cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Information manipulation theory

One way of thinking about how deceptive messages are generated is in terms of how the information that interactants possess is manipulated within the messages that they produce. Information Manipulation Theory suggests that deceptive messages function deceptively because they covertly violate the principles that govern conversational exchanges. Given that conversational interactants possess assumptions regarding the quantity, quality, manner, and relevance of information that should be presented, it is possible for speakers to exploit any or all of these assumptions by manipulating the information that they possess so as to mislead listeners. By examining various message examples, it is demonstrated that IMT helps to reconcile previous disagreement about the properties of deceptive messages.
Arbitrary spin representations in de Sitter from dS / CFT with applications to dS supergravity

Abstract We present a simple group representation analysis of massive, and particularly “partially massless”, fields of arbitrary spin in de Sitter spaces of any dimension. The method uses bulk to boundary propagators to relate these fields to Euclidean conformal ones at one dimension lower. These results are then used to revisit an old question: can a consistent de Sitter supergravity be constructed, at least within its intrinsic horizon?
Testing for Contracting Effects on Employment

I test for the importance of wage rigidities from long-term contracts by observing how employment responds when firms and workers recontract. If rigidities are important, then employment should adjust after recontracting to partially undo its movements during the past contract. I examine twelve manufacturing industries that display a strong bargaining pattern. I find employment does rebound after recontracting, particularly in motor vehicles. This implies that contract rigidities are important. I also find responses in wage growth at the beginning of new contracts; but these responses are not related to the pattern of employment responses across industries.
Preparation of Halogenated Derivatives of Thiazolo[5,4-d]thiazole via Direct Electrophilic Aromatic Substitution

Chlorination and bromination reactions of thiazolo[5,4-d]thiazole led to the generation of its mono- and dihalogenated derivatives. These are the first instances of successful direct electrophilic aromatic substitution in the thiazolo[5,4-d]thiazole ring system. X-ray analysis demonstrates that both 2-bromothiazolo[5,4-d]-thiazole and 2,5-dibromothiazolo[5,4-d]thiazole are planar structures, with strongly manifested π-stacking in the solid state. Theoretical analysis of the pyridine-catalyzed halogenation (MP2/6-31+G(d) and B3LYP/6-31+G(d) calculations) reveals that introduction of one halogen actually leads to a slightly enhanced reactivity towards further halogenation. Several halogenation mechanisms have been investigated: 1) The direct C-halogenation with N-halopyridine as electrophile; 2) C-halogenation via intermediate N-halogenation, and 3) C-halogenation following an addition - elimination pathway, with intermediate formation of a cyclic halonium ion. The theoretical studies suggest that the direct C-halogenation is the favored mechanism.
Fluorescent penetration enhancers for transdermal applications

Chemical penetration enhancers are often used to enhance transdermal drug delivery. However, the fundamental mechanisms that govern the interactions between penetration enhancers and skin are not fully understood. Therefore, the goal of this work was to identify naturally fluorescent penetration enhancers (FPEs) in order to utilize well-established fluorescence techniques to directly study the behavior of FPEs within skin. In this study, 12 fluorescent molecules with amphiphilic characteristics were evaluated as skin penetration enhancers. Eight of the molecules exhibited significant activity as skin penetration enhancers, determined using skin current enhancement ratios. In addition, to illustrate the novel, direct, and non-invasive visualization of the behavior of FPEs within skin, three case studies involving the use of two-photon fluorescence microscopy (TPM) are presented, including visualizing glycerol-mitigated and ultrasound-enhanced FPE skin penetration. Previous TPM studies have indirectly visualized the effect of penetration enhancers on the skin by using a fluorescent dye to probe the transdermal pathways of the enhancer. These effects can now be directly visualized and investigated using FPEs. Finally, future studies are proposed for generating FPE design principles. The combination of FPEs with fluorescence techniques represents a useful novel approach for obtaining physical insights on the behavior of penetration enhancers within the skin.
A theory of using history for equational systems with applications

Implementation of programming language interpreters, proving theorem of the form A=B, implementation of abstract data types, and program optimization are all problems that can be reduced to the problem of finding a normal form for an expression with respect to a finite set of equations. In 1980, Chew proposed an elegant congruence closure based simplifier (CCNS) for computing with regular systems, which stores the history of it computations in a compact data structure. In 1990, Verma and Ramakrishnan showed that it can also be used for noetherian systems with no overlaps.In this paper, we develop a general theory of using CCNS for computing normal forms and present several applications. Our results are more powerful and widely applicable than earlier work. We present an independent set of postulates and prove that CCNS can be used for any system that satisfies them. (This proof is based on the notion of strong closure). We then show that CCNS can be used for consistent convergent systems and for various kinds of priority rewrite systems. This is the first time that the applicability of CCNS has been shown for priority systems. Finally, we present a new and simpler translation scheme for converting convergent systems into effectively nonoverlapping convergent priority systems. Such a translation scheme has been proposed earlier, but we show that it is incorrect.Because CCNS requires some strong properties of the given system, our demonstration of its wide applicability is both difficult and surprising. The tension between demands imposed by CCNS and our efforts to satisfy them gives our work much general significance. Our results are partly achieved through the idea of effectively simulating “bad” systems by almost-equivalent “good” ones, partly through our theory that substantially weakens the demands, and partly through the design of a powerful and unifying reduction proof method.
Experimental evidence for mixed reality states

