POTENTIAL INCOME EFFECTS OF THE HARKIN-GEPHARDT PROPOSAL ON NEW YORK DAIRY FARMS

This article reports the results of research regarding the farm-level implications for New York dairy producers of national mandatory supply control programs for feed grains and milk. The analysis is based on the proposed Harkin-Gephardt Bill which would authorize a mandatory supply control program for milk and the major supported crops. Representative farm budgets were constructed for a sample of dairy farms to assess the possible effects on costs and returns. Some farmers would gain, while others would not. The results suggest that dairy farmers who purchase all of their feed would be worse off, while farmers who grow grain would be better off under the proposed supply control program.Agricultural Finance,

Real-time determination of laser beam quality by modal decomposition

We present a real-time method to determine the beam propagation ratio M2 of laser beams. The all-optical measurement of modal amplitudes yields M2 parameters conform to the ISO standard method. The experimental technique is simple and fast, which allows to investigate laser beams under conditions inaccessible to other methods.Comment: 8 pages, 4 figures, published in Optics Expres

Consolidation of Geologic Studies of Geopressured-Geothermal Resources in Texas

Detailed structural mapping at several horizons in selected study areas within the Frio growth-fault trend demonstrates a pronounced variability in structural style. At Sarita in South Texas, shale mobilization produced one or more shale ridges, one of which localized a low-angle growth fault trapping a wedge of deltaic sediments. At Corpus Christi, shale mobilization produced a series of large growth faults, shale-cored domed anticlines, and shale-withdrawal basins, which become progressively younger basinward. At Blessing, major growth faults trap sands of the Greta/Calhoun barrier system, having some discrete shale diapirs but little progradation. At Pleasant Bayou, a major early growth-fault system was overprinted by salt tectonics—the intrusion of Danbury Dome and the development of a salt-withdrawal basin. At Port Arthur, low-displacement, long-lived faults formed on a sand-poor shelf margin contemporaneously with broad salt uplifts and basins. Variability in styles can be related to the nature and extent of Frio sedimentation and shelf-margin progradation and to the presence of salt. Structural styles that are conducive to large geothermal reservoirs include blocks between widely spaced growth faults having dip reversal, salt-withdrawal basins, and shale-withdrawal basins. These styles are widespread on the Texas Gulf Coast. However, actually finding a large reservoir depends on demonstrating the existence of sufficient sand having adequate quality to support geopressured geothermal energy production.Bureau of Economic Geolog

Identification and characterization of microsatellite loci in two socially complex old world tropical babblers (Family Timaliidae)

Background: Although the highest diversity of birds occurs in tropical regions, little is known about the genetic mating systems of most tropical species. We describe microsatellite markers isolated in the chestnut-crested yuhina (Staphida everetti), endemic to the island of Borneo, and the grey-throated babbler (Stachyris nigriceps), widely distributed across Southeast Asia. Both species belong to the avian family Timaliidae and are highly social, putatively cooperatively breeding birds in which helpers attend the nests of members of their social group. We obtained DNA from individuals in social groups breeding in Kinabalu Park, Malaysian Borneo. Results: We used a shotgun sequencing approach and 454-technology to identify 36 microsatellite loci in the yuhina and 40 in the babbler. We tested 13 primer pairs in yuhinas and 20 in babblers and characterized eight polymorphic loci in 20 unrelated female yuhinas and 21 unrelated female babblers. Polymorphism at the yuhina loci ranged from 3 to 9 alleles, observed heterozygosities from 0.58 to 1.00, and expected heterozygosities from 0.64 to 0.81. Polymorphism at the babbler loci ranged from 3 to 12 alleles, observed heterozygosities from 0.14 to 0.90 and expected heterozygosities from 0.14 to 0.87. One locus in the yuhina deviated significantly from Hardy–Weinberg equilibrium. We detected nonrandom allele associations between two pairs of microsatellite loci in each species. Conclusions: Microsatellite markers will be used to describe the genetic mating system of these socially complex species and to measure genetic parentage and relatedness within social groups

