cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Rethinking the Kyoto emissions targets

The overall targets for greenhouse gas emissions of the Kyoto Protocol are not based on a specific objective for the future world climate. Moreover, the allocations of emissions restrictions among countries do not have a principled logic and impose arbitrary differences in costs. Calculations arepresented of the costs of alternative guidelines for emissions restrictions, each of which has a plausible ethical basis: equal per capita reductions, equal country shares in reductions, equalized welfare costs, and emulation of the United Nations budget allocations. All of these would result in far lower total costs of reaching the Kyoto targets. The alternatives would also eliminate the wholly capricious accommodations given to the Former Soviet Union and Eastern Europe. The lower cost alternativeswould permit the Annex B countries to make unequivocal commitments for cost reimbursement to the non-Annex B countries to induce them to participate in emissions reductions. Everyone would gain from that.
On selecting the most reliable components

Consider a series system consisting of n components of k types. Whenever a unit fails, it is replaced immediately by a new one to keep the system working. Under the assumption that all the life lengths of the components are independent and exponentially distributed and that the replacement policies depend only on the present state of the system at each failure, the system may be represented by a birth and death process. The existence of the optimum replacement policies are discussed and the e-optimal policies axe derived. If the past experience of the system can also be utilized, the process is not a Markov process. The optimum Bayesian policies are derived and the properties of the resulting process axe studied. Also, the stochastic processes are simulated and the probability of absorption, the mean time to absorption and the average proportion of the retrograde motion are approximated.
Thin Ni silicide formation by low temperature-induced metal atom reaction with ion implanted amorphous silicon

We have extended our recent work on buried silicide formation by Ni diffusion into a buried amorphous silicon layer to the case where silicide formation is at lower temperatures on silicon substrates which have been preamorphized. The reaction of metal atoms from a 12 nm Ni film evaporated on top of a 65 nm thick surface amorphous layer formed by 35 keV Si{sup +} ion implantation has been investigated at temperature {le}400C. Rutherford Backscattering Spectrometry (RBS) with channeling, cross-sectional transmission electron microscopy (XTEM), x-ray diffraction and four-point-probe measurements were used to determine structure, interfacial morphology, composition and resistivity of the silicide films. It has been found that an increased rate of silicidation occurs for amorphous silicon with respect to crystalline areas permitting a selective control of the silicon area to be contacted during silicide growth. Vacuum furnace annealing at 360C for 8 hours followed by an additional step at 400C for one hour produces a continuos NiSi{sub 2} layer with a resistivity 44 {mu}{Omega} cm.
The DNA polymerases associated with the adenovirus type 2 replication complex: effect of 2′-3′-dideoxythymidine-5′-triphosphate on viral DNA synthesis

An adenovirus (Ad) DNA replication complex extracted from infected HeLa nuclei could be purified free of the bulk of intracellular DNA polymerase activity by sedimetation in neutral sucrose gradients. However, the replication complex still retained some alpha and gamma DNA-polymerase activity. Since this complex is inhibited by 2', 3' dideoxythymidine-5'-triphosphate (ddTTP), an inhibitor of DNA polymerase gamma, a functional role for this enzyme in Ad DNA replication is suggested. Similar inhibition by ddTTP in intact Ad infected nuclei and comparable inhibition of Ad DNA synthesis in whole cells by dideoxythymidine (ddThy) are consistent with a role for DNA polymerase gamma. Uninfected HeLa nuclei or whole cells are not similarly inhibited by ddTTP or DDThy respectively. Such data does not rule out an additional functional role for other DNA polymerases, and recent experiments from this laboratory (1) suggest that DNA polymerase alpha is also involved in Ad DNA synthesis.
Effect of isoleucine supplementation on the growth of rats fed zein or corn diets

Abstract Isoleucine was found to be limiting for the growth of rats fed corn diets supplemented with lysine, tryptophan, valine, and threonine or 24% zein diets supplemented with most of the essential amino acids. Since phenylalanine, which is known to be present in zein at quite a high level, was also found to be limiting for the growth of rats fed 21% of zein, it was suggested that all of the essential amino acids in zein were utilized poorly. This was further substantiated when rats fed diets containing alcohol-extracted corn showed a much greater growth response to a level of isoleucine equivalent to that supplied by the zein extracted than to the zein itself. When the level of leucine supplied by the zein was also added, no growth depression was obtained.
Multifunctional Roles of Human Cathelicidin (LL-37) at the Ocular Surface

