Extragalactic H 2 regions in the UV: Implications for primeval galaxies and quasars

Three extragalactic regions of rapid star formation with red shifts great enough to separate the L alpha region from geocoronal L alpha were observed with the IUE satellite. Only the low metal abundance object had detectable L alpha emission. L alpha is therefore expected to be weak or absent in collapsed primeval galaxies. The detected object has a L alpha H beta identical to that of quasars

Thinning Productivity and Cost for a Mechanized Cut-to-Length System in the Northwest Pacific Coast Region of the USA

A production study of a single-grip harvester and forwarder was conducted in a second-growth thinning operation in western Oregon, USA. Production levels for the harvester exceeded 30 m3/ PMH (productive machine hour, delay-free). There was no significant difference in harvester production between stands marked prior to logging and those in which the trees were selected by the operator. Production levels for the forwarder ranged from 10.2 m3 to 14.5 m3/PMH. When landing space was limited, a two-pass forwarding technique (separate loads of sawlogs and pulpwood) was more productive than a single-pass technique (products mixed on each load and sorted at the landing). Regression equations were developed to predict harvester production per PMH on the basis of tree dbh and to predict forwarder production per PMH on the basis of product type, volume per load, and travel distance. Thinning cost for this cut-to-length system wasUS$12.49/m3 [US$35.37/c unit],excluding hauling and a profit-and-risk allowance

A Comparison of Sampling Methods for Measuring Residual Stand Damage from Commercial Thinning

Four sampling methods were compared for accuracy and ease of implementation in measuring residual stand damage. Data were collected from young Douglas-fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii) stands, which were commercially thinned using three different logging systems in western Oregon. Systematic plot sampling consistently provided damage estimates similar to the results of a 100% survey; there was no significant difference between their accuracies in measuring stand damage. This method also took the least amount of time and effort for map layout and field plot location. Because measuring stand damage requires considerable effort in sample planning and implementation, an easier, quick-survey method should be developed to monitor residual stand damage for in-progress and post-thinning operations

A Comparison of Skyline Harvesting Costs for Alternative Commercial Thinning Prescriptions

Harvesting production and costs were examined for three alternative silvicultural prescriptions at two sites in the Coast Range of Oregon. Thirty-three-year-old Douglas fir stands were commercially thinned to residual densities of 247,148, and 74 trees per hectare (tph) [100,60, and 30 trees per acre (tpa), respectively]. Detailed time studies were conducted on manual felling and uphill skyline yarding with small yarders. Separate regression equations were developed to predict delay-free felling cycle time and delay-free yarding cycle time. The 74 tph [30 tpa] treatment had the highest production rate and was the least costly to harvest. Total harvesting costs of the other two treatments averaged from 6.0% (148 tph [60 tpa]) to 12.3% (247 tph [100 tpa]) more than the 74 tph [30 tpa] treatment

Putting theory oriented evaluation into practice

Evaluations of gaming simulations and business games as teaching devices are typically end-state driven. This emphasis fails to detect how the simulation being evaluated does or does not bring about its desired consequences. This paper advances the use of a logic model approach which possesses a holistic perspective that aims at including all elements associated with the situation created by a game. The use of the logic model approach is illustrated as applied to Simgame, a board game created for secondary school level business education in six European Union countries

A stand management strategy for young western hemlock-Sitka spruce forests

Western hemlock-Sitka spruce forests, where prior precommercial thinning has occurred, constitute one of the most productive young-growth management types along the Pacific Coast from Oregon to southeast Alaska. These stands are ready for a first commercial thinning entry, however, the costs and benefits of such entries and resulting impacts at final harvest are not well documented. The purpose of this study was to provide appropriate harvesting, silviculture and economic data in a comprehensive evaluation of four alternative stand management treatments (three different thinning prescriptions with a basal area per acre removal ranging from 49 percent to 67 percent and a no-thin, control prescription) conducted on a 32 year old managed western hemlock-Sitka spruce plantation. A detailed logging production/cost study of Skyline thinning showed high harvesting cost and resulting negative stumpage values. Thinning treatments influenced harvesting costs; herringbone strip thinning costs 31 percent less than a conventional selective thinning method with the same volume removal. Also, a residual tree damage study, conducted during logging, showed that damage was considerably lower for strip thinning compared with selective thinning. Various logging techniques and crew skill levels influenced stand damage. An assessment of wind damage and tree growth rates was completed two years after skyline thinning. Annual windthrow losses totalled only 0.28 trees per acre for all treatments and was significantly lower in strip thinning than selective thinning. Windthrow also appeared to be related to specific site, tree or stand conditions. Diameter growth increment rates declined in the unthinned units. However, in all thinned units, an immediate diameter growth response occurred. In the herringbone strip thinning method, trees exhibited a growth response regardless of distance from strip edge. A stand table projection model and harvest simulation model were used for determining costs and revenues from clearcutting at rotation age. Final harvest costs and revenues per cunit were similar for all treatments. The unthinned stand had the highest present net worth per acre. A sensitivity analysis of real interest rate changes along with changing harvesting cost and pond values during thinning or final harvest did not alter the outcome. Results of this study suggest that managed plantations of western hemlock-Sitka spruce can receive sufficient density control from precommercial thinning to maintain adequate stand development to a rotation age harvest without commercial thinning entries

