PRESSURE FACTORS AFFECTING LOMBARDY AGRICULTURAL SYSTEM: THE ENVIRONMENTAL CONSEQUENCES OF THE FISCHLER REFORM

This paper presents a regional model, based on Positive Mathematical Programming, which aims to evaluate the consequences of Fischler reform on the agricultural sector of the Lombardy irrigated lowland (Northern Italy). The model main focus is to quantify the agricultural land use changes due to the farmers reaction to the CAP reform main issues, such as single payment, and to simulate possible scenarios for the future. The model takes into account also the Water Frame Directive principles, in order to combine the assessment of both CAP issues and the potential irrigation water supplies reduction, which could deeply affect the area. The model input are obtained by means of the integration between FADN and SIARL (Agricultural Information System of Lombardy Region) information, in order to fit the territorial dimension. The simulation results of 11 different scenarios are discussed.CAP modelling, Fischler Reform, Positive Mathematical Programming, Regional model, Water Frame Directive, Agricultural and Food Policy, Environmental Economics and Policy, Research Methods/ Statistical Methods, Q18, Q15, C61,

Master Plan of Multiple Use of water resources in the watershed of Bistrica e Pejes

The main objective of this paper is to present a preliminary planning of water resources development of Kosova, based on a master plan of multiple use of water resources of thecountry.In this century of crisis in water and energy the problem of water resources development is very crucial, especially in countries like Kosova with relatively scarce water resources.In this context the exploitation of water resources of the country for the production of hydro-energy is essential and very important.It is known that actually the Energetic System of Kosova is based on termo-energy, sothe use of water resources for the production of hydroenergy will increase further the energy production of the country.On the other hand a master plan of multiple use of water resources, based on the principle of integrated and sustainable management, will insure better services for other usersof the country as drinking water supply of urban and rural areas, irrigation, industry etc.The catchment of the Republic of Kosova can be divided in several basins as follows:Basin of the Drini i Bardhe River, Basin of Ibar River, Basin of Morava e Binces and Lepenci RiversThe watershed of Bistrica e Pejes belongs to to the basin of Drini i Bardhe, whichbelongs to the Adriatic Sea catchment. The basins of Ibar and Morava belong to the BlackSea Basin and Lepenci Basin to Aegean Sea catchment.The Basin Bistricae Pejes , which is the subject of this paper, is one of the mostimportant of Mokna Gora ( moist mountain) together with that of Vrella, Istok and the sourceof the Drini i Bardhe. It has an admirable capacity and convenient geographical position inrelation to users of water. It has attracted the interest, and therefore should be treated as acomplex capacity, in which important economic components of water can be introduced suchas:Drinking Water SupplyWater for irrigation in both sides of valleyFish economy and recreationHydro-Energy etc.This master plan will not have negative effects on the ecological conditions of valley because the water, after the use for Hydro-energy production will flow in its own bed and canbe exploited by other users

Political Consensus: A crucial and key element of political organization

The following material will focus initially on determining the concept of consensus, as defined by different scholars and different philosophical beliefs, role played by consensus in the establishment and functioning of the rule of law, in operation of international organizations, such as the UN, NATO and the EU. Also, we will discuss briefly the role of consensus in the process of running and organization of these organizations and functioning of the structures of national security in the process of making important decisions, in achieving the standards for Euro-Atlantic integration, and in the closing of this paper we will provide some conclusions which might be of some help in contributing, even theoretically, in the establishment, consolidation and strengthening of the national security structure. Finally, the conclusion part of this paper is thought to offer some recommendations, as well. Of course, due to the scope of this paper, the recommendations are being addressed to the political class, as an attempt to encourage it to use consensus in all areas of its activity

Cooperative Gating and Spatial Organization of Membrane Proteins through Elastic Interactions

Biological membranes are elastic media in which the presence of a transmembrane protein leads to local bilayer deformation. The energetics of deformation allow two membrane proteins in close proximity to influence each other's equilibrium conformation via their local deformations, and spatially organize the proteins based on their geometry. We use the mechanosensitive channel of large conductance (MscL) as a case study to examine the implications of bilayer-mediated elastic interactions on protein conformational statistics and clustering. The deformations around MscL cost energy on the order of 10 kT and extend ~3nm from the protein edge, as such elastic forces induce cooperative gating and we propose experiments to measure these effects. Additionally, since elastic interactions are coupled to protein conformation, we find that conformational changes can severely alter the average separation between two proteins. This has important implications for how conformational changes organize membrane proteins into functional groups within membranes.Comment: 12 pages, 6 figures, 63 references, submitted to PLoS Computational Biolog

Archiving and disseminating integrative structure models.

Limitations in the applicability, accuracy, and precision of individual structure characterization methods can sometimes be overcome via an integrative modeling approach that relies on information from all available sources, including all available experimental data and prior models. The open-source Integrative Modeling Platform (IMP) is one piece of software that implements all computational aspects of integrative modeling. To maximize the impact of integrative structures, the coordinates should be made publicly available, as is already the case for structures based on X-ray crystallography, NMR spectroscopy, and electron microscopy. Moreover, the associated experimental data and modeling protocols should also be archived, such that the original results can easily be reproduced. Finally, it is essential that the integrative structures are validated as part of their publication and deposition. A number of research groups have already developed software to implement integrative modeling and have generated a number of structures, prompting the formation of an Integrative/Hybrid Methods Task Force. Following the recommendations of this task force, the existing PDBx/mmCIF data representation used for atomic PDB structures has been extended to address the requirements for archiving integrative structural models. This IHM-dictionary adds a flexible model representation, including coarse graining, models in multiple states and/or related by time or other order, and multiple input experimental information sources. A prototype archiving system called PDB-Dev ( https://pdb-dev.wwpdb.org ) has also been created to archive integrative structural models, together with a Python library to facilitate handling of integrative models in PDBx/mmCIF format