Wikifreak-out: The Legality of Prior Restraints on WikiLeaks\u27 Publication of Government Documents

There is no Supreme Court precedent on the constitutionality of criminalizing the publication of leaked classified information, as the SHIELD Act proposes to do, because the U.S. government has never prosecuted anyone for doing so. The closest precedent is New York Times v. United States (Pentagon Papers), where the Court held as unconstitutional the government\u27s effort to enjoin the New York Times from publishing a leaked copy of a top-secret government study of the Vietnam War. Part I of this Note examines the history of WikiLeaks, the current condition of the media, and the history of Pentagon Papers. Part II discusses why WikiLeaks\u27 publication is comparable to that of the New York Times in Pentagon Papers. Part III of this Note proposes that WikiLeaks must be afforded the same First Amendment protection as was the New York Times in Pentagon Papers

Molecular Parentage of Radical Species in the Comae of Comets

Understanding the chemical composition of comets is of great interest to the scientific community. In this work, an integral field unit (IFU) spectrograph is used to detect emissions of C2, C3, CH, CN, and NH2. The azimuthal average profile (line integral of the column density as a function of radial distance from the center of the nucleus) is simulated by the Haser model. The Haser model simulates the outgassing and photo-dissociate of molecular species in the coma. In this work, the lifetime of the parent molecule in the photo-dissociation chain is set as a free parameter. The best fit parent lifetimes for observations of comets 4P/Faye, 10P/Tempel 2, and C/2009 P1 Garradd are obtained. The results are compared to parent lifetimes cited in other studies. HCN as a likely dominant parent for CN is eliminated. Constraints on likely parent molecules for C3 and NH2 are discussed

Molecular Parentage of Radical Species in the Comae of Comets

Understanding the chemical composition of comets is of great interest to the scientific community. In this work, an integral field unit (IFU) spectrograph is used to detect emissions of C2, C3, CH, CN, and NH2. The azimuthal average profile (line integral of the column density as a function of radial distance from the center of the nucleus) is simulated by the Haser model. The Haser model simulates the outgassing and photo-dissociate of molecular species in the coma. In this work, the lifetime of the parent molecule in the photo-dissociation chain is set as a free parameter. The best fit parent lifetimes for observations of comets 4P/Faye, 10P/Tempel 2, and C/2009 P1 Garradd are obtained. The results are compared to parent lifetimes cited in other studies. HCN as a likely dominant parent for CN is eliminated. Constraints on likely parent molecules for C3 and NH2 are discussed

Three Essays on the Economics of the Oil and Gas Industry.

In this dissertation I explore the economics of the oil and gas industry, with a particular focus on onshore leasing, drilling, and production. Using theory, data, and a variety of natural experiments, I analyze the impact of ownership, policies, and markets on drilling and production outcomes. In the first chapter I discuss the impact of heterogeneous mineral ownership on the oil and gas industry. I show how policies imposed by one owner can affect extraction both on that owner’s land as well as on nearby land. Using a natural experiment in Wyoming, I find that low cost policies on state land increased drilling on state land while decreasing drilling on nearby federal land. I also find that state policies helped firms discover lower productivity wells both on state land and on nearby federal land. In the second chapter, co-authored with Paul Brehm, I explore how efficiently markets correct for misallocation. We examine a setting where oil and gas leases were awarded to individuals who likely lacked the expertise and capital to efficiently extract oil and gas. In spite of this initial misallocation, we find that these leases were usually quickly sold to firms. As a result, these leases had similar drilling and production outcomes to leases that were awarded to firms. In the third chapter I examine a setting in Wyoming where alternating blocks of land were assigned either to government ownership or to private ownership. I describe how government and private land differed in environmental protection, lease lengths, lease sizes, and quality of management. I find that in spite of environmental protections on government land, government land was more likely to have experienced drilling. I show why longer leases, smaller parcels, or inefficient management of private land may have decreased drilling on private land. I also find that after an oil and gas firm took over management of the private land, drilling and production outcomes improved on private land relative to government land.PhDEconomicsUniversity of Michigan, Horace H. Rackham School of Graduate Studieshttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/113565/1/erickyle_1.pd

