cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Dwelling in Software: Aspects of the Felt-Life of Engineers in Large Software Projects

The organizational and social aspects of software engineering (SE) are now increasingly well investigated. This paper proposes that there are a number of approaches taken in research that can be distinguished not by their method or topic but by the different views they construct of the human agent acting in SE. These views have implications for the pragmatic outcome of the research, such as whether systems design suggestions are made, proposals for the development of practical reasoning tools or the effect of Social Network Systems on engineer’s sociability. This paper suggests that these studies tend to underemphasize the felt-life of engineers, a felt-life that is profoundly emotional though played in reference to ideas of moral propriety and ethics. This paper will present a study of this felt-life, suggesting it consists of a form of digital dwelling. The perspective this view affords are contrasted with process and ‘scientific’ approaches to the human agent in SE, and with the more humanistic studies of SE reasoning common in CSCW.
Electrogustometric thresholds: relationship to anterior tongue locus, area of stimulation, and number of fungiform papillae.

Abstract It is well established that, on the anterior tongue, thresholds for chemical tastants are inversely related to the number of fungiform papillae. However, it is not known whether this is the case for thresholds to electrical currents presented to the lingual surface. In this study, electrical thresholds for 16 subjects were determined at four left-side anterior lingual locations: tongue tip (TT), a region 1.7 cm posterior to the tip, a region 3.4 cm posterior to the TT, and a region 1.7 cm from the tip along the lateral margin. Two electrode sizes were employed (12.5 and 50 mm 2 ), and stimulus duration was held constant at 0.5 s. The number of fungiform papillae was determined using videomicroscopy. Analogous to what is seen with chemical stimulation, an inverse relationship was present between the mean electrical thresholds, expressed in terms of current density, and the number of papillae within the stimulated regions. The TT—which has the highest density of fungiform papillae—was found to be more sensitive than the other tongue regions evaluated. Also paralleling chemical thresholds, the mean electrical threshold values were lower (i.e., sensitivity was higher) at a given tongue locus for the 50-mm 2 than for the 12.5-mm 2 stimulus area. Overall, this study demonstrates that thresholds for electrical stimulation vary across discrete regions of the anterior tongue and are specifically related to the number of fungiform papillae within the stimulated regions. These observations provide additional support for the hypothesis that lingual sensations induced by low levels of electrical current are mediated by the taste system.
Environmental Cracking of Corrosion Resistant Alloys in the Chemical Process Industry - A Review

A large variety of corrosion resistant alloys are used regularly in the chemical process industry (CPI). The most common family of alloys include the iron (Fe)-based stainless steels, nickel (Ni) alloys and titanium (Ti) alloys. There also other corrosion resistant alloys but their family of alloys is not as large as for the three groups mentioned above. All ranges of corrosive environments can be found in the CPI, from caustic solutions to hot acidic environments, from highly reducing to highly oxidizing. Stainless steels are ubiquitous since numerous types of stainless steels exist, each type tailored for specific applications. In general, stainless steels suffer stress corrosion cracking (SCC) in hot chloride environments while high Ni alloys are practically immune to this type of attack. High nickel alloys are also resistant to caustic cracking. Ti alloys find application in highly oxidizing solutions. Solutions containing fluoride ions, especially acid, seem to be aggressive to almost all corrosion resistant alloys.
Stimulus Properties of PMMA: Effect of Optical Isomers and Conformational Restriction

para-Methoxymethamphetamine (PMMA), a structural hybrid of two central stimulants, lacks stimulant properties but behaves in a manner similar to that of MDMA [N-methyl-1-(3,4-methylenedioxyphenyl)-2-aminopropane]. PMMA has been established as a training drug in drug discrimination studies, and in the present investigation we sought to determine which optical isomer of PMMA is primarily responsible for its stimulus effects. Because PMMA is a conformationally flexible molecule, it was also of interest to determine what conformation is most important for its actions. Accordingly, we prepared and examined S(+)PMMA, R(-)PMMA, and conformationally restricted forms of PMMA: PMMA-AT, TIQ-1, and TIQ-2. S(+)PMMA (ED50 = 0.32 mg/kg) was found to be at least as potent as PMMA (ED50 = 0.41 mg/kg), whereas R(-)PMMA failed to result in complete stimulus generalization. An aminotetralin-like conformation, as found in PMMA-AT (ED50 = 0.29 mg/kg), seems to better account for the actions of PMMA than a tetrahydroisoquinoline-like conformation because TIQ-1 and TIQ-2 failed to result in stimulus generalization. The results of the present study further support the concept that PMMA and MDMA share considerable similarity with respect to their stimulus properties in animals except that PMMA lacks the amphetaminergic stimulant component of action associated with MDMA.
Poor Responders to Bevacizumab Pharmacotherapy in Age-Related Macular Degeneration and in Diabetic Macular Edema Demonstrate Increased Risk for Obstructive Sleep Apnea

Purpose:To investigate the risk for obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) in patients with exudative age-related macular degeneration (AMD) or diabetic macular edema with poor response to anti-vascular endothelial growth factor therapy with bevacizumab (Avastin).Methods:Age-related macular degeneration grou
Effect of Relative Price Changes of Top Principle Crops on Farm Land Allocation in Post-Soviet Russia: Do Prices Matter?

