cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Low-Temperature Synthesis and Characterization of ITO Thin Films

Low-temperature synthesis and characterization of ITO thin films prepared by cathodic arc ion plating (CAIP) have been demonstrated. The correlation between structural properties and electrical results are revealed in this work. At present, the in-house ITO films with the lowest resistivity and highest transparence of 4.8 × 10-4 (Ω-cm) and 80% can be obtained. Such the low-temperature fabrication technique is very promising for the potential applications of flexible electronic devices or dye-sensitized solar cells. [DOI: 10.1380/ejssnt.2009.553]
Trade Theory and Factor Intensities: An Interpretive Essay

Since Heckscher’s 1919 pioneering contribution to international trade theory, the concept of “factor intensity” has played a key role in explanations of trade patterns and the consequences of international trade for local income distribution. This essay discusses the uses that have been made of the concept and its applicability to problems that are couched in higher dimensions. The author suggests that it has an important role to play in “new” trade theory in which the strong link between commodity prices and costs of production may be removed by the existence of imperfectly competitive markets.
Tadpoles and closed string backgrounds in open string field theory

We investigate the quantum structure of Witten's cubic open bosonic string field theory by computing the one-loop contribution to the open string tadpole using both oscillator and conformal field theory methods. We find divergences and a breakdown of BRST invariance in the tadpole diagram arising from tachyonic and massless closed string states, and we discuss ways of treating these problems. For a Dp-brane with sufficiently many transverse dimensions, the tadpole can be rendered finite by analytically continuing the closed string tachyon by hand; this diagram then naturally incorporates the (linearized) shift of the closed string background due to the presence of the brane. We observe that divergences at higher loops will doom any straightforward attempt at analyzing general quantum effects in bosonic open string field theory on a Dp-brane of any dimension, but our analysis does not uncover any potential obstacles to the existence of a sensible quantum open string field theory in the supersymmetric case.
Transmural action potential repolarization heterogeneity develops postnatally in the rabbit.

Introduction: In the hereditary long QT syndrome, arrhythmia risk changes with age despite the presence of an ion channel mutation throughout development. Age-dependent changes in the transmural dispersion of repolarization may modulate this vulnerability. We recorded cardiac action potentials in infant, periadolescent, and adult rabbit myocardium to determine if transmural heterogeneities in repolarization are developmentally determined. Methods and Results: Arterially perfused ventricular preparations were studied from 2-week (n = 7), 7-week (n = 7), and adult (n = 6) NZW rabbits. Action potentials were recorded with microelectrodes in five regions: epicardium (epi), subepicardium (subepi), midwall (mid), subendocardium (subendo), and endocardium (endo) during endocardial S1 pacing at cycle lengths of 2,000, 1,000, and 500 ms. At 2 weeks, the transmural APD90 profile was flat. With age, APD prolongation from subepi to endo created a transmural repolarization gradient. At 7 weeks, APD90 was significantly longer at subendo [204 ± 2 ms (mean ± SE) 2,000-ms cycle length, P < 0.05] vs both endo (193 ± 2 ms) and epi (172 ± 2 ms), causing a heterogeneous transmural APD90 gradient. In adults, the transmural gradient was a smooth continuum such that APD was shortest in epicardium and longest in endocardium. Conclusion: The transmural distribution of APD is developmentally determined. Tissue-specific age-dependent changes in APD can result in transmural repolarization heterogeneity. These age-related effects may modulate arrhythmia vulnerability during development. (J Cardiovasc Electrophysiol, Vol. 15, pp. 795-801, July 2004)
The use of manned simulation in the design of an operational control system

This paper describes the general features of the planning and operations phases of a new weapon system. The uncertainties inevitable in planning mean that considerable effort is made during the operations phase to adjust the weapon system and its resources to the actual environment it finds so as to attain the desired level of operational capability. The adjustment mechanism is called an operational control system in this paper. Elements of such an operational control system are described.The proposal is made that a better control system can be designed if simulation is used to help design it during the planning phase. The use of simulation will not only produce a better control system earlier but it will permit the planners to adjust the other resources provided for the weapon system so that they are compatible with the environment and the control system. An example of such a study is described in this paper.
Knowledge of African countries: production and value of doctoral dissertations

The notion that lack of knowledge undermines the economic performance of African countries is deeply and widely held to be true. Yet quantitative evidence for the basis of that truth is few and far in-between. This article first describes a conventional production function approach to the creation of knowledge of African countries in terms of a relative and indirect measure of the quantity of dissertations (D). Second, it assesses the imputed values of knowledge. In the first instance it finds that relative income (Y), population (N), openness (Z), and technical factors (A) are central to the production of knowledge of African countries. In the second instance, the imputed values of knowledge are positive, but of modest magnitude. The results recommend more investment in the production of knowledge of African countries, improved openness, and especially reduced opportunity cost of knowledge creation which now differs widely across countries, and averages 10.7%. For further research the results suggest tha...
Eight-vertex model in lattice statistics and one-dimensional anisotropic heisenberg chain. II. Equivalence to a generalized ice-type lattice model