Recently researchers at the University of Illinois coupled a real pendulum to its virtual counterpart. They observed that the two pendulums suddenly start to move in synchrony if their lengths are sufficiently close. In this synchronized state, the boundary between the real system and the virtual system is blurred, that is, the pendulums are in a mixed reality state. An instantaneous, bidirectional coupling is a prerequisite for mixed reality states. In this article we explore the implications of mixed reality states in the context of controlling real-world systems.
Advances in polarized neutron reflectometry

The use of polarized neutron scattering in determining the microscopic structures of magnetic thin-film superlattices of scientific and technological interest is briefly reviewed. In particular, the contribution which polarized-neutron reflectometry can make towards the understanding of the giant-magnetoresistance (GMR) effect, observed in some magnetic multilayer systems, is discussed in relation to current experimental and analysis capabilities. In addition, the development of a high-efficiency, supermirror transmission polarizer, an important instrumental component for such investigations, is described.
Distributed Air/Ground Traffic Management for En Route Flight Operations

Distributed Air/Ground Traffic Management (DAG-TM) is a detailed instantiation of the Free Flight concept, formulated to serve as a foundation for NASA’s long-term research on advanced air traffic ...
Irreducible induced representations of Fell bundle C * -algebras

We give precise conditions under which irreducible representations associated to stability groups induce to irreducible representations for Fell bundle C*-algebras. This result generalizes an earlier result of Echterhoff and the second author. Because the Fell bundle construction subsumes most other examples of C*-algebras constructed from dynamical systems, our result percolates down to many different constructions including the many flavors of groupoid crossed products.
Effect of UVB phototherapy and oral calcitriol (1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D3) on vitamin D photosynthesis in patients with psoriasis

Abstract Background: Phototherapy and activated forms of vitamin D help clear psoriasis. Objective: The influence of UVB phototherapy and oral calcitriol (1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D 3 ) on vitamin D photosynthesis was assessed in 16 patients. Methods: Patients were randomly selected to receive orally either placebo or calcitriol (0.5 to 2 μg daily) for the duration of the 8-week study; all patients received approximately 21 UVB treatments. Before and after treatment, serum levels of 25-hydroxyvitamin D and calcitriol were measured by high-pressure liquid chromatography. Results: Although calcitriol had no additive effect on phototherapy as a treatment modality, a significant increase in serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D levels occurred in both groups; in three patients extraordinarily high levels developed (>120 ng/ml). Oral calcitriol significantly increased calcitriol serum levels. Increased serum calcitriol did not inhibit cutaneous synthesis of vitamin D or its hepatic conversion to serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D. Conclusion: UVB induces high levels of vitamin D photosynthesis. Because oral or topical calcitriol alone helps clear psoriasis, studies to explore the possible influence of UVB phototherapy on its production should be considered. If UVB phototherapy induces cutaneous calcitriol synthesis this could explain the lack of added benefit to treatment when oral calcitriol is administered with phototherapy.
Unsolvated magnesium diisopropylamide (MDA) in organic synthesis. The reduction of aldehydes and ketones to alcohols.

Abstract A solution of unsolvated magnesium diisopropylamide in cyclohexane has been found to reduce aldehydes and ketones to the corresponding alcohols in good yield.
Lattice Models and Generalized Rogers Ramanujan Identities

Abstract We revisit the solvable lattice models described by Andrews, Baxter and Forrester and their generalizations. The expressions for the local state probabilities were shown to be related to characters of the minimal models. We recompute these local state probabilities by a different method. This yields generalized Rogers-Ramanujan identities, some of which were recently conjectured by Kedem et al. Our method provides a proof for some cases, as well as generating new such identities.
Neuropsychological correlates of low-level lead exposure in school-age children: a prospective study.

