Higher Hamming weights for locally recoverable codes on algebraic curves

We study the locally recoverable codes on algebraic curves. In the first part of this article, we provide a bound of generalized Hamming weight of these codes. Whereas in the second part, we propose a new family of algebraic geometric LRC codes, that are LRC codes from Norm-Trace curve. Finally, using some properties of Hermitian codes, we improve the bounds of distance proposed in [1] for some Hermitian LRC codes. [1] A. Barg, I. Tamo, and S. Vlladut. Locally recoverable codes on algebraic curves. arXiv preprint arXiv:1501.04904, 2015

Protecting the Living and the Dead: How Missouri Can Enact a Constitutional Funeral-Protest Statute

This Note will analyze the constitutionality of Missouri\u27s funeral-protest statutes under the First Amendment. This Note argues that, with certain changes, Missouri\u27s funeral-protest statutes should pass constitutional muster. In Part II, this Note analyzes the facts and holding of Phelps-Roper v. Koster. Next, in Part III, this Note explores the legal background of the First Amendment, time, place, and manner restrictions, and how other courts have decided cases involving funeral-protest laws. Part IV examines the court\u27s rationale in Phelps-Roper v. Koster. Lastly, Part V explains where the district court erred and how Missouri\u27s funeral-protest statutes can be changed to become constitutional time, place, and manner restrictions. This Note concludes with a challenge to the Missouri legislature to draft and enact a constitutional funeral-protest statute and a hope that discussion by the Supreme Court of the United States will allow Missouri to do so

The Association Between Violence Exposure and Aggression and Anxiety: The Role of Peer Relationships in Adaptation for Middle School Students

The extent and consequences of exposure to violence on child and adolescent adjustment are well documented. Empirical studies have focused on identifying the risk and protective factors that may increase or decrease the likelihood of poor outcomes. In terms of resilience and adaptation, some adolescents appear to be capable of coping with the stress of exposure to violence, while others are not. Coping with violence exposure requires both internal and external resources that ultimately determine how adaptive or maladaptive the outcome will be. Given that adolescence is a time during which peer relationships become increasingly important, they may serve as external coping resources. The present study hypothesizes that various facets of peer relationships (i.e., friends' behavior, friendship reciprocity, peer acceptance, and peer intimacy/closeness) will have an effect on the relationship between community and family violence exposure and psychological and behavioral outcomes, specifically, aggression and anxiety, as both have been consistently and empirically linked to violence exposure. Data were collected from 667 middle school students, followed from 6th grade to 8th grade, living in a high crime school district in New York City. Data were also collected from their parents and classmates. Prosocial friends and their influence on the cognitive processing of social information, leading to fewer hostile attributions, were expected to help adolescents cope by minimizing the negative impact of exposure to violence on aggression. Further, reciprocated friendships, peer acceptance, and close, intimate friends were expected to lessen the negative impact of exposure to violence on anxiety. Controlling for gender, six models were tested positing separate moderating and mediating effects of the aforementioned variables on the associations between violence exposure and aggression and also anxiety. Friends' Antisocial behavior was found to mediate the relationship between violence exposure and later aggressive behavior. Hostile attribution alone did not explain the relationship between violence exposure and later aggression, but when Friends' Antisocial behavior and hostile attribution were examined in the same model, together they mediated the association between violence exposure and later aggressive behavior. Of note, Friends' Antisocial behavior was a stronger predictor than hostile attribution. Greater social acceptance moderated the relationship between violence exposure and later reported anxiety when violence exposure was low. Peer intimacy/closeness, while demonstrating a direct effect on anxiety, failed to moderate the association between violence exposure and anxiety. Finally, Friends' Prosocial Behavior could not be tested for whether it buffered the effect of violence exposure on later aggression because the data did not meet criteria for performing tests of moderation. However, Friends' Prosocial behavior was related to other study variables in the expected direction; it was significantly negatively associated with violence exposure, hostile attribution bias, and Friends' Antisocial behavior. Therefore the emphasis on friends' prosocial behavior in current prevention efforts to reduce aggressive outcomes is warranted

On the Hermitian curve and its intersections with some conics

We classify completely the intersections of the Hermitian curve with parabolas in the affine plane. To obtain our results we employ well-known algebraic methods for finite fields and geometric properties of the curve automorphisms. In particular, we provide explicit counting formulas that have also applications to some Hermitian codes.Comment: This article is contained in previous article "On the Hermitian curve, its intersections with some conics and their applications to affine-variety codes and Hermitian codes" (arXiv:1208.1627