Abstract We establish an equivalence between the zero-field eight-vertex model and an Ising model (with four-spin interaction) in which each spin has L possible values, labeled 1, …, L, and two adjacent spins must differ by one (to modulus L). Such an Ising model can also be thought of as a generalized ice-type model and we will later show that the eigenvectors of the transfer matrix can be obtained by a Bethe-type ansatz.
Cause of the widening of the tropical belt since 1958

[1] Previous studies have shown that the width of the tropical belt has been increasing since at least the late 1970s based on a variety of metrics. One such metric, the frequency of occurrence of a high-altitude tropopause characteristic of the tropics, is used here to show that the observed widening of the tropics can be accurately replicated by an atmospheric general circulation model forced by the observed evolution of global SST and sea ice distributions as well as the direct radiative effects from both natural and anthropogenic sources. Contrasting this simulation with one forced by the observed SST and sea ice distributions alone reveals that the widening trend can be attributed entirely to direct radiative forcing, in particular those related to greenhouse gases and stratospheric ozone depletion. SST forcing causes no significant change in the width of the tropics, and even a contraction in some seasons.
History of Sleep Medicine

The need for an effective societal understanding of sleep-related issues is great and urgent. There are still far too many sleep-related accidents, far too many undiagnosed and untreated victims of sleep disorders, and many individuals continue to organize their lives based more on mythologic beliefs than the true facts of sleep and wakefulness. This article explores the history of sleep medicine.
Gear Fault Detection in Rocket Engine Turbomachinery

A method for detecting anomalous gear behavior in rocket engine turbomachinery during acceptance hot e ring is presented. The diagnostic procedure is based on a cepstrum analysis of steady-state gearbox accelerations. In this application, the cepstrum is dee ned as the inverse discrete Fourier transform of the log of the two-sided autospectral density. The vibration measurements used in the analysis are acquired during static hot e re tests from accelerometers mounted on the external surface of the turbopump gearbox. Following the ground tests, the cepstrum technique is used to provide insight into the differences between turbopumps that have functioned nominally and those with out-of-family signatures. The effectiveness of the method is demonstrated by comparing analysisresultsfromanengineingoodconditionwith asimilarenginethatsufferedcompletegearfailureduringits development test. This example is used to suggest that the cepstrum method cannot only help detect out-of-family vibration characteristics, but can also provide insight into the nature of a defect. A source mechanism is proposed to explain the unique spectral characteristics that appear due to the presence of the gear fault.
Intake flow modeling in a four stroke diesel using KIVA3

Intake flow for a dual intake valve diesel engine is modeled using moving valves and realistic geometries. The objectives are to show the importance of intake calculations instead of using assumed initial conditions, to supply spray and combustion models with more accurate initial conditions, and to demonstrate the use of multidimensional modeling to studying intake processes. Global simulation parameters are compared with experimental results and show good agreement. The intake process shows a 30% difference in mass flows and average swirl in opposite directions across the two intake valves. The effect of the intake process on the flowfield at the end of compression is examined. Modeling the intake flow results in swirl and turbulence characteristics that are quite different from those obtained by conventional methods in which compression stroke initial conditions are assumed.
The Linearized 2D Inviscid Shallow Water Equations in a Rectangle: Boundary Conditions and Well-Posedness

We consider the linearized 2D inviscid shallow water equations in a rectangle. A set of boundary conditions is proposed which make these equations well-posed. Several different cases occur depending on the relative values of the reference velocities (u0, v0) and reference height \({\phi_0}\) (sub- or super-critical flow at each part of the boundary).
Criteria for Pointwise Growth and Their Role in Invasion Processes

This article is concerned with pointwise growth and spreading speeds in systems of parabolic partial differential equations. Several criteria exist for quantifying pointwise growth rates. These include the location in the complex plane of singularities of the pointwise Green’s function and pinched double roots of the dispersion relation. The primary aim of this work is to establish some rigorous properties related to these criteria and the relationships between them. In the process, we discover that these concepts are not equivalent and point to some interesting consequences for nonlinear front invasion problems. Among the more striking is the fact that pointwise growth does not depend continuously on system parameters. Other results include a determination of the circumstances under which pointwise growth on the real line implies pointwise growth on a semi-infinite interval. As a final application, we consider invasion fronts in an infinite cylinder and show that the linear prediction always favors the formation of stripes in the leading edge.
Geometric entropy, wave functionals, and fermions

