cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Wavelet-domain filtering for photon imaging systems

Many imaging systems rely on photon detection as the basis of image formation. One of the major sources of error in these systems is Poisson noise due to the quantum nature of the photon detection process. Unlike additive Gaussian white noise, the variance of Poisson noise is proportional to the underlying signal intensity, and consequently separating signal from noise is a very difficult task. In this paper, we perform a novel gedankenexperiment to devise a new wavelet-domain filtering procedure for noise removal in photon imaging systems. The filter adapts to both the signal and the noise, and balances the trade-off between noise removal and excessive smoothing of image details. Designed using the statistical method of cross-validation, the filter is simultaneously optimal in a small-sample predictive sum of squares sense and asymptotically optimal in the mean-square-error sense. The filtering procedure has a simple interpretation as a joint edge detection/estimation process. Moreover, we derive an efficient algorithm for performing the filtering that has the same order of complexity as the fast wavelet transform itself. The performance of the new filter is assessed with simulated data experiments and tested with actual nuclear medicine imagery.
Optical Morphology Evolution of Infrared Luminous Galaxies in GOODS-N

We combine optical morphologies and photometry from HST, redshifts from Keck, and mid-infrared luminosities from Spitzer for an optically selected sample of ~800 galaxies in GOODS-N to track the morphology evolution of luminous infrared galaxies (LIRGs) since redshift z = 1. We find a 50% decline in the number of LIRGs from z ~ 1 to lower redshift, in agreement with previous studies. In addition, there is evidence for a morphological evolution of the populations of LIRGs. Above z = 0.5, roughly half of all LIRGs are spiral, the peculiar/irregular-to-spiral ratio is ~0.7, and both classes span a similar range of LIR and MB. At low z, spirals account for one-third of LIRGs, the peculiar-to-spiral fraction rises to 1.3, and for a given MB spirals tend to have lower IR luminosity than peculiars. Only a few percent of LIRGs at any redshift are red early-type galaxies. For blue galaxies (U - B < 0.2), MB is well correlated with log LIR with an rms scatter (about a bivariate linear fit) of ~0.25 dex in IR luminosity. Among blue galaxies that are brighter than MB = -21, 75% are LIRGs, regardless of redshift. These results can be explained by a scenario in which at high z, most large spirals experience an elevated star formation rate as LIRGs. Gas consumption results in a decline of LIRGs, especially in spirals, to lower redshifts.
Cooperation With an Untrusted Relay: A Secrecy Perspective

We consider the communication scenario where a source-destination pair wishes to keep the information secret from a relay node despite wanting to enlist its help. For this scenario, an interesting question is whether the relay node should be deployed at all. That is, whether cooperation with an untrusted relay node can ever be beneficial. We first provide an achievable secrecy rate for the general untrusted relay channel, and proceed to investigate this question for two types of relay networks with orthogonal components. For the first model, there is an orthogonal link from the source to the relay. For the second model, there is an orthogonal link from the relay to the destination. For the first model, we find the equivocation capacity region and show that answer is negative. In contrast, for the second model, we find that the answer is positive. Specifically, we show, by means of the achievable secrecy rate based on compress-and-forward, that by asking the untrusted relay node to relay information, we can achieve a higher secrecy rate than just treating the relay as an eavesdropper. For a special class of the second model, where the relay is not interfering itself, we derive an upper bound for the secrecy rate using an argument whose net effect is to separate the eavesdropper from the relay. The merit of the new upper bound is demonstrated on two channels that belong to this special class. The Gaussian case of the second model mentioned above benefits from this approach in that the new upper bound improves the previously known bounds. For the Cover-Kim deterministic relay channel, the new upper bound finds the secrecy capacity when the source-destination link is not worse than the source-relay link, by matching with achievable rate we present.
Cavity dynamics in water entry at low Froude numbers

The dynamics of the air cavity created by vertical water entry of a three-dimensional body is investigated theoretically, computationally and experimentally. The study is focused in the range of relatively low Froude numbers, F r ≡ V ( gD ) −1/2 ≤ O (10) (where V is the dropping velocity of the body, D its characteristic dimension and g the gravitational acceleration), when the inertia and gravity effects are comparable. To understand the physical processes involved in the evolution of cavity, we conduct laboratory experiments of water entry of freely dropping spheres. A matched asymptotic theory for the description of the cavity dynamics is developed based on the slender-body theory in the context of potential flow. Direct comparisons with experimental data show that the asymptotic theory properly captures the key physical effects involved in the development of the cavity, and in particular gives a reasonable prediction of the maximum size of the cavity and the time of cavity closure. Due to the inherent assumption in the asymptotic theory, it is incapable of accurately predicting the flow details near the free surface and the body, where nonlinear free surface and body boundary effects are important. To complement the asymptotic theory, a fully nonlinear numerical study using an axisymmetric boundary integral equation is performed. The numerically obtained dependencies of the cavity height and closure time on Froude number and body geometry are in excellent agreement with available experiments.
Output feedback control of linear two-time-scale systems

