Public spending and Scottish devolution : crowding out, or crowding in?

There has been a developing debate about the performance of the Scottish economy under devolution and the effect of the expansion of the public sector on Scottish growth. Several commentators have expressed concern that the size of the public sector in Scotland is now a drag on growth, while others take a more sanguine view. This debate is well summarised in Marsh and Zuleeg (2006). However, this is a debate in which the evidence is often not well marshalled and there is often more heat than light generated. There is a suspicion that arguments about the effect and role of the public sector often derive more from the ultimate values and political preferences of proponents than from hard analysis and evidence

Influence of water quality and stormwater management on the ecology of mosquito-borne disease

U.S. Department of the InteriorU.S. Geological SurveyOpe

Understanding and valuing the economic, social and environmental components of System Harmonisation

The aim of the Products and Markets component of the System Harmonisation project is to value the economic and environmental outcomes from an irrigation scheme that is operated by and in the interests of society. In this conceptual note the thinking underlying this component of the project are outlined. The aim of this note is to provide elements for debated. The nature and requirements of System Harmonisation demands that a 'systems approach' be taken throughout the project. What becomes important within this approach is how the different elements within a system are isolated and yet linked with one another. In many instances the extent and nature of irrigation systems are defined by the relevant Regional Irrigation Business Partnership (RIBP) under investigation. It is recognised that society has multiple uses for the water (agriculture, industry, households, recreation and the environment) as well as non-use (intrinsic) values for which it derives benefits from and incurs costs in distributing the water in any select manner. Further, it is assumed that the irrigation schemes are run for the benefit of society as a whole. Thus, there is a necessity to evaluate both the private and public costs and benefits associated with irrigation schemes. In order to identify what society values from an irrigation scheme, it is argued that a social matrix approach is needed. This analysis allows for a clustering of the issues people feel is important to them regarding the use of an irrigation scheme. Such an analysis will allow identification of the perceived most and least beneficial activities connected to water allocation, economic modelling of the most productive activities, evaluation of externalities and Cost Benefit Analysis. The net economic benefits that arise from irrigation need to be evaluated. The sectors where benefits are derived can be segregated into agriculture, households, the environment, recreation and industrial uses. The largest of these, by pure scale of the use of water, is agriculture. A gross margins approach is used to evaluate the returns for water in the agricultural sector. In the industrial and household sectors, a simple evaluation approach is used where the quantity of water demanded is multiplied by the price paid in each sector. Non-market valuation techniques are used to evaluate the recreational and environmental uses of water. The difficulty that arises in this analysis is how to evaluate the performance of irrigation schemes, where the outcomes are multifaceted. A 'meta' model approach is suggested in which the different elements from the project are brought together and assessed using a technique derived from the theory surrounding production possibility frontiers. This technique can be used to hypothesise a value for the ecosystem services derived from an irrigation scheme. The performance of an irrigation scheme is evaluated in terms of the suggestions raised to change it. Cost Effective Analysis is to be utilised to evaluate this performance. Then two issues need to be addressed. First, it is necessary to converse with those from other components, particularly those involved in the hydrological programs, to determine the nature of the schemes to be investigated. Second, it is necessary to implement the approach in each of the RIBPs. This work needs to commence with the evaluation of the social values in each region

Understanding perceived determinants of nurses’ eating and physical activity behaviour : A theory-informed qualitative interview study

We thank Eilidh Duncan and Maria Prior for help with designing the interview topic guide. We would also like to thank all the nurses who gave their time to participate in the pilot study of the interview topic guide and the qualitative interviews. The Health Services Research Unit is funded by the Chief Scientist Office of the Scottish Government Health and Social Care Directorates. The views expressed are those of the authors alone. Funding This work was funded through a Medical Research Council doctoral training award.Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Valuing Limited Information in Decision Making Under Uncertainty

Fresh Juice Inc. (FJI) is in the process of determining whether they should launch a new fruit juice in a market that has been relatively stagnant for the last 15 years. Management of FJI is faced with uncertainty surrounding market share, market size, price, and competitor entry. In addition, FJI has the ability to chose between alternative production processes; this choice directly affects the likelihood the investment will return a positive Net Present Value. This case teaches students how to develop a stochastic simulation models given limited information to analyze risk investment decisions.: simulation, uncertainty, strategic management, flexibility, limited information, investment analysis

AdS/QHE: Towards a Holographic Description of Quantum Hall Experiments

Transitions among quantum Hall plateaux share a suite of remarkable experimental features, such as semi-circle laws and duality relations, whose accuracy and robustness are difficult to explain directly in terms of the detailed dynamics of the microscopic electrons. They would naturally follow if the low-energy transport properties were governed by an emergent discrete duality group relating the different plateaux, but no explicit examples of interacting systems having such a group are known. Recent progress using the AdS/CFT correspondence has identified examples with similar duality groups, but without the DC ohmic conductivity characteristic of quantum Hall experiments. We use this to propose a simple holographic model for low-energy quantum Hall systems, with a nonzero DC conductivity that automatically exhibits all of the observed consequences of duality, including the existence of the plateaux and the semi-circle transitions between them. The model can be regarded as a strongly coupled analog of the old `composite boson' picture of quantum Hall systems. Non-universal features of the model can be used to test whether it describes actual materials, and we comment on some of these in our proposed model.Comment: LaTex 52 pages 11 figures. Repost improves the discussion of the probe approximation; corrects minor errors; adds references. Second repost generalizes charged solution and improves scaling discussio

A flow-through hydrothermal cell for in situ neutron diffraction studies of phase transformations

A flow-through hydrothermal cell for the in situ neutron diffraction study of crystallisation and phase transitions has been developed. It can be used for kinetic studies on materials that exhibit structural transformations under hydrothermal conditions. It is specifically designed for use on the medium-resolution powder diffractometer (MRPD) at ANSTO, Lucas Heights, Sydney. But it is planned to adapt the design for the Polaris beamline at ISIS and the new high-intensity powder diffractometer (Wombat) at the new Australian reactor Opal. The cell will operate in a flow-through mode over the temperature range from 25–300 1C and up to pressures of 100 bar. The first results of a successful transformation of pentlandite (Fe,Ni)9S8 to violarite (Fe,Ni)3S4 under mild conditions (pH4) at 120 1C and 3 bar using in situ neutron diffraction measurements are presented