cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Compact high-quality CdSe–CdS core–shell nanocrystals with narrow emission linewidths and suppressed blinking

High particle uniformity, high photoluminescence quantum yields, narrow and symmetric emission spectral lineshapes and minimal single-dot emission intermittency (known as blinking) have been recognized as universal requirements for the successful use of colloidal quantum dots in nearly all optical applications. However, synthesizing samples that simultaneously meet all these four criteria has proven challenging. Here, we report the synthesis of such high-quality CdSe-CdS core-shell quantum dots in an optimized process that maintains a slow growth rate of the shell through the use of octanethiol and cadmium oleate as precursors. In contrast with previous observations, single-dot blinking is significantly suppressed with only a relatively thin shell. Furthermore, we demonstrate the elimination of the ensemble luminescence photodarkening that is an intrinsic consequence of quantum dot blinking statistical ageing. Furthermore, the small size and high photoluminescence quantum yields of these novel quantum dots render them superior in vivo imaging agents compared with conventional quantum dots. We anticipate these quantum dots will also result in significant improvement in the performance of quantum dots in other applications such as solid-state lighting and illumination.
Cytochrome P450-catalyzed insertion of carbenoids into N–H bonds

Expanding nature's catalytic repertoire to include reactions important in synthetic chemistry will open new opportunities for ‘green’ chemistry and biosynthesis. We demonstrate the first enzyme-catalyzed insertion of carbenoids into N–H bonds. This type of bond disconnection, which has no counterpart in nature, can be mediated by variants of the cytochrome P450 from Bacillus megaterium. The N–H insertion reaction takes place in water, provides the desired products in 26–83% yield, forms the single addition product exclusively, and does not require slow addition of the diazo component.
Saving power to conserve your reputation? The effectiveness of private versus public information $

Environmental damage is often an unseen byproduct of other activities. Disclosing environmental impact privately to consumers can reduce the costs and/or increase the moral benefits of conservation behaviors, while publicly disclosing such information can provide an additional motivation for conservation - cultivating a green reputation. In a unique field experiment in the residence halls at the University of California – Los Angeles, we test the efficacy of detailed private and public information on electricity conservation. Private information was given through real-time appliance level feedback and social norms over usage, and public information was given through a publicly visible conservation rating. Our analysis is based on 7,120 daily observations about energy use from heating and cooling, lights and plug load for 66 rooms collected over an academic year. Our results suggest that while private information alone was ineffective, public information combined with private information motivated a 20 percent reduction in electricity consumption achieved through lower use of heating and cooling. Public information was particularly effective for above median energy users.
Stiffness and Damping Coefficient Estimation of Compliant Surface Gas Bearings for Oil-Free Turbomachinery

Foil gas bearings are a key technology in many commercial and emerging Oil-Free turbomachinery systems. These bearings are non-linear and have been difficult to analytically model in terms of performance characteristics such as load capacity, power loss, stiffness and damping. Previous investigations led to an empirically derived method, a rule-of-thumb, to estimate load capacity. This method has been a valuable tool in system development. The current paper extends this tool concept to include rules for stiffness and damping coefficient estimation. It is expected that these rules will further accelerate the development and deployment of advanced Oil-Free machines operating on foil gas bearings
Inspecting The Mechanism: Closed-Form Solutions For Asset Prices In Real Business Cycle Models*

We derive closed-form solutions for asset prices in an RBC economy. The equations are based on a log-linear solution of the RBC model and allow a clearer understanding of the determination of risk premia in models with production. We demonstrate not only why the premium of equity over the risk-free rate is small but also why the premium of equity over a real long-term bond is small and often negative. In particular, risk premia for equity and long real bonds are negative when technology shocks are permanent. Recently, a growing literature has explored the asset pricing implications of real business cycle (RBC) models. Examples are Rouwenhorst (1995), Jermann (1998) and Boldrin et al. (1995). 1 From a methodological point of view, models with production allow a more realistic modelling of consumption and dividends than do the pure exchange economies of Lucas (1978). However, explaining the behaviour of asset prices in production economies is also more challenging. For example, in an exchange economy, an increase in risk premia can be obtained by increasing risk aversion. This is not necessarily true in production economies, since agents can choose a smoother consumption path by substituting between work and leisure in response to productivity shocks. The papers just cited find that RBC models tend to generate counterfactual asset pricing implications unless some extreme form of rigidities is introduced. This paper attempts to provide a clearer understanding of the challenges posed by asset pricing behaviour for RBC models. Instead of solving a standard model numerically and simulating it over a large number of parameter permutations, we argue here that this understanding can be better developed by analysing approximate closed-form solutions for prices of a variety of financial assets. Although there are now many accurate solution algorithms available for solving RBC models (e.g., see the overview in Taylor and Uhlig (1990)), the approximate closed-form expressions obtained here make the relationship between asset prices and exogenous technology shocks particularly transparent by providing simple analytical expressions that decompose the effect of technology shocks on asset prices into (i) a direct effect due to the shock itself and (ii) an indirect effect stemming from capital accumulation.
Electricity market design: the good, the bad, and the ugly

