LAND-USE CHANGE AND CARBON SEQUESTRATION IN THE FORESTS OF OHIO, INDIANA, AND ILLINOIS: SENSITIVITY TO POPULATION AND MODEL CHOICE

This study develops a model of land use change in the Midwestern States of Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois. Given the emergence of spatial econometrics, three models are compared to assess the sensitivity of the estimates to alternative assumptions about the distribution of their errors. Projections of future land use change are then developed, and the results are compared across different assumptions about population growth and models. We then estimate carbon sequestration potential in the region and compare the costs of different programs across the population assumptions and the alternative models. Different assumptions about population growth and error terms do not appear to affect the carbon sequestration cost estimates.Environmental Economics and Policy, Land Economics/Use,

Empirical Methods for Modeling Landscape Change, Ecosystem Services, and Biodiversity

Resource /Energy Economics and Policy,

IMPACTS OF INCORPORATING LAND EXCHANGES BETWEEN FORESTRY AND AGRICULTURE IN SECTOR MODELS

The forest and agriculture sectors are linked by having a portion of their land bases suitable for use in either sector. A substantial part of the southern land base is suitable for either forestry or agriculture use, with most of forestation on U.S. agriculture land in the South. We examine how land exchanges between forestry and agriculture are influenced by specific federal conservation and farm support policies, including changes in the Conservation Reserve Program. Reallocation of land is a significant part of the sectors' responses to the policies, along with intensification of timber management on existing southern forests.Agriculture, Conservation, Forest sector, Land use, Projections, Land Economics/Use,

Simple derivation of the frequency dependent complex heat capacity

This paper gives a simple derivation of the well-known expression of the frequency dependent complex heat capacity in modulated temperature experiments. It aims at clarified again that the generalized calorimetric susceptibility is only due to the non-equilibrium behaviour occurring in the vicinity of thermodynamic equilibrium of slow internal degrees of freedom of a sample when the temperature oscillates at a well determined frequency

ECONOMIC IMPACTS OF CLIMATE CHANGE ON SOUTHERN FORESTS

A multiperiod regional mathematical programming model is used to evaluate the potential economic impacts of global climatic change on the southern U.S. forestry sector. Scenarios for forest biological response to climate change are developed for small and large changes in forest growth rates. Resulting changes in timber supply have economic impacts on producers and consumers in forest products markets, both nationally and regionally. Conclusions include outer dimensions of global climate change impacts and potential effects of smaller biological responses on the forestry sector both nationally and in the U.S. South. Relative impacts are found to be larger for producers than for consumers, and southern producers experience relatively greater changes in economic welfare.Resource /Energy Economics and Policy,

Using the Motivated Information Management Theory and the Social Support Theory to Understand Caregiver Perspectives of Currently Available Health Communication Regarding Dementia: A Qualitative Study

Dementia brings a cascade of changes into the life of not only the person facing it, but also the lives of the supporting family and caregivers. Dementia manifests with a gradual decline, or in some cases, a variably progressive decline in cognitive abilities. This decline requires the individual to rely more and more on caregivers. Caregiving necessitates the giving of oneself for another’s sake and oftentimes results in negative physical and social-emotional side effects. To navigate through the changes that are happening to their loved ones, as well as to themselves, caregivers need educational and social support. The purpose of this communication research was to seek the perspectives of adults in the Ohio Valley who are caring for their parents with dementia, regarding their experiences with searches for dementia health communication. The theory of motivated information management and the social support theory were the guiding frameworks in understanding these perspectives. Qualitative methods included a social constructivist, phenomenological approach as the ontological lens through which the researcher looked for themes in data taken from semi-structured interviews. Findings of this study specifically pointed out that current health communication regarding dementia may not contain enough relatable information about dementia staging. Six themes emerged from this study including: 1. Brain changes motivate searches for more dementia health communication. 2. Perceived breakdowns happen in certain trajectories of health communication regarding dementia. 3. Avenues of in-person dementia support/resources are better one-on-one. 4. Avenues of online dementia support/resources are variable. 5. Caregiver perspectives of what they know about dementia align with the literature. 6. Communication changes with parents after dementia

