cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Iodine(V) Reagents in Organic Synthesis. Part 1. Synthesis of Polycyclic Heterocycles via Dess−Martin Periodinane-Mediated Cascade Cyclization: Generality, Scope, and Mechanism of the Reaction

The scope, generality, and mechanism of the Dess−Martin periodinane-mediated cyclization reaction of unsaturated anilides discovered during the total synthesis of the CP-molecules (phomoidrides A and B) are delineated. A plethora of heterocyclic compounds are accessible by employing γ,δ-unsaturated amides (derived from anilines and carboxylic acids), urethanes, or ureas (derived from isocyanates and allylic alcohols and amines) as substrates. Optimization of the reaction led to room-temperature conditions, while isotope labeling studies allowed a mechanistic rationale for this cascade reaction.
The Capacity Region of a Class of Discrete Degraded Interference Channels

We provide a single-letter characterization for the capacity region of a class of discrete degraded interference channels (DDICs). The class of DDICs considered includes the DADIC studied by Benzel in 1979. We show that for the class of DDICs studied, encoder cooperation does not enlarge the capacity region, and therefore, the capacity region of the class of DDICs is the same as the capacity region of the corresponding degraded broadcast channel.
Exploring the origins of carbon in terrestrial worlds

Given the central role of carbon in the chemistry of life, it is a fundamental question as to how carbon is supplied to the Earth, in what form and when. We provide an accounting of carbon found in solar system bodies, and in particular a comparison between the organic content of meteorites and that in identified organics in the dense interstellar medium (ISM). Based on this accounting, identified organics created by the chemistry of star formation could contain at most ~15% of the organic carbon content in primitive meteorites and significantly less for cometary organics, which represent the putative contributors to starting materials for the Earth. In the ISM ~30% of the elemental carbon exists as CO, either in gaseous form or in ices, with a typical abundance of ~10^(−4) (relative to H_2). Recent observations of the TW Hya disk find that the gas phase abundance of CO is reduced by an order of magnitude compared to this value. We explore an explanation for this observation whereby the volatile CO is destroyed via gas phase processes, providing an additional source of carbon for organic material to be incorporated into planetesimals and cometesimals. This chemical processing mechanism requires warm grains (>20 K), partially ionized gas, and sufficiently small (a_(grain) < 10μm) grains, i.e. a larger total grain surface area, such that freeze-out is efficient. Under these conditions, static (non-turbulent) chemical models predict that a large fraction of the carbon nominally sequestered in CO can be the source of carbon for a wide variety of organics that are present as ice coatings on the surfaces of warm pre-planetesimal dust grains.
Monotone Comparative Statics under Uncertainty

This paper analyzes monotone comparative statics predictions in several classes of stochastic optimization problems. The main results characterize necessary and sufficient conditions for comparative statics predictions to hold based on properties of primitive functions, that is, utility functions and probability distributions. The results apply when the primitives satisfy one of the following two properties: (i) a single-crossing property, which arises in applications such as portfolio investment problems and auctions, or (ii) log-supermodularity, which arises in the analysis of demand functions, affiliated random variables, stochastic orders, and orders over risk aversion.
Evaluating arguments from the reaction of the audience

In studying how lay people evaluate arguments, psychologists have typically focused on logical form and content. This emphasis has masked an important yet underappreciated aspect of everyday argument evaluation: social cues to argument strength. Here we focus on the ways in which observers evaluate arguments by the reaction they evoke in an audience. This type of evaluation is likely to occur either when people are not privy to the content of the arguments or when they are not expert enough to appropriately evaluate it. Four experiments explore cues that participants might take into account in evaluating arguments from the reaction of the audience. They demonstrate that participants can use audience motivation, expertise, and size as clues to argument quality. By contrast we find no evidence that participants take audience diversity into account.
Performance of temperature-phased anaerobic digestion (TPAD) system treating dairy cattle wastes.

Abstract The performance of temperature-phased anaerobic digestion (TPAD) system in the stabilization of dairy cattle wastes at high solids concentrations has never been evaluated, though the process has been established as a feasible alternative to conventional mesophilic processes for the treatment of municipal wastewater sludges. In this study, the TPAD system operating at a retention time of 14 days was subjected to varying total solids (TS) concentrations (3.46–14.54%) of dairy cattle wastes. At TS concentrations lower than 12.20%, corresponding to system volatile solids (VS) loadings in the range of 1.87–5.82 g VS/L/day, the system achieved an average VS removal of 40.2%. The maximum VS destruction of 42.6% was achieved at a TS concentration of 10.35%. Methane recovery from the wastes was consistently within 0.21–0.22 L/g VS fed. There was a drop in the system performance with respect to VS removal and methane recovery at TS concentrations higher than 10.35%. volatile fatty acid/alkalinity ratios less than 0.35 in the thermophilic reactor and 0.10 in the mesophilic reactor were found favorable for stable operation of the system. For the entire range of TS concentrations, the indicator organism counts in the biosolids were within the limits specified by USEPA in 40 CFR Part 503 regulations for Class A designation. After digestion, nearly 80–85% of total phosphorus was associated with the biosolids.
Factoring local sequence composition in motif significance analysis.

