5,972 research outputs found

    Climate Change and Critical Agrarian Studies

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    Climate change is perhaps the greatest threat to humanity today and plays out as a cruel engine of myriad forms of injustice, violence and destruction. The effects of climate change from human-made emissions of greenhouse gases are devastating and accelerating; yet are uncertain and uneven both in terms of geography and socio-economic impacts. Emerging from the dynamics of capitalism since the industrial revolution — as well as industrialisation under state-led socialism — the consequences of climate change are especially profound for the countryside and its inhabitants. The book interrogates the narratives and strategies that frame climate change and examines the institutionalised responses in agrarian settings, highlighting what exclusions and inclusions result. It explores how different people — in relation to class and other co-constituted axes of social difference such as gender, race, ethnicity, age and occupation — are affected by climate change, as well as the climate adaptation and mitigation responses being implemented in rural areas. The book in turn explores how climate change – and the responses to it - affect processes of social differentiation, trajectories of accumulation and in turn agrarian politics. Finally, the book examines what strategies are required to confront climate change, and the underlying political-economic dynamics that cause it, reflecting on what this means for agrarian struggles across the world. The 26 chapters in this volume explore how the relationship between capitalism and climate change plays out in the rural world and, in particular, the way agrarian struggles connect with the huge challenge of climate change. Through a huge variety of case studies alongside more conceptual chapters, the book makes the often-missing connection between climate change and critical agrarian studies. The book argues that making the connection between climate and agrarian justice is crucial

    Metabolites in fish and humans as a response to different food ingredients : a metabolomics approach

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    The main objective of this thesis was to evaluate metabolomics changes in humans and fish as a response to food/feed consumption. To alleviate the environmental impact of animal production and maximize the use of resources, the valorization of meat by-products might be an attractive alternative. A meat product containing heart and aorta tissue from pork was designed and analyzed for fatty acid and metabolite composition. In comparison with a control of similar qualities, the designed meat product (or test product) showed higher monounsaturated fatty acid and tyramine levels and lower levels of sugars. The test meat product was used in a randomized controlled clinical trial to test for potential health effects in patients showing atherosclerosis symptoms. Patients receiving the test product showed a decrease in blood levels of low-density lipoproteins, total cholesterol, atherogenic index and triacylglycerols. To reduce the impact of animal production on ecosystems, the replacement of feed ingredients by a microbial alternative was realized. In this study, vegetable oils included in the feed of Arctic char (Salvelinus alpinus) were replaced by biomass of the oleaginous yeast (Rhodotorula toruloides). The analysis of the yeast biomass showed safe levels of pollutants and heavy metals. Fish growth and muscle fatty acid profile were similar to the control. A higher liver weight and hepatosomatic index were observed in fish fed including the yeast biomass, albeit no significant difference in liver fat content or in hepatic enzyme activity was observed. Quantification of plasma metabolites revealed higher levels of metabolites involved in energy pathways such as one-carbon metabolism and gluconeogenesis.In conclusion, this thesis showed that metabolomics can be applied to evaluate effects of food/feed at the molecular level in complex systems. It adds knowledge on the effects of meat by-product consumption in the particular case of atherosclerosis symptoms. The fish feed trial showed the possibility of feed modification with a specific yeast

    Natural and Technological Hazards in Urban Areas

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    Natural hazard events and technological accidents are separate causes of environmental impacts. Natural hazards are physical phenomena active in geological times, whereas technological hazards result from actions or facilities created by humans. In our time, combined natural and man-made hazards have been induced. Overpopulation and urban development in areas prone to natural hazards increase the impact of natural disasters worldwide. Additionally, urban areas are frequently characterized by intense industrial activity and rapid, poorly planned growth that threatens the environment and degrades the quality of life. Therefore, proper urban planning is crucial to minimize fatalities and reduce the environmental and economic impacts that accompany both natural and technological hazardous events

    Revisiting the capitalization of public transport accessibility into residential land value: an empirical analysis drawing on Open Science

