cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Opposite visual hemifield superiorities in face recognition as a function of cognitive style.

Abstract Twenty-four women, classified as field dependent or field independent on the Rod-and Frame Test, memorized sets of upright and inverted faces and were then tested for recognition in a tachistoscopic visual hemifield paradigm using upright and inverted faces as probes. A significant triple interaction of probe orientation, visual hemifield and cognitive style was found. For upright probes, field independent subjects responded faster and more accurately when probes were in the left visual field; in contrast, field dependent subjects showed a right visual field advantage. For inverted probes, there was little evidence of lateralization. The findings are interpreted as reflecting a difference in the strategies used by these subjects for tachistoscopic face discrimination; however, this interpretation rests upona particular model of laterality effects.
Open and closed string interpretation of SUSY CFT's on branes with boundaries

We consider certain supersymmetric configurations of intersecting branes and branes ending on branes and analyze the duality between their open and closed string interpretation. The examples we study are chosen such that we have the lower dimensional brane realizing an n+1 dimensional conformal field theory on its worldvolume and the higher dimensional one introducing a conformal boundary. We also consider two CFTs, possibly with different central charges, interacting along a common conformal boundary. We show with a probe calculation that the dual closed string description is in terms of gravity in an AdS_{n+2} bulk with an AdS_{n+1} defect or two different AdS_{n+2} spaces joined along a defect. We also comment briefly on the expected back-reaction.
Anatomy of the Trading Process Empirical Evidence on the Behavior of Institutional Traders

Abstract This paper examines the behavior of institutional traders. We use unique data on the equity transactions of 21 institutions of differing investment styles which provide a detailed account of the anatomy of the trading process. The data include information on the number of days needed to fill an order and types of order placement strategies employed. We analyze the motivations for trade, the determinants of trade duration, and the choice of order type. The analysis provides some support for the predictions made by theoretical models, but suggests that these models fail to capture important dimensions of trading behavior.
New generation of parton distributions with uncertainties from global QCD analysis

A new generation of parton distribution functions with increased precision and quantitative estimates of uncertainties is presented. This work signiflcantly extends previous CTEQ and other global analyses on two fronts: (i) a full treatment of available experimental correlated systematic errorsforbothnewandolddata sets; (ii) asystematic and pragmatic treatment of uncertainties of the parton distributions and their physical predictions, using a recently developed eigenvector-basis approach to the hessian method. The new gluon distribution is considerably harder than that of previous standard flts. A numberofphysicsissues,particularlyrelatingtothebehaviorofthegluondistribution,are addressedinmorequantitativetermsthanbefore. Extensiveresultsontheuncertaintiesof parton distributions at various scales, and on parton luminosity functions at the Tevatron RunII and the LHC, are presented. The latter provide the means to quickly estimate the uncertainties of a wide range of physical processes at these high-energy hadron colliders, basedoncurrentknowledgeofthepartondistributions. Inparticular, theuncertaintieson the production cross sections of the W, Z at the Tevatron and the LHC are estimated to be§4% and§5%, respectively, and that of a light Higgs at the LHC to be§5%.
Trading Human Rights: How Preferential Trade Agreements Influence Government Repression

A growing number of preferential trade agreements (PTAs) have come to play a significant role in governing state compliance with human rights. When they supply hard standards that tie material benefits of integration to compliance with human rights principles, PTAs are more effective than softer human rights agreements (HRAs) in changing repressive behaviors. PTAs improve members' human rights through coercion, by supplying the instruments and resources to change actors' incentives to promote reforms that would not otherwise be implemented. I develop three hypotheses: (1) state commitment to HRAs and (2) PTAs supplying soft human rights standards (not tied to market benefits) do not systematically produce improvement in human rights behaviors, while (3) state commitment to PTAs supplying hard human rights standards does often produce better practices. I draw on several cases to illustrate the processes of influence and test the argument on the experience of 177 states during the period 1972 to 2002.I would like to thank Mike Colaresi, Dan Drezner, David Lake, Lisa Martin, Walter Mattli, John Meyer, Mark Pollack, Erik Voeten, Jim Vreeland, and two anonymous reviewers for their detailed and thoughtful comments on various drafts of this manuscript, as well as the many other people who have helped me by asking hard questions along the way. I would also like to thank Michael Barnett, Charles Franklin, and Jon Pevehouse for advice during the dissertation research that supports this article, and Alexander H. Montgomery for assistance in data management. All faults are my own. For generous assistance in the collection of data, I thank the National Science Foundation (SES 2CDZ414 and SES 0135422), John Meyer, and Francisco Ramirez. For support during the writing of the article, I thank Nuffield College at Oxford University, and most importantly, Lynn Eden and Stanford's Center for International Security and Cooperation.
Three-dimensional, periodic, ‘halo’ orbits

