cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Optical architectures for compressive imaging

We compare three optical architectures for compressive imaging: sequential, parallel, and photon sharing. Each of these architectures is analyzed using two different types of projection: (a) principal component projections and (b) pseudo-random projections. Both linear and nonlinear reconstruction methods are studied. The performance of each architecture-projection combination is quantified in terms of reconstructed image quality as a function of measurement noise strength. Using a linear reconstruction operator we find that in all cases of (a) there is a measurement noise level above which compressive imaging is superior to conventional imaging. Normalized by the average object pixel brightness, these threshold noise standard deviations are 6.4, 4.9, and 2.1 for the sequential, parallel, and photon sharing architectures, respectively. We also find that conventional imaging outperforms compressive imaging using pseudo-random projections when linear reconstruction is employed. In all cases the photon sharing architecture is found to be more photon-efficient than the other two optical implementations and thus offers the highest performance among all compressive methods studied here. For example, with principal component projections and a linear reconstruction operator, the photon sharing architecture provides at least 17.6% less reconstruction error than either of the other two architectures for a noise strength of 1.6 times the average object pixel brightness. We also demonstrate that nonlinear reconstruction methods can offer additional performance improvements to all architectures for small values of noise.
Physical-Layer Security: Combining Error Control Coding and Cryptography

In this paper we consider tandem error control coding and cryptography in the setting of the wiretap channel due to Wyner. In a typical communications system a cryptographic application is run at a layer above the physical layer and assumes the channel is error free. However, in any real application the channels for friendly users and passive eavesdroppers are not error free and Wyner's wiretap model addresses this scenario. Using this model, we show the security of a common cryptographic primitive, i.e. a keystream generator based on linear feedback shift registers (LFSR), can be strengthened by exploiting properties of the physical layer. A passive eavesdropper can be made to experience greater difficulty in cracking an LFSR-based cryptographic system insomuch that the computational complexity of discovering the secret key increases by orders of magnitude, or is altogether infeasible. This result is shown for two fast correlation attacks originally presented by Meier and Staffelbach, in the context of channel errors due to the wiretap channel model.
Bistable Optical Devices for Integrated Optics and Fiber Optics Applications

A review of bistable optical devices is given, along with a description of a new class of devices which do not require Fabry-Perot interferometers.
Revenue and the fiscal impact of liberalization : the case of Niger

Using data collected during several missions, the author finds that the principal reasons for low revenue mobilization are (1) the adverse fiscal impact of trade liberalization, (2) the defiscalization of agriculture in the 1970s, (3) the collapse of the uranium boom in the 1980s, and (4) the poor record of the VAT in mobilizing revenue. The large reduction in tariffs during the 1980s and 1990s in the context of structural adjustment programs and West African regional integration initiatives had adverse effects on trade tax revenue during the period 19802003. But higher import levels after 1994 succeeded in partially mitigating the revenue losses. The experience of Niger shows that without accompanying macroeconomic policies, parallel improvements in tax and customs administration, and success in mobilizing domestic taxes, most notably the VAT, trade reform can have adverse fiscal consequences. Using a SMART model partial equilibrium analysis developed by UNCTAD for researchers and negotiators at multilateral trade rounds, the author simulated three different tariff shocks to test the fiscal and trade implications of additional trade liberalization in Niger. First, the preferred tariff regime in terms of overall fiscal and job creation impact was the harmonized Swiss formula in contrast to a 10 and 15 percent uniform tariff. Second, a possible Regional Economic Partnership Agreement (REPA) between the European Union and l'Union Economique et Monetaire Ouest-Africaine (UEMOA) by 2015 that would abolish duties on EU imports to the UEMOA countries would have negative fiscal effects on Niger of more than 1 percent of GDP, positive effects on trade creation of about 1.5 percent of GDP, and ambiguous effects on local industry. While there will be some welfare gains for consumers and importers from lower import tariffs and the possibility of trade creation, the fiscal losses and adjustment costs would be significant, particularly in the machinery and transport sectors. Third, there are asymmetric gains and losses from regional integration and tariff changes, and a 10 percent uniform tariff would have the greatest impact on Benin and Senegal and some impact on Niger and Togo. In sum, further trade liberalization in Niger will have significant fiscal costs, partially offset by trade creation through increased imports.
How to generate cryptographically strong sequences of pseudo-random bits

We give a set of conditions that allow one to generate 50–50 unpredictable bits.Based on those conditions, we present a general algorithmic scheme for constructing polynomial-time deterministic algorithms that stretch a short secret random input into a long sequence of unpredictable pseudo-random bits.We give an implementation of our scheme and exhibit a pseudo-random bit generator for which any efficient strategy for predicting the next output bit with better than 50–50 chance is easily transformable to an “equally efficient” algorithm for solving the discrete logarithm problem. In particular: if the discrete logarithm problem cannot be solved in probabilistic polynomial time, no probabilistic polynomial-time algorithm can guess the next output bit better than by flipping a coin: if “head” guess “0”, if “tail” guess “1”
Uncertainty Assessment of Well-Placement Optimization

