cometadata/datacite-rtg-text-other-reclassification-records huggingface dataset:
Measuring the oxidative cost of breathing : a comparison of methods using red-eared sliders (Trachemys scripta elegans)
Creators: name: Lee, Stella Yim Jung
Publisher: name: University of British Columbia
Year: 2011

description: There is a metabolic cost associated with the work required to overcome the elastic and resistive forces associated with breathing. These forces vary widely as a function of the anatomy of the lungs and body wall in different species. In turtles, the lungs are relatively compliant but the body wall with the carapace is very stiff. Studies designed to measure the cost of ventilation in turtles have proven to be difficult. Two different methods have been used to estimate costs and each method has produced a different result. In an attempt to resolve this controversy, the present study obtained data using three different methods in a single group of turtles; a data regression method, a unidirectional ventilation method (UDV), and a hybrid method combining data regression and unidirectional ventilation. All three methods produced highly variable results (individual variability, differences between use of hypoxia and hypercapnia, evidence of hypoxia and hypercapnia-induced metabolic suppression). Based on data plotted for individual animals versus groups of animals and using all data points versus mean values for different levels of inspired gases, oxidative costs were obtained ranging from -0.0005 to 0.022 ml O₂/ml air ventilated using the regression method, 0.014 ml O₂/ml air for the UDV method and 0.025 ml O₂/ml air for the hybrid method. Most values were high compared to a theoretical estimate of 0.0003 ml O₂/ml air obtained based on measurements of mechanical work of breathing and an assumed respiratory muscle efficiency of 10%. The experimental results from the two methods appeared to be different as a result of CO₂-induced metabolic rate suppression or the non-linearity of the oxygen uptake-ventilation relationship. However, assuming the theoretical estimate best represents the oxygen uptake-ventilation relationship and the true oxidative costs of ventilation, neither theory would fit. Instead, attributing the discrepancy in results to the differences in the breathing patterns and their irregularity provided the most logical explanation and resulted in the conclusion that the oxidative cost of ventilation in turtles to be similar to that of mammals.
Value Chain Analysis of Barely: A Case of Ambo District, West Showa Zone of Oromia National Regional State, Ethiopia
Creators: name: Ekuba, Alemayehu
name: Wolteji Chala, Badassa
name: Abebe, Workneh
Publisher: name: Journal of Science and Sustainable Development
Year: 2019

description: Though barley value chains analysis assists governmental institutions and non-government organizations (NGOs) to assess their activities and redesign their operations, there has been no adequate study in Ambo district. Thus, this study aimed to analyze barley market value chain and identify determinants of the quantity of barley supply. The data were gathered from 132 randomly selected households, 20 traders and 4 input suppliers. Both descriptive statistics and econometric model were used for data analysis. The study revealed that the highest value added in barley value chains were about Birr 15.5/quintal. Rural assemblers in barley value chain obtained the highest share of gross profit next to producers. The Tobit regression estimator also revealed that age of the household, education of the household head, quantity of barley produced, use of fertilizer, improved seed used, and extension contact were significantly influencing the quantity of barley market supply. There was also no barley processor actor or that uses barley as a raw material in the barley value chain. Therefore, there is a need to promote agro-processors to be involved in barley processing and marketing.
description: Journal of Science and Sustainable Development, Vol. 7 No. 1 (2019)
New bounds on trilinear R-parity violation from lepton flavor violating observables
Creators: name: Dreiner, H. K.
name: Nickel, K.
name: Staub, F.
name: Vicente, A.
Publisher: name: arXiv
Year: 2012
Subjects: subject: High Energy Physics - Phenomenology (hep-ph)
subject: FOS: Physical sciences

description: Many extensions of the leptonic sector of the Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model (MSSM) are known, most of them leading to observable flavor violating effects. It has been recently shown that the 1-loop contributions to lepton flavor violating three-body decays $l_i \to 3 l_j$ involving the $Z^0$ boson may be dominant, that is, much more important than the usual photonic penguins. Other processes like $μ$-$e$ conversion in nuclei and flavor violating $τ$ decays into mesons are also enhanced by the same effect. This is for instance also the case in the MSSM with trilinear R-parity violation. The aim of this work is to derive new bounds on the relevant combinations of R-parity violating couplings and to compare them with previous results in the literature. For heavy supersymmetric spectra the limits are improved by several orders of magnitude. For completeness, also constraints coming from flavor violating $Z^0$-decays and tree-level decay channels $l \to l_i l_j l_k$ are presented for a set of benchmark points.
description: 21 pages; 5 figures; v2: corrected bug, conclusion unchanged
Mutiny and sabotage in defense of mother earth: risk cultures, radical environmentalism and ecotage
Creators: name: Laurendeau, Jason
Publisher: name: University of Calgary
Year: 2007

