Application of the Logistic Growth Model: Estimation of Livestock Population in Mongolia

We propose the logistic growth model to predict number of livestock in Mongolia. For this purpose, we estimate its parameters based on data retrieved from National Statistical Office of Mongolia for period of 2004-2013. Once parameter estimates are made, we apply those parameters into the model

Co-Produced Research Supports Pastoralists to Pursue Transformative Social and Ecological Change in Rangelands

Over the last two decades, pastoralists and researchers have formed powerful alliances to transform how we think about and do research-with-action in rangelands. These alliances promote faster learning about problems and their potential solutions by bringing together diverse partners and their different ways of understanding important issues. They also ensure research is fully relevant to real problems, so it supports pastoralists to act on both old and new issues that they face. While these approaches can be contentious when perspectives and experiences do not align, team members are finding them transformative, if they commit to working together over the long term. Based on a long history of participatory research approaches in the social sciences, these alliances are now inter- and trans-disciplinary, spread throughout the sciences. This paper uses six case studies to explore the experience of teams who have used this research-with-action approach in the rangelands of Kenya, Tanzania, Mongolia, Tajikistan, Afghanistan, Spain and the US. These teams developed and implemented this approach not in halls of academia, but in equal pastoralist-researcher partnerships by creating full co-learning and democratized processes together. These teams then purposely built the capacity of all stakeholders to act together to promote desired change. The case studies integrate diverse knowledges at multiple scales into collective ‘learning and doing’ teams composed of pastoral peoples, policy makers, scientists, business people, and others. This process ensures a broad range of understandings and interpretations form the foundation of the actions and adaptations taken by actors across landscapes and scales. The approach contributes to the resilience of place-based social-ecological systems in rangelands by avoiding top-down, one-size-fits-all approaches. Uniting these ideas and practices has allowed research-with-action to become truly transformative, by accelerating the capacity of all stakeholders to learn and act more effectively

Not a melting pot: Plant species aggregate in their non-native range

Aim: Plant species continue to be moved outside of their native range by human activities. Here, we aim to determine whether, once introduced, plants assimilate into native communities or whether they aggregate, thus forming mosaics of native- and alien-rich communities. Alien species might aggregate in their non-native range owing to shared habitat preferences, such as their tendency to establish in high-biomass, species-poor areas. Location: Twenty-two herbaceous grasslands in 14 countries, mainly in the temperate zone. Time period: 2012–2016. Major taxa studied: Plants. Methods: We used a globally coordinated survey. Within this survey, we found 46 plant species, predominantly from Eurasia, for which we had co-occurrence data in their native and non-native ranges. We tested for differences in co-occurrence patterns of 46 species between their native (home) and non-native (away) range. We also tested whether species had similar habitat preferences, by testing for differences in total biomass and species richness of the patches that species occupy in their native and non-native ranges. Results: We found the same species to show different patterns of association depending on whether they were in their native or non-native range. Alien species were negatively associated with native species; instead, they aggregated with other alien species in species-poor, high-biomass communities in their non-native range compared with their native range. Main conclusions: The strong differences between the native (home) and non-native (away) range in species co-occurrence patterns are evidence that the way in which species associate with resident communities in their non-native range is not species dependent, but is instead a property of being away from their native range. These results thus highlight that species might undergo important ecological changes when introduced away from their native range. Overall, we show origin-dependent associations that result in novel communities, in which alien-rich patches exist within a mosaic of native-dominated communities

Multi-messenger observations of a binary neutron star merger

On 2017 August 17 a binary neutron star coalescence candidate (later designated GW170817) with merger time 12:41:04 UTC was observed through gravitational waves by the Advanced LIGO and Advanced Virgo detectors. The Fermi Gamma-ray Burst Monitor independently detected a gamma-ray burst (GRB 170817A) with a time delay of ~1.7 s with respect to the merger time. From the gravitational-wave signal, the source was initially localized to a sky region of 31 deg2 at a luminosity distance of 40+8-8 Mpc and with component masses consistent with neutron stars. The component masses were later measured to be in the range 0.86 to 2.26 Mo. An extensive observing campaign was launched across the electromagnetic spectrum leading to the discovery of a bright optical transient (SSS17a, now with the IAU identification of AT 2017gfo) in NGC 4993 (at ~40 Mpc) less than 11 hours after the merger by the One- Meter, Two Hemisphere (1M2H) team using the 1 m Swope Telescope. The optical transient was independently detected by multiple teams within an hour. Subsequent observations targeted the object and its environment. Early ultraviolet observations revealed a blue transient that faded within 48 hours. Optical and infrared observations showed a redward evolution over ~10 days. Following early non-detections, X-ray and radio emission were discovered at the transient’s position ~9 and ~16 days, respectively, after the merger. Both the X-ray and radio emission likely arise from a physical process that is distinct from the one that generates the UV/optical/near-infrared emission. No ultra-high-energy gamma-rays and no neutrino candidates consistent with the source were found in follow-up searches. These observations support the hypothesis that GW170817 was produced by the merger of two neutron stars in NGC4993 followed by a short gamma-ray burst (GRB 170817A) and a kilonova/macronova powered by the radioactive decay of r-process nuclei synthesized in the ejecta

P A MAXIMIZATION PROPERTIES OF AVERAGE PRODUCTION FUNCTION

Abstract: It is well known that under classical economics assumptions production functions are concav

Astronomical Hosting in Central Asia

Networked projects e.g. Gamma-Ray Burst follow up optical observations require dense worldwide coverage. We are investigating potentially interesting sites for observatories in Central Asia where coverage by observatories is still poor. One of the most important parameter of a site is a number of clear night hours. We present first results of direct parameter measurements gathered with weather stations and our own observations in different sites of Mongolia

New subsystem of the ISON optical network to improve the conjunction analysis

In 2015 quantity of telescopes of 37 observatories that collaborate with ISON project in 17 countries is close to 100 units. These telescopes are combined in 4 main subsystems - for GEO survey, bright and faint objects follow up, and for asteroids (ASPIN). KIAM collected 10.7 million astrometry measurements during 2014 and 9.7 millions to the middle of September 2015. Since 2010, ISON is involving in operations of the Roscosmos Automated system of warning on dangerous situations in space (ASPOS OKP). In this system KIAM is responsible for the daily conjunction analysis at high orbits. To improve the quality of this activity ISON is deploying additional subnetwork for extended GEO surveys from 7 small (18-19.2 cm aperture) automated telescopes with field of view 7x7 degree. Extended surveys of new ISON subnetwork allows to KIAM to determine more precise GEO orbits, to detect maneuvers of active satellites and to help maintain the orbits of GEO objects in clusters. Also it was attempted to form the other new ISON subsystem - for LEO observations from 8 telescopes of 12.5 –cm – 50-cm apertures, but then it was solved to complete with these telescopes already existing follow up subsystems