Classifying Ecosystem Services for Economic Valuation: The case of forest water services

Since the release of the Millennium Ecosystem Approach (MEA), the number of studies valuing ecosystem services has grown. As a consequence of this growing literature, different interpretations exist on the classification of services as derived from MEA, and several studies have argued that this may not be the most appropriate framework when the aim of the analysis is economic valuation. The present paper contributes to this debate by reviewing and comparing these critical views in order firstly to clarify the existing confusion in the terminology and interpretations; and secondly to shed some light on a desirable classification and conceptualization of ecosystem services for valuation. To illustrate this, we present an examination of existing primary valuation studies of water related services provided by tropical forests, which we analyze under the MEA classification framework and compare it with an output-based classification, in which the service is defined in terms of its benefits (outputs) to humans. Our results support the idea that an output-based classification should provide more accurate values and could help avoid certain problems such as double accounting and potential underestimation of services values.ecosystem services, Millennium Ecosystems Approach, water services, tropical forests

Alien Registration- Martin, Aline (Van Buren, Aroostook County)

https://digitalmaine.com/alien_docs/33140/thumbnail.jp

Directional and singular surface plasmon generation in chiral and achiral nanostructures demonstrated by Leakage Radiation Microscopy

In this paper, we describe the implementation of leakage radiation microscopy (LRM) to probe the chirality of plasmonic nanostructures. We demonstrate experimentally spin-driven directional coupling as well as vortex generation of surface plasmon polaritons (SPPs) by nanostructures built with T-shaped and $\Lambda$- shaped apertures. Using this far-field method, quantitative inspections, including directivity and extinction ratio measurements, are achieved via polarization analysis in both image and Fourier planes. To support our experimental findings, we develop an analytical model based on a multidipolar representation of $\Lambda$- and T-shaped aperture plasmonic coupler allowing a theoretical explanation of both directionality and singular SPP formation. Furthermore, the roles of symmetry breaking and phases are emphasized in this work. This quantitative characterization of spin-orbit interactions paves the way for developing new directional couplers for subwavelength routing

Classifying Ecosystem Services for Economic Valuation: The case of forest water services

30 p.Since the release of the Millennium Ecosystem Approach (MEA), the number of studies valuing ecosystem services has grown. As a consequence of this growing literature, different interpretations exist on the classification of services as derived from MEA, and several studies have argued that this may not be the most appropriate framework when the aim of the analysis is economic valuation. The present paper contributes to this debate by reviewing and comparing these critical views in order firstly to clarify the existing confusion in the terminology and interpretations; and secondly to shed some light on a desirable classification and conceptualization of ecosystem services for valuation. To illustrate this, we present an examination of existing primary valuation studies of water related services provided by tropical forests, which we analyze under the MEA classification framework and compare it with an output-based classification, in which the service is defined in terms of its benefits (outputs) to humans. Our results support the idea that an output-based classification should provide more accurate values and could help avoid certain problems such as double accounting and potential underestimation of services values

Economic Valuation of Ecosystem Services: Conflicts in Classification

4 p.Since the release of the Millennium Ecosystem Approach (MA), studies valuing ecosystem services have grown in the literature. As a consequence, different interpretations exist on the classification of services, and several studies have argued that the classification of services MEA proposes may not be the most appropriate when the aim of the analysis is economic valuation. To illustrate this, we conducted an examination of existing primary valuation studies of water related services provided by tropical forests, that we analyzed under the MA classification and compared with an output-based classification. Our results support the idea that an output-based classification should provide with more accurate values and could contribute to avoid certain problems such as double counting and potential underestimation of services values

Vibrational Satellites of C2_2S, C3_3S, and C4_4S: Microwave Spectral Taxonomy as a Stepping Stone to the Millimeter-Wave Band

We present a microwave spectral taxonomy study of several hydrocarbon/CS$_2$ discharge mixtures in which more than 60 distinct chemical species, their more abundant isotopic species, and/or their vibrationally excited states were detected using chirped-pulse and cavity Fourier-transform microwave spectroscopies. Taken together, in excess of 85 unique variants were detected, including several new isotopic species and more than 25 new vibrationally excited states of C$_2$S, C$_3$S, and C$_4$S, which have been assigned on the basis of published vibration-rotation interaction constants for C$_3$S, or newly calculated ones for C$_2$S and C$_4$S. On the basis of these precise, low-frequency measurements, several vibrationally exited states of C$_2$S and C$_3$S were subsequently identified in archival millimeter-wave data in the 253--280 GHz frequency range, ultimately providing highly accurate catalogs for astronomical searches. As part of this work, formation pathways of the two smaller carbon-sulfur chains were investigated using $^{13}$C isotopic spectroscopy, as was their vibrational excitation. The present study illustrates the utility of microwave spectral taxonomy as a tool for complex mixture analysis, and as a powerful and convenient `stepping stone' to higher frequency measurements in the millimeter and submillimeter bands.Comment: Accepted in PCC

