cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Low-Noise Wide-Band Amplifier System for Stochastic Beam Cooling Experiments

A new low-noise wide-band power amplifier system has been developed for stochastic beam cooling experiments. The system incorporates a low-noise preamplifier with a noise figure of 1.9 dB over a bandwidth range of 20 to 300 MHz, wide-band driver and buffer stages, a frequency characteristics shaping network, a remotely controlled wide-band attenuator with 0.1 dB resolution, a remotely controlled high resolution adjustable delay line, and a wide-band solid-state output power amplifier. The amplifier system has a maximum voltage gain of 140 dB over a bandwidth from 1.5 to 310 MHz, a signal group delay of 55.5 ns, and a c. w. output power level of 75 W. Particular attention was paid to minimizing the signal propagation time delay of the amplifier system, the propagation time delay change as a function of the system gain, and harmonic and intermodulation distortions. Using a new wide-band electron bombarded semiconductor output amplifier, the system will have a bandwidth from 30 to 400 MHz, a signal group delay of 37 ns and an output power of 100 W.
Dynamic steering control of conventionally steered mobile robots

This article presents an algorithm for dynamically steering an autonomous mobile robot (AMR) along a collision-free path to a goal using local feedback information. A twolevel navigation algorithm is presented in which a subgoal selection algorithm (SSA) generates visible subgoals to be pursued by the steering control algorithm (SCA). An earlier article presented the SSA in detail, demonstrating how subgoals can be updated while the AMR is moving so that a continuous motion is achieved without stopping to replan the path when new sensor data become available. This study focuses on the SCA. In particular, a general feedback scheme is developed for dynamically steering an AMR to a visible goal in the local obstacle-free space identified by the SSA. We present the detailed implementation of the SCA for a conventionally steered AMR (CAMR). Simulation results are presented that demonstrate the effectiveness of the combined SSA-SCA feedback scheme. The algorithm has been successfully implemented on the NavLab at CMU.
Orbit dynamics for unstable linear motion

A treatment is given of the orbit dynamics for linear unstable motion that allows for the zeros in the beta function and makes no assumptions about the realness of the betatron and phase functions. The phase shift per turn is shown to be related to the beta function and the number of zeros the beta function goes through per turn. The solutions of the equations of motion are found in terms of the beta function.
Third-Order Edge Statistics: Contour Continuation, Curvature, and Cortical Connections

Association field models have attempted to explain human contour grouping performance, and to explain the mean frequency of long-range horizontal connections across cortical columns in V1. However, association fields only depend on the pairwise statistics of edges in natural scenes. We develop a spectral test of the sufficiency of pairwise statistics and show there is significant higher order structure. An analysis using a probabilistic spectral embedding reveals curvature-dependent components.
Quality of Life and Health Status

Clinical studies, epidemiological investigations, population surveys, and clinical practices increasingly incorporate self-reported measures of health status and quality of life. These help to determine whether treatments are doing more good than harm, whether health and quality are improving or worsening, and to see if health status differs between groups. Self-reported outcomes are often compared to clinical or performance-based measurements that remain the primary endpoints for most clinical trials and are important markers of disease, injury, and their trajectories. Self-reported measures of health and quality of life, however, often have more meaning to the persons affected by disease or treatment. Because perceptions of health and illness influence what people do about their health (e.g. visit doctors, go to hospital, or ignore signs and symptoms), policy makers are also increasingly interested in self-reported outcomes. Keywords: measurement; patient-reported outcome; PRO ; assessment; functional status; WHOQOL ; adherence; satisfaction
The second Dirichlet coefficient starts out negative

Classical modular forms of small weight and low level are likely to have a negative second Fourier coefficient. Similarly, the labeling scheme for elliptic curves tends to give smaller labels to the higher-rank curves. These observations are easily made when browsing the L-functions and Modular Forms Database, available at http://www.LMFDB.org/ . An explanation lies in the L-functions associated to these objects.
TIME OPTIMAL CONTROL OF FLEXIBLE SYSTEMS SUBJECT TO FRICTION

This paper presents a technique for the determination of time-optimal control profiles for rest-to-rest maneuvers of a mass–spring system, subject to Coulomb friction. A parameterization of the control input that accounts for the friction force, resulting in a linear analysis of the system is proposed. The optimality condition is examined for the control profile resulting from the parameter optimization problem. The development is illustrated on a single input system where the control input and the friction force act on the same body. The variation of the optimal control structure as a function of final displacement is also exemplified on the friction benchmark problem. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Stone MV-algebras and strongly complete MV-algebras

