Lehigh University

A family of new measures of point and graph centrality based on early intuitions of Bavelas (1948) is introduced. These measures define centrality in terms of the degree to which a point falls on the shortest path between others and there fore has a potential for control of communication. They may be used to index centrality in any large or small network of symmetrical relations, whether connected or unconnected.

The practice of attempting validation of crack-propagation laws (i.e., the laws of Head, Frost and Dugdale, McEvily and Illg, Liu, and Paris) with a small amount of data, such as a few single specimen test results, is questioned. It is shown that all the laws, though they are mutually contradictory, can be in agreement with the same small sample of data. It is suggested that agreement with a wide selection of data from many specimens and over many orders of magnitudes of crack-extension rates may be necessary to validate crack-propagation laws. For such a wide comparison of data a new simple empirical law is given which fits the broad trend of the data.

The crack extension in a large plate subjected to general plane loading is examined theoretically and experimentally. It is found that under skew-symmetric plane loading of brittle materials the “sliding” or the crack extension in its own plane does not take place, instead crack grows in the direction approximately 70 deg from the plane of the crack. This is very nearly the direction perpendicular to the maximum tangential stress at the crack tip, which is 70.5 deg. The hypothesis that the crack will grow in the direction perpendicular to the largest tension at the crack tip seems to be verified also by cracked plates under combined tension and shear. In spite of the fact that “sliding” and “tearing” modes of crack extension do not take place in brittle materials it is shown that one can still talk about critical stress intensity factors in plane shear and transverse bending of plates. It is also shown that, in general plane loading, the fracture criterion in terms of stress intensity factors is an ellipse.

While the quality of the current CHARMM22/CMAP additive force field for proteins has been demonstrated in a large number of applications, limitations in the model with respect to the equilibrium between the sampling of helical and extended conformations in folding simulations have been noted. To overcome this, as well as make other improvements in the model, we present a combination of refinements that should result in enhanced accuracy in simulations of proteins. The common (non Gly, Pro) backbone CMAP potential has been refined against experimental solution NMR data for weakly structured peptides, resulting in a rebalancing of the energies of the α-helix and extended regions of the Ramachandran map, correcting the α-helical bias of CHARMM22/CMAP. The Gly and Pro CMAPs have been refitted to more accurate quantum-mechanical energy surfaces. Side-chain torsion parameters have been optimized by fitting to backbone-dependent quantum-mechanical energy surfaces, followed by additional empirical optimization targeting NMR scalar couplings for unfolded proteins. A comprehensive validation of the revised force field was then performed against data not used to guide parametrization: (i) comparison of simulations of eight proteins in their crystal environments with crystal structures; (ii) comparison with backbone scalar couplings for weakly structured peptides; (iii) comparison with NMR residual dipolar couplings and scalar couplings for both backbone and side-chains in folded proteins; (iv) equilibrium folding of mini-proteins. The results indicate that the revised CHARMM 36 parameters represent an improved model for the modeling and simulation studies of proteins, including studies of protein folding, assembly and functionally relevant conformational changes.

The Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) will search for planets transiting bright and nearby stars. TESS has been selected by NASA for launch in 2017 as an Astrophysics Explorer mission. The spacecraft will be placed into a highly elliptical 13.7-day orbit around the Earth. During its 2-year mission, TESS will employ four wide-field optical charge-coupled device cameras to monitor at least 200,000 main-sequence dwarf stars with IC≈4−13 for temporary drops in brightness caused by planetary transits. Each star will be observed for an interval ranging from 1 month to 1 year, depending mainly on the star’s ecliptic latitude. The longest observing intervals will be for stars near the ecliptic poles, which are the optimal locations for follow-up observations with the James Webb Space Telescope. Brightness measurements of preselected target stars will be recorded every 2 min, and full frame images will be recorded every 30 min. TESS stars will be 10 to 100 times brighter than those surveyed by the pioneering Kepler mission. This will make TESS planets easier to characterize with follow-up observations. TESS is expected to find more than a thousand planets smaller than Neptune, including dozens that are comparable in size to the Earth. Public data releases will occur every 4 months, inviting immediate community-wide efforts to study the new planets. The TESS legacy will be a catalog of the nearest and brightest stars hosting transiting planets, which will endure as highly favorable targets for detailed investigations.

In the large field of nanotechnology, polymer matrix based nanocomposites have become a prominent area of current research and development. Exfoliated clay-based nanocomposites have dominated the polymer literature but there are a large number of other significant areas of current and emerging interest. This review will detail the technology involved with exfoliated clay-based nanocomposites and also include other important areas including barrier properties, flammability resistance, biomedical applications, electrical/electronic/optoelectronic applications and fuel cell interests. The important question of the “nano-effect” of nanoparticle or fiber inclusion relative to their larger scale counterparts is addressed relative to crystallization and glass transition behavior. Of course, other polymer (and composite)-based properties derive benefits from nanoscale filler or fiber addition and these are addressed.

