cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Relationship Education for Unmarried Couples with Children: Parental Responses to the Building Strong Families Project

At the time they have children together, most unmarried couples expect to continue their relationships and many hope to marry. The Building Strong Families (BSF) programs aim to help unmarried couples achieve these aspirations through relationship skills training and by addressing their other family needs, often related to socioeconomic disadvantage. The BSF implementation study of more than 5,000 couples shows that many unmarried couples are interested in relationship-strengthening services, and although some do not follow through with participation, qualitative data suggest that participants appreciate the chance to learn key skills and find the program meaningful for their relationships. Results of a rigorous experimental evaluation will be forthcoming in 2010.
Some effects of global dust storms on the atmospheric circulation of Mars

A zonally symmetric primitive equation modelled on a sphere is used to numerically simulate the Martian atmosphere's response to various dust loads, as well as the ability of its meridional circulation to transport dust globally, where the circulation is driven by heating due to the absorption of solar and IR radiation by dust and CO2, in addition to sensible heat exchange with the ground. A preliminary experiment shows the model distribution of winds and temperature to compare favorably with zonally averaged values from a general circulation model. Experiments simulating the evolution of global dust storms show that dust is effectively transported by the zonal mean circulation, which rapidly intensifies as the dust spreads, and that the basic structure of the circulation is relatively insensitive to details, being mostly dependent on the heating of the tropical and subtropical atmosphere.
Exceptionally Simple Enantioselective Syntheses of Chiral Hexa- and Tetracyclic Polyprenoids of Sedimentary Origin.

Coupling between a sulfone and an acylsilane fragment (see below) constitutes the first step in the exceptionally short total syntheses of two chiral hexacyclic hydrocarbons isolated from Eocene Messel shale (Germany). Like the first step, subsequent steps also employ a powerful synthetic tactic: polycyclization of a specially constructed chiral, multiply unsaturated oxirane. TBS=tBuMe2 Si.
Automated atomic force metrology applications for alternating aperture phase-shift masks

With the acceptance of AAPSM’s by most major semiconductor manufacturers, it is necessary to build a significant number of these masks in a cost effective and controlled manner. Optical methods of metrology used for many years in the photomask industry for binary masks are unsuitable for certain metrology applications related to AAPSM manufacture and repair. Recent work performed on a Dimension 9000M-PM automated atomic force microscope shows promise for both process control and defect review applications for AAPSM’s and overcome some of the limitations of optical and SEM based metrologies. AFM metrology is shown to be able to quantify shifter step heights and phase error for features as small as 100 nm. Further, these systems are able to read in defect coordinate maps and automatically drive to these sites and scan. The scanned data provides pixel-by-pixel height data that can be used by repair tools to establish the proper dose for defect ablation.
La relación recíproca entre la participación ciudadana y la rendición de cuentas: la experiencia de los Fondos Municipales en el México rural

In Costa Rica, parties gradually transformed a fraud-ridden political system into one renowned for its stability and fair elections by the mid-twentieth century. The authors draw unpon a unique database of more than 1300 acusations of ballot-rigging to show that, independently of social structural constraints, parties denounced fraud where electoral laws made the struggle for power more competitive. They also explain how institutional arrangemente generated opportunities for several executuives to assemble legislative coalitions to enacto far-reaching reforms. This paper also argues that nonpartisan commisions should run elections; it explains why splitting responsability over election affaris between the executive and legislature, as classical constitutional theory suggests, is recipe for pastisan rencor and political conflict.
Link Privacy in Social Networks

We consider a privacy threat to a social network in which the goal of an attacker is to obtain knowledge of a significant fraction of the links in the network. We formalize the typical social network interface and the information about links that it provides to its users in terms of lookahead. We consider a particular threat in which an attacker subverts user accounts to gain information about local neighborhoods in the network and pieces them together in order to build a global picture. We analyze, both experimentally and theoretically, the number of user accounts an attacker would need to subvert for a successful attack, as a function of his strategy for choosing users whose accounts to subvert and a function of the lookahead provided by the network. We conclude that such an attack is feasible in practice, and thus any social network that wishes to protect the link privacy of its users should take great care in choosing the lookahead of its interface, limiting it to 1 or 2, whenever possible.
An overview of the commercial development of chlorofluorocarbon (CFC) alternatives

Abstract Chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) are now believed to be major contributors to the seasonal ozone depletion over the Antarctic continent. They are so important to many aspects of modern society, that substitutes must be rapidly found and commercialized. The identification of suitable substitutes is difficult when issues such as toxicity, flammability, cost, environmental impact and physical properties are considered. Several candidates, azeotropes and blends which meet these criteria, have been selected by the industry and significant research and development programs are underway to commercialize them. Unlike the simple, fully-halogenated CFCs which can only be made in a single step, there are many potentially viable routes to the alternatives, requiring significant improvements in catalysis. Many other important issues such as toxicity, environmental impact, materials compatibility, energy efficiency, developing country needs and product life cycle of the alternatives need to be resolved before a timely transition to substitutes can be accomplished on a global scale.
The Pitfalls of Transition: Crowding Out the "National Virtues"

