cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
The Structure of European Company Law: From Crisis to Boom

The two constitutional principles of subsidiarity and integration in the European Union clearly force the system to be one of jurisdictional competition. The text books still do not start from the assumption that diversity, and the tools for making it compatible with integration, are just as important an element of European company law as harmonisation. This paper argues that they should. This would then lead them to discuss in which areas there should be such competition, to identify the conditions for functioning competition and to try to suggest where and how to enhance it. Diversity clearly requires information. Therefore, the second core element of the structure of European company law consists of disclosure rules. These rules are indeed clearly dominant in European company law, be it in accounting law, the law of capital markets or in traditional EU Company Law Directives. On this basis, other important features — pairs of concepts — can also be explained: (1) the fact that European company law focuses on limited liability companies and sometimes exclusively on PLCs; (2) the fact that European company law is so extroverted, that is to say, the regulation of the third-party relationship is so dominant, that shareholders’ rights are really regulated only insofar as the proportionate share is ‘constitutionally’ guaranteed; and (3) the fact that capital markets must clearly be seen as an integral part of European company law and may not be disregarded in any description.
A distributed control and monitor system used in laser fusion research

Abstract Laser fusion research experiments require very low pressure environments to properly diagnose the plasma physics phenomena occurring during laser fusion reactions. Target chambers with very large and complex pumping systems are required to achieve and maintain these extremely low pressures. This paper describes a recently installed distributed control and monitoring system that automates the operation of these pumping systems. Through automation, this system is providing an enhanced shot rate by reducing the manpower required to ready the system for a target shot while increasing the overall safety of the system.
Properties of Silicon Nitride–Molybdenum Disilicide Particulate Ceramic Composites

The physical and mechanical properties of hot-pressed Si3N4–MoSi2 particulate composites containing 15 and 30 vol% MoSi2 were studied. The average room-temperature four-point bend strength, fracture toughness, and electrical resistivity are 522 MPa, 3.6 MPa·√m, and 6.3 × 105Χ·cm for the 15 vol% MoSi2 composite, and 487 MPa, 5.3 MPa·√m, and 0.31 Ω·cm for the 30 vol% MoSi2 composite. The mechanical properties of the composites are very close to those of hot-pressed Si3N4 ceramics. The high electrical conductivity of the 30 vol% MoSi2 composite was attributed to the percolation effect of MoSi2 particles. Parabolic oxidation behaviors were observed for the 30 vol% MoSi2 composite during the 1200°C long-term oxidation experiments.
The Impact and Organization of Publicly-Funded Research and Development in the European Community

This paper examines R&D activities in the European Community using several Community R&D Information Service (CORDIS) databases. We find that a country’s private companies tend to be specialized in the same scientific fields as its universities and public organizations. In addition, we construct indicators of the degree of R&D tacitness and find that greater expected ability to communicate research outcomes encourages less centralized R&D programs. Programs that yield tangible results are less geographically and administratively centralized. The more that research leads to codifiable knowledge, the less centralized R&D activity needs to be.
Methods of Identification in Social Networks

Social and economic networks are ubiquitous, serving as contexts for job search, technology diffusion, the accumulation of human capital, and even the formulation of norms and values. The systematic empirical study of network formation—the process by which agents form, maintain, and dissolve links—within economics is recent, is associated with extraordinarily challenging modeling and identification issues, and is an area of exciting new developments, with many open questions. This article reviews prominent research on the empirical analysis of network formation, with an emphasis on contributions made by economists.
Navigation strategies for multiple autonomous mobile robots moving in formation

The problem of deriving navigation strategies for a fleet of autonomous mobile robots moving in formation is considered. Here, each robot is represented by a particle with a spherical effective spatial domain and a specified cone of visibility. The global motion of each robot in the world space is described by the equations of motion of the robot's center of mass. First, methods for formation generation are discussed. Then, simple navigation strategies for robots moving in formation are derived. A sufficient condition for the stability of a desired formation pattern for a fleet of robots each equipped with the navigation strategy based on nearest neighbor tracking is developed. The dynamic behavior of robot fleets consisting of three or more robots moving in formation in a plane is studied by means of computer simulation.
A rational rank four demand system

Past parametric tests of demand system rank employed polynomial Engel curve systems. However, by Gorman’s (1981) theorem, the maximum possible rank of a utility derived polynomial demand system is three. The present paper proposes a class of demand systems that are utility derived, are close to polynomial, and have rank four. These systems nest rational polynomial demands, and so can be used to test ranks up to four. These systems are suitable for applications where high rank is likely, such as demand systems involving a large number of goods. A test of rank using this new class of systems is applied to UK consumer demand data.
Color-critical graphs have logarithmic circumference

