cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Ethics in American health 1: ethical approaches to health policy.

I trace the evolution of ethical approaches to health policy in the United States and examine a number of critical unresolved issues pertaining to the current set of frameworks. Several themes emerge.First, fair procedures claim more attention than substantive and procedural principles. Second, in the case of public deliberation, more focus has been placed on factors such as procedural mechanisms than on understanding how individuals and groups value different aspects of health and agree on health-related decisions.Third, the nation needs workable frameworks to guide collective choices about valuable social ends and their trade-offs; purely procedural strategies are limited in illuminating overarching health policy and ethics questions. There is a need to integrate consequential and procedural approaches to health ethics and policy.
The Natural History of Preclinical Diastolic Dysfunction: A Population Based Study

Background—Preclinical diastolic dysfunction (PDD) has been broadly defined as subjects with left ventricular diastolic dysfunction, without the diagnosis of congestive heart failure (HF) and with normal systolic function. Our objective was to determine the risk factors associated with the progression from PDD (stage B) HF to symptomatic (stage C) HF. Methods and Results—Using the resources of the Rochester Epidemiology Project, all residents of Olmsted County, MN, who underwent echocardiography between January 1, 2004, and December 31, 2005, and had grade 2–4 diastolic dysfunction and ejection fraction ≥50% were identified. Patients with a diagnosis of HF before or within 30 days of the echocardiogram were excluded. Patients were also excluded if they had a diagnosis of atrial fibrillation or severe mitral or aortic valve regurgitation at the time of the echocardiogram. A total of 388 patients met the inclusion criteria. The mean age of the cohort was 67±12 years, with a female (57%) predominance. Preval...
Automating the detection of reusable parts in existing software

Presents a model based on an expert-system approach for the scavenging of reusable components from existing software systems. The authors also describe a toolset called Code Miner that implements part of the model. The toolset uses Prolog as its inference engine. Code Miner is designed to assist the programmer in finding reusable components in existing software written in C. To investigate the feasibility of the approach, an empirical study was conducted of the effectiveness of the toolset. In the study, public-domain software was scanned by the toolset for reusable parts and its output was examined by a team of human experts. The results of this experiment are outlined. >
Evaluating smoldering behavior of fire-blocking barrier fabrics

This study reports on the smoldering propensity of commercially available barrier fabrics in a small-scale mock-up configuration. Most barrier fabrics are smolder resistant when tested alone over a standard flexible polyurethane foam. However, when covered with a smolderprone cover fabric, most barrier fabrics failed the smoldering ignition test described in the Consumer Product Safety Commission’s proposed standard 16 CFR Part 1634. The results of this study suggest that the smolder-prone cover fabrics, when placed on top of a number of barrier fabrics, are capable of releasing sufficien th eat to initiate the char oxidation smoldering process of some of the barrier fabrics and subsequently transmit the heat to the underlying flexible polyurethane foam. A smoldering index for barrier fabrics was derived from the measured char volume fraction of the flexible polyurethane foam by varying the barrier fabric component in the flexible polyurethane foam/barrier fabric/cover fabric mock-up systems, while holding the other two components constant. The smoldering index for self-extinguishing barrier fabrics was 0. Barrier fabrics with smoldering index of 1 or more resulted in sustained smoldering in the flexible polyurethane foam. The smoldering propensity of barrier fabrics and the amount of heat transmitted to the flexible polyurethane foam varied depending on the barrier fabric structure, fiber content, air permeability, and bulk density. Flame-retardant treatments and use of char-forming fibers showed a greater tendency for barrier fabric smolder in the presence of the smolder-prone cover fabric. Barrier fabrics with char-forming fiber blends had greater smoldering propensity as compared to barrier fabrics with low charring fiber
Synthesis of nitrile-terminated potential molecular electronic devices

Several potential molecular devices have been synthesized consisting of oligo(phenylene ethynylene) (OPE) backbones containing a terminal nitrile group alligator clip as a means of attachment to a metal surface. The synthesis of four new nitrile-containing OPEs is discussed, including an improved synthesis of an intermediate used in our prior production of OPEs containing acetate-protected thiol alligator clips.
Light Scalars in Cosmology

I discuss here some of the constraints imposed by quantum and gravitational corrections on two hypothetical excitations, axions and quintessence, which have important cosmological implications. Although these corrections can be kept under control, the resulting constraints are not too natural. In particular, to keep the quintessence field light one must essentially decouple it from ordinary matter. Some possible suggestions of how to avoid these troubles are briefly touched upon.
The energy transition of the transition economies : an empirical analysis

The aggregate manufacturing energy intensity of 28 countries in Eastern Europe and Central Asia had declined by 35 percent during 1998-2008. This study reveals strong evidence of convergence: less efficient countries improved more rapidly and the cross-country variance in energy productivity narrowed over time. An index decomposition analysis indicates that energy intensities declined largely because of more efficient energy use rather than shifts from energy intensive to less intensive manufacturing activities. Income growth and energy price increases were the main drivers of the convergence. They dominated the impact of trade, which led to specialization in energy intensive industries.
Jumpy or Kinky? Regression Discontinuity without the Discontinuity

