cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Elastic fracture of polystyrene solutions

Based on the assumption of a constant critical shear strain, an expression for the critical stress at the onset of entrance fracture as a function of polymer concentration has been developed. Experimental results with 10-25 percent narrow distribution, high molecular weight polystyrene-benzene solutions show the critical stress to be much lower than that for the polymer melt and in agreement with predicted values. This result is all the more impressive when the contrast in flow behavior at the capillary entrance for melts and solutions is observed. Instead of the rotating toroidal vortices surrounding a 90-deg material entrance cone observed with polystyrene melt, cine movies of the solution flow birefringence patterns in the capillary entrance region reveal only a stagnant zone surrounding a narrow cone less than 20 deg. At fracture, the cone axis moves in a rotary path circulating about the capillary axis without undergoing the flow discontinuities typical of melt behavior.
Causality, conditional independence, and graphical separation in settable systems

We study the connections between causal relations and conditional independence within the settable systems extension of the Pearl causal model (PCM). Our analysis clearly distinguishes between causal notions and probabilistic notions, and it does not formally rely on graphical representations. As a foundation, we provide definitions in terms of suitable functional dependence for direct causality and for indirect and total causality via and exclusive of a set of variables. Based on these foundations, we provide causal and stochastic conditions formally characterizing conditional dependence among random vectors of interest in structural systems by stating and proving the conditional Reichenbach principle of common cause, obtaining the classical Reichenbach principle as a corollary. We apply the conditional Reichenbach principle to show that the useful tools of d-separation and D-separation can be employed to establish conditional independence within suitably restricted settable systems analogous to Markovian PCMs.
Nevanlinna-Pick interpolation problem for two frequency scale systems

The Nevanlinna-Pick interpolation problem for a parametric set of data is considered. Sufficient conditions are obtained that guarantees a two frequency scale solution. Decomposition of the problem into two Nevanlinna-Pick interpolation problems with smaller data size is presented. An algorithm is developed which computes the solution as the result of combining the solutions for these two smaller problems. >
The Cleavage of a C ? C Bond in Cyclobutylanilines by Visible‐Light Photoredox Catalysis: Development of a [4+2] Annulation Method

We report the first example of an intermolecular [4+2] annulation of cyclobutylanilines with alkynes enabled by visible-light photocatalysis. Monocyclic and bicyclic cyclobutylanilines successfully undergo the annulation with terminal and internal alkynes to generate a wide variety of amine-substituted cyclohexenes including new hydrindan and decalin derivatives with good to excellent diastereoselectivity. The reaction is overall redox neutral with perfect atom economy.
Hausdorff dimension of the set of singular pairs

In this paper we show that the Hausdorff dimension of the set of singular pairs is 4 3 . We also show that the action of diag(e t , e t , e ―2t ) on SL 3 R/SL 3 Z admits divergent trajectories that exit to infinity at arbitrarily slow prescribed rates, answering a question of A. N. Starkov. As a by-product of the analysis, we obtain a higher-dimensional generalization of the basic inequalities satisfied by convergents of continued fractions. As an illustration of the technique used to compute Hausdorff dimension, we reprove a result of I. J. Good asserting that the Hausdorff dimension of the set of real numbers with divergent partial quotients is 1 2 .
Labor Cost and Technology Adoption: Least Squares Monte Carlo Method for the Case of Sugarcane Mechanization in Florida

The prospect of immigration reform has renewed farmers’ concerns of serious labor shortages and cost increases, which may urge highly labor-intensive specialty crop farmers to switch to less-labor-intensive technology. The large-scale mechanization of the Florida sugarcane harvest during the 1970s/80s serves as an historical example of how technologies evolved due to changes in local labor market conditions. We analyze the dynamic decision-making process of sugarcane farmers in the relevant period using net present value (NPV) approach and real options approach (ROA) with least squares Monte Carlo (LSMC).
Evolutionary development and research on Internet-based collaborative writing tools and processes to enhance eWriting in an eGovernment setting

Abstract The Center for the Management of Information (CMI) at the University of Arizona has been actively involved in research with various U.S. government organizations for nearly 20 years. This article details the years of evolutionary development and research conducted by CMI in an eGovernment setting that resulted in the creation of an Internet-based collaborative writing ((eWriting) tool, called Collaboratus. By embracing persistence, serendipity, and years of multi-methodological research in the field and in the lab, CMI has built on the foundation of eWriting research that was largely abandoned at the beginning of the eBusiness revolution. This research shows the promising potential for Collaboratus and eWriting tools to help improve digital government through improved document production and collaboration, and highlights many future research opportunities.
Status Differences in the Cognitive Activation of Social Networks

We develop a dynamic cognitive model of network activation and show that people at different status levels spontaneously activate, or call to mind, different subsections of their networks when faced with job threat. Using a multimethod approach (General Social Survey data and a laboratory experiment), we find that, under conditions of job threat, people with low status exhibit a winnowing response (i.e., activating smaller and tighter subsections of their networks), whereas people with high status exhibit a widening response (i.e., activating larger and less constrained subsections of their networks). We integrate traditional network theories with cognitive psychology, suggesting that cognitively activating social networks is a precondition to mobilizing them. One implication is that narrowing the network in response to threat might reduce low-status group members' access to new information, harming their chances of finding subsequent employment and exacerbating social inequality.
Metadynamics as a tool for exploring free energy landscapes of chemical reactions.

