cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Oil price shocks and the optimality of monetary policy

Abstract The observed tightening of interest rates in the aftermath of the post-World War II oil price hikes led some to argue that U.S. monetary policy exacerbated the recessions induced by oil price shocks. This paper provides a critical evaluation of this claim. Within an estimated dynamic stochastic general equilibrium model with the demand for oil, I contrast Ramsey optimal with estimated monetary policy. I find that monetary policy amplified the negative effect of the oil price shock. The optimal response to the shock would have been to raise inflation and interest rates above what had been seen in the past.
Propulsion requirements for drag-free satellites

Drag-free satellite design and propulsion requirements, noting orbit perturbation mechanisms
Incentivizing cost-effective reductions in hospital readmission rates

The recent regulatory changes enacted by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) have identified hospital readmission rates as a critical healthcare quality metric. This research focuses on the utilization of pay-for-performance (P4P) mechanisms to cost effectively reduce hospital readmission rates and meet the regulatory standards set by CMS. Using the experimental economics laboratory we find that both of the P4P mechanisms researched, bonus and bundled payments, cost-effectively meet the performance criteria set forth by CMS. The bundled payment mechanism generates the largest reduction in patient length of stay (LOS) without altering the probability of readmission. Combined these results indicate that utilizing P4P mechanisms incentivizes cost effective reductions in hospital readmission rates.
Stopping in Relativistic Heavy Ion Reactions - From SIS to RHIC

The status of stopping in heavy ion reactions is reviewed by comparing available data in pp, pA and AA systems over the energy regime \(\sqrt {s_{NN} } \approx 2.5 - 130\) GeV. The data consist of average rapidity losses, anti-proton over proton ratios, and net-baryon values at mid-rapidity. The overall features of nuclear stopping are reasonably well described by simple extrapolations of pp and pA collisions to AA.
Evaluation of stakeholder impacts in cost-benefit analysis

The scope of the analyses of public and private investment projects is expanded beyond the traditional criteria of financial and economic net present value. If the economic and financial analyses a...
William H. Kruskal, Mentor and Friend.

Toward the end of 1963 I was interviewed by David Sills who was Editor in Chief of the International En cyclopedia of the Social Sciences, then in preparation. The job opening was for a staff editor to assist Bill Kruskal in his work as associate editor for statistics for the Encyclopedia. I later learned (by judicious snoop ing into personnel files) that after the interview David informed Bill that "Mrs. Tanur is young and pliable." It is always interesting to explicate the exact stimulus that gives rise to a response?in this case I strongly suspect that it was my reply to a particular question posed during the interview that caused David to make that judgment (though I was indeed quite young at the time). David, having had to referee entirely too many intellectual battles between associate editors and staff editors, had asked me if I would be willing to take guid ance from Bill. My genuine shock at the thought that I might not be willing to?I think I stammered some thing about his being William Kruskal, one of the orig inators of the famous Kruskal-Wallis test and me being a recent MA in mathematical statistics and so of course I'd be willing to take guidance?probably contributed heavily to my being hired. How lucky I was to be hired! The job introduced me to many of the greats in contemporary statistics and launched me into a career of editing and explicating statistics. Most importantly, it gave me my first chance to work with Bill. What a role model! In his work on the Encyclopedia, Bill cared about everything?and I mean everything?from weighty issues of content and exposition to tiny issues of typography: was there re ally a two-point space between a symbol and its sub script? I took a self-taught crash course in the printing of mathematics, but learned whatever I know of sub stantive statistics by working with Bill and the contrib utors as we edited, asked for rewriting and edited again. When we asked for a rewrite, often Bill would do a sample to show the contributor what he had in mind, but he was always very careful not to take over the arti cle, including in each such mailing the disclaimer that
Stellar Encounters with Massive Star-Disk Systems

The dense, clustered environment in which massive stars form can lead to interactions with neighboring stars. It has been hypothesized that collisions and mergers may contribute to the growth of the most massive stars. In this paper we extend the study of star-disk interactions to explore encounters between a massive protostar and a less massive cluster sibling using the publicly available SPH code GADGET-2. Collisions do not occur in the parameter space studied, but the end state of many encounters is an eccentric binary with a semimajor axis ~100 AU. Disk material is sometimes captured by the impactor. Most encounters result in disruption and destruction of the initial disk and periodic torquing of the remnant disk. We consider the effect of the changing orientation of the disk on an accretion-driven jet and the evolution of the systems in the presence of on-going accretion from the parent core.
Check-reading accuracy as a function of pointer alignment, patterning, and viewing angle.

