cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Predictor-based control for an uncertain Euler-Lagrange system with input delay

Controlling a nonlinear system with actuator delay is a challenging problem because of the need to develop some form of prediction of the nonlinear dynamics. Developing a predictor-based controller for an uncertain system is especially challenging. In this paper, tracking controllers are developed for an Euler-Lagrange system with time-delayed actuation, parametric uncertainty, and additive bounded disturbances. The developed controllers represent the first input delayed controllers developed for uncertain nonlinear systems that use a predictor to compensate for the delay. The results are obtained through the development of a novel predictor-like method to address the time delay in the control input. Lyapunov-Krasovskii functionals are used within a Lyapunov-based stability analysis to prove semi-globally uniformly ultimately bounded tracking. Experimental results illustrate the performance and robustness of the developed control methods.
SplitScreen: Enabling efficient, distributed malware detection

We present the design and implementation of a novel anti-malware system called SplitScreen. SplitScreen performs an additional screening step prior to the signature matching phase found in existing approaches. The screening step filters out most non-infected files (90%) and also identifies malware signatures that are not of interest (99%). The screening step significantly improves end-to-end performance because safe files are quickly identified and are not processed further, and malware files can subsequently be scanned using only the signatures that are necessary. Our approach naturally leads to a network-based anti-malware solution in which clients only receive signatures they needed, not every malware signature ever created as with current approaches. We have implemented SplitScreen as an extension to ClamAV, the most popular open source anti-malware software. For the current number of signatures, our implementation is 2x faster and requires 2x less memory than the original ClamAV. These gaps widen as the number of signatures grows.
The Income Lever and the Allocation of Aid

The paper develops a concept and a measure of the monetary capacity of a country to reduce its own poverty and shows how these tools can be used to guide budget allocations or the allocation of aid. The authors call this concept the income lever. Making use of tax and distributive theory, the paper shows how different redistributive criteria correspond to the different normative criteria of the income lever. It then constructs various income lever indexes based on these criteria and uses such indexes to rank countries according to their own capacity to reduce poverty. As shown in the empirical application, this methodology can provide an equitable tool to rank countries or regions when it comes to budget or aid allocations, whether it is the allocation of social funds within the European Union (North-North transfers) or the allocation of aid from rich to poor countries (North-South transfers). The findings indicate that the allocation of social funds in the European Union follows closely the rank that results from the income lever indexes proposed while the allocation of aid to Sub-Saharan African countries does not.
Tradeoffs among free-flow speed, capacity, cost, and environmental footprint in highway design

This paper investigates differentiated design standards as a source of capacity additions that are more affordable and have smaller aesthetic and environmental impacts than modern expressways. We consider several tradeoffs, including narrow versus wide lanes and shoulders on an expressway of a given total width, and high-speed expressway versus lower-speed arterial. We quantify the situations in which off-peak traffic is sufficiently great to make it worthwhile to spend more on construction, or to give up some capacity, in order to provide very high off-peak speeds even if peak speeds are limited by congestion. We also consider the implications of differing accident rates. The results support expanding the range of highway designs that are considered when adding capacity to ameliorate urban road congestion.
Antiferromagnetism and onset of Superconductivity in Lanthanum Nickelates

Magnetic moment and resistivity measurements are summarized for the La2−xSrxNiO4 system. They show that the system undergoes a structural phase separation below 70 K. The majority of the sample is antiferromagnetic (AF) below 650 K (for x = 0) or 20 K (for x = 0) or 20 K (for x ≃ 0.2 while the minority phase (≤1% at 4.2 K) is superconducting (SC). An analysis of the results leads to the conclusion that SC and AF coexist in the minority part of the sample; the pairing takes place between 2p holes which propagate through a lattice containing localized 3d moments which, in the ground state, are ordered antiferromagnetically.
Combination therapy of thymalfasin (thymosin‐alpha 1) and peginterferon alfa‐2a in patients with chronic hepatitis C virus infection who are non‐responders to standard treatment

The worldwide spread of hepatitis C virus is enormous; chronic hepatitis C virus infection is a leading cause of liver cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma. While treatment options have improved substantially over the last decade, responses are still disappointing, particularly in certain difficult-to-treat groups such as patients who are immunosuppressed or have decompensated disease. Preliminary studies have indicated that combined treatment strategies may provide effective approaches for the future. The combination of thymalfasin with pegylated interferon is currently a promising option for the treatment of patients with chronic hepatitis C virus infection. An ongoing phase 3 study in the USA should provide much needed data to improve the outcome for these patients.
Palladium-Catalyzed Carbonylative Annulation of Internal Alkynes: Synthesis of 3,4-Disubstituted Coumarins

