cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Interactions between the Coxiella burnetii parasitophorous vacuole and the endoplasmic reticulum involve the host protein ORP1L.

Summary Coxiella burnetii is a gram-negative intracellular bacterium that forms a large, lysosome-like parasitophorous vacuole (PV) essential for bacterial replication. Host membrane lipids are critical for the formation and maintenance of this intracellular niche, yet the mechanisms by which Coxiella manipulates host cell lipid metabolism, trafficking and signalling are unknown. Oxysterol-binding protein-related protein 1 long (ORP1L) is a mammalian lipid-binding protein that plays a dual role in cholesterol-dependent endocytic trafficking as well as interactions between endosomes and the endoplasmic reticulum (ER). We found that ORP1L localized to the Coxiella PV within 12 h of infection through a process requiring the Coxiella Dot/Icm Type 4B secretion system, which secretes effector proteins into the host cell cytoplasm where they manipulate trafficking and signalling pathways. The ORP1L N-terminal ankyrin repeats were necessary and sufficient for PV localization, indicating that ORP1L binds a PV membrane protein. Strikingly, ORP1L simultaneously co-localized with the PV and ER, and electron microscopy revealed membrane contact sites between the PV and ER membranes. In ORP1L-depleted cells, PVs were significantly smaller than PVs from control cells. These data suggest that ORP1L is specifically recruited by the bacteria to the Coxiella PV, where it influences PV membrane dynamics and interactions with the ER.
“Kind and Grateful”: A Context-Sensitive Smartphone App Utilizing Inspirational Content to Promote Gratitude

Previous research has shown that gratitude positively influences psychological wellbeing and physical health. Grateful people are reported to feel more optimistic and happy, to better mitigate aversive experiences, and to have stronger interpersonal bonds. Gratitude interventions have been shown to result in improved sleep, more frequent exercise and stronger cardiovascular and immune systems. These findings call for the development of technologies that would inspire gratitude. This paper presents a novel system designed toward this end. We leverage pervasive technologies to naturally embed inspiration to express gratitude in everyday life. Novel to this work, mobile sensor data is utilized to infer optimal moments for stimulating contextually relevant thankfulness and appreciation. Sporadic mood measurements are inventively obtained through the smartphone lock screen, investigating their interplay with grateful expressions. Both momentary thankful emotion and dispositional gratitude are measured. To evaluate our system, we ran two rounds of randomized control trials (RCT), including a pilot study (N = 15, 2 weeks) and a main study (N = 27, 5 weeks). Studies’ participants were provided with a newly developed smartphone app through which they were asked to express gratitude; the app displayed inspirational content to only the intervention group, while measuring contextual cues for all users. In both rounds of the RCT, the intervention was associated with improved thankful behavior. Significant increase was observed in multiple facets of practicing gratitude in the intervention groups. The average frequency of practicing thankfulness increased by more than 120 %, comparing the baseline weeks with the intervention weeks of the main study. In contrast, the control group of the same study exhibited a decrease of 90 % in the frequency of thankful expressions. In the course of the study’s 5 weeks, increases in dispositional gratitude and in psychological wellbeing were also apparent. Analyzing the relation between mood and gratitude expressions, our data suggest that practicing gratitude increases the probability of going up in terms of emotional valence and down in terms of emotional arousal. The influences of inspirational content and contextual cues on promoting thankful behavior were also analyzed: We present data suggesting that the more successful times for eliciting expressions of gratitude tend to be shortly after a social experience, shortly after location change, and shortly after physical activity. The results support our intervention as an impactful method to promote grateful affect and behavior. Moreover, they provide insights into design and evaluation of general behavioral intervention technologies.
Structural Polymorphism of Alzheimer's β-Amyloid Fibrils as Controlled by an E22 Switch: A Solid-State NMR Study.

The amyloid-β (Aβ) peptide of Alzheimer’s disease (AD) forms polymorphic fibrils on the micrometer and molecular scales. Various fibril growth conditions have been identified to cause polymorphism, but the intrinsic amino acid sequence basis for this polymorphism has been unclear. Several single-site mutations in the center of the Aβ sequence cause different disease phenotypes and fibrillization properties. The E22G (Arctic) mutant is found in familial AD and forms protofibrils more rapidly than wild-type Aβ. Here, we use solid-state NMR spectroscopy to investigate the structure, dynamics, hydration and morphology of Arctic E22G Aβ40 fibrils. 13C, 15N-labeled synthetic E22G Aβ40 peptides are studied and compared with wild-type and Osaka E22Δ Aβ40 fibrils. Under the same fibrillization conditions, Arctic Aβ40 exhibits a high degree of polymorphism, showing at least four sets of NMR chemical shifts for various residues, while the Osaka and wild-type Aβ40 fibrils show a single or a predominant set of chemica...
Unique coverage in Boolean models

Abstract Consider a wireless cellular network consisting of small, densely scattered base stations. A user u is uniquely covered by a base station b if u is the only user within distance r of b . This makes it possible to assign the user u to the base station b without interference from any other user u ′ . We investigate the maximum possible proportion of users who are uniquely covered. We solve this problem completely in one dimension and provide bounds, approximations and simulation results for the two-dimensional case.
Measuring Music Education: A Philosophical Investigation of the Model Cornerstone Assessments

Despite substantial attention to measurement and assessment in contemporary education and music education policy and practice, the process of measurement has gone largely undiscussed in music educa...
Does disease cause vaccination? Disease outbreaks and vaccination response.

