cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
A fair punishment for humbert humbert: Strict liability and affirmative defenses

In this article, I focused on the intersection of strict liability offenses and affirmative defenses. I sought to explore and evaluate a peculiar discrepancy: all states, as well as the Model Penal Code, deny to a defendant charged with a strict liability offense the defense of mistake, yet at the same time, allow most other affirmative defenses. Is this discrepancy warranted? Consider the following scenarios in which Humbert Humbert is charged with the statutory rape of Lolita: If Humbert Humbert tried to argue that he had acted under a mistaken belief that Lolita was above the age of consent, he most likely would not prevail. He would not prevail even if he made all possible efforts to find out Lolita9s true age (e.g., checked Lolita9s birth certificate and received a signed sworn affidavit from Lolita9s mother) or if he fell prey to Lolita9s own deception. The outcome, however, would be different if Humbert Humbert could prove that his misperception of Lolita9s age was a result of insanity. In that case, Humbert Humbert would have a valid defense. He would also have a defense if he could show that he had had sex with Lolita under duress. Say, Clare Quilty, engrossed in the production of his pornographic movie, threatened to beat up Humbert Humbert unless he and Lolita performed a sexual act in front of his camera. Obviously, the defenses of mistake, insanity, and duress, albeit belonging to the same family of excuses, differ in many important respects. To see whether certain formative differences may account for the different treatment of these defenses, I examine various excuses on the scales of cognitive-volitional, external-internal, and permanent-temporary. In the end, I conclude that, from the moral perspective, there is: (i) no difference between a permanent and temporary impairment; (ii) a marginal difference in favor of external limitation compared to internal; (iii) a meaningful difference in favor of cognitive impairment compared to volitional. Effectively, this conclusion means that a person who commits a strict liability offense pursuant to a reasonable mistake deserves punishment even less than a person who commits the same crime under duress. I further explore the discrepancy between the treatment of the defense of mistake and other excuses in cases of strict liability from the perspectives of efficiency and other public policies. I conclude that this discrepancy is unwarranted, unfair, and arguably, unconstitutional. Accordingly, I advocate for a revision of the current law and adoption of an across-the-board rule that would make the defense of a reasonable mistake available in any criminal prosecution.
Symplectic integrators in the shearing sheet

The shearing sheet is a model dynamical system that is used to study the small-scale dynamics of astrophysical discs. Numerical simulations of particle trajectories in the shearing sheet usually employ the leapfrog integrator, but this integrator performs poorly because of velocity-dependent (Coriolis) forces. We describe two new integrators for this purpose; both are symplectic, time-reversible and second-order accurate, and can easily be generalized to higher orders. Moreover, both the integrators are exact when there are no small-scale forces such as mutual gravitational forces between disc particles. In numerical experiments these integrators have errors that are often several orders of magnitude smaller than competing methods. The first of our new integrators (‘SEI’) is well suited for discs in which the typical interparticle separation is large compared to the particles’ Hill radii (e.g., planetary rings), and the second one (‘SEKI’) is designed for discs in which the particles are on bound orbits or the separation is smaller than the Hill radius (e.g. irregular satellites of the giant planets).
Investor sophistication and asset prices

We show that geographical variation in the level of investor sophistication influences local asset prices. Investors in less sophisticated regions exhibit stronger trading correlations, and correspondingly, the returns of firms headquartered in less sophisticated areas are more strongly correlated, especially when local economic conditions are unusually bad or good. Further, we show that local economic conditions have a greater ability to predict local stock returns in U.S. states with less sophisticated retail investors. This evidence of predictability is stronger in regions with strong local bias. A trading strategy that exploits the predictive ability of local economic indicators earns 5-7% higher risk-adjusted returns in U.S. regions with less sophisticated investors. These asset pricing results are driven by the sophistication of actual local investors, and not by the characteristics of the broader local population. Our results disappear when we use population-wide measures of sophistication. Collectively, these results provide evidence of investor sophistication-induced segmentation in U.S. capital markets.
Further Standing Lessons

The Article III standing doctrine — with its three requirements of injury in fact, causation, and redressability — is often criticized as a restriction that prevents liberal, but not conservative, plaintiffs from proceeding in the federal courts. As I have recently shown, however (87 IND. L.J. 551 (2012)), standing doctrine has increasingly been an issue in many cases involving conservative litigants in challenges to the landmark federal health-care law and to conservative appellants defending the federal Defense of Marriage Act and California’s constitutional ban on marriage between same-sex couples. We now have Supreme Court decisions in those cases, and the standing analyses — or lack thereof in the health-care case — create problems for standing doctrine more generally.
Constitutional Clash: When English-Only Meets Voting Rights