Characterizations of compact Hausdorff topological MV-algebras, Stone MV-algebras, and MV-algebras that are isomorphic to their profinite completions are established. It is proved that compact Hausdorff topological MV-algebras are products (both topological and algebraic) of copies [0, 1] with the interval topology and finite Łukasiewicz chains with the discrete topology. Going one step further, we also prove that Stone MV-algebras are products (both topological and algebraic) of finite Łukasiewicz chains with the discrete topology. Finally, it is proved that an MV-algebra is isomorphic to its profinite completion if and only if it is profinite and each of its maximal ideals of finite rank is principal.
Photon mapping on programmable graphics hardware

We present a modified photon mapping algorithm capable of running entirely on GPUs. Our implementation uses breadth-first photon tracing to distribute photons using the GPU. The photons are stored in a grid-based photon map that is constructed directly on the graphics hardware using one of two methods: the first method is a multipass technique that uses fragment programs to directly sort the photons into a compact grid. The second method uses a single rendering pass combining a vertex program and the stencil buffer to route photons to their respective grid cells, producing an approximate photon map. We also present an efficient method for locating the nearest photons in the grid, which makes it possible to compute an estimate of the radiance at any surface location in the scene. Finally, we describe a breadth-first stochastic ray tracer that uses the photon map to simulate full global illumination directly on the graphics hardware. Our implementation demonstrates that current graphics hardware is capable of fully simulating global illumination with progressive, interactive feedback to the user.
PV Balancers: Concept, Architectures, and Realization

This paper presents a new concept of module-integrated converters called PV balancers for photovoltaic applications. The proposed concept enables independent maximum power point tracking for each module, and dramatically decreases the requirements in terms of electrical rating, size, and manufacturing cost for power converters. The power rating of a PV balancer is less than 20% of its counterparts, and the manufacturing cost is thus significantly reduced. In this paper, two architectures of PV balancers are proposed, analyzed, realized, and verified through simulation and experimental results. It is anticipated that the proposed approach will be a low-cost solution for future photovoltaic power systems.
Critical considerations in the design of supersonic combustion ramjet /scramjet/ engines

The design and estimation of the performance of a supersonic combustion ramjet (scramjet) engine is critically dependent on the geometry and efficiency of each of the engine components. Therefore, it is mandatory to be cognizant of all the available experimental data and theoretical modeling that has been established if a credible design is to be obtained. The purpose of this paper is to reiterate norms for component geometries, lengths, internal losses, and combustion kinetics that have been established and/or substantiated in the technical literature and to illustrate the sensitivity of engine performance to deviations from those norms. A specific exemplary engine design is presented and used to illustrate these effects. The results show that the maximum predicted net engine thrust can be overestimated by as much as 45% if more idealistic assumptions, similar to those used in the design of conventional subsonic combustion ramjet engines, are used.
HUMAN CAPITAL AND INTERETHNIC MARRIAGE DECISIONS

Common explanations for the generally negative relationship between education and ethnic endogamy include (1) education makes immigrants and their children better able to adapt to native culture thereby eliminating the need for a same-ethnicity spouse and (2) education raises the likelihood of leaving ethnic enclaves, thereby decreasing the probability of meeting potential same-ethnicity spouses. This paper considers a third option, the role of assortative matching on education. If education distributions differ by ethnicity, then spouse-searchers may trade similarities in ethnicity for similarities in education when choosing spouses. U.S. Census data on second-generation immigrants provide strong support for the assortative matching mechanism.
First-principles investigation of boron incorporation into CRUD under Pressurized Water Reactor conditions

The accumulation of boron within the porous nickel ferrite (NiFe 2 O 4 , NFO) deposits on nuclear fuel rods is a major technological problem with important safety and economical implications. In this work, first-principles results are combined with experimental thermochemical data to analyze the energetics of vacancy formation in NFO and the possibility of B incorporation into the structure of NFO. Under solid-solid equilibrium conditions, the calculations suggest that vacancy formation and B incorporation into the NFO structure is energetically unfavorable, the main limiting factors being the narrow stability domain of NFO and the precipitation of B 2 O 3 , Fe 3 BO 5 , and Ni 3 B 2 O 6 as secondary phases. Assuming solid-liquid equilibrium between NFO and the surrounding aqueous solution saturated with respect to NFO, the calculations predict that in operating PWR environment, Ni vacancies are likely to form. Under these conditions the possibility of B incorporation at the Ni vacancy sites cannot be excluded.
Integration of Surgery and Systemic Therapy: Results and Principles of Integration

to lightly eosinophilic cytoplasm, but 10 tumors had cells with abundant eosinophilic cytoplasm. Large cytoplasmic vacuoles were prominent in 26 tumors. Nuclear atypicality was absent or mild in 54 cases, moderate in 4 cases, and marked in 2 cases. Mitotic rate ranged from less than 1 to 21 per 10 high power fields, with 50 tumors having no or only rare mitoses. Vascular space invasion was present in 11 cases and was prominent in 8. Follow-up of more than five years (average 8.4 years), or until evidence of metastasis was seen, was available for 16 patients. Nine were alive and well with no evidence of disease. Four were alive with disease and three died of disease. The pathologic features that best correlated with a clinically malignant course were as follows: a tumor diameter of 5.0 cm or greater, necrosis, moderate to severe nuclear atypia, vascular invasion and a mitotic rate of more than 5 mitoses per 10 high power fields. Only one of nine benign tumors for which follow-up data of 5 years of more were available had more than one of these features, whereas five of seven malignant tumors had at least three.
The interlaced chirp Z transform

