Stop-and-Frisk: A First Look at Six Months of Data on Stop-and-Frisk Practices in Newark

This study constitutes the first public analysis of stop-and-frisk practices in Newark. The study compares Newark to its close neighbor to the east, New York City. While six months of stop-and-frisk data is insufficient to draw definitive conclusions about the Newark Police Department's stop-and-frisk practices, the ACLU-NJ believes that the initial concerns raised by these data are strong enough to warrant corrective actions now. This study has three primary findings: 1) High volume of stop-and-frisks; 2) Black Newarkers bear the disproportionate brunt of stop-and-frisks; 3) The majority of people stopped are innocent. The study concludes with a series of recommendations for greater compliance with the Newark Police Department's Transparency Policy and for ensuring that stop-and-frisk abuses do not take place. An Appendix is also included with additional data on stop-and-frisk activities in Newark, including by precinct, age, and sex

An Evolutionary Approach to Multistage Portfolio Optimization

Portfolio optimization is an important problem in quantitative finance due to its application in asset management and corporate financial decision making. This involves quantitatively selecting the optimal portfolio for an investor given their asset return distribution assumptions, investment objectives and constraints. Analytical portfolio optimization methods suffer from limitations in terms of the problem specification and modelling assumptions that can be used. Therefore, a heuristic approach is taken where Monte Carlo simulations generate the investment scenarios and' a problem specific evolutionary algorithm is used to find the optimal portfolio asset allocations. Asset allocation is known to be the most important determinant of a portfolio's investment performance and also affects its risk/return characteristics. The inclusion of equity options in an equity portfolio should enable an investor to improve their efficient frontier due to options having a nonlinear payoff. Therefore, a research area of significant importance to equity investors, in which little research has been carried out, is the optimal asset allocation in equity options for an equity investor. A purpose of my thesis is to carry out an original analysis of the impact of allowing the purchase of put options and/or sale of call options for an equity investor. An investigation is also carried out into the effect ofchanging the investor's risk measure on the optimal asset allocation. A dynamic investment strategy obtained through multistage portfolio optimization has the potential to result in a superior investment strategy to that obtained from a single period portfolio optimization. Therefore, a novel analysis of the degree of the benefits of a dynamic investment strategy for an equity portfolio is performed. In particular, the ability of a dynamic investment strategy to mimic the effects ofthe inclusion ofequity options in an equity portfolio is investigated. The portfolio optimization problem is solved using evolutionary algorithms, due to their ability incorporate methods from a wide range of heuristic algorithms. Initially, it is shown how the problem specific parts ofmy evolutionary algorithm have been designed to solve my original portfolio optimization problem. Due to developments in evolutionary algorithms and the variety of design structures possible, a purpose of my thesis is to investigate the suitability of alternative algorithm design structures. A comparison is made of the performance of two existing algorithms, firstly the single objective stepping stone island model, where each island represents a different risk aversion parameter, and secondly the multi-objective Non-Dominated Sorting Genetic Algorithm2. Innovative hybrids of these algorithms which also incorporate features from multi-objective evolutionary algorithms, multiple population models and local search heuristics are then proposed. . A novel way is developed for solving the portfolio optimization by dividing my problem solution into two parts and then applying a multi-objective cooperative coevolution evolutionary algorithm. The first solution part consists of the asset allocation weights within the equity portfolio while the second solution part consists 'ofthe asset allocation weights within the equity options and the asset allocation weights between the different asset classes. An original portfolio optimization multiobjective evolutionary algorithm that uses an island model to represent different risk measures is also proposed.Imperial Users onl

Letter to Timothy Coggins, July 10, 1990

A letter from Warren Rosmarin accepting his assignment to the SEAALL Committee on Cooperative Efforts with Other Chapters

The design of a hybrid DC motor/SMA actuated robotic hand based on physiological and anatomical synergies

Thesis (S.M.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Mechanical Engineering, 2008.Includes bibliographical references (p. 73-74).A new approach to the design and control of multi-fingered hands using hybrid DC motor-Shape Memory Alloy (SMA) array actuators is presented in this thesis. The fundamental design concept is based on the principle of motor control synergy, a biomechanics terminology for coordinated motion generation. Principal component analysis is used for determining the most significant direction as well as the residual directions. A single DC motor is used for driving multiple fingers at a particular velocity distribution over a vast number of finger joints corresponding to the direction of the most significant synergy. SMA array actuators are used for driving the fingers in the residual directions. Although many actuator axes are needed for spanning the residual space, the required strokes are much shorter than the most significant direction; compact and high energy-density SMA actuators meet these requirements. The thesis presents synergistic integration of these two types of actuators having diverse characteristics. This allows us to embed all the actuators and transmission mechanisms in the palm, eliminating a bundle of tendons crossing over the wrist joints. An initial prototype hand is designed and built.by Josiah Benjamin Rosmarin.S.M

Some Aspects of Quebec\u27s Official Language Act

In July 1974, the legislature of Quebec passed an Official Language Act, declaring French to be the sole official language of the province. Although the majority of Quebec\u27s population speaks French, there is a significant minority of English-speaking Canadians living in the province who will be affected. This Act, commonly known as Bill 22, will also affect businesses, particularly American corporations with subsidiaries operating in Quebec. Bill 22 has sparked a controversy in Canada with respect to both its constitutionality and the power of the Province of Quebec to pass such legislation. Since no cases thus far have tested Bill 22, it is the purpose of this comment to survey some of the conflicting issues of its constitutionality together with the basic structure of the Act. The possible effects on two of the specific areas covered by the Bill, education and labor and business, will also be considered

The Effect of Remote Ischemic Preconditioning on Exercise Hyperemia in Multiple Sclerosis

Remote ischemic preconditioning (RIPC) is a non-invasive technique in which blood flow is cut off to a limb for a short period of time which produces a protective effect throughout the whole body to subsequent low oxygen conditions. One of the prominent cardiovascular limitations to exercise in individuals with multiple sclerosis (MS) is fatigue, which may stem from the decreased delivery of oxygen to muscle tissue during exercise. The purpose of this study was to test the hypothesis that RIPC would increase forearm blood flow (FBF) and utilization of oxygen at the level of the muscle tissue in individuals with MS during handgrip exercise. FBF and forearm vascular conductance (FVC) were measured using Doppler Ultrasound technology during rhythmic handgrip exercise both before and after the RIPC intervention, with muscle oxygen saturation and system hemodynamics measured throughout the protocol. The results of the present pilot study did not indicate an effect of RIPC on exercise hyperemia; however, due to the small sample size, further study is worthwhile in order to more accurately determine if RIPC may serve to increase exercise capacity and quality of life for individuals with MS