cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Can Conditional Cash Transfers Improve Education and Nutrition Outcomes for Poor Children in Bangladesh? Evidence from a Pilot Project

There is an increasing recognition that investment in human development at an earlier age can have a significant impact on the lifetime earnings capacity of an individual. This notion is the basis for the popularity of conditional cash transfer programs to help boost child health and education outcomes. The evidence on the impact of conditional cash transfers on health and education outcomes, however, is mixed. This paper uses panel data from a pilot project and evaluates the impact of conditional cash transfers on consumption, education, and nutrition outcomes among poor rural families in Bangladesh. Given implementation challenges the intervention was not able to improve school attendance. However the analysis shows that the pilot had a significant impact on the incidence of wasting among children who were 10-22 months old when the program started, reducing the share of children with weight-for-height below two standard deviations from the World Health Organization benchmark by 40 percent. The pilot was also able to improve nutrition knowledge: there was a significant increase in the proportion of beneficiary mothers who knew about the importance of exclusively breastfeeding infants until the age of six months. The results also suggest a significant positive impact on food consumption, especially consumption of food with high protein content.
Trade Reform and Regional Dynamics: Evidence From 25 Years of Brazilian Matched Employer-Employee Data

This paper empirically studies the dynamics of labor market adjustment following the Brazilian trade reform of the 1990s. The paper uses variation in industry-speciﬁc tariﬀ cuts interacted with initial regional industry mix to measure trade-induced local labor demand shocks and examines regional and individual labor market responses to those one-time shocks over two decades. Contrary to conventional wisdom, the analysis does not ﬁnd that the impact of local shocks is dissipated over time through wage-equalizing migration. Instead, it ﬁnds steadily growing eﬀects of local shocks on regional formal sector wages and employment for 20 years. This ﬁnding can be rationalized in a simple equilibrium model with two complementary factors of production, labor and industry-speciﬁc factors such as capital, that adjust slowly and imperfectly to shocks. Next, the paper documents rich margins of adjustment induced by the trade reform at the regional and individual levels. Workers initially employed in harder hit regions face continuously deteriorating formal labor market outcomes relative to workers employed in less aﬀected regions, and this gap persists even 20 years after the beginning of trade liberalization. Negative local trade shocks induce workers to shift out of the formal tradable sector and into the formal nontradable sector. Non-employment strongly increases in harder hit regions in the medium run, but in the longer run, non-employed workers eventually ﬁnd re-employment in the informal sector. Working age population does not react to these local shocks, but formal sector net migration does, consistent with the relative decline of the formal sector and growth of the informal sector in adversely aﬀected regions.
Economic analysis of property rights

Introduction 1. The property rights model 2. The public domain: rationing by waiting and price controls 3. Contract choice: the tenancy contract 4. Divided ownership 5. The old firm and the new organization 6. The formation of rights 7. Slavery 8. Wealth maximization constraints on property rights 9. Property rights and non-market allocation 10. Additional property rights applications 11. The property rights model: recapitulation References.
Monetary Consequences of Alternative Fiscal Policy Rules

In this paper we analyse the monetary impact of alternative fiscal policy rules using the debt and deficit, both mentioned as measures of fiscal policy performance in the Stability and Growth Pact (SGP). We use a New Keynesian model, with distortionary taxation and an appropriately defined output gap. The economy is hit by two fundamental shocks: demand and supply shocks, which are orthogonal to each other. Monetary policy is conducted by an independent central bank that will optimise. Under discretionary monetary policy the size of the inflation bias depends on the fiscal policy regime. Using the timeless perspective approach to precommitment, output persistence increases compared to the discretionary case. The result holds with the alternative fiscal policy rules, and inflation and output persistence reflects the economic data. With the deficit rules, the autocorrelation of the tax rate is near unity irrespective of the monetary policy regime, and irrespective of the fiscal policy parameters and targets. Thus we revive Barro’s (1979) random walk result with the deficit rules. JEL classification: E52, E31, E61, E62
A TCP/IP Based Multi-device Programming Circuit

This paper describes a lightweight Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) circuit design that supports the simultaneous programming of multiple devices at different locations throughout the Internet. This task is accomplished by a single TCP/IP socket connection. Packets are routed through a series of devices to be programmed. At each location, a hardware circuit extracts reconfiguration information from the TCP/IP byte stream and programs other devices at that location. A novel feature of the Multi-Device Programmer is that it does not use a microprocessor or even a soft-core processor. All of the TCP/IP protocol processing and packet forwarding operations are handled directly in FPGA logic and state machines. This system is robust against lost and reordered packets, and has been successfully demonstrated in the laboratory.
An Analysis of Bank Charter Value and Its Risk-Constraining Incentives

