Are Welfare Eligible Households Forward Looking?

A consensus has formed in the welfare reform literature suggesting that welfare eligible households (WEH) “bank†benefits in the presence of time limits, either by delaying enrollment in welfare or exiting well before the time limit is reached. In this study, we use the standard labor-leisure lifetime utility to analyze the behavioral effects of imposing time limits on welfare use. Our approach is different from our predecessors (which model welfare participation) in that we model delayed enrollment in and early exit from welfare. Our results suggest that prior to time limits, WEH enroll in welfare as soon as eligibility is established and remain on assistance programs until their youngest children reach adulthood. Moreover, time limits do not alter this behavior in WEH with older children. As such, being “forward looking†in an era of time limits is not a sufficient condition for banking welfare benefits.

Composition and diversity of spring-active carabid beetle assemblages in relation to soil management in organic wheat fields in Denmark

Patterns in spring-active carabid assemblages were described in relation to four organic soil management regimes (no soil nutrient addition, undersowing, animal manure, undersowing + manure) in two areas of Denmark. On the island of Zealand, the Flakkebjerg study area had 22 species, 3-10 species/trap, and the species rank of these was the same for all treatments. The dominant species were Pterostichus melanarius, Agonum dorsale, Harpalus rufipes and Calathus fuscipes. At Foulum, Jutland, there were 46 species, 12-15 species/ trap, dominated by P. versicolor, P. melanarius, A. dorsale and Nebria brevicollis. Their rank, however, was not the same for all treatments. There were remarkable differences in the carabid assemblages of the two sites, and manure addition modified the assemblages, more pronouncedly so in the poorer-soil Flakkebjerg site. However, we did not detect clear effects of the studied treatments on carabid species richness, overall abundance or Pterostichus melanarius alone

Accounting for peak shifting in traditional cost-benefit analysis

When cost-benefit analysis fails to account for peak-shifting the benefits of road improvement options are miscalculated. Using theory from transportation economics, we derive a simple model that disaggregates the average daily equilibrium into peak, counter-peak, and off-peak equilibria. This paper demonstrates how accounting for peak-shifting improves the performance of cost-benefit analysis.Transportation Demand, Transportation Supply, Congestion, Cost/Benefit Analysis, Planning Policy

One Hub-One Process: A Tool Based View on Regulatory Network Topology

The relationship between the regulatory design and the functionality of molecular networks is a key issue in biology. Modules and motifs have been associated to various cellular processes, thereby providing anecdotal evidence for performance based localization on molecular networks. To quantify structure-function relationship we investigate similarities of proteins which are close in the regulatory network of the yeast Saccharomyces Cerevisiae. We find that the topology of the regulatory network show weak remnants of its history of network reorganizations, but strong features of co-regulated proteins associated to similar tasks. This suggests that local topological features of regulatory networks, including broad degree distributions, emerge as an implicit result of matching a number of needed processes to a finite toolbox of proteins.Comment: 18 pages, 3 figures, 5 supplementary figure

Day-night differences in Cunene horse mackerel (Trachurus trecae) acoustic relative densities off Angola

The assessment and the management of the Cunene horse mackerel in Angola rely heavily on abundance estimates from hydroacoustic surveys. Acoustic data collected from 1994 to 1999 were analysed to quantify diurnal variation in relative acoustic densities at 38 kHz. The nautical-area scattering coefficient (s(A), m(2) nautical mile(-2)) was characterized by clear day night differences: s(A) values recorded during the day were significantly higher (mean s(A): 135 m(2) nautical mile(-2)) than the corresponding night-time values (mean s(A) 83 m(2) nautical mile(-2)). This pattern is associated with differences in behaviour and horizontal and vertical distributions between day and night: by day, the fish school near the seabed, and by night, they move into the pelagic zone and disperse into widespread scattering layers. More than 40% of the total backscatter by day originated from the bottom 10 m, but at night this proportion decreased to <10%. The findings demonstrate considerable influences of behaviour and aggregation dynamics on acoustic measurements. Possible implications for the estimates of acoustic abundance are discussed in the light of the differences.Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation (NORAD); Dr Fridtjof Nansen programme; Gulbenkian Foundationinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Toward an Energy Efficient Language and Compiler for (Partially) Reversible Algorithms

