The effect of different paddock rotation strategies for organic sows on behaviour, welfare and the environment

This report was presented at the UK Organic Research 2002 Conference. Two alternative paddock rotations for dry sows were established on an organic farm: Rotational (40 x 40m moved three times per year) and Set Stocked (120 x 40m in place for one year). Sows showed distinct preferences in the location of dunging and urination within the paddocks (p<0.001), but no differences between the paddocks. Vegetation cover under the sows was similar overall in the two paddock systems, but showed differences over the year. Work to model the potential for nutrient leaching in the two paddock systems is ongoing

Seats, Votes, and Gerrymandering: Estimating Representation and Bias in State Legislative Redistricting

The Davis V. Bandemer case focused much attention on the problem of using statistical evidence to demonstrate the existence of political gerrymandering. In this paper, we evaluate the uses and limitations of measures of the seat-votes relationship in the Bandemer case. We outline a statistical method we have developed that can be used to estimate bias and the form of representation in legislative redistricting. We apply this method to Indiana state House and Senate elections for the period 1972 to 1984 and demonstrate a maximum bias of 6.2% toward the Republicans in the House and a 2.8% bias in the Senate.Governmen

Democratic Representation and Partisan Bias in Congressional Elections

T h e translation of citizen votes into legislative seats is of central importance in democratic electoral systems. It has been a longstanding concern among scholars in political science and in numerous other disciplines. Throughout this literature, two fundamental tenets of democratic theory, partisan bias and democratic representation, have often been confused. We develop a general statistical model of the relationship between votes and seats and separate these two important concepts theoretically and empirically. In so doing, we also solve several methodological problems with the study of seats, votes, and the cube law. An application to U.S. congressional districts provides estimates of bias and representation for each state and demonstrates the model's utility. Results of this application show distinct types of representation coexisting in U.S. states. Although most states have small partisan biases, there are some with a substantial degree of bias.Governmen

The Electronic and Superconducting Properties of Oxygen-Ordered MgB2 compounds of the form Mg2B3Ox

Possible candidates for the Mg2B3Ox nanostructures observed in bulk of polycrystalline MgB2 (Ref.1) have been studied using a combination of Z-contrast imaging, electron energy loss spectroscopy (EELS) and first-principles calculations. The electronic structures, phonon modes, and electron phonon coupling parameters are calculated for two oxygen-ordered MgB2 compounds of composition Mg2B3O and Mg2B3O2, and compared with those of MgB2. We find that the density of states for both Mg2B3Ox structures show very good agreement with EELS, indicating that they are excellent candidates to explain the observed coherent oxygen precipitates. Incorporation of oxygen reduces the transition temperature and gives calculated TC values of 18.3 K and 1.6 K for Mg2B3O and Mg2B3O2, respectively.Comment: Submitted to PR