Abstract We develop techniques for calculating the ground state wave functional and the geometric entropy for some simple field theories. Special attention is devoted to fermions, which present special technical difficulties in this regard. Explicit calculations are carried through for free mass bosons and fermions in two dimensions, using an adaptation of Unruh′s technique to treat black-hole radiance.
Scattered emission from a relativistic outflow and its application to gamma-ray bursts

We investigate a scenario of photon scattering by electrons within a relativistic outflow. The outflow is composed of discrete shells with different speeds. One shell emits radiation for a short duration. Some of this radiation is scattered by the shell(s) behind. We calculate in a simple two-shell model the observed scattered flux density as a function of the observed primary flux density, the normalized arrival time delay between the two emission components, the Lorentz factor ratio of the two shells and the scattering shell's optical depth. Thomson scattering in a cold shell and inverse Compton scattering in a hot shell are both considered. The results of our calculations are applied to the gamma-ray bursts and the afterglows. We find that the scattered flux from a cold slower shell is small and likely to be detected only for those bursts with very weak afterglows. A hot scattering shell could give rise to a scattered emission as bright as the X-ray shallow decay component detected in many bursts, on a condition that the isotropically equivalent total energy carried by the hot electrons is large, ∼10 52 -10 56 erg. The scattered emission from a faster shell could appear as a late short γ-ray/MeV flash or become part of the prompt emission depending on the delay of the ejection of the shell.
Transition from quantum to classical information in a superfluid

Abstract Whereas the entropy of any deterministic classical system described by a principle of least action is zero, one can assign a “quantum entropy” to quantum mechanical degree of freedom equal to Hausdorff area of the deviation from a classical path. This raises the question whether superfluids carry quantum information. We show that in general the transition from the classical to quantum behavior depends on the probing length scale, and occurs for microscopic length scales except when the interactions between the particles are very weak. This result illustrates the different roles that weakly interacting particles as photons vs. the particles in quantum fluids such as He4, He3, or XY ferromagnets might play in quantum information processes. In the context of regarding spacetime as a quantum superfluid our result provides a natural explanation why under ordinary circumstances physics is described by classical equations.
Convex integration for a class of active scalar equations

We show that a general class of active scalar equa- tions, including porous media and certain magnetostrophic tur- bulence models, admit non-unique weak solutions in the class of bounded functions. The proof is based upon the method of convex integration recently implemented for equations of fluid dynamics in (2, 3).
The Regulation of Medical Malpractice in Japan

How Japanese legal and social institutions handle medical errors is little known outside Japan. For almost all of the 20th century, a paternalistic paradigm prevailed. Characteristics of the legal environment affecting Japanese medicine included few attorneys handling medical cases, low litigation rates, long delays, predictable damage awards, and low-cost malpractice insurance. However, transparency principles have gained traction and public concern over medical errors has intensified. Recent legal developments include courts’ adoption of a less deferential standard of informed consent; increases in the numbers of malpractice claims and of practicing attorneys; more efficient claims handling by specialist judges and speedier trials; and highly publicized criminal prosecutions of medical personnel. The health ministry is undertaking a noteworthy “model project” to enlist impartial specialists in investigation and analysis of possible iatrogenic hospital deaths to regain public trust in medicine’s capacity to assess its mistakes honestly and to improve patient safety and has proposed a nationwide peer review system based on the project’s methods.
Large Chromatic Number and Ramsey Graphs

Let Q (n, ?) denote the minimum clique size an n-vertex graph can have if its chromatic number is ?. Using Ramsey graphs we give an exact, albeit implicit, formula for the case ? ? (n + 3)/2.
Fast-neutron transmission spectroscopy for illicit substance detection

Fast-Neutron Transmission Spectroscopy (FNTS) is being investigated for detection of explosives in luggage or other small containers. This technique uses an accelerator to generate nanosecond-pulsed deuteron beams that strike a target, producing a white source of neutrons. Elemental distributions along projections through the interrogated object are obtained by analyzing neutron transmission data. Tomographic reconstruction is used to determine the spatial variations of individual elemental densities are combined in a detection algorithm that indicates the presence or absence of explosives. The elemental unfolding and tomographic reconstruction algorithms have been validated by application to experimental data. System studies have been performed to study the operational characteristics and limitations of a FNTS system, and to determine the system's sensitivity to several important parameters such as flight path length and the position of the interrogated object.
These Great Urbanist Games: New Babylon and Second Life

