Protest Adjustments in the Valuation of Watershed Restoration Using Payment Card Data

When using a willingness-to-pay (WTP) format in contingent valuation (CV) to value water-shed restoration, respondents may protest by questioning why they should pay to clean up a pollution problem that someone else created. Using a sample selection interval data model based on Bhat (1994) and Brox, Kumar, and Stollery (2003), we found that the decision to protest and WTP values were correlated. Protest sample selection bias resulted in a 300 percent overestimate of mean WTP per respondent. Using different ad hoc treatments of protesters, protest bias resulted in moderate effects (-10 percent to +14 percent) after controlling for sample selection bias.contingent valuation, protest bias, watershed restoration, sample selection, grouped Tobit, Resource /Energy Economics and Policy,

Two violent trajectories on the micro-macro continuum: emotional tipping-point conflicts, and dispersed attrition conflicts

Micro-sociology analyzes very short expanses of time and space, macro-sociology long expanses. There is no historical trend from micro to macro techniques of violence or vice versa; but changes result from stalemates of older technique, shifting to either a faster or a longer sequence of violent moves; advantage goes to the side which catches their opponent emotionally off balance. Prolonged stalemated struggles are destructive wars of attrition. Successful revolutions concentrate masses of people on a dramatic showdown in a central place, and can result in a rapid, low-casualty transfer of power. Comparing failed and successful revolutions, the more micro-concentration in time and place, the more likely a rapid tipping point will occur through a shift in emotional domination. But where revolutionary struggle becomes spread out, it turns into civil war, which become especially destructive when outside allies supply weapons to keep it going. Moving along the continuum towards the macro end de-emphasizes emotional turning points and motivates opponents to win by attrition. Moving towards the micro end allows the possibility of a quick and less destructive resolution

Micro and macro sociological causes of violent atrocities

One form of cruelty arises from ritually bounded social groups, where altruistic morality does not extend beyond the boundaries of one’s own enclave, and deliberate public cruelty to enemies is a ritual of group solidarity. Ritualized public displays of cruelty upon helpless victims are most strongly institutionalized in societies which combine hierarchic stratification with strongly ritualized group membership. Cruelty returns in its second form, bureaucratic callousness, through the impersonal structure of modern warfare and the exercise of organizational power.Uma forma de crueldade surge de grupos sociais unidos ritualmente, onde a moralidade altruísta não ultrapassa as fronteiras e limites de cada um, e a deliberada crueldade pública para com os inimigos é um ritual de solidariedade de grupo. Demonstrações públicas ritualizadas de crueldade sobre vítimas indefesas estão fortemente institucionalizadas em sociedades que combinam uma estratificação hierárquica com uma pertença de grupo fortemente ritualizada. A crueldade volta na sua segunda forma, a insensibilidade burocrática, através da estrutura impessoal da guerra moderna e do exercício do poder organizacional.Une forme de cruauté vient de groupes sociaux unis par des rites, où la moralité altruiste ne va pas au-delà des frontières et des limites de chacun et où la cruauté publique délibérée envers les ennemis est un rituel de solidarité du groupe. Les démonstrations publiques ritualisées de cruauté envers des victimes sans défense sont fortement institutionnalisées dans les sociétés qui allient une stratification hiérarchique à une appartenance de groupe fortement ritualisée. La cruauté revient sous sa seconde forme, l’insensibilité bureaucratique, à travers la structure impersonnelle de la guerre moderne et de l’exercice du pouvoir organisationnel.Una forma de crueldad surge de grupos sociales unidos ritualmente, donde la moralidad altruista no supera las fronteras y límites de cada uno, y la deliberada crueldad pública hacia los enemigos es un ritual de solidaridad de grupo. Demostraciones públicas ritualizadas de crueldad sobre víctimas indefensas están fuertemente institucionalizadas en sociedades que combinan una estratificación jerárquica con una pertenencia de grupo fuertemente ritualizada. La crueldad vuelve en su segunda forma, la insensibilidad burocrática, a través de la estructura impersonal de la guerra moderna y del ejercicio del poder organizacional

Micro and Macro Causes of Violence

The dominant emotion in violence-threatening situations is confrontational tension/fear (ct/f), which causes most violence to abort, or to be carried out inaccurately and incompetently. For violence to be successful, there must be a pathway around the barrier of ct/f. These pathways include: attacking the weak; audience-oriented staged and controlled fair fights; confrontation-avoiding remote violence; confrontation-avoiding by deception; confrontation-avoiding by absorption in technique. Successfully violent persons, on both sides of the law, are those who have developed these skilled interactional techniques. Since successful violence involves dominating the emotional attention space, only a small proportion of persons can belong to the elite which does most of each type of violence. Macro-violence, including victory and defeat in war, and in struggles of paramilitaries and social movements, is shaped by both material resources and social/emotional resources for maintaining violent organizations and forcing their opponents into organizational breakdown. Social and emotional destruction generally precedes physical destruction

