cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Second-best biofuel policies and the welfare effects of quantity mandates and subsidies

Abstract The quest for biorenewable energy sources is held to justify a number of government interventions, including support policies for biofuels such as those responsible for the recent rapid growth of US ethanol production. This article provides an analytical assessment of such policies. We construct a general equilibrium, open economy model that captures the rationale typically invoked to justify government intervention in this setting: to alleviate the environmental impact of energy consumption and to decrease US energy dependence on foreign sources. The model is used to study both the positive and normative implications of alternative policy instruments, including the subsidies and mandates specified by the 2007 Energy Independence and Security Act. From a positive perspective, we find that biofuels mandates are equivalent to a combination of fuel taxes and biofuels subsidies that are revenue neutral. From a welfare perspective, we show that biofuels mandates dominate biofuels subsidies, and that combining fuel taxes with mandates would be welfare enhancing.
Home Price Risk, Local Market Shocks, and Index Hedging

All real estate markets are local, or so the conventional wisdom goes. But just how local is local? I address this question empirically using over 75,000 repeat-sales transactions from a large suburban county of Washington D.C.. I construct and evaluate a variety of local home price indices defined by geography, price, and home type. I also calculate “house-specific” indices using locally weighted regressions with maximized kernel bandwidths. On the whole, local indices add a moderate amount of explanatory power relative to metropolitan indices. In my sample, the metropolitan index explains 50–75% of the variation in home price shocks, and local indices add 3–7% more. In an index hedging framework, homeowners should be willing to pay 5–10% to hedge with a local index versus a metropolitan index alone.
A Review of the Quality-of-Life Aspects of Urinary Urge Incontinence

Urinary incontinence (UI) is prevalent and costly, occurring in 15 to 30% of the US population over the age of 60 years. Among people aged 15 to 64 years, UI occurs in 1.5 to 5% of men and 10 to 25% of women. Severe incontinence occurs in 6% of the general US population, and it is estimated that $US10 billion per year is spent in direct costs alone on care for these patients. This review presents a description of the various types of UI and describes the prevalence and costs of the condition. In addition, 3 approaches to assessing the impact of UI on quality of life are discussed, namely generic measures, disease-specific measures and qualitative approaches. We also review papers on UI and sexual functioning, UI in men, and some aspects of treatment. The review was conducted in the process of developing a new disease-specific measure for urinary urge incontinence (UUI). In general, the literature suggests that UUI has a greater impact than stress incontinence on quality of life, and that UI affects social and psychological functioning more than physical functioning. Only in a minority of individuals is the impact of UI disabling; however, most individuals with UI show significant reduction in their social functioning. Several studies suggest that the impact of UI is not solely a function of its severity, but also depends on individual coping abilities. Some studies also indicate that the social problems associated with UI grow with time, but it is not clear if that is a function of increasing severity of the condition, or the particular adaptations required for coping with this problem. An important distinction appears to be the ability of individuals to avoid public notice of their condition because of uncontrolled accidents. In summary, there is a need for a new measure of the quality-of-life impact of UUI that is based on the literature and on in-depth interviews with patients.
NS branes in type I theory

Abstract We consider novel nonperturbative effects of type I theories compactified on singular ALE spaces obtained by adding NS branes. Such effects include a description of small E 8 instantons at singularities.
A Gröbner basis approach to CNF-formulae preprocessing

This paper presents a CNF SAT-formulae transformation technique employing Grobner bases as a means to analyze the problem structure. Grobner-bases have been applied in the past for SAT; however, their use was primarily restricted to analyzing entire problems for proof-refutation. In contrast, this technique analyzes limited subsets of problems, and uses the derived Grobner bases to yield new constraint-information. This information is then used to reduce problemstructure, provide additional information about the problem itself, or aid other preprocessing techniques. Contrary to the precepts of contemporary techniques, the transformation often increases the problem size. However, experimental results demonstrate that our approach often improves SAT-search efficiency in a number of areas, including: solve time, conflicts, number of decisions, etc.
A resonant-term-based model including a nascent disk, precession, and oblateness: application to GJ 876

Investigations of two resonant planets orbiting a star or two resonant satellites orbiting a planet often rely on a few resonant and secular terms in order to obtain a representative quantitative description of the system’s dynamical evolution. We present a semianalytic model which traces the orbital evolution of any two resonant bodies in a first- through fourth-order eccentricity or inclination-based resonance dominated by the resonant and secular arguments of the user’s choosing. By considering the variation of libration width with different orbital parameters, we identify regions of phase space which give rise to different resonant “depths,” and propose methods to model libration profiles. We apply the model to the GJ 876 extrasolar planetary system, quantify the relative importance of the relevant resonant and secular contributions, and thereby assess the goodness of the common approximation of representing the system by just the presumably dominant terms. We highlight the danger in using “order” as the metric for accuracy in the orbital solution by revealing the unnatural libration centers produced by the second-order, but not first-order, solution, and by demonstrating that the true orbital solution lies somewhere “in-between” the third- and fourth-order solutions. We also present formulas used to incorporate perturbations from central-body oblateness and precession, and a protoplanetary or protosatellite thin disk with gaps, into a resonant system. We quantify the contributions of these perturbations into the GJ 876 system, and thereby highlight the conditions which must exist for multi-planet exosystems to be significantly influenced by such factors. We find that massive enough disks may convert resonant libration into circulation; such disk-induced signatures may provide constraints for future studies of exoplanet systems.
Microbial Iron Acquisition: Marine and Terrestrial Siderophores

