cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Asymptotics for Turbulent Flame Speeds of the Viscous G-Equation Enhanced by Cellular and Shear Flows

G-equations are well-known front propagation models in turbulent combustion which describe the front motion law in the form of local normal velocity equal to a constant (laminar speed) plus the normal projection of fluid velocity. In level set formulation, G-equations are Hamilton–Jacobi equations with convex (L1 type) but non-coercive Hamiltonians. Viscous G-equations arise from either numerical approximations or regularizations by small diffusion. The nonlinear eigenvalue \({\bar H}\) from the cell problem of the viscous G-equation can be viewed as an approximation of the inviscid turbulent flame speed sT. An important problem in turbulent combustion theory is to study properties of sT, in particular how sT depends on the flow amplitude A. In this paper, we study the behavior of \({\bar H=\bar H(A,d)}\) as A → + ∞ at any fixed diffusion constant d > 0. For cellular flow, we show that $$\bar H(A,d)\leqq C(d) \quad \text{for all}\ d >0 ,$$ where C(d) is a constant depending on d, but independent of A. Compared with \({\bar H(A,0)= O(A/\log A), A\gg 1}\), of the inviscid G-equation (d = 0), presence of diffusion dramatically slows down front propagation. For shear flow, \({\lim_{A\to +\infty}\frac{\bar H(A,d)}{A} = \lambda (d) >0 }\) where λ (d) is strictly decreasing in d, and has zero derivative at d = 0. The linear growth law is also valid for sT of the curvature dependent G-equation in shear flows.
Two-dimensional gravity water waves with constant vorticity, I: Cubic lifespan

This article is concerned with the incompressible, infinite-depth water wave equation in two space dimensions, with gravity and constant vorticity but with no surface tension. We consider this problem expressed in position-velocity potential holomorphic coordinates, and prove local well-posedness for large data, as well as cubic lifespan bounds for small-data solutions.
A meta-analysis of the 8 TeV ATLAS and CMS SUSY searches

Between the ATLAS and CMS collaborations at the LHC, hundreds of individual event selections have been measured in the data to look for evidence of supersymmetry at a center of mass energy of 8 TeV. While there is currently no significant evidence for any particular model of supersymmetry, the large number of searches should have produced some large statistical fluctuations. By analyzing the distribution of p-values from the various searches, we determine that the number of excesses is consistent with the Standard Model only hypothesis. However, we do find a shortage of signal regions with far fewer observed events than expected in both the ATLAS and CMS datasets (at 1.66σ and 2.77σ, respectively, 3.23σ combined). While the lack of deficits could be a hint of new physics already in the 8 TeV datasets, it could also be the result of mis-modeling the uncertainty distributions or biases in background estimation methods.
Holographic characterization of imperfect colloidal spheres

We demonstrate precise measurements of the size and refractive index of individual dimpled colloidal spheres using holographic characterization techniques developed for ideal spheres.
Simulations of stellar core collapse, bounce, and postbounce evolution with Boltzmann neutrino transport, and implications for the core collapse supernova mechanism

Abstract In this paper, we present results from a simulation of stellar core collapse, bounce, and postbounce evolution with Boltzmann neutrino transport. We motivate the development of our Boltzmann solver in light of the sensitivity of the neutrino-heating core collapse supernova paradigm to details in the neutrino transport, particularly near the neutrinospheres, where the neutrinos are neither diffusing nor free streaming and a kinetic description is necessary, and in light of the mixed outcomes and transport approximations used in all prior supernova models in both one and two dimensions. We discuss the implications of our findings for the supernova mechanism and future supernova research. We also present the results of a Boltzmann transport prediction of the early neutrino light curves in the model included here.
Do hierarchical structures assemble best via hierarchical pathways

Hierarchically structured natural materials possess functionalities unattainable to the same components organized or mixed in simpler ways. For instance, the bones and teeth of mammals are far stronger and more durable than the mineral phases from which they are derived because their constituents are organized hierarchically from the molecular scale to the macroscale. Making similarly functional synthetic hierarchical materials will require an understanding of how to promote the self-assembly of structure on multiple length scales, without falling foul of numerous possible kinetic traps. Here we use computer simulation to study the self-assembly of a simple hierarchical structure, a square crystal lattice whose repeat unit is a tetramer. Although the target material is organized hierarchically, it self-assembles most reliably when its dynamic assembly pathway consists of the sequential addition of monomers to a single structure. Hierarchical dynamic pathways via dimer and tetramer intermediates are also viable modes of assembly, but result in general in lower yield: these intermediates have a stronger tendency than monomers to associate in ways not compatible with the target structure. In addition, assembly via tetramers results in a kinetic trap whereby material is sequestered in trimers that cannot combine to form the target crystal. We use analytic theory to relate dynamical pathways to the presence of equilibrium phases close in free energy to the target structure, and to identify the thermodynamic principles underpinning optimum self-assembly in this model: (1) make the free energy gap between the target phase and the most stable fluid phase of order kBT, and (2) ensure that no other dense phases (liquids or close-packed solids of monomers or oligomers) or fluids of incomplete building blocks fall within this gap.
On Basing One-way Permutations on NP-hard Problems under Quantum Reductions