Summary Determining the best location for new wells is a complex problem that depends on reservoir and fluid properties, well and surfaceequipment specifications, and economic criteria. Numerical simulation is often the most appropriate tool to evaluate the feasibility of well configurations. However, because the data used to establish numerical models have uncertainty, so do the model forecasts. The uncertainties in the model reflect themselves in the uncertainties of the outcomes of well-configuration decisions. We never possess the true and deterministic information about the reservoir, but we may have geostatistical realizations of the truth constructed from the information available. An approach that can translate the uncertainty in the data to uncertainty in the wellplacement decision in terms of monetary value was developed in this study. The uncertainties associated with well placement were addressed within the utility-theory framework using numerical simulation as the evaluation tool. The methodology was evaluated by use of the Production forecasting with UNcertainty Quantification (PUNQ)-S3 model, which is a standard test case that was based on a real field. Experiments were carried out on 23 historymatched realizations, and a truth case was also available. The results were verified by comparison to exhaustive simulations. Utility theory not only offered the framework to quantify the influence of uncertainties in the reservoir description in terms of monetary value, but it also provided the tools to quantify the otherwise arbitrary notion of the risk attitude of the decision maker. A hybrid genetic algorithm (HGA) was used for optimization. In addition, a computationally cheaper alternative was also investigated. The well-placement problem was formulated as the optimization of a random function. The genetic algorithm (GA) was used as the optimization tool. Each time a well configuration was to be evaluated, a different realization of the reservoir properties was selected randomly from the set of realizations, all of which honored the geologic and dynamic data available from the reservoir. Numerical simulation was then carried out with this randomly selected realization to calculate the objective function value. This approach has the potential to incorporate the risk attitudes of the decision maker and was observed to be approximate but computationally feasible.
Analysis of arithmetic coding for data compression

Abstract Arithmetic coding, in conjunction with a suitable probabilistic model, can provide nearly optimal data compression. In this article we analyze the effect that the model and the particular implementation of arithmetic coding have on the code length obtained. Periodic scaling is often used in arithmetic coding implementations to reduce time and storage requirements, it also introduces a recency effect which can further affect compression. Our main contribution is introducing the concept of weighted entropy and using it to characterize in an elegant way the effect that periodic scaling has on the code length. We explain why and by how much scaling increases the code length for files with a homogeneous distribution of symbols, and we characterize the reduction in code length due to scaling for files exhibiting locality of reference. We also give a rigorous proof that the coding effects of rounding scaled weights, using integer arithmetic, and encoding end-of-file are negligible.
Induced defect nucleation and side-band instabilities in hexagons with rotation and mean flow

Abstract The combined effect of mean flow and rotation on hexagonal patterns is investigated using Ginzburg–Landau equations that include nonlinear gradient terms as well as the nonlocal coupling provided by the mean flow. Long- and short-wave side-band instabilities are determined. Due to the nonlinear gradient terms and enhanced by the mean flow, the penta–hepta defects can become unstable to the induced nucleation of dislocations in the defect-free amplitude, which can lead to the proliferation of penta–hepta defects and persistent spatio-temporal chaos. For individual penta–hepta defects the nonlinear gradient terms enhance climbing or gliding motion, depending on whether they break the chiral symmetry or not.
A fifth harmonic RF bunch monitor for the ANL-APS electron linac

The function of a fifth harmonic (14.28 GHz) bunch monitor is to provide a signal which is proportional to the electron beam bunch size. The monitoring of the rf power signal at 14.28 GHz enables the operator to optimize the rf bunching of the beam at the end of the first accelerating section where the full bunching has been formed and remains mainly constant in size throughout the rest of the electron linac. A modified version of the SLAC original bunch monitor has been fabricated and its rf properties measured. This paper describes the design and the initial measurement results. >
Geometric quantization, parallel transport and the fourier transform

In quantum mechanics, the momentum space and position space wave functions are related by the Fourier transform. We investigate how the Fourier transform arises in the context of geometric quantization. We consider a Hilbert space bundle \(\mathcal{H}\) over the space \(\mathcal{J}\) of compatible complex structures on a symplectic vector space. This bundle is equipped with a projectively flat connection. We show that parallel transport along a geodesic in the bundle \(\mathcal{H} \to \mathcal{J}\) is a rescaled orthogonal projection or Bogoliubov transformation. We then construct the kernel for the integral parallel transport operator. Finally, by extending geodesics to the boundary (for which the metaplectic correction is essential), we obtain the Segal-Bargmann and Fourier transforms as parallel transport in suitable limits.
Proper-Motion Measurements with the VLA. I. Wide-Field Imaging and Pulse-gating Techniques

