An oracle based method to compute a coupled equilibrium in a model of international climate policy

This paper proposes a computational game-theoretic model for the international negotiations that should take place at the end of the period covered by the Kyoto protocol. These negotiations could lead to a self-enforcing agreement on a burden sharing scheme given the necessary global emissions limit that will be imposed when the real extent of climate change is known. The model assumes a non-cooperative behavior of the parties except for the fact that they will be collectively committed to reach a target on total cumulative emissions by the year 2050. The concept of normalized equilibrium, introduced by J.B. Rosen for concave games with coupled constraints, is used to characterize a family of dynamic equilibrium solutions in an m-player game where the agents are (groups of) countries and the payoffs are the welfare gains obtained from a Computable General Equilibrium (CGE) model. The model deals with the uncertainty about climate sensitivity by computing an S-adapted equilibrium. These equilibria are computed using an oracle-based method permitting an implicit definition of the payoffs to the different players, obtained through simulations performed with the global CGE model GEMINI-E3. Partly supported by GICC (French Ministry of Ecology), TOCSIN (EU-044287) and the Swiss-NSF NCCR-Climate program of the Swiss NSF. For helpful comments and discussions, we thank A. Bernard, P. Thalmann, and the anonymous referee.     

Convex hull: A new method to determine the separation space used and to optimize operating conditions for comprehensive two-dimensional gas chromatography

It is important to develop methods of optimizing the selection of column sets and operating conditions for comprehensive two-dimensional gas chromatography. A new method for the calculation of the percentage of separation space used was developed using Delaunay's triangulation algorithms (convex hull). This approach was compared with an existing method and showed better precision and accuracy. It was successfully applied to the selection of the most convenient column set and the geometrical parameters of second column for the analysis of 49 target compounds in wastewater.     

Analysis of the effects of physical task stress on the speech signal

Physical task stress is known to affect the fundamental frequency and other measurements of the speech signal. A corpus of physical task stress speech is analyzed using a spectrum F-ratio and frame score distribution divergences. The measurements differ between phone classes, and are greater for vowels and nasals than for plosives and fricatives. In further analysis, frame score distribution divergences are used to measure the spectral dissimilarity between neutral and physical task stress speech. Frame scores are the log likelihood ratios between Gaussian mixture models (GMMs) of physical task stress and of neutral speech. Mel-frequency cepstral coefficients are used as the acoustic feature inputs to the GMMs. A Laplacian distribution is fitted to the frame scores for each of ten phone classes, and the symmetric Kullback-Leibler divergence is employed to measure the change in distribution from neutral to physical task stress. The results suggest that the spectral dissimilarity is greatest for the second level of a four level exertion measurement, and that spectral dissimilarity is greater for nasal phones than for plosives and fricatives. Further, the results suggest that different phone classes are affected differently by physical task stress.     

Identification of Apigenin Metabolites in Rat Liver Perfusate by Column Switching High Performance Liquid Chromatography/Electrospray Ionization Mass Spectrometry

Summary.  A selective column switching high performance liquid chromatographic method has been used for the simultaneous determination of apigenin and metabolites in rat liver perfusate. This new method clearly separated apigenin and the metabolites with high resolution. The structures of metabolites were proposed based on selective ion recording and full scan analysis by electrospray ionization mass spectrometry. Corresponding author. E-mail: basly@pharma.unilim.fr Received May 15, 2002; accepted (revised) September 13, 2002     

Comparison of MNDO to tight-binding,total-energy methods for surface atomic structure determination: Aluminum phosphide (110)

Tight-binding, total-energy (TBTE ) models have been successfully used to calculate the equilibrium surface atomic structures of a variety of materials, but are difficult to apply to substances with complicated interatomic repulsions. In these cases, the modified neglect of diatomic overlap (MNDO ) method, which specifically includes longer-range interactions, may provide an effective alternative. We present new calculations of the surface atomic structure of the AlP (110) surface using both techniques. This surface, whose structure has been determined quantitatively using a low-energy, electron-diffraction intensity analysis, displays a well-known relaxation characteristic of (110) surfaces of zincblende-structure semiconductors. The TBTE model, parameterized to bulk AlP properties, provides a more accurate prediction of the relaxed surface atomic positions, although MNDO , parameterized to small molecules, produces acceptable results. Despite the greater demands placed by MNDO on computer resources, it may prove useful in the study of materials that are difficult to model within a TBTE framework. © 1992 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

Hydrophilic interaction liquid chromatography method for measuring the composition of aquatic humic substances

A hydrophilic interaction liquid chromatography (HILIC) method was developed to measure the composition of humic substances from river, reservoir, and treated wastewater based on their physicochemical properties. The current method fractionates the humic substances into four well-defined groups based on parallel analyses with a neutral and a cationic HILIC column, using mobile phases of varied compositions and pH. The results indicate that: (i) the proportion of carboxylic acids in the humic substances from terrestrial origins is less than half of that from treated wastewater (Jeddah, KSA), (ii) a higher content of basic compounds was observed in the humic substances from treated wastewater and Ribou Reservoir (Cholet, France) than in the sample from Loire River (France), (iii) a higher percentage of hydrophobic macromolecules were found in the humic substances from Loire River than in the other samples, and (iv) humic substances of treated wastewater contained less ionic neutral compounds (i.e., pK_a 5–9) than the waters from terrestrial origins. The physicochemical property disparity amongst the compounds in each humic substances sample was also evaluated. The humic substances from the lightly humic Loire river displayed the highest disparity, whereas the highly humic Suwannee river (Georgia, USA) showed the most homogeneous humic substances.     

Review: Current applications and challenges for liquid chromatography coupled to isotope ratio mass spectrometry (LC/IRMS)

High-precision isotope analysis is recognized as an essential research tool in many fields of study. Until recently, continuous flow isotope ratio mass spectrometry (CF-IRMS) was available via an elemental analyzer or a gas chromatography inlet system for compound-specific analysis of light stable isotopes. In 2004, however, an interface that coupled liquid chromatography with IRMS (LC/IRMS) became commercially available for the first time. This brought the capability for new areas of application, in particular enabling compound-specific δ(13)C analysis of non-volatile, aqueous soluble, compounds from complex mixtures. The interface design brought with it several analytical constraints, however, in particular a lack of compatibility with certain types of chromatography as well as limited flow rates and mobile phase compositions. Routine LC/IRMS methods have, however, been established for measuring the δ(13)C isotopic ratios of underivatized individual compounds for application in archeology, nutrition and physiology, geochemistry, hydrology, soil science and food authenticity. Seven years after its introduction, we review the technical advances and constraints, methodological developments and new applications of liquid chromatography coupled to isotope ratio mass spectrometry.     

New access to (η(5)-cyclohexadienyl)Mn(CO)3 and cationic (η(6)-arene)Mn(CO)3 complexes by Suzuki-Miyaura reaction

First Suzuki-Miyaura coupling reactions applied to (η(5)-chloro-cyclohexadienyl)Mn(CO)3 complexes are described and lead to the syntheses of (η(5)-aryl-cyclohexadienyl)Mn(CO)3 and of cationic (η(6)-arene)Mn(CO)3 complexes after rearomatization. The structures of two of the new complexes have been investigated by X-ray diffraction study.