This paper examines the constitutional vulnerability of English-only laws as they relate to voting materials. The topic is timely in light of King v. Mauro, a recent Iowa decision that drew national attention by interpreting a state statute to bar non-English voter registration materials. In short, this paper argues that English-only policies as applied to voting are constitutionally suspect. After providing background about the English-only movement and the recent high-profile Iowa decision, the paper considers complex and uncertain areas of constitutional law, outlining how one might argue that English-only laws violate the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments to the U.S. Constitution and the federal Voting Rights Act. In the end, the nation has an important choice to make: encourage participation in the electoral process, or use voting rights as means to disenfranchise language minority citizens. If the nation continues down the latter path, civil rights lawyers must be ready to respond.
Expectations and emotions of Olympic athletes

In an often-cited study about counterfactuals, Medvec, Madey, and Gilovich (1995) found that bronze medalists appeared happier than silver medalists in television coverage of the 1992 Summer Olympics. Medvec et al. argued that bronze medalists compared themselves to 4th place finishers, whereas silver medalists compared themselves to gold medalists. These counterfactuals were the most salient because they were either qualitatively different (gold vs. silver) or categorically different (medal vs. no medal) from what actually occurred. Drawing on archival data and experimental studies, we show that Olympic athletes (among others) are more likely to make counterfactual comparisons based on their prior expectations, consistent with decision affect theory. Silver medalists are more likely to be disappointed because their personal expectations are higher than those of bronze medalists. We provide a test between expectancy-based versus category-based processing and discuss circumstances that trigger each type of processing.
A 4 Symmetry and Neutrinos

I recount briefly the history of neutrino tribimaximal mixing and the use of the discrete family symmetry A4 in obtaining it.
Sex Representation on the Bench and the Legitimacy of International Criminal Courts

This article examines the relationship between legitimacy and the presence of both male and female judges on international criminal court benches. It argues that sex representation – an approximate reflection of the ratio of the sexes in the general population – on the bench is an important contributor to legitimacy of international criminal courts. First, it proposes that sex representation affects normative legitimacy because men and women bring different perspectives to judging. Consequently, without both sexes, adjudication is inherently biased. Second, even if one rejects the proposition that men and women "think differently", sex representation affects sociological legitimacy because sex representation signals an impartial bench and capacity to do justice to constituencies involved in the shaping of international criminal adjudication. The article concludes by raising questions for further study.
Before the Verdict and beyond the Verdict: The CSI Infection within Modern Criminal Jury Trials

In criminal law, the term “CSI Effect” commonly refers to the perceived impact the CSI television show has on juror expectation and unexpected jury verdicts. This article coins a new phrase, “CSI Infection,” by focusing on the significant legal impact that the fear of “CSI Infected Jurors” has made upon the criminal justice system. The CSI Infection is the ubiquitous “It” factor that scholars cannot conclusively prove nor effectively explain away; however, practitioners overwhelmingly confirm the CSI Effect’s impact on criminal jury trials. The CSI Effect’s existence, the CSI Effect’s true or perceived impact on acquittals and convictions, and how to define the CSI Effect, permeates criminal trials. For example, litigators base their motions on the CSI Effect and build their trial strategies around the CSI Effect, transforming the legal arguments of trial lawyers on both sides of a case. Specifically, voir dire questions, jury instructions, as well as opening statements and closing arguments have been modified and correspondingly challenged on appeal – all because of the CSI Effect. Moreover, the phenomenon has forced trial courts to address the evidentiary, procedural, and constitutional issues raised by prosecutors and defense attorneys who fear the perceived dangers that CSI Infected Jurors have upon the ultimate fairness of the jury trial process. Because of the controversy concerning the CSI Effect, judges now issue rulings directed at the perceived impact of the CSI Effect within cases and give special jury instructions regarding the potential role the CSI Effect plays in jurors’ decision making. This CSI Infection, undoubtedly, is creating a juridical migraine for trial courts about issues that were previously ordinary, yet have become increasingly thorny and multifarious considerations of procedure and constitutionality. There is no panacea to either eradicate the fears of the CSI Effect or completely alleviate its influence. Notwithstanding the CSI Effect’s presence or absence, mandatory due process requirements remain. This Article explores the cases, the experiences of litigators, the commentary of jurors, and most significantly, the trial and appellate court rulings on important constitutional and procedural issues. Scrutinizing these legal questions both “before the verdict” and “beyond the verdict” are essential to ensure that justice and fairness prevail over any improper prejudice or bias that may have infiltrated the American criminal justice system.
WattScale: A Data-driven Approach for Energy Efficiency Analytics of Buildings at Scale