The metadynamics or hills method is a relatively new molecular dynamics technique aimed to enhance the sampling of separated regions in phase space and map out the underlying free energy landscape as a function of a small number of order parameters or collective variables. The high efficiency allows for the application of metadynamics in combination with first principles dynamics methods, in particular with Car−Parrinello molecular dynamics, to study processes in which changes in the electronic structure play a dominant role, such as chemical reactions. The option to choose several independent collective variables is important to tackle complex and concerted transformations that lack an obvious a priori choice for a single reaction coordinate. In this Account, we discuss the role of metadynamics in the search of transition states, local minima, reaction paths, free energy profiles, and reaction coordinates among a growing list of alternative methods.
Gravothermal collapse of isolated self-interacting dark matter haloes: N-body simulation versus the fluid model

We make direct comparisons between Monte Carlo N-body simulations and analytic and numerical solutions of a conduction fluid (gaseous) model, for various isolated selfinteracting dark matter (SIDM) haloes. There is a disagreement between two methods on the sucient strength of collisionality to solve cuspy core problem, but we show that the two agree within 20% for isolated haloes. The N-body agrees very well with the analytical self-similar solution of gravothermal collapse in the fluid model by Balberg et al. (2002) when one free parameter, the coecient of thermal conduction C, is chosen to be 0.75. The density profile evolves self-similarly and the central density and velocity dispersion match the analytical solution perfectly with the predicted exponent fi = 2.19, which is also an asymptotic slope of the density profile. We also initialize the simulation and the 1D numerical calculation of the conducting fluid model with the Plummer’s model, the Hernquist profile and the NFW profile to show that the fluid model is applicable to more realistic density profiles. The central density at maximum core expansion and the collapse time agree within 20% in the long mean free path regime. As the mean free path become comparable to the system size, we see the delay in collapse rate as predicted. In this transitional regime, gravothermal collapse simulation agree with the fluid model if another prefactor of thermal conduction, b, in the short mean free path is set to 0.25. Monte Carlo N-body simulation and conducting fluid model agree with each other if two prefactors of thermal conduction C and b are calibrated by the N-body simulation. Our results validate the use of these two methods for collisional self-gravitating systems. Throughout the paper, the collision is assumed to be isotropic and velocity independent.
Physics of the nucleon sea quark distributions

Sea quark distributions in the nucleon have naively been expected to be generated perturbatively by gluon splitting. In this case, there is no reason for the light quark and anti-quark sea distributions to be different. No asymmetries in the strange or heavy quark sea distributions are predicted in the improved parton model. However,recent experiments have called these naive expectations into question. A violation of the Gottfried sum rule has been measured in several experiments, suggesting that (bar u) < (bar d) in the proton. Additionally, other measurements, while not definitive, show that there may be an asymmetry in the strange and anti-strange quark sea distributions. These effects may require nonperturbative explanations. In this review we first discuss the perturbative aspects of the sea quark distributions. We then describe the experiments that could point to nonperturbative contributions to the nucleon sea. Current phenomenological models that could explain some of these effects are reviewed.
Control design along trajectories with sums of squares programming

Motivated by the need for formal guarantees on the stability and safety of controllers for challenging robot control tasks, we present a control design procedure that explicitly seeks to maximize the size of an invariant “funnel” that leads to a predefined goal set. Our certificates of invariance are given in terms of sums of squares proofs of a set of appropriately defined Lyapunov inequalities. These certificates, together with our proposed polynomial controllers, can be efficiently obtained via semidefinite optimization. Our approach can handle time-varying dynamics resulting from tracking a given trajectory, input saturations (e.g. torque limits), and can be extended to deal with uncertainty in the dynamics and state. The resulting controllers can be used by space-filling feedback motion planning algorithms to fill up the space with significantly fewer trajectories. We demonstrate our approach on a severely torque limited underactuated double pendulum (Acrobot) and provide extensive simulation and hardware validation.
Median unbiased forecasts for highly persistent autoregressive processes