description: Bibliography: p. 195-214
description: In this dissertation, I argue that the characterization of radical environmental activists (sometimes referred to as "ecoterrorists") as crazed lunatics committed to a violent agenda is both inaccurate and an oversimplification. Employing Lash's (2000) notion of risk cultures, I explore the ideological underpinnings of radical environmental activism, the discourses observers and activists employ in describing "ecotage," and issues of force and violence. I maintain that Lash's risk culture formulation allows us to conceptualize the actions of these political actors as, in certain respects, rational responses to the anxieties of late modernity, particularly those centered around risk and risk discourses (Beck 1992). Drawing on analyses of mainstream and alternative media accounts, as well as interview data with ecoteurs and other actors engaged in various forms of civil disobedience actions, I suggest that there is a considered environmental philosophy that informs this kind of political action. I also point out that media and political agents, as well as industry (e.g., logging) representatives, demonize radical environmental activism, often characterizing it as criminal, even "terrorist," without serious critical discussion of the environmental objectives of the groups and individuals engaged in this kind of activism. Lastly, I point out that ecoteurs construct their tactics as non-violent, in contrast to the assessments of many observers. I do, however, contend that there are some points of slippage in these constructions, and highlight some evidence that violent tactics may be on the horizon. I conclude with a consideration of the notion of liminality (Bauman 1991), suggesting that it may help to shed light on some of the questions and contradictions highlighted in this dissertation.
Vietnam: Embracing ICT for Economic Catch-up Case
Creators: name: Vu Minh Khuong,
name: Robert D. Austin,
Publisher: name: National University of Singapore
Year: 2014
Subjects: Vietnam
Information and Communication Technologies
cyber-security
economic reforms

description: Since the launch of economic reforms known as “Doi Moi” (renovation) in December 1986, Vietnam’s vigorous embrace of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) has enabled the country to transform itself from a closed, impoverished country into a highly open and fast-growing economy. Today, Vietnam has become a hub of global ICT hardware production and IT outsourcing (ITO) in the region. This case explores how Vietnam transformed into an ICT hub over a short period of time, as well as the key policy challenges it faces going forward, which include expanding the country’s IT infrastructure, addressing the shortage of skilled labour, and strengthening the cyber-security environment.

This is part of the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy – Microsoft Case Study Series on IT, Public Policy and Society.
Linear-Quadratic Approximation of Optimal Policy Problems
Creators: name: Benigno, Pierpaolo
name: Woodford, Michael
Publisher: name: Columbia University
Year: 2008
Subjects: Economics

description: We consider a general class of nonlinear optimal policy problems involving forward-looking constraints (such as the Euler equations that are typically present as structural equations in DSGE models), and show that it is possible, under regularity conditions that are straightforward to check, to derive a problem with linear constraints and a quadratic objective that approximates the exact problem. The LQ approximate problem is computationally simple to solve, even in the case of moderately large state spaces and flexibly parameterized disturbance processes, and its solution represents a local linear approximation to the optimal policy for the exact model in the case that stochastic disturbances are small enough. We derive the second-order conditions that must be satisfied in order for the LQ problem to have a solution, and show that these are stronger, in general, than those required for LQ problems without forward-looking constraints. We also show how the same linear approximations to the model structural equations and quadratic approximation to the exact welfare measure can be used to correctly rank alternative simple policy rules, again in the case of small enough shocks.
Next-to-leading order QCD predictions for the signal of Dark Matter and photon associated production at the LHC
Creators: name: Wang, Jian
name: Li, Chong Sheng
name: Shao, Ding Yu
name: Zhang, Hao
Publisher: name: arXiv
Year: 2011
Subjects: subject: High Energy Physics - Phenomenology (hep-ph)
subject: High Energy Physics - Experiment (hep-ex)
subject: FOS: Physical sciences

description: We study the potential of LHC to discovery the signal of Dark Matter with photon associated production induced by a dimension six effective operator, including NLO QCD corrections. We investigate the main backgrounds from SM, i.e. $Z$ boson and a photon associated production with invisible dacay of $Z$ boson, and $Z$ boson and a jet production with the jet misidentified as a photon. We find that the $p_T^γ$ distributions of the backgrounds decrease faster than that of the signal with increasing of the transverse momentum of the photon. The $η^γ$ distributions of the backgrounds are almost flat in the full range of $η^γ$. In contrast, the signal lies mainly in the central region of $η^γ$. These characteristics may help to select the events in experiments. We show that in the parameter space allowed by the relic abundance constraint, which we have calculated at the NLO QCD level, the LHC with $\sqrt{S}=7{\rm TeV}$ may discovery this signal at the $5σ$ level after collecting an integrated luminosity of $1 {\rm fb}^{-1}$. On the other hand, if this signal is not observed at the LHC, we can set a lower limit on the new physics scale at the $3σ$ level.
description: 20 pages, 14 figures, version published in Phys.Rev.D
Imperfect Information and Aggregate Supply
Creators: name: Mankiw, N. Gregory
name: Reis, Ricardo
Publisher: name: Columbia University
Year: 2010
Subjects: Economics

description: This paper surveys the research in the past decade on imperfect information models of aggregate supply and the Phillips curve. This new work has emphasized that information is dispersed and disseminates slowly across a population of agents who strategically interact in their use of information. We discuss the foundations on which models of aggregate supply rest, as well as the micro-foundations for two classes of imperfect information models: models with partial information, where agents observe economic conditions with noise, and models with delayed information, where they observe economic conditions with a lag. We derive the implications of these two classes of models for: the existence of a non-vertical aggregate supply, the persistence of the real effects of monetary policy, the difference between idiosyncratic and aggregate shocks, the dynamics of disagreement, and the role of transparency in policy. Finally, we present some of the topics on the research frontier in this area.
A comparison of the effects of 20 and 30 years of grazing on grassland soil properties in southern British Columbia
Creators: name: Evans, Christian Welby
Publisher: name: University of British Columbia
Year: 2011