Abstract A graph G is k -critical if every proper subgraph of G is ( k − 1 ) -colorable, but the graph G itself is not. We prove that every k -critical graph on n vertices has a cycle of length at least log n / ( 100 log k ) , improving a bound of Alon, Krivelevich and Seymour from 2000. Examples of Gallai from 1963 show that the bound cannot be improved to exceed 2 ( k − 1 ) log n / log ( k − 2 ) . We thus settle the problem of bounding the minimal circumference of k -critical graphs, raised by Dirac in 1952 and Kelly and Kelly in 1954.
DONATIVE BEHAVIOR AT THE END OF LIFE

A general finding in the empirical literature on charitable giving is that among older individuals, both the probability of giving and the conditional amount of donations decrease with age, ceteris paribus. In this paper, we use data on giving by alumni at an anonymous university to investigate end-of-life giving patterns. Our main finding is that taking into account the approach of death substantially changes the age-giving profile for the elderly?in one segment of the age distribution, the independent effect of an increase in age on giving actually changes from negative to positive. We examine how the decline in giving as death approaches varies with the length of time that a given condition is likely to bring about death, and the individual?s age when he died. We find that for individuals who died from conditions that bring about death fairly quickly, there is little decline in giving as death approaches compared to those who died from other causes. Further, the decline in giving as death approaches is steeper for the elderly (for whom death is less likely to be a surprise) than for the relatively young. These findings suggest that our primary result, that failing to take into account the approach of death leads to biased inferences with respect to the age-giving profile, is not merely an artifact of some kind of nonlinearity in the relationship between age and giving.
Design issues for providing minimum rate guarantees to the ATM unspecified bit rate service

We describe proposed enhancements to the ATM unspecified bit rate (UBR) service that guarantee a minimum rate at the frame level to the UBR VCs. These enhancements have been called guaranteed frame rate (GFR). In this paper, we discuss the motivation, design and implementation issues for GFR. We present the design of buffer management and tagging mechanisms to implement GFR. We study the effects of policing, per-VC buffer allocation, and per-VC queueing on providing GFR to TCP/IP traffic. We conclude that when the entire link capacity is allocate to GFR traffic, per-VC scheduling is necessary to provide minimum throughput guarantees to TCP traffic. We examine the role of frame tagging in the presence of scheduling and buffer management for providing minimum rate guarantees.
The causes of corruption: a cross-national study

Why is corruption — the misuse of public office for private gain — perceived to be more widespread in some countries than others? Different theories associate this with particular historical and cultural traditions, levels of economic development, political institutions, and government policies. This article analyzes several indexes of 'perceived corruption' compiled from business risk surveys for the 1980s and 1990s. Six arguments find support. Countries with Protestant traditions, histories of British rule, more developed economies, and (probably) higher imports were less 'corrupt'. Federal states were more 'corrupt'. While the current degree of democracy was not significant, long exposure to democracy predicted lower corruption. © 2000 Elsevier Science S.A. All rights reserved.
Raman and photoluminescence spectroscopy investigations of ZnO nanostructures

We discuss Raman and photoluminescence (PL) studies of ZnO in solid, thin film and nanowire samples. Resonant laser excitations ranging from near-infrared to ultraviolet are used in order to observe and analyse ZnO nanostructures. The changes of optical emission and electronic bandgap response to the vibration modes are studied simultaneously by PL and Raman spectroscopy. Both Raman and PL spectroscopy analyses of nanostructure, electronic bandgaps and photo-emission demonstrate that nanostructure geometry, including its aspect ratio, and phonon–electron interactions play important roles in polar semiconductor structures such as ZnO.
SIR-C/X-SAR: a multifaceted radar

The multifaceted Spaceborne Imaging Radar-C/X-band Synthetic Aperture Radar (SIR-C/X-SAR) was successfully flown twice in 1994 aboard the Shuttle Endeavour as part of an international imaging radar mission. The United States SIR-C operated at L- and C-band, each with quad polarization, utilizing an active phased array antenna. The German/Italian X-SAR operated at X-band with a single polarization, utilizing an antenna which was mechanically steered in elevation. SIR-C and X-SAR operated synchronously to collect data over common sites. Data were collected for repeat-track interferometric processing at all three frequencies. A total of 143 hours (93 terabits) of SAR data were digitally recorded on tape over the two flights for subsequent processing in the U.S., Germany and Italy. This versatile multifrequency, multipolarization radar system has produced a rich radar data set for Earth scientific investigation and demonstration of spaceborne radar remote sensing capabilities.
Cramer-Rao Lower Bound On Wavefront Sensor Error