Filtering through to what's important Membranes are widely used for gas and liquid separations. Historical analysis of a range of gas pair separations indicated that there was an upper bound on the trade-off between membrane permeability, which limits flow rates, and the selectivity, which limits the quality of the separation process. Park et al. review the advances that have been made in attempts to break past this upper bound. Some inspiration has come from biological membranes. The authors also highlight cases where the challenges lie in areas other than improved separation performance. Science , this issue p. eaab0530

Automatic estimation of salient object regions across images, without any prior assumption or knowledge of the contents of the corresponding scenes, enhances many computer vision and computer graphics applications. We introduce a regional contrast based salient object detection algorithm, which simultaneously evaluates global contrast differences and spatial weighted coherence scores. The proposed algorithm is simple, efficient, naturally multi-scale, and produces full-resolution, high-quality saliency maps. These saliency maps are further used to initialize a novel iterative version of GrabCut, namely SaliencyCut, for high quality unsupervised salient object segmentation. We extensively evaluated our algorithm using traditional salient object detection datasets, as well as a more challenging Internet image dataset. Our experimental results demonstrate that our algorithm consistently outperforms 15 existing salient object detection and segmentation methods, yielding higher precision and better recall rates. We also show that our algorithm can be used to efficiently extract salient object masks from Internet images, enabling effective sketch-based image retrieval (SBIR) via simple shape comparisons. Despite such noisy internet images, where the saliency regions are ambiguous, our saliency guided image retrieval achieves a superior retrieval rate compared with state-of-the-art SBIR methods, and additionally provides important target object region information.

The authors reviewed the application of consensual qualitative research (CQR) in 27 studies published since the method’s introduction to the field in 1997 by C. E. Hill, B. J. Thompson, and E. N. Williams (1997). After first describing the core components and the philosophical underpinnings of CQR, the authors examined how it has been applied in terms of the consensus process, biases, research teams, data collection, data analysis, and writing up the results and discussion sections of articles. On the basis of problems that have arisen in each of these areas, the authors made recommendations for modifications of the method. The authors concluded that CQR is a viable qualitative method and suggest several ideas for research on the method itself. In the early 1990s, when we wanted to conduct qualitative research, we explored several different approaches. Although the existing qualitative approaches had a number of valuable features, we were frustrated because the descriptions seemed vague, diffi-cult to comprehend, and equally difficult to implement. Hence, based on our experiences, we (Hill, Thompson, & Williams, 1997) developed consensual qualitative research (CQR), which we hoped

Citation: Alam, S., Albareti, F. D., Prieto, C. A., Anders, F., Anderson, S. F., Anderton, T., . . . Zhu, G. T. (2015). THE ELEVENTH AND TWELFTH DATA RELEASES OF THE SLOAN DIGITAL SKY SURVEY: FINAL DATA FROM SDSS-III. Astrophysical Journal Supplement Series, 219(1), 27. doi:10.1088/0067-0049/219/1/12

Automatic estimation of salient object regions across images, without any prior assumption or knowledge of the contents of the corresponding scenes, enhances many computer vision and computer graphics applications. We introduce a regional contrast based salient object detection algorithm, which simultaneously evaluates global contrast differences and spatial weighted coherence scores. The proposed algorithm is simple, efficient, naturally multi-scale, and produces full-resolution, high-quality saliency maps. These saliency maps are further used to initialize a novel iterative version of GrabCut, namely SaliencyCut, for high quality unsupervised salient object segmentation. We extensively evaluated our algorithm using traditional salient object detection datasets, as well as a more challenging Internet image dataset. Our experimental results demonstrate that our algorithm consistently outperforms 15 existing salient object detection and segmentation methods, yielding higher precision and better recall rates. We also show that our algorithm can be used to efficiently extract salient object masks from Internet images, enabling effective sketch-based image retrieval (SBIR) via simple shape comparisons. Despite such noisy internet images, where the saliency regions are ambiguous, our saliency guided image retrieval achieves a superior retrieval rate compared with state-of-the-art SBIR methods, and additionally provides important target object region information.

