Remarks on the Solution of the Position Dependent Mass (PDM) Schr\"odinger Equation

An approximate method is proposed to solve position dependent mass Schr\"odinger equation. The procedure suggested here leads to the solution of the PDM Schr\"odinger equation without transforming the potential function to the mass space or vice verse. The method based on asymptotic Taylor expansion of the function, produces an approximate analytical expression for eigenfunction and numerical results for eigenvalues of the PDM Schr\"odinger equation. The results show that PDM and constant mass Schr\"odinger equations are not isospectral. The calculations are carried out with the aid of a computer system of symbolic or numerical calculation by constructing a simple algorithm

Effects of innovation diffusion on the development level for some European regions in the expansion period of the European Union

It is argued that innovation diffusion, in other words the movement of the new ideas or articrafts within an area over a number of time periods could become widespread once introduced in the area. After Schumpeter the role of the innovator has been significant as the inventor, as the developer or as the promoter. It is clear now that a number of economists have one thing in common that profit rates would be pushed to minimal levels in the absence of technical development. In fact, in the new theories of development concepts related to knowledge development and its diffusion take precedence. Moreover, concerning regional disparities and regional convergence issues in the European Union, it is pointed out that R&D investment in lagging areas could be the only way to avoid technology and development divergence between core and periphery. In this connection, it might be worthwhile to consider the enlargement process of the European Union with further expansion period. In this way, the objective of this article will be to find out probable effects of R&D on the development level in a five-years period (1996-2001) in order to examine the efficiency rate of innovation diffusion on the development level and to derive some theoretical and practical results.

Urban Transformation as a tool for Disaster Mitigation

Urban transformation projects are prepared with the purpose to sanitize decayed areas, to make cities beautiful and to create economic vitality. Since natural hazards threaten large metropolitan areas, urban transformation is pronounced together to mitigate disasters. This approach of urban transformation includes land use decisions related to hazard, risk and vulnerability analysis and to enhance the implementation of building codes respecting the current standards with application of urban transformation methodologies. Ideally urban transformation methodologies include not only physical and economic improvement but also provide social improvement concerning people who live in the area. Urban transformation seems to be the government’s primary tool for disaster mitigation by guiding urban development and improving the quality of housing stock in Turkey. Several attempts since 2005 to pass a bill to institutionalize this controversial strategy finally succeeded in 2010. In June, Law No. 5998, an amendment to Municipal Law No5393 of 2005, expanded item 73 on urban transformation projects to give municipalities the power to initiate Urban Transformation projects to rehabilitate urban areas or to mitigate disaster risk. According to this item in metropolitan areas, district municipalities can implement such projects within their jurisdictions with the approval of the metropolitan municipal council. Therefore Istanbul (Turkey) which is the biggest metropolitan area and waiting a big earthquake in next 30 years will be subjected to several urban transformation projects in the near future. In the paper, the urban transformation related to disaster mitigation approach will be discussed in the case of Istanbul in terms of descriptive analysis and proposals for future development.

Assessment of Seismic Risk in Istanbul

The 1999 earthquakes occurred in Turkey caused destructions in every field and level in nation wide with the high number of deaths and injuries, the remarkable rates of collapsed and heavily damaged buildings and the interruption of business activities in long-term. In the last 5 year-period, various scientific researches focusing on seismic issues have investigated the relationships among seismicity, site conditions and vulnerability. Moreover, with the co-operations of central and local governments, universities and international agencies, many comprehensive projects have been carried out, such as “A Disaster Prevention/Mitigation Basic Plan for Istanbul” by Istanbul Greater Municipality - Japan International Cooperation Agency. Despite 1999 earthquakes had slight effects on Istanbul, the probability of a great earthquake (estimated to occur up to 30 years), has accelerated the attempts on risk evaluation, development of mitigation strategies, readjustment of disaster management system and so on. The primary studies on this field are focused on understanding seismicity and site conditions at large scale so that the earthquake maps produced show risky zones related to geological indicators. Aftermath of many great disasters, it has been observed that land-use decisions, demographic and economic pattern are the key components which increase or decrease the vulnerability level of settlements. In this context, the aim of this paper is to evaluate vulnerability components affecting risk levels and to explore risky zones of Istanbul. In this paper, urban and seismic indicators (i.e. site conditions, demography, land use, economy) have been aggregated and factor analysis has been used in order to reveal principal components of earthquake risk in Istanbul. According to these main factors, using cluster analysis, the critical zones of Istanbul have been indicated on urban pattern.