Purpose - The goals of this study were to examine the expression of the antimicrobial peptide LL-37 in the corneal epithelium during wound healing and to investigate whether LL-37 stimulates human corneal epithelial cell (HCEC) migration, proliferation, and cytokine production. Methods - Expression of LL-37 was determined by RT-PCR and immunostaining in tissue sections and HCECs scraped from corneas before (original) and after (regrown) re-epithelialization. The antimicrobial activity of LL-37 against Pseudomonas aeruginosa (PA) was determined in the presence of NaCl and tears. Blind-well chamber assays were performed to study the effect of LL-37 on migration. Proliferation was determined using calcein-AM, and cytotoxicity was evaluated by MTT assay. ELISA was performed to assess the ability of LL-37 to stimulate HCEC cytokine secretion. Results - LL-37 peptide was present throughout the corneal epithelium (n = 4). All original corneal epithelial samples expressed a low level of LL-37 (n = 10). Regrown epithelial samples collected 24 (n = 3 of 5) or 48 (n = 4 of 5) hours after wounding showed upregulated expression of LL-37. LL-37 killed PA in the presence of NaCl (EC50= 10.3 ± 2.5 μg/mL) and retained its activity in tears (n = 3). LL-37 induced HCEC migration (n = 5) and secretion of IL-8, IL-6, IL-1β, and TNF-α (2- to 23-fold, n = 4–7). Inhibitor studies indicated that LL-37’s effects are mediated through multiple pathways involving a G protein-coupled receptor (formyl peptide receptor–like 1 in migration) and the epidermal growth factor receptor (n = 2 to 5). LL-37 did not stimulate HCEC proliferation (n = 3) and high concentrations (>10 μg/mL) were cytotoxic (n = 3). Conclusions - LL-37 expression is upregulated in regenerating human corneal epithelium, has antibacterial activity against ocular pathogens under physiologically relevant conditions, and stimulates HCEC migration and cytokine production. These findings suggest that LL-37 acts as a multifunctional mediator that helps protect the cornea from infection and modulates wound healing.
Effect of acid–base properties of unsized and sized carbon fibers on fiber/epoxy matrix adhesion ☆

Abstract The surface energies and acid–base character of unsized and sized Zoltek fiber were investigated using dynamic contact angle analysis. The surface’ acid–base property were characterized by calculating the work of acid–base interaction according to Fowkes’ and Good’s theory. To evaluate the effect of sizing on carbon fiber surface properties, Ultem® polyimide and polyurethane (PU) sized fibers were studied in comparison with unsized fibers. It was found that the sizing on the carbon fiber tended to reduce the surface energy and cover acid–base sites. The surface of unsized and sized carbon fibers were analyzed by XPS to investigate changes in surface chemistry. XPS analysis indicated that hydroxyl groups on the fiber surface decreased with sizing (Ultem® and polyurethane). These changes in chemistry are reflected in a decrease in the polar γsp and basic γs− contribution of the surface energy of the fibers. Single fiber fragmentation testing of unsized and Ultem® and polyurethane sized fibers in epoxy matrix showed that there is a direct effect of the surface chemical changes on the fiber/matrix adhesion.
Rotordynamic Response and Identification of AMB Machining Spindle

Active magnetic bearings (AMBs) are a very promising technology for machining applications. They offer a number of advantages compared to classical bearings, such as high speed capability, rotation accuracy, high stiffness, and possibility of active displacement tracking. This paper presents a modeling approach for a high-speed machining spindle-AMBs system based on finite-element model analysis coupled to experimental modal identification. The extracted frequency response functions, measured between the magnetic bearing journals and the sensor locations, are compared with the responses of a rotor model, and a calibration procedure is applied to reduce the discrepancies between the model and the measured data.© 2007 ASME
Differential geometric methods in hybrid parametrization of linear dynamical systems

This paper introduces a non-Euclidean parametrization of linear dynamical systems both in the open loop and in the closed loop. In particular, the various parametrizations introduced have a bundle structure which appears to be of relevance in system identification. Furthermore a quotient topology is obtained on the space of all systems and compared with the well-known graph topology. The article describes many desirable features of the quotient topology. Applications of vector bundle and fiber bundle theory in parametrization of control systems in the closed loop introduced in this paper are new.
The anodic behavior of gold in phosphoric acid at elevated temperatures

The anodic dissolution of gold in concentrated phosphoric acid was investigated at 145–200°C. Gold dissolves in a narrow potential region (150 mV) about 300 mV positive to the oxygen potential in the same electrolyte. At higher potentials it passivates. At very high overvoltages dissolution, which increased rapidly with temperature, was also observed in the transpassive region. The product of the dissolution is finely divided gold, probably formed by immediate decomposition of the oxydation product. At 200°C, at which temperature pyrophosphoric acid is formed, the gold dissolution also yields a clear yellow solution of gold pyrophosphate
Analysis of proanthocyanidins by high-performance gel permeation chromatography.

