Partial Idendification of Wage Effects of Training Programs

In an evaluation of a job-training program, the influence of the program on the in-dividual wages is important, because it reflects the program effect on human capital. Esti-mating these effects is complicated because we observe wages only for employed individuals, and employment is itself an outcome of the program. Only usually implausible assumptions allow identifying these treatment effects. Therefore, we suggest weaker and more credible assumptions that bound various average and quantile effects. For these bounds, consistent, nonparametric estimators are proposed. In a reevaluation of a German training program, we find that a considerable improvement of the long-run potential wages of its participants.Bounds; treatment effects; causal effects; program evaluation

Earnings Effects of Training Programs

In an evaluation of a job-training program, the influence of the program on the individual earnings capacity is important, because it reflects the program effect on human capital. Estimating these effects is complicated because earnings are observed for employed individuals only, and employment is itself an outcome of the program. Point identification of these effects can only be achieved by usually implausible assumptions. Therefore, weaker and more credible assumptions are suggested that bound various average and quantile effects. For these bounds, consistent, nonparametric estimators are proposed. In a reevaluation of Germany's training programs of 1993 and 1994, we find that the programs considerably improve the long-run earnings capacity of its participants.Bounds, treatment effects, causal effects, program evaluation

The Uncertain Foundation of Work Product

Work product is heavily litigated, extensively studied, and sorely misunderstood. Most blissfully accept it as a combination of codified rules and the seminal case of Hickman v. Taylor. This view settles for a superficial understanding that neither recognizes nor questions underlining assumptions. The codified rules are legislative mandates, Hickman is Supreme Court common law, and they define the doctrine differently. To understand its proper scope of work product, we must know the basis of Hickman v. Taylor, whether it can coexist with codified rules, and what happens when they conflict. This Article takes the novel view that work product is not one doctrine, but two. One branch consists of rules and statutes. The other branch is Hickman and its progeny. This Article concludes Hickman is the product of a well-recognized, if profoundly mysterious, strain in federal jurisprudence known as the inherent powers of courts. Even after the later adoption of codified work product rules, the Hickman branch survives but only in piecemeal fashion. When these branches conflict, the separation of powers requires that the rules and statutes preempt Hickman. To defend this claim, this Article takes us on a journey through the unexplored and striking origins of work product. From its unusual birth, to how courts struggled to make sense of it, to failed drafting attempts, an undercurrent emerges: there is an ongoing struggle between federal courts’ power to step in without any guidance to protect a policy of intrinsic importance to the justice system, and the need for deference to rules and statutes with a democratic pedigree. Ultimately, the near plenary power of the legislature to control federal courts resolves the conflict. This Article concludes Hickman is good law but is not absolute, Congress has more control over the attorney-client relationship than previously thought, and more material is discoverable than most attorneys or courts recognize

Succinct Population Protocols for Presburger Arithmetic

International audienceIn [5], Angluin et al. proved that population protocols compute exactly the predicates definable in Presburger arithmetic (PA), the first-order theory of addition. As part of this result, they presented a procedure that translates any formula $ϕ$ of quantifier-free PA with remainder predicates (which has the same expressive power as full PA) into a population protocol with $2 O(poly(|ϕ|))$ states that computes $ϕ$. More precisely, the number of states of the protocol is exponential in both the bit length of the largest coefficient in the formula, and the number of nodes of its syntax tree. In this paper, we prove that every formula $ϕ$ of quantifier-free PA with remainder predicates is computable by a leaderless population protocol with $O(poly(|ϕ|))$ states. Our proof is based on several new constructions, which may be of independent interest. Given a formula $ϕ$ of quantifier-free PA with remainder predicates, a first construction produces a succinct protocol (with $O(|ϕ| 3)$ leaders) that computes ϕ; this completes the work initiated in [8], where we constructed such protocols for a fragment of PA. For large enough inputs, we can get rid of these leaders. If the input is not large enough, then it is small, and we design another construction producing a succinct protocol with one leader that computes $ϕ$. Our last construction gets rid of this leader for small inputs