Output feedback control of linear time-invariant singularly perturbed systems is studied. The set of all compensators that stabilize a singularly perturbed system while preserving its two-time-scale structure is parameterized. The parameterization is used to show that any two-frequency-scale stabilizing compensator can be asymptotically approximated by a compensator designed via a sequential procedure. In this procedure, a fast (high-frequency) compensator is designed first to stabilize the fast model of the system. Then, a strictly proper slow (low-frequency) compensator is designed to stabilize a modified slow model. The parallel connection of the two compensators forms a two-frequency-scale stabilizing compensator for the singularly perturbed system.
AFM Studies of Fracture Surfaces of Composition B Energetic Materials

The characteristics of TNT (trinitrotoluene) crystals in Composition B have been studied using atomic force microscopy (AFM). The size of TNT crystals has been examined by analyzing the surface structure that is exhibited after mechanical failure of the Composition B. The mechanical failure occurs when the material is subjected to high acceleration (high g )inan ultracentrifuge and. the shear or tensile strength is exceeded. AFM examination of the topography of the Composition B fracture surface reveals fracture across columnar grains of the TNT. The width of the columnar TNT grains ranges in size from ~ 1 μm to~2 μm. Their height ranges in size from ~ 50 nm to ~ 300 nm.
Frenzy: collaborative data organization for creating conference sessions

Organizing conference sessions around themes improves the experience for attendees. However, the session creation process can be difficult and time-consuming due to the amount of expertise and effort required to consider alternative paper groupings. We present a collaborative web application called Frenzy to draw on the efforts and knowledge of an entire program committee. Frenzy comprises (a) interfaces to support large numbers of experts working collectively to create sessions, and (b) a two-stage process that decomposes the session-creation problem into meta-data elicitation and global constraint satisfaction. Meta-data elicitation involves a large group of experts working simultaneously, while global constraint satisfaction involves a smaller group that uses the meta-data to form sessions. We evaluated Frenzy with 48 people during a deployment at the CSCW 2014 program committee meeting. The session making process was much faster than the traditional process, taking 88 minutes instead of a full day. We found that meta-data elicitation was useful for session creation. Moreover, the sessions created by Frenzy were the basis of the CSCW 2014 schedule.
Optimization of de novo transcriptome assembly from high-throughput short read sequencing data improves functional annotation for non-model organisms

Background: The k-mer hash length is a key factor affecting the output of de novo transcriptome assembly packages using de Bruijn graph algorithms. Assemblies constructed with varying single k-mer choices might result in the loss of unique contiguous sequences (contigs) and relevant biological information. A common solution to this problem is the clustering of single k-mer assemblies. Even though annotation is one of the primary goals of a transcriptome assembly, the success of assembly strategies does not consider the impact of k-mer selection on the annotation output. This study provides an in-depth k-mer selection analysis that is focused on the degree of functional annotation achieved for a non-model organism where no reference genome information is available. Individual k-mers and clustered assemblies (CA) were considered using three representative software packages. Pair-wise comparison analyses (between individual k-mers and CAs) were produced to reveal missing Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) ortholog identifiers (KOIs), and to determine a strategy that maximizes the recovery of biological information in a de novo transcriptome assembly. Results: Analyses of single k-mer assemblies resulted in the generation of various quantities of contigs and functional annotations within the selection window of k-mers (k-19 to k-63). For each k-mer in this window, generated assemblies contained certain unique contigs and KOIs that were not present in the other k-mer assemblies. Producing a non-redundant CA of k-mers 19 to 63 resulted in a more complete functional annotation than any single k-mer assembly. However, a fraction of unique annotations remained (~0.19 to 0.27% of total KOIs) in the assemblies of individual k-mers (k-19 to k-63) that were not present in the non-redundant CA. A workflow to recover these unique annotations is presented. Conclusions: This study demonstrated that different k-mer choices result in various quantities of unique contigs per single k-mer assembly which affects biological information that is retrievable from the transcriptome. This undesirable effect can be minimized, but not eliminated, with clustering of multi-k assemblies with redundancy removal. The complete extraction of biological information in de novo transcriptomics studies requires both the production of a CA and efforts to identify unique contigs that are present in individual k-mer assemblies but not in the CA.
Incentives in Markets, Firms, and Governments

We construct a simple career concerns model where high-powered incentives can distort the composition of effort by inducing excessive signaling. We show that in the presence of this type of career concerns, markets typically fail to limit competitive pressures and cannot commit to the desirable low-powered incentives. Firms may be able to weaken incentives and improve efficiency by obscuring information about individual workers' contribution to output, and thus reducing their willingness to signal through a moral-hazard-in-teams reasoning. However, firms themselves have a commitment problem, since firm owners would like to provide high-powered incentives to their employees to increase profits. When firms cannot refrain from doing so, government provision may be useful as a credible commitment to low-powered incentives. Governments may be able to achieve this even when operated by a self-interested politician. Among other reasons, this may happen because of the government's ability to limit yardstick competition and reelection uncertainty. We discuss possible applications of our theory to pervasive government involvement in predominantly private goods such as education and management of pension funds. (JEL D23, L22, H10, H52)
Inhomogeneous d -wave superconducting state of a doped Mott insulator

