Ground Zero: The IRS Attack on Syndicated Conservation Easements

On June 25, 2020, the Internal Revenue Service (“IRS”) announced a settlement initiative (“SI”) to certain taxpayers with pending docketed cases involving syndicated conservation easement (“SCE”) transactions. The SI is the current culmination of a long series of attacks by the IRS against SCE transactions. The IRS has recently found success in the Tax Court against SCEs, but the agency’s overall legal position may be overstated. It is possible that the recent SI is merely an attempt to capitalize on leverage while the IRS has it. Regardless, the current state of the law surrounding SCEs is murky at best. Whether a taxpayer is contemplating the settlement offer, is currently involved in an unaudited SCE transaction, or is considering involvement in an SCE transaction in the future, the road ahead is foggy and potentially treacherous. This Article attempts to shed light on the obstacles that face SCE transactions. This Article: (1) provides an overview of SCE transactions and the main attacks against them; (2) analyzes each of the IRS’s main attacks and the relevant issues that arise; (3) illustrates the relevant pro-taxpayer and anti-taxpayer cases on each issue; (4) discusses the subsequent considerations that taxpayers need to take into account and the future outlook of SCE; and (5) concludes with a summary of the Article’s findings

\u3cem\u3eWells Fargo & Co. v. U.S.\u3c/em\u3e: A Potential Beginning of The End of The Objective Reasonable Basis Tax Penalty Defense

The Internal Revenue Code (“IRC”) § 6662(a) permits the IRS to impose a twenty-percent (20%) accuracy-related penalty to an underpayment of tax, and there are several different defenses to this penalty depending on the facts of the case and the reason for the penalty.3 One of the most common accuracy-related penalties is the negligence penalty.4 Although there are multiple different reasons for the application of an accuracy-related penalty, only one penalty may be applied for each understatement.5 If a taxpayer faces the negligence penalty, one common defense is that the taxpayer’s return position has a reasonable basis under the relevant authorities.6 Until recently, most courts simply proceeded through a discussion on whether the authorities supported the taxpayer’s return position, and did not even reach whether the taxpayer actually relied on relevant authorities when forming a return position.7 However, over the past few years, several courts have begun to require a subjective actual reliance component to the reasonable basis standard, in addition to the other requirements described under the regulations. This article explores these concepts more in detail in six parts. Part II introduces the statutory reasonable basis defense, reviewing the applicable regulations9 and the circumstances when the negligence penalty is applied.10 Next, Part III introduces prior case law analyzing the reasonable basis defense, ranging from cases applying a more objective reasonable basis defense, and several courts applying a subjective11 component to the reasonable basis defense. Until recently, many courts did not examine whether a taxpayer actually relied on the authorities listed to support its position, but instead looked to if the taxpayer’s return position