cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Recovering from the Recovery: Law and Contemporary Processes of Accumulation by Dispossession

All economic events have distributive consequences. The structure and impact of those consequences are determined both by the event and by the economic instruments deployed to intervene in the event. Such instruments may be set in motion ostensibly to maintain, correct, or amplify the event. The instruments deployed correspond to the theoretical perspectives of the economists and economic policy makers mobilized to analyze and interpret the event. The theoretical perspectives utilized will determine the data viewed as relevant and the goals viewed as desirable, which in turn express the values of those theoretical perspectives The financial market breaks which have come to be known as the Great Recession, have generated and will continue to generate substantial changes in the distribution this society’s assets, resources and opportunities. Although the current administration portrayed itself as the proponent of the change that the American people desired, it has used, for the most part, the same policy instruments deployed by neoclassical economics and neoconservative politics, the results of which are both predictable and disturbing. It is likely that Obama’s "neoconservative-lite" will be responsible for the largest redistribution of assets, resources and opportunities from the lower and middle classes to the wealthy in recent history. This paper will examine the empirical data demonstrating the role of the Obama administration’s economic and financial policies in expanding poverty, shrinking the middle class and enriching wealthy individuals and enterprises. From -- the highly stratified “bailout,” to credit card reform, to the health insurance reform proposals [as opposed to heath care reform], to changes at all levels of the educational system, to continued assault on the working class and the labor movement, to financial sector reform, -- the current administration’s policies are resulting in greater inequality, significant to dramatic class reconfiguration, diminished class mobility, increased political apathy and the transfer of the benefit of the wealth and earning potential of the working and middle classes to the wealthy -- the goals of the neoconservative political project. The paper argues that the present economic and political approach to the crisis is consistent with the processes associated with accumulation by dispossession, an economic process recognized in the Marxian tradition as redistribution accomplished by force. Combining insights from institutional economic theory, the paper argues that the legal interventions constructed to ameliorate the impact of the Great Recession have instead provided another process by which accumulation by dispossession can occur.
The Effects of Demand-Driven Acquisitions on Law Library Collection Development

Demand-driven acquisition programs are becoming more common as a method of collection development. This article first discusses traditional collection development practices in academic law libraries and outlines the mechanics and goals of the demand-driven acquisitions model. It then considers the effects of that model on law library collections and collection development practices.
Reducing intergroup conflict through the consideration of future consequences

Basic social psychological research has suggested several interventions to reduce intergroup conflict. Most of these interventions, however, have been indirect and impractical to implement outside laboratory settings. Although past research has demonstrated that indirect manipulations of the consideration of future consequences reduce intergroup competition, no study of interindividual–intergroup discontinuity has tested this assumption with a direct manipulation. The present study found that when participants (individuals and members of groups) interacting in an iterated prisoner's dilemma game (PDG) were asked to predict how their opponent's choice on a second trial would be affected by their own choice on an initial trial, intergroup competition was reduced while interindividual competition remained low regardless of the manipulation. On a practical level, implications of this study provide a simple and easily implemented solution to reducing intergroup conflict in non-laboratory situations. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Using Boosting for Financial Analysis and Performance Prediction: Application to S&P 500 Companies, Latin American ADRs and Banks

This paper demonstrates how the boosting approach can support the financial analysis functions in two ways: (1) As a predictive tool to forecast corporate performance, and rank accounting and corporate variables according to their impact on performance, and (2) As an interpretative tool to generate alternating decision trees that capture the non-linear relationship among accounting and corporate governance variables that determine performance. We compare our results using Adaboost with logistic regression, bagging, and random forests. We conduct 10-fold cross-validation experiments on one sample each of S&P 500 companies, American Depository Receipts (ADRs) of Latin American companies and Latin American banks. Adaboost results indicate that large companies perform better than small companies, especially when these companies have a limited long-term assets to sales ratio. Performance improves for large LAADR companies when the country of residence is characterized by a weak rule of law. In the case of S&P 500 companies, performance increases when the compensation for top officers is mostly variable.
Finding Workable Levers Over Work Motivation Comparing Job Satisfaction, Job Involvement, and Organizational Commitment

This article draws on a sample of state government health and human service managers to develop and test a model of work motivation. The authors examine the effect of individual attributes, job characteristics, and organizational variables on three aspects of work motivation: job satisfaction, organizational commitment, and job involvement. They find that managers have varying degrees of influence over these different aspects of work motivation, with greatest influence over job satisfaction and least influence over job involvement. A number of variables are important for work motivation, including public service motivation, advancement opportunities, role clarity, job routineness, and group culture.
Trade, Labor, Legitimacy