A largely numerical study was made of families of three-dimensional, periodic, ‘halo’ orbits near the collinear libration points in the restricted three-body problem. Families extend from each of the libration points to the nearest primary. They appear to exist for all values of the mass ratio μ, from 0 to 1. More importantly, most of the families contain a range of stable orbits. Only near L1, the libration point between the two primaries, are there no stable orbits for certain values of μ. In that case the stable range decreases with increasing μ, until it disappears at μ=0.0573. Near the other libration points, stable orbits exist for all mass ratios investigated between 0 and 1. In addition, the orbits increase in size with increasing μ.
Whistling in the dark: cooperative trail following in uncertain localization space

We demonstrate that a simulated group of robots can co- operate to robustly transport resource between two areas in an unknown environment using an algorithm inspired by the trail following of ants and the waggle dance of honey bees. Rather than directly marking their environment, the robots announce their successful paths through a common localization space. It is found that the algorithm is robust to significant localization error, suggesting that the method will be viable for teams of real robots. relation between the representations maintained by two or more individuals. A prime example is the Global Position- ing System (GPS). Two systems equipped with GPS share a metric localization space in planetary coordinates. Simi- laxly two robots that start out with known positions in the same coordinate system and maintain a position estimate via odometry share a localization space. In both examples each robot has only an estimate of its position in the true space, but the true space is common to both. More abstract localization spaces can be considered, such as the location of a data byte in a hierarchical database or a URL on the Internet. In these cases too, there can be some uncertainty in position; for example if position is described by a fuzzy matching rule or an ambiguous data query. In this paper we demonstrate a cooperative transportation task in a group of simulated mobile robots that communi- cate by leaving landmarks in shared localization space. The method is shown to be robust with respect to significant lo- calization error; indicating that it should be suitable for use in real robots.
Conformationally restricted paclitaxel analogues: Macrocyclic mimics of the “hydrophobic collapse” conformation

Conformationally restricted macrocyclic analogues of paclitaxel were prepared, by connecting the 3'-phenyl group and the 2-benzoate moiety with two-atom tethers to mimic the "hydrophobic collapse" paclitaxel conformation. The analogues did not show activity in a tubulin assembly assay.
Direct chemical synthesis of β-mannopyranosides and other glycosides via glycosyl triflates

Abstract High yield, highly stereoselective methods for the synthesis of β-mannopyranosides of primary, secondary, and tertiary alcohols are presented. Activation of mannosyl sulfoxides or mannosyl thioglycosides with trifluoromethanesulfonic anhydride or benzenesulfenyl triflate, respectively, leads to the efficient formation of α-mannosyl triflates at −78 °C in dichloromethane, in the presence of 2,6-di- tert -butyl-4-methylpyridine. These triflates then react S N 2-like with alcohols to give the β-mannosides. The use of a 4,6- O -benzylidene protected mannose is required for high selectivity, as is the use of non-participating protecting groups on O -2 and O -3 of the donors. It is further demonstrated that the thioglycoside/benzenesulfenyl triflate activation is applicable in the glucoside series, when both armed and disarmed protecting groups are tolerated.
A theory of strict P-completeness

A serious limitation of the theory of P-completeness is that it fails to distinguish between those P-complete problems that do have polynomial speedup on parallel machines from those that don't. We introduce the notion of strict P-completeness and develop tools to prove precise limits on the possible speedups obtainable for a number of P-complete problems.
Memory bottlenecks and memory contention in multi-core Monte Carlo transport codes

Abstract We have extracted a kernel that executes only the most computationally expensive steps of the Monte Carlo particle transport algorithm – the calculation of macroscopic cross sections – in an effort to expose bottlenecks within multi-core, shared memory architectures.
Multigraded regularity and the Koszul property

Abstract We give a criterion for the section ring of an ample line bundle to be Koszul in terms of multigraded regularity. We discuss applications to adjoint bundles on toric varieties as well as to polytopal semigroup rings.
Bank ownership and the effects of financial liberalization: evidence from India

Purpose – This paper aims to analyze, using the bank-level data for India from 1991-2007, the effect of financial sector liberalization on the availability of credit to the private sector. The authors specifically ask whether public and private banks deployed resources freed up by reduced state preemption to increase credit to the private sector. Design/methodology/approach – The authors use bank-level data for India from 1991-2007 and difference in difference estimates to analyze how state ownership of banks affected the allocation of credit to the private sector post liberalization, and additionally how the size of fiscal deficit affected this allocation. Findings – The authors find that post liberalization, public banks continued to allocate a larger share of their assets to government securities, or held more cash, than private banks. Crucially, public banks allocated more resources to hold government securities when fiscal deficit was high. The authors rule out profit maximization, need to hold safer...
New lariat ether carboxylic and hydroxamic acids: Synthesis and lanthanide ion complexation