Prior studies have shown that detecting a single deviant dial in a 4 × 4 matrix can be markedly improved by aligning the null position of the pointers. In the present study, efficiency in a similar task was rendered 85 per cent more efficient by continuing the line formed by the pointers across the entire panel face. The deviant dial then appeared as a break in a line, a finding consonant with the Gestalt principle of figurai continuity. No significant difference was found between the 9 and 12 o’clock orientations for null pointers, nor did any significant difference emerge when displays were presented to the front and the sides of Ss.
Shock wave properties of anorthosite and gabbro

Shock wave experiments have been conducted on San Gabriel anorthosite and San Marcos gabbro to peak stresses between 5 and 11 GPa using a 40-mm-bore propellant gun. Particle velocity wave profiles were measured directly at several points in each target by means of electromagnetic gauges, and Hugoniot states were calculated by determining shock transit times from the gauge records. The particle velocity profiles yielded sound velocities along the release adiabats which indicate a retention of shear strength upon shock compression for anorthosite, with a loss of strength upon release to nearly zero stress. Sound velocities of anorthosite shocked to peak stresses between 6 and 10 GPa were measured to be between 5.1 and 5.3 km/s upon release to nearly zero stress as compared to ∼6.9 and 5.4 km/s for the expected longitudinal and bulk wave speeds. Stress density release paths in the anorthosite indicate possible transformation of albite to Jadeite + (quartz or coesite), with the amount of albite transformed ranging from as low as 0.05 to as much as 0.19 mass fraction in the 6–10 GPa shock stress range. Electrical interference effects precluded the determination of accurate release paths for San Marcos gabbro. Because of the apparent loss of shear strength during unloading from the shocked state, the fluidlike rheology of anorthosite which is indicated implies that calculations of energy partitioning due to impact onto planetary surfaces based on elastic-plastic models will underestimate the amount of internal energy deposited in the impacted surface material.
A Primer on Unit Root Testing

The immense literature and diversity of unit root tests can at times be confusing even to the specialist and presents a truly daunting prospect to the uninitiated. In consequence, much empirical work still makes use of the simplest testing procedures because it is unclear from the literature and from recent reviews which tests if any are superior. This paper presents a survey of unit root theory with an emphasis on testing principles and recent developments. The general framework adopted makes it possible to consider tests of stochastic trends against trend stationarity and trend breaks of a general type. The main tests are listed, and asymptotic distributions are given in a simple form that emphasizes commonalities in the theory. Some simulation results are reported, and an extensive list of references and all annotated bibliography are provided.
The toric h-vector of a cubical complex in terms of noncrossing partition statistics

This paper introduces a new and simple statistic on noncrossing partitions that expresses each coordinate of the toric h-vector of a cubical complex, written in the basis of the Adin h-vector entries, as the total weight of all noncrossing partitions. The same model may also be used to obtain a very simple combinatorial interpretation of the contribution of a cubical shelling component to the toric h-vector. In thismodel, a strengthening of the symmetry expressed by the Dehn-Sommerville equations may be derived from the self-duality of the noncrossing partition lattice, exhibited by the involution of Simion and Ullman.
Star Formation Thresholds in Galactic Disks

We report the first results of a detailed study of the star formation law in a sample of 32 nearby spiral galaxies with well-measured rotation curves, H I and H_2 (as traced by CO) surface density profiles, and new Hα CCD photometry. In this paper we present an atlas of Hα images and radial surface brightness profiles and describe a surface density threshold in the star formation law. Prominent breaks in the Hα surface brightness profiles are identified in nearly all of the actively star-forming disks, confirming previous claims of star formation thresholds based on lower quality data. We measure the ratio of the gas density to the critical density for local gravitational stability at the threshold radii. The outer threshold radii observed in Sab-Sdm galaxies are in general agreement with those expected from the Toomre Q stability criterion, confirming earlier work, but with a significant variation that appears to be weakly correlated with galaxy type. Such a trend could plausibly reflect variations in the relative contribution of the stellar disk to the instability of the gas disk across this range of galaxy types. Among disks with subcritical gas surface densities, and outside the threshold radius in star-forming disks, the number of isolated H II regions increases as the gas surface density approaches the critical density. At the thresholds, the gas surface densities span a wide range, and the atomic/molecular gas fraction is highest in the disks having the lowest total gas surface density. The simple Toomre condition fails to account for the active star formation in the inner disks of low-mass spirals such as NGC 2403 and M33. An alternative stability criterion based on the shear in the disk provides a better description of these disks but is a less accurate indicator of the outer edges of star-forming disks than the Toomre criterion. These results strongly support the view that the formation of gravitationally bound interstellar clouds regulates the onset of widespread star formation, at least in the outer regions of galactic disks.
Macroeconomic stabilization and economic growth: analysis of reform policies in Tanzania

