cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Heterogeneous catalytic synthesis of ethanol from biomass-derived syngas.

The selective catalytic conversion of biomass-derived syngas into ethanol is thermodynamically feasible at temperatures below roughly 350 °C at 30 bar. However, if methane is allowed as a reaction product, the conversion to ethanol (or other oxygenates) is extremely limited. Experimental results show that high selectivities to ethanol are only achieved at very low conversions, typically less than 10%. The most promising catalysts for the synthesis of ethanol are based on Rh, though some other formulations (such as modified methanol synthesis catalysts) show promise. (Critical review—173 references.)
Fixed and market pricing for cloud services

This paper considers two simple pricing schemes for selling cloud instances and studies the trade-off between them. We characterize the equilibrium for the hybrid system where arriving jobs can choose between fixed or the market based pricing. We provide theoretical and simulation based evidence suggesting that fixed price generates a higher expected revenue than the hybrid system.
Lower hybrid current drive and ion Bernstein wave heating experiments on PBX-M

Abstract This paper presents an overview of the experiments conducted on PBX-M to evaluate the feasibility and effect of current profile and pressure profile control on the plasma stability. Utilizing the inaccessibility of the lower hybrid waves, it has been possible to obtain a certain degree of power deposition localization and off-axis current drive. The effect of fast electron diffusion has been studied and found not to be a limiting factor; consequently, the current profile has been modified in a non-transient manner. More serious is the destabilization of global MHD modes, due to the change of the current profile, which can lead to disruption or to a rapid radial redistribution of the fast electron population. Experiments with ion Bernstein wave heating have shown that power can be deposited off-axis and that the ion temperature can be modified locally. Application of IBW into a strongly neutral beam (NBI) heated H-mode plasma causes a substantial increase of thermal and particle confinement in the core of the plasma: this produces a localized bootstrap current sufficient to significantly raise the value of q(0). We propose to refer to this condition as the CH-mode (or core high-confinement mode).
Computation and physics: Wheeler's meaning circuit?

Computation is a physical process, inevitably utilizing physical degrees of freedom. Computation, therefore, is restricted by the laws of physics and also by the construction materials and operating environments available in our actual universe. These restrictions have been investigated for a quarter century. A discussion of this field is provided, too concise to be a review, but only intended as a guide to the literature. Physical law, in turn, consists of algorithms for information processing. Therefore, the ultimate form of physical laws must be consistent with the restrictions on the physical executability of algorithms, which is in turn dependent on physical law.
The number of independent sets in a regular graph

We show that the number of independent sets in an N-vertex, d-regular graph is at most (2d+1 − 1)N/2d, where the bound is sharp for a disjoint union of complete d-regular bipartite graphs. This settles a conjecture of Alon in 1991 and Kahn in 2001. Kahn proved the bound when the graph is assumed to be bipartite. We give a short proof that reduces the general case to the bipartite case. Our method also works for a weighted generalization, i.e., an upper bound for the independence polynomial of a regular graph.
How Do Market Prices and Cheap Talk Affect Coordination

In many scenarios such as banking and liquidity crises, inefficiencies often arise because investors face uncertainties about economic fundamentals and the strategies of other investors. How information affects fundamental uncertainty is well studied, but how information affects strategic uncertainty is underexplored. This paper examines how two communication mechanisms, market and cheap talk, affect investment decisions and efficiency in an experimental investment game with both fundamental and strategic uncertainty. I find that the market does not improve coordination because the expectation that coordination failures will occur is self-fulfilling, while cheap talk improves coordination because the signals of willingness to invest alleviate strategic uncertainty.
WHO CHOOSES TO OWN A MANUFACTURED HOME

Little research has been conducted on the choice of dwelling by U.S. homeowners. Few studies have included manufactured housing into the dwelling choices available to homeowners. This study focuses on the effects of demographic and socioeconomic variables on a household’s choice to own a manufactured home. A multinomial logit model was used to determine what type of households chooses to own a manufactured home when other traditional dwelling choices are available. I found that income and education play a major role in dwelling choice.
Finite-element technique applied to heat conduction in solids with temperature dependent thermal conductivity

Consider a solid heat conductor with a non-linear constitutive equation for the heat flux. If the material is anisotropic and inhomogeneous, the heat conduction equation to be satisfied by the temperature field θ(x, t) is, Here L(θ, x) [grad θ] is a vector-valued function of θ, x, grad θ which is linear in grad θ, In the present paper, the application of the finite element method to the solution of this class of problems is demonstrated. General discrete models are developed which enable approximate solutions to be obtained for arbitrary three-dimensional regions and the following boundary and initial conditions: (a) prescribed surface temperature, (b) prescribed heat flux at the surface and (c) linear heat transfer at the surface. Numerical examples involve a homogeneous solid with a dimensionless temperature-diffusivity curve of the form κ = κ0(l + σT). The resulting system of non-linear differential equations is integrated numerically.
Chaos and the Shapes of Elliptical Galaxies

