Scaling up Payments for Watershed Services: Recommendations for Increasing Participation in Watershed Conservation Among Non-Industrial Private Forest Landowners in the Sebago Lake Watershed, Maine

Payments for Watershed Services (PWS) programs are receiving attention throughout the U.S. as a policy option to secure water quality in a cost effective manner. PWS programs face many challenges in implementation; prominent among them is designing a program that generates interest and participation among the suppliers of water quality, upstream private landowners. This report seeks to inform the development of a PWS program in Southeast Maine by examining the system of incentives needed to encourage private forest owners to adopt conservation best management practices that enhance water quality downstream. While focused on the Sebago Lake watershed, which provides drinking water for the Greater Portland area, this project approaches the localized study as a specific case to identify biophysical, institutional, economic and social factors that favor or limit the scaling up of PWS schemes. This analysis combines a systematic review of literature on landowner preferences to existing incentive programs, interviews with program administrators from PWS schemes throughout the U.S., and interviews with key stakeholders in Southeast Maine. This report provides a set of recommendations organized around: segmentation of landowners; targeting and positioning PWS programs; selecting attractive program attributes; and leveraging effective outreach channels and tactics. Key recommendations include: co-create program attributes with landowners; encourage peer to peer communication to build support and awareness; provide a portfolio of financial and non-financial incentives to increase interest; and partner with existing conservation organizations to add capabilities and resources.Master of ScienceNatural Resources and EnvironmentUniversity of Michiganhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/90874/1/scaling_up_watershed_services_2012.pd

IGR J00234+6141 : a new INTEGRAL source identified as an Intermediate polar

Following an extensive survey of the galactic plane by the INTEGRAL satellite, new hard X-ray sources are discovered with a significant fraction of Cataclysmic Variables (CVs) among them. We report here the identification of one of these hard X-ray sources, IGR J00234+6141, as an accreting magnetic white dwarf of intermediate polar type. We analyse the high energy emission of the INTEGRAL source using all available data and provide complementary optical photometric and spectroscopic data obtained respectively in August and October 2006. Based on a refined INTEGRAL position, we confirm the proposed optical identification. We clearly detect the presence of a 564 s periodic optical modulation that we identify as the rotation of the white dwarf. The analysis of the optical spectrum also demonstrates that the emission lines show a modulation in radial velocity with an orbital period of Porb = (4.033 +/- 0.005) hr. The two periodicities indicate that IGR00234+6141 is a magnetic CV of the intermediate polar type. This is one of the faintest and hardest sources of this type detected by INTEGRAL. This confirms earlier conclusions that IPs contribute significantly to the population of galactic X-ray sources and represent a significant fraction of the high energy background.Comment: 6 pages, 7 figures, accepted for publication in A&

BeppoSAX/PDS serendipitous detections at high galactic latitudes

At a flux limit of ~10^(-11) erg/cm2/s in the 20-100 keV band, the PDS instrument on-board BeppoSAX offers the opportunity to study the extragalactic sky with an unprecedented sensitivity. In this work we report on the results of a search in the BeppoSAX archive for serendipitous high energy sources at high galactic latitudes (|b| > 13 deg). We have defined a set of twelve regions in which the PDS/MECS cross-calibration constant is higher than the nominal value. We attribute this mismatch to the presence of a serendipitous source in the PDS field of view.In four cases the likely high energy emitter is also present in the MECS field of view. In these cases, we have performed a broad band spectral analysis (1.5-100 keV) so as to understand the source spectral behaviour and compare it with previous BeppoSAX observations when available. In eight cases the identification of the source likely to provide the PDS spectrum is based on indirect evidence (extrapolation to lower energies and/or comparison to previous observations). This approach leads to the discovery of six new hard X-ray emitting objects (PKS 2356-611, 2MASX J14585116-1652223, NGC 1566, NGC 7319, PKS 0101-649 and ESO 025-G002) and to the presentation the PDS spectrum of NGC 3227 for the first time. In the remaining five cases we provide extra BeppoSAX observations that can be compared with measurements which are already published and/or in the archive.Comment: 16 pages, 9 figures, accepted for publication in A&A, main journa

X-Ray Wind Tomography of the highly absorbed HMXB IGR J17252-3616

Our goal is to understand the specificities of highly absorbed sgHMXB and in particular of the companion stellar wind, thought to be responsible for the strong absorption. We have monitored IGR J17252-3616, a highly absorbed system featuring eclipses, with XMM-Newton to study the vari- ability of the column density and of the Fe K{\alpha} emission line along the orbit and during the eclipses. We also built a 3D model of the structure of the stellar wind to reproduce the observed variability. We first derived a refined orbital solution built from INTEGRAL, RXTE and XMM data. The XMM monitoring campaign revealed significant variation of intrinsic absorbing column density along the orbit and of the Fe K{\alpha} line equivalent width around the eclipses. The origin of the soft X-ray absorption is modeled with an dense and extended hydrodynamical tail, trailing the neutron star. This structure extends along most of the orbit, indicating that the stellar wind is strongly disrupted by the neutron star. The variability of the absorbing column density suggests that the terminal velocity of the wind is smaller (~400 km/s) than observed in classical systems. This can also explain the much stronger density perturbation inferred from the observations. Most of the Fe K{\alpha} emission is generated in the most inner region of the hydrodynamical tail. This region, that extends over a few accretion radii, is ionized and does not contribute to the soft X-ray absorption. We have built a qualitative model of the stellar wind of IGR J17252-3616 that can represent the observations and suggest that highly absorbed systems have a lower wind velocity than classical sgHMXB. This proposal could be tested with de- tailed numerical simulations and high-resolution infrared/optical observations. If confirmed, it may turn out that half of the persistent sgHMXB have low stellar wind speeds.Comment: 9 pages, 8 figure

