cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
A brief history of clinical xenotransplantation.

Abstract Between the 17th and 20th centuries, blood was transfused from various animal species into patients with a variety of pathological conditions. Skin grafts were carried out in the 19th century, with grafts from a variety of animals, with frogs being the most popular. In the 1920s, Voronoff advocated the transplantation of slices of chimpanzee testis into elderly men, believing that the hormones produced by the testis would rejuvenate his patients. In 1963–4, when human organs were not available and dialysis was not yet in use, Reemtsma transplanted chimpanzee kidneys into 13 patients, one of whom returned to work for almost 9 months before suddenly dying from what was believed to be an electrolyte disturbance. The first heart transplant in a human ever performed was by Hardy in 1964, using a chimpanzee heart, but the patient died within 2 h. Starzl carried out the first chimpanzee-to-human liver transplantation in 1966; in 1992 he obtained patient survival for 70 days following a baboon liver transplant. The first clinical pig islet transplant was carried out by Groth in 1993. Today, genetically-modified pigs offer hope of a limitless supply of organs and cells for those in need of a transplant.
Model-dependent spatial skill in pseudoproxy experiments testing climate field reconstruction methods for the Common Era

The spatial skill of four climate field reconstruction (CFR) methods is investigated using pseudoproxy experiments (PPEs) based on five last millennium and historical simulations from the Coupled and Paleo Model Intercomparison Projects Phases 5 and 3 (CMIP5/PMIP3) data archives. These simulations are used for the first time in a PPE context, the frameworks of which are constructed to test a recently assembled multiproxy network and multiple CFR techniques. The experiments confirm earlier findings demonstrating consistent methodological performance across the employed methods and spatially dependent reconstruction errors in all of the derived CFRs. Spectral biases in the reconstructed fields demonstrate that CFR methods can alone alter the ratio of spectral power at all locations in the field, independent of whether there are any spectral biases inherent in the underlying pseudoproxy series. The patterns of spectral biases are model dependent and indicate the potential for regions in the derived CFRs to be biased by changes in either low or high-frequency spectral power. CFR methods are also shown to alter the pattern of mean differences in the tropical Pacific during the Medieval Climate Anomaly and the Little Ice Age, with some model experiments indicating that CFR methodologies enhance the statistical likelihood of achieving larger mean differences between independent 300-year periods in the region. All of the characteristics of CFR performance are model dependent, indicating that CFR methods must be evaluated across multiple models and that conclusions from PPEs should be carefully connected to the spatial statistics of real-world climatic fields.
Wind erosion potential of lacustrine and alluvial soils before and after disturbance in the eastern Great Basin, USA: Estimating threshold friction velocity using easier-to-measure soil properties

Abstract Disturbance of lacustrine and alluvial soils could increase aeolian dust emissions in the eastern Great Basin, but little is known about the susceptibility of these land surfaces to wind erosion. Threshold friction velocity (u∗t), a necessary parameter to estimate wind erosion potential, is difficult to accurately measure; methods to estimate u∗t from alternate measurements would be useful. We measured u∗t and sediment production rate with a portable wind tunnel, and quantified relationships between u∗t and eleven easier-to-measure soil surface properties for both undisturbed and disturbed lacustrine and alluvial soils in Snake Valley, Utah. Soil surface type and disturbance significantly influenced u∗t, sediment production rate, and the relationships between u∗t and easier-to-measure soil surface properties. Only soils with surficial rock fragments and weak physical crusts reached u∗t before disturbance, whereas all surface types reached u∗t following disturbance. Soils with weak physical crusts had the lowest average u∗t and highest average sediment production rate before and after disturbance. Surprisingly, however, disturbance reduced sediment production rate. Soils with weak physical crusts and surficial rock cover are likely the most susceptible to wind erosion and subsequent dust generation both before and after disturbance. Silt concentration and penetrometer resistance were significant predictors of u∗t in undisturbed soils with weak physical crusts and surficial rock cover. Following disturbance, clay concentration and aggregate stability were significant predictors for soils with hard salt crusts and surficial rock cover. Prediction of u∗t using alternate measurements is promising, but u∗t measurement uncertainty must be considered.
Asymmetric Pd-Catalyzed Alkene Carboamination Reactions for the Synthesis of 2-Aminoindane Derivatives

A new type of Pd-catalyzed alkene carboamination reaction that provides direct access to enantioenriched 2-aminoindanes from 2-allylphenyltriflate derivatives and aliphatic amines is described. A catalyst generated in situ from Pd(OAc)2 and (S)-tert-butylPHOX provides the functionalized carbocycles in good yield with up to >99:1 er. The transformations occur via a key anti-aminopalladation that involves intermolecular attack of an amine nucleophile on an arylpalladium alkene complex.
3D method of using spatial-varying gaussian mixture and local information to segment MR brain volumes

