852 research outputs found
The Economic Incidence of R&D and Promotion Investments in the Australian Beef Industry
The issue of the relative returns to farmers from R&D and promotion is examined using a multi-sectoral equilibrium displacement model of the Australian beef industry. Total economic surplus changes and their distributions among various industry groups resulting from 1% cost reductions in various farm and off-farm sectors, and from 1% price premiums from domestic and export market promotion, are estimated. The results are consistent with previous studies in showing that in general, the share of total benefits to farmers is larger from on-farm research than from most off-farm research, and is larger from most types of research than from domestic promotion. The share of total benefits to farmers is larger from export promotion than from off-farm research, and from domestic promotion. The net returns from the different cost-reduction or demand-enhancing scenarios depend on the costs of achieving them.Economics of R&D, promotion, beef industry, equilibrium displacement modelling.
Many worlds in one
A generic prediction of inflation is that the thermalized region we inhabit
is spatially infinite. Thus, it contains an infinite number of regions of the
same size as our observable universe, which we shall denote as \O-regions. We
argue that the number of possible histories which may take place inside of an
\O-region, from the time of recombination up to the present time, is finite.
Hence, there are an infinite number of \O-regions with identical histories up
to the present, but which need not be identical in the future. Moreover, all
histories which are not forbidden by conservation laws will occur in a finite
fraction of all \O-regions. The ensemble of \O-regions is reminiscent of
the ensemble of universes in the many-world picture of quantum mechanics. An
important difference, however, is that other \O-regions are unquestionably
real.Comment: 9 pages, 2 figures, comments and references adde
Born reciprocity and the 1/r potential
Many structures in nature are invariant under the transformation
(p,r)->(br,-p/b), where b is some scale factor. Born's reciprocity hypothesis
affirms that this invariance extends to the entire Hamiltonian and equations of
motion. We investigate this idea for atomic physics and galactic motion, where
one is basically dealing with a 1/r potential and the observations are very
accurate, so as to determine the scale . We find that an Hz has essentially no effect on atomic physics but
might possibly offer an explanation for galactic rotation, without invoking
dark matter.Comment: 14 pages, with 4 figures, Latex, requires epsf.tex and iop style
file
A high throughput zebrafish chemical screen reveals ALK5 and non-canonical androgen signalling as modulators of the pkd2â/â phenotype
Autosomal dominant polycystic kidney disease (ADPKD) is the most common monogenic cause of end-stage renal failure in humans and results from germline mutations in PKD1 or PKD2. Despite the recent approval of tolvaptan, safer and more effective alternative drugs are clearly needed to slow disease progression. As a first step in drug discovery, we conducted an unbiased chemical screen on zebrafish pkd2 mutant embryos using two publicly available compound libraries (Spectrum, PKIS) totalling 2,367 compounds to identify novel treatments for ADPKD. Using dorsal tail curvature as the assay readout, three major chemical classes (steroids, coumarins, flavonoids) were identified from the Spectrum library as the most promising candidates to be tested on human PKD1 cystic cells. Amongst these were an androgen, 5뱉androstane 3,17-dione, detected as the strongest enhancer of the pkd2 phenotype but whose effect was found to be independent of the canonical androgen receptor pathway. From the PKIS library, we identified several ALK5 kinase inhibitors as strong suppressors of the pkd2 tail phenotype and in vitro cyst expansion. In summary, our results identify ALK5 and non-canonical androgen receptors as potential therapeutic targets for further evaluation in drug development for ADPKD
Prepotential and Instanton Corrections in N=2 Supersymmetric SU(N_1)xSU(N_2) Yang Mills Theories
In this paper we analyse the non-hyperelliptic Seiberg-Witten curves derived
from M-theory that encode the low energy solution of N=2 supersymmetric
theories with product gauge groups. We consider the case of a SU(N_1)xSU(N_2)
gauge theory with a hypermultiplet in the bifundamental representation together
with matter in the fundamental representations of SU(N_1) and SU(N_2). By means
of the Riemann bilinear relations that hold on the Riemann surface defined by
the Seiberg--Witten curve, we compute the logarithmic derivative of the
prepotential with respect to the quantum scales of both gauge groups. As an
application we develop a method to compute recursively the instanton
corrections to the prepotential in a straightforward way. We present explicit
formulas for up to third order on both quantum scales. Furthermore, we extend
those results to SU(N) gauge theories with a matter hypermultiplet in the
symmetric and antisymmetric representation. We also present some non-trivial
checks of our results.Comment: 21 pages, 2 figures, minor changes and references adde
Aspects of electrostatics in a weak gravitational field
Several features of electrostatics of point charged particles in a weak,
homogeneous, gravitational field are discussed using the Rindler metric to
model the gravitational field. Some previously known results are obtained by
simpler and more transparent procedures and are interpreted in an intuitive
manner. Specifically: (i) We show that the electrostatic potential of a charge
at rest in the Rindler frame is expressible as A_0=(q/l) where l is the affine
parameter distance along the null geodesic from the charge to the field point.
