Forest and Land-Use Practices in Philippine Uplands: National Level Analysis Based on Eight Villages

The study identifies the rural poor and measures their needs and capabilities. It focuses on the tree product from forests and upland cultivation systems and analyzes the forest and land use practices of the upland poor through the development of a common database. It also examines the influence of household-specific characteristics, development intervention mechanisms, institutional and local use conditions on specific tree and forest-use practices.land use planning, natural resources and environment, forestry sector, land management, uplands

Especialización vertical, outsourcing e inversión directa en la industria española

No se puede entender la globalización sin estudiar la creciente expansión del comercio internacional de bienes intermedios. Las medidas de outsourcing aquí utilizadas a partir de la tablas input-output permiten explicar la evolución del comercio intra-industrial e inter-industrial de la industria española entre 1995 y 2000. La especialización vertical permite avanzar un poco más, al vincular las importaciones de inputs que requiere un país con las exportaciones que éste realiza. Además, se analiza el papel que han jugado tanto la presencia de multinacionales extranjeras como los flujos de entrada y de salida de inversiones directas en el outsourcing. Los resultados indican que en las ramas de alta tecnología la presencia de multinacionales va asociada a un alto outsourcing intra-industrial y que en algunas ramas tradicionales el outsourcing va acompañado de inversiones españolas en el exterior. ____________________________________________ It is not possible to understand the globalisation process without studying the growing expansion of international trade in intermediate goods. The outsourcing measures used in this paper are calculated from input-output tables and allow us to explain the evolution of intra –and inter– industrial trade for the Spanish manufactures in 1995-2000. Vertical specialization goes a step further by linking imports of inputs required by a country and its exports. Furthermore, this paper analyses the impact on outsourcing of both the presence of multinational firms (MNEs) and the inward and outward flows of direct investment. Our results indicate that in high-tech sectors, the presence of MNEs is linked to high intra-industrial outsourcing, and in some traditional (low-tech) outsourcing is related to Spanish outward FDI

Avian community structure and diversity in relation to coastal development in the Sian Ka’an Biosphere Reserve and Riviera Maya, Quintana Roo, Mexico

Habitat loss and fragmentation caused by tourist development along the eastern coast of the Yucatan Peninsula of Mexico represents a big threat to the survival of Nearctic-Neotropical migratory songbirds. This habitat plays a crucial role for successful migration for many migratory birds. However, the effects of habitat loss and fragmentation on these birds have not been well documented in the region. From September- December, 2006-2008, we mist-netted and conducted transect surveys to assess the variation in the avian community among three different levels of development (high, medium and low). The study area included two small reserves (10-20 ha) in the hotel zone associated with the Riviera Maya (high development), two sites with limited development within the Sian Ka’an Biosphere Reserve associated with small fishing camps (medium development), and two undeveloped sites located on a private ranch within Sian Ka’an (low development). I assessed species richness and abundance of four avian groups: the entire community, year-round residents, winter residents, and transients. Species richness and abundance decreased significantly with the greatest levels of disturbance. The high development level had the least species richness and abundance, whereas the medium development level had the greatest richness for all bird classes. However, my results suggest that small reserves in the hotel zone can be important compliments to the large, undisturbed reserves (Sian Ka’an) for both resident and migrant birds. Forty-six percent of all birds species captured in mist nets were Nearctic-Neotropical migrants; thus this group composed a significant component of the avian community. The dominance in the year-round resident community by the endemic Black Catbird (Dumetella glabrirostris) at medium and low development sites showed that coastal dune vegetation is also important in maintaining populations of endemic species, which are sensitive to levels of disturbance. The use of two different survey methods (mist-netting and transect surveys) produced complimentary descriptions of community composition. Because many year-round resident species and migrants depend on this scarce and discontinuous coastal habitat, and because of the intense development pressure on this coastal zone, better conservation strategies are needed to successfully sustain the avian community of this region

Coordination of two robot manipulators based on position measurements only

In this note we propose a controller that solves the problem of coordination of two (or more) robots, under a master-slave scheme, in the case when only position measurements are available. The controller consists of a feedback control law, and two non-linear observers. It is shown that the controller yields ultimate uniformly boundedness of the closed loop errors, a relation between this bound and the gains on the controller is established. Simulation results on two twolink robot systems show the predicted convergence performance

Structural changes in the Philippine pig industry and their environmental implications:

"Pig production in the Philippines has intensified in the urban and peri-urban areas in response to a radical structural change in the pig industry and a growing demand for pork products. Alongside this rapid growth is the emergence of societal concern about the increasing negative environmental externalities that the industry produces, particularly those related to the disposal of waste and dead animals. Pig producers are said to benefit from negative externalities when they do not bear the full social costs of their business enterprise. Non-internalization of such externalities occurs when pig producers receive payment for their output while not investing in pollution abatement or not making compensatory payments to surrounding communities affected by their production processes. In some cases, producers are able to recycle all nutrients from swine production on-farm through various cropping mechanisms. In other cases, pig production is so large that there is no land to properly dispose of such by-products without some environmental mitigation effort. Failure to implement any sort of measure will most likely lead to an environmental externality. To determine whether a farmer has the ability to utilize all manure produced on-farm, we use a mass balance calculation approach in this paper. Results for the mass balance calculations suggest that, in general, smaller farms generate less excess nutrients per hectare than larger farms. This is because most small-scale pig farms are mixed systems where some croplands are available for nutrient assimilation. Large commercial farms tend to be “pure land-intensive” systems. We used a Tobit regression analysis to determine the factors affecting environmental mitigation expenditures of pig farms. Results of the regression showed that smaller farms tend to respond to opportunities to make use of manure as fertilizer on their own farms and crops. For large farms, no single factor significantly influenced mitigation costs. An interpretation of why this is so or what this result implies apparently cannot be achieved without ambiguity. Thus, we do not attempt to do so and we leave the matter for further investigation. With respect to the effects of production arrangement on environmental capture, the factors that significantly influenced mitigation costs varied between independent and contract farms. Only the operation of croplands mattered for independent producers. For contract farms, lands that are classified as agricultural carried the expected positive coefficient sign. Further, farmers in the industrial pig sector, which is concentrated in peri-urban areas favored by market access or feed availability, may consider being located as close as possible to cropland that they can use to dispose of the wastes in pig production. Policy options include zoning, mandatory nutrient management plans, licensing or limiting the number of animals raised per production unit, and contractual agreements between livestock producers and crop farmers. The effectiveness of such regulations will depend largely on the degree to which they are enforced and whether they are accompanied by a well-developed system of education and extension with focus on proper manure management systems and dead animal disposal." from Author's AbstractEnvironmental mitigation, Mass balance, Structural changes, Pig production, Water quality,

