470 research outputs found
A Case Where Barro Expectations Are Not Rational
This note generalizes Feldstein’s (1976) criticism of Barro’s(1974) analysis for the case that the interest rate exceeds the growth rate. This is done by considering an economy in steady state where all agents hold “Barro expectations”: they believe that government debt must necessarily be repaid and therefore leave the present value of their income streams unchanged. In this scenario, a change in the mode of taxation affects the present value of disposable income in the private sector. This violates their Barro expectations
Zwischen religiöser Unterweisung und modernem Marketing:die Websites der türkischen Migrantenselbstorganisationen DITIB und Milli Görüş im Vergleich
Art und Ausmaß der Internetangebote von Migrantenselbstorganisationen in Deutschland ist ebenso wie die Internetnutzung von Migranten bisher kaum erforscht worden. Dabei sind zum einen von gesellschaftspolitischer Bedeutung, ob sich durch die Verlagerung bisher „offline“ agierender Vereine ins Internet neue virtuelle Gemeinschaften bilden und sich die Vereinsaktivitäten durch die Online-Präsenz deutlich erweitern? Zum anderen stellt sich die Frage, ob diese Vereine die Möglichkeiten des interaktiven Mediums Internet ausschöpfen, um neue, insbesondere junge Migranten anzusprechen und zur Mitgliedschaft zu bewegen? Exemplarisch werden diese Fragen anhand der Websites von DITIB und Milli Görüş (IGMG) erörtert. Die DITIB stellt vorrangig sich und die Offline“-Aktivitäten des Vereins im Sinne eines „schwarzen Brettes im Internet“ dar. Dagegen unterhält die IGMG eine virtuelle Plattform, die es dem Nutzer erlaubt, an Diskussionen zu Themen auch jenseits der Religion teilzunehmen und sich so aktiv in die Ausgestaltung des Vereinslebens einzubringen.The nature and extent of Websites of migrant organizations in Germany, as well as the use of the Internet by migrants has barely been explored. On the one hand it is of a socio-political significance, whether by shifting from so far "offline" active associations on to the Internet new virtual communities develop and thus the activities of the organization are considerably broadened? On the other hand, the question is whether these associations tap the possibilities of the interactive media Internet, especially to approach young migrants and to persuade them to become members? Exemplarily, these questions are illuminated on the basis of the two largest Turkish organizations in Germany: DITIB and Milli Görüş (IGMG). This shows that DITIB and IGMG use the Internet quite differently. The DITIB primarily presents its offline-activities on its homepage. Contrarily, the IGMG provides a virtual platform on its homepage that allows users to interactively participate in discussions about general topics beyond religion and so to actively participate in shaping the association
Then again, how often does the Unruh-DeWitt detector click if we switch it carefully?
The transition probability in first-order perturbation theory for an
Unruh-DeWitt detector coupled to a massless scalar field in Minkowski space is
calculated. It has been shown recently that the conventional
regularisation prescription for the correlation function leads to non-Lorentz
invariant results for the transition rate, and a different regularisation,
involving spatial smearing of the field, has been advocated to replace it. We
show that the non-Lorentz invariance arises solely from the assumption of
sudden switch-on and switch-off of the detector, and that when the model
includes a smooth switching function the results from the conventional
regularisation are both finite and Lorentz invariant. The sharp switching limit
of the model is also discussed, as well as the falloff properties of the
spectrum for large frequencies.Comment: 16 pages, v3. Final published version with section 5 expande
Explaining Africa’s public consumption procyclicality : revisiting old evidence
This paper compiles a novel dataset of time-varying measures of government consumption cyclicality for a panel of 46 African economies between 1960 and 2014. Government consumption has, generally, been highly procyclical over time in this group of countries. However, sample averages hide serious heterogeneity across countries with the majority of them showing procyclical behavior despite some positive signs of graduation from the “procyclicality trap” in a few cases. By means of weighted least squares regressions, we find that more developed African economies tend to have a smaller degree of government consumption procyclicality. Countries with higher social fragmentation and those are more reliant on foreign aid inflows tend to have a more procyclical government consumption policy. Better governance promotes counter- cyclical fiscal policy whileincreased democracy dampens it. Finally, some fiscal rules are important in curbing the procyclical behavior of government consumption.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio
Excited by a quantum field: Does shape matter?