The pulsar velocity distribution provides information about the binary history of pulsar progenitors, as well as the asymmetries of the supernova events in which pulsars are born. Studies of local pulsars present a biased view of this distribution, because they preferentially select low-velocity pulsars that have remained near their birthplaces in the Galactic plane. Using the VLA, we have studied the proper motions of a large sample of distant pulsars. These pulsars are generally faint, and the expected proper motions are small. In this paper, we describe the data analysis techniques that we have developed to allow precise astrometric measurements of faint sources with the VLA. These techniques include "gating" the VLA correlator to increase the signal-to-noise ratio of the pulsar by gathering data only during the pulse. Wide-field imaging techniques, including multiband imaging to account for bandwidth smearing, were used to allow identification of multiple in-beam background sources for astrometric calibration. We present the analysis of three pulsars and demonstrate that astrometric accuracy of about 10 mas can be obtained for individual sources with our technique, allowing measurement of proper motions with errors of only a few milliarcseconds per year over our 7 year baseline.
HOLOGRAPHIC FLAVOR IN THEORIES WITH EIGHT SUPERCHARGES

We review the holographic duals of gauge theories with eight supercharges obtained by adding very few flavors to pure supersymmetric Yang–Mills with 16 supercharges. Assuming a brane-probe limit, the gravity duals are engineered in terms of probe branes (the so-called flavor brane) in the background of the color branes. Both types of branes intersect on a given subspace in which the matter is confined. The gauge theory dual is thus the corresponding flavoring of the gauge theory with 16 supercharges. Those theories have in general a nontrivial phase structure; which is also captured in a beautiful way by the gravity dual. Along the lines of the gauge/gravity duality, we review also some of the results on the meson spectrum in the different phases of the theories.
Primordial Nucleosynthesis in the Precision Cosmology Era

Primordial nucleosynthesis probes the Universe during its early evolution. Given the progress in exploring the constituents, structure, and recent evolution of the Universe, it is timely to review the status of Big Bang Nucleosynthesis (BBN) and confront its predictions, and the constraints that emerge from them, with those derived from independent observations of the Universe at much later epochs. Following an overview of the key physics that controls the synthesis of the elements in the early Universe, the predictions of BBN in the standard (and some nonstandard) models of cosmology and particle physics are presented. The observational data used to infer the primordial abundances are described, with an emphasis on the distinction between precision and accuracy. These are compared with the predictions, testing the internal consistency of BBN and enabling a comparison of the BBN-inferred constraints with those derived from the cosmic microwave background radiation and large scale structure data.
A differential model approach to analog design automation

A high-level analog design synthesis approach using differential equations as the hardware definition language is presented. From the differential equations, annotated with performance requirements, the design process generates a set of device requirements that can be used as the input requirements to existing low-level analog circuit synthesis tools which build the necessary low level analog devices. An object oriented implementation of the design methodology is presented. A design example is presented that explores the viability of this design approach.
Considerations for Designing Response Quantification Procedures in Non-traditional Psychophysiological Applications

Psychophysiological assessment in the context of virtual environments is a promising means for benchmarking the efficacy and ecological validity of virtual reality scenarios. When applied to human-computer interaction, psychophysiological and affective computing approaches may increase facility for development of the next generation of human-computer systems. Such systems have the potential to use psychophysiological signals for user-feedback and adaptive responding. As the composition of investigating teams becomes diverse in keeping with interdisciplinary trends, there is a need to review de-facto standards of psychophysiological response quantification and arrive at consensus protocols adequately addressing the concerns of basic researchers and application developers. The current paper offers a demonstration of the ways in which such consensus scoring protocols may be derived. Electromyographic eye-blink scoring from an immersion investigation is used as an illustrative case study.
Abnormal Audit Fee and Audit Quality

SUMMARY: This study tests the hypotheses that below-normal audit fees signal important nuances in the balance of bargaining power between the auditor and the client, and that such power may ultimately influence audit quality. We find that audit quality, proxied by absolute discretionary accruals and meeting or beating analysts' earnings forecasts, declines as negative abnormal audit fees increase in magnitude, with the effect amplified as proxies for client bargaining power increase. We find that this effect is dampened in years following the Sarbanes-Oxley Act (SOX), suggesting that SOX was effective in enhancing auditor independence.
Vinyl diazophosphonates as precursors to quaternary substituted indolines and cyclopentenes.

