cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Consensus over networks with dynamic channels

In this paper, we investigate the consensus problem over communication networks where the communication channels are represented by stable Linear Time Invariant (LTI) systems. We give the necessary and sufficient condition to reach consensus under our protocol and show that the consensus value is not only determined by the agents' initial states and the network topology but also by the channels' dynamics. We further show that if the H ∞ norm of each channel filter is equal to its DC gain, the extended protocol will solve the consensus problem. This result is interpreted in terms of consensus robustness to channel uncertainty and compared with another robustness condition for a different uncertainty class.
Earnings Sharing in the U.S. Social Security System: A Microsimulation Analysis of Future Female Retirees

495 Purpose: As part of an ongoing effort to analyze the distributional implications of potential policy reforms to the U.S. Social Security system, we consider the widely discussed reform of earnings sharing. Such an approach has been viewed as a way to “update” Social Security’s family benefits based on marital sta tus and as a means to make the system more marriage neutral. Design and Methods: We use the Social Security Administration’s Modeling Income in the Near Term model to simulate the distributional effects of two earnings sharing alternatives, a basic option and a modified inheritance option, on the projected retiree population in 2030. We focus our analysis on uncovering how different subgroups of women would be affected under the alternative system. Results: Widows and surviving divorced women, particularly those in lower socioeconomic groups, would face some of the steepest benefit decreases. Adding an inheritance provision would mitigate reductions across the board; however, it may not provide as much benefit adequacy to widows as might be expected. Implication: Certain groups of women would fare far better under the current Social Security system than under earnings sharing. Linking benefits with earnings sharing would be particularly problematic for lower income widows and single-earner married couples. Nevermarried persons are unaffected.
Trivial Meet and Join within the Lattice of Monotone Triangles

The lattice of monotone triangles (Mn;6) ordered by entry-wise comparisons is studied. Let min denote the unique minimal element in this lattice, and max the unique maximum. The number of r-tuples of monotone triangles ( 1;:::; r) with minimal inmum min (maximal supremum max, resp.) is shown to asymptotically approach rjMnj r 1 as n!1. Thus, with high probability this event implies that one of the i is min ( max, resp.). Higher-order error terms are also discussed.
Design considerations for solar energy harvesting wireless embedded systems

Sustainable operation of battery powered wireless embedded systems (such as sensor nodes) is a key challenge, and considerable research effort has been devoted to energy optimization of such systems. Environmental energy harvesting, in particular solar based, has emerged as a viable technique to supplement battery supplies. However, designing an efficient solar harvesting system to realize the potential benefits of energy harvesting requires an in-depth understanding of several factors. For example, solar energy supply is highly time varying and may not always be sufficient to power the embedded system. Harvesting components, such as solar panels, and energy storage elements, such as batteries or ultracapacitors, have different voltage-current characteristics, which must be matched to each other as well as the energy requirements of the system to maximize harvesting efficiency. Further, battery non-idealities, such as self-discharge and round trip efficiency, directly affect energy usage and storage decisions. The ability of the system to modulate its power consumption by selectively deactivating its sub-components also impacts the overall power management architecture. This paper describes key issues and tradeoffs which arise in the design of solar energy harvesting, wireless embedded systems and presents the design, implementation, and performance evaluation of Heliomote, our prototype that addresses several of these issues. Experimental results demonstrate that Heliomote, which behaves as a plug-in to the Berkeley/Crossbow motes and autonomously manages energy harvesting and storage, enables near-perpetual, harvesting aware operation of the sensor node.
Release adiabat measurements on minerals: The effect of viscosity

The current inversion of pressure-particle velocity data for release from a high-pressure shock state to a pressure-density path usually depends critically upon the assumption that the release process is isentropic. It has been shown by Kieffer and Delaney that for geological materials below stresses of ∼150 GPa, the effective viscosity must be ≲10^3kg m^(−1) s^(−1) (10^4 P) in order that the viscous (irreversible) work carried out on the material in the shock state remains small in comparison to the mechanical work recovered upon adiabatic rarefaction. The available data pertaining to the offset of the Rayleigh line from the Hugoniot curve for minerals, the magnitude of the shear stress in the high-pressure shock state for minerals, and the direct measurements of the viscosities of several engineering materials shocked to pressures below 150 GPa yield effective viscosities of ∼10^3kg m^(−1) s^(−1) or less. We infer that this indicates that the conditions for isentropic release of minerals from shock states are achieved, at least approximately, and we conclude that the application of the Riemann integral to obtain pressure-density states along the release adiabats of minerals in shock experiments is valid.
Transmission of High-Frequency Sound Waves Through a Slug Flow Jet