This paper examines principles of market design as applied to electricity markets. The author illustrates the principles with examples of both good and bad designs. The author discusses one of the main design challenges - dealing with market power. The author then discusses FERC's choice of a standard market design.
A cluster-based solution for high performance hmmpfam using EARTH execution model

Hmmpfam is a widely used computation-intensive bioinformatics software for sequence classification. The contribution of this paper is the first largely scalable and robust cluster-based solution of parallel hmmpfam based on EARTH (Efficient Architecture for Running Threads), which is an eventdriven fine-grain multi-threaded programming execution model. When compared with the original PVM implementation, our implementation shows notable improvements on absolute speed-up and better scalability. Experiments on two advanced supercomputing clusters at Argonne National Laboratory achieve an absolute speedup of 222.8 on 128 dual-CPU nodes for a representative data set, which means that the total execution time is reduced from 15.9 h (serial program) to only 4.3 min.
Does pleasing export-oriented foreign investors help your balance of payments? A general equilibrium analysis

Many developing countries have adopted investor-friendly policies in order to attract export-oriented foreign direct investment (FDI). The effects of these policies on the external accounts have largely been ignored. We endogenize FDI inflows in a structuralist general equilibrium framework to contribute towards filling this gap. Our economy consists of: (i) a non-tradable goods sector and (ii) an export processing zone (EPZ) that hosts transnational corporations. We find that most of the commonly pursued policies considered are likely to have a negative impact on the balance of payments due to: (i) income re-distribution towards groups more likely to spend on imported goods, (ii) higher capacity utilization in the (more import-intensive) EPZ, and (iii) the excess supply of non-tradables created, which in turn has an adverse valuation effect via a real internal depreciation. Strong backward linkages, however, may under certain conditions help offset the adverse impact through a favorable valuation effect.
A new synthetic approach to the clinically useful, anti-HIV-active nucleoside, 9-(2,3-dideoxy-2-fluoro-β-D-threo-pentofuranosyl)adenine (β-FddA). Introduction of a 2′-β-fluoro substituent via inversion of a readily obtainable 2′-α-fluoro isomer

Abstract A convenient route to the anti-HIV active compound, 9-(2,3-dideoxy-2-fluoro-β-D-threo-pentofuranosyl)adenine (1, β-FddA) started with the facile introduction of fluorine at C2′ from the α-side of protected 9-(β-D-arabinofuranosyl)adenine (ara-A). Inversion of the stereochemistry at C2′ was accomplished via a stable vinyl intermediate (6), which underwent stereoselective reduction of the double bond to give the desired 2′-F-threo isomer with the opposite β-fluoro stereochemistry.
Regeneration of replicated objects: a technique and its Eden implementation

A replicated directory system based on a method called regeneration is designed and implemented. The directory system allows selection of arbitrary object to be replicated, choice of the number of replicas for each object, and placement of the copies on machines with independent failure modes. Copies can become inaccessible due to node crashes, but as long as a single copy survives, the replication level is restored by automatically replacing lost copies on other active machines. The focus is on a regeneration algorithm for replica replacement and its application to a replicated directory structure in the Eden local area network. A simple probabilistic approach is used to compare the availability provided by the algorithm to three other replication techniques. >
Higher Dimensional Realizations of Activated Dynamic Scaling at Random Quantum Transitions

We show that many of the unusual properties of the one-dimensional random quantum Ising model are shared also by dilute quantum Ising systems in the vicinity of a certain quantum transition in any dimension $dg1$. Thus while these properties are not an artifact of $d\phantom{\rule{0ex}{0ex}}=\phantom{\rule{0ex}{0ex}}1$, they do require special circumstances in higher dimensions.
Synthesis of 2,2‘-Biimidazolium-Based Ionic Liquids: Use as a New Reaction Medium and Ligand for Palladium-Catalyzed Suzuki Cross-Coupling Reactions

Neat reactions of 2,2‘-biimidazole with an excess of alkyl or polyfluoroalkyl iodides at 140 °C, followed by anion exchange with LiN(SO2CF3)2 or KPF6, gave the diquaternary salts 3a−k in >80% yields. However, by controlling the reaction stoichiometry, 2,2‘-biimidazole can also be monoquaternized with the same electrophiles at 100 °C under similar conditions. Subsequent metathesis reactions with LiN(SO2CF3)2 or KPF6 resulted in the ionic liquids 4a−m in high yields. Thermal properties were determined with a differential scanning calorimeter (DSC) and a thermogravimetric analyzer (TGA). Most of the monoquaternary salts are room-temperature ionic liquids. 1,3,1‘-Tributyl-2,2‘-biimidazolium hexafluorophosphate was demonstrated to be an excellent solvent and ligand for palladium-catalyzed Suzuki cross-coupling reactions. The catalytic ionic liquid system may be recycled at least 14 times without a significant decrease in catalytic performance.
Spectrum Synthesis of Accretion Disks in Partial Eclipse