The paper is an extension of previous work on spatial-varying Gaussian mixture and Markov random field (SVGM-MRF) from 2D to 3D to segment the MR brain volume with the presence of noise and inhomogeneity. The reason for this extension is that MR brain data are naturally three dimensional, and the information from the additional dimension provides a more accurate conditional probability representation. To reduce large computation time and memory requirements for 3D implementation, a method of using only the local window information to perform the necessary parameter estimations and to achieve the tissue labeling is proposed. The experiments on fifteen brain volumes with various noise and inhomogeneity levels and comparisons with other three well-known 2D methods are provided. The new method outperforms all three 2D methods for high noise and inhomogeneity data which is a very common occurrence in MR applications.
Adaptive algorithms using bounded memory are inherently non-uniform

Distributed protocols that run in dynamic environments such as the Internet are often not able to use an upper bound on the number of potentially participating processes. In these settings adaptive and uniform algorithms are desirable where the step complexity of all operations is a function of the number of concurrently participating processes (adaptive) and the algorithm does not need to know an upper bound on the number of participating processes (uniform). Adaptive algorithms, however, are generally not adaptive with respect to their memory consumption – if no upper bound on the number of participating processes is known in advance – they require unbounded MWMR registers and an unbounded number of such registers (even if only finitely many distinct processes appear), making them impractical for real systems. In this paper we ask whether this must be the case: Can adaptive algorithms where no upper bound on the number of participating processes is known in advance be uniformly implemented with finite memory (if only finitely many distinct processes keep reappearing)? We will show that in the dynamic setting it is impossible to implement long-lived adaptive splitters, collect and renaming with infinitely many bounded MWMR registers, making such adaptive algorithms impractical in dynamic settings. On the positive side we provide algorithms that implement a long-lived uniform adaptive splitter if unbounded registers are available and that implement a non-uniform adaptive splitter with finitely many bounded registers if an upper bound on the number of participating processes is known in advance.
High Pressure NMR

Publisher Summary This chapter describes the NMR instrumentation for high-pressure work, high-pressure NMR studies of model membranes, applications of two-dimensional NMR techniques at high pressure, and presents a survey of the recent high-pressure NMR studies. The chapter focuses on high-resolution, high-pressure NMR instrumentation, and applications to the studies of biochemical systems. The use of pressure allows one to extend the range of measurements above the boiling point of a liquid and also permits the study of supercritical dense fluids. Because noncovalent interactions play a primary role in the stabilization of biochemical systems, the use of pressure allows one to change, in a controlled way, the intermolecular interactions without the major perturbations produced by the changes in temperature and or chemical composition. The chapter also covers the main design features of high-pressure, high-resolution NMR, and includes several examples of high-resolution two-dimensional (2D) NMR experiments on chemical and biochemical systems. Several features of the NMR probe design that are essential for the biochemical applications of the high-pressure NMR technique, such as high resolution, high sensitivity, wide pressure and temperature ranges, large sample volume, reliable r.f. feedthroughs, contamination-free sample cells, ease of assembly and use, and suitability for superconducting magnets are also addressed in the chapter.
Mind over matter : the intellectual content of experimental physics

The reasons why the most gifted physics students generally choose to become theorists in preference to an experimental career are analyzed. Some remedies to this deplorable fact are suggested. Four brilliant, but comparatively little known measurements are described to illustrate the intellectual content of experimental physics.
A Century of Cosmology

In the century since Einstein's anno mirabilis of 1905, our concept of the Universe has expanded from Kapteyn's flattened disk of stars only 10 kpc across to an observed horizon about 30 Gpc across that is only a tiny fraction of an immensely large inflated bubble. The expansion of our knowledge about the Universe, both in the types of data and the sheer quantity of data, has been just as dramatic. This talk will summarize this century of progress and our current understanding of the cosmos.
High-Energy Spectral Signatures in Gamma-Ray Bursts

One of the principal results obtained by the EGRET experiment aboard the Compton Gamma-Ray Observatory (CGRO) was the detection of several γ-ray bursts (GRBs) above 100 MeV. The broad-band spectra obtained for these bursts gave no indication of any high energy spectral attenuation that might preclude detection of bursts by ground-based Cerenkov telescopes (ACTs), thus motivating several TeV observational programs. This paper explores the expectations for the spectral properties in the TeV and sub-TeV bands for bursts, in particular how attenuation of photons by pair creation internal to the source modifies the spectrum to produce distinctive spectral signatures. The energy of spectral breaks and the associated spectral indices provide valuable information that can constrain the bulk Lorentz factor of the GRB outflow at a given time. These characteristics define palpable observational goals for ACT programs, and strongly impact the observability of bursts in the TeV band.
Management Advisory Groups for the Changing Agriculture Structure

