Rigid Chiral Membranes

Statistical ensembles of flexible two-dimensional fluid membranes arise naturally in the description of many physical systems. Typically one encounters such systems in a regime of low tension but high stiffness against bending, which is just the opposite of the regime described by the Polyakov string. We study a class of couplings between membrane shape and in-plane order which break 3-space parity invariance. Remarkably there is only {\it one} such allowed coupling (up to boundary terms); this term will be present for any lipid bilayer composed of tilted chiral molecules. We calculate the renormalization-group behavior of this relevant coupling in a simplified model and show how thermal fluctuations effectively reduce it in the infrared.Comment: 11 pages, UPR-518T (This replaced version has fonts not used removed.

The Effects of System Justification and Reminders of Ingroup Disadvantage on Just World Beliefs

The tendency to believe that people get what they deserve—termed just world beliefs—is a pervasive phenomenon associated with acceptance of the suffering of others. We tested whether we could decrease just world beliefs. We experimentally manipulated system justification, and gave participants false feedback on a gender Implicit Association Test telling them that they favor the “opposite” gender. For female participants, this false feedback represented a reminder of their ingroup’s low status by suggesting that they support the status quo that disadvantages women. Participants then completed a self-report measure of just world beliefs. As an indirect measure of just world beliefs, participants rated the funniness, offensiveness, and appropriateness of sexist jokes. There were no effects on just world beliefs; however, participants in the high (vs. low) system justification condition rated the sexist jokes marginally more positively. Thus, people who are motivated to justify the status quo are somewhat more accepting of humor that is derisive of a disadvantaged group, suggesting that they may not take group inequality seriously

Influence of the occupational burnout syndrome on the work attractiveness among social workers

The objective of this article is to study and analyze the influence of burnout syndrome on the "work attractiveness" in social workers. For the purposes of the analysis, an empirical study was conducted among 170 social workers from 142 social services in Bulgaria. The data from the study confirmed though partially but statistically significant, the dependence of work attractiveness on the parameters of the occupational burnout syndrome in the professional social work practice. The following tendencies have been outlined: Influence of the “occupational burnout syndrome” in the part of emotional exhaustion on the work attractiveness. The high level of emotional exhaustion does not presuppose low work attractiveness, just the opposite. Influence of the “occupational burnout syndrome” in the part of emotional exhaustion on the probability of leaving. The dependency between the high emotional exhaustion and the low work dissatisfaction precondition a higher probability of leaving. Influence of the “occupational burnout syndrome” in the part reduction of personal achievements on the work attractiveness. The high reduction determines the higher level of occupational dissatisfaction. Our study shows that specification of social work depends both on the conditions of labor and the personal qualities of the social workers

The net external asset position and economic growth: some simple correlations for 116 countries

Two datasets are combined to analyze a few standard implications of the theory of economic growth. Real GDP per capita (RGDP) and the investment share (IS) are taken from Summers, Heston (1988), the ratio of net external assets to GDP (=NAP) are calculated by Sinn (1990). For the period 1970-1985, the data for a sample of 116 countries are analyzed; in addition, the group of industrial countries and highly indebted countries is discussed. One hypothesis suggests that low-income countries catch up in the process of development, and that this is, in part, made possible by the supply of capital from abroad. The data show indeed that poor countries borrow more; however, they do not grow faster than rich countries. Furthermore, those countries which show relatively high growth are not large capital importers. In general, the ratio of net external assets to GDP does not help to predict how fast a country will grow in the future; this also means that high debt is not a burden in the sense that a country will grow less than average. These results hold for the entire sample and for the two subgroups of countries as well. A second analysis includes the investment performance. A high investment share coincides with high economic growth in the large sample, but not for industrial or highly indebted countries. The hypothesis that a low NAP goes along with a high IS is not supported by the data; the opposite is true for industrial and highly indebted countries. It seems that large creditor countries (high NAP) also invest more at home. In general, the analysis does not support the - plausible - ideas of cycles of external debt or the stages hypothesis in the balance of payments which suggest that low-income countries tend to run a current account deficit while investing more and growing faster than other countries; such performances seem to be the exception. The fact that the level of net external assets does not, per se, say anything about the strength of economic growth implies that high debt does not mean that a country has large problems, just as the fact that a country runs a high surplus in the current account is not - by itself - a sign of strength. Therefore, conclusions for economic policy must be based on more than just figures on net external assets or current account balances.

