Protecting Eden: Markets or Government?

The majority of species classified as “threatened”, “endangered” or “extinct” by the IUCN are to be found in government controlled parks and legally protected areas in developing countries. Dissatisfaction with the public sector’s record in protecting endangered species has prompted calls for the use of market based instruments and other economic incentives to promote more efficient environmental outcomes. In this paper we examine whether greater reliance on market based incentives would result in improved environmental outcomes in national parks. We address this issue by extending the incomplete contracts framework to the case of a renewable resource. We identify conditions under which private ownership or control of a national park induces more (less) efficient management of protected areas. The paper concludes with a discussion of the limitations of the analysis and the implications of these results for the conservation of biodiversity.

Cities and climate change: Strategic options for philanthropic support

Now, more than ever, cities are at the front lines of U.S. climate action. As national action stalls, there is still a daunting amount to be done in reducing human-generated climate emissions. Fortunately, this report comes in the wake of a groundswell of initiatives to engage on climate change by cities, countries, and states across the U.S. Several important and thorough reports on the types of mitigation actions cities can take have recently been released. We already have examples of cities taking significant leadership roles in reducing their own climate emissions, from New York and Boston to Austin, Boulder, and Los Angeles - yet U.S. climate emissions continue to rise, and cities have an outsized role to play. The purpose of this project is to review current U.S. city climate activities in order to identify areas where additional investment by foundations could help accelerate city action to reduce urban greenhouse gas emissions. The focus of the inquiry is on aggressive actions cities can take that significantly increase their “level of ambition” to achieve emissions reductions on an accelerated timetable. City strategies on climate adaptation are not encompassed in this project. [TRUNCATED

Seeing and Seen: Acts of the Voyeur in the Paintings of Francis Bacon

There are a number of characters in Bacon\u27s paintings who seem strangely out of place, peeking in on intimate moments and sometimes turning their attention to us, the spectator of the works. These figures are the more literal representatives of a theme that runs throughout Bacon\u27s work, namely that of the voyeur. My research looks at the numerous perspectives of the voyeur presented by Bacon in an attempt to better understand its rationale in his artistic production

Machian Epistemology and its Part in František Kupka\u27s Painterly Cognition of Reality

A consensus has emerged amongst art historians that portrays the work the Czech painter, František Kupka (1871-1957), as fluctuating between differing styles and never resolving itself into one straightforward and single-minded direction beyond abstraction. Visually this is true, but for Kupka the visual was secondary in that it plays a subsidiary role to the process involved in the creation of the work itself. A failure to properly understand this process has resulted in an inaccurate reading of Kupka\u27s art, essentially missing the point that his paintings embody in their imagery the cognitive process involved in their creation. Significantly, as I argue, the major contributing factor in terms of Kupka\u27s development toward this position was the scientific philosophy of the Austrian physicist Ernst Mach

Desire, Heavenly Bodies, and a Surrealist\u27s Fascination with the Celestial Theatre

In 1922, the German Surrealist artist Max Ernst produced a montage work that included a woman\u27s bare buttocks protruding out of the rings of Saturn. It is, to say the least, an unusual combination of images, but one that addresses some very basic human impulses. Largely, It expresses Ernst\u27s understanding that inscribed upon the night sky are some of our deepest held fears and fantasies. Ernst sought to generate contemporary rephrasings of our mythologizing of the cosmos in a complex and often enigmatic way, drawing on such varied sources as Freudian psychology, late nineteenth-century symbolism, alchemy, and Surrealism. Ultimately, Ernst manages to weave an intricate, cryptically autobiographical, narrative through such astronomical bodies and groups of stars as Saturn, the Pleiades, Praesepe, Cygnus, to name but a few. This paper navigates some of the celestial imagery found in the work of Ernst between 1919 and 1934 in the hopes of demonstrating, in its own small way, Just how rich of a source astronomy has been for modern and contemporary art

The influence of nitrification in determining the supply, distribution and fate of nitrogen in grassland soils