We introduce a new programming language for expressing reversibility, Energy-Efficient Language (Eel), geared toward algorithm design and implementation. Eel is the first language to take advantage of a partially reversible computation model, where programs can be composed of both reversible and irreversible operations. In this model, irreversible operations cost energy for every bit of information created or destroyed. To handle programs of varying degrees of reversibility, Eel supports a log stack to automatically trade energy costs for space costs, and introduces many powerful control logic operators including protected conditional, general conditional, protected loops, and general loops. In this paper, we present the design and compiler for the three language levels of Eel along with an interpreter to simulate and annotate incurred energy costs of a program.Comment: 17 pages, 0 additional figures, pre-print to be published in The 8th Conference on Reversible Computing (RC2016

The Portrayal of Minorities and Multiculturalism in EFL Textbooks for Upper Secondary School

Læreplanverket for Kunnskapsløftet (LK06) fremhever viktigheten av både interkulturell forståelse og kommunikasjon, og evnen til å skape og lese sammensatte (multimodale) tekster. Studien fant at det tidligere hadde blitt gjort lite forskning rundt fremstillingen av disse to temaene i kombinasjon i lærebøker for internasjonal engelsk. Hensikten med studien var å se på hvordan tre lærebøker for internasjonal engelsk fremstiller multikultur og minoritetskulturer i Storbritannia og USA gjennom både tekst og bilder. Studien har sett på maktforhold mellom forfatter og bilde, og leseren. Studien har også sett på maktforholdet mellom personene som er avbildet på bildet og personen som tolker bildet. I tillegg har studien gått inn på hvilke deler av minoritetskulturen som var inkludert i tekst og bilder. For å gjøre dette har studien benyttet et mixed-methods design hvor både kvalitativ og kvantitativ metode har blitt tatt i bruk. Studiens funn fant visse forskjeller mellom de tre lærebøkene. Disse forskjellene dreide seg om hvor mye multimodalitet det var i de relevante kapitlene i lærebøkene, og i hvor mye representasjon av minoriteter i USA og Storbritannia det var på bildene i de relevante kapitlene. Studiens funn antyder at tekstene har et fokus på problemene og uenighetene som kan oppstå i et flerkulturelt samfunn. I tillegg inkluderte tekstene i liten grad fremstillinger av individuelle minoritetskulturer, med unntak av et par tekster. Bildene inkluderte flere elementer som tilhører individuelle minoritetskulturer. Disse elementene dreide seg først og fremst om klær og festivaler, men noen bilder kunne også tolkes i den forstand at de sa noe om individenes verdier. Bildene hadde også delvis et fokus på problemene og konfliktene rundt multikulturalisme som eksisterer i USA og Storbritannia, men flere bilder viste også medlemmer av majoritets- og minoritetskulturer som sameksisterte fredelig. Studien argumenterer for at en utvikling av elevenes interkulturelle kompetanse og ferdigheter når det kommer til å lese sammensatte tekster er svært viktig. Studien gir derfor noen didaktiske forslag til hvordan man kan bidra til utviklingen av disse ferdighetene og kunnskapene.Engelsk mastergradsoppgaveENG350MAHF-LÆFRMAHF-EN

Against institutional conservatism

In this article, I argue against institutional conservatism, and the reluctance to include radical changes to important institutions within normative principles for fear of losing practical significance. In making this argument, I will focus on the debate on global justice, in which the issue is especially clear due to the greater potential effects of radical institutional changes. My main target, then, is theorists who are institutionally conservative regarding the institutional system of nation states. Although, these theorists are institutionally conservative for (somewhat) different reasons, they all face significant and potentially debilitating problems in guiding action towards the fulfillment of their own moral commitments. Here, I focus on institutionally conservative arguments for (only) a low level of global redistribution. The problem arises because the continued existence of the current system of nation states and the lack of international institutions with significant coercive powers present a significant obstacle to realizing their principled commitment to alleviating the basic needs of foreigners. As I will phrase it here, institutionally conservative theorists end up in a dilemma, the escape from which involves significantly weakening either their institutional conservatism or their normative commitments