An analysis has been performed of sound waves which propagate in a pipe with gas flow. At the pipe exit these waves are partially reflected and the remainder are diffracted. The analysis is carried out by resolving the sound at the exit into its Fourier components and then continuing the solution, which is a combination of elementary plane waves, beyond the exit. These waves are of two types: homogeneous waves which propagate to infinity, and inhomogeneous waves with complex wave numbers which decay. The reflected waves are evaluated from the inhomogeneous waves. At the boundary of the jet, refraction of the elementary plane waves is accounted for and the far field sound is evaluated by the method of stationary phase. Comparisons of the theoretical calculations are made with experimental results and with calculations of other theories.
Infrared fine-structure line diagnostics of shrouded active galactic nuclei

The ultraluminous far-IR galaxies revealed by IRAS, quasar-like in luminosity but smothered in molecular gas, probably conceal either immense starbursts or luminous active nuclei. In both scenarios, these objects ought to produce copious infrared fine-structure emission with several lines comparable to H-beta in luminosity. We show how these lines, if detected, can be used to determine the electron densities and far-IR obscurations of shrouded photoionized regions and to constrain the shape and ionization parameter of the ionizing spectra. The presence of Ne v emission in particular will distinguish shrouded AGNs from shrouded starbursts. Since all active galaxies photoionize at least some surrounding material, these diagnostics can also be applied to active galaxies in general and will aid in studying how an active nucleus interacts with the interstellar medium of its host galaxy.
Last House on the Hill: Digitally remediating data and media for preservation and access

The aim of our project, Last House on the Hill (LHotH), is to holistically reconstitute the rich multimedia and primary research data with the impressive texts of the monograph, the printed final report of the Berkeley Archaeologists at Catalhoyuk (BACH) project, in which a team from UC Berkeley excavated a group of Neolithic 9000-year old buildings at this famous cultural heritage location in Central Anatolia, Turkey. The Last House on the Hill brings together the published text, complete project database (including all media formats such as photographs, videos, maps, line drawings), related Web sites, data and media outside the direct domain of the BACH project, and recontextualized presentations of the data as remixes, movies, and other interpretive works by BACH team members and many others. We are achieving this through an event-centered, CIDOC-CRM-compatible implementation ontology, expressed through an open-source Web publishing platform, providing open access, transparency and open-endedness to what is normally the closed and final process of monograph publication.The idea of embedding, interweaving, entangling, and otherwise linking the data and media from archaeological excavations with their interpretation and meaningful presentation in an open access sharable platform has long been an ambition of those of us working in the digital documentation of archaeological research and the public presentation of cultural heritage. Formidable barriers still exist to making it possible for projects to achieve these aims, ranging from intellectual property concerns to providing commitments to the long-term sustainability of the digital content. We believe that our event-centered implementation ontology will make it far easier for archaeologists and researchers in other disciplines to organize, manage, and share their data while gaining the significant benefits of the CIDOC-CRM framework.This article describes the strategy, goals, architecture, and implementation for the project, emphasizing the novel and innovative approaches that were required to make the project successful.
Status of 3.9 GHz superconducting rf cavity technology at Fermilab

Fermilab is involved in an effort to assemble 3.9 GHz superconducting RF cavities into a four cavity cryomodule for use at the DESY TTF/FLASH facility as a third harmonic structure. The design gradient of the cavities is 14 MV/m. This effort involves design, fabrication, intermediate testing, assembly, and eventual delivery of the cryomodule. We report on all facets of this enterprise from design through future plans. Included will be test results of single 9-cell cavities, lessons learned, and current status.
Generating parsers for BNF grammars

The procedure described herein is in essence an extension, albeit a simplification, of the work Earley which in turn was based on Evans, Feldman, Floyd, and Standish. For a large subset of grammars, the procedure maps the Backus Naur Form (BNF) definition of the grammar of a language into a deterministic, left-to-right parser for the sentences in that language. It is shown below that the procedure by design, covers all bounded right context grammars and, as a by-product, some LR(k) grammars which are not bounded right context. See Knuth for the definitions of these classes of grammars. If two parameters are incorporated a priori into the procedure, one limiting the look-back and the other limiting the look-ahead capabilities of the parser to be generated, an algorithm results. For each BNF grammar G the algorithm either rejects G as not bounded right context for the specified limits or it generates a parser for G.
Overlay protection against link failures using network coding

This paper introduces a network coding-based protection scheme against single- and multiple-link failures. The proposed strategy ensures that in a connection, each node receives two copies of the same data unit: one copy on the working circuit and a second copy that can be extracted from linear combinations of data units transmitted on a shared protection path. This guarantees instantaneous recovery of data units upon the failure of a working circuit. The strategy can be implemented at an overlay layer, which makes its deployment simple and scalable. While the proposed strategy is similar in spirit to the work of Kamal in 2007 2010, there are significant differences. In particular, it provides protection against multiple-link failures. The new scheme is simpler, less expensive, and does not require the synchronization required by the original scheme. The sharing of the protection circuit by a number of connections is the key to the reduction of the cost of protection. This paper also conducts a comparison of the cost of the proposed scheme to the 1 + 1 and shared backup path protection (SBPP) strategies and establishes the benefits of our strategy.
Is the chiral phase transition induced by a metal-insulator transition?

