cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Cyberspace, Sovereignty, Jurisdiction, and Modernism

It is a bagatelle to accuse of modernism many of the scholars who consider issues of cyberspace law. These scholars often write as though the growth of cyberspace changes everything about sovereignty, the state, jurisdiction, and law?as though the rise of cyberspace somehow apocalyptically1 destroys all these constructs. Furthermore, perhaps because the technology is so exhilarating, there is a tendency to claim that the changes we do observe in sovereignty, the state, jurisdiction, and law all are caused by cyberspace. Surely the end of the cold war, the rise of economic interdependence, other technological changes, and a host of historical causes must be considered alongside cyberspace. This essay attempts to assess the things that cyberspace actually changes and our ability to predict the results of these changes. While reports of history's end have proven premature,2 and the state will not readily wither away,3 the state is historically contingent and the powers of the state that we refer to as "sovereignty" have never been static. Technological advances, such as the development of cyberspace, give rise to new means of expression of our aspirations, including new allocations of power both to the state and to non-state entities. International law is the vehicle for revision of
H.L.A. Hart: A Twentieth-Century Oxford Political Philosopher

This essay, a version of which will appear in volume 54 (2009) of the American Journal of Jurisprudence, was conceived as an invited contribution to a projected volume on Twentieth Century political philosophers. It offers first a sketch (by a student and colleague) of H.L.A. Hart's life; second an account of the political philosophy which he explicitly articulated in The Concept of Law (1961), and of its relation to the main currents of Oxford political philosophy in the 1950s; and thirdly an exposition and critical assessment of the normative political theory deployed, to widespread acclaim, in his Law, Liberty & Morality (1963).
Regulatory Capture in Banking

Banks will want to influence the bank regulator to favor their interests, and they typically have the means to do so. It is shown that such 'regulatory capture' in banking does not imply ineffectual regulation; a 'captured' regulator may impose very tight, costly prudential requirements to reduce negative spillovers of risk-taking by weaker banks. In these circumstances, differences in the regulatory regime across jurisdictions may persist because each adapts its regulations to suit its dominant incumbent institutions.
Using Market Structure to Regulate a Vertically Integrated Monopolist

A natural monopolist whose cost is private information produces a good which is combined with another good that can be produced by the monopolist or by other firms. The agency that regulates the monopolist can impose any of several different market structures in the industry: integrated monopoly, vertical separation with free entry downstream, or liberalization downstream (both integrated and independent production). When several firms produce downstream, a Cournot quantity-setting game with free entry determines the market price. We derive the optimal contracts to offer the monopolist under all three market structures and examine the influence of downstream cost differences on access prices. We then study the optimal regulatory policy where the regulator can condition the downstream market structure on the monopolist's cost report to the regulator. The optimal regulatory policy awards a monopoly to a low-cost upstream firm, but requires free entry downstream if the monopolist reports high upstream costs. Thus, the choice of market structure is an additional tool to limit rent extraction by the monopolist. Simulation analysis reveals the possibility of significant welfare gains from this additional regulatory tool.
A new Viterbi Decoder design for code rate K/N

A novel VLSI architecture is proposed for implementing a long constraint length Viterbi Decoder (VD) for code rate k/n. This architecture is based on the encoding structure where k input bits are shifted into k shift registers in each cycle. The architecture is designed in a hierarchical manner by breaking the system into several levels and designing each level independently. At each level, the number of computation units, the interconnection between the units as well as allocation and scheduling issues have been determined. In-place storage of accumulated path metrics and trace back implementation of the survivor memory have also been addressed. The resulting architecture is regular, flexible and achieves a better than linear tradeoff between hardware complexity and computation time.
Social and economic impacts of rural road improvements in the state of tocantins brazil

The aim of this paper is to provide feedback on the question of socioeconomic benefits from rural road development and the impact of transport infrastructure on the poor, particularly the poorest and the bottom 20 percent of the population. This paper relies on impact evaluation methodologies, which are traditionally used in social sectors but less so in the transport sector. The study, including first surveys, was launched in 2003 under the Tocantins Sustainable Regional Development Project. The paper highlights the context that led to the project’s design, which included an impact evaluation of the works envisaged under the project. The paper also highlights some of the main challenges faced by this impact evaluation and how these challenges were addressed for the present study. It then provides details about the data collected during the surveys and the key relevant characteristics of the population targeted by the surveys. It discusses the possible estimation methods envisioned to undertake the study and provides the main results of the assessment based on these methods. The analysis shows that improved rural roads changed people’s transport modal choice. People used more public buses and individual motorized vehicles after the rural road improvements. The paper also finds that the project increased school attendance, particularly for girls. Although the evidence is relatively weak in statistical terms, it indicates that the project contributed to increasing agricultural jobs and household income in certain regions.
Ethnography of Communication