Wavefront sensors that can operate at low light levels, be built from present technology components, and provide accurate wavefront phase estimates in real time are required for use with adaptive optics systems. The use of estimation theory makes possible the evaluation of wavefront sensors without specification of the wavefront phase estimation algorithms. The Cramer-Rao method was used to find a lower bound on integrated rms wavefront sensor estimation error. In addition to an analysis of the general case, the error lower bound was numerically evaluated for the shearing interferometer wavefront sensor. Computer simulations of the atmosphere and wavefront sensor measurements including noise were performed. Using an appropriate algorithm, the phase was estimated and the resulting phase error was compared with the lower bound. The results support the validity of using the Cramer-Rao lower bound to evaluate wavefront sensor performance.
Inhibition of human dihydrofolate reductase by 2,4-diaminoquinazolines bearing simple substituents on the aromatic ring

A series of thirty eight 2,4-diaminoquinazolines having diverse substitution patterns on the aromatic ring was evaluated for inhibitory activity against dihydrofolate reductase (DHFR) obtained from a human lymphoblast cell line. Many of these compounds were also evaluated as inhibitors of rat liver DHFR under the same experimental conditions. In most instances the results obtained with each enzyme were comparable indicating that the rodent enzyme is a suitable model for the human DHFR as far as the determination of I50 values is concerned. The results demonstrate that relatively simple 5-substituted- or 5,6-disubstituted-2,4-diaminoquinazolines can be potent DHFR inhibitors. The presence of a nonpolar substituent at position 7 or 8 was highly detrimental to inhibitory potency.
Characterization and finite element modeling of Galfenol minor flux density loops

This paper focuses on the development of a 3D hysteretic Galfenol model which is implemented using the finite element method (FEM) in COMSOL Multiphysics®. The model describes Galfenol responses an...
Adventures in sulfur-nitrogen chemistry.

This account reviews our efforts over the past 37 years to understand the chemistry of a select group of sulfur−nitrogen compounds including sulfinimines (N-sulfinyl imines) and N-sulfonyloxaziridines. Our early exploration of the thermal properties of sulfenamides, a class of sulfur−nitrogen compounds about which little was known, resulted in a new procedure, the silver-assisted method, for the construction of sulfenimines (N-sulfenyl imines). Selective oxidations of these compounds resulted in the production of N-sulfinyl imines (sulfinimines) and N-sulfonyloxaziridines. N-Sulfonyloxaziridines turned out to be a new class of aprotic neutral oxidizing reagents. Enantiomerically pure examples afford high ee values in the oxidation of enolates to α-hydroxy carbonyl compounds and in the oxidation of sulfides and selenides to sulfoxides and selenoxides. Additions of organometallic reagents to enantiomerically pure sulfinimines provide the best and most versatile method for the asymmetric construction of the ...
A correlation study of bisphosphine ligand bite angles with enantioselectivity in Pd-catalyzed asymmetric transformations

Abstract Among the bisphosphine ligands, we have previously developed Cn-TunePhos (n = 1–6) as a family of ligands with tunable bite angles. The increase in spacer –CH2– groups in this family of ligands causes changes in ligand dihedral angle, which in turn causes P–Pd–P bite angle variation. Pd-catalyzed asymmetric alkylations and cycloadditions have been tested with Cn-TunePhos ligands. This study aims at a possible correlation between ligand bite angles with enantioselectivity of the Pd-catalyzed asymmetric products.
GPU ACCELERATION OF NUMERICAL WEATHER PREDICTION

Weather and climate prediction software has enjoyed the benefits of exponentially increasing processor power for almost 50 years. Even with the advent of large-scale parallelism in weather models, ...
POLITICAL ECONOMY OF RIGHT-TO-FARM

This paper investigates the motivations for local right-to-farm protection ordinances by estimating a logit model relating the adoption of these ordinances to various political, economic and demographic factors previously found to affect the likelihood of passage of farmland preservation policies. Results suggest that the probability of adopting right-to-farm policies increases with the size and political clout of the farm public and with incentives to promote right-to-farm. Adoption is not enhanced by environmental concerns, nor by factors known to encourage adoption of farmland preservation policies. These findings raise serious concerns about the long-run viability of protections afforded agriculture in urbanizing areas.
Turbulent Convection under the Influence of Rotation: Sustaining a Strong Differential Rotation

