13,944 research outputs found
Birds observed at Ghubrah Bowl, Saiq Plateau and Jabal Shams, Northern Oman; 19 March-26 April 2005 with comments on their status and population
The current study was part of a series of environment related studies of the Jabal Akhdar sponsored by the Sultan Qaboos University, Al Khoud, Sultanate of Oman. The present study aimed to establish the range, habitat, status and population of breeding species in the area, review the historical perspective and list migrant and visitor species noted during the survey
Flora, fauna and natural habitats recorded during field observations along the Shabab 1 Pipeline (Abqaiq to Rub al Khali) and in the Shaybah Oilfield, Rub al Khali, Eastern Province, Saudi Arabia: 24 May - 1 June 2010
During the period 24 May to 1 June 2010 observations were made of the flora, fauna and habitats of two study areas in the Rub al Khali in the Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia. Firstly the route of an existing pipeline, known as Shabab 1, which runs from the Jafurah desert south of Abqaiq to a point 211 km west of the Shaybah oil field, a distance of 422 km. Secondly the Shaybah oilfield area (administered by Saudi ARAMCO), paying particular attention to the sites listed at paragraph 6. (See also the map at Fig. 1.) In the following paragraphs the two sites are often identified simply as Shabab and Shaybah
Political economics and normative analysis
The approaches and opinions of economists often dominate public policy discussion. Economists have gained this privileged position partly (or perhaps mainly) because of the obvious relevance of their subject matter, but also because of the unified methodology (neo-classical economics) that the vast majority of modern economists bring to their analysis of policy problems and proposed solutions. The idea of Pareto efficiency and its potential trade-off with equity is a central idea that is understood by all economists and this common language provides the economics profession with a powerful voice in public affairs. The purpose of this paper is to review and reflect upon the way in which economists find themselves analysing and providing suggestions for social improvements and how this role has changed over roughly the last 60 years. We focus on the fundamental split in the public economics tradition between those that adhere to public finance and those that adhere to public choice. A pure public finance perspective views failures in society as failures of the market. The solutions are technical, as might be enacted by a benevolent dictator. The pure public choice view accepts (sometimes grudgingly) that markets may fail, but so, it insists, does politics. This signals institutional reforms to constrain the potential for political failure. Certain policy recommendations may be viewed as compatible with both traditions, but other policy proposals will be the opposite of that proposed within the other tradition. In recent years a political economics synthesis emerged. This accepts that institutions are very important and governments require constraints, but that some degree of benevolence on the part of policy makers should not be assumed non-existent. The implications for public policy from this approach are, however, much less clear and perhaps more piecemeal. We also discuss analyses of systematic failure, not so much on the part of markets or politicians, but by voters. Most clearly this could lead to populism and relaxing the idea that voters necessarily choose their interests. The implications for public policy are addressed. Throughout the paper we will relate the discussion to the experience of UK government policy-making
Using Similarity Criteria to Make Negotiation Trade-Offs
This paper addresses the issues involved in software agents making trade-offs during automated negotiations in which they have information uncertainty and resource limitations. In particular, the importance of being able to make trade-offs in real-world applications is highlighted and a novel algorithm for performing trade-offs for multi-dimensional goods is developed. The algorithm uses the notion of fuzzy similarity in order to find negotiation solutions that are beneficial to both parties. Empirical results indicate the benefits and effectiveness of the trade-off algorithm in a range of negotiation situations
SOME ISSUES CONCERNING SPECIFICATION AND INTERPRETATION OF OUTDOOR RECREATION DEMAND MODELS
Resource /Energy Economics and Policy,
ASPIRE-2-PREVENT: lifestyle and risk factor management and use of cardioprotective medication in coronary patients in the UK
Instabilities and turbulence in highly ionized plasmas in a magnetic field Semiannual status report, 1 Sep. 1970 - 28 Feb. 1971
Instabilities and turbulence in highly ionized plasmas in magnetic field related to problems of thrustors for manned space flight and plasma generated energ
Aspire-2-Prevent: A British Cardiovascular Society Survey on the Lifestyle and Risk Factor Management and Use of Cardioprotective Medication in Coronary Patients in the Uk
Irradiated asymmetric Friedmann branes
We consider a Friedmann brane moving in a bulk impregnated by radiation. The
setup is strongly asymmetric, with only one black hole in the bulk. The
radiation emitted by this bulk black hole can be reflected, absorbed or
transmitted through the brane. Radiation pressure accelerates the brane,
behaving as dark energy. Absorption however generates a competing effect: the
brane becomes heavier and gravitational attraction increases. We analyse the
model numerically, assuming a total absorbtion on the brane for k=1. We
conclude that due to the two competing effects, in this asymmetric scenario the
Hawking radiation from the bulk black hole is not able to change the
recollapsing fate of this brane-world universe. We show that for light branes
and early times the radiation pressure is the dominant effect. In contrast, for
heavy branes the self-gravity of the absorbed radiation is a much stronger
effect. We find the critical value of the initial energy density for which
these two effects roughly cancel each other.Comment: 27 pages, 12 figure
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