cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Improving First Level Cache Efficiency for GPUs Using Dynamic Line Protection

A modern Graphics Processing Unit (GPU) utilizes L1 Data (L1D) caches to reduce memory bandwidth requirements and latencies. However, the L1D cache can easily be overwhelmed by many memory requests from GPU function units, which can bottleneck GPU performance. It has been shown that the performance of L1D caches is greatly reduced for many GPU applications as a large amount of L1D cache lines are replaced before they are re-referenced. By examining the cache access patterns of these applications, we observe L1D caches with low associativity have difficulty capturing data locality for GPU applications with diverse reuse patterns. These patterns result in frequent line replacements and low data re-usage. To improve the efficiency of L1D caches, we design a Dynamic Line Protection scheme (DLP) that can both preserve valuable cache lines and increase cache line utilization. DLP collects data reuse information from the L1D cache. This information is used to predict protection distances for each memory instruction at runtime, which helps maintain a balance between exploitation of data locality and over-protection of cache lines with long reuse distances. When all cache lines are protected in a set, redundant cache misses are bypassed to reduce the contention for the set. The evaluation result shows that our proposed solution improves cache hits while reducing cache traffic for cache-insufficient applications, achieving up to 137% and an average of 43% IPC improvement over the baseline.
Multi-Layer Relevance Networks

Many real-world complex systems can be described by a network structure, where a set of elementary units, e.g, human, gene, sensor, or other types of ‘nodes' are connected by edges that represent dyadic relations, e.g., an observed interaction or an inferred dependence measured by correlation or mutual information. Such so-called relevance networks can be undirected or directed graphs depending on whether the relevance measure is symmetric or asymmetric. Often there are multiple ways that pairs of nodes might be related, e.g., by family ties, friendships, and professional connections in a social network. A multi-layer relevance network can be used to simultaneously capture these different types of relations. Dynamic relevance networks whose edges change over time are a type of multi-layer network, with each layer representing relations at a particular time instant. In this paper, we review and discuss multi-layer relevance network models in the context of relevance measures and node centrality for datasets with multivalent relations. We illustrate these models for dynamic gene regulatory networks and dynamic social networks.
Fungal thyroiditis in a lung transplant recipient.

A 59-year-old man was admitted with 3 weeks of worsening shortness of breath 18 months after receiving a bilateral lung transplant for idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis. His immunosuppression included tacrolimus, everolimus and low-dose prednisone with no antifungal prophylaxis at the time of admission. CT chest revealed multiple, bilateral pulmonary nodules (figure 1—red arrows). CT-guided biopsy revealed fungal hyphae (figure 2). The initial CT and ultrasound of the neck at the onset of sore throat was negative; however, repeat CT neck for evolving neck pain and dysphasia during hospital course showed a mass-like lesion in the …
Surgical Management and Prevention of Ovarian Remnant

Study objective To provide surgeons with surgical techniques necessary for management and prevention of ovarian remnant syndrome. Design Instructional video (Canadian Task Force classification III). Setting Academic medical center. Intervention Surgical dissection and retroperitoneal anatomy. Measurements and main results Ovarian remnant syndrome occurs when residual ovarian tissue inadvertently remains in situ after salpingo-oophorectomy [1-4]. It can result in pelvic pain and pelvic mass [1-4]. Risk factors include endometriosis, adhesive disease, pelvic inflammatory disease, and prior pelvic surgery [1-4]. Ovarian remnant can also occur as a result of ovarian stroma extending up to 1.4 cm into the infundibulopelvic ligament beyond the visible margin [5]. Medical management and radiotherapy are treatment options but do not provide the definitive management that surgery affords [1-4]. Surgery also avoids missing a potential malignancy within the remnant tissue [1-4]. This video demonstrates the surgical techniques necessary to treat and prevent this condition, including key retroperitoneal anatomy. Mayo Clinic Institutional Review Board approval was not required for this video article. Conclusion Both treatment and prevention of ovarian remnant syndrome follow the same basic surgical principles, including high ligation of the infundibulopelvic ligament, retroperitoneal dissection, and excision of all peritoneum and tissue adherent to the ovary.
Race, Culpability, and Defendant Plea-Bargaining Decisions: An Experimental Simulation

Guilty pleas account for the vast majority of criminal convictions, yet experimental research on this topic is surprisingly uncommon; furthermore, race is seldom examined in the existing body of ex...
Spectrum Protection from Micro-transmissions Using Distributed Spectrum Patrolling

RF spectrum is a limited natural resource under a significant demand and thus must be effectively monitored and protected. Recently, there has been a significant interest in the use of inexpensive commodity-grade spectrum sensors for large-scale RF spectrum monitoring. The spectrum sensors are attached to compute devices for signal processing computation and also network and storage support. However, these compute devices have limited computation power that impacts the sensing performance adversely. Thus, the parameter choices for the best performance must be done carefully taking the hardware limitations into account. In this paper, we demonstrate this using a benchmarking study, where we consider the detection an unauthorized transmitter that transmits intermittently only for very small durations (micro-transmissions). We characterize the impact of device hardware and critical sensing parameters such as sampling rate, integration size and frequency resolution in detecting such transmissions. We find that in our setup we cannot detect more than 45% of such micro-transmissions on these inexpensive spectrum sensors even with the best possible parameter setting. We explore use of multiple sensors and sensor fusion as an effective means to counter this problem.
Peer crowd segmentation for targeting public education campaigns: Hip hop youth and tobacco use.

