Re-Evaluating Vietnam’s Nghe-Tinh Soviets (1930-1931) using a Historical GIS: Some Preliminary Observations

The Nghe-Tinh Soviets of 1930-1931, a rebellion against colonial authority in north-central and central colonial Vietnam, has received extensive analysis by a variety of commentators and scholars, both Vietnamese and not. Most scholars, Vietnam and internationally, settled on some view of immiseration combined with the presence of pro-communist organizers as the motive forces for the rebellion, but a few have favored questions of political dissatisfaction and local empowerment as underlying motivations for revolt. Until recently, examining the rebellion on a gross scale in order to test either theory has proven difficult, with a surfeit of information but no easy way to process it in order to underwrite large-scale analyses. Del Testa is using a historical GIS (geographical information system) analysis, which blends statistics with digitized maps, in order to display correlations between factors, such as wealth, religion, and so on of those who rebelled in order to reexamine the Nghe-Tinh Soviets movement on a grand scale. His presentation will illustrate some initial findings as well as the techniques used.

Hydrogen bonding of nucleotide base pairs: Application of the PM3 method

The ability of the pm3 semiempirical quantum mechanical method to reproduce hydrogen bonding in nucleotide base pairs was assessed. Results of pm3 calculations on the nucleotides 2′-deoxyadenosine 5′-monophosphate (pdA), 2′-deoxyguanosine 5′-monophosphate (pdG), 2′-deoxycytidine 5′-monophosphate (pdC), and 2′-deoxythymidine 5′-monophosphate (pdT) and the base pairs pdA–pdT, pdG–pdC, and pdG(syn)–pdC are presented and discussed. The pm3 method is the first of the parameterized nddo quantum mechanical models with any ability to reproduce hydrogen bonding between nucleotide base pairs. Intermolecular hydrogen bond lengths between nucleotides displaying Watson–Crick base pairing are 0.1–0.2 Å less than experimental results. Nucleotide bond distances, bond angles, and torsion angles about the glycosyl bond (χ), the C4′C5′ bond (γ), and the C5′O5′ bond (β) agree with experimental results. There are many possible conformations of nucleotides. pm3 calculations reveal that many of the most stable conformations are stabilized by intramolecular CHO hydrogen bonds. These interactions disrupt the usual sugar puckering. The stacking interactions of a dT–pdA duplex are examined at different levels of gradient optimization. The intramolecular hydrogen bonds found in the nucleotide base pairs disappear in the duplex, as a result of the additional constraints on the phosphate group when part of a DNA backbone. Sugar puckering is reproduced by the pm3 method for the four bases in the dT–pdA duplex. pm3 underestimates the attractive stacking interactions of base pairs in a B-DNA helical conformation. The performance of the pm3 method implemented in SPARTAN is contrasted with that implemented in MOPAC. At present, accurate ab initio calculations are too timeconsuming to be of practical use, and molecular mechanics methods cannot be used to determine quantum mechanical properties such as reaction-path calculations, transition-state structures, and activation energies. The pm3 method should be used with extreme caution for examination of small DNA systems. Future parameterizations of semiempirical methods should incorporate base stacking interactions into the parameterization data set to enhance the ability of these methods.

Performance Modeling Of Reconfigurable Distributed Systems Based On The Opensparc Fpga Board And The Sirc Communication Framewor

This thesis explores system performance for reconfigurable distributed systems and provides an analytical model for determining throughput of theoretical systems based on the OpenSPARC FPGA Board and the SIRC Communication Framework. This model was developed by studying a small set of variables that together determine a system¿s throughput. The importance of this model is in assisting system designers to make decisions as to whether or not to commit to designing a reconfigurable distributed system based on the estimated performance and hardware costs. Because custom hardware design and distributed system design are both time consuming and costly, it is important for designers to make decisions regarding system feasibility early in the development cycle. Based on experimental data the model presented in this paper shows a close fit with less than 10% experimental error on average. The model is limited to a certain range of problems, but it can still be used given those limitations and also provides a foundation for further development of modeling reconfigurable distributed systems.

A Historical-Institutional Study of the Welfare Systems in the United States and Sweden: Net Social Wage Approach

In this study I first look at the historical developments of the welfare systems in Sweden and the United States to understand why these countries have produced two distinct systems over the years. After understanding their historical context I turn to the question of the relationship between the welfare system and economic growth. Policy makers and the mainstream media commonly cite the critique that through government deficit and public debt, welfare systems are a drag on the economy. By calculating the net social wage, the difference in taxes paid and benefits received by workers, I test this hypothesis to see if welfare systems are self-financed by the workers. My findings demonstrate that the net social wage has been negative in the U.S. from 1962 to the early 2000s and in Sweden from 1965 to 2012. This shows that the welfare systems are entirely self-financed by the workers for the full period in Sweden and until the recent financial crisis in the U.S.