cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Fourier Transform Inequalities for Phylogenetic Trees

Phylogenetic invariants are not the only constraints on site-pattern frequency vectors for phylogenetic trees. A mutation matrix, by its definition, is the exponential of a matrix with non-negative off-diagonal entries; this positivity requirement implies non-trivial constraints on the site-pattern frequency vectors. We call these additional constraints "edge-parameter inequalities." In this paper, we first motivate the edge-parameter inequalities by considering a pathological site-pattern frequency vector corresponding to a quartet tree with a negative internal edge. This site-pattern frequency vector nevertheless satisfies all of the constraints described up to now in the literature. We next describe two complete sets of edge-parameter inequalities for the group-based models; these constraints are square-free monomial inequalities in the Fourier transformed coordinates. These inequalities, along with the phylogenetic invariants, form a complete description of the set of site-pattern frequency vectors corresponding to \emph{bona fide} trees. Said in mathematical language, this paper explicitly presents two finite lists of inequalities in Fourier coordinates of the form "monomial $\leq 1$," each list characterizing the phylogenetically relevant semialgebraic subsets of the phylogenetic varieties.
Rent sharing in the multi-fibre arrangement : theory and evidence from US apparel imports from Hong Kong

Available estimates of tariff equivalents of quotas and welfare calculations on the costs of multi-fibre arrangements (MFA) for developing countries are based on the premise of perfect competition in both product and license markets. It is also assumed that the exporting countries that administer the MFA quotas receive all the scarcity rents. The authors argue that, in the presence of market power on the buyers' side in the product markets combined with concentration in the license markets, the importing countries might retain part of this rent. Although the impact of imperfect competition on rent appropriation has been analyzed in literature, rent sharing has so far been ignored in both analytical and empirical work. This paper makes a theoretical case for rent sharing, and then analyzes U.S. imports of apparel products from Hong Kong. The authors find that rent sharing substantially affects the estimated magnitude of welfare losses that exporting developing countries suffer because of MFA quotas.
State Taxation and the Reallocation of Business Activity: Evidence from Establishment-Level Data

Using census microdata on multistate firms and their organizational forms, we estimate the impact of state taxes on business activity. For C corporations, employment and the number of establishment...
Cochannel interference avoidance MAC in wireless cellular networks

Severe cochannel interference in wireless cellular networks significantly affects users at cell edges. We propose a cost-effective cochannel interference avoidance (CIA) medium access control (MAC) scheme to improve network performance. For CIA-MAC, base stations judged as severe interferers transmit randomly and the transmission is controlled by wireless channel states to optimize the overall network performance while maintaining proportional fairness among users. Conditions for triggering CIA-MAC are derived and two simple trigger mechanisms are obtained. The CIA-MAC scheme requires low signaling overhead and only minor changes to the existing mobile systems. Simulation results show that the proposed scheme, CIAMAC, significantly outperforms traditional approaches through the avoidance of severe cochannel interference as well as the exploitation of multiuser diversity through cross-layer design.
Temperature-size rule is mediated by thermal plasticity of critical size in Drosophila melanogaster

Most ectotherms show an inverse relationship between developmental temperature and body size, a phenomenon known as the temperature-size rule (TSR). Several competing hypotheses have been proposed to explain its occurrence. According to one set of views, the TSR results from inevitable biophysical effects of temperature on the rates of growth and differentiation, whereas other views suggest the TSR is an adaptation that can be achieved by a diversity of mechanisms in different taxa. Our data reveal that the fruitfly, Drosophila melanogaster, obeys the TSR using a novel mechanism: reduction in critical size at higher temperatures. In holometabolous insects, attainment of critical size initiates the hormonal cascade that terminates growth, and hence, Drosophila larvae appear to instigate the signal to stop growth at a smaller size at higher temperatures. This is in contrast to findings from another holometabolous insect, Manduca sexta, in which the TSR results from the effect of temperature on the rate and duration of growth. This contrast suggests that there is no single mechanism that accounts for the TSR. Instead, the TSR appears to be an adaptation that is achieved at a proximate level through different mechanisms in different taxa.
Learning a similarity-based distance measure for image database organization from human partitionings of an image set

In this paper we employ human judgments of image similarity to improve the organization of an image database. We first derive a statistic, /spl kappa//sub B/ which measures the agreement between two partitionings of an image set. /spl kappa//sub B/ is used to assess agreement both amongst and between human and machine partitionings. This provides a rigorous means of choosing between competing image database organization systems, and of assessing the performance of such systems with respect to human judgments. Human partitionings of an image set are used to define a similarity value based on the frequency with which images are judged to be similar. When this measure is used to partition an image set using a clustering technique, the resultant partitioning agrees better with human partitionings than any of the feature-space-based techniques investigated. Finally, we investigate the use of multilayer perceptrons and a distance learning network to learn a mapping from feature space to this perceptual similarity space. The distance learning network is shown to learn a mapping which results in partitionings in excellent agreement with those produced by human subjects.
Sustained Comparative Advantage and Semi‐Endogenous Growth