The neuropsychological underpinnings of lead-associated deficits in general cognitive abilities and academic achievement were investigated in a cohort of 148 middle and upper-middle class 10 year-olds. Scores on a battery of neuropsychological tests were examined in relation to blood lead levels measured at birth and ages 6, 12, 18, 24, 57 months, and 10 years. Although numerous indices of the level, nature, and variability to children's performance on the WISC-R were associated with blood lead level measured at 24 months of age (pb24), relatively few significant associations were noted between specific measures of neuropsychological functions and pb24 (or other blood lead measurements). Some evidence was found for an association between recently measured lead levels and qualitative aspects of a child's performance (e.g. perseveration). The presence of more significant lead effects on broad-based measures of functioning than on neuropsychological tests may be attributable to the use of insensitive measures of neuropsychologic function, limitations in coverage provided by the tests, the nature of lead's CNS impact, or individual differences in biologic vulnerability to lead.
Quasiperiodic structure of the stochastic web map

The q-fold web map is extended to a volume-preserving map in q dimensions. The qth iterate of this map is invariant under translations by 2\ensuremath{\pi} in any of the coordinate directions. As a consequence, well-behaved invariant sets that are periodic in ${\mathit{openR}}^{\mathit{q}}$ produce quasiperiodic sets when restricted to a two-dimensional, irrationally placed subspace identified with the original phase space. A quasilattice of fixed points is constructed in this manner. It is conjectured that the stochastic web, considered as the restriction of a q-dimensional periodic set, is itself quasiperiodic.
Share with thy neighbors

Peer to peer (P2P) systems are traditionally designed to scale to a large number of nodes. However, we focus on scenarios where the sharing is effected only among neighbors. Localized sharing is particularly attractive in scenarios where wide area network connectivity is undesirable, expensive or unavailable. On the other hand, local neighbors may not offer the wide variety of objects possible in a much larger system. The goal of this paper is to investigate a P2P system that shares contents with its neighbors. We analyze the sharing behavior of Apple iTunes users in an University setting. iTunes restricts the sharing of audio and video objects to peers within the same LAN sub-network. We show that users are already making a significant amount of content available for local sharing. We show that these systems are not appropriate for applications that require access to a specific object. We argue that mechanisms that allow the user to specify classes of interesting objects are better suited for these systems. Mechanisms such as bloom filters can allow each peer to summarize the contents available in the neighborhood, reducing network search overhead. This research can form the basis for future storage systems that utilize the shared storage available in neighbors and build a probabilistic storage for local consumption.
Breakdown and latent damage of ultra-thin gate oxides under ESD stress conditions

Abstract Time-dependent dielectric breakdown of 2.2–4.7 nm gate oxides is investigated down to the nanosecond time regime. The so-called 1/E model best fits the time-to-breakdown data. Latent damage is also examined and it is seen that the trap generation rate, i.e., the damage rate, is pulse-width dependent, and, thus, d.c. data should not be used to predict the degradation rate under ESD-type stress conditions. Voltage overshoots and a slow turn-on time make low voltage triggered silicon controlled rectifiers bad candidates for protecting the ultra-thin gate oxide against CDM stress.
A New Technique for Galaxy Photometric Redshifts in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey

Traditional photometric redshift methods use only color information about the objects in question to estimate their redshifts. This paper introduces a new method utilizing colors, luminosity, surface brightness, and radial light profile to measure the redshifts of galaxies in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS). We take a statistical approach: distributions of galaxies from the SDSS large-scale structure (LSS; spectroscopic) sample are constructed at a range of redshifts, and target galaxies are compared to these distributions. An adaptive mesh is implemented to increase the percentage of the parameter space populated by the LSS galaxies. We test the method on a subset of galaxies from the LSS sample, yielding rms Δz of 0.025 for red galaxies and 0.030 for blue galaxies (all with -->z < 0.25). Possible future improvements to this promising technique are described, as is our ongoing work to extend the method to galaxies at higher redshift.
Solar particle tracks in glass from the surveyor 3 spacecraft.

Solar particle tracks in clear filter glass from Surveyor 3 spacecraft, comparing with lunar rocks track results
Equilibrium demand elasticities across quality segments

Abstract Empirical studies find substantial differences in demand elasticities and associated markups among products of different quality. This paper analyzes the theoretical determinants of such variation. We present a simple model that allows for horizontal and vertical differentiation and accounts for endogenous entry. We find that most economic forces in our model, such as consumers' price sensitivity, the scope for product differentiation, and sunk costs of entry, are likely to induce lower equilibrium demand elasticities for higher quality products. In contrast, other economic forces, such as marginal cost of production and the distribution (across consumers) of the willingness to pay for quality, may induce the opposite pattern. These results provide an organizing framework through which empirical findings may be interpreted, and may also help to predict variation in demand elasticities for markets in which empirical estimates of elasticities are unavailable or infeasible to obtain.
Bayes Variable Selection in Semiparametric Linear Models

There is a rich literature on Bayesian variable selection for parametric models. Our focus is on generalizing methods and asymptotic theory established for mixtures of g-priors to semiparametric linear regression models having unknown residual densities. Using a Dirichlet process location mixture for the residual density, we propose a semiparametric g-prior which incorporates an unknown matrix of cluster allocation indicators. For this class of priors, posterior computation can proceed via a straightforward stochastic search variable selection algorithm. In addition, Bayes’ factor and variable selection consistency is shown to result under a class of proper priors on g even when the number of candidate predictors p is allowed to increase much faster than sample size n, while making sparsity assumptions on the true model size.
The Forest Hiding Problem

