Virtual Briefing at the Supreme Court

The open secret of Supreme Court advocacy in a digital era is that there is a new way to argue to the Justices. Today\u27s Supreme Court arguments are developed online: they are dissected and explored in blog posts, fleshed out in popular podcasts, and analyzed and re-analyzed by experts who do not represent the parties or have even filed a brief in the case at all. This virtual briefing (as we call it) is intended to influence the Justices and their law clerks but exists completely outside of traditional briefing rules. This article describes virtual briefing and makes a case that the key players inside the Court are listening. In particular, we show that the Twitter patterns of law clerks indicate they are paying close attention to producers of virtual briefing, and threads of these arguments (proposed and developed online) are starting to appear in the Court\u27s decisions. We argue that this crowdsourcing dynamic to Supreme Court decision-making is at least worth a serious pause. There is surely merit to enlarging the dialogue around the issues the Supreme Court decides; maybe the best ideas will come from new voices left out of the traditional briefing process. But the confines of the adversarial process have been around for centuries, and there are significant risks that come with operating outside of them, particularly given the unique nature and speed of online discussions. We analyze those risks in this Article and suggest it is time to think hard about embracing virtual briefing, truly assessing what can be gained and what will be lost along the way

Benchmarking treewidth as a practical component of tensor-network--based quantum simulation

Tensor networks are powerful factorization techniques which reduce resource requirements for numerically simulating principal quantum many-body systems and algorithms. The computational complexity of a tensor network simulation depends on the tensor ranks and the order in which they are contracted. Unfortunately, computing optimal contraction sequences (orderings) in general is known to be a computationally difficult (NP-complete) task. In 2005, Markov and Shi showed that optimal contraction sequences correspond to optimal (minimum width) tree decompositions of a tensor network's line graph, relating the contraction sequence problem to a rich literature in structural graph theory. While treewidth-based methods have largely been ignored in favor of dataset-specific algorithms in the prior tensor networks literature, we demonstrate their practical relevance for problems arising from two distinct methods used in quantum simulation: multi-scale entanglement renormalization ansatz (MERA) datasets and quantum circuits generated by the quantum approximate optimization algorithm (QAOA). We exhibit multiple regimes where treewidth-based algorithms outperform domain-specific algorithms, while demonstrating that the optimal choice of algorithm has a complex dependence on the network density, expected contraction complexity, and user run time requirements. We further provide an open source software framework designed with an emphasis on accessibility and extendability, enabling replicable experimental evaluations and future exploration of competing methods by practitioners.Comment: Open source code availabl

Changes in the relationship between self-reference and emotional valence as a function of dysphoria

The self-positivity bias is found to be an aspect of normal cognitive function. Changes in this bias are usually associated with changes in emotional states, such as dysphoria or depression. The aim of the present study was to clarify the role of emotional valence within self-referential processing. By asking non-dysphoric and dysphoric individuals to rate separately the emotional and self-referential content of a set of 240 words, it was possible to identify the differences in the relationship between self-reference and emotional valence, which are associated with dysphoria. The results support the existence of the self-positivity bias in non-dysphoric individuals. More interestingly, dysphoric individuals were able to accurately identify the emotional content of the word stimuli. They failed, however, to associate this emotional valence with self-reference. These findings are discussed in terms of attributional self-biases and their consequences for cognition

Maternal prolactin or estrogen signaling in hepatocytes does not regulate iron homeostasis during pregnancy

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Sources of carbonaceous aerosols and deposited black carbon in the Arctic in winter-spring: implications for radiative forcing

We use a global chemical transport model (GEOS-Chem CTM) to interpret observations of black carbon (BC) and organic aerosol (OA) from the NASA ARCTAS aircraft campaign over the North American Arctic in April 2008, as well as longer-term records in surface air and in snow (2007–2009). BC emission inventories for North America, Europe, and Asia in the model are tested by comparison with surface air observations over these source regions. Russian open fires were the dominant source of OA in the Arctic troposphere during ARCTAS but we find that BC was of prevailingly anthropogenic (fossil fuel and biofuel) origin, particularly in surface air. This source attribution is confirmed by correlation of BC and OA with acetonitrile and sulfate in the model and in the observations. Asian emissions are the main anthropogenic source of BC in the free troposphere but European, Russian and North American sources are also important in surface air. Russian anthropogenic emissions appear to dominate the source of BC in Arctic surface air in winter. Model simulations for 2007–2009 (to account for interannual variability of fires) show much higher BC snow content in the Eurasian than the North American Arctic, consistent with the limited observations. We find that anthropogenic sources contribute 90% of BC deposited to Arctic snow in January-March and 60% in April–May 2007–2009. The mean decrease in Arctic snow albedo from BC deposition is estimated to be 0.6% in spring, resulting in a regional surface radiative forcing consistent with previous estimates.Earth and Planetary SciencesEngineering and Applied Science