We investigate the QCD Dirac operator with gauge configurations given by a liquid of instantons in the region of temperatures about the chiral phase transition. Both the quenched and unquenched cases are examined in detail. We present evidence of a localization transition in the low lying modes of the Dirac operator around the same temperature as the chiral phase transition. Thus both level statistics and eigenvectors of the QCD Dirac operator at the chiral phase transition have similar properties than those of a disordered conductor at the metal-insulator transition. This strongly suggests the phenomenon of Anderson localization (localization by destructive quantum interference) is the leading physical mechanism in the restoration of the chiral symmetry. Finally we argue that our findings are not in principle restricted to the ILM approximation and may also be found in lattice simulations.
Evaporation Kinetics in the Hanging Drop Method of Protein Crystal Growth

We present an engineering analysis of the rate of evaporation of solvent in the hanging drop method of protein crystal growth. Our results are applied to 18 different drop and well arrangements commonly encountered in the laboratory. We take into account the chemical nature of the salt, the drop size and shape, the drop concentration, the well size, the well concentration, and the temperature. We find that the rate of evaporation increases with temperature, drop size, and with the salt concentration difference between the drop and the well. The evaporation possesses no unique half-life. Once the salt in the drop achieves about 80% of its final concentration, further evaporation suffers from the law of diminishing returns.
A comparison of the ene reactions of singlet oxygen and triazolinediones with alkyl substituted tetramethylethylenes.

Abstract The reactions of triazolinediones and singlet oxygen are compared in their reactivity towards a series of tetrasubstituted olefins. The different regiochemistries of these reactions are discussed.
Is there such a thing as landscape genetics

For a scientific discipline to be interdisciplinary, it must satisfy two conditions; it must consist of contributions from at least two existing disciplines, and it must be able to provide insights, through this interaction, that neither progenitor discipline could address. In this study, I examine the complete body of peer-reviewed literature self-identified as landscape genetics (LG) using the statistical approaches of text mining and natural language processing. The goal here was to quantify the kinds of questions being addressed in LG studies, the ways in which questions are evaluated mechanistically, and how they are differentiated from the progenitor disciplines of landscape ecology and population genetics. I then circumscribe the main factions within published LG studies examining the extent to which emergent questions are being addressed and highlighting a deep bifurcation between existing individual- and population-based approaches. I close by providing some suggestions on where theoretical and analytical work is needed if LGs is to serve as a real bridge connecting evolution and ecology sensu lato.
Partition functions of higher spin black holes and their CFT duals

We find black hole solutions of D = 3 higher-spin gravity in the hs[λ] ⊕ hs[λ] Chern-Simons formulation. These solutions have a spin-3 chemical potential, and carry nonzero values for an infinite number of charges of the asymptotic $ {\mathcal{W}_\infty }\left[ \lambda \right] $ symmetry. Applying a previously developed set of rules for ensuring smooth solutions, we compute the black hole partition function perturbatively in the chemical potential. At λ = 0, 1 we compare our result against boundary CFT computations involving free bosons and fermions, and find perfect agreement. For generic λ we expect that our gravity result will match the partition function of the coset CFTs conjectured by Gaberdiel and Gopakumar to be dual to these bulk theories.
Angle-domain common-image gathers in generalized coordinates

The theory of angle-domain common-image gathers (ADCIGs) is extended to migrations performed in generalized 2D coordinate systems. I have developed an expression linking the definition of reflection opening angle to differential traveltime operators and spatially varying weights derived from the non-Cartesian geometry. Generalized-coordinate ADCIGs can be calculated directly using Radon-based offset-to-angle approaches for coordinate systems satisfying the Cauchy-Riemann differentiability criteria. The canonical examples of tilted-Cartesian, polar, and elliptical coordinates can be used to illustrate the ADCIG theory. I have compared analytically and numerically generated image volumes for a set of elliptically shaped reflectors. Experiments with a synthetic data set showed that elliptical-coordinate ADCIGs better resolve the reflection opening angles of steeply dipping structure, relative to conventional Cartesian image volumes, because of improved large-angle propagation and enhanced sensitivity to stee...
Reducing degradation of forests in poor countries when permanent solutions elude us: what instruments do we really have?

