LONG-TERM FORECASTING OF INTERNATIONAL FOREST PRODUCT MARKETS: THE GFPM MODEL AND IMPLICATIONS FOR EUROPE

The Global Forest Products Model (GFPM) was developed to upgrade the FAO methodology for forest products outlook projections. Its purpose is to analyze and project the consumption, production, trade, and prices of forest products. The system deals with 180 individual countries, three classes of roundwood, sawnwood, three kinds of panels, three of pulp, waste paper, and three types of paper and paperboard. The system is built on market equilibrium theory, with imperfect foresight. The short-term equilibrium is modeled by price-endogenous linear programming determining production, consumption, trade, and market-clearing prices in any given year, subject to short-term capacities of production. Year to year changes are represented by equations predicting shifts in demand due to GDP growth, capacity expansion as a function of profitability, and technical change. The forecasts are conditional on exogenous estimates of timber availability in each country. Inertia constraints limit the short-term adjustment of trade in response to market forces. Results of applications of the model to forecast the situation in European countries until 2010 are described.International Relations/Trade,

Electronic properties of single-walled carbon nanotubes inside cyclic supermolecules

Possible ways for manipulating carbon nanotubes (CNTs) with cyclic supermolecules are studied using density functional theory. Electronic structure calculations with structure optimizations have been performed for the (4,4) and (8,0) single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWNTs) complexed with crown ethers as well as for the (4,0) SWNT with beta-cyclodextrin. A slight polarization of charge in both the nanotube and the supermolecule is observed upon rotaxane complexation, but the interaction is mainly repulsive, and the systems stay 2.8-3.5 A apart. The supermolecule does not affect the electronic band structure of the nanotube significantly within such a configuration. The situation differs noticeably for chemically cross-linked SWNTs and crown ethers, where a peak arises at the Fermi energy in the density of states. As a result, the band gap of semiconducting CNT(8,0) (0.5 eV) vanishes, and a new conduction channel opens for the metallic CNT(4,4)

Effects of forest management on the spatial distribution of the willow tit (Poecile montanus)

Modification, fragmentation and loss of boreal forest habitats have been intensive during the last century due to forestry practises and land use. This has been related to population declines of many forest species, yet the mechanisms affecting on the background are largely unknown. The willow tit, a primary cavity-nesting species that was once the 4th most common bird species in Finland is nowadays endangered. Earlier findings suggest that the willow tit population is affected by the reduction of nesting sites, decaying snags in forests and the loss of mature forests which contain the food storages during the winter. In this study we are searching for the mechanisms how the forest management methods could explain the decline of the willow tit population. We used long-term breeding data of the willow tit nesting sites from 1990 to 2020 collected in a study area in northern Finland to analyse if forest management affected nearest neighbour distances and natal dispersal and breeding dispersal distances. We used Geographic Information System (GIS) methods to combine the ecological breeding data to accurate spatial forest management and habitat quality data. The data was analysed with linear mixed models. We found that clear-cuttings affected the willow tit dispersal and neighbouring nest distances more than thinnings. Both clear-cuttings and thinnings increased the nearest neighbour distances. The natal and breeding dispersal distances were lengthened by increasing proportions of clear-cuttings. The habitat loss caused by clear-cuttings and the decrease in habitat quality caused by thinnings has had a major role in the decline of the willow tit population. The forest management actions were estimated to explain about 65 % of the willow tit breeding density decrease in the study area. The effects of forest management were witnessed in a cumulative 0-30-year period meaning that forest management causes long-term habitat degradation and loss. Availability of deciduous snags in the forests can compensate the habitat loss to some extent by providing better breeding opportunities. As the effects of clear-cutting were more severe to the willow tit than thinning, we recommend using other forest management methods than clear-cutting as the main management method.Peer reviewe

Using a community development approach to reimagine field education during Covid-19

This paper reports on an Australian online placement project that was put in place after face to face placements were stopped due to the Covid-19 pandemic in early 2020. James Cook University [JCU] social work students were offered the opportunity to participate in an online Community Connectors Project [CCP] based on an Asset Based Community Development model [ABCD] to complete their placement. Twenty students participated in the CCP. The values and principles of ABCD guided the project and meant that students were encouraged and supported to lead and design smaller placement projects responding to identified community needs. This article is collaboratively written by students, field education staff and a community partner. Here we specifically report on the collaboration between one group of students and a community partner, working together to develop a domestic violence practice guideline for a Health setting. The article describes the context of the CCP, ABCD as a framework, the student leadership, the domestic violence project and the collaborative partnership. Our reflections consider students as knowledge brokers, challengers and enablers of collaboration and future research engagement

Measurement of nuclear effects on ψ(2S) production in p-Pb collisions at sNN−−−√ = 8.16 TeV

Inclusive psi(2S) production is measured in p-Pb collisions at the centre-of-mass energy per nucleon-nucleon pair root s(NN) = 8.16 TeV, using the ALICE detector at the CERN LHC. The production of psi(2S) is studied at forward (2.03<y(cms)Peer reviewe