Hubble Space Telescope observations reveal that the density of stars in most elliptical galaxies rises toward the center in a power-law cusp. Many of these galaxies also contain central dark objects, possibly supermassive black holes. The gravitational force from a steep cusp or black hole will destroy most of the box orbits that constitute the “backbone” of a triaxial stellar system. Detailed modeling demonstrates that the resulting chaos can preclude a self-consistent, strongly triaxial equilibrium. Most elliptical galaxies may therefore be nearly axisymmetric, either oblate or prolate.
The use of rieke zinc metal in the selective reduction of alkynes

Abstract Rieke zinc has been found to be a very selective reducing agent of alkynes to cis-alkenes, allowing for the reduction of enynes to 1,3-dienes, diynes to enynes or dienes, and of propargylic alcohols to cis-allylic
Visualization of Flow Fields and Interfacial Phenomena in Liquid-Liquid Solvent Extraction

Abstract Use of a video camera apparatus with a helium-neon laser light source has enabled the detection of flow fields in and around a circulating aqueous droplet which is suspended in a flowing stream of 2-ethyl-l-hexanol. Droplet Reynolds numbers were in the range of 7 to 22. The behavior of the streamlines for flow both inside and outside the droplet was shown to be similar to that predicted for circulating droplets at low Reynolds numbers. Formation of stagnant caps of surfactant at the rear of the droplets was found to suppress the flow patterns inside the droplet and decrease the associated internal fluid velocities.
A Simulation Approach to Dynamic Portfolio Choice with an Application to Learning About Return Predictability

We present a simulation-based method for solving discrete-time portfolio choice problems involving non-standard preferences, a large number of assets with arbitrary return distribution, and, most importantly, a large number of state variables with potentially path-dependent or non-stationary dynamics. The method is flexible enough to accommodate intermediate consumption, portfolio constraints, parameter and model uncertainty, and learning. We first establish the properties of the method for the portfolio choice between a stock index and cash when the stock returns are either iid or predictable by the dividend yield. We then explore the problem of an investor who takes into account the predictability of returns but is uncertain about the parameters of the data generating process. The investor chooses the portfolio anticipating that future data realizations will contain useful information to learn about the true parameter values.
Processing of Amorphous Calcium Aluminate Powders at < 900°C

Aluminate chelate and calcium nitrate precursors were used to synthesize amorphous calcium aluminate powders by sol-gel processing at <900°C. The method of preparation and results of characterization of the gels by thermogravimetric analysis, X-ray diffraction, scanning Auger microscopy, and single-point BET analysis are presented. An optimum heat-treatment schedule consisting of heating the gel to 900°C at 5°C/min and holding for 16 h was developed to produce highly reactive, X-ray amorphous calcium aluminate powders
Solving factored MDPs with continuous and discrete variables

Although many real-world stochastic planning problems are more naturally formulated by hybrid models with both discrete and continuous variables, current state-of-the-art methods cannot adequately address these problems. We present the first framework that can exploit problem structure for modeling and solving hybrid problems efficiently. We formulate these problems as hybrid Markov decision processes (MDPs with continuous and discrete state and action variables), which we assume can be represented in a factored way using a hybrid dynamic Bayesian network (hybrid DBN). This formulation also allows us to apply our methods to collaborative multiagent settings. We present a new linear program approximation method that exploits the structure of the hybrid MDP and lets us compute approximate value functions more efficiently. In particular, we describe a new factored discretization of continuous variables that avoids the exponential blow-up of traditional approaches. We provide theoretical bounds on the quality of such an approximation and on its scale-up potential. We support our theoretical arguments with experiments on a set of control problems with up to 28-dimensional continuous state space and 22-dimensional action space.
Job Creation in Fragile and Conflict-Affected Situations

This paper presents a comprehensive review of the operations that the World Bank has supported to create jobs and promote employment in fragile and conflict-affected situations. A novel approach to identifying projects is presented that enables searching for projects based on stated development objectives, regardless of the sector of the project. Of a sample of 2,166 projects funded by the International Development Association, this resulted in the identification of 98 projects that have specific job creation and employment generation development objectives. Among these projects, 51 percent of countries appearing on the list between 2004 and 2012 have implemented projects. Detailed textual analysis is carried out on the project descriptions and indicators to evaluate how well projects are aligned to the context. The results suggest there is a lack of measurement on outcomes that are particularly relevant for fragile and conflict-affected situations, such as the development of social cohesion, reintegration of those involved or affected by violence, impacts jobs have on the willingness to engage in violence or conflict, perceptions of government accountability, and equitable access to these economic opportunities. Quantitative analysis of the portfolio indicates that there are also systematic differences in the size and resources associated with job creation projects in countries with fragile and conflict-affected situations relative to similar projects in other International Development Association-borrowing countries. Given the mixed empirical evidence on the relationship between jobs and conflict, this report calls for more methodological measurement of the impacts of these programs on stabilization outcomes in the future.
C–H functionalization logic in total synthesis

