The Richard commission and the financing of devolved government : the economics of devolution in Wales: Briefing No. 8

If the Barnett formula is rigorously applied to determine the budget of the Welsh Assembly Government, this will ultimately adversely affect the economy of Wales by limiting the growth in aggregate demand. This effect is reinforced now that population weights determining rises in expenditure in Wales (and Scotland and Northern Ireland) are regularly up-dated. There is some controversy in Wales about whether some form of needs-assessment exercise would favour Wales relative to its current position. What is clear is that the outcome of a rigorous, long term application of the Barnett formula would be a share of UK public expenditures in Wales (and Scotland and Northern Ireland) that was almost certainly below the level that would be dictated by any conventional understanding of 'needs'. The impact of the tax-varying power favoured by the Richard Commission is ambiguous, with the direction of effects dependent on the reaction of the current labour force and potential migrants. If workers insist on full compensation for loss of income to tax through a rise in gross wages a tax rise would lead to an economic contraction. However, if workers value the additional public services financed by the tax rise as equal to their loss of disposable income, this effect can be avoided. Much in other words would depend on how the proceeds of the tax rise were spen

Non-Abelian (p,q) Strings in the Warped Deformed Conifold

We calculate the tension of $(p,q)$-strings in the warped deformed conifold using the non-Abelian DBI action. In the large flux limit, we find exact agreement with the recent expression obtained by Firouzjahi, Leblond and Henry-Tye up to and including order $1/M^2$ terms if $q$ is also taken to be large. Furthermore using the finite $q$ prescription for the symmetrised trace operation we anticipate the most general expression for the tension valid for any $(p,q)$. We find that even in this instance, corrections to the tension scale as $1/M^2$ which is not consistent with simple Casimir scaling.Comment: 18 pages, Latex, 1 figure; Added a discussion of the case when the warp factor parameter $b\neq 1$ and typos correcte

Non-photorefractive cw Tm-indiffused Ti:LiNbO₃ waveguide laser operating at room temperature

We report laser operation at 1.81µm and 1.85µm in a Tm3+:LiNbO3 Ti-diffused waveguide doped by thermal indiffusion at high temperature. We believe this is the first time lasing has been seen in Tm:LiNbO3 at room temperature. Continuous-wave operation was achieved at room temperature with a threshold of ~42 mW absorbed power. The output power was observed to be stable, without any sign of photorefractive damage

Thermally indiffused Tm³⁺:LiNbO₃ waveguide lasers

Rare earth doped LiNbO3 is an interesting laser host as it has nonlinear, electro-optic and acousto-optic properties. Low-loss waveguides can also be made in this material and then combined with thermal indiffusion of the laser dopant. LiNbO3 can also be periodically poled for quasi-phase matching and/or reduced photorefraction. We report the first room temperature lasing of Tm3+:LiNbO3, and the first periodically poled Ti waveguides formed by electric field poling. Lasing was observed at 1.85µm in a Ti-indiffused waveguide with rare earth doping performed by thermal indiffusion

Spectra and energy levels of the trivalent ytterbium ion doped into lithium niobate by thermal indiffusion

An x-cut LiNbO3 substrate has been doped with Yb3+ ions by thermal diffusion from an Yb metal film of thickness 7nm. Polarised absorption and fluorescence spectra of the dopant ion have been measured using Ti-diffused y-propagating channel waveguides prepared in the doped region. Yb is a diode- pumpable laser ion with characteristics which can be compared favourably with those of Nd in some respects; for example the small energy difference between pump and laser photons reduces thermal load facilitating high power operation. A waveguide laser geometry is particularly advantageous for Yb due to the quasi-3-level nature of the laser transition. The simple fabrication technique described here has been used to produce a system which may have the potential to operate as an Yb waveguide laser in an electro-optic host crystal

Unresolved Question of the 10He Ground State Resonance

The group state of 10He was populated using a 2p2n-removal from a 59 MeV/u 14Be beam. The decay energy of the three body system, 8He + n + n, was measured and a resonance was observed at E = 1.60(25) MeV with a 1.8(4) MeV width. This result is in agreement with previous invariant mass spectroscopy measurements, using the 11Li(-p) reaction, but is consistent with recent transfer reaction results. The proposed explanation that the difference, about 500 keV, is due to the effect of the extended halo nature of 11Li in the one-proton knockout reaction is no longer valid as the present work demonstrates that the discrepancy between the transfer reaction is no longer valid as the present work demonstrates that the discrepancy between the transfer reaction results persists despite using a very different reaction mechanism, 14Be(-2p2n)

Is It Rational to Assume that Infants Imitate Rationally? A Theoretical Analysis and Critique

It has been suggested that preverbal infants evaluate the efficiency of others' actions (by applying a principle of rational action) and that they imitate others' actions rationally. The present contribution presents a conceptual analysis of the claim that preverbal infants imitate rationally. It shows that this ability rests on at least three assumptions: that infants are able to perceive others' action capabilities, that infants reason about and conceptually represent their own bodies, and that infants are able to think counterfactually. It is argued that none of these three abilities is in place during infancy. Furthermore, it is shown that the idea of a principle of rational action suffers from two fallacies. As a consequence, is it suggested that it is not rational to assume that infants imitate rationally. Copyright (C) 2012 S. Karger AG, Base

Whole-body MRI in the diagnosis of paediatric CNO/CRMO

Chronic recurrent multifocal osteomyelitis (CRMO) is an auto-inflammatory disorder affecting the skeleton of children and adolescents. Whole-body MRI (WBMRI) is key in the diagnosis and follow-up of CRMO. Imaging protocols should include sagittal short Tau inversion recovery of the spine, imaging of the hands and feet, and T1 images for distinguishing normal bone marrow. CRMO lesions can be metaphyseal, epiphyseal and physeal—potentially causing growth disturbance and deformity. Spinal lesions are common, important and can cause vertebral collapse. Lesion patterns include multifocal tibial and pauci-focal patterns that follow a predictable presentation and course of disease. Common pitfalls of WBMRI include haematopoietic marrow signal, metaphyseal signal early on in bisphosphonate therapy and normal high T2 signal in the hands and feet. Pictorial reporting assists in recording lesions and follow-up over time. The purpose of this paper is to review the different WBMRI protocols, imaging findings, lesion patterns and common pitfalls in children with CRM