Let Ω be a disk of radius R in the plane. A set F of unit disks contained in Ω forms a maximal packing if the unit disks are pairwise interior-disjoint and the set is maximal, i.e., it is not possible to add another disk to F while maintaining the packing property. A point p is hidden within the “forest” defined by F if any ray with apex p intersects some disk of F, that is, a person standing at p can hide without being seen from outside the forest. We show that if the radius R of Ω is large enough, one can find a hidden point for any maximal packing of unit disks in Ω. This proves a conjecture of Joseph Mitchell. We also present an O(n 5/2log n)-time algorithm that, given a forest with n (not necessarily congruent) disks, computes the boundary illumination map of all disks in the forest.
A STELLAR CENSUS OF THE TUCANA-HOROLOGIUM MOVING GROUP

We report the selection and spectroscopic confirmation of 129 new late-type (SpT = K3-M6) members of the Tucana-Horologium moving group, a nearby (d ~ 40 pc), young (τ ~ 40 Myr) population of comoving stars. We also report observations for 13 of the 17 known Tuc-Hor members in this spectral type range, and that 62 additional candidates are likely to be unassociated field stars; the confirmation frequency for new candidates is therefore 129/191 = 67%. We have used radial velocities, Hα emission, and Li6708 absorption to distinguish between contaminants and bona fide members. Our expanded census of Tuc-Hor increases the known population by a factor of ~3 in total and by a factor of ~8 for members with SpT ≥ K3, but even so, the K-M dwarf population of Tuc-Hor is still markedly incomplete. Our expanded census allows for a much more detailed study of Tuc-Hor than was previously feasible. The spatial distribution of members appears to trace a two-dimensional sheet, with a broad distribution in X and Y, but a very narrow distribution (±5 pc) in Z. The corresponding velocity distribution is very small, with a scatter of ±1.1 km s–1 about the mean UVW velocity for stars spanning the entire 50 pc extent of Tuc-Hor. We also show that the isochronal age (τ ~ 20-30 Myr) and the lithium depletion boundary age (τ ~ 40 Myr) disagree, following the trend in other pre-main-sequence populations for isochrones to yield systematically younger ages. The Hα emission line strength follows a trend of increasing equivalent width with later spectral type, as is seen for young clusters. We find that moving group members have been depleted of measurable lithium for spectral types of K7.0-M4.5. None of our targets have significant infrared excesses in the WISE W3 band, yielding an upper limit on warm debris disks of F 95% completeness for τ ~ 40 Myr populations with GALEX data available.
Defending public health regulations: the message is the medium.

The second of five commentaries on “Bloomberg's Health Legacy: Urban Innovator or Meddling Nanny?” from the September-October 2013.
The Keck+Magellan Survey for Lyman Limit Absorption. I. The Frequency Distribution of Super Lyman Limit Systems*

We present the results of a survey for super Lyman limit systems (SLLSs; defined to be absorbers with 19.0 cm-2 ≤ log NH I ≤ 20.3 cm-2) from a large sample of high-resolution spectra acquired using the Keck and Magellan telescopes. Specifically, we present 47 new SLLSs from 113 QSO sight lines. We focus on the neutral hydrogen frequency distribution fH I(N, X) of the SLLS and its moments and compare these results with the Lyα forest and the damped Lyα systems (DLAs; absorbers with log NH I ≥ 20.3 cm-2). We find that the fH I(N, X) of the SLLSs can be reasonably described with a power law of index α = -1.43 or -1.19 depending on whether we set the lower NH I bound for the analysis at 1019.0 or 1019.3 cm-2, respectively. The results indicate a flattening in the slope of fH I(N, X) between the SLLSs and DLAs. We find little evidence for redshift evolution in the shape of fH I(N, X) for the SLLSs over the redshift range of the sample 1.68 < z < 4.47 and only tentative evidence for evolution in the zeroth moment of fH I(N, X), the line density lSLLS(X). We introduce the observable distribution function (N, X) and its moment, which elucidates comparisons of H I absorbers from the Lyα forest through to the DLA. We find that a simple three-parameter function can fit (N, X) over the range 17.0 cm-2 ≤ log NH I ≤ 22.0 cm-2. We use these results to predict that fH I(N, X) must show two additional inflections below the SLLS regime to match the observed fH I(N, X) distribution of the Lyα forest. Finally, we demonstrate that SLLSs contribute a minor fraction (≈15%) of the universe's hydrogen atoms and, therefore, an even smaller fraction of the mass in predominantly neutral gas.
The hydrated electron

