A near-infrared and optical photometric study of the Sculptor dwarf spheroidal galaxy: implications for the metallicity spread

We present here a detailed study of the Sculptor dSph galaxy red giant branch (RGB) and horizontal branch (HB) morphology, combining new near-infrared photometry from CIRSI, with optical data from the ESO WFI. For a Sculptor-like old and generally metal-poor system, the position of RGB stars on the colour-magnitude diagram is mainly metallicity dependent. The advantage of using optical-NIR colours is that the position of the RGB locus is much more sensitive to metallicity than with optical colours alone. In contrast the horizontal branch (HB) morphology is strongly dependent on both metallicity and age. Therefore a detailed study of both the RGB in optical-NIR colours and the HB can help break the age-metallicity degeneracy. Our measured photometric width of the Sculptor giant branch corresponds to a range in metallicity of 0.75 dex. We detect the RGB and AGB bumps in both the NIR and optical luminosity functions, and derive from them a mean metallicity of [M/H] = -1.3 +/- 0.1. From isochrone fitting we derive a mean metallicity of [Fe/H] = -1.42 with a dispersion of 0.2 dex. These photometric estimators are for the first time consistent with individual metallicity measurements derived from spectroscopic observations. No spatial gradient is detected in the RGB morphology within a radius of 13 arcmin, twice the core radius. On the other hand, a significant gradient is observed in the HB morphology index, confirming the `second parameter problem' present in this galaxy. These observations are consistent with an early extended period of star formation continuing in time for a few Gyr. (Abridged)Comment: 9 pages, 10 figures. Accepted for publication in MNRA

Wall Street vs. Main Street: What are the Benefits and Costs of Wal-Mart to Local Communities?

Community/Rural/Urban Development, L81, R52, R58,

HETEROGENEITY IN THE HINTERLAND: A TYPOLOGICAL ANALYSIS OF OHIO EXURBAN AREAS

Located between suburban and rural regions, exurban areas are among the fastest growing regions in the U.S. To better understand exurban changes and their policy implications, we develop a typology of rural-urban places and use statistical methods to examine township patterns of exurban change in Ohio.Community/Rural/Urban Development,

Sagittarius: The Nearest Dwarf Galaxy

We have discovered a new Galactic satellite galaxy in the constellation of Sagittarius. The Sagittarius dwarf galaxy is the nearest galaxy known, subtends an angle of $> 10$ degrees on the sky, lies at a distance of 24 \kpc from the Sun, \sim 16 \kpc from the centre of the Milky Way. Itis comparable in size and luminosity to the largest dwarf spheroidal, has a well populated red horizontal branch with a blue HB extension; a substantial carbon star population; and a strong intermediate age stellar component with evidence of a metallicity spread. Isodensity maps show it to be markedly elongated along a direction pointing towards the Galactic centre and suggest that it has been tidally distorted. The close proximity to the Galactic centre, the morphological appearance and the radial velocity of 140 km/s indicate that this system must have undergone at most very few close orbital encounters with the Milky Way. It is currently undergoing strong tidal disruption prior to being integrated into the Galaxy. Probably all of the four globular clusters, M54, Arp 2, Ter 7 and Ter 8, are associated with the Sagittarius dwarf galaxy, and will probably share the fate of their progenitor.Comment: MNRAS in press, 22pp uuencoded PS file, 26 printed figures available on request from [email protected]

Generic advertising impacts on demands for orange juice in fifty Nielsen metropolitan regions

Agribusiness, Demand and Price Analysis,

Incorporating Spatial Complexity into Economic Models of Land Markets and Land Use Change

Recent work in regional science, geography, and urban economics has advanced spatial modeling of land markets and land use by incorporating greater spatial complexity, including multiple sources of spatial heterogeneity, multiple spatial scales, and spatial dynamics. Doing so has required a move away from relying solely on analytical models to partial or full reliance on computational methods that can account for these added features of spatial complexity. In the first part of the paper, we review economic models of urban land development that have incorporated greater spatial complexity, focusing on spatial simulation models with spatial endogenous feedbacks and multiple sources of spatial heterogeneity. The second part of the paper presents a spatial simulation model of exurban land development using an auction model to represent household bidding that extends the traditional Capozza and Helsley (1990) model of urban growth to account for spatial dynamics in the form of local land use spillovers and spatially heterogeneous land characteristics.urban growth, urbanization, land development, spatial dynamics, heterogeneity, agent-based models, spatial interactions, Land Economics/Use, Research Methods/ Statistical Methods,

Optimization of MLS receivers for multipath environments

Optimal design studies of MLS angle-receivers and a theoretical design-study of MLS DME-receivers are reported. The angle-receiver results include an integration of the scan data processor and tracking filter components of the optimal receiver into a unified structure. An extensive simulation study comparing the performance of the optimal and threshold receivers in a wide variety of representative dynamical interference environments was made. The optimal receiver was generally superior. A simulation of the performance of the threshold and delay-and-compare receivers in various signal environments was performed. An analysis of combined errors due to lateral reflections from vertical structures with small differential path delays, specular ground reflections with neglible differential path delays, and thermal noise in the receivers is provided

Bail-Out or Work-Out? Theoretical Considerations

In recent years, we appear to have entered an era of capital account crises. In response, a number of new crisis resolution ideas have been put forward, including the establishment of supranational institutions such as an international lender of last resort or an international bankruptcy court, temporary payments standstills and the inclusion of collective action clauses in debt contracts. This paper assesses these proposals using a theoretical model of crisis. The model underscores the importance of adapting policy interventions to the nature of the crisis at hand. For example, it finds that payments standstills and last-resort lending are an equally efficient means of dealing with liquidity crises, both ex-ante and ex-post, while creditor committees are second-best. It finds that debt-write-downs are a preferred means of dealing with solvency crises than subsidized IMF financing because of the negative moral hazard implications of the latter tool. And it finds that international bankruptcy court proposals may be superior to contractual approaches in securing such write-downscrisis resolution, international lender of last resort, standstills, IMF

Using Regression Discontinuity Design to Identify the Effect of Zoning

We test the effect of minimum lot zoning on rural-to-urban land use conversion using Regression Discontinuity Design (RDD), a technique that exploits natural discontinuities in the data to identify causal effects. Observations are drawn from either size of a discontinuous minimum lot size zoning boundary. Using these selected sub-samples, a binary discrete choice model of residential land use change is estimated using parcel-level data and other spatially explicit data from an exurban county that lies on the fringes of Cleveland, Ohio. Results show that controlling for unobserved correlation in the data clearly identifies a negative and significant effect of larger minimum lot size zoning on the probability of conversion to a residential use.Land Economics/Use,