On Morals, Markets, and Climate Change: Exploring Pope Francis’ Challenge

The relation between Culture and Business has caught researchers’ attention long ago; itis not hard to find studies relating to these topics. According to Hofstede et al. (2010, p.18), Hampden-Turner and Trompenaars (2012, p. 8), and Erez and Gati (2004, p. 5),culture can be defined in many levels, for example, organizational culture, and national culture. The field of Business also contains several disciplines, for example, International Business Management, Project Management, and Project Governance. However, not somany studies can be found studying the relation between National Culture and Project Governance; therefore, this study is focused on this relation.This study is designed following a qualitative approach in order to clarify the relation between National Culture and Project Governance Principles. Case studies are used targeting the IT industry of three countries, Spain, Sweden, and Taiwan. These cases also contain the classical theory of cultural dimensions from Hofstede. Hofstede’s dimensionsare Power Distance (PDI), Individualism vs. Collectivism (IDV), Uncertainty Avoidance(UAI), Masculinity vs. Femininity (MAS), Long-term Orientation (LTO), and Indulgencevs. Restraint (IDU). They are applied in this study for distinguishing the differences between countries. This study is also based on the definition of Project GovernancePrinciples from Garland (2009), Klakegg (2008), and Müller et al. (2013). ProjectGovernance Principles are split into two categories as well, hard/ structural principles andsoft/ behaviour principles.In order to clarify the link between National Culture and Project Governance Principles,this thesis’ authors interviewed 19 people, including 10 project managers and 9 experts.All of them have a long experience dealing with Project Management in the three selected countries. Their answers are based on the knowledge and experience of Project Management and Project Governance, as well as their opinions about their own national culture. After analysing the interviews, the authors consider that differences between these three countries in Project Governance and Project Governance Principles do exist. On the other hand, there are also some similar parts, for example, the influence ofcustomers’ orientation and preference. Moreover, respondents, Project Managers and Experts, all mentioned it is also necessary to be aware of the globalized environment, inother words, there is no influence of a single national culture in one country anymore.However, they all admit the importance of their own national culture as well. All these findings from this study encourage further and deeper study in the future

BIOFUELS, CLIMATE POLICY, AND WATER MANAGEMENT: ASSESSING POLICY-INDUCED SHIFTS ON AGRICULTURE’S EXTENSIVE AND INTENSIVE MARGINS

Biofuel expansion efforts and climate mitigation policy could fundamentally alter land management trends in U.S. agriculture and forestry (AF) by mandating biofuel feedstock production and providing incentives for greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions reduction and carbon sequestration from terrestrial sources. Research has shown that biofuel expansion can alter commodity markets, induce agricultural land expansion, and intensify production. Meanwhile, GHG mitigation efforts could limit agricultural expansion, reduce current cultivation, and lower management intensity by incentivizing GHG emissions reduction and carbon sequestration within AF. To date, little work has attempted to quantify biofuel and climate policy-induced shifts together along the extensive and intensive agricultural production margins within a systems-based framework, though such shifts could have resounding implications on agricultural water consumption and quality. This study uses a comprehensive and detailed economic model of the U.S. AF sectors to simulate land management responses to biofuel expansion and GHG policies. While bioenergy production and altered AF management practices are found to significantly reduce GHG emissions, additional water consumption and nutrient use are possible policy outcomes. Specifically, we find that policies that influence shifts to the extensive margin will increase aggregate water use and nutrient application, but lead to lower intensity per-unit area. Conversely, when combined with biofuel mandates climate mitigation incentives lower agricultural land expansion, but lead to higher levels of management intensity. Somewhat contrary to expectations, GHG mitigation incentives cause water and nutrient use intensity to grow at an increasing rate due to the greater level of land use competition. Additionally, important regional trends emerge, as water use and quality concerns grow with the CO2 price in areas with limited GHG mitigation possibilities. This suggests that “water leakage” is possible whereby emissions reduction activities decrease output in one region and stimulate management intensity elsewhere. The potential indirect consequences of combined biofuel and climate mitigation incentives on water resource systems warrant further attention in policy design and future research.Greenhouse gas mitigation, biofuels, water resource management, Environmental Economics and Policy, Production Economics, Resource /Energy Economics and Policy,

Balancing Cost and Emissions Certainty: An Allowance Reserve for Cap-and-Trade

On efficiency grounds, the economics community has to date tended to emphasize price-based policies to address climate change -- such as taxes or a “safety-valve” price ceiling for cap-and-trade -— while environmental advocates have sought a more clear quantitative limit on emissions. This paper presents a simple modification to the idea of a safety valve -- a quantitative limit that we call the allowance reserve. Importantly, this idea may bridge the gap between competing interests and potentially improve efficiency relative to tax or other price-based policies. The last point highlights the deficiencies in several previous studies of price and quantity controls for climate change that do not adequately capture the dynamic opportunities within a cap-and-trade system for allowance banking, borrowing, and intertemporal arbitrage in response to unfolding information.climate change, regulation, uncertainty, welfare, prices, quantities

Parsimonious Shifted Asymmetric Laplace Mixtures

A family of parsimonious shifted asymmetric Laplace mixture models is introduced. We extend the mixture of factor analyzers model to the shifted asymmetric Laplace distribution. Imposing constraints on the constitute parts of the resulting decomposed component scale matrices leads to a family of parsimonious models. An explicit two-stage parameter estimation procedure is described, and the Bayesian information criterion and the integrated completed likelihood are compared for model selection. This novel family of models is applied to real data, where it is compared to its Gaussian analogue within clustering and classification paradigms