A fundamental pursuit in complexity theory concerns reducing worst-case problems to average-case problems. There exist complexity classes such as PSPACE that admit worst-case to average-case reductions. However, for many other classes such as NP, the evidence so far is typically negative, in the sense that the existence of such reductions would cause collapses of the polynomial hierarchy(PH). Basing cryptographic primitives, e.g., the average-case hardness of inverting one-way permutations, on NP-completeness is a particularly intriguing instance. As there is evidence showing that classical reductions from NP-hard problems to breaking these primitives result in PH collapses, it seems unlikely to base cryptographic primitives on NP-hard problems. Nevertheless, these results do not rule out the possibilities of the existence of quantum reductions. In this work, we initiate a study of the quantum analogues of these questions. Aside from formalizing basic notions of quantum reductions and demonstrating powers of quantum reductions by examples of separations, our main result shows that if NP-complete problems reduce to inverting one-way permutations using certain types of quantum reductions, then coNP $\subseteq$ QIP(2).
Sharpening the weak gravity conjecture with dimensional reduction

We investigate the behavior of the Weak Gravity Conjecture (WGC) under toroidal compactification and RG flows, finding evidence that WGC bounds for single photons become weaker in the infrared. By contrast, we find that a photon satisfying the WGC will not necessarily satisfy it after toroidal compactification when black holes charged under the Kaluza-Klein photons are considered. Doing so either requires an infinite number of states of different charges to satisfy the WGC in the original theory or a restriction on allowed compactification radii. These subtleties suggest that if the Weak Gravity Conjecture is true, we must seek a stronger form of the conjecture that is robust under compactification. We propose a “Lattice Weak Gravity Conjecture” that meets this requirement: a superextremal particle should exist for every charge in the charge lattice. The perturbative heterotic string satisfies this conjecture. We also use compactification to explore the extent to which the WGC applies to axions. We argue that gravitational instanton solutions in theories of axions coupled to dilaton-like fields are analogous to extremal black holes, motivating a WGC for axions. This is further supported by a match between the instanton action and that of wrapped black branes in a higher-dimensional UV completion.
Light axions with large hadronic couplings

We present models in which axions have large couplings to hadrons while remaining naturally light. By assigning U(1)PQ charges to Standard Model quarks such that U(1)PQ is not anomalous under QCD, the derivative couplings naturally arise while no potential is generated for the axion upon QCD confinement. We present simple models that implement this idea both for an axion-like particle and for the QCD axion. We show that both models lead to sizable flavor violations that could be probed by future experiments. Our construction shows that the axion coupling to hadrons can be essentially independent from its mass and thus motivates experimental searches in a wide range of axion parameter space.
LOCALITY OF MHD TURBULENCE IN ISOTHERMAL DISKS

We numerically evolve turbulence driven by the magnetorotational instability (MRI) in a three-dimensional, unstratified shearing box and study its structure using two-point correlation functions. We confirm Fromang and Papaloizou's result that shearing box models with zero net magnetic flux are not converged; the dimensionless shear stress α is proportional to the grid scale. We find that the two-point correlation of shows that it is composed of narrow filaments that are swept back by differential rotation into a trailing spiral. The correlation lengths along each of the correlation function principal axes decrease monotonically with the grid scale. For mean azimuthal field models, which we argue are more relevant to astrophysical disks than the zero net field models, we find that: α increases weakly with increasing resolution at fixed box size; α increases slightly as the box size is increased; α increases linearly with net field strength, confirming earlier results; the two-point correlation function of the magnetic field is resolved and converged, and is composed of narrow filaments swept back by the shear; the major axis of the two-point increases slightly as the box size is increased; these results are code independent, based on a comparison of ATHENA and ZEUS runs. The velocity, density, and magnetic fields decorrelate over scales larger than ~H, as do the dynamical terms in the magnetic energy evolution equations. We conclude that MHD turbulence in disks is localized, subject to the limitations imposed by the absence of vertical stratification, the use of an isothermal equation of state, finite box size, finite run time, and finite resolution.
Quadratic Twists of Elliptic Curves with 3-Selmer Rank 1