Abstract This study examines the potential association between strength of Hip Hop peer crowd identification and tobacco use in one of the first large samples of Hip Hop youth in the United States. Data are from a geographically-targeted, address-based convenience sample of 2194 youths aged 12–17 who identify with the Hip Hop peer crowd collected via in-person and web interviews in 30 U.S. media markets in 2015. We examined strength of Hip Hop peer crowd identification, perceived peer tobacco use, and tobacco use outcomes. Overall, 18.3% of Hip Hop youth reported current blunt (cigar with added marijuana) use, followed by electronic cigarettes (e-cigarettes) (11.6%), cigar (without added marijuana) (8.8%), hookah (6.5%), and cigarette (5.6%) use. Stronger Hip Hop peer crowd identification was associated with increased odds of using cigarettes (OR = 2.25, p
Vasoactive Agents for Adult Septic Shock: An Update and Review:

PurposeThe objective of this article is to discuss the pharmacology, side effects, and clinical application of vasoactive therapy in the management of adult septic shock.SummarySepsis is one of the...
The Accuracy of Cardiovascular Pooled Cohort Risk Estimates in U.S. Older Adults.

The ACC/AHA guidelines for primary prevention rely on the Pooled Cohort Risk Equations (PCE) risk estimates of atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease (ASCVD) to guide treatment decisions. In light of the PCE being derived in younger populations, their accuracy in older adults is uncertain. To evaluate the predictive accuracy and calibration of the PCE in older individuals. We estimated CVD predicted and observed risk among individuals from four large prospective cohort studies: Cardiovascular Health Study, Multiethnic Study of Atherosclerosis, Framingham Original, and Framingham Offspring. 12,527 overall individuals without ASCVD, including 9864 individuals aged 40–74 years and 2663 aged ≥75 years. We examined the operating characteristics of the PCE to estimate 5-year risk of stroke, MI, and CHD death overall and by age and sex strata. The associations between individual components of the PCE and cardiovascular events by age group (≥75 vs 40–74 years) were also evaluated. The PCE had low discrimination for 5-year ASCVD risk in older (≥75 years) (c-statistic = 0.62, 95% CI 0.60–0.65) vs. younger (40–74 years) adults (c-statistic = 0.75, 95% CI 0.73–0.76). Calibration of the PCE was suboptimal in both older and younger adults, overestimating risk in the highest risk groups. Performance of the PCE in older adults was similarly poor when stratified by sex and age ≥ 80 years. Since the PCE were derived from similar cohorts, though using different age groups and exams, this analysis likely overestimates the performance of the PCE. The performance of the PCE for ASCVD risk estimation in older adults is suboptimal; new models to effectively risk-stratify older adults are needed.
Adaptable and stable decentralized task allocation for hierarchical domains

Many real-world domains can benefit from adaptable decentralized task allocation through emergent specialization, especially in large teams of non-communicating agents. We begin with an existing bio-inspired response threshold reinforcement approach for decentralized task allocation and extend it to handle hierarchical task domains. We test the extension on self-deployment of a large team of non-communicating agents to patrolling a hierarchically defined set of areas. Results show near-ideal performance across all areas, while minimizing wasteful task switching through the development of specializations and subsequent respecializations when area demands change. A genetic algorithm is then used to evolve even more adaptable and stable task allocation behavior, by incorporating weight and power coefficients into agents’ response threshold reinforcement action probability calculations.
Dentist-laboratory communication and quality assessment of removable prostheses in Oregon: A cross-sectional pilot study

Abstract Statement of problem When fabricating a removable dental prosthesis, it is unclear if the information received by the dental laboratory technician is clear and sufficient. Purpose The purpose of this survey study was to evaluate the dentist’s work authorizations for removable prostheses as well as determine common practices used by laboratories during the fabrication of removable prostheses. Material and methods A 24-item questionnaire was developed based on previously published questionnaires and incorporating new topics. A public uniform resource locator (URL) survey link was generated and sent to the office of the Oregon Association of Dental Laboratories (OADL). The executive director of the board then sent out the link to 163 participants that included members and nonmembers of the OADL who were still active in the state of Oregon. Two reminder e-mails were sent 2 weeks apart. Study data were collected and managed by using the Research Electronic Data Capture (REDCap) software program. Descriptive statistics were tabulated, and responses displayed as a percentage of the total. Results From the 163 invited participants, 26 responded to the survey representing a 15.9% response rate. Only 11% of the laboratories stated that they routinely receive work authorizations with clear instructions. All participants stated that they always (62.5%) or frequently (37.5%) design the partial prostheses frameworks. Only 37.5% of the laboratories stated that they usually receive adequately extended and accurate definitive casts to fabricate the framework. Fifty percent of the laboratories stated that they very rarely perform altered cast procedures and 50% indicated that half or more of the removable partial prostheses they fabricate were entirely made of acrylic resin. Most laboratories stated that thermoplastic resin partial dentures were less than 25% of their produced volume of removable prostheses. Only 22% of respondents stated that they usually receive adequate information to complete a denture tooth arrangement and most (78%) dentists do not routinely specify the type of occlusal scheme desired for their complete denture tooth arrangements. In most prostheses (77%), posterior palatal seal was marked by the prescribing dentists rarely or very rarely. Conclusions Work authorizations provided by the dentists were less than adequate and left much decision-making to the dental laboratory technician.
The Ideology of Human Rights: On the Semiotics of Having Rights and the Politics of Being Human

