cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Public vs Private Coin in Bounded-Round Information

We precisely characterize the role of private randomness in the ability of Alice to send a message to Bob while minimizing the amount of information revealed to him. We give an example of a (randomized) message which can be transmitted while revealing only I bits of information using private randomness, but requires Alice to reveal I + logI − O(1) bits of information if only public coins are allowed. This gives the first example of an ω(1) additive separation between these two models. Our example also shows that the one-round compression construction of Harsha et al. [HJMR07] cannot be improved.
Thermal stability and high temperature polymorphism of topochemically-prepared Dion–Jacobson triple-layered perovskites

Abstract The thermal stability of six Dion–Jacobson-related triple layered perovskites, ACa 2 Nb 3 O 10 (A = H, NH 4 , Li, Na, K, CuCl), was explored to 1000 °C. Each compound was produced topochemically by low-temperature ( 2 Nb 3 O 10 . The thermal behavior of the series was examined by variable temperature X-ray powder diffraction experiments in tandem with thermogravimetric analysis and differential scanning calorimetry. Five of the species were found to be low temperature/metastable phases, decomposing below 900 °C, where the stability of the series decreased with decreasing interlayer cation size. The compounds, A = Li, Na, K, exhibited high temperature polymorphism, with a completely reversible transition evident for KCa 2 Nb 3 O 10 .
Daycare, Durables, and Credit Constraints: Evidence from Rio de Janeiro

There is some empirical evidence that access to daycare increases the incomes of households with young children, particularly through the expansion of female labor force participation in the extensive and intensive margins. Whether this boost persists even as children grow and enroll in school, however, is less clear. This paper uses data from the extension of a public daycare program in Rio de Janeiro in 2008 to study the impact of access to daycare not only on income, but also on households’ living standards in the short- and long-term. We find evidence that while participation in daycare increases income only in the short-run, its effect on the ownership of durable goods persists even once focal children are no longer age-eligible for daycare. Using a credit constraint framework, the results in the paper indicate that the small, temporary income increase provided by access to daycare has a long-lasting effect on living conditions and, consequently, child development, as it fills in a gap left by a lack of access to credit.
Universal Signature Aggregators

We introduce the concept of universal signature aggregators. In a universal signature aggregator system, a third party, using a set of common reference parameters, can aggregate a collection of signatures produced from any set of signing algorithms (subject to a chosen length constraint) into one short signature whose length is independent of the number of signatures aggregated. In prior aggregation works, signatures can only be aggregated if all signers use the same signing algorithm (e.g., BLS) and shared parameters. A universal aggregator can aggregate across schemes even in various algebraic settings (e.g., BLS, RSA, ECDSA), thus creating novel opportunities for compressing authentication overhead. It is especially compelling that existing public key infrastructures can be used and that the signers do not have to alter their behavior to enable aggregation of their signatures.
Offline Assortment Optimization in the Presence of an Online Channel

Firms are increasingly selling through both offline and online channels, allowing customers to experience the touch and feel of product attributes before purchasing those products. Consequently, the selection of products offered offline affects the demand in both channels. We address how firms should select an optimal offline assortment to maximize profits across both channels; we call this the showcase decision problem. We incorporate the impact of physical evaluation on preferences into the consumer demand model. Under this model, we show that the decision problem is NP-hard. Analytically, we derive optimal results for special cases and near-optimal approximations for general cases. Empirically, we use conjoint analysis to identify changes in consumer preferences resulting from physically evaluating products. For this application, we demonstrate gains in expected revenue of up to 40% due to accounting for the impact of offline assortment on the online sales. The online appendix is available at https://d...
Open for Business? Effects of Los Angeles Metro Rail Construction on Adjacent Businesses

Recent court cases and news reports on transit projects have focused on the effects of construction on business revenue and survival, yet the topic remains underexplored in the scholarly literature. This thesis examines whether transit construction negatively affected businesses’ revenue and survival along the second segment of the Los Angeles Metro Rail Red Line under Vermont and Hollywood Boulevards. Using regression analysis on National Establishment Time-Series data, I find that business survival was lower along the corridor than for the county as a whole, but not significantly different from a nearby control corridor. I also find little evidence of revenue impacts. These findings suggest that revenue loss from transit construction is not the main mechanism by which businesses are displaced and that further research is needed to understand the source of community concerns.
Computing Vertex Eccentricity in Exponentially Large Graphs: QBF Formulation and Solution