Buildings consume over 40% of the total energy in modern societies, and improving their energy efficiency can significantly reduce our energy footprint. In this article, we present WattScale, a data-driven approach to identify the least energy-efficient buildings from a large population of buildings in a city or a region. Unlike previous methods such as least-squares that use point estimates, WattScale uses Bayesian inference to capture the stochasticity in the daily energy usage by estimating the distribution of parameters that affect a building. Further, it compares them with similar homes in a given population. WattScale also incorporates a fault detection algorithm to identify the underlying causes of energy inefficiency. We validate our approach using ground truth data from different geographical locations, which showcases its applicability in various settings. WattScale has two execution modes—(i) individual and (ii) region-based, which we highlight using two case studies. For the individual execution mode, we present results from a city containing >10,000 buildings and show that more than half of the buildings are inefficient in one way or another indicating a significant potential from energy improvement measures. Additionally, we provide probable cause of inefficiency and find that 41%, 23.73%, and 0.51% homes have poor building envelope, heating, and cooling system faults, respectively. For the region-based execution mode, we show that WattScale can be extended to millions of homes in the U.S. due to the recent availability of representative energy datasets.
WikiLeaks: the illusion of transparency:

It has been said that the 2010 WikiLeaks disclosures mark ‘the end of secrecy in the old fashioned, cold-war-era sense’. This is not true. Advocates of WikiLeaks have overstated the scale and significance of the leaks. They also overlook many ways in which the simple logic of radical transparency – leak, publish, and wait for the inevitable outrage – can be defeated in practice. WikiLeaks only created the illusion of a new era in transparency. In fact the 2010 leaks revealed the obstacles to achievement of increased transparency, even in the digital age.Points for practitionersSome commentators have regarded the WikiLeaks disclosures of 2010 as evidence of a broader breakdown in the conventional mechanisms for controlling government-held information. This new world has been described as one of ‘radical transparency’. But claims about the breakdown of old-style secrecy are overwrought. This article says that the significance of the WikiLeaks disclosures has been exaggerated, and provides reasons why it wil...
The Effects of Taxes, Agency Costs and Information Asymmetry on Earnings Management: A Comparison of Public and Private Firms

The realization of securities gains and losses to manage earnings in publicly-traded bank holding companies has been documented in a large number of studies, but very little is known about why managers engage in this behavior. Two possible explanations for earnings management put forth by Warfield, Wild, and Wild (1995) are that managers engage in this behavior either to circumvent accounting-based contracts designed to mitigate agency problems, or to reduce information asymmetry. We compare public and private banks' realizations of securities gains and losses to determine how their earnings management differs. We find that public banks consistently engage in more earnings management than private banks, and that the portion of their current period securities gains and losses attributable to earnings management is more positively associated with next period's earnings before securities gains and losses. These findings are consistent with earnings management occurring due to greater information asymmetry in public firms, and suggest that earnings management may not necessarily lead to the erosion in the quality of earnings suggested by Levitt (1998).
Sacrificing Civil Liberties to Reduce Terrorism Risks

Our survey results demonstrate that targeted screening of airline passengers raises conflicting concerns of efficiency and equity. Support for profiling increases if there is a substantial reduction in avoided delays to other passengers. The time cost and benefit components of targeting affect support for targeted screening in an efficiency-oriented manner. Nonwhite respondents are more reluctant than whites to support targeting or to be targeted. Terrorism risk assessments are highly diffuse, reflecting considerable risk ambiguity. People fear highly severe worst case terrorism outcomes, but their best estimates of the risk are more closely related to their lower bound estimates than their upper bound estimates. Anomalies evident in other risk perception contexts, such as hindsight biases and embeddedness effects, are particularly evident for terrorism risk beliefs.
Fiscal competition for imperfectly-mobile labor and capital: A comparative dynamic analysis

Interjurisdictional flows of imperfectly-mobile migrants, investment, and other productive resources result in the costly dynamic adjustment of resource stocks. This paper investigates the comparative dynamics of adjustment to changes in local fiscal policy with two imperfectly mobile productive resources. The intertemporal adjustments for both resources depend on complementarity/substitutability in production and the adjustment cost technologies for each, implying that the evaluation of the fiscal treatment of one resource must account for the simultaneous adjustment of both.
Discovering the ecosystem of an electronic financial market with a dynamic machine-learning method

Not long ago securities were traded by human traders in face-to-face markets. The ecosystem of an open outcry market was well-known, visible to a human eye, and rigidly prescribed. Now trading is increasingly done in anonymous electronic markets where traders do not have designated functions or mandatory roles. In fact, the traders themselves have been replaced by algorithms (machines) operating with little or no human oversight. While the process of electronic trading is not visible to a human eye, machine-learning methods have been developed to recognize persistent patterns in the data. In this study, we develop a dynamic machine-learning method that designates traders in an anonymous electronic market into five persistent categories: high frequency traders, market makers, opportunistic traders, fundamental traders, and small traders. Our method extends a plaid clustering technique with a smoothing framework that filters out transient patterns. The method is fast, robust, and suitable for a discovering trading ecosystems in a large number of electronic markets.
Games, Signal Detection, and Processing in the Context of Crisis Management