Recent atomic resolution scanning tunneling microscope (STM) measurements discovered remarkable electronic inhomogeneity, i.e., nanoscale spatial variations of the local density of states (LDOS) and the superconducting energy gap, in the high-${T}_{c}$ superconductor ${\mathrm{Bi}}_{2}{\mathrm{Sr}}_{2}{\mathrm{CaCu}}_{2}{\mathrm{O}}_{8+x}.$ Based on the experimental findings, we conjectured that the inhomogeneity arises from variations in local oxygen doping level and may be generic of doped Mott insulators. In this paper, we provide theoretical support for this picture. We study a doped Mott insulator within a generalized t-J model, where doping is accompanied by ionic Coulomb potentials centered in the BiO plane located a distance ${d}_{s}$ away from the ${\mathrm{CuO}}_{2}$ plane. We solve, at the mean-field level, a set of spatially unrestricted Bogoliubov--de Gennes equations self-consistently to obtain the distributions of the hole concentration, the valence bond, and the pairing order parameters for different nominal/average doping concentrations. We calculate the LDOS spectrum, the integrated LDOS, and the local superconducting gap as those measured by STM, make detailed comparisons to experiments, and find remarkable agreement with the experimental data. We emphasize the unconventional screening of the ionic potential in a doped Mott insulator and show that nonlinear screening dominates on nanometer scales, comparable to the short coherence length of the superconductor, which is the origin of the electronic inhomogeneity. It leads to strong inhomogeneous redistribution of the local hole density and promotes the notion of local doping concentration (LDC). We find that the inhomogeneity structure manifests itself at all energy scales in the STM tunneling differential conductance, and elucidate the similarity and the differences between the data obtained in the constant tunneling current mode and the same data normalized to reflect constant tip-to-sample distance. We also discuss the underdoped case where nonlinear screening of the ionic potential turns the spatial electronic structure into a percolative mixture of patches with smaller pairing gaps embedded in a background with larger gaps to single particle excitations.
Radar coverage predictions through time- and range-dependent refractive atmospheres with planetary boundary layer and electromagnetic parabolic equation models

The enhancement of the capability of electromagnetic parabolic equation (EMPE) and other propagation codes by using predictions from an atmospheric forecast model to provide refractivity data for range-dependent and time-varying situations is demonstrated. Starting from measured temperature and humidity data at one location and time, the JHU/APL planetary boundary layer model is used to obtained predictions for a 24-h forecast period. Predicted fields of temperature, humidity, and refractivity after 12 and 24 h are compared with measured data to verify the forecast, and vertical profiles of refractivity for each hour are provided, along with appropriate radar parameters, as input to EMPE. The EMPE calculations of expected radiation patterns as functions of height and range at selected times demonstrate the effects of hourly changes in the structure of the lower atmosphere on radar propagation. The radar propagation calculations have been repeated using the IREPS code to illustrate the similarities and differences between the two models when applied to this somewhat idealized, horizontally homogeneous situation. >
Investigation of the physical aspects of beta imaging probes using scintillating fibers and visible light photon counters

We are developing a hand-held imaging probe intended for intra-operative use. This probe is to be used after the bulk of a tumor has been removed. It will locate residual malignant tissue labeled by a pre-operative injection of a tumor-seeking radiopharmaceutical. The device presented here is a prototype system that consists of a 4/spl times/8 array of 925 /spl mu/m diameter plastic scintillating fibers. The imaging array is coupled to Visible Light Photon Counters (VLPCs) via 2 meters of optical fiber. We have obtained an intrinsic spatial resolution of >
Attitudes About Mandated Coverage of Birth Control Medication and Other Health Benefits in a US National Sample

Access to contraception improves maternal and child health.1 The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA) requires most private health insurance plans to cover contraception without a shared patient cost to improve access. However, debate continues about applying the contraception coverage mandate to public corporations that object on religious grounds2,3; the US Supreme Court is reviewing the ACA’s contraceptive coverage requirement. We assessed attitudes about mandated coverage of birth control medications.
Bactericidal Efficacy of ABI-0043, a Novel Rifamycin, in a Murine Pneumococcal Pneumonia Model

Novel rifamycins such as ABI-0043, ABI-0369, and ABI-0699 had comparable in vivo bactericidal activity with ceftriaxone against a penicillin-G-resistant, mefA-positive Streptococcus pneumoniae in a murine pneumonia model. ABI-0043 demonstrated a dose-dependent response with a high correlation to bacterial kill (+0.1 to -3.7 log 10CFU).
Photoionized plasmas created by soft x-ray laser irradiation of solid targets

