cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Electrical stimulation in overactive bladder

Electrical stimulation is an effective and well-tolerated treatment for overactive bladder. Initial work in animals indicated the potential of this treatment, and early clinical experience in Europe further supported its likely efficacy. Although the mechanism of action of electrical stimulation remains unproven in humans, it is believed to be a neuromodulating therapy which affects the neural signaling that controls continence. There is also strong evidence that electrical stimulation affects striated muscle. The therapy can cause hypertrophy of skeletal muscle fibers, possibly by the recruitment of faster-conducting motor units, which would not normally be recruited during voluntary efforts. In addition, electrical stimulation can alter the expression of myosin isoforms, favoring a conversion to type I muscle. Despite our incomplete understanding of the mechanism of action of electrical stimulation, clinical devices have been developed quickly. Case series have been reported throughout Europe. These were followed by controlled clinical trials in the United States. There is good evidence that the use of vaginal electrical stimulators can reduce the occurrence of symptoms of overactive bladder in about half of the patients treated. Multiple uses of nonimplanted stimulation, including thigh stimulation, anal stimulation, and direct pelvic muscle stimulation, have been reported. In these trials, it is common for objective findings to be poorly correlated with subjective reports of improvements or cure. Patients frequently report that the urge-to-leak time improves, but this is difficult to measure objectively. The use of nonimplanted devices is effective and well tolerated, and should precede the use of implanted devices. A direct comparison with other effective methods of treatment for overactive bladder is warranted.
On the Optimality of Allowing Collusion

Abstract We examine a model wherein a principal can use an auditor's report to contract with a privately informed manager. The auditor can be honest or dishonest, a fact unknown to the principal who must thus decide whether to allow or deter collusion. Deterring collusion is costly because the principal has to reward both dishonest and honest auditors for refusing a bribe from the manager. Allowing collusion is costly because the dishonest auditors will erode the deterrence of the punishment. We show that the principal may find it optimal to allow collusion. When the punishment is high enough, allowing collusion is always optimal. We also study how collusion is optimally managed in different environments.
Distribution of Feeding Styles After Pyloromyotomy Among Pediatric Surgical Training Programs in North America

Introduction Thefeeding regimenemployedafter pyloromyotomy for pyloric stenosis continues to be a topic of debate and has yet to be evaluated in a prospective, randomized trial. To understand the spectrum of current feeding schedules being utilized in the various training programs, we queried the program directors or representatives about their feeding schedules. Methods Through the use of multiple electronic communication resources, we surveyed 47 pediatric training programs in the United States and Canada about their postpyloromyotomy feeding schedules. Questions included time to first feed, how the schedule is advanced, and criteria for stopping feeds and discharge. Results Reponses were received from 34 of the 47 institutions. Six programs had variable times ofdelay before instituting feeding whether ad libitum (ad lib) or protocol. The average time of delay was 4.3 hours. Six programs reported both ad lib feed and protocol feeding regiments. Twelve institutions used ad lib feeding regiments. Eight started feeding without delay. Twenty-six programs including our institution currently employ a protocol-based feeding regiment. Of these programs, seven begin the protocol without delay. Conclusions Despite retrospective evidence in support of ad lib feeds after pyloro- myotomy, the majority of teaching institutions employs protocols for the postpylor- omyotomy feeding schedule. There is clearly a role for a prospective, randomized trial to compare ad lib to schedule feeding.
Are there basic physical constraints on future anthropogenic emissions of carbon dioxide

Global Circulation Models (GCMs) provide projections for future climate warming using a wide variety of highly sophisticated anthropogenic CO2 emissions scenarios as input, each based on the evolution of four emissions “drivers”: population p, standard of living g, energy productivity (or efficiency) f and energy carbonization c (IPCC WG III 2007). The range of scenarios considered is extremely broad, however, and this is a primary source of forecast uncertainty (Stott and Kettleborough, Nature 416:723–725, 2002). Here, it is shown both theoretically and observationally how the evolution of the human system can be considered from a surprisingly simple thermodynamic perspective in which it is unnecessary to explicitly model two of the emissions drivers: population and standard of living. Specifically, the human system grows through a self-perpetuating feedback loop in which the consumption rate of primary energy resources stays tied to the historical accumulation of global economic production—or p×g—through a time-independent factor of 9.7±0.3 mW per inflation-adjusted 1990 US dollar. This important constraint, and the fact that f and c have historically varied rather slowly, points towards substantially narrowed visions of future emissions scenarios for implementation in GCMs.
The fused heterocycle 2-benzyl-3-methyl-1-phenyl-4-phenylsulfonyl-2H, 4H-pyrrolo[3,4-b]indole

Crystal structure determination of the title mol­ecule, C30H24N2O2S, reveals that the pyrrole ring in this fused heterocycle, although presumably strained and reactive in cyclo­addition reactions, does not differ appreciably from N-methyl­pyrrole except for a shorter C—C single bond [1.409 (4) A] in the pyrrole ring.
Nonextensive statistical mechanics, anomalous diffusion and central limit theorems