Hybridization has many and varied impacts on the process of speciation. Hybridization may slow or reverse differentiation by allowing gene flow and recombination. It may accelerate speciation via adaptive introgression or cause near-instantaneous speciation by allopolyploidization. It may have multiple effects at different stages and in different spatial contexts within a single speciation event. We offer a perspective on the context and evolutionary significance of hybridization during speciation, highlighting issues of current interest and debate. In secondary contact zones, it is uncertain if barriers to gene flow will be strengthened or broken down due to recombination and gene flow. Theory and empirical evidence suggest the latter is more likely, except within and around strongly selected genomic regions. Hybridization may contribute to speciation through the formation of new hybrid taxa, whereas introgression of a few loci may promote adaptive divergence and so facilitate speciation. Gene regulatory networks, epigenetic effects and the evolution of selfish genetic material in the genome suggest that the Dobzhansky-Muller model of hybrid incompatibilities requires a broader interpretation. Finally, although the incidence of reinforcement remains uncertain, this and other interactions in areas of sympatry may have knock-on effects on speciation both within and outside regions of hybridization.

The oxidation of alcohols to aldehydes with O2 in place of stoichiometric oxygen donors is a crucial process for the synthesis of fine chemicals. However, the catalysts that have been identified so far are relatively inactive with primary alkyl alcohols. We showed that Au/Pd-TiO2 catalysts give very high turnover frequencies (up to 270,000 turnovers per hour) for the oxidation of alcohols, including primary alkyl alcohols. The addition of Au to Pd nanocrystals improved the overall selectivity and, using scanning transmission electron microscopy combined with x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, we showed that the Au-Pd nanocrystals were made up of a Au-rich core with a Pd-rich shell, indicating that the Au electronically influences the catalytic properties of Pd.

Introduction to ADHD Rating Scales. Factor Analysis. Standardization and Normative Data. Reliability and Validity. Interpretation and Use of Scales for Diagnostic and Screening Purposes. Interpretation and Use of Scales for Evaluating Treatment Outcome. Appendix: Rating Scales And Scoring Sheets. ADHD Rating Scale-IV: Home Version. ADHD Rating Scale-IV: Home Version (Spanish). Scoring Summary Sheet (Boys). Scoring Summary Sheet (Girls). ADHD Rating Scale-IV: School Version Scoring Summary Sheet (Boys). Scoring Summary Sheet (Girls).

In this paper, we propose an Attentional Generative Adversarial Network (AttnGAN) that allows attention-driven, multi-stage refinement for fine-grained text-to-image generation. With a novel attentional generative network, the AttnGAN can synthesize fine-grained details at different sub-regions of the image by paying attentions to the relevant words in the natural language description. In addition, a deep attentional multimodal similarity model is proposed to compute a fine-grained image-text matching loss for training the generator. The proposed AttnGAN significantly outperforms the previous state of the art, boosting the best reported inception score by 14.14% on the CUB dataset and 170.25% on the more challenging COCO dataset. A detailed analysis is also performed by visualizing the attention layers of the AttnGAN. It for the first time shows that the layered attentional GAN is able to automatically select the condition at the word level for generating different parts of the image.

Despite a large body of literature examining the relationship between women on boards and firm financial performance, the evidence is mixed. To reconcile the conflicting results, we statistically combine the results from 140 studies and examine whether these results vary by firms’ legal/regulatory and socio-cultural contexts. We find that female board representation is positively related to accounting returns and that this relationship is more positive in countries with stronger shareholder protections—perhaps because shareholder protections motivate boards to use the different knowledge, experience, and values that each member brings. We also find that, although the relationship between female board representation and market performance is near zero the relationship is positive in countries with greater gender parity (and negative in countries with low gender parity)—perhaps because societal gender differences in human capital may influence investors’ evaluations of the future earning potential of firms that have more female directors. Lastly, we find that female board representation is positively related to boards’ two primary responsibilities: monitoring and strategy involvement. For both firm financial performance and board activities, we find mean effect sizes comparable to those found in meta-analyses of other aspects of board composition. We discuss the theoretical and practical implications of our findings.

