cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Disclosure and Secrecy in Employee Monitoring

ABSTRACT: Disclosure and monitoring policy are studied, where disclosure relates to information about the monitoring system. A moral hazard model is presented where employee monitoring occurs with some exogenous probability and the owner privately learns whether he will be monitoring before the employee chooses his productive action. Disclosure policy is an owner choice between revealing to the employee whether he will be monitoring before the action (Disclosure) or remaining silent (Secrecy). The results rely on the joint presence of risk aversion and limited liability. Risk aversion creates an efficiency/risk tradeoff where secrecy obtains risk-sharing benefits. Limited liability reduces these benefits, allowing preference for disclosure. Lower monitoring probabilities increase the risk premium required to obtain effort with secrecy. For small monitoring probabilities, disclosure is preferred even though less efficient production is achieved, because disclosure provides a greater risk-sharing benefit. F...
The use of scientific data: a content analysis

In order to improve our understanding of scientific data users' data usage behaviors, which has been rarely studied in the fourth science paradigm---data-intensive science, this study conducted a content analysis of publications associated with a frequently cited data-intensive science project, called Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS). We analyzed 200 SDSS-related publications and identified the data used in each publication. Under the scope of SDSS project, we found that (1) nearly half studies used one data source only. A few studies were able to use three or more data sources; (2) studies that analyzed a small number of objects are the norm; (3) users are not only consumers of scientific data. They are also data producers; (4) studies that can utilize multiple large scale data sources are rare.
Molecular Polyselenide Anions Sandwiched between Cationic Extended Metal Hydroxides: Synthesis and Structures of [Sr2Sn(OH)6(H2O)6]Se4 and [Sr2Sn(OH)6(H2O)5]Se3·H2O

Two new strontium tin hydroxy polyselenides [Sr2Sn(OH)6(H2O)6]Se4 (1) and [Sr2Sn(OH)6(H2O)5]Se3·H2O (2) were synthesized from hydrothermal reactions. Their structures were determined from single-crystal X-ray data measured at 218 K. Compound 1 crystallized in the space group P with a = 5.935(1), b = 8.440(1), c = 9.464(2) A, α = 97.292(2)°, β = 104.957(2)°, γ = 110.328(2)°. Compound 2 crystallized also in the space group P with a = 10.658(2), b = 11.082(2), c = 15.797(2) A, α = 73.303(4)°, β = 74.942(4)°, γ = 64.627(3)°. Both compounds have structures containing infinite cationic layers of hydrated metal hydroxides built from Sn(OH)6 octahedra and Sr(OH, H2O)n polyhedra. Molecular Se42– and Se32– anions are located in the interlayer spaces of 1 and 2, respectively. The Se42– anions of 1 adopt a flat zigzag conformation with a torsion angle of 0°.
Photospheric Magnetic Evolution in the WHI Active Regions

Sequences of line-of-sight (LOS) magnetograms recorded by the Michelson Doppler Imager are used to quantitatively characterize photospheric magnetic structure and evolution in three active regions that rotated across the Sun s disk during the Whole Heliosphere Interval (WHI), in an attempt to relate the photospheric magnetic properties of these active regions to flares and coronal mass ejections (CMEs). Several approaches are used in our analysis, on scales ranging from whole active regions, to magnetic features, to supergranular scales, and, finally, to individual pixels. We calculated several parameterizations of magnetic structure and evolution that have previously been associated with flare and CME activity, including total unsigned magnetic flux, magnetic flux near polarity-inversion lines, amount of canceled flux, the "proxy Poynting flux," and helicity flux. To catalog flare events, we used flare lists derived from both GOES and RHESSI observations. By most such measures, AR 10988 should have been the most flare- and CME-productive active region, and AR 10989 the least. Observations, however, were not consistent with this expectation: ARs 10988 and 10989 produced similar numbers of flares, and AR 10989 also produced a few CMEs. These results highlight present limitations of statistics-based flare and CME forecasting tools that rely upon line-of-sight photospheric magnetic data alone.
Changes in relative wages in the 1980s Returns to observed and unobserved skills and black–white wage differentials

We assess the potential contribution of a rise in the return to unmeasured productivity correlated with education and race to the dramatic increase in the college}high-school wage di!erential and the stagnation of black}white wage convergence during the 1980s. A relatively unrestricted error-components panel data model is used to estimate the rise in the unobserved skill premium. Identi"cation of the model is based on across-group variation in changes in within-group log-wage variances over time. In the absence of credible instruments for education and race, we calibrate the impact of time-varying &ability’ biases under various assumptions on the extent of non-random sorting of ability. Both between-cohort and within-cohort changes are examined using earnings data on men from multiple Current Population Surveys. There is systematic variation in changes in within-group wage variances over time, suggesting about a 10}25% rise in the unobserved skill premium during the 1980s. In addition, there are noticeable di!erences across cohorts in changes in the college}high-school wage gap. However, the model estimates imply that the rise in the return to ability can account for at most 30}40% of the observed rise in the college premium for young workers. Similarly, young, well-educated black men experienced at least a 0.13 log point decline in wages relative to their white counterparts between 1979 and 1991. ( 2000 Elsevier Science S.A. All rights reserved.
Surface tension and viscosity with Lagrangian hydrodynamics on a triangular mesh

