cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Market Price, Social Price, and the Right to the City: Land Taxes and Rates for City Services in Brazil and the United States

Brazil’s 1988 Constitution and 2001 City Statute explicitly adopt the concept of a right to the city articulated by French philosopher Henri Lefebvre. As residents of Rio de Janeiro’s informal self-constructed communities achieve success in their struggle for legalization and citizenship, they are confronted with the high market price of property ownership. Willing to pay for city services according to their ability, they argue for a social price, rather than a market price, for city services, to prevent their inevitable displacement. While Brazil has the legal tools in place, it is unclear whether, and if so how, the idea of a social price will take hold for residents of newly “regularized” settlements. The city and state have responded to the argument for a social price with a variety of measures, hesitating between a true social price and the imperatives of the market. In the United States, cities have grappled, on an informal and largely ad hoc basis, with the social-price issue. A variety of tax abatements, transfers, and utility rate programs exist at the state and municipal government level to address the reality that market pricing of city services will drive the poor out of the city center, where their labor and social communities are either needed or at least tolerated. While the concept of a right to the city, and of social pricing, are foreign to United States law and the neoliberal consensus, the catalog of these programs reveals a certain recognition of an inchoate right to an affordable city, in continual opposition to the rules of the market. 1. Professor of Law, CUNY School of Law, Queens, New York. The author would like to acknowledge substantial research assistance from Anne Zygaldo at Valparaiso Law School and Carlos Borborema at Fundacao Getulio Vargas. Thanks also to Colin Crawford, Romulo Sampaio and Maria Clara Dias, and their student assistants, for organizing the 2010 Study Space V workshops in Rio de Janeiro and the subsequent publications, as well as to Shu-Yi Oei, Saru Matambanadzo, Stacy Seichshnaydre and the Tulane workshop participants, and to the workshop participants at the 2011 Law and Society conference for helpful comments. \\jciprod01\productn\I\IAL\44-2\IAL209.txt unknown Seq: 2 1-NOV-13 13:41 314 INTER-AMERICAN LAW REVIEW [Vol. 44:2
Digit Reversal Without Apology

Two years later T. J. Kaczynski* [3] answered Sutcliffe's question in the negative. His elegant proof showed that if there exists a 3-digit solution for n, then deleting the middle digit gives a 2-digit solution for n. Together with Sutcliffe's work, this proved that there exists a 2-digit solution for n if and only if there exists a 3-digit solution for?. Given the nice correspondence between 2- and 3-digit solutions described by Sut cliffe and Kaczynski, it is natural to ask if there exists such a correspondence for higher digit solutions. In this paper, we will explore the relationship between 4- and 5-digit solutions. Unfortunately, there is not a bijection between these solutions, but there is a nice family of 4- and 5-digit solutions which have a natural one-to-one correspon dence.
Product Development, Cost Seasonality, Region Marginalization, and a More Demanding Consumer

Agricultural production is becoming more like manufacturing in the routinization of processes, the extent to which raw materials are processed, capital intensity, and its emphasis on throughput. Some ascribe the changes to demand-side factors while others look to technological innovations. Emphasizing cost seasonality as a reference indicator for nature's role in agricultural production, this paper develops a simple model that includes both supply and demand sides. We show how cost seasonality can impede product development to meet consumer needs and find that there may be a ceiling level of cost seasonality below which a non-seasonal equilibrium production profile occurs. Price seasonality is decreasing in cost seasonality. An increase in demand for more-processed products induces a shift toward non-seasonal production. Regions with strongly seasonal cost advantages will produce lower-value products while less-seasonal regions will produce higher-value products. If a region with high-cost seasonality has a non-seasonal cost disadvantage, then an increase in demand for processing can reduce the region's competitiveness.
Superconducting Materials for the SSC

The proposed Superconducting Supercollider presents several new challenges with regard to materials for dipole magnets. One design requires a NbTi superconductor with Jc(5T) greater than 2400 A/mm2, whereas the Tevatron recently completed at Fermilab required a Jc(5T) ≥ 1800 A/mm2. In addition, the high field design requires a conductor with a filament diameter of about 2.5 μm, if correction coils are to be eliminated. Finally, the high field design utilizes a 30-strand cable which again is a significant increase from the 23-strand cable used in the Tevatron. This paper describes the results of recent R and D programs aimed at meeting the stringent material requirements for the SSC.
Power tariffs : caught between cost recovery and affordability

