cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Audit Market Concentration and Auditor Tolerance for Earnings Management

In recent years, policy makers have expressed concern about the risks posed by audit market concentration (i.e., high market shares for the dominant Big 4 audit firms) for audit quality. In this paper, we examine the relation between concentration at the local (i.e., metropolitan statistical area) level and auditor tolerance for earnings management during 2003-09. Specifically, we focus our analysis on clients that met (or beat) the analysts earnings forecast but would have missed the target in the absence of positive (i.e., income-increasing) discretionary accruals. Using a sample of clients whose earnings before performance-adjusted discretionary accruals are below the consensus analysts earnings forecast, we find higher concentration is associated with an increased likelihood of the client meeting or beating the earnings target. Our findings hold after accounting for the effects of concentration on audit fees, the potential endogeneity of concentration, and other variables identified in the prior literature to affect audit quality. A separate analysis of the earnings distributions for all companies covered by IBES during 2003-09 also suggests that higher concentration increases clients propensity to just beat (rather than just miss) the analysts earnings forecast. Collectively, our findings are consistent with the misgivings expressed by policy makers, i.e., that oligopolistic dominance of the audit market by the Big 4 fosters complacency among auditors resulting in a more lenient and less skeptical approach to audits and lowers service quality
Revisiting a Proposed Definition of Professional Service Firms

We have attempted to explain why professional service firms (PSFs) even in some of the most canonical examples (e.g., law firms) fail to follow the traditional definition. Growth in the size and geographic diversification of law firms has transformed their organizational structures and in some cases even allowed outside investment. We believe an attempt at defining organizational structure and ownership for any industry, including PSFs, is exposed to creating too many exceptions that may fall outside the confines of the definition. In particular, the problem of defining an industry is that while a given definition may in one context neatly correspond to the existing organizational structure and ownership, changes in the context can render the definition irrelevant over time. As an alternative to defining an industry, it might be more productive to examine how organizations and their respective industries become organized as contexts change.
Why is the dollar so high

Abstract This article explains why the dollar is above its long run equilibrium level and why it will decline. The fundamental reason for the strong dollar is that the US saving rate is very low. The gap between saving and the investment in businesses and housing must be filled by an inflow of capital from abroad. That inflow is equal to the difference between what we spend on imports and what we earn from exports. Achieving this trade deficit requires a high value of the dollar. Reducing the trade deficit requires both a higher saving rate and a lower real value of the dollar.
ELECTRON-ION RECOMBINATION RATE COEFFICIENTS AND PHOTOIONIZATION CROSS SECTIONS FOR ASTROPHYSICALLY ABUNDANT ELEMENTS. VIII. Ar xiii WITH NEW FEATURES

Ar xiii is found to be unique with new features in electron-ion recombination not seen in any other ion. The ion has been studied with the unified method, which provides a theoretically self-consistent set of atomic parameters for the inverse processes of photoionization and total electron-ion recombination. Unified method subsumes both the radiative recombination (RR) and dielectronic recombination (DR) within the framework of close-coupling formulations using the R-matrix method. A set of four DR ‘‘bumps,’’ two in the low-temperature and two in the high-temperature regions, is found to exist in the recombination rates of Ar xiv þ e ! Ar xiii. This is in contrast to two typical DR ‘‘bumps,’’ one at high temperature common for most ions and one at low temperature depending on the presence of near threshold autoionizing resonances in the bound-free process. Large-scale ab initio calculations have been carried out for photoionization and electron-ion recombination cross sections of Ar xiii. The ion is represented by a large close-coupling eigenfunction expansion of 37 core Ar xiv states from n ¼ 2 and 3 complexes. This enables core excitations of type n ¼ 0 and 1. The n ¼ 1 transitions have much higher radiative decay rates than those of n ¼ 0 and cause the fourth DR bump around 2 ;10 6 K. For a large number of bound states, Ar xiii exhibits more extensive resonant structures and wider PEC (photoexitation-of-core) resonances for n ¼ 3 core states than those of n ¼ 2 states. Hence, the high-energy regions of photoionization and recombination are dominated by these structures. A total of 684 bound states with valence electron n � 10 and l � 9 are found for Ar xiii. Total and partial photoionization cross sections of all bound states, state-specific recombination rates of 561 bound states, and total recombination rate coefficients at a large temperature range are presented for Ar xiii. Subject headingg atomic data — atomic processes
Throughput performance of multiuser detection in unslotted contention channels