The most dramatic change occurring in agricultural production is the change in business strategies. In the US, family farmers have traditionally made decisions with whatever information they could independently gather. Today, the ability to assimilate an overload of data into decision making information is difficult. The decision framework is also becoming more complex. The complexity of management challenges includes customer relations, price risk management, environmental regulatory compliance, zoning regulations and nutrient management. Agricultural managers need to comprehend business relationships and extract value from the use of intangible assets such as marketing systems, production alternatives, market chains and strategic planning processes. Management advisory services can assist producers, such as pork producers, extract value from these systems. Pork production must meet societal goals for production systems and environmental practices provide the operators and employees with a satisfactory livelihood and encourage future production. A survey of pork producers was conducted to determine future and current information needs, preferred methods of receiving information and the management challenges they are facing. This information will be used to develop alternative methods for producers to meet these management challenges including the formation of cooperative advisory groups. The advisory group is a cooperative method of acquiring the information and services needed to address these challenges.
Robotics-based Curriculum Development for An Immigration Course into Computer Systems Engineering

A robotics-based freshman immigration course into Computer Systems Engineering (CSE) was created to introduce students to the main design issues in CSE: multi-controller programming, sensor interfacing, servo actuation and serial communications. The instructional materials were designed around 3 projects: car bot in maze, GERWALK bot penalty kick, and GERWALK bot going up stair steps. Selected descriptive and prescriptive creativity tools were also incorporated into the curriculum to round out student design experience. Mid-term course assessment results are presented in this article.
Properties of High Redshift Cluster Ellipticals

Cluster ellipticals are often thought to be among the oldest galaxies in the universe, with the bulk of their stellar mass formed at early cosmic epochs. I review recent observations of color evolution in early—type cluster galaxies at high redshift, which show remarkably little evolution in the color—magnitude relation out to z,≈ 1. Spectra of elliptical galaxies from 1.15 < z < 1.41 demonstrate the presence of a dominant old stellar population even at these large lookback times, although there is some evidence for a tail of later star formation. The Kormendy relation, a photometric/morphological scaling law for elliptical galaxies, is used to extend fundamental plane investigations to z = 1.2 and to test for luminosity evolution. While the evidence, overall, is consistent with simple and mild passive evolution, I review some caveats and briefly consider the data in the light of hierarchical galaxy formation models.
From Questions to Effective Answers: On the Utility of Knowledge-Driven Querying Systems for Life Sciences Data

We compare two distinct approaches for querying data in the context of the life sciences. The first approach utilizes conventional databases to store the data and provides intuitive form-based interfaces to facilitate querying of the data, commonly used by the life science researchers that we study. The second approach utilizes a large OWL ontology and the same datasets associated as RDF instances of the ontology. Both approaches are being used in parallel by a team of cell biologists in their daily research activities, with the objective of gradually replacing the conventional approach with the knowledgedriven one. We describe several benefits of the knowledge-driven approach in comparison to the traditional one, and highlight a few limitations. We believe that our analysis not only explicitly highlights the benefits and limitations of semantic Web technologies in the context of life sciences but also contributes toward effective ways of translating a question in a researcher’s mind into precise queries with the intent of obtaining effective answers.
Insights into the Psychological Profiles of Entrepreneurs

Entrepreneurs derive lower risk-adjusted returns than non-entrepreneurs, but are compensated through non-pecuniary benefits. This chapter reports on findings from survey evidence. The main findings are as follows: A key non-pecuniary benefit to entrepreneurs is achieving greater control over their working environment. Doing so leads entrepreneurs to report achieving higher affect and well-being than non-entrepreneurs. Entrepreneurs report that they are more skilled socially than non-entrepreneurs. This might provide a partial explanation for why entrepreneurs have a higher marriage rate and larger families than non-entrepreneurs. Entrepreneurs exhibit greater dispositional optimism than non-entrepreneurs. However, in the study sample, the difference is not statistically significant. In terms of preference for lottery-like outcomes, entrepreneurs find prospects offering high returns with low probability attractive, but regard control of their environment as more important than the preference for positive skewness.
The private provision of public goods via dominant assurance contracts

Many types of public goods can be produced privately by profit seeking entrepreneurs using a modified form of assurance contract, called a dominant assurance contract. I model the dominant assurance contract as a game and show that the pure strategy equilibrium has agents contributing to the public good as a dominant strategy. The game is also modelled under incomplete information as a Bayesian-Nash game.
Heterodienophilic intramolecular diels-alder reactions of 1,2,4 triazines. : Synthesis of novel polycyclic condensed pyrazines and lumazines

Abstract - 3-(2'-Cyanophenoxy)-1,2,4-triazines and 7-(2'-cyanophenoxy)-6-azalumazines undergo intramolecular Diels-Alder reactions to yield novel polycyclic pyrazines and lumazines. However, the analogous 5-(2'-cyanophenoxy)-1,2,4-triazines fail to undergo cycloaddition, preventing access to the unknown benzfuro[2,3- e ]-1,2,4-triazine system. Substitution of oxime ethers for nitriles on the dienophilic sidechains of the respective Diels-Alder precursors failed to increase their inverse electron demand Diels-Alder reactivity.
Multivariate normalization with symmetric diffeomorphisms for multivariate studies