Vinyl diazophosphonates can be stereoselectively synthesized and, depending upon their substitution pattern, undergo intramolecular C−H insertion reactions or sulfonium ylide rearrangements when exposed to Rh2(OAc)4.
Consumer willingness to pay for locally grown products: the case of South Carolina

A contingent valuation framework is used to evaluate South Carolina consumers' willingness to pay for the “locally grown” characteristic (defined here as South Carolina grown) in produce and animal products and to identify the sociodemographic characteristics affecting consumer preferences for this characteristic. Findings show that South Carolina consumers are willing to pay an average premium of 27% for local produce and 23% for local animal products. Premiums for local products are influenced by age, gender, and income as well as by perceived product quality, a desire to support the local economy, patronage of farmers markets, and consumer ties to agriculture. [JEL Categories: D12, Q13]. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Recent applications of imines as key intermediates in the synthesis of alkaloids and novel nitrogen heterocycles

One of the major challenges in contemporary synthetic organic chemistry is the de- sign and development of new tactics and strategies and their application to concise and effi- cient syntheses of biologically active natural products. Strategies that utilize reactions that enable the rapid assembly of the skeletal framework of such targets are thus especially at- tractive. In this context, we have developed novel applications of imine chemistry in Mannich and related reactions, cascade processes, and multicomponent reactions (MCRs) to rapidly assemble structural subunits common to diverse families of alkaloids. The practical utility of these chemistries is evidenced by their use in the execution of facile total syntheses of (±)-epilupinine (1), (±)-tashiromine (2), (-)-epimyrtine (3), and (±)-roelactamine (4) as well as other nitrogen heterocycles of potential biological interest.
The error of equal error rates

In most civil litigation, plaintiffs are required to prove their cases by a bare ‘preponderance of the evidence’. This usually is taken to mean that the probability that their version of the disputed events is true exceeds one-half. But why use this particular figure? Why not some smaller number, like one-third, or some larger number, like three-quarters? One common answer is that the p > 1/2 rule minimizes the expected ‘losses’ (Kaye, 1999), ‘disutilities’ (Kaplan, 1968), ‘regret’ (Lempert, 1977), ‘costs’ (Posner, 1999), or ‘errors’ (Kaye, 1980a) in verdicts that turn on these events. This analysis has been called the Bayesian Decision Theory justification or explanation of the p > 1/2 rule (Kaye, 1988), and it has been presented as the ‘reigning theory’ of the law’s burdens of persuasion (Kaye, 1987a). But not all legal analysts accept this theory. Several distinguished scholars have tried to defend the p > 1/2 rule on other grounds. They see it as advancing a different objective—allocating erroneous verdicts across plaintiffs and defendants in equal numbers. In Evidence: Text, Cases, and Problems, a rich and thoughtful textbook on the law of evidence, Professors Ronald J. Allen, Richard B. Kuhns, and Eleanor Swift (Allen et al., 1997, p. 828) identify what they call ‘the premises underlying the preponderance rule’ as follows: The preponderance rule incorporates an underlying assumption concerning the participants in litigation: that plaintiffs as a class and defendants as a class generally ought to be treated equivalently. The reason for this assumption is that before a case is resolved, one cannot know who should win; it is as likely that the defendant should win as the plaintiff ... . Without knowing the facts, it seems just as likely that the defendant is refusing to pay what is owed as that the plaintiff is attempting to obtain an undeserved benefit.
Operational aspects of the main injector large aperture quadrupole (WQB)

A two-year Large Aperture Quadrupole (WQB) Project was completed in the summer of 2006 at Fermilab. [1] Nine WQBs were designed, fabricated and bench-tested by the Technical Division. Seven of them were installed in the Main Injector and the other two for spares. They perform well. The aperture increase meets the design goal and the perturbation to the lattice is minimal. The machine acceptance in the injection and extraction regions is increased from 40pi to 60pi mm-mrad. This paper gives a brief report of the operation and performance of these magnets. Details can be found in Ref [2].
A novel sequence-based antigenic distance measure for H1N1, with application to vaccine effectiveness and the selection of vaccine strains

H1N1 influenza causes substantial seasonal illness and was the subtype of the 2009 influenza pandemic. Precise measures of antigenic distance between the vaccine and circulating virus strains help researchers design influenza vaccines with high vaccine effectiveness. We here introduce a sequence-based method to predict vaccine effectiveness in humans. Historical epidemiological data show that this sequence-based method is as predictive of vaccine effectiveness as hemagglutination inhibition assay data from ferret animal model studies. Interestingly, the expected vaccine effectiveness is greater against H1N1 than H3N2, suggesting a stronger immune response against H1N1 than H3N2. The evolution rate of hemagglutinin in H1N1 is also shown to be greater than that in H3N2, presumably due to greater immune selection pressure.
Conductance investigations of stretched molecules

Recent experiments have been able to measure the conductance of individual molecules by repeatedly raising and lowering a gold-plated atomic force microscope tip into a self-assembled monolayer on a gold substrate, as demonstrated by Xu and Tao and Xiao et al. Upon raising the tip after it has formed several metal-molecule-metal junctions and recording the current simultaneously, the experiments reveal descending steps in the trace, which indicate the detachment of individual junctions until a single molecular conductance is isolated. Interesting fluctuations in these steps indicate changes in the molecular conductance with stretching. We report theoretical calculations that employ a local orbital density functional theory code for a candidate molecule with varying degrees of stretching. An efficient self-consistent transfer matrix program is then used to determine the conductance as the molecule is stretched. Conductance peaks are observed despite the increased tunneling distance, indicating an enhanced coupling of extended gold states in the contacts to the molecular states. Two different bonding configurations are examined in order to compare the influence of the interface on the conductance behavior.
Kaluza-Klein/Z′ differentiation at the LHC and linear collider

