Forest cover change in space and time : combining the von Thunen and forest transition theories

This paper presents a framework for analyzing tropical deforestation and reforestation using the von Thunen model as its starting point: land is allocated to the use which yields the highest rent, and the rents of various land uses are determined by location. Forest cover change therefore becomes a question of changes in rent of forest versus non-forest use. While this is a simple and powerful starting point, more intriguing issues arise when this is applied to analyze real cases. An initial shift in the rent of one particular land use generates feedbacks which affect the rent of all land uses. For example, a new technology in extensive agriculture should make this land use more profitable and lead to more forest clearing, but general equilibrium effects (changes in prices and local wages) can modify or even reverse this conclusion. Another issue is how a policy change or a shift in broader market, technological, and institutional forces will affect various land use rents. The paper deals with three such areas: technological progress in agriculture, land tenure regimes, and community forest management. The second part of the paper links the von Thunen framework to the forest transition theory. The forest transition theory describes a sequence over time where a forested region goes through a period of deforestation before the forest cover eventually stabilizes and starts to increase. This sequence can be seen as a systematic pattern of change in the agricultural and forest land rents over time. Increasing agricultural rent leads to high rates of deforestation. The slow-down of deforestation and eventual reforestation is due to lower agricultural rents (the economic development path) and higher forest rent (the forest scarcity path). Various forces leading to these changes are discussed and supported by empirical evidence from different tropical regions.Environmental Economics&Policies,Forestry,Common Property Resource Development,Economic Theory&Research,Markets and Market Access

The Service University

The traditional western research university’s academic freedom is increasingly challenged by external economical interests. This has consequences for what has been regarded as a key quality dimension of a university. The balance between institutional autonomy, academic freedom and accountability to external stakeholders is claimed to be changing in disfavour of the academic freedom kept up by the professoriate. From its stakeholders the institution is expected to serve politicians, state bureaucracy and market in a qualitatively different way from before, primarily from economic motives. Is academic freedom at all possible in an institution predominantly financed by producing services to meet economic criteria? A likely answer would be no, and another tentative, answer could be that yes, it is possible, due to the strong academic legacy imbedded in western academics’ identity - and to the global communicative room of free actions made possible by the new information technology.service university, quality, academic freedom, ICT, management

School Management: Norwegian Legacies Bowing to New Public Management

The purpose of the study was to investigate the relevance of school management training programmes to current Norwegian education policies and strategies. A specific question was asked: How relevant is the teaching professors’ understanding of school management competence? The findings indicate a split understanding of policy relevant understanding of school management. A majority of respondents had an understanding of school management coherent with the national policies and strategies. A minority did not. They saw the headmaster primarily as a communicative facilitator for teachers’ work, and an ‘administrative caretaker’. In an international perspective the findings represent a Norwegian particularity. There is a collision between Norwegian anti-management legacies of running schools and the Government’s need for effective and accountable management. This may imply a slower speed of implementing educational reforms in Norway.school, management, training, education, reform policies, pedagogy

Shock-boundary-layer interaction in flight

A brief survey is given on the study of transonic shock/boundary layer effects in flight. Then the possibility of alleviating the adverse shock effects through passive shock control is discussed. A Swedish flight experiment on a swept wing attack aircraft is used to demonstrate how it is possible to reduce the extent of separated flow and increase the drag-rise Mach number significantly using a moderate amount of perforation of the surface

Long-life 3-axis satellite attitude sensing, phase 1

The purpose was to investigate the feasibility of new, moderate-cost, high reliability navigation sensors for high-altitude satellites, using stellar sources to obviate the use of gyroscopic devices. The primary investigation focused on the need for developing a star tracker model to replace an old star tracker which is still needed for current probe and satellite programs. One innovative element of the proposed star tracker was the design, development, and testing of technology components related to a phase scrambler plate. The purpose of the phase scrambler plate is to convert the impulse response of the optical system from a point image to a uniformly bright, square, angularly large, in-focus image of the star source. A collimated star source was built and tested. A breadboard star tracker with an 8 x 8 degree field of view was designed and built. It was tested in normal quad-cell mode (without the phase scrambler plate) and with the phase scrambler plate. Although the phase scrambler plate was crudely made, the performance of the star tracker breadboard was greatly improved using the phase scrambler plate, instead of system defocus. If further developed, the phase scrambler plate may be added as a low-cost retroconversion to any objective lens to greatly improve quad-cell or CCD array tracking; applications include star trackers, laser metrology, laser machining optics, and surveying instrumentation

Earning the Right to Lead in Defining Moments: The Act of Taking Leadership

True leaders emerge and earn their right to lead — not as a result of an organization’s day-to-day activities — but through courageous acts exhibited during the organization’s defining moments, whether such moments be characterized as stable or disastrous. Remaining strong and steadfast in testy situations while demonstrating the ability to bond to earn the trust of others are the predominant emotional and interpersonal characteristics on display when a leader earns his or her right to lead