cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Characteristics of hybrid compact stars with a sharp hadron-quark interface

We describe two aspects of the physics of hybrid stars that have a sharp interface between a core of quark matter and a mantle of nuclear matter. Firstly, we analyze the mass-radius relation. We describe a generic “Constant-Speed-of-Sound” (CSS) parameterization of the quark matter equation of state (EoS), in which the speed of sound is independent of density. In terms of the three parameters of the CSS EoS we obtain the phase diagram of possible forms of the hybrid star mass-radius relation, and we show how observational constraints on the maximum mass and typical radius of neutron stars can be expressed as constraints on the CSS parameters. Secondly, we propose a mechanism for the damping of density oscillations, including r-modes, in hybrid stars with a sharp interface. The dissipation arises from the periodic conversion between quark matter and nuclear matter induced by the pressure oscillations in the star. We find the damping grows nonlinearly with the amplitude of the oscillation and is powerful enough to saturate an r-mode at very low saturation amplitude, of order \( 10^{-10}\) , which is compatible with currently available observations of neutron star spin frequencies and temperatures.
Practical Link Adaptation Algorithm With Power Density Offsets for 5G Uplink Channels

This letter proposes a pragmatic link adaptation algorithm considering power density offsets (PDOs) for next-generation uplink wireless channels. The proposed algorithm consists of PDO calculation between a physical uplink shared channel and its associated sounding reference signal, key channel state metric generation, and modulation and coding scheme (MCS) adaptation with respect to the PDO. Scaling is applied to estimated channel matrices based on multiple reference PDO points to generate corresponding reference mutual information (MI) values, followed by interpolation or extrapolation to obtain the adapted MI and ultimately MCS. The proposed algorithm has low complexity in terms of hardware implementation, while yielding satisfactory block error rate and throughput for a wide range of PDOs as shown by simulation results.
The End of the Lines for OX 169: No Binary Broad-Line Region

We show that unusual Balmer emission-line profiles of the quasar OX 169, frequently described as either self-absorbed or double peaked, are actually neither. The effect is an illusion resulting from two coincidences. First, the forbidden lines are quite strong and broad. Consequently, the [N II] λ6583 line and the associated narrow-line component of Hα present the appearance of twin Hα peaks. Second, the redshift of 0.2110 brings Hβ into coincidence with Na I D at zero redshift, and ISM absorption in Na I D divides the Hβ emission line. In spectra obtained over the past decade, we see no substantial change in the character of the line profiles and no indication of intrinsic double-peaked structure. The Hγ, Mg II, and Lyα emission lines are single peaked, and all of the emission-line redshifts are consistent once they are correctly attributed to their permitted and forbidden-line identifications. A systematic shift of up to 700 km s-1 between broad and narrow lines is seen, but such differences are common and could be due to gravitational and transverse redshift in a low-inclination disk. Stockton & Farnham had called attention to an apparent tidal tail in the host galaxy of OX 169 and speculated that a recent merger had supplied the nucleus with a coalescing pair of black holes that was now revealing its existence in the form of two physically distinct broad-line regions. Although there is no longer any evidence for two broad emission-line regions in OX 169, binary black holes should form frequently in galaxy mergers, and it is still worthwhile to monitor the radial velocities of emission lines that could supply evidence of their existence in certain objects.
An Improved Brane Anti-Brane Action from Boundary Superstring Field Theory and Multi-Vortex Solutions

We present an improved effective action for the D-brane-anti-D-brane system obtained from boundary superstring field theory. Although the action looks highly non-trivial, it has simple explicit multi-vortex (i.e. codimension-2 multi-BPS D-brane) multi-anti-vortex solutions. The solutions have a curious degeneracy corresponding to different ``magnetic'' fluxes at the core of each vortex. We also generalize the brane anti-brane effective action that is suitable for the study of the inflationary scenario and the production of defects in the early universe. We show that when a brane and anti-brane are distantly separated, although the system is classically stable it can decay via quantum tunneling through the barrier.
A Unified Stability Property in Spin Glasses

Gibbs’ measures in the Sherrington-Kirkpatrick type models satisfy two asymptotic stability properties, the Aizenman-Contucci stochastic stability and the Ghirlanda-Guerra identities, which play a fundamental role in our current understanding of these models. In this paper we show that one can combine these two properties very naturally into one unified stability property.
Estimating Node Importance in Knowledge Graphs Using Graph Neural Networks

