cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
A 0-dB IL 2140/spl plusmn/30 MHz bandpass filter utilizing Q-enhanced spiral inductors in standard CMOS

A 3-pole Chebyshev bandpass filter, that employs on-chip passive elements with Q-enhancement technique, achieves an insertion loss of 0 dB and a passband of 60 MHz around a center frequency of 2140 MHz. The Q-enhancement technique is based on coupled-inductor negative resistance generator. In contrast to conventional negative resistance generator, this technique compensates resonator loss without introducing distortion in the filter response in the passband. Fabricated in a 0.25-/spl mu/m CMOS, the filter consumes 7 mA from a 2.5-V supply. The filter occupies an area of 1.3 mm/spl times/2.7 mm.
Comparison of Iodination of Methoxylated Benzaldehydes and Related Compounds using Iodine/Silver Nitrate and Iodine/Periodic Acid

Iodination of the three methoxybenzaldehydes, four dimethoxybenzaldehydes, vanillin, and piperonal by two methods were compared. Iodine and periodic acid gave better yields for iodination for the methoxybenzaldehydes, whereas iodine and silver nitrate generally gave better yields for the rest of the compounds.
CEO Ideology as an Element of the Corporate Opportunity Structure for Social Activists

In an effort to comprehend activism toward corporations, scholars have proposed the concept of corporate opportunity structure, or the attributes of individual firms that make them more (or less) attractive as activist targets. We theorize that the personal values of the firm's elite decision makers constitute a key element of this corporate opportunity structure. We specifically consider the political ideology--conservatism versus liberalism--of the company's CEO as a signal for employees who are considering the merits of engaging in activism. To test of our theory, we examine the formation of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender employee groups in major companies in the period 1985-2004, when the formation of such groups was generally perceived to be risky for participants. Using CEOs' records of political donations to measure their personal ideologies, we find strong evidence that the political liberalism of CEOs influences the likelihood of activism. We also find that CEOs' ideologies influence activism more strongly when CEOs are more powerful, when they oversee more conservative (i.e., less liberal) workplaces, and when the social movement is in the early phase of development. We identify theoretical and practical implications, as well as future research opportunities
Strategic use of pinacol-terminated Prins cyclizations in target-oriented total synthesis.

An important objective of contemporary synthesis endeavors is the development of new transformations that rapidly evolve molecular complexity in a stereocontrolled fashion. One approach toward this goal is to combine two or more distinct reactions into a single transformation, producing a process often referred to as a sequential, tandem, cascade, or domino reaction. In this Perspective, we discuss the development of one such tandem reaction, the acid-promoted (or catalyzed) Prins−pinacol rearrangement, with particular emphasis on its implementation as the key strategic element in the total synthesis of heterocyclic and carbocyclic natural products.
The Pre-Internet Downloading Controversy: The Evolution of Use Rights for Digital Intellectual and Cultural Works

This article describes and explains the shift in the database industry's treatment of downloading. Downloading began as an unwanted by-product of new technology and became a product feature. The authors explain this shift in terms of shifts in “use-regimes,” or changes to market practices, legal rules, user expectations, and technology-based tools that shape the use of intellectual and cultural property. In the early 1980s, citation database users did not have the right to “download,” or save, citations from bibliographic databases, but by the early 1990s, citation database publishers had partnered with bibliographic citation software developers (e.g., ProCite) to make easy downloading of citations a product feature. In this article, the authors tell both the lost story of the pre-Internet downloading controversy and how and why the meaning of downloading changed over a twenty-year period. In doing so, they present a theoretical framework that is useful for analyzing changes in use rights for a variety of types of intellectual and cultural goods. Finally, the authors compare lessons from this historical case study to contemporary use right debates in the intellectual and cultural property literature.
Numerical studies of transonic BZT gas flows around thin airfoils

Numerical studies of two-dimensional, transonic flows of dense gases of retrograde type, known as BZT gases, around thin airfoils are presented. The computations are guided by a recent asymptotic theory of Rusak & Wang (1997). It provides a uniformly valid solution of the flow around the entire airfoil surface which is composed of outer and inner solutions. A new transonic small-disturbance (TSD) equation solver is developed to compute the nonlinear BZT gas flow in the outer region around most of the airfoil. The flow in the inner region near the nose of the airfoil is computed by solving the problem of a sonic flow around a parabola. Numerical results of the composite solutions calculated from the asymptotic formula are compared with the solutions of the Euler equations. The comparison demonstrates that, in the leading order, the TSD solutions of BZT gas flows represent the essence of the flow character around the airfoil as computed from the Euler equations. Furthermore, guided by the asymptotic formula, the computational results demonstrate the similarity rules for transonic flows of BZT gases. There are differences between the self-similar cases that may be related to the error associated with the accuracy of the asymptotic solution. A discussion on the flow patterns around an airfoil at transonic speeds and at various upstream thermodynamic conditions is also presented. The paper provides important guidelines for future studies on this subject.
Genetic variability and correlation studies in ‘egusi’ melon [ Citrullus lanatus (Thunb.) Matsum. & Nakai]

