Economic valuation of landscapes: combining landscape ecology and environmental economics methodologies.

Aim of the paper is to outline an integrated methodology for deriving economic values of the different landscape components. Our approach integrates landscape ecology principles and non-market valuation methodologies. Firstly, we identify landscape types and quantify their attributes with ‘metrics’ (i.e., objective components) and use discrete choice experiments to elicit the public’s preferences for these landscapes and their attributes (i.e., subjective components). As a case-study we use the Peninsula of Sorrento in Italy, which is a unique Mediterranean landscape, which is increasingly endangered by urban sprawl and decline of traditional farming. Results show the economic value of different types of landscapes and, importantly, provide convincing support for an interdisciplinary approach for landscape valuation

A Gender Comparison of Economists' Publications

An ordered probit model is used to examine the impact of gender and the quality of the PhD g ranting in stitution o n the publication r ecord of m ale an d f emale economists who received t heir doctorate i n 1985. This analysis indicates th at men an d women have different publ ication pa tterns regardless of where t hey r eceived t heir P hD and t hat the quality of t he P hD granting institution has n o m easurable effect o n an individual's publication record.gender, ordered probit model, journal publications

Wavelets for iterated function systems

We construct a wavelet and a generalised Fourier basis with respect to some fractal measures given by one-dimensional iterated function systems. In this paper we will not assume that these systems are given by linear contractions generalising in this way some previous work of Jorgensen and Dutkay to the non-linear setting.Comment: 17 pages, 3 figure

Territorial Issues, Audience Costs, and the Democratic Peace: The Importance of Issue Salience

Democratic leaders are more prone to domestic sanction following defeats, and these audience costs allow democracies to signal their intentions during public disputes. Empirical tests strongly support this relationship; however, recent criticisms have questioned whether the causal mechanisms of audience costs are responsible for these findings. We provide a unified rationale for why both arguments are correct: democracies rarely contend over territorial issues, a consistently salient and contentious issue. Without these issues, leaders are unable to generate audience costs but are able to choose easy conflicts. Our reexaminations of threat-based and reciprocation-based studies support this argument. We also present tests of within-dispute behavior using MID incident data, which confirms that the salience of territory matters more than regime type when predicting militarized behavior. Any regime differences suggest a disadvantage for democratic challengers over territorial issues, and any peace between democracies results from the dearth of salient issues involving these regimes

Media framing and public support for China’s social credit system: An experimental study

Although China’s social credit system (SCS) is widely portrayed by Western media as repressive surveillance, recent studies show that it receives high levels of support among Chinese citizens. Previous research suggests that people support the SCS because they lack knowledge about the system. This study further examines the roles of media framing (Western vs Chinese framing) and monitored behaviors (financial vs social behaviors). The results from a survey experiment conducted in China (N = 1600) demonstrate that when exposed to Western framing, public support for the SCS is lower, but only when participants are informed that the SCS monitors social behavior. By contrast, when people are told that the SCS focuses on financial behavior, Western framing exposure is not associated with low levels of public support. The findings suggest that an expansion to social domains and exposure to Western media framing will likely result in decreased support for the system

Vector-valued Gaussian Processes on Riemannian Manifolds via Gauge Independent Projected Kernels

Gaussian processes are machine learning models capable of learning unknown functions in a way that represents uncertainty, thereby facilitating construction of optimal decision-making systems. Motivated by a desire to deploy Gaussian processes in novel areas of science, a rapidly-growing line of research has focused on constructively extending these models to handle non-Euclidean domains, including Riemannian manifolds, such as spheres and tori. We propose techniques that generalize this class to model vector fields on Riemannian manifolds, which are important in a number of application areas in the physical sciences. To do so, we present a general recipe for constructing gauge independent kernels, which induce Gaussian vector fields, i.e. vector-valued Gaussian processes coherent withgeometry, from scalar-valued Riemannian kernels. We extend standard Gaussian process training methods, such as variational inference, to this setting. This enables vector-valued Gaussian processes on Riemannian manifolds to be trained using standard methods and makes them accessible to machine learning practitioners

