cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
One-Pot Enol Silane Formation-Mukaiyama–Mannich Addition of Ketones, Amides, and Thioesters to Nitrones in the Presence of Trialkylsilyl Trifluoromethanesulfonates

Ketones, amides, and thioesters form enol silanes and add to N-phenylnitrones in one pot in the presence of trimethylsilyl trifluoromethanesulfonate and trialkylamine. The reaction is general to a range of silyl trifluoromethanesulfonates and N-phenylnitrones. The β-(silyloxy)amino carbonyl products are stable to chromatography and can be isolated in 63–99 % yield.
Descent algebras, hyperplane arrangements, and shuffling cards

Two notions of riffle shuffling on finite Coxeter groups are given: one using Solomon's descent algebra and another using random walk on chambers of hyperplane arrangements. These coincide for types $A$,$B$,$C$, $H_3$, and rank two groups. Both notions have the same, simple eigenvalues. The hyperplane definition is especially natural and satisfies a positivity property when $W$ is crystallographic and the relevant parameter is a good prime. The hyperplane viewpoint suggests interesting connections with Lie theory and leads to a notion of riffle shuffling for arbitrary real hyperplane arrangements and oriented matroids. Connections with Cellini's descent algebra are given.
El muro enterrado

A veinte anos de la caida del Muro de Berlin, sostiene Roberto Ampuero en este ensayo, esa frontera de hormigon sigue rondando como un fantasma ominoso nuestra historia nacional y sus perspectivas. No habra reencuentro del pais, ni justicia, ni perdon, ni ampliacion de la tolerancia, ni profundizacion de la democracia —se senala— si la izquierda chilena que no critico publicamente el Muro (como no critica hoy publicamente los 50 anos del castrismo) persiste en el silencio y la evasion. Centrandose exclusivamente en las victimas de “nuestra” dictadura, esa izquierda continua rehuyendo el debate sobre las dictaduras de “los partidos aliados” y sus victimas, como su responsabilidad por haber alimentado el quiebre de la tradicion democratica en Chile. Escasean hoy en nuestro pais —afirma el escritor chileno— mesas redondas, libros de ensayo o novelas que aborden este tema desde una perspectiva amplia, que apunten a la reflexion y construccion de nuevas plataformas de acuerdo nacional, y que nos permitan escribir un relato coherente e criinclusivo de nuestra historia politica reciente. Hay que combatir —agrega— la tendencia a ver solo lo que queremos ver, pues no hay justicia sin verdad. Frente a la omision de la izquierda chilena —advierte Ampuero—, existe por cierto un correlato de centro y derecha, donde tambien se adeuda la autocritica por el apoyo brindado a un regimen que violo derechos humanos
Electrophilic Substitution Reactions of Indoles

The topic of this chapter is electrophilic substitution of indole and its derivatives. The indole ring is highly reactive at its 3-position toward protonation, halogenation, alkylation and acylation. Electrophilic substitution can be combined with inter- or intramolecular addition at C-2. Intramolecular alkylation by iminium ions (Pictet-Spengler reaction) is particularly useful. Enantioselectivity can be achieved in many conjugate addition reactions. These reactions have been applied to synthesis of both natural products and drugs.
Total Grid Estimation

This article provides a matrix representation of the adjustment grid estimator. From this representation, one can invoke the Gauss-Markov theorem to examine the efficiency of ordinary least squares (OLS) and the grid estimator that uses OLS estimates of the adjustments (the “plug-in” grid method). In addition, this matrix representation suggests a generalized least squares version of the grid method, labeled herein as the total grid estimator. Based on the empirical experiments, the total grid estimator outperformed the plug-in grid estimator, which in turn outperformed OLS.
Dynamical impurity problems

In the past few years there has been a resurgence of interest in dynamical impurity problems, as a result of developments in the theory of correlated electron systems. The general dynamical impurity problem is a set of conduction electrons interacting with an impurity which has internal degrees of freedom. The simplest and earliest example, the Kondo problem, has attracted interest since the mid-sixties not only because of its physical importance but also as an example of a model displaying logarithmic divergences order by order in perturbation theory. It provided one of the earliest applications of the renormalization group method, which is designed to deal with just such a situation. As we shall see, the antiferromagnetic Kondo model is controlled by a strong-coupling fixed point, and the essence of the renormalization group solution is to carry out the global renormalization numerically starting from the original (weak-coupling) Hamiltonian. In these lectures, we shall describe an alternative route in which we identify an exactly solvable model which renormalizes to the same fixed point as the original dynamical impurity problem. This approach is akin to determining the critical behavior at a second order phase transition point by solving any model in a given universalitymore » class.« less
Liberating the Inflaton from Primordial Spectrum Constraints

