Motor racing, tobacco company sponsorship, barcodes and alibi marketing

Background Sponsorship of Formula One (F1) motor racing, which has been used as an indirect medium of tobacco advertising for several decades, was prohibited by the 2005 European Union Tobacco Advertising Directive. Most F1 tobacco sponsorship of motor racing in the EU has since ceased, with the exception of the Scuderia Ferrari team, which continues to be funded by Philip Morris. In 2007, the Marlboro logo on Ferrari cars and other race regalia was replaced by an evolving ‘barcode’ design, which Ferrari later claimed was part of the livery of the car, and not a Marlboro advertisement. Objective: To determine whether the ‘barcode’ graphics used by Ferrari represent ‘alibi’ Marlboro advertising. Methods Academic and grey literature, and online tobacco industry document archives, were searched using terms relevant to tobacco marketing and motorsport. Results Tobacco sponsorship of F1 motor racing began in 1968, and Philip Morris has sponsored F1 teams since 1972. Phillip Morris first used a ‘barcode’ design, comprising red vertical parallel lines below the word Marlboro on the British Racing Motors F1 car in 1972. Vertical or horizontal ‘barcode’ designs have been used in this way, latterly without the word Marlboro, ever since. The modern ‘barcode’ logos occupied the same position on cars and drivers' clothing as conventional Marlboro logos in the past. The shared use of red colour by Marlboro and Ferrari is also recognised by Philip Morris as a means of promoting brand association between Marlboro and Ferrari. Conclusion The Ferrari ‘barcode’ designs are alibi Marlboro logos and hence constitute advertising prohibited by the 2005 EU Tobacco Advertising Directive

Simulating Quantum Magnetism with Correlated Non-Neutral Ion Plasmas

By employing forces that depend on the internal electronic state (or spin) of an atomic ion, the Coulomb potential energy of a strongly coupled array of ions can be modified in a spin-dependent way to mimic effective quantum spin Hamiltonians. Both ferromagnetic and antiferromagnetic interactions can be implemented. We use simple models to explain how the effective spin interactions are engineered with trapped-ion crystals. We summarize the type of effective spin interactions that can be readily generated, and discuss an experimental implementation using single-plane ion crystals in a Penning trap.Comment: 10 pages, 5 figures, to be published in the Proceedings of 10th International Workshop on Non-Neutral Plasma

The First Population II Stars Formed in Externally Enriched Mini-halos

We present a simulation of the formation of the earliest Population II stars, starting from cosmological initial conditions and ending when metals created in the first supernovae are incorporated into a collapsing gas-cloud. This occurs after a supernova blast-wave collides with a nearby mini-halo, inducing further turbulence that efficiently mixes metals into the dense gas in the center of the halo. The gas that first collapses has been enriched to a metallicity of Z ~ 2e-5 Zsun. Due to the extremely low metallicity, collapse proceeds similarly to metal-free gas until dust cooling becomes efficient at high densities, causing the cloud to fragment into a large number of low mass objects. This external enrichment mechanism provides a plausible origin for the most metal-poor stars observed, such as SMSS J031300.36-670839.3, that appear to have formed out of gas enriched by a single supernova. This mechanism operates on shorter timescales than the time for low-mass mini-halos (M < 5e5 Msun) to recover their gas after experiencing a supernova. As such, metal-enriched stars will likely form first via this channel if the conditions are right for it to occur. We identify a number of other externally enriched halos that may form stars in this manner. These halos have metallicities as high as 0.01 Zsun, suggesting that some members of the first generation of metal-enriched stars may be hiding in plain sight in current stellar surveys.Comment: Accepted for publication in MNRAS. Minor updates and one additional figure. Movies and images available at http://www.roe.ac.uk/~brs/pop2prim

Toward Spin Squeezing with Trapped Ions

Building robust instruments capable of making interferometric measurements with precision beyond the standard quantum limit remains an important goal in many metrology laboratories. We describe here the basic concepts underlying spin squeezing experiments that allow one to surpass this limit. In priniciple it is possible to reach the so-called Heisenberg limit, which constitutes an improvement in precision by a factor $\sqrt{N}$, where $N$ is the number of particles on which the measurement is carried out. In particular, we focus on recent progress toward implementing spin squeezing with a cloud of beryllium ions in a Penning ion trap, via the geometric phase gate used more commonly for performing two-qubit entangling operations in quantum computing experiments.Comment: 18 pages, 9 figures, Contribution to Quantum Africa 2010 conference proceeding