This is the first paper to build a comprehensive empirical picture of power pricing practices across Sub-Saharan Africa, based on a new database of tariff structures in 27 countries for the years 2004-2008. Using a variety of quantitative indicators, the paper evaluates the performance of electricity tariffs against four key policy objectives: recovery of historic power production costs, efficient signaling of future power production costs, affordability to low income households, and distributional equity. As regards cost recovery, 80 percent of the countries in the sample fully recover operating costs, while only around 30 percent of the countries are practicing full recovery of capital costs. However, due to the fact that future power development may be based on a shift toward more economic technologies than those available in the past, existing tariffs look as though they would be consistent with Long Run Marginal Costs in nearly 40 percent of countries and hence provide efficient pricing signals. As regards affordability, today's average effective tariffs are affordable for 90 percent of today's customers. However, they would only be affordable for 25 percent of households that remain unconnected to the grid. Tariffs consistent with full recovery of economic costs would be affordable for 70 percent of the population. As regards equity, the highly regressive patterns of access to power services, ensure that subsidies delivered through electricity tariffs are without exception also highly regressive in distributional incidence. The conclusion is that achieving all four of these policy objectives simultaneously is almost impossible in the context of the high-cost low-income environment that characterizes much of SSA today. Hence most countries find themselves caught between cost recovery and affordability.
It Depends on What the Meaning of "False" is: Falsity and Misleadingness in Commercial Speech Doctrine

While scholarship regarding the Supreme Court's noncommercial speech doctrine has often focused on the level of protection for truthful, nonmisleading commercial speech, scholars have paid little attention to the exclusion of false or misleading commercial speech from all First Amendment protection. Examining the underpinnings of the false and misleading speech exclusion illuminates the practical difficulties that abolishing the commercial speech doctrine would pose. Through a series of fact patterns in trademark and false advertising cases, this piece demonstrates that defining what is false or misleading is often debatable. If commercial speech were given First Amendment protection, consumer protection and First Amendment protection would be at odds. Rebutting the idea that constitutionally protected commercial speech could effectively address consumer abuses through fraud statues and would not be offensive to the First Amendment, the piece explains that subjecting commercial speech to First Amendment scrutiny would almost completely contract the scope of false advertising law and erode consumer protection. The piece concludes that while excluding commercial speech from constitutional protection has real costs, we are better off in a system that regulates false and misleading commercial speech without heightened First Amendment scrutiny.
Conceptual Revolutions in Twentieth-Century Art

From Picasso's Cubism and Duchamp's readymades to Warhol's silkscreens and Smithson's earthworks, the art of the twentieth century broke completely with earlier artistic traditions. A basic change in the market for advanced art produced a heightened demand for innovation, and young conceptual innovators – from Picasso and Duchamp to Rauschenberg and Warhol to Cindy Sherman and Damien Hirst – responded not only by creating dozens of new forms of art, but also by behaving in ways that would have been incomprehensible to their predecessors. Conceptual Revolutions in Twentieth-Century Art presents the first systematic analysis of the reasons for this discontinuity. David W. Galenson, whose earlier research has changed our understanding of creativity, combines social scientific methods with qualitative analysis to produce a fundamentally new interpretation of modern art that will give readers a far deeper appreciation of the art of the past century, and of today, than is available elsewhere.
Simulation Studies for Predicting Surgical Outcomes in Breast Reconstructive Surgery

Currently, there is no reliable method to accurately predict the outcome of breast reconstruction for an individual patient prior to surgery. To address this limitation, we are developing a simulation system capable of rendering patient-specific predictions of the post-operative breast shape. Such a system for the planning of breast reconstructive surgery will greatly enhance patient prognosis. In this paper, we present our computer simulations representing the reconstructed breast using idealized and realistic geometric models.
Latvian Price Reforms and Their Effects on the Production and Sale of Foodstuffs

In the past, Latvian agriculture has been characterized by low output increases and rapidly growing production costs. This cannot be regarded as the result of bad producers' work, but as the consequences of a poorly administered management system. Before 1990 Latvian agriculture was strictly dependent on the All-Union centralized producer prices set for all agricultural products and on centralized redistribution on production inputs. State-guaranteed producer prices were fixed and remained stable for a longer period of time, usually for five years, but production costs grew constantly. As a result, commodity prices did not correspond with commodity values. This deepened the disparity between the income levels of various branches, particularly between industry and agriculture. Prices no longer reflected the final result on the economic activities of the agricultural enterprises.
Upgrading CEBAF to 12 GeV

As originally constructed, the Continuous Electron Beam Accelerator Facility (CEBAF) was a 4 GeV cw 5-pass recirculating linac. It has subsequently been enhanced to 5.7 GeV. Developments in lattice QCD have indicated that an extending CEBAF to 12 GeV would provide a unique opportunity to understand quark confinement. Jefferson Lab plans to reach 12 GeV by adding ten new 100 MV cryomodules and supporting rf systems to the present machine configuration. The 2K helium plant will be doubled. The beam transport system's capability will be doubled to 12 GeV with minimal replacement of components and with minimal saturation in the magnets. A new experimental hall, devoted to the quark confinement investigation, will be placed so that the beam transits one of the linacs 6 times (vs 5 times for the other linac). Beam emittances are degraded by synchrotron radiation such that the horizontal emittance of 1 nm-rad at 6 GeV increases to 7 nm-rad at 12 GeV. This paper discusses the issues listed above plus requirements for all systems and developmental opportunities presented by the project.
Market Power and Shadow Prices for Nonrenewable Resources: An Empirical Dynamic Model

