32,210 research outputs found
âHavana Reads the Harlem Renaissance: Langston Hughes, NicolaÌs GuilleÌn, and the Dialectics of Transnational American Literatureâ
This essay reconsiders a famous episode of anti-imperial modernism, Langston Hughesâ collaboration with the Afro-Cuban poet NicolĂĄs GuillĂ©n. While the episode is often remembered in American literary history as an instance of the more famous Hughes tutoring GuillĂ©n in setting popular music in modernist verse, Cuban criticisms of the Harlem Renaissance show how the dynamics of anti-imperial politics, personal competition, and translation shaped hemispheric cultural practice. A comparative reading of the Renaissance and the Afro-Cuban revival underscores the importance in each of vernacular âfolkâ expression and experimentation. At the same time, English mistranslations of GuillĂ©nâs work have meant that his ironic critiques of the Harlem Renaissanceâas both a product of American racial segregation and a medium of U.S. cultural imperialismâhave been neglected by Americanists who, in emphasizing this case of cross-cultural solidarity, have overlooked the misapprehensions that also produce diaspora culture
Run-On Sentence: Remedies for Erroneous Career Offender Enhancements
Guilty pleas have come to resolve all but a fraction of federal criminal cases. So for most federal defendants, sentencing is the criminal justice processâs most important phase. That phase begins with the calculation of a recommended sentencing range based on the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines. If a defendant has previously committed two violent crimes or drug offenses, the Guidelines designate him a career offender and drastically enhance his recommended sentencing range. The range is only advisory, but judges must consult and account for the range, and it plays an unquestionably significant role in the defendantâs ultimate sentence. What if the Supreme Court later clarifies that the defendantâs crimes were not career offender predicates after all? What if the correct inputs would have yielded a shorter sentence?
This Note examines remedies for mistakes like erroneously applying the career offender enhancement. It begins by exploring the federal sentencing systemâs background and the available remedies for sentencing errors in general, including some remedies grounded in a due process right to be sentenced based on accurate information. It discusses sentencing and appellate-review practices since the Supreme Court made the Guidelines advisory, and observes how courts of appeals have treated those practicesâerroneous career offender enhancements are generally curable on direct appeal, but recent appellate decisions have denied relief to prisoners who are subjected to the same errors but whose sentences had already become final. This discussion concludes by scrutinizing those cases and discussing them in the context of concerns for due process and fundamental fairness
Classification of flying bats using computer vision techniques
We are developing computer vision techniques to automatically monitor bat populations, and extract biometric features which will
be used to gather important population data. The biometric features will include shape, speed, trajectory features, and wing beat
frequency. We will then use classifiers built using Support Vector Machines (SVM) and Neural Networks, to classify bats into
species type, male, female, pregnant and young by tracking individual bats in 2D and 3D in low-light using standard cameras
The Department for environment, food and rural affairs (DEFRA) in association with the Bat Conservation Trust (BCT) started a
national bat monitoring programme in 1996. Questions that their surveys seek to answer include: Which species are affected by
habitat changes? What are batsâ hibernation habits? And how many bats at roosting site are females/males, young, pregnant etc.?
Bat populations also roost in buildings, including historic buildings such as churches. This habitation often leads to damage to
building fabric and sensitive artefacts. Data about these populations enables the effective management and protection of the
buildings they inhabit, and we anticipate that our work will be useful not only to conservationist studying bats, but also to building
managers and professional ecologists surveying these buildings
Structure in gamma ray burst time profiles: Statistical Analysis 1
Since its launch on April 5, 1991, the Burst And Transient Source Experiment (BATSE) has observed and recorded over 500 gamma-ray bursts (GRB). The analysis of the time profiles of these bursts has proven to be difficult. Attempts to find periodicities through Fourier analysis have been fruitless except one celebrated case. Our goal is to be able to qualify the observed time-profiles structure. Before applying this formation to bursts, we have tested it on profiles composed of random Poissonian noise. This paper is a report of those preliminary results
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401(k) Plans and Retirement Savings: Issues for Congress
[Excerpt] Over the past 25 years, defined contribution (DC) plansâincluding 401(k) plansâhave become the most prevalent form of employer-sponsored retirement plan in the United States. The majority of assets held in these plans are invested in stocks and stock mutual funds, and the decline in the major stock market indices in 2008 greatly reduced the value of many familiesâ retirement savings. The effect of stock market volatility on familiesâ retirement savings is just one issue of concern to Congress with respect to defined contribution retirement plans.
This report describes seven major policy issues with respect to defined contribution plans:
1. Access to employer-sponsored retirement plans. In 2007, only 61% of employees in the private sector were offered a retirement plan of any kind at work. Fifty-five percent were offered a DC plan. Only 45% of workers at establishments with fewer than 100 employees were offered a retirement plan of any kind in 2007. Forty-two percent were offered a defined contribution plan.
