Interpretation of Long-term Trade Projections: China's Role in Forecast Discrepancies and its Impact on Expectations for World Agricultural Trade

Agricultural and Food Policy, International Relations/Trade,

Quantum Degenerate Mixture of Ytterbium and Lithium Atoms

We have produced a quantum degenerate mixture of fermionic alkali 6Li and bosonic spin-singlet 174Yb gases. This was achieved using sympathetic cooling of lithium atoms by evaporatively cooled ytterbium atoms in a far-off-resonant optical dipole trap. We observe co-existence of Bose condensed (T/T_c~0.8) 174Yb with 2.3*10^4 atoms and Fermi degenerate (T/T_F~0.3) 6Li with 1.2*10^4 atoms. Quasipure Bose-Einstein condensates of up to 3*10^4 174Yb atoms can be produced in single-species experiments. Our results mark a significant step toward studies of few and many-body physics with mixtures of alkali and alkaline-earth-like atoms, and for the production of paramagnetic polar molecules in the quantum regime. Our methods also establish a convenient scheme for producing quantum degenerate ytterbium atoms in a 1064nm optical dipole trap.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figure

Sympathetic cooling in an optically trapped mixture of alkali and spin-singlet atoms

We report on the realization of a stable mixture of ultracold lithium and ytterbium atoms confined in a far-off-resonance optical dipole trap. We observe sympathetic cooling of 6Li by 174Yb and extract the s-wave scattering length magnitude |a6Li-174Yb| = (13 \pm 3)a0 from the rate of inter-species thermalization. Using forced evaporative cooling of 174Yb, we achieve reduction of the 6Li temperature to below the Fermi temperature, purely through inter-species sympathetic cooling.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figure

Interpretation of Long-term Trade Projections: China's Role in Forecast Discrepancies and its Impact on Expectations for World Agricultural Trade

This report looks at the impact of China's grain projections on a global commodity baseline through a discussion of the 1998 FAPRI China corn outlook

Landscape Level Habitat Survey of Mule Deer Winter Range in Eastern Montana

In 2006 and 2007 Environmental Solutions Group, LLC (ESG) conducted landscape level surveys of mule deer (Odocoileus hemionus) winter range to test new field methods for assessing degree of browse utilization, browse species condition, and large animal distribution patterns. In 2007, a site was surveyed on Big Sheep Mountain in the Cherry Creek mule deer census area north of Terry in eastern Montana, covering approximately 6,400 ac (2,590 ha). Methodology followed Frisina and Knapp (2006). Data were collected along foot travel routes in a quarter mile pattern to cover the study area, totaling approximately 54 mi (86 km) of route at each site. Each data point represents a route segment up to 0.25 mi (0.4 km) long having a single type of vegetation. Data were collected for canopy cover and utilization level by individual browse species, canopy cover of other major individual plant species, amount of bare ground, and frequency of fecal pellet group observed for each ungulate species. Potential users of this methodology may now assess whether it offers useful and cost-effective application for their purposes

Classification and Management of Upland, Riparian, and Wetland Sites of USDI Bureau of Land Management’s Miles City Field Office, Eastern Montana USA

A system is presented for the classification and management of uplands, riparian, and wetland sites within the USDI Bureau of Land Management’s Miles City Field Office in eastern Montana. The Miles City Field of the USDI Bureau of Land Management lies within the northern Great Plains and occupies approximately the eastern 1/3 of Montana. The concepts and terminology used in this document are consistent with usage proposed by Daubenmire (1952, 1968, 1978), and are used in numerous other vegetation-based ecological site classifications for North America. A dichotomous key utilizing indicator plant species is provided for field identification of the habitat types and major seral plant communities (for example community types) that are stable for time frames relevant to land management decisions. The habitat types (for example ecological site types) are identified first in the key. If this is not possible, the key then identifies the major seral community types. Within the description of each community type is a discussion of possible habitat types for the site. Each “type” includes detailed information for managing a particular site. The work utilized 1,126 sample plots resulting in a total of 96 different plant communities identified to either the habitat type (and phase) or community type level. There were 62 identified riparian/wetland types and 28 upland types. In addition, six types are types that can occur in both riparian/wetland and upland situations. There were a total of 663 unique species recorded for the 1,126 sampled stands. Of the 663 species, 551 (83 percent) were native, and 112 (17 percent) were introduced or contain an introduced element. The document can be downloaded from www.ecologicalsolutionsgroup.com