cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Thermally Activated Post-glitch Response of the Neutron Star Inner Crust and Core. I. Theory

Pinning of superfluid vortices is predicted to prevail throughout much of a neutron star. Based on the idea of Alpar et al., I develop a description of the coupling between the solid and liquid components of a neutron star through thermally activated vortex slippage, and calculate the response to a spin glitch. The treatment begins with a derivation of the vortex velocity from the vorticity equations of motion. The activation energy for vortex slippage is obtained from a detailed study of the mechanics and energetics of vortex motion. I show that the "linear creep" regime introduced by Alpar et al. and invoked in fits to post-glitch response is not realized for physically reasonable parameters, a conclusion that strongly constrains the physics of a post-glitch response through thermal activation. Moreover, a regime of "superweak pinning," crucial to the theory of Alpar et al. and its extensions, is probably precluded by thermal fluctuations. The theory given here has a robust conclusion that can be tested by observations: for a glitch in the spin rate of magnitude Δν, pinning introduces a delay in the post-glitch response time. The delay time is td = 7(t sd/104 yr)((Δν/ν)/10–6) d, where t sd is the spin-down age; td is typically weeks for the Vela pulsar and months in older pulsars, and is independent of the details of vortex pinning. Post-glitch response through thermal activation cannot occur more quickly than this timescale. Quicker components of post-glitch response, as have been observed in some pulsars, notably, the Vela pulsar, cannot be due to thermally activated vortex motion but must represent a different process, such as drag on vortices in regions where there is no pinning. I also derive the mutual friction force for a pinned superfluid at finite temperature for use in other studies of neutron star hydrodynamics.
Forecasting the cost of processing multi-join queries via hashing for main-memory databases

Database management systems (DBMSs) carefully optimize complex multi-join queries to avoid expensive disk I/O. As servers today feature tens or hundreds of gigabytes of RAM, a significant fraction of many analytic databases becomes memory-resident. Even after careful tuning for an in-memory environment, a linear disk I/O model such as the one implemented in PostgreSQL may make query response time predictions that are up to 2× slower than the optimal multi-join query plan over memory-resident data. This paper introduces a memory I/O cost model to identify good evaluation strategies for complex query plans with multiple hash-based equi-joins over memory-resident data. The proposed cost model is carefully validated for accuracy using three different systems, including an Amazon EC2 instance, to control for hardware-specific differences. Prior work in parallel query evaluation has advocated right-deep and bushy trees for multi-join queries due to their greater parallelization and pipelining potential. A surprising finding is that the conventional wisdom from shared-nothing disk-based systems does not directly apply to the modern shared-everything memory hierarchy. As corroborated by our model, the performance gap between the optimal left-deep and right-deep query plan can grow to about 10× as the number of joins in the query increases.
Search for the Chiral Magnetic Effect in Relativistic Heavy-Ion Collisions

Relativistic heavy-ion collisions provide an ideal environment to study the emergent phenomena in quantum chromodynamics (QCD). The chiral magnetic effect (CME) is one of the most interesting, aris...
Geometry of discrete quantum computing

Conventional quantum computing entails a geometry based on the description of an n-qubit state using 2n infinite precision complex numbers denoting a vector in a Hilbert space. Such numbers are in general uncomputable using any real-world resources, and, if we have the idea of physical law as some kind of computational algorithm of the universe, we would be compelled to alter our descriptions of physics to be consistent with computable numbers. Our purpose here is to examine the geometric implications of using finite fields Fp and finite complexified fields (based on primes p congruent to 3 (mod4)) as the basis for computations in a theory of discrete quantum computing, which would therefore become a computable theory. Because the states of a discrete n-qubit system are in principle enumerable, we are able to determine the proportions of entangled and unentangled states. In particular, we extend the Hopf fibration that defines the irreducible state space of conventional continuous n-qubit theories (which is the complex projective space ) to an analogous discrete geometry in which the Hopf circle for any n is found to be a discrete set of p + 1 points. The tally of unit-length n-qubit states is given, and reduced via the generalized Hopf fibration to , the discrete analogue of the complex projective space, which has irreducible states. Using a measure of entanglement, the purity, we explore the entanglement features of discrete quantum states and find that the n-qubit states based on the complexified field have pn(p − 1)n unentangled states (the product of the tally for a single qubit) with purity 1, and they have pn + 1(p − 1)(p + 1)n − 1 maximally entangled states with purity zero.
Linearity of some low-complexity mapping class groups

By analyzing known presentations of the pure mapping groups of orientable surfaces of genus $g$ with $b$ boundary components and $n$ punctures, we show that these groups are isomorphic to some groups related to the braid groups and the Artin group of type $D_4$ in the cases when $g=0$ with $b$ and $n$ arbitrary, and when $g=1$ and $b+n$ is at most $3$. As a corollary, we conclude that the pure mapping class groups are linear in these cases.
Probing the small-scale structure in strongly lensed systems via transdimensional inference