The ethnography of communication (EC) is an approach to language and social interaction. EC seeks to discover the cultural particularities and general principles of communication. The particularities are demonstrated through cultural analyses of communication practices; in addition to the particularities, the generalities are established typically through comparative study. The approach foregrounds locally situated means and meanings of communication as its primary analytical concern. There are four philosophical assumptions in EC about communication, language, and social interaction: (1) communication is what people have made of it; (2) communication exhibits systemic social organization; (3) communication, language and social interaction are deeply and radically cultural; (4) and communication is formative of social and cultural lives. The approach is traced from Dell Hymes's and John Gumperz's pioneering works using a field-based methodology, to more recent developments such as the theory of cultural communication, speech code theory, and cultural discourse analysis. Keywords: communication research methods; communication theory; intergroup communication; international communication; language and social interaction
Solvent and temperature dependence of the lowest excited singlet state lifetime of all‐trans‐7’,7’‐dicyano‐7’‐apo‐β‐carotene

The lifetime of the lowest excited singlet state of a highly polarizable polyene, all‐trans‐7’,7’‐dicyano‐7’‐apo‐β‐carotene, 1, was measured as a function of solvent dielectric constant at 295 K and temperature from 7.4–295 K. The polyene was excited in separate experiments with 610 nm, 2 ps, and 450 nm, 4 ps laser pulses. The broad 400–650 nm absorption band of the polyene bleaches immediately upon excitation, while a strong absorption centered between 680–705 nm appears. Both the recovery of the ground state absorption band and the disappearance of the 680–705 nm excited state absorption band exhibit the same single exponential kinetics that depend on both solvent dielectric constant and on temperature. As the dielectric constant of the solvent increases from 1.9 to 36, the lifetime of the lowest excited singlet state of 1 decreases from 11.7 ps to 1.9 ps. As the temperature is lowered the lifetime of the lowest excited singlet state of 1 approaches that observed in low dielectric constant media. The be...
Search Programs for Comets

Although there are currently no professional search programs specifically designed for comets, comet discoveries are a significant by-product of the current search programs for near-earth asteroids. With their emphasis on the opposition point and the ecliptic, asteroid patrols are clearly biased toward discovering short-period comets. A comparison of the comet discoveries made at elongations of less than 120° from the sun during the ten-year intervals ending in 1892 and 1992 indicates that the current opposition searches are not able to displace visual searches in the vicinity of the sun. Modification of the near-opposition search region to that proposed for the Spaceguard Project would be helpful, but—as also proposed for Spaceguard—supplementation is still necessary for high-inclination objects. CCD experimentation in the regions traditionally searched visually by amateurs would be useful. Searches for particular types of object like Kreutz sungrazers and comets near Jupiter in space are briefly discussed.
INCREASED RESERVOIR BENEFITS: THE CONTRIBUTION OF SOIL CONSERVATION PROGRAMS

The objective of this research is to value soil conservation's impact on reservoirs. Using a model based on replacement cost, we estimate the benefits gained by marginal decreases in soil erosion for more than 75,000 reservoirs across the contiguous States. We aggregate benefits across the reservoirs within each of the 2,111 U.S watersheds in order to produce regional benefit estimates. Results show that a one-ton reduction in soil erosion provides benefits ranging from zero to $1.67. Our estimated model can be used to assess conservation benefits. For example, the lower level of soil erosion in 1997, relative to the 1982 level, preserved $139 million in reservoir benefits.
Why Do People Volunteer? An Experimental Analysis of Preferences for Time Donations

Why do individuals volunteer their time even when recipients receive far less value than the donor’s opportunity cost? Previous models of altruism that focus on the overall impact of a gift cannot rationalize this behavior, despite its prevalence. We develop a model that allows for differential warm glow depending on the form of the donation. In a series of laboratory experiments that control for other aspects of volunteering, such as its signaling value, subjects demonstrate behavior consistent with the theoretical assumption that gifts of time produce greater utility than the same transfers in the form of money. Subjects perform an effort task, accruing earnings at potentially different wage rates for themselves or a charity of their choice, with the ability to transfer any of their personal earnings to charity at the end of the experiment. Subjects exhibit strong preferences for donating time even when differential wage rates make it costly to do so. The results provide new insights on the nature of vo...
Neighborhood-Consistent Transaction Management for Pervasive Computing Environments