We briefly review Boltzmann-Gibbs and nonextensive statistical mechanics as well as their connections with Fokker-Planck equations and with existing central limit theorems. We then provide some hints that might pave the road to the proof of a new central limit theorem, which would play a fundamental role in the foundations and ubiquity of nonextensive statistical mechanics. The basic novelty introduced within this conjectural theorem is the generalization of the hypothesis of independence of the N random variables being summed. In addition to this, we also advance some nonlinear dynamical (possibly exact) relations which generalize the concepts of Lyapunov exponents, entropy production per unit time, and their interconnection as first proved by Pesin for chaotic systems.
Theory and group velocity of ultrashort, tightly focused laser pulses

The wave equation describing an ultrashort, tightly focused laser pulse in vacuum is solved analytically. Plasma dispersive effects are also included. Based on exact short-pulse solutions, analytical expressions are obtained for the pulse-length evolution, the pulse centroid motion, and the group velocity. Approximate short-pulse solutions are obtained to arbitrary order in the parameter λ/2πL < 1, where λ is the pulse wavelength and L is the length of the pulse envelope. Comparisons are made to the solutions of the paraxial wave equation and to numerical solutions of the full wave equation. The exact analytical expression for the pulse group velocity vg, which is correctly determined from the motion of the pulse centroid, is in excellent agreement with the numerical solution. In vacuum, 1 − vg/c ≅ (λ/2πr0)2, where r0 is the laser spot size at focus. Estimates for the quantity 1 − vg/c, based on the paraxial wave equation, are found to be in error by a factor of 2.
The amplified quantum Fourier transform: solving the local period problem

The first part of this paper defines the Amplified QFT algorithm. The second part of the paper summarizes the main results and compares the new algorithm against the QFT and QHS algorithms when solving the local period problem. It is shown that the new algorithm is, on average, quadratically faster than both the QFT and QHS algorithms.
New Bandwidth Sharing and Pricing Policies to Achieve a Win-Win Situation for Cloud Provider and Tenants

For predictable application performance or fairness in network sharing in clouds, many bandwidth allocation policies have been proposed. However, with these policies, tenants are not incentivized to use idle bandwidth or prevent link congestion, and may even take advantage of the policies to gain unfair bandwidth allocation. Increasing network utilization while avoiding congestion not only benefits cloud provider but also the tenants by improving application performance. In this paper, we propose a new pricing model that sets different unit prices for reserved bandwidth, the bandwidth on congested links and on uncongested links, and makes the unit price for congested links proportional to their congestion degrees. We use game theory model to analyze tenants’ behaviors in our model and the current pricing models, which shows the effectiveness of our model in providing the incentives. With the pricing model, we propose a network sharing policy to achieve both min-guarantee and proportionality, while prevent tenants from earning unfair bandwidth. We further propose methods for each virtual machine to arrange its traffic to reduce its unsatisfied demand and maximize its utility, while increase network utilization. As a result, our solution creates a win-win situation, where tenants strive to increase their benefits in bandwidth sharing, which also concurrently increases the utilities of cloud provider and other tenants. Our simulation and trace-driven experimental results show the effectiveness of our solutions in creating the win-win situation.
Antiresonance and interaction-induced localization in spin and qubit chains with defects

We study a spin chain with an anisotropic XXZ coupling in a magnetic field. Such a chain models several proposed types of quantum computers. The chain contains a defect with a different on-site energy. The interaction between excitations leads to the onset of two-excitation states localized next to the defect. In a resonant situation scattering of excitations on each other might cause decay of an excitation localized on the defect. We find that destructive many-particle quantum interference eliminates this decay. Numerical results confirm the analytical predictions.
High-pressure melting of iron: New experiments and calculations

The melting curve of e-iron in the pressure range of 100 GPa to 300 GPa has been derived by computing Gibbs free energies at high pressures and high temperatures from equation of states (EOS) of the α-, e- and liquid phases. Our calculations indicate that the melting curve of iron is very sensitive to the EOS of both the solid (e) and melt phases. Optimal EOS parameters for e-iron are presented as well as new data for sound velocities in γ- and liquid phases. The latter provides a value for the Gruneisen parameter for liquid iron of 2.55 at 9.7 Mg m^(-3) at a pressure of 74 GPa. Preliminary shock-wave experiments on pure iron preheated to 1300 °C were conducted in the 17-74 GPa range. Melting was observed in the highest pressure (74 GPa) experiment. This result supports our theoretically derived melting curve, which is close to those measured by Boehler (1993) and Saxena et al. (1993).
Using Empirical Information in the Era of HIV/AIDS to Inform Mitigation and Rural Development Strategies: Selected Results from African Country Studies

