cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Multi-objective optimization in urban design

Urban Design is a multi-objective task. Traditionally, urban spaces are designed hierarchically; organizational inputs are idealized uniquely, and negotiated through sequential overlay. In our investigation, parametric modeling (with the software application Catia) and evolutionary optimization employing genetic algorithms (with the software application Mode Frontier) enable the exploration of a non-linear design space whereby multiple objectives may be optimized concurrently. This paper describes an experiment that builds from prior research in multi-objective optimization of architectural design and applies that workflow to multi-objective optimization in urban design. The experiment employs given constraints, custom procedural algorithms and genetic algorithms to examine a wide design space and identify designs that perform well in multiple arenas. Design, data and latent influences are exposed and negotiated quantitatively to render topological variation through optimization. By using multi-objective optimization we define and apply quantitative metrics in order to examine the potential for a new workflow in urban design.
Inclusion Complexes of Molecular Transition Metal Hosts

Etude sur les complexes de cyclodextrines, cyclophanes, ethers crown, cryptands et cavitands
TREE ARCHITECTURE: RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN STRUCTURE AND FUNCTION

The mechanisms of tree architecture are based upon deterministic plans or models of development which may later be modified by reiteration and other opportunistic changes in structure. Crown form is a result of many variables as shown in two species of Alstonia (Apocynaceae). The effect of scale upon observed structural and functional relationships is stressed. Published optimization and functional studies of mechanical structure, branching pattern, axis orientation, bifurcation ratio, spatial distribution of leaves, and life-form are reviewed. Analogues of branches and compound leaves are discussed as are the strengths and weaknesses of computer modeling of tree architecture. The problems of assigning evolutionary significance to observable structure and form are noted.
Plasmid DNA purification via the use of a dual affinity protein.

Methods are presented for the production, affinity purification and analysis of plasmid DNA (pDNA). Batch fermentation is used for the production of the pDNA, and expanded bed chromatography, via the use of a dual affinity glutathione S-transferase (GST) fusion protein, is used for the capture and purification of the pDNA. The protein is composed of GST, which displays affinity for glutathione immobilized to a solid-phase adsorbent, fused to a zinc finger transcription factor, which displays affinity for a target 9-base pair sequence contained within the target pDNA. A Picogreen™ fluorescence assay and/or anx ethidium bromide agarose gel electrophoresis assay can be used to analyze the eluted pDNA.
Unequal Protection under the Law: Why FDA Should Use Negotiated Rulemaking to Reform the Regulation of Generic Drugs

The duty to ensure the safety of drug products, through adequate warnings or other means, should ultimately rest with the drug's manufacturer regardless of whether the drug is a generic drug or a brand-name drug. Recent U.S. Supreme Court holdings, however, suggest that while the manufacturer of a brand-name drug is always responsible for its label's content, this is not the case for generic drugs. In addition, by holding that failure-to-warn claims against generic drug manufacturers based on state law are preempted, the Court has removed the protections and compensation that state tort law can provide consumers of generic drugs and exposed a gap in the regulation of generic drugs in which no manufacturer is responsible for updating the labeling. This Article argues that to remedy these issues, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) should use negotiated rulemaking to work with drug manufacturers, consumer representatives, healthcare providers, and other interests to create new drug regulations. Although FDA has not used the negotiated rulemaking process set forth by the Negotiated Rulemaking Act of 1990 to date, the current regulatory environment has several features that suggest it may be well-suited for negotiated rulemaking. In addition, employing negotiated rulemaking to create new drug regulations may yield benefits over conventional notice-and-comment rulemaking and may ultimately produce a more effective and legitimate rule.
Law, Policy, and Market Implications of Genetic Profiling in Drug Development

∗ Associate Professor of Law and Medicine, Louisiana State University Law Center; Visiting Professor of Law, Hofstra University School of Law, Spring 2002. This article originated in presentations made at the University of Arizona College of Pharmacy in February 2001 and at the Louisiana State University Law Center in February 2002, and the author would like to thank those who participated in these forums and shared their comments. The author also would like to thank his students at Hofstra University School of Law during the spring 2002 semester for interactions that enriched this article.
The informational architecture of the cell

We compare the informational architecture of biological and random networks to identify informational features that may distinguish biological networks from random. The study presented here focuses on the Boolean network model for regulation of the cell cycle of the fission yeast Schizosaccharomyces pombe . We compare calculated values of local and global information measures for the fission yeast cell cycle to the same measures as applied to two different classes of random networks: Erdos–Renyi and scale-free. We report patterns in local information processing and storage that do indeed distinguish biological from random, associated with control nodes that regulate the function of the fission yeast cell-cycle network. Conversely, we find that integrated information, which serves as a global measure of ‘emergent’ information processing, does not differ from random for the case presented. We discuss implications for our understanding of the informational architecture of the fission yeast cell-cycle network in particular, and more generally for illuminating any distinctive physics that may be operative in life.
Purification of muscle actin.