Analyzes the throughput of a centralized packet receiver which utilizes multiuser detection in an unslotted contention channel. The receiver is capable of demodulating all overlapping, unit-length packets, provided that the T-length packet headers do not overlap, and at most K packets overlap at any one time. If one of these conditions is violated, the remainder of the busy period is assumed to be unresolvable. Assuming that the aggregate packet arrival process is Poisson, the authors analyze the throughput as a function of the total offered load (/spl lambda/), the maximum number of resolvable overlapping packets (K), and the fractional header duration (T). They derive an iterative expression for the throughput for K=2 or 3, generalizable to larger K, which permits solution of the throughput to arbitrary accuracy. A closed form solution is given for the case K=2 and T=0.5. The authors provide bounds on the throughput for arbitrary K, /spl lambda/, and T, which are more convenient than the exact approach for T>0 or large K. Numerical results illustrate the improvement in throughput due to multiuser detection, and suggest a technique for finding the minimum complexity multiuser receiver (minimum K) as a function of other system parameters. >
Mean flow in hexagonal convection: stability and nonlinear dynamics

Weakly nonlinear hexagon convection patterns coupled to mean flow are investigated within the framework of coupled Ginzburg-Landau equations. The equations are in particular relevant for non-Boussinesq Rayleigh-Benard convection at low Prandtl numbers. The mean flow is found to: (1) affect only one of the two long-wave phase modes of the hexagons, and (2) suppress the mixing between the two phase modes. As a consequence, for small Prandtl numbers the transverse and the longitudinal phase instability are expected to occur in sufficiently distinct parameter regimes that they can be studied separately. Through the formation of penta-hepta defects, they lead to different types of transient disordered states. The results for the dynamics of the penta-hepta defects shed light on the persistence of grain boundaries in such disordered states.
Multichannel Digital Optical Disk Memory System

This paper describes a prototype computer-controlled digital optical disk memory system that was designed and built for an office-of-the-future application and also to track the technology, assess issues, and provide answers to a host of application-oriented requirements. The system uses gas lasers for writing and reading. Unique features of the system are simultaneous eight-channel parallel readout, write channel addressing, and a readout channel incorporating a single custom photodetector array for extracting data as well as focus and tracking error signals. The problems of media sensitivity and archivability are discussed, and sensitivity measurement techniques are described with typical examples shown.
N-Vinylpyridinium and -ammonium Tetrafluoroborate Salts: New Electrophilic Coupling Partners for Pd(0)-Catalyzed Suzuki Cross-Coupling Reactions

N-Vinylpyridinium and -trialkylammonium tetrafluoroborate salts represent a new class of electrophilic coupling partner for Pd(0)-catalyzed Suzuki cross-coupling reactions and give very good to excellent yields of products with a wide range of boronic acids. The salts are easily prepared from activated acetylenes and pyridinium or trialkylammonium tetrafluoroborates to form crystalline, air-stable, and nonhygroscopic crystals.
Associations of maternal obesity and psychosocial factors with breastfeeding intention, initiation, and duration

Background: Psychosocial factors influence breastfeeding outcomes, but little is known about these characteristics and how they influence breastfeeding behavior of obese women, who are a group that experiences poor breastfeeding outcomes. Objectives: Our objectives were to determine whether 1) maternal prepregnancy body mass index (BMI) is associated with social knowledge of, social influence toward, maternal confidence in, and behavioral beliefs about breastfeeding; 2) BMI and these psychosocial factors predict outcomes of intention to breastfeed, ever breastfed, and the duration of breastfeeding; and 3) BMI and psychosocial factors are associated with these breastfeeding outcomes independent of each other. Design: Participants (n = 2824) in the Infant Feeding Practices Study II provided data on psychosocial characteristics and breastfeeding outcomes. In this prospective cohort study, data were analyzed by using logistic and proportional hazards regression models. Results: Prepregnancy BMI was associated with confidence in (P < 0.0001), social influence toward (P = 0.02), and social knowledge of (P < 0.0001) breastfeeding but not with behavioral beliefs about breastfeeding (P = 0.45). Obese women did not differ from under- and normal-weight women in the intention to breastfeed (P = 0.07) but had lower odds of ever breastfeeding (P = 0.04) and were at greater risk of an earlier cessation of exclusive (P = 0.0009) and any (P = 0.03) breastfeeding. Only the association with exclusive breastfeeding remained significant after controlling for psychosocial factors (P = 0.01). All psychosocial factors were positively associated with each breastfeeding outcome. Conclusions: Despite their intentions to breastfeed, women with high prepregnancy BMI had psychosocial characteristics associated with poor breastfeeding outcomes. However, these characteristics did not fully explain the association between maternal obesity and breastfeeding outcomes.
Efficient Construction of Discrete Adjoint Operators on Unstructured Grids Using Complex Variables

A methodology is developed and implemented to mitigate the lengthy software development cycle typically associated with constructing a discrete adjoint solver for aerodynamic simulations. The approach is based on a complex-variable formulation that enables straightforward differentiation of complicated real-valued functions. An automated scripting process is used to create the complex-variable form of the set of discrete equations. An efficient method for assembling the residual and cost function linearizations is developed. The accuracy of the implementation is verified through comparisons with a discrete direct method as well as a previously developed handcoded discrete adjoint approach. Comparisons are also shown for a large-scale configuration to establish the computational efficiency of the present scheme. To ultimately demonstrate the power of the approach, the implementation is extended to high temperature gas flows in chemical nonequilibrium. Finally, several fruitful research and development avenues enabled by the current work are suggested.
Decoding the 'Nature Encoded' Messages for Distributed Energy Generation Control in Microgrid