We explore the capabilities of the LHC and the Linear Collider(LC) to distinguish the production of Kaluza-Klein(KK) excitations from an ordinary Z' within the context of theories with TeV scale extra dimensions. At the LHC, these states are directly produced in the Drell-Yan channel while at the LC the effects of their exchanges are indirectly felt as new contact interactions in processes such as e+e??f. While we demonstrate that the LC is somewhat more capable at KK/Z' differentiation than is the LHC, the simplest LC analysis relies upon the LHC data for the resonance mass as an important necessary input.
Racial/Ethnic Disparities in Cumulative Environmental Health Impacts in California: Evidence From a Statewide Environmental Justice Screening Tool (CalEnviroScreen 1.1).

Objectives. We used an environmental justice screening tool (CalEnviroScreen 1.1) to compare the distribution of environmental hazards and vulnerable populations across California communities.Methods. CalEnviroScreen 1.1 combines 17 indicators created from 2004 to 2013 publicly available data into a relative cumulative impact score. We compared cumulative impact scores across California zip codes on the basis of their location, urban or rural character, and racial/ethnic makeup. We used a concentration index to evaluate which indicators were most unequally distributed with respect to race/ethnicity and poverty.Results. The unadjusted odds of living in one of the 10% most affected zip codes were 6.2, 5.8, 1.9, 1.8, and 1.6 times greater for Hispanics, African Americans, Native Americans, Asian/Pacific Islanders, and other or multiracial individuals, respectively, than for non-Hispanic Whites. Environmental hazards were more regressively distributed with respect to race/ethnicity than poverty, with pesticid...
Ultrahigh Vacuum Cryostat System for Extended Low-Temperature Space Environment Testing

The range of temperature measurements have been significantly extended for an existing space environment simulation test chamber used in the study of electron emission, sample charging and discharge, electrostatic discharge and arcing, electron transport, and luminescence of spacecraft materials. This was accomplished by incorporating a new two-stage, closed-cycle helium cryostat which has an extended sample temperature range from to , with long-term controlled stability of . The system was designed to maintain compatibility with an existing ultrahigh vacuum chamber (base pressure ) that can simulate diverse space environments. These existing capabilities include controllable vacuum and ambient neutral gases conditions , electron fluxes (5-30-keV monoenergetic, focused, and pulsed sources over 10-4-1010 nA-cm-2), ion fluxes ( monoenergetic sources for inert and reactive gases with pulsing capabilities), and photon irradiation (numerous continuous and pulsed monochromated and broad band IR/VIS/UV [0.5-7 eV] sources). The new sample mount accommodates one to four samples of 1-2.5-cm diameter in a low-temperature carousel, which allows rapid sample exchange and controlled exposure of the individual samples. Custom hemispherical grid retarding field analyzer and Faraday cup detectors, custom high speed, high-sensitivity electronics, and charge neutralization capabilities used with , , and electrons/pulse pulsed-beam sources permit high-accuracy electron emission measurements of extreme insulators with minimal charging effects. In situ monitoring of surface voltage, arcing, and luminescence (250-5000 nm) have recently been added.
What is the Brillouin zone of an anisotropic photonic crystal

The authors discuss the concept of the Brillouin zone, central to many fields of condensed matter physics. They challenge the universality of defining the Brillouin zone as a Wigner-Seitz cell of the reciprocal lattice. Experimental measurements of terahertz phonon-polariton dispersion in a photonic crystal fabricated in a thin slab of an anisotropic material (lithium niobate) demonstrate that the lowest band gap does not form at the boundary of the conventionally defined Brillouin zone, in contrast to a similar photonic crystal fabricated in a nearly isotropic lithium tantalate. The analysis motivated by this unexpected experimental result shows that in an anisotropic photonic crystal the Wigner-Seitz cell of the reciprocal lattice is no longer bounded by Bragg planes and, consequently, does not conform to the original definition of the Brillouin zone. The authors construct an alternative Brillouin zone bounded by the Bragg planes and show its utility in analyzing the dispersion bands of anisotropic photonic crystals.
Discovery of an exceptionally potent and selective class of fatty acid amide hydrolase inhibitors enlisting proteome-wide selectivity screening: concurrent optimization of enzyme inhibitor potency and selectivity.