This paper estimates a dynamic model of the world market for nine nonrenewable resources over the period 1970-2004, and tests whether the countries supplying a nonrenewable resource behaved as price-takers or oligopolists. The model generates estimates of the shadow price of the nine minerals with minimal functional form assumptions. The results show that the countries supplying hard coal, lead, and oil behaved as oligopolists during the study period, while the world market for other nonrenewable resources could be characterized as perfectly competitive. The shadow prices do not increase monotonically, which is evidence for stock effects in extraction costs. The shadow prices of most minerals peaked between 1970 and 1980.
AND/OR importance sampling

The paper introduces AND/OR importance sampling for probabilistic graphical models. In contrast to importance sampling, AND/OR importance sampling caches samples in the AND/OR space and then extracts a new sample mean from the stored samples. We prove that AND/OR importance sampling may have lower variance than importance sampling; thereby providing a theoretical justification for preferring it over importance sampling. Our empirical evaluation demonstrates that AND/OR importance sampling is far more accurate than importance sampling in many cases.
Approximate abstraction of stochastic hybrid automata

This paper discusses a notion of approximate abstraction for linear stochastic hybrid automata (LSHA). The idea is based on the construction of the so called stochastic bisimulation function. Such function can be used to quantify the distance between a system and its approximate abstraction. The work in this paper generalizes our earlier work for jump linear stochastic systems (JLSS). In this paper we demonstrate that linear stochastic hybrid automata can be cast as a modified JLSS and modify the procedure for constructing the stochastic bisimulation function accordingly. The construction of quadratic stochastic bisimulation functions is essentially a linear matrix inequality problem. In this paper, we also discuss possible extensions of the framework to handle nonlinear dynamics and variable rate Poisson processes. As an example, we apply the framework to a chain-like stochastic hybrid automaton.
Modified KP and Discrete KP

The discrete KP, or l-Toda lattice hierarchy, is the same as a properly defined modified KP hierarchy.
Towards facilitating development of SOA application with design metrics

Applications based on service-oriented architecture (SOA) are intended to be built with both high cohesion and low coupling. The loosely coupled services bring forth the lower costs of development and maintenance as well as the higher reusability and extensibility. To implement each SOA application with such intention, designs play an important role for the success of the whole project. The services and the relationships among them represented in a design are two critical factors to decide the quality of an SOA application in terms of modularity. At the mean while, they are valuable indicators for guiding the following development and maintenance phases to progress in a cost-effective way. In this paper, we present that measurement of designs for SOA applications can objectively judge the quality and further facilitate the development and maintenance of SOA applications through employing two specific metrics. We also performed an experimental study on an ongoing SOA project. In this study, we applied these two metrics to the design of this project to acquire judgments and make estimations. The data in CVS were retrieved to reflect the genuine project situations. The analysis on these data shows that adopting the measurement in the early stage of SOA projects may avoid wasting efforts and delaying schedule as well as acquire a deep grasp and an effective control on the issues in the following phases.
Dynamic Moral Hazard without Commitment

We study a discrete-time model of repeated moral hazard without commitment. In every period, a principal finances a project, choosing the scale of the project and a contingent payment plan for an agent, who has the opportunity to appropriate the returns of a successful project unbeknownst the principal. The absence of commitment is reflected both in the solution concept (perfect Bayesian equilibrium) and in the ability of the principal to freely revise the project’s scale from one period to the next. We show that removing commitment from the equilibrium concept is relatively innocuous—if the players are sufficiently patient, there are equilibria with payoffs low enough to effectively endow the players with the requisite commitment, within the confines of perfect Bayesian equilibrium. In contrast, the frictionless choice of scale has a significant effect on the project’s dynamics. Starting from the principal’s favorite equilibrium, the optimal contract eventually converges to the repetition of the stage-game Nash equilibrium, operating the project at maximum scale and compensating the agent (only) via immediate payments.
LAND QUALITY, AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTIVITY, AND FOOD SECURITY AT LOCAL, REGIONAL, AND GLOBAL SCALES

Econometric and simulation analyses indicate that land degradation does not threaten agricultural productivity growth and food security at the global level, but problems exist in some areas. Improving market performance could reduce erosion-induced yield losses to 0.1 percent per year and the number of hungry people in less-developed countries by 5 percent over 10 years.
Numerical solution of turbulent flow past a backward facing step using a nonlinear K-epsilon model