Merged with duplicate record 10026.1/815 on 15.02.2017 by CS (TIS)The microbiology of nitrification has been extensively studied, but the ecology and environmental impact of the process has received less attention. The reason for this has more to do with the difficulties of conducting field experiments to examine the links with other processes which cause losses of nitrogen, than a failure to appreciate its importance in agricultural systems. This project was designed to overcome some of the limitations of existing field techniques to enable simultaneous measurements of nitrification and the major processes of N supply (mineralization) and N loss (denitrification and leaching) to be examined. The study proceeded in three distinct phases: firstly, soils with contrasting N management histories were examined, using laboratory assays for potential activities. Clear differences which resulted from higher N inputs were established, with correspondingly higher nitrifying activities. For example, in a fertilized soil, ammonia-oxidizers produced 48.4 compared with 1.3 nM N02 gˉ¹ soil hˉ¹ in an unfertilized soil. Potential nitrite-oxidizing rates were 93.4 and 62.5 nM gˉ¹ hˉ¹ respectively. Assays of enzyme kinetics, therefore confirmed the higher nitrifying activity in the fertilized soil, but demonstrated a lower affinity of the enzyme for N02- substrate, with K, values of 436 and 310 µM N02 -N, respectively. Nitrifying rates in soils from grass-clover swards were intermediate between the fertilized and unfertilized soils. Secondly, a new field incubation technique was developed and used to obtain actual rates by concurrent measurements of the major N cycling processes. A strong correlation was established between nitrification and denitrification (r² = 0. 98). The measurements were verified by comparison with other independent methods. Net rates of nitrification in the same soil type ranged from 0.55 - 1.17 kg N haˉ¹ dˉ¹ , with the highest rates in the fertilized soil. Over 70% of the mineralized N was nitrified, of which 80% was subsequently lost (i.e. either denitrified or leached). Thirdly, the practical implications of these findings were examined in greater detail using 15N labelling techniques which enabled process rates (net and gross) to be established in a model of the N cycle. When nitrification was inhibited, there were no significant differences between gross or net mineralization rates in the soils from the three swards, which indicated that N-immobilization could be directly influenced by the level of nitrifying activity in these soils. The influence of nitrification in determining the pathways of N loss from grassland soils was quantified in this study. From a detailed investigation of the processes involved in N cycling, it was deduced that nitrification was also one of the major factors in determining the outcome of competition for inorganic N between plant and microbial biomasses.The Institute of Grassland and Environmental Researc

An Empirical Examination of Symptom Substitution Associated with Behavior Therapy for Tourette\u27s Disorder

Over the past six decades, behavior therapy has been a major contributor to the development of evidence-based psychotherapy treatments. However, a long-standing concern with behavior therapy among many nonbehavioral clinicians has been the potential risk for symptom substitution. Few studies have been conducted to evaluate symptom substitution in response to behavioral treatments, largely due to measurement and definitional challenges associated with treated psychiatric symptoms. Given the overt motor and vocal tics associated with Tourette’s disorder, it presents an excellent opportunity to empirically evaluate the potential risk for symptom substitution associated with behavior therapy. The present study examined the possible presence of symptom substitution using four methods: (a) the onset of new tic symptoms, (b) the occurrence of adverse events, (c) change in tic medications, and (d) worsening of co-occurring psychiatric symptoms. Two hundred twenty-eight participants with Tourette’s disorder or persistent motor or vocal tic disorders were randomly assigned to receive behavioral therapy or supportive therapy for tics. Both therapies consisted of eight sessions over 10 weeks. Results indicated that participants treated with behavior therapy were not more likely to have an onset of new tic symptoms, experience adverse events, increase tic medications, or have an exacerbation in co-occurring psychiatric symptoms relative to participants treated with supportive therapy. Further analysis suggested that the emergence of new tics was attributed with the normal waxing and waning nature of Tourette’s disorder. Findings provide empirical support to counter the long-standing concern of symptom substitution in response to behavior therapy for individuals with Tourette\u27s disorder

Design, specifications and cost estimate of two hundred ton stamp mill and cyanide plant for treatment of gold ore

The object of this thesis is the designing and a mill, writing specifications for same, and furnishing complete cost of entire plant to treat 200 tons of gold ore --page ii