How can we estimate the importance of nodes in a knowledge graph (KG)? A KG is a multi-relational graph that has proven valuable for many tasks including question answering and semantic search. In this paper, we present GENI, a method for tackling the problem of estimating node importance in KGs, which enables several downstream applications such as item recommendation and resource allocation. While a number of approaches have been developed to address this problem for general graphs, they do not fully utilize information available in KGs, or lack flexibility needed to model complex relationship between entities and their importance. To address these limitations, we explore supervised machine learning algorithms. In particular, building upon recent advancement of graph neural networks (GNNs), we develop GENI, a GNN-based method designed to deal with distinctive challenges involved with predicting node importance in KGs. Our method performs an aggregation of importance scores instead of aggregating node embeddings via predicate-aware attention mechanism and flexible centrality adjustment. In our evaluation of GENI and existing methods on predicting node importance in real-world KGs with different characteristics, GENI achieves 5-17% higher NDCG@100 than the state of the art.
Spurious poles in the scattering of electric and magnetic charges

Theories with both electric and magnetic charges (“mutually non-local” theories) have several major obstacles to calculating scattering amplitudes. Even when the interaction arises through the kinetic mixing of two, otherwise independent, U(1)’s, so that all low-energy interactions are perturbative, difficulties remain: using a self-dual, local formalism leads to spurious poles at any finite order in perturbation theory. Correct calculations must show how the spurious poles cancel in observable scattering amplitudes. Consistency requires that one type of charge is confined as a result of one of the U(1)’s being broken. Here we show how the constraints of confinement and parity conservation on observable processes manages to cancel the spurious poles in scattering and pair production amplitudes, paving the way for systematic studies of the experimental signatures of “dark” electric-magnetic processes. Along the way we demonstrate some novel effects in electric-magnetic interactions, including that the amplitude for single photon production of magnetic particles by electric particles vanishes.
Optimal Nash Equilibria for Bandwidth Allocation

In bandwidth allocation, competing agents wish to transmit data along paths of links in a network, and each agent’s utility is equal to the minimum bandwidth she receives among all links in her desired path. Recent market mechanisms for this problem have either focused on only Nash welfare [9], or ignored strategic behavior [21]. We propose a nonlinear variant of the classic trading post mechanism, and show that for almost the entire family of CES welfare functions (which includes maxmin welfare, Nash welfare, and utilitarian welfare), every Nash equilibrium of our mechanism is optimal. We also prove that fully strategyproof mechanisms for this problem are impossible in general, with the exception of maxmin welfare. More broadly, our work shows that even small modifications (such as allowing nonlinear constraints) can dramatically increase the power of market mechanisms like trading post.
Overlapping Schwarz Decomposition for Constrained Quadratic Programs

We present an overlapping Schwarz decomposition algorithm for constrained quadratic programs (QPs). Schwarz algorithms have been traditionally used to solve linear algebra systems arising from partial differential equations, but we have recently shown that they are also effective at solving structured optimization problems. In the proposed scheme, we consider QPs whose algebraic structure can be represented by graphs. The graph domain is partitioned into overlapping subdomains (yielding a set of coupled subproblems), solutions for the subproblems are computed in parallel, and convergence is enforced by updating primal-dual information in the overlapping regions. We show that convergence is guaranteed if the overlap is sufficiently large and that the convergence rate improves exponentially with the size of the overlap. Convergence results rely on a key property of graph-structured problems that is known as exponential decay of sensitivity. Here, we establish conditions under which this property holds for constrained QPs (as those found in network optimization and optimal control), thus extending existing work that addresses unconstrained QPs. The numerical behavior of the Schwarz scheme is demonstrated by using a DC optimal power flow problem defined over a network with 9,241 nodes.
Large mosaic copy number variations confer autism risk

Although germline de novo copy number variants (CNVs) are known causes of autism spectrum disorder (ASD), the contribution of mosaic (early-developmental) copy number variants (mCNVs) has not been explored. In this study, we assessed the contribution of mCNVs to ASD by ascertaining mCNVs in genotype array intensity data from 12,077 probands with ASD and 5,500 unaffected siblings. We detected 46 mCNVs in probands and 19 mCNVs in siblings, affecting 2.8–73.8% of cells. Probands carried a significant burden of large (>4-Mb) mCNVs, which were detected in 25 probands but only one sibling (odds ratio = 11.4, 95% confidence interval = 1.5–84.2, P = 7.4 × 10−4). Event size positively correlated with severity of ASD symptoms (P = 0.016). Surprisingly, we did not observe mosaic analogues of the short de novo CNVs recurrently observed in ASD (eg, 16p11.2). We further experimentally validated two mCNVs in postmortem brain tissue from 59 additional probands. These results indicate that mCNVs contribute a previously unexplained component of ASD risk. Sherman et al. describe the contribution of mosaic copy number variants (mCNVs) to the risk of autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Probands with ASD carry a significant burden of mCNVs relative to their unaffected siblings.
An Analytical Safe Approximation to Joint Chance-Constrained Programming With Additive Gaussian Noises