In the rights Declarations of the 18 th Century, rights are defined as universal and not linked to social status. They are taken to be “self-evident” truths, not an aspiration or a political aim, and everyone is already born with them, regardless of State recognition. However, the aftermath of the liberal revolutions and the history of the following centuries did not cease to contest this claim. In the present paper, my aim is not to present a defense of or an attack on human rights, but rather to understand what they are. In order to do this, however, I believe we should inquire what does “having rights” mean , that is, investigate the semiotics involved in rights discourse. For this reason, I will avoid engaging in the discussions that attempt to find the content or the “foundation” of human rights (be it morality, capability, or an institutional understanding of politics). Instead, I propose to apply the Greimasian semiotic rectangle to the system of signification resulting from the meaning of “having rights”, and in doing so, derive the consequences of this application and present the “ideological” role human rights play in the relationship between law and politics.
A novel gene-diet interaction promotes organismal lifespan and host protection during infection via the mitochondrial UPR

Cells use a variety of mechanisms to maintain optimal mitochondrial function including the mitochondrial unfolded protein response (UPRmt). The UPRmt mitigates mitochondrial dysfunction by differentially regulating mitoprotective gene expression through the transcription factor ATFS-1. Since UPRmt activation is commensurate with organismal benefits such as extended lifespan and host protection during infection, we sought to identify pathways that promote its stimulation. Using unbiased forward genetics screening, we isolated novel mutant alleles that could activate the UPRmt. Interestingly, we identified one reduction of function mutant allele (osa3) in the mitochondrial ribosomal gene mrpl-2 that activated the UPRmt in a diet-dependent manner. We find that mrpl-2(osa3) mutants lived longer and survived better during pathogen infection depending on the diet they were fed. A diet containing low levels of vitamin B12 could activate the UPRmt in mrpl-2(osa3) animals. Also, we find that the vitamin B12-dependent enzyme methionine synthase intersects with mrpl-2(osa3) to activate the UPRmt and confer animal lifespan extension at the level of ATFS-1. Thus, we present a novel gene-diet pairing that promotes animal longevity that is mediated by the UPRmt.
Ethical decision making under social uncertainty: An introduction to Überethicality

Decision making research has been revolutionized by prospect theory. In laboratory experiments, prospect theory captures human behavior to code outcome perspectives as gains or losses relative to an individual reference point, by which decisions are anchored. Prospect theory’s core argument that monetary losses loom larger than gains has been generalized in many domains; yet not been tested regarding social status changes. Social status striving has been subject to social science research for a long time but until today we have no clear picture of how social status prospects relative to an individual’s reference point may influence decision making and action. Understanding human cognition in the light of social status perspectives, however, could allow turning social status experiences into ethicality nudges. The perceived endowment available through social status may drive social responsibility. Ethicality as a socially-appreciated, noble contribution to society offers the prospect of social status gains given the societal respect for altruism and pro-social acts. Ethicality granting social status elevation opportunities could thereby fill current legal gaps or make people outperform legal and regulatory obligations. This paper provides an innovative application of social status theories in the sustainability domain. Building on prospect theory, two field observations of environmentally conscientious recycling behavior and sustainable energy consumption investigated if social status losses are more likely to be answered with ethicality than social status gains. Social status losses are found as significant drivers of socially-responsible environmental conscientiousness. Testing prospect theory for social status striving advances socio-economics and helps better understand the underlying mechanisms of social identity theories. Pegging social status to ethicality is an unprecedented approach to using social forces as a means for accomplishing positive societal change. Future studies may focus on elucidating whether ethicality in the wake of social status losses is more a cognitive, rational strategy or an emotional compensation for feelings of unworthiness after social status drops.
δ-Protocadherins regulate neural progenitor cell division by antagonizing Ryk and Wnt/β-catenin signaling

