Towards Design For a Nutrient Trading Programme to Improve Water Quality in Lake Rotorua

This paper explores how to enhance the role for academic research (natural sciences, economics and their integration; and stakeholder management) within the development and implementation of water quality policy in New Zealand. Our focus is on the use of market based instruments and particularly nutrient trading programmes, which are one important part of the potential tool kit to address these issues. We discuss why nutrient trading might be an appropriate instrument for the Lake Rotorua catchment. We survey the existing literature and then outline the outstanding scientific, economic and governance questions that need to be addressed to design an effective trading programme. Finally we discuss how to design a process to address these questions drawing on both technical and practical knowledge through a learning process.water quality, emissions trading, non-point source pollution, nutrients, Rotorua, communication, learning, Resource /Energy Economics and Policy, Q53, Q57, Q58, A12,

Towards Design for a Nutrient Trading Programme to Improve Water Quality in Lake Rotorua

This paper explores how to enhance the role for academic research (natural sciences, economics and their integration; and stakeholder management) within the development and implementation of water quality policy in New Zealand. Our focus is on the use of market based instruments and particularly nutrient trading programmes, which are one important part of the potential tool kit to address these issues. We discuss why nutrient trading might be an appropriate instrument for the Lake Rotorua catchment. We survey the existing literature and then outline the outstanding scientific, economic and governance questions that need to be addressed to design an effective trading programme. Finally we discuss how to design a process to address these questions drawing on both technical and practical knowledge through a learning process.water quality; emissions trading; non-point source pollution; nutrients; Rotorua; communication; learning

What's the Worst That Could Happen? Re-examining the 24–25 June 1967 Tornado Outbreak Over Western Europe

Abstract On 24–25 June 1967 one of the most intense European tornado outbreaks produced extensive damage (approximately 960 houses damaged or destroyed) and resulted in 232 injuries and 15 fatalities in France, Belgium, and the Netherlands. The 24–25 June 1967 tornado outbreak shows that Europe is highly vulnerable to tornadoes. To better understand the impact of European tornadoes and how this impact changed over time, the question is raised, “What would happen if an outbreak similar to the 1967 one occurred 50 years later in 2017 over France, Belgium, and the Netherlands?” Transposing the seven tornado tracks from the June 1967 outbreak over the modern landscape would potentially result in 24 990 buildings being impacted, 255–2580 injuries, and 17–172 fatalities. To determine possible worst-case scenarios, the tornado tracks are moved in a systematic way around their observed positions and positioned over modern maps of buildings and population. The worst-case scenario estimates are 146 222 buildings impacted, 2550–25 440 injuries, and 170–1696 fatalities. These results indicate that the current disaster management policies and mitigation strategies for Europe need to include tornadoes, especially because exposure and tornado risk is anticipated to increase in the near future.</jats:p

Reforming natural resource policies in Developing Countries : politics and forests in the Philippines, Thailand and Costa Rica, 1980-1996

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Political Science, 1998.Includes bibliographical references (p. 295-317).by David M. Fairman.Ph.D

The utility of convection-permitting ensembles for the prediction of stationary convective bands

This study examines convection-permitting numerical simulations of four cases of terrain-locked quasi-stationary convective bands over the UK. For each case, a 2.2-km grid-length 12-member ensemble and 1.5-km grid-length deterministic forecast are analyzed, each with two different initialization times. Object-based verification is applied to determine whether the simulations capture the structure, location, timing, intensity and duration of the observed precipitation. These verification diagnostics reveal that the forecast skill varies greatly between the four cases. Although the deterministic and ensemble simulations captured some aspects of the precipitation correctly in each case, they never simultaneously captured all of them satisfactorily. In general, the models predicted banded precipitation accumulations at approximately the correct time and location, but the precipitating structures were more cellular and less persistent than the coherent quasi-stationary bands that were observed. Ensemble simulations from the two different initialization times were not significantly different, which suggests a potential benefit of time-lagging subsequent ensembles to increase ensemble size. The predictive skill of the upstream larger-scale flow conditions and the simulated precipitation on the convection-permitting grids were strongly correlated, which suggests that more accurate forecasts from the parent ensemble should improve the performance of the convection-permitting ensemble nested within it

Rhodobacter capsulatus porphobilinogen synthase, a high activity metal ion independent hexamer

BACKGROUND: The enzyme porphobilinogen synthase (PBGS), which is central to the biosynthesis of heme, chlorophyll and cobalamins, has long been known to use a variety of metal ions and has recently been shown able to exist in two very different quaternary forms that are related to metal ion usage. This paper reports new information on the metal ion independence and quaternary structure of PBGS from the photosynthetic bacterium Rhodobacter capsulatus. RESULTS: The gene for R. capsulatus PBGS was amplified from genomic DNA and sequencing revealed errors in the sequence database. R. capsulatus PBGS was heterologously expressed in E. coli and purified to homogeneity. Analysis of an unusual phylogenetic variation in metal ion usage by PBGS enzymes predicts that R. capsulatus PBGS does not utilize metal ions such as Zn(2+), or Mg(2+), which have been shown to act in other PBGS at either catalytic or allosteric sites. Studies with these ions and chelators confirm the predictions. A broad pH optimum was determined to be independent of monovalent cations, approximately 8.5, and the K(m )value shows an acidic pK(a )of ~6. Because the metal ions of other PBGS affect the quaternary structure, gel permeation chromatography and analytical ultracentrifugation experiments were performed to examine the quaternary structure of metal ion independent R. capsulatus PBGS. The enzyme was found to be predominantly hexameric, in contrast with most other PBGS, which are octameric. A protein concentration dependence to the specific activity suggests that the hexameric R. capsulatus PBGS is very active and can dissociate to smaller, less active, species. A homology model of hexameric R. capsulatus PBGS is presented and discussed. CONCLUSION: The evidence presented in this paper supports the unusual position of the R. capsulatus PBGS as not requiring any metal ions for function. Unlike other wild-type PBGS, the R. capsulatus protein is a hexamer with an unusually high specific activity when compared to other octameric PBGS proteins