Abstract We develop a model for the analysis of macroeconomic management that are caused by failures in the private banking system. Our analysis is applied to Tanzania, a country that faces significant difficulties from a banking system that holds large quantities of non-performing assets. We have constructed a dynamic general equilibrium model that is solved numerically. As initial examples, we have first simulated the model, using historical exogenous parameters, and have compared endogenous macro outputs with corresponding historical outcomes. Assuming all exogenous parameters remain constant for 8 years of the simulation, the banking system begins to become insolvent by the final year. We then impose a program that attempts to increase the productivity, and hence solvency, of the private sector by increasing government expenditures on infrastructure, which are, in turn, financed by foreign capital flows. This experiment leads to a small improvement in real income, but does nothing to enhance the solvency of the banking system. Finally, we impose an improvement in the efficiency of public utilities. This change appears to offer an avenue for improving the solvency of the banking system, the goal of our study.
Leptogenesis and the small-angle MSW solution

Abstract The lepton asymmetry created in the out-of-equilibrium decay of a heavy Majorana neutrino can generate the cosmological baryon asymmetry YB when processed through fast anomalous electroweak reactions. In this work I examine this process under the following assumptions: (1) maximal νμ−−ντ mixing (2) hierarchical mass spectrum m 3 ≃5×10 −2 eV ≫m 2 (3) small-angle MSW solution to the solar neutrino deficit. Working in a basis where the charged lepton and heavy neutrino mass matrices are diagonal, I find the following bounds on the heavy Majorana masses Mi: (a) for a symmetric Dirac neutrino mass matrix (no other constraints), a YB compatible with BBN constraints can be obtained for min (M 2 ,M 3 )>10 11 GeV (b) if any of the Dirac matrix elements vanishes, successful baryogenesis can be effected for a choice of min(M2,M3) as low as a few ×10 9 GeV . The latter is compatible with reheat requirements for supersymmetric cosmologies with sub-TeV gravitino masses.
The limits of CD metrology

One of the many technology decisions facing the semiconductor industry for the 32nm node (and beyond) is the selection of the best critical dimension (CD) metrology equipment to meet the needs of process equipment suppliers and semiconductor manufacturers. Over the past three years Intel^(R) has fabricated a variety of test structures and performed a number of technology evaluations aimed at determining the limits of today's CD metrology. In this paper, we discuss the capability of those technologies to measure structures having dimensions representative of the 45, 32, and 22nm node.
Achievable Rate Regions for Discrete Memoryless Interference Channel with State Information

In this paper, we study the state-dependent two-user interference channel, where the state information is non-causally known at both transmitters but unknown to either of the receivers. We propose two coding schemes for the discrete memoryless case: simultaneous encoding for the sub-messages in the first one and superposition encoding in the second one, both with rate splitting and Gel'fand-Pinsker coding. The corresponding achievable rate regions are established.
Effective stress-based finite element error estimation for composite bodies

Abstract This paper presents a discretization error estimator for displacement-based finite element analysis applicable to multi-material bodies such as composites. The proposed method applies a specific stress continuity requirement across the intermaterial boundary consistent with physical principles. This approach estimates the discretization error by comparing the discontinuous finite element effective stress function with a smoothed ( C 0 continuous) effective stress function for non-intermaterial boundary elements with a smoothed pseudo-effective stress function for elements which lie on the intermaterial boundary. Examples are presented which illustrate the effectiveness of the multi-material error estimator. The pointwise pseudo-effective stress and the L 2 norm of the estimated stress error are seen to converge with mesh refinement, while Zienkiewicz and Zhu's error estimator failed to converge for elements on the intermaterial boundary due to the physically admissible stress discontinuities that exist on the intermaterial boundary.
An Application of Invariance Principle to Pilot Model for NT-33 Aircraft with Variable Coefficients and Delays.

A method is presented for analysing pilot-induced oscillations (PIO) for the NT-33 closed-loop pilot model when retardations and coefficients are not constant. The variation of retardations and coefficients results from the effect of wind shear and the neuromuscular dynamics of the pilot reported in available data. Non-linearities in the model are also considered. The method is based on the use of a new description of such systems in terms of convolution equations. Spectral factorization is applied to the entire functions of exponential order. The result is a criterion for the PIO-system with variable coefficients and variable delays. The criterion assumes continuity and boundedness of the coefficients and delays. A Lyapunov functional is constructed which gives a criterion on the roots of a certain ‘ quasi-polynomial ’, i.e. a polynomial in a variable and the exponential of that variable. The largest domain of attraction is obtained from the ‘ invariance principle’ of LaSalle (1975).
Design Sensitivity Analysis and Optimization of Nonlinear Structural Systems With Critical Loads

A continuum formulation for design sensitivity analysis of critical loads is developed for nonlinear structural systems that are subjected to conservative loading. Both geometric and material nonlinear effects are considered. Sizing design variables such as cross-sectional areas of beam or truss design components and thicknesses of plate or membrane design components, together with their shape design variables, are treated. A continuum approach is used to obtain design sensitivity expressions in integral form. For shape design sensitivity analysis, the material derivative concept and domain method are used to find variations of the critical load due to variations in shape of the physical domain. The total Lagrangian formulation for incremental equilibrium equation and one-point linearized eigenvalue problems are utilized. A numerical method is presented to evaluate continuum design sensitivity expressions using analysis results of established finite element codes. It is found that no adjoint system is necessary for design sensitivity analysis of the critical load. Numerical results show the proposed method for design sensitivity of critical loads is accurate for both sizing and shape design variables. A numerical procedure for optimal design of nonlinear structural systems is presented, using the proposed continuum design sensitivity analysis method. An optimal design problem with a stability constraint is solved.
The Economics of US Civil War Conscription