Abstract A high-performance gel permeation chromatography method was developed for the analysis of proanthocyanidins. The isocratic method consisted of two porous polystyrene–divinylbenzene columns (300×7.5 mm each, 5 μm, 100 and 500 A individual pore size) and a mobile phase consisting of N,N-dimethylformamide containing 1% (v/v) acetic acid, 5% (v/v) water and 0.15 M lithium chloride. The flow-rate was maintained at 1 ml/min, with a column temperature of 60 °C and with detection at 280 nm. The method was used to analyze proanthocyanidin fractions of increasing molecular mass and from different plant tissues. The average molecular mass of proanthocyanidin fractions as determined by acid catalysis in the presence of phloroglucinol, related well with their gel permeation chromatography column retention, yet significant differences in the retention properties between individual plant tissue isolates existed. Proanthocyanidin compositional differences between isolates may explain these differences. A second-order calibration curve was generated from fractionated grape seed proanthocyanidins and this curve was used to analyze grape seed proanthocyanidins isolated from grapes harvested at extremes of maturity.
Ammonium Sulfate and MALDI In-Source Decay: A Winning Combination for Sequencing Peptides

In previous papers, we highlighted the role of ammonium sulfate in increasing peptide fragmentation by in-source decay (ISD). The current work systematically investigated effects of matrix assisted laser desorption ionization (MALDI) extraction delay, peptide amino acid composition, matrix, and ammonium sulfate concentration on peptide ISD fragmentation. The data confirmed that ammonium sulfate increased peptides signal-to-noise ratio as well as their in-source fragmentation, resulting in complete sequence coverage regardless of the amino acid composition. This method is easy, inexpensive, and generates the peptides sequence instantly.
Analyzing the Impact of Joint Optimization of Cell Size, Redundancy, and ECC on Low-Voltage SRAM Array Total Area

The increasing power consumption of processors has made power reduction a first-order priority in processor design. Voltage scaling is one of the most powerful power-reduction techniques introduced to date, but is limited to some minimum voltage VDDMIN. Below VDDMIN on-chip SRAM cells cannot all operate reliably due to increased process variability with technology scaling. The use of larger SRAM cells, which are less sensitive to process variability, allows a reduction in VDDMIN. However, since the large-scale memory structures such as last-level caches (LLCs) often determine the VDDMIN of processors, these structures cannot afford to use large SRAM cells due to the resulting increase in die area. In this paper we first propose a joint optimization of LLC cell size, the number of redundant cells, and the strength of error-correction coding (ECC) to minimize total SRAM area while meeting yield and VDDMIN targets. The joint use of redundant cells and ECC enables the use of smaller cell sizes while maintaining design targets. Smaller cell sizes more than make up for the extra cells required by redundancy and ECC. In 32-nm technology our joint approach yields a 27% reduction in total SRAM area (including the extra cells) when targeting 90% yield and 600 mV VDDMIN. Second, we demonstrate that the ECC used to repair defective cells can be combined with a simple architectural technique, which can also fix particle-induced soft errors, without increasing ECC strength or processor runtime.
Comparison of Discrepancy Rates in Resident and Faculty Interpretations of On-Call PE CT and V/Q Scans: Is One Study More Reliable During Off Hours?

Purpose There has been no comparison of concordance rates for residents' and faculty members' interpretations of pulmonary embolism (PE) CT and ventilation/perfusion (V/Q) studies. If significantly different rates of agreement are demonstrable, this could influence which test is ordered during off hours. The purpose of this study was to evaluate how the performance of residents compared with that of faculty members in interpreting these two modalities. Methods Interobserver agreement between preliminary resident reports and final attending radiologist interpretations was calculated retrospectively for PE CT studies (n = 1,179) and V/Q scans (n = 331) interpreted by on-call residents from April 2007 to October 2008. Discordant cases were reviewed for clinical significance and outcomes at 3 months. Interobserver variability was also evaluated relative to residents' training levels and faculty members' years of experience. Results Interobserver agreement between faculty members and residents was substantial, at 95% for PE CT (κ = 0.77) and 77.9% for V/Q scans (κ = 0.67). Although changes in interpretation were significantly more common with V/Q scans (22.1% vs 5%; χ 2 2 P = .20). The overall discrepancy rate and the rate of clinically significant discrepancy did not correlate with residents' training levels or faculty members' years of experience. Conclusions Concordance rates for residents' interpretations of V/Q scans and PE CT studies were high, and discrepancies resulting in changes in patient management were rare for both modalities. Residents' preliminary interpretations of both modalities are reliable and safe for making initial patient management decisions.
Obesity polymorphisms identified in genome-wide association studies interact with n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acid intake and modify the genetic association with adiposity phenotypes in Yup’ik people

n-3 Polyunsaturated fatty acids (n-3 PUFAs) have anti-obesity effects that may modulate risk of obesity, in part, through interactions with genetic factors. Genome-wide association studies (GWAS) have identified genetic variants associated with body mass index (BMI); however, the extent to which these variants influence adiposity through interactions with n-3 PUFAs remains unknown. We evaluated 10 highly replicated obesity GWAS single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) for individual and cumulative associations with adiposity phenotypes in a cross-sectional sample of Yup’ik people (n = 1,073) and evaluated whether genetic associations with obesity were modulated by n-3 PUFA intake. A genetic risk score (GRS) was calculated by adding the BMI-increasing alleles across all 10 SNPs. Dietary intake of n-3 PUFAs was estimated using nitrogen stable isotope ratio (δ15N) of red blood cells, and genotype–phenotype analyses were tested in linear models accounting for familial correlations. GRS was positively associated with BMI (p = 0.012), PBF (p = 0.022), ThC (p = 0.025), and waist circumference (p = 0.038). The variance in adiposity phenotypes explained by the GRS included BMI (0.7 %), PBF (0.3 %), ThC (0.7 %), and WC (0.5 %). GRS interactions with n-3 PUFAs modified the association with adiposity and accounted for more than twice the phenotypic variation (~1–2 %), relative to GRS associations alone. Obesity GWAS SNPs contribute to adiposity in this study population of Yup’ik people and interactions with n-3 PUFA intake potentiated the risk of fat accumulation among individuals with high obesity GRS. These data suggest the anti-obesity effects of n-3 PUFAs among Yup’ik people may, in part, be dependent upon an individual’s genetic predisposition to obesity.
Comparison of collagen degradation and synthesis in the peripheral and central areas of experimental corneal grafts

