cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Does Social Security Privatization Produce Efficiency Gains

While privatizing social security can improve labor supply incentives, it can also reduce risk sharing. We analyze a 50% privatization using an overlapping-generations model where heterogeneous agents with elastic labor supply face idiosyncratic earnings shocks and longevity uncertainty. When wage shocks are insurable, privatization produces about $18,100 of extra resources for each future household after all transitional losses have been compensated for with lump-sum taxes. When wages are not insurable, privatization reduces efficiency by about $2,400 per future household. We check the robustness of these results to different model specifications as well as policy reforms and arrive at several surprising conclusions. First, privatization performs better in a closed economy, where interest rates decline with capital accumulation, than in an open economy. Second, privatization also performs better when an actuarially fair private annuity market does not exist. Third, government matching of private contributions on a progressive basis is not very effective at restoring efficiency and can actually cause harm.
Non-Exercise Activity Thermogenesis (NEAT)

Non-exercise activity thermogenesis (NEAT) is the energy expended for everything we do that is not sleeping, eating or sports-like exercise. NEAT can be measured by one of two approaches. The first approach is to measure or estimate total NEAT. Here, total daily energy expenditure is measured and from it, the basal metabolic rate-plus-thermic effect of food is subtracted. The second approach is the factoral approach whereby the components of NEAT are quantified and total NEAT calculated by summing these components. The amount of NEAT that humans perform represents the product of the amount and types of physical activities and the thermogenic cost of each activity. The factors that impact a human's NEAT are readily divisible in biological factors such as weight, gender and body composition and environmental factors such occupation or dwelling within a “concrete jungle.” The impact of these factors combined explains the substantial variance in human NEAT. The variability in NEAT might be viewed as random and unprogrammed but human data contradict this thesis. It appears that changes in NEAT accompany experimentally induced changes in energy balance and may be important in the physiology of weight change. NEAT and a sedentary lifestyle may thus be of profound importance in obesity
Assessment of damage in vasculitis: expert ratings of damage

Objectives. Current measures of damage in vasculitis do not account for the possibility that some forms of damage may exert greater impact than others. As part of an international effort to revise how damage is quantified in vasculitis clinical research, an exercise was performed to measure expert ratings of damage items. Methods. Members of the Vasculitis Clinical Research Consortium and European Vasculitis Study Group were given a list of 129 items of damage related to WG and microscopic polyangiitis (MPA). Participants were asked to rate each item of damage on an integer scale from 0 to 10, where 10 represented the most severe form of damage and 0 indicated ‘no impact’. Results. A multidisciplinary panel of 50 investigators from North America, Europe and Australia–New Zealand participated. The highest median ratings (8–10) were assigned to items of damage associated with malignancy, tissue ischaemia, the central nervous system and cardiopulmonary manifestations. The mean scores ranged from 1.3 to 9.5. The highest s.d.s (⩾2.5) were associated with forms of damage that may benefit from surgical intervention or may not be causally associated with WG or MPA. Lower scores were assigned by nephrologists in comparison with rheumatologists and by Americans in comparison to Europeans, although the difference in median ranks used by these groups was not statistically significant (P > 0.05 for the comparisons). Conclusions. This exercise represents an important step in the development of a weighting system that may increase the utility of damage index scores for the assessment of patients with vasculitis.
Anonymous Identification in Ad Hoc Groups

We introduce Ad hoc Anonymous Identification schemes, a new multi-user cryptographic primitive that allows participants from a user population to form ad-hoc groups, and then prove membership anonymously in such groups. Our schemes are based on the notion of accumulator with one-way domain, a natural extension of cryptographic accumulators we introduce in this work. We provide a formal model for Ad hoc Anonymous Identification schemes and design secure such schemes both generically (based on any accumulator with one-way domain) and for a specific efficient implementation of such an accumulator based on the Strong RSA Assumption. A salient feature of our approach is that all the identification protocols take time independent of the size of the ad-hoc group. All our schemes and notions can be generally and efficiently amended so that they allow the recovery of the signer’s identity by an authority, if the latter is desired.
The evolution of complex gene regulation by low-specificity binding sites

Requirements for gene regulation vary widely both within and among species. Some genes are constitutively expressed, whereas other genes require complex regulatory control. Transcriptional regulation is often controlled by a module of multiple transcription factor binding sites that, in combination, mediate the expression of a target gene. Here, we study how such regulatory modules evolve in response to natural selection. Using a population-genetic model, we show that complex regulatory modules which contain a larger number of binding sites must employ binding motifs that are less specific, on average, compared with smaller regulatory modules. This effect is extremely general, and it holds regardless of the selected binding logic that a module experiences. We attribute this phenomenon to the inability of stabilizing selection to maintain highly specific sites in large regulatory modules. Our analysis helps to explain broad empirical trends in the Saccharomyces cerevisiae regulatory network: those genes with a greater number of distinct transcriptional regulators feature less-specific binding motifs, compared with genes with fewer regulators. Our results also help to explain empirical trends in module size and motif specificity across species, ranging from prokaryotes to single-cellular and multi-cellular eukaryotes.
Single-laser two-step fluorescence detection of atomic hydrogen in flames