Micro and macro sociological causes of violent atrocities

One form of cruelty arises from ritually bounded social groups, where altruistic morality does not extend beyond the boundaries of one’s own enclave, and deliberate public cruelty to enemies is a ritual of group solidarity. Ritualized public displays of cruelty upon helpless victims are most strongly institutionalized in societies which combine hierarchic stratification with strongly ritualized group membership. Cruelty returns in its second form, bureaucratic callousness, through the impersonal structure of modern warfare and the exercise of organizational power.Uma forma de crueldade surge de grupos sociais unidos ritualmente, onde a moralidade altruísta não ultrapassa as fronteiras e limites de cada um, e a deliberada crueldade pública para com os inimigos é um ritual de solidariedade de grupo. Demonstrações públicas ritualizadas de crueldade sobre vítimas indefesas estão fortemente institucionalizadas em sociedades que combinam uma estratificação hierárquica com uma pertença de grupo fortemente ritualizada. A crueldade volta na sua segunda forma, a insensibilidade burocrática, através da estrutura impessoal da guerra moderna e do exercício do poder organizacional.Une forme de cruauté vient de groupes sociaux unis par des rites, où la moralité altruiste ne va pas au-delà des frontières et des limites de chacun et où la cruauté publique délibérée envers les ennemis est un rituel de solidarité du groupe. Les démonstrations publiques ritualisées de cruauté envers des victimes sans défense sont fortement institutionnalisées dans les sociétés qui allient une stratification hiérarchique à une appartenance de groupe fortement ritualisée. La cruauté revient sous sa seconde forme, l’insensibilité bureaucratique, à travers la structure impersonnelle de la guerre moderne et de l’exercice du pouvoir organisationnel.Una forma de crueldad surge de grupos sociales unidos ritualmente, donde la moralidad altruista no supera las fronteras y límites de cada uno, y la deliberada crueldad pública hacia los enemigos es un ritual de solidaridad de grupo. Demostraciones públicas ritualizadas de crueldad sobre víctimas indefensas están fuertemente institucionalizadas en sociedades que combinan una estratificación jerárquica con una pertenencia de grupo fuertemente ritualizada. La crueldad vuelve en su segunda forma, la insensibilidad burocrática, a través de la estructura impersonal de la guerra moderna y del ejercicio del poder organizacional

Various Types of Five-Dimensional Warp Factor and Effective Planck Scale

Based on the assumption that the warp factor of four-dimensional spacetime and the one of fifth dimension are tied through a parameter $\alpha$, we consider five-dimensional gravity with a 3-brane coupled to a bulk scalar field. For arbitrary value of $\alpha$, the form of the warp factor is implicitly determined by hypergeometric function. Concretely, we show that the warp factor becomes explicit form for appropriate value of $\alpha$, and study the relation between four-dimensional effective Planck scale and the brane tension. This setup allows the possibility of extending the diversity of brane world.Comment: 11 pages, no figure, minor changes, version to appear in PL

Production of light stabilized radion at high energy hadron collider

In this paper we use the conformal anomaly in QCD to derive the coupling of light radion to gluons in the Randall-Sundrum model and use it to compute the radion production cross section at hadron colliders by gluon fusion. We find that the radion production cross section by gluon fusion at LHC would exceed that of the higgs boson by a factor that lies between 7 and 8 over most of the range. The decay modes of the radion are similar to that of the SM higgs boson. But the striking feature is the enhancement of radion to 2-photon and radion to 2-gluon branching ratio over the SM case. Utilising this, we then discuss the possible search strategies of such scalars at Tevatron and LHC. Using the $\gamma \gamma$ decay mode one can explore/exclude radion mass upto 1 TeV. Even with the current collected data at the Tevatron, one can exclude radion mass upto 120 GeV for \vphi= 1 TeV.Comment: Search porspects at Tevatron and LHC added, 5 ps figs, LaTe

TOTAL ECONOMIC VALUATION OF STREAM RESTORATION USING INTERNET AND MAIL SURVEYS

The economic value of restoring Deckers Creek in Monongalia and Preston Counties of West Virginia was determined from mail, internet and personal interview surveys. Multi-attribute, choice experiments were conducted and nested logit models were estimated to derive the economic values of full restoration for three attributes of this creek: aquatic life, swimming, and scenic quality. The relative economic values of attributes were: aquatic life > scenic quality ~ swimming. These economic values imply that respondents had the highest value for aquatic life when fully restoring Deckers Creek to a sustainable fishery rather than "put and take" fishery that can not sustain a fish population (defined as moderate restoration for aquatic life). The consumer surplus estimates for full restoration of all three attributes ranged between $12 and$16 per month per household. Potential stream users (anglers) had the largest consumer surplus gain from restoration while non-angler respondents had the lowest. When the consumer surplus estimates were aggregated up to the entire watershed population, the benefit from restoration of Deckers Creek was estimated to be about $1.9 million annually. This benefit does not account for any economic values from partial stream restoration. Based upon log likelihood tests of the nested logit models, two sub-samples of the survey population (the general population and stream users) were found to be from the same population. Thus, restoration choices by stream users may be representative of the watershed population, although the sample size of stream users was small in this study.Resource /Energy Economics and Policy,

Colliding Bubble Worlds

We consider a cosmological model in which our Universe is a spherically symmetric bubble wall in 5-dimensional anti-de Sitter spacetime. We argue that the bubble on which we live will undergo collisions with other similar bubbles and estimate the spectrum of such collisions. The collision rate is found to be independent of the age of our Universe. Collisions with small bubbles provide an experimental signature of this scenario, while collisions with larger bubbles would be catastrophic.Comment: 7 pages, no figure