cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Agroindustrialization of the global agrifood economy: bridging development economics and agribusiness research.

This paper examines the agroindustrialization process from two supposedly disparate views: development economics and agribusiness research. The evolution of conceptual and methodological approaches emanating from these fields is explored and general observations are made concerning farm economic interdependence, institutional and organizational change, differing scopes of interest, the causes of agroindustrialization, orientation, and the choice of microanalytic tools, terminology, and unit of analysis. Despite an impressive list of hurdles, disincentives, and disconnects, complementarities between the two fields are identified. The paper concludes by exploring the potential of bridging development economics and agribusiness research to inform the future agroindustrialization research agenda.
Buying private data without verification

We consider the problem of designing a survey to aggregate non-verifiable information from a privacy-sensitive population: an analyst wants to compute some aggregate statistic from the private bits held by each member of a population, but cannot verify the correctness of the bits reported by participants in his survey. Individuals in the population are strategic agents with a cost for privacy, ie, they not only account for the payments they expect to receive from the mechanism, but also their privacy costs from any information revealed about them by the mechanism's outcome---the computed statistic as well as the payments---to determine their utilities. How can the analyst design payments to obtain an accurate estimate of the population statistic when individuals strategically decide both whether to participate and whether to truthfully report their sensitive information' We design a differentially private peer-prediction mechanism [Miller et al. 2005] that supports accurate estimation of the population statistic as a Bayes-Nash equilibrium in settings where agents have explicit preferences for privacy. The mechanism requires knowledge of the marginal prior distribution on bits bi, but does not need full knowledge of the marginal distribution on the costs ci, instead requiring only an approximate upper bound. Our mechanism guarantees e-differential privacy to each agent i against any adversary who can observe the statistical estimate output by the mechanism, as well as the payments made to the n-1 other agents j ≠ i. Finally, we show that with slightly more structured assumptions on the privacy cost functions of each agent [Chen et al. 2013], the cost of running the survey goes to 0 as the number of agents diverges.
PC clusters for lattice QCD

In the last several years, tightly coupled PC clusters have become widely applied, cost effective resources for lattice gauge computations. This paper discusses the practice of building such clusters, in particular balanced design requirements. I review and quantify the improvements over time of key performance parameters and overall price to performance ratio. Applying these trends and technology forecasts given by computer equipment manufacturers, I predict the range of price to performance for lattice codes expected in the next several years.
Measuring Test Measurement Error: A General Approach

Test-based accountability as well as value-added asessments and much experimental and quasi-experimental research in education rely on achievement tests to measure student skills and knowledge. Yet...
Power Dynamics In Negotiation

Power is widely acknowledged to affect negotiator performance. Yet few efforts have been made to integrate the most prominent theories of power into a cohesive framework that can account for the results from a broad array of negotiation-relevant research. We address this limitation by proposing a dynamic integrative model that decouples power into four components: (1) potential power, (2) perceived power, (3) power tactics, and (4) realized power. Implications, propositions, and future directions are discussed.
Watson: The Jeopardy! Challenge and beyond

Summary form only given. Watson, named after IBM founder Thomas J. Watson, was built by a team of IBM researchers who set out to accomplish a grand challenge - build a computing system that rivals a human's ability to answer questions posed in natural language with speed, accuracy and confidence. The quiz show Jeopardy! provided the ultimate test of this technology because the game's clues involve analyzing subtle meaning, irony, riddles and other complexities of natural language in which humans excel and computers traditionally fail. Watson passed its first test on Jeopardy!, beating the show's two greatest champions in a televised exhibition match, but the real test will be in applying the underlying natural language processing and analytics technology in business and across industries. In this talk I will introduce the Jeopardy! grand challenge, present an overview of Watson and the DeepQA technology upon which Watson is built, and explore future applications of this technology.
Mixed Initiative in Dialogue: An Investigation into Discourse Segmentation

Conversation between two people is usually of MIXED-INITIATIVE, with CONTROL over the conversation being transferred from one person to another. We apply a set of rules for the transfer of control to 4 sets of dialogues consisting of a total of 1862 turns. The application of the control rules lets us derive domain-independent discourse structures. The derived structures indicate that initiative plays a role in the structuring of discourse. In order to explore the relationship of control and initiative to discourse processes like centering, we analyze the distribution of four different classes of anaphora for two data sets. This distribution indicates that some control segments are hierarchically related to others. The analysis suggests that discourse participants often mutually agree to a change of topic. We also compared initiative in Task Oriented and Advice Giving dialogues and found that both allocation of control and the manner in which control is transferred is radically different for the two dialogue types. These differences can be explained in terms of collaborative planning principles.
The Statistical Mechanics of Best-Response Strategy Revision

