The conditions for functional mechanisms of compensation and reward for environmental services

Mechanisms of compensation and reward for environmental services (CRES) are becoming increasingly contemplated as means for managing human–environment interactions. Most of the functional mechanisms in the tropics have been developed within the last 15 years; many developing countries still have had little experience with functional mechanisms. We consider the conditions that foster the origin and implementation of functional mechanisms. Deductive and inductive approaches are combined. Eight hypotheses are derived from theories of institution and policy change. Five case studies, from Latin America, Africa, and Asia, are then reviewed according to a common framework. The results suggest the following to be important conditions for functional CRES mechanisms: (1) localized scarcity for particular environmental services, (2) influence from international environmental agreements and international organizations, (3) government policies and public attitudes favoring a mixture of regulatory and marketbased instruments, and (4) security of individual and group property rights

Ingeniería del conocimiento y conocimiento Ordinario.

Sin resume

Producing ultrashort, ultraintense plasma-based soft-x-ray laser pulses by high-harmonic seeding.

Simulations show that intense plasma-amplified pulses of 100 fs duration and below are feasible by seeding specifically tailored plasma with an ultrashort pulse of high harmonic radiation. Seeding overcomes gain narrowing by driving amplifying media into saturation earlier, and compensates for reduced gain resulting from boosting the lasing transition linewidth. We conclude that ultrahigh intensities (above 1016 W cm-2) could be reached

Duality Symmetry in Kaluza-Klein n+D+dn+D+d Dimensional Cosmological Model

It is shown that, with the only exception of $n=2$, the Einstein-Hilbert action in $n+D+d$ dimensions, with $n$ times, is invariant under the duality transformation $a\to \frac{1}{a}$ and $b\to \frac{1}{b}$, where $a$ is a Friedmann-Robertson-Walker scale factor in $D$ dimensions and $b$ a Brans-Dicke scalar field in $d$ dimensions respectively. We investigate the $2+D+d$ dimensional cosmological model in some detail.Comment: 23 pages, Late

Swine production simulation model: LIFE SIM

Supported by the CGIAR Systemwide Livestock ProgrammeNon-ruminant animals are essential in many resource-poor production systems, particularly in Asia. The feeding strategies are as varied as the different agro ecosystems, thus increasing the challenge faced by researchers and extension agents in the search for appropriate solutions to feeding limitations. Systems analysis provides a unique opportunity to translate existing knowledge into process-based models that can be used to assess year-round feeding strategies at the farm level. Although livestock models have been developed to address similar situations for ruminant animals, swine are seldom included. The present work describes a swine model that analyzes the bioeconomic response to feeding strategies in different production systems. This swine model has been incorporated into the software Livestock Feeding Strategies Simulation Model (LIFE-SIM) complementing the existing models for ruminant species: Dairy, Beef, Goat, and Buffalo (León-Velarde et al., 2006) The model simulates a confined group of animals (at least two females or males) with a weight ranging from 15 to 120 kg, under either an ad libitum or controlled feeding regime with a feed value characterized in terms of dry matter (%), metabolizable energy (ME/kg), crude fiber (%), lysine (%), methionine + cystine (%), threonine (%), and tryptophan (%). The model can store a number of different rations and their prices allowing a comparison during a defined fattening period. Weight gain and the bioeconomic performance of each ration can then be estimated and analyzed

Links across disabilities:unveiling associations between functional domains

Background: Persons with disabilities experience higher risks of mortality as well as poorer health as compared to the general population. The aim of this study is to estimate the correlations between functional difficulties across several domains in six countries. Methods: National census data with questions on disability from six countries (Mauritius, Morocco, Senegal, Myanmar, Vietnam, and Uruguay) was used in this study. We performed logistic regressions to assess the extent to which having a functional difficulty in one domain is correlated with having a functional difficulty in each of the other domains and report weighted odds ratios (ORs) overall and within age-groups (‘18–44’ years and ‘45+’ years). Models adjust for age, sex, and location (rural or urban). Sensitivity analyses around different choices of predictors and response variables were conducted. Findings: For all countries, reporting a functional difficulty in one domain was consistently and significantly positively correlated with reporting a functional difficulty in other domains (overall) and for each of the two age-groups considered - ‘18–44’ years and ‘45+’ years. All ORs were greater than one. Cognition, mobility, and hearing were the domains that were the most correlated ones with other domains. The highest pairwise correlations were for i/ hearing and cognition; ii/ mobility and cognition. Results were robust to changing the severity thresholds for functional difficulties. Across countries, Uruguay, the only high-income country among the six countries under study, had the lowest correlations between functional domains. Conclusions: There are consistent positive associations in the experience of functional difficulties in various domains in the six countries under study. Such correlations may reflect barriers to social services including healthcare services and resources (e.g. assistive devices) that may lead to an avoidable deterioration of functioning across domains. Further research is needed on the trajectories of functional difficulties and on structural barriers that people with functional difficulties may experience in their communities and in healthcare settings in particular. This is important as some functional difficulties may be preventable.</p

Intracolonial differences in the infestation by Haemoproteus lari on Yellow-legged Gulls Larus cachinnans

The prevalence and intensity of Haemoproteus lari infestation were studied in a colony of Yellow-legged Gulls (Larus cachinnans) on the Medes Islands (NE Spain) during 1994 and 1995. Prevalence did not differ between years, sexes, clutch sizes or nesting habitats . More heavily infected females tended to lay smaller clutches and to be in a leaner body condition; in males, intensity of parasites was unrelated to their clutch size and their body condition. These results are partially consistent with the detrimental effect of blood parasites, but also with a tendency for stressed birds to relapse . Intensity of parasitemia differed both between years and among nesting habitats of the gullery, probably as a result of differences in bird quality at the time of sampling. We suggest that these effects should be controlled for in studies dealing with parasites in colonial nesting birds