We formulate eccentricity computation for exponentially large graphs as a decision problem for Quantified Boolean Formulas (QBFs.) and demonstrate how the notion of eccentricity arises in the area of formal hardware verification. In practice, the QBFs obtained from the above formulation are difficult to solve because they span a huge Boolean space. We address this problem by proposing an eccentricity-preserving graph transformation that drastically reduces the Boolean search space by decreasing the number of variables in the generated formulas. Still, experimental analysis shows that the reduced formulas are unsolvable by state-of-the-art QBF solvers. Thus, we propose a novel SAT-based decision procedure optimized for these formulas. Despite exponential worst-case behavior of this procedure, we present encouraging experimental evidence showing its superiority to other public-domain solvers.
Molecular Theory and the Effects of Solute Attractive Forces on Hydrophobic Interactions

The role of solute attractive forces on hydrophobic interactions is studied by coordinated development of theory and simulation results for Ar atoms in water. We present a concise derivation of the local molecular field (LMF) theory for the effects of solute attractive forces on hydrophobic interactions, a derivation that clarifies the close relation of LMF theory to the EXP approximation applied to this problem long ago. The simulation results show that change from purely repulsive atomic solute interactions to include realistic attractive interactions diminishes the strength of hydrophobic bonds. For the Ar–Ar rdfs considered pointwise, the numerical results for the effects of solute attractive forces on hydrophobic interactions are opposite in sign and larger in magnitude than predicted by LMF theory. That comparison is discussed from the point of view of quasichemical theory, and it is suggested that the first reason for this difference is the incomplete evaluation within LMF theory of the hydration e...
Lie Group Spectral Variational Integrators

We present a new class of high-order variational integrators on Lie groups. We show that these integrators are symplectic and momentum-preserving, can be constructed to be of arbitrarily high order, or can be made to converge geometrically. Furthermore, these methods are capable of taking very large time-steps. We demonstrate the construction of one such variational integrator for the rigid body and discuss how this construction could be generalized to other related Lie group problems. We close with several numerical examples which demonstrate our claims and discuss further extensions of our work.
Effect of Temperature on First-Wall Erosion by Radiation Blistering

The effect of target temperature on blister formation and the erosion rates associated with helium blistering has been investigated for vanadium and Type 304 stainless steel. The irradiation temper...
Understanding and improving the MAC algorithm

Constraint satisfaction problems have wide application in artificial intelligence. They involve finding values for problem variables where the values must be consistent in that they satisfy restrictions on which combinations of values are allowed. Recent research on finite domain constraint satisfaction problems suggest that Maintaining Arc Consistency (MAC) is the most efficient general CSP algorithm for solving large and hard problems. In the first part of this paper we explain why maintaining full, as opposed to limited, arc consistency during search can greatly reduce the search effort. Based on this explanation, in the second part of the paper we show how to modify MAC in order to make it even more efficient. Experimental results prove that the gain in efficiency can be quite important.
Synthesis, structure, and magnetic properties of Ba2Cu2US5

The alkaline-earth uranium chalcogenide Ba{sub 2}Cu{sub 2}US{sub 5} was obtained in a two-step reaction from BaS, Cu{sub 2}S, and US{sub 2}. Ba{sub 2}Cu{sub 2}US{sub 5} crystallizes in a new structure type in space group C2/m of the monoclinic system with two formula units in a cell of dimensions a=13.606(3) A, b=4.0825(8) A, c=9.3217(19) A, and {beta}=116.32(3){sup o} (153 K). The structure consists of {sub {infinity}}{sup 2}[Cu{sub 2}US{sub 5}{sup 4-}] layers separated by Ba atoms in bicapped trigonal-prismatic coordination. The two-dimensional {sub {infinity}}{sup 2}[Cu{sub 2}US{sub 5}{sup 4-}] layer is built from US{sub 6} octahedra and CuS{sub 4} tetrahedra. The connectivity of the MS{sub n} polyhedra within the layer in the [001] direction is oct tet tet oct tet tet. A {mu}{sub eff} value of 2.69(2) {mu}{sub B}/U was obtained from the magnetic susceptibility data. No magnetic transition was observed for Ba{sub 2}Cu{sub 2}US{sub 5} down to 2 K. - Graphical abstract: Unit cell of Ba{sub 2}Cu{sub 2}US{sub 5} viewed down [010].
Modular behavior profiles in systems with shared libraries (short paper)

Modern computing environments depend on extensive shared libraries. In this paper, we propose monitoring the calls between those libraries as a new source of data for host-based anomaly detection. That is, we characterize an application by its use of shared library functions and characterize each shared library function by its use of (lower-level) shared libraries. This approach to intrusion detection offers significant benefits, especially in systems such as Windows, much of which is implemented above the kernel as dynamically linked libraries (DLLs). It localizes anomalies to particular code modules, facilitating anomaly analysis and assessment and discouraging mimicry attacks. It reduces retraining after system updates and enables training concurrent with detection. The proposed approach can be used with various techniques for modeling call sequences, including N-grams, automata, and techniques that consider parameter values. To demonstrate its potential, we have studied how a DLL-level profiling IDS would detect two recent attacks on Windows systems.
Recent Analytical and Numerical Techniques Applied to the Einstein Equations