The communication for the control of distributed energy generation (DEG) in microgrid is discussed. Due to the requirement of realtime transmission, weak or no explicit channel coding is used for the message of system state. To protect the reliability of the uncoded or weakly encoded messages, the system dynamics are considered as a 'nature encoding' similar to convolution code, due to its redundancy in time. For systems with or without explicit channel coding, two decoding procedures based on Kalman filtering and Pearl's Belief Propagation, in a similar manner to Turbo processing in traditional data communication systems, are proposed. Numerical simulations have demonstrated the validity of the schemes, using a linear model of electric generator dynamic system.
Transport of molecular motor dimers in burnt-bridge models

The dynamics of molecular motor dimers, consisting of rigidly bound particles that move along two parallel lattices and interact with underlying molecular tracks, is investigated theoretically by analyzing discrete-state stochastic continuous-time burnt-bridge models. In these models the motion of molecular motors is viewed as a random walk along the lattices with periodically distributed weak links (bridges). When the particle crosses the weak link it can be destroyed with a probability p, driving the molecular motor motion in one direction. Dynamic properties, force–velocity relations and effective generated forces of dimer molecular motors are calculated exactly as a function of a concentration of bridges c and burning probability p and compared with corresponding properties of the monomer motors. It is found that the ratio of the velocities of the dimer and the monomer can never exceed 2, while the dispersions of the dimer and the monomer are not very different. The relative effective generated force of the dimer (as compared to the monomer) also cannot be larger than 2 for most sets of parameters. However, a very large force can be produced by the dimer in the special case of c = 1/2 for non-zero shift between the lattices. Our calculations do not show the significant increase in the force generated by collagenase motor proteins in real biological systems as predicted by previous computational studies. The observed behavior of dimer molecular motors is discussed by considering in detail the particle dynamics near burnt bridges.
GPU-based fast Monte Carlo simulation for radiotherapy dose calculation

Monte Carlo (MC) simulation is commonly considered to be the most accurate dose calculation method in radiotherapy. However, its efficiency still requires improvement for many routine clinical applications. In this paper, we present our recent progress toward the development of a graphics processing unit (GPU)-based MC dose calculation package, gDPM v2.0. It utilizes the parallel computation ability of a GPU to achieve high efficiency, while maintaining the same particle transport physics as in the original dose planning method (DPM) code and hence the same level of simulation accuracy. In GPU computing, divergence of execution paths between threads can considerably reduce the efficiency. Since photons and electrons undergo different physics and hence attain different execution paths, we use a simulation scheme where photon transport and electron transport are separated to partially relieve the thread divergence issue. A high-performance random number generator and a hardware linear interpolation are also utilized. We have also developed various components to handle the fluence map and linac geometry, so that gDPM can be used to compute dose distributions for realistic IMRT or VMAT treatment plans. Our gDPM package is tested for its accuracy and efficiency in both phantoms and realistic patient cases. In all cases, the average relative uncertainties are less than 1%. A statistical t-test is performed and the dose difference between the CPU and the GPU results is not found to be statistically significant in over 96% of the high dose region and over 97% of the entire region. Speed-up factors of 69.1 ∼ 87.2 have been observed using an NVIDIA Tesla C2050 GPU card against a 2.27 GHz Intel Xeon CPU processor. For realistic IMRT and VMAT plans, MC dose calculation can be completed with less than 1% standard deviation in 36.1 ∼ 39.6 s using gDPM.
Degrees of Freedom Regions of Two-User MIMO Z and Full Interference Channels: The Benefit of Reconfigurable Antennas

We study the degrees of freedom (DoF) regions of two-user multiple-input multiple-output Z and full interference channels in this paper. We assume that the receivers always have perfect channel state information. We first derive the DoF region of Z interference channel with channel state information at transmitter (CSIT). For full interference channel without CSIT, the DoF region has been fully characterized recently and it is shown that the previously known outer bound is not achievable. In this paper, we investigate the no-CSIT case further by assuming that one transmitter has the ability of antenna mode switching. We obtain the DoF region as a function of the number of available antenna modes and reveal the incremental gain in DoF that each additional antenna mode can bring. It is shown that, in certain cases, the reconfigurable antennas can increase the DoF. In these cases, the DoF region is maximized when the number of modes is at least equal to the number of receive antennas at the corresponding receiver, in which case the previous outer bound is achieved. In all cases, we propose systematic constructions of the beamforming and nulling matrices for achieving the DoF region. The constructions bear an interesting space-frequency coding interpretation.
Consumption–Savings Decisions with Quasi–Geometric Discounting