Publisher Summary This chapter focuses on the purification methods of muscle actin. With the advent of polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis as a highly resolving analytical tool for ascertaining protein purity, it became evident that muscle actin isolated by classic procedure contained significant amounts of actomyosin-associated muscle proteins such as tropomyosin and α-actinin. SDS-polyacrylamide gels have met with widespread use as a general method for obtaining muscle actin. A problem in establishing methods for actin purification resides in the level of purity. Emerging experimentation in cell biology and, specifically, cytoskeletal biochemistry requires probing sensitive properties of actin itself and actin associations with other cell proteins. The chapter explores some of the pitfalls associated with actin purification and clarifies in some detail the correct usage and expected result from each step of the widely used muscle actin purification. Additional steps to eliminate trace contaminants are also described.
Reverse-transcription polymerase chain reaction detection of the enteroviruses.

Abstract Objective.—This review focuses on commercial and in-house–developed reverse-transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) assays used for the detection of enteroviral infections. In addition to providing details on the performance of RT-PCR, its specificity, and sensitivity, the clinical utility of this diagnostic method with specific reference to its impact on hospitalization and cost savings is addressed. Data Sources.—MEDLINE was searched for reports relating to RT-PCR detection of the enteroviruses in adults and children. The search was restricted to studies reported in English language journals. Study Selection.—Reports documenting detailed information regarding the RT-PCR conditions, primers, sensitivity, specificity and, if relevant, clinical impact were selected for analysis. Data Extraction.—Details regarding method of extraction of the enteroviral genome, the primers used, RT-PCR conditions, and sensitivity and specificity of the assay were extracted from the literature. For reports ...
Structure and reactivity of carbenes having aryl substituents

Publisher Summary This chapter explores that one of the central objectives of the study of chemistry is sufficient knowledge to permit the forecast of the chemical and physical properties of a substance directly and reliably from its structure. This objective has been achieved to a remarkable degree for the host of isolable compounds that have been prepared and investigated. The chapter reviews the electronic and structural features that underlie all of carbene chemistry. It introduces the set of related aromatic carbenes that are the basis for our dissection of the effects of structure on carbene properties. The chemical and spectroscopic techniques and procedures used to probe these carbenes are described and explained briefly. Then, the results of the application of these probes to the chosen carbenes are presented. The relation of a carbene's structure to its chemical and physical properties is placed within the predictive framework of molecular orbital theory. The objective of this chapter is to present sufficient information to forecast the properties of an aromatic carbene directly and reliably from its structure.
Trade in Health Services : What’s in it for Developing Countries?

This study summarizes the existing knowledge and relevant abstracts and case-studies on the design of health and/or trade reforms and policies. The study aims to contribute to the understanding of the potential benefits and risks - and ways to maximize the former and minimize the latter - of trade in the health sector. It is designed for non-trade (health) experts to understand how trade can help to improve health systems and access to health services, and for trade specialists to understand the specific characteristics of the health sector.
Aid inflows and the real effective exchange rate in Tanzania

Tanzania is well placed to receive a significant increase in aid inflows in coming years. Despite the potential for the additional aid inflows to raise income levels in the country, increasing them may bring about structural changes in the economy that may be unwelcome. One such change is an appreciation of the real exchange rate that leads to a contraction of traditional export sectors and a loss of export competitiveness. This paper employs a reduced-form equilibrium real exchange rate approach to explain movements in Tanzania's real effective exchange in recent decades. Particular attention is paid to the relationship between aid inflows and the real effective exchange rate. The authors find that the long-run behavior of the real effective exchange rate is influenced by terms of trade movements, the government's trade liberalization efforts, and aid inflows. Positive terms-of-trade movements are associated with an appreciation, periods of improving trade liberalization are associated with a depreciation, and increases in aid inflows are associated with a depreciation in the real effective exchange rate. Although the last result is non-standard, it is not empirically unique and does have theoretical underpinnings. A detailed analysis of this relationship over the last decade shows that the Bank of Tanzania's response to aid inflows is likely the main reason for the finding.
Lower bounds on the approximation of the exemplar conserved interval distance problem of genomes

