You make it happen: document demand, typeface supply

The basic premise of this article is that typefaces reflect, and respond to, the conditions of making and using documents; and that demand for evolving document genres drives the development of new typefaces. The article describes how the combination of a narrow range for functionally acceptable letters and paragraphs, and a wide range of possibilities to express these arrangements, offers a revealing tool for examining changes in the perceptions of professionals in visual communication. Beyond technical issues, the choices of document makers allow insights into wider trends such as urbanisation, demographic changes, education standards, and wider issues of visual literacy.

Ant larval demand reduces aphid colony growth rates in an ant-aphid interaction

Ants often form mutualistic interactions with aphids, soliciting honeydew in return for protective services. Under certain circumstances, however, ants will prey upon aphids. In addition, in the presence of ants aphids may increase the quantity or quality of honeydew produced, which is costly. Through these mechanisms, ant attendance can reduce aphid colony growth rates. However, it is unknown whether demand from within the ant colony can affect the ant-aphid interaction. In a factorial experiment, we tested whether the presence of larvae in Lasius niger ant colonies affected the growth rate of Aphis fabae colonies. Other explanatory variables tested were the origin of ant colonies (two separate colonies were used) and previous diet (sugar only or sugar and protein). We found that the presence of larvae in the ant colony significantly reduced the growth rate of aphid colonies. Previous diet and colony origin did not affect aphid colony growth rates. Our results suggest that ant colonies balance the flow of two separate resources from aphid colonies- renewable sugars or a protein-rich meal, depending on demand from ant larvae within the nest. Aphid payoffs from the ant-aphid interaction may change on a seasonal basis, as the demand from larvae within the ant colony waxes and wanes.

Analysis and clustering of residential customers energy behavioral demand using smart meter data

Clustering methods are increasingly being applied to residential smart meter data, providing a number of important opportunities for distribution network operators (DNOs) to manage and plan the low voltage networks. Clustering has a number of potential advantages for DNOs including, identifying suitable candidates for demand response and improving energy profile modelling. However, due to the high stochasticity and irregularity of household level demand, detailed analytics are required to define appropriate attributes to cluster. In this paper we present in-depth analysis of customer smart meter data to better understand peak demand and major sources of variability in their behaviour. We find four key time periods in which the data should be analysed and use this to form relevant attributes for our clustering. We present a finite mixture model based clustering where we discover 10 distinct behaviour groups describing customers based on their demand and their variability. Finally, using an existing bootstrapping technique we show that the clustering is reliable. To the authors knowledge this is the first time in the power systems literature that the sample robustness of the clustering has been tested.

Simultaneous activities in the household and residential electricity demand in Spain

Recent research and policy studies on the low-carbon future highlight the importance of flexible electricity demand. This might be problematic particularly for residential electricity demand, which is related to simultaneous consumers’ practices in the household. This paper analyses issues of simultaneity in residential electricity demand in Spain. It makes use of the 2011 Spanish Time Use Survey data with comparisons from the previous Spanish Time Use Survey and the Harmonised European Time Use Surveys. Findings show that media activities are associated the highest levels of continuity and simultaneity, particularly in the early and late parts of the evening during weekdays.

Apple pollination: demand depends on variety and supply depends on pollinator identity

Insect pollination underpins apple production but the extent to which different pollinator guilds supply this service, particularly across different apple varieties, is unknown. Such information is essential if appropriate orchard management practices are to be targeted and proportional to the potential benefits pollinator species may provide. Here we use a novel combination of pollinator effectiveness assays (floral visit effectiveness), orchard field surveys (flower visitation rate) and pollinator dependence manipulations (pollinator exclusion experiments) to quantify the supply of pollination services provided by four different pollinator guilds to the production of four commercial varieties of apple. We show that not all pollinators are equally effective at pollinating apples, with hoverflies being less effective than solitary bees and bumblebees, and the relative abundance of different pollinator guilds visiting apple flowers of different varieties varies significantly. Based on this, the taxa specific economic benefits to UK apple production have been established. The contribution of insect pollinators to the economic output in all varieties was estimated to be £92.1M across the UK, with contributions varying widely across taxa: solitary bees (£51.4M), honeybees (£21.4M), bumblebees (£18.6M) and hoverflies (£0.7M). This research highlights the differences in the economic benefits of four insect pollinator guilds to four major apple varieties in the UK. This information is essential to underpin appropriate investment in pollination services management and provides a model that can be used in other entomolophilous crops to improve our understanding of crop pollination ecology.