We describe a new single-laser, two-step fluorecence technique for detecting atomic hydrogen and demonstrate its application to flame measurements. This method provides the advantages of a previously demonstrated two-step method (two-photon 243-nm n = 1 → n = 2 excitation and subsequent single-photon 656-nm n = 2 → n = 3 excitation, by using two beams produced with two dye lasers) but with a much simpler experimental implementation (two-photon 243-nm n = 1 → n = 2 excitation and subsequent single-photon 486-nm n = 2 → 4 excitation, by using the fundamental and frequency-doubled beams from a single 486-nm dye laser).
Asymmetric power distribution: Theory and applications to risk measurement

SUMMARY Theoretical literature in finance has shown that the risk of financial time series can be well quantified by their expected shortfall, also known as the tail value-at-risk. In this paper, I construct a parametric estimator for the expected shortfall based on a flexible family of densities, called the asymmetric power distribution (APD). The APD family extends the generalized power distribution to cases where the data exhibits asymmetry. The first contribution of the paper is to provide a detailed description of the properties of an APD random variable, such as its quantiles and expected shortfall. The second contribution of the paper is to derive the asymptotic distribution of the APD maximum likelihood estimator (MLE) and construct a consistent estimator for its asymptotic covariance matrix. The latter is based on the APD score whose analytic expression is also provided. A small Monte Carlo experiment examines the small sample properties of the MLE and the empirical coverage of its confidence intervals. An empirical application to four daily financial market series reveals that returns tend to be asymmetric, with innovations which cannot be modeled by either Laplace (double-exponential) or Gaussian distribution, even if we allow the latter to be asymmetric. In an out-ofsample exercise, I compare the performances of the expected shortfall forecasts based on the APD-GARCH, Skew-t-GARCH and GPD-EGARCH models. While the GPD-EGARCH 1% expected shortfall forecasts seem to outperform the competitors, all three models perform equally well at forecasting the 5% and 10% expected shortfall. Copyright  2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Lower-Frequency Macroeconomic Fluctuations: Living Standards and Leisure

Although it is well known that aggregate variables have slow-moving stochastic components, research on macroeconomic ‡uctuations has focused primarily on high-frequency movements of the data. I document some interesting lower-frequency facts in U.S. postwar data and investigate whether dynamic stochastic general equilibrium (DSGE) models can explain these facts. One fact of particular interest is that hours worked per capita is negatively correlated with both output per capita and total factor productivity (TFP) at lower frequencies, in stark contrast to the positive comovement of these three variables at high frequencies. I show that this lower-frequency fact is puzzling for many DSGE models and explore a variety of candidate solutions to this puzzle. I demonstrate that preferences which depend on a time-varying reference level of consumption ("living standards") can rationalize the observed patterns. Finally, I discuss the relative merits of the "living standards" interpretation of the model to alternative interpretations.
THREE-DIMENSIONAL SIMULATIONS OF KELVIN-HELMHOLTZ INSTABILITY IN SETTLED DUST LAYERS IN PROTOPLANETARY DISKS

As dust settles in a protoplanetary disk, a vertical shear develops because the dust-rich gas in the midplane orbits at a rate closer to true Keplerian than the slower-moving dust-depleted gas above and below. A classical analysis (neglecting the Coriolis force and differential rotation) predicts that Kelvin-Helmholtz instability occurs when the Richardson number of the stratified shear flow is below roughly one-quarter. However, earlier numerical studies showed that the Coriolis force makes layers more unstable, whereas horizontal shear may stabilize the layers. Simulations with a three-dimensional spectral code were used to investigate these opposing influences on the instability in order to resolve whether such layers can ever reach the dense enough conditions for the onset of gravitational instability. I confirm that the Coriolis force, in the absence of radial shear, does indeed make dust layers more unstable, however the instability sets in at high spatial wavenumber for thicker layers. When radial shear is introduced, the onset of instability depends on the amplitude of perturbations: small amplitude perturbations are sheared to high wavenumber where further growth is damped; whereas larger amplitude perturbations grow to magnitudes that disrupt the dust layer. However, this critical amplitude decreases sharply for thinner, more unstable layers. In three-dimensional simulations of unstable layers, turbulence mixes the dust and gas, creating thicker, more stable layers. I find that layers with minimum Richardson numbers in the approximate range 0.2-0.4 are stable in simulations with horizontal shear.
Chemical approaches to triggerable lipid vesicles for drug and gene delivery

Effective drug delivery requires the precise spatial and temporal delivery of therapeutic agents to the target site. To this end, a variety of chemical and physicochemical approaches have been devised to create lipid vesicles (liposomes) that can be triggered to release their contents in a controlled fashion. The triggers include changes in pH, redox potential, temperature, or the level of specific enzymes. We review the chemistries that have recently been applied to exploit the pH and redox potential triggers so as to release vesicle contents in the appropriate biological location.
University–incubator firm knowledge flows: assessing their impact on incubator firm performance

