cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
What Labor Supply Elasticities Do Employers Face? Evidence From Field Experiments

We provide experimental evidence on the labor supply elasticity faced by employers, which is an essential measure of employer market power. We offered two different types of jobs, each with large randomized variations in pay, and observed the amount of work performed. We find no evidence of the strong employer market power suggested by prior research, with our elasticities close to unity. Furthermore, elasticities based on the total amount of work are significantly larger than if we use worker-level data as prior studies have done. Finally, elasticities differ by job type, suggesting that worker characteristics play a crucial role.
Does the semi-autonomous agency model function in a low-governance environment ? the case of the road development agency in Zambia

This paper uses Zambia as a case study to assess empirically whether political interference in a low-governance environment has diminished in the past years as expected after a semi-autonomous agency model was set up ten years ago. The road sector in Zambia has experienced some significant developments since then. The paper uses data on contract from 2008 to 2011 and analyses a number of key trends related to Road Development Agency governance and staffing dynamics as well as procurement and project selection within the institution. The main findings indicate that, after some years of implementation of these reforms, there is reason to question whether the model of semi-autonomous agency enables road management to be shielded from political interference. Zambia may be an isolated case but, so far, this model does not seem to have been able to decrease political interference in the selection or supervision of projects and there seems to have been an increased lack of accountability of civil servants working in this sector.
Vertebral angiography in the diagnosis of intraspinal masses in upper cervical region

Vertebral angiography will frequently demonstrate the outline of the upper cervical spinal cord, using both the arterial and venous phases. Thus, the spinal arteries and veins can be helpful in assessing intraspinal masses in this region, both inside and outside the cord Appropriate examples are shown.
Design Thinking and Evaluation Using an Ontology

We present the use of an ontology as a tool for thinking about the idealized design of a system and the evaluation of the realized design. The ontology concisely encapsulates the logic of the system. It can be used to think through all the potential components of the system in a natural language. By mapping the actual requirements on to the ontology one can highlight the gaps between the idealized and realized designs and evaluate them. Thus, it will help recognize the logical coherence or lack of it in the design. The paper describes the method of (a) logically constructing an ontology, (b) thinking about the design, and (c) evaluating the design. We illustrate the method with its application to the multi-stage design for enhancing the meaningful use of healthcare information systems in USA by its Center for Medicaid and Medicare Services (CMS).
Konstanten der potentiellen Energie, mittlere Schwingungs-amplituden, Bastiansen?Morino-Schrumpfeffekt und thermodynamische Funktionen einiger isotoper Arten des Chlorcyans

Mit Hilfe der gruppentheoretischen Methode werden aus den Grundschwingungsfrequenzen isotoper Arten des Chlorcyans, das eine lineare asymmetrische Struktur der Symmetriepunktgruppe C∞ v besitzt, vier Bindungskraftkonstanten ermittelt. Aus den Symmetriekoordinaten werden von den gebundenen und nichtgebundenen Atompaaren die mittleren Amplitudenquadrate die verallgemeinerten mittleren Amplitudenquadrate (mittlere Parallelamplitudenquadrate, mittlere Senkrechtamplitudenquadrate und mitlere gemischte Produkte) und die mittleren Schwingungsamplituden fur die Temperaturen 298°K, 500°K und 1000°K berechnet. Auser diesen Molekulkonstanten werden fur alle vier isotopen Arten des Molekuls die molaren thermodynamischen Funktionen fur den Temperaturbereich von 200°K bis 2000°K berechnet. Dieser Rechnung wird das Modell eines harmonischen Oszillators und starren Rotators zugrunde gelegt. Die Natur der beiden charakteristischen Bindungen wird an Hand der erhaltenen Ergebnisse kurz besprochen.
Sensor/actuator failure detection and isolation for airbreathing propulsion systems

In this paper, the Generalized Likelihood Ratio (GLR) test is used to detect and isolate sensor and/or actuator failures when a digital computer simulation model of the physical system is available. The input to the GLR detector is an innovation sequence formed by subtracting the model outputs from the sensed outputs. Application of the GLR detector to the General Electric QCSEE turbofan engine demonstrates the utility of the proposed procedure.
Re-Imagining Offshore Finance: Market-Dominant Small Jurisdictions in a Globalizing Financial World

