cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Fast sparse matrix-vector multiplication on GPUs: implications for graph mining

Scaling up the sparse matrix-vector multiplication kernel on modern Graphics Processing Units (GPU) has been at the heart of numerous studies in both academia and industry. In this article we present a novel non-parametric, self-tunable, approach to data representation for computing this kernel, particularly targeting sparse matrices representing power-law graphs. Using real web graph data, we show how our representation scheme, coupled with a novel tiling algorithm, can yield significant benefits over the current state of the art GPU efforts on a number of core data mining algorithms such as PageRank, HITS and Random Walk with Restart.
A Study of Collusion in First-Price Auctions

This paper examines the bidding for school milk contracts in Florida and Texas during the 1980s. In both states firms were convicted of bid-rigging. The data and legal evidence suggest that the cartels in the two states allocate contracts in different ways: One cartel divides the market among members, while the other cartel also uses side payments to compensate members for refraining from bidding. We show that both forms of cartel agreements are almost optimal, provided the number of contracts is sufficiently large. In the auction the cartel bidder may face competition from non-cartel bidders. The presence of an optimal cartel induces an asymmetry in the auction. The selected cartel bidder is bidding as a representative of a group and has on average a lower cost than a non-cartel bidder. The data support the predicted equilibrium bidding behaviour in asymmetric auctions in accordance with optimal cartels.
Application of a Cu(I)-mediated biaryl cross-coupling reaction to the synthesis of oxygenated 1,1′-binaphthalenes

Abstract Application of an oxidative copper(I)-mediated biaryl cross-coupling protocol to the synthesis of highly oxygenated, differentially substituted 1-1′-binaphthalenes related to the perylenequinone calphostin C is detailed.
Biosensing based upon molecular confinement in metallic nanocavity arrays

Research world-wide on biosensing techniques is motivated by numerous applications in clinical diagnostics, genetic screenings, proteomics, and single-molecule detection, for example. However, the important problem of detecting in parallel a large number of molecular species from very small samples remains an elusive goal. This work represents a step in that direction through the development of a biosensor platform in which enhanced fluorescence transduction occurs through the optical excitation of molecules located within metallic nanocavities. This study also demonstrates that the phenomenon of enhanced transmission can be used as a technique for molecular transduction in optical biosensor applications with the important benefits of an apparent increase in fluorescence yield and isolation from fluorescence produced by unbound species. Finally, we demonstrate that real-time biosensing can be performed by monitoring the fluorescence signal produced due to the hybridization between probe oligonucleotide's immobilized within the nanocavities and complementary target oligonucleotides in solution introduced through a microfluidic channel.
Novel nonsteroidal selective estrogen receptor modulators. Carbon and heteroatom replacement of oxygen in the ethoxypiperidine region of raloxifene.

Compounds were synthesized where oxygen in the ethoxypiperidine region of raloxifene is replaced with carbon, sulfur, or nitrogen linkages. Thia- and aza-substituted compounds were prepared by novel methodology. The compounds were evaluated in vitro as selective estrogen receptor modulators (SERMs). Calculations suggested the compounds exhibit an ER-α binding affinity/conformational energy relationship.
A study of scaling issues in Bayesian belief networks for ship classification

The problems associated with scaling involve active and challenging research topics in the area of artificial intelligence. The purpose is to solve real world problems by means of AI technologies, in cases where the complexity of representation of the real world problem is potentially combinatorial. In this paper, we present a novel approach to cope with the scaling issues in Bayesian belief networks for ship classification. The proposed approach divides the conceptual model of a complex ship classification problem into a set of small modules that work together to solve the classification problem while preserving the functionality of the original model. The possible ways of explaining sensor returns (e.g., the evidence) for some features, such as portholes along the length of a ship, are sometimes combinatorial. Thus, using an exhaustive approach, which entails the enumeration of all possible explanations, is impractical for larger problems. We present a network structure (referred to as Sequential Decomposition, SD) in which each observation is associated with a set of legitimate outcomes which are consistent with the explanation of each observed piece of evidence. The results show that the SD approach allows one to represent feature-observation relations in a manageable way and achieve the same explanatory power as an exhaustive approach.
Reduced-Rank Hidden Markov Models

Hsu et al. (2009) recently proposed an efcient, accurate spectral learning algorithm for Hidden Markov Models (HMMs). In this paper we relax their assumptions and prove a tighter nite-sample error bound for the case of Reduced-Rank HMMs, i.e., HMMs with low-rank transition matrices. Since rank-k RR-HMMs are a larger class of models than k-state HMMs while being equally ecient to work with, this relaxation greatly increases the learning algorithm’s scope. In addition, we generalize the algorithm and bounds to models where multiple observations are needed to disambiguate state, and to models that emit multivariate real-valued observations. Finally we prove consistency for learning Predictive State Representations, an even larger class of models. Experiments on synthetic data and a toy video, as well as on dicult robot vision data, yield accurate models that compare favorably with alternatives in simulation quality and prediction accuracy.
What do Stakeholders Like on Facebook? Examining Public Reactions to Nonprofit Organizations’ Informational, Promotional, and Community-Building Messages