Strong lensing is a sensitive probe of the small-scale density fluctuations in the Universe. We implement a novel approach to modeling strongly lensed systems using probabilistic cataloging, which is a transdimensional, hierarchical, and Bayesian framework to sample from a metamodel (union of models with different dimensionality) consistent with observed photon count maps. Probabilistic cataloging allows us to robustly characterize modeling covariances within and across lens models with different numbers of subhalos. Unlike traditional cataloging of subhalos, it does not require model subhalos to improve the goodness of fit above the detection threshold. Instead, it allows the exploitation of all information contained in the photon count maps, for instance, when constraining the subhalo mass function. We further show that, by not including these small subhalos in the lens model, fixed-dimensional inference methods can significantly mismodel the data. Using a simulated Hubble Space Telescope (HST) dataset, we show that the subhalo mass function can be probed even when many subhalos in the sample catalogs are individually below the detection threshold and would be absent in a traditional catalog. With the planned Wide Field Infrared Space Telescope (WFIRST), simultaneous probabilistic cataloging of dark subhalos in high-resolution, deep strong lens images has the potential to constrain the subhalo mass function at even lower masses.
Scattering for the Zakharov System in 3 Dimensions

We prove global existence and scattering for small localized solutions of the Cauchy problem for the Zakharov system in 3 space dimensions. The wave component is shown to decay pointwise at the optimal rate of t −1, whereas the Schrodinger component decays almost at a rate of t −7/6.
Error Bounds on a Mixed Entropy Inequality

Motivated by the entropy computations relevant to the evaluation of decrease in entropy in bit reset operations, the authors investigate the deficit in an entropic inequality involving two independent random variables, one continuous and the other discrete. In the case where the continuous random variable is Gaussian, we derive strong quantitative bounds on the deficit in the inequality. More explicitly it is shown that the decay of the deficit is sub-Gaussian with respect to the reciprocal of the standard deviation of the Gaussian variable. What is more, up to rational terms these results are shown to be sharp.
A refinement of Betti numbers and homology in the presence of a continuous function II (the case of an angle valued map)

For f : X → S 1 a continuous angle-valued map defined on a compact ANR X , κ a field and any integer r ≥ 0 , one proposes a refinement δ r f of the Novikov–Betti numbers of the pair ( X , ξ f ) and a refinement δ r f of the Novikov homology of ( X , ξ f ) , where ξ f denotes the integral degree one cohomology class represented by f . The refinement δ r f is a configuration of points, with multiplicity located in ℝ 2 ∕ ℤ identified to ℂ ∖ 0 , whose total cardinality is the r th Novikov–Betti number of the pair. The refinement δ r f is a configuration of submodules of the r th Novikov homology whose direct sum is isomorphic to the Novikov homology and with the same support as of δ r f . When κ = ℂ , the configuration δ r f is convertible into a configuration of mutually orthogonal closed Hilbert submodules of the L 2 –homology of the infinite cyclic cover of X defined by f , which is an L ∞ ( S 1 ) –Hilbert module. One discusses the properties of these configurations, namely robustness with respect to continuous perturbation of the angle-values map and the Poincare duality and one derives some computational applications in topology. The main results parallel the results for the case of real-valued map but with Novikov homology and Novikov–Betti numbers replacing standard homology and standard Betti numbers.
THE COMPLEX NORTH TRANSITION REGION OF CENTAURUS A: A GALACTIC WIND

We present deep GALEX images of NGC 5128, the parent galaxy of Centaurus A. We detect a striking “weather ribbon” of far-UV (FUV) and Hα emission which extends more than 35 kpc northeast of the galaxy. This ribbon is associated with a knotty ridge of radio/X-ray emission and is an extension of the previously known string of optical emission-line filaments. Many phenomena in the region are too short-lived to have survived transit out from the inner galaxy; something must be driving them locally. We also detect FUV emission from the galaxy’s central dust lane. Combining this with previous radio and far-IR measurements, we infer an active starburst in the central galaxy which is currently forming stars at ∼2 M☉ yr−1, and has been doing so for 50–100 Myr. If the wind from this starburst is enhanced by energy and mass driven out from the active galactic nucleus, the powerful augmented wind can be the driver needed for the northern weather system. We argue that both the diverse weather system, and the enhanced radio emission in the same region, result from the wind’s encounter with cool gas left by one of the recent merger/encounter events in the history of NGC 5128.
Scattering of open and closed strings in 1 + 1 dimensions