Abstract Technology incubators are university-based technology initiatives that should facilitate knowledge flows from the university to the incubator firms. We thus investigate the research question of how knowledge actually flows from universities to incubator firms. Moreover, we assess the effect of these knowledge flows on incubator firm-level differential performance. Based on the resource-based view of the firm and the absorptive capacity construct, we advance the overarching hypothesis that knowledge flows should enhance incubator firm performance. Drawing on longitudinal and fine-grained firm-level data of 79 technology ventures incubated between 1998 and 2003 at the Advanced Technology Development Center, a technology incubator sponsored by the Georgia Institute of Technology, we find some support for knowledge flows from universities to incubator firms. Our evidence suggests that incubator firms’ absorptive capacity is an important factor when transforming university knowledge into firm-level competitive advantage.
On the radial component of the electric field for a monopole phased array antenna focused in the near zone

The near-zone radial and principal spherical components of the electric field for a linear phased array antenna that is focused at one to two aperture diameters in the near zone are investigated. The phased array antenna consists of thin monopole elements, which are analyzed by using the method of moments. A theoretical formulation is described and computer simulation results are presented. The results show that the radial component is negligible in the focused near-field region, which allows the principal component to be accurately computed from knowledge of only the tangential electric field on the focal plane. >
Microchips as Controlled Drug-Delivery Devices

Controlled-release systems are common in a number of product areas, including foods, cosmetics, pesticides, and paper. Microencapsulated systems, for example, are used for the release of flavors and vitamins in foods, fragrances in perfumes, and inks in carbonless copy paper. Controlled-release systems for drug delivery first appeared in the 1960s and 1970s. In the past three decades, the number and variety of controlled release systems for drug-delivery applications has increased dramatically. Many of these use polymers having particular physical or chemical characteristics such as biodegradability, biocompatibility, or responsiveness to pH or temperature changes. However, recent advances in the field of microfabrication have created the possibility of a new class of controlled-release systems for drug delivery, namely, that of small, programmable devices. Their small size, potential for integration with microelectronics, and ability to store and release chemicals on demand could make controlled-release microchips useful in a number of areas, including medical diagnostics, analytical chemistry, chemical detection, industrial process monitoring and control, combinatorial chemistry, microbiology, and fragrance delivery. More importantly, drug-delivery microchips resulting from this convergence of controlled release and microfabrication technologies may provide new treatment options to clinicians in their fight against disease.
Consumer price awareness in food shopping: the case of quantity surcharges

Abstract Quantity surcharges, higher unit prices on larger sizes than smaller sizes , are often found among grocery items. In this study we consider the question of why consumers buy surcharged goods. We hypothesize that it is the consequence of a failure to price search, and that some buyers purchase larger sizes in the belief they are cheaper, thus avoiding the need for price comparisons. In the analysis we examine canned tuna, using 1990 data from 54 grocery regions on sales, prices, and consumer demographics. Results support the hypothesis. We find evidence that buyers of surcharged items are mainly those with high time and information costs.
Sequential ring-closing metathesis/Pd-catalyzed, Si-assisted cross-coupling reactions: general synthesis of highly substituted unsaturated alcohols and medium-sized rings containing a 1,3-cis-cis diene unit

Abstract A sequential ring-closing metathesis/silicon-assisted cross-coupling protocol has been developed. Alkenyldimethylsilyl ethers of allylic, homoallylic and bis(homoallylic) alcohols undergo facile ring closure with Schrock's catalyst to afford 5-, 6-, and 7-membered cycloalkenylsiloxanes, respectively, in some cases with substituents on both alkenyl carbons. These siloxanes are highly effective coupling partners that afford styrenes and dienes (with various aryl and alkenyl halides) in high yield and specificity as well as good functional group compatibility. The siloxanes bearing a Z-iodoalkenyl tether undergo an intramolecular coupling process in the presence of [allylPdCl]2 which constitutes a powerful method for the construction of medium-sized rings with an internal 1,3-cis–cis diene unit. The formation of 9-, 10-, 11-, and 12-membered carbocyclic dienes is achieved in good yield. Extension to the synthesis of 9-membered ring unsaturated ethers has also been accomplished. Noteworthy features of this process include: (1) highly stereospecific intramolecular coupling, (2) flexible positioning of the revealed hydroxy group, and (3) potential extension to other medium-sized carbocycles and heterocycles.
A topology survey of single-stage power factor corrector with a boost type input-current-shaper