Abstract Constant Nieuwenhuys (aka Constant), twentieth-century painter and architect and founding member of the Situationist International, is perhaps best known for his ambitious project of unitary urbanism, New Babylon, on which he worked from 1958 until 1973. This proposed city (which would, theoretically, cover the globe) was intended to prompt all people to express their creativity through their constant reconfiguration of its open and malleable living space. Explicitly designed for homo ludens, in it social life was to be constituted by architectural play. But, as Mark Wigley has noted, “play was the whole point of New Babylon but not its mode of production”. As designer of this universalizing and revolutionary play-space, Constant's role entailed the contrivance of open-endedness, and thus implicitly relied upon the very artistic authority that the Situationists had rejected (Constant left the Situationists in 1960). Today, 50 years after he began his project, we can witness similar ideals and con...
A C-testable carry-free divider

In this paper, the design of a C-testable, high-performance carry-free array divider is presented. A radix-2 redundant number based carry-free divider is considered and is modified to make it C-testable, i.e., it can be exhaustively tested using a constant number of test vectors irrespective of its word-length. Previous C-testable designs considered dividers which used carry-propagate adders/subtractors. These dividers are slow because of their O(W/sup 2/) computation time (where W is the word-length of the divider). High-performance carry-free dividers use carry-free redundant arithmetic adders/subtractors. Due to this feature, they have O(W) computation time. The on-the-fly converter used by carry-free dividers to convert the redundant quotient to two's-complement form is shown to be not C-testable. It is modified to be linear-testable (in word-length) instead of exponential time required for exhaustive testing of all possible combinations at its inputs. We conclude that the number of test vectors needed is 99 for C-testing of the divider array and (3W+10) for linear testing of the converter. The hardware overhead required to make the divider C-testable and the on-the-fly converter linear testable is also shown to be nominal. >
Negative Stiffness Coefficients for Magnetic Actuators Using Laplace’s Equation

Magnetic bearings offer high speed and low power losses as compared to film riding and rolling element bearings. Significant efforts are underway to apply magnetic bearings to gas turbines and jet aircraft engines. Negative stiffness coefficients for magnetic actuators can have a significant impact on shaft rotordynamics. These coefficients are typically computed as the sensitivity of a magnetic force expression derived from a lumped parameter reluctance network. However, as the complexity of magnetic actuator designs increases, the reluctance network method may become impractical for, or even incapable of, coefficient determination. In this paper, an alternative method is presented for determination of negative stiffness coefficients for a large class of magnetic actuators. The method solves the Dirichlet boundary value problem for the magnetomotive force in the actuator air gap, subject to periodic boundary conditions that can be represented by Fourier series. A conformal transformation to bipolar coordinates is used that results in a boundary value problem that is solvable using separation of variables. Negative stiffness coefficients are presented and the method is benchmarked against well-known solutions using the reluctance network method.
Blood flow measurements and clot detection with nearinfrared spectroscopy

Detecting impeded blood flow and locating the clot causing it is a major challenge in neurosurgery. We propose an instrument that uses near -infrared spectroscopy to simultaneously detect clots and measure blood flow.
Introduction to SH Lie algebras for physicists

UNC-MATH-92/2originally April 27, 1990, revised September 24, 1992INTRODUCTION TO SH LIE ALGEBRAS FOR PHYSICISTSTom LadaJim StasheffMuch of point particle physics can be described in terms of Lie algebras andtheir representations. Closed string ﬁeld theory, on the other hand, leads to ageneralization of Lie algebra which arose naturally within mathematics in the studyof deformations of algebraic structures [SS]. It also appeared in work on higherspin particles [BBvD]. Representation theoretic analogs arose in the mathematicalanalysis of the Batalin-Fradkin-Vilkovisky approach to constrained Hamiltonians[S6].The sh Lie algebra of closed string ﬁeld theory [SZ], [KKS], [K], [Wies], [WZ],[Z] is deﬁned on the full Fock complex of the theory, with the BRST diﬀerential Q.Following Zwiebach [Z], we stipulate that the string ﬁelds B
The Simultaneous Relation Between Auditor Switching and Audit Opinion: An Empirical Analysis

Abstract Previous studies examining the relation between the audit opinion and auditor switching assume a one-way causation, with the issuance of a qualified opinion triggering a switch. However, analytical studies dealing with auditor independence issues (e.g., Magee and Tseng, 1990; Dye, 1991; Teoh, 1992) suggest an opposite causation, in which the auditor is less likely to qualify the opinion for a client who may switch auditors. Some evidence of an opposite causation is provided by Krishnan (1994), who finds that auditors treat switchers more conservatively (relative to non-switchers) in issuing the audit opinion. The causation between switching and the audit opinion is clearly important for policy decisions regarding both opinion shopping and auditor independence. In this paper, we test the two-way causation hypothesis and find evidence in support of a two-way causation. Our simultaneity-adjusted estimates confirm previous findings of a positive effect of a qualified opinion on switching (Chow and Ri...
Pd(II)-Catalyzed cyclogeneration of carbocations: subsequent rearrangement and trapping under oxidative conditions