Abstract Numerical algorithms for surface tension and viscosity are presented in the context of a Lagrangian treatment of incompressible hydrodynamics with a dynamically restructuring grid. New algorithms are given which update previous Lagrangian approaches in the code SPLISH. Test problems involving internal gravity and capillary waves, an oscillating droplet and a viscous shear layer are described. An example is given of a flow calculated in and around a viscous droplet with surface tension in a shear flow.
Network competition in nonlinear pricing

Previous research, assuming linear pricing, has argued that telecommunications networks may use a high access charge as an instrument of collusion. I show that this conclusion is difficult to maintain when operators compete in nonlinear pricing: (i) As long as subscription demand is inelastic, profits can remain independent of the access charge, even when customers are heterogeneous and networks engage in second-degree price discrimination. (ii) When demand for subscriptions is elastic, networks may increase profits by agreeing on an access charge below marginal cost (relative to cost-based access pricing). Welfare is typically increased by setting the access charge above marginal cost.
Who and What Really Matters to the Firm: Moving Stakeholder Salience beyond Managerial Perceptions

We develop the concept of stakeholder salience to account for stakeholders who should matter to the firm, even when managers do not perceive them as important. While managers are responsible for attributing salience to stakeholders, they can overlook or ignore stakeholder importance because of market frictions that affect managerial perceptions or induce opportunism. When this happens, corporate financial and social performance can suffer. Thus, we propose that the perceptions of organizational and societal stakeholders should also codetermine the salience of the focal stakeholder to the firm. We also propose that stakeholder dialogue can reduce the impacts that market frictions can have on managerial perceptions of stakeholder interests that should matter to the firm. Finally, we discuss how the refined conceptualization of stakeholder salience might have better predictive validity, be more normative, and make instrumental and normative stakeholder theory more convergent.
The Simple Analytics of Monetary Policy: A Post-Crisis Approach

The standard workhorse models of monetary policy now commonly in use, both for teaching macro- economics to students and for supporting policymaking within many central banks, are incapable of incorporating the most widely accepted accounts of how the 2007–9 financial crisis occurred and are incapable too of analyzing the actions that monetary policymakers took in response to it. They also offer no point of entry for the frontier research that many economists have subsequently undertaken, especially research revolving around frictions in financial intermediation. The author suggests a simple model that bridges this gap by distinguishing the interest rate that the central bank sets from the interest rate that matters for the spending decisions of households and firms. One version of this model adds to the canonical “new Keynesian” model a fourth equation representing the spread between these two interest rates. An alternate version replaces this reduced-form expression for the spread with explicit supply a...
Getting more from your multicore: exploiting OpenMP from an open-source numerical scripting language

We introduce SLIRP, a module generator for the S-Lang numerical scripting language, with a focus on its vectorization capabilities. We demonstrate how both SLIRP and S-Lang were easily adapted to exploit the inherent parallelism of high-level mathematical languages with OpenMP, allowing general users to employ tightly coupled multiprocessors in scriptable research calculations while requiring no special knowledge of parallel programming. Motivated by examples in the ISIS astrophysical modeling and analysis tool, performance figures are presented for several machine and compiler configurations, demonstrating beneficial speedups for real-world operations. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Features of infant sounds: the emergence of cooing.

Vocalizations of two female infants, recorded over a 5-week period after the first emergence of cooing, were studied. The vocalizations were classified as cry, discomfort, vegetative and cooing (comfort) sounds. Fifty vocalizations of each sound type, distributed across the 5-week period of study, were selected from the output of each infant (400 vocalizations in all). The features of voicing, breath direction and consonant-like versus vowel-like were documented for each sound type. It was found that the features of the more primitive sound types regrouped themselves in comfort sounds. For the first time the feature of consonant-like was found to co-occur with voicing and egressive (outgoing) breath direction. The implications for theories of pre-speech development are discussed.
Nonpremixed Combustion in an Accelerating Turning Transonic Flow Undergoing Transition

