The Global Organic Food Market and Transformation Deductive Definition of Empiric Indicators The Demand Explanation The Institutional Explanation & Comparative Country Report: Denmark versus Sweden

The present study is part of the project “Public Policies and Demand for Organic Food: An International Comparison of Policy Effects and Policy Determinants” (COP). It is carried out in WP II that concerns the supply-side policies and demand. In the WP it has been an initial task to formulate a theoretical approach as the conceptual framework to be used in comparative studies. The present study represents the first contribution to apply the conceptual framework in an empirical context and here it is the evolution of the organic sectors in Denmark and Sweden that are compared. The study is searching for indicators to explain which factors can explain increase in organic foods production and consumption. It reaches the conclusion that the picture concerning the demand side is very blurred and that it is impossible to reveal which elements are crucial. However, the study also concludes that institutional design and set up seem to be rather crucial for the evolution of the organic sector

Population, sex ratios and Development in Greenland

Abstract During the 20th century, Greenland society experienced a dramatic transformation from scattered settlements based on hunting, with mostly turf dwellings, to an urbanizing post-industrial economy. This transformation compressed socioeconomic development that took centuries to millennia elsewhere into a few generations. The incomplete demographic transition that accompanied this development broadly followed the classical pattern, but with distinctive variations relating to Greenland\u27s Arctic environment, sparse population, and historical interactions between two cultures: an indigenous Inuit majority and an influential Danish minority. One heritage from Danish colonial administration, and continued more recently under Greenland Home Rule, has been the maintenance of population statistics. Time series of demographic indicators, some going back into the 18th century, provide a uniquely detailed view of the rapid hunting-to-post-industrial transition. Changing sex ratios-an early excess of females, shifting more recently to an excess of males-reflect differential impacts of social, economic, and technological developments

Fusion, collapse, and stationary bound states of incoherently coupled waves in bulk cubic media

We study the interaction between two localized waves that propagate in a bulk (two transverse dimensions) Kerr medium, while being incoherently coupled through cross-phase modulation. The different types of stationary solitary wave solutions are found and their stability is discussed. The results of numerical simulations suggest that the solitary waves are unstable. We derive sufficient conditions for when the wave function is bound to collapse or spread out, and we develop a theory to describe the regions of different dynamical behavior. For localized waves with the same center we confirm these sufficient conditions numerically and show that only when the equations and the initial conditions are symmetric are they also close to being necessary conditions. Using Gaussian initial conditions we predict and confirm numerically the power-dependent characteristic initial separations that divide the phase space into collapsing and diffracting solutions, and further divide each of these regions into subregions of coupled (fusion) and uncoupled dynamics. Finally we illustrate how, close to the threshold of collapse, the waves can cross several times before eventually collapsing or diffracting

Evolution of Organic Agriculture within Theoretical Frameworks of Structural Change and Transformation

This dissertation, "Evolution of Organic Agriculture within Frameworks of Structural Change and Transformation", represents a search for an understanding of the phenomenon of "Organic Agriculture". It is structured in six parts. In the first part, we investigate the agricultural economic contributions from different Danish theoretical approaches. These concepts are used as heuristic frameworks. We argue for a deductive study and a long-term approach. Using Denmark as example, the postulate is that agriculture has experienced three transformations since the end of the 18th century. This is why the theoretical concept of transformation is included. These considerations lead us to formulate the research question, How is it possible to understand the evolution of the phenomenon of organic agriculture from an economic theoretical perspective and within the framework of long-term agricultural structural change and transformation

The Global Organic Food Market and Transformation. A Conceptual Theoretical Framework

The present study is part of the project “Public Policies and Demand for Organic Food: An International Comparison of Policy Effects and Policy Determinants” (COP). It is carried out in WP II that concerns the supply-side policies and demand. In the WP it is an initial task to formulate a theoretical approach as the conceptual framework to be used in comparative studies. The present study will be the foundation for the conceptual framework. It investigates contributions from various economic theories and extracts core theoretical fragments into a framework suitable for analysing the evolution of organic agriculture. In the conclusion the study is presenting a basis for indicators that can be used for comparative studies. It is underlined that the indicators are tentative and that they have to be tested and adjusted in future studies

West Greenland\u27s Cod-to-Shrimp Transition: Local Dimensions of Climatic Change

