cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Column Pruning Beats Stratification in Effort Estimation

Local calibration combined with stratification, also known as row pruning, is a common technique used by cost estimation professionals to improve model performance. The results presented in this paper raise several serious questions concerning the benefits of row pruning for improving effort estimation indicating the need to rethink standard practice. Firstly, the mean size of improvements from row pruning appears to be relatively small compared to the size of the standard deviations in effort estimation data. Secondly, the advantages of row pruning especially for the purposes of deleting spurious outliers can be achieved using column pruning much more effectively. Hence, we advise against row pruning and advocate column pruning instead.
Signal/noise KLT based approach for enhancing speech degraded by colored noise

A signal/noise Karhunen-Loeve transform (KLT) based approach for enhancing speech degraded by colored noise is proposed. The noisy speech frames are classified into speech-dominated frames and noise-dominated frames. In the speech-dominated frames, the signal KLT matrix is used and in the noise dominated frames, the noise KLT matrix is used. The approach does not require noise whitening and hence works well even with narrowband noise. A two-dimensional objective measure which captures both the speech distortion and the noise shaping characteristics of the algorithm is proposed. This measure indicates that the proposed method performs better noise shaping than a modified form of the signal subspace approach proposed by Ephraim and Van Trees (1995) and the standard spectral subtraction method. Informal listening tests show that the proposed algorithm does not suffer from the problem of residual musical noise and performs better noise masking than the signal subspace approach.
On approaching the ultimate limits of photon-efficient and bandwidth-efficient optical communication

It is well known that ideal free-space optical communication at the quantum limit can have unbounded photon information efficiency (PIE), measured in bits per photon. High PIE comes at a price of low dimensional information efficiency (DIE), measured in bits per spatio-temporal-polarization mode. If only temporal modes are used, then DIE translates directly to bandwidth efficiency. In this paper, the DIE vs. PIE tradeoffs for known modulations and receiver structures are compared to the ultimate quantum limit, and analytic approximations are found in the limit of high PIE. This analysis shows that known structures fall short of the maximum attainable DIE by a factor that increases linearly with PIE for high PIE.
Mechanism Experiments and Policy Evaluations

Randomized controlled trials are increasingly used to evaluate policies. How can we make these experiments as useful as possible for policy purposes? We argue greater use should be made of experiments that identify the behavioral mechanisms that are central to clearly specified policy questions, what we call "mechanism experiments." These types of experiments can be of great policy value even if the intervention that is tested (or its setting) does not correspond exactly to any realistic policy option.
Payments for environmental services in Costa Rica

Costa Rica pioneered the use of the payments for environmental services (PES) approach in developing countries by establishing a formal, country-wide program of payments, the PSA program. The PSA program has worked hard to develop mechanisms to charge the users of environmental services for the services they receive. It has made substantial progress in charging water users, and more limited progress in charging biodiversity and carbon sequestration users. Because of the way it makes payments to service providers (using approaches largely inherited from earlier programs), however, the PSA program has considerable room for improvement in the efficiency with which it generates environmental services. With experience, many of these weaknesses are being gradually corrected as the PSA program evolves towards a much more targeted and differentiated program. An important lesson is the need to be flexible and to adapt to lessons learned and to changing circumstances.
Religiosity and Trust in Religious Institutions: Tales from the South Caucasus (Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Georgia)

This article examines the determinants of trust in religious institutions in Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Georgia — three countries with low levels of religiosity as measured by attendance, prayer and fasting, yet high levels of trust in religious institutions. The analysis employs individual-level survey data and uses ordinary least squares regression to show that while religious practices do not determine trust in religious institutions, the importance of religion in one's daily life is a strong indicator of trust in religious institutions in each country. The results also show some differences among these countries with regard to two types of control variables — trust in secular institutions and socioeconomic factors. In Georgia, interpersonal trust is a significant indicator of trust in religious institutions. Residence in the capital is only significant in Azerbaijan. Finally, both education and age are significant in Armenia. Additionally, two theories of trust in institutions are tested. First, a cultural theory of interpersonal trust proves ambiguous in the region. Second, the presence of both low religious practice and high trust in religious institutions in these countries challenges reformulated secularization theories that consider declining religious authority — measured by trust in religious institutions — as a form of secularization.
Combined Source-Channel Coding of Images

A combined source-channel coding approach is described for the encoding, transmission and remote reconstruction of image data. The source encoder employs two-dimensional (2-D) differential pulse code modulation (DPCM). This is a relatively efficient encoding scheme in the absence of channel errors. In the presence of channel errors, however, the performance degrades rapidly. By providing error control protection to those encoded bits which contribute most significantly to image reconstruction, it is possible to minimize this degradation without sacrificing transmission bandwidth. The result is a relatively robust design which is reasonably insensitive to channel errors and yet provides performance approaching the rate-distortion bound. Analytical results are provided for assumed 2-D autoregressive image models while simulation results are described for real-world images.
Multi-variate Distributed Data Fusion with Expensive Sensor Data