Abstract A catalytic oxidative polycyclization reaction initiated by the carbocyclization of 1,5-dienes with Pd(II) is reported. Trapping of a putative carbocation with suitable functional groups (phenols, alkenes, alcohols, sulfonamide), or rearrangement protocols (Pinacol) yields poly-cyclic products in good yields and in excellent diastereoselectivities. Turnover of the intermediate Pd–C bond is via β-H elimination.
Optimal Randomized Scheduling by Replacement

In the replacement scheduling problem, a system consists of n processors drawn from a pool of p,all initially “alive”. At any time some processor can die. The scheduler is immediately informed of the fault butnot of its location. It must then choose another set of n processors. If this new set contains a dead processor, the system crashes and halts. The performance of a scheduling protocol is measured by the expected number of deaths the system tolerates before it crashes. We provide an optimal randomized scheduling protocol for this problem. The framework of this work combines an absolute performance measure for protocols and so-called adaptive online adversaries. This framework is rarely addressed because of the complexity of the interaction between protocols and adversaries. A major contribution of ourwork is to provide a theoretical foundation for the analysis of this interaction. In particular we make explicit how the protocol and the adversary affect the probability distribution of the analysis—a very general problem. We carefully analyze the exchange of sinformation between the two players, and reveal how they use their information optimally. The optimality of the protocol is established by using of a saddle point method for protocols and adversaries.
Total synthesis of cystodytin J, diplamine and shermilamine B

Abstract Concise, efficient total syntheses of three cytotoxic marine alkaloids are described. Key phases of the synthesis are a useful pyridine-forming reaction and a triplet-sensitized thermophotolysis of an aryl azide that established a CN bond to an unactivated benzylic site.
Effects of Bearing Stiffness Anisotropy on Hydrostatic Micro Gas Journal Bearing Dynamic Behavior

The high-speed microhydrostatic gas journal bearings used in the high-power density MIT microengines are of very low aspect ratio with an LID of less than 0.1 and are running at surface speeds of order 500 m/s. These ultra-short high-speed bearings exhibit whirl instability limits and a dynamic behavior much different from conventional hydrostatic gas bearings. The design space for stable high-speed operation is confined to a narrow region and involves singular behavior (Spakovszky and Liu, 2005, "Scaling Laws for Ultra-Short Hydrostatic Gas Journal Bearings, " ASME J. Vibr. Acoust., 127(3), pp. 254-261). This together with the limits on achievable fabrication tolerance, which can be achieved in the silicon chip manufacturing technology, severely affects bearing operability and limits the maximum achievable speeds of the microturbomachinery. This paper introduces a novel variation of the axial-flow hydrostatic micro gas journal bearing concept, which yields anisotropy in bearing stiffness. By departing from axial symmetry and introducing biaxial symmetry in hydrostatic stiffness, the bearing's top speed is increased and fabrication tolerance requirements are substantially relieved making more feasible extended stable high-speed bearing operation. The objectives of this work are: (i) to characterize the underlying physical mechanisms and the dynamic behavior of this novel bearing concept and (ii) to report on the design, implementation, and test of this new microbearing technology. The technical approach involves the combination of numerical simulations, experiment, and simple, first-principles-based modeling of the gas bearing flow field and the rotordynamics. A simple description of the whirl instability threshold with stiffness anisotropy is derived explaining the instability mechanisms and linking the governing parameters to the whirl ratio and stability limit. An existing analytical hydrostatic gas bearing model is extended and modified to guide the bearing design with stiffness anisotropy. Numerical simulations of the full nonlinear governing equations are conducted to validate the theory and the novel bearing concept. Experimental results obtained from a microbearing test device are presented and show good agreement between the theory and the measurements. The theoretical increase in achievable bearing top speed and the relief in fabrication tolerance requirements due to stiffness anisotropy are quantified and important design implications and guidelines for micro gas journal bearings are discussed.
Exploiting path diversity in the link layer in wireless ad hoc networks

We develop an anycast mechanism at the link layer for wireless ad hoc networks. The goal is to exploit path diversity in the link layer by choosing the best next hop to forward packets when multiple next hop choices are available. Such choices can come from a multipath routing protocol, for example. This technique can reduce transmission retries and packet drop probabilities in the face of channel fading. We develop an anycast extension of the IEEE 802.11 MAC layer based on this idea. We implement the protocol in an experimental proof-of-concept testbed using the Berkeley motes platform and S-MAC protocol stack. We also implement it in the popular ns-2 simulator and experiment with the AOMDV multipath routing protocol and Ricean fading channels. We show that anycast performs significantly better than 802.11 in terms of packet delivery, particularly when the path length or effect of fading is large. Further we experiment with anycast in networks that use multiple channels and those that use directional antennas for transmission. In these networks, deafness and hidden terminal problems are the main source of packet loss. We implemented anycast as extension of 802.11 like protocols that were proposed for these special networks. We are able to show that anycast is capable of enhancing the performance of these protocols by simply making use of the path diversity whenever it is available.
Valuation and Control in Venture Finance