Abstract In this paper a view is advanced that explains why the transition to markets did not always lead to the outcomes predicted by the Washington Consensus type strategies. Institutional portfolio theory is used to define a myriad of interests and goals of a transition economy. A model is developed in which external intervention and increased external monitoring are shown to lead to lessening of the intrinsic motivation within transition economies to pursue the reforms as prescribed by Washington Consensus sometimes resulting in very slow growth rates or even a decline of the GDP.
Database Keyword Search: A Perspective from Optimization

Optimization-related techniques are playing ever increasing role for Web intelligence. Yet optimization may mean different things to different people. In this paper, starting with a general discussion on the many facets of optimization in information technology (IT), we focus our examination on the recent development in database keyword search, from an optimization-oriented perspective. We first present a review and analysis on related literature, pointing out the need for incorporating contextual information in database keyword queries to achieve better performance. We then present our recently proposed approach, where keyword search is extended to simple English queries to better capture user intension. We conclude this paper by providing a discussion on the importance of database keyword search optimization for data mining and Web intelligence.
X-Ray-emitting Ejecta in Puppis A Observed with Suzaku

We report the detection and localization of X-ray emitting ejecta in the middle-aged Galactic supernova remnant Puppis A using five observations with the Suzaku X-ray Imaging Spectrometer to survey the eastern and middle portions of the remnant. A roughly 3' x 5', double-peaked region in the north center is found to be highly enriched in Si and other elements relative to the rest of the remnant. The X-ray fitted abundances are otherwise well below the solar values. While the ejecta-enhanced regions show some variation of relative element abundances, there is little evidence for a very strong enhancement of one element over the others in the imaged portion of the remnant, except possibly for a region of 0 and Ne enhancement in the remnant's south center. There is no spatial correlation between the compact [0 1111 emitting ejecta knots seen optically and the abundance enhancements seen in X-rays, although they are located in the same vicinity. The map of fitted column density shows strong variations across the remnant that echo earlier X-ray spectral hardness maps. The ionization age (as fitted for single temperature models) is sharply higher in a ridge behind the northeast-east boundary of the remnant, and is probably related to the strong molecular cloud interaction along that boundary. The temperature map, by comparison, shows relatively weak variations.
FRACTAL TECTONICS AND EROSION

Tectonic processes build landforms that are subsequently destroyed by erosional processes. Landforms exhibit fractal statistics in a variety of ways; examples include (1) lengths of coast lines; (2) number-size statistics of lakes and islands; (3) spectral behavior of topography and bathymetry both globally and locally; and (4) branching statistics of drainage networks. Erosional processes are dominant in the development of many landforms on this planet, but similar fractal statistics are also applicable to the surface of Venus where minimal erosion has occurred. A number of dynamical systems models for landforms have been proposed, including (1) cellular automata; (2) diffusion limited aggregation; (3) self-avoiding percolation; and (4) advective-diffusion equations. The fractal statistics and validity of these models will be discussed. Earthquakes also exhibit fractal statistics. The frequency-magnitude statistics of earthquakes satisfy the fractal Gutenberg-Richter relation both globally and locally. Earthquakes are believed to be a classic example of self-organized criticality. One model for earthquakes utilizes interacting slider-blocks. These slider block models have been shown to behave chaotically and to exhibit self-organized criticality. The applicability of these models will be discussed and alternative approaches will be presented. Fragmentation has been demonstrated to produce fractal statistics in many cases. Comminution is one model for fragmentation that yields fractal statistics. It has been proposed that comminution is also responsible for much of the deformation in the earth’s crust. The brittle disruption of the crust and the resulting earthquakes present an integrated problem with many fractal aspects.
Diacetylenic sterols: New potentially photopolymerizable lipids

Cholesterol analogues with a diacetylenic moiety in their side chains have been prepared from bisnorcholenic acid, using 1,4-bis(trimethylsilyl)buta-1,3-diyne as the synthon to introduce the polymerizable group. A preliminary study of their potential as polymerizable sterols has been carried out by exposing aqueous dispersions (with or without phospholipids) to UV light at 5 °C.
FORGETTING WE FORGET: OVERCONFIDENCE AND MEMORY

Do individuals have unbiased beliefs, or are they over- or underconfident? Overconfident individuals may fail to prepare optimally for the future, and economists who infer preferences from behavior under the assumption of unbiased beliefs will make mistaken inferences. This paper documents overconfidence in a new domain, prospective memory, using an experimental design that is more robust to potential confounds than previous research. Subjects chose between smaller automatic payments and larger payments they had to remember to claim at a six-month delay. In a large sample of college and MBA students at two different universities, subjects make choices that imply a forecast of a 76% claim rate, but only 53% of subjects actually claimed the payment.
Ligand effects on dirhodium(II) carbene reactivities. Highly effective switching between competitive carbenoid transformations