Author(s): Guzman, Andrew | Abstract: The relationship between international trade and labor standards is one of several controversial issues facing the WTO. Proponents of a trade-labor link argue that labor is a human rights issue and that trade sanctions represent a critical tool in the effort to improve international working conditions. Opponents argue that a link between trade and labor would open the door to protectionist measures that would target low wage countries and harm the very workers the policy is intended to help.This paper argues that the merits of the trade-labor debate must be resolved through a political process. The alternative of a resolution through the WTO's Appellate Body (AB) is undesirable for a number of reasons, including the fact that the AB is undemocratic, unaccountable, poorly positioned to understand the trade-offs at stake, and has not been charged with resolving such fundamental policy issues. An attempt to resolve the issue at the AB will lack political legitimacy and ultimately undermine the stability of the WTO itself.Given that a political solution is required, the only sensible place to negotiate it is the WTO. If there is to be a trade-labor link it will be necessary to change the rules of international trade, which must be done at the WTO. At present, however, there is reason to fear that the institutional structure of the organization will cause trade concerns to trump labor concerns. This paper proposes a set of reforms to the WTO designed to place trade and labor on an even footing without undermining the significant benefits that the WTO delivers to the international system.The key to the proposed reforms is the creation of independent trade and labor departments within the WTO. The labor department would have considerable autonomy from the rest of the organization, would be staffed by labor specialists, and would have the authority to hold its own periodic rounds of negotiation, limited to labor issues. Such negotiations would result in binding obligations. In addition, from time to time the WTO would host negotiating rounds that include both the labor department and other WTO departments, including trade. These larger rounds would permit states to reach a negotiated agreement on the relationship between trade and labor. Because the agreement would be the product of consensus, a negotiated settlement would engender more legitimacy than an AB decision.
Auditor Identification of Fraud Risk Factors and their Impact on Audit Programs

Using a sample of 202 audit clients obtained from three large audit firms, this study investigates actual fraud risk assessments and their effects on audit programs following the issuance of SAS No. 82, Consideration of Fraud in a Financial Statement Audit. Over two years of audits, we find that the number and type of fraud risk factors identified differs across clients, industries, and fraud risk categories. Additionally, for 20 percent of year one and 31 percent of year two audits examined, we find that auditors modified the nature, extent and/or timing of audit procedures, assigned more experienced audit team members to the audit, or added or deleted procedures. Both correlation analysis and a multivariate model show that the decision to modify the planned audit program in response to the fraud risk assessment was influenced significantly by the identification and documentation of fraud risk factors as required by SAS No. 82. Multivariate results indicate that the audit team's decisions concerning extent, staffing, adding or deleting procedures are statistically related to the number and type of documented fraud risks and to overall client risk. These results differ somewhat from prior research into overall audit program planning and provide evidence that subsequent to the issuance of SAS No. 82, audits are being fraud risk adjusted.
Dynamics of individual and collective agricultural adaptation to water scarcity

Drought and water scarcity are growing challenges to agriculture around the world. Farmers can adapt through both individual and community-based collective actions. We draw on extensive field-work conducted with paddy farmers in rural Sri Lanka to study adaptations to water scarcity, including switching to less water-intensive crops, farming collectively on shared land, and individually turning to groundwater by digging wells. We explore how variability in climate affects agricultural decision-making at the community and individual levels using three types of decision-making, each characterized by an objective function: risk-averse expected utility, regret-adjusted expected utility, and prospect theory loss-aversion. We also assess how the introduction of individualized access to irrigation water with wells affects community-based drought mitigation practices. Preliminary results suggest that the growth of well-irrigation may produce sudden disruptions to community-based adaptations, but that this depends on the mental models farmers use to think about risk and make decisions under uncertainty.
Ink Blot or Not: the Meaning of Privileges And/Or Immunities

