The Demarcation of Land and the Role of Coordinating Institutions

This paper examines the economic effects of the two dominant land demarcation systems, metes and bounds (MB) and the rectangular system (RS). Under MB property is demarcated by its perimeter as indicated by natural features and human structures and linked to surveys within local political jurisdictions. Under RS land demarcation is governed by a common grid with uniform square shapes, sizes, alignment, and geographically-based addresses. In the U.S. MB is used principally in the original 13 states, Kentucky, and Tennessee. The RS is found elsewhere under the Land Ordinance of 1785 that divided federal lands into square-mile sections. We develop an economic framework for examining land demarcation systems and draw predictions. Our empirical analysis focuses on a 39-county area of Ohio where both MB and RS were used in adjacent areas as a result of exogenous historical factors. The results indicate that topography influences parcel shape and size under a MB system; that parcel shapes are aligned under the RS; and that the RS is associated with higher land values, more roads, more land transactions, and fewer legal disputes than MB, all else equal. The comparative limitations of MB appear to have had negative long-term effects on land values and economic activity in the sample area.

How islands stir and fertilize the upper ocean

2000 FLORIDA AVE NW, WASHINGTON, USA, DC, 2000

Recent Advances in High Density Area Array Interconnect Bonding for 3D Integration

The demand for more complex and multifunctional micro systems with enhanced performance characteristics for military applications is driving the electronics industry toward the use of best-of-breed materials and device technologies. Threedimensional (3-D) integration provides a way to build complex microsystems through bonding and interconnection of individually optimized device layers without compromising system performance and fabrication yield. Bonding of device layers can be achieved through polymer bonding or metal-metal interconnect bonding with a number of metalmetal systems. RTI has been investigating and characterizing Cu-Cu and CulSn-Cu processes for high density area array imaging applications, demonstrating high yield bonding between sub-I5 11m pads on large area array configurations. This paper will review recent advances in the development of high yield, large area array metal-metal interconnects which enable 3-D integration of heterogeneous materials (e.g. HgCdTe with silicon) and heterogeneous fabrication processes (e.g. infrared emitters or microbolometers with ICs) for imaging and scene projector applications

Demonstration of detuned dual recycling at the Garching 30m laser interferometer

Dual recycling is an advanced optical technique to enhance the signal-to-noise ratio of laser interferometric gravitational wave detectors in a limited bandwidth. To optimise the center of this band with respect to Fourier frequencies of expected gravitational wave signals detuned dual recycling has to be implemented. We demonstrated detuned dual recycling on a fully suspended 30m prototype interferometer. A control scheme that allows to tune the detector to different frequencies will be outlined. Good agreement between the experimental results and numerical simulations has been achieved.Comment: 9 page

Regulation of retinal pigment epithelial cell phenotype by Annexin A8

The retinoic acid derivative fenretinide (FR) is capable of transdifferentiating cultured retinal pigment epithelial (RPE) cells towards a neuronal-like phenotype, but the underlying mechanisms are not understood. To identify genes involved in this process we performed a microarray analysis of RPE cells pre- and post-FR treatment, and observed a marked down-regulation of AnnexinA8 (AnxA8) in transdifferentiated cells. To determine whether AnxA8 plays a role in maintaining RPE cell phenotype we directly manipulated AnxA8 expression in cultured and primary RPE cells using siRNA-mediated gene suppression, and over-expression of AnxA8-GFP in conjunction with exposure to FR. Treatment of RPE cells with AnxA8 siRNA recapitulated exposure to FR, with cell cycle arrest, neuronal transdifferentiation, and concomitant up-regulation of the neuronal markers calretinin and calbindin, as assessed by real-time PCR and immunofluorescence. In contrast, AnxA8 transient over-expression in ARPE-19 cells prevented FR-induced differentiation. Ectopic expression of AnxA8 in AnxA8-depleted cells led to decreased neuronal marker staining, and normal cell growth as judged by phosphohistone H3 staining, cell counting and cleaved caspase-3 levels. These data show that down-regulation of AnxA8 is both necessary and sufficient for neuronal transdifferentiation of RPE cells and reveal an essential role for AnxA8 as a key regulator of RPE phenotype