This paper constructs a two-country (Home and Foreign) general equilibrium model of Schumpeterian growth without scale effects. The scale effects property is removed by introducing a distinct specification in the knowledge production function which generates semi-endogenous growth. In this model of semi-endogenous growth, an increase in the rate of population growth rate raises Home’s relative wage and lowers its range of goods exported to Foreign. An increase in the size of innovations increases Home’s relative wage but with an ambiguous effect on its comparative advantage. The model generates a unique steady-state equilibrium in which there is complete specialization in both goods and R&D production within each country.
Chemical Control of Charge Transfer and Recombination at Semiconductor Photoelectrode Surfaces

Semiconductor/liquid contacts provide very efficient systems for converting sunlight into electrical and/or chemical energy. Until recently, relatively little was understood about the factors that control the rates of interfacial charge transfer in such systems. This Forum Article summarizes recent results that have elucidated the key factors that control such charge-transfer rates, including verification of the Marcus inverted region, identification of the maximum charge-transfer rate constant for outer-sphere, nonadsorbing redox couples at optimal exoergicity, the role of nuclear reorganization on the value of the interfacial charge-transfer rate constant at semiconductor electrodes, and the effects of pH-induced changes in the driving force on the rates of such systems. In addition, we discuss methods for using main group inorganic chemistry to control the electrical properties of surfaces of important semiconductors for solar energy conversion, with specific emphasis on alkylation of the (111)-oriented surface of Si. Control of the rates at which carriers cross such interfaces, along with control of the rates at which carriers recombine at such interfaces, forms the basis for exerting chemical control over the key solar energy conversion properties of semiconductor photoelectrode-based devices.
Soft edge results for longest increasing paths on the planar lattice

For two-dimensional last-passage time models of weakly increasing paths, interesting scaling limits have been proved for points close the axis (the hard edge). For strictly increasing paths of Bernoulli($p$) marked sites, the relevant boundary is the line $y=px$. We call this the soft edge to contrast it with the hard edge. We prove laws of large numbers for the maximal cardinality of a strictly increasing path in the rectangle $[p^{-1}n -xn^a]\times[n]$ as the parameters $a$ and $x$ vary. The results change qualitatively as $a$ passes through the value $1/2$.
Direct evidence for two-fluid effects in molecular clouds

We present a combination of theoretical and simulation-based examinations of the role of two-fluid ambipolar drift on molecular linewidths. The dissipation provided by ion-neutral interactions can produce a significant difference between the widths of neutral molecules and the widths of ionic species, comparable to the sound speed. We demonstrate that Alfvwaves and certain families of magnetosonic waves become strongly damped on scales comparable to the ambipolar diffusion scale. Using the RIEMANN code, we simulate two-fluid turbulence with ionization fractions ranging from 10 −2 to 10 −6 . We show that the wave damping causes the power spectrum of the ion velocity to drop below that of the neutral velocity when measured on a relative basis. Following a set of motivational observations by Li & Houde, we produce synthetic linewidth-size relations that show a difference between the ion and neutral linewidths, illustrating that two-fluid effects can have an observationally detectable role in modifying the MHD turbulence in the clouds.
Everything you always wanted to know about SEM (structural equations modeling) but were afraid to ask

This article is intended to serve as a primer for structural equations models for the behavioral researcher. The technique is not mysterious—it is a natural extension of factor analysis and regression. The measurement part of a structural equations model is essentially a confirmatory factor analysis, and the structural part of the model is like a regression but vastly more flexible in the types of theoretical models that may be tested. The models and notation are introduced and the syntax is provided to replicate the analyses in the paper. Part II of this article will appear in the next issue of the Journal of Consumer Psychology, and it covers advanced issues, including fit indices, sample size, moderators, longitudinal data, mediation, and so forth.
A note on six-dimensional gauge theories

Abstract We study the new “gauge” theories in 5+1 dimensions, and their non-commutative generalizations. We argue that the θ -term and the non-commutative torus parameters appear on an equal footing in the non-critical string theories which define the gauge theories. The use of these theories as a Matrix description of M-theory on T 5 , as well as a closely related realization as 5-branes in type IIB string theory, proves useful in studying some of their properties.
The Effects of Strategic Decision Making on Entrepreneurial Self‐Efficacy

This study builds on the construct of entrepreneurial self–efficacy (ESE), which measures the degree to which individuals believe they are capable of performing the tasks associated with new–ventur...
Two-Dimensional Real-Space Analysis of Optical Excitations in Acceptor-Substituted Carotenoids