We have modified a spectrum synthesis code for accretion disks in binary star systems, to deal with the case of a disk that is partially eclipsed by the mass-losing star. The known Roche geometry of the binary system permits the correspondence to be made between the spectrum observed over some phase interval and the regions of the disk that contribute to the spectrum. The code can generate simulated observations corresponding to arbitrary phase intervals, with arbitrary spectral sampling and resolution. This capability clearly includes generating broadband light curves as a limiting case. The use of angle-dependent specific intensities means that limb-darkening effects are automatically taken into account. We present trailed-spectrogram and other representations of the partially eclipsed disk spectra of representative models of cataclysmic variables. The spectra are shown versus orbital phase, for portions of the ultraviolet spectral region accessible to the Hubble Space Telescope. We illustrate the behavior of blended features through eclipse and comment on the sensitivity of the synthesized spectra to the parameters of the input model, such as the stellar masses, mass transfer rate, and orbital inclination. Compared with out-of-eclipse spectra of the entire disk, observations during eclipse should have the advantage for diagnostic purposes of showing (1) deeper individual lines, (2) reduced blending of lines, and (3) an effectively smaller range of effective temperatures contributing to the observed spectrum. These advantages are especially important in analysis of the ultraviolet spectra of disks.
Zinc Trimethylsilylamide as a Mild Ammonia Equivalent and Base for the Amination of Aryl Halides and Triflates

[reaction: see text] We report that Zn[N(SiMe(3))(2)](2) is a mild ammonia equivalent and base for the palladium-catalyzed amination of aryl halides and triflates. In contrast to LiN(SiMe(3))(2), the combination of Zn[N(SiMe(3))(2)](2) and LiCl coupled with aryl halides and triflates containing base-sensitive functionality in high yields. In addition, aryl bromides coupled with aryl and alkylamines with the combination of Zn[N(SiMe(3))(2)](2) and LiCl as base. These aminations occurred without racemization of the enolizable stereocenter of an optically active ester.
Low PAPP-A: the impact of ultrasound to evaluate fetal growth.

OBJECTIVE Our objective was to describe utilization and impact of sonographic growth assessment in pregnancies with low pregnancy-associated plasma protein-A (PAPP-A). METHODS Singleton pregnancies with PAPP-A ≤5th percentile and no other risk factors for fetal growth restriction from January 2011-June 2013 were included. Antepartum and delivery data were obtained by reviewing medical records. Outcomes of pregnancies referred for sonographic growth assessment were compared with those not referred for ultrasound. Fisher's exact test, chi-square analysis, and Mann-Whitney U were used for statistical comparison. RESULTS Two hundred ninety-five patients were included. Of 285 pregnancies reaching the third trimester, 77.5% were referred for ultrasound, with the initial scan at a median gestational age of 28 weeks [26-29]. Referral for growth scans was associated with earlier gestational age at delivery and higher rates of delivery for fetal indications. Those who did not undergo growth scans were more likely to deliver a small for gestational age infant at term, 20.7% versus 35.0% (p = 0.04). There was one third-trimester fetal demise, occurring in a patient who had been undergoing growth scans. CONCLUSION Growth scans in those with low PAPP-A were associated with delivery at earlier gestational age, with higher rates of delivery for fetal indications and lower rates of small for gestational age newborns at term. No significant differences in neonatal outcomes were observed.
An aggregation theorem for securities markets

Abstract Alternative sets of sufficient conditions are developed under which equilibrium security rates of return are determined as if there exist only identical individuals whose resources, beliefs, and tastes are a composite of the actual individuals in the economy. These conditions include as special cases all those previously examined in the literature (including conditions sufficient to produce the two-parameter mean-variance model), as well as others. Whenever such a composite individual exists it is shown that (1) valuation equations take a specific form and contain only exogenous parameters of the economy; (2) market exchange arrangements are Pareto-optimal; and (3) competitive value-maximizing firms make completely specified Pareto-optimal production decisions both over dates and states. These results rely on the observation that under popular homogeneity assumptions regarding beliefs and tastes, even though the securities market may be incomplete, equilibrium rates of return are determined as if there were an otherwise similar Arrow-Debreu economy.
On some versions of the element agglomeration AMGe method

The present paper deals with element-based algebraic multigrid (AMGe) methods that target linear systems of equations coming from finite element discretizations of elliptic partial differential equations. The individual element information (element matrices and element topology) is the main input to construct the AMG hierarchy. We study a number of variants of the spectral agglomerate AMGe method. The core of the algorithms relies on element agglomeration utilizing the element topology (built recursively from fine to coarse levels). The actual selection of the coarse degrees of freedom is based on solving a large number of local eigenvalue problems. Additionally, we investigate strategies for adaptive AMG as well as multigrid cycles that are more expensive than the V-cycle utilizing simple interpolation matrices and nested conjugate gradient (CG)-based recursive calls between the levels. The presented algorithms are illustrated with an extensive set of experiments based on a matlab implementation of the methods. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Nucleophilic substitution reactions of polyfluoroalkylsulfonamides