This paper presents the model of a relationship between a venture capitalist and an entrepreneur engaged in the formation of a new firm. I assume that the entrepreneur derives private nonpecuniary benefits from having some control over the firm. I show that to separate the entrepreneur's value of control from the firm's expected payoff, the venture capitalist demands disproportionately higher control rights than the size of his equity investment. The entrepreneur is compensated for a greater loss of control through better terms of financing, ability to extract higher rents from asymmetric information, and improved risk sharing. VENTURE CAPITAL FIRMS often finance projects which, at the time of funding, have neither revenues nor even a product in existence. However, by using an intricate system of control rights, venture capitalists can overcome many failures inevitable in a complex task of converting entrepreneurial talent into companies, products, and markets.
Homo- and heterometallic coordination polymers from the f elements

Lanthanide and actinide based coordination polymers and metal–organic framework materials present a number of interesting opportunities with respect to their syntheses and properties. Ln elements typically display large coordination numbers and roughly spherical bonding environments whereas An elements (specifically U(VI)) tend to form triatomic species with terminal oxo groups. As such, these features may be perceived by some as obstacles to the development of designed architectures of f-metal containing hybrid materials. We argue that these features, when coupled to the luminescent behavior of these elements actually give rise to a diverse family of compounds with a range of interesting topologies. Presented herein is an overview of the structural features and luminescent behavior of these materials, as well as some synthetic strategies toward producing both homo- and heterometallic compounds.
Unbiased cut selection for optimal upper limits in neutrino detectors: the model rejection potential technique

Abstract We present a method for optimising experimental cuts in order to place the strongest constraints (upper limits) on theoretical signal models. The method relies only on signal and background expectations derived from Monte Carlo simulations, so no bias is introduced by looking at actual data, for instance by setting a limit based on expected signal above the “last remaining data event”. After discussing the concept of the “average upper limit”, based on the expectation from an ensemble of repeated experiments with no true signal, we show how the best model rejection potential is achieved by optimising the cuts to minimise the ratio of this average upper limit to the expected signal from the model. As an example, we use this technique to determine the limit sensitivity of kilometre scale neutrino detectors to extra-terrestrial neutrino fluxes from a variety of models, e.g. active galaxies and gamma-ray bursts. We suggest that these model rejection potential optimised limits be used as a standard method of comparing the sensitivity of proposed neutrino detectors.
Five axioms for the functional design of peptide‐based polymers as molecular machines and materials: Principle for macromolecular assemblies

Peptide-based polymers can be transformable hydrogels, elastomers, regular thermoplastics, or inverse thermoplastics, and can function as diverse molecular machines. When of the appropriate composition, these polymers exhibit hydrophobic folding and assembly transitions in the accessible aqueous range as the temperature is raised from below to above a critical value referred to as Tt, the temperature for the onset of an inverse temperature transition. In this article, the design of these Tt-type molecular machines and materials is systematized in terms of five axioms for peptide-based polymer engineering: The first axiom is represented by a hydrophobicity scale that provides the information with which to design peptide-based polymers with a particular value of Tt. The second axiom concerns thermomechanical transduction wherein raising the temperature from below to above Tt results in hydrophobic folding and assembly with the performance of mechanical work. The third axiom states that at constant temperature, diverse energy inputs lower Tt from above to below an operating temperature by acting on a functional moiety within the polymer to drive hydrophobic folding and assembly with the isothermal performance of mechanical work. The fourth axiom concerns polymer compositions having two different functional groups, with each responsive to a different energy input and with each part of a common hydrophobic folding domain. The two functional groups become coupled one to the other such that an energy input acting on one functional group becomes an energy output by having changed the property of the second functional group. The fifth axiom states that the efficiency of conversion from one form of energy to another by means of the fourth axiom increases nonlinearly with hydrophobicity of the common hydrophobic folding and assembly domain. These phenomenological axioms allow design of peptide-based polymers capable of diverse energy conversions involving the intensive variables of mechanical force, temperature, pressure, chemical potential, electrochemical potential, and light. Knowledge of the physical process underlying the five axioms enhances their use in the design of materials and devices for medical and nonmedical applications. The physical process is demonstrated by the use of cartoons. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Biopoly 47: 167–178, 1998
Strings and other distributional sources in general relativity