Combining deeper insight of Einstein's equations with sophisticated numerical techniques promises the ability to construct accurate numerical implementations of these equations. We illustrate this in two examples, the numerical evolution of "bubble" and single black hole space-times. The former is chosen to demonstrate how accurate numerical solutions can answer open questions and even reveal unexpected phenomena. The latter illustrates some of the difficulties encountered in three-dimensional black hole simulations, and presents some possible remedies.
A middleware for context-aware agents in ubiquitous computing environments

Ubiquitous Computing advocates the construction of massively distributed systems that help transform physical spaces into computationally active and intelligent environments. The design of systems and applications in these environments needs to take account of heterogeneous devices, mobile users and rapidly changing contexts. Most importantly, agents in ubiquitous and mobile environments need to be context-aware so that they can adapt themselves to different situations. In this paper, we argue that ubiquitous computing environments must provide middleware support for context-awareness. We also propose a middleware that facilitates the development of context-aware agents. The middleware allows agents to acquire contextual information easily, reason about it using different logics and then adapt themselves to changing contexts. Another key issue in these environments is allowing autonomous, heterogeneous agents to have a common semantic understanding of contextual information. Our middleware tackles this problem by using ontologies to define different types of contextual information. This middleware is part of Gaia, our infrastructure for enabling Smart Spaces.
Invariant curves for birational surface maps

We classify invariant curves for birational surface maps that are expanding on cohomology. When the expansion is exponential, the arithmetic genus of an invariant curve is at most one. This implies severe constraints on both the type and number of irreducible components of the curve. In the case of an invariant curve with genus equal to one, we show that there is an associated invariant meromorphic two-form.
Rules, Standards, and the Internal Point of View

If you want to know the law and nothing else, you must look at it as a bad man, who cares only for the material consequences which such knowledge enables him to predict, not as a good one, who finds his reasons for conduct, whether inside the law or outside of it, in the vaguer sanctions of conscience. . . . The prophecies of what the court will do in fact, and nothing more pretentious, are what I mean by the law.1
LTI decomposition and H/sub /spl infin// approximation of periodic systems

This paper proposes a decomposition of periodically time varying systems in an attempt to reduce the often overwhelming number of modeling parameters involved. In many cases it would be possible to represent the system using only a few of those components. An a priori bound on the approximation error is derived in terms of the smoothness of the system parameters. Both continuous and discrete time systems are considered.
Shape‐Preserving Chemical Conversion of Self‐Assembled 3‐D Bioclastic Micro/Nanostructures Via Low‐Temperature Displacement Reactions

An astounding variety of self-assembled, rigid (bioclastic) micro/nanostructures are generated by micro-organisms known as diatoms (single-celled algae). Each diatom species assembles an intricate silica nanoparticle-based microshell (frustule) with a particular three-dimensional (3-D) shape and with specific patterns of nanoscale features (pores, channels, ridges, protuberances, etc.). Sustained reproduction of a single diatom can yield enormous numbers of intricate frustules with identical 3-D shapes and fine features. The massive parallelism and genetic precision of such 3-D nanoparticle self-assembly are highly attractive for device applications. However, in order to expand the use of such micro/nanostructures into a broad range of applications, processes need to be developed to change the silica-based chemistry of diatom frustules into other compositions, so as to achieve a wider variety of properties. Displacement reactions can be used to convert SiO 2 -based diatom frustules into other oxides while preserving the 3-D morphology of the starting frustule. In this paper, an oxidation-reduction reaction between Mg gas and SiO 2 frustules has been used to convert the frustules into MgO-bearing replicas. The influence of processing parameters (reaction temperatures, times, and reactant ratios) on the nanostructural evolution, and on the final product phases (particularly the secondary Si-bearing phases), has been examined. Nanocrystalline MgO-bearing replicas of diatom frustules have been synthesized at temperatures as low as 650°C within a few hours.
Two Strategies for Economic Development: Using Ideas and Producing Ideas

The central claim of this paper is that the difference between the economics of ideas and the economics of objects is important for our understanding of growth and development. A subsidiary claim is that academic and policy discussions in these areas might be more fruitful if we spent less time working out solutions to systems of equations and more time defining precisely what the words we use mean. The notion that ideas are different from objects is both familiar and obvious. In the economic analysis of patents, for example, there is a long tradition of recognizing the unique characteristics of ideas as economic goods. The content of the claim lies in the assertion that these differences are more subtle than some presentations suggest and that they matter for aggregate-level policy analysis.
Benjamin Apthorp Gould and the Founding of the Astronomical Journal

