(WP 2005-05) Assessing the Determinants of Willingness to Pay for Urban Flood Control: The Role of Locational, Demographic and Attitudinal Factors

The urbanization of urban watersheds can influence flooding risks. Traditional Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) flood risk maps identify 100 year floodplains. These maps are updated infrequently. However, as a community urbanizes, flood risks can change, especially for downstream residents. Thus, one would expect that the willingness to pay (WTP) to prevent the worsening of flooding risk would depend in part on the location of the household in the community and their associated flooding risk. Economists and regional scientists have evaluated the role played by traditional demographic factors. However, attitudinal factors measuring community norms, political philosophy, and other psychological factors that may be unique to the individual have not received the same level of scrutiny. Milwaukee, WI has experienced major flooding events, classified as floods with an expected frequency of once every 100 years or less, in 1986 and most recently in 1997 and 1998. In this study, 1000 residents of the Menomonee watershed in Milwaukee were interviewed in a two-wave panel survey (i.e., telephone interviews took place in 2000 and 2001) to determine their willingness to pay for a referendum which would prevent flood risks from worsening. The interviews queried respondents about their attitudes concerning flooding and ecological risks, political beliefs, information seeking behavior, and other psychological factors unique to the respondent. Information was also gathered on demographic characteristics of the respondent, and also that individuals address. The address was geocoded and hydrologic modeling was used to determine the unique flood risk associated with the residence. A willingness to pay function was estimated using Tobit analysis. Preliminary findings indicated that all three categories of factors influence willingness to pay, with psychological factors and flood risk factors having a relatively strong impact on willingness to pay

Urban Watershed/Water Body Restoration - The Driving Forces

Urban streams are used for several purposes. Some uses are conflicting and some are complementary. The use of urban water bodies and the resolution of conflicts is driven by anthropogenic and biocentric/ecocentric interests that must be optimized and the conflicts resolved. This article examines and analyzes land ethics (biocentric) and socio-economic (anthropocentric) drives for stream restoration of urban watersheds located in the Milwaukee (WI) metropolitan area. The basins experienced increased flooding, significant degradation of sediment and water quality, and loss of aquatic species, all due to urbanization. It was found that the primary drivers for restoration of urban streams are the ethical attitudes of population towards the ecocentric benefits of restoration in combination with a desire for flood control. A Contingent Valuation Survey of citizens residing in two Milwaukee watersheds revealed that those who see the watershed in ecocentric terms appear to have a greater Willingness to Pay for watershed/water body improvements than those who see the benefits solely in anthropogenic terms of reduction of flood damages

Risk Based Urban Watershed Management Under Conflicting Objectives

Ecological impairment and flooding caused by urbanization can be expressed numerically by calculating the risks throughout the watershed (floodplain) and along the main stems of the streams. The risks can be evaluated in terms of the present and/or future. This article describes the methodologies for ascertaining the risks in the Geographical Information Systems (GIS) environment. The objectives of urban flood controls and ecological preservation/restoration of urban waters are often conflicting and, in the past, the sole emphasis on flood control led to destruction of habitat and deterioration of water quality. An optimal solution to these two problems may be achieved by linking the risks to the concepts of risk communication, risk perception, and public willingness to pay for projects leading to ecological restoration and ecologically sustainable flood control. This method is appropriate because, in each case, public funds are used and the projects require approval and backing of policy makers and stakeholders. This article briefly describes a research project that attempts to resolve the conflict between the flood protection and stream ecological preservation and restoration and suggests alternative ways of expressing benefits of urban stream flood control and restoration projects

Summary of the Bedrock Geology of Dover-Exeter-Portsmouth Region, Southeastern New Hampshire

New England Intercollegiate Geological Conference: Southeastern New Hampshire, October 13, and 14, 1956: A - - Paleozoic Tri

Texts, Scribes and Literary Traditions

This general paper provides a very brief introduction to the textual sources and the scribes who wrote them, as well as give some information on historical events and personal interests of the kings that appear to have impacted the content and nature of the source material. Although the Neo-Assyrian period starts in earnest with Ashurnsirpal II, this contribution covers only the very end of the eighth century and most of the seventh century, thus limiting itself to the reigns of Sennacherib, Esarhaddon, and Ashurbanipal, as well as their four lesser-known successors

Whole-ecosystem experimental manipulations of tropical forests.

