The Securities and Exchange Commission: Its Organization and Functions Under the Securities Act of 1933

As the semidefinite programs that result from integral quadratic contstraints are usually large it is important to implement efficient algorithms. The interior-point algorithms in this paper are primal-dual potential reduction methods and handle multiple constraints. Two approaches are made. For the first approach the computational cost is dominated by a least-squares problem that has to be solved in each iteration. The least squares problem is solved using an iterative method, namely the conjugate gradient method. The computational effort for the second approach is dominated by forming a linear system of equations. This systems of equations is used to compute the search direction in each iteration. If the number of variables are reduced by solving a smaller subproblem the resulting system has a very nice structure and can be solved efficiently. The first approach is more efficient for larger problems but is not as numerically stable

Regression Estimates of Damages in Price-Fixing Cases

Semidefinite programs (SDPs) originating from the Kalman-Yakubovich-Popov lemma often have a large number of variables. Standard solvers for semidefinite programs cannot handle problems of this size. Much research has been invested in developing customized solvers for such problems. In this paper we show that it is possible to use standard primal-dual SDP solvers if we reduce the number of variables in the dual SDP. The interesting variables in the primal SDP can be recovered from the solution

Trafficking in Human Blood: Titmuss (1970) and Products Liability

This article first revisits law-and-economics literature in the 1970s dealing with tort rules governing hepatitis communicated through blood transfusions. It supports the scholarly consensus at the time that the legal policy reflected in so-called “blood-shield” statutes essentially created a caveat-emptor regime for blood and blood products and was therefore probably responsible for numerous patient injuries that would have been prevented under a rule of strict liability. The paper’s original contribution is a review, based on documents discovered in personal injury litigation, of the plasma-fractionation industry’s response to the emerging HIV/AIDS crisis in the early 1980s. The point of view taken is that of an antitrust lawyer reviewing the record for evidence of concerted action violating the Sherman Act, evidence that might justify imposing joint-and-several or market-share liability on industry members under state law. The industry’s questionable performance in addressing the AIDS problem resulted in part from its four firms’ engaging (with the FDA’s tacit approval) in concerted, rather than independent, action. The article suggests the possibility that many deaths of hemophiliacs and recipients of blood transfusions from HIV/AIDS might have been prevented if the usual strict-liability rule had been in place. The article also comments on the need for antitrust enforcers to scrutinize competitors’ collusive conduct for bad effects on the quality, not just the price, of an industry’s goods or services

Medical Waste Regulation: Recommendations for Cleaning Up the Mess

In many applications, design or analysis is performed over a finite frequency range of interest. The importance of the H2/robust H2 norm highlights the necessity of computing this norm accordingly. This paper provides different methods for computing upper bounds on the robust finite-frequency H2 norm for systems with structured uncertainties. An application of the robust finite-frequency H2 norm for a comfort analysis problem of an aero-elastic model of an aircraft is also presented

Microsoft and the European Union Face Off Over Internet Privacy Concerns

Amidst what appears to be a multi-faceted attack by the European Union on Microsoft, the newest angle is the European Commission\u27s announcement last month that it was considering a formal investigation of Microsoft\u27s .Net Passport data processing system for possible violations of the European Union Data Privacy Directive. This iBrief explores the European Data Privacy Directive and seeks to explain why the European Commission believes .Net Passport may be in violation of its privacy policies and a case for further investigation

An Indirect System Identification Technique for Stable Estimation of Continuous-Time Parameters of the Vestibulo-Ocular Reflex (VOR)

The vestibulo-ocular reflex (VOR) is a well-known dual mode bifurcating system that consists of slow and fast modes associated with nystagmus and saccade, respectively. Estimation of continuous-time parameters of nystagmus and saccade models are known to be sensitive to estimation methodology, noise and sampling rate. The stable and accurate estimation of these parameters are critical for accurate disease modelling, clinical diagnosis, robotic control strategies, mission planning for space exploration and pilot safety, etc. This paper presents a novel indirect system identification method for the estimation of continuous-time parameters of VOR employing standardised least-squares with dual sampling rates in a sparse structure. This approach permits the stable and simultaneous estimation of both nystagmus and saccade data. The efficacy of this approach is demonstrated via simulation of a continuous-time model of VOR with typical parameters found in clinical studies and in the presence of output additive noise

User's Guide to Kypd_Solver

This package contains software for solving semidefinite programs (SDPs) originating from the Kalman-Yakubovich-Popov lemma. A presentation of the software is given and the options included are presented and described

Maximum Likelihood Estimation of Gaussian Models with Missing Data : Eight Equivalent Formulations

In this paper we derive the maximum likelihood problem for missing data from a Gaussian model. We present in total eight different equivalent formulations of the resulting optimization problem, four out of which are nonlinear least squares formulations. Among these formulations are also formulations based on the expectation-maximization algorithm. Expressions for the derivatives needed in order to solve the optimization problems are presented. We also present numerical comparisons for two of the formulations for an ARMAX model