The distribution of collagen degradation and synthesis (turnover) between the central and peripheral areas of clear corneal allografts was determined, following transplantation of 6-mm [3H]proline-labelled corneal buttons from extensively pre-labelled, young rabbits into 13 nonradioactive mature rabbits. Control, contralateral 6-mm corneal buttons of each radioactive pair were frozen at -70 degrees C after being trephined into a central 3-mm button and a peripheral ring of cornea. The grafts were removed 10-100 days after the operation and trephined similarly to the paired controls. The central and peripheral areas of the graft and control corneal buttons were analysed separately for total hydroxyproline and radioactivity. A significant degradation of old collagen (as seen by the loss of total radioactivity) occurred early in both the central (19.4 +/- 6.1%) and peripheral (12.3 +/- 7.5%) areas of the grafted corneas, compared to the corresponding areas of the contralateral controls. A significant increase in new, non-radioactive collagen occurred in both the central (22.0 +/- 7.6%) and peripheral areas (30.6 +/- 6.1%); however, a significant net increase in total collagen occurred only in the peripheral area (18.3 +/- 11.4). Loss of original (old) collagen was significantly greater in the central area than in the peripheral area; whereas, the increase in new collagen was significantly greater in the peripheral area than the central area, accounting for a significant increase in total collagen. There was no correlation in collagen turnover with time after surgery. Collagen turnover occurs acutely throughout the clear corneal graft and thereafter is stable.
The Measurement of Machinery Noise

The audio noise meter described in this paper is a portable instrument for measuring and analyzing noise and vibration of machinery. The analyzer obtains its high selectivity through the use of a mechanical ``band pass filter'' of four stages. Some test results and a discussion of the measurement problem are given.
The Essential E.P. Thompson, edited by Dorothy Thompson. New Press: New York, 2001. x + 498 pp. $45.00 cloth; $21.95 paper.

Putting together a reader from the polymorphously diverse writings of a formidably creative, dissident writer who reflects in his or her sensibility and voice the defining compass of the times that he or she has lived through and, moreover, helped remake is an unenviable task of tribute fraught with inevitable omissions and haunting incompletion. In his obituary on C. Wright Mills, his trans-Atlantic friend and comrade of the international New Left, Edward Thompson recognized that it was Mill's “style, rather than a comprehensive theory of social process . . . the style of a responsible and catholic eclectic” that he successfully attained in his late years and remains his enduring legacy. Thompson was able to make greater strides in achieving, if not a “comprehensive theory of social process,” a poetically incandescent, empirically textured way of reading this social process from the perspective of the English plebeians, artisans, and commoners, most famously with The Making of the English Working Class. Noting that in America The Making of the English Working Class “had both a Movement reading and an Academic reading,” Peter Linebaugh, a former student of Thompson's, has stressed its function as “an iconic text in some ways in the Movement . . . a text of particular class composition and a particular political moment” that also became among the students “a shield for the troops in this strategy, protecting us from the shafts and cuts of the Old Boy Network” of US higher education in the 1960s. Thirty-five years later, under the specter of another “particular class composition,” we may ask ourselves if The Essential E.P. Thompson can bid us to undertake new readings of the last “great bustard” and to pitch them against the neoliberal imperial Behemoth that encircles us today wherever we turn our eyes.
Deep Arteriovenous Malformations in the Basal Ganglia, Thalamus, and Insula: Multimodality Management, Patient Selection, and Results

Objective This study sought to describe a single institution's experience treating arteriovenous malformations (AVMs) of the basal ganglia, thalamus, and insula in a multimodal fashion. Methods We conducted a retrospective review of all deep AVMs treated at our institution between 1997 and 2011 with attention to patient selection, treatment strategies, and radiographic and functional outcomes. Results A total of 97 patients underwent initial treatment at our institution. 64% presented with hemorrhage with 29% located in the basal ganglia, 41% in the thalamus, and 30% in the insula. 80% were Spetzler-Martin grade III-IV. Initial treatment was microsurgical resection in 42%, stereotactic radiosurgery (SRS) in 45%, and observation in 12%. Radiographic cure was achieved in 54% after initial surgical or SRS treatment (71% and 23%, respectively) and in 63% after subsequent treatments, with good functional outcomes in 78% (median follow-up 2.2 years). Multivariate logistic regression analysis revealed treatment group and age as factors associated with radiographic cure, whereas Spetzler-Martin score and time to follow-up were significantly associated with improved/unchanged functional status at time of last follow-up. Posttreatment hemorrhage occurred in 11% (7% of surgical and 18% of SRS patients). Conclusions Modern treatment of deep AVMs includes a multidisciplinary approach utilizing microsurgery, SRS, embolization, and observation. Supplementary grading adds meaningfully to traditional Spetzler-Martin grading to guide patient selection. Surgical resection is more likely to result in obliteration compared with SRS, and is associated with satisfactory results in carefully selected patients.
Backbone Flexibility and Stability of Reverse Turn Conformation in a Model System

