News of defence spending changes the economic behaviour of people and firms

Announced changes in US public spending on defence have a significant impact on the economic behaviour of firms and households. In particular, anticipated increases in defence spending induce a significant and persistent increase in output, hours worked, the interest rate and inflation, as well as significant impact responses for consumption and investment

The Latent Functions of Welfare and Need-Satisfaction of the Disadvantaged

In a study carried out among a representative sample of Jewish Israeli adults, a paradigm of need-satisfaction by direct welfare assistance has been developed and, to a great extent, empirically supported. Multivariate analysis revealed that, despite the fact that it is recognized as indispensible in facilitating basic living conditions, direct welfare assistance, whatever its kind, predicts frustration rather than need-satisfaction. The data ascertain that attributing to the welfare assistance the latent functions of preserving consumers\u27 inferiority and of pursuing the agencies\u27 and the welfare workers\u27 interests rather than those of the consumers, constitute a major factor in the resulting feeling of frustration. Dependence, a sense of deprivation, and the attribution of these latent functions, rather than need-satisfaction beyond those of facilitating basic living conditions, are greatly predicted by receiving direct welfare assistance

Energy modelling in the South African electric power industry

The subject of this thesis is the development of a modelling system for the planning of the South African electricity supply industry. A power system planning process was developed with the object of ~stablishing a long-range development plan that would enable the selection and timing of individual projects. This planning process is represented by several sub-models which include the prediction of future demands, the assessment of the generating capacity and the proportions of the different types of generating plant on the system (the plant "mix"), the analysis of the transmission network performances and the simulation of the financial processes. One of the characteristics of the modelling system presented is its three-stage structure. The first stage is represented by the load model for the long-term prediction of power and energy demand. The second stage is represented by the two expansion models for generation and transmission. With the aid of these two models several expansion strategies are pre-selected, and then in the third stage, using the financial model, the total capital requirements are established. The future system demand is predicted from the analysis of historical data and by the formulation of the electricity - and economic growth relationship: Two major calculations, linear programming optimisation and loss of load probability analysis, are used in the computer models which aid the policy makers in selecting the optimum size and mix of the generating plants and scheduling the operation and maintenance of the generating units. Transmission system analysis programs have been developed in such a way that they use a common power system data base which enables the planning engineers to store and maintain their power system data. The calculation routines include load flow, fault analysis, stability studies, single and three phase travelling. Waves, and power and high ii frequency transmission line parameters. The costing and financial models include the analysis of costs of all new expansion equipment, the costs of operation and maintenance of the generation units, transmission equipment and fuel, and the simulation of the financial environment and accounting processes. On the basis of experience gained so far, the author arrives at the conclusion that the modelling system presented is capable of providing a useful tool for planning the expansion of the South African electricity supply industry

Eusebius and Hadrian's founding of Aelia Capitolina in Jerusalem

From numismatic findings and recent excavations in the Old City of Jerusalem it emerges that the preparatory work on Aelia Capitolina started at the very beginning of Hadrian’ reign, most probably in the 120s, more than a decade before the Bar Kokhba war. The question then arises as how it happened that Eusebius mentions the founding of this colony as a consequence of the war. The answer lies both in the source he depends upon, possibly Ariston of Pella, and also in Eusebius’ own conception of Jewish history

News of defence spending changes the economic behaviour of people and firms

The expectation of changes in defence spending accounts for a non-negligible share of US output fluctuations, write Nadav Ben Zeev and Evi Pappa. Announced changes in US public spending on defence have a significant impact on the economic behaviour of firms and households. In particular, anticipated increases in defence spending induce a significant and persistent increase in output, hours worked, ..

Simple proofs for Furstenberg sets over finite fields

A $(k,m)$-Furstenberg set $S \subset \mathbb{F}_q^n$ over a finite field is a set that has at least $m$ points in common with a $k$-flat in every direction. The question of determining the smallest size of such sets is a natural generalization of the finite field Kakeya problem. The only previously known bound for these sets is due to Ellenberg-Erman and requires sophisticated machinery from algebraic geometry. In this work we give new, completely elementary and simple, proofs which significantly improve the known bounds. Our main result relies on an equivalent formulation of the problem using the notion of min-entropy, which could be of independent interest

“My attitude on telehealth has completely changed.”: Facilitators and Barriers to Implementing Technology for Care Delivery in Community Mental Health Centers

The purpose of this study was to explore facilitators and barriers aiding community mental health centers in implementing technology-assisted care during the COVID-19 pandemic. Six key informants were interviewed and 28 clinicians were surveyed from three community mental health centers. Interviews focused on technology-assisted care implementation efforts and factors that facilitated adoption. Surveys focused on clinician beliefs and experience with technology-assisted care in addition to training needs. Barriers to technology-assisted care implementation included beliefs about the quality of virtual services and a lack of technology access. An increase in service utilization was reported. Technology-assisted care facilitators included reimbursement policy changes and clinic-based factors such as clinician training and supervision efforts. Clinicians reported having the skills necessary to implement technology-assisted care however endorsed a need for training. Implementation of technology-assisted care in community mental health centers was largely successful however support is needed to help clinicians adapt services to client needs

Foundations Of Inequality: Construction, Political Economy, Race, And The Body In Palestine/israel, 1918-1973

This dissertation is a history of construction work and the construction industry in twentieth-century Palestine/Israel, from British rule after World War I, through the first twenty-five years of Israeli statehood and Palestinians’ ongoing Nakba (catastrophe). It is primarily a study of the relationship between the history of construction work and the construction industry in the literal sense, and between social and cultural processes frequently understood through construction as metaphor: nation- and state-building, and the construction of social difference. The dissertation examines these histories of construction in Israel/Palestine through multiple lenses, combining histories of labor, the body and the senses, race, political economy, and material culture. It analyzes the shifts from Zionist-Palestinian competition over work, resources and production under the British Mandate; through the transformation of the construction industry’s workforce into one based on marginalized and racialized Mizrahi Jews (Jews from Muslim lands), and Palestinian citizens in Israel in the decades following Israel’s establishment and the Nakba in 1948. I trace these shifts and their implications using sources from archives in Israel/Palestine, the United Kingdom, and the United States, newspapers, literature, film, workers’ songs, trade publications, and oral history interviews. The dissertation argues that political economy, ecology, and culture alike made cement factories, quarries, construction sites, and workers’ bodies into sites of Zionist and Palestinian nation-building, conflict, domination, and resistance. Meanwhile, workers’ and their communities’ use and understanding of these sites often defied and challenged an increasingly racialized and nationalist social order. Construction work and the construction industry thus played a pivotal role in the formation of racialized social hierarchies within Palestine/Israel