On the sesquicentennial of the Astronomical Journal, we commemorate the life of its founder, Benjamin Apthorp Gould (1824–1896), and examine the precarious and heroic early days of this pioneering serial. The first six volumes appeared between 1849 November 2 and 1861 February, and after a hiatus of 25 years, Gould resumed the publication on 1886 November 2.
Block Matching Integrating Intensity, Hue, and Range

In this paper, we propose a new block matching algorithm that extracts motion vectors from consecutive range data. The proposed method defines a matching metric that integrates intensity, hue and range. Our algorithm begins matching with a small matching template. If the matching degree is not good enough, we slightly expand the size of a matching template and then repeat the matching process until our matching criterion is satisfied or the predetermined maximum size has been reached. As the iteration proceeds, we adaptively adjust weights of the matching metric by considering the importance of each feature.
Detecting Tau Neutrino Oscillations at PeV Energies

Abstract It is suggested that a large deep underocean (or ice) neutrino detector, given the presence of significant numbers of neutrinos in the PeV energy range as predicted by various models of Active Galactic Nuclei, can make unique measurements of the properties of neutrinos. It will be possible to observe the existence of the ν τ , measure its mixing with other flavors, in fact test the mixing pattern for all three flavors based upon the mixing parameters suggested by the atmospheric and solar neutrino data, and measure the ν τ cross section. The key signature is the charged current ν τ interaction, which produces a double cascade, one at either end of a lightly radiating track. At a few PeV these cascades would be separated by roughly 100 m, and thus be easily resolvable in next generation DUMAND-like detectors. First examples might be found in detectors presently under construction. Future applications may include precise neutrino astronomy and earth tomography.
Comparison of the Radiative Two-Flux and Diffusion Approximations

Approximate solutions are sometimes used to determine the heat transfer and temperatures in a semitransparent material in which conduction and thermal radiation are acting. A comparison of the Milne-Eddington two-flux approximation and the diffusion approximation for combined conduction and radiation heat transfer in a ceramic material was preformed to determine the accuracy of the diffusion solution. A plane gray semitransparent layer without a substrate and a non-gray semitransparent plane layer on an opaque substrate were considered. For the plane gray layer the material is semitransparent for all wavelengths and the scattering and absorption coefficients do not vary with wavelength. For the non-gray plane layer the material is semitransparent with constant absorption and scattering coefficients up to a specified wavelength. At higher wavelengths the non-gray plane layer is assumed to be opaque. The layers are heated on one side and cooled on the other by diffuse radiation and convection. The scattering and absorption coefficients were varied. The error in the diffusion approximation compared to the Milne-Eddington two flux approximation was obtained as a function of scattering coefficient and absorption coefficient. The percent difference in interface temperatures and heat flux through the layer obtained using the Milne-Eddington two-flux and diffusion approximations are presented as a function of scattering coefficient and absorption coefficient. The largest errors occur for high scattering and low absorption except for the back surface temperature of the plane gray layer where the error is also larger at low scattering and low absorption. It is shown that the accuracy of the diffusion approximation can be improved for some scattering and absorption conditions if a reflectance obtained from a Kubelka-Munk type two flux theory is used instead of a reflection obtained from the Fresnel equation. The Kubelka-Munk reflectance accounts for surface reflection and radiation scattered back by internal scattering sites while the Fresnel reflection only accounts for surface reflections.
Nickel-hydrogen separator development

The separator technology is a critical element in the nickel-hydrogen (Ni-H2) systems. Previous research and development work carried out at NASA Lewis Research Center has determined that separators made from zirconium oxide (ZrO2) and potassium titanate (PKT) fibers will function satisfactorily in Ni-H2 cells without exhibiting the problems associated with the asbestos separators. These separators and their characteristics were previously discussed. A program was established to transfer the separator technology into a commercial production line. A detailed plan of this program will be presented and the preliminary results will be discussed.
The Eger Macular Stressometer: Pilot Study

Abstract Purpose To evaluate the sensitivity of the Eger Macular Stressometer (EMS) for early screening of age-related macular degeneration (AMD) in a clinical practice. We examined the null hypothesis that AMD eyes have EMS recovery times (RTs) that do not differ from eyes with cataract, diabetic retinopathy, or glaucoma. Design The design of this study was a nonrandomized clinical trial. Methods Ninety-two eyes from 92 patients with vision 20/80 or better, age 50 and older, of either gender, and any ethnic origin, were recruited into one of four groups: AMD (30 eyes), normal or mild cataract (30 eyes), diabetic retinopathy (16 eyes), and glaucoma (16 eyes). Recovery times were obtained with the EMS, according to manufacturer's instructions. Results The mean (SD) [median] RT for the AMD group was 11.8 (7.6) [9] seconds, the normal/cataract group 10.0 (4.3) [9] seconds, the diabetic retinopathy group 8.4 (3.0) [8] seconds, and glaucoma group 8.6 (2.4) [8] seconds. Recovery time did not appear to be related to group ( P = .58), age ( P = .50), visual acuity ( P = .52), or sex ( P = .23). Conclusion We found EMS RT distributions did not differ between AMD, cataract, diabetic retinopathy, and glaucoma groups. The EMS in its current form is not a sensitive screening tool for AMD. Further testing is needed to examine EMS sensitivity with other macular diseases such as central serous choroidopathy and diabetic macular edema.
It Pays to Value Family: Work and Family Tradeoffs Reconsidered