Abstract West Greenland\u27s transition from a cod-fishing to a shrimp-fishing economy, ca. 1960-90, provides a case study in the human dimensions of climatic change. Physical, biological, and social systems interacted in complex ways to affect coastal communities. For this integrated case study, we examine linkages between atmospheric conditions (including the North Atlantic Oscillation), ocean circulation, ecosystem conditions, fishery activities, and the livelihoods and population changes of two West Greenland towns: Sisimiut, south of Disko Bay, and Paamiut, on the southwest coast. Sisimiut prospered as a fishing center through the cod-to-shrimp transition. Paamiut, more specialized in cod fishing, declined. Their stories suggest two general propositions about the human dimensions of climatic change. First, socially important environmental changes result not simply from climatic change, but from interactions between climate, ecosystem, and resource usage. Second, environmental changes affect people differentially and through interactions with social factors. Social networks and cohesion (social capital) are important, in addition to skills (human capital), investments (physical capital), and alternative resources (natural capital): all shape how the benefits and costs are distributed

Generic features of modulational instability in nonlocal Kerr media

The modulational instability (MI) of plane waves in nonlocal Kerr media is studied for a general, localized, response function. It is shown that there always exists a finite number of well-separated MI gain bands, with each of them characterised by a unique maximal growth rate. This is a general property and is demonstrated here for the Gaussian, exponential, and rectangular response functions. In case of a focusing nonlinearity it is shown that although the nonlocality tends to suppress MI, it can never remove it completely, irrespectively of the particular shape of the response function. For a defocusing nonlinearity the stability properties depend sensitively on the profile of the response function. It is shown that plane waves are always stable for response functions with a positive-definite spectrum, such as Gaussians and exponentials. On the other hand, response functions whose spectra change sign (e.g., rectangular) will lead to MI in the high wavenumber regime, provided the typical length scale of the response function exceeds a certain threshold. Finally, we address the case of generalized multi-component response functions consisting of a weighted sum of N response functions with known properties.Comment: 9 pages, 5 figure

Weather and resource information as tools for dealing with farmer–pastoralist conflicts in the Sahel

Conflicts between pastoralists and farmers in the Sahel mainly arise from competition over land and water resources or because of livestock damage to crops. Rather than being linked to larger environmental change processes such as climate change, conflicts are often caused by inappropriate zoning of land, governance and unequal power relations between stakeholders. However, conflicts may be affected by more short-term weather and resource information that guide mobility of pastoralists. In this paper, we therefore explore if improved weather and resource information and improvement in its communication could prevent conflicts or reduce their severity. Based on a survey of key stakeholders involved in dissemination of weather and resource information and studies on pastoral access to and use of information, we conclude that improved information may both reduce and increase the level of conflict, depending on the context. Communication of information will need to go beyond just the weather and resource information and also include the multiple options for herd movements as well as providing information on herd crowding and potential conflict areas

Forward modelling of seismic response from North Sea Chalk

Seismic inversion has become a standard tool for porosity prediction in chalk exploration and field development. AVO (amplitude versus offset) processing for fluid prediction is, however, still not widely applied in chalk. Forward modelling may help to assess the value of acquiring these data, as well as support subsequent interpretation. This paper presents a forward modelling tool to simulate seismic response resulting from changes in degree of compaction and fluid contents in profiles. Modelling is carried out with software developed by Norsk Hydro A/S (the Compound Model Builder), where the Geological Survey of Denmark and Greenland has supplied special capabilities to model North Sea Chalk. The forward modelling is illustrated with a seismic line straddling the Dan and Halfdan chalk fields (Fig. 1). Hydrocarbons are found in the uppermost Danian and Maastrichtian chalk where porosity may exceed 30%. Production takes place from wells centred on an anticline in the Dan Field, and although structural closure is lacking for the Halfdan Field, a surprising laterally continuous oil column is found between the two fields (e.g. Jacobsen et al. 1999; Albrechtsen et al. 2001). The modelling target is the effect on seismic data of such oil occurrences. The rather subtle impact on rock properties requires very realistic and detailed modelling. Fortunately, the pelagic deep-water origin of the chalk makes it very uniform laterally, such that compaction effects and fluid changes handled by the modelling tool account for lateral seismic changes, whereas well data support vertical changes