After the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, Russian economy was on the way to becoming more market-based. While the broadening of market forces in Russian agriculture seems plausible, there is little empirical evidence to support the proportion that land allocation decision among grains and oil-seeds are in large determined by output prices for the crops. The crops are wheat, barley, oats, corn, rye, soybeans, rapeseed, and sunflower. In this chapter, a land allocation model developed recently by Vorotnikova, Asci and Seale (2013) is fit to post-Soviet data to determine if output prices for grains and oil-seeds significantly affect land allocation among these crops and by what magnitudes. We look at the effect of the relative export price changes on allocation of land among top eight top crops in agricultural production for Russia during the years 1992 to 2012. We have determined that most price responsive acreages are those of 1) soybeans, 2) corn, 3) sunflower, 4) wheat, 5) rye, 6) barley, and 7) other. Overall, we can conclude that Russian agriculture has become price responsive when it comes to the land allocation.
Truthful auctions with optimal profit

We study the design of truthful auction mechanisms for maximizing the seller's profit. We focus on the case when the auction mechanism does not have any knowledge of bidders' valuations, especially of their upper bound. For the Single-Item auction, we obtain an “asymptotically” optimal scheme: for any k∈Z+ and e>0, we give a randomized truthful auction that guarantees an expected profit of $\Omega(\frac{OPT}{\ln OPT \ln\ln OPT \cdots (\ln^{(k)}OPT)^{1+\epsilon}})$, where OPT is the maximum social utility of the auction. Moreover, we show that no truthful auction can guarantee an expected profit of $\Omega(\frac{OPT}{\ln OPT \ln\ln OPT\cdots \ln^{(k)}OPT})$. In addition, we extend our results and techniques to Multi-units auction, Unit-Demand auction, and Combinatorial auction.
Computational nature of biochemical reactions

The functioning of a living cell consists of a (huge) number of individual biochemical reactions. These reactions are regulated, where the two main regulation mechanisms are: facilitation/acceleration and inhibition/retardation. The interaction between individual biochemical reactions takes place through their influence on each other, and this influence is through facilitation or inhibition (or both).
Low-delay distributed source coding for time-varying sources with unknown statistics

We consider a system in which two nodes take correlated measurements of a random source with time-varying and unknown statistics. The observations of the source at the first node are to be losslessly replicated with a given probability of outage at the second node, which receives data from the first node over a constant-rate channel. We develop a system and associated strategies for joint distributed source coding (encoding and decoding) and transmission control in order to achieve low end-to-end delay. Slepian-Wolf coding in its traditional form cannot be applied in our scenario, since the encoder requires the joint statistics of the observations and the associated decoding delay is very high. We analytically evaluate the performance of our strategies and show that the delay achieved by them are order optimal, as the conditional entropy of the source approaches to the channel rate. We also evaluate the performance of our algorithms based on real-world experiments using two cameras recording videos of a scene at different angles. Having realized our schemes, we demonstrated that, even with a very low-complexity quantizer, a compression ratio of approximately 50% is achievable for lossless replication at the decoder, at an average delay of a few seconds.
Topographic reorganization in the striate cortex of the adult cat and monkey is cortically mediated

In primary sensory and motor cortex of adult animals, alteration of input from the periphery leads to changes in cortical topography. These changes can be attributed to processes that are intrinsic to the cortex, or can be inherited from alterations occurring at stages of sensory processing that are antecedent to the primary sensory cortical areas. In the visual system, focal binocular retinal lesions initially silence an area of cortex that represents the region of retina destroyed, but over a period of months this area recovers visually driven activity. The retinotopic map in the recovered area is altered, shifting its representation to the portion of retina immediately surrounding the lesion. This effectively shrinks the representation of the lesioned area of retina, and expands the representation of the lesion surround. To determine the loci along the visual pathway at which the reorganization takes place, we compared the course of topographic alterations in the primary visual cortex and dorsal lateral geniculate nucleus (LGN) of cats and monkeys. At a time when the cortical reorganization is complete, the silent area of LGN persists, indicating that changes in cortical topography are due to alterations that are intrinsic to the cortex. To explore the participation of thalamocortical afferents in the reorganization, we injected a series of retrogradely transported fluorescent tracers into reorganized and surrounding cortex of each animal. Our results show that the thalamocortical arbors do not extend beyond their normal lateral territory and that this physical dimension is insufficient to account for the reorganization. We suggest that the long-range intrinsic horizontal connections are a likely source of visual input into the reorganized cortical area.
9. Vacuum Techniques

