COULD WELFARE OPTIMALITY BE ACHIEVED WITH EXTENSIVE DATA INFORMATION?

This paper examines whether the Danish management system achieves welfare maximisation. For cod in the North Sea, Skagerrak, and Kattegat, rations are used. It is shown that rations raise substantial information requirements and that the existing allocation of rations is inoptimal. In addition, a linear programming model is used to show that there is considerable overcapacity in the Danish trawler fleet in the Baltic Sea. Danish fisheries managers have access to an extensive data set, and with the available information it would be possible to secure a welfare optimum.Resource /Energy Economics and Policy,

Engaging the neighbours. Australia and ASEAN since 1974

From modest beginnings in 1967, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) has become the premier regional institution in Southeast Asia. The 10 members are pursuing cooperation to develop the ‘ASEAN Community’ and also sponsor wider dialogues that involve the major powers. Australia has been interested in ASEAN since its inauguration and was the first country to establish a multilateral link with the Association, in 1974. Australia and ASEAN have subsequently engaged and cooperated on many issues of mutual concern, including efforts to secure an agreement to resolve the Cambodia conflict (signed in 1991), the initiation of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation grouping (1989) and the ASEAN Regional Forum (1994), the conclusion of the ASEAN–Australia–New Zealand Free Trade Agreement (signed in 2008) and the development of the East Asia Summit (from 2005). This book provides the first available detailed history of the evolution of Australia’s interactions with ASEAN. It assesses the origins and phases of development of Australia’s relations with ASEAN; the role ASEAN has played in Australian foreign policy since the 1970s; the ways in which the two sides have collaborated, and at times disagreed, in the pursuit of regional stability and security; and the key factors that will influence the relationship as it moves into its fifth decade

ASEAN and regional cooperation: recent developments and Australia’s interests

This paper seeks to provide a concise survey of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN)\u27s recent progress and major policy emphases and challenges.IntroductionThe Association of Southeast Asian nations (ASEAN) is the premier regional grouping in East Asia. It is widely credited for its substantial contribution to making Southeast Asia more stable and more prosperous than might otherwise have been the case. ASEAN has also played a major role as sponsor of wider regional cooperation groupings which provide forums for the Southeast Asian states, the major powers and other interested countries (including Australia) to discuss and coordinate approaches to regional issues.After a cautious beginning in 1967, ASEAN has attained a high international profile. However, pursuing cooperation among its very diverse members has never been an easy task. In the past decade it has struggled with the challenges of trying to both deepen cooperation and maintain unity, when its members remain highly sensitive about their own rights to national sovereignty. ASEAN’s desired image of congenial discussion and capacity for peaceful change has recently been dented by incidences of conflict between members, including a border dispute between Thailand and Cambodia and (in 2013) the re-emergence of discord (involving the Philippines and Malaysia) over the status of the Malaysian state of Sabah. ASEAN is also experiencing pressure in relation to the competing territorial claims in the South China Sea which involve four ASEAN members along with China and also the government in Taiwan. Tensions over South China Sea issues saw the ASEAN Foreign Ministers unable to issue an agreed communique after their meeting in Phnom Penh in July 2012, for the first time in forty-five years. ASEAN’s ongoing success thus cannot be taken for granted.ASEAN is a significant partner for Australia. Australia has had a multilateral relationship with ASEAN since 1974 and will mark the 40th anniversary of this next year. Since the 1970s, Australia-ASEAN cooperation has involved both efforts to enhance regional security, for example through the Cambodia peace process (1991–1993) and through development of the ASEAN Regional Forum (from 1994) and the East Asia Summit (from 2005), and regional economic cooperation (including the multilateral ASEAN-Australia-New Zealand Free Trade Agreement adopted in 2009).This paper seeks to provide a concise survey of ASEAN’s recent progress and major policy emphases and challenges. Section I outlines ASEAN’s inauguration and development and the Association’s efforts to deepen its own cooperation by pursuing development of the ASEAN Economic Community, the ASEAN Political-Security Community and the ASEAN Socio-Cultural Community. Section II discusses ASEAN’s efforts to develop wider cooperation in East Asia, in the context of the often tense and competitive relations among the major powers, particularly through the ASEAN Regional Forum, the ASEAN Plus Three process and the East Asia Summit. The paper in Section III considers recent challenges confronting ASEAN in pursuing cooperation and maintaining cohesion, including contested interests in the South China Sea, the political transition in Myanmar, ASEAN’s institutional capacities and the issue of potential membership for Timor-Leste. The paper concludes in Section IV with an assessment of Australia’s current major policy interests in relations with ASEAN, including in economic relations, political interactions, and cooperation in the development of wider regional dialogues

Orientation‐dependent nanostructuring of titanium surfaces by low‐energy ion beam erosion

Regular nanoscopic ripple and dot patterns are fabricated on poly-crystalline titanium samples by irradiation with 1.5 keV argon ions at normal incidence. The morphology of the nanostructures is investigated by scanning electron microscopy and scanning force microscopy. The ripple structures exhibit a saw-tooth cross-section profile. Electron backscatter diffraction experiments are performed to analyze the local grain structure. The study suggests a distinct correlation of the nanostructure morphology to the crystallographic orientation of the titanium surface