The division of neural progenitor cells provides the cellular substrate from which the nervous system is sculpted during development. The δ-protocadherin family of homophilic cell adhesion molecules is essential for the development of the vertebrate nervous system and is implicated in an array of neurodevelopmental disorders. We show that lesions in any of six, individual δ-protocadherins increases cell divisions of neural progenitors in the hindbrain. This increase is due to mis-regulation of Wnt/β-catenin signaling, as this pathway is upregulated in δ-protocadherin mutants and inhibition of this pathway blocks the increase in cell division. Furthermore, the δ-protocadherins can be present in complex with the Wnt receptor Ryk, and Ryk is required for the increased proliferation in protocadherin mutants. Thus, δ-protocadherins are novel regulators of Wnt/β-catenin signaling that may control the development of neural circuits by defining a molecular code for the identity of neural progenitor cells and differentially regulating their proliferation.
Korpora gesprochener Sprache als Quelle für die Erstellung von Mikro-Hörübungen mit authentischen Hörmaterialien im DaZ-/DaF-Unterricht

Mein Beitrag mochte dem Desiderat eines Hortrainings mit authentischen Texten Rechnung tragen und dabei die Moglichkeiten der Nutzung von Korpora gesprochener Sprache zum Zweck der Forderung des fremd- und zweitsprachlichen Horverstehens ausloten. Hierzu erfolgt zunachst ein kurzer Abriss der auditiven Perzeption in der Fremdsprache. Sodann werden Problemstellen der traditionellen Horverstehensdidaktik benannt und neuere didaktische Ansatze skizziert. Nach einem Uberblick uber relevante Korpora gesprochener Sprache werden zwei unterschiedlich fokussierte Zugangsweisen zu den Korpora vorgestellt: (1) die Suche nach Belegen fur auditiv relevante Phanomene mundlicher Sprache wie Verschmelzungen, Intonationsmuster, regionale Varianten, schwierige Lautkontraste u.a. und (2) die didaktische Aufbereitung konkreter Diskursexemplare. Beide Zugriffe werden exemplarisch an Ubungssequenzen veranschaulicht, die sich am Ansatz des „Mikro-Horens“ (Field 2008) orientieren. Der Beitrag schliest mit einer Diskussion der Verwendung von Mikro-Horubungen, einem Fazit zur Nutzung von Korpora in der Horverstehensdidaktik und der Benennung von Perspektiven fur die weitere Horverstehensforschung und -praxis.
Worsened short-term clinical outcomes in a cohort of patients with iNO-unresponsive PPHN: a case for improving iNO responsiveness.

To identify distinguishing characteristics of neonates with persistent pulmonary hypertension of the newborn (PPHN) unresponsive to inhaled nitric oxide (iNO) and evaluate the use of milrinone in this cohort. Retrospective chart review of 99 neonates with PPHN treated with iNO over a five-year period at a quaternary neonatal intensive care unit. Neonates with iNO-unresponsive PPHN had an increased number of ventilator days (10 vs 7 days, p = 0.02), greater length of hospital stay (30 vs 22 days, p = 0.02), and increased risk of death or ECMO than iNO-responsive neonates (p = 0.03). Inhaled NO non-responders treated with milrinone had improved oxygenation (p < 0.03) and no change in systemic hemodynamics. Neonates with iNO-unresponsive PPHN had worse clinical outcomes than iNO responders. Milrinone may be a safe and effective adjuvant therapy, although large-scale studies are lacking. Identifying early predictors of iNO response and novel strategies to enhance iNO responsiveness should be prioritized.
Penikisite, BaMg2Al2(PO4)3(OH)3, isostructural with bjarebyite

The bjarebyite group of minerals, characterized by the general formula BaX2Y2(PO4)3(OH)3, with X = Mg, Fe2+ or Mn2+, and Y = Al or Fe3+, includes five members: bjarebyite BaMn2+2Al2(PO4)3(OH)3, johntomaite BaFe2+2Fe3+2(PO4)3(OH)3, kulanite BaFe2+2Al2(PO4)3(OH)3, penikisite BaMg2Al2(PO4)3(OH)3, and perloffite BaMn2+2Fe3+2(PO4)3(OH)3. Thus far, the crystal structures of all minerals in the group, but penikisite, have been determined. The present study reports the first structure determination of penikisite (barium dimagnesium dialuminium triphosphate trihydroxide) using single-crystal X-ray diffraction data of a crystal from the type locality, Mayo Mining District, Yukon Territory, Canada. Penikisite is isotypic with other members of the bjarebyite group with space group P21/m, rather than triclinic (P1 or P-1), as previously suggested. Its structure consists of edge-shared [AlO3(OH)3] octa­hedral dimers linking via corners to form chains along [010]. These chains are decorated with PO4 tetra­hedra (one of which has site symmetry m) and connected along [100] via edge-shared [MgO5(OH)] octa­hedral dimers and eleven-coordinated Ba2+ ions (site symmetry m), forming a complex three-dimensional network. O—H⋯O hydrogen bonding provides additional linkage between chains. Microprobe analysis of the crystal used for data collection indicated that Mn substitutes for Mg at the 1.5% (apfu) level.
A modification of Einstein-Schrodinger theory which closely approximates Einstein-Weinberg-Salam theory

