Seismic effects on the rotational dynamics of the earth and its gravitational field

The effects of earthquakes on the rotational motion of the earth were studied. The connection between the fault parameters and the corresponding changes in the moments and products of inertia were analytically developed. The reciprocal theorem of elasticity and Volterra's formula were applied as well as the displacement and stress fields for the second degree static response of the earth model being used. The numerical results of the investigation yield the magnitude and direction of the pole shift as well as the change in the length of the day. The changes in the second degree coefficients of the geopotential were computed. Source parameters corresponding to the Alaskan earthquake on March 28, 1964 were used to generate numerical results

Weather Derivatives as Risk Management Tool in Ecuador: A Case Study of Rice Production

This paper analyzes efficiency of weather derivatives as insurance instruments for rice in Ecuador. Weather derivatives were constructed for each county/season combination. Complicated weather models were estimated for the index, and a copula approach was used to get the probability distributions. We find Risk-reducing efficiency varies across county and season.agricultural risk management, index insurance, weather derivatives, copula approach, rice production, Agribusiness, Crop Production/Industries, Risk and Uncertainty, Q14, Q59,

Application of Weather Derivatives in Multi-Period Risk Management

This work is a first attempt to analyze the effect of weather derivative availability on the risk management strategies in a multi-period setting, when crop activities take place twice a year. Rice production in Ecuador is used as a case study. Numerical solutions show farmers improve their well-being by reducing their risk exposure.Weather Derivatives, Risk Management, Multi-Period., Agribusiness, Agricultural Finance, Risk and Uncertainty, Q13, Q14,

Sea Contributions to Spin 1/2 Baryon Structure, Magnetic Moments, and Spin Distribution

We treat the baryon as a composite system made out of a \lq\lq core" of three quarks (as in the standard quark model) surrounded by a \lq\lq sea" (of gluons and $q\bar{q}$-pairs) which is specified by its total quantum numbers like flavor, spin and color. Specifically, we assume the sea to be a flavor octet with spin 0 or 1 but no color. The general wavefunction for spin 1/2 baryons with such a sea component is given. Application to the magnetic moments is considered. Numerical analysis shows that a scalar (spin 0) sea with an admixture of a vector (spin 1) sea can provide very good fits to the magnetic moment data {\em using experimental errors}. Our best fit automatically gives $g_A/g_V$ for neutron beta decay in agreement with data. This fit also gives reasonable values for the spin distributions of the proton and neutron.Comment: 24 pages, REVTEX. References modifie

Liberalizing Trade, and its Impact on Poverty and Inequality in Nicaragua

The Doha Round of multilateral trade negotiations stalled in 2008 owing in no small degree to a lack of agreement on the terms of substantially reducing trade-distorting support for agricultural products and to what extent this would be beneficial to developing countries. Nicaragua presents an interesting case in point, being one of the poorest economies in Latin America with still a relatively large agricultural sector and high degrees of rural poverty. In 2005, the country signed a free trade agreement with the United States. A previous study showed that most welfare gains of this agreement for Nicaragua would potentially come from the increased market access for textiles and clothing exported to the United States. Under the agreement, the country stands to benefit much less from reducing tariffs on agricultural imports or agro-industrial export quotas. Since the United States is Nicaragua’s main trading partner, this raises the question whether further trade liberalization with all trading partners, including full elimination of all taxes and tariffs on agricultural production and trade, would be any more beneficial. Using a CGE model and a microsimulation methodology, this study shows that small welfare gains in terms of increased output and poverty reduction may be expected for Nicaragua under various scenarios of trade opening. At best, however, there would be a static gain in aggregate output of 1.5 percent as compared with the baseline scenario. This outcome would materialize only in a scenario of worldwide liberalization of trade in agricultural and non-agricultural products as this would yield relatively strong positive terms-of-trade effects for Nicaragua. Employment and real wage growth would contribute to poverty reduction, but only very modestly in a country with still widespread poverty. Most of these small gains would accrue to the rural poor. The analysis further shows that these gains tend to be smaller when using trade elasticity estimates based on country-specific data as compared with the much higher elasticities typically assumed by global trade models, including the Global Linkage model.Distorted incentives, agricultural and trade policy reforms, national agricultural development, Agricultural and Food Policy, International Relations/Trade, F13, F14, Q17, Q18,