We use longitudinal data to assess whether individuals who place greater importance on marriage and family pay a price for that priority in subsequent labor market success. Males placing a high priority on family before entering the labor market earn more, contrary to behavioral research but consistent with the economics literature. More important, females who place a high priority on family do not suffer in terms of subsequent earnings, contrary to most previous research.
Measuring Corruption in Eastern Europe and Central Asia : A Critique of the Cross-Country Indicators

This paper assesses corruption levels and trends among countries in the transition countries of Eastern Europe and Central Asia (ECA) based on data from several sources that are both widely used and cover most or all countries in the region. Data from firm surveys tend to show improvement in most types of administrative corruption, but little change instate capturein the region. Broader, subjective corruption indicators tend to show somewhat greater improvement in ECA than in non-ECA countries on average. A "primer on corruption indicators" discusses definitional and methodological differences among data sources that may account in large part for the apparently conflicting messages they often provide. This discussion concludes that depending on one's purpose, it may be more appropriate to use data from a single source rather than a composite index because of the loss of conceptual precision in aggregation. A second conclusion is that the gains in statistical precision from aggregating sources of corruption data likely are far more modest than often claimed because of interdependence among data sources. The range of detailed corruption measures available in firm surveys are exploited to show that broad, perceptions-based corruption assessments appear to measure primarily administrative corruption, despite their stated criteria placing great weight onstate capture. Finally, the paper emphasizes the need for scaling up data initiatives to fill significant gaps between our conceptual definitions of corruption and the operational definition embodied in the existing measures.
Making senses: bootstrapping sense-tagged lists of semantically-related words

The work described in this paper was originally motivated by the need to map verbs associated with FrameNet 2.0 frames to appropriate WordNet 2.0 senses. As the work evolved, it became apparent that the developed method was applicable for a number of other tasks, including assignment of WordNet senses to word lists used in attitude and opinion analysis, and collapsing WordNet senses into coarser-grained groupings. We describe the method for mapping FrameNet lexical units to WordNet senses and demonstrate its applicability to these additional tasks. We conclude with a general discussion of the viability of using this method with automatically sense-tagged data.
Debt, Death and Taxes

Does the level of government debt affect living standards and if so, to what extent? We quantify the impact of the U.S. federal debt using an open economy overlapping generations model in which consumers have long but finite lifetimes. A demographic structure allows fiscal policy changes to have different effects on different agents, and reveals the linkages between public debt, output and international trade. We find that reducing the debt has relatively modest impacts on aggregates, while reducing government spending substantially raises U.S. incomes and welfare. Therefore, this paper contributes to the current debate regarding whether U.S. federal government budget surpluses should be used to retire government debt.
Technology-Skill Complementarity and International TFP Differences

What determines whether a country is better at using some technologies than others? A widely held view is that a country’s ability to absorb and implement technologies is tied to its human capital. In this paper, we construct a novel specification of technology that incorporates this idea. Countries are comprised of a range of industries with heterogeneous productivities. In high human capital countries, productivity is maximized for industries with the most sophisticated technologies, while in low human capital countries, productivity is maximized for industries with less sophisticated technologies. A key result is that both aggregate total factor productivity and the industrial structure of an economy are driven by inter-industry variations in productivity which in turn is a function of human capital. We embed this specification within a standard production function framework and undertake a development accounting exercise. Our results indicate that almost half of the variation in aggregate TFP differences can be explained by the distribution of inter-industry TFP.
Outstanding Problems in Particle Astrophysics

The general features of the cosmic-ray spectrum have been known for a long time. Although the basic approaches to understanding cosmic-ray propagation and acceleration have also been well understood for many years, there are several questions of great interest that motivate the current intense experimental activity in the field. If the energy-dependence of the secondary to primary ratio of galactic cosmic rays is as steep as observed, why is the flux of PeV particles so nearly isotropic? Can all antiprotons and positrons be explained as secondaries or is there some contribution from exotic sources? What is the maximum energy of cosmic accelerators? Is the ”knee” of the cosmic-ray spectrum an effect of propagation or does it perhaps reflect the upper limit of galactic acceleration processes? Are gamma-ray burst sources (GRBs) and/or active galactic nuclei (AGN) accelerators of ultra-high-energy cosmic rays (UHECR) as well as sources of high-energy photons? Are GRBs and/or AGNs also sources of high-energy neutrinos? If there are indeed particles with energies greater than the cutoff expected from propagation through the microwave background radiation, what are their sources? The purpose of this lecture is to introduce the main topics of the School and to relate the theoretical questions to the experiments that can answer them.
SERVICE AND CAPACITY OF PEOPLE MOVER SYSTEMS

