Advancing the Empirical Research on Lobbying

This essay identifies the empirical facts about lobbying which are generally agreed upon in the literature. It then discusses challenges to empirical research in lobbying and provides examples of empirical methods that can be employed to overcome these challenges—with an emphasis on statistical measurement, identification, and casual inference. The essay then discusses the advantages, disadvantages, and effective use of the main types of data available for research in lobbying. It closes by discussing a number of open questions for researchers in the field and avenues for future work to advance the empirical research in lobbying

Who Are You to Tell Me What I Need and Don’t Need: An Investigation of the Medicalization of Transsexuality in the Netherlands

This research project looks at the medicalization of transsexuality in the Netherlands. The primary question posed is how the medicalization of transsexuality affects transsexual individuals, specifically in the Netherlands. Three male-to-female transsexual individuals were interviewed on their experiences with medicine, the medical community, and the medicalization of transsexuality. An analysis of the interviews revealed that the medicalization of transsexuality has both negative and positive effects on transsexual individuals in the Netherlands. Conversely, the analysis revealed that transsexual individuals have an effect on the medicalization of transsexuality. It was also discovered that the Dutch society at large and the Dutch trans community have a relationship with transsexual individuals and the medicalization of transsexuality. Ultimately, the medicalization of transsexuality in the Netherlands cannot be understood without comprehensively investigating the complex relationship between the medicalization itself, transsexual individuals, the Dutch society at large, and the Dutch trans community

Toward Ecologically Sustainable Water Management: The Roles of Science and Technology

5 pages

Deep learning approach to the Higgs boson CP measurement in H to tau tau decay and associated systematics

The H to tau tau decays form the prime channel for the measurement of the Higgs boson state and tests of the CP invariance of Higgs boson couplings. A previous study has shown the viability of deep learning techniques for the measurement. In this paper, the study is expanded. Effects due to the partial modelling of experimental effects are discussed. Furthermore, systematics due to ? decay modelling for complex cascade decays to tau^pm to a_1^pm nu_tau to rho^0 pi^pm nu_tau to 3pi^\pm nu_tau are also addressed. Various parameterisations are considered using low-energy collision data.Comment: 13 pages, 4 figure

The Grizzly, September 3, 1984

Japanese Invade UC • Writing for Business: Develop Your Skills • UC Honors Two Faculty Members • Clubs Shine in Activities Fair • The Ultimate Mascot • UC Makes \u2784 Olympics • Presidential Welcome • Calendarhttps://digitalcommons.ursinus.edu/grizzlynews/1119/thumbnail.jp

Robust Positively Invariant Cylinders in Constrained Variable Structure Control

This paper proposes the use of cylinders as primary invariant sets to be used in certain state-constrained control designs. Following the idea originally introduced by O\u27Dell, the primary invariant set is intersected with the state constraints to yield sets which retain the invariance under some conditions. Although several results presented here apply to fairly general nonlinear systems and primary invariant sets of any shape, the focus is on constrained sliding-mode control (SMC) using infinite cylinders as the primary invariant set. Their use is motivated by a coordinate transformation where the sliding motion is decoupled from the overall convergence to the origin. Robust positive invariance conditions are given for cylinders having convex and compact cross sections. For the case of cylinders with ellipsoidal cross sections, the invariance condition is given in the form of a linear matrix inequality. Further, a decision procedure to qualify each state constraint is given as a tool for the selection of the switching gain. A numerical example for a third-order plant illustrates the method

Robust Positively Invariant Cylinders in Constrained Variable Structure Control

This paper proposes the use of cylinders as primary invariant sets to be used in certain state-constrained control designs. Following the idea originally introduced by O\u27Dell, the primary invariant set is intersected with the state constraints to yield sets which retain the invariance under some conditions. Although several results presented here apply to fairly general nonlinear systems and primary invariant sets of any shape, the focus is on constrained sliding-mode control (SMC) using infinite cylinders as the primary invariant set. Their use is motivated by a coordinate transformation where the sliding motion is decoupled from the overall convergence to the origin. Robust positive invariance conditions are given for cylinders having convex and compact cross sections. For the case of cylinders with ellipsoidal cross sections, the invariance condition is given in the form of a linear matrix inequality. Further, a decision procedure to qualify each state constraint is given as a tool for the selection of the switching gain. A numerical example for a third-order plant illustrates the method

Does Corporate Lobbying Benefit Society?

Lobbying, defined as an effort to influence policy through strategic communication, has grown dramatically in recent years. This paper presents three viewpoints regarding the societal impact of corporate lobbying on society: one perspective argues that lobbying will be primarily beneficial, an alternative perspective contests this viewpoint and suggests that it is generally harmful, and the third argues that the impact is contingent on a number of factors. Proponents of lobbying argue that it is a vital mechanism to transmit valuable information and expertise to policymakers, leading to substantive legislative solutions for resolving complex societal issues. Critics, on the other hand, point out that business dominates lobbying and can leverage vast resources to push biased information in the pursuit of narrow profit-oriented interests. There are three key axes of contention between these three perspectives; first, concerning the definition of lobbying and its relation to corporate power; second, its relationship to democratic processes; and third, regarding alignment or conflict between societal and business interests. The paper examines these issues and draws implications for future research

A Digital Archive of HI 21 cm Line Spectra of Optically-targeted Galaxies

We present a homogeneous compilation of HI spectral parameters extracted from global 21 cm line spectra for some 9000 galaxies in the local universe (heliocentric velocity -200 < V_Sun < 28,000 km/s) obtained with a variety of large single dish radio telescopes but reanalyzed using a single set of parameter extraction algorithms. Corrections to the observed HI line flux for source extent and pointing offsets and to the HI line widths for instrumental broadening and smoothing are applied according to model estimates to produce a homogenous catalog of derived properties with quantitative error estimates. Where the redshift is available from optical studies, we also provide flux measurements for an additional 156 galaxies classified as marginal HI detections and rms noise limits for 494 galaxies classified as nondetections. Given the diverse nature of the observing programs contributing to it, the characteristics of the combined dataset are heterogeneous, and as such, the compilation is neither integrated HI line flux nor peak flux limited. However, because of the large statistical base and homogenous reprocessing, the spectra and spectral parameters of galaxies in this optically targeted sample can be used to complement data obtained at other wavelengths to characterize the properties of galaxies in the local universe and to explore the large scale structures in which they reside.Comment: 13 pages, 9 figures, 3 external online tables, accepted for publication in ApJ

The Disagreement Problem in Faithfulness Metrics

The field of explainable artificial intelligence (XAI) aims to explain how black-box machine learning models work. Much of the work centers around the holy grail of providing post-hoc feature attributions to any model architecture. While the pace of innovation around novel methods has slowed down, the question remains of how to choose a method, and how to make it fit for purpose. Recently, efforts around benchmarking XAI methods have suggested metrics for that purpose -- but there are many choices. That bounty of choice still leaves an end user unclear on how to proceed. This paper focuses on comparing metrics with the aim of measuring faithfulness of local explanations on tabular classification problems -- and shows that the current metrics don't agree; leaving users unsure how to choose the most faithful explanations.Comment: 6 pages (excluding refs and appendix