The vast majority of bacteria require iron for growth.1,2 Iron is an essential element required for key biological processes including amino acid synthesis, oxygen transport, respiration, nitrogen fixation, methanogenesis, the citric acid cycle, photosynthesis and DNA biosynthesis. However, obtaining iron presents challenges for the majority of microorganisms. While iron is the fourth most abundant transition metal in the Earth's crust, the insolubility of iron(III) [Ksp of Fe(OH)3 = 10-39] at physiological pH in aerobic environments severely limits the availability of this essential nutrient. Pathogenic and marine bacteria face similar challenges for obtaining iron because both live in very low iron environments. Bacteria typically require micromolar levels of total iron for growth, yet the iron concentration in the surface waters of the oceans is only 0.01-2 nM.3-7 In humans cellular iron is also very low and is sequestered by lactoferrin, transferrin, and ferritin as a primary defense mechanism at the onset of infection.8 Given its cellular importance, it is not surprising that microbes have evolved multiple pathways designed to extract iron from their surrounding environments, tailored to the molecular constraints of the iron pool (Figure 1). Figure 1 Microbial (Gram negative) iron uptake pathways. In this review the general pathways by which bacteria acquire iron are considered first as an overview to illustrate the singular importance of iron for microbial growth. The focus of this review is on siderophore-mediated iron uptake, particularly structural characteristics of marine siderophores and the reactivity that these characteristics confer. Relatively little is known about marine microbial iron transport compared to that for terrestrial and pathogenic microbes, yet comparison of the structures and reactivity may hint at the biological advantage that these structural traits confer to marine microbes and very possibly provide insights to siderophore-mediated iron uptake in some pathogens.
Robust topology control in multi-hop cognitive radio networks

The opening of under-utilized spectrum creates the opportunity of substantial performance improvement through cognitive radio techniques. However, the real network performance may be limited since unlicensed users must vacate and switch to other available spectrum if the current spectrum is reclaimed by the licensed (primary) users. During spectrum switching, network partitions may occur since multiple links may be affected if they use the channel reclaimed by the primary users. In this paper, we address this problem through robust topology control, where channels are assigned to minimize channel interference while maintaining network connectivity when primary users appear. The problem is proved to be NP-hard and a sufficient condition for a robust channel assignment is derived. To solve this problem, we first propose centralized algorithms which can reduce the channel interference while satisfying the robustness constraints. Moreover, we derive its performance bound on channel interference and its computational overhead through theoretical analysis. Then, we propose distributed algorithms based on channel hopping techniques, and prove their correctness. Simulation results show that our solutions outperform existing interference-aware approaches substantially when primary users appear and achieve similar performance at other times.
An Absurd Tax on our Fellow Citizens: The Ethics of Rent Seeking in the Market Failures (or Self-Regulation) Approach

Joseph Heath lumps in quotas and protectionist measures with cartelization, taking advantage of information asymmetries, seeking a monopoly position, and so on, as all instances of behavior that can lead to market failures in his market failures approach to business ethics. The problem is that this kind of rent and rent seeking, when they fail to deliver desirable outcomes, are better described as government failure. I suggest that this means we will have to expand Heath’s framework to a market and government failures approach. I then try to defuse objections that as a government failure, rent seeking may not appear relevant to what managers ought to do. Solving this conceptual issue will also give us an excuse to revisit a separate conceptual issue: the normatively thick conception of “rent” and rent seeking behavior that some use. This normatively thick conception is problematic, I argue, and I offer the beginnings of a novel, normatively neutral conception that is useful for our purposes in making the ethics of rent and rent seeking behavior more than a merely trivial exercise.
Antecedents and Consequences of Project Team Potency: An Investigation of the Role of Project Team Culture in the Development of Project Team Potency

We examined the effect of project team culture on the evolution of project team potency in a sample of 110 project teams. Little is known about the factors responsible for the development of project team potency - the collective belief of a project team that it can be effective. Results revealed that project team culture is related to project team potency, and that project team potency is related to project success. Our findings provide project leaders with a tool on how to enhance project success by influencing project team potency, through a change in project team culture.
Progress in bismuth vanadate photoanodes for use in solar water oxidation

