Ionization Yield from Nuclear Recoils in Liquid-Xenon Dark Matter Detection

The ionization yield in the two-phase liquid xenon dark-matter detector has been studied in keV nuclear-recoil energy region. The newly-obtained nuclear quenching as well as the recently-measured average energy required to produce an electron-ion pair are used to calculate the total electric charges produced. To estimate the fraction of the electron charges collected, the Thomas-Imel model is generalized to describing the field dependence for nuclear recoils in liquid xenon. With free parameters fitted to experiment measured 56.5 keV nuclear recoils, the energy dependence of ionization yield for nuclear recoils is predicted, which increases with the decreasing of the recoiling energy and reaches the maximum value at 2~3 keV. This prediction agrees well with existing data and may help to lower the energy detection threshold for nuclear recoils to ~1 keV.Comment: 13 pages, 5 figure

Measuring the P-odd Pion-Nucleon Coupling h_{\pi NN}^{(1)} in \pi^+ Photoproton Production Near the Threshold

We show that polarized gamma p -> \pi^+ n in the threshold region is an excellent candidate for measuring the leading parity-violating pion-nucleon coupling h_{\pi NN}^{(1)} to an uncertainty of 20% if it has a natural size from dimensional analysis. The conclusion is based on a large unpolarized cross section, a new low-energy theorem for the photon polarization asymmetry at the threshold A_\gamma|_{th} = \sqrt{2} f_\pi (\mu_p-\mu_n) h_{\pi NN}^{(1)}/g_A m_N \sim h_{\pi NN}^{(1)}/2, and its strong dominance at forward and backward angles in the threshold region.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figures. More data points in fig. 1 and note added in proof adde

Estimating British workers\u27 demand for safety

This paper estimates workers\u27 demand function for job safety using the 1973 British General Household Survey data. The estimation employs Rosen\u27s two-stage procedure. The main difference between our study and those done in the past is that we estimate hedonic price equations with data sets from two separate markets. Our approach overcomes the usual identification problems associated with the application of Rosen\u27s method. The estimation shows that there is a significant wage compensation for job risk in the UK. The willingness-to-pay for a 1/100,000 increase of annual job fatal accident rate from our estimated workers\u27 demand function is about £6 in 1973 price. The estimation of demand function for safety also enables us to derive workers\u27 willingness-to-pay for non-marginal change of job risk, and therefore can be used for cost-benefit analysis on projects involving such non-marginal changes

Job Satisfaction and the Labor Market Institutions in Urban China

The determinants of worker job satisfaction are estimated using a representative survey of three major cities in China. Legally segregated migrants, floaters, earn significantly less than otherwise equivalent non-migrants but routinely report greater job satisfaction, a finding not previously reported. We confirm a positive role for membership in the communist party but find that it exists only for non-migrants suggesting a club good aspect to membership. In contrast to earlier studies, many controls mirror those found in western democracies including the "paradox of the contented female worker."job satisfaction, internal migrants, party membership, China

Piece rate payment schemes and the employment of women : the case of Hong Kong

Past studies unanimously confirm that establishments with high shares of women workers are much more likely to adopt piece rate schemes. This result follows the presumption that women are poorly motivated by deferred compensation because of their shorter expected tenure. An original survey of establishments provides the first test of the determinants of piece rates in Hong Kong. Unique survey questions identify the presence of deferred compensation for which the share of women was presumably a proxy. Despite these controls and their significance, the share of women fully retains its role. We suggest an alternatives to the received theory behind the association between women and piece rates