Cost-benefit analysis for commissioning decisions in GEO600

Gravitational wave interferometers are complex instruments, requiring years of commissioning to achieve the required sensitivities for the detection of gravitational waves, of order 10^-21 in dimensionless detector strain, in the tens of Hz to several kHz frequency band. Investigations carried out by the GEO600 detector characterisation group have shown that detector characterisation techniques are useful when planning for commissioning work. At the time of writing, GEO600 is the only large scale laser interferometer currently in operation running with a high duty factor, 70%, limited chiefly by the time spent commissioning the detector. The number of observable gravitational wave sources scales as the product of the volume of space to which the detector is sensitive and the observation time, so the goal of commissioning is to improve the detector sensitivity with the least possible detector down time. We demonstrate a method for increasing the number of sources observable by such a detector, by assessing the severity of non-astrophysical noise contaminations to efficiently guide commissioning. This method will be particularly useful in the early stages and during the initial science runs of the aLIGO and adVirgo detectors, as they are brought up to design performance.Comment: 17 pages, 17 figures, 2 table

Measurement of Branching Fractions and Rate Asymmetries in the Rare Decays B -> K(*) l+ l-

In a sample of 471 million BB events collected with the BABAR detector at the PEP-II e+e- collider we study the rare decays B -> K(*) l+ l-, where l+ l- is either e+e- or mu+mu-. We report results on partial branching fractions and isospin asymmetries in seven bins of di-lepton mass-squared. We further present CP and lepton-flavor asymmetries for di-lepton masses below and above the J/psi resonance. We find no evidence for CP or lepton-flavor violation. The partial branching fractions and isospin asymmetries are consistent with the Standard Model predictions and with results from other experiments.Comment: 16 pages, 14 figures, accepted by Phys. Rev.

Improved Limits on B0B^{0} decays to invisible (+γ)(+\gamma) final states

We establish improved upper limits on branching fractions for B0 decays to final States 10 where the decay products are purely invisible (i.e., no observable final state particles) and for final states where the only visible product is a photon. Within the Standard Model, these decays have branching fractions that are below the current experimental sensitivity, but various models of physics beyond the Standard Model predict significant contributions for these channels. Using 471 million BB pairs collected at the Y(4S) resonance by the BABAR experiment at the PEP-II e+e- storage ring at the SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, we establish upper limits at the 90% confidence level of 2.4x10^-5 for the branching fraction of B0-->Invisible and 1.7x10^-5 for the branching fraction of B0-->Invisible+gammaComment: 8 pages, 3 postscript figures, submitted to Phys. Rev. D (Rapid Communications

Precise Measurement of the e+ e- --> pi+ pi- (gamma) Cross Section with the Initial-State Radiation Method at BABAR

A precise measurement of the cross section of the process $e^+e^-\to\pi^+\pi^-(\gamma)$ from threshold to an energy of 3GeV is obtained with the initial-state radiation (ISR) method using 232fb$^{-1}$ of data collected with the BaBar detector at $e^+e^-$ center-of-mass energies near 10.6GeV. The ISR luminosity is determined from a study of the leptonic process $e^+e^-\to\mu^+\mu^-(\gamma)\gamma_{\rm ISR}$, which is found to agree with the next-to-leading-order QED prediction to within 1.1%. The cross section for the process $e^+e^-\to\pi^+\pi^-(\gamma)$ is obtained with a systematic uncertainty of 0.5% in the dominant $\rho$ resonance region. The leading-order hadronic contribution to the muon magnetic anomaly calculated using the measured $\pi\pi$ cross section from threshold to 1.8GeV is $(514.1 \pm 2.2({\rm stat}) \pm 3.1({\rm syst}))\times 10^{-10}$.Comment: 58 pages, 56 figures, to be submitted to Phys. Rev.

Search for lepton-number violating processes in B+ -> h- l+ l+ decays

We have searched for the lepton-number violating processes B+ -> h- l+ l+ with h- = K-/pi- and l+ = e+/mu+, using a sample of 471+/-3 million BBbar events collected with the BaBar detector at the PEP-II e+e- collider at the SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory. We find no evidence for these decays and place 90% confidence level upper limits on their branching fractions Br(B+ -> pi- e+ e+) K- e+ e+) pi- mu+ mu+) K- mu+ mu+) < 6.7 x 10^{-8}.Comment: 8 pages, 4 postscript figures, submitted to Phys. Rev. D. R