Abstract The sulfonamides CF 3 SO 2 N(CH 3 )Na and CF 3 SO 2 N(H)Na have been reacted with polyfluoro cyclic, acyclic and inorganic chlorine and bromine-containing species. Nucleophilic displacement of chlorine or bromine in 1,2-dichloroperfluorocyclobutene, 1,2-dichloroperfluorocyclopentene, benzyl bromide, cyanuric chloride and oxalyl chloride has been found to occur under mild conditions to give good yields of N-substituted polyfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroaryl sulfonamides. The effects of solvent and substrate structure on the conditions necessary for reaction to occur, and the yields obtained of the desired products are discussed.
The Rise of Religious Fundamentalism

Religious fundamentalism has risen to worldwide prominence since the 1970s. We review research on fundamentalist movements to learn what religious fundamentalisms are, if and why they appear to be resurging, their characteristics, their possible links to violence, and their relation to modernity. Surveying work over the past two decades, we find both substantial progress in sociological research on such movements and major holes in conceptualizing and understanding religious fundamentalism. We consider these weaknesses and suggest where research might next be directed.
Threshold uncertainty in the private-information subscription game

Abstract We introduce threshold uncertainty, a la Nitzan and Romano (1990), into a private-values model of voluntary provision of a discrete public good. Players are allowed to make any level of contribution toward funding the good, which is provided if the cost threshold is reached. Otherwise, contributions are refunded. Conditions ensuring existence and uniqueness of a Bayesian equilibrium are established. Further restricting the threshold uncertainty to a uniform distribution, we show the equilibrium strategies are very simple, even allowing for any number of players with asymmetric distributions of values. Comparative statics with respect to changes in players' distributions are derived, allowing changes in both the intensity and the dispersion of values. For example, increased uncertainty, in the sense of mean-preserving spreads of players' distributions of values, increases equilibrium contributions. Finally, we show the equilibrium is interim incentive inefficient. The sharpness of our results greatly contrasts with the more qualified insights of earlier private-values models with known cost threshold, which relied on there being two symmetric players and generally exhibited multiple equilibria.
A Myers-type theorem and compact Ricci solitons

Let the Ricci curvature of a compact Riemannian manifold be greater, at every point, than the Lie derivative of the metric with respect to some fixed smooth vector field. It is shown that the fundamental group then has only finitely many conjugacy classes. This applies, in particular, to all compact shrinking Ricci solitons.
Four-Color Observations of Blue Horizontal-Branch Stars

Effective temperatures and surface gravities can be calculated for early-type stars with 0.5<θ e <0.7 and 2.0<logg<4.4 by means of a grid computed by a graduate student at State University of New York at Albany, (Linda Matlock) which relates the four-color indices b−y and c1 to θ e and logg. The four-color indices must be dereddened and deblanketed, then θ e and logg can be read off the grid with rms errors of ±0.015 in θ e and ±0.2 in logg. The details concerning these relations will be published soon in another article.
Efficiencies Brewed: Pricing and Consolidation in the U.S. Beer Industry

Merger efficiencies provide the primary justification for why mergers of competitors may benefit consumers. Surprisingly, there is little evidence that efficiencies can offset incentives to raise prices following mergers. We estimate the effects of increased concentration and efficiencies on pricing by using panel scanner data and geographic variation in how the merger of the brewers Miller and Coors was expected to increase concentration and reduce costs. All else equal, the average predicted increase in concentration led to price increases of 2%, but at the mean this was offset by a nearly equal and opposite efficiency effect.
The unexpected synthesis of 2-thioxo-1-imidazolidinecarboxamides from 2-oxo-1-imidazolidinethiocarbonyl chloride

Abstract The reaction of 2-oxo-1-imidazolidinethiocarbonyl chloride with aromatic amines gives N-aryl-2-thioxo-1-imidazolidinecarboxamides. This finding is consistent with an ethylene isocyanate isothiocyanate intermediate.
Novel Syntheses of α-Morpholinoamides from α,α-Dichloroacetamides

Dichloroacetamides, on heating with benzotriazole, morpholine, and triethylamine, produce, in a one-pot reaction, α-benzotriazolyl-α-morpholinoacetamides 4a,b. Intermediates 4a and 4b react with nucleophiles such as allylsilanes, silyl ethers, and organozinc reagents to afford diverse α-morpholinoamides.
C–C bond migration in the cycloisomerization of oxygen-tethered 1,6-enynes

A C–C bond migration event during the cycloisomerization of 1,6-enynes is described. Two different catalytic systems, iridium- or platinum-based, are able to induce this process. Alkyl migrations of larger rings and acyclic groups indicate that the reaction is not fully driven by the release of ring strain.
Examination of the genetic basis for sexual dimorphism in the Aedes aegypti (dengue vector mosquito) pupal brain