This article examines the meaning of the terms privileges and immunities as used in Article IV of the U.S. Constitution and the Fourteenth Amendment. It begins by tracing the American use of the terms to April 10, 1606 in the first Charter of Virginia. Building upon the work of other scholars and citing original documents, it concludes that these words has a well-established meaning as “rights” well before the Fourteenth Amendment was adopted. The article notes that in Justice Miller’s decision in the Slaughter-House Cases he refers to the privileges and immunities of Corfield v. Coryell as “those rights which are fundamental.” In exploring the meaning of the terms, the article notes it breadth, as articulated by Section 1 author John Bingham (R-Ohio) and Justice Strong in West Virginia v. Strauder. Examples are provided from Congressman Bingham, Justice Bradley, and Judge Thomas G. Jones in his turn of the century decision in Ex parte Riggins. Insight into how to apply the privileges or immunities clause is taken from Justice Robert Jackson, Justice Joseph P. Bradley and Justice Benjamin R. Curtis. Insight into the possibility that privilege and immunities would change is seen in the agreement between Justice Miller and Justice Bradley that constitutional amendments could change the content of the words. Further examples are given through the adoption of treaties and the 1866 Civil Rights Act. Because some concern has been expressed concerning the effect of using privileges or immunities clause upon establishment clause jurisidpurence, the history of the “secession” of slaveholders from the national churches and their establishment of pro-slavery churches which prohibited free exercise is examined. The insights provided by this history leads to the conclusion that a principled application of the privileges or immunities clause would not work any change in the current establishment clause jurisprudence. This approach is also tested with respect to a matter currently pending on certiorari in the U.S. Supreme Court: the enforcement of a right to bear arms against the states. The clauses are also analyzed to see how they would better protect the writ of habeas corpus than the inference drawn from Article I, Section 9, Clause 2. Finally, an example of how the use of the privileges and immunities clause might give a more principled and secure protection for established rights is illustrated by the application of the clauses to a “right of family life” that would replace the substantive due process approach used in Moore v. City of East Cleveland. The article concludes by noting that in spite of Saenz v. Roe, scholars and lawyers have not been very diligent in advancing claims under the privilege or immunities clause and provides reasons why such course should be pursued.
Volunteers: The Power of Community Mediation

This Article is based upon my presentation at the Conference on Conflict Resolution and the Economic Crisis convened at the UNLV Boyd School of Law’s Saltman Center for Conflict Resolution. The conference was a meaningful opportunity for academics, practitioners, policymakers, and students to engage in a very lively exchange about the possible contributions of our profession/avocation to the management of the current economic predicament. The discussion in which I participated continued an earlier panel’s conversation on cost effective dispute resolution. One of the presentations from that earlier panel focused on community mediation and its sustainability. This topic is closely related to my contribution concerning the use of volunteer mediators to reduce costs for community mediation centers (CMCs) and to offer the communities they serve effective and cost effective mediation or facilitation services. For those unfamiliar with the movement, the term “community mediation” is a bit misleading. Not only do CMCs respond to community and neighborhood disputes, many of them also accept family, custody and divorce referrals; school and juvenile matters; victim/offender mediations; hospital collections; inter-group conflicts, such as those within religious congregations or business and non-profit entities; and environmental and land use issues. Additionally, the National Association for Community Mediation (NAFCM) reports that most centers receive a majority of their referrals from court clerks, judges, prosecutors, or the police. Some courts have established diversion or specialized programs that direct cases to CMC or other volunteer mediators, and
Impact of Trading in the Multi-Dealer Spot Foreign Exchange

Impact of trading in the multi-dealer spot foreign exchange market is described using a structural vector autoregressive model. The model is derived in terms of return, signed trading volume, signed order book volume, and signed insidemarket order flow. EUR/USD and EUR/JPY data samples with whole-pip pricing and decimal pip-pricing are used. The results show that market impact is determined primarily by the signed trading volume and decays on the 10-second time scale. Signed inside-market order flow may be important for currency pairs with wide bid/offer spreads. Two subtle effects, the limit order book’s push and pull, are described.
Reframing Domestic Violence Law and Policy: An Anti-Essentialist Proposal

This essay argues that a central failure in domestic violence law and policy reform has been the creation of a body of law and set of policies based on outmoded notions of what domestic violence is, who women who experience violence and their partners are, and what they need and want. The influence of dominance feminism on domestic violence law and policy is largely to blame for this excessively narrow and problematic view of domestic violence. By contrast, anti-essentialist feminism requires us to delve into the complexities of the lives of individual women and consider all of who they are, rather than reducing them to their lowest common denominator - their common experience of domestic violence. To that end, this essay suggests a number of anti-essentialist principles for reinventing domestic violence law and policy. These principles should guide the reconsideration of the legal response to domestic violence and underpin concrete choices about policy, legislation, and systemic reform. These principles are not exhaustive, but serve as a jumping off point for further discussion about how an anti-essentialist feminist response to domestic violence would look.
Running the Gamut from A to B: Federal Trademark and False Advertising Law