Carboxylate and carboxamide ligands of dirhodium(II) catalysts control chemoselectivity in competitive metal carbene transformations of diazo compounds. For competitive intramolecular cyclopropanation versus intramolecular aromatic substitution with 1-diazo-3-aryl-5-hexen-2-ones, use of Rh 2 (OAc) 4 results in the products from both transformations in nearly equal amounts, but dirhodium(II) perfluorobutyrate (Rh 2 (pfb) 4 ) provides only the aromatic substitution product while dirhodium(II) caprolactamate (Rh 2 (cap) 4 ) gives only the cyclopropanation product
Descartes: The Project of Pure Enquiry

Descartes has often been called the 'father of modern philosophy'.His attempts to find foundations for knowledge, and to reconcile the existence of the soul with the emerging science of his time, are among the most influential and widely studied in the history of philosophy. This is a classic and challenging introduction to Descartes by one of the most distinguished modern philosophers. Bernard Williams not only analyzes Descartes' project of founding knowledge on certainty, but uncovers the philosophical motives for his search. With acute insight, he demonstrates how Descartes' Meditations are not merely a description but the very enactment of philosophical thought and discovery. Williams covers all of the key areas of Descartes' thought, including God, the will, the possibility of knowledge, and the mind and its place in nature. He also makes profound contributions to the theory of knowledge, metaphysics and philosophy generally. This is essential reading for any student of philosophy. This reissue includes a new foreword by John Cottingham.
On the QCD Phase Transition at Finite Baryon Density

Abstract We investigate the QCD chiral phase transition at finite chemical potential μ , using the renormalization group (RG) to characterize the infrared behavior of sigma models constrained by the flavor and spacetime symmetries. The results are similar to those obtained from RG analysis of the finite temperature transition at zero baryon density. When there are more than two massless flavors of quarks, a first order transition is predicted for the entire phase boundary. In the two flavor case, a boundary with first and second order regions separated by a tricritical point seems most likely. We discuss the real-world case with two light quarks and an intermediate mass strange quark. Improved lattice data on the temperature transition will strongly constrain the possibilities for the phase boundary.
The Geometry Engine: A VLSI Geometry System for Graphics

The Geometry Engine[1] is a special-purpose VLSI processor for computer graphics. It is a four-component vector, floating-point processor for accomplishing three basic operations in computer graphics: matrix transformations, clipping and mapping to output device coordinates. This paper describes the Geometry Engine and the Geometric Graphics System it composes. It presents the instruction set of the system, its design motivations and the Geometry System architecture.
Sound pressure transformation at the pinna of Mus domesticus.

Sound pressure transformation properties at the pinna of laboratory mice, Mus domesticus, were studied by measuring the sound pressure level of continuous tone at a series of frequencies at the tympanic membrane as a function of the position of a sound source under free-field stimulation conditions. Sound pressure transformation functions showed some prominent spectral notches throughout the frequency range of 10–80 kHz tested. When delivered from some angles within the ipsilateral frontal hemisphere, the sound pressure at the tympanic membrane of certain frequencies may be lower than that determined at the corresponding contralateral angles. For each sound frequency tested, there was an angle (the acoustic axis) within the ipsilateral frontal hemisphere from which the delivered sound reached a maximal pressure level at the tympanic membrane. However, sound delivered from the acoustic axis did not always generate a maximal pressure transformation. The isopressure contours determined within 2–5 dB of the m...
Microwave spectrum, structure, dipole moment and low frequency vibrations of dimethyl cyanamide

Abstract The microwave spectrum of dimethyl cyanamide has been recorded from 18.0 to 40.0 GHz. Only A -type transitions were observed. The R -branch assignments have been made for the ground state and the first excited state of the skeletal bending mode. It is shown that the heavy atom skeleton is non-planar from the magnitude of the μ c component of the dipole moment as well as from the value of I a + I b − I c . The following structural parameters were obtained: r (N-CN) = 1.351, ∠CNC = 116°, and an out-of-plane angle of 36° with reasonable assumptions made for the structural parameters for the dimethylamino moiety and the nitrile bond. These parameters are consistent with those previously reported for the cyanamide molecule; they indicate a significant electron delocalization and a large contribution of the sp 2 hybridization on the apex nitrogen. The dipole moment components were determined to be μ a = 4.7 D and μ c = 0.8 D. From the low frequency vibrational data of the solid, a lower limit of 2.5 kcal/mole was obtained for the barrier to internal rotation of the methyl groups.
A View of the Hydrophobic Effect