Absorption spectra of substituted carotenoids with varying acceptor strength are analyzed using collective electronic normal modes obtained using the time-dependent Hartree−Fock (TDHF) technique combined with the INDO/S semiempirical Hamiltonian. Two-dimensional plots of the collective excitations in real space show an off-diagonal size associated with relative motion of electron-hole pairs created upon optical excitation and a diagonal size representing the pair's center of mass motion. By varying the polyene chain length we show that the response of symmetric molecules is controlled by “bulk” delocalized excitations with coherence size ∼12 double bonds, whereas the response of short polar molecules is dominated by a localized “charge-transfer” excitation created at the acceptor end with coherence and diagonal lengths ∼12 and ∼17 double bonds, respectively.
Stochastic Kriging for Simulation Metamodeling

We extend the basic theory of kriging, as applied to the design and analysis of deterministic computer experiments, to the stochastic simulation setting. Our goal is to provide flexible, interpolation-based metamodels of simulation output performance measures as functions of the controllable design or decision variables, or uncontrollable environmental variables. To accomplish this, we characterize both the intrinsic uncertainty inherent in a stochastic simulation and the extrinsic uncertainty about the unknown response surface. We use tractable examples to demonstrate why it is critical to characterize both types of uncertainty, derive general results for experiment design and analysis, and present a numerical example that illustrates the stochastic kriging method.
Binary-induced Neutron Star Compression, Heating, and Collapse

We analyze several aspects of the recently noted neutron star collapse instability in close binary systems. We utilize (3 + 1) dimensional and spherical numerical general relativistic hydrodynamics to study the origin, evolution, and parametric sensitivity of this instability. We derive the modified conditions of hydrostatic equilibrium for the stars in the curved space of quasi-static orbits. We examine the sensitivity of the instability to the neutron star mass and equation of state. We also estimate limits to the possible interior heating and associated neutrino luminosity that could be generated as the stars gradually compress prior to collapse. We show that the radiative loss in neutrinos from this heating could exceed the power radiated in gravity waves for several hours prior to collapse. The possibility that the radiation neutrinos could produce gamma-ray (or other electromagnetic) burst phenomena is also discussed.
Using fuzzy logic for automatic analysis of astronomical pipelines

Fundamental astronomical questions on the composition of the universe, the abundance of Earth-like planets, and the cause of the brightest explosions in the universe are being attacked by robotic telescopes costing billions of dollars and returning vast pipelines of data. The success of these programs depends on the accuracy of automated real time processing of the astronomical images. In this paper the needs of modern astronomical pipelines are discussed in the light of fuzzy-logic based decision-making. Several specific fuzzy-logic algorithms have been develop for the first time for astronomical purposes, and tested with excellent results on data from the existing Night Sky Live sky survey.
Regulatory focus theory and the entrepreneurial process

Abstract Regulatory focus theory delineates how people engage in self-regulation, the process of bringing oneself into alignment with one's standards and goals. At any given point in time, people may engage in self-regulation with a promotion focus or a prevention focus. When promotion-focused, people's growth and advancement needs motivate them to try to bring themselves into alignment with their ideal selves, thereby heightening the salience of potential gains to be attained (felt presence of positive outcomes). When prevention-focused, people's security and safety needs prompt them to attempt to bring themselves into alignment with their ought selves, thereby increasing the salience of potential losses to be avoided (felt absence of negative outcomes). For certain aspects of the entrepreneurial process (e.g., generating ideas with the potential to be successful), greater promotion focus is necessary. For other aspects of the entrepreneurial process (e.g., doing the “due diligence” when screening ideas), greater prevention focus is necessary. In addition to providing a framework for future research on entrepreneurship, regulatory focus theory offers some informed speculations about the level and nature of entrepreneurship that may be expected in the aftermath of the September 11 terrorist attacks.
Acoustic vector-sensor array processing

A method is presented for localizing acoustic sources using an array of sensors, the output of each being a vector consisting of the acoustic pressure and acoustic particle velocity. The authors derive a compact expression for the Cramer-Rao bound (CRB) on the estimation errors of the source direction-of-arrival (DOA) parameters in the multi-source multi-vector-sensor model. An explicit expression is found for the mean-square angular error (MSAE) bound for source localization with a single vector sensor. The authors present two simple algorithms for estimating the source DOA with this sensor, along with their statistical performance analyses. >
U.S.-EU BANANA WAR: IMPLICATIONS OF RETALIATORY TARIFFS ON PECORINO CHEESE

ABSTRACT Because of the European Union's failure to adhere to the dispute settlement panel's findings in the banana dispute, the United States imposed prohibitive tariffs (100% ad valorem) on imports of selected EU products, including Pecorino cheese, as a retaliatory trade policy permitted under WTO rules. This paper illustrates the economic impact of U.S. retaliatory policy. The estimated loss in consumer surplus for Pecorino cheese users was $4.96 million per year. As a result of U.S. policy, tariff revenue and deadweight loss were $1.86 and $3.10 million, respectively. Italian producers lost an estimated $8.55 million in revenue due to reduced exports to the United States, nearly twice the welfare loss experienced by U.S. consumers.
Lefschetz-Pontrjagin duality for differential characters