Abstract The ground ring structure of (1 + 1)-dimensional string theory leads to an infinite set of non-linear recursion relations among the “bulk” scattering amplitudes of open and closed tachyons on the disk, which fix them uniquely. The relations are generated by the action of the ring on the tachyon modules; associativity of this action determines all structure constants. This algebraic structure may allow one to relate the continuum picture to a matrix model.
Teaching Cameras to Feel: Estimating Tactile Physical Properties of Surfaces from Images

The connection between visual input and tactile sensing is critical for object manipulation tasks such as grasping and pushing. In this work, we introduce the challenging task of estimating a set of tactile physical properties from visual information. We aim to build a model that learns the complex mapping between visual information and tactile physical properties. We construct a first of its kind image-tactile dataset with over 400 multiview image sequences and the corresponding tactile properties. A total of fifteen tactile physical properties across categories including friction, compliance, adhesion, texture, and thermal conductance are measured and then estimated by our models. We develop a cross-modal framework comprised of an adversarial objective and a novel visuo-tactile joint classification loss. Additionally, we introduce a neural architecture search framework capable of selecting optimal combinations of viewing angles for estimating a given physical property.
Pan-cancer identification of clinically relevant genomic subtypes using outcome-weighted integrative clustering

Comprehensive molecular profiling has revealed somatic variations in cancer at genomic, epigenomic, transcriptomic, and proteomic levels. The accumulating data has shown clearly that molecular phenotypes of cancer are complex and influenced by a multitude of factors. Conventional unsupervised clustering applied to a large patient population is inevitably driven by the dominant variation from major factors such as cell-of-origin or histology. Translation of these data into clinical relevance requires more effective extraction of information directly associated with patient outcome. Drawing from ideas in supervised text classification, we developed survClust, an outcome-weighted clustering algorithm for integrative molecular stratification focusing on patient survival. survClust was performed on 18 cancer types across multiple data modalities including somatic mutation, DNA copy number, DNA methylation, and mRNA, miRNA, and protein expression from the Cancer Genome Atlas study to identify novel prognostic subtypes. Our analysis identified the prognostic role of high tumor mutation burden with concurrently high CD8 T cell immune marker expression and the aggressive clinical behavior associated with CDKN2A deletion across cancer types. Visualization of somatic alterations, at a genome-wide scale (total mutation burden, mutational signature, fraction genome altered) and at the individual gene level, using circomap further revealed indolent versus aggressive subgroups in a pan-cancer setting. Our analysis has revealed prognostic molecular subtypes not previously identified by unsupervised clustering. The algorithm and tools we developed have direct utility toward patient stratification based on tumor genomics to inform clinical decision-making. The survClust software tool is available at https://github.com/arorarshi/survClust .
Surface-Trapped Hole Diffusion in CdS and CdSe: The Superexchange Mechanism

In contrast to the conventional view that surface-trapped holes in CdS and CdSe nanoparticles are static and immobile, recent experimental and theoretical work has shown that these holes are dynami...
Applying Sustainability to Tax

This Article argues that sustainability can and should be applied to taxation to ameliorate the effects of industrialization on society and the planet. In making the case for a sustainability approach to taxation, we suggest that prior approaches to tax policy analysis have been insufficiently interdisciplinary and have failed to fully embrace challenging normative questions that underpin tax. Using sustainability literature from other disciplines, we show how sustainability can provide a superior approach. Specifically, sustainability requires an examination of foundational, normative questions, integration of interdisciplinary collaboration, embrace of long-term solutions, and adaptation to an ever-evolving technological society. Using these attributes as a guide, we introduce a series of questions to prompt tax scholars to consider how tax policy can support the society that we wish to sustain.
Factor Investing with Black–Litterman–Bayes: Incorporating Factor Views and Priors in Portfolio Construction

The authors propose a general framework referred to as Black–Litterman–Bayes (BLB) for constructing optimal portfolios for factor-based investing. In the spirit of the classical Black–Litterman model, the framework allows for the incorporation of investor views and priors on factor risk premiums, including data-driven and benchmark priors. Computationally efficient closed-form formulas are provided for the (posterior) expected returns and return covariance matrix that result from integrating factor views into an arbitrage pricing theory multi-factor model. In a step-by-step procedure, the authors show how to build the prior and incorporate the factor views, demonstrating in a realistic empirical example and using a number of well-known cross-sectional US equity factors, that the BLB approach can add value to mean–variance-optimal multi-factor risk premium portfolios. TOPICS:Factor-based models, factors, risk premia, portfolio construction, portfolio theory Key Findings ▪ The authors propose a general framework referred to as Black–Litterman–Bayes (BLB) for constructing optimal portfolios for factor-based investing. ▪ The framework allows for the incorporation of investor views and priors on factor risk premiums, including data-driven and benchmark priors. ▪ The authors provide computationally efficient closed-form formulas for the (posterior) expected returns and return covariance matrix. ▪ In a realistic empirical example, using a number of well-known cross-sectional US equity factors, they demonstrate that the BLB approach can add value to mean–variance-optimal multi-factor risk premium portfolios.
A Configurable BNN ASIC using a Network of Programmable Threshold Logic Standard Cells