In this paper we introduce the interlaced chirp Z transform (Interlaced CZT), It is based on the computation of several carefully staggered CZT that are progressively interlaced to result in a spectrum that has denser frequency samples where needed. This simple modification of the CZT is shown to result in significant computational savings over the regular CZT, as well as the zoom CZT (ZCZT). The CZT computes uniformly spaced frequency samples over a desired range with an efficiency similar to that of the FFT algorithm. In practice, several CZT's over increasingly smaller ranges are required to obtain denser frequency samples where needed. This process is referred to as the ZCZT. The interlaced CZT improves on the ZCZT by interlacing successive CZT's such that, in each step, the previous samples are included with the new ones, resulting in dense frequency sampling with increased computational efficiency. The regular CZT is also compared to the ZCZT based on a typical regimen and the conditions under which either is superior are elucidated.
Synthetic Spectra and Colors of Young Giant Planet Atmospheres: Effects of Initial Conditions and Atmospheric Metallicity

We examine the spectra and infrared colors of the cool, methane-dominated atmospheres at Teff ≤ 1400 K expected for young gas giant planets. We couple these spectral calculations to an updated version of the Marley et al. giant planet thermal evolution models that include formation by core accretion-gas capture. These relatively cool "young Jupiters" can be 1-6 mag fainter than predicted by standard cooling tracks that include a traditional initial condition, which may provide a diagnostic of formation. If correct, this would make true Jupiter-like planets much more difficult to detect at young ages than previously thought. Since Jupiter and Saturn are of distinctly supersolar composition, we examine emitted spectra for model planets at both solar metallicity and a metallicity of 5 times solar. These metal-enhanced young Jupiters have lower pressure photospheres than field brown dwarfs of the same effective temperatures arising from both lower surface gravities and enhanced atmospheric opacity. We highlight several diagnostics for enhanced metallicity. A stronger CO absorption band at 4.5 μm for the warmest objects is predicted. At all temperatures, enhanced flux in K band is expected due to reduced collisional induced absorption by H2. This leads to correspondingly redder near-infrared colors, which are redder than solar metallicity models with the same surface gravity by up to 0.7 in J − K and 1.5 in H − K. Molecular absorption band depths increase as well, most significantly for the coolest objects. We also qualitatively assess the changes to emitted spectra due to nonequilibrium chemistry.
Is anyone out there?: unpacking Q&A hashtags on twitter

In addition to posting news and status updates, many Twitter users post questions that seek various types of subjective and objective information. These questions are often labeled with 'Q&A' hashtags, such as #lazyweb or #twoogle. We surveyed Twitter users and found they employ these Q&A hashtags both as a topical signifier (this tweet needs an answer!) and to reach out to those beyond their immediate followers (a community of helpful tweeters who monitor the hashtag). However, our log analysis of thousands of hashtagged Q&A exchanges reveals that nearly all replies to hashtagged questions come from a user's immediate follower network, contradicting users' beliefs that they are tapping into a larger community by tagging their question tweets. This finding has implications for designing next-generation social search systems that reach and engage a wide audience of answerers.
Kinetics of O(1D) reactions with bromocarbons

The rate coefficients for the removal of O(1D) by reaction with the following seven bromocarbons were measured using time-resolved vacuum UV atomic resonance fluorescence detection of O(3P): CH3Br, CH2Br2, CHBr3, CF3Br (Halon-1301), CF2Br2 (Halon-1202), CF2ClBr (Halon-1211), and CF2BrCF2Br (Halon-2402). The branching ratios for the quenching of O(1D) to O(3P) by the above molecules were also determined. From these measurements, the rate coefficients for reactive and nonreactive loss of O(1D) were calculated. These results are discussed in terms of their atmospheric relevance and trends in reactivity of O(1D) with hydrocarbons upon halogen substitution. © 1993 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
From Sensory Signals to Modality-Independent Conceptual Representations: A Probabilistic Language of Thought Approach.