A theory of differential characters is developed for manifolds with boundary. This is done from both the Cheeger-Simons and the deRham-Federer viewpoints. The central result of the paper is the formulation and proof of a Lefschetz-Pontrjagin Duality Theorem, which asserts that the pairing � k (X, ∂X) × � n−k−1 (X) −→ S 1 given by (α, β) �→ (α ∗ β)[X] induces isomorphisms D : � H k (X, ∂X) → Hom∞(� n−k−1 (X), S 1 ) D : � n−k−1 (X) → Hom∞(� k (X, ∂X), S 1 ) onto the smooth Pontrjagin duals. In particular, D and D are injective with dense range in the group of all continuous homomorphisms into the circle. A coboundary map is introduced which yields a long sequence for the character groups associated to the pair (X, ∂X). The relation of the sequence to the duality mappings is analyzed.
Political Pitfalls of Integrated Watershed Management

ABSTRACT Integrated watershed management, preferably under the direction of a watershed or basin management body, has been prescribed in the water policy literature and from other quarters for decades. Few instances may be found where this recommendation has been implemented. This gap between prescription and practice is sometimes attributed to politics, as a sort of nuisance to be overcome or avoided through rational, comprehensive, consensus-based decision making. Fundamental political considerations are inherent in water resources management, however, and are unavoidable even if the desire for watershed-scale decision-making bodies were realized. Boundary definition, choices about decision-making arrangements, and issues of accountability will arise in any watershed and may help to explain why watershed management has more often taken polycentric organizational forms composed of subwatershed communities of interest. An example of a small Southern California watershed is used to highlight the political ...
Equivalence Classes of Subquotients of Supersymmetric Pseudodifferential Operator Modules

We study the equivalence classes of the non-resonant subquotients of spaces of pseudodifferential operators between tensor density modules over the superline \(\mathbb {R}^{1|1}\), as modules of the Lie superalgebra of contact vector fields. There is a 2-parameter family of subquotients with any given Jordan-Holder composition series. We give a complete set of even equivalence invariants for subquotients of all lengths l. In the critical case l = 6, the even equivalence classes within each non-resonant 2-parameter family are specified by a pencil of conics. In lengths l ≥ 7 our invariants are not fully simplified: for l = 7 we expect that there are only finitely many equivalences other than conjugation, and for l ≥ 8 we expect that conjugation is the only equivalence. We prove this in lengths l ≥ 15. We also analyze certain lacunary subquotients.
Defensive climate in the computer science classroom

As part of an NSF-funded IT Workforce grant, the authors conducted ethnographic research to provide deep understanding of the learning environment of computer science classrooms. Categories emerging from data analysis included 1) impersonal environment and guarded behavior; and 2) the creation and maintenance of informal hierarchy resulting in competitive behaviors. These communication patterns lead to a defensive climate, characterized by competitiveness rather cooperation, judgments about others, superiority, and neutrality rather than empathy. The authors identify particular and recognizable types of discourse, which, when prevalent in a classroom, can preclude the development of a collaborative and supportive learning environment.
Impact of speckle on laser range-gated shortwave infrared imaging system target identification performance

The U.S. Army and the U.S. Air Force are investigating laser range-gated shortwave IR (LRG-SWIR) imaging systems for use in target identification. When coupled to an electron-bombarded CCD, the imaging system can obtain high-resolution images at long ranges. Speckle, an image artifact inherent in laser-illuminated imaging systems, results from interference patterns caused by the coherent illumination. Laser speckle degrades target identification performance but can be reduced by averaging successive LRG-SWIR images. This research is a first attempt at quantifying target identification performance degradation associated with laser speckle. The research begins with a laboratory experiment to verify a speckle model that includes power spectral density and intensity probability density functions. An LRG-SWIR sensor simulation is developed that includes coherent illumination resulting in speckle target images. A field demonstration is performed to verify the fidelity of the simulation. The simulation is then applied to the U.S. Army Night Vision and Electronic Sensors Directorate (NVESD) target identification set with various levels of image averaging and blur. Observer performance results are analyzed in terms of target identification probability and the effects of various levels of blur and speckle are characterized.
Oxidation of aluminum powders at high heating rates

A kinetic model of oxidation of aluminum has been previously established based on thermal analysis data using heating rates in the 1-40 K/min r ange. Ignition, on the other hand, involves heating rates that are many orders of magnitude higher, and experimental work under these conditions is ongoing. In this pro ject, we use thermogravimetry at heating rates up to 500 K/min (8.3 K/s) to validate and extend the k inetic model currently in use for aluminum oxidation. Oxidation studies are conducted in argon/oxygen mixtures. The stepwise aluminum oxidation process reported for lower heating rates is also observed for the higher heating rates addressed in this project. Activati on energies for individual oxidation steps are generally consistent with previous data obtaine d from low heating rate measurements. Additional oxidation process features are obse rved at the higher heating rates and interpreted in the framework of the general concept proposed earlier and involving growth of various alumina polymorphs and transformations between these polymorphs. It is expected that the wider range of heating rates covered exper imentally will improve the reliability of current ignition models, as well as establish which oxidation steps identifiable in the low-heating rate thermo-analytical oxidation experime nts cause ignition of aluminum in practical conditions.
Regional development, disparities and polices in globalizing Asia*