Twenty-six new lariat ether carboxylic and hydroxamic acids based upon dibenzo-13-crown-4, dibenzo-14-crown-4, dibenzo-16-crown-5 and dibenzo-19-crown-6 ring systems are synthesized and the solid-state structure for a dibenzo-19-crown-6 lariat ether hydroxamic acid is determined. The efficiency and selectivity for lanthanide ion extraction into chloroform by these proton-ionizable lariat ethers is strongly influenced by the crown ether ring size, lipophilic group attachment site and identity of the acidic function. In general, the lariat ether hydroxamic acids were more efficient and selective lanthanide ion extractants than the corresponding lariat ether carboxylic acids. The 1H nmr and ir binding studies indicate that both the macrocyclic polyether unit and the proton-ionizable group are involved in lanthanide ion complexation.
Of life cycles real and imaginary : the unexpectedly long old age of optical lithography

Abstract The history of many industries can be characterized as a series of technological ‘life cycles’. This has led some to argue that the limits to a technology are a predictable function of its underlying physics and the structure of the dominant design. This paper uses the unexpectedly long old age of optical photolithographic alignment technology to suggest that this belief is probably incorrect. Unexpected changes in user needs and in the capabilities of component and complementary technologies permitted optical photolithography to dramatically exceed its ‘natural’ limits. However belief in the existence of a predictable life cycle had important implications for the evolution of the technology since it provided a framework within which industry participants embedded tacitly held, largely unexamined knowledge about the ways in which user needs and component and complementary technologies were likely to evolve. These results lend support to those that have argued that it is important to explore both the social context of a technology and the dynamics of the technology itself if one is to fully understand patterns of technological evolution.
Pointing Error Statistics in Optical Beam Tracking

In tracking optical beams from a source, a pointing error signal is derived from photodetecting the field in the receiver focal plane. This error signal is then used in some manner to control a gimballed system that continually points the receiver optics toward the source. When the source field undergoes turbulent transmission, the optical beam is attenuated and scattered, and the field is randomly defocused at the receiver. In this case the pointing error of the tracking system will evolve as a random vector process in time, statistically related to the random scattering, the photodetection process, and the dynamics of the gimballing system. Such vector processes have probability densities that satisfy well-known differential equations. These equations are derived in terms of accepted scattering models and tracking systems, assuming quadranttype error detectors are used in the focal plane. Approximate solutions are obtained and analyzed for typical operating conditions, and the manner in which the degree of scattering degrades the entire pointing operation is shown.
Systematic Risk and Diversification in the Equity REIT Market

This paper employs stock market-based data to examine the systematic risk and diversification properties of publicly traded equity real estate investment trusts (REITs). A unique data sample is created by combining firm return data with information on their property type holdings and the location of their investments. The systematic risk of equity REITs appears to vary by the type of property in which they invest, with beta being significantly higher for retail-oriented REITs than for REITs owning industrial and warehouse properties. In addition, the stock market data provides no evidence that REIT diversification across property types or broad geographic regions actually results in meaningful diversification as reflected in a standard market-based measure—the R2 from a simple market model regression.
MEASUREMENTS OF EXCITED-STATE POPULATION RATIOS OF ATOMIC HYDROGEN PRODUCED BY CHARGE-EXCHANGE NEUTRALIZATION OF ENERGETIC PROTON BEAMS.

Excited-state population ratios for atomic hydrogen have been measured for energetic hydrogen ions neutralized by charge exchange with a number of different metallic vapors and permanent gases. Electric field ionization techniques were used to determine excitation ratios. Detection of the energetic ions and neutrals was accomplished using partially depleted surface-barrier detectors. Counting, using phase-detection techniques in which an add-subtract scaler was phased to the signal, provided an improved signal-to-noise ratio. Two methods were used to provide desired targets. Metallic vapor and permanent-gas thin targets of the order of ${10}^{\ensuremath{-}5}$ mTorr cm were produced as chopped neutral beams, using conventional crossed-beam techniques. Gas cells were used to extend these measurements with permanent gases to targets up to seven orders of magnitude thicker. In the latter case, the ion beam was interrupted electrically. Targets investigated were magnesium, potassium, barium, hydrogen, nitrogen, thallium, Freon, water vapor, ammonia, and perfluorodimethylcyclohexane (${\mathrm{C}}_{8}$${\mathrm{F}}_{16}$).
Observations on immunity to superinfection with Schistosoma mansoni and S. haematobium in monkeys.

Abstract 1. 1. One monkey infected with Schistosoma mansoni ceased to pass eggs after several months, and thereafter failed to pass eggs following four re-exposures to cercariae of S. mansoni. At autopsy 71 2 years after initial infection there was marked fibrosis of the liver, but no evidence of eggs or worms in the viscera. 2. 2. One monkey infected with S. haematobium, ceased to pass eggs after several months, and failed to pass eggs after one re-exposure to cercariae of S. haematobium. Subsequent exposure to cercariae of S. mansoni produced an infection of normal prepatent duration, and egg passage which ceased after several months. At autopsy one year after S. mansoni infection minimal egg lesions were present in liver and intestines. Many S. mansoni worms, but no S. haematobium worms, were recovered from the mesenteric-portal veins. The average length of these worms was abnormally short, and some of the females showed atrophy of the reproductive organs. 3. 3. Two monkeys, one first infected with male worms of S. mansoni, the other with female worms, and each subsequently infected with worms of the other sex, developed egg passage after the normal prepatent interval. At autopsy active egg lesions were present in the liver and intestines, and normal adult worms were recovered from the mesenteric-portal veins. In one of these monkeys, which had a large preponderance of female worms, many of these were sexually immature. 4. 4. These observations corroborate those of other workers that bisexual infection of monkeys with a species of schistosome produces immunity against reinfection with the same species. They also indicate that such infection may product slight evidence of immunity to another species. No evidence was observed, however, that one sex of S. mansoni produced immunity against normal development of the other sex.
Feature Extraction From Intensity Images

