IS THERE A CLASSICAL ANALOG OF A QUANTUM TIME-TRANSLATION MACHINE?

In a recent article [D. Suter, Phys. Rev. {\bf A 51}, 45 (1995)] Suter has claimed to present an optical implementation of the quantum time-translation machine which ``shows all the features that the general concept predicts and also allows, besides the quantum mechanical, a classical description.'' It is argued that the experiment proposed and performed by Suter does not have the features of the quantum time-translation machine and that the latter has no classical analog.Comment: 7 pages, LaTe

THE IMPORTANCE OF SPATIAL DATA IN MODELING ACTUAL ENROLLMENT IN THE CONSERVATION RESERVE ENHANCEMENT PROGRAM (CREP)

This paper uses actual enrollment and Geographic Information Systems (GIS) data in six geographically diverse states to demonstrate that enrollment rates in the Conservation Reserve Enhancement Program (CREP) are a function of the incentives offered. If aggregate county land use data were used, as has been done previously, incentives appear insignificant.Environmental Economics and Policy,

BSM Higgs searches in tau final states at DØ

We present a search for beyond the standard model (BSM) Higgs bosons in τ lepton final states at DØ. Data were collected by the DØ detector in proton-antiproton collisions at a center-of-mass energy of √s = 1.96TeV during Run II at the Tevatron with up to 7.0 fb−1 of integrated luminosity. The results are used to set 95% CL limits on the pair production cross section on these BSM Higgs bosons

Development of an Organic Table Grape Production and Market in Switzerland

In Switzerland there is an increasing consumer demand for residue-free, organic table grapes. The organic cultivation of table grapes, however, is very delicate in humid climates and experience to advice organic growers is still lacking. The goal of our project that has started in 2004 is to develop and establish a cultivation system for organic table grapes under Swiss climatic and economic conditions with a high yield security and fulfilling the high quality demands of the market. Preliminary results: Interesting cultivars to produce are e.g. Fanny, Lilla, Palatina. However they are disease susceptible and must be produced under a rain roof. Better suited cultivars still need to be found. Consumer acceptance for organic table grapes produced in Switzerland is very positive. However changes towards new cultivars and lower production costs are necessary. Spray programs to achieve sufficient disease protection and no spray blotch seem to be realizable, mainly for production under rain roof

Insurer Prejudice Analysis of an Expanding Doctrine in Insurance Coverage Law

All contracts of insurance place certain requirements on the insured both before and after a covered loss has occurred. For example, all insurance policies require that an insured notify the insurer of a covered loss and cooperate with the insurer in the investigation of the loss and in the pursuit or defense of any claims arising out of the loss. Traditionally, if an insured failed to comply with such notification or cooperation requirements, the insurer could flatly deny coverage of the claim. Recently, however, an increasing number of courts are requiring that the insurer show that it has been prejudiced in some way before it can deny coverage for the insured\u27s failure to comply with such requirements. This requirement of showing prejudice will be referred to in this article as the insurer prejudice rule. In Maine, the insurer prejudice rule was first recognized in a limited context in 1985. The application of the insurer prejudice rule in Maine remained limited until the Maine Supreme Judicial Court, sitting as the Law Court, suggested in Marquis v. Farm Family Insurance Company that the rule must be applied in all situations where an insurer has denied coverage based on the insured\u27s failure to comply with any procedural requirement placed on the insured by the insurance policy. Although placing great limitations upon insurers, the broad application of the insurer prejudice rule, established in Marquis, is justified both by public policy considerations and the principles of contract law concerning partial or immaterial breach. These same principles which support placing the burdens and limitations of the insurer prejudice rule on insurers, however, also support certain contractual remedies which are not generally recognized by the courts or pursued by insurers. Thus, in order for the insurer prejudice rule to be equitable to insureds and insurers alike, insurers must be permitted to take advantage of these remedies. Since the scope of the insurer prejudice rule appears to be expanding in Maine and elsewhere, it is increasingly more important for both insurers and insureds to understand the various aspects and implications of the rule. This Article will provide an analysis of the insurer prejudice rule

Thin and lumpy: an experimental investigation of water quality trading

Water quality trading schemes in the United States can predominantly be characterized by low trading volumes. In this paper we utilize laboratory economics experiments to explore the extent to which the technology through which pollution abatement is achieved influences market outcomes. Mirroring the majority of water quality trading markets, the sessions utilize small trading groups composed of six participants. To understand the extent to which abatement technology influences trading behavior, the experimental treatments vary the degree of heterogeneity in initial abatement costs and the potential for long-lived investments in cost-reducing abatement technology.Environmental Economics and Policy,