This paper presents Tulip, a new architecture for a binary neural network (BNN) that uses an optimal schedule for executing the operations of an arbitrary BNN. It was constructed with the goal of maximizing energy efficiency per classification. At the top-level, Tulip consists of a collection of unique processing elements (TULIP-PEs) that are organized in a SIMD fashion. Each Tulip- Peconsists of a small network of binary neurons, and a small amount of local memory per neuron. The unique aspect of the binary neuron is that it is implemented as a mixed-signal circuit that natively performs the inner-product and thresholding operation of an artificial binary neuron. Moreover, the binary neuron, which is implemented as a single CMOS standard cell, is reconfigurable, and with a change in a single parameter, can implement all standard operations involved in a BNN. We present novel algorithms for mapping arbitrary nodes of a BNN onto the TULIP-PEs. Tulip was implemented as an ASIC in TSMC 40nm-LP technology. To provide a fair comparison, a recently reported BNN that employs a conventional MAC-based arithmetic processor was also implemented in the same technology. The results show that Tulip is consistently 3X more energy-efficient than the conventional design, without any penalty in performance, area, or accuracy.
IEEE 2020 World Congress on Services Welcome Message from the Women in Services Computing Symposium Chair

IEEE 2020 World Congress on Services Welcome Message from the Women in Services Computing Symposium Chair
More Informed Random Sample Consensus

Random sample consensus (RANSAC) is a robust model-fitting algorithm. It is widely used in many fields including image-stitching and point cloud registration. In RANSAC, data is uniformly sampled for hypothesis generation. However, this uniform sampling strategy does not fully utilize all the information on many problems. In this paper, we propose a method that samples data with a Levy distribution together with a data sorting algorithm. In the hypothesis sampling step of the proposed method, data is sorted with a sorting algorithm we proposed, which sorts data based on the likelihood of a data point being in the inlier set. Then, hypotheses are sampled from the sorted data with Levy distribution. The proposed method is evaluated on both simulation and real-world public datasets. Our method shows better results compared with the uniform baseline method.
Acceleration of Primal–Dual Methods by Preconditioning and Simple Subproblem Procedures

Primal–dual hybrid gradient (PDHG) and alternating direction method of multipliers (ADMM) are popular first-order optimization methods. They are easy to implement and have diverse applications. As first-order methods, however, they are sensitive to problem conditions and can struggle to reach the desired accuracy. To improve their performance, researchers have proposed techniques such as diagonal preconditioning and inexact subproblems. This paper realizes additional speedup about one order of magnitude. Specifically, we choose general (non-diagonal) preconditioners that are much more effective at reducing the total numbers of PDHG/ADMM iterations than diagonal ones. Although the subproblems may lose their closed-form solutions, we show that it suffices to solve each subproblem approximately with a few proximal-gradient iterations or a few epochs of proximal block-coordinate descent, which are simple and have closed-form steps. Global convergence of this approach is proved when the inner iterations are fixed. Our method opens the choices of preconditioners and maintains both low per-iteration cost and global convergence. Consequently, on several typical applications of primal–dual first-order methods, we obtain 4–95 $$\times $$ speedup over the existing state-of-the-art.
A Survey on 3D LiDAR Localization for Autonomous Vehicles

LiDAR sensors are becoming one of the most essential sensors in achieving full autonomy for self driving cars. LiDARs are able to produce rich, dense and precise spatial data, which can tremendously help in localizing and tracking a moving vehicle. In this paper, we review the latest finding in 3D LiDAR localization for autonomous driving cars, and analyse the results obtained by each method, in an effort to guide the research community towards the path that seems to be the most promising.
From Pulses to Circuits and Back Again: A Quantum Optimal Control Perspective on Variational Quantum Algorithms

Perspective: A unified view reveals connections between quantum optimal control and variational quantum algorithms, bringing forward ways of advancing both fields.
Greater than the sum of their parts? When combinations of institutions improve citizens’ decisions

Many scholars show that institutions help citizens with their political decisions. However, real-world contexts contain multiple institutions that are imposed together. Thus, I develop a theory and experimental test of the conditions under which combinations of two institutions induce citizens to trust a speaker’s statements and make better decisions than when only one institution is present. The theoretical model demonstrates that a second institution typically should not alter a speaker’s propensity to make truthful statements, nor subjects’ decisions to trust those statements. The experimental results reveal important departures from such rational behavior. Specifically, a second institution makes subjects more willing to trust the already mostly truthful statements they receive, which enables them to make better decisions than when only one institution is imposed upon the speaker. These findings suggest lessons about the conditions under which institutions can increase trust and improve decision makin...
Private Equity in Brazil: A Comparative Perspective

