Livestock as insurance and social status. Evidence from reindeer herding in Norway

The theory of livestock as a buffer stock predicts that agropastoralists facing substantial risks typically will use liquid assets, such as livestock, for self-insurance to smooth consumption. This paper examines this hypothesis for reindeer herders in Norway where the herders, in contrast to pastoralists in, say, Sub-Saharan Africa, face well functioning credit markets. Using survey data including slaughtering responses to a hypothetical meat price increase, we test whether keeping reindeer as insurance against risks affects the slaughter response. Furthermore, we study whether status motives for keeping large herds affect the harvest response to a changing slaughter price. As a background for the empirical analysis, a stochastic bioeconomic model describing Saami reindeer herding is formulated

Tourism, Poaching and Wildlife Conservation: What can Integrated Conservation and Development Projects accomplish?

Integrated Conservation and Development Projects (ICDPs) have frequently been established in Africa to improve wildlife conservation and the welfare of local communities. However, their effectiveness so far has been hampered by conflicts and illegal harvesting activities. Within a Gordon-Schäfer-type model, this paper focuses on the strategic interaction between the manager of a protected area and a group of local people living near the park. The park manager benefits from wildlife through non-consumptive tourism and safari hunting. The local people benefit through hunting, although this is illegal according to existing laws, but they also bear costs as wildlife causes agricultural damage. Depending on the economic and ecological environment, we show that ICDPs relying on money transfers to the local people derived from the park manager’s activities may or may not promote wildlife conservation. In addition, we demonstrate that the effects on the welfare of the local people are ambiguous.wildlife; conservation; conflicts; local welfare

How Much is your Home Worth? Essays on Housing Value and its Determinants

This first chapter uses neighborhood vacancies as a proxy for foreclosures and examines their impact on the value of surrounding neighborhood properties. Often, the negative spillover of a foreclosure results from decay of the foreclosed property. Existence of a foreclosure within a neighborhood is proxied for by a vacant structure within 300 feet of the observed unit, resulting in a lower bound foreclosure externality. Using the special neighbor sample of the American Housing Sample waves 1985, 1989 and 1993, small neighborhoods are observed and categorized into racially different neighborhoods (black, integrated or white neighborhood). Additionally, neighborhood-specific averages are constructed, such as mean income, crime and other characteristics. Estimating an hedonic housing price model, this study finds a decrease of about 15 percent for houses located within close proximity to a vacant structure. The effect is even bigger, approximately 18.5 percent, if a house is located near a vacant house in a black neighborhood vs. a white neighborhood. These results suggest that a negative foreclosure effect exists, but that it differs in magnitude depending on the type of neighborhood as well as the general location of the neighborhood (i.e., city center, urban or rural). The second chapter investigates the impact of a municipality’s financial condition on the housing values within a municipality. The data consist of 68,882 housing units located in 175 cities through 115 MSAs across 42 states. Information on the housing units’ and owner’s characteristics are drawn from the 2011 IPUMS and supplemented with MSA-level economic condition variables. The municipal financial information is drawn from the 2010 government census and consists of very detailed information of every local government’s finances. The empirical results provide evidence that the financial state of a municipality affects local housing values

Blood parameters in growing pigs fed increasing levels of bacterial protein meal

The experiment investigated the effects of increasing dietary levels of bacterial protein meal (BPM) on various blood parameters reflecting protein and fat metabolism, liver function, and purine base metabolism in growing pigs. Sixteen barrows were allocated to four different experimental diets. The control diet was based on soybean meal. In the other three diets soybean meal was replaced with increasing levels of BPM, approximately 17%, 35%, and 50% of the nitrogen being derived from BPM. Blood samples from the jugular vein were taken when the body weights of the pigs were approximately 10 kg, 21 kg, 45 kg, and 77 kg. The blood parameters reflecting fat metabolism and liver function were not affected by diet. Both the plasma albumin and uric acid concentrations tended to decrease (P = 0.07 and 0.01, respectively) with increasing dietary BPM content, whereas the plasma glucose concentration tended to increase (P = 0.07) with increasing dietary BPM content. It was concluded that up to 50% of the nitrogen could be derived from BPM without affecting metabolic function, as reflected in the measured blood parameters

Cathode Assessment for Maximizing Current Generation in Microbial Fuel Cells Utilizing Bioethanol Effluent as Substrate