Most animal species exhibit sexually dimorphic behaviors, many of which are linked to reproduction. A number of these behaviors, including blood feeding in female mosquitoes, contribute to the global spread of vector-borne illnesses. However, knowledge concerning the genetic basis of sexually dimorphic traits is limited in any organism, including mosquitoes, especially with respect to differences in the developing nervous system. Custom microarrays were used to examine global differences in female vs. male gene expression in the developing pupal head of the dengue vector mosquito, Aedes aegypti. The spatial expression patterns of a subset of differentially expressed transcripts were examined in the developing female vs. male pupal brain through in situ hybridization experiments. Small interfering RNA (siRNA)-mediated knockdown studies were used to assess the putative role of Doublesex, a terminal component of the sex determination pathway, in the regulation of sex-specific gene expression observed in the developing pupal brain. Transcripts (2,527), many of which were linked to proteolysis, the proteasome, metabolism, catabolic, and biosynthetic processes, ion transport, cell growth, and proliferation, were found to be differentially expressed in A. aegypti female vs. male pupal heads. Analysis of the spatial expression patterns for a subset of dimorphically expressed genes in the pupal brain validated the data set and also facilitated the identification of brain regions with dimorphic gene expression. In many cases, dimorphic gene expression localized to the optic lobe. Sex-specific differences in gene expression were also detected in the antennal lobe and mushroom body. siRNA-mediated gene targeting experiments demonstrated that Doublesex, a transcription factor with consensus binding sites located adjacent to many dimorphically expressed transcripts that function in neural development, is required for regulation of sex-specific gene expression in the developing A. aegypti brain. These studies revealed sex-specific gene expression profiles in the developing A. aegypti pupal head and identified Doublesex as a key regulator of sexually dimorphic gene expression during mosquito neural development.
System design of a C-17 radome test station

There are three fundamental problems that are frequently faced in the development of test systems for aging military assets: 1) aging systems require the development of new support equipment due to either the age of the system or the age of the extant support equipment, 2) new test requirements, unforeseen at the beginning of a system's life-cycle needs to be identified, and 3) test methodologies are developed over the life cycle of a system that drives testing to be performed in a new and better way.
Approximate lifted inference with probabilistic databases

This paper proposes a new approach for approximate evaluation of #P-hard queries with probabilistic databases. In our approach, every query is evaluated entirely in the database engine by evaluating a fixed number of query plans, each providing an upper bound on the true probability, then taking their minimum. We provide an algorithm that takes into account important schema information to enumerate only the minimal necessary plans among all possible plans. Importantly, this algorithm is a strict generalization of all known results of PTIME self-join-free conjunctive queries: A query is safe if and only if our algorithm returns one single plan. We also apply three relational query optimization techniques to evaluate all minimal safe plans very fast. We give a detailed experimental evaluation of our approach and, in the process, provide a new way of thinking about the value of probabilistic methods over non-probabilistic methods for ranking query answers.
Extremal properties of likelihood-ratio quantizers

M hypotheses and a random variable Y with a different probability distribution under each hypothesis are considered. A quantizer is applied to form a quantized random variable gamma (Y). The extreme points of the set of possible probability distributions of gamma (Y), as gamma ranges over all quantizers, is characterized. Optimality properties of likelihood-ratio quantizers are established for a very broad class of quantization problems, including problems involving the maximization of an Ali-Silvey (1966) distance measure and the Neyman-Pearson variant of the decentralized detection problem. >
FINITE-SAMPLE BIAS OF THE QMLE IN SPATIAL AUTOREGRESSIVE MODELS

We investigate the finite-sample bias of the quasi-maximum likelihood estimator (QMLE) in spatial autoregressive models with possible exogenous regressors. We derive the approximate bias result of the QMLE in terms of model parameters and also the moments (up to order 4) of the error distribution, and thus a feasible bias-correction procedure is directly applicable. In some special cases, the analytical bias result can be significantly simplified. Our Monte Carlo results demonstrate that the feasible bias-correction procedure works remarkably well.
Direct Copper(I) Iodide Dimethyl Sulfide Catalyzed Conjugate Addition of Alkenyl Groups from Vinylzirconocene Reagents

CuI·0.75DMS complex is an excellent catalyst for the direct conjugate addition of alkenyl groups from vinylzirconocene reagents to α,β-unsaturated aldehydes and ketones. The presence of the catalyst with an alkenylzirconocene, at +40 °C in THF, circumvents the need for making discrete alkenylcopper reagents. The catalyst is superior in terms of product yields and alkene flexibility in comparison to other copper(I) sources as well as the nickel(II)-catalyzed conjugate addition. This simple one-pot procedure shows that only 1 equiv of the vinylzirconocene is needed.
Cyclization of 1-(2-alkynylphenyl)-3,3-dialkyltriazenes: a convenient, high-yield synthesis of substituted cinnolines and isoindazoles.