This paper considers the construction of median unbiased forecasts for near-integrated autoregressive processes. It derives the appropriately scaled limiting distribution of the deviation of the forecast from the true conditional mean. The dependence of the limitingdistribution on nuisance parameters precludes the use of the standard asymptotic and bootstrap methods for bias correction. We propose a bootstrap method that generates samples backward in time and approximates the median function of the predictive distribution on a grid of values for the nuisance parameter. The method can be easily adapted to approximate any quantile of the conditional predictive distribution. c 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.
Scale and the Origins of Structural Change

Structural change involves a broad set of trends: (i) sectoral reallocations, (ii) rich movements of productive activities between home and market, and (iii) an increase in the scale of productive units. After extending these facts, we develop a model to explain them within a unified framework. The crucial distinction between manufacturing, services, and home production is the scale of the productive unit. Scale technologies give rise to industrialization and the marketization of previously home produced activities. The rise of mass consumption leads to an expansion of manufacturing, but a reversal of the marketization process for service industries. Finally, the later growth in the scale of services leads to a decline in industry and a rise in services.
The Maximal Smoothing Principle in Density Estimation

Abstract We propose a widely applicable method for choosing the smoothing parameters for nonparametric density estimators. It has come to be realized in recent years (e.g., see Hall and Marron 1987; Scott and Terrell 1987) that cross-validation methods for finding reasonable smoothing parameters from raw data are of very limited practical value. Their sampling variability is simply too large. The alternative discussed here, the maximal smoothing principle, suggests that we consider using the most smoothing that is consistent with the estimated scale of our data. This greatly generalizes and exploits a phenomenon noted in Terrell and Scott (1985), that measures of scale tend to place upper bounds on the smoothing parameters that minimize asymptotic mean integrated squared error of density estimates such as histograms and frequency polygons. The method avoids the extreme sampling variability of cross-validation by using ordinary scale estimators such as the standard deviation and interquartile range, which ...
The secrecy graph and some of its properties

A new random geometric graph model, the so-called secrecy graph, is introduced and studied. The graph represents a wireless network and includes only edges over which secure communication in the presence of eavesdroppers is possible. The underlying point process models considered are lattices and Poisson point processes. In the lattice case, analogies to standard bond and site percolation can be exploited to determine percolation thresholds. In the Poisson case, the node degrees are determined and percolation is studied using analytical bounds and simulations. It turns out that a small density of eavesdroppers already has a drastic impact on the connectivity of the secrecy graph.
Synthesis of β-fluoro-α,β-unsaturated esters and nitriles via a fluoro-pummerer rearrangement

Abstract A 5-step synthesis of terminally unsaturated β-fluoro-α, β -unsaturated esters and nitriles 1 is described. Substantial amounts of a deoxygenative side reaction were observed during the key fluoro-Pummerer rearrangement step in the routes leading to the nitriles 1c and 1d .
Electromagnetic Field Effect and Analysis of Composite Structure

The electromagnetic and thermal response of composites subjected to magnetic fields is simulated by solving Maxwell and heat transfer equations simultaneously. The developed analysis accounts for the anisotropic nature of the electrical and thermal properties in three dimensions. A finite-element code is developed to predict the response of composite structures subjected to transient magnetic fields. The analysis has been validated against a closed-form solution and applied to simulate the induction heating process of composite cylinders. The developed analysis can be applied to the design of modern electrical weapons and used to simulate composite manufacturing processes such as induction cure.
P&G Is Selling Oxydol!

Todd Wichmann and Rich Owen must decide whether to leave their dream jobs working for Procter & Gamble (P&G) and start their own business. They need to engage in the business planning process to decide whether to purchase Oxydol, one of the oldest detergent brands at P&G. This includes assessing whether Oxydol represents a good opportunity and if they can turn around the brand's declining sales. The most difficult challenge for Todd and Rich, though, involves finding venture capital funding for purchasing a detergent brand at a time when venture capitalists invest mainly in high technology and Internet ventures.
Mapping Primary and Comprehensive Stroke Centers by Certification Organization

In 2000, members of the Brain Attack Coalition published recommendations for the establishment of primary stroke centers (PSCs),1 and in 2005 they published recommendations for the establishment of comprehensive stroke centers (CSCs).2 To improve patient care and outcomes for stroke, the recommendations suggested that stroke centers should include acute stroke teams, written care protocols, emergency medical services integrated with the stroke center, rapid testing procedures, and continuous improvement processes. Since then, several certification programs have been developed to identify hospitals that have established a stroke center that meets specific criteria for the treatment of stroke. The Joint Commission, DNV GL, and Healthcare Facilities Accreditation Program offer certification programs for PSCs and CSCs. PSC certification was designed to meet the Brain Attack Coalition’s recommendations for improved stroke care through access to dedicated, specialized personnel and procedures. CSCs must meet all of the requirements for certification as a PSC, …
Capacity bounds of half-duplex gaussian cooperative interference channel

