War and the Fiscal Capacity of the State

__Abstract__ We examine the role of war in retarding state fiscal capacity in developing countries, measured by tax revenue ratios to GDP. This in contrast to the European experience from the Renaissance to the 20th century, where it is believed that war and state-building were inseparable, enhancing the fiscal capacity of the state; in turn enlarging the scope and magnitude of government expenditure. We build a simple theoretical model of a factionalized state, where patronage substitutes for common interest public goods, along with the possibility of violent contestation over a rent or prize, typically in the form of natural resource revenues. Our dynamic panel empirical analysis on the determinants of fiscal capacity is applied to 79 developing countries, during 1980-2010. Results indicate that war, especially in its current dominant form of civil war, retards fiscal capacity, along with imperfect democracy, political repression, the quality of governance, dependence on oil and macroeconomic mismanagement. High intensity conflict is particularly destructive of state capacity. Countries experiencing low intensity wars, other institutional factors may matter more for fiscal capacity formation compared to war. The diminution of state capacity due to war appears less pronounced after the end of the cold war

An approximation algorithm for the solution of the nonlinear Lane-Emden type equations arising in astrophysics using Hermite functions collocation method

In this paper we propose a collocation method for solving some well-known classes of Lane-Emden type equations which are nonlinear ordinary differential equations on the semi-infinite domain. They are categorized as singular initial value problems. The proposed approach is based on a Hermite function collocation (HFC) method. To illustrate the reliability of the method, some special cases of the equations are solved as test examples. The new method reduces the solution of a problem to the solution of a system of algebraic equations. Hermite functions have prefect properties that make them useful to achieve this goal. We compare the present work with some well-known results and show that the new method is efficient and applicable.Comment: 34 pages, 13 figures, Published in "Computer Physics Communications

Integrable open spin chains from giant gravitons

We prove that in the presence of a maximal giant graviton state in N=4 SYM, the states dual to open strings attached to the giant graviton give rise to an PSU(2,2|4) open spin chain model with integrable boundary conditions in the SO(6) sector of the spin chain to one loop order.Comment: 18 pages, 2 figures, uses JHEP

The S-matrix of the Faddeev-Reshetikhin Model, Diagonalizability and PT Symmetry

We study the question of diagonalizability of the Hamiltonian for the Faddeev-Reshetikhin (FR) model in the two particle sector. Although the two particle S-matrix element for the FR model, which may be relevant for the quantization of strings on $AdS_{5}\times S^{5}$, has been calculated recently using field theoretic methods, we find that the Hamiltonian for the system in this sector is not diagonalizable. We trace the difficulty to the fact that the interaction term in the Hamiltonian violating Lorentz invariance leads to discontinuity conditions (matching conditions) that cannot be satisfied. We determine the most general quartic interaction Hamiltonian that can be diagonalized. This includes the bosonic Thirring model as well as the bosonic chiral Gross-Neveu model which we find share the same S-matrix. We explain this by showing, through a Fierz transformation, that these two models are in fact equivalent. In addition, we find a general quartic interaction Hamiltonian, violating Lorentz invariance, that can be diagonalized with the same two particle S-matrix element as calculated by Klose and Zarembo for the FR model. This family of generalized interaction Hamiltonians is not Hermitian, but is $PT$ symmetric. We show that the wave functions for this system are also $PT$ symmetric. Thus, the theory is in a $PT$ unbroken phase which guarantees the reality of the energy spectrum as well as the unitarity of the S-matrix.Comment: 32 pages, 1 figure; references added, version published in JHE

A study of open strings ending on giant gravitons, spin chains and integrability

We systematically study the spectrum of open strings attached to half BPS giant gravitons in the N=4 SYM AdS/CFT setup. We find that some null trajectories along the giant graviton are actually null geodesics of AdS_5x S^5, so that we can study the problem in a plane wave limit setup. We also find the description of these states at weak 't Hooft coupling in the dual CFT. We show how the dual description is given by an open spin chain with variable number of sites. We analyze this system in detail and find numerical evidence for integrability. We also discover an interesting instability of long open strings in Ramond-Ramond backgrounds that is characterized by having a continuum spectrum of the string, which is separated from the ground state by a gap. This instability arises from accelerating the D-brane on which the strings end via the Ramond-Ramond field. From the integrable spin chain point of view, this instability prevents us from formulating the integrable structure in terms of a Bethe Ansatz construction.Comment: 38 pages+appendices, 9 figures. Uses JHEP3. v2: added reference

