e-ISSN: Pending

Browse the failure-mode index

19,878 real negative results, null findings, and replication failures · Negative / Null Result Report. Search the index →

WASTE indexes published research — it does not host or republish full papers. Each entry is a metadata record compiled from open scholarly databases; the abstract is shown in full only where the paper is openly licensed, otherwise a short excerpt under fair use. Classifications are automated and approximate.

Negative / Null Result ReportOpen accessAgricultural and Biological Sciences

Inhibitory normalization of error signals improves learning in neural circuits

Roy Henha Eyono, Daniel Levenstein, Arna Ghosh et al. · 2026 · arXiv

Normalization is a critical operation in neural circuits. In the brain, there is evidence that normalization is implemented via inhibitory interneurons and allows neural populations to adjust to changes in the distribution of their inputs. In artificial neural networks (ANNs), normalization is used to improve learning in tasks that involve complex input distributions. However, it is unclear whether inhibition-mediated normalization in biological neural circuits also improves learning. Here, we explore this possibility using ANNs with separate excitatory and inhibitory populations trained on an

View details →
Negative / Null Result ReportOpen accessPhysics

The thermodynamics of prediction

Susanne Still, David A. Sivak, Anthony J. Bell et al. · 2012 · arXiv

A system responding to a stochastic driving signal can be interpreted as computing, by means of its dynamics, an implicit model of the environmental variables. The system's state retains information about past environmental fluctuations, and a fraction of this information is predictive of future ones. The remaining nonpredictive information reflects model complexity that does not improve predictive power, and thus represents the ineffectiveness of the model. We expose the fundamental equivalence between this model inefficiency and thermodynamic inefficiency, measured by dissipation. Our result

View details →
Negative / Null Result ReportOpen accessComputer Science

Neutron structure function and inclusive DIS from H-3 and He-3 targets at large Bjorken-x

M. M. Sargsian, S. Simula, M. I. Strikman · 2002 · arXiv

A detailed study of inclusive deep inelastic scattering from mirror A = 3 nuclei at large values of Bjorken-x is presented. The main purpose is to estimate the theoretical uncertainties on the extraction of F2n from such measurements. Within the convolution approach we confirm the cancellation of nuclear effects at the level of ~1 % for x < 0.75 in overall agreement with previous findings. However, within models in which modifications of the bound nucleon structure functions are accounted for to describe the EMC effect in nuclei, we find that the nuclear effects may be canceled at a level of ~

View details →
Negative / Null Result ReportOpen accessComputer Science

Handwritten Text Recognition from Crowdsourced Annotations

Solène Tarride, Tristan Faine, Mélodie Boillet et al. · 2023 · arXiv

In this paper, we explore different ways of training a model for handwritten text recognition when multiple imperfect or noisy transcriptions are available. We consider various training configurations, such as selecting a single transcription, retaining all transcriptions, or computing an aggregated transcription from all available annotations. In addition, we evaluate the impact of quality-based data selection, where samples with low agreement are removed from the training set. Our experiments are carried out on municipal registers of the city of Belfort (France) written between 1790 and 1946

View details →
Negative / Null Result ReportOpen accessPhysics

Is Externally Corrected Coupled Cluster Always Better than the Underlying Truncated Configuration Interaction?

Ilias Magoulas, Karthik Gururangan, Piotr Piecuch et al. · 2021 · arXiv

The short answer to the question in the title is 'no'. We identify classes of truncated configuration interaction (CI) wave functions for which the externally corrected coupled-cluster (ec-CC) approach using the three-body ($T_{3}$) and four-body ($T_{4}$) components of the cluster operator extracted from CI does not improve the results of the underlying CI calculations. Implications of our analysis, illustrated by numerical examples, for the ec-CC computations using truncated and selected CI methods are discussed. We also introduce a novel ec-CC approach using the $T_{3}$ and $T_{4}$ amplitud

View details →
Negative / Null Result ReportOpen accessComputer Science

Mean Estimation Under Heterogeneous Privacy: Some Privacy Can Be Free

Syomantak Chaudhuri, Thomas A. Courtade · 2023 · arXiv

Differential Privacy (DP) is a well-established framework to quantify privacy loss incurred by any algorithm. Traditional DP formulations impose a uniform privacy requirement for all users, which is often inconsistent with real-world scenarios in which users dictate their privacy preferences individually. This work considers the problem of mean estimation under heterogeneous DP constraints, where each user can impose their own distinct privacy level. The algorithm we propose is shown to be minimax optimal when there are two groups of users with distinct privacy levels. Our results elicit an in

View details →
Negative / Null Result ReportOpen accessComputer Science

Determination of the Source Flavor Ratio of Ultrahigh Energy Neutrinos

T. C. Liu, M. A. Huang, Guey-Lin Lin · 2010 · arXiv

We discuss the reconstruction of neutrino flavor neutrino at a distant source in the very high en- ergy regime. This reconstruction procedure is relevant to the confirmation of detecting cosmogenic neutrinos, for example. To facilitate such a reconstruction, it is imperative to achieve effective flavor discriminations in terrestrial neutrino telescopes. We note that, for energies beyond few tens of PeV, a tau-lepton behaves like a track similar to a muon. Hence, while it is rather challenging to separate νμ from ντ in this case, one can expect to isolate νe from the rest by a distinctive showe

View details →
Negative / Null Result ReportOpen accessComputer Science

Multiple-shot labeling of quantum observables

Seyed Arash Ghoreishi, Nidhin Sudarsanan Ragini, Sk Sazim et al. · 2024 · arXiv

Quantum labeling tasks ask one to recover the missing associations between classical outcome labels and the effects forming the POVM. We study labeling in the multiple-shot regime, allowing a finite number of uses of the device and the most general tester-based strategies, including adaptivity. For binary observables, we show that if perfect labeling is impossible in a single shot, then it remains impossible with any finite number of shots. In particular, we derive the formula for minimum-error performance and highlight its ``even-odd" behavior. For non-binary observables, we derive the optima

