Limits of end-state planning

Peer reviewedPreprin

A Stable Marriage Requires Communication

The Gale-Shapley algorithm for the Stable Marriage Problem is known to take $\Theta(n^2)$ steps to find a stable marriage in the worst case, but only $\Theta(n \log n)$ steps in the average case (with $n$ women and $n$ men). In 1976, Knuth asked whether the worst-case running time can be improved in a model of computation that does not require sequential access to the whole input. A partial negative answer was given by Ng and Hirschberg, who showed that $\Theta(n^2)$ queries are required in a model that allows certain natural random-access queries to the participants' preferences. A significantly more general - albeit slightly weaker - lower bound follows from Segal's general analysis of communication complexity, namely that $\Omega(n^2)$ Boolean queries are required in order to find a stable marriage, regardless of the set of allowed Boolean queries. Using a reduction to the communication complexity of the disjointness problem, we give a far simpler, yet significantly more powerful argument showing that $\Omega(n^2)$ Boolean queries of any type are indeed required for finding a stable - or even an approximately stable - marriage. Notably, unlike Segal's lower bound, our lower bound generalizes also to (A) randomized algorithms, (B) allowing arbitrary separate preprocessing of the women's preferences profile and of the men's preferences profile, (C) several variants of the basic problem, such as whether a given pair is married in every/some stable marriage, and (D) determining whether a proposed marriage is stable or far from stable. In order to analyze "approximately stable" marriages, we introduce the notion of "distance to stability" and provide an efficient algorithm for its computation

Comment on: Abou-Ali, H., El-Azony, H., El-Laithy, H., Haughton, J. and Khandker, S., 2010. Evaluating the impact of Egyptian Social Fund for Development Programmes. Journal of Development Effectiveness, 2 (4), 521–555

PRIFPRI3; ISIDG

Barkhausen noise in the Random Field Ising Magnet Nd2_2Fe14_{14}B

With sintered needles aligned and a magnetic field applied transverse to its easy axis, the rare-earth ferromagnet Nd$_2$Fe$_{14}$B becomes a room-temperature realization of the Random Field Ising Model. The transverse field tunes the pinning potential of the magnetic domains in a continuous fashion. We study the magnetic domain reversal and avalanche dynamics between liquid helium and room temperatures at a series of transverse fields using a Barkhausen noise technique. The avalanche size and energy distributions follow power-law behavior with a cutoff dependent on the pinning strength dialed in by the transverse field, consistent with theoretical predictions for Barkhausen avalanches in disordered materials. A scaling analysis reveals two regimes of behavior: one at low temperature and high transverse field, where the dynamics are governed by the randomness, and the second at high temperature and low transverse field where thermal fluctuations dominate the dynamics.Comment: 16 pages, 7 figures. Under review at Phys. Rev.

Protecting More than the Front Page: Codifying a Reporter’s Privilege for Digital and Citizen Journalists

This Note will first explain, in Part I, why journalists need to be protected, and detail the history of reporters invoking a reporter’s privilege in court to protect themselves from revealing their sources or information. It will then discuss Branzburg v. Hayes in Section II.A. Section II.B briefly examines circuits’ receptivity to statutory or constitutional protections of reporters. The Supreme Court has stated that Congress could pass a law to protect reporters. However, while multiple federal shield laws have been proposed, none have been passed. The most recent proposal occurred in 2013, and as of December 2013, the Senate version was voted out of committee. Section III.A will address Congress’s attempts at enacting a statutory protection, specifically focusing on who would be covered in proposed bills. Branzburg did not foreclose the possibility of state statutory protections, and thirty-nine states plus the District of Columbia have codified a reporter’s privilege in their shield laws. This Note will briefly examine how states codify reporters’ protections in Section III.B. Section III.C then considers the executive branch’s self-restriction of subpoenaing reporters, which appears in the Code of Federal Regulations. This Note argues that while the constitutional debate surrounding a reporter’s privilege continues, a federal shield law is needed to provide coverage at least until the Supreme Court recognizes First Amendment protection for reporters. A shield law can provide more uniform protections to a broad range of journalists, including digital or citizen journalists, which are critical to any current iteration of a reporter’s privilege. Current state protections are not sufficient because they do not protect reporters being prosecuted under federal law, which is necessary for a more comprehensive coverage that encourages meaningful reporting of nationally relevant material. As discussion over a statutory protection grows, it is important to create a statute that is relevant to the changing media landscape in which digital and citizen journalists are increasingly breaking news and investigating stories. Thus, this Note, in Part IV, addresses the inadequacies of current protections and proposes the solution of a federal shield law, emphasizing the broad number of people, outside of traditional, institutional media, that the shield law should protect. The law should focus on covering those whose actions demonstrate that they are engaging in journalism. The protection should not only be extended to an individual associated with an institutional media entity. The law should cover digital or citizen journalists using Internet news sources, or even social media sites, as vehicles to publish their work. This solution is practical in light of the murky constitutional landscape that does not offer broad enough protection to the growing number of citizen and digital journalists. Although individuals should receive shield law protection from revealing sources in order to encourage investigative journalism, this should not be an absolute protection, but rather a qualified privilege subject to codified exceptions for security and safety issues

Beyond the Fakultas\u27 Four Walls: Linking Education, Practice, and the Legal Profession

More than fifty years after the first post-colonial Southeast Asian regional conference on legal education, commentators and educators do not necessarily agree on the appropriate curricular balance between theory, doctrine, and practice, or what role the government should play in directing the orientation of legal studies and careers in Indonesia’s law schools. The author argues in favor of legal education that is rich in experiential learning and integrates the involvement of practitioners and doctrinal faculty. This objective may be a relatively new reality in Indonesia, but also one that needs revitalization in other Southeast Asian nations and beyond. This article lays out the contemporary debate in Indonesia over the composition and direction of legal education, asserting that consistent with best practices, learning practical skills in analysis, advocacy, and professionalism — including clinical methods — should be integrated into the program. Moreover, Indonesia’s recently adopted Legal Aid Law presents an opportunity for students and staff at publicly funded law schools to become more actively involved in delivering legal assistance to the indigent. If faculties are not sufficiently resourced, they should more effectively employ lawyers and judges in an adjunct capacity, particularly in a practicum or other co-teaching model. Finally, the author argues that the State should play a guiding role in developing a cadre of social-justice lawyers

The Cambodian Law Faculty: Blueprint for a Curriculum Rich in Research and Experiential Education

Experiential education. Rigorous research and writing. Scholarly engagement. A window onto the ASEAN nations and beyond. These should be the hallmarks of today’s law faculty in Cambodia. The objective is to provide a professional education for the future thinkers and leaders of a nation in the throes of rapid development