The palladium-catalyzed annulation of internal alkynes by o-iodophenols in the presence of CO results in exclusive formation of coumarins. No isomeric chromones have been observed. The best reaction conditions utilize the 2-iodophenol, 5 equiv of alkyne, 1 atm of CO, 5 mol % Pd(OAc)2, 2 equiv of pyridine, and 1 equiv of n-Bu4NCl in DMF at 120 °C. The use of a sterically unhindered pyridine base is essential to achieve high yields. A wide variety of 3,4-disubstituted coumarins containing alkyl, aryl, silyl, alkoxy, acyl, and ester groups have been prepared in moderate to good yields. Mixtures of regioisomers have been obtained when unsymmetrical alkynes are employed. 2-Iodophenols with electron-withdrawing and electron-donating substituents and 3-iodo-2-pyridone are effective in this annulation process. The reaction is believed to proceed via (1) oxidative addition of the 2-iodophenol to Pd(0), (2) insertion of the alkyne triple bond into the aryl−palladium bond, (3) CO insertion into the resulting vinylic...
The Red Eye

The patient with a red eye constitutes a very common clinical problem encountered in the Emergency Department setting. Conjunctivitis, the most common cause of the red eye, generally is not associated with disturbance of vision or associated ocular pain. If either of these symptoms is present, a more serious disorder must be suspected. Treatment of infectious conjunctivitis is guided by interpretation of a Gram's stain and subsequent culture of any exudate present. Initial treatment of most cases includes use of topical antibiotic and local comfort measures. Complications of infectious conjunctivitis include more invasive disease such as keratitis or abscess formation, with potential corneal perforation and destruction. All patients should be referred for ophthalmologic followup, both to assess adequacy of treatment and to treat unexpected complications. Remember that allergic conjunctivitis is a common condition that responds to antihistamine decongestant medications given orally or topically. Occasionally these conditions are caused by self-prescribed use of ocular medication, and discontinuation of all eye medication is required. Corticosteroid eye drops are rarely indicated and should be used only at the direction of an ophthalmologist. When the diagnosis is uncertain, treatment is best withheld, as "shotgun" therapy is seldom beneficial.
Online solution of nonlinear two-player zero-sum games using synchronous policy iteration

SUMMARY The two-player zero-sum (ZS) game problem provides the solution to the bounded L2-gain problem and so is important for robust control. However, its solution depends on solving a design Hamilton–Jacobi–Isaacs (HJI) equation, which is generally intractable for nonlinear systems. In this paper, we present an online adaptive learning algorithm based on policy iteration to solve the continuous-time two-player ZS game with infinite horizon cost for nonlinear systems with known dynamics. That is, the algorithm learns online in real time an approximate local solution to the game HJI equation. This method finds, in real time, suitable approximations of the optimal value and the saddle point feedback control policy and disturbance policy, while also guaranteeing closed-loop stability. The adaptive algorithm is implemented as an actor/critic/disturbance structure that involves simultaneous continuous-time adaptation of critic, actor, and disturbance neural networks. We call this online gaming algorithm ‘synchronous’ ZS game policy iteration. A persistence of excitation condition is shown to guarantee convergence of the critic to the actual optimal value function. Novel tuning algorithms are given for critic, actor, and disturbance networks. The convergence to the optimal saddle point solution is proven, and stability of the system is also guaranteed. Simulation examples show the effectiveness of the new algorithm in solving the HJI equation online for a linear system and a complex nonlinear system. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Institutional Cash Pools and the Triffin Dilemma of the U.S. Banking System

Through the profiling of institutional cash pools, this paper explains the rise of the “shadow” banking system from a demand-side perspective. Explaining the rise of shadow banking from this angle paints a very different picture than the supply-side angle that views it as a story of banks’ funding preferences and arbitrage. Institutional cash pools prefer to avoid too much unsecured exposure to banks even through insured deposits. Short-term government guaranteed securities are the next best choice, but their supply is insufficient. The shadow banking system arose to fill this vacuum. One way to manage the size of the shadow banking system is by adopting the supply management of Treasury bills as a macroprudential tool.
VECM estimations of the PPP reversion rate revisited: The conventional role of relative price adjustment restored

Abstract Cheung et al. (2004) use a vector error correction model (VECM) for the current float nominal exchange rate and relative price data and claim that the sluggish purchasing power parity (PPP) reversion is primarily driven by the nominal exchange rate, not by relative price adjustment, which is at odds with the conventional sticky-price models. Our major findings are as follows. First, we suggest cases where VECMs are of limited usefulness, even when all the variables in the system are not weakly exogenous. Second, using century-long exchange rates, we find that the relative price plays an important role for PPP reversion when real shocks occur. Third, protracted hump-shaped responses of real exchange rates are frequently observed when there is a relative price shock, leading to sluggish adjustments toward PPP. Nominal exchange rate shocks generate humped dynamics much less frequently.
A Switched State Feedback Law for the Stabilization of LTI Systems

