Catalogue of candidate emission-line objects in the Small Magellanic Cloud

H\alpha and [O III] narrow band, wide field (7 * 7 degree), CCD images of the Small Magellanic Cloud were compared and a catalogue of candidate planetary nebulae and H\alpha emission-line stars was compiled. The catalogue contains 131 planetary nebulae candidates, 23 of which are already known to be or are probable planetary nebulae or very low excitation objects. Also, 218 emission-line candidates have been identified with 113 already known. Our catalogue therefore provides a useful supplement to those of Meyssonnier & Azzopardi (1993) and Sanduleak, MacConnell & Davis Phillip (1978). Further observations are required to confirm the identity of the unknown objects.Comment: 8 pages, accepted by MNRA

First detection of a low-mass stellar halo around the young open cluster Eta Chamaeleontis

We have identified several lithium-rich low-mass (0.08<M<0.3 Msun) stars within 5.5 deg of the young open cluster Eta Chamaeleontis, nearly four times the radius of previous search efforts. Of these stars we propose 4 new probable cluster members, and 3 possible members requiring further investigation. These findings are consistent with a dynamical origin for the current configuration of the cluster, without the need to invoke an abnormal Initial Mass Function deficient in low-mass objects. Candidates were selected on the basis of DENIS and 2MASS photometry, NOMAD astrometry and extensive follow-up spectroscopy.Comment: 5 Pages. 5 Figures and 1 Table. Accepted for publication in MNRAS Letters. Higher resolution figures available at http://www.mso.anu.edu.au/~murphysj/

An Empirical Analysis of Cigarette Addiction

We use a framework suggested by a model of rational addiction to analyze empirically the demand for cigarettes. The data consist of per capita cigarettes sales (in packs) annually by state for the period 1955 through 1985. The empirical results provide support for the implications of a rational addiction model that cross price effects are negative (consumption in different periods are complements), that long-run price responses exceed short-run responses, and that permanent price effects exceed temporary price effects. A 10 percent permanent increase in the price of cigarettes reduces current consumption by 4 percent in the short run and by 7.5 percent in the long run. In contrast, a 10 percent increase in the price for only one period decreases consumption by only 3 percent. In addition, a one period price increase of 10 percent reduces consumption in the previous period by approximately .7 percent and consumption in the subsequent period by 1.5 percent. These estimates illustrate the importance of the intertemporal linkages in cigarette demand implied by rational addictive behavior.

The Economic Theory of Illegal Goods: The Case of Drugs

This paper concentrates on both the positive and normative effects of punishments that enforce laws to make production and consumption of particular goods illegal, with illegal drugs as the main example. Optimal public expenditures on apprehension and conviction of illegal suppliers obviously depend on the extent of the difference between the social and private value of consumption of illegal goods, but they also depend crucially on the elasticity of demand for these goods. In particular, when demand is inelastic, it does not pay to enforce any prohibition unless the social value is negative and not merely less than the private value. We also compare outputs and prices when a good is legal and taxed with outputs and prices when the good is illegal. We show that a monetary tax on a legal good could cause a greater reduction in output and increase in price than would optimal enforcement, even recognizing that producers may want to go underground to try to avoid a monetary tax. This means that fighting a war on drugs by legalizing drug use and taxing consumption may be more effective than continuing to prohibit the legal use of drugs.

Prison as Seen by Convict Criminologists

Most criminologists tend to base their view of prison on ideological assumptions gathered from secondary sources, with at best limited entry to the prison world. They nearly always get it wrong, as they systematically exclude the perspectives and real life experiences of their human subjects. These academic researchers have contributed to poor public policy that promotes the violent repression of prisoners in the USA and other countries. In response, Convict Criminologists are ex‐convicts working as criminology and criminal justice professors, along with “non‐con” associates, that insist that as a means for societies to develop humane, effective, and cost efficient prisons, we must develop ways to incorporate the voice of prisoners in our theorizing about, policy recommendations for, and management of the prison

Episodic disk accretion in the halo of the 'old' Pre-Main Sequence cluster Eta Chamaeleontis

We present multi-epoch medium-resolution observations of two M4.5 candidate members in the halo of the ~8 Myr Eta Chamaeleontis open cluster. Over six months of observations both stars exhibited variations in their H-alpha line profiles on timescales of days to months, with at least one episode of substantial activity attributable to accretion from a circumstellar disk. We derive an accretion rate ~10^-8.7 Msun/yr for this event, with a rate of ~10^-10.6 Msun/yr in quiescence. Episodic accretion like that observed here means existing surveys of accreting Weak-lined T-Tauri Stars in young clusters are likely incomplete and that gas dissipation timescales calculated from the fraction of accreting objects are underestimates.Comment: 5 pages, 5 figures, 1 table. Accepted for publication in MNRAS Letter

Adding value to milk by increasing its protein and CLA contents

End of project reportThe mid-summer milk protein study was undertaken on 34 commercial dairy farms in 2005 to evaluate the influence of dietary and management variables on milk protein content in mid-season. Data on grass composition, genetic merit of the herds and milk protein content were collected and analysed by multiple regression. Both calving date and genetic merit for milk protein content were significantly associated with milk protein content and were used as adjustment factors when evaluating the association between measures of grass quality and milk protein content. Milk protein content was associated with grass OMD (P = 0.04) and NDF content (P = 0.02) but not with CP content (P = 0.80). It is concluded that herds calving earlier, with a greater genetic merit for milk protein content and consuming better quality pasture would have greater milk protein contents in mid-season