US conscription in the Civil War is analyzed. Conscription was designed to gain federal control of enlistments, leaving state and local governments much of the fiscal and administrative responsibility for raising troops. Due to the hiring of substitutes, the payment of a fee to avoid service (commutation), and community-provided funds, only 2% of those who served were conscripted. Theory suggests that federal pay and local government bonuses increase as the marginal opposition by citizens to the number of reluctant draftees increases, and commutation could have lowered social cost. Instead, commutation was a binding ceiling on the price of substitutes. (JEL N11, N41, J45)
Radical Epistemic Self-Sufficiency on Reed's Long Road to Skepticism

Baron Reed has developed a new argument for skepticism: (1) contemporary epistemologists are all committed to two theses, fallibilism and attributabilism; unfortunately, (2) these two theses about knowledge are incompatible; therefore, (3) knowledge as conceived by contemporary epistemologists is impossible. In this brief paper I suggest that Reed's argument appears to rest on an understanding of attributabilism that is so strong (call it maximal attributabilism) that it's doubtful that many contemporary epistemologists actually embrace it. Nor does Reed offer any direct argument for the truth of maximal attributabilism. Therefore, we need not be persuaded by Reed's new argument for skepticism.
PROBING BOUND STATES OF D-BRANES

A zero-brane is used to probe non-threshold BPS bound states of (p, p + 2, p + 4) -branes. At long distances the string calculations agree with the supergravity calculations. The supergravity description is given, using the interpretation of the D = 8 dyonic membrane as the bound state of a two-brane inside a four-brane. We investigate the short distance structure of these bound states, compute the phase shift of the scattered zero-brane and find the bound states' characteristic size. It is found that there should be a supersymmetric solution of type IIa supergravity, describing a bound state of a zero-brane and two orthogonal two-branes, all inside a four-brane, with an additional unbound zero-brane. We comment on the relationship between p-branes and (p - 2)-branes.
Conservative methods for structural optimization

A method is introduced which adds a padding term to each constraint that is proportional to the gradient of the constraint. One way to implement this approach is to determine the gradients of the constraints at the unpadded optimum design, to modify the constraint allowables, and then to restart the optimization. A second implementation is proposed which imbeds the padding calculation into the optimization process by updating the padding term periodically during the optimization process. Finally an implementation which uses nonlinear constraint approximations and a second order update method is described
Nighttime nitrate radical chemistry at Appledore Island, Maine during the 2004 International Consortium for Atmospheric Research on Transport and Transformation

Received 5 April 2007; revised 22 June 2007; accepted 7 August 2007; published 2 November 2007. [1] Trace gases including nitrogen dioxide (NO2), nitrate radical (NO3), ozone (O3), and a suite of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) were measured within the New England coastal marine boundary layer on Appledore Island (AI), Maine, USA as part of the International Consortium for Atmospheric Research on Transport and Transformation (ICARTT) field campaign. These measurements, together with local meteorological records and published kinetic data were used to investigate nighttime NO3 chemistry at AI during the period of 8–28 July 2004. Among the VOCs, isoprene, monoterpenes and dimethylsulfide (DMS) were the dominant NO3 reactants; on average, DMS accounted for 51 ± 34% of the total reactivity. For three case studies, NO3 mixing ratios were calculated from measured parameters with resultant uncertainties of � 30%. Discrepancies with measured NO3 appeared to result primarily from input parameter variability and exclusion of heterogeneous dinitrogen pentoxide (N2O5) chemistry. We indirectly determined that nighttime NO3 and NOx (=NO + NO2) removal via N2O5 chemistry (gas-phase + heterogeneous) was on average 51–54% and 63–66% of the total respectively. Our analysis suggested that the minimum average NO3 and NOx removal via heterogeneous N2O5 chemistry was � 10% of the total. Reducing gas-phase N2O5 reactivity in accord with Brown et al. (2006a) increased the importance of heterogeneous N2O5 chemistry substantially. It is plausible that the latter pathway was often comparable to gas-phase removal of NO3 and NOx. Overall, 24 h-averaged NOx removal was � 11 ppbv, with nighttime chemical pathways contributing � 50%.
Obama and the White Vote