Parental fear of vaccines has limited vaccination rates in the United States. I test whether disease outbreaks increase vaccination using a new dataset of county-level disease and vaccination data. I find that pertussis (whooping cough) outbreaks in a county decrease the share of unvaccinated children entering kindergarten. These responses do not reflect changes in the future disease risk. I argue that these facts are best fit by a model in which individuals are both myopic and irrational. This suggests that better promotion of outbreaks could enhance the response.
Few Paths, Fewer Words: Model Selection With Automatic Structure Functions

ABSTRACTWe consider the problem of finding an optimal statistical model for a given binary string. Following Kolmogorov, we use structure functions. In order to get concrete results, we replace Tur...
Business-government cooperation in VET: a Russian experiment with dual education

Upgrading skill formation has become an increasingly urgent task for societies facing the challenges of rapid technological change and globalization. However, reform of systems of vocational educat...
A Portion of Profits to Charity: Corporate Social Responsibility and Firm Profitability

I develop a model in which a firm can choose to donate a portion of its profits to the provision of a public good. Consumers value this public good and are willing to pay a price premium to a firm which makes such a donation. When this price premium is sufficiently large, the firm can raise its net profits by pledging a portion of those profits to provision of the public good. This is more likely when the consumer's marginal valuation of contributions to the public good is high and when the firm (in the absence of donations) has a high ratio of fixed costs to operating profits. I also identify circumstances under which corporate social responsibility makes consumers worse off.
Comment on "Communication: Simple and accurate uniform electron gas correlation energy for the full range of densities" [J. Chem. Phys. 145, 021101 (2016)]

A simple expression for the uniform electron gas (UEG) correlation energy, recently presented in Ref. [J. Chem. Phys. 145, 021101 (2016)], deviates from the reference quantum Monte-Carlo (QMC) data at large r_s. We propose to define one of the parameters from a requirement to match the large-rs QMC data. Functional with the new parameter provides much better agreement with the QMC data at large r_s without deterioration of the functional quality at small and intermediate r_s.
THE MINI-ANTERIOR APPROACH: OPTIMISES THA OUTCOME – OPPOSES

Total hip replacement can be performed through multiple surgical approaches including anterior, anterolateral, lateral, transtrochanteric, posterolateral, posterior and the two incision technique. The overwhelming majority of hip replacement surgery today is performed through a posterolateral approach and this approach certainly has many advantages. The posterolateral approach can be extended without difficulty, it is expeditious, has reduced blood loss, there is little muscle damage and recovery is rapid. The major disadvantage of the approach that has been cited is its increased dislocation rate which has become less of a problem with the advent of larger femoral heads and dual mobility acetabular components. The less invasive posterolateral approach is performed through an incision of 8–10 centimeters and is suitable for patients with BMI index of less than 35. Deep dissection is less radical and the gluteus maximus tendon is not released and only the upper 1/4 of the quadratus femoris insertion is released. Full visualisation of the acetabulum must be accomplished with this approach and soft tissue releases of the labrum and anterior capsule must be performed to accomplish this. Similarly exposure of the entire proximal osteotomised femoral neck must be effected so that reaming and broaching can be performed safely. Special retractors have been developed to facilitate these techniques. Ongoing review of this procedure in almost 1500 patients operated on by me has yielded excellent radiographic and functional results. Complications have included a dislocation rate of 1.2%, femoral fracture 0.3% and sciatic neuropraxia of 0.3% all but one which resolved. Rapid recovery from total hip replacement is multifactorial with current accelerated rehabilitation programs and improved pain management playing a role as well as surgical approach. The need for external support during ambulation with the mini-posterior approach rarely is greater than 3–4 weeks in the vast majority of patients. Hip precautions are used for a 4 week period. Hospital stay is 2–3 days and could be accelerated further in young, active patients. There are many excellent approaches to the hip each of which has its advantages and disadvantages. The anterior approach is an excellent approach but requires advanced training, experience, a specialised table, longer surgical time, more difficultly with exposure with no evidence of advantage in outcome.
On limiting distribution of quasi-posteriors under partial identification

Abstract The limiting distribution (in total variation) is established for the quasi posteriors based on moment conditions, which only partially identify the parameters of interest. Some examples are discussed.
Measuring the Effect of Social Background on Judicial Decision-Making in Tax Cases