The problem of turbulent flow past a backward facing step is important in many technological applications and has been used as a standard test case to evaluate the performance of turbulence models in the prediction of separated flows. It is well known that the commonly used kappa-epsilon (and K-l) models of turbulence yield inaccurate predictions for the reattachment points in this problem. By an analysis of the mean vorticity transport equation, it will be argued that the intrinsically inaccurate prediction of normal Reynolds stress differences by the kappa-epsilon and K-l models is a major contributor to this problem. Computations using a new nonlinear Kappa-epsilon model (which alleviates this deficiency) are made with the TEACH program. Comparisons are made between the improved results predicted by this nonlinear kappa-epsilon model and those obtained from the linear kappa-epsilon model as well as from second-order closure models.
Increasing power in association studies by using linkage disequilibrium structure and molecular function as prior information

The availability of various types of genomic data provide an opportunity to incorporate this data as prior information in genetic association studies. This information includes knowledge of linkage disequilibrium structure as well as knowledge of which regions are likely to be involved in disease. In this paper, we present an approach for incorporating this information by revisiting how we perform multiple hypothesis correction. In a traditional association study, in order to correct for multiple hypothesis testing, the significance threshold at each marker, t, is set to control the total false positive rate. In our framework, we vary the threshold at each marker t i and use these thresholds to incorporate prior information. We present a novel Multi-threshold Association Study Analysis (MASA) method for setting these threshold to maximize the statistical power of the study in the context of the additional information. Intuitively markers which are correlated with many polymorphisms will have higher thresholds than other markers. The simplest approach for encoding prior information is through assuming a causal probability distribution. In this setting, we assume that the causal polymorphism is chosen from this distribution and only one polymorphism is causal. We refer to the probability that the polymorphism i is causal as its causal probability, c i . Given the causal probabilities, using the approach presented in this paper, we can numerically solve for the marker thresholds which maximize power. By taking advantage of this information, we show how our multi-threshold framework can significantly increase the power of association studies while still controlling the overall false positive rate, α, of the study as long as ∑ t i = α. We present a numerical procedure for solving for thresholds that maximize association study power using prior information. We present the results of benchmark simulation experiments using the HapMap data which demonstrate a significant increase in association study power under this framework.
The impact of business environment reforms on new firm registration

This paper uses panel data on the number of new firm registrations in 91 countries to study how the ease of registering a business and the magnitude of registration reforms affect new firm registrations. The authors find that the costs, days and procedures required to start a business are important predictors of the number of new firm registrations. However, they find that small reforms, in general less than a 40 percent reduction in procedures or 50 to 60 percent reduction in costs and days, do not have a significant effect on new registrations. They also find important synergies in multiple reforms of two or more business environment indicators. Finally, they show that countries with relatively weaker business environments prior to reforms require relatively larger reforms in order to impact the number of newly registered firms.
Impact of rising rice prices and policy responses in Mali : simulations with a dynamic CGE model

The increase in the international price of rice is likely to have substantial negative impacts on the poor in countries such as Mali which are net importers of rice. This paper relies on a dynamic CGE model to estimate the likely impact of the recent increase in rice prices on poverty with and without policy responses. Two sets of policy responses are considered: import tax cuts on rice and measures to increase productivity of domestic rice production. The results suggest that an increase in productivity would have a much larger positive impact than a reduction in taxes.
Origins of polyploids.

Polyploidy is a conspicuous feature of chromosomal evolution in higher plants. Stebbins (1) estimates that between 30 and 35 percent of flowering plant species have gametic chromosome numbers in multiples of the basic number characteristic of the genus to which they belong. Polyploidy is common in some groups and rare or absent in others. Levin and Wilson (2) calculate that relative increase in chromosome diversity in woody angiosperms is about 14% that of herbaceous angiosperms. Habit, habitat and the breeding system seem to contribute to origin and success of polyploids.
Experimental study of a linear/non-linear flux rope

Flux ropes are magnetic structures of helical field lines, accompanied by spiraling currents. Commonly observed on the solar surface extending into the solar atmosphere, flux ropes are naturally occurring and have been observed by satellites in the near earth and in laboratory environments. In this experiment, a single flux rope (r = 2.5 cm, L = 1100 cm) was formed in the cylindrical, magnetized plasma of the Large Plasma Device (LaPD, L = 2200 cm, rplasma = 30 cm, no = 1012 cm−3, Te = 4 eV, He). The flux rope was generated by a DC discharge between an electron emitting cathode and anode. This fixes the rope at its source while allowing it to freely move about the anode. At large currents (I > πr2B0c/2 L), the flux rope becomes helical in structure and oscillates about a central axis. Under varying Alfven speeds and injection current, the transition of the flux rope from stable to kink-unstable was examined. As it becomes non-linear, oscillations in the magnetic signals shift from sinusoidal to Sawtooth-like, associated with elliptical motion of the flux rope; or the signal becomes intermittent as its current density increases.
Small sweeping 2NFAs are not closed under complement

A two-way nondeterministic finite automaton is sweeping (snfa) if its input head can change direction only on the end-markers. For every n, we exhibit a language that can be recognized by an n-state snfa but requires $2^{\varOmega(n)}$ states on every snfa recognizing its complement.
A combinatorial case of the abelian-nonabelian correspondence