This paper examines the problem of transaction management in pervasive computing environments and presents a new approach to address them. We represent each entity as a mobile or static semi-autonomous device. The purpose of each device is to satisfy user queries based on its local data repository and interactions with other devices currently in its vicinity. Pervasive environments, unlike traditional mobile computing paradigm, do not differentiate between clients and servers that are located in a fixed, wired infrastructure. Consequently, we model all devices as peers. These environments also relax other assumptions made by mobile computing paradigm, such as the possibility of reconnection with a given device, support from wired infrastructure, or the presence of a global schema. These fundamental characteristics of pervasive computing environments limit the use of techniques developed for transactions in a “mobile” computing environments. We define an alternative optimistic transaction model whose main emphasis is to provide a high rate of successful transaction terminations and to maintain a neighborhood-based consistency. The model accomplishes this via the help of active witnesses and by employing an epidemic voting protocol. The advantage of our model is that it enables two or more peers to engage in a reliable and consistent transaction while in a pervasive environment without assuming that they can talk to each other via infrastructure such as base stations. The advantage of using active witnesses and an epidemic voting protocol is that transaction termination does not depend on any single point of a failure. Additionally, the use of an epidemic voting protocol does not require all involved entities to be simultaneously connected at any time and, therefore, further overcomes the dynamic nature of the environments. We present the implementation of the model and results from simulations.
Marginal Models for Clustered Data

Clustered data commonly arise in studies in the behavioral sciences. For example, clustered data arise when observations are obtained on children nested within schools. Longitudinal and repeated measures studies also give rise to clustered data. Marginal models provide a broad class of regression models that are suitable for analyzing diverse types of clustered data (e.g., continuous, binary, and count data). The distinctive feature of marginal models is that they focus on each response within the cluster separately, allowing dependence of the mean response on covariates but not on any random effects or other responses within the same cluster. By focusing on the population mean response, averaged over all clusters, the regression coefficients relating the mean response to covariates are said to have population-averaged interpretations. Keywords: clustered data; generalized estimating equations (GEE); population-average models; mixed effects models; within-cluster correlation
Masking in three-dimensional auditory displays

The extent to which simultaneous inputs in a three-dimensional (3D) auditory display mask one another was studied in a simulated sonar task. The minimum signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) required to detect an amplitude-modulated 500-Hz tone in a background of broadband noise was measured using a loudspeaker array in a free field. Three aspects of the 3D array were varied: angular separation of the sources, degree of correlation of the background noises, and listener head movement. Masking was substantially reduced when the sources were uncorrelated. The SNR needed for detection decreased with source separation, and the rate of decrease was significantly greater with uncorrelated sources than with partially or fully correlated sources. Head movement had no effect on the SNR required for detection. Implications for the design and application of 3D auditory displays are discussed. Language: en
Asymptotic Normality of Some Graph Sequences

For a simple finite graph G denote by [InlineEquation not available: see fulltext.] the number of ways of partitioning the vertex set of G into k non-empty independent sets (that is, into classes that span no edges of G). If $$E_n$$En is the graph on n vertices with no edges then [InlineEquation not available: see fulltext.] coincides with [InlineEquation not available: see fulltext.], the ordinary Stirling number of the second kind, and so we refer to [InlineEquation not available: see fulltext.] as a graph Stirling number. Harper showed that the sequence of Stirling numbers of the second kind, and thus the graph Stirling sequence of $$E_n$$En, is asymptotically normal--essentially, as n grows, the histogram of [InlineEquation not available: see fulltext.], suitably normalized, approaches the density function of the standard normal distribution. In light of Harper's result, it is natural to ask for which sequences $$(G_n)_{n \ge 0}$$(Gn)n?0 of graphs is there asymptotic normality of [InlineEquation not available: see fulltext.]. Thanh and Galvin conjectured that if for each n, $$G_n$$Gn is acyclic and has n vertices, then asymptotic normality occurs, and they gave a proof under the added condition that $$G_n$$Gn has no more than $$o(\sqrt{n/\log n})$$o(n/logn) components. Here we settle Thanh and Galvin's conjecture in the affirmative, and significantly extend it, replacing "acyclic" in their conjecture with "co-chromatic with a quasi-threshold graph, and with negligible chromatic number". Our proof combines old work of Navon and recent work of Engbers, Galvin and Hilyard on the normal order problem in the Weyl algebra, and work of Kahn on the matching polynomial of a graph.
Crystallization and characterization of Y2O3-SiO2 glasses

Glasses in the yttria-silica system with 20 to 40 mol pct Y2O3 were subjected to recrystallization studies after melting at 1900 to 2100 C in W crucibles in 1 and 50 atm N2. The TEM and XRD results obtained indicate the presence of the delta, gamma, gamma prime, and beta-Y2Si2O7 crystalline phases, depending on melting and quenching conditions. Heat treatment in air at 1100 to 1600 C increased the amount of crystallization, and led to the formation of Y2SiO5, cristabalite, and polymorphs of Y2Si2O7. Also investigated were the effects of 5 and 10 wt pct zirconia additions.
The semantics of the plural pronoun construction

