Creating Momentum: The Atlantic Philanthropies' Investments to Repeal the Death Penalty in the United States

The Atlantic Philanthropies invested about $60 million between 2004 and 2016 to support efforts to repeal the death penalty in the United States. To assess the effectiveness of this work and to generate lessons for human rights activists and other funders involved in the repeal movement, the foundation commissioned this evaluation. The findings contained in this report are the result of extensive documentation review as well as interviews with foundation and grantee board and staff

Excitations of the ν=5/2\nu=5/2 Fractional Quantum Hall State and the Generalized Composite Fermion Picture

We present a generalization of the composite Fermion picture for a muticomponent quantum Hall plasma which contains particle with different effective charges. The model predicts very well the low-lying states of a $\nu=5/2$ quantum Hall state found in numerical diagonalization.Comment: 5 pages, 3 figure

Fractional quantum Hall effect and electron correlations in partially filled first excited Landau level

We present a quantitative study of most prominent incompressible quantum Hall states in the partially filled first excited Landau level (LL1) which have been recently studied experimentally by Choi et al. The pseudopotential describing the electron - electron interaction in LL1 is harmonic at short range. It produces a series of incompressible states which is different from its LL0 counterpart. The numerical data indicate that the most prominent states $\nu={5/2}$, 7/3, and 8/3 are not produced by Laughlin correlated electrons, but result from a tendency of electrons to form pairs or larger clusters which eventually become Laughlin correlated. States with smaller gaps at filling factors 14/5, 16/7, 11/5, 19/7 are Laughlin correlated electron or hole states and fit Jain's sequence of filled $\rm{CF}^4$ levels.Comment: 4 pages, 7 figure

X-ray Amorphous Components of Antarctica Dry Valley Soils: Weathering Implications for Mars

The Antarctic Dry Valleys (ADV) comprise the largest ice-free region of Antarctica. Precipitation usually occurs as snow, relative humidity is frequently low, and mean annual temperatures are about -20C [1]. Substantial work has focused on soil formation in the ADVs [2], however, little work has focused on the mineralogy of secondary alteration phases. The dominant weathering process in the ADV region is physical weathering, however, chemical weathering has been well documented [3]. The occurrence of chemical weathering processes are suggested by the presence of clay minerals and iron and titanium oxides in soil. Previously we have investigated soils from two sites in the ADVs and have shown evidence of chemical weathering by the presence of clay minerals (vermiculite, smectite), short-range ordered (SRO) and/or X-ray amorphous materials, and Fe- and Tioxides as well as the presence of discrete calcite crystals [4, 5]. The Chemistry and Mineralogy (CheMin) instrument onboard the Mars Curiosity rover has detected abundant amounts (approx. 25-30 wt. %) of X-ray amorphous materials in a windblown deposit or soil (Rocknest) and in a sedimentary rocks [6,7,8]. The occurrence of large amounts of X-ray amorphous materials in Mars sediments is surprising because these materials are usually present in small quantities in terrestrial environments. The objective of this study is to further characterize the chemistry and mineralogy, specifically the secondary alteration mineralogy and the presence of X-ray amorphous material, of soils from two sites we have previously studied, a subxerous soil in Taylor Valley, and an ultraxerous soil in University Valley. While the chemical alteration processes and mineralogy of the ADV has been documented previously, there has been limited discussion on the occurrence and formation of X-ray amorphous and SRO materials in Antarctica soils. The process of aqueous alteration in the ADVs may have implications for pedogenic processes on Mars, and may lead to a better understanding to the abundance of amorphous material found in sediments in Gale crater

Using kaon regeneration to probe the quark mixing parameter cos(2 beta) in B --> psi K decays

We suggest a novel method to determine the sign of cos(2 beta) in the decays B --> psi K, by creating interference between KL and KS final states via ``regeneration,'' that is propagation through a matter target region to convert some KL to KS. The determination of this quantity resolves an ambiguity between beta and (90o - beta) that remains after the standard measurements of sin(2 beta) and may turn out to be important in resolving whether the result is in agreement with Standard Model predictions or indicates the presence of new physics. We find the measurement is feasible at a B-factory, but requires several years of high-luminosity running with a regeneration target affecting a significant fraction of the detector.Comment: 4 pages, RevTex, uses psfig, 2 eps figures include

Ceramic composition at Chalcolithic Shiqmim, northern Negev desert, Israel: investigating technology and provenance using thin section petrography, instrumental geochemistry and calcareous nannofossils

Technological innovations in ceramic production and other crafts are hallmarks of the Chalcolithic period (4500–3600 BCE) in the southern Levant, but details of manufacturing traditions have not been fully investigated using the range of analytical methods currently available. This paper presents results of a compositional study of 51 sherds of ceramic churns and other pottery types from the Chalcolithic site of Shiqmim in the northern Negev desert. By applying complementary thin section petrography, instrumental geochemistry and calcareous nannofossil analyses, connections between the raw materials, clay paste recipes and vessel forms of the selected ceramic samples are explored and documented. The study indicates that steps in ceramic manufacturing can be related to both technological choices and local geology. Detailed reporting of the resulting data facilitates future comparative ceramic compositional research that is needed as a basis for testable regional syntheses and to better resolve networks of trade/exchange and social group movement

An Update on Bridge Jobs: The HRS War Babies

Are today’s youngest retirees following in the footsteps of their older peers with respect to gradual retirement? Recent evidence from the Health and Retirement Study (HRS) suggests that most older Americans with full-time career jobs later in life transitioned to another job prior to complete labor force withdrawal. This paper explores the retirement patterns of a younger cohort of individuals from the HRS known as the “War Babies.” These survey respondents were born between 1942 and 1947 and were 57 to 62 years of age at the time of their fourth bi-annual HRS interview in 2004. We compare the War Babies to an older cohort of HRS respondents and find that, for the most part, the War Babies have followed the gradual-retirement trends of their slightly older predecessors. Traditional one-time, permanent retirements appear to be fading, a sign that the impact of changes in the retirement income landscape since the 1980s continues to unfold.Economics of Aging, Partial Retirement, Gradual Retirement