This paper evaluates policies for addressing forest degradation in developing country hill areas, where agriculture is the major activity and villagers depend on forests for important economic inputs. Population growth, poverty, and open access probably explain most 'overuse' in such areas, but these are very difficult, long-term problems. The paper argues that under such conditions interim demand-side policies should be seriously considered, but the case is also made that the set of feasible instruments is quite small. Focusing on the case of Nepal, two instruments for reducing fuelwood demand â€“ promotion of more efficient, wood-burning cookstoves and policies that reduce the prices of alternative fuels (e.g., through subsidies) â€“ are evaluated. Using a simple analytical model and results from two household surveys conducted in Nepal, it is concluded that promoting improved stoves is a much more efficient and equitable instrument than, for example, subsidizing the major alternative fuel, which is kerosene. The cost of fuelwood saved using improved stoves is predicted to be a very low $2.77 per metric ton.
The Thermal Design of a Next Generation Data Center: A Conceptual Exposition

In the near future, electronic cabinets of data centers will house high performance chips with heat fluxes approaching 100 W/cm2 and associated high volumetric heat generation rates. With the power trends in the electronic cabinets indicating 60 kW cabinets in the near future, the current cooling systems of data centers will be insufficient and new solutions will need to be explored. Accordingly, the key issue that merits investigation is identifying and satisfying the needed specifications of the new thermal solutions, considering the design environment of the next generation data centers. Anchoring our work in the open engineering system paradigm, we identify the requirements of the future thermal solutions and explore various design specifications of an ideally open thermal solution for a next generation data center. To approach an open cooling system for the future data centers, the concept of a thermal solution centered on the multiscale (multilevel) nature of the data centers is discussed. The potential of this solution to be open, along with its theoretical advantages compared with the typical air-cooling solutions, is demonstrated through some scenarios. The realization problems and the future research needs are highlighted to achieve a practical open multiscale thermal solution in data centers. Such solution is believed to be both effective and efficient for the next generation data centers.
How end-stage renal disease (ESRD)-medicare developed.

Uremia is a chemical, toxic, potentially fatal condition. In a variable pattern, uremia ultimately kills almost every cell in the body. Uremia is produced by hundreds of diseases, both kidney and systemic (e.g., diabetes). These kinds of uremic conditions range from the acute and catastrophic to the slowly and moderately progressive. Humans and medicine have struggled at least since Hippocrates to understand, prevent and treat uremia and thereby prolong the useful lives of the young and the aging. Accelerated by the spectacle of premature uremic deaths from crush syndrome, shock, and forms of nephritis during major wars and disasters, medicine fused clinical and basic science with industrial technology and came up with two effective treatments. Dialysis in several modes and kidney transplantation became feasible but proved complex and expensive. How people, struggling to survive, were able to use a representative form of government to treat all kidney patients, forms a human story: A "people" story. Since it culminated within a single medical generation, it is possible to tell the story as a participant and eye-witness. This is how the medical, social and national organization of substitution therapy for uremia evolved. Since it is legislatively called end-stage renal disease, we titled the entitlement, "How ESRD-Medicare Developed."
Constant-current charging supplies for the Advanced Photon Source (APS) linear accelerator modulators

The APS linac beam energy must be stable to within /spl plusmn/1% to match the energy acceptance of the positron accumulator ring. The klystron pulse modulators must therefore provide a pulse-to-pulse repeatability of 0.1% in order for the beam to have the required energy stability. The modulators have had difficulty achieving the necessary repeatability since the pulse forming network (PFN) charging scheme does not include a deQing circuit. Several of the major charging circuit components are also less reliable than desired. In order to increase operating reliability and to improve pulse-to-pulse stability, it is planned to replace the high voltage power supplies in all modulators with constant-current power supplies. A new modulator charging supply that contains two EMI series 303 constant-current power supplies was constructed.
Synthesis of Isocoumarins and α-Pyrones via Electrophilic Cyclization

A variety of substituted isocoumarins and α-pyrones are readily prepared in excellent yields under very mild reaction conditions by the reaction of o-(1-alkynyl)benzoates and (Z)-2-alken-4-ynoates with ICl, I2, PhSeCl, p-O2NC6H4SCl, and HI. This methodology accommodates various alkynyl esters and has been successfully extended to the synthesis of polycyclic aromatic and biaryl compounds.
Global Regularity of the 3D Axi-symmetric Navier-Stokes Equations with Anisotropic Data

In this paper, we study the 3D axisymmetric Navier–Stokes equations with swirl. We prove the global regularity of the 3D Navier–Stokes equations for a family of large anisotropic initial data. Moreover, we obtain a global bound of the solution in terms of its initial data in some L p norm. Our results also reveal some interesting dynamic growth behavior of the solution due to the interaction between the angular velocity and the angular vorticity fields.
Direct simulation of low-density flow over airfoils

