Formal group laws and hypergraph colorings

Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Washington, 2016-06

Do nations' mental health policies, programs and legislation influence their suicide rates? An ecological study of 100 countries

Objective: To test the hypothesis that the presence of national mental health policies, programs and legislation would be associated with lower national suicide rates. Method: Suicide rates from 100 countries were regressed on mental health policy, program and legislation indicators. Results: Contrary to the hypothesized relationship, the study found that after introducing mental health initiatives (with the exception of substance abuse policies), countries' suicide rates rose. Conclusion: It is of concern that most mental health initiatives are associated with an increase in suicide rates. However, there may be acceptable reasons for the observed findings, for example initiatives may have been introduced in areas of increasing need, or a case-finding effect may be operating. Data limitations must also be considered.

Dual-symmetric Lagrangians in quantum electrodynamics: I. Conservation laws and multi-polar coupling

By using a complex field with a symmetric combination of electric and magnetic fields, a first-order covariant Lagrangian for Maxwell's equations is obtained, similar to the Lagrangian for the Dirac equation. This leads to a dual-symmetric quantum electrodynamic theory with an infinite set of local conservation laws. The dual symmetry is shown to correspond to a helical phase, conjugate to the conserved helicity. There is also a scaling symmetry, conjugate to the conserved entanglement. The results include a novel form of the photonic wavefunction, with a well-defined helicity number operator conjugate to the chiral phase, related to the fundamental dual symmetry. Interactions with charged particles can also be included. Transformations from minimal coupling to multi-polar or more general forms of coupling are particularly straightforward using this technique. The dual-symmetric version of quantum electrodynamics derived here has potential applications to nonlinear quantum optics and cavity quantum electrodynamics.

Three essays on labor liberalization and its effects on world economy

This dissertation consists of three theoretical essays on immigration, international trade and political economy. The first two essays analyze the political economy of immigration in developed countries. The third essay explores new ground on the effects of labor liberalization in developing countries. Trade economists have witnessed remarkable methodological developments in mathematical and game theoretical models during the last seventy years. This dissertation benefits from these advances to analyze economic issues related to immigration. The first essay applies a long run general equilibrium trade model similar to Krugman (1980), and blends it with the median voter ala-Mayer (1984) framework. The second essay uses a short run general equilibrium specific factor trade model similar to Jones (1975) and incorporates it with the median voter model similar to Benhabib (1997). The third essay employs a five stage game theoretical approach similar to Vogel (2007) and solves it by the method of backward induction. The first essay shows that labor liberalization is more likely to come about in societies that have more taste for varieties, and that workers and capital owners could share the same positive stance toward labor liberalization. In a dynamic model, it demonstrates that the median voter is willing to accept fewer immigrants in the first period in order to preserve her domestic political influence in the second period threatened by the naturalization of these immigrants. The second essay shows that the liberalization of labor depends on the host country's stock and distribution of capital, and the number of groups of skilled workers within each country. I demonstrate that the more types of goods both countries produce, the more liberal the host country is toward immigration. The third essay proposes a theory of free movement of goods and labor between two economies with imperfect labor contracts. The heart of my analysis lies in the determinants of talent development where individuals' decisions to emigrate are related to the fixed costs of emigration. Finally, free trade and labor affect income via an indirect effect on individuals' incentives to invest in the skill levels and a direct effect on the prices of goods.

Water Governance in Haiti: An Assessment of Laws and Institutional Capacities

The Republic of Haiti struggles to sustainably manage its water resources. Public health is compromised by low levels of water supply, sanitation, and hygiene, and water resources are often contaminated and unsustainably allocated. While poor governance is often blamed for these shortcomings, the laws and institutions regulating water resources in Haiti are poorly understood, especially by the international community. This study brings together and analyzes Haitian water laws, assesses institutional capacities, and provides a case study of water management in northern Haiti in order to provide a more complete picture of the sector. Funded by the Inter-American Development Bank as part of the Water Availability, Quality and Integrated Water Resources Management in Northern Haiti (HA-T1179) Project, this study took place from January-July 2015, with the help of local experts and participating stakeholders. The results indicate that Haiti’s water law framework is highly fragmented, with overlapping mandates and little coordination between ministries at the national level, and ambiguous but unrealistic roles for subnational governments. A capacity assessment of institutions in northern Haiti illustrates that while local stakeholders are engaged, human and financial resources are insufficient to carry out statutory responsibilities. The findings suggest that water resources management planning should engage local governments and community fixtures while supplementing capacities with national or international support.

Nanotechnology in food industry II: risk assessment and legislation

Currently, there is increasing use of nanomaterials in the food industry thanks to the many advantages offered and make the products that contain them more competitive in the market. Their physicochemical properties often differ from those of bulk materials, which require specialized risk assessment. This should cover the risks to the health of workers and consumers as well as possible environmental risks. The risk assessment methods must go updating due to more widespread use of nanomaterials, especially now that are making their way down to consumer products. Today there is no specific legislation for nanomaterials, but there are several european dispositions and regulations that include them. This review gives an overview of the risk assessment and the existing current legislation regarding the use of nanotechnology in the food industry.