In this critical review, the strategic and economic benefits of C–H functionalization logic will be analyzed through the critical lens of total synthesis. In order to illustrate the dramatically simplifying effects this type of logic can potentially have on synthetic planning, we take the reader through a series of case studies in which it has already been successfully applied. In the first section, a chronological look at key historical syntheses will be examined, leading into modern day examples. In the second section, our own experience with applying and executing synthesis with a C–H functionalization “mindset” will be discussed (114 references).
A Luminous Recurrent Supersoft X-ray Source in NGC 300

We report the results of XMM-Newton observations for an especially luminous supersoft X-ray source (SSS) with a bolometric luminosity of 1039 ergs s-1 in the spiral galaxy NGC 300. The source was detected as an SSS in 1992 and disappeared in subsequent X-ray observations. The source was active again during recent XMM-Newton observations. It appeared to be very soft (kT ~ 60 eV) and very luminous (~1038-1039 ergs s-1). The two XMM-Newton observations also reveal that the source went from a "high" state to a "low" state in 6 days. We also found a 5.4 hr periodicity during the low state. We consider white dwarf, black hole, and neutron star models in order to explain the nature of the source.
Oral democracy and women’s oratory competency in Indian village assemblies : a qualitative analysis

In democracies, innovative political institutions have opened up scope for direct public participation often in the form of talk: citizens talking to the state and mutual talk among citizens on matters concerning community development. A prominent example is the Indian gram sabha, or village assembly, which occurs in a highly stratified context. This paper undertakes a talk-centered analysis of the gram sabha with a focus on examining the oral participation of women in general and women affiliated with microcredit self-help groups who have access to an associational life. The qualitative analysis of 255 gram sabha transcripts from four South Indian states finds that women associated with microcredit self-help groups employ a wider variety of narrative styles and utilize a more multilayered structure to convey their messages compared with all women taken together. Thus, the difference is not so much in the numerical instances of talking or in the types of issues raised, but rather in the quality of participation. The paper makes an important theoretical contribution by proposing the concept of oral democracy as an alternative to deliberative democracy, and urges an analytical focus on the oral or oratory competency of subordinated groups as they participate in these important institutions.
Strategies for protecting and manipulating triazine derivatives

Abstract Aminotriazine derivatives are available in two steps by treating chlorotriazines with acid-labile benzylic amines including triphenylmethylamine, diphenylmethylamine, and 2,4-dimethoxybenzyl-amine (Dmb-amine), followed by deprotection using trifluoroacetic acid. This high yielding (85–99%) protocol is a milder alternative to the traditional method that uses ammonia and high temperature as a route to aminotriazine derivatives. The nucleophilic substitution reaction that installs the benzylic amine on monochlorotriazine herbicide derivatives may be performed using conventional heating. Alternatively, a microwave reactor can be used to decrease the reaction times 100-fold. The intermediates in these syntheses are soluble in a range of organic solvents and amenable to chromatography. In some cases when dimethoxybenzyl groups are used, oligomerization of the dimethoxybenzyl side product upon treatment with trifluoroacetic acid yields a precipitate that facilitates purification by simple filtration.
The Hydrometeorological Environment of Extreme Rainstorms in the Southern Plains of the United States

Abstract Convective storms are commonplace in the southern plains of the United States. Occasionally, convective storms produce extreme rainfall accumulations, causing streams and rivers to flood. In this paper, we examine the hydrometeorological environment associated with these extreme rainstorms. Datasets used include hourly precipitation data from more than 200 stations, upper-air data, and daily weather maps. The seasonal distribution of extreme rainstorms in the southern plains has pronounced peaks in late spring and early fall. Moisture availability and convective instability are higher than climatological averages during spring and fall extreme rainstorms, but nearer their averages during summer extreme rainstorms. Although high levels of moisture and convective instability are most common in the summer, the dynamic forcings that can initiate and focus convection are weak. It appears that late spring and early fall are the most likely times for extreme rainstorms because anomalously high levels of...
A facile reduction of 2-aminopyrimidines with triethylsilane and trifluoroacetic acid

2-Aminopyrimidines were facilely reduced to 2-amino-dihydro- or 2-amino-tetrahydropyrimidines with triethylsilane and trifluroacetic acid in high yields. By controlling the equivalents of reducing reagents and temperature, selective reduction could also be achieved for some substrates.
External memory algorithms

