Certification Systems as Tools for Natural Asset Building: Potential, Experiences to Date, and Critical Challenges

Certification systems are becoming important tools to encourage and reward social and environmental responsibility. This paper explores whether these systems, which generally have not been designed for the explicit aim of poverty reduction, can assist poor people, either individually or in community-based and small-to-medium production units, to build their natural assets as a basis for sustainable livelihoods. The paper examines two leading certification systems -- the Forest Stewardship Council(TM); and the Fair Trade Certified(TM); system -- and emerging systems in tourism and mining. The results to date have been mixed. In the forestry sector, poverty reduction benefits of certification have been modest relative to its environmental benefits. In the agricultural commodity trade, where certification systems have been designed with a stronger focus on reducing poverty, the benefits have been greater. The long-term challenge is to ensure that the rapid global uptake and 'mainstreaming' of certification systems does not create new hurdles for low-income individuals and communities

Can Advocacy-Led Certification Systems Transform Global Corporate Practices? Evidence, and Some Theory

There is emerging evidence that globalization is beginning to provide new opportunities for global coalitions of advocacy groups to bring market-based pressures to bear upon major transnational firms in a way that promotes higher standards of social and environmental responsibility in production processes and trade relations. This can be seen as successful citizen-led attention to the “production and process methods” which the Uruguay Round of trade negotiations explicitly chose to omit. More broadly it may reflect the increased importance of global branding, improved awareness in both consumer and financial markets of the social and environmental practices of firms, and collaboration on the part of producers to reduce their risk of brand-damaging attacks on the social and environmental responsibility of their practices. The emergence and growth of the Forest Stewardship Council as the “gold standard” for sustainable forest management, and the expensive attempts by the forest products industry to create industry-driven substitute standards, may be the pivotal example of this phenomenon. The further growth of certified Fair Trade practices under Transfair USA is another example. Both cases provide important lessons as to the elements of present and future success for this movement. They may also represent creative new solutions for problems of persistent poverty by using the leverage of markets in the global North to improve the ability of workers, farmers, and other producers in the global South to build natural assets in ways that generate socially and environmentally sustainable livelihoods.

Certification Systems as Tools for Natural Asset Building: Potential, Experiences to Date, and Critical Challenges

Certification systems are becoming important tools to encourage and reward social and environmental responsibility. This paper explores whether these systems, which generally have not been designed for the explicit aim of poverty reduction, can assist poor people, either individually or in community-based and small-to-medium production units, to build their natural assets as a basis for sustainable livelihoods. The paper examines two leading certification systems – the Forest Stewardship Council™ and the Fair Trade Certified™ system – and emerging systems in tourism and mining. The results to date have been mixed. In the forestry sector, poverty reduction benefits of certification have been modest relative to its environmental benefits. In the agricultural commodity trade, where certification systems have been designed with a stronger focus on reducing poverty, the benefits have been greater. The long-term challenge is to ensure that the rapid global uptake and ‘mainstreaming’ of certification systems does not create new hurdles for low-income individuals and communities.certification, social responsibility, environmental responsibility, povery reduction, natural assets, sustainable livelihoods, Forest Stewardship Council™, Fair Trade Certified™, tourism, mining, forestry, agriculture, globalization

Nicaragua: The Economic Dilemmas of Peace and Democracy in 1988

This paper explores the complex economic conditions that Nicaragua faces at the end of 1988. It focuses, in particular, on the policy dilemmas that the Nicaraguan government confronts as domes tic economic conditions continue to deteriorate, as the prospects of continued war drag on, and as public opinion begins to associate economic problems more closely with the government and less closely with the war. The paper presents a summary of overall Nicaraguan economic performance since 1979, places it in the context of the broader Latin American economic crisis over the same period, and analyzes some of the principal characteristics of the economic model that has evolved under the Sandinista Front. Special attention is paid to the dramatic economic policy changes implemented in February and June 1988 and to the changing external assistance levels received by Nicaragua, especially the rapid increase and then decline in Soviet economic assistance. Two alternative scenarios for future economic policy are then explored, one under the assumption of continued war and economic isolation, the other under an assumption of a definitive cease fire in the war and economic reactivation with international assistance.Latin American Studie

The Nicaraguan Experiment: Characteristics of a New Economic Model

Latin American Studie

Automated Cryocooler Monitor and Control System Software

This software is used in an automated cryogenic control system developed to monitor and control the operation of small-scale cryocoolers. The system was designed to automate the cryogenically cooled low-noise amplifier system described in "Automated Cryocooler Monitor and Control System" (NPO-47246), NASA Tech Briefs, Vol. 35, No. 5 (May 2011), page 7a. The software contains algorithms necessary to convert non-linear output voltages from the cryogenic diode-type thermometers and vacuum pressure and helium pressure sensors, to temperature and pressure units. The control function algorithms use the monitor data to control the cooler power, vacuum solenoid, vacuum pump, and electrical warm-up heaters. The control algorithms are based on a rule-based system that activates the required device based on the operating mode. The external interface is Web-based. It acts as a Web server, providing pages for monitor, control, and configuration. No client software from the external user is required