Abstract. Soils and other unconsolidated deposits in the northern circumpolar permafrost region store large amounts of soil organic carbon (SOC). This SOC is potentially vulnerable to remobilization following soil warming and permafrost thaw, but SOC stock estimates were poorly constrained and quantitative error estimates were lacking. This study presents revised estimates of permafrost SOC stocks, including quantitative uncertainty estimates, in the 0–3 m depth range in soils as well as for sediments deeper than 3 m in deltaic deposits of major rivers and in the Yedoma region of Siberia and Alaska. Revised estimates are based on significantly larger databases compared to previous studies. Despite this there is evidence of significant remaining regional data gaps. Estimates remain particularly poorly constrained for soils in the High Arctic region and physiographic regions with thin sedimentary overburden (mountains, highlands and plateaus) as well as for deposits below 3 m depth in deltas and the Yedoma region. While some components of the revised SOC stocks are similar in magnitude to those previously reported for this region, there are substantial differences in other components, including the fraction of perennially frozen SOC. Upscaled based on regional soil maps, estimated permafrost region SOC stocks are 217 ± 12 and 472 ± 27 Pg for the 0–0.3 and 0–1 m soil depths, respectively (±95% confidence intervals). Storage of SOC in 0–3 m of soils is estimated to 1035 ± 150 Pg. Of this, 34 ± 16 Pg C is stored in poorly developed soils of the High Arctic. Based on generalized calculations, storage of SOC below 3 m of surface soils in deltaic alluvium of major Arctic rivers is estimated as 91 ± 52 Pg. In the Yedoma region, estimated SOC stocks below 3 m depth are 181 ± 54 Pg, of which 74 ± 20 Pg is stored in intact Yedoma (late Pleistocene ice- and organic-rich silty sediments) with the remainder in refrozen thermokarst deposits. Total estimated SOC storage for the permafrost region is ∼1300 Pg with an uncertainty range of ∼1100 to 1500 Pg. Of this, ∼500 Pg is in non-permafrost soils, seasonally thawed in the active layer or in deeper taliks, while ∼800 Pg is perennially frozen. This represents a substantial ∼300 Pg lowering of the estimated perennially frozen SOC stock compared to previous estimates.

This chapter covers one important aspect of the transportation-related decisions a firm must make, namely, routing vehicles among the locations they must visit. It discusses the famous traveling salesman problem (TSP). The TSP is perhaps the best-known combinatorial optimization problem and has been intensely studied by researchers in supply chain management, operations research, computer science, and other fields. The chapter also discusses exact algorithms for the TSP, and construction heuristics for the TSP. The chapter considers improvement heuristics for the TSP that begin with a complete tour and perform operations on it to try to make it shorter. The first branching algorithm for the TSP was the branch-and-bound algorithm proposed by Little et al.; in fact, their paper was the first to introduce the term branch-and-bound. The heuristic finds an Eulerian tour and converts it to a TSP tour by shortcutting, exactly as in the minimum spanning tree heuristic.

Transformation of halogenated organic compounds (HOCs) by zero-valent iron represents one of the latest innovative technologies for environmental remediation. For example, iron can be used to construct a reactive wall in the path of a contaminated groundwater plume to degrade HOCs. In this paper, an efficient method of synthesizing nanoscale (1−100 nm) iron and palladized iron particles is presented. Nanoscale particles are characterized by high surface area to volume ratios and high reactivities. BET specific surface area of the synthesized metal particles is 33.5 m2/g. In comparison, a commercially available Fe powder (<10 μm) has a specific surface area of just 0.9 m2/g. Batch studies demonstrated that these nanoscale particles can quickly and completely dechlorinate several chlorinated aliphatic compounds and a mixture of PCBs at relatively low metal to solution ratio (2−5 g/100 mL). Surface-area-normalized rate constants (KSA) are calculated to be 10−100 times higher than those of commercially available iron particles. The approach presented offers unique opportunities for both fundamental research and technological applications of zero-valent metals. For example, a potential application of the nanoscale particles is to inject the metal particles directly into contaminated aquifers instead of building iron walls.

Inspired by recent advances in multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) communications, this proposal introduces the statistical MIMO radar concept. To the authors' knowledge, this is the first time that the statistical MIMO is being proposed for radar. The fundamental difference between statistical MIMO and other radar array systems is that the latter seek to maximize the coherent processing gain, while statistical MIMO radar capitalizes on the diversity of target scattering to improve radar performance. Coherent processing is made possible by highly correlated signals at the receiver array, whereas in statistical MIMO radar, the signals received by the array elements are uncorrelated. Radar targets generally consist of many small elemental scatterers that are fused by the radar waveform and the processing at the receiver, to result in echoes with fluctuating amplitude and phase. It is well known that in conventional radar, slow fluctuations of the target radar cross section (RCS) result in target fades that degrade radar performance. By spacing the antenna elements at the transmitter and at the receiver such that the target angular spread is manifested, the MIMO radar can exploit the spatial diversity of target scatterers opening the way to a variety of new techniques that can improve radar performance. This paper focuses on the application of the target spatial diversity to improve detection performance. The optimal detector in the Neyman–Pearson sense is developed and analyzed for the statistical MIMO radar. It is shown that the optimal detector consists of noncoherent processing of the receiver sensors' outputs and that for cases of practical interest, detection performance is superior to that obtained through coherent processing. An optimal detector invariant to the signal and noise levels is also developed and analyzed. In this case as well, statistical MIMO radar provides great improvements over other types of array radars.