This paper presents a new method to obtain the features from intensity images by making use of an improved Hough Transform. Through image preprocessing, the intensity image can be converted to a boundary image. A new approach is proposed to find the linear and elliptical features embedded in the boundary image on which there are discon-nectivities and the distortion that are caused either by occlusion or by noise. The Hough transform method is improved to recognize those features with less computation effort and more accuracy.
Effect of Halo Bias and Lyman Limit Systems on the History of Cosmic Reionization

We extend the existing analytical model of reionization by Furlanetto et?al. to include the biasing of reionization sources and additional absorption by Lyman limit systems. Both effects enhance the original model in non-trivial ways, but do not change its qualitative features. Our model is, by construction, consistent with the observed evolution of the galaxy luminosity function at z 8 and with the observed evolution of Ly? forest at z 6. We find that the same model can match the Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe/Planck constraint on the Thompson optical depth and the South Pole Telescope and EDGES constraints on the duration of reionization for values of the relative escape fraction that are consistent with the observational measurements at lower redshifts. However, such a match is only possible if dwarf galaxies contribute substantially to the ionizing photon budget. The latter condition is inconsistent with simulations and observational upper limits on the escape fraction from dwarfs at z ~ 3. Whether such a disagreement is due to the different nature of z > 6 galaxies, the inadequacy of simulations and/or some of the observational constraints, or indicates an additional source of ionizing radiation at z > 8 remains to be seen.
The third birth in Sweden.

This paper considers the formulation, estimation and interpretation of microdynamic models of fertility. Our model explains parity choices, sterility, childlessness, interbirth intervals and initiation of pregnancy within a unified framework. We develop a general methodology for estimating the determinants of transition times to births of different orders. Our procedure incorporates time-varying explanatory variables and unobservables. We present conditions that justify conventional formulae relating hazards to survivor functions when time-varying variables enter hazards. We also consider the validity of widely-used piecemeal estimation strategies that focus on one birth at a time. We consider methods for selecting a best model among a class of non-nested models. Two criteria are set forth and used to evaluate the detminants of third births in Sweden. We find that two models fit Swedish microdata equally well. One model is consistent with neoclassical economic theory. It assigns a central role to the wages of men and women in explaining the timing and spacing of births. The other model is purely demographic and excludes wages. Purely statistical criteria cannot distinguish these models although in other work we show that the economic models are more parsimonious in terms of the number of parameters that must be estimated and are better able to forecast aggregate time series. We demonstrate how to interpret the output of multistate fertility models. Wage effects on third births are decomposed into two components: (a) an in direct effect that determines whether a woman is at risk to have a third birth, and (b) a direct effect on the transition rate to the third birth given that a woman has had two births. We find that female wages play an important role in postponing first births but play only a minor role in explaining childlessness. Female wages substantially affect third births. Male wage effects are weaker. We find that female wage effects weaken for more recent cohorts of women. This evidence is consistent with the introduction of progressively more pronatal Swedish policies.
The 8 O'Clock Arc: A Serendipitous Discovery of a Strongly Lensed Lyman Break Galaxy in the SDSS DR4 Imaging Data

We report on the serendipitous discovery of the brightest Lyman Break Galaxy (LBG) currently known, a galaxy at z = 2.73 that is being strongly lensed by the z = 0.38 Luminous Red Galaxy (LRG) SDSS J002240.91+143110.4. The arc of this gravitational lens system, which we have dubbed the ''8 o'clock arc'' due to its time of discovery, was initially identified in the imaging data of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey Data Release 4 (SDSS DR4); followup observations on the Astrophysical Research Consortium (ARC) 3.5m telescope at Apache Point Observatory confirmed the lensing nature of this system and led to the identification of the arc's spectrum as that of an LBG. The arc has a spectrum and a redshift remarkably similar to those of the previous record-holder for brightest LBG (MS 1512-cB58, a.k.a ''cB58''), but, with an estimated total magnitude of (g,r,i) = (20.0,19.2,19.0) and surface brightness of ({mu}{sub g}, {mu}{sub r}, {mu}{sub i}) = (23.3, 22.5, 22.3) mag arcsec{sup -2}, the 8 o'clock arc is thrice as bright. The 8 o'clock arc, which consists of three lensed images of the LBG, is 162{sup o}(9.6'') long and has a length-to-width ratio of 6:1. A fourth image of the LBG--a counter-image--canmore » also be identified in the ARC 3.5m g-band images. A simple lens model for the system assuming a singular isothermal ellipsoid potential yields an Einstein radius of {theta}{sub Ein} = 2.91'' {+-} 0.14'', a total mass for the lensing LRG (within the 10.6 {+-} 0.5 h{sup -1} kpc enclosed by the lensed images) of 1.04 x 10{sup 12} h{sup -1} M{sub {circle_dot}}, and a magnification factor for the LBG of 12.3{sub -3.6}{sup +15}. The LBG itself is intrinsically quite luminous ({approx} 6 x L{sub *}) and shows indications of massive recent star formation, perhaps as high as 160 h{sup -1} M{sub {circle_dot}} yr{sup -1}.« less
Strong coordination over a line network

