cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
C–H⋯O non-classical hydrogen bonding in the stereomechanics of organic transformations: theory and recognition

This manuscript describes the role of non-classical hydrogen bonds (NCHBs), specifically C–H⋯O interactions, in modern synthetic organic transformations. Our goal is to point out the seminal examples where C–H⋯O interactions have been invoked as a key stereocontrolling element and to provide predictive value in recognizing future and/or potential C–H⋯O interactions in modern transformations.
The Forecasting Efficacy of Risk‐Neutral Moments for Crude Oil Volatility

This paper examines the information content of implied volatility for crude oil options as it relates to future realized volatility. Using data for the period 1996 to 2011 we find that implied volatility is an effective predictor of the month-ahead realized volatility. We show that implied volatility subsumes the information content of contemporaneous volatility, and it contains incremental information on future volatility after controlling for contemporaneous volatility. Furthermore, incorporating risk-neutral skewness, and especially kurtosis, improves the forecasting of realized volatility. Overall, the association between implied volatility and month-ahead realized volatility is consistent with evidence documented for other asset classes, leading us to conclude that implied volatility serves as a reasonable proxy for expected volatility. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Discovery of Samarium, Europium, Gadolinium, and Terbium Isotopes

Currently, thirty-four samarium, thirty-four europium, thirty-one gadolinium, and thirty-one terbium isotopes have been observed and the discovery of these isotopes is discussed here. For each isotope a brief synopsis of the rst refereed publication, including the production and identication method, is presented.
Occupancy Distributions of Homogeneous Queueing Systems Under Opportunistic Scheduling

This paper analyzes opportunistic schemes for transmission scheduling from one of n homogeneous queues whose channel states fluctuate independently. Considered schemes consist of an LCQ policy that transmits from a longest connected queue in the entire system, and its low-complexity variant LCQ(d) that transmits from a longest queue within a randomly chosen subset of d ≥ 1 connected queues. A Markovian model is studied where mean packet transmission time is n-1 and packet arrival rate is λ <; 1 per queue. Transient and equilibrium distributions of queue lengths are obtained in the limit as the system size n tends to infinity. It is shown that under LCQ almost all queues are empty in equilibrium, maximum queue length is 1, and the overall system occupancy is Θ(1) as n → ∞. Limiting distribution of the system occupancy is characterized. Limiting queue length distributions under LCQ(d) are also given. It is shown that if d is fixed then the system occupancy is Θ(n) and the queue length distribution has infinite support. If d = ω(1) but d = o(n) then the maximum queue length is 1 and the system occupancy reduces to O(n/d). Numerical comparison of the obtained asymptotic mean packet delays suggests that LCQ and LCQ(d) may have comparable delay performance for moderate values of n and d.
Catalysis and nanoscience

The development of synthetic catalysts is inspired by nature’s use of enzymes to achieve high reaction rates and 100% selectivity. These natural catalysts often contain inorganic nanoclusters at the active site, and it is an understanding of the activity and selectivity of these nanoclusters and their interaction with the surrounding protein, which can aid in the design of synthetic catalysts. Since natural and synthetic catalysts are composed of these nanoclusters, the fields of catalysis and nanoscience are inextricably linked.
Introducing a podand motif to alkyne metathesis catalyst design: a highly active multidentate molybdenum(VI) catalyst that resists alkyne polymerization.

The catalyst prepared in situ from the Mo(VI) propylidyne complex MOL and podand amine AMI exhibits high activity in the metathesis reaction of a variety of alkynes.
Finite temperature Casimir effect for massive scalars in a magnetic field

The finite temperature Casimir effect for a charged, massive scalar field confined between very large, perfectly conducting parallel plates is studied using the zeta function regularization technique. The scalar field satisfies Dirichlet boundary conditions at the plates and a magnetic field perpendicular to the plates is present. Four equivalent expressions for the zeta function are obtained, which are exact to all orders in the magnetic field strength, temperature, scalar field mass and plate distance. The zeta function is used to calculate the Helmholtz free energy of the scalar field and the Casimir pressure on the plates, in the case of high temperature, small plate distance, strong magnetic field and large scalar mass. In all cases, simple analytic expressions of the zeta function, free energy and pressure are obtained, which are very accurate and valid for practically all values of temperature, plate distance, magnetic field and mass.
Symmetry energy in nuclear surface

Interplay between the dependence of symmetry energy on density and the variation of nucleonic densities across nuclear surface is discussed. That interplay gives rise to the mass dependence of the symmetry coefficient in an energy formula. Charge symmetry of the nuclear interactions allows to introduce isoscalar and isovector densities that are approximately independent of the magnitude of neutron-proton asymmetry.
Early, Selective, and Marked Loss of Sympathetic Nerves from the Islets of Biobreeder Diabetic Rats