Publisher Summary This chapter discusses some vacuum techniques. As the name “vacuum ultraviolet” (VUV) implies, this radiation must be transported and used in a vacuum environment. The chapter includes the information that a researcher needs to house an experiment to take an advantage of VUV radiation. It is assumed that the source is either a synchrotron or a laboratory source that will have its own vacuum requirements. The chapter mentions the necessity of having a working knowledge of fore, sorption, cryo, ion, titanium sublimation (TSP), and diffusion pumps; right angle, gate, and leak valves; and thermocouple and ion gauges. In addition, familiarity with residual gas analyzers (RGA) and helium leak detectors is also helpful. The design of vacuum environment chambers to house VUV experiments fall into three main categories depending on their use: gas phase experiments including metal vapors, solid state experiments, and beamline optics. The type of pump for the gas phase experiment must be selected with an eye toward the type of sample under investigation. For atmospheric and similar nonreactive gases, high-speed turbo, or cryopumps, are the most effective. One of the most time consuming chores in setting up a vacuum-based experiment is isolating vacuum problems. The major problem with the optics is their exposure to high intensity, high energy radiation for prolong periods of time. Several techniques have been developed to remove the carbon contamination either in situ or with the optics removed.
Ultrafast adiabatic population transfer in p-doped semiconductor quantum wells

In atomic and molecular physics, coherent optical techniques allowing for almost complete ultrafast transfer of a population between different molecular eigenstates has been developed and refined for many years. One particularly successful scheme is called stimulated Raman scattering by delayed pulses (STIRAP). Within this scheme, it is possible to transfer a population between two nonoptically coupled states by using a third state (which is optically coupled to both the initial and the final state) without actually occupying it, in the end, at all. As for semiconductors, the question arises whether similar techniques can be used to transfer, for example, holes from the heavy-hole (HH) band to the light-hole (LH) band without creating electrons in the process. We have studied this problem theoretically and have identified parameter regimes where we believe the delayed-pulse scheme can be efficiently applied to the HH-LH population transfer.
Deriving Laws from Ordering Relations

The effect of Richard T. Cox's contribution to probability theory was to generalize Boolean implication among logical statements to degrees of implication, which are manipulated using rules derived from consistency with Boolean algebra. These rules are known as the sum rule, the product rule and Bayes Theorem, and the measure resulting from this generalization is probability. In this paper, I will describe how Cox s technique can be further generalized to include other algebras and hence other problems in science and mathematics. The result is a methodology that can be used to generalize an algebra to a calculus by relying on consistency with order theory to derive the laws of the calculus. My goals are to clear up the mysteries as to why the same basic structure found in probability theory appears in other contexts, to better understand the foundations of probability theory, and to extend these ideas to other areas by developing new mathematics and new physics. The relevance of this methodology will be demonstrated using examples from probability theory, number theory, geometry, information theory, and quantum mechanics.
The Relationship between User Location History and Interests in Products and Services

This study evaluated the use of location history as a predictor of user interests in products and services. Over a 1-month time period, subjects used a voicemail or email diary to report their visits to various establishments, such as shops and restaurants. At the end of the study, they completed questionnaires asking about their demographic characteristics, as well as their use of advanced mobile services and involvement in making decisions about the purchase or use of various products and services. A series of stepwise linear regressions showed that parameters derived from the diary data, when combined with demographic and mobile usage parameters, significantly improved predictions of product/service involvement, when compared to using the demographic and mobile usage predictors alone. These results suggest that location history measures could potentially be valuable components of algorithms for targeting commercial content to end users.
Suspect vehicle identification for border safety with modified mutual information

The Department of Homeland Security monitors vehicles entering and leaving the country at land ports of entry. Some vehicles are targeted to search for drugs and other contraband. Customs and Border Protection agents believe that vehicles involved in illegal activity operate in groups. If the criminal links of one vehicle are known then their border crossing patterns can be used to identify other partner vehicles. We perform this association analysis by using mutual information (MI) to identify pairs of vehicles that are potentially involved in criminal activity. Domain experts also suggest that criminal vehicles may cross at certain times of the day to evade inspection. We propose to modify the mutual information formulation to include this heuristic by using cross-jurisdictional criminal data from border-area jurisdictions. We find that the modified MI with time heuristics performs better than classical MI in identifying potentially criminal vehicles.
Self-Conscious Dicta: The Origins of Roe v. Wade's Trimester Framework