In this paper, we study the capacity region of a two user Gaussian interference channel with half duplex node constraints. We develop an achievable region and outer bound for the case when the system allows either transmitter or receiver cooperation. We show that by using our transmitter cooperation scheme, there is significant capacity improvement compared to the previous results [1], [2], especially when the cooperation link is strong. Further, if the cooperation channel gain is infinity, both our transmitter and receiver cooperation rates achieve their respective outer bound. It is also shown that transmitter cooperation provides larger achievable region than receiver cooperation under the same channel and power conditions.
A new family of uniform vortices related to vortex configurations before merging

Stimulated by experimental observations of vortex merging, we compute a new family of uniform-vorticity steady solutions of the Euler equations in two dimensions. In experiments with two co-rotating vortices, one finds that, prior to the convective merging phase, and the formation of vortex filaments, the initial pair diffuses into a single structure (with two vorticity peaks) in the form of a symmetric ‘dumb-bell’. In the present computations, our exploration of the existence of vortex solutions has been guided by the streamline patterns of the co-rotating reference frame, and by the simple concept that the vortex boundary must be one of these streamlines. By varying the parameters which define the vortex patches, we find a family of vorticity structures which pass from the limiting case of point vortices, through the case of two equal co-rotating uniform vortices (as previously computed by Saffman & Szeto 1980; Overman & Zabusky 1982; Dritschel 1985), to the regime where the vortices touch in the form of a dumb-bell. Further exploration of this family of solutions leads to an elliptic vortex, which joins precisely to the local transcritical bifurcation from elliptic vortices with ) found by Wu, Overman & Zabusky (1984).
Simple and chemoselective reduction of aromatic nitro compounds to aromatic amines: reduction with hydriodic acid revisited

Abstract Reduction of aromatic nitro compounds to amines with hydriodic acid was reinvestigated. Under a milder non-refluxing condition (at 90°C for 2–4 h), the reduction proceeded efficiently with excellent chemoselectivity without affecting other functional groups including nitrile, ester, halide, carbonyl, amide, sulfonamide, imidazole and methylthio groups.
Resummed Quantum Gravity Prediction for the Cosmological Constant and Constraints on SUSY GUTS

Abstract We use our resummed quantum gravity approach to Einstein's general theory of relativity in the context of the Planck scale cosmology formulation of Bonanno and Reuter to estimate the value of the cosmological constant as ρ Λ = ( 0.0024 e V ) 4 . We show that the closeness of this estimate to experiment constrains susy GUT models. We also address various consistency checks on the calculation.
NEONATAL ANEMIA: PATHOPHYSIOLOGY AND TREATMENT

All neonates experience a decline in circulating red blood cell (RBC) mass due to diminished erythropoietin (EPO) levels. This effect is more pronounced in small, premature infants and can lead to severe anemia and need for RBC transfusions--particularly, if repeated phlebotomy is required to monitor acutely-ill neonates. Although optimal RBC transfusion therapy has been a long-term challenge for neonatologists, the emergence of recombinant EPO as promising therapy for neonatal anemia is the major issue for 1994. Accordingly, this report for the 12th International Convocation on Immunology (Transfusion Immunology and Medicine) will focus on this aspect of neonatal transfusion medicine. Although several controlled trials to evaluate EPO as therapy have been completed, definitive answers to all questions regarding efficacy and possible toxicity have not been provided. However, therapy with EPO plus iron and adequate nutrition is likely to be proven effective for the relatively late anemia of stable prematures. To date, EPO has not been shown, convincingly, to alleviate the anemia present early in the life of acutely-ill, premature infants.
Spectrum of breast disease encountered in HIV-positive patients at a community teaching hospital

Summary Introduction HIV infection directly and indirectly affects breast tissue. This study describes the spectrum of HIV-related breast disease encountered at a community teaching hospital. Methods A 9 year retrospective review was performed of HIV-positive patients with a breast-related diagnosis seen at our institution. Patient demographics, HIV status, comorbid disease, medications, clinical findings, diagnostic procedure, pathology, treatment and outcome were recorded. Results A total of 46 individuals were included with a median age of 47 years (range 24–64 years) and male:female ratio of 1:3 (12 men and 34 women). Mean duration of HIV infection was 7 years during which time 46% of patients had an AIDS defining illness. Median CD4 cell count was 437 cells/mm3 (range 2 to ≥500 cells/mm3) at the time of the breast diagnosis. Breast disease identified included benign conditions (59% total: 92% for men, 47% for women), infection (17% total: 8% for men, 21% for women), cancer (22% total: 0% for men, 29% for women), and atypia (2% total: 0% for men, 3% for women). Patients with a breast infection had a lower median CD4 cell count than those with breast cancer or benign conditions. Gynecomastia was detected in seven out of 12 (58%) men. In these men, antiretroviral therapy (ART) of all drug classes was associated with gynecomastia. Breast cancer occurred only in women and included patients with invasive ductal carcinoma (n = 7), ductal carcinoma in situ (n = 2), and liposarcoma diagnosed in one individual. Specific risk factors for breast cancer in this setting were not identified. Five (11%) patients died, only one from breast disease during the study period. Conclusion These data indicate that increased longevity in patients with chronic HIV infection may be associated with the occurrence of breast conditions in both men and women. A broad spectrum of breast disease should be anticipated in HIV-infected persons living longer with effective ART.
Bias in estimates of lithosphere viscosity from interseismic deformation