To discover whether islet sympathetic nerves are damaged during the autoimmune destruction of islet B-cells, we immunostained sections of pancreas from Bio-Breeder (BB) diabetic rats, using antibodies against vesicular monoamine transporter 2 (VMAT2), a marker of sympathetic nerve terminals. We found a marked decrease in the VMAT2-positive fiber area in the islets of BB rats that had been diabetic for only 1–2 weeks compared with their nondiabetic controls. In contrast, there was no significant decrease in the VMAT2-positive fiber area in the exocrine pancreas in these early diabetic BB rats. Furthermore, streptozotocin-diabetic rats showed no decrease in VMAT2-positive fiber area in their islets compared with controls. The classical diabetic autonomic neuropathy (DAN) that eventually occurs in the heart was not present in BB diabetic rats at this early stage as evidenced by normal cardiac VMAT2 immunostaining and normal cardiac norepinephrine content. Also, in contrast to DAN, this islet neuropathy did not worsen with duration of diabetes. These data provide evidence of a heretofore unrecognized early sympathetic islet neuropathy (eSIN). Because eSIN occurs selectively in the islet, is rapid in onset, and is associated with autoimmune but not chemically induced diabetes, it is distinct from DAN in location, time course, and mechanism.
End-fire hybrid array antennas

A heuristic approach useful in the design of end-fire array antennas is described. When an array is scanned "beyond end fire," the last elements of the array, in the direction of the end-fire beam, generally receive net power transmitted by other elements of the array. This received power might conceivably be recirculated and reradiated at the price of substantial complexity in the feed network. It is relatively simple to absorb this power in appropriate resistive loads at the price of reduced gain. The resulting end-fire antenna is a hybrid-array consisting of two classes of elements: elements excited directly and elements excited parasitically. A compromise termination of these parasitic elements in reactive loads especially determined to preserve desired pattern characteristics is examined.
Chemical Etching of Germanium

Etude du polissage chimique de supports Ge destines a la croissance epitaxique de Ge destine a des cellules solaires tandems et a des photodetecteurs a grande longueur d'onde
Structural and electronic changes in the growth of mercury overlayers on Cu(001) - A helium beam scattering, LEED and ARPES study

We used ABS, LEED and angle-resolved photo-electron spectroscopy (ARPES) to study bilayer films of Hg on Cu(001). In the surface temperature range of 180 to 330 K, the first Hg layer forms two ordered phases, a c(2x2) (with coverage-0.5 of Cu(001)) and a high density (partially commensurate) c(4x4) (coverage-0.62). ARPES data show that there is little or no dispersion of the 5d band of Hg. ABS data show that this layer is not flat, with in-registry Hg atoms lying about 0.15 below the not-in-registry Hg atoms. From ABS we find that the second layer forms a completely registered c(4x4) phase. From ARPES we obtain that the second layer has an electronic structure, particularly the 5d levels, characteristic of bulk mercury. Preliminary results of calculations of the structure of the bilayer are given.
Happiness and the patterns of life: a study of geolocated tweets

The patterns of life exhibited by large populations have been described and modeled both as a basic science exercise and for a range of applied goals such as reducing automotive congestion, improving disaster response and even predicting the location of individuals. However, these studies have had limited access to conversation content, rendering changes in expression as a function of movement invisible. In addition, they typically use the communication between a mobile phone and its nearest antenna tower to infer position, limiting the spatial resolution of the data to the geographical region serviced by each cellphone tower. We use a collection of 37 million geolocated tweets to characterize the movement patterns of 180,000 individuals, taking advantage of several orders of magnitude of increased spatial accuracy relative to previous work. Employing the recently developed sentiment analysis instrument known as the hedonometer, we characterize changes in word usage as a function of movement and find that expressed happiness increases logarithmically with distance from an individual's average location.
Kinetics of the reaction of NO2 with a macrocyclic nickel complex

The kinetics of the reaction between NO2 and ([14]aneN4)Ni2+ were determined by laser flash photolysis. The NO2 was generated in two independent reactions, one of which is based on the photochemistry of (NH3)5CoNO22+, and the other on the photochemistry of HNO2/NO2−. The results from both sets of experiments yielded a consistent value for the rate constant, k1 = 1.2 × 108 M−1 s−1 in aqueous solutions at pH 1–4. There was no evidence for the reverse reaction. NO2 reacts with Feaq2+ more slowly, kFe ∼ 2 × 105 M−1 s−1. © 2002 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Int J Chem Kinet 34: 278–281, 2002
Toxic Ethics: Environmental Genomics and the Health of Populations

Dealing primarily with implications rather than foundations, and focusing downstream at the expense of upstream prevention, mainstream bioethics is at a toxic watershed. Through an extended analysis of the Environmental Genome Project (EGP), we offer new tools from the philosophy of science and from critical epidemiology to help bioethics to move ahead. Our aim in this paper is not to resolve the moral and conceptual problems we reveal, but rather to outline ways to prevent such problems from arising in future research.
Super-saturated transistor switches

The purpose of this paper is to calculate the voltage drop across a closed transistor switch in the presence of intermediate-level operating conditions. The problem is formulated to include the important one-dimensional effects associated with intermediate-level operation in such a way that the low-level theory is included as a special case. Experimental verification of the theory has been obtained over a moderately wide range of base drives.
A rapid atmospheric transmittance algorithm for microwave sounding channels