Although public relations scholarship has often discussed the possibilities of dialogue and engagement using social media, research has not truly explored this dynamic. Instead, research on social media platforms has focused on measuring the content and structure of organizational profiles. This study seeks to enhance the field's discussion about social media engagement by determining what organizational content individual stakeholders prefer on Facebook in terms of liking, commenting, and sharing. A content analysis of 1,000 updates from organizations on the Nonprofit Times 100 list indicates that, based on what they comment on and like, individuals prefer dialogic, as well as certain forms of mobilizational, messages; however, they are more likely to share one-way informational messages with their own networks. These findings are interpreted using practical and theoretical implications for the practice of public relations.
Efficiency calculations for thin-film polycrystalline semiconductor Schottky barrier solar cells

Numerical calculations have been made of the effect of grain size on the short-circuit current and the AM1 efficiency of polycrystalline thin film InP, GaAs, and Si Schottky barrier solar cells. Si cells 10 µm thick are at best 8 percent efficient for 100-µm grain sizes; 25-µm-thick Si cells can be about 10 percent efficient for this grain size. GaAs cells 2 µm thick can be 12 percent efficient for grain sizes of 3 µm or greater.
The Legitimacy and Moral Authority of the National News Council (USA)

As an institution designed to resolve disputes between the public and the American news media and to assess the ethical standards of the mainstream media, the National News Council (1973-84) was, at least in the USA, a ground-breaking institution. This study suggests, however, that the Council's work was anything but revolutionary, and that it probably did more to entrench the received tenets of American journalism than to either validate or refashion them. By applying a conventional set of ethical standards in its resolution of disputes, by repeatedly emphasizing the First Amendment rights of the media respondents, by violating its by-laws and allowing the media members of the Council to dominate its membership, and by ruling in the vast majority of cases against the public complainants, the Council's work provides grist for those who might question its legitimacy and its value as a model of authentic press-public collaboration.
Asymmetric Synthesis of Bicyclic β-Lactones via the Intramolecular, Nucleophile-Catalyzed Aldol Lactonization: Improved Efficiency and Expanded Scope

The intramolecular, nucleophile-catalyzed, aldol lactonization (NCAL) process merges catalytic, asymmetric carbocycle synthesis with β-lactone synthesis. The application of modified Mukaiyama reagents to this process led to greatly improved conversion and efficiency (70−82% yield) and shorter reaction times with no diminution of enantioselectivity (91−98% ee). The process was extended to several new aldehyde−acid substrates leading to new bicyclic-β-lactones. This methodology uniquely provides β-lactone-fused cyclopentanes and cyclohexanes readied for further transformations.
Advances in Ejector Thrust Augmentation

The additional thrust required to give an aircraft V/STOL capability may be obtained by diverting the engine exhaust flow through a thrust augmenting ejector. Entrainment by the primary jet induces a flow of air through the ejector duct, thereby increasing the thrust of the jet. Progress in developing a theory of ejector operation, and related efforts in modelling and prediction will be summarized. Studies of turbulent mixing and duct design which have resulted in improvements in ejector performance will also be described. Finally, research problems of current interest and the likely direction of future airplane programs will be discussed.
Democracy and Gender Equality

This article examines the relationship between democracy and gender equality. In particular, it contrasts the impact of long-term stocks of democracy with the contemporary level of democracy and the participation of women in democracy. It contends that democracy should be thought of as a historical phenomenon with consequences that develop over many years and decades and that women’s participation should be included as an important component of democracy. The main argument is that long-term democracy together with women’s suffrage should provide new opportunities for women to promote their interests through mobilization and elections. A cross-national time-series statistical analysis finds that countries with greater stocks of democracy and longer experience of women’s suffrage have a higher proportion of the population that is female, a greater ratio of female life expectancy to male life expectancy, lower fertility rates, and higher rates of female labor force participation.
JiTS: just-in-time scheduling for real-time sensor data dissemination

Most existing real-time protocols for sensor data dissemination use packet scheduling schemes to prioritize packets according to their deadlines. However, packet prioritization by itself cannot completely support real-time data dissemination requirements. In this paper, we propose new just-in-time scheduling (JiTS) algorithms that take advantage of the available slack, if any, to reduce contentions and improve real-time performance by judiciously delaying packets as long as their deadlines are not missed. Specifically, we explore several policies for allocating the slack among multiple hops, including a non-linear policy where packets are non-uniformly delayed at intermediate nodes to account for expected higher contentions as packets get closer to the sink(s). Notably, our JiTS policies require neither lower layer support nor synchronization among sensor nodes making for an easy deployment. In our simulation study, JiTS significantly improves the deadline miss ratio and packet drop ratio compared to existing approaches in various situations. It is also shown that the geographic forwarding often used for real-time data dissemination substantially underperforms the shortest path routing especially when the load is high.
Promoters Recognized by Forkhead Proteins Exist for Individual 21U-RNAs