The Varied Fates of z~2 Star-forming Galaxies

Star-forming galaxies constitute the majority of galaxies with stellar masses >10^10 M_Sun/h^2 at z~2 and dominate the star-formation rate density of the Universe at this early epoch. It is thus critical to understand their origins, evolution, and connection to the underlying dark matter distribution. To this end, we identify the dark matter halos (including subhalos) that are likely to contain star-forming galaxies at z~2 (z2SFGs) within a large dissipationless cosmological simulation and then use halo merger histories to follow the evolution of z2SFG descendants to z~1 and z~0. The evolved halos at these epochs are then confronted with an array of observational data in order to uncover the likely descendants of z2SFGs. Though the evolved halos have clustering strengths comparable to red galaxies at z~1 and z~0, we find that the bulk of z2SFGs do not evolve into red galaxies, at either epoch. This conclusion is based primarily on the fact that the space density of z2SFGs is much higher than that of lower redshift red galaxies, even when accounting for the merging of z2SFG descendants, which decreases the number density of z2SFG descendants by at most a factor of two by z~0. Of the ~50% of z2SFGs that survive to z~0, ~70% reside at the center of z~0 dark matter halos with M>10^12 M_Sun/h. Halo occupation modeling of z~0 galaxies suggests that such halos are occupied by galaxies with M_r<-20.5, implying that these z2SFGs evolve into ``typical'' ~ L* galaxies today, including our own Galaxy. The remaining ~30% become satellite galaxies by z~0, and comparison to halo occupation modeling suggests that they are rather faint, with M_r<-19.5. (ABRIDGED)Comment: 13 pages, 5 figures. ApJ in pres

Void Statistics in Large Galaxy Redshift Surveys: Does Halo Occupation of Field Galaxies Depend on Environment?

We use measurements of the projected galaxy correlation function w_p and galaxy void statistics to test whether the galaxy content of halos of fixed mass is systematically different in low density environments. We present new measurements of the void probability function (VPF) and underdensity probability function (UPF) from Data Release Four of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey, as well as new measurements of the VPF from the full data release of the Two-Degree Field Galaxy Redshift Survey. We compare these measurements to predictions calculated from models of the Halo Occupation Distribution (HOD) that are constrained to match both w_p and the space density of galaxies. The standard implementation of the HOD assumes that galaxy occupation depends on halo mass only, and is independent of local environment. For luminosity-defined samples, we find that the standard HOD prediction is a good match to the observations, and the data exclude models in which galaxy formation efficiency is reduced in low-density environments. More remarkably, we find that the void statistics of red and blue galaxies (at L ~ 0.4L_*) are perfectly predicted by standard HOD models matched to the correlation function of these samples, ruling out "assembly bias" models in which galaxy color is correlated with large-scale environment at fixed halo mass. We conclude that the luminosity and color of field galaxies are determined predominantly by the mass of the halo in which they reside and have little direct dependence on the environment in which the host halo formed. In broader terms, our results show that the sizes and emptiness of voids found in the distribution of L > 0.2L_* galaxies are in excellent agreement with the predictions of a standard cosmological model with a simple connection between galaxies and dark matter halos. (abridged)Comment: 20 emulateapj pages, 9 figures. submitted to Ap

Kepler Eclipsing Binary Stars. V. Identification of 31 Eclipsing Binaries in the K2 Engineering Data-set

Over 2500 eclipsing binaries were identified and characterized from the ultra-precise photometric data provided by the Kepler space telescope. Kepler is now beginning its second mission, K2, which is proving to again provide ultra-precise photometry for a large sample of eclipsing binary stars. In the 1951 light curves covering 12 days in the K2 engineering data-set, we have identified and determined the ephemerides for 31 eclipsing binaries that demonstrate the capabilities for eclipsing binary science in the upcoming campaigns in K2. Of those, 20 are new discoveries. We describe both manual and automated approaches to harvesting the complete set of eclipsing binaries in the K2 data, provide identifications and details for the full set of eclipsing binaries present in the engineering data-set, and discuss the prospects for application of eclipsing binary searches in the K2 mission.Comment: 12 pages, 2 figures, submitted to PAS

Impact of marijuana use on self‐rated cognition in young adult men and women

Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/111084/1/ajad12157.pd