A rapid transmittance algorithm for NOAA's Advanced Microwave Sounding Units A and B and possible future instruments has been devised. Window channels, water vapor channels, and oxygen-band channels are considered separately; each uses tabular or polynomial approximations to line-wing or near-line absorption from water vapor or oxygen as appropriate. Absorption by cloud liquid water is also included. For oxygen-band channels that sound the atmosphere above 40 km, water vapor and clouds are not significant, but Zeeman splitting produced by the terrestrial magnetic field is. Because magnetic field strength varies over the Earth, channels within the Zeeman region use an algorithm in which transmittance is parameterized as a function of magnetic field strength B add angle /spl theta//sub B/ (with respect to the direction of propagation) at a frequency resolution of B 2.22 kHz//spl mu/T; then the average over channel passbands is done on-line. In tests, the rapid algorithm required thirty times less computation than a line-by-line algorithm, and reproduced the line-by-line calculation of brightness temperatures with accuracy comparable to or better than the channel sensitivities. >
Why do the same drugs look different? Pills, trade dress, and public health

A subset of trademark law, “trade dress,” provides the legal basis for drug manufacturers' exclusivity claims on the size, shape, and color of pills. The authors discuss the potential adverse effects of trade-dress protection and suggest strategies to address this problem.
Social polarization, social institutions, and country creditworthiness

The literature argues that the presence of multiple veto players (government decisionmakers) with polarized interests increases the credibility of sovereign commitments, but reduces the ability of governments to adjust policies in the event of exogenous shocks that jeopardize their ability to honor their commitments. In the case of sovereign lending, if the first effect prevails, countries would be regarded as more creditworthy; if the second, less. The authors address two issues. First, using measures of country creditworthiness, they ask whether the net effect of multiple veto players is positive or negative. Second, though, the authors go beyond the existing literature to argue that the net effect of multiple veto players depends on the nature of social polarization in a country. In particular, they argue that political competition is fundamentally different in countries exhibiting ethnic polarization than in countries polarized according to income or wealth. The evidence supports the prediction that multiple veto players matter more when countries are more ethnically polarized, but less when income inequality is greater.
Rural Road Abandonment: Policy Criteria and Empirical Analysis

Structural shifts in rural America have dramatically changed the types of traffic on the rural road system. Increased farm size has resulted in a major reduction in the number of farms, with the surviving farmers operating on scattered farms, using larger and heavier farm equipment to travel longer distances. In addition, farmers and agribusiness firms are using larger trucks and tractor-wagon combinations to haul inputs to farms and farm output to market. At the same time, the declining farm population has resulted in fewer farm households in the rural areas. Thus,
Set Constraints and Logic Programming

Set constraints are inclusion relations between expressions denoting sets of ground terms over a ranked alphabet. They are the main ingredient in set-based program analysis. In this paper we describe a constraint logic programming languageclp(sc) over set constraints in the style of J. Jaffar and J.-L. Lassez (1987, “Proc. Symp. Principles of Programming Languages 1987,” pp. 111?119). The language subsumes ordinary logic programs over an Herbrand domain. We give an efficient unification algorithm and operational, declarative, and fixpoint semantics. We show how the language can be applied in set-based program analysis by deriving explicitly the monadic approximation of the collecting semantics of N. Heintze and J. Jaffar (1992, “Set Based Program Analysis”; 1990, “Proc. 17th Symp. Principles of Programming Languages,” pp. 197?209).
Joint convergence along different subsequences of the signed cubic variation of fractional Brownian motion II

The purpose of this paper is to provide a complete description the convergence in distribution of two subsequences of the signed cubic variation of the fractional Brownian motion with Hurst parameter $ H = 1 / 6$.
Ramped quadrupole design and performance for the MIT-Bates South Hall Ring (SHR)

This report discusses the design and performance of 2 Ramped Quadrupoles (RQ). They are to be used to rapidly move the horizontal tune close to the half integer (7.5) for extraction of the up to 1.0 GeV electron beam stored in the SHR. The design chosen is an 8 conductor array symmetrically placed about the beam axis at /spl plusmn/15/spl deg/ to the 4 axes and connected to produce a quadrupole field. The conductors are half imbedded in a ferrite shield assembly, outside a ceramic vacuum chamber, and when powered at 250 amperes produce a gradient of about 30 G/cm over the radius of 4.5 cm and along a 30 cm length. The ceramic chamber is internally conductively shielded to present a smooth bore surface for the S-band bunches, but allow the up to 20 kHz quadrupole field components to pass through the shield and influence the electron beam. >
Synthesis of the mycolactone core by ring-closing metathesis

The undecenolide core of mycolactone was synthesized by ring-closing metathesis and the structure confirmed using single-crystal X-ray diffraction techniques.
Income inequality, welfare, and poverty : an illustration using Ukranian data