One of the controversies arising from Roe v. Wade (1973), has concerned whether the conclusions undergirding the opinion's “trimester framework” should be considered part of the holding of the case, or instead classified as dicta. Different Supreme Court opinions have spoken to this question in different ways. This article reviews materials from the files of Justices who participated in Roe, seeking insight as to what the Court thought about the issue at the time. The article concludes that Justices in the Roe majority understood the opinion’s trimester framework to consist largely of dicta, unnecessary to a ruling on the constitutionality of the Texas abortion statute. The extensive use of dicta in Roe can be attributed to a desire to provide guidance to state legislators and perhaps a hope of reducing the number of abortion cases the Court would need to address in future terms. The article considers whether the Court might have done well to wait for a case raising the issue of the duration of abortion rights. If the parties had litigated the question in the lower courts, the Justices presumably would have enjoyed the benefits of a full record and plenary briefing. This might have raised questions about the asserted “logical and biological justifications” for the viability rule (one element of the trimester framework), or better equipped the Court to justify the rule in constitutional terms.
REPLACING ASSETS UNDER ACCELERATED DEPRECIATION LAWS

The accelerated depreciation laws provide more revenue in earlier years of a new asset due to shielding of taxes. The laws seem designed to encourage farmers to purchase assets more often. This paper exams the optimal purchase period for a beef cattle farm buying replacement cows. While the accelerated depreciation laws do help farms, the optimal asset life is seldom shortened.
Necessity Is the Mother of Invention: Input Supplies and Directed Technical Change

This study provides causal evidence that a shock to the relative supply of inputs to production can (1) affect the direction of technological progress and (2) lead to a rebound in the relative price of the input that became relatively more abundant (the strong induced-bias hypothesis). I exploit the impact of the U.S. Civil War on the British cotton textile industry, which reduced supplies of cotton from the Southern United States, forcing British producers to shift to lower-quality Indian cotton. Using detailed new data, I show that this shift induced the development of new technologies that augmented Indian cotton. As these new technologies became available, I show that the relative price of Indian/U.S. cotton rebounded to its pre-war level, despite the increased relative supply of Indian cotton. This is the first paper to establish both of these patterns empirically, lending support to the two key predictions of leading directed technical change theories.
The Q Theory of Housing Investment

This paper presents estimates of a Q model of housing investment, using quarterly data for the United States. The empirical model is estimated using building permits, housing starts, and housing investment expenditures as measures of investment. The current and lagged values of the Q ratio are found to be positively and significantly associated with housing investment, whichever way investment is measured. The findings suggest that the housing market indeed functions as Tobin has theorized. Housing suppliers appear to respond to the demands of housing consumers, building more new homes when existing home prices are high relative to new home prices.
Forced Two-Phase Helium Cooling of Large Superconducting Magnets

A major problem with all large superconducting magnets is the cryogenic and refrigeration system. Almost all of the large magnets are cryogenically stabilized. They are cooled in a bath of boiling helium. Nucleate boiling in liquid helium permits heat fluxes of 3000 W/m2 to be transferred with a temperature drop of less than 0.5 K. The bath-cooled magnet is difficult to cool from room temperature to 4 K. Helium, which is a difficult fluid to use as a coolant because of its low atomic weight, must flow into each region of the magnet; if the flow in a section of the magnet is restricted, stratification occurs and that magnet section remains warm.
A probabilistic calculus of actions

We present a symbolic machinery that admits both probabilistic and causal information about a given domain and produces probabilistic statements about the effect of actions and the impact of observations. The calculus admits two types of conditioning operators: ordinary Bayes conditioning, P(y|X = x), which represents the observation X = x, and causal conditioning, P(y|do(X = x)), read the probability of Y = y conditioned on holding X constant (at x) by deliberate action. Given a mixture of such observational and causal sentences, together with the topology of the causal graph, the calculus derives new conditional probabilities of both types, thus enabling one to quantify the effects of actions (and policies) from partially specified knowledge bases, such as Bayesian networks in which some conditional probabilities may not be available.
A new approach to multi-stage stochastic linear programs

This paper considers an infinite stage linear decision problem with random coefficients. We assume that the randomness can be defined by a finite Markov chain. Under certain assumptions we are able to calculate an upper bound for the optimal value of the decision problem and to use that bound to determine a useful initial decision.
2-Groups which Contain Exactly Three Involutions

Publisher Summary A well-known result in the theory of finite p-groups is that a p-group that has only one subgroup of order p is either cyclic or generalized quaternion. The problem of classifying p-groups that contain exactly one elementary subgroup of order p 2 has been done for all cases except p = 2. The results for p ≠ 2 are outlined primarily in the chapter, although the chapter focuses on the classification of 2-groups that contain exactly one elementary subgroup of order 2 2 —that is, 2-groups that contain exactly 3 involutions.
The Business of Product Innovation : International Empirical Evidence