Harvesting energy directly from sunlight as nature accomplishes through photosynthesis is a very attractive and desirable way to solve the energy challenge. Many efforts have been made to find appropriate materials and systems that can utilize solar energy to produce chemical fuels. One of the most viable options is the construction of a photoelectrochemical cell that can reduce water to H2 or CO2 to carbon-based molecules. Bismuth vanadate (BiVO4) has recently emerged as a promising material for use as a photoanode that oxidizes water to O2 in these cells. Significant advancement in the understanding and construction of efficient BiVO4-based photoanode systems has been made within a short period of time owing to various newly developed ideas and approaches. In this review, the crystal and electronic structures that are closely related to the photoelectrochemical properties of BiVO4 are described first, and the photoelectrochemical properties and limitations of BiVO4 are examined. Subsequently, the latest efforts toward addressing these limitations in order to improve the performances of BiVO4-based photoanodes are discussed. These efforts include morphology control, formation of composite structures, composition tuning, and coupling oxygen evolution catalysts. The discussions and insights provided in this review reflect the most recent approaches and directions for general photoelectrode developments and they will be directly applicable for the understanding and improvement of other photoelectrode systems.
Effects of bottom injection on heat transfer and fluid flow in rectangular cavities

A numerical study is performed for investigating the effects of bottom injection on the heat transfer in a cavity. The Reynolds number (based on the cavity height and bulk mean velocity over the cavity) ranges in value from 100 to 1000. The cavity aspect ratios W/D investigated are 1, 6, and 10. The injection flow rate varies between 2-20% of the bulk flow rate. With the injectant temperature maintained the same as the cavity wall temperature, the effects of injection-reduced cavity heat transfer are strongly dependent on all the parameters aforementioned. For given injection rate and Reynolds number, the degree of heat-transfer reduction increases with a decrease of cavity aspect ratio. In addition, the current results suggest that the heat-transfer correlations presented in previous studies for cavities with aspect ratio of unity overestimate the extent of heat-transfer reduction for wider cavities.
Weyl group multiple Dirichlet series of type C

We develop the theory of Weyl group multiple Dirichlet series for root systems of type C. For a root system of rank r and a positive integer n, these are Dirichlet series in r complex variables with analytic continuation and functional equations isomorphic to the associated Weyl group. They conjecturally arise as Whittaker coefficients of Eisenstein series on a metaplectic group with cover degree n. For type C and n odd, we construct an infinite family of Dirichlet series and prove they satisfy the above analytic properties in many cases. The coefficients are exponential sums built from Gelfand‐Tsetlin bases of certain highest weight representations. Previous attempts to define such series by Brubaker, Bump, and Friedberg required n sufficiently large, so that coefficients were described by Weyl group orbits. We demonstrate that these two radically different descriptions match when both are defined. Moreover, for n D 1, we prove our series are Whittaker coefficients of Eisenstein series on SO.2r C 1/.
The influence of source terms on a gradient-based curvilinear grid scheme applied to a reacting flow

Abstract One-dimensional simulations provide an appropriate level of detail for studying the reactor dynamics of gas–solid metal hydride absorption heat pumps, which are a class of reacting flows. Because of the high energy densities and consequent difficulty in optimizing the reactors for finite time thermal performance, steep concentration gradients develop near energy transfer boundaries. With a uniform and fixed grid capable of resolving the gradients, the computational cost of a simulation can be considerable. Adaptive grid methods have been shown to reduce the computational cost in several classes of problems by reducing the overall discretization error compared to fixed grids using the same number of nodes through redistribution of node density. However the class of problems including mass and energy source terms, which are a prominent feature in reacting flows, are not well represented in the literature. In this paper an adaptive moving grid formulation is developed for a model of a metal hydride heat pump and the influence of the source terms evaluated. The grid satisfies an elliptic mesh equation to ensure smoothness, and grid motion is determined by a gradient-based logarithmic weight function of the absorbed hydrogen concentration, which avoids grid collapse. The strategy is shown to improve the resolution of monotonic gradients near heat transfer boundaries. The scheme performs less well when features exhibiting curvature appear simultaneously.
Novel oxidation of 1,2-Dibenzylhydrazines with carbon tetrachloride

1,2-Dibenzyhydrazines are cleanly oxidized to the corresponding ω,ω'-azotoluenes by carbon tetrachloride; carried out under phase-transfer conditions in the presence of sodium carbonate, the new reaction provides a clean, inexpensive, nearly quantitative route to the azotoluenes.
Uniqueness property for spherical homogeneous spaces

Let G be a connected reductive group. Recall that a homogeneous G-space X is called spherical if a Borel subgroup B ⊂ G has an open orbit on X. To X one assigns certain combinatorial invariants: the weight lattice, the valuation cone and the set of B-stable prime divisors. We prove that two spherical homogeneous spaces with the same combinatorial invariants are equivariantly isomorphic. Further, we recover the group of G-equivariant automorphisms of X from these invariants.
11β-Hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase-type 2 evolved from an ancestral 17β-Hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase-type 2