The Lambda-renormalized Einstein-Schrodinger theory is a modification of the original Einstein-Schrodinger theory in which a cosmological constant term is added to the Lagrangian, and it has been shown to closely approximate Einstein-Maxwell theory. Here we generalize this theory to non-Abelian fields by letting the fields be composed of dxd Hermitian matrices. The resulting theory incorporates the U(1) and SU(d) gauge terms of Einstein-Maxwell-Yang-Mills theory, and is invariant under U(1) and SU(d) gauge transformations. The special case where symmetric fields are multiples of the identity matrix closely approximates Einstein-Maxwell-Yang-Mills theory in that the extra terms in the field equations are 10^-13 of the usual terms for worst-case fields accessible to measurement. The theory contains a symmetric metric and Hermitian vector potential, and is easily coupled to the additional fields of Weinberg-Salam theory or flipped SU(5) GUT theory. We also consider the case where symmetric fields have small traceless parts, and show how this suggests a possible dark matter candidate.
A Validation of FEM3MP with Joint Urban 2003 Data

Under the sponsorship of the U.S. Department of Energy and U.S. Department of Homeland Security, a computational fluid dynamics (CFD) model for simulating airflow and dispersion of chemical/biological agents released in urban areas has recently been developed. This model, the Finite Element Model in 3-Dimensions and Massively Parallelized (FEM3MP), is based on solving the three-dimensional, timedependent Navier–Stokes equations with appropriate physics submodels on massively parallel computer platforms. It employs finite-element discretization for effective treatment of complex geometries and a semi-implicit projection scheme for efficient time integration. A simplified CFD approach, using both explicitly resolved and virtual buildings, was implemented to improve further the model’s efficiency. Results from our model are continuously being verified against measured data from wind-tunnel and field studies. Herein, this model is further evaluated using observed data from intensive operation periods (IOP) 3 and 9 of the Joint Urban 2003 field study conducted in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, in July 2003. The model simulations of wind and concentration fields in the near and intermediate regions, as well as profiles of wind speed, wind direction, friction velocity, and turbulent kinetic energy (TKE) in the urban wake region, are generally consistent with and compared reasonably well to field observations. In addition, this model was able to reproduce the observed split plume of IOP 3 and the end vortices along Park Avenue in IOP 9. The dispersion results and TKE profiles at the crane station indicate that the effects of convective mixing are relatively important for the daytime release of IOP 3 but that the stable effects are relatively unimportant for the nighttime release of IOP 9. Results of this study also suggest that the simplified CFD approach implemented in FEM3MP can be a cost-effective tool for simulating urban dispersion problems.
Visual tracking, active vision, and gradient flows

In this note, we discuss the minimization of certain functionals and the resulting gradient flows for problems in active vision. In particular, we consider how these techniques may be applied to deformable contours, and L 1-based methods for optical flow. Such techniques are becoming essential tools in the emerging field of controlled active vision.
Automated lattice perturbation theory and relativistic heavy quarks in the Columbia formulation

We introduce a new computer algebra system optimized for use in lattice perturbation theory as well as continuum perturbation theory and a new framework to perform automated perturbative calculations on top of said computer algebra system. The new framework is used to tune the relativistic heavy quark action in the Columbia formulation at one loop in meanfield-improved perturbation theory. Preliminary results for the matching and O(a)-improvement of heavy-light axial vector currents with light domain-wall quarks are also presented.
Minimum local distance density estimation

ABSTRACTWe present a local density estimator based on first-order statistics. To estimate the density at a point, x, the original sample is divided into subsets and the average minimum sample distance to x over all such subsets is used to define the density estimate at x. The tuning parameter is thus the number of subsets instead of the typical bandwidth of kernel or histogram-based density estimators. The proposed method is similar to nearest-neighbor density estimators but it provides smoother estimates. We derive the asymptotic distribution of this minimum sample distance statistic to study globally optimal values for the number and size of the subsets. Simulations are used to illustrate and compare the convergence properties of the estimator. The results show that the method provides good estimates of a wide variety of densities without changes of the tuning parameter, and that it offers competitive convergence performance.
Damages to DNA That Result in Neoplastic Transformation

Some topics discussed are: correlation between carcinogens and mutagens; defective DNA repair in uv-damaged xeroderma pigmentosum cells; analysis of nucleotide damage to DNA following exposure to chemicals or radiations; photoreactivation in uv-irradiated Escherichia coli; tumor development in fish; excision repair as an aid in identifying damage; detection of excision repair; role of endonucleases in repair of uv damage; and alkylation products and tumors. (HLW)
The median isn't the message.

