On preperiodic points of rational functions defined over Fp(t)\mathbb{F}_p(t)

Let $P\in\mathbb{P}_1(\mathbb{Q})$ be a periodic point for a monic polynomial with coefficients in $\mathbb{Z}$. With elementary techniques one sees that the minimal periodicity of $P$ is at most $2$. Recently we proved a generalization of this fact to the set of all rational functions defined over ${\mathbb{Q}}$ with good reduction everywhere (i.e. at any finite place of $\mathbb{Q}$). The set of monic polynomials with coefficients in $\mathbb{Z}$ can be characterized, up to conjugation by elements in PGL$_2({\mathbb{Z}})$, as the set of all rational functions defined over $\mathbb{Q}$ with a totally ramified fixed point in $\mathbb{Q}$ and with good reduction everywhere. Let $p$ be a prime number and let ${\mathbb{F}}_p$ be the field with $p$ elements. In the present paper we consider rational functions defined over the rational global function field ${\mathbb{F}}_p(t)$ with good reduction at every finite place. We prove some bounds for the cardinality of orbits in ${\mathbb{F}}_p(t)\cup \{\infty\}$ for periodic and preperiodic points.Comment: arXiv admin note: substantial text overlap with arXiv:1403.229

Preperiodic points for rational functions defined over a global field in terms of good reductions

Let $\phi$ be an endomorphism of the projective line defined over a global field $K$. We prove a bound for the cardinality of the set of $K$-rational preperiodic points for $\phi$ in terms of the number of places of bad reduction. The result is completely new in the function fields case and it is an improvement of the number fields case. An important tool is an $S$-unit equation theorem in 2 variables

Have US-Funded CARSI Programs Reduced Crime and Violence in Central America? An Examination of LAPOP'S Impact Assessment of US Violence Prevention Programs in Central America

In October 2014, the Latin American Public Opinion Project (LAPOP) at Vanderbilt University published an impact assessment study of community-based violence prevention programs that have been implemented under the umbrella of the US State Department's Central American Regional Security Initiative (CARSI). The study looked at survey data measuring public perceptions of crime in 127 treatment and control neighborhoods in municipalities in El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, and Panama where the violence prevention programs have been implemented. The study's authors stated that the data shows that "in several key respects the programs have been a success" and note, for instance, that 51 percent fewer residents of "treated" communities reported being aware of murders and extortion incidents during the previous 12 months, and 19 percent fewer residents reported having heard about robberies having occurred.As the LAPOP study is, to date, the only publicly accessible impact assessment of programs carried out under CARSI -- a notoriously opaque regional assistance scheme that has received hundreds of millions of dollars of US government funding -- a thorough review of the LAPOP study data seemed appropriate.The following report examines the data collected during the LAPOP study and subjects them to a number of statistical tests. The authors find that the study cannot support the conclusion that the areas subject to treatment in the CARSI programs showed better results than those areas that were not.This report identifies major problems with the LAPOP study, namely, the nonrandomness of the selection of treatment versus control areas and how the differences in initial conditions, as well as differences in results between treatment and control areas, have been interpreted. In the case of reported robberies, if the areas subject to treatment have an elevated level of reported robberies in the year prior to treatment, it is possible that there is some reversion to normal levels over the next year. The LAPOP methodology does not differentiate between effective treatment and, for example, an unrelated decline in reported robberies in a treated area following a year with an abnormally high number of reported robberies. The series of statistical tests in this report indicate that this possibility is quite plausible, and cannot be ruled out; and that the LAPOP study, therefore, does not demonstrate a statistically significant positive effect of treatment. The same can be said for the other variables where the LAPOP study finds significant improvement

African palm and Afro-indigenous resistance: Race and dispossession of Garifuna lands on Honduras\u27 northern coast

