Digital Commons Network^™

A Steerable, Untethered, 250x60 Micron Mems Mobile Micro-Robot, Bruce R. Donald, Christopher G. Levey, Craig D. Mcgray, Igor Paprotny, Daniela Rus

Computer Science Technical Reports

We present a steerable, electrostatic, untethered, MEMS micro-robot, with dimensions of 60 µm by 250 µm by 10 µm. This micro-robot is 1 to 2 orders of magnitude smaller in size than previous micro-robotic systems. The device consists of a curved, cantilevered steering arm, mounted on an untethered scratch drive actuator. These two components are fabricated monolithically from the same sheet of conductive polysilicon, and receive a common power and control signal through a capacitive coupling with an underlying electrical grid. All locations on the grid receive the same power and control signal, so that the devices can be operated …

Enforcement Effectiveness In The Canadian Capital Markets, Poonam Puri

Commissioned Reports, Studies and Public Policy Documents

This paper focuses on the fundamental principles underlying effective enforcement by regulators. In particular, this paper analyzes the critical role of the criminal law and judges in effectively addressing capital markets misconduct. It also analyzes how securities regulators can best structure the wide discretion that is afforded to them in designing enforcement strategies and policies that are effective, fair, transparent and accountable. This study also examines the current allocation and division of enforcement responsibilities in respect of the capital markets amongst the numerous entities involved and explores contentious issues related to the current overlapping and concurrent jurisdiction. Finally, this study …

Balancing Deterrence, Comity Considerations, And Judicial Efficiency: The Use Of The D.C. Circuit's Proximate Cause Standards For Determining Subject Matter Jurisdiction Over Extraterritorial Antitrust Cases, Stephanie Casy

American University Law Review

No abstract provided.

Testing Linearity In Cointegrating Relations With An Application To Purchasing Power Parity, Seung Hyun Hong, Peter C.B. Phillips

Cowles Foundation Discussion Papers

This paper develops a linearity test that can be applied to cointegrating relations. We consider the widely used RESET specification test and show that when this test is applied to nonstationary time series its asymptotic distribution involves a mixture of noncentral chi-squared distributions, which leads to severe size distortions in conventional testing based on the central chi-squared. Nonstationarity is shown to introduce two bias terms in the limit distribution, which are the source of the size distortion in testing. Appropriate corrections for this asymptotic bias leads to a modified version of the RESET test which has a central chi-squared limit …

Grading In Games Of Status: Marking Exams And Setting Wages, Pradeep Dubey, John Geanakoplos

Cowles Foundation Discussion Papers

We introduce grading into games of status. Each player chooses effort, producing a stochastic output or score. Utilities depend on the ranking of all the scores. By clustering scores into grades, the ranking is coarsened, and the incentives to work are changed. We first apply games of status to grading exams. Our main conclusion is that if students care primarily about their status (relative rank) in class, they are often best motivated to work not by revealing their exact numerical exam scores (100,99,…,1), but instead by clumping them into coarse categories ( A,B,C ). When student abilities are disparate, the …

Checkup, Lehigh Valley Health Network

Checkup

No abstract provided.

Towards Scalable Linear-Optical Quantum Computers, J. P. Dowling, J. D. Franson, H. Lee, G. J. Milburn

Faculty Publications

Scalable quantum computation with linear optics was considered to be impossible due to the lack of efficient two-qubit logic gates, despite the ease of implementation of one-qubit gates. Two-qubit gates necessarily need a non-linear interaction between the two photons, and the efficiency of this non-linear interaction is typically very small in bulk materials. However, it has recently been shown that this barrier can be circumvented with effective non-linearities produced by projective measurements, and with this work linear-optical quantum computing becomes a new avenue towards scalable quantum computation. We review several issues concerning the principles and requirements of this scheme. © …

Mega: A Medium-Energy Gamma-Ray Astronomy Mission Concept, P. F. Bloser, J. M. Ryan, M. L. Mcconnell, J. R. Macri, U. Bravar, G. Kanbach, R. Andritschke, M. Ajello, A. Zoglauer, S. D. Hunter, B. F. Phlips, E. A. Wulf, D. H. Hartmann, R. S. Miller, W. S. Paciesas, A. D. Zych, R. M. Kippen, T. Vestrand, M. L. Cherry, T. G. Guzik, J. G. Stacy, J. P. Wefel, V. Reglero, G. Di Cocco, J. P. Cravens

