The Distributional Impact of Various Road Charging Schemes for London.

This Working Paper presents results obtained using the MVA START model for London, with the primary intention of investigating the distributional impact of road pricing in various forms and at various levels. In order to look at distributional effects the START model had to be 'disaggregated' by income groups - three each for non-car owning and car-owning households. Initially, this allowed us to see the distributional impact of the LPAC Preferred Strategy, mainly involving public transport and traffic management policies. Beyond this we tested three structures (or 'regimes') of road pricing, varying from a complex three cordon plus screenlines structure, to a single Central London cordon. Somewhat surprisingly, the latter was found to be regressive in its application. The structure with the highest benefits, as well as being relatively progressive, was the complex structure of three cordons plus screenlines, with an optimum charge level of 50 pence per cordon crossing, each way but with the outer two cordons being peak only

An Investigation Into the Effects of Various Transport Policies on the Levels of Motorised Traffic in Great Britain in 2006

This Working Paper presents the results of tests of various transport policies which could potentially have a major impact on private car travel and hence gain environmental benefits at a national level. The forecasting methodology was to take OPCS population forecasts for year 2006 in 28 age/sex/area type categories, predict the car available percentage of person in each category in 2006, and then predict trip mileage growth (by three mode types for the 28 categories each subdivided into car available and car non-availahle. For the latter two predications, NTS data for 1985/6 and 1991/3 were compared and projected forward with various adjustments. The effect of individual transport policies on trip rates for individual cells was determined from results derived from other studies, coupled with a consideration of economic theory. Of the tests considered, only the tripling of fuel prices for private mode transport was ahle to hold private mode mileage in 2006 at ahout its 1992 level

The Development of a Common Investment Appraisal for Urban Transport Projects.

In December 1990 we were invited by Birmingham City Council and Centro to submit a proposal for an introductory study of the development of a common investment appraisal for urban transport projects. Many of the issues had arisen during the Birmingham Integrated Transport Study (BITS) in which we were involved, and in the subsequent assessment of light rail schemes of which we have considerable experience. In subsequent discussion, the objectives were identified as being:- (i) to identify, briefly, the weaknesses with existing appraisal techniques; (ii) to develop proposals for common methods for the social cost-benefit appraisal of both urban road and rail schemes which overcome these weaknesses; (iii) to develop complementary and consistent proposals for common methods of financial appraisal of such projects; (iv) to develop proposals for variants of the methods in (ii) and (iii) which are appropriate to schemes of differing complexity and cost; (v) to consider briefly methods of treating externalities, and performance against other public sector goals, which are consistent with those developed under (ii) to (iv) above; (vi) to recommend work to be done in the second phase of the study (beyond March 1991) on the provision of input to such evaluation methods from strategic and mode-specific models, and on the testing of the proposed evaluation methods. Such issues are particularly topical at present, and we have been able to draw, in our study, on experience of:- (i) evaluation methods developed for BITS and subsequent integrated transport studies (MVA) (ii) evaluation of individual light rail and heavy rail investment projects (ITS,MVA); (iii) the recommendations of AMA in "Changing Gear" (iv) advice to IPPR on appraisal methodology (ITS); (v) submissions to the House of Commons enquiry into "Roads for the Future" (ITS); (vi) advice to the National Audit Office (ITS) (vii) involvement in the SACTRA study of urban road appraisal (MVA, ITS

Baling straw for ethanol production: the long-term implications on soil quality and productivity

Non-Peer Reviewe

Manatee Occurrence in the Northern Gulf of Mexico, West of Florida

Reports of West Indian manatees (Trichechus manatus) in the US Gulf of Mexico west of Florida have increased during the last decade. We reviewed all available manatee sighting, capture, and carcass records (n = 377) from Alabama, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Texas since the early 1900s; only 40 of these were previously published. Manatees were reported most often in estuarine habitats, usually either near a freshwater source or natural or industrial warm-water springs/runoffs during winter months. The recent increase in manatee records may be due to a combination of increased public awareness and dispersal of manatees, most likely seasonal migrants from Florida. We caution that the presence of artificial warm-water sources outside of the manatee’s traditional range may attract an increasing number of manatees and could increase the incidence of cold-related mortality in this region