Mined Lands Inventory, Industrial Minerals, South Texas

The Bureau of Economic Geology, under an interagency cooperative contract with the Railroad Commission of Texas, conducted a comprehensive inventory of abandoned and active mining operations across 48 counties in South Texas. Project objectives were to characterize potential reclamation, or priority, sites, to create a surface-mining database of industrial minerals, and to provide data to meet future legislative and regulatory needs. Comprehensive procedures were established for identification and evaluation of mined lands using U.S. Geological Survey topographic maps, black-and-white and color-infrared aerial photographs, on-site surveys, and low-altitude flyovers. The site location, mineral commodity, and relative size were recorded on a Mined Lands Inventory Form (MLIF) for each site greater than 2 acres in size. Data on health, safety, and environmental aspects were recorded for all priority sites. All data were entered into the Texas Mined Land Database (TMLDB), a computer database that follows the format of the MLIF. Locations of all inventoried sites are shown on over 400 topographic maps.Bureau of Economic Geolog

Semiclassical Theory of Quantum Chaotic Transport: Phase-Space Splitting, Coherent Backscattering and Weak Localization

We investigate transport properties of quantized chaotic systems in the short wavelength limit. We focus on non-coherent quantities such as the Drude conductance, its sample-to-sample fluctuations, shot-noise and the transmission spectrum, as well as coherent effects such as weak localization. We show how these properties are influenced by the emergence of the Ehrenfest time scale \tE. Expressed in an optimal phase-space basis, the scattering matrix acquires a block-diagonal form as \tE increases, reflecting the splitting of the system into two cavities in parallel, a classical deterministic cavity (with all transmission eigenvalues either 0 or 1) and a quantum mechanical stochastic cavity. This results in the suppression of the Fano factor for shot-noise and the deviation of sample-to-sample conductance fluctuations from their universal value. We further present a semiclassical theory for weak localization which captures non-ergodic phase-space structures and preserves the unitarity of the theory. Contrarily to our previous claim [Phys. Rev. Lett. 94, 116801 (2005)], we find that the leading off-diagonal contribution to the conductance leads to the exponential suppression of the coherent backscattering peak and of weak localization at finite \tE. This latter finding is substantiated by numerical magnetoconductance calculations.Comment: Typos in central eqns corrected (this paper supersedes cond-mat/0509186) 20page

An algorithm for the direct reconstruction of the dark matter correlation function from weak lensing and galaxy clustering

The clustering of matter on cosmological scales is an essential probe for studying the physical origin and composition of our Universe. To date, most of the direct studies have focused on shear-shear weak lensing correlations, but it is also possible to extract the dark matter clustering by combining galaxy-clustering and galaxy-galaxy-lensing measurements. In this study we develop a method that can constrain the dark matter correlation function from galaxy clustering and galaxy-galaxy-lensing measurements, by focusing on the correlation coefficient between the galaxy and matter overdensity fields. To generate a mock galaxy catalogue for testing purposes, we use the Halo Occupation Distribution approach applied to a large ensemble of N-body simulations to model pre-existing SDSS Luminous Red Galaxy sample observations. Using this mock catalogue, we show that a direct comparison between the excess surface mass density measured by lensing and its corresponding galaxy clustering quantity is not optimal. We develop a new statistic that suppresses the small-scale contributions to these observations and show that this new statistic leads to a cross-correlation coefficient that is within a few percent of unity down to 5 Mpc/h. Furthermore, the residual incoherence between the galaxy and matter fields can be explained using a theoretical model for scale-dependent bias, giving us a final estimator that is unbiased to within 1%. We also perform a comprehensive study of other physical effects that can affect the analysis, such as redshift space distortions and differences in radial windows between galaxy clustering and weak lensing observations. We apply the method to a range of cosmological models and show the viability of our new statistic to distinguish between cosmological models.Comment: 23 pages, 14 figures, accepted by PRD; minor changes to V1, 1 new figure, more detailed discussion of the covariance of the new ADSD statisti

Quasars: What turns them off?

