cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Secure and Decentralized Swarm Behavior with Autonomous Agents for Smart Cities

Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs), referenced as drones, have advanced to consumer adoption for hobby and business use. Due to this increased availability in drone technology other sectors of the economy such as infrastructure technology, security mechanisms, and resource deliveries have begun to implement drones in their own operations. Following the consumer and private sectors demand for better iterations of the product, increasingly more complex tasks will become possible due to the advances in hardware. These tasks increase the potential impacts that drones will have on applications such as smart cities, modern cities which have fully adopted technology in order to enhance daily operations as well as the welfare of its citizens. These cities are being designed to consist of mostly static mesh networks of sensors, but can contain dynamic aspects as well, including both ground and air-based autonomous vehicles.When devising networked computation devices for use in a smart city, safety should be of paramount concern. In an attempt to meet these high standards of security, services and devices should be implemented with security protocols in mind during every stage of development. Given the large number of sensors, autonomous vehicles, and other advancements, a smart city necessitates this level of security. The SHARKS protocol (Secure, Heterogeneous, Autonomous, and Rotational Knowledge for Swarms) ensures this kind of security by allowing for new applications for UAV swarm technology. Enabling drones to circle a target without centralized control or selecting lead agents, the SHARKS protocol performs organized movement among agents without creating a central point of vulnerability. Through comparisons on the stability of the protocol in different settings, experiments demonstrate the efficiency and capacity of the SHARKS protocol as a potential solution for future smart cities.
Quantum Hall effect induced by electron–phonon interaction

Abstract When phonons couple to fermions in 2D semimetals, the interaction may turn the system into an insulator. There are several insulating phases in which the time reversal and the sublattice symmetries are spontaneously broken. Examples are many-body states commensurate to Haldane’s staggered flux model or to lattice models with periodically modulated strain. We find that the effective field theories of these phases exhibit characteristic Chern–Simons terms, whose coefficients are related to the topological invariants of the microscopic model. This implies that the corresponding quantized Hall conductivities characterize these insulating states.
Closed-form Absorption Probability of Certain D = 5 and D = 4 Black Holes and Leading-Order Cross-Section of Generic Extremal p-branes

We obtain the closed-form absorption probabilities for minimally-coupled massless scalars propagating in the background of D = 5 single-charge and D = 4 two-charge black holes. These are the only two examples of extremal black holes with non-vanishing absorption probabilities that can be solved in closed form for arbitrary incident frequencies. In both cases, the absorption probability vanishes when the frequency is below a certain threshold, and we discuss the connection between this phenomenon and the behaviour of geodesics in these black hole backgrounds. We also obtain leading-order absorption cross-sections for generic extremal p-branes, and show that the expression for the cross-section as a function of frequency coincides with the leading-order dependence of the entropy on the temperature in the corresponding near-extremal p-branes.
Toward an Empirical Theory of Pulsar Emission. XI. Understanding the Orientations of Pulsar Radiation and Supernova “Kicks”

Two entwined problems have remained unresolved since pulsars were discovered nearly 50 years ago: the orientation of their polarized emission relative to the emitting magnetic field and the direction of putative supernova “kicks’ relative to their rotation axes. The rotational orientation of most pulsars can be inferred only from the (“fiducial’) polarization angle of their radiation, when their beam points directly at the Earth and the emitting polar fluxtube field is k to the rotation axis. Earlier studies have been unrevealing owing to the admixture of different types of radiation (core and conal, two polarization modes), producing both k or ⊥ alignments. In this paper we analyze the some 50 pulsars having three characteristics: core radiation beams, reliable absolute polarimetry, and accurate proper motions. The “fiducial’ polarization angle of the core emission, we then find, is usually oriented ⊥ to the proper-motion direction on the sky. As the primary core emission is polarized ⊥ to the projected magnetic field in Vela and other pulsars where X-ray imaging reveals the orientation, this shows that the proper motions usually lie k to the rotation axes on the sky. Two key physical consequences then follow: first, to the extent that supernova “kicks’ are responsible for pulsar proper motions, they are mostly k to the rotation axis; and second that most pulsar radiation is heavily processed by the magnetospheric plasma such that the lowest altitude “parent’ core emission is polarized ⊥ to the emitting field, propagating as the extraordinary (X) mode.
A fresh look at introductory data science

The proliferation of vast quantities of available datasets that are large and complex in nature has challenged universities to keep up with the demand for graduates trained in both the statistical ...
Complete Ricci Solitons via Estimates on the Soliton Potential

In this paper a growth estimate on the soliton potential is shown for a large class of cohomogeneity one manifolds. This is used to construct continuous families of complete steady and expanding Ricci solitons in the set-ups of L\"u-Page-Pope and Dancer-Wang. It also provides a different approach to the two summands system which applies to all known geometric examples.
Incident rational curves