We recently introduced a biologically realistic and reliable significance analysis of the output of a popular class of motif finders [16]. In this paper we further improve our significance analysis by incorporating local base composition information. Relying on realistic biological data simulation, as well as on FDR analysis applied to real data, we show that our method is significantly better than the increasingly popular practice of using the normal approximation to estimate the significance of a finder’s output. Finally we turn to leveraging our reliable significance analysis to improve the actual motif finding task. Specifically, endowing a variant of the Gibbs Sampler [18] with our improved significance analysis we demonstrate that de novo finders can perform better than has been perceived. Significantly, our new variant outperforms all the finders reviewed in a recently published comprehensive analysis [23] of the Harbison genome-wide binding location data [9]. Interestingly, many of these finders incorporate additional information such as nucleosome positioning and the significance of binding data.
Potential Farm-Level Effects of Eliminating Direct Payments

Since 2003, direct payments have accounted for a significant portion of farm program payments. If direct payments were eliminated, many agricultural producers would be affected, both through the loss of income and potential declines in land values and rental rates. This report considers the potential contribution of direct payments to farm revenues and land values across farm commodities and regions and estimates the magnitude of the financial impact on participating farms should direct payments be eliminated. Direct payments are highest relative to crop revenues in parts of the Northern Plains, Southern Plains, Mountain, Delta, and Southeast regions, and the estimated effect of direct payments on cropland values also is relatively high in many of these regions. Overall, our analysis suggests that an abrupt end to the direct payment program could reduce the number of farms with a favorable financial status (profitable farms having relatively low debt burdens) by about 11,000 nationally, or about 2 percent of farms that received direct payments in 2009. The estimated effect varies regionally and is more pronounced in the Delta and Southeast regions, where direct payments per farm tend to be higher, on average, than elsewhere.
Serial [5+2]/[4+2] Cycloadditions: Facile, Preparative, Multi-Component Syntheses of Polycyclic Compounds from Simple, Readily Available Starting Materials

Four new bonds and up to four new stereocenters are formed in the title reactions which allow the conversion of readily available starting materials into complex bicyclo[5.4.0]undecane derivatives. The reactions are performed in a single, simple operation that can be conducted on a preparative scale (100 mmol thus far).
Maximum Margin Output Coding

In this paper we study output coding for multi-label prediction. For a multi-label output coding to be discriminative, it is important that codewords for different label vectors are significantly different from each other. In the meantime, unlike in traditional coding theory, codewords in output coding are to be predicted from the input, so it is also critical to have a predictable label encoding. To find output codes that are both discriminative and predictable, we first propose a max-margin formulation that naturally captures these two properties. We then convert it to a metric learning formulation, but with an exponentially large number of constraints as commonly encountered in structured prediction problems. Without a label structure for tractable inference, we use overgenerating (i.e., relaxation) techniques combined with the cutting plane method for optimization. In our empirical study, the proposed output coding scheme outperforms a variety of existing multi-label prediction methods for image, text and music classification.
Syntheses and characterization of some mixed Te/Se polychalcogenide anions [TemSen]2-

Several mixed Te/Se polychalcogenide anions [TemSen]2- were synthesized at 293 K by reactions between Ten2-and Sen2- anions in N,N-dimethylformamide (DMF) in the presence of different-size ammonium or phosphonium cations, in some cases in the presence of metal species. The structures of these anions were determined by single-crystal X-ray diffraction methods. The crystal structures of [NEt4]2[Te3Se6] (1) and [NEt4]2[Te3Se7] (2) consist, respectively, of one-dimensional infinite [Te3Se62-] and [Te3Se72-] anionic chains separated by NEt4+ cations. In compound 1, each chain comprises Te3Se5 eight-membered rings bridged by Se atoms. The Te3Se5 ring has an “open book” conformation. The NMR spectrum of a DMF solution of [NEt4]2[Te3Se6] crystals at 223 K shows 77Se resonances at δ = 290, 349, and 771 ppm and a single 125Te resonance at δ = 944.7 ppm. In compound 2, each chain comprises Te3Se6 five- and six-membered rings bridged by Se atoms. The Te3Se6 ring can be regarded as an inorganic analogue of bicyclonona...
When Does Learning in Games Generate Convergence to Nash Equilibria? The Role of Supermodularity in an Experimental Setting ⁄