The low-density aerodynamics about airfoils in the transition region is considered using a direct simulation Monte Carlo method. Numerical results are presented for two airfoils (the NACA-0009 and a 9% thick, circular- arc airfoil) traveling at Mach 4 and 5, at an angle of attack of 1.25 deg and altitudes 56 and 62 miles above sea level. The flow, having a Knudsen number range between 0.47-1.15 and a Reynolds number range between 15-114, departs considerably from the continuum theory. Results indicate that both lift and drag are very much penalized in the transition region. In contrast with previous work on slightly rarefied flow with smaller Knudsen numbers (slip flow regime), the effect of rarefaction becomes much more dominant than that due to viscosity. URRENT interest in high-altitude flight has prompted new exploration of low-density aerodynamics. Unfor- tunately, the theoretical models and computational capabil- ities developed to date have proven insufficient to fully char- acterize these flows. The difficulty has to do with the high degree of rarefaction of the flow. The low-density flows of interest occur in a region between the continuum flow region and the molecular flow region. In this "transition region," the concept of transport coefficients (which are the basis for the Navier-Stokes equations) becomes invalid. Thus, the tra- ditional Navier-Stokes analysis ceases to give accurate results. The objective of this research is to investigate the flow physics of high-altitude flight and to develop a new computational scheme for assessing vehicle performance in this important flow region. In order to achieve sufficient lift for level flight, a high- altitude vehicle must fly at high speed. A typical flight en- velope would include freestream Mach numbers between 3 and 15, at an altitude of 30-60 miles above sea level. This flight regime, although considerably beyond the capability of existing aircraft, lies within the flight envelope of the National Aerospace Plane (X-30). The aerodynamic challenge is to achieve sufficiently high-lift coefficients, at the prescribed al- titudes but at a relatively low Mach number, so that certain hypersonic flow problems (such as heat transfer, chemical reactions, and surface catalytic activities) can be circum- vented. In contrast with continuum flow, transitional flow requires a higher-order approximation to the Boltzmann equation. Nu- merical solution to the Boltzmann equation consists of 1) evaluation of the collision integral; and 2) integration of the differential equation. Although the integral form of the col- lision term causes much of the mathematical difficulty in solv- ing the Boltzmann equation, the use of the velocity space coordinates as independent variables in partial differential equations requires large amounts of computer time and stor- age. The advert of high-speed computers has spurred the development of numerical solutions to the Boltzmann equa- tion for several basic, one-dimensional cases.1
Comprehensive, nonintercepting electron-beam diagnostics using spontaneous-emission characteristics

Characterization and optimization of electron-beam parameters are important aspects of optimizing free-electron-laser (FEL) performance. The visible spontaneous emission (λ ≈ 650 nm) from the 5 m long undulator of the Boeing FEL experiment can be characterized in sufficient detail with a streak/spectrometer to deduce time-resolved electron-beam spatial position and profile, micropulse duration and energy.
Hydroaminomethylation Beyond Carbonylation: Allene–Imine Reductive Coupling by Ruthenium‐Catalyzed Transfer Hydrogenation

Ruthenium(II)-catalyzed hydrogen transfer from 2-propanol mediates reductive coupling of 1,1-disubstituted allenes with formaldimines with complete branch-regioselectivity, thus representing a new method for hydroaminomethylation beyond classical hydroformylation/reductive amination.
Probabilistic Approach to Damage Tolerance Design of Aircraft Composite Structures

*† A probabilistic approach to determine design parameters for damage-tolerant composite aircraft structures has been developed. The main criterion for acceptance of a structure is a specified probability of failure. The development of this approach is motivated by the increasing use of damage-sensitive composite aircraft structures. The resulting probabilistic model takes into account a probabilistic assessment of in-service accumulated damage, the ability of non-destructive inspection methods to detect such damage, the residual strength degradation of damaged structure, quality of repair and loads/temperatures expected between damage initiation and detection/repair. The special attention has been paid to the availability of input probabilistic data and the possibility to obtain such data at reasonable cost. Computing tools and algorithms for the probabilistic analysis have been developed. The validity of the approach has been demonstrated on several existing structural components. The main result of the study is that the reliability of a damage-tolerable composite structure can be assessed on a quantitative basis, allowing aircraft manufacturers, operators and flight certification authorities to establish the maintenance service guidelines and estimate the reasonable inspection intervals. Engineers can use this methodology in the future as a guide to establish design and inspection criteria while considering structural risk and maintenance cost at the same.
Toward better regulation of private pension funds

The author analyzes the typical model for regulating investments in private pension funds. Pension reforms like those pioneered by Chile are being initiated or considered in Argentina, Bolivia, China, Colombia, Costa Rica, Hungary, Mexico, Peru, Uruguay, and elsewhere. Such reforms greatly improve fiscal discipline, make social security benefits and burdens equitable, and deepen financial markets. But they are also typically accompanied by: tight restrictions on the investments in pension fund portfolios; restrictions on the management of mandated retirement savings (to newly created legal entities called pension administrators, to the exclusion of such financial intermediaries as banks and mutual funds); minimum-return guarantees from the state and/or pension funds; and commissions based on salary rather than on the volume of assets managed. Illustrating his conclusions with case studies from Chile and Peru, the author shows that these restrictions, though well-meant, are poorly justified by financial theory, distort incentives for competition based on product choice and efficiency, increase administrative costs, and seriously reduce the affiliates' appropriate risk-return choices and returns. And the resulting potential losses in retirement income are great. The author recommends a significant departure from the Chilean-style model of a private pension fund system. He briefly describes implementation and transition issues for the alternative system that he proposes, which would: permit diverse intermediaries -including banks and mutual funds that meet appropriate prudential standards- to manage retirement savings; allow a greater choice between investment products; require that returns be reported on a net basis; and charge commissions as a fraction of assets managed.
The Nonexistence of Sustainability in International Maritime Shipping: Issues For Consideration