We propose a safe approximation to joint chance-constrained programming, where the constraint functions are additively dependent on a normally-distributed random vector. The approximation is analytical, meaning that it requires neither numerical integrations nor sampling-based probability approximations. Under mild assumptions, the approximation is a standard nonlinear program. We compare this new safe approximation to another analytical safe approximation for joint chance-constrained programming based on Boole's inequality and to a scenario approach through two numerical examples representing the constrained control of linear Gauss–Markov models. It is shown that our proposed safe approximation has a lower degree of conservativeness compared to these two alternative approaches.
ARHGEF3 Regulates Skeletal Muscle Regeneration and Strength through Autophagy.

Summary Skeletal muscle regeneration after injury is essential for maintaining muscle function throughout aging. ARHGEF3, a RhoA/B-specific GEF, negatively regulates myoblast differentiation through Akt signaling independently of its GEF activity in vitro. Here, we report ARHGEF3's role in skeletal muscle regeneration revealed by ARHGEF3-KO mice. These mice exhibit indiscernible phenotype under basal conditions. Upon acute injury, however, ARHGEF3 deficiency enhances the mass/fiber size and function of regenerating muscles in both young and regeneration-defective middle-aged mice. Surprisingly, these effects occur independently of Akt but via the GEF activity of ARHGEF3. Consistently, overexpression of ARHGEF3 inhibits muscle regeneration in a Rho-associated kinase-dependent manner. We further show that ARHGEF3 KO promotes muscle regeneration through activation of autophagy, a process that is also critical for maintaining muscle strength. Accordingly, ARHGEF3 depletion in old mice prevents muscle weakness by restoring autophagy. Taken together, our findings identify a link between ARHGEF3 and autophagy-related muscle pathophysiology.
Managers as Practical Authors: Reconstructing our Understanding of Management Practice

In Conversational Realities (1993), John Shotter draws on social constructionist suppositions to conceptualize management as a rhetorically-responsive activity in which managers act as ‘practical authors’ of their social realities (pp. 148–59). From this perspective, organizations are reworked from permanent, independent social structures to relational landscapes continually shifting from the imaginary to the imagined in interactive moments. Managing is seen as an embodied and situated dialogical activity in which managers act as authors of organizational realities through their conversations. In this article, I take as my central premise, the constitutive and metaphorical nature of language, and explore the practical, enacted aspects of Shotter's concept of authorship. Specifically, I suggest authorship may relate to how managers attempt to construct a sense of who they are, create a shared sense of features of their organizational landscape, and how they may move others to talk or act in different ways through their dialogical practices. I draw on research conversations with managers to explore how everyday poetic talk may be crucial to the process of constructing self, realities, and meaning. This ‘reconstruction’ of management practice offers both a different way of thinking about managing and potential dialogical resources which may allow managers to author or construct organizational experiences in more deliberate ways.
An explanation for the slopes of stellar cusps in galaxy spheroids

The stellar surface mass density profiles at the centres of typical ∼L∗ and lower mass spheroids exhibit power-law ‘cusps’ with � ∝R −η , where 0.5 η 1 for radii ∼1–100 pc. Observations and theory support models in which these cusps are formed by dissipative gas inflows and nuclear starbursts in gas-rich mergers. At these comparatively large radii, stellar relaxation is unlikely to account for, or strongly modify, the cuspy stellar profiles. We argue that the power-law surface density profiles observed are a natural consequence of the gravitational instabilities that dominate angular momentum transport in the gravitational potential of a central massive black hole. The dominant mode at these radii is an m = 1 lopsided/eccentric disc instability, in which stars torquing the gas can drive rapid inflow and accretion. Such a mode first generically appears at large radii and propagates inwards by exciting eccentricities at smaller and smaller radii, where M∗(< R) � MBH. When the stellar surface density profile is comparatively shallow with η< 1/2, the modes cannot efficiently propagate to R = 0 and so gas piles up and star formation steepens the profile. But if the profile is steeper than η = 1, the inward propagation of eccentricity is strongly damped, suppressing inflow and bringing η down again. Together these results produce an equilibrium slope of 1/2 η 1i n the potential of the central black hole. These physical arguments are supported by non-linear numerical simulations of gas inflow in galactic nuclei. Together, these results naturally explain the observed stellar density profiles of ‘cusp’ elliptical galaxies.
The Deterrent Effect of Death Penalty Eligibility: Evidence from the Adoption of Child Murder Eligibility Factors

