Does Mother Nature Punish Rotten Kids?

This paper studies the evolutionary game theory of parent-offspring conflict. It revisits a question posed by Gary Becker in economics and Richard Alexander in biology, namely "when do children act in accord with the reproductive interests of their parents?"biology evolutionary game theory parent-offspring conflict family economics

Frozen time in hyperbolic spacetime motion

According to the Lorentz transformation and clearly seen from the Minkowski diagram, hyperbolic spacetime motion of a test object relative to a stationary reference frame can be performed in a specific way such that time becomes frozen in the moving frame of the test object. In that case, time can be arranged to become frozen even at moderate relativistic velocities, in contrast to the minute traditional relativistic time dilation at such velocities. An appendix gives a simple illustration in Minkowski form of how time in a frame in hyperbolic motion can become frozen to a complete standstill relative to a stationary frame. (Published in Phys. Scr. 84 (2011) 035004) In addition to the paper, the arXiv file also contains a discussion of Frequently Asked Questions from readers. Further questions not adequately dealt with in the existing FAQ are welcome.Comment: Paper (5 pages, 5 figures) plus FAQ (12 pages, 9 figures), FAQ #2a revised and extende

Bayesian evidence for non-zero theta_13 and CP-violation in neutrino oscillations

We present the Bayesian method for evaluating the evidence for a non-zero value of the leptonic mixing angle theta_13 and CP-violation in neutrino oscillation experiments. This is an application of the well-established method of Bayesian model selection, of which we give a concise and pedagogical overview. When comparing the hypothesis theta_13 = 0 with hypotheses where theta_13 > 0 using global data but excluding the recent reactor measurements, we obtain only a weak preference for a non-zero theta_13, even though the significance is over 3 sigma. We then add the reactor measurements one by one and show how the evidence for theta_13 > 0 quickly increases. When including the Double Chooz, Daya Bay, and RENO data, the evidence becomes overwhelming with a posterior probability of the hypothesis theta_13 = 0 below 10^-11 . Owing to the small amount of information on the CP-phase delta, very similar evidences are obtained for the CP-conserving and CP-violating hypotheses. Hence, there is, not unexpectedly, neither evidence for nor against leptonic CP-violation. However, when future experiments aiming to search for CP-violation have started taking data, this question will be of great importance and the method described here can be used as an important complement to standard analyses.Comment: 20 pages, 4 figures. v2: minor textual changes, version published in JHE

Measuring NUMA effects with the STREAM benchmark

Modern high-end machines feature multiple processor packages, each of which contains multiple independent cores and integrated memory controllers connected directly to dedicated physical RAM. These packages are connected via a shared bus, creating a system with a heterogeneous memory hierarchy. Since this shared bus has less bandwidth than the sum of the links to memory, aggregate memory bandwidth is higher when parallel threads all access memory local to their processor package than when they access memory attached to a remote package. But, the impact of this heterogeneous memory architecture is not easily understood from vendor benchmarks. Even where these measurements are available, they provide only best-case memory throughput. This work presents a series of modifications to the well-known STREAM benchmark to measure the effects of NUMA on both a 48-core AMD Opteron machine and a 32-core Intel Xeon machine

Lorentz-covariant quantum transport and the origin of dark energy

A possible explanation for the enigma of dark energy, responsible for about 76 % of the mass-energy of the universe, is obtained by requiring only that the rigorous continuity equation (the Boltzmann transport equation) for quanta propagating through space should have the form of a Lorentz-covariant and dispersion-free wave equation. This requirement implies (i) properties of space-time which an observer would describe as uniform expansion in agreement with Hubble's law, and (ii) that the quantum transport behaves like in a multiplicative medium with multiplication factor = 2. This inherent, essentially explosive multiplicity of vacuum, thus caused by the requirement of Lorentz-covariance, is suggested as a potential origin of dark energy. In addition, it is shown (iii) that this requirement of Lorentz-covariant quantum transport leads to an apparent accelerated expansion of the universe. In addition to the updated manuscript for Phys. Scr., the arXiv file also contains a discussion of about a dozen Frequently Asked Questions from readers. Further questions not adequately dealt with in the existing FAQ are welcome.Comment: Paper (8 pages, 9 figures) plus Frequently Asked Questions (5 pages

Evaluative criteria for elementary school physical education.

Thesis (Ed.M.)--Boston Universit

Extracting Valuable Data from Classroom Trading Pits

Edward Chamberlin, who initiated classroom market experiments, used the results of these experiments to argue that competitive equilibrium performs poorly in explaining the outcomes of real markets. Vernon Smith altered the design of Chamberlin's experiment to increase the amount of price information available to traders and in classroom experiments with this design found that trading outcomes were close to those predicted by competitive theory. This paper examines results of classroom trading experiments using the design found in Experiments with Economic Principles, an introductory economics text by Ted Bergstrom and John Miller. The procedure in this experiment is intermediate between that of Chamberlin and that of Smith. We have collected data on transaction prices and quantities from a large number of classroom experiments using this design. We compare the experimental outcomes with the predictions made by competitive equilibriumtheory and by a simple profit-splitting theory. Evidence suggests that neither theory is entirely successful, though in the first rounds of trading there seems to be a significant amount of profit-splitting and as traders become more experienced, outcomes are closer to those predicted by competitive theory.experimental economics, classroom experiments, Edward Chamberlin, Vernon Smith, trading pits, demand and supply, profit- splitting, random matching, excess trading

Healthy Corridor for All: A Community Health Impact Assessment of Transit-Oriented Development Policy in Saint Paul, Minnesota

Details the connections between land-use decisions and health and equity outcomes based on a health impact assessment of the Central Corridor light rail line in the Twin Cities. Includes analysis of the rezoning proposal and policy recommendations

The Algebra of Assortativity and the Evolution of Cooperation

This paper presents an evolutionary game theoretic analysis of the dynamics of a population of prisoners' dilemma players where the probability of encountering an cooperator is higher for cooperators than for noncooperators. Examples from biological and cultural evolution are presented. There is also a discussion of voluntary matching where one's type is informatively, but imperfectly signalled.subliminal extant Smith economagic gmm