Valuable bank charters have been hypothesized to provide bank managers self-regulatory incentives to constrain their risk taking. However, this paper presents evidence that charter value itself may derive from high-risk activities, indicating that minimizing risk taking also would limit the value of the charter. During economic expansions, bank charter values increase to reflect growth opportunities. In turn, high-charter-value banks gain easier access to equity capital sources for expansion. The result is a positive relationship between charter value and capital ratios during expansions. However, this relationship may invert during economic contractions. Panel regressions demonstrate that the charter value and bank leverage relationship is sensitive to market conditions.
Cohesive Dynamics and Brittle Fracture

We formulate a nonlocal cohesive model for calculating the deformation inside a cracking body. In this model a set of physical properties including elastic and softening behavior are assigned to each point in the medium. We work within the small deformation setting and use the peridynamic formulation. Here strains are calculated as difference quotients. The constitutive relation is given by a nonlocal cohesive law relating force to strain. At each instant of the evolution we identify a process zone where strains lie above a threshold value. Perturbation analysis shows that jump discontinuities within the process zone can become unstable and grow. We derive an explicit inequality that shows that the size of the process zone is controlled by the ratio given by the length scale of nonlocal interaction divided by the characteristic dimension of the sample. The process zone is shown to concentrate on a set of zero volume in the limit where the length scale of nonlocal interaction vanishes with respect to the size of the domain. In this limit the dynamic evolution is seen to have bounded linear elastic energy and Griffith surface energy. The limit dynamics corresponds to the simultaneous evolution of linear elastic displacement and the fracture set across which the displacement is discontinuous. We conclude illustrating how aspects of the approach developed here can be applied to limits of dynamics associated with other energies that $\varGamma$ -converge to the Griffith fracture energy.
Multiplicities of Points on Schubert Varieties in Grassmannians

We obtain an explicit determinantal formula for the multiplicity of any point on a classical Schubert variety.
Shear strain localization in elastodynamic rupture simulations

[1] We study strain localization as an enhanced velocity weakening mechanism on earthquake faults. Fault friction is modeled using Shear Transformation Zone (STZ) Theory, a microscopic physical model for non-affine rearrangements in granular fault gouge. STZ Theory is implemented in spring slider and dynamic rupture models of faults. We compare dynamic shear localization to deformation that is uniform throughout the gouge layer, and find that localized slip enhances the velocity weakening of the gouge. Localized elastodynamic ruptures have larger stress drops and higher peak slip rates than ruptures with homogeneous strain.
The dual economy in long-run development

A salient feature of developing economies is the coexistence of a modern commercial sector alongside a traditional subsistence sector—the dual economy. The apparent differences in productivity between sectors imply substantial losses in aggregate productivity. Existing theories of the dual economy rely on exogenous price distortions, and cannot explain why or if these distortions evolve over the course of development. This paper provides a model of the dual economy in which the productivity differences arise endogenously because of a non-separability between the value of market and non-market time in the traditional sector. Incorporating endogenous fertility, the model then demonstrates how a dual economy will originate, persist, and eventually disappear within a unified growth framework. An implication is that traditional sector productivity growth will exacerbate the inefficiencies of a dual economy and produce slower overall growth than will modern sector productivity improvements.
Decentralizing attribute-based encryption

We propose a Multi-Authority Attribute-Based Encryption (ABE) system. In our system, any party can become an authority and there is no requirement for any global coordination other than the creation of an initial set of common reference parameters. A party can simply act as an ABE authority by creating a public key and issuing private keys to different users that reflect their attributes. A user can encrypt data in terms of any boolean formula over attributes issued from any chosen set of authorities. Finally, our system does not require any central authority. In constructing our system, our largest technical hurdle is to make it collusion resistant. Prior Attribute-Based Encryption systems achieved collusion resistance when the ABE system authority "tied" together different components (representing different attributes) of a user's private key by randomizing the key. However, in our system each component will come from a potentially different authority, where we assume no coordination between such authorities. We create new techniques to tie key components together and prevent collusion attacks between users with different global identifiers. We prove our system secure using the recent dual system encryption methodology where the security proof works by first converting the challenge ciphertext and private keys to a semi-functional form and then arguing security. We follow a recent variant of the dual system proof technique due to Lewko and Waters and build our system using bilinear groups of composite order. We prove security under similar static assumptions to the LW paper in the random oracle model.
Growth Curve Modeling

We demonstrate the conceptual underpinnings and practical use of growth curve models (also known as individual growth models and multilevel models for change), which describe how a continuous outcome changes systematically over time. Keywords: individual growth model; multilevel model; random coefficient model; mixed model; hierarchical linear model; measurement of change; longitudinal data
A Prolog Technology Theorem Prover