Abstract Molecular dynamics simulations have been used to study differences in propensity to form a disulfide-bridged turn conformation by peptides with sequence Ac-Cys-Pro-Xaa-Cys-NMe. The calculations were limited to three peptides, with Xaa=Aib, Gly and Val. The experimental differences in propensity (in terms of free energy differences ΔΔG°) were reproduced within 2 kJ/mol. The use of a reduced 1-4 non-bonded interaction potential was tested in this system, but was found to give slightly worse agreement with experiment. The stability of alternate conformations was determined systematically. Type I and II turn conformations of the Aib compound have similar free energy; the Val compound is most stable in a type I turn conformation (by 8 kJ/mol), while the Gly compound is most stable in a type II turn conformation (by 5 kJ/mol). Different backbone conformations were obtained for the valine compound in simulations in solution and in the crystal. It is concluded that turn conformations with ψ1+2 near 0, as typically seen in proteins, are stabilized by intramolecular hydrogen bonding in the confined environment. However, when exposed to solvent, hydrogen bonds with water stabilize conformations with larger or smaller values of ψ1+2 that are more similar to free energy minima in the isolated, terminally blocked, residue.
Assay systems and characterization of Pacific whiting (Merluccius productus) protease.

Commonly used protease assays and substrates were compared for sensitivity and simplicity in analyzing proteolytic activity in Pacific whiting causing gel weakening of surimi during heat-setting. Assay based on detection of trichloroacetic acid (TCA)-soluble products, using azocasein as substrate, showed highest sensitivity. By that assay, optimal pH of the protease was 5.5, and optimal temperature, 55 o C. The validity of the assay for measuring activity was confirmed by pH profiles of residual proteolytic and autolytic activities of uncooked surimi. These analyses showed pH profiles similar to those of fish juice with a pH optimum of 5.5
Decadal Variability in the Formation of the North Pacific Subtropical Mode Water: Oceanic versus Atmospheric Control

Abstract In situ temperature and altimetrically derived sea surface height data are used to investigate the low-frequency variations in the formation of the North Pacific Ocean Subtropical Mode Water (STMW) over the past 12 yr. Inside the Kuroshio Extension (KE) recirculation gyre where STMW forms, the dominant signal is characterized by a gradual thinning in the late winter mixed layer depth and in the 16°–18°C thermostad layer from 1993 to 1999 and a subsequent steady thickening of these features after 2000. This same decadal signal is also seen in the low-potential-vorticity (PV) STMW layer in the interior subtropical gyre south of the recirculation gyre. By analyzing the air–sea flux data from the NCEP–NCAR reanalysis project, little correlation is found between the decadal STMW signal and the year-to-year changes in the cumulative wintertime surface cooling. In contrast, the decadal signal is found to be closely related to variability in the dynamic state of the KE system. Specifically, STMW formatio...
Reduced Foodborne Toxin Exposure Is a Benefit of Improving Dietary Diversity

Naturally occurring foodborne toxins are common in subsistence diets of low-income human populations worldwide. Often, these populations rely on one or two staple foods for the bulk of their calories, making them more susceptible to chronic intake of certain toxins. Exposure to common foodborne toxins is associated with diverse conditions such as cancer, immunotoxicity, growth impairment, and neurological deficits. Interventions focused solely on reducing toxin levels have proven difficult to sustain. Using case studies of two foodborne toxins, aflatoxin and cassava cyanide, this article addresses the heightened risk of particular diseases from eating monotonous diets based in maize, groundnuts, and cassava: common in sub-Saharan Africa and parts of Asia. We also discuss the potential role of increased dietary diversity in counteracting these diseases. Increased dietary diversity can reduce consumption of toxins and increase intake of nutrients that could counteract the toxicity of such chemicals. In Qidong, China, a population that previously consumed a monotonous maize-based diet and increased dietary diversity since the 1980s has experienced a dramatic reduction in liver cancer mortalities. That liver cancer decreased as dietary diversity increased is the catalyst for the hypothesis that dietary diversity could have a direct impact on reducing health effects of foodborne toxins. Future research, agricultural development, and food policy reforms should take into consideration the multifaceted benefits associated with improved dietary diversity. Collaborations between toxicologists, nutritionists, and policymakers are important to development of sustainable interventions to reduce foodborne toxin exposure and promote health through increased dietary diversity.
Version pool management in a multilevel secure multiversion transaction manager