Abstract This paper compares local and global strategic interaction when players update using the (myopic) best-response rule. I show that randomizing the order in which players update their strategic choice suffices to achieve coordination on the risk-dominant strategy in symmetric 2 × 2 coordination games. The "persistant randomness" which is necessary to achieve similar coordination with global interaction is replaced under local interaction by spatial variation in the initial condition. An extension of the risk-dominance idea gives the same convergence result for K × K games with strategic complementarities. Similar results for K × K pure coordination games and potential games are also presented. Journal of Economic Literature Classification Number: C78.
Collimated Escaping Vortical Polar e - e + Jets Intrinsically Produced by Rotating Black Holes and Penrose Processes

In this paper, I present results from theoretical and numerical (Monte Carlo) N-particle fully relativistic four-dimensional analysis of Penrose scattering processes (Compton and γγe-e+) in the ergosphere of a supermassive or stellar mass Kerr (rotating) black hole. Specifically, the escape conditions and the escaping orbits of the Penrose pair production (γγe-e+) electrons are analyzed, revealing that these particles escape along collimated, jet geodesic trajectories encircling the polar axis. Such collimated, vortical, tightly wound, coil-like trajectories of relativistic particles are inherent properties of rotating black holes. The helical polar angles of escape for these e-e+ pairs range from ~40° to ~05 (for the highest energy particles). These jet distributions appear to be consistent with the astrophysical jets of active galactic nuclei (AGNs) and galactic black holes and suggest a mechanism for precollimation within the inner radius of the dynamically stable accretion disk.
Hard disk drive thin film head manufactured using nanoimprint lithography

The lithographic requirements for the thin film head industry are comparable to the semiconductor industry for certain parameters such as resolution and pattern repeatability. In other aspects such as throughput and defectivity, the requirements tend to be more relaxed. These requirements match well with the strengths and weaknesses reported concerning nanoimprint lithography (NIL) and suggest an alternative approach to optical lithography. We have demonstrated the proof of concept of using NIL patterning, in particular Jet and Flash TM Imprint Lithography (J-FIL TM ) 1 , to build functional thin film head devices with performance comparable to standard wafer processing techniques. An Imprio TM 300 tool from Molecular Imprints, Inc. (MII) was modified to process the AlTiC ceramic wafers commonly used in the thin film head industry. Templates were produced using commercially viable photomask manufacturing processes and the AlTiC wafer process flow was successfully modified to support NIL processing. Future work is identified to further improve lithographic performance including residual layer thickness uniformity, wafer topography, NIL→NIL overlay, and development of a large imprint field that exceeds what is available in optical lithography.
CEMENTLESS TKA FIXATION: GETTING IT RIGHT

This video presentation serves to illustrate the pertinent aspects of bone preparation and implant insertion in cementless total knee arthroplasty (TKA) utilizing porous tantalum as a fixation surface integral to the success of the procedure. The patient is typical of the surgical candidate frequently encountered for arthroplasty—a 60-year-old female with three compartment osteoarthritis of the knee, and manifesting a 10-degree varus deformity and 5-degree flexion contracture. She is a limited community ambulator without the use of support. A standard surgical exposure is utilised and the bone preparation is identical to that used in the fixation of cemented implants—no alignment guides, cutting guides, or referencing instrumentation is used that is unique in the femoral or tibial bone preparation. The principal difference is in the patellar preparation. Instrumentation unique to the cementless porous tantalum patella is utilised in order to achieve three goals: a composite implant/residual bone thickness that replicates the thickness of the native patella, the generation of a planar patellar resection that is parallel to the anterior cut of the femur, and secure initial stability of fixation. Keys to the initial fixation of the porous tantalum tibial and patellar components include the high surface friction of the material against bone, as well as the interference between the hexagonal pegs of each implant within the fixation holes (which are dimensionally smaller in diameter than the major and minor dimensions of the peg geometry). Care must be instituted to ensure that no bone or soft tissue debris is interposed at the mating surfaces of the implants that would compromise interface contact, and to carefully suction the peg holes to ensure that no debris impedes the complete seating of the pegs and the prosthesis. Lastly, all mating surfaces at the implant/bone interface must approach each other in a parallel fashion to optimise contact between the fixation surfaces and the bone resection surfaces. The procedure is simply, easily performed, and is time saving. Total elapsed time for insertion of all three TKA implants in this video is 90 seconds.
A Delicate Balance of Energetics. Subtleties Associated with α-Ketol-Based Bridge Migration To Afford 9-Keto-10β-p-methoxybenzyloxytaxanes