An extension of Prolog, based on the model elimination theorem-proving procedure, would permit production of a logically complete Prolog technology theorem prover capable of performing inference operations at a rate approaching that of Prolog itself.
Data Contamination By Social Desirability Response Bias In Research On Students Cheating Behavior

Our study examines the effect of social desirability on the model developed by Salter et al. (2001). We believe that social desirability response bias contaminates many of the variables that have been used in previous research modeling academic cheating. We initially examined the effect of variables identified in prior research to demonstrate that our sample is equivalent to those in prior studies. We then examined the effect of social desirability response bias using Paulhus’ Image Management Subscale (1986) on their tolerance towards cheating; their cynicism about cheating; and one’s acknowledged intention to cheat in the future.
Macro Policies, the Terms of Trade and the Spatial Dimension of Balanced Growth

Over the past half century both theoretical analysis and policy have focused rather heavily on the impact of international trade in the context of individual LDCs’ development efforts. With most of the developing countries emphasising a shift from a raw materials enclave to an industrial enclave, the focus of theory and policy has been on the relations between the import substituting industrial enclave and the rest of the world. Inevitably, the discussion, especially in the 1950s and 1960s, concentrated on the promotion of that enclave in interaction with the rest of the world, while agriculture and dispersed industry and services were neglected.
Texture segmentation using hierarchical wavelet decomposition

Texture segmentation deals with identification of regions where distinct textures exist. In this paper, a new scheme for texture segmentation using hierarchical wavelet decomposition is proposed. In the first step, using Daubechies' 4-tap filter, an original image is decomposed into three detailed images and one approximate image. The decomposition can be recursively applied to the approximate image to generate a lower resolution of the pyramid. The segmentation starts at the lowest resolution using the K-means clustering scheme and the result is propagated through the pyramid to a higher one with continuously improving segmentation.
First-order mixed integer linear programming

Mixed integer linear programming (MILP) is a powerful representation often used to formulate decision-making problems under uncertainty. However, it lacks a natural mechanism to reason about objects, classes of objects, and relations. First-order logic (FOL), on the other hand, excels at reasoning about classes of objects, but lacks a rich representation of uncertainty. While representing propositional logic in MILP has been extensively explored, no theory exists yet for fully combining FOL with MILP. We propose a new representation, called first-order programming or FOP, which subsumes both FOL and MILP. We establish formal methods for reasoning about first order programs, including a sound and complete lifted inference procedure for integer first order programs. Since FOP can offer exponential savings in representation and proof size compared to FOL, and since representations and proofs are never significantly longer in FOP than in FOL, we anticipate that inference in FOP will be more tractable than inference in FOL for corresponding problems.
Green technology adoption: An empirical study of the Southern California garment cleaning industry

Green technology adoption may be limited by a variety of factors including a lack of sufficient private incentives, long equipment replacement cycles, or lack of information regarding the green alternatives. In California, multiple policy tools including financial incentives, command-and-control regulation, and information and training were used to overcome these obstacles in order to reduce the use of the polluting technology used in traditional dry cleaning. Exploiting the changing regulatory environment, I evaluate the effectiveness of the different policy tools by estimating a dynamic, durable goods replacement model with entry and exit. Because the strict regulations affect future years only, identifying the discount rate is crucial, which I estimate to be 0.94. Using counterfactual simulations under alternative policy regimes, I find that the provision of information and training offered through demonstrations increased adoption of that technology (wet cleaning) by over 200 %. Price incentives (via fees and grants) would have been ineffective at achieving widespread adoption of green technologies but were effective at accelerating adoption when combined with a future ban on polluting technologies. Using this combination of policy instruments led to a net welfare gain of $71 million (NPV) in 2002 when the policies were implemented.
Banking Systems Around the Globe : Do Regulation and Ownership Affect the Performance and Stability?

The authors report cross-country data on commercial bank regulation and ownership in more than 60 countries. They evaluate the links between different regulatory/ownership practices in those countries and both financial sector performance and banking system stability. They document substantial variation in response to these questions: Should it be public policy to limit the powers of commercial banks to engage in securities, insurance, and real estate activities? Should the mixing of banking and commerce be restricted by regulating commercial bank's ownership of non-financial firms and non-financial firms' ownership of commercial banks? Should states own commercial banks, or should those banks be privatized? They find: 1) There is no reliable statistical relationship between restrictions on commercial banks' ability to engage in securities, insurance, and real estate transactions and how well-developed the banking sector, how well-developed securities markets and non-bank financial intermediaries are, or the degree of industrial competition. Based on the evidence, it is difficult to argue confidently that restricting commercial banking activities benefits-or harms-the development of financial and securities markets or industrial competition. 2) There are no positive effects from mixing banking and commerce. 3) Countries that more tightly restrict and regulate the securities activities of commercial banks are substantially more likely to suffer a major banking crisis. Countries whose national regulations inhibit banks' ability to engage in securities underwriting, brokering, and dealing--and all aspects of the mutual fund business--tend to have more fragile financial systems. 4) The mixing of banking and commerce is associated with less financial stability. The evidence does not support admonitions to restrict the mixing of banking and commerce because mixing them will increase financial fragility. 5) On average, greater state ownership of banks tends to be associated with more poorly developed banks, nonbanks, and stock markets and more poorly functioning financial systems.
A Sectoral Analysis of Agricultural Trade Liberalization

