DEVELOPING THE NATURE-BASED TOURISM SECTOR IN SOUTHWESTERN NORTH DAKOTA

The purpose of this study was to: 1) identify opportunities for expanding the tourism sector in southwestern North Dakota, 2) identify challenges and obstacles facing the area's tourism businesses, and 3) frame key issues and outline potential options for area decision makers (the primary clientele for the study). The findings reveal some basic characteristics of businesses in the region's tourism sector, identify some of the key constraints to expansion and development, and identify respondents' perceptions of opportunities for growth and expansion.nature-based tourism, agritourism, North Dakota, economic development, Community/Rural/Urban Development, Resource /Energy Economics and Policy,

CHARACTERISTICS AND EXPENDITURES OF PARTICIPANTS IN THE POTHOLES AND PRAIRIE BIRDING FESTIVAL

North Dakotans are well aware of the abundance of the state's natural resources. Fishing and hunting are part of the culture of North Dakota, and more recently nature-based tourism has grown in popularity. National surveys illustrate growth trends in nature tourism, soft adventure, and heritage and historical tours. Several studies identify birders as a substantial source of economic activity in other parts of the country; these estimates, however, may not accurately reflect conditions in North Dakota. While anecdotal evidence suggests that nature-based tourism has economic development potential in North Dakota, little research exists describing the characteristics or expenditures of visitors participating in nature-based tourism activities in North Dakota. Accordingly, the objective of this research was to identify the basic characteristics of participants attending the 2004 Potholes and Prairie Birding Festival, estimate average expenditures per participant, and estimate the direct and secondary economic impacts of the Birding Festival on the local economy, in order to quantify the economic development potential of birding in rural North Dakota.birding, nature tourism, economic development, wildlife viewing, Resource /Energy Economics and Policy,

Constraints on the χ_(c1) versus χ_(c2) polarizations in proton-proton collisions at √s = 8 TeV

The polarizations of promptly produced χ_(c1) and χ_(c2) mesons are studied using data collected by the CMS experiment at the LHC, in proton-proton collisions at √s=8  TeV. The χ_c states are reconstructed via their radiative decays χ_c → J/ψγ, with the photons being measured through conversions to e⁺e⁻, which allows the two states to be well resolved. The polarizations are measured in the helicity frame, through the analysis of the χ_(c2) to χ_(c1) yield ratio as a function of the polar or azimuthal angle of the positive muon emitted in the J/ψ → μ⁺μ⁻ decay, in three bins of J/ψ transverse momentum. While no differences are seen between the two states in terms of azimuthal decay angle distributions, they are observed to have significantly different polar anisotropies. The measurement favors a scenario where at least one of the two states is strongly polarized along the helicity quantization axis, in agreement with nonrelativistic quantum chromodynamics predictions. This is the first measurement of significantly polarized quarkonia produced at high transverse momentum