description: Although numerous studies have been conducted on rangeland soil quality in Alberta, Manitoba, Saskatchewan, as well as in the Great Plains, there has been little documentation of the response of soil properties to time of grazing and stocking rate treatments for the grasslands of the southern interior of BC. In the Lac Du Bois range in Kamloops, BC, the current moderate stocking rate of 2 AUM ha⁻¹ was based on a desired available forage use of 50%. Livestock is moved up and down an elevation and productivity gradient over the grazing season so that pastures located midway up the gradient are grazed either in the spring or fall. The objectives of this study were to determine (1) the effects of spring and fall grazing treatments on selected soil properties after periods of 20 and 30 years and (2) the effects of 0 and 2 AUM ha⁻¹ grazing rates on selected soil properties after periods of 20 and 30 years. The spring grazing treatment led to greater soil bulk density, mechanical resistance, pH, as well as lower polysaccharides and CEC relative to the fall grazing treatment. The grazing rate of 2 AUM ha⁻¹ led to greater soil mechanical resistance and pH, as well as lower soil polysaccharides and LOMF relative to the ungrazed control. After 30 years of grazing, soil bulk density was greater in the 0-7.5-cm depth under the 2 AUM ha⁻¹ treatment relative to the ungrazed exclosure in spring-grazed but not in fall-grazed areas, indicating that this stocking rate, when used for spring grazing, has led to soil compaction. Rangeland managers in the southern interior of BC should consider adjustments of time of grazing and stocking rate recommendations when these have been solely on vegetation responses, and should consider including soil properties in rangeland health assessments.
Biochemical Composition of Green Coffee Beans as Geographic Indication in Ethiopian Specialty Coffees
Creators: name: Mintesnot, Adugnaw
name: Dechassa, Nigussie
Publisher: name: Journal of Science and Sustainable Development
Year: 2019

description: Biochemical composition of green coffee beans can be used as reliable geographical indicators to characterize quality. No efforts have been made in Ethiopia to elucidate the biochemical composition of green coffees based on geographical origin. The objective of this research was to determine the biochemical composition of green coffee beans in Ethiopia based on location. Green coffee beans were obtained from three replicated sites per farm from a total of 24 farms in south-western (SW), western (W), southern (S), north-western (NW) and eastern (E) major coffee growing regions of Ethiopia. Handpicked coffee cherries at peak maturity were used for the study during the 2010/2011 growing season. The study followed a multistage purposive random sampling method in a nested design. The results of the study revealed that location significantly (P<0.05) affected the values of caffeine, 5-CQA (5-Caffeoylquinic acid), Feruloylquinic acids (FQA), 3,4-Dicaffeoylquinic acids (3,4-DCQA) and 4,5-Dicaffeoylquinic acids (4,5-DCQA). Green coffee bean composition of 4-CQA (4-Caffeoylquinic acid), 5-CQA, 4,5-DCQA, caffeine, FQA, and 3-CQA in a descending order of importance contributed much to separate coffees originating from the eastern region distinctly from those originating from both the western and southern regions. However, 4-CQA, 3-CQA (3-Caffeoylquinic acid), FQA, 4,5-DCQA, 5-CQA, and caffeine in their descending order of importance contributed much to separate coffees originating from the south-western region from those originating from both the southern and north-western regions. However, a repeated and an integrated study is sought to come to a comprehensive conclusion and recommendation.
description: Journal of Science and Sustainable Development, Vol. 7 No. 1 (2019)
TeV blazar variability: the firehose instability?
Creators: name: Subramanian, Prasad
name: Shukla, Amit
name: Becker, Peter A.
Publisher: name: arXiv
Year: 2012
Subjects: subject: High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena (astro-ph.HE)
subject: Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics (astro-ph.CO)
subject: FOS: Physical sciences

description: Recently observed minute timescale variability of blazar emission at TeV energies has imposed severe constraints on jet models and TeV emission mechanisms. We focus on a robust jet instability to explain this variability. As a consequence of the bulk outflow of the jet plasma, the pressure is likely to be anisotropic, with the parallel pressure $P_{||}$ in the forward jet direction exceeding the perpendicular pressure $P_{\perp}$. Under these circumstances, the jet is susceptible to the firehose instability, which can cause disruptions in the large scale jet structure and result in variability of the observed radiation. For a realistic range of parameters, we find that the growth timescale of the firehose instability is $\approx$ a few minutes, in good agreement with the observed TeV variability timescales for Mrk 501 (Albert et al. 2007) and PKS 2155-304 (Aharonian et al. 2007).
description: Accepted for publication, MNRAS
The Central-Bank Balance Sheet as an Instrument of Monetary Policy
Creators: name: Cúrdia, Vasco
name: Woodford, Michael
Publisher: name: Columbia University
Year: 2010
Subjects: Economics