Faculty Publications

The Medium Energy Gamma-ray Astronomy (MEGA) telescope concept will soon be proposed as a MIDEX mission. This mission would enable a sensitive all-sky survey of the medium-energy gamma-ray sky (0.4 - 50 MeV) and bridge the huge sensitivity gap between the COMPTEL and OSSE experiments on the Compton Gamma Ray Observatory, the SPI and IBIS instruments on INTEGRAL, and the visionary Advanced Compton Telescope (ACT) mission. The scientific goals include, among other things, compiling a much larger catalog of sources in this energy range, performing far deeper searches for supernovae, better measuring the galactic continuum and line emissions, and identifying …

The Reddening Of Red Supergiants: When Smoke Gets In Your Eyes, Philip Massey, Bertrand Plez, Emily M. Levesque, K. A.G. Olsen, Geoffrey C. Clayton, Eric Josselin

Faculty Publications

Deriving the physical properties of red supergiants (RSGs) depends on accurate corrections for reddening by dust. We use our recent modeling of the optical spectra of RSGs to address this topic. First, we find that previous broadband studies have underestimated the correction for extinction in the visible, and hence the luminosities (if derived from V); the shift in the effective wavelengths of the standard B and V bandpasses necessitates using an effective value of the ratio R′v = 4.2 to correct broadband photometry of RSGs if Rv = 3.1 for early-type stars viewed through the same dust, where we have …

Enhancing The Stability Of Microsomal Cytochrome B5: A Rational Approach Informed By Comparative Studies With The Outer Mitochondrial Membrane Isoform, Na Sun, An Wang, Aaron B. Cowley, Adriana Altuve, Mario Rivera, David R. Benson

Faculty Publications

The outer mitochondrial membrane isoform of mammalian cytochrome b 5 (OM b5) is much less prone to lose heme than the microsomal isoform (Mc b5), with a conserved difference at position 71 (leucine versus serine) playing a major role. We replaced Ser71 in Mc b 5 with Leu, with the prediction that it would retard heme loss by diminishing polypeptide expansion accompanying rupture of the histidine to iron bonds. The strategy was partially successful in that it slowed dissociation of heme from its less stable orientation in bMc b5 (B). Heme dissociation from orientation A was accelerated to a similar …

Importance Of Race/Ethnicity In Clinical Trials: Lessons From The African-American Heart Failure Trial (A-Heft), The African-American Study Of Kidney Disease And Hypertension (Aask), And The Antihypertensive And Lipid-Lowering Treatment To Prevent Heart Attack Trial (Allhat), Anne L. Taylor, Jackson T. Wright, Richard S. Cooper

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Social Revolution: William Wells Brown's Manifesto, Gregory J.W. Urwin

Civil War Book Review

Social revolution

William Wells Brown's manifesto

Perspectives Fromafield And Afar:Liberation Historiography:African American Writers And The Challenge Of History, 1781-1861, James D. Hardy Jr.

Civil War Book Review

In a strange land

Scholar reunites American and African-American histories

Lincoln: Original News Coverage From The New York Times, Frank J. Williams

Civil War Book Review

Contemporary coverage

News from Lincoln's lifetime

A Mobile Element Based Phylogeny Of Old World Monkeys, Jinchuan Xing, Hui Wang, Kyudong Han, David A. Ray, Cheney H. Huang, Leona G. Chemnick, Caro Beth Stewart, Todd R. Disotell, Oliver A. Ryder, Mark A. Batzer

Faculty Publications

SINEs (Short INterspersed Elements) are a class of non-autonomous mobile elements that are states, making them useful genetic systems for phylogenetic studies. Alu elements are the most successful SINE in primate genomes and have been utilized for resolving primate phylogenetic relationships and human population genetics. However, no Alu based phylogenetic analysis has yet been performed to resolve relationships among Old World monkeys. Using both a computational approach and polymerase chain reaction display methodology, we identified 285 new Alu insertions from sixteen Old World monkey taxa that were informative at various levels of catarrhine phylogeny. We have utilized these elements along …

Direct Constraints On Antarctic Peninsula Ice Sheet Grounding Events Between 5.12 And 7.94 Ma, Philip J. Bart, Dave Egan, Sophie A. Warny