We draw on variations in the reach of capital punishment statutes between 1977 and 2004 to identify the deterrent effects associated with capital eligibility. Focusing on the most prevalent eligibility expansion, we estimate that the adoption of a child murder factor is associated with an approximately 20% reduction in the child murder rate. Eligibility expansions may enhance deterrence by (i) paving the way for more executions and (ii) providing prosecutors with greater leverage to secure enhanced noncapital sentences. While executions themselves are rare, this latter channel may be triggered fairly regularly, providing a reasonable basis for a general deterrent response.
The roles of risk and ambiguity in technology adoption

We study the impacts of risk and ambiguity aversion on the adoption of new technologies, specifically genetically modified (GM) corn and soy seeds. We conduct experiments measuring risk and ambiguity aversion with Midwestern grain farmers. Risk aversion has only a small impact on the timing of adoption of GM soy, while ambiguity-aversion has a large impact speeding up farmer adoption of GM corn. We hypothesize that this unusual finding is due to the fact that GM corn often contains an insect-resistance trait which reduces the ambiguity of pest damages for adopters. GM soy never contains this insect-resistance trait. This highlights the importance of distinguishing between risk and ambiguity when studying the effects of aversion to uncertainty on adoption of new technologies.
Farsighted Risk Mitigation of Lateral Movement Using Dynamic Cognitive Honeypots

Lateral movement of advanced persistent threats has posed a severe security challenge. Due to the stealthy and persistent nature of the lateral movement, defenders need to consider time and spatial locations holistically to discover latent attack paths across a large time-scale and achieve long-term security for the target assets. In this work, we propose a time-expanded random network to model the stochastic service links in the user-host enterprise network and the adversarial lateral movement. We design cognitive honeypots at idle production nodes and disguise honey links as service links to detect and deter the adversarial lateral movement. The location of the honeypot changes randomly at different times and increases the honeypots’ stealthiness. Since the defender does not know whether, when, and where the initial intrusion and the lateral movement occur, the honeypot policy aims to reduce the target assets’ Long-Term Vulnerability (LTV) for proactive and persistent protection. We further characterize three tradeoffs, i.e., the probability of interference, the stealthiness level, and the roaming cost. To counter the curse of multiple attack paths, we propose an iterative algorithm and approximate the LTV with the union bound for computationally efficient deployment of cognitive honeypots. The results of the vulnerability analysis illustrate the bounds, trends, and a residue of LTV when the adversarial lateral movement has infinite duration. Besides honeypot policies, we obtain a critical threshold of compromisability to guide the design and modification of the current system parameters for a higher level of long-term security. We show that the target node can achieve zero vulnerability under infinite stages of lateral movement if the probability of movement deterrence is not less than the threshold.
Measuring Vertical Property Tax Inequity in Multifamily Property Markets

Vertical equity in property tax systems refers to the assessment of all properties in a taxing jurisdiction at the same proportion of their market values. This study considers alternative methods f...
Voting over income taxation

Abstract A major problem of the positive theory of income taxation is to explain why statutory income tax schedules in practice are marginal-rate progressive. While it is commonly believed that this is but a simple consequence of the fact that the number of relatively poor voters exceeds that of richer voters in general, putting this contention in a voting equilibrium context is not a trivial task. We do this here in the context of nonlinear taxation and attempt to provide a formal argument in support of this heuristic claim. We first establish the existence of mixed strategy equilibria and identify certain cases in which marginal-rate progressive taxes are chosen almost surely by the political parties. Unfortunately, we also find that if the tax policy space is not artificially constrained, the support of at least one equilibrium cannot be contained within the set of marginal-rate progressive taxes.
Legal Information and the Search for Cognitive Authority

In the 20th Century legal information presented a stable universe of cognitive authority. Law, divided into primary and secondary sources, was a well charted area. Certain sets of books were accepted as institutional authority in legal research, even though they were the products of commercial publishers. This system, which was built around print products, is collapsing. In the midst of this collapse new sources will be defined, but the process is complicated by an information generation gap. This essay will explore the old world of print sources, how they were used, how and why they are collapsing, and what comes next. It ends with a cry for help.
Toxic Sweatshops: Regulating the Import of Hazardous Electronics

The rise in consumer use of personal electronic devices has led to a boon in electronics manufacturing worldwide. Along with the expansion of production have come serious questions about the safety of production processes, as large numbers of workers and their children have fallen ill. This article proposes that the United States create an Electronics Import Safety Commission, similar to the Consumer Protection Safety Commission (CPSC), to regulate the import of electronic devices and make sure that both workers and consumers are safe. In Part I, I outline some of the health concerns that have arisen in the global electronics-manufacturing sector. Part II provides a brief overview of the global electronics supply chain, while Part III explores some of the ways that the United States currently regulates global production. In Part IV, I detail key aspects of the CPSC and the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act of 2008 (CPSIA). I propose that the CPSC serve as a model for the development of the Electronics Import Safety Commission.
Of Christmas Trees and Corpus Christi: Ceremonial Deism and Change in Meaning over Time