description: While many analyses of monetary policy consider only a target for a short-term nominal interest rate, other dimensions of policy have recently been of greater importance: changes in the supply of bank reserves, changes in the assets acquired by central banks, and changes in the interest rate paid on reserves. We extend a standard New Keynesian model to allow a role for the central bank's balance sheet in equilibrium determination, and consider the connections between these alternative dimensions of policy and traditional interest-rate policy. We distinguish between "quantitative easing" in the strict sense and targeted asset purchases by a central bank, and argue that while the former is likely be ineffective at all times, the latter dimension of policy can be effective when financial markets are sufficiently disrupted. Neither is a perfect substitute for conventional interest-rate policy, but purchases of illiquid assets are particularly likely to improve welfare when the zero lower bound on the policy rate is reached. We also consider optimal policy with regard to the payment of interest on reserves; in our model, this requires that the interest rate on reserves be kept near the target for the policy rate at all times.
Indirect effects of mycorrhizal fungi on herbivores and mutualists of plants
Creators: name: Laird, Robert Andrew
Publisher: name: University of Calgary
Year: 2007

description: Bibliography: p. 151-181
description: Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi are a group of soil-dwelling fungi that form symbioses with most plant species. The symbiosis, which is frequently mutualistic, is based on the trade of resources: the fungi provide their host plants with nutrients collected from the soil while the plants provide their fungi with carbohydrates. Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi may also help their host plants by reducing drought stress and by reducing root pathogens. As a result, arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi may affect traits of their host plants that are relevant to organisms at other trophic levels, such as herbivorous or mutualistic insects. My goal was to use experiments to investigate this type of 'trait-mediated indirect effect'. I begin with an introductory chapter (Chapter I) in which I review indirect effects, with emphasis on those between mycorrhizal fungi and insects. The subsequent five chapters each describe an experiment. In Chapter 2, I show that an assumption of the commonly used 'fungicide application method' for creating non-mycorrhizal control plants is problematic. Specifically, root-applied fungicides can negatively affect leaffeeding herbivores. In Chapter 3, I demonstrate neutral indirect effects of mycorrhizal fungi on specialist sunflower beetle larvae, in terms of survival, growth, and feeding efficiency. This runs counter to emerging theory and empirical evidence that suggests that specialists are typically positively affected by their host plants' mycorrhizal fungi. In Chapter 4, I investigate whether the stable isotope signatures of herbivores can be used to infer their host plants' mycorrhizal status, and surmise that they probably cannot. In Chapter 5, I show that mycorrhizal fungi can negatively affect the expression of extrafloral nectaries in broad bean plants, likely as a result of carbon limitation. However, in Chapter 6, I demonstrate that these effects can also be positive, at least under environmental conditions in which there is a positive effect of mycorrhizal fungi on plant size. Interestingly, the difference in extrafloral nectar production was too small to elicit a behavioural response in nectar-foraging ants. In the final chapter of the thesis (Chapter 7), I summarize and synthesize my main research findings, and consider future directions for this line of research.
The Book Rights Registry in the Google Book Settlement
Creators: name: Band, Jonathan
Publisher: name: Columbia University
Year: 2011
Subjects: Copyright
Actions and defenses
Dispute resolution (Law)
Copyright clearinghouses
Conference papers and proceedings
Intellectual property

description: Copyright law poses a significant challenge to any effort to create a comprehensive digital database of published books. Approximately eighty percent of these millions of titles are still under copyright. The tremendous amount of time, transaction costs and uncertainty relating to clearing the rights to so many works is overwhelming.
Probing quasiparticle excitations in a hybrid single electron transistor
Creators: name: Knowles, H. S.
name: Maisi, V. F.
name: Pekola, J. P.
Publisher: name: arXiv
Year: 2012
Subjects: subject: Superconductivity (cond-mat.supr-con)
subject: FOS: Physical sciences

description: We investigate the behavior of quasiparticles in a hybrid electron turnstile with the aim of improving its performance as a metrological current source. The device is used to directly probe the density of quasiparticles and monitor their relaxation into normal metal traps. We compare different trap geometries and reach quasiparticle densities below 3um^-3 for pumping frequencies of 20 MHz. Our data show that quasiparticles are excited both by the device operation itself and by the electromagnetic environment of the sample. Our observations can be modelled on a quantitative level with a sequential tunneling model and a simple diffusion equation.
Dendrocoris contaminatus
Creators: name: Thomas, D. B. Jr.
name: H. Brailovsky
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 1999
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Hemiptera
Pentatomidae
Dendrocoris
Dendrocoris contaminatus

