Analysing options for the Red Gum Forests along the Murray River

The Victorian Environmental Assessment Council is conducting an investigation into the management of the public land River Red Gum Forests of the Murray River Valley in Victoria. In this paper the authors apply the results of an earlier Choice Modelling exercise commissioned by VEAC to estimate the non-use values of the forests. A Benefit Cost Analysis of VEAC's draft recommendations included assessment of the market and non market values associated with different River Red Gum forest management strategies. It is concluded that the use of water for environmental flows is competitive with its use for irrigation. Other economic values associated with timber harvesting, grazing and duck hunting are small in comparison with the water values.Choice Modelling, Environment, River Red Gums, Benefit Cost Analysis, Water Resources, Land Economics/Use, Resource /Energy Economics and Policy,

Valuing the Protection of Victorian Forests: Murray River Red Gums, and East Gippsland

The Victorian Environmental Assessment Council, in developing recommendations for the Victorian Government on the future management of public lands forests along he Murray River, and in East Gippsland, commissioned an analysis of environmental protections values. This paper reports the results of a choice modeling application that provides that analysis. Values for improved environmental conditions, as described by attributes relating to the forest composition, its wildlife characteristics and recreational opportunities, were estimated for sub-samples of households in Melbourne and in various regions around Victoria. The usefulness of the results as inputs to benefit cost analyses of policy alternatives is assessed.forests, Victoria, choice modeling, benefit cost analysis, Environmental Economics and Policy,

The Nature and Location of Quantum Information

Quantum information is defined by applying the concepts of ordinary (Shannon) information theory to a quantum sample space consisting of a single framework or consistent family. A classical analogy for a spin-half particle and other arguments show that the infinite amount of information needed to specify a precise vector in its Hilbert space is not a measure of the information carried by a quantum entity with a $d$-dimensional Hilbert space; the latter is, instead, bounded by log d bits (1 bit per qubit). The two bits of information transmitted in dense coding are located not in one but in the correlation between two qubits, consistent with this bound. A quantum channel can be thought of as a "structure" or collection of frameworks, and the physical location of the information in the individual frameworks can be used to identify the location of the channel. Analysis of a quantum circuit used as a model of teleportation shows that the location of the channel depends upon which structure is employed; for ordinary teleportation it is not (contrary to Deutsch and Hayden) present in the two bits resulting from the Bell-basis measurement, but in correlations of these with a distant qubit. In neither teleportation nor dense coding does information travel backwards in time, nor is it transmitted by nonlocal (superluminal) influences. It is (tentatively) proposed that all aspects of quantum information can in principle be understood in terms of the (basically classical) behavior of information in a particular framework, along with the framework dependence of this information.Comment: Latex 29 pages, uses PSTricks for figure

Comparing choice models of river health improvement for the Goulburn River

The extent of the benefits of improved river health remain uncertain. Quantifying these benefits is useful in prioritising policy investments. This study uses the Choice Modelling technique to estimate the value that households attach to attributes of improved river health. Data from a choice modelling survey supported by DSE Victoria are employed to elicit household preferences in a case study of the Goulburn River. Results from conditional and nested logit model specifications indicate that respondents hold positive values for higher levels of fish and bird populations and for increasing riverside vegetation. The standard Hausman test for Independence-from-Irrelevant-Alternatives (IIA) assumptions violations is found to give inconsistent results. The value estimates of the conditional and nested logit models are shown to be statistically similar indicating that testing for IIA violation may be more complicated than currently assumed thus raising questions about the efficacy of the more complex nested logit model.Cheap talk, choice modelling, Mekong River Delta, wetland values, willingness to pay, Resource /Energy Economics and Policy, Q25,

Quantum identification system

A secure quantum identification system combining a classical identification procedure and quantum key distribution is proposed. Each identification sequence is always used just once and new sequences are ``refuelled'' from a shared provably secret key transferred through the quantum channel. Two identification protocols are devised. The first protocol can be applied when legitimate users have an unjammable public channel at their disposal. The deception probability is derived for the case of a noisy quantum channel. The second protocol employs unconditionally secure authentication of information sent over the public channel, and thus it can be applied even in the case when an adversary is allowed to modify public communications. An experimental realization of a quantum identification system is described.Comment: RevTeX, 4 postscript figures, 9 pages, submitted to Physical Review