Regression Discontinuity (RD) models identify local treatment effects by as- sociating a discrete change in the mean outcome with a corresponding discrete change in the probability of treatment at a known threshold of a running vari- able. This paper shows that it is possible to identify the RD model treatment effect without a discontinuity. In particular, identication can come from a slope change (a kink) instead of a discrete level change (a jump) in the treatment prob- ability. The intuition is based on L'hopital's rule. The identication results can also be interpreted using instrumental variables models. Estimators are proposed that can be applied in the presence or absence of a discontinuity, by exploiting ei- ther a jump, or a kink, or both. The proposed estimators are applied to investigate the "retirement-consumption puzzle." In particular, I estimate the impact of re- tirement on household food consumption by exploiting changes in the retirement probability at 62, the early retirement age in the US.
Neutrino oscillations in noisy media.

We develop the Redfield equation for \ensuremath{\delta}-correlated Gaussian noise and apply it to the case of two neutrino flavor or spin precession in the presence of a noisy matter density or magnetic field, respectively. The criteria under which physical fluctuations can be well approximated by the \ensuremath{\delta}-correlated Gaussian noise for the above cases are examined. Current limits on the possible neutrino magnetic moment and solar magnetic field suggest that a reasonably noisy solar magnetic field would not appreciably affect the solar electron-neutrino flux. However, if the solar electron density has fluctuations of a few percent of the local density and a small enough correlation length, the MSW effect is suppressed for a range of parameters.
The Sum of D Small-Bias Generators Fools Polynomials of Degree D

We prove that the sum of d small-bias generators $$L : {\mathbb{F}}^{s} \rightarrow {\mathbb{F}}^{n}$$ fools degree-d polynomials in n variables over a field $${\mathbb{F}}$$ , for any fixed degree d and field $${\mathbb{F}}$$ , including $${\mathbb{F}} = {\mathbb{F}}_{2} = \{0, 1\}$$ . Our result builds on, simplifies, and improves on both the work by Bogdanov and Viola (FOCS ’07) and the follow-up by Lovett (STOC ’08). The first relies on a conjecture that turned out to be true only for some degrees and fields, while the latter considers the sum of 2 d small-bias generators (as opposed to d in our result).
Syntheses and evaluation of benzodiazaborine compounds against M. tuberculosis H37Rv in vitro.

Abstract The synthesis of six benzo[e]diazaborine compounds and thier in vitro evaluation against M. tuberculosis H37Rv is described. The compounds 1,2-dihydro-1-hydroxy-2-phenyl-2,4,1-benzo[e]diazaborin-3(4H)-one, 4, and 1,2-dihydro-1-hydroxy-2-(3-pyridyl)-2,4,1-benzo[e]diazaborin-3(4H)-thione, (5), showed the greatest inhibitory activity.
Post-Newtonian Initial Data with Waves: Progress in Evolution

"In Kelly \et al [Phys. Rev. D, 76:024008, (2007)], we presented new binary black-hole initial data adapted to puncture evolutions in numerical relativity. This data satisfies the constraint equations to 2.5 post-Newtonian order, and contains a transverse-traceless "wavy" metric contribution, violating the standard assumption of conformal flatness. We report on progress in evolving this data with a modem moving-puncture implementation of the BSSN equations in several numerical codes. We discuss the effect of the new metric terms on junk radiation and continuity of physical radiation extracted."
Mechanical verification of distributed algorithms in higher-order logic

The only practical way to verify the correctness of distributed algorithms with a high degree of confidence is to construct machine-checked, formal correctness proofs. In this paper we explain how to do so using HOL an interactive proof assistant for higher order logic developed by Gordon and others. First, we describ how to build an infrastructure in HOL that supports reasoning about distributed algorithms,including formal theories of predicates, temporal logic, labeled transitions systems, simulation of programs, translation of properties, and graphs. Then we demonstrate, via an exemple, how to use the powerful intuition about eventsand causality to guide and structure correctness proofs of distributed algorithms. The example used is the verification of PIF (propagation of information with feedback), which is a simple but typical distributed algorithm due to Segall.
Complexity of convex optimization using geometry-based measures and a reference point

Our concern lies in solving the following convex optimization problem: where P is a closed convex subset of the n-dimensional vector space X. We bound the complexity of computing an almost-optimal solution of GP in terms of natural geometry-based measures of the feasible region and the level-set of almost-optimal solutions, relative to a given reference point xr that might be close to the feasible region and / or the almost-optimal level set. This contrasts with other complexity bounds for convex optimization that rely on data-based condition numbers or algebraic measures, and that do not take into account any a priori reference point information.
Highlights of marine natural products chemistry (1972–1999)

