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Machine Learning, Diversification, and M&A Performance
No full textIn this paper, we study whether acquisitions can improve the financial performance of firms possessing machine learning/artificial intelligence (ML/AI). First, we argue and find that this effect is significant. Then, drawing on studies proposing a weaker effect of ML/AI effectiveness when the data used are complex and contain irrelevant information, we hypothesize and find that the benefit from within-industry deals is higher than that from deals between industries. Furthermore, the effect is more significant among deals between industries when closely related. Finally, we extend these arguments to deals where both the acquirer and target have ML/AI and find the same pattern of effects. We use a number of causal inference methods on U.S. acquisition data to test our theory. Finally, we discuss the contributions of our study to research on ML/AI and acquisitions in general
Crowning the Queen or King of Citation! Identifying the Most-Cited Authors and Publications in Marketing
No full textCitations have long been recognized as an indicator of an academic work\u27s impact. The logic behind equating citation count to impact is that if the authors find value in the publication\u27s content, they will use it to advance their research and cite it—i.e., refer to the publication in their works. In the academic field, an author’s reputation, faculty tenure and promotion, and journal quality have all based their impact measure on citation counts. Even a department\u27s reputation depends on the collective citation counts of its faculty members. One reputed marketing department even advertises itself as the most cited faculty in the world. Given its significance, on behalf of the Sethuraman family, it is my pleasure and honor to institute an annual citation award that identifies the most-cited authors and publications each year, starting from 2024. This award is launched (in 2024) in fond memory of my father late Shri. G. Sethuraman. Born in 1924 in a family of 10+ children, my father’s parents could not afford a college education, and so he joined the military, fought in World War II, and entered the government workforce as a veteran. He had five children and always wondered when I would grow up! Unfortunately, he did not live long enough to see me graduate with a doctorate and passed away in 1986. This award is instituted in 2024 to commemorate his100th birthyear
Using Gate and Key Systems to Engage Players with Varied Motivation Profiles
No full textThis study explores how literal gates and skill-based gates in level design can influence player behavior and align with different motivation profiles based on Nick Yee\u27s Gamer Motivation Model [1]. The researcher created a single-player video game level using Dying Light 2, called Electric Revival, to explore the appeal of literal gates and skill-based gates. The researcher expects that different types of players will exhibit distinct preferences for specific types of gates based on their motivation profiles, which align with their primary motivations. The researcher recruited 14 playtesters, of varying motivation types, to play the level and share their perceptions on the implemented gating mechanisms
Guilty Until Proven Innocent - Litigating Shy Bladder Cases Before the National Transportation Safety Board
No full textFor airmen, the drug testing regulations and procedures in the United States are dispiriting, oppressive, and unjust. Evidencing contempt for basic physiology, an airman unable to produce forty-five milliliters of urine within three hours is deemed to have “refused” a Department of Transportation (DOT) drug test. While the regulations require the airman to be briefed on the shy bladder protocol, this requirement is not enforced by the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB).
The FAA, after losing a case where the airman left the drug testing facility without being warned that such conduct would be deemed a refusal, simply abolished the rule to ensure victory for the FAA in future cases.
Drug testing is so automated that the person administering the drug test merely follows the prompts of a computer program. The computer determines the conclusion. At trial, the drug testing personnel who administered the test need only follow the computer’ prompts and articulate its conclusions. The drug testing system truly is Orwellian.
Finally, in one case, Administrator v. Pham, the specific recollection of the collector was so poor and the confusion in communication with the pilot was so misleading, that the NTSB, in an unprecedented decision, reduced the sanction for “refusing” a drug test from an emergency order of revocation to a six-month suspension. Pham’s victory was pyrrhic, since the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia reversed the NTSB, concluding that a suspension, rather than a revocation, of Pham’s airman certificate was contrary to law.
As Montesquieu noted: “There is no greater tyranny than that which is perpetuated under the shield of the law and in the name of justice.