Complete agricultural trade liberalization between the United States and the European Union is examined with respect to the agricultural sector. A static, partial equilibrium model, distinguishing among the European Union, the United States, and a politically passive rest of the world, is used to simulate agricultural free trade. The results of this research reveal how European Union and United States adoption of free trade affects domestic and world prices, production, consumption, self-sufficiency, and welfare.
Searching for a Needle in a Haystack: Trying to Identify the Illusive Moderators of Leadership Behaviors

Because the notion that various individual, task, or organizational-level variables moderate the relationships between leader behaviors and subordinate criterion variables is a fundamental assumption of most situational approaches to leadership, it is not surprising that a number of studies have been conducted in order to test these effects. Unfortunately, no systematic assessment of this research has been conducted to determine: (a) the nature of the tests for moderation that have been used, or (b) the degree to which the findings actually support the hypothesis that the effects of leader behaviors are moderated by situational variables. For the purposes of this review, we identified studies designed to test the moderators specified by two related theories of leadership: House’s (1971) Path-Goal Approach, and Kerr and Jermier’s (1978) Substitutes for Leadership Model. We then examined the methods used by researchers who tested for the moderating effects predicted by these models, the percentage of modera...
LSV models with stochastic interest rates and correlated jumps

Pricing and hedging exotic options using local stochastic volatility models drew a serious attention within the last decade, and nowadays became almost a standard approach to this problem. In this paper we show how this framework could be extended by adding to the model stochastic interest rates and correlated jumps in all three components. We also propose a new fully implicit modification of the popular Hundsdorfer and Verwer and Modified Craig–Sneyd finite-difference schemes which provides second-order approximation in space and time, is unconditionally stable and preserves positivity of the solution, while still has a linear complexity in the number of grid nodes.
Combinatorial Frameworks for Cluster Algebras

We develop a general approach to finding combinatorial models for cluster algebras. The approach is to construct a labeled graph called a framework. When a framework is constructed with certain properties, the result is a model incorporating information about exchange matrices, principal coefficients, g-vectors, and g-vector fans. The idea behind frameworks arises from Cambrian combinatorics and sortable elements, and in this paper, we use sortable elements to construct a framework for any cluster algebra with an acyclic initial exchange matrix. This Cambrian framework yields a model of the entire exchange graph when the cluster algebra is of finite type. Outside of finite type, the Cambrian framework models only part of the exchange graph. In a forthcoming paper, we extend the Cambrian construction to produce a complete framework for a cluster algebra whose associated Cartan matrix is of affine type.
ON THE COMBINATORICS OF CRYSTAL GRAPHS, I. LUSZTIG'S INVOLUTION

In this paper, we continue the development of a new combinatorial model for the irreducible characters of a complex semisimple Lie group. This model, which will be referred to as the alcove path model, can be viewed as a discrete counterpart to the Littelmann path model. It leads to an extensive generalization of the combinatorics of irreducible characters from Lie type A (where the combinatorics is based on Young tableaux, for instance) to arbitrary type; our approach is type-independent. The main results of this paper are: (1) a combinatorial description of the crystal graphs corresponding to the irreducible representations (this result includes a transparent proof, based on the Yang?Baxter equation, of the fact that the mentioned description does not depend on the choice involved in our model); (2) a combinatorial realization (which is the first direct generalization of Schutzenberger's involution on tableaux) of Lusztig's involution on the canonical basis exhibiting the crystals as self-dual posets; (3) an analog for arbitrary root systems, based on the Yang?Baxter equation, of Schutzenberger's sliding algorithm, which is also known as jeu de taquin (this algorithm has many applications to the representation theory of the Lie algebra of type A).
Cricopharyngeal intramural hematoma: an unusual complication of orthopedic intervention.