People learn modality-independent, conceptual representations from modality-specific sensory signals. Here, we hypothesize that any system that accomplishes this feat will include three components: a representational language for characterizing modality-independent representations, a set of sensory-specific forward models for mapping from modality-independent representations to sensory signals, and an inference algorithm for inverting forward models—that is, an algorithm for using sensory signals to infer modality-independent representations. To evaluate this hypothesis, we instantiate it in the form of a computational model that learns object shape representations from visual and/or haptic signals. The model uses a probabilistic grammar to characterize modality-independent representations of object shape, uses a computer graphics toolkit and a human hand simulator to map from object representations to visual and haptic features, respectively, and uses a Bayesian inference algorithm to infer modality-independent object representations from visual and/or haptic signals. Simulation results show that the model infers identical object representations when an object is viewed, grasped, or both. That is, the model’s percepts are modality invariant. We also report the results of an experiment in which different subjects rated the similarity of pairs of objects in different sensory conditions, and show that the model provides a very accurate account of subjects’ ratings. Conceptually, this research significantly contributes to our understanding of modality invariance, an important type of perceptual constancy, by demonstrating how modality-independent representations can be acquired and used. Methodologically, it provides an important contribution to cognitive modeling, particularly an emerging probabilistic language-of-thought approach, by showing how symbolic and statistical approaches can be combined in order to understand aspects of human perception.
Active Devices in Passive Optical Networks

Their name notwithstanding, next-generation passive optical networks will employ many active optical devices. This tutorial addresses the functionality of these devices in the domain of access networking, with a focus on amplifiers for PON extension and components for WDM-PON.
PATH PLANNING IN EXPANSIVE CONFIGURATION SPACES

We introduce the notion of expansiveness to characterize a family of robot configuration spaces whose connectivity can be effectively captured by a roadmap of randomly-sampled milestones. The analysis of expansive configuration spaces has inspired us to develop a new randomized planning algorithm. This new algorithm tries to sample only the portion of the configuration space that is relevant to the current query, avoiding the cost of precomputing a roadmap for the entire configuration space. Thus, it is well-suited for problems where only a single query is submitted for a given environment. The algorithm has been implemented and successfully applied to complex assembly maintainability problems from the automotive industry.
How Do Consumers Motivate Experts? Reputational Incentives in an Auto Repair Market*

Abstract Moral hazard exists in expert‐service markets because sellers have an incentive to shade their reports of the buyer's condition to increase the short‐run demand for their services. The California vehicle emission inspection market offers a rare opportunity to examine how reputational incentives work in such a market. I show that consumers are 30 percent more likely to return to a firm at which they previously passed than to one at which they previously failed and that demand is sensitive to a firm's failure rate across all consumers. These and other results suggest that demand incentives are strong in this market because consumers believe that firms differ greatly in their consumer friendliness and are skeptical even about those they choose. Weak demand incentives in other expert‐service markets are not a direct consequence of moral hazard, but rather of its interaction with switching costs and consumers' belief that firms are relatively homogeneous.
Structure of Alkali-Zinc Silicate Glasses by Raman Spectroscopy

Raman spectra were measured for a series of Na/sub 2/O x xZnO x ySiO/sub 2/ glasses where x = 0 to 2 and y = 1, 2, or 3. The spectra exhibit bands characteristic of sheet-like and chain-like structural units. Frequency and intensity shifts with ZnO content suggest that Zn/sup 2 +/ is a simple network modifier over this composition range. 10 references, 7 figures.
Coordinating Development: Can Income-based Incentive Schemes Eliminate Pareto Inferior Equilibria?

Individuals’ inability to coordinate investment may significantly constrain economic development. In this paper we study a simple investment game characterized by multiple equilibria and ask whether an income-based incentive scheme can uniquely implement the high investment outcome. A general property of this game is the presence of a crossover investment point at which an individual’s incomes from investment and noninvestment are equal. We show that arbitrarily small errors in the government’s knowledge of this crossover point can prevent unique implementation of the high investment outcome. We conclude that informational requirements are likely to severely limit a government’s ability to use income-based incentive schemes as a coordination device.
Inclusive Social Protection in Latin America: A Comprehensive, Rights-based Approach

This publication examines the main debates under way on social protection and co-responsibility transfer programmes. It identifies the role played by these programmes and considers the conceptual elements, needs and the challenges that will have to be overcome to consolidate comprehensive social protection systems in Latin America. The authors argue that these should be solidarity-based systems that provide universal coverage and are essentially egalitarian in the guarantees established as citizens' rights. Citizenship as a whole is thus becoming part of protection policies as the region moves towards all-encompassing social policies that combine the complementary principles of targeting as the instrument and universality as the end.
Dealing with limited overlap in estimation of average treatment effects