Marine Natural Products Chemistry is essentially a child of the 1970's that developed rapidly during the 1980's and matured in the last decade. With a few notable exceptions, it is difficult to select individual papers that significantly impacted the field. However, marine natural products chemistry has often influenced other fields and that aspect is the focus of this review. It is clear that the early directions taken by marine natural products chemists drew as much from the examples provided by insect chemical ecology as from the longer history of phytochemistry. By 1975 there were already three parallel tracks in marine natural products chemistry: marine toxins, marine biomedicinals and marine chemical ecology. It is the integration of the three fields of study that has given marine natural products chemistry its unique character and vigour.
The Goal-Gradient Hypothesis Resurrected: Purchase Acceleration, Illusionary Goal Progress, and Customer Retention:

Abstract The goal-gradient hypothesis denotes the classic finding from behaviorism that animals expend more effort as they approach a reward. Building on this hypothesis, the authors generate new propositions for the human psychology of rewards. They test these propositions using field experiments, secondary customer data, paper-and-pencil problems, and Tobit and logit models. The key findings indicate that (1) participants in a real cafe reward program purchase coffee more frequently the closer they are to earning a free coffee; (2) Internet users who rate songs in return for reward certificates visit the rating Web site more often, rate more songs per visit, and persist longer in the rating effort as they approach the reward goal; (3) the illusion of progress toward the goal induces purchase acceleration (e.g., customers who receive a 12-stamp coffee card with 2 preexisting “bonus” stamps complete the 10 required purchases faster than customers who receive a “regular ”10-stamp card); and (4) a stronger ...
Parallel Linear General Relativity and CMB Anisotropies

We have developed a code which links the primeval fluctuations in the early universe with those observable at the present time by integrating the coupled, linearized, Einstein, Boltzmann, and fluid equations governing the evolution of metric perturbations and density fluctuations; this is the most accurate treatment to date of both the physics and the numerical integration. The results are useful both for calculations of the cosmic microwave background (CMB) anisotropy and the linear power spectrum of matter fluctuations. The serial code (LINGER) is highly efficient on vector machines. Furthermore, this application is perfectly suited for coarse-grained parallelism. A portable, parallel implementation (PLINGER) using common message-passing libraries (PVM, MPI, MPL, and PVMe) has been completed; it achieves Gflop/sec rates on current parallel supercomputers such as the T3D and SP2. LINGER and PLINGER are publically available as part of the COSMICS software package.
Suburban legend: School cutoff dates and the timing of births

Many states require children to reach age 5 by a specified date in the calendar year in order to begin kindergarten. We use birth certificate records from 1999 to 2004 to assess whether parents systematically time childbirth before these eligibility cutoff dates to capture the option value of sending their child to school at a relatively young age, thereby avoiding a year of child care costs. Testing for discontinuities in the distribution of births around cutoff dates, we find no evidence that the option value influences the timing of birth. Similarly, we find no systematic discontinuities in average mothers’ characteristics or babies’ health outcomes around cutoff dates. Timing in the neighborhood of eligibility cutoffs occurs only when the cutoffs coincide with weekends or holidays, which may have implications for recent research that assumes birth dates in the neighborhood of cutoffs are essentially randomly assigned. © 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Conic geometric programming

This invited submission summarizes recent work by the authors on conic geometric programs (CGPs), which are convex optimization problems obtained by blending geometric programs (GPs) and conic optimization problems such as semidefinite programs (SDPs). GPs and SDPs are two prominent families of structured convex programs that each generalize linear programs (LPs) in different ways, and that are both employed in a broad range of applications. This submission provides a summary of a unified mathematical and algorithmic treatment of GPs and SDPs under the framework of CGPs. Although CGPs contain GPs and SDPs as special instances, computing global optima of CGPs is not much harder than solving GPs and SDPs. More broadly, the CGP framework facilitates a range of new applications - permanent maximization, hitting-time estimation in dynamical systems, the computation of the capacity of channels transmitting quantum information, and robust optimization formulations of GPs - that fall outside the scope of SDPs and GPs alone.
A Quarterly Transactions-based Index of Institutional Real Estate Investment Performance and Movements in Supply and Demand

This article presents a methodology for producing a quarterly transactions-based index (TBI) of property-level investment performance for U.S. institutional real estate. Indices are presented for investment periodic total returns and capital appreciation (or price-changes) for the major property types included in the NCREIF Property Index. These indices are based on transaction prices to avoid appraisal-based sources of index “smoothing” and lagging bias. In addition to producing variable-liquidity indices, this approach employs the Fisher-Gatzlaff-Geltner-Haurin (Real Estate Econ., 31: 269–303, 2003) methodology to produce separate indices tracking movements on the demand and supply sides of the investment market, including a “constant-liquidity” (demand side) index. Extensions of Bayesian noise filtering techniques developed by Gatzlaff and Geltner (Real Estate Finance, 15: 7–22, 1998) and Geltner and Goetzmann (J. Real Estate Finance Econ., 21: 5–21, 2000) are employed to allow development of quarterly frequency, market segment specific indices. The hedonic price model used in the indices is based on an extension of the Clapp and Giacotto (J. Am. Stat. Assoc., 87: 300–306, 1992) “assessed value method,” using a NCREIF-reported recent appraised value of each transacting property as the composite “hedonic” variable, thus allowing time-dummy coefficients to represent the difference each period between the (lagged) appraisals and the transaction prices. The index could also be used to produce a mass appraisal of the NCREIF property database each quarter, a byproduct of which would be the ability to provide transactions price based “automated valuation model” estimates of property value for each NCREIF property each quarter. Detailed results are available at http://web.mit.edu/cre/research/credl/tbi.html.
Line formation in the inner winds of classical T Tauri stars: testing the conical-shell wind solution