Faculty Publications

[1] How has the Antarctic Ice Sheet responded to or influenced global climate change? This simple question has been difficult to address because the long-term records of the ice sheet's fluctuations are poorly constrained with geologic data from Antarctica. Thus studies to date have not convincingly established how specific Antarctic Ice Sheet events correlate with climatic, eustatic, or other phenomena known from low-latitude and deep-sea records. This study focused on documenting the direct record of ice sheet advance and retreat to the Antarctic Peninsula's shelf edge. On the peninsula's outer shelf, seismic reflectors interpreted to be subglacial unconformities were correlated …

Spectra Of High-Redshift Type Ia Supernovae And A Comparison With Their Low-Redshift Counterparts, I. M. Hook, D. A. Howell, G. Aldering, R. Amanullah, M. S. Burns, A. Conley, S. E. Deustua, R. Ellis, S. Fabbro, V. Fadeyev, G. Folatelli, G. Garavini, R. Gibbons, G. Goldhaber, A. Goobar, D. E. Groom, A. G. Kim, R. A. Knop, M. Kowalski, C. Lidman, S. Nobili, P. E. Nugent, R. Pain, C. R. Pennypacker, S. Perlmutter, P. Ruiz-Lapuente, G. Sainton, B. E. Schaefer, E. Smith, A. L. Spadafora, V. Stanishev, R. C. Thomas, N. A. Walton

Faculty Publications

We present spectra for 14 high-redshift (0.17 < z < 0.83) supernovae, which were discovered by the Supernova Cosmology Project as part of a campaign to measure cosmological parameters. The spectra are used to determine the redshift and classify the supernova type, essential information if the supernova are to be used for cosmological studies. Redshifts were derived either from the spectrum of the host galaxy or from the spectrum of the supernova itself. We present evidence that these supernovae are of Type Ia (SNe Ia) by matching to spectra of nearby supernovae. We find that the dates of the spectra relative to maximum light determined from this fitting process are consistent with the dates determined from the photometric light curves, and, moreover, the spectral time sequences for SNe Ia at low and high redshift are indistinguishable. We also show that the expansion velocities measured from blueshifted Ca H and K are consistent with those measured for low-redshift SNe Ia. From these first-level quantitative comparisons we find no evidence for evolution in SN Ia properties between these low- and high-redshift samples. Thus, even though our samples may not be complete, we conclude that there is a population of SNe Ia at high redshift whose spectral properties match those at low redshift. © 2005. The American Astronomical Society. All rights reserved.

Classical And Quantum General Relativity: A New Paradigm, Rodolfo Gambini, Jorge Pullin

Faculty Publications

We argue that recent developments in discretizations of classical and quantum gravity imply a new paradigm for doing research in these areas. The paradigm consists in discretizing the theory in such a way that the resulting discrete theory has no constraints. This solves many of the hard conceptual problems of quantum gravity. It also appears as a useful tool in some numerical simulations of interest in classical relativity. We outline some of the salient aspects and results of this new framework. © World Scientific Publishing Company.

Pocket-Pc Boolean Function Simplification, Ledion Bitincka, George E. Antoniou

Department of Computer Science Faculty Scholarship and Creative Works

In this paper a useful educational tool is presented for minimizing low order Boolean expressions. The algorithm follows the Karnaugh map looping approach. For the implementation, which provides optimal results, C++ coding was used on the Embedded Visual C++ 3.0 Pocket PC using Windows CE Operating System environment. In order to make the overall implementation efficient, the object oriented approach was used. Two examples are presented to illustrate the efficiency of the proposed algorithm. The proposed application is a useful tool for students and professors in the fields of electrical and computer engineering and computing sciences. © 2005 FEI STU.