In today’s uncertain economic times, the impact of organisational crises is stronger than ever (Lagadec, 1993). For organisations, crisis may be defined as an organisationally based disaster, which causes extensive damage, social and economical disruption, and involves multiple stakeholders (Shrivastava et al., 1988). Today we are discovering that the scope and impact of crises have the ability to produce a bold ripple effect that forces a reshaping of attitudes and realities among all organisational and social processes. Current events have been so impacted by the concept of crisis that management now regards it in terms of policy rather than as some afterthought under the heading of exceptions. The repercussions from the September 11 attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon have taken their toll at a number of levels, from personal grief, to the slow down in the economy; it also provides a new dimension to the public sector’s concern with crisis. The domain of large scale organisational crisis has been addressed conceptually and empirically in the literature (Mitroff et al., 1988; Lagadec, 1990; Pearson and Mitroff, 1993; Roberts, 1990; Weick, 1988, 1990, 1993). Because of the multifaceted nature of the phenomena much of the related literature is dispersed among fields of psychology, sociology, international politics, and information technology (Pauchant and Douville, 1993). Still, the search continues for the Rosetta Stone to provide a working abstract on crisis that strengthens all contingency planning programs. A review of methods associated with Pre-crisis planning is considered essential to this search for such solutions (Quarantelli 1988). The purpose of our discussion is to provide a universal mechanism that may be applied to most existing crisis plans in an effort to obviate potential problems tied to complexity in decisions during potential crisis.
Pension Plan Characteristics and Framing Effects in Employee Savings Behavior

Abstract Defined contribution pensions in many postsecondary institutions are funded by a combination of an employer premium and a mandatory employee premium. Individuals can also contribute to a supplemental savings account. Holding constant total compensation, standard reasoning suggests that supplemental savings should depend negatively on the sum of the employer and employee pension contributions. Contrarily, we find that the supplementary savings of professors are significantly more sensitive to employee contributions than to employer contributions. This asymmetry is consistent with different marginal propensities to save out of the salary and pension components of compensation. Nevertheless, impacts on lifetime utility are relatively modest.
The Private Attorney-General in China: Potential and Pitfalls

This article discusses the viability of instituting a private attorney-general (PAG) system in China as an enforcement mechanism for government rules. The article reviews various aspects of civil procedure in China, including punitive damages, standing, group litigation, evidence and legal costs, and ultimately concludes that while the overall system in China would not support “PAG-type actions,” specific exceptions might allow for minor progress.
Measuring knowledge spillovers: What patents, licenses and publications reveal about innovation diffusion

Abstract Measurement of knowledge spillovers remains an important challenge. While patent citation analyses are one common empirical approach, questions persist about their efficacy and potential biases. In an effort to assess various measures of knowledge diffusion, this paper compares patent data surrounding recombinant DNA technology to licenses and publications building on the same technology. Evaluation of these measures highlights errors of both omission and over-representation in each measure, and reveals potential biases tied to organizational age and location. The results suggest that studies of knowledge diffusion can be strengthened dramatically by drawing upon multiple indicators.
Can You Lend Me a Hand? Task-Role Alignment of Social Support for Aspiring Business Owners:

Previous research has emphasized the positive impact of supportive informal relations on workers in various occupational settings. Such support seems particularly important for workers who aspire t...
Evidence of Returns to Schooling in Africa from Household Surveys: Monitoring and Restructuring the Market for Education

Wage differentials by education of men and women are examined from several recent African household surveys to document empirical regularities in private wage returns to schooling. In contrast to the common description which states that returns are highest at primary school levels and decrease at secondary and post-secondary levels, these surveys imply private returns in six countries are highest at the secondary and post-secondary levels and generally as high for women as they are for men, though women are less likely to enrol at these higher levels of schooling, with the exception of South Africa. Thus, the large public subsidies for post-secondary education in Africa do not appear needed to motivate students to enrol and those who have in the past enrolled in these levels of education are shown to have been drawn disproportionately from the most educated families. More efficient management of higher education in Africa could be encouraged, if the children of well-educated parents were to pay the public costs of their schooling and these tuition revenues were used to expand higher education and finance fellowships for only the children of the poor, who on average face relatively low returns in Africa on their basic education and have the greatest difficulty borrowing to finance their attendance in school. Copyright 2004, Oxford University Press.
Strengthening Stakeholder-Company Relationships Through Mutually Beneficial Corporate Social Responsibility Initiatives

