Consumer Preferences for Pasture-Raised Animal Products: Results from Michigan

The pasture-based model of agriculture potentially offers opportunities for small- and medium-scale livestock producers in local, regional, and national markets. Our data indicate that many consumers value the attributes associated with locally produced pasture-raised products. We used ordered probit and binary probit analyses of these data to identify the demographic segments that showed the greatest interest in these attributes. This interest suggests a broad education and marketing effort to articulate salient attributes and to differentiate and increase the availability of these products in the marketplace.Demand and Price Analysis, Livestock Production/Industries,

Direct CFD Predictions of Low Frequency Sounds Generated by a Helicopter Main Rotor

The use of CFD to directly predict helicopter main rotor noise is shown to be quite promising as an alternative mean for low frequency source noise evaluation. Results using existing state-of-the-art grid structures and finite-difference schemes demonstrated that small perturbation pressures, associated with acoustics radiation, can be extracted with some degree of fidelity. Accuracy of the predictions are demonstrated via comparing to predictions from conventional acoustic analogy-based models, and with measurements obtained from wind tunnel and flight tests for the MD-902 helicopter at several operating conditions. Findings show that the direct CFD approach is quite successfully in yielding low frequency results due to thickness and steady loading noise mechanisms. Mid-to-high frequency contents, due to blade-vortex interactions, are not predicted due to CFD modeling and grid constraints

Community-Based Food Systems in Michigan: Cultivating Diverse Collaborations from the Ground Up

This article discusses the results of a Michigan project to forge partnerships between Extension and diverse teams of community members to enhance development of local food systems. The project provided training and resources for teams to utilize food system work as a community problem solving tool. Such efforts have great potential to address a host of public health, economic, and land use issues

A meta-BACI approach forevaluating management intervention on chronic wasting disease in mule deer

Advances in acquiring and analyzing the spatial attributes of data have greatlyenhanced the potential utility of wildlife disease surveillance data for addressing problems ofecological or economic importance. We present an approach for using wildlife diseasesurveillance data to identify areas for (or of ) intervention, to spatially delineate pairedtreatment and control areas, and then to analyze these nonrandomly selected sites in a meta-analysis framework via before–after–control–impact (BACI) estimates of effect size. We applythese methods to evaluate the effectiveness of attempts to reduce chronic wasting disease(CWD) prevalence through intensive localized culling of mule deer (Odocoileus hemionus)innorth-central Colorado, USA. Areas where surveillance data revealed high prevalence or caseclusters were targeted by state wildlife management agency personnel for focal scale (onaverage ,17 km2) culling, primarily via agency sharpshooters. Each area of sustained cullingthat we could also identify as unique by cluster analysis was considered a potential treatmentarea. Treatment areas, along with spatially paired control areas that we constructed post hocin a case-control design (collectively called ‘‘management evaluation sites’’), were thendelineated using home range estimators. Using meta-BACI analysis of CWD prevalence datafor all management evaluation sites, the mean effect size (change of prevalence on treatmentareas minus change in prevalence on their paired control areas) was 0.03 (SE ¼ 0.03); meaneffect size on treatment areas was not greater than on paired control areas. Excluding cullsamples from prevalence estimates or allowing for an equal or greater two-year lag in systemresponses to management did not change this outcome. We concluded that managementbenefits were not evident, although whether this represented true ineffectiveness or was a resultof lack of data or insufficient duration of treatment could not be discerned. Based on ourobservations, we offer recommendations for designing a management experiment with 80%power to detect a 0.10 drop in prevalence over a 6–12-year period

EXISTENCE OF UNIQUE LIMITING PROBABILITY VECTORS IN STOCHASTIC PROCESSES WITH MULTIPLE TRANSITION MATRICES

Concepts associated with stochastic process containing multiple transition matricies are discussed. It is proved that under certain conditions, a process with m transition matrices has m unique limiting probability vectors. This result extends the notion of discrete Markov processes to problems with intrayear and interyear dynamics. An example using a large DP model illustrates the usefulness of the concepts developed to applied problems.Research Methods/ Statistical Methods,