This article analyzes the evolution of the private equity and venture capital industries in Brazil, using the U.S. market as an ideal type. The main challenges faced by this sector in Brazil are the volatility of the economy, a lack of seed capital, and the illiquidity of capital markets, which make exit strategies through initial public offerings problematic. On the other hand, the decreasing level of real interest rates and the recent changes in the regulatory framework are the two main factors that bode well for the future growth of the sector. As a result, the authors believe Brazil will become one of the most important markets for private equity by the end of the decade
Reputational constraints on monetary policy

Recent advances in game theory have made it possible to study monetary policy credibility in a structured fashion. Some have concluded from these models that reputational considerations substantially discourage the monetary authorities from ever attempting surprise inflations. Hence legal constraints on money supply growth are unnecessary and can only be harmful. In this study, I critically assess a number of alternative models of monetary policy reputation, including some new variants. The bulk of the paper is concerned with comparing specific details of these models. One general conclusion is that although this first generation of monetary policy reputation models yields a significant number of important insights, it is premature to argue that time consistency is not a major issue in the design of monetary policy institutions. The main problem is that the models either yield a multiplicity of equilibria, or/and yield conclusions which are very sensitive to apparently minor changes in the information structure. Whereas an optimal reputational equilibrium may arise without any explicit cooperation among atomistic private agents, it is not (yet) clear why we should expect them to coordinate on the most favorable equilibrium. Strategic uncertainty may be an important drawback to institutional setups which place few constraints on monetary policy.
Millennium Development Goals and the Protection of Displaced and Refugee Women and Girls

The international protection regime of refugee, stateless and displaced women and girls has significant deficiencies. As refugees and displaced persons, women and girls experience unique challenges. They suffer abuse disproportionately as women through rape, human trafficking, and female genital mutilation. Women and girl refugees face greater challenges and risks to safety at every stage of displacement: in refugee camps, in urban spaces, in transit to safe haven, and in the process of obtaining legal status. They are frequently at the mercy of male family members in making claims to refugee and asylum status, as females are often unable to obtain necessary documentation and navigate barriers to the asylum process that uniquely disfavor women’s claims. This paper argues that the UN must expand the scope of the Millennium Development Goals to specifically include state responsibility towards refugees and displaced persons in their territories, without regard to their legal status. Until the international regime designed to protect refugees and displaced persons closes the gaps in addressing female refugees and displaced persons’ unique vulnerabilities, the UN’s Millennium Development Goals should be reoriented to include state responsibility to meet these deficiencies.
Law and Fancy

Martha Nussbaum's' graceful book Poetic Justice is an elegant brief for the importance of our capacity for imaginative "fancy" to our moral and legal lives.2 Imaginative fancy, Nussbaum argues, allows us to know the internal substance and quality of the lives of others. It allows us to come to appreciate, to understand, to share, and ultimately to resist others' suffering (pp. 72-77). It is, in short, the means by which we come to care about the fate and happiness of others. It is a part, but not the whole, of our capacity to transcend a narcissistic and infantile egoism. It is therefore central, not peripheral, to our capacity for moral judgment, and it is accordingly central, not peripheral, to our lives as public citizens (pp. 1-12). Fancy is a part, not the whole, of what prompts us toward a generous, humanistic, egalitarian, and democratic stance toward others. Fancy is a part, not the whole, of what enables us to give a due regard to the individuality, the dignity, and the irreducible worth of our fellows.
Flexible Arbitration for the Developing World: Piero Foresti and the Future of Bilateral Investment Treaties in the Global South

The recent arbitration of Piero Foresti et al v. Republic of South Africa opened several questions that will no doubt have tremendous implications going forward in the world of international investment. It concerned the rights of investors weighed against the right of a host state to pass legislation in an effort to remedy past discrimination. The paper suggests a flexible method for review of such cases in an effort to allow host states to fulfill internationally recognized goals such as remedying past discrimination and marginalization.
Design and commissioning of the LWA1 radio telescope

LWA1 is a new large radio telescope array operating in the frequency range 10-88 MHz, located in central New Mexico. The telescope consists of about 260 pairs of dipole-type antennas whose outputs are individually digitized and formed into beams. Simultaneously, signals from all dipoles can be recorded using one of the telescope's “all dipoles” modes, facilitating all-sky imaging. Notable features of the instrument include four independently-steerable beams utilizing digital true time delay beamforming, high intrinsic sensitivity (≈ 6 kJy zenith system equivalent flux density), large instantaneous bandwidth (up to 78 MHz), and large field of view (about 3-10°, depending on frequency and zenith angle of pointing). This paper summarizes the design of LWAl, its performance as determined in commissioning experiments, and results from early science observations demonstrating the capabilities of the instrument.
Scholarly Profit Margins and the Legal Scholarship Network: Reflections on the Web