Tropical forests are highly diverse systems involving extraordinary numbers of interactions between species, with each species responding in a different way to the abiotic environment. Understanding how these systems function and predicting how they respond to anthropogenic global change is extremely challenging. We argue for the necessity of 'whole-ecosystem' experimental manipulations, in which the entire ecosystem is targeted, either to reveal the functioning of the system in its natural state or to understand responses to anthropogenic impacts. We survey the current range of whole-ecosystem manipulations, which include those targeting weather and climate, nutrients, biotic interactions, human impacts, and habitat restoration. Finally we describe the unique challenges and opportunities presented by such projects and suggest directions for future experiments.This review was initiated during a symposium on ‘The effects of large scale manipulations of tropical forests on arthropod assemblages’ at the INTECOL 2013 congress, London 18–23 August 2013. T.M.F. is funded by the Australian Research Council (DP140101541), T.M.F. and R.M.E. by Yayasan Sime Darby, TMF and Y.B. by the project Biodiversity of Forest Ecosystems (CZ.1.07/2.3.00/20.0064) co-financed by the European Social Fund and the state budget of the Czech Republic, and T.M.F. Y.B. and V.N. by the Czech Science Foundation (GACR 14-32302S, 14-36098G, 14-04258S respectively). Y.B. is also supported by the Sistema Nacional de Investigacio´n of Panama. E.C.T. is supported by funds from PT SMART Research Institute and the Isaac Newton Trust, Cambridge. R.M.E. is supported by European Research Council Project number 281986. We are grateful to Maureen Fayle, Andrew Hector, Jan Leps, Scott Miller, Kalsum M. Yusah, Paul Craze, and two anonymous reviewers for advice during the drafting of the manuscript, and Jennifer Balch for additional information regarding her burning experiments.This is the final published version. It first appeared at http://www.cell.com/trends/ecology-evolution/abstract/S0169-5347%2815%2900069-5

Metastatic MTLn3 and non-metastatic MTC adenocarcinoma cells can be differentiated by Pseudomonas aeruginosa

Cancer patients are known to be highly susceptible to Pseudomonas aeruginosa (Pa) infection, but it remains unknown whether alterations at the tumor cell level can contribute to infection. This study explored how cellular changes associated with tumor metastasis influence Pa infection using highly metastatic MTLn3 cells and non-metastatic MTC cells as cell culture models. MTLn3 cells were found to be more sensitive to Pa infection than MTC cells based on increased translocation of the type III secretion effector, ExoS, into MTLn3 cells. Subsequent studies found that higher levels of ExoS translocation into MTLn3 cells related to Pa entry and secretion of ExoS within MTLn3 cells, rather than conventional ExoS translocation by external Pa. ExoS includes both Rho GTPase activating protein (GAP) and ADP-ribosyltransferase (ADPRT) enzyme activities, and differences in MTLn3 and MTC cell responsiveness to ExoS were found to relate to the targeting of ExoS-GAP activity to Rho GTPases. MTLn3 cell migration is mediated by RhoA activation at the leading edge, and inhibition of RhoA activity decreased ExoS translocation into MTLn3 cells to levels similar to those of MTC cells. The ability of Pa to be internalized and transfer ExoS more efficiently in association with Rho activation during tumor metastasis confirms that alterations in cell migration that occur in conjunction with tumor metastasis contribute to Pa infection in cancer patients. This study also raises the possibility that Pa might serve as a biological tool for dissecting or detecting cellular alterations associated with tumor metastasis

Quasiperiodic predictive filtering for robot-assisted beating heart surgery

Beating heart procedures promise significant health benefits to patients but the fast motion of the heart poses a serious challenge to the surgeon. Robotic motion synchronization to heart movements could facilitate these surgeries, although for intracardiac procedures this requires the development of a predictive filter to compensate for the measurement noise and time delay present in 3D ultrasound imaging. In this paper, we present a quasiperiodic cardiac motion model and apply the extended Kalman filter to estimation of its parameters in real-time. We experimentally demonstrate high accuracy robot tracking to heart motion using this filter.Engineering and Applied Science

Low Intensity, High Frequency Vibration Training to Improve Musculoskeletal Function in a Mouse Model of Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy

The objective of the study was to determine if low intensity, high frequency vibration training impacted the musculoskeletal system in a mouse model of Duchenne muscular dystrophy, relative to healthy mice. Three-week old wildtype (n = 26) and mdx mice (n = 22) were randomized to non-vibrated or vibrated (45 Hz and 0.6 g, 15 min/d, 5 d/wk) groups. In vivo and ex vivo contractile function of the anterior crural and extensor digitorum longus muscles, respectively, were assessed following 8 wks of vibration. Mdx mice were injected 5 and 1 days prior to sacrifice with Calcein and Xylenol, respectively. Muscles were prepared for histological and triglyceride analyses and subcutaneous and visceral fat pads were excised and weighed. Tibial bones were dissected and analyzed by micro-computed tomography for trabecular morphometry at the metaphysis, and cortical geometry and density at the mid-diaphysis. Three-point bending tests were used to assess cortical bone mechanical properties and a subset of tibiae was processed for dynamic histomorphometry. Vibration training for 8 wks did not alter trabecular morphometry, dynamic histomorphometry, cortical geometry, or mechanical properties (P≥0.34). Vibration did not alter any measure of muscle contractile function (P≥0.12); however the preservation of muscle function and morphology in mdx mice indicates vibration is not deleterious to muscle lacking dystrophin. Vibrated mice had smaller subcutaneous fat pads (P = 0.03) and higher intramuscular triglyceride concentrations (P = 0.03). These data suggest that vibration training at 45 Hz and 0.6 g did not significantly impact the tibial bone and the surrounding musculature, but may influence fat distribution in mice