The concurrent implementation of a proteome-wide serine hydrolase selectivity screen with traditional efforts to optimize fatty acid amide hydrolase (FAAH) inhibition potency led to the expedited discovery of a new class of exceptionally potent (Ki 100-fold selective) inhibitors. The iterative inhibitor design and evaluation with assistance of the selectivity screen served to differentiate otherwise indistinguishable inhibitors permitting the simultaneous optimization of potency and selectivity. Significantly, the simultaneous assessment of all potential competitive enzymes with the selectivity screen does not require the use of expressed or purified enzymes or a competitive substrate, no modification of the inhibitors is required, and the relative potency for competitive enzymes can be quantified (IC50's) including those that lack known substrates or function.
New synthetic approaches to estrogen receptor modulators: imidazo[1,2-a]pyridines

Constrained triarenes have been important templates for selective modulation of the estrogen receptor (ER). For our ER program, we sought an unexplored, synthetically accessible heterocyclic template capable of bearing a broad range of pharmacophores. Traditional approaches to these therapeutics such as raloxifene have relied on an alkoxy moiety to link the arene-based scaffold to the modulating amine group. Alternatively, aryl halide-mediated introduction of alkylene or aryl side chains has not been studied extensively. The synthetic incorporation of pharmacophoric side chains that are carbon-linked to a novel imidazopyridine-based ER recognition motif is disclosed.
Environment-friendly organic synthesis using bismuth compounds. Bismuth triflate catalyzed synthesis of substituted 3,4-dihydro-2H-1-benzopyrans

Abstract A highly catalytic method for the synthesis of dihydrobenzopyrans from salicylaldehydes has been developed. An extension of this method to the synthesis of a pyrano[2,3, b ]benzopyran has also been achieved. Bi(OTf) 3 · x H 2 O (1 x H -1-benzopyrans as a mixture of diastereomers (9:1) in moderate yields. The relative configuration of the methoxy groups in the two diastereomers was established by NOE experiments. The advantages of this method include the use of an easy to handle, inexpensive and relatively non-toxic catalyst.
Epitaxial patterning of nanometer-thick Y3Fe5O12 films with low magnetic damping

Magnetic insulators such as yttrium iron garnet, Y3Fe5O12, with extremely low magnetic damping have opened the door for low power spin-orbitronics due to their low energy dissipation and efficient spin current generation and transmission. We demonstrate here reliable and efficient epitaxial growth and nanopatterning of Y3Fe5O12 thin-film based nanostructures on insulating Gd3Ga5O12 substrates. In particular, our fabrication process is compatible with conventional sputtering and lift-off, and does not require aggressive ion milling which may be detrimental to the oxide thin films. Their structural and magnetic properties indicate good qualities, in particular low magnetic damping of both films and patterned structures. The dynamic magnetic properties of the nanostructures are systematically investigated as a function of the lateral dimension. By comparing with ferromagnetic nanowire structures, a distinct edge mode in addition to the main mode is identified by both experiments and simulations, which also exhibit cross-over with the main mode upon varying the width of the wires. The non-linear evolution of dynamic modes over nanostructural dimensions highlights the important role of size confinement to their material properties in magnetic devices where Y3Fe5O12 nanostructures serve as the key functional component.
Vinyl aryl ethers from copper-catalyzed coupling of vinyl halides and phenols

A general procedure for vinyl aryl ether bond formation by direct coupling of vinyl halides and phenols under mild Ullmann-type reaction conditions has been developed. Using copper chloride as the catalyst and cesium carbonate as the base, vinyl bromides or iodides were reacted with phenols in refluxing toluene to produce vinyl aryl ethers in good to excellent yields.
How to quickly find a witness

The subfield of itemset mining is essentially a collection of algorithms. Whenever a new type of constraint is discovered, a specialized algorithm is proposed to handle it. All of these algorithms are highly tuned to take advantage of the unique properties of their associated constraints, and so they are not very compatible with other constraints. We present a more unified view of mining constrained itemsets such that most existing algorithms can be easily extended to handle constraints for which they were not designed a-priori. We apply this technique to mining itemsets with restrictions on their variance — a problem that has been open for several years in the data mining community.
Use of passive microwave observations in a radar rainfall-profiling algorithm

Abstract A physically based methodology to incorporate passive microwave observations in a “rain-profiling algorithm” is developed for space- or airborne radars at frequencies exhibiting attenuation. The rain-profiling algorithm deploys a formulation for reflectivity attenuation correction that is mathematically equivalent to that of Hitschfeld and Bordan. In this formulation, the reflectivity–hydrometeor content (or rainfall rate) and reflectivity–attenuation relationships are expressed as a function of one variable in the drop size distribution parameterization, namely, the multiplicative factor in a normalized gamma distribution. The multiplicative factor parameter, mean cloud water content, and one parameter describing the precipitation phase are estimated in a Bayesian framework. This involves the minimization of differences between the 10-, 19-, 37-, and 85-GHz brightness temperature values predicted by a plane-parallel multilayer radiative transfer model and those observed by space- or airborne rad...
Using TEALE Learning Methodology to Promote Portable Interdisciplinary Accountability in Engineering Education

