Studies on the Effects of Sympathy and Religious Education on Income Redistribution Preferences, Charitable Donations, and Law-Abiding Behavior

The purpose of this dissertation is to identify the impact of moral emotions (sympathy and empathy) and religious education on individual behavior. This dissertation is divided into three main chapters. The first chapter examines the effect of sympathy and empathy on tax compliance. We run a series of experiments in which we employ methods such as priming, the Davis Empathic Concern scale, and questions about frequency of prosocial behaviors in the past year in order to promote and to identify empathy and sympathy in subjects. We observe the subjects’ decisions in a series of one-shot tax compliance game presented at once and with no immediate feedback. Our results suggest that the presence and/or the promotion of sympathy in most cases encourage tax compliance. The second chapter takes into consideration religious schooling as a way of helping the development of religiosity or morality on individuals. Our intent is to investigate the effect of religious education on charitable donations in adulthood. Our empirical analysis is based on data from the Panel Study of Income Dynamics dataset. Our estimation results indicate that there is a positive effect of religious education on donations to secular and religious organizations. The third chapter explores the hypothesis that sympathetic individuals are more likely to support income redistribution because they believe that the poor may benefit from this policy. We use data from the General Social Survey to estimate support for income distribution. Our results suggest that some measures of sympathy have a positive effect on support for redistribution. Across all three main chapters, we find that sympathy has mostly small and positive effects on the types of behavior examined in this dissertation, although we are not able to determine the impact of religious education on charitable donations. Despite the sometimes weak results of this research caused by the limitations of the available data and the complexity of the issues studied, we believe that the development of these moral emotions is likely to generate benefits to society

Performance of the TileCal super-drawers from a global analysis of the MobiDICK tests

This note describes a global analysis of the tests of the TileCal super-drawers, which has been performed in order to determine the spread of the characteristics of the front-end electronics

Accretion Disks Around Young Objects. II. Tests of Well-Mixed Models with Ism Dust

We construct detailed vertical structure models of irradiated accretion disks around T Tauri stars with interstellar medium dust uniformly mixed with gas. The dependence of the structure and emission properties on mass accretion rate, viscosity parameter, and disk radius is explored using these models. The theoretical spectral energy distributions (SEDs) and images for all inclinations are compared with observations of the entire population of Classical T Tauri stars (CTTS) and Class I objects in Taurus. In particular, we find that the median near-infrared fluxes can be explained within the errors with the most recent values for the median accretion rates for CTTS. We further show that the majority of the Class I sources in Taurus cannot be Class II sources viewed edge-on because they are too luminous and their colors would be consistent with disks seen only in a narrow range of inclinations. Our models appear to be too geometrically thick at large radii, as suggested by: (a) larger far-infrared disk emission than in the typical SEDs of T Tauri stars; (b) wider dark dust lanes in the model images than in the images of HH30 and HK Tau/c; and (c) larger predicted number of stars extincted by edge-on disks than consistent with current surveys. The large thickness of the model is a consequence of the assumption that dust and gas are well-mixed, suggesting that some degree of dust settling may be required to explain the observations.Comment: 41 pages, 13 figures, accepted in Ap

On the nature of the Herbig B[e] star binary system V921 Scorpii: Geometry and kinematics of the circumprimary disk on sub-AU scales

V921 Scorpii is a close binary system (separation 0.025") showing the B[e]-phenomenon. The system is surrounded by an enigmatic bipolar nebula, which might have been shaped by episodic mass-loss events, possibly triggered by dynamical interactions between the companion and the circumprimary disk (Kraus et al. 2012a). In this paper, we investigate the spatial structure and kinematics of the circumprimary disk, with the aim to obtain new insights into the still strongly debated evolutionary stage. For this purpose, we combine, for the first time, infrared spectro-interferometry (VLTI/AMBER, R=12,000) and spectro-astrometry (VLT/CRIRES, R=100,000), which allows us to study the AU-scale distribution of circumstellar gas and dust with an unprecedented velocity resolution of 3 km*s^-1. Using a model-independent photocenter analysis technique, we find that the Br-gamma-line emission rotates in the same plane as the dust disk. We can reproduce the wavelength-differential visibilities and phases and the double-peaked line profile using a Keplerian-rotating disk model. The derived mass of the central star is 5.4+/-0.4 M_sun*(d/1150 pc), which is considerably lower than expected from the spectral classification, suggesting that V921 Sco might be more distant (d approx 2kpc) than commonly assumed. Using the geometric information provided by our Br-gamma spectro-interferometric data and Paschen, Brackett, and Pfund line decrement measurements in 61 hydrogen recombination line transitions, we derive the density of the line-emitting gas (N_e=2...6*10^19 m^-3). Given that our measurements can be reproduced with a Keplerian velocity field without outflowing velocity component and the non-detection of age-indicating spectroscopic diagnostics, our study provides new evidence for the pre-main-sequence nature of V921 Sco.Comment: 17 pages, 11 figures, 3 tables, accepted by Ap