It is widely believed that the HIV/AIDS epidemic will have substantial socioeconomic impacts in Sub-Saharan Africa, including on the agricultural sector. While the implications of the disease for research in the health fields are well established, there is a growing awareness that the spread of HIV/AIDS is influenced by economic and social conditions, and that the economic consequences of the disease can be influenced by policies and institutions that affect behavior. Using prime age (PA) adult mortality and morbidity to proxy for HIV/AIDS health impacts, this paper summarizes empirical results from a synthesis of a set of country studies undertaken by agricultural economists at Michigan State University and at partner institutions in five African countries, each of which is based upon large-scale rural household surveys. The survey findings, in contrast to the general assumption that HIV-related mortality is typically associated with household heads/spouses, a majority of deceased prime-age adults are not household heads or spouses. Ex post land/labor ratios and total income per capita of rural households directly affected by PA adult mortality are heterogeneous, such that interventions need to be designed to target those households most affected and not simply households with a PA adult death. Those interventions may best address all households in poverty.
A Mathematical Model for Microbially Enhanced Oil Recovery Process

Abstract A three-phase, multiple-species, one-dimension model has been developed to simulate bacterial transport, growth, and metabolism processes involved in microbially enhanced oil recovery (MEOR) and to predict the modification in permeability that results from these microbial activities in porous media. Convection-dispersion equations and microbial kinetics are incorporated in the model system to characterize and quantify biomass production, product formation, and nutrient utilization in the MEOR process. Modification of permeability is assumed to be due to both pore-surface retention and pore-throat plugging by bacterial cells. The model has been applied to static (sand packs) and core-flooding (sandstone cores) experiments to describe microbial movement, metabolite production, and nutrient consumption during growth and metabolism and to estimate reduction in permeability. Comparison between numerical solutions and experimental results indicated that the model does simulate the essential microbial kinetics of laboratory experiments and that it can be extended to provide numerical predictions for the design and evaluation of MEOR field projects.
Total Synthesis of the Anticancer Natural Product OSW-1

The highly potent anticancer natural saponin OSW-1 has been successfully synthesized from commercially available 5-androsten-3β-ol-17-one 79 in 10 operations with 28% overall yield. The key steps in the total synthesis included a highly regio- and stereoselective selenium dioxide-mediated allylic oxidation of 80 and a highly stereoselective 1,4-addition of α-alkoxy vinyl cuprates 68 to steroid 17(20)-en-16-one 12E to introduce the steroid side chain. This total synthesis demonstrated once again the versatile synthetic applications of α-halo vinyl ether chemistry developed in our laboratories.
Eigenvalue and Eigenvector Approximate Analysis for Repeated Eigenvalue Problems

The method developed for approximate analysis involves a reparamaterization of the multivariable structural eigenvalue problems in terms of a single positive-valued parameter. The resulting equations yield first order approximations of changes in both the eigenvalues and eigenvectors associated with the repeated eigenvalue problem.
Mild and Rapid Hydroxylation of Aryl/Heteroaryl Boronic Acids and Boronate Esters with N-Oxides

Aryl and heteroaryl boronic acids and boronate esters are rapidly, often within minutes, transformed into the corresponding phenols by N-oxides in an open flask at ambient temperature. This transformation has broad compatibility with a variety of functional groups.
Prototypes from standard user interface management systems

An explanation is given of showing a computer what to do by directly manipulating objects, as opposed to giving it instructions using a programming language. The authors demonstrate how showing can take advantage of a standard user interface and the consistency of a user interface paradigm. They discuss prototyping in the Oregon Speedcode Universe, a programming system for writing programs without programming languages. >
Single event effects in the pixel readout chip for BTeV

In future experiments the readout electronics for pixel detectors is required to be resistant to a very high radiation level. In this paper we report on irradiation tests performed on several preFPIX2 prototype pixel readout chips for the BTeV experiment exposed to a 200 MeV proton beam. The prototype chips have been implemented in commercial 0.25 {micro}m CMOS processes following radiation tolerant design rules. The results show that this ASIC design tolerates a large total radiation dose, and that radiation induced Single Event Effects occur at a manageable level.
Understanding Conflict Management Systems and Strategies in the Workplace: A Pilot Study

In today's business environment, workplace conflict is a significant issue. Research in the conflict management discipline says that conflict in the workplace is on the rise and will continue to go up; however, many leaders and managers are not fully aware of structures and processes available to manage it. This article presents the results of a pilot study conducted in Broward County, Florida, of workplace leaders' and managers' awareness, perception, and use of conflict management systems and strategies. The findings reflect the lack of a clear definition of the issue, the absence of integrated conflict management systems within most organizations, and dissatisfaction with antiquated grievance systems. There is substantial opportunity for additional research.
24-hour knowledge factory: Using Internet technology to leverage spatial and temporal separations

Several of the outsourcing endeavors of today will gradually converge to a hybrid outsourcing model that will involve a team spread across three or more strategically-located centers interconnected by Internet technology. White-collar professionals in the US, Australia, and Poland, for example, could each work on a standard 9--5 basis, transfer the activity to a colleague in the next center, thereby enabling work to be performed on a round-the-clock basis. The effective use of sequential workers in such a 24-hour knowledge factory requires that professional tasks be broken down to the level where individuals can work on them with minimal interaction with their peers, and where new approaches can be employed to reduce the effort involved in transitioning from one employee to the next. This article describes an Internet-based prototype system that uses a Web-based interactive approach, coupled with a unique data model, to optimize collection and storage of design rationale and history from stakeholders and workers. The idea of multiple individuals acting as one “composite persona” is explored in the context of facilitating tasks and knowledge to be shared across the Internet in a seamless manner. The article also describes related activities in the commercial arena.
Elimination of Coherent Noise in a Coherent Light Imaging System

