925 research outputs found
EFFECT OF REVENUE INSURANCE ON ENTRY AND EXIT DECISIONS IN TABLE GRAPE PRODUCTION: A REAL OPTION APPROACH
This study determines the entry and exit thresholds of table grape farming with irreversible investment under uncertainty. Real option approach is adopted to consider the investment and management flexibility. Also revenue insurance is introduced to consider the effect of the risk management programs on the entry and exit thresholds. Results show that revenue insurance increases the entry and exit thresholds by 1% and 4%, respectively, thus discouraging new investment and current farming, as long as the revenue guarantee is less than the exit threshold. Revenue insurance increases the entry threshold by 3% and decreases the exit threshold by 13% as long as the revenue guarantee is greater than the exit threshold. In this case, revenue insurance discourages the investment and encourages the current farmer to stay in farming, further. However, the decrease in the subsidy rate results in the increase in both entry and exit thresholds. Thus, the premium subsidy levels should be carefully considered if the policy objective is to encourage growers to shift to higher-value crops.Risk and Uncertainty,
Oxidative phosphorylation efficiency, proton conductance and reactive oxygen species production of liver mitochondria correlates with body mass in frogs
ody size is a central biological parameter affecting most biological processes (especially energetics) and mitochondria is a key organelle controlling metabolism and is also the cell's main source of chemical energy. However, the link between body size and mitochondrial function is still unclear, especially in ectotherms. In this study, we investigated several parameters of mitochondrial bioenergetics in the liver of three closely related species of frogs (the common frog Rana temporaria, the marsh frog Pelophylax ridibundus and the bull frog Lithobates catesbeiana). These particular species were chosen due to their differences in adult body mass. We found that the mitochondrial coupling efficiency was markedly increased with animal size, which lead to a higher ATP production (+70%) in the larger frogs (L. catesbeiana) compared to the smaller frogs (R. temporaria). This was essentially driven by a strong negative dependence of mitochondrial proton conductance on body mass. Liver mitochondria from the larger frogs (L. catesbeiana) displayed 50% of the proton conductance of mitochondria from the smaller frogs (R. temporaria). Contrary to our prediction, the low mitochondrial proton conductance measured in L. catesbeiana was not associated with higher radical oxygen species production. Instead, liver mitochondria from the larger individuals produced significantly lower radical oxygen species than those from the smaller frogs. Collectively, the data shows that key bioenergetics parameters of mitochondria (proton leak, ATP production efficiency and radical oxygen species production) are correlated with body mass in frogs. This research expands our understanding of the relationship between mitochondrial function and the evolution of allometric scaling in ectotherms
Transport Coefficients of the Yukawa One Component Plasma
We present equilibrium molecular-dynamics computations of the thermal
conductivity and the two viscosities of the Yukawa one-component plasma. The
simulations were performed within periodic boundary conditions and Ewald sums
were implemented for the potentials, the forces, and for all the currents which
enter the Kubo formulas. For large values of the screening parameter, our
estimates of the shear viscosity and the thermal conductivity are in good
agreement with the predictions of the Chapman-Enskog theory.Comment: 11 pages, 2 figure
Ultra low energy results and their impact to dark matter and low energy neutrino physics
We present ultra low energy results taken with the novel Spherical
Proportional Counter. The energy threshold has been pushed down to about 25 eV
and single electrons are clearly collected and detected. To reach such
performance low energy calibration systems have been successfully developed: -
A pulsed UV lamp extracting photoelectrons from the inner surface of the
detector - Various radioactive sources allowing low energy peaks through
fluorescence processes. The bench mark result is the observation of a well
resolved peak at 270 eV due to carbon fluorescence which is unique performance
for such large-massive detector. It opens a new window in dark matter and low
energy neutrino search and may allow detection of neutrinos from a nuclear
reactor or from supernova via neutrino-nucleus elastic scatteringComment: 14 pages,16 figure
Experimental and numerical investigations of flow structure and momentum transport in a turbulent buoyancy-driven flow inside a tilted tube.