We study the consumption-savings problem of an infinitely-lived, rational consumer who has time-inconsistent preferences in the form of quasi-geometric discounting. The consumer operates a weakly concave production function and must simply divide current resources into current consumption and savings. There is no uncertainty. A solution to the consumer’s problem is a subgame-perfect equilibrium of a dynamic game between the consumer’s “successive selves.” We show that this game has a continuum of equilibria in stationary Markov strategies. Not only is the stationary point of the consumer’s asset holdings indeterminate, but each stationary point has a continuum of dynamic paths converging to it. The savings policy rules underlying these dynamic paths are step functions.
Detector efficiency and Compton scatter in fully 3D PET

Variations in detector efficiency induce significant artifacts in reconstructed images unless accurate normalization methods are used. Scattered events are detected with significantly different efficiencies than unscattered events because the photons in scattered coincidences arrive at the detector at lower energies and over a wide range of angles of incidence. Current methods work well for septa-extended imaging because the scatter fractions are low. The large scatter fractions encountered in fully 3D imaging, however, require that these differences be accounted for. We propose a normalization technique that accounts for them and show that it yields more uniform images than two other potential methods. >
An optimal volume ellipsoid algorithm for parameter set estimation

A recursive ellipsoid algorithm is derived for estimating the parameter set of a single-input single-output linear time-invariant system with bounded noise. The algorithm's objective is to seek the minimal volume ellipsoid bounding the feasible parameter set. Cast in a recursive framework, where a minimal volume ellipsoid results at each recursion, the algorithm extends a result due to Khachian (see Aspvall and Stone, 1980) in which a technique was developed to solve a class of linear programming problems. This extension and application to the parameter set estimation problem have intuitive geometric appeal and are easy to implement. Comparisons are made to the optimal bounding ellipsoid algorithm of Fogel and Huang (1982), and the results are demonstrated through computer simulations. >
Distributed Full-Duplex via Wireless Side-Channels: Bounds and Protocols

In this paper, we study a three-node full-duplex network, where a base station is engaged in simultaneous up- and downlink communication in the same frequency band with two half-duplex mobile nodes. To reduce the impact of inter-node interference between the two mobile nodes on the system capacity, we study how an orthogonal side-channel between the two mobile nodes can be leveraged to achieve full-duplex-like multiplexing gains. We propose and characterize the achievable rates of four distributed full-duplex schemes, labeled bin-and-cancel, compress-and-cancel, estimate-and-cancel and decode-and-cancel. Of the four, bin-and-cancel is shown to achieve within 1 bit/s/Hz of the capacity region for all values of channel parameters. In contrast, the other three schemes achieve the near-optimal performance only in certain regimes of channel values. Asymptotic multiplexing gains of all proposed schemes are derived to show that the side-channel is extremely effective in regimes where inter-node interference has the highest impact.
Multiplicative 2-cocycles at the prime 2

Abstract Using a previous classification result on symmetric additive 2 -cocycles, we collect a variety of facts about the Lubin–Tate cohomology of certain formal groups to produce a presentation of the 2 -primary component of the scheme of symmetric multiplicative 2 -cocycles. This scheme classifies certain kinds of highly symmetric multiextensions, generalizing those studied by Mumford or Breen. A low-order version of this computation has previously found application in homotopy theory through the σ -orientation of Ando, Hopkins, and Strickland, and the complete computation is reflective of certain structures found in the homotopy type of connective K -theory.
Information and economic efficiency

Abstract Is an economy with adverse selection, moral hazard, or an incomplete set of risk markets ‘constrained’ Pareto efficient? There are two sets of papers addressing this question, one asserting that, under seemingly quite general conditions, the economy is constrained Pareto efficient, the other (to which we have contributed) that it is not. In this paper, we delineate the differences in assumptions between the two sets of papers, and under our assumptions present an intuitive proof of the Pareto inefficiency of market equilibrium with moral hazard and identify what it is that the government can do that the market cannot.
Algorithms for Game Metrics

Simulation and bisimulation metrics for stochastic systems provide a quantitative generalization of the classical simulation and bisimulation relations. These metrics capture the similarity of states with respect to quantitative specifications written in the quantitative $\mu$-calculus and related probabilistic logics. We present algorithms for computing the metrics on Markov decision processes (MDPs), turn-based stochastic games, and concurrent games. For turn-based games and MDPs, we provide a polynomial-time algorithm based on linear programming for the computation of the one-step metric distance between states. The algorithm improves on the previously known exponential-time algorithm based on a reduction to the theory of reals. We then present PSPACE algorithms for both the decision problem and the problem of approximating the metric distance between two states, matching the best known bound for Markov chains. For the bisimulation kernel of the metric, which corresponds to probabilistic bisimulation, our algorithm works in time $\calo(n^4)$ for both turn-based games and MDPs; improving the previously best known $\calo(n^9\cdot\log(n))$ time algorithm for MDPs. For a concurrent game $G$, we show that computing the exact distance between states is at least as hard as computing the value of concurrent reachability games and the square-root-sum problem in computational geometry. We show that checking whether the metric distance is bounded by a rational $r$, can be accomplished via a reduction to the theory of real closed fields, involving a formula with three quantifier alternations, yielding $\calo(|G|^{\calo(|G|^5)})$ time complexity, improving the previously known reduction with $\calo(|G|^{\calo(|G|^7)})$ time complexity. These algorithms can be iterated to approximate the metrics using binary search.
Solving schubert problems with Littlewood-Richardson homotopies