I discuss an inflationary scenario where the spectral index of the seeded primordial spectrum is not directly determined by the nature of the inflationary stage. In particular, if a scalar field acquires an appropriate time-dependent mass, it is possible to generate an adiabatic, Gaussian scale invariant spectrum of density perturbations during any stage of inflation. As an illustration, I present a simple model where the time-dependent mass arises from the coupling of the inflaton to a second scalar. The mechanism I propose might help to implement a successful inflationary scenario in particle physics theories that do not yield slow-roll potentials.
Resoling International Shoe

Goodyear Dunlop Tire Operations, S.A. v. Brown and Daimler AG v. Bauman sharply restricted general jurisdiction over corporations, limiting it to a corporation’s (1) state of incorporation, (2) state of principal place of business, or (3) another state where the corporation is “essentially at home.” The Court analogized the first two categories to an individual’s domicile. The Court made clear that the third category is very small, leading Justice Sotomayor, in her opinion concurring in the judgment, to charge that the Court had made many corporations “too big for general jurisdiction.” It is noteworthy that although the Court used the term “essentially at home” in both Goodyear and Daimler, it pointedly did not define it. It would have been easy for the Court to say, for example, that a corporation is subject to general jurisdiction only in the state of incorporation or the state in which its principal place of business is — i.e. the diversity jurisdiction reference points for corporate citizenship. But the Court did not say that, so “essentially at home” must mean something beyond the diversity referents. Justice Ginsburg, who wrote both opinions for the Court, is a former Civil Procedure; the possible link to the diversity referents could not have escaped her.This article argues that the Court’s new approach to general jurisdiction over corporations, particularly with Daimler’s addition of the concept of “relative contacts” — comparing the defendant’s forum contacts with the defendant’s worldwide contacts to determine whether the corporation is “essentially at home” — should compel the Court to reexamine and disapprove transient jurisdiction over individuals, limiting general jurisdiction over individuals to forums where they are domiciled or are “essentially at home,” whatever that may mean. One otherwise confronts the dissonance that general jurisdiction exists over an individual who has been in the forum for five minutes — opening the individual’s entire life to forum judicial adjudication — but not over a corporation that has operated in the forum for decades, has extensive physical facilities and numerous permanent employees in the forum, and derives tens of millions of dollars of annual profit from the forum is not. International Shoe’s minimum-contacts approach, if the Court purports to remain faithful to it, cannot simultaneously embrace Goodyear, Daimler, and Burnham v. Superior Court, which unanimously upheld transient jurisdiction over individuals.
Interfacing Hoare Logic and Type Systems for Foundational Proof-Carrying Code

In this paper, we introduce a Foundational Proof-Carrying Code (FPCC) framework for constructing certified code packages from typed assembly language that will interface with a similarly certified runtime system. Our framework permits the typed assembly language to have a “foreign function” interface, in which stubs, initially provided when the program is being written, are eventually compiled and linked to code that may have been written in a language with a different type system, or even certified directly in the FPCC logic using a proof assistant. We have increased the potential scalability and flexibility of our FPCC system by providing a way to integrate programs compiled from different source type systems. In the process, we are explicitly manipulating the interface between Hoare logic and a syntactic type system.
Energy efficient design of wireless sensor nodes

The battery driven nature of wireless sensor networks, combined with the need for operational lifetimes of months to years, mandates that energy efficiency be treated as a metric of utmost priority while designing these distributed sensing systems. This chapter presents an overview of energy-centric sensor node design techniques that enable designers to significantly extend system and network lifetime. Such extensions to battery life can only be obtained by eliminating energy inefficiencies from all aspects of the sensor node, ranging from the hardware platform to the operating system, network protocols, and application software.
Method to evaluate steering and alignment algorithms for controlling emittance growth

Future linear colliders will likely use sophisticated beam-based alignment and/or steering algorithms to control the growth of the beam emittance in the linac. In this paper, a mathematical framework is presented which simplifies the evaluation of the effectiveness of these algorithms. As an application, a quad alignment algorithm that uses beam data taken with the nominal linac optics, and with a scaled optics, is evaluated in terms of the dispersive emittance growth remaining after alignment. >
Two-Point Correlations and Critical Line of the Driven Ising Lattice Gas in a High-Temperature Expansion

Based on a high-temperature expansion, we compute the two-point correlation function and the critical line of an Ising lattice gas driven into a nonequilibrium steady state by a uniform bias E. The lowest nontrivial order already reproduces the key features, i.e., the discontinuity singularity of the structure factor and the (qualitative) E dependence of the critical line. Our approach is easily generalized to other nonequilibrium lattice models and provides a simple analytic tool for the study of the high-temperature phase and its boundaries.
Designing an Ad Auctions Game for the Trading Agent Competition

We introduce the TAC Ad Auctions game (TAC/AA), a new game for the Trading Agent Competition. The Ad Auctions game investigates complex strategic issues found in real sponsored search auctions that are not captured in current analytical models. We provide an overview of TAC/AA, introducing its key features and design rationale. TAC/AA debuted in summer 2009, with the final tournament commencing in conjunction with the TADA-09 workshop.
On the tradeoff between energy harvesting and caching in wireless networks

