547 research outputs found
SOCIETAL CONSTRAINTS ON AGRICULTURE: DISCUSSION
Agricultural and Food Policy,
Special Topic: Chesapeake Bay Management -- Welfare Implications of Restricted Triazine Herbicide Use in the Chesapeake Bay Region
The United States Environmental Protection Agency has responsibility under the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (FIERA) to formulate pesticide policies on the basis of risk-benefit analyses. To measure the benefits of pesticide use, one must look at the losses in consumer and producer surpluses that would accompany the banning of a particular pesticide. A typical scenario is one in which the banned pesticide is replaced by another that is more costly and/or less effective. The resulting decrease in supply raises the price of the crop on which the banned pesticide is used, and may alter the prices of substitute and complementary crops as well. This article presents a simulation model of com and soybean production in the Chesapeake Bay drainage area to investigate the economic implications of a local ban on triazine herbicides. It reports estimates of lost producer and consumer surplus and the effect that the ban would have on the profitability of agricultural production in the region.Environmental Economics and Policy, Resource /Energy Economics and Policy,
Sensitivity studies for the cubic-kilometre deep-sea neutrino telescope KM3NeT
The observation of high-energy neutrinos from astrophysical sources would
substantially improve our knowledge and understanding of the non-thermal
processes in these sources, and would in particular pinpoint the accelerators
of cosmic rays. The sensitivity of different design options for a future
cubic-kilometre scale neutrino telescope in the Mediterranean Sea is
investigated for generic point sources and in particular for some of the
galactic objects from which TeV gamma emmission has recently been observed by
the H.E.S.S. atmospheric Cherenkov telescope. The effect of atmospheric
background on the source detection probabilities has been taken into account
through full simulation. The estimated event rates are compared to previous
results and limits from present neutrino telescopes.Comment: 4 pages, 1 figure, contribution of the 30th International Cosmic Ray
conferenc
Dynamics of magnetic domain wall motion after nucleation: Dependence on the wall energy
The dynamics of magnetic domain wall motion in the FeNi layer of a
FeNi/Al2O3/Co trilayer has been investigated by a combination of x-ray magnetic
circular dichroism, photoelectron emission microscopy, and a stroboscopic
pump-probe technique. The nucleation of domains and subsequent expansion by
domain wall motion in the FeNi layer during nanosecond-long magnetic field
pulses was observed in the viscous regime up to the Walker limit field. We
attribute an observed delay of domain expansion to the influence of the domain
wall energy that acts against the domain expansion and that plays an important
role when domains are small.Comment: Accepted for publication in Physical Review Letter
Influence of topography and Co domain walls on the magnetization reversal of the FeNi layer in FeNi/AlO/Co magnetic tunnel junctions
We have studied the magnetization reversal dynamics of FeNi/AlO/Co
magnetic tunnel junctions deposited on step-bunched Si substrates using
magneto-optical Kerr effect and time-resolved x-ray photoelectron emission
microscopy combined with x-ray magnetic circular dichroism (XMCD-PEEM).
Different reversal mechanisms have been found depending on the substrate miscut
angle. Larger terraces (smaller miscut angles) lead to a higher nucleation
density and stronger domain wall pinning. The width of domain walls with
respect to the size of the terraces seems to play an important role in the
reversal. We used the element selectivity of XMCD-PEEM to reveal the strong
influence of the stray field of domain walls in the hard magnetic layer on the
magnetic switching of the soft magnetic layer.Comment: 8 Pages, 7 Figure
Determinants of short-period heart rate variability in the general population
Decreased heart rate variability (HRV) is associated with a worse prognosis in a variety of diseases and disorders. We evaluated the determinants of short-period HRV in a random sample of 149 middle-aged men and 137 women from the general population. Spectral analysis was used to compute low-frequency (LF), high-frequency (HF) and total-frequency power. HRV showed a strong inverse association with age and heart rate in both sexes with a more pronounced effect of heart rate on HRV in women. Age and heart rate-adjusted LF was significantly higher in men and HF higher in women. Significant negative correlations of BMI, triglycerides, insulin and positive correlations of HDL cholesterol with LF and total power occurred only in men. In multivariate analyses, heart rate and age persisted as prominent independent predictors of HRV. In addition, BMI was strongly negatively associated with LF in men but not in women, We conclude that the more pronounced vagal influence in cardiac regulation in middle-aged women and the gender-different influence of heart rate and metabolic factors on HRV may help to explain the lower susceptibility of women for cardiac arrhythmias. Copyright (C) 2001 S. Karger AG, Basel
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