The influence of the Ratio Bias phenomenon on the elicitation of Standard Gamble utilities

This paper tests whether logically equivalent risk formats can lead to different health state utilities elicited by means of the standard gamble (SG) method. We compare SG utilities elicited when probabilities are framed in terms of frequencies with respect to 100 people in the population (i.e., X out of 100) with SG utilities elicited for frequencies with respect to 1,000 people in the population (i.e., Y out of 1,000). We found that utilities were significant higher when success and failure probabilities were framed as frequencies type “Y out of 1,000” rather than as frequencies type “X out of 100”. This framing effect, known as Ratio Bias, may have important consequences in resource allocation decisions.Framing effect, risk format, standard gamble, health state, dual-process theories.

Artificial Intelligence Methods in Fault Tolerant Control

Non

Effect of pesticides on integrated mite management in Washington State

The effect of pesticides used against codling moth, Cydia pomonella L., on integrated mite management was studied for three years in five or six commercial apple orchards in central Washington. Phytophagous and predatory mites were counted throughout the season in blocks ranging from 0.4-1.6 ha in size treated with four codling moth insecticides. In one year of the study (2006), five out of six orchards experienced elevated mite densities relative to the standard. In four orchards, novaluron caused a 3.0-16.9× increase in mite populations; acetamiprid caused a 2.6-3.4× increase, and thiacloprid caused a 1.7-13.8× increase. In the fifth orchard, the organophosphate standard had an extremely high mite population, in addition to all three experimental treatments. In 2005 and 2007, only one or two orchards had elevated mite levels in the novaluron, acetamiprid, and thiacloprid treatments. Additive effects of codling moth and thinning programs were evaluated in small plot research trials. Treatments with all three elements [1) codling moth insecticide; 2) calcium polysulfide; 3) carbaryl] produced the highest levels ofspider mites. Three sulfur-containing products (calcium polysulfide, ammonium thiosulfate, and dry flowable sulfur) were evaluated for their effect onGalandromus occidentalis (Nesbitt) and apple rust mite, Aculus schlechtendali (Nalepa). All three materials caused suppressed G. occidentalis numbers. Calcium polysulfide caused the greatest reduction in apple rust mite numbers, ammonium thiosulfate the least reduction, with dry flowable sulfur intermediate between the two. Additive effects of codling moth materials, carbaryl, and sulfur-containing products may be causing increased mite levels in Washington orchards

A New Framework to Assess Regional and Urban Impacts of Transport Infrastructure: The Case of High-Speed Rail in Portugal

This paper presents a comprehensive framework for modeling the impacts of large-scale transport infrastructure which have the potential to fundamentally alter the spatial interaction properties of regions, producing significant socio-demographic and economic modifications. This model is being developed as part of a broader research project to assess the impacts of the development of a high-speed rail (HSR) network in Portugal and to evaluate the best infrastructure and service configurations of the system. The framework will be applied to study a future HSR line between Lisbon and Oporto, exploring the concept of megalopolis formation for the corridor. The expected impacts of HSR include rearrangements of the socio-economic structure of the region it serves, redefinition of the nature of the economic linkages to neighboring regions and other external regions, and changes to the urban forms of the various urban centers which will experience significant accessibility upgrades. The framework calls for an agent-based formulation, with decision-making agents at various spatial scales and decision making levels interacting both in space and across levels, producing effects on upper and lower levels of spatial resolution and decision making. The model will include three main types of agents, which are linked to different scales of decision-making and spatial resolution, e.g. municipal, regional, and national. This paper presents the framework of the model, characterizes the interactions among the various levels of decision-making and assessment, and describes the methodological formulation of all the sub-models proposed for this comprehensive simulation tool

On the Whitham hierarchy: dressing scheme, string equations and additional symmetrie

A new description of the universal Whitham hierarchy in terms of a factorization problem in the Lie group of canonical transformations is provided. This scheme allows us to give a natural description of dressing transformations, string equations and additional symmetries for the Whitham hierarchy. We show how to dress any given solution and prove that any solution of the hierarchy may be undressed, and therefore comes from a factorization of a canonical transformation. A particulary important function, related to the $\tau$-function, appears as a potential of the hierarchy. We introduce a class of string equations which extends and contains previous classes of string equations considered by Krichever and by Takasaki and Takebe. The scheme is also applied for an convenient derivation of additional symmetries. Moreover, new functional symmetries of the Zakharov extension of the Benney gas equations are given and the action of additional symmetries over the potential in terms of linear PDEs is characterized

Quasiparticle excitations in frustrated antiferromagnets

We have computed the quasiparticle wave function corresponding to a hole injected in a triangular antiferromagnet. We have taken into account multi-magnon contributions within the self consistent Born approximation. We have found qualitative differences, under sign reversal of the integral transfer t, regarding the multi-magnon components and the own existence of the quasiparticle excitations. Such differences are due to the subtle interplay between magnon-assisted and free hopping mechanisms. We conclude that the conventional quasiparticle picture can be broken by geometrical frustration without invoking spin liquid phases.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figures, presented at " At the Frontiers of the condensed Matter II, Buenos Aires. June, 2004 ". To be published in Physica

Using Abrupt Changes in Magnetic Susceptibility within Type-II Superconductors to Explore Global Decoherence Phenomena

A phenomenon of a periodic staircase of macroscopic jumps in the admitted magnetic field has been observed, as the magnitude of an externally applied magnetic field is smoothly increased or decreased upon a superconducting (SC) loop of type II niobium-titanium wire which is coated with a non-superconducting layer of copper. Large temperature spikes were observed to occur simultaneously with the jumps, suggesting brief transitions to the normal state, caused by en masse motions of Abrikosov vortices. An experiment that exploits this phenomenon to explore the global decoherence of a large superconducting system will be discussed, and preliminary data will be presented. Though further experimentation is required to determine the actual decoherence rate across the superconducting system, multiple classical processes are ruled out, suggesting that jumps in magnetic flux are fully quantum mechanical processes which may correspond to large group velocities within the global Cooper pair wavefunction.Comment: 13 pages, 4 figures, part of proceedings for FQMT 2011 conference in Prague, Czech Republi

On the Whitham hierarchy: dressing scheme, string equations and additional symmetrie

A new description of the universal Whitham hierarchy in terms of a factorization problem in the Lie group of canonical transformations is provided. This scheme allows us to give a natural description of dressing transformations, string equations and additional symmetries for the Whitham hierarchy. We show how to dress any given solution and prove that any solution of the hierarchy may be undressed, and therefore comes from a factorization of a canonical transformation. A particulary important function, related to the $\tau$-function, appears as a potential of the hierarchy. We introduce a class of string equations which extends and contains previous classes of string equations considered by Krichever and by Takasaki and Takebe. The scheme is also applied for an convenient derivation of additional symmetries. Moreover, new functional symmetries of the Zakharov extension of the Benney gas equations are given and the action of additional symmetries over the potential in terms of linear PDEs is characterized