We present the emission line profile models of hydrogen and helium based on the results from axisymmetric magnetohydrodynamics (MHD) simulations of the wind formed near the disk-magnetosphere boundary of classical T Tauri stars (CTTSs). We extend the previous outflow models of ‘the conical-shell wind’ by Romanova et al. to include a well defined magnetospheric accretion funnel flow which is essential for modelling the optical and near-infrared hydrogen and helium lines of CTTSs. The MHD model with an intermediate mass-accretion rate shows outflows in conical-shell shape with a half opening angle 35 . The flow properties such as the maximum outflow speed in the conical-shell wind, maximum inflow speed in the accretion funnel, mass-accretion and mass-loss rates are comparable to those found in a typical CTTS. The density, velocity and modified temperature from the MHD simulations are used in a separate radiative transfer model to predict the line profiles and test the consistency of the MHD models with observations. The line profiles are computed with various combinations of X-ray luminosities, temperatures of X-ray emitting plasma, and inclination angles. A rich diversity of line profile morphology is found, and many of the model profiles are very similar to those found in observations. We find that the conical-shell wind may contribute to the emission in some hydrogen lines (e.g. H , H , Pa and Pa ) significantly when the temperature in the wind is relatively high (e.g. 10 4 K); however, the wind contribution decreases rapidly when a lower wind temperature is adopted. The model well reproduces a relatively narrow and low-velocity blueshifted absorption component in He I 10830, which are often seen in observations.
The Dark Matter Annihilation Signal from Galactic Substructure: Predictions for GLAST

Wepresent quantitative predictions for the detectability of individual Galactic dark matter subhalos in gamma rays from dark matter pair annihilations in their centers. Our method is based on a hybrid approach, employing the highest resolution numerical simulations available (including the recently completed 1 billion particle Via Lactea II simulation),aswellasanalyticalmodels,forextrapolatingbeyondthesimulations’resolutionlimit.Weincludeaselfconsistent treatment of subhalo boost factors, motivated by our numerical results, and a realistic treatment of the expected backgrounds that individual subhalos must outshine. We show that for reasonable values of the dark matter
Evidence on the Cost Hierarchy: The Association between Resource Consumption and Production Activities

ABSTRACT: Modern cost accounting posits that manufacturing overhead costs vary with production unit volume, batches of production, and with the variety of products produced. However, many studies fail to find an association between manufacturing overhead costs and activities associated with production batches and product variety; rather, the traditional fixed and (unit) variable cost structure is validated. One explanation is that flexible manufacturing methods and optimized production scheduling restore the relevance of the traditional cost model. Another explanation is that the relation holds, but is not detectable because of limitations of the data used in these studies. We explore the separate and joint impacts of these data limitations using data from a modern float glass manufacturing plant and a new time-driven activity-based costing model suggested by Kaplan and Anderson (2004, 2007). We find that: (1) batch and product-variety-related activities are significantly associated with resource consump...
Ad Hoc Limited Scale-Free Models for Unstructured Peer-to-Peer Networks

Several protocol efficiency metrics (e.g., scalability, search success rate, routing reachability and stability) depend on the capability of preserving structure even over the churn caused by the ad hoc nodes joining or leaving the network. Preserving the structure becomes more prohibitive due to the distributed and potentially uncooperative nature of such networks, as in the peer-to-peer (P2P) networks. Thus, most practical solutions involve unstructured approaches while attempting to maintain the structure at various levels of protocol stack. The primary focus of this paper is to investigate construction and maintenance of scale-free topologies in a distributed manner without requiring global topology information at the time when nodes join or leave. We consider the uncooperative behavior of peers by limiting the number of neighbors to a pre-defined hard cutoff value (i.e., no peer is a major hub), and the ad hoc behavior of peers by rewiring the neighbors of nodes leaving the network. We also investigate the effect of these hard cutoffs and rewiring of ad-hoc nodes on the P2P search efficiency.
Extracorporeal Shock Wave Lithotripsy of Pancreatic Stones in Chronic Pancreatitis: Immediate and Medium-Term Results

