International Trade in Used Vehicles: The Environmental Consequences of NAFTA

Previous studies of trade and the environment overwhelmingly focus on how trade affects where goods are produced. However, trade also affects where goods are consumed. In this paper we describe a model of trade with durable goods and non-chomothetic preferences. In autarky, used goods are relatively inexpensive in high-income countries and free trade causes these goods to be exported to low-income countries. We then evaluate the environmental consequences of this pattern of trade using evidence from the North American Free Trade Agreement. Since trade restrictions were eliminated in 2005, over 2.5 million used cars have been exported from the United States to Mexico. Using a unique, vehicle-level dataset, we find that traded vehicles are dirtier than the stock of vehicles in the United States and cleaner than the stock in Mexico, so trade leads average vehicle emissions to decrease in both countries. Total greenhouse gas emissions increase, primarily because trade gives new life to vehicles that otherwise would have been scrapped.trade, environment, NAFTA, consequences

Cybersecurity Assessment and Mitigation Stochastic Model

With numerous cybersecurity incidents and vulnerability concerns in an increasingly contested cyber warfighting environment, the Department of Defense (DoD) has mandated cybersecurity assessment and authorization of all major weapon systems (MWS) before their use. In response to this direction, the Air Force Life Cycle Management Center (AFLCMC) created the Platform Information Technology Assessment and Authorization (PIT A&A) Process. Modeled after the NIST Risk Management Framework (RMF), this process applies a risk-based approach to cybersecurity with the goal of identifying risks and mitigating vulnerabilities in MWS. Within this work, a stochastic model of the PIT A&A Process is presented with an emphasis on understanding how the complexity of systems, accuracy of security artifacts, and workforce proficiency impacts the ability to effectively mitigate cybersecurity risks

Policy Recommendations for Meeting the Grand Challenge to Promote Smart Decarceration

This brief was created forSocial Innovation for America’s Renewal, a policy conference organized by the Center for Social Development in collaboration with the American Academy of Social Work & Social Welfare, which is leading theGrand Challenges for Social Work initiative to champion social progress. The conference site includes links to speeches, presentations, and a full list of the policy briefs

Smart Decarceration: Guiding Concepts for an Era of Criminal Justice Transformation

The era of mass incarceration, which made the United States the world’s leading jailer, appears to be coming to an end. What is likely to follow is an era of decarceration, aimed at reducing the incarcerated population. In this working paper, we discuss the problems associated with mass incarceration and the current climate that is likely to make decarceration a reality. We discuss the importance of developing a “smart decarceration” approach—one that is effective, sustainable, and socially just. We then articulate interrelated goals for the era of decarceration, and offer guiding concepts that will help to meet these goals through transformation of the criminal justice system

From Mass Incarceration to Effective and Sustainable Decarceration: Conference Report

All signs indicate that the United States is leaving an era of mass incarceration and is on the cusp of an era of decarceration. However, the challenge of decarceration is far greater than simply reducing the use of incarceration; it involves building an array of policy and practice innovations that replace incarceration. We have a unique opportunity to rethink, redefine, and reimagine the criminal justice system and shape the emerging decarceration movement. The challenge of decarceration is far greater than simply reducing the use of incarceration; it involves building an array of policy and practice innovations that replace incarceration. To launch this area of work, Smart Decarceration Initiative (SDI) hosted the first national conference on decarceration, From Mass Incarceration to Effective and Sustainable Decarceration, on September 24–27, 2015. More than 150 thought-provoking and inspiring leaders in policy, practice, advocacy, and research joined us at Washington University in St. Louis to present their work, engage in meaningful discussion, and help set an agenda for moving decarceration forward. The conference promoted collaboration across disciplines and sectors and stimulated scientifically driven, practical, and applied policy and community-based social innovations. To ensure effective and sustainable decarceration, we must plan and do the difficult work of developing a “smart” approach—one that is evidence-driven and grounded in a social justice orientation

From Mass Incarceration to Smart Decarceration

American Academy of Social Work and Social Welfare Grand Challenges Initiative Concept Pape

Detection of continuous variable entanglement without coherent local oscillators

We propose three criteria for identifying continuous variable entanglement between two many-particle systems with no restrictions on the quantum state of the local oscillators used in the measurements. Mistakenly asserting a coherent state for the local oscillator can lead to incorrectly identifying the presence of entanglement. We demonstrate this in simulations with 100 particles, and also find that large number fluctuations do not prevent the observation of entanglement. Our results are important for quantum information experiments with realistic Bose-Einstein condensates or in optics with arbitrary photon states.Comment: 7 Pages, 4 Figure

Classical Region of a Trapped Bose Gas

The classical region of a Bose gas consists of all single-particle modes that have a high average occupation and are well-described by a classical field. Highly-occupied modes only occur in massive Bose gases at ultra-cold temperatures, in contrast to the photon case where there are highly-occupied modes at all temperatures. For the Bose gas the number of these modes is dependent on the temperature, the total number of particles and their interaction strength. In this paper we characterize the classical region of a harmonically trapped Bose gas over a wide parameter regime. We use a Hartree-Fock approach to account for the effects of interactions, which we observe to significantly change the classical region as compared to the idealized case. We compare our results to full classical field calculations and show that the Hartree-Fock approach provides a qualitatively accurate description of classical region for the interacting gas.Comment: 6 pages, 5 figures; updated to include new results with interaction