The feasibility of the title reaction has been pursued for the purpose of advancing a concise total synthesis of Taxol. Of the two closely related series examined, the first featured an exo-methylene group at C4. The second consisted of an α-epoxide at that site. Strikingly, the olefinic construct proved inert to attempted α-ketol rearrangement. In contrast, the oxiranyl derivative isomerized smoothly. The reaction sequence associated with arrival at taxane 18 is short (15 steps from a d-camphor derivative) and notably efficient. The thermodynamic issues that are raised by this investigation have been clarified by an assessment of molecular mechanics-derived (MM3) steric energy calculations.
Difficulties in realizing large-scale educational computing projects

Many initiatives spurring the development and use of new computing technologies are beginning to appear in higher educational settings. However, a number of unsettling dilemmas appear which threaten the success of the initiatives, as well as raise the possibilities of significant social costs that may also be likely outcomes. This analysis draws upon studies of the production and consumption of computing technologies within a variety of organizations in the United States to help understand these dilemmas.
Optimal parallel verification of minimum spanning trees in logarithmic time

We present the first optimal parallel algorithms for the verification and sensitivity analysis of minimum spanning trees. Our algorithms are deterministic and run inO(logn) time and require linear-work in the CREW PRAM model. These algorithms are used as a subroutine in the linear-work randomized algorithm for finding minimum spanning trees of Cole, Klein, and Tarjan.
Protection in an information processing utility

In this paper we will define and discuss a solution to some of the problems concerned with protection and security in an information processing utility. This paper is not intended to be an exhaustive study of all aspects of protection in such a system. Insteadj we concentrate our attention on the problems of protecting both user and system information (procedures and data) during the execution of a process. We will give special attention to this problem when shared procedures and data are permitted.
Acquisition and interpretation of 3-D sensor data from touch

The use of touch sensing as part of a large system being built for 3D shape recovery and object recognition using touch and vision methods is described. The authors focus on three exploratory procedures they have devised to acquire and interpret sparse 3D touch data: grasping by containment, planar surface exploration, and surface contour exploration. Experimental results for each of these procedures are presented. >
A Changing Terrain of Knowledge and Power: A Social Epistemology of Educational Research

In the past decade, important struggles about the production of knowledge have taken place in history, the social sciences, and education. These struggles involve more than the “knowledge interests” that Habermas pointed to in the 1970s; instead, they point to important epistemological ruptures in the doctrines of “reason” that have dominated social and political debates since the late 19th century. This questioning reaches into the presuppositions of progress and power underlying intellectual work.This article explores some of the main features of the controversies about knowledge by turning first to certain assumptions that guided social theory at least since the 19th century. The assumptions relate, for example, to the focus on human action (and agents) as purpose or explanation of theory, to the conceptualization of space and time, to the introduction of change as a problem of the administration of time (the control of process and development), and to the inscription of political and social doctrines ...
Majorana Neutrinos and Magnetic Fields

It is stressed that if neutrinos are massive they are probably of "Majorana" type. This implies that their magnetic-moment form factor vanishes identically so that the previously discussed phenomenon of spin rotation in a magnetic field would not appear to take place. We point out that Majorana neutrinos can, however, have transition moments. This enables an inhomogeneous magnetic field to rotate both spin and "flavor" of a neutrino. In this case the spin rotation changes particle to antiparticle. The spin-flavor-rotation effect is worked out in detail. We also discuss the parametrization and calculation of the electromagnetic form factors of Majorana neutrinos. Our discussion takes into account the somewhat unusual quantum theory of massive Majorana particles.
Adaptation to Climate Change: Evidence from US Agriculture†

Abstract Understanding the potential impacts of climate change on economic outcomes requires knowing how agents might adapt to a changing climate. We exploit large variation in recent temperature and precipitation trends to identify adaptation to climate change in US agriculture, and use this information to generate new estimates of the potential impact of future climate change on agricultural outcomes. Longer run adaptations appear to have mitigated less than half—and more likely none—of the large negative short-run impacts of extreme heat on productivity. Limited recent adaptation implies substantial losses under future climate change in the absence of countervailing investments. (JEL Q11, Q15, Q51, Q54)
Influence of Boundary Condition Treatment on Longitudinal-Mode Combustion Instability Predictions

Abstract : Combustion instability in rocket chambers is strongly influenced by acoustic interactions at the boundaries of the configuration. Many CFD simulations employ approximate boundary conditions in order to simplify the geometry but the impact that they have on the solution is not well understood. The present study focuses on the use of detailed (exact) boundary representations and an approximate boundary condition in a given longitudinal mode test chamber. The actual inlet boundary of the injector is comprised of a series of choked slots while the approximate boundary condition is a uniform constant mass flow. Both two and three-dimensional simulations are carried out. Differences in the flowfield are evident in the combustion region away from the inlet, including the size of the recirculation region and location of the peak heat release. The amplitudes of the acoustic modes are well predicted for the first two modes especially in three-dimensional simulation, while higher modes are poorly predicted. These results suggest that such boundary condition approximations must be judiciously used and having access to more detailed treatments is important to verify accuracy.
On the nonconcavity of throughput in certain closed queueing networks