Oil and water do not mix. The disaffinity of oil for water, with its unusual temperature dependence, is called the hydrophobic effect. It is important to understand the factors underlying the hydrophobic effect because they appear to play key roles in membrane and micelle formation, protein folding, ligand-protein and protein−protein binding, chromatographic retention, possibly nucleic acid interactions, and the partitioning of drugs, metabolites, and toxins throughout the environment and living systems. Here, we survey experimental and theoretical studies of nonpolar solute partitioning into water. We note that the hydrophobic effect is not just due to “water ordering” and not merely due to small size effects of water. The properties vary substantially with temperature and solute shape. Also, we discuss the limitations of using oil/water partitioning as the basis for some thermodynamic models in chemistry and biology.
New flare model using recent measurements of the solar ultraviolet irradiance

Abstract The solar photon output from the Sun, which was once thought to be constant, varies considerably over time scales from seconds during solar flares to years due to the solar cycle. This is especially true in the wavelengths shorter than 190 nm. These variations cause significant deviations in the Earth and space environment on similar time scales, which then affects many things including satellite drag, radio communications, atmospheric densities and composition of particular atoms, molecules, and ions of Earth and other planets, as well as the accuracy in the Global Positioning System (GPS). The Flare Irradiance Spectral Model (FISM) is an empirical model that estimates the solar irradiance at wavelengths from 0.1 to 190 nm at 1 nm resolution with a time cadence of 60 s. This is a high enough temporal resolution to model variations due to solar flares, for which few accurate measurements at these wavelengths exist. This model also captures variations on the longer time scales of solar rotation (days) and solar cycle (years). Daily average proxies used are the 0–4 nm irradiance, the Mg II c/w, F10.7, as well as the 1 nm bins centered at 30.5 nm, 121.5 (Lyman Alpha), and 36.5 nm. The GOES 0.1–0.8 nm irradiance is used as the flare proxy. The FISM algorithms are given, and results and comparisons are shown that demonstrate the FISM estimations agree within the stated uncertainties to the various measurements of the solar Vacuum Ultraviolet (VUV) irradiance.
Using Approximating Polynomials in Partial-Global Dynamical Simulations

Abstract Smeared link fermionic actions can be straightforwardly simulated with partial-global updating. The efficiency of this simulation is greatly increased if the fermionic matrix is written as a product of several near-identical terms. Such a break-up can be achieved using polynomial approximations for the fermionic matrix. In this paper we will focus on methods of determining the optimum polynomials.
Hawking radiation from black holes formed during quantum tunneling

Abstract We study the behaviour of scalar fields on background geometries which undergo quantum tunneling. The two examples considered are a moving mirror in flat space which tunnels through a potential barrier, and a false vacuum bubble which tunnels to form a black hole. WKB approximations to the Schrodinger and Wheeler-DeWitt equations are made, leading one to solve field equations on the Euclidean metric solution interpolating between the classically allowed geometries. The state of the field after tunneling can then be determined using the method of non-unitary Bogolubov transformations developed by Rubakov. It is shown that the effect of the tunneling is to damp any excitations initially present, and, in the case of the black hole, that the behaviour of fields on the Euclidean Kruskal manifold ensures that the late-time radiation will be thermal at the Hawking temperature.
Influence of Lateral Confinement on Phase Separation in Thin Film Polymer Blends

Thin films of polymer blends are molded into strips for investigating the influence of lateral confinement on phase separation. The strip has a width and thickness of 17 μm and 1.0 μm, respectively, and contains a 50/50 blend of poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) and poly(styrene-ran-acrylonitrile) (SAN). Upon annealing, the strip profile rapidly becomes bell-shaped, forming a contact angle of 3° with the substrate. The dynamics of phase separation is investigated using confocal microscopy and atomic force microscopy. The early stage is characterized by an interconnected morphology and symmetric wetting of the PMMA-rich phase at the substrate and surface. The PMMA-rich domains grow from the surface toward the substrate during the early intermediate stage and eventually connect with the wetting layer covering the substrate to begin the late intermediate stage. The domain diameter increases rapidly (early), slows down (intermediate), and then decreases (late) during phase separation. During the late stage the...
Dynamic spin fluctuations and the bag mechanism of high-T c superconductivity

The spin-bag approach to the high-temperature superconductivity is presented in detail. The general argument that the local supression of the electronic pseudogap leads to an attractive interaction of the quasiparticles is substantiated by the detailed calculation of the pairing potential mediated by the collective modes of the spin-density-wave background. In particular, the spin-wave spectrum, the sublattice magnetization, and the spectral distribution of the collective modes are studied within the random-phase approximation. In the low-doping limit, different shapes of the Fermi surface give rise to a superconducting gap which formally has $d$-wave- or $p$-wave-like symmetry, however the gap has no nodes on the Fermi surface. Therefore, the superconducting properties of our model are analogous to those of a conventional $s$-wave (i.e., nodeless) BCS superconductor. We also discuss possible bag effects in the large-$U$ Hubbard model and in charge-density-wave systems. Finally, the relation of our work with other approaches and with experiment are discussed briefly.
Angular momentum and long-range gravitational interactions in Matrix theory

