Female labor supply and child care

We use household income tax data to estimate a structural model of female labor supply and utilization of paid child care outside the home. We find that child care costs have little impact on the participation decision of mothers of young children. However, they influence hours of work, as well as the decision to utilize paid child care. We use our results to simulate various policy reforms. Suppressing the APE (Parental Education Aid) would cause the participation rate in our sample to rise by 4 points and the proportion of mothers using outside paid care to rise by 2 points. Examining the effects on aggregate female labor supply of other policies that affect child care costs, we generally find that intensive effects caused by changes in working time are of the same order of magnitude as extensive effects due to changes in female participation.Child Care, female labor supply, fiscal policies

Coherent state triplets and their inner products

It is shown that if H is a Hilbert space for a representation of a group G, then there are triplets of spaces F_H, H, F^H, in which F^H is a space of coherent state or vector coherent state wave functions and F_H is its dual relative to a conveniently defined measure. It is shown also that there is a sequence of maps F_H -> H -> F^H which facilitates the construction of the corresponding inner products. After completion if necessary, the F_H, H, and F^H, become isomorphic Hilbert spaces. It is shown that the inner product for H is often easier to evaluate in F_H than F^H. Thus, we obtain integral expressions for the inner products of coherent state and vector coherent state representations. These expressions are equivalent to the algebraic expressions of K-matrix theory, but they are frequently more efficient to apply. The construction is illustrated by many examples.Comment: 33 pages, RevTex (Latex2.09) This paper is withdrawn because it contained errors that are being correcte

Mechanical behavior of recrystallized Zircaloy-4 under monotonic loading at room temperature: Tests and simplified anisotropic modeling

Mechanical behavior of recrystallized Zircaloy-4 was studied at room temperature in the rolling-transverse plane of a thin sheet. Uniaxial constant elongation rate tests (CERTs) were performed along with creep tests, over a wide range of strain rates. Based on a simplified formulation, different sets of parameters for an anisotropic viscoplastic model were found to fit the stress–strain curves. Notched specimen tensile tests were carried out with a digital image correlation (DIC) technique in order to determine the strain field evolution. From these measurements and the determination of Lankford coefficients, the most consistent model was selected and simulated data were successfully compared with the experimental observations

Etude de la répartition des tsé tsé (Diptera : Glossinidae) en zone de savane humide (République Centrafricaine) : évaluation de techniques de prospection entomologique

Two trapping methods were compared during a survey of the distribution of tsetse flies in the Mbororo cattle breeding area of the Central African Republic : (a) several traps dispersed throughout the reverine forest galleries and remaining only one day at each site; (b) one sentinel trap placed at the cattle drinking point and remaining for several days. The latter method was more reliable and is therefore recommended. The concentration of tsetse flies at the drinking points was negligible during the rainy season. (Résumé d'auteur

Variation de la composition de nanoparticules de 1-10 nm obtenues par séparation de phase dans un verre de silice

National audienceLes verres contenant des nanoparticules ont de nombreuses applications industrielles, notamment grâce à leurs excellentes propriétés thermo-mécaniques [1]. Ils présentent aussi un intérêt pour les propriétés optiques. En effet, l'encapsulation d'ions luminescents (ions de terre rare par exemple) dans des nanoparticules entraînent de nouvelles propriétés de luminescence qui n'existeraient pas dans le verre hôte (bande d'émission élargie, efficacité quantique augmentée, etc) [2]. La préparation de tels verres repose sur des mécanismes de nucléation, croissance et de démixtion dont les premières étapes sont encore assez mal connues. Mais l'avènement de nouvelles techniques de caractérisation à l'échelle nanométrique permet d'améliorer notre compréhension de ces phénomènes. Par exemple, une évolution structurelle des nanoparticules à travers des phases cristallines métastables [3] ou une transformation d'un nucléus amorphe vers une nanoparticule cristalline [4] ont été observées. Des changements de composition ont aussi été rapportés pour des particules de taille 1-10 nm dans des alliages [5] et dans des métaux [6]. Dans cette présentation, nous nous intéressons à la composition de nanoparticules amorphes obtenues par séparation de phase dans un verre de silice. De telles études ont été rendues possibles grâce au développement récent de l'APT (Atom Probe Tomography) pour l'analyse des verres [7]. Nous étudions une fibre optique à base de silice préparée par le procédé MCVD (Modified Chemical Vapor Deposition). Les nanoparticules sont obtenues en incorporant du magnésium qui déclenche une séparation de phase grâce aux traitements thermiques inhérents au procédé MCVD [8]. La composition des nanoparticules dans le verre de silice dopée avec Mg, P, Ge et Er est étudiée dans la gamme 1-10 nm. Nous montrons la partition de Mg, P et Er dans ces nanoparticules ainsi qu'une modification de la composition en fonction de la taille des particules

