Projected changes in the Asian-Australian monsoon region in 1.5°C and 2.0°C global-warming scenarios

In light of the Paris Agreement, it is essential to identify regional impacts of half a degree additional global warming to inform climate adaptation and mitigation strategies. We investigate the effects of 1.5°C and 2.0°C global warming above pre-industrial conditions, relative to present day (2006-2015), over the Asian-Australian monsoon region (AAMR) using five models from the Half a degree Additional warming, Prognosis and Projected Impacts (HAPPI) project. There is considerable inter-model variability in projected changes to mean climate and extreme events in 2.0°C and 1.5°C scenarios. There is high confidence in projected increases to mean and extreme surface temperatures over AAMR, as well as more-frequent persistent daily temperature extremes over East Asia, Australia and northern India with an additional 0.5°C warming, which are likely to occur. Mean and extreme monsoon precipitation amplify over AAMR, except over Australia at 1.5°C where there is uncertainty in the sign of the change. Persistent daily extreme precipitation events are likely to become more frequent over parts of East Asia and India with an additional 0.5°C warming. There is lower confidence in projections of precipitation change than in projections of surface temperature change. These results highlight the benefits of limiting the global-mean temperature change to 1.5°C above pre-industrial, as the severity of the above effects increases with an extra 0.5°C warming

Fast and reliable pricing of American options with local volatility

We present globally convergent multigrid methods for the nonsymmetric obstacle problems as arising from the discretization of Black—Scholes models of American options with local volatilities and discrete data. No tuning or regularization parameters occur. Our approach relies on symmetrization by transformation and data recovery by superconvergence

Epitaxy and magnetotransport of Sr_2FeMoO_6 thin films

By pulsed-laser deposition epitaxial thin films of Sr_2FeMoO_6 have been pre- pared on (100) SrTiO_3 substrates. Already for a deposition temperature of 320 C epitaxial growth is achieved. Depending on deposition parameters the films show metallic or semiconducting behavior. At high (low) deposition temperature the Fe,Mo sublattice has a rock-salt (random) structure. The metallic samples have a large negative magnetoresistance which peaks at the Curie temperature. The magnetic moment was determined to 4 mu_B per formula unit (f.u.), in agreement with the expected value for an ideal ferrimagnetic arrangement. We found an ordinary Hall coefficient of -6.01x10^{-10} m^3/As at 300 K, corresponding to an electronlike charge-carrier density of 1.3 per Fe,Mo-pair. In the semiconducting films the magnetic moment is reduced to 1 mu_B/f.u. due to disorder in the Fe,Mo sublattice. In low fields an anomalous holelike contribution dominates the Hall voltage, which vanishes at low temperatures for the metallic films only.Comment: Institute of Physics, University of Mainz, Germany, 4 pages, including 5 pictures and 1 Table, submitted to Phys. Rev.

Photon-mediated long range coupling of two Andreev level qubits

In a superconducting weak link, the supercurrent is carried by Andreev bound states (ABSs) formed by the phase-coherent reflection of electrons and their time-reversed partners. A single, highly transmissive ABS can serve as an ideal, compact two-level system, due to a potentially large energy difference to the next ABS. While the coherent manipulation of such Andreev levels qubits (ALQs) has been demonstrated, a long-range coupling between two ALQs, necessary for advanced qubit architectures, has not been achieved, yet. Here, we demonstrate a coherent remote coupling between two ALQs, mediated by a microwave photon in a novel superconducting microwave cavity coupler. The latter hosts two modes with different coupling rates to an external port. This allows us to perform fast readout of each qubit using the strongly coupled mode, while the weakly coupled mode is utilized to mediate the coupling between the qubits. When both qubits are tuned into resonance with the latter mode, we find excitation spectra with avoided-crossings, in very good agreement with the Tavis-Cummings model. Based on this model, we identify highly entangled two-qubit states for which the entanglement is mediated over a distance of six millimeters. This work establishes ALQs as compact and scalable solid-state qubits.Comment: 13 pages, 7 figure