Abstract We consider subleading terms in the one-loop Matrix theory potential between a classical membrane state and a supergraviton. Non-trivial terms arise at order v r 8 and v 3 r 8 which are proportional to the angular momentum of the membrane state. The effective potential for a graviton moving in a boosted Kerr-type metric is computed and shown to agree precisely with the Matrix theory calculation at leading order in the long-distance expansion for each power of the graviton velocity. This result generalizes to arbitrary order; we show that terms in the membrane-graviton potential corresponding to nth moments of the membrane stress-energy tensor are reproduced correctly to all orders in the long-distance expansion by terms of the form F4Xn in the one-loop Matrix theory calculation.
Optically Pure α-(Trimethylsilyl)benzyl Alcohol: A Practical Chiral Auxiliary for Oxocarbenium Ion Reactions

Enantiopure (S)-α-(trimethylsilyl)benzyl alcohol (98% ee) was prepared by Noyori's transfer hydrogenation of benzoyltrimethylsilane. The corresponding trimethylsilyl ether was subjected to Marko's silyl modified Sakurai conditions with a variety of aldehydes to afford homoallylic ethers in high diastereoselectivity. The practicality of the α-trimethylsilyl benzyl group as an oxocarbenium ion auxiliary was further demonstrated by its efficient deprotection or conversion to a benzyl protecting group.
A Fresh Catch of Massive Binaries in the Cygnus OB2 Association

Massive binary stars may constitute a substantial fraction of progenitors to supernovae and γ-ray bursts, and the distribution of their orbital characteristics holds clues to the formation process of massive stars. As a contribution to securing statistics on OB-type binaries, we report the discovery and orbital parameters for five new systems as part of the Cygnus OB2 Radial Velocity Survey. Four of the new systems (MT070, MT174, MT267, and MT734 ≡ VI Cygni #11) are single-lined spectroscopic binaries while one (MT103) is a double-lined system (B1V+B2V). MT070 is noteworthy as the longest period system yet measured in Cyg OB2, with P = 6.2 yr. The other four systems have periods ranging between 4 and 73 days. MT174 is noteworthy for having a probable mass ratio q < 0.1, making it a candidate progenitor to a low-mass X-ray binary. These measurements bring the total number of massive binaries in Cyg OB2 to 25, the most currently known in any single cluster or association.
Tree Reconstruction from Partial Orders

The problem of constructing trees given a matrix of interleaf distances is motivated by applications in computational evolutionary biology and linguistics. The general problem is to find an edge-weighted tree which most closely approximates (under some norm) the distance matrix. Although the construction problem is easy when the tree exactly fits the distance matrix, optimization problems under all popular criteria are either known or conjectured to be NP-complete. In this paper we consider the related problem where we are given a partial order on the pairwise distances, and wish to construct (if possible) an edge-weighted tree realizing the partial order. In particular we are interested in partial orders which arise from experiments on triples of species. We will show that the consistency problem is NP-hard in general, but that for certain special cases the construction problem can be solved in polynomial time.
Do capital gain tax rate increases affect individual investors’ trading decisions?☆

Abstract This paper examines individual investors’ short- and long-term trading reactions to the 1986 Tax Reform Act's (TRA 86) capital gain tax rate increase. Consistent with a tax-induced trading model, we document a December 1986 change in year-end trading patterns. TRA 86 also had long-term effects on individual investors’ trading decisions. The results suggest that individual investors were less (more) willing to sell accrued gain (loss) stocks after TRA 86. Our ability to document predicted trading behavior is in part due to our trading metric, which captures individual investors’ selling activity better than the volume-based metrics used in prior research.
Threshold rules for online sample selection

We consider the following sample selection problem. We observe in an online fashion a sequence of samples, each endowed by a quality. Our goal is to either select or reject each sample, so as to maximize the aggregate quality of the subsample selected so far. There is a natural trade-off here between the rate of selection and the aggregate quality of the subsample. We show that for a number of such problems extremely simple and oblivious "threshold rules" for selection achieve optimal tradeoffs between rate of selection and aggregate quality in a probabilistic sense. In some cases we show that the same threshold rule is optimal for a large class of quality distributions and is thus oblivious in a strong sense.
Integrated laser with low-loss high-index-contrast waveguides for OEICs

Photonic integrated circuits require the ability to integrate both lasers and waveguides with low absorption and coupling loss. This technology is being developed at LLNL for digital logic gates for optical key generation circuits to facilitate secure communications. Here, we demonstrate an approach of integrating InGaAs DQW edge emitting lasers (EEL) with electron beam evaporated dielectric waveguides. The EELs are defined by electron cyclotron resonance etching (ECR). This approach results in highly anisotropic etched mirrors with smooth etched features (sidewall rms roughness = 28 a, surface rms roughness = 10 a). The mirror is etched to form both the laser cavity and define the waveguide mesa, which accommodates a dielectric stack, where the core is aligned with the active region of the laser to achieve maximum vertical mode overlapping. The waveguides are based on SiO 2 /Ta 2 O 5 /SiO 2 which yields a high index contrast of 0.6, resulting in low loss guides (~2-3dB/cm). The design of the interface has taken into account the waveguide transmission loss, air gap spacing and tilt between the laser and waveguide. The critical feature for this deposition technique is its required high directionality or minimal sidewall deposition and corner effects. In the butt coupled EEL/waveguide system we have measured a slope efficiency to be as high as 0.45 W/A. We have in conclusion demonstrated a technology that allows direct coupling of a dielectric optical interconnect to a semiconductor laser monolithically fabricated on the semiconductor substrate.
Loop quantum cosmology: III. Wheeler-DeWitt operators

