Faculty Scholarship
Showing 351 - 360 of 733 Items
Thermodynamics of the localized D2-D6 system
Date: 2005-05-02
Creator: Marta Gómez-Reino, Stephen G. Naculich, Howard J. Schnitzer
Access: Open access
- An exact fully-localized extremal supergravity solution for N2 D2-branes and N6 D6-branes, which is dual to 3-dimensional supersymmetric SU(N2) gauge theory with N6 fundamentals, was found by Cherkis and Hashimoto. In order to consider the thermal properties of the gauge theory we present the non-extremal extension of this solution to first order in an expansion near the core of the D6-branes. We compute the Hawking temperature and the black-brane horizon area/entropy. The leading-order entropy, which is proportional to N23/2N61/2 TH2, is not corrected to first order in the expansion. This result is consistent with the analogous weak-coupling result at the correspondence point N2 ∼ N6. © 2005 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
Observation of B0 decay to two charmless mesons
Date: 1993-01-01
Creator: M. Battle, J. Ernst, H. Kroha, Y. Kwon, S., Roberts, K. Sparks, E. H. Thorndike, C. H. Wang, J. Dominick, S. Sanghera, V. Shelkov, T. Skwarnicki, R. Stroynowski, I. Volobouev, P. Zadorozhny, M. Artuso, D. He, M. Goldberg, N. Horwitz, R. Kennett, G. C. Moneti, F. Muheim, Y. Mukhin, S. Playfer, Y. Rozen, S. Stone, M. Thulasidas, G. Vasseur, G. Zhu, J. Bartelt, S. E. Csorna
Access: Open access
- We report results from a search for the decays B0→π+π-, B0→K+π-, and B0→K+K-. We find 90% confidence level upper limits on the branching fractions, Bππ<2.9×10-5, BKπ<2.6×10-5, and BKK<0.7×10-5. While there is no statistically significant signal in the individual modes, the sum of Bππ and BKπ exceeds zero with a significance of more than 4 standard deviations, indicating that we have observed charmless hadronic B decays. © 1993 The American Physical Society.
Lepton asymmetry measurements in B̄→D*l-ν̄l and implications for V-A and the form factors
Date: 1993-01-01
Creator: S. Sanghera, T. Skwarnicki, R. Stroynowski, M. Artuso, M., Goldberg, N. Horwitz, R. Kennett, G. C. Moneti, F. Muheim, S. Playfer, Y. Rozen, P. Rubin, S. Stone, M. Thulasidas, W. M. Yao, G. Zhu, A. V. Barnes, J. Bartelt, S. E. Csorna, Z. Egyed, V. Jain, P. Sheldon, D. S. Akerib, B. Barish, M. Chadha, D. F. Cowen, G. Eigen, J. S. Miller, J. Urheim, A. J. Weinstein, D. Acosta
Access: Open access
- We present a measurement of the lepton decay asymmetry Afb in the reaction B̄→D*l-ν̄l using data collected with the CLEO II detector at the Cornell Electron Storage Ring (CESR). The value of Afb confirms that the chirality of the weak interaction is predominantly left-handed in b→c transitions as expected in the standard model, if it is assumed that the lepton current is also left-handed. Using Afb and the previously determined branching ratio, q2 distribution, and D* polarization, we obtain the first measurement of the form-factor ratios that are used to describe this semileptonic decay. © 1993 The American Physical Society.
The (Far) Backstory of the U.S.-Colombia Free Trade Agreement
Date: 2013-10-10
Creator: Stephen Meardon
Access: Open access
- In two pairs of episodes, first in 1824 and 1846 and then in 1892 and 1935, similar U.S.-Colombia trade agreements or their enabling laws were embraced first by protectionists and then by free traders. The history of the episodes supports the view that although political institutions exist to curb de facto political power, such power may be wielded to undo the institutions’ intended effects. The doctrinal affinities and interests of political actors are more decisive determinants of the free-trade or protectionist orientation of trade agreements than the agreements’ texts or legal superstructures. The long delay from signing to passage of the current U.S.-Colombia Free Trade Agreement is another case in point.
Why we write (nuclear) history
Date: 2017-09-01
Creator: David K. Hecht
Access: Open access
- Nuclear history always compels. Scholars (and readers) can immerse themselves in the existential threat posed by the atomic bomb and its successor weapons, the tantalizing prospect of carbon-free energy, or the study of a natural phenomenon deeply at odds with our everyday experience of the world. There is thus always something profound at stake when we write nuclear historyÂ-Â be it physical, economic or intellectual. And while it may seem that the end of the Cold War should have diminished the academic attention accorded to the subject, it actually just allowed the historiography to evolve. To the wealth of technical and political studies that once dominated nuclear history, we can now add a host of excellent cultural, environmental, literary and transnational studies. Those of us who entered the field shortly after the break-up of the Soviet Union have been able to follow these developments first-hand, from the initial uncertainty of where nuclear history would go without its original raison d'être to seeing the possibilities opened up in a post-Cold War world. The books under review here provide important and timely additions to this historiography. Luis A. Campos's Radium and the Secret Life provides a rigorous and compelling account of the uses of radium in early twentieth-century biology; Timothy J. Jorgensen's Strange Glow: The Story of Radiation offers an accessible and illuminating analysis of the benefits and risks of radiation. The books also make for a fascinating juxtaposition. They complement each other well, but also contain some intriguing differences that allow us to reflect on the nature of nuclear history in the early twenty-first century.