description: Dendrocoris contaminatus (Uhler 1897)
Diagnosis. Vertex ofhead tumid. Color yellow tan to bricli red with cicatrices contrastingly dark brown, the dark color often spreadingto the anterolateral pronotal margin. Laterotergites ofconnexivum unicolorous. Apices ofjuga contiguous or nearly so. Anterolateral pronotal margins in dorsal view slightly sinuate. Humeri not produced. Legs immaculate. Abdominal tubercle prominent, present in both sexes. Venation of hemelytral membrane simple or furcate, not reticulate. Male pygophore lacks teeth on posterior aspect near medial emargination.
Distribution. USA: Arizona, California, Nevada, New Mexico, Texas, Utah. MEXICO: Baja California, Baja California Sur, Coahuila, Durango, Nuevo Leon, San Luis Potosi, Sonora.
Remarks. This species is restricted to creosote bush, Larrea tridentata Sessit & Mocifio. The darkened cicatrices are characteristic, though it can be confused with D. neomexicanus Nelson.
description: Published as part of Thomas, D. B. Jr. & H. Brailovsky, 1999, Review of the genus Dendrocoris Bergroth with descriptions of new species (Pentatomidae: Heteroptera), pp. 1-9 in Insecta Mundi 13 on page 2
Estimating the impact of climate change on crop yields: The importance of non-linear temperature effects
Creators: name: Schlenker, Wolfram
name: Roberts, Michael J.
Publisher: name: Columbia University
Year: 2006
Subjects: Climatic changes
Agriculture

description: There has been an active debate whether global warming will result in a net gain or net loss for United States agriculture. With mounting evidence that climate is warming, we show that such warming will have substantial impacts on agricultural yields by the end of the century: yields of three major crops in the United States are predicted to decrease by 60 to 79% under the most rapid warming scenario. We use a 55-year panel of crop yields in the United States and pair it with a unique fine-scale weather data set that incorporates the whole distribution of temperatures between the minimum and maximum within each day and across all days in the growing season. The key contribution of our study is in identifying a highly non-linear and asymmetric relationship between temperature and yields. Yields increase in temperature until about 29Â° C for corn and soybeans and 33Â° C for cotton, but temperatures above these thresholds quickly become very harmful, and the slope of the decline above the optimum is significantly steeper than the incline below it. Previous studies average temperatures over a season, month, or day and thereby dilute this highly non-linear relationship. We use encompassing tests to compare our model with others in the literature and find its out-of-sample forecasts are significantly better. The stability of the estimated relationship across regions, crops, and time suggests it may be transferable to other crops and countries.
Selected Nutritional Values and Physicochemical Properties of Traditionally Prepared Ethiopian Fresh Butter Intended for Direct Consumption
Creators: name: Bekele, Shitaye
name: Abebaw, Alemayehu
name: Leta, Bayissa
Publisher: name: Journal of Science and Sustainable Development
Year: 2018

description: The level of selected nutritional values, physicochemical properties and metal contents of butter samples collected from Dire Enchini and Ejere Districts in West Showa Zone, Oromia Regional State, Ethiopia have been investigated to ensure food safety. Properly optimized sample preparation methods and calibrated and verified analytical procedures have been employed for the analysis. The result of the study indicated that, the butter sample collected from Dire Enchini district have shown average ash, fat, protein, carbohydrate and solid not fat contents of 0.10, 82.73, 2.32, 1.18 and 4.45 %, respectively, while the corresponding values for butter sample from Ejere district were 0.13, 84.71, 1.87, 0.86 and 2.19 %, respectively. The results showed there was significant differences in fat, crude protein and solid-not-fat contents of butter from the two districts. The determined physicochemical properties of butter samples from Dire Enchini have shown the average moisture (%), Melting point (℃), Free fatty acids (as oleic) (%), titratable acidity (butyric acid) (%), peroxide value (meq/ kg), Iodine value (I2g /100g), saponification value (mg KOH/ g) and cholesterol in butter (mg/ 100 g) contents of 12.82, 34.5-35.40, 0.82, 0.28, 0.48, 3.76, 95.3 and184.13±12.19, respectively, while the corresponding values for butter sample obtained from Ejere were 11.77, 35.0-35.70, 0.62, 0.23, 0.41, 3.97, 103 and 280.88, respectively. The optimized wet digestion method for Butter sample analysis was found effective for all of the minerals as it was evaluated through the recovery experiment and a good percentage recovery range from 91 – 100 % was obtained with %RSD ≤ 12 for the minerals analyzed. The average levels of metals investigated followed the order of K > Ca > Na > Mg > Fe > Zn > Cu >Mn (mg/ Kg) in Butter sample from Dirre Enchini district. Similar order was obtained in butter sample from Ejere, except Cu > Zn. The concentrations of the metals, nutritional value and Physicochemical property of butter were found to be in a good agreement with the international standards and indicating no risk exposure of using the butter from the investigated areas.
description: Journal of Science and Sustainable Development, Vol. 6 No. 2 (2018)
Labor Legislation and its Adverse Impacts on Transaction Costs in Brazilian Agriculture
Creators: name: Rezende, Gervasio Castro De
name: Ferreira, Leo Da Rocha
name: Kreter, Ana Cecilia
Publisher: name: Columbia University
Year: 2009
Subjects: Economics
Agriculture
Labor laws and legislation

