Linear Programming Approach to Resource Allocation in a Public School System

Business Administratio

An Unexplained 10 Degree - 40 Degree Shift in the Location of Some Diverse Neutral Atom Data at 1 AU

Four different data sets pertaining to the neutral atom environment at 1 AU are presented and discussed. These data sets include neutral solar wind and interstellar neutral atom data from IMAGE/LENA, energetic hydrogen atom data from SOHO/HSTOF and plasma wave data from the magnetometer on ISEE-3. Surprisingly, these data sets are centered between 262 degrees and 292 degrees ecliptic longitude, about 10 degrees - 40 degrees from the upstream interstellar neutral flow direction at 254 degrees resulting from the motion of the Sun relative to the local interstellar cloud. Some possible explanations for this offset, none of which is completely satisfactory, are discussed.Comment: 6 pages, 6 figures, 2 color peer-reviewed paper, in press, COSPAR/WS

uvbyCaHbeta CCD Photometry of Clusters. V. The Metal-Deficient Open Cluster NGC 2243

CCD photometry on the intermediate-band uvbyCaHbeta system is presented for the metal-deficient open cluster, NGC 2243. Restricting the data to probable single members of the cluster using the CMD and the photometric indices alone generates a sample of 100 stars at the cluster turnoff. The average E(b-y) = 0.039 (0.003 s.e.m.) or E(B-V) = 0.055 (0.004 s.e.m.), where the errors refer to internal errors alone. With this reddening, [Fe/H] is derived from both m_1 and hk, using b-y and Hbeta as the temperature index. The agreement among the four approaches is excellent, leading to a final weighted average of [Fe/H] = -0.57 (0.03 s.e.m.) for the cluster, on a scale where the Hyades has [Fe/H] = +0.12. Using a combination of photometric and spectroscopic data, 27 probable cluster members are identified and used to delineate the red giant branch and a well-defined clump at V = 13.70, while eliminating the so-called second clump at V = 14.1. Interpolation between isochrones of appropriate [Fe/H] leads to an apparent modulus of (m-M) = 13.15 +/- 0.1 and an age of 3.8 +/- 0.2 Gyr. A differential CMD comparison with Berkeley 29, a cluster with a galactocentric distance almost twice that of NGC 2243, constrains Berkeley 29 to be at least as young and as metal-rich as NGC 2243.Comment: 21 pg postscript, latex to preprint format, 15 eps figures, 2 tables. Accepted for publication in the Astronomical Journal Feb. 200

Major flaws in conflict prevention policies towards Africa : the conceptual deficits of international actors’ approaches and how to overcome them

Current thinking on African conflicts suffers from misinterpretations oversimplification, lack of focus, lack of conceptual clarity, state-centrism and lack of vision). The paper analyses a variety of the dominant explanations of major international actors and donors, showing how these frequently do not distinguish with sufficient clarity between the ‘root causes’ of a conflict, its aggravating factors and its triggers. Specifically, a correct assessment of conflict prolonging (or sustaining) factors is of vital importance in Africa’s lingering confrontations. Broader approaches (e.g. “structural stability”) offer a better analytical framework than familiar one-dimensional explanations. Moreover, for explaining and dealing with violent conflicts a shift of attention from the nation-state towards the local and sub-regional level is needed.Aktuelle Analysen afrikanischer Gewaltkonflikte sind häufig voller Fehlinterpretationen (Mangel an Differenzierung, Genauigkeit und konzeptioneller Klarheit, Staatszentriertheit, fehlende mittelfristige Zielvorstellungen). Breitere Ansätze (z. B. das Modell der Strukturellen Stabilität) könnten die Grundlage für bessere Analyseraster und Politiken sein als eindimensionale Erklärungen. häufig differenzieren Erklärungsansätze nicht mit ausreichender Klarheit zwischen Ursachen, verschärfenden und auslösenden Faktoren. Insbesondere die richtige Einordnung konfliktverlängernder Faktoren ist in den jahrzehntelangen gewaltsamen Auseinandersetzungen in Afrika von zentraler Bedeutung. Das Diskussionspapier stellt die große Variationsbreite dominanter Erklärungsmuster der wichtigsten internationalen Geber und Akteure gegenüber und fordert einen Perspektivenwechsel zum Einbezug der lokalen und der subregionalen Ebene für die Erklärung und Bearbeitung gewaltsamer Konflikte

WASP-3b: a strongly irradiated transiting gas-giant planet

We report the discovery of WASP-3b, the third transiting exoplanet to be discovered by the WASP and SOPHIE collaboration. WASP-3b transits its host star USNO-B1.0 1256−0285133 every 1.846 834 ± 0.000 002 d. Our high-precision radial velocity measurements present a variation with amplitude characteristic of a planetary-mass companion and in phase with the light curve. Adaptive optics imaging shows no evidence for nearby stellar companions, and line-bisector analysis excludes faint, unresolved binarity and stellar activity as the cause of the radial velocity variations. We make a preliminary spectroscopic analysis of the host star and find it to have Teff= 6400 ± 100 K and log g= 4.25 ± 0.05 which suggests it is most likely an unevolved main-sequence star of spectral type F7-8V. Our simultaneous modelling of the transit photometry and reflex motion of the host leads us to derive a mass of 1.76+0.08−0.14MJ and radius 1.31+0.07−0.14RJ for WASP-3b. The proximity and relative temperature of the host star suggests that WASP-3b is one of the hottest exoplanets known, and thus has the potential to place stringent constraints on exoplanet atmospheric model

Friedrich Hayek and his visits to Chile

F. A. Hayek took two trips to Chile, the first in 1977, the second in 1981. The visits were controversial. On the first trip he met with General Augusto Pinochet, who had led a coup that overthrew Salvador Allende in 1973. During his 1981 visit, Hayek gave interviews that were published in the Chilean newspaper El Mercurio and in which he discussed authoritarian regimes and the problem of unlimited democracy. After each trip, he complained that the western press had painted an unfair picture of the economic situation under the Pinochet regime. Drawing on archival material, interviews, and past research, we provide a full account of this controversial episode in Hayek’s life