A new route to isoindazoles and cinnolines through the cyclization of (2-alkynylphenyl)triazenes under neutral conditions is presented. The products that result from heating the starting triazenes depend on both the type of alkyne ortho to the triazene functionality and the temperature used. Butadiyne moieties ortho to dialkyltriazenes yield bis-isoindazole dimers when heated to 150 °C in MeI. A requirement for cyclization in MeI is that the (2-alkynylphenyl)triazene must contain a suitably electron-withdrawing substituent on the phenyl ring to deactivate the triazene toward methylation-induced decomposition to an iodoarene. Ethynyl moieties ortho to dialkyltriazenes yield both isoindazole dimers as well as 3-formylisoindazoles when subjected to the same conditions. Replacing MeI with 1,2-dichlorobenzene as solvent allows for the general cyclization of (2-ethynylphenyl)dialkyltriazenes. Heating to 170 °C results in a mixture of isoindazole and cinnoline products, whereas the cinnolines are produced exclus...
An Application of Wavelet-Based Vector Quantization in Target Recognition

An automatic target recognition (ATR) classifier is constructed that uses a set of dedicated vector quantizers (VQs). The background pixels in each input image are properly clipped out by a set of aspect windows. The extracted target area for each aspect window is then enlarged to a fixed size, after which a wavelet decomposition splits the enlarged extraction into several subbands. A dedicated VQ codebook is generated for each subband of a particular target class at a specific range of aspects. Thus, each codebook consists of a set of feature templates that are iteratively adapted to represent a particular subband of a given target class at a specific range of aspects. These templates are then further trained by a modified learning vector quantization (LVQ) algorithm that enhances their discriminatory characteristics.
EXTENDED NEAR-INFRARED EMISSION FROM CANDIDATE PROTOSTARS IN THE TAURUS-AURIGA MOLECULAR CLOUD

We describe near-IR imaging data for a sample of 23 Class I sources in the Taurus-Auriga dark clouds. Combining our data with previous photometry, we detect brightness variations of � 0.1–0.5 mag in many sources. The near-IR morphologies are consistent with millimeter continuum measurements. Most (� 60%) of the sample are true protostars; the rest may be objects in transition between Class I and Class II, T Tauri stars with edge-on disks, or heavily reddened T Tauri stars.
Markov extensions and conditionally invariant measures for certain logistic maps with small holes

We study the family of quadratic maps fa(x) = 1 − ax 2 on the interval (−1,1) with 0 ≤ a ≤ 2. When small holes are introduced into the system, we prove the existence of an absolutely continuous conditionally invariant measure using the method of Markov extensions. The measure has a density which is bounded away from zero and is analogous to the density for the corresponding closed system. These results establish the exponential escape rate of Lebesgue measure from the system, despite the contraction in a neighborhood of the critical point of the map. We also prove convergence of the conditionally invariant measure to the SRB measure for fa as the size of the hole goes to zero.
A new independent limit on the cosmological constant/dark energy from the relativistic bending of light by Galaxies and clusters of Galaxies

We derive new limits on the value of the cosmological constant, $\Lambda$, based on the Einstein bending of light by systems where the lens is a distant galaxy or a cluster of galaxies. We use an amended lens equation in which the contribution of $\Lambda$ to the Einstein deflection angle is taken into account and use observations of Einstein radii around several lens systems. We use in our calculations a Schwarzschild-de Sitter vacuole exactly matched into a Friedmann-Robertson-Walker background and show that a $\Lambda$-contribution term appears in the deflection angle within the lens equation. We find that the contribution of the $\Lambda$-term to the bending angle is larger than the second-order term for many lens systems. Using these observations of bending angles, we derive new limits on the value of $\Lambda$. These limits constitute the best observational upper bound on $\Lambda$ after cosmological constraints and are only two orders of magnitude away from the value determined by those cosmological constraints.
Lecture notes on holographic renormalization

We review the formalism of holographic renormalization. We start by discussing mathematical results on asymptotically anti-de Sitter (AdS) spacetimes. We then outline the general method of holographic renormalization. The method is illustrated by working all details in a simple example: a massive scalar field on anti-de Sitter spacetime. The discussion includes the derivation of the on-shell renormalized action, holographic Ward identities, anomalies and renormalization group (RG) equations, and the computation of renormalized one-, two- and four-point functions. We then discuss the application of the method to holographic RG flows. We also show that the results of the near-boundary analysis of asymptotically AdS spacetimes can be analytically continued to apply to asymptotically de Sitter spacetimes. In particular, it is shown that the Brown–York stress energy tensor of de Sitter spacetime is equal, up to a dimension-dependent sign, to the Brown–York stress energy tensor of an associated AdS spacetime.
FACTORS AFFECTING PARTICIPATION BEHAVIOR OF LIMITED RESOURCE FARMERS IN COST-SHARE PROGRAMS IN ALABAMA

This study examines factors that affect the participation behavior of limited resource farmers in cost-share programs in Alabama. The data was generated from a survey administered to a sample of limited resource farm operators. A binary logit was employed to analyze the data. Results indicate that college education, age, total farm size, as well as membership in conservation association had significant influence on participation.
The evolutionary history of the ‘alba’ polymorphism in the butterfly subfamily Coliadinae (Lepidoptera: Pieridae)