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    Background: The delivery and effective operation of public transport is fundamental for a for a transition to low-carbon emission transport systems’. However, many cities face budgetary challenges in providing and operating this type of infrastructure. Land value capture (LVC) instruments, aimed at recovering all or part of the land value uplifts triggered by actions other than the landowner, can alleviate some of this pressure. A key element of LVC lies in the increment in land value associated with a particular public action. Urban economic theory supports this idea and considers accessibility to be a core element for determining residential land value. Although the empirical literature assessing the relationship between land value increments and public transport infrastructure is vast, it often assumes homogeneous benefits and, therefore, overlooks relevant elements of accessibility. Advancements in the accessibility concept in the context of Open Science can ease the relaxation of such assumptions. Methods: This thesis draws on the case of Greater Mexico City between 2009 and 2019. It focuses on the effects of the main public transport network (MPTN) which is organised in seven temporal stages according to its expansion phases. The analysis incorporates location based accessibility measures to employment opportunities in order to assess the benefits of public transport infrastructure. It does so by making extensive use of the open-source software OpenTripPlanner for public transport route modelling (≈ 2.1 billion origin-destination routes). Potential capitalizations are assessed according to the hedonic framework. The property value data includes individual administrative mortgage records collected by the Federal Mortgage Society (≈ 800,000). The hedonic function is estimated using a variety of approaches, i.e. linear models, nonlinear models, multilevel models, and spatial multilevel models. These are estimated by the maximum likelihood and Bayesian methods. The study also examines possible spatial aggregation bias using alternative spatial aggregation schemes according to the modifiable areal unit problem (MAUP) literature. Results: The accessibility models across the various temporal stages evidence the spatial heterogeneity shaped by the MPTN in combination with land use and the individual perception of residents. This highlights the need to transition from measures that focus on the characteristics of transport infrastructure to comprehensive accessibility measures which reflect such heterogeneity. The estimated hedonic function suggests a robust, positive, and significant relationship between MPTN accessibility and residential land value in all the modelling frameworks in the presence of a variety of controls. The residential land value increases between 3.6% and 5.7% for one additional standard deviation in MPTN accessibility to employment in the final set of models. The total willingness to pay (TWTP) is considerable, ranging from 0.7 to 1.5 times the equivalent of the capital costs of the bus rapid transit Line-7 of the Metrobús system. A sensitivity analysis shows that the hedonic model estimation is sensitive to the MAUP. In addition, the use of a post code zoning scheme produces the closest results compared to the smallest spatial analytical scheme (0.5 km hexagonal grid). Conclusion: The present thesis advances the discussion on the capitalization of public transport on residential land value by adopting recent contributions from the Open Science framework. Empirically, it fills a knowledge gap given the lack of literature around this topic in this area of study. In terms of policy, the findings support LVC as a mechanism of considerable potential. Regarding fee-based LVC instruments, there are fairness issues in relation to the distribution of charges or exactions to households that could be addressed using location based measures. Furthermore, the approach developed for this analysis serves as valuable guidance for identifying sites with large potential for the implementation of development based instruments, for instance land readjustments or the sale/lease of additional development rights

    2023-2024 Catalog

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    The 2023-2024 Governors State University Undergraduate and Graduate Catalog is a comprehensive listing of current information regarding:Degree RequirementsCourse OfferingsUndergraduate and Graduate Rules and Regulation

    Threshold Encrypted Mempools: Limitations and Considerations

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    Encrypted mempools are a class of solutions aimed at preventing or reducing negative externalities of MEV extraction using cryptographic privacy. Mempool encryption aims to hide information related to pending transactions until a block including the transactions is committed, targeting the prevention of frontrunning and similar behaviour. Among the various methods of encryption, threshold schemes are particularly interesting for the design of MEV mitigation mechanisms, as their distributed nature and minimal hardware requirements harmonize with a broader goal of decentralization. This work looks beyond the formal and technical cryptographic aspects of threshold encryption schemes to focus on the market and incentive implications of implementing encrypted mempools as MEV mitigation techniques. In particular, this paper argues that the deployment of such protocols without proper consideration and understanding of market impact invites several undesired outcomes, with the ultimate goal of stimulating further analysis of this class of solutions outside of pure cryptograhic considerations. Included in the paper is an overview of a series of problems, various candidate solutions in the form of mempool encryption techniques with a focus on threshold encryption, potential drawbacks to these solutions, and Osmosis as a case study. The paper targets a broad audience and remains agnostic to blockchain design where possible while drawing from mostly financial examples

