Planetary image conversion task

The Planetary Image Conversion Task group processed 12,500 magnetic tapes containing raw imaging data from JPL planetary missions and produced an image data base in consistent format on 1200 fully packed 6250-bpi tapes. The output tapes will remain at JPL. A copy of the entire tape set was delivered to US Geological Survey, Flagstaff, Ariz. A secondary task converted computer datalogs, which had been stored in project specific MARK IV File Management System data types and structures, to flat-file, text format that is processable on any modern computer system. The conversion processing took place at JPL's Image Processing Laboratory on an IBM 370-158 with existing software modified slightly to meet the needs of the conversion task. More than 99% of the original digital image data was successfully recovered by the conversion task. However, processing data tapes recorded before 1975 was destructive. This discovery is of critical importance to facilities responsible for maintaining digital archives since normal periodic random sampling techniques would be unlikely to detect this phenomenon, and entire data sets could be wiped out in the act of generating seemingly positive sampling results. Reccomended follow-on activities are also included

Topological structures in the equities market network

We present a new method for articulating scale-dependent topological descriptions of the network structure inherent in many complex systems. The technique is based on "Partition Decoupled Null Models,'' a new class of null models that incorporate the interaction of clustered partitions into a random model and generalize the Gaussian ensemble. As an application we analyze a correlation matrix derived from four years of close prices of equities in the NYSE and NASDAQ. In this example we expose (1) a natural structure composed of two interacting partitions of the market that both agrees with and generalizes standard notions of scale (eg., sector and industry) and (2) structure in the first partition that is a topological manifestation of a well-known pattern of capital flow called "sector rotation.'' Our approach gives rise to a natural form of multiresolution analysis of the underlying time series that naturally decomposes the basic data in terms of the effects of the different scales at which it clusters. The equities market is a prototypical complex system and we expect that our approach will be of use in understanding a broad class of complex systems in which correlation structures are resident.Comment: 17 pages, 4 figures, 3 table

Combinatorial Alexander Duality -- a Short and Elementary Proof

Let X be a simplicial complex with the ground set V. Define its Alexander dual as a simplicial complex X* = {A \subset V: V \setminus A \notin X}. The combinatorial Alexander duality states that the i-th reduced homology group of X is isomorphic to the (|V|-i-3)-th reduced cohomology group of X* (over a given commutative ring R). We give a self-contained proof.Comment: 7 pages, 2 figure; v3: the sign function was simplifie

An Economic Analysis of the Potential Influence of Carbon Credits on Farm Management Practices

The objective of the 1997 Kyoto agreement was to limit greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions among signatory countries and thereby slow global warming. Under the agreement, Canada has committed itself to reduce GHGs over the next decade by 6 percent from estimated 1990 levels. Debate has now begun on the appropriate government policies that will induce the desired GHG reductions. Regulations could be in the form of direct controls or economic incentives, such as a subsidy/tax system or an emission trading system. The success of the U.S. emission market for SO2 (Schmalenseeet al., 1998) has generated growing interest in the use of a similar market mechanism for carbon (Holmes and Friedman, 2000). The existence of a carbon credit market presents the agricultural sector with another potential revenue source (Sandor and Skees, 1999). While agriculture contributes approximately 10 percent of Canada’s greenhouse gas emissions, it also has the potential to sequester carbon through strategies such as zero tillage, reduced summer fallow and improved grazing. These sequestration activities could be incorporated into an emission trading system and create a “carbon credit†for each unit of CO2 that is removed from the atmosphere. Firms with high emission reduction costs could then buy these credits rather than bear the large abatement costs associated with reducing their GHG emission levels. The perception is that the marginal cost of abatement for agriculture is less than that for other sectors (McCarl and Schneider, 2000). Thus, farmers may be able to profit by selling credits for activities that sequester carbon. An example of such a transaction was the purchase of carbon credits from Iowa farmers who adopted no-till by a consortium of Canadian energy companies (GEMCO) (Lessiter, 1999). Whether the development of a carbon credit market will affect the management decisions of an Ontario crop farmer isthe focus of this study.Agricultural and Food Policy, Farm Management,

Rehybridization of electronic structure in compressed two-dimensional quantum dot superlattices

Two-dimensional superlattices of organically passivated 2.6-nm silver quantum dots were prepared as Langmuir monolayers and transferred to highly oriented pyrolytic graphite substrates. The structural and electronic properties of the films were probed with variable temperature scanning tunneling microscopy. Particles passivated with decanethiol (interparticle separation distance of ∼1.1±0.2 nm) exhibited Coulomb blockade and staircase. For particles passivated with hexanethiol or pentanethiol (interparticle separation distance of ∼0.5±0.2 nm), the single-electron charging was quenched, and the redistribution of the density of states revealed that strong quantum mechanical exchange, i.e., wave-function hybridization, existed among the particles in these films

36 degree step size of proton-driven c-ring rotation in FoF1-ATP synthase

Synthesis of the biological "energy currency molecule" adenosine triphosphate ATP is accomplished by FoF1-ATP synthase. In the plasma membrane of Escherichia coli, proton-driven rotation of a ring of 10 c subunits in the Fo motor powers catalysis in the F1 motor. While F1 uses 120 degree stepping, Fo models predict a step-by-step rotation of c subunits 36 degree at a time, which is here demonstrated by single-molecule fluorescence resonance energy transfer.Comment: 8 pages, 1 figur

Hadron Spin Dynamics

Spin effects in exclusive and inclusive reactions provide an essential new dimension for testing QCD and unraveling hadron structure. Remarkable new experiments from SLAC, HERMES (DESY), and the Jefferson Laboratory present many challenges to theory, including measurements at HERMES and SMC of the single spin asymmetries in pion electroproduction, where the proton is polarized normal to the scattering plane. This type of single spin asymmetry may be due to the effects of rescattering of the outgoing quark on the spectators of the target proton, an effect usually neglected in conventional QCD analyses. Many aspects of spin, such as single-spin asymmetries and baryon magnetic moments are sensitive to the dynamics of hadrons at the amplitude level, rather than probability distributions. I illustrate the novel features of spin dynamics for relativistic systems by examining the explicit form of the light-front wavefunctions for the two-particle Fock state of the electron in QED, thus connecting the Schwinger anomalous magnetic moment to the spin and orbital momentum carried by its Fock state constituents and providing a transparent basis for understanding the structure of relativistic composite systems and their matrix elements in hadronic physics. I also present a survey of outstanding spin puzzles in QCD, particularly the double transverse spin asymmetry A_{NN} in elastic proton-proton scattering, the J/psi to rho-pi puzzle, and J/psi polarization at the Tevatron.Comment: Concluding theory talk presented at SPIN2001, the Third Circum-Pan-Pacific Symposium on High Energy Physics, October, 2001, Beijin