Distributed fusion of complex information is critical to the success of large organizations. For such organizations, comprised of thousands of agents, improving and shaping the quality of conclusions reached is a challenging problem. The challenge is increased by the fact that acquisition of information could be costly. This leads to the crucial requirement that the organization should strive to reach correct conclusions while minimizing information acquisition cost. In this paper, we have developed a model of complex, interdependent information that is costly to acquire and where complex fusion should be optimized within an organization while minimizing the cost of acquiring the sensor data. Empirical results show a number of interesting effects. First, unselfish agents who spend resources (even when not strictly locally necessary) can lead to substantial improvement in the overall accuracy of the organization's conclusions. Second, an organization can substantially improve its performance by carefully assigning sensor resources within the organization. Third, over time, agents can learn the reliability of the members of the organization to whom they are directly connected to improve performance. Learning can also lead to better team decisions about whether to spend resources and how much resource to expend to get sensor data. Our conclusions and algorithms can help a range of organizations reach better conclusions while expending less resources procuring sensor data.
The Impact of State Lotteries and Casinos on State Bankruptcy Filings

Over the past half century, there has been an increasing prevalence of legalized gambling in the US. At the same time there is a general recognition, empirically supported in the economics literature, that spending on lottery and gaming products tends to be regressive in nature. In addition, gambling addiction is a widely acknowledged social problem. This raises the question of whether the increased presence of casinos and state lotteries results in relatively more bankruptcy filings in the states that offer them. This paper adds to the existing literature by comparing the relative impact of the presence of lotteries to that of casinos on both personal and business bankruptcies. States that adopted lotteries and casinos prior to 1995 experienced significantly higher personal bankruptcy rates while the effect of lottery and casino adoption on personal bankruptcies has disappeared since that time.
Classification and Designation of Emissions

A new, much more complex, but needed, system of designating emissions has been agreed and incorporated into the Final Acts of WARC-79. Its use will be mandatory for frequency registration with the International Frequency Registration Board (IFRB) after January 1, 1982. Full designation is with nine alphanumeric characters in two parts; four characters for necessary bandwidth followed by five symbols for emission classification. Of the five classification symbols, three are mandatory and are found in the lists of Article 4. The last two symbols, which are optional for use, may be taken from lists in Appendix 6. WARC-79 made provision for expanding the choices of the optional symbols to give future flexibility as technology develops. The complete method for designating emissions is contained in this paper.
The Steinhaus property and Haar-null sets

It is shown that, if G is an uncountable Polish group and A ⊆ G is a universally measurable set such that A �1 A is meager, then the set Tl(A )= {µ ∈ P(G ): µ(gA) = 0 for all g ∈ G} is co-meager. In particular, if A is analytic and not left Haar-null, then 1 ∈ Int(A �1 AA �1 A).
Synthesis of a dihydropyrano[3,2-e]indole as a rotationally restricted phenolic analog of the neurotransmitter serotonin

Abstract 1-(2-Dimethylaminoethyl)-8,9-dihydropyrano[3,2-e]indole ( 1 ) has been synthesized via a six step procedure involving a Claisen rearrangement of a 5-allyloxyindole-3-glyoxamide. This novel heterocycle ( 1 ) represents a rotationally restricted phenolic analog of the neurotransmitter serotonin [3-(2-aminoethyl)-5-hydroxyindole].
1995 Feels So Close Yet So Far The Effect of Event Markers on Subjective Feelings of Elapsed Time

Why does an event feel more or less distant than another event that occurred around the same time? Prior research suggests that characteristics of an event itself can affect the estimated date of its occurrence. Our work differs in that we focused on how characteristics of the time interval following an event affect people’s feelings of elapsed time (i.e., their feelings of how distant an event seems). We argue that a time interval that is punctuated by a greater number of accessible intervening events related to the target event (event markers) will make the target event feel more distant, but that unrelated intervening events will not have this effect. In three studies, we found support for the systematic effect of event markers. The effect of markers was independent of other characteristics of the event, such as its memorability, emotionality, importance, and estimated date, a result suggesting that this effect is distinct from established dating biases.
Rapid Thermal Processing of Pb(Mg0.7Zn0.3)1/3Nb2/3O3 Multilayer Ceramic Capacitors