Crystal structure of a novel (R)-selective amine transaminase and approaches to broaden its substrate scope by rational engineering

We recently identified a novel (R)-selective amine transaminase (ATA); now we want to broaden its substrate scope since ATAs are promising biocatalysts for the production of chiral amines [1]. In general, aminotransferases are pyridoxal-5′-phosphate (PLP)-dependent enzymes, which reversibly catalyze the transfer of an amino group from an amino donor to a ketone or aldehyde, resulting in the formation of chiral amines. The conversion of bulky ketones to amines is especially interesting because they serve as drug-precursors. In most cases, bulky ketones are not naturally converted. For this reason, protein engineering methods are applied. There are two approaches: random and rational. While we also use the random approach, rational engineering seems to be more effective for our purpose. We use the protein crystal structure to predict impactful amino acid exchanges to improve transamination activity. In this work, we present the characteristics of our novel (R)-selective ATA and show its crystal structure with the PLP bound to the active site lysine. Furthermore, we compare our ATA to existing (R)‑selective ATA structures [2] and explain our approach to broaden the substrate scope by rational engineering. Please click Additional Files below to see the full abstract

Digital Rights to the City: Local Practices and Negotiations of Urban Space on Decidim

The organization, management, and production of urban space through digital information and communication technologies have become a central means for governing urban life. To overcome a lack of citizen-centered practices in today's smart cities, governments and municipalities institutionalize citizen-centered digital infrastructures such as Decidim, a digital infrastructure proposing non-corporate, decentralized, and collaborative forms of digital production to evoke participatory governance practices and ultimately social transformation (Barandiaran et al., 2018). Swiss city administrations have adapted the Decidim platform for participatory budgeting processes and city-wide participation platforms since 2019. This article explores the process of institutional adoption, focusing on how the use of Decidim impacts local practices and negotiations for governing urban space. The examination of the Decidim platform in the Swiss cities of Zurich and Lucerne will be framed by re-conceptualizing Lefebvre's right to the city in the age of digital transformation. The findings show that for a successful introduction of the Decidim platform based on principles of the right to the city (a) local needs for a new digital democratic instrument need to be pre-existent, (b) government employees must implement a scope of action which allows organized civil society and grassroots initiatives to appropriate the infrastructure for their own purposes, and (c) local practices of hybrid communication and organizing must be aligned with the structure of the platform. Nevertheless, digital participation tools such as Decidim cannot solve entrenched inequalities such as the financialization of land, the issue of disadvantaged neighborhoods, or the absence of voting rights for certain communities. Therefore, city administrations need to integrate hybrid participation strategies which prioritise collective power over distributive power as well as tackle urban inequalities through political means

Decoding the precision of historical temperature observations

Historical observations of temperature underpin our ability to monitor Earth’s climate. We identify a pervasive issue in archived observations from surface stations, wherein the use of varying conventions for units and precision has led to distorted distributions of the data. Apart from the original precision being generally unknown, the majority of archived temperature data are found to be misaligned with the original measurements because of rounding on a Fahrenheit scale, conversion to Celsius, and re-rounding. Furthermore, we show that commonly used statistical methods including quantile regression are sensitive to the finite precision and to double-rounding of the data after unit conversion. To remedy these issues, we present a Hidden Markov Model that uses the differing frequencies of specific recorded values to recover the most likely original precision and units associated with each observation. This precision-decoding algorithm is used to infer the precision of the 644 million daily surface temperature observations in the Global Historical Climate Network database, providing more accurate values for the 63% of samples found to have been biased by double-rounding. The average absolute bias correction across the dataset is 0.018 ◦C, and the average inferred precision is 0.41 ◦C, even though data are archived at 0.1 ◦C precision. These results permit better inference of when record temperatures occurred, correction of rounding effects, and identification of inhomogeneities in surface temperature time series, amongst other applications. The precision-decoding algorithm is generally applicable to rounded observations–including surface pressure, humidity, precipitation, and other temperature data–thereby offering the potential to improve quality-control procedures for many datasets.Earth and Planetary Science