Although the Supreme Court turned away an Establishment Clause challenge to the words “under God” in the Pledge of Allegiance in Elk Grove Unified School District v. Newdow, the issues raised by that case are not going away anytime soon. Legal controversies over facially religious government speech have become one of the most regular and prominent features of Establishment Clause jurisprudence – and indeed, a second-round challenge to the Pledge of Allegiance is currently percolating, which is likely to result in resolution by the Supreme Court. That resolution will depend on an understanding of the social meaning of the practice at issue. This Article therefore addresses the constitutional analysis of “ceremonial deism” – brief official religious references such as the words “under God” in the Pledge of Allegiance, the national motto “In God We Trust,” and the city names Corpus Christi and St. Louis. Courts have generally stated in holdings and dicta that ceremonial deism is constitutional because such phrases have lost their religious meaning through passage of time or rote repetition. To examine this claim, this Article draws on one particular branch of linguistic theory, known as speech act theory, as it applies to the problem of change in meaning over time. Because speech act theory is particularly useful for analysis of social meaning, I argue that some insights about the problem of ceremonial deism may be found there, lending depth to a problem that has gone almost entirely untheorized by those who have espoused it so far. Finally, I consider the implications of this analysis for the constitutionality of such official religious references. Ultimately, while recognizing that meaning can change over time in some instances, I argue that courts should be skeptical of this claim and should instead adopt a rebuttable presumption of enduring religious meaning when confronted with constitutional challenges to instances of ceremonial deism.
PLIVA v. Mensing: Generic Consumers' Unfortunate Hand

INTRODUCTION 210 I. DRUG APPROVAL PROCESS 213 A. BRAND-NAME DRUG APPROVAL AND LABELING PROCESS 213 1. PRE-APPROVAL 213 2. POST-APPROVAL 214 B. GENERIC DRUG APPROVAL AND LABELING PROCESS 218 1. PRE-APPROVAL 218 2. POST-APPROVAL 220 II. THE FEDERAL PREEMPTION DEBATE’S EFFECT ON THE GENERICLABELING FRAMEWORK 227 A. GENERIC MANUFACTURERS’ REGULATORY FRAMEWORK BEFORE PLIVA V. MENSING: WYETH V. LEVINE AND THE SUBSEQUENT CIRCUIT SPLIT ...... 227 B. PLIVA V. MENSING PROCEEDINGS BELOW 230 C. PLIVA V. MENSING 234 D. IMPLICATIONS FOR CONSUMERS, HEALTHCARE PROVIDERS, AND STATES 236 III. THE NEED FOR A NEW FRAMEWORK 244 A. INADEQUACIES OF THE CURRENT FRAMEWORK 244 1. GENERIC MANUFACTURERS’ LACK OF DATA 244
Judging Sex in War

Rape is often said to constitute a fate worse than death. It has long been deployed as an instrument of war and outlawed by international humanitarian law as a serious sometimes even capital crime. While disagreement exists over the meaning of rape and the proof that should be required to convict an individual of the crime, today the view that rape is harmful to women enjoys wide concurrence. Advocates for greater legal protection against rape often argue that rape brings shame upon raped women as well
The Representative Equality Principle: Disaggregating the Equal Protection Intent Standard

Challenges under the Equal Protection Clause require proof of intentional discrimination. Though rarely questioned by legal scholars or the courts, that conventional account cannot explain the success of equal protection challenges to electoral structures that dilute the vote of racial minorities. In the Supreme Court’s most recent decisions on vote dilution, the Court has invalidated local electoral structures under the Equal Protection Clause to the extent that they deprive African Americans of the opportunity for effective representation in the political process. The Court has reached its decisions despite the absence of any proof of intentional discrimination in the adoption of the electoral structures.In the vote dilution cases, the Supreme Court is best understood as having applied a critical alternative principle underlying the Equal Protection Clause: the representative equality principle. Using this principle, which originated in the reapportionment cases of the 1960s, the Court has invalidated structures that undermine two preconditions of representative government: majority rule and effective representation of minorities in the political process. It has done so even in the absence of evidence of intentional discrimination.The idea that courts should use judicial review to strengthen the political processes underlying democratic representation is well known. That form of judicial review is termed “representation-reinforcing judicial review.” In this Article, I argue that the vote dilution cases, along with the reapportionment cases, constitute a distinctive form of judicial review, one that is a necessary precursor to representation-reinforcing judicial review. This form should be understood as “representation-structuring judicial review.” By policing the basic structures of representative democracy, the Court protects majority rule and minorities’ effective representation in the political process. In the absence of these critical preconditions, there might well be little representation to “reinforce.”
Method, Community and Comparative Law: An Encounter with Complexity Science