Inspired by prior work in the design of switched feedback controllers for second-order systems, we develop a switched state feedback control law for the stabilization of linear time-invariant (LTI) systems of arbitrary dimension. The control law operates by switching between two static gain vectors in such a way that the state trajectory is driven onto a stable n-1 dimensional hyperplane (where n represents the system dimension). We begin by briefly examining relevant geometric properties of the phase portraits in the case of two-dimensional systems to develop intuition, and we then show how these geometric properties can be expressed as algebraic constraints on the switched vector fields that are applicable to LTI systems of arbitrary dimension. We then derive necessary and sufficient conditions to ensure stabilizability of the resulting switched system using the proposed approach (characterized primarily by simple conditions on eigenvalues) and describe an explicit procedure for designing stabilizing controllers. We then show how the newly developed control law can be applied to the problem of minimizing the maximal Lyapunov exponent of the corresponding closed-loop state trajectories, and we illustrate the closed-loop transient performance of these switched state feedback controllers via multiple examples.
Examining Environmental Justice in Facility-Level Regulatory Enforcement*

Objective. This article examines claims made by environmental justice advocates that government inequitably enforces environmental laws. Methods. We test for race- and class-based disparities in the regulatory enforcement of the U.S. Clean Water Act from 2000–2005. We estimate pooled logistic regression models, and the analysis is conducted at the facility-level using an areal apportionment methodology to measure the composition of populations living near facilities. Results. We find evidence of modest race- and class-based disparities in both government inspections and punitive actions taken in response to noncompliant behavior, although the pattern of these disparities depends on model specification. Conclusions. Our findings provide some evidence of disparities in government enforcement of the federal Clean Water Act, lending support to the general claims made by environmental justice advocates.
Determinants of Turnout and Candidate Choice in the 2008 U.S. Presidential Election Illuminating the Impact of Racial Prejudice and Other Considerations

The presence of an African-American candidate on the bal- lot running for President in 2008 raises the possibility that the election outcome might have been influenced by anti-African-American racism among voters. This paper uses data from the Associated Press-Yahoo! News-Stanford University survey to explore this possibility, using mea- sures of both explicit racism (symbolic racism) and implicit racism (the Affect Misattribution Procedure). The parameters of multinomial logistic regression equations were estimated to test the hypotheses that racism might have behaved differently on election day than they would have had racism been eliminated. The findings suggest that racism's impact on the election outcome could have been substantial, by causing (1) people
ON THE GEOMETRY OF ORBIT CLOSURES FOR REPRESENTATION-INFINITE ALGEBRAS

For the Kronecker algebra, Zwara found in [13] an example of a module whose orbit closure is neither unibranch nor Cohen-Macaulay. In this paper, we explain how to extend this example to all representation-infinite algebras with a preprojective component.
The number of extensions of a number field with fixed degree and bounded discriminant

We give an upper bound on the number of extensions of a fixed number field of prescribed degree and discriminant ≤ X; these bounds improve on work of Schmidt. We also prove various related results, such as lower bounds for the number of extensions and upper bounds for Galois extensions.
Limit theorems for linear eigenvalue statistics of overlapping matrices

The paper proves several limit theorems for linear eigenvalue statistics of overlapping Wigner and sample covariance matrices. It is shown that the covariance of the limiting multivariate Gaussian distribution is diagonalized by choosing the Chebyshev polynomials of the first kind as the basis for the test function space. The covariance of linear statistics for the Chebyshev polynomials of sufficiently high degree depends only on the first two moments of the matrix entries. Proofs are based on a graph-theoretic interpretation of the Chebyshev linear statistics as sums over non-backtracking cyclic paths.
Quantum-mechanical scattering of charged black holes.

We describe the quantum-mechanical scattering of slowly moving maximally charged black holes. Our technique is to develop a canonical quantization procedure on the parameter space of possible static classical solutions. With this, we compute the capture cross sections for the scattering of two black holes. Finally, we discuss how quantization on this parameter space relates to quantization of the degrees of freedom of the gravitational field.
Large scale Biginelli reaction via water-based biphasic media: a green chemistry strategy

An important stage in process development is kilo scale preparation of the target compound. For this reason, a procedure involving water-based biphasic reaction media has been developed for conducting some exothermic reactions on a large scale. This protocol is illustrated by the energy-efficient and rapid preparation of dihydropyrimidinones by a solvent-free, green chemistry procedure applied to the Biginelli reaction using p-toluenesulfonic acid as catalyst.
Death, Grief, and the Home Health Worker: A Systems Approach

As the burden of long-term care shifts from nursing homes to home-based care, home health workers are increasingly likely to serve an older clientele susceptible to chronic disease and death. A sig...
A new synthesis of alkylated 2H-pyran-2-ones and its application to the determination of the relative and absolute configuration of supellapyrone, sex pheromone of the brownbanded cockroach, Supella longipalpa