The abelian-nonabelian correspondence outlined in (Duke Math J 126:101–136, 2005) gives a broad conjectural relationship between (twisted) Gromov-Witten invariants of related GIT quotients. This paper proves a case of the correspondence explicitly relating genus zero m-pointed Gromov-Witten invariants of Grassmannians Gr(2, n) and products of projective space \({{\mathrm{\mathbb {P}}}}^{n-1} \times {{\mathrm{\mathbb {P}}}}^{n-1}\). Computation of the twisted Gromov-Witten invariants of \({{\mathrm{\mathbb {P}}}}^{n-1} \times {{\mathrm{\mathbb {P}}}}^{n-1}\) via localization is used.
Improving Access to Finance for India's Rural Poor

Improving Access to Finance for India's Rural Poor examines the current level and pattern of access to finance for India's rural households, evaluates various approaches for delivering financial services to the rural poor, analyzes what lies behind the lack of adequate financial access for the rural poor, and identifies what it would take to improve access to finance for India's rural poor. Based on the analysis of a large-scale rural household survey, in combination with an evaluation of the role of financial markets and institutions, this title also examines different forms of financial service provision, including formal, informal and microfinance, raises questions about approaches used so far to address financial exclusion, and makes recommendations for policy advisors and financial service providers on how to scale-up access to finance for India's rural poor, to meet their diverse financial needs (savings, credit, insurance against unexpected events, etc.), in a commercially sustainable manner. Its conclusions will be of interest to anyone involved in economic policy, finance or microfinance, poverty analysis, and poverty reduction.
Optimal Tax Theory: Econometric Evidence and Tax Policy

A renewed interest in the theory of optimal taxation has emerged in recent years. The theory of optimal taxation generally has followed two disparate paths: the theory of optimal commodity (or indirect) taxation and the theory of optimal income (or direct) taxation. Only occasionally have attempts been made to integrate or compare these two approaches. While each has an interesting history in economics, much important work is of recent origin and, I shall argue below, much remains to be done if we are to use optimal tax theory as a guide to the formulation of tax policy.
Faster approximate multicommodity flow using quadratically coupled flows

The maximum multicommodity flow problem is a natural generalization of the maximum flow problem to route multiple distinct flows. Obtaining a 1-e approximation to the multicommodity flow problem on graphs is a well-studied problem. In this paper we present an adaptation of recent advances in single-commodity flow algorithms to this problem. As the underlying linear systems in the electrical problems of multicommodity flow problems are no longer Laplacians, our approach is tailored to generate specialized systems which can be preconditioned and solved efficiently using Laplacians. Given an undirected graph with m edges and k commodities, we give algorithms that find 1-e approximate solutions to the maximum concurrent flow problem and maximum weighted multicommodity flow problem in time O(m4/3poly(k,e-1)).
Density functional theory meta-GGA + U study of water incorporation in the metal-organic framework material Cu-BTC

Water absorption in the metal-organic framework (MOF) material Cu-BTC, up to a concentration of 3.5 H2O per Cu ion, is studied via density functional theory at the meta-GGA + U level. The stable arrangements of water molecules show chains of hydrogen-bonded water molecules and a tendency to form closed cages at high concentration. Water clusters are stabilized primarily by a combination of water-water hydrogen bonding and Cu-water oxygen interactions. Stability is further enhanced by van der Waals interactions, electric field enhancement of water-water bonding, and hydrogen bonding of water to framework oxygens. We hypothesize that the tendency to form such stable clusters explains the particularly strong affinity of water to Cu-BTC and related MOFs with exposed metal sites.
Determinants of Multi-period Forecast Uncertainty Using a Panel of Density Forecasts

This paper examines the determinants of inflation forecast uncertainty using a panel of density forecasts from the Survey of Professional Forecasters (SPF). We show that previous studies based on aggregate data are biased due to heterogeneity of individual forecasts. Instead, we estimate a dynamic heterogeneous panel data model. We find that, although past forecast uncertainty is important, it is not as important as previously thought. In addition, the strong link between past squared forecast errors and the current forecast uncertainty, as often is found in the GARCH literature, is largely lost in the multi-period context with varying forecast horizons. Forecasters are found to pay more attention to recent â€œnewsâ€ about inflation than the out-dated past squared forecast errors. We propose a novel way to estimating uncertainty of â€œnewsâ€ using Kullback-Leibler Information, and show that it is an important determinant of the current inflation forecast uncertainty. Our results also support Friedman (1977)â€™s conjecture that higher inflation rate leads to higher inflation uncertainty
FQPA IMPLEMENTATION TO REDUCE PESTICIDE RESIDUE RISKS: PART I: AGRICULTURAL PRODUCER CONCERNS