A weaker form of a 1979 conjecture of Goldfeld states that for every elliptic curve E/ℚ, a positive proportion of its quadratic twists E(d) have rank 1. Using tools from Galois cohomology, we give criteria on E and d which force a positive proportion of the quadratic twists of E to have 3-Selmer rank 1 and global root number -1. We then give four nonisomorphic infinite families of elliptic curves Em,n which satisfy these criteria. Conditional on the rank part of the Birch and Swinnerton-Dyer conjecture, this verifies the aforementioned conjecture for infinitely many elliptic curves. Our elliptic curves are easy to give explicitly and we state precisely which quadratic twists d to use. Furthermore, our methods have the potential of being generalized to elliptic curves over other number fields.
Symmetric Allocations for Distributed Storage

We consider the problem of optimally allocating a given total storage budget in a distributed storage system. A source has a data object which it can code and store over a set of storage nodes; it is allowed to store any amount of coded data in each node, as long as the total amount of storage used does not exceed the given budget. A data collector subsequently attempts to recover the original data object by accessing each of the nodes independently with some constant probability. By using an appropriate code, successful recovery occurs when the total amount of data in the accessed nodes is at least the size of the original data object. The goal is to find an optimal storage allocation that maximizes the probability of successful recovery. This optimization problem is challenging because of its discrete nature and nonconvexity, despite its simple formulation. Symmetric allocations (in which all nonempty nodes store the same amount of data), though intuitive, may be suboptimal; the problem is nontrivial even if we optimize over only symmetric allocations. Our main result shows that the symmetric allocation that spreads the budget maximally over all nodes is asymptotically optimal in a regime of interest. Specifically, we derive an upper bound for the suboptimality of this allocation and show that the performance gap vanishes asymptotically in the specified regime. Further, we explicitly find the optimal symmetric allocation for a variety of cases. Our results can be applied to distributed storage systems and other problems dealing with reliability under uncertainty, including delay tolerant networks (DTNs) and content delivery networks (CDNs).
Validation and Administration of a Conceptual Survey on the Formalism and Postulates of Quantum Mechanics.

Development and validation of a survey of students' conceptual knowledge of the formalism and postulates of undergraduate quantum mechanics.
Full-field interferometric imaging of propagating action potentials.

Currently, cellular action potentials are detected using either electrical recordings or exogenous fluorescent probes that sense the calcium concentration or transmembrane voltage. Ca imaging has a low temporal resolution, while voltage indicators are vulnerable to phototoxicity, photobleaching, and heating. Here, we report full-field interferometric imaging of individual action potentials by detecting movement across the entire cell membrane. Using spike-triggered averaging of movies synchronized with electrical recordings, we demonstrate deformations up to 3 nm (0.9 mrad) during the action potential in spiking HEK-293 cells, with a rise time of 4 ms. The time course of the optically recorded spikes matches the electrical waveforms. Since the shot noise limit of the camera (~2 mrad/pix) precludes detection of the action potential in a single frame, for all-optical spike detection, images are acquired at 50 kHz, and 50 frames are binned into 1 ms steps to achieve a sensitivity of 0.3 mrad in a single pixel. Using a self-reinforcing sensitivity enhancement algorithm based on iteratively expanding the region of interest for spatial averaging, individual spikes can be detected by matching the previously extracted template of the action potential with the optical recording. This allows all-optical full-field imaging of the propagating action potentials without exogeneous labels or electrodes. A promising non-invasive technique for measuring electrical activity in neurons and other cells works by observing how cells deform in response to changes in their electric potential. Existing methods for analyzing cells’ electrical activity are invasive and may affect natural cell behavior. Now, Tong Ling and co-workers from Daniel Palanker’s lab at Stanford University in the US demonstrated a method that monitors changes in cell shapes during electrical spikes – or ‘action potentials’ - using quantitative phase microscopy. Action potential occurs when the negatively-charged cell interior depolarizes due to a stimulus, triggering a rapid voltage change across the cell membrane. Ling’s team demonstrated that cells deform in response to these relatively large (0.1 V) voltage shifts, revealing exactly when action potentials occur. Their technique may facilitate non-invasive analysis of neuronal networks and other cellular activities.
Large Deviations for Gaussian Diffusions with Delay