Position effects influence transvection in drosophila melanogaster
Date: 2019-01-01
Creator: Thomas D. King, Justine E. Johnson, Jack R. Bateman
Access: Open access
- Transvection is an epigenetic phenomenon wherein regulatory elements communicate between different chromosomes in trans, and is thereby dependent upon the three-dimensional organization of the genome. Transvection is best understood in Drosophila, where homologous chromosomes are closely paired in most somatic nuclei, although similar phenomena have been observed in other species. Previous data have supported that the Drosophila genome is generally permissive to enhancer action in trans, a form of transvection where an enhancer on one homolog activates gene expression from a promoter on a paired homolog. However, the capacity of different genomic positions to influence the quantitative output of transvection has yet to be addressed. To investigate this question, we employed a transgenic system that assesses and compares enhancer action in cis and in trans at defined chromosomal locations. Using the strong synthetic eye-specific enhancer GMR, we show that loci supporting strong cis-expression tend to support robust enhancer action in trans, whereas locations with weaker cis-expression show reduced transvection in a fluorescent reporter assay. Our subsequent analysis is consistent with a model wherein the chromatin state of the transgenic insertion site is a primary determinant of the degree to which enhancer action in trans will be supported, whereas other factors such as locus-specific variation in somatic homolog pairing are of less importance in influencing position effects on transvection.
Estimating the impact of Critical Habitat designation on the values of developed and undeveloped parcels (2nd version, current as of 7/29/2022)
Date: 2022-07-29
Creator: Saleh Mamun, Erik Nelson, Christoph Nolte
Access: Open access
- We use differences-in-differences (DD) estimators to measure the impact that Endangered Species Act (ESA)’s Critical Habitat (CH) rule had on developed and undeveloped parcel prices throughout the US between 2000 and 2019. In a national-level analysis we found that, on average, the price of parcels “treated” with CH were not statistically different than the prices of nearby parcels in listed species range space but not “treated” by CH. CH’s null impact on developed parcel prices is surprising given homeowner’s documented willingness to pay for property surrounded by protected open space. CH’s null impact on undeveloped parcel prices is surprising as previous research had indicated that the impact of CH on undeveloped parcel prices was negative due to the additional regulatory costs and development uncertainty the CH regulation imposes on land developers. When we used relevant subsets of CH areas to measure CH’s impact on parcel prices, we did occasionally find results that were consistent with expectations. We reach two conclusions. First, the impact of the economic impact of the CH rule, holding the impact of other ESA sections constant, cannot be reduced to a simple, consistent narrative. Second, CH’s relatively minor impact on parcel prices suggests that the rule does not have much regulatory “bite.”
APPSSAT: Approximate probabilistic planning using stochastic satisfiability
Date: 2005-01-01
Creator: Stephen M. Majercik
Access: Open access
- We describe APPSSAT, an approximate probabilistic contingent planner based on ZANDER, a probabilistic contingent planner that operates by converting the planning problem to a stochastic satisfiability (SSAT) problem and solving that problem instead [1]. The values of some of the variables in an SSAT instance are probabilistically determined; APPSSAT considers the most likely instantiations of these variables (the most probable situations facing the agent) and attempts to construct an approximation of the optimal plan that succeeds under those circumstances, improving that plan as time permits. Given more time, less likely instantiations/situations are considered and the plan is revised as necessary. In some cases, a plan constructed to address a relatively low percentage of possible situations will succeed for situations not explicitly considered as well, and may return an optimal or near-optimal plan. This means that APPSSAT can sometimes find optimal plans faster than ZANDER. And the anytime quality of APPSSAT means that suboptimal plans could be efficiently derived in larger time-critical domains in which ZANDER might not have sufficient time to calculate the optimal plan. We describe some preliminary experimental results and suggest further work needed to bring APPSSAT closer to attacking real-world problems. © Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2005.
Managing small natural features: A synthesis of economic issues and emergent opportunities
Date: 2017-07-01
Creator: Dana Marie Bauer, Kathleen P. Bell, Erik J. Nelson, Aram J.K. Calhoun
Access: Open access
- Small natural features (SNFs), landscape elements that influence species persistence and ecological functioning on a much larger scale than one would expect from their size, can also offer a greater rate of return on conservation investment compared to that of larger natural features or more broad-based conservation. However, their size and perceived lack of significance also makes them more vulnerable to threats and destruction. We examine the management of SNFs and conservation of the associated ecosystem services they generate from an economics perspective. Using the economic concept of market failure, we identify three key themes that explain prevailing threats to SNFs and characterize impediments to and opportunities for SNF management: (1) the degree to which benefits derived from the feature spillover, beyond the feature itself (spatially and temporally); (2) the availability and quality of information about the feature and those who most directly influence its management; and (3) the existence and enforcement of property rights and legal standing of the feature. We argue that the efficacy of alternative SNF management approaches is highly case dependent and relies on four key components: (1) the specific ecosystem services of interest; (2) the amount of redundancy of the SNF on the landscape and the level of connectivity required by the SNF in order to provide ecosystem services; (3) the particular market failures that need correcting and their scope and extent; and (4) the magnitude and distribution of management costs.
In and out of the spectacle: The Beijing olympics and Yiyun Li's The Vagrants
Date: 2011-01-01
Creator: Belinda Kong
Access: Open access