This article draws on the racial threat thesis to test if white voters who lived in areas with larger African American populations were less receptive to Barack Obama in 2008. Racial context is found to structure white voters’ evaluations of Obama and, thus, affect where the Democrats gained presidential vote share over 2004. The overall Democratic swing was lower in states where a white Democrat (Hillary Clinton) had more appeal to white voters than Obama. Obama increased the Democrats’ share of the white vote, but gains were associated with positive evaluations of Obama among white voters in places with smaller African American populations. The likelihood that a white voter supported Obama also decreased as the African American population of the respondent’s congressional district increased. The results are relevant to discussions of the future of the Voting Rights Act and to conceptions of a “postracial” America.
KSC-PaL: A Peer Learning Agent that Encourages Students to take the Initiative

We present an innovative application of dialogue processing concepts to educational technology. In a previous corpus analysis of peer learning dialogues, we found that initiative and initiative shifts are indicative of learning, and of learning-conducive episodes. We have incorporated this finding in KSC-PaL, a peer learning agent. KSC-PaL promotes learning by encouraging shifts in task initiative.
Necessary and sufficient conditions for hyperplane transversals

We prove that a finite family ℬ={B 1,B 2, ...,B n } of connected compact sets in ℝ d has a hyperplane transversal if and only if for somek there exists a set of pointsP={p 1,p 2, ...,p n } (i.e., ak-dimensional labeling of the family) which spans ℝ k and everyk+2 sets of ℬ are met by ak-flat consistent with the order type ofP. This is a common generalization of theorems of Hadwiger, Katchalski, Goodman-Pollack and Wenger.
Sequential classification on partially ordered sets

Summary. A general theorem on the asymptotically optimal sequential selection of experiments is presented and applied to a Bayesian classification problem when the parameter space is a finite partially ordered set. The main results include establishing conditions under which the posterior probability of the true state converges to 1 almost surely and determining optimal rates of convergence. Properties of a class of experiment selection rules are explored.
Forecasting the path of China's CO2 emissions using province-level information

Our results suggest that the anticipated path of China's Carbon Dioxide (CO2) emissions has dramatically increased over the last five years. The magnitude of the projected increase in Chinese emissions out to 2015 is several times larger than reductions embodied in the Kyoto Protocol. Our estimates are based on a unique provincial level panel data set from the Chinese Environmental Protection Agency. This dataset contains considerably more information relevant to the path of likely Chinese greenhouse gas emissions than national level time series models currently in use. Model selection criteria clearly reject the popular static environmental Kuznets curve specification in favor of a class of dynamic models with spatial dependence.
Scanning Advanced Automobile Technology

This introductory article overviews the progress of electrical, electronics, software, and other relevant technologies that shape the modern automobile. Some of these technologies are described in more detail in the articles that comprise this special issue
Seasonal Patterns of Futures Hedging and the Resolution of Output Uncertainty

Abstract Optimal futures hedging is examined in a two-good model with stochastic output and sequential information arrival. A producer's optimal hedge depends on demand elasticity, sensitivity of his output to weather, his correlation with aggregate output, and how rapidly his output uncertainty is resolved relative to other producers during different seasonal periods. Because regional output uncertainties are resolved at different times, the optimal futures position of a grower will commonly reverse in direction during the crop year. A producer with non-stochastic output who faces price risk arising from demand shocks may remain unhedged or even maintain a long position.
Statistics of Response of a Mistuned Bladed Disk Assembly Subjected to White Noise and Narrow Band Excitation

This paper deals with the statistics of the response of mistuned bladed disk assembly subjected to random excitation. Analytical techniques are developed to compute this statistics for two types of random excitation: white noise and narrow band. The validity of the analytical methods has been established by comparison with the results from numerical simulations. The sensitivities of the response to mistuning have been examined as a function of the width of the frequency band of the random excitation, the dominant frequency of the random excitation and the structural coupling between adjacent blades.
Spectropolarimetry of 3CR 68.1: A Highly Inclined Quasar

We present Keck spectropolarimetry of the highly polarized radio-loud quasar 3CR 68.1 ({ital z} = 1.228, {ital V} = 19). The polarization increases from 5{percent} in the red (4000 {Angstrom} rest frame) to greater than 10{percent} in the blue (1900 {Angstrom} rest frame). The broad emission lines are polarized the {ital same} as the continuum, which shows that 3CR 68.1 is not a blazar, as it has sometimes been regarded in the past. We also present measurements of the emission lines and a strong, blueshifted, associated absorption line system as well as a detection at the emission-line redshift of Ca ii K absorption, presumably from stars in the host galaxy. Neither a blazar nor a partially obscured radio-quiet QSO, 3CR 68.1 belongs to an observationally rare class of highly polarized quasars. Taking into account the other unusual properties of 3CR 68.1, such as its extremely red spectral energy distribution and its extreme lobe dominance, we explain our spectropolarimetric results in terms of unified models. We argue that we have a dusty, highly inclined view of 3CR 68.1, with reddened scattered (polarized) quasar light diluted by even more dust-reddened quasar light reaching us directly from the nucleus. {copyright} {ital {copyright} 1998.}more » {ital The American Astronomical Society}« less
Experimental and Computational Visualization and Frequency Measurements of the Jet Oscillation inside a Fluidic Oscillator