The intense turbulence present in the solar convection zone is a major challenge to both theory and simulation as one tries to understand the origins of the striking differential rotation profile with radius and latitude that has been revealed by helioseismology. The differential rotation must be an essential element in the operation of the solar magnetic dynamo and its cycles of activity, yet there are many aspects of the interplay between convection, rotation, and magnetic fields that are still unclear. We have here carried out a series of three-dimensional numerical simulations of turbulent convection within deep spherical shells using our anelastic spherical harmonic (ASH) code on massively parallel supercomputers. These studies of the global dynamics of the solar convection zone concentrate on how the differential rotation and meridional circulation are established. We have addressed two issues raised by previous simulations with ASH. First, can solutions be obtained that possess the apparent solar property that the angular velocity Ω continues to decrease significantly with latitude as the pole is approached? Prior simulations had most of their rotational slowing with latitude confined to the interval from the equator to about 45°. Second, can a strong latitudinal angular velocity contrast ΔΩ be sustained as the convection becomes increasingly more complex and turbulent? There was a tendency for ΔΩ to diminish in some of the turbulent solutions that also required the emerging energy flux to be invariant with latitude. In responding to these questions, five cases of increasingly turbulent convection coupled with rotation have been studied along two paths in parameter space. We have achieved in one case the slow pole behavior comparable to that deduced from helioseismology and have retained in our more turbulent simulations a consistently strong ΔΩ. We have analyzed the transport of angular momentum in establishing such differential rotation and clarified the roles played by Reynolds stresses and the meridional circulation in this process. We have found that the Reynolds stresses are crucial in transporting angular momentum toward the equator. The effects of baroclinicity (thermal wind) have been found to have a modest role in the resulting mean zonal flows. The simulations have produced differential rotation profiles within the bulk of the convection zone that make reasonable contact with ones inferred from helioseismic inversions, namely, possessing a fast equator, an angular velocity difference of about 30% from equator to pole, and some constancy along radial lines at midlatitudes. Future studies must address the implications of the tachocline at the base of the convection zone, and the near-surface shear layer, on that differential rotation.
Fine Control of Demand in Haskell

Functional languages have the ?-calculus at their core, but then depart from this firm foundation by including features that alter their default evaluation order. The resulting mixed evaluation--partly lazy and partly strict--complicates the formal semantics of these languages. The functional language Haskell is such a language, with features such as pattern-matching, case expressions with guards, etc., in troducing a modicum of strictness into the otherwise lazy language. But just how does Haskell differ from the lazy ?-calculus? We answer this question by introducing a calculational semantics for Haskell that exposes the interaction of its strict features with its default laziness.
Formal enantioselective [4+3] cycloaddition by a tandem diels-alder reaction/ring expansion

The tandem Diels–Alder reaction/ring expansion between cyclopentadiene and unsaturated aldehydes is a highly stereoselective process for the synthesis of bicyclo[3.2.1]octenones, the formal products of a [4+3] cycloaddition. When the initial cycloaddition was conducted in the presence of the chiral Lewis acid catalyst 14, the bicyclo[3.2.1]octenones were obtained in two steps in 72–85 % yields with up to 96 % ee and>98 % de.
On the time reversal invariance of classical electromagnetic theory

David Albert claims that classical electromagnetic theory is not time reversal invariant. He acknowledges that all physics books say that it is, but claims they are ``simply wrong" because they rely on an incorrect account of how the time reversal operator acts on magnetic fields. On that account, electric fields are left intact by the operator, but magnetic fields are inverted. Albert sees no reason for the asymmetric treatment, and insists that neither field should be inverted. I argue, to the contrary, that the inversion of magnetic fields makes good sense and is, in fact, forced by elementary geometric considerations. I also suggest a way of thinking about the time reversal invariance of classical electromagnetic theory -- one that makes use of the invariant (four-dimensional) formulation of the theory -- that makes no reference to magnetic fields at all. It is my hope that it will be of interest in its own right, Albert aside. It has the advantage that it allows for arbitrary curvature in the background spacetime structure, and is therefore suitable for the framework of general relativity. (The only assumption one needs is temporal orientability.)
Religion and the Development of Canadian Society: An Historiographical Analysis

During the past forty years Canadian historians have viewed the relationship between religion and the development of Canadian society from three perspectives. None of these perspectives have risen out of the Canadian context; they have been imported and adapted with various degrees of success to the Canadian scene. The assistance they have given Canadian historians in perceiving and highlighting various aspects of the role of religion in their national life has been valuable. Like all perspectives, however, they have often concealed as much as they have revealed. Canadian church historians, of course, have been aware of the limitations which these perspectives have placed upon the story of the religious development of Canadian society. Their comments and criticisms, however, have never been systematically studied nor viewed in the wider context of the development of these perspectives elsewhere. This neglect needs to be remedied for such a study throws light not only on an aspect of the intellectual history of Canada but also on a number of points of emphasis in the use of these perspectives which appear to be distinctively Canadian. In what follows, therefore, an attempt has been made first of all to trace the development and continuing influence of these perspectives on the interpretation of religion in Canadian society; secondly, to assess the adequacy and limitations of these perspectives as interpretive frameworks in the Canadian context; and finally, to point out some of the factors in the present situation which need to be taken into consideration in the development of a new perspective.
Introduction to My Book "Essays in Constructive Mathematics"

The talk will describe the overall approach and the major topics of the book, recently published by Springer.
Emittance measurement and modeling for the fermilab booster