In the article " The hydrated electron" by E. J. Hart (2 Oct., p. 19), reaction 11 (column 1, page 20) was omitted. The ratio for the rates of reactions 9 and 10 was printed twice: correctly in place of reaction 11 and incorrectly in its proper place. The correct version follows: The ratio for the rates of reactions 9 and 10, ke- aq +H 2 O 2 /KH+H 2 O 2 =500, attests to the high reactivity of e- aq compared to H atoms in this reaction. Among other reactions showing this difference in reactivity is the effect of metal ions such as Fe 3+ and Cu ++ on the hydrogen yield in irradiated solutions of methanol (3). Hydrogen formed by reaction H+CH 3 OH→H 2 +CH 2 OH (11) is decreased by the addition of Fe 3+ or Cu ++ because the reaction e - aq+Fe 3+ →Fe ++ (12) interferes with H-atom-producing reaction 4.
Climate change uncertainty for daily minimum and maximum temperatures: A model inter-comparison

[1] Several impacts of climate change may depend more on changes in mean daily minimum (Tmin) or maximum (Tmax) temperatures than daily averages. To evaluate uncertainties in these variables, we compared projections of Tmin and Tmax changes by 2046–2065 for 12 climate models under an A2 emission scenario. Average modeled changes in Tmin were similar to those for Tmax, with slightly greater increases in Tmin consistent with historical trends exhibiting a reduction in diurnal temperature ranges. In contrast, the inter-model variability of Tmin and Tmax projections exhibited substantial differences. For example, inter-model standard deviations of June–August Tmax changes were more than 50% greater than for Tmin throughout much of North America, Europe, and Asia. Model differences in cloud changes, which exert relatively greater influence on Tmax during summer and Tmin during winter, were identified as the main source of uncertainty disparities. These results highlight the importance of considering separately projections for Tmax and Tmin when assessing climate change impacts, even in cases where average projected changes are similar. In addition, impacts that are most sensitive to summertime Tmin or wintertime Tmax may be more predictable than suggested by analyses using only projections of daily average temperatures.
360° Surround View System with Parking Guidance

In this paper, we present a real-time 360 degree surround system with parking aid feature, which is a very convenient parking and blind spot aid system. In the proposed system, there are four fisheye cameras mounted around a vehicle to cover the whole surrounding area. After correcting the distortion of four fisheye images and registering all images on a planar surface, a flexible stitching method was developed to smooth the seam of adjacent images away to generate a high-quality result. In the post-process step, a unique brightness balance algorithm was proposed to compensate the exposure difference as the images are not captured with the same exposure condition. In addition, a unique parking guidance feature is applied on the surround view scene by utilizing steering wheel angle information as well as vehicle speed information.
Predicting earnings in a poor information environment

Abstract Financial intermediaries, such as analysts, play an important role in providing information to investors. However, a large segment of the market (about 39% of CRSP firms between 1992 and 2009) is not served by financial analysts, leaving investors in a poor information environment. In this paper, we examine whether other publicly available information signals, such as insider trades, institutional holdings, and firms’ stock repurchases, can be used to predict information about earnings for these firms. We find that CFOs’ trading decisions are associated with new information contained in the annual earnings reports for firms with no or scant analyst coverage. In contrast, for firms with multiple analyst coverage, insider trading decisions are not predictive of new information in earnings reports. Our results suggest that some public information signals, such as insider trades, can be used to alleviate the poor information environment faced by investors. However, the market may not have fully priced the information contained in these signals.
A perturbative analysis of tachyon condensation

Tachyon condensation in the open bosonic string is analyzed using a perturbative expansion of the tachyon potential around the unstable D25-brane vacuum. Using the leading terms in the tachyon potential, Pade approximants can apparently give the energy of the stable vacuum to arbitrarily good accuracy. Level-truncation approximations up to level 10 for the coefficients in the tachyon potential are extrapolated to higher levels and used to find approximants for the full potential. At level 14 and above, the resulting approximants give an energy less than -1 in units of the D25-brane tension, in agreement with recent level-truncation results by Gaiotto and Rastelli. The extrapolated energy continues to decrease below -1 until reaching a minimum near level 26, after which the energy turns around and begins to approach -1 from below. Within the accuracy of this method, these results are completely consistent with an energy which approaches -1 as the level of truncation is taken to be arbitrarily large.
Immunological localization of m1-m5 muscarinic acetylcholine receptors in peripheral tissues and brain

Knowledge of the distributions and functions of native m1-m5 muscarinic acetylcholine receptors in tissues is limited. To characterize the family of m1-m5 proteins directly, a panel of subtype-selective antibodies was generated against divergent i3 loop-fusion proteins. Each antibody was shown to bind a single cloned receptor specifically. In peripheral tissues and brain, four receptor proteins (m1-m4) were found to account for the vast majority of the muscarinic binding sites using immunoprecipitation studies with the subtype-specific antibodies. The subtypes were differentially distributed, although most tissues were comprised of a complex mixture of receptors. Moreover, within tissues there were major differences in the precise localization of the subtypes, as determined by immunocytochemistry. The immunological methods described offer a novel approach with exquisite sensitivity and specificity for delineating the distribution of m1-m5 receptors in animal and human tissues.
Some matrix rearrangement inequalities