Assume that you are attending a symposium on comparative law being held in conjunction with the annual meeting of the American Society for Comparative Law. Comparative law scholars from many universities are present, and a few legal practitioners are attending as well. One speaker begins as follows: "This talk will be about complex adaptive systems — the emerging science of complexity." Based on experience in similar contexts, I would anticipate several common reactions among members of the audience. The most common might be "he’s in the wrong room." Another set of reactions is likely to be "What? What’s that? Never heard of it!" A third might be "What possible relevance can that have for comparative law?" Beneath these specific responses — and less likely to be expressed — is an assumption that this type of scientific discussion is alien and potentially inimical to the world of comparative law. The "scientific" language of the subject is likely to seem foreign to many, and the idea of a tie to comparative law is often perceived as not only foreign, but also perhaps threatening.I use this imagined scenario as a window into the topic of the symposium: methodological approaches to comparative law. It provides a perspective on thinking about comparative law methods and a means of locating those methods in relation to other potentially relevant academic pursuits. The reactions to which I refer reveal much about comparative law at the outset of the twenty-first century.
Barriers to Representation for Detained Immigrants Facing Deportation: Varick Street Detention Facility, A Case Study

There is an evolving crisis in the immigration courts and federal courts of appeals caused by the lack of quality representation for immigrants facing deportation. The problem is particularly acute for immigrants who are detained during their removal proceedings. As part of the Study Group on Immigrant Representation (Katzmann study group), the Subcommittee on Enhancing Mechanisms for Service Delivery undertook a case study of the institutional and legal barriers to quality legal representation for immigrants held at the Varick Street Detention Facility in New York City. Through this lens we hope to offer some useful insights into the core factors contributing to the immigration representation crisis, the institutional barriers that aggravate the crisis, and, finally, to propose a series of reforms to address the crisis.
Taxation of Capital Gains: A Review of the Main Issues

This paper reviews the main issues that needs to be addressed in the taxation of capital gains. The main focus of the paper is on the tax treatment of capital gains in the United States. The impact of inflation on asset values and the taxation of gains have led to calls for an inflation-adjusted taxation of capital gains. Others have called for the exclusion of a part of the nominal gains from taxation. This paper argues that if the exclusion method is used, the exclusion rate should increase as the holding period gets longer.
Industry expertise on corporate boards

Recent surveys indicate that industry expertise is the most sought-after director qualification. Yet evidence on the value of such expertise is limited. This paper shows that firms that are difficult for non-experts to monitor and advise are more likely to appoint industry expert directors. Such appointments also depend on the supply of industry-experienced candidates in the local director labor market. Board industry expertise reduces R&D-based real earnings management and increases R&D investments. The increase in R&D spending is value-enhancing: firms with industry expert directors receive more patents for the same level of R&D, their R&D spending is associated with lower volatility of future earnings, and their value is higher. Finally, industry expertise is associated with CEO termination and pay incentives that encourage R&D investments.
Predicting Emerging Market Mutual Fund Performance

This article examines the ability of well known mutual fund characteristics, including the expense ratio, turnover, fund size, recent past performance, manager tenure, and Morningstar mutual fund star ratings, to predict emerging market mutual fund performance. We form three separate samples of emerging market mutual funds, adjust the returns for loads, and employ three methods to adjust for survivorship bias. We find that the expense ratio is the only fund characteristic that consistently predicts future fund performance. Specifically, emerging market funds with lower expense ratios predict better future fund performance. We also find some limited evidence that passive management outperforms active management in emerging market funds.
Scholarly and Scientific Boycotts of Israel: Abusing the Academic Enterprise

"Veritas vos liberabit," chanted the scholastics of yesteryear, "The truth will set you free," echo their latter-day counterparts in the academy. Universities like themselves to be perceived as places of culture in a chaotic world, protectors of reasoned discourse, peaceful havens for learned professors roaming orderly quadrangles and pondering higher thoughts - a community of scholars seeking knowledge in sylvan tranquility. The real world of higher education, of course, is not quite so wonderful.
Strategic information disclosure when there is fundamental disagreement

This paper develops a theory of strategic information disclosure with disagreement. Managers of firms are voluntarily communicating subjective information, and prior beliefs about the strategy to maximize project value are rational but heterogeneous, potentially generating fundamental disagreement. Three main results are derived. First, not all firms disclose (subjective) information about strategy. Second, more valuable firms, and those whose strategies investors are more likely to agree with, disclose less information in equilibrium. Third, improved corporate governance leads to lower executive compensation and less information disclosure. An implication of the analysis for banks is that greater strategic information disclosure may increase the probability of bank runs—banks may choose to be opaque because transparency makes them fragile.
Money, liquidity, and the structure of production