was objectively supported by the relevant authorities. Part IV examines Wells Fargo & Co. v. United States in detail including the facts of the case, the holding on the tax in which the court struck down Wells Fargo’s STARS transaction12, and the court’s reasoning that actual reliance is required as part of the reasonable basis defense.13 The court looked at the broader statutory and case law framework, as well as the definition of “base,” and determined the reasonable basis standard also required a subjective actual reliance component.14 Further, the court determined that a part of the STARS transaction did not have any purpose other than tax savings.15 Part V examines how other courts may view this holding going forward and discusses how the majority incorrectly concluded that under the reasonable basis defense a taxpayer’s return position must not only be supported by one or more relevevant authorities, but the taxpayer must also rely on those authorities when contemplating tax decisions.16 In circuits requiring an actual reliance on one or more relevant authorities, taxpayers must document or be able to show that they actually relied on the authorities cited in support of their case, and the return position cannot be a position taken after the return is filed to support the return position. Lastly, Part VI provides an overview of the conclusions reached in this article

Geostatistical analysis of centimeter-scale hydraulic conductivity variations at the MADE site

This is the published version. Copyright American Geophysical Union[1] Spatial variations in hydraulic conductivity (K) provide critical controls on solute transport in the subsurface. Recently, new direct-push tools were developed for high-resolution characterization of K variations in unconsolidated settings. These tools were applied to obtain 58 profiles (vertical resolution of 1.5 cm) from the heavily studied macrodispersion experiment (MADE) site. We compare the data from these 58 profiles with those from the 67 flowmeter profiles that have served as the primary basis for characterizing the heterogeneous aquifer at the site. Overall, the patterns of variation displayed by the two data sets are quite similar, in terms of both large-scale structure and autocorrelation characteristics. The direct-push K values are, on average, roughly a factor of 5 lower than the flowmeter values. This discrepancy appears to be attributable, at least in part, to opposite biases between the two methods, with the current versions of the direct-push tools underestimating K in the highly permeable upper portions of the aquifer and the flowmeter overestimating K in the less permeable lower portions. The vertically averaged K values from a series of direct-push profiles in the vicinity of two pumping tests at the site are consistent with the K estimates from those tests, providing evidence that the direct-push estimates are of a reasonable magnitude. The results of this field demonstration show that direct-push profiling has the potential to characterize highly heterogeneous aquifers with a speed and resolution that has not previously been possible

Calibration of TCCON column-averaged CO2: the first aircraft campaign over European TCCON sites

