Stable and Unstable Operations in mod p Cohomology Theories

We consider operations between two multiplicative, complex orientable cohomology theories. Under suitable hypotheses, we construct a map from unstable to stable operations, left-inverse to the usual map from stable to unstable operations. In the main example, where the target theory is one of the Morava K-theories, this provides a simple and explicit description of a splitting arising from the Bousfield-Kuhn functorComment: 28 pages; corrected proof of proposition 3.2, other minor improvement

The Rhode Island Earned Income Tax Credit: History and Analysis

This paper offers a comprehensive political history of the Rhode Island Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) and an analysis of Rhode Island EITC recipients. It explores the history of the Rhode Island EITC, an income subsidy available to low-income workers, from its introduction in 1975 through 2018. It details the forces behind expansions and reforms and the effects of those changes. It also analyzes microdata to construct a profile of current EITC recipients. This paper concludes that the Rhode Island EITC has historically been viewed as both a poverty alleviation program and an incentive for labor market work. The Rhode Island EITC is found to largely benefit low-income working single parents

Sharing longevity risk: Why governments should issue longevity bonds

Government-issued longevity bonds would allow longevity risk to be shared efficiently and fairly between generations. In exchange for paying a longevity risk premium, the current generation of retirees can look to future generations to hedge their aggregate longevity risk. There are also wider social benefits. Longevity bonds will lead to a more secure pension savings market - both defined contribution and defined benefit - together with a more efficient annuity market resulting in less means-tested benefits and a higher tax take. The emerging capital market in longevity-linked instruments can get help to kick start market participation through the establishment of reliable longevity indices and key price points on the longevity risk term structure and can build on this term structure with liquid longevity derivatives.Longevity Risk; Longevity Bonds; Public Policy; Political Economy

Galois extensions of Lubin-Tate spectra

Let E_n be the n-th Lubin-Tate spectrum at a prime p. There is a commutative S-algebra E^{nr}_n whose coefficients are built from the coefficients of E_n and contain all roots of unity whose order is not divisible by p. For odd primes p we show that E^{nr}_n does not have any non-trivial connected finite Galois extensions and is thus separably closed in the sense of Rognes. At the prime 2 we prove that there are no non-trivial connected Galois extensions of E^{nr}_n with Galois group a finite group G with cyclic quotient. Our results carry over to the K(n)-local context.Comment: revised version in final for

An analysis of the generalship of Alexander 111 of Macedon: undermining or underlining greatness?

The purpose of this thesis is to present a more balanced interpretation of Alexander’s worth as a general. Chapter One considers what shaped Alexander's campaign aims and strategies throughout his reign and how successfully he pursued these aims and strategies. Chapter Two deals with Alexander's major battles, focusing upon the battles of Issus and Gaugamela. For each battle Alexander's strategic and tactical generalship is analysed. Chapter Three considers Alexander's sieges. It concentrates on Alexander’s conduct at the siege of Tyre, but also examines his command performance at numerous other sieges. Chapter Four looks at how Alexander handled hostile tribesfolk, national uprisings and guerrilla warfare: his small wars. Three areas are discussed: the Balkan and Illyrian campaigns of 335, the Persepolis campaign of 331/0 and Alexander's operations in the north-east of the Persian empire in the period 329-327.Chapter Five examines how well Alexander led his men on and off the battlefield. The conclusion reached is that while Alexander was undoubtedly a fine general, there are many examples that one can cite, which undermine the notion that he was a commander who was unsurpassed in his brilliance

Continuous functors as a model for the equivariant stable homotopy category

In this paper, we investigate the properties of the category of equivariant diagram spectra indexed on the category W_G of based G-spaces homeomorphic to finite G-CW-complexes for a compact Lie group G. Using the machinery of Mandell, May, Schwede, and Shipley, we show that there is a "stable model structure" on this category of diagram spectra which admits a monoidal Quillen equivalence to the category of orthogonal G-spectra. We construct a second "absolute stable model structure" which is Quillen equivalent to the "stable model structure". Our main result is a concrete identification of the fibrant objects in the absolute stable model structure. There is a model-theoretic identification of the fibrant continuous functors in the absolute stable model structure as functors Z such that for A in W_G the collection {Z(A smash S^W)} form an Omega-G-prespectrum as W varies over the universe U. We show that a functor is fibrant if and only if it takes G-homotopy pushouts to G-homotopy pullbacks and is suitably compatible with equivariant Atiyah duality for orbit spaces G/H_+ which embed in U. Our motivation for this work is the development of a recognition principle for equivariant infinite loop spaces.Comment: This is the version published by Algebraic & Geometric Topology on 8 December 200

