Weak lensing of large scale structure in the presence of screening

A number of alternatives to general relativity exhibit gravitational screening in the non-linear regime of structure formation. We describe a set of algorithms that can produce weak lensing maps of large scale structure in such theories and can be used to generate mock surveys for cosmological analysis. By analysing a few basic statistics we indicate how these alternatives can be distinguished from general relativity with future weak lensing surveys.Comment: 25 pages, 7 figures, accepted by JCAP. v2: references updat

Macroevolutionary Patterns In The Evolutionary Radiation Of Archosaurs (Tetrapoda: Diapsida)

The rise of archosaurs during the Triassic and Early Jurassic has been treated as a classic example of an evolutionary radiation in the fossil record. This paper reviews published studies and provides new data on archosaur lineage origination, diversity and lineage evolution, morphological disparity, rates of morphological character change, and faunal abundance during the Triassic–Early Jurassic. The fundamental archosaur lineages originated early in the Triassic, in concert with the highest rates of character change. Disparity and diversity peaked later, during the Norian, but the most significant increase in disparity occurred before maximum diversity. Archosaurs were rare components of Early–Middle Triassic faunas, but were more abundant in the Late Triassic and pre-eminent globally by the Early Jurassic. The archosaur radiation was a drawn-out event and major components such as diversity and abundance were discordant from each other. Crurotarsans (crocodile-line archosaurs) were more disparate, diverse, and abundant than avemetatarsalians (bird-line archosaurs, including dinosaurs) during the Late Triassic, but these roles were reversed in the Early Jurassic. There is no strong evidence that dinosaurs outcompeted or gradually eclipsed crurotarsans during the Late Triassic. Instead, crurotarsan diversity decreased precipitously by the end-Triassic extinction, which helped usher in the age of dinosaurian dominance

The scientific case for magnetic field satellites

To make full use of modern magnetic data and the paleomagnetic record, we must greatly improve our understanding of how the geodynamo system works. It is clearly nonlinear, probably chaotic, and its dimensionless parameters cannot yet be reproduced on a laboratory scale. It is accessible only to theory and to measurements made at and above the earth's surface. These measurements include essentially all geophysical types. Gravity and seismology give evidence for undulations in the core-mantle boundary (CMB) and for temperature variations in the lower mantle which can affect core convection and hence the dynamo. VLBI measurements of the variations in the Chandler wobble and length of day are affected by, among other things, the electromagnetic and mechanical transfer of angular momentum across the CMB. Finally, measurements of the vector magnetic field, its intensity, or its direction, give the most direct access to the core dynamo and the electrical conductivity of the lower mantle. The 120 gauss coefficients of degrees up to 10 probably come from the core, with only modest interference by mantle conductivity and crustal magnetization. By contrast, only three angular accelerations enter the problem of angular momentum transfer across the CMB. Satellite measurements of the vector magnetic field are uniquely able to provide the spatial coverage required for extrapolation to the CMB, and to isolate and measure certain magnetic signals which to the student of the geodynamo represent noise, but which are of great interest elsewhere in geophysics. Here, these claims are justified and the mission parameters likely to be scientifically most useful for observing the geodynamo system are described

COTTON LAND TENURE EVALUATION SOFTWARE USERS' GUIDE

The Federal Agriculture Improvement and Reform Act of 1996 (FAIR Act) introduces several significant changes to farm commodity legislation. While these changes impact all program commodities, they have prompted considerable concern for the future of the Texas cotton industry. Changes in the farm program have prompted many landowners and tenants to evaluate their current rental arrangements and determine if changes are required. In response to considerable ensuing questions regarding the land rental market, a Lotus 1-2-3 template was developed to aid parties in determining an equitable lease. This Lotus template allows users to specify enterprise budget information for rice farm operations and then evaluates the expected returns to producers and landowners under various lease scenarios. The landowners' results are compared with the returns from 100% of the market transition payments and user-specified net returns for an alternative enterprise to calculate the net advantage to landowners for producing rice under the budgeted scenario over the life of the FAIR Act. The Cotton Land Tenure Evaluation Users' Guide is a detailed explanation of how to use the Lotus Cotton Land Tenure Evaluation program. This guide instructs users on how to use the various components of the program. Sections of the Users' Guide include a preface, installation instructions, an overview of the changes in the farm program, a section describing how to input data, a description of the custom menu system, and a report section that illustrates examples of the reports that are available for printing.Agricultural and Food Policy,

