Australian Migration and Dwelling Prices

Residential dwelling prices have been increasing over the last few decades in Australia. Many empirical researches have demonstrated that population and demographics are the main factors of contributing to upward trend of dwelling prices. In Australia, migration plays an important role in the nation’s population growth and economic development. The Australian government currently receives overseas migrants from countries around the world every year on different schemes such as skilful migration, family reunion and so on. On average there are around 200,000 overseas migrants settling as permanent residents in Australia according to the migration data provided by the Australian Department of Immigration. This paper studies how new migrants contribute to demand shock and how much impact they have on the residential dwellings market. Yearly time series data will be collected from the Australian Bureau of Statistics and Australian Department of Immigration. Statistical models will be derived using the changes of dwelling prices as the dependent variables; and net migration, changes of household income and dwelling supplies as the independent variables. The research is considered important as it addresses the economic fundamental of demand and supply issues. The research findings also help to validate the Australian migration policies

Effects of turbulent dust grain motion to interstellar chemistry

Theoretical studies have revealed that dust grains are usually moving fast through the turbulent interstellar gas, which could have significant effects upon interstellar chemistry by modifying grain accretion. This effect is investigated in this work on the basis of numerical gas-grain chemical modeling. Major features of the grain motion effect in the typical environment of dark clouds (DC) can be summarised as follows: 1) decrease of gas-phase (both neutral and ionic) abundances and increase of surface abundances by up to 2-3 orders of magnitude; 2) shifts of the existing chemical jumps to earlier evolution ages for gas-phase species and to later ages for surface species by factors of about ten; 3) a few exceptional cases in which some species turn out to be insensitive to this effect and some other species can show opposite behaviors too. These effects usually begin to emerge from a typical DC model age of about 10^5 yr. The grain motion in a typical cold neutral medium (CNM) can help overcome the Coulomb repulsive barrier to enable effective accretion of cations onto positively charged grains. As a result, the grain motion greatly enhances the abundances of some gas-phase and surface species by factors up to 2-6 or more orders of magnitude in the CNM model. The grain motion effect in a typical molecular cloud (MC) is intermediate between that of the DC and CNM models, but with weaker strength. The grain motion is found to be important to consider in chemical simulations of typical interstellar medium.Comment: 20 pages, 10 figures and 2 table

Black Holes, Entropy Bound and Causality Violation

The gravity/gauge theory duality has provided us a way of studying QCD at short distances from straightforward calculations in classical general relativity. Among numerous results obtained so far, one of the most striking is the universality of the ratio of the shear viscosity to the entropy density. For all gauge theories with Einstein gravity dual, this ratio is \eta/s=1/4\pi. However, in general higher-curvature gravity theories, including two concrete models under discussion - the Gauss-Bonnet gravity and the (Riemann)^2 gravity - the ratio \eta/s can be smaller than 1/4\pi (thus violating the conjecture bound), equal to 1/4\pi or even larger than 1/4\pi. As we probe spacetime at shorter distances, there arises an internal inconsistency in the theory, such as a violation of microcausality, which is correlated with a classical limit on black hole entropy.Comment: 8 pages, no figures; Invited contribution to appear in the Proceedings of the 75 Years since Solvay, Singapore, Nov 2008, (World Scientific, Singapore, 2009

Graded reflection equation algebras and integrable Kondo impurities in the one-dimensional t-J model

Integrable Kondo impurities in two cases of the one-dimensional $t-J$ model are studied by means of the boundary ${\bf Z}_2$-graded quantum inverse scattering method. The boundary $K$ matrices depending on the local magnetic moments of the impurities are presented as nontrivial realizations of the reflection equation algebras in an impurity Hilbert space. Furthermore, these models are solved by using the algebraic Bethe ansatz method and the Bethe ansatz equations are obtained.Comment: 14 pages, RevTe

Rail accessibility on property value: Zuoying Station

Problem/Purpose: Accessibility to transport infrastructure is one of the factors that affects property value. A number of researchers have found positive and negative effects on how improvement in public transportation has on property value (Chau and Ng, 1998). In Taiwan, little research has been carried out in this area. This research seeks to contribute to the understanding of the effect of rail accessibility on property value. Specifically, this study investigates the impact on property value located in close proximity to Zuoying station in Taiwan. Hedonic price theory is used and 5,478 data sets including property transaction prices, house or unit size; distances to the rail station, amenities, parklands and main roads were used for the testing. Before and after the commencement of the rail systems has also been considered in this study. Design/methodology/approach: Hedonic analysis is a well-established technique that is applied in this study. Findings: The estimation results suggest that accessibility to train station is one of the important factors affecting property values. It is found that the shorter distance and easier access the rail station, the higher the property values. Research limitations/implications (if applicable): This research has considered the elements of before and after the opening of the Taiwan High Speed Rail (THSR) and Kaohsiung Mass Rapid Transit (KMRT). However, a comparison study on the effects of before and after the completed rail development is not included in this study. Takeaway for practice (if applicable) Originality/value: No study has been conducted in the past on Zuoying station in the area of rail accessibility and property values. This is the only rail station in southern Taiwan where three railway systems converge. The investment of new transport infrastructure has positive impact on the land values in the locality and the economic and social aspects of the built environment