Small jurisdictions have become significant players in cross-border corporate and financial services. Their nature, legal status, and market roles, however, remain under-theorized. Lacking a sufficiently nuanced framework to describe their functions in cross-border finance - and the peculiar strengths of those achieving global dominance in the marketplace - it remains impossible to evaluate their impacts in a comprehensive manner. This book advances a new conceptual framework to refine the analysis and direct it toward more productive inquiries. Bruner canvasses extant theoretical frameworks used to describe and evaluate the roles of small jurisdictions in cross-border finance. He then proposes a new concept that better captures the characteristics, competitive strategies, and market roles of those achieving global dominance in the marketplace - the "market-dominant small jurisdiction" (MDSJ). Bruner identifies the central features giving rise to such jurisdictions' competitive strengths - some reflect historical, cultural, and geographic circumstances, while others reflect development strategies pursued in light of those circumstances. Through this lens, he evaluates a range of small jurisdictions that have achieved global dominance in specialized areas of cross-border finance, including Bermuda, Dubai, Singapore, Hong Kong, Switzerland, and Delaware. Bruner further tests the MDSJ concept's explanatory power through a broader comparative analysis, and he concludes that the MDSJs' significance will likely continue to grow - as will the need for a more effective means of theorizing their roles in cross-border finance and the global dynamics generated by their ascendance.
ECONOMIC DIFFERENCES AMONG BEEF PRODUCTION SYSTEMS OF THE NEBRASKA SANDHILLS

This paper addresses the issue of profitability of beef production from a systems perspective. The model uses information from biological and economic systems to identify factors affecting profitability of nine beef production systems in the Nebraska Sandhills. The results are further used in ranking the profitability of 37 unique subsystems.
On fractional realizations of graph degree sequences

We introduce fractional realizations of a graph degree sequence and a closely associated convex polytope. Simple graph realizations correspond to a subset of the vertices of this polytope; we characterize degree sequences for which each polytope vertex corresponds to a simple graph realization. These include the degree sequences of threshold and pseudo-split graphs, and we characterize their realizations both in terms of forbidden subgraphs and graph structure.
Lambda-Policy Iteration: A Review and a New Implementation

In this paper we discuss -policy iteration, a method for exact and approximate dynamic programming. It is intermediate between the classical value iteration (VI) and policy iteration (PI) methods, and it is closely related to optimistic (also known as modied) PI, whereby each policy evaluation is done approximately, using a nite number of VI. We review the theory of the method and associated questions of bias and exploration arising in simulation-based cost function approximation. We then discuss various implementations, which oer advantages over well-established PI methods that use LSPE( ), LSTD( ), or TD( ) for policy evaluation with cost function approximation. One of these implementations is based on a new simulation scheme, called geometric sampling, which uses multiple short trajectories rather than a single innitely long trajectory.
Policy uncertainty, irreversibility, and cross-border flows of capital

Abstract We examine the effects of political uncertainty on cross-border capital flows using election timing as a source of fluctuations in political uncertainty. FDI flows from US companies to foreign affiliates drop significantly during the period just before an election and increase after the uncertainty is resolved, consistent with the view that political uncertainty deters foreign investment. The electoral patterns in FDI flows are more pronounced when elections are more competitive. The impact of political uncertainty on FDI flows depends on the level of institutional quality. Countries with higher levels of institutional quality experience significantly less variation in FDI around election cycles.
Eguchi-Kawai model with dynamical adjoint fermions

It is believed that fermions in adjoint representation on single site lattice will restore the center symmetry, which is a crucial requirement for the volume independence of large-N lattice gauge theories. We present a perturbative analysis which supports the assumption for overlap fermions, but shows that center symmetry is broken for naive fermions.
A Balanced System of Industry Accounts for the U.S. and Structural Distribution of Statistical Discrepancy

This paper describes and illustrates a generalized least squares (GLS) reconciliation method that can efficiently incorporate all available information on initial data in reconciling a large system of disaggregated accounts and can accurately estimate industry distribution of statistical discrepancy. The GLS reconciliation method is applied to reconciling the 1997 GDP-by-industry accounts and the Input-output accounts. The GDP-by-industry accounts measure GDP by industry using industry gross income, and the input-output accounts measure GDP by industry as the residual between gross output and intermediate inputs. The GLS method produced balanced estimates and estimated the industry distribution of the statisical discrepancy. The results show that using reliability to reconcile different accounts produces statistically meaningful balanced estimates. The study demonstrates that reconciling a large system of disaggregated accounts is empirically feasible and computationally efficient.
Delayed force feedback

In master-slave manipulators, forces encountered by the remote hand are transmitted back to the operator. At very great distances there will be a transmission delay between an operator's movement and a resulting force. Investigation was made of the effect of long delays and differences in strategy on positioning time with force feedback alone. Positioning could be accomplished, but delay coupled with high loop gain creates serious instability. Experimental results suggest that alternative displays of the feedback force can overcome the stability problem.
Algebras without noetherian filtrations

We provide examples of finitely generated noetherian PI algebras for which there is no finite dimensional filtration with a noetherian associated graded ring; thus we answer negatively a question of Lorenz (1988).
Understanding severance pay

