HDI and Standard of Living: A Panel Data Analysis of Latin America

This paper investigates the correlation between the Human Development Index and other significant measures of standard of living. The study incorporates data for upper- and middle-income countries in Latin America (Mexico, Costa Rica, Columbia, Peru, Uruguay, Brazil, Paraguay, Guatemala, Jamaica, Belize, and Bolivia) surrounding standard of living, including GDP per capita, public spending on education, public spending on health, GNI per capita, unemployment, infant mortality, and inflation. The conclusions from this study are drawn from regression analysis and tests of correlation between the Human Development Index and alternative measures of standard of living. The results show that unemployment and infant mortality are negatively correlated with HDI and statistically significant

Salary Distribution and Winning Percentage: A Panel Data Analysis of the National Football League

This paper analyzes the effect of player salary distribution, as well as other external and internal factors, on regular season win percentage of teams in the National Football League (NFL) over the past four seasons. The conclusions from this study were drawn from regression analysis of NFL salary data over the past four seasons (2019-2023). Player salaries were collected and condensed into twenty independent variables. These independent variables along with 8 control variables were regressed against regular season win percentage. The results indicate the greater total expenditure, a greater salary spread (range and variance), and greater salaries for the highest and lowest earning players are positively correlated with regular season win percentage

Environmental ScienceBites

This book was written by undergraduate students at The Ohio State University (OSU) who were enrolled in the class Introduction to Environmental Science. The chapters describe some of Earth's major environmental challenges and discuss ways that humans are using cutting-edge science and engineering to provide sustainable solutions to these problems

Paleoclimate Reconstruction of a Haitian Coral Microatoll Using Trace Elements

Caribbean sea surface temperatures (SST) have increased posing detrimental impacts to marine ecosystems (e.g., coral bleaching) and coastal regions (e.g., prolonged droughts). However, there is a lack of long-term instrumental records for this region that hinders our ability to understand past climate variability from the end of the Little Ice Age (1300–1850) to the current global warming trend. Caribbean SST’s have increased since 1982 at a mean rate of 0.3 ˚C per decade, but trends before 1982 are not well-known. Oceanic and atmospheric phenomena such as the Atlantic Multidecadal Oscillation, variations between warmer and colder SST anomalies every 20–30 years, and the Atlantic Warm Pool (AWP), a seasonal warm pool characterized by SST greater than 28.5 ºC, affect precipitation and hurricanes in this region. Understanding the spatial extents of the AWP, small versus large warm pools, since the Little Ice Age are unknown. One way to fill this knowledge gap is coral-based paleoclimate reconstructions. Several Haitian Siderastrea siderea coral microatolls from the Gulf of Gonâve are analyzed for monthly-resolved coral Sr/Ca and Ba/Ca to investigate variability of (1) SST, (2) the AWP and (3) river runoff from 1880–2009. A large AWP is characterized by extending past Guadalupe Island (60 ºW) in the eastern Caribbean whereas a small AWP extends to Haiti (72 ºW). The coral Sr/Ca-SST reconstruction reveals a mean annual warming trend of 2.8 ˚C to 2009 with winter minima increasing by 4.7 ˚C resulting in a decreased seasonal SST range of 3.5 ˚C. The winter trend in coral Sr/Ca may result from the rotated coral corallites from 1880–1929, but no such trend is present in coral Mg/Ca or Ba/Ca. Excluding this section yields a 1.13 ºC warming trend in winter SST from 1930–2009. Coral Ba/Ca anomalies coincide with precipitation events and satellite chlorophyll concentrations with a four-to-six months lag signifying that coral Ba/Ca anomalies track large river discharge as result of extreme precipitation events. Examination of mean annual summer SST in coral reconstructions across the Caribbean (e.g., Dry Tortugas, Little Cayman, Guadeloupe) reveals large AWPs occur with greater frequency towards the 21st century

Roentgenographic Examination of μ-Polychloroprene (CH2:CClCH:CH2)x

Abstract μ-Polychloroprene (polymeric 2-chloro-1 ,3-butadiene or “Duprene”), recently described by Carothers, Williams, Coffins and Kirby, shows in the unstretched state an amorphous x-ray picture and when stretched a well-defined fiber diagram. Since a crystallization and parallel orientation of this kind upon stretching had not been observed previously in any natural or artificial product other than natural rubbers (smoked sheet, latex film, amorphous crepes), although some of these products may be highly elastic and may even split apart into fibers in the cold, the x-ray diagram makes possible a rapid and certain identification of the μ-polychloroprene.</jats:p

The Fusion Curve of Natural Rubber

Abstract Katz has shown that the melting point of frozen raw rubber is 35°–38° C. when determined by the disappearance of the crystal interferences upon warming. The discontinuous changes in the specific gravity, in the hardness, and in the light absorption, as well as the γ-anomaly of the specific heat, lie within this temperature range.</jats:p