Polymorphisms are common in the natural world and have played an important role in our understanding of how selection maintains multiple phenotypes within extant populations. Studying the evolutionary history of polymorphisms has revealed important features of this widespread form of phenotypic diversity, including its role in speciation, niche breadth, and range size. In the present study, we examined the evolutionary history of a ubiquitous colour polymorphism in the sulphur butterflies (subfamily: Coliadinae) termed the ‘alba’ polymorphism. We investigated the origin and stability of the ‘alba’ polymorphism using ancestral state reconstruction analysis. Our results indicate that the ancestor of the Coliadinae was polymorphic and that this polymorphism has undergone repeated transitions to monomorphism. Repeated loss of polymorphism suggests that the ‘alba’ polymorphism may be relatively unstable over evolutionary time. These results provide a framework for future studies on the origin and maintenance of the ‘alba’ polymorphism and guide the direction of future hypotheses. We discuss these results in light of current understandings of how the ‘alba’ polymorphism is maintained in extant populations.
Diversity order in ISI channels with single-carrier frequency-domain equalizers

This paper analyzes the diversity gain achieved by single-carrier frequency-domain equalizers (SC-FDE) in frequency selective channels, and uncovers the interplay between diversity gain d, channel memory length ?, transmission block length L, and the spectral efficiency R. We specifically show that for the class of minimum mean-square error (MMSE) SCFDE receivers, for rates R ? log L/? full diversity of d = ?+ 1 is achievable, while for higher rates the diversity is given by d = [2-R L + 1. In other words, the achievable diversity gain depends not only on the channel memory length, but also on the desired spectral efficiency and the transmission block length. A similar analysis reveals that for zero forcing SC-FDE, the diversity order is always one irrespective of channel memory length and spectral efficiency. These results are supported by simulations.
Category Positioning and Store Choice: The Role of Destination Categories

We focus on destination categories, so named because they have the greatest impact on where households choose to shop and, more generally, on how category positioning affects which store a household chooses. We propose a reduced-form model-based analytical approach to identify categories that fill the destination role. Our approach determines which categories are most important to shoppers' store choice decisions and helps determine in which categories the retailer provides superior value. In addition, our approach allows us to understand the impact of the retailer's long-run merchandising policy decisions on the value it provides. Previous store choice research considered the effects of pricing, assortment and other merchandising decisions at the store level but did not focus on the effect of specific categories on store choice. This focus leads us to formulate a model that can 1 measure and explain the differential impact that specific categories have on shoppers' store choice decisions and 2 measure the relative value of retailers' category offerings, partitioning that value into the component resulting from retailer merchandising and the component that is nonmerchandising related. The model form captures differences in category value across stores i.e., the store's category positioning by specifying a spatial model for the store choice and category incidence intercepts. Our spatial model recognizes that stores position their offering vis-a-vis the category ideal based on long-run category merchandising decisions and that not all categories have the same importance in store choice decisions. We explore these issues for five retailers in the Charlotte, North Carolina market. We find that 1 category impact on store choice is highly skewed; 2 although categories with higher sales generally have a higher impact on store choice decisions, there are exceptions; 3 impact on store choice decisions does not vary systematically by the type of category e.g., perishable versus dry grocery; and 4 our measure of category impact on store choice, although correlated with the category development index between retailers, is superior in that it provides a basis for comparing category impact within a retailer and how relative category value, based on long-run merchandising decisions, attracts shoppers to a store.
Single-crystal structures, optical absorptions, and electronic distributions of thorium oxychalcogenides ThOQ (Q = S, Se, Te).

The compounds ThOS, ThOSe, and ThOTe have been synthesized, and their structures have been determined by means of single-crystal X-ray diffraction methods. All three compounds adopt the PbFCl structure type in the tetragonal space group D4h7 – P4/nmm. More precise crystallographic data have been obtained for ThOS and ThOSe, which had previously only been known from X-ray powder diffraction data. ThOS, ThOSe, and ThOTe are yellow-, orange-, and black-colored, respectively. From single-crystal optical absorption measurements the band gaps are 2.22, 1.65, and 1.45 eV, respectively. Optical band gaps, ionic charges, and densities of states were calculated for the three compounds with the use of Density Functional methods.
Hodge genera of algebraic varieties, II

We study the behavior of Hodge-genera under algebraic maps. We prove thatthemotivic χ c y -genussatisfiesthe"stratifiedmultiplicativeproperty",whichshows how to compute the invariant of the source of a morphism from its values on varieties arising from the singularities of the map. By considering morphisms to a curve, we obtain a Hodge-theoretic version of the Riemann-Hurwitz formula. We also study the monodromy contributions to the χy-genus of a family of compact complex manifolds, and prove an Atiyah-Meyer type formula in the algebraic and analytic contexts. This formula measures the deviation from multiplicativity of the χy-genus, and expresses the correction terms as higher-genera associated to the period map; these higher-gen- era are Hodge-theoretic extensions of Novikov higher-signatures to analytic and alge- braic settings. Characteristic class formulae of Atiyah-Meyer type are also obtained by making use of Saito's theory of mixed Hodge modules.
Syntheses and Reactions of Optically Active α-Aminoallenylstannanes