We systematically measured the emittance evolution of a fast cycling proton accelerator on a turn-by-turn basis under various beam intensities via an ionization profile monitor (IPM). The vertical emittance growth rate was derived and phenomenologically analyzed. The transverse and longitudinal components in the horizontal beam size were separated by making use of their different evolution behaviors. The quadrupole mode beam size oscillation after transition crossing is also studied and explained. We found a considerable space-charge-induced emittance growth rate component in the vertical plane but not as much for the horizontal plane. We carried out multiparticle simulations to understand the mechanism of space-charge-induced emittance growth. The major sources of emittance growth were found to be the random skew-quadrupole and dipole field errors in the presence of large space-charge tune spread.
Understanding Low Bandgap Polymer PTB7 and Optimizing Polymer Solar Cells Based on It

Solution processed single junction polymer solar cells (PSCs) have been developed from less than 1% power conversion efficiency (PCE) to beyond 9% PCE in the last decade. The significant efficiency improvement comes from progress in both rational design of donor polymers and innovation of device architectures. Among all the novel high efficient donor polymers, PTB7 stands out as the most widely used one for solar cell studies. Herein the recent development of PTB7 solar cells is reviewed. Detailed discussion of basic property, structure property relationship, morphology study, interfacial engineering, and inorganic nanomaterials incorporation is provided. Possible future directions for further increasing the performance of PTB7 solar cells are discussed.
Wnt-Ror signaling to SIA and SIB neurons directs anterior axon guidance and nerve ring placement in C. elegans

Wnt signaling through Frizzled proteins guides posterior cells and axons in C. elegans into different spatial domains. Here we demonstrate an essential role for Wnt signaling through Ror tyrosine kinase homologs in the most prominent anterior neuropil, the nerve ring. A genetic screen uncovered cwn-2, the C. elegans homolog of Wnt5, as a regulator of nerve ring placement. In cwn-2 mutants, all neuronal structures in and around the nerve ring are shifted to an abnormal anterior position. cwn-2 is required at the time of nerve ring formation; it is expressed by cells posterior of the nerve ring, but its precise site of expression is not critical for its function. In nerve ring development, cwn-2 acts primarily through the Wnt receptor CAM-1 (Ror), together with the Frizzled protein MIG-1, with parallel roles for the Frizzled protein CFZ-2. The identification of CAM-1 as a CWN-2 receptor contrasts with CAM-1 action as a non-receptor in other C. elegans Wnt pathways. Cell-specific rescue of cam-1 and cell ablation experiments reveal a crucial role for the SIA and SIB neurons in positioning the nerve ring, linking Wnt signaling to specific cells that organize the anterior nervous system.
Empirical low-dimensional manifolds in composition space

Abstract To reduce the computational cost of turbulent combustion simulations with a detailed chemical mechanism, it is useful to find a low-dimensional manifold in composition space. Most previous low-dimensional manifolds in turbulent combustion are based on the governing conservation equations or thermochemistry and their application involves certain assumptions. On the other hand, empirical low-dimensional manifolds (ELDMs) are constructed based on samples of the compositions observed in experiments or in direct numerical simulation (DNS). Plane and curved ELDMs can be obtained using principal component analysis (PCA) and multivariate adaptive spline regression (MARS), respectively. The framework for ELDMs based on the represented compositions and principal components is considered in this study, where the represented compositions are selected from the PCA results. Both PCA and MARS are applied to the DNS databases of a non-premixed CO/H 2 temporally evolving jet flame and of an ethylene lifted jet flame. It is more accurate to represent the species mass fractions by curved MARS ELDMs than by plane PCA ELDMs. To achieve a overall departure less than a given level, more dimensions are required for the ethylene case (which involves 22 species) than for the CO/H 2 case (which involves 11 species). For MARS to achieve less than the 5% departure level, seven dimensions are required for the ethylene case, and just two dimensions are required for the CO/H 2 case. However, it is much more challenging to obtain the ELDMs with high accuracy for the chemical source terms using a small number of dimensions. In addition, the effects on the departure from ELDMs of the scaling method in PCA, local extinction, and the Reynolds number are discussed. Two different approximations for the chemical source term are compared with discussions for further a posteriori simulations.
Non-commutative tori and Fourier–Mukai duality

The classical Fourier–Mukai duality establishes an equivalence of categories between the derived categories of sheaves on dual complex tori. In this article we show that this equivalence extends to an equivalence between two dual objects. Both of these are generalized deformations of the complex tori. In one case, a complex torus is deformed formally in a non-commutative direction specified by a holomorphic Poisson structure. In the other, the dual complex torus is deformed in a B-field direction to a formal gerbe. We show that these two deformations are Fourier–Mukai equivalent. Contents
Corrector ironing in the SLC final focus

A method to minimize corrector excitations while maintaining a set of constraints on the orbit is described. This method, which is based on a singular value decomposition algorithm, was successfully applied in the final focus of the Stanford Linear Collider in order to remove "fighting correctors" and improve their tuning range. >
Revenue Management Through Dynamic Cross Selling in E-Commerce Retailing