In this paper we present several lower bounds on the approximation of the exemplar conserved interval distance problem of genomes. We first prove that the exemplar conserved interval distance problem cannot be approximated within a factor of clogn for some constant c>0 in polynomial time, unless P=NP. We then prove that it is NP-complete to decide whether the exemplar conserved interval distance between any two sets of genomes is zero or not. This result implies that the exemplar conserved interval distance problem does not admit any approximation in polynomial time, unless P=NP. In fact, this result holds even when a gene appears in each of the given genomes at most three times. Finally, we strengthen the second result under a weaker definition of approximation (which we call weak approximation). We show that the exemplar conserved interval distance problem does not admit a weak approximation within a factor of m, where m is the maximum length of the given genomes.
On the Effects of Bandwidth Reduction Techniques in Distributed Applications

Communication optimization plays an important role in building networked distributed applications. In this paper, we systematically evaluate four bandwidth reduction algorithms, namely direct sending, delta-encoding, fix-sized blocking, and vary-sized blocking, using five types of documents including source code, images, Web contents, Microsoft Word documents, and Latex files. The experiments were performed under four representative network connection technologies. Performance evaluation results show that different approaches have different performance in terms of different metrics. Completely different results can be achieved by the same algorithm with respect to different types of documents. Network condition can affect some algorithms substantially. Furthermore, the effect of block size to the system performance (for block-based algorithms) was also studied.
Tree simplification and the ‘plateaux’ phenomenon of graph Laplacian eigenvalues

We developed a procedure of reducing the number of vertices and edges of a given tree, which we call the “tree simplification procedure,” without changing its topological information. Our motivation for developing this procedure was to reduce computational costs of graph Laplacian eigenvalues of such trees. When we applied this procedure to a set of trees representing dendritic structures of retinal ganglion cells of a mouse and computed their graph Laplacian eigenvalues, we observed two “plateaux” (i.e., two sets of multiple eigenvalues) in the eigenvalue distribution of each such simplified tree. In this article, after describing our tree simplification procedure, we analyze why such eigenvalue plateaux occur in a simplified tree; explain such plateaux can occur in a more general graph if it satisfies a certain condition; and identify these two eigenvalues specifically as well as the lower bound to their multiplicity.
Is the Developing World Catching up? Global Convergence and National Rising Dispersion

The present study uses the GIDD, a CGE-microsimulation model for Global Income Distribution Dynamics, to understand the ex-ante dynamics of global income distribution. Three main robust results emerge. First, under a set of realistic assumptions, there will be a reduction in global income inequality by 2030. This potential reduction can be fully accounted for by the projected convergence in average incomes across countries, with poor and populous countries growing faster than the rest of the world. Second, this convergence process will be accompanied by a widening of income distribution in two-thirds of the developing countries; the main cause being increasing skill premia. Third, a trend that may counter-balance the potential anti-globalization sentiment is the emergence of a global middle class: a group of consumers who demand access to, and have the means to purchase, international goods and services. The results show that the share of these consumers in the global population is likely to more than double in the next 20 years. These ex-ante trends in global income distribution suggest that the mid-1990s could be seen as a turning point after which global inequality began showing a negative tendency.
Cohen–Macaulayness of Rees Algebras of Modules

We provide the sufficient conditions for Rees algebras of modules to be Cohen–Macaulay, which has been proven in the case of Rees algebras of ideals in [11] and [4]. As it turns out the generalization from ideals to modules is not just a routine generalization, but requires a great deal of technical development. We use the technique of generic Bourbaki ideals introduced by Simis, Ulrich, and Vasconcelos [14] to obtain the Cohen–Macaulayness of Rees Algebras of modules.
The Fairness Doctrine Redux: Media Bias and the Rights of Broadcasters

This article examines two bills currently before Congress that would revive the Fairness Doctrine – the FCC policy that from 1947-1987 required broadcasters to address controversial issues of public importance and to air competing points of view on those issues. The author argues that both of these bills would violate the First Amendment rights of broadcasters by giving a group of political appointees to power to serve as arbiters of the fairness of broadcast content. A fairness policy would also be counterproductive in that it would reward broadcasters for producing scrupulously balanced but ultimately simplistic news reports, and it would create an incentive for broadcasters to self-censor as a way of escaping FCC scrutiny.
Integrable Systems and Rank-One Conditions for Rectangular Matrices

We give a determinantal formula for tau functions of the KP hierarchy in terms of rectangular constant matrices A, B, and C satisfying a rank-one condition. This result is shown to generalize and unify many previous results of different authors on constructions of tau functions for differential and difference integrable systems from square matrices satisfying rank-one conditions. In particular, its explicit special cases include Wilson's formula for tau functions of the rational KP solutions in terms of Calogero–Moser Lax matrices and our previous formula for the KP tau functions in terms of almost-intertwining matrices.
FLUX ENHANCEMENT IN CROSSFLOW MEMBRANE FILTRATION: FOULING AND IT'S MINIMIZATION BY FLOW REVERSAL