Consider the standard example of stretching the truth with numbers a case quite relevant to my story. Statistics recognizes different measures of an "average," or central tendency. The mean is our usual concept of an overall average add up the items and divide them by the number of sharers (100 candy bars collected for five kids next Halloween will yield 20 for each in a just world). The median, a different measure of central tendency, is the half-way point. If I line up five kids by height, the median child is shorter than two and taller than the other two (who might have trouble getting their mean share of the candy). A politician in power might say with pride, "The mean income of our citizens is $15,000 per year." The leader of the opposition might retort, "But half our citizens make less than $10,000 per year." Both are right, but neither cites a statistic with impassive objectivity. The first invokes a mean, the second a median. (Means are higher than medians in such cases because one millionaire may outweigh hundreds of poor people in setting a mean; but he can balance only one mendicant in calculating a median).
General multi-sum transformations and some implications

We give two general transformations that allows certain quite general basic hypergeometric multi-sums of arbitrary depth (sums that involve an arbitrary sequence $$\{g(k)\}$$ ), to be reduced to an infinite q-product times a single basic hypergeometric sum. Various applications are given, including summation formulae for some q orthogonal polynomials and various multi-sums that are expressible as infinite products.
On Infinite Words Determined by Indexed Languages

We characterize the infinite words determined by indexed languages. An infinite language L determines an infinite word α if every string in L is a prefix of α. If L is regular or context-free, it is known that α must be ultimately periodic. We show that if L is an indexed language, then α is a morphic word, i.e., α can be generated by iterating a morphism under a coding. Since the other direction, that every morphic word is determined by some indexed language, also holds, this implies that the infinite words determined by indexed languages are exactly the morphic words. To obtain this result, we prove a new pumping lemma for the indexed languages, which may be of independent interest.
Improved tests of muon and electron flavor symmetry in muon processes

I review the motivation for and status of searches for violation of muon- and electron-number conservation, concentrating on muon-initiated processes. I then discuss the progress expected in the next few years, concentrating on a new experiment, E940 at BNL (the MECO experiment). It will improve the experimental sensitivity for the process μ − N → e − N to below 10−16, roughly 4 orders of magnitude better than the current limit.
Insect Visual Pigments

Publisher Summary The work of the past decade has begun to outline the particular features of insect visual pigments. Although, they are different in certain respects, insect visual pigments are similar in their basic features to the photopigments of vertebrates, and studies of insect visual pigments now are necessarily comparative. They appear to differ from vertebrate photopigments mainly in having metarhodopsins of greater thermostability, a characteristic shared by invertebrate photopigments in general. One insect visual pigment, however, is uniquely interesting. asculuphus rhodopsin is the only ultraviolet sensitive rhodopsin that has been isolated. The shift of its chromophore's absorbance to shorter wavelengths is an intriguing problem. The analysis of chromophore–opsin interaction in asculuphus rhodopsin has begun with the low temperature characterization of its intermediates. A unique 11-cis metarhodopsin photoregeneration intermediate is a significant feature of its photochemistry. The ultraviolet sensitive rhodopsin of asculuphus has joined the photopigments of vertebrates and cephalopods as one particularly suited to photochemical analysis.
Disentangling defects and sound modes in disordered solids.

We develop a new method to isolate localized defects from extended vibrational modes in disordered solids. This method augments particle interactions with an artificial potential that acts as a high-pass filter: it preserves small-scale structures while pushing extended vibrational modes to higher frequencies. The low-frequency modes that remain are “bare” defects; they are exponentially localized without the quadrupolar tails associated with elastic interactions. We demonstrate that these localized excitations are excellent predictors of plastic rearrangements in the solid. We characterize several of the properties of these defects that appear in mesoscopic theory of plasticity, including their distribution of energy barriers, number density, and size, which is a first step in testing and revising continuum models for plasticity in disordered solids.
Identifying aid effectiveness challenges in fragile and conflict-affected states

Fragile and conflict-affected states face daunting challenges for development. Aid has a greater importance on development in these states than in others, and therefore aid effectiveness management and delivery of aid  bears serious consideration. Despite its significance, aid effectiveness is appreciably lower in fragile and conflict-affected states than in others. What are the key aid effectiveness challenges in these states and how can these issues be better addressed? As important initial steps, this paper aims to identify (i) aid effectiveness challenges facing fragile and conflict-affected states and (ii) good aid effectiveness examples using the results of the Survey on Monitoring the Paris Declaration on aid effectiveness, which was designed as a mechanism to support global and country level accountability. Both fragile and conflict-affected states (recipients) and development partners (providers) are mutually accountable for aid effectiveness; therefore, this paper focuses on both sides. While the analysis confirms the significantly lower aid effectiveness performance in fragile and conflict-affected states -- especially on aid on budget, aid predictability, and use of country systems -- good performance examples in several of these states are identified. The aid effectiveness performance of development partners in fragile and conflict-affected states differs significantly across different groups. Multilateral development banks and other multilateral organizations perform better on average than bilateral organizations and vertical funds. Disaggregation of development partner performance at the institutional level and the partner country level enables the analysis successfully to identify good performance examples. In using the results of this paper to improve aid effectiveness, key additional steps should include (i) considering whether the identified challenges are essential; (ii) analyzing the factors/reasons behind good performance examples; and (iii) discussing whether good performance examples can provide lessons that can be adapted and applied.
Strictly proper mechanisms with cooperating players