Candidate molecular ions for an electron electric dipole moment experiment

This paper is a theoretical work in support of a newly proposed experiment (R. Stutz and E. Cornell, Bull. Am. Soc. Phys. 89, 76 2004) that promises greater sensitivity to measurements of the electron's electric dipole moment (EDM) based on the trapping of molecular ions. Such an experiment requires the choice of a suitable molecule that is both experimentally feasible and possesses an expectation of a reasonable EDM signal. We find that the molecular ions PtH+, HfH+, and HfF+ are suitable candidates in their low-lying triplet Delta states. In particular, we anticipate that the effective electric fields generated inside these molecules are approximately of 73 GV/cm, -17 GV/cm, and -18 GV/cm respectively. As a byproduct of this discussion, we also explain how to make estimates of the size of the effective electric field acting in a molecule, using commercially available, nonrelativistic molecular structure software.Comment: 25 pages, 3 figures, submitted to Physical Review

The Binary White Dwarf LHS 3236

The white dwarf LHS 3236 (WD1639+153) is shown to be a double-degenerate binary, with each component having a high mass. Astrometry at the U.S. Naval Observatory gives a parallax and distance of 30.86 +/- 0.25 pc and a tangential velocity of 98 km/s, and reveals binary orbital motion. The orbital parameters are determined from astrometry of the photocenter over more than three orbits of the 4.0-year period. High-resolution imaging at the Keck Observatory resolves the pair with a separation of 31 and 124 mas at two epochs. Optical and near-IR photometry give a set of possible binary components. Consistency of all data indicates that the binary is a pair of DA stars with temperatures near 8000 and 7400 K and with masses of 0.93 and 0.91 M_solar; also possible, is a DA primary and a helium DC secondary with temperatures near 8800 and 6000 K and with masses of 0.98 and 0.69 M_solar. In either case, the cooling ages of the stars are ~3 Gyr and the total ages are <4 Gyr. The combined mass of the binary (1.66--1.84 M_solar) is well above the Chandrasekhar limit; however, the timescale for coalescence is long.Comment: Accepted for the Astrophysical Journa

Beyond the headlines: Media and Information Literacy (MIL) in times of conflict

The wars of the 21st century are not the first media wars, and many tropes and schema have long histories, particularly propaganda and the othering of a purported enemy. What is new today is that although mass media remains a central and hegemonic source of insight and perspective, citizen journalism, social media, spreadable media, and surveillant, data-driven media have grown in significance at an exponential level, adding a layer of complexity. In this article, we focus on disparity in media coverage and make the point that media and information literacy provide a valuable set of lenses from which to view a cluster of news and social media accounts taken from the government, mainstream media, alternative media, and the DIY mediasphere of the social media. It centers on two conflicts that receive little media exposure -the Nagorno-Karabash conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan and the internal Anglo-Francophone conflict in Cameroon. It also offers examples of classroom activities that could be adapted and modified to most educational settings

A System to Monitor Cognitive Workload in Naturalistic High-Motion Environments

Across many careers, individuals face alternating periods of high and low attention and cognitive workload can impair cognitive function and undermine job performance. We have designed and are developing an unobtrusive system to Monitor, Extract, and Decode Indicators of Cognitive Workload (MEDIC) in naturalistic, high-motion environments. MEDIC is designed to warn individuals, teammates, or supervisors when steps should be taken to augment cognitive readiness. We first designed and manufactured a forehead sensor device that includes a custom fNIRS sensor and a three-axis accelerometer designed to be mounted on the inside of a baseball cap or headband, or standard issue gear such as a helmet or surgeon’s cap. Because the conditions under which MEDIC is designed to operate are more strenuous than typical research efforts assessing cognitive workload, motion artifacts in our data were a persistent issue. Results show wavelet-based filtering improved data quality to salvage data from even the highest-motion conditions. MARA spline motion correction did not further improve data quality. Our testing shows that each of the methods is extremely effective in reducing the effects of motion transients present in the data. In combination, they are able to almost completely remove the transients in the signal while preserving cardiac and low frequency information in the signal which was previously unrecoverable. This has substantially improved the stability of the physiological measures produced by the sensors in high noise conditions