AN EXAMINATION OF A DEVELOPMENT RIGHTS PURCHASE PROGRAM FOR ALASKA AGRICULTURAL LANDS

A report submitted to the Department of Natural Resources, State of Alaska, in accordance with terms of research contract OCTO 1142.Many Alaskans are concerned about the conversion of highly productive agricultural lands to nonagricultural uses now occurring in the state. Land on the urban fringes of Anchorage and Fairbanks that once produced vegetables and grains or supported dairy farms appears most vulnerable to this conversion. As major population centers grow, residential, shopping center and industrial land uses displace agriculture because they render greater returns. This displacement is viewed by some as not being in society's best interest. Those concerned about the loss of agricultural lands argue that these lands are some of the best agricultural lands in the state and are vital to maintaining the agricultural economy of the state. In addition, it is suggested that their preservation will help to maintain a much desired way of life and to provide needed open space. The state and municipal governments in Alaska have made attempts to intervene in the land market to slow down or stop agricultural land conversion. Methods employed to date include tax incentives and the sale of only the agricultural rights on state or municipal lands. This report discusses the feasibility of an alternative means of preserving agricultural lands, namely, the public purchase of development rights from private landowners. Under this voluntary arrangement, private agricultural landowners would be compensated for giving up their option to develop their land for nonagricultural purposes.Introduction: Overview, Plan of Report -- Market Failure and the Allocation of Agricultural Land Resources -- Agricultural Land Conversion in Alaska -- Present and Potential Agricultural Development in Alaska: Introduction, Present Agricultural Situation, Agricultural Lands for Future Development, Future Agricultural Development in Alaska -- Purchase of Development Rights: Suffolk County: History, Maryland, New Jersey, Massachusetts and Connecticut, Definition of Development Rights, Strengths and Weaknesses of Development Rights Purchases -- Applicability of a Development Rights Program in Alaska: Introduction, Development Rights Survey in Alaska: Response, Farm Size of Respondents, Interest in Selling Development Rights, Market Values of Cleared and Uncleared Agricultural Lands, Value of Development Rights, Distance from a Population Center, Interest in Selling Development Rights, and Perceived Value of Development Rights -- Economic Size Agricultural Operations -- Potential Costs of a Purchase of Development Rights Program: Other Costs -- Benefits of Development Rights Acquisition: Maintenance of the Local Agricultural Economy, Locally Produced Food, Open Space and Other Public Good Amenities, Removal of Uncertainty -- Other Agricultural Land Control Tools: Comparison of Agricultural Land Preservation Tools -- Summary and Conclusions -- References -- Appendix A: Operation of of Purchase of Development Rights Programs -- Appendix B: Alaska Agricultural Lands Survey -- Appendix C: Additional Comments from Respondents -- Appendix D: Alternative Agricultural Land Control Technique

The Energy Dependence of Neutron Star Surface Modes and X-ray Burst Oscillations

We calculate the photon energy dependence of the pulsed amplitude of neutron star (NS) surface modes. Simple approximations demonstrate that it depends most strongly on the bursting NS surface temperature. This result compares well with full integrations that include Doppler shifts from rotation and general relativistic corrections to photon propagation. We show that the energy dependence of type I X-ray burst oscillations agrees with that of a surface mode, lending further support to the hypothesis that they originate from surface waves. The energy dependence of the pulsed emission is rather insensitive to the NS inclination, mass and radius, or type of mode, thus hindering constraints on these parameters. We also show that, for this energy-amplitude relation, the majority of the signal (relative to the noise) comes in the 2-25 keV band, so that the current burst oscillation searches with the Rossi X-Ray Timing Explorer are close to optimal. The critical test of the mode hypothesis for X-ray burst oscillations would be a measurement of the energy dependence of burst oscillations from an accreting millisecond pulsar.Comment: Accepted for publication in The Astrophysical Journal, 6 pages, 5 figures (revised version: no changes to text, just edited author list