Prediction markets provide an efficient means to assess uncertain quantities from forecasters. Traditional and competitive strictly proper scoring rules have been shown to incentivize players to provide truthful probabilistic forecasts. However, we show that when those players can cooperate, these mechanisms can instead discourage them from reporting what they really believe. When players with different beliefs are able to cooperate and form a coalition, these mechanisms admit arbitrage and there is a report that will always pay coalition members more than their truthful forecasts. If the coalition were created by an intermediary, such as a web portal, the intermediary would be guaranteed a profit.
Selective Intervention and Growth: The Case of Korea

Internationalization of the world economy has made trade a key factor in the growth potential of nearly every nation’s economy. Hence, economists have become increasingly interested in the determinants of international trade and competitiveness. Empirical Methods in International Trade captures the many aspects of this trend in globalization through practical techniques well-founded in economic theory. The authors, comprising some of the most influential applied international economists of their generation, use cutting-edge models to develop empirical approaches to critical aspects of economic interchange. These approaches are developed and explained carefully with the goal of making them accessible to a wide audience.
Laboratory Experiments on Current Sheet Disruptions, Double Layers, Turbulence and Reconnection

The role of laboratory experiments to the understanding of current systems in space plasmas is reviewed. It is shown that laboratory plasmas are uniquely suited to make detailed investigations of basic physical processes in current-carrying plasmas. Examples are given for double layers, current-driven instabilities, and the plasma dynamics at magnetic neutral points during reconnection. Observations of current sheet disruptions show the coupling between local plasma phenomena (double layers) and global circuit properties (magnetic energy storage).
Quantitative Nasal Culture: a Tool in Antibiotic Research

The use of the quantitative nasal culture was investigated as a means of evaluation of new antimicrobial drugs in man. Cyclacillin was somewhat more active in vitro than penicillin G against penicillin G-resistant organisms. Cyclacillin was highly effective in suppressing staphylococci susceptible to penicillin G in nasal carriers but did not suppress staphylococci resistant to penicillin G. Although in previous studies by others cyclacillin was effective in treating mice infected with penicillin G-resistant staphylococci, in the present studies cyclacillin was not effective in suppressing nasal penicillin G-resistant staphylococci in man at doses which markedly suppressed penicillin G-sensitive organisms.
THE RING STRUCTURE OF THYMIDINE

The 2-desoxy-ribose nucleosides, first isolated by Levene and London’ by the hydrolysis of thymus nucleic acid, are characterized by their extreme ease of hydrolysis by very dilute mineral acids. Thus, guanine-2-desoxy-riboside is completely hydrolyzed by heating with 0.01 N hydrochloric acid during 5 minutes. Since the rate of hydrolysis is of the same order as that of the furanosides, it was considered possible that the 2-desoxy-ribonucleosides, similarly to the ribonucleosides, have the furanoside ring structure. When, however, it was discovered2 that methyl-2-desoxyglucopyranoside is almost as readily hydrolyzed, it appeared just as feasible that the natural derivatives might have the pyranoside ring structure. Hence the question of their ring structure was in need of further special investigation. We have now studied the ring structure of the sugar portion of thymidine (thymine-2-desoxy-riboside). This substance is found to react with triphenylmethyl chloride in pyridine to give a monotrityl derivative. Since it was shown by us3 that the analogous monotrityl uridine is the 5-substituted derivative, the formation of a monotrityl thymidine might, of itself, be considered a good indication that thymidine is, likewise, a furanoside. Definite proof of this conclusion was provided by substituting the remaining free hydroxyl group by a tosyl group and examining the behavior of the resulting monotosyl trityl thymidine on treat-
Finitely Presented Groups Related to Kaplansky’s Direct Finiteness Conjecture

We consider a family of finitely presented groups, called universal left invertible element (ULIE) groups, that are universal for existence of one-sided invertible elements in a group ring K[G], where K is a field or a division ring. We show that for testing Kaplansky’s direct finiteness conjecture, it suffices to test it on ULIE groups, and we show that there is an infinite family of nonamenable ULIE groups. We consider the invertibles conjecture, and we show that it is equivalent to a question about ULIE groups. By calculating all the ULIE groups over the field of two elements, for ranks (3, n), n ≤ 11, and (5, 5), we show that the direct finiteness conjecture and the invertibles conjecture (which implies the zero divisors conjecture) hold for these ranks over .
A conditional random field for discriminatively-trained finite-state string edit distance

The need to measure sequence similarity arises in information extraction, object identity, data mining, biological sequence analysis, and other domains. This paper presents discriminative string-edit CRFs, a finite-state conditional random field model for edit sequences between strings. Conditional random fields have advantages over generative approaches to this problem, such as pair HMMs or the work of Ristad and Yianilos, because as conditionally-trained methods, they enable the use of complex, arbitrary actions and features of the input strings. As in generative models, the training data does not have to specify the edit sequences between the given string pairs. Unlike generative models, however, our model is trained on both positive and negative instances of string pairs. We present positive experimental results on several data sets.
Confirmatory Bias under Food-Borne Risk: A Lab Experiment

