Digital Commons Network^™

Decoherence Without Dissipation, G. W. Ford, R. F. O'Connell

Faculty Publications

The prototypical Schrödinger cat state, i.e., an initial state corresponding to two widely separated Gaussian wave packets, is considered. The decoherence time is calculated solely within the framework of elementary quantum mechanics and equilibrium statistical mechanics. This is at variance with common lore that irreversible coupling to a dissipative environment is the mechanism of decoherence. Here, we show that, on the contrary, decoherence can in fact occur at high temperature even for vanishingly small dissipation. © 2001 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.

Optimal Artificial Neural Network Architecture Selection For Bagging, Timothy L. Andersen, Tony R. Martinez, Michael E. Rimer

Faculty Publications

This paper studies the performance of standard architecture selection strategies, such as cost/performance and CV based strategies, for voting methods such as bagging. It is shown that standard architecture selection strategies are not optimal for voting methods and tend to underestimate the complexity of the optimal network architecture, since they only examine the performance of the network on an individual basis and do not consider the correlation between responses from multiple networks.

Improved Hopfield Networks By Training With Noisy Data, Fred Clift, Tony R. Martinez

Faculty Publications

A new approach to training a generalized Hopfield network is developed and evaluated in this work. Both the weight symmetricity constraint and the zero self-connection constraint are removed from standard Hopfield networks. Training is accomplished with Back-Propagation Through Time, using noisy versions of the memorized patterns. Training in this way is referred to as Noisy Associative Training (NAT). Performance of NAT is evaluated on both random and correlated data. NAT has been tested on several data sets, with a large number of training runs for each experiment. The data sets used include uniformly distributed random data and several data sets …

Speed Training: Improving The Rate Of Backpropagation Learning Through Stochastic Sample Presentation, Timothy L. Andersen, Tony R. Martinez, Michael E. Rimer

Faculty Publications

Artificial neural networks provide an effective empirical predictive model for pattern classification. However, using complex neural networks to learn very large training sets is often problematic, imposing prohibitive time constraints on the training process. We present four practical methods for dramatically decreasing training time through dynamic stochastic sample presentation, a technique we call speed training. These methods are shown to be robust to retaining generalization accuracy over a diverse collection of real world data sets. In particular, the SET technique achieves a training speedup of 4278% on a large OCR database with no detectable loss in generalization.

The Need For Small Learning Rates On Large Problems, Tony R. Martinez, D. Randall Wilson

Faculty Publications

In gradient descent learning algorithms such as error backpropagation, the learning rate parameter can have a significant effect on generalization accuracy. In particular, decreasing the learning rate below that which yields the fastest convergence can significantly improve generalization accuracy, especially on large, complex problems. The learning rate also directly affects training speed, but not necessarily in the way that many people expect. Many neural network practitioners currently attempt to use the largest learning rate that still allows for convergence, in order to improve training speed. However, a learning rate that is too large can be as slow as a learning …

Improving The Hopfield Network Through Beam Search, Tony R. Martinez, Xinchuan Zeng

Faculty Publications

In this paper we propose a beam search mechanism to improve the performance of the Hopfield network for solving optimization problems. The beam search readjusts the top M (M > 1) activated neurons to more similar activation levels in the early phase of relaxation, so that the network has the opportunity to explore more alternative, potentially better solutions. We evaluated this approach using a large number of simulations (20,000 for each parameter setting), based on 200 randomly generated city distributions of the 10-city traveling salesman problem. The results show that the beam search has the capability of significantly improving the network …

Lazy Training: Improving Backpropagation Learning Through Network Interaction, Timothy L. Andersen, Tony R. Martinez, Michael E. Rimer