Current clinical and research neuroimaging protocols acquire images using multiple modalities, for instance, T1, T2, diffusion tensor and cerebral blood flow magnetic resonance images (MRI). These multivariate datasets provide unique and often complementary anatomical and physiological information about the subject of interest. We present a method that uses fused multiple modality (scalar and tensor) datasets to perform intersubject spatial normalization. Our multivariate approach has the potential to eliminate inconsistencies that occur when normalization is performed on each modality separately. Furthermore, the multivariate approach uses a much richer anatomical and physiological image signature to infer image correspondences and perform multivariate statistical tests. In this initial study, we develop the theory for Multivariate Symmetric Normalization (MVSyN), establish its feasibility and discuss preliminary results on a multivariate statistical study of 22q deletion syndrome.
MODIFYING GEORGIA'S NEGLIGENCE LAW: A NEW GOOD SAMARITAN PARADIGM FOR SOME BUSINESS OWNERS

An investigation of the new statutory standards of conduct relating to accidents involving horses and other equids highlights current issues concerning tort liability. After a summary of existing Georgia Good Samaritan statutes and liability exceptions, part II evaluates the provisions on standards of conduct to show how the statute changes existing law. In part III, two legislative proposals are offered to encourage safer equine activities: (1) an amendment of the statutory provisions on warnings, and (2) adopting new provisions requiring helmets for minors. Through these proposed amendments, the statutory dispensation for equine owners and operators could be based on safety prerequisites.
Microstructures of InAs 1–x Sb x (x=0.07-0.14) alloys and strained-layer superlattices

Growth of InAs1−xSbx alloys by metalorganic chemical vapor deposition at 475°C results in CuPt ordering even at Sb concentrations as low as x = 0.07-0.14. The two {111}B variants are present, but each exists separately in 1-2 μm regions. However, the ordering is incomplete: it occurs in platelet domains lying on habit planes tilted 30° from (001) within a disordered matrix and is not continuous at the atomic scale within the domains. This ordering apparently explains the reduction in infrared emission energies relative to the bandgaps of bulk alloys. Similar ordering is found in an InAs0.91Sb0.09/In0.g7Ga0.13As strained-layer superlattice with lower-than-expected emission energy. High-resolution images indicate that the superlattice layers flat and regularly spaced. Infrared LEDs have been made from such superlattices.
Congenital and infantile aphasia; review of literature and report of case.

The clinical features of infantile aphasia include failure or delay in development of speech. When speech develops, it is frequently garbled. Hearing and intelligence may be normal although both are difficult to evaluate. Abnormal behavior may appear in these children simply because they lack normal opportunities to express themselves. It is pointed out that many of the children of 4 to 5 years of age with delayed speech development may not simply be "deviates from the norm" but may actually suffer from mild degrees of aphasia. Earlier recognition and proper guidance for milder types of aphasia will depend ultimately on better definition of the pattern and rate of normal speech development. At present, there apparently is little or no agreement either as to frequency or actuality of this syndrome in childhood. Unfortunately, mild cases are apt to be passed over and more severe ones are often tragically mislabeled as mental defectives.
Learning articulated motions from visual demonstration

Many functional elements of human homes and workplaces consist of rigid components which are connected through one or more sliding or rotating linkages. Examples include doors and drawers of cabinets and appliances; laptops; and swivel office chairs. A robotic mobile manipulator would benefit from the ability to acquire kinematic models of such objects from observation. This paper describes a method by which a robot can acquire an object model by capturing depth imagery of the object as a human moves it through its range of motion. We envision that in future, a machine newly introduced to an environment could be shown by its human user the articulated objects particular to that environment, inferring from these "visual demonstrations" enough information to actuate each object independently of the user. Our method employs sparse (markerless) feature tracking, motion segmentation, component pose estimation, and articulation learning; it does not require prior object models. Using the method, a robot can observe an object being exercised, infer a kinematic model incorporating rigid, prismatic and revolute joints, then use the model to predict the object's motion from a novel vantage point. We evaluate the method's performance, and compare it to that of a previously published technique, for a variety of household objects.
A Sequential Approximation Bound for Some Sample-Dependent Convex Optimization Problems with Applications in Learning

In this paper, we study a class of sample dependent convex optimization problems, and derive a general sequential approximation bound for their solutions. This analysis is closely related to the regret bound framework in online learning. However we apply it to batch learning algorithms instead of online stochastic gradient decent methods. Applications of this analysis in some classification and regression problems will be illustrated.
ESSAYS ON ECLIPSES, TRANSITS AND OCCULTATIONS AS TEACHING TOOLS IN THE INTRODUCTORY ASTRONOMY COLLEGE COURSE