A universal characterization of higher algebraic K-theory

In this paper we establish a universal characterization of higher algebraic K-theory in the setting of small stable infinity categories. Specifically, we prove that connective algebraic K-theory is the universal additive invariant, i.e., the universal functor with values in spectra which inverts Morita equivalences, preserves filtered colimits, and satisfies Waldhausen's additivity theorem. Similarly, we prove that non-connective algebraic K-theory is the universal localizing invariant, i.e., the universal functor that moreover satisfies the "Thomason-Trobaugh-Neeman" localization theorem. To prove these results, we construct and study two stable infinity categories of "noncommutative motives"; one associated to additivity and another to localization. In these stable infinity categories, Waldhausen's S. construction corresponds to the suspension functor and connective and non-connective algebraic K-theory spectra become corepresentable by the noncommutative motive of the sphere spectrum. In particular, the algebraic K-theory of every scheme, stack, and ring spectrum can be recovered from these categories of noncommutative motives. In order to work with these categories of noncommutative motives, we establish comparison theorems between the category of spectral categories localized at the Morita equivalences and the category of small idempotent-complete stable infinity categories. We also explain in detail the comparison between the infinity categorical version of Waldhausen K-theory and the classical definition. As an application of our theory, we obtain a complete classification of the natural transformations from higher algebraic K-theory to topological Hochschild homology (THH) and topological cyclic homology (TC). Notably, we obtain an elegant conceptual description of the cyclotomic trace map.Comment: Various revisions and correction

On the Bergman-Milton bounds for the homogenization of dielectric composite materials

The Bergman-Milton bounds provide limits on the effective permittivity of a composite material comprising two isotropic dielectric materials. These provide tight bounds for composites arising from many conventional materials. We reconsider the Bergman-Milton bounds in light of the recent emergence of metamaterials, in which unconventional parameter ranges for relative permittivities are encountered. Specifically, it is demonstrated that: (a) for nondissipative materials the bounds may be unlimited if the constituent materials have relative permittivities of opposite signs; (b) for weakly dissipative materials characterized by relative permittivities with real parts of opposite signs, the bounds may be exceedingly large

Genetic Sensitivity to Peer Behaviors: 5HTTLPR, Smoking, and Alcohol Consumption

We investigate whether the serotonin transporter-linked polymorphic region (5HTTLPR), a gene associated with environmental sensitivity, moderates the association between smoking and drinking patterns at adolescents' schools and their corresponding risk for smoking and drinking themselves. Drawing on the school-based design of the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health in conjunction with molecular genetic data for roughly 15,000 respondents (including over 2,000 sibling pairs), we show that adolescents smoke more cigarettes and consume more alcohol when attending schools with elevated rates of tobacco and alcohol use. More important, an individual's susceptibility to school-level patterns of smoking or drinking is conditional on the number of short alleles he or she has in 5HTTLPR. Overall, the findings demonstrate the utility of the differential susceptibility framework for medical sociology by suggesting that health behaviors reflect interactions between genetic factors and the prevalence of these behaviors in a person's context

Sharing longevity risk: Why governments should issue longevity bonds

Government-issued longevity bonds would allow longevity risk to be shared efficiently and fairly between generations. In exchange for paying a longevity risk premium, the current generation of retirees can look to future generations to hedge their aggregate longevity risk. There are also wider social benefits. Longevity bonds will lead to a more secure pension savings market - both defined contribution and defined benefit - together with a more efficient annuity market resulting in less means-tested benefits and a higher tax take. The emerging capital market in longevity-linked instruments can get help to kick start market participation through the establishment of reliable longevity indices and key price points on the longevity risk term structure and can build on this term structure with liquid longevity derivatives