We present a new numerical homotopy continuation algorithm for finding all solutions to Schubert problems on Grassmannians. This Littlewood-Richardson homotopy is based on Vakil's geometric proof of the Littlewood-Richardson rule. Its start solutions are given by linear equations and they are tracked through a sequence of homotopies encoded by certain checker configurations to find the solutions to a given Schubert problem. For generic Schubert problems the number of paths tracked is optimal. The Littlewood-Richardson homotopy algorithm is implemented using the path trackers of the software package PHCpack.
Orbital angular momentum in the nucleon

Analysis of the measured value of the integrated $\mathrm{d\ifmmode \bar{}\else \={}\fi{}}$-$\mathrm{u\ifmmode \bar{}\else \={}\fi{}}$ asymmetry (${I}_{\mathrm{fas}}$ $=$ 0.147 $\ifmmode\pm\else\textpm\fi{}$ 0.027) in the nucleon show it to arise from nucleon fluctuations into baryon plus pion. Requiring angular momentum conservation in these fluctuations shows the associated orbital angular momentum is equal to the value of the flavor asymmetry.
Microfluidic platforms for mechanobiology

Mechanotransduction has been a topic of considerable interest since early studies demonstrated a link between mechanical force and biological response. Until recently, studies of fundamental phenomena were based either on in vivo experiments with limited control or direct access, or on large-scale in vitro studies lacking many of the potentially important physiological factors. With the advent of microfluidics, many of the previous limitations of in vitro testing were eliminated or reduced through greater control or combined functionalities. At the same time, imaging capabilities were tremendously enhanced. In this review, we discuss how microfluidics has transformed the study of mechanotransduction. This is done in the context of the various cell types that exhibit force-induced responses and the new biological insights that have been elucidated. We also discuss new microfluidic studies that could produce even more realistic models of in vivo conditions by combining multiple stimuli or creating a more realistic microenvironment.
LOGISTIC NETWORK REGRESSION FOR SCALABLE ANALYSIS OF NETWORKS WITH JOINT EDGE/VERTEX DYNAMICS

Change in group size and composition has long been an important area of research in the social sciences. Similarly, interest in interaction dynamics has a long history in sociology and social psychology. However, the effects of endogenous group change on interaction dynamics are a surprisingly understudied area. One way to explore these relationships is through social network models. Network dynamics may be viewed as a process of change in the edge structure of a network, in the vertex set on which edges are defined, or in both simultaneously. Although early studies of such processes were primarily descriptive, recent work on this topic has increasingly turned to formal statistical models. Although showing great promise, many of these modern dynamic models are computationally intensive and scale very poorly in the size of the network under study and/or the number of time points considered. Likewise, currently used models focus on edge dynamics, with little support for endogenously changing vertex sets. Here, the authors show how an existing approach based on logistic network regression can be extended to serve as a highly scalable framework for modeling large networks with dynamic vertex sets. The authors place this approach within a general dynamic exponential family (exponential-family random graph modeling) context, clarifying the assumptions underlying the framework (and providing a clear path for extensions), and they show how model assessment methods for cross-sectional networks can be extended to the dynamic case. Finally, the authors illustrate this approach on a classic data set involving interactions among windsurfers on a California beach.
Representations of the natural system in the nineteenth century

‘The Natural System’ is the abstract notion of the order in living diversity. The richness and complexity of this notion is revealed by the diversity of representations of the Natural System drawn by ornithologists in the Nineteenth Century. These representations varied in overall form from stars, to circles, to maps, to evolutionary trees and cross-sections through trees. They differed in their depiction of affinity, analogy, continuity, directionality, symmetry, reticulation and branching, evolution, and morphological convergence and divergence. Some representations were two-dimensional, and some were three-dimensional; n-dimensional representations were discussed but never illustrated. The study of diagrammatic representations of the Natural System is made difficult by the frequent failure of authors to discuss them in their texts, and by the consequent problem of distinguishing features which carried meaning from arbitrary features and printing conventions which did not. Many of the systematics controversies of the last thirty years have their roots in the conceptual problems which surrounded the Natural System in the late 1800s, problems which were left unresolved when interest in higher-level systematics declined at the turn of this century.
A Note on the Wave Action Density of a Viscous Instability Mode on a Laminar Free-shear Flow

Using the assumptions of an incompressible and viscous flow at large Reynolds number, we derive the evolution equation for the wave action density of an instability wave traveling on top of a laminar free-shear flow. The instability is considered to be viscous; the purpose of the present work is to include the cumulative effect of the (locally) small viscous correction to the wave, over length and time scales on which the underlying base flow appears inhomogeneous owing to its viscous diffusion. As such, we generalize our previous work for inviscid waves. This generalization appears as an additional (but usually non-negligible) term in the equation for the wave action. The basic structure of the equation remains unaltered.
Single-component molecular resists containing bound photoacid generator functionality