11β-Hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase-type 2 (11β-HSD2) regulates the local concentration of cortisol that can activate the glucocorticoid receptor and mineralocorticoid receptor, as well as the concentration of 11-keto-testosterone, the active androgen in fish. Similarly, 17β-HSD2 regulates the levels of testosterone and estradiol that activate the androgen receptor and estrogen receptor, respectively. Interestingly, although human 11β-HSD2 and 17β-HSD2 act at different positions on different steroids, these enzymes are paralogs. Despite the physiological importance of 11β-HSD2 and 17β-HSD2, details of their origins and divergence from a common ancestor are not known. An opportunity to understand their evolution is presented by the recent sequencing of genomes from sea urchin, a basal deuterostome, and amphioxus, a basal chordate, and the availability of substantial sequence for acorn worm and elephant shark, which together provide a more complete dataset for analysis of the origins of 11β-HSD2 and 17β-HSD2. BLAST searches find an ancestral sequence of 17β-HSD2 in sea urchin, acorn worm and amphioxus, while an ancestral sequence of 11β-HSD2 first appears in sharks. Sequence analyses indicate that 17β-HSD2 in sea urchin may have a non-enzymatic activity. Evolutionary analyses indicate that if acorn worm 17β-HSD2 is catalytically active, then it metabolizes novel substrate(s).
On a class of diverse market models

A market model in Stochastic Portfolio Theory is a finite system of strictly positive stochastic processes. Each process represents the capitalization of a certain stock. If at any time no stock dominates almost the entire market, which means that its share of total market capitalization is not very close to one, then the market is called diverse. There are several ways to outperform diverse markets and get an arbitrage opportunity, and this makes these markets interesting. A feature of real-world markets is that stocks with smaller capitalizations have larger drift coefficients. Some models, like the volatility-stabilized model, try to capture this property, but they are not diverse. In an attempt to combine this feature with diversity, we construct a new class of market models. We find simple, easy-to-test sufficient conditions for them to be diverse and other sufficient conditions for them not to be diverse.
Coded aperture imaging for fluorescent x-rays

We employ a coded aperture pattern in front of a pixilated charge couple device detector to image fluorescent x-rays (6–25 KeV) from samples irradiated with synchrotron radiation. Coded apertures encode the angular direction of x-rays, and given a known source plane, allow for a large numerical aperture x-ray imaging system. The algorithm to develop and fabricate the free standing No-Two-Holes-Touching aperture pattern was developed. The algorithms to reconstruct the x-ray image from the recorded encoded pattern were developed by means of a ray tracing technique and confirmed by experiments on standard samples.
A Fast and Usually Linear Algorithm for Global Flow Analysis

A new algorithm for global flow analysis on reducible graphs is presented. The algorithm is shown to treat a very general class of function spaces. For a graph of e edges, the algorithm has a worst-case time bound of O(e log e) function operations. It is also shown that in programming terms, the number of operations is proportional to e plus the number of exits from program loops. Consequently a restriction to one-entry one-exit control structures guarantees linearity. The algorithm can be extended to yet larger classes of function spaces and graphs by relaxing the time bound. Examples are given of code improvement problems which can be solved using the algorithm.
The emergence of market monitoring in Japanese banks: Evidence from the subordinated debt market

Abstract This paper uses a unique data set on the spreads of subordinated debts issued by Japanese banks to investigate the presence of market monitoring. The results show that subordinated debt investors punished weak banks by requiring higher interest rates. Moreover, I find that the spreads and the sensitivity of spreads to Moody’s bank ratings both increased dramatically after the Japanese government allowed a large city bank, Hokkaido Takushoku Bank, to fail and passed the Financial Reform Act and the Rapid Revitalization Act in the late 1990s. These results suggest that the decline of conjectural guarantee led to the emergence of market monitoring. In addition, I find the relationship between spreads and accounting measures of bank risk to be quite fragile.
Bootstrap critical values for tests based on the smoothed maximum score estimator

The smoothed maximum score estimator of the coefficient vector of a binary response model is consistent and asymptotically normal under weak distributional assumptions. However, the differences between the true and nominal levels of tests based on smoothed maximum score estimates can be very large in finite samples when first-order asymptotics are used to obtain critical values. This paper gives conditions under which the differences between the true and nominal levels can be reduced by using the bootstrap to obtain critical values. A set of Monte Carlo experiments illustrates the numerical performance of the bootstrap.
Analysis of construction dispute review boards

