Zipf's Law and the Universality Class of the Fragmentation Phase Transition

We show that Zipf's Law for the largest clusters is not valid in an exact sense at the critical point of the fragmentation phase transition, contrary to previous claims. Instead, the extracted distributions of the largest clusters reflects the choice of universality class through the value of the critical exponent tau.Comment: Conf. Proceeding for VI Latin American Symposium on Nuclear Physics and Applications, Iguazu, Argentina, October 200

A Summary of the Bank of Canada Conference on Fixed-Income Markets, 3-4 May 2006

The Bank of Canada's interest in fixed-income markets spans several of its functional areas of responsibility, including monetary policy, funds management, and financial system stability and efficiency. For that reason, the 2006 conference brought together top academics and central bankers from around the world to discuss leading-edge work in the field of fixed-income research. The papers and discussions cover such topics as the efficiency of fixed-income markets, price formation, the determinants of the yield curve, and volatility modelling. This article provides a short summary of each conference paper and the ensuing discussion.

Fragment Multiplicity Distributions, a Signal of True Nuclear Multifragmentation

Multiplicity fluctuations of intermediate-mass fragments are studied with the percolation model. It is shown that super-Poissonian fluctuations occur near the percolation transition and that this behavior is associated with the fragmentative nature of the percolation model. The consequences of various choices in defining and binning fragments are also evaluated. Several suggestions for experiments in nuclear fragmentation are presented.Comment: 13 pages, 4 figure

State growth empirics: the long-run determinants of state income growth

Real average U.S. per capita personal income growth over the last 65 years exceeded a remarkable 400 percent. Also notable over this period is that the stark income differences across states have narrowed considerably: In 1939 the highest income state’s per capita personal income was 4.5 times the lowest, but by 1976 this ratio had fallen to less than 2 times. Since 1976, the standard deviation of per capita incomes at the state level has actually risen, as some higher-income states have seen their income levels rise relative to the median of the states. A better understanding of the sources of these relative growth performances should help to characterize more effective economic development strategies, if income growth differences are predictable. In this paper, we look for statistically and economically significant growth factors by estimating an augmented growth model using a panel of the 48 contiguous states from 1939 to 2004. Specifically, we control for factors that previous researchers have argued were important: tax burdens, public infrastructure, size of private financial markets, rates of business failure, industry structure, climate, and knowledge stocks. Our results, which are robust to a wide variety of perturbations to the model, are easily summarized: A state’s knowledge stocks (as measured by its stock of patents and its high school and college attainment rates) are the main factors explaining a state’s relative per capita personal income.Economic development ; Income ; Education - Economic aspects

Hydrologic analysis of a limestone quarry using EPA\u27s HELP Version 3.08 Model

Aggregates were historically a low cost commodity but with communities and governmental agencies reducing the amount of mining the cost is increasing dramatically. An awareness needs to be brought to communities that aggregate production is necessary for ensuring the existing infrastructure in today’s world. This can be accomplished using proven technologies in other areas and applying them to show how viable reclamation is feasible. A proposed mine reclamation, Douglas Township quarry (DTQ), in Dakota Township, MN was evaluated using Visual Hydrologic Evaluation of Landfill Performance (HELP) model. The HELP is commonly employed for estimating the water budget of a landfill, however, it was applied to determine the water budget of the DTQ following mining. Using an environmental impact statement as the case study, modeling predictions indicated the DTQ will adequately drain the water being put into the system. The height of the groundwater table will rise slightly due to the mining excavations but no ponding will occur. The application of HELP model determined the water budget of the DTQ and can be used as a viable option for mining companies to demonstrate how land can be reclaimed following mining operations

The Role of Isolation in Predicting New Principals’ Burnout

Professional isolation has hampered the quality of the work experience for employees in and outside public education for decades. This study explores the role that perceived isolation plays in predicting the quality of the work experience among new principals. The analysis tests whether isolation serves as a mediator in the relationship between factors that are known to affect the quality of work life of principals (social support; role stress; and participation in a structured coaching relationship) and three dimensions of burnout. Regression analysis supports the framework that places isolation as a mediator in predicting physical and emotional burnout, but does not support this role for cognitive burnout