Lithiation/stannylation of optically active N-propargyloxazolidinones produced optically active α-oxazolidinonylallenylstannanes. Reaction of these with aldehydes in the presence of BF3·OEt2 produced β-hydroxypropargylamines with high syn diastereoselectivity and ee. These were converted to γ-hydroxy-β-amino acids by oxidative cleavage of the alkyne.
Incorporating Internet resources in biomedical engineering technology and clinical engineering education

The increase in the popularization of Internet resources brings changes and challenges to the traditional approaches in technology education. This paper examines how different Internet services can be used in order to make the students in a biomedical engineering technology program gain experience in the correct use of their resources and gain insight into their future professions. Students are exposed to a variety of situations that have been carefully designed to improve their critical thinking abilities, increase their exposure to different medical equipment and interact with clinical engineering professionals. However, although the Internet is a very powerful resource, its use in engineering education may bring new problems and challenges that need to be thoughtfully considered.
A market-oriented programming environment and its application to distributed multicommodity flow problems

Market price systems constitute a well-understood class of mechanisms that under certain conditions provide effective decentralization of decision making with minimal communication overhead. In a market-oriented programming approach to distributed problem solving, we derive the activities and resource allocations for a set of computational agents by computing the competitive equilibrium of an artificial economy. WALRAS provides basic constructs for defining computational market structures, and protocols for deriving their corresponding price equilibria. In a particular realization of this approach for a form of multicommodity flow problem, we see that careful construction of the decision process according to economic principles can lead to efficient distributed resource allocation, and that the behavior of the system can be meaningfully analyzed in economic terms.
Anomalous transport in discrete arcs and simulation of double layers in a model auroral circuit

The evolution and long-time stability of a double layer (DL) in a discrete auroral arc requires that the parallel current in the arc, which may be considered uniform at the source, be diverted within the arc to charge the flanks of the U-shaped double layer potential structure. A simple model is presented in which this current redistribution is effected by anomalous transport based on electrostatic lower hybrid waves driven by the flank structure itself. This process provides the limiting constraint on the double layer potential. The flank charging may be represented as that of a nonlinear transmission line. A simplified model circuit, in which the transmission line is represented by a nonlinear impedance in parallel with a variable resistor, is incorporated in a one-dimensional simulation model to give the current density at the DL boundaries. Results are presented for the scaling of the DL potential as a function of the width of the arc and the saturation efficiency of the lower hybrid instability mechanism.
Efficient Stark deceleration of cold polar molecules

Stark deceleration has been utilized for slowing and trapping several species of neutral, ground-state polar molecules generated in a supersonic beam expansion. Due to the finite physical dimension of the electrode array and practical limitations of the applicable electric fields, only molecules within a specific range of velocities and positions can be efficiently slowed and trapped. These constraints result in a restricted phase space acceptance of the decelerator in directions both transverse and parallel to the molecular beam axis; hence, careful modeling is required for understanding and achieving efficient Stark decelerator operation. We present work on slowing of the hydroxyl radical (OH) elucidating the physics controlling the evolution of the molecular phase space packets both with experimental results and model calculations. From these results we deduce experimental conditions necessary for efficient operation of a Stark decelerator.
Faster SDP Hierarchy Solvers for Local Rounding Algorithms

Convex relaxations based on different hierarchies of linear/semi-definite programs have been used recently to devise approximation algorithms for various optimization problems. The approximation guarantee of these algorithms improves with the number of {\em rounds} $r$ in the hierarchy, though the complexity of solving (or even writing down the solution for) the $r$'th level program grows as $n^{\Omega(r)}$ where $n$ is the input size. In this work, we observe that many of these algorithms are based on {\em local} rounding procedures that only use a small part of the SDP solution (of size $n^{O(1)} 2^{O(r)}$ instead of $n^{\Omega(r)}$). We give an algorithm to find the requisite portion in time polynomial in its size. The challenge in achieving this is that the required portion of the solution is not fixed a priori but depends on other parts of the solution, sometimes in a complicated iterative manner. Our solver leads to $n^{O(1)} 2^{O(r)}$ time algorithms to obtain the same guarantees in many cases as the earlier $n^{O(r)}$ time algorithms based on $r$ rounds of the Lasserre hierarchy. In particular, guarantees based on $O(\log n)$ rounds can be realized in polynomial time. For instance, one can (i) get $O(1/\lambda_r)$ approximations for graph partitioning problems such as minimum bisection and small set expansion in $n^{O(1)} 2^{O(r)}$ time, where $\lambda_r$ is the $r$'th smallest eigenvalue of the graph's normalized Laplacian, (ii) a similar guarantee in $n^{O(1)} k^{O(r)}$ for Unique Games where $k$ is the number of labels (the polynomial dependence on $k$ is new), and (iii) find an independent set of size $\Omega(n)$ in $3$-colorable graphs in $(n 2^r)^{O(1)}$ time provided $\lambda_{n-r}