Judicial decision-making is an important part of the law-making process. The positive research of judicial decision-making is expanding, and its normative significance is undeniable. Even so, judicial decision-making in tax cases has not yet received much empirical attention. This study contributes to the existing literature, empirically evaluating if, and to what extent, non-legal factors affect the outcomes of tax cases. It examines the potential effects of judges’ social backgrounds and adds to the rather small but growing empirical literature on tax litigation. I coded the dependent variable—the judge’s level of acceptance of the taxpayer’s claim, meaning whether the judge sides with the taxpayer and overrules the IRS’s decisions—as an ordinal variable rather than the more common binary coding of the prevailing party. Binary coding can often be arbitrary, resulting in loss of information and misestimation. By allowing for an intermediate category of the prevailing party, in addition to the traditional binary options, the variable transforms to an ordinal measure of the judge’s acceptance level of the taxpayer’s claim. This study finds that in the Israeli setting, judges’ gender, seniority, age at the time of appointment, and age at the time of the decision affect judges’ decisions and subsequently the law.
Unfolding Genus-2 Orthogonal Polyhedra with Linear Refinement

We show that every orthogonal polyhedron of genus $$g \le 2$$ can be unfolded without overlap while using only a linear number of orthogonal cuts (parallel to the polyhedron edges). This is the first result on unfolding general orthogonal polyhedra beyond genus-0. Our unfolding algorithm relies on the existence of at most 2 special leaves in what we call the “unfolding tree” (which ties back to the genus), so unfolding polyhedra of genus 3 and beyond requires new techniques.
Estimation of radiation dosimetry for 68Ga-HBED-CC (PSMA-11) in patients with suspected recurrence of prostate cancer

Abstract Introduction This study was performed to estimate the human radiation dosimetry for [ 68 Ga]Ga-HBED-CC (PSMA-11) ( 68 Ga PSMA-11). Methods Under an RDRC-approved research protocol, we evaluated the biodistribution and pharmacokinetics of 68 Ga PSMA-11 with serial PET imaging following intravenous administration to nine prostate cancer patients in whom clinical [ 11 C]acetate PET/CT exams had been independently performed under Expanded Access IND 118,204. List-mode imaging was performed over the initial 0–10min post-injection with the pelvis in the field-of-view. Whole-body images were acquired, pelvis-to-head, at 15, 60, and 90-min post-injection. Additional images of the pelvis were acquired at 40-min and 115-min, and voided urine collected from each subject at 48-min and 120-min post-injection. Radiation dosimetry estimates were calculated from these data using the OLINDA software package. Results Renal uptake was high and relatively invariant, ranging from 11% to 14% of the injected dose between 15 and 90-min post-injection. Radioactivity collected in the voided urine accounted for 14% of the injected dose over a period of 120-min. Lymph nodes and skeletal metastases suspicious for prostate cancer recurrence were detected in a greater number of patients using 68 Ga PSMA-11 than using 11 C-acetate. Conclusion Kidneys are the critical organ following 68 Ga PSMA-11 administration, receiving an estimated dose of 0.413mGy/MBq. Advances in knowledge and implications for patient care This study confirms that the kidneys will be the critical organ following intravenous administration of 68 Ga PSMA-11, and provided data consistent with the expectation that 68 Ga PSMA-11 will be superior to [ 11 C]acetate for defining sites of recurrence in prostate cancer patients presenting with biochemical relapse.
COWVR instrument antenna, performance verification and test results

This paper describes the test campaign and the results used to verify the performance of the Compact Ocean Wind Vector Radiometer (COWVR) instrument antenna. Developed as a proof-of-concept technology demonstration mission, it's planned for launch in 2016. Using small mass and low power, when compared to other instruments with similar capabilities, COWVR promises to obtain the same wind vector retrieval accuracy. COWVR was designed and developed at Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in collaboration with the US Air Force Space Missile Command.
Energy Intensity: Prices, Policy, or Composition in US States

This paper uses the historical experience of US states to consider why energy intensity has declined in some places more than in others, and whether that difference can help guide other states and countries in pursuing less energy-intensive (and therefore less pollution-intensive) economic growth. The variation in energy intensity across US states has been similar to the changes across countries, and some states – notably California – have been held up as models for the rest of the world by international organizations, such as the World Bank. I show that aggregate US energy intensity fell by 40 percent between 1982 and 2007, and that the decline is not explained by the decreasing industrial share of the US economy or the changing composition of the industrial sector. Across US states, prices and policies are correlated with the decreasing share and composition of manufacturing but not with the technology, or “technique,” of production, which appears to be the most important source of US energy intensity gains. Importantly, energy intensity has been declining the most in states where economic growth has been the strongest.
Medical Confidentiality and Patient Privacy: The Jewish Perspective

This article presents the approach of Jewish law to the major issue of medical confidentiality and patient privacy. For an extensive discussion of Jewish medical ethics and an in-depth presentation of the Jewish view of 39 major issues in medical ethics, the reader is referred elsewhere [15]. Briefly, the Jewish view toward medical ethical subjects is predicated on the general principle of the supreme value of human life. In Judaism, all biblical and rabbinic laws are temporarily waived in order to save a human life. Physicians are obligated to heal patients from their illness, to induce remission and cure of disease whenever possible. Similarly, patients are obligated to lead healthy lifestyles, to consult physicians when they are sick and to be compliant with the physician's therapeutic recommendations. The Jewish view on medical confidentiality and patient privacy as presented in this essay flows from these general principles of Jewish medical ethics.
Early parenting and the reduction of educational inequality in childhood and adolescence