The Lanham Act bars both trademark infringement and false advertising, in nearly identical and often overlapping language. In some circumstances, courts have interpreted the two provisions in the same way, but in other areas there has been significant doctrinal divergence, often to the detriment of the law. This Article argues that each branch of the Lanham Act has important lessons to offer the other. Courts should rationalize their treatment of implied claims, whether of sponsorship or of other facts; they should impose a materiality requirement, such that the only unlawful claims are those that actually matter to consumers, to trademark as well as other false advertising claims; and in false advertising cases, they should recognize that competitors have sufficient interests to confer standing when false claims are doing harm, rather than imposing increasingly elaborate barriers to suit. The present practice of interpreting the same language in substantially different ways lacks justification, and has the effect of promoting the interests of the most powerful companies, whether they are asserting claims of trademark infringement against smaller entities or defending themselves against false advertising claims by competitors. ∗ Professor, Georgetown University Law Center. Thanks to Graeme Dinwoodie, Mark Lemley, Jennifer Rothman, and the George Mason Faculty Workshop, as well as to Mara Gassmann and Emin Akopyan for research assistance.
Guidelines Simplification: Still an Urgent Priority Post-Booker

Part of the Law Commons Publication Information Published as Michael M. O’Hear, Guidelines Simplification: Still an Urgent Priority Post-Booker, 20 Fed. Sent’g Rep. 347 (2008). © 2008 by the Regents of the University of California on behalf of the Vera Institute of Justice. Copying and permissions notice: Authorization to copy this content beyond fair use (as specified in Sections 107 and 108 of the U. S. Copyright Law) for internal or personal use, or the internal or personal use of specific clients, is granted by the Regents of the University of California on behalf of the Vera Institute of Justice for libraries and other users, provided that they are registered with and pay the specified fee via Rightslink® on Caliber (http://caliber.ucpress.net/) or directly with the Copyright Clearance Center, http://www.copyright.com.
The Causes and Consequences of Recent Financial Market Bubbles: An Introduction

On August 12-13, 2005, the department of finance at the Kelley School of Business, Indiana University, collaborated with the Review of Financial Studies to host a conference titled “The Causes and Consequences of Recent Financial Market Bubbles.” This article begins with our overview of the themes and findings of the conference, and it ends with the questions that the literature has yet to answer.
Bayesian inference in asset pricing tests

Abstract We test the mean-variance efficiency of a given portfolio using a Bayesian framework. Our test is more direct than Shanken's (1987b), because we impose a prior on all the parameters of the multivariate regression model. The approach is also easily adapted to other problems. We use Monte Carlo numerical integration to accurately evaluate 90-dimensional integrals. Posterior-odds ratios are calculated for 12 industry portfolios from 1926–1987. The sensitivity of the inferences to the prior is investigated by using three different distributions. The probability that the given portfolio is mean-variance efficient is small for a range of plausible priors.
Theories of swidden agriculture, and the political economy of ignorance

Swidden agriculture is today the focus of a great deal of debate in the context of agroforestry development in humid, tropical countries. This paper argues that much of this debate deals not with the empirical facts of swidden agriculture, however, but rather with widely-accepted myths, and that this explains the widespread failures of developmental schemes involving swidden agriculturalists. The paper examines three of these myths in some detail. One myth is that swidden agriculturalists own their land communally (or not at all), work it communally, and consume its yields communally. The truth is that their land (including land under secondary forest fallow) is typically owned by individual households, it is worked by individual household labor forces and/or by reciprocal but not communal work groups, and its yields are owned and consumed privately and individually by each household. A second myth is that swidden cultivation of forested land is destructive and wasteful, and in the worst cases results in barren, useless grassland successions. The truth is that swidden cultivation is a productive use of the forests, indeed more productive than commercial logging in terms of the size of the population supported, and forest-grassland successions are typically a function not of rapaciousness but of increasing population/land pressure and agricultural intensification — the grasses, including Imperata cylindrica, having value both as a fallow period soil-rebuilder and as cattle fodder. A third myth is that swidden agriculturalists have a totally subsistence economy, completely cut off from the rest of the world. The truth is that swidden agriculturalists, in addition to planting their subsistence food crops, typically plant market-oriented cash crops as well, and as a result they are actually more integrated into the world economy than many of the practitioners of more intensive forms of agriculture. In the conclusion to the paper, in a brief attempt to explain the genesis of these several myths, it is noted that they have generally facilitated the extension of external administration and exploitation into the territories of the swidden agriculturalists, and hence can perhaps best be explained as a reflection of the political economy of the greater societies in which they dwell.
Volatility in Equilibrium: Asymmetries and Dynamic Dependencies

Stock market volatility clusters in time, appears fractionally integrated, carries a risk premium, and exhibits asymmetric leverage effects. At the same time, the volatility risk premium, defined by the difference between the risk-neutral and objective expectations of the volatility, features short memory. This paper develops the first internally consistent equilib- rium-based explanation for all these empirical facts. Using newly available high-frequency intra- day data for the S&P 500 and the VIX volatility index, the authors show that the qualitative implications from the new theoretical continuous-time model match remarkably well with the dis- tinct shapes and patterns in the sample autocorrelations and dynamic cross-correlations actually observed in the data.
Jumper enables discontinuous transcript assembly in coronaviruses.

