The Political Economy of Heterogeneous Development: Quartile Effects of Income and Education

Does development lead to the establishment of more democratic institutions? Over the past 50 years, the countries have illustratred two very distinct stages of political development—authoritarian states with low levels of freedom on one side and democracies with liberal institutions on the other. We develop a new empirical strategy that allows for the first time to estimate the effects of development as well as changing unobserved country effects in driving democracy at these different stages of political development. We find income and education have the least effect on democracy when authoritarian regimes are consolidated and only changing country effects can lead to political development. Ironically, it is in highly democratic and wealthy nations that income and education start to play a role; however greater wealth and better educated citizenry can both help and hurt democracy depending again on what the country’s institutional legacies are. Far from accepting the notion that much of the developing world is cursed by unchanging and poor long-run institutions, policy-makers should take note that with democratization we also see changing country-specific factors that in turn condition the difference income and education can make for democracy.democracy, economic development, quantile regression

Studies in the Terpenoid Field

This thesis is divided into three sections. Section one concerns an investigation of the liverwort Gymnomitrion obtusum (Lindb) Pears (Hepaticae) which proved to he a rich source of sesquiterpenoids with a novel (5, 3, 1) undecane carton skeleton. Eight new sesquiterpenoids were isolated including the alcohol gymnomitrol, which is the major constituent. The chemical and spectroscopic properties of gymnomitrol and its congeners, which led to the structural elucidation, are described, together with some interesting reactions and more detailed discussions of the mass spectra and lanthanide ion induced shifts in the nuclear magnetic resonance spectra. The absolute configuration of gymnomitrol has been determined by circular dichroism and a plausible biogenesis proposed. The initial stages of a potential synthetic route to this new skeletal type are reported. The discussion of the chemistry of gymnomitrol is prefaced by a brief review of the literature of the Hepaticae. In an extension of the previously reported work on the constituents Elythroxylon monogynun Roxb., which is discussed briefly in the introduction, section two describes the isolation and structural elucidation of seven new diterpenoids from the rootwood of Erythroxylon australe. The structures of these new stachene - and erythroxydiol X - related diterpenoids were assigned on the basis of chemical and spectroscopic evidence and interrelation with known compounds. It is of interest that all the new compounds have an oxygen substituent at C-1. In addition six known diterpenoids were also isolated. In section three the chemistry of some highly complex tetranor-triterpenoids is reviewed. The light petroleum extract of the wood of Trichilia prieuriana (Meliaceae) gave a crystalline substance named prieurianin, which appears to be a member of this group. Despite a considerable amount of data on prieuriariin, including p. m. r. and 13C. m. r. . its structure has still not been established. A suitable derivative for X-ray crystal structure analysis has been prepared and is being examined

White paper – On the use of LiDAR data at AmeriFlux sites

Our aim is to inform the AmeriFlux community on existing and upcoming LiDAR technologies (atmospheric Doppler or Raman LiDAR often deployed at flux sites are not considered here), how it is currently used at flux sites, and how we believe it could, in the future, further contribute to the AmeriFlux vision. Heterogeneity in vegetation and ground properties at various spatial scales is omnipresent at flux sites, and 3D mapping of canopy, understory, and ground surface can help move the science forward

Pulsar Polar Cap Heating and Surface Thermal X-Ray Emission I. Curvature Radiation Pair Fronts

We investigate the effect of pulsar polar cap (PC) heating produced by positrons returning from the upper pair formation front. Our calculations are based on a self-consistent treatment of the pair dynamics and the effect of electric field screening by the returning positrons. We calculate the resultant X-ray luminosities, and discuss the dependence of the PC heating efficiencies on pulsar parameters, such as characteristic spin-down age, spin period, and surface magnetic field strength. In this study we concentrate on the regime where the pairs are produced in a magnetic field by curvature photons emitted by accelerating electrons. Our theoretical results are not in conflict with the available observational X-ray data and suggest that the effect of PC heating should significantly contribute to the thermal X-ray fluxes from middle-aged and old pulsars. The implications for current and future X-ray observations of pulsars are briefly outlined.Comment: 28 pages, 7 figures, accepted for publication in Ap

A Study into the Adoption of, and Enthusiasm for Agile Development Methodologies Within Further Education

This paper describes a survey of UK Further Education professionals in order to determine the uptake and use of Agile Methodologies. Thirty individuals, including directors, managers and developers, completed the survey. The results indicate a low level (\u3c25%) of Agile adoption within the sector, and this mirrors findings in the wider public sector, despite there being a backdrop of reduced funding and government pressure towards carrying out Agile projects. Interestingly, where institutions have adopted Agile the level of impact measured shows little improvement over traditional processes. Despite the FE sector being a place where change and teamwork would find a natural home, the enthusiasm for Agile systems was also low in the respondents to this survey and given that these individuals were recruited from a mailing list for those interested in Agile, these results are particularly interesting