We report the first experimental study of plasmas created by photoionization of solid targets with focused soft X-ray laser light. The plasma properties are dominantly determined by material absorption, in agreement with model simulations.
Sensitivity of sea ice to physical parameterizations in the GISS global climate model

[1] The GISS coupled model is used to investigate the sensitivity of sea ice to each of the following parameterizations: (1) two sea ice dynamics (CF: cavitating fluid; VP: viscous-plastic), (2) the specification of oceanic isopycnal mixing coefficients in the Gent and McWillams isopyncal mixing (GM), and (3) the wajsowicz viscosity diffusion (WV). The large-scale sea ice properties are highly sensitive to sea ice dynamics. With the inclusion of resistance to shear stress, VP captures the major observed sea ice drift features and improves the simulations of sea ice concentrations, thickness, and export through Fram Strait relative to CF. GM significantly improves the simulation of vertical temperature distributions in the Southern Ocean, although it leads to a dramatic reduction of Antarctic sea ice cover. The reduced oceanic isopycnal mixing coefficients lead to Arctic sea ice that tends to be less and thinner in almost the entire Arctic except in the North Pacific and Labrador Sea, while Antarctic sea ice that extends more equatorward throughout the circumpolar regions. The responses of sea ice to WV show an enlargement and thickening of sea ice in the Arctic, within the ice packs around the Antarctic and a reduction and thinning of sea ice in the northern Weddell and Ross Seas. On the basis of these experiments, two composite experiments with the best parameterizations are investigated. The atmospheric responses associated with sea ice changes are discussed. While improvements are seen, there are still many unrealistic aspects that will require further improvements to sea ice and ocean components.
Design priorities and disciplinary perspectives: the case of the US National Children's Study

Summary. The National Children's Study (NCS), which was undertaken in 2000 by collaboration between several US federal government agencies, is one of the largest and boldest longitudinal studies of children's health ever undertaken. One of the key design issues has been the nature of the NCS sample. The paper describes the nature of the choices and the reasons for the decision that the NCS be based on a national probability sample. Designed as a study of the environmental influences on children's health and development, the NCS is expected to identify, enrol and follow about 100000 children from their birth to the age of 21 years. A broad definition of relevant environments of interest, and a full partnership between government, university and medical scientists, introduces considerable challenges in the design of the study. The tools of a mature scientific discipline have evolved as the questions that are addressed by that discipline have required. Those questions differ across disciplines and consequently the tools that can best offer insight and evidence about the subject of interest differ as well. The language of a particular discipline often becomes esoteric, with terms and shorthand expressions meaningful and well understood within but often not clarifying to those out- side that discipline. These differences exist for the maintained hypotheses of the discipline, for the nature of the evidence that is most often found convincing, for the type and content of the data that are used to provide evidence on the issues and for the statistical methods that are typically used within that discipline. These conventions within a discipline provide it efficiency in its inquiries, but when the need arises to work in collaboration with another discipline those same conventions often make the joint effort difficult. This paper illustrates this point with an example of relevance for those who are interested in child cohort studies. The US National Children's Study (NCS) that is described below was conceived by non-sci- entists (by politicians) who intuitively understood the importance of engaging many disciplines in the study of the simple but profound question that they wanted to be addressed, but who had little insight about the difficulties of crafting a study that would meet the scientific requirements of a wide range of requisite disciplines. This is not a story about difficult personalities, turf battles, self-interest or pettiness but about the often poorly articulated differences in the basic nature of a question as framed collectively but interpreted separately by several disciplines. It is
ARQ Schemes for Data Transmission in Mobile Radio Systems

An important problem in land mobile radio communications is how to provide reliable data communications to the largest number of users. To explore this problem, several existing ARQ protocols are examined which have application to the land mobile radio channel, as well as some new protocol combinations. All protocols are analyzed for several key system performance measures which are verified by experimental means for static as well as fading channels. Finally, a conclusion is reached regarding a new Protocol combination which is found to offer significant advantages over all other protocols explored.
α-Iodocycloalkenones: Synthesis of (±)-epibatidine

Abstract A synthesis of the non-opiate analgesic alkaloid epibatidine was achieved in 13 steps and 13% overall yield starting from 1,3-cyclohexadiene using in a key step a modified Stille coupling reaction on an α-iodocyclohexenone.
When is the Diagonal Functor Frobenius

Given a complete, cocomplete category &#x1d49e;, we investigate the problem of describing those small categories I such that the diagonal functor Δ: &#x1d49e; → Functors(I, &#x1d49e;) is a Frobenius functor. This condition can be rephrased by saying that the limits and the colimits of functors I → &#x1d49e; are naturally isomorphic. We find necessary conditions on I for a certain class of categories &#x1d49e;, and, as an application, we give both necessary and sufficient conditions in the two special cases &#x1d49e; =Set or R ℳ, the category of left modules over a ring R.
Imprint of Reionization on the Cosmic Microwave Background Bispectrum