Data sets in large applications are often too massive to fit completely inside the computer's internal memory. The resulting input/output communication (or I/O) between fast internal memory and slower external memory (such as disks) can be a major performance bottleneck. In this paper we survey the state of the art in the design and analysis of external memory (or EM) algorithms, where the goal is to exploit locality in order to reduce the I/O costs.For sorting and related problems like permuting and fast Fourier transform, the key paradigms include distribution and merging. The paradigm of disk striping offers an elegant way to use multiple disks in parallel. For sorting, however, disk striping can be nonoptimal with respect to I/O, so to gain further improvements we discuss distribution and merging techniques for using the disks independently. We consider EM paradigms for computations involving matrixes, geometric data, and graphs, and we look at problems caused by dynamic memory allocation. We report on some experiments in the domain of spatial databases using the TPIE system (Transparent Parallel I/O programming Environment). The newly developed EM algorithms and data structures that incorporate the paradigms we discuss in this chapter are significantly faster than methods currently used in practice.
Reactions of novel mono- and difluoroacetyltrialkylsilanes with sulfur and phosphorus ylides

Abstract The reactions of difluoroacetyltrialkylsilanes with methylidene triphenylphosphorane and benzylidene triphenylphosphorane are affected by the nature of the silyl substituents giving either the enol silyl ether or normal Wittig product exclusively, or mixture of both. Reactions with Horner–Emmons type ylide gave only the alkene products. Reactions of mono- and difluoroacetyltrialkylsilanes with dimethylsulfoxonium methylide gave the enol silyl ether products exclusively. Conversion of an enol silyl ether to an epoxide was effected with m -CPBA.
Pd-catalyzed amination in a polar medium: rate enhancement, convenient product isolation, and tandem Suzuki cross-coupling

Abstract A catalytic system utilizing a polar medium for the Pd-catalyzed amination reaction is described. This system utilizes Pd[P( t -Bu) 3 ] 2 and a weak base and displays a modest rate enhancement compared to similar existing protocols. Significant functional group tolerance is observed in both amine and aryl halide, including carboxylates, carbamates, nitriles, amides, and esters. Product isolation after filtration and automated reverse-phase chromatography readily permits parallel synthetic approaches if desired.
High resolution atmospheric spectroscopy using a diode laser heterodyne spectrometer

Ultrahigh resolution (0.007 per cm) atmospheric solar absorption spectra that have been obtained from a tunable infrared heterodyne radiometer are discussed. The radiometer was developed for ground based observations in the 8-12 micron region, and tunability is achieved through the use of Pb-salt semiconductor laser local oscillators. Spectra have been obtained in a piecewise fashion from 9.1 to 11.1 microns using laser emission modes that exhibit characteristics suitable for local-oscillator operation. Spectra showing absorption features of HNO3, O3, CO2, and H2O are presented along with comparisons of experimental and synthetic spectra calculated using a line-by-line atmospheric transmission model.
A novel 1,3,5-tris(α, β, β-trifluorovinyl)benzene monomer

The reaction of the perfluoroalkenylzinc reagent, CF2CFZnBr, with 1,3,5-tribromobenzene in the presence of a catalytic amount of Pd(Ph3)4 yielded a novel trifunctional monomer 1,3,5-tris(α,β,β-trifluorovinyl)benzene (1).
Monomeric rhodium(II) catalysts for the preparation of aziridines and enantioselective formation of cyclopropanes from ethyl diazoacetate at room temperature

A family of bis(oxazoline) complexes of coordinatively unsaturated monomeric rhodium(II) (2a,b, 3a,b) are described. These complexes serve as catalysts for cyclopropanation of olefins by ethyl diazoacetate, giving excellent yields (66-94%). Enantioselectivities for the cis product isomers are good (61-84%). The reaction shows an unusual preference for formation of the cis isomers. Catalytic aziridination of N-aryl imines with ethyl diazoacetate is also described.
BACKLASH COMPENSATION WITH FILTERED PREDICTION IN DISCRETE TIME NONLINEAR SYSTEMS BY DYNAMIC INVERSION USING NEURAL NETWORKS

A dynamics inversion compensation scheme is designed for control of nonlinear discrete-time systems with input backlash. This paper extends the dynamic inversion technique to discrete-time systems by using a filtered prediction, and shows how to use a neural network (NN) for inverting the backlash nonlinearity in the feedforward path. The technique provides a general procedure for using NN to determine the dynamics preinverse of an invertible discrete time dynamical system. A discrete-time tuning algorithm is given for the NN weights so that the backlash compensation scheme guarantees bounded tracking and backlash errors, and also bounded parameter estimates. A rigorous proof of stability and performance is given and a simulation example verifies performance. Unlike standard discrete-time adaptive control techniques, no certainty equivalence (CE) or linear-in-the-parameters (LIP) assumptions are needed.
The Competitive Effects of Transmission Infrastructure in the Indian Electricity Market

India’s dysfunctional electricity sector is widely viewed as a constraint on growth and social welfare. In 2003, the Indian government instituted market-oriented reforms that opened access to the power grid and established exchanges for power trade. I use confidential data on hourly bids and offers to study the competitiveness of the resulting wholesale power market, in which tight constraints on transmission may limit competition across regions of the country. I estimate firm marginal costs from supply offers using first-order conditions for optimal bidding that account for the likelihood that transmission constraints will cut off demand and competing supply from other regions. Using these cost estimates, I run counterfactual simulations to measure the surplus gains from increasing transmission capacity. I find that relaxing import constraints into the two most constrained regions would increase total market surplus by 19 percent or USD 110 million per year. The strategic response of suppliers to transmission expansions accounts for 72 percent of this gain, indicating that new transmission greatly undercuts local market power. The marginal benefits of capacity expansion into the two most constrained regions exceed the marginal costs of investment by factors of 1.63 and 3.50, respectively. Liberalization in electricity generation requires that the government take a strong complementary role through regulation and infrastructure investment to ensure competition.
Systems biology of platelet-vessel wall interactions.