There is an ongoing practice in the international shipping community that impacts fundamental notions of sustainability as defined in the peer-reviewed literature (WCED, 1987; Gladwin, Kennelly & Krause, 1995; McManus, 1996, Naess, 2003; McGregor, 2004). The practice is based in discounting the true costs of maritime shipping through a system of open registries. By engaging in such practices, there is an inherent failure by the international community to internalize the true costs (environmental, social, labor, etc.) associated with shipping. The result is a practice that artificially keeps the international costs of maritime shipping low at the expense of environmental and labor concerns. This paper will identify the methods by which this generalized unsustainable practice is carried out, and link the practices to environmental policy failures at both domestic and international scales. While the main purpose of the paper is to serve as a scoping piece to identify the unsustainable practices of the international maritime industry, some general insights are also offered to suggest research directions that may aid in ensuring our global maritime shipping industry better internalizes generally accepted principles of sustainability. Work beyond this paper should focus on in-depth analyses and case studies to further develop the general principles discussed herein.
Monitoring and Controlling of Strain During MOCVD of AlGaN for UV Optoelectronics

The grown-in tensile strain, due to a lattice mismatch between AlGaN and GaN, is responsible for the observed cracking that seriously limits the feasibility of nitride-based ultraviolet (UV) emitters. We report in-situ monitoring of strain/stress during MOCVD of AlGaN based on a wafer-curvature measurement technique. The strain/stress measurement confirms the presence of tensile strain during growth of AlGaN pseudomorphically on a thick GaN layer. Further growth leads to the onset of stress relief through crack generation. We find that the growth of AlGaN directly on low-temperature (LT) GaN or AlN buffer layers results in a reduced and possibly controllable strain.
Valiant’s holant theorem and matchgate tensors

We propose matchgate tensors as a natural and proper language to develop Valiant’s new theory of Holographic Algorithms. We give a treatment of the central theorem in this theory—the Holant Theorem—in terms of matchgate tensors. Some generalizations are presented.
Isolated cell behavior drives the evolution of antibiotic resistance

Bacterial antibiotic resistance is typically quantified by the minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC), which is defined as the minimal concentration of antibiotic that inhibits bacterial growth starting from a standard cell density. However, when antibiotic resistance is mediated by degradation, the collective inactivation of antibiotic by the bacterial population can cause the measured MIC to depend strongly on the initial cell density. In cases where this inoculum effect is strong, the relationship between MIC and bacterial fitness in the antibiotic is not well defined. Here, we demonstrate that the resistance of a single, isolated cell—which we call the single-cell MIC (scMIC)—provides a superior metric for quantifying antibiotic resistance. Unlike the MIC, we find that the scMIC predicts the direction of selection and also specifies the antibiotic concentration at which selection begins to favor new mutants. Understanding the cooperative nature of bacterial growth in antibiotics is therefore essential in predicting the evolution of antibiotic resistance.
The effect of abortion legalization on sexual behavior: evidence from sexually transmitted diseases.

Abstract Unwanted pregnancy represents a major cost of sexual activity. When abortion was legalized in a number of states in 1969 and 1970 (and nationally in 1973), this cost was reduced. We predict that abortion legalization generated incentives leading to an increase in sexual activity, accompanied by an increase in sexually transmitted diseases (STDs). Using Centers for Disease Control data on the incidence of gonorrhea and syphilis by state, we test the hypothesis that abortion legalization led to an increase in sexually transmitted diseases. We find that gonorrhea and syphilis incidences are significantly and positively correlated with abortion legalization. Further, we find a divergence in STD rates among early legalizing states and late legalizing states starting in 1970 and a subsequent convergence after the Roe v. Wade decision, indicating that the relation between STDs and abortion is causal. Abortion legalization accounts for about one‐fourth of the average disease incidence.
Preparing ECE students for research career in nanotechnology via track program

