Sunspot Activity and Ocean Temperature

In this activity students analyze and compare two graphs to determine if there is a correlation between solar activity and ocean temperature. They discover that by comparing the results from data that has been collected since the 1800's to the present, scientists have found a possible pattern. For example, there are many instances when the average ocean surface temperature and sunspot activity were at a high or low at about the same time. The source of the controversy is that there are also times in which a correlation is not seen in the data. Educational levels: High school, Middle school

The Northern Lights: Estimating Heights with a Clinometer

In this activity students apply direct measurement of angles and length to determine height. They will use the tangent ratio and a clinometer, an easy-to-make instrument that allows one to estimate the height of an object such as a building, tree, or flag pole by using the properties of a right triangle. This is one of a series of activities that will help students understand how the Northern Lights work, what causes them, and how to observe them. Educational levels: High school, Middle school

Cosmic Rays and Sunspot Numbers

In this activity students analyze and compare two or more graphs to determine if there is a correlation between sunspot number and the variation of cosmic ray flux. They discover that cosmic rays are very energetic particles, mostly protons and electrons, that enter the solar system from the depths of interstellar space and that although the Earth's magnetic field partially shields us from these particles, so too does the much more extended solar wind with its own magnetic field. This is a three-part lesson in which students will construct line graphs displaying the cosmic ray flux and sunspot numbers for a period of time, and then determine if there is a correlation. In order to compare these two sets of data, students will need to scale the data in order to visualize the results. Teacher and student notes for the graphing calculator are included. Educational levels: High school, Middle school

The Northern Lights: Aurora Triangulation from Photographs

In this activity students use photos to determine parallax angle shifts and to calculate auroral height. They are following the work of the Norwegian scientist Carl Stormer, who used a similar technique to find out how high up aurora were located. Stormer made the photographic process an exacting science by carefully designing procedures and mathematical techniques to minimize many different sources of experimental error. This is one of a series of activities that will help students understand how the Northern Lights work, what causes them, and how to observe them. Educational levels: High school, Middle school

Postindustrial elite and non-elite insecurities

Two growing conflicts, peculiar to postindustrial societies, challenge the ability of elites to keep postindustrial politics manageable. These are (1) a conflict between elites and those non-elites who remain reasonably well integrated in the productive and social orders of postindustrial societies but who feel themselves vulnerable to elite personnel decisions they regard as arbitrary and uninformed – ‘insiders’; (2) a conflict between insiders and the many persons in postindustrial societies who are more or less unemployable for objective or subjective reasons and located in strictly marginal or wholly superfluous work and dependency statuses – ‘outsiders’. Both conflicts impede the managerial roles of elites and raise questions about how postindustrial societies can be sustained without suffering organizational paralysis and the socioeconomic retrogression that would accompany it

All-optical generation and detection of sub-picosecond ac spin current pulses in GaAs

Sub-picosecond ac spin current pulses are generated optically in GaAs bulk and quantum wells at room temperature and 90K through quantum interference between one-photon and two-photon absorptions driven by two phase-locked ultrafast laser pulses that are both circularly polarized. The dynamics of the current pulses are detected optically by monitoring in real time and real space nanoscale motion of electrons with high-resolution pump-probe techniques.Comment: 5 pages, 5 figure

VALUING RISK TRADEOFFS AND VOLUNTARY INSECTICIDE REDUCTION

Farmer's willingness to voluntarily reduce insecticide use is not considered when regulatory approaches to environmental protection are proposed. Regulations that require behavior that would voluntarily be undertaken are excessive and economically inefficient. Using survey data from a contingent valuation scenario, we demonstrate the willingness of crop producers in four Midwestern states in the U.S. to trade yield losses for environmental risk reduction by eliminating an insecticide application. The mean acceptable yield loss for a sample of 1,138 producers in Illinois, Iowa, Nebraska and Ohio is $8.25 per acre. Acceptable yield loss increases with the rated importance of environmental goods (fish, birds, mammals, native plants and endangered species), with formal education and with farming experience. Willingness to pay increase with total expenditure on herbicides and insecticides up to$89 per acre, then decreases as total expenditure continues to rise. We approximate that crop farmers in the four states are willing to give up over $420 million in yield losses, or about 4 percent of total sales of corn and soybeans, to guarantee protection of eleven environmental goods from moderate insecticide risk. Uncertainty about risks, dominance of regulatory approaches and economic pressures undercut voluntary reductions in insecticide use.decision models, agriculture, environmental protection, risk, contingent valuation, Crop Production/Industries, Environmental Economics and Policy, Resource /Energy Economics and Policy,

Editorial : Launch of the European Journal of Taxonomy (EJT)

We are very pleased and proud to announce the launch of the European Journal of Taxonomy. The EJT is an international, online, fast-track, peer-reviewed, open access journal in descriptive taxonomy,covering subjects in zoology, entomology, botany, and palaeontology, owned and run by a Consortium of European Natural History Institutes. EJT is a collaborative project outcome of the EDIT network