We study the problem of strong coordination in a three-terminal line network, in which agents use common randomness and communicate over a line network to ensure that their actions follow a prescribed behavior, modeled by a target joint distribution of actions. We provide inner and outer bounds to the coordination capacity region, and show that these bounds are partially optimal. We leverage this characterization to develop insight into the interplay between communication and coordination. Specifically, we show that common randomness helps achieve optimal communication rates between agents, and that matching the network topology to the behavior structure may reduce inter-agent communication rates.
Intersection theory on toric varieties

Abstract The operational Chow cohomology classes of a complete toric variety are identified with certain functions, called Minkowski weights, on the corresponding fan. The natural product of Chow cohomology classes makes the Minkowski weights into a commutative ring; the product is computed by a displacement in the lattice, which corresponds to a deformation in the toric variety. We show that, with rational coefficients, this ring embeds in McMullen's polytope algebra, and that the polytope algebra is the direct limit of these Chow rings, over all compactifications of a given torus. In the nonsingular case, the Minkowski weight corresponding to the Todd class is related to a certain Ehrhart polynomial.
Improved bounds on the average length of longest common subsequences

It has long been known lChvatal and Sankoff 1975r that the average length of the longest common subsequence of two random strings of length n over an alphabet of size k is asymptotic to γkn for some constant γk depending on k. The value of these constants remains unknown, and a number of papers have proved upper and lower bounds on them. We discuss techniques, involving numerical calculations with recurrences on many variables, for determining lower and upper bounds on these constants. To our knowledge, the previous best-known lower and upper bounds for γ2 were those of Dancik and Paterson, approximately 0.773911 and 0.837623 lDancik 1994; Dancik and Paterson 1995r. We improve these to 0.788071 and 0.826280. This upper bound is less than the γ2 given by Steele's old conjecture (see Steele l1997, page 3r) that γ2 = 2/(1 + √2)a 0.828427. (As Steele points out, experimental evidence had already suggested that this conjectured value was too high.) Finally, we show that the upper bound technique described here could be used to produce, for any k, a sequence of upper bounds converging to γk, though the computation time grows very quickly as better bounds are guaranteed.
Safe Trajectories for Autonomous Rendezvous of Spacecraft

ight experiments suggest that safety considerations will play an important role in the success of future missions. This paper presents a method for online generation of safe, fuel-optimized rendezvous trajectories that guarantee collision avoidance for a large class of anomalous system behaviors. We examine the cost of imposing safety as a problem constraint and of additional constraints that guarantee innite horizon passive collision avoidance while enabling future docking retries. Tradeos between passive and active approaches to safety are examined. A convex formulation of the collision avoidance algorithm is introduced and shown to provide much faster solutions with only a small additional fuel expense. Numerous examples using both rotating and nonrotating targets are presented to demonstrate the overall benets of incorporating these safety constraints when compared to nominal trajectory design techniques.
Packing to angles and sectors

Motivated by the widespread proliferation of wireless networks employing directional antennas, we study some capacitated covering problems arising in these networks. Geometrically, the area covered by a directional antenna with parameters α,ρ,r is a set of points with polar coordinates (r,θ) such that r ≤ r and α ≤ θ ≤ α + ρ. Given a set of customers, their positions on the plane and their bandwidth demands, the capacitated covering problem considered here is to cover all the customers with the minimum number of directional antennas such that the demands of customers assigned to an antenna stays within a bound. We consider two settings of this capacitated cover problem arising in wireless networks. In the first setting where the antennas have variable angular range, we present an approximation algorithm with ratio 3. In the setting where the angular range of antennas is fixed, we improve this approximation ratio to 1.5.These results also apply for a related problem of bin packing with deadlines. In this problem we are are given a set of items, each with a weight, arrival time and deadline, and we want to pack each item into a bin after it arrives but before its deadline. The objective is to minimize the number of bins used. We present a 3-approximation algorithm for this problem, and 1.5-approximation algorithm for the special case when each difference between a deadline and the corresponding arrival time is the same.
An Examination of the Effect of CPA Firm Type on Bank Regulators' Closure Decisions