The paper presents initial results of an ongoing project to develop an experimental prototype of a multilevel secure (MLS) database system (DBS) based upon a multiversion scheduling protocol. The purpose of the project is to explore design alternatives and demonstrate feasibility. The work focuses on the mechanisms needed to provide efficient access to multiple versions of data as required by the protocol. With this protocol, strictly dominating transactions are serialized before active dominated transactions to avoid contention. These dominating transactions require access to old snapshots. The purpose of this work is to characterize the storage and access cost associated with the approach. We describe a prototype featuring an untrusted version pool mechanism to study this question. An analytical model is developed to predict storage and search costs. The analytical model is validated through measurements made on the prototype. >
Factors Related to the Social Self-Efficacy of Chinese International Students

This study indicates that the social self-efficacy of 203 Chinese and Taiwanese international students was significantly higher when they were asked to consider their interactions among fellow native language speakers than when they were asked to imagine themselves interacting in English-speaking settings. And in fact, the social self-efficacy of these students in native language settings was as high as the highest levels of social self-efficacy found in African American students in a previous sample of college students. Other findings show that social self-efficacy in the English setting was significantly and positively related to English proficiency, length of residence in the United States, and unconditional self-regard and was negatively related to acculturation stress. Regression analyses indicate that social self-efficacy in English settings and unconditional self-regard were related to acculturation stress, accounting for 38% of the variance in stress. Implications for the adjustment and counseling...
A Paradigmatic and Methodological Examination of Information Systems Research from 1991 to 2001

Abstract. The field of information systems (IS) has evolved for more than three decades. Although many schools of thought have emerged and even become well established, few historical analyses of research paradigms and methodologies have been undertaken. One of the rare exceptions is Orlikowski & Baroudi (1991). Yet, the IS research community has evolved substantially since 1991 in many aspects. A variety of journal outlets have emerged and become well established. More attention has been paid to paradigmatic and methodological issues. Political and professional contexts have also changed noticeably. Therefore, it should be an opportune time for the field to ask: ‘What changes are manifested in journal publications?’‘Is the field making progress regarding pluralism in IS research?’‘How will the field's publications practices change in the future?’ The purpose of this paper is to investigate these questions and, in turn, reflect on the paradigmatic and methodological progress made since 1991. We examined 1893 articles published in eight major IS publication outlets between 1991 and 2001. Our findings suggest that the long-term endeavours of interpretivist researchers might need to continue because the paradigmatic progress appears somewhat inconsequential; positivist research still dominates 81% of published empirical research. In particular, US journals, as opposed to European journals, tend to be more positivist, quantitative, cross-sectional and survey oriented. With respect to research design, survey research is still the most widely used method (41%), although case studies have gained substantial recognition (36%). Further, the increase of qualitative research (30%), empirical studies (61%) and longitudinal cases (33%) at the expense of laboratory experiments (18%) might suggest that IS researchers have become more interested in obtaining scientific knowledge in real world settings. In summary, we suggest that the field has been dominated by the positivist paradigm, despite calls to the contrary. Indeed, if the field was to truly embrace pluralism, it would have to find ways to fundamentally change the publication practices of the journal system, including the current tenure and promotion system, which pose considerable obstacles for the acceptance of alternative paradigms.
Refinement-based context-sensitive points-to analysis for Java

We present a scalable and precise context-sensitive points-to analysis with three key properties: (1) filtering out of unrealizable paths, (2) a context-sensitive heap abstraction, and (3) a context-sensitive call graph. Previous work [21] has shown that all three properties are important for precisely analyzing large programs, e.g., to show safety of downcasts. Existing analyses typically give up one or more of the properties for scalability. We have developed a refinement-based analysis that succeeds by simultaneously refining handling of method calls and heap accesses, allowing the analysis to precisely analyze important code while entirely skipping irrelevant code. The analysis is demanddriven and client-driven, facilitating refinement specific to each queried variable and increasing scalability. In our experimental evaluation, our analysis proved the safety of 61% more casts than one of the most precise existing analyses across a suite of large benchmarks. The analysis checked the casts in under 13 minutes per benchmark (taking less than 1 second per query) and required only 35MB of memory, far less than previous approaches.
Handbook of Rock Art Research