[1] The estimation of uniform viscosities representing the lower crust and uppermost mantle from postseismic or interseismic deformation (i.e., apparent viscosities) is inherently biased with respect to a depth dependence of the viscosities within each layer. Estimates are biased toward a more viscous lower crust or a less viscous lithospheric mantle, depending on the relative geometric mean viscosities of the two layers. When there is a low-viscosity shear zone beneath the fault, apparent viscosities are close to that of the shear zone immediately after the earthquake, although the apparent viscosities increase significantly during the later interseismic period. Inferences made from interseismic deformation that the lower crust is more viscous than the upper mantle may be entirely consistent with depth-dependent viscosity profiles that have a significant increase in viscosity from the lowermost crust to the uppermost mantle.
Probabilistic analysis of total transfer capability considering security constraints

Total transfer capability (TTC) indicates the power transfer capability among different systems or different subsystems. TTC is limited not only by the violation of system thermal and voltage limits, but also restricted by transient stability limits. Due to the uncertainty of power system behavior, it is impossible to give a fixed TTC results under all conditions. Specifically, in system operation, transmission risk analysis needs a statistical forecast for an expected range of transfer capability. It is, therefore, worthwhile to study the TTC problem from a probabilistic point of view. In this paper, an algorithm to incorporate security constraints in calculating TTC is proposed. Monte Carlo simulation is used to accomplish the probabilistic calculation of TTC with consideration of stochastic features of transient stability. The WSCC-9 bus system is used as the test system to demonstrate the methodology
Controller design with multiple objectives

In this paper we study multi-objective control problems that give rise to equivalent convex optimization problems. We develop a uniform treatment of such problems by showing their equivalence to linear programming problems with equality constraints and an appropriate positive cone. We present some specialized results on duality theory, and we apply them to the study of three multi-objective control problems: the optimal l/sub 1/ control with time-domain constraints on the response to some fixed input, the mixed H/sub 2//l/sub 1/-control problem, and the l/sub 1/ control with magnitude constraint on the frequency response. What makes these problems complicated is that they are often equivalent to infinite-dimensional optimization problems. The characterization of the duality relationship between the primal and dual problem allows us to derive several results. These results establish connections with special convex problems (linear programming or linear matrix inequality problems), uncover finite-dimensional structures in the optimal solution, when possible, and provide finite-dimensional approximations to any degree of accuracy when the problem does not appear to have a finite-dimensional structure. To illustrate the theory and highlight its potential, several numerical examples are presented.
Urban Regulations and the Price of Land and Housing in Korea

Abstract South Korea is a remarkable macroeconomic success story, but it has performed relatively poorly in one respect: the provision of high quality housing at reasonable prices. This paper analyzes the Korean housing market and the market for related inputs, with special emphasis on the regulatory environment.
Fisheries Management Under Cyclical Population Dynamics

Cycles in environmental conditions (e.g., sea-surface temperature) directly impact fish growth. This paper extends the classical Gordon-Schaefer fishery model by replacing the constant growth rate with a cyclical growth rate. The optimal harvest rate is shown to fluctuate, but the cycle of the harvest rate lags the cycle of the biological growth function with the highest harvest rate occurring after biological conditions start to decline. Simulations contrast various fishing policies and illustrate the proclivity to crash a fishery if it is wrongfully managed as if there is a constant growth rate with i.i.d. environmental shocks. Finally, we show that small cyclical fluctuations in one species can result in large fluctuations in the optimal harvest rate of another species if the fish species are interlinked through predator-prey relationships.
Automated Scheduling for NASA's Deep Space Network

This article describes the DSN scheduling wngine (DSE) component of a new scheduling system being deployed for NASA's deep space network. The DSE provides core automation functionality for scheduling the network, including the interpretation of scheduling requirements expressed by users, their elaboration into tracking passes, and the resolution of conflicts and constraint violations. The DSE incorporates both systematic search and repair-based algorithms, used for different phases and purposes in the overall system. It has been integrated with a web application which provides DSE functionality to all DSN users through a standard web browser, as part of a peer-to-peer schedule negotiation process for the entire network. The system has been deployed operationally and is in routine use, and is in the process of being extended to support long-range planning and forecasting, and near-real-time scheduling.
Properties of covariant W gravity

