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

Efficient data mappings for parity-declustered data layouts

AbstractThe joint demands of high performance and fault tolerance in a large array of disks can be satisfied by a parity-declustered data layout. Such a data layout is generated by partitioning the data on the disks into stripes and choosing a part of each stripe to hold redundant information. Thus the data layout can be represented as a table of stripes. The data mapping problem is the problem of translating a data address into a disk identifier and an offset on that disk. Recent work has yielded mappings that compute disks and offsets directly from data addresses without the need to store tables. In this paper, we show that parity-declustered data layouts based on commutative rings yield mappings with improved computational efficiency and wider applicability

A persistent spot of bother – why vaccinations haven’t stopped measles

Despite high vaccination rates, Australia and other developed countries periodically have small outbreaks of measles, as seen in the recent scares in Victoria and New South Wales. Until about 40 years ago, serious measles epidemics occurred every two or three years. Virtually every child was infected within the first few years of life and one or two in every thousand died from complications. Many were admitted to hospital and some suffered permanent brain damage from encephalitis. When the measles vaccine was introduced in 1968, the incidence of the disease fell rapidly, but small outbreaks continued.A national survey in 1989 showed that 85% of Australian children were immunised. But then a large and prolonged measles outbreak in 1993-4 prompted an Australian Measles Control Campaign (MCC) in 1997

Ordering of small particles in one-dimensional coherent structures by time-periodic flows

Small particles transported by a fluid medium do not necessarily have to follow the flow. We show that for a wide class of time-periodic incompressible flows inertial particles have a tendency to spontaneously align in one-dimensional dynamic coherent structures. This effect may take place for particles so small that often they would be expected to behave as passive tracers and be used in PIV measurement technique. We link the particle tendency to form one-dimensional structures to the nonlinear phenomenon of phase locking. We propose that this general mechanism is, in particular, responsible for the enigmatic formation of the `particle accumulation structures' discovered experimentally in thermocapillary flows more than a decade ago and unexplained until now

Dynamical mean-field theory of indirect magnetic exchange

To analyze the physical properties arising from indirect magnetic exchange between several magnetic adatoms and between complex magnetic nanostructures on metallic surfaces, the real-space extension of dynamical mean-field theory (R-DMFT) appears attractive as it can be applied to systems of almost arbitrary geometry and complexity. While R-DMFT describes the Kondo effect of a single adatom exactly, indirect magnetic (RKKY) exchange is taken into account on an approximate level only. Here, we consider a simplified model system consisting of two magnetic Hubbard sites ("adatoms") hybridizing with a non-interacting tight-binding chain ("substrate surface"). This two-impurity Anderson model incorporates the competition between the Kondo effect and indirect exchange but is amenable to an exact numerical solution via the density-matrix renormalization group (DMRG). The particle-hole symmetric model at half-filling and zero temperature is used to benchmark R-DMFT results for the magnetic coupling between the two adatoms and for the magnetic properties induced in the substrate. In particular, the dependence of the local adatom and the nonlocal adatom-adatom static susceptibilities as well as the magnetic response of the substrate on the distance between the adatoms and on the strength of their coupling with the substrate is studied. We find both, excellent agreement with the DMRG data even on subtle details of the competition between RKKY exchange and the Kondo effect but also complete failure of the R-DMFT, depending on the parameter regime considered. R-DMFT calculations are performed using the Lanczos method as impurity solver. With the real-space extension of the two-site DMFT, we also benchmark a simplified R-DMFT variant.Comment: 14 pages, 8 figure

Mobilizing Public Markets to Finance Renewable Energy Projects: Insights from Expert Stakeholders

Financing renewable energy projects in the United States can be a complex, time consuming, and expensive process. Currently, most equity investment in new renewable power production facilities is supported by tax credits and accelerated depreciation benefits, and is constrained by the pool of potential investors that can fully use these tax benefits and are willing to engage in complex financial structures. For debt financing, non-government lending to renewables has largely been provided by foreign banks that may be under future lending constraints due to economic and regulatory conditions.To discuss these and other renewable energy financing challenges and to identify new sources of capital to the U.S. market, two roundtable discussions were held with renewable energy and financing experts in April 2012. This report summarizes the key messages of those discussions and is designed to provide insights to the U.S. market and inform the international conversation on renewable energy financing innovations

Characterization of [3H][^3H]Phenobarbital Binding to Rat Brain Membranes

The binding of $[^3H]$phenobarbital to rat brain membranes was studied in order to determine its characteristics and specificity. The binding reaction was rapid and occurred at sites of low affinity. $(K_d = 700 μM)$ and very high density $(B_{max} = 2.7 nmoll/mg protein)$. It was unaffected by temperature changes from O°C to 95°C and was maximal at pH 5. Detergents in low concentrations markedly decreased the binding, apparently without solubilizing the binding sites. It is concluded that the binding of $[^3H]$ phenobarbital is a rather non-specific interaction with the plasma membrane

HIV/AIDS prevalence among South African health workers

Introduction. Studies on HIV prevalence among health workers usually focus on occupational exposure to HIV. Little is known about HIV prevalence in this group. However, it is expected that HIV prevalence among health workers will reflect prevalence in their society. Objective. To determine HIV prevalence among South African health workers. Method. A stratified cluster sample was drawn of 5% of health facilities in South Africa (N = 222) representative of the public and private health sectors in South Africa. The sample was designed to obtain a nationwide representative sample of medical professionals and non-professional health workers. A subsample comprising health workers in four provinces was tested for HIV status. The Orasure HIV-1 device in combination with the Vironostika HIV UNI-Form II plus O enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) kits were used to collect oral fluid specimens for HIV testing. Results. Based on a sample of 721 health workers and a response rate of 82.5% (or 595 respondents), the study found that an estimated 15.7% (95% confidence interval (CI): 12.2 - 19.9%) of health workers employed in the public and private health facilities located in four South African provinces, were living with HIV/AIDS in 2002. Among younger health workers, the risk is much higher. This group (aged 18 - 35 years) had an estimated HIV prevalence of 20% (95% CI: 14.1 - 27.6%). Non-professionals had an HIV prevalence of 20.3%, while professionals had a prevalence of 13.7%. Conclusion. HIV prevalence among health workers in South Africa is high; this calls for the introduction of antiretroviral programmes targeting them. In addition, there is a need for the development of new policy regarding placement of infected health workers in tuberculosis (TB) wards, coupled with vigorous human resource planning to replace the health workers likely to die from AIDS. Infection control procedures also need to be reviewed. S Afr Med J 2004; 94: 846-850

Bayesian Modeling of the Dynamics of Phase Modulations and their Application to Auditory Event Related Potentials at Different Loudness Scales

We study the effect of long-term habituation signatures of auditory selective attention reflected in the instantaneous phase information of the auditory event-related potentials (ERPs) at four distinct stimuli levels of 60, 70, 80, and 90 dB SPL. The analysis is based on the single-trial level. The effect of habituation can be observed in terms of the changes (jitter) in the instantaneous phase information of ERPs. In particular, the absence of habituation is correlated with a consistently high phase synchronization over ERP trials. We estimate the changes in phase concentration over trials using a Bayesian approach, in which the phase is modeled as being drawn from a von Mises distribution with a concentration parameter which varies smoothly over trials. The smoothness assumption reflects the fact that habituation is a gradual process. We differentiate between different stimuli based on the relative changes and absolute values of the estimated concentration parameter using the proposed Bayesian model