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1. Reputation Building under Observational Learning

   https://doi.org/10.1093/restud/rdac052  

   Pei, Harry (July 2022, The Review of Economic Studies)

   Abstract A patient seller interacts with a sequence of myopic consumers. Each period, the seller chooses the quality of his product, and a consumer decides whether to trust the seller after she observes the seller’s actions in the last $$K$$ periods (limited memory) and at least one previous consumer’s action (observational learning). However, the consumer cannot observe the seller’s action in the current period. With positive probability, the seller is a commitment type who plays his Stackelberg action in every period. I show that under limited memory and observational learning, consumers are concerned that the seller will not play his Stackelberg action when he has a positive reputation and will play his Stackelberg action after he has lost his reputation. Such a concern leads to equilibria where the seller receives a low payoff from building a reputation. I also show that my reputation failure result hinges on consumers’ observational learning. 

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2. Cluster Preface: Electrochemical Synthesis and Catalysis

   https://doi.org/10.1055/s-0039-1689970  

   Kawamata, Yu; Baran, Phil S. (May 2019, Synlett)

   null (Ed.)

   Yu Kawamata was born in Japan in 1988, and he completed his undergraduate education at Kyoto University. He obtained his master’s degree and his Ph.D. at the same university under the supervision of Professor Keiji Maruoka, and he undertook a short-term internship at The Scripps Research Institute working on natural product synthesis with Professor Phil S. Baran. Upon completion of his doctoral studies, he returned to the Baran laboratory as a research associate and currently is pursuing his postdoctoral studies on organic electrochemistry.Phil S. Baran was born in New Jersey in 1977 and completed his undergraduate education at New York University in 1997. After earning his Ph.D. at The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI) in 2001, he pursued postdoctoral studies at Harvard University until 2003, at which point he returned to TSRI to begin his independent career. He was promoted to the rank of professor in 2008 and is currently the Darlene Shiley Professor of Chemistry. The mission of his laboratory is to educate students at the intersection of fundamental organic chemistry and translational science. 

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3. F. S. Macaulay: From plane curves to Gorenstein rings

   https://doi.org/10.1090/bull/1787  

   Eisenbud, David; Gray, Jeremy (July 2023, Bulletin of the American Mathematical Society)

   Francis Sowerby Macaulay began his career working on Brill and Noether’s theory of algebraic plane curves and their interpretation of the Riemann–Roch and Cayley–Bacharach theorems; in fact it is Macaulay who first stated and proved the modern form of the Cayley–Bacharach theorem. Later in his career Macaulay developed ideas and results that have become important in modern commutative algebra, such as the notions of unmixedness, perfection (the Cohen–Macaulay property), and super-perfection (the Gorenstein property), work that was appreciated by Emmy Noether and the people around her. He also discovered results that are now fundamental in the theory of linkage, but this work was forgotten and independently rediscovered much later. The name of a computer algebra program (now Macaulay2) recognizes that much of his work is based on examples created by refined computation. Though he never spoke of the connection, the threads of Macaulay’s work lead directly from the problems on plane curves to his later theorems. In this paper we will explain what Macaulay did, and how his results are connected. 

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4. On the Ambient Optic Array: James Gibson’s Insights About the Phenomenon of Chiaroscuro

   https://doi.org/10.1177/2041669520952097  

   Todd, James T. (September 2020, i-Perception)

   null (Ed.)

   In 1966, James Gibson first presented his theory of the ambient optic array, and he proposed a new field of ecological optics that he hoped would advance our knowledge on this topic. This study will consider how his ideas have largely come to fruition over the past 50 years. It reviews the research on the visual perception of three-dimensional shape from shading, the effects of ambient light from surface interreflections on observers’ perceptions, the perception of the light field, and the perception of surface materials. Finally, it also considers Gibson’s impact on these developments. 

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5. Noah Hershkowitz: Experimental plasma physics pioneer

   https://doi.org/10.1063/5.0267508  

   Severn, Greg; Baalrud, Scott_D; Foster, John (July 2025, Physics of Plasmas)

   Over a nearly 50 year career in plasma physics, spanning 1971–2020, Noah Hershkowitz designed many creative experiments that led to important contributions to plasma physics. He lived the mantra that a person who enjoys what they do will never have to work a day in their life. Noah loved plasma science. His interest was broad, encompassing fusion, low temperature, and basic plasma physics. This retrospective review discusses some highlights of his impactful contributions, focusing on diagnostics, sheath physics, and magnetic confinement for both low temperature plasma physics applications (especially cusp configurations) and fusion applications (tandem mirrors, especially axisymmetric configurations). 

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