Severance pay, a fixed-sum payment to workers at job separation, has been the focus of intense policy concern for the last several decades, but much of this concern is unearned. The design of the ideal separation package is outlined and severance pay emerges as a natural component of job displacement insurance packages, serving both as scheduled reemployment wage insurance and, if search moral hazard is a problem, as scheduled UI. Like any firm-financed separation expenditure, severance pay can induce excessive job retention, but such distortions do not appear to be of practical significance at benefit levels typically mandated in the industrialized world. Moreover there is no evidence that firms attempt to avoid these firing cost distortions by substituting severance savings plans, which have zero firing costs. Indeed severance insurance plans similar to those mandated are often offered voluntarily in the U.S. The appropriate role of government in the market for severance pay is briefly considered.
Repository replication using NNTP and SMTP

We present the results of a feasibility study using shared, existing, network-accessible infrastructure for repository replication. We utilize the SMTP and NNTP protocols to replicate both the metadata and the content of a digital library, using OAI-PMH to facilitate management of the archival process. We investigate how dissemination of repository contents can be piggybacked on top of existing email and Usenet traffic. Long-term persistence of the replicated repository may be achieved thanks to current policies and procedures which ensure that email messages and news posts are retrievable for evidentiary and other legal purposes for many years after the creation date. While the preservation issues of migration and emulation are not addressed with this approach, it does provide a simple method of refreshing content with unknown partners for smaller digital repositories that do not have the administrative resources for more sophisticated solutions.
Pathfinder Landing Site: Alternatives to Catastrophic Floods and An Antarctic Ice-Flow Analog for Outflow Channels on Mars

The Pathfinder spacecraft landed successfully at the mouth of the outflow channels Ares and Tiu Valles, returning a wealth of information about the surrounding landscape. One goal of the mission was to ascertain that catastrophic floods formed the outflow channels, the prevailing hypothesis for their origin. The follow-up reports on the mission proclaim that observations are "consistent" with an origin by catastrophic flood; no alternative mechanisms for channel origin are considered. Thus, the impression is given that the problem of channel origin has been solved. Yet none of the observations are diagnostic of origin by catastrophic floods. Other origins are possible but have been ignored, for instance origin as liquefaction mudflows, debris flows, mass flows, or ice flows. Here I will examine landing site observations that have been used to infer origin by catastrophic flooding and suggest alternative origins. Finally, I will highlight some new observation from Antarctica that make an ice-flow mechanism plausible for the origin of some of the outflow channels.
MOVING PUBLIC ASSISTANCE RECIPIENTS INTO THE LABOR FORCE, 1996-2000

Moving recipients of public assistance into jobs is a goal of the current system for providing public assistance to low-income households. Using scenario analysis with a computable general equilibrium model, ERS researchers examined some of the labor market impacts of the "welfare-to work" provisions of the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996 (PRWORA). The results show that, from 1996 to 2000, the influx of public assistance recipients into the labor force put downward wage pressure on low-skill occupations, making wage growth smaller than it would have been without the influx. At the same time, the influx added workers to the labor force, which contributed to economic growth. By expanding the labor force, the influx contributed 1 percentage point of real economic growth in terms of gross domestic product from 1996 through 2000.
Scarce collateral, the term premium, and quantitative easing

Abstract A model of money, credit, and banking is constructed in which the differential pledgeability of collateral and the scarcity of collateralizable wealth lead to a term premium – an upward-sloping nominal yield curve. Purchases of long-maturity government debt by the central bank are always a good idea, but for unconventional reasons. A floor system is preferred to a channel system, as a floor system permits welfare-improving asset purchases by the central bank.
Flat holonomies on automata networks

We consider asynchronous dynamic networks of identical finite (independent of the network size) automata. A useful data structure on such networks is a partial orientation of its edges. It needs to be straight, i.e. have null holonomy (the difference between the number of up and down edges in each cycle). It also needs to be centered, i.e., have a unique node with no down edges. Using such orientation, any feasible computational task can be efficiently implemented with self-stabilization and synchronization. There are (interdependent) self-stabilizing asynchronous finite automata protocols that straighten and centralize any orientation. Such protocols may vary in assorted efficiency parameters and it is desirable to have each replaceable with any alternative responsible for a simple limited task. We describe an efficient reduction of any computational task to any set of such protocols compliant with our interface conditions.
The All-or-Nothing Nature of Two-Party Secure Computation

A function f is computationally securely computable if two computationally-bounded parties Alice, having a secret input x, and Bob, having a secret input y, can talk back and forth so that (even if one of them is malicious) (1) Bob learns essentially only f(x, y) while (2) Alice learns essentially nothing. We prove that, if any non-trivial function can be so computed, then so can every function. Consequently, the complexity assumptions sufficient and/or required for computationally securely computing f are the same for every non-trivial function f.
Life during Growth: International Evidence on Quality of Life and Per Capita Income