We present the beginnings of a new consistent gauge theory with spin 2 and spin 3 gauge fields in two dimensions. It is based on a nonlinear Lie algebra, whose “gauging” is discussed in detail. (The present treatment of the gauge sector is expanded as compared to [3]). For the coupling to matter, we introduce the concept of a “nested covariant derivative”, and we obtain an invariant action by solving a functional integrability condition. It reads
Random linear recursions with dependent coefficients

We consider the stochastic difierence equation Rn = Qn + MnRni1; n 2 Z; for Markov-dependent coe‐cients (Qn;Mn) 2R 2 : Under natural conditions on the coe‐cients, and regardless of the initial value R0; the series (Rn)n‚0 converges in distribution to its long-term equilibrium R; which is the unique stationary solution of this equation. We study the asymptotic behavior of the distribution tails of R and show that both P(R > t) and P(R < it) are regularly varying at inflnity. This extends previous work [12, 13] done for independent identically distributed coe‐cients to a more general setup, which is more realistic in some real-world applications and is desirable in certain theoretical models. In addition, using a Markovian representation of certain chains with complete connections [2, 20], we apply the results of this paper and of [26] to coe‐cients induced by such processes.
On the Folly of Rewarding A, While Hoping for B

Whether dealing with monkeys, rats, or human beings, it is hardly controversial to state that most organisms seek information concerning what activities are rewarded, and then seek to do (or at least pretend to do) those things, often to the virtual exclusion of activities not rewarded. The extent to which this occurs of course will depend on the perceived attractiveness of the rewards offered, but neither operant nor expectancy theorists would quarrel with the essence of this notion. Nevertheless, numerous examples exist of reward systems that are fouled up in that behaviors which are rewarded are those which the rewarder is trying to discourage, while the behavior he desires is not being rewarded at all. In an effort to understand and explain this phenomenon, this paper presents examples from society, from organizations in general, and from profit making firms in particular. Data from a manufacturing company and information from an insurance firm are examined to demonstrate the consequences of such reward systems for the organizations involved, and possible reasons why such reward systems continue to exist are considered.
Efficient Sourcing and Debt Financing in Imperfect Product Markets

Supplier relations play an important role in determining a firm's product market strategy and position, by affecting the cost and quality of the product produced by the firm. These relations are especially significant because the cost of purchased materials for an average firm is more than half its total sales. In this paper, we model the adverse incentives of a firm that sources from a competitive supplier industry. We show that a firm's propensity to behave opportunistically towards its suppliers raises the firm's input costs by decreasing the number of suppliers servicing it. This results in a suboptimal production decision compared to the firm's first best choice. We argue that an appropriate level of debt financing alters the shareholder incentives and mitigates the hold-up problem. Further, we also show that at the optimal debt level, the firm produces its first best level of output.
Laboratory plasma dynamos, astrophysical dynamos and magnetic helicity evolution

The term ‘dynamo’ means different things to the laboratory fusion plasma and astrophysical plasma communities. To alleviate the resulting confusion and to facilitate interdisciplinary progress, we pinpoint conceptual differences and similarities between laboratory plasma dynamos and astrophysical dynamos. We can divide dynamos into three types: 1. magnetically dominated helical dynamos which sustain a large-scale magnetic field against resistive decay and drive the magnetic geometry towards the lowest energy state, 2. flow-driven helical dynamos which amplify or sustain large-scale magnetic fields in an otherwise turbulent flow and 3. flow-driven non-helical dynamos which amplify fields on scales at or below the driving turbulence. We discuss how all three types occur in astrophysics whereas plasma confinement device dynamos are of the first type. Type 3 dynamos require no magnetic or kinetic helicity of any kind. Focusing on Types 1 and 2 dynamos, we show how different limits of a unified set of equations for magnetic helicity evolution reveal both types. We explicitly describe a steady-state example of a Type 1 dynamo, and three examples of Type 2 dynamos: (i) closed volume and time dependent; (ii) steady state with open boundaries; (iii) time dependent with open boundaries.
Endocardial detection of repolarization alternans

Repolarization alternans (RPA) is prognostic of sudden cardiac death and is thought to be mechanistically linked to the initiation of ventricular tachyarrhythmias. Thus, implantable cardiac device detection of RPA may be therapeutically valuable. Because alternans detection is currently limited to surface electrocardiograms, we investigated whether RPA could be measured using a single right-ventricular endocardial lead in humans. Such a location was chosen because it is consistent with the requirements for long-term implantable-device implementation. During diagnostic electrophysiological testing, 28 patients (23 male, 5 female; 61/spl plusmn/15 years) were evaluated for surface T-wave alternans (TWA; the current "gold standard" for RPA detection) and endocardial RPA during 5 min of 550-ms right-atrial pacing. Power spectral analysis indicated that 11/28 patients had both surface TWA and endocardial RPA, 9/28 patients had neither, and 8/28 patients had discordant results (71% concordance; p=0.02). Importantly, unlike surface TWA, endocardial RPA was detectable on a beat-to-beat basis. Given the putative mechanistic link between RPA and ventricular arrhythmias, beat-to-beat endocardial RPA detection might be of diagnostic or therapeutic utility.
The location of initial public offering headquarters: An empirical examination