What kinds of value motives guide people in their moral attitudes? The role of personal and prescriptive values at the culture level and individual level

Opinions about moralized issues are arguably one of the most difficult issues in interpersonal dialogues given that they can result in intolerance and prejudicial behavior toward those with divergent moral beliefs. Recent research has shown that moral attitudes vary not only depending on the individual's characteristics but also as a function of culture. Individuals from individualistic-oriented cultures exhibit more lenient judgments toward moralized issues than those from collectivistic-oriented cultures. What is unclear to date is what kinds of cultural value motives underlie these attitudesAre they driven only by intrinsic value motives (personal values) or also by extrinsic value motives (prescriptive values in the form of societal expectations about what should be valued)? The cultural press to conform is arguably stronger if moral attitudes are predicted by the latter. Participants from eight countries (N = 1,456) responded to a questionnaire containing a modified version of the Schwartz Value Survey assessing personal and prescriptive values. The results showed that personal value ratings of openness-to-change versus conservation at the culture and individual levels were predictive of individuals' moral attitudes consistent with previous findings. Prescriptive value ratings of openness-to-change versus conservation also predicted individuals' moral attitudes, but only at the aggregated culture level. This suggests that the prescriptive values concept is a truly group-level phenomenon and that attitudes toward moralized issues are guided by cultural values with normative qualities. We discuss the implications for intercultural contact situations.info:eu-repo/semantics/acceptedVersio

Numerical Modelling Of The V-J Combinations Of The T Cell Receptor TRA/TRD Locus

T-Cell antigen Receptor (TR) repertoire is generated through rearrangements of V and J genes encoding α and β chains. The quantification and frequency for every V-J combination during ontogeny and development of the immune system remain to be precisely established. We have addressed this issue by building a model able to account for Vα-Jα gene rearrangements during thymus development of mice. So we developed a numerical model on the whole TRA/TRD locus, based on experimental data, to estimate how Vα and Jα genes become accessible to rearrangements. The progressive opening of the locus to V-J gene recombinations is modeled through windows of accessibility of different sizes and with different speeds of progression. Furthermore, the possibility of successive secondary V-J rearrangements was included in the modelling. The model points out some unbalanced V-J associations resulting from a preferential access to gene rearrangements and from a non-uniform partition of the accessibility of the J genes, depending on their location in the locus. The model shows that 3 to 4 successive rearrangements are sufficient to explain the use of all the V and J genes of the locus. Finally, the model provides information on both the kinetics of rearrangements and frequencies of each V-J associations. The model accounts for the essential features of the observed rearrangements on the TRA/TRD locus and may provide a reference for the repertoire of the V-J combinatorial diversity

J/psi production as a function of charged-particle multiplicity in p-Pb collisions at root s(NN)=8.16 TeV

Inclusive J/psi yields and average transverse momenta in p-Pb collisions at a center-of-mass energy per nucleon pairs root s(NN) = 8.16 TeV are measured as a function of the charged-particle pseudorapidity density with ALICE. The J/psi mesons are reconstructed at forward (2.03<y(cms)Peer reviewe

Constraining the Chiral Magnetic Effect with charge-dependent azimuthal correlations in Pb-Pb collisions at root s(NN)=2.76 and 5.02 TeV

Systematic studies of charge-dependent two- and three-particle correlations in Pb-Pb collisions at root s(NN) = 2.76 and 5.02 TeV used to probe the Chiral Magnetic Effect (CME) are presented. These measurements are performed for charged particles in the pseudorapidity (eta) and transverse momentum (p(T)) ranges |eta| and gamma(1, - 3) = . The results are used to estimate the contribution of background effects, associated with local charge conservation coupled to anisotropic flow modulations, to measurements of the CME. A blast-wave parametrisation that incorporates local charge conservation tuned to reproduce the centrality dependent background effects is not able to fully describe the measured gamma(1,1). Finally, the charge and centrality dependence of mixed-harmonics three-particle correlations, of the form gamma(1, 2) = , which are insensitive to the CME signal, verify again that background contributions dominate the measurement of gamma(1,1).Peer reviewe

Coherent photoproduction of rho(0) vector mesons in ultra-peripheral Pb-Pb collisions at root s(NN)=5.02 TeV

Cross sections for the coherent photoproduction of rho(0) vector mesons in ultra-peripheral Pb-Pb collisions at root s(NN) = 5.02 TeV are reported. The measurements, which rely on the pi(+)pi(-) decay channel, are presented in three regions of rapidity covering the range vertical bar y vertical bar <0.8. For each rapidity interval, cross sections are shown for different nuclear-breakup classes defined according to the presence of neutrons measured in the zero-degree calorimeters. The results are compared with predictions based on different models of nuclear shadowing. Finally, the observation of a coherently produced resonance-like structure with a mass around 1.7 GeV/c(2) and a width of about 140 MeV/c(2) is reported and compared with similar observations from other experiments.Peer reviewe