SUMMARY C. elegans 21U-RNAs are equivalent to the piRNAs discovered in other metazoans and have important roles in gametogenesis and transposon control. The biogenesis and molecular function of 21URNAs and piRNAs are poorly understood. Here, we demonstrate that transcription of each 21U-RNA is regulated separately through a conserved upstream DNA motif. We use genomic analysis to show that this motif is associated with low nucleosome occupancy, a characteristic of many promoters that drive expression of protein-coding genes, and that RNA polymerase II is localized to this nucleosomedepleted region. We establish that the most conserved 8-mer sequence in the upstream region of 21U-RNAs, CTGTTTCA, is absolutely required for their individual expression. Furthermore, we demonstrate that the 8-mer is specifically recognized by Forkhead family (FKH) transcription factors and that 21U-RNA expression is diminished in several FKH mutants. Our results suggest that thousands of small noncoding transcription units are regulated by FKH proteins.
Narrowing the modeling gap: a cluster-ranking approach to coreference resolution

Traditional learning-based coreference resolvers operate by training the mention-pair model for determining whether two mentions are coreferent or not. Though conceptually simple and easy to understand, the mention-pair model is linguistically rather unappealing and lags far behind the heuristic-based coreference models proposed in the prestatistical NLP era in terms of sophistication. Two independent lines of recent research have attempted to improve the mention-pair model, one by acquiring the mention-ranking model to rank preceding mentions for a given anaphor, and the other by training the entity-mention model to determine whether a preceding cluster is coreferent with a given mention. We propose a cluster-ranking approach to coreference resolution, which combines the strengths of the mention-ranking model and the entity-mention model, and is therefore theoretically more appealing than both of these models. In addition, we seek to improve cluster rankers via two extensions: (1) lexicalization and (2) incorporating knowledge of anaphoricity by jointly modeling anaphoricity determination and coreference resolution. Experimental results on the ACE data sets demonstrate the superior performance of cluster rankers to competing approaches as well as the effectiveness of our two extensions.
A Safe Screening Rule for Sparse Logistic Regression

The l1-regularized logistic regression (or sparse logistic regression) is a widely used method for simultaneous classification and feature selection. Although many recent efforts have been devoted to its efficient implementation, its application to high dimensional data still poses significant challenges. In this paper, we present a fast and effective sparse logistic regression screening rule (Slores) to identify the "0" components in the solution vector, which may lead to a substantial reduction in the number of features to be entered to the optimization. An appealing feature of Slores is that the data set needs to be scanned only once to run the screening and its computational cost is negligible compared to that of solving the sparse logistic regression problem. Moreover, Slores is independent of solvers for sparse logistic regression, thus Slores can be integrated with any existing solver to improve the efficiency. We have evaluated Slores using high-dimensional data sets from different applications. Experiments demonstrate that Slores outperforms the existing state-of-the-art screening rules and the efficiency of solving sparse logistic regression can be improved by one magnitude.
Mapp after Forty Years: Its Impact on Race in America

The impact of Mapp was naturally greatest in the MricanAmerican community where Fourth Amendment violations were the most common. Whatever limited effect Mapp would have, it would be felt most where police conduct was the least restrained. It was this community which the Warren Court intended to benefit by the due process revolution, because wherever injustice existed in America, its worst impact was felt in the black community.
Further evidence on the temporal stability of disaggregate travel demand models

Abstract Current evidence on the transferability of disaggregate travel demand models is inconclusive. Adding to this body of research, the present analysis focuses upon the temporal characteristics of work trip behavior in the San Francisco Bay Area. Using before and after data sets associated with the BART Impact Travel Study, multinomial logit models of work trip modal choice are estimated. The results indicate that the general form and the coefficient estimates of a pre BART model are transferable in time. Moreover, when updated to reflect BART's presence, the model's predictive success and its implied elasticity measures are generally accurate, relative to those implied by reestimating the entire model on post BART data. Finally, as economic theory would predict, elasticity measures of the service related variables were found to increase over time.
Modification of vortex interactions in a reattaching separated flow

Recent experimental observations have shown that large-scale organized vortices are produced in reattaching separated flows. Interactions between these vortices are important in the development of these flows downstream. Experimental studies from a downstream-fac ing step flow are presented to demonstrate that substantial changes in a reattaching flow can be produced by controlled forcing techniques. The forcing apparently works by affecting the vortex merging process in a fashion similar to that observed in forced mixinglayer experiments. The separated mean flow spreading rate could be increased most effectively by forcing at a nondimensional frequency (based on step height and freestream velocity) between 0.2 and 0.4. This result was found to be relatively independent of step Reynolds numbers over the range (26,000-76,000) studied. A significant decrease in the reattachment length accompanied the increased growth of the separated shear layer. Considerable changes in the turbulence energy and the Reynolds stress levels were also observed for the forced flows.
The winds of (evolutionary) change: breathing new life into microbiology.