    Essays on the Economics of Telecommunications

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    My dissertation consists of three chapters on the economics of telecommunications. Chapter 1 studies how COVID-19 pandemic changed people's internet usage behavior by documenting both short-term and persistent changes in internet engagement using a novel panel of high-frequency household-level internet usage spanning 2020-2022. We find that Spring 2020 stay-at-home orders led to a dramatic increase in residential internet traffic, driven in part by the use of collaboration applications (e.g., Zoom), and other tools associated with access to the digital economy. We document changes in intertemporal usage patterns, time spent online, and bit rates across traffic categories. Finally, we compare behavioral changes in internet engagement by demographic segment, and discuss implications for broadband labels and the digital divide. Chapter 2 uses novel household-level data describing internet and TV usage, together with the timing of Kodi software adoption, to quantify damages from media piracy. We find that adoption does not harm paid over-the-top video providers. TV subscriptions decrease and internet-tier upgrades increase, resulting in a 1% reduction in payments to multiple-system operators (MSOs). MSO profits decrease if TV margins exceed 30%. These behavioral changes harm content providers reliant on MSOs for distribution via reduced licensing and advertising revenues. Chapter 3 develops a model of demand for mobile telecommunications with shared data allowances, and estimate it using individual-level plan and usage decisions. Using the model estimates we measure the biases in preference estimates that result from ignoring the strategic interaction between household members, and loss in consumer welfare due to over-consumption early in billing cycles.Doctor of Philosoph

    An empirical investigation of the relationship between integration, dynamic capabilities and performance in supply chains

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    This research aimed to develop an empirical understanding of the relationships between integration, dynamic capabilities and performance in the supply chain domain, based on which, two conceptual frameworks were constructed to advance the field. The core motivation for the research was that, at the stage of writing the thesis, the combined relationship between the three concepts had not yet been examined, although their interrelationships have been studied individually. To achieve this aim, deductive and inductive reasoning logics were utilised to guide the qualitative study, which was undertaken via multiple case studies to investigate lines of enquiry that would address the research questions formulated. This is consistent with the author’s philosophical adoption of the ontology of relativism and the epistemology of constructionism, which was considered appropriate to address the research questions. Empirical data and evidence were collected, and various triangulation techniques were employed to ensure their credibility. Some key features of grounded theory coding techniques were drawn upon for data coding and analysis, generating two levels of findings. These revealed that whilst integration and dynamic capabilities were crucial in improving performance, the performance also informed the former. This reflects a cyclical and iterative approach rather than one purely based on linearity. Adopting a holistic approach towards the relationship was key in producing complementary strategies that can deliver sustainable supply chain performance. The research makes theoretical, methodological and practical contributions to the field of supply chain management. The theoretical contribution includes the development of two emerging conceptual frameworks at the micro and macro levels. The former provides greater specificity, as it allows meta-analytic evaluation of the three concepts and their dimensions, providing a detailed insight into their correlations. The latter gives a holistic view of their relationships and how they are connected, reflecting a middle-range theory that bridges theory and practice. The methodological contribution lies in presenting models that address gaps associated with the inconsistent use of terminologies in philosophical assumptions, and lack of rigor in deploying case study research methods. In terms of its practical contribution, this research offers insights that practitioners could adopt to enhance their performance. They can do so without necessarily having to forgo certain desired outcomes using targeted integrative strategies and drawing on their dynamic capabilities

    Acceptability of speed limits and other policy measures in German cities

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    An increasing number of German cities currently demand the Federal Government to empower cities to implement 30 kph speed limits at their own discretion. Setting area-wide 30 kph as the maximum speed, as already installed in many other European cities, could therefore soon become a viable policy option in Germany. This thesis conducts a stated choice (SC) experiment to determine the acceptability of such area-wide standard 30 kph speed limits compared to the acceptability of the expansion of shared space zones, costs for inner-city on-street car parking and public transport ticket fares. Combining the policies as attributes in an unlabeled experiment allows to juxtapose the policies in terms of their relative importance for the respondents’ choice decision. 129 adults from German cities with more than 100,000 inhabitants participated in an online survey during September 2022. The results show that respondents evaluate the introduction of standard 30 kph speed limit in the city center as utility increasing compared to the prevalent status quo with standard 50 kph. Setting a standard 30 kph speed limit in the whole city also has a positive parameter in the base model, but does not significantly influence the respondents’ utility. The expansion of shared space seems to have no relevant effect on the choice decision of respondents. Higher ticket fares for public transport show to be utility decreasing for respondents of this study, whereas an increase in car parking costs is assessed positively. Clear differences in the policy assessment of different subgroups of respondents can be observed. In line with literature, city-wide implementation of a standard 30 kph speed limit shows low acceptability among the group of frequent car users. In turn, voters of mayoral candidates for the Green Party (Bündnis 90/Die Grünen) or Left Party (Die Linke) expect a positive effect on their personal utility when a standard 30 kph speed limit is established in the whole city or in the city center only. Respondents’ gender does not seem to affect the assessment of 30 kph speed limit policy
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