Abstract The sex pheromone of the brownbanded cockroach, Supella longipalpa, can be synthesized by direct coupling of a brominated pyrone with an alkylzinc reagent. The stereochemistry of the natural pheromone has been assigned as (2′R, 4′R)-5-(2′,4′-dimethylheptanyl)-3-methyl-2H-pyran-2-one by a combination of synthesis, chiral gas chromatography, and electrophysiological measurement.
Complex Contagions in Kleinberg's Small World Model

Complex contagions describe diffusion of behaviors in a social network in settings where spreading requires influence by two or more neighbors. In a k-complex contagion, a cluster of nodes are initially infected, and additional nodes become infected in the next round if they have at least k already infected neighbors. It has been argued that complex contagions better model behavioral changes such as adoption of new beliefs, fashion trends or expensive technology innovations. This has motivated rigorous understanding of spreading of complex contagions in social networks. Despite simple contagions (k=1) that spread fast in all small world graphs, how complex contagions spread is much less understood. Previous work [11] analyzes complex contagions in Kleinberg's small world model [14] where edges are randomly added according to a spatial distribution (with exponent γ) on top of a two dimensional grid structure. It has been shown in [11] that the speed of complex contagions differs exponentially when γ=0 compared to when γ=2.In this paper, we fully characterize the entire parameter space of γ except at one point, and provide upper and lower bounds for the speed of k-complex contagions. We study two subtly different variants of Kleinberg's small world model and show that, with respect to complex contagions, they behave differently. For each model and each k ≥ 2, we show that there is an intermediate range of values, such that when γ takes any of these values, a k-complex contagion spreads quickly on the corresponding graph, in a polylogarithmic number of rounds. However, if γ is outside this range, then a k-complex contagion requires a polynomial number of rounds to spread to the entire network.
Inflation Targeting and Inflation Convergence within Turkey

Using a disaggregated level CPI data, this paper compares bilateral convergence properties of Turkish regional inflation rates between pre-inflation-targeting and inflation-targeting periods. Rather than using an ad hoc date for the introduction of inflation-targeting regime, structural break dates are estimated for Turkish national inflation rate as well as the standard deviation of Turkish regional inflation rates. The first moment of Turkish national inflation rate has an estimated break at the beginning of explicit inflation-targeting regime in January 2002, and the second moment of Turkish regional inflation rates has an estimated break at the financial crisis in February 2001 after which Turkey adopted a flexible exchange rate. It is found that during the inflation-targeting period, Turkish regional inflation rates have converged to each other in terms of CPI groups with relatively non-tradable components, and they have diverged from each other in terms of CPI groups with relatively tradable components.
Preservation of passivity during RLC network reduction via split congruence transformations

Resistance-inductance-capacitance (RLC) network reduction refers to the formulation of small networks whose port behavior is similar to that of large RLC networks. Several network reduction algorithms have been developed in the last few years, but none exist for RLC networks which preserve passivity. The loss of passivity can be a serious problem because simulations of the reduced networks may encounter artificial oscillations or "time step too small" errors which render the simulations useless. This paper presents a set of well-conditioned transformations called "split congruence transformations" (SCTs) which can he used to preserve specified moments and resonances for RLC network reduction, and these transformations are proven to preserve passivity. Network reduction examples are provided to demonstrate the utility of SCTs.
Implications of the US Farm Bill of 2002 for agricultural trade and trade negotiations

The US Farm Bill of 2002 is the latest in a 7-decade history of farm subsidy laws that transfer funds to farmers and regulate and subsidize production of selected commodities. Fruit, tree nut, ornamental and vegetable crops, hay and meats remain outside scope of main subsidy programs. The new law continues many innovations of the 1996 Act, such as removal of authority for annual land idling and crop price floors accompanied by government stockholding. Government payments remain the primary focus of commodity programs. The total amount of these payments are likely to remain similar to the amount paid in the period 1999–2001, but with some changes in the form of the programs. For example, allowing owners to update acreage and yield payment bases creates additional incentives for farmers to link current planting decisions to anticipated farm subsidies. Similarly, the new program that ties “counter-cyclical” payments to the price of a specific crop also has production stimulus. A new program, estimated to add about 5–10 per cent to marginal milk revenue for smaller farms, makes ‘deficiency’ payments to dairy farms when milk prices are low. Despite the new programs with added links to stimulating production, new USA programs stimulate production only marginally more than the subsidies of the 1999–2001 period, which were replaced. Furthermore, the USA has flexibility to avoid explicitly violating its WTO commitments. Nonetheless, this US Farm Bill of 2002 has curtailed the previous trends toward lower farm subsidies and smaller production stimuli, and the negative publicity surrounding it has made negotiating reductions of farm trade distortions more difficult.
Transition-Metal-Catalyzed Laboratory-Scale Carbon–Carbon Bond-Forming Reactions of Ethylene

