Modeling for Determinants of Human Trafficking

This study aims to identify robust push and pull factors of human trafficking. I test for the robustness of 78 push and 67 pull factors suggested in the literature. By employing an extreme bound analysis, running more than two million regressions with all possible combinations of variables for up to 180 countries during the period of 1995-2010, I show that crime prevalence robustly explains human trafficking prevalence both in destination and origin countries. My finding also implies that a low level of gender equality and development may have constraining effects on human trafficking outflows, contrary to expectations. The linkage between migration and human trafficking is less clear, and institutional quality matters more in origin countries than destinations.Human trafficking: push and pull factors: robustness; extreme bound analysis

Enhancing Information Language Learning with Mobile Technology - Does it Work?

There are many theories that attempt to explain second language acquisition processes and factors determining success or failure. Despite a lack of general agreement between proponents of these theories, research has convincingly shown that the amount of exposure to target language input is one important predictor of ultimate achievement levels. ‘Time on task’ is as important in language learning as it is in many other domains (cf. Reber, 1993) and it is therefore important to identify ways in which this can be increased. An obvious possibility is to encourage learners to engage with (and in) the language outside the classroom. Informal learning, in the sense of learning outside of formal education, has been shown to be a major aspect of adult learning (Cross, 2007) and, given appropriate preparation and support, learners can greatly increase opportunities for learning if they can do so independently. Mobile technologies have obvious potential in this regard. However, is it possible to improve language skills in this way? In this article we report on an exploratory study into the use of cellphones for extensive listening practice. We used input enhancement to draw learners’ attention to not only the meaning of the materials but also the formal (grammatical) aspects of the input. We found that the use of mobile technology presented a number of challenges and in this study did not result in learners acquiring the target structures. We conclude with a number of recommendations for the use and future study of mobile technologies for (language) learning

On Electrical Equivalence of Aperture-Body and Transmission-Cavity Resonance Phenomena in Subwavelength Conducting Aperture Systems from an Equivalent Circuit Point of View

For a narrow slit structure backed by a conducting strip which is taken as a representative example of an aperture-body resonance (ABR) problem, the transmission resonance condition (i.e., condition for maximum power transmission) and the transmission width (i.e., normalized maximum transmitted power through the slit) are found to be the same as those for narrow slit coupling problem in a thick conducting screen, which is designated as a transmission-cavity resonance (TCR) problem. From a viewpoint of equivalent circuit representation for the transmission resonance condition and the funneling mechanism, the ABR and the TCR problems are thought to be essentially of the same nature.Comment: 14 pages, 3 figure

Storage and Retrieval of Thermal Light in Warm Atomic Vapor

We report slowed propagation and storage and retrieval of thermal light in warm rubidium vapor using the effect of electromagnetically-induced transparency (EIT). We first demonstrate slowed-propagation of the probe thermal light beam through an EIT medium by measuring the second-order correlation function of the light field using the Hanbury-Brown$-$Twiss interferometer. We also report an experimental study on the effect of the EIT slow-light medium on the temporal coherence of thermal light. Finally, we demonstrate the storage and retrieval of thermal light beam in the EIT medium. The direct measurement of the photon number statistics of the retrieved light field shows that the photon number statistics is preserved during the storage and retrieval process.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figure