The Bauxite Cartel in the New International Economic Order

The "New Economic Order" (NEO) proposals of the Third World and the United Nations are characterized in this paper. They are revolutionary doctrines, which are inconsistent with existing market concepts of international economic trade, investment and relations. The International Bauxite Association (IBA) cartel has been formed based on NEO concepts to emulate the OPEC cartel. IBA is unlikely to be as successful as OPEC over a significant period. Relative to bauxite needs, there are too many alternative sources and supplies of bauxite, and also of alternative aluminous ores, for the cartel to control supply and price

Are Minerals Costing More?

This is a working paper in a continuing project "Mineral Scarcity and Economic Change", partially supported at IIASA by the U.S. National Academy of Sciences. In the present paper evidence is given on trends in relative cost to obtain minerals, for selected regions and countries. On this basis the question of increasing economic scarcity of minerals is addressed, and attention is given to the underlying forces that affect mineral cost trends. The data that are used are from an IIASA data base that covers about 50 mineral price series and economic variables on 45 countries. However, in this paper we focus primarily on Western European countries for the period 1950-1979. Since the data effort finished in summer 1980, the second oil price boom is not fully reflected

Probing Anomalous Wtb Coupling via Single Top Production at TeV Energy γ\gamma e Colliders

Results of complete tree level calculations of the single top production reaction $\gamma e \to \nu \bar{t} b$ at the Next Linear Collider, including the contribution of anomalous operators to the Wtb coupling are presented. The sensitivity for probing the structure of the Wtb coupling in a model independent way is analyzed and found to be significantly higher than for comparable measurements at the Tevatron.Comment: 10 Latex pages including 1 ps-figure and 3 eps-figure

Strongly focused light beams interacting with single atoms in free space

We construct 3-D solutions of Maxwell's equations that describe Gaussian light beams focused by a strong lens. We investigate the interaction of such beams with single atoms in free space and the interplay between angular and quantum properties of the scattered radiation. We compare the exact results with those obtained with paraxial light beams and from a standard input-output formalism. We put our results in the context of quantum information processing with single atoms.Comment: 9 pages, 9 figure

Robust unravelings for resonance fluorescence

Monitoring the fluorescent radiation of an atom unravels the master equation evolution by collapsing the atomic state into a pure state which evolves stochastically. A robust unraveling is one that gives pure states that, on average, are relatively unaffected by the master equation evolution (which applies once the monitoring ceases). The ensemble of pure states arising from the maximally robust unraveling has been suggested to be the most natural way of representing the system [H.M. Wiseman and J.A. Vaccaro, Phys. Lett. A {\bf 250}, 241 (1998)]. We find that the maximally robust unraveling of a resonantly driven atom requires an adaptive interferometric measurement proposed by Wiseman and Toombes [Phys. Rev. A {\bf 60}, 2474 (1999)]. The resultant ensemble consists of just two pure states which, in the high driving limit, are close to the eigenstates of the driving Hamiltonian $\Omega\sigma_{x}/2$. This ensemble is the closest thing to a classical limit for a strongly driven atom. We also find that it is possible to reasonably approximate this ensemble using just homodyne detection, an example of a continuous Markovian unraveling. This has implications for other systems, for which it may be necessary in practice to consider only continuous Markovian unravelings.Comment: 12 pages including 5 .eps figures, plus one .jpg figur

Synchronized pulse control of decoherence

We present a new strategy for multipulse control over decoherence. When a two-level system interacts with a reservoir characterized by a specific frequency, we find that the decoherence is effectively suppressed by synchronizing the pulse-train application with the dynamical motion of the reservoir.Comment: 14 pages, 8 figure

Application of a stochastic weather generator to assess climate change impacts in a semi-arid climate: The Upper Indus Basin