Genes in SARS-CoV-2 and other viruses in the order of Nidovirales are expressed by a process of discontinuous transcription which is distinct from alternative splicing in eukaryotes and is mediated by the viral RNA-dependent RNA polymerase. Here, we introduce the DISCONTINUOUS TRANSCRIPT ASSEMBLYproblem of finding transcripts and their abundances given an alignment of paired-end short reads under a maximum likelihood model that accounts for varying transcript lengths. We show, using simulations, that our method, JUMPER, outperforms existing methods for classical transcript assembly. On short-read data of SARS-CoV-1, SARS-CoV-2 and MERS-CoV samples, we find that JUMPER not only identifies canonical transcripts that are part of the reference transcriptome, but also predicts expression of non-canonical transcripts that are supported by subsequent orthogonal analyses. Moreover, application of JUMPER on samples with and without treatment reveals viral drug response at the transcript level. As such, JUMPER enables detailed analyses of Nidovirales transcriptomes under varying conditions.
Welfare implications of trade liberalization when revenue matters

Some empirical studies have shown that many developing economies were unable to recover lost trade revenue from domestic taxes after implementing trade liberalizing policies. Ignoring the fiscal co...
Sequential Motion Planning for Bipedal Somersault via Flywheel SLIP and Momentum Transmission with Task Space Control

In this paper, we present a sequential motion planning and control method for generating somersaults on bipedal robots. The somersault (backflip or frontflip) is considered as a coupling between an axile hopping motion and a rotational motion about the center of mass of the robot; these are encoded by a hopping Spring-loaded Inverted Pendulum (SLIP) model and the rotation of a Flywheel, respectively. We thus present the Flywheel SLIP model for generating the desired motion on the ground phase. In the flight phase, we present a momentum transmission method to adjust the orientation of the lower body based on the conservation of the centroidal momentum. The generated motion plans are realized on the full-dimensional robot via momentum-included task space control. Finally, the proposed method is implemented on a modified version of the bipedal robot Cassie in simulation wherein multiple somersault motions are generated.
Higher-rank tensor non-Abelian field theory: Higher-moment or subdimensional polynomial global symmetry, algebraic variety, Noether's theorem, and gauging

This work explores the mathematical framework of higher-moment or subdimensional polynomial global symmetry, in the context of fracton matter and tensor field theory.
The cross-section of intraday and overnight returns

Abstract I investigate cross-sectional variation in stock returns over the trading day and overnight to shed light on what drives asset pricing anomalies. Margin requirements are higher overnight, and lending fees are typically charged only on positions held overnight. Such institutional constraints and overnight risk incentivize arbitrageurs who trade on mispricing to reduce their positions before the end of the day. Consistent with this intuition, a mispricing factor earns positive returns throughout the day but performs poorly at the end of the day. This pattern strengthens in the second half of the sample and is shared by several well-known anomalies.
Thermal Model of an Omnimagnet for Performance Assessment and Temperature Control

An Omnimagnet is an electromagnetic device that enables remote magnetic manipulation of devices such as medical implants and microrobots. It is comprised of three orthogonal nested solenoids with a ferromagnetic core at the center. Electrical current within the solenoids leads to Joule heating, resulting in undesired temperature increase within the Omnimagnet. If the temperature exceeds the melting point of the wire insulation, device failure will occur. Thus, a study of heat transfer within an Omnimagnet is a necessity, particularly to maximize the performance of the device. For the first time, a transient heat transfer model, that incorporates all three heat transfer modes, is proposed and validated with experimental data for an Omnimagnet with maximum root mean square error equal to 8${\%}$ (4$^{\circ}$C). This transient model is not computationally expensive. It is relatively easy to apply to Omnimagnets with different structures. The accuracy of this model depends on the accuracy of the input data. The code is applied to calculate the maximum safe operational time at a fixed input current or the maximum safe input current for a fixed time interval. The maximum safe operational time and maximum safe input current depend on size and structure of the Omnimagnet and the lowest melting point of all the Omnimagnet materials. A parametric study shows that increasing convective heat transfer during cooling, and during heating with low input currents, is an effective method to increase the maximum operational time of the Omnimagnet.The thermal model is also presented in a state-space equation format that can be used in a real-time Kalman filter current controller to avoid device failure due to excessive heating.
Study of the one-way speed of light anisotropy with particle beams

