National Service: can we afford it?

This thesis estimates the costs, implicit as well as explicit, of three National Service proposals. The three proposals examined were: (1) a completely voluntary system as presented by Donald Eberly, the Director of the National Service Secretariat; (2) a "coercive-voluntary" model developed by Richard Danzig and Peter Szanton in their book "National Service: What Would it Mean?"; and (3) a mandatory system similar to the military draft of the Vietnam War era. Costs included were: wages, medical benefits/coverage, GI Bill benefits, administrative costs, basic and specialized training costs, operational costs and recruiting/advertising costs. Additionally, implicit (i.e., opportunity) costs were included in Models Two and Three. Estimates were made only of the costs of the programs. The assessment of potential benefits from an untested program is even more problematic than the attempt to estimate economic costs and is beyond the scope of this thesis. This research indicates that previous estimates of the costs of National Service programs may be underestimated by several billion dollars. In all probability, these estimates were low due to the unintentional exclusion of certain relevant costs, such as training and implicit costs. However, it is also possible that conservative assumptions were used in many previous estimates to make national service more politically appealing. It was found that the voluntary model of Eberly is the least costly, but is also unrealistic. Greater expenditures in wages and benefits would be necessary to provide enough incentives to enlist sufficient volunteers. This thesis suggests a program that provides better incentives for volunteers and presents a more realistic cost of a voluntary system. It is found that the term "National Service," as used in this context, more accurately describes a job creation program for lower income youth than a service program designed to attract youth from a cross-section of American society.http://archive.org/details/nationalservicec00deboNAN

Commodity risk assessment of specified species of Lonicera potted plants from Turkey

The European Commission requested the EFSA Panel on Plant Health to prepare and deliver risk assessments for commodities listed in the Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2018/2019 as ‘High-risk plants, plant products and other objects’. This Scientific Opinion covers plant health risks posed by potted plants (2–4 years old) of specified Lonicera species produced in nurseries and that are imported from Turkey, taking into account the available scientific information, including the technical information provided by the NPPO of Turkey. The relevance of any pest for this Opinion was based on evidence following defined criteria listed in Section 4.1. Three species, the EU-quarantine pests Lopholeucaspis japonica and Meloidogyne chitwoodi and the protected zone quarantine pest Bemisia tabaci, fulfilled these criteria and were selected for further evaluation. For these pests, the risk mitigation measures proposed in the technical dossier from Turkey were evaluated taking into account the possible limiting factors. For these pests, an expert judgement is given on the likelihood of pest freedom taking into consideration the risk mitigation measures acting on the pest, including uncertainties associated with the assessment. The estimated degree of pest freedom varies among the pests evaluated, with B. tabaci on evergreen species of Lonicera spp. being the pest most frequently expected on the imported plants. The Expert Knowledge Elicitation indicated, with 95% certainty, that between 9,293 and 10,000 plants per 10,000 would be free of B. tabaci

Identification of microbial life in sustainable and disease suppressive growing media : the role of beneficial microorganisms

Our current understanding of the microbial communities inhabiting growing media is limited. However, techniques such as phospholipid fatty acid analysis, metabarcoding and shotgun metagenomics are increasingly used to analyze and understand microbial life in growing media and therefore they are starting to fill the knowledge gap. Using these techniques in the interreg2seas project Horti-BlueC (www.horti-bluec.eu ), we try to understand the microbiological processes involved in sustainable growing media based on plant fibers, chitin and biochar. In sustainable growing media, peat is (partially) replaced and/or the use of chemical fertilizers and plant protection products is reduced. Plant fibers include defibrated miscanthus straw, flax shives and reed. Chitin is produced from shell fish waste such as crab and shrimps shells. Biochar (charred material) is rich in carbon and is produced from organic material such as wood, spent growing media and the woody fraction of green waste. We showed that adding biochar to peat mainly changes the bacterial community, whereas plant fibers and chitin mainly change the fungal community of the growing media. By changing the microbiome of the growing media, these new amendments might reduce the impact of horticulture on the environment and contribute to a circular-based economy

Effect of lignin-rich crop residues on the viability of Verticillium in organic greenhouse soils

Healthy soils are of vital importance for organic greenhouse cultivation. Due to the intensity of the cropping system, soil-borne diseases are of great concern. To achieve a more resilient system, growers use multiple strategies, including resistant rootstocks, organic soil amendments, biological soil disinfestation and plant stimulants. Soil-borne pathogens that form (micro) sclerotia are particularly difficult to manage due to their persistence in soil. Previous studies have shown that incorporation of lignin-rich crop residues can decrease the viability of microsclerotia of Verticillium longisporum in cauliflower fields. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effect of lignin-rich amendments on the microsclerotia of V. dahliae in soils from organic greenhouses with a history of Verticillium wilt in solanaceous crops. In the laboratory, two greenhouse soils (river and sea clay) were mixed with 10% (w/w) broccoli (stem), bristle oat (whole plant), reed (stalks or leaves), Ethiopian mustard (whole plant) and corn (stalks or leaves). In the river clay soil, corn stalks, broccoli stem, reed and bristle oat significantly decreased the amount of viable microsclerotia. In the sea clay soil, only reed leaves and stalks had a significant effect. Only in the sea clay soil, a significant negative correlation was found between the amount of lignin added and the amount of viable microsclerotia detected. These results indicate that in the river clay soil, mechanisms other than lignin may be involved in Verticillium control. Surprisingly, real-time PCR analysis showed that the amount of Verticillium tricorpus was much higher than that of V. dahliae in both soils. Sequencing of a Verticillium strain isolated from the sea clay soil showed that it should be re-classified as Verticillium isaacii (formerly V. tricorpus). It is necessary to investigate the role of these different Verticillium species, before new control measures against Verticillium are further developed

Has compost with biochar applied during the process added value over biochar or compost for increasing soil quality in an arable cropping system?

Previous research showed that adding biochar at the onset of the composting process alleviates this process and reduces emissions. The objective of this study was to evaluate in a field trial whether this compost with biochar applied during the process (i.e., biochar-blended compost) has added value compared to compost or biochar alone on chemical, physical and biological soil properties and crop yield. A single application of biochar, compost and biochar-blended (BB) compost increased the C content of the top soil in the long term, but only compost and biochar-blended compost had a lasting effect on pH and the K content. Two to 4 years after a single application of all three amendments in the field, the soil microbial biomass, richness, diversity and community composition remained unchanged. Due to intensive soil tillage, biochar migrated to subsoil already after 2 growing seasons, thus increasing the C sequestration in subsoil. We conclude that in general, the biochar-blended compost outperformed biochar and had a similar effect as the compost

Dollars and sense: The implications of CEO compensation for organizational performance

Crafting a compensation package for an organization\u27s chief executive officer (CEO) that will help the firm maximize its performance is a vexing challenge for a board of directors. Management theory offers boards several practical hints. A board can put its CEO and the firm in the best position to be successful by (1) creating strong incentives for the CEO to act in the firm\u27s best interest at all times; (2) benchmarking a CEO\u27s performance and compensation relative to that of very high performing CEOs in the industry; (3) diagnosing and responding to CEOs\u27 feelings about equity relative to their peers; (4) paying a CEO with uniquely valuable knowledge, skills, and ability at the top of the market; (5) offering retention incentives if a proven performer with unique skills is leading a company; (6) resisting the temptation to simply mimic the compensation packages that work for leading firms; and (7) considering candidates\u27 social ties when recruiting a new CEO