On the solitons of the Chern-Simons-Higgs model

Several issues concerning the self-dual solutions of the Chern-Simons-Higgs model are addressed. The topology of the configuration space of the model is analysed when the space manifold is either the plane or an infinite cylinder. We study the local structure of the moduli space of self-dual solitons in the second case by means of an index computation. It is shown how to manage the non-integer contribution to the heat-kernel supertrace due to the non-compactness of the base space. A physical picture of the local coordinates parametrizing the non-topological soliton moduli space arises .Comment: 27 pages, 3 figures, to appear in The European Physical Journal

Self-Dual Vortices in Abelian Higgs Models with Dielectric Function on the Noncommutative Plane

We show that Abelian Higgs Models with dielectric function defined on the noncommutative plane enjoy self-dual vorticial solutions. By choosing a particular form of the dielectric function, we provide a family of solutions whose Higgs and magnetic fields interpolate between the profiles of the noncommutative Nielsen-Olesen and Chern-Simons vortices. This is done both for the usual $U(1)$ model and for the $SU(2)\times U(1)$ semilocal model with a doublet of complex scalar fields. The variety of known noncommutative self-dual vortices which display a regular behaviour when the noncommutativity parameter tends to zero results in this way considerably enlarged

Explicit computations of low lying eigenfunctions for the quantum trigonometric Calogero-Sutherland model related to the exceptional algebra E7

In the previous paper math-ph/0507015 we have studied the characters and Clebsch-Gordan series for the exceptional Lie algebra E7 by relating them to the quantum trigonometric Calogero-Sutherland Hamiltonian with coupling constant K=1. Now we extend that approach to the case of general K

Intelligent Packaging Systems: Sensors and Nanosensors to Monitor Food Quality and Safety

Indexación: Web of Science y Scopus.The application of nanotechnology in different areas of food packaging is an emerging field that will grow rapidly in the coming years. Advances in food safety have yielded promising results leading to the development of intelligent packaging (IP). By these containers, it is possible to monitor and provide information of the condition of food, packaging, or the environment. This article describes the role of the different concepts of intelligent packaging. It is possible that this new technology could reach enhancing food safety, improving pathogen detection time, and controlling the quality of food and packaging throughout the supply chain.https://www.hindawi.com/journals/js/2016/4046061/cta

Donor Reaction to Non-Financial Information Covering Social Projects in Nonprofits: A Spanish Case

The notion of accountability in nonprofits suggests that these organisations should disclose financial and non-financial practices following a holistic model. In practice, the interest of both managers and researchers has focused primarily on donors and financial disclosures, for funding and methodological reasons respectively. From the perspective of impact investment, all of them, government, beneficiaries, private donors, managers and volunteers are expected to make their decisions based on non-financial information as investors expecting social returns. However, to what extent does project information that demonstrates that the non-profit organisation has achieved its social mission actually matter? The main objective of this paper is to analyse whether the donations received by non-governmental organisations NGOs are related to the information disclosed on the projects undertaken. We perform our analysis separately for individual, private and public donors. Our results show that public donors are more interested in financial disclosures, private donors find information about outcomes and impacts to be most useful and individual donors do not tend to use non-financial information when it comes to making decisions about whether to donate or not

Capturing the Invisible Wealth in Nonprofits to Overcome Myopic Perceptions

Since nonprofits use third-party funds for their activities, they are often perceived as resource managers or spending units, instead of being considered as social wealth generating entities. The aim of this study is to help to overcome this myopic perception by showing how the invisible wealth generated by these organizations can be made visible. We use the SROI methodology to do so, by identifying stakeholders, outcomes (tangible, intangible) and social impacts in a drug addiction treatment centre. The results show that social impact in monetary terms exceeds that of the inputs used, confirming the idea that addiction-based nonprofits are social wealth generating units. The conclusion drawn is that social impact measurement should be widely used as a management tool and a mechanism for reinforcing the social image of nonprofits

The Dynamic Effects of Information on Political Corruption: Theory and Evidence from Puerto Rico

Does the disclosure of information about corrupt activities induce a sustained reduction in corruption? We use publicly released routine audits of municipal governments in Puerto Rico to answer this question. We first develop a political agency model where voters re-elect incumbents based on their performance while in office. We show that, because voters cannot directly observe incumbents’ actions, an incumbent whose reputation improved in the previous term is likely to engage in more rent-seeking activities in a future term. Guided by this model, we use longitudinal data on audit results to examine the long-term consequences of providing information to voters on levels of political corruption. We find that municipal corruption levels in subsequent audits are on average the same in municipalities audited preceding the previous election and those not audited then. In spite of this, mayors in municipalities audited preceding the previous election have higher re-election rates, suggesting that audits enable voters to select more competent politicians. We conclude that short-term information dissemination policies do not necessarily align politicians’ long-term actions with voter preferences as politicians exploit their reputational gains by extracting more rents from office.corruption; information; political agency; dynamic incentives