A topological review of the single stage power factor corrected (PFC) rectifiers is presented in this paper. Most reported single-stage PFC rectifiers cascade a boost-type converter with a forward or a flyback DC-DC converter so that input current shaping, isolation, and fast output voltage regulation are performed in one single stage. The cost and performance of single-stage PFC converters depend greatly on how its input current shaper (ICS) and the DC-DC converter are integrated together. For the cascade connected single-stage PFC rectifiers, the energy storage capacitor is found in either series or parallel path of energy flow. The second group appears to represent the main stream. Therefore, the focus of this paper is on the second group. It is found that many of these topologies can be implemented by combining a two-terminal or three-terminal boost ICS cell with DC-DC converter along with an energy storage capacitor in between. A general rule is observed that translates a three-terminal ICS cell to a two-terminal ICS cell using an additional winding from the transformer and vice verse. According to the translation rule, many of the reported single-stage PFC topologies can be viewed as electrically equivalent to one another. Several new PFC converters were derived from some existing topologies using the translation rule.
Prins-Type Cyclization Reactions in Natural Product Synthesis

Prins-type cyclization reactions proceed through the intramolecular addition of a π-nucleophile to an oxocarbenium ion or related species to generate a ring through carbon–carbon bond formation, often with excellent and predictable stereocontrol. The widespread presence of naturally occurring oxygen-containing heterocycles has made these reactions exceedingly valuable for total synthesis efforts. This microreview covers several common variations of Prins-type cyclizations and highlights their applicability to the total synthesis of natural products and analogs.
Biomedical diagnostics with elastic light scattering in cell suspensions and tissues

We review the principles and applications of elastically scattered light for noninvasive diagnostics and study of biological tissues and cells. The use of wavelengths from the ultraviolet to near-infrared as well as scattering effects of polarized light are discussed.
Epilepsy: a paroxysmal cerebral dysrhythmia.

Diseases change their names with increase, not of age (like Chinese children), but with increase of medical knowledge. Most disorders begin life bearing the name of the man who first recognized them or else they are temporarily tagged with some purely descriptive term. When the aetiology or pathology is discovered, the nomenclature is changed. Thus, consumption has become tuberculosis; locomotor ataxia has become tabes dorsalis; and palpitation of the heart has been classified into various disorders of cardiac rhythm as paroxysmal tachycardia, auricular fibrillation, c it is a paroxysmal cerebral dysrhythmia. This discovery places the study and understanding of epilepsy on a different and deeper level and requires a reorientation of our thinking. We say ‘‘a dysrhythmia,’’ because epilepsy is only one of many. For example, periodic breathing called ‘‘Cheyne–Stokes’’ respiration, is but the muscular registration of a medullary rhythm which is alternately slow and fast. Heart, viscera, endocrine glands, all have rhythms normal and abnormal. We have presented elsewhere details of observations [1–4] and certain interpretations of results [5,6]. At this time we shall review in brief outline seven new facts about epilepsy which we have gained in the last two and a half years by means of electro-encephalography. In this period we have made records of about 400 epileptic patients, examining many of them repeatedly. Of these patients, 120 had from one to hundreds of seizures while connected with the apparatus. With the exception of the pioneer observations of Berger, who published records of abnormal rhythm which occurred during seizures (fact one of our list), we believe the observations which we have presented, or now present, are new.
A Hypothesis Test for the End of a Common Source Outbreak

The objective of this article is to develop a hypothesis-testing procedure to determine whether a common source outbreak has ended. We consider the case when neither the calendar date of exposure to the pathogen nor the exact incubation period distribution is known. The hypothesis-testing procedure is based on the spacings between ordered calendar dates of disease onset of the cases. A simulation study was performed to evaluate the robustness of the methods to various models for the incubation period of infectious diseases. We investigated the impact of multiple testing on the overall outbreak-wise type I error probability. We derive expressions for the outbreak-wise type I error probability and show that multiple testing has minimal effect on inflating that error probability. The results are discussed in the context of the 2001 U.S. anthrax outbreak.
Choiceless polynomial time

Turing machines define polynomial time (PTime) on strings but cannot deal with structures like graphs directly, and there is no known, easily computable string encoding of isomorphism classes of structures. Is there a computation model whose machines do not distinguish between isomorphic structures and compute exactly PTime properties? This question can be recast as follows: Does there exist a logic that captures polynomial time (without presuming the presence of a linear order)? Earlier, one of us conjectured the negative answer. The problem motivated a quest of stronger and stronger PTime logics. All these logics avoid arbitrary choice. Here we attempt to capture the choiceless fragment of PTime. Our computation model is a version of abstract state machines (formerly called evolving algebras). The idea is to replace arbitrary choice with parallel execution. The resulting logic is more expressive than other PTime logics in the literature. A more difficult theorem shows that the logic does not capture all PTime.
Metal-free one-pot oxidative amination of aldehydes to amides.