We consider the problem of dynamically cross-selling products (e.g., books) or services (e.g., travel reservations) in the e-commerce setting. In particular, we look at a company that faces a stream of stochastic customer arrivals and may offer each customer a choice between the requested product and a package containing the requested product as well as another product, what we call a “packaging complement.” Given consumer preferences and product inventories, we analyze two issues: (1) how to select packaging complements, and (2) how to price product packages to maximize profits. We formulate the cross-selling problem as a stochastic dynamic program blended with combinatorial optimization. We demonstrate the state-dependent and dynamic nature of the optimal package selection problem and derive the structural properties of the dynamic pricing problem. In particular, we focus on two practical business settings: with (the Emergency Replenishment Model) and without (the Lost-Sales Model) the possibility of inventory replenishment in the case of a product stockout. For the Emergency Replenishment Model, we establish that the problem is separable in the initial inventory of all products, and hence the dimensionality of the dynamic program can be significantly reduced. For both models, we suggest several packaging/pricing heuristics and test their effectiveness numerically.
The use of domination number of a random proximity catch digraph for testing spatial patterns of segregation and association

Abstract Priebe et al. (2001. Statist. Prob. Lett. 55, 239–246) introduced the class cover catch digraphs and computed the distribution of the domination number of such digraphs for one-dimensional data. In higher dimensions these calculations are extremely difficult due to the geometry of the proximity regions; and only upper-bounds are available. In this article, we introduce a new type of data-random proximity map and the associated (di)graph in R d . We find the asymptotic distribution of the domination number and use it for testing spatial point patterns of segregation and association.
Azoospermic Men With Deletion of the DAZ Gene Cluster are Capable of Completing Spermatogenesis: Fertilization, Normal Embryonic Development and Pregnancy Occur When Retrieved Testicular Spermatozoa are Used for Intracytoplasmic Sperm Injection

Some men with non-obstructive azoospermia harbour fully formed spermatozoa within their testicular tissue that can be used to achieve pregnancy via intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI). Recently, Reijo et al. (1995) provided compelling evidence that the DAZ gene cluster is a strong candidate for one of the elusive azoospermia factors (AZF) located on the long arm of the Y chromosome. The DAZ gene cluster is deleted in 13% of azoospermic men and a small percentage of severely oligozoospermic men. Vertical transmission from father to son of AZF region deletions has also been described. Presumably these fathers were oligozoospermic. This led us to ask whether the azoospermic male with deletions of the AZF/DAZ region can also complete minimal spermatogenesis and whether any spermatozoa found could participate in fertilization, embryo development and pregnancy. Three out of six (50%) of the azoospermic men with AZF/DAZ deletions had spermatozoa identified within their harvested testicular tissue. When these spermatozoa were used for ICSI, fertilization occurred in 36 % of injected oocytes. This compared favourably with testicular spermatozoa retrieved from non-obstructive azoospermic men without AZF/DAZ gene deletions. In one case, a twin conception resulted, which represents the first term pregnancy reported using spermatozoa from an AZF/DAZ deleted azoospermic male. Therefore it is necessary to take the possibility of transmission of infertility or sterility to our patients' offspring seriously when utilizing today's reproductive technologies, as spermatogenesis in men with AZF/DAZ deletions is by no means an exceptional occurrence.
Universal behavior of repulsive two-dimensional fermions in the vicinity of the quantum freezing point

We show by a meta-analysis of the available Quantum Monte Carlo (QMC) results that two-dimensional fermions with repulsive interactions exhibit universal behavior in the strongly correlated regime, and that their freezing transition can be described using a quantum generalization of the classical Hansen-Verlet freezing criterion. We calculate the liquid-state energy and the freezing point of the 2D dipolar Fermi gas (2DDFG) using a variational method by taking ground-state wave functions of 2D electron gas (2DEG) as trial states. A comparison with the recent fixed-node diffusion Monte Carlo analysis of the 2DDFG shows that our simple variational technique captures more than of the correlation energy, and predicts the freezing transition within the uncertainty bounds of QMC. Finally, we utilize the ground-state wave functions of 2DDFG as trial states and provide a variational account of the effects of finite 2D confinement width. Our results indicate significant beyond mean-field effects. We calculate the frequency of collective monopole oscillations of the quasi-2D dipolar gas as an experimental demonstration of correlation effects.
Viscosity and Rotation in Core-Collapse Supernovae