ABSTRACTSocioeconomic status (SES) differences in parenting are often implicated in widening the SES-achievement gap. Using nationally representative data (N = 12,887), the author tested for variation across SES in the types and intensity of parenting behaviors utilized and then examined SES differences in the relationship between parenting and student achievement growth from kindergarten to Grade 8. Exploratory factor analysis identifies three dimensions of early parenting: Educational engagement, stimulating parent–child interaction, and discursive discipline. Regression results indicate that all three are used most heavily by high-SES families. However, only educational engagement consistently predicts achievement growth. Surprisingly, it is positively associated with achievement for lower-, but not higher-SES students in Grades 1–8. Further, educational engagement is beneficial for low-SES children because it is particularly beneficial for low-achieving students, consistent with a compensatory hypothesis.
Storage Coding for Wear Leveling in Flash Memories

Flash memory is a nonvolatile computer memory comprised of blocks of cells, wherein each cell is implemented as either NAND or NOR floating gate. NAND flash is currently the most widely used type of flash memory. In a NAND flash memory, every block of cells consists of numerous pages; rewriting even a single page requires the whole block to be erased and reprogrammed. Block erasures determine both the longevity and the efficiency of a flash memory. Therefore, when data in a NAND flash memory are reorganized, minimizing the total number of block erasures required to achieve the desired data movement is an important goal. This leads to the flash data movement problem studied in this paper. We show that coding can significantly reduce the number of block erasures required for data movement, and present several optimal or nearly optimal data-movement algorithms based upon ideas from coding theory and combinatorics. In particular, we show that the sorting-based (noncoding) schemes require O(n log n) erasures to move data among n blocks, whereas coding-based schemes require only O(n) erasures. Furthermore, coding-based schemes use only one auxiliary block, which is the best possible and achieve a good balance between the number of erasures in each of the n+1 blocks.
Precision Corrections to Fine Tuning in SUSY

Requiring that the contributions of supersymmetric particles to the Higgs mass are not highly tuned places upper limits on the masses of superpartners — in particular the higgsino, stop, and gluino. We revisit the details of the tuning calculation and introduce a number of improvements, including RGE resummation, two-loop effects, a proper treatment of UV vs. IR masses, and threshold corrections. This improved calculation more accurately connects the tuning measure with the physical masses of the superpartners at LHC-accessible energies. After these refinements, the tuning bound on the stop is now also sensitive to the masses of the 1st and 2nd generation squarks, which limits how far these can be decoupled in Effective SUSY scenarios. We find that, for a fixed level of tuning, our bounds can allow for heavier gluinos and stops than previously considered. Despite this, the natural region of supersymmetry is under pressure from the LHC constraints, with high messenger scales particularly disfavored.
Boko Haram, Refugee Mimesis, and the Archive of Contemporary Gender-Based Violence

Lawrance explores asylum-seeking as an emergent archival form to highlight how the strategies shaping asylum claiming conceal a potentially rich archive of gender-based violence. Asylum seekers today face ever greater obstacles entering western migration fortresses. Protection from the 1951 Refugee Convention seems, at minimal, constricted. Refugees engage new frameworks of persecution to access protection, but they face heavy scrutiny for credibility. The Nigerian claims examined here illustrate how gender-based violence asylum claimants mimetically emphasize Boko Haram as a vehicle for resistance to endemic bureaucratic suspicion, doubt, and disbelief. By reshaping personal testimonies of gender-based violence to foreground persecution by Boko Haram, a discrete group of Nigerian asylum seekers actuate a mimetic strategy engaging powerful — and problematic — tropes about Africa and Africans. Creative strategies anchor complex asylum narratives and render them exotically familiar to adjudicators.
Zero-Collateral Lotteries in Bitcoin and Ethereum

We present cryptocurrency-based lottery protocols that do not require any collateral from the players. Previous protocols for this task required a security deposit that is O(N2) times larger than the bet amount, where N is the number of players. Our protocols are based on a tournament bracket construction, and require only O(logN) rounds. Our lottery protocols thus represent a significant improvement, both because they allow players with little money to participate, and because of the time value of money. The Ethereum-based implementation of our lottery is highly efficient. The Bitcoin implementation requires an O(2N) off-chain setup phase, which demonstrates that the expressive power of the scripting language can have important implications. We also describe a minimal modification to the Bitcoin protocol that would eliminate the exponential blowup.
Operator entanglement entropy of the time evolution operator in chaotic systems