Abstract Background: Obstruction of the main pancreatic duct with upstream hypertension and dilation is a cause of pain in patients with chronic pancreatitis. Pancreatic ductal drainage can be achieved endoscopically by intraductal stone removal after endoscopic pancreatic sphincterotomy and/or by insertion of a pancreatic stent. Extracorporeal shock wave lithotripsy may be needed whenever stones cannot be removed by endoscopic procedures. We present our results in 35 patients treated with a combined endoscopic-extracorporeal shock wave lithotripsy approach with at least 6 months of follow-up. Methods: Thirty-five patients with severe chronic pancreatitis were treated by extracorporeal shock wave lithotripsy for endoscopically unretrievable obstructive stones. Extracorporeal shock wave lithotripsy was performed with an electromagnetic lithotriptor in 29 patients and an electrohydraulic lithotriptor in 6. Results: The procedures were well tolerated by the majority of patients. Fragmentation of stones was obtained in all cases while complete clearance and decompression of pancreatic duct were obtained in 26 of 35 (74.3%) and in 30 of 35 (85.7%) cases, respectively. There was no mortality related to the procedure. Morbidity was observed in 8 of 35 patients (22.8%). Conclusions: Extracorporeal shock wave lithotripsy is a safe and effective treatment for endoscopically unretrievable pancreatic stones in the main pancreatic duct. Extracorporeal shock wave lithotripsy should be considered complementary and not an alternative to endoscopic drainage. Combined with endoscopy, extracorporeal shock wave lithotripsy may increase the success rate of nonsurgical treatment of patients with chronic pancreatitis.(Gastrointest Endosc 1997;46:231-6.)
New Synthetic Strategy for High-Enantiopurity N-Protected α-Amino Ketones and their Derivatives by Asymmetric Hydrogenation

Asymmetric hydrogenation of α-dehydroamino ketones catalyzed by a rhodium-chiral phosphorus ligand complex (up to 99% ee, 1000 TON), represents an efficient approach to chiral α-amino ketones. The reduction of α-amino ketones catalyzed by palladium on carbon (Pd/C) leads to amphetamine precursors with quantitative yield and no significant enantioselectivity loss.
On impulse and continuous observation control design in Kalman filtering problem

Abstract This paper develops the observation control method for refining the Kalman–Bucy estimates, which is based on impulsive modeling of the transition matrix in an observation equation, thus engaging discrete-continuous observations. The impulse observation control generates on-line computable jumps of the estimate variance from its current position towards zero and, as a result, enables us to instantaneously obtain the estimate, whose variance is closer to zero. The filtering equations over impulse-controlled observations are obtained in the Kalman–Bucy filtering problem. The method for feedback design of control of the estimate variance is developed. First, the pure impulse control is used, and, next, the combination of the impulse and continuous control components is employed. The considered examples allow us to compare the properties of these control and filtering methodologies.
Energy optimal transmission scheduling in wireless sensor networks

One of the main issues in the design of sensor networks is energy efficient communication of time-critical data. Energy wastage can be caused by failed packet transmission attempts at each node due to channel dynamics and interference. Therefore transmission control techniques that are unaware of the channel dynamics can lead to suboptimal channel use patterns. In this paper we propose a transmission controller that utilizes different "grades" of channel side information to schedule packet transmissions in an optimal way, while meeting a deadline constraint for all packets waiting in the transmission queue. The wireless channel is modeled as a finite-state Markov channel (FSMC). We are specifically interested in the case where the transmitter has low-grade channel side information that can be obtained based solely on the ACK/NAK sequence for the previous transmissions. Our scheduler is readily implementable and it is based on the dynamic programming solution to the finite-horizon transmission control problem. We also calculate the information theoretic capacity of the finite state Markov channel with feedback containing different grades of channel side information including that, obtained through the ACK/NAK sequence. We illustrate that our scheduler achieves a given throughput at a power level that is fairly close to the fundamental limit achievable over the channel.
Boundary-Layer Receptivity of Three-Dimensional Roughness Arrays on a Swept-Wing

*† Micron-sized, spanwise-periodic discrete roughness elements are applied to a 45° sweptwing to experimentally quantify the relationship between surface roughness and initial disturbance amplitude for a boundary-layer dominated by crossflow instability. The ASU(67)-0315 is installed in the low-turbulence Klebanoff-Saric Wind Tunnel at Texas A&M University. It has a 1.83 m chord and a pressure minimum at 71% chord. Applique roughness arrays are placed near the leading edge to investigate the effectiveness of each roughness height in generating initial disturbance amplitudes. Test parameters include roughness height and chord-Reynolds-numbers of 2.4 to 3.2 x 10 6 . Naphthalene flow visualization, used to determine transition location, and detailed velocity profile scans using hotwire anemometry are provided. When care was taken to measure in the region of linear stability, it was found that the disturbance amplitude varies linearly with roughness height. However, evidence is present that differences in already low turbulence levels influence the receptivity process.
The impact of hard-decision detection on the energy efficiency of phase and frequency modulation

