239 research outputs found
Recreation value of a new long-distance walking track
A large recreation value may be expected for a long-distance walking track which allows for hiking and camping in a tropical rainforest environment. When such a resource is new, sufficient data are not available for a primary study. A practical way to obtain a value estimate is by employing benefit transfer procedures. Using a travel cost analysis for the Thorsborne Trail as the transfer source, a consumer surplus estimate for the new Cannabullen Track was estimated at about Aus$300 per person per year. This value may contribute to management decisions about further development of facilities along the track and about user fees
Southern Brazilian indigenous populations and the forest: towards an environmental history
Human societies and economies are inextricably linked to oceans and seas. Eight of the world’s ten largest cities lie adjacent to the ocean (UN Atlas of the Oceans, 2010) and about half of the world’s population lives within 200 km of a coast – a quarter within 100 km (IPCC, 2007). Oceans and seas provide a range of ecosystem services (including regulating, provisioning and cultural services) that enhance human well‐being in numerous ways (Millennium Ecosystem Assessment, 2003, 2005; Hicks, 2011). To the extent that climate change affects ecosystems, it will affect fisheries (as discussed in the preceding chapters of this book) and, by extension, human well‐being. In this chapter, we focus on provisioning and cultural services associated with fisheries. Although important, the ocean’s regulating and supporting services, including the fixation of atmospheric carbon, are not further discussed here (for further details, see UNEP‐WCMC, 2011). We describe the numerous contributions of marine‐based ecosystems to human well‐being and the ways in which climate change and other confounding factors are likely to disrupt relationships between fishers, fisheries and fishing communities. Our three case‐studies: small‐scale, artisanal and subsistence‐based fisheries of the western Indian Ocean (WIO), fishing of cultural keystone species in the Torres Strait, and commercial fishing in Australia, serve to highlight the various changes to fisheries likely to be brought about by climate change in three markedly different contexts
The learning generated through Indigenous natural resources management programs increases quality of life for Indigenous people – improving numerous contributors to wellbeing
The critical role that Indigenous people play in natural resource management is globally recognized, with such endeavors frequently supported by Government and non-government funded programs. We explore the perceived impact of the knowledge-exchange opportunities arising from these programs, using data from a survey of Indigenous people from northern Australian communities involved in Indigenous land and sea management programs (ILSMPs). We find that ILSMPs are perceived as opportunities for exchange of both western and Indigenous-generated knowledge, with more people reporting opportunities to learn and share traditional rather than western generated knowledge. Aspects of life perceived as improved by learning and sharing were in relation to self, to others (community and family) and the Indigenous culture overall. Learning is having a positive impact on wellbeing; sharing is predominantly positive, but survey responses also reveal some negatives: mostly related to examples of sharing undertaken in culturally inappropriate exchanges, which not only impacts wellbeing, but also erodes the quality of the information exchanged. Reducing the negative sentiments related to sharing will not only improve the wellbeing of Indigenous people, but will also improve the quality of knowledge exchanged with consequent positive outcomes for the environment and society as a whole.Diane Jarvis, Natalie Stoeckl, Silva Larson, Daniel Grainger, Jane Addison, Anna Larso
Integrated data requirements for natural resource management
We do not have sufficient data to adequately describe the integrated socio-ecologicalsystems that support us. It is prohibitively expensive to collect enough data to describe all,so it is important to think strategically about how to (i) use the information we do have and (ii) prioritise the collection of new data. We aim to help by finding efficient ways of improving the information that is available for
policy-makers to generate better human–nature outcomes
Reframing human rights: the global network of moral conservative homeschooling activists
In this article, we investigate the composition and actions of a principled issue network within the field of human rights that uses rights-claims to pursue traditionalist goals: the moral conservative pro-homeschooling network. We analyse the rising importance of homeschooling within the global moral conservative movement and examine the transnationalization of pro-homeschooling advocacy. We show that the transnational homeschooling advocacy network, while not successful in court cases, has managed to establish home education as part of a global conservative agenda and has made incursions into redefining the terms of the debate within international organizations. Moral conservative homeschooling advocates use a vocabulary of rights and freedoms, and even of moral pluralism, but in the conservative reading human rights are reframed and used to defend a pro-family agenda that establishes the patriarchal family as the ultimate source of authority and the primary carrier of rights