Mixing layers composed of gaseous fuel and oxidizer streams passing through curved channels with or without chemical reactions are studied by performing two-dimensional numerical simulations. The flows are subjected to either transverse acceleration or both transverse and streamwise accelerations; the flow accelerates from low subsonic speed to low supersonic speed in the case with the streamwise acceleration. We focus on the development of the mixing layers from laminar flow to the transition regime. The full Navier–Stokes equations coupled with multiple-species equations and the energy equations with chemical reactions are solved using a finite-difference numerical scheme. The effects of turning are investigated on two different flow configurations; one has a faster and lighterairstreamontheoutsideofthecurveandaslowerandheavierfuelstreamontheinsideofthecurve,theother onehasaslowerandheavierfuelstreamontheoutsideofthecurveandafasterandlighterairstreamontheinsideof the curve. Because of the turning, the flow profiles are significantly altered, and the instability mechanisms are modified.Inmostcases,themixinglayerswiththefasterandlighterairstreamontheoutsidearemoreunstablethan themixinglayerswiththeheavierandslowerfuelstreamontheoutside. Thereactingmixinglayersarealwaysmore unstable than the corresponding nonreacting cases in terms of the turbulent kinetic energy. Positive and negative vorticities aregenerated inthe reacting casebythe barocliniceffect associated with the largedensity gradient across the combustion zone. The mixing layers with imposed streamwise accelerations show stabilizing effects, and the chemical conversion rates decrease due to the acceleration.
Microwave dielectric heating of drops in microfluidic devices.

We present a technique to locally and rapidly heat water drops in microfluidic devices with microwave dielectric heating. Water absorbs microwave power more efficiently than polymers, glass, and oils due to its permanent molecular dipole moment that has large dielectric loss at GHz frequencies. The relevant heat capacity of the system is a single thermally isolated picolitre-scale drop of water, enabling very fast thermal cycling. We demonstrate microwave dielectric heating in a microfluidic device that integrates a flow-focusing drop maker, drop splitters, and metal electrodes to locally deliver microwave power from an inexpensive, commercially available 3.0 GHz source and amplifier. The temperature change of the drops is measured by observing the temperature dependent fluorescence intensity of cadmium selenide nanocrystals suspended in the water drops. We demonstrate characteristic heating times as short as 15 ms to steady-state temperature changes as large as 30 °C above the base temperature of the microfluidic device. Many common biological and chemical applications require rapid and local control of temperature and can benefit from this new technique.
Homogeneity and Supply

Supply functions in the ubiquitous Gorman class are examined for their homogeneity properties. Homogeneity places surprisingly strong restrictions on functional forms. These forms facilitate testing of aggregability given homogeneity or homogeneity given aggregability or testing both.
Energy quantization and mean value inequalities for nonlinear boundary value problems

We give a unified statement and proof of a class of well known mean value inequalities for nonnegative functions with a nonlinear bound on the Laplacian. We generalize these to domains with boundary, requiring a (possibly nonlinear) bound on the normal derivative at the boundary. These inequalities give rise to an energy quantization principle for sequences of solutions of boundary value problems that have bounded energy and whose energy densities satisfy nonlinear bounds on the Laplacian and normal derivative: One obtains local uniform bounds on the complement of finitely many points, where some minimum quantum of energy concentrates.
The Environmental Dependence of the Evolving S0 Fraction

We re-investigate the dramatic rise in the S0 fraction, f_(S0), within clusters since z ~ 0.5. In particular, we focus on the role of the global galaxy environment on f_(S0) by compiling, either from our own observations or the literature, robust line-of-sight velocity dispersions, σ's, for a sample of galaxy groups and clusters at 0.1 < z < 0.8 that have uniformly determined, published morphological fractions. We find that the trend of f_(S0) with redshift is twice as strong for σ < 750 km s^(–1) groups/poor clusters than for higher-σ, rich clusters. From this result, we infer that over this redshift range galaxy-galaxy interactions, which are more effective in lower-σ environments, are more responsible for transforming spiral galaxies into S0's than galaxy-environment processes, which are more effective in higher-σ environments. The rapid, recent growth of the S0 population in groups and poor clusters implies that large numbers of progenitors exist in low-σ systems at modest redshifts (~0.5), where morphologies and internal kinematics are within the measurement range of current technology.
The Scaling of the No Scale Potential and de Sitter Model Building

We propose a variant of the KKLT (A)dS flux vacuum construction which does not require an antibrane to source the volume modulus. The strategy is to find nonzero local minima of the no-scale potential in the complex structure and dilaton directions in moduli space. The corresponding no-scale potential expanded about this point sources the volume modulus in the same way as does the antibrane of the KKLT construction. We exhibit explicit examples of such nonzero local minima of the no-scale potential in a simple toroidal orientifold model.
Why Do Firms Use Incentives That Have No Incentive Effects

