Nature, Place, and Story: Rethinking Historic Sites in Canada by Claire Campbell

Review of Claire Campbell\u27s Nature, Place, and Story: Rethinking Historic Sites in Canada

The Private Value of Public Pensions

As individual retirement savings accounts replace public pensions and defined benefit schemes, more retirees will decumulate using commercial income streams rather than public or corporate annuities. Here we use an approximation to the retirement income problem [Huang, H., Milevsky, M.A., Wang, J., 2004. Ruined moments in your life: How good are the approximations? Insurance: Math. Econom. 34, 421447] to compute the cost of replicating a public real life annuity (the Australian Age Pension) using commercial decumulation products. We treat the public pension as a phased withdrawal plan, matching insurance and payment features, and back out the stochastic present value of the plan under an arbitrarily small ruin probability. To reproduce the pension payment with 99% certainty, a male retiree needs 3.6 times the current average retirement savings account balance, and a female retiree needs more than 10 times the average female account balance. At 95% certainty, required wealth falls by around 25%. We measure separately the impact of gender, investment strategy, retirement age and management fees on this valuatio

Nitrogen Fertilizer and Irrigation Effects on Seed Yield and Oil in Camelina

Interest is growing in camelina (Camelina sativa L. Crantz) as a biofuel feedstock. However, there has been little camelina research in irrigated arid systems. A 2-yr field study in Maricopa, AZ, under an overhead sprinkler irrigation system determined the effects of 10 water levels (irrigation fraction 0.5–1.1) and five N fertilizer rates (38–150 kg N ha–1) on seed yield, seed oil content, and N use efficiency. Cultivar Robinson was planted in December 2012 and 2013. Nitrogen fertilizer (urea ammonium nitrate) was applied in three split applications. Irrigation amounts were from 125 to 380 mm, and in-season rain was 70 and 50 mm, in 2013 and 2014, respectively. Camelina seed yields were maximum at water level 7 (irrigation fraction 0.93) in 2013 at 1800 kg ha–1. Maximum seed yields were 1600 kg ha–1 at water level 6 (irrigation fraction 0.83) in 2014. These highest seed yields were achieved with 150 kg N ha–1 in both years. Oil content (maximum 41%) decreased with N rate but increased with water level. Seed N increased with N rate but decreased with irrigation level. Recovery efficiency of N fertilizer by camelina ranged from 12 to 72%. The results indicate that good high-oil camelina yields can be produced in the southwestern United States with 320 to 380 mm irrigation plus rain and N fertilizer rates of 150 kg N ha–1

Using scenarios to explore UK upland futures

Uplands around the world are facing significant social, economic and environmental changes, and decision-makers need to better understand what the future may hold if they are to adapt and maintain upland goods and services. This paper draws together all major research comprising eight studies that have used scenarios to describe possible futures for UK uplands. The paper evaluates which scenarios are perceived by stakeholders to be most likely and desirable, and assesses the benefits and drawbacks of the scenario methods used in UK uplands to date. Stakeholders agreed that the most desirable and likely scenario would be a continuation of hill farming (albeit at reduced levels) based on cross-compliance with environmental measures. The least desirable scenario is a withdrawal of government financial support for hill farming. Although this was deemed by stakeholders to be the least likely scenario, the loss of government support warrants close attention due to its potential implications for the local economy. Stakeholders noted that the environmental implications of this scenario are much less clear-cut. As such, there is an urgent need to understand the full implications of this scenario, so that upland stakeholders can adequately prepare, and policy-makers can better evaluate the likely implications of different policy options. The paper concludes that in future, upland scenario research needs to: (1) better integrate in-depth and representative participation from stakeholders during both scenario development and evaluation; and (2) make more effective use of visualisation techniques and simulation models

Designing for the End of Life of IoT Objects

The Internet of Things (IoT) and ubiquitous computing are leading to an increase in objects with a short lifespan - either through breakage, “bricking” by the manufacturer, or discontinued use by the owner. This leads to a surplus of material and e-waste that cannot or is not readily recycled, upcycled or otherwise reused, aggravating material scarcity. In part, this is due to custom-built hardware, and use of unrecyclable materials. However, it is also due to the limited value people place on these objects (e.g., sentimental and environmental). This one-day workshop will explore how the configuration of values designed into IoT objects influences the end-user practices of disposal, recycling and upcycling. Through this lens, we will collectively consider potential design strategies that can be instilled during the process of design, to support the continuity of the material life of IoT objects after their “death”

Resolution of the clinical features of tyrosinemia following orthotopic liver transplantation for hepatoma

The clinical history before transplantation and subsequent clinical and biochemical course of 3 children and one adult with hereditary tyrosinemia treated by orthotopic hepatic transplantation is described. All four patients are now free of their previous dietary restrictions and appear to be cured of both their metabolic disease and their hepatic neoplasm. © 1986 Elsevier Science Publishers B.V. All rights reserved