This paper details the research participation of undergraduate students from the freshman to the senior year. Four courses were designated to prepare students for a nanotechnology research career. New modes of instructions leading to research participation followed in this curriculum have been reported. This covers integration of knowledge, just in time approach, and project portfolio based curriculum. Courses developed in this track emphasize research and applications in health sciences and renewable energy areas. The structure of the track program was presented before with emphasis on the senior level courses of the track. The work in this paper, however, emphasizes research participation in nanotechnology of the junior students within the electrical engineering, computer engineering, and mechanical engineering disciplines. The multidisciplinary components in nanotechnology research topics were attractive to students to work in team. The topics covered in this course included nanotechnology applications in diabetes, cancer research, and neurosciences. Lecture materials were all from up-to-date research papers, and can be altered with the course updates. Students registered for this course were required to emphasize two research topics seven week each, and prepare research posters in a research day where industrial representatives are invited to participate in the discussions with students. Students who completed this course were interested to continue with nanotechnology individual research and get enrolled in upper level courses. The course starts with introducing students to the nanotechnology applications in various fields, including environment, society, consumer electronics, computers, health sciences, optics, electromagnetics, energy, and medical imaging. The course then introduces students to research issues emphasizing health sciences and renewable energy. Students will be required to expand their research to cover in depth one or two research issues that fall within their interests. In the research projects, students work in team, two students/team, and assignment is given to bath to share the contribution of the project. The course was assessed with student satisfaction, and the objectives and the outcomes of the course were met.
Mixing of a Turbulent Wall-Jet into a Free Stream

Turbulent diffusion of 2-dimensional, plane wall-jet into moving, uniform free-stream with pressure gradient of zero is investigated; in order to check similarity conditions far downstream, investigation was conducted to include 465 slot widths downstream of slot; method is given for reducing results of this investigation to those of previous investigators who studied mixing of wall-jet in stationary free-stream.
Computer Applications in Groundwater Hydrology

Four problems were programmed for use on general purpose computer (1) drawdown computation, (2) aquifer constants "T" and "S ", (3) well spacing, and (4) capacity of well system; first two problems are more adaptable to digital computer, whereas latter two are more suitable to analog; problem of determining aquifer constants from test data were programmed on Univac.
THE COMPOSITIONAL DIVERSITY OF EXTRASOLAR TERRESTRIAL PLANETS. I. IN SITU SIMULATIONS

Prior work has found that a variety of terrestrial planetary compositions are expected to occur within known extrasolar planetary systems. However, such studies ignored the effects of giant planet migration, which is thought to be very common in extrasolar systems. Here we present calculations of the compositions of terrestrial planets that formed in dynamical simulations incorporating varying degrees of giant planet migration. We used chemical equilibrium models of the solid material present in the disks of five known planetary host stars: the Sun, GJ 777, HD4203, HD19994, and HD213240. Giant planet migration has a strong effect on the compositions of simulated terrestrial planets as the migration results in large-scale mixing between terrestrial planet building blocks that condensed at a range of temperatures. This mixing acts to (1) increase the typical abundance of Mg-rich silicates in the terrestrial planets' feeding zones and thus increase the frequency of planets with Earth-like compositions compared with simulations with static giant planet orbits, and (2) drastically increase the efficiency of the delivery of hydrous phases (water and serpentine) to terrestrial planets and thus produce waterworlds and/or wet Earths. Our results demonstrate that although a wide variety of terrestrial planet compositions can still be produced, planets with Earth-like compositions should be common within extrasolar planetary systems.
The biological functions of Naa10 - From amino-terminal acetylation to human disease.

Abstract N-terminal acetylation (NTA) is one of the most abundant protein modifications known, and the N-terminal acetyltransferase (NAT) machinery is conserved throughout all Eukarya. Over the past 50 years, the function of NTA has begun to be slowly elucidated, and this includes the modulation of protein–protein interaction, protein-stability, protein function, and protein targeting to specific cellular compartments. Many of these functions have been studied in the context of Naa10/NatA; however, we are only starting to really understand the full complexity of this picture. Roughly, about 40% of all human proteins are substrates of Naa10 and the impact of this modification has only been studied for a few of them. Besides acting as a NAT in the NatA complex, recently other functions have been linked to Naa10, including post-translational NTA, lysine acetylation, and NAT/KAT-independent functions. Also, recent publications have linked mutations in Naa10 to various diseases, emphasizing the importance of Naa10 research in humans. The recent design and synthesis of the first bisubstrate inhibitors that potently and selectively inhibit the NatA/Naa10 complex, monomeric Naa10, and hNaa50 further increases the toolset to analyze Naa10 function.
Playing hide and seek with El Niño

A much-anticipated 'monster' El Nino failed to materialize in 2014, whereas an unforeseen strong El Nino is developing in 2015. El Nino continues to surprise us, despite decades of research into its causes. Natural variations most probably account for recent events, but climate change may also have played a role.
Ricci curvature and monotonicity for harmonic functions