Asia is an increasingly significant player in the global economy, and Asia's unprecedented growth and multifaceted disparities have generated many fascinating issues for scholarly research. This paper summarizes the diverse regional policy and practices of Asia in the context of globalization and transition. We argue that research on Asia is embedded in the complex economic-geographical processes and multiple trajectories of development. This paper highlights the important role of institutions and global-local interactions in regional development and public policy. Resumen. Asia es un actor cada vez mas importante en la economia mundial y su crecimiento sin precedentes y las multiples facetas de sus disparidades han generado un buen numero de topicos fascinantes para la investigacion academica. Este articulo resume las diversas politicas y practicas regionales de Asia en el contexto de la globalizacion y la transicion. Sostenemos que la investigacion sobre Asia esta inmersa en los complejos procesos economico-geograficos y multiples lineas de desarrollo. El articulo pone de relieve el importante papel de las instituciones y las interacciones globales-locales en materia de desarrollo regional y politicas publicas.
Transfer programs under alternative insurance schemes and liquidity constraints

We consider a dynamic allocation problem under alternative insurance and capital market regimes and proper risk aversion separate from intertemporal substitution. We apply the model to study the effect of one-size-fits-all transfers. We find that one-size-fits-all transfers can have different and diametrically opposed qualitative and quantitative effects on consumption, investment, expected growth of output and consumption and the fair price of insurance of the risky technology. The differences depend upon the regime of insurance to the risky technology, the regime of capital markets and the proper separate measures of risk aversion and intertemporal substitution.
Does Fiscal Policy Matter? Blinder and Solow Revisited

This paper uses the old Keynesian representative agent model developed by Roger E. A. Farmer [Expectations, Employment and Prices. New York: Oxford University Press (2010)] to answer two questions: (1) Do increased government purchases crowd out private consumption? (2) Do increased government purchases reduce unemployment? Farmer compared permanent tax-financed expenditure paths and showed that the answer to (1) was yes and the answer to (2) was no. We generalize his result to temporary bond-financed paths of government purchases that are similar to the actual path that occurred during WWII. We find that a temporary increase in government purchases does crowd out private consumption expenditure as in Farmer. However, in contrast to Farmer's experiment, we find that a temporary increase in government purchases can also reduce unemployment.
Estimating the Effect of the Chesapeake Bay Program on Application Rates For Enrollment in the Environmental Quality Incentive Program: A Case Study of Pennsylvania

This paper is an evaluation of the Chesapeake Bay Program's (CBP) effect on farmers' willingness to participate in USDA agricultural conservation programs. Willingness to participate is demonstrated by submission of an application for enrollment in a conservation program. The estimation method is propensity score matching. Matching is one method which can be used to estimate treatment effects using observational studies when a control group is not available for purposes of comparing outcomes with treatment and without treatment.
Fermionic Symmetry Protected Topological Phases and Cobordisms

It has been proposed recently that interacting Symmetry Protected Topological Phases can be classified using cobordism theory. We test this proposal in the case of Fermionic SPT phases with Z2 symmetry, where Z2 is either time-reversal or an internal symmetry. We find that cobordism classification correctly describes all known Fermionic SPT phases in space dimension D ≤ 3 and also predicts that all such phases can be realized by free fermions. In higher dimensions we predict the existence of inherently interacting fermionic SPT phases.
Multiplicity of the special fiber of blowups

Let (R, m) be a Noetherian local ring and let I be an m-primary ideal. In this paper we give sharp bounds on the multiplicity of the special fiber ring F of I in terms of other well-known invariants of I. A special attention is then paid in studying when equality holds in these bounds, with a particular interest in the unmixedness or, better, the Cohen-Macaulayness of F.
On myopic sensing for multi-channel opportunistic access: structure, optimality, and performance

We consider a multi-channel opportunistic communication system where the states of these channels evolve as independent and statistically identical Markov chains (the Gilbert- Elliot channel model). A user chooses one channel to sense and access in each slot and collects a reward determined by the state of the chosen channel. The problem is to design a sensing policy for channel selection to maximize the average reward, which can be formulated as a multi-arm restless bandit process. In this paper, we study the structure, optimality, and performance of the myopic sensing policy. We show that the myopic sensing policy has a simple robust structure that reduces channel selection to a round-robin procedure and obviates the need for knowing the channel transition probabilities. The optimality of this simple policy is established for the two-channel case and conjectured for the general case based on numerical results. The performance of the myopic sensing policy is analyzed, which, based on the optimality of myopic sensing, characterizes the maximum throughput of a multi-channel opportunistic communication system and its scaling behavior with respect to the number of channels. These results apply to cognitive radio networks, opportunistic transmission in fading environments, downlink scheduling in centralized networks, and resource-constrained jamming and anti-jamming.
Gasification of sewage sludge and other biomass for hydrogen production in supercritical water