This study examines the effect of CPA firm type on regulators' decisions with respect to the closure of banks. Using a sample of 116 closed and 116 nonclosed banks in the state of Texas during 1990–1991, we estimate regression models which include (1) financial characteristics of the sample banks, (2) other characteristics of the sample banks, (3) the type of auditor's opinion received by the bank (with respect to the bank's ability to continue as a going concern), and (4) the CPA firm type (Big 6 vs. non‐Big 6). Our results indicate that banks receiving modified opinions from Big 6 firms were more likely to be continued (not closed) by regulators than those receiving modified opinions from non‐Big 6 firms. In contrast, banks receiving nonmodified opinions from non‐Big 6 firms were more likely to be closed than those receiving nonmodified opinions from Big 6 firms. These findings indicate that, ceteris paribus, banks audited by Big 6 firms are more likely to be continued, consistent with regulators' perce...
Digital control algorithms for microgravity isolation systems

New digital control algorithms have been developed to achieve the desired transmissibility function for a microgravity isolation system. Two approaches have been presented for the controller design in the context of a single degree of freedom system for which an attractive electromagnet is used as the actuator. The relative displacement and the absolute acceleration of the mass have been used as feedback signals. The results from numerical studies are presented. It has been found that the resulting transmissibility is quite close to the desired function. Also, the maximum coil currents required by new algorithms are smaller than the maximum current demanded by the previously proposed lead/lag method.
Project Infusion: teachers, training, and technology

ABSTRACT This paper describes a teacher training project at Barry University in Miami Shores, Florida. The purpose of this project is to develop, implement, and evaluate a model for providing district‐wide teacher training in the use and integration of instructional technology to achieve curricular goals that are competency‐based and designed to be world class standards. The project was funded by the US Department of Education's Fund for Innovation in Education for a period of three years. During that time, 284 elementary teachers received graduate credit at Barry University for participation in an intensive course on the infusion of technology across the curriculum and for conducting teacher training at their own schools. This paper describes the teacher training model and preliminary results of the project.
Mass Models and Sunyaev-Zeldovich Effect Predictions for a Flux-Limited Sample of 22 Nearby X-Ray Clusters

We define a 90% complete, volume-limited sample of 31 z < 0.1 X-ray clusters and present a systematic analysis of public ROSAT PSPC data on 22 of these objects. Our efforts are undertaken in support of the Penn/OVRO Sunyaev-Zeldovich Effect (SZE) survey, and to this end we present predictions for the inverse Compton optical depth toward all 22 of these clusters. We have performed detailed Monte Carlo simulations in order to understand the effects of the cluster profile uncertainties on the SZE predictions given the OVRO 5.5 m telescope beam and switching patterns. We also present a similar analysis for the upcoming ACBAR experiment. For most of the clusters in the sample, we find less than a 5% uncertainty in the SZE predictions due to an imperfect knowledge of the profile. A comparison of different cooling-flow modeling strategies shows that our results are robust in this respect. The profile uncertainties are then one of the least significant components of our error budget for SZE-based distance measurements. The density models that result from this analysis also yield baryonic masses and, under the assumption of hydrostatic equilibrium, total masses and baryon mass fractions. Our Monte Carlo profile analysis indicates that the baryon masses within 1 h Mpc for these clusters are accurate to better than ~5% and unaffected by realistic PSPC systematics. In the sample as a whole, we find a mean gas mass fraction of (7.02 ? 0.28)h ? 10-2 internal to R500 ~ 1 h Mpc. This is in agreement with previous X-ray cluster analyses, which indicate an overabundance of baryons relative to the prediction of big bang nucleosynthesis for an ?M = 1 universe. Our analysis of the X-ray spectra confirms a previous claim of an excess absorbing column density toward A478, but we do not find evidence for anomalous column densities in the other 21 clusters. We also find some indications of an excess of soft counts in the ROSAT PSPC data. A measurement of H0 using these models and OVRO SZE determinations will be presented in a second paper.
A review of cesium thermionic converters with developed emitter surfaces

Studies from U.S. and Russian literature on experimental and theoretical investigations of thermionic converters with developed emitter surfaces are reviewed and analyzed. Experimental data for these converters is compared with that for close-spaced and traditional Cs arc converters. The former is most advantageous at low temperatures from 1300 to 1700 K, with the power gain increasing as the emitter temperature decreases and/or its emission properties deteriorate. This power gain is attainable at a larger load voltage and significantly larger optimum interelectrode gap size than traditional converters. Additional experiments and mathematical modeling are needed to understand the physical processes taking place and assess the performance of thermionic converters with developed emitter surfaces as compared to traditional ones operating under identical conditions.
Study of the Recurring Dimming Region Detected at AR 11305 Using the Coronal Dimming Tracker (CoDiT)