Self-powered, energy harvesting small cell base stations (SBS) are expected to be an integral part of next-generation wireless networks. However, due to uncertainties in harvested energy, it is necessary to adopt energy efficient power control schemes to reduce an SBSs' energy consumption and thus ensure quality-of-service (QoS) for users. Such energy-efficient design can also be done via the use of content caching which reduces the usage of the capacity-limited SBS backhaul. of popular content at SBS can also prove beneficial in this regard by reducing the backhaul usage. In this paper, an online energy efficient power control scheme is developed for an energy harvesting SBS equipped with a wireless backhaul and local storage. In our model, energy arrivals are assumed to be Poisson distributed and the popularity distribution of requested content is modeled using Zipf's law. The power control problem is formulated as a (discounted) infinite horizon dynamic programming problem and solved numerically using the value iteration algorithm. Using simulations, we provide valuable insights on the impact of energy harvesting and caching on the energy and sum-throughput performance of the SBS as the network size is varied. Our results also show that the size of cache and energy harvesting equipment at the SBS can be traded off, while still meeting the desired system performance.
Expression of olfactory signaling genes in the eye

Purpose: To advance our understanding how the outer eye interacts with its environment, we asked which cellular receptors are expressed in the cornea, focusing on G protein-coupled receptors. Methods: Total RNA from the mouse cornea was subjected to next-generation sequencing using the Illumina platform. The data was analyzed with TopHat and CuffLinks software packages. Expression of a representative group of genes detected by RNA-seq was further analyzed by RT-PCR and in situ hybridization using RNAscope technology and fluorescent microscopy. Results: We generated more than 46 million pair-end reads from mouse corneal RNA. Bioinformatics analysis revealed that the mouse corneal transcriptome reconstructed from these reads represents over 10,000 gene transcripts. We identified 194 GPCR transcripts, of which 96 were putative olfactory receptors. RT-PCR analysis confirmed the presence of several olfactory receptors and related genes, including olfactory marker protein and the G protein associated with olfaction, Gaolf. In situ hybridization showed that mRNA for olfactory marker protein, Gaolf and possibly some olfactory receptors were found in the corneal epithelial cells. In addition to the corneal epithelium, Gaolf was present in the ganglionic and inner nuclear layers of the retina. One of the olfactory receptors, Olfr558, was present primarily in vessels of the eye co-stained with antibodies against alpha-smooth muscle actin, indicating expression in arterioles. Conclusions: Several species of mRNA encoding putative olfactory receptors and related genes are expressed in the mouse cornea and other parts of the eye indicating they may play a role in sensing chemicals in the ocular environment.
On the bulk viscosity of relativistic matter

An expression for the bulk viscosity coefficient in terms of the trace of the hydrodynamic energy-stress tensor is derived from the Kubo formula. This, along with a field-theoretic model of an interacting system of scalar particles, suggests that at high temperatures the bulk viscosity tends to zero, contrary to the often quoted results of Iso, Mori and Namiki.
Fragmentation in Large Object Repositories

Fragmentation leads to unpredictable and degraded application performance. While these problems have been studied in detail for desktop filesystem workloads, this study examines newer systems such as scalable object stores and multimedia repositories. Such systems use a get/put interface to store objects. In principle, databases and filesystems can support such applications efficiently, allowing system designers to focus on complexity, deployment cost and manageability. Although theoretical work proves that certain storage policies behave optimally for some workloads, these policies often behave poorly in practice. Most storage benchmarks focus on short-term behavior or do not measure fragmentation. We compare SQL Server to NTFS and find that fragmentation dominates performance when object sizes exceed 256KB-1MB. NTFS handles fragmentation better than SQL Server. Although the performance curves will vary with other systems and workloads, we expect the same interactions between fragmentation and free space to apply. It is well-known that fragmentation is related to the percentage free space. We found that the ratio of free space to object size also impacts performance. Surprisingly, in both systems, storing objects of a single size causes fragmentation, and changing the size of write requests affects fragmentation. These problems could be addressed with simple changes to the filesystem and database interfaces. It is our hope that an improved understanding of fragmentation will lead to predictable storage systems that require less maintenance after deployment.
Isomorphisms of function modules, and generalized approximation in modulus

For a function algebra A we investigate relations between the following three topics: isomorphisms of singly generated A-modules, Morita equivalence bimodules, and 'real harmonic functions' with respect to A. We also consider certain groups which are naturally associated with a uniform algebra A. We illustrate the notions considered with several examples.
The Extreme Ends of the Metallicity Distribution in dSph Galaxies