We study families of rational curves on an algebraic variety satisfying incidence conditions. We prove an analogue of bend-and-break: that is, we show that under suitable conditions, such a family must contain reducibles. In the case of curves in $$\mathbb {P}^n$$ incident to certain complete intersections, we prove the family is irreducible.
Nonlinear stability of spatially-periodic traveling-wave solutions of systems of reaction–diffusion equations

Abstract Using spatial domain techniques developed by the authors and Myunghyun Oh in the context of parabolic conservation laws, we establish under a natural set of spectral stability conditions nonlinear asymptotic stability with decay at Gaussian rate of spatially periodic traveling waves of systems of reaction–diffusion equations. In the case that wave-speed is identically zero for all periodic solutions, we recover and slightly sharpen a well-known result of Schneider obtained by renormalization/Bloch transform techniques; by the same arguments, we are able to treat the open case of nonzero wave-speeds to which Schneiderʼs renormalization techniques do not appear to apply.
Superstring Scattering Amplitudes in Higher Genus

In this paper we continue the program pioneered by D’Hoker and Phong, and recently advanced by Cacciatori, Dalla Piazza, and van Geemen, of finding the chiral superstring measure by constructing modular forms satisfying certain factorization constraints. We give new expressions for their proposed ansatze in genera 2 and 3, respectively, which admit a straightforward generalization. We then propose an ansatz in genus 4 and verify that it satisfies the factorization constraints and gives a vanishing cosmological constant. We further conjecture a possible formula for the superstring amplitudes in any genus, subject to the condition that certain modular forms admit holomorphic roots.
Soluble RANKL exaggerates hindlimb suspension-induced osteopenia but not muscle protein balance.

We examined the hypothesis that exaggerating unloading-induced bone loss using a combination of hindlimb suspension (HLS) and exogenous injections of receptor activator of nuclear factor kappa-B ligand (RANKL) also exaggeratesgastrocnemius and quadriceps muscle loss. Forty, male C57Bl/6J mice (16 weeks) were subjected to HLS or normal ambulation (ground control, GC) for 14 days. Mice received 3 intraperitoneal injections of either human recombinant soluble RANKL or PBS as control (n=10/group) at 24 hour intervals starting on Day 1 of HLS. GC + RANKL and HLS mice exhibited similar decreases in trabecular bone volume and density in both proximal tibias and distal femurs. However, RANKL affected trabecular number, separation, and connectivity density, while HLS decreased trabecular thickness. The combination of RANKL and HLS exacerbated these changes. Similarly,GC + RANKL and HLS mice saw comparable decreases in cortical bone volume, thickness, and strength in femur midshafts, and combination treatment exacerbated these changes. Plasma concentrations of P1NP were increased in both groups receiving RANKL, while CTX concentrations were unchanged.HLS decreased gastrocnemius weight and was associated with a reduction in global protein synthesis, and no change in proteasome activity. This change was correlated with a decrease in S6K1 and S6 phosphorylation, but no change in 4E-BP1 phosphorylation. Injection of RANKL did not alter gastrocnemius or quadriceps muscle protein metabolism in GC or HLS mice.Our results suggest that injection of soluble RANKL exacerbates unloading-induced bone loss, but not unloading-induced gastrocnemius or quadriceps muscle loss. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.
The role of the media on maternal confidence in provider HPV recommendation

Despite a growing understanding of the importance of provider HPV recommendation on parental acceptance, U.S. HPV vaccination rates remain suboptimal. Given the prevalence and use of the media for health decisions, this study examined the relationship between the media and provider HPV recommendation on maternal HPV vaccine hesitancy. Thirty individual interviews with HPV vaccine-accepting mothers in the Midwest U.S. were conducted to examine their feelings of hesitancy around the decision to accept HPV vaccination at the time of provider recommendation and their suggestions for improving the recommendation experience by addressing media concerns. Media exposure was an antecedent to hesitancy for three main vaccination concerns: safety, protection/efficacy and sexual stigma. Although mothers accepted vaccination, they continued to feel confused and hesitant about HPV vaccination. They had several recommendations for how providers could combat hesitancy to improve confidence in HPV vaccine acceptance. Providers’ approach to HPV vaccination recommendation must consider concerns reported in the media with delivery techniques modified to adjust to maternal fears absorbed from adverse media information.
Vortices of electro-osmotic flow in heterogeneous porous media

Linear electrokinetics often results in simple unidirectional flows in porous media. Surprisingly, for a heterogenous random media, pore-scale disorder results in vortical flow structures at the macroscopic scale, which can lead to enhanced fluid mixing and convective transport.
Applications of nonarchimedean developments to archimedean nonvanishing results for twisted $L$‑functions