Measuring Atmospheric Neutrino Oscillations with Neutrino Telescopes

Neutrino telescopes with large detection volumes can demonstrate that the current indications of neutrino oscillation are correct or if a better description can be achieved with non-standard alternatives. Observations of contained muons produced by atmospheric neutrinos can better constrain the allowed region for oscillations or determine the relevant parameters of non-standard models. We analyze the possibility of neutrino telescopes measuring atmospheric neutrino oscillations. We suggest adjustments to improve this potential. An addition of four densely-instrumented strings to the AMANDA II detector makes observations feasible. Such a configuration is competitive with current and proposed experiments.Comment: 36 pages, 21 figures, revte

Deficiency of the zinc finger protein ZFP106 causes motor and sensory neurodegeneration

Acknowledgements We are indebted to Jim Humphries, JennyCorrigan, LizDarley, Elizabeth Joynson, Natalie Walters, Sara Wells and the whole necropsy, histology, genotyping and MLC ward 6 teams at MRC Harwell for excellent technical assistance. We thank the staff of the WTSI Illumina Bespoke Team for the RNA-seq data, the Sanger Mouse Genetics Project for the initial mouse characterization and Dr David Adams for critical reading of the manuscript. We also thank KOMP for the mouse embryonic stem cells carrying the knockout first promoter-less allele (tm1a(KOMP)Wtsi) within Zfp016. Conflict of Interest statement. None declared. Funding This work was funded by the UK Medical Research Council (MRC) to A.A.-A. and a Motor Neurone Disease Association (MNDA) project grant to A.A.-A. and EMCF. D.L.H.B. is a Wellcome Trust Senior Clinical Scientist Fellow and P.F. is a MRC/MNDA Lady Edith Wolfson Clinician Scientist Fellow. Funding to pay the Open Access publication charges for this article was provided by the MRC grant number: MC_UP_A390_1106.Peer reviewedPublisher PD

The arctic curve of the domain-wall six-vertex model

The problem of the form of the `arctic' curve of the six-vertex model with domain wall boundary conditions in its disordered regime is addressed. It is well-known that in the scaling limit the model exhibits phase-separation, with regions of order and disorder sharply separated by a smooth curve, called the arctic curve. To find this curve, we study a multiple integral representation for the emptiness formation probability, a correlation function devised to detect spatial transition from order to disorder. We conjecture that the arctic curve, for arbitrary choice of the vertex weights, can be characterized by the condition of condensation of almost all roots of the corresponding saddle-point equations at the same, known, value. In explicit calculations we restrict to the disordered regime for which we have been able to compute the scaling limit of certain generating function entering the saddle-point equations. The arctic curve is obtained in parametric form and appears to be a non-algebraic curve in general; it turns into an algebraic one in the so-called root-of-unity cases. The arctic curve is also discussed in application to the limit shape of $q$-enumerated (with $0<q\leq 4$) large alternating sign matrices. In particular, as $q\to 0$ the limit shape tends to a nontrivial limiting curve, given by a relatively simple equation.Comment: 39 pages, 2 figures; minor correction

Methamphetamine and Viagra Use: Relationship to Sexual Risk Behaviors

Recent studies show that Viagra and methamphetamine use are associated with unprotected anal intercourse among men who have sex with men (MSM). In Long Beach, California, we have reported on an association between Viagra use and the use of amphetamines during sex. The current research investigated the use of both Viagra and amphetamine in men in Long Beach, California. Data on 1,839 men recruited into HIV prevention and testing programs were collected using the Risk Behavior Assessment. A generalized logit model was constructed comparing ever having used both amphetamine and Viagra together and separately, as compared to never having used either (referent). Men who used both methamphetamine and Viagra showed a significantly higher prevalence of hepatitis B, syphilis, and HIV compared to those who used only one or neither drug. Of the 1,794 complete cases, 11.1% (199/1794) had used both amphetamine and Viagra. Of 20 potential risk and protective factors for use of amphetamine and Viagra, 12 were significant predictors: ever used gamma-hydroxybutyrate (GHB), ever used cocaine, ever used ecstasy, being infected with HIV, race = White compared to other, ever having hepatitis B, ever using crack, ever given money to have sex, living in a hotel, ever been in drug treatment, and ever using heroin. The protective factor was being heterosexual. Viagra use was associated with insertive, and methamphetamine was associated with receptive, anal intercourse. GHB use appears to play a more important role than previously thought