Linking Farm and Market Models to Analyse the Effects of the EU Nitrate Directive for the Dutch Agricultural Sector

This paper presents a modeling system that can be used to analyze the trade off between economy and environment. It takes into account manure policy, farm structure and manure surpluses at farm level as well as the economic effects of manure surpluses at market level. The modeling system consists of two models that are linked to each other by at the one-hand manure prices and distribution of manure over different destinations and at the other hand changes in agricultural and total manure production. One model is the so-called Manure and Ammonia Model (MAM). This model calculates manure surpluses and deficits at the farm level and distribution of manure to own farm, own region, other regions, export abroad and processing at the regional level. Moreover, MAM also calculates ammonia emissions coming from different sources. The second model is a market model that includes the most important agricultural markets. The models are calibrated for 2002. The modeling system is tested to analyze the effects of sharpened manure policies until 2006.farm models, market models, manure, economy, policy, Agricultural and Food Policy,

The macroeconomic effects of banking crises: evidence from the United Kingdom, 1750–1938

This paper analyses the macroeconomic effects of banking crises in the United Kingdom between 1750 and 1938. We construct a new annual chronology of banking crises, which we define as episodes of runs and panics combined with significant, geographically-dispersed failures and suspensions. Using a vector autoregression, we find that banking crises are associated with short, sharp and significant drops in economic growth. Using the narrative record to identify plausibly exogenous variation, we show that this finding is robust to potential endogeneity

The fighting manner of javelin-men and other light troops and their effectiveness in Greek warfare from the beginning of the Peloponnesian War to the Second Battle of Mantinea

"And when one of the Athenian allies afterwards once sneeringly asked one of the prisoners from the island [of Sphacteria] if those dead were fair and brave, he answered him that the spindle, meaning the arrow, would be worth much if it picked out the brave." Many of the hoplites who fought and died in the Peloponnesian War and in the various protracted struggles of the fourth century would have sympathised with the Lacedaemonian's bleak joke. Warfare in this period changed profoundly for hoplites in comparison to the previous two hundred years. Unlike their ancestors hoplites now rarely struggled against one another in pitched battles. Instead they more often had to contend with lightly armed infantrymen in skirmishes fought in a variety of terrain, from the steep and woody mountains of Acamania and Aetolia to the plains of Boeotia and Corinth. In such terrain hoplites could also stumble into ambushes laid by light troops, or could be roused from their beds when the latter attacked at night. This thesis is an attempt to reconstruct this battlefield environment, to show what it was like for light troops and hoplites to fight in such encounters. I hope to illustrate in detail the fighting manner of light troops and to show the strengths and weaknesses which both they and hoplites faced in such circumstances. Finally, I will try to indicate how effective light troops were in such attacks against hoplites. Though "light troops" encompasses slingers, archers, stone-throwers, and javelin-men, attention will be focussed in particular on javelin-men (especially peltasts) since they were the most common type of lightly armed infantryman employed in Greek warfare during this period

An implementation plan for priorities in solar-system space physics

The scientific objectives and implementation plans and priorities of the Space Science Board in areas of solar physics, heliospheric physics, magnetospheric physics, upper atmosphere physics, solar-terrestrial coupling, and comparative planetary studies are discussed and recommended programs are summarized. Accomplishments of Skylab, Solar Maximum Mission, Nimbus-7, and 11 other programs are highlighted. Detailed mission plans in areas of solar and heliospheric physics, plasma physics, and upper atmospheric physics are also described

Establishment guide for sub-tropical grasses : key steps to success

Sub-tropical perennial grasses are now widely sown in the Northern Agricultural region (NAR) and on the south coast of Western Australia (WA). Since 2000, more than 50 000 ha have been sown to perennial grasses in the NAR and about 150 000 ha on the south coast, mainly kikuyu.https://researchlibrary.agric.wa.gov.au/bulletins/1034/thumbnail.jp

A Method to Extract Potentials from the Temperature Dependence of Langmuir Constants for Clathrate-Hydrates

