Conjugates for Finding the Automorphism Group and Isomorphism of Design Resolutions

Consider a combinatorial design D with a full automorphism group G D. The automorphism group G of a design resolution R is a subgroup of G D. This subgroup maps each parallel class of R into a parallel class of R. Two resolutions R 1 and R 2 of D are isomorphic if some automorphism from G D maps each parallel class of R 1 to a parallel class of R 2. If G D is very big, the computation of the automorphism group of a resolution and the check for isomorphism of two resolutions might be difficult. Such problems often arise when resolutions of geometric designs (the designs of the points and t-dimensional subspaces of projective or affine spaces) are considered. For resolutions with given automorphisms these problems can be solved by using some of the conjugates of the predefined automorphisms. The method is explained in the present paper and an algorithm for construction of the necessary conjugates is presented. ACM Computing Classification System (1998): F.2.1, G.1.10, G.2.1

Xenobiotic biotransformation potential of Pseudomonas rhodesiae KCM-R5 and Bacillus subtilis KCM-RG5, tolerant to heavy metals and phenol derivatives

Two environmental bacterial isolates KCM-R5 and KCM-RG5 were selected from xenobiotic-polluted environment. KCM-R5 was identified as Pseudomonas rhodesiae and KCM-RG5 as Bacillus subtilis. KCM-R5 demonstrated tolerance to heavy metals and KCM-RG5 to heavy metals and phenol derivatives. Both strains were studied for xenobiotic biotransformation in order to contribute towards bioremediation of polluted environments. Pseudomonas rhodesiae KCM-R5 and Bacillus subtilis. KCM-RG5 possess unusual ability to utilize ortho-nitrophenol (o-NP) and 2,4- dichlorophenoxyacetic acid (2,4-D). o-NP and 2,4-D were added at concentration 30 mg/l. The possible indictive/inhibiting effect of Pb cations (40mg/l) was also studied. Pseudomonas rhodesiae KCM-R5 removed 86 % of o-NP and below 1% of 2,4-D. Bacillus subtilis KCM-RG5 eliminated 83% of o-NP andunder 1% of 2,4-D. Biotransformation effectiveness of o-NP reached 95-100% in contrast to 2,4-D where the effectiveness was just 15-20%. Cell morphological changes were registered during the biotransformation processes. The obtained results could contribute to manage bioremediation processes in polluted with heavy metals and phenol derivatives environments. . 1, . 2, . 2, .

On the resolutions of cyclic Steiner triple systems with small parameters

The paper presents useful invariants of resolutions of cyclic $STS(v)$ with $v\le 39$, namely of all resolutions of cyclic $STS(15)$, $STS(21)$ and $STS(27)$, of the resolutions with nontrivial automorphisms of cyclic $STS(33)$ and of resolutions with automorphisms of order $13$ of cyclic $STS(39)$

Trade Adjustment and Human Capital Investments: Evidence from Indian Tariff Reform

Do the short and medium term adjustment costs associated with trade liberalization influence schooling and child labor decisions? We examine this question in the context of India's 1991 tariff reforms. Overall, in the 1990s, rural India experienced a dramatic increase in schooling and decline in child labor. However, communities that relied heavily on employment in protected industries before liberalization do not experience as large an increase in schooling or decline in child labor. The data suggest that this failure to follow the national trend of increasing schooling and diminishing work is associated with a failure to follow the national trend in poverty reduction. Schooling costs appear to play a large role in this relationship between poverty, schooling, and child labor. Extrapolating from our results, our estimates imply that roughly half of India's rise in schooling and a third of the fall in child labor during the 1990s can be explained by falling poverty and therefore improved capacity to afford schooling.

Modular Adaptive System Based on a Multi-Stage Neural Structure for Recognition of 2D Objects of Discontinuous Production

This is a presentation of a new system for invariant recognition of 2D objects with overlapping classes, that can not be effectively recognized with the traditional methods. The translation, scale and partial rotation invariant contour object description is transformed in a DCT spectrum space. The obtained frequency spectrums are decomposed into frequency bands in order to feed different BPG neural nets (NNs). The NNs are structured in three stages - filtering and full rotation invariance; partial recognition; general classification. The designed multi-stage BPG Neural Structure shows very good accuracy and flexibility when tested with 2D objects used in the discontinuous production. The reached speed and the opportunuty for an easy restructuring and reprogramming of the system makes it suitable for application in different applied systems for real time work.Comment: www.ars-journal.co

The Power of Political Voice: Women's Political Representation and Crime in India

Using state-level variation in the timing of political reforms, we find that an increase in female representation in local government induces a large and significant rise in documented crimes against women in India. Our evidence suggests that this increase is good news, as it is driven primarily by greater reporting rather than greater incidence of such crimes. In contrast, we find no increase in crimes against men or gender-neutral crimes. We also examine the effectiveness of alternative forms of political representation: large scale membership of women in local councils affects crime against them more than their presence in higher level leadership positions.crime; women’s empowerment; minority representation; voice

Imported Intermediate Inputs and Domestic Product Growth: Evidence from India

New goods play a central role in many trade and growth models. We use detailed trade and firm-level data from a large developing economy - India - to investigate the relationship between declines in trade costs, the imports of intermediate inputs and domestic firm product scope. We estimate substantial static gains from trade through access to new imported inputs. Accounting for new imported varieties lowers the import price index for intermediate goods on average by an additional 4.7 percent per year relative to conventional gains through lower prices of existing imports. Moreover, we find that lower input tariffs account on average for 31 percent of the new products introduced by domestic firms, which implies potentially large dynamic gains from trade. This expansion in firms' product scope is driven to a large extent by international trade increasing access of firms to new input varieties rather than by simply making existing imported inputs cheaper. Hence, our findings suggest that an important consequence of the input tariff liberalization was to relax technological constraints through firms’ access to new imported inputs that were unavailable prior to the liberalization.Intermediate Inputs, Firm Scope, Multi-product Firms, Product Growth, Gains from Variety, Endogenous Growth, Trade Liberalization, India

Trade Liberalization, Poverty, and Inequality: Evidence from Indian Districts

Although it is commonly believed that trade liberalization results in higher GDP, little is known about its effects on poverty and inequality. This paper uses the sharp trade liberalization in India in 1991, spurred to a large extent by external factors, to measure the causal impact of trade liberalization on poverty and inequality in districts in India. Variation in pre-liberalization industrial composition across districts in India and the variation in the degree of liberalization across industries allow for a difference-in-difference approach, establishing whether certain areas benefited more from, or bore a disproportionate share of the burden of liberalization. In rural districts where industries more exposed to liberalization were concentrated, poverty incidence and depth decreased by less as a result of trade liberalization, a setback of about 15 percent of India's progress in poverty reduction over the 1990s. The results are robust to pre-reform trends, convergence and time-varying effects of initial district-specific characteristics. Inequality was unaffected in the sample of all Indian states in both urban and rural areas. The findings are related to the extremely limited mobility of factors across regions and industries in India. The findings, consistent with a specific factors model of trade, suggest that to minimize the social costs of inequality, additional policies may be needed to redistribute some of the gains of liberalization from winners to those who do not benefit as much.