A series of single-component molecular resists was designed, synthesized, characterized, and patterned using 100-keV e-beam lithography. An onium salt photoacid generator-based single-component resist system (referred to here as TAS) that creates a free photoacid upon exposure is shown to produce a low line edge roughness (LER) of 3.9 nm (3) but was limited in resolution due to photoacid diffusion. A different single-component molecular resist (referred to here as NBB) with a covalently bound nonionic photoacid generator, i.e., one in which the photoacid anion is bound to the resist core, was also synthesized. NBB was found to exhibit an improved resolution of 40 nm due to reduced photoacid diffusion while maintaining a good LER and line width roughness (LWR) of 3.9 nm and 5.6 nm, respectively. Despite the small size of NBB, it was found to exhibit a glass transition temperature of 82 °C. It also showed good adhesion, formed high-quality films, and showed no dark erosion during development. These compounds demonstrate that it is possible to form single-component molecular resists using both ionic and nonionic photoacid generators and that such small molecule resists can provide all the basic requirements to serve as functional chemically amplified resists.
Alfven Wave Reflection and Turbulent Heating in the Solar Wind from 1 Solar Radius to 1 AU: an Analytical Treatment

We study the propagation, reflection, and turbulent dissipation of Alfv?n waves in coronal holes and the solar wind. We start with the Heinemann-Olbert equations, which describe non-compressive magnetohydrodynamic fluctuations in an inhomogeneous medium with a background flow parallel to the background magnetic field. Following the approach of Dmitruk et?al., we model the nonlinear terms in these equations using a simple phenomenology for the cascade and dissipation of wave energy and assume that there is much more energy in waves propagating away from the Sun than waves propagating toward the Sun. We then solve the equations analytically for waves with periods of hours and longer to obtain expressions for the wave amplitudes and turbulent heating rate as a function of heliocentric distance. We also develop a second approximate model that includes waves with periods of roughly one minute to one hour, which undergo less reflection than the longer-period waves, and compare our models to observations. Our models generalize the phenomenological model of Dmitruk et?al. by accounting for the solar wind velocity, so that the turbulent heating rate can be evaluated from the coronal base out past the Alfv?n critical point?that is, throughout the region in which most of the heating and acceleration occurs. The simple analytical expressions that we obtain can be used to incorporate Alfv?n-wave reflection and turbulent heating into fluid models of the solar wind.
Thermochemistry of Peroxides

1 Introduction, Scope and Definitions 2 Hydrocarbon-Substituted Peroxides 3 Peroxides with Single-Bonded Oxygen Functional Groups 4 Peroxycarboxylic Acids and Their Derivatives 5 Cyclic Peroxides and Multiply-Linked Peroxides Keywords: peroxide thermochemistry; hydrocarbon-substituted peroxides; phase change enthalpies; experimental enthalpies of vaporization; enthalpies of isomerization; gas phase enthalpy of formation difference; enthalpy of formation data for peroxides and alkoxyl functional groups; cyclic peroxides and multiply-linked peroxides
Workplace Giving in Universities A U.S. Case Study at Indiana University

The phenomenon of workplace giving is underexamined in the scholarly literature; philanthropic gifts by employees to their nonprofit employers have received less attention within national and transnational contexts. This study considered the association between university staff propensity toward “internal workplace giving” and donor characteristics, drawing on literature about organizational commitment and identification as a beginning for advancing theoretical understanding of employee–employer relationships and giving at both the micro-level and meso-level. The sample of 17,038 employees covered 3 years at Indiana University, an American, public, multicampus institution. Despite its specific national and cultural context, the study raises relevant issues about workplace giving. Relational and personal characteristics were found to be significant predictors for determining who donates; using these characteristics to predict giving levels, however, was less successful. The study anticipates a growing need...
Heegaard splittings of graph manifolds

Let M be a totally orientable graph manifold with characteristic submanifold T and let M = V[SW be a Heegaard splitting. We prove that S is standard. In particular, S is the amalgamation of strongly irreducible Heegaard splittings. The splitting surfaces Si of these strongly irreducible Heegaard splittings have the property that for each vertex manifold N of M , Si\N is either horizontal, pseudohorizontal, vertical or pseudovertical.
Fast Polar Decomposition of an Arbitrary Matrix

The polar decomposition of an $m \times n$ matrix A of full rank, where $m \geqq n$, can be computed using a quadratically convergent algorithm of Higham [SIAM J. Sci. Statist. Comput., 7(1986), pp. 1160–1174]. The algorithm is based on a Newton iteration involving a matrix inverse. It is shown how, with the use of a preliminary complete orthogonal decomposition, the algorithm can be extended to arbitrary A. The use of the algorithm to compute the positive semidefinite square root of a Hermitian positive semidefinite matrix is also described. A hybrid algorithm that adaptively switches from the matrix inversion based iteration to a matrix multiplication based iteration due to Kovarik, and to Bjorck and Bowie, is formulated. The decision when to switch is made using a condition estimator. This “matrix multiplication rich” algorithm is shown to be more efficient on machines for which matrix multiplication can be executed 1.5 times faster than matrix inversion.
Norm functors and effective zero cycles

We compare two known definitions for a relative family of effective zero cycles: one based on traces of functions and one based on norms of functions. In characteristic zero we show that both definitions agree. In the general setting we show that the norm map on functions can be expanded to a norm functor between certain categories of line bundles, thereby giving a third approach to families of zero cycles.
Chemistry and chemical biology of taxane anticancer agents.