The Total Carbon Column Observing Network (TCCON) is a ground-based network of Fourier Transform Spectrometer (FTS) sites around the globe, where the column abundances of CO2, CH4, N2O, CO and O2 are measured. CO2 is constrained with a precision better than 0.25% (1-σ). To achieve a similarly high accuracy, calibration to World Meteorological Organization (WMO) standards is required. This paper introduces the first aircraft calibration campaign of five European TCCON sites and a mobile FTS instrument. A series of WMO standards in-situ profiles were obtained over European TCCON sites via aircraft and compared with retrievals of CO2 column amounts from the TCCON instruments. The results of the campaign show that the FTS measurements are consistently biased 1.1% ± 0.2% low with respect to WMO standards, in agreement with previous TCCON calibration campaigns. The standard a priori profile for the TCCON FTS retrievals is shown to not add a bias. The same calibration factor is generated using aircraft profiles as a priori and with the TCCON standard a priori. With a calibration to WMO standards, the highly precise TCCON CO2 measurements of total column concentrations provide a suitable database for the calibration and validation of nadir-viewing satellite

Fluoxetine reverses the memory impairment and reduction in proliferation and survival of hippocampal cells caused by methotrexate chemotherapy

RATIONALE: Adjuvant cancer chemotherapy can cause long-lasting, cognitive deficits. It is postulated that these impairments are due to these drugs targeting neural precursors within the adult hippocampus, the loss of which has been associated with memory impairment. OBJECTIVES: The present study investigates the effects of the chemotherapy, methotrexate (MTX) on spatial working memory and the proliferation and survival of the neural precursors involved in hippocampal neurogenesis, and the possible neuroprotective properties of the antidepressant fluoxetine. METHODS: Male Lister hooded rats were administered MTX (75 mg/kg, two i.v. doses a week apart) followed by leucovorin rescue (i.p. 18 h after MTX at 6 mg/kg and at 26, 42 and 50 h at 3 mg/kg) and/or fluoxetine (10 mg/kg/day in drinking water for 40 days). Memory was tested using the novel location recognition (NLR) test. Using markers, cell proliferation (Ki67) and survival (bromodeoxyuridine/BrdU), in the dentate gyrus were quantified. RESULTS: MTX-treated rats showed a cognitive deficit in the NLR task compared with the vehicle and fluoxetine-treated groups. Cognitive ability was restored in the group receiving both MTX and fluoxetine. MTX reduced both the number of proliferating cells in the SGZ and their survival. This was prevented by the co-administration of fluoxetine, which alone increased cell numbers. CONCLUSIONS: These results demonstrate that MTX induces an impairment in spatial working memory and has a negative long-term effect on hippocampal neurogenesis, which is counteracted by the co-administration of fluoxetine. If translatable to patients, this finding has the potential to prevent the chemotherapy-induced cognitive deficits experienced by many cancer survivors

Search of the early O3 LIGO data for continuous gravitational waves from the Cassiopeia A and Vela Jr. supernova remnants