INTERACTION EFFECTS OF PROMOTION, RESEARCH, AND PRICE SUPPORT PROGRAMS FOR U.S. COTTON

Many agricultural commodities have industry-funded generic promotion and/or research ("checkoff") programs designed to improve the economic performance of producers. To determine the effectiveness of these programs, the net benefits to producers attributable to activities funded by the checkoff must be separated from those due to other factors influencing commodity markets. One such factor that is very important in many agricultural commodity markets is the effect of government programs. However, studies evaluating the returns to checkoff programs often do not explicitly discuss the impact of pre-existing distortions caused by federal farm programs. Because the distortions caused by farm programs can be quite large, this omission can lead to seriously biased estimates of the returns to the checkoff programs. In this study, we develop a model that captures the influence of two Federal programs (loan deficiency payments to farmers and subsidies to consuming mills) on the estimated returns to the Cotton Research and Promotion Program. Using an econometrically estimated model of the U.S. cotton market, we find that the program interaction effects have a large impact on checkoff program returns.Agricultural and Food Policy, Crop Production/Industries,

KLF6 and STAT3 Co-Occupy Regulatory DNA and Functionally Synergize to Promote Axon Growth in CNS Neurons

The failure of axon regeneration in the CNS limits recovery from damage and disease. Members of the KLF family of transcription factors can exert both positive and negative effects on axon regeneration, but the underlying mechanisms are unclear. Here we show that forced expression of KLF6 promotes axon regeneration by corticospinal tract neurons in the injured spinal cord. RNA sequencing identified 454 genes whose expression changed upon forced KLF6 expression in vitro, including sub-networks that were highly enriched for functions relevant to axon extension including cytoskeleton remodeling, lipid synthesis, and bioenergetics. In addition, promoter analysis predicted a functional interaction between KLF6 and a second transcription factor, STAT3, and genome-wide footprinting using ATAC-Seq data confirmed frequent co-occupancy. Co-expression of the two factors yielded a synergistic elevation of neurite growth in vitro. These data clarify the transcriptional control of axon growth and point the way toward novel interventions to promote CNS regeneration

BIOFUELS, CLIMATE POLICY, AND WATER MANAGEMENT: ASSESSING POLICY-INDUCED SHIFTS ON AGRICULTURE’S EXTENSIVE AND INTENSIVE MARGINS

Biofuel expansion efforts and climate mitigation policy could fundamentally alter land management trends in U.S. agriculture and forestry (AF) by mandating biofuel feedstock production and providing incentives for greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions reduction and carbon sequestration from terrestrial sources. Research has shown that biofuel expansion can alter commodity markets, induce agricultural land expansion, and intensify production. Meanwhile, GHG mitigation efforts could limit agricultural expansion, reduce current cultivation, and lower management intensity by incentivizing GHG emissions reduction and carbon sequestration within AF. To date, little work has attempted to quantify biofuel and climate policy-induced shifts together along the extensive and intensive agricultural production margins within a systems-based framework, though such shifts could have resounding implications on agricultural water consumption and quality. This study uses a comprehensive and detailed economic model of the U.S. AF sectors to simulate land management responses to biofuel expansion and GHG policies. While bioenergy production and altered AF management practices are found to significantly reduce GHG emissions, additional water consumption and nutrient use are possible policy outcomes. Specifically, we find that policies that influence shifts to the extensive margin will increase aggregate water use and nutrient application, but lead to lower intensity per-unit area. Conversely, when combined with biofuel mandates climate mitigation incentives lower agricultural land expansion, but lead to higher levels of management intensity. Somewhat contrary to expectations, GHG mitigation incentives cause water and nutrient use intensity to grow at an increasing rate due to the greater level of land use competition. Additionally, important regional trends emerge, as water use and quality concerns grow with the CO2 price in areas with limited GHG mitigation possibilities. This suggests that “water leakage” is possible whereby emissions reduction activities decrease output in one region and stimulate management intensity elsewhere. The potential indirect consequences of combined biofuel and climate mitigation incentives on water resource systems warrant further attention in policy design and future research

Correlations between Activity and Blood Pressure in African American Women and Girls

Is the level of physical activity recommended by the Surgeon General enough to elicit the beneficial effects of exercise on blood pressure in African American women and girls? This study investigated self-reported physical activity level and its relationship to blood pressure in a population of African American women (N=25) between the ages of 21 and 53 years and girls (N=52) between the ages of 5 and 17 years, in Dayton, Ohio, USA. Physical activity levels were estimated by an interviewer-administered questionnaire, which determined the average hours per week over the past year spent in occupational and leisure activities. Blood pressure was also measured. 56% of the women had average physical activity levels of 3.7 MET-hours per week, and 73% of the girls had average physical activity levels of 3.9 MET-hours per week compared to the Surgeon General’s recommendation of 7.5-15 MET-hours per week. Inverse correlations between self-reported physical activity level and systolic and diastolic blood pressures were statistically significant in some but not all of the groups. These data suggest that increasing physical activity levels should be considered as part of an intervention program for African American women to control systolic and diastolic blood pressures