This paper illustrates why firms might choose to implement stock option plans or other pay instruments that reward “luck.” I consider a model where adjusting compensation contracts is costly and where employees’ outside opportunities are correlated with their firms’ performance. The model may help to explain the use and recent rise of broad-based stock option plans, as well as other financial instruments, even when these pay plans have no effect on employees’ on-the-job behavior. The model suggests that agency theory’s often-overlooked participation constraint may be an important determinant of some common compensation schemes, particularly for employees below the highest executive ranks. MANY COMPENSATION PLANS REWARD or punish employees for factors they cannot control. An often-discussed example of this phenomenon is executive compensation (where stock options are not generally indexed to the overall market). However, many firms also offer firm-wide stock options and profit sharing plans that provide even weaker incentives than executive plans—after all, most workers can expect to reap trivial personal gain from their contribution to firm value or profits. I consider an explanation for this phenomenon in which firms contract with employees as a means of indexing wages to market rates rather than to provide incentives. While much of the agency literature has concentrated on inducing optimal effort, I consider the importance of the generally overlooked participation constraint. I study a model in which employees’ outside opportunities are correlated with firm profits or stock price, and in which both turnover and adjusting the pay scheme parameters are costly. Given these assumptions, the firm may find it most profitable to pay the employee in a way that is correlated with the outside options presented by the outside labor market (despite the requisite risk premium) rather than pay a fixed wage that insures participation in all states. The model derived below starts from the assumption that wage adjustments are costly, but that workers are willing to make part of their pay contingent
Structure and Evolution of Hot Gas in 30 DOR

We have investigated the structure and evolution of hot gas in the 30 Dor nebula, based on recent X-ray observations. Our deep ROSAT HRI image shows that diffuse X-ray emission arises in blister-shaped regions outlined by loops of H II gas. X-ray spectroscopic data from ASCA confirm the thermal nature of the emission and indicate that the temperature of the hot gas decreases from the core to the halo of the nebula. The structure of the nebula can be understood as outflows of hot and H II gases from the parent giant molecular cloud of the central OB association. The dynamic mixing between the two gas phases is likely responsible for the mass loading to the hot gas, as required to explain the observed thermal structure and X-ray luminosity of the nebula. Such processes should also be important in the formation of similar giant H II regions and in their subsequent evolution into supergiant bubbles or galactic chimneys.
Informal Sanctions on Prosecutors and Defendants and the Disposition of Criminal Cases

We model the strategic interaction between a prosecutor and a defendant when non-strategic outside observers rationally use the case disposition (plea bargain, dropped case, acquittal, or conviction) to impose informal sanctions on both parties. Outside observers recognize that error in the legal process (as well as hidden information) means they may misclassify defendants and thereby impose sanctions erroneously. We show that: (1) changes in the level of the formal sanction affect the level of informal sanctions imposed and (2) increases in the informal sanction rates imposed on prosecutors result in changes in the level of informal sanctions imposed on defendants. We also extend the model to allow for a three-outcome verdict (not guilty, not proven, and guilty), sometimes referred to as the "Scottish" verdict. We find that the Scottish verdict is justice-improving in that it benefits innocent defendants, outside observers, and prosecutors in comparison with the standard (two-outcome) verdict. (JEL K4, D8)
Flexible simulated moment estimation of nonlinear errors-in-variables models

Nonlinear regression with measurement error is important for estimation from microeconomic data. One approach to identification and estimation is a causal model, in which the unobserved true variable is predicted by observable variables. This paper details the estimation of such a model using simulated moments and a flexible disturbance distribution. An estimator of the asymptotic variance is given for parametric models. Also, a semiparametric consistency result is given. The value of the estimator is demonstrated in a Monte Carlo study and an application to estimating Engel Curves.
Exchange Rate Pass-Through in U.S. Manufacturing Industries

This paper studies exchange rate pass-through in U.S. manufacturing industries and its cross-sectional variation. Through an adapted Dixit–Stiglitz model of product differentiation, the paper predicts that pass-through is positively related to the degree of product differentiation and inversely related to the elasticity of marginal cost with respect to output. Empirical estimates of the pass-through elasticities show that pass-through is incomplete and varies across industries. The degree of pass-through is found to be positively correlated to different proxies for product differentiation, and negatively to a proxy for the elasticity of marginal cost.
LEAD EXPOSURE AND BEHAVIOR: EFFECTS ON ANTISOCIAL AND RISKY BEHAVIOR AMONG CHILDREN AND ADOLESCENTS