We prove the nonvanishing of the twisted central critical values of a class of automorphic $L$-functions for twists by all but finitely many unitary characters in particular infinite families. While this paper focuses on $L$-functions associated to certain automorphic representations of unitary groups, it illustrates how decades-old nonarchimedean methods from Iwasawa theory can be combined with the output of new machinery to achieve broader nonvanishing results. In an appendix, which concerns an intermediate step, we also outline how to extend relevant prior computations for $p$-adic Eisenstein series and $L$-functions on unitary groups to the case where primes dividing $p$ merely needs to be unramified (whereas prior constructions required $p$ to split completely) in the associated reflex field.
Detection of Cyber Attacks in Renewable-rich Microgrids Using Dynamic Watermarking

This paper presents the first demonstration of active defense for defending renewable-rich microgrids against cyber attacks. Cyber vulnerabilities in such microgrid setting are identified. A defense mechanism based on the dynamic watermarking is proposed for detecting cyber anomalies in microgrids. The proposed mechanism is shown to be readily implementable and it has theoretically provable performance in term of detecting cyber attacks. The effectiveness of the proposed mechanism is tested and validated in a Texas A&M 4-bus microgrid testbed with 100% solar penetration.
Detecting Dynamic States of Temporal Networks Using Connection Series Tensors

Many temporal networks exhibit multiple system states, such as weekday and weekend patterns in social contact networks. The detection of such distinct states in temporal network data has recently been studied as it helps reveal underlying dynamical processes. A commonly used method is network aggregation over a time window, which aggregates a subsequence of multiple network snapshots into one static network. This method, however, necessarily discards temporal dynamics within the time window. Here we propose a new method for detecting dynamic states in temporal networks using connection series (i.e., time series of connection status) between nodes. Our method consists of the construction of connection series tensors over nonoverlapping time windows, similarity measurement between these tensors, and community detection in the similarity network of those time windows. Experiments with empirical temporal network data demonstrated that our method outperformed the conventional approach using simple network aggregation in revealing interpretable system states. In addition, our method allows users to analyze hierarchical temporal structures and to uncover dynamic states at different spatial/temporal resolutions.
The Maestro Attack: Orchestrating Malicious Flows with BGP

We present Maestro, a novel Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attack that leverages control plane traffic engineering techniques to concentrate botnet flows on transit links. Executed from a compromised or malicious Autonomous System (AS), Maestro advertises routes poisoned for selected ASes to collapse inbound traffic paths onto a single target link. A greedy heuristic fed by bot traceroute data iteratively builds the set of ASes to poison. Given a compromised router with advantageous positioning in the AS-level Internet topology, an adversary can expect to bring an additional 30% of the entire botnet against vulnerable links. Interestingly, the size of the adversary-controlled AS plays little role in this amplification effect; core links can be degraded by small, resource-limited ASes. To understand the scope of the attack, we evaluate widespread Internet link vulnerability via simulation across several metrics, including BGP betweenness and botnet flow density, and assess the topological requirements for successful attacks. We supplement simulation results with ethically conducted “attacks” on real Internet links. Finally, we present effective defenses for network operators seeking to mitigate this attack.
The Relevance of Pion-Exchange Contributions Versus Contact Terms in the Chiral Effective Field Theory Description of Nucleon–Nucleon Scattering

The standard way to demonstrate the relevance of chiral symmetry for the NN interaction is to consider higher partial waves of NN scattering which are controlled entirely by chiral pion-exchanges (since contacts vanish). However, in applications of NN-potentials to nuclear structure and reactions, the lower partial waves are the important ones, making the largest contributions. Lower partial waves are sensitive to the short-range potential, and so, when the short-range contacts were to dominate over the chiral pion-contributions in lower partial waves, then the predictions from “chiral potentials” would have little to do with chiral symmetry. To address this issue, we investigate systematically the role of the (chiral) one- and two-pion exchanges, on the one hand, and the effect of the contacts, on the other hand, in the lower partial waves of NN scattering. We are able to clearly identify the signature of chiral symmetry in lower partial waves. Our study has also a pedagogical spin-off as it demonstrates in detail how the reproduction of the lower partial-wave phase shifts comes about from the various ingredients of the theory.
Formation and reconfiguration of tight multi-lane platoons