PIV measurements and computational simulations (2D, unsteady Navier-Stokes) are performed to visualize the inherently unsteady jet oscillation inside a fluidic oscillator. Both the measurements and computations are obtained for a jet exit Reynolds number of 321, based on the maximum velocity and the nozzle width at the jet exit plane. The computed jet oscillation frequency is in close agreement with the measured PIV frequency. Formation of a pressure gradient across the jet is observed from the computations. The variation of the jet oscillation frequency with jet exit Reynolds number is also determined by single sensor hot-wire measurements inside the oscillation chamber.
Ineffective field theory: when quarks are required in QCD

Abstract In the heavy quark, weak confinement limit of QCD hadron properties such as charge radii are easily calculated from the Schrodinger equation. We examine these calculations from the viewpoint of dispersion theory and show how attempts to describe hadronic phenomena entirely in terms of an effective field theory of mesons and baryons can go wrong.
Kinetics of alkaline hydrolysis of organic esters and amides in neutrally‐buffered solution

Reaction rate constants for the hydrolysis of organic esters and amides were determined at temperatures of 100–240°C in aqueous solutions buffered at pH values between 5.5 and 7.3. Experiments are modeled assuming alkaline hydrolysis with a thermodynamic solution model included to account for the temperature dependence of hydroxide ion concentration. In most cases, the ester hydrolysis second order rate constants agree well with published values from experiments in strongly basic solutions at pH values from 11 to 14 and temperatures from 25–80°C, despite the large extrapolations required to compare the data sets. The amide hydrolysis rate constants are about one order of magnitude higher than the extrapolated results from other investigators, but the reaction rate increased proportionally with hydroxide ion concentration, suggesting that an alkaline hydrolysis mechanism is also appropriate. These data establish the validity of the alkaline hydrolysis mechanism and can be used to predict hydrolysis reaction rates in neutrally-buffered solutions such as many groundwater and geothermal fluids.
Binary quantum search

We consider a database with one target item. Partial search is designed to find a part of the database [a block] containing the target item. After a user finds the target block he/she might want to make another partial search: subdivide the target block into sub-blocks and look for a sub-block containing the target item. An example: if we need to go to a hotel, we first look at a State map [to find highways] and then at a town map [to find a local approach to the hotel]. Number of queries necessary for sequential searches is calculated in the paper. Sequential partial search can be done faster the first one.
Quantitative structural analysis of dispersed vanadia species in TiO2(anatase)-supported V2O5

V2O5-TiO2(anatase) catalysts have been studied under oxidizing and reducing conditions using in situ laser Raman spectroscopy (LRS) and temperature-programmed reduction (TPR) and oxidation (TPO). Quantitative Raman and TPO analysis of the oxidized samples show that these materials are comprised of a distribution of monomeric vanadyls, polymeric vanadates, and crystallites of V2O5. At low loadings, the predominant species are monomeric vanadyls, with the remaining vanadia being present in the form of polymeric vanadates. As the surface concentration of V2O5 increases, a maximum in the concentration of the polymeric vanadates is detected. Crystallites of V2O5 form at the expense of the polymeric vanadates as the loading is raised above the dispersive capacity of the TiO2(anatase) support. An equilibrium polymerization model is proposed to account for the observed concentration of vanadia species, which leads to an initial polymer size of ∼2 at low loadings, consistent with the formation of dimeric species. Raman and TPR/TPO studies of the reduction process indicate that the terminal V = 0 groups of the monomeric and polymeric vanadia species are removed preferentially to the bridging oxygen atoms of the polymeric species. The maximum loss of oxygen upon reduction is one oxygen atom per vanadium atom.
Cognitive Functioning, Mental Health, and Quality of Life in ICU Survivors: An Overview

Critical illness can and often does lead to significant cognitive impairment and to the development of psychological disorders. These conditions are persistent and, although they improve with time, often fail to completely abate. Although the functional correlates of cognitive and psychological morbidity (depression, anxiety, and posttraumatic stress disorder) have been studied, they may include poor quality of life, inability to return to work or to work at previously established levels, and inability to function effectively in emotional and interpersonal domains. The potential etiologies of cognitive impairment and psychological morbidity in ICU survivors are particularly poorly understood and may vary widely across patients. Potential contributors may include the potentially toxic effects of sedatives and narcotics, delirium, hypoxia, glucose dysregulation, metabolic derangements, and inflammation. Patients with preexisting vulnerabilities, including predisposing genetic factors, and frail elderly populations may be at particular risk for emergence of acceleration of conditions such as mild cognitive impairment.
How important are next-to-leading order models in predicting strange particle spectra in p+p collisions at STAR?