Research suggests that an increase in learner mobility across formal and informal jurisdictions is a positive response to an integrated global economy and workforce. To facilitate ebbs and flows of maintaining a mobile global workforce, the literature suggests that engineering education should promote methodology and learning mechanisms that personalize accountability of mobile learners' content knowledge across jurisdictions. In addition, data from the literature shows that mobile or cyber-learning is generating massive amounts of data which could inform engineering educators in their response to a mobile and constantly changing workforce. This paper reviews data from a pilot study of Technology-Enhanced Autonomous Learning Environment (TEALE). TEALE is a framework for mobile learning environments that afford accountability of personalized evidence-based content across learning jurisdictions. Prelimary data from this third pilot report suggests that TEALE promotes accountability of content knowledge across learning jurisdictions: both among formal disciplines in the academy, as well as between the academy, informal learning and workplace requirements. However, the data also suggests that seamless mobility across these academic and social jurisdictions involves issues far beyond technology. These issues, which include adjudicating relevance and value among academic cultures, incentives for motivation, authority and autonomy should be accounted for when using TEALE. Attention to these issues could prevent engineering educators from viewing potential opportunities for inter-jurisdictional collaborations as encroachments and avert the specter of unintended social-dramas.
Deformation of surfaces in three-dimensional space induced by means of integrable systems

Abstract The correspondence between different versions of the Gauss–Weingarten equation is investigated. The compatibility condition for one version of the Gauss–Weingarten equation gives the Gauss–Mainardi–Codazzi system. A deformation of the surface is postulated which takes the same form as the original system but contains an evolution parameter. The compatibility condition of this new augmented system gives the deformed Gauss–Mainardi–Codazzi system. A Lax representation in terms of a spectral parameter associated with the deformed system is established. Several important examples of integrable equations based on the deformed system are then obtained. It is shown that the Gauss–Mainardi–Codazzi system can be obtained as a type of reduction of the self-dual Yang–Mills equations.
Provable surface reconstruction from noisy samples

We present an algorithm for surface reconstruction in presence of noise. We show that, under a reasonable noise model, the algorithm has theoretical guarantees. Actual performance of the algorithm is illustrated by our experimental results.
Quantum States as Objective Informational Bridges

A quantum state represents neither properties of a physical system nor anyone’s knowledge of its properties. The important question is not what quantum states represent but how they are used—as informational bridges. Knowing about some physical situations (its backing conditions), an agent may assign a quantum state to form expectations about other possible physical situations (its advice conditions). Quantum states are objective: only expectations based on correct state assignments are generally reliable. If a quantum state represents anything, it is the objective probabilistic relations between its backing conditions and its advice conditions. This paper offers an account of quantum states and their function as informational bridges, in quantum teleportation and elsewhere.
Variable High-Order Multiblock Overlapping Grid Methods for Mixed Steady and Unsteady Multiscale Viscous Flows, Part II: Hypersonic Nonequilibrium Flows

The variable high-order multiblock overlapping (overset) grids method of Sjogreen & Yee [CiCP, Vol. 5, 2009] for a perfect gas has been extended to nonequilibrium flows. This work makes use of the recently developed high-order well-balanced shock-capturing schemes and their filter counterparts [Wang et al., J. Comput. Phys., 2009, 2010] that exactly preserve certain non-trivial steady state solutions of the chemical nonequilibrium governing equations. Multiscale turbulence with strong shocks and flows containing both steady and unsteady components is best treated by mixing of numerical methods and switching on the appropriate scheme in the appropriate subdomains of the flow fields, even under the multiblock grid or adaptive grid refinement framework. While low dissipative sixth- or higher-order shock-capturing filter methods are appropriate for unsteady turbulence with shocklets, second- and third- order shock-capturing methods are more effective for strong steady or nearly steady shocks in terms of convergence. It is anticipated that our variable high-order overset grid framework capability with its highly modular design will allow for an optimum synthesis of these new algorithms in such a way that the most appropriate spatial discretizations can be tailored for each particular region of the flow. In this paper some of the latest developments in single block high-order filter schemes for chemical nonequilibrium flows are applied to overset grid geometries. The numerical approach is validated on a number of test cases characterized by hypersonic conditions with strong shocks, including the reentry flow surrounding a 3D Apollo-like NASA Crew Exploration Vehicle that might contain mixed steady and unsteady components, depending on the flow conditions.
Occupational Complexity, Experience, and the Gender Wage Gap

I explore the role of individuals’ skills and work experience in explaining the gender wage gap across occupations. I use the O*NET dataset to build an index of occupational complexity: the ratio of abstract to manual tasks. The ratio of female to male wages is U-shaped across occupations ordered by increasing complexity. The U-shape attens over the lifecycle and across successive cohorts. I develop an occupational choice model with male and female individuals who are heterogeneous with respect to their level of skill. An individual’s skill at a point in time depends on his/her exogenous initial level of skill and his/her work experience. Individuals decide how much time to spend in the labor market. Occupations dier
The wealthy hand-to-mouth

The wealthy hand-to-mouth are households who hold little or no liquid wealth (cash, checking, and savings accounts), despite owning sizable amounts of illiquid assets (assets that carry a transaction cost, such as housing or retirement accounts). We use survey data on household portfolios for the U.S., Canada, Australia, the U.K., Germany, France, Italy, and Spain to document the share of such households across countries, their demographic characteristics, the composition of their balance sheets, and the persistence of hand-to-mouth status over the life cycle. The portfolio configuration of the wealthy hand-to-mouth suggests that these households may have a high marginal propensity to consume out of transitory income changes, a prediction for which we find empirical support in PSID data. We explain the implications of this group of consumers for macroeconomic modeling and fiscal policy analysis.
Statistical mechanics of neocortical interactions: Constraints on 40-Hz models of short-term memory.