Abstract Advances in vehicular communication technologies are expected to facilitate cooperative driving in the future. Connected and Automated Vehicles (CAVs) are able to collaboratively plan and execute driving maneuvers by sharing their perceptual knowledge and future plans. In this paper, an architecture for autonomous navigation of tight multi-lane platoons traveling on public roads is presented. Using the proposed approach, CAVs are able to form single or multi-lane platoons of various geometrical configurations. They are able to reshape and adjust their configurations according to changes in the environment. The proposed architecture consists of two main components: an offline motion planner system and an online hierarchical control system. The motion planner uses an optimization-based approach for cooperative formation and reconfiguration in tight spaces. A constrained optimization scheme is used to plan smooth, dynamically feasible and collision-free trajectories for all the vehicles within the platoon. The paper addresses online computation limitations by employing a family of maneuvers precomputed offline and stored on a look-up table on the vehicles. The online hierarchical control system is composed of three levels: a traffic operation system (TOS), a decision-maker, and a path-follower. The TOS determines the desired platoon reconfiguration. The decision-maker checks the feasibility of the reconfiguration plan based on real-time information about the surrounding traffic. The reconfiguration maneuver is executed by a low-level path-following feedback controller in real-time. The effectiveness of the approach is demonstrated through simulations of three case studies: (1) formation reconfiguration (2) obstacle avoidance, and (3) benchmarking against behavior-based planning in which the desired formation is achieved using a sequence of motion primitives. Videos and software can be found online here https://github.com/RoyaFiroozi/Centralized-Planning .
Impacts of PV Capacity Allocation Methods on Distribution Planning Studies

This paper presents a new method for assessing the amount of photovoltaics that can be accommodated on a distribution feeder before disrupting the normal operational conditions, commonly referred to hosting capacity. An optimal-capacity-based (OCB) PV allocation method is proposed to evaluate PV hosting capacity. We fist use load allocation method to allocate realistic load profiles to each load node down to each household. Instead of randomly assigning the installed capacity of PV to each household, the optimal size of PV for each house is first calculated based on the annual load profiles. Different PV allocation methods for hosting capacity calculation are first compared using the IEEE 123-bus system as a benchmark. An actual distribution feeder in North Carolina area is used to validate the results in realistic distribution systems. The simulation results show that the impact of PV capacity allocation methods on hosting capacity assessment is significant. We also investigate the zonal allocation method for weak zone identification to address the cluster phenomena in technology diffusion.
A stochastic model of waste management with on and off site storage

Abstract When the regulatory threshold which specifies the maximum amount of waste that can be stored on site is exceeded, a waste generating firm must move waste to an off site location. Given that off site storage is costlier than on site storage, how much waste ought a firm—operating in a probabilistic environment—to produce in the time period of interest? This salient question has received insufficient theoretical attention in the extant literature. Therefore, we analyze a stochastic model with on and off site storage that is relevant to the management of a broad class of wastes. We first derive a representative waste generating firm's long run expected cost function. Next, we conduct comparative statics exercises to demonstrate the impact of key parameter changes on the firm's long run expected cost. Finally, we show that the optimal waste production level we seek is the solution to a specific cost minimization problem.
Embedding hypertrees into steiner triple systems

In this paper we are interested in the following question: Given an arbitrary Steiner triple system $S$ on $m$ vertices and any 3-uniform hypertree $T$ on $n$ vertices, is it necessary that $S$ contains $T$ as a subgraph provided $m \geq (1+\mu)n$? We show the answer is positive for a class of hypertrees and conjecture that the answer is always positive.
Qualitative, Quantitative, and Integrative Conservation

In this essay for a symposium on new directions in environmental law, I reflect back on the last 35 years of Endangered Species Act (ESA) practice and offer several modest reforms. My claim is that conservation has been growing increasingly quantitative and risk-based, much like other fields of regulation, but that big problems lie ahead if this trend continues with the ESA as currently structured. In my view, the quantitative demands of listing species, designing recovery objectives, and designating so-called 'critical habitat' are depleting the resources we have put into the ESA because it is an expression of fundamentally qualitative hopes. Thus, the statute is not structured to guide much of the decision-making that is now required, leaving its agents to interpret and implement an Act that diverges substantially from the actual contexts in which it is implemented. If the Fish & Wildlife Service and the NOAA Fisheries Service are to bring these two divergent approaches to conservation into a more productive relationship, they must start by reorganizing themselves to reflect the informational environments in which they operate. This means adapting institutionally to carry out only those conservation actions that are best carried out centrally while distributing the rest of their workload to more localized or non-centralized partners.
Still Chasing Chimeras But Finally Slaying Some Dragons In the Quest for Consumer Bankruptcy Reform

