Flexible equality: Men and women in employment in Japan

Changes in the structure and regulation of employment in Japan differentially impact men and women. The labor force participation of Japanese women is increasing, but women's employment is concentrated in relatively deregulated and flexible forms of non-standard and precarious employment. Women and men have relatively equal levels of unemployment at present, but the flexibility which characterizes part-time and temporary work lands women into the ranks of the unemployed throughout their life course, while men are more likely to experience unemployment at the entry and exit points to the labor market. Unemployment measures are directed mainly at alleviating the sources of male unemployment. Employment deregulation in Japan embodies varying degrees of re-regulation depending on the gender composition of work types. Part-time work is undertaken primarily by women, and remains relatively deregulated and unprotected. Temporary work regulations vary according to whether the occupations are typically performed by women (deregulated temporary work) or men (tightly regulated temporary work). Working hours have been deregulated for both men and women, but coupled with the deregulation of temporary work in female-dominated occupations, the change poses a greater disadvantage for women. The recent reform of the Equal Employment Opportunity Law in Japan, while responding in part to social demands for strengthening the regulation of equality, remains unenforceable. The analysis concludes that rather than more equality in employment, recent Japanese developments point to the institutional embedding of a gender segmented labor market, with men continuing in relatively protected and regulated standard employment and women relegated to flexible and deregulated employment. --employment,flexibility,regulation,labor,gender,Japan

Elections and Political Risk: New Evidence from Political Prediction Markets in Taiwan

We examine the effects of party platforms on the economic opportunities of firms using a unique data set from a political prediction market in Taiwan, a country with two dominant parties whose political cleavage derives mainly from a single issue: the “One China Principle”. We find that during the 2008 Presidential campaign, the share price of Taiwanese firms with investments in the mainland responded strongly and positively to a positive electoral outlook for the KMT, the party which advocates lifting caps on cross-strait investment in mainland China. The response is strongest for those firms who have already hit their caps.Partisan Effects, Taiwan

MNP: R Package for Fitting the Multinomial Probit Model

MNP is a publicly available R package that fits the Bayesian multinomial probit model via Markov chain Monte Carlo. The multinomial probit model is often used to analyze the discrete choices made by individuals recorded in survey data. Examples where the multinomial probit model may be useful include the analysis of product choice by consumers in market research and the analysis of candidate or party choice by voters in electoral studies. The MNP software can also fit the model with different choice sets for each individual, and complete or partial individual choice orderings of the available alternatives from the choice set. The estimation is based on the efficient marginal data augmentation algorithm that is developed by Imai and van Dyk (2005).

(63)Cu NQR Evidence for Spatial Variation of Hole Concentration in La(2-x)Sr(x)CuO(4)

We report experimental evidence for the spatial variation of hole concentration x_(hole) in the high Tc superconductor La(2-x)Sr(x)CuO(4) (0.04 <= x <= 0.16) by using (63)Cu NQR for (63)Cu isotope enriched samples. We demonstrate that the extent of the spatial variation of the local hole concentration D(x)_(hole) is reflected on (63)1/T1 and deduce the temperature dependence. D(x)_(hole) increases below 500 - 600K, and reaches values as large as D(x)_(hole)/x ~ 0.5 below ~ 150K. We estimate the length scale of the spatial variation in x_(hole) to be R_(hole) >~ 3nm from analysis of the NQR spectrum.Comment: Accepted for publication in Physical Review Letter

77Se NMR Investigation of the K(x)Fe(2-y)Se(2) High Tc Superconductor (Tc=33K)

We report a comprehensive 77Se NMR study of the structural, magnetic, and superconducting properties of a single crystalline sample of the newly discovered FeSe-based high temperature superconductor K(x)Fe(2-y)Se(2) (Tc=33K) in a broad temperature range up to 290 K. We will compare our results with those reported for FeSe (Tc=9K) and FeAs-based high Tc systems.Comment: Final versio

NMR Characterization of Sulphur Substitution Effects in the K(x)Fe(2-y)Se(2-z)S(z) high Tc Superconductor

We present an NMR study of the effect of S substitution in the high Tc superconductor K(x)Fe(2-y)Se(2-z)S(z) in a temperature range up to 250 K. We present NMR Knight shift and nuclear spin-lattice relaxation rate 1/T1 data, and compare our results to that of the non-substituted system K(x)Fe(2-y)Se(2).Comment: Typos fixed, figure replace

No-Cloning Theorem on Quantum Logics

This paper discusses the no-cloning theorem in a logico-algebraic approach. In this approach, an orthoalgebra is considered as a general structure for propositions in a physical theory. We proved that an orthoalgebra admits cloning operation if and only if it is a Boolean algebra. That is, only classical theory admits the cloning of states. If unsharp propositions are to be included in the theory, then a notion of effect algebra is considered. We proved that an atomic Archimedean effect algebra admitting cloning operation is a Boolean algebra. This paper also presents a partial result indicating a relation between cloning on effect algebras and hidden variables.Comment: To appear in J. Math. Phy

Superconductivity in Pseudo-Binary Silicide SrNixSi2-x with AlB2-Type Structure

We demonstrate the emergence of superconductivity in pseudo-binary silicide SrNixSi2-x. The compound exhibits a structural phase transition from the cubic SrSi2-type structure (P4132) to the hexagonal AlB2-type structure (P6/mmm) upon substituting Ni for Si at approximately x = 0.1. The hexagonal structure is stabilized in the range of 0.1 < x < 0.7. The superconducting phase appears in the vicinity of the structural phase boundary. Ni acts as a nonmagnetic dopant, as confirmed by the Pauli paramagnetic behavior.Comment: 12 pages, 5 figure