Happiness Research and Cost-Benefit Analysis

A growing body of research on happiness or subjective well-being (SWB) shows, among other things, that people adapt to many injuries more rapidly than is commonly thought, fail to predict the degree of adaptation and hence overestimate the impact of those injuries on their SWB, and, similarly, enjoy small or moderate rather than significant changes in SWB in response to significant changes in income. Some researchers believe that these findings pose a challenge to cost-benefit analysis, and argue that project evaluation decision-procedures based on economic premises should be replaced with procedures that directly maximize subjective well-being. This view turns out to be wrong or, at best, premature. Cost-benefit analysis remains a viable decision-procedure. However, some of the findings in the happiness literature can be used to generate valuations for cost-benefit analysis where current approaches have proven inadequate.

Congress’s Domain: Appropriations, Time, and Chevron

Annual appropriations and permanent appropriations play contradictory roles in the separation of powers. Annual appropriations preserve agencies’ need for congressionally provided funding and enforce a domain of congressional influence over agency action in which the House and the Senate each enforce written unicameral commands through the threat of reduced appropriations in the next annual cycle. Permanent appropriations permit agencies to fund their programs without ongoing congressional support, circumscribing and diluting Congress’s domain. The unanswered question of Chevron deference for appropriations demonstrates the importance of the distinction between annual appropriations and permanent appropriations. Uncritical application of governing deference tests that emphasize the time and procedural steps an agency put into an interpretation would tend to favor deference for agency interpretations of permanent appropriations, but not for annual appropriations. Yet this result is upside-down if courts’ goal is to promote accountability and avoid interference with the balance of power between the political branches. Chevron has two core functions, a subdelegation function (it transfers the authority delegated in ambiguities from courts to agencies) and an anti-entrenchment function (it relieves interpretations of the solidifying force of stare decisis). As applied to annual appropriations, both functions respect Congress’s primary role in enforcement through the appropriations cycle; as applied to permanent appropriations, both functions interfere with Congress’s domain. Courts that evaluate Chevron for appropriations without acknowledging and addressing the elemental difference between annual appropriations and permanent appropriations interfere with the political branches and frustrate Congress’s expectations. Courts should adopt a bifurcated approach to Chevron for appropriations that disfavors deference for permanent appropriations provisions, but not for annual appropriations provisions. This Article suggests how the distinction between annual and permanent appropriations may be relevant to the incorporation of appropriations into other aspects of administrative law doctrine, including legislative standing, reviewability, and nondelegation

Fused Deposition Modeling of Polymethylmethacrylate for Use in Patient-Specific Reconstructive Surgery

facial reconstruction and as bone cement and antibiotic-impregnated spacers in orthopaedics. The polymerization of PMMA in-situ causes tissue necrosis and other complications due to the long surgical times associated with mixing and shaping the PMMA. PMMA is a thermoplastic acrylic resin suitable for extrusion in FDM thus 3D anatomical models can be fabricated prior to surgery directly from medical imaging data. The building parameters required for successful FDM fabrication with medical-grade PMMA filament (1/16”Ø) were developed using an FDM 3000. It was found that a liquefier and envelope temperature of 235ºC and 55ºC, respectively, as well as increasing the model feed rate by 60%, were necessary to properly and consistently extrude the PMMA filament. Scaffolds with different porosities and fabrication conditions (tip wipe frequency and layer orientation) were produced, and their compressive mechanical properties were examined. Results show that both the tip wipe frequency (1 wipe every layer or 1 wipe every 10 layers) and layer orientation (transverse or axial with respect to the applied compressive load) used to fabricate the scaffolds, as well as the porosity of the scaffold had an effect on the mechanical properties. The samples fabricated with the high tip frequency had a larger compressive strength and modulus (Compressive strength: 16 ± 0.97 vs. 13 ± 0.71 MPa, Modulus: 370 ± 14 vs. 313 ± 29 MPa, for samples fabricated in the transverse orientation with 1 tip wipe per layer or 1 tip wipe per 10 layers, respectively). Also, the samples fabricated in the transverse orientation had a larger compressive strength and modulus than the ones fabricated in the axial orientation (Compressive strength: 16±0.97 vs. 13±0.83 MPa, Modulus: 370±14 vs. 281±22 MPa, for samples fabricated with 1 tip wipe per layer, in the transverse and axial orientation, respectively). Overall, the compressive strain for the samples fabricated with the four different conditions ranged from 8 – 12%. In regards to the porosity of the samples, in general, the stiffness, yield strength and yield strain decreased when the porosity increased (Compressive strength: 12±0.71 – 7±0.95 MPa, Modulus: 248±10 – 165±16 MPa, Strain: 7±1.5 – 5±1% for samples with a porosity ranging from 55 – 70%). The successful FDM fabrication of patient-specific, 3D PMMA implants with varying densities, including the model of a structure to repair a cranial defect and the model of a femur, was demonstrated. This work shows that customized structures with varying porosities to achieve tailored properties can be designed and directly fabricated using FDM and PMMA.Mechanical Engineerin