This study clarifies the conditions under which learning in games produces convergence to Nash equilibria in practice. Previous work has identified theoretical conditions under which various stylized learning processes achieve convergence. One technical condition is supermodularity, which is closely related to the more familiar concept of strategic complementarities. We experimentally investigate the role of supermodularity in achieving convergence through learning. Using a game from the literature on solutions to externalities, we systematically vary a free parameter below, close to, at and beyond the threshold of supermodularity to assess its effects on convergence. We find that supermodular and "near-supermodular" games converge significantly better than those far below the threshold. From a little below the threshold to the threshold, the improvement is statistically insignificant. Within the class of supermodular games, increasing the parameter far beyond the threshold does not significantly improve convergence. Simulation shows that while most experimental results persist in the long run, some become more pronounced.
Diversionary Nationalism: Economic Inequality and the Formation of National Pride

What accounts for differences in the extent of nationalist sentiments across countries and over time? One prominent argument is that greater economic inequality prompts states to generate more nationalism as a diversion that discourages their citizens from recognizing economic inequality and mobilizing against it. Several other theories, however, propose different relationships between economic inequality and nationalism. This article provides a first empirical test of whether and how economic inequality is related to nationalism. Multilevel analyses using survey data on nationalist sentiments in countries around the world over a quarter century and data on economic inequality from the Standardized World Income Inequality Database provide powerful support for the diversionary theory of nationalism. This finding is an important contribution to our understanding of nationalism as well as of the political consequences of economic inequality.
Hawking radiation from z = 3 and z = 1-Lifshitz black holes

The Hawking radiation considered as a tunneling process, by using a Hamilton–Jacobi prescription, is discussed for both z = 3 and z = 1-Lifshitz black holes. We have found that the tunneling rate (which is not thermal but related to the change of entropy) for the z = 3-Lifshitz black hole (which does not satisfy the Area/4-law) does not yield (give us) the expected tunneling rate: Γ~exp(ΔS), where ΔS is the change of black hole entropy, if we compare with the z = 1-Lifshitz black hole (BTZ black hole, which satisfies the Area/4-law).
Bulk Entanglement Spectrum Reveals Quantum Criticality within a Topological State

A quantum phase transition is usually achieved by tuning physical parameters in a Hamiltonian at zero temperature. Here, we show that the ground state of a topological phase itself encodes critical properties of its transition to a trivial phase. To extract this information, we introduce an extensive partition of the system into two subsystems both of which extend throughout the bulk in all directions. The resulting bulk entanglement spectrum has a low-lying part that resembles the excitation spectrum of a bulk Hamiltonian, which allows us to probe a topological phase transition from a single wave function by tuning either the geometry of the partition or the entanglement temperature. As an example, this remarkable correspondence between the topological phase transition and the entanglement criticality is rigorously established for integer quantum Hall states.
Media Freedom, Political Knowledge, and Participation

This paper examines the relationship between media freedom from government control and citizens' political knowledge, political participation, and voter turnout. To explore these connections, I first examine media freedom and citizens' political knowledge in thirteen central and eastern European countries with data from Freedom House's Freedom of the Press report and the European Commission's Candidate Countries Eurobarometer survey. Next, I consider media freedom and citizens' political participation in 60 countries using data from the World Values Survey. Finally, I investigate media freedom and voter turnout in these same 60 or so countries with data from the International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance. I find that where government owns a larger share of media outlets and infrastructure, regulates the media industry more, and does more to control the content of news, citizens are more politically ignorant and apathetic. Where the media is less regulated and there is greater private ownership in the media industry, citizens are more politically knowledgeable and active. These results are robust to sample, specification, and alternative measures of media freedom.
How to price shared optimizations in the cloud

Data-management-as-a-service systems are increasingly being used in collaborative settings, where multiple users access common datasets. Cloud providers have the choice to implement various optimizations, such as indexing or materialized views, to accelerate queries over these datasets. Each optimization carries a cost and may benefit multiple users. This creates a major challenge: how to select which optimizations to perform and how to share their cost among users. The problem is especially challenging when users are selfish and will only report their true values for different optimizations if doing so maximizes their utility.In this paper, we present a new approach for selecting and pricing shared optimizations by using Mechanism Design. We first show how to apply the Shapley Value Mechanism to the simple case of selecting and pricing additive optimizations, assuming an offline game where all users access the service for the same time-period. Second, we extend the approach to online scenarios where users come and go. Finally, we consider the case of substitutive optimizations.We show analytically that our mechanisms induce truthfulness and recover the optimization costs. We also show experimentally that our mechanisms yield higher utility than the state-of-the-art approach based on regret accumulation.
Stable singlet carbenes as mimics for transition metal centers

This perspective summarizes recent results, which demonstrate that stable carbenes can activate small molecules (CO, H2, NH3 and P4) and stabilize highly reactive intermediates (main group elements in the zero oxidation state and paramagnetic species). These two tasks were previously exclusive for transition metal complexes.
The reaction of optically active menthyl acrylate with cyclopentadiene on γ-alumina

Abstract The Diels-Alder reaction of optically active menthyl acrylate with cyclopentadiene is catalyzed by γ-alumina. The reaction is very selective, yielding large endo to exo ratios of products and diasteroemeric excesses for the endo adduct.
GPS Align In Motion of civilian strapdown INS