A New Avenue for Higgs Boson Self-Coupling Measurements: Combined Searches for Higgs Pairs in Multilepton Final States with the ATLAS Experiment
No full textThe Higgs boson self-coupling (λ) is a fundamental parameter of the Standard Model that sets the shape of the Higgs potential and probes the mechanism of electroweak symmetry breaking. This coupling can be directly measured through Higgs boson pair production (HH), which has a predicted production rate roughly 1000 times smaller than single-Higgs production at the LHC.
A combined search for non-resonant Higgs boson pair production in final states with multiple light leptons (e,µ), hadronically decaying τ leptons, and photons is presented, using 140 fb−1 of 13 TeV proton-proton collision data collected by the ATLAS detector during Run 2 of the LHC (2015-2018). Nine final states are analyzed, targeting HH decays to WW, ZZ, ττ, bb, and γγ in combinations that produce multiple leptons. This is the first ATLAS analysis to explore these multilepton topologies for Higgs pair production. The channels complement existing ATLAS searches in the bbγγ, bbττ, bbbb, and bbℓℓ final states.
The multilepton analysis alone excludes Higgs boson pair production above 17 times the Standard Model prediction (11 expected) at 95% confidence level. Combined with other Run 2 ATLAS searches, the observed (expected) limit reaches 2.9 (2.4) times the SM prediction. The observed Higgs self-coupling κλ is constrained to [−1.2, 7.2], and the HHV V coupling κ2V is constrained to [0.6, 1.5] at 95% confidence level, both consistent with Standard Model predictions. These are the most stringent constraints on HH production to date.
High pileup degrades lepton isolation performance by adding energy deposits in the ATLAS calorimeters, reducing the ability to distinguish prompt leptons from jets. A pileup correction method for particle-flow-based electron isolation is presented that accounts for the pseudorapidity dependence of pileup density in the detector. This method improves electron isolation efficiency in high-pileup environments and establishes an approach for future LHC runs.
Projections for the High-Luminosity LHC are presented for the multilepton channels, extending the Run 2 analysis framework to 3000 fb−1 under four systematic uncertainty scenarios. The multilepton channels are projected to exclude HH production at 2.1 times the SM prediction in the baseline scenario. Combined ATLAS and CMS projections report that the HH signal strength could be measured to approximately 30% precision and κλ constrained to ±0.4 at 68% confidence level under optimistic scenarios. These projections were a major input to the 2026 European Strategy Update for Particle Physics
Motion Planning for Multiple Magnetic Robots
No full textConventional robot actuation systems provide significant flexibility in powering robotic mechanisms. However, they inherently increase system complexity by occupying more space, adding weight, and requiring onboard power sources. In addition, these systems are difficult to miniaturize beyond a certain scale. To address these limitations, alternative actuation mechanisms such as magnetic actuation have been proposed.
Magnetic actuation uses the interaction between a controlled external magnetic field and magnets embedded within the body of robots. As a result, it avoids the limitations of conventional actuation methods. Since magnetic robots lack internal actuators and power sources,they feature simpler designs and are easier to manufacture, operate, and miniaturize. Due to these advantages, they have been used in biomedical and micromanipulation applications, where their small scale and simplicity offer significant benefits.
Despite their advantages, magnetic robots have a major drawback. Independently operating multiple magnetic robots is highly challenging, if not generally impossible. One proposed solution to control multiple magnetic robots independently is to design robots with heterogeneous responses to the magnetic field by altering their geometry or magnetic properties nonuniformly.
In this thesis, we investigate this solution by studying systems of multiple heterogeneous magnetic robots that move in parallel directions with various selectable fixed velocity ratio sets under a global magnetic field. We develop a simple hybrid linear model with multiple selectable modes to describe the evolution their motion. Then, we perform controllability analysis and prove that if the velocity ratio sets are linearly independent and exceed the number of robots, the multi-robot system is controllable.