STAR has measured a variety of strange particle species in p+p collisions at \(\sqrt{s}\) =200 GeV. These high statistics data are ideal for comparing to existing leading- and next-to-leading order perturbative QCD (pQCD) models. Next-to-leading (NLO) models have been successful in describing inclusive hadron production using parameterized fragmentation functions (FF) for quarks and gluons. However, in order to describe identified strange particle spectra at NLO, knowledge of flavor separated FF is essential. Such FF have recently been parameterized using data by the OPAL experiment and allow for the first time to perform NLO calculation for strange baryons. In fact, comparing the STAR Λ data with these calculations allow to put a constraint on the gluon fragmentation function. We show that the leading-order (LO) event generator PYTHIA has to be tuned significantly to reproduce the STAR identified strange particle data. In particular, it fails to describe the observed enhancement of baryon-to-meson ratio at intermediate pT (2–6 GeV/c). In heavy-ion (HI) collisions this observable has been extensively compared with models and shows a strong dependency on collision centrality or parton density. In the HI context the observed enhancement has been explained by recent approaches in terms of parton coalescense and recombination models.
Investigation of Pre-stall Mode and Pip Inception in High-Speed Compressors Through the Use of Correlation Integral

Five high-speed compressor configurations are used to identify pre-stall pressure signal activity under clean and distorted inlet conditions, and under steady injection and controlled injection conditions. Through the use of a nonlinear statistic called correlation integral, variations in the compressor dynamics are identified from the pre-stall pressure activity far before variations (modal or pip) are observed visually in the wall static pressure measurements. The correlation integral not only discerns changing dynamics of these compressors prior to stall, but is now used to measure the strength of the tip flow field for these five high-speed compressors. Results show that correlation integral value changes dramatically when the stall inception is modal; and it changes less severely when the stall inception is through pip disturbances. This algorithm can therefore distinguish from the pre-stall pressure traces when a machine is more likely to stall due to pips versus modes. When used in this manner, the correlation integral thus provides a measure of tip flow strength. The algorithm requires no predisposition about the expected behavior of the data in order to detect changing dynamics in the compressor; thus, no pre-filtering is necessary. However, by band-pass filtering the data, one can monitor changing dynamics in the tip flow field for various frequency regimes. An outcome of this is to associate changes in correlation integral value directly with frequency specific events occurring in the compressor, i.e., blade length scale events versus long length scale acoustic events. The correlation integral provides a potential advantage over linear spectral techniques The correlation integral provides a potential advantage over linear spectral techniques because a single sensor is used for detection and analysis of the instabilities.
The importance of accounting changes in debt contracts: the cost of flexibility in covenant calculations☆

Abstract In this paper, we examine how the exclusion of voluntary and mandatory accounting changes from the calculation of covenant compliance affects the interest rate charged on the loan. After controlling for self-selection bias and other factors known to affect loan spreads, we find that the rate charged is 84 basis points lower when voluntary accounting changes are excluded and 71 basis points lower when mandatory accounting changes are excluded. Our results suggest that borrowers are willing to pay substantially higher interest rates to retain accounting flexibility that may help them avoid covenant violations and to avoid duplicate record-keeping costs.
SYNTHESIS OF LIPOPHILIC 1-SUBSTITUTED DIAZEN-1-IUM-1,2-DIOLATES

A new class of 1-substituted diazen-1-ium-1, 2-diolates (nitric oxide donors previously known as NONOates) were obtained by preparing esters of the naturally occurring polyamines putreanine (1) and spermic acid (2) with either cholesterol or hexadecanol. The syntheses of the following compounds and the corresponding NONOates are reported : cholesterylputreanine (5), dicholesterylspermate (6), hexadecanylputreanine (7), and dihexadecanylspermate (8).
Light-Front Holography and the Light-Front Coupled-Cluster Method

We summarize the light-front coupled-cluster (LFCC) method for the solution of field-theoretic bound-state eigenvalue problems and indicate the connection with light-front holographic QCD. This includes a sample application of the LFCC method and leads to a relativistic quark model for mesons that adds longitudinal dynamics to the usual transverse light-front holographic Schrodinger equation.
Emitter-collector shorts in bipolar devices

Although emitter-collector shorts may result from a number of processing problems, the phenomenon known as `pipes' represents one of the most interesting and most troublesome sources of such electrical shorts in bipolar circuits. In this review paper, several observations on the nature and causes of pipes are discussed, as well as means to evaluate their incidence and to control their occurrence.
Protecting browsers from DNS rebinding attacks

DNS rebinding attacks subvert the same-origin policy of browsers, converting them into open network proxies. Using DNS rebinding, an attacker can circumvent organizational and personal firewalls, send spam email, and defraud pay-per-click advertisers. We evaluate the cost effectiveness of mounting DNS rebinding attacks, finding that an attacker requires less than d100 to hijack 100,000 IP addresses. We analyze defenses to DNS rebinding attacks, including improvements to the classic “DNS pinning,” and recommend changes to browser plug-ins, firewalls, and Web servers. Our defenses have been adopted by plug-in vendors and by a number of open-source firewall implementations.
Quasi-angular momentum of Bose and Fermi gases in rotating optical lattices