This paper deals with two broad issues: the formulation of a mathematical framework for concentrated sources in general relativity and its application to strings. We isolate a class of those metrics whose curvature tensors are well defined as distributions. It is shown that shells of matter---but neither point particles nor strings---can be described by metrics in this class. This conclusion is examined in more detail for the case of strings. We estimate the errors inherent in certain determinations of the mass per unit length of a cosmic string, and in certain calculations of the gravitational radiation from such a string.
Recent Results and Perspectives for Precision Astrometry and Photometry with Adaptive Optics

Large ground-based telescopes equipped with adaptive optics (AO) systems have ushered in a new era of high-resolution infrared photometry and astrometry. Relative astrometric accuracies of <0.2 mas have already been demonstrated from infrared images with spatial resolutions of 55-95 mas resolution over 10-20" fields of view. Relative photometric accuracies of 3% and absolute photometric accuracies of 5%-20% are also possible. I will review improvements and current limitations in astrometry and photometry with adaptive optics of crowded stellar fields. These capabilities enable experiments such as measuring orbits for brown dwarfs and exoplanets, studying our Galaxy's supermassive black hole and its environment, and identifying individual stars in young star clusters, which can be used test the universality of the initial mass function.
A multilayered perceptron approach to prediction of the SEC's investigation targets

In the fields of accounting and auditing, detection of firms engaged in fraudulent financial reporting has become increasingly important, due to the increased frequency of such events and the attendant costs of litigation. The neural-network approach sheds some light on this problem due to the attributes that it requires minimum prior knowledge of the data and achieves a highly nonlinear computational model based on past experience (training). In this study, we employ seven red flags which are composed of four financial red flags and three turnover red flags in order to detect targets of the Securities and Exchange Commission's (SECs) investigation of fraudulent financial reporting. The red flags are computed over 70 firms spread among various industrial sectors, and form the base data that is used for developing the computational prediction model. Multilayered perceptron computation of this data was able to predict the targets of the SEC investigated firms with an average of 88% accuracy in the cross-validation test. On the other hand, the same data computed by the logit program gave an average prediction rate of 47%.
PEER GROUP SUPPORT FOR POLICE OCCUPATIONAL DEVIANCE

Although there have been several journalistic and impressionistic accounts of police corrupt behavior, there are few empirical studies of this phenomenon. One of the reasons for this lack of research is the absence of theoretical frames of reference to guide research endeavors. This paper deals with police corruption as but one of many forms of occupational deviance and discusses the manner in which the social conditions existing within the occupational milieu contribute to such corruption. In particular. the paper examines the manner in which the opportunity structure and socialization practices within the occupation combine with peer group support to create a social situation where certain corrupt acts are tolerated and accepted.
Heterotic coset models and (0,2) string vacua

Abstract A Lagrangian definition of a large family of (0, 2) supersymmetric conformal field theories may be made by an appropriate gauge invariant combination of a gauged Wess-Zumino-Witten model, right-moving supersymmetry fermions, and left-moving current algebra fermions. Throughout this paper, use is made of the interplay between field theoretic and algebraic techniques (together with supersymmetry) which is facilitated by such a definition. These heterotic coset models are thus studied in some detail, with particular attention paid to the (0, 2) analogue of the N = 2 minimal models, which coincide with the ‘monopole’' theory of Giddings, Polchinski and Strominger. A family of modular invariant partition functions for these (0 2) minimal models is presented. Some examples of N = 1 supersymmeric four dimensional string theories with gauge groups E 6 × G and SO(10) × G are presented, using these minimal models as building blocks. The factor G represents various enhanced symmetry groups made up of products of SU(2) and U(1).
Families as neighbors in extra dimension

Abstract We propose a new mechanism for explanation of the fermion hierarchy without introducing any family symmetries. Instead, we postulate that different generations live on different branes embedded in a relatively large extra dimension, where gauge fields can propagate. The electroweak symmetry is broken on a separate brane, which is a source of exponentially decaying Higgs profile in the bulk. The resulting fermion masses and mixings are determined by an exponentially suppressed overlap of the fermion and Higgs wave functions and are automatically hierarchical even if all copies are identical and there is no hierarchy of distances. In this framework the well known pattern of the “nearest neighbor mixing” is predicted due to the fact that the families are literally neighbors in the extra space. This picture may also provide a new way of a hierarchically weak supersymmetry breaking, provided that the combination of three family branes is a non-BPS configuration, although each of them, individually taken, is. This results in exponentially weak supersymmetry breaking. We also discuss the issue of embedding identical branes in the compact spaces and localization of the fermionic zero modes.
Onset of Fast Magnetic Reconnection in Partially Ionized Gases

We consider quasi-stationary two-dimensional magnetic reconnection in a partially ionized incompressible plasma. We find that when the plasma is weakly ionized and the collisions between the ions and the neutral particles are significant, the transition to fast collisionless reconnection due to the Hall effect in the generalized Ohm's law is expected to occur at much lower values of the Lundquist number, as compared to a fully ionized plasma case. We estimate that these conditions for fast reconnection are satisfied in molecular clouds and in protostellar disks.
Making group topologies with, and without, convergent sequences

