Does education engender cultural values that matter for economic growth?

Empirical research has shown that cultural values matter for economic growth and has specifically identified the achievement motivation as an aspect of culture that engenders economic growth. If specific cultural values engender economic growth, how then can societies promote them? This paper attempts to answer this question using the 2005 wave of the World Values Survey data for 43 countries. We test the contention that education significantly impacts the relative importance an individual places on economic achievement vis-à-vis traditional social norms. Results suggest that individuals with higher education levels attach higher importance to values related to autonomy and economic achievement as compared to conformity to traditional social norms. The results have an important implication for efforts to promote economic development; institutions and specifically public policy on education could be used to encourage people to adopt values that are considered important for economic development.Cultural Values, Education, Ordered Probit, Semi-Nonparametric Estimation

What determines workers’ preferences for efficiency over equity wages?

What makes workers consider it fair for wages to be indexed on job performance or efficiency? In this paper we attempt to answer this question using the 2005 wave of the World Values Survey data for 43 countries to investigate what socio-economic characteristics condition employees’ preference for efficiency over equity wages. Our results suggest that employees’ preference for efficiency wages increases with education and globalization while it decreases with unemployment, income inequality and income tax rates. Given that conventional economic theory demonstrates the importance of labour efficiency, which improves when workers are remunerated according to their efficiency, for economic growth; our results suggest that institutions and specifically public policies that promote education, and globalization, along with policies that reduce unemployment, income inequality and income tax rates could be used to promote efficiency-based wages.

A Preliminary Look at the Physics Reach of a Solar Neutrino TPC: Time-Independent Two Neutrino Oscillations

This paper will discuss the physics reach of a solar neutrino TPC containing many tons of He4 under high pressure. Particular attention is given to the LMA and SMA solutions, which are allowed by current data, and which are characterized by a lack of time-dependent phenomena (either summer-winter or day-night asymmetries). In this case, the physics of neutrino masses and mixing is all contained in the energy dependence of the electron neutrino survival probability, (or in its reciprocal, the electron neutrino disappearance probability).Comment: 19 pages, 12 figure

A Regression Analysis on the Macroeconomic Variables Affecting Taiwan’s Export Value to the US before and after 2008 Financial Crisis

The booming of international trade since 1980 has resulted in the sharp economic growth of Taiwan. It is therefore important to understand the influential factors and their impacts on Taiwan’s international trade and export. This research adopts multiple regression method to identify the respective influential macroeconomic variables affecting the export values of Taiwan to the U.S. before and after 2008 financial crisis. It also analyzes the correlations among these macroeconomic variables. The results of this research indicate that, the first lag period of: (1) Taiwan industrial production index, (2) exchange rate of U.S. dollar to New Taiwan dollar, (3) US Interbank real call loan rate, and (4) U.S. industrial production index are influential macroeconomic variables affecting export values of Taiwan to the U.S. before 2008 financial crisis. After 2008 financial crisis, the influential macroeconomic factors are the first lag period of (1) exchange rate of U.S. dollar to New Taiwan dollar, (2) Taiwan’s industrial production index, (3) Mainland China’s consumer price index yearly increment, and (4) Taiwan’s wholesale price index yearly increment (excluding service)

Snowmass 2001: Jet Energy Flow Project

Conventional cone jet algorithms arose from heuristic considerations of LO hard scattering coupled to independent showering. These algorithms implicitly assume that the final states of individual events can be mapped onto a unique set of jets that are in turn associated with a unique set of underlying hard scattering partons. Thus each final state hadron is assigned to a unique underlying parton. The Jet Energy Flow (JEF) analysis described here does not make such assumptions. The final states of individual events are instead described in terms of flow distributions of hadronic energy. Quantities of physical interest are constructed from the energy flow distribution summed over all events. The resulting analysis is less sensitive to higher order perturbative corrections and the impact of showering and hadronization than the standard cone algorithms.Comment: REVTeX4, 13 pages, 6 figures; Contribution to the P5 Working Group on QCD and Strong Interactions at Snowmass 200

Eff ect of the sub-chronic administration of some commonly used herbal products on the liver enzymes, body weight, and feed intake of albino Wistar rats: Any implication for public health?