Naked M&A Transactions: How the Lack of Local Expertise in Cross-Border Deals Can Negatively Affect Acquirer Performance - and How Informed Institutional Investors can Mitigate This Effect

This paper tests how informed investors with local expertise can affect cross-border deal success using a comprehensive dataset of corporate acquirers’ share registers. We posit that deals in which long-term investors have a high level of expertise in the target firm's region are more likely to perform better than if the deal is ‘naked’, i.e., when such regional expertise amongst the investors is low. We show that the strength of this effect depends upon an index of country-level M&A maturity which measures the relative divergence between acquirer and target countries. Specifically, we investigate whether acquirers investing in countries with low M&A maturity gain greater benefit from investors with regional expertise. We present evidence which confirms the hypothesis that acquirers in cross-border corporate transactions are more likely to be successful if the acquirer's investors have a higher level of expertise in the target region, and that this effect is strongest when the maturity for corporate transactions of the target country is low. This provides a specific setting which is consistent with earlier theoretical work that argues in general that information flows should not just be from firms to capital markets but also in the opposite direction, and that this flow of information is particularly important whenever information is dispersed

Socio-demographic transformation in the Bloemfontein inner-city area

This article examines residential desegregation in the Bloemfontein Central Business District (CBD) within a theoretical framework and in comparison with other desegregation patterns in the CBDs of other major cities. Although desegregation in the Bloemfontein CBD started later, is less extensive and on a smaller scale than that in other urban areas in South Africa, it has increased rapidly since 1991 and had reached levels of just above 50% by 2001. The low level of desegregation can be attributed to the historically conservative character of Bloemfontein, but also to the compactness of the city of Bloemfontein/Mangaung, where desegregation is not necessarily required as a mechanism for saving on transport costs. It is also argued that the repeal of the Group Areas Act and the consequent desegregation of the inner city have not necessarily resulted in an integrated area with a new South African culture. In fact, this article points out that the opposite has occurred: in the CBD a new level of segregation has emerged, as the degree of desegregation in the northern parts is limited, while a relatively high level of segregation, concomitant with the outflow of white people, is found in the southern parts

Transition from High Education to the Labour Market: Unemployment within Graduates from the Gender Prospective In the Palestinian Territory

Theories and studies indicate that education is an essential factor to reduce the probability and unemployment duration and increase chances for business continuity and stability in a decent job. Nonetheless, what happens to women in many countries of the Middle East and North Africa is just the opposite, specifically in the Palestinian Territories, where the participation of women in the labour market is very low and significantly high rates of unemployment are witnessed. Results indicate that the more the years of education among women the higher the unemployment rate, unlike men, causing a significant gap between both sexes. Then comes the question repeated in all seminars, workshops and conferences, of why women face low possibilities of getting a job when they decide to enter the labour market, especially those young and highly educated? This is the basic problem that this research study tries to tackle through highlighting and identifying the factors affecting the low potential of graduate women in entering the labour market unlike graduate males despite their achievements in education. We have used recent data of the results of Labour Force Quarterly Survey 1996-2008 (total Quarterly sample size for each year is 7600 households), using high technology in the methodology for rotating the sample and the personnel follow-up for the four quarters during a year and a half which provides a meticulous study of the situation. A survey of graduates in the labour market 2006 was also used, which in turn provides a rich base of indicators that support the search results. It should be noted that the methodology came in twofold, the first, a descriptive analysis of the available data, and the second by using the Transition Probability Matrix and analysis of the Probit Regression model. The results confirm the existence of the problem, and relate the reasons to the limitations that restrict the movement of women to get jobs. Moreover, it shows that the problem of unemployment among graduates is highlighted in specific areas and disciplines that do not match the requirements of the market, as well as the employers’ point of view of occupations and activities that women can exercise. Delays in obtaining work, often lead women out of the labour market which in turn causes their low participation in the workforce. The general trend in the future puts in front of the Palestinian decision-maker extraordinary challenges to provide opportunities for jobs that take into account the geographical distribution and the programming of scientific disciplines offered by universities.

Contribution of maternal effects to dietary selection in Mediterranean fruit flies

Individual responses to dietary variation represent a fundamental component of fitness, and nutritional adaptation can occur over just a few generations. Maternal effects can show marked proximate responses to nutrition, but whether they contribute to longer term dietary adaptation is unclear. Here, we tested the hypotheses that maternal effects: (i) contribute to dietary adaptation, (ii) diminish when dietary conditions are constant between generations, (iii) are trait-specific and (iv) interact with high- and low-quality food. We used experimental evolution regimes in the medfly (Ceratitis capitata) to test these predictions by subjecting an outbred laboratory-adapted population to replicated experimental evolution on either constant high calorie sugar (‘A’) or low-calorie starch (‘S’) larval diets, with a standard adult diet across both regimes. We measured the contribution of maternal effects by comparing developmental and adult phenotypes of individuals reared on their own diet with those swapped onto the opposite diet for either one or two generations (high and low maternal effect conditions, respectively), both at the start and after 30 generations of selection. Initially, there were strong maternal effects on female body mass and male mating success but not larval survival. Interestingly, the initial maternal effects observed in female body mass and male mating success showed sex-specific interactions when individuals from high calorie regimes were tested on low calorie diets. However, as populations responded to selection, the effects of maternal provisioning on all traits diminished. The results broadly supported the predictions. They show how the contribution of maternal effects to dietary responses evolves in a context-dependent manner, with significant variation across different fitness-related traits. We conclude that maternal effects can evolve during nutritional adaptation and hence may be an important life history trait to measure, rather than to routinely minimize