The Food Quality Protection Act of 1996 (FQPA) transforms the regulation of pesticide residues on food in the United States. Three changes are prominent. First, under the FQPA, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is authorized to develop uniform pesticide residue tolerances for both fresh and processed foods. These tolerances must be based on a conservative standard appropriate for infants and children, rather than the adult-based tolerances that prevailed previously for fresh-market produce. Second, under the FQPA, pesticide registration will be based upon aggregate risk to the most susceptible consumers from all pesticides sharing a common biochemical mode of action in humans. Third, the FQPA expands the scope of health effects included in risk assessment decisions to include potential endocrine and reproductive effects of pesticidal chemicals. As the EPA has moved to develop implementation guidelines for the FQPA, agricultural producers and input suppliers have become concerned about its impact on them. Even if the FQPA's implementation results only in a restriction of the pesticides used on some crops, producers still have four major concerns: (1) the potential loss of farm profitability, especially for farms specializing in fruit and vegetable production; (2) unfair competition if foreign competitors can use pesticides forbidden to domestic producers; (3) the impact of the FQPA on consumer purchases, (i.e., if reduced pesticide use results in more blemishes or lower quality product, will consumers refuse to purchase the product?); and (4) excessive reliance on a few remaining pest control weapons, possibly resulting in accelerated pest resistance. Because these uncertainties potentially impact producers' livelihoods, many argue for a go-slow, long transition for any major changes in the way they farm or the pest control products they use. Competing with these agricultural concerns, however, are a parallel set of concerns, expressed by consumer and environmental groups, that the FQPA's promise to protect infants and children from pesticide risks will be sabotaged by lax or ineffective implementation. There are many uncertainties with respect to the impacts related to alternative FQPA implementation strategies. Research to resolve these concerns is fragmentary and frequently inconclusive. The common element that emerges from this review of producer concerns is: Impacts on producers will depend on how the FQPA is implemented.
Multiple-Queue Backfilling Scheduling with Priorities and Reservations for Parallel Systems

We describe a new, non-FCFS policy to schedule parallel jobs on systems that may be part of a computationalgrid. Our algorithm continuously monitors the system (i.e., the intensity of incoming jobs and variability of their resource demands), and adapts its scheduling parameters according to workload fluctuations. The proposed policy is based on backfilling, which reduces resource fragmentation by executing jobs in an order different than their arrivalwit hout delaying certain previously submitted jobs. We maintain multiple job queues that effectively separate jobs according to their projected execution time. Our policy supports different job priorities and job reservations, making it appropriate for scheduling jobs on parallel systems that are part of a computational grid. Detailed performance comparisons via simulation using traces from the Parallel Workload Archive indicate that the proposed policy consistently outperforms traditional backfilling.
Analysis and design of an integrated quadrature mixer with improved noise, gain and image rejection

The analysis of a quadrature mixer based on the CMOS double-balanced mixer is presented. The noise, image rejection, conversion gain, and linearity of the quadrature mixer are compared to that of a Gilbert mixer under square wave and sinusoidal LO drive. It is shown that the quadrature mixer exhibits a 3 dB improvement in noise and conversion gain, and improved image rejection, compared to a pair of Gilbert mixers when the LO signal is a large amplitude sine wave.
Visible supersymmetry breaking and an invisible Higgs

If there are multiple hidden sectors which independently break supersymmetry, then the spectrum will contain multiple goldstini. In this paper, we explore the possibil- ity that the visible sector might also break supersymmetry, giving rise to an additional pseudo-goldstino. By the standard lore, visible sector supersymmetry breaking is phe- nomenologically excluded by the supertrace sum rule, but this sum rule is relaxed with multiple supersymmetry breaking. However, we find that visible sector supersymmetry breaking is still phenomenologically disfavored, not because of a sum rule, but because the visible sector pseudo-goldstino is generically overproduced in the early universe. A way to avoid this cosmological bound is to ensure that an R symmetry is preserved in the visible sector up to supergravity effects. A key expectation of this R-symmetric case is that the Higgs boson will dominantly decay invisibly at the LHC.
Indications and risk factors for midurethral sling revision.

Introduction and hypothesis To determine the indications and risk factors for needing midurethral sling revision in a cohort of women undergoing midurethral sling placement.
miR-15b/16 protects primary human retinal microvascular endothelial cells against hyperglycemia-induced increases in tumor necrosis factor alpha and suppressor of cytokine signaling 3