Fast firing, with total sintering times of between 3 and 15 min, was utilized to process multilayer ceramic capacitors of dielectric composition Pb(Mg0.7Zn0.3)1/3Nb2/3O3. This dielectric composition has been studied extensively because of its diffuse phase transition, which is intrinsic to relaxors, and also its high dielectric constant. The fast-firing procedure, which did not utilize any prevention for PbO volatilization, has been shown to be a feasible method for the processing of these components. Sintering times in the range of 12 to 15 min at 1100°C resulted in components with weak field dielectric constants in excess of 12 000 and grain sizes in the range of 1 μm or less. The development of a pyrochlore phase at the component surfaces was less influential on the dielectric performance of the components because of the internal nature of the electrodes.
Zero-Gravity Centrifuge Used for the Evaluation of Material Flammability in Lunar Gravity

A new research apparatus has been developed to study the effect of gravity levels in a drop tower environment. A centrifuge test device was installed inside a drop rig used in the Zero-Gravity Facility at NASA Glenn Research Center. The centrifuge consists of a large rotating chamber with rotation rates up to 1 RPS with no measurable effect on the overall Zero-Gravity drop bus. Gravity levels from zero to 1g (at a radius of rotation = 30 cm) can be produced. Experiments were conducted to examine the maximum oxygen concentration at which three different materials ignited in lunar gravity would self-extinguish. All three materials burned to lower oxygen concentrations in lunar gravity than in normal gravity, although the low-g extinction limit criteria are not the same as 1g due to time constraints in drop testing. The margin of safety of the 1g test method relative to actual low gravity material performance is presented. In broader application, a modified Test 1 protocol is suggested to provide the option of selecting better materials based on the best margin of safety relative to the use environment, as opposed to what would be considered just “passing” from a flammability point of view. This paper discusses these results and demonstrates that the Zero-Gravity Centrifuge is a useful tool for researchers interested in the effects of partial gravity on experiments, especially as NASA embarks on future missions which may be conducted in non-Earth gravity.
Palladium(II)-catalyzed C-H activation/C-C cross-coupling reactions: versatility and practicality.

Pick your Pd partners: A number of catalytic systems have been developed for palladium-catalyzed CH activation/CC bond formation. Recent studies concerning the palladium(II)-catalyzed coupling of CH bonds with organometallic reagents through a PdII/Pd0 catalytic cycle are discussed (see scheme), and the versatility and practicality of this new mode of catalysis are presented. Unaddressed questions and the potential for development in the field are also addressed. In the past decade, palladium-catalyzed CH activation/CC bond-forming reactions have emerged as promising new catalytic transformations; however, development in this field is still at an early stage compared to the state of the art in cross-coupling reactions using aryl and alkyl halides. This Review begins with a brief introduction of four extensively investigated modes of catalysis for forming CC bonds from CH bonds: PdII/Pd0, PdII/PdIV, Pd0/PdII/PdIV, and Pd0/PdII catalysis. A more detailed discussion is then directed towards the recent development of palladium(II)-catalyzed coupling of CH bonds with organometallic reagents through a PdII/Pd0 catalytic cycle. Despite the progress made to date, improving the versatility and practicality of this new reaction remains a tremendous challenge.
The huge package for high-dimensional undirected graph estimation in R

We describe an R package named huge which provides easy-to-use functions for estimating high dimensional undirected graphs from data. This package implements recent results in the literature, including Friedman et al. (2007), Liu et al. (2009, 2012) and Liu et al. (2010). Compared with the existing graph estimation package glasso, the huge package provides extra features: (1) instead of using Fortan, it is written in C, which makes the code more portable and easier to modify; (2) besides fitting Gaussian graphical models, it also provides functions for fitting high dimensional semiparametric Gaussian copula models; (3) more functions like data-dependent model selection, data generation and graph visualization; (4) a minor convergence problem of the graphical lasso algorithm is corrected; (5) the package allows the user to apply both lossless and lossy screening rules to scale up large-scale problems, making a tradeoff between computational and statistical efficiency.
Effects of variations in light intensity on life processes of the planktonic foraminifer Globigerinoides sacculifer in laboratory culture

The planktonic foraminifer Globigerinoides sacculifer (Brady) was cultured under two different light intensities and in continuous darkness. High light intensity (HLI = 400–500 μeinsteins/m2/s) resulted in a longer lifespan, a greater number of chambers formed, and a larger final shell size compared with individuals cultured under low light intensity (LLI = 20–50 μeinsteins/m2/s) or in continuous darkness. Shell growth rates were unaffected by increasing light intensity, but gametogenesis was delayed. Continuous darkness induced a rapid onset of gametogenesis in organisms with shell lengths larger than 250 μm. Feeding frequency had a greater effect on growth and reproduction than light intensity under conditions of LLI and HLI, but continuous darkness had an overriding effect on growth and reproduction owing to the rapid onset of gametogenesis which terminated the life of the mother cell. Our previous data indicated that the longevity of G. sacculifer was dependent on feeding frequency, and that G. sacculifer cultured under LLI had a lifespan of approximately 2–4 weeks. Present results suggest that the lifespan can vary from a minimum of 8 days for organisms fed daily in continuous darkness to a maximum of 54 days for organisms fed once every 7 days and maintained in HLI. It is concluded that individual G. sacculifer attain a shell size greater than 600 μm only if they maintain their position in the euphotic zone. Prolonged existence below the euphotic zone would result in premature death or gametogenesis following stunted shell growth.
Multiscale adaptive regression models for neuroimaging data