People mover systems are being advocated as solutions to a wide range of urban transportation problems, including internal circulation within activity centers. People movers are most applicable where trip demands are uniform without extreme peaks, and concentrated at definitive node points well beyond acceptable walking distances. This type of trip pattern occurs at most airports and some activity centers but is not common within the typical central business district. Internal trip patterns within CBDs are comprised of many short multipurpose trips with high peaking characteristics and dispersed rather than concentrated desire lines. Trip patterns of this type are best accommodated by walking. Enhancement of pedestrianism within appropriate activity centers, by providing pedestrian only precincts and grade-separated convenience networks are practical and viable alternatives for improving their internal circulation. Many cities are implementing programs of this type.
Sloppy Hashing and Self-Organizing Clusters

We are building Coral, a peer-to-peer content distribution system. Coral creates self-organizing clusters of nodes that fetch information from each other to avoid communicating with more distant or heavily-loaded servers. Coral indexes data, but does not store it. The actual content resides where it is used, such as in nodes’ local web caches. Thus, replication happens exactly in proportion to demand. We present two novel mechanisms that let Coral achieve scalability and high performance. First, a new abstraction called a distributed sloppy hash table (DSHT) lets nodes locate nearby copies of a file, regardless of its popularity, without causing hot spots in the indexing infrastructure. Second, based on the DSHT interface, we introduce a decentralized clustering algorithm by which nodes can find each other and form clusters of varying network diameters.
Temporal-color space analysis of reflection

We propose a novel method to analyze a sequence of color images. A series of color images is examined in a four-dimensional space, which we call the temporal-color space, whose axes are the three color axes red, green, and blue and one temporal axis. The significance of the temporal-color space lies in its ability to represent the change of image color with time. A conventional color space analysis yields a histogram of the colors in an image, only for an instant of time. Conceptually, the two reflection components from the dichromatic-reflection model, the specular-reflection component and the body-reflection component, form two subspaces in temporal-color space. These two components can be extracted at each pixel in the image locally. Using this fact, we analyzed real color images and separated the two reflection components successfully. We did not make any assumptions about surface properties or the global distribution of surface normals. Finally, object shape was recovered.
A Bayesian method reexamined

This paper examines the "K2" network scoring metric of Cooper and Herskovits. It shows counterintuitive results from applying this metric to simple networks. One family of noninformative priors is suggested for assigning equal scores to equivalent networks.
Ring signature based on elgamal signature

Ring signature was first introduced by Rivest, Shamir and Tanman in 2001. In a ring signature, instead of revealing the actual identity of the message signer, it specifies a set of possible signers. The verifier can be convinced that the signature was indeed generated by one of the ring members, however, he is unable to tell which member actually produced the signature. Ring signature provides an elegant way to leak authoritative secrets in an anonymous way, and to implement designated-verifier signature schemes which can authenticate emails without undesired side effects. In this paper, we first propose a ring signature scheme based on ElGamal signature scheme. Comparing to ring signature based on RSA algorithm, the proposed scheme has three advantages. First, all ring members can use the same prime number p and operate in the same domain. Second, the proposed ring signature is inherently a convertible ring signature and enables the actual message signer to prove to a verifier that only he is capable of generating the ring signature. Third, multi-signer ring signature schemes can be generated from ElGamal signature schemes to increase the level of confidence or enforce cross organizational joint message signing.
COMMUNICATIVE EFFECTS OF GAZE BEHAVIOR: A Test of Two Contrasting Explanations

This experiment was undertaken to test two contrasting explanations of the effects of eye gaze on social perceptions and outcomes. A social meaning model holds that differing levels of gaze have such clear meaning that gaze alone accounts for the reactions to it. A nonverbal expectancy violations model holds that normative behaviors are expected in social interactions with strangers and that violating these expectations produces different results depending on whether the violator is deemed highly “rewarding” or “nonrewarding.” This experiment, the third in a series, proposed to extend the violations model by incorporating the concept of positive and negative types ofviolations. Subjects (N = 145) interviewed one of four confederate interviewees who manipulated one of three levels of eye gaze (nearly constant, normal, andnearly constant aversion) and who were assigned one of two levels of reward (highly qualified for the job or highly unqualified). Differential gaze behavior resulted in varied impressions of attraction, credibility, and relational communication, with gaze aversion producing consistently negative effects. Interpretations and communication consequences were mediated by reward, gender, and confederate differences.
Indonesian Agriculture and GATT