This paper reviews recent abundance results of local dSph giants. All dSph systems seem to show evidence of slow star formation rates, compared to the Milky Way, based on the most metal-rich stars exhibiting low [even-Z/Fe] ratios and high [s-process/r-process] ratios. The most metal-poor stars in the Draco, Ursa Minor, Sextans and Sculptor dSphs seem to show a split in their light even-Z, Mg and O, and the heavier even-Z, Ca and Ti, abundance ratios, where the light even-Z are halo like and the heavier even-Z elements exhibit sub-halo abundance ratios. This split remains a mystery. A review of the first dSph abundance results from FLAMES+GIRAFFE on the VLT and HRS on the Hobby-Eberly Telescope shows that the study of chemical evolution of dSph galaxies is rapidly moving out of infancy and into an era requiring very large surveys and/or targeted studies.
Three-dimensional Burgers' Equation as a Model for the Large-Scale Structure Formation in the Universe

As galaxy redshift surveys probe deeper into the universe, they uncover ever more dramatic structures in the large-scale distribution of galaxies. In particular, the CfA2 and SSRS2 surveys to an apparent magnitude limit of 15.5 exhibit an impressive complex of sheets, filaments, and clusters. The formation of the large-scale structure in the universe results from the gravitational amplification of the primordial small perturbations of density. The primordial density perturbations are thought to be random fields originated as quantum fluctuations at the very early stage. Thus the understanding of the formation of the large-scale structure may reveal important information about the early universe and the laws of fundamental physics. One of the major obstacles to understanding the formation of the large-scale structure is the complexity of the evolution of the density inhomogeneities at the nonlinear stage when the observable structures form. One way of addressing this problem is to run three-dimensional numerical simulations. Here we review another approach based on the approximate analytic model of the nonlinear gravitational instability utilizing Burgers’ equation of the nonlinear diffusion.
The Local Velocity Anomaly

There is a velocity discontinuity at about 7 Mpc between the galaxies of the Local Sheet that are moving together with low internal velocity dispersion and the adjacent structures. The Local Sheet bounds the Local Void. The Local Sheet is determined to have a peculiar velocity of 260 km/s away from the center of the void. In order for this large velocity to be generated by an absence of gravity, the Local Void must be at least 45 Mpc in diameter and be very empty.
Secure assisted quantum computation

Suppose Alice wants to perform some computation that could be done quickly on a quantum computer, but she cannot do universal quantum computation. Bob can do universal quantum computation and claims he is willing to help, but Alice wants to be sure that Bob cannot learn her input, the result of her calculation, or perhaps even the function she is trying to compute. We describe a simple, efficient protocol by which Bob can help Alice perform the computation, but there is no way for him to learn anything about it. We also discuss techniques for Alice to detect whether Bob is honestly helping her or if he is introducing errors.
Propositional Satisfiability in Answer-Set Programming

We show that propositional logic and its extensions can support answer-set programming in the same way stable logic programming and disjunctive logic programming do. To this end, we introduce a logic based on the logic of propositional schemata and on a version of the Closed World Assumption. We call it the extended logic of propositional schemata with CWA (PS+, in symbols). An important feature of the logic PS+ is that it supports explicit modeling of constraints on cardinalities of sets. In the paper, we characterize the class of problems that can be solved by finite PS+ theories. We implement a programming system based on the logic PS+ and design and implement a solver for processing theories in PS+. We present encouraging performance results for our approach -- we show it to be competitive with smodels, a state-of-the-art answer-set programming system based on stable logic programming.
SEYFERT GALAXIES AND THE HARD X-RAY BACKGROUND: ARTIFICIAL CHANDRA OBSERVATIONS OF z = 0.3 ACTIVE GALAXIES

Deep X-ray surveys have resolved much of the X-ray background radiation below 2 keV into discrete sources, but the background above 8 keV remains largely unresolved. The obscured (type 2) active galactic nuclei (AGNs) that are expected to dominate the hard X-ray background have not yet been detected in sufficient numbers to account for the observed background flux. However, deep X-ray surveys have revealed large numbers of faint quiescent and starburst galaxies at moderate redshifts. In hopes of recovering the missing AGN population, it has been suggested that the defining optical spectral features of low-luminosity Seyfert nuclei at large distances may be overwhelmed by their host galaxies, causing them to appear optically quiescent in deep surveys. We test this possibility by artificially redshifting a sample of 23 nearby, well-studied active galaxies to z = 0.3, testing them for X-ray AGN signatures, and comparing them to the objects detected in deep X-ray surveys. We find that these redshifted galaxies have properties consistent with the deep-field normal and optically bright, X-ray-faint galaxy (OBXF) populations, supporting the hypothesis that the numbers of AGNs in deep X-ray surveys are being underestimated and suggesting that OBXFs should not be ruled out as candidate AGN hosts that could contribute to the hard X-ray background source population.
Prediction in quantum cosmology.