On the cutting stock problem under stochastic demand

This paper addresses the one-dimensional cutting stock problem when demand is a random variable. The problem is formulated as a two-stage stochastic nonlinear program with recourse. The first stage decision variables are the number of objects to be cut according to a cutting pattern. The second stage decision variables are the number of holding or backordering items due to the decisions made in the first stage. The problem`s objective is to minimize the total expected cost incurred in both stages, due to waste and holding or backordering penalties. A Simplex-based method with column generation is proposed for solving a linear relaxation of the resulting optimization problem. The proposed method is evaluated by using two well-known measures of uncertainty effects in stochastic programming: the value of stochastic solution-VSS-and the expected value of perfect information-EVPI. The optimal two-stage solution is shown to be more effective than the alternative wait-and-see and expected value approaches, even under small variations in the parameters of the problem.

Finite temperature correction to the Thomas-Fermi approximation for a Bose-Einstein condensate: comparison between theory and experiment

We observe experimentally a deviation of the radius of a Bose-Einstein condensate from the standard Thomas-Fermi prediction, after free expansion, as a function of temperature. A modified Hartree-Fock model is used to explain the observations, mainly based on the influence of the thermal cloud on the condensate cloud.

Short-time behaviour of demand and price viewed through an exactly solvable model for heterogeneous interacting market agents

We introduce a stochastic heterogeneous interacting-agent model for the short-time non-equilibrium evolution of excess demand and price in a stylized asset market. We consider a combination of social interaction within peer groups and individually heterogeneous fundamentalist trading decisions which take into account the market price and the perceived fundamental value of the asset. The resulting excess demand is coupled to the market price. Rigorous analysis reveals that this feedback may lead to price oscillations, a single bounce, or monotonic price behaviour. The model is a rare example of an analytically tractable interacting-agent model which allows LIS to deduce in detail the origin of these different collective patterns. For a natural choice of initial distribution, the results are independent of the graph structure that models the peer network of agents whose decisions influence each other. (C) 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Applicatiion of Almost ideal demand system for a pharmaceutical

This thesis is an application of the Almost Ideal Demand System approach of Deaton and Muellbauer,1980, for a particular pharmaceutical, Citalopram, in which GORMAN´s (1971) multi-stage budgeting approach is applied basically since it is one of the most useful approach in estimating demand for differentiated products. Citalopram is an antidepressant drug that is used in the treatment of major depression. As for most other pharmaceuticals whose the patent has expired, there exist branded and generic versions of Citalopram. This paper is aimed to define its demand system with two stage models for the branded version and five generic versions, and to show whether generic versions are able to compete with the branded version. I calculated the own price elasticities, and it made me possible to compare and make a conclusion about the consumers’ choices over the brand and generic drugs. Even though the models need for being developed with some additional variables, estimation results of models and uncompensated price elasticities indicated that the branded version has still power in the market, and generics are able to compete with lower prices. One important point that has to be taken into consideration is that the Swedish pharmaceutical market faced a reform on October 1, 2002, that aims to make consumer better informed about the price and decrease the overall expenditures for pharmaceuticals. Since there were not significantly enough generic sales to take into calculation before the reform, my paper covers sales after the reform.

