The effect of school quality on educational attainment and wages

The paper examines the effects of school pupil-teacher ratios and type of school on educational attainment and wages using the British National Child Development survey (NCDS). The NCDS is a panel survey which has followed a cohort of individuals born in March 1958, and has a rich set of background variables recorded throughout the individual's life. The results suggest that, once we control for ability and family background, the pupil-teacher ratio has no impact on educational qualifications or on male wages. It has an impact on women’s wages at the age of 33, particularly those of low ability. We also find evidence that those who attend selective schools have better educational outcomes and, in the case of men, higher wages at the age of 33. The impact is higher for the type of individuals who are less likely not to attend selective schools, but for whom a comparison group does exist among those attending

3D Effects Of The Entropic Force

This work analyzes the classical statistical mechanics associated to phase-space curves in three dimensions. Special attention is paid to the entropic force. Strange effects like confinement, hard core, and asymptotic freedom are uncovered. Negative specific heats, that were previously seen to emerge in a one-dimensional setting, disappear in 3D, and with them, gravitational effects of the entropic force.Comment: arXiv admin note: substantial text overlap with arXiv:1306.203

Physical peculiarities of divergences emerging in q-deformed statistics

It was found in [Europhysics Letters {\bf 104}, (2013), 60003] that classical Tsallis theory exhibits poles in the partition function ${\cal Z}$ and the mean energy $$. These occur at a countably set of the q-line. We give here, via a simple procedure, a mathematical account of them. Further, by focusing attention upon the pole-physics, we encounter interesting effects. In particular, for the specific heat, we uncover hidden gravitational effects.Comment: 21 pages, 3 figures. Title has changed. Text has change

VGF changes during the estrous cycle: a novel endocrine role for TLQP peptides?

Although the VGF derived peptide TLQP-21 stimulates gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH) and gonadotropin secretion, available data on VGF peptides and reproduction are limited. We used antibodies specific for the two ends of the VGF precursor, and for two VGF derived peptides namely TLQP and PGH, to be used in immunohistochemistry and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay complemented with gel chromatography. In cycling female rats, VGF C-/N-terminus and PGH peptide antibodies selectively labelled neurones containing either GnRH, or kisspeptin (VGF N-terminus only), pituitary gonadotrophs and lactotrophs, or oocytes (PGH peptides only). Conversely, TLQP peptides were restricted to somatostatin neurones, gonadotrophs, and ovarian granulosa, interstitial and theca cells. TLQP levels were highest, especially in plasma and ovary, with several molecular forms shown in chromatography including one compatible with TLQP-21. Among the cycle phases, TLQP levels were higher during metestrus-diestrus in median eminence and pituitary, while increased in the ovary and decreased in plasma during proestrus. VGF N- and C-terminus peptides also showed modulations over the estrous cycle, in median eminence, pituitary and plasma, while PGH peptides did not. In ovariectomised rats, plasmatic TLQP peptide levels showed distinct reduction suggestive of a major origin from the ovary, while the estrogen-progesterone treatment modulated VGF C-terminus and TLQP peptides in the hypothalamus-pituitary complex. In in vitro hypothalamus, TLQP-21 stimulated release of growth hormone releasing hormone but not of somatostatin. In conclusion, various VGF peptides may regulate the hypothalamus-pituitary complex via specific neuroendocrine mechanisms while TLQP peptides may act at further, multiple levels via endocrine mechanisms involving the ovary

Origins of plateau formation in ion energy spectra under target normal sheath acceleration

Target normal sheath acceleration (TNSA) is a method employed in laser--matter interaction experiments to accelerate light ions (usually protons). Laser setups with durations of a few 10 fs and relatively low intensity contrasts observe plateau regions in their ion energy spectra when shooting on thin foil targets with thicknesses of order 10 $\mathrm{\mu}$m. In this paper we identify a mechanism which explains this phenomenon using one dimensional particle-in-cell simulations. Fast electrons generated from the laser interaction recirculate back and forth through the target, giving rise to time-oscillating charge and current densities at the target backside. Periodic decreases in the electron density lead to transient disruptions of the TNSA sheath field: peaks in the ion spectra form as a result, which are then spread in energy from a modified potential driven by further electron recirculation. The ratio between the laser pulse duration and the recirculation period (dependent on the target thickness, including the portion of the pre-plasma which is denser than the critical density) determines if a plateau forms in the energy spectra.Comment: 11 pages, 12 figure

A first order Tsallis theory

We investigate first-order approximations to both i) Tsallis' entropy $S_q$ and ii) the $S_q$-MaxEnt solution (called q-exponential functions $e_q$). It is shown that the functions arising from the procedure ii) are the MaxEnt solutions to the entropy emerging from i). The present treatment is free of the poles that, for classic quadratic Hamiltonians, appear in Tsallis' approach, as demonstrated in [Europhysics Letters {\bf 104}, (2013), 60003]. Additionally, we show that our treatment is compatible with extant date on the ozone layer.Comment: 4 figures adde