As far as we know them, the fundamental laws of physics are quantum mechanical in nature. If these laws apply to the universe as a whole, then there must be a description of the universe in quantum mechancial terms. Even our present cosmological observations require such a description in principle, although in practice these observations are so limited and crude that the approximation of classical physics is entirely adequate. In the early universe, however, the classical approximation is unlikely to be valid. There, towards the big bang singularity, at curvatures characterized by the Planck length, (ћG/c 3)1/2 , quantum fluctuations become important and eventually dominant.
Imidoyl dichlorides as new reagents for the rapid formation of 2-aminobenzimidazoles and related azoles.

The development of a reagent for the efficient synthesis of five- and six-membered azoles at room temperature is proposed. A variety of substituted 2-aminobenzimidazoles are synthesized in good to excellent yields. The ability to incorporate various protecting groups makes the imidoyl dichloride reagent amenable to a large number of syntheses. The reagent is applied to the total synthesis of the 2-aminobenzimidazole containing carcinogen, 2-amino-1-methyl-6-phenylimidazo[4,5-b]pyridine (PhIP), from 2-chloro-3-nitropyridine in >60% yield in 6 steps.
How the JPML Can Benefit from the Federal Circuit and Vice-Versa

This article posits that the JPML and Federal Circuit, despite their range of differences, can benefit from one another and remedy each other’s complex institutional challenges. The Federal Circuit can eliminate the unfairness in multidistrict litigation practice and can guide multidistrict litigation by providing uniform federal precedent. Multidistrict litigation, which is as procedurally complex as it is substantively broad, can enable the Federal Circuit to speak on non-patent law and can position the circuit to see more clearly how patents affect the overall economy. Through these mutual benefits, these institutions can promote justice and cost-effectiveness for each litigant in every patent action and every MDL proceeding. To that end, this article proposes that Congress vest in the Federal Circuit exclusive appellate jurisdiction over the JPML and MDL courts.
How does the connectivity of open-framework conglomerates within multi-scale hierarchical fluvial architecture affect oil-sweep efficiency in waterflooding?

Understanding multi-phase fluid flow and transport processes within aquifers, candidate reservoirs for CO 2 sequestration, and petroleum reservoirs requires understanding a diverse set of geologic properties of the aquifer or reservoir, over a wide range of spatial and temporal scales. We focus on multi-phase flow dynamics with wetting (e.g., water) and non-wetting (e.g., gas or oil) fluids, with one invading another. This problem is of general interest in a number of fields and is illustrated here by considering the sweep efficiency of oil during a waterflood. Using a relatively fine-resolution grid throughout a relatively large domain in these simulations and probing the results with advanced scientific visualization tools (Reservoir Visualization Analysis [RVA]/ParaView software) promote a better understanding of how smaller-scale features affect the aggregate behavior at larger scales. We studied the effects on oil-sweep efficiency of the proportion, hierarchical organization, and connectivity of high-permeability open-framework conglomerate (OFC) cross-sets within the multi-scale stratal architecture found in fluvial deposits. We analyzed oil production rate, water breakthrough time, and spatial and temporal distribution of residual oil saturation. As expected, the effective permeability of the reservoir exhibits large-scale anisotropy created by the organization of OFC cross-sets within unit bars, and the organization of unit bars within compound-bars. As a result, oil-sweep efficiency critically depends on the direction of the pressure gradient. However, contrary to expectations, the total amount of trapped oil due to the effect of capillary trapping does not depend on the magnitude of the pressure gradient within the examined range. Hence the pressure difference between production and injection wells does not affect sweep efficiency; although the spatial distribution of oil remaining in the reservoir depends on this value. Whether or not clusters of connected OFC span the domain affects only the absolute rate of oil production—not sweep efficiency.
Political entry, public policies, and the economy

Abstract This paper presents a theory of competition in dictatorships, in which the possible equilibrium political market structures range from pure monopoly (uncontested kleptocracy with high entry barriers) to perfectly competitive (benevolent dictatorship with regular leadership turnover). Leaders compete sequentially and are constrained by the threat of entry, their ability to tax, or both, so that a dictator with no challengers may nonetheless implement policies in the public interest. By focusing on the incentives for political entry, our model helps to classify regimes and to clarify some of the political science debate as to whether political monopoly power is properly measured by the size of political entry barriers or the frequency of leadership turnover. Moreover, we offer economic interpretations of why some dictatorial regimes are uncontested, why there are good and bad dictators, why nondemocratic countries are associated with lower wages, why resource abundant countries tend to be nondemocratic, and how technological change affects political development. Finally, we show how external support of opposition political parties and other policies designed to promote democracy may actually have the unintended consequences of discouraging political competition.
The Effects of Changes in State Tax Enforcement on Corporate Income Tax Collections

