Rules Without...: Some Critical Reflections on the Federal Corporate Sentencing Guidelines

Essentially, what is wrong with the Guidelines is that they are rules without -without rationality, without authority, without constitutionality. What went wrong is an old pattern of deficiency in government that seems to recur in endless variation: power without adequate discipline becomes tyranny. The possible solutions are equally simple: reinforce the discipline, or withdraw the power. The former tends to be a risky strategy for a free people, for most disciplinary procedures can be circumvented. Therefore, perhaps it is time to reexamine whether the power should be granted at all, that is, whether the Sentencing Commission should be put out of the business of corporate sentencing

Removing batch effects for prediction problems with frozen surrogate variable analysis

Batch effects are responsible for the failure of promising genomic prognos- tic signatures, major ambiguities in published genomic results, and retractions of widely-publicized findings. Batch effect corrections have been developed to re- move these artifacts, but they are designed to be used in population studies. But genomic technologies are beginning to be used in clinical applications where sam- ples are analyzed one at a time for diagnostic, prognostic, and predictive applica- tions. There are currently no batch correction methods that have been developed specifically for prediction. In this paper, we propose an new method called frozen surrogate variable analysis (fSVA) that borrows strength from a training set for individual sample batch correction. We show that fSVA improves prediction ac- curacy in simulations and in public genomic studies. fSVA is available as part of the sva Bioconductor package

Workshop on the Martian Northern Plains: Sedimentological, Periglacial, and Paleoclimatic Evolution

Papers that have been accepted for presentation at the Workshop on the Martian Northern Plains: Sedimentological, Periglacial, and Paleoclimatic Evolution, on 12-14 Aug. 1993 in Fairbanks, Alaska are included. Topics covered include: hydrological consequences of ponded water on Mars; morphological and morphometric studies of impact craters in the Northern Plains of Mars; a wet-geology and cold-climate Mars model: punctuation of a slow dynamics approach to equilibrium; the distribution of ground ice on Mars; and stratigraphy of the Martian Northern Plains

Design and applications of solar sail periodic orbits in the non-autonomous Earth-Moon system

Solar sailing has great potential for a range of high-energy and long duration mis-sions in the Sun-Earth system. This paper extends this potential to the non-autonomous Earth-Moon system through the use of a differential correction scheme, and by selecting suitable in-plane and out-of-plane sail steering laws to develop new families of solar sail libration point orbits that are periodic with the Sun’s motion around the Earth-Moon system. New orbits include those that bifur-cate from the natural Lyapunov, halo and eight-shaped orbit families at the first and second Lagrange points. The potential of these orbits is demonstrated by con-sidering the performance of a subset of orbits for high-latitude Earth observations, lunar far-side communications, and lunar South Pole coverage

Magellan stereo images and Venusian geology

Areas of Venus imaged by Magellan radar with multiple viewing conditions provide unique data that will contribute to the solution of venusian geologic problems and provide a basis for quantitative comparison of venusian landforms with those on other planetary bodies. Three sets of images with different viewing conditions have been acquired: (1) left-looking with variable incidence angles (cycle 1 profile), (2) right-looking with nearly constant incidence angles (cycle 2 profile), and (3) left-looking with variable incidence angles that are almost always smaller than those in (1) (cycle 3 profiles). The unique data provided by paired images of the same scene with different incidence angles arises from image displacements caused by the relief of individual landforms at scales comparable to the ground-range and azimuth resolutions of the images. There are two aspects of the data: (1) Stereopsis achieved by simultaneous viewing of paired left-looking images of the same scene permits three-dimensional perception and interpretation of the morphologies of landforms at resolutions much finer than the altimetry footprints. (2) Measurements of differences of image displacements (parallax) on paired images with known imaging geometries provide quantitative estimates of the relief and shapes of landforms. The potential scientific contributions of the data can be grouped into two interrelated classes: (A) geologic mapping, analysis, and interpretation and (B) topical studies that involve topographic measurements. Stereopsis, without quantitative measurements, enhances geologic mapping, analysis, and interpretation of the rock units of Venus to a degree that cannot be overestimated. In geologic mapping, assemblages of landforms, assessments of backscatter and variations in backscatter, and fine-scale topography are used to define and characterize geologic map units that represent laterally continuous deposits or rock units. Stereopsis adds the important dimension of local relief for characterization of geologic units at a scale that is not possible with Magellan altimetry or products derived from the altimetry. Relative ages of the geologic units are determined using the well-known principles of superposition and intersection. Here, the perception of relief is invaluable because superposition relations among the geological units are more readily and clearly established. The recognition of folds, faults, and fault systems, regardless of their orientations, is facilitated with stereopsis so that sequences of deformation of the geologic units can be determined and structural analyses vastly improved. Shapes of landforms are readily perceived so that they can be properly interpreted. The end result of the mapping, analyses, and interpretations is a geologic history of Venus that includes the sequences of formation and deformation of various geologic units. Measurements of relief at the finest scale possible are necessary for numerous topical studies. Standard altimetry will provide the necessary information on the relief of most large landforms, but it tends to underestimate the relief of small landforms and distorts their shapes. Although special processing of the altimeter echoes improves the estimates of the relief and shapes of some landforms, there are uncertainties in the interpretations of the echoes. Examples of topical studies requiring measurements of relief are given