December 1, 2005, University Of North Dakota

University Senate Meeting Minutes

Minutes from the December 1, 2005, meeting of the University Senate. 35 pages

Ecotoxicology And Environmental Education In The Development Of A Turtle Conservation Program In Southeastern Tennessee, Stefan L. Moss

Masters Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

In 1999, the Tennessee Aquarium initiated a long-term mark-recapture study to promote the conservation of freshwater turtles in the Tennessee River Gorge (TRG). The TRG consists of a 42-kilometer stretch of the Tennessee River surrounded by 27,000 acres (11,000 hectares) and is known as the "Grand Canyon of Tennessee." In 2002, the Aquarium established a partnership with The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga (UTC) and the Tennessee River Gorge Trust (TRGT) to expand the program. Since then, researchers at UTC have been conducting scientific research at the TRG each year in an effort to increase the amount of available information …

Detecting And Mapping The Michigan Vegetation Tension Zone Using Ecological Indicators, Janice Marie Fulford

Masters Theses

Ecotones are areas of transition between adjacent ecosystems that exist at various geographic scales, and are useful in measuring climatic changes. Ecotones are defined by their length and breadth and the ability to detect and map an ecotone from a specific period in time would be useful in measuring current and future change.

The study focused on a 1880's vegetation ecotone in the center of Michigan's Lower Peninsula. This was achieved by deriving ecological variables from the U.S. public land survey's tree species data. These variables were then used to ascertain the length of the ecotone by finding the boundary …

Contact Point, Arthur A. Dugoni School Of Dentistry

Contact Point

No abstract provided.

The Acs Virgo Cluster Survey. X. Half-Light Radii Of Globular Clusters In Early-Type Galaxies: Environmental Dependencies And A Standard Ruler For Distance Estimation, Andrés Jordán, Patrick Côté, John P. Blakeslee, David Merritt, Et Al.

Articles

We have measured half-light radii, rh, for thousands of globular clusters (GCs) belonging to the one hundred early-type galaxies observed in the ACS Virgo Cluster Survey and the elliptical galaxy NGC 4697. An analysis of the dependencies of the measured half-light radii on both the properties of the GCs themselves and their host galaxies reveals that, in analogy with GCs in the Galaxy but in a milder fashion, the average half-light radius increases with increasing galactocentric distance or, alternatively, with decreasing galaxy surface brightness. For the first time, we find that the average half-light radius decreases with the host galaxy …

Congress And Terri Schiavo: A Primer On The American Constitutional Order, Michael P. Allen

West Virginia Law Review

No abstract provided.

Child's Play: Avoiding The Pitfalls Of Crawford V. Washington In Child Abuse Prosecution, Matthew M. Staab

West Virginia Law Review

No abstract provided.

Joseph Smith And Preexilic Israelite Religion, Margaret Barker

BYU Studies

Terryl Givens has set Joseph Smith in the religious and cultural context of his time and raised many important issues. I should like to take a few of these issues and set them in another context, that of preexilic Jerusalem. I am not a scholar of Mormon texts and traditions. I am a biblical scholar specializing in the Old Testament, and until some Mormon scholars made contact with me a few years ago, I would never have considered using Mormon texts and traditions as part of my work. Since that initial contact I have had many good and fruitful exchanges …

Joseph Smith's Theological Challenges: From Revelation And Authority To Metaphysics, Richard J. Mouw

BYU Studies

In his published dialogue with the Evangelical theologian Craig Blomberg, Stephen Robinson observed that one of the factors that makes it so difficult for Mormons and Evangelicals to understand each other is the issue of terminology. The theology of the Latter-day Saints, he noted, has not been shaped by the same developments that Protestants have experienced since the days of the Reformation. This means, Robinson said, that “Latter-day Saints are generally quite naïve when it comes to the technical usage of theological language.”

Speaking Of Faith: The Centrality Of Epistemology And The Perils Of Circularity, Randall Balmer

BYU Studies

It is difficult for me to respond to David Paulsen. I am not—nor have I ever claimed to be—a theologian. I will not presume to engage many of the issues or to intrude on the conversations in his paper. I am intrigued, however, by several themes raised in his paper. I will comment, first, on the crisis of authority; second, on the centrality of epistemology and the perils of theological circularity; and third, on the quintessentially modern enterprise of apologetics.

World Religion: Dynamics And Constraints, Douglas J. Davies

BYU Studies

Mormonism as a world religion and Joseph Smith as its originating prophet furnish the subject of this paper. A brief theoretical reflection on approaching The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints provides both an opening context for the quantitatively focused debate on Mormonism’s potential for growth into world religion status and an introduction for a more extensive consideration of several factors of a more qualitative kind that may foster or inhibit that development. The paper then ponders the issue of identity in relation to Joseph Smith.