Concepts of high precision studies of the one-way speed of light anisotropy are discussed. The high energy particle beam allows measurement of a one-way speed of light anisotropy (SOLA) via analysis of the beam momentum variation with sidereal phase without the use of synchronized clocks. High precision beam position monitors could provide accurate monitoring of the beam orbit and determination of the particle beam momentum with relative accuracy on the level of 10−10 , which corresponds to a limit on SOLA of 10−18 with existing storage rings. A few additional versions of the experiment are also presented.
Adversarial Online Learning with Changing Action Sets: Efficient Algorithms with Approximate Regret Bounds

We revisit the problem of online learning with sleeping experts/bandits: in each time step, only a subset of the actions are available for the algorithm to choose from (and learn about). The work of Kleinberg et al. (2010) showed that there exist no-regret algorithms which perform no worse than the best ranking of actions asymptotically. Unfortunately, achieving this regret bound appears computationally hard: Kanade and Steinke (2014) showed that achieving this no-regret performance is at least as hard as PAC-learning DNFs, a notoriously difficult problem. In the present work, we relax the original problem and study computationally efficient no-approximate-regret algorithms: such algorithms may exceed the optimal cost by a multiplicative constant in addition to the additive regret. We give an algorithm that provides a no-approximate-regret guarantee for the general sleeping expert/bandit problems. For several canonical special cases of the problem, we give algorithms with significantly better approximation ratios; these algorithms also illustrate different techniques for achieving no-approximate-regret guarantees.
Discriminants of stable rank two sheaves on some general type surfaces

We prove sharp bounds on the discriminants of stable rank two sheaves on surfaces in three-dimensional projective space. The key technical ingredient is to study them as torsion sheaves in projective space via tilt stability in the derived category. We then proceed to describe the surface itself as a moduli space of rank two vector bundles on it. Lastly, we give a proof of the Bogomolov inequality for semistable rank two sheaves on integral surfaces in three-dimensional projective space in all characteristics.
Risk–Risk Tradeoffs for Mass Shootings and International Terrorism

This article elicits information about risk perceptions and risk-risk tradeoffs for mass shootings and international terrorist attacks. These prominent public risks are similar in many respects in that both involve traumatic injuries. One might expect that the risk-risk tradeoff rate would be 1.0 unless other attributes of these risks are pertinent. Estimates based on an original survey structured to test rates of tradeoff between deaths from these risks indicate that respondents consistently place a premium on reducing mass shooting risks, as compared to risks of international terrorism. The average premium is relatively stable even after accounting for the effect of differences in personal risk beliefs on policy preferences. The estimated rates of risk-risk tradeoff reflect a greater weight on mass shooting risks even for those who believe that international terrorism risks pose a greater personal threat.
Continuum-Armed Bandits: A Function Space Perspective

Continuum-armed bandits (a.k.a., black-box or $0^{th}$-order optimization) involves optimizing an unknown objective function given an oracle that evaluates the function at a query point, with the goal of using as few query points as possible. In the most well-studied case, the objective function is assumed to be Lipschitz continuous and minimax rates of simple and cumulative regrets are known in both noiseless and noisy settings. This paper studies continuum-armed bandits under more general smoothness conditions, namely Besov smoothness conditions, on the objective function. In both noiseless and noisy conditions, we derive minimax rates under simple and cumulative regrets. Our results show that minimax rates over objective functions in a Besov space are identical to minimax rates over objective functions in the smallest Holder space into which the Besov space embeds.
Relating Reading, Visualization, and Coding for New Programmers: A Neuroimaging Study

Understanding how novices reason about coding at a neurological level has implications for training the next generation of software engineers. In recent years, medical imaging has been increasingly employed to investigate patterns of neural activity associated with coding activity. However, such studies have focused on advanced undergraduates and professionals. In a human study of 31 participants, we use functional near-infrared spectroscopy to measure the neural activity associated with introductory programming. In a controlled, contrast-based experiment, we relate brain activity when coding to that of reading natural language or mentally rotating objects (a spatial visualization task). Our primary result is that all three tasks--- coding, prose reading, and mental rotation---are mentally distinct for novices. However, while those tasks are neurally distinct, we find more significant differences between prose and coding than between mental rotation and coding. Intriguingly, we generally find more activation in areas of the brain associated with spatial ability and task difficulty for novice coding compared to that reported in studies with more expert developers. Finally, in an exploratory analysis, we also find a neural activation pattern predictive of programming performance 11 weeks later. While preliminary, these findings both expand on previous results (e.g., relating expertise to a similarity between coding and prose reading) and also provide a new understanding of the cognitive processes underlying novice programming.
Comparing and integrating US COVID-19 data from multiple sources with anomaly detection and repairing

Over the past few months, the outbreak of Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) has been expanding over the world. A reliable and accurate dataset of the cases is vital for scientists to conduct related r...
AI Automation and Retailer Regret in Supply Chains