To date, over 1500 prokaryotes have been characterized by small subunit rRNA sequencing and molecular phylogeny has had an equally profound effect on our understanding of relationship among eukaryotic microorganisms. The universal phylogenetic tree readily shows however how artificial the strong distinction between the eukaryote and prokaryotes has become. The split between the Archaea and the Bacteria is now recognized as the primary phylogenetic division and that the Eucarya have branched from the same side of the tree as the Archaea. Both prokaryotic domains would seem to be of thermophilic origin suggesting that life arose in a very warm environment. Among the Archaea, all of the Crenarchaeota cultured to date are thermophiles, and the deepest euryarchaeal branchings are represented exclusively by thermophiles. Among the Bacteria, the deepest known branchings are again represented exclusively by thermophiles, and thermophilia is widely scattered throughout the domain. The Archaea comprise a small number of quite disparate phenotypes that grow in unusual niches. All are obligate or facultative anaerobes. All cultured crenarchaeotes are thermophilic, some even growing optimally above the normal boiling temperature of water. The Archaeoglobales are sulfate reducers growing at high temperatures. The extreme halophiles grow only in highly saline environments. The methanogensmore » are confined to a variety of anaerobic niches, often thermophilic. The Bacteria, on the other hand, are notable as being the source of life`s photosynthetic capacity. Five kingdoms of bacteria contain photosynthetic species; and each of the five manifests a distinct type of (chlorophyll-based) photosynthesis.« less
A Study of the Influence of Bearing Clearance on Lateral Coupled Shaft/Disk Rotordynamics

This study examines the influence of bearing clearance on the dynamic behavior of a rotating, flexible disk/shaft system. Most previous work in nonlinear rotordynamics has tended to concentrate separately on shaft vibration or on bladed disk vibration, neglecting the coupling dynamics between them. The current work examines the important rotordynamic behavior of coupled disk/shaft dynamics. A simplified nonlinear model is developed for lateral vibration of a rotor system with a bearing clearance nonlinearity. The steady-state dynamic behavior of this system is explored using numerical simulation and limit cycle analysis. It is demonstrated that bearing clearance effects can produce superharmonic vibration that may serve to excite high-amplitude disk vibration. Such vibration could lead to significantly increased bearing loads and catastrophic failure of blades and disks. In addition, multivalued responses and a periodic behavior were observed.
Initial Margin Policy and Stochastic Volatility in the Crude Oil Futures Market

This article examines the relationship between the volatility of the crude oil futures market and changes in initial margin requirements. To closely match changes in futures market volatility with the corresponding changes in margin requirements, we infer the volatility of the futures market from the prices of crude oil futures options contracts. Using a mean-reverting diffusion process for volatility, we show that changes in margin policy do not affect subsequent market volatility.
Convergence of Rothe's Method for Fully Nonlinear Parabolic Equations

Convergence of Rothe's method for the fully nonlinear parabolic equation ut+F(D2u, Du, u, x, t)=0 is considered under some continuity assumptions on F. We show that the Rothe solutions are Lipschitz in time, Holder in space, and they solve the equation in the viscosity sense. As an immediate corollary we get Lipschitz behavior in time of the viscosity solutions of our equation.
A Theory of Advice Based on Information Search Incentives

This paper investigates whether recourse to a consultant always enhances decision making. Advice given by a consultant changes the manager’s belief about his own decision-making ability. This change in belief alters the manager’s incentives to make a decision. Taking into account this effect, we characterize the contracts that the firm must offer to the manager when a consultant with a given expertise is hired. Surprisingly, we find that the benefi tc urve of thefirm may decrease as the consultant expertise increases, even if there is no consulting fee. Moreover, we show that the value of advice depends on the “good fit” between the informativeness of the consultant and the manager’s incentives to reach the right decision.
CVM-X: Calibrating Contingent Values with Experimental Auction Markets

We design and implement a method, CVM-X, to calibrate hypothetical survey values using experimental auction markets. We test the procedure using consumer willingness-to-pay for irradiated/nonirradiated meat. Our results show that calibration factors for those who favor the irradiation process (0.67–0.69) are less severe than for those with an initial dislike of the process (0.55–0.59), suggesting that calibration may be commodity specific.
Airfoil computation at high angles of attack, inviscid and viscous phenomena