Demonstration of a quantum logic gate in a cryogenic surface-electrode ion trap

We demonstrate quantum control techniques for a single trapped ion in a cryogenic, surface-electrode trap. A narrow optical transition of Sr+ along with the ground and first excited motional states of the harmonic trapping potential form a two-qubit system. The optical qubit transition is susceptible to magnetic field fluctuations, which we stabilize with a simple and compact method using superconducting rings. Decoherence of the motional qubit is suppressed by the cryogenic environment. AC Stark shift correction is accomplished by controlling the laser phase in the pulse sequencer, eliminating the need for an additional laser. Quantum process tomography is implemented on atomic and motional states using conditional pulse sequences. With these techniques we demonstrate a Cirac-Zoller Controlled-NOT gate in a single ion with a mean fidelity of 91(1)%.Comment: 11 pages, 5 figures, 4 table

Gaseous pollutants in Beijing urban area during the heating period 2007–2008: variability, sources, meteorological, and chemical impacts

Gaseous pollutants, NO<sub>y</sub>/NO<sub>x</sub>, SO<sub>2</sub>, CO, and O<sub>3</sub>, were measured at an urban site in Beijing from 17 November 2007 to 15 March 2008. The average concentrations (with ± 1σ) of NO, NO<sub>2</sub>, NO<sub>x</sub>, NO<sub>y</sub>, CO, SO<sub>2</sub>, and O<sub>3</sub> were 29.0 ± 2.7 ppb, 33.7 ± 1.4 ppb, 62.7 ± 4.0 ppb, 72.8 ± 4.5 ppb, 1.99 ± 0.13 ppm, 31.9 ± 2.0 ppb, and 11.9 ± 0.8 ppb, respectively, with hourly maxima of 200.7 ppb, 113.5 ppb, 303.9 ppb, 323.2 ppb, 15.06 ppm, 147.3 ppb, and 69.7 ppb, respectively. The concentrations of the pollutants show "saw-toothed" patterns, which are attributable mainly to changes in wind direction and speed. The frequency distributions of the hourly mean concentrations of NO<sub>y</sub>, SO<sub>2</sub>, CO, and O<sub>3</sub> can all be decomposed in the two Lorentz curves, with their peak concentrations representing background levels under different conditions. During the observation period, the average ratio NO<sub>x</sub>/NO<sub>y</sub> was 0.86 ± 0.10, suggesting that the gaseous pollutants in Beijing in winter are mainly from local emissions. Data of O<sub>3</sub>, NO<sub>z</sub>, and NO<sub>x</sub>/NO<sub>y</sub> indicate that photochemistry can take place in Beijing even in the cold winter period. Based on the measurements of O<sub>3</sub>, NO<sub>x</sub>, and NO<sub>y</sub>, ozone production efficiency (OPE) is estimated to be in the range of 0–8.9 (ppb ppb<sup>−1</sup>) with the mean(± 1σ) and median values being 1.1(± 1.6) and 0.5 (ppb ppb<sup>−1</sup>), respectively, for the winter 2007–2008 in Beijing. This low OPE would cause a photochemical O<sub>3</sub> source of 5 ppb day<sup>−1</sup>, which is small but significant for surface O<sub>3</sub> in winter in Beijing. Downward transport of O<sub>3</sub>-rich air from the free troposphere is the more important factor for the enhancement of the O<sub>3</sub> level in the surface layer, while high NO level for the destruction of O<sub>3</sub>. The concentrations of SO<sub>2</sub>, CO, and NO<sub>x</sub> are strongly correlated among each other, indicating that they are emitted by some common sources. Multiple linear regression analysis is applied to the concentrations of NO<sub>y</sub>, SO<sub>2</sub>, and CO and empirical equations are obtained for the NO<sub>y</sub> concentration. Based the equations, the relative contributions from mobile and point sources to NO<sub>y</sub> is estimated to be 66 ± 30 % and 40 ± 16 %, respectively, suggesting that even in the heating period, mobile sources in Beijing contribute more to NO<sub>y</sub> than point sources