We study contributions to the cosmic microwave background (CMB) bispectrum from non- Gaussianity induced by secondary anisotropies during reionization. Large-scale structure in the reionized epoch both gravitationally lenses CMB photons and produces Doppler shifts in their temperature from scattering oU electrons in infall. The resulting correlation is potentially observable through the CMB bispectrum. The second-order Ostriker-Vishniac eUect also couples to a variety of linear secondary eUects to produce a bispectrum. For the currently favored —at cosmological model with a low matter content and small optical depth in the reionized epoch however, these bispectrum contributions q ( 0.3, are well below the detection threshold of MAP and at or below that of Planck, given their cosmic and noise variance limitations. At the upper end of this range, they can serve as an extra source of noise for measurements with Planck of either primordial nongaussianity or that induced by the correlation of gravitational lensing with the integrated Sachs-Wolfe and the thermal Sunyaev-Zeldovich eUects. We include a discussion of the general properties of the CMB bispectrum, its con—guration dependence for the various eUects, and its computation in the Limber approximation and beyond. Subject headings: cosmic microwave backgroundcosmology: theory ¨ large-scale structure of universegravitational lensing
Compensating Differentials in Emerging Labor and Housing Markets: Estimates of Quality of Life in Russian Cities

Abstract The purpose of this paper is to see if an equilibrium model of compensating differences for amenities can be applied to a major transition economy, Russia. We analyze Russian labor and housing markets using data from the Russian Longitudinal Monitoring Survey (RLMS) augmented by city and regional-specific characteristics from other sources. Our estimated wage and housing value equations suggest that workers are compensated for differences in climate, environmental conditions, ethnic conflicts, crime rates, and health conditions, after controlling for worker characteristics, occupation, industry, and economic conditions, and various housing characteristics. We find evidence that these compensating differentials exist even after controlling for the regional pay differences (“regional coefficients”) used by the Russian government to compensate public sector workers for living in regions that are designated as less desirable. Quality of life, as measured by a group of eleven amenities, varies substantially. The highest ranked cities tend to be in relatively warm areas and areas in the western, European part of the country. Our quality of life index is positively correlated with net migration into a region, suggesting workers are attracted to amenity-rich locations. Overall, we find that a model of compensating differentials with controls for disequilibrium yields useful information about compensation for location-specific amenities and quality of life in this large transition economy.
Central bank reforms in the Baltics, Russia, and the other countries of the former Soviet Union

Since 1991, the 15 countries under review - have to varying degrees, been pursuing reforms whose broad objectives have been to achieve market-based determination of interest rates and exchange rates, manage banking system liquidity through market operations with indirect instruments, and provide the institutional underpinnings for the design and implementation of macroeconomic stabilization and structural reform programs supported by the IMF. This study reviews the experience under these programs and the economic developments in the countries that undertook them.
CHANDRA OBSERVATIONS OF THE CL1604 SUPERCLUSTER AT z = 0.9: EVIDENCE FOR AN OVERDENSITY OF ACTIVE GALACTIC NUCLEI

We present the results of Chandra observations of the Cl1604 supercluster at z ~ 0.9. The system is the largest structure mapped at redshifts approaching unity, containing at least eight spectroscopically confirmed galaxy clusters and groups. Using two 50 ks ACIS-I pointings we examine both the X-ray point-source population and the diffuse emission from individual clusters in the system. Over an area encompassing the entire supercluster (~0.154 deg2), we find a 2.5σ excess of point sources detected in the hard band (2-10 keV) relative to the number of sources found in blank fields observed by Chandra. No such excess is observed in the soft band (0.5-2 keV). The hard-band source density is 1.47 times greater than that of a blank field, in agreement with the previously reported correlation between overdensity amplitude and cluster redshift. Using a maximum likelihood technique, we have matched 112 of the 161 detected X-ray point sources to optical counterparts and found 15 sources that are associated with the supercluster. All 15 sources have rest-frame luminosities consistent with emission from active galactic nuclei (AGNs). We find that the supercluster AGNs largely avoid the densest regions of the system and are instead distributed on the outskirts of massive clusters or within poorer clusters and groups. We have also detected diffuse emission from two of the eight clusters and groups in the system, clusters Cl1604 + 4304 and Cl1604 + 4314. The systems have bolometric luminosities of 1.43 × 10^44 and 8.20 × 10^43 h70^–2 erg s^–1 and gas temperatures of 3.50+1.82 –1.08 and 1.64+0.65 –0.45 keV, respectively. Using updated velocity dispersions, we compare the properties of these systems with the cluster scaling relations followed by other X-rays and optically selected galaxy clusters at high redshift.
Indoles: Industrial, Agricultural and Over-the-Counter Uses

Indole-containing compounds are best known for their medicinal properties in the pharmaceutical industry. Although to a lesser degree, the indole motif none-the-less appears in many significant products across the entire chemical industry. This chapter describes the role that indole plays in a more commodity setting and provides examples illustrating these uses.
On the Second Main Theorem of Cartan