partially_open1412sìWe present directed searches for continuous gravitational waves from the neutron stars in the Cassiopeia A (Cas A) and Vela Jr. supernova remnants. We carry out the searches in the LIGO detector data from the first six months of the third Advanced LIGO and Virgo observing run using the weave semicoherent method, which sums matched-filter detection-statistic values over many time segments spanning the observation period. No gravitational wave signal is detected in the search band of 20–976 Hz for assumed source ages greater than 300 years for Cas A and greater than 700 years for Vela Jr. Estimates from simulated continuous wave signals indicate we achieve the most sensitive results to date across the explored parameter space volume, probing to strain magnitudes as low as ∼6.3×10^−26 for Cas A and ∼5.6×10^−26 for Vela Jr. at frequencies near 166 Hz at 95% efficiency.openAbbott, R.; Abbott, T. D.; Acernese, F.; Ackley, K.; Adams, C.; Adhikari, N.; Adhikari, R. X.; Adya, V. B.; Affeldt, C.; Agarwal, D.; Agathos, M.; Agatsuma, K.; Aggarwal, N.; Aguiar, O. D.; Aiello, L.; Ain, A.; Ajith, P.; Albanesi, S.; Allocca, A.; Altin, P. A.; Amato, A.; Anand, C.; Anand, S.; Ananyeva, A.; Anderson, S. B.; Anderson, W. G.; Andrade, T.; Andres, N.; Andrić, T.; Angelova, S. V.; Ansoldi, S.; Antelis, J. M.; Antier, S.; Appert, S.; Arai, K.; Araya, M. C.; Areeda, J. S.; Arène, M.; Arnaud, N.; Aronson, S. M.; Arun, K. G.; Asali, Y.; Ashton, G.; Assiduo, M.; Aston, S. M.; Astone, P.; Aubin, F.; Austin, C.; Babak, S.; Badaracco, F.; Bader, M. K. M.; Badger, C.; Bae, S.; Baer, A. M.; Bagnasco, S.; Bai, Y.; Baird, J.; Ball, M.; Ballardin, G.; Ballmer, S. W.; Balsamo, A.; Baltus, G.; Banagiri, S.; Bankar, D.; Barayoga, J. C.; Barbieri, C.; Barish, B. C.; Barker, D.; Barneo, P.; Barone, F.; Barr, B.; Barsotti, L.; Barsuglia, M.; Barta, D.; Bartlett, J.; Barton, M. A.; Bartos, I.; Bassiri, R.; Basti, A.; Bawaj, M.; Bayley, J. C.; Baylor, A. C.; Bazzan, M.; Bécsy, B.; Bedakihale, V. M.; Bejger, M.; Belahcene, I.; Benedetto, V.; Beniwal, D.; Bennett, T. F.; Bentley, J. D.; BenYaala, M.; Bergamin, F.; Berger, B. K.; Bernuzzi, S.; Bersanetti, D.; Bertolini, A.; Betzwieser, J.; Beveridge, D.; Bhandare, R.; Bhardwaj, U.; Bhattacharjee, D.; Bhaumik, S.; Bilenko, I. A.; Billingsley, G.; Bini, S.; Birney, R.; Birnholtz, O.; Biscans, S.; Bischi, M.; Biscoveanu, S.; Bisht, A.; Biswas, B.; Bitossi, M.; Bizouard, M.-A.; Blackburn, J. K.; Blair, C. D.; Blair, D. G.; Blair, R. M.; Bobba, F.; Bode, N.; Boer, M.; Bogaert, G.; Boldrini, M.; Bonavena, L. D.; Bondu, F.; Bonilla, E.; Bonnand, R.; Booker, P.; Boom, B. A.; Bork, R.; Boschi, V.; Bose, N.; Bose, S.; Bossilkov, V.; Boudart, V.; Bouffanais, Y.; Bozzi, A.; Bradaschia, C.; Brady, P. R.; Bramley, A.; Branch, A.; Branchesi, M.; Brau, J. E.; Breschi, M.; Briant, T.; Briggs, J. H.; Brillet, A.; Brinkmann, M.; Brockill, P.; Brooks, A. F.; Brooks, J.; Brown, D. D.; Brunett, S.; Bruno, G.; Bruntz, R.; Bryant, J.; Bulik, T.; Bulten, H. J.; Buonanno, A.; Buscicchio, R.; Buskulic, D.; Buy, C.; Byer, R. L.; Cadonati, L.; Cagnoli, G.; Cahillane, C.; Bustillo, J. Calderón; Callaghan, J. D.; Callister, T. A.; Calloni, E.; Cameron, J.; Camp, J. B.; Canepa, M.; Canevarolo, S.; Cannavacciuolo, M.; Cannon, K. C.; Cao, H.; Capote, E.; Carapella, G.; Carbognani, F.; Carlin, J. B.; Carney, M. F.; Carpinelli, M.; Carrillo, G.; Carullo, G.; Carver, T. L.; Diaz, J. Casanueva; Casentini, C.; Castaldi, G.; Caudill, S.; Cavaglià, M.; Cavalier, F.; Cavalieri, R.; Ceasar, M.; Cella, G.; Cerdá-Durán, P.; Cesarini, E.; Chaibi, W.; Chakravarti, K.; Subrahmanya, S. Chalathadka; Champion, E.; Chan, C.