SUMMARY Estimation of average treatment effects under unconfounded or ignorable treatment assignment is often hampered by lack of overlap in the covariate distributions between treatment groups. This lack of overlap can lead to imprecise estimates, and can make commonly used estimators sensitive to the choice of specification. In such cases researchers have often used ad hoc methods for trimming the sample. We develop a systematic approach to addressing lack of overlap. We characterize optimal subsamples for which the average treatment effect can be estimated most precisely. Under some conditions, the optimal selection rules depend solely on the propensity score. For a wide range of distributions, a good approximation to the optimal rule is provided by the simple rule of thumb to discard all units with estimated propensity scores outside the range [0·1, 0·9].
Optimal Parsing Trees for Run-Length Coding of Biased Data

We study coding schemes which encode unconstrained sequences into run-length-limited (d, k)-constrained sequences. We present a general framework for the construction of such (d, k)-codes from variable-length source codes. This framework is an extension of the previously suggested bit stuffing, bit flipping, and symbol sliding algorithms. We show that it gives rise to new code constructions which achieve improved performance over the three aforementioned algorithms. Therefore, we are interested in finding optimal codes under this framework, optimal in the sense of maximal achievable asymptotic rates. However, this appears to be a difficult problem. In an attempt to solve it, we are led to consider the encoding of unconstrained sequences of independent but biased (as opposed to equiprobable) bits. Here, our main result is that one can use the Tunstall source coding algorithm to generate optimal codes for a partial class of (d, k) constraints.
On Breakdown Criteria for Nonvacuum Einstein Equations

The recent “breakdown criterion” result of Klainerman and Rodnianski (On the breakdown criterion in general relativity, Preprint, 2009) stated roughly that an Einstein-vacuum spacetime, given as a CMC foliation, can be further extended in time if the second fundamental form and the derivative of the lapse of the foliation are uniformly bounded. This theorem and its proof were extended to Einstein-scalar and Einstein–Maxwell spacetimes in the thesis (Shao in Breakdown criteria for nonvacuum Einstein equations, Ph.D. thesis, Princeton University, 2010). In this paper, we state the main results of Shao (2010), and we summarize and discuss their proofs. In particular, we will discuss the various issues resulting from nontrivial Ricci curvature and the coupling between the Einstein and the field equations.
Governance in Social Media: A Case Study of the Wikipedia Promotion Process

Social media sites are often guided by a core group of committed users engaged in various forms of {governance. A crucial aspect of this type of governance is deliberation, in which such a group reaches decisions on issues of importance to the site. Despite its crucial — though subtle — role in how a number of prominent social media sites function, there has been relatively little investigation of the deliberative aspects of social media governance. Here we explore this issue, investigating a particular deliberative process that is extensive, public, and recorded: the promotion of Wikipedia admins, which is determined by elections that engage committed members of the Wikipedia community. We find that the group decision-making at the heart of this process exhibits several fundamental forms of relative assessment. First we observe that the chance that a voter will support a candidate is strongly dependent on the relationship between characteristics of the voter and the candidate. Second we investigate how both individual voter decisions and overall election outcomes can be based on models that take into account the sequential, public nature of the voting.
WTO Impacts on US Rice Producing Households

We investigate distributional impacts of WTO reforms on US rice producers. Model results show that rice producer's household income is very sensitive to the amount of market access achieved in export markets and the depth of subsidy cuts in the US, largely explaining the US negotiating position in the WTO.
trans-Dichlorotetracyanoplatinate(IV) as a Reagent for the Rapid and Quantitative Formation of Intramolecular Disulfide Bonds in Peptides.

Oxidation of cysteine thiol groups by trans-dichlorotetracyanoplatinate(IV) to form intramolecular peptide disulfide bonds has been studied for a series of dithiol peptides ranging from 4 to 15 ami...
Cancer classification in the genomic era: five contemporary problems

Classification is an everyday instinct as well as a full-fledged scientific discipline. Throughout the history of medicine, disease classification is central to how we develop knowledge, make diagnosis, and assign treatment. Here, we discuss the classification of cancer and the process of categorizing cancer subtypes based on their observed clinical and biological features. Traditionally, cancer nomenclature is primarily based on organ location, e.g., “lung cancer” designates a tumor originating in lung structures. Within each organ-specific major type, finer subgroups can be defined based on patient age, cell type, histological grades, and sometimes molecular markers, e.g., hormonal receptor status in breast cancer or microsatellite instability in colorectal cancer. In the past 15+ years, high-throughput technologies have generated rich new data regarding somatic variations in DNA, RNA, protein, or epigenomic features for many cancers. These data, collected for increasingly large tumor cohorts, have provided not only new insights into the biological diversity of human cancers but also exciting opportunities to discover previously unrecognized cancer subtypes. Meanwhile, the unprecedented volume and complexity of these data pose significant challenges for biostatisticians, cancer biologists, and clinicians alike. Here, we review five related issues that represent contemporary problems in cancer taxonomy and interpretation. (1) How many cancer subtypes are there? (2) How can we evaluate the robustness of a new classification system? (3) How are classification systems affected by intratumor heterogeneity and tumor evolution? (4) How should we interpret cancer subtypes? (5) Can multiple classification systems co-exist? While related issues have existed for a long time, we will focus on those aspects that have been magnified by the recent influx of complex multi-omics data. Exploration of these problems is essential for data-driven refinement of cancer classification and the successful application of these concepts in precision medicine.
Ferrographic analysis of wear debris from boundary lubrication experiments with a five ring polyphenyl ether