Ethylene, the simplest alkene, is the most abundantly synthesized organic molecule by volume. It is readily incorporated into transition-metal-catalyzed carbon–carbon bond-forming reactions through migratory insertions into alkylmetal intermediates. Because of its D2h symmetry, only one insertion outcome is possible. This limits byproduct formation and greatly simplifies analysis. As described within this Minireview, many carbon–carbon bond-forming reactions incorporate a molecule (or more) of ethylene at ambient pressure and temperature. In many cases, a useful substituted alkene is incorporated into the product.
A Continuum Approach to Two-Component Thin Film Growth

Theoretical effort so far in understanding epitaxial growth has focused mainly on the one-component growth, i.e. growth that can be fully characterized by a surface (or height) profile. The predictions are also quite limited to the height-height correlation functions as a function of substrate size and the amount of deposition. In this paper, we consider the case of a two-component growth which is quite common in metallic thin films. Instead of using large-scale simulation, we first write down the appropriate two-component growth equations in continuum form. These equations are carefully designed such that in the limit of one-component growth the corresponding equation is recovered. Analytical and numerical analysis of the proposed equations allow us to study the long-range physics associated with these growth processes. Comparison with computer growth experiments is also mentioned.
A Cointegration Analysis of the Impact of the Age Structure of the Population on the Household Saving Rate in Japan

This paper analyzes the impact of the age structure of the population on Japan's household saving rate by applying cointegration techniques to time-series data for the 1955–1993 period. It finds th...
Approximately dominating representatives

We propose and investigate from the algorithmic standpoint a novel form of fuzzy query called approximately dominating representatives or ADRs. The ADRs of a multidimensional point set consist of a few points guaranteed to contain an approximate optimum of any monotone Lipschitz continuous combining function of the dimensions. ADRs can be computed by appropriately post-processing Pareto, or ''skyline'', queries [Kian-Lee Tan, Pin-Kwang Eng, Beng Chin Ooi, Efficient progressive skyline computation, in: VLDB, 2001, pp. 301-310; Wolf-Tilo Balke, Ulrich Guntzer, Jason Xin Zheng, Efficient distributed skylining for web information systems, in: EDBT, 2004. [14]]. We show that the problem of minimizing the number of points returned, for a user-specified desired approximation, can be solved in polynomial time in two dimensions; for three and more it is NP-hard but has a polynomial-time logarithmic approximation. Finally, we present a polynomial-time, constant factor approximation algorithm for three dimensions.
A New Parameterization of the Nucleon Elastic Form Factors

The nucleon elastic form factors are generally interpreted as a mapping of the charge and magnetic current distributions of the proton and neutron. New high Q 2 measurements have opened up fundamental questions about G ep that remain to be answered. This talk will summarize current developments surrounding the nucleon form factors and explain why they are important to neutrino physicists. New parameterizations of the nucleon form factors, suitable for use by neutrino physicists, will be introduced and discussed.
cMET Activation and EGFR-Directed Therapy Resistance in Triple-Negative Breast Cancer.

Background: EGFR expression and pathway activation are common in triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC). However, anti-EGFR therapies have not been effective in these patients. We aimed to study the efficacy of targeting MET in overcoming resistance to EGFR therapy in TNBC cell lines. Methods: TNBC lines (MDA-MB-468, HCC-1395, and MDA-MB-231), and a hormone receptor-positive breast cancer line (T47D) were stimulated with epidermal growth factor (EGF) and hepatocyte growth factor (HGF). Lines were then treated with different concentrations of EGFR inhibitors (gefitinib or cetuximab), with or without a MET tyrosine kinase inhibitor (EMD 1214063). Proliferation was measured by MTS assay, in soft agar and with a matrigel assay. Synergy was measured with Calcusyn. Protein expression and signaling were examined with immunoblotting. Results: There was activation of ligand-receptor-downstream signaling pathways in MDA-MB-468 and HCC-1395 upon stimulation with EGF and HGF. In these cell lines, we observed synergism when combining EGFR and MET inhibitors. These results were observed across assays. In western blotting, combination therapy resulted in abrogation of pAKT and pMAPK while monotherapy did not. Conclusion: Our data demonstrate that dual EGFR/MET inhibition is synergistic in TNBC. Targeting both EGFR and MET receptors may provide an effective therapeutic strategy in TNBC.
Private sector needs for trusted/secure computer systems

Computer systems that have been subjected to formal verification of correctness of their access control mechanisms and that can provide multilevel security are called trusted systems. Their prototypes are now being developed under government programs and, to a much lesser scale, as a part of vendors' in-house research and development. While the need for trusted systems in national defense applications is well known, the need for trusted systems in private sector's business and industrial applications has been largely unexplored. This paper identifies several generic types of needs and incentives for the use of trusted systems, such as maintaining management control, complying with regulatory requirements, protecting computer representations of assets and resources, assuring safety and integrity, realizing certain operational economies, and enhancing marketing advantage or public image. It then examines the private sector's aspects of these generic needs, as well as disincentives that may surface. The paper concludes with an assessment of the prospects for commercial availability of trusted systems and the vendors' incentives for developing and marketing these systems.
Reducing digital divide effects through student engagement in coordinated game design, online resource use, and social computing activities in school