Neuroimaging studies aim to analyze imaging data with complex spatial patterns in a large number of locations (called voxels) on a two-dimensional (2D) surface or in a 3D volume. Conventional analyses of imaging data include two sequential steps: spatially smoothing imaging data and then independently fitting a statistical model at each voxel. However, conventional analyses suffer from the same amount of smoothing throughout the whole image, the arbitrary choice of smoothing extent, and low statistical power in detecting spatial patterns. We propose a multiscale adaptive regression model (MARM) to integrate the propagation–separation (PS) approach (Polzehl and Spokoiny, 2000, 2006) with statistical modeling at each voxel for spatial and adaptive analysis of neuroimaging data from multiple subjects. MARM has three features: being spatial, being hierarchical, and being adaptive. We use a multiscale adaptive estimation and testing procedure (MAET) to utilize imaging observations from the neighboring voxels of the current voxel to adaptively calculate parameter estimates and test statistics. Theoretically, we establish consistency and asymptotic normality of the adaptive parameter estimates and the asymptotic distribution of the adaptive test statistics. Our simulation studies and real data analysis confirm that MARM significantly outperforms conventional analyses of imaging data.
In situ formation of silver nanoparticles in photocrosslinking polymers

Nanocomposites of cross-linked methacrylate polymers with silver nanoparticles have been synthesized by coupling photoinitiated free radical polymerization of dimethacrylates with in situ silver ion reduction. A polymerizable methacrylate bearing a secondary amino functional group was used to increase the solubility of the silver salt in the hydrophobic resin system. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) revealed that the silver ion reduction had no significant effect on the degree of vinyl conversion of the methacrylate. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) measurements showed an increased silver concentration at the composite surface compared to the expected concentration based on the total amount of silver salt added. Furthermore, the surface silver concentration leveled off when the silver salt mass fractions were 0.08% or greater. Composites with low concentrations of silver salt (< 0.08% by mass) exhibited comparable mechanical properties to those containing no silver. Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) confirmed that the silver nanoparticles formed within the polymer matrix were nanocrystalline in nature and primarily ≈ 3 nm in diameter, with some large particle aggregates. Composites containing silver nanoparticles were shown to reduce bacterial colonization with as little as 0.03% (by mass) silver salt, while additional amounts of silver salt did not further decrease their surface colonization. With a substantial effect on bacterial growth and minimal effects on mechanical properties, the in situ formation of silver nanoparticles within methacrylate materials is a promising technique for synthesizing antibacterial nanocomposites for biomedical applications.
An advanced structural analysis/synthesis capability—ACCESS 2

An advanced automated design procedure for minimum weight design of structures (ACCESS 2) is reported. Design variable linking, constraint deletion, and explicit constraint approximation are used to effectively combine finite element and nonlinear mathematical programming techniques. The approximation concepts approach to structural synthesis is extended to problems involving fiber composite structure, thermal effects and natural frequency constraints in addition to the usual static stress and displacement limitations. Sample results illustrating these new features are given.
Non-Gaussian Discriminative Factor Models via the Max-Margin Rank-Likelihood

We consider the problem of discriminative factor analysis for data that are in general nonGaussian. A Bayesian model based on the ranks of the data is proposed. We first introduce a new max-margin version of the ranklikelihood. A discriminative factor model is then developed, integrating the max-margin ranklikelihood and (linear) Bayesian support vector machines, which are also built on the max-margin principle. The discriminative factor model is further extended to the nonlinear case through mixtures of local linear classifiers, via Dirichlet processes. Fully local conjugacy of the model yields efficient inference with both Markov Chain Monte Carlo and variational Bayes approaches. Extensive experiments on benchmark and real data demonstrate superior performance of the proposed model and its potential for applications in computational biology.
Who Participates : The Supply of Volunteer Labor and the Distribution of Government Programs in Rural Peru