We investigate a rearrangement inequality for pairs of n×n matrices: Let $\|A\|_p$ denote (Tr(A*A)p/2)1/p, the C p trace norm of an n×n matrix A. Consider the quantity $\|A+B\|_p^p+\|A-B\|_p^p$ . Under certain positivity conditions, we show that this is nonincreasing for a natural “rearrangement” of the matrices A and B when 1≤p≤2. We conjecture that this is true in general, without any restrictions on A and B. Were this the case, it would prove the analog of Hanner’s inequality for L p function spaces, and would show that the unit ball in C p has the exact same moduli of smoothness and convexity as does the unit ball in L p for all 1<p<∞. At present this is known to be the case only for 1<p≤4/3, p=2, and p≥4. Several other rearrangement inequalities that are of interest in their own right are proved as the lemmas used in proving the main results.
Structural and acidic characterization of niobia aerogels

Abstract A niobia (Nb2O5) gel was prepared by the hydrolysis and condensation of niobium pentaethoxide and subsequently dried by supercritical extraction with carbon dioxide to produce an aerogel. The structural and acidic properties of this aerogel heat-treated at different temperatures were characterized by surface area measurements, X-ray diffraction, Raman spectroscopy, n-butylamine titration, pyridine adsorption, and 1-butene isomerization. These results were then compared to those of a niobia xerogel, a precipitated niobia, and a commercial niobic acid. The synthetic route to produce the aerogel was found to stabilize a porous network consisting of NbO6 octahedra with NbO bonds which gave rise to strong Lewis acid sites. Steady-state activity and selectivity data of 1-butene isomerization suggested that all niobia samples possessed comparable Bronsted acidity.
Efficient N-arylation/dealkylation of electron deficient heteroaryl chlorides and bicyclic tertiary amines under microwave irradiation.

A highly efficient procedure was developed for the microwave-assisted synthesis of N-heteroaryl-4-(2-chloroethyl)piperazines and N-heteroaryl-4-(2-chloroethyl)piperidines. Microwave irradiation of electron deficient heteroaryl chlorides with 1,4-diazabicyclo[2.2.2]octane (DABCO) at 160 °C for 15 min led to N-heteroaryl-4-(2-chloroethyl)piperazines in good to excellent yields. In a similar manner, microwave irradiation of electron deficient heteroaryl chlorides with quinuclidine at 180 °C for 15 min provided N-heteroaryl-4-(2-chloroethyl)piperidines in good to excellent yields. Extension of the method was demonstrated by the development of a one-pot, two-step microwave-assisted protocol for the synthesis of 4-(2-acetoxyethyl)-substituted N-heteroarylpiperazines and N-heteroarylpiperidines to demonstrate the production of a small library in a parallel fashion.
Influence of initial fabric on fractures developed in shear zones in clay

Abstract We examine the influence of initial fabric on the development of fractures in experiments in which clay cakes are sheared over two horizontal base plates that move past each other in wrench-fault motion. An anisotropic fabric in the kaolinite was produced during the preparation of the clay cakes for these experiments. To produce the fabric, the clay was either screeded perpendicular to the underlying fault, screeded parallel to the underlying fault, or molded to develop a cake-parallel fabric that is isotropic in the horizontal plane. The influence of the initial fabric is striking. With cake-parallel fabric, both Riedel (R) and conjugate Riedel (R′) shears develop, the former being much more pronounced than the latter. With a fault-parallel fabric, only R shears developed, while with a cake- and fault-perpendicular fabric, only closely spaced high-angle shears developed initially, with more widely spaced R shears forming later. There is a difference in the orientation of the R shears in the three types of fabric, with the angle being smallest for a fault-parallel fabric (mean of initial fractures of 15°) and largest for a fault-perpendicular fabric (mean of initial fractures of 25°). The high-angle shears have an initial average angle of 80° for cake-parallel fabric and 100° for fault-perpendicular fabric. Only in the case of the high-angle fractures for a fault-perpendicular fabric is there significant rotation after formation. It is likely that the difference in fracture orientation attributed to anisotropy of the initial fabric of the clay also has its counterpart in nature and is not confined to fractures formed in shear zones.
Sunyaev-Zel'dovich Effect Signals in Cluster Models

The upcoming generation of Sunyaev-Zel'dovich effect (SZE) surveys will shed fresh light onto the study of clusters. What will this new observational window reveal about cluster properties? What can we learn from combining X-ray, SZE, and optical observations? How do variations in the gas entropy profile, dark matter concentration, accretion pressure, and intracluster medium (ICM) mass fraction affect SZE observables? We investigate the signature of these important cluster parameters with an analytic model of the ICM. Given the current uncertainties in ICM physics, our approach is to span the range of plausible models motivated by observations and a small set of assumptions. We find a tight relation between the central Compton parameter and the X-ray luminosity outside the cluster core, suggesting that these observables carry the same information about the ICM. The total SZE luminosity is proportional to the thermal energy of the gas and is a surprisingly robust indicator of cluster mass: LSZ ∝ fICMM5/3. We show that a combination of LSZ and the half-luminosity radius rSZ provides a measure of the potential energy of the cluster gas, and thus we can deduce the total energy content of the ICM. We caution that any systematic variation of the ICM mass fraction will distort the expected LSZ-M calibration to be used to study the evolution of cluster number density, and propose a technique using the kinetic Sunyaev-Zel'dovich (kSZ) effect to constrain fICM(M,z).
Dark matter coupling to electroweak gauge and Higgs bosons: An effective field theory approach