Calculation of steady and unsteady pressures at supersonic speeds with CAP-TSD

A finite difference technique is used to solve the transonic small disturbance flow equation making use of shock capturing to treat wave discontinuities. Thus the nonlinear effects of thickness and angle of attack are considered. Such an approach is made feasible by the development of a new code called CAP-TSD (Computational Aeroelasticity Program - Transonic Small Disturbance), and is based on a fully implicit approximate factorization (AF) finite difference method to solve the time dependent transonic small disturbance equation. The application of the CAP-TSD code to the calculation of low to moderate supersonic steady and unsteady flows is presented. In particular, comparisons with exact linear theory solutions are made for steady and unsteady cases to evaluate shock capturing and other features of the current method. In addition, steady solutions obtained from an Euler code are used to evaluate the small disturbance aspects of the code. Steady and unsteady pressure comparisons are made with measurements for an F-15 wing model and for the RAE tailplane model

Targeting the Relaxin Pathway for Liver Disease Treatment

Hepatic fibrosis is a progressive disease with few treatment options outside of transplantation. Relaxin is a member of the insulin/relaxin superfamily of peptide hormones. Originally known for its roles in pregnancy, relaxin promotes reproductive tissue remodelling and regulates vascular changes, including increased arterial compliance and reduced vascular resistance. Outside of pregnancy, relaxin plays a major role in the protection of organs from excess extracellular matrix accumulation, as demonstrated by the relaxin-null mouse, which develops widespread fibrosis with ageing. Relaxin reduces scarring due to excess collagen deposition by inhibiting collagen production while simultaneously promoting its degradation and can reduce established fibrosis in several animal models of extracellular matrix-associated disease, including liver fibrosis. Treatment with relaxin reduces the myofibroblastic phenotype of activated hepatic stellate cells, the major hepatic collagen-producing cell in fibrosis and cirrhosis. Relaxin also has haemodynamic effects, including vasodilation, and can reduce portal hypertension associated with cirrhosis. In this review, a brief overview of hepatic fibrosis and the role of the hepatic stellate cell will be presented, followed by an introduction to relaxin and its actions. The use of relaxin to treat preclinical models of fibrotic diseases, including liver diseases, will also be discussed. Finally, the completed, current, and ongoing clinical trials of relaxin in human disease will be described, followed by the limitations and future directions for the use of relaxin for disease treatment

Salmonella surveillance trends in porcine Salmonellae in GB: 1996- 2002

Comparison of serotype, phagetype prevalence and antimicrobial resistance profiles for 2002 with data from previous years shows an overall decrease in the number of Salmonella incidents in pigs. Nonetheless, the most frequently isolated serotypes remain unchanged, with an increase in S. Typhimurium incidents. The incidence of antimicrobial resistance for all Salmonella isolates from pigs during the study period showed increasing resistance trends to tetracycline and sulphamethoxazole/trimethoprim. However, the isolates remained sensitive to the majority of antibiotics in the screening panel

Relaxin Activates Peroxisome Proliferator-activated Receptor ƴ (PPAR\u3csub\u3eƴ\u3c/sub\u3e) through a Pathway Involving PPAR \u3csub\u3eƴ\u3c/sub\u3e Coactivator 1α (PGC1α)

Background: Relaxin activates peroxisome proliferator-activated receptorƴ (PPARƴ) by an unknown PPARƴ ligandindependent mechanism. Results: Expression of PPARƴ coactivator 1α (PGC1α) was increased by relaxin through distinct signaling pathways. Conclusion: The mechanism for relaxin regulation of PPARƴ is through increased PGC1α levels. Significance: Discovery of new targets of relaxin signaling may provide further understanding of its pleiotropic effects