Numerous analysts have linked volunteering and participation to positive economic and political outcomes. In this paper, I use the 1994 Peru LSMS to analyze volunteering patterns in rural Peru. The basic results of the paper are two. First, volunteers in rural Peru do not appear to have a low opportunity cost of time. They are more educated, and are more likely to hold a job. Other household characteristics, such as gender, marital status, length of residence, and ethnicity, are all important predictors of the probability of volunteering. Second, controlling for household characteristics, there are large differences across communities in aggregate volunteer levels. These differences do not seem to be related to differences in patterns of government expenditure. Many public programs, in rural Peru and elsewhere, ask that the intended beneficiaries “participate” as a means of building trust and social capital, increasing the sustainability of investments, and helping self-target investments to the poor. Volunteering may have important benefits in terms of building social capital, and encouraging greater ownership of development projects. The results in this paper suggest, however, that encouraging participation by potential beneficiaries is unlikely to be an effective form of self-targeting, since people with a higher opportunity cost of time volunteer more. Moreover, social programs which require participation may have difficulty reaching some particularly vulnerable groups, such as women or the illiterate.
Emergence of scientific explanations of nature in ancient Greece: The only scientific discovery?

At the basis of the whole modern view of the world lies the illusion that the so-called laws of nature are the explanations of natural phenomena. So people stop short at natural laws as at something unassailable, as did the ancients at God and Fate. And they both are right and wrong. But the ancients were clearer, in so far as they recognized one clear terminus, whereas the modern system makes it appear as though everything were explained. L. Wittgenstein, 19221 It is generally recognized that we are living in the most productive era of science in the history of mankind. Cardiovascular science has shared in this growth, as seen in the shifting focus of research in the biological sciences from organ physiology to cell biochemistry and biophysics in the middle of this century and, over the past decade, to molecular biology.2 Yet, despite the vast body of knowledge now available, major conceptual gaps remain in our understanding of heart disease, as evidenced by surprising, and often counterintuitive, results of large-scale clinical trials designed to test what were initially believed to be logical approaches to therapy. One need only consider the recent CAST trial, which showed that drugs that suppress nonlethal arrhythmias known to herald a fatal cardiac arrhythmia increase the risk of sudden cardiac death,3 the adverse experience with inotropes for the treatment of chronic heart failure,4 5 and growing evidence that several classes of vasodilator drugs can worsen mortality in heart failure.6 7 Thus, although modern science provides valuable insights regarding the mechanisms of heart disease, it is an illusion to believe that our modern system explains everything. The present article provides an introduction for the cardiologist interested in the origins of natural science by describing the transition from mythology to science in …
Metal versus silyl triflate catalysis in the Mukaiyama aldol addition reaction

Abstract A mechanistic study of the Mukaiyama aldol addition reaction employing benzaldehyde and hydrocinnamaldehyde along with a selection of Lewis acids including BF 3 •OEt 3 , LiClO 4 , Yb(OTf) 3 , Sn(OTf) 2 , and Zn(OTf) 2 is presented. The results of experiments conducted with doubly-labeled silyl ketene acetals implicate a Lewis acidic silicon species and not the metals as the catalyst in the Mukaiyama aldol addition reaction.
Analysis on packet resequencing for reliable network protocols

Packets are sometimes disordered in the network. Reliable protocols such as TCP require packets to be accepted, i.e., delivered to the receiving application, in the order they are transmitted at the sender. In order to do so, the receiver's transport layer must resequence the packets with the help of a resequencing buffer. Even if the application can consume the packets infinitely fast, the packets may still be delayed for resequencing. In this paper, we model packet disordering by adding an independently and identically distributed (IID) random propagation delay to each packet and analyze the required buffer size for packet resequencing and the resequencing delay for an average packet. We demonstrate that these two quantities can be significant and show how they scale with the network bandwidth.
Relation strength-aware clustering of heterogeneous information networks with incomplete attributes

With the rapid development of online social media, online shopping sites and cyber-physical systems, heterogeneous information networks have become increasingly popular and content-rich over time. In many cases, such networks contain multiple types of objects and links, as well as different kinds of attributes. The clustering of these objects can provide useful insights in many applications. However, the clustering of such networks can be challenging since (a) the attribute values of objects are often incomplete, which implies that an object may carry only partial attributes or even no attributes to correctly label itself; and (b) the links of different types may carry different kinds of semantic meanings, and it is a difficult task to determine the nature of their relative importance in helping the clustering for a given purpose. In this paper, we address these challenges by proposing a model-based clustering algorithm. We design a probabilistic model which clusters the objects of different types into a common hidden space, by using a user-specified set of attributes, as well as the links from different relations. The strengths of different types of links are automatically learned, and are determined by the given purpose of clustering. An iterative algorithm is designed for solving the clustering problem, in which the strengths of different types of links and the quality of clustering results mutually enhance each other. Our experimental results on real and synthetic data sets demonstrate the effectiveness and efficiency of the algorithm.
Selectively bred crossed high-alcohol-preferring mice drink to intoxication and develop functional tolerance, but not locomotor sensitization during free-choice ethanol access.