Genetic variability and correlation analysis were studied in 20 accessions of ‘egusi’ melon during two growing seasons. The genotypic correlation coefficients with seed yield were partitioned into direct and indirect effect causes. Heritability in the broad sense ranged from 17% for fruit circumference to 90% for days to germination and flowering in the early season, while in the late season, heritability ranged from 7% for seed weight per fruit to 88% for days to germination. High phenotypic and genotypic coefficients of variation were recorded for seed yield while days to maturity had the lowest in both seasons. Fruit circumference and fruit weight had significant genotypic and phenotypic correlation with seed yield in the early season, while number of branches per plant, vine length per plant, number of fruits per plant and fruit circumference per plant showed significant genotypic and phenotypic correlation with seed yield in the late season. Environmental correlation coefficients were significant bet...
Study of singular radius and surface boundary constraints in refractive beam shaper design

This paper presents analysis of important issues associated with the design of refractive laser beam shaping systems. The concept of “singular radius” is introduced along with solutions to minimize its adverse effect on shaper performance. In addition, the surface boundary constraint is discussed in detail. This study provides useful guidelines to circumvent possible design errors that would degrade the shaper quality or add undesired complication to the system.
Robust Combining of Disparate Classifiers through Order Statistics

Integrating the outputs of multiple classifiers via combiners or meta-learners has led to substantial improvements in several difficult pattern recognition problems. In this article, we investigate a family of combiners based on order statistics, for robust handling of situations where there are large discrepancies in performance of individual classifiers. Based on a mathematical modelling of how the decision boundaries are affected by order statistic combiners, we derive expressions for the reductions in error expected when simple output combination methods based on the median, the maximum and in general, the ith order statistic, are used. Furthermore, we analyse the trim and spread combiners, both based on linear combinations of the ordered classifier outputs, and show that in the presence of uneven classifier performance, they often provide substantial gains over both linear and simple order statistics combiners. Experimental results on both real world data and standard public domain data sets corroborate these findings.
Premixed flame kinematics in a longitudinal acoustic field

response to velocity perturbations. The transfer function relating e ame area e uctuations to acoustic velocity perturbations is calculated numerically and compared with analytical, one-dimensional results. In addition to the Strouhal number, these more general results depend upon the temperature ratio across the e ame, the diameter ratio of the rapid expansion, and the ratio of e ame length to duct diameter. It is shown that the e ame transfer function is qualitatively similar in many cases, however, and that the Strouhal number remains the dominant parameter affecting the calculated transfer function. Analysis reveals that thedifferencesbetween the two calculations arise from gas compressibility in the e ame region and spatial nonuniformity (not two-dimensionality) in the acoustic velocity along the e ame front. These results clarify the reasons behind the rather unexpected agreement between the simplie ed one-dimensional theory and the measurements of Ducruix et al. (Ducruix, S., Durox, D., and Candel, S., “ Theoretical and Experimental Determinations of the Transfer Function of a Laminar Premixed Flame,” Proceedings of the Combustion Institute , Vol. 28, 2000).
Responsive security for stored data

We present the design of a distributed store that offers various levels of security guarantees while tolerating a limited number of nodes that are compromised by an adversary. The store uses secret sharing schemes to offer security guarantees namely availability, confidentiality and integrity. However, a pure secret sharing scheme could suffer from performance problems and high access costs. We integrate secret sharing with replication for better performance and to keep access costs low. The tradeoffs involved between availability and access cost on one hand and confidentiality and integrity on the other are analyzed. Our system differs from traditional approaches such as state machine or quorum based replication that have been developed to tolerate Byzantine failures. Unlike such systems, we augment replication with secret sharing and demonstrate that such a hybrid scheme offers additional flexibility that is not possible with replication alone.
Perceived Versus Actual Susceptibility to Normative Influence in the Presence of Defaulting Landlords

Using an instant response device within the context of a controlled experiment, we find that people’s self‐assessment of susceptibility to normative influence (SNI) differs substantially from the actual, or true, degree to which they are influenced by the actions of others. Actual SNI, a subconscious reaction to the behavior of those around us, can be altered when participants (falsely) believe their peers differ in their willingness to sign a new lease under various rental reduction incentives when their landlord has defaulted on his mortgage. The results are insensitive to eight alternative measures of actual SNI. This study supports the behavioral finance literature relating to herding in that we show people are very much willing to follow the lead of their peers, even in situations where information gain is not the likely derived benefit. Instead, people appear to herd in our study for social reasons.
On the Capacity of the Finite Field Counterparts of Wireless Interference Networks