Optical imaging systems using coherent light introduce objectionable noise into the output image plane. Dust and bubbles on and in lenses cause most of the noise in the output image. This noise usually appears as bull's-eye diffraction patterns in the image. By rotating the lens about the optical axis these diffraction patterns can be essentially eliminated. The technique does not destroy the spatial coherence of the light and permits spatial filtering of the input plane.
The safety designs for the TITAN reversed-field pinch reactor study

Abstract TITAN is a study to investigate the potential of the reversed-field pinch concept as a compact, high-power density energy system. Two reactor concepts were developed, a self-cooled lithium design with vanadium structure and an aqueous solution loop-in-pool design, both operating at 18 MW/m 2 . The key safety features of the TITAN-I lithium-vanadium blanket design are in material selection, fusion power core configuration selection, lithium piping connections, and passive lithium drain tank system. Based on these safety features and results from accident evaluation, TITAN-I can at least be rated at a level 3 of safety assurance. For the TITAN-II aqueous loop-in-pool design, the key passive feature is the complete submersion of the fusion power core and the corresponding primary coolant loop system into a pool of low temperature water. Based on this key safety design feature, the TITAN-II design can be rated at a level 2 of safety assurance.
Explosive Instability and Coronal Heating

The observed energy-loss rate from the solar corona implies that the coronal magnetic field has a critical angle at which energy is released. It has been hypothesized that at this critical angle an "explosive instability" would occur, leading to an enhanced conversion of magnetic energy into heat. In earlier investigations, we have shown that a shear-dependent magnetohydrodynamic process called "secondary instability" has many of the distinctive features of the hypothetical "explosive instability." In this paper, we give the first demonstration that this "secondary instability" occurs in a system with line-tied magnetic fields and boundary shearing—basically the situation described by Parker. We also show that, as the disturbance due to secondary instability attains finite amplitude, there is a transition to turbulence which leads to enhanced dissipation of magnetic and kinetic energy. These results are obtained from numerical simulations performed with a new parallelized, viscoresistive, three-dimensional code that solves the cold plasma equations. The code employs a Fourier collocation—finite difference spatial discretization, and uses a third-order Runge-Kutta temporal discretization.
Solids mixing and segregation in a gas-liquid-solid fluidized bed

Abstract Experiments were conducted to study the solids mixing and segregation behaviour in a gas-liquid-solid fluidized bed containing a binary mixture of particles. Particles with different diameters but similar density were employed in the experiments. Multiple shutter plates were used for bed isolation to determine axial variation of the bed properties including concentrations of particles in the binary mixture, and liquid and gas holdups. A mathematical model which takes into consideration two counteracting mechanisms previously reported for solids mixing and segregation behaviour in the liquid-solid fludized bed system was developed to account for the same behaviour in the gas-liquid-solid fluidized bed system. An empirical approach established by Jean and Fan (1987, Chem. Engng Sci., in press) was employed in this study to permit solids holdups in the three phase fluidized bed system to be readily predicted based on the equation of Richardson and Zaki (1954 Trans. Inst. Chem. Engrs32, 35) for two phase fluidized bed systems. Model verification with experimental data was shown to be satisfactory.
Little Higgs phenomenology

Recently a new class of models has emerged that addresses the naturalness problem of a light Higgs boson. In these “little Higgs” models, the Standard Model Higgs boson is a pseudo-Nambu-Goldstone boson of an approximate global symmetry. The Higgs boson acquires mass radiatively only through “collective breaking” of the global symmetry, so that more than one interaction is required to give the Higgs a mass. This protects the Higgs mass from receiving quadratically divergent radiative corrections at one-loop. These models contain new vector bosons, fermions and scalars at the TeV scale that cancel the quadratic divergences in the Higgs mass due to the Standard Model gauge, top quark, and Higgs boson loops. In this talk I review the phenomenology of the little Higgs models, focusing on collider signatures and electroweak precision constraints.
Friedel-Crafts Approach to Electron Deficient Cyclic α- Amino Acids

An electron deficient 2,2-dimethyl-1-H-phenalene-1,3-dione based cyclic α-amino acid was synthesized in 7 steps using Friedel-Crafts acylation as the key step. A new recipe was found to deprotect the required phthalimide protecting group in highly hindered substrates.
Channel estimation for space-time orthogonal block codes

