Human Development & Family Website Review Form

This article provides a set of recommendations about how to evaluate human development and family life websites. There are two dimensions that need to be considered in judging the quality of web sites devoted to children and family issues-- information and delivery process. The most important aspect of the web site is the quality of the information. If the information is inaccurate and taken from biased or unreliable sources, then no amount of cleverness in delivery can make up for this problem. Determining the quality of information is a difficult and complex process, nevertheless, for professionals who are developing web sites it is important for them to develop critical evaluation skills as they review other web sites for possible links to their own work and as they make recommendations to other sources of information.unpublishednot peer reviewe

REASONABLE VALUE AND THE ROLE OF NEGOTIATION IN AGRICULTURE'S USE OF THE ENVIRONMENT

Social pressures to regulate agriculture's use of environmental resources have been building for many years and show no signs of abating. While the agricultural and environmental communities can react to these events in many ways, perhaps the most promising avenue for resolving joint agricultural and environmental disputes lies with negotiated regulations mediated by governmental agencies. When first conceived by Commons, negotiated regulation was seen as a way to achieve both efficient and equitable dispute resolution by directly using the preferences, skills, and operational knowledge of stakeholders. This approach should be attractive to the agricultural community because it provides an opportunity to educate environmental groups about the complexities facing modern agriculture. It also assures that private business interests are considered in the development of regulations, and should result in regulations that give dynamic flexibility to the way environmental standards are achieved. In today's litigious society, negotiated regulations may also reduce many transaction costs associated with agricultural and environmental issues, particularly those associated with contract development and enforcement. Ultimately, negotiated regulations may be the best hope for satisfying the dual social objectives of a clean environment and an economically viable agricultural sector.Environmental Economics and Policy,

Assessment of practicality of remote sensing techniques for a study of the effects of strip mining in Alabama

Because of the volume of coal produced by strip mining, the proximity of mining operations, and the diversity of mining methods (e.g. contour stripping, area stripping, multiple seam stripping, and augering, as well as underground mining), the Warrior Coal Basin seemed best suited for initial studies on the physical impact of strip mining in Alabama. Two test sites, (Cordova and Searles) representative of the various strip mining techniques and environmental problems, were chosen for intensive studies of the correlation between remote sensing and ground truth data. Efforts were eventually concentrated in the Searles Area, since it is more accessible and offers a better opportunity for study of erosional and depositional processes than the Cordova Area

Prediction

Adapted and extended from an address to the Military Applications Society of INFORMS delivered in Monterey CA on 27 March 2012

Running to Stand Still: Challenges Economists Face with Imperfect Data

Some suggest that land application of phosphorus rich poultry litter has negatively affected area waters' recreational value. However, key data are unavailable to conduct thorough economic analysis to aid in policy development. This paper examines the challenges associated with using limited economic analyses to construct policy to address this situation.Research Methods/ Statistical Methods,

Computational and experimental assessment of public dose from normal research reactor operations [abstract]

Abstract only availableThe Missouri University Research Reactor (MURR) in Columbia, Missouri is interested in the amount of the Argon-41 being produced and released to the environment. The objective of this work is to know what operations within the facility are contributing to this production and the quantities released. I'll be working in collaboration with Jeancarlo Torres (Computational Assessment) and Erick Scheerer (Experimental Assessment) in determining these parameters. The calculational work analyzes the distribution of releases from the stack at the MURR. The dose is then predicted with the Comply program. EPA's Comply model was developed based on the procedures in the National Council on Radiation Protection and Measurements Commentary No.3 (NCRP89). The Comply computer software may be used to demonstrate compliance with the National Emission Standards for Hazardous Air Pollutants (NESHAPS) in 40 CFR 61 Subpart I and H. Comply calculates the effective dose equivalent (EDE) from radionuclide released from stacks and vents. The Nuclear Activation Analysis (NAA) is used in the experimental assessment of Argon-41 production. Neutron Activation Analysis is a nuclear process used for determining concentrations of elements in a vast amount of materials. NAA allows discrete sampling of elements as it disregards chemical form of a sample and focuses solely on its nucleus. NAA is a sensitive analytical technique useful for performing both qualitative and quantitative multi-element analysis for mayor, minor and trace elements in samples from almost every conceivable field of scientific or technical interest. Using NAA we will irradiate air samples from around the facility to determine the concentration of natural Ar-40 to produce Ar-41 for measurement. The relationship between these two different projects is that the results of the experimental technique will indicate if excess argon is present in the facility and the computational technique will calculate the dose the activation of Ar-40 to Ar-41 may have on the environment

Convoy screening against a mixed submarine threat (U)

(U) The problem of convoy defense against a mixed threat of conventional and nuclear submarines is posed. A general, conceptual method of solution is offered from which a simple analytical model is constructed. Use of the model for obtaining optimal policies of screening force disposition is demonstrated. Underlying assumptions of the model and related tactical problem areas are discussed and analyzed.http://archive.org/details/convoyscreeningg109453040

High Energy Gamma-Ray Emission From Blazars: EGRET Observations

We will present a summary of the observations of blazars by the Energetic Gamma Ray Experiment Telescope (EGRET) on the Compton Gamma Ray Observatory (CGRO). EGRET has detected high energy gamma-ray emission at energies greater than 100 MeV from more that 50 blazars. These sources show inferred isotropic luminosities as large as $3\times 10^{49}$ ergs s$^{-1}$. One of the most remarkable characteristics of the EGRET observations is that the gamma-ray luminosity often dominates the bolometric power of the blazar. A few of the blazars are seen to exhibit variability on very short time-scales of one day or less. The combination of high luminosities and time variations seen in the gamma-ray data indicate that gamma-rays are an important component of the relativistic jet thought to characterize blazars. Currently most models for blazars involve a beaming scenario. In leptonic models, where electrons are the primary accelerated particles, gamma-ray emission is believed to be due to inverse Compton scattering of low energy photons, although opinions differ as to the source of the soft photons. Hardronic models involve secondary production or photomeson production followed by pair cascades, and predict associated neutrino production.Comment: 16 pages, 7 figures, style files included. Invited review paper in "Observational Evidence for Black Holes in the Universe," 1999, ed. S. K. Chakrabarti (Dordrecht: Kluwer), 215-23