Esophageal injuries typically present after direct intraluminal trauma by foodstuffs, the mechanical shearing forces caused by retching, ingested foreign bodies, or iatrogenesis. Injuries range from the mucosal tears of Mallory-Weiss syndrome to the transmural rupture of Boerhaave’s syndrome. Esophageal intramural hematomas (EIH) are exceedingly rare types of esophageal injury. These hematomas typically involve the distal esophagus [1]; thus, their discovery in the proximal esophagus deserves special mention. Uncommon causes of EIH include trauma induced by sclerotherapy [2, 3], mucosal biopsy [4], coagulopathy [5], antithrombotic therapy [6], or carcinoma [7]. We report a rare case of a cricopharyngeal intramural hematoma following anterior cervical decompression presenting only with dysphagia.
Measurement of the converse piezoelectric effect in ceramic and bone using phase-stepped holographic interferometry

Displacement of a ceramic bimorph, due to the converse piezoelectric effect, has been observed using real-time, phase-stepped holographic interferometry. The observed bending obeys the theoretical solution. From the bending, the relevant piezoelectric constant was determined. The measured value, d31 equals 279 +/- 9.5 pm/V, agrees with the commercial value of d31 equals 274 +/- 55 pm/V. Displacement measurements for bone, however, were not repeatable. It appears that results for bone previously reported by us may have been experimental artifact.© (1992) COPYRIGHT SPIE--The International Society for Optical Engineering. Downloading of the abstract is permitted for personal use only.
Single-Image Diffusion Coefficient Measurements of Proteins in Free Solution

Diffusion coefficient measurements are important for many biological and material investigations, such as studies of particle dynamics and kinetics, and size determinations. Among current measurement methods, single particle tracking (SPT) offers the unique ability to simultaneously obtain location and diffusion information about a molecule while using only femtomoles of sample. However, the temporal resolution of SPT is limited to seconds for single-color-labeled samples. By directly imaging three-dimensional diffusing fluorescent proteins and studying the widths of their intensity profiles, we were able to determine the proteins' diffusion coefficients using single protein images of submillisecond exposure times. This simple method improves the temporal resolution of diffusion coefficient measurements to submilliseconds, and can be readily applied to a range of particle sizes in SPT investigations and applications in which diffusion coefficient measurements are needed, such as reaction kinetics and particle size determinations.
Taming Global Village Risk

Asset price bubbles build and burst today much as they have since modern capital markets first evolved some 300 years ago. In recent decades, although the real economy has become less volatile, the financial markets have not; they remain volatile and unpredictable. Exploring the driving forces behind market volatility provides investors a basis for an effective response in dealing with market risk. Markets are, in effect, complex adaptive systems. They are composed of a great number of decentralized decision makers who are continually digesting information and interacting in unanticipated and nonlinear ways. That markets are complex adaptive systems has critical implications for how we think about and manage investment risk. In risk management, we must focus on the market mechanisms driving capital markets to higher volatility, including the emotions of investors, complexity of adaptive markets, and advances in technology and mathematical modeling. Improving risk management means finding new tools to measure the interconnectedness of markets plus the total amount of systemic risk, leverage, and liquidity in the markets. With improvements in risk management, investors and regulators will be better equipped to mitigate the market volatility that often culminates in financial market instability.
Threshold-limited spreading in social networks with multiple initiators

A classical model for social-influence-driven opinion change is the threshold model. Here we study cascades of opinion change driven by threshold model dynamics in the case where multiple initiators trigger the cascade, and where all nodes possess the same adoption threshold ϕ. Specifically, using empirical and stylized models of social networks, we study cascade size as a function of the initiator fraction p. We find that even for arbitrarily high value of ϕ, there exists a critical initiator fraction pc(ϕ) beyond which the cascade becomes global. Network structure, in particular clustering, plays a significant role in this scenario. Similarly to the case of single-node or single-clique initiators studied previously, we observe that community structure within the network facilitates opinion spread to a larger extent than a homogeneous random network. Finally, we study the efficacy of different initiator selection strategies on the size of the cascade and the cascade window.
CIRCUMPLANETARY DISK FORMATION

The development and evolution of a circumplanetary disk during the accretion of a giant planet is examined. The planet gains mass and angular momentum from infalling solar nebula material while simultaneously contracting due to luminosity losses. When the planet becomes rotationally unstable it begins to shed material into a circumplanetary disk. Viscosity causes the disk to spread to a moderate fraction of the Hill radius where it is assumed that a small fraction of the material escapes back into heliocentric orbit, carrying away most of the excess angular momentum. As the planet's contraction continues, its radius can become smaller than the spatial range of the inflow and material begins to fall directly onto the disk, which switches from a spin-out disk to an accretion disk as the planet completes its growth. We here develop a description of the circumplanetary disk, which is combined with models of the planet's contraction and the inflow rate including its angular momentum content to yield a solution for the time evolution of a planet-disk system.
Churg-Strauss syndrome: survival for 26 years

