The issues of marital stability and family composition and the income maintenance experiments

Income distribution ; Public welfare ; Income

“The Price You Pay”: The Impact of State-Funded Secondary School Performance on Residential Property Values in England

This paper examines the relationship between state-funded secondary school performance and local residential property values in seven major English cities. When choosing which secondary school they wish their children to attend, parents will be aware of the school’s performance in Key Stage 3, GCSE and A- level examinations. We suggest that GCSE examination results will be the measure of school performance that parental choice will be most closely correlated with. Therefore, secondary schools with good GCSE examination results will be “oversubscribed” in that more students will wish to attend these schools than there are places available. Schools will then have to develop mechanisms for rationing the available places - central to rationing strategies in English schools at the moment is geographical proximity of the family home to the school of choice. Parents will thus have a strong incentive to purchase houses in the “catchment” area of high performing schools. Our results suggest that this is the case, with high performing schools stimulating a price premium in local residential property markets of between 1% and 3% for each additional 10% point improvement in the pass rate in GCSE examinations.Hedonic, Capitalisation of school performance, Property prices

Kajian Yuridis Tentang Perjanjian Baku Antara Kreditur Dan Debitur Menurut Undang-undang Nomor 8 Tahun 1999 Tentang Perlindungan Konsumen

Penelitian ini dialkukan bertujuan untuk mengetahui bagaimana kedudukan Undang-undang Nomor 8 Tahun1999 tentang Perlindungan Konsumen terhadap perjanjian bakudan bagaimana bentuk perlindungan hukum yang dapat diberikan kepada debitur terhadap bentuk perjanjian baku. Dengan menggunakan metode penelitian yuridis normatif, maka dapat disimpulkan: 1. Berdasarkan apa yang penulis telah bahas, bahwa kedudukan undang-undang No 8 Tahun 1999 tentang Perlindungan Konsumen telah mengatur secara baik tentang perlindungan konsumen terhadap perjanjian baku atau perjanjian standar, undang-undang perlindungan konsumen telah mengatur tentang larangan penggunaan klausula baku atau perjanjian baku dalam membuat perjanjian atau dalam transaksi bisnis dan perbankan, kondisi yang terjadi di masyarakat memang sebaliknya karena perjanjian standar atau perjanjian baku masih di gunakan oleh pihak bank, atau pihak pengusaha. 2. Perjanjian baku sangatlah merugikan pihak konsumen atau debitur, karena dalam perjanjian baku atau perjanjian standar konsumen/debitur berada pada posisi yang paling lemah, karena konsumen/debitur tidak bisa lagi melakukan Perubahan atau klasula perjanjian, dalam kondisi ini dalam pembahasan penulis, bentuk perlindungan yang dapat di berikan kepada konsumen/debitur adalah seperti yang di atur dalam undang-undang No.8 tahun 1999 bahwa perjanjian baku tidak boleh di pakai sebagai satu bentuk perjanjian karena perjanjian baku merugikan konsumen. Jika pelaku USAha tidak menjalankan ketentuan undang-undang maka perlindungan terhadap konsumen adalah adanya pemidanaan kepada pelaku USAha, bisa diajukan lembaga perlindungan konsumen nasional, dan bisa diajukan ke lembaga perlindungan konsumen swadaya masyarakat

Multiple Access Interference Characterization for Direct-Sequence Spread-Spectrum Communications Using Chip Waveform Shaping

This research characterizes MAI effects on DS/SSMA system performance through simulation in Matlab , and explores the impact of multiple access code selection, chip waveform shaping, and multiple access code length on BER for both synchronous and asynchronous multiple access networks. In addition, the simulated DS/SSMA model permits rapid research into the effects of additional factors on BER. Prior to experimental testing, model validation is conducted through single user trials and by comparison with existing research for similar system designs. For synchronous and asynchronous networks, Gold coding improves BER by 7.5 and 4.0 dB, respectively, relative to aperiodic random spreading codes. Synchronous network results show that chip waveform shaping provides no significant BER improvement for the Blackman or Lanczos shapes. However, asynchronous network results show a potential BER improvement for Blackman and Lanczos shapes. Increasing code length from 31 to 511 resulted in a 7.5 dB BER improvement. Collectively, these results directly relate changes in BER to waveform cross-correlation statistics

Blast-Induced Traumatic Brain Injury and Subsequent Susceptibility to Parkinson\u27s Disease