Entanglement entropy is a widely applicable indicator of the onset of quantum chaos. In particular, the entanglement entropy of the wave function after a quench from an initial state with low entanglement can be used to study the thermalization of the system. Here, the authors propose an initial-state independent quantity called the ``operator entanglement entropy'' (opEE) to extract the properties of the unitary evolution operator. They study the growth of the opEE in Floquet, chaotic, and many-body localized systems. They respectively have a linear, power-law, and logarithmic growth before reaching extensive saturation values. The most chaotic Floquet spin model has the maximal saturation value among the three classes and is identical to the value of a random unitary operator (the Page value). The authors interpret the opEE as the state EE of a quenched state living in a doubled Hilbert space, thus establishing its consistency with the existing state EE results. They conclude that the EE of the evolution operator should characterize the propagation of information in these systems.
The solution of a partially observed stochastic optimal control problem in terms of predicted miss

The explicit solution of a partially observed LQ problem driven by a combination of a Wiener process and an unobserved finite-state jump Markov process is given. Applications of the model include guidance problems, where the jump Markov process models evasive maneuvers (acceleration values) of the target, or systems subject to a sequence of failures that can be modeled by a jump Markov process. >
Making the grade: infrastructural semiotics and derivative market outcomes on the Chicago Board of Trade and New Orleans Cotton Exchange, 1856–1909

AbstractThis paper contributes to a socio-technical analysis of derivatives by offering an infrastructural explanation of divergent outcomes on two early American futures markets. It takes as the starting-point of analysis the classification systems by which these futures markets were constitutively linked to underlying markets in agricultural commodities. Despite the formal similarity of these systems, their contrasting implementation – i.e. how grading was accomplished and integrated into practice – produced classifications with dissimilar semiotic qualities. This semiotic distinction is shown to have promoted divergent economic behaviours and outcomes on the two markets: high-risk speculation and volatility on the Chicago Board of Trade, low-risk hedging and stability on the New Orleans Cotton Exchange. The paper thus argues that treating classifications in their semiotic capacity yields an analysis that can connect foundational infrastructures and market-level outcomes in meaningful, non-deterministic...
A spectrum scanning Stokes polarimeter.

A photoelectric polarimeter for measuring line profiles in all four Stokes parameters has been built and operates on the SPO 40 cm coronagraph in a joint project with Sacramento Peak Observatory. A description of the optical and electronic systems and the calibration scheme is presented. Performance parameters determined from observations are also given. The polarimeter package consisting of a pair of KDP's, a quarter wave plate, and a polarizing beam splitter is located at the prime focus of the coronagraph. Modulation of the KDP's encodes polarization information into intensity signals that are electronically detected. The scanning of the spectrum, accomplished by rotating the grating, permits Stokes line profiles to be recorded on magnetic tape for processing. The instrument can be used to scan any line from 3900 to 7000 A with a spectral resolution of 0.01 A. Polarizations as small as 0.001% are detectable. The polarimeter and observing system are computer controlled.
Access to Finance in Turkey

Abstract. Access to finance is essential for a successful development and growth of the private sector. In the absence of finance, enterprises cannot develop, innovate, and compete with other firms in other countries which offer more favorable access to finance. This paper makes use of the Enterprise Survey conducted with a representative stratified random sample of 6,006 Turkish firms for the 2015 fiscal year to evaluate the access to finance conditions in the nation. Moreover, data from the Enterprise Surveys Database for a comparison group of countries and 2013 survey for Turkey are employed to put the current survey in perspective. Keywords. Business environment, Financial constraints, Access to finance, Turkey. JEL. G10, G30, O12.
Recommendation of scholarly venues based on dynamic user interests

Abstract The ever-growing number of venues publishing academic work makes it difficult for researchers to identify venues that publish data and research most in line with their scholarly interests. A solution is needed, therefore, whereby researchers can identify information dissemination pathways in order to both access and contribute to an existing body of knowledge. In this study, we present a system to recommend scholarly venues rated in terms of relevance to a given researcher’s current scholarly pursuits and interests. We collected our data from an academic social network and modeled researchers’ scholarly reading behavior in order to propose a new and adaptive implicit rating technique for venues. We present a way to recommend relevant, specialized scholarly venues using these implicit ratings that can provide quick results, even for new researchers without a publication history and for emerging scholarly venues that do not yet have an impact factor. We performed a large-scale experiment with real data to evaluate the current scholarly recommendation system and showed that our proposed system achieves better results than the baseline. The results provide important up-to-the-minute signals that compared with post-publication usage-based metrics represent a closer reflection of a researcher’s interests.
Asymptotic properties of parallel Bayesian kernel density estimators

In this article, we perform an asymptotic analysis of Bayesian parallel kernel density estimators introduced by Neiswanger et al. (in: Proceedings of the thirtieth conference on uncertainty in artificial intelligence, AUAI Press, pp 623–632, 2014). We derive the asymptotic expansion of the mean integrated squared error for the full data posterior estimator and investigate the properties of asymptotically optimal bandwidth parameters. Our analysis demonstrates that partitioning data into subsets requires a non-trivial choice of bandwidth parameters that optimizes the estimation error.
The Foreign Emoluments Clause and the Chief Executive

