Defining, Valuing, and Providing Ecosystem Goods and Services

Ecosystem services are the specific results of ecosystem processes that either directly sustain or enhance human life (as does natural protection from the sun's harmful ultraviolet rays) or maintain the quality of ecosystem goods (as water purification maintains the quality of streamflow). "Ecosystem service" has come to represent several related topics ranging from the measurement to the marketing of ecosystem service flows. In this article we examine several of these topics by first clarifying the meaning of "ecosystem service" and then (1) placing ecosystem goods and services within an economic framework, emphasizing the role and limitations of substitutes; (2) summarizing the methods for valuation of ecosystem goods and services; and (3) reviewing the various approaches for their provision and financing.Many ecosystem services and some ecosystem goods are received without monetary payment. The "marketing" of ecosystem goods and services is basically an effort to turn such recipients - those who benefit without ownership- into buyers, thereby providing market signals that serve to help protect valuable goods and services. We review various formal arrangements for making this happen

Microscopic calculation of 6Li elastic and transition form factors

Variational Monte Carlo wave functions, obtained from a realistic Hamiltonian consisting of the Argonne v18 two-nucleon and Urbana-IX three-nucleon interactions, are used to calculate the 6Li ground-state longitudinal and transverse form factors as well as transition form factors to the first four excited states. The charge and current operators include one- and two-body components, leading terms of which are constructed consistently with the two-nucleon interaction. The calculated form factors and radiative widths are in good agreement with available experimental data.Comment: 9 pages, 2 figures, REVTeX, submitted to Physical Review Letters, with updated introduction and reference

USE OF CHAMBERLAIN FIXED EFFECTS APPROACH TO ESTIMATE WILLINGNESS-TO-PAY FOR LITTLE TENNESSEE RIVER BASIN MANAGEMENT ALTERNATIVES

The paper discusses an application of Chamberlain's fixed effects model to contingent valuation method survey data obtained for eight management alternatives for the Little Tennessee River basin. The advantages of using this approach versus cross-sectional logit, pooled logit, and cross-sectional logit with lags are discussed and a technique to obtain willingness-to-pay estimates from estimated coefficients is offered. Drawbacks of using Chamberlain's fixed effects model, difficulties encountered, and directions for further research are presented.Environmental Economics and Policy,

Distance-Redshift in Inhomogeneous Omega0=1Omega_0=1 Friedmann-Lemaitre-Robertson-Walker Cosmology

Distance--redshift relations are given in terms of associated Legendre functions for partially filled beam observations inspatially flat Friedmann-Lemaitre-Robertson-Walker (FLRW) cosmologies. These models are dynamically pressure-free, flat FLRW on large scales but, due to mass inhomogeneities, differ in their optical properties. The partially filled beam area-redshift equation is a Lame$^{\prime}$ equation for arbitrary FLRW and is shown to simplify to the associated Legendre equation for the spatially flat, i.e. $\Omega_0=1$ case. We fit these new analytic Hubble curves to recent supernovae (SNe) data in an attempt to determine both the mass parameter $\Omega_m$ and the beam filling parameter $\nu$. We find that current data are inadequate to limit $\nu$. However, we are able to estimate what limits are possible when the number of observed SNe is increased by factor of 10 or 100, sample sizes achievable in the near future with the proposed SuperNova Acceleration Probe satellite.Comment: 9 pages, 3 figure

Kinetic decoupling of neutralino dark matter

After neutralinos cease annihilating in the early Universe, they may still scatter elastically from other particles in the primordial plasma. At some point in time, however, they will eventually stop scattering. We calculate the cross sections for neutralino elastic scattering from standard-model particles to determine the time at which this kinetic decoupling occurs. We show that kinetic decoupling occurs above a temperature $T\sim$ MeV. Thereafter, neutralinos act as collisionless cold dark matter.Comment: Replaced with revised version, new references adde

MAVERIC: Exploring Space Visualization Technology Through Academic Flight Programs

Magnetic Vector and Remote Imaging Communication satellite (MAVERIC) is a science and technology CubeSate designed and built by students at the University of Southern California (USC) and Space Engineering Research Center (SERC). MAVERIC is a student-led and built CubeSat under the Department of Astronautical Project Class for Microsatellites, with a mission to test out science and technology

