Characterizing Land Use Change in Multidisciplinary Landscape-Level Analyses

Economists increasingly face opportunities to collaborate with ecologists on landscape-level analyses of socioeconomic and ecological processes. This often calls for developing empirical models to project land use change as input into ecological models. Providing ecologists with the land use information they desire can present many challenges regarding data, modeling, and econometrics. This paper provides an overview of the relatively recent adaptation of economics-based land use modeling methods toward greater spatial specificity desired in integrated research with ecologists. Practical issues presented by data, modeling, and econometrics are highlighted, followed by an example based on a multidisciplinary landscape-level analysis in Oregon's Coast Range mountains.Land Economics/Use,

Thermal Conductivity Studies of High Polymers Final Report

Thermal conductivity studies of high polymer

Gas Requirements in Pressurized Transfer of Liquid Hydrogen

Of late, liquid hydrogen has become a very popular fuel for space missions. It is being used in such programs as Centaur and Saturn. Furthermore, hydrogen is the ideal working fluid for nuclear powered space vehicles currently under development. In these applications, liquid hydrogen fuel is generally transferred to the combustion chamber by a combination of pumping and pressurization. The pump forces the liquid propellant from the fuel tank to the combustion chamber; gaseous pressurant holds tank pressure sufficiently high to prevent cavitation at the pump inlet and to maintain the structural rigidity of the tank. The pressurizing system, composed of pressurant, tankage, and associated hardware can be a large portion of the total vehicle weight. Pressurant weight can be reduced by introducing the pressurizing gas at temperatures substantially greater than those of liquid hydrogen. Heat and mass transfer processes thereby induced complicate gas requirements during discharge. These requirements must be known to insure proper design of the pressurizing system. The aim of this paper is to develop from basic mass and energy transfer processes a general method to predict helium and hydrogen gas usage for the pressurized transfer of liquid hydrogen. This required an analytical and experimental investigation, the results of which are described in this paper

Assessing Patterns in the Conversion of Rural Lands to Residential Use

Land Economics/Use,

Further studies of methods for reducing community noise around airports

A simplified method of analysis was used in which all flights at a 'simulated' airport were assumed to operate from one runway in a single direction. For this simulated airport, contours of noise exposure forecast were obtained and evaluated. A flight schedule of the simulated airport which is representative of the 23 major U. S. airports was used. The effect of banning night-time operations by four-engine, narrow-body aircraft in combination with other noise reduction options was studied. The reductions in noise which would occur of two- and three-engine, narrow-body aircraft equipped with a refanned engine was examined. A detailed comparison of the effects of engine cutback on takeoff versus the effects of retrofitting quiet nacelles for narrow-body aircraft was also examined. A method of presenting the effects of various noise reduction options was treated

“We Feminine Foresters”: Women, Conservation, and the USDA Forest Service, 1850-1970

The traditional narrative of the Forest Service places the mythic “two-fisted” male ranger as the focus of its history. The reality is that without women he would not have gotten the job done. Women’s work as advocates, foresters, rangers’ wives, clerks, information and education specialists, scientific researchers, and lookouts reveals that although women were excluded from the male domain of forestry, they created a distinct female tradition within the Forest Service—what one called a “feminine forestry” that proved without women, the Forest Service would not have achieved its accomplishments or growth throughout the twentieth century. Throughout their work, women spread their version of the “greatest good” by promoting the conservation cause, a civic and moral responsibility to conserve nature and people’s relationship with the land for the future benefit of American life and values. From the beginning, they played a critical role in pioneering, building, maintaining, and supporting the agency’s forest management infrastructure, information base, conservation education, scientific research, and fixed-point fire detection system, helping to shape the Forest Service’s mission and management of caring for the land and its people into the twenty-first century

Gate-To-Gate Life-Cycle Inventory of Oriented Strandboard Production

A life-cycle Inventory (LCI) for Southeast oriented strandboard (OSB) manufacturing was conducted by surveying four OSB manufacturing plants in the Southeast. The survey responses were returned for 1999 production data and represented approximately 18% of OSB production in the survey region. All LCI data presented herein were based on a standard production unit of 0.88 m3 OSB panel product (1000 ft2, 3/8-inch basis).Southeastern OSB requires 771.6 kg (1701 lb, oven-dry basis) of roundwood raw material input. 545.7 kg (1203 lb) of this input ends in final OSB product, giving a total wood recovery of 71%. The remaining wood input ends as wood residue for fuel, wood residues sold as co-products, and wood waste sent to the landfill.On-site energy requirements for southeastern OSB are 5261 MJ (4.99 million BTU). Heat energy is the largest energy need, 89.6% of which is generated from combustion of wood residues. 182 kWh (655 MJ heat equivalent) of electricity is required for processing OSB. The highest use of fossil fuel (natural gas) is used to reduce VOC emissions in the emission control process at 465 MJ (4.4 million BTU).Considering the carbon cycle for on-site OSB production for a unit of product, OSB requires 396 kg (873 lb) of carbon from wood raw material. Other carbon input is utilized in the form of resins/wax (11.4 kg/25 lb) and fuels (12.3kg/27 lb). OSB holds 290 kg (640 lb or 69% of total carbon input) carbon. A small percentage of carbon (4%) is held in the form of co-products (e.g. mulch and wood residues). The remainder of carbon is released back to nature in the form of non-fossil CO2 (24%), fossil CO2 (3%), VOCs and other emissions (0.4%)

Status and Management of the White-tailed Deer in Iowa, 1954-1962

Data regarding populations, hunting, harvest, and biology of Iowa deer (Odocoileus virginianus) gathered by the State Conservation Commission is presented from four ecologically distinct areas. Following 10 consecutive hunting seasons, deer are more abundant and better distributed than before. Abundance through the state is not consistent with available forest habitat. Separate seasons have been permitted for deer of any sex or age by shotgunners and archers on a statewide basis most years. Harvests during recent years have averaged near 20% of an increasing population. Hunting success for gunners during 3-day seasons has been near 45-50%. Bucks outnumber does in the harvest. Fawns comprise 41.7% of the bag. Only 5.8% of the bag has been of deer aged 4½ years or older. Bucks reach maximum weight after 3½ years of age; does at 3½. Weights and antler development reveal significant differences in size and condition exist among deer from four Areas. Weights and antler size average greater for years 1954-62 than in 1953, the first open season. Deer populations in Northeast Iowa are expected to remain stable. Populations in Northern Iowa are believed controlled by hunting more than in other areas because of less protective cover and terrain in northern regions. Southern Iowa is believed to offer the greatest potential for population expansion