The meaning of ‘we’ is usually seen as ‘I + others’. Russian, along with many other languages, has a construction that allows an overt specification of ‘others’, the so-called Plural Pronoun Construction (PPC), which involves a plural pronoun and a comitative phrase. The syntactic behavior of this comitative phrase differs from that of other with-phrases such as VP-adjuncts, NP-adjuncts, and comitative conjuncts. We will argue that the syntactic behavior of the PPC-comitative follows from its syntactic status as a complement of the plural pronoun D°. We will also suggest a formal semantic analysis of PPC, where the comitative phrase is argued to supply the unsaturated element in the interpretation of the plural pronoun.
Testing the BH 176 and Berkeley 29 Association with GASS/Monoceros

It has been previously noted that the outermost open clusters in the Milky Way seem to lie in a string-like configuration that is coincident with, and may be associated to, the Galactic anticenter stellar structure (GASS) or the ``Monoceros Ring''. Among the clusters that have been suggested to be associated with GASS are Berkeley 29 (Be29) and BH176, which have recently had their proper motion determined. Matching the new proper motion determinations to previously published radial velocities, we attempt to derive orbits for Be29 and BH176. The preliminary orbit for Be29 provides tantalizing evidence for a non-standard formation, however better proper motions are needed to determine whether its origin is due to normal formation or accretion.
A One-Dimensional Fluid Dynamic Model of the Systemic Arteries

The systemic arteries are modeled as a bifurcating tree of compliant and tapering vessels. Blood flow and pressure in the vessels are determined by solving the axisymmetric Navier-Stokes equations. The arterial tree ranging from the aorta to the arterioles consists of a tree with more than 20 generations. Computing blood flow and pressure for all vessels requires a prohibitive amount of time. To avoid using too much time, we have truncated the arterial tree after a limited number of generations and applied a suitable outflow boundary condition. To this end we propose a structured tree model in which a root impedance is determined using a semi-analytical approach. The structured tree is a binary asymmetric tree in which the radii of the daughter vessels are scaled linearly with the radius of the parent vessel. The root impedance of the structured tree is found by propagating solutions of a wave equation from the terminals to the root of the structured tree. The wave equation is derived by linearizing the axisymmetric Navier-Stokes equations together with applying a long-wave approximation. The root impedance of the structured tree provides a dynamical outflow boundary condition, which is computationally feasible. The structured tree outflow boundary condition is based on physiologic principles and it accommodates wave propagation effects for the entire systemic arterial tree. Blood flow in the large systemic arteries is verified by comparing simulations with data obtained from magnetic resonance measurements. The outflow boundary condition is verified by comparisons with literature data and with a standard model (the three-element windkessel model).
The resolution of role conflict within the family.

(1957). The Resolution of Role Conflict Within the Family. Psychiatry: Vol. 20, No. 1, pp. 1-16.
Quantum algorithms for subset finding

Recently, Ambainis gave an O(N2/3)-query discrete-time quantum walk algorithm forthe element distinctness problem, and more generally, an O(NL/(L+1))-query algorithmfor finding L equal numbers. We review this algorithm and give a simplified and tightenedanalysis of its query complexity using techniques previously applied to the analysis ofcontinuous-time quantum walk. We also briefly discuss applications of the algorithm andpose two open problenm regarding continuous-time quantum walk and lower bounds.
The role of accounting in the twenty-first century firm

I explore the evolving role of accounting information in allocating capital. Accounting arose to control conflicts of interest in organizations (stewardship role). The industrial revolution spawned capital-intensive firms and public capital markets with dispersed shareholders to finance these firms. The regulation of these public capital markets shifted the role of accounting toward providing investors with information for making informed investment decisions (valuation role). With the advent of the semiconductor and global competition, emerging and public firms today differ from their predecessors in fundamental ways. Exploiting the information technologies created by the semiconductor, twenty-first century firms are now more knowledge based, have more intangible assets, are more reliant on their employees’ human capital, confront increased competition, and face diverse conflicts of interests and hence different challenges accessing capital than their forerunners. Responding to the demands of twenty-firs...
The pension system in Argentina - six years after the reform

In the context of a serious financial, and legal crisis, Argentina reformed its pension system in 1994, when a multi-pillar model with a funded scheme was introduced, and first pillar parameters, as minimum age and vesting requirements were tightened. The new system has a significant first pillar (which offers a flat benefit, currently valued at 28 percent of average wage to all retirees), and a second pillar, that should provide a similar amount, once the transition is completed. The new system has developed rapidly, and most formal workers have joined the new funded scheme. However, there are problems that must be resolved. In the first pillar, the reform balanced long term finances, but it will also reduce coverage very rapidly, as a consequence of the combined effect of low formality in the labor market, and stricter contribution requirements. The most serious problems in the funded pillar are the administration costs, and the need to improve regulation, and supervision of insurance companies, that provide disability, and survivors coverage, and annuities to beneficiaries. While these problems are important, their consequences can be avoided if adequate policies are developed by the Government. In this sense, the experience of the pension reform in Argentina is an excellent lesson for other countries that are considering a reform in their own systems.
A Truthful Mechanism for Offline Ad Slot Scheduling

