A Comparison of Blocking Methods for Record Linkage

Record linkage seeks to merge databases and to remove duplicates when unique identifiers are not available. Most approaches use blocking techniques to reduce the computational complexity associated with record linkage. We review traditional blocking techniques, which typically partition the records according to a set of field attributes, and consider two variants of a method known as locality sensitive hashing, sometimes referred to as "private blocking." We compare these approaches in terms of their recall, reduction ratio, and computational complexity. We evaluate these methods using different synthetic datafiles and conclude with a discussion of privacy-related issues.Comment: 22 pages, 2 tables, 7 figure

On narrowing coated conductor film: emergence of granularity-induced field hysteresis of transport critical current

Critical current density Jc in polycrystalline or granular superconducting material is known to be hysteretic with applied field H due to the focusing of field within the boundary between adjacent grains. This is of concern in the so-called coated conductors wherein superconducting film is grown on a granular, but textured surface of a metal substrate. While previous work has mainly been on Jc determined using induced or magnetization currents, the present work utilizes transport current via an applied potential in strip geometry. It is observed that the effect is not as pronounced using transport current, probably due to a large difference in criterion voltage between the two types of measurements. However, when the films are narrowed by patterning into 200-, 100-, or 80-micron, the hysteresis is clearly seen, because of the forcing of percolation across higher-angle grain boundaries. This effect is compared for films grown on ion-beam-assisted-deposited (IBAD) YSZ substrate and those grown on rolling-assisted-biaxially-textures substrates (RABiTS) which have grains that are about ten times larger. The hysteresis is more pronounced for the latter, which is more likely to have a weak grain boundary spanning the width of the microbridge. This is also of concern to applications in which coated conductors will be striated in order to reduce of AC losses.Comment: text-only: 10 pages, plus 5 figures on 5 page

Cisplatin and taxol activate different signal pathways regulating cellular injury-induced expression of GADD153.

Signal transduction pathways activated by injury play a central role in coordinating the cellular responses that determine whether a cell survives or dies. GADD153 expression increases markedly in response to some types of cellular injury and the product of this gene causes cell cycle arrest. Using induction of GADD153 as a model, we have investigated the activation of the cellular injury response after treatment with taxol and cisplatin (cDDP). Activation of the GADD153 promoter coupled to the luciferase gene and transfected into human ovarian carcinoma 2008 cells correlated well with the increase in endogenous GADD153 mRNA after treatment with taxol but not after treatment with cDDP. Following treatment with cDDP, the increase in endogenous GADD153 mRNA was 10-fold greater than the increase in GADD153 promoter activity. Likewise, at equitoxic levels of exposure (IC80), cDDP produced a 5-fold greater increase in endogenous GADD153 mRNA than taxol. The tyrosine kinase inhibitor tyrophostin B46 had no significant effect on the ability of taxol to activate the GADD153 promoter, but inhibited activation of the GADD153 promoter by cDDP in a concentration-dependent manner. Tyrphostin B46 synergistically enhanced the cytotoxicity of cisplatin; however, the same exposure had no significant effect on the cytotoxicity of taxol. We conclude that (1) taxol and cDDP activate GADD153 promoter activity through different mechanisms; (2) the signal transduction pathway mediating induction by cDDP involves a tyrosine kinase inhibitable by tyrphostin B46; and (3) that inhibition of this signal transduction pathway by tyrphostin synergistically enhances cDDP toxicity

Superconducting MgB(2) films via precursor post-processing approach

Superconducting MgB(2) films with Tc = 38.6 K were prepared using a precursor-deposition, ex-situ post-processing approach. Precursor films of boron, ~0.5 micrometer thick, were deposited onto Al(2)O(3) (102) substrates by e-beam evaporation; a post-anneal at 890 deg C in the presence of bulk MgB(2) and Mg metal produced highly crystalline MgB(2) films. X-ray diffraction indicated that the films exhibit some degree of c-axis alignment, but are randomly oriented in-plane. Transport current measurements of the superconducting properties show high values of the critical current density and yield an irreversibility line that exceeds that determined by magnetic measurements on bulk polycrystalline materials.Comment: PDF file with 10 pages total, including 4 figure

New supersymmetric quartet of nuclei in the A=190 mass region

We present evidence for a new supersymmetric quartet in the A=190 region of the nuclear mass table. New experimental information on transfer and neutron capture reactions to the odd-odd nucleaus 194 Ir strongly suggests the existence of a new supersymmetric quartet, consisting of the 192,193 Os and 193,194 Ir nuclei. We make explicit predictions for the odd-neutron nucleus 193 Os, and suggest that its spectroscopic properties be measured in dedicated experiments.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figures, updated figures and revised text, Physical Review C, Rapid Communication, in pres