Strapdown inertial navigation systems require an initialization process that establishes the relationship between the aircraft body frame and the local geographic reference. This process, called alignment, generally requires the device to remain stationary for some period of time in order to establish this initial state. This paper describes an alignment process where the initialization occurs while the device is moving. This is possible because an accurate determination of the aircraft motion is available based on measurements obtained from GPS. Align In Motion allows initialization of a Strapdown Inertial Navigation System while an aircraft is moving, in the air or on the ground. This is accomplished using Civilian grade GPS and an inertial reasonableness test, thereby allowing commercial data integrity requirements to be met. Align In Motion has been FAA certified to recover pure INS performance equivalent to stationary align procedures for civilian flight times up to 18 hours. This Align In Motion capability allows the removal of dedicated backup batteries on aircraft resulting in weight, cost, and reliability improvements. Align In Motion also has benefits for aircraft operations on the ground, on board ship, and in the air such as reduced turn backs, quicker dispatch, and world-wide alignment including polar regions. This paper will describe an avionics architecture using Align In Motion. It will cover INS warm start and cold start following a power interrupt with recovery to full inertial navigation capability without pilot interaction. Successful flight test results will also be presented.
How To Grade a Test Without Knowing the Answers --- A Bayesian Graphical Model for Adaptive Crowdsourcing and Aptitude Testing

We propose a new probabilistic graphical model that jointly models the difficulties of questions, the abilities of participants and the correct answers to questions in aptitude testing and crowdsourcing settings. We devise an active learning/adaptive testing scheme based on a greedy minimization of expected model entropy, which allows a more efficient resource allocation by dynamically choosing the next question to be asked based on the previous responses. We present experimental results that confirm the ability of our model to infer the required parameters and demonstrate that the adaptive testing scheme requires fewer questions to obtain the same accuracy as a static test scenario.
Sticky Prices: New Evidence from Retail Catalogs

This paper presents new results on the size, frequency, and synchronization of price changes for twelve selected retail goods over the past 35 years. Three basic facts about the data are uncovered: first, nominal prices are typically fixed for more than one year although the time between changes is very irregular; second, prices change more often during periods of high overall inflation; third, when prices do change, the sizes of the changes are widely dispersed. Both 'large' and 'small' changes occur for the same item and the sizes of these changes do not closely depend on overall inflation.
Challenges in Modeling the Effects of Trade Agreements on the Agricultural Sector

Major issues and challenges encountered in modeling and analyzing agricultural and trade policy reforms are reviewed. We focus on modeling approach and pay special attention to the type and scope of models, calibration of a realistic baseline scenario, representation of the reform agreement, use of extramodel information, choice of metrics to measure reform impacts, and emerging issues in policy modeling. Existing solutions and unresolved issues are examined. We stress the complementarity of various modeling approaches in assessing policy reforms and the importance of helping users understand the limitations of the chosen approach.
Mass air flow sensor diagnostics for adaptive fueling control of internal combustion engines

Presents an information synthesis (IS) approach for the mass air flow (MAF) sensor diagnosis on internal combustion engines. An information synthesis solution is attractive for diagnostics since the algorithm automatically calibrates itself, reduces the number of false detections and compresses a large amount of engine health information into the model coefficients. There are three primary parts to information synthesis diagnostics. First, an IS model is used to predict the MAF sensor output based on the engine operating condition. The inputs to this IS model include the throttle position sensor (TPS) and the engine speed sensor information. The second part concerns an adaptation process that is used to reduce the errors between the IS model output and the actual MAF sensor output. Finally the adapted model coefficients are used to diagnose the sensor as well as identify the source for changes in the sensor characteristics. This proposed solution is experimentally tested and validated on a Ford 4.6 L V-8 fuel injected engine. The specific MAF sensor faults to be identified include sensor bias and a leak in the intake manifold.
Some recent advances in the synthesis of polycyclic imidazole-containing marine natural products.

Covering: primarily 1999–2007 This Highlight describes some of the recent synthetic work on imidazole-containing alkaloids isolated from marine sponges. Target molecules have been chosen which demonstrate synthetic strategies leading towards metabolites containing intact imidazole moieties as well as systems bearing modified imidazole rings.
HIGH-DISPERSION OPTICAL SPECTRA OF NEARBY STARS YOUNGER THAN THE SUN

We present high-dispersion (R ~ 16,000) optical (3900-8700 A) spectra of 390 stars obtained with the Palomar 60 inch telescope. The majority of stars observed are part of the Spitzer Legacy Science Program "The Formation and Evolution of Planetary Systems." Through detailed analysis we determine stellar properties for this sample, including radial and rotational velocities, Li I λ6708 and Hα equivalent widths, the chromospheric activity index R'_(HK), and temperature- and gravity-sensitive line ratios. Several spectroscopic binaries are also identified. From our tabulations, we illustrate basic age- and rotation-related correlations among measured indices. One novel result is that Ca II chromospheric emission appears to saturate at v sin i values above ~30 km s^(-1), similar to the well-established saturation of X-rays that originate in the spatially separate coronal region.
Global Rebalancing with Gravity: Measuring the Burden of Adjustment

