High-Entropy Polar Regions Around the First Protostars

We report on simulations of the formation of the first stars in the Universe, where we identify regions of hot atomic gas (fH2 < 10-6) at densities above 10-14 g/cc, heated to temperatures ranging between 3000 and 8000 K. Within this temperature range atomic hydrogen is unable to cool effectively. We describe the kinetic and thermal characteristics of these regions and investigate their origin. We find that these regions, while small in total mass fraction of the cloud, may be dynamically important over the accretion timescale for the central clump in the cloud, particularly as a chemical, rather than radiative, mechanism for clearing the polar regions of the accretion disk of material and terminating accretion along these directions. These inherently three-dimensional effects stress the need for multi-dimensional calculations of protostellar accretion for reliable predictions of the masses of the very first stars.Comment: 12 pages, 2 figures; accepted for publication in The Astrophysical Journal Letter

“It’s Been a Hard Day’s Night” for Songwriters: Why the ASCAP and BMI Consent Decrees Must Undergo Reform

In order to guarantee reasonable fees for songwriters, composers, and publishers, the consent decrees must undergo critical reform to account for how music is licensed in new media. Part I of this Note will provide background on the mechanics of music licensing, both traditional and through modern mediums, in order to explain why the two largest PROs initially entered into governmental consent decrees. Part II will discuss recent judicial determinations of “reasonable” licensing rates for public performances in new media and demonstrate the discrepancy in compensation between songwriters and their sound recording counterparts, namely record companies and recording artists. Finally, Part III will argue that the solution to this problem is through consent decree reform. The decrees should be modified to allow songwriters to withdraw their digital rights in order to separately license songs in new media. A new PRO should then emerge in the market place to account solely for public performance rights in new media, leaving traditional licensing to the existing PROs. Additionally, the current judicial process for setting rates, known as the “rate court” system, should be replaced with expedited, binding arbitration. Making these important changes to the music-licensing system will work towards bridging the gap in compensation inequality between songwriters and recording artists

Linking participatory poverty assessments to policy and policymaking - experience from Vietnam

The year 1999 was important for poverty-related research, and policy development in Vietnam. The General Statistics Office had collected household data in the second Vietnam Living Standards Survey in 1998, and made it available for analysis in 1999. And four participatory poverty assessments (PPAs) were implemented during 1999. The author's case study describes how government agencies, donors, and nongovernmental organizations collaborated in implementing the PPAs. The considerable amount of qualitative information about poverty produced in Vietnam over the past eight to ten years has rarely grabbed the attention of policymakers, who tend to view such information as"unscientific"and lacking in credibility. By contrast, the PPAs implemented in 1999 have been widely circulated, used, and quoted. What was different about those PPAs that led their findings to be brought into local, and national policy debates, as previous findings had not been? Working partnerships among donors, and nongovernmental organizations were important, and helped build consensus on the research findings, but more crucial was the active engagement of government partners from the very early stages. Establishing a Poverty Working Group provided a structure for implementing the PPAs, for feeding analysis through to the poverty assessment, and for keeping government fully involved. The Poverty Working Group now supports the government in drafting its poverty reduction strategy. Strong World Bank leadership, financial support from the U.K. Department for International Development, the technical expertise, and commitment of the PPA partners agencies, and the availability of recent high-quality household survey data, played an important part in ensuring the PPAs'credibility.Poverty Assessment,Poverty Monitoring&Analysis,Health Monitoring&Evaluation,ICT Policy and Strategies,Poverty Reduction Strategies

Prediction of subsidence due to underground mining by artificial neural networks

Alternatively to empirical prediction methods, methods based on influential functions and on mechanical model, artificial neural networks (ANNs) can be used for the surface subsidence prediction. In our case, the multi-layer feed-forward neural network was used. The training and testing of neural network is based on the available data. Input variables represent extraction parameters and coordinates of the points of interest, while the output variable represents surface subsidence data. After the neural network has been successfully trained, its performance is tested on a separate testing set. Finally, the surface subsidence trough above the projected excavation is predicted by the trained neural network. The applicability of ANN for the prediction of surface subsidence was verified in different subsidence models and proved on actual excavated levels and in levelled data on surface profile points in the Velenje Coal Mine. (C) 2003 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved

Land subdivision: A case study in metropolýtan area of Istanbul

The application of detailed urban plans is only possible by realizing subdivision in urban areas. Minor subdivisions, land readjustment projects and expropriations in Turkey are primary methods in realizing subdivision of urban areas. Municipalities are responsible for the application of detailed urban plans. In metropolitan areas this power is given to sub-municipalities. The purpose of this paper is to determine whether or not to be difference in realizing of subdivision according to detailed urban plans between urban areas in Istanbul Metropolitan Area. The other purpose of this paper is to constitute a model concerning realizing of subdivision according to detailed urban planning for urban areas in different population groups in Istanbul Metropolitan Area and then to compare each these city groups. For this research a sample survey method were used were questionnaires were sent to Municipalities of urban areas in different population groups in Istanbul Metropolitan Area. In addition, the realizing of subdivision ýndex (RSI) are used as a dependent variable and population, population growth rate, global density in urban areas according to detailed plans, municipal budgets, socio-economic index, the average of land values of cities. Multiple Regression Model is used for each city groups.