Star Formation and Dynamics in the Galactic Centre

The centre of our Galaxy is one of the most studied and yet enigmatic places in the Universe. At a distance of about 8 kpc from our Sun, the Galactic centre (GC) is the ideal environment to study the extreme processes that take place in the vicinity of a supermassive black hole (SMBH). Despite the hostile environment, several tens of early-type stars populate the central parsec of our Galaxy. A fraction of them lie in a thin ring with mild eccentricity and inner radius ~0.04 pc, while the S-stars, i.e. the ~30 stars closest to the SMBH (<0.04 pc), have randomly oriented and highly eccentric orbits. The formation of such early-type stars has been a puzzle for a long time: molecular clouds should be tidally disrupted by the SMBH before they can fragment into stars. We review the main scenarios proposed to explain the formation and the dynamical evolution of the early-type stars in the GC. In particular, we discuss the most popular in situ scenarios (accretion disc fragmentation and molecular cloud disruption) and migration scenarios (star cluster inspiral and Hills mechanism). We focus on the most pressing challenges that must be faced to shed light on the process of star formation in the vicinity of a SMBH.Comment: 68 pages, 35 figures; invited review chapter, to be published in expanded form in Haardt, F., Gorini, V., Moschella, U. and Treves, A., 'Astrophysical Black Holes'. Lecture Notes in Physics. Springer 201

Forest acreage trends in the Southeast : econometric analysis and policy simulations

The objective of this study was to develop a system based on economic criteria for projecting changes in land use areas. The total land base was partitioned among three classes of private forest owners and crop, pasture/range, and urban/other uses in the southeastern United States. The fraction of the land base in an owner/use was hypothesized to be a function of the ratio of the land rent for that owner/use relative to an average rent index for all owners/uses. Systems of econometric equations for the six owner/use classes were estimated by physiographic region: Coastal Plain, Piedmont, and Mountains. The data comprised a pooled cross-sectional/time series, with observations drawn at four time points from the 21 forest survey units in the Southeast. Population, personal income, and land commodity incomes were the major significant variables in the land owner/use equations. Changes in population and personal income levels have contributed to a decline in farm forest acreage and a corresponding increase in miscellaneous private forest acreage. Projections of forest acreage trends with the systems of land owner/use equations indicate a continued drop in farm forest acreage. Miscellaneous private forest acreage is projected to continue to increase, in part because of real personal income levels that are forecast to triple by the year 2040. Projections of acreage changes for the five major forest types by ownership in each physiographic region, using a Markov type model, point to a substantial reduction in natural pine acreage. Transition probabilities among forest types were estimated from forest survey remeasurement data and are conditional with respect to the application of certain management practices. The importance of exogenous forces (e.g., population) for forest acreage trends suggests the need to improve coordination with land use modeling for other sectors. Also needed are the integration of forest acreage modeling with that for forest type transition, timber inventory projection, and harvest estimation in an interregional framework

Probing dispersion and re-agglomeration phenomena upon melt-mixing of polymer-functionalized graphite nanoplates

A one-step melt-mixing method is proposed to study dispersion and re-agglomeration phenomena of the as-received and functionalized graphite nanoplates in polypropylene melts. Graphite nanoplates were chemically modified via 1,3-dipolar cycloaddition of an azomethine ylide and then grafted with polypropylene-graft-maleic anhydride. The effect of surface functionalization on the dispersion kinetics, nanoparticle re-agglomeration and interface bonding with the polymer is investigated. Nanocomposites with 2 or 10 wt% of as-received and functionalized graphite nanoplates were prepared in a small-scale prototype mixer coupled to a capillary rheometer. Samples were collected along the flow axis and characterized by optical microscopy, scanning electron microscopy and electrical conductivity measurements. The as-received graphite nanoplates tend to re-agglomerate upon stress relaxation of the polymer melt. The covalent attachment of a polymer to the nanoparticle surface enhances the stability of dispersion, delaying the re-agglomeration. Surface modification also improves interfacial interactions and the resulting composites presented improved electrical conductivity.The authors acknowledge the financial support to Project Matepro Optimizing Materials and Processes, with reference NORTE-07-0124-FEDER-000037 by the Programa Operacional Regional do Norte (ON.2) and Portuguese Foundation for the Science and Technology (FCT) for PEst-C/CTM/LA0025/2013. EC acknowledges FCT for a PhD grant SFRH/BD/87214/2012

How Do the Location, Size and Budget of Open Space Conservation Affect Land Values?

n this article we present a model to examine the optimal location, size, and budget of open space conservation and the resulting impact on land values and local fiscal conditions in an urban area. Results indicate that open space conservation can transform the defining features of an urban landscape. A well-designed open space conservation program can improve municipal services, increase total property values, and attract households to the city without substantially increasing tax burdens, while an improperly designed open space program can have the opposite effects. Results also reveal the key parameters that determine the optimal location and size of open space conservation and their fiscal and land value effects.Keywords: Open space conservation, Environmental amenities, Community characteristics, Land valuesKeywords: Open space conservation, Environmental amenities, Community characteristics, Land value