It is well known that exposure to lead has numerous adverse effects on behavior and development. Using data on two cohorts of children from the NLSY, this paper investigates the effect of early childhood lead exposure on behavior problems from childhood through early adulthood. I find large negative consequences of early childhood lead exposure, in the form of an unfolding series of adverse behavioral outcomes: behavior problems as a child, pregnancy and aggression as a teen, and criminal behavior as a young adult. At the levels of lead that were the norm in United States until the late 1980s, estimated elasticities of these behaviors with respect to lead range between 0.2 and 1.0.
The Climate Policy Dilemma

Climate policy poses a dilemma for environmental economists. The economic argument for stringent GHG abatement is far from clear. There is disagreement among both climate scientists and economists over the likelihood of alternative climate outcomes, over the nature and extent of the uncertainty over those outcomes, and over the framework that should be used to evaluate potential benefits from GHG abatement, including key policy parameters. I argue that the case for stringent abatement - if it can be made at all - cannot be based on the kinds of modeling exercises that have permeated the literature, but instead must be based on the possibility of a catastrophic outcome. I discuss how an analysis that incorporates such an outcome might be conducted.
Optimal Power Control for Concurrent Transmissions of Location-Aware Mobile Cognitive Radio Ad Hoc Networks

In a cognitive radio (CR) network, CR users intend to operate over the same spectrum band licensed to legacy networks. A tradeoff exists between protecting the communications in legacy networks and maximizing the throughput of CR transmissions, especially when CR links are unstable due to the mobility of CR users. Because of the non-zero probability of false detection and implementation complexity of spectrum sensing, in this paper, we investigate a sensing-free spectrum sharing scenario for mobile CR ad hoc networks to improve the frequency reuse by incorporating the location awareness capability in CR networks. We propose an optimal power control algorithm for the CR transmitter to maximize the concurrent transmission region of CR users especially in mobile scenarios. Under the proposed power control algorithm, the mobile CR network achieves maximized throughput without causing harmful interference to primary users in the legacy network. Simulation results show that the proposed optimal power control algorithm outperforms the algorithm with the fixed power policy in terms of increasing the packet delivery ratio in the network.
Paradox in Wave-Particle Duality

We report on the simultaneous determination of complementary wave and particle aspects of light in a double-slit type “welcher-weg” experiment beyond the limitations set by Bohr’s Principle of Complementarity. Applying classical logic, we verify the presence of sharp interference in the single photon regime, while reliably maintaining the information about the particular pinhole through which each individual photon had passed. This experiment poses interesting questions on the validity of Complementarity in cases where measurements techniques that avoid Heisenberg’s uncertainty principle and quantum entanglement are employed. We further argue that the application of classical concepts of waves and particles as embodied in Complementarity leads to a logical inconsistency in the interpretation of this experiment.
Minimum Wheel-Rotation Paths for Differential-Drive Mobile Robots

The shortest paths for a mobile robot are a fundamental property of the mechanism, and may also be used as a family of primitives for motion planning in the presence of obstacles. This paper characterizes shortest paths for differential-drive mobile robots, with the goal of classifying solutions in the spirit of Dubins curves and Reeds-Shepp curves for car-like robots. To obtain a well-defined notion of shortest, the total amount of wheel-rotation is optimized. Using the Pontryagin Maximum Principle and other tools, we derive the set of optimal paths, and we give a representation of the extremals in the form of finite automata. It turns out that minimum time for the Reeds-Shepp car is equal to minimum wheel-rotation for the differential-drive, and minimum time curves for the convexified Reeds-Shepp car are exactly the same as minimum wheel-rotation paths for the differential-drive. It is currently unknown whether there is a simpler proof for this fact.
Catalytic Alliances for Social Problem Solving

Catalytic alliances (CA) are temporary network organizations created to effect long-term social change through media-based "campaign" efforts to increase public awareness and commitment to action on social problems. Two CA organizations - Hands Across America and the Partnership for a Drug-Free America - are profiled in this paper. Each illustrates the catalytic alliance phenomenon and delineates a number of critical management dimensions. The paper then uses these examples to more precisely define the organizational features and characteristics of catalytic alliances, and to develop a process model of how such alliances are formed.
Early warning signals and the prosecutor's fallacy

Early warning signals have been proposed to forecast the possibility of a critical transition, such as the eutrophication of a lake, the collapse of a coral reef or the end of a glacial period. Because such transitions often unfold on temporal and spatial scales that can be difficult to approach by experimental manipulation, research has often relied on historical observations as a source of natural experiments. Here, we examine a critical difference between selecting systems for study based on the fact that we have observed a critical transition and those systems for which we wish to forecast the approach of a transition. This difference arises by conditionally selecting systems known to experience a transition of some sort and failing to account for the bias this introduces—a statistical error often known as the prosecutor's fallacy. By analysing simulated systems that have experienced transitions purely by chance, we reveal an elevated rate of false-positives in common warning signal statistics. We further demonstrate a model-based approach that is less subject to this bias than those more commonly used summary statistics. We note that experimental studies with replicates avoid this pitfall entirely.
Optimistic Concurrency Control for Distributed Unsupervised Learning

