339 research outputs found
Religion, Income Inequality, and the Size of the Government
Recent empirical research has demonstrated that countries with higher levels of religiosity are characterized by greater income inequality. We argue that this is due to the lower level of government services demanded in more religious countries. Religion requires that individuals make financial sacrifices and this leads the religious to prefer making their contributions voluntarily rather than through mandatory means. To the extent that citizen preferences are reflected in policy outcomes, religiosity results in lower taxes, which in turn implies lower levels of spending on both public goods and redistribution. Since measures of income typically do not fully take into account the part of income coming from donations received, this increases measured income inequality. We formalize these ideas in a general equilibrium political economy model and also show that the implications of our model are supported by cross-country data.religion, voluntary donations, taxation, redistribution, income inequality
Preliminary Heat Capacity and Vapor Pressure Measurements of 2D 4He on ZYX Graphite
We report preliminary heat capacity and vapor pressure measurements of the
first and second layers of 4He adsorbed on ZYX graphite. ZYX is known to have
much better crystallinity than Grafoil, the most commonly-used exfoliated
graphite substrate, such as a ten-times larger platelet size. This allows us to
distinguish different phases in 2D helium-4 much more clearly and may provide
qualitatively different insights into this system. We found a significantly
asymmetric density-dependence of the heat-capacity peak associated with the 1/3
phase formation comparing with that obtained with Grafoil. The 2nd-layer
promotion density is determined as 11.8+-0.3 nm-2 from the heat-capacity
measurement of low density samples in the 2nd layer and vapor pressure
measurement.Comment: 7 pages, 7 figures, accepted for publication in JLTP - QFS201
Religion, Income Inequality, and the Size of the Government
Recent empirical research has demonstrated that countries with higher levels of religiosity are characterized by greater income inequality. We argue that this is due to the lower level of government services demanded in more religious countries. Religion requires that individuals make financial sacrifices and this leads the religious to prefer making their contributions voluntarily rather than through mandatory means. To the extent that citizen preferences are reflected in policy outcomes, religiosity results in lower taxes, which in turn implies lower levels of spending on both public goods and redistribution. Since measures of income typically do not fully take into account the part of income coming from donations received, this increases measured income inequality. We formalize these ideas in a general equilibrium political economy model and also show that the implications of our model are supported by cross-country data
Comprehensive analysis of the chromatin landscape in Drosophila melanogaster.
Chromatin is composed of DNA and a variety of modified histones and non-histone proteins, which have an impact on cell differentiation, gene regulation and other key cellular processes. Here we present a genome-wide chromatin landscape for Drosophila melanogaster based on eighteen histone modifications, summarized by nine prevalent combinatorial patterns. Integrative analysis with other data (non-histone chromatin proteins, DNase I hypersensitivity, GRO-Seq reads produced by engaged polymerase, short/long RNA products) reveals discrete characteristics of chromosomes, genes, regulatory elements and other functional domains. We find that active genes display distinct chromatin signatures that are correlated with disparate gene lengths, exon patterns, regulatory functions and genomic contexts. We also demonstrate a diversity of signatures among Polycomb targets that include a subset with paused polymerase. This systematic profiling and integrative analysis of chromatin signatures provides insights into how genomic elements are regulated, and will serve as a resource for future experimental investigations of genome structure and function
Stability of stationary states in the cubic nonlinear Schroedinger equation: applications to the Bose-Einstein condensate
The stability properties and perturbation-induced dynamics of the full set of
stationary states of the nonlinear Schroedinger equation are investigated
numerically in two physical contexts: periodic solutions on a ring and
confinement by a harmonic potential. Our comprehensive studies emphasize
physical interpretations useful to experimentalists. Perturbation by stochastic
white noise, phase engineering, and higher order nonlinearity are considered.