The types of wear particles generated by a five-ring polyphenyl ether in boundary lubrication experiments in various atmospheres were determined by ferrographic analysis. The types of wear particles observed included cylindrical or rocklike organometallic debris, adhesive and cutting wear particles, and some spherical debris. Interpretations as to the mechanism of generation of the various types of particles are presented.
Social Construction of Target Populations: Implications for Politics and Policy.

We argue that the social construction of target populations is an important, albeit overlooked, political phenomenon that should take its place in the study of public policy by political scientists. The theory contends that social constructions influence the policy agenda and the selection of policy tools, as well as the rationales that legitimate policy choices. Constructions become embedded in policy as messages that are absorbed by citizens and affect their orientations and participation. The theory is important because it helps explain why some groups are advantaged more than others independently of traditional notions of political power and how policy designs reinforce or alter such advantages. An understanding of social constructions of target populations augments conventional hypotheses about the dynamics of policy change, the determination of beneficiaries and losers, the reasons for differing levels and types of participation among target groups, and the role of policy in democracy.
Design and Performance of the Van Geet Off-Grid Home

The Van Geet home near Denver, Colorado, demonstrates the successful integration of energy conservation measures and renewable energy supply in a beautiful, comfortable, energy-efficient, 295-m 2 (3,176-ft 2 ) off-grid home in a cold, sunny climate. Features include a tight envelope, energy-efficient appliances, passive solar heating (direct gain and Trombe wall), natural cooling, solar hot water, and photovoltaics. In addition to describing this house and its performance, this paper describes the recommended design process of (1) setting a goal for energy efficiency at the outset, (2) applying rules of thumb, and (3) using computer simulation to fine-tune the design. Performance monitoring and computer simulation are combined for the best possible analysis of energy performance. In this case, energy savings are estimated as 89% heating and cooling (compared to 95 MEC), 83% electrical, and nearly 100% domestic water heating. The heating and cooling energy use is 8.96 kJ/°C.day.m 2 (0.44 Btu/°F.day.ft 2 ).
Cooperative Theory with Incomplete Information

This paper surveys cooperative game theory when players have incomplete or asymmetric information, especially when the TU and NTU games are derived from economic models. First some results relating balanced games and markets are summarized, including theorems guaranteeing that the core is nonempty. Then the basic pure exchange economy is extended to include asymmetric information. The possibilities for such models to generate cooperative games are examined. Here the core is emphasized as a solution, and criteria are given for its nonemptiness. Finally, an alternative approach is explored based on Harsanyi’s formulation of games with incomplete information.
ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT AND DEMOCRACY

▪ Abstract In this essay, I review recent research on the effects of economic development on democracy. On the theoretical side, for the first time there has been a systematic attempt to bring the types of formal models developed by economists and political scientists outside of comparative politics to bear on the origins of democracy. I present a simple analytical framework that captures some of the results in this literature. On the empirical side, the issue of identifying causal relationships in the data is finally receiving attention. However, the application of techniques adopted from best-practice econometrics shows no evidence that economic development has a causal effect on democracy. Neither does it support the idea that economic development influences the probability of coups but not democratizations. More likely, and in line with the model I develop, income per capita and democracy are correlated because the same features of a society simultaneously determine how prosperous and how democratic i...
Terahertz Spectra of Biotin Based on First Principle, Molecular Mechanical, and Hybrid Simulations

Terahertz (THz) absorption of biotin was simulated using the first principle and the density functional theory (DFT) both in the harmonic approximation and with corrections for the anharmonicity. Anharmonicity corrections were calculated using two different approaches. First, the perturbation theory-based first principle calculations were performed to include third- and fourth-order anharmonicity corrections in atomic displacements to harmonic vibrational states. Second, the atom-centered density matrix propagation molecular dynamics model that provides a good energy conservation was used to calculate the atomic trajectories, velocities, and a dipole moment time history of biotin at low and room temperatures. Predicted low-THz lines agree well with the experimental spectra. The influence of the polyethylene (PE) matrix embedment on the THz spectra of biotin at the nanoscale was studied using the developed hybrid DFT/molecular mechanical approach. While PE is almost transparent at THz frequencies, additional low-THz lines are predicted in the biotin/PE system, which reflects a dynamic interaction between biotin and a surrounding PE cavity.
Some Coordination Chemistry of Non-heme Iron Nitrosyl Complexes