We present a new approach to coronal dimming detection using the COronal DImming Tracker tool (CODIT), which was found to be successful in locating and tracking multiple dimming regions. This tool, an extension of a previously developed coronal hole tracking software, allows us to study the properties and the spatial evolution of dimming regions at high temporal and spatial cadence from the time of their appearance to their disappearance. We use Solar Dynamics Observatory/Atmospheric Imaging Assembly 193 A wavelength observations and Helioseismic and Magnetic Imager magnetograms to study dimmings. As a demonstration of the detection technique we analyzed six recurrences of a dimming observed near AR 11305 between 2011 September 29 and October 2. The dimming repeatedly appeared and formed in a similar way, first expanding then shrinking and occasionally stabilizing in the same location until the next eruption. The dimming areas were studied in conjunction with the corresponding flare magnitudes and coronal mass ejection (CME) masses. These properties were found to follow a similar trend during the observation period, which is consistent with the idea that the magnitude of the eruption and the CME mass affect the relative sizes of the consecutive dimmings. We also present a hypothesis to explain the evolution of the recurrent single dimming through interchange reconnection. This process would accommodate the relocation of quasi-open magnetic field lines and hence allow the CME flux rope footpoint (the dimming) to expand into quiet-Sun regions. By relating the properties of dimmings, flares, and CMEs we improve our understanding of the magnetic field reconfiguration caused by reconnection.
Manganese(III) Acetate Oxidation of Alkyl Substituted 1-(Phenylsulfonyl)indoles

Abstract Methyl substituted 1-(phenylsulfonyl)indolines undergo tandem oxidation of the indoline ring and a C-2 methyl group. If there is no alkyl substituent at the C-2 position, nuclear acetoxylation can occur to afford oxindoles.
Alcohol and cardiovascular diseases

With respect to cardiovascular disorders, epidemiologic studies support the hypothesis of increased risks among heavy alcohol drinkers and indicate a lower risk among lighter drinkers. Increased cardiovascular risks of heavy drinking include cardiomyopathy, systemic hypertension, supraventricular arrhythmias, hemorrhagic stroke and heart failure that is not associated with coronary artery disease (CAD). Light-to-moderate drinking is probably unrelated to increased risk of any cardiovascular condition and is related to lower risks of CAD, ischemic stroke and CAD-related heart failure. A protective alcohol-CAD hypothesis is supported by plausible biological mechanisms attributable to ethyl alcohol. Possible nonalcohol beneficial components in wine (especially red) could explain the extra protection of wine, but a healthier pattern of drinking or more favorable risk traits in wine drinkers may also be involved. Advice regarding the advisability of alcohol drinking for health needs to be individualized according to specific risks and benefits.
THE APPLICATION OF THE SHAPIRO REACTION TO THE STEREOSELECTIVE SYNTHESIS OF E-TRISUBSTITUTED OLEFINS FOR CATION-OLEFIN CYCLIZATION BY THREE COMPONENT COUPLING

Abstract A method is described for the rapid and stereoselective assembly of E-trisubstituted olefins by a convergent process from three components
Habitable Planet Formation in Binary Planetary Systems

Recent radial velocity observations have indicated that Jovian-type planets can exist in moderately close binary star systems. Numerical simulations of the dynamical stability of terrestrial-class planets in such environments have shown that, in addition to their giant planets, these systems can also harbor Earth-like objects. In this paper we study the late stage of terrestrial planet formation in such binary planetary systems, and present the results of the simulations of the formation of Earth-like bodies in their habitable zones. We consider a circumprimary disk of Moon- to Mars-sized objects and numerically integrate the orbits of these bodies at the presence of the Jovian-type planet of the system and for different values of the mass, semimajor axis, and orbital eccentricity of the secondary star. Results indicate that Earth-like objects, with substantial amounts of water, can form in the habitable zone of the primary star. Simulations also indicate that by transferring angular momentum from the secondary star to protoplanetary objects, the giant planet of the system plays a key role in the radial mixing of these bodies and the water contents of the final terrestrial planets. We will discuss the results of our simulation and show that the formation of habitable planets in binary planetary systems is more probable in binaries with moderate to large perihelia.
Thiol-norbornene photo-click hydrogels for tissue engineering applications