We consider the Offline Ad Slot Schedulingproblem, where advertisers must be scheduled to sponsored searchslots during a given period of time. Advertisers specify a budget constraint, as well as a maximum cost per click, and may not be assigned to more than one slot for a particular search. We give a truthful mechanism under the utility model where bidders try to maximize their clicks, subject to their personal constraints. In addition, we show that the revenue-maximizing mechanism is not truthful, but has a Nash equilibrium whose outcome is identical to our mechanism. Our mechanism employs a descending-price auction that maintains a solution to a certain machine scheduling problem whose job lengths depend on the price, and hence are variable over the auction.
Mad and misleading: Incidental anger promotes deception

Abstract Emotions influence ethical behavior. Across four studies, we demonstrate that incidental anger, anger triggered by an unrelated situation, promotes the use of deception. In Study 1, participants who felt incidental anger were more likely to deceive their counterpart than those who felt neutral emotion. In Study 2, we demonstrate that empathy mediates the relationship between anger and deception. In Study 3, we contrast anger with another negative-valence emotion, sadness. We find that participants who felt incidental anger were more likely to use deception than were participants who felt incidental sadness or neutral emotion. In Study 4, we show that incentives moderate the relationship between anger and deception. Collectively, our work reveals that incidental anger promotes unethical behavior because angry people become less empathetic when pursuing their self-interest.
Automatic exams management with the common Lisp HTTP server

This paper describes two experiments in automatic testing and grading, using the World Wide Web as a common and ubiquitous interface. Two systems were built using the Common Lisp HTTP Server from MIT and its functionality to generate HTML on the fly: The first one deals with the development of on-line Lisp programming tests. Student programs are evaluated, their output is compared with the instructor's, and they are graded accordingly. The second system goes beyond the former idea and is able to help instructors with the creation of multiple on-line exams and their automatic management, including immediate feedback to students and score record-keeping.
Mobile Devices And Protocols

The value of a mobile communication device is its ability to organize and access important information quickly. Mobile devices are often associated with the cutting-edge technology of the last 4 years. Although having gained an increasing popularity over recent years, mobile devices have a history of 15 years. The first generation of mobile devices was the analog mobile phone. They were large and cumbersome, resembling a small briefcase. With the launch of the second generation, mobile phone units became smaller and easier to handle. Currently, third-generation phones are starting to be released, advancing in design and dynamic capabilities. By the year 2005, 76% of consumers will own an Internet compatible device, 66% will own a cell phone, 45% will own an Internet cell phone, and 10% will own a personal digitial assistant (Forrester, 2001). In today's information surge, business never stops. IDC Research has forecasted that an average of more than 36 billion person-to-person e-mails will be sent daily by 2005 (Juptner, 2001). Hence, mobile communication plays a major role in the success of most of today's business operations (Jones, 2001), and all businesses are continually faced with the challenge of engaging with the rapidly changing information technology age. One area of mobile communications that has been growing exponentially is mobile computing. Keywords: code division multiple access (CDMA); general packet radio service (GPRS); global positioning system (GPS); Internet cell phone; mobile communication device; personal digital assistant (PDA)
Elementary Proof of MacMahon‘s Conjecture

Major Percy A. MacMahon‘s first paper on plane partitions [4] included a conjectured generating function for symmetric plane partitions. This conjecture was proven almost simultaneously by George Andrews and Ian Macdonald, Andrews using the machinery of basic hypergeometric series [1] and Macdonald employing his knowledge of symmetric functions [3]. The purpose of this paper is to simplify Macdonald‘s proof by providing a direct, inductive proof of his formula which expresses the sum of Schur functions whose partitions fit inside a rectangular box as a ratio of determinants.
Fully device independent quantum key distribution

Quantum cryptography promises levels of security that are impossible to attain in a classical world. Can this security be guaranteed to classical users of a quantum protocol, who may not even trust the quantum devices used to implement the protocol?This central question dates back to the early 1990s when the challenge of achieving Device-Independent Quantum Key Distribution (DIQKD) was first formulated. We answer the challenge by rigorously proving the device-independent security of an entanglement-based protocol building on Ekert's original proposal for quantum key distribution. The proof of security builds on techniques from the classical theory of pseudo-randomness to achieve a new quantitative understanding of the non-local nature of quantum correlations.
Reforming the Urban Transport Sector in the Rio de Janeiro Metropolitan Region: A Case Study in Concessions