Taxol (paclitaxel) and Taxotere (docetaxel) are currently considered to be among the most important anticancer drugs in cancer chemotherapy. The anticancer activity of these drugs is ascribed to their unique mechanism of action, i.e., causing mitotic arrest in cancer cells, leading to apoptosis through inhibition of the depolymerization of microtubules. Although both paclitaxel and docetaxel possess potent antitumor activity, treatment with these drugs often results in a number of undesirable side effects, as well as multidrug resistance (MDR). Therefore, it has become essential to develop new anticancer agents with superior pharmacological properties, improved activity against various classes of tumors, and fewer side effects. This paper describes an account of our research on the chemistry of paclitaxel and taxoid anticancer agents at the biomedical interface, including: 1. The structure-activity relationship (SAR) study of taxoids leading to the development of the "second-generation" taxoids, which possess exceptional activity against drug-resistant cancer cells expressing the MDR phenotype. 2. Development of fluorinated taxoids to study the bioactive conformation of paclitaxel and photoaffinity labeling taxoids for mapping of the drug-binding domain on both microtubules and P-glycoprotein. 3. The synthesis of novel macrocyclic taxoids for the investigation into the common pharmacophore for microtubule stabilizing anticancer agents.
New synthesis of α'-hydroxydienones.

Herein, attempted oxidation of selected allenols with PCC affording α′-hydroxydienones rather than simple oxidation products is described. The formation of the products observed is rationalized via a series of sigmatropic shifts, followed by hydrolysis.
THE RESEARCH TREND OF INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY AND DECISION MAKING IN 2009

The research topics of the 39 papers published in the International Journal of Information Technology and Decision Making (IT&DM) in 2009 can be classified into three major directions: decision support, multiple criteria decision making, and data mining and risk analysis. The Editor-in-Chief, on behalf of the editorial board and advisory board, highlights the key ideas of these contributions. The seven papers in first issue of 2010 IT&DM are also introduced.
On the Spectra of Simplicial Rook Graphs

The simplicial rook graph$$SR(d,n)$$SR(d,n) is the graph whose vertices are the lattice points in the $$n$$nth dilate of the standard simplex in $$\mathbb {R}^d$$Rd, with two vertices adjacent if they differ in exactly two coordinates. We prove that the adjacency and Laplacian matrices of $$SR(3,n)$$SR(3,n) have integral spectrum for every $$n$$n. The proof proceeds by calculating an explicit eigenbasis. We conjecture that $$SR(d,n)$$SR(d,n) is integral for all $$d$$d and $$n$$n, and present evidence in support of this conjecture. For $$n<\left( {\begin{array}{c}d\\ 2\end{array}}\right) $$n
Deriving Good LDPC Convolutional Codes from LDPC Block Codes

Low-density parity-check (LDPC) convolutional codes are capable of achieving excellent performance with low encoding and decoding complexity. In this paper, we discuss several graph-cover-based methods for deriving families of time-invariant and time-varying LDPC convolutional codes from LDPC block codes and show how earlier proposed LDPC convolutional code constructions can be presented within this framework. Some of the constructed convolutional codes significantly outperform the underlying LDPC block codes. We investigate some possible reasons for this “convolutional gain,” and we also discuss the-mostly moderate-decoder cost increase that is incurred by going from LDPC block to LDPC convolutional codes.
Chaotic universe dynamics using a Fokker-Planck equation

A Fokker-Planck equation that accounts for fluctuations in field and its conjugate momentum is solved numerically for the case of a λϕ4 potential. Although the amount of inflation agrees closely with that expected classically, in certain cases (large initial fields or large dispersions) the "slow rolling" approximation appears invalid. In such cases inflation would stop prematurely before possibly restarting.
Continuous flow photocatalysis enhanced using an aluminum mirror: rapid and selective synthesis of 2'-deoxy and 2',3'-dideoxynucleosides.