This paper uses a 42-country model of production and trade to assess the implications of eliminating current account imbalances for relative wages, relative GDPs, real wages, and real absorption. How much relative GDPs need to change depends on flexibility of two forms: factor mobility and adjustment in sourcing of imports, with more flexibility requiring less change. At the extreme, U.S. GDP falls by 30 percent relative to the world's. Because of the pervasiveness of nontraded goods, however, most domestic prices move in parallel with relative GDP, so that changes in real GDP are small.
Climate tipping points and solar geoengineering

Abstract We study optimal climate policy in the presence of climate tipping points and solar geoengineering. Solar geoengineering reduces temperatures without reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Climate tipping points are irreversible and uncertain events that can alter the dynamics of the climate system. We analyze three different rules related to the availability of solar geoengineering, and we model three distinct types of tipping points. Before reaching the tipping point, the introduction of solar geoengineering reduces the amount of mitigation, lowers temperatures and increases carbon concentrations. The capacity of solar geoengineering to deal with climate damages depends on the type of tipping point. Solar geoengineering is most effective at dealing with tipping points that affect the responsiveness of temperature to carbon, and it is least effective at dealing with tipping points that cause direct economic losses.
Scalable Semi-supervised aggregation of classifiers

We present and empirically evaluate an efficient algorithm that learns to aggregate the predictions of an ensemble of binary classifiers. The algorithm uses the structure of the ensemble predictions on unlabeled data to yield significant performance improvements. It does this without making assumptions on the structure or origin of the ensemble, without parameters, and as scalably as linear learning. We empirically demonstrate these performance gains with random forests.
Gain-Assisted Superluminal Propagation in Coupled Optical Resonators

We predict transparent superluminal pulse propagation in co-resonant coupled optical resonators, when a gain element is placed in the resonator closest to the excitation waveguide, provided the structure is over-coupled, but the resonator farthest from the excitation waveguide is under-coupled sufficiently to avoid lasing at the split modes. The effective steady-state absorptive and dispersive response of coupled resonators is derived, and the coupled-mode approximation is used to determine the conditions for transparent superluminal pulse propagation in these systems.
Discrete torsion, non-abelian orbifolds and the Schur multiplier

Armed with the explicit computation of Schur multipliers, we offer a classification of SU(n) orbifolds for n = 2,3,4 which permit the turning on of discrete torsion. This is in response to the host of activity lately in vogue on the application of discrete torsion to D-brane orbifold theories. As a by-product, we find a hitherto unknown class of N = 1 orbifolds with non-cyclic discrete torsion group. Furthermore, we supplement the status quo ante by investigating a first example of a non-abelian orbifold admitting discrete torsion, namely the ordinary dihedral group as a subgroup of SU(3). A comparison of the quiver theory thereof with that of its covering group, the binary dihedral group, without discrete torsion, is also performed.
Mapping transcription mechanisms from multimodal genomic data

Background Identification of expression quantitative trait loci (eQTLs) is an emerging area in genomic study. The task requires an integrated analysis of genome-wide single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) data and gene expression data, raising a new computational challenge due to the tremendous size of data.
The Power of TV: Cable Television and Women's Status in India

Cable and satellite television have grown rapidly throughout the developing world. The availability of cable and satellite television exposes viewers to new information about the outside world which may affect individual attitudes and behaviors. This paper explores the effect of the introduction of cable television on gender attitudes in rural India. Using a three-year individual-level panel dataset we find that the introduction of cable television is associated with improvements in womens status. We find significant increases in reported autonomy decreases in the reported acceptability of beating and decreases in reported son preference. We also find increases in female school enrollment and decreases in fertility (primarily via increased birth spacing). The effects are large equivalent in some cases to about five years of education in the cross section and move gender attitudes of individuals in rural areas much closer to those in urban areas. We argue that the results are not driven by pre-existing differential trends. These results have important policy implications as India and other countries attempt to decrease bias against women. (authors)
Column-oriented storage techniques for MapReduce

Users of MapReduce often run into performance problems when they scale up their workloads. Many of the problems they encounter can be overcome by applying techniques learned from over three decades of research on parallel DBMSs. However, translating these techniques to a Map-Reduce implementation such as Hadoop presents unique challenges that can lead to new design choices. This paper describes how column-oriented storage techniques can be incorporated in Hadoop in a way that preserves its popular programming APIs.We show that simply using binary storage formats in Hadoop can provide a 3x performance boost over the naive use of text files. We then introduce a column-oriented storage format that is compatible with the replication and scheduling constraints of Hadoop and show that it can speed up MapReduce jobs on real workloads by an order of magnitude. We also show that dealing with complex column types such as arrays, maps, and nested records, which are common in MapReduce jobs, can incur significant CPU overhead. Finally, we introduce a novel skip list column format and lazy record construction strategy that avoids deserializing unwanted records to provide an additional 1.5x performance boost. Experiments on a real intranet crawl are used to show that our column-oriented storage techniques can improve the performance of the map phase in Hadoop by as much as two orders of magnitude.
Non-linear sequencing