The author describes a bold effort by the state government to increase private sector participation in Rio de Janeiro's urban transport sector, reduce heavy operating subsidies, and establish a foundation for making the sector sustainable. This effort was undertaken with the help of three World Bank-financed loans: * The Rio de Janeiro Metropolitan Transport Loan, which provided assistance for the transfer of federally owned suburban railways to the state government. * The Rio de Janeiro State Reform and Privatization Loan, which helped the state privatize and grant concessions for a number of its enterprises. * The Rio de Janeiro Mass Transit Loan, which supported the reorganization of the sector and the concession of the Rio suburban railways (Flumitrens). Most of the reforms in the urban transport sector have been implemented. The lessons learned from implementation and the results obtained so far suggest that political decisiveness, transparency, and ingenuity in developing incentives are crucial to privatizing urban rail transport systems. But the state also learned that not having a credible staff redundancy program might seriously reduce the benefits expected from concessions.
Marginal Maternal Biotin Deficiency in CD-1 Mice Reduces Fetal Mass of Biotin-dependent Carboxylases

Marginal maternal biotin deficiency reduces hepatic activity of biotin-dependent carboxylases and causes high rates of fetal birth defects in mice. We tested the hypothesis that the decreased carboxylase activity observed in deficient dams and their offspring is mediated by decreased abundance of biotinylated carboxylases, decreased expression of their mRNAs, or both. During gestation, CD-1 mice were fed a diet that induced biotin deficiency or a biotin-sufficient diet. On gestational d 17, gravid uteri were removed, and each live fetus was examined grossly for defects. The expected high incidence of cleft palate (83%) in offspring was observed. In maternal and fetal liver, acetyl-CoA carboxylase, pyruvate carboxylase, propionyl-CoA carboxylase, and β-methylcrotonyl-CoA carboxylase abundances were determined by Western blotting; the content of mRNAs for most of these enzymes and holocarboxylase synthetase was determined by real-time RT-PCR. Biotin deficiency significantly reduced the abundance of the carboxylases in maternal and fetal liver; neither the content of mRNAs for the carboxylases nor holocarboxylase synthetase changed. This study provides evidence that the decrease in carboxylase activities is attributable to a decrease in the abundance of biotinylated carboxylases; further, this effect is more severe in fetuses than dams.
Pilot response in combined control tasks

Pilot response in a multi-task simulation, which consisted of a primary control task combined with one or two secondary or side control tasks, was investigated. A general description of the response characteristics of each of these tasks was obtained and this information was used to determine the work-load requirements of the tasks. Two different control tasks were used as the primary control task, either a fixed-base simulation of a lunar letdown or a simplified multi-loop tracking task which was similar to the end portion of the lunar letdown. The simplified tracking task was used in lieu of the more complicated lunar letdown because it could be represented and reproduced analytically. The secondary or side tasks consisted of a system failures task and a motor response task. The system failures task was incorporated from those systems present in a vehicle known as the Mercury Procedures Trainer. The motor response task was similar to that presented by the late Dr. Fitts of the University of Michigan. Th...
Cancer survivors' uptake and adherence in diet and exercise intervention trials: An integrative data analysis

BACKGROUND The health benefits of diet and exercise interventions for cancer survivors are well documented. However, little is known regarding demographic and medical predictors of survivors’ willingness to participate in diet and exercise intervention trials, study enrollment, intervention adherence, and study completion. To assist in interpreting the generalizability of trial findings as well as to improve the design of future trials, we examined predictors of these process measures.
Newborn Screening for Urea Cycle Disorders

Neonatal screening for inherited metabolic disorders is one of the most exciting advances in modern preventive pediatrics. By definition, it is a search in the newborn population for individuals possessing certain genotypes that are either already associated with disease or predisposed to disease. Important preconditions for the establishment of such programs are the availability of effective therapy or improved medical management and the need for early, pre-symptomatic diagnosis. The first successful newborn screening program had its beginnings in the early 1960’s with the development of the Guthrie bacterial inhibition assay for the detection of phenylketonuria (PKU)l. This simple screening test was the first to utilize dried filter paper blood specimens collected by heel prick from newborn infants during the first week of life.
Foundations of Perturbative QCD

The most non-trivial of the established microscopic theories of physics is QCD: the theory of the strong interaction. A critical link between theory and experiment is provided by the methods of perturbative QCD, notably the well-known factorization theorems. Giving an accurate account of the concepts, theorems and their justification, this book is a systematic treatment of perturbative QCD. As well as giving a mathematical treatment, the book relates the concepts to experimental data, giving strong motivations for the methods. It also examines in detail transverse-momentum-dependent parton densities, an increasingly important subject not normally treated in other books. Ideal for graduate students starting their work in high-energy physics, it will also interest experienced researchers wanting a clear account of the subject.
Regioselective Isomerization of 2,3-Disubstituted Epoxides to Ketones: An Alternative to the Wacker Oxidation of Internal Alkenes.