Implementation of a Low Cost For Internal Dosimetry Radiological Survey of Ionization Radiation Exposed Workers In Nuclear Medicine Services

Because the nature of the routine activities carried on in nuclear medicine services, where several not sealed radioactive sources are used, the occupational personal exposed to ionization radiation (POE) is exposed to both, internal and external radioactive contamination and direct radiation also. The most important radioisotope from the point of view of radiological risk in such Nuclear Medicine Services (NMS) is the 131I. The Mexican official regulatory organization in radiological and nuclear safety: Comisión de Seguridad Nuclear y Salvaguardias (CNSNS) specify, as a requirement in the operation license of Nuclear Medicine Services the mandatory of internal and external dosimetry survey of POE. The external dosimetry survey is normally carried out but the internal dosimetry survey is not easy to do, because internal dosimetry systems are too expensive and in Mexico there are only three organizations (CFE-CLV, ININ, CNSNS) where there are these systems but they aren ́t easily available for the Nuclear Medicine Services. Because that before fact, we propose a single, and low cost system (SLCS) to survey the internal dosimetry of POE. This system is based in a scintillation NaI(Tl) 2x2 detector and a common radiation monitor tipically used in the routine radiation and contamination measures, with a minimal infrastructure investment. This system is numerical calibrated with Montecarlo method, and compared with an well established commercial System being a good function corresponding. This system is easy to implementing in any nuclear medicine to complain the requirement of operation license in the internal dosimetry POE survey

Molecular components underlying nongenomic thyroid hormone signaling in embryonic zebrafish neurons

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Neurodevelopment requires thyroid hormone, yet the mechanisms and targets of thyroid hormone action during embryonic stages remain ill-defined. We previously showed that the thyroid hormone thyroxine (T4) rapidly increases voltage-gated sodium current in zebrafish Rohon-Beard cells (RBs), a primary sensory neuron subtype present during embryonic development. Here, we determined essential components of the rapid T4 signaling pathway by identifying the involved intracellular messengers, the targeted sodium channel isotype, and the spatial and temporal expression pattern of the nongenomic αVβ3 integrin T4 receptor.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>We first tested which signaling pathways mediate T4's rapid modulation of sodium current (I_Na) by perturbing specific pathways associated with nongenomic thyroid hormone signaling. We found that pharmacological blockade of protein phosphatase 1 and the mitogen-activated protein kinase p38 isoform decreased and increased tonic sodium current amplitudes, respectively, and blockade of either occluded rapid responses to acute T4 application. We next tested for the ion channel target of rapid T4 signaling via morpholino knock-down of specific sodium channel isotypes. We found that selective knock-down of the sodium channel α-subunit Na_v1.6a, but not Na_v1.1la, occluded T4's acute effects. We also determined the spatial and temporal distribution of a nongenomic T4 receptor, integrin αVβ3. At 24 hours post fertilization (hpf), immunofluorescent assays showed no specific integrin αVβ3 immunoreactivity in wild-type zebrafish embryos. However, by 48 hpf, embryos expressed integrin αVβ3 in RBs and primary motoneurons. Consistent with this temporal expression, T4 modulated RB I_Naat 48 but not 24 hpf. We next tested whether T4 rapidly modulated I_Naof caudal primary motoneurons, which express the receptor (αVβ3) and target (Na_v1.6a) of rapid T4 signaling. In response to T4, caudal primary motoneurons rapidly increased sodium current peak amplitude 1.3-fold.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>T4's nongenomic regulation of sodium current occurs in different neuronal subtypes, requires the activity of specific phosphorylation pathways, and requires both integrin αVβ3 and Na_v1.6a. Our <it>in vivo </it>analyses identify molecules required for T4's rapid regulation of voltage-gated sodium current.</p

Race and Health Disparities Among Seniors in Urban Areas in Brazil

White seniors report better health than Black seniors in urban areas in Sao Paulo, Brazil. This is the case even after controlling for baseline health conditions and several demographic, socio-economic and family support characteristics. Furthermore, adjusted racial disparities in self-reported health are larger than the disparities found using alternative measures of functional health. Our empirical research in this paper suggests that the two most important factors driving racial disparities in health among seniors (in our sample) are historical differences in rural living conditions and current income. Present economic conditions are more relevant to racial disparities among poor seniors than among rich seniors. Moreover, racial differences in health not attributable to observable characteristics are more important when comparing individuals in the upper half of the income distribution.