Field Measurements of Spontaneous Potential (SP) for Smart Well Monitoring and Control. A Field Test in the UK Chalk Aquifer

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The dynamics of income inequality in Mexico since NAFTA

This paper reviews the pattern of income inequality in Mexico since 1994. It shows that in the past few years there has been an important reduction of income inequality in Mexico, which has almost reverted the sharp increase in inequality observed between 1984 and 1994. Using a Gini decomposition exercise we conclude that labor income, transfers and remittances have all played an important role in this process. We also argue that the equalizing effect of labor income and the reduction of wage inequality in Mexico can be explained by a structural change in Mexico‟s workforce composition in terms of education and experience. In general, we conclude that the recent reduction of inequality in Mexico is due to the interaction of both, the market and the State.income inequality, Mexico, NAFTA, Gini decomposition

Effects and Solutions on the Human Body After Long-Duration Space Flights

During the Cold War, President John F. Kennedy made it a mission for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) to accomplish a lunar landing and return to Earth. The final lunar landing and the last time humans left Low Earth Orbit (LEO) was in December, 1972. However, 47 years have passed and the fascination with traveling into deep space remains alive and flourishing. A major problem with future human missions to Mars is the effects of microgravity and Mars’ 0.38g environment. Unfortunately, space medicine is limited and little is known about the effects of microgravity on the human body after one year in space. Is it possible for astronauts to survive long spaceflight missions to Mars? To help address this question, my research focuses on the effects of microgravity on astronauts in order to find solutions for long-duration space flights to Mars. Bone and muscle loss are factors that could lead to severe, unknown consequences on an astronaut’s health. My methods included doing an analytical interpretation of historical and contemporary research on long-distance spaceflight. In the future, longer missions are going to require more permanent solutions for humans to be an interplanetary species. The current solutions being used in the International Space Station (ISS) are only to treat individual symptoms separately. Only theoretical permanent solutions were found, such as artificial gravity; therefore, further research is needed. Centripetal acceleration has shown great promise to eliminate microgravity effects but more research is needed to understand the health consequences and the limitations of rotation that humans can sustain

The casimir free energy in high- and low-temperature limits

The problem with the temperature dependence of the Casimir force is investigated. We analyse high-temperature limit analytically making calculations at real frequencies. The purpose is to answer the questionwhy there is no continuous transition between real and ideal metals and why the result\ud does not depend on the relaxation frequency. It is found that the contribution of evanescent s polarized fields is finite even for an infinitely small relaxation frequency (plasma model) and exactly cancels the contribution of propagating fields. For the ideal metal the evanescent fields do not contribute at all. The lowtemperature\ud limit is analysed to establish behaviour of the entropy at T → 0. It is stressed that the nonlocal effects are important in this limit because the mean free path for electrons becomes larger than the field penetration depth.\ud In this limit vF /a plays the role of the relaxation frequency, where vF is the Fermi velocity and a is the distance between plates. It is indicated that the\ud Leontovich approximate impedance cannot be used for calculations because it is good for the description of propagating but not evanescent fields. It is found\ud that due to nonlocality the Casimir entropy approaches zero at T → 0 when s polarization does not contribute to the classical part of the Casimir force

THE IMPACT OF G-3 EXCHANGE RATE VOLATILITY ON DEVELOPING COUNTRIES,

This paper describes G-3 exchange rate volatility and evaluates its impact on developing countries. The paper presents empirical evidence showing that G-3 exchange rate volatility has a robust and significantly negative impact on developing countries’ exports. A one percentage point increase in G-3 exchange rate volatility decreases real exports of developing countries by about 2 per cent, on average. G-3 exchange rate volatility also appears to have a negative influence on foreign direct investment to certain regions, and increases the probability of occurrence of exchange rate crises in developing countries. These results imply that greater stability in the international exchange rate system would help improve trade and foreign direct investment prospects for developing countries – and would help prevent currency crises.

Casimir force calculations near the insulator-conductor transition in gold thin films

We present theoretical calculations of the Casimir force for Au thin films near the insulator-conductor transition that has been observed experimentally. The dielectric function of the Au thin films is described by the Drude-Smith model. The parameters needed to model the dielectric function such as the relaxation time, plasma frequency and the backscattering constant depend on the thickness of the film. The Casimir force decreases as the film thickness decreases until it reaches a minimum after which the force increases again. The minimum of the force coincides with the critical film thickness where a percolation conductor-insulator occurs.Comment: 5 figures, 1 tabl