm Efficiency in the General Freight Segment of the Motor Carrier Industry

This study investigates the impact of choosing a particular strategic focus or foci on operational productivity by means of the Malmquist Productivity Index. The Malmquist framework allows the researcher to examine the change in operational productivity over a period of time, which is particularly desirable given that the impact of strategic choices is an inter-temporal phenomenon as opposed to one occurring at a discrete point in time. Furthermore, the Malmquist methodology allows for the decomposition of the change in operational productivity into the two components of operational efficiency change and technological change. Competitive strategy choices are related to changes in operational productivity (as measured by the Malmquist Productivity Index and its components of operating efficiency and technological) by means of a tobit analysis. A consistent sample (for the period 1999-2003) of 83 general freight motor carriers is utilized. The results of the above analysis are then related to operational profitability by means of an analysis of variance.
Practicality of magnetic compression for plasma density control

Plasma densification through magnetic compression has been suggested for time-resolved control of the wave properties in plasma-based accelerators [P. F. Schmit and N. J. Fisch, Phys. Rev. Lett. 109, 255003 (2012)]. Using particle in cell simulations with real mass ratio, the practicality of large magnetic compression on timescales shorter than the ion gyro-period is investigated. For compression times shorter than the transit time of a compressional Alfven wave across the plasma slab, results show the formation of two counter-propagating shock waves, leading to a highly non-uniform plasma density profile. Furthermore, the plasma slab displays large hydromagnetic like oscillations after the driving field has reached steady state. Peak compression is obtained when the two shocks collide in the mid-plane. At this instant, very large plasma heating is observed, and the plasma β is estimated to be about 1. Although these results point out a densification mechanism quite different and more complex than initial...
Interior point method for dynamic constrained optimization in continuous time

This paper considers a class of convex optimization problems where both the objective function and the constraints have a continuous dependence on time. We develop an interior point method that asymptotically succeeds in tracking the optimal point in nonstationary settings. The method utilizes a time-varying constraint slack and a prediction-correction structure that relies on time derivatives of functions and constraints and Newton steps in the spatial domain. Error free tracking is guaranteed under customary assumptions on the optimization problems and time differentiability of objective and constraints. The effectiveness of the method is illustrated in a target tracking problem.
The segmented iHMM: a simple, efficient hierarchical infinite HMM

We propose the segmented iHMM (siHMM), a hierarchical infinite hidden Markov model (iHMM) that supports a simple, efficient inference scheme. The siHMM is well suited to segmentation problems, where the goal is to identify points at which a time series transitions from one relatively stable regime to a new regime. Conventional iHMMs often struggle with such problems, since they have no mechanism for distinguishing between high- and low-level dynamics. Hierarchical HMMs (HHMMs) can do better, but they require much more complex and expensive inference algorithms. The siHMM retains the simplicity and efficiency of the iHMM, but out-performs it on a variety of segmentation problems, achieving performance that matches or exceeds that of a more complicated HHMM.