Changes in a home country's quality-of-life indicators possibly depend as much on changes in world income as on changes in home country growth. The evidence that life gets better during growth is surprisingly uneven. The cross-country relationship between income and diverse indicators of the quality of life remains strong. Remarkably diverse indicators show quality of life across nations to be positively associated with per capita income. But changes in quality of life as income grows are surprisingly uneven. Moreover, in either level or changes, the effect of exogenous shifts over time is surprisingly strong. It is possible that changes in a home country's quality-of-life indicators depend as much on changes in world income as on changes in home country growth. The improvement in life expectancy everywhere, for example, may have reflected technical breakthroughs in antibiotics associated with world economic growth. The strong results on exogenous time shifts point in this direction. Easterly reaches this conclusion using a panel data set of 81 indicators covering up to four periods (1960, 1970, 1980, and 1990). The indicators cover seven subjects: health, education, individual rights and democracy, political instability and war, transport and communications, inequality across class and gender, and bads. With a seemingly unrelated regressions (SUR) estimator in levels, per capita income has an impact on the quality of life that is significant, positive, and more important than exogenous shifts for 32 of 81 indicators. With a fixed effects estimator, growth has an impact on the quality of life that is significant, positive, and more important than exogenous shifts for 6 of 69 quality-of-life indicators. The evidence that life gets better during growth is surprisingly uneven. The cross-country relationship between income and diverse indicators of the quality of life remains strong. Easterly speculates about explanations for the pattern of results, such as the long and variable lags that may come between growth and changes in the quality of life, and the possibility that global socioeconomic progress is more important than home country growth for many quality-of-life indicators. This paper - a product of Macroeconomics and Growth, Development Research Group - is part of a larger effort in the group to study the political economy determinants of policymaking. The author may be contacted at weasterly@worldbank.org.
Migration and stratification

Migration and stratification are increasingly intertwined. One day soon it will be impossible to understand one without the other. Both focus on life chances. Stratification is about differential life chances - who gets what and why - and migration is about improving life chances - getting more of the good things of life. To examine the interconnections of migration and stratification, we address a mix of old and new questions, carrying out analyses newly enabled by a unique new data set on recent legal immigrants to the United States (the New Immigrant Survey). We look at immigrant processing and lost documents, depression due to the visa process, presentation of self, the race-ethnic composition of an immigrant cohort (made possible by the data for the first time since 1961), black immigration from Africa and the Americas, skin-color diversity among couples formed by U.S. citizen sponsors and immigrant spouses, and English fluency among children age 8-12 and their immigrant parents. We find, inter alia, that children of previously illegal parents are especially more likely to be fluent in English, that native-born U.S. citizen women tend to marry darker, that immigrant applicants who go through the visa process while already in the United States are more likely to have their documents lost and to suffer visa depression, and that immigration, by introducing accomplished black immigrants from Africa (notably via the visa lottery), threatens to overturn racial and skin color associations with skill. Our analyses show the mutual embeddedness of migration and stratification in the unfolding of the immigrants' and their children's life chances and the impacts on the stratification structure of the United States.
Assessing a voluntary environmental initiative in the developing world: The Costa Rican Certification for Sustainable Tourism

The public policy literature has paid little attention to evaluating the ability of voluntary environmental programs to generate economic benefits for firms. Yet, given their voluntary nature, provision of economic benefits to firms is a necessary condition for these programs to become effective environmental policy instruments. Additionally, little is known about why firms operating in developing countries would participate in these initiatives.
[14C]2-deoxyglucose uptake in ground squirrel brain during hibernation

Autoradiographic patterns of [14C]2-deoxyglucose uptake are described throughout the brains of hibernating and euthermic ground squirrels. Autoradiographs of the brains of hibernating animals are generally homogeneous in comparison to euthermic animals; hence, the relative 2- deoxyglucose uptake (R2DGU) of gray to white matter for the majority of the 85 neural structures examined decreases during hibernation. Two categories of structures are identified as potentially important in hibernation: (1) structures that have the highest R2DGU during hibernation (cochlear nucleus, paratrigeminal nucleus, and superior colliculus) and (2) structures that undergo the least reduction in R2DGU in the transition from euthermia to hibernation (suprachiasmatic nucleus and lateral septal nucleus). The percentage of reduction in R2DGU that a structure undergoes in the transition from euthermia to hibernation is proportional to the R2DGU of that structure during euthermia. The suprachiasmatic, paratrigeminal, and cochlear nuclei undergo less of a reduction than would be predicted from this relationship and may be particularly important during hibernation. Sensory nuclei that receive primary afferent projections are among the structures with the highest R2DGU during hibernation. These metabolically active structures may be responsible for the sensitivity of the hibernator to environmental stimuli.
A comprehensive test of order choice theory: recent evidence from the NYSE

