Preventing young farmers from leaving the farm: investigating the effectiveness of the young farmer payment using a behavioural approach

The number of young farmers has decreased over recent decades in several developed countries such as the United States and European countries. A recent strategy adopted by the European Union to address the resulting age imbalance is the Young Farmer Payment which provides an additional payment on top of the average basic payment introduced in the last Common Agricultural Policy reform. The objective of this study is to determine, by means of a behavioural approach, how this payment in fl uenced the incentives of young farmers to stay in the farm. Using the endogenous succession cycle model and the structural modelling technique, we found that the payment a ff ected young farmers ’ willingness to stay through its in fl uence on non-economic motivational goals. However, we also found that there are other factors that can be even more in fl uential, such as pessimism about farming, community and family integration, participation in decision making, and the opinion of neighbours, among others. Based on the results, we argue that similar policies could be adopted in other countries, although policies would be more e ff ective in addressing age imbalances if they are accompanied with complementary strategies aimed to deal with the identi fi ed social and psychological considerations

Chemo-Archaeological Downsizing in a Hierarchical Universe: Impact of a Top Heavy IGIMF

We make use of a semi-analytical model of galaxy formation to investigate the origin of the observed correlation between [a/Fe] abundance ratios and stellar mass in elliptical galaxies. We implement a new galaxy-wide stellar initial mass function (Top Heavy Integrated Galaxy Initial Mass Function, TH-IGIMF) in the semi-analytic model SAG and evaluate its impact on the chemical evolution of galaxies. The SFR-dependence of the slope of the TH-IGIMF is found to be key to reproducing the correct [a/Fe]-stellar mass relation. Massive galaxies reach higher [a/Fe] abundance ratios because they are characterized by more top-heavy IMFs as a result of their higher SFR. As a consequence of our analysis, the value of the minimum embedded star cluster mass and of the slope of the embedded cluster mass function, which are free parameters involved in the TH-IGIMF theory, are found to be as low as 5 solar masses and 2, respectively. A mild downsizing trend is present for galaxies generated assuming either a universal IMF or a variable TH-IGIMF. We find that, regardless of galaxy mass, older galaxies (with formation redshifts > 2) are formed in shorter time-scales (< 2 Gyr), thus achieving larger [a/Fe] values. Hence, the time-scale of galaxy formation alone cannot explain the slope of the [a/Fe]-galaxy mass relation, but is responsible for the big dispersion of [a/Fe] abundance ratios at fixed stellar mass.We further test the hyphothesis of a TH-IGIMF in elliptical galaxies by looking into mass-to-light ratios, and luminosity functions. Models with a TH-IGIMF are also favoured by these constraints. In particular, mass-to-light ratios agree with observed values for massive galaxies while being overpredicted for less massive ones; this overprediction is present regardless of the IMF considered.Comment: 24 pages, 15 figures, 2 tables. (Comments most welcome). Summited to MNRA

Soliton defects in one-gap periodic system and exotic supersymmetry

By applying Darboux-Crum transformations to the quantum one-gap Lame system, we introduce an arbitrary countable number of bound states into forbidden bands. The perturbed potentials are reflectionless and contain two types of soliton defects in the periodic background. The bound states with finite number of nodes are supported in the lower forbidden band by the periodicity defects of the potential well type, while the pulse type bound states in the gap have infinite number of nodes and are trapped by defects of the compression modulations nature. We investigate the exotic nonlinear N=4 supersymmetric structure in such paired Schrodinger systems, which extends an ordinary N=2 supersymmetry and involves two bosonic generators composed from Lax-Novikov integrals of the subsystems. One of the bosonic integrals has a nature of a central charge, and allows us to liaise the obtained systems with the stationary equations of the Korteweg-de Vries and modified Korteweg-de Vries hierarchies. This exotic supersymmetry opens the way for the construction of self-consistent condensates based on the Bogoliubov-de Gennes equations and associated with them new solutions to the Gross-Neveu model. They correspond to the kink or kink-antikink defects of the crystalline background in dependence on whether the exotic supersymmetry is unbroken or spontaneously broken.Comment: 44 pages, 11 figures; comments and refs added, version to appear in Phys. Rev.

Sinistral shear during Middle Jurassic emplacement of the Matancilla Plutonic Complex in northern Chile (25.4◦ S) as evidence of oblique plate convergence during the early Andean orogeny

component of oblique subduction into an intra-arc shear zone. We document a shear zone at latitude 25.4◦ S near Taltal, Chile that was associated with intrusion of the Matancilla Plutonic Complex at ~169 Ma to evaluate intra-arc deformation and possible tectonic plate configurations during this time period. Polyphase folding of Paleozoic metasedimentary rocks is overprinted by mylonitic fabrics that are most extensive in a zone up to 1.4 km wide in the thermal aureole of the granodioritic Matancilla pluton, where contact metamorphic andalusite porphyroblasts are synkinematic with fabric development. Mylonite in metasedimentary rocks is overprinted by a ~130 Ma granodiorite (zircon U–Pb) and by ~133 Ma postkinematic monazite (U–Pb). Within the Jurassic Matancilla granodiorite, pervasive ductile shear occurs along the intrusive contact while centimeter-scale discrete high-strain zones throughout the pluton are associated with focused hydrothermal alteration and reaction weakening. Mylonitic foliation in the metasedimentary rocks and within the pluton strikes N- to NE and dips steeply, while stretching lineations are subhorizontal on average. Kinematic indicators record dominantly sinistral shear, though some dextral or symmetric indicators and S \u3e L fabrics suggest a component of coaxial strain and flattening. Sinistral strike-slip kinematics in the Matancilla shear zone may indicate that Middle Jurassic convergence had sinistral obliquity that was locally partitioned into the contemporaneous magmatic arc. Sinistral-oblique convergence would require the Phoenix- Farallon spreading center to be north of ~25◦ S in the Middle Jurassic, providing a constraint to plate reconstructions during the early Andean orogeny

Musical preferences and technologies: Contemporary material and symbolic distinctions criticised

Today how individuals interact with various cultural items is not perfectly consistent with theoretical frameworks of influential scholars on cultural consumption, such as Bourdieu (1984), Gans (1999), and Peterson and Simkus (1992). One such variation is in the ever increasing variety of technological modes to acquire and listen to music (Pinch and Bijsterveld, 2004). However, as a consequence of digital divides (van Dijk, 2006), technological items may not be distributed equally among social groups. At present, the value of status-making through a preference for different genres of music extends itself to different forms of consumption and ways of experiencing music. We are yet to fully understand the power these practices have on generating status. This article is therefore motivated by the need to integrate within quantitative frameworks of taste and cultural consumption, an analysis of individuals’ technological engagement. These two dimensions, integrated as components of musical practices, enhance our understanding of cultural boundaries across different social groups.The objective is to bridge a gap detected in the literature, addressing the following questions: Are technological modes to listen to music related to musical tastes