Controversy surrounding scholastic rankings arises, in part, because of complexities associated with measuring academic contributions. Legal researchers use various methodologies to assess scholarly production and impact but all suffer from inherent limitations and none provides data useful to scholarly self-reflection. The 10year old Legal Scholarship Network (LSN) offers potential to improve considerably on both scores of public and personal assessment. This Essay critically evaluates approaches to conceptualizing scholarly profit margins, explores how LSN can enhance these conceptions, and opens new frontiers for this innovative Web-based repository of legal writing.
Canines on Campus: Companion Animals at Postsecondary Educational Institutions

This Article focuses on the issues that arise when students wish to attend a postsecondary institution accompanied by an animal. The Article begins by analyzing the federal law applicable to students bringing service and assistance animals to campus. The use of animal-assisted activities on campus is also explored. The Article continues with an examination of policies allowing students to have companion animals in campus housing. Concerns raised by administrators about allowing animals on campus are then considered. Finally, the Article sets forth the measures an educational institution should implement to ensure compliance with the law and proposes actions that can be taken to protect humans and safeguard the companion animals on campus.
Do financial analysts compel firms to make accounting decisions? Evidence from goodwill impairments

This paper examines whether financial analysts’ presence compels recognition of goodwill impairments. Analysts could impact managers’ impairment decisions in at least two ways: (1) by improving the information environment through their analysis of firm performance (i.e., ex ante monitoring) and (2) by increasing the likelihood the manager and firm experience negative consequences when they fail to record a necessary impairment (i.e., ex post monitoring). We find that the likelihood of an impairment is more strongly related to an expected impairment when analyst coverage is higher. Consistent with both forms of monitoring, we also find that analyst downgrades before the firm’s reporting date increase the probability that management records an expected impairment at the reporting date and that failing to record an expected impairment is associated with decreases in analyst following and a lower likelihood that managers are employed at the end of the following year.
Power, Linkage and Accommodation: The WTO as an International Actor and Its Influence on Other Actors and Regimes

International regimes interact with each other through linkage and accommodation. The World Trade Organization, as a powerful regime, has been pressed to account for, or link, the values of other regimes. One can already see attempts at linkage within the WTO. At the same time other regimes operate within the shadow of the WTO's primacy and power. Regimes adjust their functioning to coexist with the WTO. These regimes thus "accommodate" the WTO. One can see an example of this dynamic relationship among regimes by analyzing provisions of the WTO's Agreement on Sanitary and Phystosanitary Measures and the Cartagena Protocol on Biodiversity. While initially such linkage and accommodation has some appeal, it may also mask important normative differences among regimes. Modeling linkage and accommodation mechanisms can shed light on the structural and normative influences of powerful regimes.
The Internet is the New Marketplace of Ideas: Why Riley v. California Supports Net Neutrality

Technology has ushered civil liberties into the virtual world, and the law must adapt by providing legal protections to individuals who speak, assemble, and associate in that world. The original purposes of the First Amendment, which from time immemorial have protected civil liberties and preserved the free, open, and robust exchange of information, support net neutrality. After all, laws or practices that violate cherished freedoms in the physical world also violate those freedoms in the virtual world. The battle over net neutrality “is absolutely the First Amendment issue of our time,” just as warrantless searches of cell phones were among the Fourth Amendment issues of our time.
Should We Fear Derivatives

This paper discusses the extent to which derivatives pose threats to firms and to the economy. After reviewing the derivatives markets and putting in perspective the various measures of the size of these markets, the paper shows who uses derivatives and why. The difficulties firms face in valuing derivatives portfolios are evaluated. Although academics pay much attention to no-arbitrage pricing results, the paper points out that there can be considerable subjectivity in the pricing of derivatives that do not have highly liquid markets. It is shown that the known risks of derivatives portfolios can generally be measured and managed well at the firm level. However, derivatives can create systemic risks when a market participant becomes excessively large relative to particular derivatives markets. Overall, the benefits of derivatives outweigh the potential threats.
A League of Their Own? Financial Analysts' Responses to Restatements and Corrective Disclosures

This study examines the response of First Call financial analysts to company restatements and corrective disclosures that lead to an allegation of securities fraud and compares this with the respon...
Labor Income Dynamics at Business-Cycle Frequencies: Implications for Portfolio Choice

Abstract Young agents with low wealth-income ratios counter factually hold more stock than young, rich agents and old agents using the standard portfolio choice model with i.i.d. stock returns and labor income. This paper matches the countercyclical volatility and procyclical mean of U.S. labor income and finds that, consistent with U.S. data, young, poor agents now hold less stock than both young, rich agents and old agents, and no stock a large fraction of the time. Our results suggest that the predictability of labor income growth at a business-cycle frequency, particularly the countercyclical variation in volatility, plays an important role in a young agent's decision making about her portfolio's stock holding.
The Strangely Unsettled State of Public-Sector Labor in the Past Thirty Years