(1) Every infinite, Abelian compact (Hausdorff) group K admits 2 |K| - many dense, non-Haar-measurable subgroups of cardinality |K|. When K is nonmetrizable, these may be chosen to be pseudocompact. (2) Every infinite Abelian group G admits a family A of 2 2|G| -many pairwise nonhomeomorphic totally bounded group topologies such that no nontrivial sequence in G converges in any of the topologies T ϵ A. (For some G one may arrange ω(G, T ) < 2 |G| for some T ϵ A.) (3) Every infinite Abelian group G admits a family B of 2 2|G| -many pairwise nonhomeomorphic totally bounded group topologies, with ω (G, T ) = 2 |G| for all T ϵ B, such that some fixed faithfully indexed sequence in G converges to 0 G in each T ϵ B.
Survival Rates Among Religiously Homogamous and Interreligious Marriages

Cohort-linked Iowa marriage and divorce records from 1953 through 1959 were used to determine marital survival rates for several types of religiously homogamous and interreligious marriages. Data were restricted to white, first-married couples. Marital survival rates were greater as predicted among homogamous Catholic marriages or homogamous Protestant marriages than among marriages of Catholics and non-Catholics. Also, the marital survival rates of the homogamous Catholic marriages exceeded those of the homogamous Protestant marriages. Contrary to expectations, however, there were only small and inconsistent differences in the survival rates between the marriage of Catholic wives and non-Catholic husbands and marriages of non-Catholic wives and Catholic husbands. Marital survival rates were llot substantially different between denominationally homogamous Protestant marriages and marriages between Protestants with different denominational affiliations. Small differences, between two and six percent, were observed between the survival rates of the homogamous Catholic marriages and four types of denominationally homogamnous Protestant marriages. Ages of brides and the status levels of husbands were used as control variables. Application of these control variables failed to alter the general patterns between the religious affiliations of the spouses and marital survival rates. The two control variables, however, appeared to influence the marital survival rates more than the religious affiliation types. Marital survival rates were lower among couples with younger brides and were directly related to the occupational status of the husbands.
Fabrication and Properties of Gold Single-Crystal Ultramicroelectrodes.

Areas of 80-3500 μm2 are displayed by gold single-crystal ultramicroelectrodes, which were fabricated from gold single crystals grown electrolytically in silicate gels. According to their cyclic voltammograms in 0.01 M HCl, these ultramicroelectrodes behave similarly to electrodes of more normal dimensions with the same crystallographic orientation of the surface.
Determinants of allocative efficiency losses from oligopoly power

Abstract This article quantifies the importance of market structure variables in determining the allocative efficiency losses from oligopoly power in the food and tobacco industries. Empirical findings indicate that these losses are likely to be higher in markets characterized by high R&D and advertising intensities, with highly concentrated sellers of consumer products facing lower import competition.
Hot Gas in the Galactic Thick Disk and Halo Near the Draco Cloud

This paper examines the ultraviolet and X-ray photons generated by hot gas in the Galactic thick disk or halo in the Draco region of the northern hemisphere. Our analysis uses the intensities from four ions, C IV, O VI, O VII, and O VIII, sampling temperatures of ~105 to ~3 ? 106?K. We measured the O VI, O VII, and O VIII intensities from FUSE and XMM-Newton data and subtracted off the local contributions in order to deduce the thick disk/halo contributions. These were supplemented with published C IV intensity and O VI column density measurements. Our estimate of the thermal pressure in the O VI-rich thick disk/halo gas, p th/k = 6500+2500 ?2600?K?cm?3, suggests that the thick disk/halo is more highly pressurized than would be expected from theoretical analyses. The ratios of C IV to O VI to O VII to O VIII intensities were compared with those predicted by theoretical models. Gas which was heated to 3 ? 106?K then allowed to cool radiatively cannot produce enough C IV or O VI-generated photons per O VII or O VIII-generated photon. Producing enough C IV and O VI emission requires heating additional gas to 105 K < T < 106?K. However, shock heating, which provides heating across this temperature range, overproduces O VI relative to the others. Obtaining the observed mix may require a combination of several processes, including some amount of shock heating, heat conduction, and mixing, as well as radiative cooling of very hot gas.
Synthesis of a novel diaminodithiol ligand for labeling proteins and small molecules with technetium-99m

Abstract A novel bifunctional chelate, 1 , was designed and synthesized for labeling of proteins and small molecules with technetium-99m. The new chelate contains a free carboxyl group which is available for covalent attachment to free amino groups on biologically-important molecules. The resulting chelator may bind reduced technetium-99m such that the label is stable in vitro and in vivo.