The Ukraine is now faced with economic crisis on an unprecedented scale. The government has to follow rigorous demand management policies, which entail lowering the population's standard of living. To design policies that protect the poorest and most vulnerable groups in the society, it is important to understand the nature of poverty and income inequality. The author addresses the following questions: What is the extent of income inequality and is it increasing? How can observed changes in inequality be explained? Is the burden of income tax evenly distributed across the population? The Ukranian data base is far from satisfactory, so the author's findings are only tentative. Among them: 1) the standard of living increased significantly in the late 1980s, then fell in the 1990s. Real per capita family income grew by an average of 7 percent in 1989-90, then fell about 24 percent in 1991-92. Per capita income for families dependent on government transfers fell by more than one-half. 2) Income inequality declined in the 1980s, to rise again in 1991-92. In particular, the family incomes of state and collective farm workers -- relative to industrial workers -- improved between 1980 and 1991. The increase in inequality that occurred in 1991-92 came about, among other reasons, because government benefits tended to be redistributed to richer families, not those in need. Poverty in Ukraine declined over the period 1980-91, from 38 percent of the population to 9 percent. But in 1992, 30 percent of the population was poor again, an alarming increase attributable both to a decline in real per capita income and an increase in income inequality. Still, income inequality was lower in Ukraine than in most other former republics of the Soviet Union.
Unanimous Consent Agreements: Going Along in the Senate

In recent decades, U.S. senators have made increasing use of complex unanimous consent agreements (UCAs) which preclude filibusters by setting a time for a final vote on legislation and which often specify permissible amendments and their proposers. Because of the numerous dilatory tactics permitted in the absence of a UCA, controversial legislation is often doomed unless such an agreement is reached. But in spite of correspondingly strong temptations for opponents to object to unanimous consent requests (UCRs), consent is prevalent. This paper addresses the puzzle with a decision-theoretic model that yields a rather stringent condition for objection to a UCR. Two cases of objection in the Senate are analyzed and found to support hypotheses derived from the model. A concluding discussion considers UCAs as endogenous institutions that permit Senate leaders to induce behavior that appears cooperative but is nonetheless consistent with individual utility maximization.
Entrenched management, capital structure changes and firm value

The relationship between managerial share ownership and the firm’s change in leverage around a security issuance is examined. We find that entrenched managers are not more likely to issue equity, however they do affect lower leverage by choosing debt issuances which are smaller and equity issuances that are larger than those chosen by managers that are not entrenched. The magnitude of the decline in leverage that occurs from before the issuance to after the issuance is positively related to managerial share ownership. In addition, this relationship is confined to only the “entrenchment” range of managerial share ownership. The market reacts negatively to an issuance announcement when managerial share ownership is high.
RADCAP: A potential model tool for direct capture reactions

A computer program is presented aiming at the calculation of bound and continuum states, reduced transition probabilities, phase-shifts, photo-disintegration cross sections, radiative capture cross sections, and astrophysical S-factors, for a two-body nuclear system. The code is based on a potential model of a Woods–Saxon, a Gaussian, or a M3Y, type. It can be used to calculate nuclear reaction rates in numerous astrophysical scenarios.
Synthesis of diffractive optical bar codes.

A new type of diffractive optical bar code (DOBC) is proposed. Rather than scanning directly, the DOBC is coherently illuminated, and the first diffraction order is sensed. The spacing between the bars is chosen so that the thresholded diffraction pattern yields a specified binary code. Two approaches are investigated for synthesis of the DOBC: phase shaping and a gradient-based, nonlinear, constrained optimization technique. The two design methods are compared based on numerical results, and the validity of the overall design approach is verified by optically sensing the diffraction patterns for a number of fabricated DOBC’s.
Chemical Factors that Influence the Availability of Iron and Manganese in Aqueous Systems

The principal factors affecting aqueous chemical behavior of iron and manganese are shown in Eh-pH diagrams, designed to show predominant solute species, stable solid forms and solubility. Simple systems which contain water and the metal, and more complicated systems which contain fixed total amounts of one to four additional anions are considered. Relatively small shifts in Eh or pH can greatly change the equilibrium solubility of the metals. Some complexes, especially ferric fluoride and probably organic ferrous and ferric complexes, may strongly influence the solubility of iron. Because iron and manganese have low solubilities in oxidizing systems at pH levels near or little above neutrality, small shifts in Eh or pH, and complexing effects, may be very important in making the metals available to plants and animals.
Secure Arithmetic Computation with No Honest Majority

