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Cross Trading in the Corporate Bond Market
No full textWe examine cross-trading by mutual funds in corporate bonds. Because internally matched trades are not observable, we construct two measures that rely on reported trade volume and opposite-signed trades within a family. We find that cross-trading is common--more than 5% of bond-family-quarters have positive indicators. There is large variation across families and higher crossing activity for illiquid and hard-to-obtain bonds. Cross-trading is particularly elevated around demand shocks (e.g., maturity cutoffs and credit rating changes), indicating that cross-trading is beneficial in times of stress. We document large transaction cost savings, although these savings have diminished following a new regulation that significantly limits cross trading in corporate bonds
Noise-Embedded Image Processing Based on Quantum Data Encodings
Get PDFAdvancements in quantum information have significantly impacted the field of image processing, although challenges remain. Especially in the edge detection and image encoding area, distorted feature and noises would affect the further classification or super resolution tasks. In our work, we conduct researches on two stages to both evaluate the potential of Quantum-based Convolutional Structure in extracting distorted feature and further explore the effects of quantum noise channels on quantum image encodings.
In the first stage, we propose a method to extract distorted edge features by applying shallow layers in quantum convolutional neural networks (QCNN). By combining the advantages of quantum computing and the layered structure of convolutional neural networks (CNN), this approach addresses the problem and compares the extracted distorted pattern with the reference pattern, achieving a best matching ratio of 99.71% in images interfered with impulse noise. Furthermore, we also compare the performance with the classical method and other quantum algorithms, our method gains a 97.19% ratio.
In the second stage, we focus on quantum noises interfere with the circuits-based quantum image encoding that store classical image to quantum machine. We explore the potential effects of quantum noise models on varied encodings, combining both quantum evaluation methodology such as circuit depth, qubit number, fidelity comparison and depth growth, and classical image evaluation method such as mean squared error (MSE), structural similarity index measure (SSIM) and peak signal-noise ratio (PSNR) to find the pattern of noise behaviors affecting encodings. We also evaluate the behavior in applying noise to specific gate sets and measurement to distinguish how noise would affect the circuit. In addition, two datasets are evaluated to compare the effects on images with different levels of complexity
Second Amendment Originalism, “General Law,” and \u3cem\u3eRahimi\u3c/em\u3e’s Two-Fold Failure
No full text“A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.”
New York State Rifle & Pistol Association v. Bruen (2022), set out a bold new standard of review for Second Amendment cases. The Court rightly repudiated the intermediate-scrutiny approach adopted by the circuit courts after District of Columbia v. Heller (2008). Bruen purported to require that any gun regulation falling within the plain text of the Amendment be upheld only if the government can demonstrate that the regulation is consistent with America’s historical tradition of firearm regulation. United States v. Rahimi (2024) confirmed what was already clear in Bruen: that a majority of the Justices are not prepared to take this seemingly rigorous historical test seriously.
This Article considers and rejects an innovative interpretation of Bruen, offered by William Baude and Robert Leider, under which Second Amendment jurisprudence would become a form of common-law constitutionalism. The Article also considers and rejects an effort by J. Joel Alicea to interpret
Bruen in a way that justifies Rahimi’s extremely elastic application of the history-and-tradition test. The Article argues that a better alternative to Bruen is the more traditional application of means-end scrutiny to advance the primary purpose of the Second Amendment, which is to protect the fundamental natural right of self-defense.
In addition to showing that Rahimi did not apply Bruen faithfully, the Article explains why the statute at issue in Rahimi is unconstitutional
Space Agriculture, Biotechnology, and Terraforming: Rethinking the Paradigm of Harmful Contamination
No full textAs humanity transitions from sporadic exploratory space missions to permanent settlements on celestial bodies (like the Moon or Mars), agriculture biotechnology, and, potentially, terraforming projects will be essential for establishing self-sustaining settlements.
These activities raise critical issues concerning the interpretation of the principle of harmful contamination under Article IX of the Outer Space Treaty (OST) and its implementation through the Committee on Space Research’s Policy on Planetary Protection (COSPAR Policy) referred together in this article as the “Planetary Protection Framework,” which is primarily oriented toward exploration with scientific integrity rather than permanent habitation.
The challenge lies in the fact that agriculture, biotechnology, and terraforming inherently involve the introduction and manipulation of biological systems—such as plants, microbes, and other organisms—to create habitable conditions, produce food, and support life. Conversely, the existing Planetary Protection Framework prioritizes preventing biological contamination of extraterrestrial environments, particularly to preserve their scientific integrity, over the practical needs of long-term habitation.
This paper examines the tension between the current Planetary Protection Framework and the practical requirements of the activities essential for permanent habitation, for which the current Framework risks becoming a significant impediment. At the heart of this discussion lies a critical question: can planetary protection principles evolve to balance the need for scientific preservation with the demands of human settlement?