The construction industry has long been burdened with inherent adversarial relationships among the parties and the resulting disputes. Dispute review boards (DRBs) have emerged as alternatives to settle construction-related disputes outside courts. Although DRBs have found support in some quarters of the construction industry, the quantitative assessment of the impact of DRBs has not been adequately addressed. This paper presents the results of a research project undertaken to assess the impact of DRBs on the construction program of a large-scale highway agency. Three dimensions of DRB impact were assessed: (1) influence on project cost and schedule performance, (2) effectiveness of DRBs in preventing and resolving construction disputes, and (3) costs of DRB implementation. The analyses encompass data from approximately 3,000 projects extending over a 10-year period (2000–2009). Quantitative measures of performance were developed and analyzed for each category. Projects that used DRBs faced reduced costs and schedule growth (6.88 and 12.92%, respectively) when compared to non-DRB projects (11.53 and 28.96%). DRBs were also found to be effective in avoiding and settling disputes; the number of arbitration cases reduced consistently after DRB implementation, and DRBs have a success rate of 97% in settling disputes for which DRBs were used. Moreover, costs of DRBs were found to comprise a relatively small fraction (i.e., approximately 0.3%) of total project budgets. It was concluded that DRBs were effective dispute prevention and resolution alternatives with no significant adverse effects on project performance.
Analytical and Experimental Characterization of Gravity Induced Deformations In Subscale Gossamer Structures

The development of gossamer space structures such as solar sails and sunshields presents many challenges due to their large size and extreme flexibility. The post-deployment structural geometry exhibited during ground testing may significantly depart from the in-space configuration due to the presence of gravity-induced deformations (gravity sag) of lightly preloaded membranes. This paper describes a study carried out to characterize gravity sag in two subscale gossamer structures: a single quadrant from a 2 m, 4 quadrant square solar sail and a 1.7 m membrane layer from a multi-layer sunshield The behavior of the test articles was studied over a range of preloads and in several orientations with respect to gravity. An experimental study was carried out to measure the global surface profiles using photogrammetry, and nonlinear finite element analysis was used to predict the behavior of the test articles. Comparison of measured and predicted surface profiles shows that the finite dement analysis qualitatively predicts deformed shapes comparable to those observed in the laboratory. Quantitatively, finite element analysis predictions for peak gravity-induced deformations in both test articles were within 10% of measured values. Results from this study provide increased insight into gravity sag behavior in gossamer structures, and demonstrates the potential to analytically predict gravity-induced deformations to within reasonable accuracy.
Does Congruence between Audit Structure and Auditors' Locus of Control Affect Job Performance?

This study examines how auditors' job performance is affected by the interaction between individual auditors' locus of control and the extent to which the employing audit firm uses a structured audit technology. We distributed an instrument that measures locus of control (“internal” vs. “external”) and other key constructs to staff‐ and senior‐level auditors from the two most structured and the two least structured (then) Big 6 accounting firms. Results indicate that supervisor‐assessed job performance is positively associated with the “fit” between individual auditors' locus of control and the employing firm's audit structure. Specifically, auditors who have an internal locus of control perform at a higher level at unstructured than at structured firms, on average, while auditors who have an external locus of control perform better at structured than at unstructured firms. These findings are relevant to audit firms and individual auditors seeking a match between personal and firm characteristics, and to ...
A uniqueness result on boundary interpolation

Let f be an analytic function mapping the unit disk D into itself. We give necessary and sufficient conditions on the local behavior of f near a finite set of boundary points that require f to be a finite Blaschke product.
Exposed Water Ice Discovered near the South Pole of Mars

The Mars Odyssey Thermal Emission Imaging System (THEMIS) has discovered water ice exposed near the edge of Mars' southern perennial polar cap. The surface H2O ice was first observed by THEMIS as a region that was cooler than expected for dry soil at that latitude during the summer season. Diurnal and seasonal temperature trends derived from Mars Global Surveyor Thermal Emission Spectrometer observations indicate that there is H2O ice at the surface. Viking observations, and the few other relevant THEMIS observations, indicate that surface H2O ice may be widespread around and under the perennial CO2 cap.
Putting Popular Music in its Place

Acknowledgements Preface 1. Modernist narratives and popular music 2. Rock and the facts of life 3. Changing patterns in society and music: the US since World War II 4. 'If I Were a Voice': or, the Hutchinson family and popular song as political and social protest 5. Some thoughts on the measurement of popularity in music 6. Elvis, a review 7. Home cooking and American soul in black South African popular music 8. Rock 'n' roll in a very strange society 9. African-American music, South Africa and apartheid 10. 'The constant companion of man': Separate Development, Radio Bantu and music 11. Privileging the moment of reception: music and radio in South Africa 12. Music and radio in the People's Republic of China 13. Towards a new reading of Gershwin 14. A blues for the ages 15. Graceland revisited 16. Dvorak in America: nationalism, racism and national race 17. The last minstrel show? 18. The Role of Rock, a review 19. Genre, performance and ideology in the early songs of Irving Berlin 20. Epilogue: John Cage revisited Index.
Analysis of the Changing Influences on Traditional Households' Ownership Patterns