Fouling problems are perhaps the single most important reason for relatively slow acceptance of ultrafiltration in many areas of chemical and biological processing. To overcome the losses in permeate flux associated with concentration polarization and fouling in cross flow membrane filtration, we investigated the concept of flow reversal as a method to enhance membrane flux in ultrafiltration. Conceptually, flow reversal prevents the formation of stable hydrodynamic and concentration boundary layers at or near the membrane surface. Further more, periodic reversal of the flow direction of the feed stream at the membrane surface results in prevention and mitigation of membrane fouling. Consequently, these advantages are expected to enhance membrane flux significantly. A crossflow membrane filtration unit was designed and built to test the concept of periodic flow reversal for flux enhancement. The essential elements of the system include a crossflow hollow fiber membrane module integrated with a two-way valve to direct the feed flow directions. The two-way valve is controlled by a controller-timer for periodic reversal of flow of feed stream. Another important feature of the system is that with changing feed flow direction, the permeate flow direction is also changed to maintain countercurrent feed and permeate flows for enhanced massmore » transfer driving force (concentration difference). Bovine serum albumin (BSA) is a well-studied model solute in membrane filtration known for its fouling and concentration polarization capabilities. Laboratory-scale tests on a hollow-fiber ultrafiltration membrane module using BSA solution as feed show that under flow reversal conditions, the permeate flux is significantly enhanced when compared with the conventional unidirectional flow. The flux enhancement is dramatic (by an order of magnitude) with increased feed concentration and operating transmembrane pressure.« less
Group Theoretical Methods and Applications to Molecules and Crystals

Preface List of symbols 1. Linear transformations 2. Theory of matrix transformations 3. Elements of abstract group theory 4. Unitary and orthogonal groups 5. The point groups of finite order 6. Theory of group representations 7. Construction of symmetry adapted linear combinations based on the correspondence theorem 8. Subduced and induced representations 9. Elements of continuous groups 10. The representations of the rotation group 11. Single- and double-valued representations of point groups 12. Projective representations 13. 230 space groups 14. The representations of space groups 15. The unirreps of the space groups to energy bands and vibrational modes of crystals 16. Time reversal, antiunitary point groups and their core presentations 17. Antiunitary space groups and their core presentations Appendix. Character tables for the crystal point groups References.
Combinatorial Compounds and Drug Discovery

In this chapter, the term drug will be narrowed from the broad definition provided by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to one that is more appropriate to the disciplines of pharmacology, pharmacy, and medicine. In this context, we will define a “drug” as a specific chemical species able to cause specific changes in the functioning of living things. More specifically, we will further narrow the definition to relatively small (<1500 Da) organic and occasionally inorganic compounds. By doing so, we can examine the great differences between macromolecules and the smaller, discrete organic or inorganic molecules that make up the combinatorial chemistry arena. Keywords: combinatorial chemistry; organic compounds; encoding; solid-phase synthesis (SPS); high-throughput screening (HTS)
In situ underpotential deposition study of lead on silver using the electrochemical quartz crystal microbalance: Direct evidence for lead(II) adsorption before spontaneous charge transfer

Abstract In situ studies using the electrochemical quartz crystal microbalance (EQCM) have provided unique means for demonstrating the existence of adsorbed anionic lead species at silver and also for tracking anion expulsion during the underpotential deposition (UPD) discharge process. UPD studies of lead(II) at silver were carried out over the pH range 1 to 13. In perchloric acid solutions and acetate buffers, where only cationic and uncharged lead(II) species exist in solution, the UPD process is accompanied by an increase in the mass of the electrode. However, in borate buffers and sodium hydroxide solutions, where anionic lead(II) species predominate, the UPD process is accompanied by a decrease in electrode mass. This mass decrease is caused by the reduction of adsorbed, negatively charged lead(II) species to UPD Pb(0) and concomitant expulsion of the negatively charged ligand, borate or hydroxide. The potential of zero charge of silver is very negative so that the electrostatic adsorption of anionic lead(II) species is strongly favored, while cationic and uncharged lead(II) species, such as lead acetate, do not adsorb.
3He NMR spectra of highly reduced C60

Abstract Two signals were observed in the 3He NMR spectrum of 3He@C60H36. The major signal corresponds with the 3He chemical shift calculated for a structure with D3d′ symmetry.
Status of Neutrino Physics Experiments

Relevant results from neutrino physics experiments since FPCP2009 with an emphasis on oscillations and the ability to measure or limit the mixing angle {theta}{sub 13}.
Dynamic Forms and Their Application to Control