We occasionally include projects in our learner-centered introductory astronomy college course to enable non-science major students explore some astronomical concepts in more detail than otherwise. Such projects also highlight ongoing or upcoming astronomical events. We hope that students will feel more interested in astronomy through projects tied to astronomical events. In Spring 2012, we offered short essays focused on eclipses, transits and occultations to promote the rare transit of Venus that occurred on June 5th, 2012. We asked students to write two short essays from three that were offered. The essays contained descriptive and conceptual parts. They were meant to serve as teaching tools. 62% of 106 essays from 55 students earned A, B or C grades. 21% of 47 feedback survey respondents felt the essays increased their interest in astronomy. 49% of respondents felt that the essays were not educationally beneficial and should not be offered again. The most common written response to our survey indicated that students need more guidance and better preparation in writing successful essays. Since students found the conceptual parts of the essays difficult, in the future we will provide relevant activities prior to essay deadlines to help students create successful essays.
Congressional Committees and the Political Economy of Federal Outlays

The literature on the organization of the United States Congress has been dominated by “distributive” and “informational” theory. One important source of disagreement between these two theories is their characterization of whether individual legislators can engage in pork-barrel activities. Here we provide evidence which indicates that the pork-barrel is alive and well in the contemporary United States Congress. We focus on whether members of power and constituency committees can direct disproportionate federal expenditures to their districts. Finding strong and systematic evidence of pork-barrel activities by committee members provides empirical support for distributive theories of legislative organization.
Requirements Analysis of a Quad-Redundant Flight Control System

In this paper we detail our effort to formalize and prove requirements for the Quad-redundant Flight Control System (QFCS) within NASA’s Transport Class Model (TCM). We use a compositional approach with assume-guarantee contracts that correspond to the requirements for software components embedded in an AADL system architecture model. This approach is designed to exploit the verification effort and artifacts that are already part of typical software verification processes in the avionics domain. Our approach is supported by an AADL annex that allows specification of contracts along with a tool, called AGREE, for performing compositional verification. The goal of this paper is to show the benefits of a compositional verification approach applied to a realistic avionics system and to demonstrate the effectiveness of the AGREE tool in performing this analysis.
Zipf’s law holds for phrases, not words

With Zipf’s law being originally and most famously observed for word frequency, it is surprisingly limited in its applicability to human language, holding over no more than three to four orders of magnitude before hitting a clear break in scaling. Here, building on the simple observation that phrases of one or more words comprise the most coherent units of meaning in language, we show empirically that Zipf’s law for phrases extends over as many as nine orders of rank magnitude. In doing so, we develop a principled and scalable statistical mechanical method of random text partitioning, which opens up a rich frontier of rigorous text analysis via a rank ordering of mixed length phrases.
Extremal Graphs for Blow-Ups of Cycles and Trees

The blow-up of a graph H is the graph obtained from replacing each edge in H by a clique of the same size where the new vertices of the cliques are all different. Erdős et al. and Chen et al. determined the extremal number of blow-ups of stars. Glebov determined the extremal number and found all extremal graphs for blow-ups of paths. We determined the extremal number and found the extremal graphs for the blow-ups of cycles and a large class of trees, when n is sufficiently large. This generalizes their results. The additional aim of our note is to draw attention to a powerful tool, a classical decomposition theorem of Simonovits.
Economic costs and payoffs of bilateral/regional trade agreements

The rapid increase in the number of bilateral and regional free-trade agreements since 1995 is a striking development. The proliferation of these agreements has raised questions among academicians and policymakers about whether they have, in fact, opened markets, created trade, promoted economic growth, and/or distorted trade. This study uses panel data from the 1975-2005 period and the gravity framework to identify the influence of bilateral/regional free-trade agreements on bilateral trade in merchandise, agriculture, and clothing sectors. A benchmark, Heckman sample-selection, and two generalized models, one of which accounts for reciprocal-free-trade-agreement phase-in effects, are used to gauge the impact on partner trade of mutual as well as asymmetric RTA membership.
Price Indexes for Commercial and Office properties: An Application of the Assessed Value Method

Executive Summary. This study constructs a nonresi-dential, constant-quality price index, based on the assessed-value approach, and adjusts for the possibility for sample selection bias. The sample...
Group theoretical statistical mechanics of the Evans effects: Phase changes produced by inhomogeneous electric and magnetic fields

Abstract The effects first observed by G.J. Evans are explored in terms of the symmetry of ensemble averages, using the principles of group theoretical statistical mechanics (GTSM). The effects include phase changes brought about by inhomogeneous electric and/or magnetic fields, all of whose gradients are included in the treatment in a multipole expansion of the force differential across the interface between a molecular crystal and a molecular liquid. It is shown by GTSM that the force differential is generated by extra vector components which are sustained in the laboratory frame by the symmetry of the molecular crystal but which vanish in the liquid. In this way the symmetry of the former is continuously imparted to the latter.
PRODUCTION AND DECAY OF CHARMED PARTICLES IN e-e+ COLLISIONS