Analytic queueing network models are being used to analyze various optimization problems such as server allocation, design and capacity issues, optimal routing, and workload allocation. The mathematical properties of the relevant performance measures, such as throughput, are important for optimization purposes and for insight into system performance. We show that for closed queueing networks of m arbitrarily connected single server queues with n customers, throughput, as a function of a scaled, constrained workload, is not concave. In fact, the function appears to be strictly quasiconcave. There is a constraint on the total workload that must be allocated among the servers in the network. However, for closed networks of two single server queues, we prove that our scaled throughput is concave when there are two customers in the network and strictly quasi-concave when there are more than two customers. The mathematical properties of both the scaled throughput and reciprocal throughput are demonstrated graphically for closed networks of two and three single server queues.
Small-Molecule PROTACS: New Approaches to Protein Degradation

The current inhibitor-based approach to therapeutics has inherent limitations owing to its occupancy-based model: 1) there is a need to maintain high systemic exposure to ensure sufficient in vivo inhibition, 2) high in vivo concentrations bring potential for off-target side effects, and 3) there is a need to bind to an active site, thus limiting the drug target space. As an alternative, induced protein degradation lacks these limitations. Based on an event-driven model, this approach offers a novel catalytic mechanism to irreversibly inhibit protein function by targeting protein destruction through recruitment to the cellular quality control machinery. Prior protein degrading strategies have lacked therapeutic potential. However, recent reports of small-molecule-based proteolysis-targeting chimeras (PROTACs) have demonstrated that this technology can effectively decrease the cellular levels of several protein classes.
Costly pollution abatement, competitiveness and plant location decisions

Abstract The NAFTA debate included assertions that were used as arguments against trade and investment liberalization. (1) Trade liberalization increases production sensitivity to environmental restrictions (‘environmental dumping’?). (2) Investment liberalization, leading to multinational firms, similarly increases the production and welfare response to costly environmental restrictions. I find that: (1) Trade liberalization increases production sensitivity to costly environmental restrictions, but arguments against liberal trade on welfare grounds do not follow. (2) Multinationals do not increase the production-reallocation effect caused by environmental restrictions or regulations. In addition, I find a great difference between restrictions that fall on fixed costs and restrictions that fall on marginal costs.
The dynamics of carbon sequestration and alternative carbon accounting, with an application to the upper Mississippi River Basin

Abstract Carbon sequestration is a temporal process in which carbon is continuously being stored/released over a period of time. Different methods of carbon accounting can be used to account for this temporal nature including annual average carbon, annualized carbon, and ton-year carbon. In this paper, starting by exposing the underlying connections among these methods, we examine how the comparisons of sequestration projects are affected by these methods and the major factors affecting them. We explore the empirical implications on carbon sequestration policies by applying these accounting methods to the Upper Mississippi River Basin, a large and important agriculture area in the US. We found that the differences are significant in terms of the location of land that might be chosen and the distribution of carbon sequestration over the area, although the total amount of carbon sequestered does not differ considerably across programs that use different accounting methods or different values of the major factors.
Correlational-Based Development of Disparity Sensitivity

A correlational-based model of development of disparity sensitivity is proposed. The weights between two one-dimensional input layers and a single cortical layer were modified by a linear Hebb rule using fixed correlation matrices both within and between eyes and fixed cortical connections. With local correlations, the delayed presentation of a slight amount of between-eye correlation led to the development of both binocular cortical cells with the left and right receptive fields aligned, i.e. zero disparity and monocularly dominated cells, which tended to have non-zero disparity preferences.
Estimating Agriculture's Contribution to the Arkansas Economy Over Time