HE existence of flow separation and recirculation is usually associated with viscous flows. The physical basis is fairly well understood and has been extensively studied. There are a number of physical phenomena that cause flow separation and recirculation. In all cases in which recirculation is present, vorticity must also be present and, thus, there must exist some mechanism that generates vorticity. In a viscous wall-bounded flow, the boundary layer generates a velocity gradient, vorticity, and momentum losses. In the presence of an adverse pressure gradient, separation can occur with the subsequent development of a recirculating reverse flow region and possible reattachment. A shock impinging on a boundary layer can cause flow separation. The governing equations for these types of flows are the NavierStokes equations or some subset of them. Recently, there has been considerable interest in the numerical solution of the inviscid flow equations (the Euler equations). For most of the work reported in the literature, the accuracy of the results is quite good and the solutions obtained are representative of the physical flow of interest. For instance, when viscous effects are negligible, such as for thin boundary layers, the inviscid solutions are a good approximation to the solution of the full Navier-Stokes equations. In this situation, certain quantities, such as the pressure along the body, can be predicted well by the Euler equations. In contrast, numerical solutions to the Euler equations have been reported that do not have a straightforward physical interpretation. In particular, flow separation and recirculation for solutions to the Euler equations have been reported by a number of researchers (e.g., Salas1). The question naturally arises as to the physical interpretation of these flows in the absence of physical viscosity. In trying to attach any physical meaning to these flows, we must first examine the possible mechanisms that could generate vorticity. Actual fluid flow is never truly inviscid, although in some cases the viscous effects are negligible. In computations, however, we can solve numerical approximations to the Euler equations. The solution of the Euler equations is
Unitary equivalence to a complex symmetric matrix: An algorithm

Abstract We present a necessary and sufficient condition for a 3 × 3 matrix to be unitarily equivalent to a symmetric matrix with complex entries, and an algorithm whereby an arbitrary 3 × 3 matrix can be tested. This test generalizes to a necessary and sufficient condition that applies to almost every n × n matrix. The test is constructive in that it explicitly exhibits the unitary equivalence to a complex symmetric matrix.
Extremely correlated quantum liquids

Extreme correlations arise as the limit of strong correlations, when the local interaction constant $U$ goes to infinity. This singular limit transforms canonical fermions to noncanonical Hubbard-type operators with a specific graded Lie algebra replacing the standard anticommutators. We are forced to deal with a fundamentally different and more complex lattice field theory. We study the $t\text{\ensuremath{-}}J$ model, embodying such extreme correlations. We formulate the picture of an extremely correlated electron liquid, generalizing the standard Fermi liquid. This quantum liquid breaks no symmetries, and has specific signatures in various physical properties, such as the Fermi-surface volume and the narrowing of electronic bands by spin- and density-correlation functions. We use Schwinger's source field idea to generate equations for the Green's function for the Hubbard operators. A local (matrix) scale transformation in the time domain to a quasiparticle Green's function is found to be optimal. This transformation allows us to generate vertex functions that are guaranteed to reduce to the bare values for high frequencies, i.e., are ``asymptotically free.'' The quasiparticles are fractionally charged objects, and we find an exact Schwinger-Dyson equation for their Green's function, i.e., the self-energy is given explicitly in terms of the singlet and triplet particle-hole vertex functions. We find a hierarchy of equations for the vertex functions, and further we obtain Ward identities so that systematic approximations are feasible. An expansion in terms of the density of holes measured from the Mott Hubbard insulating state follows from the nature of the theory. A systematic presentation of the formalism is followed by some preliminary explicit calculations. We find a $d$-wave superconducting instability at low $T$ that formally resembles that found in the resonating valence-bond theory, but with a much reduced ${T}_{c}$.
The entropy formula for linear heat equation

We derive the entropy formula for the linear heat equation on general Riemannian manifolds and prove that it is monotone non-increasing on manifolds with nonnegative Ricci curvature. As applications, we study the relation between the value of entropy and the volume of balls of various scales. The results are simpler version, without Ricci flow, of Perelman ’s recent results on volume non-collapsing for Ricci flow on compact manifolds. We also prove that if the entropy for the heat kernel achieves its maximum value zero at some positive time, on any complete Riamannian manifold with nonnegative Ricci curvature, if and only if the manifold is isometric to the Euclidean space.
Uncertainties in Dielectronic Recombination Rate Coefficients: Effects on Solar and Stellar Upper Atmosphere Abundance Determinations

We have investigated how the relative elemental abundances inferred from the solar upper atmosphere are aUected by uncertainties in the dielectronic recombination (DR) rate coefficients used to analyze the spectra. We —nd that the inferred relative abundances can be up to a factor of B5 smaller or B1.6 larger than those inferred using the currently recommended DR rate coefficients. We have also found a plausible set of variations to the DR rate coefficients that improve the inferred (and expected) isothermal nature of solar coronal observations at heights of oU the solar limb. Our results can be used to Z50A help prioritize the enormous amount of DR data needed for modeling solar and stellar upper atmospheres. Based on the work here, our list of needed rate coefficients for DR onto speci—c isoelectronic sequences reads, in decreasing order of importance, as follows: O-like, C-like, Be-like, N-like, B-like, F-like, Li-like, He-like, and Ne-like. It is our hope that this work will help to motivate and prioritize future experimental and theoretical studies of DR.
The Rise and Fall of World Trade, 1870–1939