Corporate social responsibility (CSR) continues to gain attention atop the corporate agenda and is by now an important component of the dialogue between companies and their stakeholders. Nevertheless, there is still little guidance as to how companies can implement CSR activity in order to maximize returns to CSR investment. Theorists have identified many company-favoring outcomes of CSR; yet there is a dearth of research on the psychological mechanisms that drive stakeholder responses to CSR activity. Borrowing from the literatures on means-end chains and relationship marketing, we propose a conceptual model that explains how CSR provides individual stakeholders with numerous benefits (functional, psychosocial, and values) and how the type and extent to which a stakeholder derives these benefits from CSR initiatives influences the quality of the relationship between the stakeholder and the company. The paper discusses the implications of these␣insights and highlights a number of areas for future research.
Speaking Truth to Power: A Tribute to A. Leon Higginbotham, Jr

It has been over three years since that November day when A. Leon Higginbotham, Jr.1 made his last public appearance, testifying before the House Judiciary Committee considering the impeachment of President William Jefferson Clinton. His candid, objective, and scholarly testimony before the Committee helped to convince many members of Congress that the impeachment of Clinton was inconsistent with constitutional provisions, unsupported by legal history, and intellectually dishonest. As he did so many times throughout his professional career, Leon spoke truth to power.2 Sometimes, power acceded to
Activist arbitrage. A study of open-ending attempts of closed-end funds.

Abstract This paper documents frequent attempts by activist arbitrageurs to open-end discounted closed-end funds, particularly after the 1992 proxy reform which reduced the costs of communication among shareholders. Open-ending attempts have a substantial effect on discounts, reducing them, on average, to half of their original level. The size of the discount is a major determinant of whether a fund gets attacked. Other important factors include the costs of communication among shareholders and the governance structure of the targeted fund. Our study contributes to the understanding of the actions undertaken by arbitrageurs in financial markets beyond just pure trading.
Exchange Rate Expectations: A Survey of Survey Studies

The empirical literature on survey-based exchange rate expectations is briefly surveyed. The literature in general supports the presence of a nonzero risk premium and rejects the hypothesis of rational expectations. The crucial result is that, whereas short-run expectations tend to move away from some long-run "normal" values, long-run expectations tend to move back toward them. If this behavior of short-run expectations increases the volatility of exchange rate movements, there may be a basis for an official measure to minimize short-run exchange rate movements.
Corporate Social Responsibility: An Economic and Financial Framework

I analyze corporate social responsibility (CSR) from economic and financial perspectives, and suggest how it is reflected in financial markets. CSR is defined as a programme of actions to reduce externalized costs or to avoid distributional conflicts. It has evolved in response to market failures, a Coasian solution to problems associated with social costs. The analysis suggests that there is a resource-allocation role for CSR programmes in cases of market failure through private–social cost differentials, and also where distributional disagreements are strong. In some sectors of the economy private and social costs are roughly in line and distributional debates are unusual: here CSR has little role to play. Such sectors are outnumbered by those where CSR can play a valuable role in ensuring that the invisible hand acts, as intended, to produce the social good. It can also act to improve corporate profits and guard against reputational risks.
OPTIMAL MONETARY POLICY AND IMPERFECT FINANCIAL MARKETS: A CASE FOR NEGATIVE NOMINAL INTEREST RATES?

This article studies optimal monetary policy in a model with credit frictions and money demand. We show that augmenting a standard New Keynesian model with money demand and financial frictions generates a mechanism that, in equilibrium, gives rise to optimal negative nominal interest rates. In addition, we find that the tighter credit markets are, the lower the optimal nominal policy interest rate and the more likely it is to be negative. Quantitatively, when credit constraints are binding, a standard calibration of the model generates an optimal nominal policy interest rate that is roughly −4% annually. (JEL E31, E41, E43, E44, E52, E58)
Risky income, life cycle consumption, and precautionary savings

Abstract This paper suggests that precautionary savings against uncertain income can comprise a large fraction of aggregate savings. A closed-form approximation of life cycle consumption subject to uncertain interest rates and earnings is derived by taking a second-order expansion of the Euler equation. Given plausible empirical parameters of income uncertainty and consumer risk aversion, precautionary savings are calculated to comprise over half of total life cycle savings. A comparison of empirical savings rates among occupations provides little support for the theory.
Capital mobility in developing countries: Some empirical tests

