Border Enforcement and Selection of Mexican Immigrants in the United States

Since 1986 the United States has made considerable efforts to curb illegal immigration. This has resulted in an increase in migration costs for undocumented immigrants. More stringent border enforcement either deters potential illegal immigrants from coming to the U.S., or moves the point of crossing for illegal immigrants from traditional crossing routes to more inhospitable routes. These changes are likely to place a heavier burden on illegal immigrant women as they are more likely to be kidnapped, smuggled, or raped when crossing illegally. If migration costs are not the same for all migrants, higher migrating costs may result in a change in the number and in the composition of immigrants to the United States. In the face of higher migration costs, only immigrants with relatively high expected benefits of migration will choose to migrate. Based on our theoretical model, we test for three empirical results that are associated with a stronger selection of immigrant women from Mexico relative to men as a result of higher migration costs: 1) A decrease in the relative flow of older and highly educated undocumented immigrant women relative to men; 2) A change in the skill composition of immigrant women to men; and 3) An increase in the average earnings of those groups most affected by increased migration costs. Using data from the 1990, 2000 Decennial Census, and from the 2006-2008 American Community Survey we empirically confirm these predictions.selection, gender, immigration, border enforcement

Constraining New Physics with D meson decays

Latest Lattice results on $D$ form factors evaluation from first principles show that the standard model (SM) branching ratios prediction for the leptonic $D_s \to \ell \nu_\ell$ decays and the semileptonic SM branching ratios of the $D^0$ and $D^+$ meson decays are in good agreement with the world average experimental measurements. It is possible to disprove New Physics hypothesis or find bounds over several models beyond the SM. Using the observed leptonic and semileptonic branching ratios for the D meson decays, we performed a combined analysis to constrain non standard interactions which mediate the $c\bar{s}\to l\bar{\nu}$ transition. This is done either by a model independent way through the corresponding Wilson coefficients or in a model dependent way by finding the respective bounds over the relevant parameters for some models beyond the standard model. In particular, we obtain bounds for the Two Higgs Doublet Model Type-II and Type III, the Left-Right model, the Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model with explicit R-Parity violation and Leptoquarks. Finally, we estimate the transverse polarization of the lepton in the $D^0$ decay and we found it can be as high as $P_T=0.23$.Comment: 28 pages, 8 figures, 3 tables. Improved and extended analysis with updated form factors from Lattice QC

Location-free Spectrum Cartography

Spectrum cartography constructs maps of metrics such as channel gain or received signal power across a geographic area of interest using spatially distributed sensor measurements. Applications of these maps include network planning, interference coordination, power control, localization, and cognitive radios to name a few. Since existing spectrum cartography techniques require accurate estimates of the sensor locations, their performance is drastically impaired by multipath affecting the positioning pilot signals, as occurs in indoor or dense urban scenarios. To overcome such a limitation, this paper introduces a novel paradigm for spectrum cartography, where estimation of spectral maps relies on features of these positioning signals rather than on location estimates. Specific learning algorithms are built upon this approach and offer a markedly improved estimation performance than existing approaches relying on localization, as demonstrated by simulation studies in indoor scenarios.Comment: 14 pages, 12 figures, 1 table. Submitted to IEEE Transactions on Signal Processin

MARS Bulletin 2011 Vol.19 No.9 - Pasture monitoring in Europe

PRODUCTION LEVELS ABOVE AVERAGE IN MEDITERRANEAN REGION, EASTERN EUROPE, UK AND IRELAND. VULNERABLE REGIONS IN WESTERN EUROPE AS A CONSEQUENCE OF SCARCE RAINFALL DURING SPRING. Temperature accumulation from March to May above average in most of Europe. Water stress can affect biomass production in France, Benelux and Germany. Precipitation accumulated since winter and the milder than usual spring season resulted in an anticipated growth cycle for pastures all over Europe, except for Baltic countries and Poland, resulting in biomass production below the standard values. In Western Europe the lack of rainfall during April and May could impact future production levels in France and Germany. Expectations for the Mediterranean region, United Kingdom and Ireland are slightly above past production levels.JRC.H.4-Monitoring agricultural resource