Measured by the ratio of trade to output, the period 1870–1913 marked the birth of the first era of trade globalization and the period 1914–1939 its death. What caused the boom and bust? We use an augmented gravity model to examine the gold standard, tariffs, and transport costs as determinants of trade. Until 1913 the rise of the gold standard and the fall in transport costs were the main trade-creating forces. As of 1929 the reversal was driven by higher transport costs. In the 1930s the final collapse of the gold standard drove trade volumes even lower.
The Growth of Temporary Services Work

The temporary help services industry, which provides client firms with workers on an as-needed basis, has expanded at a phenomenal rate over the last 20 years. Since 1972, the industry's employment has grown at an annual rate of over 11 percent, and its share of total U.S. employment has risen from under 0.3 percent in 1972 to more than 1.8 percent in 1995. The growth of the temporary services industry has fueled controversy. Some analysts fear that temporary workers may become locked into a labor market underclass, with low wages, no benefits, negligible job security, little training and no possibility for advancement. Others challenge such claims and point to efficiencies created by temporary employment relationships. This article will examine the growth of the temporary services industry and discuss the quality of temporary services jobs, how such jobs fit into workers' careers and some of the forces that may be driving the growth of temporary services work.
Effects of Increased Reporting Frequency on Nonprofessional Investors' Earnings Predictions

ABSTRACT: More frequent financial reporting has been a topic of debate for many years. However, little evidence exists about the possible effects of more frequent reporting on investors' decision making. Using a between-subjects experiment, this study analyzes how altering the timing or frequency of earnings reports—weekly, as opposed to quarterly, reports—affects the accuracy and dispersion of earnings predictions by nonprofessional investors. This is important, since regulators have identified nonprofessionals as a significant audience for financial reports. I hypothesize and find that more frequent reporting results in less accurate predictions and greater variance, particularly when a strong seasonal pattern exists. Finally, investors in the more-frequent reporting condition self-reported that they were more influenced by older historical data—suggesting primacy effects—while those in the less-frequent reporting condition self-reported that they were more influenced by the newer historical data, sugge...
Particle-Level Modeling of the Charge-Discharge Behavior of Nanoparticulate Phase-Separating Li-Ion Battery Electrodes

In nanoparticulate phase-separating electrodes, phase separation inside the particles can be hindered during their charge/discharge cycles even when a thermodynamic driving force for phase separation exists. In such cases, particles may (de)lithiate discretely in a process referred to as mosaic instability. This instability could be the key to elucidating the complex charge/discharge dynamics in nanoparticulate phase-separating electrodes. In this paper, the dynamics of the mosaic instability is studied using Smoothed Boundary Method simulations at the particle level, where the concentration and electrostatic potential fields are spatially resolved around individual particles. Two sets of configurations consisting of spherical particles with an identical radius are employed to study the instability in detail. The effect of an activity-dependent exchange current density on the mosaic instability, which leads to asymmetric charge/discharge, is also studied. While we show that our model reproduces the results of a porous-electrode model for the simple setup studied here, it is a powerful framework with the capability to predict the detailed dynamics in three-dimensional complex electrodes and provides further insights into the complex dynamics that result from the coupling of electrochemistry, thermodynamics, and transport kinetics.
Proposal for interferometric detection of the topological character of modulated superfluidity in ultracold Fermi gases

A system with unequal populations of up and down fermions may exhibit a Larkin–Ovchinnikov (LO) phase characterized by periodic domain walls across which the order parameter changes sign and the excess polarization is localized. Despite fifty years of theoretical and experimental work, there has so far been no unambiguous observation of an LO phase. Here we propose an experiment in which two fermion clouds, prepared with unequal population imbalances, are allowed to expand and interfere. We show that a pattern of staggered fringes in the interference is unequivocal evidence of LO physics.
Determinants of Disciplinary Discontent

Selon les disciplines universitaires, il existe de substantielles variations dans la perception de la facon dont un champ peut stagner. Cet article tente d'expliquer ces differences de pessimisme par une theorie mettant en cause une variation dans l'anomie et le consensus au niveau du champ lui-meme. Le fait qu'il s'agisse d'un champ se situant dans une discipline fondamentale ou appliquee a egalement son importance. Enfin, il est montre que les determinants se situant au niveau du champ ont une influence bien plus importante que les facteurs d'ordre individuels
A General, Practical Palladium-Catalyzed Cyanation of (Hetero)Aryl Chlorides and Bromides†

Playing it safe: The nontoxic cyanide source K4 [Fe(CN)6]·3H2O can be used for the cyanation of (hetero)aryl halides. The application of palladacycle catalysts prevents poisoning during catalyst formation, thereby allowing for low catalyst loadings, fast reaction times, and wide heterocyclic substrate scope.
Concise enantio- and diastereoselective synthesis of α-hydroxy-α-methyl-β-amino acids