Metal-free oxidative amination of aromatic aldehydes in the presence of TBHP provides convenient access to amides in 85−99% under mild reaction conditions within 5 h. This method avoids free carboxylic acid intermediates and integrates aldehyde oxidation and amide bond formation, which are usually accomplished separately, into a single operation. Proline-derived amides can be prepared in excellent yields without noticeable racemization.
Ferromagnetic resonance study of sputtered Co|Ni multilayers

We report on room temperature ferromagnetic resonance (FMR) studies of [ t Co|2t Ni] × N sputtered films, where 0.1 ≤ t ≤ 0.6 nm. Two series of films were investigated: films with the same number of Co|Ni bilayer repeats (N = 12), and samples in which the overall magnetic layer thickness is kept constant at 3.6 nm (N = 1.2/t). The FMR measurements were conducted with a high frequency broadband coplanar waveguide up to 50 GHz using a flip-chip method. The resonance field and the full width at half maximum were measured as a function of frequency for the field in-plane and field normal to the plane, and as a function of angle to the plane for several frequencies. For both sets of films, we find evidence for the presence of first and second order anisotropy constants, K1 and K2. The anisotropy constants are strongly dependent on the thickness t, and to a lesser extent on the total thickness of the magnetic multilayer. The Lande g-factor increases with decreasing t and is practically independent of the multilayer thickness. The magnetic damping parameter α, estimated from the linear dependence of the linewidth ΔH, on frequency, in the field in-plane geometry, increases with decreasing t. This behaviour is attributed to an enhancement of spin-orbit interactions with decreasing Co layer thickness and in thinner films, to a spin-pumping contribution to the damping.
Linear quadratic optimal learning control (LQL)

A learning control solution to the problem of finding a finite-time optimal control history that minimizes a quadratic cost is presented. Learning achieves optimization without requiring detailed k...
Searchable Sky Coverage of Astronomical Observations: Footprints and Exposures

Sky coverage is one of the most important pieces of information about astronomical observations. We discuss possible representations and present algorithms to create and manipulate shapes consisting of generalized spherical polygons with arbitrary complexity and size on the celestial sphere. This shape specification integrates well with our Hierarchical Triangular Mesh indexing toolbox, whose performance and capabilities are enhanced by the novel advanced features presented here. Our portable implementation of the relevant spherical geometry routines comes with wrapper functions for database queries, which are currently being used within several scientific catalog archives, including that of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey, the Galaxy Evolution Explorer, the UKIRT Infrared Deep Sky Survey, SuperCOSMOS, VISTA, Hubble Legacy Archive, and the Footprint Service of the Virtual Observatory.
VCG-Kelly Mechanisms for Allocation of Divisible Goods: Adapting VCG Mechanisms to One-Dimensional Signals

rdquoThe VCG-Kelly mechanism is proposed, which is obtained by composing the communication efficient, one- dimensional signaling idea of Kelly with the VCG mechanism, providing efficient allocation for strategic buyers at Nash equilibrium points. It is shown that the revenue to the seller can be maximized or minimized using a particular one-dimensional family of surrogate valuation functions.
The Emergence of Inter-Municipal Collaboration: Evidence from Metropolitan Planning in Portugal

Inter-organizational collaboration as a means for policy coordination has come to be seen as a solution to difficult and complex urban challenges. In Portugal, where metropolitan governance structures are highly fragmented, critics highlight the need for better coordination between municipalities—a situation typical in many countries. We seek to understand the forces behind the emergence of inter-municipal collaboration around land use and mobility issues, using a case study method. Based on nine cases from Portugal's two largest metropolitan areas, we test a model of inter-municipal collaboration, attempting to identify the factors and conditions which contribute to the emergence of collaborative relationships. The analysis suggests several points of validation as well as propositions for extending and refining the model. We find that collaboration is facilitated by a combination of positive incentives, ambiguity and flexibility in the institutional system, an external catalyst, existing inter-organizati...
Impact of satellite viewing-swath width on global and regional aerosol optical thickness statistics and trends

Abstract. We use the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) satellite aerosol optical thickness (AOT) product to assess the impact of reduced swath width on global and regional AOT statistics and trends. Along-track and across-track sampling strategies are employed, in which the full MODIS data set is sub-sampled with various narrow-swath (~ 400–800 km) and single pixel width (~ 10 km) configurations. Although view-angle artifacts in the MODIS AOT retrieval confound direct comparisons between averages derived from different sub-samples, careful analysis shows that with many portions of the Earth essentially unobserved, spatial sampling introduces uncertainty in the derived seasonal–regional mean AOT. These AOT spatial sampling artifacts comprise up to 60% of the full-swath AOT value under moderate aerosol loading, and can be as large as 0.1 in some regions under high aerosol loading. Compared to full-swath observations, narrower swath and single pixel width sampling exhibits a reduced ability to detect AOT trends with statistical significance. On the other hand, estimates of the global, annual mean AOT do not vary significantly from the full-swath values as spatial sampling is reduced. Aggregation of the MODIS data at coarse grid scales (10°) shows consistency in the aerosol trends across sampling strategies, with increased statistical confidence, but quantitative errors in the derived trends are found even for the full-swath data when compared to high spatial resolution (0.5°) aggregations. Using results of a model-derived aerosol reanalysis, we find consistency in our conclusions about a seasonal–regional spatial sampling artifact in AOT. Furthermore, the model shows that reduced spatial sampling can amount to uncertainty in computed shortwave top-of-atmosphere aerosol radiative forcing of 2–3 W m−2. These artifacts are lower bounds, as possibly other unconsidered sampling strategies would perform less well. These results suggest that future aerosol satellite missions having significantly less than full-swath viewing are unlikely to sample the true AOT distribution well enough to obtain the statistics needed to reduce uncertainty in aerosol direct forcing of climate.
Happiness for Sale: Do Experiential Purchases Make Consumers Happier than Material Purchases?