The physical fitness profiles of specialist policing teams

Aim: To profile the fitness of two groups of Australian Specialist Police.Design: Retrospective Cohort StudyMethod: De-identified data of 17 male specialist police officers from two specialist police response groups (Riot Squad (RS) and Police Tactical Group (PTG)) were provided. Data included demographics (age, height, and weight), strength (1 Repetition Maximum (1RM) bench press, deadlift, pull-up + Body Weight (BW), and squat), speed (0-10m acceleration & 10-20m peak velocity), agility (box agility drill), aerobic capacity (30-15 Intermittent Fitness Test) and power (bench throw and countermovement jump).Results: There were no significant differences in demographics, although officers from RS were, on average, older (1.45yrs, p=0.390), shorter (-2.04cm, p=0.15), and lighter (-3.43kg, p=0.55) than PTG officers. PTG officers had significantly greater strength (1RM deadlift = 38.50kg, p= 0.001, 95% CI [17.62-59.38], 1RM squat = 34.00kg, p< 0.001, 95% CI [16.6-51.5], 1RM bench press = 26.83kg, p=0.004, 95% CI [9.8-43.8]) andquicker acceleration (0.11sec, p=0.032, 95% CI [0.01-0.21]) than RS officers. Both groups performed at a level comparable to elite athletes for most other measures.Conclusion: Specialist police possess high levels of aerobic fitness, strength, acceleration, and power, with subtle differences between units, thought to be due to varying occupational roles. This study provides benchmarks for selection, return-to-work practices and maintenance programs for health professionals working within these units

Using Research Metrics to Improve Timelines: Proceedings from the 2nd Annual CTSA Clinical Research Management Workshop

The Clinical and Translational Science Award (CTSA) Consortium Workshop was conceived as a venue to foster communication among Academic Medical Centers (AMCs) in the development of methods to improve clinical research management. The consortium, comprised of 46 awardee sites as of 2009, many with multiple AMCs, is expected to expand to 60 sites when fully implemented. At the 2nd Annual CTSA Clinical Research Management Workshop held on June 22 nd and 23 rd , 2009, on the National Institutes of Health (NIH) campus, consortium members and potential CTSA sites gathered with stakeholders from private industry, the NIH, the Food and Drug Administration, and private research organizations, to formulate a plan to address challenges in clinical research management. Specific aims included improving protocol processing and sharing process improvement initiatives in the expectation that best practices will be implemented and improvements will be measured and reported. The findings presented at this workshop indicated significant variance in Institutional Review Board approval of protocols and contract execution by AMC and CTSA sites. Most represented marked delays compared to non-AMC sites and that, as a likely consequence, AMCs were later to enroll patients and/or meet enrollment targets compared to dedicated or professional sites. Clin Trans Sci 2010; Volume 3: 305–308Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/79218/1/j.1752-8062.2010.00246.x.pd

Differentiation of In Vitro–Modified Human Peripheral Blood Monocytes Into Hepatocyte–like and Pancreatic Islet-like Cells

BACKGROUND & AIMS: Adult stem cells provide a promising alternative for the treatment of diabetes mellitus and end-stage liver diseases. We evaluated the differentiation potential of human peripheral blood monocytes into hepatocyte-like and pancreatic islet-like cells. METHODS: Monocytes were treated with macrophage colony-stimulating factor and interleukin 3 for 6 days, followed by incubation with hepatocyte and pancreatic islet-specific differentiation media. Cells were characterized by flow cytometry, gene-expression analysis, metabolic assays, and transplantation for their state of differentiation and tissue-specific functions. RESULTS: In response to macrophage colony-stimulating factor and interleukin 3, monocytes resumed cell division in a CD115-dependent fashion, which was associated with a down-regulation of the PRDM1 and ICSBP genes. These programmable cells of monocytic origin were capable of differentiating into neohepatocytes, which closely resemble primary human hepatocytes with respect to morphology, expression of hepatocyte markers, and specific metabolic functions. After transplantation into the liver of severe combined immunodeficiency disease/nonobese diabetic mice, neohepatocytes integrated well into the liver tissue and showed a morphology and albumin expression similar to that of primary human hepatocytes transplanted under identical conditions. Programmable cells of monocytic origin-derived pancreatic neoislets expressed beta cell-specific transcription factors, secreted insulin and C peptide in a glucose-dependent manner, and normalized blood glucose levels when xenotransplanted into immunocompetent, streptozotocin-treated diabetic mice. Programmable cells of monocytic origin retained monocytic characteristics, notably CD14 expression, a monocyte-specific methylation pattern of the CD115 gene, and expression of the transcription factor PU.1. CONCLUSIONS: The ability to reprogram, expand, and differentiate peripheral blood monocytes in large quantities opens the real possibility of the clinical application of programmable cells of monocytic origin in tissue repair and organ regeneration