This paper responds to the question, "how well have reformed regimes of consumer bankruptcy performed." The question was posed for one panel of a conference on the social policy dimensions of regulatory crisis management in the EU and US, hosted by the Social Science Research Centre Berlin. This short paper offers the beginnings of a response by examining six prominent consumer insolvency systems that have undergone reform in the past decade, concentrating on the most salient aspects of these reforms and their effects, particularly the degree to which reforms have moved these systems in a more social policy-oriented direction, concentrating on, e.g., fighting social exclusion. Progressing from worst to best, it begins with the thoroughly misguided and counterproductive US reform of 2005 and ends with the increasingly impressive series of reforms implemented in France in 1999, 2004, and 2010. Between these poles, the examination progresses through reforms in the Netherlands in 2008, Denmark in 2005, Sweden in 2007, and Germany in 2002, charting a steadily increasing ratio of positive to negative design and result, especially with respect to slaying the twin monsters of inefficiency and waste.
Paved with Good Intentions: Unintended Consequences of Federal Proposals to Integrate Child Support and Parenting Time

Promoting the relationships between noncustodial parents and their children has become a federal policy priority. Recent policy proposals aim to achieve this by integrating adjudications of custody and parenting time within proceedings to establish child support. These proposals share several laudable goals, including encouraging the involvement of fathers in their children’s lives, increasing compliance with child support orders, and facilitating unmarried parents’ access to court processes for resolving custody and visitation disputes. But the simplistic solutions employed by the proposals, some of which would mandate that custody and visitation be adjudicated in all child support proceedings, pose serious risks to the low income families they aim to serve — risks that might do more harm to such families than good. This article evaluates the merits and drawbacks of federal parenting time proposals and proposes an alternative, multi-layered approach to facilitating shared parenting among non-marital families.
Social Capital, Social Funds and Poor Communities: An Exploratory Analysis

Social capital has captured the attention of social policy-makers and development administrators, with its emphasis on social relationships, civic participation, collaborative action and norms of reciprocity. Social funds support small-scale community-based development projects aimed primarily at reducing poverty. This article synthesizes the relevant literature and explores the nexus between social capital and social funds in relation to poor communities. Drawing upon primary research in Jamaica, the article reports the outcomes of eight social fund sub-projects that involved local organizations in community-driven development processes. It analyses the role of social networks and the influence of community power structures in social capital creation. Social policy implications of the findings are discussed.
Interpreting Liberty and Equality Through the Lens of Marriage

In this essay, I argue that marriage, as described and prescribed in Obergefell v. Hodges, functions as a lens that distorts the principles of liberty and equality upon which the opinion is based. The Supreme Court’s language is saturated with paeans to marriage, to the degree that the opinion seems to suggest that the moral worthiness of same-sex couples who wish to marry provides the ultimate justification for recognizing a constitutional right. The conceptual fulcrum in this analysis is dignity, which other courts have interpreted as an intrinsic human right that extends to a pluralism of family forms, but which this Court positions as closely linked to respectability. Dignity and marriage are interwoven in the Court’s analysis, creating implicit bounds for liberty and equality. As a result, access to a legal status of enormous material and cultural value appears to be as closely linked to social conformity as to law.Looking to the near future, I point out that, despite the breadth of its language, Obergefell leaves three important questions unanswered: whether the Court’s liberty analysis will extend to non-marital intimate relationships; whether the Court’s equal protection holding will suffice to prohibit discriminatory government policies that do not trench on fundamental rights; and whether there is a commensurate fundamental right not to marry without forfeiture of public benefits that favor persons who choose to marry. These are among the next frontiers in the field of state regulation of sexuality and adult relationships. From a law and social movements perspective, the achievement of equal access to marriage raises for the LGBT rights movement the same question long faced by other civil rights movements: whether and how to seek more robust understandings of equality under law. Obergefell marks an important step forward in efforts to end discrimination, which merits celebration, but it raises as many questions as it answers.
THE ETHICAL BASES OF PUBLIC POLICIES: A CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK

This paper develops a conceptual framework, which can accommodate a wide range of value judgements used in ethical evaluations of extended social states and which can be used to differentiate different categories of value judgements by referring to the type of information on which they may be based. The notions of consequentialism, non-consequentialism, exclusive focus on personal well-being, exclusive focus on utility, etc. are conceptualized in operational ways in the framework. The framework and the discussion of different types of ethical criteria that may be used in evaluating extended social states contribute to conceptual clarity about the ethical bases of public policies.
Quantifying the Lasting Harm to the U.S. Economy from the Financial Crisis

The financial crisis and ensuing Great Recession left the U.S. economy in an injured state. In 2013, output was 13 percent below its trend path from 1990 through 2007. Part of this shortfall--2.2 percentage points out of the 13--was the result of lingering slackness in the labor market in the form of abnormal unemployment and substandard weekly hours of work. The single biggest contributor was a shortfall in business capital, which accounted for 3.9 percentage points. The second largest was a shortfall of 3.5 percentage points in total factor productivity. The fourth was a shortfall of 2.4 percentage points in labor-force participation. I discuss these four sources of the injury in detail, focusing on identifying state variables that may or may not return to earlier growth paths. The conclusion is optimistic about the capital stock and slackness in the labor market and pessimistic about reversing the declines in total factor productivity and the part of the participation shortfall not associated with the weak labor market.
No-Fault for Motor Vehicles: An Economic Analysis