Abstract If dark matter is a new species of particle produced in the early universe as a cold thermal relic (a weakly-interacting massive particle—WIMP), its present abundance, its scattering with matter in direct-detection experiments, its present-day annihilation signature in indirect-detection experiments, and its production and detection at colliders, depend crucially on the WIMP coupling to standard-model (SM) particles. It is usually assumed that the WIMP couples to the SM sector through its interactions with quarks and leptons. In this paper we explore the possibility that the WIMP coupling to the SM sector is via electroweak gauge and Higgs bosons. In the absence of an ultraviolet-complete particle-physics model, we employ effective field theory to describe the WIMP–SM coupling. We consider both scalars and Dirac fermions as possible dark-matter candidates. Starting with an exhaustive list of operators up to dimension 8, we present detailed calculation of dark-matter annihilations to all possible final states, including γγ, γZ, γh, ZZ, Zh, W+W−, hh, and f f ¯ , and demonstrate the correlations among them. We compute the mass scale of the effective field theory necessary to obtain the correct dark-matter mass density, and well as the resulting photon line signals.
Luminescence Originating in an Optical Fiber

Recently, there has been considerable research into the development and applications of fiber-optic spectroscopic sensors. The large number of recent reviews attests to the widespread interest in this area. Fiber optics have several advantages over conventional optics; they can easily be miniaturized, and can be used at a remote distance from the laboratory and/or under harsh conditions. Our research group has been active in the area of fiber-optic chemical sensors. In the course of setting up an instrumental system for sensor research, we discovered some unusual luminescence behavior originating in the optical fiber itself. When a pulsed, high-energy, ultraviolet laser beam was coupled into a fused-silica fiber, the fiber was seen to glow a bright red color. The color was intense enough to be seen with the naked eye in a well-lit room, and appeared to be uniform along the length of the fiber. We proceeded to study this observed emission. This report summarizes our observations.
Differential Nutritional Responses across Various Income Sources Among East African Pastoralists: Intrahousehold Effects, Missing Markets and Mental Accounting

In this paper, we explore the relationship between dietary diversity and income in pastoralist households in East Africa. Previous estimates of income elasticities of nutrient demand have ranged from zero to unity. However, these estimates are always based on the total income. One possible reason for this wide range is that dietary behaviour may respond differently to different sources of income if, for example, agents engage in ‘mental accounting', the practice of treating distinct income sources as not fully fungible. Estimating income elasticities with total income may mask these differential responses and result in very different income elasticity estimates depending on which income source changes. Using dietary diversity as a measure of dietary quality, we find that differential dietary responses do exist across income sources among the pastoralist households studied. Possible explanations for this result include market failures for certain commodities, intrahousehold bargaining and mental accounting. These differential effects persist after accounting for intrahousehold bargaining, market failures and after using exogenous variations of the different income sources. While we cannot test it explicitly as an explanation, mental accounting does appear to play some part in explaining the dietary patterns evident in this sample.
DETERMINATION OF MASS PROPERTIES OF POLYGONAL CSG OBJECTS IN PARALLEL

A parallel algorithm for determining the mass properties of objects represented in the Constructive Solid Geometry (CSG) scheme that uses polygons as primitives is presented. The algorithm exploits the fact that integration of local information around the vertices of the evaluated polygon is sufficient for the determination of its mass properties, i.e., determination of the edges and the complete topology of the evaluated polygon is not necessary. This reduces interprocessor communication and makes it suitable for parallel processing. The algorithm uses data parallelism, spatial partitioning and parallel sorting for parallelization. Tuple-sets on which simple operations have to be performed are identified. The elements of tuple-sets are distributed among the processors for parallelization. The uniform grid spatial partitioning technique is used to generate sub-problems that can be done in parallel and to reduce the cardinality of some of the tuple-sets generated in the algorithm. Parallel sorting is used to sort the tuple-sets between the data-parallel phases of the algorithm.
Do foreign bank operations provide a stabilizing influence in Korea

Abstract We examine data (1994–2001) to determine if foreign banks’ behavior differed from domestic banks and if foreign banks helped to stabilize Korean markets. Foreign banks’ financial ratios differed from Korean banks with two notable exceptions: provisions for loan losses and loan growth. Before the Asian financial crisis, all banks’ loans generally did not respond to Korean market conditions. Post crisis, foreign banks reduced total lending. Foreign banks increased and Korean banks decreased won-denominated loans when Korean economic conditions improved after the crisis. Finally, foreign banks’ lending reacted to changes in home-country GDP growth and real interest rates.
Enhancing Building Fire Safety Performance by Reducing Miscommunication and Misconceptions