This paper discusses the situation in the long term, when a paradigm shift from planetary protection to an environmental protection framework like on Earth is envisioned, and the situation in the short and middle term, for which this paper advocates an evolution in the interpretation of Article IX OST and a modification of the COSPAR Policy, either by amending the Policy itself or through a modified reception in national regulation. This new approach—which recognizes settlement zones as the default and scientific zones as the exception—accepts biological contamination as a necessary and inevitable consequence of humanity’s aspirations for a multi-planetary future, provided that such contamination remains sustainable
nOt JuSt AnOtHeR 2000 wOrD wRiTtEn MfA tHeSiS
No full textThis thesis challenges the standardized academic expectations placed upon studio-based MFA programs, using the process of writing itself as a site of institutional critique. Emerging from a 27,000-word working draft titled Aesthetics of Real, this final text adopts the permitted format of an “extended artist statement” to expose contradictions within institutional frameworks. It resists the assumption that professionalism and compliance equate to intellectual rigor, arguing that true artistic inquiry demands risk, failure, and confrontation with systemic norms. Through works like 3MUSTANGS, Facades of Dallas (Hall), SuperPOD0043: An American Painting, and Babel’n On, this thesis reveals how institutions often mistake performance for substance—and how, without critique, even care becomes a mechanism of containment. Refusing to kneel to formal assumptions, the thesis asserts that Real is not simply encountered, but made—manipulated, stretched, stressed, and revealed. Ending mid-sentence, it complies in form while refusing in spirit—forcing the archive itself to confront what it chooses to preserve as success, rigor, and Real
Assembly Line Public Defense
No full textPublic defense in the United States is not just underfunded but also understudied. In their forthcoming article, David Abrams and Priyanka Goonetilleke empirically examine, for the first time, an essential question about public defense: What difference does vertical representation make? Criminal justice advocates, scholars, and the American Bar Association strongly favor vertical representation—where a single public defender represents a defendant throughout their case—over horizontal representation, where different attorneys handle different stages. This article provides the first empirical analysis of how attorney continuity affects criminal case outcomes. Using a natural experiment created by the Defender Association of Philadelphia’s transition from horizontal to partially vertical representation, the authors provide the first empirical analysis of how attorney continuity affects criminal case
The Contracts Clause Can Be Enforced via Section 1983, Period: The Nonexistent Circuit Court Split”
No full textThe Federal Circuit Courts are apparently split on whether 42 U.S.C. § 1983—which provides a civil cause of action for constitutional deprivation of rights— applies to actions brought under the Contracts Clause in article 1 of the U.S. Constitution. The “split” has existed since 2017 and a new case out of the Sixth Circuit seeks to end that constitutional discrepancy via cert petition. The case, however, is a suboptimal vehicle for ending this circuit court stalemate.
The Sixth and Fourth Circuits have held that Section 1983 does not apply to actions brought under the Contracts clause. The Ninth Circuit has explicitly held that it does. And the Second, Third and Eighth Circuits have applied Section 1983 to Contracts Clause claims without expressly addressing the issue.
But the “split” created by both the Sixth and Fourth Circuits is based on flimsy precedent. The holdings are based on curious interpretations of prior case law and conclusions were reached in breach of the principle of party presentation, without the benefit of the parties’ fulsome arguments. A proper hearing of a case with an appropriate procedural history would undoubtedly clear this “split” in favor of litigants seeking to enforce their rights under the Contracts Clause.
In short order, the relevant legal authorities indicate that there is no split at all
Rethinking Juror Impartiality
No full textJury impartiality in the contemporary court often justifies the perpetuation
of exclusionary selection practices that make juries more—not less—biased.
This Article calls for a rethinking of this important but flawed concept. Constitutional
interpretations and conceptions of “impartiality” frame it as a transient
orientation toward particular evidence or parties. Yet, during voir dire, the prevailing
conception of jury impartiality is that it is an immutable character trait
that must be discovered—if not created—by professional legal actors. What voir
dire creates is not an impartial jury, but precisely the opposite: a venire shaped
by the strategic biases of lawyers.
This Article offers an alternative. The presumption of impartiality applied
to judges should inspire a new approach to their lay counterparts. The norms of
judicial impartiality show that the criminal legal system largely assumes judges
are, unless shown otherwise, impartial actors who deserve discretion to decide
whether their relationship to a case warrants recusal. In this way, impartiality is
something a legal actor must take responsibility for in their role in the trial. Prospective
jurors should be empowered in the same way. By reforming voir dire
techniques already in use, courts can hold jurors to a comparable standard of
impartiality and dispense with the advantage-seeking ethos of jury selection that
allows lawyers to impute partiality to prospective jurors. This reform will help
juries realize an ideal of impartiality premised on representativeness rather than
exclusion and empower jurors to take greater responsibility for their special role in
the legal process