Abstract Sociological and economic forces have begun to alter ownership patterns in ways not yet captured by movements in the aggregate ownership rate. While demographic factors such as marital status and family structure remain influential in determining tenure choice, their impact has waned, particularly among the best educated households and those with rising real incomes. Labor market conditions, as evidenced by increasing returns to skill, are more strongly felt than ever before in the housing market. The impact on owning of being highly educated now rivals the influence of being married with minor children. Increasingly delayed ownership is a reality, even for traditional family units with 36- to 45-year-old heads that have not prospered in the labor market. The rising real cost of even relatively inexpensive suburban housing is also beginning to be reflected in a heightened impact for real family income on tenure choice. Finally, race currently is more adversely influential in determining suburban ownership for young, middle-aged minority families than it was in 1960, particularly if the household head is not well educated. We suspect this is due to racially disparate impacts of increasingly rigorous zoning regulations and higher impact fees in the suburbs.
Synthesis and initial structure–Activity relationships of a novel series of imidazolo[1,2-a]pyrimid-5-ones as potent GnRH receptor antagonists

Abstract SAR studies of 2-arylimidazolo[1,2- a ]pyrimid-5-ones 10a – m , which were derived from initial lead 3a , resulted in the discovery of a series of potent nonpeptide human GnRH receptor antagonists. Compounds with good potency (e.g., 10e , K i =7.5 nM) were prepared by introduction of a 2-(2-pyridyl)ethyl at the basic nitrogen and a 3-pentyl ester at the 6-position of the bicyclic core.
Hannah Arendt’s Case for Federalism

Hannah Arendt developed an acute defense of Republican Federalism as an alternative to the prevailing model of state sovereignty. However, the literature on the history of federalist ideas has long neglected her contributions, despite her continuing reputation as one of post-World War II’s premier political theorists. One reason for this neglect is that her contributions are scattered across a broad array of different works. This article seeks to encourage a redress of this neglect by providing a guide to her critique of sovereignty and her arguments for the federal principle. Arendt’s approach poses a fundamental challenge to the realist dismissal of world federalism as an exemplar of the naive utopianism they attributed to their idealist opponents.
Single mode optofluidic distributed feedback dye laser

Single frequency lasing from organic dye solutions on a monolithic poly(dimethylsiloxane) (PDMS) elastomer chip is demonstrated. The laser cavity consists of a single mode liquid core/PDMS cladding channel waveguide and a phase shifted 15th order distributed feedback (DFB) structure. A 1mM solution of Rhodamine 6G in a methanol and ethylene glycol mixture was used as the gain medium. Using 6 nanosecond 532nm Nd:YAG laser pulses as the pump light, we achieved threshold pump fluence of ~0.8mJ/cm(2) and single-mode operation at pump levels up to ten times the threshold. This microfabricated dye laser provides a compact and inexpensive coherent light source for microfluidics and integrated optics covering from near UV to near IR spectral region.
Low-k compatible all-copper flip-chip connections

A novel fabrication technique using electroless copper deposition has been used to produce all-copper, chip-to-substrate connections. This process replaces solder by electrolessly joining copper pillars on the chip and substrate. The electroless copper joints were annealed at 180^oC after plating. A model was developed to explore methods for lowering the stress within the copper pillar, especially at the point where the pillar intersects the chip surface. The acceptable stress level within the copper pillars is a function of the on-chip dielectric material and the on-chip interconnect structures. In order to avoid fracture of the on-chip dielectric, the stress in the copper pillars should be less than the current lead-free solders that the all-copper pillars would be replacing. A polymer collar surrounding the copper pillars was used to support the pillars and improves thermo-mechanical reliability. The improvement in stress-reduction, ultimately leading to higher reliability was studied as a function of elastic modulus of the polymer collar support. It has been shown that the pillar stress generated during temperature cycling can be reduced by increasing the modulus of the pillar support and changing the shape of the copper pillars. Finally, three high-contrast photodefinable collar materials were characterized and tested. Nano-indentation experiments were performed to measure the mechanical properties of each material and shear tests were performed to verify the benefits of the higher elastic modulus collars.
Structural impact of the leukemia drug 1-beta-D-arabinofuranosylcytosine (Ara-C) on the covalent human topoisomerase I-DNA complex.

Abstract 1-β-d-Arabinofuranosylcytosine (Ara-C) is a potent antineoplastic drug used in the treatment of acute leukemia. Previous biochemical studies indicated the incorporation of Ara-C into DNA reduced the catalytic activity of human topoisomerase I by decreasing the rate of single DNA strand religation by the enzyme by 2–3-fold. We present the 3.1 A crystal structure of human topoisomerase I in covalent complex with an oligonucleotide containing Ara-C at the +1 position of the non-scissile DNA strand. The structure reveals that a hydrogen bond formed between the 2′-hydroxyl of Ara-C and the O4′ of the adjacent −1 base 5′ to the damage site stabilizes a C3′-endo pucker in the Ara-C arabinose ring. The structural distortions at the site of damage are translated across the DNA double helix to the active site of human topoisomerase I. The free sulfhydryl at the 5′-end of the nicked DNA strand in this trapped covalent complex is shifted out of alignment with the 3′-phosphotyrosine linkage at the catalytic tyrosine 723 residue, producing a geometry not optimal for religation. The subtle structural changes caused by the presence of Ara-C in the DNA duplex may contribute to the cytotoxicity of this leukemia drug by prolonging the lifetime of the covalent human topoisomerase I-DNA complex.
Ka-band, multibeam, contiguous coverage satellite antenna for the USA