The possibility of reversion of the inequality in the Second Main Theorem of Cartan in the theory of holomorphic curves in projective space is discussed. A new version of this theorem is proved that becomes an asymptotic equality for a class of holomorphic curves defined by solutions of linear differential equations. 2010 MSC: 30D35, 32A22. Keywords: Nevanlinna theory, Second Main theorem, linear differential equations.
The Reliance of External Auditors on Internal Audit's Use of Continuous Audit

ABSTRACT: As a response to the increased demand for timely and ongoing assurance over the effectiveness of risk management and control systems, companies are moving toward a more automated control environment through the implementation of continuous audit modules. The purpose of this study is to evaluate external auditors' reliance on internal audit's work when advanced audit techniques are introduced by the internal auditor and the impact this reliance has on budgeted audit hours. Prior literature suggests that internal control deficiencies also have an impact on external auditor reliance and the audit budget. The reliance decision of an external auditor has important economic consequences and implications for efficiency and effectiveness of the overall audit. In recent years, the PCAOB has encouraged greater such reliance to improve audit efficiency. An experiment is conducted with 87 experienced external auditors to investigate the theorized effects. Using a 2 × 2 between-subjects factorial design, the...
Power-aware code scheduling for clusters of active disks

In this paper, we take the idea of application-level processing on disks to one level further, and focus on an architecture, called cluster of active disks (CAD), where the storage system contains a network of parallel "active disks". Each individual active disk (which includes an embedded processor, disk(s), caches, memory, and interconnect) can perform some application level processing; but, more importantly, the active disks can collectively perform parallel input/output (I/O) and processing, thereby reducing not just the communication latency but I/O latency and computation time as well. The CAD architecture poses many challenges for the next generation software systems at all levels including programming models, operating and runtime systems, application mapping, compilation, parallelization and performance modeling, and evaluation. In this paper, we focus exclusively on code scheduling support required for clusters of active disks. More specifically, we address the problem of code scheduling with the goal of minimizing the power consumption on the disk system. Our experiments indicate that the proposed scheduling approach is very successful in reducing power and generates better results than three other alternate scheduling schemes tested.
Stereoselective Lewis Acid Mediated (3+2) Cycloadditions of N‐H‐ and N‐Sulfonylaziridines with Heterocumulenes

Alkyl and aryl isothiocyanates and carbodiimides are effective substrates in (3+2) cycloadditions with N-sulfonyl-2-substituted aziridines and 2-phenylaziridine for the synthesis of iminothiazolidines and iminoimidazolidines. Additionally, the stereoselective (3+2) cycloaddition of N-H- and N-sulfonylaziridines with isothiocyanates can be accomplished, allowing for the synthesis of highly enantioenriched iminothiazolidines. Evidence for an intimate ion-pair mechanism is presented herein in the context of these chemo-, regio-, and diastereoselective transformations. The demonstrated ability to remove the sulfonyl group from the heterocyclic products displays the utility of these compounds for further derivatization and application.
Using Market Basket Analysis in Management Research

Market basket analysis (MBA), also known as association rule mining or affinity analysis, is a data-mining technique that originated in the field of marketing and more recently has been used effectively in other fields, such as bioinformatics, nuclear science, pharmacoepidemiology, immunology, and geophysics. The goal of MBA is to identify relationships (i.e., association rules) between groups of products, items, or categories. We describe MBA and explain that it allows for inductive theorizing; can address contingency (i.e., moderated) relationships; does not rely on assumptions such as linearity, normality, and residual equal variance, which are often violated when using general linear model–based techniques; allows for the use of data often considered “unusable” and “messy” in management research (e.g., data not collected specifically for research purposes); can help build dynamic theories (i.e., theories that consider the role of time explicitly); is suited to examine relationships across levels of analysis; and is practitioner friendly. We explain how the adoption of MBA is likely to help bridge the muchlamented micro–macro and science–practice divides. We also illustrate that use of MBA can lead to insights in substantive management domains, such as human resource management (e.g., employee benefits), organizational behavior (e.g., dysfunctional employee behavior), entrepreneurship (e.g., entrepreneurs’ identities), and strategic management (e.g., corporate social responsibility). We hope our article will serve as a catalyst for the adoption of MBA as a novel methodological approach in management research.
The hermitian Wilson-Dirac operator in smooth SU(2) instanton backgrounds

We study the spectral flow of the hermitian Wilson-Dirac operator H(m) as a function of m in smooth SU(2) instanton backgrounds on the lattice. For a single instanton background with Dirichlet boundary conditions on H(m), we find a level crossing in the spectral flow of H(m), with the zero-mode associated with the single instanton background. With anti-periodic boundary conditions on H(m), we find that the instanton background in the singular gauge has the correct spectral flow but the one in regular gauge does not. We also investigate the spectral flows of two instanton and instanton-anti-instanton backgrounds.
ENGINEERING SCALABLE BIOLOGICAL SYSTEMS