Vortices and the entrainment transition in the 2D Kuramoto model

We study synchronization in the two-dimensional lattice of coupled phase oscillators with random intrinsic frequencies. When the coupling $K$ is larger than a threshold $K_E$, there is a macroscopic cluster of frequency-synchronized oscillators. We explain why the macroscopic cluster disappears at $K_E$. We view the system in terms of vortices, since cluster boundaries are delineated by the motion of these topological defects. In the entrained phase ($K>K_E$), vortices move in fixed paths around clusters, while in the unentrained phase ($K<K_E$), vortices sometimes wander off. These deviant vortices are responsible for the disappearance of the macroscopic cluster. The regularity of vortex motion is determined by whether clusters behave as single effective oscillators. The unentrained phase is also characterized by time-dependent cluster structure and the presence of chaos. Thus, the entrainment transition is actually an order-chaos transition. We present an analytical argument for the scaling $K_E\sim K_L$ for small lattices, where $K_L$ is the threshold for phase-locking. By also deriving the scaling $K_L\sim\log N$, we thus show that $K_E\sim\log N$ for small $N$, in agreement with numerics. In addition, we show how to use the linearized model to predict where vortices are generated.Comment: 11 pages, 8 figure

Creating a Realistic Experimental Scenario for HCI-Based Deception Detection Research with Ground Truth and Unsanctioned Malicious Acts

This research-in-progress note reports on the design and execution of a study in HCI-based deception detection. The objective of the study is to examine the impact of knowledge of tracking and countermeasures on the neuro- motor changes detected when subjects commit a malfeasant act. To examine this, an experimental context and design was required that would afford the subjects an opportunity to commit an un-sanctioned malicious act while tracking ground truth in an unobtrusive manner. The experimental design, study execution, and preliminary results are presented

Low-Thrust Transfers from Distant Retrograde Orbits to L2 Halo Orbits in the Earth-Moon System

This paper presents a study of transfers between distant retrograde orbits (DROs) and L2 halo orbits in the Earth-Moon system that could be flown by a spacecraft with solar electric propulsion (SEP). Two collocation-based optimal control methods are used to optimize these highly-nonlinear transfers: Legendre pseudospectral and Hermite-Simpson. Transfers between DROs and halo orbits using low-thrust propulsion have not been studied previously. This paper offers a study of several families of trajectories, parameterized by the number of orbital revolutions in a synodic frame. Even with a poor initial guess, a method is described to reliably generate families of solutions. The circular restricted 3-body problem (CRTBP) is used throughout the paper so that the results are autonomous and simpler to understand

An ex vivo gene therapy approach to treat muscular dystrophy using inducible pluripotent stem cells.

Duchenne muscular dystrophy is a progressive and incurable neuromuscular disease caused by genetic and biochemical defects of the dystrophin-glycoprotein complex. Here we show the regenerative potential of myogenic progenitors derived from corrected dystrophic induced pluripotent stem cells generated from fibroblasts of mice lacking both dystrophin and utrophin. We correct the phenotype of dystrophic induced pluripotent stem cells using a Sleeping Beauty transposon system carrying the micro-utrophin gene, differentiate these cells into skeletal muscle progenitors and transplant them back into dystrophic mice. Engrafted muscles displayed large numbers of micro-utrophin-positive myofibers, with biochemically restored dystrophin-glycoprotein complex and improved contractile strength. The transplanted cells seed the satellite cell compartment, responded properly to injury and exhibit neuromuscular synapses. We also detect muscle engraftment after systemic delivery of these corrected progenitors. These results represent an important advance towards the future treatment of muscular dystrophies using genetically corrected autologous induced pluripotent stem cells

Criminal Justice and Suicide Outcomes with Indiana's Risk-Based Gun Seizure Law

This article examines the application and effectiveness of a 2006 Indiana law designed to prevent gun violence by authorizing police officers to separate firearms from persons who present imminent or future risk of injury to self or others, or display a propensity for violent or emotionally unstable conduct. A court hearing is held to determine ongoing risk in these cases; a judge decides whether to return the seized firearms or retain them for up to five years. The study examines the frequency of criminal arrest as well as suicide outcomes for 395 gun-removal actions in Indiana. Fourteen individuals (3.5%) died from suicide, seven (1.8%) using a firearm. The study population's annualized suicide rate was about 31 times higher than that of the general adult population in Indiana, demonstrating that the law is being applied to a population genuinely at high risk. By extrapolating information on the case fatality rate for different methods of suicide, we calculated that one life was saved for every 10 gun-removal actions, similar to results of a previous study in Connecticut. Perspectives from key stakeholders are also presented along with implications for gun policy reform and implementation