Human Development Trends since 1970: A Social Convergence Story

This paper uses a unique data set of the Human Development Index to describe long-run human development trends for 111 countries, from 1970 to 2005. The first part of the paper shows trends by region, period and index subcomponent. We find that 110 of the 111 countries show progress in their HDI levels over a 35-year period. HDI growth is fastest for low-HDI and middle-HDI countries in the pre-1990 period. The life-expectancy and education subcomponents grow faster than income. The assessment of HDI progress is sensitive to choice of measurement. The second part of the paper focuses on the differences between income and non-income determinants of human development. First, HDI growth converges, both absolutely and conditionally, when running HDI growth rates on initial levels of HD. Second, we find that the income and non-income components of HDI change have a near-zero correlation. Third, we look at determinants of the non-income components of the HDI. We find that income is not a significant determinant of HDI change once we include urbanization, fertility and female schooling. Fourth, we test the effects of institutions, geography and gender on HDI growth. We find that the most robust predictors of HDI growth are fertility and female schooling. We check this result using years of women’s suffrage as an instrument for changes in gender relations, and find that it is a significant predictor of HDI progress for the whole sample.human development, education, health and demographic trends, cross-country comparisons, measurement and analysis of poverty

Atmospheric phenomena data processing and display

Several related efforts which deal with the analysis and display of data pertaining to various atmospheric phenomena are reported. Spectrometer data analysis, with refinements to the preexisting programs, is discussed. A discussion of a Monte Carlo simulation of a photon transfer problem is presented. Raw data gathered in the field by a high-flying U2 aircraft is usually pulse code modulated (PCM). Techniques to reduce the data into a computer-amenable format are described. Several utility programs and other work are outlined

Meditation Matters: Replies to the Anti-McMindfulness Bandwagon!

A critical reply to the anti-mindfulness critics in the collection, who oppose the popular secularized adoption of mindfulness on various grounds (it is not Buddhism, it is Buddhism, it is a tool of neo-capitalist exploitation, etc.), I argue that mindfulness is a quality of consciousness, opposite mindlessness, that may be cultivated through practice, and is almost always beneficial to those who cultivate it

A financial feasibility study of waste to energy generation in the City of Cape Town

Includes bibliographic references (leaves 116-124).The objective of this research is to examine what the city of Cape Town has undertaken regarding its municipal solid waste (MSW) and to investigate the financial feasibility of WtE as a source of energy and a key component of integrated solid waste management for the City

Exploring Travel Time Reliability Using Bluetooth Data Collection: A Case Study in San Luis Obispo, California

Bluetooth technology applications have improved travel time data collection efforts and allowed for collection of large data sets at a low cost per data unit. Mean travel times between pairs of points are available, but the primary value of this technique is the availability of the entire distribution of travel times throughout multiple days and time periods, allowing for a greater understanding of travel time variations and reliability. The use of these data for transportation planning, engineering and operations continues to expand. Previous applications of similar data sources have included travel demand and simulation model validation, work zone traffic patterns, transit ridership and reliability, pedestrian movement patterns, and before-after studies of transportation improvements. This thesis investigates the collection and analysis of Bluetooth-enabled travel time data along a multimodal arterial corridor in San Luis Obispo, California. Five BlueMAC devices collected multimodal travel time data in January and February 2016 along Los Osos Valley Road. These datasets were used to identify and process known sources of error such as occasions where vehicles using the roadway turn off and make an intermediate stop and multiple reads from the same vehicle; quantify travel time performance and reliability along arterial streets; and compare transit, bicycle, and pedestrian facility performance. Additionally, a travel time model was estimated based on segment characteristics and Bluetooth data to estimate average speeds and travel time distributions

Gendered Speaking Patterns in Supreme Court Oral Arguments from 1981-2016

This research attempts to discover whether or not the Supreme Court of the United State is subject to implicit gender biases during oral argumentation, largely through examining speaking time and the number of questions each justice is able to ask during a case\u27s oral argumentation period. While there is substantial research on gender’s impact on communication and decision-making processes, as well as gender’s impact on court decisions, most research stops before it gets to the Supreme Court of the United States. There are two main goals to this research: First, to determine whether or not women Justices are impacted by the ratio of men to women justices on the Court. Second, to determine whether or not women Supreme Court Justices speak more in cases dealing with sex-discrimination than they do in other cases. To accomplish these goals, the oral arguments of eleven different Supreme Court cases covering a variety of male-to-female justice ratios and case topics were analyzed. Each case was listened to and the number of questions asked by each justice was counted. Then, computer software was utilized to discover exactly how long each justice spent speaking. A linear regression was then performed to quantify results. Results were compared across time, gender, case topic, ideology, and years on the Court in an effort to discover any sort of relationship between gender and communication style of Supreme Court justices

The role of security breach notifications in improving cyber security

Neste artigo analisa-se como os procedimentos de Security Breach Notification (SBN) podem ser utilizados na melhoria da cibersegurança numa envolvente transfronteiriça. A ideia central assenta no pressuposto de que dados quantitativos são necessários para melhor se compreender as ameaças envolventes, ainda que se reconheça existirem fortes condicionantes que requerem a implementação de uma recolha estruturada de dados e uma análise cautelosa de tendências. É feita uma distinção entre SBN e Data Breach Notification (DBN). Ambos os conceitos serão relevantes para os futuros desenvolvimentos de uma política de cibersegurança da União Europeia, sendo a sua implementação requererá a adoção de requisitos específicos e economicamente viáveis em ambos os processos. Por fim, serão descritas questões relacionadas com a implementação de tais processos num contexto transfronteiriço e transcomunitárioinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Short Cruise Report - R/V MARIA S. MERIAN, MSM95 (GPF 19-2_05)

The main aim of the MSM95 research expedition was to investigate and map physical impacts on the arctic seafloor in two distinct and contrasting Arctic areas (The Svalbard shelf edge and the HAUSGARTEN time series stations in the FRAM strait) with a range of research equipment. A ‘nested’ data approach was conducted in each research area, with broad seafloor mapping conducted initially with the MARIA S. MERIAN onboard acoustic systems (The EM122 and EM712 bathymetric systems), followed by focused subsequent mapping conducted by PAUL 3000 automated underwater vehicle (AUV) sidescan and camera deployments, Ocean Floor Observation and Bathymetry System (OFOBS) towed sidescan and camera trawls and finally with very high resolution investigations conducted with a new mini-ROV launched directly from the OFOBS for close seafloor visual analysis. These data will be used to produce spatial distribution maps of iceberg and fishery impacts on the seafloor at three locations to the north, south and west of the Svalbard Archipelago, as well as maps of drop stone and topography variations across several of the HAUSGARTEN stations

Revisiting the Migration-Development Nexus: A Gravity Model Approach

This paper presents empirical estimates of a gravity model of bilateral migration that properly accounts for non-linearities and tackles causality issues through an instrumental variables approach. In contrast to the existing literature, which is limited to OECD data, we have estimated our model using a matrix of bilateral migration stocks for 127 countries. We find that the inverted-U relationship between income at origin and migration found by other authors survives the more demanding bilateral specification but does not survive both instrumentation and introduction of controls for the geographical and cultural proximity between country pairs. We also evaluate the effect of migration on origin and destination country income using the geographically determined component of migration as a source of exogenous variation and fail to find a significant effect of migration on origin or destination income.Gravity models, international migration, economic growth