The present study was focused to assess the effects of the administration of commonly used herbal products viz.:Yoyo cleansing bitters, T. angelica herbal tonic, and Bio-Strath elixir on the liver enzymes, body weight, and feedintake in adult albino Wistar rats. A total number of seventy Wistar rats were divided into three major groups.Each group received a particular herbal product and each of these groups was further subdivided into subgroupsthat received various dosages of each of the herbal products. The rats were acclimatized for 14 days after whichthey received different doses of each of the herbal products for 6 weeks. The body weight, feed intake, andmodulation in liver enzymes were evaluated. The feed intake and body weights were reduced in animals thatreceived T. angelica herbal tonic and Yoyo cleansing bitters at twice the normal dose once and twice daily, butthe reverse was the case for the rats that received Bio-Strath elixir even at higher doses. The liver enzymes wereincreased at all doses in rats which were given Bio-Strath elixir but it was not significant (P > 0.05), while thoseof Yoyo bitters and T. angelica herbal tonic were significantly increased (P < 0.05), especially at higher doses.From our study results it was suggested that a higher dose than the manufacturer’s recommended dose takenfor a longer duration can elevate liver enzyme, thus causing abnormal liver function

Evaluation of the KEMRI Hep-cell II test kit for detection of hepatitis B surface antigens in Tanzania

Hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) is one of the most important serological markers used to diagnose acute and chronic hepatitis B infection. The objective of the current evaluation was to assess the operational characteristics of the Kenya Medical Research Institute (KEMRI) Hep-cell II against an ELISA Exsym HBsAg in the detection of hepatitis B surface antigens. To evaluate the Hep-cell II test, blood samples were collected from blood donors and processed for detection of HBsAg using Hep-cell II based on the test principle and procedure outlined by the manufacturer. ELISA Axsym HBsAg test was used as golden standard. Of the 400 samples tested, 287 (71.8%) were positive by Hep-cell test and 295 (73.8%) were positive by the ELISA Axsym. Hep-cell test had a sensitivity of 98.6% and specificity of 95.96%. Similar values of sensitivity and specificity of the Hep-cell test were obtained even when Bayesian Analysis Model was applied. The positive and negative predictive values of Hep-cell test were 98.61% and 95.96%, respectively. The positive and negative diagnostic likelihood ratios of Hep-cell test were 24.4% and 0.0145, respectively. In conclusion, the Hep-cell test is useful for detecting hepatitis B virus and the high likelihood ratio observed suggests that it may be useful in blood screening. However, it may be necessary to evaluate for cost-effectiveness and robustness in field conditions before the test is recommended for use

On the presentation of the LHC Higgs Results

We put forth conclusions and suggestions regarding the presentation of the LHC Higgs results that may help to maximize their impact and their utility to the whole High Energy Physics community.Comment: Conclusions from the workshops "Likelihoods for the LHC Searches", 21-23 January 2013 at CERN, "Implications of the 125 GeV Higgs Boson", 18-22 March 2013 at LPSC Grenoble, and from the 2013 Les Houches "Physics at TeV Colliders" workshop. 16 pages, 3 figures. Version 2: Comment added on the first publication of signal strength likelihoods in digital form by ATLA

Reference priors for high energy physics

Bayesian inferences in high energy physics often use uniform prior distributions for parameters about which little or no information is available before data are collected. The resulting posterior distributions are therefore sensitive to the choice of parametrization for the problem and may even be improper if this choice is not carefully considered. Here we describe an extensively tested methodology, known as reference analysis, which allows one to construct parametrization-invariant priors that embody the notion of minimal informativeness in a mathematically well-defined sense. We apply this methodology to general cross section measurements and show that it yields sensible results. A recent measurement of the single top quark cross section illustrates the relevant techniques in a realistic situation

An Evolutionary Paradigm for Dusty Active Galaxies at Low Redshift

We apply methods from Bayesian inferencing and graph theory to a dataset of 102 mid-infrared spectra, and archival data from the optical to the millimeter, to construct an evolutionary paradigm for z<0.4 infrared-luminous galaxies (ULIRGs). We propose that the ULIRG lifecycle consists of three phases. The first phase lasts from the initial encounter until approximately coalescence. It is characterized by homogeneous mid-IR spectral shapes, and IR emission mainly from star formation, with a contribution from an AGN in some cases. At the end of this phase, a ULIRG enters one of two evolutionary paths depending on the dynamics of the merger, the available quantities of gas, and the masses of the black holes in the progenitors. On one branch, the contributions from the starburst and the AGN to the total IR luminosity decline and increase respectively. The IR spectral shapes are heterogeneous, likely due to feedback from AGN-driven winds. Some objects go through a brief QSO phase at the end. On the other branch, the decline of the starburst relative to the AGN is less pronounced, and few or no objects go through a QSO phase. We show that the 11.2 micron PAH feature is a remarkably good diagnostic of evolutionary phase, and identify six ULIRGs that may be archetypes of key stages in this lifecycle.Comment: ApJ accepted. Comments welcome. We suggest reading section 2 before looking at the figures. 26 pages, 21 figures, 1 tabl