The central design challenge in next generation wireless systems is to have these systems operate at high bandwidths and provide high data rates while being cognizant of the energy consumption levels especially in mobile applications. Since communicating at very high data rates prohibits obtaining high bit resolutions from the analog-to-digital (A/D) converters, analysis of the energy efficiency under the assumption of hard-decision detection is called for to accurately predict the performance levels. In this paper, transmission over the additive white Gaussian noise (AWGN) channel, and coherent and noncoherent fading channels is considered, and the impact of hard-decision detection on the energy efficiency of phase and frequency modulations is investigated. Energy efficiency is analyzed by studying the capacity of these modulation schemes and the energy required to send one bit of information reliably in the low signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) regime. The capacity of hard-decision-detected phase and frequency modulations is characterized at low SNR levels through closed-form expressions for the first and second derivatives of the capacity at zero SNR. Subsequently, bit energy requirements in the low-SNR regime are identified. The increases in the bit energy incurred by hard-decision detection and channel fading are quantified. Moreover, practical design guidelines for the selection of the constellation size are drawn from the analysis of the spectral efficiency-bit energy tradeoff.
Heterosexual Political Science

queer theory as political scientists enables us to approach central questions of the discipline in new and productive ways. This work makes possible innovative theoretical investigation of core concepts in political science such as power, justice, freedom, equality, and democracy. Queer theory can deepen the study of power by focusing on the lives, experiences, and institutions of GLBT people and communities. In the process, new frameworks are developed for the study of political theory more broadly. When done well, queer theory draws on the field's interdisciplinarity by bringing political scientists into conversation with other scholars on key matters that are best not bound by disciplinary borders. Similarly, queer theory at its best draws on the multiple perspectives developed in fields such as post-colonial, ethnic and critical race, feminist, class and ability, religious, and cultural studies.
Synthesis and properties of annulenic subunits of graphyne and graphdiyne nanoarchitectures

This report describes the synthetic strategies toward and optoelectronic properties of substructures of the non-natural, planar carbon networks graphyne and graphdiyne, which are based on the dehydrobenzo(12)annulene and dehydrobenzo(18)annulene framework, re- spectively.
State-space analysis of clock jitter in continuous-time oversampling data converters

The clock jitter effect in continuous-time data converters is studied. Using the state-space approach, closed-form formulas predicting precisely the spectra of jitter-induced noise are derived. The results are quite general and applicable to all types of analog-to-digital or digital-to-analog /spl Sigma//spl Delta/ converters.
Design of a 100 MW X-band klystron

Future linear colliders require klystrons with higher peak power at higher frequency than are currently in use. SLAC (Stanford Linear Accelerator Center) is designing a 100-MW klystron at 11.4 GHz as a prototype for such a tube. The gun has been designed for 440 kV and 510 A. Transporting this beam through a 5-mm radius X-band drift tube presents the major design problem. The area convergence ratio pf 190:1 is over ten times higher than that found in conventional klystrons. Even with high magnetic fields of 6 to 7 kG, careful matching is required to prevent excessive scalloping. Extensive EGUN and CONDOR simulations have been made to optimize the transmission and RF efficiency. The EGUN simulations indicate that better matching is possible by using resonant magnetic focusing. CONDOR calculations indicate efficiencies of 45% are possible with a double output cavity. The results of the simulations and the status of the experimental program are discussed. >
Sikuli: using GUI screenshots for search and automation

We present Sikuli, a visual approach to search and automation of graphical user interfaces using screenshots. Sikuli allows users to take a screenshot of a GUI element (such as a toolbar button, icon, or dialog box) and query a help system using the screenshot instead of the element's name. Sikuli also provides a visual scripting API for automating GUI interactions, using screenshot patterns to direct mouse and keyboard events. We report a web-based user study showing that searching by screenshot is easy to learn and faster to specify than keywords. We also demonstrate several automation tasks suitable for visual scripting, such as map navigation and bus tracking, and show how visual scripting can improve interactive help systems previously proposed in the literature.
When the state and your kidneys fail: Political etiologies in an Egyptian dialysis ward

In this article, I describe how poor Egyptian kidney-disease patients understand and experience their illness in terms of Egypt's larger social, economic, and political ills. The suffering that patients in end-stage renal failure endure, as they articulate it, extends beyond the pathological kidney and implicates corrupt institutions, polluted water, the mismanagement of toxic waste, and unsafe food. End-stage kidney failure patients in Egypt depend on state-provided medical services, which they deeply mistrust. In this context, they understand the breakdown of their kidneys, their dialysis machines, and their bodies as a direct outcome of the breakdown of the welfare state. I argue that patients' perceptions of their disease and their mistrust of medical treatment and state service provision should make us reconsider how all etiologies are political. Further, the “political etiologies” in this case inform ethical decisions about kidney transplantation and maintaining life on dialysis. [bioethics, the body, kidney disease, organ transplantation, state welfare, neoliberalism, Egypt]
Imperfect Competition among Informed Traders