In this paper we generalize the monotonicity formulas of “Colding (Acta Math 209:229–263, 2012)” for manifolds with nonnegative Ricci curvature. Monotone quantities play a key role in analysis and geometry; see, e.g., “Almgren (Preprint)”, “Colding and Minicozzi II (PNAS, 2012)”, “Garofalo and Lin (Indiana Univ Math 35:245–267, 1986)” for applications of monotonicity to uniqueness. Among the applications here is that level sets of Green’s function on open manifolds with nonnegative Ricci curvature are asymptotically umbilic.
Discovery and characterization of Alu repeat sequences via precise local read assembly

Alu insertions have contributed to >11% of the human genome and ∼30-35 Alu subfamilies remain actively mobile, yet the characterization of polymorphic Alu insertions from short-read data remains a challenge. We build on existing computational methods to combine Alu detection and de novo assembly of WGS data as a means to reconstruct the full sequence of insertion events from Illumina paired end reads. Comparison with published calls obtained using PacBio long-reads indicates a false discovery rate below 5%, at the cost of reduced sensitivity due to the colocation of reference and non-reference repeats. We generate a highly accurate call set of 1614 completely assembled Alu variants from 53 samples from the Human Genome Diversity Project (HGDP) panel. We utilize the reconstructed alternative insertion haplotypes to genotype 1010 fully assembled insertions, obtaining >99% agreement with genotypes obtained by PCR. In our assembled sequences, we find evidence of premature insertion mechanisms and observe 5' truncation in 16% of AluYa5 and AluYb8 insertions. The sites of truncation coincide with stem-loop structures and SRP9/14 binding sites in the Alu RNA, implicating L1 ORF2p pausing in the generation of 5' truncations. Additionally, we identified variable AluJ and AluS elements that likely arose due to non-retrotransposition mechanisms.
AIG in hindsight

The near-failure on September 16, 2008, of American International Group (AIG) was an iconic moment in the financial crisis. Two large bets on real estate made with funding vulnerable to bank-run-like dynamics pushed AIG to the brink of bankruptcy. AIG used securities lending to transform insurance company assets into residential mortgage-backed securities and collateralized debt obligations, ultimately losing at least $21 billion and threatening the solvency of the life insurance companies. AIG also sold insurance on multisector collateralized debt obligations, backed by real estate assets, ultimately losing more than $30 billion. These activities were apparently motivated by a belief that AIG's real estate bets would not suffer defaults and were "money-good." We find that these securities have in fact suffered write-downs and that the stark "money-good" claim can be rejected. Ultimately, both liquidity and solvency were issues for AIG.
Relativistic thermodynamics, a Lagrangian field theory for general flows including rotation

Any theory that is based on an action principle has a much greater predictive power than one that does not have such a formulation. The formulation of a dynamical theory of General Relativity, including matter, is here viewed as a problem of coupling Einstein’s theory of pure gravity to an independently chosen and well-defined field theory of matter. It is well known that this is accomplished in a most natural way when both theories are formulated as relativistic, Lagrangian field theories, as is the case with Einstein–Maxwell theory. Special matter models of this type have been available; here a more general thermodynamical model that allows for vortex flows is presented. In a wider context, the problem of subjecting hydrodynamics and thermodynamics to an action principle is one that has been pursued for at least 150 years. A solution to this problem has been known for some time, but only under the strong restriction to potential flows. A variational principle for general flows has become available. It represents a development of the Navier–Stokes–Fourier approach to fluid dynamics. The principal innovation is the recognition that two kinds of flow velocity fields are needed, one the gradient of a scalar field and the other the time derivative of a vector field, the latter closely associated with vorticity. In the relativistic theory that is presented here, the latter is the Hodge dual of an exact 3-form, well known as the notoph field of Ogievetskij and Palubarinov, the B-field of Kalb and Ramond and the vorticity field of Lund and Regge. The total number of degrees of freedom of a unary system, including the density and the two velocity fields is 4, as expected — as in classical hydrodynamics. In this paper, we do not reduce Einstein’s dynamical equation for the metric to phenomenology, which would have denied the relevance of any intrinsic dynamics for the matter sector, nor do we abandon the equation of continuity - the very soul of hydrodynamics.
Effective constraint algebras with structure functions

This article presents the result that fluctuations and higher moments of a state, by themselves, do not imply quantum corrections in structure functions of constrained systems. Moment corrections are isolated from other types of quantum effects, such as factor-ordering choices and regularization, by introducing a new condition with two parts: (i) having a direct (or faithful) quantization of the classical structure functions, (ii) free of factor-ordering ambiguities. In particular, it is assumed that the classical constraints can be quantized in an anomaly free way, so that properties of the resulting constraint algebras can be derived. If the two-part condition is not satisfied, effective constraints can still be evaluated, but quantum effects may be stronger. Consequences for canonical quantum gravity, whose structure functions encode space–time structure, are discussed. In particular, deformed algebras found in models of loop quantum gravity provide reliable information even in the Planck regime.