We treat both attractive and repulsive nonlinearity and illustrate the
soliton-train nature of the stationary states.Comment: 9 pages, 11 figure
Quantum virial expansion approach to thermodynamics of He adsorbates in carbon nanotube materials: Interacting Bose gas in one dimension
I demonstrate that He adsorbates in carbon nanotube materials can be
treated as one-dimensional interacting gas of spinless bosons for temperatures
below 8 K and for coverages such that all the adsorbates are in the groove
positions of the carbon nanotube bundles. The effects of adsorbate-adsorbate
interactions are studied within the scheme of virial expansion approach. The
theoretical predictions for the specific heat of the interacting adsorbed gas
are given.Comment: 5 PS figure
INVERSE SCATTERING TRANSFORM ANALYSIS OF STOKES-ANTI-STOKES STIMULATED RAMAN SCATTERING
Zakharov-Shabat--Ablowitz-Kaup-Newel-Segur representation for
Stokes-anti-Stokes stimulated Raman scattering is proposed. Periodical waves,
solitons and self-similarity solutions are derived. Transient and bright
threshold solitons are discussed.Comment: 16 pages, LaTeX, no figure
Extra cardiac findings by 64-multidetector computed tomography in patients with symptomatic atrial fibrillation prior to pulmonal vein isolation
The aim of this study was to investigate the prevalence of extracardiac findings diagnosed by 64-multidetector computed tomography (MDCT) examinations prior to circumferential pulmonary vein (PV) ablation of atrial fibrillation (AF). A total of 158 patients (median age, 60.5 years; male 68%) underwent 64-MDCT of the chest and upper abdomen to characterize left atrial and PV anatomy prior to AF ablation. MDCT images were evaluated by a thoracic radiologist and a cardiologist. For additional scan interpretation, bone, lung, and soft tissue window settings were used. CT scans with extra-cardiac abnormalities categorized for the anatomic distribution and divided into two groups: Group 1—exhibiting clinically significant or potentially significant findings, and Group 2—patients with clinically non-significant findings. Extracardiac findings (n = 198) were observed in 113/158 (72%) patients. At least one significant finding was noted in 49/158 patients (31%). Group 1 abnormalities, such as malignancies or pneumonias, were found in 85/198 findings (43%). Group 2 findings, for example mild degenerative spine disease or pleural thickening, were observed in 113/198 findings (72%). 74/198 Extracardiac findings were located in the lung (37%), 35/198 in the mediastinum (18%), 8/198 into the liver (4%) and 81/198 were in other organs (41). There is an appreciable prevalence of prior undiagnosed extracardiac findings detected in patients with AF prior to PV-Isolation by MDCT. Clinically significant or potentially significant findings can be expected in ~40% of patients who undergo cardiac MDCT. Interdisciplinary trained personnel is required to identify and interpret both cardiac and extra cardiac findings
Strange Attractors in Dissipative Nambu Mechanics : Classical and Quantum Aspects
We extend the framework of Nambu-Hamiltonian Mechanics to include dissipation
in phase space. We demonstrate that it accommodates the phase space
dynamics of low dimensional dissipative systems such as the much studied Lorenz
and R\"{o}ssler Strange attractors, as well as the more recent constructions of
Chen and Leipnik-Newton. The rotational, volume preserving part of the flow
preserves in time a family of two intersecting surfaces, the so called {\em
Nambu Hamiltonians}. They foliate the entire phase space and are, in turn,
deformed in time by Dissipation which represents their irrotational part of the
flow. It is given by the gradient of a scalar function and is responsible for
the emergence of the Strange Attractors.
Based on our recent work on Quantum Nambu Mechanics, we provide an explicit
quantization of the Lorenz attractor through the introduction of
Non-commutative phase space coordinates as Hermitian matrices in
. They satisfy the commutation relations induced by one of the two
Nambu Hamiltonians, the second one generating a unique time evolution.
Dissipation is incorporated quantum mechanically in a self-consistent way
having the correct classical limit without the introduction of external degrees
of freedom. Due to its volume phase space contraction it violates the quantum
commutation relations. We demonstrate that the Heisenberg-Nambu evolution
equations for the Quantum Lorenz system give rise to an attracting ellipsoid in
the dimensional phase space.Comment: 35 pages, 4 figures, LaTe
- …