On Pseudocodewords and Improved Union Bound of Linear Programming Decoding of HDPC Codes

In this paper, we present an improved union bound on the Linear Programming (LP) decoding performance of the binary linear codes transmitted over an additive white Gaussian noise channels. The bounding technique is based on the second-order of Bonferroni-type inequality in probability theory, and it is minimized by Prim's minimum spanning tree algorithm. The bound calculation needs the fundamental cone generators of a given parity-check matrix rather than only their weight spectrum, but involves relatively low computational complexity. It is targeted to high-density parity-check codes, where the number of their generators is extremely large and these generators are spread densely in the Euclidean space. We explore the generator density and make a comparison between different parity-check matrix representations. That density effects on the improvement of the proposed bound over the conventional LP union bound. The paper also presents a complete pseudo-weight distribution of the fundamental cone generators for the BCH[31,21,5] code

The "African humid period" and the record of marine upwelling from excess ^(230)Th in Ocean Drilling Program Hole 658C

Using a high-resolution ^(230)Th normalized record of sediment flux, we document the deglacial and Holocene history of North African aridity and coastal upwelling at Ocean Drilling Program Hole 658C. At both the end of the Younger Dryas and after the 8.2 ka event, there are significant drops in terrigenous accumulation at our site, indicating an increase in the monsoon moisture flux over Africa at this time. At 5.5 ka, there is an abrupt end to the “African humid period” and a return to stronger upwelling conditions. For carbonate and opal fluxes the ^(230)Th normalization completely changes the shape of each record based on percentage variations alone. This site is a clear example of how variations in one sediment component can obscure changes in the others, and it demonstrates the need for radionuclide measurements more generally in paleoceanography. By taking our new records and a large amount of previous data from this site we conclude that increases in African moisture are tightly coupled to decreases in coastal upwelling intensity

The North East – continued Labour domination?

Throughout the short campaign, this blog will be publishing a series of posts that focus on each of the electoral regions in the UK. In this post, Gidon Cohen discusses the key things to look out for in the North East

Time-Staging Enhancement of Hybrid System Falsification

Optimization-based falsification employs stochastic optimization algorithms to search for error input of hybrid systems. In this paper we introduce a simple idea to enhance falsification, namely time staging, that allows the time-causal structure of time-dependent signals to be exploited by the optimizers. Time staging consists of running a falsification solver multiple times, from one interval to another, incrementally constructing an input signal candidate. Our experiments show that time staging can dramatically increase performance in some realistic examples. We also present theoretical results that suggest the kinds of models and specifications for which time staging is likely to be effective

How Should a Court Deal with a Primary Question that the Legislature Seeks to Avoid? The Israeli Controversy over Who Is a Jew as an Illustration

Legislative avoidance of principled decisions on substantive questions, by transferring the decision making task to the executive branch, is a frequent scenario. The legislature does this by way of either express, or hidden delegation, i.e. by using ambiguous wording that on the face of it only requires interpretation, but which in fact requires a substantive decision on the matter at stake. The Israeli legislature resorted to the hidden delegation tactic in order to avoid the adoption of a substantive decision in the dispute over the question of: “who is a Jew” - a dispute that has divided Israeli society and World Jewry (especially its American component) since the establishment of the State of Israel. This article presents a complex analysis of the Israeli Supreme Court\u27s treatment of this hidden delegation. The aim of the article is to enhance the American reader’s understanding of the various options available to the court while tackling the fundamental question of the Nondelegation Doctrine, and to offer a few new insights as to how this question should be resolved. As is well known, during the last few decades, the American Supreme Court has avoided applying the Nondelegation doctrine, even though it has never been officially overruled. One of the stratagems employed by the American Supreme Court to avoid applying the doctrine is the strategy of denying the existence of delegation, in reliance on the “double test” established in the Chevron case. I will indicate the similarity between this evasion tactic and the tactics used by the majority justices of the Israeli Supreme Court in the matter of who is a Jew. I will then briefly review the arguments offered by the doctrine’s opponents, and present a new, narrower version of the doctrine, which distinguishes between express delegation and hidden delegation, and only seeks to disqualify the latter. I will argue that this version of the doctrine -- which was employed in Israel by one minority Justice – could even be acceptable to those American justices and scholars who for various reasons oppose the doctrine in its complete form

Pandemic leadership failures and public health

In a plainly worded target article whose sagacity and import can hardly be overstated, Wiebers & Feigin place the recent COVID-19 crisis in historic perspective. They warn us that unless we make sweeping changes the next pandemics are all but preordained. They offer a blueprint for dramatically lowering the likelihood of future pandemics

How Should a Court Deal with a Primary Question That the Legislature Seeks to Avoid?

Legislative avoidance of principled decisions on substantive questions by transferring the decision-making task to the executive branch, is a frequent scenario. The legislature does this by way of either express or hidden delegation, i.e., by using ambiguous wording that on its face only requires interpretation but which in fact requires a substantive decision on the matter at stake. The Israeli legislature resorted to the hidden delegation tactic to avoid the adoption of a substantive decision in the dispute over the question of who is a Jew--a dispute that has divided Israeli society and World Jewry (especially its U.S. component) since the establishment of the state of Israel. This Article presents a complex analysis of the Israeli Supreme Court\u27s treatment of this hidden delegation. The aim of the Article is to enhance the U.S. reader\u27s understanding of the various options available to a court while tackling the fundamental question of the nondelegation doctrine and to offer a few new insights as to how this question should be resolved