Channel estimation is one of the key components of space-time systems design. The transmission of pilot symbols, referred to as training, is often used to aid channel acquisition. In this paper, a class of generalized training schemes that allow the superposition of training and data symbols is considered. First, the Cramer-Rao lower bound (CRLB) is derived as a function of the power allocation matrices that characterize different training schemes. Then, equivalent training schemes are obtained, and the behavior of the CRLB is analyzed under different power constraints. It is shown that for certain training schemes, superimposing data with training symbols increases CRLB, and concentrating training power reduces CRLB. On the other hand, once the channel is acquired, uniformly superimposed power allocation maximizes the mutual information and, hence, the capacity.
Progress with the slotted-tube pulsed microwiggler

Abstract A pulsed microwiggler can produce a wiggler field of unusually short period and high strength. A period of a few millimeters and a field of 5 T appear possible. A satisactory design is hard to realize, however, for many reasons: the high current, the current nonuniformities caused by the skin effect, thermal stresses in the parts, the high precision, etc. In addition, measuring the field with adequate resolution in the time domain, as well as in all three spatial coordinates, is challenging, particularly inside the small bore of a microwiggler. This paper presents recent design modifications that illustrate new solutions to these problems and details of the construction, testing, and performance of wigglers already built.
Solving an inverse obstacle problem for the wave equation by using the boundary control method

We introduced in Oksanen (2011 arXiv:1106.3204) a method to locate discontinuities of a wave speed in dimension 2 from acoustic boundary measurements modeled by the hyperbolic Neumann-to-Dirichlet operator. Here we extend the method for sound hard obstacles in arbitrary dimension. We present numerical experiments with simulated noisy data suggesting that the method is robust against measurement noise.
Polynomials of small degree evaluated on matrices

AbstractA celebrated theorem of Shoda states that over any field (of characteristic ), every matrix with trace can be expressed as a commutator , or, equivalently, that the set of values of the polynomial on contains all matrices with trace . We generalize Shoda’s theorem by showing that every non-zero multilinear polynomial of degree at most , with coefficients in , has this property. We further conjecture that this holds for every non-zero multilinear polynomial with coefficients in of degree , provided that .
How Does Shopping With Others Influence Impulsive Purchasing

Most research in consumer psychology assumes that impulsive purchasing can be best explained by factors at the individual level. In contrast, this research examines how the presence of others influences this behavior. Results of 2 experiments suggest that the presence of peers increases the urge to purchase, and the presence of family members decreases it. However, this difference is greater when the group (peers or family) is cohesive and when participants are susceptible to social influence.
Reading as Reasoning: A Study of Mistakes in Paragraph Reading

It seems to be a common opinion that reading (understanding the meaning of printed words) is a rather simple compounding of habits. Each word or phrase is supposed, if known to the reader, to call up its sound and meaning and the series of word or phrase meanings is supposed to be, or be easily transmuted into, the total thought. It is perhaps more exact to say that little attention has been paid to the dynamics whereby a series of words whose meanings are known singly produces knowledge of the meaning of a sentence or paragraph. It will be the aim of this article to show that reading is a very elaborate procedure, involving a weighing of each of many elements in a sentence, their organization in the proper relations one to another, the selection of certain of their connotations and the rejection of others, and the cooperation of many forces to determine final response. In fact we shall find that the act of answering simple questions about a simple paragraph like the one shown below includes all the features characteristic of typical reasonings.
Molecular Electrocatalysts for the Oxidation of Hydrogen and the Production of Hydrogen – The Role of Pendant Amines as Proton Relays

Electrocatalysts for efficient conversion between electricity and chemical bonds will play a vital role in future systems for storage and delivery of energy. Our research on functional models of hydrogenase enzymes uses nickel and cobalt, abundant and inexpensive metals, in contrast to platinum, a precious metal used in fuel cells. A key feature of our research is a focus on the use of pendant amines incorporated into diphosphine ligands. These pendant amines function as proton relays, lowering the barrier to proton transfers to and from the catalytically active metal site. The hydride acceptor ability of metal cations, along with the basicity of pendant amines, are key thermochemical values that determine the thermodynamics of addition of H2 to a metal complex with a pendant amine incorporated into its ligand. Nickel catalysts for oxidation of H2 have turnover frequencies up to 50 s-1 (at 1 atm H2 and room temperature). Nickel and cobalt catalysts for production of H2 by reduction of protons are studied, one of which has a turnover frequency over 1000 s-1. This material is based upon work supported as part of the Center for Molecular Electrocatalysis, an Energy Frontier Research Center funded by the US Department of Energy, Officemore » of Science, Office of Basic Energy Sciences.« less
Stress concentration in a rubber sheet under axially symmetric stretching.

