POLICY OPTIONS FOR OPEN BORDERS IN RELATION TO ANIMAL AND PLANT PROTECTION AND FOOD SAFETY

Agricultural and Food Policy, Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety, International Relations/Trade,

Discreteness without symmetry breaking: a theorem

This paper concerns sprinklings into Minkowski space (Poisson processes). It proves that there exists no equivariant measurable map from sprinklings to spacetime directions (even locally). Therefore, if a discrete structure is associated to a sprinkling in an intrinsic manner, then the structure will not pick out a preferred frame, locally or globally. This implies that the discreteness of a sprinkled causal set will not give rise to ``Lorentz breaking'' effects like modified dispersion relations. Another consequence is that there is no way to associate a finite-valency graph to a sprinkling consistently with Lorentz invariance.Comment: 7 pages, laTe

Normal cochlear lateral wall permeability to fluorescent macromolecules

Damage to the stria vascularis resulting in leakage of macromolecules from the capillaries has been indicated in research as undermining the endocochlear potential. Results indicate normal paracellular diffusion and caveolae-mediated transcytosis, suggesting normal permeability that does not necessitate pathology or undermine the endocochlear potential

Aquatic Insects as Inhalant Allergens : A Review of American Literature

Author Institution: University of Vermont, Burlington, Vermonthis article reviews American literature concerning the matter of certain aquatic insects as causes of allergic distress. The effects of bites and stings are not included. Mayflies (Ephemeroptera) were cited as a cause of hay fever as early as 1913. Inhalation of body fragments of mayflies is believed to be the causative agent. Similar medical histories are associated with the caddisflies (Trichoptera). The incidence of sensitivity to these insects is sufficiently large to consider this problem to be of general medical interest. Some evidence indicates that persons continually exposed to these insects could develop sensitivities to them. Allergists are now studying the biochemical and immunological aspects of insect allergy. A selected list of references is included with the articl

Environmental study of ERTS-1 imagery: Lake Champlain and Vermont

Environmental concerns of the State of Vermont currently being stressed include water quality in Lake Champlain and a state-wide land use and capability plan. Significant results obtained from ERTS-1 relate directly to the above concerns. Industrial water pollution and turbidity in Lake Champlain have been identified and mapped and the ERTS pollution data will be used in the developing court suit which Vermont has initiated against the polluters. ERTS imagery has also provided a foundation for updating and revising land use inventories. Major classes of land use have been identified and mapped, and substantial progress has been made toward the mapping of such land use divisions as crop and forest type, and wetlands

The effect of indentation force and displacement on visual perception of compliance

This paper investigates the effect of maximum indentation force and depth on people's ability to accurately discriminate compliance using indirect visual information only. Participants took part in two psychophysical experiments in which they were asked to choose the 'softest' sample out of a series of presented sample pairs. In the experiments, participants observed a computer-actuated tip indent the sample pairs to one of two conditions; maximum depth (10mm) or maximum force (4N). This indentation process simulates tool operated palpation in laparoscopic surgery. Results were used to plot psychometric functions as a measure of accuracy of compliance discriminability. A comparison indicated that participants performed best in the task where they judged samples being indented to a pre-set maximum force relying solely on visual cues, which demonstrates the effect of visual information on compliance discrimination. Results also show that indentation cues such as force and deformation depth have different effects on our ability to visually discriminate compliance. These findings will inform future work on designing a haptic feedback system capable of augmenting visual and haptic information independently for optimal compliance discrimination performance

The Returns to Insulation Upgrades: Results from a Mixed Engineering Econometric Model

This paper estimates a new model of residential electricity demand. It differs from previous work in two ways. First, we utilize individual monthly billing data in a pooled time-series/cross-section framework. Second, we use an engineering/thermal load technique to model the household apace-heating technology. This allows more precise separation of the effects of economic variables from those of weather, and permits simulation of the effects of various conservation policies. We estimate the model using data from the Pacific Northwest, and use the results to analyze three conservation measures: a price increase, a reduction in thermostat settings, and an improvement of insulation levels. We find average rates of return for insulation upgrades of 4.9 percent for ceilings and 8.3 percent for walls