This is a review of all the data available on production and decay of charmed particles in e+e- collisions. Production and decay of D*, D, F mesons and charmed baryons are discussed. Comparisons with theoretical predictions, where available, are made.
Interpretation of non‐specular radar meteor trails

[1] Radar data of non-specular meteor trails shows two clear and consistent features: (1) non–specular meteor trails are observed from a narrower altitude range than are head echoes and (2) an approximately 20 ms delay between meteor head echoes and trail radar scatter. This paper shows that both features can result from meteor trail plasma instability. Simulations have demonstrated that trails often develop Farley-Buneman/gradient-drift (FBGD) waves which become turbulent and generate field aligned irregularities (FAI). Plasma stability analysis shows that trails are only unstable within a limited altitude range, matching the observed altitudes of non–specular trails to within 1–2 km. The simulations show that instability develops into turbulence in ∼20 ms and appears to be the only meteor trail process that can explain both the observed delay between head and trail echoes and generate coherent scatter at both UHF and VHF wavelengths.
Foundations and applications of generalized planning

Generalized planning problems capture planning problems with uncertainties in object quantities and properties. While the generalized planning problem is incomputable in general, this thesis presents a new formalization of the problem, a study of the limits of computability of generalized plans and algorithms for solving a broad class of generalized planning problems.
Ceramic Foam Processing by the Chemical Vapor Infiltration of a Graphite Felt with Sic for Ceramic Composite Applications

This investigation focuses on the fabrication of fibrous silicon carbide (SiC) ceramic foams by the Chemical Vapor Infiltration (CVI) of SiC into a low cost graphite felt. Selected foams were then oxidized to produce foams consisting of hollow SiC fibers. Depending on infiltration time, densities from 0.3 to 1.0 g/cm 3 were obtained (0.268 to 0.925 g/cm 3 after oxidation). Compressive strength data (pre and post oxidized foams) and flexural strength data (post oxidized foams) are presented as a function of density. This unique ceramic foam with high temperature capabilities and reasonable compressive and flexural strengths was also used as a light weight core in the development of a sandwich composite structure. Coated Nicalon 4-ply laminates were used as faceplates. The composite processing included both Polymer Impregnation Pyrolysis (PIP) and the CVI of the final laminate-foam structure with a SiC overcoat. Overall composite flexural strengths are reported with respect to the bulk density of the foam core and the composite. Relatively small, 1.5 x 10 x 0.5 cm, sandwich type composites were successfully produced and possibly represent a lightweight structure for high temperature (>1000°C) applications.
Nonlinear control of a batch polymerization reactor: an experimental study

The experimental application of the globally linearizing control method to a batch polymerization reactor is studied. The nonlinear controller is implemented on a microcomputer to start up the reactor and then track a precalculated optimal temperature profile. The reactor temperature is controlled by manipulating two coordinated inputs. A reduced-order observer is used to estimate the concentrations of initiator and monomer. The experimental results show the excellent servo and regulatory performance of the nonlinear controller in the presence of observer initialization error and active manipulated input constraints. >
The limiting performance of a CMOS bistable register based on waveform considerations

Closed-form solutions describing the output response of a CMOS bistable register are presented. From these results, the fundamental latching behavior of a CMOS register is developed in terms of its physical and circuit characteristics. Necessary and sufficient conditions for latching data are described in terms of small signal circuit parameters. From these necessary and sufficient conditions, the limiting condition for latching and the onset of metastability are presented and verified. >
C3, semi-clifford and generalized semi-clifford operations

Fault-tolerant quantum computation is a basic problem in quantum computation, andteleportation is one of the main techniques in this theory. Using teleportation on stabi-lizer codes, the most well-known quantum codes, Pauli gates and Clifford operators canbe applied fault-tolerantly. Indeed, this technique can be generalized for an extended setof gates, the so called Ck hierarchy gates, introduced by Gottesman and Chuang (Nature,402, 390-392). Ck gates are a generalization of Clifford operators, but our knowledge ofthese sets is not as rich as our knowledge of Clifford gates. Zeng et al. in (Phys. Rev.A 77, 042313) raise the question of the relation between Ck hierarchy and the set ofsemi-Clifford and generalized semi-Clifford operators. They conjecture that any Ck gateis a generalized semi-Clifford operator. In this paper, we prove this conjecture for k = 3.Using the techniques that we develop, we obtain more insight on how to characterize Ckgates. Indeed, the more we understand Ck, the more intuition we have on Ck, k ≥ 4, and then we have a way of attacking the conjecture for larger k.
Intensive Interventions in Reading for Students with Reading Disabilities: Meaningful Impacts

