Domestic water pricing with household surveys : a study of acceptability and willingness to pay in Chongqing, China

In determining domestic water prices, policy makers often need to use information about the demand side rather than only relying on information about the supply side. Household surveys have frequently been employed to collect demand-side information. This paper presents a multiple bounded discrete choice household survey model. It discusses how the model can be utilized to collect and analyze information about the acceptability of different water prices by different types of households, as well as households'willingness to pay for water service improvement. The results obtained from these surveys can be directly utilized in the development of water pricing and subsidy policies. The paper also presents an empirical multiple bounded discrete choice study conducted in Chongqing, China. In this case, domestic water service quality was seriously inadequate, but financial resources were insufficient to improve service quality. With a survey of about 1,500 households in five suburban districts in Chongqing Municipality, this study shows that a significant increase in the water price is feasible as long as the poorest households can be properly subsidized and certain public awareness and accountability campaigns can be conducted to make the price increase more acceptable to the public. The analysis also indicates that the order in which hypothetical prices are presented to respondents systematically affects their answers, and should be taken into account when designing survey instruments.Town Water Supply and Sanitation,Water Supply and Sanitation Governance and Institutions,Environmental Economics&Policies,Water and Industry,Water Supply and Systems

Kinetic Ballooning Mode Under Steep Gradient: High Order Eigenstates and Mode Structure Parity Transition

The existence of kinetic ballooning mode (KBM) high order (non-ground) eigenstates for tokamak plasmas with steep gradient is demonstrated via gyrokinetic electromagnetic eigenvalue solutions, which reveals that eigenmode parity transition is an intrinsic property of electromagnetic plasmas. The eigenstates with quantum number $l=0$ for ground state and $l=1,2,3\ldots$ for non-ground states are found to coexist and the most unstable one can be the high order states ($l\neq0$). The conventional KBM is the $l=0$ state. It is shown that the $l=1$ KBM has the same mode structure parity as the micro-tearing mode (MTM). In contrast to the MTM, the $l=1$ KBM can be driven by pressure gradient even without collisions and electron temperature gradient. The relevance between various eigenstates of KBM under steep gradient and edge plasma physics is discussed.Comment: 6 pages, 6 figure

Deciphering a novel image cipher based on mixed transformed Logistic maps

Since John von Neumann suggested utilizing Logistic map as a random number generator in 1947, a great number of encryption schemes based on Logistic map and/or its variants have been proposed. This paper re-evaluates the security of an image cipher based on transformed logistic maps and proves that the image cipher can be deciphered efficiently under two different conditions: 1) two pairs of known plain-images and the corresponding cipher-images with computational complexity of $O(2^{18}+L)$; 2) two pairs of chosen plain-images and the corresponding cipher-images with computational complexity of $O(L)$, where $L$ is the number of pixels in the plain-image. In contrast, the required condition in the previous deciphering method is eighty-seven pairs of chosen plain-images and the corresponding cipher-images with computational complexity of $O(2^{7}+L)$. In addition, three other security flaws existing in most Logistic-map-based ciphers are also reported.Comment: 10 pages, 2 figure

The ortho-to-para ratio of interstellar NH2_2: Quasi-classical trajectory calculations and new simulations

Based on recent $Herschel$ results, the ortho-to-para ratio (OPR) of NH$_2$ has been measured towards the following high-mass star-forming regions: W31C (G10.6-0.4), W49N (G43.2-0.1), W51 (G49.5-0.4), and G34.3+0.1. The OPR at thermal equilibrium ranges from the statistical limit of three at high temperatures to infinity as the temperature tends toward zero, unlike the case of H$_{2}$. Depending on the position observed along the lines-of-sight, the OPR was found to lie either slightly below the high temperature limit of three (in the range $2.2-2.9$) or above this limit ($\sim3.5$, $\gtrsim 4.2$, and $\gtrsim 5.0$). In low temperature interstellar gas, where the H$_{2}$ is para-enriched, our nearly pure gas-phase astrochemical models with nuclear-spin chemistry can account for anomalously low observed NH$_2$-OPR values. We have tentatively explained OPR values larger than three by assuming that spin thermalization of NH$_2$ can proceed at least partially by H-atom exchange collisions with atomic hydrogen, thus increasing the OPR with decreasing temperature. In this paper, we present quasi-classical trajectory calculations of the H-exchange reaction NH$_2$ + H, which show the reaction to proceed without a barrier, confirming that the H-exchange will be efficient in the temperature range of interest. With the inclusion of this process, our models suggest both that OPR values below three arise in regions with temperatures $\gtrsim20-25$~K, depending on time, and values above three but lower than the thermal limit arise at still lower temperatures.Comment: 12 pages, 12 figures. Accepted for publication in A&

The quotient spaces of topological groups with a qq-point

In this paper, we study the uniformities on the double coset spaces in topological groups. As an implication, the quotient spaces of topological groups with a $q$-point are studied. It mainly shows that: (1) Suppose that $G$ is a topological group with a $q$-point and $H$ is a closed subgroup of $G$; then the quotient space $G/H$ is an open and quasi-perfect preimage of a metrizable space; in particular, $G/H$ is an $M$-space. (2) Suppose that $G$ is a topological group with a strict $q$-point and $H$ is a closed subgroup of $G$; then the quotient space $G/H$ is an open and sequentially perfect preimage of a metrizable space. (3) Suppose that $G$ is a topological group with a strong $q$-point and $H$ is a closed subgroup of $G$; then the quotient space $G/H$ is an open and strongly sequentially perfect preimage of a metrizable space.Comment: 1

Protecting entanglement from correlated amplitude damping channel using weak measurement and quantum measurement reversal

Based on the quantum technique of weak measurement, we propose a scheme to protect the entanglement from correlated amplitude damping decoherence. In contrast to the results of memoryless amplitude damping channel, we show that the memory effects play a significant role in the suppression of entanglement sudden death and protection of entanglement under severe decoherence. Moreover, we find that the initial entanglement could be drastically amplified by the combination of weak measurement and quantum measurement reversal even under the correlated amplitude damping channel. The underlying mechanism can be attributed to the probabilistic nature of weak measurements.Comment: 11 pages, 5 figures, accepted by Quantum Information Processin

Study on current status and climatic characteristics of wine regions in China

The aim of this paper is to improve the knowledge of the current status and climatic characteristics of Chinese wine regions. An investigation of Chinese winegrowing regions, which concerned the distribution, area and cultivars, was conducted using "questionnaires + expert consultation + available literature". On the basis of the results of the investigation, a map was drawn to depict the distribution of Chinese wine regions. Furthermore, observation records of weather stations located within winegrowing zones during 1982–2011 were employed to analyze the climatic characteristics of each region by using the climatic indices of frost-free season (FFS), dryness index (DI), and extremely low temperature (ELT). According to the findings of the investigation, wine grapes have been widely cultivated in 179 counties of China, with a total cultivation area of 163,200 ha. 'Cabernet Sauvignon' was the most widely cultivated variety. The analysis of the climatic characteristics revealed a regional difference within and between wine regions. Moreover, most wine regions were suitable for wine production in terms of the climatic indices, which in turn verified the applicability of the climate indices system