-H.; Chan, C.; Chan, C. L.; Chan, K.; Chandra, K.; Chanial, P.; Chao, S.; Charlton, P.; Chase, E. A.; Chassande-Mottin, E.; Chatterjee, C.; Chatterjee, Debarati; Chatterjee, Deep; Chaturvedi, M.; Chaty, S.; Chen, H. Y.; Chen, J.; Chen, X.; Chen, Y.; Chen, Z.; Cheng, H.; Cheong, C. K.; Cheung, H. Y.; Chia, H. Y.; Chiadini, F.; Chiarini, G.; Chierici, R.; Chincarini, A.; Chiofalo, M. L.; Chiummo, A.; Cho, G.; Cho, H. S.; Choudhary, R. K.; Choudhary, S.; Christensen, N.; Chu, Q.; Chua, S.; Chung, K. W.; Ciani, G.; Ciecielag, P.; Cieślar, M.; Cifaldi, M.; Ciobanu, A. A.; Ciolfi, R.; Cipriano, F.; Cirone, A.; Clara, F.; Clark, E. N.; Clark, J. A.; Clarke, L.; Clearwater, P.; Clesse, S.; Cleva, F.; Coccia, E.; Codazzo, E.; Cohadon, P.-F.; Cohen, D. E.; Cohen, L.; Colleoni, M.; Collette, C. G.; Colombo, A.; Colpi, M.; Compton, C. M.; Constancio, M.; Conti, L.; Cooper, S. J.; Corban, P.; Corbitt, T. R.; Cordero-Carrión, I.; Corezzi, S.; Corley, K. R.; Cornish, N.; Corre, D.; Corsi, A.; Cortese, S.; Costa, C. A.; Cotesta, R.; Coughlin, M. W.; Coulon, J.-P.; Countryman, S. T.; Cousins, B.; Couvares, P.; Coward, D. M.; Cowart, M. J.; Coyne, D. C.; Coyne, R.; Creighton, J. D. E.; Creighton, T. D.; Criswell, A. W.; Croquette, M.; Crowder, S. G.; Cudell, J. R.; Cullen, T. J.; Cumming, A.; Cummings, R.; Cunningham, L.; Cuoco, E.; Curyło, M.; Dabadie, P.; Canton, T. Dal; Dall’Osso, S.; Dálya, G.; Dana, A.; DaneshgaranBajastani, L. M.; D’Angelo, B.; Danilishin, S.; D’Antonio, S.; Danzmann, K.; Darsow-Fromm, C.; Dasgupta, A.; Datrier, L. E. H.; Datta, S.; Dattilo, V.; Dave, I.; Davier, M.; Davies, G. S.; Davis, D.; Davis, M. C.; Daw, E. J.; Dean, R.; DeBra, D.; Deenadayalan, M.; Degallaix, J.; De Laurentis, M.; Deléglise, S.; Del Favero, V.; De Lillo, F.; De Lillo, N.; Del Pozzo, W.; DeMarchi, L. M.; De Matteis, F.; D’Emilio, V.; Demos, N.; Dent, T.; Depasse, A.; De Pietri, R.; De Rosa, R.; De Rossi, C.; DeSalvo, R.; De Simone, R.; Dhurandhar, S.; Díaz, M. C.; Diaz-Ortiz, M.; Didio, N. A.; Dietrich, T.; Di Fiore, L.; Di Fronzo, C.; Di Giorgio, C.; Di Giovanni, F.; Di Giovanni, M.; Di Girolamo, T.; Di Lieto, A.; Ding, B.; Di Pace, S.; Di Palma, I.; Di Renzo, F.; Divakarla, A. K.; Dmitriev, A.; Doctor, Z.; D’Onofrio, L.; Donovan, F.; Dooley, K. L.; Doravari, S.; Dorrington, I.; Drago, M.; Driggers, J. C.; Drori, Y.; Ducoin, J.-G.; Dupej, P.; Durante, O.; D’Urso, D.; Duverne, P.-A.; Dwyer, S. E.; Eassa, C.; Easter, P. J.; Ebersold, M.; Eckhardt, T.; Eddolls, G.; Edelman, B.; Edo, T. B.; Edy, O.; Effler, A.; Eichholz, J.; Eikenberry, S. S.; Eisenmann, M.; Eisenstein, R. A.; Ejlli, A.; Engelby, E.; Errico, L.; Essick, R. C.; Estellés, H.; Estevez, D.; Etienne, Z.; Etzel, T.; Evans, M.; Evans, T. M.; Ewing, B. E.; Fafone, V.; Fair, H.; Fairhurst, S.; Farah, A. M.; Farinon, S.; Farr, B.; Farr, W. M.; Farrow, N. W.; Fauchon-Jones, E. J.; Favaro, G.; Favata, M.; Fays, M.; Fazio, M.; Feicht, J.; Fejer, M. M.; Fenyvesi, E.; Ferguson, D. L.; Fernandez-Galiana, A.; Ferrante, I.; Ferreira, T. A.; Fidecaro, F.; Figura, P.; Fiori, I.; Fishbach, M.; Fisher, R. P.; Fittipaldi, R.; Fiumara, V.; Flaminio, R.; Floden, E.; Fong, H.; Font, J. A.; Fornal, B.; Forsyth, P. W. F.; Franke, A.; Frasca, S.; Frasconi, F.; Frederick, C.; Freed, J. P.; Frei, Z.; Freise, A.; Frey, R.; Fritschel, P.; Frolov, V. V.; Fronzé, G. G.; Fulda, P.; Fyffe, M.; Gabbard, H. A.; Gadre, B. U.; Gair, J. R.; Gais, J.; Galaudage, S.; Gamba, R.; Ganapathy, D.; Ganguly, A.; Gaonkar, S. G.; Garaventa, B.; García-Núñez, C.; García-Quirós, C.; Garufi, F.; Gateley, B.; Gaudio, S.; Gayathri, V.; Gemme, G.; Gennai, A.; George, J.; Gerberding, O.; Gergely, L.; Gewecke, P.; Ghonge, S.; Ghosh, Abhirup; Ghosh, Archisman; Ghosh, Shaon; Ghosh, Shrobana; Giacomazzo, B.; Giacoppo, L.; Giaime, J. A.; Giardina, K. D.; Gibson, D. R.; Gier, C.; Giesler, M.; Giri, P.; Gissi, F.; Glanzer, J.; Gleckl, A. E.; Godwin, P.; Goetz, E.; Goetz, R.; Gohlke, N.; Goncharov, B.; González, G.; Gopakumar, A.; Gosselin, M.; Gouaty, R.; Gould, D. W.; Grace, B.; Grado, A.; Granata, M.; Granata, V.; Grant, A.; Gras, S.; Grassia, P.; Gray, C.; Gray, R.; Greco, G.; Green, A. C.; Green, R.; Gretarsson, A. M.; Gretarsson, E. M.; Griffith, D.; Griffiths, W.; Griggs, H. L.; Grignani, G.; Grimaldi, A.; Grimm, S. J.; Grote, H.; Grunewald, S.; Gruning, P.; Guerra, D.; Guidi, Gianluca; Guimaraes, A. R.; Guixé, G.; Gulati, H. K.; Guo, H.-K.; Guo, Y.; Gupta, Anchal; Gupta, Anuradha; Gupta, P.; Gustafson, E. K.; Gustafson, R.; Guzman, F.; Haegel, L.; Halim, O.; Hall, E. D.; Hamilton, E. Z.; Hammond, G.; Haney, M.; Hanks, J.; Hanna, C.; Hannam, M. D.; Hannuksela, O.; Hansen, H.; Hansen, T. J.; Hanson, J.; Harder, T.; Hardwick, T.; Haris, K.; Harms, J.; Harry, G. M.; Harry, I. W.; Hartwig, D.; Haskell, B.; Hasskew, R. K.; Haster, C.-J.; Haughian, K.; Hayes, F. J.; Healy, J.; Heidmann, A.; Heidt, A.; Heintze, M. C.; Heinze, J.; Heinzel, J.; Heitmann, H.; Hellman, F.; Hello, P.; Helmling-Cornell, A. F.; Hemming, G.; Hendry, M.; Heng, I. S.; Hennes, E.; Hennig, J.; Hennig, M. H.; Hernandez, A. G.; Vivanco, F. Hernandez; Heurs, M.; Hild, S.; Hill, P.; Hines, A. S.; Hochheim, S.; Hofman, D.; Hohmann, J. N.; Holcomb, D. G.; Holland, N. A.; Hollows, I. J.; Holmes, Z. J.; Holt, K.; Holz, D. E.; Hopkins, P.; Hough, J.; Hourihane, S.; Howell, E. J.; Hoy, C. G.; Hoyland, D.; Hreibi, A.; Hsu, Y.; Huang, Y.; Hübner, M. T.; Huddart, A. D.; Hughey, B.; Hui, V.; Husa, S.; Huttner, S. H.; Huxford, R.; Huynh-Dinh, T.; Idzkowski, B.; Iess, A.; Ingram, C.; Isi, M.; Isleif, K.; Iyer, B. R.; JaberianHamedan, V.; Jacqmin, T.; Jadhav, S. J.; Jadhav, S. P.; James, A. L.; Jan, A. Z.; Jani, K.; Janquart, J.; Janssens, K.; Janthalur, N. N.; Jaranowski, P.; Jariwala, D.; Jaume, R.; Jenkins, A. C.; Jenner, K.; Jeunon, M.; Jia, W.; Johns, G. R.; Jones, A. W.; Jones, D. I.; Jones, J. D.; Jones, P.; Jones, R.; Jonker, R. J. G.; Ju, L.; Junker, J.; Juste, V.; Kalaghatgi, C. V.; Kalogera, V.; Kamai, B.; Kandhasamy, S.; Kang, G.; Kanner, J. B.; Kao, Y.; Kapadia, S. J.; Kapasi, D. P.; Karat, S.; Karathanasis, C.; Karki, S.; Kashyap, R.; Kasprzack, M.; Kastaun, W.; Katsanevas, S.; Katsavounidis, E.; Katzman, W.; Kaur, T.; Kawabe, K.; Kéfélian, F.; Keitel, D.; Key, J. S.; Khadka, S.; Khalili, F. Y.; Khan, S.; Khazanov, E. A.; Khetan, N.; Khursheed, M.; Kijbunchoo, N.; Kim, C.; Kim, J. C.; Kim, K.; Kim, W. S.; Kim, Y.