Thiol-norbornene (thiol-ene) photo-click hydrogels have emerged as a diverse material system for tissue engineering applications. These hydrogels are cross-linked through light mediated orthogonal reactions between multi-functional norbornene-modified macromers (e.g., poly(ethylene glycol), hyaluronic acid, gelatin) and sulfhydryl-containing linkers (e.g., dithiothreitol, PEG-dithiol, bis-cysteine peptides) using low concentration of photoinitiator. The gelation of thiol-norbornene hydrogels can be initiated by long-wave UV light or visible light without additional co-initiator or co-monomer. The cross-linking and degradation behaviors of thiol-norbornene hydrogels are controlled through material selections, whereas the biophysical and biochemical properties of the gels are easily and independently tuned owing to the orthogonal reactivity between norbornene and thiol moieties. Uniquely, the cross-linking of step-growth thiol-norbornene hydrogels is not oxygen-inhibited, therefore the gelation is much faster and highly cytocompatible compared with chain-growth polymerized hydrogels using similar gelation conditions. These hydrogels have been prepared as tunable substrates for 2D cell culture, as microgels or bulk gels for affinity-based or protease-sensitive drug delivery, and as scaffolds for 3D cell culture. Reports from different laboratories have demonstrated the broad utility of thiol-norbornene hydrogels in tissue engineering and regenerative medicine applications, including valvular and vascular tissue engineering, liver and pancreas-related tissue engineering, neural regeneration, musculoskeletal (bone and cartilage) tissue regeneration, stem cell culture and differentiation, as well as cancer cell biology. This article provides an up-to-date overview on thiol-norbornene hydrogel cross-linking and degradation mechanisms, tunable material properties, as well as the use of thiol-norbornene hydrogels in drug delivery and tissue engineering applications.
Measurement selection for parametric IC fault diagnosis

This article presents experimental results which show feedforward neural networks are well-suited for analog IC fault diagnosis. Boundary band data (BBD) measurement selection is used to reduce the computational overhead of the FFN training phase. We compare the diagnostic accuracy between traditional statistical classifiers and feedforward neural networks trained with various measurement selection criteria. The feedforward networks consistently perform as well as or better than the other classifiers in term of accuracy. Training using BBD consistently reduces the FFN training efforts without degrading the performance. Experimental results suggest that feedforward networks provide a cost efficient method for IC fault diagnosis in a large scale production testing environment.
FAR-ULTRAVIOLET CONTINUUM EMISSION: APPLYING THIS DIAGNOSTIC TO THE CHROMOSPHERES OF SOLAR-MASS STARS

The far-ultraviolet (FUV) continuum flux is recognized as a very sensitive diagnostic of the temperature structure of the Sun's lower chromosphere. Until now analysis of the available stellar FUV data has shown that solar-type stars must also have chromospheres, but quantitative analyses of stellar FUV continua require far higher quality spectra and comparison with new non-LTE chromosphere models. We present accurate far-ultraviolet (FUV, 1150-1500 A) continuum flux measurements for solar-mass stars, made feasible by the high throughput and very low detector background of the Cosmic Origins Spectrograph on the Hubbble Space Telescope. We show that the continuum flux can be measured above the detector background even for the faintest star in our sample. We find a clear trend of increasing continuum brightness temperature at all FUV wavelengths with decreasing rotational period, which provides an important measure of magnetic heating rates in stellar chromospheres. Comparison with semiempirical solar flux models shows that the most rapidly rotating solar-mass stars have FUV continuum brightness temperatures similar to the brightest faculae seen on the Sun. The thermal structure of the brightest solar faculae therefore provides a first-order estimate of the thermal structure and heating rate for the most rapidly rotating solar-mass stars in our sample.
An approach to selecting metrics for detecting performance problems in information systems

other quality of service considerations. We view an information system as a network of queues. As such, a Early detection o f performance problems is essential to limit their scope and impact. Most commonly, performance problems are detected b y applying threshold tests to a set of detection metrics. For ezample, suppose that disk utilization is a detection metric, and its threshold value is 80%. Then, an alarm is raised if disk utilization exceeds 80%. Unfortunately, the ad hoc manner in which detection metrics are selected often results in false alarms and/or failing to detect problems until serious performance degradations result. To address this situation, we construct r ules for metric selection based on analytic comparisons of statistical power equations for five widely used metrics: departure counts (D), number an system (L), response times (E), servace times (S), and utilizations (U). These rules are a ssessed in the context of performance problems in the CPU and p aging sub-systems of a production computer system.
Intersection Cuts with Infinite Split Rank

We consider mixed-integer linear programs where free integer variables are expressed in terms of nonnegative continuous variables. When this model only has two integer variables, Dey and Louveaux characterized the intersection cuts that have infinite split rank. We show that, for any number of integer variables, the split rank of an intersection cut generated from a rational lattice-free polytope L is finite if and only if the integer points on the boundary of L satisfy a certain “2-hyperplane property.” The Dey--Louveaux characterization is a consequence of this more general result.
Catalytic Conversion of Methane to Synthesis Gas by Partial Oxidation and CO2 Reforming

Abstract The preparation of synthesis gas from natural gas, which is the most important step in the gas-to-liquid transformation, has attracted increasing attention in the last decade. Steam reforming, partial oxidation, and CO 2 reforming are the three major processes that can be employed to prepare synthesis gas. Because steam reforming was reviewed recently in this series [Adv. Catal. 47 (2002) 65], this chapter deals only with the latter two processes. The history of the development of methane conversion to synthesis gas is summarized as an introduction to the partial oxidation of methane, which is reviewed with emphasis on hot spots in reactors, major developments in the reduction of O 2 separation costs, and reaction mechanisms. The various catalysts employed in CO 2 reforming are examined, with emphasis on inhibition of carbon deposition.