We construct models of core-collapse supernovae in one spatial dimension, including rotation, angular momentum transport, and viscous dissipation employing an ?-prescription. We compare the evolution of a fiducial 11 M? nonrotating progenitor with its evolution when including a wide range of imposed initial rotation profiles (1.25 s < P0 < 8 s, where P0 is the initial, approximately solid-body, rotation period of the iron core). This range of P0 covers the region of parameter space from where rotation begins to modify the dynamics (P0 ~ 8 s) to where angular velocities at collapse approach Keplerian (P0 ~ 1 s). Under the assumption of strict angular momentum conservation, all models in this range leave behind neutron stars with spin periods 10 ms, shorter than those of most radio pulsars but similar to those expected theoretically for magnetars at birth. A fraction of the gravitational binding energy of collapse is stored in the free energy of differential rotation. This energy source may be tapped by viscous processes, providing a mechanism for energy deposition that is not strongly coupled to the mass accretion rate through the stalled supernova shock. This effect yields qualitatively new dynamics in models of supernovae. We explore several potential mechanisms for viscosity in the core-collapse environment: neutrino viscosity, turbulent viscosity caused by the magnetorotational instability (MRI), and turbulent viscosity by entropy- and composition gradient-driven convection. We argue that the MRI is the most effective. We find for rotation periods in the range P0 5 s and a range of viscous stresses that the postbounce dynamics is significantly affected by the inclusion of this extra energy deposition mechanism; in several cases we obtain strong supernova explosions.
Chandler and Business History in Japan

The work and ideas of Alfred D.Chandler Jr. have enriched the field of Japanese business history and our understanding of that nation's industrial development. Chandler's studies about the rise of the large, professionally managed, multidivisional firm in the United States highlight factors critical not only to the United States' capitalist system but also to Japan's. Indeed, large firms played a dominant role in Japan's economic takeoff in the late 1800s. As these companies grew, they were transformed into professionally managed corporations. Managers, operating in a clear hierarchical chain of command, built up huge companies, such as Nihon Denki (NEC), Toshiba, Mitsubishi Electric, Hitachi, Nippon Steel, Matsushita, and Toyota. In Japanese as in U.S. firms, the visible hand of management was critical to controlling the flow of work, from the input of raw materials to the production of finished goods.
Optimal pricing with recommender systems

We study optimal pricing in the presence of recommender systems. A recommender system affects the market in two ways: (i) it creates value by reducing product uncertainty for the customers and hence (ii) its recommendations can be offered as add-ons which generate informational externalities. The quality of the recommendation add-on is endogenously determined by sales. We investigate the impact of these factors on the optimal pricing by a seller with a recommender system against a competitive fringe without such a system. If the recommender system is sufficiently effective in reducing uncertainty, then the seller prices otherwise symmetric products differently to have some products experienced more aggressively. Moreover, the seller segments the market so that customers with more in.exible tastes pay higher prices to get better recommendation.
Mono-Alkylation of Diols Through Ruthenium-Catalyzed Reaction with Homoallyl Alcohols

Abstract Under the catalysis of RuCl2(PPh3)3, a variety of diols reacted with homoallylic alcohols, generating mono-allyl ethers. Di-, tri-, and tetra-(ethylene glycols) all reacted to give mono ethers. Under the same conditions, primary hydroxyl groups reacted preferentially over secondary ones.
The Role of Higher Oxidation State Species in Platinum-Mediated C–H Bond Activation and Functionalization

The Shilov system, a mixture of di- and tetravalent chloroplatinate salts in aqueous solution, provided the first indication of the potential of organotransition metal complexes for activating and functionalizing alkanes under mild conditions; the participation of higher-valent species plays a crucial role. In this chapter, we discuss the experimental and computational studies that have led to detailed mechanistic understanding of C-H activation and functionalization by both the original Shilov system and the many subsequent modifications that have been developed, and assess the prospects for practical, selective catalytic oxidation of alkanes using this chemistry.
Immigration Law, Race, and Identity

This review examines the scholarship at the intersection of immigration law, race, and identity. Historically, much of the literature has focused on the ways immigration law has constructed, and been constructed by, racial categories. I argue that African American racialization has been a central component of immigrant exclusion and that immigrant racialization has paradoxically hardened images of blackness. Whereas this literature emphasizes the role of law in this process, much of the more recent literature decenters law. This scholarship privileges issues of identity construction, with the fluidity and contingency of racial identity taking center stage. Despite this decentering, law clearly still matters. Examining the reference to Hurricane Katrina victims as “refugees” and the vehement reaction against that reference, we can see the complexities of the connection between racial construction and immigration and the implications for future scholarship.
What the Change of System From Socialism to Capitalism Does and Does Not Mean

rT s wo systems can be said to have dominated the 20th century: the capitalist system and the socialist system.' However, this judgement is not selfevident. It usually encounters three objections. The first objection is that it is exaggerated and unjustified to mention the socialist system alongside the capitalist system, almost in parallel with it. In terms of world history, the socialist system was a brief interlude, a temporary aberration in the course of historical events. That view could well be the one that historians take in 200 years, but it is not the way we who live in the 20th century see things. The establishment, existence and partial collapse of the socialist system have left a deep and terrible scar on this century. The socialist system persisted for quite a long time and still persists to a great extent in the world's most populous country, China. Its rule extended, at its height, over a third of the world's population. The Soviet Union was considered a superpower, possessed of fearful military might. The socialist system weighed not only on the hundreds of millions who were subject to it, but on the rest of the world's population as well. The second objection questions whether there were only two systems. Is it not possible to talk of a third system that is neither capitalist nor socialist? I am not enquiring here into the question of whether it might be desirable to establish some kind of third system. I do not know what the 21st or 22nd century may bring. All
Peripheral separability and cusps of arithmetic hyperbolic orbifolds.