description: The objective of this paper is to analyze the inadequate pattern of labor absorption in Brazilian agriculture, focusing, specially, on the role of agricultural labor policy. While pointing out the negative role played by the so-called "labor surcharges", the paper gives more emphasis on the "transaction costs" associated to this policy. For the analysis of the role played by agricultural labor policy, it is actually proposed that these "transaction costs" are more important than the "labor surcharges". Finally, in order to allow for much freer contracting among the several parties involves in these markets, it is proposed a radical change in the current agricultural labor policy. However, this does not mean that the public sector should leave this labor market altogether; after all, public regulation is necessary for the enforcement of the contracts.
Renforcer la politique de gratuité des soins au Niger : bilan d’un atelier délibératif national novateur
Creators: name: Hamani Souley, Ibrahim
name: Mc Sween-Cadieux, Esther
name: Moha, Mahaman
name: Calvès, Anne Emmanuèle
name: Ridde, Valéry
Publisher: name: Revue francophone de recherche sur le transfert et l’utilisation des connaissances
Year: 2017

description: Depuis 2006, le Niger, sous pression de la Banque mondiale, a mis en place une politique de gratuité des soins pour les femmes enceintes et les enfants de moins de cinq ans. Cependant, sa mise en oeuvre s’est avérée difficile et parfois dysfonctionnelle. En mars 2012, un atelier national délibératif de trois jours, sollicité par l’Union européenne (ECHO) a donc été organisé pour échanger sur les acquis, limites et perspectives de renforcement de cette politique. L’atelier a regroupé 160 acteurs dont des chercheurs, humanitaires, décideurs politiques et techniques, élus locaux, représentants communautaires et intervenants sur le terrain. Plusieurs résultats de recherche (court métrage, notes de recherche et exposés) ont alimenté les échanges afin que les recommandations proposées soient appuyées par des données scientifiques. Étant donné l’ampleur de cet atelier, cette étude vise à décrire l’organisation et le déroulement de l’événement et à en évaluer l’utilité, telle que perçue par les participants. Les données proviennent d’entretiens (n=173 : avant l’atelier, n=45 : pendant (2 mois) après l’atelier et n=22 : deux ans après l’atelier) avec une multitude de participants à différents moments du processus ainsi que de l’observation de l’atelier. Les résultats montrent que cet atelier a mené à quelques changements à court, moyen et long terme. Grâce à l’enthousiasme suscité par l’atelier, un comité de suivi s’est réuni à quelques reprises. Cependant, le comité a cessé de se réunir et cela a nui à l’application des recommandations issues de l’atelier délibératif. L’étude permet de relever les principaux défis qui ont entravé la mise en oeuvre de ces recommandations dans le contexte nigérien.
description: Revue francophone de recherche sur le transfert et l’utilisation des connaissances , Vol. 2 No 2 (2017)
Flux tubes in the SU(3) vacuum
Creators: name: Cardaci, Mario S.
name: Cea, Paolo
name: Cosmai, Leonardo
name: Falcone, Rossella
name: Papa, Alessandro
Publisher: name: arXiv
Year: 2011
Subjects: subject: High Energy Physics - Lattice (hep-lat)
subject: FOS: Physical sciences

description: We analyze the distribution of the chromoelectric field generated by a static quark-antiquark pair in the SU(3) vacuum. We find that the transverse profile of the flux tube resembles the dual version of the Abrikosov vortex field distribution and give an estimate of the London penetration length in the confined vacuum.
description: 7 pages, 3 figures, poster contribution to the XXIX International Symposium on Lattice Field Theory, LATTICE 2011
Impact of Supersymmetry on Emergent Geometry in Yang-Mills Matrix Models II
Creators: name: Ydri, Badis
Publisher: name: arXiv
Year: 2012
Subjects: subject: High Energy Physics - Theory (hep-th)
subject: General Relativity and Quantum Cosmology (gr-qc)
subject: High Energy Physics - Lattice (hep-lat)
subject: Mathematical Physics (math-ph)
subject: FOS: Physical sciences

description: We present a study of D=4 supersymmetric Yang-Mills matrix models with SO(3) mass terms based on the Monte Carlo method. In the bosonic models we show the existence of an exotic first/second order transition from a phase with a well defined background geometry (the fuzzy sphere) to a phase with commuting matrices with no geometry in the sense of Connes. At the transition point the sphere expands abruptly to infinite size then it evaporates as we increase the temperature (the gauge coupling constant). The transition looks first order due to the discontinuity in the action whereas it looks second order due to the divergent peak in the specific heat. The fuzzy sphere is stable for the supersymmetric models in the sense that the bosonic phase transition is turned into a very slow crossover transition. The transition point is found to scale to zero with N. We conjecture that the transition from the background sphere to the phase of commuting matrices is associated with spontaneous supersymmetry breaking. The eigenvalues distribution of any of the bosonic matrices in the matrix phase is found to be given by a non-polynomial law obtained from the fact that the joint probability distribution of the four matrices is uniform inside a solid ball with radius R. The eigenvalues of the gauge field on the background geometry are also found to be distributed according to this non-polynomial law.
description: 39 pages, 18 figures. This paper is a reduced version of our earlier preprint arXiv:1203.0906 version 1: sections 2 and 3 are shortened, and section 5, appendices and some figures of version 1 of arXiv:1203.0906 are removed. The remaining text is from arXiv:1203.0906 version 1
Ripple edge engineering of graphene nanoribbons
Creators: name: Wagner, Philipp
name: Ewels, Christopher P.
name: Ivanovskaya, Viktoria V.
name: Briddon, Patrick R.
name: Pateau, Amand
name: Humbert, Bernard
Publisher: name: arXiv
Year: 2011
Subjects: subject: Materials Science (cond-mat.mtrl-sci)
subject: Mesoscale and Nanoscale Physics (cond-mat.mes-hall)
subject: FOS: Physical sciences