Abstract An experiment was conducted to investigate the interaction between consumers’ past eating behaviors, risk perceptions and future information processing procedure. In the study, participants were required to choose whether or not to eat chicken that was potentially be tainted with Avian Influenza (AI). Results showed that people decreased the consumption when facing ambiguous signals regarding the food quality, but would not cease to eat altogether. Due to a taste of consistency, participants updated their risk perceptions and judgments based on their eating behaviors. The more chicken individuals ate the more favorably they tended to rate the food, suggesting confirmatory bias. Even though consumers with previous experience could pick up signals faster, their judgment was not better than those non users due to a much stronger psychological bias. This study offered an explanation for why consumers were universally irresponsive to public food safety information. Key Words Cognitive Dissonance, Confirmation Bias, Self-compliance, Justification
Robustness analysis of Bayesian networks with local convex sets of distributions

Robust Bayesian inference is the calculation of posterior probability bounds given perturbations in a probabilistic model. This paper focuses on perturbations that can be expressed locally in Bayesian networks through convex sets of distributions. Two approaches for combination of local models are considered. The first approach takes the largest set of joint distributions that is compatible with the local sets of distributions; we show how to reduce this type of robust inference to a linear programming problem. The second approach takes the convex hull of joint distributions generated from the local sets of distributions; we demonstrate how to apply interior-point optimization methods to generate posterior bounds and how to generate approximations that are guaranteed to converge to correct posterior bounds. We also discuss calculation of bounds for expected utilities and variances, and global perturbation models.
Advances in High Resolution Imaging from Underwater Vehicles

Large area mapping at high resolution underwater continues to be constrained by the mismatch between available navigation as compared to sensor accuracy. In this paper we present advances that exploit consistency and redundancy within local sensor measurements to build high resolution optical and acoustic maps that are a consistent representation of the environment.
Addition of Excess Carbon to SiC to Study its Effect on Silicon Carbide (SiC) Armor

Commercial silicon carbide (SiC) powders are composed of a wide range of particle sizes, typically 0.5 to 15um depending on the powder. It was shown that by eliminating large particles and hard agglomerates greater than 2um improved microstructural uniformity in hot pressed parts could be achieved. The effect of carbon over-additions ranging from 0.25 to 5 % on microstructural uniformity was also examined. It was found that for over-additions of carbon exceed 1% the Knoop hardness was shown to decrease by as much as 20% compared with conventionally prepared, dense SiC. The effect of increased carbon percentages on microstructure and hardness was shown.
Benefits of U.S. organic agriculture

This case study reviews the economic, social, and environmental benefits associated with organic agriculture in the U.S. These benefits include measurable impacts and unmeasurable impacts that affect both agricultural and consumer systems in fundamental ways. Both are discussed in this study. Measurable impacts are quantified in two ways – by comparing characteristics of organic and conventional farmers and by comparing indicators of benefits in counties with organic farms and counties without. Statistical differences in counties with and without organic farms are strong evidence that organic farms need not be numerous to generate benefits. There were 1,208 counties containing 4,868 organic farms in the U.S. in 1997, the last year for which location data are available. Findings of measurable impacts include: • Organic farmers are more likely to be female, hold a college degree, and be full-time farmers. The average organic farmer is 7 years younger than the average U.S. farmer. • Retail price premiums for organic foods average 10% to 30% higher than conventional. Farm price premiums are 70% to 250% more than what conventional farmers receive. • Counties with organic farms have stronger farm economies and contribute more to local economies through total sales, net revenue, farm value, taxes paid, payroll, and purchases of fertilizer, seed, and repair and maintenance services. • Counties with organic farms have more committed farmers and give more support to rural development with higher percentages of resident full-time farmers, greater direct to consumer sales, more workers hired, and higher worker pay. • Counties with organic farms provide more bird and wildlife habitat and have lower insecticide and nematicide use. • Watersheds with organic farms and have reduced agricultural impact and lower runoff risk from nitrogen and sediment. Findings of unmeasurable impacts include: • Organic farming under current standards avoids social and economic costs such as pesticide poisonings and costs of testing for genetically engineered foods. • The market in organic foods is more efficient than for conventional foods, because prices reflect more of the cost of producing socially desirable outputs, such as clean water, as a byproduct of food production activities. This reduces the need for government intervention through taxes or subsidies to obtain these benefits. • Innovation and openness to new ideas are necessary for growth in knowledge-based organic systems, and result in rapid development and dissemination of information on nonchemical production methods that benefit all farmers. Overall, the findings of this study are surprising in the strength of support for the hypothesis that organic farming produces more benefits than conventional farming. Nearly every indicator tested across the range of economic, social, and environmental benefits favors organic systems. Even though organic farmers are not a large percentage of the total number of U.S. farmers, their influence is felt through their innovation of management techniques and leadership in meeting the organic standards.