More Than Just Food: The Diverse Effects of Food Assistance Programs

Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety, Food Security and Poverty, I18, I38, Q18,

Microwave Induced Instability Observed in BSCCO 2212 in a Static Magnetic Field

We have measured the microwave dissipation at 10 GHz through the imaginary part of the susceptibility, $\chi^"$, in a BSCCO 2212 single crystal in an external static magnetic field $H$ parallel to the c-axis at various fixed temperatures. The characteristics of $\chi^"(H)$ exhibit a sharp step at a field $H_{step}$ which strongly depends on the amplitude of the microwave excitation $h_{ac}$. The characteristics of $h_{ac}$ vs. $H_{step}$, qualitatively reveal the behavior expected for the magnetic field dependence of Josephson coupling.Comment: 4 pages, 3 Postscript figure

Joint source-channel coding for a quantum multiple access channel

Suppose that two senders each obtain one share of the output of a classical, bivariate, correlated information source. They would like to transmit the correlated source to a receiver using a quantum multiple access channel. In prior work, Cover, El Gamal, and Salehi provided a combined source-channel coding strategy for a classical multiple access channel which outperforms the simpler "separation" strategy where separate codebooks are used for the source coding and the channel coding tasks. In the present paper, we prove that a coding strategy similar to the Cover-El Gamal-Salehi strategy and a corresponding quantum simultaneous decoder allow for the reliable transmission of a source over a quantum multiple access channel, as long as a set of information inequalities involving the Holevo quantity hold.Comment: 21 pages, v2: minor changes, accepted into Journal of Physics

The Effect of Interventions to Reduce Fertility on Economic Growth

We assess quantitatively the effect of exogenous reductions in fertility on output per capita. Our simulation model allows for effects that run through schooling, the size and age structure of the population, capital accumulation, parental time input into child-rearing, and crowding of fixed natural resources. The model is parameterized using a combination of microeconomic estimates, data on demographics and natural resource income in developing countries, and standard components of quantitative macroeconomic theory. We apply the model to examine the effect of an intervention that immediately reduces TFR by 1.0, using current Nigerian vital rates as a baseline. For a base case set of parameters, we find that an immediate decline in the TFR of 1.0 will raise output per capita by approximately 13.2 percent at a horizon of 20 years, and by 25.4 percent at a horizon of 50 years.#

Citizen Watch in the Accounting Department? Tax and Financial Reporting Responses to Employee Whistleblowing Allegations

This study examines the relation between employee whistleblowing allegations and firms’ subsequent tax and financial reporting behavior. I draw on economic theory to develop expectations for and test firms’ tax and financial reporting responses to whistleblowing reports of corporate financial misconduct. I employ a difference-in-difference research design to test whether firm’s subject to employee whistleblowing allegations related to financial misconduct exhibit significantly less misreporting risk and tax avoidance in the period following the allegations relative to a control group of firms not subject to whistleblowing allegations. Using a unique sample of whistleblowing cases obtained from the U.S. government, I find that firms subsequently engage in significantly less aggressive financial reporting behavior and have significant increases in their effective tax rates following whistleblowing allegations. This study contributes to the literature by providing evidence on firms’ tax and financial reporting responses to employee whistleblowing and by highlighting the role that employees play in both tax and financial reporting oversight. In light of regulators’ recently heightened emphasis on whistleblower programs, the results of this study should be of interest to regulators, researchers, auditors, and investors

A note on engine vacuum for aspirating insects

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Hyperpredators of the pear psylla, Psylla pyricola Foerster (Homoptera: Chermidae)

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Minimax optimization of a unimodal function by variable block derivative search with time delay

AbstractA minimax search plan is developed for locating the maximum of a unimodal function with a sequence of blocks of simultaneous evaluations of the derivative of the function. The search strategy permits any number of blocks and any number of experiments in each block. Further, any time delay is permissible where the time delay is the number of blocks placed after the m-th block but before the results of the m-th block become known. The proposed variable block search plan is optimal in the sense that for a required final interval of uncertainty, known to contain the point where the function attains its maximum, and for any given value for time delay and the number of experiments in each block, it has the largest possible initial interval. A method of optimizing the number of experiments per block is given. An extension to non-linear programming algorithms is given