description: It is now possible to produce graphene nanoribbons (GNRs) with atomically defined widths. GNRs offer many opportunities for electronic devices and composites, if it is possible to establish the link between edge structure and functionalisation, and resultant GNR properties. Switching hydrogen edge termination to larger more complex functional groups such as hydroxyls or thiols induces strain at the ribbon edge. However we show that this strain is then relieved via the formation of static out-of-plane ripples. The resultant ribbons have a significantly reduced Young's Modulus which varies as a function of ribbon width, modified band gaps, as well as heterogeneous chemical reactivity along the edge. Rather than being the exception, such static edge ripples are likely on the majority of functionalized graphene ribbon edges.
description: Supplementary Materials available
On-It Summer 2017 Calgary to Banff Transit Pilot … A Huge Success!
Creators: name: White, Richard
name: Calgary Regional Partnership
Publisher: name: Calgary Regional Partnership
Year: 2017
Subjects: transportation
regional transportation
videos

description: According to Mayor Karen Sorensen of Banff Alberta, “For the first time in our history, visitors from Calgary had the opportunity to travel to Banff on convenient, inexpensive and comfortable mass transit. We want to ensure this is the way of the future – that more and more visitors will choose to leave their private vehicles at home and hop on a bus, or a train, to travel to and within the Banff National Park and the Town. We were proud to partner with Parks Canada on this transit initiative and collaborate with Calgary Regional Partnership and Town of Canmore to bring On-It to Banff.”
Oxide film formation on an al-cu alloy using spark anodisation methods
Creators: name: McLeod, Eric James
Publisher: name: University of Calgary
Year: 2007

description: Bibliography: p. 159-163
description: Some pages are in colour.
description: Enhanced corrosion resistance of the Al alloy AA2219 (6 wt. % Cu) can be achieved by normal anodisation in sulfuric acid. Unfortunately, a fatigue strength loss of ~ 40% results, due to the dissolution of Cu-rich constituents in the alloy. As an alternative, an AC/DC spark anodisation process using an alkaline silicate bath has been developed. The formed anodic oxide films were characterised using scanning electron microscopy (SEM), linear sweep voltammetry (LSV), and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS). The most passivating oxide films were obtained when the anodising bath contained 10 g/L of KOH and 40 g/L of a commercial sodium silicate solution and when the voltage reached 320:64 VDC:VAC. Atomic absorption spectrophotometry (AAS) and SEM suggested that many of the Cu-rich constituents in AA2219 remain intact after spark anodisation and the fatigue strength loss was found to be only ~ 12%. The corrosion resistance of anodised AA2219 could also be significantly improved with a polymer (Pary1ene HT) top-coat.
The embedded cluster or association Trumpler 37 in IC1396: a search for evolutionary constraints
Creators: name: Saurin, T. A.
name: Bica, E.
name: Bonatto, C.
Publisher: name: arXiv
Year: 2012
Subjects: subject: Astrophysics of Galaxies (astro-ph.GA)
subject: FOS: Physical sciences

description: It is currently widely accepted that open star clusters and stellar associations result from the evolution of embedded star clusters. Parameters such star formation efficiency, time-scale of gas removal and velocity dispersion can be determinants of their future as bound or unbound systems. Finding objects at an intermediate evolution state can provide constraints to model the embedded cluster evolution. In the HII region IC1396, Trumpler 37 is an extended young cluster that presents characteristics of an association. We employed the Two Micron All Sky Survey (2MASS) photometry to analysing its structure and stellar content, and determining its astrophysical parameters. We also analysed 11 bright-rimmed clouds in IC1396 in order to search for young infrared star clusters, and the background open star cluster Teutsch 74, to verify whether it has any contribution to the observed stellar density profile of Trumpler 37. The derived parameters and comparison with template objects from other studies lead us to conclude that Trumpler 37, rather than as a star cluster, will probably emerge from its molecular cloud as an OB association.
description: 13 pages, 10 figures, 6 tables
Matching with Trade-offs: Preferences over Competing Characteristics
Creators: name: Galichon, Alfred
name: Salanie, Bernard
Publisher: name: Columbia University
Year: 2010
Subjects: Economics

description: We investigate in this paper the theory and econometrics of optimal matchings with competing criteria. The surplus from a marriage match, for instance, may depend both on the incomes and on the educations of the partners, as well as on characteristics that the analyst does not observe. The social optimum must therefore trade off matching on incomes and matching on educations. Given a flexible specification of the surplus function, we characterize under mild assumptions the properties of the set of feasible matchings and of the socially optimal matching. Then we show how data on the covariation of the types of the partners in observed matches can be used to estimate the parameters that define social preferences over matches. We provide both nonparametric and parametric procedures that are very easy to use in applications.
Fast Scramblers, Horizons and Expander Graphs
Creators: name: Barbon, Jose L. F.
name: Magan, Javier M.
Publisher: name: arXiv
Year: 2012
Subjects: subject: High Energy Physics - Theory (hep-th)
subject: General Relativity and Quantum Cosmology (gr-qc)
subject: Quantum Physics (quant-ph)
subject: FOS: Physical sciences