Reactive ion beam figuring of optical aluminium surfaces

Ultra-smooth and arbitrarily shaped reflective optics are necessary for further progress in EUV/XUV lithography, x-ray and synchrotron technology. As one of the most important technological mirror optic materials, aluminium behaves in a rather difficult way in ultra-precision machining with such standard techniques as diamond-turning and subsequent ion beam figuring (IBF). In particular, in the latter, a strong surface roughening is obtained. Hence, up to now it has not been possible to attain the surface qualities required for UV or just visible spectral range applications. To overcome the limitations mainly caused by the aluminium alloy structural and compositional conditions, a reactive ion beam machining process using oxygen process gas is evaluated. To clarify the principle differences in the effect of oxygen gas contrary to oxygen ions on aluminium surface machining, we firstly focus on chemical-assisted ion beam etching (CAIBE) and reactive ion beam etching (RIBE) experiments in a phenomenological manner. Then, the optimum process route will be explored within a more quantitative analysis applying the concept of power spectral density (PSD) for a sophisticated treatment of the surface topography. Eventually, the surface composition is examined by means of dynamic secondary ion mass spectrometry (SIMS) suggesting a characteristic model scheme for the chemical modification of the aluminium surface during oxygen ion beam machining. Monte Carlo simulations were applied to achieve a more detailed process conception

Isotropic Oscillator Under a Magnetic and Spatially Varying Electric Field

We investigate the energy levels of a particle confined in the isotropic oscillator potential with a magnetic and spatially varying electric field. Here we are able to exactly solve the Schrodinger equation, using matrix methods, for the first excited states. To this end we find that the spatial gradient of the electric field acts as a magnetic field in certain circumstances. Here we present the changes in the energy levels as functions of the electric field, and other parameters

Relative transcript quantification by Quantitative PCR: Roughly right or precisely wrong?

BACKGROUND: When estimating relative transcript abundances by quantitative real-time PCR (Q-PCR) we found that the results can vary dramatically depending on the method chosen for data analysis. RESULTS: Analyses of Q-PCR results from a salmon louse starvation experiment show that, even with apparently good raw data, different analytical approaches [1,2] may lead to opposing biological conclusions. CONCLUSION: The results emphasise the importance of being cautious when analysing Q-PCR data and indicate that uncritical routine application of an analytical method will eventually result in incorrect conclusions. We do not know the extent of, or have a universal solution to this problem. However, we strongly recommend caution when analysing Q-PCR results e.g. by using two or more analytical approaches to validate conclusions. In our view a common effort should be made to standardise methods for analysis and validation of Q-PCR results

A Briefing on Metrics and Risks for Autonomous Decision-Making in Aerospace Applications

Significant technology advances will enable future aerospace systems to safely and reliably make decisions autonomously, or without human interaction. The decision-making may result in actions that enable an aircraft or spacecraft in an off-nominal state or with slightly degraded components to achieve mission performance and safety goals while reducing or avoiding damage to the aircraft or spacecraft. Some key technology enablers for autonomous decision-making include: a continuous state awareness through the maturation of the prognostics health management field, novel sensor development, and the considerable gains made in computation power and data processing bandwidth versus system size. Sophisticated algorithms and physics based models coupled with these technological advances allow reliable assessment of a system, subsystem, or components. Decisions that balance mission objectives and constraints with remaining useful life predictions can be made autonomously to maintain safety requirements, optimal performance, and ensure mission objectives. This autonomous approach to decision-making will come with new risks and benefits, some of which will be examined in this paper. To start, an account of previous work to categorize or quantify autonomy in aerospace systems will be presented. In addition, a survey of perceived risks in autonomous decision-making in the context of piloted aircraft and remotely piloted or completely autonomous unmanned autonomous systems (UAS) will be presented based on interviews that were conducted with individuals from industry, academia, and government

Dark neutrino interactions make gravitational waves blue

New interactions of neutrinos can stop them from free streaming in the early Universe even after the weak decoupling epoch. This results in the enhancement of the primordial gravitational wave amplitude on small scales compared to the standard $\Lambda$CDM prediction. In this paper we calculate the effect of dark matter neutrino interactions in CMB tensor $B$-modes spectrum. We show that the effect of new neutrino interactions generates a scale or $\ell$ dependent imprint in the CMB $B$-modes power spectrum at $\ell \gtrsim 100$. In the event that primordial $B$-modes are detected by future experiments, a departure from scale invariance, with a blue spectrum, may not necessarily mean failure of simple inflationary models but instead may be a sign of non-standard interactions of relativistic particles. New interactions of neutrinos also induce a phase shift in the CMB B-mode power spectrum which cannot be mimicked by simple modifications of the primordial tensor power spectrum. There is rich information hidden in the CMB $B$-modes spectrum beyond just the tensor to scalar ratio.Comment: 31 pages, 10 figures. Version published in Phys. Rev.

Ripple coarsening on ion beam-eroded surfaces

The temporal evolution of ripple pattern on Ge, Si, Al(2)O(3), and SiO(2) by low-energy ion beam erosion with Xe (+) ions is studied. The experiments focus on the ripple dynamics in a fluence range from 1.1 × 10(17) cm(-2) to 1.3 × 10(19) cm(-2) at ion incidence angles of 65° and 75° and ion energies of 600 and 1,200 eV. At low fluences a short-wavelength ripple structure emerges on the surface that is superimposed and later on dominated by long wavelength structures for increasing fluences. The coarsening of short wavelength ripples depends on the material system and angle of incidence. These observations are associated with the influence of reflected primary ions and gradient-dependent sputtering. The investigations reveal that coarsening of the pattern is a universal behavior for all investigated materials, just at the earliest accessible stage of surface evolution