Evaluation of modified potato starch in diets for the early-weaned pig

Two growth trials were conducted to compare the effectiveness of replacing either corn or lactose with modified potato starches in diets for conventionally and early-weaned pigs. In Exp. 1, 198 pigs (initially 9.4lb and 19 d of age) were used to determine if modified potato starch (potato starch 1) can replace a portion of the lactose in a high nutrient dense diet. Pigs were allotted by weight, gender, and ancestry to each of six dietary treatments with either five or six pigs per pen and six pens per treatment. The control diet contained 10% dried whey (7.2% lactose), 7.5% spray-dried porcine plasma, 2.5% select menhaden fish meal, and 1.75% spray-dried blood meal. Additional treatments were formulated by adding 7 or 14% modified potato starch or lactose in place of com. A positive control diet also was formulated containing 29% dried whey (providing the same amount of lactose as the 10% dried whey plus 14% lactose diet). All diets were formulated to contain 1.5% lysine, and .90% Ca, .80% P, and 17.88% soybean meal and were fed in a meal form. From day 0 to 14 postweaning, increasing dietary lactose tended to linearly improve ADG and ADFI. Added potato starch did not improve ADG compared with pigs fed the control diet, but ADFI increased linearly with increasing potato starch. In Exp. 2, 180 pigs (8.5 lb and 14 d of age) were used to evaluate the effects of two modified potato starches (potato starch 1 or potato starch 2,a further hydrolyzed potato starch with a greater percentage of sugars as either glucose or maltose as a replacement for either com or lactose in a segregated early-weaning diet (SEW). Pigs were fed a control diet containing 15% dried whey, 12% added lactose, 6% porcine plasma, and 6% select menhaden fish meal. Modified potato starch 1 or 2 (12 %) replaced either corn or the added lactose on an equal weight basis. From d 0 to 7 postweaning, pigs fed the modified potato starch 1 had greater ADG and ADFI than those fed modified potato starch 2. Pigs fed diets with either starch substituted for corn had greater ADG than those fed diets with either starch substituted for lactose. From d 0 to 14 and d o to 21, pigs fed diets containing either modified potato starch substituted for corn tended to have greater ADG than those fed the control diet. This appeared to be the result of greater feed intake of pigs fed the diets containing either starch substituted for corn compared with those fed the control diet or diets containing either starch substituted for lactose. Pigs fed diets with either modified starch substituted for lactose had similar ADG as those fed the control diet. In conclusion, these results suggest that potato starch can improve growth performance of pigs when substituted for corn and can replace a portion of the lactose in an SEW diet without adversely affecting performance.; Swine Day, Manhattan, KS, November 17, 199

Gamma Ray Lines from a Universal Extra Dimension

Indirect Dark Matter searches are based on the observation of secondary particles produced by the annihilation or decay of Dark Matter. Among them, gamma-rays are perhaps the most promising messengers, as they do not suffer deflection or absorption on Galactic scales, so their observation would directly reveal the position and the energy spectrum of the emitting source. Here, we study the detailed gamma-ray energy spectrum of Kaluza--Klein Dark Matter in a theory with 5 Universal Extra Dimensions. We focus in particular on the two body annihilation of Dark Matter particles into a photon and another particle, which produces monochromatic photons, resulting in a line in the energy spectrum of gamma rays. Previous calculations in the context of the five dimensional UED model have computed the line signal from annihilations into \gamma \gamma, but we extend these results to include \gamma Z and \gamma H final states. We find that these spectral lines are subdominant compared to the predicted \gamma \gamma signal, but they would be important as follow-up signals in the event of the observation of the \gamma \gamma line, in order to distinguish the 5d UED model from other theoretical scenarios.Comment: 21 pages, 6 figure

The effects of added salt in the phase II starter pig diet

A total of 178 pigs (initially 10.5 Ib and 19 d of age) was used to compare the effects of added salt in the Phase II (d 14 to 28 postweaning) diet. Pigs were alloted by sex and inital weight and placed in pens containing either nine or 10 pigs. All pigs were fed the same Phase I diet for the first 14 d postweaning. The Phase I diet contained 20% dried whey, 7.5% spry-dried porcine plasma (SDPP), and 1.75% spray-dried blood meal (SDBM) and was formulated to contain 1.5% lysine and .42% methionine. On day 14, pigs were assigned to one of three diets that contained either 3.5 or 7 lb/ton added salt or no salt. The Phase II diet was cornsoybean meal-based, contained 10% dried whey and 2.5% SDBM, and was formulated to contain 1.25% lysine and .34% methionine. During Phase I (d 0 to 14 postweaning), average dally gain (ADG), average daily feed intake (ADFI), and feed efficiency (F/G) were .52 Ib, .63 Ib, and 1.2, respectively. During Phase II (d 14 to 28 postweaning), ADG and F/G tended to improve with increasing added salt (8 and 9 %, respectively). For the cumulative period (d 0 to 28 postweaning), numerical increases also occurred in both ADG and F/G. These results suggest that up to 7 lb/ton of added salt in a Phase II diet containing 10% dried whey improves ADG and F/G of starter pigs.; Swine Day, Manhattan, KS, November 17, 199