We analyze competition among informed traders in the continuous-time Kyle(1985) model, as Foster and Viswanathan (1996) do in discrete time. We explicitly describe the unique linear equilibrium when signals are imperfectly correlated and confirm the conjecture of Holden and Subrahmanyam (1992) that there is no linear equilibrium when signals are perfectly correlated. One result is that at some date, and at all dates thereafter, the market would have been more informationally efficient had there been a monopolist informed trader instead of competing traders. The relatively large amount of private information remaining near the end of trading causes the market to approach complete illiquidity. Copyright The American Finance Association 2000.
Resurgence of the fractional polylogarithms

The fractional polylogarithms, depending on a complex parameter �, are defined by a series which is analytic inside the unit disk. After an elementary conversion of the series into an integral presen- tation, we show that the fractional polylogarithms are multivalued analytic functions in the complex plane minus 0 and 1. For non-integer values of �, we prove the analytic continuation, compute the monodromy around 0 and 1, give a Mittag-Leffler decomposition and compute the asymptotic behavior for large values of the complex variable. The fractional polylogarithms are building blocks of resurgent functions that are used in proving that certain power series associated with knotted objects are resurgent. This is explained in a separate publication (CG3). The motivic or physical interpretation of the monodromy of the fractional polylogarithms for non-integer values ofis unknown to the authors.
Two Ways to Put Knowledge First

This paper distinguishes two ways to ‘put knowledge first’. One way affirms a knowledge norm. For example, Williamson [2000] argues that one must only assert that which one knows. Hawthorne and Stanley [2008] argue that one must only treat as a reason for action that which one knows. Another way to put knowledge first affirms a determination thesis. For example, Williamson [2000] argues that what one knows determines what one is justified in believing. Hawthorne and Stanley [2008] argue that what one knows determines what it is rational for one to do. This paper argues that the defender of the knowledge norms can and should reject the determination theses. For example, the rationality of acting on a partial belief cannot be explained in terms of the subject's knowledge. That's no problem for the knowledge norm, which only governs acting on full belief. (Analogously, the knowledge norm of flat-out assertion does not govern hedged assertion.) One might worry that rejecting the determination theses undermine...
Accountability and Local Elections: Rethinking Retrospective Voting

For too long, research on retrospective voting has fixated on how economic trends affect incumbent' electoral prospects in national and state elections. Hundreds of thousands of elections in the United States occur at the local level and have little to do with unemployment or inflation rates. This paper focuses on the most prevalent: school boards. Specifically, it examines whether voters hold school board members accountable for the performance of their schools. The 2000 elections reveal considerable evidence that voters evaluate school board members on the basis of student learning trends. During the 2002 and 2004 school board elections, however, when media (and by extension public) attention to testing and accountability systems drifted, measures of achievement did not influence incumbent' electoral fortunes. These findings, we suggest, raise important questions about both the scope conditions of retrospective voting models and the information voters rely upon when evaluating incumbents.
A short review of relativistic iron lines from stellar-mass black holes

In this contribution, I briefly review recent progress in detecting and measuring the properties of relativistic iron lines observed in stellar-mass black hole systems, and the aspects of these lines that are most relevant to studies of similar lines in Seyfert-1 AGN. In particular, the lines observed in stellar-mass black holes are not complicated by complex low-energy absorption or partial-covering of the central engine, and strong lines are largely independent of the model used to fit the underlying broad-band continuum flux. Indeed, relativistic iron lines are the most robust diagnostic of black hole spin that is presently available to observers, with specific advantages over the systematics–plagued disk continuum. If accretion onto stellar-mass black holes simply scales with mass, then the widespread nature of lines in stellar-mass black holes may indicate that lines should be common in Seyfert-1 AGN, though perhaps harder to detect. (© 2006 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)
Quantum lower bounds for the collision and the element distinctness problems

Given a function f as an oracle, the collision problem is to find two distinct inputs i and j such that f(i)=f(j), under the promise that such inputs exist. In this paper, we prove that any quantum algorithm for finding a collision in an r-to-one function must evaluate the function /spl Omega/ ((n/r)/sup 1/3/) times, where n is the size of the domain and r|n. This lower bound matches, up to a constant factor, the upper bound of Brassard, Hoyer and Tapp (1997), which uses the quantum algorithm of Grover (1996) in a novel way. The previously best quantum lower bound is /spl Omega/ ((n/r)/sup 1/5/) evaluations, due to Aaronson (2002). Our result implies a quantum lower bound of /spl Omega/ (n/sup 2/3/) queries to the inputs for another well studied problem, the element distinctness problem, which is to determine whether or not the given n real numbers are distinct. The previous best lower bound is /spl Omega/ (/spl radic/n) queries in the black-box model; and /spl Omega/ (/spl radic/n log n) comparisons in the comparisons-only model, due to Hoyer Neerbek, and Shi (2001).
Comparing reductions to NP-complete sets