Buoyancy-driven turbulent mixing of fluids of slightly different densities [At = Δρ/(2〈ρ〉) = 1.15×10−2] in a long circular tube tilted at an angle θ = 15° from the vertical is studied at the local scale, both experimentally from particle image velocimetry and laser induced fluorescence measurements in the vertical diametrical plane and numerically throughout the tube using direct numerical simulation. In a given cross section of the tube, the axial mean velocity and the mean concentration both vary linearly with the crosswise distance z from the tube axis in the central 70% of the diameter. A small crosswise velocity component is detected in the measurement plane and is found to result from a four-cell mean secondary flow associated with a nonzero streamwise component of the vorticity. In the central region of the tube cross section, the intensities of the three turbulent velocity fluctuations are found to be strongly different, that of the streamwise fluctuation being more than twice larger than that of the spanwise fluctuation which itself is about 50% larger than that of the crosswise fluctuation. This marked anisotropy indicates that the turbulent structure is close to that observed in homogeneous turbulent shear flows. Still in the central region, the turbulent shear stress dominates over the viscous stress and reaches a maximum on the tube axis. Its crosswise variation is approximately accounted for by a mixing length whose value is about one-tenth of the tube diameter. The momentum exchange in the core of the cross section takes place between its lower and higher density parts and there is no net momentum exchange between the core and the near-wall regions. A sizable part of this transfer is due both to the mean secondary flow and to the spanwise turbulent shear stress. Near-wall regions located beyond the location of the extrema of the axial velocity (|z|≳0.36 d) are dominated by viscous stresses which transfer momentum toward (from) the wall near the top (bottom) of the tube
Pattern of Reaction Diffusion Front in Laminar Flows
Autocatalytic reaction between reacted and unreacted species may propagate as
solitary waves, namely at a constant front velocity and with a stationary
concentration profile, resulting from a balance between molecular diffusion and
chemical reaction. The effect of advective flow on the autocatalytic reaction
between iodate and arsenous acid in cylindrical tubes and Hele-Shaw cells is
analyzed experimentally and numerically using lattice BGK simulations. We do
observe the existence of solitary waves with concentration profiles exhibiting
a cusp and we delineate the eikonal and mixing regimes recently predicted.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figures. This paper report on experiments and simulations
in different geometries which test the theory of Boyd Edwards on flow
advection of chemical reaction front which just appears in PRL (PRL Vol
89,104501, sept2002
High-performance work practices and employee wellbeing: organizational identification as a mediator
Aim: The aim of this study was to examine how high-performance work practices affect engagement and workplace bullying, two different aspects of employee wellbeing. Furthermore, the study sought to examine the potential mediating role of organizational identification in these relationships.
Method: A two-wave survey study (n = 213) was conducted among psychologists in Finland.
Results: The results showed that high-performance work practices (HPWPs) were positively associated with engagement and negatively associated with the risk of workplace bullying. Moreover, organizational identification acted as mediator of the HPWPs-engagement relationship, though alongside the significant indirect effect via organizational identification there was also a significant direct effect of HPWPs on engagement.
Discussion: The study adds knowledge to ongoing debates on whether HPWPs support or undermine employee wellbeing. In particular, it extends our understanding of the association between HPWPs and relationship wellbeing, a topic that has so far received scant attention. Furthermore, the study advances our understanding of explanatory mechanisms in the HPWPs-engagement relationship and points to the importance of organizational identification for explaining why HPWPs lead to higher engagement
Resonance production by neutrinos: I. J=3/2 Resonances
The article contains general formulas for the production of J=3/2 resonances
by neutrinos and antineutrinos. It specializes to the P_{33}(1232) resonance
whose form factors are determined by theory and experiment and then are
compared with experimental results at low and high energies. It is shown that
the minimum in the low Q^2 region is a consequence of a combined effect from
the vanishing of the vector form factors, the muon mass and Pauli blocking.
Several improvements for the future investigations are suggested.Comment: 10 pages, LaTeX, misprints corrected, 1 reference adde
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