Does carbon pricing reduce air travel? Evidence from the Australian 'Clean Energy Future' policy, July 2012 to June 2014

Aviation emissions are an important contributor to global climatic change. As growth in travel demand continues to outstrip improvements in the fuel efficiency of air travel, the aviation contribution to climate change is likely to grow substantially. Consequently, measures that effectively reduce travel demand are required if atmospheric carbon concentrations are to be limited. The efficacy of the Australian Clean Energy Future policy which placed a $23.00AUD (FY 2012) to$24.15 AUD (FY 2013) per tonne levy on carbon-dioxide equivalent emissions from July 2012 to June 2014 is tested. Specifically, time-series regression is used to estimate the effect of this carbon price policy on the level of domestic passenger kilometres flown in Australia, while adjusting for costs of production (i.e. fuel and labour costs), economic activity (i.e. gross domestic product), competitive effects (i.e. airline capacity), and exogenous shocks. There was no evidence that the carbon price reduced the level of domestic aviation in Australia. Carbon pricing measures may have to be levied at a greater rate to affect behavioural change, particularly given the limited potential for future aviation efficiency gains.The authors are grateful to Paul Peeters, NHTV Breda University of Applied Sciences, for his suggestion of several relevant papers

Binding affinities and activation of Asp712Ala and Cys100Ser mutated kinin B1 receptor forms suggest a bimodal scheme for the molecule of bound-DABK

AbstractMutant forms of kinin B1 receptor (B1R) and analogs of the full agonist des-Arg9-bradykinin (DABK) were investigated aiming to verify the importance of selected receptor residues and of each agonist-peptide residue in the specific binding and activation. Linked by a specific disulfide bond (Cys100–Cys650), the N-terminal (Nt) and the EC3 loop C-terminal (Ct) segments of angiotensin II (AngII) receptor 1 (AT1R) have been identified to form an extracellular site for binding the agonist Nt segment (Asp1 and Arg2 residues). Asp712 residue at the receptor EC3 loop binds the peptide Arg2 residue. By homology, a similar site might be considered for DABK binding to B1R since this receptor contains the same structural elements for composing the site in AT1R, namely the disulfide bond and the EC3 loop Asp712 residue. DABK, Alan-DABK analogs (n=Ala1-, Ala2-, Ala3-, Ala4-, Ala5-, Ala6-, Ala7-, Ala8-DABK), and other analogs were selected to binding wild-type, Asp712Ala and Cys100Ser mutated B1R receptors. The results obtained suggested that the same bimodal scheme adopted for AngII-AT1R system may be applied to DABK binding to B1R. The most crucial similarity in the two cases is that the Nt segments of peptides equally bind to the homologous Asp712 residue of both AT1R and B1R extracellular sites. Confirming this preliminary supposition, mutation of residues located at the B1R extracellular site as EC3 loop Asp712 and Cys100 caused the same modifications in biological assays observed in AT1R submitted to homologous mutations, such as significant weakening of agonist binding and reduction of post-receptor-activation processes. These findings provided enough support for defining a site that determines the specific binding of DABK to B1R receptors

Implications of Rigid Gripping Constraints on Clubhead Dynamics in Steel Golf Shafts

Research and equipment testing with golf robots offers much greater control and manipulation of experimental variables compared to tests using human golfers. However, whilst it is acknowledged that the club gripping mechanism of a robot is dissimilar to that of a human, there appears to be no scientific findings on the effects of these gripping differences on the clubhead at ball impact. Theoretical and experimental strain propagation rates from the clubhead to the grip and back to the clubhead were determined during robot testing with a 9-iron to determine if this time interval was sufficiently short to permit the gripping mechanism to have an effect on the clubhead during impact. Longitudinal strain appears to propagate the most quickly, but such deflections are likely to be small and therefore of little meaningful consequence. Shaft bending was not a primary concern as modes of large enough amplitude appear to propagate too slowly to be relevant. Torsional strain propagates at a rate which suggests that constraints at the grip end of a golf club could potentially influence impact dynamics for steel shafted irons; however, this effect seems unlikely to be significant, a likelihood that decreases further for longer irons. As such, it is considered reasonable to treat the influence of a robot’s gripping mechanism on clubhead dynamics at impact as negligible, and therefore comparisons between robot and human data in this regard are valid

The Non-Coding Transcriptome of Prostate Cancer: Implications for Clinical Practice