The notion of quasi-angular momentum is introduced to label the eigenstates of a Hamiltonian with a discrete rotational symmetry. This concept is recast in an operatorial form where the creation and annihilation operators of a Hubbard Hamiltonian carry units of quasi-angular momentum. Using this formalism, the ground states of ultracold gases of non-interacting fermions in rotating optical lattices are studied as a function of rotation, and transitions between states of different quasi-angular momentum are identified. In addition, previous results for strongly-interacting bosons are re-examined and compared to the results for non-interacting fermions. Quasi-angular momentum can be used to distinguish between these two cases. Finally, an experimentally accessible signature of quasi-angular momentum is identified in the momentum distributions of single-particle eigenstates.
Decoupling of heavy Kaluza–Klein modes in models with five-dimensional scalar fields*

We investigate the decoupling of heavy Kaluza?Klein modes in 4 theory and scalar QED with spacetime topology . We calculate the one-loop low-energy effective action by integrating out heavy KK modes. We construct generalized RGE's for the couplings with respect to the compactification scale M. With the solutions to the RG-like equations we find the M-scale dependence of the effective theory due to higher dimensional quantum effects. We find that the heavy modes decouple in 4 theory, but do not in scalar QED. All the non-decoupling effects are due to the zero mode of the fifth component of the 5D gauge field A5. Because A5 is a scalar under 4D Lorentz transformations, there is no gauge symmetry protecting it from getting mass and A45 interaction terms after loop corrections. In addition, operators are induced that violate charge universality. In light of these unpleasant features, we explore compactifications, which eliminate A5, allowing for the heavy modes to decouple at low energies. A set of RG-like equations with respect to the compactification scale is derived for the couplings in scalar QED on the orbifold. It is found that both couplings become weaker as the compactification scale increases. We also explore the possibility of restoring decoupling by including higher dimensional operators. It is found that this is possible, but a high degree of fine tuning is required.
QUANTILE CALCULUS AND CENSORED REGRESSION

Quantile regression has been advocated in survival analysis to assess evolving covariate effects. However, challenges arise when the censoring time is not always observed and may be covariate-dependent, particularly in the presence of continuously-distributed covariates. In spite of several recent advances, existing methods either involve algorithmic complications or impose a probability grid. The former leads to difficulties in the implementation and asymptotics, whereas the latter introduces undesirable grid dependence. To resolve these issues, we develop fundamental and general quantile calculus on cumulative probability scale in this article, upon recognizing that probability and time scales do not always have a one-to-one mapping given a survival distribution. These results give rise to a novel estimation procedure for censored quantile regression, based on estimating integral equations. A numerically reliable and efficient Progressive Localized Minimization (PLMIN) algorithm is proposed for the computation. This procedure reduces exactly to the Kaplan–Meier method in the k-sample problem, and to standard uncensored quantile regression in the absence of censoring. Under regularity conditions, the proposed quantile coefficient estimator is uniformly consistent and converges weakly to a Gaussian process. Simulations show good statistical and algorithmic performance. The proposal is illustrated in the application to a clinical study.
Self-Organized Criticality in Proteins: Hydropathic Roughening Profiles of G-Protein Coupled Receptors

Proteins appear to be the most dramatic natural example of self-organized criticality (SOC), a concept that explains many otherwise apparently unlikely phenomena. Protein conformational functionality is often dominated by long-range hydrophobic or hydrophilic interactions which both drive protein compaction and mediate protein-protein interactions. Superfamily transmembrane G-protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs) are the largest family of proteins in the human genome; their amino acid sequences form the largest database for protein-membrane interactions. While there are now structural data on the heptad transmembrane structures of representatives of several heptad families, here we show how fresh insights into global and some local chemical trends in GPCR properties can be obtained accurately from sequences alone, especially by algebraically separating the extracellular and cytoplasmic loops from transmembrane segments. The global mediation of long-range water-protein interactions occurs in conjunction with modulation of these interactions by roughened interfaces. Hydropathic roughening profiles are defined here solely in terms of amino acid sequences, and knowledge of protein coordinates is not required. Roughening profiles both for GPCR and some simpler protein families display accurate and transparent connections to protein functionality, and identify natural length scales for protein functionality.
Isolation of Reduced Zirconium Chloride Clusters [(Zr6CCl12)Cl6]4− and [(Zr6BCl12)Cl6]5− from Acidic Aqueous Solution

Crystallizable from concentrated hydrochloric acid: Compounds containing [(Zr6 BCl12 )Cl6 ]5- and [(Zr6 CCl12 )Cl6 ]4- clusters survive dissolution in deoxygenated water, and this enabled the study of reduced zirconium compounds in aqueous solution for the first time. In the solid state, the clusters are surrounded by novel hydrogen-bonded water networks that interact with the terminal chloride ligands (see graphic; black circles: Zr, smaller circle: B, gray circles: Cl, open circles: O of H2 O).