In this paper, we explore how Artificial Intelligence (AI) delivers values in supply chains. In particular, we study the effects and implications associated with AI automation of order decision in a decentralized supply chain comprising one supplier, one emotional (particularly, regretful) retailer, and a wholesale price contract that governs the transactions between them. In this context, regret is defined as a cognitive bias that essentially describes retailers who behave as though considering inventory error, the deviation between the order quantity and realized demand, when making an ex ante inventory decision. We find that, if profit margins of the supply chain are high, regret bias drives the retailer to decline the supplier’s contract, whereas,if profit margins are low, regret drives retailers to order more from the supplier. As a result, although the automation of retailer decision unequivocally leads to a higher expected profit for a retailer that operates in a centralized vacuum, it nevertheless can be a negative force for a decentralized supply chain with either high or low profit margins. Perhaps more interestingly, as a retailer’s decision becomes automatic, it is not necessarily destined to earn a higher expected profit. In the extreme, a lose-lose outcome can prevail in which automation can potentially leave both the newsvendor and supplier worse off.
Cooling of dense stars

Some recent work on thermal properties of dense stars is described. It is now generally believed that pulsars are rotating, magnetic neutron stars (Gold, 1968). Moreover, theoretical considerations and some observational evidence (such as the speed-ups of the Crab and Vela pulsars) suggest the presence of superfluids in neutron stars. In the earlier cooling calculations the effect of magnetic fields and superfluidity was not taken into account. In the recent work, emphasis was placed on the effect of these new factors, which were expected to reduce cooling rates significantly. The new outcome may prove valuable for the understanding of pulsar and X-ray star problems.
Finiteness of maximal geodesic submanifolds in hyperbolic hybrids

We show that large classes of non-arithmetic hyperbolic $n$-manifolds, including the hybrids introduced by Gromov and Piatetski-Shapiro and many of their generalizations, have only finitely many finite-volume immersed totally geodesic hypersurfaces. In higher codimension, we prove finiteness for geodesic submanifolds of dimension at least $2$ that are maximal, i.e., not properly contained in a proper geodesic submanifold of the ambient $n$-manifold. The proof is a mix of structure theory for arithmetic groups, dynamics, and geometry in negative curvature.
Microsimulation analysis for network traffic assignment (MANTA) at metropolitan-scale for agile transportation planning

Abrupt changes in the environment have triggered massive and precipitous changes in human mobility. This requires modeling entire metropolitan areas to recognize the broader effects on the network....
QuickTumorNet: Fast Automatic Multi-Class Segmentation of Brain Tumors

Non-invasive techniques such as magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) are widely employed in brain tumor diagnostics. However, manual segmentation of brain tumors from 3D MRI volumes is a time-consuming task that requires trained expert radiologists. Due to the subjectivity of manual segmentation, there is low inter-rater reliability which can result in diagnostic discrepancies. As the success of many brain tumor treatments depends on early intervention, early detection is paramount. In this context, a fully automated segmentation method for brain tumor segmentation is necessary as an efficient and reliable method for brain tumor detection and quantification. In this study, we propose an end-to-end approach for brain tumor segmentation, capitalizing on a modified version of QuickNAT, a brain tissue type segmentation deep convolutional neural network (CNN). Our method was evaluated on a data set of 233 patient's T1 weighted images containing three tumor type classes annotated (meningioma, glioma, and pituitary). Our model, QuickTumorNet, demonstrated fast, reliable, and accurate brain tumor segmentation that can be utilized to assist clinicians in diagnosis and treatment.
A concentrated capacity model for diffusion-advection: Advection localized to a moving curve

Abstract In this work I show how a diffusion-advection equation in three space-dimensions may have its advection term weakly limited to a velocity field localized to a moving curve. This is accomplished through the technique of concentrated capacity, and the form of the limit along with small time existence of solutions is determined. This problem is motivated by mathematical biology and the study of proteins in solvent where the latter is modeled as a diffusing quantity and the protein is taken to be a 1d object which advects the solvent by contact and its own motion.
Some remarks on associated varieties of vertex operator superalgebras

We study several families of vertex operator superalgebras from a jet (super)scheme point of view. We provide new examples of vertex algebras which are “chiral-quantizations" of their $$C_{2}$$ -algebras $$R_V$$ . Our examples come from affine $$C_\ell ^{(1)}$$ -series vertex algebras, $$\ell \geqslant 1$$ , certain $$N=1$$ superconformal vertex algebras, Feigin–Stoyanovsky principal subspaces, Feigin–Stoyanovsky type subspaces, graph vertex algebras $$W_{\Gamma }$$ , and extended Virasoro vertex algebras. We also give a counterexample to the chiral-quantization property for the $$N=2$$ superconformal vertex algebra with central charge 1.
Quantitative Approaches to Ottoman Fatwā Collections