Beyond Optimal Linear Tax Mechanisms: An Experimental Examination of Damage-Based Ambient Taxes for Nonpoint Polluters

The regulation of nonpoint source water pollution from agriculture is a complex problem characterized by a multiplicity of polluters, informational asymmetries, complex fate and transport processes, and stochastic environmental factors. Taken together, these characteristics make regulatory policy based on individual firm emissions prohibitively costly. To circumvent this issue, economists, beginning with the seminal work of Segerson (1988), have devised economic incentive instruments that assign liabilities based on deviations between the observed ambient water quality level and a specified pollution threshold (Xepapadeas 1991; Horan, Shortle and Abler 1998, 2002; Hansen 1998, 2002). In the special case of a linear damage function, the regulator can optimally set the parameters of Segerson's (1988) incentive scheme solely with information on the damage function. When the damage function is nonlinear, a depiction that likely represents many watersheds, Segerson's incentive scheme is firm-specific, and the regulator must acquire costly firm-specific data on factors such as input use, land management practice, and soil type. Using a linear damage function setting, recent laboratory experimental economics efforts have investigated the ambient-based mechanisms proposed by Segerson, as well as some simple variants (Spraggon 2002, 2004; Poe et al. 2004; Vossler et al. 2005). A fundamental limitaion of this body of research, however, is that has utilized an "optimal design" in which the threshold pollution level for triggering the abient-based policy is set equal to the social optimum. It is therefore unclear whether subjects are optimally responding to the tax and threshold combination, or simply trying to reacting to the focal point created by the threshold. A second limitation of past experimetnal economics research is that, following Segerson, these investigations have utilized the limited case of a linear tax function. While a tax policy is relatively straightforward to apply when damages are linear, the application to real world situations may be limited. A more believable circumstance is that economic damages increase at an increasing rate as ambient pollution levels rise. This paper advances the experimental literature on ambient based pollution mechanisms in two important ways. First, by employing a range of marginal tax rates and threshold levels, we show that subjects do in fact respond optimally to the tax and cutoff combination. Second, by using the damage based tax proposed Hansen (1998) and Horan et al. (1998), we show that aggregate results when the economic damages from ambient water pollution are nonlinear are not significantly different from corresponding results under the linear tax.Environmental Economics and Policy,

A review of IATTC research on the early life history and reproductive biology of scombrids conducted at the Achotines Laboratory from 1985 to 2005

English: For nearly a century, fisheries scientists have studied marine fish stocks in an effort to understand how the abundances of fish populations are determined. During the early lives of marine fishes, survival is variable, and the numbers of individuals surviving to transitional stages or recruitment are difficult to predict. The egg, larval, and juvenile stages of marine fishes are characterized by high rates of mortality and growth. Most marine fishes, particularly pelagic species, are highly fecund, produce small eggs and larvae, and feed and grow in complex aquatic ecosystems. The identification of environmental or biological factors that are most important in controlling survival during the early life stages of marine fishes is a potentially powerful tool in stock assessment. Because vital rates (mortality and growth) during the early life stages of marine fishes are high and variable, small changes in those rates can have profound effects on the properties of survivors and recruitment potential (Houde 1989). Understanding and predicting the factors that most strongly influence pre-recruit survival are key goals of fisheries research programs. Spanish: Desde hace casi un siglo, los científicos pesqueros han estudiado las poblaciones de peces marinos en un intento por entender cómo se determina la abundancia de las mismas. Durante la vida temprana de los peces marinos, la supervivencia es variable, y el número de individuos que sobrevive hasta las etapas transicionales o el reclutamiento es difícil de predecir. Las etapas de huevo, larval, y juvenil de los peces marinos son caracterizadas por tasas altas de mortalidad y crecimiento. La mayoría de los peces marinos, particularmente las especies pelágicas, son muy fecundos, producen huevos y larvas pequeños, y se alimentan y crecen en ecosistemas acuáticos complejos. La identificación los factores ambientales o biológicos más importantes en el control de la supervivencia durante las etapas tempranas de vida de los peces marinos es una herramienta potencialmente potente en la evaluación de las poblaciones. Ya que las tasas vitales (mortalidad y crecimiento) durante las etapas tempranas de vida de los peces marinos son altas y variables, cambios pequeños en esas tasas pueden ejercer efectos importantes sobre las propiedades de los supervivientes y el potencial de reclutamiento (Houde 1989). Comprender y predecir los factores que más afectan la supervivencia antes del reclutamiento son objetivos clave de los programas de investigación pesquera