The 2016 Presidential election brought widespread attention to a part of the Constitution, the Foreign Emoluments Clause, that had previously enjoyed a peaceful spot in the dustbin of history. That clause generally prohibits U.S. Officers from accepting "emoluments" from foreign governments, absent Congressional consent. Several commentators believe that President Trump will inevitably run into this prohibition, given the global business dealings of the Trump Organization. They read "emolument" as referring to any payment received from a foreign government, such that even a diplomat’s payment of a room reservation fee at the Trump Hotel establishes an impeachable offense. This Article argues that the commentators have interpreted emoluments far too broadly. Numerous legal authorities show that "emoluments," as used in the Foreign Emoluments Clause, refer to payments from a foreign government made in exchange for the U.S. Officer's performance of services (office-related compensation), rather than to any and all payments from a foreign government. Putting aside definitional issues, vexing questions arise when determining whether an emolument arises in a transaction between a foreign government and a business entity owned or affiliated with a U.S. Officer. This Article examines the limited authorities available and proposes a three-part business entity test to help analyze the problems. After tangling with the definitional questions related to emoluments and the complications presented by business entities, this Article examines whether the activities of the Trump Organization establish violations of the Foreign Emoluments Clause. It concludes that market-rate transactions between the Trump Organization and foreign governments do not come within the clause. However, payments to the Trump Organization in excess of market rates may establish potentially unconstitutional gifts, emoluments, or bribes. Payments made to President Trump personally in exchange for services would also raise constitutional problems.
The Use of Lichenometry for Assessment of the Destruction and Reconstruction of Buddhist Sacred Walls in Langtang Valley, Nepal Himalaya, Following the 2015 Gorkha Earthquake

ABSTRACT Mani walls, Buddhist sacred walls constructed of carved blocks, are common in Langtang Valley, Nepal Himalaya. Fieldwork in 2009–2015 documented all 80 mani walls, including all occurrences of the lichen Rhizocarpon geographicum. According to local informants, the mani walls were constructed 400–600 years ago, and the original mani wall was in the village of Ghoratabela. Based on the indirect method, the oldest lichen on a mani wall dated only to 1942, which, within modeling error, was concurrent with the 1934 earthquake, the last major earthquake in Nepal prior to the Gorkha earthquake of 25 April 2015. In November 2015 it was found that 15% of mani walls could not be located and 20% were severely damaged. The original mani wall had apparently been reconstructed 170 m from its previous location. In two severely damaged and three fully intact mani walls, large lichens (12–49 mm) with unhealthy appearance were found that were not previously present. The most likely explanation was that the three i...
Lessons Learned in Management, Marketing, Sales, and Finance Incentive Practices a Decade after the Subprime Mortgage Crisis

The subprime mortgage crisis was the most devastating financial crisis since the Great Depression. The steady rise of housing purchases and seemingly limitless increase in home values drew many investors to the United States real estate market. The business growth in this sector was so compelling that financial firms created new secondary markets that were perceived as diversifying risk, which in turn prompted lenders to create innovative funding vehicles and loose and fast loan qualification processes. The federal government was ill prepared to deal with this shift in the financial world to market-based demand, and the results were disastrous. Lenders embraced predatory lending practices, borrowers with bad credit overextended themselves beyond their means, and foreclosures occurred at startling rates as home values plummeted, resulting in a world-wide economic depression. Ten years later, we reflect on the events that led up to and caused the subprime mortgage crisis for lessons learned to improve management, marketing, and finance incentive practices.
Single shot ultrafast all optical magnetization switching of ferromagnetic Co/Pt multilayers

The ability to control magnetism in sub-picosecond timescales using laser pulses has potential applications in fast magnetic devices. It has been demonstrated that a single femto-second laser pulse can reverse the magnetization of a film within a few picoseconds [1], a phenomenon called as all-optical switching (AOS). However, this phenomenon thus far has been observed only in ferrimagnetic GdFeCo films. On the other hand, ferromagnetic films, which are of greater interest than ferrimagnets in many technological applications, need multiple laser pulses for magnetization reversal [2], making the overall effect slow and energy inefficient. Fast, singleshot switching of a ferromagnet can open up new avenues for spintronic devices that operate at unprecedented picosecond timescales, thereby making them viable non-volatile replacements for silicon based RAMs and logic devices.
Global heat kernel estimates for fractional Laplacians in unbounded open sets

In this paper, we derive global sharp heat kernel estimates for symmetric α-stable processes (or equivalently, for the fractional Laplacian with zero exterior condition) in two classes of unbounded C 1,1 open sets in $${\mathbb R^d}$$ : half-space-like open sets and exterior open sets. These open sets can be disconnected. We focus in particular on explicit estimates for p D (t, x, y) for all t > 0 and $${x, y\,{\in}\,D}$$ . Our approach is based on the idea that for x and y in D far from the boundary and t sufficiently large, we can compare p D (t, x, y) to the heat kernel in a well understood open set: either a half-space or $${\mathbb R^d}$$ ; while for the general case we can reduce them to the above case by pushing x and y inside away from the boundary. As a consequence, sharp Green functions estimates are obtained for the Dirichlet fractional Laplacian in these two types of open sets. Global sharp heat kernel estimates and Green function estimates are also obtained for censored stable processes (or equivalently, for regional fractional Laplacian) in exterior open sets.
Kinetic description of intense beam propagation through a periodic focusing field for uniform phase-space density