This article, part of a symposium on the history of various areas of labor and employment law, gives an overview of public-sector labor law and labor relations in the past thirty years. The public sector has for decades been central to labor relations in the U.S.; increasingly, it has also acquired a high profile in the political world. Despite great successes in organizing by public-sector unions, public-sector labor law has long been in a state of tumult (including, but not limited to, high-profile laws passed in 2011 gutting the rights of such unions). Although by the 1980s, it seemed as if public-sector collective bargaining was widely (if not universally) accepted, and that it functioned fairly well, the next three decades featured surprising upheavals. Because there is so much variation within the public sector (it is mainly state and local law), there is no single story of the past three decades. This article discusses illustrative events in this period, events which helped shape the broader history of labor relations. It starts with early history of public-sector labor law, then moves to the last three decades. For the 1980s, it discusses two key (and contrasting) events of the early part of the decade: the crushing defeat of the PATCO strike, and the enactment of the Ohio public-sector labor statute. It then discusses some significant twists and turns in the 1990s. Moving to the twenty-first century, it discusses some (mostly positive) trends for public-sector unions in the first decade of the century, but then turns to the wave of anti-union legislation in 2011 and beyond — although even here, there are some developments in the other direction, e.g. union rights for TSA employees. These events feature defeats and victories over issues as basic as whether public employees should have the right to bargain collectively at all, and they have shaped the entire U.S. labor movement, including the public sector. The also show how public-sector labor relations remains a strangely unsettled issue. The final sections discuss the practical and theoretical policy issues at stake, and attempt to make some predictions for the future.
Good Enough To Use For Research, But Not Good Enough To Benefit from the Results of that Research: Are the Clinical HIV Vaccine Trials in Africa Unjust?

The epidemic of the Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) infection in Sub-Saharan Africa, the region most affected by the HIV pandemic and where HIV is the leading cause of death, is reaching insurmountable proportions. In fact, out of the 36.1 million HIV infections worldwide, 25.3 million, seventy percent, are in Sub-Saharan Africa. Additionally, of the more than 15,000 people who are infected with HIV every day, ninety-five percent of the cases are in populations that live in developing countries such as those located in Sub-Saharan Africa. Due to the significant number of Africans infected with HIV, many researchers and ethicists have focused their attention on granting Africa fair opportunity to have access to clinical HIV vaccine trials. But fair opportunity to participate in clinical HIV vaccine trials does not guarantee that Africans will benefit from the research because of the very nature of clinical trials.This Article explores the ethical principle of Justice and its application to clinical trials in developing countries through the lens of the current HIV vaccine trials in Sub-Saharan Africa. Part II examines the history of the Justice principle as it pertains to clinical trials and answers the question of who should be included in the “society” that benefits from the results of the research. The benefits of the Justice principle, fair access to the results of clinical trials, is compared to the benefits of fair opportunity to clinical trials in Part III, which reviews the problems with past clinical HIV drug trials conducted in Sub-Saharan Africa. Part IV briefly surveys the current HIV vaccine trials underway in Africa, discusses some of the failures of researchers to apply the principle of Justice, and suggests a possible mechanism to ensure that future clinical trials conducted in Africa provide a benefit to a “society” that includes Africans.
International Media and Conflict Resolution: Making the Connection

For conflict resolution scholars, the idea of focusing on the media is a logical one. After all, the media is the primary method through which the public and political leadership perceive and understand conflicts at home and abroad. If we are working to better handle these conflicts, the way that these conflicts are explained and understood is a crucial part of that process. Do the media have a responsibility to report all sides, even if one side is “wrong”? Do the media share in responsibility for escalation of a conflict if the reporting is incendiary? (The conviction of certain media figures involved in the Rwandan genocide and the use of “Tokyo Rose” during World War II are only two stark examples of how media can be directly involved in conflict.) And what of the responsibility of conflict specialists - are those of us in the conflict resolution field ignoring the media at our peril? Many commentators on the media - from journalists to lawyers to conflict resolution scholars - have argued about the proper role of journalists and decried the common “if it bleeds, it leads” approach to reporting. Can journalists play a different role in informing the public, moderating the debate, creating understanding? In answering this question, we wanted to take a broader approach and bring a variety of disciplines and experiences to bear. So, we start this symposium with four different disciplinary looks at the linkage between media and conflict. We then spread across the world, with case studies from five different continents to illuminate the concepts while providing important insight into the actual functions performed by the media. The case studies we include also raise interesting points on the types of media. As media have evolved from newspapers to three primary television stations to cable news to the Internet, we also need to understand how that evolution has impacted the reporting on conflict.
Regulating self-referrals and other physician conflicts of interest.

