Movie Censorship: A Swiss Comparison

Obscenity and censorship are perhaps the most unsettled areas of constitutional law in this country today. To many, the deep divisions and divergent attitudes of the Justices of the Supreme Court constitute an intolerable state of affairs for a functioning system of jurisprudence. This article will not present a panacea for these problems. But in an area where disagreement abounds, examination of the approach of another legal system can lead to clearer thinking, reorientation of analysis, and a better over-view of the entire area. Since many of the problems which have plagued the courts in this country have likewise been raised in Swiss censorship litigation, the reader should find Swiss solutions enlightening

Effects of copper, zinc and selenium status on performance and health in commercial dairy and beef herds: retrospective study

A retrospective study using analysis of plasma copper and zinc, and erythrocyte glutathione peroxidase from 2 080 dairy and beef cow herds was conducted to evaluate the relationship between trace-element status and production, reproduction and health in cows and their calves. Classification of the herd status as deficient, marginal, low-adequate or high-adequate was based on the lower tercile of individual values. Odds ratios for each disorder in herds were calculated by multivariable stepwise logistic regression. Inadequate copper status was not associated with adult disorders, but was an important risk factor for poor calf performance or health. Selenium deficient status was associated with most studied disorders in cows, and both deficient and marginal herd status were strongly associated with poor health of calves, particularly with increased risks of myopathy and infectious diseases. Zinc insufficiency was strongly associated with low milk production and impaired locomotion in dairy herds, and was also associated with diarrhoea and poor growth in calves. Because a low-adequate status increased the risk of many disorders in adults and calves, we propose to classify herds as deficient and marginal when the lower terciles of plasma zinc concentration are below 12 and between 12 and 14 lmol/l respectively

Preferences for Specific Social Welfare Expenditure in Ireland

Many papers examine general level preferences for redistribution. However, few papers examine preferences for specific forms of redistribution. This paper examines the decomposition of demand for three major categories of social welfare expenditure in Ireland: unemployment payments, old age pensions and child benefit. The determinants of preferences are found to be fairly consistent with a self-interested economics perspective with respect to the utilisation and financing of these three specific schemes. In addition, the split sampling procedure used in the nationwide survey indicated that the provision of information on the schemes’ costs did not have a significant effect on preferences.

The Formation of Networks with Transfers among Players

We examine the formation of networks among a set of players whose payoffs depend on the structure of the network. We focus on games where players may bargain by promising or demanding transfer payments when forming links. We examine several variations of the transfer/bargaining aspect of link formation. One aspect is whether players can only make and receive transfers to other players to whom they are directly linked, or whether they can also subsidize links that they are not directly involved in. Another aspect is whether or not transfers related to a given link can be made contingent on the full resulting network or only on the link itself. A final aspect is whether or not players can pay other players to refrain from forming links. We characterize the networks that are supported under these variations and show how each of the above aspects is related either to accounting for a specific type of externality, or to dealing with the combinatorial nature of network payoffs.Networks, Network games, Network formation, Game theory, Efficient networks, Side payments, Transfers, Bargaining, Externalities

TEM characterization of the fine scale microstructure of a Roman ferrous nail

This paper describes the microstructure of a Roman ferrous nail through its observation by transmission electron microscopy. The morphologies of pearlitic colonies and ferritic grains are detailed and the relationship between pearlitic colonies and ferrite in Roman nails is explicitly demonstrated for the first time. Observations also confirm the presence of dislocations in ferritic grains and attest to the existence of very small carbide precipitates that have not been pointed out previously in standard archaeometric studies

Quantum Teichmuller theory and representations of the pure braid group

We adapt some of the methods of quantum Teichm\"uller theory to construct a family of representations of the pure braid group of the sphere.Comment: 15 pages. Several typos corrected. To appear in Communications in Contemporary Mathematic

The Department of Defense Acquisition Workforce: Background, Analysis, and Questions for Congress

[Excerpt] This report provides background on the Department of Defense (DOD) acquisition workforce. Specifically, the report addresses the following questions: What is the acquisition workforce? What is the current size of the acquisition workforce? How has Congress sought to improve the acquisition workforce in the past? What are some potential questions for Congress to explore in the area of acquisition workforce management to improve acquisitions

A non-perturbative estimate of the heavy quark momentum diffusion coefficient

We estimate the momentum diffusion coefficient of a heavy quark within a pure SU(3) plasma at a temperature of about 1.5Tc. Large-scale Monte Carlo simulations on a series of lattices extending up to 192^3*48 permit us to carry out a continuum extrapolation of the so-called colour-electric imaginary-time correlator. The extrapolated correlator is analyzed with the help of theoretically motivated models for the corresponding spectral function. Evidence for a non-zero transport coefficient is found and, incorporating systematic uncertainties reflecting model assumptions, we obtain kappa = (1.8 - 3.4)T^3. This implies that the "drag coefficient", characterizing the time scale at which heavy quarks adjust to hydrodynamic flow, is (1.8 - 3.4) (Tc/T)^2 (M/1.5GeV) fm/c, where M is the heavy quark kinetic mass. The results apply to bottom and, with somewhat larger systematic uncertainties, to charm quarks.Comment: 18 pages. v2: clarifications adde