Participating in online social, cultural, and political activities requires digital skill and knowledge. This study investigates how sustained student engagement in game design and social media use can attenuate the relations between socioeconomic factors and digital inequality among youth. This study of 242 middle and high school students participating in the Globaloria project shows that participation eliminates gender effects, and reduces parent education effects in home computer use. Further, students from schools with lower parent education show greater increases in frequency of school technology engagement. Globaloria participation also weakens the link between prior school achievement and advanced technology activities. Results offer evidence that school-based digital literacy programs can attenuate digital divide effects known to occur cross-sectionally in the general U.S. population.
Spectroscopy and chemical dynamics of group II metal ion-formaldehyde complexes

Abstract This review focuses on the spectroscopy and chemical dynamics of bimolecular complexes of group II metal ions with formaldehyde using mass resolved photodissociation spectroscopy techniques. Photodissociation spectroscopy of isolated metal ion-molecule complexes gives quantitative information about the structure and bonding of the complex, and valuable insight into the electronic nonadiabatic interactions that determine the reaction pathways and energy partitioning. The experimental techniques of photodissociation spectroscopy are briefly reviewed. Results from several experiments are then discussed including the photodissociation of Mg + -, Ca + -, and Zn + -based complexes with formaldehyde. Despite the similarities in valence electronic structure for these metal ions, the spectroscopy and quenching dynamics show remarkable differences. We also compare results with the photodissociation spectroscopy of Mg + -acetaldehyde where additional chemical reaction channels are accessible.
Trifluoromethylation of Heterocycles in Water at Room Temperature

Using a reaction medium containing nanoparticles consisting of commercially available TPGS-750-M in water, a combination of Langlois’ reagent and t-BuOOH can be used to effect trifluoromethylation of several heterocyclic arrays, including heteroaromatics. These reactions take place at ambient temperatures, and the aqueous medium can be recycled.
Work environment and moral hazard

We consider a firm’s provision of safety and health measures (working conditions) in a hidden action agency problem in which effort and working conditions interact in multiplicatively separable (neutral) manner in the cash flow process. Under this common formulation, the firm under supplies working conditions and effort at its second best, regardless of the share of accident damages borne by the firm. At this optimum, increases in the damage share paid by the firm decrease the compensation to the agent so as to render working conditions and effort unchanged. Shifting the damage share then does not impact the firm’s or the agent’s welfare. We show that direct regulation of working conditions can improve total surplus, but that the regulation of the damage share is ineffectual. Under first order approximations, we also examine the effects of changes in the hazard level of the job and the efficiency of working conditions. Finally, we show that our results can be changed if the neutral interaction between effort and working conditions is violated.
Which Livestock Production Methods Matter Most to Consumers

Consumers are becoming increasingly interested in how their food is produced. Many studies have focused on consumers’ preferences and willingness-to-pay for specific production method claims; however, few studies have asked consumers to prioritize (rank) the importance of different production method claims. In this study, we use a best-worst scaling approach to have consumers rank the importance of seven common production method claims across four product types: beef, milk, chicken, and eggs. Results of the study show that consumers often prefer specific individual claims (e.g., animals were not treated with growth hormones, no GMOs used in production) as opposed to broader, more encompassing claims (such as product is certified organic). Additionally, the majority of preference shares were captured by the top three claims, so livestock producers could utilize this information to optimize their current labeling schemes.
Probes for the dopamine transporter: new leads toward a cocaine-abuse therapeutic--A focus on analogues of benztropine and rimcazole.

In an attempt to discover a cocaine-abuse pharmacotherapeutic, extensive investigation has been directed toward elucidating the molecular mechanisms underlying the reinforcing effects of this psychostimulant drug. The results of these studies have been consistent with the inhibition of dopamine uptake, at the dopamine transporter (DAT), which results in a rapid and excessive accumulation of extracellular dopamine in the synapse as being the mechanism primarily responsible for the locomotor stimulant actions of cocaine. Nevertheless, investigation of the serotonin (SERT) and norepinephrine (NET) transporters, as well as other receptor systems, with which cocaine either directly or indirectly interacts, has suggested that the DAT is not solely responsible for the reinforcing effects of cocaine. In an attempt to further elucidate the roles of these systems in the reinforcing effects of cocaine, selective molecular probes, in the form of drug molecules, have been designed, synthesized, and characterized. Many of these compounds bind potently and selectively to the DAT, block dopamine reuptake, and are behaviorally cocaine-like in animal models of psychostimulant abuse. However, there have been exceptions noted in several classes of dopamine uptake inhibitors that demonstrate behavioral profiles that are distinctive from cocaine. Structure-activity relationships between chemically diverse dopamine uptake inhibitors have suggested that different binding interactions, at the molecular level on the DAT, as well as divergent actions at the other monoamine transporters may be related to the differing pharmacological actions of these compounds, in vivo. These studies suggest that novel dopamine uptake inhibitors, which are structurally and pharmacologically distinct from cocaine, may be developed as potential cocaine-abuse therapeutics.
THE Hf-W ISOTOPIC SYSTEM AND THE ORIGIN OF THE EARTH AND MOON

