Exit from farming and land abandonment in Northern Norway

The combination of nature and farmed land is one reason why Northern Norway is attracting tourists. It is therefore of interest to know which farms that are more likely to quit faming, and to see what factors that are important for abandonment of farm land when the owner of the farm exits farming. Our results indicate that smaller properties in areas with few farmers are the most likely to be abandoned. Property structure is another important factor for abandonment, but is less important for the exit-decision. Size of the farm, including both rented and own farm land, appears to be more important for the exit-decision. Larger farm operations, with breeding stock, primary sheep and dairy cattle are more likely to continue farming.Farm exit, abandoned land, logistic regression., Agribusiness, Agricultural and Food Policy, Community/Rural/Urban Development, Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety, Labor and Human Capital,

A model for prediction of spatial farm structure

Spatial micro structure and its change over time is recorded for Norwegian farm firms. Relative strong correlations between geographically close neighbors are expected, either because growing farms swallow the smaller ones, or because they are affected by some spatially related unobserved factors. Strong correlations over time are also expected because of prevalent family farming. The paper proposes a state-of-the-art Markov chain model in order to predict the spatial and temporal micro structure taking account of both non-stationarity and spatio/temporal correlations by means of techniques from non-linear state space modeling and Gaussian Markov random fields. The model and the complete data set is then a device with which one can investigate the consequences of ignoring spatial and/or temporal correlations, both with complete data and with more sparsely sampled data, like FADN panels or USDA's repeated cross-sections (ARMS).Farm Management,

Bird Migration Through A Mountain Pass Studied With High Resolution Radar, Ceilometers, And Census

Autumnal migration was studied with high-resolution radar, ceilometer, and daily census in the area of Franconia Notch, a major pass in the northern Appalachian Mountains. Under synoptic conditions favorable for migration, broadfront movements of migrants toward the south passed over the mountains, often above a temperature inversion. Birds at lower elevations appeared to be influenced by local topography. Birds moving southwest were concentrated along the face of the mountain range. Birds appeared to deviate their flights to follow local topography through the pass. Specific migratory behavior was not associated with species or species groups. Under synoptic conditions unfavorable for southward migration, multimodal movements probably associated with local flights were as dense as the southward migrations described above. Avian migrants reacting to local terrain may result in concentrations of migrants over ridge summits or other topographic features

Finnes det en medieeffekt på det norske markedet? : en undersøkelse av hvorvidt medieeksponering påvirker aksjekursene på Oslo Børs

Oppgaven tar for seg selskapene på Oslo Børs i perioden 2008-2012 og undersøker hvorvidt det eksisterer en medieeffekt på det norske markedet. Medieeffekten defineres som målbar differanseavkastning mellom selskaper som har henholdsvis høy og lav eksponering i media og er uavhengig av nyhetens relevans, retning og alder. Medieeksponering måles som antall treff i norske papir- og nettaviser. Vi danner lang-kort porteføljer hvor vi kjøper aksjer med høy mediedekning og selger aksjer med lav mediedekning. Videre finner vi at høy mediedekningsgruppe har signifikant høyere avkastning enn lav mediedekningsgruppe i samme måned, og at denne avkastningen ser ut til å reversere i perioden etter målt medieeksponering. Nærmere undersøkelser viser at den positive porteføljeavkastningen ikke kan forklares av markeds- eller størrelsesfaktoren. I undersøkelsen av Oslo Børs kan vi likevel ikke entydig konkludere med at en medieeffekt alene kan forklare den positive porteføljeavkastningen. Oslo Børs er preget av få store selskaper. Disse selskapene hadde en god avkastning i perioden for vår analyse og mye tyder på at den observerte effekten i stor grad også kan tilskrives størrelseseffekt. Når vi foretar undersøkelser på Oslo Børs hvor de 25 største selskapene representert ved OBX-indeksen ekskluderes, øker derimot lang-kort porteføljens avkastning. Dette taler for at observert effekt i det minste delvis skyldes medieeffekt. Signifikansen øker også betraktelig. Det må nevnes at det kan være flere risikofaktorer enn de vi tar hensyn til i oppgaven som kan være med på å forklare porteføljens positive og signifikante avkastning

