scholarly journals Detecting anomalies in data on government violence

Author(s):  
Kanisha D. Bond ◽  
Courtenay R. Conrad ◽  
Dylan Moses ◽  
Joel W. Simmons

Abstract Can data on government coercion and violence be trusted when the data are generated by state itself? In this paper, we investigate the extent to which data from the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) regarding the use of force by corrections officers against prison inmates between 2008 and 2017 conform to Benford's Law. Following a growing data forensics literature, we expect misreporting of the use-of-force in California state prisons to cause the observed data to deviate from Benford's distribution. Statistical hypothesis tests and further investigation of CDCR data—which show both temporal and cross-sectional variance in conformity with Benford's Law—are consistent with misreporting of the use-of-force by the CDCR. Our results suggest that data on government coercion generated by the state should be inspected carefully before being used to test hypotheses or make policy.

Author(s):  
Jong Hak Lee ◽  
Jong Eun Kim ◽  
Chang Su Park ◽  
Nam Il Kim ◽  
Jang Won Moon ◽  
...  

Abstract In this work, a slightly unetched gate hard mask failure was analyzed by nano probing. Although unetched hard mask failures are commonly detected from the cross sectional view with FIB or FIB-TEM and planar view with the voltage contrast, in this case of the very slightly unetched hard mask, it was difficult to find the defects within the failed area by physical analysis methods. FIB is useful due to its function of milling and checking from the one region to another region within the suspected area, but the defect, located under contact was very tiny. So, it could not be detected in the tilted-view of the FIB. However, the state of the failure could be understood from the electrical analysis using a nano probe due to its ability to probe contact nodes across the fail area. Among the transistors in the fail area, one transistor’s characteristics showed higher leakage current and lower ON current than expected. After physical analysis, slightly remained hard mask was detected by TEM. Chemical processing was followed to determine the gate electrode (WSi2) connection to tungsten contact. It was also proven that when gate is floated, more leakage current flows compared to the state that the zero voltage is applied to the gate. This was not verified by circuit simulation due to the floating nodes.


Entropy ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 23 (5) ◽  
pp. 557
Author(s):  
Ionel Jianu ◽  
Iulia Jianu

This study investigates the conformity to Benford’s Law of the information disclosed in financial statements. Using the first digit test of Benford’s Law, the study analyses the reliability of financial information provided by listed companies on an emerging capital market before and after the implementation of International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS). The results of the study confirm the increase of reliability on the information disclosed in the financial statements after IFRS implementation. The study contributes to the existing literature by bringing new insights into the types of financial information that do not comply with Benford’s Law such as the amounts determined by estimates or by applying professional judgment.


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