A unique photochemical flow reactor featuring quartz tubing, an aluminum mirror and temperature control has been developed for the photo-induced electron-transfer deoxygenation reaction to produce 2′-deoxy and 2′,3′-dideoxynucleosides. The continuous flow format significantly increased the efficiency and selectivity of the reaction.
Tyrosine Phosphorylation of Human Platelet Plasma Membrane Ca2+-ATPase in Hypertension

Intracellular Ca(2+) is increased in the platelets of hypertensive individuals. Previously, we demonstrated that platelet plasma membrane Ca(2+)-ATPase (PMCA) activity inversely correlates with diastolic blood pressure and that inhibition of this Ca(2+) pump could explain the elevation of cytosolic Ca(2+) in hypertension. More recently, we discovered that PMCA is phosphorylated on tyrosine residues during thrombin-stimulated platelet aggregation and that this phosphorylation causes inhibition of PMCA activity. In the present work, we tested the hypothesis that tyrosine phosphorylation of PMCA in hypertensive patients could account for the observed inhibition of the Ca(2+) pump. Platelets were obtained from untreated hypertensive and normotensive volunteers. PMCA was immunoprecipitated from solubilized platelets, and tyrosine phosphorylation was quantified by chemiluminescence of immunoblots treated with anti-phosphotyrosine. PMCA content was measured on the same immunoblots by stripping and reprobing with anti-PMCA. Phosphorylation was reported as normalized phosphotyrosine chemiluminescence per nanogram PMCA (mean+/-SE). The average PMCA tyrosine phosphorylation for 15 normotensive subjects was 0.53+/-0. 09, whereas the average for 8 hypertensive individuals was 1.82+/-0. 25 (P<0.0005, Mann-Whitney U test). Age, gender, and systolic blood pressure did not correlate with PMCA phosphorylation. These results suggest that PMCA in platelets of hypertensive individuals is inhibited because of tyrosine phosphorylation, resulting in increased platelet intracellular Ca(2+), hyperactive platelets, and increased risk of heart attack and stroke.
Bounded-Depth Circuits Cannot Sample Good Codes

We study a variant of the classical circuit-lower-bound problems: proving lower bounds for sampling distributions given random bits. We prove a lower bound on the statistical distance between (i) the output distribution of any small constant-depth (a.k.a. AC0) circuit, and (ii) the uniform distribution over any code that is ``good'', i.e. has constant relative distance and rate. This seems to be the first lower bound of this kind. We give two simple applications of this result: (1) any data structure for storing codewords of a good code requires an additive logarithmic redundancy, if each bit of the codeword can be retrieved by a small AC0 circuit; (2) for some choice of the underlying combinatorial designs, the output distribution of Nisan's pseudorandom generator against AC0 circuits of depth d cannot be sampled by small AC0 circuits of depth less than d.
Nilpotent pieces in the dual of odd orthogonal lie algebras

Let \( {\mathcal{N}_{\mathfrak{g}*}} \) be the variety of nilpotent elements in the dual of the Lie algebra of a reductive algebraic group over an algebraically closed field. In [L4] Lusztig proposes a definition of a partition of \( {\mathcal{N}_{\mathfrak{g}*}} \) into smooth locally closed subvarieties (which are indexed by the unipotent classes in the corresponding group over complex numbers) and gives explicit results in types A, C and D. We discuss type B in this note.
Income from Student Inventions and the Kiddie Tax

ABSTRACT: Scientific revolutions, frequently led by the youngest scientists, are essential for the competitiveness of the U.S. economy. In 2008, the kiddie tax age limit was increased from 18 to 24 years, which expanded its coverage to full-time undergraduate and graduate students. Although Congress generally seeks to promote innovation, royalty income from student-created inventions is penalized because it is characterized as unearned income that is subject to the kiddie tax, a form of alternative minimum tax. The objective of the drafter of the kiddie tax was to cover income transferred from a parent's to a child's lower tax rate. Student inventors can employ tax planning strategies to avoid the kiddie tax on earnings from their patents provided they are aware of the kiddie tax provisions. The tax treatment of student inventor royalty income could not be discerned from primary sources of tax law or the JCT Bluebooks. It would be desirable for Congress to act and either eliminate the kiddie tax on the r...
Accuracy and Coupling Issues of Aeroelastic Navier-Stokes Solutions on Deforming Meshes

An implicit time-accurate approach to aeroelastic simulation was developed with particular attention paid to the issues of time accuracy, structural coupling, grid-deformation strategy, and geometric conservation. A Beam ‐Warming, approximate-factored algorithm, modie ed to include Newton-like subiterations was coupled with a structural model, also in subiteration form. With a sufe cient number of subiterations, this approach becomes a fully implicit, e rst- or second-order-accurate aeroelastic solver. The solver was used to compute time-accurate solutions of an elastically mounted cylinder. The fully implicit coupling allowed the overall scheme to become second-order accurate in time, signie cantly reducing the workload for a given accuracy. A new algebraic grid deformation strategy was developed that preserves grid orthogonality near the surface under large deformations. Finally, the oscillatory behavior of an elastically mounted cylinder was reproduced accurately by the present approach, and results compared favorably to previous experiments and simulations.
Random values of the physical parameters

I briefly describe two motivations, two mechanisms and two possible tests of the hypothesis that the physical parameters of the ground state of a theory can vary in different rerions of the universe.