The Law of Demand in Tiebout Economies

We consider a general equilibrium local public goods economy in which agents have two distinguishing characteristics. The first is 'crowding type', which is publicly observable and provides direct costs or benefits to the jurisdiction (coalition or firms) the agent joins. The second is taste type, which is not publicly observable, has no direct effects on others and is defined over private good, public goods and the crowding profile of the jurisdiction the agent joins. The law of demand suggests that as the quantity of a given crowding type (plummers, lawers, smart people, tall people, nonsmokers, for example) increases, the compensation that agents of that type receive should go down. We provide counterexamples, however, that show that some agents of a given crowding type might actually benefit when the proportion of agents with the same crowding type increases. This reversal of the law of demand seems to have to do with interaction effect between tastes and skills, something difficult to study without making these classes of characteristics distinct. We argue that this reversal seems to relate to the degree of difference between various patterns of tastes. In particular, if tastes are homogeneous, the law of demand holds.

An introduction to the english law of contracts

El presente estudio tendrá por objeto dar una perspectiva general del Derecho de contratos en el Ordenamiento Jurídico inglés. Se hará especial énfasis en los principios generales del Derecho de contratos inglés, particularmente en lo que respecta a aquellos aspectos en los que existan mayores diferencias (teóricas y/o prácticas) entre el Derecho inglés y los sistemas jurídicos de Derecho continental tales como el español'.This study aims to give an overview of the English Law of Contracts. Special emphasis is placed on the general principies which inspire the English Law of Contracts, particularly with respect to those aspects which differentiate the latter (in theory and/or in practice) from the Civil Law legal systems (such as the Spanish legal system)

Elizabeth Gaskell and Charles Kingsley: The creative artists interpretation of a working class world

The dissertation examines the particular skills of Charles Kingsley and Elizabeth Gaskell as writers of fiction in their attempts to present a view of the working classes in Yeast, Alton Locke, Mary Barton and North and South. The introduction provides a short account of the social background and examines the concepts and methods used in this study. The first chapter briefly shows a selection of alternative approaches to fictional representation of the working class in other contemporary minor novelists. Chapter two considers those aspects of Charles Kingsley's intellectual development which were most significant in the formation of his views of the working class. Chapter three provides a detailed examination of Yeast and considers the way in which Charles Kingsley first attempted to incorporate working class figures in his novels. Chapter four discusses the development of Charles Kingsley's writing on the subject and analyses the treatment of the working class milieu of Alton Locke. Chapter five examines Mrs Gaskell's first novel, Mary Barton, which also presents a working class environment. Chapter six shows the further development of Mrs Gaskell as a writer in this area, by an examination of the way in which the working class is seen in relation to other social groups in North and South. Chapter seven analyses a particular aspect of Mrs Gaskell's treatment of the working class by a consideration of her use of dialogue in the two novels. The conclusion briefly compares and contrasts the individual approaches of the two authors to the writing of novels about the working class.<p

Assessment of coastal watershed erosion potential using geographic information systems and expert input for decision support

Sediment is a major impairment in many streams and rivers in the drainage basins along the northern Gulf of Mexico. The use of geospatial technologies improves assessment and decision making for the management of environmental resources and conditions for coastal watersheds. This research focuses on the development of a conceptual qualitative model enhanced with expert input for the assessment of soil erosion potential in coastal watersheds. The conceptual model is built upon five layers (slope, precipitation, soil brightness or exposure, Kactor, and stream density) like those in a standard numerical soil loss model such as the Revised Universal Soil Loss Equation (RUSLE). The conceptual model produced a continuous surface to index erosion potential. Pearson’s correlation coefficient was used to identify variable sensitivity. The model was most sensitive to Kactor variable, followed by soil brightness, stream density, and slope. The model was not sensitive to the precipitation variable due to the lack of variability across the watershed. Expert input was added to the conceptual model for erosion potential with the Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP). The AHP is used to value the importance of criteria, providing a quantitative weight for the qualitative data. The expert input increased the overall importance of topographic features and this increased cell counts in the upper erosion potential classes. The AHP weights were altered in 1% increments ranging from plus to minus 20% producing 201 unique runs. A quartile analysis of the runs was used to define areas of model agreement. The quartile analysis allowed for the application of an analysis mask to identify areas of increased erosion potential for improved management related decisions. The conceptual and AHP erosion potential output data, including watershed management priority rankings, were published as web mapping services for story map development as a transition to a decision support system. The limits of the story map to allow user interactions with model output rendered an unacceptable platform for decision support. The story map does offer an alternative to static reports and could serve to improve dissemination of spatial data as well as technical reports and plans like a watershed management plan

Identifying Potential Sedimentation Sources through a Remote Sensing and Gis Analysis of Landuse/Landcover for the Weeks Bay Watershed, Baldwin County, Alabama

The Weeks Bay watershed in Baldwin County, Alabama has experienced rapid changes in landuse/ landcover (LULC) from 1990 to 2000. These changes have resulted in increased upland erosion and higher concentrations of suspended sediment within the watershed. For this research project a spatial model was developed to identify potential sources of sediment relevant to LULC and slope. Landsat satellite imagery was classified to assess LULC within the Weeks Bay watershed. The classification includes forested vegetation, herbaceous vegetation (seasonal and persistent), mixed/ transitional vegetation, urban/ built-up areas, sparse/ residual vegetation and water, with an overall accuracy of 78%. Change detections of the classified images yielded substantial increases in urban areas (92.5%). These data were coupled with slope data in a geographic information system and a raster analysis provided a qualitative evaluation of potential sediment sources within the Weeks Bay watershed based on the change in LULC and slopes of the landscape

Surface modification of icy satellites: Space weathering of the large moons of Uranus and alluvial fan formation on Saturn’s moon Titan

The surfaces of icy satellites are continually modified by space weathering and geologic processes. This dissertation explores the processes changing the surface compositions of the large moons of Uranus and mechanisms for development of possible alluvial fans on the Saturnian moon, Titan. On the Uranian satellites, I hypothesize that the origin and distribution of carbon dioxide ice results from charged particle bombardment, and that spectrally red material originated on retrograde irregular satellites. On Titan, I hypothesize that landforms identified as alluvial fans at low and mid latitudes were formed by sheetfloods, whereas possible alluvial fans at high latitudes were formed by debris flows. To test whether charged particle radiolysis drives carbon dioxide ice synthesis on the classical Uranian moons, I gathered new near-infrared (NIR) reflectance spectra over a range of satellite longitudes, and measured the areas of carbon dioxide ice bands in these data to constrain its distribution on their surfaces. I found that the abundance of carbon dioxide ice peaks on the trailing hemispheres of the moons closer to Uranus (Ariel and Umbriel), consistent with radiolytic production of carbon dioxide ice via magnetospherically-embedded charged particle bombardment. Using these same NIR spectra, I measured the spectral slopes and areas of water ice bands to constrain the distribution of red material on these moons. My water ice band area and spectral slope measurements indicate that red material is most abundant on the leading hemispheres of the outer moons, Titania and Oberon, consistent with delivery of red dust from the irregular moons. To test alluvial fan formation mechanisms on Titan, I measured the radar backscatter of possible alluvial fans located at different latitudes on Titan, and compared these backscatter measurements to alluvial fans formed by sheetfloods and debris flows on Earth. My results indicate that backscatter from possible fans at high latitudes on Titan is more consistent with sheetflood fans on Earth, and backscatter from low- and mid- latitude possible fans on Titan is more consistent with terrestrial debris flow fans. I explore the geomorphic and sedimentological implications of these results