Research on distributed machine learning algorithms has focused primarily on one of two extremes—algorithms that obey strict concurrency constraints or algorithms that obey few or no such constraints. We consider an intermediate alternative in which algorithms optimistically assume that conflicts are unlikely and if conflicts do arise a conflict-resolution protocol is invoked. We view this "optimistic concurrency control" paradigm as particularly appropriate for large-scale machine learning algorithms, particularly in the unsupervised setting. We demonstrate our approach in three problem areas: clustering, feature learning and online facility location. We evaluate our methods via large-scale experiments in a cluster computing environment.
The Electromotive Force Produced by the Acceleration of Metals

The modern theories of electricity have led to the belief that the passage of an electric current through a metal really consists in the progressive motion of “free” electrons contained in the body of the metal itself. If this be true we may now expect a number of effects arising from the mass of these electrons which were not predictable on the basis of older theories which thought of electricity as a sort of intangible massless fluid.
Formation of Reaction‐Bonded Silicon Nitride from Silane‐Derived Silicon Powders: Macroscopic Kinetics and Related Transport Phenomena

Reaction-bonded silicon nitride (RBSN) with little or no residual silicon was formed from laser-synthesized silicon powders and N2, at low temperatures and in short times (<10 min at 1250°C, <1 h at 1150°C). The nitriding kinetics were studied with thermogravimetric analysis (TGA). Samples formed in the TGA furnace between 1150° and 1350°C were completely converted to silicon nitride near their centers, with residual silicon near the external surfaces. These unusual composition profiles were not observed in samples that were formed in a higher-purity atmosphere. Various experimental observations were compared to analyses of heat and mass transport, and it was determined that these composition in the nitriding gas. These analyses also indicated that heat transfer, N2 diffusion, and Si evaporation and transport all affect the nitriding kinetics under certain conditions.
Generic Pipelined Processor Modeling and High Performance Cycle-Accurate Simulator Generation

Detailed modeling of processors and high performance cycle-accurate simulators are essential for today's hardware and software design. These problems are challenging enough by themselves and have seen many previous research efforts. Addressing both simultaneously is even more challenging, with many existing approaches focusing on one over another. In this paper, we propose the reduced colored Petri net (RCPN) model that has two advantages: first, it offers a very simple and intuitive way of modeling pipelined processors: second, it can generate high performance cycle-accurate simulators. RCPN benefits from all the useful features of colored Petri nets without suffering from their exponential growth in complexity. RCPN processor models are very intuitive since they are a mirror image of the processor pipeline block diagram. Furthermore, in our experiments on the generated cycle-accurate simulators for XScale and StrongArm processor models, we achieved an order of magnitude (/spl sim/15 times) speedup over the popular SimpleScalar ARM simulator.
Colloidal Nanocrystals with Molecular Metal Chalcogenide Surface Ligands

Similar to the way that atoms bond to form molecules and crystalline structures, colloidal nanocrystals can be combined together to form larger assemblies. The properties of these structures are determined by the properties of individual nanocrystals and by their interactions. The insulating nature of organic ligands typically used in nanocrystal synthesis results in very poor interparticle coupling. We found that various molecular metal chalcogenide complexes can serve as convenient ligands for colloidal nanocrystals and nanowires. These ligands can be converted into semiconducting phases upon gentle heat treatment, generating inorganic nanocrystal solids. The utility of the inorganic ligands is demonstrated for model systems, including highly conductive arrays of gold nanocrystals capped with Sn2S6(4-) ions and field-effect transistors on cadmium selenide nanocrystals.
Optical techniques for reconfiguring microwave phased arrays

Very large phased array antennas, particularly in radar and adaptive receive applications as opposed to communications usages, require large amounts of digital data processing for beamsteering, null-formation, imaging, and signal correlation computations. Such processing requires a computational capability which is effectively proportional to the square of the antenna size, and can readily become one of the main design drivers. This processing bottleneck problem is addressed for large phased array antennas. An approach in terms of parallel processing in the optical domain is presented as a potential solution. The defining equations for a phased array antenna system are given, along with the transfer functions for an embedded optical spatial filter control element. Such a control element is shown to have the potential of rapidly reconfiguring a large phased array antenna without the speed penalties associated with conventional sequential addressing methods. A hypothetical phased array antenna, with optical spatial filter control elements, is simulated in a computer model and performance results are presented. >
Experiments on Ensembles with Missing and Noisy Data