Faculty Publications

Backpropagation, similar to most high-order learning algorithms, is prone to overfitting. We address this issue by introducing interactive training (IT), a logical extension to backpropagation training that employs interaction among multiple networks. This method is based on the theory that centralized control is more effective for learning in deep problem spaces in a multi-agent paradigm. IT methods allow networks to work together to form more complex systems while not restraining their individual ability to specialize. Lazy training, an implementation of IT that minimizes misclassification error, is presented. Lazy training discourages overfitting and is conducive to higher accuracy in multiclass problems …

First Principles Thermoelasticity Of Mgsio3-Perovskite: Consequences For The Inferred Properties Of The Lower Mantle, Bijaya B. Karki, Renata M. Wentzcovitch, Stefano De Gironcoli, Stefano Baroni

Faculty Publications

Some key thermoelastic properties of MgSiO - perovskite (pv) have been determined at lower mantle (LM) pressures and temperatures using the quasi-harmonic approximation in conjunction with first principles phonon dispersions. The adiabatic bulk moduli (K ) of pv and of an assemblage of 80 vol% pv and 20 vol% MgO were obtained along the thermodynamically inferred adiabat and compared with the seismic counterpart given by the preliminary reference Earth model (K ). The discrepancy between calculated K 's and K in the deep LM suggests a super-adiabatic gradient, or subtle changes of composition, or phase, or all beginning at about …

Site-Directed Mutagenesis Of Atp Binding Residues Of Biotin Carboxylase: Insight Into The Mechanism Of Catalysis, Valerie Sloane, Carol Z. Blanchard, Frankie Guillot, Grover L. Waldrop

Faculty Publications

Acetyl-CoA carboxylase catalyzes the first committed step in fatty acid synthesis in all plants, animals, and bacteria. The Escherichia coli form is a multimeric protein complex consisting of three distinct and separate components: biotin carboxylase, carboxyltransferase, and the biotin carboxyl carrier protein. The biotin carboxylase component catalyzes the ATP-dependent carboxylation of biotin using bicarbonate as the carboxylate source and has a distinct architecture that is characteristic of the ATP-grasp superfamily of enzymes. Included in this superfamily are D-Ala D-Ala ligase, glutathione synthetase, carbamyl phosphate synthetase, N⁵-carboxyaminoimidazole ribonucleotide synthetase, and glycinamide ribonucleotide transformylase, all of which have known three-dimensional …

Non-Conformally Flat Bulk Spacetime And The 3-Brane World, Parampreet Singh, Naresh Dadhich

Faculty Publications

We show that for non-conformally flat bulk spacetime, there exist no bound modes for zero mass graviton on the 3-brane. The brane world model is therefore unstable for the bulk spacetime being different from the conformally flat anti-de Sitter space. © 2001 Elsevier Science B.V.

Fibers. A Model For Studying Cell Differentiation, Cell Elongation, And Cell Wall Biosynthesis, R. Zhong, D. H. Burk, Z. H. Ye

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Law And The Danger Of Freedom, Steven D. Paulson

Faculty Publications

Proposing a “third use of the law”—a law for Christians after faith—arises from a fear of freedom. It is finally a christological problem, since Christ put an end to the law not only in himself but also in us.

Classroom Influences On First-Grade Students’ Oral Narratives, Judy A. Abbott, Sarah J. Mccarthey

Faculty Publications

As apart of a longitudinal project examining first-grade reading instruction in 4 districts across the state of Texas, this study explored the nature of students' oral narratives and the connections between teachers' instructional practices and students' narratives. Using an adaptation of Hudson & Shapiro's (1991) narrative categories, we examined 166 narratives generated by firstgrade students, categorizing each as an event-script, a less-developed narrative, a well-developed narrative, or an "other" An exemplar narrative from each of the 4 categories and 2 other narratives that represented the diversity of student responses and the complexity of the relationships between student performance and teacher …

Book Review: Women Under The Law: The False Promise Of Human Rights, S. I. Strong

Faculty Publications

Though McColgan's book promises much, it fails to persuade the reader for several reasons. First, a number of the examples used to demonstrate the inferiority of entrenched rights actually suggest the opposite. The second reason why McColgan fails to persuade results from her forcing constitutional arguments where there are none. The third problem with this book is its failure to extrapolate its arguments about women to other disadvantaged groups.