Handbook of Rock Art Research. David S. Whitley. ed. Walnut Creek, CA: Altamira Press, 2001. 864 pp.
Refocusing on Attentional Dysfunctions in Schizophrenia

fically cross-modal slowing but feels that the role of false expectancies cannot yet be as clearly ruled out for differential impairment by prior preparatory intervals (Pis) in irregular series. Studies using guessing or similar indices of expectancies have apparently not yet been carried out within the Shakow RT paradigm. In the modality shift task, false expectancies (at least as measured by guessing the modality of the next stimulus) did lead to inordinate slowing by schizophrenic s, but this impairment was not greater for the cross-modal than for the ipsimodal trials. In fact, it reached statistical significance only for the ipsimodal trials. The increased intersubject variability that was associated with false expectancies would, however, seem more likely to indicate large individual differences in the impact of such expectancies on RT rather than consistently larger individual disruption of RT as implied by Waldbaum, Sutton, and Kerr (1975). The role of uncertainty about the upcoming stimulus conditions, as distinguished from false expectancies, in the Sutton and Zubin cross-modal paradigm is less clear. The fact that schizophrenic patients as compared to normal controls showed significantly greater RT slowing to cross-modal sequences even when told in advance which stimulus would come next clearly indicates that cross-modal impairment goes beyond the effects of uncertainty. However, it remains likely that the average amount of such cross-modal retardation is increased by the uncertainty about stimulus sequence that is present in the typical Sutton and Zubin RT task. Moreover, the mean amount of differential slowing in schizophrenia due to uncertainty when modality shift is controlled appears to be much greater than that due to crossmodal shifts with uncertainty controlled (Waldbaum, Sutton, and Kerr 1975). Thus, while both effects have independent importance, it would appear that the
Combined adaptive interference cancellation and bootstrap separation of dual polarized signals

The use of dual polarized transmission provides a means of doubling the spectral efficiency in radio communications systems. Antenna imperfections and/or non ideal channel conditions introduce cross-polarization interference, degrading the performance. Additionally, the performance may be further degraded by the presence of a narrow-band interferer. We propose a scheme which uses an antenna array, depolarizers, and an adaptive filtering algorithm to cancel the directional co-channel interference and decorrelate the polarized information bearing channels. The proposed structure is analyzed analytically and simulation results are presented for 4-QAM or QPSK signals.
Q switching of a diode-pumped Nd:YAG laser with GaAs

We investigated the properties of a diode-pumped Nd:YAG laser that is passively Q switched by a thin, single-crystal GaAs wafer. At 3 W of incident pump power, the laser produced stable 7-ns pulses with 20 μJ of energy at a 6-kHz repetition rate. For pump powers up to 2.2 W, which resulted in 13.2-μJ pulses, the output mode was TEM00. The shortest pulses that we observed were 3 ns in duration. In addition to saturable absorption, we find that two-photon absorption and free-carrier effects determine pulse formation.
Seepage of steady rainfall through soil into drains

Theoretical formulas for the height of all points of an arch-shaped water table are derived for steady rainfall seeping into homogeneous soil drained by tubes or ditches. The soil is underlain by an impermeable layer and the drains are taken to be equally spaced and equally deep. The solution is based on exact mathematical procedures, but utilizes a physical assumption that the height of the water table as measured from a reference plane passing through the lowest points of the water table is small compared to the depth of the impermeable layer. For tube drains running half full and when the impermeable layer is at great depth, the theoretical height H of the water table midway between drain tubes takes the particularly simple form, H = (2sR/πk)ln(2s/πγ) where H is height above the reference plane, 2r is the diameter of the drain tube, 2s is the spacing between drain tubes, R is the rainfall rate, and k the hydraulic conductivity. Flow nets for tube and ditch drainage are presented; a table for making practical computations has been prepared. The theory is compared with field data of Kirkham and De Zeeuw; good agreement was obtained. Finally, the interesting point is brought out that the Dupuit-Forchheimer (DF) theory emerges from the general theory for the special case of very large ratio of drain spacing to height of water saturated soil and for an essentially flat water table. Thus the analysis presents a rational foundation for DF theory which has heretofore been lacking.
Looking beyond region boundaries: a robust image similarity measure using fuzzified region features

The performance of most region-based image retrieval systems depend critically on the accuracy of object segmentation. We propose a region matching approach, unified feature matching (UFM), which greatly increases the robustness of the retrieval system against segmentation related uncertainties. In our retrieval system, an image is represented by a set of segmented regions each of which is characterized by a fuzzy feature reflecting color, texture, and shape properties. The resemblance between two images is then defined as the overall similarity between two families of fuzzy features, and quantified by the UFM measure. The system has been tested on a database of about 60,000 general-purpose images. Experimental results demonstrate improved accuracy and robustness.
Two-photon exposure of photographic film

Photographic film has commonly been exposed by a single-photon absorption mechanism. We determine the conditions for film exposure by direct two-photon absorption. Using subpicosecond laser pulses, we find that two-photon exposure for commercial film has a threshold fluence and an intensity of 0.0008 J/cm2 and 0.0066 TW/cm2, respectively, well below the optical damage threshold. Multiphoton photography has the potential for higher spatial resolution and affords an opportunity for three-dimensional image storage.
Using Parsed Corpora for Structural Disambiguation in the TRAINS Domain

