9,685 research outputs found
Structural Conservation Practices in U.S. Corn Production: Evidence on Environmental Stewardship by Program Participants and Non-Participants
This study used the 2005 ERS CEAP-ARMS data for corn production to first compare key operator, field, farm, economic, and environmental characteristics of conservation program participants with non-participants, by farm-size class. We then estimate a cost-function based technology adoption model of producer decisions regarding the allocation of field-level acres between corn production and infield and perimeter-field conservation structures to examine how these conservation choices differ between program participants and non-participants, while accounting for differences in other field, farm, and environmental factors. Our null hypothesis is that the average conservation structural practice acres across U.S. corn acres supplied by growers participating in a conservation program are not different from non-participants. Infield conservation structures include terraces, grassed waterways, vegetative buffers, contour buffers, filter strips, and grade stabilization structures. Perimeter-field conservation structures include hedgerow plantings, stream-side forest and herbaceous buffers, windbreaks and herbaceous wind barriers, field borders, and critical area plantings. Because the dependent variable in this analysis is continuous, we use a Generalized Estimating Equations (GEE) procedure to estimate two models. The GEE estimation procedure (Liang and Zeger, 1986) accounts for correlation between adoption decisions measured as a continuous variable while maintaining the theoretical integrity of a multinomial discrete-choice model typically used in technology adoption studies. The cost-function models estimate field-level, producer acreage allocation decisions for corn, first, as a function of normalized production input costs (prices) and structural technology class and installation time-period attributes (Model 1), and second, as a function of Model 1 variables plus socio-environmental variables reflecting the potential influence of a variety of field, farm, and environmental characteristics (Model 2). Evidence indicates significant characteristic differences exist between conservation program participants and non-participants across U.S. corn production, that non-program factors do heavily influence producer conservation practice decisions, and that farm-size matters. In addition, results suggest that program non-participants tend to adopt infield conservation structures much more intensively while program participants emphasize the adoption of perimeter-field conservation structures. Finally, these results seem to suggest that because perimeter-field structural practices can involve differential productivity/cost effects and off-site benefits, program incentives may need to play a greater role in encouraging their adoption than they do for infield structural practices.Crop Production/Industries, Environmental Economics and Policy,
Extreme coefficients in Geographically Weighted Regression and their effects on mapping
This study deals with the issue of extreme coefficients in geographically weighted regression (GWR) and their effects on mapping coefficients using three datasets with different spatial resolutions. We found that although GWR yields extreme coefficients regardless of the resolution of the dataset or types of kernel function, 1) the GWR tends to generate extreme coefficients for less spatially dense datasets, 2) coefficient maps based on polygon data representing aggregated areal units are more sensitive to extreme coefficients, and 3) coefficient maps using bandwidths generated by a fixed calibration procedure are more vulnerable to the extreme coefficients than adaptive calibration.extreme coefficient, fixed and adaptive calibrations, geographically weighted regression, Mapping, Research Methods/ Statistical Methods,
Searching for Dust around Hyper Metal-Poor Stars
We examine the mid-infrared fluxes and spectral energy distributions for
metal-poor stars with iron abundances [Fe/H] , as well as two
CEMP-no stars, to eliminate the possibility that their low metallicities are
related to the depletion of elements onto dust grains in the formation of a
debris disk. Six out of seven stars examined here show no mid-IR excess. These
non-detections rule out many types of circumstellar disks, e.g. a warm debris
disk ( K), or debris disks with inner radii AU, such as
those associated with the chemically peculiar post-AGB spectroscopic binaries
and RV Tau variables. However, we cannot rule out cooler debris disks, nor
those with lower flux ratios to their host stars due to, e.g. a smaller disk