The recent realization that nitric oxide is a biological messenger in many physiological processes has brought about a renewed interest in its chemistry, particularly its iron complexes that are central to the role of nitric oxide in the body. Spectroscopic evidence would appear to implicate species of "Fe(NO) 2 + " type, so called non-heme iron nitrosyls, in a variety of processes ranging from polymerization, carcinogenesis, to nitric oxide stores. This article describes two types of coordination chemistry of non-heme iron nitrosyl complexes. One type is the interactions of Fe(NO) 2 with a series of substituted imidazoles, benzimidazoles and histidines, and the other is the coordination of a tetracyanoethylene group and a variety of phosphine and phosphite ligands to the Fe(NO) 2 moiety. A combination of different techniques, such as NMR, IR, EPR, electrochemistry, and X-ray crystallography, in stydying the structures and dynamics of these systems are discussed.
Wage bargaining and induced technical change in a linear economy: Model and application to the US (1963–2003)

In a simple one-sector, two-class, fixed-proportions economy, wages are set through axiomatic bargaining a la Nash [1950]. As for choice of technology, firms choose the direction of factor augmentations to maximize the rate of unit cost reduction (Kennedy [1964], and more recently Funk [2002]). The aggregate environment resulting by self-interested decisions made by economic agents is described by a two-dimensional dynamical system in the employment rate and output/capital ratio. The economy converges cyclically to a long-run equilibrium involving a Harrod-neutral prole of technical change, a constant rate of employment of labor, and constant input shares. The type of oscillations predicted by the model matches the available data on the United States (1963-2003). Finally, institutional change, as captured by variations in workers' bargaining power, has a positive effect on the rate of output growth but a negative effect on employment.
AEETES—A solar reflux receiver thermal performance numerical model

Reflux solar receivers for dish-Stirling electric power generation systems are currently being investigated by several companies and laboratories. In support of these efforts, the AEETES thermal performance numerical model has been developed to predict thermal performance of pool-boiler and heat-pipe reflux receivers. The formulation of the AEETES numerical model, which is applicable to axisymmetric geometries with asymmetric incident fluxes, is presented in detail. Thermal efficiency predictions agree to within 4.1% with test data from on-sun tests of a pool-boiler reflux receiver. Predicted absorber and sidewall temperatures agree with thermocouple data to within 3.3 and 7.3%, respectively. The importance of accounting for the asymmetric incident fluxes is demonstrated in comparisons with predictions using azimuthally averaged variables. The predicted receiver heat losses are characterized in terms of convective, solar radiative, and infrared radiative, and conductive heat transfer mechanisms.
Effects of Strain, Age at Flock Assembly, and Cage Arrangement on Behavior and Productivity in White Leghorn Type Chickens

Abstract One experimental and four commercial egg-laying strains of White Leghorn type were subjected in colony cages to different cage shapes, water placement, feeder space, and age at flock assembly to estimate genetic and environmental effects on social behavior and egg production. The cage house used was an environmentally improved type with 180 cages in 3 rows. Pullets were housed at three ages (17, 18½, and 20 weeks). Each cage had 14 birds and identical floor space per bird in all treatments. Data on agonistic behavior, age at sexual maturity, rate of lay, hen-day production, hen-housed production, and survival were analyzed. The results indicated marked differences in agonistic activity among commercial strains. One commercial strain’s agonistic activity was less than that of the experiment strain, which had been intensively selected for low social dominance. Strains also differed significantly for age at sexual maturity, rate of lay, hen-day production, hen-housed production, and mortality. The commercial strain with least severe and lowest frequency of agonistic behavior also had highest hen-housed production and survival percentage. Whether a cause-and-effect relationship exists is not known. Cage shape, water placement, amount of feeder space, and age at assembly had significant effects on hen-housed production and survival but no single variable could be conclusively credited because more than one variable among treatments confounded results.
Lorentz violation and gravity

In the last decade, a variety of high-precision experiments have searched for minis- cule violations of Lorentz symmetry. These searches are largely motivated by the possibility of uncovering experimental signatures from a fundamental unified theory. Experimental results are reported in the framework called the Standard-Model Extension (SME), which describes gen- eral Lorentz violation for each particle species in terms of its coefficients for Lorentz violation. Recently, the role of gravitational experiments in probing the SME has been explored in the literature. In this talk, I will summarize theoretical and experimental aspects of these works. I will also discuss recent lunar laser ranging and atom interferometer experiments, which place stringent constraints on gravity coefficients for Lorentz violation.
On cross-country differences in the persistence of real exchange rates

