State Repression, Exit, and Voice

What is the political legacy of state repression? Using local variation in state repression during the Khmer Rouge genocide in Cambodia, we investigate the effects of repression on political beliefs and behavior. We find that past state repression decreases votes for an authoritarian incumbent while enhancing electoral competition and support for democratic values four decades later. At the same time, individuals become more cautious in their interactions with the local community: they exhibit less trust, participate less in community organizations, and engage less with local government. Our theoretical model suggests that these opposing forces arise because experiencing repression bolsters preferences for pluralism while also heightening the perceived cost of dissent. Consequently, citizens are more likely to support the opposition in elections (voice) but engage less in civil society (exit) to avoid publicly revealing their political views. Exploring channels of persistence, we demonstrate that repression cultivates a lasting fear of violence as a societal threat, and that genocide memorials and remembrance ceremonies maintain the collective memory of the atrocities

Female Education and Social Change

Does access to education facilitate the emergence of a human capital elite from which social activists, and thus, social change can emerge? Assembling a city-level panel of the political, intellectual, and economic elite throughout German history, we find that the opening of schools providing secondary education for women increased their representation among the human capital elite. These elites challenged the status quo and developed critical ideas that resonated in cities with higher human capital, connecting women to form a social movement. We find no evidence of other city-specific indicators of economic and gender-specific cultural change affecting our results. Differential returns to education are also unrelated to the increasing representation of women among the human capital elite, as the opening of gender-specific schools has no impact on the opposite gender

Trade and Regional Economic Development

A central argument for trade liberalization is that when the `gains from trade' are shared, countries see large gains in economic development. In this paper, I empirically evaluate this argument and assess the impact of elite capture on regional development. Africa provides a unique study ground because the arbitrary placement of country borders during the colonial period partitioned hundreds of ethnic groups across borders. This partitioning is a source of variation in population heterogeneity and cross-country connectedness that is independent of economic considerations. Thus, African borders provide both a credible instrument for bilateral trade flows and enable the assignment of trade flows ---and their impacts--- to individuals. I find that while ethnic networks increase trade flows, increased trade activity decreases subnational economic development when measured by satellite data or individual wealth. I show that this counter-intuitive result comes from elite groups capturing the gains from trade, with detrimental impacts on trust and democratic progress in society

Massive Arteriovenous Malformation with Stroke-Like Presentation

We report of a 75-year-old patient with stroke-like presentation, where cerebral imaging led to the diagnosis of a massive arteriovenous malformation (AVM) of the whole left hemisphere. We suggest considering AVM as a differential diagnosis in patients with symptoms of acute stroke despite age and, in the absence of contraindications, in this setting to obtain MRI or CT angiography of the brain

Happiness around the world: A combined etic-emic approach across 63 countries.

What does it mean to be happy? The vast majority of cross-cultural studies on happiness have employed a Western-origin, or "WEIRD" measure of happiness that conceptualizes it as a self-centered (or "independent"), high-arousal emotion. However, research from Eastern cultures, particularly Japan, conceptualizes happiness as including an interpersonal aspect emphasizing harmony and connectedness to others. Following a combined emic-etic approach (Cheung, van de Vijver & Leong, 2011), we assessed the cross-cultural applicability of a measure of independent happiness developed in the US (Subjective Happiness Scale; Lyubomirsky & Lepper, 1999) and a measure of interdependent happiness developed in Japan (Interdependent Happiness Scale; Hitokoto & Uchida, 2015), with data from 63 countries representing 7 sociocultural regions. Results indicate that the schema of independent happiness was more coherent in more WEIRD countries. In contrast, the coherence of interdependent happiness was unrelated to a country's "WEIRD-ness." Reliabilities of both happiness measures were lowest in African and Middle Eastern countries, suggesting these two conceptualizations of happiness may not be globally comprehensive. Overall, while the two measures had many similar correlates and properties, the self-focused concept of independent happiness is "WEIRD-er" than interdependent happiness, suggesting cross-cultural researchers should attend to both conceptualizations

Anwendung von ADS40 Daten im Agrarbereich

Der neue, digitale Luftbildsensor ADS40 von Leica Geosystems ist in der Lage, räumlich und radiometrisch höchstauflösende Daten aufzuzeichnen. Am Beispiel von Daten aus dem Testgebiet St. Urban im Kanton Luzern wird aufgezeigt, wie mit einer objekt-orientierten Methode eine Klassifikation lokaler Feldfrüchte erstellt werden kann. Das Testgebiet zeichnet sich durch eine grosse Vielfalt an Anbauflächen unterschiedlicher Grösse aus, was typisch für das Schweizer Mittelland ist. Es steht zudem ein zuverlässiger Referenz- Datensatz der Anbauflächen zur Verfügung, welcher am Befliegungstag erhoben worden ist. Diese Referenzdaten ermöglichen eine präzise Genauigkeitsabschätzung der Klassifikation. Für die gängigen Fernerkundungssoftware-Pakete stellt die Verarbeitung der grossen Datenmenge des ADS40 Scanners ein bedeutendes Memory-Problem dar. Es wird gezeigt, wie diesem Problem mit einem Klassifikationsansatz auf verschiedenen Auflösungsebenen begegnet werden kann. Die Stärke der hohen räumlichen Auflösung kommt auf der zweiten Auflösungsebene der Klassifikation zum Zuge, in der die einzelnen Feldtypen in Regionen mit unterschiedlicher Bewuchsdichte unterteilt werden können. Es werden Vorschläge gemacht, wozu diese Anwendung in Zukunft gewinnbringend eingesetzt werden könnte. Im zweiten Teil dieses Papers werden aus den ADS40 Daten verschiedene Vegetationsparameter abgeleitet und miteinander verglichen. Dabei zeigt sich, dass bereits einfache Parameter ohne zusätzliche Bodeninformation, wie der NDVI, aussagekräftige Resultate liefern. Durch simulierte Regressionsrechnungen wird aufgezeigt, wie aus dem NDVI mit Hilfe von Feldmessungen „Leaf Area Index“ (LAI) Werte extrapoliert werden können. Dieser LAI-Index ist ein wichtiger Strukturparameter für die Quantifizierung von Phänologie, Biomasse und deren Energieumsatz, und wird häufig als Inputparameter für Ökosystemmodelle verwendet. Aufgrund der vorangehenden Klassifikation könnte diese Extrapolation dann auf das gesamte Untersuchungsgebiet angewendet werden