We perform a comprehensive test of order choice theory from a sample period when the NYSE trades in decimals and allows automatic executions. We analyze the decision to submit or cancel an order or to take no action. For submitted orders we distinguish order type (market vs. limit), order side (buy vs. sell), execution method (floor vs. automatic), and order pricing aggressiveness. We use a multinomial logit specification and a new statistical test. We find a negative autocorrelation in changes in order flow exists over five-minute intervals supporting dynamic limit order book theory, despite a positive first-order autocorrelation in order type. Orders routed to the NYSE’s floor are sensitive to market conditions (e.g., spread, depth, volume, volatility, market and individual-stock returns, and private information), but those using the automatic execution system (Direct+) are insensitive to market conditions. When the quoted depth is large, traders are more likely to “jump the queue” by submitting limit orders with limit prices bettering existing quotes. Aggressively-priced limit orders are more likely late in the trading day providing evidence in support of prior experimental results.
Risk Management for E-Cash Systems with Partial Real-Time Audit

We analyze “coin-wallet” and “balance-wallet” under partial real-time audit, and compute upper bounds on theft due to the fact that not all the transactions are audited in real time, assuming that everything else is perfect. In particular, we assume that the audit regime holds for innocent payees. Let v be the maximum allowed balance in a wallet, and 0≤μ≤1 be the fraction of transactions that are audited in real time in an audit round. Assume one unit transactions. We show that the upper bound on expected theft for coin-wallet is lim μ→0μ−2, while for plausible (similar) parameter choice the bound for a balance-wallet is O(exp (mvμ)), where 1<m. The former is nicely bounded for small transactions, however, the bound for balance-wallet can become huge in those cases where we require very small false alarm probability. We conclude that partial audit, may be suitable for coin-wallets with low denomination coins, and possibly for balance-wallet, when we may tolerate a relatively high false alarm rate, but it may be too risky for balance-wallet, where very low false alarm rate is required.
A New Route to Designer Antibiotics

To overcome resistance, antibiotics must be modified regularly, but their complex structures make this a daunting task. In their Perspective, [Khosla and Tang][1] discuss how chemical synthesis and biosynthesis can complement each other in this quest for more powerful future antibiotics. They highlight the report by [ Charest et al ][2]., who have devised a powerful synthetic strategy for assembling novel tetracyclines, an important class of antibiotics that is widely used in humans and animals. Synthetic and biosynthetic approaches allow different parts of the tetracycline molecule to be modified with ease, and by combining the two approaches, these different strengths can be harnessed to find better antibiotics. [1]: http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/full/308/5720/367 [2]: http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/short/308/5720/395
Exploiting Content Localities for Efficient Search in P2P Systems

Existing P2P search algorithms generally target either the performance objective of improving search quality from a client’s perspective, or the objective of reducing search cost from an Internet management perspective. We believe that the essential issue to be considered for designing and optimizing search algorithms in unstructured P2P networks is the trade-off between the two performance objectives. Motivated by our observations, the locality of content serving in the peer community and the localities of search interests of individual peers, we propose CAC-SPIRP, a fast and low cost P2P searching algorithm. Our algorithm consists of two components. The first component aims to reduce the search cost by constructing a CAC (Content Abundant Cluster), where content-abundant peers self-identify, and self-organize themselves into an inter-connected cluster providing a pool of popular objects to be frequently accessed by the peer community. A query will be first routed to the CAC, and most likely to be satisfied there, significantly reducing the amount of network traffic and the search scope. The second component in our algorithm is client oriented and aims to improve the quality of P2P search, called SPIRP (Selectively Prefetching Indices from Responding Peers). A client individually identifies a small group of peers who have the same interests as itself to prefetch their entire file indices of the related interests, minimizing unnecessary outgoing queries and significantly reducing query response time. Building SPIRP on the CAC Internet infrastructure, our algorithm combines both merits of the two components and balances the trade-off between the two performance objectives. Our trace-driven simulations show that CAC-SPIRP significantly improves the overall performance from both client’s perspective and Internet management perspective.
Using Coherent Semantic Subpaths to Derive Emergent Semantics

We contend that the author of a Web page cannot completely define that document’s semantics and that semantics emerge through use. Semantics is context-sensitive. User browsing paths over a multimedia collection provide, we believe, the necessary context to derive semantics. We attempt to use information from several modalities to improve retrieval using a single modality. We have developed and tested several algorithms to detect breakpoints and cluster Web pages into groups that exhibit uniform semantics. We have also used visual-keywords to improve textual-keyword based searches.
Guidance of multi-agent fixed-wing aircraft using a moving mesh method