An Early Warning Tool for Predicting Mortality Risk of COVID-19 Patients Using Machine Learning

COVID-19 pandemic has created an extreme pressure on the global healthcare services. Fast, reliable, and early clinical assessment of the severity of the disease can help in allocating and prioritizing resources to reduce mortality. In order to study the important blood biomarkers for predicting disease mortality, a retrospective study was conducted on a dataset made public by Yan et al. in [1] of 375 COVID-19 positive patients admitted to Tongji Hospital (China) from January 10 to February 18, 2020. Demographic and clinical characteristics and patient outcomes were investigated using machine learning tools to identify key biomarkers to predict the mortality of individual patient. A nomogram was developed for predicting the mortality risk among COVID-19 patients. Lactate dehydrogenase, neutrophils (%), lymphocyte (%), high-sensitivity C-reactive protein, and age (LNLCA)—acquired at hospital admission—were identified as key predictors of death by multi-tree XGBoost model. The area under curve (AUC) of the nomogram for the derivation and validation cohort were 0.961 and 0.991, respectively. An integrated score (LNLCA) was calculated with the corresponding death probability. COVID-19 patients were divided into three subgroups: low-, moderate-, and high-risk groups using LNLCA cutoff values of 10.4 and 12.65 with the death probability less than 5%, 5–50%, and above 50%, respectively. The prognostic model, nomogram, and LNLCA score can help in early detection of high mortality risk of COVID-19 patients, which will help doctors to improve the management of patient stratification.Open access funding provided by the Qatar National Library. This publication was made possible by Qatar University Emergency Response Grant (QUERG-CENG-2020-1) from the Qatar University. The statements made herein are solely the responsibility of the authors

Black Holes in Higher-Dimensional Gravity

These lectures review some of the recent progress in uncovering the phase structure of black hole solutions in higher-dimensional vacuum Einstein gravity. The two classes on which we focus are Kaluza-Klein black holes, i.e. static solutions with an event horizon in asymptotically flat spaces with compact directions, and stationary solutions with an event horizon in asymptotically flat space. Highlights include the recently constructed multi-black hole configurations on the cylinder and thin rotating black rings in dimensions higher than five. The phase diagram that is emerging for each of the two classes will be discussed, including an intriguing connection that relates the phase structure of Kaluza-Klein black holes with that of asymptotically flat rotating black holes.Comment: latex, 49 pages, 5 figures. Lectures to appear in the proceedings of the Fourth Aegean Summer School, Mytiline, Lesvos, Greece, September 17-22, 200

Classical Open String Integrability

We present a simple procedure to construct non-local conserved charges for classical open strings on coset spaces. This is done by including suitable reflection matrices on the classical transfer matrix. The reflection matrices must obey certain conditions for the charges to be conserved and in involution. We then study bosonic open strings on $AdS_5\times S^5$. We consider boundary conditions corresponding to Giant Gravitons on $S^5$, $AdS_4\times S^2$ D5-branes and $AdS_5 \times S^3$ D7-branes. We find that we can construct the conserved charges for the full bosonic string on a Maximal Giant Graviton or a D7-brane. For the D5-brane, we find that this is possible only in a SU(2) sub-sector of the open string. Moreover, the charges can not be constructed at all for non-maximal Giant Gravitons. We discuss the interpretation of these results in terms of the dual gauge theory spin chains.Comment: 23 pages, JHEP styl

Effect of lead acetate on Sertoli cell lactate production and protein synthesis in vitro

The effects of lead acetate on protein synthesis and lactate production by cultures of rat Sertoli cells in vitro were studied. Sertoli cell cultures prepared from 20 day old Sprague-Dawley rats were exposed to 0.01, 0.05 and 0.10 mM lead acetate. Lactate production was significantly elevated by all concentrations of lead after 3, 6, 9 and 12 hours of exposure. Protein biosynthesis as measured by [ 3 H]-leucine incorporation was significantly depressed by 0.05 and 0.10 mM lead acetate after 2 hours of exposure. These results support the hypothesis that lead acetate may inhibit spermatogenesis by a disturbance of the metabolic activities of the Sertoli cells.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/42549/1/10565_2004_Article_BF00122696.pd