For better or worse, the federal government is actively regulating physician conflicts of interest, including referrals of Medicare and Medicaid patients for health services in which physicians have a financial interest. The government's ever-increasing role in regulating physician conduct is a response to the profession's own failure to adequately deal with conflict of interest problems, as well as a function of the government's greater stake in funding clinical practice and research. This article addresses the implications of the growing role of government for the continuing professionalism of physicians, given that professionalism is commonly thought to include the ability of a profession to regulate itself in the public interest. The author describes how professional societies and individual physicians still have a significant role to play in regulating self-referrals and other conflicts of interest, but that physicians must first correct serious deficiencies in their ideological treatment of conflicts of interest. To begin, they must distinguish between the pervasive conflicts of professional practice, which are open, obvious, and unavoidable, and true conflict-of-interest problems, in which the conflicts are hidden and avoidable. The article then articulates a general approach to resolving true conflicts-of-interest problems, borrowing doctrine from the well-developed field of legal ethics. The article ends with an application of the general approach to physician self-referrals, concluding that clients are often capable of informed consent, but that physicians are well-advised to issue their own self-referral guidelines that take into account the legitimate interests of third-party payers like the government, at least when such interests do not clearly conflict with the interests of patients.
Is There Life after Death for Sports League Immunity - American Needle and Beyond

American Needle, Inc. v. National Football League decisively rejected the argument that a professional sports league is a “single entity” exempt from Section I antitrust scrutiny, yet this immunity argument had barely been interred before some commentators sought to articulate alternative grounds for immunizing sports leagues and other joint ventures from scrutiny. This Essay argues that these new theories of sports league immunity – one of them based on American Needle itself, and another rooted in an enigmatic statement by the Supreme Court, in Texaco Inc. v. Dagher, about the “core functions” of joint ventures – are inconsistent with both American Needle and with bedrock principles of antitrust law.
How Directors' Prior Experience with Other Demographically Similar CEOs Affects Their Appointments onto Corporate Boards and the Consequences for CEO Compensation

In recent years, new director appointments have increasingly posed a dilemma for corporate leaders: while CEOs prefer individuals who have similar backgrounds to them, they face increased pressure ...
Package Bombs, Footlockers, and Laptops: What the Disappearing Container Doctrine Can Tell Us about the Fourth Amendment

In the 1970s, the Court announced in a series of cases that police officers with probable cause to believe contraband or evidence of a crime is within a container must obtain a warrant from a neutral, detached judicial officer before searching that container. In requiring a search warrant, the Container Doctrine put portable containers on an almost equal footing with houses, which enjoy unquestioned Fourth Amendment protection. This Article demonstrates that the Container Doctrine is fast becoming a historical relic as the Court expands the ways in which law enforcement officers can search containers without first obtaining a warrant issued by a judicial officer. Studying the numerous ways in which the Court has undermined the Container Doctrine is useful for several reasons. First, the erosion of the Container Doctrine is emblematic of a more tectonic jurisprudential shift - the Court’s movement away from the Warrant Preference view (the belief that the Fourth Amendment expresses a preference for warrants) and its gradual embrace of the Separate Clauses (or Reasonableness) view of the Fourth Amendment. Second, the Court’s willingness to allow a growing number of container searches without warrants suggests a deep judicial ambivalence about the effectiveness of warrant formalism. Third, the demise of the Container Doctrine, and its corresponding impact on the poor and homeless, reflects a troubling indifference to non-majoritarian interests. This Article proceeds in four parts. Part II examines the longstanding debate over whether the Fourth Amendment expresses a preference for warrants or merely requires that searches and seizures not be unreasonable. Part III provides background on the Container Doctrine and discusses its rationales. Part IV examines the myriad ways in which police can lawfully search a container without a warrant. The Court’s increasing willingness to tolerate warrantless searches of containers mirrors its gradual embrace of the Separate Clauses or Reasonableness view of the Fourth Amendment, the position that all the Fourth Amendment requires is that searches and seizures be reasonable. Part V provides a discussion of why this movement away from warrants towards reasonableness in the container search context is problematic and what might be done about the situation. This Article argues that not requiring warrants for most container searches hurts the poor and, by implication, poor communities of color, more so than the wealthy. To rectify this unfairness, this Article proposes an additional layer of review in container search cases where the government claims the warrantless search falls within an exception to the warrant requirement. Borrowing from a small slice of the Court’s equal protection jurisprudence, its “rational basis with bite” cases, this Article proposes that courts be non-deferential and rigorous when engaging in reasonableness review. In other words, reviewing courts should employ reasonableness review “with teeth.”