Ruffled Feathers: Shared narratives in the sage-grouse management conflict in Sublette County, Wyoming

The tense conflict over sage grouse management in the West, where livelihoods have been pitted against the possibility of an endangered species listing, has been ongoing for many years and has been described as being as tense as the spotted owl conflict in the Northwest in the 1990s. This research is designed to highlight the different frames or narratives within the sage grouse debate in Sublette County, Wyoming while exploring a resurging research methodology. Q methodology, a method intended to identify distinct viewpoints within a sample was employed to understand the different narratives among these conflict parties. The Q method suggested three distinct viewpoints or knowledge communities existed within the sample: ultra locals, classic biologists and harmonizers. Ultra locals largely consisted of ranchers (75%) and others dependent on the land for their livelihood and showed a strong preference for local county management that included local information. The narratives of the classic biologists, a group consisting solely of biologists working for agencies, consulting firms and conservation organizations, preferred that science and research point the way to a solution. Finally, agency biologists and energy industry employees made up the final group identified, the harmonizers. This group favored working with all stakeholders to work together to build a solution. A number of areas of agreement including the lack of support for an ESA listing, and disagreement such as the role of predators on sage grouse populations were highlighted. To move forward on the conflict, this research suggests that instead of pursuing issues that may only serve to increase the conflict, such as issues of predators or sources of knowledge, a path forward may be found in merging the livelihood interests of ranchers with the preservation interests of biologists. Results also show that the Q method was helpful in pinpointing distinct viewpoints on sage grouse management in Sublette County; however, without the use of an in-depth interview, the Q method results may have been difficult to clearly and meaningfully interpret

Unipotent group actions on affine varieties

Algebraic actions of unipotent groups $U$ actions on affine $k-$varieties $X$ ($k$ an algebraically closed field of characteristic 0) for which the algebraic quotient $X//U$ has small dimension are considered$.$ In case $X$ is factorial, $O(X)^{\ast}=k^{\ast},$ and $X//U$ is one-dimensional, it is shown that $O(X)^{U}$=$k[f]$, and if some point in $X$ has trivial isotropy, then $X$ is $U$ equivariantly isomorphic to $U\times A^{1}(k).$ The main results are given distinct geometric and algebraic proofs. Links to the Abhyankar-Sathaye conjecture and a new equivalent formulation of the Sathaye conjecture are made.Comment: 10 pages. This submission comes out of an older submission ("A commuting derivations theorem on UFDs") and contains part of i

Symmetric Jacobians

This article is about polynomial maps with a certain symmetry and/or antisymmetry in their Jacobians, and whether the Jacobian Conjecture is satisfied for such maps, or whether it is sufficient to prove the Jacobian Conjecture for such maps. For instance, we show that it suffices to prove the Jacobian conjecture for polynomial maps x + H over C such that JH satisfies all symmetries of the square, where H is homogeneous of arbitrary degree d >= 3.Comment: 18 pages, minor corrections, grayscale eepic boxes have been replaced by colorful tikz boxe

Remarks on a normal subgroup of GA_n

We show that the subgroup generated by locally finite polynomial automorphisms of k^n is normal in GA_n. Also, some properties of normal subgroups of GA_n containing all diagonal automorphisms are given.Comment: 5 page

Yield loase" in barley caused by mildew attack.

A yield trial with five replicates was carried out with 2 cv. of spring barley, one suceptible and the other resistant to mildew. Both were treated with two specific mildew-controlling fungicides, one (BASF F 2201) applied as a leaf spray, the other (ICI PP 149) as a seed dressing. From the seedling stage onwards, the susceptible cv. was heavily attacked by mildew; a 20% reduction in yield was found compared with the potential yield. F.s.-A.G.G.H. (Abstract retrieved from CAB Abstracts by CABI’s permission

First Light of Engineered Diffusers at the Nordic Optical Telescope Reveal Time Variability in the Optical Eclipse Depth of WASP-12b

We present the characterization of two engineered diffusers mounted on the 2.5 meter Nordic Optical Telescope, located at Roque de Los Muchachos, Spain. To assess the reliability and the efficiency of the diffusers, we carried out several test observations of two photometric standard stars, along with observations of one primary transit observation of TrES-3b in the red (R-band), one of CoRoT-1b in the blue (B-band), and three secondary eclipses of WASP-12b in V-band. The achieved photometric precision is in all cases within the sub-millimagnitude level for exposures between 25 and 180 seconds. Along a detailed analysis of the functionality of the diffusers, we add a new transit depth measurement in the blue (B-band) to the already observed transmission spectrum of CoRoT-1b, disfavouring a Rayleigh slope. We also report variability of the eclipse depth of WASP-12b in the V-band. For the WASP-12b secondary eclipses, we observe a secondary-depth deviation of about 5-sigma, and a difference of 6-sigma and 2.5-sigma when compared to the values reported by other authors in similar wavelength range determined from Hubble Space Telescope data. We further speculate about the potential physical processes or causes responsible for this observed variabilityComment: 11 pages, 9 figure

Transmission spectroscopy of the inflated exo-Saturn HAT-P-19b

We observed the Saturn-mass and Jupiter-sized exoplanet HAT-P-19b to refine its transit parameters and ephemeris as well as to shed first light on its transmission spectrum. We monitored the host star over one year to quantify its flux variability and to correct the transmission spectrum for a slope caused by starspots. A transit of HAT-P-19b was observed spectroscopically with OSIRIS at the Gran Telescopio Canarias in January 2012. The spectra of the target and the comparison star covered the wavelength range from 5600 to 7600 AA. One high-precision differential light curve was created by integrating the entire spectral flux. This white-light curve was used to derive absolute transit parameters. Furthermore, a set of light curves over wavelength was formed by a flux integration in 41 wavelength channels of 50 AA width. We analyzed these spectral light curves for chromatic variations of transit depth. The transit fit of the combined white-light curve yields a refined value of the planet-to-star radius ratio of 0.1390 pm 0.0012 and an inclination of 88.89 pm 0.32 degrees. After a re-analysis of published data, we refine the orbital period to 4.0087844 pm 0.0000015 days. We obtain a flat transmission spectrum without significant additional absorption at any wavelength or any slope. However, our accuracy is not sufficient to significantly rule out the presence of a pressure-broadened sodium feature. Our photometric monitoring campaign allowed for an estimate of the stellar rotation period of 35.5 pm 2.5 days and an improved age estimate of 5.5^+1.8_-1.3 Gyr by gyrochronology.Comment: 14 pages, 9 figures, Accepted for publication in A&