We study the complexity of securely evaluating arithmetic circuits over finite rings. This question is motivated by natural secure computation tasks. Focusing mainly on the case of two-party protocols with security against malicious parties, our main goals are to: (1) only make black-box calls to the ring operations and standard cryptographic primitives, and (2) minimize the number of such black-box calls as well as the communication overhead. We present several solutions which differ in their efficiency, generality, and underlying intractability assumptions. These include: An unconditionally secure protocol in the OT-hybrid model which makes a black-box use of an arbitrary ring R ,but where the number of ring operations grows linearly with (an upper bound on) log|R |. Computationally secure protocols in the OT-hybrid model which make a black-box use of an underlying ring, and in which the number of ring operations does not grow with the ring size. The protocols rely on variants of previous intractability assumptions related to linear codes. In the most efficient instance of these protocols, applied to a suitable class of fields, the (amortized) communication cost is a constant number of field elements per multiplication gate and the computational cost is dominated by O (logk ) field operations per gate, where k is a security parameter. These results extend a previous approach of Naor and Pinkas for secure polynomial evaluation (SIAM J. Comput. , 2006). A protocol for the rings *** m = ***/m *** which only makes a black-box use of a homomorphic encryption scheme. When m is prime, the (amortized) number of calls to the encryption scheme for each gate of the circuit is constant. All of our protocols are in fact UC-secure in the OT-hybrid model and can be generalized to multiparty computation with an arbitrary number of malicious parties.
Mapping tori of free group automorphisms are coherent

The mapping torus of an endomorphism ' of a group G is the HNNextensionG⁄G with bonding maps the identity and '. We show that a mapping torus of an injective free group endomorphism has the property that its flnitely generated subgroups are flnitely presented and, moreover, these subgroups are of flnite type.
Self-Rated Health and Mortality: Does the Relationship Extend to a Low Income Setting?∗:

Although a relationship between poor self-reported health status and excess mortality risk has been well-established for industrialized countries, almost no research considers developing countries. We use data from Indonesia to show that in a low-income setting, as in more advantaged parts of the world, individuals who perceive their health to be poor are significantly more likely to die in subsequent follow-up periods than their counterparts who view their health as good. This result characterizes both men and women, holds for multiple time periods, and remains after inclusion of measures of nutritional status, physical functioning, symptoms of poor physical health and depression, and hypertension. We also consider the correlates of self-rated health. Symptoms and physical functioning are strong predictors of reporting poor rather than good health, but neither these indicators nor other covariates we consider distinguish between reports of excellent rather than good health.
Palladium-Catalyzed Chemoselective Cross-Coupling of Acyl Chlorides and Organostannanes

Chemoselective cross-coupling of aliphatic and aromatic acyl chlorides with aryl-, heteroaryl-, and alkynylstannanes proceeds in up to 98% yield using 2.5 mol % of bis(di-tert-butylchlorophosphine)palladium(II) dichloride as the precatalyst. Various functional groups including aryl chlorides and bromides that usually undergo oxidative addition to palladium complexes bearing phosphinous acid or dialkylchlorophosphine ligands are tolerated. This procedure allows convenient ketone formation and eliminates inherent limitations of Friedel−Crafts acylations such as substituent-directing effects and typical reactivity requirements of Lewis acid-catalyzed electrophilic aromatic substitutions.
The Financial Premium in the US Labor Market: A Distributional Analysis

Using both cross-sectional and panel data, this article revisits the evolution of the financial premium between 1970 and 2011 with a distributional approach. I report that above-market compensation was present in the finance sector in the 1970s, but concentrated mostly at the bottom of the earnings distribution. The financial premium observed since the 1980s, however, is largely driven by excessive compensation at the top, a development that increasingly contributes to the national concentration of earnings. Furthermore, the analysis suggests that the financial premium for top earners remained robust in the early 2000s, when deregulation slowed down, and in the aftermath of the recent financial meltdown. These findings are inconsistent with the account that the earnings differential is driven by unobserved skill difference and demand shocks but supportive of the institutional account of rising inequality.
An Efficient Algorithm for Shortest Path in Three Dimensions With Polyhedral Obstacles

An algorithm to find the shortest path between two specified points in three-dimensional space in the presence of polyhedral obstacles is described. The proposed method iterates for the precise location of the minimum length path on a given sequence of edges on the obstacles. The iteration procedure requires solving a tridiagonal matrix at each step. Both the computer storage and the number of computations are proportional to n, the number of edges in the sequence. The algorithm is stable and converges for the general case of any set of lines, intersecting, parallel or skew.
Quantitative structure-based design: formalism and application of receptor-dependent RD-4D-QSAR analysis to a set of glucose analogue inhibitors of glycogen phosphorylase.

A method for performing quantitative structure-based design has been developed by extending the current receptor-independent RI-4D-QSAR methodology to include receptor geometry. The resultant receptor-dependent RD-4D-QSAR approach employs a novel receptor-pruning technique to permit effective processing of ligands with the lining of the binding site wrapped about them. Data reduction, QSAR model construction, and identification of possible pharmacophore sites are achieved by a three-step statistical analysis consisting of genetic algorithm optimization followed by backward elimination multidimensional regression and ending with another genetic algorithm optimization. The RD-4D-QSAR method is applied to a series of glucose inhibitors of glycogen phosphorylase b, GPb. The statistical quality of the best RI- and RD-4D-QSAR models are about the same. However, the predictivity of the RD- model is quite superior to that of the RI-4D-QSAR model for a test set. The superior predictive performance of the RD- model...
Synthesis of Functional Bromothymol Blue Dyes for Surface Attachment to Optical Fibers.