Implementation of microbial fuel cells (MFCs) for electricity production requires effective current generation from waste products via robust cathode reduction. Three cathode types using dissolved oxygen cathodes (DOCs), ferricyanide cathodes (FeCs) and air cathodes (AiCs) were therefore assessed using bioethanol effluent, containing 20.5 g/L xylose, 1.8 g/L arabinose and 2.5 g/L propionic acid. In each set-up the anode and cathode had an electrode surface area of 88 cm2, which was used for calculation of the current density. Electricity generation was evaluated by quantifying current responses to substrate loading rates and external resistance. At the lowest external resistance of 27 Ω and highest substrate loading rate of 2 g chemical oxygen demand (COD) per L·day, FeC-MFC generated highest average current density (1630 mA/m2) followed by AiC-MFC (802 mA/m2) and DOC-MFC (184 mA/m2). Electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) was used to determine the impedance of the cathodes. It was thereby confirmed that the FeC-MFC produced the highest current density with the lowest internal resistance for the cathode. However, in a setup using bioethanol effluent, the AiC-MFC was concluded to be the most sustainable option since it does not require ferricyanide. The data offer a new add-on option to the straw biorefinery by using bioethanol effluent for microbial electricity production

The Preservation of Inuit Clothing Collected during the Fifth Thule Expedition (1921-24)

Preparation procedures as well as ordinary use apparently cause changes in the appearance of Inuit skin clothing. These changes may alter the inherent properties of skin, such as fatty acid composition and shrinkage temperature. The present paper describes studies of fatty acid distribution and shrinkage temperature in a series of items of Inuit origin collected during the Fifth Thule Expedition (1921-24). The skins used for the clothing originate from ringed seal (Phoca hispida) and caribou (Rangifer tarandus). For comparison, fresh prepared skins were studied, as were samples of sealskins found in the mummy burial ground in Qilakitsoq, Greenland. It appeared that ordinary use changed the fatty acid distribution to some extent, as well as the shrinkage temperature, indicating slow deterioration. However, more significant deterioration was observed for samples exposed for longer periods to daylight as, for example, when placed on exhibition. The effect of light was verified by studying samples deliberately exposed to full daylight for ca. 6 months. In contrast to these samples, the 500-year-old skins appeared, on the basis of fatty acid distribution and shrinkage temperature, to be in good condition, possibly because of the lack of ordinary use in combination with low storage temperatures.Key words: Inuit, clothing, skin preparation, tanning, seal, caribou, fatty acid, preservation, Fifth Thule ExpeditionLes méthodes de préparation ainsi que l'utilisation normale provoquent, semble-t-il, des changements dans l'aspect des vêtements de peau inuit. Ces changements peuvent modifier les propriétés inhérentes de la peau, telles que la répartition des acides gras et la contractilité thermique. Cet article décrit les études portant sur la répartition des acides gras et la contractilité thermique dans une série d'objets d'origine inuit recueillis au cours de la cinquième expédition de Thulé (1921-24). Les peaux servant à l'habillement viennent du phoque annelé (Phoca hispida) et du caribou (Rangifer tarandus). À des fins de comparaison, on a étudié des peaux récemment préparées, ainsi que des échantillons de peaux de phoque trouvées dans le cimetière de momies de Qilakitsoq, au Groenland. Il semble que l'utilisation normale ait changé, dans une certaine mesure, la répartition des acides gras ainsi que la contractilité thermique, indiquant une détérioration lente. On a toutefois observé une détérioration plus importante pour des échantillons exposés durant de plus longues périodes à la lumière naturelle comme, par exemple, lorsqu'ils sont mis en exposition. On a vérifié l'effet de la lumière en étudiant des échantillons délibérément exposés au grand jour pendant environ six mois. Par contraste avec ces échantillons, les peaux de 500 ans semblaient, si l'on se fiait à la répartition des acides gras et à la contractilité thermique, en bon état, et ce, en raison peut-être du manque d'utilisation courante combiné à un entreposage à basse température.Mots clés: inuit, habillement, préparation de la peau, tannage, phoque, caribou, acide gras, conservation, cinquième expédition de Thul&eacute

Dielectric properties of ultraviolet cured poly(dimethyl siloxane) sub-percolative composites containing percolative amounts of multi-walled carbon nanotubes

Novel preparation scheme allows for heterogeneous distributions of conductive filler such that percolative amounts can be added without obtaining percolative properties.</p

A biotest system for optimalization of environmental parameters for production of halibut fry

A system for controlled testing of different environmental parameters in seawater was made. Both the biotest system and an experimental setup using larvae of the Atlantic Halibut (Hippoglossus hippoglossus L.) are described