Abstract We use a model in which media of exchange are essential to examine the role of liquidity and monetary policy on production and investment decisions in which time is an important element. Specifically, we consider the effects of monetary policy on the length of production time and entry and exit decisions for firms. We show that higher rates of inflation cause households to substitute away from money balances and increase the allocation of bonds in their portfolio thereby causing a decline in the real interest rate. The decline in the real interest rate causes the period of production to increase and the productivity thresholds for entry and exit to decline. This implies that when the real interest rate declines, prospective firms are more likely to enter the market and existing firms are more likely to stay in the market. Finally, we present reduced form empirical evidence consistent with the predictions of the model.
Taxes or Fees? The Political Economy of Providing Excludable Public Goods

This paper provides a positive analysis of public provision of excludable public goods financed by uniform taxes or fees. Individuals differing in preferences decide, using majority rule, the provision level and financing instrument. The decisive voter has median preferences in a tax regime, but generally has above median preferences in a fee regime. Numerical solutions indicate that populations with uniform or left-skewed distributions of preferences choose taxes, while a majority coalition of high- and low-preference individuals prefer fees when preferences are sufficiently right skewed. Public good provision and welfare under fees exceeds that under taxes in the latter case.
Improved grade outcomes with an e-mailed “grade nudge”

ABSTRACTInformation provided at the moment a person makes a decision can influence behavior in predictable ways. The United Kingdom's Behavioural Insights Team have used this idea to help improve the insulation of lofts, collect taxes, and even reduce litter. The authors of this article developed software that appends a personalized message to each assignment in the class regarding the student's current grade. This “grade nudge” explains precisely how the assignment will impact the student's final grade given their current standing in the class. Through a randomized trial, the authors show that the nudge improves student homework performance by about four percentage points.
Change, Consolidation, and Competition in Health Care Markets

The health care industry is being transformed. Large firms are merging and acquiring other firms. Alliances and contractual relations between players in this market are shifting rapidly. Within the next few years, many markets are predicted to be dominated by a few large firms. Antitrust enforcement authorities like the Department of Justice and the Federal Trade Commission, as well as courts and legislators at both the federal and state levels, are struggling with the implications of these changes for the nature and consequences of competition in health care markets. In this paper we summarize the nature of the changes in the structure of the health care industry. We focus on the markets for health insurance, hospital services, and physician services. We then discuss the potential implications of the restructuring of the health care industry for competition, efficiency, and public policy. As will become apparent, this area offers a number of intriguing questions for inquisitive researchers.
Auditing without Commitment

I study the optimal contract when a principal cannot commit to an audit. The contract must provide incentives for the agent to comply as well as for the principal to audit. The key tradeoff is efficiency versus noncompliance instead of the familiar rent versus efficiency. Information rent is zero whether production cost is high or low. For high production cost, the agent is asked to produce greater than the amount under full information. The probability of audit is higher when the principal cannot commit compared to when he can.
Non-Judicial Estate Settlement

Estate settlement through probate procedures satisfies no one. The public is hostile to the delay, expense, and lack of privacy that accompanies probate. Attorneys respond to public dissatisfaction by counseling probate avoidance. Legislatures facilitate some settlement by enacting simplified procedures for low-value estates. In large measure, the Uniform Probate Copde (UPC) was a response to criticisms leveled at probate. Alternative settlement procedures are offered by the UPC, including informal testacy determinations and informal appointment procedures. These alternatives, however, remain imbedded in a judicial system, with its procedural rigidities.The UPC informal settlement alternatives did not silence the criticism. The continued dissatisfaction with probate continues to breed devices to avoid probate and shortcut options for small estates. To address the ongoing hostility, this Article advocates that the UPC adopt an optional, non-judicial registration system for estate settlement. Patterned after small estate statutes, a registration system establishes the decedent's testate or intestate status by registering the will or an affidavit of heirship, identifies a personal representative when one is needed, and permits completion of settlement as rapidly as the unique circumstances of each estate permit.A registration system is designed for the majority of estates, the ones that involve no controversy. Utilizing a registration system, the decedent's beneficiaries may collect assets, pay debts, and make distribution promptly with reduced expense, and without the publicity that judicial proceedings entail. A registration system would be a continuation of the UPC's intent to offer estate settlement modes that are both acceptable to the public and responsive to the purposes of estate settlement.
Death and development

