Income Earning Potential versus Consumptive Amenities in Determining Ranchland Values

The relative importance of income earning potential versus consumptive values in setting ranchland prices is examined using a truncated hedonic model. The market value of New Mexico ranches is related to annual income earning potential and other ranch characteristics including ranch size, location, elevation, terrain, and the amount of deeded, public, and state trust land on the ranch. We found ranch income to be a statistically important determinant of land value, but yet a relatively small percentage of ranch value was explained by income earnings. Ranch location, scenic view, and the desirable lifestyle influenced ranch value more than ranch income.consumptive value, grazing fees, grazing permit value, hedonic model, land value, lifestyle agriculture, public land grazing, voluntary grazing permit buyout, Land Economics/Use,

Basic and Advanced Competence in Collaborating With Clergy

Some of the stories of psychologists and clergy working together have happy endings, and some do not. Twenty psychologists and clergy who work together well were interviewed, and 94 clergy (53% response rate) and 145 psychologists (76% response rate) were surveyed. A 2-tiered schema for working well with clergy is proposed. Basic collaborative qualifications, such as respect for clergy and communication with clergy as needed, should be considered minimal competence for all professional psychologists. Additional qualifications, such as awareness of religious spirituality and shared values, are necessary for more advanced forms of collaboration

Spatial patterns and functional redundancies in a changing boreal lake landscape

Global transformations extend beyond local habitats; therefore, larger-scale approaches are needed to assess community-level responses and resilience to unfolding environmental changes. Using long-term data (1996-2011), we evaluated spatial patterns and functional redundancies in the littoral invertebrate communities of 85 Swedish lakes, with the objective of assessing their potential resilience to environmental change at regional scales (that is, spatial resilience). Multivariate spatial modeling was used to differentiate groups of invertebrate species exhibiting spatial patterns in composition and abundance (that is, deterministic species) from those lacking spatial patterns (that is, stochastic species). We then determined the functional feeding attributes of the deterministic and stochastic invertebrate species, to infer resilience. Between one and three distinct spatial patterns in invertebrate composition and abundance were identified in approximately one-third of the species; the remainder were stochastic. We observed substantial differences in metrics between deterministic and stochastic species. Functional richness and diversity decreased over time in the deterministic group, suggesting a loss of resilience in regional invertebrate communities. However, taxon richness and redundancy increased monotonically in the stochastic group, indicating the capacity of regional invertebrate communities to adapt to change. Our results suggest that a refined picture of spatial resilience emerges if patterns of both the deterministic and stochastic species are accounted for. Spatially extensive monitoring may help increase our mechanistic understanding of community-level responses and resilience to regional environmental change, insights that are critical for developing management and conservation agendas in this current period of rapid environmental transformation

Carrier-controlled ferromagnetism in SrTiO3

Magnetotransport and superconducting properties are investigated for uniformly La-doped SrTiO3 films and GdTiO3/SrTiO3 heterostructures, respectively. GdTiO3/SrTiO3 interfaces exhibit a high-density two-dimensional electron gas on the SrTiO3-side of the interface, while for the SrTiO3 films carriers are provided by the dopant atoms. Both types of samples exhibit ferromagnetism at low temperatures, as evidenced by a hysteresis in the magnetoresistance. For the uniformly doped SrTiO3 films, the Curie temperature is found to increase with doping and to coexist with superconductivity for carrier concentrations on the high-density side of the superconducting dome. The Curie temperature of the GdTiO3/SrTiO3 heterostructures scales with the thickness of the SrTiO3 quantum well. The results are used to construct a stability diagram for the ferromagnetic and superconducting phases of SrTiO3.Comment: Revised version that is closer to the published version; Fig. 2 correcte

Survival, Nest Success and Productivity of Female Common Eiders (Somateria mollissima dresseri) on Flag Island, Harspwell, Casco Bay, Maine

In 2008, we concluded the 6th and final year of what was originally designed as a 5-year study to examine survival, recruitment and recovery rates of nesting common eiders (Somateria mollissima dresseri) on Flag Island, Harpswell, Maine. The total breeding population of common eiders on Flag Island was estimated to be about 500 nesting pairs in 2008, which is at the long term estimate of approximately 500-600 nesting pairs for this island. Both the 2007 and 2008 nesting estimates were, however, a marked improvement from the 2006 estimate when only 200 hens actually nested. This low point coincided with the beginning of significant non-nesting events by hen eiders in east Casco Bay at and leading up to two significant mortality events on the wintering grounds in Massachusetts. One cause contributing to these die-offs was determined to by an RNA virus. Nest success over the duration of this study was high at 75% in 2005, 74% in 2006 to 89% in 2007. Although the percentage of nesting great black-backed gulls increased during this investigation, the overall size of the nesting gull population remained fairly constant

Time Averaged Quantum Dynamics and the Validity of the Effective Hamiltonian Model

We develop a technique for finding the dynamical evolution in time of an averaged density matrix. The result is an equation of evolution that includes an Effective Hamiltonian, as well as decoherence terms in Lindblad form. Applying the general equation to harmonic Hamiltonians, we confirm a previous formula for the Effective Hamiltonian together with a new decoherence term which should in general be included, and whose vanishing provides the criteria for validity of the Effective Hamiltonian approach. Finally, we apply the theory to examples of the AC Stark Shift and Three- Level Raman Transitions, recovering a new decoherence effect in the latter.Comment: 7 pages, 2 figure