The rigid body model plays a basic role in both mod- and control of many systems, including aircraft flight control. The distinctive feature of the rigid body is that its motion evolves on a curved space, Consequently, the designer must take into account the deterioration of chosen coordinations near their singularities. In these regions the control actions and the sensitivity to modeling and sensor errors become unacceptable. Thus, coordinate patches and patching logic should be a part of the overall control law design and implementation. The various dynamic forms, such as scalar forms, vector forms, matrix forms, rotational forms, Euler angle forms, and Euler parameter forms, described in the paper provide an effective means for coordinate patching and control law implementation. The utility of these forms is illustrated by means of several applications to flight control.
Experiments at the Triangle Universities Nuclear Laboratory for the undergraduate physics curriculum

Experiments are being developed at the Triangle Universities Nuclear Laboratory to offer advanced undergraduate physics students laboratory experiences in the atmosphere of a frontier accelerator facility. These experiments differ from projects done by Undergraduate Research Assistants in that they are designed specifically for integration into the undergraduate curriculum as part of a structured laboratory course. The immediate goal of the program is to develop four accelerator-based experiments for use in the undergraduate Advanced Laboratory course at Duke University. Two newly developed experiments, Carbon-Carbon Mott Scattering and Lifetime Measurements of an Auger Emitter, will be described. In addition, the logistics of conducting undergraduate laboratory course work in an active research facility will be discussed.
A Unilateral Accident Model under Ambiguity

Abstract Standard accident models are based on the expected utility framework and represent agents’ beliefs about accident risk with a probability distribution. Consequently, they do not allow for Knightian uncertainty, or ambiguity, with respect to accident risk and cannot accommodate optimism (ambiguity loving) or pessimism (ambiguity aversion). This paper presents a unilateral accident model under ambiguity. To incorporate ambiguity, I adopt the Choquet expected utility framework and represent the injurer’s beliefs with a neoadditive capacity. I show that neither strict liability nor negligence is generally efficient in the presence of ambiguity. In addition, I generally find that the injurer’s level of care decreases (increases) with ambiguity if he is optimistic (pessimistic) and decreases (increases) with his degree of optimism (pessimism). The results suggest that negligence is more robust to ambiguity and, therefore, may be superior to strict liability in unilateral accident cases. Finally, I desi...
Race and the politics of close elections

Abstract Elections between black and white candidates tend to involve close margins and high turnout. Using a novel dataset of municipal vote returns during the rise of black mayors in U.S. cities, this paper establishes new facts about turnout and competition in close interracial elections. In the South, but not the North, close black victories were more likely than close black losses, involved higher turnout than close black losses, and were more likely than close black losses to be followed by subsequent black victories. These results are consistent with a model in which the historical exclusion of Southern blacks from politics made them disproportionately sensitive to mobilization efforts by political elites, leading to a black candidate advantage in close elections.
Quasi-Shuffle Products

Given a locally finite graded set A and a commutative, associative operation on A that adds degrees, we construct a commutative multiplication a on the set of noncommutative polynomials in A which we call a quasi-shuffle products it can be viewed as a generalization of the shuffle product III. We extend this commutative algebra structure to a Hopf algebra (U, a, Δ)s in the case where A is the set of positive integers and the operation on A is addition, this gives the Hopf algebra of quasi-symmetric functions. If rational coefficients are allowed, the quasi-shuffle product is in fact no more general than the shuffle products we give an isomorphism exp of the shuffle Hopf algebra (U, III, Δ) onto (U, a, Δ) the set L of Lyndon words on A and their images l exp(w) m w e Lr freely generate the algebra (U, a). We also consider the graded dual of (U, a, Δ). We define a deformation a_q of a that coincides with a when q e 1 and is isomorphic to the concatenation product when q is not a root of unity. Finally, we discuss various examples, particularly the algebra of quasi-symmetric functions (dual to the noncommutative symmetric functions) and the algebra of Euler sums.
The genesis of the GATT

1. The creation of the GATT 2. The negotiation of the GATT 3. The rationales for the GATT Annex A. Documents relating to the negotiations Annex B. Negotiating committees and subcommittees.
Succinct Greedy Geometric Routing in the Euclidean Plane

We show that greedy geometric routing schemes exist for the Euclidean metric in R 2, for 3-connected planar graphs, with coordinates that can be represented succinctly, that is, with O(logn) bits, where n is the number of vertices in the graph.
Comparing Heegaard and JSJ structures of orientable 3-manifolds

The Heegaard genus g of an irreducible closed orientable 3-manifold puts a limit on the number and complexity of the pieces that arise in the Jaco-Shalen-Johannson decomposition of the manifold by its canonical tori. For example, if p of the complementary components are not Seifert fibered, then p ≤ g − 1. This generalizes work of Kobayashi. The Heegaard genus g also puts explicit bounds on the complexity of the Seifert pieces. For example, if the union of the Seifert pieces has base space P and f exceptional fibers, then f − χ(P ) ≤ 3g − 3− p.
The Special Education Contract for Mildly Handicapped Children