This paper explores how degrees of freedom (DoF) results from wireless networks can be translated into capacity or linear capacity results for their finite field counterparts that arise in network coding applications. The main insight is that scalar (SISO) finite field channels over \(\mathbb {F}_{\!p^n}\) are analogous to \(n\times n\) vector (MIMO) channels in the wireless setting, but with an important distinction—there is additional structure due to finite field arithmetic, which enforces commutativity of matrix multiplication and limits the channel diversity to \(n\) , making these channels similar to diagonal channels in the wireless setting. Within the limits imposed by the channel structure, the DoF optimal precoding solutions for wireless networks can be translated into capacity or linear capacity optimal solutions for their finite field counterparts. This is shown through the study of capacity of the 2-user X channel and linear capacity of the 3-user interference channel. Besides bringing the insights from wireless networks into network coding applications, the study of finite field networks over \(\mathbb {F}_{\!p^n}\) also touches upon important open problems in wireless networks (finite SNR, finite diversity scenarios) through interesting parallels between \(p\) and SNR, and \(n\) and diversity.
Algorithms for singularly perturbed limiting average Markov control problems

A singularly perturbed Markov decision process with the limiting average reward criterion is considered. It is assumed that the underlying process is composed of n separate irreducible processes, and that the small perturbation is such that it unites these processes into a single irreducible process. Two algorithms for the solution of the underlying limit Markov control problem are presented. The first of these is a linear program possessing the Wolfe-Dantzig structure inherited from the ergodic 'nearly decomposable' assumption in the model. The second is an aggregation-disaggregation policy improvement algorithm. >
Evaluating methods to rediscover missing web pages from the web infrastructure

Missing web pages (pages that return the 404 "Page Not Found error) are part of the browsing experience. The manual use of search engines to rediscover missing pages can be frustrating and unsuccessful. We compare four automated methods for rediscovering web pages. We extract the page's title, generate the page's lexical signature (LS), obtain the page's tags from the bookmarking website delicious.com and generate a LS from the page's link neighborhood. We use the output of all methods to query Internet search engines and analyze their retrieval performance. Our results show that both LSs and titles perform fairly well with over 60% URIs returned top ranked from Yahoo!. However, the combination of methods improves the retrieval performance. Considering the complexity of the LS generation, querying the title first and in case of insufficient results querying the LSs second is the preferable setup. This combination accounts for more than 75% top ranked URIs.
Ground Data System Architecture for Precipitation Determination from Space-Based Radar

The Tropical Rain Mapping Radar (Tramar) is proposed as an attached payload as part of the Space Station Earth Observing System Program. Tramar would measure rainfall rates, rain velocity, and rain cell areal extent in the latitude band from 30 deg S to 30 deg N for use in studies of large-scale atmospheric circulation, variations of latent heating, tropical hydrologic processes, and mesoscale precipitation systems. The Tramar science requirements, radar design, and ground data system architecture are examined, including the three-dimensional scan geometry, the radar system performance parameters, the production of earth-gridded maps, and the telemetry, sensor, radiometric, and geophysical data that would be obtained by Tramar.
Fluorescent Amino Acids: Modular Building Blocks for the Assembly of New Tools for Chemical Biology

Fluorescence spectroscopy is a powerful tool for probing complex biological processes. The ubiquity of peptide-protein and protein-protein interactions in these processes has made them important targets for fluorescence labeling, and to allow sensitive readout of information concerning location, interactions with other biomolecules, and macromolecular dynamics. This review describes recent advances in design, properties and applications in the area of fluorescent amino acids (FlAAs). The ability to site-selectively incorporate fluorescent amino acid building blocks into a protein or peptide of interest provides the advantage of closely retaining native function and appearance. The development of an array of fluorescent amino acids with a variety of properties, such as environment sensitivity, chelation-enhanced fluorescence, and profluorescence, has allowed researchers to gain insights into biological processes, including protein conformational changes, binding events, enzyme activities, and protein trafficking and localization.
Mutual Information Jammer-Relay Games

We consider a two-person zero-sum mutual information game between one jammer (J) and one relay (Rfr) in both nonfading and fading scenarios. Assuming that the source (S) and the destination (D) are unaware of the game, we derive optimal pure or mixed strategies for J and Rfr depending on the link qualities and whether the players are active during the SrarrD channel training. In nonfading scenarios, when both J and Rfr have full knowledge of the source signal, linear jamming (LJ) and linear relaying (LR) are shown optimal in the sense of achieving Nash equilibrium. When the SrarrJ and SrarrRfr links are noisy, LJ strategies (pure or mixed) are still optimal under LR. In this case, instead of always transmitting with full power as when the SrarrRfr link is perfect, Rfr should adjust the transmit power according to its power constraint and the reliability of the source signal it receives. Furthermore, in fading scenarios, it is optimal for J to jam only with Gaussian noise if it cannot determine the phase difference between its signal and the source signal. When LR is considered with fading, Rfr should forward with full power when the SrarrRfr link is better than the jammed SrarrD link, and defer forwarding otherwise. Optimal parameters are derived based on exact Nash equilibrium solutions or upper and lower bounds when a closed-form solution cannot be found.
Optimising trade-offs among stakeholders in ad auctions