Stress concentration in rubber sheet under axially symmetric stretching, obtaining solutions through differential equations
1,3-Dipolar cycloaddition of nitrile oxides to 1-phenylsulfonyl-1,3-butadienes: synthesis of 3-(4,5-dihydroisoxazol-5-yl)pyrroles

Abstract Novel heterocyclic compounds containing the 3-(4,5-dihydroisoxazol-5-yl)pyrrole ring system were synthesized in good yields (66–78%) by regioselective 1,3-dipolar cycloaddition of nitrile oxides to 1-phenylsulfonyl-1,3-dienes followed by Barton–Zard pyrrole annulation.
Approaches to dihydrooxazine ring systems and application in the synthesis of bioactive natural products

This review describes selected approaches to the synthesis of 4H-5,6-dihydro-1,2-oxazines and application of these methods to the synthesis of natural products containing this heterocyclic ring system. The focus is on applications and on interesting aspects of chemistry related to this subclass of natural products, as well as newer methods for the synthesis of oxazines.
Cyclobutenone as a Highly Reactive Dienophile: Expanding Upon Diels−Alder Paradigms

Cyclobutenone was employed as a dienophile in Diels−Alder cycloadditions, provide diverse and complex cycloadducts in good yields. Experimental outcomes indicated cyclobutenone to be more reactive than either cyclopentenone or cyclohexenone. In addition, cycloadducts bearing a strained cyclobutanone moiety were able to undergo regioselective ring expansions to produce corresponding cyclopentanones, lactones, and lactams, which are otherwise difficultly obtained by direct Diels−Alder reactions.
Clocks, Creation and Clarity: Insights on Ethics and Economics from a Feminist Perspective

This essay discusses the origins, biases, and effects on contemporary discussions of economics and ethics of the unexamined use of the metaphor “an economy is a machine.” Both neoliberal economics and many critiques of capitalist systems take this metaphor as their starting point. The belief that economies run according to universal “laws of motion,” however, is shown to be based on a variety of rationalist thinking that – while widely held – is inadequate for explaining lived human experience. Feminist scholarship in the philosophy of science and economics has brought to light some of the biases that have supported the mechanistic worldview. Possible alternatives to the “an economy is a machine” include “an economy is a creative process” and “an economy is an organism.” Such metaphors are intellectually defensible as guides to scientific inquiry and provide a richer ground for moral imagination.
Fundamental limits on the speed of evolution of quantum states

This paper reports on some new inequalities of Margolus–Levitin–Mandelstam–Tamm type involving the speed of quantum evolution between two orthogonal pure states. The clear determinant of the qualitative behavior of this time scale is the statistics of the energy spectrum.
Repeated Injection of Cocaine Potentiates Methamphetamine-induced Toxicity to Dopamine-containing Neurons in Rat Striatum

Abstract Rats were treated with daily injections of saline or cocaine (20mg/kg i.p. × 15days) and, beginning 24 h after the last injection, administered saline or methamphetamine (6.25–50mg/kg s.c., BID × 4days) and sacrificed two weeks later. Repeated daily administration of cocaine potentiated the long-lasting striatal dopamine depletions caused by methamphetamine. The results suggest that human use of cocaine may increase the likelihood of neurotoxicity resulting from ingestion of high doses of methamphetamine.
Planetary spectra for anisotropic scattering

Some effects on planetary spectra that would be produced by departures from isotropic scattering are examined. The phase function is the simplest departure to handle analytically and the only phase function, other than the isotropic one, that can be incorporated into a Chandrasekhar first approximation. This approach has the advantage of illustrating effects resulting from anisotropies while retaining the simplicity that yields analytic solutions. The curve of growth is the sine qua non of planetary spectroscopy. The discussion emphasizes the difficulties and importance of ascertaining curves of growth as functions of observing geometry. A plea is made to observers to analyze their empirical curves of growth, whenever it seems feasible, in terms of coefficients of which are the leading terms in radiative-transfer analysis. An algebraic solution to the two sets of anisotropic H functions is developed which gives emergent intensities accurate to 0.3%.
Improved Multiple Sequence Alignments Using Coupled Pattern Mining

We present alignment refinement by mining coupled residues (ARMiCoRe), a novel approach to a classical bioinformatics problem, viz., multiple sequence alignment (MSA) of gene and protein sequences. Aligning multiple biological sequences is a key step in elucidating evolutionary relationships, annotating newly sequenced segments, and understanding the relationship between biological sequences and functions. Classical MSA algorithms are designed to primarily capture conservations in sequences whereas couplings, or correlated mutations, are well known as an additional important aspect of sequence evolution. (Two sequence positions are coupled when mutations in one are accompanied by compensatory mutations in another). As a result, better exposition of couplings is sometimes one of the reasons for hand-tweaking of MSAs by practitioners. ARMiCoRe introduces a distinctly pattern mining approach to improving MSAs: using frequent episode mining as a foundational basis, we define the notion of a coupled pattern and demonstrate how the discovery and tiling of coupled patterns using a max-flow approach can yield MSAs that are better than conservation-based alignments. Although we were motivated to improve MSAs for the sake of better exposing couplings, we demonstrate that our MSAs are also improvements in terms of traditional metrics of assessment. We demonstrate the effectiveness of ARMiCoRe on a large collection of data sets.
On the role of common codewords in quadratic Gaussian multiple descriptions coding

