EVALUATION OF FEASIBILITY OF FRUIT AND VEGETABLE CROPS USING MARKET WINDOW ANALYSIS

Fruits and vegetables have been identified as potential production alternatives to use available farm resources. Several "market window" studies have been undertaken to evaluate such feasibility. These state and regional studies are analyzed and compared to identify underlying assumptions and methodologies. Recommendations of the studies are evaluated on an aggregate basis and limitations of the market window technique are identified and discussed. The technique was judged to be useful in planning because it involves consideration of potential costs to be incurred, markets to be evaluated, and price expectations for the various commodities considered.Crop Production/Industries,

Accountability and Relationship-Definition Among Food Banks Partnerships

Food pantries typically operate in a partnership structure where they are primarily supported by a larger food bank. However, the ability to execute that mission through cooperative arrangements greatly depends upon accountability, a key dynamic that ensures partners are fulfilling expectations and key roles. This exploratory study utilizes qualitative interview data (n = 61) from a large food bank network to understand the extent to which a lead agency (i.e., a large food bank) meets expectations of accountability among partners. The interview results demonstrate that the extent to which expectations are met relate to different types of relationships between the lead agency and partner members. Furthermore, the ways in which partners assess the strengths or weaknesses of the food bank’s accountability reveal different types of relationships within the network, namely that of supplier–customer, supporter–customer, and supporter–collaborator

QPOs: Einstein's gravity non-linear resonances

There is strong evidence that the observed kHz Quasi Periodic Oscillations (QPOs) in the X-ray flux of neutron star and black hole sources in LMXRBs are linked to Einstein's General Relativity. Abramowicz&Klu\'zniak (2001) suggested a non-linear resonance model to explain the QPOs origin: here we summarize their idea and the development of a mathematical toy-model which begins to throw light on the nature of Einstein's gravity non-linear oscillations.Comment: Proceeding of the Einstein's Legacy, Munich 200

Dispersion of Magnetic Excitations in Superconducting Optimally Doped YBa_2Cu_3O_6.95

Detailed neutron scattering measurements of YBa_2Cu_3O_6.95 found that the resonance peak and incommensurate magnetic scattering induced by superconductivity represent the same physical phenomenon: two dispersive branches that converge near 41 meV and the in-plane wave-vector q_af=(pi/a, pi/a) to form the resonance peak. One branch has a circular symmetry around q_af and quadratic downward dispersion from ~41 meV to the spin gap of 33+-1meV. The other, of lower intensity, disperses from ~41 meV to at least 55 meV. Our results exclude a quartet of vertical incommensurate rods in q-w space expected from spin waves produced by dynamical charge stripes as an origin of the observed incommensurate scattering in optimally-doped YBCO.Comment: Version 3: Author change. Changes made throughout the text and minor changes in figures, Model parameters slightly changed after a small error in the calculation was discovere

The connection between superconducting phase correlations and spin excitations in YBa2_2Cu3_3O6.6_{6.6}: A magnetic field study

One of the most striking universal properties of the high-transition-temperature (high-$T_c$) superconductors is that they are all derived from the hole-doping of their insulating antiferromagnetic (AF) parent compounds. From the outset, the intimate relationship between magnetism and superconductivity in these copper-oxides has intrigued researchers. Evidence for this link comes from neutron scattering experiments that show the unambiguous presence of short-range AF correlations (excitations) in cuprate superconductors. Even so, the role of such excitations in the pairing mechanism and superconductivity is still a subject of controversy. For YBa$_2$Cu$_3$O$_{6+x}$, where $x$ controls the hole-doping level, the most prominent feature in the magnetic excitations spectra is the ``resonance''. Here we show that for underdoped YBa$_2$Cu$_3$O$_{6.6}$, where $x$ and $T_c$ are below the optimal values, modest magnetic fields suppress the resonance significantly, much more so for fields approximately perpendicular rather than parallel to the CuO$_2$ planes. Our results indicate that the resonance measures pairing and phase coherence, suggesting that magnetism plays an important role in the superconductivity of cuprates. The persistence of a field effect above $T_c$ favors mechanisms with preformed pairs in the normal state of underdoped cuprates.Comment: 12 pages, 4 figures, Nature (in press

Addition of Inexpensive Lights to Aquatic Turtle Traps Improves Trapping Efficiency in Early Spring

Aquatic turtles are essential contributors to many freshwater ecosystems, but they face a myriad of threats, necessitating periodic monitoring of population status. Increasing turtle trapping efficiency has the potential to improve conservation efforts, particularly when population sizes are low or sampling conditions are suboptimal. In an effort to improve trapping efficiency, we added LED lights to turtle traps in an attempt to attract kinosternid turtles. Our investigation into the effectiveness of LED lights as an attractant was based on evidence suggesting that these turtles may forage using both visual and olfactory cues. Lights significantly increased captures of kinosternid turtles during early spring, but the increased efficiency did not persist later in the season, possibly due to lights facilitating escape from traps as turtle activity levels increased. To our knowledge, this study is the first research into the efficacy of using lights to increase trapping success of freshwater turtles. Given our encouraging results during early spring and the low cost of LED lights, we encourage researchers to explore the possibility of adding lights to traps to increase captures in challenging trapping conditions

Incommensurate Magnetic Fluctuations in YBa2Cu3O6.6

We use inelastic neutron scattering to demonstrate that at low temperatures, the low frequency magnetic fluctuations in YBa_2Cu_3O_{6.6} ($T_c=62.7$ K) are incommensurate, being found at positions displaced by $\pm\delta$ ($0.057\pm 0.006$ r.l.u.) along the $[\pi,\pi]$ direction from the wave vector $(\pi,\pi)$ associated with the antiferromagnetic order of the parent insulator, YBa_2Cu_3O_{6}. The dynamical susceptibility $\chi''(q,\omega)$ at the incommensurate positions increases on cooling below $T_c$, accompanied by a suppression of magnetic fluctuations at the commensurate points.Comment: 11 pages, Latex, 4 figure

Translational Symmetry Breaking in the Superconducting State of the Cuprates: Analysis of the Quasiparticle Density of States

Motivated by the recent STM experiments of J.E. Hoffman et.al. and C. Howald et.al., we study the effects of weak translational symmetry breaking on the quasiparticle spectrum of a d-wave superconductor. We develop a general formalism to discuss periodic charge order, as well as quasiparticle scattering off localized defects. We argue that the STM experiments in $Bi_2Sr_2CaCu_2O_{8+\delta}$ cannot be explained using a simple charge density wave order parameter, but are consistent with the presence of a periodic modulation in the electron hopping or pairing amplitude. We review the effects of randomness and pinning of the charge order and compare it to the impurity scattering of quasiparticles. We also discuss implications of weak translational symmetry breaking for ARPES experiments.Comment: 12 pages, 9 figs; (v2) minor corrections to formalism, discussions of dispersion, structure factors and sum rules added; (v3) discussion of space-dependent normalization added. To be published in PR