The prevalence of blast-induced traumatic brain injury (bTBI) is steadily increasing due to escalated terror activities and constitutes the signature injury associated with the current military conflicts. Specifically, a mild-bTBI is the most common injury encountered by our military personnel. This type of injury presents a problem because the individual is initially asymptomatic and functional. Increasing studies have suggested that this type of injury may produce long-term neurological consequences that affect the resilience and the performance of soldiers both on and off the battlefield. One such example is an increased susceptibility to Parkinson’s disease (PD) by as many as three folds post-blast injury when compared to the general population. A critical strategy aiming at curtailing this alarming trend is to further our knowledge of pathogenic mechanisms responsible for the escalation of post trauma neurodegenerative diseases. The specific aim of this investigation was to identify the molecular mechanisms underlying the susceptibility to PD in post-blast rats. To this end, we have identified acrolein, a highly reactive aldehyde that persists days to weeks following CNS injury and perpetuates oxidative insult, as a point of convergence between bTBI and PD. Specifically, we have found that the elevation of acrolein post-blast is capable of triggering pathological changes in the vicinity of the basal ganglion, a known location of brain damage in PD. In particular, we have found signs of neuroinflammation and protein aggregation in blast animals that resembles the pathology in PD, although to a lesser extent. In addition, although a mild blast injury alone cannot elicit typical motor deficits seen in a PD model, additional application of a subthreshold PD-inducing toxin could lead to such deficits. Taken together, we hypothesize that bTBI triggers neurochemical events, such as neuroinflammation and oxidative stress, galvanized by acrolein, could increase the susceptibility of the blast-injured rats to PD and when other PD-triggering factors are present. As such, we hypothesize that acrolein is a key pathological factor linking bTBI and the development of PD in our rat model. The results from this project are expected to advance our understanding of the long-term consequences of blast-related injuries leading to the development of PD. These efforts could eventually lead to the establishment of biomarkers for an earlier diagnosis as well as strategies for prevention and treatment to curtail the elevating incidence of post-bTBI PD, and significantly improve the quality of life for our men and women who suffer a great deal to ensure our freedom

Practical quantum key distribution over a 48-km optical fiber network

The secure distribution of the secret random bit sequences known as "key" material, is an essential precursor to their use for the encryption and decryption of confidential communications. Quantum cryptography is a new technique for secure key distribution with single-photon transmissions: Heisenberg's uncertainty principle ensures that an adversary can neither successfully tap the key transmissions, nor evade detection (eavesdropping raises the key error rate above a threshold value). We have developed experimental quantum cryptography systems based on the transmission of non-orthogonal photon states to generate shared key material over multi-kilometer optical fiber paths and over line-of-sight links. In both cases, key material is built up using the transmission of a single-photon per bit of an initial secret random sequence. A quantum-mechanically random subset of this sequence is identified, becoming the key material after a data reconciliation stage with the sender. Here we report the most recent results of our optical fiber experiment in which we have performed quantum key distribution over a 48-km optical fiber network at Los Alamos using photon interference states with the B92 and BB84 quantum key distribution protocols.Comment: 13 pages, 7 figures, .pdf format submitted to Journal of Modern Optic

Length scale of the finite-amplitude meanders of shelfbreak fronts

Author Posting. © American Meteorological Society, 2015. This article is posted here by permission of American Meteorological Society for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Journal of Physical Oceanography 45 (2015): 2598–2620, doi:10.1175/JPO-D-14-0249.1.Through combining analytical arguments and numerical models, this study investigates the finite-amplitude meanders of shelfbreak fronts characterized by sloping isopycnals outcropping at both the surface and the shelfbreak bottom. The objective is to provide a formula for the meander length scale that can explain observed frontal length scale variability and also be verified with observations. Considering the frontal instability to be a mixture of barotropic and baroclinic instability, the derived along-shelf meander length scale formula is [b1/(1 + a1S1/2)]NH/f, where N is the buoyancy frequency; H is the depth of the front; f is the Coriolis parameter; S is the Burger number measuring the ratio of energy conversion associated with barotropic and baroclinic instability; and a1 and b1 are empirical constants. Initial growth rate of the frontal instability is formulated as [b2(1 + a1S1/2)/(1 + a2αS1/2)]NH/L, where α is the bottom slope at the foot of the front, and a2 and b2 are empirical constants. The formulas are verified using numerical sensitivity simulations, and fitting of the simulated and formulated results gives a1 = 2.69, b1 = 14.65, a2 = 5.1 × 103, and b2 = 6.2 × 10−2. The numerical simulations also show development of fast-growing frontal symmetric instability when the minimum initial potential vorticity is negative. Although frontal symmetric instability leads to faster development of barotropic and baroclinic instability at later times, it does not significantly influence the meander length scale. The derived meander length scale provides a framework for future studies of the influences of external forces on shelfbreak frontal circulation and cross-frontal exchange.WGZ and GGG were supported by the National Science Foundation through Grant OCE-1129125.2016-04-0

Dynamics of the direct intrusion of Gulf Stream ring water onto the Mid-Atlantic Bight shelf

© The Author(s), 2015. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License. The definitive version was published in Geophysical Research Letters 42 (2015): 7687–7695, doi:10.1002/2015GL065530.Onshore intrusions of offshore waters onto the Mid-Atlantic Bight shelf can greatly affect shelf circulation, biogeochemistry, and fisheries. Previous studies have concentrated on onshore intrusions of slope water. Here we present a direct intrusion of Gulf Stream warm-core ring water onto the shelf representing a previously unknown exchange process at the shelfbreak. Impingement of warm-core rings at the shelfbreak generates along-isobath intrusions that grow like Pinocchio's nose, extending hundreds of kilometers to the southwest. By combining satellite and Ocean Observatory Initiative Pioneer Array data and idealized numerical simulations, we discover that the intrusion results from topographically induced vorticity variation of the ring water, rather than from entrainment of the shelfbreak frontal jet. This intrusion of the Gulf Stream ring water has important biogeochemical implications and could facilitate migration of marine species across the shelfbreak barrier and transport low-nutrient surface Gulf Stream ring water to the otherwise productive shelfbreak region.National Science Foundation Grant Number: OCE-112912