4,243 research outputs found
Encounter, dialogue, and knowledge: Italy as a special case of religious engagement in foreign policy
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Foreign policy and religious engagement: the special case of Italy
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Inclusive production of a Higgs or Z boson in association with heavy quarks
We calculate the cross section for the production of a Z boson in association
with heavy quarks. We suggest that this cross section can be measured using an
inclusive heavy-quark tagging technique. This could be used as a feasibility
study for the search for a Higgs boson produced in association with bottom
quarks. We argue that the best formalism for calculating that cross section is
based on the leading-order process b b -> h, and that it is valid for all Higgs
masses of interest at both the Fermilab Tevatron and the CERN Large Hadron
Collider.Comment: 14 page
Choosing the Factorization Scale in Perturbative QCD
We define the collinear factorization scheme, which absorbs only the
collinear physics into the parton distribution functions. In order to isolate
the collinear physics, we introduce a procedure to combine real and virtual
corrections, canceling infrared singularities prior to integration. In the
collinear scheme, the factorization scale has a simple physical
interpretation as a collinear cutoff. We present a method for choosing the
factorization scale and apply it to the Drell-Yan process; we find , where is the vector-boson invariant mass. We show that, for a wide
variety of collision energies and , the radiative corrections are small in
the collinear scheme for this choice of factorization scale.Comment: 25 pages, 18 figure
The early B-type star Rho Oph A is an X-ray lighthouse
We present the results of a 140 ks XMM-Newton observation of the B2 star
Ophiuchi A. The star has exhibited strong X-ray variability: a
cusp-shaped increase of rate, similar to that which we partially observed in
2013, and a bright flare. These events are separated in time by about 104 ks,
which likely corresponds to the rotational period of the star (1.2 days). Time
resolved spectroscopy of the X-ray spectra shows that the first event is caused
by an increase of the plasma emission measure, while the second increase of
rate is a major flare with temperatures in excess of 60 MK ( keV).
From the analysis of its rise, we infer a magnetic field of G and a
size of the flaring region of cm, which corresponds
to of the stellar radius. We speculate that either an intrinsic
magnetism that produces a hot spot on its surface or an unknown low mass
companion are the source of such X-rays and variability. A hot spot of magnetic
origin should be a stable structure over a time span of 2.5 years, and
suggests an overall large scale dipolar magnetic field that produces an
extended feature on the stellar surface. In the second scenario, a low mass
unknown companion is the emitter of X-rays and it should orbit extremely close
to the surface of the primary in a locked spin-orbit configuration, almost on
the verge of collapsing onto the primary. As such, the X-ray activity of the
secondary star would be enhanced by its young age, and the tight orbit as in RS
Cvn systems and Ophiuchi would constitute an extreme system that is
worthy of further investigation.Comment: 10 pages, 7 figures, 2 tables, A&A accepted, this is the version
after the language editor correction
CROP INSURANCE VALUATION UNDER ALTERNATIVE YIELD DISTRIBUTIONS
Considerable disagreement exists about the most appropriate characterization of farm-level yield distributions. Yet, the economic importance of alternate yield distribution specifications on insurance valuation, product designs and farm-level risk management has not been investigated or documented. The results of this study demonstrate that large differences in expected payments from popular crop insurance products can arise solely from the parameterization chosen to represent yields. The results suggest that the frequently unexamined yield distribution specification may lead to incorrect conclusions in important areas of insurance and risk management research such as policy rating, and assessment of expected payments from policies.Risk and Uncertainty,
ESTIMATING FARM-LEVEL YIELD DISTRIBUTIONS FOR CORN AND SOYBEANS IN ILLINOIS
Many yield modeling approaches have been developed in attempts to provide accurate characterizations of farm-level yield distributions due to the importance of yield uncertainty in crop insurance design and rating, and for managing farm-level risk. Competing existing models of crop yields accommodate varying skewness, kurtosis, and other departures from normality including features such as multiple modes. Recently, the received view of crop yield modeling has been challenged by Just and Weninger who indicate that there is insufficient evidence to reject normality given data limitations and potential methodological shortcomings in controlling for deterministic components (trend) in yields. They point out that past empirical efforts to estimate and validate specific-farm distributional characterizations have been severely hampered by data limitations. As a result, they argue in favor of normality as an appropriate parameterization of crop yields. This paper investigates alternate representations of farm-level crop yield distributions using a unique data set from the University of Illinois Endowment farms, containing same-site yield observations for a relatively long period of time, and under conditions that closely mirror actual farm conditions in Illinois. Results from alternate econometric model specifications controlling for trend effects suggest that a linear trend provides an adequate representation of crop yields at the farm level during the period covered by the estimations. Specification tests based on a linear-trend model suggest significant heteroskedasticity is present in only a few farms, and that the residuals are white noise. With these data, Jarque-Bera normality test results indicate that normality of detrended yield residuals is rejected by a far greater number of fields than would be explained due to randomness. Thus, to further clarify the issue of yield distribution characterizations, more complete goodness-of-fit measures are compared across a larger set of candidate distributions. The results indicate that the Weibull distribution consistently ranks better than the normal distribution both in fields where normality is rejected and in fields where normality is not rejected. The results highlight the fact that failing to reject normality is not the same as identifying normality as a "best" parameterization, and provide guidance for progressing toward better representations of farm-level crop yields.Productivity Analysis, Research Methods/ Statistical Methods, Teaching/Communication/Extension/Profession,
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