Loss and heat generation in piezoelectric transducers

Issued as final reportUnited States. NavyUnited States. Naval Undersea Warfare Cente

Bedrock geology of Carroll County, Illinois

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A Real Nullstellensatz for Matrices of Non-Commutative Polynomials

This article extends the classical Real Nullstellensatz to matrices of polynomials in a free $\ast$-algebra \RR\axs with $x=(x_1, \ldots, x_n)$. This result is a generalization of a result of Cimpri\vc, Helton, McCullough, and the author. In the free left \RR\axs-module \RR^{1 \times \ell}\axs we introduce notions of the (noncommutative) zero set of a left \RR\axs-submodule and of a real left \RR\axs-submodule. We prove that every element from \RR^{1 \times \ell}\axs whose zero set contains the intersection of zero sets of elements from a finite subset S \subset \RR^{1 \times \ell}\axs belongs to the smallest real left \RR\axs-submodule containing $S$. Using this, we derive a nullstellensatz for matrices of polynomials in \RR\axs. The other main contribution of this article is an efficient, implementable algorithm which for every finite subset S \subset \RR^{1 \times \ell}\axs computes the smallest real left \RR\axs-submodule containing $S$. This algorithm terminates in a finite number of steps. By taking advantage of the rigid structure of \RR\axs, the algorithm presented here is an improvement upon the previously known algorithm for \RR\axs

Nation Branding and Policy transfer: Insights from Norden. EL-CSID Working Paper Issue 2018/22 • October 2018

Recent years have seen an interesting development in practices and policies of nation branding. Alongside an emphasis in which nation branding programmes seek to activate desires of conspicuous consumption in consumers, or to use branded messages to attract investment, there has also been a growing emphasis placed on policy transfer as a part of nation branding strategies. Thus, we see countries emphasising the possibility of exporting (amongst others) their educational, environmental, gender, criminological and even administrative policies, models and approaches. Instead of jealously guarding points of possible competitive advantage the message is instead apparently benevolent, a declaration that such countries may have something to offer that they are willing to share for the greater good. To date, this shift towards the incorporation of policy transfer within nation branding practices has received only limited analysis (e.g. Marsh and Fawcett 2011a; 2011b). Questions that arise, therefore, include: why are countries increasingly shifting their nation branding programmes in this direction? What do they seek to gain by engaging in such exports? And should we take the ostensibly beneficent nature of such practices at face value? The aim of this working paper is therefore to consider what the shift to policy transfer may tell us about the developing politics of nation branding, with particular focus placed on how policy transfer can be seen as a form of branded identity politics that arguably belies its apparently benevolent intentions by reaffirming hierarchical geopolitical imaginaries that remain premised on a politics of leveraging perceived competitive advantage. However, while the paper indicates why such a shift in nation branding strategies may be attractive, it also considers the potential pitfalls and limitations of such an approach. The working paper first discusses the shift towards nation branding through policy transfer at a general level, before ending with a discussion that draws on examples from Norden – the countries of which frequently populate the upper echelons of numerous nation branding and benchmarking indices, which have historically presented themselves as a model for export, and which, following an extended period of post-Cold War identity crisis and doubt, have more recently rediscovered a sense of self-confidence and self-identity, not least manifest in a resurrection of ideas of Nordic knowledge exports and policy transfer that re-instantiates more historical notions of Nordic exceptionalism

Gun Enforcement and Gun Violence Prevention Practices among Local Law Enforcement Agencies: A Research and Policy Brief

Controlling gun crime continues to be a difficult challenge for policymakers and practitioners in the United States. In 2009, there were roughly 11,000 murders with firearms in the United State and another 326,000 non-fatal violent crimes with guns . The prevalence of guns is thought to contribute to particularly high levels of homicide in the United States, where some estimates imply that the total costs of gun violence -- including medical, criminal justice, and other costs -- could be well over $100 billion per year.Yet finding common ground for legislative solutions to this problem is quite difficult, making it especially critical to effectively enforce existing laws and utilize other prevention approaches. Indeed, debates on controlling firearms violence often revolve around whether the nation needs tougher gun laws or better enforcement of laws that already exist. However, these debates are not well informed by systematic information on what law enforcement agencies are doing to reduce gun violence, the success of those efforts, and the factors that facilitate or hinder those efforts. In order to inform debate on these issues and to highlight successful enforcement and prevention strategies to reduce gun violence, the Police Executive Research Forum (PERF) undertook a national study of gun violence prevention efforts by local police in urban jurisdictions. The study's objectives were to: 1) to describe the range, scope, and prevalence of police efforts to reduce gun violence; 2) to assess which practices are most effective, both generally and in combination with different gun laws; and 3) to determine how these efforts can be improved

In Defense of “Footnote Four”: A Historical Analysis of the New Deal’s Effect on Land Regulation in the U.S. Supreme Court

At the turn of the nineteenth century, the US Supreme Court established and reinforced numerous so-called economic rights. During the Lochner v. New York era, the Court invalidated almost 200 federal and state economic and labor regulations for interfering with the right to contract and for violating substantive due process. In 1937, however, Justice Stone\u27s famous footnote four in United States v. Carolene Products Co. closed the coffin on Lochner. After Carolene Products, the Court stopped applying heightened scrutiny to economic legislation, and it began consciously protecting discrete and insular minorities. Here, Dodrill explains the Lochner-era Supreme Court\u27s standard of review through an analysis of land-regulation cases decided between 1909 and 1937. He also describes the approach taken by the Court after Carolene Products, between 1937 and 1980, and demonstrates that the Court\u27s approach did not become more government-friendly, but if anything, became more landowner-friendly