Background Churg-Strauss syndrome (CSS), a necrotizing vasculitis characterized by asthma and eosinophilia, was described initially in 1951. Before the use of oral corticosteroids, the average patient survived for only a few months. Today with the use of oral corticosteroids and immunosuppressants, survival has increased significantly. Methods We report the case of a patient with CSS treated with prednisone and azathioprine. A review of the English literature was performed with MEDLINE from 1966 to the present using these keywords: Churg-Strauss syndrome, survival, prognosis, morbidity, mortality, and treatment. Results This patient survived 26 years after the diagnosis of CSS and died without autopsy findings of active vasculitis. This is the longest reported survival with CSS in the English literature to our knowledge. The patient's disease course was marked by two acute (vasculitic) episodes, with intermittent subacute disease, and finally a state of disease remission. Conclusions Survival in patients with CSS can be prolonged with early initiation of corticosteroids and immunosuppressants, close outpatient followup, and prompt, aggressive treatment of relapses. This case exemplifies the disease progression and remission as reported by other authors. We propose that CSS can be classified into acute (vasculitic), subacute, and remittable stages.
On the efficiency of quantum algorithms for Hamiltonian simulation

We study algorithms simulating a system evolving with Hamiltonian $${H = \sum_{j=1}^m H_j}$$ , where each of the H j , j = 1, . . . ,m, can be simulated efficiently. We are interested in the cost for approximating $${e^{-iHt}, t \in \mathbb{R}}$$ , with error $${\varepsilon}$$ . We consider algorithms based on high order splitting formulas that play an important role in quantum Hamiltonian simulation. These formulas approximate e ?iHt by a product of exponentials involving the H j , j = 1, . . . ,m. We obtain an upper bound for the number of required exponentials. Moreover, we derive the order of the optimal splitting method that minimizes our upper bound. We show significant speedups relative to previously known results.
Linear programming in the semi-streaming model with application to the maximum matching problem

In this paper we study linear-programming based approaches to the maximum matching problem in the semi-streaming model. In this model edges are presented sequentially, possibly in an adversarial order, and we are only allowed to use a small space. The allowed space is near linear in the number of vertices (and sublinear in the number of edges) of the input graph. The semi-streaming model is relevant in the context of processing of very large graphs. In recent years, there have been several new and exciting results in the semi-streaming model. However broad techniques such as linear programming have not been adapted to this model. In this paper we present several techniques to adapt and optimize linear-programming based approaches in the semi-streaming model. We use the maximum matching problem as a foil to demonstrate the effectiveness of adapting such tools in this model. As a consequence we improve almost all previous results on the semi-streaming maximum matching problem. We also prove new results on interesting variants.
The dynamical evolution of uniformly rotating asteroids subject to YORP

A detailed derivation is given of the effect of solar radiation on the rotational dynamics of asteroids, commonly called the YORP effect. The current derivation goes beyond previous discussions published in the literature and provides a comprehensive secular dynamical analysis of the effect of solar radiation torques acting on a uniformly rotating body, and the evolution of its rotation state over time. Our predicted model has the global radiation properties of the asteroid as explicit parameters, and hence can be specified independent of these parameters. The resulting secular equations for the rotation rate and rotation pole are characterized by three parameters of the body's shape and explicitly includes the effect of thermal inertia on the evolution of these rotation state parameters. With this detailed model, in conjunction with estimated asteroid shapes and poles, we compute the expected YORP torques and dynamic response of several asteroids and the change in rotation rate for specific shapes as a function of obliquity. Finally, we define a convenient dimensionless parameter that is only a function of the body geometry and that can be used to characterize the effects of YORP.
Catalytic isobutane dehydrogenation in a dense silica membrane reactor

Abstract The dehydrogenation of isobutane on a commercial chromia-alumina catalyst was studied using a conventional and a membrane reactor. A series of differential runs were conducted varying the temperature and feed composition. Extensive loss of catalyst activity was observed within the first two or three hours on stream and this deactivation intensified with temperature and olefin content but was inhibited by hydrogen. The membrane reactor utilized a dense silica membrane prepared by chemical vapor deposition on a porous Vycor substrate. The membrane permeance as 0.3 cm3/cm2-min-atm and the hydrogen to hydrocarbon permeance ratio was 80–300. Integral runs were conducted to compare the performance of the membrane reactor with that of a conventional reactor. At all temperatures and space times the membrane reactor gave higher isobutene yield and selectivity, the difference increasing with the space time. The membrane exhibited stable permeance and permselectivity during several days of operation.
Supported metals and supported organometallics