(Abridged) We explore the idea that the anti-hierarchical turn-off observed in the quasar population arises from self-regulating feedback, via an outflow mechanism. Using a detailed hydrodynamic simulation we calculate the luminosity function of quasars down to a redshift of z=1 in a large, cosmologically representative volume. Outflows are included explicitly by tracking halo mergers and driving shocks into the surrounding intergalactic medium. Our results are in excellent agreement with measurements of the spatial distribution of quasars, and we detect an intriguing excess of galaxy-quasar pairs at very short separations. We also reproduce the anti-hierarchical turnoff in the quasar luminosity function, however, the magnitude of the turn-off falls short of that observed as well as that predicted by analogous semi-analytic models. The difference can be traced to the treatment of gas heating within galaxies. The simulated galaxy cluster L_X-T relationship is close to that observed for z~1 clusters, but the simulated galaxy groups at z=1 are significantly perturbed by quasar outflows, suggesting that measurements of X-ray emission in high-redshift groups could well be a "smoking gun" for the AGN heating hypothesis.Comment: 16 pages, 11 figures, submitted to ApJ, comments welcome

Mined Lands Inventory, Industrial Minerals, East Texas

The Bureau of Economic Geology, under an interagency cooperative contract with the Railroad Commission of Texas, conducted a comprehensive inventory of abandoned and active mining operations across 84 counties in East Texas. This report represents the second phase of the inventory, begun in 1988 in South Texas (Jackson and others, 1989). Project objectives were to characterize potential reclamation, or priority, sites, to create a surface-mining database of industrial minerals, and to provide data to meet future legislative and regulatory needs. Comprehensive procedures were established for identification and evaluation of mined lands using U.S. Geological Survey topographic maps, black-and-white and color-infrared aerial photographs, on-site surveys, and low-altitude flyovers. The site location, mineral commodity, and relative size were recorded on a Mined Lands Inventory Form (MLIF) for each site greater than 2 acres. Data on health, safety, and environmental aspects were recorded for all priority sites. All data were entered into the Texas Mined Lands Database (TMLDB), a computer database that follows the format of the MLIF. Locations of all inventoried sites are shown on over 600 topographic maps. In East Texas, 6,492 mined sites were identified, 3,341 greater than 2 acres, 3,112 less than 2 acres, and 39 of undetermined size. Among sites larger than 2 acres, approximately 1,637 are abandoned, 1,166 are active, and 573 are reclaimed. An estimated 140,000 acres have been disturbed by surface mining, predominantly by sand and gravel mining. Other commodities mined in the East Texas area include limestone, clay, and iron ore.Bureau of Economic Geolog

A Detailed Far-Ultraviolet Spectral Atlas of O-Type Stars

In this paper we present a spectral atlas covering the wavelength interval 930--1188A for O2--O9.5 stars using Far Ultraviolet Spectroscopic Explorer archival data. The stars selected for the atlas were drawn from three populations: Galactic main sequence (class III-V) stars, supergiants, and main sequence stars in the Magellanic Clouds, which have low metallicities. For each of these stars we have prepared FITS files comprised of paris of merged spectra for user access via the Multi-Mission Archives at Space Telescope. We chose spectra from the first population with spectral types O4, O5, O6, O7, O8, and O9.5 and used them to compile tables and figures with identifications of all possible atmospheric and ISM lines in the region 949-1188A. Our identified line totals for these six representative spectra are 821 (500), 992 (663), 1077 (749), 1178 (847), 1359 (1001), and 1798 (1392) lines, respectively, where the numbers in parentheses are the totals of lines formed in the atmospheres, according to spectral synthesis models. The total number of unique atmospheric identifications for the six main sequence O star template spectra is 1792, whereas the number of atmospheric lines in common to these spectra is 300. The number of identified lines decreases toward earlier types (increasing effective temperature), the whlle percentages of "missed" features (lines not predicted from our spectral syntheses) drops from a high of 8% at type B0.2, from our recently published B star far-UV atlas, to 1--3% for type O spectra. The percentages of overpredicted lines are similar, despite their being much higher for B star spectra. We also discuss the statistics of line populations among the various elemental ionization states. Finally, as an aid to users we list those isolated lines that can be used to determine stellar temperatures and the presence of possible chemical anomalies.Comment: To appear in Astrophysical Journal Supplements: 18 pages, 6 tables, 4 figures. Tables 3, 4, and 6 in full may be accessed from the MAST archvies at (http://archive.stsci.edu/prepds/fuvostars