View details →
Negative / Null Result ReportOpen accessPhysics

Good and Proper: Self-similarity of N-body Simulations with Proper Force Softening

Lehman H. Garrison, Michael Joyce, Daniel J. Eisenstein · 2021 · arXiv

Analysis of self-similarity in scale-free $N$-body simulations reveals the spatial and temporal scales for which statistics measured in cosmological simulations are converged to the physical continuum limit. We examine how the range of scales in which the two-point correlation function is converged depends on the force softening length and whether it is held constant in comoving or proper coordinates. We find that a proper softening that reaches roughly 1/30th of the inter-particle spacing by the end of the simulation resolves the same spatial and temporal scales as a comoving softening of the

View details →
Negative / Null Result ReportOpen accessComputer Science

ManTIME: Temporal expression identification and normalization in the TempEval-3 challenge

Michele Filannino, Gavin Brown, Goran Nenadic · 2013 · arXiv

This paper describes a temporal expression identification and normalization system, ManTIME, developed for the TempEval-3 challenge. The identification phase combines the use of conditional random fields along with a post-processing identification pipeline, whereas the normalization phase is carried out using NorMA, an open-source rule-based temporal normalizer. We investigate the performance variation with respect to different feature types. Specifically, we show that the use of WordNet-based features in the identification task negatively affects the overall performance, and that there is no

View details →
Negative / Null Result ReportOpen access

Post-exercise ketone supplementation improves endurance performance, but not cardiac function during an 8-week training intervention

Y. Bekhuis, R. Robberechts, T. Rosseel et al. · 2024 · European Journal of Preventive Cardiology

Post-exercise ketone supplementation (PEKS) is commonly used in endurance athletes to alleviate overtraining symptoms and to stimulate recovery. The introduction of PEKS can blunt the development of symptoms associated with overtraining,…

View details →
Negative / Null Result ReportOpen accessMedicine

The effect of self-reported knee instability on plantar pressure and postural sways in women with knee osteoarthritis

Liana Chaharmahali, F. Gandomi, A. Yalfani et al. · 2021 · Journal of Orthopaedic Surgery and Research

Background Giving way and knee instability are common problems in patients with knee osteoarthritis, disrupting the daily activities and balance of the affected individual. The present study aimed to evaluate the postural control status of…

View details →
Negative / Null Result ReportOpen accessMedicine

Differing natural killer cell, T cell and antibody profiles in antiretroviral-naive HIV-1 viraemic controllers with and without protective HLA alleles

A. Moyano, Bongiwe Ndlovu, Msizi Mbele et al. · 2023 · PLoS ONE

Previous work suggests that HIV controllers with protective human leukocyte antigen class I alleles (VC+) possess a high breadth of Gag-specific CD8+ T cell responses, while controllers without protective alleles (VC-) have a different…

View details →
Negative / Null Result ReportOpen accessMedicine

Minimally Invasive Approaches Versus Conventional Sternotomy for Aortic Valve Replacement: A Propensity Score Matching Study

J. Bang, Jong Wook Kim, J. Lee et al. · 2012 · The Korean journal of thoracic and cardiovascular surgery

Background The aim of this study is to evaluate our institutional results of the aortic valve replacement through minimally invasive approaches compared with conventional sternotomy. Materials and Methods From August 1997 to July 2010, 838…

View details →
Negative / Null Result ReportMedicine

The Effect of Pomegranate Extract on Survival and Peritoneal Bacterial Load in Cecal Ligation and Perforation Model of Sepsis in Rats

S. Tavasoli, A. Zarnani, Mohamadreza Vafa et al. · 2014 · International Journal of Preventive Medicine

Background: Sepsis is one of the major causes of death in intensive care units. Oxidative stress and hyper-inflammation has been shown to be major cause of mortality and morbidity in septic cases. Pomegranate is a fruit considered for its…

View details →
Negative / Null Result ReportOpen accessMedicine

Influence of Gold Nanoparticle Incorporation Into Glass Ionomer Cement on Fibroblast Metabolic Activity, Surface Roughness and Hardness.

Zia A, Baldwin A, Nlemorisa C et al. · 2026 · International journal of dentistry

Objective To assess the influence of gold nanoparticle (AuNP) liquid-phase modification of glass ionomer cement (GIC) on fibroblast metabolic activity, alongside its effects on surface hardness and roughness, in an exploratory pilot in…

View details →
Negative / Null Result ReportOpen accessMedicine

Structure-Driven Bioactivity of Chitosan-Agarose-Gelatin Hydrogels Functionalized with Tannic Acid-Cu<sup>2+</sup>/Sr<sup>2+</sup> Complexes.

Wekwejt M, Chevallier P, Desgagne F et al. · 2026 · ACS applied materials & interfaces

Hydrogels represent a versatile platform for regenerative applications; nevertheless, their translation is often limited by insufficient biofunctionality and poorly defined structure-property relationships in multicomponent networks. In…

View details →
Negative / Null Result ReportMedicine

A 2 year retrospective study of vegan patients and their pregnancy outcomes in a tertiary level Irish hospital.

Abdelrahman M, Maher S, Lindow SW et al. · 2026 · International journal of gynaecology and obstetrics: the official organ of the International Federation of Gynaecology and Obstetrics

Objective Recent previous studies have revealed outcomes of higher risk of low birth weight, small for gestational age, and pre-eclampsia for vegan pregnant women compared to other diets. This review examined if patients with vegan diet in…

View details →