Spacecraft are traditionally commanded using linear sequences of time-based commands. Linear sequences work fairly well, but they are difficult and expensive to generate, and are usually not capable of responding to contingencies. Any anomalous behavior while executing a linear sequence generally results in the spacecraft entering a safe mode. Critical sequences like orbit insertions which must be able to respond to faults without going into safe mode are particularly difficult to design and verify. The effort needed to generate command sequences can be reduced by extending the vocabulary of sequences to include more sophisticated control constructs. The simplest extensions are conditionals and loops. Adding these constructs would make a sequencing language look more or less like a traditional programming language or scripting language, and would come with all the difficulties associated with such a language. In particular, verifying the correctness of a sequence would be tantamount to verifying the correctness of a program, which is undecidable in general. We describe an extended vocabulary for non-linear sequencing based on the architectural notion of cognizant failure. A cognizant failure architecture is divided into components whose contract is to either achieve (or maintain) a certain condition, or report that they have failed to do so. Cognizant failure is an easier condition to verify than correctness, and it can provide high confidence in the safety of the spacecraft. Because cognizant failure inherently implies some kind of representation of the intent of an action, the system can respond to contingencies in more robust and general ways. We will describe an implemented non-linear sequencing system that is being flown on the NASA New Millennium Deep Space 1 Mission as part of the Remote Agent Experiment.
A Hierarchical Compositional System for Rapid Object Detection

We describe a hierarchical compositional system for detecting de-formable objects in images. Objects are represented by graphical models. The algorithm uses a hierarchical tree where the root of the tree corresponds to the full object and lower-level elements of the tree correspond to simpler features. The algorithm proceeds by passing simple messages up and down the tree. The method works rapidly, in under a second, on 320 × 240 images. We demonstrate the approach on detecting cats, horses, and hands. The method works in the presence of background clutter and occlusions. Our approach is contrasted with more traditional methods such as dynamic programming and belief propagation.
Effects of organometals on the palladium-catalyzed tandem carbopalladation-cross coupling for preparing stereodefined exocyclic alkenes

The reaction of ω-(o-iodoaryl)- and ω-(Z-β-iodoalkenyl)alkynes with organometals containing Zr, Sn, Al, or B in the presence of a catalytic amount of a palladium-phosphine complex, such as Pd(PPh3)4, proceeds predominantly via initial cyclic carbopalladation followed by cross coupling, whereas the corresponding reaction of organozincs tends to be dominated by direct cross coupling.
Dynamics of the chiral phase transition in the (2+1)-dimensional Gross–Neveu model

The phase diagram of the Gross–Neveu (GN) model in 2+ 1 dimensions as a function of chemical potential and temperature has a simple curve separating the broken symmetry and unbroken symmetry phases, with chiral symmetry being restored both at high temperature and high density. We study, in leading order in the 1/N expansion, the dynamics of the chiral phase transition for an expanding plasma of quarks in the Gross–Neveu model in 2 + 1 dimensions assuming boost invariant kinematics. We compare the time evolution of the order parameter (mass of the fermion) for evolutions starting in the unbroken and broken phases. The proper time evolution of the order parameter resembles previous results in the (1 + 1)-dimensional GN model in the same approximation. The time needed to traverse the transition is insensitive to µ.  2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.
Human Capital as an Asset Class Implications from a General Equilibrium Model

This paper derives the value and risk of aggregate human capital in a stochastic equilibrium model with Duffie-Epstein preferences. A three-factor asset-pricing model is derived, where the factors are the market, the capital share, and investment in human capital. When the model is calibrated to match the historical ratio of wages to consumption in the United States, the weight of human capital in aggregate wealth is estimated to be about 93%, well above most previous estimates, and human capital's riskiness is lower than that of the market portfolio.
The Selberg Trace Formula and Selberg Zeta-Function for Cofinite Kleinian Groups with Finite Dimensional Unitary Representations

For cofinite Kleinian groups, with finite-dimensional unitary representations, we derive the Selberg trace formula. As an application we define the corresponding Selberg zeta-function and compute its divisor, thus generalizing results of Elstrodt, Grunewald and Mennicke to non-trivial unitary representations. We show that the presence of cuspidal elliptic elements sometimes adds ramification points to the zeta-function. In fact, if is the ring of Eisenstein integers, then the Selberg zeta-function of contains ramification points and is the sixth-root of a meromorphic function.
The effect of stakes in distribution experiments