Mechanisms underlying the pathology of diabetic retinopathy are still not completely understood. Increased understanding of potential cellular pathways responsive to hyperglycemia is essential to develop novel therapeutic strategies for diabetic retinopathy. Emerging evidence shows the impact of microRNA (miR) as a potential novel therapeutic target. The purpose of our study was to test the hypothesis that miR-15b and miR-16 are altered by hyperglycemia in retinal endothelial cells (REC), and that miR-15b/16 play key roles in regulating insulin signaling through a reduction in TNFα- and suppressor of cytokine signaling 3 (SOCS3)-mediated insulin resistance pathways. Human REC were maintained in normal (5 mM) glucose or transferred to high-glucose medium (25 mM) for 3 days. REC were transfected with miRNA mimics (hsa-miR-15b-5p and hsa-miR-16-5p) 48 h before cell harvest. A final concentration of 30 nM was used when transfected separately (miR-15b and miR-16) and 15 nM was used in combination (miR-15b + miR-16). A negative control group was treated with an equal concentration of a mimic negative control. The levels of miRNA overexpression were verified using quantitative reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction and real-time PCR. Western blot analyses were performed to study the levels of phosphorylated Akt (Serine 473), Akt, SOCS3, insulin receptor, phosphorylated insulin receptor (tyrosine 1150/1151), and insulin receptor phosphorylated on Tyr960. In addition, ELISA was used to examine cleaved caspase 3 and TNFα. Analyses were done using unpaired Student t test. Data are presented as mean ± S.E.M. We demonstrated that the expression of miR-15b and miR-16 was reduced in human REC cultured in hyperglycemia. Overexpression of miR-15b and/or miR-16 reduced TNFα and SOCS3 levels, while increasing insulin-like growth factor binding protein-3 (IGFBP-3) levels and the phosphorylation of insulin receptor (IR)Tyr1150/1151 in REC cultured in hyperglycemia. These, in turn, led to an increase of Akt phosphorylation and decreased cleavage of caspase 3. miR-15b and miR-16 play a role in the inhibition of insulin resistance via reduced TNFα and SOCS3 signaling and increased IGFBP-3 levels, resulting in REC protection from hyperglycemia-induced apoptosis. This outcome suggests that both miR-15b and miR-16 are potential therapeutic targets for therapeutics for the diabetic retina.
Nonlinear Optical Effects in Organic Materials

The physics of nonlinear optical processes in organic materials relates to the molecular nature of these systems and their unique chemical bonding. In this article, these concepts are discussed at both the microscopic and bulk levels. Experimental methods of studies of optical nonlinearities are described. Ultrafast techniques to measure dynamics of resonant third-order nonlinear optical response are discussed along with contributions from various photoexcitation processes in organic materials. Organic systems also exhibit a large variety of carriers which can be either photoexcited or produced by doping. The role of these carriers in relation to optical nonlinearity is examined. In regard to device processes, nonlinear optical processes in an optical waveguide and optical bistability in a Fabry-Perot etalon are discussed. To conclude, a discussion of current status, future directions of research and exciting research opportunities in this new multidisciplinary field of nonlinear optical effects in organic materials is presented.
Entire pluricomplex Green functions and Lelong numbers of projective currents

Let T be a positive closed current of bidimension (1,1) and unit mass on the complex projective space P". We prove that the set V α (T) of points where T has Lelong number larger than a is contained in a complex line if α > 2/3, and |V α (T) \ L| ≤ 1 for some complex line L if a > 1/2. We also prove that in dimension 2 and if a > 2/5, then |V α (T) \ C| < 1 for some conic C.
An Experimental and Analytical Investigation of Axisymmetric Diffusers

A finite difference computer program for turbulent compressible flow was used to establish the performance of several diffuser shapes for experimental testing. The diffusers were designed to have a linear change in Mach number, a linear change in pressure, or a curvature fitted by a quadratic equation. Testing was performed with M = 0.1 to 0.9 with and without boundary layer bleed. Above M = 0.6, data were obtained with a normal shock upstream of the diffuser entrance. Peak static pressure recovery occurred with a diffuser inlet M0.75. The quadratic diffuser yielded the highest total pressure recovery.
Application of precision mechanical engineering techniques to the design of a moderate energy beam transport for the FAA explosive detection system

This paper discusses the application of precision mounting and alignment techniques to a moderate energy beam transport system (MEBT) used on the exit of a 1.75 MeV RFQ. While frequently found in optical systems, techniques such as kinematic mounting, and degree-of-freedom decoupling, are not as widely used for accelerator components. The MEBT consists of one permanent magnet quadrupole, four electro magnet quadrupoles, and one debuncher cavity. Included in the paper are discussions of design and fabrication considerations as well as, installation, alignment and operations experience during the successful implementation on a working accelerator. >
Linear redshift distortions: A Review

Redshift maps of galaxies in the Universe are distorted by the peculiar velocities of galaxies along the line of sight. The amplitude of the distortions on large, linear scales yields a measurement of the linear redshift distortion parameter, which is β ≈ Ω0 0.6/b in standard cosmology with cosmological density Ω0 and light-to-mass bias b. All measurements of β from linear redshift distortions published up to mid 1997 are reviewed. The average and standard deviation of the reported values is β optical= 0.52 ± 0.26 for optically selected galaxies, and β IRAS = 0.77 + 0.22 for IRAS selected galaxies. The implied relative bias is boptical/b IRAS ≈ 1.5. If optical galaxies are unbiased, then Ω0 = 0.33 -0.22 +0.32 , while if IRAS galaxies are unbiased, then Ω0 = 0.63 -0.27 +0.35
Tokamak fusion reactors with less than full tritium breeding

