Public Preferences and Values for Rural Land Preservation in Florida

This study develops a method to evaluate the influence of local geography on respondents values for land conservation programs. The study employs a choice experiment to evaluate alternative conservation plans. Results indicate that residents local landscapes do matter to the estimated values for such conservation programs. Our results also provide information about the divergence of political and economic jurisdictions for land conservation programs in Florida.Land Economics/Use,

Aircraft deployment, and airborne arctic stratospheric expedition

The Airborne Arctic Stratospheric Expedition had two primary objectives: to study the production and loss mechanisms of ozone in the north polar stratosphere and to study the effect on ozone distribution of the Arctic Polar Vortex and of the cold temperatures associated with the formation of Polar Stratospheric Clouds. Two specially instrumented NASA aircraft were flown over the Arctic region. Each aircraft flew to acquire data on the meteorological, chemical and cloud physical phenomena that occur in the polar stratosphere during winter. The chemical processes which occur in the polar stratosphere during winter were also observed and studied. The data acquired are being analyzed

A Church in Entropy: Catholic Adelaide, 1868-1873

The priest walked the hundred yards or so from the Bishop's House to the convent. He announced himself, and asked to see the Mother Prioress. He was held at the door. Eventually it was the Sub-Prioress who appeared at the door, and then only to tell him that the Mother Prioress was still not willing to see him. His warning that he now felt compelled to report to the Holy See the continued insubordination of the sisters attracted the rejoinder that he might please himself what he did..

Atmospheric guiding of electromagnetic waves

We propose to alter the propagation conditions experienced by a microwave beam by the generation of a "laser beam atmospheric waveguide". The waveguide is formed by tailored refractive index changes caused by the absorption of a small part of the energy of an annular laser beam. The objective is to increase the microwave radiation field experienced by a target through improved directionality rather than total radiated power from the source. The equations governing the propagation of high power laser beams in the paraxial limit and their interactions (both linear and non-linear) with an absorbing atmosphere are derived and studied. The mechanisms which lead to the formation of the guide and the effects of the propagation environment are considered in detail and the full paraxial form of the thermal blooming wave equation is derived from first principles. Refractive index changes in air caused by the passage of a 1 kW CW CO2 Gaussian laser beam are studied theoretically and both linear and non-linear cases examined. In the linear case, it is predicted that the laser beam produces a refractive index change of greater than 1 part in 10 5 for a 1 second beam exposure. In the non-linear case, the iterative scheme developed predicts self-interaction and beam break-up after less than 0.5 s. For an annular beam, refractive index changes of 3 parts in 10 are predicted for the linear case. The influence of refractive index fluctuations on microwave radiation is modelled using a ray-tracing algorithm to investigate the behaviour of microwave radiation in an atmospheric waveguide. For a step-index guide of 5 cm radius, there is strong guiding so that even with a small perturbation in refractivity, rays with a wide range of launch angles are trapped. In the case of a guide with a quadratic refractive index profile, small changes in refractive index (1 part in 106) produce weak guiding where only rays with trajectories very close to the optic axis are trapped. As the refractive index change increases, more divergent rays are trapped until a transition to strong guiding occurs at a critical value (changes in refractive index of the order of 1 part in 104). A number of implementations of the waveguiding concept are proposed and evaluated. For the purposes of an experimental verification, a specially designed Annular Beam Director ("ABD") of an on-axis type is tested. Annular laser beams are propagated over short distances in the laboratory and the results presented. Measurements made with a rotating wire laser beam analyser indicate that the ABD performs well. Experiments designed to measure refractive index changes caused by a 1 kW CW CO2 laser beam of Gaussian profile are described. Measurements are made at wavelengths of 633 nm using a specially configured Michelson interferometer and at 3 mm using a millimetre wave quasi-optical FM noise measurement system. Typical results indicate refractive index changes of the order of 1 part in 106 at both the wavelengths considered. The guiding of microwave radiation is verified using a 1 kW CW CO2 annular laser beam, produced by the ABD, into which microwave energy is injected using a small copper reflector located at the centre of the annulus. In one implementation, the microwave energy is coupled out of the guide with a second copper reflector. In a second implementation, the microwave detector imit is located on the optic axis and the laser beam is terminated in an annular beam dump. The results show clear evidence that the high power laser beam forms a waveguide, increasing the amount of microwave radiation reaching the detector by a factor of 1.5

The Arecibo Legacy Fast ALFA Survey: VIII. HI Source Catalog of the Anti-Virgo Region at dec = +25 deg

We present a fourth catalog of HI sources from the Arecibo Legacy Fast ALFA (ALFALFA) Survey. We report 541 detections over 136 deg2, within the region of the sky having 22h < R.A. < 03h and 24 deg < Dec. < 26 deg . This complements a previous catalog in the region 26 deg < Dec. < 28 deg (Saintonge et al. 2008). We present here the detections falling into three classes: (a) extragalactic sources with S/N > 6.5, where the reliability of the catalog is better than 95%; (b) extragalactic sources 5.0 < S/N < 6.5 and a previously measured optical redshift that corroborates our detection; or (c) High Velocity Clouds (HVCs), or subcomponents of such clouds, in the periphery of the Milky Way. Of the 541 objects presented here, 90 are associated with High Velocity Clouds, while the remaining 451 are identified as extragalactic objects. Optical counterparts have been matched with all but one of the extragalactic objects.Comment: 26 pages, 5 figures, 1 table, accepted for publication in Astrophysical Journal Supplement Serie

An Assessment of Surface Properties and Moisture Uptake of Nonwoven Fabrics from Ginning By-products

Greige (raw) cotton by-products resulting from cotton ginning and mill processes have long been bleached for use in absorbent nonwoven products. The potential to use greige cotton by-products as an economical source for absorbent nonwoven blends is explored. The nonwoven hydroentanglement of greige cotton lint with cotton gin motes and comber noils blends was analyzed for fiber surface polarity, swelling, and absorbance to assess properties with potential usefulness in absorbent nonwovens. The electrokinetic analysis of the fabric surface gives a composite picture of the relative hydrophilic/hydrophobic polarity absorbency and swelling properties. Nonwoven fabrics made with cleaned greige cotton lint separately blended with comber noils and ginning motes at 40:60 and 60:40 blend ratios demonstrated charge, swell, and percent moisture uptake profiles that are characteristic of the fabrics’ crystalline/amorphous cellulosic content with some variance in swelling properties. However, cellulose crystallite size varied. X-ray diffraction patterns of the three different cotton constituents displayed similar crystalline cellulose compositions. An electrochemical double-layer analysis of charge based on a pH titration (ζplateau) was employed to measure the relative fiber and fabric surface polarity which varied slightly between -21 and -29 mV. A relationship of fiber swelling (∆ζ) and percent moisture content is apparent when greige cotton lint and other fibers are blended. The blended nonwoven materials possess absorbent properties characterized by similar moisture uptake (7.1-9.5 %) and fiber polarity, but some variation in swelling is based on the by-product additive and its percent content. The crystallinity, electrokinetic, and water binding properties of the nonwoven by-product materials are discussed in the context of the molecular features water, cellulose, and greige cotton components that enhance potential uses as absorbent nonwoven end-use products