597 research outputs found
Valuing Fuelwood Resources Using a Site Choice Model of Fuelwood Collection
Resource /Energy Economics and Policy,
Waste Management Behaviour of Households: A Case Study of a Strike in Saskatchewan
Environmental Economics and Policy,
ASSESSING IMPACTS OF ENVIRONMENTAL CHANGE ON ABORIGINAL PEOPLE: AN ECONOMIC EXAMINATION OF SUBSISTENCE RESOURCE USE AND VALUE
The report describes the research design, data collection and preliminary analysis of an economic assessment of non-timber resource use by Aboriginal People in Northwest Saskatchewan. The project is designed to develop methods of valuing resource use by Aboriginal People so that these values can be incorporated into forest resource management decisions and to evaluate the impact of forest management actions on the economic well-being of Aboriginal People living in the region. Data on non-timber resource use are collected and spatially explicit economic models are developed in order to construct estimates of behavioral change and value associated with changes in the environment and landscape (through forestry, access, or other landscape changes).Environmental Economics and Policy, Resource /Energy Economics and Policy,
Bounded Arithmetic in Free Logic
One of the central open questions in bounded arithmetic is whether Buss'
hierarchy of theories of bounded arithmetic collapses or not. In this paper, we
reformulate Buss' theories using free logic and conjecture that such theories
are easier to handle. To show this, we first prove that Buss' theories prove
consistencies of induction-free fragments of our theories whose formulae have
bounded complexity. Next, we prove that although our theories are based on an
apparently weaker logic, we can interpret theories in Buss' hierarchy by our
theories using a simple translation. Finally, we investigate finitistic G\"odel
sentences in our systems in the hope of proving that a theory in a lower level
of Buss' hierarchy cannot prove consistency of induction-free fragments of our
theories whose formulae have higher complexity
Non-market Valuation Biases Due to Aboriginal Cultural Characteristics in Northern Saskatchewan: The Values Structures Component
Current non-market valuation techniques have been developed based on assumptions about values held within the Eurocentred culture. Contentions between cultures over natural resources are hypothesized to occur because of differences in held values resulting in different values being assigned to the resources in question. This study measured the held values of an Aboriginal band in Northern Saskatchewan as the first dimension of a non-market valuation study of natural resources. These held value structures are presented noting differences by age and gender and in comparison with the local Non-Aboriginal community and another Aboriginal group in northern Alberta.Resource /Energy Economics and Policy,
Sustainable Forest Management Preferences of Interest Groups in Three Regions with Different Levels of Industrial Forestry: An Exploratory Attribute-Based Choice Experiment
The challenge of sustainable forest management is to integrate diverse and sometimes conflicting management objectives. In order to achieve this goal, we need a better understanding of the aspects influencing the preferences of diverse groups and how these groups make trade-offs between different attributes of SFM. We compare the SFM preferences of interest groups in regions with different forest use histories based on the reasoning that the condition of the forest reflects the forest use history of the area. The condition of the forest also shapes an individual’s forest values and attitudes. These held values and attitudes are thought to influence SFM preferences. We tested whether the SFM preferences vary amongst the different interest groups within and across regions. We collected data from 252 persons using a choice experiment approach, where participants chose multiple times among different options described by a combination of attributes that are assigned different levels. The novelty of our approach was the use of choice experiments in the assessment of regional preference differences. Given the complexity of interregional comparison and the small sample size, this was an exploratory study based on a purposive rather than random sample. Nevertheless, our results suggest that the aggregation of preferences of all individuals within a region does not reveal all information necessary for forest management planning since opposing viewpoints could cancel each other out and lead to an interpretation that does not reflect possibly polarised views. Although based on a small\ud
sample size, the preferences of interest groups within a region are generally statistically significantly different from each other; however preferences of interest groups across regions are also significantly different. This illustrates the potential importance of assessing heterogeneity by region and by group
Preferences and skills of Indian public sector teachers