We examine trade-offs among stakeholders in ad auctions. Our metrics are the revenue for the utility of the auctioneer, the number of clicks for the utility of the users and the welfare for the utility of the advertisers. We show how to optimize linear combinations of the stakeholder utilities, showing that these can be tackled through a GSP auction with a per-click reserve price. We then examine constrained optimization of stakeholder utilities. We use simulations and analysis of real-world sponsored search auction data to demonstrate the feasible trade-offs, examining the effect of changing the allowed number of ads on the utilities of the stakeholders. We investigate both short term effects, when the players do not have the time to modify their behavior, and long term equilibrium conditions. Finally, we examine a combinatorially richer constrained optimization problem, where there are several possible allowed configurations (templates) of ad formats. This model captures richer ad formats, which allow using the available screen real estate in various ways. We show that two natural generalizations of the GSP auction rules to this domain are poorly behaved, resulting in not having a symmetric Nash equilibrium or having one with poor welfare. We also provide positive results for restricted cases.
Synthetic Strategies for Dehydrobenzo[n]annulenes

Dehydrobenzoannulenes have accrued great interest due to their potential uses such as hosts for binding guest molecules and precursors to fullerenes and other carbon-rich materials, as well as their unique properties such as conductivity or superconductivity and nonlinear optical effects. These systems have seen numerous synthetic strategies employed in their construction over the past 50 years. As alkyne chemistry has developed more recently, annulene networks with greater complexity have been possible and the field has seen a vast resurgence. This article gives an account of synthetic methods developed for the preparation of annulenic systems and describes some of the interesting observed properties. (© Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, 69451 Weinheim, Germany, 2003)
Generalized analysis of soft-switching DC-DC converters

In this paper, based on the switching-cell approach, a generalized steady state analysis for families of soft-switching DC-to-DC power converters is presented. Complete generalized design equations are also given. The concept of generalization and a step by step procedure for the generalized process are discussed and applied to selected soft-switching families such as ZVS-QRC, ZCS-QRC, QSW-CC, QSW-CV, ZCT-PWM and ZVT-PWM. Also, it has been noted that all the analyzed families have one generalized transformation table. The basic generalized equations are summarized and a cell-to-cell comparison introduced. It is shown that the generalized analysis leads to several advantages.
Plume Characterization of an Ion Focusing Hall Thruster

The T-220HT is a 10-kW class Hall effect thruster developed as the primary propulsion system for satellites. In-channel electrodes and additional magnetic coils are added to study ion focusing to decrease energy losses from ion-wall neutralization and plume divergence in order to increase the thrust-to-power ratio. In this study, electrically-biased graphite electrode rings are embedded in the discharge channel walls to repel radial ions. The thruster is tested from 125-300 V at 9 A discharge, with the electrodes either floating, biased to 10 V or 30 V. The mass flow rate was varied from 9.8-10.4 mg/s to maintain constant current. Maximum chamber pressure was 1.5e-5 Torr-Xe. Performance measurements on xenon show a maximum increase in thrust-to-power ratio of 4.84 mN/kW, 15.3 mN thrust, 206 s Isp, and 8% anode efficiency. The plume ion current density, ion energy distribution function, and plasma potential is characterized and indicates a collimation of the ion beam and a increase in ion number density without an increase in propellant neutrals, which results in an increase in mass utilization. The different electrode currents and ion energy distribution functions at 10 V compared to 30 V electrodes leads to the idea of different modes of operation with different electrode biases.
Object-oriented programming via Fortran 90/95

There is a widely available object oriented (OO) programming language that is usually overlooked in the OO analysis, OO design, OO programming literature. It was designed with most of the features of languages like C++, Eiffel, and Smalltalk. It has extensive and efficient numerical abilities including concise array and matrix handling, like Matlab®. In addition, it is readily extended to massively parallel machines and is backed by an international ISO and ANSI standard. The language is Fortran 90 (and Fortran 95). When the explosion of books and articles on OOP began appearing in the early 1990s many of them correctly disparaged Fortran 77 (F77) for its lack of object oriented abilities and data structures. However, then and now many authors fail to realize that the then new Fortran 90 (F90) standard established a well‐planned object oriented programming language while maintaining a full backward compatibility with the old F77 standard. F90 offers strong typing, encapsulation, inheritance, multiple inheritance, polymorphism, and other features important to object oriented programming. This paper will illustrate several of these features that are important to engineering computation using OOP.
Quadratically Constrained Quadratic Programs on Acyclic Graphs With Application to Power Flow

This paper proves that nonconvex quadratically constrained quadratic programs can be solved in polynomial time when their underlying graph is acyclic, provided the constraints satisfy a certain technical condition. We demonstrate this theory on optimal power-flow problems over tree networks.
All School Finance Equalizations are Not Created Equal