We study the headquarters location of U.S. firms with an initial public offering (IPO) over the 2001–2011 period. Specifically, we examine IPO intensity, defined as IPOs in a state scaled by state population. We find that IPO intensity is positively related to various measures of education. We also find that IPO intensity is positively related to an economic climate (freedom) index, degree of urbanization, and whether a state contains a financial center. Some economists see IPOs as a driver of economic growth. Thus, our results suggest factors that government officials may consider to increase the number of IPOs headquartered in their states.
Immobilization of the Grubbs second-generation ruthenium-carbene complex on poly(ethylene glycol): a highly reactive and recyclable catalyst for ring-closing and cross-metathesis

Abstract A poly(ethylene glycol)-bound Hoveyda–Grubbs Ru catalyst derived from the Grubbs second-generation Ru carbene complex was synthesized and shown to be highly reactive in the ring-closing metathesis of a wide variety of diene substrates, yielding di-, tri-, and tetra-substituted carbocyclic and heterocyclic olefins. The immobilized catalyst also proved to be highly reactive and recyclable in cross-metathesis and ring-opening/cross-metathesis. In all cases tested, the catalyst exhibited a high level of recyclability and reusability.
On global stabilization of Burgers’ equation by boundary control

Abstract Although often referred to as a one-dimensional “cartoon” of Navier–Stokes equation because it does not exhibit turbulence, the Burgers equation is a natural first step towards developing methods for control of flows. Recent references include Burns and Kang [Nonlinear Dynamics 2 (1991) 235–262], Choi et al. [J. Fluid Mech. 253 (1993) 509–543], Ito and Kang [SIAM J. Control Optim. 32 (1994) 831–854], Ito and Yan [J. Math. Anal. Appl. 227 (1998) 271–299], Byrnes et al. [J. Dynam. Control Systems 4 (1998) 457–519] and Van Ly et al. [Numer. Funct. Anal. Optim. 18 (1997) 143–188]. While these papers have achieved tremendous progress in local stabilization and global analysis of attractors, the problem of global asymptotic stabilization has remained open. This problem is non-trivial because for large initial conditions the quadratic (convective) term – which is negligible in a linear/local analysis – dominates the dynamics. We derive nonlinear boundary control laws that achieve global asymptotic stability. We consider both the viscous and the inviscid Burgers’ equation, using both Neumann and Dirichlet boundary control. We also study the case where the viscosity parameter is uncertain, as well as the case of stochastic Burgers’ equation. For some of the control laws that would require the measurement in the interior of the domain, we develop the observer-based versions.
Extremely facile ring inversion and rearrangement in fluorobicyclo[2.1.0]pentanes

Abstract cis -1,2,3,4,5,5-Hexafluorobicyclo[2.1.0]pentane and 1,2,4,5-tetrafluorobicyclo[2.1.0]pentane have been synthesized from hexafluorobenzene. The former hydrofluorocarbon, which exists entirely in the endo configuration, rearranges to cis -1,2,3,3,4,5-hexafluorocyclopentene below room temperature ( E a = 21.9 kcal/mol, log A = 13.4). The latter undergoes degenerate ring inversion with extraordinary ease (Δ G ‡ = 6.8 ± 0.2 kcal/mol at −55 °C). Density functional calculations indicate that significant bonding between the bridgehead carbons is retained in the ring inversion transition state. Analogous calculations predict for hexafluorobicyclo[1.1.0]butane a considerably lower barrier for ring inversion and more 1,3-bonding in the transition state.
Minimum charge moment change in positive and negative cloud to ground lightning discharges producing sprites