This paper attempts to determine the possible impacts of a General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) agreement on the Indonesian agricultural sector. The emphasis of the study is analytical. In particular, the study focuses on how eliminating internal price support policies and trade barriers will affect agricultural production, food security, the Indonesian trade position in world agricultural markets, and income distribution among the urban and rural sectors and low- and high-income farmers over the short and long terms. A liberalized trading system is expected to contribute to a stable Indonesian food supply.
Perfect Sequential Reciprocity and Dynamic Consistency

Dufwenberg and Kirchsteiger�s (2004) extends Rabin�s (1993) theory of reciprocity in a dynamic sense, introducing a rule of revision for player�s beliefs. The Sequential Reciprocity Equilibrium [SRE] they define can be dynamically inconsistent. In this article it is argued that such dynamic inconsistency is not intrinsically related to issues of reciprocity, but rather to the particular way the beliefs�updating process is modeled. A refinement of the SRE, which is both dynamically consistent and, it is argued, more sound to assumptions usually made in the literature of information economics and philosophy, is proposed.
Martingales and character ratios

Some general connections between martingales and character ratios of finite groups are developed. As an application we sharpen the convergence rate in a central limit theorem for the character ratio of a random representation of the symmetric group on transpositions. A generalization of these results is given for Jack measure on partitions. We also give a probabilistic proof of a result of Burnside and Brauer on the decomposition of tensor products.
A WWW Database of APS Poss Images

We have used the Automated Plate Scanner (APS) at the University of Minnesota to digitize glass copies of the blue and red plates of the original Palomar Observatory Sky Survey (POSS I) with |b| > 20°. The APS Image Database is a database of all digitized images larger than the photographic noise threshold. It includes all of the matched images in the object catalog, as well as those unmatched images above the noise threshold. The matched image data of the catalog has the advantage of confirming the reality of the image. This is especially important for small images near the plate limit. But these are not all of the detected real images; very blue or very red faint objects may be excluded by this matching requirement. The image database allows information on them to be retrieved, and is therefore a valuable complement to the object catalog. The operation of the APS and the scanning procedures are described in detail in Pennington et al. (1993). We are now processing plate data into the image database. A set of query forms, a tutorial and documentation can be found at http://isis.spa.umn.edu/IDB/homepage.idb.html.
Simultaneous assembly planning and assembly system design using multi-objective genetic algorithms

This paper aims to demonstrate the application of multi-objective evolutionary optimization, namely an adaptation of NSGA-II, to simultaneously optimize the assembly sequence plan as well as selection of the type and number of assembly stations for a production shop that produces three different models of wind propelled ventilators. The decision variables, which are the assembly sequences of each product and the machine selection at each assembly station, are encoded in a manner that allows efficient implementation of a repair operator to maintain the feasibility of the offspring. Test runs are conducted for the sample assembly system using a crossover operator tailored for the proposed encoding and some conventional crossover schemes. The results show overall good performance for all schemes with the best performance achieved by the tailored crossover, which illustrates the applicability of multi-objective GA's. The presented framework proposed is generic to be applicable to other products and assembly systems.
Structured mixing: heterogeneous mixing by the definition of activity groups

Motivated by the needs of our models of spread of HIV, we have devised a way of specifying non-random contacts between subgroups in a population. Population heterogeneity is characterized by dividing the population into disjoint subgroups, the population subgroups. The contacts of the population subgroups are then partitioned into activity groups. The activity groups are defined in terms of processes that drive the contacts or in terms of the arenas where contacts are made by specifying the allocations of the contacts of the population subgroups to activity groups. All mixing is within activity groups and may, in general, be by any mechanism that gives a symmetric contact matrix. This method handles heterogeneity in mixing in a simple manner while automatically satisfying the inherent constraints on contact matrices.
Auger and radiative deexcitation of the 1s2l3l prime configurations of lithium-like neon

The three-electron configurations of 1s2lambda3lambda of neon are observed in ion-atom collisions and beam foil excitation. Multiplet Auger and x ray transition rates obtained in intermediate coupling are calculated. Fluorescence yields are also computed.
Statistical physics of particles

Statistical physics has its origins in attempts to describe the thermal properties of matter in terms of its constituent particles, and has played a fundamental role in the development of quantum mechanics. Based on lectures taught by Professor Kardar at MIT, this textbook introduces the central concepts and tools of statistical physics. It contains a chapter on probability and related issues such as the central limit theorem and information theory, and covers interacting particles, with an extensive description of the van der Waals equation and its derivation by mean field approximation. It also contains an integrated set of problems, with solutions to selected problems at the end of the book and a complete set of solutions is available to lecturers on a password protected website at www.cambridge.org/9780521873420. A companion volume, Statistical Physics of Fields, discusses non-mean field aspects of scaling and critical phenomena, through the perspective of renormalization group.
Electron Dephasing in Mesoscopic Metal Wires