School finance equalization has probably affected American schools more than any other reform of the last 30 years. Understanding it is a prerequisite for making optimal social investments in human capital. Yet, it is poorly understood. In this paper I explain why: it differs from conventional redistribution because it is based on property values, which are endogenous to schools' productivity, taste for education, and the school finance system itself. I characterize equalization schemes and show why some "level down" and others "level up." Schemes that strongly level down have unintended consequences: even poor districts can end up worse off. I also show how school finance equalization affects property prices, private school attendance, and student achievement.
Regime switching for dynamic correlations

We propose a new model for the variance between multiple time series, the regime switching dynamic correlation. We decompose the covariances into correlations and standard deviations and the correlation matrix follows a regime switching model; it is constant within a regime but different across regimes. The transitions between the regimes are governed by a Markov chain. This model does not suffer from a curse of dimensionality and it allows analytic computation of multi-step ahead conditional expectations of the variance matrix when combined with the ARMACH model (Taylor (Modelling Financial Time Series. Wiley, New York) and Schwert (J. Finance 44(5) (1989) 1115)) for the standard deviations. We also present an empirical application which illustrates that our model can have a better fit of the data than the dynamic conditional correlation model proposed by Engle (J. Business Econ. Statist. 20(3) (2002) 339).
The Utility of Production Trajectory Modeling as a Framework for Regional Analysis

Lithic assemblage from seven regions in Mississippi are analysed using flake and biface classifications designed to measure activity at different stages in the production trajectory. All seven industries are based on gravel resources with restricted geological distribution. The factors responsible for differences in biface production strategy are examined. These include differences in access and settlement strategy.
The statistics of string/M theory vacua

We discuss systematic approaches to the classification of string/M theory vacua, and physical questions this might help us resolve. To this end, we initiate the study of ensembles of effective Lagrangians, which can be used to precisely study the predictive power of string theory, and in simple examples can lead to universality results. Using these ideas, we outline an approach to estimating the number of vacua of string/M theory which can realize the Standard Model.
Effects of SWL on Glomerular Filtration Rate and Renal Plasma Flow in Uninephrectomized Minipigs

This study tested the hypothesis that the effects of SWL on hemodynamics in solitary kidneys differ from those in kidneys of binephric animals. Five female miniature pigs (Pitman-Moore, 6 months of age, 30-35 kg) were anesthetized for unilateral nephrectomy. Seven pigs served as binephric controls. Two weeks later, each pig was anesthetized, prepared for unilateral or bilateral urine collections, and subjected to SWL (Dornier HM3, 2000 shocks, 24 kV). Clearances of inulin (glomerular filtration rate; GFR) and para-aminohippurate (renal plasma flow; RPF) were measured 1 hour prior to and 1, 4, and 24 hours after SWL. The GFR and RPF were higher in uninephrectomized than in intact pigs at all time points. In both groups, SWL reduced GFR and RPF. In the binephric pigs, RPF was reduced at all times post-SWL, but in the uninephrectomized pigs, RPF was returning toward baseline by 4 hours post-SWL and was not different from baseline at 24 hours. A comparison of whole-animal GFR and RPF (righ plus left clearances in binephric pigs v solitary renal clearances in uninephrectomized pigs) showed that whole-animal GFR and RPF did not differ between the groups before or after SWL. Compensatory renal hypertrophy and improved hemodynamics in solitary kidneys may acutely attenuate the renal vasoconstrictive effect of SWL. The long-term consequences of the compensatory changes are unknown.
Influence of the Tropics on the Southern Annular Mode

AbstractPerturbations in the southern annular mode (SAM) are shown to be significantly correlated with SST anomalies in the central tropical Pacific during austral winter and SST anomalies in the eastern tropical Pacific during austral summer. The SAM signature in the Pacific sector resembles a tropically forced Rossby wave train, the so-called Pacific–South American pattern, while the signature in the Indian Ocean sector is a zonally elongated meridional dipole. Thus, the SAM contains strong zonally asymmetric variability and tends to behave differently in the Eastern and Western Hemispheres, with internal dynamics prevailing in the Indian Ocean sector and the forced response to tropical SST anomalies exerting a strong influence in the Pacific sector. The tropically forced component of the SAM in the Pacific sector is related to a geographically fixed active Rossby wave source to the east of Australia within the core of the subtropical jet. In addition to the well-documented positive trend in summer, the...
A sequential electrochemical Oxidation - olefin metathesis strategy for the construction of bicyclic lactam based peptidomimetics

Abstract A sequential electrochemical amide oxidation - ring closing olefin metathesis sequence has been used to overcome problems associated with the synthesis of seven-membered ring lactam containing bicyclic peptidomimetics. The synthesis of several previously unavailable bicyclic lactam building blocks for constructing constrained thyroliberin analogs is described.
Direct Experimental Impulse Measurements for Detonations and Deflagrations