The use of artificial neural networks in adiabatic curves modeling

Adiabatic hydration curves are the most suitable data for temperature calculations in concrete hardening structures. However, it is very difficult to predict the adiabatic hydration curve of an arbitrary concrete mixture. The idea of modeling adiabatic temperature rise during concrete hydration with the use of artificial neural networks was introduced in order to describe the adiabatic hydration of an arbitrary concrete mixture, depending on factors which influence the hydration process of cement in concrete. The influence of these factors was determined by our own experiments. A comparison between experimentally determined adiabatic curves and adiabatic curves, evaluated by proposed numerical model shows that artificial neural networks can be used to predict adiabatic hydration curves effectively. This model can be easily incorporated in the computer programs for prediction of the thermal fields in young concrete structures, implemented in the finite element or finite difference codes. New adiabatic hydration curves with some other initial parameters of the concrete mixture can be easily included in this model in order to expand the range of suitability of artificial neural networks to predict the adiabatic hydration curves. (C) 2008 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved

Refining policy with the poor: local consultations on the draft comprehensive poverty reduction and growth strategy in Vietnam

In March 2001, the Government of Vietnam produced an Interim Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper (I-PRSP), and announced its intention to develop a Comprehensive Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper (CPRGS) by the end of April 2002. In the I-PRSP, the Government outlined its commitment to involve a broad range of stakeholders - including poor communities, local government authorities, and the enterprise sector - in drafting the CPRGS. The Ministry of Planning and Investment, who was assigned by the Government of Vietnam to lead the CPRGS drafting process, asked the World Bank, and a group of international nongovernmental organizations to support them in carrying out the local consultations. The consultations took place in six rural, and urban locations across Vietnam, selected to represent a range of poverty situations. About 1,800 people participated in the research. This report, which is the first of three volumes documenting the local consultations, provides an account and reflection on the approach, and methodology used in the consultations. It is intended this may give useful practical experience for future monitoring of the CPRGS, as well as for people who are planning to carry out similar exercises in other countries. The report outlines the process that was followed from the point of developing a research outline from the I-PRSP, through the fieldwork exercises, data compilation, and analysis, leading on to identification of the main policy messages made by the participants. It also describes how the findings were used to influence the final version of the CPRGS.Poverty Monitoring&Analysis,Public Health Promotion,ICT Policy and Strategies,Health Monitoring&Evaluation,Poverty Reduction Strategies,Poverty Assessment,Health Monitoring&Evaluation,Poverty Monitoring&Analysis,Achieving Shared Growth,Urban Partnerships&Poverty

A Duration-Dependent Regime Switching Model for an Open Emerging Economy

We employ duration-dependent Markov-switching vector auto-regression (DDMSVAR) methodology to construct an economic cycle model for an emerging economy. By modifying the software codes for DDMSVAR methodology written by Pelagatti (2003), we show how to estimate the economic cycles in an emerging economy where macroeconomic shocks are suddenly observed and their levels are deep. The monthly values of net international reserves, domestic debt, inflation and industrial production in the Turkish economy from January 1989 to July 2007 are used for constructing the empirical analysis. Empirical evidence shows that DDMSVAR model can be successfully used in an emerging economy to estimate the cycles using basic macroeconomic indicators.duration dependent regime switching model, economic cycles, Markov models, Turkish economy

Child labor in transition in Vietnam

Vietnam experienced a dramatic decline in child labor during the 1990s. The authors explore this decline in detail and document the heterogeneity across households in both levels of child labor and in the incidence of this decline in child labor. Theauthors find a strong correlation between living standards improvements and child labor so that much of the variation in declines in child labor can be explained by variation in living standards improvements. Ethnic minority children and the children of recent migrants appear to remain particularly vulnerable even by the late 1990s. Children of all ethnicities in the Central Highlands appear to have missed many of the improvements in the 1990s, while children in the rural Mekong and in Provincial Towns have experienced the largest declines in child labor. The results suggest embedding efforts against child labor within an overall antipoverty program. The authors find that the opening or closing of household enterprises seems to be associated with increases in child labor. So attention should be devoted to the activities of children in the government's current program to stimulate nonfarm enterprises.Public Health Promotion,Children and Youth,Work&Working Conditions,Primary Education,Health Monitoring&Evaluation,Primary Education,Work&Working Conditions,Youth and Governance,Street Children,Children and Youth