Phase-coherence time saturation in mesoscopic systems: wave function collapse

A finite phase-coherence time $\tau_{\phi}^{meas}$ emerges from iterative measurement onto a quantum system. For a rapid sequence, the phase-coherence time is found explicitly. For the stationary charge conduction problem, it is bounded. At all order, in the time-interval of measurements, we propose a general expression for $\tau_{\phi}^{meas}$.Comment: 8 pages, 0 figures, Late

Who Should Make the Rules of Trade? - The Complex Issue of Multilateral Environmental Agreements

In recent years, governments have negotiated a number of Multilateral Environmental Agreements (MEAs) that include clauses regarding trade measures that conflict with their WTO obligations. As yet, there has been no formal dispute regarding which obligations should prevail, but the threat of conflict is perceived to be sufficiently grave for the parties to the Doha Ministerial to agree to examine the issue. Those who have strong preferences for environmental amenities have put considerable effort into fostering MEAs and are lobbying hard for them to prevail over the WTO in their areas of competence. The current lack of transparency caused by conflicting rules increases the degree of risk perceived in the international commercial environment. As MEAs allow trading partners to impose trade barriers on ratifying partners when the WTO rules would not, a perverse set of incentives is created that may lead to sub-optimal levels of environmental protection as well as sub-optimal amounts of investment in trade-related activities. The use of trade measures in MEAs is examined and suggestions are provided for removing the conflicting rules of trade.Doha, MEA, negotiations, ratification, trade measures, WTO, International Relations/Trade,

Public Participation Strategy for Sustainable Water Resource Governance in the Lower Mekong Basin: A Policy Case Study from the Mekong River Commission

This journal has been published at different time periods under the following titles: Explorations: A Graduate Student Journal of Southeast Asian Studies, Explorations in Southeast Asian Studies, and The Journal of the Southeast Asian Studies Association

THE EFFECTS OF COUNTRY OF ORIGIN IMAGE AND PATRIOTISM ON CONSUMER PREFERENCE FOR DOMESTIC VERSUS IMPORTED BEEF

Country of origin (COO) effect is a well-researched topic in the international marketing literature. It is well recognized that consumers are biased against imports, due to consumer ethnocentrism or patriotism tendency. However, the research on COO effects also suggests that consumers form certain image of origin countries (COO image) and favorable image, be it associated with the countries, their people, or general product quality, improves the evaluation and acceptance of foreign imports. The publications related to COO effects which focus on consumer durables are abundant. However, the contrasting COO effects on food products are much less investigated. This study surveys British consumers’ preference for domestic versus imported beef. Like previous studies, a strong preference for domestic beef was found. Furthermore, individual characteristics which potentially influence such preference were examined. Using scores on consumer patriotism and COO image perception as interacting individual characteristics in the choice models, it was found that stronger preference against imports was linked to higher level of the respondents perceived patriotic sentiment toward their home country, while better COO image improved the likelihood of the foreign country’s beef being selected. Marketing and policy implications are discussed

Pembelajaran Model-Eliciting Activiting (MEAs) yang Dimodifikasi dalam Pembelajaran Matematika dan Statistika

Tulisan ini bertujuan untuk memperkenalkan pembelajaran Model-Eliciting Activities (MEAs) yang dimodifikasi sebagai model pembelajaran yang relatif baru di Indonesia dan mungkin di dunia. Pembelajaran MEAs yang dimodifikasi merupakan memodifikasi dari pembelajaran MEAs sebelumnya dengan cara memasukan Didactical Design Research(DDR) dan menyempurnakan langkahlangkah pembelajarannya. Hasil penelitian menunjukkan bahwa pembelajaran MEAs yang dimodifikasi dapat mengoptimalkan peningkatan kemampuan berpikir statisis mahasiswa

Modeling Yield Surfaces of Various Structural Shapes

This study investigates the possibility of custom fitting a widely accepted approximate yield surface equation (Ziemian, 2000) to the theoretical yield surfaces of five different structural shapes, which include wide-flange, solid and hollow rectangular, and solid and hollow circular shapes. To achieve this goal, a theoretically “exact” but overly complex representation of the cross section’s yield surface was initially obtained by using fundamental principles of solid mechanics. A weighted regression analysis was performed with the “exact” yield surface data to obtain the specific coefficients of three terms in the approximate yield surface equation. These coefficients were calculated to determine the “best” yield surface equation for a given cross section geometry. Given that the exact yield surface shall have zero percentage of concavity, this investigation evaluated the resulting coefficient of determination (��) and the percentage of concavity of the customized yield surface in comparison to those of the widely accepted yield surface

KEEFEKTIFAN PEMBELAJARAN MATEMATIKA DENGAN MEAs TERHADAP KESULITAN BELAJAR DAN PRESTASI BELAJAR MATEMATIKA

Tujuan penelitian ini adalah untuk mendeskripsikan: 1) prestasi belajar matematika siswa yang diajar menggunakan model pembelajaran MEAs mencapai target, 2) kesulitan belajar siswa yang diajar menggunakan model pembelajaran MEAs lebih rendah daripada model pembelajaran Konvensional, 3) prestasi belajar matematika siswa yang diajar menggunakan model pembelajaran MEAs lebih baik daripada model pembelajaran Konvensional, 4) ada perbedaan kesulitan belajar dan prestasi belajar matematika antara siswa yang diajar menggunakan model pembelajaran MEAs dengan model pembelajaran Konvensional, 5) Model pembelajaran MEAs lebih baik daripada model pembelajaran Konvensional terhadap kesulitan belajar dan prestasi belajar matematika siswa.Hasil penelitian menyatakan bahwa : 1) prestasi belajar matematika yang diajar menggunakan model MEAs mencapai target, 2) kesulitan belajar yang diajar menggunakan model MEAs lebih rendah daripada model Konvensional, 3) prestasi belajar matematika siswa yang diajar menggunakan model MEA lebih baik daripada model Konvensional, 4) ada perbedaan kesulitan belajar dan prestasi belajar antara siswa yang diajar menggunakan model MEAs dengan model Konvensional, 5) Model MEAs lebih baik daripada model pembelajaran Konvensional terhadap kesulitan belajar dan prestasi belajar matematika siswa. Kata Kunci : Keefektifan, MEAs, Kesulitan Belajar, Prestasi Belajar

Fast, scalable, Bayesian spike identification for multi-electrode arrays

We present an algorithm to identify individual neural spikes observed on high-density multi-electrode arrays (MEAs). Our method can distinguish large numbers of distinct neural units, even when spikes overlap, and accounts for intrinsic variability of spikes from each unit. As MEAs grow larger, it is important to find spike-identification methods that are scalable, that is, the computational cost of spike fitting should scale well with the number of units observed. Our algorithm accomplishes this goal, and is fast, because it exploits the spatial locality of each unit and the basic biophysics of extracellular signal propagation. Human intervention is minimized and streamlined via a graphical interface. We illustrate our method on data from a mammalian retina preparation and document its performance on simulated data consisting of spikes added to experimentally measured background noise. The algorithm is highly accurate