Within the framework of loop quantum cosmology anomaly-free quantizations of the Hamiltonian constraint for Bianchi class A, locally rotationally symmetric and isotropic models are given. Basic ideas of the construction in (non-symmetric) loop quantum gravity can be used, but there are also further inputs because the special structure of symmetric models has to be respected by operators. In particular, the basic building blocks of the homogeneous models are point holonomies rather than holonomies necessitating a new regularization procedure. In this respect, our construction is also applicable for other (non-homogeneous) symmetric models, e.g. the spherically symmetric one.
XBRL: An Impacts Framework and Research Challenge

This article discusses XBRL, its impacts on users and on the characteristics of financial information, and provides an impacts framework for XBRL. XBRL will both simplify disclosure and ease the communication of financial information to users, analysts, and regulators via the Internet. The potential impacts that XBRL is expected to have on users, accountants, regulators, and the financial communication process are addressed. Research on XBRL is examined and future research directions and priorities are identified. A more rigorous look at the myriad range of potential impacts of XBRL is needed.
A Cold Nearby Cloud inside the Local Bubble

The high-latitude Galactic H I cloud toward the extragalactic radio source 3C 225 is characterized by very narrow 21 cm emission and absorption indicative of a very low H I spin temperature of about 20 K. Through high-resolution optical spectroscopy, we report the detection of strong, very narrow Na I absorption corresponding to this cloud toward a number of nearby stars. Assuming that the turbulent H I and Na I motions are similar, we derive a cloud temperature of 20 K (in complete agreement with the 21 cm results) and a line-of-sight turbulent velocity of 0.37 ± 0.08 km s-1 from a comparison of the H I and Na I absorption line widths. We also place a firm upper limit of 45 pc on the distance of the cloud, which situates it well inside the Local Bubble in this direction and makes it the nearest known cold diffuse cloud discovered to date.
Copper-catalyzed alkyne–aryne coupling reaction under microwave conditions: preparation of unsymmetric and symmetric di-substituted alkynes

Abstract Several unsymmetric and symmetric alkynes were prepared excellent to modest yields by generating benzyne from the reaction of 2-(trimethylsilyl)phenyl triflate with CsF in the presence of CuI and terminal alkyne under microwave heating for 30 min at 150 °C. Using conventional heating, the reactions required 24 h reaction time.
Superresolution in dewarped anisoplanatic images

We present a simple theoretical model for dewarped imaging through a turbulent medium, and calculate the degree of superresolution that can be attained by dewarping of the distorted instantaneous images registered through a turbulent atmosphere. Our estimates show that on 1 km near the ground propagation path spatial frequencies of the dewarped image can exceed the diffraction limit three times with a probability up to 10%.
Good Practices in Free-Energy Calculations

As access to computational resources continues to increase, free-energy calculations have emerged as a powerful tool that can play a predictive role in a wide range of research areas. Yet, the reliability of these calculations can often be improved significantly if a number of precepts, or good practices, are followed. Although the theory upon which these good practices rely has largely been known for many years, it is often overlooked or simply ignored. In other cases, the theoretical developments are too recent for their potential to be fully grasped and merged into popular platforms for the computation of free-energy differences. In this contribution, the current best practices for carrying out free-energy calculations using free energy perturbation and nonequilibrium work methods are discussed, demonstrating that at little to no additional cost, free-energy estimates could be markedly improved and bounded by meaningful error estimates. Monitoring the probability distributions that underlie the transformation between the states of interest, performing the calculation bidirectionally, stratifying the reaction pathway, and choosing the most appropriate paradigms and algorithms for transforming between states offer significant gains in both accuracy and precision.
An Application of Statistical Databases in Manufacturing Testing

This paper discusses some applications of statistical and database techniques for integrating tests in manufacturing products. It shows how statistical databases can be used for automatically controlling a manufacturing process in real time. Some new statistical methods of manufacturing testing, e. g., test-compression, testing-by-sampling, testing-by-factorial-design, are discussed. All these techniques are possible because of the availability of a statistical database.
Study of the spatial resolution achievable with the BTeV pixel sensors

Abstract A Monte Carlo simulation has been developed to predict the spatial resolution of silicon pixel detectors. The results discussed in this paper focus on the unit cell geometry of 50 μm ×400 μm , as chosen for BTeV. Effects taken into account include energy deposition fluctuations along the charged particle path, diffusion, magnetic field, and response of the front end electronics. We compare our predictions with measurements from a recent test beam study performed at Fermilab.
Improving Instructional Simulation With Structural Debriefing