Leading by example: Exploring the influence of design examples on children’s creative ideation

Creative ideation is integral to the design process; to be considered creative an idea must be deemed both novel and appropriate. Design examples are often provided to inspire creativity but may also constrain designers’ imaginations (design fixation), a phenomenon observed during children’s ideation in participatory design (PD). This paper addresses a gap in the literature by empirically investigating this phenomenon through an exploratory case study of two game narrative design workshops involving 37 children. Children’s design ideas from these workshops were systematically coded by two researchers following a deductive content analysis approach and inter-rater reliability was established. Our findings show that utilising design examples can ensure appropriateness (i.e. narrative relevance and coherence), and albeit some design fixation more often facilitates the creative process by enabling existing ideas to be recycled and combined with novel ideas. This research contributes potential methodological adaptations to better foster children’s creativity during PD

Environmental Attitudes and Knowledge: An International Comparison Among Business Students

This article investigates international differences in environmental knowledge and attitudes among business administration students. The Environmental Knowledge and Attitude Scale, developed by Maloney, Ward, and Braucht (1975) and used by Synodinos (1990), was administered to 85 upperdivision business administration students at Loyola University Chicago and 111 upperdivision business students at the National University of Singapore. No significant differences were found between the two samples on the Knowledge, Concern, or Willingness to Act subscales. The United States students\u27 higher mean score on the Actual Behavior subscale was significant but may only reflect relative possibilities for participation in environmental activities. Overall, the United States sample falls short of what could be hoped for given the age of America\u27s conservation movement and recent intensity of its environmental movement. The results underscore the importance of increasing the environmental/ecological component in business curricula

RICE LAND TENURE EVALUATION SOFTWARE USERS' GUIDE

The Federal Agriculture Improvement and Reform Act of 1996 (FAIR Act) introduces several significant changes to farm commodity legislation. While these changes impact all program commodities, they have prompted considerable concern for the future of the Texas rice industry. Changes in the farm program have prompted many landowners and tenants to evaluate their current rental arrangements and determine if changes are required. In response to considerable ensuing questions regarding the land rental market, a Lotus 1-2-3 template was developed to aid parties in determining an equitable lease. This Lotus template allows users to specify enterprise budget information for rice farm operations and then evaluates the expected returns to producers and landowners under various lease scenarios. The landowners' results are compared with the returns from 100% of the market transition payments and user-specified net returns for an alternative enterprise to calculate the net advantage to landowners for producing rice under the budgeted scenario over the life of the FAIR Act. The Rice Land Tenure Evaluation Users' Guide is a detailed explanation of how to use the Lotus Rice Land Tenure Evaluation program. This guide instructs users on how to use the various components of the program. Sections of the Users' Guide include a preface, installation instructions, an overview of the changes in the farm program, a section describing how to input data, a description of the custom menu system, and a report section that illustrates examples of the reports that are available for printing.Agricultural and Food Policy,

GRAIN LAND TENURE EVALUATION SOFTWARE USERS' GUIDE

The Federal Agriculture Improvement and Reform Act of 1996 (FAIR Act) introduces several significant changes to farm commodity legislation. While these changes impact all program commodities, they have prompted considerable concern for the future of the Texas grain industry. Changes in the farm program have prompted many landowners and tenants to evaluate their current rental arrangements and determine if changes are required. In response to considerable ensuing questions regarding the land rental market, a Lotus 1-2-3 template was developed to aid parties in determining an equitable lease. This Lotus template allows users to specify enterprise budget information for grain farm operations and then evaluates the expected returns to producers and landowners under various lease scenarios. The landowners' results are compared with the returns from 100% of the market transition payments and user-specified net returns for an alternative enterprise to calculate the net advantage to landowners for producing grain under the budgeted scenario over the life of the FAIR Act. The Grain Land Tenure Evaluation Users' Guide is a detailed explanation of how to use the Lotus Grain Land Tenure Evaluation program. This guide instructs users on how to use the various components of the program. Sections of the Users' Guide include a preface, installation instructions, an overview of the changes in the farm program, a section describing how to input data, a description of the custom menu system, and a report section that illustrates examples of the reports that are available for printing. The Grain Land Tenure Evaluation also has the capability of evaluating all seven program crops. A section in the Users' Guide explains how to switch from one crop to another.Agricultural and Food Policy,