It is so widely recognized that innovation is a key driver of economic growth that it is cliche to say so. This article studies product innovation by firms with data from 68 countries, covering more than 25,000 firms in eight manufacturing sectors. The author assesses the predictions of inter-disciplinary research on innovation by firms. The econometric evidence suggests that globalization and local knowledge increase the likelihood that firms will introduce new products. By contrast, domestic regulatory impediments to competition are not robustly correlated with product innovation.
Efficient layout transformation for disk-based multidimensional arrays

I/O libraries such as PANDA and DRA use blocked layouts for efficient access to disk-resident multi-dimensional arrays, with the shape of the blocks being chosen to match the expected access pattern of the array Sometimes, different applications, or different phases of the same application, have very different access patterns for an array In such situations, an array's blocked layout representation must be transformed for efficient access In this paper, we describe a new approach to solve the layout transformation problem and demonstrate its effectiveness in the context of the Disk Resident Arrays (DRA) library The approach handles re-blocking and permutation of dimensions Results are provided that demonstrate the performance benefit as compared to currently available mechanisms.
Are Microcredit Borrowers in Bangladesh Over-indebted ?

Microcredit programs in Bangladesh have experienced spectacular growth in recent years, with a growing number of borrowers availing credit from multiple microcredit agencies. There is a growing concern that if there are not sufficient returns to borrowing from microfinance institutions (MFIS), some borrowers might be taking loans that they will not be able to repay. A household may be considered over-indebted, for example, if its debt liability exceeds 40 percent of its income or assets. Using a long panel of household survey data from Bangladesh, the paper finds that some 26 percent of microcredit borrowers are over-indebted on this measure versus 22 percent of non-microcredit borrowers. Econometric analysis suggests that both MFI competition and multiple borrowing raise indebtedness. However, repeated borrowing, while it affects short-term liability adversely, does affect the long-term debt-asset ratio favorably. That is, repeated borrowing helps increase assets more than debt over time. Microcredit borrowers in Bangladesh are thus not necessarily over-indebted. But when borrowing is seen as protection against shocks such as floods even at the cost of being indebted, MFIs may offer micro-insurance schemes to safeguard borrowers against economic shocks.
Left ventricular diastolic function is closely associated with mechanical function of the left atrium in patients with paroxysmal atrial fibrillation.

Background: Left ventricular (LV) diastolic dysfunction may be a mechanism of left atrial (LA) electroanatomical remodeling in atrial fibrillation (AF). We evaluated the association between LV diastolic function and LA mechanical function in non-valvular paroxysmal AF (PAF). Methods and Results: In 286 patients with PAF (males 73%, 57±11 years), LA size, indexed LA volume, LV diastolic function, and LA appendage flow velocity (LAA-FV) in sinus rhythm were measured using transthoracic echocardiography, transesophageal echocardiography and cardiac computed tomography. The LA voltage map was obtained using NavX contact mapping. Patients with impaired LA mechanical function (LAA-FV <58cm/s, n=142) showed a higher E/Em ratio (10.3 vs. 9.2, P=0.034) and lower Em velocity (6.8 vs. 7.7cm/s, P=0.004) than those with preserved function (LAA-FV ≥58cm/s, n=144). The patient population displayed weak correlations of E/Em with LAA-FV (r=-0.19, P=0.003) and LA voltage (r=-0.23, P=0.004), but more significant association of E/Em and LAA-FV (r=-0.39, P<0.001) for age ≥55 years and LA diameter ≥40mm. E/Em was an independent predictor of LAA mechanical function (β=-0.20, P=0.013) even after age, sex, LA size and comorbidities were controlled for. Conclusions: In patients with non-valvular PAF, LA mechanical function is closely related to the degree of LA remodeling and LV diastolic function. Impaired LV diastolic function significantly contributes to LA electoanatomical remodeling in older patients with a larger LA. (Circ J 2013; 77: 697–704)
On Dijkstra’s Algorithm for Deadlock Detection

We study a classical problem in operating systems concerning deadlock detection for systems with reusable resources. The elegant Dijkstra’s algorithm utilizes simple data structures, but it has the cost of quadratic dependence on the number of the processes. Our goal is to reduce the cost in an optimal way without losing the simplicity of the data structures. More specifically, we present a graph-free and almost optimal algorithm with the cost of linear dependence on the number of the processes, when the number of resources is fixed and when the units of requests for resources are bounded by constants.
Connecting Numerical Relativity and Data Analysis of Gravitational Wave Detectors

Gravitational waves deliver information in exquisite detail about astrophysical phenomena, among them the collision of two black holes, a system completely invisible to the eyes of electromagnetic telescopes. Models that predict gravitational wave signals from likely sources are crucial for the success of this endeavor. Modeling binary black hole sources of gravitational radiation requires solving the Einstein equations of General Relativity using powerful computer hardware and sophisticated numerical algorithms. This proceeding presents where we are in understanding ground-based gravitational waves resulting from the merger of black holes and the implications of these sources for the advent of gravitational-wave astronomy.
Declustering Two-Dimensional Datasets over MEMS-Based Storage