Background. Research shows that learning and task performance improve when participants in management exercises understand the structure of the system they control. However, the majority of business simulators are black-boxes. Aim. This article introduces structural debriefing, which is a debriefing activity aimed at helping students learn about causal relationships, feedbacks, accumulations, and delays within a black-box simulation. Method. A structural debriefing can be prepared and facilitated by following the Structural Debriefing Protocol. Results. A pilot study was conducted in which undergraduate students participated in a structural debriefing of The LITTLEFIELD TECHNOLOGIES, a popular simulation for teaching principles of operations management. The students were able to complete all eight steps of a structural debriefing, but required considerable time three academic terms to do so. Not every instructional simulation will require all the steps or such a large time commitment. Conclusion. The successful completion of the pilot study demonstrates that structural debriefing is a useful debriefing technique. However, to be effective, the scope and format of a structural debriefing activity must suit practical and pedagogical considerations.
The effect of dietary restriction on body composition in adult male and female rhesus macaques.

Dietary restriction is the only intervention shown to increase maximal life span, and to retard the rate of aging in rodents. As part of a long-term randomized trial of the effects of a 20–30% dietary restriction (DR) on adult rhesus macaques, female (N=30) and male (N=16) monkeys were assessed at baseline and 6, 12 and 18 months, following randomization to control (C) or dietary restricted (R) groups, for body composition by dual-energy x-ray absorptiometry. At baseline, there were no significant differences between C and R groups in any body composition parameters measured. Males had significantly (p>0.05) greater values at baseline than females for body weight (BW), body mass index (BMI), total body lean tissue mass (LTM), appendicular skeletal muscle mass (ASM), and total body bone mineral content (BMC). When analyzed longitudinally through 18 months of DR, C females had significantly increased BW, total body fat tissue mass (FTM), total body percent fat tissue mass (%FTM), LTM, ASM, BMC and abdominal fat tissue mass (AbFTM) relative to R animals. Male C animals had significantly increased BW, FTM, %FTM, BMC and AbFTM relative to R males. The primary effect of DR on body composition in these animals was on FTM.
Trailing-Edge Blowing for Reduction of Turbomachinery Fan Noise

A new technique for reducing rotor wake-stator interaction noise was investigated. The approach involves injecting air from near the trailing edge of the rotating fan blades to fill in the mass/momentum deficit of the rotor wakes. Results are presented from experiments on a l/6th-scale high-bypass ratio fan stage with blades incorporating internal passages for trailing edge blowing. Two different spanwise blowing distributions are discussed; for each, the mass flow injected from the trailing edge was less than 2% of the fan throughflow. Time-mean and turbulent profiles of the rotor-relative Mach number are presented, along with stator unsteady loading measurements. Significant filling of the time-mean wake profile was achieved with reductions in the first three BPF harmonic amplitudes of up to 85% at 1.5 chords downstream of the rotor. In addition, stator measurements showed reductions in the stator unsteady loading of up to 10 dB. The results demonstrate that trailing edge blowing is effective for reducing the rotor wakes and their mean harmonic amplitudes. Therefore, with appropriate blade design, significant noise reductions are possible while maintaining rotor-stator spacing; alternately, the rotor-stator spacing may be significantly reduced while maintaining similar radiated noise levels.
Effective Capacity of Two-Hop Wireless Communication Systems

A two-hop wireless communication link in which a source sends data to a destination with the aid of an intermediate relay node is studied. It is assumed that there is no direct link between the source and the destination, and the relay forwards the information to the destination by employing the decode-and-forward scheme. Both the source and intermediate relay nodes are assumed to operate under statistical quality of service (QoS) constraints imposed as limitations on the buffer overflow probabilities. The maximum constant arrival rates that can be supported by this two-hop link in the presence of QoS constraints are characterized by determining the effective capacity of such links as a function of the QoS parameters and signal-to-noise ratios at the source and relay, and the fading distributions of the links. The analysis is performed for both full-duplex and half-duplex relaying. Through this study, the impact upon the throughput of having buffer constraints at the source and intermediate relay nodes is identified. The interactions between the buffer constraints in different nodes and how they affect the performance are studied. The optimal time-sharing parameter in half-duplex relaying is determined, and performance with half-duplex relaying is investigated.
Scalable direction representation for image compression with direction-adaptive discrete wavelet transform

The direction-adaptive discrete wavelet transform (DA-DWT) locally adapts the filtering direction to the geometric flow in the image. DA-DWT image coders have been shown to achieve a rate-distortion performance superior to non-adaptive wavelet coders. However, since the direction information must always be signalled regardless of total bit-rate, performance at very low bit-rates might be worse. In this paper, we propose two scalable direction representations: the layered scheme which is similar to the scalable motion vector representation in scalable video coding and the level-unit scheme which provides finer granularity upon the layered scheme. Experimental results indicate that we can achieve the desirable performance at both low and high bit rates with our proposed level-unit scheme. Significant improvement in image quality (about 3-5 dB) is observed at very low bit rate, relative to non-scalable coding of the direction information.
Composition, Growth Mechanism, and Oxidation of Anodic Fluoride Films on Hg1 − xCdxTe ( x ∼ 0.2 )