This paper presents implementation of a novel guidance logic for multi-agent fixed-wing unmanned aerial systems using a moving mesh method. The moving mesh method is originally designed for use in the adaptive numerical solution of partial differential equations where a high proportion of mesh points are placed in the regions of large solution variation and few points in the rest of the domain. In this work, the positions of the aircraft are considered as mesh nodes and connected to form a triangular mesh in two spatial dimensions. The outer aircraft, or the boundary nodes of the mesh, are moved with the velocities which are specified using the the relative distance from and the heading angle of a reference point while keeping the formation of the aircraft in a desired shape. The inner agents or the interior mesh nodes, on the other hand, are moved with a moving mesh technique to keep the whole mesh as uniform as possible. The moving mesh technique has built-in mechanisms to keep the mesh as uniform as possible and prevent nodes from crossing over or tangling. This property can be seen as an automatic collision avoidance mechanism. It also has explicit formulas for nodal velocities, which makes the technique easy to implement on computer. The centralized moving mesh guidance was complimented by a decentralized nonlinear predictive controller to control each aircraft. The mesh nodes are replaced by unmanned aerial systems with nonlinear six degrees of freedom dynamics. To increase flexibility of aircraft in the formation, the moving point concept is used to follow arbitrary linear or curvature shaped flight segments.
Time‐of‐flight mass spectrometry

Time-of-Flight Mass Spectrometry: The Early Years as Chronicled by the European Time-of-Flight Symposia Time-of-Flight Mass Spectrometry: Basic Principles and Current State The Interpretation of Reflectron Time-of-Flight Mass Spectra Cluster-Ion Photodissociation and Spectroscopy in an Reflectron Time-of-Flight Mass Spectrometer Tandem Time-of-Flight Mass Spectrometry: A Magnetic Sector-Reflectron Time-of-Flight Mass Spectrometer A Dual-Reflectron Tandem Time-of-Flight Mass Spectrometer Electrospray Ionization on a Reflecting Time-of-Flight Mass Spectrometer Radically New Time-of-Flight Mass Spectrometric Instrumentation: Making Single-Ion Concepts Provide Higher Performance Achieving the Maximum Characterizing Power for Chromatographic Detection by Mass Spectrometry Signal Processing for Time-of-Flight Applications Protein Processing in Herpes Viruses Laser Desorption Mass Spectrometry in Protein Analysis: Off and On Membranes
IMPLICATIONS OF PROPOSED IMMIGRATION REFORM FOR THE U.S. FARM LABOR MARKET

Specialty crop agriculture may be affected by immigration reform given that most farm workers are foreign-born and unauthorized for U.S. employment. Controlling for selection on legal status and job type according to skill level, this research examines the wage effects for workers with different characteristics in the U.S. and South.
Performance analysis of an optimal file transfer protocol for integrated mobile satellite services

A file-transfer protocol based on the selective-repeat automatic-retransmission-request (ARQ) scheme has been developed for the Mobile Satellite Experiment (MSAT-X). In this protocol, each file is divided into packets, which are error-detected and acknowledge individually. A file can be transferred in either the open- or closed-end connection. In the open-end connection, the file is transmitted continuously according to the selective-repeat scheme until all packets are positively acknowledged; in the closed-end connection, each retransmission will initiate its own connection request. The relationship between the packet size and the average end-to-end delay in the mobile fading environment is investigated. The communications channel uses trellis-coded modulation with symbol interleaving, packet replication, and error detection. The packet error performance in such a channel is evaluated by simulation, and the optimal packet size for various operating conditions is derived, using the simulated results. It is shown that for a symbol-energy-to-noise ratio of 12 dB, each file should be divided into packets of length between 256 bits and 512 bits (excluding the overhead) to minimize the average end-to-end delay.
Transparent information dissemination

This paper describes Transparent Replication through Invalidation and Prefetching (TRIP), a self tuning data replication middleware system that enables transparent replication of large-scale information dissemination services. The TRIP middleware is a key building block for constructing information dissemination services, a class of services where updates occur at an origin server and reads occur at a number of replicas; examples information dissemination services include content distribution networks such as Akamai [1] and IBM's Sport and Event replication system [2]. Furthermore, the TRIP middleware can be used to build key parts of general applications that distribute content such as file systems, distributed databases, and publish-subscribe systems.Our data replication middleware supports transparent replication by providing two crucial properties: (1) sequential consistency to avoid introducing anomalous behavior to increasingly complex services and (2) self-tuning transmission of updates to maximize performance and availability given available system resources. Our analysis of simulations and our evaluation of a prototype support the hypothesis that it is feasible to provide transparent replication for dissemination services. For example, in simulations, our system's performance is a factor of three to four faster than a demand-based middleware system for a wide range of configurations.
Rethinking the state's role in finance

