Climbing down Gaussian peaks

How likely is the high level of a continuous Gaussian random field on an Euclidean space to have a "hole" of a certain dimension and depth? Questions of this type are difficult, but in this paper we make progress on questions shedding new light in existence of holes. How likely is the field to be above a high level on one compact set (e.g. a sphere) and to be below a fraction of that level on some other compact set, e.g. at the center of the corresponding ball? How likely is the field to be below that fraction of the level {\it anywhere} inside the ball? We work on the level of large deviations

Citation Statistics

This is a report about the use and misuse of citation data in the assessment of scientific research. The idea that research assessment must be done using ``simple and objective'' methods is increasingly prevalent today. The ``simple and objective'' methods are broadly interpreted as bibliometrics, that is, citation data and the statistics derived from them. There is a belief that citation statistics are inherently more accurate because they substitute simple numbers for complex judgments, and hence overcome the possible subjectivity of peer review. But this belief is unfounded.Comment: This paper commented in: [arXiv:0910.3532], [arXiv:0910.3537], [arXiv:0910.3543], [arXiv:0910.3546]. Rejoinder in [arXiv:0910.3548]. Published in at http://dx.doi.org/10.1214/09-STS285 the Statistical Science (http://www.imstat.org/sts/) by the Institute of Mathematical Statistics (http://www.imstat.org

Rejoinder: Citation Statistics

Rejoinder to "Citation Statistics" [arXiv:0910.3529]Comment: Published in at http://dx.doi.org/10.1214/09-STS285REJ the Statistical Science (http://www.imstat.org/sts/) by the Institute of Mathematical Statistics (http://www.imstat.org

The Legal, Ethical, and Social Implications of the Reasonable Woman Standard in Sexual Harassment Cases

In this Article, Professors Adler and Peirce examine the development and implications of the reasonable woman standard that is gaining increasing acceptance as the appropriate gauge for measuring the offensiveness of the conduct at issue in sexual harassment cases. The authors begin by reviewing the origins of sexual harassment law under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, paying particular attention to the history of hostile environment causes of action. Professors Adler and Peirce then discuss how and why the reasonable woman standard evolved as an alternative to the conventional reasonable man and reasonable person standards that had been the usual measures of culpable conduct in sexual harassment cases, and how courts have applied the reasonable woman standard in cases involving a wide range of allegedly harassing behaviors. The authors conclude by discussing a variety of important concerns raised by the implementation of the reasonable woman standard, including the fundamental question of whether it is fair to hold men to a standard of conduct that, because they are men, they may be unable to understand or appreciate fully