Abstract 3',3''-Dibromothymolsulfonephthalein dyes containing amino isothiocyanato and maleimido groups on the sulfonated ring have been synthesized from saccharin.
GRO J0422+32: The Lowest Mass Black Hole?*

We have obtained optical and infrared photometry of the soft X-ray transient GRO J0422+32. From this photometry, we find a secondary star spectral type of M1, and an extinction of AV = 0.74 ± 0.09. We present the first observed infrared (J-, H-, and K-band) ellipsoidal variations, and model them with WD98, a recent version of the Wilson-Devinney light curve-modeling code. Assuming no significant contamination of the infrared light curves, we find a lower limit to the inclination angle of 43° corresponding to an upper limit on the mass of the compact object of 4.92 M☉. Combining the models with the observed spectral energy distribution of the system, the most likely value for the orbital inclination angle is 45° ± 2°. This inclination angle corresponds to a primary black hole mass of 3.97 ± 0.95 M☉. Thus, we contend that J0422+32 contains the lowest mass stellar black hole reported, and the first to have a measured mass that falls in the 3-5 M☉ range.
Modelling Migration and Economic Agglomeration with Active Brownian Particles

We propose a stochastic dynamic model of migration and economic aggregation in a system of employed (immobile) and unemployed (mobile) agents which respond to local wage gradients. Dependent on the local economic situation, described by a production function which includes cooperative effects, employed agents can become unemployed and vice versa. The spatio-temporal distribution of employed and unemployed agents is investigated both analytically and by means of stochastic computer simulations. We find the establishment of distinct economic centers out of a random initial distribution. The evolution of these centers occurs in two different stages: (i) small economic centers are formed based on the positive feedback of mutual stimulation/cooperation among the agents, (ii) some of the small centers grow at the expense of others, which finally leads to the concentration of the labor force in different extended economic regions. This crossover to large-scale production is accompanied by an increase in the unemployment rate. We observe a stable coexistence between these regions, although they exist in an internal quasistationary non-equilibrium state and still follow a stochastic eigendynamics.
Refined Configuration Results for Extremal Type II Lattices of Ranks 40 and 80

We show that, if L is an extremal Type II lattice of rank 40 or 80, then L is generated by its vectors of norm min(L) + 2. This sharpens earlier results of Ozeki, and the second author and Abel, which showed that such lattices L are generated by their vectors of norms min(L) and min(L) + 2.
A statistical test of emission from unresolved point sources

We describe a simple test of the spatial uniformity of an ensemble of discrete events. Given an estimate for the point-source luminosity function and an instrumental point spread function, a robust upper bound on the fractional point-source contribution to a diffuse signal can be found. We verify with Monte Carlo tests that the statistic has advantages over the two-point correlation function for this purpose, and derive analytic estimates of the statistic’s mean and variance as a function of the point-source contribution. As a case study, we apply this statistic to recent gamma-ray data from the Fermi Large Area Telescope, and demonstrate that at energies above 10 GeV the contribution of unresolved point sources to the diffuse emission is small in the region relevant for study of the WMAP Haze.
U.S. university research parks

University research parks are important as a mechanism for the transfer of academic research findings, as a source of knowledge spillovers, and as a catalyst for national and regional economic growth. We develop a model to describe the growth, or productivity, of research parks, and we test this model using the newly constructed National Science Foundation database on university research parks. We find that parks closer to the university, operated by a private organization, and with a specific technology focus—information technology in particular—grow faster than the average of 8.4% per year.
Primary Immunosuppression With Tacrolimus and Mycophenolate Mofetil for Renal Allograft Recipients

Background Studies using tacrolimus and corticosteroids or the combination of cyclosporine, mycophenolate mofetil, and corticosteroids have been shown to reduce the incidence of biopsy-proven acute rejection episodes in cadaveric kidney recipients compared with cyclosporine-based immunosuppression. The current study is a retrospective analysis of our experience with tacrolimus combined with mycophenolate mofetil and steroids as primary immunosuppression for kidney transplant recipients. Methods. In a retrospective analysis, 72 patients who received primary therapy with tacrolimus, mycophenolate mofetil, and corticosteroids (triple therapy) were compared with a control group of 98 kidney recipients who received tacrolimus and corticosteroids (double therapy). Results. There was a significant reduction in the incidence of biopsy-confirmed acute rejection in the triple therapy group (8.2%) compared with the double therapy group (21%; P=0.003). One-year patient and graft survival did not differ between groups. The incidence of posttransplant diabetes mellitus was 18% and 21% in the triple and double therapy groups, respectively. Leukopenia and gastrointestinal side effects were the most common cause for discontinuation of mycophenolate mofetil. Conclusions. The combination of tacrolimus with mycophenolate mofetil and corticosteroids is more effective at preventing early acute rejection than tacrolimus and corticosteroids alone. The use of mycophenolate mofetil was associated with a higher incidence of leukopenia and diarrhea, often leading to discontinuation of the drug.
Particle spectra and HBT radii for simulated central nuclear collisions of C + C, Al + Al, Cu + Cu, Au + Au, and Pb + Pb from $\sqrt{s}=62.4$ - $2760$ GeV