The global financial crisis has given greater credence to the idea that active state involvement in the financial sector can be helpful for stability and development. There is now evidence that, for example, lending by state-owned banks has helped in mitigating the impact of the crisis on aggregate credit. But evidence also points to negative longer-term effects of direct interventions on resource allocation and quality of intermediation. This suggests a need to rebalance the state's roles from direct to less direct involvement, as the crisis subsides. The state does have very important roles, especially in providing well-defined regulations and enforcing them, ensuring healthy competition, and strengthening financial infrastructure. One of the crisis lessons is the importance of getting the basics right first: countries with complex but poorly enforced regulations suffered more during the global crisis. Evidence also suggests that instead of restricting competition, the state needs to encourage contestability through healthy entry of well-capitalized institutions and timely exit of insolvent ones. There is also new evidence that supports the state's key role in promoting transparency of information and reducing counterparty risk. The challenge of financial sector policies is to better align private incentives with public interest, without taxing or subsidizing private risk-taking.
Creating an Immersive Virtual World through Integration of 2D and 3D Technologies to Implement E-Learning Curricula for Middle School Students

E-learning applications are becoming ubiquitous in the classroom. However, they are more commonly implemented within the context of flat, 2D content presentation and testing. In some cases an immersive, 3D learning environment may be more compelling, yet implementation of these systems is often costly and resource-intensive, requiring high-cost development tools and hard to find skill sets. This paper describes a low-cost innovative development and implementation of a successful LAN-based HIV, STD, pregnancy prevention middle school curriculum that featured a 3D gaming interface, 2D tailored activities, and video components. The resulting 3D virtual world containing embedded, pre-existing, 2D activities and video at activity stations met criteria for functionality and usability while meeting educational objectives and cost constraints.
The gravity duals of modular Hamiltonians

In this work, we investigate modular Hamiltonians defined with respect to arbitrary spatial regions in quantum field theory states which have semi-classical gravity duals. We find prescriptions in the gravity dual for calculating the action of the modular Hamiltonian on its defining state, including its dual metric, and also on small excitations around the state. Curiously, use of the covariant holographic entanglement entropy formula leads us to the conclusion that the modular Hamiltonian, which in the quantum field theory acts only in the causal completion of the region, does not commute with bulk operators whose entire gauge-invariant description is space-like to the causal completion of the region.
On the classification of full factors of type III

We introduce a new invariant S(M) for type III factors M with no almost-periodic weights. We compute this invariant for certain free Araki-Woods factors. We show that Connes' invariant r cannot distinguish all isomorphism classes of free Araki-Woods factors. We show that there exists a continuum of mutually non-isomorphic free Araki-Woods factors, each without almost-periodic weights.
MIGRATION AND LOCAL OFF-FARM WORKING IN RURAL CHINA

The paper analyzes the decision-making of rural Chinese households with three alternatives: stay exclusively on farm, take local off-farm jobs, and migrate. Based on a survey of rural Chinese households, we extend the dynamic discrete choice model of Wooldridge (2002a,b) to a trichotomous setting and apply it to a five-year panel study. We observe statistically significant state dependence between the current period response and decisions of the previous time period. We also conclude that education, household size, and social networks play important roles in job-location decision-making of rural Chinese households.
Using tariff indices to evaluate preferential trading arrangements : an application to Chile

The author presents a tariff index that uses constant-elasticity-of-substitution aggregators of tariff line data to calculate how preferential tariff reductions affect both prices and average tariff rates. A simple general-equilibrium model with sector-specific factors of production can be combined with the tariff indices to calculate how a preferential trade arrangement affects sectoral output, factor prices, and general welfare. The general equilibrium model is simple enough that it can be calculated on an Excel spreadsheet, and is flexible enough to be used with different ranges of available domestic data. The author presents an example of the model, simulating the effects of free trade agreements between Chile and MERCOSUR countries and between Chile and NAFTA countries. Calculations for the case of Chile show that the index is simple to calculate because of its recursive structure, which allows large amounts of detailed tariff line data to be aggregated for use with domestic production data that is available only at a more aggregated level. The author finds that results using the tariff aggregators may differ substantially from those derived using simpler averages of tariff reductions. Reductions in import prices using the index were 10 to 30 percent larger than those calculated using a simple average of tariffs. Ignoring the information available in tariff line data could lead to a substantial overestimate of the average tariff rate on imports after a preferential reduction. The tariff index could be extended to incorporate the role of quantitative restrictions. The general equilibrium model could be used to consider the effects on domestic production of allowing reallocation of capital between industries over time.
Two-photon transitions between bound-to-continuum states in AlGaAs/GaAs multiple quantum well

