On the cotangent cohomology of rational surface singularities with almost reduced fundamental cycle

We prove dimension formulas for the cotangent spaces $T^{1}$ and $T^{2}$ for a class of rational surface singularities by calculating a correction term in the general dimension formulas. We get that it is zero if the dual graph of the rational surface singularity $X$ does not contain a particular type of configurations, and this generalizes a result of Theo de Jong stating that the correction term $c(X)$ is zero for rational determinantal surface singularities. In particular our result implies that $c(X)$ is zero for Riemenschneiders quasi-determinantal rational surface singularities, and this also generalise results for qoutient singularities.Comment: 11 pages, one figur

Public Policies and the Demand for Carbonated Soft Drinks: A Censored Quantile Regression Approach

Heavy consumption of soda may contribute to obesity, strokes, and cardiac problems. From a health perspective, the distribution of the consumption is at least as important as the mean. Censored as well as ordinary quantile regression techniques were used to estimate the demand for sugary soda based on household data from 1989 to 1999. It was found that heavy drinkers are more price- and expenditure-responsive than are light drinkers. The study shows that increasing the taxes on carbonated soft drinks will lead to a small reduction in consumption for small and moderate consumers and a huge reduction for heavy consumers.soda demand, quantile regression, taxes, Agricultural and Food Policy, Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety, D12, I10,

Lie-Rinehart cohomology and integrable connections on modules of rank one

Let $k$ be an algebraically closed field of characteristic 0, let $R$ be a commutative $k$-algebra, and let $M$ be a torsion free $R$-module of rank one with a connection $\nabla$. We consider the Lie-Rinehart cohomology with values in $End_{R}(M)$ with its induced connection, and give an interpretation of this cohomology in terms of the integrable connections on $M$. When $R$ is an isolated singularity of dimension $d\geq2$, we relate the Lie-Rinehart cohomology to the topological cohomology of the link of the singularity, and when $R$ is a quasi-homogenous hypersurface of dimension two, we give a complete computation of the cohomology.Comment: 13 page

Consumer Cohorts and Milk Purchases

Fluid milk is the most important product of Norwegian agriculture, and the decline in milk purchase has impact in many rural communities. By decomposing the milk purchase into cohort effects, age effects and year effects we show that the reason for the decline is that older generations purchase more milk than younger generations, and during lifetime consumption decline with age. Consequently, as younger generations replace older generations milk purchase decline. We show that towards 2021 the milk purchase will continue to fall.Milk, Purchases, Cohorts, Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety,

FOR WHOM REDUCED PRICES COUNT: A CENSORED QUANTILE REGRESSION ANALYSIS OF VEGETABLE DEMAND

Low consumption of vegetables is linked to many diseases. From a health perspective, the distribution of consumption is at least as important as mean consumption. We investigated the differential effects of policy changes on high- and low-consuming households by using 15,700 observations from 1986 to 1997. Many households did not purchase vegetables during the two-week survey periods and censored as well as ordinary quantile regressions were estimated. Removal of the value added tax for vegetables, income increases, and health information are unlikely to substantially increase purchases in low-consuming households. Nevertheless, information provision is cheap and best targeted at low-consuming households.Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety,

Proximity-Aware Calculation of Cable Series Impedance for Systems of Solid and Hollow Conductors

Wide-band cable models for the prediction of electromagnetic transients in power systems require the accurate calculation of the cable series impedance as function of frequency. A surface current approach was recently proposed for systems of round solid conductors, with inclusion of skin and proximity effects. In this paper we extend the approach to include tubular conductors, allowing to model realistic cables with tubular sheaths, armors and pipes. We also include the effect of a lossy ground. A noteworthy feature of the proposed technique is the accurate prediction of proximity effects, which can be of major importance in three-phase, pipe type, and closely-packed single-core cables. The new approach is highly efficient compared to finite elements. In the case of a cross-bonded cable system featuring three phase conductors and three screens, the proposed technique computes the required 120 frequency samples in only six seconds of CPU time.Comment: Update: This paper has been accepted for publication in the IEEE Transactions on Power Delivery. DOI: 10.1109/TPWRD.2014.233099

General Theory and Local Action: Experiences from the Quality of Working Life Movement

Quality of Working Life was a researcher-driven social movement culminating in the early 1980s. Its 1981 conference had some 2000 participants from research, management, unions, and government from about 30 countries. Their unifying idea was that the kind of workplace organization demonstrated in the Industrial Democracy Experiments had an emancipatory potential for democracy, productivity, and health in the workplace and beyond. A key question remained, however: how could this transformation take place on a large scale in society? There were different attempts within the movement at combining the general frameworks required to maintain societal significance and impact on the one hand, at the same time as creating relevant knowledge for the local context. After leaving the initial ambition of a universal theory, a turn toward purely local development work was again followed by a return to the general, not as the foundation of a general theory but as elements in a social movement

Learning Organisation and the Process of Regionalisation

"Concepts like Taylorism, lean production and learning organisation draw attention to the point that work organisation can appear in different forms and it is generally recognised that different conditions tend to produce different forms. Still, there is a tendency to underplay how different these generative conditions are. In this article the issue of learning organisation is placed in focus, drawing upon experiences from Scandinavian workplace development programmes. These experiences indicate that learning organisation is not a question of job design but of a democratic social order characterised by open communication and mutual trust between all concerned. These characteristics are best made real in social environments characterised by pluralism combined with possibilities for interaction and the notion of “region” has come to the forefront in work organisation development." (author's abstract

Innovation and action research

"In the Western economies there is a growing focus on innovation as the key to economic growth. In spite of its orientation towards transcending the given, and creating something new, action research has so far played a limited role as a resource in innovation. Departing from practice-driven innovation and the need for collaboration between many actors, a key role for action research as promoter of joint inquiries in dialogical form and associated action is described and discussed, drawing on experiences from action research programmes in Scandinavia. The core challenge for action research is not only to promote certain forms of collaborative inquiry and action, but to reach a level of scale, or mass, that makes innovation possible." (author's abstract