Rewriting the Constitution: An Economic Analysis of the Constitutional Amendment Process

In this Article, the authors develop an economic theory of the constitutional amendment process under Article V, focusing particularly on the roles that Congress and interest groups play in that process. The authors construct a model to predict when an interest group will seek an amendment rather than a statute to further its interests, highlighting how interest group maintenance costs and anticipated opposition affect that choice. They then discuss the efficiency goals of constitutionalism—precommitment and reduction of agency costs—and argue that the structure of the amendment process under Article V prevents realization of these goals. The authors contrast the Bill of Rights amendments, which established precommitments and reduced the agency costs of government, with the latter seventeen amendments, which expanded the federal government and increased agency costs. They attribute the change in the nature of the amendments to the interest-group domination of the political process and Congress\u27 control over the constitutional amendment agenda. The authors conclude that the Founders\u27 intent to put the Constitution beyond the reach of factions backfired: although factions cannot control the content of the Constitution, neither can the majority. In fact, Article V prevents the majority from precommiting itself and hinders its ability to control the agency costs of government, as evidenced by the history of the failed amendments. Although the authors conclude that Article V thwarts the efficiency goals of constitutionalism, they predict that little can be done to remedy this flaw

21-cm signatures of residual HI inside cosmic HII regions during reionization

We investigate the impact of sinks of ionizing radiation on the reionization-era 21-cm signal, focusing on 1-point statistics. We consider sinks in both the intergalactic medium and inside galaxies. At a fixed filling factor of HII regions, sinks will have two main effects on the 21-cm morphology: (i) as inhomogeneous absorbers of ionizing photons they result in smaller and more widespread cosmic HII patches; and (ii) as reservoirs of neutral gas they contribute a non-zero 21-cm signal in otherwise ionized regions. Both effects damp the contrast between neutral and ionized patches during reionization, making detection of the epoch of reionization with 21-cm interferometry more challenging. Here we systematically investigate these effects using the latest semi-numerical simulations. We find that sinks dramatically suppress the peak in the redshift evolution of the variance, corresponding to the midpoint of reionization. As previously predicted, skewness changes sign at midpoint, but the fluctuations in the residual HI suppress a late-time rise. Furthermore, large levels of residual HI dramatically alter the evolution of the variance, skewness and power spectrum from that seen at lower levels. In general, the evolution of the large-scale modes provides a better, cleaner, higher signal-to-noise probe of reionization.Comment: Minor edits to agree with MNRAS published versio

High-resolution mapping of cancer cell networks using co-functional interactions.

Powerful new technologies for perturbing genetic elements have recently expanded the study of genetic interactions in model systems ranging from yeast to human cell lines. However, technical artifacts can confound signal across genetic screens and limit the immense potential of parallel screening approaches. To address this problem, we devised a novel PCA-based method for correcting genome-wide screening data, bolstering the sensitivity and specificity of detection for genetic interactions. Applying this strategy to a set of 436 whole genome CRISPR screens, we report more than 1.5 million pairs of correlated "co-functional" genes that provide finer-scale information about cell compartments, biological pathways, and protein complexes than traditional gene sets. Lastly, we employed a gene community detection approach to implicate core genes for cancer growth and compress signal from functionally related genes in the same community into a single score. This work establishes new algorithms for probing cancer cell networks and motivates the acquisition of further CRISPR screen data across diverse genotypes and cell types to further resolve complex cellular processes

Hybrid Atom--Photon Quantum Gate in a Superconducting Microwave Resonator

We propose a novel hybrid quantum gate between an atom and a microwave photon in a superconducting coplanar waveguide cavity by exploiting the strong resonant microwave coupling between adjacent Rydberg states. Using experimentally achievable parameters gate fidelities $> 0.99$ are possible on sub-$\mu$s timescales for waveguide temperatures below 40 mK. This provides a mechanism for generating entanglement between two disparate quantum systems and represents an important step in the creation of a hybrid quantum interface applicable for both quantum simulation and quantum information processing.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figure

Striking the right balance and supporting social aspirations: how agency and choice play out in a recovery-oriented mental health service

Introduction There has been an increasing drive for a transformation of the mental health system towards recovery orientation, with research identifying a series of key recovery principles. It has been argued that these principles remain rhetoric rather than routine practice, and it remains unclear how these are operationalised and promoted within inpatient settings. Aim To address the knowledge gap of how staff and service-users enact recovery principles during the daily workings of an inpatient mental health service. Method Twenty-one interviews were conducted with staff and service-users at a recovery-oriented inpatient service in the United Kingdom. Data was analysed using framework analysis. Findings Analysis of research interview data identified three subcategories grouped under the category of choice. These categories were: a delicate balancing act, acceptability of choices, and social issues impacting choice. Discussion Staff were uncertain of their role in promoting choice, resulting in service-users feeling unsupported in their recovery. Staff had to adopt a titrated approach to social inclusion, to protect service-users from discrimination and rejection. Implications Mental health professionals need to take a more proactive role in enabling service-users to realise their social aspirations, as well as managing any adverse impacts of stigma and discrimination

Bolometric and UV Light Curves of Core-Collapse Supernovae

The Swift UV-Optical Telescope (UVOT) has been observing Core-Collapse Supernovae (CCSNe) of all subtypes in the UV and optical since 2005. We present here 50 CCSNe observed with the Swift UVOT, analyzing their UV properties and behavior. Where we have multiple UV detections in all three UV filters (\lambda c = 1928 - 2600 \AA), we generate early time bolometric light curves, analyze the properties of these light curves, the UV contribution to them, and derive empirical corrections for the UV-flux contribution to optical-IR based bolometric light curves

Demonstration of an inductively coupled ring trap for cold atoms

We report the first demonstration of an inductively coupled magnetic ring trap for cold atoms. A uniform, ac magnetic field is used to induce current in a copper ring, which creates an opposing magnetic field that is time-averaged to produce a smooth cylindrically symmetric ring trap of radius 5 mm. We use a laser-cooled atomic sample to characterize the loading efficiency and adiabaticity of the magnetic potential, achieving a vacuum-limited lifetime in the trap. This technique is suitable for creating scalable toroidal waveguides for applications in matter-wave interferometry, offering long interaction times and large enclosed areas

SOUSA: the Swift Optical/Ultraviolet Supernova Archive

The Ultra-Violet Optical Telescope on the Swift spacecraft has observed hundreds of supernovae, covering all major types and most subtypes. Here we introduce the Swift Optical/Ultraviolet Supernova Archive (SOUSA), which will contain all of the supernova images and photometry. We describe the observation and reduction procedures and how they impact the final data. We show photometry from well-observed examples of most supernova classes, whose absolute magnitudes and colors may be used to infer supernova types in the absence of a spectrum. A full understanding of the variety within classes and a robust photometric separation of the groups requires a larger sample, which will be provided by the final archive. The data from the existing Swift supernovae are also useful for planning future observations with Swift as well as future UV observatories.Comment: Accepted for publication in the UV issue of Astrophysics and Space Science 10 pages, 6 figures SOUSA is an archive in progress with data being posted to the Swift SN website: http://swift.gsfc.nasa.gov/docs/swift/sne/swift_sn.htm