POPULATION-SPECIFIC RECREATION DEMAND MODELS AND THE CONSEQUENCES OF POOLING SAMPLE DATA

This paper considers the implications of different geographical population definitions in analysis of demand for wildlife recreation. Demand functions for fishing, small game hunting, big game hunting, and wildlife enjoyment are estimated for individual Southeastern states and also for a pooled sample of all the states. Statistically significant differences between the state and regional estimates of the variable cost coefficient exist in 18 of the 40 cases. Consumer surplus values derived from state cost coefficients can differ greatly from values derived from pooled coefficients.Resource /Energy Economics and Policy,

Scattering of a Baseball by a Bat

A ball can be hit faster if it is projected without spin but it can be hit farther if it is projected with backspin. Measurements are presented in this paper of the tradeoff between speed and spin for a baseball impacting a baseball bat. The results are inconsistent with a collision model in which the ball rolls off the bat and instead imply tangential compliance in the ball, the bat, or both. If the results are extrapolated to the higher speeds that are typical of the game of baseball, they suggest that a curveball can be hit with greater backspin than a fastball, but by an amount that is less than would be the case in the absence of tangential compliance.Comment: Accepted for publication in American Journal of Physic

SURVEYING FOR RANAVIRUS IN GREEN FROGS (LITHOBATES CLAMITANS) AT FIVE LOCATIONS IN INDIANA

Ranaviruses are an emerging pathogen within the United States that infects amphibians, reptiles, and fish. A Frog Virus 3-like (FV3) ranavirus has been detected at only two locations in Indiana; however, there have been few attempts to broadly sample for ranaviruses to determine their distribution across the state. This knowledge is necessary for the continued management and conservation of native amphibian populations. Our objective was to assess the occurrence of FV3-like ranaviruses in larval Green Frog (Lithobates clamitans) populations at five sites located in different regions of Indiana. Tissue samples were collected from 166 individuals and were assayed using both conventional and qPCR methods. We did not detect the presence of any FV3-like ranaviruses at any of the five sites with either PCR method, suggesting the possibility that at these sites, FV3-like ranaviruses may not be present. However, continued sampling should be carried out to monitor the status of the presence of ranaviruses in this portion of the Midwest

The comparative effect of direct written corrective feedback and metalinguistic explanation on learners' explicit and implicit knowledge of the English indefinite article

The study extends current work on written error feedback in writing in two ways. First, it examines whether it has an effect on adult ESL learners' L2 implicit and explicit knowledge. Second, the study compares the effect of one common type of feedback - direct corrective feedback (DCF) - with an alternative type of error feedback - the provision of metalinguistic explanation (ME). The effect of these two types of error feedback was measured by an Error Correction Test (ECT) and by examining the accuracy of use of the target feature (the English indefinite article) in both a revised text and in new pieces of writing by 49 low-intermediate ESL students in an intensive language programme in the United States. In addition, eye-tracking data and self-reports elicited from the learners provided information about the use that they made of the DCF and ME. It was found that the DCF had no effect on accurate use of the target feature suggesting that it benefited neither implicit nor explicit knowledge. In contrast, the ME led to gains in accuracy in the ECT and in a new piece of writing completed immediately after the treatment but not in a second new text completed two weeks later. These results are interpreted as indicating that the ME helped to develop learners' L2 explicit knowledge but that the effect was not durable and thus probably had no effect on their implicit knowledge. Learners' self-reports indicate that the learners receiving the DCF did not develop awareness of the rule whereas those receiving the ME did and were able to use it when revising their original text. These findings are discussed from the perspective of both SLA theory and language pedagogy and suggestions for further research are put forward

Tracking ‘learning behaviours’ in the incidental acquisition of two dimensional adjectives by Japanese beginner learners of L2 English

The purpose of this article is to examine both the process and product of vocabulary learning in a task-based instructional context. The article reports a study that investigated the acquisition of two dimensional adjectives (‘big’ and ‘small’) by six-year-old Japanese children who were complete beginners. It tracked the ‘learning behaviours’ that occurred in the classroom interactions involving the use of these adjectives in nine task-based lessons to show how these behaviours developed over time. It also collected test data to establish whether the learners had developed the receptive and productive knowledge required for the independent use of two adjectives. In this way, the study shows how second language (L2) learning evolves through interaction by exploring the relationships between the learners’ different learning behaviours and the differences in their test performance. The main finding was that differences in the success of the individual learners in acquiring productive control over the dimensional adjectives – as shown in the tests – was directly traceable to their learning behaviours in the task-based interactions

Conversing Life: An Autoethnographic Construction

This autoethnography is a constructed account of a co-exploration into the nature and effects of a longitudinal dyadic conversation process from a relational constructionist perspective. The conversations, between me as participant autoethnographer and a co-participant, aimed at maximising personal learning for both. Through co-created contexts of mutual engagement and respectful presence, we were able to focus our learning on the spontaneous process and content of the conversations. The qualitative data were sampled purposively from diary entries summarizing the conversations which spanned a period of five years. The data were analysed into themes and together, with selected illustrative examples of significant conversational moments, were woven into an autoethnography that attempts to convey the embodied and systemic learning that emerged from these conversations