This paper focuses on the problem of L-channel quadratic Gaussian multiple description (MD) coding. We recently introduced a new encoding scheme in [1] for general L-channel MD problem, based on a technique called `Combinatorial Message Sharing' (CMS), where every subset of the descriptions shares a distinct common message. The new achievable region subsumes the most well known region for the general problem, due to Venkataramani, Kramer and Goyal (VKG) [2]. Moreover, we showed in [3] that the new scheme provides a strict improvement of the achievable region for any source and distortion measures for which some 2-description subset is such that the Zhang and Berger (ZB) scheme achieves points outside the El-Gamal and Cover (EC) region. In this paper, we show a more surprising result: CMS outperforms VKG for a general class of sources and distortion measures, which includes scenarios where for all 2-description subsets, the ZB and EC regions coincide. In particular, we show that CMS strictly extends VKG region, for the L-channel quadratic Gaussian MD problem for all L ≥ 3, despite the fact that the EC region is complete for the corresponding 2-descriptions problem. Using the encoding principles derived, we show that the CMS scheme achieves the complete rate-distortion region for several asymmetric cross-sections of the L-channel quadratic Gaussian MD problem, which have not been considered earlier.
THE STABILIZING EFFECT OF COMPRESSIBILITY IN TURBULENT SHEAR FLOW

Direct numerical simulation of turbulent homogeneous shear flow is performed in order to clarify compressibility effects on the turbulence growth in the flow. The two Mach numbers relevant to homogeneous shear flow are the turbulent Mach number M_t and the gradient Mach number M_g. Two series of simulations are performed where the initial values of M_g and M_t are increased separately. The growth rate of turbulent kinetic energy is observed to decrease in both series of simulations. This `stabilizing'' effect of compressibility on the turbulent energy growth rate is observed to be substantially larger in the DNS series where the initial value of M_g is changed. A systematic comparison of the different DNS cases shows that the compressibility effect of reduced turbulent energy growth rate is primarily due to the reduced level of turbulence production and not due to explicit dilatational effects. The reduced turbulence production is not a mean density effect since the mean density remains constant in compressible homogeneous shear flow. The stabilizing effect of compressibility on the turbulence growth is observed to increase with the gradient Mach number M_g in the homogeneous shear flow DNS. Estimates of M_g for the mixing layer and the boundary layer are obtained. These estimates show that the parameter M_g becomes much larger in the high-speed mixing layer relative to the high-speed boundary layer even though the mean flow Mach numbers are the same in the two flows. Therefore, the inhibition of turbulent energy production and consequent `stabilizing'' effect of compressibility on the turbulence (over and above that due to the mean density variation) is expected to be larger in the mixing layer relative to the boundary layer in agreement with experimental observations.
Dispiromacrocycles: A class of diamide and diimide ionophores

A series of novel ionophores was synthesized in three steps from acrylonitrile and diethyl malonate or malononitrile via 2,8-diazaspiro[5.5]undecane-1.7-dione (7) or 2,8-diazaspiro[5,5]undecane-1,3,7,9-tetrone (8). Spirodiamide macrocycle 14 imparts selectivity for lithium to potentiometric ion-selective electrodes.
Impossibility results in the axiomatic theory of intertemporal choice

We have shown formally that for infinite generation, transitive, intertemporal choice procedures the familiar conditions of Pareto optimality and independence together with the equity condition of stationarity are incompatible unless one is willing to accept a dictatorship. As in the case of Arrow's impossibility theorem, the result is primarily conceptual rather than practical. Real world decisions are seldom made by a pre-specified rule that is broad enough to deal with a full domain of individual or generational preference profiles. Nevertheless, impossibility results give us important clues about inherent and surprising limitations in institutions we often accept unquestioningly. The appearance of stationarity, introduced in [2] and proposed as a social choice condition in [1], leads to broader and more practical questions involving discount rates. If we accept the full intertemporal choice model as presented, then we are led to question the validity of any debate about ‘fair’ discount rates. Indeed, no discount rate regardless of how close it may be to unity can be fair under the assumptions we have used. Such discounting implies stationarity and is tantamount to giving dictatorial power to the first generation. Since discount rates are in practice applied in much more specialized and varied ways, this criticism of discounting must be tempered somewhat. The results do suggest, however, that discounting should be employed discriminately and with caution. The dictatorship result of Arrow's theorem depends on the assumption that the social choice function is transitive. If transitivity is weakened to quasitransitivity or acyclicity, then one obtains, respectively, an oligarchy or a collegial polity (see [5] and [6]). It is not clear to what extent our results carry over to these situations, though it seems reasonable to conjecture that, in the quasitransitive case, the oligarchy must consist of consecutive initial segments of generations. In the acyclic case one would likewise expect the present generation to belong to the collegium (the intersection of all decisive sets) and thus to have, at least in the monotonic case, a power of veto.
Monopole condensation and confining phase of N = 1 gauge theories via M-theory fivebrane