Despite these shortcomings, there is much in McColgan's book to recommend it. Her prose is fluid, her presentation of US and Canadian law, particularly regarding abortion, is extensive, and her arguments …

Book Review: The Business Of Judging, S. I. Strong

Faculty Publications

Lord Bingham of Cornhill is no stranger to the business of judging. Senior Lord of Appeal in Ordinary, former Lord Chief Justice of England, former Master of the Rolls, he has been sitting on the bench in one capacity or another for the last twenty years - twenty-five if one counts his tenure as a recorder. Although he began his career at the bar in 1959 as a commercial and civil lawyer, his appointment in 1996 as Lord Chief Justice placed him at the apex of the criminal justice system. In becoming senior Law Lord, Lord Bingham has expanded his …

Teaching Torts Without Insurance: A Second-Best Solution, David A. Fischer, Robert H. Jerry Ii

Faculty Publications

Teachers, scholars and practitioners have long appreciated the symbiotic relationship of torts and insurance. Indeed, the assertion that tort law and insurance law are intertwined is utterly unremarkable; many commentators have observed that tort law cannot be understood if the business of insurance and the law regulating it is ignored, and that insurance law cannot be understood if tort law is ignored. Several generations of law students have read casebooks, which in varying degrees pay homage to the connections between torts and insurance. Many law review articles and noteworthy books (or portions thereof) have plumbed the tort-insurance relationship. Although one …

Book Review: Legal Traditions Of The World: Sustainable Diversity In Law, S. I. Strong

Faculty Publications

Combining a historically accurate analysis with a distinctly contemporary sensibility, H. Patrick Glenn invokes not only jurisprudential concepts as he explains the different legal traditions, but religious and sociological ideas as well.

Complete And Simultaneous Spectral Observations Of The Black Hole X-Ray Nova Xte J1118 + 480, J. E. Mcclintock, C. A. Haswell, M. R. Garcia, J. J. Drake, R. I. Hynes, H. L. Marshall, M. P. Muno, S. Chaty, P. M. Garnavich, P. J. Groot, W. H.G. Lewin, C. W. Mauche, J. M. Miller, G. G. Pooley, C. R. Shrader, S. D. Vrtilek

Faculty Publications

The X-ray nova XTE J1118 + 480 suffers minimal extinction (b = 62°) and therefore represents an outstanding opportunity for multiwavelength studies. Hynes et al. conducted the first such study, which was centered on 2000 April 8 using UKIRT, EUVE, HST, and RXTE. On 2000 April 18, the Chandra X-Ray Observatory obtained data coincident with a second set of observations using all of these same observatories. A 30 ks grating observation using Chandra yielded a spectrum with high resolution and sensitivity covering the range 0.24-7 keV. Our near-simultaneous observations cover ≈ 80% of the electromagnetic spectrum from the infrared to …

Economy And 'New Economy' In The United States And Germany, Phillip J. Bryson

Faculty Publications

The expression "New Economy" is used inconsistently. This Article review the driving forces of the US boom of the 1990s, examining the changes introduced in the period and before, focusing on the IT sector and new technologies. The "New Economy" is not just the new sectors, but changes in the overall economy emanating from them. These changes will not evaporate in an economic slowdown. Comparisons of the USA with Germany and Europe illustrate that the "New Economy" will also continue to develop there on the foundations already laid.

Embryonic Stem Cell Research As An Ethical Issue: On The Emptiness Of Symbolic Value, Kevin Quinn

Faculty Publications

The ability to generate a wide variety of stem cell lines (in relatively renewable tissue cultures) opens up a whole new world of breathtaking possibilities for science and medicine. The possibilities include: "in vitro studies of normal embryo-genesis, human gene discovery, and drug and teratogen testing and as a renewable source of cells for tissue transplantation, cell replacement, and gene therapies." But it also opens up a world of complications.

