Modeling and estimation of multi-source clustering in crime and security data

While the presence of clustering in crime and security event data is well established, the mechanism(s) by which clustering arises is not fully understood. Both contagion models and history independent correlation models are applied, but not simultaneously. In an attempt to disentangle contagion from other types of correlation, we consider a Hawkes process with background rate driven by a log Gaussian Cox process. Our inference methodology is an efficient Metropolis adjusted Langevin algorithm for filtering of the intensity and estimation of the model parameters. We apply the methodology to property and violent crime data from Chicago, terrorist attack data from Northern Ireland and Israel, and civilian casualty data from Iraq. For each data set we quantify the uncertainty in the levels of contagion vs. history independent correlation.Comment: Published in at http://dx.doi.org/10.1214/13-AOAS647 the Annals of Applied Statistics (http://www.imstat.org/aoas/) by the Institute of Mathematical Statistics (http://www.imstat.org

“A Little History Here, a Little Hollywood There”: (Counter-) Identifying with the Spanish Fantasy in Carlos Morton’s Rancho Hollywood and Theresa Chavez’s L.A. Real

Often considered the final conquest and ultimate summation of Manifest Destiny, California holds a unique place in the American imaginary. While the popular mythology of the Spanish fantasy has served to obscure the use of violence and racialized oppression throughout the colonization of the American Southwest, traces of such struggle remain in memories of the colonized as they continue to occupy this contested space. This paper examines Carlos Morton’s ensemble-based political satire, Rancho Hollywood, and Theresa Chavez’s one-woman show, L.A. Real, to navigate the dynamic experience of contemporary Southern Californian racialized identity. These two pieces diverge stylistically but share an inclusive, nuanced approach to making sense of history, exploring the material and epistemological impact of historical representation on Chicana/o identity over time. Rancho Hollywood and L.A. Real counter-identify with the Spanish-fantasy heritage by rejecting stereotyping, questioning sanitized versions of Californian history, and voicing personal narratives that resist dominant regional myths and their associated racial ascriptions. Each play stages alternative versions of history that include personal experience and cultural memory; this transformative, productive approach to identity formation articulates agency over the memory of California

Review of lattice studies of resonances

I review recent progress in extracting resonance parameters using lattice field theory, with an emphasis on determining hadron resonances from lattice quantum chromodynamics. Until recently, the \rho-meson channel was the only one considered, while, during the last year, several resonant channels have been investigated for the first time. Recent lattice results for scattering phase shifts in resonant channels are presented.Comment: 16 pages, 19 figures, plenary talk given at the 30th International Symposium on Lattice Field Theory, Cairns, Australi

Little (White) Women: Locating Whiteness in (De)constructions of the American Female from Alcott to Split Britches

In 1988, the feminist/lesbian performance group Split Britches performed a deconstruction of Louisa May Alcott’s canonical Little Women. Their play, Little Women, the Tragedy (LWTT) highlighted the division within the feminist movement at the time over pornography, and called into question the norms of morality and feminine virtue reflected in and by Alcott’s classic ‘American girls’ novel.’ The play, however, illustrates a problematic construction of feminist/lesbian identity as outside of racial discourse. This paper argues that feminist performances which aim to deconstruct gender and sexuality should also be examined in terms of racialization; the common omission of whiteness as a category of identification can undermine the political goals of feminists of colour and white feminists alike. I briefly describe how Little Women constructs the American female as moral, heterosexual and of ‘white’ European descent. The paper then illustrates how LWTT seems to ignore the actors’/characters’ positions as belonging to the racial majority. This piece’s ability to expose oppressive systems of identity construction relies on the whiteness of the actors’ bodies and characterizations. This reliance indicates a critical gap between how feminists of colour and white feminists approached the performance of sexuality and morality during the 1980s, revealing historical and social inequities between groups of women

Globalization and the gains from variety: size and openness of countries and the extensive margin

With the seminal work of Feenstra (1994) and its application to the United States by Broda and Weinstein (2006) the gains from variety through trade as suggested by Krugman (1979) have become quantifiable. My paper adds to this literature in different respects: On the theoretical side, the Feenstra ratios are reinterpreted to allow for unobserved growth at the extensive margin. Also, the gains from variety are decomposed regarding countries of origin and industries. On the empirical side, the gains from variety are calculated for the United States and Switzerland, a small open economy. Analyzing the empirical results for these countries as well as data from other OECD economies, it is then argued that size and openness of countries as well as the (unobserved) true growth at the extensive margin are important factors in determining the welfare gains from variety.Welfare Gains from Trade; Trade in Variety; Small Open Economy