Social Mobility and the Demand for Redistribution: The POUM Hypothesis

Even people with income below average will not support high rates of redistribution, because of the prospect of upward mobility: they take into account the fact the they, or their children, may move up in the income distribution, and therefore be hurt by high tax rates. This "intuitive" hypothesis is commonly advanced as part of the explanation for why democracies, where a relatively poor majority holds the political power, do not engage in large-scale expropriation and redistribution. But does it make sense, or does it require that some of the poor overemphasize the prospects of good outcomes relative to bad ones, due either to irrationally optimistic expectations or to a form of risk-loving?INCOME DISTRIBUTION ; POLITICAL ECONOMY ; TAXATION ; SOCIAL MOBILITY

An experimental study of oil-water flows in horizontal pipes

© BHR Group 2015 Multiphase 17.This paper reports an effort to investigate the effect of flow velocities and inlet configurations on horizontal oil-water flows in a 32 mm ID acrylic pipe using water and an aliphatic oil (Exxsol D140) as test fluids. The flows of interest were analysed using pressure drop measurements and high-speed photography in an effort to obtain a flow pattern map, pressure gradient profiles and measures of the in situ phase fractions. The experiments reveal a particular effect of the inlet configuration on the observed flow patterns. A horizontal plate, installed at the inlet, generates a transition to stratified flow when the plate height closely matched the in situ water height at low water cuts

Evolution of Interdependent Preferences in Aggregative Games

We study the evolution of preference interdependence in aggregative games which are symmetric with respect to material payoffs but asymmetric with respect to player objective functions. Specifically, some players have interdependent preferences (in the sense that they care not only about their own material payoffs but also about their payoffs relative to others) while the remainder are (material) payoff maximizers in the standard sense.PREFERENCE CHOICES

Variation in bulk-leaf ¹³C discrimination, leaf traits and water-use efficiency–trait relationships along a continental-scale climate gradient in Australia

© 2017 John Wiley & Sons Ltd Large spatial and temporal gradients in rainfall and temperature occur across Australia. This heterogeneity drives ecological differentiation in vegetation structure and ecophysiology. We examined multiple leaf-scale traits, including foliar 13C isotope discrimination (Δ13C), rates of photosynthesis and foliar N concentration and their relationships with multiple climate variables. Fifty-five species across 27 families were examined across eight sites spanning contrasting biomes. Key questions addressed include: (i) Does Δ13C and intrinsic water-use efficiency (WUEi) vary with climate at a continental scale? (ii) What are the seasonal and spatial patterns in Δ13C/WUEi across biomes and species? (iii) To what extent does Δ13C reflect variation in leaf structural, functional and nutrient traits across climate gradients? and (iv) Does the relative importance of assimilation and stomatal conductance in driving variation in Δ13C differ across seasons? We found that MAP, temperature seasonality, isothermality and annual temperature range exerted independent effects on foliar Δ13C/WUEi. Temperature-related variables exerted larger effects than rainfall-related variables. The relative importance of photosynthesis and stomatal conductance (gs) in determining Δ13C differed across seasons: Δ13C was more strongly regulated by gs during the dry-season and by photosynthetic capacity during the wet-season. Δ13C was most strongly correlated, inversely, with leaf mass area ratio among all leaf attributes considered. Leaf Nmass was significantly and positively correlated with MAP during dry- and wet-seasons and with moisture index (MI) during the wet-season but was not correlated with Δ13C. Leaf Pmass showed significant positive relationship with MAP and Δ13C only during the dry-season. For all leaf nutrient-related traits, the relationships obtained for Δ13C with MAP or MI indicated that Δ13C at the species level reliably reflects the water status at the site level. Temperature and water availability, not foliar nutrient content, are the principal factors influencing Δ13C across Australia

Optimization of Convolutional Neural Network ensemble classifiers by Genetic Algorithms

Breast cancer exhibits a high mortality rate and it is the most invasive cancer in women. An analysis from histopathological images could predict this disease. In this way, computational image processing might support this task. In this work a proposal which employes deep learning convolutional neural networks is presented. Then, an ensemble of networks is considered in order to obtain an enhanced recognition performance of the system by the consensus of the networks of the ensemble. Finally, a genetic algorithm is also considered to choose the networks that belong to the ensemble. The proposal has been tested by carrying out several experiments with a set of benchmark images.Universidad de Málaga. Campus de Excelencia Internacional Andalucía Tech

Consumer Preference for Sustainable Tourism Certifications: A Choice Modeling Approach

Certifying tourism businesses as sustainable has been proposed as a means to connect the academic goals of ecotourism to the industry. One obstacle that impedes the development of widely recognized sustainable tourism certifications is the lack of knowledge regarding consumer preferences for these certifications. A better understanding of consumer desires is needed in order to create sustainable tourism certifications that will generate price premiums for certified businesses and thus accelerate the growth of certified businesses. This study uses a stated-preference choice modeling approach to examine consumer preference for sustainable tourism certifications amongst international tourists in Tanzania. Results suggest that certifications that emphasize environmental sustainability are more important to tourists than certifications that emphasize cultural or economic sustainability. Additionally, the more stringent certifications provide relatively little increase in consumer utility. The implications of the findings on the development of sustainable tourism certifications are discussed

Effect of nebulized formoterol, ipratropium bromide, and furosemide in combination with fluticasone propionate on arterial blood gases of premature calves with respiratory distress syndrome

ΔΕΝ ΔΙΑΤΙΘΕΤΑΙ ΠΕΡΙΛΗΨΗThe purpose of this study was to assess the clinical effect of nebulized formoterol (FM), ipratropium bromide (IB) and furosemide (FS) combined with fluticasone propionate (FP) on l ung function in premature calves with Respiratory Distress Syndrome (RDS). Thirty-six premature calves with RDS were randomly assigned to six different treatment groups (D1 to D6). All groups received the standard treatment, including oxygen and support treatment. Calves in D1 received only the standard treatment. The following combinations of nebulized drugs were used for the other groups: D2: FP, D3: FP+FM; D4: FP+IB; D5: FP+FS and D6: FP+IB+FM+FS. The treatment period (72 h) involved the application of FM (15 μg totally/12 h), IB (2 μg/kg/12 h), FS (1 mg/kg/12 h) and FP (15 μg/kg/12 h) for five minutes. A significant increase over time in blood pH, partial pressure of oxygen (PaO2), oxygen saturation (SatO2) and a decrease in partial pressure of carbon dioxide (PaCO2) and lactate were detected in all groups that received nebulized treatment; while in the D1, a significant change was observed only for PaCO2. Calves in D6 had the highest PaO2 and lowest PaCO2 values amongst all groups at the end of treatment. No statistical difference was observed between the Nebulization Groups (NG). Nebulized FM, IB and FS with FP combination in premature calves with RDS, in addition to the standard treatment showed a significant curative effect on lung function