3,229 research outputs found
Invasive Species Management: Importers, Border Enforcement, and Risk
Invasive species are a negative externality associated with imported goods. Policies aimed at excluding pests associated with imports include pre-shipment treatment requirements, varied inspection schemes, treatment at the border, penalties, and import bans or restrictions. Existing policies are based on the reasoning that increased enforcement effort will result in higher detection levels, or more specifically, that increased inspection will result in a higher number of interceptions and in turn, higher compliance. In addition to a deterrence effect, however, under which importers respond to increased enforcement with increased due care with respect to pest control, importers may respond in ways that regulators do not intend. For example, importers may choose to not bring goods into the country, may ship a reduced amount, or may switch ports-of-entry. Moreover, different types of firms are likely to respond to enforcement in different ways. In this paper, we present a framework to analyze invasive species border enforcement given heterogeneous importers and ports. We develop a theoretical model of firm response to border enforcement, analyze both the intended and unintended effects of this enforcement for different types of firms, and evaluate the tradeoffs associated with location. Firms not only consider the changes in the levels of enforcement and other conditions at a single port, they consider the cost and benefit tradeoffs associated with location e.g., differences in inspection intensity or port-entry fees versus distance to port-of-entry and final market across ports and may switch ports. The result is that increased inspection intensity may not result the overall damages from invasive species introductions.Resource /Energy Economics and Policy,
Factor demand linkages, technology shocks, and the business cycle
This paper argues that factor demand linkages can be important for the transmission of both sectoral and aggregate shocks. We show this using a panel of highly disaggregated manufacturing sectors together with sectoral structural VARs. When sectoral interactions are explicitly accounted for, a contemporaneous technology shock to all manufacturing sectors implies a positive response in both output and hours at the aggregate level. Otherwise there is a negative correlation, as in much of the existing literature. Furthermore, we find that technology shocks are important drivers of the business cycle
Pediatric basal cell carcinoma burden and management preferences in Gorlin syndrome: A survey study
Gorlin syndrome (GS) is a risk factor for early basal cell carcinomas (BCCs), although its prevalence of fewer than 1 in 30,000 individuals limits existing literature. There are sparse pediatric GS studies beyond case reports, creating a knowledge gap regarding childhood cutaneous findings and sequelae, including BCC age at onset, quantity, treatments, and impact. Herein, we describe a global survey to illustrate the clinical presentation, childhood perspectives, and BCC management trends for pediatric GS to improve the understanding and inform patient care
Malaria Control in Complex Humanitarian Emergencies
War, famine, civil conflict, and political
persecution displacing large populations
often leads to severe disruptions
in health services, disease control
programs, food distribution systems,
and loss of shelter. When the dimensions
of the crisis overwhelm the local and international
communities' ability to
respond quickly and effectively, significant
morbidity and mortality result in
what is termed a complex humanitarian
emergency. The public health consequences
have been most severe in underdeveloped
nations where most deaths are
caused by communicable diseases, which
include malaria. This paper describes
and analyses the factors that contribute to
malaria morbidity and mortality and
proposes effective measures to combat
them.Les conflits armés, les famines, les guerres
civiles, les persécutions politiques
déplaçant de grandes portions de la population
provoquent souvent de graves
perturbations dans les services de santé, les programmes de contrÎles sanitaires,
les structures de distributions alimentaires,
et entraßnent fréquemment la perte
du gĂźte ou de l'abris. Quand l'ampleur de
la crise submerge les capacités locales et
internationales à y répondre promptementet
efficacement, le résultat de ce que
l'on appelle une urgence humanitaire
complexe est un accroissement significatif
de la condition maladive et de la
mortalité des populations en cause. Les
conséquences en termes de santé publique
sont particuliĂšrement graves dans les
nations sous-dĂ©veloppĂ©es, oĂč un plus
grand nombre de pertes de vie sont dues
Ă des maladies transmissibles, incluant
notamment la malaria. Cet article décrit
et analyse la série de facteurs contribuant
à la condition maladive et à la mortalité
liés à la malaria, et propose des mesures
effectives pour combattre ces facteurs
Health Professions Faculty Beliefs, Confidence, Use, and Perceptions of Organizational Culture and Readiness for EBP: A Cross-sectional, Descriptive Survey
Background: Evidence-based practice (EBP) is an essential skill and ethical obligation for all practicing health professions clinicians because of its strong association with improved health outcomes. Emerging evidence suggests that faculty who prepare these clinicians lack proficiency to teach EBP
Effects of a Large Fishing Closure on Benthic Communitites in the Western Gulf of Maine: Recovery from the Effects of Gillnets and Otter Trawls
The recovery of benthic communities inside the western Gulf of Maine fishing closure area was evaluated by comparing invertebrate assemblages at sites inside and outside of the closure four to six years after the closure was established. The major restriction imposed by the closure was a year-round prohibition of bottom gillnets and otter trawls. A total of 163 seafloor sites (~half inside and half outside the closure) within a 515-km2 study area were sampled with some combination of Shipek grab, Wildco box corer, or underwater video. Bottom types ranged from mud (silt and clay) to boulders, and the effects of the closure on univariate measures (total density, biomass, taxonomic richness) of benthos varied widely among sediment types. For sites with predominantly mud sediments, there were mixed effects on inside and outside infauna and no effect on epifauna. For sites with mainly sand sediments, there were higher density, biomass, and taxonomic richness for infauna inside the closure, but no significant effects on epifauna. For sites dominated by gravel (which included boulders in some areas), there were no effects on infauna but strong effects on epifaunal density and taxonomic richness. For fishing gear, the data indicated that infauna recovered in sand from the impacts of otter trawls operated inside the closure but that they did not recover in mud, and that epifauna recovered on gravel bottoms from the impact of gillnets used inside the closure. The magnitudes of impact and recovery, however, cannot be inferred directly from our data because of a confounding factor of different fishing intensities outside the closure for a direct comparison of preclosure and postclosure data. The overall negative impact of trawls is likely underestimated by our data, whereas the negative impact of gillnets is likely overestimated
Do American Dippers Obtain a Survival Benefit from Altitudinal Migration?
Studies of partial migrants provide an opportunity to assess the cost and benefits of migration. Previous work has demonstrated that sedentary American dippers (residents) have higher annual productivity than altitudinal migrants that move to higher elevations to breed. Here we use a ten-year (30 period) mark-recapture dataset to evaluate whether migrants offset their lower productivity with higher survival during the migration-breeding period when they occupy different habitat, or early and late-winter periods when they coexist with residents. Mark-recapture models provide no evidence that apparent monthly survival of migrants is higher than that of residents at any time of the year. The best-supported model suggests that monthly survival is higher in the migration-breeding period than winter periods. Another well-supported model suggested that residency conferred a survival benefit, and annual apparent survival (calculated from model weighted monthly apparent survival estimates using the Delta method) of residents (0.511 ± 0.038SE) was slightly higher than that of migrants (0.487 ± 0.032). Winter survival of American dippers was influenced by environmental conditions; monthly apparent survival increased as maximum daily flow rates increased and declined as winter temperatures became colder. However, we found no evidence that environmental conditions altered differences in winter survival of residents and migrants. Since migratory American dippers have lower productivity and slightly lower survival than residents our data suggests that partial migration is likely an outcome of competition for limited nest sites at low elevations, with less competitive individuals being forced to migrate to higher elevations in order to breed
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