We study the temperature profile, pion spectra, and HBT radii in central, symmetric, and boost-invariant nuclear collisions, using a super hybrid model for heavy-ion collisions (SONIC), combining pre-equilibrium flow with viscous hydrodynamics and late-stage hadronic rescatterings. In particular, we simulate Pb + Pb collisions at $$\sqrt{s}=2.76$$ TeV, Au + Au, Cu + Cu, Al + Al, and C + C collisions at $$\sqrt{s}=200$$ GeV, and Au + Au and Cu + Cu collisions at $$\sqrt{s}=62.4$$ GeV. We find that SONIC provides a good match to the pion spectra and HBT radii for all collision systems and energies, confirming earlier work that a combination of pre-equilibrium flow, viscosity, and QCD equation of state can resolve the so-called HBT puzzle. For reference, we also show p + p collisions at $$\sqrt{s}=7$$ TeV. We make tabulated data for the 2 + 1 dimensional temperature evolution of all systems publicly available for the use in future jet energy loss or similar studies.
The Polarization of Contemporary American Politics

Political elites of the United States are deeply polarized. Polarization of the Democratic and Republican Parties is higher than at any time since the end of the Civil War. This essay describes how the modern polarization trend emerged and its implications for mass political behavior and public policy outcomes. We contend that contemporary political polarization must be understood in terms of both the ideological divergence of the parties and the expansion of the liberal–conservative dimension of conflict to a wider set of social and cultural conflicts in American society. We close with the speculation that the Republican Party has become the more fractured of the parties along the liberal–conservative dimension at both the elite and mass level.
Analytical and numerical studies of the complex interaction of a fast ion beam pulse with a background plasma

Summary form only given. Plasma neutralization of an intense ion beam pulse is of interest for many applications, including plasma lenses, heavy ion fusion, high energy physics, etc. Comprehensive analytical, numerical and experimental studies are underway to investigate the complex interaction of a fast ion beam with a background plasma. The positively charged ion beam attracts plasma electrons, and as a result, the plasma electrons have a tendency to neutralize the beam charge and current. An analytical electron fluid model has been developed to describe the plasma response to a propagating non-relativistic ion beam. The model predicts very good charge neutralization during quasi-steady-state propagation, provided the beam pulse duration is much longer than the electron plasma period. In the opposite limit, the beam pulse excites large-amplitude plasma waves. If the beam density is larger than plasma background density, the plasma waves break. Theoretical predictions are compared with the results of calculations utilizing a particle-in-cell (PIC) code. A suite of particle-in-cell codes has been developed to study the propagation of an ion beam pulse through the background plasma. The cold electron fluid results agree well with the PIC simulations for ion beam propagation through a background plasma. The reduced fluid description derived in this paper can provide an important benchmark for numerical codes and yield scaling relations for different beam and plasma parameters. The visualization of the data obtained in the numerical simulations shows complex collective phenomena during beam entry into and exit from the plasma.
Returns from Trading Call Options

While much work has been done on pricing of options and expected returns theory, far less has been written on the actual returns that investors receive from trading options. In the case of call options on equity, standard asset pricing theory suggests large, positive average returns, while articles and comments in the popular press suggest that many investors lose money trading options. Empirical results in the academic literature are few, and results are mixed. In this article, I study call option returns, analyzing how returns vary by levels of moneyness and different holding periods for both equity index and individual stock call options. I find a general and consistent result that call option returns are low on average and decreasing in the strike price. Only in-the-money options held for a month exhibit positive returns. Deep out-the-money options deliver large negative returns on average, consistent with risk-seeking investing on the part of buyers. I discuss the implications for some common options trading strategies.
Nucleon form factors

A review of data on the nucleon electro-weak form factors in the space-like region is presented. Recent results from experiments using polarized beams and either polarized targets or nucleon recoil polarimeters have yielded a significant improvement on the precision of the electromagnetic data obtained with the traditional Rosenbluth separation. An outlook is presented of planned experiments.
Littelmann paths for the basic representation of an affine Lie algebra

Abstract A highest-weight representation of an affine Lie algebra g ˆ can be modeled combinatorially in several ways, notably by the semi-infinite paths of the Kyoto school and by Littelmann's finite paths. In this paper, we unify these two models in the case of the basic representation of an untwisted affine algebra, provided the underlying finite-dimensional algebra g possesses a minuscule representation (i.e., g is of classical or E 6 , E 7 type). We apply our “coil model” to prove that the basic representation of g ˆ , when restricted to g , is a semi-infinite tensor product of fundamental representations, and certain of its Demazure modules are finite tensor products.
Deficits, Gifts, and Bequests