SelfPub 2.0

The self-publishing revolution has created a drastic increase in the number or works being published in the social sciences and humanities. This windfall of content has created an abundance that can be overwhelming, but it ultimately presents an opportunity for libraries to develop deeper and more unique collections. The preconference at the 2013 Charleston Conference focused on several interrelated topics in the self-publishing world: navigating the abundance of self-published material, libraries’ adoption of the role of publisher, vendor perspectives on self-published content and plans for the future, issues in humanities and social science acquisitions of self-published works, and an agent’s perspective on how self-publishing fits into the traditional publishing world. Speakers include librarians, publishers, vendors, and academics involved with a number of projects and efforts to pioneer this emerging field

The XMM Cluster Survey: Forecasting cosmological and cluster scaling-relation parameter constraints

We forecast the constraints on the values of sigma_8, Omega_m, and cluster scaling relation parameters which we expect to obtain from the XMM Cluster Survey (XCS). We assume a flat Lambda-CDM Universe and perform a Monte Carlo Markov Chain analysis of the evolution of the number density of galaxy clusters that takes into account a detailed simulated selection function. Comparing our current observed number of clusters shows good agreement with predictions. We determine the expected degradation of the constraints as a result of self-calibrating the luminosity-temperature relation (with scatter), including temperature measurement errors, and relying on photometric methods for the estimation of galaxy cluster redshifts. We examine the effects of systematic errors in scaling relation and measurement error assumptions. Using only (T,z) self-calibration, we expect to measure Omega_m to +-0.03 (and Omega_Lambda to the same accuracy assuming flatness), and sigma_8 to +-0.05, also constraining the normalization and slope of the luminosity-temperature relation to +-6 and +-13 per cent (at 1sigma) respectively in the process. Self-calibration fails to jointly constrain the scatter and redshift evolution of the luminosity-temperature relation significantly. Additional archival and/or follow-up data will improve on this. We do not expect measurement errors or imperfect knowledge of their distribution to degrade constraints significantly. Scaling-relation systematics can easily lead to cosmological constraints 2sigma or more away from the fiducial model. Our treatment is the first exact treatment to this level of detail, and introduces a new `smoothed ML' estimate of expected constraints.Comment: 28 pages, 17 figures. Revised version, as accepted for publication in MNRAS. High-resolution figures available at http://xcs-home.org (under "Publications"

The developmental effects of media-ideal internalization and self-objectification processes on adolescents’ negative body-feelings, dietary restraint, and binge eating

Despite accumulated experimental evidence of the negative effects of exposure to media-idealized images, the degree to which body image, and eating related disturbances are caused by media portrayals of gendered beauty ideals remains controversial. On the basis of the most up-to-date meta-analysis of experimental studies indicating that media-idealized images have the most harmful and substantial impact on vulnerable individuals regardless of gender (i.e., “internalizers” and “self-objectifiers”), the current longitudinal study examined the direct and mediated links posited in objectification theory among media-ideal internalization, self-objectification, shame and anxiety surrounding the body and appearance, dietary restraint, and binge eating. Data collected from 685 adolescents aged between 14 and 15 at baseline (47 % males), who were interviewed and completed standardized measures annually over a 3-year period, were analyzed using a structural equation modeling approach. Results indicated that media-ideal internalization predicted later thinking and scrutinizing of one’s body from an external observer’s standpoint (or self-objectification), which then predicted later negative emotional experiences related to one’s body and appearance. In turn, these negative emotional experiences predicted subsequent dietary restraint and binge eating, and each of these core features of eating disorders influenced each other. Differences in the strength of these associations across gender were not observed, and all indirect effects were significant. The study provides valuable information about how the cultural values embodied by gendered beauty ideals negatively influence adolescents’ feelings, thoughts and behaviors regarding their own body, and on the complex processes involved in disordered eating. Practical implications are discussed

Worker remittances and the global preconditions of ‘smart development’

With the growing environmental crisis affecting our globe, ideas to weigh economic or social progress by the ‘energy input’ necessary to achieve it are increasingly gaining acceptance. This question is intriguing and is being dealt with by a growing number of studies, focusing on the environmental price of human progress. Even more intriguing, however, is the question of which factors of social organization contribute to a responsible use of the resources of our planet to achieve a given social result (‘smart development’). In this essay, we present the first systematic study on how migration – or rather, more concretely, received worker remittances per GDP – helps the nations of our globe to enjoy social and economic progress at a relatively small environmental price. We look at the effects of migration on the balance sheets of societal accounting, based on the ‘ecological price’ of the combined performance of democracy, economic growth, gender equality, human development, research and development, and social cohesion. Feminism in power, economic freedom, population density, the UNDP education index as well as the receipt of worker remittances all significantly contribute towards a ‘smart overall development’, while high military expenditures and a high world economic openness are a bottleneck for ‘smart overall development’