Perfect weddings abroad

Approximately 16% of UK couples are currently married abroad. However, academic or practitioner focused research that explores the complex nature of a couple’s buying preferences or the development of innovative marketing strategies by businesses operating within the weddings abroad niche sector, is almost non-existent. This exploratory paper examines the role and relevance of marketing within the weddings abroad sector. The complex nature of customer needs in this high emotional and involvement experience, are identified and explored. A case study of Perfect Weddings Abroad Ltd highlights distinctive features and characteristics. Social networking and the use of home-workers, with a focus on reassurance and handholding are important tools used to develop relationships with customers. These tools and techniques help increase the tangibility of a weddings abroad package. Clusters of complementary services that are synergistic and provide sources of competitive advantage are identified and an agenda for future research is developed

A Model of Vertical Oligopolistic Competition

This paper develops a model of successive oligopolies with endogenous market entry, allowing for varying degrees of product differentiation and entry costs in both markets. Our analysis shows that the downstream conditions dominate the overall profitability of the two-tier structure while the upstream conditions mainly affect the distribution of profits. We compare the welfare effects of upstream versus downstream deregulation policies and show that the impact of deregulation may be overvalued when ignoring feedback effects from the other market. Furthermore, we analyze how different forms of vertical restraints influence the endogenous market structure and show when they are welfare enhancing

Assessment of hydropyrolysis as a method for the quantification of black carbon using standard reference materials

A wide selection of thermal, chemical and optical methods have been proposed for the quantification of black carbon (BC) in environmental matrices, and the results to date differ markedly depending upon the method used. A new approach is hydropyrolysis (hypy), where pyrolysis assisted by high hydrogen pressures (150 bar) facilitates the complete reductive removal of labile organic matter, so isolating a highly stable portion of the BC continuum (defined as BChypy). Here, the potential of hypy for the isolation and quantification of BC is evaluated using the 12 reference materials from the International BC Ring Trial, comprising BC-rich samples, BC-containing environmental matrices and BC-free potentially interfering materials. By varying the hypy operating conditions, it is demonstrated that lignocellulosic, humic and other labile organic carbon material (defined as non-BChypy) is fully removed by 550 °C, with hydrogasification of the remaining BChypy not commencing until over 575 °C. The resulting plateau in sample mass and carbon loss is apparent in all of the environmental samples, facilitating BC quantification in a wide range of materials. The BChypy contents for all 12 ring trial samples fall within the range reported in the BC inter-comparison study, and systematic differences with other methods are rationalised. All methods for BC isolation, including hypy are limited by the fact that BC cannot be distinguished from extremely thermally mature organic matter; for example in high rank coals. However, the data reported here indicates that BChypy has an atomic H/C ratio of less than 0.5 and therefore comprises a chemically well-defined polyaromatic structure in terms of the average size of peri-condensed aromatic clusters of >7 rings (24 carbon atoms), that is consistent across different sample matrices. This, together with the sound underlying rationale for the reductive removal of labile organic matter, makes hypy an ideal approach for matrix independent BC quantification. The hypy results are extremely reproducible, with BChypy determinations from triplicate analyses typically within ±2% across all samples, limited mainly by the precision of the elemental analyser

Toward Human-Carnivore Coexistence: Understanding Tolerance for Tigers in Bangladesh

Fostering local community tolerance for endangered carnivores, such as tigers (Panthera tigris), is a core component of many conservation strategies. Identification of antecedents of tolerance will facilitate the development of effective tolerance-building conservation action and secure local community support for, and involvement in, conservation initiatives. We use a stated preference approach for measuring tolerance, based on the ‘Wildlife Stakeholder Acceptance Capacity’ concept, to explore villagers’ tolerance levels for tigers in the Bangladesh Sundarbans, an area where, at the time of the research, human-tiger conflict was severe. We apply structural equation modeling to test an a priori defined theoretical model of tolerance and identify the experiential and psychological basis of tolerance in this community. Our results indicate that beliefs about tigers and about the perceived current tiger population trend are predictors of tolerance for tigers. Positive beliefs about tigers and a belief that the tiger population is not currently increasing are both associated with greater stated tolerance for the species. Contrary to commonly-held notions, negative experiences with tigers do not directly affect tolerance levels; instead, their effect is mediated by villagers’ beliefs about tigers and risk perceptions concerning human-tiger conflict incidents. These findings highlight a need to explore and understand the socio-psychological factors that encourage tolerance towards endangered species. Our research also demonstrates the applicability of this approach to tolerance research to a wide range of socio-economic and cultural contexts and reveals its capacity to enhance carnivore conservation efforts worldwide