Synthetic biology is focused on engineering biological organisms to study natural systems and to provide new solutions for pressing medical, industrial and environmental problems. At the core of engineered organisms are synthetic biological circuits that execute the tasks of sensing inputs, processing logic and performing output functions. In the last decade, significant progress has been made in developing basic designs for a wide range of biological circuits in bacteria, yeast and mammalian systems. However, significant challenges in the construction, probing, modulation and debugging of synthetic biological systems must be addressed in order to achieve scalable higher-complexity biological circuits. Furthermore, concomitant efforts to evaluate the safety and biocontainment of engineered organisms and address public and regulatory concerns will be necessary to ensure that technological advances are translated into real-world solutions.
Optical Energy Transfer and Photochromism in Doped Sol-Gel Glasses

Organically doped sol-gel glasses are investigated by optical absorption and time-resolved fluorescence depolarization measurements. Silicate and aluminosilicate glasses have been doped with quinizarin (Q) and aluminum phthalocyanine chloride (CAP). The structure and bonding in these inorganic sol-gel solids is different from that in frozen liquids and organic polymers, and the unique dynamics of these systems are a motivation for this study. Both rotational dynamics and optical energy transfer of doped chromophores in sol-gel glasses are investigated by time-resolved fluorescence depolarization measurements. Since the dipole-dipole energy transfer rate is very sensitive to transfer distance, these measurements are used to probe the spatial distribution of dopant molecules within these solids. We also present photochromic results on aluminum phthalocyanine chloride doped silicate sol-gel glasses and discuss possible uses as an optical power limiting material.
A builder's guide to agent-based financial markets

This paper is intended to guide researchers interested in building their own agent-based financial markets. Key design questions are outlined, along with some of the major controversies about which directions to take.
The Structure and Operation of the World Gold Market

This paper describes the structure of the world gold market, its sources of supply and demand, and how it functions. The paper examines the composition and origin of physical stocks of gold, their flows, and their market destination and also reviews the operation of bullion and paper gold markets.
A highly selective vanadium catalyst for benzylic C–H oxidation

Vanadium complexes have been used extensively to catalyze olefin and alcohol oxidation. However, their application in C–H oxidation has not been well-studied. We report herein that commercially available Cp2VCl2 catalyzes benzylic C–H oxidation selectively and effectively, giving no aromatic oxidation products.
Multimedia Capacity Analysis of the IEEE 802.11e Contention-Based Infrastructure Basic Service Set

We propose a novel and simple multimedia capacity analysis framework for the IEEE 802.11e Enhanced Distributed Channel Access (EDCA) function. We design a simple model- based admission control scheme which is based on the accurate queue utilization ratio we calculate by appropriately weighing the service time predictions of our previously developed saturation cycle time model for different number of active stations. We show that the proposed call admission control algorithm maintains satisfactory user-perceived quality for coexisting voice and video connections in an infrastructure Basic Service Set (BSS) and does not present over- or under-admission problems of previously proposed models in the literature.
On the complexity of curve fitting algorithms

We study a popular algorithm for fitting polynomial curves to scattered data based on the least squares with gradient weights. We show that sometimes this algorithm admits a substantial reduction of complexity, and, furthermore, find precise conditions under which this is possible. It turns out that this is, indeed, possible when one fits circles but not ellipses or hyperbolas.
Kinematically optimal robot placement for minimum time coordinated motion

This paper describes an algorithm for determining the optimal placement of a robotic manipulator within a workcell for minimum time coordinated motion. The algorithm uses a simple principle of coordinated motion to estimate the time of a joint interpolated motion. Specifically, the coordinated motion profile is limited by the slowest axis. Two and six degree of freedom (DOF) examples are presented. In experimental tests on a FANUC S-800 arm, the optimal placement of the robot can improve cycle time of a robotic operation by as much as 25%. In high volume processes where the robot motion is currently the limiting factor, this increased throughput can result in substantial cost savings.
The Impact of Divorce Laws on Marriage‐Specific Capital

This article considers how divorce law alters the incentives for couples to invest in their marriage, focusing on the impact of unilateral divorce laws on investments in new marriages. Differences across states between 1970 and 1980 provide useful quasi-experimental variation with which to consider incentives to invest in several types of marriagespecific capital: spouse’s education, children, household specialization, and home ownership. I find that adoption of unilateral divorce— regardless of the prevailing property-division laws—reduces investment in all types of marriage-specific capital considered except home ownership. In contrast, results for home ownership depend on the underlying property division laws.
The Duration of Medicaid Spells: An Analysis Using Flow and Stock Samples