This article compares incentives and efficiency under the pure tort system (the comparative negligence rule) to those under pure and mixed no-fault systems. Under no-fault systems, drivers are allowed to opt out of no-fault and file lawsuits if their damages exceed a certain threshold. We find that no single liability system always dominates on efficiency grounds, but the pure tort system does best when costs of care are low, and pure no-fault does best when costs of care are high. Choice systems, in which drivers choose between no-fault or pure tort systems, lead to less efficient results because drivers choose the pure tort rule too often.
Did the SEC impact banks' loan loss reserve policies and their informativeness?

Abstract During the late 1990s, the SEC alleged that banks were overstating loan loss allowances to establish cookie jar reserves. Their intervention in bank accounting culminated in 2001 with new guidance (SAB 102) designed to improve financial reporting quality. We show that banks' allowance estimation changed in response to the SEC's intervention. While allowance informativeness (as proxied by the ability to explain future losses) improved for Strong Banks, informativeness declined for Weak Banks whose incentives are to understate allowances. Our results help to explain why some (Weak) banks delayed loss recognition during the recent financial crisis.
Which Workers Gain Upon Adopting a Computer

. Using the Canadian Workplace and Employee Survey and controlling for individual and establishment fixed-effects, we find that within a year of adopting a computer, the average worker earns a 3.6% higher wage than a worker who did not use a computer. Returns are even larger for managers and professionals, highly educated workers, and those with significant prior computer experience. Employees who adopt computers for use with applications that require high cognitive skills earn the highest returns. En utilisant l'enquete canadienne sur le milieu de travail et les employes, et en normalisant pour prendre en compte les differences entre types d'individus et d'etablissements, les auteurs etablissent qu'en dedans d'un an apres l'adoption d'un ordinateur, le travailleur moyen gagne 3.6% de plus que le travailleur qui n'a jamais utilise un ordinateur. Les rendements sont encore plus grands pour les gestionnaires et professionnels, les travailleurs hautement qualifies, et ceux qui ont deja une bonne experience anterieure des ordinateurs. Les employes qui adoptent l'ordinateur pour effectuer des applications qui reclament de grandes capacites cognitives sont ceux pour qui les rendements sont eleves.
Giving Green to Get Green? Incentives and Consumer Adoption of Hybrid Vehicle Technology

Federal, state, and local governments use a variety of incentives to induce consumer adoption of hybrid-electric vehicles. We study the relative efficacy of state sales tax waivers, income tax credits, and non-tax incentives and find that the type of tax incentive offered is as important as the generosity of the incentive. Conditional on value, sales tax waivers are associated with more than a ten-fold increase in hybrid sales relative to income tax credits. In addition, we examine how adoption varies with fuel prices. Rising gasoline prices are associated with greater hybrid vehicle sales, but this effect operates almost entirely through high fuel-economy vehicles. By comparing consumer response to sales tax waivers and estimated future fuel savings, we estimate an implicit discount rate of 14.6% on future fuel savings.
Legal Ethics and the Separation of Law and Morals

This paper explores the jurisprudential question of the relationship between moral values and legal norms in legal advising and counseling in the context of an analysis of the so-called torture memos prepared by lawyers in the Office of Legal Counsel in 2002. The principal claim of the paper is that the torture memos are morally bankrupt because they are legally bankrupt. The lawyers' actions were wrong from a moral point of view because the lawyers failed with respect to their obligation to treat the law with respect, not simply as an inconvenient obstacle to be planned around. The morality of torture plays no direct role in this analysis. Although it is easy to say at a high level of generality that torture is immoral, it is possible for reasonable people to disagree in good faith over application questions, such as whether a particular interrogation technique should be deemed torture, or whether there may be some moral justification for torture in a particular case. In order for citizens and law enforcement officials to cooperate in the project of defending national security while also respecting human rights, it is necessary to reach some provisional settlement of these normative debates. Because the law enables social action in the face of disagreement, it is entitled to respect by affected individuals and also lawyers acting in a representative capacity. The position defended in this paper contrasts with two widely accepted views. The first, which I call the standard lawyers' defense of the torture memos, maintains that moral values are excluded from legal reasoning. This position rests on a misunderstanding of legal positivism or, in its more sophisticated versions, on an argument for the exclusive or hard strand of positivism. The more plausible version of inclusive positivism permits moral values to become incorporated into conventional practices of legal reasoning. The second view, which is more common within the academic legal ethics literature than among practicing lawyers, holds that the role of lawyer is directly moralized, in the sense that a lawyer acting in a professional capacity is bound by the same moral principles as an ordinary moral agent would be in the same situation. In order to defend this position, it is necessary to briefly set out the argument for the authority of law that I have defended at length elsewhere. This paper further fleshes out that argument by providing a hypothetical narrative suggesting how law derives its authority from its capacity to enable coordinated social activity in the face of persistent moral disagreement, specifically regarding the morality of torture.
How to say “no”: Conviction and identity attributions in persuasive refusal