One of the potential advantages of multiple classifier systems is an increased robustness to noise and other imperfections in data. Previous experiments on classification noise have shown that bagging is fairly robust but that boosting is quite sensitive. Decorate is a recently introduced ensemble method that constructs diverse committees using artificial data. It has been shown to generally outperform both boosting and bagging when training data is limited. This paper compares the sensitivity of bagging, boosting, and Decorate to three types of imperfect data: missing features, classification noise, and feature noise. For missing data, Decorate is the most robust. For classification noise, bagging and Decorate are both robust, with bagging being slightly better than Decorate, while boosting is quite sensitive. For feature noise, all of the ensemble methods increase the resilience of the base classifier.
Refocusing on Women A New Direction for Policy and Research on Intimate Partner Violence

A key question facing researchers of intimate partner violence is how the real-life contexts of victims’lives should affect state policy. The bulk of recently adopted and much touted criminal justice reforms have taken the form of relatively inflexible, onesize-fits-all mandatory responses focused on counseling, restraining, and punishing batterers. Even the protection order system relies far more heavily on batterer treatment programs than on victim support to prevent future violence. Together, these reforms have largely sacrificed the contextualized, woman-centered focus from which the antidomestic violence movement originated. Recently, however, a small body of research has emerged indicating that responding flexibly to victims’ needs and providing them with advocacy and broad social support could be a more successful strategy for keeping women safe. These data highlight the importance of expanding victim-centered resources and reincorporating a particularized perspective into current policy and practice. Development of this literature should guide future reform efforts.
On fast microscopic browsing of MPEG-compressed video

MPEG has been established as a compression standard for efficient storage and transmission of digital video. However, users are limited to VCR-like (and tedious) functionalities when viewing MPEG video. The usefulness of MPEG video is presently limited by the lack of tools available for fast browsing, manipulation and processing of MPEG video.In this paper, we first address the problem of rapid access to individual shots and frames in MPEG video. We build upon the compressed-video-processing framework proposed in [1, 8], and propose new and fast algorithms based on an adaptive mixture of approximation techniques for extracting spatially reduced image sequence of uniform quality from MPEG video across different frame types and also under different motion activities in the scenes. The algorithms execute faster than real time on a Pentium personal computer. We demonstrate how the reduced images facilitate fast and convenient shot- and frame-level video browsing and access, shot-level editing and annotation, without the need for frequent decompression of MPEG video. We further propose methods for reducing the auxiliary data size associated with the reduced images through exploitation of spatial and temporal redundancy. We also address how the reduced images lead to computationally efficient algorithms for video analysis based on intra- and inter-shot processing for video database and browsing applications. The algorithms, tools for browsing and techniques for video processing presented in this paper have been used by many in IBM Research on more than 30 h of MPEG-1 video for video browsing and analysis.
The Determinants of Stock Price Exposure: Financial Engineering and the Gold Mining Industry

This paper studies the exposure of North American gold mining firms to changes in the price of gold. The average mining stock moves 2 percent for each 1 percent change in gold prices, but exposures vary considerably over time and across firms. As predicted by valuation models, gold firm exposures are significantly negatively related to the firm's hedging and diversification activities and to gold prices and gold return volatility, and are positively related to firm leverage. Simple discounted cash flow models produce useful exposure predictions but they systematically overestimate exposures, possibly due to their failure to reflect managerial flexibility.
Crystallized Rates Region of the Interference Channel via Correlated Equilibrium with Interference As Noise

Treating the interference as noise in the n-user interference channel, the paper describes a novel approach to the rates region, composed by the time-sharing convex hull of 2n -1 corner points achieved through On/Off binary power control. The resulting rates region is denoted crystallized rates region. By treating the interference as noise, the n-user rates region frontiers has been found in the literature to be the convex hull of n hyper-surfaces. The rates region bounded by these hypersurfaces is not necessarily convex, and thereby a convex hull operation is imposed through the strategy of time-sharing. This paper simplifies this rates region in the n-dimensional space by having only an On/Off binary power control. This consequently leads to 2n - 1 corner points situated within the rates region. A time-sharing convex hull is imposed onto those corner points, forming the crystallized rates region. The paper focuses on game theoretic concepts to achieve that crystallized convex hull via correlated equilibrium. In game theory, the correlated equilibrium set is convex, and it consists of the time-sharing mixed strategies of the Nash equilibriums. In addition, the paper considers a mechanism design approach to carefully design a utility function, particularly the Vickrey-Clarke-Groves auction utility, where the solution point is situated on the correlated equilibrium set. Finally, the paper proposes a self learning algorithm, namely the regret-matching algorithm, that converges to the solution point on the correlated equilibrium set in a distributed fashion.
New reduced parameters for flash calculations based on two-parameter BIP formula