We use unique data from the Medicaid program of the Commonwealth of Kentucky to examine the duration of Medicaid spells. The data set consists of a one-in-ten sample of all Medicaid recipients in Kentucky on July 1, 1986, and a similar sample of all new spells between July 1, 1986, and June 30, 1987. Because the beginning date of Medicaid recipiency is known for all spells, this mixed “stock” and “flow” sample allows us to identify the duration of Medicaid spells for up to twenty years. This is in contrast to other studies using short panels of new spells.We find significant differences in hazard functions across program eligibility categories, suggesting that the cost of expanding Medicaid or the savings from contracting it would vary depending on the eligibility group affected by the change in policy.
Preparation of β-fluoro- and β,β-difluoro-histidinols

Abstract Nucleophilic attack of azide on 2-bromo-3-fluoro-3-(1-trityl-1 H -imidazol-4-yl)-propan-1-ol ( 1a ) in aprotic solvent occurs on the 2-position to give the 2-azido derivative ( 2a ). Reduction of azide and removal of the trityl group produces β-fluorohistidinol ( 6a ). Elimination of HBr from 1a followed by “FBr” addition to the resulting double bond gives 2-bromo-3,3-difluoro-3-(1-trityl-1 H -imidazol-4-yl)-propan-1-ol ( 1b ). Nucleophilic attack of azide followed by reduction and removal of the trityl group, as for the preparation of 6a , gives β,β-difluorohistidinol ( 6b ). Initial attempts, under a variety of conditions, to oxidize the fluorinated histidinol precursors to carboxylic acids have not been successful.
Output Space Search for Structured Prediction

We consider a framework for structured prediction based on search in the space of complete structured outputs. Given a structured input, an output is produced by running a time-bounded search procedure guided by a learned cost function, and then returning the least cost output uncovered during the search. This framework can be instantiated for a wide range of search spaces and search procedures, and easily incorporates arbitrary structured-prediction loss functions. In this paper, we make two main technical contributions. First, we define the limited-discrepancy search space over structured outputs, which is able to leverage powerful classification learning algorithms to improve the search space quality. Second, we give a generic cost function learning approach, where the key idea is to learn a cost function that attempts to mimic the behavior of conducting searches guided by the true loss function. Our experiments on six benchmark domains demonstrate that using our framework with only a small amount of search is sufficient for significantly improving on state-of-the-art structured-prediction performance.
Thailand's Growth Path: From Recovery to Prosperity

Thailand is one of the most successful developing countries. After decades of rapid growth, the economy rebounded quickly from the 1997–98 Asian crisis and is set to continue its expansion into the future. Nevertheless, there are doubts about the resilience of the Thai economy. The country appears to be on a lower growth projectory now than before the crisis. What growth can Thailand realistically expect? And what can the government do to sustain such growth into the future? Using a new methodology for identifying binding constraints to growth (Rodrik 2004 and Hausmann et al 2005), this paper argues that Thailand’s challenge is to maintain growth levels of 4 to 5 percent over the medium term. To achieve this goal, Thailand needs to continue its efforts of improving business infrastructure, trade integration, and skills, as well as intensifying its governance reforms.
SPECTRUM AND ENERGY TRANSFER IN STEADY BURGERS TURBULENCE

The spectrum, energy transfer and spectral interactions in steady Burgers turbulence are studied using numerically generated data. The velocity field is initially random and the turbulence is maintained steady by forcing the amplitude of a band of low wavenumbers to be invariant in time, while permitting the phase to change as dictated by the equation. The spectrum, as expected, is very different from that of Navier-Stokes turbulence. It is demonstrated, for the first time, that the far range of the spectrum scales as predicted by Burgers (1950, 1974). Despite the difference in their spectra, in matters of the spectral energy transfer and triadic interactions Burgers turbulence is similar to Navier-Stokes turbulence.
Hardness results for agnostically learning low-degree polynomial threshold functions

Hardness results for maximum agreement problems have close connections to hardness results for proper learning in computational learning theory. In this paper we prove two hardness results for the problem of finding a low degree polynomial threshold function (PTF) which has the maximum possible agreement with a given set of labeled examples in Rn x {−1, 1}. We prove that for any constants d ≥ 1, e > 0,• Assuming the Unique Games Conjecture, no polynomial-time algorithm can find a degree-d PTF that is consistent with a (1/2 + e) fraction of a given set of labeled examples in Rn x {−1, 1}, even if there exists a degree-d PTF that is consistent with a 1 − e fraction of the examples.• It is NP-hard to find a degree-2 PTF that is consistent with a (1/2 + e) fraction of a given set of labeled examples in Rn x {−1, 1}, even if there exists a half-space (degree-1 PTF) that is consistent with a 1 − e fraction of the examples.These results immediately imply the following hardness of learning results: (i) Assuming the Unique Games Conjecture, there is no better-than-trivial proper learning algorithm that agnostically learns degree-d PTFs under arbitrary distributions; (ii) There is no better-than-trivial learning algorithm that outputs degree-2 PTFs and agnostically learns halfspaces (i.e. degree-1 PTFs) under arbitrary distributions.