This article considers the advantages and problems of labeling and suggests that the controversy over to label or not label is not the real issue since some children will be hurt by either decision. The author proposes and discusses a 2 year special education contract which would mitigate the damaging effects of labels in children with mild handicaps.
Determining the Optimal Location for Collocating a Louisiana Sugar Mill and a New Cellulosic Ethanol Plant

This paper examines the possibility of collocating a cellulosic ethanol processing plant with certain Louisiana sugar mills, chosen based on their strategic locations and cane grinding capacity. The prospective plants are compared based on transportation costs and overall economic performance.
Computational soundness, co-induction, and encryption cycles

We analyze the relation between induction, co-induction and the presence of encryption cycles in the context of computationally sound symbolic equivalence of cryptographic expressions. Our main finding is that the use of co-induction in the symbolic definition of the adversarial knowledge allows to prove soundness results without the need to require syntactic restrictions, like the absence of encryption cycles, common to most previous work in the area. Encryption cycles are relevant only to the extent that the key recovery function associated to acyclic expressions can be shown to have a unique fixed point. So, when a cryptographic expression has no encryption cycles, the inductive (least fixed point) and co-inductive (greatest fixed point) security definitions produce the same results, and the computational soundness of the inductive definitions for acyclic expressions follows as a special case of the soundness of the co-inductive definition.
THE EVOLUTION OF THE OFFSHORE OUTSOURCING INDUSTRY: BRAZIL VERSUS OTHER BRIC ECONOMIES

Brazil has expressed an intention to compete with India in offshoring. This paper examines the outsourcing industry in Brazil. First, we analyze how Brazil’s well-developed domestic IT market, its manufacturing prowess and export orientation have generated interorganizational as well as intraorganizational externalities or spillovers for the offshoring sector. Such externalities take various forms such as knowledge spillovers, learning curves, brand loyalty, availability of tools and resources, knowledge about quality and value perceptions of consumers as well as production externalities. The entry of foreign IT firms in Brazil has also generated externalities in the forms of indirect economic impacts on local organizations. Second, we investigate how factors related to offshoring skills, cultural compatibility and physical proximity to major markets are related to closeness to the needs of clients in terms of experience, expertise, culture and geographic reach. Finally, as making a contract complete represents a high degree of complexity and costs for parties involved in an offshoring agreement; we explore the importance of regulation and regulatory institutions.
Immigration and the Distribution of Incomes

Abstract We review research on the impact of immigration on income distribution, surveying studies from a variety of countries. Immigration may affect the skill composition of a country's residents and also, by changing relative factor supplies, its relative factor prices. As background, we provide evidence on immigration to the OECD countries and compare the distribution of native and immigrant educational attainment; we also examine the compositional effects of these changes in the United States. We then discuss the economic theory of the impact of immigration on factor prices, emphasizing substitution and complementarity between natives and immigrants in the labor market. Next, we review research methodologies, including structural and natural experiment approaches, used to estimate the impact of immigration on the native income distribution. We follow by considering the evidence on these questions for several countries, and also examine the impact of emigration on income distribution in the source country.
Radiation-Driven Evolution of Low-Mass X-Ray Binaries and the Formation of Millisecond Pulsars

Recent data on low-mass X-ray binaries (LMXBs) and millisecond pulsars (MSPs) pose a challenge to evolutionary theories which neglect the effects of disk and companion irradiation. Here we discuss the main features of a radiation-driven (RD) evolutionary model that may be applicable to several LMXBs. According to this model, radiation from the accreting compact star in LMXBs ‘vaporizes’ the accretion disk and the companion star by driving a self-sustained mass loss until a sudden accretion-turn off occurs. The main characteristics of the RD-evolution are: (1) the lifetime of RD-LMXB’s is of order 107 years or less; (2) both the orbital period gap and the X-ray luminosity may be consequences of RD-evolution of LMXB’s containing lower main sequence and degenerate companion stars; (3) the companion star may transfer mass to the primary even if it underfills its Roche lobe; (4) a class of recycled MSPs can continue to vaporize the low-mass companions by a strong pulsar wind even after the accretion turn-off; (5) the RD-evolutionary model resolves the apparent statistical discrepancy between the number of MSPs and their LMXB progenitors in the Galaxy. We discuss the implications of the discovery of single MSPs in low-density globular clusters and the recent measurements of short orbital timescales of four LMXBs.
1/Nc Countings in Baryons