What is the response in aggregate consumption to a deficit-financed tax cut? Barro (1974) showed that if in a world with overlapping generations (OLG) transfers motivated by altruism between generations (e.g. gifts and bequests) take place, Ricardian equivalence holds. Yet quantitative studies on fiscal policy have largely circumvented studying this key mechanism by using one of two standard workhorse models as a building block: an infinite-horizon model or a Diamond-Samuelson OLG economy. The former implicitly assumes perfect altruism and the latter the absence of it. I build a quantitative OLG model with heterogeneous agents, explicitly allowing for various degrees of altruism, so that private transfers are endogenously determined; the standard models are nested as special cases. I use a Markov structure in order to deal with strategic considerations, which arise when altruism is imperfect and commitment is absent. The model is used to pin down a realistic degree of altruism. I study the consequences a temporary deficit-financed tax cut has on the size and the dynamics of aggregate consumption and interpret them relative to the commonly used models. The behavior of the aggregate variables is surprisingly similar to the one in the standard OLG model, but, welfare implications lie half-way between the two standard models.
Adamantyl‐substituted phenolic polymers

4-(1-Adamantyl)phenol was synthesized via Friedel-Crafts reaction of 1-bromoadamantane and phenol. Substitution in the phenol para position forces polymerization to occur only in the ortho positions to give a linear polymer. Variations in formaldehyde amount, reaction time, and catalyst were evaluated. Increasing the amount of paraformaldehyde increased formation of cyclic octamer, an easily identified by-product due to its insolubility in common organic solvents. The cyclic octamer was acetylated to give a soluble model compound for comparison to acetylated polymers by IR and NMR. All of the synthetic variations employed produced low molecular weight polymers as indicated by NMR end-group analysis and SEC. The polymers showed number-average molecular weights of ca. 3000 (versus polystyrene standards by SEC), and exhibited glass transition temperatures ranging from 175–230°C, an increase of ca. 100°C over unsubstituted and para-alkyl substituted analogs. All of the samples exhibited a 10% weight loss at 400°C in nitrogen, indicating thermal stability much greater than the parent and alkyl-substituted polymers. © 1996 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
A High-Altitude Base Pressure Experiment

A high-altitude base pressure experiment has been successfully conducted by GE-RESD and NASA Ames on a high performance Air Force re-entry vehicle. Low Reynolds number laminar flow flight data were obtained at an altitude of ~ 248,000 ft. The experiment utilized the NASA Ames vibrating diaphragm transducer specifically designed to measure base pressure at altitudes in excess of 200,000 ft with a threshold sensitivity level of 0.0001 psia. The flight data has provided needed low Reynolds number information from ReL «7xl04 to IxlO 7. These new data verify that a "maximum" exists in the base pressure ratio versus Reynolds number curve at low Reynolds numbers and hypersonic Mach numbers (M^ > 20) in qualitative agreement with the theory of Crocco and Lees.
Palladium catalyzed intramolecular acylcyanation of alkenes using α-iminonitriles

Reported here is a palladium catalyzed intramolecular acylcyanation of alkenes using α-iminonitriles. Through this method, highly functionalized indanones are synthesized in moderate to high yields using Pd(PPh3)4, without need for any additional ligands, and a common Lewis acid (ZnCl2). Additionally, the reaction tolerates substitution at various positions on the aromatic ring including electron donating and electron withdrawing groups.
A Unified Theory of Consistent Estimation for Parametric Models

We present a general theory of consistent estimation for possibly misspecified parametric models based on recent results of Domowitz and White. This theory extends the unification of Burguete, Gallant, and Souza by allowing for heterogeneous, time-dependent data and dynamic models. The theory is applied to yield consistency results for quasi-maximum-likelihood and method of moments estimators. Of particular interest is a new generalized rank condition for identifiability.
Generating varieties for affine Grassmannians

We study Schubert varieties that generate the affine Grassmannian under the loop group product, and in particular generate the homology ring. There is a canonical such Schubert generating variety in each Lie type. The canonical generating varieties are not smooth, and in fact smooth Schubert generating varieties exist only if the group is not of type E 8 , F 4 or G 2 .
Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Emergency Preparedness and Response: the Three Mile Island Incident

This paper discusses the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania's emergency response mechanism and legal basis in being at the time of the TMI incident. It recounts the sequence of events as they directly affected the Agency and the method whereby the Agency discharged its responsibilities. Finally, some of the problems and experiences accruing from TMI are listed as lessons learned.
Statistical evidence in the US courts: an appraisal

SUMMARY Over the past 30 years, a dramatic change has taken place with respect to the role of statistical evidence in American legal proceedings. From a situation in the early 1960s when statistical evidence was rarely allowed into evidence the US courts have moved to a position in which the use of statistical arguments and data is common and statistical experts often appear on opposing sides, presenting conflicting testimony. During the mid-1980s a panel appointed by the National Research Council reviewed the then recent use of statistics as evidence and, in a recently published report, the panel described the current status of statistical evidence, making recommendations that focus on three major areas: the maintenance of professional autonomy of statistical experts, the enhancement courtroom presentation of statistical evidence and implications for legal and statistical education.