Using a Discrete Choice Experiment to Elicit Consumers’ WTP for Health Risk Reductions Achieved By Nanotechnology in the UK

We present research findings on consumers’ willingness to pay (WTP) for reductions in the level of foodborne health risks. The research addresses how such valuations are affected by the means of which the risk reduction is delivered and the methods of risk presentations used in choice tasks. In this case, the research has two treatments. In the first treatment, the comparison is between risk reductions achieved by an improvement in the food system in general (e.g., more stringent regulations and inspection regimes) within the slaughter and meat processing stages of the food chain, as opposed to a risk reduction achieved via innovations in food packaging using nanotechnology, which is the use of nanosensors in packaging. If there is a contamination in packaging, nanosensors reveal a colour change on the packaging material. In the second treatment, the comparison is between valuations of risk reductions in which reductions in risks are presented via absolute values and grids and absolute values together. Both comparisons are achieved via split sample Discrete Choice Experiment surveys. The difference between consumers’ valuations of foodborne risk reductions provides an implicit value for nanotechnology (i.e., WTP to avoid) and the effect of risk grids on choices people make. General results show the existence of heterogeneity in British consumers’ preferences. The effects of nanosensors and risk grids on consumers’ choices are not strong across the models. The valuations of health risk reductions show some variations across the models in both treatment groups.Discrete Choice Experiments, Nanotechnology, Nanosensors, Health Risks, Grids, UK, Health Economics and Policy,

Temptation and Social Security in a Dynastic Framework

We investigate welfare and aggregate implications of a pay as you go (PAYG) social security system in a dynastic framework in which agents have self-control problems. The presence of these two additional factors at the same time affects individuals’ intertemporal decision problems in two opposite directions. That is, on the one hand individuals prefer to save more because of their altruistic concerns, on the other hand, they prefer to save less because of their urge for temptation towards current consumption. Individuals’ efforts to balance between the long-term commitment (consumption smoothing and altruism) and the short-term urge for temptation result in self-control costs. In this environment the existence of social security system provides not only consumption smoothing and risk sharing mechanisms but also a channel that reduces the severity of temptation. We find that the adverse welfare effects of a PAYG system are further mitigated relative to the environments that incorporates altruism and self control issues separately.Temptation; Self-control preferences; Altruism; Social security; Dynamic general equilibrium; Overlapping generations; Welfare

Deciding to Decide: Gender, Leadership and Risk-Taking in Groups

Being the leader in a group often involves making risky decisions that affect the payoffs of all members, and the decision to take this responsibility in a group is endogenous in many contexts. In this paper, we experimentally study: (1) the willingness of men and women to make risky decisions on behalf of a group, (2) the amount of risk men and women take for the group, in comparison to their individual decisions. We observe a striking difference between males and females, with a much lower fraction of women being willing to make the group decision than men. The amount of risk taken for the group is generally lower than in the case where subjects decide for themselves only, indicating a cautious shift. The women that would like to make the group decision and the women that do not are no different in terms of how much risk they take for themselves, nor for their group. For men, on the other hand, we find that the ones who would like to lead tend to take more risk on behalf of the group. We also present several results on the relationship of risk-taking and leadership decisions with personality traits.Conditional CAPM

Economic loss estimation for earthquake hazard in Istanbul

Natural hazards, especially earthquakes, cause disasters when they hit large settlements such as metropolitan areas. After the first shock, the damage is counted by deaths and injuries. In a while, the destroying effects of disaster appear on economic asset of the region. Direct losses including damages in buildings and lifelines can caused non-structural or indirect losses as interruption of business activities and services. Loss estimation techniques have been developed to evaluate losses from earthquakes and other natural hazards. Recently, loss estimation models have improved due to advances in information technology and have been automated using Geographic Information Systems. The aim of this paper is to find out economic effects of probable earthquake in Istanbul. In this study, damage ratios of the most probable and the worst-case earthquake scenarios have been used in order to estimate total damage cost from destruction of houses and interruption of business activities. Despite the loss estimation model does not include monetary losses in lifeline system, centers of administration, emergency services and historical assets, the findings show that future losses, caused by a severe earthquake in Marmara Sea, will exceed the total damage cost of Kocaeli earthquake in 1999.