It is shown that the temperature dependence of Langmuir constants contains all the information needed to determine spherically averaged intermolecular potentials. An analytical ``inversion'' method based on the standard statistical model of van der Waals and Platteeuw is presented which extracts cell potentials directly from experimental data. The method is applied to ethane and cyclopropane clathrate-hydrates, and the resulting potentials are much simpler and more meaningful than those obtained by the usual method of numerical fitting with Kihara potentials.Comment: 33 pages, 7 figures, to appear in Physica

Extensive core microbiome in drone-captured whale blow supports a framework for health monitoring

© The Author(s), 2017. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License. The definitive version was published in mSystems 2 (2017): e00119-17, doi:10.1128/mSystems.00119-17.The pulmonary system is a common site for bacterial infections in cetaceans, but very little is known about their respiratory microbiome. We used a small, unmanned hexacopter to collect exhaled breath condensate (blow) from two geographically distinct populations of apparently healthy humpback whales (Megaptera novaeangliae), sampled in the Massachusetts coastal waters off Cape Cod (n = 17) and coastal waters around Vancouver Island (n = 9). Bacterial and archaeal small-subunit rRNA genes were amplified and sequenced from blow samples, including many of sparse volume, as well as seawater and other controls, to characterize the associated microbial community. The blow microbiomes were distinct from the seawater microbiomes and included 25 phylogenetically diverse bacteria common to all sampled whales. This core assemblage comprised on average 36% of the microbiome, making it one of the more consistent animal microbiomes studied to date. The closest phylogenetic relatives of 20 of these core microbes were previously detected in marine mammals, suggesting that this core microbiome assemblage is specialized for marine mammals and may indicate a healthy, noninfected pulmonary system. Pathogen screening was conducted on the microbiomes at the genus level, which showed that all blow and few seawater microbiomes contained relatives of bacterial pathogens; no known cetacean respiratory pathogens were detected in the blow. Overall, the discovery of a shared large core microbiome in humpback whales is an important advancement for health and disease monitoring of this species and of other large whales.Funding for sample analysis was provided through a grant to A.A., M.J.M., and J.W.D. from the Ocean Life Institute of the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution. Attachments for collection surfaces on the hexacopter were constructed with funding support from NOAA’s UAS Program

Sheep Updates 2007 - part 3

This session covers seven papers from different authors: PROFITABILITY 1. Benchmarking demonstrates both the potential and realised productivity gains in the sheep and wool industry, Andrew Ritchie, Edward Riggall and James Hall, ICON Agriculture, Darkan 2. Improving sheep genetics will increase farm profitability, Gus Rose, Johan Greeff Department of Agriculture and Food Western Australia, John Young Farming Systems Analysis Service, WA 3. Meat, Merinos and making money in WA Pastoral Zone, M. Alchin, M. Young and T. Johnson, Department of Agriculture and Food Western Australia, GRAZING 4. Nitrogen - farmers\u27 friend or foe? John Lucy and Martin Staines, Department of Agriculture and Food Western Australia 5. Drought proofing grazing systems - a case study from Binnu 2006/7, Tim Wiley & Rob Grima, Department of Agriculture & Food Western Australia 6. Minimising \u27Esperance Storm\u27 livestock losses, Sandra Prosser and Matt Ryan, Department of Agriculture and Food Western Australia 7. Sub-tropical grasses in WA - what is their potential? Geoff Moore, Tony Albertsen, Department of Agriculture & Food Western Australia, Phil Barrett-Lennard, Evergreen Farming, George Woolston, John Titterington, Department of Agriculture and Food Western Australia, Sarah Knight, Irwin-Mingenew Group, Brianna Peake, Liebe Group, Buntine, W

Internet: An Overview of Six Key Policy Issues Affecting Its Use and Growth

Report to Congress on the internet in the closing years of the twentieth century, including discussions on encryption, security, privacy, computer fraud, and more

Internet: An Overview of Key Technology Policy Issues Affecting Its Use and Growth

This report gives an overview of key technology policy issues of internet affecting its use and growth