Electric energy production with small scale wind turbines in Viladecans (Delta del Llobregat)

The objective of this project was to determine which of the two small scale wind turbines presented (IT-PE-100 and HP-600) was the most appropriate for the wind conditions of Viladecans (Delta del Llobregat). Firstly, a wind study was conducted in order to obtain the speed distribution, using Weibull probability density function, and showed a weighted average speed of 1.46 m/s. It was decided that the best way to choose one of the two turbines would be using Fast & Aerodyn simulation software, using the previously calculated wind speed distribution, to obtain the generator power curve for each case. For the IT-PE-100 model, we used already calculated Fast & Aerodyn files from other projects conducted at Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (UPC), and only changed the wind files, to adequate the outputs to the Viladecans area. With that wind speed distribution, the software submitted a yearly income of 99.6kWh. For the HP-600, the Fast & Aerodyn files were had to be made from scratch. Since only one of the turbine blades was available for our study, it was decided to perform a 3D digitalization. That gave us a point cloud of the blade, which was converted into a CAD file using Rapidform, a reverse engineering software. With the CAD file we were able to perform a flow simulation along the blade, using SolidWorks, in order to obtain all the necessary aerodynamic parameters needed for the creation of the Fast & Aerodyn files. These files, along with the previously calculated wind speed distribution, were used as inputs in Fast & Aerodyn, which gave us a yearly income of 66kWh, which was to be expected, since this wind turbine model is thought to work at higher wind speeds. Therefore, it was concluded that the best option for the Viladecans area was the IT-PE-100 small scale wind turbine.L’objectiu d’aquest projecte és determinar quin dels dos aerogeneradors proposats ( IT - PE - 100 i HP - 600) és el més apropiat per les condicions de v ent a Viladecans (Delta del Llobregat). Primerament, es va dur a terme un estudi del vent, amb l’objectiu d’obtenir la distribució de velocitats fent servir la funció de densitat de probabilitat de Weibull. Aquesta distribució va resultar en una mitja pon derada de velocitats de 1.46 m/s. Es va decidir que la millor manera d’escollir una de les dues turbines seria fer servir el software de simulació Fast & Aerodyn, fent servir com a inputs la distribució de probabilitat del vent prèviament calculada, junta ment amb arxius de caracterització dels aerogeneradors, amb tal d’obtenir la corba de potència per cada cas. Pel model IT - PE - 100 es van fer servir arxius de Fast & Aerodyn ja generats, extrets d’altres projectes fets a la Universitat Politècnica de Catalu nya (UPC). Per tal d’adequar els resultats a l’àrea de Viladecans, només es van haver de modificar els arxius relatius al vent. Amb aquests inputs, el software va reportar una producció energètica anual de 99.6kWh. Amb el cas de l’aerogenerador HP - 600, el s arxius de Fast & Aerodyn van haver de ser creats de forma íntegra. Degut a que només teníem a la nostra disposició una de les pales de la turbina, es va decidir fer una digitalització en 3D d’aquesta. Aquest procés ens va donar el núvol de punts de la pa la, que va ser convertit a un arxiu de tipus CAD mitjançant el software d’enginyeria inversa Rapidform. Important l’arxiu de CAD a SolidWorks, va ser possible fer una simulació de flux al voltant de la pala, que ens va permetre obtenir tots els paràmetres aerodinàmics necessaris per la creació dels inputs demanats per Fast & Aerodyn. Aquests arxius, juntament amb la distribució de vents que va ser calculada prèviament, ens van reportar una producció energètica anual inferior de 66.3kWh. Per tant, es va con cloure que la millor opció per l’àrea de Viladecans era fer servir l’aerogenerador IT - PE - 100