Prostate cancer (PCa) is the most common type of cancer and the second leading cause of cancer-related death in men. Despite extensive research, the molecular mechanisms underlying PCa initiation and progression remain unclear, and there is increasing need of better biomarkers that can distinguish indolent from aggressive and life-threatening disease. With the advent of advanced genomic technologies in the last decade, it became apparent that the human genome encodes tens of thousands non-protein-coding RNAs (ncRNAs) with yet to be discovered function. It is clear now that the majority of ncRNAs exhibit highly specific expression patterns restricted to certain tissues and organs or developmental stages and that the expression of many ncRNAs is altered in disease and cancer, including cancer of the prostate. Such ncRNAs can serve as important biomarkers for PCa diagnosis, prognosis, or prediction of therapy response. In this review, we give an overview of the different types of ncRNAs and their function, describe ncRNAs relevant for the diagnosis and prognosis of PCa, and present emerging new aspects of ncRNA research that may contribute to the future utilization of ncRNAs as clinically useful therapeutic targets

A principled approach to programming with nested types in Haskell

Initial algebra semantics is one of the cornerstones of the theory of modern functional programming languages. For each inductive data type, it provides a Church encoding for that type, a build combinator which constructs data of that type, a fold combinator which encapsulates structured recursion over data of that type, and a fold/build rule which optimises modular programs by eliminating from them data constructed using the buildcombinator, and immediately consumed using the foldcombinator, for that type. It has long been thought that initial algebra semantics is not expressive enough to provide a similar foundation for programming with nested types in Haskell. Specifically, the standard folds derived from initial algebra semantics have been considered too weak to capture commonly occurring patterns of recursion over data of nested types in Haskell, and no build combinators or fold/build rules have until now been defined for nested types. This paper shows that standard folds are, in fact, sufficiently expressive for programming with nested types in Haskell. It also defines buildcombinators and fold/build fusion rules for nested types. It thus shows how initial algebra semantics provides a principled, expressive, and elegant foundation for programming with nested types in Haskell

Small Fermi surface in the one-dimensional Kondo lattice model

We study the one-dimensional Kondo lattice model through the density matrix renormalization group (DMRG). Our results for the spin correlation function indicate the presence of a small Fermi surface in large portions of the phase diagram, in contrast to some previous studies that used the same technique. We argue that the discrepancy is due to the open boundary conditions, which introduce strong charge perturbations that strongly affect the spin Friedel oscillations.Comment: 5 pages, 7 figure

Compact Groups analysis using weak gravitational lensing II: CFHT Stripe 82 data

In this work we present a lensing study of Compact Groups (CGs) using data obtained from the high-quality Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope Stripe 82 Survey. Using stacking techniques we obtain the average density contrast profile. We analyse the lensing signal dependence on the groups' surface brightness and morphological content, for CGs in the redshift range z = 0.2-0.4.We obtain a larger lensing signal for CGs with higher surface brightness, probably due to their lower contamination by interlopers. Also, we find a strong dependence of the lensing signal on the group concentration parameter, with the most concentrated quintile showing a significant lensing signal, consistent with an isothermal sphere with σV = 336 ± 28 km s-1 and a NFW profile with R200 = 0.60 ± 0.05 h-1 70 Mpc. We also compare lensing results with dynamical estimates finding a good agreement with lensing determinations for CGs with higher surface brightness and higher concentration indexes. On the other hand, CGs that are more contaminated by interlopers show larger dynamical dispersions, since interlopers bias dynamical estimates to larger values, although the lensing signal is weakened.Fil: Chalela Garcia, Martin. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Córdoba. Instituto de Astronomía Teórica y Experimental. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Observatorio Astronómico de Córdoba. Instituto de Astronomía Teórica y Experimental; ArgentinaFil: Gonzalez, Elizabeth Johana. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Córdoba. Instituto de Astronomía Teórica y Experimental. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Observatorio Astronómico de Córdoba. Instituto de Astronomía Teórica y Experimental; ArgentinaFil: Makler, Martín. Centro Brasileiro de Pesquisas Físicas; BrasilFil: Garcia Lambas, Diego Rodolfo. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Córdoba. Instituto de Astronomía Teórica y Experimental. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Observatorio Astronómico de Córdoba. Instituto de Astronomía Teórica y Experimental; ArgentinaFil: Pereira, Maria E.S.. Centro Brasileiro de Pesquisas Físicas; BrasilFil: O'Mill, Ana Laura. Instituto de Astronomia Teorica y Experimental; ArgentinaFil: Shan, Huan Yuan. Argelander-Institut fur Astronomie; Alemani