The impact of fire on habitat use by the short-snouted elephant shrew ('Elephantulus brachyrhynchus') in North West Province, South Africa

Several studies have investigated the response of small mammal populations to fire, but few have investigated behavioural responses to habitat modification. In this study we investigated the impact of fire on home range, habitat use and activity patterns of the short-snouted elephant shrew (Elephantulus brachyrhynchus) by radio-tracking individuals before and after a fire event. All animals survived the passage of fire in termite mound refugia. Before the fire, grassland was used more than thickets, but habitat utilization shifted to thickets after fire had removed the grass cover. Thickets were an important refuge both pre- and post-fire, but the proportion of thicket within the home range was greater post-fire. We conclude that fire-induced habitat modification resulted in a restriction of E. brachyrhynchus movements to patches of unburned vegetation. This may be a behavioural response to an increase in predation pressure associated with a reduction in cover, rather than a lack of food. This study highlights the importance of considering the landscape mosaic in fire management and allowing sufficient island patches to remain post-fire ensures the persistence of the small mammal fauna

Low Energy States of 3181Ga50^{81}_{31} Ga_{50} : Elements on the Doubly-Magic Nature of 78^{78}Ni

Excited levels were attributed to $^{81}_{31}$Ga$_{50}$ for the first time which were fed in the $\beta$-decay of its mother nucleus $^{81}$Zn produced in the fission of $^{nat}$U using the ISOL technique. We show that the structure of this nucleus is consistent with that of the less exotic proton-deficient N=50 isotones within the assumption of strong proton Z=28 and neutron N=50 effective shell effects.Comment: 4 pages, REVTeX 4, 5 figures (eps format

Distribution of trace elements in waters and sediments of the Seversky Donets transboundary watershed (Kharkiv region, Eastern Ukraine)

International audienceThis paper reports on the aquatic chemistry of trace elements in terms of spatial and temporal distribution, but also pollution sources in the transboundary watershed of the Seversky Donets River (Ukraine/Russia). Bed sediments and filtered water were collected from the Udy and Lopan Rivers at sites from the river source in the Belgorod region (Russia) to rural and urban areas in the Kharkiv region (Ukraine) in May and August 2009. Priority trace elements (As, Cd, Cr, Cu, Hg, Ni, Pb and Zn), an urban tracer (Ag) and additional metals (Co, Mo, V) and Th were measured in stream water and sediments. The low levels and variability of Th-normalized concentrations indicated the absence of geochemical anomalies in the upstream part of the rivers and suggested that these data represent a regional baseline for trace elements in bed sediments. In contrast, water and sediments within the city of Kharkiv were contaminated by Ag, Pb, Cd, Cu, Cr and Zn, which are mainly attributed to municipal wastewater inputs and urban run-off. Results of the environmental quality assessment showed that element concentrations in the sediments can be considered as potentially toxic to aquatic organisms in sites downstream of the wastewater discharges

Ly-alpha Emission-Line Galaxies at z = 3.1 in the Extended Chandra Deep Field South

We describe the results of an extremely deep, 0.28 deg^2 survey for z = 3.1 Ly-alpha emission-line galaxies in the Extended Chandra Deep Field South. By using a narrow-band 5000 Anstrom filter and complementary broadband photometry from the MUSYC survey, we identify a statistically complete sample of 162 galaxies with monochromatic fluxes brighter than 1.5 x 10^-17 ergs cm^-2 s^-1 and observers frame equivalent widths greater than 80 Angstroms. We show that the equivalent width distribution of these objects follows an exponential with a rest-frame scale length of w_0 = 76 +/- 10 Angstroms. In addition, we show that in the emission line, the luminosity function of Ly-alpha galaxies has a faint-end power-law slope of alpha = -1.49 +/- 0.4, a bright-end cutoff of log L^* = 42.64 +/- 0.2, and a space density above our detection thresholds of 1.46 +/- 0.12 x 10^-3 h70^3 galaxies Mpc^-3. Finally, by comparing the emission-line and continuum properties of the LAEs, we show that the star-formation rates derived from Ly-alpha are ~3 times lower than those inferred from the rest-frame UV continuum. We use this offset to deduce the existence of a small amount of internal extinction within the host galaxies. This extinction, coupled with the lack of extremely-high equivalent width emitters, argues that these galaxies are not primordial Pop III objects, though they are young and relatively chemically unevolved.Comment: 45 pages, 15 figures, accepted for publication in the Astrophysical Journa