Dynamical systems driven by nonlinear delay SDEs with small noise can exhibit important rare events on long timescales. When there is no delay, classical large deviations theory quantifies rare events such as escapes from metastable fixed points. Near such fixed points, one can approximate nonlinear delay SDEs by linear delay SDEs. Here, we develop a fully explicit large deviations framework for (necessarily Gaussian) processes $$X_t$$ driven by linear delay SDEs with small diffusion coefficients. Our approach enables fast numerical computation of the action functional controlling rare events for $$X_t$$ and of the most likely paths transiting from $$X_0 = p$$ to $$X_T=q$$ . Via linear noise local approximations, we can then compute most likely routes of escape from metastable states for nonlinear delay SDEs. We apply our methodology to the detailed dynamics of a genetic regulatory circuit, namely the co-repressive toggle switch, which may be described by a nonlinear chemical Langevin SDE with delay.
On the Capacity of Channels With Timing Synchronization Errors

We consider a new formulation of a class of synchronization error channels and derive analytical bounds and numerical estimates for the capacity of these channels. For the binary channel with only deletions, we obtain an expression for the symmetric information rate in terms of subsequence weights, which reduces to a tight lower bound for small deletion probabilities. We are also able to exactly characterize the Markov-1 rate for the binary channel with only replications. For a channel that introduces deletions as well as replications of input symbols, we design approximating channels that parameterize the state space and show that the information rates of these approximate channels approach that of the deletion–replication channel as the state space grows. For the case of the channel where deletions and replications occur with the same probabilities, a stronger result in the convergence of mutual information rates is shown. The numerous advantages this new formulation presents are explored.
What is the connection between issues, bugs, and enhancements?: lessons learned from 800+ software projects

Agile teams juggle multiple tasks so professionals are often assigned to multiple projects, especially in service organizations that monitor and maintain large suites of software for a large user base. If we could predict changes in project conditions change, then managers could better adjust the staff allocated to those projects.This paper builds such a predictor using data from 832 open source and proprietary projects. Using a time series analysis of the last 4 months of issues, we can forecast how many bug reports and enhancement requests will be generated the next month.The forecasts made in this way only require a frequency count of these issue reports (and do not require an historical record of bugs found in the project). That is, this kind of predictive model is very easy to deploy within a project. We hence strongly recommend this method for forecasting future issues, enhancements, and bugs in a project.
Information-Theoretic Limits for the Matrix Tensor Product

This article studies a high-dimensional inference problem involving the matrix tensor product of random matrices. This problem generalizes a number of contemporary data science problems including the spiked matrix models used in sparse principal component analysis and covariance estimation and the stochastic block model used in network analysis. The main results are single-letter formulas (i.e., analytical expressions that can be approximated numerically) for the mutual information and the minimum mean-squared error (MMSE) in the Bayes optimal setting where the distributions of all random quantities are known. We provide non-asymptotic bounds and show that our formulas describe exactly the leading order terms in the mutual information and MMSE in the high-dimensional regime where the number of rows $n$ and number of columns $d$ scale with $d = O(n^{\alpha })$ for some $\alpha . On the technical side, this article introduces some new techniques for the analysis of high-dimensional matrix-valued signals. Specific contributions include a novel extension of the adaptive interpolation method that uses order-preserving positive semidefinite interpolation paths, and a variance inequality between the overlap and the free energy that is based on continuous-time I-MMSE relations.
What Makes Fake Images Detectable? Understanding Properties that Generalize

The quality of image generation and manipulation is reaching impressive levels, making it increasingly difficult for a human to distinguish between what is real and what is fake. However, deep networks can still pick up on the subtle artifacts in these doctored images. We seek to understand what properties of fake images make them detectable and identify what generalizes across different model architectures, datasets, and variations in training. We use a patch-based classifier with limited receptive fields to visualize which regions of fake images are more easily detectable. We further show a technique to exaggerate these detectable properties and demonstrate that, even when the image generator is adversarially finetuned against a fake image classifier, it is still imperfect and leaves detectable artifacts in certain image patches. Code is available at https://github.com/chail/patch-forensics.
Gestational Diabetes Is Uniquely Associated With Altered Early Seeding of the Infant Gut Microbiota.

Gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) is a worldwide public health problem affecting up to 27% of pregnancies with high predictive values for childhood obesity and inflammatory diseases. Compromised seeding of the infant gut microbiota is a risk factor for immunologic and metabolic diseases in the offspring; however, how GDM along with maternal obesity interact to alter colonization remains unknown. We hypothesized that GDM individually and in combination with maternal overweight/obesity would alter gut microbial composition, diversity, and short-chain fatty acid (SCFA) levels in neonates. We investigated 46 full-term neonates born to normal-weight or overweight/obese mothers with and without GDM, accounting for confounders including cesarean delivery, lack of breastfeeding, and exposure to antibiotics. Gut microbiota in 2-week-old neonates born to mothers with GDM exhibited differences in abundance of 26 microbial taxa; 14 of which showed persistent differential abundance after adjusting for pre-pregnancy BMI. Key pioneering gut taxa, including potentially important taxa for establishing neonatal immunity, were reduced. Lactobacillus, Flavonifractor, Erysipelotrichaceae, and unspecified families in Gammaproteobacteria were significantly reduced in neonates from mothers with GDM. GDM was associated with an increase in microbes involved in suppressing early immune cell function (Phascolarctobacterium). No differences in infant stool SCFA levels by maternal phenotype were noted; however, significant correlations were found between microbial abundances and SCFA levels in neonates. Our results suggest that GDM alone and together with maternal overweight/obesity uniquely influences seeding of specific infant microbiota in patterns that set the stage for future risk of inflammatory and metabolic disease.
Computing homological residue fields in algebra and topology