Platelets are small, anucleated cells that participate in primary hemostasis by forming a hemostatic plug at the site of a blood vessel’s breach, preventing blood loss. However, hemostatic events can lead to excessive thrombosis, resulting in life-threatening strokes, emboli, or infarction. Development of multi-scale models coupling processes at several scales and running predictive model simulations on powerful computer clusters can help interdisciplinary groups of researchers to suggest and test new patient-specific treatment strategies.
Deep Residual Learning for Image Recognition

Deeper neural networks are more difficult to train. We present a residual learning framework to ease the training of networks that are substantially deeper than those used previously. We explicitly reformulate the layers as learning residual functions with reference to the layer inputs, instead of learning unreferenced functions. We provide comprehensive empirical evidence showing that these residual networks are easier to optimize, and can gain accuracy from considerably increased depth. On the ImageNet dataset we evaluate residual nets with a depth of up to 152 layers—8× deeper than VGG nets [40] but still having lower complexity. An ensemble of these residual nets achieves 3.57% error on the ImageNet test set. This result won the 1st place on the ILSVRC 2015 classification task. We also present analysis on CIFAR-10 with 100 and 1000 layers. The depth of representations is of central importance for many visual recognition tasks. Solely due to our extremely deep representations, we obtain a 28% relative improvement on the COCO object detection dataset. Deep residual nets are foundations of our submissions to ILSVRC & COCO 2015 competitions1, where we also won the 1st places on the tasks of ImageNet detection, ImageNet localization, COCO detection, and COCO segmentation.
Percutaneous Renal Access: Surgical Factors Involved in the Acute Reduction of Renal Function.

Abstract Introduction and Objective: Studies in patients and experimental animals have shown that percutaneous nephrolithotomy (PCNL) can acutely impair glomerular filtration and renal perfusion, but the factors contributing to this decline in renal function are unknown. The present study assessed the contribution of needle puncture of the kidney vs dilation of the needle tract to the acute decline in renal hemodynamic and tubular transport function associated with PCNL surgery. Materials and Methods: Acute experiments were performed in three groups of anesthetized adult farm pigs: sham-percutaneous access (PERC), that is, no surgical procedure (n = 7); a single-needle stick to access the renal collecting system (n = 8); expansion of the single-needle access tract with a 30F NephroMax balloon dilator and insertion of a nephrostomy sheath (n = 10). The glomerular filtration rate (GFR), effective renal plasma flow (ERPF), and renal extraction of para-amino hippurate (EPAH, estimates tubular organic anion tr...
Nitrogen Heterocyclic Bases as Catalysts for the Selective Synthesis of Symmetric P,P′-Disubstituted Bisphosphonate Esters

Abstract Nitrogen heterocyclic bases were investigated as potential catalysts for the selective synthesis of symmetric P,P′-disubstituted partial esters of methylenebisphosphonic acid. The size, presence of oxygen or sulfur donor atoms as well as position and number of nitrogen atoms in the ring were varied systematically to determine the effect of these structural modifications on catalyst selectivity. 1-Methylimidazole and 1H-1,2,3-triazole, which yield exclusively the desired diester product, were shown viable alternatives to 1H-tetrazole for catalyzing the selective coupling of methylenebis- (phosphonic dichloride) with 2 equiv. of alcohol.
A Series-Stacked Power Delivery Architecture With Isolated Differential Power Conversion for Data Centers

In this paper, an alternative method to achieve more efficient dc power distribution and voltage regulation for future data centers is presented. This paper describes a series-stacked power delivery architecture, where servers are connected electrically in series, thereby, providing inherent step down of voltage. Server voltage regulation is performed by differential power converters, which only process the mismatch power between servers. The bulk power flows with no power processing, yielding greatly increased system efficiency compared to conventional architectures. We demonstrate the series-connected architecture with an experimental proof of concept and compare the proposed architecture with a conventional dc power delivery architecture employing a best-in-class power supply unit for servers. The proposed power delivery architecture is validated with a series-stacked server rack consisting of four 12 V servers, powered from a 48 V dc bus, performing two different real-world operations: web traffic management and computation. Through experimental measurements, we demonstrate up to a 40x reduction in power conversion losses compared to state-of-the-art hardware, and an overall best-case system conversion efficiency of 99.89%.
An automated method for exploring targeted substructural diversity within sets of chemical structures.

