We the People': Five Years of Online Petitions

Americans are most likely to petition the White House on health care, veterans' issues, illnesses, immigration, animal rights, holidays and criminal investigations, but the actual impact of petitions was modest and varied

Social Media Coversations About Race: How Social Media Users See, Share and Discuss Race and the Rise of Hashtags Like #BlackLivesMatter

A new Pew Research Center survey finds significant differences in the way black and white adults use social media to share and interact with race-related content And a Pew Research Center analysis of tweets reveals that key news events – from Baltimore, to Charleston, South Carolina, to Dallas – often serve as a catalyst for social media conversations about race.Black social media users (68%) are roughly twice as likely as whites (35%) to say that at least some of the posts they see on social networking sites are about race or race relations. When it comes to their own postings, a similar racial gap exists. Among black social media users, 28% say most or some of what they post is about race or race relations; 8% of whites say the same. On the other hand, roughly two-thirds (67%) of whites who use social media say that none of things they post or share pertain to race

Slow Nominations and Confirmations Pose a Threat to National Security

Experts have long agreed the transition from one presidential administration to another is a vulnerable time for the country, and that new presidents and Congress each have an obligation to fill top national security positions as quickly as possible. As the pandemic, events in Ukraine and other global challenges have demonstrated, continuity in national security leadership is crucial for the security of the U.S. and its allies and partners. Data from the Partnership for Public Service's Center for Presidential Transition, however, reveals chronic delays at nearly every step of the nomination and confirmation process--even for the national security positions that all stakeholders agree are essential to minimize threats during the first months of a new administration

Dark sectors 2016 Workshop: community report

This report, based on the Dark Sectors workshop at SLAC in April 2016, summarizes the scientific importance of searches for dark sector dark matter and forces at masses beneath the weak-scale, the status of this broad international field, the important milestones motivating future exploration, and promising experimental opportunities to reach these milestones over the next 5-10 years

US Cosmic Visions: New Ideas in Dark Matter 2017: Community Report

This white paper summarizes the workshop "U.S. Cosmic Visions: New Ideas in Dark Matter" held at University of Maryland on March 23-25, 2017.Comment: 102 pages + reference

A data-driven analysis of workers' earnings on Amazon Mechanical Turk

A growing number of people are working as part of on-line crowd work. Crowd work is often thought to be low wage work. However, we know little about the wage distribution in practice and what causes low/high earnings in this setting. We recorded 2,676 workers performing 3.8 million tasks on Amazon Mechanical Turk. Our task-level analysis revealed that workers earned a median hourly wage of only ~2 USD/h, and only 4% earned more than 7.25 USD/h. While the average requester pays more than 11 USD/h, lower-paying requesters post much more work. Our wage calculations are influenced by how unpaid work is accounted for, e.g., time spent searching for tasks, working on tasks that are rejected, and working on tasks that are ultimately not submitted. We further explore the characteristics of tasks and working patterns that yield higher hourly wages. Our analysis informs platform design and worker tools to create a more positive future for crowd work

Measurement of cos⁡2β\cos{2\beta} in B0→D(∗)h0B^{0} \to D^{(*)} h^{0} with D→KS0π+π−D \to K_{S}^{0} \pi^{+} \pi^{-} decays by a combined time-dependent Dalitz plot analysis of BaBar and Belle data

We report measurements of $\sin{2\beta}$ and $\cos{2\beta}$ from a time-dependent Dalitz plot analysis of $B^{0} \to D^{(*)} h^{0}$ with $D \to K_{S}^{0} \pi^{+} \pi^{-}$ decays, where the light unflavored and neutral hadron $h^{0}$ is a $\pi^{0}$, $\eta$, or $\omega$ meson. The analysis is performed with a combination of the final data sets of the \babar\ and Belle experiments containing $471 \times 10^{6}$ and $772 \times 10^{6}$ $B\bar{B}$ pairs collected at the $\Upsilon\left(4S\right)$ resonance at the asymmetric-energy B factories PEP-II at SLAC and KEKB at KEK, respectively. We measure $\sin{2\beta} = 0.80 \pm 0.14 \,(\rm{stat.}) \pm 0.06 \,(\rm{syst.}) \pm 0.03 \,(\rm{model})$ and $\cos{2\beta} = 0.91 \pm 0.22 \,(\rm{stat.}) \pm 0.09 \,(\rm{syst.}) \pm 0.07 \,(\rm{model})$. The result for the direct measurement of the angle is $\beta = \left( 22.5 \pm 4.4 \,(\rm{stat.}) \pm 1.2 \,(\rm{syst.}) \pm 0.6 \,(\rm{model}) \right)^{\circ}$. The last quoted uncertainties are due to the composition of the $D^{0} \to K_{S}^{0} \pi^{+} \pi^{-}$ decay amplitude model, which is newly established by a Dalitz plot amplitude analysis of a high-statistics $e^{+}e^{-} \to c\bar{c}$ data sample as part of this analysis. We find the first evidence for $\cos2\beta>0$ at the level of $3.7$ standard deviations. The measurement excludes the trigonometric multifold solution $\pi/2 - \beta = (68.1 \pm 0.7)^{\circ}$ at the level of $7.3$ standard deviations and therefore resolves an ambiguity in the determination of the apex of the CKM Unitarity Triangle. The hypothesis of $\beta = 0^{\circ}$ is ruled out at the level of $5.1$ standard deviations, and thus CP violation is observed in $B^{0} \to D^{(*)} h^{0}$ decays.Comment: To be submitted to Physical Review

US Cosmic Visions: New Ideas in Dark Matter 2017: Community Report

This white paper summarizes the workshop "U.S. Cosmic Visions: New Ideas in Dark Matter" held at University of Maryland on March 23-25, 2017

Effective presidential transitions can earn the publics trust: Almost half of Americans are unsure a 2024 transition would be peaceful

The peaceful transfer of power between presidential administrations is a hallmark of American democracy. While the United States ultimately transitioned to a new president on Inauguration Day 2021, the Jan. 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol and the unwillingness of the outgoing president to accept the results of the election demonstrated that a peaceful and orderly transfer of presidential power is not guaranteed.We are almost two years out from a presidential transition to a new administration—should a new candidate win the 2024 election—or a transition to a second term. In either case, orderly transitions succeed with the cooperation of Congress along with years of planning by civil servants, sitting administrations and teams associated with the campaigns of presidential hopefuls. This work can only be effective if the public trusts that the people involved will honor the results of democratic elections and value the need for new administrations to prepare to govern even before taking office