Governance, Governments and Legislation

The mandate for policy action on ocean acidification falls under the remit of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate change (UNFCCC) since, like climate change, ocean acidification is a result of anthropogenic CO2 emissions. The international community dealing with climate change must play a decisive role in encouraging national and local governments to scale-up efforts to mitigate CO2 emissions thereby reducing the impact of both climate change and ocean acidification. The annual UNFCCC meeting, Conference of the Parties (COP) represent pivotal opportunities for the ocean science community to provide the international community dealing with climate change with information and recommendations leading to informed solutions and policy guidelines that address ocean acidification. The objective is to develop a comprehensive message about the relevance of ocean acidification in current and future governance agendas. The target audiences include the international community dealing with climate change, climate negotiators, national leaders, UN agencies and Non-governmental Organisations, as well as the parties involved in the UNFCCC process.

Governance, Governments and Legislation

The mandate for policy action on ocean acidification falls under the remit of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate change (UNFCCC) since, like climate change, ocean acidification is a result of anthropogenic CO2 emissions. The international community dealing with climate change must play a decisive role in encouraging national and local governments to scale-up efforts to mitigate CO2 emissions thereby reducing the impact of both climate change and ocean acidification. The annual UNFCCC meeting, Conference of the Parties (COP) represent pivotal opportunities for the ocean science community to provide the international community dealing with climate change with information and recommendations leading to informed solutions and policy guidelines that address ocean acidification. The objective is to develop a comprehensive message about the relevance of ocean acidification in current and future governance agendas. The target audiences include the international community dealing with climate change, climate negotiators, national leaders, UN agencies and Non-governmental Organisations, as well as the parties involved in the UNFCCC process.

Three essays in labor economics and applied econometrics

Méthodologie:Cadre conceptuel: Principal-agent

Global Trade Governance and ASEAN: Studies of Trade-Related Aspects of Labor, Environment and Culture in Southeast Asia

Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Washington, 2016-08

Labor Regime and Social Justice: Consequences of Economic and Social Stratification among Maya Peasants in Central Quintana Roo, Mexico

The article explores consequences of socioeconomic stratification for milpa agriculture and for the organization of labor in a Lowland Maya peasant society. Both present-day and past situations are analyzed. The article includes a discussion of the concept of local social justice which serves as a framework of analysis of institutions that allocate goods and services and provide rules and norms for social interaction.

Current policies, laws and regulations in relation to management of Kyoga basin lakes

For the formulation of policies, laws and regulations for management of fisheries and aquatic systems there is a requirement for scientific knowledge to guide in this formulation. Such knowledge is used to guide in sustainable management of capture fisheries, integrating lake productivity processes into fisheries management, prevention of pollution and eutrophication of the aquatic environment, control of invasive weeds e.g. water hyacinth, enhancement of aquaculture production, reduction of post-harvest fish losses and ensuring fish quality, development of options for optimization of socio-economic benefits from fisheries and for co-management.

Measuring the effectiveness of two public policies on the sectors of labor markets and urban infraestructure. Experimental and quasi-experimental evidence from developing countries

La tesis presenta evidencia rigurosa de la efectividad de las políticas públicas utilizando metodologías experimentales y cuasi-experimentales. La tesis comienza con una introducción completa y una revisión rigurosa de las metodologías que se utilizarán en el análisis posterior de los datos. El primer capítulo, "Habilidades personales y habilidades técnicas en programas de formación de jóvenes. Evidencia Experimental de Largo Plazo de República Dominicana ", evalúa el impacto de un programa de empleo de los jóvenes en una serie de variables de interés. El programa ofrece capacitación en las habilidades vocacionales y en las habilidades no cognitivas a jóvenes en riesgo de exclusión social. Cabe destacar que la metodología utilizada para evaluar el programa es un ensayo controlado aleatorio, que proporciona evidencia robusta del efecto causal del programa. Mientras que estudios previos analizaron el impacto de los programas para jóvenes relacionados, ningún estudio anterior había evaluado los efectos de 4 años después de la implementación del programa. Esto representa una contribución importante debido a que las ganancias a corto plazo de varios programas de desarrollo han demostrado no ser sostenida en el tiempo. Esto es también lo que este estudio encuentra para los resultados del mercado de trabajo: mientras que el programa genera una mejora a corto plazo de los resultados de empleo para las mujeres, este efecto se disipa en el largo plazo. Sin embargo, el programa parece conducir a cambios persistentes en las expectativas del mercado de trabajo de las mujeres: las mujeres que asistieron al entrenamiento de informar una visión más optimista de las perspectivas del mercado de trabajo hasta 4 años después del programa...