Agriculture has been a primary stimulus of economic growth in Arkansas since statehood. While agriculture contributes to the economy through direct agricultural production and value-added processing, it also plays an important role through its interactions with other sectors. The use of non-agricultural goods and services as inputs into the agriculture sector promotes diversified growth in Arkansas’ economy. The purpose of this presentation is to discuss the contribution of agriculture in Arkansas 1) in relation to the state economy 2) as compared (in terms of relative size) to the agriculture sector in neighboring states, the Southeast region of the United States and the nation as a whole 3) in terms of the direct, indirect, and induced contributions, and 4) in terms of the contributions of the crop, animal agriculture and forestry sectors to the Arkansas economy. To achieve this purpose, gross domestic product data by state, for the US and for the Southern US from the Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) are used to: 1) present a summary of the Arkansas economy, 2) determine agriculture’s contribution to the state economy from 2003 to 2012, 3) and compare the relative size of agriculture elsewhere to the size of agriculture in Arkansas. Impact Analysis for Planning (IMPLAN) input-output software and state-level data are used to determine the overall impact of Arkansas’ agriculture sector from 2003 through 2012. The software and data are also used to derive the corresponding direct, indirect and induced impacts of agriculture in Arkansas as well as to estimate the relative contributions of the crop, animal agriculture and forestry sectors to the state economy. Results show that since 2003, agricultural production and processing have contributed billions of dollars to the Arkansas economy annually representing an annual average of 10% of Arkansas’ gross state product (GSP). Although these values have experienced a steady decline throughout the past decade, agriculture’s percentage of GSP remains greater than that of any surrounding state, the Southeast region or the United States as a whole. Arkansas agriculture is annually responsible for an average of one in every six jobs and $1 out of every $6 in value added. Within the agricultural sector, the crops sector most often generates the largest number of jobs and highest value added. Additionally, many jobs, income and value added accrue in other sectors such as Wholesale and Retail Trade, Transportation and Warehousing, and Manufacturing. The economic contribution of the agriculture sector in Arkansas is much more than the direct impact of agricultural production and processing. Results of our study support the argument that agriculture is a vital part of the Arkansas economy. Over the past decade, Arkansas’ agriculture sector has continuously shown strength as an important economic base by contributing a significant percentage to the state GSP and value added as well as providing much needed jobs for Arkansas’ rural communities.
Proceedings of the nineth ACM workshop on Digital rights management

This volume contains the papers presented at the ninth annual ACM Workshop on Digital Rights Management (DRM), sponsored by the ACM SIGSAC and held in conjunction with the 16th ACM Conference on Computer Computer and Communications Security (CSS). The daylong workshop consisted of informal discussions, peer-reviewed technical talks describing recent research contributions, invited talks that delved into policy issues related to DRM, along with a panel session that included experts in the field from both industry and academia. As in the past, the workshop provided an international forum that serves as an interdisciplinary bridge between areas that can be applied to DRM, including: cryptography, software and computer systems design, trusted computing, information and signal processing, intellectual property law, policy-making, as well as business analysis and economics. In addition, this year we were privileged to have three invited talks from different cross-sections of the DRM realm. The first of these was provided by a speaker with in-depth experience related to high-value content, namely, Scott Watson, senior Vice President of the Walter Disney company and Chief Technology Officer of Disney Imagineering Research and Development. The next invited talk was given by Randal Picker of the University of Chicago School of Law, who is an expert on laws related to intellectual property and regulated industries. Finally, an invited talk was also given by Edward Felten, Professor and Director of the Center for Information Technology Policy at Princeton University, who is a longstanding proponent of informed public discussion of digital technologies.
The Strategic Helper: Narcissism and Prosocial Motives and Behaviors

Across three studies, we examined the relationship between narcissism, prosocial behaviors, and the reasons why people engaged in them. Specifically, we examined how narcissistic people engaged in charitable donations, taking advantage of a naturally occurring mass charitable donation campaign, the ALS “ice bucket challenge” (Study 1). We also examined how narcissism was related to volunteering and other types of prosocial behaviors (Studies 2 and 3). Moreover, we compared and contrasted the prosocial responses of more empathic versus more narcissistic people (Studies 2 and 3). This paper can help scholars and practitioners to determine under which circumstances, and for which reasons, narcissistic people may exhibit prosocial behaviors.
The Impact of Consumer Credit Access on Unemployment

Unemployed households’ access to unsecured revolving credit (credit cards) nearly quadrupled from about 12 percent to about 45 percent over the last three decades. This paper analyzes how this large increase in revolving credit has impacted the business cycle. The paper develops a general equilibrium business cycle model with search in both the labor market and in the credit market. This generates a very rich and empirically plausible level of heterogeneity in work and credit histories while at the same time permitting a tractable model solution. Calibrating to the observed path of credit use between 1974 and 2012, I nd that the large growth in credit access leads to deeper and longer recessions as well as moderately slower recoveries. Relative to an economy with credit
Programming With Models: Writing Statistical Algorithms for General Model Structures With NIMBLE

ABSTRACTWe describe NIMBLE, a system for programming statistical algorithms for general model structures within R. NIMBLE is designed to meet three challenges: flexible model specification, a language for programming algorithms that can use different models, and a balance between high-level programmability and execution efficiency. For model specification, NIMBLE extends the BUGS language and creates model objects, which can manipulate variables, calculate log probability values, generate simulations, and query the relationships among variables. For algorithm programming, NIMBLE provides functions that operate with model objects using two stages of evaluation. The first stage allows specialization of a function to a particular model and/or nodes, such as creating a Metropolis-Hastings sampler for a particular block of nodes. The second stage allows repeated execution of computations using the results of the first stage. To achieve efficient second-stage computation, NIMBLE compiles models and functions vi...
CONVECTIVE PROPERTIES OF ROTATING TWO-DIMENSIONAL CORE-COLLAPSE SUPERNOVA PROGENITORS

