Lower-Critical Spin-Glass Dimension from 23 Sequenced Hierarchical Models

The lower-critical dimension for the existence of the Ising spin-glass phase is calculated, numerically exactly, as $d_L = 2.520$ for a family of hierarchical lattices, from an essentially exact (correlation coefficent $R^2 = 0.999999$) near-linear fit to 23 different diminishing fractional dimensions. To obtain this result, the phase transition temperature between the disordered and spin-glass phases, the corresponding critical exponent $y_T$, and the runaway exponent $y_R$ of the spin-glass phase are calculated for consecutive hierarchical lattices as dimension is lowered.Comment: 5 pages, 2 figures, 1 tabl

Pectinophora gossypiella (pink bollworm) Bacillus thuringiensis toxin receptor BT-R2

A cDNA encoding a 200 kD receptor, BT-R2, from the pink boll worm, Pectinophora gossypiella, that binds specifically to a Bacillus thuringiensis toxin has been cloned, sequenced and characterized. The minimum toxin binding fragment has been identified. The BT-R2 cDNA permits the analysis of receptors in pink boll worm and other insects that affect crop growth and development, as well as, design assays for the cytotoxicity and binding affinity of potential pesticides. The clone and other methods described herein, permit the manipulation of natural and/or introduced homologous receptors and, thus, to specifically destroy organisms, tissues and/or cells of the target host.Board of Regents, University of Texas Syste

State Owned Enterprises and Redistribution: An Empirical Analysis

In the past decade many developing economies started to privatize their state owned enterprises. Recently, however, this process seems to have slowed down in some economies and have completely been stalled in others. Here we formalize the view that this is so because these enterprises are major instruments of income redistribution and, in economies with significant degrees of income inequality, segments of the population that benefit from this redistribution would use whatever political power they may have to oppose its abandonment. We find strong and robust empirical support for this hypothesis using cross-country data on the relative size of the state-owned-enterprise sector and different measures of inequality. We also find support for the propositions that dictatorships as well as democracies use this redistributive tool and that left-wing governments tend to redistribute more than right-wing governments through state owned enterprises.state-owned enterprises, inequality, redistribution, political economy

A spatial approach to measure productivity spillovers of foreign affiliated firms in Turkish manufacturing industries

In this paper we aim to analyze the productivity spillovers of foreign affiliated and domestic firms in Turkish manufacturing industries. As a novelty inter-sectoral linkages are modeled through the use of spatial models. Our results indicate the existence of positive and significant productivity spillovers among the neighborhood firms. We also find that an increase in the share of foreign affiliated firms in a given industry has positive impact on the productivity level of vertically related industries. However, our results do not provide any clear evidence that domestic firms benefit from the foreign affiliated firms either operating in the same industry or in the neighborhood industries. The findings suggest that unlike the effects of foreign affiliated firms, research and development expenditures significantly contribute to the productivity levels of domestic firms. --Productivity,foreign direct investment,research and development,spatial econometrics

The bank lending channel in Turkey: Has it changed after the low inflation regime?

In this paper we aim to analyze the role of credit channel in the monetary transmission mechanism under different inflationary environments in Turkey covering the period 1986:1 - 2009:10. Our results suggest that traditional interest rate channel is only valid for the postinflation targeting period. This variable is also more effective monetary policy tool in terms of its impacts on economic activity in the both regimes. Credit shocks itself have significant power on economic activity and prices. However, the effect of monetary shocks on credit volume is very limited especially in the low inflation regime. --

Hydrologic homogeneous regions using monthly Streamflow in Turkey

Cluster analysis of gauged streamflow records into homogeneous and robust regions is an important tool for the characterization of hydrologic systems. In this paper we applied the hierarchical cluster analysis to the task of objectively classifying streamflow data into regions encompassing similar streamflow patterns over Turkey. The performance of three standardization techniques was also tested, and standardizing by range was found better than standardizing with zero mean and unit variance. Clustering was carried out using Ward’s minimum variance method which became prominent in managing water resources with squared Euclidean dissimilarity measures on 80 streamflow stations. The stations have natural flow regimes where no intensive river regulation had occurred. A general conclusion drawn is that the zones having similar streamflow pattern were not be overlapped well with the conventional climate zones of Turkey; however, they are coherent with the climate zones of Turkey recently redefined by the cluster analysis to total precipitation data as well as homogenous streamflow zones of Turkey determined by the rotated principal component analysis. The regional streamflow information in this study can significantly improve the accuracy of flow predictions in ungauged watersheds