-M.; Kimball, C.; Kinley-Hanlon, M.; Kirchhoff, R.; Kissel, J. S.; Kleybolte, L.; Klimenko, S.; Knee, A. M.; Knowles, T. D.; Knyazev, E.; Koch, P.; Koekoek, G.; Koley, S.; Kolitsidou, P.; Kolstein, M.; Komori, K.; Kondrashov, V.; Kontos, A.; Koper, N.; Korobko, M.; Kovalam, M.; Kozak, D. B.; Kringel, V.; Krishnendu, N. V.; Królak, A.; Kuehn, G.; Kuei, F.; Kuijer, P.; Kumar, A.; Kumar, P.; Kumar, Rahul; Kumar, Rakesh; Kuns, K.; Kuwahara, S.; Lagabbe, P.; Laghi, D.; Lalande, E.; Lam, T. L.; Lamberts, A.; Landry, M.; Lane, B. B.; Lang, R. N.; Lange, J.; Lantz, B.; La Rosa, I.; Lartaux-Vollard, A.; Lasky, P. D.; Laxen, M.; Lazzarini, A.; Lazzaro, C.; Leaci, P.; Leavey, S.; Lecoeuche, Y. K.; Lee, H. M.; Lee, H. W.; Lee, J.; Lee, K.; Lehmann, J.; Lemaître, A.; Leroy, N.; Letendre, N.; Levesque, C.; Levin, Y.; Leviton, J. N.; Leyde, K.; Li, A. K. Y.; Li, B.; Li, J.; Li, T. G. F.; Li, X.; Linde, F.; Linker, S. D.; Linley, J. N.; Littenberg, T. B.; Liu, J.; Liu, K.; Liu, X.; Llamas, F.; Llorens-Monteagudo, M.; Lo, R. K. L.; Lockwood, A.; London, L. T.; Longo, A.; Lopez, D.; Portilla, M. Lopez; Lorenzini, M.; Loriette, V.; Lormand, M.; Losurdo, G.; Lott, T. P.; Lough, J. D.; Lousto, C. O.; Lovelace, G.; Lucaccioni, J. F.; Lück, H.; Lumaca, D.; Lundgren, A. P.; Lynam, J. E.; Macas, R.; MacInnis, M.; Macleod, D. M.; MacMillan, I. A. O.; Macquet, A.; Hernandez, I. Magaña; Magazzù, C.; Magee, R. M.; Maggiore, R.; Magnozzi, M.; Mahesh, S.; Majorana, E.; Makarem, C.; Maksimovic, I.; Maliakal, S.; Malik, A.; Man, N.; Mandic, V.; Mangano, V.; Mango, J. L.; Mansell, G. L.; Manske, M.; Mantovani, M.; Mapelli, M.; Marchesoni, F.; Marion, F.; Mark, Z.; Márka, S.; Márka, Z.; Markakis, C.; Markosyan, A. S.; Markowitz, A.; Maros, E.; Marquina, A.; Marsat, S.; Martelli, F.; Martin, I. W.; Martin, R. M.; Martinez, M.; Martinez, V. A.; Martinez, V.; Martinovic, K.; Martynov, D. V.; Marx, E. J.; Masalehdan, H.; Mason, K.; Massera, E.; Masserot, A.; Massinger, T. J.; Masso-Reid, M.; Mastrogiovanni, S.; Matas, A.; Mateu-Lucena, M.; Matichard, F.; Matiushechkina, M.; Mavalvala, N.; McCann, J. J.; McCarthy, R.; McClelland, D. E.; McClincy, P. K.; McCormick, S.; McCuller, L.; McGhee, G. I.; McGuire, S. C.; McIsaac, C.; McIver, J.; McRae, T.; McWilliams, S. T.; Meacher, D.; Mehmet, M.; Mehta, A. K.; Meijer, Q.; Melatos, A.; Melchor, D. A.; Mendell, G.; Menendez-Vazquez, A.; Menoni, C. S.; Mercer, R. A.; Mereni, L.; Merfeld, K.; Merilh, E. L.; Merritt, J. D.; Merzougui, M.; Meshkov, S.; Messenger, C.; Messick, C.; Meyers, P. M.; Meylahn, F.; Mhaske, A.; Miani, A.; Miao, H.; Michaloliakos, I.; Michel, C.; Middleton, H.; Milano, L.; Miller, A.; Miller, A. L.; Miller, B.; Millhouse, M.; Mills, J. C.; Milotti, E.; Minazzoli, O.; Minenkov, Y.; Mir, Ll. M.; Miravet-Tenés, M.; Mishra, C.; Mishra, T.; Mistry, T.; Mitra, S.; Mitrofanov, V. P.; Mitselmakher, G.; Mittleman, R.; Mo, Geoffrey; Moguel, E.; Mogushi, K.; Mohapatra, S. R. P.; Mohite, S. R.; Molina, I.; Molina-Ruiz, M.; Mondin, M.; Montani, M.; Moore, C. J.; Moraru, D.; Morawski, F.; More, A.; Moreno, C.; Moreno, G.; Morisaki, S.; Mours, B.; Mow-Lowry, C. M.; Mozzon, S.; Muciaccia, F.; Mukherjee, Arunava; Mukherjee, D.; Mukherjee, Soma; Mukherjee, Subroto; Mukherjee, Suvodip; Mukund, N.; Mullavey, A.; Munch, J.; Muñiz, E. A.; Murray, P. G.; Musenich, R.; Muusse, S.; Nadji, S. L.; Nagar, A.; Napolano, V.; Nardecchia, I.; 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