Enrico Fermi Institute; NASA under the Theoretical and Computational Astrophysics Networks [NNX14AB53G]; DOE Office of Science User Facility [DE-AC02-06CH11357]
Crowdsourcing Sustainable Development Goals from Global Civil Society: A Content Analysis

For the past several decades, members of global civil society have begun to play an increasing role in global environmental governance. Expanding participation in global decision making processes to include actors beyond the nation-state is viewed as a corrective for the democratic deficit that some argue continues to undermine the legitimacy of international institutions. Yet, important questions remain regarding how civil society should be incorporated into global policymaking. One recently implemented approach involves crowdsourcing comments through web-based platforms like e-discussions and social media. However, the viability of this approach and its implications for global governance have not been adequately assessed. In this paper, I evaluate the potential efficacy of crowdsourcing as a means of increasing participation in global environmental governance through an analysis of data from the global MY World survey and a content analysis of UN-initiated e-discussions surrounding the inclusion of environmental sustainability in the post-2015 development agenda. I find that there exists a perceptible demographic imbalance among contributors to the MY World survey and considerable dissonance between the characteristics of participants in the e-discussions and those whose voices were included in the resulting summary report. This suggests that although crowdsourcing may be an attractive tool for widening participation in global governance, ultimately the democratic quality of that participation depends on the manner in which contributions are filtered by international institutions.
Thermal conductivity of chirality-sorted carbon nanotube networks

The thermal properties of single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWNTs) are of significant interest, yet their dependence on SWNT chirality has been, until now, not explored experimentally. Here, we used electrical heating and infrared thermal imaging to simultaneously study thermal and electrical transport in chirality-sorted SWNT networks. We examined solution processed 90% semiconducting, 90% metallic, purified unsorted (66% semiconducting), and as-grown HiPco SWNT films. The thermal conductivities of these films range from 80 to 370 W m−1 K−1 but are not controlled by chirality, instead being dependent on the morphology (i.e., mass and junction density, quasi-alignment) of the networks. The upper range of the thermal conductivities measured is comparable to that of the best metals (Cu and Ag), but with over an order of magnitude lower mass density. This study reveals important factors controlling the thermal properties of light-weight chirality-sorted SWNT films, for potential thermal and thermoelectric appl...
Depression in the Elderly

Presentation differs from that in the young, as does choice of therapy, which tends to be empiric. The tricyclics are considered the best treatment, although electroconvulsive therapy may be preferable in severe delusional depression.
Behavior problems in elementary school children a follow-up study.

Two-year follow-up data for an ostensibly normal sample of children who had been previously characterized on a number of behavior problem dimensions by their teachers and peers were analyzed. In addition, 1-year follow-up data were presented for a group of extreme behavior children from the same school. The behavior dimensions of Distractibility and Conduct Problem were fairly stable over 2 years for girls and boys. In addition, Inadequacy—Immaturity was stable for girls and may mark more severe behavior problems for young girls. Behavior problems of young girls were more predictive of later achievement difficulties while behavior problems of boys were more prdictive of peer and teacher difficulty. Finally, teacher's clinical judgment was demonstrated to be useful for indexing behavior for hyperactive boys.
EXTENSOR MECHANISM REPAIR: A SYNTHETIC MESH ALTERNATIVE

Complications involving the knee extensor mechanism occur in 1% to 12% of patients following total knee arthroplasty (TKA), and have negative effects on patient outcomes. While multiple reconstruction options have been described for complete disruption of the extensor mechanism, the results in patients with a prior TKA are inferior to those in patients without a TKA, and frequently have required the use of allograft tendon grafts which can attenuate and stretch over time. However, encouraging results have been reported by Browne and Hanssen in treatment of patellar tendon disruption with the use of a synthetic mesh (knitted monofilament polypropylene). In this technique, a synthetic graft is created by folding a 10 × 14 inch sheet of mesh and securing it with non-absorbable sutures. A burr is then used to create a trough in the anterior aspect of the tibia to accept the mesh graft. The graft is inserted into the trough and secured with cement. After the cement cures, a transfixion screw with a washer is placed. A portal is subsequently created in the soft tissues lateral patellar tendon remnants to allow delivery of the graft from deep to superficial. The patella and quadriceps tendon are mobilised, and the graft is secured with sutures to the lateral retinaculum, vastus lateralis, and quadriceps tendon. The vastus medialis is then mobilised and brought in a pants-over-vest manner over the mesh graft, and secured with additional sutures. Finally, the distal arthrotomy is closed tightly to completely cover the mesh graft with host tissue. In their series, Browne and Hanssen noted that 9 of 13 patients achieved an extensor lag of
Relational Governance and Contract Damages: Evidence from Franchising