Background Crossed High Alcohol Preferring (cHAP) mice were selectively bred from a cross of the HAP1xHAP2 replicate lines, and demonstrate blood ethanol concentrations (BECs) during free-choice drinking reminiscent of those observed in alcohol-dependent humans. In this report, we investigated the relationship between free-choice drinking, intoxication, tolerance, and sensitization in cHAP mice. We hypothesized that initially mice would become ataxic after drinking alcohol, but that increased drinking over days would be accompanied by increasing tolerance to the ataxic effects of ethanol.
Matthew: Effect or Fable?

In a market context, a status effect occurs when actors are accorded differential recognition for their efforts depending on their location in a status ordering, holding constant the quality of these efforts. In practice, because it is very difficult to measure quality, this ceteris paribus proviso often precludes convincing empirical assessments of the magnitude of status effects. We address this problem by examining the impact of a major status-conferring prize that shifts actors' positions in a prestige ordering. Specifically, using a precisely constructed matched sample, we estimate the effect of a scientist becoming a Howard Hughes Medical Institute HHMI Investigator on citations to articles the scientist published before the prize was awarded. We do find evidence of a postappointment citation boost, but the effect is small and limited to a short window of time. Consistent with theories of status, however, the effect of the prize is significantly larger when there is uncertainty about article quality, and when prize winners are of relatively low status at the time of election to the HHMI Investigator Program. This paper was accepted by David Hsu, entrepreneurship and innovation.
Understanding information related fields: A conceptual framework

Many scientific fields share common interests for research and education. Yet, very often, these fields do not communicate to each other and are unaware of the work in other fields. Understanding the commonalities and differences among related fields can broaden our understanding of the interested phenomena from various perspectives, better utilize resources, enhance collaboration, and eventually move the related fields forward together. In this article, we present a conceptual framework, namely the Information-Model or I-model, to describe various aspects of information related fields. We consider this a timely effort in light of the evolutions of several information related fields and a set of questions related to the identities of these fields. It is especially timely in defining the newly formed Information Field from a community of twenty some information schools. We posit that the information related fields are built on a number of other fields but with their own unique foci and concerns. That is, core components from other fundamental fields interact and integrate with each other to form dynamic and interesting information related fields that all have to do with information, technology, people, and organizationssociety. The conceptual framework can have a number of uses. Besides providing a unified view of these related fields, it can be used to examine old case studies, recent research projects, educational programs and curricula concerns, as well as to illustrate the commonalities and differences with the information related fields. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Rules and Representations

Foreword by Norbert Hornstein Preface Part I 1. Mind and Body 2. Structures, Capacities, and Conventions 3. Knowledge of Grammar 4. Some Elements of Grammar Part II 5. On the Biological Basis of Language Capacities 6. Language and Unconscious Knowledge Notes Index
On the sensitivity of generic porous optical sensors.

A porous material was considered as a platform for optical sensing. It was envisaged that the porous material was infiltrated by a fluid that contains an agent to be sensed. Changes in the optical properties of the infiltrated porous material provide the basis for detection of the agent to be sensed. Using a homogenization approach based on the Bruggeman formalism, wherein the infiltrated porous material was regarded as a homogenized composite material, the sensitivity of such a sensor was investigated. For the case of an isotropic dielectric porous material of relative permittivity ϵa and an isotropic dielectric fluid of relative permittivity ϵb, it was found that the sensitivity was maximized when there was a large contrast between ϵa and ϵb; the maximum sensitivity was achieved at midrange values of porosity. Especially high sensitivities may be achieved for ϵb close to unity when ϵa≫1, for example. Furthermore, higher sensitivities may be achieved by incorporating pores that have elongated spheroidal shapes.
Qualitative detection of motion by a moving observer

Two complementary methods for the detection of moving objects by a moving observer are described. The first is based on the fact that, in a rigid environment, the projected velocity at any point in the image is constrained to lie on a 1-D locus in velocity space whose parameters depend only on the observer motion. If the observer motion is known, an independently moving object can, in principle, be detected because its projected velocity is unlikely to fall on this locus. We show how this principle can be adapted to use partial information about the motion field and observer motion that can be rapidly computed from real image sequences. The second method utilizes the fact that the apparent motion of a fixed point due to smooth observer motion changes slowly, while the apparent motion of many moving objects such as animals or maneuvering vehicles may change rapidly. The motion field at a given time can thus be used to place constraints on the future motion field which, if violated, indicate the presence of an autonomously maneuvering object. In both cases, the qualitative nature of the constraints allows the methods to be used with the inexact motion information typically available from real-image sequences. Implementations of the methods that run in real time on a parallel pipelined image processing system are described.
Magnetic measurements of the injector synchrotron magnets for the Advanced Photon Source