Direct impulse measurements were carried out by using a ballistic pendulum arrangement for detonations and deflagrations in a tube closed at one end. Three tubes of different lengths and inner diameters were tested with stoichiometric propane– and ethylene–oxygen–nitrogen mixtures. Results were obtained as a function of initial pressure and percent diluent. The experimental results were compared to predictions from an analytical model and generally agreed to within 15% (Wintenberger, E., Austin, J., Cooper, M., Jackson, S., and Shepherd, J. E., “Analytical Model for the Impulse of a Single-Cycle Pulse Detonation Engine, AIAA Paper 2001–3811, July 2001). The effect of internal obstacles on the transition from deflagration to detonation was studied. Three different extensions were tested to investigate the effect of exit conditions on the ballistic impulse for stoichiometric ethylene–oxygen–nitrogen mixtures as a function of initial pressure and percent diluent.
Super-Earths: a new class of planetary bodies

Super-Earths, a class of planetary bodies with masses ranging from a few Earth-masses to slightly smaller than Uranus, have recently found a special place in exoplanetary science. Being slightly larger than a typical terrestrial planet, super-Earths may have physical and dynamical characteristics similar to those of Earth whereas unlike terrestrial planets, they are relatively easier to detect. Because of their sizes, super-Earths can maintain moderate atmospheres and possibly dynamic interiors with plate tectonics. They also seem to be more common around low-mass stars where the habitable zone is in closer distances. This article presents a review of the current state of research on super-Earths, and discusses the models of the formation, dynamical evolution, and possible habitability of these objects. Given the recent advances in detection techniques, the detectability of super-Earths is also discussed, and a review of the prospects of their detection in the habitable zones of low-mass stars is presented.
Enabling long-term oceanographic research: Changing data practices, information management strategies and informatics

Interdisciplinary global ocean science requires new ways of thinking about data and data management. With new data policies and growing technological capabilities, datasets of increasing variety and complexity are being made available digitally and data management is coming to be recognized as an integral part of scientific research. To meet the changing expectations of scientists collecting data and of data reuse by others, collaborative strategies involving diverse teams of information professionals are developing. These changes are stimulating the growth of information infrastructures that support multi-scale sampling, data repositories, and data integration. Two examples of oceanographic projects incorporating data management in partnership with science programs are discussed: the Palmer Station Long-Term Ecological Research program (Palmer LTER) and the United States Joint Global Ocean Flux Study (US JGOFS). Lessons learned from a decade of data management within these communities provide an experience base from which to develop information management strategies—short-term and long-term. Ocean Informatics provides one example of a conceptual framework for managing the complexities inherent to sharing oceanographic data. Elements are introduced that address the economies-of-scale and the complexities-of-scale pertinent to a broader vision of information management and scientific research.
Investigation of the part-load performance of two 1. 12 MW regenerative marine gas turbines

Regenerative and intercooled-regenerative gas turbine engines with low pressure ratio have significant efficiency advantages over traditional aero-derivative engines of higher pressure ratios, and can compete with modern diesel engines for marine propulsion. Their performance is extremely sensitive to thermodynamic-cycle parameter choices and the type of components. The performance of two 1.12 MW (1,500 hp) regenerative gas turbines are predicted with computer simulations. One engine has a single-shaft configuration, and the other has a gas-generator/power-turbine combination. The latter arrangement is essential for wide off-design operating regime. The performance of each engine driving fixed-pitch and controllable-pitch propellers, or an AC electric bus (for electric-motor-driven propellers) is investigated. For commercial applications the controllable-pitch propeller may have efficiency advantages (depending on engine type and shaft arrangements). For military applications the electric drive provides better operational flexibility.
A Sequential Monte Carlo Method for Motif Discovery

We propose a sequential Monte Carlo (SMC)-based motif discovery algorithm that can efficiently detect motifs in datasets containing a large number of sequences. The statistical distribution of the motifs is modeled by an underlying position weight matrix (PWM), and both the PWM and the positions of the motifs within the sequences are estimated by the SMC algorithm. The proposed SMC motif discovery technique can locate motifs under a number of scenarios, including the single-block model, two-block model with unknown gap length, motifs of unknown lengths, motifs with unknown abundance, and sequences with multiple unique motifs. The accuracy of the SMC motif discovery algorithm is shown to be superior to that of the existing methods based on MCMC or EM algorithms. Furthermore, it is shown that the proposed method can be used to improve the results of existing motif discovery algorithms by using their results as the priors for the SMC algorithm.
A streamline approach for history-matching production data