Abstract We replicate previous results showing that stakes do not affect offers in the ultimatum game (UG) and show that stakes also have no effect on allocations in the dictator game (DG). Both results are robust to the inclusion of demographic factors.
Radioisotope electric propulsion of sciencecraft to the outer solar system and near-interstellar space

Abstract Recent results are presented in the study of radioisotope electric propulsion as a near-term technology for sending small robotic sciencecraft to the outer Solar System and near- interstellar space. Radioisotope electric propulsion (REP) systems are low-thrust, ion propulsion units based on radioisotope electric generators and ion thrusters. Powerplant specific masses are expected to be in the range of 100 to 200 kg/kW of thrust power. Planetary rendezvous missions to Pluto, fast missions to the heliopause (100 AU) with the capability to decelerate an orbiter for an extended science program and prestellar missions to the first gravitational lens focus of the Sun (550 AU) are investigated.
New Evidence on Gender Differences in Promotion Rates: An Empirical Analysis of a Sample of New Hires

Using a large sample of establishments drawn from the Multi-City Study of Urban Inequality employer survey, we studied gender differences in promotion rates and in the wage gains attached to promotions. Several unique features of our data distinguish our analysis from the previous literature on this topic. First, we have information on the wage increases attached to promotions, and relatively few studies on gender differences have considered promotions and wage increases together. Second, our data include job-specific worker performance ratings, allowing us to control for performance and ability more precisely than through commonly used skill indicators such as educational attainment or tenure. Third, in addition to standard information on occupation and industry, we have data on a number of other firm characteristics, enabling us to control for these variables while still relying on a broad, representative sample, as opposed to a single firm or a similarly narrowly defined population. Our results indicate that women have lower probabilities of promotion and expected promotion than men do but that there is essentially no gender difference in wage growth with or without promotions.
Three-Component Asymmetric Catalytic Ugi Reaction—Concinnity from Diversity by Substrate-Mediated Catalyst Assembly

The first chiral catalyst for the three-component Ugi reaction was identified as a result of a screen of a large set of different BOROX catalysts. The BOROX catalysts were assembled in situ from a chiral biaryl ligand, an amine, water, BH3⋅SMe2 , and an alcohol or phenol. The catalyst screen included 13 different ligands, 12 amines, and 47 alcohols or phenols. The optimal catalyst system (LAP 8-5-47) provided α-amino amides from an aldehyde, a secondary amine, and an isonitrile with excellent asymmetric induction. The catalytically active species is proposed to be an ion pair that consists of the chiral boroxinate anion and an iminium cation.
Modulated Branching Processes, Origins of Power Laws, and Queueing Duality

Power law distributions have been repeatedly observed in a wide variety of socioeconomic, biological, and technological areas. In many of the observations, e.g., city populations and sizes of living organisms, the objects of interest evolve because of the replication of their many independent components, e.g., births and deaths of individuals and replications of cells. Furthermore, the rates of replications are often controlled by exogenous parameters causing periods of expansion and contraction, e.g., baby booms and busts, economic booms and recessions, etc. In addition, the sizes of these objects often have reflective lower boundaries, e.g., cities do not fall below a certain size, low-income individuals are subsidized by the government, companies are protected by bankruptcy laws, etc. Hence, it is natural to propose reflected modulated branching processes as generic models for many of the preceding observations. Indeed, our main results show that the proposed mathematical models result in power law distributions under quite general polynomial Gartner-Ellis conditions, the generality of which could explain the ubiquitous nature of power law distributions. In addition, on a logarithmic scale, we establish an asymptotic equivalence between the reflected branching processes and the corresponding multiplicative ones. The latter, as recognized by Goldie [Goldie, C. M. 1991. Implicit renewal theory and tails of solutions of random equations. Ann. Appl. Probab.1(1) 126--166], is known to be dual to queueing/additive processes. We emphasize this duality further in the generality of stationary and ergodic processes.
A series solution and a fast algorithm for the inversion of the spherical mean Radon transform

An explicit series solution is proposed for the inversion of the spherical mean Radon transform. Such an inversion is required in problems of thermo- and photo-acoustic tomography. Closed-form inversion formulae are currently known only for the case when the centres of the integration spheres lie on a sphere surrounding the support of the unknown function, or on certain unbounded surfaces. Our approach results in an explicit series solution for any closed measuring surface surrounding a region for which the eigenfunctions of the Dirichlet Laplacian are explicitly known—such as, for example, cube, finite cylinder, half-sphere etc. In addition, we present a fast reconstruction algorithm applicable in the case when the detectors (the centres of the integration spheres) lie on a surface of a cube. This algorithm reconstructs 3D images thousands times faster than backprojection-type methods.
Cs4P2Se10 : A new compound discovered with the application of solid-state and high temperature NMR