description: We propose that local quantum systems defined on expander graphs provide a simple microscopic model for thermalization on quantum horizons. Such systems are automatically fast scramblers and are motivated from the membrane paradigm by a conformal transformation to the so-called optical metric.
description: 22 pages, 2 figures. Added further discussion in section 3. Added references
Does a "two-pillar Phillips curve" justify a two-pillar monetary policy strategy?
Creators: name: Woodford, Michael
Publisher: name: Columbia University
Year: 2007
Subjects: Economics
Finance

description: Arguments for a prominent role for attention to the growth rate of monetary aggregates in the conduct of monetary policy are often based on references to low-frequency reduced-form relationships between money growth and inflation. The "two-pillar Phillips curve" proposed by Gerlach (2004) has recently attracted a great deal of interest in the euro area, where it is sometimes supposed to provide empirical support for the wisdom of a "two-pillar strategy" that uses distinct analytical frameworks to assess shorter-run and longer-run risks to price stability. I show, however, that regression coefficients of the kind reported by Assenmacher-Wesche and Gerlach (2006a) among others are quite consistent with a "new Keynesian" model of inflation determination, in which the quantity of money plays no role in inflation determination, at either high or low frequencies. I also show that empirical results of this kind do not in themselves establish that money growth must be useful in forecasting inflation, either in the short run or over a longer run. Hence they provide little support for the ECB's monetary "pillar."
Large Magnetoresistance and Jahn Teller effect in Sr$_2$FeCoO$_6$
Creators: name: Pradheesh, R.
name: Nair, Harikrishnan S.
name: Sankaranarayanan, V.
name: Sethupat, K.
Publisher: name: arXiv
Year: 2012
Subjects: subject: Strongly Correlated Electrons (cond-mat.str-el)
subject: FOS: Physical sciences

description: Neutron diffraction measurement on the spin glass double perovskite Sr$_2$FeCoO$_6$ reveals site disorder as well as Co$^{3+}$ intermediate spin state. In addition, multiple valence states of Fe and Co are confirmed through Mössbauer and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. The structural disorder and multiple valence lead to competing ferromagnetic and antiferromagnetic interactions and subsequently to a spin glass state, which is reflected in the form of an additional $T$-linear contribution at low temperatures in specific heat. A clear evidence of Jahn-Teller distortion at the Co$^{3+}$-O$_6$ complex is observed and incorporating the physics of Jahn-Teller effect, the presence of localized magnetic moment is shown. A large, negative and anomalous magnetoresistance of $\approx$ 63% at 14K in 12T applied field is observed for Sr$_2$FeCoO$_6$. The observed magnetoresistance could be explained by applying a semi-empirical fit consisting of a negative and a positive contribution and show that the negative magnetoresistance is due to spin scattering of carriers by localized magnetic moments in the spin glass phase.
Supporting repetitive small-scale changes
Creators: name: McIntyre, Mark Michael
Publisher: name: University of Calgary
Year: 2007

description: Bibliography: p. 85-93
description: Some pages are in colour.
description: vVhen modifying a software system, a developer may find it necessary to repeat a given change throughout its source code. vVhile the change itself may not be difficult to implement, discovering the locations where it should be applied can be onerous. Syntactic differences in otherwise semantically similar code can render traditional tools ineffective. This thesis describes a heuristic search technique to help find loca­tions required to complete a repetitive small-scale change (RSC). By observing the developer perform a change once, it is possible to infer semantic information about that change and automatically suggest locations where the same change might need to be made. This technique is implemented in a tool called Reverb. The utility of this technique is evaluated by comparing Reverb's search results against those of traditional approaches, for RSCs conducted on two open source applications; Reverb is found to have superior recall and precision in the cases evaluated.
The Wages of Sin
Creators: name: Edlund, Lena
name: Engelberg, Joseph
name: Parsons, Christopher A.
Publisher: name: Columbia University
Year: 2009
Subjects: Economics

description: Edlund and Korn [2002] (EK) proposed that prostitutes are well paid and that the wage premium reflects foregone marriage market opportunities. However, studies of street prostitution in the U.S. have revealed only modest wages and considerable risks of disease and violence, casting doubt on EK's premise of an unexplained wage premium. In this paper, we present evidence from high-end prostitution, the so called escort market, a market that is, if not entirely safe, notably safer than street prostitution. Analyzing wage information on more than 40,000 escorts in the U.S. and Canada collected from a web site, we find strong support for EK. First, escorts in the sample earn high wages, on average $280/hour. Second, while looks decline monotonically with age, wages follow a hump-shaped pattern, with a peak in the 26-30 age bracket, which coincides with the most intensive marriage ages for women in the U.S. Third, the age-wage profile is significantly flatter, and prices are lower (5%), despite slightly better escort characteristics, in cities that rank high in terms of conferences, suggesting that servicing men in transit is associated with less stigma. Fourth, this hump in the age-wage profile is absent among escorts for whom the marriage market penalty is lower or absent: escorts who do not provide sex and transsexuals.