This study proposes and develops a streamline approach for inferring field-scale effective permeability distributions based on dynamic production data including producer water-cut curve, well pressures, and rates. The streamline-based inverse approach simplifies the history-matching process significantly. The basic idea is to relate the water-cut curve at a producer to the water breakthrough of individual streamlines. By adjusting the effective permeability along streamlines, the breakthrough time of each streamline is found that reproduces the reference producer fractional-flow curve. Then the permeability modification along each streamline is mapped onto cells of the simulation grid. Modifying effective permeability at the streamline level greatly reduces the size of the inverse problem compared to modifications at the grid-block level. The approach outlined here is relatively direct and rapid. Limitations include that the forward flow problem must be solvable with streamlines, streamline locations do not evolve radically during displacement, no new wells are included, and relatively noise-free production data is available. It works well for reservoirs where heterogeneity determines flow patterns. Example cases illustrate computational efficiency, generality, and robustness of the proposed procedure. Advantages and limitations of this work, and the scope of future study, are also discussed.
A fresh look at the reliability of long-term digital storage

Emerging Web services, such as email, photo sharing, and web site archives, must preserve large volumes of quickly accessible data indefinitely into the future. The costs of doing so often determine whether the service is economically viable. We make the case that these applications' demands on large scale storage systems over long time horizons require us to reevaluate traditional system designs. We examine threats to long-lived data from an end-to-end perspective, taking into account not just hardware and software faults but also faults due to humans and organizations. We present a simple model of long-term storage failures that helps us reason about various strategies for addressing some of these threats. Using this model we show that the most important strategies for increasing the reliability of long-term storage are detecting latent faults quickly, automating fault repair to make it cheaper and faster, and increasing the independence of data replicas.
Robust estimation of resource consumption for SQL queries using statistical techniques

The ability to estimate resource consumption of SQL queries is crucial for a number of tasks in a database system such as admission control, query scheduling and costing during query optimization. Recent work has explored the use of statistical techniques for resource estimation in place of the manually constructed cost models used in query optimization. Such techniques, which require as training data examples of resource usage in queries, offer the promise of superior estimation accuracy since they can account for factors such as hardware characteristics of the system or bias in cardinality estimates. However, the proposed approaches lack robustness in that they do not generalize well to queries that are different from the training examples, resulting in significant estimation errors. Our approach aims to address this problem by combining knowledge of database query processing with statistical models. We model resource-usage at the level of individual operators, with different models and features for each operator type, and explicitly model the asymptotic behavior of each operator. This results in significantly better estimation accuracy and the ability to estimate resource usage of arbitrary plans, even when they are very different from the training instances. We validate our approach using various large scale real-life and benchmark workloads on Microsoft SQL Server.
Diastereo- and Enantioselective Synthesis of Nitroso Diels−Alder-Type Bicycloketones Using Dienamine: Mechanistic Insight into Sequential Nitroso Aldol/Michael Reaction and Application for Optically Pure 1-Amino-3,4-diol Synthesis

This article presents complete diastereo- and highly enantioselective synthesis of nitroso Diels−Alder-type bicycloketones using dienamine. With the hydrogen bonding of two hydroxyls in the bulky binaphthol 1c, high enantioselectivities and complete diastereoselectivity are realized in 2-oxa-3-aza-bicycloketone synthesis. On the other hand, α,β-unsaturated ketone can be employed as diene precursor, utilizing readily available tetrazole catalyst 3b, to provide the 3-oxa-2-aza-bicycloketones in moderate yields with complete enantioselectivities. Investigation into the reaction utilizing 2-morpholino-4,4-diphenylcyclohexadiene 2d clearly indicated that cyclization with the bulky binaphthol 1c is involved in the sequential process, the N-nitroso aldol reaction, followed by Michael addition. In addition, optically pure 1-amino-3,4-diol is synthesized from 2-oxa-3-aza-bicycloketones. Use of p-phenoxynitrosobenzene allows access to protected amino diol via cleavage of the N−Ph bond.
Pre-IPO Operational and Financial Decisions

Many owners of growing privately held firms make operational and financial decisions in an effort to maximize the expected present value of the proceeds from an initial public offering (IPO). We ask: "What is the right time to make an IPO?" and "How should operational and financial decisions be coordinated to increase the likelihood of a successful IPO?" Financial and operational decisions in this problem are linked because adequate financial capital is crucial for operational decisions to be feasible and operational decisions affect the firm's access to financial resources. The IPO event is treated as a stopping time in an infinite-horizon discounted Markov decision process. Unlike traditional stopping-time models, at every stage the model includes other decisions such as production, sales, and loan size. The results include (1) characterization of an optimal capacity-expansion policy, (2) sufficient conditions for a monotone threshold rule to yield an optimal IPO decision, and (3) algorithmic implications of results in (1) and (2).
On the impact of on-chip inductance on signal nets under the influence of power grid noise