Building fire safety is driven by regulations and technical building codes, at least as a minimum requirement. As fire protection engineers (FPEs) design fire safety measures based on requirements in the regulations, they are often viewed as the primary agents in ensuring the fire safety of buildings. However, their mission often starts with given building design features, such as interior spatial layout, exterior shape, site plan, and so forth, which are mostly determined by architects. The only exception is where the FPE is invited to assist in the project planning, feasibility and early concept design stages of a project. Regardless, architects also can influence building fire safety performance, whether or not they explicitly acknowledge or understand this. Although architects design buildings within the boundaries of the regulatory requirements, the architect’s focus is often related to the visual and spatial aesthetics of buildings linked to building form and functionality, which are not subject to the regulations. These aesthetics can sometimes compete with fire safety objectives. As such, buildings can be unsafe in certain situations due to unintended effects of building design features on actual fire safety performance. This research describes the relationship between architecturally conceived building design features, design expectations for fire safety systems, and the actual or conceivable fire safety performance of the building. Steps are proposed that FPEs can take to identify and address potentially competing objectives and deliver increased fire safety performance.
Updated analysis of the dynamical relation between asteroid 2003 EH1 and comets C/1490 Y1 and C/1385 U1

The asteroid 2003 EH1, proposed as the parent body of the Quadrantid meteor shower, is thought to be the remnant of a past cometary object, tentatively identified with the historical comets C/1490 Y1 and C/1385 U1. In this work, we use recovery astrometry to extend the observed arc of 2003 EH1 from 10 months to about 5 years, enough to exclude the proposed direct relationship of the asteroid with both of the comets.
Element Efficiency: A Unifying Concept for Array Antennas

The antenna-element efficiency parameter quantifies the effect of mutual coupling in array antennas. In general arrays, this efficiency varies from element to element. The average value of these element efficiencies is a significant summary parameter, and plays a prominent role in circumscribing array performance. A useful formula gives the minimum number of antennas necessary to realize a prescribed peak gain envelope. The important special case of an array of identical elements situated in identical array environments is termed an idempotent array. In particular, an infinite idempotent array models a large planar array. There, the unique element efficiency has been directly related to the rms value of the conventional active reflection coefficient as it varies when the beam is (phased) electronically steered. The element-efficiency formulation also provides a framework for the rigorous derivation of important theoretical results in the theory of phased arrays.
State based peridynamic modeling of dynamic fracture

Peridynamics is a continuum reformulation of the classical partial differential equations of motion. The divergence of the stress field term in the conservation of linear momentum equation is replaced with an integral functional which handles material constitutive response. The original peridynamic formulation used a functional that relates forces on neighboring material points through a pairwise linear potential. This had some drawbacks including a resulting Poisson ration of 1/4. Recent developments have improved upon the original formulation through the use of peridynamic force-vector states. These force-vector states handle the constitutive behavior of the material allowing neighboring material points to interact with each other in any fashion desired, not just pairwise. Forcevector states also do not have the restriction of linearity or symmetricity imposed upon the stress tensor. These recent developments also allow classical constitutive models (formulated in terms of stress-strain relationships) to be converted in a straightforward manner. In this paper dynamic fracture experiments where modeling using an elastic visco-plastic peridynamic constitutive model. The integral formulation of peridynamics allows for straightforward modeling of crack initiation andpropagation. This is demonstrated using experimentally collected rate-dependent fracture toughness measurements as an inputs that determine crack initiation.
An approximate inverse to the extended Born modeling operator

ABSTRACTGiven a correct (data-consistent) velocity model, reverse time migration (RTM) correctly positions reflectors but generally with incorrect amplitudes and wavelets. Iterative least-squares migration (LSM) corrects the amplitude and wavelet by fitting data in the sense of Born modeling, that is, replacing migration by Born inversion. However, LSM also requires a correct velocity model, and it may require many migration/demigration cycles. We modified RTM in the subsurface offset domain to create an asymptotic (high-frequency) approximation to extended LSM. This extended Born inversion operator outputs extended reflectors (depending on the subsurface offset and position in the earth) with correct amplitude and phase, in the sense that similarly extended Born modeling reproduces the data to good accuracy. Although the theoretical justification of the inversion property relies on ray tracing and stationary phase, application of the weight operators does not require any computational ray tracing. The co...
King Lear's dilemma: Precommitment versus the last word

Abstract We relax the prevalent assumption in the literature on intergenerational transfers that an altruistic parent can perfectly observe her child's activities and market opportunities. We find that when private information and market risks are present, precommitment by the parent to a transfer dominates having the ‘last word’.