In their joint essay, Metin Cosgel and Bogac Ergene make the case for “a pluralistic approach to the study of Islamic legal history,” through the lens of law and economics and other types of quantitative analysis. Regression analysis, they suggest, provides especially useful approaches suited to interdisciplinary studies of historical events. To illustrate, the authors describe the findings of their previous scholarship on Ottoman court records, for which they coded data on court petitions and were able to arrive at generalizable conclusions about access to early modern courts. Noting the uptick in digitized primary sources in the field, they predict an increase in Islamic legal scholarship that integrates quantitative analysis.
A Platoon Formation Framework in a Mixed Traffic Environment

Connected and automated vehicles (CAVs) provide the most intriguing opportunity to reduce pollution, energy consumption, and travel delays. In this letter, we address the problem of vehicle platoon formation in a traffic network with partial CAV penetration rates. We investigate the interaction between CAV and human-driven vehicle (HDV) dynamics, and provide a rigorous control framework that enables platoon formation with the HDVs by only controlling the CAVs within the network. We present a complete analytical solution of the CAV control input and the conditions under which a platoon formation is feasible. We evaluate the solution and demonstrate the efficacy of the proposed framework using simulation.
Nozzle Wall Boundary Layers at Mach Numbers 20 to 47

Nozzle wall hypersonic boundary layers in helium tunnel, presenting skin friction measurements and heat transfer rates
QPyTorch: A Low-Precision Arithmetic Simulation Framework

Low-precision training reduces computational cost and produces efficient models. Recent research in developing new low-precision training algorithms often relies on simulation to empirically evaluate the statistical effects of quantization while avoiding the substantial overhead of building specific hardware. To support this empirical research, we introduce QPyTorch, a low-precision arithmetic simulation framework. Built natively in PyTorch, QPyTorch provides a convenient interface that minimizes the efforts needed to reliably convert existing codes to study low-precision training. QPyTorch is general, and supports a variety of combinations of precisions, number formats, and rounding options. Additionally, it leverages an efficient fused-kernel approach to reduce simulator overhead, which enables simulation of large-scale, realistic problems. QPyTorch is publicly available at https://github.com/Tiiiger/QPyTorch.
The Rise and Fall of Clean Air Act Climate Policy

The Clean Air Act has proven to be one of the most successful and durable statutes in American law. After the Supreme Court’s 2008 decision in Massachusetts v. EPA, there was great hope that the Act could be brought to bear on climate change, the most pressing current environmental challenge of our time. Massachusetts was feted as the most important environmental case ever decided, and, upon it, the Environmental Protection Agency under President Obama built a sweeping program of greenhouse gas regulations, aimed first at emissions from road vehicles, and later at fossil fuel power plants. It was the most ambitious federal climate policy in American history. Now, twelve years after Massachusetts was decided, that program is in ruins, largely repealed or weakened by the climate-skeptic Trump administration. Massachusetts has not provided a foundation for durable climate policy. The roots of the Clean Air Act’s climate policy failures lie not just in changes in political leadership, but also in a Supreme Court majority increasingly skeptical of not just climate regulation but of the administrative state in general. This and other barriers will persist regardless of who occupies the White House. This article explores why climate regulation under the Clean Air Act has been so much more fragile than other regulations under the statute, which actors bear responsibility for its failures, and what prospects remain for future federal climate policy.
Modeling of Deformable Cell Separation in a Microchannel with Sequenced Pillars

Embedded pillar microstructures are an efficient approach for controlling and sculpting shear flow in a microchannel but have not yet demonstrated to be effective for deformability-based cell separation and sorting. Although simple pillar configurations (lattice, line sequence) worked well for size-based separation of rigid particles, they had a low separation efficiency for circulating cells. The objective of this study was to optimize sequenced microstructures for the separation of deformable cells. This was achieved by numerical analysis of pairwise cell migration in a microchannel with multiple pillars, which size, longitudinal spacing, and lateral location, as well as the cell elasticity and size, varied. This study revealed two basic pillar configurations optimized for deformability-based separation: 1) 9duplet9 that consists of two closely spaced pillars positioned far below the centerline and above the centerline halfway to the wall; and 2) 9triplet9 composed of three widely-spaced pillars located below, above and at the centerline, respectively. The duplet configuration is well suited for deformable cell separation in short channels, while the triplet or a combination of duplets and triplets provides even better separation in long channels. These optimized pillar microstructures can dramatically improve microfluidic methods for sorting and isolation of blood and rare circulating tumor cells.