Abstract Organometallic chemistry and heterogeneous catalysis are developing into common territory, illustrated by catalysts incorporating structures ranging from mononuclear metal complexes to metal aggregates (crystallites) on metal oxide supports. Reactions of precursors such as metal carbonyls and metal allyls with metal oxide surfaces have been understood on the basis of solution organometallic chemistry combined with functional group chemistry of the supports. The supported species are transformed by processes including reductive carbonylation (whereby metal complexes and salts are converted into metal clusters) and oxidative fragmentation (whereby metal clusters and aggregates are converted into mononuclear metal complexes). Extended X-ray absorption fine structure (EXAFS) spectroscopy has been used in conjunction with other techniques to characterize bonds between mononuclear metal complexes and metal oxide surfaces and also to provide structural information about metal-support interfaces in highly dispersed supported metal aggregates. EXAFS results are also helping to define the limitations of standard methods for estimating surface areas of highly dispersed metals by measurements of chemisorption of H 2 and CO. Some supported ‘molecular’ organometallics are structurally and catalytically novel, indicating possibilities for design of surface catalytic sites. Ensembles consisting of three Re complexes on MgO are active for the structure-sensitive cyclopropane hydrogenolysis, whereas a catalyst consisting of the same complexes (evidently isolated on the support surface) is inactive. ‘Molecular’ osmium carbonyl clusters stabilized on the basic MgO surface and in basic zeolites catalyze CO hydrogenation, and 10-atom aggregates of osmium, formed by removal of CO ligands from a ‘molecular’ precursor, are active for n-butane hydrogenolysis. These structurally well-defined catalysts offer good opportunities for understanding metal-support interactions and structure sensitivity in metal catalysis.
Data model processing

The Data Model Processor (DMP) is an interactive tool for defining and evaluating data models. It is based on Positional Set Notation, a formalism for uniform representation of data modeling objects. The DMP allows the user to enter a set-theoretic description of a data model's structures and a definition of the model's primitive operations based on positional set operations. Based on the data model definition, the DMP then emulates a database management system (DBMS) implementing that data model. It allows the user to play various roles associated with a DBMS, such as database definer and end user.This paper gives an overview of the DMP and discusses its foundations, namely, Positional Set Notation and a Positional Set Processor. It traces an example showing how the DMP has been used to model the relational data model. (Hierarchical and network models have also been implemented on the DMP.) Future applications of the DMP are considered.
What happens when a stock is added to the Nasdaq-100 index? What doesn’t happen?

Purpose – Prior research on additions to the S & P 500 and the smaller MidCap 400 and SmallCap 600 indexes reach different conclusions regarding the key variables that explain the cross-section of announcement period abnormal returns. Most notable in this regard is that liquidity measures, long thought to be of importance, do not appear to explain abnormal returns of the S & P 500 when other factors are controlled for. By contrast, they do appear to matter for additions to the smaller stock indexes. To explore this difference, the purpose of this paper is to analyze the abnormal returns upon announcement that a stock will be added to the Nasdaq-100 Index in a cross-sectional manner, controlling for several possible alternative factors. Design/methodology/approach – This paper analyzes abnormal returns upon announcement that a stock will be added to the Nasdaq-100 Index. The authors consider several possible sources of the positive price effects in a multivariate setting that controls simultaneously for me...
The Impact of Asymmetric Information on Proxy Outcomes: An Empirical Test

If a manager-shareholder is better informed about the true value of a firm's shares than outside shareholders, then the management of an undervalued firm is hypothesized to use its incumbent advantage to win proxy contests to maintain control and to benefit from share revaluations induced by the positive signal value of the contest. Using insider trades as indicators of management's beliefs, this study finds an association between insider beliefs and proxy contest outcomes. In particular, when insider trades over a five-to-six month period preceding the proxy date are net purchases, the odds in favor of management winning are significantly higher.
An SNAr Approach to Sterically Hindered ortho-Alkoxybenzaldehydes for the Synthesis of Olefin Metathesis Catalysts

A three-step procedure has been developed for preparing ortho-alkoxybenzaldehydes from ortho-fluorobenzaldehydes that tolerates the use of sterically hindered sodium alkoxide nucleophiles. The protocol is modular and operationally convenient. The ortho-alkoxybenzaldehyde products can be converted in one additional step to ortho-alkoxystyrenes by a Wittig reaction. These styrenes are precursors to the chelating benzylidene moiety in a proposed series of novel ruthenium complexes for use in olefin metathesis. Chelation with three representative styrenes has been demonstrated.
On the Residual Solvability of Generalized Free Products of Finitely Generated Nilpotent Groups

In this article we study the residual solvability of the generalized free product of finitely generated nilpotent groups. We show that these groups are often residually solvable.
Solution of the unsteady Euler equations for fixed and rotor wing configurations

A solution procedure is described for the numerical solution of inviscid rotational flow past fixed and rotor wing configurations. This procedure solves the three-dimensional Euler equations in a body-fitted coordinate system and strong conservation form. The derivatives along the spanwise direction are lagged by one time step, while all the other terms are treated in a fully implicit manner. This leads to a semi-implicit scheme that requires two block tridiagonal matrix inversions and one residual evaluation per point at every time step. This procedure also requires the flow variables to be stored at only one time level. A number of fixed wing and rotor wing calculations are presented to demonstrate the efficiency and accuracy of this procedure.
Radiation transfer through nanoscale apertures