Best management practices in counting urban black bears

DNA-based capture-mark-recapture (CMR) techniques are commonly used to obtain population parameters of black bears (Ursus americanus) in rural and wildland landscapes; however, these techniques have not been implemented in urban clusters (i.e., 2,500 to 50,000 residents). Black bears can readily habituate to urban clusters, and wildlife managers need to monitor and manage these urban bear populations. We modified DNAbased CMR for black bear using hair-snares to take into account the small home ranges of urban bears, urban bear behavior, and human safety within Mammoth Lakes, California, USA. We conducted this study for 3 fi eld seasons in 2010, 2011, and 2012 from June to July. Each fi eld season, we implemented a CMR with 6 encounter occasions, each 7 days in length. We used the traditional corral hair-snare design modified for human safety and chose multiple non-consumable and minimally consumable lure types to prevent food conditioning and a trap-happy response. In 2012, we also tested 3 additional hair-snare designs more appropriate for urban areas: natural rub, haphazard-wire snare, and tennis ball snare. In 2010, we collected an insufficient number of hair samples for CMR by putting hair-snares in the periphery of the urban cluster, which we call the urban–wildland interface. However, in 2011 and 2012, when we put hair-snares in the city center as well as the surrounding urban–wildlife interface and increased hair-snare density, we obtained a sufficient number of hair samples to estimate population density using closed capture CMR models. These adjustments to hairsnaring study design in urban areas helped increase capture and recapture rates to be similar to our wildland area. To achieve high capture rates using hair-snares in the urban area, we put out hair-snares at a density approximately 4 times greater than in our wildland study area and distributed them throughout the entire urban area, and not just on the urban–wildlife interface. In addition, setting hair-snares near anthropogenic features used by bears in urban areas (e.g., culverts, utility poles, dumpsters) and adding spent cooking oil to lures also increased our capture rate. Finally, the corral hair-snare had the highest capture rates of our 4 hair-snare designs. After adapting a study design for hair-snaring wildland bears, our methods were efficient for urban areas, having high capture and recapture rates (\u3e0.30) and good precision for abundance estimates (coefficient of variatio

Joint Eglin Acoustics Week 2013 Data Report

Far-field acoustic measurements were obtained for the AH-64D, HH-60M and CV-22B at the Eglin AFB, Test Area C-72, in July/August 2013. The primary purpose for this flight test was to obtain a benchmark database of detailed acoustic source noise characteristics for the aircraft operating at typical mission gross weights over a range of typical mission operating conditions. Data were acquired for a range of steady-state level and descending flight conditions, hover, and a variety of unsteady maneuver conditions. Between 30 and 37 microphones were deployed during these tests. Vehicle position and state data, as well as weather data were acquired simultaneously with the acoustic data. This paper describes the test aircraft, onboard instrumentation, ground instrumentation, and the data acquired. Data from this test are available upon request and review

Comparing urban and wildland bear densities with a DNA-based capture-mark-recapture approach

California’s black bear (Ursus americanus) population has tripled over the last 3 decades, causing an increased incidence of human–bear conflicts, many of which now occur in urban areas. Consequently, it is imperative that bear managers have the ability to monitor population parameters in both wildland and urban environments to help manage bears. Capture-mark-recapture (CMR) methods using uniquely typed genetic samples (DNA) collected via hair-snares have been widely used to monitor bears in wildland areas. However, we are unaware of researchers applying this technique to bears occupying urban areas. We implemented a multi-year DNA-based CMR study to compare bear densities between an urban area and a nearby wildland area. We deployed hair-snares for 6 weekly capture occasions during June and July, 2011 and 2012. We uniquely typed DNA from snared hair follicles using 14 microsatellite loci and 2 sexing loci. We coupled unique identification with robust-design closed-capture models and model averaging in Program MARK to estimate abundance. We identified 41 and 62 individual bears on the urban and wildland study areas, with average densities of 3.8 and 1.8 bears/10 km2,respectively. Our data support the hypothesis that bears can occur at greater densities in urban areas. Based on these results, we recommend using DNA-based CMR methods to monitor populations of bears in urban areas, but we suggest increasing the density of sampling locations to account for greater bear densities. Furthermore, we contend that DNA-based CMR can also estimate survival, recruitment, rate of population change (λ), and identify movement patterns by incorporating additional survey years

Cation-eutectic transition via sublattice melting in CuInP2S6/In4/3P2S6 van der Waals layered crystals

Single crystals of the van der Waals layered ferrielectric material CuInP2S6 spontaneously phase separate when synthesized with Cu deficiency. Here we identify a route to form and tune intralayer heterostructures between the corresponding ferrielectric (CuInP2S6) and paraelectric (In4/3P2S6) phases through control of chemical phase separation. We conclusively demonstrate that Cu-deficient Cu1–xIn1+x/3P2S6 forms a single phase at high temperature. We also identify the mechanism by which the phase separation proceeds upon cooling. Above 500 K both Cu+ and In3+ become mobile, while P2S64– anions maintain their structure. We therefore propose that this transition can be understood as eutectic melting on the cation sublattice. Such a model suggests that the transition temperature for the melting process is relatively low because it requires only a partial reorganization of the crystal lattice. As a result, varying the cooling rate through the phase transition controls the lateral extent of chemical domains over several decades in size. At the fastest cooling rate, the dimensional confinement of the ferrielectric CuInP2S6 phase to nanoscale dimensions suppresses ferrielectric ordering due to the intrinsic ferroelectric size effect. Intralayer heterostructures can be formed, destroyed, and re-formed by thermal cycling, thus enabling the possibility of finely tuned ferroic structures that can potentially be optimized for specific device architectures