Quantum-confined structures such as multiple quantum wells (MQWs) exhibit room temperature exciton resonances, and it is well known that these resonances may enhance the nonlinear optical properties of an MQW compared with that of a bulk material. Although there have been some studies on the nonlinear optical properties of MQWs near half the bandgap, they an failed to show clearly both the magnitude and the position of the two photon excitonic resonance. In this work, we show detailed two-photon absorption (TPA) studies of an MQW near half the bandgap where we have observed the excitons with reduced binding energy due to the two-photon transitions between the bound and continuum states. For the experiments, we used a l-cm-long MQW channel waveguide with 7-nm-thick GaAs wells.
HISTORICISM IN PRAGMATISM: LESSONS IN HISTORIOGRAPHY AND PHILOSOPHY

: Pragmatism involves simultaneous commitments to modes of inquiry that are philosophical and historical. This article begins by demonstrating this point as it is evidenced in the historicist pragmatisms of William James and John Dewey. Having shown that pragmatism focuses philosophical attention on concrete historical processes, the article turns to a discussion of the specific historiographical commitments consistent with this focus. This focus here is on a pragmatist version of historical inquiry in terms of the central historiographical categories of the object of historical inquiry and mode of historical periodization. After describing the basic historiographical consequences of pragmatism's historicism, the article moves to a discussion of the philosophical results of this historicism. The focus here is on the role that historical inquiry can play in the general philosophical perspective of pragmatism as well as on some recent texts that exemplify the dual pragmatist commitment to philosophy and history.
Cotton, biotechnology, and economic development

During the past decade, cotton prices remained considerably below other agricultural prices (although they recovered toward the end of 2010). Yet, between 2000-04 and 2005-09 world cotton production increased 13 percent. This paper conjectures that biotechnology-induced productivity improvements increased supplies by China and India, which, in addition to keeping cotton prices low, aided these countries to cap-ture market share from (and cause losses to) non-users of biotechnology. By contrast, with a single exception, Africa has not adopted biotechnology and, not coincidentally, its cotton output declined by more than 20 percent between the first and second half of the past decade. The paper concludes that the development implications of biotechnology go beyond cotton and Africa. High energy prices have been an important driver of the recent commodity price boom. Therefore, investment and policy strategy responses to a cost-driven boom should be consistent with cost-saving alternatives. Biotechnology clearly meets this challenge.
Comments on techniques for spectral deconvolution

Current observational questions in asteroseismology require high spectral resolution that can only be obtained with observations spanning many days or months. The primary constraint in the full utilization of single mid-latitude observing sites is the presence of diurnal data gaps. Several methods for removing the effect of these gaps in the spectra obtained from velocity observations have been suggested. In the case of data coverage of less than 50%, none of the methods considered has been successful at unambiguously recovering the true spectrum from test spectra with realistic complexity. The limitations of these methods and their applicability to the helioseismology problem is discussed.
Heavy Lepton Phenomenology

These three lectures on heavy lepton phenomenology were Dresented at the Advanced Summer Institute at the University of Karlsruhe in September, 1978. They are written primarily from an experimenter’s point of view. Thus in the first lecture, I present an empirical definition of a charged lepton using the properties of the electron and muon. To do this, I survey the evidence that the electron and muon are elmentary Darticles without constituents; and I discuss some of the evidence that these particles do not partake of the strong interactions. The discussion of neutrinos is similarly empirical. Only a small amount of theory is presented in the first lecture; just enough to provide a basis for discussion of the tau lepton in the second lecture. Much more comolete discussions of lepton theory and of the relations between lettons and quarks have been presented by T. Walsh at this Institute1 and by other writers previously2–4.
Electrostatic Turbulence in the Magnetosphere

Plasma wave measurements from the IMP-6, IMP-8 and Hawkeye-1 satellites show that a broad region of intense low-frequency electric field turbulence occurs on the high latitude auroral field lines at altitudes ranging from a few thousand kilometers in the ionosphere to many earth radii in the distant magnetosphere. A qualitatively similar, but less intense, type of electric field turbulence is also observed at the plasmapause during magnetic storms. In the auroral regions the turbulence occurs in an essentially continuous band on the auroral L-shells at all local times around the earth and is most intense during periods of auroral activity. In this paper we summarize the basic characteristics of this electric field turbulence and consider the possible role this turbulence may play in the heating and acceleration of plasma in the magnetosphere.
Second Response to Knittel and Smith

Knittel and Smith present seven alternative versions of our model all of which apparently show a lower impact of ethanol production on gasoline prices. Four of these models are based on the flawed assumption that one can use the change in refiner's margin and the change in gasoline prices interchangeably. The remaining three models all suffer from an obvious and endogeneity problem that when corrected results in results that are similar to ours. What is then left of their paper is a series of regressions of unrelated variables without appropriate controls, and with predictable results. I believe that the magnitude of all our results are reasonable and that they can be used in the current policy debate. Our results show that the closure of ethanol plants will have a serious impact on gasoline prices.