The impact of cormorants (Phalacrocorax carbo carbo and Phalacrocorax carbo sinensis) on inland fisheries in the UK

Cormorants are piscivorous birds with a daily food intake (DFI) of approximately 500 g. They are a protected species under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981. In the UK, the number of over-wintering, inland cormorants increased steadily between 1970 and 1987, at a rate of between 5 and 10 % per annum. An increase of 74 % occurred between winter 1987/88 and 1990/91, and the population is still believed to be rising. The population growth was observed in all regions of the UK, on all habitat types. As cormorants exploited new habitats, ornithologists welcomed their increased presence. This contrasts with the views of angling bodies, who assert that the presence of cormorants, feeding daily on their fisheries, has a damaging impact on fish stocks with inevitable financial losses. Due to a lack of effective non-lethal control methods, the angling bodies wish to see the cormorants removed from the protected species list so their inland numbers can be controlled. Ornithologists insist that there is no scientific evidence proving cormorants are damaging to inland fisheries and so are opposed to any culling.A review of previous cormorant studies was undertaken to evaluate information on their ecology, feeding behaviour and predation impact. The general conclusion was no study had been able to prove cormorant predation damages fish populations, because few studies had moved beyond determining the mass of fish removed by the birds over the particular study period. No assessment had been made of the impact of that fish removal on the fish population dynamics and the angling performance of the fishery. This highlighted the requirement for research into the impact of cormorant predation on inland fisheries. This study was formulated to estimate cormorant predation impact on fisheries in a more realistic and robust manner than had previously been undertaken.The principal objective of the study was to integrate fish population and cormorant feeding dynamics data on specific fisheries (study sites) in such a way as to quantify, where possible, the full impacts of the cormorant predation. This required the following criteria at each study site:- evaluation of the historical status of fish and cormorant populations;- determination of the population and community dynamics of the fish stocks;- analysis of the angling effort and angling performance;- identification of the species, and estimation of the numbers and sizes of fish consumed and wounded by cormorants, and comparison with the numbers and sizes of the fish populations present;- determination of the occupancy on, and use by, cormorants at the selected sites.The work programme ran between September 1995 and July 1998, covering three winters of cormorant predation. At each study site, the cormorant feeding dynamics were assessed by detailed feeding observations and cormorant counts. This enabled data to be collected on the species, size and amount of fish being ingested during each foraging bout, and the diurnal and seasonal patterns of cormorant occupancy. As feeding observations were unable to completed at each site everyday, a modelling system was designed, using a Monte Carlo Simulation (MCS), to estimate the number and mass of fish being removed from the site over the whole winter period. The fisheries data were collected by electric fishing, seine netting, hydro-acoustics and angler catch analysis. The actual methods used at each site were dependent upon the physical conditions present. The data were analysed for fish population dynamics, including length frequency of species, year class strength, natural mortality rate and growth indices; and for angling performance, including catch per unit effort and the relative importance of species. Combining site-specific data for the fish species composition, and the length frequency distribution from fisheries surveys and the cormorants' diet, allowed preliminary predation impact assessment. Reconstruction of life tables from the fisheries data allowed integration of the cormorant feeding data from the Monte Carlo Simulation to assess impact in terms of the numbers of fish consumed on subsequent population densities. This enabled the status of the fish population at each study site to be shown, with and without cormorant predation over the three-year period, resulting in a detailed predation impact assessment.The fisheries studied were located in two regions of the UK, the Midlands and the North West of England. This enabled the research to be completed in two distinct geographical areas, with known and established over-wintering cormorant roosts. The Midland study sites were Holme Pierrepont Rowing Course, Colwick Park Trout Lake and the River Trent. The North West study sites were the lower River Ribble and Grimsargh number 3 Reservoir. These sites encompassed cyprinid and salmonid fish populations, and covered riverine and lacustrine fisheries