Assessment of ion kinetic effects in shock-driven inertial confinement fusion implosions using fusion burn imaging
The significance and nature of ion kinetic effects in D3He-filled, shock-driven inertial confinement
fusion implosions are assessed through measurements of fusion burn profiles. Over this series of
experiments, the ratio of ion-ion mean free path to minimum shell radius (the Knudsen number,
NK) was varied from 0.3 to 9 in order to probe hydrodynamic-like to strongly kinetic plasma
conditions; as the Knudsen number increased, hydrodynamic models increasingly failed to match
measured yields, while an empirically-tuned, first-step model of ion kinetic effects better captured
the observed yield trends [Rosenberg et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 112, 185001 (2014)]. Here, spatially
resolved measurements of the fusion burn are used to examine kinetic ion transport effects in
greater detail, adding an additional dimension of understanding that goes beyond zero-dimensional
integrated quantities to one-dimensional profiles. In agreement with the previous findings, a comparison
of measured and simulated burn profiles shows that models including ion transport effects
are able to better match the experimental results. In implosions characterized by large Knudsen
numbers (NK3), the fusion burn profiles predicted by hydrodynamics simulations that exclude
ion mean free path effects are peaked far from the origin, in stark disagreement with the experimentally
observed profiles, which are centrally peaked. In contrast, a hydrodynamics simulation that
includes a model of ion diffusion is able to qualitatively match the measured profile shapes.
Therefore, ion diffusion or diffusion-like processes are identified as a plausible explanation of the
observed trends, though further refinement of the models is needed for a more complete and
quantitative understanding of ion kinetic effects
First Measurements of Deuterium-Tritium and Deuterium-Deuterium Fusion Reaction Yields in Ignition-Scalable Direct-Drive Implosions
The deuterium-tritium (D-T) and deuterium-deuterium neutron yield ratio in cryogenic inertial confinement fusion (ICF) experiments is used to examine multifluid effects, traditionally not included in ICF modeling. This ratio has been measured for ignition-scalable direct-drive cryogenic DT implosions at the Omega Laser Facility [T. R. Boehly et al., Opt. Commun. 133, 495 (1997)] using a high-dynamic-range neutron time-of-flight spectrometer. The experimentally inferred yield ratio is consistent with both the calculated values of the nuclear reaction rates and the measured preshot target-fuel composition. These observations indicate that the physical mechanisms that have been proposed to alter the fuel composition, such as species separation of the hydrogen isotopes [D. T. Casey et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 108, 075002 (2012)], are not significant during the period of peak neutron production in ignition-scalable cryogenic direct-drive DT implosions
Current advances on Talbot–Lau x-ray imaging diagnostics for high energy density experiments (invited)
Producción CientíficaTalbot–Lau x-ray interferometry is a refraction-based diagnostic that can map electron density gradients through phase-contrast methods. The Talbot–Lau x-ray deflectometry (TXD) diagnostics have been deployed in several high energy density experiments. To improve diagnostic performance, a monochromatic TXD was implemented on the Multi-Tera Watt (MTW) laser using 8 keV multilayer mirrors (Δθ/θ = 4.5%-5.6%). Copper foil and wire targets were irradiated at 1014–1015 W/cm2. Laser pulse length (∼10 to 80 ps) and backlighter target configurations were explored in the context of Moiré fringe contrast and spatial resolution. Foil and wire targets delivered increased contrast <30%. The best spatial resolution (<6 μm) was measured for foils irradiated 80° from the surface. Further TXD diagnostic capability enhancement was achieved through the development of advanced data postprocessing tools. The Talbot Interferometry Analysis (TIA) code enabled x-ray refraction measurements from the MTW monochromatic TXD. Additionally, phase, attenuation, and dark-field maps of an ablating x-pinch load were retrieved through TXD. The images show a dense wire core of ∼60 μm diameter surrounded by low-density material of ∼40 μm thickness with an outer diameter ratio of ∼2.3. Attenuation at 8 keV was measured at ∼20% for the dense core and ∼10% for the low-density material. Instrumental and experimental limitations for monochromatic TXD diagnostics are presented. Enhanced postprocessing capabilities enabled by TIA are demonstrated in the context of high-intensity laser and pulsed power experimental data analysis. Significant advances in TXD diagnostic capabilities are presented. These results inform future diagnostic technique upgrades that will improve the accuracy of plasma characterization through TXD
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