Under the assumption that NP does not have p-measure 0, we investigate reductions to NP-complete sets and prove the following:(1)Adaptive reductions are more powerful than nonadaptive reductions: there is a problem that is Turing-complete for NP but not truth-table-complete. (2)Strong nondeterministic reductions are more powerful than deterministic reductions: there is a problem that is SNP-complete for NP but not Turing-complete. (3)Every problem that is many-one complete for NP is complete under length-increasing reductions that are computed by polynomial-size circuits. The first item solves one of Lutz and Mayordomo's ''Twelve Problems in Resource-Bounded Measure'' (1999). We also show that every many-one complete problem for NE is complete under one-to-one, length-increasing reductions that are computed by polynomial-size circuits.
A new extension of one-cycle control and its application to switching power amplifiers

A new extension of one-cycle control is proposed for controlling DC-AC switching converters. Instability, encountered in the implementation, was studied and resolved. An automatic switching-error correction scheme is developed. This control technique overcomes the nonlinearity of DC-AC switching converters, eliminates the crossover distortion, rejects the power source ripple, and achieves a large dynamic range and a wide bandwidth. A half-bridge experimental circuit was built to verify the theory. This new extension is suitable for high efficiency, small volume, and low distortion audio power amplification.
Thermodynamic limits of macroeconomic or financial models: One- and two-parameter Poisson–Dirichlet models

This paper examines asymptotic behavior of two types of economic or financial models with many interacting heterogeneous agents. They are oneparameter Poisson-Dirichlet models, also called Ewens models, and its extension to two-parameter Poisson-Dirichlet models. The total number of clusters, and the components of partition vectors (the number of clusters of specified sizes), both suitably normalized by some powers of model sizes, of these classes of models are shown to be related to the Mittag-Leer distributions. Their behavior as the model sizes tend to infinity (thermodynamic limits) are qualitatively very dierent. In the one-parameter models, the number of clusters, and components of partition vectors are both self-averaging, that is, their coecients of variations tend to zero as the model sizes become very large, while in the two-parameter models they are not self-averaging, that is, their coecients of variations do not tend to zero as model sizes becomes large.
Sensitivity of stratospheric dynamics to uncertainty in O3 production

[1] Some key photochemical uncertainties that cannot be readily eliminated by current observations translate into a range of stratospheric O3 abundances in the tens of percent. The uncertainty in O3 production due to that in the cross sections for O2 in the Hertzberg continuum is studied here with the NCAR Community Atmosphere Model, which allows for interactive climate and ozone chemistry. A min-max range in the O2 cross sections of 30%, consistent with current uncertainties, changes O3 abundances in the lower tropical stratosphere by up to 30%, with a relatively smaller and opposite change above 30 hPa. Here we have systematically examined the changes in the time-mean state, the seasonal cycle, and the interannual variability of the temperature and circulation associated with the ±30% change in O2 cross sections. This study points to the important role of O3 in the lower tropical stratosphere in determining the physical characteristics of the tropical tropopause layer. Reducing O2 cross sections by 30% increases ozone abundances which warms the lower stratosphere (60°S −60°N; 2 K maximum at equator) and lowers the tropopause height by 100–200 m (30°S –30°N). The large-scale warming leads to enhanced stratification near the tropopause which reduces upward wave propagation everywhere except for high latitudes. The lowermost tropical stratosphere is better ventilated during austral winter. The annual cycle of ozone is amplified. The interannual variability of the winter stratospheric polar vortices also increases, but the mechanism involves wave-mean flow interaction, and the exact role of ozone in it needs further investigation.
Causal mediation analysis in the multilevel intervention and multicomponent mediator case

Summary Mediation analysis is an important tool in social and medical sciences as it helps to understand why an intervention works. The commonly used approach, given by Baron and Kenny, requires the strong assumption ‘sequential ignorability’ to yield causal interpretation. Ten Have and his colleagues proposed a rank preserving model to relax this assumption. However, the rank preserving model is restricted to the case with binary intervention and single mediator and needs another strong assumption ‘rank preserving’. We propose a new model that can relax this assumption and can handle both multilevel intervention and multicomponent mediators. As an estimating-equation-based method, our model can handle both correlated data with the generalized estimating equation and missing data with inverse probability weighting. Finally, our method can also be used in many other research settings, using mathematical models similar to mediation analysis, such as treatment compliance and post-randomized treatment component analysis. For the causal mediation model proposed, we first show identifiability for the parameters in the model. We then propose a semiparametric method for estimating the model parameters and derive asymptotic results for the estimators proposed. Simulation shows good performance for the proposed estimators in finite sample sizes. Finally, we apply the method proposed to two real world clinical studies: the college student drinking study, and the ‘Improving mood promoting access to collaborative treatment for late life depression’ study.
Linking poverty, natural resources, and financial markets: a model of land use by rural households in El Salvador

This paper posits that deforestation and poverty levels are related through an inverted-U shape --the environmental Kuznets-- curve and that access to credit shifts this curve downwards, thus positively impacting natural resource uses. This hypothesis is tested using a household panel data set from El Salvador.