Abstract The degree of capital mobility in developing economies is seldom estimated, even though it is widely recognized to be an important element in determining the effects of stabilization policies. Instead, an economy is assumed to be open or closed mainly on considerations of analytical convenience. This paper develops an approach to modeling and measuring the degree of financial openness which is applicable to developing economies and has intuitive appeal. Empirical estimation using data from a large number of developing countries suggests that the effective degree of capital mobility in such economies may be higher than commonly assumed.
On Modes of Economic Governance

I consider transactions involving asymmetric prisoners’ dilemmas between pairs of players selected chosen from two large populations. Games are played repeatedly, but information about cheating is not adequate to sustain cooperation, and there is no official legal system of contract enforcement. I examine how profit-maximizing private intermediation can supply the information and enforcement. I obtain conditions under which private governance can improve upon no governance, and examine why it fails to achieve social optimality.
Import protection, business cycles, and exchange rates : evidence from the great recession

This research estimates the impact of macroeconomic fluctuations on import protection policies over 1988:Q1-2010:Q4 for five industrialized economies -- the United States, European Union, Australia, Canada and South Korea. There is evidence of a strong countercyclical trade policy response in the pre-Great Recession period of 1988:Q1-2008:Q3 during which increases in domestic unemployment rates, real appreciations in bilateral exchange rates, and declines in the GDP growth rates of bilateral trading partners led to substantial increases in new temporary trade barriers. It then applies this pre-Great Recession empirical model to realized macroeconomic data from 2008:Q4-2010:Q4 and find it predicts a surge of new import protection during the Great Recession -- e.g., for the US and EU, the model predicts new trade barriers would cover an additional 15 percentage points of nonoil imports, well above the baseline level of 2-3 percent of import coverage immediately preceding the crisis. Finally, the research examines why the realized trade policy response differed from model predictions. While exchange rate movements played an important role in limiting new import protection during the Great Recession, there is also evidence of one particularly important change in trade policy responsiveness; i.e., in this period, governments refrained from imposing new temporary trade barriers against foreign trading partners experiencing their own weak or negative economic growth.
Why We Do What We Do: A Model of Activity Consumption

Abstract Consumers' time allocation decisions among various activities are fundamental to marketing research and consumer behavior. The authors construct a dynamic panel data model to examine how consumers allocate time to a portfolio of leisure activities over time. The data comprise a longitudinal panel in which the authors tracked 287 U.S. consumers' time use, consumption motives, and expertise measures on a weekly basis from January to June 2011. This is the first empirical research to examine the underlying mechanisms that guide the dynamics of an individual's activity consumption. The authors demonstrate that expertise contributes to the perceived benefits of an activity, which in turn leads to high value associated with it. Expertise also directly influences value obtained from an activity. This expertise, in turn, is acquired over time through past consumption. This finding implies a chain from expertise to value to time use and back to expertise, which may lead consumers to form a lifestyle in wh...
The Complete Differential Game of Active Target Defense

In the Target–Attacker–Defender differential game, an Attacker missile strives to capture a Target aircraft. The Target tries to escape the Attacker and is aided by a Defender missile which aims at intercepting the Attacker, before the latter manages to close in on the Target. The conflict between these intelligent adversaries is naturally modeled as a zero-sum differential game. The Game of Degree when the Attacker is able to win the Target–Attacker–Defender differential game has not been fully solved, and it is addressed in this paper. Previous attempts at designing the players’ strategies have not been proven to be optimal in the differential game sense. In this paper, the optimal strategies of the Game of Degree in the Attacker’s winning region of the state space are synthesized. Also, the value function is obtained, and it is shown that it is continuously differentiable, and it is the solution of the Hamilton–Jacobi–Isaacs equation. The obtained state feedback strategies are compared to recent results addressing this differential game. It is shown that the correct solution of the Target–Attacker–Defender differential game that provides a semipermeable Barrier surface is synthesized and verified in this paper.
Density Constrained Reinforcement Learning

Constrained reinforcement learning (CRL) plays an important role in solving safety-critical and resource-limited tasks. However, existing methods typically rely on tuning reward or cost parameters to encode the constraints, which can be tedious and tend to not generalize well. Instead of building sophisticated cost functions for constraints, we present a pioneering study of imposing constraints directly on the state density function of the system. Density functions have clear physical meanings and can express a variety of constraints in a straightforward fashion. We prove the duality between the density function and Q function in CRL and use it to develop an effective primal-dual algorithm to solve density constrained reinforcement learning problems. We provide theoretical guarantees of the optimality of our approach and use a comprehensive set of case studies including standard benchmarks to show that our method outperforms other leading CRL methods in terms of achieving higher reward while respecting the constraints.
Coded Computing for Secure Boolean Computations