Assessing local climate change impacts requires downscaling from Global Climate Model simulations. Here, a stochastic rainfall model (RainSim) combined with a rainfall conditioned weather generator (CRU WG) have been successfully applied in a semi-arid mountain climate, for part of the Upper Indus Basin (UIB), for point stations at a daily time-step to explore climate change impacts. Validation of the simulated time-series against observations (1961–1990) demonstrated the models’ skill in reproducing climatological means of core variables with monthly RMSE of <2.0 mm for precipitation and ⩽0.4 °C for mean temperature and daily temperature range. This level of performance is impressive given complexity of climate processes operating in this mountainous context at the boundary between monsoonal and mid-latitude (westerly) weather systems. Of equal importance the model captures well the observed interannual variability as quantified by the first and last decile of 30-year climatic periods. Differences between a control (1961–1990) and future (2071–2100) regional climate model (RCM) time-slice experiment were then used to provide change factors which could be applied within the rainfall and weather models to produce perturbed ‘future’ weather time-series. These project year-round increases in precipitation (maximum seasonal mean change:+27%, annual mean change: +18%) with increased intensity in the wettest months (February, March, April) and year-round increases in mean temperature (annual mean +4.8 °C). Climatic constraints on the productivity of natural resource-dependent systems were also assessed using relevant indices from the European Climate Assessment (ECA) and indicate potential future risk to water resources and local agriculture. However, the uniformity of projected temperature increases is in stark contrast to recent seasonally asymmetrical trends in observations, so an alternative scenario of extrapolated trends was also explored. We conclude that interannual variability in climate will continue to have the dominant impact on water resources management whichever trajectory is followed. This demonstrates the need for sophisticated downscaling methods which can evaluate changes in variability and sequencing of events to explore climate change impacts in this region

A schematic model for QCD I: Low energy meson states

A simple model for QCD is presented, which is able to reproduce the meson spectrum at low energy. The model is a Lipkin type model for quarks coupled to gluons. The basic building blocks are pairs of quark-antiquarks coupled to a definite flavor and spin. These pairs are coupled to pairs of gluons with spin zero. The multiplicity problem, which dictates that a given experimental state can be described in various manners, is removed when a particle-mixing interaction is turned on. In this first paper of a series we concentrates on the discussion of meson states at low energy, the so-called zero temperature limit of the theory. The treatment of baryonic states is indicated, also.Comment: 29 pages, 6 figures. submitted to Phys. Rev.

Semileptonic decay constants of octet baryons in the chiral quark-soliton model

Based on the recent study of the magnetic moments and axial constants within the framework of the chiral quark-soliton model, we investigate the baryon semileptonic decay constants $(f_1,f_2)$ and $(g_1, g_2)$. Employing the relations between the diagonal transition matrix elements and off-diagonal ones in the vector and axial-vector channels, we obtain the ratios of baryon semileptonic decay constants $f_2/f_1$ and $g_1/f_1$. The $F/D$ ratio is also discussed and found that the value predicted by the present model naturally lies between that of the Skyrme model and that of the nonrelativistic quark model. The singlet axial constant $g^{(0)}_A$ can be expressed in terms of the $F/D$ ratio and $g^{(3)}_A$ in the present model and turns out to be small. The results are compared with available experimental data and found to be in good agreement with them. In addition, the induced pseudotensor coupling constants $g_2/f_1$ are calculated, the SU(3) symmetry breaking being considered. The results indicate that the effect of SU(3) symmetry breaking might play an important role for some decay modes in hyperon semileptonic decay.Comment: 16 pages, RevTeX is used. No figure. Accepted for publication in Phys. Rev.

Pentagonal nanowires: a first-principles study of atomic and electronic structure

We performed an extensive first-principles study of nanowires in various pentagonal structures by using pseudopotential plane wave method within the density functional theory. Our results show that nanowires of different types of elements, such as alkali, simple, transition and noble metals and inert gas atoms, have a stable structure made from staggered pentagons with a linear chain perpendicular to the planes of the pentagons and passing through their centers. This structure exhibits bond angles close to those in the icosahedral structure. However, silicon is found to be energetically more favorable in the eclipsed pentagonal structure. These quasi one dimensional pentagonal nanowires have higher cohesive energies than many other one dimensional structures and hence may be realized experimentally. The effect of magnetic state are examined by spin-polarized calculations. The origin of the stability are discussed by examining optimized structural parameters, charge density and electronic band structure, and by using analysis based on the empirical Lennard-Jones type interaction. Electronic band structure of pentagonal wires of different elements are discussed and their effects on quantum ballistic conductance are mentioned. It is found that the pentagonal wire of silicon exhibits metallic band structure.Comment: 4 figures, accepted for publication in Phys. Rev.