Abstract This research investigates the influence of refusal frames on persuasiveness in an interpersonal context. Specifically, the refusal frame “I don't” is more persuasive than the refusal frame “I can't” because the former connotes conviction to a higher degree. This perceived conviction is tied to the identity-signaling function of the refusal frame. Two studies demonstrate that 1) the “don't” frame is more persuasive than the “can't” frame, 2) perceived conviction mediates the influence of the refusal frame on persuasiveness, and 3) attributions to the refuser's identity explain the perceived conviction.
Determinants of executive compensation: The neoclassical model versus concept formation

Abstract Neoclassical economic theory describes employee compensation as being equal to the worker's marginal revenue product. Other explanations of the wage formation process exist. For example, concept formation may enable employees to manipulate organizations and thereby receive higher compensation without changing their physical productivity. This study tests the two wage models on a 1983 data set of the 100 highest paid American chief executive officers. During 1983, the data appears to support the neoclassical economic model; while, the psychological model is not fully rejected. By contrast in an earlier study, for 1981, the psychological model took precedence over the economic model. The study fully reconciles the contrasting findings by introducing `stickiness in wages to explain why concept formation impacts executive wages during stagnant economic periods, and why productivity assumes a greater role in setting executive compensation levels during robust economic periods.
Advising Compliance in Financial Firms: A New Mission for the Legal Academy

This introduction to the symposium issue provides background on the subject of compliance in financial firms, whose task is to ensure that a broker-dealer and its employees comply with applicable laws and regulations. It explains the tasks of compliance in financial firms and discusses its origins, particularly in the statutory and regulatory obligation of supervision that is placed upon financial firms and their managers. It then looks at the reasons for the growth in importance of compliance in recent years, as well as the likely continued significance of this firm function. It particularly emphasizes how the recent financial reform legislation enhanced the role of compliance and diffused it into previously unregulated financial firms. It next offers several reasons why legal scholars have not devoted much attention to financial firm compliance and also discusses why compliance is attracting more scholarly attention, partly because law graduates are increasingly entering this field. It concludes by offering a few thoughts on how the legal academy can help compliance become more successful in its mission, with a reference to contributions of the professors made during the symposium and to useful work in managerial studies on how to build effective compliance programs.
The Value of Collaborative Forecasting in Supply Chains

Motivated by the mixed evidence concerning the adoption level and value of collaborative forecasting (CF) implementations in retail supply chains, in this paper, we explore the conditions under which CF offers the highest potential. We consider a two-stage supply chain with a single supplier selling its product to consumers through a single retailer. We assume that both the supplier and the retailer can improve the quality of their demand forecasts by making costly forecasting investments to gather and analyze information. First, we consider a noncollaborative model where the supplier and the retailer can invest in forecasting but do not share forecast information. Next, we examine a collaborative forecasting model where the supplier and the retailer combine their information to form a single shared demand forecast. We investigate the value of CF by comparing each party's profits in these scenarios under three contractual forms that are widely used in practice (two variations of the simple wholesale price contract as well as the buyback contract). We show that for a given set of parameters, CF may be Pareto improving for none to all three of the contractual structures, and that the Pareto regions under all three contractual structures can be expressed with a unifying expression that admits an intuitive interpretation. We observe that these regions are limited and explain how they are shaped by the contractual structure, power balance, and relative forecasting capability of the parties. To determine the specific value of collaborative forecasting as a function of different factors, we carry out a numerical analysis and observe the following. First, under noncoordinating contracts, improved information as a result of CF has the added benefit of countering the adverse effects of double marginalization in addition to reducing the cost of supply--demand mismatch. Second, one may expect the value of CF to increase with bargaining power, however this does not hold in general: The value of CF for the newsvendor first increases and then decreases in his bargaining power. Finally, whereas one may expect CF to be more valuable under coordinating contracts, rather than a simple wholesale price contract that is prone to double marginalization, the magnitude of the gain from CF is in many cases higher in the absence of quantity coordination.
Psychological Distancing: Why Happiness Helps You See the Big Picture