The behavior of a multibeam antenna is determined by three major characteristics: beam topology, realizable radiation characteristics, and realizable beamforming network architecture. Eight canonical topology plans have been developed and analyzed: angular separation between identical frequency cells, angular separation between orthogonally polarized identical frequency cells, number and configuration of cells forming coverage areas, and crossover level between nonidentical frequency band cells. A general topology plan is developed for the continental United States for 100-deg W synchronous satellite longitude.
Fresh look at electron-transfer mechanisms via the donor/acceptor bindings in the critical encounter complex.

Seminal insights provided by the iconic R. S. Mulliken and his “charge-transfer” theory, H. Taube and his “outer/inner-sphere” mechanisms, R. A. Marcus and his “two-state non-adiabatic” theory, and N. S. Hush and his “intervalence” theory are each separately woven into the rich panoramic tapestry constituting chemical research into electron-transfer dynamics, and its mechanistic dominance for the past half century and more. In this Account, we illustrate how the simultaneous melding of all four key concepts allows sharp focus on the charge-transfer character of the critical encounter complex to evoke the latent facet of traditional electron-transfer mechanisms. To this end, we exploit the intervalence (electronic) transition that invariably accompanies the diffusive encounter of electron-rich organic donors (D) with electron-poor acceptors (A) as the experimental harbinger of the collision complex, which is then actually isolated and X-ray crystallographically established as loosely bound π-stacked pairs ...
Integrated computer aided design systems

Computer Aided Design, the initial phase of Engineering Design Automation, has been characterized by the development of individual computer programs for engineering design tasks. These programs specifically describe design tasks that are identified as repetitive in nature and, as such, are appropriately interspersed into the overall design process.
Spectral Radiative Heat Transfer Analysis of the Planar SOFC

Thermo-mechanical failure of components in planar-type solid oxide fuel cells (SOFCs) depends strongly on the local temperature gradients at the interfaces of different materials. Therefore, it is of paramount importance to accurately predict the temperature fields within the stack, especially near the interfaces. Because of elevated operating temperatures (of the order of 1000 K or even higher), radiation heat transfer could become a dominant mode of heat transfer in the SOFCs. In this study, we extend our recent work on radiative effects in solid oxide fuel cells (Journal of Power Sources, Vol. 124, No. 2, pp. 453–458) by accounting for the spectral dependence of the radiative properties of the electrolyte material. The measurements of spectral radiative properties of the polycrystalline yttria-stabilized zirconia (YSZ) electrolyte we performed indicate that an optically thin approximation can be used for treatment of radiative heat transfer. To this end, the Schuster-Schwartzchild two-flux approximation is used to solve the radiative transfer equation (RTE) for the spectral radiative heat flux, which is then integrated over the entire spectrum using an N-band approximation to obtain the total heat flux due to thermal radiation. The divergence of the total radiative heat flux is then incorporated as a heat sink into a 3-D thermo-fluid model of a SOFC through the user-defined function utility in the commercial FLUENT CFD software. The results of sample calculations are reported and compared against the baseline cases when no radiation effects are included and when the spectrally gray approximation is used for treatment of radiative heat transfer.Copyright © 2004 by ASME
Computation times of NP sets of different densities

Abstract In this paper we study the computational complexity of sets of different densities in NP. We show that the deterministic computation time for sets in NP can depend on their density if and only if there is a collapse or partial collapse of the corresponding higher nondeterministic and deterministic time bounded complexity classes. We show also that for NP sets of different densities there exist complete sets of the corresponding density under polynomial time Turing reductions. Finally, we show that these results can be interpreted as results about the complexity of theorem proving and proof presentation in axiomatized mathematical systems. This interpretation relates fundamental questions about the complexity of our intellectual tools to basic structural problems about P, NP, CoNP and Pspace , discussed in this paper.
Scaling limit of deeply virtual compton scattering

The author outlines a perturbative QCD approach to the analysis of the deeply virtual Compton scattering process {gamma}{sup *}p {r_arrow} {gamma}p{prime} in the limit of vanishing momentum transfer t=(p{prime}{minus}p){sup 2}. The DVCS amplitude in this limit exhibits a scaling behavior described by a two-argument distributions F(x,y) which specify the fractions of the initial momentum p and the momentum transfer r {equivalent_to} p{prime}{minus}p carried by the constituents of the nucleon. The kernel R(x,y;{xi},{eta}) governing the evolution of the non-forward distributions F(x,y) has a remarkable property: it produces the GLAPD evolution kernel P(x/{xi}) when integrated over y and reduces to the Brodsky-Lepage evolution kernel V(y,{eta}) after the x-integration. This property is used to construct the solution of the one-loop evolution equation for the flavor non-singlet part of the non-forward quark distribution.
Self-diffusion in thallium