The Vlasov-Maxwell equations are used to investigate the nonlinear evolution of an intense sheet beam with distribution function ${f}_{b}\({x,x}^{\ensuremath{'}},s\)$ propagating through a periodic focusing lattice ${\ensuremath{\kappa}}_{x}\(s+S\)\phantom{\rule{0ex}{0ex}}=\phantom{\rule{0ex}{0ex}}{\ensuremath{\kappa}}_{x}\(s\)$, where $S\phantom{\rule{0ex}{0ex}}=\phantom{\rule{0ex}{0ex}}\mathrm{const}$ is the lattice period. The analysis considers the special class of distribution functions with uniform phase-space density ${f}_{b}\({x,x}^{\ensuremath{'}},s\)\phantom{\rule{0ex}{0ex}}=\phantom{\rule{0ex}{0ex}}A\phantom{\rule{0ex}{0ex}}=\phantom{\rule{0ex}{0ex}}\mathrm{const}$ inside of the simply connected boundary curves, ${x}_{+}^{\ensuremath{'}}\(x,s\)$ and ${x}_{\ensuremath{-}}^{\ensuremath{'}}\(x,s\)$, in the two-dimensional phase space $\({x,x}^{\ensuremath{'}}\)$. Coupled nonlinear equations are derived describing the self-consistent evolution of the boundary curves, ${x}_{+}^{\ensuremath{'}}\(x,s\)$ and ${x}_{\ensuremath{-}}^{\ensuremath{'}}\(x,s\)$, and the self-field potential $\ensuremath{\psi}\(x,s\){\phantom{\rule{0ex}{0ex}}=\phantom{\rule{0ex}{0ex}}e}_{b}\ensuremath{\varphi}\(x,s\)/{\ensuremath{\gamma}}_{b}{m}_{b}{\ensuremath{\beta}}_{b}^{2}{c}^{2}$. The resulting model is shown to be exactly equivalent to a (truncated) warm-fluid description with zero heat flow and triple-adiabatic equation of state with scalar pressure ${P}_{b}\(x,s\)\phantom{\rule{0ex}{0ex}}=\phantom{\rule{0ex}{0ex}}\mathrm{const}[{n}_{b}\(x,s\){]}^{3}$. Such a fluid model is amenable to direct analysis by transforming to Lagrangian variables following the motion of a fluid element. Specific examples of periodically focused beam equilibria are presented, ranging from a finite-emittance beam in which the boundary curves in phase space $\({x,x}^{\ensuremath{'}}\)$ correspond to a pulsating parallelogram, to a cold beam in which the number density of beam particles, ${n}_{b}\(x,s\)$, exhibits large-amplitude periodic oscillations. For the case of a sheet beam with uniform phase-space density, the present analysis clearly demonstrates the existence of periodically focused beam equilibria without the undesirable feature of an inverted population in phase space that is characteristic of the Kapchinskij-Vladimirskij beam distribution.
3D Time-Lapse Reconstruction from Internet Photos

Given an Internet photo collection of a landmark, we compute a 3D time-lapse video sequence where a virtual camera moves continuously in time and space. While previous work assumed a static camera, the addition of camera motion during the time-lapse creates a very compelling impression of parallax. Achieving this goal, however, requires addressing multiple technical challenges, including solving for time-varying depth maps, regularizing 3D point color profiles over time, and reconstructing high quality, hole-free images at every frame from the projected profiles. Our results show photorealistic time-lapses of skylines and natural scenes over many years, with dramatic parallax effects.
NEUTRAL MECHANICAL ALIGNMENT: STICKIN' WITH THE ONE THAT BRUNG YA! – AFFIRMS

Introduction: I always aim for neutral mechanical axis alignment. My principles of a successful TKA are proper alignment in all 3 planes, soft tissue balance in extension first, flexion gap balancing by parallel to tibial cut technique, maintenance of joint line, correct sizing of femoral component, and proper cement fixation. Long-term Survivorship: There is long-term data that supports the efficacy and durability of the neutral position of the proximal tibial cut. Over a 20-year follow-up there was a 92.6% success rate in my study. Other authors have found similarly successful survivorship for mechanical failure. Balance Technique in TKR: My technique to balance the knee is a balance extension gap first, which requires medial soft tissue balancing. Next, I balance the flexion gap parallel to the tibial cut. Our Results: In one study, I examined the clinical and radiographic data of 68 varus knees. Average post-operative mechanical alignment was 0 ± 3 degrees. There were no outliers which displays the reproducibility of the technique. This is the method of choice in the hands of most surgeons.
A Historical Study of the First 30 Years of Accounting Horizons