ABSTRACT: Using a new hand-collected database on state department of revenue (DOR) expenditures, this study examines the association between changes in state corporate tax enforcement expenditures and state-level tax collections during the 2000–2008 time period. The results, after addressing endogeneity concerns using a changes specification and state fixed effects, suggest a $1 increase (decrease) in current period corporate enforcement is associated with an $8 to $11 increase (decrease) in state tax collections two years into the future. The association appears to be attenuated in states with restrictive tax policies (i.e., unitary/combined reporting and related-party add-back provisions) suggesting that enforcement and restrictive tax policies could serve as substitutes. JEL Classifications: H26; H71; H72. Data Availability: Enforcement data were hand collected from state revenue department annual reports and by contacting state corporate income tax personnel. All annual reports are publicly available.
The nexus between atmospheric rivers and extreme precipitation across Europe

[1] Extreme precipitation and floods in Europe are a recurring natural hazard causing large socioeconomic damages. Here we investigate the connection between annual maxima (AM) daily precipitation at a pan-European scale and atmospheric rivers (ARs), narrow filaments that convey the majority of the poleward water vapor transport within extratropical cyclones. We show that ARs are responsible for many AM precipitation days in Western Europe. The relationship is especially strong along the western European seaboard, with some areas having eight of their top 10 AM related to ARs. The effects of ARs are also seen as far inland as Germany and Poland. Southern Europe was most affected by ARs under negative North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) conditions, whereas northern Europe was more associated with a positive relationship between ARs and an NAO-type pattern. Our results suggest that ARs are critical in explaining the upper tail of the extreme precipitation distribution in Western Europe.
Hysteresis In Unemployment: Panel Unit Roots Tests Using State Level Data

Most studies that use classical unit-root tests in OECD countries support the unemployment hysteresis hypothesis. However, similar classical tests performed on US data yield mixed results, uncovering specification issues. This study uses a number of panel unit root tests, which are known to overcome specification problems, to check the existence of hysteresis in unemployment data from three Massachusetts regions. The empirical results strongly reject a unit root in the unemployment rates, refuting the unemployment hysteresis hypothesis.
Constraints for Interactive Graphical Applications

Constraints have been used in interactive graphical applications since Sketchpad in the early 60's [8]. Constraints in this domain, as in others, provide a declarative way for the user to specify what is desired rather than how to achieve it. Two particular features of this domain, however, stem from interactivity: the need to handle state and change properly as a graphical figure is manipulated, and the need for efficient incremental algorithms for satisfying the constraints to preserve interactive response. In the talk I will first describe Cassowary [2,6], an algorithm for satisfying sets of linear equality and inequality constraints. Cassowary is a version of the simplex algorithm that incrementally solves hierarchies of hard and soft constraints [5], with special treatment of the edit and stay constraints that can be used to express the semantics of editing and updating a graphical figure. Two important properties of Cassowary are that it is very efficient (the constraint solving time is normally dominated by the graphics refresh time), and that it handles simultaneous equations, simultaneous inequalities, and over- and under-constrained systems without difficulty. The Cassowary toolkit is freely available under the GNU Library General Public License, and has been used for a number of applications, including those mentioned below and others.
Future directions in parity violation - From quarks to the cosmos

I discuss the prospects for future studies of parity-violating (PV) interactions at low energies and the insights they might provide about open questions in the standard model as well as physics that lies beyond it. I cover four types of parity-violating observables: PV electron scattering; PV hadronic interactions; PV correlations in weak decays and searches for the permanent electric dipole moments of quantum systems.
Synthesis of Lobeline, Lobelane and their Analogues. A Review

(-)-Lobeline (1) (2R, 6S, 10S-, Fig. 1) is the major alkaloidal constituent of Lobelia inflata, a plant native to North America with a long history of use as a natural remedy. The plant is also cal...
East Africa's infrastructure : a regional perspective

Sound infrastructure is critical for growth in East Africa. During 1995-2005, improvements in infrastructure boosted growth by one percentage point per year, due largely to wider access to information and communication technologies (ICTs). Although power infrastructure sapped growth in other regions of Africa, it contributed 0.2 percentage points per year growth in East Africa. If East Africa's infrastructure could be improved to the level of the strongest performing country in Africa (Mauritius), regional growth performance would be boosted by some six percentage points, with power making the strongest contribution. East Africa's infrastructure ranks behind that of southern and western Africa across a range of indicators, though in terms of access to improved sources of water and sanitation and Internet density, it is comparable with or superior to the subcontinents leader, southern Africa. By contrast, density of fixed-line telephones, power generation capacity, and access to electricity remain extremely low, though utility performance is improving through regional power trades. The road network is relatively good, although with some lengths of poor-quality or unpaved roads. Surface transport is challenged by border crossings, port delays, slow travel, limited railways, and trade logistics, but the region has a relatively mature and competitive trucking industry. Air transport benefits from a strong hub-and-spoke structure but has made little progress toward market liberalization. Of the seven countries in the region, four are landlocked, two have populations of fewer than 10 million people, and two have an annual gross domestic product of less than $10 billion. The difficult economic geography of East Africa makes a regional approach to infrastructure development necessary to achieve further improvement.
Large orbit gyroklystron development at Los Alamos