We report an alternative pathway to the Wacker oxidation of internal olefins involving epoxidation of trans-alkenes followed by a mild and highly regioselective isomerization to give the major ketone isomers in 66–98% yield. Preliminary kinetics and isotope labeling studies suggest epoxide ring opening as the turnover limiting step in our proposed mechanism. A similar catalytic system was applied to the kinetic resolution of select trans-epoxides to give synthetically useful selectivity factors of 17–23 for benzyl-substituted substrates.
Hyperelliptic jacobians without complex multiplication in positive characteristic

We prove that in odd characteristic the jacobian of a hyperelliptic curve $y^2=f(x)$ has no nontrivial endomorphisms over an algebraic closure of the ground field if the Galois group of the polynomial $f$ of even degree is ``very big". The case of characteristic zero was previously treated by the author (Math. Res. Letters 7(2000), 123--132).
SEMIPARAMETRIC ESTIMATION OF A WORK-TRIP MODE-CHOICE MODEL /

Abstract A binary response model of choice between automobile and transit for travel to work is estimated using fixed- and random-coefficients probit specifications, a semiparametric single-index specification, and a semiparametric specification that permits arbitrary heteroskedasticity of unknown form. The estimation methods are maximum likelihood for the probit models, semiparametric quasi- maximum-likelihood for the single-index model, and maximum score and smoothed maximum score for the arbitrarily heteroskedastic model. Specification tests result in rejection of the fixed- coefficients probit and single-index models but not of the random-coefficients probit model and the semiparametric model with arbitrary heteroskedasticity.
Automated Design of Microfluidics-Based Biochips: Connecting Biochemistry to Electronics CAD

Microfluidics-based biochips offer exciting possibilities for high-throughput sequencing, parallel immunoassays, blood chemistry for clinical diagnostics, DNA sequencing, and environmental toxicity monitoring. The complexity of microfluidic devices is expected to become significant in the near future due to the need for multiple and concurrent biochemical assays on multifunctional and reconfigurable platforms. This paper presents early work on top-down system-level computer-aided design (CAD) tools for the synthesis, testing and reconfiguration of microfluidic biochips. Synthesis tools map behavioral descriptions to a droplet-based microfluidic biochip and generate an optimized schedule of assay operations, the binding of assay operations to functional units, and the layout and droplet flow-paths. Cost-effective testing techniques lead to the detection of manufacturing defects and operational faults. Reconfiguration techniques, incorporated in these CAD tools, can easily bypass faults once they are detected. Thus the biochip user can concentrate on the development of the nano- and micro-scale bioassays, leaving assay optimization and implementation details to design automation tools.
Enhancement of Turning Process using Vibration Signature Analysis

Analytical and experimental vibration analyses are conducted for a lathe system to detect the possibility of faults and to develop an accurate cutting process. The data acquisition system utilized for this purpose processes the analog input from the manufacturing system and displays the response in both the real time and frequency domains. The vibration signatures for different arrangements are recorded to determine the dynamic characteristics of the system, which includes workpieces, tool, and lathe components. These vibration signatures were analyzed to determine causes of inaccuracy in the manufacturing process and faulty components. In this study, two major problem-causing sources were identified using vibration analysis for the system under different operating conditions. In addition to the identified problems, the phenomena of cutting tool chatter with various intensities was examined and recorded during testing. In this study the best possible operating conditions for a specific turning process wer...
Intracellular Ca2+ Measurements in Live Cells by Rapid Line Scan Confocal Microscopy: Simplified Calibration Methodology

Altered intracellular Ca2+ dynamics are characteristically observed in cardiomyocytes from failing hearts. Studies of Ca2+ handling in myocytes predominantly use Fluo-3 AM, a visible light excitable Ca2+ chelating fluorescent dye in conjunction with rapid line-scanning confocal microscopy. However, Fluo-3 AM does not allow for traditional ratiometric determination of intracellular Ca2+ concentration and has required use of mathematic correction factors with values obtained from separate procedures to convert Fluo-3 AM fluorescence to appropriate CA2+ concentrations. This study describes methodology to directly measure intracellular Ca2+ levels using inactivated, Fluo-3 AM loaded cardiomyocytes equilibrated with Ca2+ concentration standards. Titration of Ca2+ concentration exhibits a linear relationship to increasing Fluo-3 AM fluorescence intensity. Images obtained from individual myocyte confocal scans were recorded, average pixel intensity values were calculated, and a plot is generated relating the average pixel intensity to known Ca2+ concentrations. These standard plots can be used to convert transient Ca2+ fluorescence obtained with experimental cells to Ca2+ concentrations by linear regression analysis. Standards are determined on the same microscope used for acquisition of unknown Ca2+ concentrations, simplifying data interpretaton and assuring accuracy of conversion values. This procedure eliminates additional equipment, ratiometric imaging, and mathematic correction factors and should be used to investigators requiring a straightforward method for measuring Ca2+ concentrations in live cells using Ca2+-chelating dyes exhibiting variable fluorescence intensity.
A straightforward introduction to continuous quantum measurement