Building a Quantum-ready Ecosystem

The emergence of quantum technologies has led to groundbreaking advancements in computing, sensing, secure communications, and simulation of advanced materials with practical applications in every industry sector. The rapid advancement of the quantum technologies ecosystem has made it imperative to assess the maturity of these technologies and their imminent acceleration towards commercial viability. In this paper, we present the current status of quantum technologies and emphasise the need for a quantum-ready ecosystem. We formulate standard Quantum Technology Readiness Levels (QTRLs) using innovative models and tools to evaluate the readiness of specific quantum technology accurately. We also discuss relevant indicators concerning key stakeholders, including government, industry, and academia, and describe ethics and protocols implications, to deepen our understanding of the readiness for quantum technology and support the development of a robust and effective quantum ecosystemComment: 6 figures, 45 page

Implementing Cost-Benefit Analysis When Preferences Are Distorted

Cost-benefit analysis is routinely used by government agencies in order to evaluate projects, but it remains controversial among academics. This paper argues that cost-benefit analysis is best understood as a welfarist decision procedure and that use of cost-benefit analysis is more likely to maximize overall well-being than is use of alternative decision-procedures. The paper focuses on the problem of distorted preference. A person\u27s preferences are distorted when his or her satisfaction does not enhance that person\u27s well-being. Preferences typically thought to be distorted in this sense include disinterested preferences, uninformed preferences, adaptive preferences, and objectively bad preferences; further, preferences may be a poor guide to maximizing aggregate well-being when wealth is unequally distributed. We argue that government agencies currently recognize these problems but respond to them in an ad hoc way, and that a more systematic treatment of these problems is warranted. The paper describes conditions under which agencies should correct for distorted preferences, for example, by constructing informed or non-adaptive preferences, discounting objectively bad preferences, and treating people differentially on the basis of wealth

Effects of receptor clustering on ligand dissociation: Theory and simulations

Receptor-ligand binding is a critical first step in signal transduction and the duration of the interaction can impact signal generation. In mammalian cells, clustering of receptors may be facilitated by heterogeneous zones of lipids, known as lipid rafts. In vitro experiments show that disruption of rafts significantly alters the dissociation of fibroblast growth factor-2 (FGF-2) from heparan sulfate proteoglycans, co-receptors for FGF-2. In this paper, we develop a continuum stochastic formalism in order to (i) study how rebinding affects the dissociation of ligands from a planar substrate, and (ii) address the question of how receptor clustering influences ligand rebinding. We find that clusters reduce the effective dissociation rate dramatically when the clusters are dense and the overall surface density of receptors is low. The effect is much less pronounced in the case of high receptor density and shows non-monotonic behavior with time. These predictions are verified via lattice Monte Carlo simulations. Comparison with experimental results suggests that the theory does not capture the complete biological system. We speculate that additional co-operative mechanisms might be present in order to increase ligand retention, and present one possible ``internal diffusion'' model.Comment: Expanded text and added figures, revised version to appear in Biophys.

Reflecting photonics: reaching new audiences through new partnerships – IYL 2015 and the Royal Horticultural Society Flower Show

The ‘Reflecting Photonics’ show garden was exhibited at the 2015 Royal Horticultural Society (RHS) Flower Show in Tatton Park, UK, to celebrate the International Year of Light and Light-based Technologies. Elks-Smith Garden Design alongside landscapers ‘Turf N’ Earth’ collaborated with researchers, marketing and outreach professionals from the University of Southampton to design, construct and exhibit a photonics-themed garden. The garden and supporting exhibition united science and art to reach new audiences – particularly family groups alongside other key influencers to the young – and showcased the world-leading research in optical fibers at the university in an accessible manner. Researchers and a publicity professional, funded by the EPSRC Centre for Innovative Manufacturing in Photonics, developed an integrated approach to the event’s public engagement and marketing. The overarching aim was to influence a positive change in the attitude of the garden visitors towards physics and photonics, with additional focus on promoting careers for women in STEM. The show garden won an RHS Gold Medal award and the coveted ‘People’s Choice Award’ for the best large garden. The project subsequently won the South East England Physics Network Public Engagement Innovation Project Award. Approximately 80,000 visitors saw the garden, with a further three million television viewers on a popular British gardening show. There were also over 75,400 Tweet impressions on social media. This paper discusses the project aims, explores the design of the garden and its relationship with the research, describes the work of the public engagement team, and outlines the impact of the event