Clemson University

About: Clemson University is a education organization based out in Clemson, South Carolina, United States. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Population & Control theory. The organization has 20556 authors who have published 42518 publications receiving 1170779 citations. The organization is also known as: Clemson Agricultural College of South Carolina.

Astrophysics with Presolar Stardust

Abstract: ▪ Abstract Meteorites and interplanetary dust particles contain presolar stardust grains: solid samples of stars that can be studied in the laboratory. The stellar origin of the grains is indicated by enormous isotopic ratio variations compared with Solar System materials, explainable only by nuclear reactions occurring in stars. Known presolar phases include diamond, SiC, graphite, Si3N4, Al2O3, MgAl2O4, CaAl12O19, TiO2, Mg(Cr,Al)2O4, and most recently, silicates. Subgrains of refractory carbides (e.g., TiC), and Fe-Ni metal have also been observed within individual presolar graphite grains. We review the astrophysical implications of these grains for the sciences of nucleosynthesis, stellar evolution, grain condensation, and the chemical and dynamic evolution of the Galaxy. Unique scientific information derives primarily from the high precision (in some cases <1%) of the measured isotopic ratios of large numbers of elements in single stardust grains. Stardust science is just now reaching maturity and wi...

ARB: a hardware mechanism for dynamic reordering of memory references

Abstract: To exploit instruction level parallelism, it is important not only to execute multiple memory references per cycle, but also to reorder memory references-especially to execute loads before stores that precede them in the sequential instruction stream. To guarantee correctness of execution in such situations, memory reference addresses have to be disambiguated. This paper presents a novel hardware mechanism, called an Address Resolution Buffer (ARB), for performing dynamic reordering of memory references. The ARB supports the following features: (1) dynamic memory disambiguation in a decentralized manner, (2) multiple memory references per cycle, (3) out-of-order execution of memory references, (4) unresolved loads and stores, (5) speculative loads and stores, and (6) memory renaming. The paper presents the results of a simulation study that we conducted to verify the efficacy of the ARB for a superscalar processor. The paper also shows the ARB's application in a multiscalar processor.

Averaged Faces Are Attractive, but Very Attractive Faces Are Not Average

Abstract: In a recent article, Langlois and Roggman (1990) argue that “attractive faces are only average” and support this theory with composite faces produced by digitized image processing. While we agree with their premise that average(d) faces should be seen as attractive, we believe there are good reasons to expect very attractive faces to be atypical in some ways. Their paper provides evidence that averaged faces are relatively attractive, but other evidence convinces us that facial attractiveness is not simply a function of the prototypicality of faces. Furthermore, the use of composite faces to study the attractiveness of averaged faces produces results that are difficult to interpret. In this commentary, we argue that existing theory and data provide good evidence that atypical characteristics can enhance facial attractiveness. We discuss some of the (1) theoretical reasons why the most average facial appearance will not be ideally attractive; (2) data that indicate that the most average facial appearance is not the most attractive; and (3) limitations and weaknesses of the method used by Langlois and Roggman.

Audit Committee Financial Expertise, Competing Corporate Governance Mechanisms, and Earnings Management

Abstract: A prime objective of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act and recent changes to stock exchange listing standards is to improve the quality of financial reporting. We examine the associations between audit committee financial expertise and alternate corporate governance mechanisms and earnings management. We find that both accounting and certain types of non-accounting financial expertise reduce earnings management for firms with weak alternate corporate governance mechanisms, but that independent audit committee members with financial expertise are most effective in mitigating earnings management. Importantly we find that alternate corporate governance mechanisms are an effective substitute for audit committee financial expertise in constraining earnings management. Finally, we find either no association or a positive association between financial expertise and real earnings management. Our results suggest that alternate governance approaches are equally effective in improving the quality of financial reporting, and that firms should have the flexibility to design the particular set of governance mechanisms that best fit their unique situations.