Abstract Reported here is an efficient procedure for enantio- and diastereoselective synthesis of pure β-amino acids that display a tert -hydroxyl functionality in the α-position. Key steps include a catalytic asymmetric aldol reaction and a modified Curtius rearrangement to form oxazolidinone intermediates, which are chemoselectively opened to furnish N -protected α-hydroxy-α-methyl-β-amino acids. A modified work-up procedure of the aldol reaction allows for recovery of up to 90% of bisoxazolinyl ligands from the catalysts.
Convolution of chemoattractant secretion rate, source density, and receptor desensitization direct diverse migration patterns in leukocytes

Chemoattractants regulate diverse immunological, developmental, and pathological processes, but how cell migration patterns are shaped by attractant production in tissues remains incompletely understood. Using computational modeling and chemokine-releasing microspheres (CRMs), cell-sized attractant-releasing beads, we analyzed leukocyte migration in physiologic gradients of CCL21or CCL19 produced by beads embedded in 3D collagen gels. Individual T-cells that migrated into contact with CRMs exhibited characteristic highly directional migration to attractant sources independent of their starting position in the gradient (and thus independent of initial gradient strength experienced) but the fraction of responding cells was highly sensitive to position in the gradient. These responses were consistent with modeling calculations assuming a threshold absolute difference in receptor occupancy across individual cells of ∼10 receptors required to stimulate chemotaxis. In sustained gradients eliciting low receptor desensitization, attracted T-cells or dendritic cells swarmed around isolated CRMs for hours. With increasing CRM density, overlapping gradients and high attractant concentrations caused a transition from local swarming to transient “hopping” of cells bead to bead. Thus, diverse migration responses observed in vivo may be determined by chemoattractant source density and secretion rate, which govern receptor occupancy patterns in nearby cells.
Ensuring cost effectiveness in support of training

This paper supports a theory that to maintain a competitive advantage in today's global business environment organisations must be able to effectively increase the speed of their employees' learning. I have attempted to address the issue that to be successful in the next century, businesses will have to alter the method of evaluating employees' knowledge, skill level and technological capability. In today's business environment organisations must adapt quickly to changing opportunities that are only possible if their organisation's competencies, skills, knowledge, and technological capability are effective. To do so, it is believed that management must first inventory and define the current asset value of their employees' 'knowledge and skill level'. Then they will have to implement an assessment method to determine the return on investment (ROI) from further employee training. This process requires management to have new tools to assist them in identifying and managing the organization's investment in its knowledge base.
Data fusion for improved respiration rate estimation

We present an application of a modified Kalman-Filter (KF) framework for data fusion to the estimation of respiratory rate from multiple physiological sources which is robust to background noise. A novel index of the underlying signal quality of respiratory signals is presented and then used to modify the noise covariance matrix of the KF which discounts the effect of noisy data. The signal quality index, together with the KF innovation sequence, is also used to weight multiple independent estimates of the respiratory rate from independent KFs. The approach is evaluated both on a realistic artificial ECG model (with real additive noise) and on real data taken from 30 subjects with overnight polysomnograms, containing ECG, respiration, and peripheral tonometry waveforms from which respiration rates were estimated. Results indicate that our automated voting system can out-perform any individual respiration rate estimation technique at all levels of noise and respiration rates exhibited in our data. We also demonstrate that even the addition of a noisier extra signal leads to an improved estimate using our framework. Moreover, our simulations demonstrate that different ECG respiration extraction techniques have different error profiles with respect to the respiration rate, and therefore a respiration rate-related modification of any fusion algorithm may be appropriate.
A mild synthesis of unsymmetrical bisalkoxysilanes through catalyzed alcoholysis of hydridosilanes containing C-C multiple bonds and aryl halides.

The synthesis of unsymmetrical bisalkoxysilanes containing unsaturated C−C bonds and alkyl and aryl bromides has been developed. This method is a modification of our previously reported two-step procedure that utilizes readily available catalysts (rhodium acetate dimer and manganese pentacarbonyl bromide) under mild neutral aprotic conditions. Good to moderate yields of the products were obtained in a short period. In this two-step synthesis, unsymmetrical bisalkoxysilanes with groups that can be further functionalized can be prepared effectively without the need to isolate the intermediates.
A Novel Reversible Data Hiding Method Using Least-Square Based Predictor

As the performance of predictor is crucial to prediction-error based reversible data hiding, this study investigates a predictor using the least-square method to improve the prediction accuracy. The proposed predictor uses a checkerboard division to partition an image into two disjoint sets. One set is predicted by the other set using the prediction weights obtained by least-square method. The histogram-shifting method is then applied to the prediction errors to embed data. Because of better consideration for pixels' correlation, the proposed method gains more prediction improvement, and thus raises embedding capacity with less distortion. Experimental results show that the proposed method outperforms the existing prediction-error based reversible data hiding methods in terms of hiding capacity and visual quality.
Farbe von Ölen

