102 research outputs found
Combating Trafficking in Women and Children: A Review of International and National Legislation, Coordination Failures and Perverse Economic Incentives
Abstract
In this review, we argue that the pattern of trafficking needs to be understood through the impact of legislative forces and human rights policies in place in the host countries of trafficking. Analyzing trafficking patterns solely through the lens of economic, labor market and demographic variables leaves a key question unanswered: how much of the incidence of trafficking into host countries is due to perverse incentives created for traffickers by the provision and enforcement of policies that grant human rights (such as amnesty) to trafficked victims? The
reason why we focus on this particular policy is twofold. First, the role of amnesty in creating possible perverse incentives for traffickers is controversial and has not been explored in the literature. While economic and enforcement factors
affecting the “market” for trafficked victims for commercial sexual exploitation through incentives for traffickers have received a fair amount of attention, the impact of legislation surrounding anti-trafficking activities in host countries on
the incentives for traffickers remain an equally important but unexplored issue.
Second, from a normative point of view, the role of amnesty for trafficked victims needs careful evaluation. We argue that while the policy of amnesty does protect the rights of trafficked victims in host countries, it cannot be viewed as a policy
that deters traffickers, but as one that may in fact increase the incentive to select countries that offer amnesty as destination countries for victims
Holographic principle in the BDL brane cosmology
We study the holographic principle in the brane cosmology. Especially we
describe how to accommodate the 5D anti de Sitter Schwarzschild (AdSS)
black hole in the Binetruy-Deffayet-Langlois (BDL) approach of brane cosmology.
It is easy to make a connection between a mass of the AdSS black hole
and a conformal field theory (CFT)-radiation dominated universe on the brane in
the moving domain wall approach. But this is not established in the BDL
approach. In this case we use two parameters in the Friedmann
equation. These arise from integration and are really related to the choice of
initial bulk matter. If one chooses a bulk energy density to account
for a mass of the AdSS black hole and the static fifth dimension, a
CFT-radiation term with comes out from the bulk
matter without introducing a localized matter distribution on the brane. This
means that the holographic principle can be established in the BDL brane
cosmology.Comment: 9 pages, a version to appear in PR
On the simulation of enzymatic digest patterns: the fragmentation of oligomeric and polymeric galacturonides by endo-polygalacturonase II
A simulation methodology for predicting the time-course of enzymatic
digestions is described. The model is based solely on the enzyme's subsite
architecture and concomitant binding energies. This allows subsite binding
energies to be used to predict the evolution of the relative amounts of
different products during the digestion of arbitrary mixtures of oligomeric or
polymeric substrates. The methodology has been specifically demonstrated by
studying the fragmentation of a population of oligogalacturonides of varying
degrees of polymerization, when digested by endo-polygalacturonase II (endo-PG
II) from Aspergillus niger.Comment: Preprint - has been accepted to Biochimica et Biophysica Act
A plausible upper limit on the number of e-foldings
Based solely on the arguments relating Friedmann equation and the Cardy
formula we derive a bound for the number of e-folds during inflation for a
standard Friedmann-Robertson-Walker as well as non-standard four dimensional
cosmology induced by a Randall-Sundrum-type model.Comment: 4 pages. Version appearing in the Physical Review
On the thin-shell limit of branes in the presence of Gauss-Bonnet interactions
In this paper we study thick-shell braneworld models in the presence of a
Gauss-Bonnet term. We discuss the peculiarities of the attainment of the
thin-shell limit in this case and compare them with the same situation in
Einstein gravity. We describe the two simplest families of thick-brane models
(parametrized by the shell thickness) one can think of. In the thin-shell
limit, one family is characterized by the constancy of its internal density
profile (a simple structure for the matter sector) and the other by the
constancy of its internal curvature scalar (a simple structure for the
geometric sector). We find that these two families are actually equivalent in
Einstein gravity and that the presence of the Gauss-Bonnet term breaks this
equivalence. In the second case, a shell will always keep some non-trivial
internal structure, either on the matter or on the geometric sectors, even in
the thin-shell limit.Comment: 17 pages, 2 figures, RevTeX 4. Revised version accepted for
publication in Physical Review
Of Bounces, Branes and Bounds
Some recent studies have considered a Randall-Sundrum-like brane world
evolving in the background of an anti-de Sitter Reissner-Nordstrom black hole.
For this scenario, it has been shown that, when the bulk charge is
non-vanishing, a singularity-free ``bounce'' universe will always be obtained.
However, for the physically relevant case of a de Sitter brane world, we have
recently argued that, from a holographic (c-theorem) perspective, such brane
worlds may not be physically viable. In the current paper, we reconsider the
validity of such models by appealing to the so-called ``causal entropy bound''.
