Preference learning based decision map algebra: specification and implementation

Decision Map Algebra (DMA) is a generic and context independent algebra, especially devoted to spatial multicriteria modelling. The algebra defines a set of operations which formalises spatial multicriteria modelling and analysis. The main concept in DMA is decision map, which is a planar subdivision of the study area represented as a set of non-overlapping polygonal spatial units that are assigned, using a multicriteria classification model, into an ordered set of classes. Different methods can be used in the multicriteria classification step. In this paper, the multicriteria classification step relies on the Dominance-based Rough Set Approach (DRSA), which is a preference learning method that extends the classical rough set theory to multicriteria classification. The paper first introduces a preference learning based approach to decision map construction. Then it proposes a formal specification of DMA. Finally, it briefly presents an object oriented implementation of DMA

Rebuilding the Eastern Baltic cod stock under environmental change - Part II: The economic viability of a marine protected area

This study adds a cost analysis of the Eastern Baltic cod fishery to the existing model presented in Röckmann et al. (forthcoming). As cost data on this international fishery do not exist, available data from Denmark are extrapolated to the whole international fishery. Additionally, unit and total variable costs are simulated and the sensitivity to a set of different cost-stock and cost-output elasticities is tested. The study supports preliminary conclusions that a temporary marine reserve policy, which focuses on protecting the Eastern Baltic cod spawning stock in ICES subdivision 25, is a valuable fisheries management tool to (a) rebuild the overexploited Eastern Baltic cod stock and (b) increase operating profits. The negative effects of climate change can be postponed for at least 20 years – depending on the assumed rate of future climate change. Including costs in the economic analysis does not change the ranking of management policies as proposed in the previous study where costs were neglected.Development, Baltic cod, cost-stock elasticity, cost-output elasticity, sensitivity analysis, climate change scenario, management, policy, temporal marine reserve

B.A.M. Development, LLC, a limited liability company v. Salt Lake County, a body corporate and politic of the State of Utah : Brief of Appellee

APPEAL FROM JUDGMENT OF THE THIRD JUDICIAL DISTRICT COURT THE HONORABLE TIMOTHY R HANSON, DISTRICT JUDG

Legal Limits on Development Exactions: Responding to Nollan and Dolan

Over the last thirty years local governments have increasingly relied on development exactions as a funding source for land use development. Faced with shrinking budgets and the need to provide services attendant to growth, cities and counties have used the development approval process to require developers to provide both land and money to offset the perceived costs that development places on a community. These exactions might be required at any stage of development requiring government approval, but present the same choice to developers: make the required contribution if you want to proceed with development. Although exactions might take a variety of forms and serve a number of functions, they typically fall into three general categories: either dedication of land, money in lieu of land, or impact fees. At their best exactions reflect a sincere government effort to require developers to pay for the costs development places on the surrounding community. At its worst the system has been a means by which governments can use their monopoly power to extort from developers property interests often unrelated to the proposed development. Until recently judicial policing of exactions had been left entirely to the states, with courts reflecting a variety of approaches to how far government could reach in imposing exactions. This changed in 1987 when the Supreme Court for the first time addressed the issue of development exactions in Nollan v. California Coastal Commission. Seven years later the Court again addressed the issue of development exactions in Dolan v. City of Tigard, where it addressed the question left open in Nollan concerning the required degree of connection between the exaction and development impact. This article will examine the impact of Dolan on exaction law. Part one will first examine the growth of exactions and state law standards in policing their use. Part two will then examine the Supreme Court's decision in Nollan. Part three will then examine the Dolan decision itself. Finally, the last three sections of the article will address three basic questions that remain after Dolan: (1) when does the Dolan test apply? (2) what impact will Dolan have on state law standards? and (3) what exactions appear to be most at risk under the Dolan test

The Political Economy of Downzoning

Increasingly, in response to concerns about urban sprawl and environmental protection, local governments are exercising their police power to reduce the legal permitted density on undeveloped land. This controversial practice, known in many parts of the country as "downzoning", is generally opposed by farmers, developers and others whose market opportunities are limited by such action. This paper constructs a theoretical model of the impact of larger minimum lot sizes on the current land prices of farmers and homeowners within the same community. The theoretical model suggests that net losses for farmers and net gains for homeowners from downzoning are a reasonable, if not inevitable, expectation. Following Pelzman, Hahn, and Campos, the paper then develops a model to explain the public choice decision-making process that leads to downzoning by local public officials. This model is tested using data on 214 New Jersey municipalities. The probability of downzoning is found to increase when there is a lot of open space to protect, but only when farmers constitute a small proportion of all voters. The probability of downzoning also increases when a community has experienced rapid population growth and increased land values. It is more likely to be found in municipalities that have enacted right-to-farm ordinances, suggesting an overall preservation focus on the part of the community along with some sensitivity to farmers' concerns.Land Economics/Use,