Recent revisions to corporate profits: what we know and when we knew it

Initial estimates in the National Income and Product Accounts significantly overstated U.S. corporate profits for the 1998-2000 period. Subsequent revisions reveal that the profitability of the nation's corporate sector in the late 1990s was substantially weaker than "real-time" data indicated. An unexpected surge in employee stock options exercised-and perhaps, in some sectors, firms' inflated statements of profit-may help explain the large downward revisions.Corporate profits ; Stock options ; Statistics ; Economic indicators

Error Exponent in Asymmetric Quantum Hypothesis Testing and Its Application to Classical-Quantum Channel coding

In the simple quantum hypothesis testing problem, upper bound with asymmetric setting is shown by using a quite useful inequality by Audenaert et al, quant-ph/0610027, which was originally invented for symmetric setting. Using this upper bound, we obtain the Hoeffding bound, which are identical with the classical counter part if the hypotheses, composed of two density operators, are mutually commutative. Our upper bound improves the bound by Ogawa-Hayashi, and also provides a simpler proof of the direct part of the quantum Stein's lemma. Further, using this bound, we obtain a better exponential upper bound of the average error probability of classical-quantum channel coding

Torus fibrations and localization of index II

We give a framework of localization for the index of a Dirac-type operator on an open manifold. Suppose the open manifold has a compact subset whose complement is covered by a family of finitely many open subsets, each of which has a structure of the total space of a torus bundle. Under an acyclic condition we define the index of the Dirac-type operator by using the Witten-type deformation, and show that the index has several properties, such as excision property and a product formula. In particular, we show that the index is localized on the compact set.Comment: 47 pages, 2 figures. To appear in Communications in Mathematical Physic

A management architecture for active networks

In this paper we present an architecture for network and applications management, which is based on the Active Networks paradigm and shows the advantages of network programmability. The stimulus to develop this architecture arises from an actual need to manage a cluster of active nodes, where it is often required to redeploy network assets and modify nodes connectivity. In our architecture, a remote front-end of the managing entity allows the operator to design new network topologies, to check the status of the nodes and to configure them. Moreover, the proposed framework allows to explore an active network, to monitor the active applications, to query each node and to install programmable traps. In order to take advantage of the Active Networks technology, we introduce active SNMP-like MIBs and agents, which are dynamic and programmable. The programmable management agents make tracing distributed applications a feasible task. We propose a general framework that can inter-operate with any active execution environment. In this framework, both the manager and the monitor front-ends communicate with an active node (the Active Network Access Point) through the XML language. A gateway service performs the translation of the queries from XML to an active packet language and injects the code in the network. We demonstrate the implementation of an active network gateway for PLAN (Packet Language for Active Networks) in a forty active nodes testbed. Finally, we discuss an application of the active management architecture to detect the causes of network failures by tracing network events in time

Fractional Generalization of Kac Integral

Generalization of the Kac integral and Kac method for paths measure based on the Levy distribution has been used to derive fractional diffusion equation. Application to nonlinear fractional Ginzburg-Landau equation is discussed.Comment: 16 pages, LaTe

Essential role of CIB1 in regulating PAK1 activation and cell migration

p21-activated kinases (PAKs) regulate many cellular processes, including cytoskeletal rearrangement and cell migration. In this study, we report a direct and specific interaction of PAK1 with a 22-kD Ca2+-binding protein, CIB1, which results in PAK1 activation both in vitro and in vivo. CIB1 binds to PAK1 within discrete regions surrounding the inhibitory switch domain in a calcium-dependent manner, providing a potential mechanism of CIB1-induced PAK1 activation. CIB1 overexpression significantly decreases cell migration on fibronectin as a result of a PAK1-and LIM kinase–dependent increase in cofilin phosphorylation. Conversely, the RNA interference–mediated depletion of CIB1 increases cell migration and reduces normal adhesion-induced PAK1 activation and cofilin phosphorylation. Together, these results demonstrate that endogenous CIB1 is required for regulated adhesion-induced PAK1 activation and preferentially induces a PAK1-dependent pathway that can negatively regulate cell migration. These results point to CIB1 as a key regulator of PAK1 activation and signaling

Dynamics and Lax-Phillips scattering for generalized Lamb models

This paper treats the dynamics and scattering of a model of coupled oscillating systems, a finite dimensional one and a wave field on the half line. The coupling is realized producing the family of selfadjoint extensions of the suitably restricted self-adjoint operator describing the uncoupled dynamics. The spectral theory of the family is studied and the associated quadratic forms constructed. The dynamics turns out to be Hamiltonian and the Hamiltonian is described, including the case in which the finite dimensional systems comprises nonlinear oscillators; in this case the dynamics is shown to exist as well. In the linear case the system is equivalent, on a dense subspace, to a wave equation on the half line with higher order boundary conditions, described by a differential polynomial $p(\partial_x)$ explicitely related to the model parameters. In terms of such structure the Lax-Phillips scattering of the system is studied. In particular we determine the incoming and outgoing translation representations, the scattering operator, which turns out to be unitarily equivalent to the multiplication operator given by the rational function $-p(i\kappa)^*/p(i\kappa)$, and the Lax-Phillips semigroup, which describes the evolution of the states which are neither incoming in the past nor outgoing in the future

Anorexia Nervosa, Major Depression, and Suicide Attempts: Shared Genetic Factors

We evaluated the extent to which genetic and environmental factors influenced anorexia nervosa (AN), major depressive disorder (MDD), and suicide attempts (SA). Participants were 6,899 women from the Swedish Twin study of Adults Genes and Environment. A Cholesky decomposition assessed independent and overlapping genetic and environmental contributions to AN, MDD, and SA. Genetic factors accounted for a substantial amount of liability to all three traits; unique environmental factors accounted for most of the remaining liability. Shared genetic factors may underlie the co-expression of these traits. Results underscore the importance of assessing for signs of suicide among individuals with AN