The effect of refereed articles on salary, promotion and labor mobility: The case of Japanese economists

By using a data set of academic economists from Japanese universities, we estimated the effect of refereed articles on salary, promotion and labor mobility. Results show no effect of refereed articles on salary and on promotion. However, there is a statistically significant effect of refereed articles on labor mobility, though the magnitude of the effect is rather small. Publishing one additional refereed article increases the probability that an academic has worked in exactly two universities by 0.4%. In addition, publishing one additional refereed article in the US or Europe increases the probability that an academic has worked in exactly two universities by 1%. Refereed articles published in Japan have no statistically significant impact on the probability of working in more universities. We conclude that publishing refereed articles does not reward Japanese economists by a direct increase in salary and accelerated promotion. Our results are thus consistent with the beliefs within Japanese academia that publications do not affect salary or promotion.Academic salaries, academic promotion, academic productivity, academic labor mobility, academic economists

Convergence polygons for connections on nonarchimedean curves

This is a survey article on ordinary differential equations over nonarchimedean fields based on the author's lecture at the 2015 Simons Symposium on nonarchimedean and tropical geometry. Topics include: the convergence polygon associated to a differential equation (or a connection on a curve); links to the formal classification of differential equations (Turrittin-Levelt); index formulas for de Rham cohomology of connections; ramification of finite morphisms; relations with the Oort lifting problem on automorphisms of curves. The appendices include some new technical results and an extensive thematic bibliography.Comment: v2: final refereed version; one appendix withdrawn, other minor correction

Identifying predictors of attitudes towards local onshore wind development with reference to an English case study

The threats posed by climate change are placing governments under increasing pressure to meet electricity demand from low-carbon sources. In many countries, including the UK, legislation is in place to ensure the continued expansion of renewable energy capacity. Onshore wind turbines are expected to play a key role in achieving these aims. However, despite high levels of public support for onshore wind development in principle, specific projects often experience local opposition. Traditionally this difference in general and specific attitudes has been attributed to NIMBYism (not in my back yard), but evidence is increasingly calling this assumption into question. This study used multiple regression analysis to identify what factors might predict attitudes towards mooted wind development in Sheffield, England. We report on the attitudes of two groups; one group (target) living close to four sites earmarked for development and an unaffected comparison group (comparison). We found little evidence of NIMBYism amongst members of the target group; instead, differences between general and specific attitudes appeared attributable to uncertainty regarding the proposals. The results are discussed with respect to literature highlighting the importance of early, continued and responsive community involvement in combating local opposition and facilitating the deployment of onshore wind turbines. (C) 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved

Ritual Theory and Attitudes to Agency in Brazilian Spirit Possession

This is the post-refereed, pre-print version: "The institute employing the author may post the post-refereed, but pre-print version of that article free of charge on its website. The post-refereed, pre-print version means the version which contains all adaptations made after peer reviewing (upon acceptance). The publisher’s lay-out must not be used." The post-print version (as published) is available on my personal website: http://stevenengler.ca/?page_id=590This article works with theory of ritual in order to begin addressing a series of questions raised by Brazilian spirit possession rituals (in Kardecism and Umbanda). Four contributions to theory of ritual highlight relevant conceptual issues: Humphrey and Laidlaw on non-intentionality; Bloch on deference; Houseman and Severi on social relations; and Kapferer on virtuality. Strawson’s philosophical distinction between objective and reactive attitudes toward intentionality is used to make a case (i) that certain formal aspects of ritual (indexicals) serve to (ii) mark culturally variable attitudes to agency within rituals, which are related to, but fundamentally distinct from, non-ritual attitudes to agency

Conceptualising success and failure for social movements

The paper discusses some of the most significant conceptions of success and failure present in the social movement literature, and highlights the gaps present in these theories. Through a seven-pronged critique, the paper stresses that the prevalent conceptions of movement success or failure are inherently unable to grasp the overall consequences and essence of a social struggle. Moreover, it is argued here that the problem lies not just in these conceptions, but also the concept of success or failure, because in its application to an entity as dynamic and complex as a struggle, it is unable to transcend beyond its black-and-white confines. It trivialises the concept of failure, which is an opportunity for learning from experiences, a chance for error correction and a prospect to rise higher than ever before

Open Access Mandates and the "Fair Dealing" Button

We describe the "Fair Dealing Button," a feature designed for authors who have deposited their papers in an Open Access Institutional Repository but have deposited them as "Closed Access" (meaning only the metadata are visible and retrievable, not the full eprint) rather than Open Access. The Button allows individual users to request and authors to provide a single eprint via semi-automated email. The purpose of the Button is to tide over research usage needs during any publisher embargo on Open Access and, more importantly, to make it possible for institutions to adopt the "Immediate-Deposit/Optional-Access" Mandate, without exceptions or opt-outs, instead of a mandate that allows delayed deposit or deposit waivers, depending on publisher permissions or embargoes (or no mandate at all). This is only "Almost-Open Access," but in facilitating exception-free immediate-deposit mandates it will accelerate the advent of universal Open Access.Comment: 12 pages, 5 figures, 32 references. To appear in "Dynamic Fair Dealing: Creating Canadian Culture Online" (Rosemary J. Coombe & Darren Wershler, Eds.