Random Drug Testing of TANF Recipients is Costly, Ineffective and Hurts Families

Legislators in a number of states have proposed to test all TANF recipients for drug use. This brief explains that random drug testing may be unconstitutional, and is a costly and ineffective way to identify individuals in need of substance abuse treatment. Screening, targeted testing programs, and enhanced treatment options are a better approach to helping TANF families affected by substance abuse

Using Program Synthesis for Program Analysis

In this paper, we identify a fragment of second-order logic with restricted quantification that is expressive enough to capture numerous static analysis problems (e.g. safety proving, bug finding, termination and non-termination proving, superoptimisation). We call this fragment the {\it synthesis fragment}. Satisfiability of a formula in the synthesis fragment is decidable over finite domains; specifically the decision problem is NEXPTIME-complete. If a formula in this fragment is satisfiable, a solution consists of a satisfying assignment from the second order variables to \emph{functions over finite domains}. To concretely find these solutions, we synthesise \emph{programs} that compute the functions. Our program synthesis algorithm is complete for finite state programs, i.e. every \emph{function} over finite domains is computed by some \emph{program} that we can synthesise. We can therefore use our synthesiser as a decision procedure for the synthesis fragment of second-order logic, which in turn allows us to use it as a powerful backend for many program analysis tasks. To show the tractability of our approach, we evaluate the program synthesiser on several static analysis problems.Comment: 19 pages, to appear in LPAR 2015. arXiv admin note: text overlap with arXiv:1409.492

Parallel Importation and Service Quality: An Empirical Investigation of Competition between DVDs and Cinemas in New Zealand

Investigations into the causes and effects of parallel importing have concentrated on price discrimination but arbitrage can also occur on non-price dimensions. Using a natural experiment in the New Zealand film distribution industry between May 1998 and November 2001 we examine the effect of parallel importing on quality as it relates to the timing of the availability of film media. We demonstrate that a) cinema revenues were undermined as consumers substituted viewing films on parallel imported DVDs for thecinema format and b) that studios responded to the threat of parallel imported DVDs by bringing forward the release of films into New Zealand cinemas. The reduced delay between US and New Zealand cinematic release dates is shown to be consistent with the introduction of competition when timing is a dimension of quality and choice. We conclude that parallel importation of DVDs almost certainly resulted in a net increase in welfare in New Zealand

Closing the California Clean Energy Divide: Reducing Electric Bills in Affordable Multifamily Rental Housing with Solar+storage

This economic analysis indicates that pairing solar PV with battery storage systems can deliver significant electricity bill savings for California affordable housing residents and property owners.Battery storage is emerging as an effective new strategy for reducing electricity costs for affordable multifamily rental housing in California. Battery storage systems not only provide economic returns today, they can also preserve the value of solar in an evolving policy and regulatory environment. Because batteries empower owners of solar photovoltaic (PV) systems to take control of the energy they produce and when they consume it, storage can deliver deeper cost reductions that can be shared among affordable housing owners, developers, and tenants.California has installed numerous integrated solar and battery storage projects; however, few have served lowincome tenants or owners of affordable rental housing. This disparity is due to many factors, including a lack of information about the economics of these systems in multifamily housing. To provide that needed information, Clean Energy Group, California Housing Partnership, and Center for Sustainable Energy, with analytical support from Geli, are embarking on a series of reports on solar and storage in California affordable multifamily rental housing.This first report examines the utility bill impacts of adding battery storage to stand-alone solar in affordable rental housing facilities in California's three investor-owned utility service territories, each with different rate structures. It is the first such report ever completed on these technologies in this sector in California.The report reaches several key conclusions:Under current utility rate tariffs, the combination of solar and storage technologies could virtually eliminate electric bills for many owners of affordable housing properties. Unlike stand-alone solar, which reduces energy consumption expenses but does little to offset demand related charges, a properly sized solar and battery storage system can eliminate nearly all electricity expenses, resulting in an annual electric utility bill of less than a few hundred dollars in some cases.It makes good economic sense today for solar and battery storage to be installed in affordable multifamily rental housing in California. The addition of battery storage to solar improves the economics of each property analyzed across all utility territories, reducing project payback by over three years in some cases.The addition of storage technologies has the potential to nearly double stand-alone solar electricity bill savings at about a third of the cost of solar. For example, the addition of a $112,100 battery storage system to a$385,000 solar installation increased savings from $15,000 per year to$27,900, an 85 percent increase in savings for only a 29 percent increase in cost

A Comparison of C++ Sockets and Corba in a Distributed Matrix Multiply Application

This project has two primary purposes. The first, is to implement a distributed matrix multiply algorithm using C++ sockets, and Corba objects with the objective of discovering what additional overhead, if any, exists in a Corba implementation. Secondly, attempt to improve the speedup through the use of stateful servers in the C++ implementation

Feral big cats in rural Gloucestershire - reflecting on the possible presence of exotic animals in the English landscape

In the winter of 2012 the discovery of savaged deer carcasses in Gloucestershire, quickly followed by reports of video footage from an area nearby thought to be of a big cat, gained a significant amount of regional and national press coverage. The presence of unexpected creatures in the British countryside is not a new phenomenon; from the Loch Ness Monster to the Beast of Bodmin Moor, reports of the unusual and unexplained have seeped into British culture. This paper investigates the presence of big cats in the county of Gloucestershire through an exploration of the experience and opinions of local people. The study incorporated an online survey, a media analysis and the mapping of big cat sightings in the area. The findings provide an interesting insight into the cultural function of the possible presence of big cats, in that it is the unexplained rather than the proven that captures people's interest. Understandings of nature, and the search for a re-enchanted countryside, outside of human knowledge or control, are brought to the fore