Abstract The self-diffusion of single crystal thallium has been measured from 150°C to 275°C with the use of Tl204 as a tracer and the standard sectioning technique. For diffusion parallel to the c-axis the data were well fitted by an activation energy of Q = 22.9 kcal/mol and a D0 = 0.4 cm2/sec, and for diffusion perpendicular to the c-axis 0 = 22.6 kcal/mol and D0 = 0.4 cm2/sec. The cubic phase was investigated also and resulted in the values Q = 20.0 kcal/mol and D0 of order 0.7 cm2/sec. Possible mechanisms are discussed.
Large optical nonlinearities and cw degenerate four-wave mixing in HgCdTe☆

Abstract We report continuous-wave degenerate four-wave mixing of 10.6 μm radiation in HgCdTe, with reflection returns of ⋍2.1% at cw pump intensities of ⋍12 W/cm 2 , corresponding to third order susceptibilities of over 5 x 10 -2 esu. These susceptibilities are nearly three orders of magnitude larger than the highest values reported previously, and are obtained by appropriate choice of sample composition and temperature. The large nonlinearities result in regenerative pulsations when the HgCdTe sample is placed in an external Fabry-Perot coupled to the CO 2 laser cavity.
Controlled-topology filtering

Many applications require the extraction of isolines and isosurfaces from scalar functions defined on regular grids. These scalar functions may have many different origins: from MRI and CT scan data to terrain data or results of a simulation. As a result of noise and other artifacts, curves and surfaces obtained by standard extraction algorithms often suffer from topological irregularities and geometric noise. While it is possible to remove topological and geometric noise as a post-processing step, in the case when a large number of isolines are of interest there is a considerable advantage in filtering the scalar function directly. While most smoothing filters result in gradual simplification of the topological structure of contours, new topological features typically emerge and disappear during the smoothing process. In this paper, we describe an algorithm for filtering functions defined on regular 2D grids with controlled topology changes, which ensures that the topological structure of the set of contour lines of the function is progressively simplified.
Hamiltonian mappings and circle packing phase spaces: numerical investigations

In a previous paper, we introduced examples of Hamiltonian mappings with phase space structures resembling circle packings. We now concentrate on one particular mapping and present numerical evidence which supports the conjecture that the set of circular resonance islands is dense in phase space.
Extremizers for Fourier restriction inequalities: Convex arcs

We establish the existence of extremizers for a Fourier restriction inequality on planar convex arcs without points with collinear tangents whose curvature satisfies a natural assumption. More generally, we prove that any extremizing sequence of nonnegative functions has a subsequence which converges to an extremizer.
Asymmetric approach toward chiral cyclohex-2-enones from anisoles via an enantioselective isomerization by a new chiral diamine catalyst

A 3-step asymmetric approach toward the optically active chiral cyclohex-2-enones from anisoles has been developed. The crucial asymmetric induction step is an unprecedented catalytic enantioselective isomerization of β,γ-unsaturated cyclohex-3-en-1-ones to the corresponding α,β-unsaturated chiral enones. This new asymmetric transformation was realized by cooperative iminium-base catalysis with an electronically tunable new organic catalyst. The synthetic utility of this methodology is highlighted by the enantioselective total synthesis of (-)-isoacanthodoral.
Partial breaking of extended supersymmetry

In this talk we use nonlinear realizations to study the spontaneous partial breaking of rigid and local supersymmetry.
Diffraction radiation diagnostics for moderate to high energy charged particle beams

Abstract Diffraction radiation (DR) is produced when a charged particle passes through an aperture or near a discontinuity in the media in which it is traveling. DR is closely related to transition radiation (TR), which is produced when a charged particle traverses the boundary between media with different dielectric constants. In contrast to TR, which is now extensively used for beam diagnostic purposes, the potential of DR as a non-interceptive, multi-parameter beam diagnostic remains largely undeveloped. For diagnostic measurements it is useful to observe backward reflected DR from a circular aperture or slit inclined with respect to the beam velocity. However, up to now, well-founded equations for the spectral-angular intensities of backward DR from such apertures have not been available. We present a new derivation of the spectral-angular intensity of backward DR produced from an inclined slit for two orientations of the slit axis, i.e., perpendicular and parallel to the plane of incidence. Our mathematical approach is generally applicable to any geometry and simpler than the Wiener Hopf method previously used to calculate DR from single edges. Our results for the slit are applied to the measurement of orthogonal beam size and divergence components. We discuss the problem of separating the simultaneous effects of these beam parameters on the angular distribution of DR and provide solutions to this difficulty. These include use of the horizontal and vertical polarization components of the radiation from a single slit and interferences from two inclined slits. Examples of DR diagnostics for a 500 MeV beam are presented and the current limitations of the technique are discussed.