We use three data sources to build a rationale for why intensive interventions are necessary for students with pervasive reading disabilities: current data on the performance of students with disabilities on reading achievement measures over time, observation studies on students with reading disabilities in general and special education classrooms, and findings from intensive intervention studies for students with reading disabilities. Results of these data sources indicate that students with disabilities are not making progress in reading at the same rate as students without disabilities, reading instruction for students with reading disabilities is comprised of excessive amounts of low level tasks, and findings from intensive intervention studies suggest positive impacts for students with reading disabilities. We argue that students with reading disabilities require ongoing intensive interventions that are likely to require schools to change the contexts and practices for these students.
The Euler characteristic of the Whitehead automorphism group of a free product

A combinatorial summation identity over the lattice of labelled hypertrees is established that allows one to gain concrete information on the Euler characteristics of various automorphism groups of free products of groups. In particular, we establish formulae for the Euler characteristics of: the group of Whitehead automorphisms Wh(* n i=1 Gi) when the G i are of finite homological type; Aut(* n i=1 G i ) and Out(* n i=1 G i ) when the G i are finite; and the palindromic automorphism groups of finite rank free groups.
Combating Rumor Spread on Social Media: The Effectiveness of Refutation and Warning

Twitter and other social media are now a major method of information exchange and dissemination. Although they can support rapid communication and sharing of useful information, they can also facilitate the spread of rumors, which contain unverified information. The purpose of the work reported here was to examine several design ideas for reducing the spread of health-related rumors in a Twitter-like environment. The results have shown that exposing people to information that refutes rumors or warns that the statement has appeared on rumor websites could reduce the spread of rumors. These results suggest that social media technologies can be designed such that users can self correct and inactivate potentially inaccurate information in their environment.
Capacity of sum-networks for different message alphabets

A sum-network is a directed acyclic network in which all terminal nodes demand the ‘sum’ of the independent information observed at the source nodes. Many characteristics of the well-studied multiple-unicast network communication problem also hold for sum-networks due to a known reduction between instances of these two problems. Our main result is that unlike a multiple unicast network, the coding capacity of a sum-network is dependent on the message alphabet. We demonstrate this using a construction procedure and show that the choice of a message alphabet can reduce the coding capacity of a sum-network from 1 to close to 0.
BUYING ECOLOGICAL SERVICES: FRAGMENTED RESERVES, CORE AND PERIPHERY NATIONAL PARK STRUCTURE, AND THE AGRICULTURAL EXTENSIFICATION DEBATE

Growing demand for cropland products has placed intense pressure on the ability of land resources to support nature, straining public budgets to purchase environmental goods. Fixing overall agricultural output, two environmental policy options are whether to (i) promote more agricultural extensification and nature-friendly farming practices or (ii) produce intensively on some land and leave the rest wild. Microeconomic models of the topic have not accounted for widely recognized spatial externalities regarding fragmented reserves. This article does so, using Wirtinger's inequality to also identify a third policy possibility. This is that ecological services can follow a smoothly varying spatial path chararacterized by harmonic functions. We use the results to rationalize the core and periphery national park structure put in place around the world, that is, versions of our third policy possibility have been implemented.
“Quantal” Behavior in Classical Probability

A number of phenomena generally believed characteristic of quantum mechanics and seen as interpretively problematic—the incompatibility and value-indeterminateness of variables, the non-existence of dispersion-free states, the failure of the standard marginal-probability formula, the failure of the distributive law of disjunction and interference—are exemplified in an emphatically non-quantal system: a deck of playing cards. Thus the appearance in quantum mechanics of incompatibility and these associated phenomena requires neither explanation nor interpretation.
H I Imaging of Clusters

With steadily increasing sensitivity and correlator capabilities the major synthesis instruments are now beginning to live up to their promise as H I surveying instruments. Pointed observations of galaxies in the nearest clusters of galaxies, such as Virgo, Coma and A1367, reveal shrunken H I disks in the cluster cores and detailed studies of the H I surface density distribution make it possible to identify the various gas removal processes at work. The Hydra cluster, 3 times as distant as Virgo, is distant enough that many galaxies fall within a single pointing of the VLA. This is the first cluster for which the entire volume has been searched for H I. The combined information on velocity, position and (lack of) H I deficiency of large numbers of spirals seen toward the core make it plausible that we see a chance super position of a group of spirals along the sightline toward the center of the cluster. The most distant cluster imaged in H I so far is Abell 2670 at z = 0.0767. The preliminary VLA results detect many gas rich spirals, which are exclusively located in the outer parts of the cluster. The results strengthen the suggestion (Bird 1994) that substructure is present and there is a hint of galaxies falling into the cluster along filaments.
Inequality is Bad for Growth of the Poor (but Not for That of the Rich)