Practicing medicinal chemists tend to treat a lead compound as an assemblage of its substructural parts. By iteratively confining their synthetic efforts in a localized fashion, they are able to systematically investigate how minor changes in certain portions of the molecule effect the properties of interest in the logical expectation that the observed beneficial changes will be cumulative. One disadvantage to this approach arises when large amounts of structure data begin to accumulate which is often the case in recent times due to such developments as high-throughput screening, virtual screening, and combinatorial chemistry. How then does one interactively mine this diverse data consistent with the desired substructural template, so those desirable structural features can be discovered and interpreted, especially when they may not occur in the most active compounds due to structural deficiencies in other portions of the molecule? In this paper, we present an algorithm to automate this process that has h...
A novel OFDMA ranging method exploiting multiuser diversity

This paper addresses initial ranging (uplink synchronization and power control) for TDD OFDMA systems. Exploiting the channel knowledge from the downlink channel together with initial power control, we develop a novel initial ranging method which provides multiuser diversity gain and significant power saving for the subscriber stations. We present new ranging signal designs which enable multiuser diversity gain and facilitate new efficient low-complexity algorithms for multiuser ranging signal detection, timing estimation and power estimation. The advantages of the proposed approach over existing methods in terms of the ranging signal detection performance, the number of ranging frames required to finish the ranging process (latency at the network entry), the timing and power estimation performance, the ranging transmission power saving at the subscriber stations, and the complexity saving at the base station are illustrated by analytical and simulation results.
Chemometrical Classification of Ephrin Ligands and Eph Kinases Using GRID/CPCA Approach

Eph receptor tyrosine kinases are divided on two subfamilies based on their affinity for ephrin ligands and play a crucial role in the intercellular processes such as angiogenesis, neurogenesis, and carcinogenesis. As such, Eph kinases represent potential targets for drug design, which requires the knowledge of structural features responsible for their specific interactions. To overcome the existing gap between available sequence and structure information we have built 3D models of eight ephrins and 13 Eph kinase ligand-binding domains using homology modeling techniques. The interaction energies for several molecular probes with binding sites of these models were calculated using GRID and subjected to chemometrical classification based on consensus principal component analysis (CPCA). Despite inherent limitations of the homology models, CPCA was able to successfully distinguish between ephrins and Eph kinases, between Eph kinase subfamilies, and between ephrin subfamilies. As a result we have identified several amino acids that may account for selectivity in ephrin-Eph kinase interactions. In general, although the difference in charge between ephrin and Eph kinase binding domains creates an attractive long-range electrostatic force, the hydrophobic and steric interactions are highly important for the short-range interactions between two proteins. The chemometrical analysis also provides the pharmacophore model, which could be used for virtual screening and de novo ligand design.
A novel nonlinear compliant link on simple grippers

This paper presents a novel nonlinear compliant link. It has two major properties: bi-directionality and stiffening compliance. Bi-directionality means it can be stretched and compressed, and is realized by antagonistic arrangement of an extension spring and a compression spring. Stiffening compliance means it becomes stiffer as it is stretched, and is realized by asymmetric geometry. The links are parts of Simple Hand. Because Simple Hand gives limited space for links, current iteration of links is not obviously nonlinear. However, nonlinearity should be more obvious if links are designed for larger grippers.
An Experimental Test of Advice and Social Learning

Social learning describes any situation in which individuals learn by observing the behavior of others. In the real world, however, individuals learn not just by observing the actions of others but also from seeking advice. This paper introduces advice giving into the standard social-learning experiment of Celen and Kariv (Celen, B., S. Kariv. 2005. An experimental test of observational learning under imperfect information. Econom. Theory26(3) 677--699). The experiments are designed so that both pieces of information---action and advice---are equally informative (in fact, identical) in equilibrium. Despite the informational equivalence of advice and actions, we find that subjects in a laboratory social-learning situation appear to be more willing to follow the advice given to them by their predecessor than to copy their action, and that the presence of advice increases subjects' welfare.
Evaluating Landsat 8 evapotranspiration for water use mapping in the Colorado River Basin