ABSTRACT In this paper, we undertake a historical study of the first 30 years of the American Accounting Association's journal, Accounting Horizons. The journal was initially intended to bridge academe and practice. We review the founding of the journal and then trace the development of both the Commentaries and Main Articles sections. One of our principal findings is that there was a steep increase in the percentage of Main Articles using regression analysis-statistical tests during the 30 years, eventually exceeding that in The Accounting Review. Our analysis of the likely reasons for this trend leads us to conclude that foundational changes in the culture of the public accounting profession and in accounting academe had a profound impact on the content of Horizons during our period of study. We conclude with some suggestions for the journal moving forward.
Oxidative Alteration of Spent Fuel in a Silica-Rich Environment: SEM/AEM Investigation and Geochemical Modeling

Correctly identifying the possible alteration products and accurately predicting their occurrence in a repository-relevant environment are the key for source-term calculations in a repository performance assessment. Uraninite in uranium deposits has long been used as a natural analog to spent fuel in a repository because of their chemical and structural similarity. In this paper, a SEM/AEM investigation has been conducted on a partially alterated uraninite sample from a uranium ore deposit of Shinkolobwe of Congo. The mineral formation sequences were identified: uraninite → uranyl hydrates → uranyl silicates → Ca-uranyl silicates or uraninite → uranyl silicates → Ca-uranyl silicates. Reaction-path calculations were conducted for the oxidative dissolution of spent fuel in a representative Yucca Mountain groundwater. The predicted sequence is in general consistent with the SEM observations. The calculations also show that uranium carbonate minerals are unlikely to become major solubility-controlling mineral phases in a Yucca Mountain environment. Some discrepancies between model predictions and field observations are observed. Those discrepancies may result from poorly constrained thermodynamic data for uranyl silicate minerals.
Preprojective algebras of tree-type quivers

AbstractLet kQ be the path algebra of a tree-type quiver Q, and λ be a nonzero element in a field k. We construct irreducible morphisms in the Auslander–Reiten quiver of the transjective component ...
Mixing dynamics in bubbling fluidized beds

Solids mixing affects thermal and concentration gradients in fluidized bed reactors and is, therefore, critical to their performance. Despite substantial effort over the past decades, understanding of solids mixing continues to be lacking because of technical limitations of diagnostics in large pilot and commercial-scale reactors. This study is focused on investigating mixing dynamics and their dependence on operating conditions using computational fluid dynamics simulations. Toward this end, fine-grid 3D simulations are conducted for the bubbling fluidization of three distinct Geldart B particles (1.15 mm LLDPE, 0.50 mm glass, and 0.29 mm alumina) at superficial gas velocities U/Umf = 2–4 in a pilot-scale 50 cm diameter bed. The Two-Fluid Model (TFM) is employed to describe the solids motion efficiently while bubbles are detected and tracked using MS3DATA. Detailed statistics of the flow-field in and around bubbles are computed and used to describe bubble-induced solids micromixing: solids upflow driven in the nose and wake regions while downflow along the bubble walls. Further, within these regions, the hydrodynamics are dependent only on particle and bubble characteristics, and relatively independent of the global operating conditions. Based on this finding, a predictive mechanistic, analytical model is developed which integrates bubble-induced micromixing contributions over their size and spatial distributions to describe the gross solids circulation within the fluidized bed. Finally, it is shown that solids mixing is affected adversely in the presence of gas bypass, or throughflow, particularly in the fluidization of heavier particles. This is because of inefficient gas solids contacting as 30–50% of the superficial gas flow escapes with 2–3× shorter residence time through the bed. This is one of the first large-scale studies where both the gas (bubble) and solids motion, and their interaction, are investigated in detail and the developed framework is useful for predicting solids mixing in large-scale reactors as well as for analyzing mixing dynamics in complex reactive particulate systems. © 2017 American Institute of Chemical Engineers AIChE J, 63: 4316–4328, 2017
Fatigue crack propagation in polymeric materials

In order to gain a better understanding of matrix-controlled fatigue failure processes in non-metallic materials a series of fatigue tests were performed on several different polymer materials representing different classes of mechanical response. Fatigue crack propagation rates between 5×10−6 in. cycle−1 (127 nm cycle−1) and 4×10−4 in. cycle−1 (10 300 nm cycle−1) were measured in nylon, polycarbonate, ABS resin, low-density polyethylene and polymethyl methacrylate. A strong correlation was found between the fatigue crack propagation rate and the stress intensity factor range prevailing at the advancing crack tip. Whereas metals exhibit comparable fatigue growth rates for a given stress intensity range when normalised with respect to their static elastic modulus, the polymer materials exhibited a 1300-fold difference in crack growth rate for a given normalised stress intensity range. This observation dramatically illustrates the importance of understanding molecular motion and energy dissipation processes in polymer materials as related to their chemistry and architecture. The relative behaviour of the different polymer materials could be generally correlated with their reported damping characteristics.
School Performance, Accountability and Waiver Reforms: Evidence from Louisiana

States that receive federal waivers to the No Child Left Behind Act were required to implement reforms in designated “Focus Schools” that contribute to achievement gaps. We examine the performance ...