Human EG and ES cells must be recovered from aborted fetuses or live embryos. Because primordial gonadal tissue is removed from fetuses after their death, the derivation of EO cells …

Book Review: Immanuel Kant - Prolegomena To Any Future Metaphysics That Will Be Able To Come Forward As Science, Ed. Gary Hatfield, Konstantin Pollok

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Experimental Evaluation Of Vitellogenin As A Predictive Biomarker For Reproductive Disruption, Ann Oliver Cheek, Thea Hoexum Brouwer, Suzanne Carroll, Steve Manning, John A. Mclachlan, Marius Brouwer

Faculty Publications

Vitellogenin (VTG) synthesis in male oviparous vertebrates is used as an indicator of environmental estrogen exposure, but the relationship between elevated VTG levels and the effects of environmental estrogens on reproductive success are poorly understood. To examine whether altered VTG expression predicts reproductive impairment, we exposed medaka (Oryzias latipes) for 2 or 8 weeks posthatch to 0, 0.5, 1.0, 2.5, and 7.5 ppb of the environmental estrogen o,p ' -DDT. Fish were sampled 2, 4, and 8 weeks after hatch to examine VTG expression and gonad development. After exposure, fish were transferred to clean water, grown to sexual maturity, and …

Family, Commerce, And Religion In London And Cologne: Anglo-German Emigrants, C.Ad1000-C.1300, Richard H. Bowers

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Scaling Gridded River Networks For Macroscale Hydrology: Development, Analysis, And Control Of Error, Balazs M. Fekete, Charles J. Vorosmarty, Richard B. Lammers

Faculty Publications

A simple and robust river network scaling algorithm (NSA) is presented to rescale fine‐resolution networks to any coarser resolution. The algorithm was tested over the Danube River basin and the European continent. Coarse‐resolution networks, at 2.5, 5, 10, and 30 min resolutions, were derived from higher‐resolution gridded networks using NSA and geomorphometric attributes, such as river order, shape index, and width function. These parameters were calculated and compared at each resolution. Simple scaling relationships were found to predict decreasing river lengths with coarser‐resolution data. This relationship can be used to correct river length as a function of grid resolution. The …

The Power Of Apology And The Process Of Historical Reconciliation, Robert R. Weyeneth

Faculty Publications

The article analyzes one of the ways that history makes the headlines today: in discussions of whether the present can--and should--apologize for the past. It examines this recent phenomenon by asking if historical apologies have the ability to facilitate a process of historical reconciliation. In its first three sections, the article explores the range and forms of apologies reported in the press during the last decade or so, the motives and goals of apologists, and the reasoning of those with misgivings about the utility and wisdom of apologies. A fourth section assesses the efficacy of historical apologies. Is an apology …

Low Frequency Noise In Gan Metal Semiconductor And Metal Oxide Semiconductor Field Effect Transistors, S. L. Rumyantsev, N. Pala, M. S. Shur, R. Gaska, M. E. Levinshtein, M. Asif Khan, Grigory Simin, X. Hu, J. Yang

Faculty Publications

The low frequency noise in GaNfield effect transistors has been studied as function of drain and gate biases. The noise dependence on the gate bias points out to the bulk origin of the low frequency noise. The Hooge parameter is found to be around 2×10⁻³ to 3×10⁻³.Temperature dependence of the noise reveals a weak contribution of generation–recombination noise at elevated temperatures.

A Primer On Adoption Law, Douglas E. Abrams

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Bioavailability: On The Frontiers Of Science And Law In Cleanup Methodologies For Contamination, Linda A. Malone

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

When Lochner Met Dolan: The Attempted Transformation Of American Land Use Law By Constitutional Interpretation, Ronald H. Rosenberg, Nancy Stroud

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Reflections On Market Reform In Post-War, Post-Embargo Vietnam, Lan Cao

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.