We propose that a positive mood, by signaling that a situation is benign, might allow people to step back and take in the big picture. As a consequence, a positive mood might increase abstract construal and the adoption of abstract, future goals. In contrast, a negative mood, by signaling not only danger but also its imminence, might focus attention on immediate and proximal concerns and reduce the adoption of abstract, future goals.
On the Original Understanding of the Crime of Genocide

This article is an extended exercise in genocide originalism. Efforts to equate genocidal intent with total racial destruction have grown more common within the UN system over the past decade, including in the cases of Yugoslavia and Sudan. The article surveys evidence that the drafters of the UN Genocide Convention (UNCG) did not define genocidal intent as the intent to destroy an entire race or religion. This evidence shows that the UNCG does not require a deliberate plan or policy of a state to exterminate the members of an entire racial or religious group, or a total genocide. Rather, the UNCG expressly covers partial genocides, genocides in which heads of state do not participate, and genocides motivated by reasons other than racial or religious hatred. This original understanding is manifest in the text of the UNCG, the drafting process, and the course of performance of the UNCG.
Secular Fundamentalism, Religious Fundamentalism, and the Search for Truth in Contemporary America

I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted, every hill and mountain shall be made low, the rough places shall be made plain, and the crooked places shall be made straight and the glory of the Lord will be revealed and all flesh shall see it together.Martin Luther King, Jr.Echoing the prophet Isaiah, Dr. King dreamed of societal harmony and common understanding. Not only would “the glory of the Lord” be revealed, but “all flesh” would see the truth together. In today's America, this vision seems increasingly distant; some would say increasingly fantastic. From abortion to homosexuality to affirmative action, Americans are deeply divided on fundamental issues of morality and public policy. Combatants in an ongoing culture war, we disagree not only about specific issues, but also about the manner in which these issues should be considered, debated, and resolved. At bottom, we are divided because we disagree about the nature of moral and political truth and about how this truth should properly be determined. Far from seeing the truth together, we see separate truths that emerge from separate ways of thinking.
Congress, the Courts, and New Technologies: A Response to Professor Solove

Which branch of government should take the leading role in the creation of criminal procedure rules when technology is in flux? In a recent article, The Fourth Amendment and New Technologies: Constitutional Myths and the Case for Caution, 102 Michigan Law Review 801-888 (2004), Professor Kerr argued that Congress has a relative institutional advantage over the courts in the creation of rules regulating law enforcement investigations that involve new technologies. Professor Daniel Solove disputes that institutional advantage in a symposium essay, Fourth Amendment Codification and Professor Kerr's Misguided Call for Judicial Deference. In this brief response to Solove, Professor Kerr contends that Solove's critique misses the mark in two ways. First, Solove improperly compares a descriptive account of statutory law protections with a normative account of constitutional law protections. Second, Solove fails to appreciate fully the institutional limitations of judicial rulemaking when technology is changing rapidly.
Preserving Life by Ranking Rights.

Border walls, abortion, and the death penalty are the current battlegrounds of the right to life. We will visit each topic and more in this paper, as we consider ranking groups of constitutional rights. The enumerated rights of the Due Process Clauses of the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments—life, liberty, and property—merit special treatment. They have a deeper and richer history that involves ranking. Ranking life in lexical priority over liberty and property rights protects life first and maximizes safe liberty and property rights in the absence of a significant risk to life. This is not new law; aspects of it have long appeared in common law and statute. Federal implementation of ranking due process rights, an ordered substantive due process, would protect our most basic and fundamental right and make our entire legal system more humane. By using a conceptual partition between life and other rights, we can create channels of cooperation to solve problems of incommensurability and to provide a more just legal system.
On asymptotic hamiltonian for SU(N) matrix theory

We compute the leading contribution to the effective Hamiltonian of SU(N) matrix theory in the limit of large separation. We work with a gauge fixed Hamiltonian and use generalized Born-Oppenheimer approximation, extending the recent work of Halpern and Schwartz for SU(2) [8]. The answer turns out to be a free Hamiltonian for the coordinates along the flat directions of the potential. Applications to finding ground state candidates and calculation of the correction (surface) term to Witten index are discussed.
Coping with Spain's aging: retirement rules and incentives

This paper evaluates the macroeconomic and welfare effects of extending the averaging period used to calculate pension benefits in a pay-as-you-go system. It also examines the complementarities between reforms extending the averaging period and those increasing the retirement age under alternative tax policies. The analysis applies a model in the Auerbach-Kotlikoff tradition to the Spanish economy. Extending the averaging period to the entire work life maximizes long-run welfare and limits expenditure pressures at the peak of the demographic shock as much as increasing the retirement age in line with life expectancy. Moreover, during the demographic transition, pension reforms induce intertemporal labor substitution effects that engender aggregate labor cycles.