Abstract An H-shaped nano-aperture used as a high efficient near-field radiator is demonstrated. The transfer efficiency higher than unity and nanoscale radiation spot can be achieved simultaneously in the near field compared with regular apertures. The radiation enhancement is ascribed to the fundamental electric–magnetic field propagating in the TE10 mode concentrated in the gap between the ridges, which provides the electric dipole-liked behavior. The optimal performance of nano-apertures could be fulfilled by proper design of the geometry of the aperture, choosing good conducting metals as the film materials and low refractive substrate. As a demonstration, a super small spot about 20 nm×18 nm is achieved through the radiation of a nano-aperture with a narrow gap of 12 nm×8 nm.
Cycloadditions of Noncomplementary Substituted 1,2,3-Triazines

The scope of the [4 + 2] cycloaddition reactions of substituted 1,2,3-triazines, bearing noncomplementary substitution with electron-withdrawing groups at C4 and/or C6, is described. The studies define key electronic and steric effects of substituents impacting the reactivity, mode (C4/N1 vs C5/N2), and regioselectivity of the cycloaddition reactions of 1,2,3-triazines with amidines, enamines, and ynamines, providing access to highly functionalized heterocycles.
Total Synthesis of the Proposed Structure of (+)-Tolyporphin A O,O-Diacetate.

Four monocyclic precursors were assembled in the total synthesis of the proposed structure 1-A of (+)-tolyporphin A O,O-diacetate (X=Ac). Comparison of the spectroscopic data demonstrated that synthetic tolyporphin O,O-diacetate did not match the O,O-diacetate prepared from natural (+)-tolyporphin A (X=H), calling for a structural revision of this class of natural products. On the basis of a series of NMR experiments including synthetic intermediates, the structure of tolyporphin A is concluded to be 1-B, in which the configurations of quaternary centers C7 and C17 are opposite to those in the originally proposed structure.
Memory buddies: exploiting page sharing for smart colocation in virtualized data centers

Many data center virtualization solutions, such as VMware ESX, employ content-based page sharing to consolidate the resources of multiple servers. Page sharing identifies virtual machine memory pages with identical content and consolidates them into a single shared page. This technique, implemented at the host level, applies only between VMs placed on a given physical host. In a multiserver data center, opportunities for sharing may be lost because the VMs holding identical pages are resident on different hosts. In order to obtain the full benefit of content-based page sharing it is necessary to place virtual machines such that VMs with similar memory content are located on the same hosts.In this paper we present Memory Buddies, a memory sharingaware placement system for virtual machines. This system includes a memory fingerprinting system to efficiently determine the sharing potential among a set of VMs, and compute more efficient placements. In addition it makes use of live migration to optimize VM placement as workloads change.We have implemented a prototype Memory Buddies system with VMware ESX Server and present experimental results on our testbed, as well as an analysis of an extensive memory trace study. Evaluation of our prototype using a mix of enterprise and e-commerce applications demonstrates an increase of data center capacity (i.e. number of VMs supported) of 17%, while imposing low overhead and scaling to as many as a thousand servers.
Expression of 67 kDa laminin receptor in human breast cancer cells: regulation by progestins

The level of 67 kDa laminin receptor (67LR) expression on breast and colon tumor cell surfaces was previously shown to be correlated with the capacity of tumor cells to metastasize. In the present work we investigate the effects of progestins and estrogen on the expression of 67LR in two sublines of the T47D human breast cancer cells: weakly tumorigenic, poorly invasive parental T47D cells and a highly tumorigenic, more invasive T47Dco subclone. Inmmunoblotting with an affinity purified antibody directed against a synthetic peptide recognizes the 67LR in these cells. 67LR expression in the T47Dco subclone is 5,5-fold higher than in their parental T47D cells. Treatment of T47D cells with 1 nM of the synthetic progestin R5020 results in a 4-fold increase in 67LR protein expression. Estrogen also induced 67LR expression, but only by 1.5-fold. The progestin-stimulated expression of the 67LR correlates with a 4.3-fold increase in attachment of T47D cells to laminin. A monoclonal antibody, mAb 13, directed against β1 integrin, completely blocks the attachment of T47D cells to fibronectin, only partially inhibits the attachment of T47D cells to laminin, and appears not to affect the progestin-stimulated laminin attachment of T47D cells. A new antiprogestin, ZK 112.993, significantly inhibits both progestin-stimulated 67LR expression and the increased attachment to laminin. These results suggest a possible role for progestin in mediating one of the multiple events thought to be important in metastasis of steroid receptor positive human breast cancer cells.