We present a pedagogical treatment of the formalism of continuous quantum measurement. Our aim is to show the reader how the equations describing such measurements are derived and manipulated in a direct manner. We also give elementary background material for those new to measurement theory, and describe further various aspects of continuous measurements that should be helpful to those wanting to use such measurements in applications. Specifically, we use the simple and direct approach of generalized measurements to derive the stochastic master equation describing the continuous measurements of observables, give a tutorial on stochastic calculus, treat multiple observers and inefficient detection, examine a general form of the measurement master equation, and show how the master equation leads to information gain and disturbance. To conclude, we give a detailed treatment of imaging the resonance fluorescence from a single atom as a concrete example of how a continuous position measurement arises in a physical system.
Endogenous participation in charity auctions

Abstract Data from a recent field experiment suggests that differences in participation rates are responsible for much of the variations in charity auction revenues across formats. We provide a theoretical framework for the analysis of this and other related results. The model illustrates the limits of previous results that assume full participation and introduces some new considerations to the choice of auction mechanism. It also implies, however, that the data cannot be explained in terms of participation costs alone: there must exist mechanism-specific obstacles to participation.
A novel tandem bicyclization to form an indenopyran ring system

Abstract A new palladium-copper catalyzed intramolecular acetylene-zipper type bicyclization between alkyne and hydroxy functionality of an alkynyl hydroquinone has been observed to give a highly conjugated ring system.
Experimental demonstration of microring-based optical pulse train generator

We experimentally demonstrate the concept of a microring-based optical pulse train generator that we proposed recently. A four-tap chip prototype is fabricated on SOI substrate and the measurement results verify the multiply-by-four circuit function.
The Metallicity and Reddening of Stars in the Inner Galactic Bulge

We present a preliminary analysis of K, J-K color-magnitude diagrams (CMDs) for seven different positions on or close to the minor axis of the Milky Way at Galactic latitudes between +01 and -28. From the slopes of the (linear) giant branches in these CMDs, we derive a dependence of [Fe/H] on latitude for b between -08 and -28 of -0.085 ? 0.033 dex deg-1. When combined with the data from Tiede et al., we find for -08 ? b ? -103 the slope in [Fe/H] is -0.064 ? 0.012 dex deg-1. An extrapolation to the Galactic center predicts [Fe/H] = +0.034 ? 0.053 dex. We also derive average values for the extinction in the K band (AK) of between 2.15 and 0.27 for the inner bulge fields studied, corresponding to average values of E(J-K) of between 3.46 and 0.44. There is a well-defined linear relation between the average extinction for a field and the star-to-star scatter in the extinction for the stars within each field. The equation of this line is ?(AK) = 0.056(?0.005)AK + 0.043(?0.005). This result suggests that the typical apparent angular scale size for an absorbing cloud is small compared with the field size (90'' on a side). Finally, from an examination of the luminosity function of bright giants in each field we conclude that the young component of the stellar population observed near the Galactic center declines in density much more quickly than the overall bulge population and is undetectable beyond 1? from the Galactic center.
Low-barrier hydrogen bonds

Proteins contain mainly weak, conventional hydrogen bonds; however, a few enzymes have low barrier hydrogen bonds (LBHBs) in transition state analog complexes. Hydrogen bonds display variations in physicochemical properties including length, spectroscopic characteristics, and strength. Three classes of hydrogen bonds have been defined – weak (2–8 kcal mol −1 ), strong (10−2 kcal mol −1 ), and very strong (24−40 kcal mol −1 ). In a weak hydrogen bond, the proton is bonded to one heteroatom by a dipolar covalent bond and engages in a weak electrostatic attraction with another heteroatom. In a strong hydrogen bond, or LBHB, the heteroatoms are closer than a van der Waals contact, the covalent bond to the proton is elongated, and the contact between the proton and the second heteroatom is significantly shorter than in a weak hydrogen bond. In a very strong, or single-well hydrogen bond, the heteroatoms are much closer than a van der Waals contact, and the proton is nearly centered between them. LBHBs in proteins and small molecules are characterized by their spectroscopic and thermodynamic properties, deuterium fractionation factors, and crystallographic structures. LBHBs have been identified in transition state analog complexes of a few enzymes and are postulated to stabilize the transition states in catalysis.
A generalized iterative water-filling algorithm for distributed power control in the presence of a jammer

Consider a scenario in which K users and a jammer have a limited power budget and share a common spectrum of N orthogonal tones. The goal of each user is to allocate its power across the N tones in such a way that maximizes the total sum rate that he/she can achieve, while treating the interference of other users and the jammer's signal as additive Gaussian noise. The jammer, on the other hand, wishes to allocate its power in such a way that minimizes the utility of the whole system; that being the total sum of the rates communicated over the network. For this non-cooperative game, we propose a generalized version of the existing iterative water-filling algorithm whereby the users and the jammer update their power allocations in a greedy manner. We study conditions under which the generalized iterative water-filling algorithm converges to a Nash equilibrium of the game. The conditions that we derive in this paper depend only on the system parameters, and hence can be checked a priori.