The 1/N{sub c} power countings for baryon decays and configuration mixings are determined by means of a non-relativistic quark picture. Such countings are expected to be robust as the quark masses are decreased towards the chiral limit. It is shown that excited baryons have natural widths of {Omicron}(N{sub c}{sup 0}). These dominant widths are due to the decays that proceed directly to the ground state baryons, with cascade decays being suppressed to {Omicron}(1/N{sub c}). Configuration mixings, defined as mixings between states belonging to different O(3) x SU(2N{sub f}) multiplets, are shown to be sub-leading in an expansion in 1/{radical}N{sub c}, except for certain mixings between excited multiplets belonging to the mixed-symmetric spin-flavor representation and different O(3) representations, where the mixings are of zeroth order in 1/N{sub c}.
The Mexican Pension Annuity Market

This paper analyzes the performance and development of the Mexican pension annuity market established as a consequence of the 1997 pension reform. The Mexican experience displays interesting characteristics providing lessons for other countries that still need to design the decumulation phase of their newly established second pillars. At the same, time it raises some technical and policy concerns that need addressing as they could hamper, in the future, the healthy development of the market. The paper concludes that: 1) general life insurance companies may better hedge longevity risk than specialized annuity companies; 2) competition should be based on prices rather than additional products; 3) better disclosure of options under the 1973 and 1997 social security laws should be given to disability and life annuitants; and 4) various measures should be taken to improve asset liability management including allowing companies to trade over the counter derivatives and substituting over time the regulatory asset liability management framework with an economic asset liability management framework.
An Arithmetic Metric

SummaryThis work introduces a distance between natural numbers not based on their position on the real line but on their arithmetic properties. We prove some metric properties of this distance and consider a possible extension.
Analytic Calculation of Quasi-Normal Modes

We discuss the analytic calculation of quasi-normal modes of various types of perturbations of black holes both in asymptotically flat and in anti-de Sitter spaces. We obtain asymptotic expressions and also show how corrections can be calculated perturbatively. We pay special attention to low-frequency modes in anti-de Sitter space because they govern the hydrodynamic properties of a gauge theory fluid according to the AdS/CFT correspondence. The latter may have experimental consequences for the quark-gluon plasma formed in heavy ion collisions.
Multi core design for chip level multiprocessing

Chip level integration continues to be a driving force in the computer industry. It lowers the cost and increases performance of computer systems, creating a remarkable rate of improvement in all processors, from handheld devices to supercomputers. Processor chips now (in 2009) contain up to two billion transistors. Gordon Moore outlined a roadmap for chip level integration in 1965, which has become known as Moore's Law. It predicts that the density of transistors in a silicon chip will double every process generation. It has become the heartbeat of the semiconductor industry.
Superlattice infrared photodetector research at the jet propulsion laboratory

III-V semiconductors offer a highly effective platform for the development of sophisticated heterostructure-based MWIR and LWIR detectors, as exemplified by the high-performance double heterstructure (DH) nBn, XBn, and type- II superlattice infrared detectors. A key enabling design element is the unipolar barrier, which is used to implement the complementary barrier infra-red detector (CBIRD) design for increasing the collection efficiency of photogenerated carriers, and reducing dark current generation without impeding photocurrent flow. Heterostructure superlattice detectors that make effective use of unipolar barriers have demonstrated strong reduction of generationrecombination (G-R) dark current due to Shockley-Read-Hall (SRH) processes. In the last several years we solely focused on the development of antimonide based IR detectors. Recently, we demonstrated RoA values over 14,000 Ohm cm2 for a 9.9 μm cutoff device by incorporating electron-blocking and hole-blocking unipolar barriers. This device has shown 300K BLIP operation with f/2 optics at 87 K with blackbody * of 1.1x1011 cm Hz1/2/W.
Transformation in a Constructivist Montessori Teacher Education Program Using a Blended Course Design

This applied dissertation was designed to understand the experience of participants as they engaged in a process of transforming attitudes about teaching and learning through participation in a Montessori teacher-training program with a blended design. Participants were surveyed regarding their previous experiences in education as both student and educator, previous experiences in Montessori education, and previous experiences with distance education programs. Research questions guiding the study:Particular aspects such as self-directed learning, facilitating relationships, and learning in social contexts have been known to be considered best practice in constructivist program design, but what is the phenomenological experience of adult participants as they grapple with transforming best practice in teaching and learning with their own pre-kindergarten to eighth-grade students? 2. How do individual participants perceive the blended program influenced a personal transformation of teaching and learning? How does the perceptual transformation compare to others? 3. How do administrators perceive the blended program influenced changes to the overall school culture as a result of faculty participation in the program? 4. How consistent are standards of best practice in constructivist settings with individual perceptual transformations and perceptions of changes to school culture as well as to interactions with students?A comparative design was carried out for the study. Participant and administrator questionnaires were analyzed for patterns and insights regarding descriptions of change experienced during a blended distance education (DE) course using constructivist methodology. A final analysis of the data revealed that participants had various experiences with traditional education as students and as educational professionals. Most participants reported a lack of confidence teaching within the traditional system and subsequent relief when learning the constructivist, Montessori pedagogy and methodology. One surprising finding was that some educators were predisposed to using constructivist principles in teaching before any formal training. Another significant finding was that adults were able to guide school-age students in becoming self-directed and autonomous as learners. A third finding was that there were specific advantages of a blended DE training program design that were not present in other models of DE or face-to-face teacher training.
A Deep Embedding Model for Co-occurrence Learning