Inferring loop invariants by mutation, dynamic analysis, and static checking

Verifiers that can prove programs correct against their full functional specification require, for programs with loops, additional annotations in the form of loop invariants - properties that hold for every iteration of a loop. We show that significant loop invariant candidates can be generated by systematically mutating postconditions; then, dynamic checking (based on automatically generated tests) weeds out invalid candidates, and static checking selects provably valid ones. We present a framework that automatically applies these techniques to support a program prover, paving the way for fully automatic verification without manually written loop invariants: Applied to 28 methods (including 39 different loops) from various Java.util classes (occasionally modified to avoid using Java features not fully supported by the static checker), our DYNAMATE prototype automatically discharged 97 percent of all proof obligations, resulting in automatic complete correctness proofs of 25 out of the 28 methods - outperforming several state-of-the-art tools for fully automatic verification

A Study in Depth of f0(1370)

Claims have been made that f0(1370) does not exist. The five primary sets of data requiring its existence are refitted. Major dispersive effects due to the opening of the 4pi threshold are included for the first time; the sigma -> 4pi amplitude plays a strong role. Crystal Barrel data on pbar-p -> 3pizero at rest require f0(1370) signals of at least 32 and 33 standard deviations in 1S0 and 3P1 annihilation respectively. Furthermore, they agree within 5 MeV for mass and width. Data on pbar-p -> eta-eta-pizero agree and require at least a 19 standard deviation contribution. This alone is sufficient to demonstrate the existence of f0(1370). BES II data for J/Psi -> phi-pi-pi contain a visible f0(1370) signal > 8 standard devations. In all cases, a resonant phase variation is required. The possibility of a second pole in the sigma amplitude due to the opening of the 4pi channel is excluded. Cern-Munich data for pi-pi elastic scattering are fitted well with the inclusion of some mixing between sigma, f0(1370) and f0(1500). The pi-pi widths for f2(1565), rho3(1690), rho3(1990) and f4(2040) are determined.Comment: 25 pages, 22 figures. Typos corrected in Eqs 2 and 7. Introduction rewritten. Conclusions unchange

Economics of preceding crops and nitrogen application rates for canola and barley production in western Canada

Non-Peer ReviewedThe objective of this study was to evaluate the economic effects of a range of legume and non-legume preceding crops and N rates on costs and net revenue (NR) of canola (Brassica napus L.), barley (Hordeum vulgare L.) and canola-barley rotation under various environmental conditions. Legumes such as field pea (Pisum sativum L.) and lentil (Lens culinaris Medik.) as preceding crop generated higher net revenues for the following crops canola and barley than when wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) and canola were the preceding crops. Although faba bean (Vicia faba L.) grown as a green manure produced the highest annual net revenues for the following crops canola and barley, this contribution was not enough to compensate for the loss of income during the green manure production year. Therefore, growing faba bean as a green manure was not economical. Response of net revenue to N rates was mainly linear or quadratic, and N was optimal at 60 to 90 kg ha-1 at most sites. The results indicate that growing legumes for seed prior to canola can increase net revenues of canola and subsequent barley

De medische kosten van ADHD

Aandachtstekort / hyperactiviteitsstoornis (ADHD) begint in dekindertijd, maar houdt in ongeveer de helft van de gevallen aan involwassenheid. ADHD gaat gepaard met hoge ziektelast, zowel indagelijkse belemmeringen als kosten. Om de medische kosten vanADHD beter in kaart te brengen analyseerden onderzoekers degeanonimiseerde zorgverzekeringsgegevens van 3.7 miljoen Duitsers.De ziektekosten van iemand met ADHD zijn gemiddeld 1508 euro hogerdan die van iemand zonder ADHD. De meeste kosten worden gemaaktin intramurale en extramurale zorg, met medicijnkosten pas op de derdeplaats. Vergeleken met de wereldwijde prevalentie is ADHD bijvolwassenen ondergediagnosticeerd in de Duitse verzekeringsdata. Ditduidt op mogelijke onderherkenning en onderbehandeling van ADHD.De geestelijke gezondheidszorg (GGZ) moet de focus leggen op hetvoorkomen van comorbide stoornissen die met leeftijd toenemen,bijvoorbeeld door de behandling van adolescenten voort te zettengedurende de volwassen leeftijd