▪ Abstract The Earth has a radiogenic W-isotopic composition compared to chondrites, demonstrating that it formed while 182Hf (half-life 9 Myr) was extant in Earth and decaying to 182W. This implies that Earth underwent early and rapid accretion and core formation, with most of the accumulation occurring in ∼10 Myr, and concluding approximately 30 Myr after the origin of the Solar System. The Hf-W data for lunar samples can be reconciled with a major Moon-forming impact that terminated the terrestrial accretion process ∼30 Myr after the origin of the Solar System. The suggestion that the proto-Earth to impactor mass ratio was 7:3 and occurred during accretion is inconsistent with the W isotope data. The W isotope data is satisfactorily modeled with a Mars-sized impactor on proto-Earth (proto-Earth to impactor ratio of 9:1) to form the Moon at ∼30 Myr.
Factors Influencing Farmers' Crop Insurance Decisions

Farmers' decisions to purchase crop insurance and their choices among alternative products are analyzed using a two-stage estimation procedure. The influences of risk perceptions, competing risk management options, as well structural and demographic differences are evaluated. The likelihood for crop insurance usage is found to be higher for larger, older, less tenured, more highly leveraged farms, and by those with higher perceived yield risks. The marginal effects of size, age, perceived yield risk, perceived importance of risk management activities, and other structural and demographic variables are identified in terms of their influences on choices among alternative crop insurance products. Copyright 2004, Oxford University Press.
Vulnerabilities and threats in distributed systems

We discuss research issues and models for vulnerabilities and threats in distributed computing systems We present four diverse approaches to reducing system vulnerabilities and threats They are: using fault tolerance and reliability principles for security, enhancing role-based access control with trust ratings, protecting privacy during data dissemination and collaboration, and applying fraud countermeasures for reducing threats.
Measuring the Poverty Reduction Potential of Land in Rural Mexico

Abstract To help inform the current debate on the role of land as an instrument for poverty reduction, we analyze the conditions under which access to land reduces poverty in Mexican rural communities. Semi-parametric regression results show that access to even a small plot of land can raise household welfare significantly. For smallholders, an additional hectare of land increases welfare on average by 1.3 times the earnings of an agricultural worker. In addition, the marginal welfare value of land depends importantly on a household's control over complementary assets such as education and on the context where assets are used such as road access.
Supports of Weighted Equilibrium Measures and Examples

We analyze the supports of weighted equilibrium measures in ℂn. We give explicit examples of families of compact sets which arise as the support of a weighted equilibrium measure for some admissible weight w. These examples also give new constructions of plurisubharmonic functions in the Lelong class. We also include a list of open problems on the support of extremal measures which are related to solutions of Monge–Ampere equations.
A Fundamental Relation Between Supermassive Black Holes and Their Host Galaxies

The masses of supermassive black holes correlate almost perfectly with the velocity dispersions of their host bulges, Mbh ∝ σα, where α = 4.8 ± 0.5. The relation is much tighter than the relation between Mbh and bulge luminosity, with a scatter no larger than expected on the basis of measurement error alone. Black hole masses recently estimated by Magorrian et al. lie systematically above the Mbh-σ relation defined by more accurate mass estimates, some by as much as 2 orders of magnitude. The tightness of the Mbh-σ relation implies a strong link between black hole formation and the properties of the stellar bulge.
Conditional Moment Restrictions and Triangular Simultaneous Equations

Abstract It is shown that in a nonparametric nonseparable triangular system, the conditional moment restriction (CMR) does not identify the average structural function (ASF). The CMR identifies the ASF only if the model is structurally separable in observable covariates and unobservable random errors. This excludes, for instance, random coefficient models in which the CMR in general does not identify the average response. An implication of our results is that empirical researchers should use methods other than CMR if they want to estimate the average response in models that are not additively separable.
Oil Intensities and Oil Prices : Evidence for Latin America

