829 research outputs found
ESTIMATING RETURNS FROM PAST INVESTMENTS INTO BEEF CATTLE GENETICS RD&E IN AUSTRALIA
This study aimed at estimating the costs and benefits of all beef cattle genetic improvement activity, across Australia, over the period 1970 to the present. The total cumulative Present Value (PV) of investments by industry, government and other agencies into selection, crossbreeding and grading up since 1963, and of imported genetics, was estimated to be 2001 at a 7% discount rate). Using a suite of genetic evaluation models, farming systems models and an industry-level model, the cumulative PV of industry returns were estimated. Within-breed selection generated 255m; changing breed composition in southern Australia 8.1bn. The benefit/cost ratio for this investment was 28:1 over the last 30 years.Livestock Production/Industries, Research and Development/Tech Change/Emerging Technologies,
Estimating the Returns from Past Investment into Beef Cattle Genetic Technologies in Australia
Research and Development/Tech Change/Emerging Technologies,
The flow of plasma in the solar terrestrial environment
The overall goal of our NASA Theory Program was to study the coupling, time delays, and feedback mechanisms between the various regions of the solar-terrestrial system in a self-consistent, quantitative manner. To accomplish this goal, it will eventually be necessary to have time-dependent macroscopic models of the different regions of the solar-terrestrial system and we are continually working toward this goal. However, with the funding from this NASA program, we concentrated on the near-earth plasma environment, including the ionosphere, the plasmasphere, and the polar wind. In this area, we developed unique global models that allowed us to study the coupling between the different regions. These results are highlighted in the next section. Another important aspect of our NASA Theory Program concerned the effect that localized 'structure' had on the macroscopic flow in the ionosphere, plasmasphere, thermosphere, and polar wind. The localized structure can be created by structured magnetospheric inputs (i.e., structured plasma convection, particle precipitation or Birkland current patterns) or time variations in these input due to storms and substorms. Also, some of the plasma flows that we predicted with our macroscopic models could be unstable, and another one of our goals was to examine the stability of our predicted flows. Because time-dependent, three-dimensional numerical models of the solar-terrestrial environment generally require extensive computer resources, they are usually based on relatively simple mathematical formulations (i.e., simple MHD or hydrodynamic formulations). Therefore, another goal of our NASA Theory Program was to study the conditions under which various mathematical formulations can be applied to specific solar-terrestrial regions. This could involve a detailed comparison of kinetic, semi-kinetic, and hydrodynamic predictions for a given polar wind scenario or it could involve the comparison of a small-scale particle-in-cell (PIC) simulation of a plasma expansion event with a similar macroscopic expansion event. The different mathematical formulations have different strengths and weaknesses and a careful comparison of model predictions for similar geophysical situations provides insight into when the various models can be used with confidence
Rapid quantum approaches for combinatorial optimisation inspired by optimal state-transfer
We propose a new design heuristic to tackle combinatorial optimisation problems, inspired by Hamiltonians for optimal state-transfer. The result is a rapid approximate optimisation algorithm. We provide numerical evidence of the success of this new design heuristic. We find this approach results in a better approximation ratio than the Quantum Approximate Optimisation Algorithm at lowest depth for the majority of problem instances considered, while utilising comparable resources. This opens the door to investigating new approaches for tackling combinatorial optimisation problems, distinct from adiabatic-influenced approaches
Superstring Perturbation Theory and Ramond-Ramond Backgrounds
We consider perturbative Type II superstring theory in the covariant NSR
formalism in the presence of NSNS and RR backgrounds. A concrete example that
we have in mind is the geometry of D3-branes which in the near-horizon region
is AdS_5 x S_5, although our methods may be applied to other backgrounds as
well. We show how conformal invariance of the string path integral is
maintained order by order in the number of holes. This procedure makes uses of
the Fischler-Susskind mechanism to build up the background geometry. A simple
formal expression is given for a \sigma-model Lagrangian. This suggests a
perturbative expansion in 1/g^2N and 1/N. As applications, we consider at
leading order the mixing of RR and NSNS states, and the realization of the
spacetime supersymmetry algebra.Comment: 17 pages, LaTeX, 4 figures, uses epsf, latexsym, hyperref packages
Section on realization of supersymmetry algebra has been expande
Evaluation Of Glueball Masses From Supergravity
In the framework of the conjectured duality relation between large gauge
theory and supergravity the spectra of masses in large gauge theory can be
determined by solving certain eigenvalue problems in supergravity. In this
paper we study the eigenmass problem given by Witten as a possible
approximation for masses in QCD without supersymmetry. We place a particular
emphasis on the treatment of the horizon and related boundary conditions. We
construct exact expressions for the analytic expansions of the wave functions
both at the horizon and at infinity and show that requiring smoothness at the
horizon and normalizability gives a well defined eigenvalue problem. We show
for example that there are no smooth solutions with vanishing derivative at the
horizon. The mass eigenvalues up to corresponding to smooth
normalizable wave functions are presented. We comment on the relation of our
work with the results found in a recent paper by Cs\'aki et al.,
hep-th/9806021, which addresses the same problem.Comment: 20 pages,Latex,3 figs,psfig.tex, added refs., minor change
Additively manufactured rotating disk electrodes and experimental setup
This manuscript details the first report of a complete additively manufactured rotating disk electrode setup, highlighting how high-performing equipment can be designed and produced rapidly using additive manufacturing without compromising on performance. The additively manufactured rotating disk electrode system was printed using a predominantly acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS) based filament and used widely available, low-cost electronics, and simplified machined parts to create. The additively manufactured rotating disk electrode system costs less than 2% of a comparable commercial solution (£84.47 ($102.26) total). The rotating disk electrode is also additively manufactured using a carbon black/polylactic acid (CB/PLA) equivalent, developing a completely additively manufactured rotating disk electrode system. The electrochemical characterization of the additively manufactured rotating disk electrode setup was performed using hexaamineruthenium(III) chloride and compared favorably with a commercial glassy carbon electrode. Finally, this work shows how the additively manufactured rotating disk electrode experimental system and additive manufactured electrodes can be utilized for the electroanalytical determination of levodopa, a drug used in the treatment of Parkinson's disease, producing a limit of detection of 0.23 ± 0.03 μM. This work represents a step-change in how additive manufacturing can be used in research, allowing the production of high-end equipment for hugely reduced costs, without compromising on performance. Utilizing additive manufacturing in this way could greatly enhance the research possibilities for less well-funded research groups
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