We have designed and are testing a large orbit gyroklystron amplifier for 1.3 GHz operation in 65 ns pulses. The ultimate power output goal is 500 MW with a gain in excess of 20 dB. This initial investigation is intended to lay the groundwork for operation at 11.4 GHz for particle accelerator applications, and also at frequencies of up to 35 GHz for other uses. Computational design has been performed with the resonant cavity code MAFIA and the particle in cell codes MERLIN and ISIS. Electron beam optics through a magnetic cusp was also studied with ISIS and MERLIN, and verified experimentally, to develop a suitable electron beam trajectory from the diode into the resonator region. Performance tests of a single stage device have been performed. An unsaturated gain of 43 dB has been observed using 4 kW of input drive, yielding an amplified output of 100 MW. >
Moment Consistency of the Exchangeably Weighted Bootstrap for Semiparametric M-estimation

The bootstrap variance estimate is widely used in semiparametric inferences. However, its theoretical validity is a well-known open problem. In this paper, we provide a first theoretical study on the bootstrap moment estimates in semiparametric models. Specifically, we establish the bootstrap moment consistency of the Euclidean parameter, which immediately implies the consistency of t-type bootstrap confidence set. It is worth pointing out that the only additional cost to achieve the bootstrap moment consistency in contrast with the distribution consistency is to simply strengthen the L1 maximal inequality condition required in the latter to the Lp maximal inequality condition for p≥1. The general Lp multiplier inequality developed in this paper is also of independent interest. These general conclusions hold for the bootstrap methods with exchangeable bootstrap weights, for example, non-parametric bootstrap and Bayesian bootstrap. Our general theory is illustrated in the celebrated Cox regression model.
Minireview: Emerging Roles for Extracellular Vesicles in Diabetes and Related Metabolic Disorders

Extracellular vesicles (EVs), membrane-contained vesicles released by most cell types, have attracted a large amount of research interest over the past decade. Because of their ability to transfer cargo via regulated processes, causing functional impacts on recipient cells, these structures may play important roles in cell-cell communication and have implications in the physiology of numerous organ systems. In addition, EVs have been described in most human biofluids and have wide potential as relatively noninvasive biomarkers of various pathologic conditions. Specifically, EVs produced by the pancreatic β-cell have been demonstrated to regulate physiologic and pathologic responses to β-cell stress, including β-cell proliferation and apoptosis. β-Cell EVs are also capable of interacting with immune cells and may contribute to the activation of autoimmune processes that trigger or propagate β-cell inflammation and destruction during the development of diabetes. EVs from adipose tissue have been shown to contribute to the development of the chronic inflammation and insulin resistance associated with obesity and metabolic syndrome via interactions with other adipose, liver, and muscle cells. Circulating EVs may also serve as biomarkers for metabolic derangements and complications associated with diabetes. This minireview describes the properties of EVs in general, followed by a more focused review of the literature describing EVs affecting the β-cell, β-cell autoimmunity, and the development of insulin resistance, which all have the potential to affect development of type 1 or type 2 diabetes.
The Effect of Medicare Eligibility on Spousal Insurance Coverage

A majority of married couples in the USA take advantage of the fact that employers often provide health insurance coverage to spouses. When older spouses become eligible for Medicare, however, many of them can no longer provide their younger spouses with coverage. In this paper, we study how spousal eligibility for Medicare affects the health insurance and health care access of younger spouses. We find that spousal eligibility for Medicare results in younger spouses no longer having employers pay for their insurance and being less likely to have employer-sponsored coverage. Instead, younger spouses switch to privately purchased coverage, which tends to be worse than what they had before their spouses became eligible for Medicare. We also find suggestive evidence that younger spouses are less likely to use health care services after their older spouses become eligible for Medicare. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
El Niño–Southern Oscillation and snow level in the western United States

[1] The relationship between El Nino–Southern Oscillation and the elevation of snow level in the western United States is established. Snow level variability is quantified from records of (1) wet-bulb zero heights at ten rawinsonde sites (1957–2010), (2) empirically estimated snow levels over ten adjacent watersheds from precipitation and snowfall observations (∼1924–2009), and (3) 850–700 hPa thicknesses (1948–2010). The statistical relationship between these variables and the Southern Oscillation Index is established through the examination of the change in the empirical probability density function from moderate values of the Southern Oscillation Index to extreme values of the Southern Oscillation Index. For all data sources, results suggest that El Nino events are linked to higher snow levels across much of the western United States. Considering the known effects of El Nino on airflow over the western United States, the elevated snow levels are likely due to the more maritime characteristics of midlatitude cyclones. The strength of this signal decreases with distance from the Pacific Ocean and the southern Rockies display slightly decreased snow levels during El Nino events, likely due to the transition of maritime air masses to continental air masses. A snow covered area analysis derived from the Terra MODIS observations supports this El Nino signal in snow level. There is little evidence for a significant and spatially coherent La Nina relationship with snow level. This ENSO signal in snow level is apparent in the data with trend removed and for the cold and warm phases of the Pacific Decadal Oscillation.
Reduction in the effective barrier height in PtSi-p-Si Schottky diodes by using low energy ion implantation