Previous theories have suggested that consumers will be happier if they spend their money on experiences such as travel as opposed to material possessions such as automobiles. We test this experience recommendation and show that it may be misleading in its general form. Valence of the outcome significantly moderates differences in respondents’ reported retrospective happiness with material versus experiential purchases. For purchases that turned out positively, experiential purchases lead to more happiness than do material purchases, as the experience recommendation suggests. However, for purchases that turned out negatively, experiences have no benefit over (and, for some types of consumers, induce significantly less happiness than) material possessions. We provide evidence that this purchase type by valence interaction is driven by the fact that consumers adapt more slowly to experiential purchases than to material purchases, leading to both greater happiness and greater unhappiness for experiential purchases.
Optimal Taxation with Endogenous Insurance Markets

In this paper, we study optimal tax policy in a dynamic private information economy. We describe e¢ cient allocations and competitive equilibria. The standard assumption in the literature is that trades are observable by all agents. We show that in such an environment the competitive equilibrium is e¢ cient and that government consumption can be …nanced by lump-sum taxation. We go on to consider an environment with unobservable trades in competitive markets. We show that e¢ cient allocations have the property that the marginal product of �
Crystal Structure of Thiogermanic Acid H4Ge4S10

X-ray diffraction analysis reveals the thiogermanic acid H(4)Ge(4)S(10) possesses discrete adamantane-like Ge(4)S(10)(4)(-) complex anions. Each thioanion is composed of four corner shared GeS(2.5)(-) tetrahedral units. Crystals were grown from anhydrous liquid hydrogen sulfide reactions with glassy germanium sulfide at room temperature. The crystal structure was solved and refined from single crystal diffractometer data (Mo Kalpha radiation) obtained at 173 K. H(4)Ge(4)S(10) is triclinic, centrosymmetric space group Ponemacr;, with a = 8.621(4) A, b = 9.899(4) A, c = 10.009(4) A, alpha = 85.963(7) degrees, beta = 64.714(7) degrees, gamma = 89.501(8) degrees, and Z = 2. Average bridging and terminal d(Ge-S) distances are 2.229 and 2.206 A, respectively. Vibrational mode assignments are reported from Raman scattering and IR absorption spectra of polycrystalline samples. The nu(s)(Ge-S-Ge) and nu(s)(Ge-S(-)) stretching modes are observed at 354 and 405 cm(-)(1), respectively.
Carbonate Mineral Precipitation for Soil Improvement through Microbial Denitrification

ABSTRACTMicrobially induced carbonate precipitation (MICP) and associated biogas production may provide sustainable means of mitigating a number of geotechnical challenges associated with granular soils. MICP can induce interparticle soil cementation, mineral precipitation in soil pore space and/or biogas production to address geotechnical problems such as slope instability, soil erosion and scour, seepage of levees and cutoff walls, low bearing capacity of shallow foundations, and earthquake-induced liquefaction and settlement. Microbial denitrification has potential for improving the mechanical and hydraulic properties of soils because it promotes precipitation of calcium carbonate (CaCO3) and produces nitrogen (N2) gas without generating toxic by-products. We evaluated the potential for inducing carbonate precipitation in soil via bacterial denitrification using bench-scale experiments with the facultative anaerobe Pseudomonas denitrificans. Bench-scale experiments were conducted (1) without calcium in...
Inception Point Relationship for Flat-Sloped Stepped Spillways

A two-dimensional, physical model was constructed to evaluate the air entrainment inception point location in a 4(H):1(V) stepped spillway. Step heights of 38, 76, and 152 mm were evaluated. The physical model was constructed with a broad-crested weir, and model unit discharges ranging from 0.11 m3 / ( s⋅m ) to 0.82 m3 / ( s⋅m ) were tested. Hubert Chanson developed a relationship for predicting the inception point location for primarily steep ( θ≥22° ) stepped spillways. In this study, Chanson’s relationship effectively predicts the location of the inception point for slopes as flat as 14° for Froude surface roughness values ( F∗ ) >10 which, in this study, corresponds to model step heights of 38 and 76 mm. A new relationship for predicting the location of the inception point was developed, applicable for flatter sloped ( θ≤22° ) stepped spillways with 1< F∗ <100 . This relationship is similar to Chanson’s, but it is optimized for flat-sloped stepped spillways with a broad-crested weir.
Tautomerism in nucleic acid bases and base pairs: a brief overview