The low-temperature behavior of the electron phase coherence time, τφ, in mesoscopic metal wires has been a subject of controversy recently. Whereas theory predicts that τφ(T) in narrow wires should increase as T −2/3 as the temperature T is lowered, many samples exhibit a saturation of τφ below about 1 K. We review here the experiments we have performed recently to address this issue. In particular we emphasize that in sufficiently pure Ag and Au samples we observe no saturation of τφ down to our base temperature of 40 mK. In addition, the measured magnitude of τφ is in excellent quantitative agreement with the prediction of the perturbative theory of Altshuler, Aronov and Khmelnitskii. We discuss possible explanations why saturation of τφ is observed in many other samplex measured in our laboratory and elsewhere, and answer the criticisms raised recently by Mohanty and Webb regarding our work.
Distance shrinkage and Euclidean embedding via regularized kernel estimation

Summary Although recovering a Euclidean distance matrix from noisy observations is a common problem in practice, how well this could be done remains largely unknown. To fill in this void, we study a simple distance matrix estimate based on the so-called regularized kernel estimate. We show that such an estimate can be characterized as simply applying a constant amount of shrinkage to all observed pairwise distances. This fact allows us to establish risk bounds for the estimate, implying that the true distances can be estimated consistently in an average sense as the number of objects increases. In addition, such a characterization suggests an efficient algorithm to compute the distance matrix estimator, as an alternative to the usual second-order cone programming which is known not to scale well for large problems. Numerical experiments and an application in visualizing the diversity of Vpu protein sequences from a recent study of human immunodeficiency virus type 1 further demonstrate the practical merits of the method proposed.
Coloring the Cube with Rainbow Cycles

For every even positive integer $k\ge 4$ let $f(n,k)$ denote the minimim number of colors required to color the edges of the $n$ -dimensional cube $Q_n$ , so that the edges of every copy of the $k$ -cycle $C_k$ receive $k$ distinct colors. Faudree , Gy arfas, Lesniak and Schelp proved that $f(n,4)=n$ for $n=4$ or $n>5$ . We consider larger $k$ and prove that if $k \equiv 0$ (mod 4), then there are positive constants $c_1, c_2$ depending only on $k$ such that $$c_1n^{k/4} < f(n,k) < c_2 n^{k/4}.$$ Our upper bound uses an old construction of Bose and Chowla of generalized Sidon sets. For $k \equiv 2$ (mod 4), the situation seems more complicated. For the smallest case $k=6$ we show that $$3n-2 \le f(n, 6) < n^{1+o(1)}$$ with the lower bound holding for $n \ge 3$ . The upper bound is obtained from Behrend's construction of a subset of integers with no three term arithmetic progression.
Clearing Analysis on Phases: Exact Limiting Probabilities for Skip-Free, Unidirectional, Quasi-Birth-Death Processes

A variety of problems in computing, service, and manufacturing systems can be modeled via infinite repeating Markov chains with an infinite number of levels and a finite number of phases. Many such chains are quasi-birth-death processes with transitions that are skip-free in level, in that one can only transition between consecutive levels, and unidirectional in phase, in that one can only transition from lower-numbered phases to higher-numbered phases. We present a procedure, which we call Clearing Analysis on Phases (CAP), for determining the limiting probabilities of such Markov chains exactly. The CAP method yields the limiting probability of each state in the repeating portion of the chain as a linear combination of scalar bases raised to a power corresponding to the level of the state. The weights in these linear combinations can be determined by solving a finite system of linear equations.
Interpersonal Theory of Personality

The contemporary interpersonal theory of personality is a robust, interdisciplinary, and integrative nomological framework that continues to evolve both conceptually and methodologically, incorporating advances that keep pace with psychological science. In this chapter, we present the fundamental assumptions, descriptive meta-structure, and developmental, motivational, and regulatory processes of the contemporary integrative interpersonal theory of personality. Interpersonal theory provides a nomological net that facilitates interdisciplinary conceptualizations of normal and pathological personality development and functioning by emphasizing the interpersonal situation as a prominent unit of analysis. Organized by the metaconstructs of agency and communion, the empirically validated interpersonal circumplex model provides a key descriptive map of interpersonal constructs. Conceptualizing personality in terms of interpersonal themes and dynamics linked to agency and communion at multiple levels, and elaborating these through consideration of pathoplastic relationships, patterns of interpersonal intraindividual variability, and socially contextualized interpersonal signatures provides a framework for integration of personality dispositions and personality processes within a common metric that is directly tied to psychological theory. This comprehensive paradigm provides clear propositions for research on personality, psychopathology, and psychotherapy and their interpenetrating relationships. Keywords: personality; interpersonal; interpersonal circumplex; agency; communion