The instantaneous transition rate of an arbitrarily accelerated Unruh-DeWitt
particle detector on four-dimensional Minkowski space is ill defined without
regularisation. We show that Schlicht's regularisation as the zero-size limit
of a Lorentz-function spatial profile yields a manifestly well-defined
transition rate with physically reasonable asymptotic properties. In the
special case of stationary trajectories, including uniform acceleration, we
recover the results that have been previously obtained by a regularisation that
relies on the stationarity. Finally, we discuss evidence for the conjecture
that the zero-size limit of the transition rate is independent of the detector
profile.Comment: 7 pages, uses jpconf. Talk given at NEB XII (Nafplio, Greece, 29 June
- 2 July 2006
Considerations on the Unruh Effect: Causality and Regularization
This article is motivated by the observation, that calculations of the Unruh
effect based on idealized particle detectors are usually made in a way that
involves integrations along the {\em entire} detector trajectory up to the
infinitely remote {\em future}. We derive an expression which allows
time-dependence of the detector response in the case of a non-stationary
trajectory and conforms more explicitely to the principle of causality, namely
that the response at a given instant of time depends only on the detectors {\em
past} movements. On trying to reproduce the thermal Unruh spectrum we are led
to an unphysical result, which we trace down to the use of the standard
regularization t\to t-i\eps of the correlation function. By consistently
employing a rigid detector of finite extension, we are led to a different
regularization which works fine with our causal response function.Comment: 19 pages, 2 figures, v2: some minor change
How often does the Unruh-DeWitt detector click? Regularisation by a spatial profile
We analyse within first-order perturbation theory the instantaneous
transition rate of an accelerated Unruh-DeWitt particle detector whose coupling
to a massless scalar field on four-dimensional Minkowski space is regularised
by a spatial profile. For the Lorentzian profile introduced by Schlicht, the
zero size limit is computed explicitly and expressed as a manifestly finite
integral formula that no longer involves regulators or limits. The same
transition rate is obtained for an arbitrary profile of compact support under a
modified definition of spatial smearing. Consequences for the asymptotic
behaviour of the transition rate are discussed. A number of stationary and
nonstationary trajectories are analysed, recovering in particular the Planckian
spectrum for uniform acceleration.Comment: 30 pages, 1 figure. v3: Added references and minor clarification
In Vitro Characterisation of Physiological and Maximum Elastic Modulus of Ascending Thoracic Aortic Aneurysms Using Uniaxial Tensile Testing
AbstractObjectiveAscending thoracic aortic aneurysms (ATAA) are a life-threatening condition due to the risk of rupture or dissection. This risk is increased in the presence of a bicuspid aortic valve (BAV). The purpose of this study was to provide data on the elastic modulus of aortic wall of ATAA using uniaxial tensile testing in two different areas of the stress–strain relationship: physiological and maximum range of stresses. The influence of tissue location, tissue orientation and valve type on these parameters was investigated.Materials and methodsTissues freshly excised from ATAA with bicuspid or tricuspid aortic valve were obtained from greater and lesser curvature (GC and LC) and the specimens were tested uniaxially in circumferential (CIRC) and longitudinal (LONG) orientation. Maximum elastic modulus (MEM) was given by the maximum slope of the stress–strain curve before failure. Physiological modulus (PM) was derived from the Laplace law and from ranges of pressure of 80–120 mmHg. Means of each group of specimen were compared using Student's t-test to assess the influence of location, orientation and valve type on each mechanical parameter.ResultsPM was found to be significantly lower than the MEM (p < 0.001). The MEM and PM were significantly higher (p < 0.01) in the CIRC (n = 66) than in the LONG orientation (n = 42). The MEM was higher in the circumferential orientation in the BAV group (p < 0.001 in GC and p < 0.05 in LC). MEM and PM in GC specimens were higher in the longitudinal orientation than the LC specimens (p < 0.05).ConclusionThis study demonstrates the anisotropy of the aortic wall in ATAA and provides data on the mechanical behaviour in the physiological range of pressure
Selection Wages and Discrimination
Applicants for any given job are more or less suited to fill it, and the firm will select the best among them. Increasing the wage offer attracts more applicants and makes it possible to raise the hiring standard and improve the productivity of the staff. Wages that optimize on the trade-off between the wage level and the productivity of the workforce are known as selection wages. As men react more strongly to wage differentials than females, the trade-off is more pronounced for men and a profit-maximizing firm will offer a higher wage for men than for women in equilibrium
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