With a sample of 700 future public sector primary teachers in India, a Discrete Choice Experiment is used to measure job preferences, particularly regarding location. General skills are also tested. Urban origin teachers and women are more averse to remote locations than rural origin teachers and men respectively. Women would require a 26-73 percent increase in salary for moving to a remote location. The results suggest that existing caste and gender quotas can be detrimental for hiring skilled teachers willing to work in remote locations. The most preferred location is home, which supports decentralised hiring, although this could compromise skills
Species Diversity and Phylogeographical Affinities of the Branchiopoda (Crustacea) of Churchill, Manitoba, Canada
The region of Churchill, Manitoba, contains a wide variety of habitats representative of both the boreal forest and arctic tundra and has been used as a model site for biodiversity studies for nearly seven decades within Canada. Much previous work has been done in Churchill to study the Daphnia pulex species complex in particular, but no study has completed a wide-scale survey on the crustacean species that inhabit Churchill's aquatic ecosystems using molecular markers. We have employed DNA barcoding to study the diversity of the Branchiopoda (Crustacea) in a wide variety of freshwater habitats and to determine the likely origins of the Churchill fauna following the last glaciation. The standard animal barcode marker (COI) was sequenced for 327 specimens, and a 3% divergence threshold was used to delineate potential species. We found 42 provisional and valid branchiopod species from this survey alone, including several cryptic lineages, in comparison with the 25 previously recorded from previous ecological works. Using published sequence data, we explored the phylogeographic affinities of Churchill's branchiopods, finding that the Churchill fauna apparently originated from all directions from multiple glacial refugia (including southern, Beringian, and high arctic regions). Overall, these microcrustaceans are very diverse in Churchill and contain multiple species complexes. The present study introduces among the first sequences for some understudied genera, for which further work is required to delineate species boundaries and develop a more complete understanding of branchiopod diversity over a larger spatial scale
On Combining Stated Preferences and Revealed Preferences Approaches to Evaluate Environmental Resources Having a Recreational Use
This work aims at analysing the value of recreational water uses for the Idro Lake (Lombardy, Northern Italy), which has been experiencing dramatic fluctuations in its levels in recent years, due to excessive productive withdrawal that affected recreational uses. It estimates the economic benefits deriving from recreational uses, by considering the current recreational demand and the hypothetical one obtained by considering an “improved quality” scenario. Through an on-site survey, we built a panel dataset. Following Whitehead et al. (2000) and Hanley et al. (2003) we get welfare estimates by combining SP and RP responses. The present CS is estimated in €134 per individual, whilst the increase in CS is estimated in €173 per individual. These figures can be confronted with the economic value of competitive uses and with the clean up costs, respectively, to infer some policy indications
Functionally Conserved Noncoding Regulators of Cardiomyocyte Proliferation and Regeneration in Mouse and Human
BACKGROUND: The adult mammalian heart has little regenerative
capacity after myocardial infarction (MI), whereas neonatal mouse heart
regenerates without scarring or dysfunction. However, the underlying
pathways are poorly defined. We sought to derive insights into the
pathways regulating neonatal development of the mouse heart and
cardiac regeneration post-MI.
METHODS AND RESULTS: Total RNA-seq of mouse heart through
the first 10 days of postnatal life (referred to as P3, P5, P10) revealed
a previously unobserved transition in microRNA (miRNA) expression
between P3 and P5 associated specifically with altered expression of
protein-coding genes on the focal adhesion pathway and cessation
of cardiomyocyte cell division. We found profound changes in the
coding and noncoding transcriptome after neonatal MI, with evidence
of essentially complete healing by P10. Over two-thirds of each
of the messenger RNAs, long noncoding RNAs, and miRNAs that
were differentially expressed in the post-MI heart were differentially
expressed during normal postnatal development, suggesting a common
regulatory pathway for normal cardiac development and post-MI cardiac
regeneration. We selected exemplars of miRNAs implicated in our data
set as regulators of cardiomyocyte proliferation. Several of these showed
evidence of a functional influence on mouse cardiomyocyte cell division.
In addition, a subset of these miRNAs, miR-144-3p, miR-195a-5p, miR-
451a, and miR-6240 showed evidence of functional conservation in
human cardiomyocytes.
CONCLUSIONS: The sets of messenger RNAs, miRNAs, and long
noncoding RNAs that we report here merit further investigation as
gatekeepers of cell division in the postnatal heart and as targets for
extension of the period of cardiac regeneration beyond the neonatal
period.Leducq Foundation funding via the Transatlantic Network of Excellence (Grant 11CVD01), the British Heart Foundation funding via the Imperial College Centre of Research Excellence and the Imperial Cardiovascular Regenerative Medicine Centre RM/13/1/30157
- …