Evidence suggests that amnesty for undocumented immigrantsin 1986 significantly reduced crime in the US

In 2015, the role of undocumented immigrants in US society has become much more prominent, with many arguing for a full amnesty for the 11 million currently in the country. In new research, Scott R. Baker finds that a 1986 amnesty for nearly 3 million undocumented immigrants led to a 3-5 percent persistent fall in crime. He writes that this fall in crime is linked to the much improved labor market prospects of previously undocumented immigrants, which led to a decreased motivation to commit crimes for economic gain

Aspects of phosphorus nutrition in swine

Aspects of Phosphorus Nutrition in Swine Scott R. Baker 2010 Three experiments were conducted to evaluate aspects of phosphorus nutrition in pigs. The first 2 experiments were conducted to determine the proper methodology for determining the utilization of P in pigs. The relative bioavailability procedure that uses a slope ratio method was compared with the total tract digestibility method. The 2 experiments were carried out to compare the relative bioavailability (RBV) values of P in dicalcium phosphate (DCP) and distillers dried grains with solubles (DDGS) with the apparent total tract digestibility (ATTD) and the standardized total tract digestibility (STTD) of the same ingredients. In Exp 1, eighteen growing pigs (initial BW; 34.93 ?? 1.04 kg) were allotted to 3 cornstarch-based diets and housed individually in metabolism cages. One diet was a P-free diet that was used to determine endogenous P losses (EPL). Two additional diets in which DCP or DDGS was the sole source of P were also formulated. Results showed that the ATTD of P in DCP and DDGS were 86.1 and 58.8%, respectively. The EPL was determined to be 174 mg/kg DMI and the STTD of P was calculated to be 93.1% in DCP and 63.1% in DDGS. In Exp 2, forty two pigs (initial BW: 29.02 ?? 2.03 kg) were allotted to 7 diets and housed individually. A basal diet (0.22% P) was formulated and 3 additional diets were formulated by adding 0.04, 0.08, or 0.12% P from DCP to the basal diet. The remaining 3 diets were formulated by adding 0.04, 0.08, or 0.12% P from DDGS to the basal diet at the expense of cornstarch. The animals were fed their respective diets for 28 d and they were then euthanized. The third and fourth metacarpals were removed from the front right foot of the animals. Metacarpal bone ash and bone P were regressed against P intake for each ingredient using the slope ratio method. It was determined that the bioavailability of P in DDGS was 60% relative to that in DCP. It was concluded that there was good agreement between values for RBV and STTD values. In Exp 3, the effect of BW on EPL and nutrient digestibility was determined. A semi-purified P-free diet was formulated to determine EPL. Three additional diets containing soybean meal (SBM), DDGS, and corn as sole source of P were also formulated. Twenty-four barrows (initial BW: 9.66 ?? 0.67 kg) were allotted to the 4 diets and placed in metabolism cages for five 12-d collection periods. Pigs had an average BW of 9.66 ?? 0.67, 22.29 ?? 2.57, 53.77 ?? 9.91, 92.73 ?? 16.17, and 129.23 ?? 18.55 kg at the start of each collection period. Pigs were fed the same diet during all collection periods, but between collection periods they were fed a corn-soybean meal-DDGS diet. During the collection periods fecal samples were collected quantitvely from d 6 to 11 and values for ATTD, EPL, and STTD of P and ATTD of Ca, GE, CP, ether extract, ADF, NDF, and ash were calculated. There was no effect of BW on EPL and the average EPL was 220 mg/kg DMI. The ATTD and STTD of P in SBM and corn increased (linear, P 0.05) of BW on the ATTD of ADF, NDF, and Ca. For the DDGS diet, there was an increase in the ATTD of GE, NDF, and CP (linear and quadratic, P 0.05) of pig BW on the ATTD of GE, ether extract, or Ca. It was concluded that the ATTD and STTD of P in corn and SBM, but not in DDGS, increases as the pig BW increases, but EPL of P is constant regardless of pig BW. The influence of pig BW on the ATTD of GE and nutrients is dependent on the diet

Policy uncertainty: a new indicator

The damaging impact of economic uncertainty on growth has been reasonably well studied - but what happens when there is uncertainty about economic policy-making? Nicholas Bloom and colleagues have developed a measure of this distinct kind of uncertainty, one that shows the value of restoring stability to current policy actions.US economic policy, global financial markets,

Yes, But...Ruminations on Discounted Membership and Reference Group Rationalizations

Reference group theory posits that people attempt to identify themselves with groups that are esteemed in order to enhance their sense of self-worth. However, it is not uncommon that actors may find themselves being identified with, or identifying with, stigmatized groups or categories. In order to avoid the personally pejorative implications of these associations, these actors often engage in various strategies that take a form similar to accounts which attempt to neutralize possible stigma. Two fundamental normalizations, disidentification and deflected stigma are presented and compared to previous articulations in the literature of stigma management

Alternative Size and Lifetime Measurements for High-Energy Heavy-Ion Collisions

Two-Particle correlations based on the interference of identical particles has provided the chief means for determining the shape and lifetime of sources in relativistic heavy ion collisions. Here, Strong and Coulomb induced correlations are shown to provide equivalent information.Comment: Two confusing typographical errors were correcte

Measuring economic policy uncertainty

We develop a new index of economic policy uncertainty (EPU) based on newspaper coverage frequency. Several types of evidence – including human readings of 12,000 newspaper articles – indicate that our index proxies for movements in policy-related economic uncertainty. Our US index spikes near tight presidential elections, Gulf Wars I and II, the 9/11 attacks, the failure of Lehman Brothers, the 2011 debt-ceiling dispute and other major battles over fiscal policy. Using firm-level data, we find that policy uncertainty raises stock price volatility and reduces investment and employment in policy-sensitive sectors like defense, healthcare, and infrastructure construction. At the macro level, policy uncertainty innovations foreshadow declines in investment, output, and employment in the United States and, in a panel VAR setting, for 12 major economies. Extending our US index back to 1900, EPU rose dramatically in the 1930s (from late 1931) and has drifted upwards since the 1960s

Higher policy uncertainty curbs business investment and employment growth

The years following the global economic crisis of 2008-2009 have been marked by policy uncertainty, both in the US and across the world. In new research, Scott R. Baker, Nicholas Bloom, and Steven Davis develop an index of economic policy uncertainty to examine how this uncertainty shapes economic outcomes. Using data going back to 1900 and extending coverage to 11 major economies, they find that heightened levels of policy uncertainty leads to firms reducing investment and employment, which in turn contributes to the sluggish growth which many economies have experienced in recent years

An electron channeling study of polycrystalline YBa2Cu3Ox

An electron channeling study has been done on large grained YBa2Cu3Ox samples. Selected area channeling patterns (SACP) were used to examine several dozen grains on electropolished surfaces and it was demonstrated that (a) the twin planes observed in polarized optical light microscopy lie parallel to {110} crystal planes, and (b) the long flat sides of high aspect ratio grains are formed by basal planes, and the shorter sides are formed by either (010), (100), or {110} planes. A majority of the large grains examined were found to contain subgrains, misaligned by 0.5°–1° and ranging in size from less than 3 to 20 μm. The origin of the subgrains is not understood