Abstract Phase equilibrium calculations constitute a significant percentage of computational time in compositional simulation, especially as the number of components and phases increase. Reduced methods address this problem by carrying out phase equilibrium calculations using a reduced number of independent parameters. These methods have shown to speed up flash calculations, decrease simulation times, and also improve convergence behavior. In this paper, we present new reduced parameters using the two-parameter binary interaction parameter formula originally proposed by Li and Johns (2006) . The new reduced parameters are applied to solve two-phase flash calculations for five different fluid descriptions. The results show a significant reduction in the number of iterations required to achieve convergence compared to the Li and Johns original approach. The improved method is also shown to converge more often than other flash calculation methods for the cases studied. We further compare computational times with the new reduced approach to conventional flash calculations based on the minimization of Gibbs energy using an optimized compiler.
Efficient solution algorithms for factored MDPs

This paper addresses the problem of planning under uncertainty in large Markov Decision Processes (MDPs). Factored MDPs represent a complex state space using state variables and the transition model using a dynamic Bayesian network. This representation often allows an exponential reduction in the representation size of structured MDPs, but the complexity of exact solution algorithms for such MDPs can grow exponentially in the representation size. In this paper, we present two approximate solution algorithms that exploit structure in factored MDPs. Both use an approximate value function represented as a linear combination of basis functions, where each basis function involves only a small subset of the domain variables. A key contribution of this paper is that it shows how the basic operations of both algorithms can be performed efficiently in closed form, by exploiting both additive and context-specific structure in a factored MDP. A central element of our algorithms is a novel linear program decomposition technique, analogous to variable elimination in Bayesian networks, which reduces an exponentially large LP to a provably equivalent, polynomial-sized one. One algorithm uses approximate linear programming, and the second approximate dynamic programming. Our dynamic programming algorithm is novel in that it uses an approximation based on max-norm, a technique that more directly minimizes the terms that appear in error bounds for approximate MDP algorithms. We provide experimental results on problems with over 1040 states, demonstrating a promising indication of the scalability of our approach, and compare our algorithm to an existing state-of-the-art approach, showing, in some problems, exponential gains in computation time.
An effective theory for holographic RG flows

We study the dilaton action induced by RG flows between holographic CFT fixed points. For this purpose we introduce a general bulk effective theory for the goldstone boson of the broken spacetime symmetry, providing an AdS analog of the EFT of Inflation. In two dimensions, we use the effective theory to compute the dilaton action, as well as the UV and IR conformal anomalies, without further assumptions. In higher dimensions we take a ‘slow-flow’ limit analogous to the assumption of slow-roll in Inflation, and in this context we obtain the dilaton action, focusing on terms proportional to the difference of the A-type anomalies. We include Gauss-Bonnet terms in the gravitational action in order to verify that our method correctly differentiates between A-type and other anomalies.
Globalization, Class Compromise, and American Exceptionalism: Political Change in 16 Advanced Capitalist Countries

The social science literature contains competing theories on the relationship between economic globalization and class com- promise. According to supporters of the " strong globalization thesis," over the last few decades many important national- level economic processes have been subsumed into a worldwide " borderless" economy in which global market forces, rather than electorates, now dictate national economic policy. This argument implies that globalization has signie cantly eroded the ability of democratic governance to create a genuine class com- promise. Conversely, supporters of the " weak globalization the- sis" maintain that the strong version of globalization is largely a " myth," and that as a result national economic policy geared towards egalitarianism is still possible. After analyzing changes
Ribosome Recycling, Diffusion, and mRNA Loop Formation in Translational Regulation

We explore and quantify the physical and biochemical mechanisms that may be relevant in the regulation of translation. After elongation and detachment from the 3′ termination site of mRNA, parts of the ribosome machinery can diffuse back to the initiation site, especially if it is held nearby, enhancing overall translation rates. The elongation steps of the mRNA-bound ribosomes are modeled using exact and asymptotic results of the totally asymmetric exclusion process. Since the ribosome injection rates of the totally asymmetric exclusion process depend on the local concentrations at the initiation site, a source of ribosomes emanating from the termination end can feed back to the initiation site, leading to a self-consistent set of equations for the steady-state ribosome throughput. Additional mRNA binding factors can also promote loop formation, or cyclization, bringing the initiation and termination sites into close proximity. The probability distribution of the distance between the initiation and termination sites is described using simple noninteracting polymer models. We find that the initiation, or initial ribosome adsorption binding required for maximal throughput, can vary dramatically depending on certain values of the bulk ribosome concentration and diffusion constant. If cooperative interactions among the loop-promoting proteins and the initiation/termination sites are considered, the throughput can be further regulated in a nonmonotonic manner. Experiments that can potentially test the hypothesized physical mechanisms are discussed.