An Incentive System for Salmonella Control in the Pork Supply Chain

This paper presents a dynamic principal-agent analysis of an incentive system for Salmonella control in the pork supply chain. The incentive system determines quality premiums to the producer, testing frequencies for hogs delivered, as well as charges to the producer for testing and penalties. Using cost estimates and technical parameters, we evaluate the cost effectiveness of plant and farm control measures and trade-offs between prevalence reduction and related costs and gains. We also assess the impact of ownership structure on incentive system parameters and performance for a wide range of prevalence threshold levels. Differences in control actions, bacteriological prevalence and the overall welfare gain for the chain are very small across ownership structures. Changes in the prevalence threshold level lead to substantial changes in the use of farm and plant control packages and performance measures.dynamic programming, food quality, principal-agent, Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety, Livestock Production/Industries,

Black Holes, Entropy Bound and Causality Violation

The gravity/gauge theory duality has provided us a way of studying QCD at short distances from straightforward calculations in classical general relativity. Among numerous results obtained so far, one of the most striking is the universality of the ratio of the shear viscosity to the entropy density. For all gauge theories with Einstein gravity dual, this ratio is \eta/s=1/4\pi. However, in general higher-curvature gravity theories, including two concrete models under discussion - the Gauss-Bonnet gravity and the (Riemann)^2 gravity - the ratio \eta/s can be smaller than 1/4\pi (thus violating the conjecture bound), equal to 1/4\pi or even larger than 1/4\pi. As we probe spacetime at shorter distances, there arises an internal inconsistency in the theory, such as a violation of microcausality, which is correlated with a classical limit on black hole entropy.Comment: 8 pages, no figures; Invited contribution to appear in the Proceedings of the 75 Years since Solvay, Singapore, Nov 2008, (World Scientific, Singapore, 2009

Simulations for Multi-Object Spectrograph Planet Surveys

Radial velocity surveys for extra-solar planets generally require substantial amounts of large telescope time in order to monitor a sufficient number of stars. Two of the aspects which can limit such surveys are the single-object capabilities of the spectrograph, and an inefficient observing strategy for a given observing window. In addition, the detection rate of extra-solar planets using the radial velocity method has thus far been relatively linear with time. With the development of various multi-object Doppler survey instruments, there is growing potential to dramatically increase the detection rate using the Doppler method. Several of these instruments have already begun usage in large scale surveys for extra-solar planets, such as FLAMES on the VLT and Keck ET on the Sloan 2.5m wide-field telescope. In order to plan an effective observing strategy for such a program, one must examine the expected results based on a given observing window and target selection. We present simulations of the expected results from a generic multi-object survey based on calculated noise models and sensitivity for the instrument and the known distribution of exoplanetary system parameters. We have developed code for automatically sifting and fitting the planet candidates produced by the survey to allow for fast follow-up observations to be conducted. The techniques presented here may be applied to a wide range of multi-object planet surveys.Comment: 15 pages, 10 figures, accepted for publication in MNRA

Acoustic black holes from supercurrent tunneling

We present a version of acoustic black holes by using the principle of the Josephson effect. We find that in the case two superconductors $A$ and $B$ are separated by an insulating barrier, an acoustic black hole may be created in the middle region between the two superconductors. We discuss in detail how to describe an acoustic black hole in the Josephson junction and write the metric in the langauge of the superconducting electronics. Our final results infer that for big enough tunneling current and thickness of the junction, experimental verification of the Hawking temperature could be possible.Comment: 15pages,1 figure, to appear in IJMP

Unveiling Su Aurigae in the near Infrared: New high spatial resolution results using Adaptive Optics

We present here new results on circumstellar nebulosity around SU Aurigae, a T-Tauri star of about 2 solar mass and 5 Myrs old at 152 pc in the J, H and K bands using high resolution adaptive optics imaging (0\farcs30) with the Penn state IR Imaging Spectrograph (PIRIS) at the 100 inch Mt. Wilson telescope. A comparison with HST STIS optical (0.2 to 1.1 micron) images shows that the orientation of the circumstellar nebulosity in the near-IR extends from PAs 210 to 270 degrees in H and K bands and up to 300 degrees in the J band. We call the circumstellar nebulosity seen between 210 to 270 degrees as 'IR nebulosity'. We find that the IR nebulosity (which extends up to 3.5 arcsecs in J band and 2.5 arcsecs in the K band) is due to scattered light from the central star. The IR nebulosity is either a cavity formed by the stellar outflows or part of the circumstellar disk. We present a schematic 3-dimensional geometrical model of the disk and jet of SU Aur based on STIS and our near-IR observations. According to this model the IR nebulosity is a part of the circumstellar disk seen at high inclination angles. The extension of the IR nebulosity is consistent with estimates of the disk diameter of 50 to 400 AU in radius, from earlier mm, K band interferometric observations and SED fittings.Comment: Accepted for publications in the Astronomical Journal, to appear in the May issue of the Journa

Do methanethiol adsorbates on the Au(111) surface dissociate?

The interaction of methanethiol molecules CH$_{3}$SH with the Au(111) surface is investigated, and it is found for the first time that the S-H bond remains intact when the methanethiol molecules are adsorbed on the regular Au(111) surface. However, it breaks if defects are present in the Au(111) surface. At low coverage, the fcc region is favored for S atom adsorption, but at saturated coverage the adsorption energies at various sites are almost iso-energetic. The presented calculations show that a methanethiol layer on the regular Au(111) surface does not dimerize.Comment: 4 pages, 2 figures, 4 tables, submitted to Phys. Rev. Let

Chemistry and kinematics of the pre-stellar core L1544: Constraints from H2D+

This paper explores the sensitivity of line profiles of H2D+, HCO+ and N2H+, observed towards the center of L1544, to various kinematic and chemical parameters. The total width of the H2D+ line can be matched by a static model and by models invoking ambipolar diffusion and gravitational collapse. The derived turbulent line width is b=0.15 km/s for the static case and <~ 0.05 km/s for the collapse case. However, line profiles of HC18O+ and N2H+ rule out the static solution. The double-peaked H2D+ line shape requires either infall speeds in the center that are much higher than predicted by ambipolar diffusion models, or a shell-type distribution of H2D+, as is the case for HCO+ and N2H+. At an offset of ~20 arcsec from the dust peak, the H2D+ abundance drops by a factor of ~5.Comment: four pages, two colour figures; to appear in The Dense Interstellar Medium in Galaxies, proceedings of the fourth Cologne-Bonn-Zermatt Symposium, Sept 22-26, 200

Evolving Network With Different Edges

We proposed an evolving network model constituted by the same nodes but different edges. The competition between nodes and different links were introduced. Scale free properties have been found in this model by continuum theory. Different network topologies can be generated by some tunable parameters. Simulation results consolidate the prediction.Comment: 14 pages, 9 figures, some contents revised, fluctuation of x degree adde

The Power of Poincar\'e: Elucidating the Hidden Symmetries in Focal Conic Domains

Focal conic domains are typically the "smoking gun" by which smectic liquid crystalline phases are identified. The geometry of the equally-spaced smectic layers is highly generic but, at the same time, difficult to work with. In this Letter we develop an approach to the study of focal sets in smectics which exploits a hidden Poincar\'e symmetry revealed only by viewing the smectic layers as projections from one-higher dimension. We use this perspective to shed light upon several classic focal conic textures, including the concentric cyclides of Dupin, polygonal textures and tilt-grain boundaries.Comment: 4 pages, 3 included figure