On the origin of variable structures in the winds of hot luminous stars

Examination of the temporal variability properties of several strong optical recombination lines in a large sample of Galactic Wolf-Rayet (WR) stars reveals possible trends, especially in the more homogeneous WC than the diverse WN subtypes, of increasing wind variability with cooler subtypes. This could imply that a serious contender for the driver of the variations is stochastic, magnetic subsurface convection associated with the 170 kK partial-ionization zone of iron, which should occupy a deeper and larger zone of greater mass in cooler WR subtypes. This empirical evidence suggests that the heretofore proposed ubiquitous driver of wind variability, radiative instabilities, may not be the only mechanism playing a role in the stochastic multiple small-scaled structures seen in the winds of hot luminous stars. In addition to small-scale stochastic behaviour, subsurface convection guided by a global magnetic field with localized emerging loops may also be at the origin of the large-scale corotating interaction regions as seen frequently in O stars and occasionally in the winds of their descendant WR stars.Comment: 8 pages, 2 figures and 2 tables. Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society 201

Multi-photon effects in energy losses spectra

Effect of radiation of many photons by a single electron traversing a target is discussed. When the summary energy of emitted photons (the energy losses spectrum) is measured only, the photon spectrum is distorted comparing with the photon spectrum in one interaction. Influence of this effect is discussed for the cases (1) bremsstrahlung (described by Bethe-Heitler formula), (2) the strong Landau-Pomeranchuk-Migdal effect and (3) transition radiation. Qualitative picture of the phenomenon is discussed in detail. Comparison with the recent SLAC experiment in relatively thick target (2.7% of the radiation length), where the effect of emission of many photons by a projectile is very essential, shows perfect agreement of the theory and data.Comment: LaTeX2.09, 19 pages, 5 PostScript figure

Magnetic resonance multitasking for motion-resolved quantitative cardiovascular imaging.

Quantitative cardiovascular magnetic resonance (CMR) imaging can be used to characterize fibrosis, oedema, ischaemia, inflammation and other disease conditions. However, the need to reduce artefacts arising from body motion through a combination of electrocardiography (ECG) control, respiration control, and contrast-weighting selection makes CMR exams lengthy. Here, we show that physiological motions and other dynamic processes can be conceptualized as multiple time dimensions that can be resolved via low-rank tensor imaging, allowing for motion-resolved quantitative imaging with up to four time dimensions. This continuous-acquisition approach, which we name cardiovascular MR multitasking, captures - rather than avoids - motion, relaxation and other dynamics to efficiently perform quantitative CMR without the use of ECG triggering or breath holds. We demonstrate that CMR multitasking allows for T1 mapping, T1-T2 mapping and time-resolved T1 mapping of myocardial perfusion without ECG information and/or in free-breathing conditions. CMR multitasking may provide a foundation for the development of setup-free CMR imaging for the quantitative evaluation of cardiovascular health

Cedar Waxwings

Prevention and control of cedar waxwing (Bombycilla cedrorum) damage to small fruits such as blueberry, cherry, and strawberry is vexing to growers in many parts of the United States. Cedar waxwings (Figure 1) travel in flocks and descend in large numbers on berry crops, especially during winter and migration. In short feeding bouts, waxwings eat, peck, or knock substantial amounts of fruit from the plants. These frugivores are difficult to discourage once they become established at a given location. Harassment early and often using pyrotechnics or other sudden noisemakers can help prevent flocks from being established. The most effective preventative measure is exclusion using an appropriate netting system. Visual and auditory deterrents have limited effectiveness as flocks rapidly habituate. Chemical repellents based on methyl anthranilate as the active ingredient are readily available. Permits for lethal control can be difficult to obtain

Exciting dark matter in the galactic center

We reconsider the proposal of excited dark matter (DM) as an explanation for excess 511 keV gamma rays from positrons in the galactic center. We quantitatively compute the cross section for DM annihilation to nearby excited states, mediated by exchange of a new light gauge boson with off-diagonal couplings to the DM states. In models where both excited states must be heavy enough to decay into e^+ e^- and the ground state, the predicted rate of positron production is never large enough to agree with observations, unless one makes extreme assumptions about the local circular velocity in the Milky Way, or alternatively if there exists a metastable population of DM states which can be excited through a mass gap of less than 650 keV, before decaying into electrons and positrons.Comment: Dedicated to the memory of Lev Kofman; 16 pages, 9 figures; v3 added refs, minor changes, accepted to PR