Abstract Evapotranspiration (ET) mapping at the Landsat spatial resolution (100 m) is essential to fully understand water use and water availability at the field scale. Water use estimates in the Colorado River Basin (CRB), which has diverse ecosystems and complex hydro-climatic regions, will be helpful to water planners and managers. Availability of Landsat 8 images, starting in 2013, provides the opportunity to map ET in the CRB to assess spatial distribution and patterns of water use. The Operational Simplified Surface Energy Balance (SSEBop) model was used with 528 Landsat 8 images to create seamless monthly and annual ET estimates at the inherent 100 m thermal band resolution. Annual ET values were summarized by land use/land cover classes. Croplands were the largest consumer of “blue” water while shrublands consumed the most “green” water. Validation using eddy covariance (EC) flux towers and water balance approaches showed good accuracy levels with R2 ranging from 0.74 to 0.95 and the Nash–Sutcliffe model efficiency coefficient ranging from 0.66 to 0.91. The root mean square error (and percent bias) ranged from 0.48 mm (13%) to 0.60 mm (22%) for daily (days of satellite overpass) ET and from 7.75 mm (2%) to 13.04 mm (35%) for monthly ET. The spatial and temporal distribution of ET indicates the utility of Landsat 8 for providing important information about ET dynamics across the landscape. Annual crop water use was estimated for five selected irrigation districts in the Lower CRB where annual ET per district ranged between 681 mm to 772 mm. Annual ET by crop type over the Maricopa Stanfield irrigation district ranged from a low of 384 mm for durum wheat to a high of 990 mm for alfalfa fields. A rainfall analysis over the five districts suggested that, on average, 69% of the annual ET was met by irrigation. Although the enhanced cloud-masking capability of Landsat 8 based on the cirrus band and utilization of the Fmask algorithm improved the removal of contaminated pixels, the ability to reliably estimate ET over clouded areas remains an important challenge. Overall, the performance of Landsat 8 based ET compared to available EC datasets and water balance estimates for a complex basin such as the CRB demonstrates the potential of using Landsat 8 for annual water use estimation at a national scale. Future efforts will focus on (a) use of consistent methodology across years, (b) integration of multiple sensors to maximize images used, and (c) employing cloud-computing platforms for large scale processing capabilities.
The mortality consequences of distinctively black names

Race-specific given names have been linked to a range of negative outcomes in contemporary studies, but little is known about their long-term consequences. Building on recent research which documents the existence of a national naming pattern for African American males in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries (Cook, Logan and Parman, 2014), we analyze long-term consequences of distinctively racialized names. Using over 3 million death certificates from Alabama, Illinois, Missouri and North Carolina from 1802 to 1970, we find a robust within-race mortality difference for African American men who had distinctively black names. Having an African American name added more than 1 year of life relative to other African American males. The result is robust to controlling for the age pattern of mortality over time and environmental factors which could drive the mortality relationship. The result is not consistently present for infant and child mortality, however. As much as 10% of the historical between-race mortality gap would have been closed if every black man was given a black name. Suggestive evidence implies that cultural factors not captured by socioeconomic or human capital measures may be related to the mortality differential.
Assessment of Residents’ Attitudes and Satisfaction Before and After Implementation of a Smoke-Free Policy in Boston Multiunit Housing

Introduction In 2012, the Boston Housing Authority (BHA) in Massachusetts implemented a smoke-free policy prohibiting smoking within its residences. We sought to characterize BHA resident experiences before and after the smoke-free policy implementation, and compare them to that of nearby residents of the Cambridge Housing Authority, which had no such policy. Methods We recruited a convenience sample of nonsmoking residents from the BHA and Cambridge Housing Authority. We measured residents' awareness and support of their local smoking policies before and 9-12 months after the BHA's policy implementation, as well as BHA respondents' attitudes towards the smoke-free policy. We assessed tobacco smoke exposure via saliva cotinine, airborne apartment nicotine, and self-reported number of days smelling smoke in the home. We evaluated predictors of general satisfaction at follow-up using linear regression. Results At follow-up, 91% of BHA respondents knew that smoking was not allowed in apartments and 82% were supportive of such a policy in their building. BHA residents believed enforcement of the smoke-free policy was low. Fifty-one percent of BHA respondents indicated that other residents "never" or "rarely" followed the new smoke-free rule and 41% of respondents were dissatisfied with policy enforcement. Dissatisfaction with enforcement was the strongest predictor of general housing satisfaction, while objective and self-reported measures of tobacco smoke exposure were not predictive of satisfaction. At follow-up, 24% of BHA participants had complained to someone in charge about policy violations. Conclusions Resident support for smoke-free policies is high. However, lack of enforcement of smoke-free policies may cause frustration and resentment among residents, potentially leading to a decrease in housing satisfaction. Implications Smoke-free housing laws are becoming increasingly prevalent, yet little is known about satisfaction and compliance with such policies post-implementation. We evaluated nonsmoking residents' attitudes about smoke-free rules and their satisfaction with enforcement 1 year after the BHA implemented its comprehensive smoke-free policy. We found that while residents were supportive of the policy, they believed enforcement was low, a perception that was associated with a drop in housing satisfaction. Our findings point to a desire for smoke-free housing among public housing residents, and the importance of establishing systems and guidelines to help landlords monitor and enforce these policies effectively.
Dearomative Indole Cycloaddition Reactions of Aza-Oxyallyl Cationic Intermediates: Modular Access to Pyrroloindolines

A regioselective dearomative aza-(3 + 2) cycloaddition reaction of substituted indoles with α-halohydroxamates has been developed. This transformation provides rapid access to highly functionalized pyrroloindolines that are represented in large number of bioactive compounds. The natural product, physostigmine, has been concisely synthesized utilizing this method.
Privacy-Preserving Assessment of Social Network Data Trustworthiness