The paper assesses the impact of overall inequality, as well as inequality among the poor and among the rich, on the growth rates along various percentiles of the income distribution. The analysis uses micro-census data from U.S. states covering the period from 1960 to 2010. The paper finds evidence that high levels of inequality reduce the income growth of the poor and, if anything, help the growth of the rich. When inequality is deconstructed into bottom and top inequality, the analysis finds that it is mostly top inequality that is holding back growth at the bottom.
New aspects of regions whose tilings are enumerated by perfect powers

In 2003, Ciucu presented a unified way to enumerate tilings of lattice regions by using a certain Reduction Theorem ( J. Algebraic Combin. , 2003). In this paper we continue this line of work by investigating new families of lattice regions whose tilings are enumerated by perfect powers or products of several perfect powers. We prove a multi-parameter generalization of Bo-Yin Yang's theorem on fortresses (Ph.D. thesis, MIT, 1991). On the square lattice with zigzag paths, we consider two particular families of regions whose numbers of tilings are always a power of 3 or twice a power of 3. The latter result provides a new proof for a conjecture of Matt Blum first proved by Ciucu. We also consider several new lattices obtained by periodically applying two simple subgraph replacement rules to the square lattice. On some of those lattices, we get new families of regions whose numbers of tilings are given by products of several perfect powers. In addition, we prove a simple product formula for the number of tilings of a certain family of regions on a variant of the triangular lattice.
Improving Regulatory Enforcement in the Face of Inadequate Resources

This exercise is designed to focus students' attention on the challenges of regulatory enforcement. The case example is drawn from Oregon's regulation of in-home care agencies (IHCA). Students are asked to formulate suggestions for enhancing compliance with IHCA regulations in the absence of additional funding. The author includes her own suggestions, which she developed during her fellowship.
Bioethics and cancer: when the professional becomes personal.

Scholars in bioethics and health policy often address topics related to cancer, yet few engaged in this work have lived with cancer themselves. Experience as a cancer patient or family caregiver extends and deepens one’s thinking about issues in ethics and health policy. This essay presents material from a project involving seven scholars who have been cancer patients or cared for a spouse with cancer. It describes how personal experience changed and supplemented our understanding of topics like treatment decision-making, patient autonomy, informed consent, and end-of-life care. The essay calls on scholars to give more consideration to the lived experience of illness when analyzing issues in bioethics and health policy.
Holographic trace anomaly and local renormalization group

The Hamilton-Jacobi method in holography has produced important results both at a renormalization group (RG) fixed point and away from it. In this paper we use the Hamilton-Jacobi method to compute the holographic trace anomaly for four- and six-dimensional boundary conformal field theories (CFTs), assuming higher-derivative gravity and interactions of scalar fields in the bulk. The scalar field contributions to the anomaly appear in CFTs with exactly marginal operators. Moving away from the fixed point, we show that the Hamilton-Jacobi formalism provides a deep connection between the holographic and the local RG. We derive the local RG equation holographically, and verify explicitly that it satisfies Weyl consistency conditions stemming from the commutativity of Weyl scalings. We also consider massive scalar fields in the bulk corresponding to boundary relevant operators, and comment on their effects to the local RG equation.
Multiple Array Processors for Ocean Acoustic Problems.

Abstract The current revolution in computer hardware and architecture is having a major impact on many disciplines. In this paper we examine some of the implications of this revolution for some problems in computational underwater acoustics. In particular we consider the application of some model multi-array processor systems to the numerical solution of the three-dimensional parabolic approximation for a discussion of parabolic approximations in underwater acoustics. Our goal is to illuminate some of the issues involved in taking advantage of the current advances in hardware technology to produce an extraordinary fast, inexpensive, and portable computer system for simulating underwater acoustic wave propagation.
SO(10) as a framework for natural supersymmetry

We consider an SO(10) grand unified theory in which the ratio of the SU(2) W and SU(3) c gaugino masses satisfy M 2 /M 3 ≈ 3, which results in the realization of natural supersymmetry. In the MSSM parameter space this relation looks artificial, but in the SO(10) case it results from a field with a designated vacuum expectation value. We consider two models, namely M 1: M 2: M 3 = −1/5: 3 : 1 (Case I), and M 1 : M 2 : M 3 = −5 : 3 : 1 (Case II). Focusing on ameliorating the little hierarchy problem, we explore the parameter space of these models which yield small fine-tuning measuring parameters (natural supersymmetry) at the electroweak scale (Δ EW ) as well as at the high scale (Δ HS ). Although both models allow for the solution of the little hierarchy problem, the predicted sparticle spectra can differ markedly in the two cases. Depending on the ratio of the bino mass to the other gaugino masses, Case I leads to stau lepton masses of around a 100 GeV, while in Case II, the stau slepton masses are in the several TeV range. In Case I, the bino-like neutralino can be as light as 90 GeV, while the gluino is heavier than 2 TeV or so. In Case II, due to gluino-bino near degeneracy, the bino cannot be lighter than a TeV or so. Having a light neutralino with sizable bino-higgsino mixture in Case I allows the direct dark matter search experiments to test this class of models.