For X = R, C, or H, it is well known that cusp cross-sections of finite volume X-hyperbolic (n + 1)-orbifolds are flat n-orbifolds or almost flat orbifolds modelled on the (2n +1)-dimensional Heisenberg group n 2 n + 1 orthe (4n + 3)-dimensional quaternionic Heisenberg group n 4 n + 3 (H) We give a necessary and sufficient condition for such manifolds to be diffeomorphic to a cusp cross-section of an arithmetic X-hyperbolic (n + 1)-orbifold. A principal tool in the proof of this classification theorem is a subgroup separability result which may be of independent interest.
Temperature compensation of NdFeB permanent magnets

Permanent magnet blocks of NdFeB have a relatively high maximum energy product. Because of its relatively low Curie temperature, however, NdFeB has a large temperature coefficient for its residual induction. The temperature coefficients of the relative magnetic fields (/spl Delta/B/B)//spl Delta/T in the air gap of NdFeB dipole magnets were reduced from -1.1/spl times/10/sup -3///spl deg/C to less than 2/spl times/10/sup -5///spl deg/C under operating temperatures of /spl plusmn/6/spl deg/C. This was achieved passively by using 1.25-mm-thick strips of 30%-Ni-Fe alloy as flux shunts for the NdFeB blocks. The magnets with soft-steel poles and flux-return yokes were assembled and measured in a temperature-controlled environment.
Characterizing EVOI-Sufficient k-Response Query Sets in Decision Problems

In finite decision problems where an agent can query its human user to obtain information about its environment before acting, a query’s usefulness is in terms of its Expected Value of Information (EVOI). The usefulness of a query set is similarly measured in terms of the EVOI of the queries it contains. When the only constraint on what queries can be asked is that they have exactlyk possible responses (withk 2), we show that the set ofk-response decision queries (which ask the user to select his/her preferred decision given a choice ofk decisions) is EVOI-Sufficient, meaning that no single k-response query can have higher EVOI than the best singlek-response decision query for any decision problem. When multiple queries can be asked before acting, we provide a negative result that shows the set of depth-n query trees constructed fromk-response decision queries is not EVOI-Sufficient. However, we also provide a positive result that the set of depth-n query trees constructed from kresponse decision-set queries, which ask the user to select from among k sets of decisions as to which set contains the best decision, is EVOISufficient. We conclude with a discussion and analysis of algorithms that draws on a connection to other recent work on decision-theoretic knowledge elicitation.
Mandatory Disclosure and Financial Contagion

The paper analyzes the welfare implications of a policy of mandatory disclosure of information on the value of directly held investments by banks. It is based on a model of payments in a network where the value of a bank’s equity depends on the value of directly held investment of its trading partners, i.e. there is “contagion”. Additionally banks have a profitable investment project for which they need funding from outsiders, but due to agency problems they can only obtain financing if their equity is large enough. Furthermore, banks can, at a cost, disclose the information of their directly held investments. We find that there are equilibrium with no disclosure and no funding for new investments projects. Yet when the disclosure costs are not too large, mandatory disclosure increases ex-ante welfare of banks and outside investors if and only if contagion is severe. The difference for the social and private benefits is that an individual bank’s disclosure of the value of its directly held investment can be uninformative due to counterparty default risk. Instead, mandatory disclosure of information by all banks allows outside investors to assess the financial architecture of the system and direct their funding to the solvent banks.
Probabilistic top-down parsing and language modeling

This paper describes the functioning of a broad-coverage probabilistic top-down parser, and its application to the problem of language modeling for speech recognition. The paper first introduces key notions in language modeling and probabilistic parsing, and briefly reviews some previous approaches to using syntactic structure for language modeling. A lexicalized probabilistic top-down parser is then presented, which performs very well, in terms of both the accuracy of returned parses and the efficiency with which they are found, relative to the best broad-coverage statistical parsers. A new language model that utilizes probabilistic top-down parsing is then outlined, and empirical results show that it improves upon previous work in test corpus perplexity. Interpolation with a trigram model yields an exceptional improvement relative to the improvement observed by other models, demonstrating the degree to which the information captured by our parsing model is orthogonal to that captured by a trigram model. A small recognition experiment also demonstrates the utility of the model.
Patterns for visualization evaluation

We propose a pattern-based approach to evaluating data visualization: a set of general and reusable solutions to commonly occurring problems in evaluating visualization tools, techniques, and syste...