2. Participation in employer-sponsored plans. Between 20% and 25% of workers whose employer offers a DC plan do not participate. Workers under age 35 are less likely than older workers to participate.
3. Contribution rates. On average, participants in DC plans contributed 6% of pay to the plan in 2007. The median contribution by household heads who participated in a DC plan in 2007 was 15,500 in that year.
4. Investment choices. At year-end 2007, 78% of all DC plan assets were invested in stocks and stock mutual funds. This ratio varied little by age, indicating that many workers nearing retirement were heavily invested in stocks and risked substantial losses in a market downturn like that in 2008. Investment education and target date funds could help workers make better investment decisions.
5. Fee disclosure. Retirement plans contract with service providers to provide investment management, record-keeping, and other services. There can be many service providers, each charging a fee that is ultimately paid by participants in 401(k) plans. The arrangements through which service providers are compensated can be very complicated and fees are often not clearly disclosed.
6. Leakage from retirement savings. Pre-retirement withdrawals from retirement accounts are sometimes called âleakages.â Current law represents a compromise between limiting leakages from retirement accounts and allowing people to have access to their retirement funds in times of great need. In general, borrowing from a 401(k) plan poses less risk to retirement security than a withdrawal. Pre-retirement withdrawals can have adverse long-term effects on retirement income.
7. Converting retirement savings into income. Retirees face many financial risks, including living longer than they expected, investment losses, inflation, and possible large expenses for medical care and long-term care. Annuities can protect retirees from some of these risks, but few retirees purchase them. Developing polices that motivate retirees to convert assets into a reliable source of income will be a continuing challenge for Congress and other policymakers
Altered Excitability and Local Connectivity of mPFC-PAG Neurons in a Mouse Model of Neuropathic Pain
The medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) plays a major role in both sensory and affective aspects of pain. There is extensive evidence that chronic pain produces functional changes within the mPFC. However, our understanding of local circuit changes to defined subpopulations of mPFC neurons in chronic pain models remains unclear. A major subpopulation of mPFC neurons project to the periaqueductal gray (PAG), which is a key midbrain structure involved in endogenous pain suppression and facilitation. Here, we used laser scanning photostimulation of caged glutamate to map cortical circuits of retrogradely labeled cortico-PAG (CP) neurons in layer 5 (L5) of mPFC in brain slices prepared from male mice having undergone chronic constriction injury (CCI) of the sciatic nerve. Whole-cell recordings revealed a significant reduction in excitability for L5 CP neurons contralateral to CCI in the prelimbic (PL), but not infralimbic (IL), region of mPFC. Circuit mapping showed that excitatory inputs to L5 CP neurons in both PL and IL arose primarily from layer 2/3 (L2/3) and were significantly reduced in CCI mice. Glutamate stimulation of L2/3 and L5 elicited inhibitory inputs to CP neurons in both PL and IL, but only L2/3 input was significantly reduced in CP neurons of CCI mice. We also observed significant reduction in excitability and L2/3 inhibitory input to CP neurons ipsilateral to CCI. These results demonstrating region and laminar specific changes to mPFC-PAG neurons suggest that a unilateral CCI bilaterally alters cortical circuits upstream of the endogenous analgesic network, which may contribute to persistence of chronic pain
An Empirical Model of Stock Analysts' Recommendations: Market Fundamentals, Conflicts of Interest, and Peer Effects
In this paper we develop an empirical model of equity analyst recommendations for firms in the NASDAQ 100 during 1998-2003. In the model we allow recommendations to depend on publicly observed information, measures of an analyst's beliefs about a stock's future earnings, investment banking activity, and peer group effects which determine industry norms. To address the reflection problem, we propose a new approach to identification and estimation of models with peer effects suggested by recent work on estimating games. Our empirical results suggest that recommendations depend most heavily on publicly observable information about the stocks and on industry norms. In most of our specifications, the existence of an investment banking deal does not have a statistically significant relationship with analysts' stock recommendations.
Missing Variables in Theories of Strategic Human Resource Management: Time, Cause, and Individuals
Much progress has been made with regard to theory building and application in the field of Strategic Human Resource Management (HRM) since Wright and McMahanâs (1992) critical review. While researchers have increasingly investigated the impact of HR on economic success within the Resource Based view of the firm, and have developed more middle level theories regarding the processes through which HR impacts firm performance, much work still needs to be done. This paper examines how future theorizing in SHRM should explore the concepts of time, cause, and individuals. Such consideration will drive more longitudinal research, more complex causal models, and consideration of multi-level phenomena
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