Analyzing a variety of cross-national and sub-national data, we argue that high adult mortality reduces economic growth by shortening time horizons. Paying careful atten- tion to the age pattern of mortality and to endogeneity issues, we find that a greater risk of death during the prime productive years is associated with higher levels of risky behavior, higher fertility, and lower investment in physical capital, even when controlling for infant mortality. In our regressions, adult mortality explains almost all of Africa's growth tragedy. This analysis underscores grim forecasts of the long-run economic costs of the ongoing AIDS epidemic.
The Asymptotic Optimality of Residual Income Maximization

Residual income subtracts from operating income an interest charge for invested capital. Residual income can be calculated each period from current accounting information, unlike discounted cash flow (DCF), which requires the knowledge of future cash flows. This paper provides a normative justification for residual-income maximization by showing that if investment decisions are made myopically each period to maximize residual income, the resulting path asymptotically maximizes discounted cash flow. Thus, under the assumptions of the model, residual-income maximization is a heuristic that leads to the long-run DCF-optimum.
Common Law, Common Ground, and Jefferson's Principle

Thomas Jefferson's famous argument that "the earth belongs to the living" - and therefore no generation has the right to rule another - is a standing challenge to anyone who believes that written constitutions (or, in many instances, statutes) are binding. Most answers to Jefferson's challenge rely, in one way or another, on a claim that being an American means owing an obligation of some kind to previous generations. These accounts should not be disparaged, but in a large and heterogeneous nation the obligation to adhere to decisions made decades or centuries ago should rest on something less contested. Our written Constitution performs two functions that justify adherence to it, without relying on a contested conception of American citizenship. First, the text, and the judgments of those who wrote and ratified it, are a source of precedents, roughly on a par with certain judicial decisions. Second, the text provides what game theory calls a "focal point": it establishes common ground on questions (such as the length of a President's term) that need to be settled one way or another. There are no other justifications, beyond these two, for requiring adherence to the text of a document adopted long ago. But this account helps explain current practices that might otherwise seem unjustifiable: an emphasis on the words of the text often without regard to the intentions of the drafters, as evidenced, for example, in the debate over the incorporation of the Bill of Rights; the highly selective use of historical sources (what is often called "law office history"); the fact that the text of the Constitution matters most for issues that are the least important; and popular attitudes about constitutional amendment.
From the Commercial to the Communal: Reframing Taboo Trade-offs in Religious and Pharmaceutical Marketing

Although consumers typically expect organizations to profit from marketing goods and services, they also believe that certain organizations, like those that focus on religion and health, should prioritize communal obligations. Indeed, consumers may find it morally distressing when communally focused organizations use overtly commercial marketing strategies like rebranding or value-based pricing. We demonstrate how moral distress and consumer backlash result from such taboo trade-offs and investigate when communal-sharing rhetoric for religious and pharmaceutical marketing reduces distress. Communal justifications used by communally focused organizations are particularly effective when consumers are not closely monitoring the motives of the organization or when the product is need-based. However, communal justifications become less effective and market-pricing justifications become more effective when consumers are attuned to the persuasive intentions of the organization. Implications for consumer goals ar...
The American public's assessment of the Rehnquist Court

This paper examines patterns of public approval and support for the Rehnquist Court over the year's of William Rehnquist's tenure as Chief Justice. The analysis draws on a variety of data series. The results of the analysis show that it is difficult to draw clear or strong conclusions about variations in public approval over time: specific patterns varied from series to series. While there appears to be a pattern of decline in support for the Court over the period of Rehnquist's leadership, it may be part of a broader decline in support for national governmental institutions. In the last years of Rehnquist's service, Republicans tended to have a higher level of support than did Democrats; while one might be inclined to attribute that to the public's reaction to Bush v. Gore, the overall patterns do not support that conclusion.
Making International Law without Agreeing What It Is

This Article explores how international law works in spite of its fragmentation into radically different conceptions of law. Using the U.S. invasion of Iraq and Israel’s construction of a wall around Palestine, the Article shows how outcomes of a legal nature can be reached in spite of decision-makers’ different understandings of the nature of international law. The Article focuses uses two major conceptions of international law – positivism and policy-oriented jurisprudence – to explain and address fragmentation. It demonstrates that the gulf between the two conceptions of international law are not really meaningful conceptual disagreements. Instead, they are differences of normative commitments that are anterior to conceptualizing law. These preconcept commitments relate to the purpose of law, the ideal type of law, and the importance of semantics. The Article makes three interlocking proposals to address the fragmentation of international legal theory. First, decision-makers should clarify what they designate by the word “law” so that they may engage each other meaningfully. Second, certain international institutions, such as tribunals, may partially address pre-commitment conflicts because they have established hierarchies of conceptions of law. Third, outcomes will be reached through a process of claims and counterclaims about which conception should prevail. This Article concludes by testing its proposals against the U.S. invasion of Iraq and Israel’s construction of the wall.