Dynamic Models of Appraisal Networks Explaining Collective Learning

This paper proposes models of learning process in teams of individuals who collectively execute a sequence of tasks and whose actions are determined by individual skill levels and networks of interpersonal appraisals and influence. The closely-related proposed models have increasing complexity, starting with a centralized manager-based assignment and learning model, and finishing with a social model of interpersonal appraisal, assignments, learning, and influences. We show how rational optimal behavior arises along the task sequence for each model, and discuss conditions of suboptimality. Our models are grounded in replicator dynamics from evolutionary games, influence networks from mathematical sociology, and transactive memory systems from organization science.Comment: A preliminary version has been accepted by the 53rd IEEE Conference on Decision and Control. The journal version has been submitted to IEEE Transactions on Automatic Contro

The Development of Werner-type Cobalt Complexes in Enantioselective Hydrogen Bond Mediated Catalysis

Chiral-at-metal Werner complexes of the type (Λ/∆)-[Co(1,2-diamine)_(3)]^(3+) 3X^(–)have long been a cornerstone of coordination chemistry. However, despite being inexpensive and readily available in enantiopure form, they have had no applications in enantioselective organic synthesis. This derives from their poor solubility in organic solvents and the fact that the chelating ligands are non-labile, preventing metal based substrate activation. However, it was conceived that the abundant nitrogen-hydrogen bonds of the diamine ligands could activate Lewis basic substrates towards nucleophilic addition via hydrogen bonding. Towards this end, the diastereomeric trications Λ-[Co((S,S)-dpen)_(3)]^(3+) and ∆-[Co((S,S)-dpen)_(3)]^(3+) (dpen = diphenyl ethylenediamine) were prepared by stereoselective syntheses. Incorporation of the lipophilic Bar_(f)^(–) (B(3,5-CF_(3)-C_(6)H_(3))_(4)^(–)) anion, among others, afforded the organic-soluble mixed salts Λ-[Co((S,S)-dpen)_(3)]^(3+) 2X^(–) BAr_(f)^(-) and ∆-[Co((S,S)-dpen)_(3)]^(3+) 2X^(–) Bar^( –)(X = Cl^(–), BF_(4)^(–), PF_(6)^(–)). These Werner complexes were then applied as hydrogen bond mediating catalysts for enantioselective Michael additions of dialkyl malonates to nitroolefins. The catalyzed Michael addition of dimethyl malonate (15a) to trans-β- nitrostyrene was optimized with respect to solvent, temperature, and catalyst counteranion and then extended to a range of nitroolefin substrates. Under optimized – conditions, Λ-(S,S)-3^(3+) 2BF_(4)^(–) Bar_(f)^(-) (10 mol%) catalyzes the Michael addition of 15a to 2-benzyloxy-trans-β-nitrostyrene in acetone at 0 °C in the presence of Et_(3)N (1.0 equiv) to afford dimethyl 2-(2-nitro-1-(2 benzyloxyphenyl)ethyl)malonate in 95% isolated yield and 96% ee. This work marks the first time that a Werner-type complex has been applied as a catalyst for organic transformations with high enantioselectivities. The unique stereochemistry of the Werner complex, which features a chiral metal center, is primarily responsible for the stereoselectivity of the catalyzed reactions

P2_6 The Power of Moonlight

In this paper we investigate the concept of using the Moon as an energy producing Mega-structure, by covering its surface in solar panels. We find that the energy yield, in 28 days, from using modern-day solar panels is 5.327x10^16 J and that 815 identical structures would be required to meet the global energy usage of 2016 (5.656x 10^20J)

P2_4 A Very Light Balloon

In this paper we have performed an experiment to verify whether the pressure inside a party balloon is equal to ambient atmospheric pressure, and then performed further calculation to find how powerful a light source would be needed to inflate a party balloon using radiation pressure alone. It was found that the pressure inside a balloon was within five percent of ambient atmospheric pressure, and that a light source of multiple terawatt light output would be needed to inflate a balloon, with a specific value of 8.9x10^12 W for it to inflate to a standard size

P2_1 How long would it take for Britain to leave Europe?

In this paper, we have calculated how long it would take for mainland Britain to move awaycompletely from the Eurasian tectonic plate; using a powerful hypothetical motor, powered by£350 million a week. The amount of water displaced by the Great British boat was also calculated. It was found that 7.34x10^19kg of water would be displaced and that per week Britain could move 422m, taking 87 years to leave Europe