We determine the homological residue fields, in the sense of tensor-triangular geometry, in a series of concrete examples ranging from topological stable homotopy theory to modular representation theory of finite groups.
Decentralized Frequency Control using Packet-based Energy Coordination *

This paper presents a novel frequency-responsive control scheme for demand-side resources, such as electric water heaters. A frequency-dependent control law is designed to provide damping from distributed energy resources (DERs) in a fully decentralized fashion. This local control policy represents a frequency-dependent threshold for each DER that ensures that the aggregate response provides damping during frequency deviations. The proposed decentralized policy is based on an adaptation of a packet-based DER coordination scheme where each device send requests for energy access (also called an "energy packet") to an aggregator. The number of previously accepted active packets can then be used a-priori to form an online estimate of the aggregate damping capability of the DER fleet in a dynamic power system. A simple two-area power system is used to illustrate and validate performance of the decentralized control policy and the accuracy of the online damping estimating for a fleet of 400,000 DERs.
The Cultural Divide

We study the evolution of cultural divides both theoretically and empirically. We propose a model of cultural change where intergenerational transmission and forces of social influence determine the distribution of cultural traits in society. We conduct an empirical investigation of the evolution of cultural heterogeneity in the USA between 1972 and 2018, using the General Social Survey. In recent decades, cultural heterogeneity between individuals has risen. Cultural divides between identity groups display contrasted patterns: increasing along lines of religion and political orientation, mildly U-shaped along income and racial lines, and flat or decreasing for gender and urbanicity. We interpret these empirical findings in light of our model, arguing that changes in modes of interaction within and across groups can explain the observed dynamics of cultural heterogeneity.
Abelian surfaces with fixed 3-torsion

Given a genus two curve $X: y^2 = x^5 + a x^3 + b x^2 + c x + d$, we give an explicit parametrization of all other such curves $Y$ with a specified symplectic isomorphism on three-torsion of Jacobians $\mbox{Jac}(X)[3] \cong \mbox{Jac}(Y)[3]$. It is known that under certain conditions modularity of $X$ implies modularity of infinitely many of the $Y$, and we explain how our formulas render this transfer of modularity explicit. Our method centers on the invariant theory of the complex reflection group $C_3 \times \operatorname{Sp}_4(\mathbf{F}_3)$. We discuss other examples where complex reflection groups are related to moduli spaces of curves, and in particular motivate our main computation with an exposition of the simpler case of the group $\operatorname{Sp}_2(\mathbf{F}_3) = \mathrm{SL}_2(\mathbf{F}_3)$ and $3$-torsion on elliptic curves.
Multifamily Housing: A Review of Theory and Evidence

The growing importance of multifamily housing as a viable choice of residence is evidenced by the number of empirical and theoretical studies in the real estate literature. Researchers have investigated the role of this sector of the real estate market for decades. This survey article examines more than one hundred studies and categorizes them into five groups: economic and market efficiency issues; property valuation and appraisal issues; regulatory, zoning and clustering of multifamily complexes; costs, returns and rental income issues; and demand, vacancy and occupancy issues. This study seeks to provide a concise, categorical presentation of findings on issues related to the environment and performance of multifamily housing.
Peer Influence and Homophily in the Diffusion of the iPhone 3G in a Very Large Social Network

This paper studies the effects of peer influence and homophily on the diffusion of the iPhone 3G across a number of communities sampled from a large dataset from a major European Mobile carrier in one country. We use Stochastic Actor Based Models to capture the co-evolution of the social network as well as the dynamics of adoption. This helps to separate the roles of homophily and peer influence in the process of diffusion. We provide evidence that the propensity of a subscriber to adopt, when she is called upon to make a decision about whether she should adopt, increases with the number of friends that have already adopted. A one standard deviation increase above the mean in the number of friends that had already adopted increases the likelihood odds of adoption relative to no adoption by a factor of 2.8. The effect of peer influence is robust across a number of different specifications. The results for the effect of homophily are less clear. While, on average, we find a positive significant effect of adoption on tie formation, in many communities this effect is significant and negative and in others there is no effect at all.
A nonlinear wealth transfer from shareholders to creditors around Chapter 11 filing