The growing size of modern datasets necessitates splitting a large scale computation into smaller computations and operate in a distributed manner. Adversaries in a distributed system deliberately send erroneous data in order to affect the computation for their benefit. Boolean functions are the key components of many applications, e.g., verification functions in blockchain systems and design of cryptographic algorithms. We consider the problem of computing a Boolean function in a distributed computing system with particular focus on security against Byzantine workers . Any Boolean function can be modeled as a multivariate polynomial with high degree in general. However, the security threshold (i.e., the maximum number of adversarial workers can be tolerated such that the correct results can be obtained) provided by the recent proposed Lagrange Coded Computing (LCC) can be extremely low if the degree of the polynomial is high. We propose three different schemes called coded Algebraic normal form ( ANF ), coded Disjunctive normal form ( DNF ) and coded polynomial threshold function ( PTF ). The key idea of the proposed schemes is to model it as the concatenation of some low-degree polynomials and threshold functions. In terms of the security threshold, we show that the proposed coded ANF and coded DNF are optimal by providing a matching outer bound.
An Evaluation of Bone Induction Delivery Materials in Conjunction with Root-Form Implant Placement

Summary The results of evaluation of three carrier materials for delivery of rhBMP-2 to effect regeneration of ostectomy-produced alveolar bone defects in four quadrants of six Macaca fascicularis monkeys have been presented. Of the three carriers studied it seems that porous bone mineral holds the best prospect for effecting a physiologic bone restoration of the surgical defect and bony integration of root-form implants. Polymethylethylmetracrylate, although apparently carrying the bone inductor to the defect site, probably presents some problems in late osseous remodeling in the face of slow and biologically uncertain biodegradation of the residual carrier material. The carbonate-type carrier material (Biocoral) apparently biodegrades rapidly before an appropriate critical mass of bone matrix can be formed. It is appropriate that future work should deal with the mechanism of interaction of the inductive cytokines with stem cells and the appropriate timing for the cytokine release. Drug delivery systems and carrier materials are becoming increasingly available through bioengineering. Once the optimal postoperative time of stem cell stimulation is established, then an appropriate carrier material could be developed for the various surgical situations that arise. This work points to the need for future studies in this area and to the necessity for correlation between the bioengineering community and the clinician-surgeon to evolve optimal inductive protein delivery systems effectively.
Little Engines that could: Community Clients, their Lawyers, and Training in the Arts of Democracy

This article examines the role of lawyers in developing the capacity of community-based organizational clients to participate meaningfully in civic decision-making processes as representatives of community interests. I review literature from organizing and planning disciplines on citizen participation, provide an overview of public and private sector attempts to engage community members in civic participation, and identify indicia of "representativeness" in ascertaining an organization's legitimacy in representing community interests.
Estimation of excess mortality due to long-term exposure to PM2.5 in continental United States using a high-spatiotemporal resolution model.

Abstract Background Exposure to fine particulate matter ( Methods We conducted a health impact assessment for 2015 using a model predicting U.S. PM2.5 concentrations at a spatial resolution of 1 km cells. We applied a concentration-response curve from a recently published meta-analysis of long-term PM2.5 mortality association which incorporates new findings at high and low PM2.5 concentrations. We computed the change in deaths in each grid cell, based on its grid cell population, Zip code level baseline mortality rates, and exposure under two scenarios; a decrease of PM2.5 exposure levels by 40% and a decrease of PM2.5 exposure levels to the county minimum PM2.5 concentrations. Results We estimated the deaths would fall by 104,786 (95% CI 57,016–135,726) and 112,040 (95% CI 63,261-159,116) attributable to 40% reduction and reduction to the county minimum PM2.5 concentrations, respectively. The greatest mortality impact due to 40% reduction in PM2.5 was observed in California with; 11,621 (95% CI; 7156-15,989) and Texas with; 9616 (95% CI; 5798–13,352) excess deaths attributable to annual mean PM2.5 concentrations of 9.54 and 9.12 μg m−3, respectively. Within city analyses showed substantial heterogeneity in risk. The estimated Attributable fraction (AF %) in locations with high PM2.5 levels was 8.6% (95% CI 5.4–11.7) compared to the overall AF% of 4.9% (95% CI; 2.9–6.8). In comparison, results using county average PM2.5 were smaller than the estimates from the 1 km PM2.5 datasets. Similarly, estimates using county-level mortality rates were smaller than estimates based on Zip-code level mortality rates. Conclusions Our study provides evidence of major health benefits expected from reducing PM2.5 exposure, even in regions with relatively low PM2.5 concentrations. Spatial characteristics of exposure and baseline mortality (e.g., accuracy, scales, and variations) in disease burden studies can significantly impact the results.
Quantum blackbody thermometry