Subsequently, we develop a simple motion planning algorithm that navigates robots between arbitrary feasible positions. We incorporate the collision avoidance between robots as a nonlinear constraint, and formulate the motion planning problem as a nonconvex nonlinear optimization problem.
Finally, we introduce a sampling-based motion planning approach by adapting the asymptotically optimal Rapidly-exploring Random Trees algorithm to the hybrid multi-robot system. The adapted algorithm enables navigation of the robots through obstacles in constrained workspaces
Heuristics for Integer-Programming Problems: Interval-Flows and Fixed-Charges in Generalized Networks and Integer Reformulations for Quantum Hardware
No full textInteger programming models, classified as NP-hard, are prevalent in the field of optimization. Often, the models are intractable and require heuristics to find reasonable solutions in a practical time-frame. In this work, we discuss three classes of integer programming models: generalized network flows with interval- flows, generalized network flows with interval-flows and fixed charges, and the topological mapping of quadratic unconstrained binary optimization (QUBO) problems to quantum computing hardware. We propose heuristics for solving those models across sets of benchmark problems and evaluate their effectiveness
The Effects of Sports Betting Legalization on Consumer Behavior, State Finances, and Public Health
No full textThe legalization of sports betting has increased gambling participation significantly across the U.S., raising important questions about its costs and benefits for states and consumers. We use a large panel of individual-level financial data to analyze the impact of sports betting legalization on regulated gambling activity, state revenues, and broader economic effects. Examining 11 treatment states with differing patterns of legalization across online and offline gambling channels, we find that online sports gambling spending increased by 369% following legalization (from 4.63 per individual-month), while the rate of irresponsible gambling – defined as monthly gambling expenditures exceeding 1% of income – rose by 372% (from 0.2% to 0.9% of individuals). These increases represent genuine growth in regulated gambling activity, and there is little evidence of substitution from offline casino spending. The spending increase is relatively uniform across income levels, but irresponsible gambling shows significant income-based heterogeneity, with lower-income individuals experiencing disproportionately larger increases. Existing gamblers drive substantially more of the increase in problematic behavior than new gamblers, despite representing a smaller share of the population. Legalization also generated spillover effects, including a 20% increase in mass-market alcohol consumption and a 75% increase in calls to gambling helplines. State tax revenues were lifted by $0.78 per capita monthly across treatment states due to legalization
The Data-Science (and People-Science) of Designing Community-Based Strategies to End & Prevent Human Trafficking
No full textThe Church, Transportation, And Race: Education, Involvement, And Advocacy In The Transportation Industry By Churches For The Benefit Of Dallas’ Black Community
Get PDFThe American transportation industry is an amalgamation of policy, planning, infrastructure, funding, contracting, employment, economic development, legislative enactments, modes [transit, rail air], and roads, highways, and bridges. Each of these components affects the daily lives of ordinary people in multiple ways, including, but not limited to, employment, education, health care, recreation, and finances. Historically, the industry has ignored, jeopardized, and adversely affected Black people, neighborhoods, and communities. Quality of life, as related to transportation, in Black communities has not been and is not now on par with that in white communities. Nevertheless, if one observes the industry, one is hard pressed to find the presence of either the Church as a whole or individual congregations. This dissertation’s purpose is to change that dynamic and encourage Black churches and the Church at large to intervene in and interact with the industry as a powerful advocacy resource for Black people and the Black community. The theory is that the Church should not countenance racial discrimination in the transportation industry in any manner. The theological foundation for this assertion is Micah 6:8 and Matthew 22:37-40; that is, justice, mercy, and love. In Micah’s prophecy, God requires believers to love mercy, do justice, and walk with the Lord. None of those admonitions are lived out, as to transportation, if race is a constantly adverse and discriminatory factor. Moreover, transportation inequity does not show love. Rather, it says that some are less than others and not entitled to the full benefits of a just society