Past literature has assumed that negative stock returns around Chapter 11 filing are solely due to new adverse information about firm value. This paper argues that there is also a nonlinear wealth transfer from shareholders to creditors causing shareholder loss. The magnitude of the wealth transfer can be quantified in a setting where equity is a call option on firm assets as in the Merton (1974) model. The wealth transfer originates from maturity shortening of the call option as a result of Chapter 11 filing. I present a parsimonious model to explain why Chapter 11 can be voluntarily filed by managers acting in the interest of shareholders with the existence of the wealth transfer. The model-predicted stock return has comparable magnitude as observed stock returns around filing, and explains the cross-sectional variation of the latter.
Contrarian Share Price Reactions to Earnings Surprises

A persistent (but overlooked) feature of the cross-sectional distribution of quarterly earnings announcement returns is that the measured earnings surprise and share price response to that surprise...
The influence of social networks and homophily on correct voting

There is empirical evidence suggesting that a person's family, friends, or social ties influence who a person votes for. Sokhey & McClurg (2012) find that as political disagreement in a person's social network increases, then a person is less likely to vote correctly. We develop a model where voters have different favorite policies and wish to vote correctly for the candidate whose favorite policy is closest to their own. Voters have beliefs about each candidate's favorite policy which may or may not be correct. Voters update their beliefs about political candidates based on who their conservative and liberal social ties are supporting. We find that if everyone's social network consists only of those most like themselves, then the conditions needed for correct voting to be stable are fairly weak; thus political agreement in one's social network facilitates correct voting. We also give conditions under which correct voting is stable for networks exhibiting homophily and for networks exhibiting random social interactions.
Emotional Accounting: How Feelings about Money Influence Consumer Choice:

Abstract Mental accounting posits that people track their expenditures using cognitive categories or “mental accounts.” The authors propose that this cognitive process can be complemented by an approach that examines how feelings about a sum of money, or the money's “affective tag,” influence its consumption. When people receive money under negative circumstances, this tag can include a negative affect component, which people aim to reduce by engaging in strategic consumption. The authors investigate two such strategies, laundering and hedonic avoidance, and demonstrate their effect on consumption of windfalls. The authors find that people avoid spending their negatively tagged money on hedonic expenditures and prefer to make utilitarian or virtuous expenditures to reduce, or “launder,” their negative feelings about the windfall. The authors call this tagging process and strategic consumption “emotional accounting.”
The legal status of Arctic sea ice in the United States and Canada

Abstract The treatment of sea ice in USA and Canadian law has failed adequately to allocate and manage demands on Arctic sea ice among competing uses. Decision makers have generally categorized sea ice as either land or water, a binary approach that ignores its unique characteristics and the services it provides to many different users. Agency action and related litigation in the USA demonstrate sea ice user conflicts and highlight the tendency of US law to protect only one type of user at a time. In Canada, two recent Inuit Land Claims Agreement create zones that encompass sea ice. Yet both systems are beginning to acknowledge sea ice as a component of larger systems and as a resource with multiple uses and users. Both countries have the seeds of mechanisms in place to allow multiple users of sea ice to provide input on planning decisions affecting sea ice. While much work lies ahead, and none of these steps on its own clarifies the legal status of sea ice, combined they provide a modest foundation for b...
Executive Action and the First Amendment's First Word

In recent years, textualist scholars have advanced the argument that the First Amendment only applies to legislative action, and thus that executive authority is unencumbered by the First Amendment’s prohibitions. According to this argument, the words “Congress shall make no law” cannot be construed to limit the powers of the executive branch. Upon first glance, it might seem that a textualist reading of the First Amendment’s first word would give the executive branch carte blanche in the regulation of religion, expression, and association. Yet as this Article seeks to show, a textualist reading of the First Amendment’s first word does not necessarily generate legal conclusions starkly at odds with modern-day doctrine. This is because as a general rule, statutes authorizing executive action either (a) empower the executive to abridge First Amendment freedoms (in which case the statute itself violates the First Amendment) or (b) do not empower the executive to abridge First Amendment freedoms (in which case executive actions abridging First Amendment freedoms are ultra vires). While the textualist argument implies that some First Amendment challenges to executive actions should be recast as claims that those executive actions are ultra vires, the results in most cases may be the same as if the First Amendment applied to the executive directly.Importantly, this equivalence only holds when the executive acts pursuant to legislative authorization under Article I of the Constitution. When the executive acts pursuant to its own Article II inherent authority, actions that infringe upon First Amendment freedoms do not necessarily violate any distinct constitutional provision. When, for example, the President acts as “Commander in Chief,” a strict textualist could conclude that the President is not bound by the First Amendment at all. Notably, federal courts’ deference to the executive in First Amendment cases involving military matters already seems to reflect the principle that the force of the First Amendment’s prohibitions might hinge on the source (Article I vs. Article II) of the executive authority being exercised.
Longevity Expectations and Death: Can People Predict Their Own Demise?