A substantial body of theoretical, qualitative, and experimental research has investigated whether reliance on legal threats “crowds out” informal, norm-based ways of regulating behavior or, instead, whether the ability to enforce law formally enhances the ability of private parties to use these informal approaches. There has, however, been little quantitative, real-world work that looks into this question. This article begins this process through a study of how franchisors regulate the incentives that their franchisees have to cut corners on the brand's quality and uniformity standards. One solution to this problem is to threaten to pursue a breach of contract action for violation of these standards, which allows the franchisor to obtain a damage award against a franchisee. Alternatively, a franchisor can rely on more informal means, such as awarding an extra franchise outlet to those franchisees who behave well. There is a tradeoff between these two mechanisms; the informal rewards are costly to provide, but easy to enforce, while contractual threats are cheap, but their enforcement is expensive. Moreover, the literature on relational governance suggests that the use of formal legal threats may undermine an agent's willingness to abide by reciprocation norms along noncontractible dimensions. These theories suggest that formal and informal mechanisms will act as substitutes and this study, which uses a newly collected data set of franchise agreements, provides strong evidence for that assertion. The analytical insight that permits this inference is the presence of liquidated damages provisions as an indicator of the willingness to use formal law. Courts have shown hostility to the use of the default rule of expectation damages, but they will enforce liquidated damages terms, which means that these provisions are a credible threat to use formal legal sanctions. This study finds that a limited number of franchisors use these terms and that their presence correlates negatively and significantly with variables that are associated with informal, nonlegal means of incentivizing franchisees.
The Potential of Binary Lithium Magnesium Nitride - LiMgN for Hydrogen Storage Application

Metal hydrides and amides are potential candidate materials for hydrogen storage. Lithium- and magnesium-based material systems are among the most promising materials owing to their high hydrogen contents. In the present work, we investigated hydrogenation/dehydrogenation reactions of a binary nitride, LiMgN. LiMgN can be formed by a reaction of MgH2 with LiNH2 in 1:1 ratio. The reaction also releases approximately ∼ 8.1 wt% H2 (theoretical value is 8.2 wt%) between 160 and 220 °C. The reaction product LiMgN can be rehydrogenated by reacting with H2 under 2000 psi of hydrogen pressure and 160 °C with small amount of TiCl3 doping. TGA results showed that about 8.0 wt% of hydrogen was stored in TiCl3-doped LiMgN during the hydrogenation process. The reversible hydrogenation and dehydrogenation mechanisms involving LiMgN and H2 are discussed.
Mechanism by which shock wave lithotripsy can promote formation of human calcium phosphate stones

Human stone calcium phosphate (CaP) content correlates with higher urine CaP supersaturation (SS) and urine pH as well as with the number of shock wave lithotripsy (SWL) treatments. SWL does damage medullary collecting ducts and vasa recta, sites for urine pH regulation. We tested the hypothesis that SWL raises urine pH and therefore Cap SS, resulting in CaP nucleation and tubular plugging. The left kidney (T) of nine farm pigs was treated with SWL, and metabolic studies were performed using bilateral ureteral catheters for up to 70 days post-SWL. Some animals were given an NH4Cl load to sort out effects on urine pH of CD injury vs. increased HCO3− delivery. Histopathological studies were performed at the end of the functional studies. The mean pH of the T kidneys exceeded that of the control (C) kidneys by 0.18 units in 14 experiments on 9 pigs. Increased HCO3− delivery to CD is at least partly responsible for the pH difference because NH4Cl acidosis abolished it. The T kidneys excreted more Na, K, HCO3−, water, Ca, Mg, and Cl than C kidneys. A single nephron site that could produce losses of all of these is the thick ascending limb. Extensive injury was noted in medullary thick ascending limbs and collecting ducts. Linear bands showing nephron loss and fibrosis were found in the cortex and extended into the medulla. Thus SWL produces tubule cell injury easily observed histopathologically that leads to functional disturbances across a wide range of electrolyte metabolism including higher than control urine pH.
Fear of sphexishness

In his extremely intriguing Elbow Room, Daniel Dennett tries to N his extremely show how human dignity, freedom, and moral responsibility can exist in a materialistic universe lacking in libertarian, contra-causal freedom (Dennett, 1984).
Rhodium-Catalyzed Conversion of Furans to Highly Functionalized Pyrroles

The synthesis of highly functionalized pyrroles has been achieved by reaction of rhodium-stabilized imino-carbenes with furans. The reaction features an initial [3+2] annulation to form bicyclic hemiaminals, followed by ring opening to generate trisubstituted pyrroles.
The prevention of ventilator-associated pneumonia.