The fivebrane of M theory is used in order to study the moduli space of vacua of confining phase N=1 supersymmetric gauge theories in four dimensions. The supersymmetric vacua correspond to the condensation of massless monopoles and confinement of photons. The monopole and meson vacuum expectation values are computed using the fivebrane configuration. The comparison of the fivebrane computation and the field theory analysis shows that at vacua with a classically enhanced gauge group SU(r) the effective superpotential obtained by the"integrating in" method is exact for r=2 but is not exact for r> 2. The fivebrane configuration corresponding to N=1 gauge theories with Landau-Ginzburg type superpotentials is studied. N=1 non-trivial fixed points are analyzed using the brane geometry.
Pipes, Cigars, and Kreplach: the Union of Minkowski Sums in Three Dimensions

Let Ω be a set of pairwise-disjoint polyhedral obstacles in ?3 with a total of n vertices, and let B be a ball in ?3. We show that the combinatorial complexity of the free configuration space ${cal F}$ of B amid Ω, i.e., (the closure of) the set of all placements of B at which B does not intersect any obstacle, is O(n 2+?), for any ? > 0; the constant of proportionality depends on ?. This upper bound almost matches the known quadratic lower bound on the maximum possible complexity of ${cal F}$. The special case in which Ω is a set of lines is studied separately. We also present a few extensions of this result, including a randomized algorithm for computing the boundary of ${cal F}$ whose expected running time is O(n 2+?),for any ? > 0.
The rate of the hydrogen discharge reaction on platinum in sulfuric acid solution

Abstract The io for the H+/H exchange on Pt was found to be dependent on H2SO4 concentration, giving a linear log—log relation with a slope of 0·5. For any given H2SO4 concentration, io was virtually independent of potential to an anodic value at which the Pt-associated H concentration dropped to a low value. Comparisons are made with literature results. The influence of the dilute double layer on io appeared to be minimal over a wide range of H2SO4 concentrations.
Highly Regioselective Catalytic Oxidative Coupling Reactions: Synthetic and Mechanistic Investigations

A highly efficient and regioselective Pd-catalyzed method for the oxidative coupling of arylpyridine derivatives is reported. Remarkably, the reactions proceed at room temperature and are compatible with diverse functionalities, including aryl halides and thiophenes. Mechanistic studies suggest that these transformations proceed via a previously unprecedented mechanism involving two different pyridine-directed C−H activation reactionsone at a PdII center and one at PdIV.
Isochoric p−ρ−T Measurements on {(x)CO2 + (1 − x)C2H6, x ≈ 0.25, 0.49, 0.74} from (220 to 400) K at Pressures to 35 MPa†

The p−ρ−T relationships were measured for binary hydrocarbon mixtures containing carbon dioxide (CO2) and ethane (C2H6). Temperatures ranged from (220 to 400) K with pressures up to 35 MPa. Measurements of p−ρ−T were conducted on compressed gaseous and liquid samples with the mole fraction compositions {(x)CO2 + (1 − x)C2H6} for x = 0.251 68, 0.492 33, and 0.739 79. These mixtures were prepared gravimetrically to match, within 0.000 12 mole fraction, the compositions (0.251 66, 0.492 45, 0.739 78) of three mixtures which had been used by three laboratories for measurements of key thermophysical properties, including the density. For the p−ρ−T apparatus used in this study, the uncertainty of the temperature is 0.03 K, and for pressure, it is 0.01% at p > 3 MPa and 0.05% at p < 3 MPa. The principal source of uncertainty in density is the cell volume (∼28.5 cm3), whose standard uncertainty is 0.003 cm3. When all components of experimental uncertainty are considered, the expanded relative uncertainty (with a ...
Spin-triplet s -wave local pairing induced by Hund's rule coupling

We show within the dynamical mean field theory that local multiplet interactions such as Hund's rule coupling produce local pairing superconductivity in the strongly correlated regime. Spin-triplet superconductivity driven by the Hund's rule coupling emerges from the pairing mediated by local fluctuations in pair exchange. In contrast to the conventional spin-triplet theories, the local orbital degrees of freedom has the antisymmetric part of the exchange symmetry, leaving the spatial part as fully gapped and symmetric $s$-wave.
A magnetostatic sunspot model with 'twisted' field

It is shown that the internal structure of sunspots is affected only to a small degree by the presence of the azimuthal component of the sunspot magnetic field. The magnetostatic theory of sunspots developed by Schluter and Temesvary (1958) is extended to include such an effect. In the present study, the radial dependence of the azimuthal component of the field is adopted from the observation of Stepanov (1965). A typical sunspot of an effective temperature of 4000K is considered and its detailed structure is presented.
Observations on practical turbulence modeling for high-speed jet/plume flowfields

An overview is presented of the current status in terms of simulating basic high-speed/straightback free jet flowfields with two-equation turbulence models. A building-block approach is described which provides a systematic method of calibrating such turbulence models. Data to support this approach focuses on obtaining turbulence modeling capabilities to reproduce basic mean flow structure for simple flows before progressing to more complex problems. For transverse jets and wall jets, new building-blocks of data are necessary with turbulence modeling capabilities unifying the free jet building-blocks discussed, and fundamental boundary layer and shock/boundary layer interaction building-blocks resulting from other studies.