Due to the large difference between seek time and transfer time in current disk technology, it is advantageous to perform large I/O using a single sequential access rather than multiple small random I/O accesses. However, prior optimal cost and data placement approaches for processing range queries over two-dimensional datasets do not consider this property. In particular, these techniques do not consider the issue of sequential data placement when multiple I/O blocks need to be retrieved from a single device. In this paper, we reevaluate the optimal cost of range queries by declustering two-dimensional datasets over multiple devices, and prove that, in general, it is impossible to achieve the new optimal cost. This is because disks cannot facilitate two-dimensional sequential access which is required by the new optimal cost. Fortunately, MEMS-based storage is being developed to reduce I/O cost. We first show that the two-dimensional sequential access requirement can not be satisfied by simply modeling MEMS-based storage as conventional disks. Then we propose a new placement scheme that exploits the physical properties of MEMS-based storage to solve this problem. Our theoretical analysis and experimental results show that the new scheme achieves almost optimal results.
Static analysis in disjunctive numerical domains

The convexity of numerical domains such as polyhedra, octagons, intervals and linear equalities enables tractable analysis of software for buffer overflows, null pointer dereferences and floating point errors. However, convexity also causes the analysis to fail in many common cases. Powerset extensions can remedy this shortcoming by considering disjunctions of predicates. Unfortunately, analysis using powerset domains can be exponentially more expensive as compared to analysis on the base domain. In this paper, we prove structural properties of fixed points computed in commonly used powerset extensions. We show that a fixed point computed on a powerset extension is also a fixed point in the base domain computed on an “elaboration” of the program's CFG structure. Using this insight, we build analysis algorithms that approach path sensitive static analysis algorithms by performing the fixed point computation on the base domain while discovering an “elaboration” on the fly. Using restrictions on the nature of the elaborations, we design algorithms that scale polynomially in terms of the number of disjuncts. We have implemented a light-weight static analyzer for C programs with encouraging initial results.
Complementary Space for Enhanced Uncertainty and Dynamics Visualization

Many computational modeling pipelines for geometry processing and visualization focus on topologically and geometrically accurate shape reconstruction of “primal” space, meaning the surface of interest and the volume it contains. Certain features of a surface such as pockets, tunnels, and voids (small, closed components) often represent important properties of the model and yet are difficult to detect or visualize in a model of primal space alone. It is natural, then, to consider what information can be gained from a model and visualization of complementary space, i.e. the space exterior to but still “near” the surface in question. In this paper, we show how complementary space can be used as a tool for both uncertainty and dynamics visualizations and analysis.
The Price of European Identity: The Negative Social and Economic Impact of Slovenian Migration Law

Since its independence in 1991, Slovenia has become the most economically successful of the former Yugoslavian countries, as it is the only one to become a member of the European Union ("EU") and the only "Eastern" European country to implement the Euro.' Those achievements, however, have come at a price. By choosing to join the EU, Slovenia has consequently been forced to adhere to EU migration policies, laws, and requirements of the Schengen Acquis ("Schengen"). This Article asserts that the adherence to such EU-dictated migration policies, laws, and Schengen has negatively impacted Slovenian culture and economic development. In addition, the structure, language, and administration of the Slovenian migration laws, in accordance with EU standards, are detrimental to its culture and economic development. The lessons from Slovenia's adoption of EU migration standards are important for both new EU members, specifically Romania and Bulgaria, and for other candidate countries to consider as possible consequences of EU accession. Part I of this Article examines Slovenia's accession to the EU. Part II examines the EU's policies, laws, and Schengen requirements regarding migration. Part III analyzes the amendments and drafting of Slovenia's laws in adherence to EU standards. Part IV analyzes the negative cultural consequences to Slovenia from its migration policy and administration of that policy in accordance with EU's standards. Part V analyzes the negative economic consequences to Slovenia arising out of that same policy.
Internal Customers and Internal Suppliers

To push a customer and market orientation deep into the organization, many firms have adopted systems by which internal customers evaluate internal suppliers. The internal supplier receives a large...
Hierarchical Item Response Theory Modeling

The synthesis of hierarchical modeling with item response theory (IRT) has led to psychometric models for item response datasets that possess hierarchical structure. In this entry, an overview is provided of hierarchical IRT methodology and its usefulness as a general framework both for traditional IRT models and new extensions. Models for both random person and random item effects are discussed. Keywords: item response theory; multilevel modeling; random effects
Campaigns as Coordination Devices