The new compound Cs{sub 4}P{sub 2}Se{sub 10} was serendipitously produced in high purity during a high-temperature synthesis done in a nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectrometer. {sup 31}P magic angle spinning (MAS) NMR of the products of the synthesis revealed that the dominant phosphorus-containing product had a chemical shift of -52.8 ppm that could not be assigned to any known compound. Deep reddish brown well-formed plate-like crystals were isolated from the NMR reaction ampoule and the structure was solved with X-ray diffraction. Cs{sub 4}P{sub 2}Se{sub 10} has the triclinic space group P-1 with a=7.3587(11) A, b=7.4546(11) A, c=10.1420(15) A, {alpha}=85.938(2){sup o}, {beta}=88.055(2){sup o}, and {gamma}=85.609(2){sup o} and contains the [P{sub 2}Se{sub 10}]{sup 4-} anion. To our knowledge, this is the first compound containing this anion that is composed of two tetrahedral (PSe{sub 4}) units connected by a diselenide linkage. It was also possible to form a glass by quenching the melt in ice water, and Cs{sub 4}P{sub 2}Se{sub 10} was recovered upon annealing. The static {sup 31}P NMR spectrum at 350 deg. C contained a single peak with a -35 ppm chemical shift and a {approx}7 ppm peak width. This study highlights the potential of solid-state and high-temperature NMR for aidingmore » discovery of new compounds and for probing the species that exist at high temperature. - Graphical abstract: The new compound Cs{sub 4}P{sub 2}Se{sub 10} was discovered following a high-temperature in situ synthesis in the NMR spectrometer and the structure was determined by single-crystal X-ray diffraction. It contains the new [P{sub 2}Se{sub 10}]{sup 4-} anion.« less
Intramolecular cycloadditions of arylketenes with alkenes. Reactions of 5-arylbicyclo[3.2.0]heptan-6-ones

Abstract Intramolecular cycloadditions of arylketenes 4 proceed in excellent yield to give 5-arylbicy-clo[3.2.0]heptan-6-ones 5. Reaction of 5a with KOH in THF gives a 95:5 mixture of 7 and 10. Reaction of 5a with KOEt in ETOH give a 1:3 mixture of 7 and 10. Reaction of 5a with vinyllithium and treatment of the resulting alcohol 23 with KH gives the 1,3-sigmatropic rearrangement product 25.
Studying collective human decision making and creativity with evolutionary computation

We report a summary of our interdisciplinary research project "Evolutionary Perspective on Collective Decision Making" that was conducted through close collaboration between computational, organizational, and social scientists at Binghamton University. We redefined collective human decision making and creativity as evolution of ecologies of ideas, where populations of ideas evolve via continual applications of evolutionary operators such as reproduction, recombination, mutation, selection, and migration of ideas, each conducted by participating humans. Based on this evolutionary perspective, we generated hypotheses about collective human decision making, using agent-based computer simulations. The hypotheses were then tested through several experiments with real human subjects. Throughout this project, we utilized evolutionary computation EC in non-traditional ways-1 as a theoretical framework for reinterpreting the dynamics of idea generation and selection, 2 as a computational simulation model of collective human decision-making processes, and 3 as a research tool for collecting high-resolution experimental data on actual collaborative design and decision making from human subjects. We believe our work demonstrates untapped potential of EC for interdisciplinary research involving human and social dynamics.
Open-target sparse sensing of biological agents using DNA microarray

Current biosensors are designed to target and react to specific nucleic acid sequences or structural epitopes. These 'target-specific' platforms require creation of new physical capture reagents when new organisms are targeted. An 'open-target' approach to DNA microarray biosensing is proposed and substantiated using laboratory generated data. The microarray consisted of 12,900 25 bp oligonucleotide capture probes derived from a statistical model trained on randomly selected genomic segments of pathogenic prokaryotic organisms. Open-target detection of organisms was accomplished using a reference library of hybridization patterns for three test organisms whose DNA sequences were not included in the design of the microarray probes. A multivariate mathematical model based on the partial least squares regression (PLSR) was developed to detect the presence of three test organisms in mixed samples. When all 12,900 probes were used, the model correctly detected the signature of three test organisms in all mixed samples (mean(R 2 )) = 0.76, CI = 0.95), with a 6% false positive rate. A sampling algorithm was then developed to sparsely sample the probe space for a minimal number of probes required to capture the hybridization imprints of the test organisms. The PLSR detection model was capable of correctly identifying the presence of the three test organisms in all mixed samples using only 47 probes (mean(R 2 )) = 0.77, CI = 0.95) with nearly 100% specificity. We conceived an 'open-target' approach to biosensing, and hypothesized that a relatively small, non-specifically designed, DNA microarray is capable of identifying the presence of multiple organisms in mixed samples. Coupled with a mathematical model applied to laboratory generated data, and sparse sampling of capture probes, the prototype microarray platform was able to capture the signature of each organism in all mixed samples with high sensitivity and specificity. It was demonstrated that this new approach to biosensing closely follows the principles of sparse sensing.