The magnetic measurement data of the dipole, quadrupole, and sextupole magnets for the Advanced Photon Source injector synchrotron are summarized. Magnet design and magnetic measurements of the field strength, field shape, and multipole coefficients are described. >
Linking Internal Process Technology Development and the Use of AMT With Manufacturing Plant Performance---An Examination of Complementarities and Redundancies

In this paper, we distinguish between the internal and external means by which manufacturing plants engage in process technology development. While computerized and equipment-based advanced manufacturing technologies (AMT) are typically sourced from external vendors, plants also develop proprietary process technologies in-house. We present internal process technology development (IPTD) as a construct that captures this internal means of process technology development, and investigate the individual and interaction effects of IPTD and externally sourced computerized and equipment-based AMT on manufacturing plant performance. Our results indicate that IPTD is positively associated with quality, delivery, and process flexibility, but it is not significantly associated with cost efficiency or new product flexibility. The indicated relationships between the use of specific types of AMT (process, design, and planning AMT) and manufacturing plant performance and between IPTD-AMT interactions and manufacturing plant performance suggest context specificity. In addition, the findings suggest the existence of complementarities as well as the redundancies among IPTD-AMT relationships.
Large Hoarding of International Reserves and the Emerging Global Economic Architecture

UCSC and the NBER This paper analyzes competing interpretations for the large increases in the hoarding of international reserves by developing countries. While the first phase of the rapid hoarding of reserves in the aftermath of the East Asian crisis has been dominated by self insurance against exposure to foreign shocks, the self insurance motive falls short of explaining the hoarding in Asia in the 2000s. These developments may be a symptom of an emerging new global financial architecture, which is manifested in the proliferation of decentralized and less cooperative arrangements. The emerging financial configuration of developing countries in the aftermath of the 1990s crises has been growing managed exchange rate flexibility, greater monetary independence, and deeper financial integration. Hoarding international reserves is a key ingredient enhancing the stability of this emerging configuration. While not a panacea, international reserves help by providing self insurance against sudden stops; mitigating REER effects of TOT shocks; smoothing overtime the adjustment to shocks by allowing more persistent current account patterns; and possibly even export promotion, though this mercantilist use of reserves remains debatable due to possible coordination issues. Countries following an export oriented growth strategy may end up with competitive hoarding, akin to competitive devaluations. The sheer size of China, and its lower sterilization costs suggests that China may be the winner of a hoarding game. Hoarding international reserves may also be motivated by a desire to deal with vulnerability to internal and external instability, which is magnified by exposure of the banking system to non performing loans. Testing the self insurance and precautionary motives in the context of China may be challenged by a version of the ‘peso problem.’ Hoarding international reserves and sterilization have been complementing each other during the last ten years, as developing countries have increased the intensity of both margins.
A Comparative Analysis of School-Based Management in Central America

This paper provides a comparative analysis of school-based management reforms in four Central American countries (EDUCO in El Salvador, PRONADE in Guatemala, PROHECO in Honduras, and Centros Autonomos in Nicaragua). It starts by providing a characterization of the models and then reviews how they have expanded community participation and empowerment and school decision-making autonomy. It then continues by analyzing the impact of community and school empowerment on the teaching-learning process, including measures of teacher effort; and assesses the impact of the models on several educational outcomes, relating this impact with the teaching-learning environment and community empowerment. Finally, the paper attempts to explain the impact of the reforms by discussing how variations in reform design, country contexts and actors' assets can explain differences and similarities in result. The key conclusion of the paper is that school-based management models have led generally to greater community empowerment and teacher effort, resulting in: (a) a better use of the existing limited capacity of teachers and schools1; (b) higher coverage in rural areas; (c) somewhat better student flows; and (d) learning outcomes at least as high as in traditional schools (while community-managed schools are generally established in the poorest and most isolated rural areas2). Nonetheless, the models rank poorly in terms of teacher education and experience, adoption of active/innovative teaching methodologies and substantive and supportive teacher involvement in the schools. Reform design and implementation context are crucial determinant of these and other results.
Self-assembly and applications of biomimetic and bioactive peptide-amphiphiles

Peptide-amphiphiles are amphiphilic structures with a hydrophilic peptide headgroup that incorporates a bioactive sequence and has the potential to form distinct structures, and a hydrophobic tail that serves to align the headgroup, drive self-assembly, and induce secondary and tertiary conformations. In this paper we review the different self-assembled structures of peptide-amphiphiles that range from micelles and nanofibers, to patterned membranes. We also describe several examples where peptide-amphiphiles have found applications as soft bioactive materials for model studies of bioadhesion and characterization of different cellular phenomena, as well as scaffolds for tissue engineering, regenerative medicine, and targeted drug delivery.
International Diversification: Antecedents, Outcomes, and Moderators:

Pursuit of international markets and resources from foreign sources has increased dramatically during the past two decades, and the academic study of international diversification has increased concurrently. Reviewing the literature in management and related disciplines, the authors discuss recent findings of research on international diversification. A conceptual model groups key relationships, including antecedents, environmental factors, performance and process outcomes, moderators, and the characteristics of international diversification. The authors synthesize intellectual contributions, highlight unresolved issues, and provide recommendations for future research.
Observational Constraints to the Evolution of Massive Stars

We consider some aspects of the evolution of massive stars which can only be elucidated by means of “indirect” observations, i.e. measurements of the effects of massive stars on their environments. We discuss in detail the early evolution of massive stars formed in high metallicity regions as inferred from studies of HII regions in external galaxies
A NONLINEAR INEQUALITY

A quadratic inequality is formulated in the paper. An estimate of the rate of decay of solutions to this inequality is obtained. This inequality is of interest in a study of dynamical systems and nonlinear evolution equations. It can be applied to the study of global existence of solutions to nonlinear PDE.
Coverage in wireless ad hoc sensor networks

Sensor networks pose a number of challenging conceptual and optimization problems such as location, deployment, and tracking. One of the fundamental problems in sensor networks is the calculation of the coverage. In Meguerdichian et al. (2001), it is assumed that the sensor has uniform sensing ability. We provide efficient distributed algorithms to optimally solve the best-coverage problem raised in the above-mentioned article. In addition, we consider a more general sensing model: the sensing ability diminishes as the distance increases. As energy conservation is a major concern in wireless (or sensor) networks, we also consider how to find an optimum best-coverage-path with the least energy consumption and how to find an optimum best-coverage-path that travels a small distance. In addition, we justify the correctness of the method proposed above that uses the Delaunay triangulation to solve the best coverage problem and show that the search space of the best coverage problem can be confined to the relative neighborhood graph, which can be constructed locally.
Productivity and Land Enhancing Technologies in Northern Ethiopia: Health, Public Investments, and Sequential Adoption

The adoption of more efficient farming practices and technologies that enhance agricultural productivity and improve environmental sustainability is instrumental for achieving economic growth, food security, and poverty alleviation in sub-Saharan Africa. Our research examines the interaction between public investments, community health, and adoption of productivity and land enhancing technologies by households in the northern Ethiopian state of Tigray. Agricultural technology adoption decisions are modeled as a sequential process where the timing of choices can matter. We find that time spent sick and opportunity costs of caring for sick family members are significant factors in adoption. Sickness, through its impact on household income and labor allocation decisions for healthcare and other activities, significantly reduces the likelihood of technology adoption. Our findings suggest that agencies working to improve agricultural productivity and land resource conservation should consider not only the financial status of potential adopters, but also their related health situation.
The Efficacy of Silver Alloy-Coated Urinary Catheters in Preventing Urinary Tract Infection: A Meta-Analysis

Abstract Purpose: Indwelling urinary catheters are implicated in most cases of nosocomial urinary tract infection. Silver-coating of catheters may reduce the risk of these infections; however, trials have provided mixed results. We performed a meta-analysis to estimate the effectiveness of silver-coated urinary catheters. Subjects and methods: Published or unpublished articles were sought using MEDLINE, reference review, and correspondence with original authors, catheter manufacturers, and experts. Trials using silver-coated urinary catheters in the treatment group and uncoated urinary catheters in the control group were included. Bacteriuria, as evaluated by urine culture, was the outcome variable used to indicate urinary tract infection. Summary odds ratios (OR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI) were calculated using Mantel-Haenszel methods with a fixed-effects model. Results: Of 117 reports retrieved, eight trials with a total of 2,355 patients satisfied inclusion criteria. The summary OR for urinary tract infection was 0.59 (95% CI, 0.42 to 0.84) indicating a significant benefit in the patients receiving silver-coated catheters. A test of heterogeneity, however, indicated that the odds ratios varied significantly among studies. Silver alloy catheters (OR = 0.24; 95% CI, 0.11 to 0.52) were significantly more protective against bacteriuria than silver oxide catheters (OR = 0.79; 95% CI, 0.56 to 1.10). Conclusions: This meta-analysis clarifies discrepant results among trials of silver-coated urinary catheters by revealing that silver alloy catheters are significantly more effective in preventing urinary tract infections than are silver oxide catheters. Though silver alloy urinary catheters cost about $6 more than standard urinary catheters, they may be worth the extra cost since catheter-related infection is a common cause of nosocomial infection and bacteremia.