Fluoridic films produced by the anodization of Hg 1−x Cd x Te (x∼0.22) surfaces in nonaqueous solutions were characterized by Auger electron spectroscopy, x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, and electron microprobe analysis. The films consist of three distinct regions. A thick uniform region, containing the fluorides of cadmium, mercury, and tellurium, and HgTe, is covered by a thin CdF 2 layer. The third region ― the film-substrate interface ― poor in mercury, consists mainly of CdF 2 and TeF 4
Volumes of symmetric random polytopes

We consider the moments of the volume of the symmetric convex hull of independent random points in an n-dimensional symmetric convex body. We calculate explicitly the second and fourth moments for n points when the given body is $$ B_q^n $$ (and all of the moments for the case q = 2), and derive from these the asymptotic behavior, as $$ n \rightarrow \infty $$ , of the expected volume of a random simplex in those bodies.
Chemokines and the pathophysiology of neuropathic pain

Chemokines and chemokine receptors are widely expressed by cells of the immune and nervous systems. This review focuses on our current knowledge concerning the role of chemokines in the pathophysiology of chronic pain syndromes. Injury- or disease-induced changes in the expression of diverse chemokines and their receptors have been demonstrated in the neural and nonneural elements of pain pathways. Under these circumstances, chemokines have been shown to modulate the electrical activity of neurons by multiple regulatory pathways including increases in neurotransmitter release through Ca-dependent mechanisms and transactivation of transient receptor channels. Either of these mechanisms alone, or in combination, may contribute to sustained excitability of primary afferent and secondary neurons within spinal pain pathways. Another manner in which chemokines may influence sustained neuronal excitability may be their ability to function as excitatory neurotransmitters within the peripheral and central nervous system. As is the case for traditional neurotransmitters, injury-induced up-regulated chemokines are found within synaptic vesicles. Chemokines released after depolarization of the cell membrane can then act on other chemokine receptor-bearing neurons, glia, or immune cells. Because up-regulation of chemokines and their receptors may be one of the mechanisms that directly or indirectly contribute to the development and maintenance of chronic pain, these molecules may then represent novel targets for therapeutic intervention in chronic pain states.
The VPRT: A Sequential Testing Procedure Dominating the SPRT

Under more general assumptions than those usually made in the sequential analysis literature, a variable-sample-size-sequential probability ratio test (VPRT) of two simple hypotheses is found that maximizes the expected net gain over all sequential decision procedures. In contrast, Wald and Wolfowitz [25] developed the sequential probability ratio test (SPRT) to minimize expected sample size, but their assumptions on the parameters of the decision problem were restrictive. In this article we show that the expected net-gain-maximizing VPRT also minimizes the expected (with respect to both data and prior) total sampling cost and that, under slightly more general conditions than those imposed by Wald and Wolfowitz, it reduces to the one-observation-at-a-time sequential probability ratio test (SPRT). The ways in which the size and power of the VPRT depend upon the parameters of the decision problem are also examined.
Attentional effects of single dose triazolam

Abstract 1. 1. While the effects of benzodiazepines on human memory have been extensively studied little is known about the effects of these agents on attentional processes. The authors studied the effects of a single dose of triazolam on selective visual-spatial attention using a double blind, placebo controlled design. 2. 2. In each of 2 sessions 12 normal volunteers ingested either 0.25 mg of triazolam or placebo. Attentional performance was evaluated using two versions of the covert orienting paradigm which measured automatic (exogenous) and controlled (endogenous) aspects of attentional orienting, respectively. 3. 3. Triazolam selectively modified performance on automatic orienting to exogenous cues. Specifically, triazolam increased the facilitation of target detection seen at shorter (150 msec) SOA's. This may indicate an increase in facilitation and a reduction in inhibition or a slowing of the time course of the biphasic attentional effect normally resulting from exogenous cuing. 4. 4. These results indicate the importance of using experimental paradigms which effectively dissociate endogenous and exogenous mechanisms of spatial orienting in studies evaluating the effects of pharmacological agents on visual-spatial attention.
Braiding patterns on an inclined plane

The changing boundaries of a stream flowing at a constant rate are explained. A jet of fluid flowing down a partially wetting, inclined plane usually meanders but — by maintaining a constant flow rate — meandering can be suppressed, leading to the emergence of a beautiful braided structure. Here we show that this flow pattern can be explained by the interplay between surface tension, which tends to narrow the jet, and fluid inertia, which drives the jet to widen. These observations dispel misconceptions about the relationship between braiding and meandering that have persisted for over 20 years.