Modelling Recreation Demand Using Choice Experiments : Using Swedish Snowmobilers Demand for Groomed trails

This paper is concerned with the use of the choice experiment method for modeling the demand for snowmobiling . The Choice Experiment includes five attributes, standard, composition, length, price day card and experience along trail. The paper estimates the snowmobile owners’ preferences and the most preferred attributes, including their will-ingness to pay for a daytrip on groomed snowmobile trail. The data consists of the an-swers from 479 registered snowmobile owners, who answered two hypothetical choice questions each. Estimating using the multinominal logit model, it is found that snow-mobilers on average are willing to pay 22.5 SEK for one day of snowmobiling on a trail with quality described as skidded every 14th day. Furthermore, it is found that the WTP increases with the quality of trail grooming. The result of this paper can be used as a yardstick for snowmobile clubs wanting to develop their trail net worth, organizations and companies developing snowmobiling as a recreational activities and marketers in-terested in marketing snowmobiling as recreational activities.

Deadly Desire : A Psychoanalytical Reading of Desire and Death in the Poetry of Dylan Thomas

Dylan Thomas' work is often explored in light of the poet himself, and he has been referred to as modernism's l'enfant terrible or even described as a late romanticist. The aim in this essay is to explore the poetry without regard to his personal life as well as highlight previously ignored oedipal elements in said poetry. The main goal is to assert Thomas' place amongst the modernist literati, of which most were heavily influenced by Freud, as well as to be an acknowledgement of his work without considering his biography.

Passive solar options for reducing heating demand and maintain indoor climate in a multifamily house in Sweden

This research was carried out by studying possible renovation of a two-storey detached multifamily building by using passive solar design options in a cold climate in Borlänge, Sweden where the heating Degree Days are 4451 (base 20°C). Borlänge`s housing company, Tunabyggen, plans to renovate the project house located inthe multicultural district, Jakobsgårdarna. The goal of the thesis was to suggest a redesign of the current building, decrease the heating energy use, by applying passive solar design and control strategies, in a most reasonable way. In addition ensure a better thermal comfort for the tenants in the dwellings. Literatures have been studied, from which can be inferred that passive design should be abasic design consideration for all housing constructions, because it has advantages to ensure thermal comfort, and reduce the energy use. In addition further savings can be achieved applying different types of control strategies, from which the house will be more personalized, and better adapted to the user’s needs.The proposed method is based on simulations by using TRNSYS software. First a proper building model was set up, which represents the current state of the project building. Then the thermal insulation and the windows were upgraded, based on today's building regulations. The developments of the passive solar options were accomplished in two steps. First of all the relevant basic passive design elements were considered, then those advantages were compared to the advantages of applying new conventional thermostat, and shading control strategies.The results show that there is significant potential with the different types of passive solar design; their usage depends primarily on the location of the site as well as the orientation of the project building. Applying the control strategies, such as thermostat, and shading control, along the thermal insulation upgrade, may lead to significant energy savings (around 40 %), by comparison to the reference building without any upgrade.

Price elasticity of demand for cigarettes : The Case of Sweden

Due to health problems and the negative externalities associated with cigarette consumption, many governments try to discourage cigarette consumption by increasing its price through taxation. However, cigarette, like the other addictive goods, is viewed as that it is not sensitive to demand rules and the market forces. This study analyses the effect of price increase on cigarette consumption. We used Swedish time series data from 1970 to 2010. Our results reveal that though cigarette is addictive substance its demand is sensitive to changes in the price. Estimates from this study indicate short-run price-elasticity of -0.29 and the long run price elasticity of -0.47.

Thomas-Fermi ground state of dipolar fermions in a circular storage ring

Recent developments in the field of ultracold gases has led to the production of degenerate samples of polar molecules. These have large static electric-dipole moments, which in turn causes the molecules to interact strongly. We investigate the interaction of polar particles in waveguide geometries subject to an applied polarizing field. For circular waveguides, tilting the direction of the polarizing field creates a periodic inhomogeneity of the interparticle interaction. We explore the consequences of geometry and interaction for stability of the ground state within the Thomas-Fermi model. Certain combinations of tilt angles and interaction strengths are found to preclude the existence of a stable Thomas-Fermi ground state. The system is shown to exhibit different behavior for quasi-one-dimensional and three-dimensional trapping geometries.