Sprites with extensive vertical streamer structures are usually produced by the most intense (i.e., large peak current) positive cloud-to-ground lightning discharges (+CGs) in thunderstorms [e.g., Lyons, JGR, 101, 29641, 1996]. In the conventional breakdown theory of sprites, a large charge moment change of ~1000 C km, for which the electric field can exceed the conventional breakdown field Ek (~30 kV/cm at ground level) at mesospheric/lower ionospheric altitudes, is usually assumed to be necessary for sprite production [e.g., Pasko et al., JGR, 102, 4529, 1997]. However, measurements indicate that surprisingly small charge moment changes of ~200 C km in positive cloud-to-ground lightning discharges (+CGs) can initiate middle atmospheric gas discharges termed sprites [e.g., Hu et al., GRL, 29, 1279, 2002]. In the present work a plasma fluid model is used to study the necessary conditions for a lightning discharge associated with such a small charge moment change to produce sprites. It is demonstrate that for spherically symmetric initial electron density in-homogeneities, the initiation of sprites by such small charge moment changes is only possible when the ionospheric D-region electron density profile is characterized by a reference altitude h' greater than 90 km. Vertically elongated inhomogeneities are found to be more favorable for sprite initiation consistent with recently published studies of Kosar et al. [JGR, 117, A08328, 2012]. It is calculated that for the same ionospheric conditions (i.e., inhomogeneities and h' values) that lead to initiation of sprites by +CGs associated with ~200 C km charge moment changes, the minimum charge moment change required for initiation of sprites by -CGs is 300 C km. We suggest that the intersection of the rarity of QhQ≃300 C km and h'≳88 km leads to the fact that the occurrence of negative sprites are rare, although -CGs associated with QhQ≃300 C km are not so rare.
Theory of the backpropagation neural network

Publisher Summary This chapter presents a survey of the elementary theory of the basic backpropagation neural network architecture, covering the areas of architectural design, performance measurement, function approximation capability, and learning. The survey includes a formulation of the backpropagation neural network architecture to make it a valid neural network and a proof that the backpropagation mean squared error function exists and is differentiable. Also included in the survey is a theorem showing that any L2 function can be implemented to any desired degree of accuracy with a three-layer backpropagation neural network. An appendix presents a speculative neurophysiological model illustrating the way in which the backpropagation neural network architecture might plausibly be implemented in the mammalian brain for corticocortical learning between nearby regions of cerebral cortex. One of the crucial decisions in the design of the backpropagation architecture is the selection of a sigmoidal activation function.
Reward functions for accelerated learning

This paper discusses why traditional reinforcement learning methods, and algorithms applied to those models, result in poor performance in situated domains characterized by multiple goals, noisy state, and inconsistent reinforcement. We propose a methodology for designing reinforcement functions that take advantage of implicit domain knowledge in order to accelerate learning in such domains. The methodology involves the use of heterogeneous reinforcement functions and progress estimators, and applies to learning in domains with a single agent or with multiple agents. The methodology is experimentally validated on a group of mobile robots learning a foraging task.
Early Childhood Teacher Preparation and Technology Integration: The Arizona State University West Experience

Over the past 6 years, Arizona State University West (ASU West), located in Phoenix, Arizona, has developed an Early Childhood program that features curricula based on the National Education Technology Standards for Teachers N (NETS-T; International Society for Technology in Education [ISTE], 2000), ational Technology Standards for Students (NETS-S; ISTE, 2000), and the Arizona Teaching Standards. We have provided support for change through (a) faculty development, (b) curriculum revision, and (c) technology friendly field placements. This support for change has led to an Early Childhood program in which 100% of the faculty integrate technology into their teaching, and graduates are better prepared to use technology in their future classrooms.
Non-adiabatic dynamics of molecules in optical cavities

Strong coupling of molecules to the vacuum field of micro cavities can modify the potential energy surfaces thereby opening new photophysical and photochemical reaction pathways. While the influence of laser fields is usually described in terms of classical field, coupling to the vacuum state of a cavity has to be described in terms of dressed photon-matter states (polaritons) which require quantized fields. We present a derivation of the non-adiabatic couplings for single molecules in the strong coupling regime suitable for the calculation of the dressed state dynamics. The formalism allows to use quantities readily accessible from quantum chemistry codes like the adiabatic potential energy surfaces and dipole moments to carry out wave packet simulations in the dressed basis. The implications for photochemistry are demonstrated for a set of model systems representing typical situations found in molecules.
Competitive Price Adjustment to Changes in the Money Supply

In a competitive environment in which (ex ante) identical sellers set prices, the market price cannot always be based on updated information, since otherwise there will be no incentive to gather information about changes in demand. This result is applied to the case in which changes in the money supply are the only source of uncertainty. It is shown that, if the possible changes in the money supply are not large, the economy will exhibit a positive relationship between money and output but no involuntary unemployment. If the possible changes in the money supply are large, the economy will exhibit a positive relationship between money and employment, allowing for involuntary unemployment.
Visible-Light-Driven Photocatalytic Initiation of Radical Thiol–Ene Reactions Using Bismuth Oxide

A nontoxic and inexpensive photocatalytic initiation of anti-Markovnikov hydrothiolation of olefins using visible light is reported. This method is characterized by low catalyst loading, thereby enabling a mild and selective method for radical initiation in thiol–ene reactions between a wide scope of olefins and thiols.