We study elections with three candidates under plurality voting. A candidate is a Condorcet loser if the majority of the voters place that candidate at the bottom of their preference ranking. We rst show that a Condorcet loser might win the election in a three-way race. Next we introduce to the model a campaigner who has private information about the true probability distribution of the preferences of the voters. Our results show that campaigns could facilitate coordination among voters who would otherwise split their votes and lead to the victory of the condorcet loser. Later we analyze the case where the campaigner has an ideological bias towards one of the candidates. The coordination impact of campaign remains unaltered, but now the campaigner can manipulate the outcome of the election, even if his ideological bias is known by the voters. I am indebted to Faruk Gul for guidance at every stage of this work. I am also grateful for suggestions and comments to Andrea Wilson and the participants of the sudent seminar at Princeton University. All remaining errors are my own. yKellogg School of Management, MEDS department Evanston, IL 60208. E-mail: m-ekmekci@northwestern.edu.
Sketches of emergent geometry in the gauge/gravity duality

In this paper three notions of emergent geometry arising from the study of gauge/gravity duals are discussed. The unifying theme behind these notions of emergent geometry is that one can derive properties of the effective action of a probe or excitation around some configuration in gauge theory which can be argued to be localized at a particular position in the gravity dual, and match this description to various degrees of accuracy in the gravity dual. The three examples discussed are giant gravitons in AdS5× S5, open strings stretching between these giants and the probe dynamics of a D0 brane in the presence of a thermal matrix configuration of the BFSS matrix model.
fGREP - Fast Generic Routing Demand Estimation for Placed FPGA Circuits

Interconnection planning is becoming an important design issue for large FPGA based designs and ASICs. One of the most important issues for planning interconnection is the ability to predict the routability of a given design. In this paper, we introduce a new methodology, fGREP, for ultra-fast estimation of routing demands for placed circuits on FPGAs. Our method uses logic block fanout as a measure of available routing alternatives for routing a net. Experimental results on a large set of benchmark examples show that our predictions closely match with the detailed routing results of a well known router, namely VPR[1]. fGREP is simultaneously able to predict the peak routing demand (channel width) and the routing demands for every routing channel. It is currently used for post-placement estimation of routing demands, but can be used during the placement process also. fGREP can be used with any standard FPGA place and route flow.
Food Assistance Programs and the Economic Patterns of Single Mothers Following Poverty Exits

Presentation for the University of Michigan National Poverty Center conference in Washington, DC.
An Estimation of the Regulatory Cost on California Agricultural Producers

This paper develops an estimation of the cost of regulations on California agricultural producers which can be used as a baseline for comparing regulatory environments. The estimated regulatory cost in relationship to operating costs for producers is between $2.19 billion to $2.21 billion. The range on percentage of income allocated to regulatory cost is between 5.24% and 9.19%.
General Conclusions: From Crisis to a Global Political Economy of Freedom

If anything, the world economy at the start of the twenty-first century – even more so than during the interwar period – shows the kind of complexity captured in Keynes’s words above. Fortunately, complex systems theory and international economics theory have both made some progress since those dark days. Although we are still far from having a genuinely complete theory of complex economic systems, efforts are underway that have already borne some interesting fruit in several, albeit limited areas. The present endeavour can be seen as a modest step towards understanding some facets of complex open economies with financial systems. I have tried to orient my study methodologically in such a way that both the possibilities of inductive logic and deductions from principles can be fully utilized. It is important to stress the ‘realist’ methodology implicit in this effort. The concrete ‘facts’ are understood to be theory-laden. However, correct theoretical terms are taken to be precisely those that approximate to the real structure and dynamics of the global economy. In causal terms, complex causal structures can be inferred to the best of our ability by using the conceptual, modelling and econometric techniques available to us at present. Given advances in theory and techniques in the future, our knowledge of the underlying causal relations is likely to improve.
Ambidexterity deconstructed: a hierarchy of capabilities perspective

Purpose – The aim of this paper is to deconstruct the organizational capability of ambidexterity into a typology of hierarchical dimensions that includes each type’s enabling mechanisms and capabilities. Design/methodology/approach – This work reviews and integrates extant literature on ambidexterity and the hierarchy of capabilities to distinguish dimensions of ambidexterity and link each type to capabilities identified in prior research. Findings – A hierarchy involving zero-, first- and second-order ambidexterity is developed. Mechanisms and capabilities for creating and sustaining each type of ambidexterity are described. Research limitations/implications – As only an initial and conceptual foray toward the purpose stated above, this research does not attempt to argue a comprehensive theoretical framework. Nor does it intend to extend or propose new theory regarding the origins of ambidexterity capabilities or the specific causal relationships between them. Practical implications – Although prior lite...
Storage resource managers: essential components for the Grid