This article provides a brief overview of current status of studies on nucleic acid bases and base pairs tautomeric properties in the different environments. Applications of high-level theoretical calculations have been found to be extremely useful in interpreting and enlightening complex experimental results. Actually, theory and experiments are complementary to each other and therefore it is not surprising that application of theoretical calculations were necessary to assign relatively higher energy tautomers of guanine in the gas phase. Inability to observe the stable tautomers in the laser-desorbed guanine in the jet-cooled beam demands more experiments and rigorous analysis. The usefulness of theoretical methods in the assignment of tautomeric forms of other bases and base pairs has also been discussed. Furthermore, we would like to state that recent surge in the high-level computation of system such as nucleic acid bases and base pairs is only possible due to the advancement in state-of-the-art computer hardware and computational algorithms. Afterward, it is not unexpected to assume that future investigations would utilize high-level quantum chemistry calculation more rigorously in explaining complex experimental data as well as in revealing new phenomena not studied by experiments. WIREs Comput Mol Sci 2013, 3:637–649. doi: 10.1002/wcms.1145 For further resources related to this article, please visit the WIREs website.
Predictions and Strategies for Integral-Field Spectroscopy of High-Redshift Galaxies

We investigate the ability of infrared integral-field spectrographs to map the velocity fields of high-redshift galaxies, presenting a formalism that can be applied to any telescope and imaging spectrograph system. We discuss the 5 σ limiting line fluxes that current integral-field spectrographs reach and extend this discussion to consider future large-aperture telescopes with cryogenically cooled adaptive reimaging optics. In particular, we simulate observations of spectral line emission from star-forming regions at redshifts z = 0.5–2.6 using a variety of spatial sampling scales and give predictions for the signal-to-noise ratio expected as a function of redshift. Using values characteristic of the Keck II telescope and the new OSIRIS spectrograph, we calculate integral-field signal-to-noise ratio maps for a sample of UnG color-selected star-forming galaxies at redshift z ~ 2–2.6 and demonstrate that OSIRIS will be able to reconstruct the two-dimensional projected velocity fields of these galaxies on scales of 100 mas (~1 kpc at redshift z ~ 2). With signal-to-noise ratios per spatial sample up to ~20, OSIRIS will in some cases be able to distinguish between merger activity and ordered disk rotation. Structures on scales smaller than 1 kpc may be detected by OSIRIS for particularly bright sources and will be easy targets for future 30 m class telescopes.
Coordination failure in an industrial society

Different macroeconomic theories of coordination failure are dealt with. Using simple models it is shown that externalities may lead to multiple Pareto-ranked equilibria or, under suitable assumptions, to a continuum of equilibria. It is argued that in industrial societies imperfect competition is predominant. Therefore, demand externalities may be the main cause of low level equilibria. Trading externalities and searching externalities may play a supplementary role. The theory of coordination failure is based on complete markets and price flexibility. Despite its strong appeal, it has certain shortcomings which are also discussed in the paper.
Efficient Mn(IV) Emission in Fluorine Coordination

The efficiency of Mn(IV) luminescence in fluorine coordination is discussed in the context of the chemical bonding in the center. It is possible that the lower degree of σ‐antibonding in the orbitals, and the greater degree of π‐antibonding in the orbitals, compared with the effect observed in oxides, contributes to a high efficiency and quenching temperature of the emission. The excitation and emission spectra of Mn(IV) in , , and are presented and compared.
An asymptotically Gaussian bound on the Rademacher tails

An explicit upper bound on the tail probabilities for the normalized Rademacher sums is given. This bound, which is best possible in a certain sense, is asymptotically equivalent to the corresponding tail probability of the standard normal distribution, thus affirming a longstanding conjecture by Efron. Applications to sums of general centered uniformly bounded independent random variables and to the Student test are presented.
The Welfare State versus the Common Labor Market: Which to Dismantle?

Migration by low-income workers limits the ability of a country to redistribute income, since more generous income supplements attract additional workers into the country, reducing wages and raising the cost of the program. This article studies the role of immigration controls, which allow the government to raise the real incomes of existing immigrants without causing additional immigration. Paradoxically, immigration controls may lead to higher equilibrium levels of immigration in a common labor market, and those low-income individuals left behind in the source countries may be better off. Simply stated, a host country benefits more from immigrants when they are not impoverished, and immigration controls enable the country to eliminate impoverishment. Thus, the country is willing to increase the number of immigrants that it allows within its borders. After obtaining this insight from the basic model, the article discusses some extensions and qualifications. Copyright , Oxford University Press.
Definitional Interpreters for Higher-Order Programming Languages

Higher-order programming languages (i.e., languages in which procedures or labels can occur as values) are usually defined by interpreters that are themselves written in a programming language based on the lambda calculus (i.e., an applicative language such as pure LISP). Examples include McCarthy‘s definition of LISP, Landin‘s SECD machine, the Vienna definition of PL/I, Reynolds‘ definitions of GEDANKEN, and recent unpublished work by L. Morris and C. Wadsworth. Such definitions can be classified according to whether the interpreter contains higher-order functions, and whether the order of application (i.e., call by value versus call by name) in the defined language depends upon the order of application in the defining language. As an example, we consider the definition of a simple applicative programming language by means of an interpreter written in a similar language. Definitions in each of the above classifications are derived from one another by informal but constructive methods. The treatment of imperative features such as jumps and assignment is also discussed.
Enantioselective synthesis of α-aminopropargylphosphonates

