Identifying the Factors Distinguishing Timber Sales on Industrial and Non-Industrial Private Forest Lands in Arkansas

Although forests provide a wide variety of products and services, timber still continues to be the most valued forest product in the marketplace. More than two-third of the nation\u27s forests are under private control, some are owned by industries (about 10%) while a much larger portion (about 59%) is owned by individuals. This study investigates the differences between timber sales offered by industrial and non-industrial ownerships. A test of means revealed that there is a significant difference between per hectare bid for these 2 types of sales. A logistic regression model was then estimated to identify important factors characterizing this difference. Results indicated that industrial forests were more likely to obtain higher bids. They were also more likely to have shorter contract lengths. Industrial ownerships were found to be more likely to have clearcuts. However, they had a higher likelihood of restricting harvesting during wet-weather conditions. Forest industries were also found to be less likely to have pulpwood for sale than non-industrial private owners

Minimal physical requirements for crystal growth self-poisoning

Citation: Whitelam, S., Dahal, Y. R., & Schmit, J. D. (2016). Minimal physical requirements for crystal growth self-poisoning. Journal of Chemical Physics, 144(6), 7. doi:10.1063/1.4941457Self-poisoning is a kinetic trap that can impair or prevent crystal growth in a wide variety of physical settings. Here we use dynamic mean-field theory and computer simulation to argue that poisoning is ubiquitous because its emergence requires only the notion that a molecule can bind in two (or more) ways to a crystal; that those ways are not energetically equivalent; and that the associated binding events occur with sufficiently unequal probability. If these conditions are met then the steady-state growth rate is in general a non-monotonic function of the thermodynamic driving force for crystal growth, which is the characteristic of poisoning. Our results also indicate that relatively small changes of system parameters could be used to induce recovery from poisoning. (C) 2016 AIP Publishing LLC

Law Enforcement Agencies in Disaster Response in Nepal: Analyzing the Competency of the Nepal Police and the Armed Police Force

Although Nepal Police and Armed Police Force are the key responding tools of disaster response in Nepal, their response competency does not suffice the need for effective response. Applying quantitative research methodology, this research has in-depth investigated the fundamental and technical knowledge, and preparedness activities of such police personnel. Ultimately it was discovered that their knowledge and preparedness are not adequate to meet the need. On the other hand, the practice of the usage of disaster untrained police personnel in response operations is prevalent in the country. And this tendency is not only risking the life of the disaster victims but also putting the responders’ lives at stake. Amidst such bleakness, during the investigation, the perception of the police personnel on their engagement in disaster response was found highly aspiring. Indeed this tendency will work as the force multiplier if their capacity is enhanced properly. The study has further investigated that the lethargic national investment in the disaster response capacity building process is the fundamental problem in terms of the competency building process. Heavy reliance on foreign aids and national and international non-government agencies has not only increased the dependency on capacity building process but also mired the national mechanism turning responsible authorities and institutions lethargic

Incommensurate spin resonance in URu2Si2

We focus on inelastic neutron scattering in $URu_2Si_2$ and argue that observed gap in the fermion spectrum naturally leads to the spin feature observed at energies $\omega_{res} = 4-6 meV$ at momenta at \bQ^* = (1\pm 0.4, 0,0). We discuss how spin features seen in $URu_2Si_2$ can indeed be thought of in terms of {\em spin resonance} that develops in HO state and is {\em not related} to superconducting transition at 1.5K. In our analysis we assume that the HO gap is due to a particle-hole condensate that connects nested parts of the Fermi surface with nesting vector $\bf{Q}^*$. Within this approach we can predicted the behavior of the spin susceptibility at \bQ^* and find it to be is strikingly similar to the phenomenology of resonance peaks in high-T$_c$ and heavy fermion superconductors. The energy of the resonance peak scales with $T_{HO}$ $\omega_{res} \simeq 4 k_BT_{HO}$. We discuss observable consequences spin resonance will have on neutron scattering and local density of states.Comment: 8 pgaes latex, 4 fig

Effect of biochar and nitrogen on soil characteristics, growth and yield of radish (Raphanus sativus L.) at Paklihawa, Rupandehi condition of Nepal

An experiment on effect of biochar and nitrogen on soil characteristics, growth and yield of radish (Raphanus sativus L.) was conducted at Institute of Agriculture and Animal Science (IAAS), Paklihawa, Rupandehi, from November 2019 to February 2020. The experiment was laid in Randomized Complete Block Design with two factors: nitrogen and biochar, each factor having four levels (biochar: 0 t/ha, 5 t/ha, 10 t/ha and 15 t/ha and nitrogen: 0 kg/ha, 50 kg/ha, 100 kg/ha, 200 kg/ha), resulting in sixteen treatment combinations. Biochar application was found to be effective in improving soil bulk density, pH, soil organic matter and soil nitrogen and potassium content. Application of nitrogen fertilizer (200 kg/ha) and biochar (15 t/ha) alone, and in combination, showed significantly higher root dry matter (15.83 gm, 16.63 gm and 20.57 gm), biological yield (80 t/ha, 63.75 t/ha, and 95.75) and root yield (26.74 t/ha, 24.06 t/ha and 30.32 t/ha). In comparison to the sole effects of the highest dose of nitrogen fertilizer (200 kg/ha) and the highest dose of biochar (15 t/ha), their combined application showed the increased yield in radish root by 13.38% and 26.01%, respectively, indicating that the combined effect of biochar and nitrogen is more productive for the growth and yield in radish crop as compared to the sole effect of nitrogen and biochar

Matter and forces near physical black holes

We describe the general features of formation and disappearance of regular spherically-symmetric black holes in semiclassical gravity. The allowed models are critically dependent on the requirement that the resulting object evolves in finite time according to a distant observer. Violation of the null energy condition is mandatory for this to happen, and we study the properties of the necessary energy-momentum tensor in the vicinity of the apparent horizon. In studies of the kinematics of massive test particles, it is found that the escape from a black hole is possible only on the ingoing trajectories when the particles are overtaken by the contracting outer apparent horizon. Tidal forces experienced by geodesic observers, infalling or escaping, are shown to be finite at the apparent horizon, although this is not true for non-geodesic trajectories.Comment: 11 pages, 3 figures. Comments welcome

Exchange-Coupling Behavior in SrFe12O19/La0.7Sr0.3MnO3 Nanocomposites

Magnetically hard-soft (100-x) SrFe12O19–x wt % La0.7Sr0.3MnO3 nanocomposites were synthesized via a one-pot auto-combustion technique using nitrate salts followed by heat treatment in air at 950 °C. X-ray diffraction (XRD), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), and vibrating sample magnetometry (VSM) were used to characterize the structural and magnetic properties of the samples. XRD spectra revealed the formation of a mixture of ferrite and magnetite phases without any trace of secondary phases in the composite. Microstructural images show the proximity grain growth of both phases. The room temperature hysteresis loops of the samples showed the presence of exchange-coupling between the hard and soft phases of the composite. Although saturation magnetization reduced by 41%, the squareness ratio and coercivity of the nanocomposite improved significantly up to 6.6% and 81.7%, respectively, at x = 40 wt % soft phase content in the nanocomposite. The enhancement in squareness ratio and coercivity could be attributed to the effective exchange-coupling interaction, while the reduction in saturation magnetization could be explained on the basis of atomic intermixing between phases in the system. Overall, these composite particles exhibited magnetically single-phase behavior. The adopted synthesis method is low cost and rapid and results in pure crystalline nanocomposite powder. This simple method is a promising way to tailor and enhance the magnetic properties of oxide-based hard-soft magnetic nanocomposites