This paper describes a prototype disambiguation module, KANKEI, which was tested on two corpora of the TRAINS project. In ambiguous verb phrases of form V ... NP PP or V ... NP adverb(s), the two corpora have very different PP and adverb attachment patterns; in the first, the correct attachment is to the VP 88.7% of the time, while in the second, the correct attachment is to the NP 73.5% of the time. KANKEI uses various n-gram patterns of the phrase heads around these ambiguities, and assigns parse trees (with these ambiguities) a score based on a linear combination of the frequencies with which these patterns appear with NP and VP attachments in the TRAINS corpora. Unlike previous statistical disambiguation systems, this technique thus combines evidence from bigrams, trigrams, and the 4-gram around an ambiguous attachment. In the current experiments, equal weights are used for simplicity but results are still good on the TRAINS corpora (92.2% and 92.4% accuracy). Despite the large statistical differences in attachment preferences in the two corpora, training on the first corpus and testing on the second gives an accuracy of 90.9%.
Indexing Diffraction Patterns

Since the strength of TEM is that you can obtain both crystallographic data and an image from the same part of your specimen, a method for interpreting the DP is essential. The first step in any interpretation is to index your pattern. You can proceed in several ways, depending on how much information you already know about your specimen. We will begin the chapter by considering the experimental approach with the aim of being able to identify shortcuts whenever possible. The experienced microscopist will readily identify many patterns just by looking at them, but will still need to index new patterns or to identify unfamiliar ones. The fastest and most efficient experimental approach may take advantage of several concepts covered in the preceding two chapters and the following three.
Does IMF Transparency Matter? Evidence from Emerging Markets, 1997-2008

A dramatic change has taken place in the manner in which the IMF conducts its annual surveillance of member state economies. These annual consultations (known as Article IV consultations) were originally viewed as private matters. Starting in 1997, the IMF released summary information about a country’s consultation on a voluntary basis. Recently, countries could choose to release the consultation team’s report itself, which is prepared for discussion by the Fund’s Executive Board. This raises the question of how and to what extent international markets respond to this transparency. This paper builds on the work of Fratzscher and Reynaud (2011) and Glennerster and Shin (2008) to estimate the effects of Article IV data release on spreads on emerging market debt. This project is supported by a grant from the National Science Foundation (SES-0960422) We find strong evidence that Article IV transparency reduces spreads on emerging market debt, and these findings are robust across the release of different types of information as well as numerous alternative specifications.
Factors Associated with the Incidence of Reduced Audit Quality Behaviors

The purpose of this study is to develop and test a more comprehensive model of factors that explain reduced audit quality (RAQ) behaviors. Specifically, this study investigates the relationship between the incidence of RAQ behaviors and auditors' personality characteristics, auditors' professional characteristics, auditing firms' quality control and review procedures, auditing firm structure, and auditors' perceptions of time budget pressure. The results suggest that auditors' perceived strength of their firm's quality control and review procedures and auditors' perceived strength of their firm's penalties for committing RAQ acts are inversely related to incidences of RAQ behaviors. Also, auditors' need for approval and need for achievement are inversely related to RAQ behaviors. No other significant relationships between RAQ behaviors and other potential explanatory factors were found. These findings suggest that firms should evaluate their control, review, and disciplinary procedures over audit program execution and improve their auditors' understanding of procedures and penalties.
Regulatory Perspectives on Strength-Dependent Dissolution Profiles and Biowaiver Approaches for Immediate Release (IR) Oral Tablets in New Drug Applications

Dissolution profile comparisons are used by the pharmaceutical industry to assess the similarity in the dissolution characteristics of two formulations to decide whether the implemented changes, usually minor/moderate in nature, will have an impact on the in vitro/in vivo performance of the drug product. When similarity testing is applied to support the approval of lower strengths of the same formulation, the traditional approach for dissolution profile comparison is not always applicable for drug products exhibiting strength-dependent dissolution and may lead to incorrect conclusions about product performance. The objective of this article is to describe reasonable biopharmaceutic approaches for developing a biowaiver strategy for low solubility, proportionally similar/non-proportionally similar in composition immediate release drug products that exhibit strength-dependent dissolution profiles. The paths highlighted in the article include (1) approaches to address biowaiver requests, such as the use of multi-unit dissolution testing to account for sink condition differences between the higher and lower strengths; (2) the use of a single- vs. strength-dependent dissolution method; and (3) the use of single- vs. strength-dependent dissolution acceptance criteria. These approaches are cost- and time-effective and can avoid unnecessary bioequivalence studies.
Guarding, Aggressive Behavior, and Mating Success in Male Twospotted Spider Mites,

Males of Tetranychus urticae are attracted to quiescent ♀ deutonymphs, where they remain in attendance until the female ecdyses and mating is accomplished. Fighting may occur between males when more than one attempt to guard a single female. Aggressive encounters are characterized by considerable grappling and pushing, and may involve the use of silk to entangle and repel an opponent. Sometimes injuries are inflicted by the extruded cheliceral stylets, resulting in the death of one male. Experiments revealed the advantage of 1st discovery and of establishing dominance over other competing males before the emergence of the female. Size is also important, with larger males generally able to defeat smaller ones. During the course of a colonizing episode the functional (rather than actual) sex ratio becomes markedly skewed toward males and competition for mates is intense. Guarding and aggressive behaviors thus have important consequences for ♂ reproductive sucess.