A simplified protocol for detecting two systemic bait markers (Rhodamine B and iophenoxic acid) in small mammals

We developed a method of quantifying levels of fluorescence in the whiskers of wild stoats (Mustela erminea) using fluorescence microscopy and Axiovision 3.0.6.1 software. The method allows for discrimination between natural fluorescence present in or on a whisker, and the fluorescence resulting from the ingestion of the systemic marker Rhodamine B (RB), although some visual judgement is still required. We also developed a new high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) protocol for detecting the systemic marker iophenoxic acid (IPA) in the blood of laboratory rats (Rattus norvegicus) and wild stoats. With this method, the blood of an animal that has consumed IPA can be tested for the presence of the foreign IPA compound itself. This is a more reliable test than the previous method, which measured the raised level of natural blood protein-bound iodine correlated with IPA absorption. The quantity of blood required from animal subjects is very small (10 μl), so the testing is less intrusive and the method can be extended to smaller species. The extraction technique uses methanol, rather than acids and heavy metal salts, thereby simplifying the procedure. Recovery of IPA is quantitative, giving a highly reliable reading. In experiments on captive rats the IPA method proved successful. Of 12 positively marked carcasses, two that had not been frozen for the 24 h before blood samples were taken showed relatively lower IPA levels. The same IPA detection method, as well as the whisker analysis for RB, was applied successfully to a population of wild stoats to which both Rhodamine B and IPA were made available at bait stations. The presence of both bait markers was detectable in rats for at least 21 days and in stoats for at least 27 days

Unveiling the Structure of Pre-Transitional Disks

In the past few years, several disks with inner holes that are empty of small dust grains have been detected and are known as transitional disks. Recently, Spitzer has identified a new class of "pre-transitional disks" with gaps; these objects have an optically thick inner disk separated from an optically thick outer disk by an optically thin disk gap. A near-infrared spectrum provided the first confirmation of a gap in the pre-transitional disk of LkCa 15 by verifying that the near-infrared excess emission in this object was due to an optically thick inner disk. Here we investigate the difference between the nature of the inner regions of transitional and pre-transitional disks using the same veiling-based technique to extract the near-infrared excess emission above the stellar photosphere. We show that the near-infrared excess emission of the previously identified pre-transitional disks of LkCa 15 and UX Tau A in Taurus as well as the newly identified pre-transitional disk of ROX 44 in Ophiuchus can be fit with an inner disk wall located at the dust destruction radius. We also model the broad-band SEDs of these objects, taking into account the effect of shadowing by the inner disk on the outer disk, considering the finite size of the star. The near-infrared excess continua of these three pre-transitional disks, which can be explained by optically thick inner disks, are significantly different from that of the transitional disks of GM Aur, whose near-infrared excess continuum can be reproduced by emission from sub-micron-sized optically thin dust, and DM Tau, whose near-infrared spectrum is consistent with a disk hole that is relatively free of small dust. The structure of pre-transitional disks may be a sign of young planets forming in these disks and future studies of pre-transitional disks will provide constraints to aid in theoretical modeling of planet formation.Comment: Accepted for publication in ApJ on May 10, 2010; 29 page

Fluctuaciones de la extensión del casquete glacial de la isla Livingston (Shetland del Sur) desde 1956 hasta 1996

A partir de documentos cartográficos e imágenes de satélite se constata un 4,31% de reducción de extensión del casquete glacial de la isla Livingston desde 1956 hasta 1996. Se detecta la influencia de factores locales, fundamentalmente de tipo topogr á fico, que condicionan los avances y retrocesos del frente glacial en los diferentes sectores de la costa y se establece un modelo simple en el que se relaciona la reducción del conjunto del casquete con el calentamiento atmosférico experimentado en los últimos decenios en la zona de la Península Antártica.Cartographic data and satellite images have revealed that the area of the Livingston ice cap decreased by 4.31% from 1956 to 1996. Local factors, mainly topographic, have an influence on advances and retreats of the ice front. We established a simple model which correlates the reduction of the ice cap and the atmospheric wa rming detected in the Antarctic Peninsula during the last few decades