Eco-terrorism or Eco-tage: An Argument for the Proper Frame

What does the term “terrorism” mean? Is it accurate to lump illegal acts that destroy property but carefully avoid harming people into the same category as acts clearly intended to kill? Is this a difference of kind or just of degree? While we (the authors) don\u27t generally endorse the destruction of property as a method of generating social change, we believe that the destruction of property is fundamentally different from the intentional killing of people; therefore, to label acts of obstruction, trespassing, vandalism, sabotage, or arson as “terrorism” is inaccurate and has the potential to damage one\u27s understanding of real acts of terrorism, thereby reducing the potency of the term. We started this project with a hunch. In recent years, we have observed frequent use of the term “eco-terrorism,” in the news media and in conversations, in reference to the acts of environmentalists. Our observations were anecdotal, and we wanted to be sure they were accurate. We found no literature analyzing cultural acceptance of the term “eco-terrorism”; therefore, before embarking on an ethical analysis of this phenomenon, we set out to confirm our casual observation that the term was widely used in the United States. We conducted an analysis of the use of the term in US newspapers across a period of nearly 11 years. Our analysis indicates broad acceptance of the term among both journalists and their sources, making it all the more important to understand both the history and the implications of labeling obstruction, trespassing, vandalism, sabotage, and arson as “eco-terrorism.

Optimizing Distribution Center Configuration: A Practical View of a Multi-objective Problem

The shape of a distribution center, as well as whether dock locations are on one side or two sides of the facility, impacts measures like travel distances and the number of dock locations that may be utilized. Thus, for a required number of pallet locations, there are multiple combinations of distribution center shape and dock configurations that should be evaluated against multiple measures. We have developed a practical model for making such evaluations and illustrate the model with data reflective of a partner in the Center for Engineering Logistics and Distribution

Comparison of Organic and Conventional Crop Prices: 1995 to 1997

Organic industry sales by United State (US) natural product distributors have been growing at more than 20 percent annually during the 1990s. Demand growth for certified organic agricultural commodities has been strong both in the us and abroad. For example, Japan\u27s demand for organically grown us soybeans has been especially strong in recent years. This growth in demand, together with growing concerns about the profitability and ecological sustainability of more conventional farming systems in some areas, is causing new interest in organic agriculture. Therefore, as part of our sustainable agriculture research program in the Economics Department at South Dakota State University (SDSU), we have begun to keep systematic track of organic prices for some key grain and bean commodities. comparisons of these organic prices with prices for the same commodities grown conventionally are presented in this pamphlet. Data and charts for the years 1995, 1996, and 1997 are presented

Changes in Eastern South Dakota Crops Patterns: 1950s to 1990s

This report contains background data for a study on possible impacts of the 1996 Farm Bill ( Federal Agricultural Improvement and Reform Act of 1996 ) on crop system diversity. The study, being conducted by the Economics Department at South Dakota State University (SDSU), is focused on the 7-county area of eastern South Dakota shown in the map on the following page. This area constitutes a major portion of the Big Sioux River drainage area in South Dakota. The aquifer underlying the Big Sioux River in these counties provides drinking water for a significant portion of the State\u27s population. Therefore, agricultural practices that potentially affect the river and underlying aquifer are of great interest to both farmers and the general public. Of special interest are practices that might affect nitrate leaching. Nitrate leaching can be impacted by the types of crops grown, how they are grown in rotation, and the types of tillage and fertilization practices used. This report contains information only on the crops grown in these seven counties, and how patterns have changed over the last half of the twentieth century. The narrative is limited to historical descriptions in this report. Analyses of the historical patterns and potential future changes as a result of new provisions in the 1996 Farm Bill will come in later reports. Information obtained in recently completed focus group meetings with farmers in two of the seven counties Codington and Moody--will contribute to those analyses. Changes in acreage of six major crops in the 7-county study area are shown in the figure on the following page. Five-year averages were used, to make trends more clear. Clearly, corn was the major crop in this region throughout much of the 45-year period running from 1950 to 1995. oats went from a major crop, with more acreage even than corn in the early 1950s, to a minor crop by the 1990s. Flax acreage also declined to negligible levels by the end of the period. The most dramatic increase was in soybean acreage, especially from the late 1970s onward. Wheat acreage increased some in the 1970s, and remained at higher levels than in the first half of the time period examined. Changes in hay acreage in this same 7-county area are shown in the figure on page 5. Hay acreage declined by over 40 percent between 1959 and 1992. We turn now to the crop system changes that have taken place over the last half of this century in the seven individual counties--Codington, Hamlin, Deuel, Brookings, Lake, Moody, and Minnehaha

An Experimental Study of the Impact of Warehouse Parameters on the Design of a Case-picking Warehouse

The best design for a warehouse is based on its ability to meet the demands placed on the warehouse, which are typically characterized by warehouse parameters like the order , inventory requirements, etc. Consequently, these parameters should be considered in the design process. In this paper we characterize the design of a case-picking ware- house with design variables and identify the warehouse parameters that have the greatest impact in setting the values of these variables. With our analysis, the search for the optimal design can be reduced by limiting the design space considered

The mass-metallicity relation of local active galaxies

We systematically measure the gas-phase metallicities and the mass-metallicity relation of a large sample of local active galaxies for the first time. Observed emission-line fluxes from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) are compared to a four-dimensional grid of photoionization models using the Bayesian parameter estimation code NebulaBayes. For the first time we take into account arbitrary mixing between HII region and narrow-line region (NLR) emission, and the models are also varied with metallicity, ionization parameter in the NLR, and the gas pressure. The active galactic nucleus (AGN) oxygen abundance is found to increase by $\Delta {\rm O/H} \sim 0.1$ dex as a function of host galaxy stellar mass over the range $10.1 < \log M_* / M_\odot < 11.3$. We also measure the metallicity and ionization parameter of 231000 star-forming galaxies for comparison with the sample of 7670 Seyfert 2 galaxies. A systematic offset in oxygen abundance of 0.09 dex is observed between the mass-metallicity relations of the star-forming and active galaxies. We investigate potential causes of the offset, including sample selection and the treatment in the models of diffuse ionized gas, pressure, and ionization parameter. We cannot identify the major cause(s), but suspect contributions due to deficiencies in modeling the ionizing spectra and the treatment of dust physics. Optical diagnostic diagrams are presented with the star-forming and Seyfert data colored by the inferred oxygen abundance, ionization parameter and gas pressure, clearly illustrating the trends in these quantities.Comment: 12 pages, 4 figures and 1 table; accepted for publication in Ap