Nosocomial pneumonia is a leading cause of death from hospital-acquired infections, with an associated crude mortality rate of approximately 30 percent.1 Ventilator-associated pneumonia refers specifically to nosocomial bacterial pneumonia that has developed in patients who are receiving mechanical ventilation. Ventilator-associated pneumonia that occurs within 48 to 72 hours after tracheal intubation is usually termed early-onset pneumonia; it often results from aspiration, which complicates the intubation process.2 Ventilator-associated pneumonia that occurs after this period is considered late-onset pneumonia. Early-onset ventilator-associated pneumonia is most often due to antibiotic-sensitive bacteria (e.g., oxacillin-sensitive Staphylococcus aureus, Haemophilus influenzae, and Streptococcus pneumoniae), whereas late-onset . . .
Temporal mapping of surveillance video for indexing and summarization

A comprehensive scheme of temporal profile of surveillance video is proposed.It provides the sampling selection, analyzes properties of shape and motion of the temporal profile, develop the algorithms to detect dynamic targets, and measure their motion direction.Finally, the visualization of targets with multiple temporal slices with transparency is provided.Further, robust object detection based on background updating, and real time data transmission of is given.A comparison of our method with other video indexing methods is also given. This work converts the surveillance video to a temporal domain image called temporal profile that is scrollable and scalable for quick searching of long surveillance video by human operators. Such a profile is sampled with linear pixel lines located at critical locations in the video frames. It has precise time stamp on the target passing events through those locations in the field of view, shows target shapes for identification, and facilitates the target search in long videos. In this paper, we first study the projection and shape properties of dynamic scenes in the temporal profile so as to set sampling lines. Then, we design methods to capture target motion and preserve target shapes for target recognition in the temporal profile. It also provides the uniformed resolution of large crowds passing through so that it is powerful in target counting and flow measuring. We also align multiple sampling lines to visualize the spatial information missed in a single line temporal profile. Finally, we achieve real time adaptive background removal and robust target extraction to ensure long-term surveillance. Compared to the original video or the shortened video, this temporal profile reduced data by one dimension while keeping the majority of information for further video investigation. As an intermediate indexing image, the profile image can be transmitted via network much faster than video for online video searching task by multiple operators. Because the temporal profile can abstract passing targets with efficient computation, an even more compact digest of the surveillance video can be created.
Democracy, Veto Player, and Institutionalization of Sovereign Wealth Funds

ABSTRACTSovereign Wealth Funds (SWFs) have become important and controversial in global economy. We analyze why some SWFs have more encompassing and clearly specified governance rules than others. We argue that SWF institutionalization is structurally rooted in a country’s regime type and number of veto players in public policymaking. Democracy promotes SWF institutionalization by its need for strong rule of law, voters trying to constrain opportunistic behaviors of politicians, and the free flow of information. In contrast, the number of veto players has a curvilinear effect. When the number of veto players is very small, institutionalization is too rigid, constraining, and not preferred; when the number of veto players is moderate, it is optimal for veto players to manage their conflict over SWF governance in a more routine and institutionalized fashion; and when the number of veto players grows above a threshold, it becomes too costly to coordinate and produce mutually agreeable institutional rules. Ou...
Efficient disruption and replacement of an effector gene in the oomycete Phytophthora sojae using CRISPR/Cas9

Phytophthora sojae is an oomycete pathogen of soybean. As a result of its economic importance, P. sojae has become a model for the study of oomycete genetics, physiology and pathology. The lack of efficient techniques for targeted mutagenesis and gene replacement have long hampered genetic studies of pathogenicity in Phytophthora species. Here, we describe a CRISPR/Cas9 system enabling rapid and efficient genome editing in P. sojae. Using the RXLR effector gene Avr4/6 as a target, we observed that, in the absence of a homologous template, the repair of Cas9-induced DNA double-strand breaks (DSBs) in P. sojae was mediated by non-homologous end-joining (NHEJ), primarily resulting in short indels. Most mutants were homozygous, presumably as a result of gene conversion triggered by Cas9-mediated cleavage of non-mutant alleles. When donor DNA was present, homology-directed repair (HDR) was observed, which resulted in the replacement of Avr4/6 with the NPT II gene. By testing the specific virulence of several NHEJ mutants and HDR-mediated gene replacements in soybean, we have validated the contribution of Avr4/6 to recognition by soybean R gene loci, Rps4 and Rps6, but also uncovered additional contributions to resistance by these two loci. Our results establish a powerful tool for the study of functional genomics in Phytophthora, which provides new avenues for better control of this pathogen.
How Physics Instruction Impacts Students' Beliefs about Learning Physics: A Meta-Analysis of 24 Studies.

Citation: Madsen, A., McKagan, S. B., & Sayre, E. C. (2015). How physics instruction impacts students' beliefs about learning physics: A meta-analysis of 24 studies. Physical Review Special Topics-Physics Education Research, 11(1), 19. doi:10.1103/PhysRevSTPER.11.010115