THE EFFECTS OF HOUSING PRICES, WAGES, AND COMMUTING TIME ON JOINT RESIDENTIAL AND JOB LOCATION CHOICES

A utility maximizing framework is used to model how wages, housing prices, and commuting time affect joint decisions of where to live and where to work. The implied multinomial logit model yields plausible estimates of the role of economic variables on joint residence/job location choices.Labor and Human Capital,

Reactively sputtered RuO2 diffusion barriers

The thermal stability of reactively sputtered RuO2 films is investigated from the point of view of their application as diffusion barriers in silicon contact metallizations with an Al overlayer. Backscattering spectra of Si/RuO2/Al samples and electrical measurements on shallow junction diodes with Si/TiSi2.3/RuO2/Al contacts both show that RuO2 films are effective diffusion barriers between Al and Si for 30-min annealing at temperatures as high as 600°C

Evolution of the single-hole spectral function across a quantum phase transition in the anisotropic-triangular-lattice antiferromagnet

We study the evolution of the single-hole spectral function when the ground state of the anisotropic-triangular-lattice antiferromagnet changes from the incommensurate magnetically-ordered phase to the spin-liquid state. In order to describe both of the ground states on equal footing, we use the large-N approach where the transition between these two phases can be obtained by controlling the quantum fluctuations via an 'effective' spin magnitude. Adding a hole into these ground states is described by a t-J type model in the slave-fermion representation. Implications of our results to possible future ARPES experiments on insulating frustrated magnets, especially Cs$_2$CuCl$_4$, are discussed.Comment: 8 pages, 7 figure

WxN1–x alloys as diffusion barriers between Al and Si

Reactively sputtered tungsten nitride (WxN1–x) layers are investigated as diffusion barriers between Al overlayers and Si shallow n + -p junctions. Both amorphous W80 N20 and polycrystalline W60 N40 films were found to be very effective in preserving the integrity of the n + -p diodes for 30-min vacuum annealing up to 575 °C. Diode failure at higher temperatures is caused by localized penetration of Al into through the WxN1–x barriers. The effectiveness of the barrier decreases for polycrystalline W90 N10 and is worse for pure W

Relations among Supersymmetric Lattice Gauge Theories via Orbifolding

We show how to derive Catterall's supersymmetric lattice gauge theories directly from the general principle of orbifolding followed by a variant of the usual deconstruction. These theories are forced to be complexified due to a clash between charge assignments under U(1)-symmetries and lattice assignments in terms of scalar, vector and tensor components for the fermions. Other prescriptions for how to discretize the theory follow automatically by orbifolding and deconstruction. We find that Catterall's complexified model for the two-dimensional N=(2,2) theory has two independent preserved supersymmetries. We comment on consistent truncations to lattice theories without this complexification and with the correct continuum limit. The construction of lattice theories this way is general, and can be used to derive new supersymmetric lattice theories through the orbifolding procedure. As an example, we apply the prescription to topologically twisted four-dimensional N=2 supersymmetric Yang-Mills theory. We show that a consistent truncation is closely related to the lattice formulation previously given by Sugino.Comment: 20 pages, LaTeX2e, no figur

Sodium Thiosulfate Prevents Chondrocyte Mineralization and Reduces the Severity of Murine Osteoarthritis.

Calcium-containing crystals participate in the pathogenesis of OA. Sodium thiosulfate (STS) has been shown to be an effective treatment in calcification disorders such as calciphylaxis and vascular calcification. This study investigated the effects and mechanisms of action of STS in a murine model of OA and in chondrocyte calcification. Hydroxyapatite (HA) crystals-stimulated murine chondrocytes and macrophages were treated with STS. Mineralization and cellular production of IL-6, MCP-1 and reactive oxygen species (ROS) were assayed. STS's effects on genes involved in calcification, inflammation and cartilage matrix degradation were studied by RT-PCR. STS was administered in the menisectomy model of murine OA, and the effect on periarticular calcific deposits and cartilage degeneration was investigated by micro-CT-scan and histology. In vitro, STS prevented in a dose-dependent manner calcium crystal deposition in chondrocytes and inhibited Annexin V gene expression. In addition, there was a reduction in crystal-induced IL-6 and MCP-1 production. STS also had an antioxidant effect, diminished HA-induced ROS generation and abrogated HA-induced catabolic responses in chondrocytes. In vivo, administration of STS reduced the histological severity of OA, by limiting the size of new periarticular calcific deposits and reducing the severity of cartilage damage. STS reduces the severity of periarticular calcification and cartilage damage in an animal model of OA via its effects on chondrocyte mineralization and its attenuation of crystal-induced inflammation as well as catabolic enzymes and ROS generation. Our study suggests that STS may be a disease-modifying drug in crystal-associated OA

Pressure Induced Hydration Dynamics of Membranes

Pressure-jump initiated time-resolved x-ray diffraction studies of dynamics of the hydration of the hexagonal phase in biological membranes show that (i) the relaxation of the unit cell spacing is non-exponential in time; (ii) the Bragg peaks shift smoothly to their final positions without significant broadening or loss in crystalline order. This suggests that the hydration is not diffusion limited but occurs via a rather homogeneous swelling of the whole lattice, described by power law kinetics with an exponent $\beta = 1.3 \pm 0.2$.Comment: REVTEX 3, 10 pages,3 figures(available on request),#

Kaplan-Narayanan-Neuberger lattice fermions pass a perturbative test

We test perturbatively a recent scheme for implementing chiral fermions on the lattice, proposed by Kaplan and modified by Narayanan and Neuberger, using as our testing ground the chiral Schwinger model. The scheme is found to reproduce the desired form of the effective action, whose real part is gauge invariant and whose imaginary part gives the correct anomaly in the continuum limit, once technical problems relating to the necessary infinite extent of the extra dimension are properly addressed. The indications from this study are that the Kaplan--Narayanan--Neuberger (KNN) scheme has a good chance at being a correct lattice regularization of chiral gauge theories.Comment: LaTeX 18 pages, 3 figure

The Fokker-Planck equation for bistable potential in the optimized expansion

The optimized expansion is used to formulate a systematic approximation scheme to the probability distribution of a stochastic system. The first order approximation for the one-dimensional system driven by noise in an anharmonic potential is shown to agree well with the exact solution of the Fokker-Planck equation. Even for a bistable system the whole period of evolution to equilibrium is correctly described at various noise intensities.Comment: 12 pages, LATEX, 3 Postscript figures compressed an