FOREWORD: Special Issue on Experimental Methods in Environmental, Natural Resource, and Agricultural Economics

Agricultural and Food Policy, Environmental Economics and Policy, Institutional and Behavioral Economics, Research Methods/ Statistical Methods,

Ferromagnetic resonance study of polycrystalline Fe_{1-x}V_x alloy thin films

Ferromagnetic resonance has been used to study the magnetic properties and magnetization dynamics of polycrystalline Fe$_{1-x}$V$_{x}$ alloy films with $0\leq x < 0.7$. Films were produced by co-sputtering from separate Fe and V targets, leading to a composition gradient across a Si substrate. FMR studies were conducted at room temperature with a broadband coplanar waveguide at frequencies up to 50 GHz using the flip-chip method. The effective demagnetization field $4 \pi M_{\mathrm{eff}}$ and the Gilbert damping parameter $\alpha$ have been determined as a function of V concentration. The results are compared to those of epitaxial FeV films

Bipolar High Field Excitations in Co/Cu/Co Nanopillars

Current-induced magnetic excitations in Co/Cu/Co bilayer nanopillars ($\sim$50 nm in diameter) have been studied experimentally at low temperatures for large applied fields perpendicular to the layers. At sufficiently high current densities excitations, which lead to a decrease in differential resistance, are observed for both current polarities. Such bipolar excitations are not expected in a single domain model of spin-transfer. We propose that at high current densities strong asymmetries in the longitudinal spin accumulation cause spin-wave instabilities transverse to the current direction in bilayer samples, similar to those we have reported for single magnetic layer junctions.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figures+ 2 additional jpg figures (Fig. 2d and Fig. 3) high resolution figures and recent related articles are available at: http://www.physics.nyu.edu/kentlab/news.htm

Mating Flights of \u3ci\u3eEphoron Album\u3c/i\u3e (Ephemeroptera: Polymitarcidae) in Michigan

Mating flights of the mayfly Ephoron album (Say) were observed on the Sturgeon River in Houghton County, Michigan, on five evenings between 16 and 22 August, 1977. Peak emergence occurred about 30 minutes befqre sunset on 19 August and the flight period lasted about two hours. Many more adult males than females were collected on three evenings, but on one evening females greatly outnumbered males collected

Critical Currents of Josephson-Coupled Wire Arrays

We calculate the current-voltage characteristics and critical current I_c^{array} of an array of Josephson-coupled superconducting wires. The array has two layers, each consisting of a set of parallel wires, arranged at right angles, such that an overdamped resistively-shunted junction forms wherever two wires cross. A uniform magnetic field equal to f flux quanta per plaquette is applied perpendicular to the layers. If f = p/q, where p and q are mutually prime integers, I_c^{array}(f) is found to have sharp peaks when q is a small integer. To an excellent approximation, it is found in a square array of n^2 plaquettes, that I_c^{array}(f) \propto (n/q)^{1/2} for sufficiently large n. This result is interpreted in terms of the commensurability between the array and the assumed q \times q unit cell of the ground state vortex lattice.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figure

MARKET FORCES AND CHANGES IN THE PLANT INPUT SUPPLY INDUSTRY

Agribusiness, Input Supply Industry, Fertilizer, Plant Nutrients, Seed, Capital, Market Forces, Structural Change, Porter’s Five Forces, Agribusiness, Q13, L10, L22, M22, L80,

"Cost Effective Conservation Planning: Twenty Lessons from Economics"

Economists advocate that the billions of public dollars spent on conservation should be allocated to achieve the largest possible social benefit. This is what we term “cost-effective conservation”-- a process that incorporates both benefits and costs that are measured with money. This controversial proposition has been poorly understood and not implemented by conservation planners. Drawing from evidence from the largest conservation programs in the United States, this paper seeks to improve the communication between economists and planners and overcome resistance to cost-effective conservation by addressing the open questions that likely drive skepticism among non-economists and by identifying best practices for project selection. We first delineate project-selection strategies and compare them to optimization. Then we synthesize the body of established research findings from economics into 20 practical lessons. Based on theory, policy considerations, and empirical evidence, these lessons illustrate the potential gains from improving practices related to cost-effective selection and also address how to overcome landowner-incentive challenges that face programs.conservation planning, cost-effectiveness, nonmarket valuation, benefit cost targeting, optimization, prioritization

Causal Quantum Theory and the Collapse Locality Loophole

Causal quantum theory is an umbrella term for ordinary quantum theory modified by two hypotheses: state vector reduction is a well-defined process, and strict local causality applies. The first of these holds in some versions of Copenhagen quantum theory and need not necessarily imply practically testable deviations from ordinary quantum theory. The second implies that measurement events which are spacelike separated have no non-local correlations. To test this prediction, which sharply differs from standard quantum theory, requires a precise theory of state vector reduction. Formally speaking, any precise version of causal quantum theory defines a local hidden variable theory. However, causal quantum theory is most naturally seen as a variant of standard quantum theory. For that reason it seems a more serious rival to standard quantum theory than local hidden variable models relying on the locality or detector efficiency loopholes. Some plausible versions of causal quantum theory are not refuted by any Bell experiments to date, nor is it obvious that they are inconsistent with other experiments. They evade refutation via a neglected loophole in Bell experiments -- the {\it collapse locality loophole} -- which exists because of the possible time lag between a particle entering a measuring device and a collapse taking place. Fairly definitive tests of causal versus standard quantum theory could be made by observing entangled particles separated by $\approx 0.1$ light seconds.Comment: Discussion expanded; typos corrected; references adde