Barrier Distributions as a Tool to Investigate Fusion and Fission

The recent availability of precisely measured fusion cross-sections has enabled the extraction of a representation of the distribution of barriers encountered during fusion. These representations, obtained from a variety of reactions, provide a direct observation of how the structure of the fusing nuclei changes the inter-nuclear potential landscape, thus affecting the fusion probability. Recent experiments showing the effects of static quadrupole and hexadecapole deformation, single-- and double-phonon states, transfer of nucleons between two nuclei, and high lying excited states are reviewed. The application of these concepts to the explanation of the anomalous fission-fragment anisotropies observed following reactions with actinides is discussed.Comment: 12 pages, To be published in the Proceedings of the NN 97 Conference, Gatlinburg, Tennessee, June 1997 (Nucl. Phys. A

Effects of nuclear structure on average angular momentum in subbarrier fusion

We investigate the effects of nuclear quadrupole and hexadecapole couplings on the average angular momentum in sub-barrier fusion reactions. This quantity could provide a probe for nuclear shapes, distinguishing between prolate vs. oblate quadrupole and positive vs. negative hexadecapole couplings. We describe the data in the O + Sm system and discuss heavier systems where shape effects become more pronounced.Comment: Latex (uses the epsf macro), 10 pages of text, 3 postscript figures included. Full postscript version available by anonymous ftp from wisnuf.physics.wisc.edu:/pub/preprints. MAD-NT-94-0

Extended sudden approximation model for high-energy nucleon removal reactions

A model based on the sudden approximation has been developed to describe high energy single nucleon removal reactions. Within this approach, which takes as its starting point the formalism of Hansen \cite{Anne2}, the nucleon-removal cross section and the full 3-dimensional momentum distributions of the core fragments including absorption, diffraction, Coulomb and nuclear-Coulomb interference amplitudes, have been calculated. The Coulomb breakup has been treated to all orders for the dipole interaction. The model has been compared to experimental data for a range of light, neutron-rich psd-shell nuclei. Good agreement was found for both the inclusive cross sections and momentum distributions. In the case of $^{17}$C, comparison is also made with the results of calculations using the transfer-to-the-continuum model. The calculated 3-dimensional momentum distributions exhibit longitudinal and transverse momentum components that are strongly coupled by the reaction for s-wave states, whilst no such effect is apparent for d-waves. Incomplete detection of transverse momenta arising fromlimited experimental acceptances thus leads to a narrowing of the longitudinal distributions for nuclei with significant s-wave valence neutron configurations, as confirmed by the data. Asymmetries in the longitudinal momentum distributions attributed to diffractive dissociation are also explored.Comment: 16 figures, submitted to Phys. Rev.

Bluetongue: a historical and epidemiological perspective with the emphasis on South Africa

Bluetongue (BT) is a non-contagious, infectious, arthropod transmitted viral disease of domestic and wild ruminants that is caused by the bluetongue virus (BTV), the prototype member of the Orbivirus genus in the family Reoviridae. Bluetongue was first described in South Africa, where it has probably been endemic in wild ruminants since antiquity. Since its discovery BT has had a major impact on sheep breeders in the country and has therefore been a key focus of research at the Onderstepoort Veterinary Research Institute in Pretoria, South Africa. Several key discoveries were made at this Institute, including the demonstration that the aetiological agent of BT was a dsRNA virus that is transmitted by Culicoides midges and that multiple BTV serotypes circulate in nature. It is currently recognized that BT is endemic throughout most of South Africa and 22 of the 26 known serotypes have been detected in the region. Multiple serotypes circulate each vector season with the occurrence of different serotypes depending largely on herd-immunity. Indigenous sheep breeds, cattle and wild ruminants are frequently infected but rarely demonstrate clinical signs, whereas improved European sheep breeds are most susceptible. The immunization of susceptible sheep remains the most effective and practical control measure against BT. In order to protect sheep against multiple circulating serotypes, three pentavalent attenuated vaccines have been developed. Despite the proven efficacy of these vaccines in protecting sheep against the disease, several disadvantages are associated with their use in the field