Die Farbe ist ein unerlaslicher Indikator fur die Qualitat vieler Produkte, im besonderen von Speisefetten und -olen. Die Bestimmung der Farbe von Olen, Fetten, Fettsauren etc. erfolgt heute instrumentell, z. B. mit dem “Tintometer” genannten Subtraktiv-Kolorimeter, dessen entscheidende Komponenten farbstabile rote, blaue und gelbe Normglaser sind. Die Lovibond Normfarbfilterwerte gelten fast uberall auf der Welt fur die genaue Zuordnung der Farbe fur Speiseole und -fette. Alternativ dazu gibt es andere Methoden und Verfahren zur Farbbestimmung. In den letzten Jahren brachte die Entwicklung von microprocessorgesteuerten Kolorimetern die Moglichkeit, automatisch Lovibond Farbzahlwerte und entsprechende korrelierende internationale Normzahlen nach dem CIE-System zu messen. Colour of Oils For many products, particularly edible oils and fats, color is an essential indicator for quality. Today instruments are used to measure the color in oils, fats, fatty acids or other substances. The Tintometer is a subtractive colorimeter, which used red, blue and yellow glass standards. Almost everywhere in the world, the Lovibond color scale is nowadays considered as an accepted means of assigning precise color values to edible oils and fats. But there are also, of course, alternative ways and techniques of determining or measuring color. In recent years, the development of microprocessor-controlled colorimeters has made it possible to automatically measure and compare Lovibond color scale and correlating international standard values pursuant to the CIE System.
Oh, the Economics You'll Find in Dr. Seuss!.

The authors list economic concepts and issues covered in the children's books published by Theodor Geisel and discuss his treatment of concepts that appear most often and that are treated in greater depth. Some concepts are sophisticated and taught as formal concepts only in college-level economics courses. Others are basic and used in economics units for elementary classrooms. Literature searches reveal only limited coverage of the topics and works presented. The present authors show that a much wider range of material on economic concepts is available in the Seuss canon and argue that these passages offer good teaching tools for both undergraduate and precollege classes. Using books that many students read as children or that their parents read to them makes economics more memorable and accessible.
Composable and efficient mechanisms

We initiate the study of efficient mechanism design with guaranteed good properties even when players participate in multiple mechanisms simultaneously or sequentially. We define the class of smooth mechanisms, related to smooth games defined by Roughgarden, that can be thought of as mechanisms that generate approximately market clearing prices. We show that smooth mechanisms result in high quality outcome both in equilibrium and in learning outcomes in the full information setting, as well as in Bayesian equilibrium with uncertainty about participants. Our main result is to show that smooth mechanisms compose well: smoothness locally at each mechanism implies global efficiency.For mechanisms where good performance requires that bidders do not bid above their value, we identify the notion of a weakly smooth mechanism. Weakly smooth mechanisms, such as the Vickrey auction, are approximately efficient under the no-overbidding assumption, and the weak smoothness property is also maintained by composition.In most of the paper we assume participants have quasi-linear valuations. We also extend some of our results to settings where participants have budget constraints.
Assessing Congressional Responses to Growing Presidential Powers: The Case of Recess Appointments

In 2007, the U.S. Senate moved into permanent session to stop President George W. Bush from making recess appointments. This article examines this episode. We argue that Congress is only able to effectively check presidential unilateral powers when the president’s use of such powers creates high political costs for a sufficient number of members such that congressional collective action is possible. Using case studies and multivariate analysis, we show that Bush used recess appointments far more than his predecessors, creating high political costs for Senate Democrats and driving them to find an innovative way to check the power of the president.
How efficiently can room at the bottom be traded away for speed at the top

Given exponential 2n space, we know that an Adleman-Lipton computation can decide many hard problems – such as boolean formula and boolean circuit evaluation – in a number of steps that is linear in the problem size n. We wish to better understand the process of designing and comparing bio-molecular algorithms that trade away weakly exponential space to achieve as low a running time as possible, and to analyze the efficiency of their space and time utilization relative to those of their best extant classical/bio-molecular counterparts. We propose a randomized framework which augments that of the sticker model of Roweis et al. to provide an abstract setting for analyzing the space-time efficiency of both deterministic and randomized bio-molecular algorithms. We explore its power by developing and analyzing such algorithms for the Covering Code Creation (CCC) and k-SAT problems. In the process, we uncover new classical algorithms for CCC and k-SAT that, while exploiting the same space-time trade-off as the best previously known classical algorithms, are exponentially more efficient than them in terms of space-time product utilization. This work indicates that the proposed abstract bio-molecular setting for randomized algorithm design provides a logical tool of independent interest.