Blackbody radiation (BBR) sources are calculable radiation sources that are frequently used in radiometry, temperature dissemination, and remote sensing. Despite their ubiquity, blackbody sources and radiometers have a plethora of systematics. We envision a new, primary route to measuring blackbody radiation using ensembles of polarizable quantum systems, such as Rydberg atoms and diatomic molecules. Quantum measurements with these exquisite electric field sensors could enable active feedback, improved design, and, ultimately, lower radiometric and thermal uncertainties of blackbody standards. A portable, calibration-free Rydberg-atom physics package could also complement a variety of classical radiation detector and thermometers. The successful merger of quantum and blackbody-based measurements provides a new, fundamental paradigm for blackbody physics.
Dissecting phenotypic transitions in metastatic disease via photoconversion-based isolation

Cancer patients often harbor occult metastases, a potential source of relapse that is targetable only through systemic therapy. Studies of this occult fraction have been limited by a lack of tools with which to isolate discrete cells on spatial grounds. We developed PIC-IT, a photoconversion-based isolation technique allowing efficient recovery of cell clusters of any size - including single-metastatic cells - which are largely inaccessible otherwise. In a murine pancreatic cancer model, transcriptional profiling of spontaneously arising microcolonies revealed phenotypic heterogeneity, functionally reduced propensity to proliferate and enrichment for an inflammatory-response phenotype associated with NF-κB/AP-1 signaling. Pharmacological inhibition of NF-κB depleted microcolonies but had no effect on macrometastases, suggesting microcolonies are particularly dependent on this pathway. PIC-IT thus enables systematic investigation of metastatic heterogeneity. Moreover, the technique can be applied to other biological systems in which isolation and characterization of spatially distinct cell populations is not currently feasible.
The histone demethylase KDM5 is required for synaptic structure and function at the Drosophila neuromuscular junction

Mutations in the genes encoding the lysine demethylase 5 (KDM5) family of histone demethylases are observed in individuals with intellectual disability (ID). Despite clear evidence linking KDM5 function to neurodevelopmental pathways, how this family of proteins impacts transcriptional programs to mediate synaptic structure and activity remains unclear. Using the Drosophila larval neuromuscular junction (NMJ), we show that KDM5 is required presynaptically for neuroanatomical development and synaptic function. The Jumonji C (JmjC) domain-encoded histone demethylase activity of KDM5, which is expected to be diminished by many ID-associated alleles, is required for appropriate synaptic morphology and neurotransmission. The activity of the C5HC2 zinc finger is also required, as an ID-associated mutation in this motif reduces NMJ bouton number, increases bouton size, and alters microtubule dynamics. KDM5 therefore uses demethylase-dependent and independent mechanisms to regulate NMJ structure and activity, highlighting the complex nature by which this chromatin modifier carries out its neuronal gene-regulatory programs.
Local on-surface radiation condition for multiple scattering of waves from convex obstacles

Abstract We propose a novel on-surface radiation condition to approximate the outgoing solution to the Helmholtz equation in the exterior of several impenetrable convex obstacles. Based on a local approximation of the Dirichlet-to-Neumann operator and a local formula for wave propagation, this new formulation simultaneously accounts for the outgoing behavior of the solution as well as the reflections arising from the multiple obstacles. The method involves tangential derivatives only, avoiding the use of integration over the surfaces of the obstacles. As a consequence, the method leads to sparse matrices and O ( N ) complexity. Numerical results are presented to illustrate the performance and limitations of the proposed formulation. Possible improvements and extensions are also discussed.
Exploring a Local Genetic Interaction Network Using Evolutionary Replay Experiments

Understanding how genes interact is a central challenge in biology. Experimental evolution provides a useful, but underutilized, tool for identifying genetic interactions, particularly those that involve non-loss-of-function mutations or mutations in essential genes. We previously identified a strong positive genetic interaction between specific mutations in KEL1 (P344T) and HSL7 (A695fs) that arose in an experimentally evolved Saccharomyces cerevisiae population. Because this genetic interaction is not phenocopied by gene deletion, it was previously unknown. Using "evolutionary replay" experiments, we identified additional mutations that have positive genetic interactions with the kel1-P344T mutation. We replayed the evolution of this population 672 times from six timepoints. We identified 30 populations where the kel1-P344T mutation reached high frequency. We performed whole-genome sequencing on these populations to identify genes in which mutations arose specifically in the kel1-P344T background. We reconstructed mutations in the ancestral and kel1-P344T backgrounds to validate positive genetic interactions. We identify several genetic interactors with KEL1, we validate these interactions by reconstruction experiments, and we show these interactions are not recapitulated by loss-of-function mutations. Our results demonstrate the power of experimental evolution to identify genetic interactions that are positive, allele specific, and not readily detected by other methods, shedding light on an underexplored region of the yeast genetic interaction network.