(ii) We obtain the sum of the electrostatic forces exerted by one charge on
another in the Rindler frame and discuss its interpretation. (iii) We show how
a purely electrostatic term in the Rindler frame appears as a radiation term in
the inertial frame. (In part, this arises because charges at rest in a weak
gravitational field possess additional weight due to their electrostatic
energy. This weight is proportional to the acceleration and falls inversely
with distance -- which are the usual characteristics of a radiation field.)
(iv) We also interpret the origin of the radiation reaction term by extending
our approach to include a slowly varying acceleration. Many of these results
might have possible extensions for the case of electrostatics in an arbitrary
static geometry. [Abridged Abstract]Comment: 26 pages; accepted for publication in Gen.Rel.Gra
Hidden sl(2,R) Symmetry in 2D CFTs and the Wave Function of 3D Quantum Gravity
We show that all two-dimensional conformal field theories possess a hidden
sl(2,R) affine symmetry. More precisely, we add appropriate ghost fields to an
arbitrary CFT, and we use them to construct the currents of sl(2,R). We then
define a BRST operator whose cohomology defines a physical subspace where the
extended theory coincides with the original CFT. We use the sl(2,R) algebra to
construct candidate wave functions for 3-d quantum gravity coupled to matter,
and we discuss their viability.Comment: Minor misprints corrected.Eight references added. To appear in
JHEP.34 pages, LaTe
Closed geodesics and billiards on quadrics related to elliptic KdV solutions
We consider algebraic geometrical properties of the integrable billiard on a
quadric Q with elastic impacts along another quadric confocal to Q. These
properties are in sharp contrast with those of the ellipsoidal Birkhoff
billiards. Namely, generic complex invariant manifolds are not Abelian
varieties, and the billiard map is no more algebraic. A Poncelet-like theorem
for such system is known. We give explicit sufficient conditions both for
closed geodesics and periodic billiard orbits on Q and discuss their relation
with the elliptic KdV solutions and elliptic Calogero systemComment: 23 pages, Latex, 1 figure Postscrip
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A Web Map Service implementation for the visualization of multidimensional gridded environmental data
We describe ncWMS, an implementation of the Open Geospatial Consortiumâs Web Map Service
(WMS) specification for multidimensional gridded environmental data. ncWMS can read data in a
large number of common scientific data formats â notably the NetCDF format with the Climate and
Forecast conventions â then efficiently generate map imagery in thousands of different coordinate
reference systems. It is designed to require minimal configuration from the system administrator
and, when used in conjunction with a suitable client tool, provides end users with an interactive
means for visualizing data without the need to download large files or interpret complex metadata.
It is also used as a âbridgingâ tool providing interoperability between the environmental science
community and users of geographic information systems. ncWMS implements a number of
extensions to the WMS standard in order to fulfil some common scientific requirements, including
the ability to generate plots representing timeseries and vertical sections. We discuss these
extensions and their impact upon present and future interoperability. We discuss the conceptual
mapping between the WMS data model and the data models used by gridded data formats,
highlighting areas in which the mapping is incomplete or ambiguous. We discuss the architecture of
the system and particular technical innovations of note, including the algorithms used for fast data
reading and image generation. ncWMS has been widely adopted within the environmental data
community and we discuss some of the ways in which the software is integrated within data
infrastructures and portals
Diffeomorphisms as Symplectomorphisms in History Phase Space: Bosonic String Model
The structure of the history phase space of a covariant field system
and its history group (in the sense of Isham and Linden) is analyzed on an
example of a bosonic string. The history space includes the time map
from the spacetime manifold (the two-sheet) to a
one-dimensional time manifold as one of its configuration variables. A
canonical history action is posited on such that its restriction to
the configuration history space yields the familiar Polyakov action. The
standard Dirac-ADM action is shown to be identical with the canonical history
action, the only difference being that the underlying action is expressed in
two different coordinate charts on . The canonical history action
encompasses all individual Dirac-ADM actions corresponding to different choices
of foliating . The history Poisson brackets of spacetime fields
on induce the ordinary Poisson brackets of spatial fields in the
instantaneous phase space of the Dirac-ADM formalism. The
canonical history action is manifestly invariant both under spacetime
diffeomorphisms Diff and temporal diffeomorphisms Diff. Both of
these diffeomorphisms are explicitly represented by symplectomorphisms on the
history phase space . The resulting classical history phase space
formalism is offered as a starting point for projection operator quantization
and consistent histories interpretation of the bosonic string model.Comment: 45 pages, no figure
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