A study of commercial tokamak fusion reactors with tritium concentrations and tritium breeding ratios ranging from full deuterium-tritium operation to operation with no tritium breeding is presented. The design basis for these reactors is similar to those of STARFIRE and WILDCAT. Optimum operating temperatures, sizes, toroidal field strengths, and blanket/ shield configurations are determined for a sequence of reactor designs spanning the range of tritium breeding, each having the same value of beta, thermal power, and first-wall heat load. Additional reactor parameters, tritium inventories and throughputs, and detailed costs are calculated for each reactor design. The disadvantages, advantages, implications, and ramifications of tritium-depleted operation are presented and discussed.
Measuring semantic similarity by latent relational analysis

This paper introduces Latent Relational Analysis (LRA), a method for measuring semantic similarity. LRA measures similarity in the semantic relations between two pairs of words. When two pairs have a high degree of relational similarity, they are analogous. For example, the pair cat:meow is analogous to the pair dog:bark. There is evidence from cognitive science that relational similarity is fundamental to many cognitive and linguistic tasks (e.g., analogical reasoning). In the Vector Space Model (VSM) approach to measuring relational similarity, the similarity between two pairs is calculated by the cosine of the angle between the vectors that represent the two pairs. The elements in the vectors are based on the frequencies of manually constructed patterns in a large corpus. LRA extends the VSM approach in three ways: (1) patterns are derived automatically from the corpus, (2) Singular Value Decomposition is used to smooth the frequency data, and (3) synonyms are used to reformulate word pairs. This paper describes the LRA algorithm and experimentally compares LRA to VSM on two tasks, answering college-level multiple-choice word analogy questions and classifying semantic relations in noun-modifier expressions. LRA achieves state-of-the-art results, reaching human-level performance on the analogy questions and significantly exceeding VSM performance on both tasks.
A vector scanning processing technique for pulsed laser velocimetry

Pulsed laser sheet velocimetry yields nonintrusive measurement of two-dimensional velocity vectors across an extended planar region of a flow. Current processing techniques offer high-precision (1%) velocity estimates, but can require several hours of processing time on specialized array processors. Under some circumstances, a simple, fast, less accurate ( approximately 5%) data reduction technique, which also gives unambiguous velocity vector information, is acceptable. The authors examine a direct space-domain processing technique. It uses a novel data coding and reduction technique, where the particle time history information is used directly. Further, it has no 180 degrees directional ambiguity. A complex convection vortex flow was recorded and completely processed in under 2 min on an 80386 based PC, producing a two-dimensional velocity vector map of the flow field. Using this space-domain vector scanning (VS) technique, pulsed laser velocity data can be reduced quickly and reasonably accurately, without specialized array processing hardware. >
Design concepts for the ASTROMAG cryogenic system

This paper describes the proposed cryogenic system used to cool the superconducting magnet for the Space Station based ASTROMAG Particle Astrophysics Facility. This 2-meter diameter superconducting magnet will be cooled using stored helium II. The paper presents a liquid helium storage concept which would permit cryogenic lifetimes of up to 3 years between refills. It is proposed that the superconducting coil be cooled using superfluid helium pumped by the thermomechanical effect. It is also proposed that the storage tank be resupplied with helium in orbit. A method for charging and discharging the magnet with minimum helium loss using split gas-cooled leads is discussed. A proposal to use a stirling cycle cryocooler to extend the storage life of the cryostat will also be presented.
Single sensor detection and classification of multiple sources by higher-order spectra

A method to detect the number of nonGaussian sources is distinguished by its ability to perform detection with single sensor data, and is blind to Gaussian observation noise. After the detection procedure, the authors propose an algorithm for classification of sources employing a prior knowledge of their spectra. Simulation results indicate the performance of the algorithms. >
Binary Pulsar Shock Emissions as Galactic Gamma-Ray Sources

We address several issues regarding the interpretation of galactic γ-ray sources. We consider powerful pulsars in binaries producing X-ray and gamma-ray unpulsed emission from the shock interaction of relativistic pulsar winds with circumbinary material. Nebular mass outflows from companion stars of binary pulsars can provide the right calorimeters to transform a fraction of the electromagnetic and kinetic energy of pulsar winds into high energy radiation. We discuss the physics of interaction of relativistic pulsar winds with gaseous material and show that the conditions in pulsar binary systems might be ideal to constrain shock acceleration mechanisms and pulsar wind composition and structure. We briefly discuss the example of the 47 ms pulsar PSR 1259-63 orbiting around a massive Be star companion and monitored by X-ray and gamma-ray instruments during its recent periastron passage. In addition to young pulsars in massive binaries, also a class of recycled millisecond pulsars in low-mass binaries can be interesting high energy emitters.