Crude oil prices have dramatically increased over the past years and are now at a historical maximum in nominal terms and very close to it in real terms. It is difficult to argue, at least for net oil importers, that higher oil prices have a positive impact on welfare. In fact, the negative relationship between oil prices and economic activity has been well documented in the literature. Yet, to the extent that higher oil prices lead to lower oil consumption, it would be possible to argue that not all the effects of a price increase are negative. Climate change concerns have been on the rise in recent years and fossil fuel consumption is generally viewed as one of the main causes behind it. Thus this paper explores whether higher oil prices contribute to lowering oil intensities (that is, oil consumption per unit of gross domestic product). The findings show that following an increase in oil prices, OECD countries tend to reduce oil intensity. However, the same result does not hold for Latin America (and more generally for middle-income countries) where oil intensities appear to be unaffected by oil prices. The paper also explores why this is so.
Preparation of Some Substituted Terephthalic Acids

We report in detail the preparation of two substituted terephthalic acids: 2-sulfomethylterephthalic acid (1) and 2-phosphonoterephthalic acid (2). Efficient, short syntheses have been developed for both compounds. They are potentially useful monomers for construction of acid-pendant polymer chains.
A Motion-Stabilized W-Band Radar for Shipboard Observations of Marine Boundary-Layer Clouds

Cloud radars at X, Ka and W-bands have been used in the past for ocean stud- ies of clouds, but the lack of suitable stabilization has limited their usefulness in obtaining accurate measurements of the velocity structure of cloud particles and the heights of cloud features. A 94 GHz (W-band) radar suitable for use on shipboard studies of clouds has been developed that is small and lightweight and can maintain the radar's beam pointing in the vertical to reduce the affects of the pitch and roll of the ship. A vertical velocity sensor on the platform allows the effects of the ship's heave to be removed from the measured cloud particle motions. Results from the VAMOS Ocean-Cloud-Atmosphere-Land Study Regional Exper- iment (VOCALS-Rex) field program on the NOAA vessel Ronald H. Brown demonstrate the improvements to the cloud measurements after the ship's motion effects are removed. The compact design of the radar also makes it suitable for use in aircraft studies. The radar is being repackaged to fit in an aft bay of a NOAA P3 aircraft to observe sea-spray profiles during ocean storms.
Parametric Model of an Aerospike Rocket Engine

A suite of computer codes was assembled to simulate the performance of an aerospike engine and to generate the engine input for the Program to Optimize Simulated Trajectories. First an Engine simulator module was developed that predicts the aerospkie engine performance for a given mixture ratio, power level, thrust vectoring level, and altitude. This module was then used to rapidly generate the aerospike engine performance tables for axial thrust, normal thrust, pitching moment, and specific thrust. Parametric engine geometry was defined for use with the engine simulator module. The parametric model was also integrated into the iSIGHT multidisciplinary framework so that alternate designs could be determined. The computer codes were used to support in-house conceptual studies of reusable launch vehicle designs.
The co-rank conjecture for 3-manifold groups.

In this paper we construct explicit examples of both closed and non-compact nite volume hyperbolic manifolds which provide counterex- amples to the conjecture that the co-rank of a 3-manifold group (also known as the cut number) is bounded below by one-third the rst Betti number. AMS Classication 57M05; 57M50, 20F34
Analysis of Dynamic Task Allocation in Multi-Robot Systems

Dynamic task allocation is an essential requirement for multi-robot systems operating in unknown dynamic environments. It allows robots to change their behavior in response to environmental changes or actions of other robots in order to improve overall system performance. Emergent coordination algorithms for task allocation that use only local sensing and no direct communication between robots are attractive because they are robust and scalable. However, a lack of formal analysis tools makes emergent coordination algorithms difficult to design. In this paper we present a mathematical model of a general dynamic task allocation mechanism. Robots using this mechanism have to choose between two types of tasks, and the goal is to achieve a desired task division in the absence of explicit communication and global knowledge. Robots estimate the state of the environment from repeated local observations and decide which task to choose based on these observations. We model the robots and observations as stochastic processes and study the dynamics of the collective behavior. Specifically, we analyze the effect that the number of observations and the choice of the decision function have on the performance of the system. The mathematical models are validated in a multi-robot multi-foraging scenario. The model's predictions agree very closely with results of embodied simulations.
On paradigms, theories and models

The purpose of this brief note is to alert the reader to the existing confusing state of affairs in the social sciences regarding the terms paradigm, theories and models, trace a few of the causes, and offer some tentative distinctions that may make our discourses a bit clearer. Since the word paradigm is used in so many different ways, it is suggested that we avoid using this term unless necessary in a particular context. For most ordinary scientific discourse and debate,the terms theories and models are sufficient. As shown in this paper, they are terms that can be defined clearly, and used to raise relevant questions about choice among different theories and models. From this perspective, paradigm seems to be an example of the traps that beset a careless user of ordinary language. Wittgenstein was the most important modern philosopher to point this out in general. To use a somewhat Wittgensteinian language, paradigm is an example of a language game that has somewhere gone awry. But we still have the language games of models and theories that are eminently serviceable for the social science discourses. On Paradigms, Theories and Models