Digested sewage sludge and other biomass such as wood saw-dust can be mixed with a corn starch gel to form a viscous paste. This paste can be delivered to a supercritical flow reactor by means of a cement pump. Different types of feedstocks are used in this work: sewage sludge (up to 7.69 wt%) mixed in the corn starch paste, poplar wood sawdust (up to 11.46 wt%) mixed in the corn starch paste. When rapidly heated in a flow reactor at pressures above the critical pressure of water (22 MPa) the paste vaporizes. A packed bed of carbon catalyst in the reactor operating at 650°C causes the tarry vapors to react with water, producing hydrogen, carbon dioxide, and some methane with a trace of carbon monoxide. Thus we describe a practical method for the total, supercritical steam reforming of biomass to produce hydrogen at high pressure. The steam reforming process produces effectively no tar. Its only products are a hydrogen rich gas, and a clean water, which can be recycled.
CONFIRMATION AND FALSIFICATION OF EQUILIBRIUM DISPLACEMENT MODELS

One of the most important principles in any science is testing and consequently confirmation and falsification. In agricultural economics, the equilibrium displacement model is a popular modeling approach that presently is not testable and consequently cannot be confirmed or falsified. This paper presents four increasingly sophisticated procedures designed to overcome this limitation of equilibrium displacement models. An empirical illustration demonstrates the usefulness of these procedures in deciding between three alternative and theoretically viable equilibrium displacement models.
Recovery from Financial Crises: Evidence from 100 Episodes

We examine the evolution of real per capita GDP around 100 systemic banking crises. Part of the costs of these crises owes to the protracted nature of recovery. On average, it takes about eight years to reach the pre-crisis level of income; the median is about 6 ½ years. Five to six years after the onset of crisis, only Germany and the US (out of 12 systemic cases) have reached their 2007-2008 peak in real income. Forty three percent of the 100 episodes recorded double dips. Post-war business cycles are not the relevant comparator for the recent crises in advanced economies.
Reconstructing the duty of water: a study of emergent norms in socio-hydrology

This paper assesses the changing norms of wa- ter use known as the duty of water. It is a case study in historical socio-hydrology, or more precisely the history of socio-hydrologic ideas, a line of research that is useful for interpreting and anticipating changing social values with re- spect to water. The duty of water is currently defined as the amount of water reasonably required to irrigate a substantial crop with careful management and without waste on a given tract of land. The historical section of the paper traces this concept back to late 18th century analysis of steam engine efficiencies for mine dewatering in Britain. A half-century later, British irrigation engineers fundamentally altered the concept of duty to plan large-scale canal irrigation systems in northern India at an average duty of 218 acres per cubic foot per second (cfs). They justified this extensive irrigation stan- dard (i.e., low water application rate over large areas) with a suite of social values that linked famine prevention with revenue generation and territorial control. The duty of water concept in this context articulated a form of political power, as did related irrigation engineering concepts such as "com- mand" and "regime." Several decades later irrigation engi- neers in the western US adapted the duty of water concept to a different socio-hydrologic system and norms, using it to es- tablish minimum standards for private water rights appropri- ation (e.g., only 40 to 80 acres per cfs). While both concepts of duty addressed socio-economic values associated with ir- rigation, the western US linked duty with justifications for, and limits of, water ownership. The final sections show that while the duty of water concept has been eclipsed in prac- tice by other measures, standards, and values of water use efficiency, it has continuing relevance for examining ethical duties and for anticipating, if not predicting, emerging social values with respect to water. 1 Problem statement In a doctoral qualifying exam, a senior faculty member asked the candidate to discuss the duty of water concept in irriga- tion, to which the candidate briefly replied that while it had been an important standard for application rates in the early 20th century, it had been replaced by more precise standards of water use efficiency. While accurate, my answer at that time stopped short of considering how and why these water norms have changed over time, and whether such changes can be anticipated if not predicted. I did not question the odd sound of the duty of water expression at a time when soci- eties were increasingly asking whether there were duties to water. Nor did I reflect upon why the word "duty" was used, or what connotations it has had, past and present? This paper strives to address these questions. The duty of water concept is still used in some irrigated re- gions to establish basic standards of water use. An influential judicial opinion defined it as:
Plastic Analysis of Shallow Conical Shells

