The Models of Personal Incomes in USA

The shapes of distributions of personal incomes in USA have been investigated based on the data for 1993 to 2008. Comparisons between four models utilizing various number of parameters have been performed. The studies showed that the empirical data is described the best by the three-parameter Dagum model. Values of the models parameters indicate that the distribution of personal incomes can be regarded as zero-modal one. However, one-parameter exponential model shows a good agreement with data and can be treated as a good approximation of empirical distribution with the exception of the region with very high incomes. The high-income region is characterized by the relatively great number of events and is described much better by the Dagum distribution

Teleportation of geometric structures in 3D

Simplest quantum teleportation algorithms can be represented in geometric terms in spaces of dimensions 3 (for real state-vectors) and 4 (for complex state-vectors). The geometric representation is based on geometric-algebra coding, a geometric alternative to the tensor-product coding typical of quantum mechanics. We discuss all the elementary ingredients of the geometric version of the algorithm: Geometric analogs of states and controlled Pauli gates. Fully geometric presentation is possible if one employs a nonstandard representation of directed magnitudes, formulated in terms of colors defined via stereographic projection of a color wheel, and not by means of directed volumes.Comment: typos corrected, one plot remove

Threat-sensitive anti-predator defence in precocial wader, the northern lapwing Vanellus vanellus

Birds exhibit various forms of anti-predator behaviours to avoid reproductive failure, with mobbing—observation, approach and usually harassment of a predator—being one of the most commonly observed. Here, we investigate patterns of temporal variation in the mobbing response exhibited by a precocial species, the northern lapwing (Vanellus vanellus). We test whether brood age and self-reliance, or the perceived risk posed by various predators, affect mobbing response of lapwings. We quantified aggressive interactions between lapwings and their natural avian predators and used generalized additive models to test how timing and predator species identity are related to the mobbing response of lapwings. Lapwings diversified mobbing response within the breeding season and depending on predator species. Raven Corvus corax, hooded crow Corvus cornix and harriers evoked the strongest response, while common buzzard Buteo buteo, white stork Ciconia ciconia, black-headed gull Chroicocephalus ridibundus and rook Corvus frugilegus were less frequently attacked. Lapwings increased their mobbing response against raven, common buzzard, white stork and rook throughout the breeding season, while defence against hooded crow, harriers and black-headed gull did not exhibit clear temporal patterns. Mobbing behaviour of lapwings apparently constitutes a flexible anti-predator strategy. The anti-predator response depends on predator species, which may suggest that lapwings distinguish between predator types and match mobbing response to the perceived hazard at different stages of the breeding cycle. We conclude that a single species may exhibit various patterns of temporal variation in anti-predator defence, which may correspond with various hypotheses derived from parental investment theory

Phase-space formulation of quantum mechanics and quantum state reconstruction for physical systems with Lie-group symmetries

We present a detailed discussion of a general theory of phase-space distributions, introduced recently by the authors [J. Phys. A {\bf 31}, L9 (1998)]. This theory provides a unified phase-space formulation of quantum mechanics for physical systems possessing Lie-group symmetries. The concept of generalized coherent states and the method of harmonic analysis are used to construct explicitly a family of phase-space functions which are postulated to satisfy the Stratonovich-Weyl correspondence with a generalized traciality condition. The symbol calculus for the phase-space functions is given by means of the generalized twisted product. The phase-space formalism is used to study the problem of the reconstruction of quantum states. In particular, we consider the reconstruction method based on measurements of displaced projectors, which comprises a number of recently proposed quantum-optical schemes and is also related to the standard methods of signal processing. A general group-theoretic description of this method is developed using the technique of harmonic expansions on the phase space.Comment: REVTeX, 18 pages, no figure

Variation of Basal EROD Activities in Ten Passerine Bird Species – Relationships with Diet and Migration Status

Inter-specific differences in animal defence mechanisms against toxic substances are currently poorly understood. The ethoxyresorufin-O-deethylase (EROD) enzyme plays an important role in defence against toxic chemicals in a wide variety of animals, and it is an important biomarker for environmental contamination. We compared basal hepatic EROD activity levels among ten passerine species to see if there is inter-specific variation in enzyme activity, especially in relation to their diet and migration status. Migratory insectivores showed higher EROD activity compared to granivores. We hypothesize that the variable invertebrate diet of migratory insectivores contains a wider range of natural toxins than the narrower diet of granivores. This may have affected the evolution of mixed function oxidases (MFO) system and enzyme activities. We further tested whether metabolic rates or relative liver size were associated with the variation in detoxification capacity. We found no association between EROD activity and relative (per mass unit) basal metabolic rate (BMR). Instead, EROD activity and relative liver mass (% of body mass) correlated positively, suggesting that a proportionally large liver also functions efficiently. Our results suggest that granivores and non-migratory birds may be more vulnerable to environmental contaminants than insectivores and migratory birds. The diet and migration status, however, are phylogenetically strongly connected to each other, and their roles cannot be fully separated in our analysis with only ten passerine species

Applications of SVD-DFT decomposition. Part 1: Introduction to frequency analysis for time-varying systems

W pracy zawarto genezę i szczegółowy opis opracowanej przez autora metody do uproszczonej analizy dyskretnych, niestacjonarnych układów liniowych określonych na skończonym horyzoncie czasowym w dziedzinie częstotliwości. Artykuł rozpoczyna opis modelu matematycznego układu oraz jego transformacja do postaci operatorowej. W dalszej części analizowane są własności rozkładu według wartości szczególnych (SVD) operatora układu dyskretnego. Dalsza dyskretna transformata Fouriera wektorów rozkładu SVD oraz zastosowanie własności gęstości widmowej mocy dają podstawy do zdefiniowania przybliżonych charakterystyk Bodego: amplitudowej i fazowej. Jako podsumowanie powyższych rozważań dokonano przykładowej analizy numerycznej układu niestacjonarnego, będącego rezultatem zmiennej w czasie linearyzacji nieliniowego układu oscylacyjnego. Rezultaty porównano z wynikami dla odpowiednika stacjonarnego.The paper develops tools and methods for linear time-varying, discrete-time systems analysis. Considerations begins from a theoretical background. There are definitions, theorems and numerical algorithms for evaluation of approximated Bode diagrams. The main method is based on Singular Value Decomposition (SVD), Discrete Fourier Transform (DFT) and Power Spectral Density (PSD) properties. Theoretical considerations are summarized by numerical example - analysis of linearized time-varying model of oscillatory element. Obtained results are compared with diagrams for similar linear time invariant system

Estimation of the output deviation norm for uncertain, discrete-time nonlinear systems in a state dependent form

Numerical evaluation of the optimal nonlinear robust control requires estimating the impact of parameter uncertainties on the system output. The main goal of the paper is to propose a method for estimating the norm of an output trajectory deviation from the nominal trajectory for nonlinear uncertain, discrete-time systems. The measure of the deviation allows us to evaluate the robustness of any designed controller. The first part of the paper concerns uncertainty modelling for nonlinear systems given in the state space dependent form. The method for numerical estimation of the maximal norm of the output trajectory deviation with applications to robust control synthesis is proposed based on the introduced three-term additive uncertainty model. Theoretical deliberations are complemented with a numerical, water-tank system example