Storage Resource Managers (SRMs) are middleware components whose function is to provide dynamic space allocation and file management of shared storage components on the Grid. They complement Compute Resource Managers and Network Resource Managers in providing storage reservation and dynamic information on storage availability for the planning and execution of a Grid job. SRMs manage two types of resources: space and files. When managing space, SRMs negotiate space allocation with the requesting client, and/or assign default space quotas. When managing files, SRMs allocate space for files, invoke file transfer services to move files into the space, pin files for a certain lifetime, release files upon the clients request, and use file replacement policies to optimize the use of the shared space. SRMs can be designed to provide effective sharing of files, by monitoring the activity of shared files, and make dynamic decisions on which files to replace when space is needed. In addition, SRMs perform automatic garbage collection of unused files by removing selected files whose lifetime has expired when space is needed. In this chapter we discuss the design considerations for SRMs, their functionality, and their interfaces. We demonstrate the use of SRMs with several examples of real implementations that are in use today in a routine fashion or in a prototype form.
Some New/Old Approaches to QCD

I discuss some recent attempts to revive two old ideas regarding an analytic approach to QCD—the development of a string representation of the theory and the large N limit of QCD.
Representation requirements for supporting decision model formulation

This paper outlines a methodology for analyzing the representational support for knowledgebased decision-modeling in a broad domain. A relevant set of inference patterns and knowledge types are identified. By comparing the analysis results to existing representations, some insights are gained into a design approach for integrating categorical and uncertain knowledge in a context-sensitive manner.
Historia e integración económica en Centroamérica

This paper presents a gravity model for trade flows between the Central American countries, which include the levels of past exports as explanatory variables. Results indicate that past exports are estimated including indexes of human capital in place of the corresponding countries’ GDP, with results showing the important role human capital exerts on trade flows. Several explanations for this result are explored, in terms of private investment functions and of the role of human capital in promoting trade. The paper ends with a series of consideration on the implication of the effects of past exports on the trajectories of economic disparities among member countries in an economic integration program.// En este articulo se presenta un modelo de gravedad para las corrientes comerciales entre los paises centroamericanos en el que se incluyen las exportaciones pasadas como variables explicativas. Los resultados indican que las corrientes de comercio pasadas son importantes determinantes de las actuales. Se examinan diversas explicaciones para este resultado en terminos de rezagos en la funcion de inversion de sector privado y del papel propulsivo que desempenan las reducciones en el costo de transporte del comercio intrarregional. Ademas, se estiman ecuaciones de gravedad usando indices de capital humano en vez de los productos de las paises respectivos, las que demuestran que el capital humano en vez de los productos de los paises respectivos, las que demuestran que el capital humano tiene un importante papel en el dinamismo del comercio exterior. Por ultimo, se examinan las consecuencias de los resultados de la evolucion de las disparidades economicas y sociales entre los paises centroamericanos.
Measuring Empowerment in Practice : Structuring Analysis and Framing Indicators

This paper presents an analytic framework that can be used to measure and monitor empowerment processes and outcomes. The measuring empowerment (ME) framework, rooted in both conceptual discourse and measurement practice, illustrates how to gather data on empowerment and structure its analysis. The framework can be used to measure empowerment at both the intervention level and the country level, as a part of poverty or governance monitoring. The paper first provides a definition of empowerment and then explains how the concept can be reduced to measurable components. Empowerment is defined as a person's capacity to make effective choices; that is, as the capacity to transform choices into desired actions and outcomes. The extent or degree to which a person is empowered is influenced by personal agency (the capacity to make purposive choice) and opportunity structure (the institutional context in which choice is made). Asset endowments are used as indicators of agency. These assets may be psychological, informational, organizational, material, social, financial, or human. Opportunity structure is measured by the presence and operation of formal and informal institutions, including the laws, regulatory frameworks, and norms governing behavior. Degrees of empowerment are measured by the existence of choice, the use of choice, and the achievement of choice. Following the conceptual discussion and the presentation of the analytic framework, this paper illustrates how the ME framework can be applied, using examples from four development interventions. Each example discusses how the framework guided analysis and development of empowerment indicators. The paper also presents a draft module for measuring empowerment at the country level. The module can be used alone or be integrated into country-level poverty or governance monitoring systems that seek to add an empowerment dimension to their analysis.
Types of R&D Collaborations and Process Innovation: : The Benefit of Collaborating Upstream in the Knowledge Chain

This paper explains how research and development (RD given the differences in innovation mechanisms, prior insights from studies of product innovation do not necessarily apply to process innovation. Extending the knowledge-based view of the firm, this paper classifies four types of RD this paper is the first to analyze this relationship and provide a theoretical framework for understanding why this would be the case. This study also has important managerial implications. It suggests that managers need to be careful in choosing the partners for their firms' R&D collaborations. Engaging in R&D collaborations with universities and suppliers appears to be helpful for process innovation, whereas conducting R&D collaborations with competitors may potentially harm process innovation.