Complete solution is derived for rigid plastic simply supported shallow conical shell loaded through rigid central boss; this solution enables assessing of effects of changes in geometry on load carrying capacity of circular plate; results are compared with previous theoretical and experimental work.
A persistent store for large shared knowledge bases

A knowledge-base management system (KBMS) with the following goals is proposed: (1) to allow a knowledge engineer to update a knowledge base and have these updates persist on secondary storage, (2) to allow multiple knowledge engineers to have shared access to a knowledge base and modify the knowledge base concurrently, and (3) to maintain consistency of the shared knowledge base as it evolves. At the heart of the KBMS is the version store, which is a persistent storage structure that maintains multiple versions of a knowledge base. Retrieve and update operations are defined on the version store to efficiently access and modify any version. Objects in the version store are clustered to support efficient access of an entire version or some subparts of it. To store the effects of an update requires space proportional to the size of the update and which is independent of the size of the knowledge base. The additional cost of maintaining multiple versions is within a small constant factor of maintaining a single version. >
Optimal job search in a changing world

Abstract This paper studies a job search model. Wage offers arrive in a Poisson fashion from a known distribution. Absent the option to quit, or in a stationary world, it is well-known that the reservation wage for an impatient worker is the flow return on the asset `being unemployed'. I assume: (1) the worker may hold a job at his leisure, quitting at will; and (2) the wage distribution evolves deterministically. I show that the reservation wage is the flow return on the `unemployment asset' with an option to renew at the same rate. I consider the effect of this renewal option, and investigate the continuity properties of the reservation wage.
DMPC AND DENDRIMER AGGREGATES EXAMINED BY ITC AND DLS

1 . Today, nanoparticles are used in a variety of products including food, clothing, cosmetics, sunscreen, disinfectants, and medical applications. Ideally, the structure of the nanoparticle should match its function so as to ensure that the particle behaves appropriately yet does not cause unexpected harm. Recent research focuses on the potential use of nanoparticles in targeted drug delivery processes; specifically the ability of nanoparticles to deliver anti-cancer medication to only cancerous cells. The structure of the PAMAM dendrimer allows for the creation of such nanoparticles as its terminal functional groups are able to carry small molecules with specific functions 2 . The outermost shell of the dendrimer deserves specific attention, since it has been shown that cationic surfaces will cause the dendrimer to be toxic and will prevent specific targeting in vivo 2, 3 .
Early Evidence on the Effects of Critical Audit Matters on Auditor Liability

SUMMARY: The U.S. Public Company Accounting Oversight Board recently proposed changes to the audit reporting model that would require auditors to disclose areas of high audit risk within the audit report. Concerns about the proposal's potential to increase auditor liability have been raised by practitioners and highlighted in the business press. In this paper, we review five recent experiments that directly relate to these concerns, identify patterns in the results, and discuss the implications of these findings for regulators and practitioners.
Acetyl-Phosphate Is Not a Global Regulatory Bridge between Virulence and Central Metabolism in Borrelia burgdorferi

In B. burgdorferi, the Rrp2-RpoN-RpoS signaling cascade is a distinctive system that coordinates the expression of virulence factors required for successful transition between its arthropod vector and mammalian hosts. Rrp2 (BB0763), an RpoN specific response regulator, is essential to activate this regulatory pathway. Previous investigations have attempted to identify the phosphate donor of Rrp2, including the cognate histidine kinase, Hk2 (BB0764), non-cognate histidine kinases such as Hk1, CheA1, and CheA2, and small molecular weight P-donors such as carbamoyl-phosphate and acetyl-phosphate (AcP). In a report by Xu et al., exogenous sodium acetate led to increased expression of RpoS and OspC and it was hypothesized this effect was due to increased levels of AcP via the enzyme AckA (BB0622). Genome analyses identified only one pathway that could generate AcP in B. burgdorferi: the acetate/mevalonate pathway that synthesizes the lipid, undecaprenyl phosphate (C55-P, lipid I), which is essential for cell wall biogenesis. To assess the role of AcP in Rrp2-dependent regulation of RpoS and OspC, we used a unique selection strategy to generate mutants that lacked ackA (bb0622: acetate to AcP) or pta (bb0589: AcP to acetyl-CoA). These mutants have an absolute requirement for mevalonate and demonstrate that ackA and pta are required for cell viability. When the ΔackA or Δpta mutant was exposed to conditions (i.e., increased temperature or cell density) that up-regulate the expression of RpoS and OspC, normal induction of those proteins was observed. In addition, adding 20mM acetate or 20mM benzoate to the growth media of B. burgdorferi strain B31 ΔackA induced the expression of RpoS and OspC. These data suggest that AcP (generated by AckA) is not directly involved in modulating the Rrp2-RpoN-RpoS regulatory pathway and that exogenous acetate or benzoate are triggering an acid stress response in B. burgdorferi.
THE SCATTER IN THE HOT GAS CONTENT OF EARLY-TYPE GALAXIES