Extracting useful knowledge from social network datasets is a challenging problem. While large online social networks such as Facebook and LinkedIn are well known and gather millions of users, small social networks are today becoming increasingly common. Many corporations already use existing social networks to connect to their customers. Seeing the increasing usage of small social networks, such companies will likely start to create in-house online social networks where they will own the data shared by customers. The trustworthiness of these online social networks is essentially important for decision making of those companies. In this paper, our goal is to assess the trustworthiness of local social network data by referencing external social networks. To add to the difficulty of this problem, privacy concerns that exist for many social network datasets have restricted the ability to analyze these networks and consequently to maximize the knowledge that can be extracted from them. This paper addresses th...
Reforming LIBOR and Other Financial Market Benchmarks

LIBOR is the London Interbank Offered Rate: a measure of the interest rate at which large banks can borrow from one another on an unsecured basis. LIBOR is often used as a benchmark rate�meaning that the interest rates that consumers and businesses pay on trillions of dollars in loans adjust up and down contractually based on movements in LIBOR. Investors also rely on the difference between LIBOR and various risk-free interest rates as a gauge of stress in the banking system. Benchmarks such as LIBOR therefore play a central role in modern financial markets. Thus, news reports in 2008 revealing widespread manipulation of LIBOR threatened the integrity of this benchmark and lowered trust in financial markets. We begin with a discussion of the economic role of benchmarks in reducing market frictions. We explain how manipulation occurs in practice, and illustrate how benchmark definitions and fixing methods can mitigate manipulation. We then turn to an overall policy approach for reducing the susceptibility of LIBOR to manipulation before focusing on the practical problem of how to make an orderly transition to alternative reference rates without raising undue legal risks
The costs and benefits of symmetry in common-ownership allocation problems☆

In experimental partnership dissolution problems with complete information, the divide-and-choose mechanism is significantly superior to the winner's-bid auction. The performance of divide-and-choose is mainly affected by reciprocity issues and not by bounded rationality. The performance of the winner's-bid auction is significantly affected by bounded rationality. Contrary to theoretical predictions divide-and-choose exhibits no first-mover bias.
Smoking increases the risk of early meniscus repair failure.

The goal of this study is to determine whether patients who smoke cigarettes at the time of surgery are at significantly increased risk of early meniscus repair failure relative to non-smokers. Retrospective chart review identified 64 current smokers within a series of 444 consecutive patients who underwent meniscus repair during a 7 years period. Fifty-two of these 64 smokers were available for follow-up and were matched by age, sex, and ACL status with non-smokers from the same cohort. Records of these 104 patients with a total of 120 meniscus repairs were reviewed to identify meniscus repair failure (defined as repeat surgery on the index meniscus) during the median 13-month (range: 3–79 months) follow-up period. The smoking and non-smoking groups were similar in age, sex, ACL status, BMI, meniscus repair technique, and meniscus involved. Meniscus repair failure occurred in 19 of the 112 menisci in 104 patients, for an overall failure risk of 17 %. Of the 19 failures, 14 occurred in 79 repaired medial menisci (18 % failure risk) and 5 occurred in 33 repaired lateral menisci (15 % failure risk). Meniscus repair failure occurred in significantly more smokers (15 failures in 56 menisci in 52 patients −27 % failure risk) than non-smokers (4 failures in 56 menisci in 52 patients −7 % failure risk) (p = 0.0076). Smoking is associated with significantly increased risk of early meniscus repair failure as defined by the incidence of repeat surgery on the index meniscus. III.
Inverse dynamics with rigid contact and friction

Inverse dynamics is used extensively in robotics and biomechanics applications. In manipulator and legged robots, it can form the basis of an effective nonlinear control strategy by providing a robot with both accurate positional tracking and active compliance. In biomechanics applications, inverse dynamics control can approximately determine the net torques applied at anatomical joints that correspond to an observed motion. In the context of robot control, using inverse dynamics requires knowledge of all contact forces acting on the robot; accurately perceiving external forces applied to the robot requires filtering and thus significant time delay. An alternative approach has been suggested in recent literature: predicting contact and actuator forces simultaneously under the assumptions of rigid body dynamics, rigid contact, and friction. Existing such inverse dynamics approaches have used approximations to the contact models, which permits use of fast numerical linear algebra algorithms. In contrast, we describe inverse dynamics algorithms that are derived only from first principles and use established phenomenological models like Coulomb friction. We assess these inverse dynamics algorithms in a control context using two virtual robots: a locomoting quadrupedal robot and a fixed-based manipulator gripping a box while using perfectly accurate sensor data from simulation. The data collected from these experiments gives an upper bound on the performance of such controllers in situ. For points of comparison, we assess performance on the same tasks with both error feedback control and inverse dynamics control with virtual contact force sensing.