Using four waves of the Health and Retirement Survey (HRS) this paper tests whether longevity expectations predict actual mortality at the individual level. The results suggest longevity expectations do predict mortality reasonably well. Serious health shocks and new activity limitations do reduce longevity expectations. Given one is prepared to accept that other unobserved causal factors have the same means for those who die and those who survive in each wave it is possible to test whether longevity expectations can serve as a sufficient statistic. The test findings imply that they do not appear to reflect all that individuals know about their personal odds of living to seventy-five.(This abstract was borrowed from another version of this item.)
Patching a Hole in the JOBS Act: How and Why to Rewrite the Rules that Require Firms to Make Periodic Disclosures

Provisions in the Jumpstart Our Business Startups Act of 2012 have made it much easier for firms to avoid federal periodic disclosure obligations, but these provisions were enacted based upon a virtually nonexistent legislative record and upended rules established only after careful consideration almost fifty years earlier. Determining when firms should be required to comply with federal periodic disclosure requirements is best done in the context of a broader understanding of the history and economics of periodic disclosure regulation. This Article provides such an understanding. The history of periodic disclosure regulation in the United States is traced back to its origins in the eighteenth century, and the economic analysis of periodic disclosure regulation is updated and refined to incorporate recent findings. Building on this historical and economic understanding of periodic disclosure regulation, I identify a flaw in the underlying structure of the rules currently used to determine when firms must make periodic disclosures. To rectify this structural problem, I conclude that firms with a market capitalization of less than $35 million or fewer than one hundred beneficial shareholders should be granted an automatic exemption from periodic disclosure requirements. All other firms should be provided a choice between: (1) complying with federal periodic disclosure obligations, or (2) implementing measures that would mitigate the need for periodic disclosure regulation, such as severely restricting the tradability of the firm’s shares or committing to an acceptable alternative disclosure regime.
Procedural retrenchment and the states

Although not always headline grabbing, the Roberts Court has been highly interested in civil procedure. According to critics, the Court has undercut access to justice and private enforcement through its decisions on pleading, class actions, arbitration, standing, personal jurisdiction, and international law. While I have much sympathy for many of these normative criticisms, the current discourse too often ignores the states. Rather than bemoaning the Roberts Court’s decisions to limit court access, we could read these decisions instead as openings for state courts and public enforcement. Many of the aforementioned decisions are not binding on state courts, and many states have declined to follow them. This Article documents state courts departing from Twombly and Iqbal on pleading, the Celotex trilogy on summary judgment, Wal-Mart v. Dukes on class actions, and Supreme Court decisions on standing and international law. Similarly, many of the highly criticized procedural decisions do not apply to public enforcement, and many public suits have proceeded where private litigation would have failed. This Article documents successful state-enforcement actions where class actions could not be certified, where individual claims would be sent to arbitration, where private plaintiffs would lack Article III standing, and where personal jurisdiction could not be secured. In sum, this Article evaluates state-court and state-enforcement responses to the Roberts Court’s procedural decisions, and suggests further interventions by state courts and public enforcers that could offset a regression in federal-court access. At the same time, this analysis also points up serious challenges for those efforts, and it offers reasons to be cautious about the politics of state procedure and enforcement.
The FDA and Nano: Big Problems with Tiny Technology

Nanotechnology-related products and materials are becoming increasingly prevalent in our society. In the U.S., much of the burden for regulating these products falls upon the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Thus far, the FDA has insisted that its present regulatory scheme is adequate to the task of analyzing nanotechnology products. Other administrative agencies, however, have recognized the special properties that can attach to nanosized materials. For example, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) has created a special cross-reference classification: Class 977. By cross-referencing an application or a patent under Class 977, the USPTO provides strong evidence that the invention has novel, nanotechnology-related properties - yet that invention, once submitted to the FDA for approval, will be treated exactly the same as its large-scale counterpart. This note challenges the FDA's premise that nanotechnology-related products pose no special concern by providing evidence that nanomaterials may have very different physical and toxicological properties than their large-scale counterparts. Further, many of these materials are used in products where the FDA has the weakest regulatory authority, such as in cosmetics and generally recognized as safe food supplements. This regulatory gap can be filled in part by making use of the USPTO's classification scheme to identify those products likely to pose special safety challenges. Once a Class 977-labeled invention is submitted to the FDA, this note argues that the product should be classified as a new product for safety and legal purposes. This would give the FDA the ability to use its labeling powers to force public disclosure of products containing nanosized material, and to strongly encourage manufacturers to engage in additional safety research. Further, this note argues that the Class 977 label should create a presumption within the FDA that the product is likely to fall within more than one regulatory category. The FDA can then use its Office of Combination Products and relevant regulations to ensure that the products receive the safety evaluation they need.
Structural Reform Prosecution