Optically similar early-type galaxies are observed to have a large and poorly understood range in the amount of hot, X-ray-emitting gas they contain. To investigate the origin of this diversity, we studied the hot gas properties of all 42 early-type galaxies in the multiwavelength ATLAS3D survey that have sufficiently deep Chandra X-ray observations. We related their hot gas properties to a number of internal and external physical quantities. To characterize the amount of hot gas relative to the stellar light, we use the ratio of the gaseous X-ray luminosity to the stellar K-band luminosity, ; we also use the deviations of from the best-fit ?LK relation (denoted ). We quantitatively confirm previous suggestions that various effects conspire to produce the large scatter in the observed relation. In particular, we find that the deviations are most strongly positively correlated with the (low rates of) star formation and the hot gas temperatures in the sample galaxies. This suggests that mild stellar feedback may energize the gas without pushing it out of the host galaxies. We also find that galaxies in high galaxy density environments tend to be massive slow rotators, while galaxies in low galaxy density environments tend to be low mass, fast rotators. Moreover, cold gas in clusters and fields may have different origins. The star formation rate increases with cold gas mass for field galaxies but it appears to be uncorrelated with cold gas for cluster galaxies.
Lattice QCD and Axion Cosmology

The Strong CP Problem can be resolved by introducing an additional global symmetry known as Peccei-Quinn symmetry. Once PQ symmetry is broken the associated particle, the QCD axion, is a plausible dark matter candidate. Calculating the cosmological energy density of the axion requires nonperturbative QCD input—the high-temperature topological susceptibility. I will show results from a pure-glue calculation and examine the implications for the axion mass and coupling.
The diagonal of a multicosimplicial object

We show that the functor that takes a multicosimplicial object in a model category to its diagonal cosimplicial object is a right Quillen functor. This implies that the diagonal of a Reedy fibrant multicosimplicial object is a Reedy fibrant cosimplicial object, which has applications to the calculus of functors. We also show that, although the diagonal functor is a Quillen functor, it is not a Quillen equivalence for multicosimplicial spaces. We also discuss total objects and homotopy limits of multicosimplicial objects. We show that the total object of a multicosimplicial object is isomorphic to the total object of the diagonal, and that the diagonal embedding of the cosimplicial indexing category into the multicosimplicial indexing category is homotopy left cofinal, which implies that the homotopy limits are weakly equivalent if the multicosimplicial object is at least objectwise fibrant.
Randomized partition trees for exact nearest neighbor search

The k-d tree was one of the first spatial data structures proposed for nearest neighbor search. Its efficacy is diminished in high-dimensional spaces, but several variants, with randomization and overlapping cells, have proved to be successful in practice. We analyze three such schemes. We show that the probability that they fail to find the nearest neighbor, for any data set and any query point, is directly related to a simple potential function that captures the difficulty of the point configuration. We then bound this potential function in two situations of interest: the first, when data come from a doubling measure, and the second, when the data are documents from a topic model.
Sovereign debt renegotiation and credit default swaps

Abstract A credit default swap (CDS) contract provides insurance against default. This paper incorporates the contract into a sovereign default model and demonstrates that the existence of a CDS market results in lower default probability, higher debt levels, and lower financing costs for the country. Uncertainty over the insurance payout when the debt is renegotiated explains why in the data, as the output declines, the CDS spread becomes lower than the bond spread. Finally, my results show that the 2012 CDS naked ban, that decreased the levels of CDS for European countries, is a welfare reducing policy.
Electricity Demand Forecasting by Multi-Task Learning

We explore the application of kernel-based multi-task learning techniques to forecast the demand of electricity measured on multiple lines of a distribution network. We show that recently developed output kernel learning techniques are particularly well suited to solve this problem, as they allow to flexibly model the complex seasonal effects that characterize electricity demand data, while learning and exploiting correlations between multiple demand profiles. We also demonstrate that kernels with a multiplicative structure yield superior predictive performance with respect to the widely adopted (generalized) additive models. This paper is based on residential and industrial smart meter data provided by the Irish Commission for Energy Regulation.
Approximate message passing in coded aperture snapshot spectral imaging

We consider a compressive hyperspectral imaging reconstruction problem, where three-dimensional spatio-spectral information about a scene is sensed by a coded aperture snapshot spectral imager (CASSI). The approximate message passing (AMP) framework is utilized to reconstruct hyperspectral images from CASSI measurements, and an adaptive Wiener filter is employed as a three-dimensional image denoiser within AMP. We call our algorithm "AMP-3D-Wiener." The simulation results show that AMP-3D-Wiener outperforms existing widely-used algorithms such as gradient projection for sparse reconstruction (GPSR) and two-step iterative shrinkage/thresholding (TwIST) given the same amount of runtime. Moreover, in contrast to GPSR and TwIST, AMP-3D-Wiener need not tune any parameters, which simplifies the reconstruction process.