This thesis seeks to connect the Honduran state’s need for capital accumulation, it’s almost myopic focus on agro-industrialization and dispossessing Garífuna from lands valued for African palm production, and finally how the Garífuna have been able to effectively resist the state’s attempts to take Garífuna lands by force. One company in particular, the Dinant Corporation, poses the greatest threat to Garífuna communities in the remote Honduran territories of Atlántida and Colón. Dinant Corporation, owned entirely by Miguel Facussé, is a large commercial producer and processor of African palm in Honduras. The company is the largest and fastest gorwing African palm producer in Honduras. In order to expand so quickly, Facussé expropriated thousands of hectares of Garífuna lands in the Garífuna territories in Atlántida and Colón. The state has supported Facusse by providing troops, financing Facusse\u27s expansion, and dispossessing the Garífuna from their lands. However, some Garífuna have been effective in protesting land expropriation and have even successfully reclaimed lands that commercial African palm producers had taken from the Garífuna communities. This project provides a close examination of how the state and African palm producers have worked in violent ways to expand the African palm industry and how the Garífuna have resisted expropriation of their lands

Hearts Over Smarts: An Analysis of Emotional Intelligence in the Global Apparel Supply Chain

With a diverse supply chain and members that range in many characteristics, there was a need to learn what, if any, supply chain member’s individual characteristics may have an effect on EI. As a first step in understanding EI in the apparel industry, this study investigated the global supply chain at the individual level of the supply chain member and how EI could be affected by certain demographic characteristics. The specific objectives of this study were to determine if EI is affected by gender, ethnicity, age, and years working in the apparel industry for global apparel supply chain members

Tracking the dynamic nature of learner individual differences: Initial results from a longitudinal study

Individual differences (IDs) have long been considered one of the most important factors explaining variable rates and outcomes in second language acquisition (Dewaele, 2013). While traditional operationalizations of IDs have, explicitly or implicitly, assumed that IDs are static traits that are stable through time, more recent research inspired by complex dynamic systems theory (Larsen-Freeman, 1997, 2020) demonstrates that many IDs are dynamic and variable through time and across contexts, a theme echoed throughout the current issue. This study reports the initial semester of a diachronic project investigating the dynamicity of four learner IDs: motivation, personality, learning and cognitive styles, and working memory. In the initial semester, data from 323 participants in their first year of university-level Spanish were collected and analyzed to determine what type of variability may be present across learners with respect to the four IDs studied at one time point and to discern possible learner profiles in the data or patterns via which the data may be otherwise meaningfully described. The results revealed four types of learner profiles present in the dataset

Border-crossing and Management between Work and Life Domains Described by Women in the U.S. Apparel Industry

Women have been one of the driving forces in the globalization of the apparel industry and hold dominating managerial and executive positions in many apparel businesses in the United States. (Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2006). The growth in the female labor force has posed women to face particular challenges society imposes, which is only exasperated by the difficult economic times. Many women still fall into traditional gender roles and bear the majority of the domestic duties and emotional work (Strazdins & Broom, 2004), causing diversions and sacrifices on her career

Potential‐Dependent Pt(111)/Water Interface: Tackling the Challenge of a Consistent Treatment of Electrochemical Interfaces**

The interface between an electrode and an electrolyte is where electrochemical processes take place for countless technologically important applications. Despite its high relevance and intense efforts to elucidate it, a description of the interfacial structure and, in particular, the dynamics of the electric double layer at the atomic level is still lacking. Here we present reactive force-field molecular dynamics simulations of electrified Pt(111)/water interfaces, shedding light on the orientation of water molecules in the vicinity of the Pt(111) surface, taking into account the influence of potential, adsorbates, and ions simultaneously. We obtain a shift in the preferred orientation of water in the surface oxidation potential region, which breaks with the previously proclaimed strict correlation to the free charge density. Moreover, the characterization is complemented by course of the entropy and the intermolecular ordering in the interfacial region complements the characterization. Our work contributes to the ongoing process of understanding electric double layers and, in particular, the structure of the electrified Pt(111)/water interface, and aims to provide insights into the electrochemical processes occurring there