Magnetic Surfaces in Stationary Axisymmetric General Relativity

In this paper a new method is derived for constructing electromagnetic surface sources for stationary axisymmetric electrovac spacetimes endowed with non-smooth or even discontinuous Ernst potentials. This can be viewed as a generalization of some classical potential theory results, since lack of continuity of the potential is related to dipole density and lack of smoothness, to monopole density. In particular this approach is useful for constructing the dipole source for the magnetic field. This formalism involves solving a linear elliptic differential equation with boundary conditions at infinity. As an example, two different models of surface densities for the Kerr-Newman electrovac spacetime are derived.Comment: 15 page

The x ray reflectivity of the AXAF VETA-I optics

The x-ray reflectivity of the VETA-I optic, the outermost shell of the AXAF x-ray telescope, with a bare Zerodur surface, is measured and compared with theoretical predictions. Measurements made at energies of 0.28, 0.9, 1.5, 2.1, and 2.3 keV are compared with predictions based on ray trace calculations. The data were obtained at the x-ray calibrations facility at Marshall Space Flight Center with an electron impact x-ray source located 528 m from the grazing incidence mirror. The source used photoelectric absorption filters to eliminate bremsstrahlung continuum. The mirror has a diameter of 1.2 m and a focal length of 10 m. The incident and reflected x-ray flux are detected using two proportional counters, one located in the incident beam of x-rays at the entrance aperture of the VETA-I, and the other in the focal plane behind an aperture of variable size. Results on the variation of the reflectivity with energy as well as the absolute value of the reflectivity are presented. We also present a synchrotron reflectivity measurement with high energy resolution over the range 0.26 to 1.8 keV on a flat Zerodur sample, done at NSLS. We present evidence for contamination of the flat by a thin layer of carbon on the surface, and the possibility of alteration of the surface composition of the VETA-I mirror perhaps by the polishing technique. The overall agreement between the measured and calculated effective area of VETA-I is between 2.6 percent and 10 percent, depending on which model for the surface composition is adopted. Measurements at individual energies deviate from the best-fitting calculation to 0.3 to 0.8 percent, averaging 0.6 percent at energies below the high energy cutoff of the mirror reflectivity, and are as high as 20.7 percent at the cutoff. We also discuss the approach to the final preflight calibration of the full AXAF flight mirror

Coprolites in a Middle Triassic cycad pollen cone: evidence for insect pollination in early cycads?

This is the publisher's version, also available electronically from http://www.evolutionary-ecology.com/issues/v07n03/kkar1828.pdf.Question: What evidence is there for cycad–insect interactions in the fossil record? Organism: The pollen cone Delemaya spinulosa Klavins, Taylor, Krings et Taylor. Locality: Fremouw Formation (Middle Triassic), Fremouw Peak, Central Transantarctic Mountains, Antarctica. Methods: We document the presence of pollen-laden coprolites in pollen sacs of a Middle Triassic cycad. Conclusions: These coprolites are comparable with fecal pellets of modern arthropods and we suggest that they were produced by beetles. This provides the oldest unequivocal evidence for a cycad–insect interaction and may represent a precursory stage in the establishment of a more complex cycad–pollinator relationship

Stability of sub-surface oxygen at Rh(111)

Using density-functional theory (DFT) we investigate the incorporation of oxygen directly below the Rh(111) surface. We show that oxygen incorporation will only commence after nearly completion of a dense O adlayer (\theta_tot = 1.0 monolayer) with O in the fcc on-surface sites. The experimentally suggested octahedral sub-surface site occupancy, inducing a site-switch of the on-surface species from fcc to hcp sites, is indeed found to be a rather low energy structure. Our results indicate that at even higher coverages oxygen incorporation is followed by oxygen agglomeration in two-dimensional sub-surface islands directly below the first metal layer. Inside these islands, the metastable hcp/octahedral (on-surface/sub-surface) site combination will undergo a barrierless displacement, introducing a stacking fault of the first metal layer with respect to the underlying substrate and leading to a stable fcc/tetrahedral site occupation. We suggest that these elementary steps, namely, oxygen incorporation, aggregation into sub-surface islands and destabilization of the metal surface may be more general and precede the formation of a surface oxide at close-packed late transition metal surfaces.Comment: 9 pages including 9 figure files. Submitted to Phys. Rev. B. Related publications can be found at http://www.fhi-berlin.mpg.de/th/paper.htm