Calculations presented in L. Ingber and P.L. Nunez, Phys. Rev. E 51, 5074 (1995) detailed the evolution of short-term memory in the neocortex, supporting the empirical 7\(+-2 rule of constraints on the capacity of neocortical processing. These results are given further support when other recent models of 40-Hz subcycles of low-frequency oscillations are considered.
Nurses’ Perceptions of Horizontal Violence

In this article, I describe a study exploring horizontal violence and nurses' perceptions of the phenomenon within the context of two 28-bed inpatient hospital units. The purpose of the study was to develop a clearer understanding of horizontal violence, incorporating observation and inquiry to identify the language nurses use to describe their experiences and factors in the nursing work environment that may perpetuate the phenomenon. Observation, review and analysis of policies, and interviews with staff were completed between June and November 2012. Thematic analysis resulted in five themes: (a) behaviors are minimized and not recognized, (b) fear inhibits all reporting, (c) avoidance and isolation are coping strategies, (d) lack of respect and support, and (e) organizational chaos. The findings suggest future interventions must address a range of factors that perpetuate horizontal violence within the nursing work environment with consideration for the embeddedness and complexity of the phenomenon.
Future Directions for Comprehensive Public Health Surveillance and Health Information Systems in the United States

The authors describe a comprehensive system for public health surveillance for the United States based on a network of data systems ranging from population surveys and physician-based records to electronically linked laboratory and administrative data. They also discuss traditional uses of surveillance data, legal and ethical issues associated with using data from any surveillance system (particularly the tension between individual privacy and the public right to a healthful environment), and factors impeding the development of a comprehensive system. Just as provisional data on notifiable diseases are critical in protecting communities from disease, data from other information systems should be applied to prevention practice with the same urgency. The major barriers to a successful comprehensive, nationwide, integrated public health surveillance and information system are a lack of appreciation for the value of high-quality provisional surveillance data and a weak societal commitment to public health.
CaCO 3 Neutralization of Acidified Surface Waters

Calcium carbonate was utilized to neutralize an acidic lake and stream in the Adirondack Region of New York state. Theoretical calculations based on aqueous base neutralizing capacity underestimated the CaCO\d3 dose required to achieve lake neutralization (pH 6.5) for a year. It would appear that lake sediments have a profound influence on base dose requirements. Calcium carbonate neutralization altered water column pH, calcium, acid neutralizing capacity, dissolved inorganic carbon, dissolved organic carbon, free fluoride, aluminum, manganese, zinc, and copper levels. Chemical equilibrium models appear to be a useful tool in predicting changes in aqueous aluminum chemistry. While calcium carbonate appears to be an effective means of accomplishing lake neutralization, there are potentially deleterious consequences associated with its use.
Optically switched volume-holographic elements

Diffractive optical elements with a diffraction efficiency that can be controlled in real time are under investigation for use in reconfigurable optical interconnects, machine vision, image processing, and many other applications. Diffraction gratings recorded in DMP-128 photopolymer imbibed with a nematic liquid crystal1 have been used as electrically switched elements. In this paper we present results that demonstrate optical control of the diffraction efficiency of volume holographic optical elements. Polaroid Corporation's DMP-128 was used to form the host gratings. These gratings were imbibed with the nematic liquid crystal 5CB, which was chosen for its relatively low clearing temperature of 35 °C. A thermal nonlinearity of the liquid crystal was utilized to achieve the switching behavior.
CRUCIATE RETAINING TKA WITH THE USE OF SMART TRIALS

Total knees today are performed with the use of standard trials that the surgeon utilises to define appropriate implant rotation, range of motion, and soft tissue balance. This “feel” based approach is very subjective, and lacks a quantifiable approach to interpret our intra-operative knee assessment. Sensor-based trials are embedded into the specific knee designed tibial trial, and wirelessly displays data related to the implant9s position and ligament tension. The surgeon can now identify malrotation, soft tissue imbalance, and instability through a full ROM. The surgeon can see dynamic responses to ligament releases, alignment changes, and implant adjustments. As Insall taught us; a TKR is a soft tissue procedure, and a “balanced” knee will demonstrate improved outcomes and greater patient satisfaction. Smart Trials allow us to discuss how our intra-operative techniques affect our patient9s outcomes. This surgery will utilise Smart Trials during a Cruciate Retaining TKR.