Co-occurrence Data is a common and important information source in many areas, such as the word co-occurrence in the sentences, friends co-occurrence in social networks and products co-occurrence in commercial transaction data, etc, which contains rich correlation and clustering information about the items. In this paper, we study co-occurrence data using a general energy-based probabilistic model, and we analyze three different categories of energy-based model, namely, the L1, L2 and Lk models, which are able to capture different levels of dependency in the co-occurrence data. We also discuss how several typical existing models are related to these three types of energy models, including the Fully Visible Boltzmann Machine (FVBM) (L2), Matrix Factorization (L2), Log-BiLinear (LBL) models (L2), and the Restricted Boltzmann Machine (RBM) model (Lk). Then, we propose a Deep Embedding Model (DEM) (an Lk model) from the energy model in a principled manner. Furthermore, motivated by the observation that the partition function in the energy model is intractable and the fact that the major objective of modeling the co-occurrence data is to predict using the conditional probability, we apply the maximum pseudo-likelihood method to learn DEM. In consequence, the developed model and its learning method naturally avoid the above difficulties and can be easily used to compute the conditional probability in prediction. Interestingly, our method is equivalent to learning a special structured deep neural network using back-propagation and a special sampling strategy, which makes it scalable on large-scale datasets. Finally, in the experiments, we show that the DEM can achieve comparable or better results than state-of-the-art methods on datasets across several application domains.
String hypothesis for gl(n|m) spin chains: a particle/hole democracy

This paper is devoted to integrable \({{\mathfrak{g}\mathfrak{l} (\mathfrak{n} | \mathfrak{m})}}\) spin chains, which allow for formulation of the string hypothesis. Considering the thermodynamic limit of such spin chains, we derive linear functional equations that symmetrically treat holes and particles. The functional equations naturally organize different types of excitations into a pattern equivalent to the one of Y-system, and, not surprisingly, the Y-system can be easily derived from the functional equations. The Y-system is known to contain most of the information about the symmetry of the model, therefore we map the symmetry knowledge directly to the description of string excitations. Our analysis is applicable for highest weight representations which for some choice of the Kac-Dynkin diagram have only one nonzero Dynkin label. This generalizes known results for the AdS/CFT spectral problem and for the Hubbard model.
Recovering block-structured activations using compressive measurements

We consider the problems of detection and support recovery of a contiguous block of weak activation in a large matrix, from noisy, possibly adaptively chosen, compressive (linear) measurements. We precisely characterize the tradeoffs between the various problem dimensions, the signal strength and the number of measurements required to reliably detect and recover the support of the signal, both for passive and adaptive measurement schemes. In each case, we complement algorithmic results with information-theoretic lower bounds. Analogous to the situation in the closely related problem of noisy compressed sensing, we show that for detection neither adaptivity, nor structure reduce the minimax signal strength requirement. On the other hand we show the rather surprising result that, contrary to the situation in noisy compressed sensing, the signal strength requirement to recover the support of a contiguous block-structured signal is strongly influenced by both the signal structure and the ability to choose measurements adaptively.
Cross-Status Marriage Patterns in Late 17th Century Korea: Statistical Analysis of the Tansŏng Household Registers for 1678

This paper presents preliminary results of statistical analysis of the Tansŏng County household registers for 1678. We focus on identifying the social class of county residents and on identifying marriages. We use a multivariate LOGIT model to estimate probabilities of marriage, both within and outside of one’s social class as functions of age. We find the overwhelming number of both males and females were monogamous; less than one percent of males taking secondary wives or “concubines”. We also find strong tendencies to marry within social status groups. Despite this there is significant intermarriage between social classes. This is primarily between commoners and non-resident slaves. Also males of the elite and petty elite classes, particularly older ones, marry commoners and slaves in significant numbers. We document significant differences in the marriage patterns for craftsmen, as opposed to other commoners. We find strong influences of father and mother’s status on marriage patterns, with higher status parents increasing the probability of marrying higher status spouses, all else equal. Finally, we find evidence of strong village-level effects on marriage patterns which cannot be explained by the observed characteristics of the people living in those villages.