Who has the power in the information age?

Edward Snowden. Chelsea Manning. Espionage and government secrets. Wikileaks and Julian Assange. In the wake of the NSA scandal, everybody is worried about surveillance – are we living in a world where Big Brother is tracking our data, our movements, watching our every move on the internet? Or has newer, constantly developing technology really led to a power shift towards consumers and citizens? Alec Ross, one-time Senior Adviser for Innovation to former US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has an inside perspective on power in the information age. Polis Intern Anuradha Santhanam reports on the latest Polis Media Agenda Talk

Alec J Ross – my media world today and what I would like to change about it

Alec J Ross was Hillary Clinton’s digital advisor when she was US Secretary of State. He advised on the 21st Century Statecraft programme that saw the US diplomatic service take to social media and millions of dollars go to media democracy activists around the world. He was also in the State Department when WikiLeaks made its major revelations about US foreign policy. The podcast for his November 25th talk at LSE will be here soon, but here is an interview he did for Polis intern Clare Sheehan before the lecture

An Observation About Frostman Shifts

A classical theorem of Frostman says that if B is a Blaschke product (or any inner function), then its Frostman shifts Bw = (B − w)(1 – w­­¯B)−1 are Blaschke products for all |w| \u3c 1 except possibly for w in a set of logarithmic capacity zero. If B is a Frostman Blaschke product, equivalently an inner multiplier for the space of Cauchy transforms of measures on the unit circle, we show that for all |w| \u3c 1, Bw is indeed another Frostman Blaschke product

Towards a more just refuge regime: quotas, markets and a fair share

The international refugee regime is beset by two problems: Responsibility for refuge falls disproportionately on a few states and many owed refuge do not get it. In this work, I explore remedies to these problems. One is a quota distribution wherein states are distributed responsibilities via allotment. Another is a marketized quota system wherein states are free to buy and sell their allotments with others. I explore these in three parts. In Part 1, I develop the prime principles upon which a just regime is built and with which alternatives can be adjudicated. The first and most important principle – ‘Justice for Refugees’ – stipulates that a just regime provides refuge for all who have a basic interest in it. The second principle – ‘Justice for States’ – stipulates that a just distribution of refuge responsibilities among states is one that is capacity considerate. In Part 2, I take up several vexing questions regarding the distribution of refuge responsibilities among states in a collective effort. First, what is a state’s ‘fair share’? The answer requires the determination of some logic – some metric – with which a distribution is determined. I argue that one popular method in the political theory literature – a GDP-based distribution – is normatively unsatisfactory. In its place, I posit several alternative metrics that are more attuned with the principles of justice but absent in the political theory literature: GDP adjusted for Purchasing Power Parity and the Human Development Index. I offer an exploration of both these. Second, are states required to ‘take up the slack’ left by defaulting peers? Here, I argue that duties of help remain intact in cases of partial compliance among states in the refuge regime, but that political concerns may require that such duties be applied with caution. I submit that a market instrument offers one practical solution to this problem, as well as other advantages. In Part 3, I take aim at marketization and grapple with its many pitfalls: That marketization is commodifying, that it is corrupting, and that it offers little advantage in providing quality protection for refugees. In addition to these, I apply a framework of moral markets developed by Debra Satz. I argue that a refuge market may satisfy Justice Among States, but that it is violative of the refugees’ welfare interest in remaining free of degrading and discriminatory treatment

Gender Differences in Fear and Risk Perception During the Covid-19 Pandemic

The COVID-19 pandemic has led many people to suffer from emotional distress. Previous studies suggest that women process and express affective experiences, such as fear, with a greater intensity compared to men. We administered an online survey to a sample of participants in the United States that measures fear of COVID-19, perceptions about health and financial risks, and preventative measures taken. Despite the empirical fact that men are more likely to experience adverse health consequences from COVID-19, women report greater fear and more negative expectations about health-related consequences of COVID-19 than men. However, women are more optimistic than men regarding the financial consequences of the pandemic. Women also report more negative emotional experiences generally during the pandemic, particularly in situations where other people or the government take actions that make matters worse. Though women report taking more preventative measures than men in response to the pandemic, gender differences in behavior are reduced after controlling for fear. These results shed light on how differences in emotional experiences of the pandemic may inform policy interventions

The Backward Shift on the Space of Chauchy Transforms

This note examines the subspaces of the space of Cauchy transforms of measures on the unit circle that are invariant under the backward shift operator f --\u3e z-1 (f—f (0)). We examine this question when the space of Cauchy transforms is endowed with both the norm and weak* topologies

[Introduction to] The Cauchy Transform

The Cauchy transform of a measure on the circle is a subject of both classical and current interest with a sizable literature. This book is a thorough, well-documented, and readable survey of this literature and includes full proofs of the main results of the subject. This book also covers more recent perturbation theory as covered by Clark, Poltoratski, and Aleksandrov and contains an in-depth treatment of Clark measures.https://scholarship.richmond.edu/bookshelf/1094/thumbnail.jp

Isolated ‘soft signs’ of fetal choroid plexus cysts or echogenic intracardiac focus – consequences of their continued reporting

BACKGROUND: Choroid plexus cysts (CPC) and echogenic intracardiac focus (EIF) are obsolete soft markers found on morphology ultrasound and not a valid reason for adjusting fetal risk of aneuploidy. METHOD: We conducted a retrospective audit of women referred to genetic counsellor and fetal medicine services at St George Hospital (SGH) and the Royal Hospital for Women (RHW) for CPC and EIF from 1 January 2006 to 31 December 2016 inclusive. RESULTS: In total, 208 CPC and/or EIF referrals were identified, 118 (57%) of which were for isolated CPC and/or EIF and 102 (49%) occurring in women low risk for aneuploidy prior to morphology ultrasound. Significantly, more women had undergone combined first-trimester screening in the 2014 to 2016 epoch vs. previous years at both SGH (P = 0.03) and RHW (P = 0.004). However, the number of women referred for CPC and EIF remained relatively constant. No fetus was born with a major structural or chromosomal abnormality in the group of low-risk women with isolated signs. However, 18% of these women were referred to both genetic counselling and fetal medicine services, 7% had NIPT after morphology, 14% had amniocentesis, and 33% had additional ultrasound(s). CONCLUSION: Despite advances in screening technology, low-risk women are still referred to specialist services for these 2 soft signs and undergoing unnecessary follow-up, NIPT and amniocentesis

t|ket> : A retargetable compiler for NISQ devices

We present t|ket>, a quantum software development platform produced by Cambridge Quantum Computing Ltd. The heart of t|ket> is a language-agnostic optimising compiler designed to generate code for a variety of NISQ devices, which has several features designed to minimise the influence of device error. The compiler has been extensively benchmarked and outperforms most competitors in terms of circuit optimisation and qubit routing