mass, a larger inner disk radius, an absence of small grains, or even a
multicomponent structure, as often found with the chemically peculiar Lambda
Bootis stars. The only exception is HE0107-5240, for which a small mid-IR
excess near 10 microns is detected at the 2- level; if the excess is
real and associated with this star, it may indicate the presence of (recent)
dust-gas winnowing or a binary system.Comment: Accepted for publication in Ap
Impacts of the Boom-Bust Cycle on the Effectiveness of Policies for Moderating the Consequences of Sprawl on Residential Development
urban sprawl, spatial discrete-choice model, Land Economics/Use,
Tachyon Effective Actions In Open String Theory
We argue that the Dirac-Born-Infeld (DBI) action coupled to a tachyon, that
is known to reproduce some aspects of open string dynamics, can be obtained
from open string theory in a certain limit, which generalizes the limit leading
to the usual DBI action. This helps clarify which aspects of the full open
string theory are captured by this action.Comment: harvmac, 19 pages; v2 two references added; v3 additional comments
and a referenc
(2,0) theory on circle fibrations
We consider (2,0) theory on a manifold M_6 that is a fibration of a spatial
S^1 over some five-dimensional base manifold M_5. Initially, we study the free
(2,0) tensor multiplet which can be described in terms of classical equations
of motion in six dimensions. Given a metric on M_6 the low energy effective
theory obtained through dimensional reduction on the circle is a Maxwell theory
on M_5. The parameters describing the local geometry of the fibration are
interpreted respectively as the metric on M_5, a non-dynamical U(1) gauge field
and the coupling strength of the resulting low energy Maxwell theory. We derive
the general form of the action of the Maxwell theory by integrating the reduced
equations of motion, and consider the symmetries of this theory originating
from the superconformal symmetry in six dimensions. Subsequently, we consider a
non-abelian generalization of the Maxwell theory on M_5. Completing the theory
with Yukawa and phi^4 terms, and suitably modifying the supersymmetry
transformations, we obtain a supersymmetric Yang-Mills theory which includes
terms related to the geometry of the fibration.Comment: 24 pages, v2 References added, typos correcte
Conductance Oscillations in Transition Metal Superlattices
We present a numerical study of conductance oscillations of transition metal
multilayers as a function of layer thickness. Using a material-specific
tight-binding model, we show that for disorder-free layers with random
thicknesses but clean interfaces, long-period oscillations in the conductance
can occur, which are reminiscent of those found in structures exhibiting GMR.
Using a heuristic effective mass model, we argue that these oscillations arise
from beating between the Fermi wavevector and a class of wavevectors
characteristic of the superlattice structure.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figure
Homogeneous Rolling Tachyons in Boundary String Field Theory
We study decay of a flat unstable D-brane in the context of boundary
string field theory action. Three types of homogeneous rolling tachyons are
obtained without and with Born-Infeld type electromagnetic field.Comment: 15 pages, 8 figure
Deconstructing graviphoton from mass-deformed ABJM
Mass-deformed ABJM theory has a maximally supersymmetric fuzzy two-sphere
vacuum solution where the scalar fields are proportional to the TGRVV matrices.
We construct these matrices using Schwinger oscillators. This shows that the
ABJM gauge group that corresponds to the fuzzy two-sphere geometry is
. We deconstruct the graviphoton term in the D4 brane
theory. The normalization of this term is fixed by topological reasons. This
gives us the correct normalization of the deconstructed U(1) gauge field and
fixes the Yang -Mills coupling constant to the value which corresponds to M5
brane compactified on \mb{R}^ {1,2} \times S^3/{\mb{Z}_k}. The graviphoton
term also enable us to show that the zero mode contributions to the partition
functions for the D4 and the M5 brane agree.Comment: 26 page
Supersymmetric Gauge Theories on the Five-Sphere
We construct Euclidean 5d supersymmetric gauge theories on the five-sphere
with vector and hypermultiplets. The SUSY transformation and the action are
explicitly determined from the standard Noether procedure as well as from
off-shell supergravity. Using localization techniques, the path-integral is
shown to be restricted to the integration over a generalization of instantons
on CP^2 and the Coulomb moduli.Comment: 22 pages; v2: a reference adde
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