It has been well recognized that the impact of on-chip inductance on some critical nets, such as clock nets, is significant and cannot be ignored in delay modeling for these nets. However, the impact of on-chip inductance on signal nets in general is still not well understood. We present results of analyzing inductive effects on signal nets for ultradeep submicron technologies under the influence of power grid noise. The analysis is based on an Al-based 0.18-/spl mu/m CMOS process and a Cu-based 0.13-/spl mu/m CMOS process. The impact of on-chip inductance is shown to be insignificant if we assume a perfect power supply network around the interconnect routes. Otherwise, the impact of on-chip inductance can be significant. Furthermore, the results presented in this paper illustrate the impact of on-chip inductance one would expect from transitioning from an Al-based interconnect technology to a Cu-based interconnect technology. A heuristic method is proposed in the paper to account for the inductive coupling due to power grid noise in signal delay modeling and simulations.
Hybrid inflation from supergravity D terms

Abstract We argue that the mass of the inflaton can be much smaller than the Hubble constant in supergravity models in which inflation is driven by D-terms and not F-terms. We investigate a supergravity toy model which leads to hybrid inflation due to an anomalous D-term. We show that the slow-roll condition can be satisfied and the correct magnitude for density perturbations can be obtained for some choice of model parameters. The kind of model considered can naturally arise in some string derived supergravity models.
A Bandwidth Compressive Modulation System Using Multi-Amplitude Minimum Shift Keying (MAMSK)

A bandwidth compressive modem making use of multiamplitude minimum shift keying (MAMSK) has been designed and implemented in a laboratory environment at microwave frequencies. This system achieves a substantial bandwidth reduction over binary PSK and operates within 0.5 dB of theoretical performance. A number of easily implemented microwave transmitters have been designed to generate the required set of 16 signals. The receiver has been designed to work at 1 Mbit/s and contains the necessary phase tracking, AGC, and symbol synchronization loops as well as a lock detector, SNR estimator and provisions for differential decoding. This paper describes this entire system and presents the experimental results.
Public and Elite Policy Preferences: Gay Marriage in Canada

This paper explores the role of parties, interest groups and public opinion in the enactment of ‘controversial’ social policy particularly when the issue is salient with political elites, but not salient with the public. The author analyses party documents, interest group testimony, media statements and public opinion data. He finds that political elites in Canada facilitated the legalisation of gay marriage while anti-gay marriage politicians and interest groups were unable to reframe gay marriage so as to benefit their cause. While political elites engaged in an ongoing discourse, Canadians remained divided on same-sex marriage but also uninterested in the issue. This paper also discusses the key differences surrounding the legalization of same-sex marriage between the United States and Canada.
The stable regularity lemma revisited

We prove a regularity lemma with respect to arbitrary Keisler measures μ on V , ν on W where the bipartite graph (V,W,R) is definable in a saturated structure M and the formula R(x, y) is stable. The proof is rather quick, making use of local stability theory. The special case where (V,W,R) is pseudofinite, μ, ν are the counting measures, and M is suitably chosen (for example a nonstandard model of set theory), yields the stable regularity theorem of [3], though without explicit bounds or equitability.
Oxidative reactions of tetrahydrobenzimidazole derivatives with N-sulfonyloxaziridines

An investigation of the utility of N-sulfonyloxaziridines to effect the oxidative rearrangement of tetrahydrobenzimidazoles to spiro fused 5-imidazolones is reported. In addition to the anticipated rearrangement manifold, it was found that 2-amino substituted derivatives afford products resulting from rearrangement, or alternatively from addition of methanol or water depending on the nature of the N-substituents and reaction conditions.
Determinants of Levered Portfolio Performance

The cumulative return to a levered strategy is determined by five elements that fit together in a simple and useful formula. A previously undocumented element is the covariance between leverage and excess return to the fully invested source portfolio underlying the strategy. In an empirical study of volatility-targeting strategies over the 84-year period 1929–2013, this covariance accounted for a reduction in return that substantially diminished the Sharpe ratio in all cases.
Synthetic Herbivore-Induced Plant Volatiles as Field Attractants for Beneficial Insects

Abstract Evidence for field attraction by beneficial insects to synthetic herbivore-induced plant volatiles (HIPVs) is presented. Three synthetic HIPVs (methyl salicylate, (Z)-3-hexenyl acetate, (E)-4,8-dimethyl-1,3,7-nonatriene) were evaluated in a Washington state hop yard during April–October 2002 for attractiveness to beneficial insects. The predatory mirid, Deraeocoris brevis (Uhler), and the anthocorid, Orius tristicolor (White), were attracted to sticky cards baited with (E)-3-hexenyl acetate, while the geocorid, Geocoris pallens Stal., and hover flies (Syrphidae) were attracted to methyl salicylate-baited cards. The coccinellid, Stethorus punctum picipes (Casey), was attracted to both HIPVs in July and September. The (E)-4,8-dimethyl-1,3,7-nonatriene did not attract any beneficial insects. Lygus hesperus Knight, Leptothrips mali (Fitch), Anagrus spp., other Miridae, Coccinellidae, and parasitic Hymenoptera were not attracted to the three HIPVs tested. The possible exploitation of HIPVs in enhancin...