Abstract α-Aminopropargylphosphonates have been synthesized for the first time in good yields and enantiomeric excesses (up to 81% ee) by using a copper(I)–pybox complex as the catalyst.
A simple strategy for varying the restart parameter in GMRES(m)

When solving a system of linear equations with the restarted GMRES method, a fixed restart parameter is typically chosen. We present numerical experiments that demonstrate the beneficial effects of changing the value of the restart parameter in each restart cycle on the total time to solution. We propose a simple strategy for varying the restart parameter and provide some heuristic explanations for its effectiveness based on analysis of the symmetric case.
SURVEY FOR TRANSITING EXTRASOLAR PLANETS IN STELLAR SYSTEMS. I. FUNDAMENTAL PARAMETERS OF THE OPEN CLUSTER NGC 1245

We derive fundamental parameters for the old, rich, open cluster NGC 1245 using BVI photometry from the MDM 1.3 m and 2.4 m telescopes. Based on detailed isochrone fitting, we find that NGC 1245 has a slightly subsolar metallicity, [Fe/H] = -0.05 ± 0.03 (statistical) ± 0.08 (systematic) and an age of 1.04 ± 0.02 ± 0.09 Gyr. In contrast to previous studies, we find no evidence of significant differential reddening. We determine an extinction of AV = 0.68 ± 0.02 ± 0.09 mag and a distance modulus of (m - M)0 = 12.27 ± 0.02 ± 0.12 mag, which corresponds to a distance of 2.8 ± 0.2 kpc. We derive a logarithmic mass function slope for the cluster of α = -3.12 ± 0.27, where a Salpeter slope is α = -1.35. Fits to the radial surface density profile yield a core radius of rc = 310 ± 052 (2.57 ± 0.47 pc). NGC 1245 is highly relaxed and contains a strongly mass-segregated population. The mass function for the inner cluster has a very shallow slope, α = -0.56 ± 0.28. In contrast, the outer periphery of the cluster is enriched with low-mass members and devoid of high-mass members out to the tidal radius, rt = 20' (16.5 pc). Based on the observed surface density profile and an extrapolated mass function, we derive a total cluster mass, M = 1300 ± 90 ± 170 M⊙.
Transient chaos and resonant phase mixing in violent relaxation

This paper explores how orbits in a galactic potential can be impacted by large-amplitude time-dependences of the form that one might associate with galaxy or halo formation or strong encounters between pairs of galaxies. A period of time-dependence with a strong, possibly damped, oscillatory component can give rise to large amounts of transient chaos, and it is argued that chaotic phase mixing associated with this transient chaos could play a major role in accounting for the speed and efficiency of violent relaxation. Analysis of simple toy models involving time-dependent perturbations of an integrable Plummer potential indicates that this chaos results from a broad, possibly generic, resonance between the frequencies of the orbits and harmonics thereof and the frequencies of the time-dependent perturbation. Numerical computations of orbits in potentials exhibiting damped oscillations suggest that, within a period of 10 dynamical times t D or so, one could achieve simultaneously both ‘near-complete’ chaotic phase mixing and a nearly time-independent, integrable end state.
Distributed spectrum-efficient routing algorithms in wireless networks

This paper applies spectral efficiency as a performance measure for routing schemes and considers how to obtain a good route in a wireless network. The objective for this study is to combine different perspectives from networking and information theory in the design of routing schemes. The problem of finding the optimum route with the maximum spectral efficiency is difficult to solve in a distributed fashion. Motivated by an information-theoretic analysis, this paper proposes two suboptimal alternatives, namely, the approximatelyideal- path routing (AIPR) scheme and the distributed spectrumefficient routing (DSER) scheme. AIPR finds a path to approximate an optimum regular path and requires location information. DSER is more amenable to distributed implementations based on the Bellman-Ford or Dijkstra?s algorithms. The spectral efficiencies of AIPR and DSER for random networks approach that of nearest-neighbor routing in the low signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) regime and that of single-hop routing in the high SNR regime. In the moderate SNR regime, the spectral efficiency of DSER is up to twice that of nearest-neighbor or single-hop routing.
Three-color photodetector based on quantum dots and resonant-tunneling diodes coupled with conductive polymers

Abstract A novel design of photodetector was proposed which is based on quantum dots resonant-tunneling diodes (QDRTD) coupled with conductive polymers. By using PPV, PVK, and SiHMFPV polymers as the photon absorption region, the device can detect photons with three different wavelengths in the UV–visible range. The device characteristics were investigated theoretically in terms of its transmission coefficient and I–V curves. Moreover, the low frequency current noise of the device was analyzed using a modified Hooge’s empirical model. The minimum light sensitivity of the device was estimated to be in the order of 0.01 nW/cm2.