In what I call a structural reform prosecution, prosecutors secure the cooperation of an organization in adopting internal reforms. No scholars have considered the problem of prosecutors seeking structural reform remedies, perhaps because until recently organizational prosecutions were themselves infrequent. In the past few years, however, federal prosecutors adopted a bold new prosecutorial strategy under which dozens of leading corporations entered into demanding settlements, including AIG, American Online, Bristol-Myers Squibb Co., Computer Associates, HealthSouth, KPMG, MCI, Merrill Lynch & Co, Monsanto, and Time Warner. Unlike in civil rights cases that long accomplished court-supervised institutional reform, prosecutors designed these settlements to avoid judicial review of their terms and implementation. To better understand what the DOJ accomplished, I conducted an empirical study of the terms in all agreements the DOJ has negotiated to date. My study reveals consistent imposition of deep governance reforms, but also some unrelated terms indicating potential abuses of power. To situate the DOJ’s latest strategy, I then frame five possible models under which prosecutors can pursue structural reforms. Although prosecutors have now chosen the model that departs most radically from prior federal organizational criminal law, I conclude that over time, as with past structural reform efforts, judicial limits can constrain prosecutorial discretion and result in a more effective regime for deterring organizational crime. STRUCTURAL REFORM PROSECUTION
Do Financial Statement Users Judge Relevance Based on Properties of Reliability

ABSTRACT: Relevance and reliability (now referred to as “representational faithfulness”) are qualities of financial information that both the Financial Accounting Standards Board and the International Accounting Standards Board use in setting standards for financial reporting. Despite their importance, very little research has addressed how financial statement users apply these constructs. Via experiments set within the fair value context, we show that users do not view them as independent constructs. Instead, variations in properties that are associated with the reliability of a measurement influence users' assessments of the relevance of fair value. The relationship between assessed relevance and assessed reliability is unidirectional, in that factors underlying reliability influence judgments of relevance, but factors underlying relevance do not influence judgments of reliability. Our findings are important because inappropriate assessments of relevance can influence firm valuation. The results are par...
Ecosystem Services in the Klamath Basin: Battlefield Casualties or the Future?

I. THE KLAMATH CONFLICT: FISH AND BIRDS BUT NOT ECOSYSTEM A. The Imposition of a Working Landscape on an Ecosystem B. Ecosystem Restoration Proxies Emerge C. Environmental Change Comes to the Klamath D. A Possible Role for Ecosystem Services 208
The Restrictive Ethos in Civil Procedure

Those of us who study civil procedure are familiar with the notion that federal procedure under the 1938 civil rules was generally characterized by a “liberal ethos,” meaning that it was originally designed to promote open access to the courts and to facilitate a resolution of disputes on the merits. Most of us are also aware of the fact that the reality of procedure is not always access-promoting or fixated on merits-based resolutions as a priority. Indeed, I would say that a “restrictive ethos” prevails in procedure today, with many rules being developed, interpreted, and applied in a manner that frustrates the ability of claimants to prosecute their claims and receive a decision on the merits in federal court. In this brief Essay, after discussing some of the familiar components of the liberal ethos of civil procedure, I hope to set forth some of the aspects of federal civil procedure that reflect the restrictive ethos, following up with some thoughts on whether a dialectical analysis can help us understand the nature of the relationship between procedure’s liberal and restrictive components.
Seven Principles for Equitable Adaptation

Given the inevitability of serious climate impacts, climate change adaptation is becoming an urgent priority. Policy makers at the local, regional, state, and federal level are struggling to determine how to parlay existing authorities and develop new measures to avoid future calamity. Successful adaptation will require not only attention to physical infrastructure, but to the underlying socioeconomic conditions that strongly determine the severity of climate impacts. Given the importance of underlying socioeconomic factors, this essay argues that equity should be a central feature of emerging domestic climate adaptation initiatives. It suggests seven principles for achieving equitable adaptation, principles designed to improve substantive adaptation outcomes, ensure meaningful participation, and grapple with underlying inequities. This essay is a shorter version of “Domestic Climate Change Adaptation and Equity,” a longer article that includes a more detailed discussion of projected climate impacts and their equity implications.