Social Simulation That 'Peers into Peer Review'

This article suggests to view peer review as a social interaction problem and shows reasons for social simulators to investigate it. Although essential for science, peer review is largely understudied and current attempts to reform it are not supported by scientific evidence. We suggest that there is room for social simulation to fill this gap by spotlighting social mechanisms behind peer review at the microscope and understanding their implications for the science system. In particular, social simulation could help to understand why voluntary peer review works at all, explore the relevance of social sanctions and reputational motives to increase the commitment of agents involved, cast light on the economic cost of this institution for the science system and understand the influence of signals and social networks in determining biases in the reviewing process. Finally, social simulation could help to test policy scenarios to maximise the efficacy and efficiency of various peer review schemes under specific circumstances and for everyone involved.Peer Review, Social Simulation, Social Norms, Selection Biases, Science Policy

South Korea- Potential Market for Russian Logs

Korea with its over 40 million population and small forest land base relies heavily on imports for its wood consumption. Korea is usually the second largest log importer in the world after Japan. Since the worsening importing conditions in the traditional log suppling countries, Korea has always looked for alternative supply sources which could provide logs with better conditions. The Russian Far East has emerged as a new source of supply which could meet the conditions Korea looks for since Korea established diplomatic ties with the former Soviet Union in 1990. The purpose of this paper is to help Russian forest sector best prepared for Korean market, since Korean market is relatively new to Russia but the market is growing and has a large potential for Russian logs. This paper includes two major parts: Korean forest sector and market potential for Russian logs in Korea. In the first, Korean forest sector is introduced of its resource base, demand and supply structure, and forest product industries. In the second part, Korean market is analyzed for characteristics of the market, imports of Russian logs, Russian logs substitutability for competitor logs, and limiting factors to increase the exports to Korea. This paper attempted to project an outlook of Russian log imports to Korea by year 2000 based upon three price scenarios. This paper concludes that growing wood consumption in Korea and Russian logs superior wood properties to competitor logs will positively affect the outlook of using Russian logs in Korea. This paper also indicated that unification of two Koreas will be another positive factor to increase the level of imports of Russian logs to Korea

Long time Solutions for a Burgers-Hilbert Equation via a Modified Energy Method

We consider an initial value problem for a quadratically nonlinear inviscid Burgers-Hilbert equation that models the motion of vorticity discontinuities. We use a modified energy method to prove the existence of small, smooth solutions over cubically nonlinear time-scales

Three dimensional computational fluid dynamic simulation of a segmented Non-transferred Arc Plasma Torch

Three dimensional computational fluid dynamic (CFD) simulation of a segmented non transferred arc plasma torch is done for the purpose of computing heat load to various torch components and obtaining the temperature and velocity profile at the exit of the torch. The region inside the torch was simulated along with simulation of water flow channels. To obtain the current flow and resulting joule heating, electric potential equation is solved inside the torch region.  Simulation runs for several values of arc current and plasma gas flow rate are done and results are compared

Simulation studies on vapor phase condensation of magnesium and computations of nucleation rates using Discrete-Section model

Capacity of discrete section models as a reliable tool to analyze and predict the data in particle nucleation and growth experiments has been demonstrated through comparisons of simulated and experimental data. A computer code based on this model is developed and homogenous nucleation of particles and growth is simulated. The results have been benchmarked against the published data on nucleation and growth in iron vapors. The published experimental results of condensation of magnesium vapors through homogenous nucleation are then analyzed using the results of simulations. The predicted values of magnesium vapors super saturation ratio and temperature at the point of nucleation are in excellent agreement with the experimental data. The code is used to compute the particle nucleation rate and computed values are compared with the values predicted by analytical expressions based on different theories. It is demonstrated that the model is able to predict values which are close to experimental values and thus can be used to predict nucleation rate.

The Evolution of Altruism in Spatially Structured Populations

The evolution of altruism in humans is still an unresolved puzzle. Helping other individuals is often kinship-based or reciprocal. Several examples show, however, that altruism goes beyond kinship and reciprocity and people are willing to support unrelated others even when this is at a cost and they receive nothing in exchange. Here we examine the evolution of this "pure" altruism with a focus on altruistic teaching. Teaching is modeled as a knowledge transfer which enhances the survival chances of the recipient, but reduces the reproductive efficiency of the provider. In an agent-based simulation we compare evolutionary success of genotypes that have willingness to teach with those who do not in two different scenarios: random matching of individuals and spatially structured populations. We show that if teaching ability is combined with an ability to learn and individuals encounter each other on a spatial proximity basis, altruistic teaching will attain evolutionary success in the population. Settlement of the population and accumulation of knowledge are emerging side-products of the evolution of altruism. In addition, in large populations our simple model also produces a counterintuitive result that increasing the value of knowledge keeps fewer altruists alive.Altruism, Teaching, Knowledge Transfer, Spatially Structured Social Dilemmas

Energetic radiation and the sulfur chemistry of protostellar envelopes: Submillimeter interferometry of AFGL 2591

CONTEXT: The chemistry in the inner few thousand AU of accreting envelopes around young stellar objects is predicted to vary greatly with far-UV and X-ray irradiation by the central star. Aim We search for molecular tracers of high-energy irradiation by the protostar in the hot inner envelope. METHODS: The Submillimeter Array (SMA) has observed the high-mass star forming region AFGL 2591 in lines of CS, SO, HCN, HCN(v2=1), and HC15N with 0.6" resolution at 350 GHz probing radial scales of 600-3500 AU for an assumed distance of 1 kpc. The SMA observations are compared with the predictions of a chemical model fitted to previous single-dish observations. RESULTS: The CS and SO main peaks are extended in space at the FWHM level, as predicted in the model assuming protostellar X-rays. However, the main peak sizes are found smaller than modeled by nearly a factor of 2. On the other hand, the lines of CS, HCN, and HC15N, but not SO and HCN(v2=1), show pedestal emissions at radii of about 3500 AU that are not predicted. All lines except SO show a secondary peak within the approaching outflow cone. A dip or null in the visibilities caused by a sharp decrease in abundance with increasing radius is not observed in CS and only tentatively in SO. CONCLUSIONS: The emission of protostellar X-rays is supported by the good fit of the modeled SO and CS amplitude visibilities including an extended main peak in CS. The broad pedestals can be interpreted by far-UV irradiation in a spherically non-symmetric geometry, possibly comprising outflow walls on scales of 3500 -- 7000 AU. The extended CS and SO main peaks suggest sulfur evaporation near the 100 K temperature radius.Comment: Astronomy and Astrophysics, in pres

On the Maximum Likelihood estimation of a linear structural relationship when the intercept is known

AbstractThis paper considers the Maximum Likelihood (ML) estimation of the five parameters of a linear structural relationship y = α + βx when α is known. The parameters are β, the two variances of observation errors on x and y, the mean and variance of x. When the ML estimates of the parameters cannot be obtained by solving a simple simultaneous system of five equations, they are found by maximizing the likelihood function directly. Some asymptotic properties of the estimates are also obtained