In this framework, a paradoxical outcome is obtained: these brane worlds are
indeed holographically viable, provided that the bulk charge is not too small.
We go on to argue that this new finding is likely the more reliable one.Comment: 15 pages, Revtex; references added and very minor change
Genome-wide enrichment analysis between endometriosis and obesity-related traits reveals novel susceptibility loci
Endometriosis is a chronic inflammatory condition in women that results in pelvic pain and subfertility, and has been associated with decreased body mass index (BMI). Genetic variants contributing to the heritable component have started to emerge from genome-wide association studies (GWAS), although the majority remain unknown. Unexpectedly, we observed an intergenic locus on 7p15.2 that was genome-wide significantly associated with both endometriosis and fat distribution (waist-to-hip ratio adjusted for BMI; WHRadjBMI) in an independent meta-GWAS of European ancestry individuals. This led us to investigate the potential overlap in genetic variants underlying the aetiology of endometriosis, WHRadjBMI and BMI using GWAS data. Our analyses demonstrated significant enrichment of common variants between fat distribution and endometriosis (P = 3.7 × 10(-3)), which was stronger when we restricted the investigation to more severe (Stage B) cases (P = 4.5 × 10(-4)). However, no genetic enrichment was observed between endometriosis and BMI (P = 0.79). In addition to 7p15.2, we identify four more variants with statistically significant evidence of involvement in both endometriosis and WHRadjBMI (in/near KIFAP3, CAB39L, WNT4, GRB14); two of these, KIFAP3 and CAB39L, are novel associations for both traits. KIFAP3, WNT4 and 7p15.2 are associated with the WNT signalling pathway; formal pathway analysis confirmed a statistically significant (P = 6.41 × 10(-4)) overrepresentation of shared associations in developmental processes/WNT signalling between the two traits. Our results demonstrate an example of potential biological pleiotropy that was hitherto unknown, and represent an opportunity for functional follow-up of loci and further cross-phenotype comparisons to assess how fat distribution and endometriosis pathogenesis research fields can inform each other
B --> Phi K_S and Supersymmetry
The rare decay B --> Phi K_S is a well-known probe of physics beyond the
Standard Model because it arises only through loop effects yet has the same
time-dependent CP asymmetry as B --> Psi K_S. Motivated by recent data
suggesting new physics in B --> Phi K_S, we look to supersymmetry for possible
explanations, including contributions mediated by gluino loops and by Higgs
bosons. Chirality-preserving LL and RR gluino contributions are generically
small, unless gluinos and squarks masses are close to the current lower bounds.
Higgs contributions are also too small to explain a large asymmetry if we
impose the current upper limit on B(B_s --> mu mu). On the other hand,
chirality-flipping LR and RL gluino contributions can provide sizable effects
and while remaining consistent with related results in B --> Psi K_S, Delta
M_s, B --> X_s gamma and other processes. We discuss how the LR and RL
insertions can be distinguished using other observables, and we provide a
string-based model and other estimates to show that the needed sizes of mass
insertions are reasonable.Comment: 33 pages, 32 figures, Updated version for PRD. Includes discussions
of other recent works on this topic. Added discussions & plots for gluino
mass dependence and effects of theoretical uncertaintie
Study of Bs-> \phi l^+ l^-$ Decay in a Single Universal Extra Dimension
Utilizing form factors calculated within the light-cone sum rules, we have
evaluated the decay branching ratios of and in a single universal extra dimension model (UED), which is
viewed as one of the alternative theories beyond the standard model (SM). For
the decay , the dilepton invariant mass spectra, the
forward-backward asymmetry, and double lepton polarization are also calculated.
For each case, we compared the obtained results with predictions of the SM. In
lower values of the compactification factor 1/R, the only parameter in this
model, we see the considerable discrepancy between the UED and SM models.
However, when 1/R increases, the results of UED tend to diminish and at , two models have approximately the same predictions.
Compared with data from CDF of , the 1/R tends to be
larger than . We also note that the zero crossing point of
the forward-backward asymmetry is become smaller, which will be an important
plat to prob the contribution from the extra dimension model. The results
obtained in this work will be very useful in searching new physics beyond SM.
Moreover, the order of magnitude for branching ratios shows a possibility to
study these channels at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC), CDF and the future
super-B factory.Comment: 13 pages, 16 figure
Intermediate inflation in Gauss-Bonnet braneworld
In this article we study an intermediate inflationary universe models using
the Gauss-Bonnet brane. General conditions required for these models to be
realizable are derived and discussed. We use recent astronomical observations
to constraint the parameters appearing in the model.Comment: 16 pages, 2 figures, accepted for publication in European Physical
Journal
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