Abstract A reduction in the effective barrier height in a PtSi-p-Si Schottky diode was achieved using low energy ion implantation to introduce a shallow p + layer on a p-Si substrate. After the Schottky diode had been implanted with 3 keV 11 B + ions to a dose of 4 × 10 12 ions cm -2 , the barrier height was observed to decrease from 0.26 to 0.16 eV. The reduction in barrier height correlated well with the boron concentration found at or near the PtSiSi interface.
The impact of managerial networking intensity and market-based strategies on firm growth during institutional upheaval: A study of small and medium-sized enterprises in a transition economy

Varying institutional environments provide the foundation for a great deal of international business research, yet relatively little empirical work has examined the determinants of small and medium-sized enterprise (SME) growth during institutional upheaval, although the importance of SME development for economic transition and growth is widely acknowledged. Our paper addresses this gap in the literature by examining how the competitive strategies of SMEs evolve during institutional transitions, and assessing the implications for firm growth. Using data collected from 135 SMEs in 1993, and 200 SMEs in 2001, we find that managerial networking intensity (i.e., developing and maintaining relationships that may be used for business purposes) declines markedly over time, whereas the importance of market-based strategies increases. Managerial networking intensity is strongly associated with firm growth early in the institutional transition process, but not later. Market-based strategies are not associated with firm growth in either time period. Drawing on convergent insights from multiple theoretical perspectives, we argue that changes in strategy are concurrently driven by socially constructed norms that legitimize new ways of competing and delegitimize old ones, and by knowledge acquisition and learning, which provide managers with a more diverse set of tools with which to exercise their strategic choices.
A model for the onset of breakdown in an axisymmetric compressible vortex

A simple inviscid model to predict the onset of breakdown in an axisymmetric vortex is proposed. Three problems are considered: the shock‐induced breakdown of a compressible vortex, the breakdown of a free compressible vortex, and the breakdown of a free incompressible vortex. The same physical reasoning is used in all three problems to predict the onset of breakdown. It is hypothesized that breakdown is the result of the competing effects of adverse pressure rise and streamwise momentum flux at the vortex centerline. Breakdown is assumed to occur if the pressure rise exceeds the axial momentum flux. A formula with no adjustable constants is derived for the critical swirl number in all three problems. The dependence of the critical swirl number on parameters such as upstream Mach number, excess/deficit in centerline axial velocity, and shock oblique angle is explored. The predictions for the onset of shock‐induced breakdown and free incompressible breakdown are compared to experiment and computation, and good agreement is observed. Finally, a new breakdown map is proposed. It is suggested that the adverse pressure rise at the vortex axis be plotted against the axial momentum flux to determine the onset of breakdown. The proposed map allows the simultaneous comparison of data from flows ranging from incompressible breakdown to breakdown induced by a shock wave.
Single crystal elastic moduli of disordered cubic alloys

A computationally efficient, physics-based technique is described for calculating the composition dependence of single crystal elastic constants of disordered, single-phase alloys with face-centered cubic and body-centered cubic Bravais lattices. Alloys are modeled as virtual crystals in which the energy of representative atom pairs is approximated by a virtual potential constructed from the pair potentials of component pairs using a quasi-chemical approximation. Following the method of long waves, second-order elastic constants are calculated from first and second neighbor axisymmetric force constants obtained from the virtual potential. Since only elastic constants are modeled, the form of the potential employed contains only parameters that describe the slope and curvature in the vicinity of the first and second nearest neighbors. Examples are presented for several binary alloy systems differing in solubility characteristics and crystal structures of the pure solutes.
The Interdependence between Institutional Ownership and Information Dissemination by Data Aggregators

ABSTRACT: This study examines the interdependence between institutional ownership and the speed with which Standard & Poor's disseminates corporate accounting information. From the demand‐side perspective, we find that quasi‐indexers, who rely on corporate accounting information as a low‐cost monitoring system, are the key driver of the institutional demand for speedy information dissemination. In addition, dissemination speed increases substantially for stocks listed in major market indices but decreases with high arbitrage risk or transaction costs. From the consequences perspective, we find that both transient investors and quasi‐indexers gravitate to stocks with faster information dissemination, consistent with the latter using accounting information as a low‐cost performance‐monitoring mechanism, and the former being better enabled to implement their trading strategies in a richer information environment. Overall, this study provides new insights into the capital market information infrastructure by ...