Abstract Previous findings of long-run purchasing power parity come mainly from data for industrial countries, raising the issue of whether the results suffer sample-selection bias and exaggerate the general relevance of parity reversion. This study uncovers substantial cross-country heterogeneity in the persistence of deviations from parity. The results show that it is more likely, rather than less likely, to find parity reversion for developing countries than industrial countries. Although some persistence variations may partly reflect country differences in structural characteristics such as inflation experience and government spending, a considerable portion of those variations seems unaccounted for.
A Large-Deviation Analysis of the Maximum-Likelihood Learning of Markov Tree Structures

The problem of maximum-likelihood (ML) estimation of discrete tree-structured distributions is considered. Chow and Liu established that ML-estimation reduces to the construction of a maximum-weight spanning tree using the empirical mutual information quantities as the edge weights. Using the theory of large-deviations, we analyze the exponent associated with the error probability of the event that the ML-estimate of the Markov tree structure differs from the true tree structure, given a set of independently drawn samples. By exploiting the fact that the output of ML-estimation is a tree, we establish that the error exponent is equal to the exponential rate of decay of a single dominant crossover event. We prove that in this dominant crossover event, a non-neighbor node pair replaces a true edge of the distribution that is along the path of edges in the true tree graph connecting the nodes in the non-neighbor pair. Using ideas from Euclidean information theory, we then analyze the scenario of ML-estimation in the very noisy learning regime and show that the error exponent can be approximated as a ratio, which is interpreted as the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) for learning tree distributions. We show via numerical experiments that in this regime, our SNR approximation is accurate.
Does Hazardous Waste Matter? Evidence from the Housing Market and the Superfund Program

This paper uses the housing market to develop estimates of the local welfare impacts of Superfund-sponsored cleanups of hazardous waste sites. We show that if consumers value the cleanups, then the hedonic model predicts that they will lead to increases in local housing prices and new home construction, as well as the migration of individuals that place a high value on environmental quality to the areas near the improved sites. We compare housing market outcomes in the areas surrounding the first 400 hazardous waste sites chosen for Superfund cleanups to the areas surrounding the 290 sites that narrowly missed qualifying for these cleanups. We find that Superfund cleanups are associated with economically small and statistically insignificant changes in residential property values, property rental rates, housing supply, total population, and types of individuals living near the sites. These findings are robust to a series of specification checks, including the application of a regression discontinuity design based on knowledge of the selection rule. Overall, the preferred estimates suggest that the local benefits of Superfund cleanups are small and appear to be substantially lower than the $43 million mean cost of Superfund cleanups.
Quark Model of Dual Pions

Interacting pseudoscalar pions are incorporated into Ramond's model of free dual fermions. By considering the emission of $N\ensuremath{-}1$ pions and factorizing in the quark-antiquark channel, we recover the same $N$-pion amplitudes as were proposed in a previous paper.
Maximum-likelihood binary shift-register synthesis from noisy observations

We consider the problem of estimating the feedback coefficients of a linear feedback shift register based on noisy observations. The problem of determining feedback coefficients in the absence of noise is now classical (Massey's (1969) algorithm). In the current approach to the problem of estimation with noisy observations, the coefficients are endowed with a probabilistic model. Gradient ascent updates to coefficient probabilities are computed using recursions developed by means of the expectation-maximization (EM) algorithm. Reduced-complexity approximations are also developed by reducing the number forward probability terms propagated at each stage. While suffering from a local-maximum problem typical of many maximum-likelihood (ML) procedures, the method does exhibit convergence.
Analytic Steady-state Space Use Patterns and Rapid Computations in Mechanistic Home Range Analysis

Mechanistic home range models are important tools in modeling animal dynamics in spatially complex environments. We introduce a class of stochastic mod- els for animal movement in a habitat of varying preference. Such models interpolate between spatially implicit resource selection analysis (RSA) and advection-diffusion models, possessing these two models as limiting cases. We find a closed-form solu- tion for the steady-state (equilibrium) probability distribution u ∗ using a factorization of the redistribution operator into symmetric and diagonal parts. How space use is controlled by the habitat preference function w depends on the characteristic width of the animals' redistribution kernel: when the redistribution kernel is wide relative to variation in w, u ∗ ∝ w, whereas when it is narrow relative to variation in w, u ∗ ∝ w 2 . In addition, we analyze the behavior at discontinuities in w which occur at habitat type boundaries, and simulate the dynamics of space use given two-dimensional prey-avail- ability data, exploring the effect of the redistribution kernel width. Our factorization allows such numerical simulations to be done extremely fast; we expect this to aid the computationally intensive task of model parameter fitting and inverse modeling.