POLICY ISSUES IN WATER QUALITY

Resource /Energy Economics and Policy,

An Analysis of Modified Material Culture from Amache: Investigating the Landscape of Japanese American Internment

Modified material culture is a class of objects that indicates a transformation of material function. Archaeological research at the Japanese American internment camp in Granada, Colorado, called Amache, has recently uncovered artifacts featuring evidence of modification. Previous studies at internment camps have failed to include a comprehensive analysis of these artifacts; instead focusing on formal materials or aesthetic objects. This thesis investigates an assemblage of modified material culture identified at Amache and a collection from the Minidoka internment camp in Idaho. These artifacts provide insight into how internees responded to imprisonment. Through material culture studies, oral histories, and archival research, the use of these artifacts is examined within a context of confinement. This collection helps construct an internee landscape from which we may better understand the relationship between internee agency and internment social structure. In addition, by studying this evidence of adaptation this research aims to highlight the ingenuity of Japanese American internees and their ability to adapt and overcome the inhumane treatment experienced in the camp

Black Carbon and Meteorological Parameters at Two Locations in Northern Mississippi

Black Carbon, which is a component of fine particulate matter, is a known pollutant that has been linked to the development of several diseases including cardiovascular disease. This pollutant can be measured by taking samples of air within a certain region and analyzing them using a transmissometer. It is known that black carbon concentrations tend to be higher in urban areas when compared to rural areas within a region. Black carbon concentrations can also vary depending on certain meteorological parameters such as temperature and humidity. There were no current studies that analyze the air quality in northern Mississippi due to samplers being located densely in the southern portion of the state. Our study sought to determine black carbon concentrations present in fine particulate matter throughout an entire calendar year and compare these concentrations at two locations in Northern Mississippi. We analyzed samples from a location on the University of Mississippi campus and in a more rural, wooded area in Abbeville, Mississippi. We also collected meteorological data at both locations and compared these data to the black carbon concentrations at each location to determine any possible correlations. Our results indicated that the concentration of black carbon was higher at Anderson Hall than the Field Station, and black carbon concentrations were higher across both locations during the winter months. There was also a slight negative correlation between black carbon concentrations and the relative humidity at each location. Overall this study provided information about air quality in Northern Mississippi and highlighted differences in concentration between seasons and location

Foreign investors and national economic policy formation in China : the case of the indigenous innovation Program

On November 15, 2009, the Chinese government promulgated the “Notification Regarding the Launch of National Indigenous Innovation Product Accreditation Work for 2009” (Notice 618), a new national accreditation program that is part of a bigger national innovation policy scheme. The new directive states that products can be accredited as “indigenous” if their commercial trademarks, patents, copyrights and non-patented technology and knowhow have originated in China. Further, Notice 618 explicitly specifies that “indigenous” products cannot be subject to foreign restrictions; the trademarks used must be registered in China first and cannot be constrained by any related foreign brand. After the accreditation procedure, “indigenous” products are added to a national catalogue that is used for the national government procurement market, i.e. “indigenous” products are given priority in government procurement projects. Notice 618 has attracted great attention from foreign investors in China immediately after its publication since their products would not qualify to obtain an “indigenous” product status. The immediate strong reaction of foreign investors against the implementation of Notice 618 has pressured the Chinese government to reconsider parts of its original indigenous innovation program and to submit a revised version. The content analysis in this paper revealed that changes made in the revised version of Notice 618 were able to be traced to the concerns raised by the foreign actor community as a whole at the meso level. Further, it can be assumed that foreign actors, specifically multinational corporations via their representative organizations, as a group had an impact on the national policy formation process in regard to the implementation of indigenous innovation in China. The findings of the content analysis have two implications for the Gesellschaft fuer Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ). First, the importance of the indigenous innovation program and its serious discussion among foreign actors provides enough information for the GIZ to consider its involvement on the topic. Second, the foreign actors currently contributing to the discussion of the topic are in high demand, i.e. indicating that the GIZ in China could play a potentially crucial role in mediating the concerns regarding the indigenous innovation to influential Chinese state actors. Moreover, GIZ could acquire a position within the cumulative pressure group of meso-level actors. As a major knowledge transfer agent, the GIZ with its research department for “Innovation and Technology” can offer its expertise within the discussion of indigenous innovation in China. Hence, one of the policy recommendations for GIZ is to contribute to the topic at the macro level by providing unbiased and objective advice to its current partners at the Executive summary V NDRC and the Research Office of the State Council. Another policy recommendation presented in this paper relates to the GIZ as an actor with vast experience in project implementation. GIZ could play a major role on the provincial and local level, assisting local governments and firms to implement the changes within the development of the indigenous innovation program

Money talks: moral economies of earning a living in neoliberal East Africa

Neoliberal restructuring has targeted not just the economy, but also polity, society and culture, in the name of creating capitalist market societies. The societal repercussions of neoliberal policy and reform in terms of moral economy remain understudied. This article seeks to address this gap by analysing moral economy characteristics and dynamics in neoliberalised communities, as perceived by traders in Uganda and sex workers in Kenya. The interview data reveal perceived drivers that contributed to a significant moral dominance of money, self-interest, short-termism, opportunism and pragmatism. Equally notable are a perceived (i) close interaction between political–economic and moral–economic dynamics, and (ii) significant impact of the political–economic structure on moral agency. Respondents primarily referred to material factors usually closely linked to neoliberal reform, as key drivers of local moral economies. We thus speak of a neoliberalisation of moral economies, itself part of the wider process of embedding and locking-in market society structures in the two countries. An improved political economy of moral economy can help keep track of this phenomenon

Love as a Fictitious Commodity: Gift-for-Sex Barters as Contractual Carriers of Intimacy

Abstract Gift-for-sex (GFS) barters are a niche practice potentially representing the commodification of everyday dating practices. We inquire how GFS exchanges are practiced and understood in contemporary Russia. Second, we situate these in relation to contemporary economic culture. Our project provides answers in two steps based on online content. First, we identify GFS exchange practices within a major dating website. Next, we take the signals exchanged in those dating profiles and display their intersubjective meanings in Russia based on blogs and discussion fora. Our analysis focuses on gender roles and inter-gender conflicts, the use of economic jargon, the link between luxury consumption and sexuality, and understandings of gift-giving and generosity, in order to show how GFS barters, despite being contractual, carry emotional and romantic content. As such, love is under a constant conversion process, through the medium of the contractual gift, into the fictitious commodity form

The rate of nitrite reduction in leaves as indicated by O2 and CO2 exchange during photosynthesis

Light response (at 300 ppm CO2 and 10–50 ppm O2 in N2) and CO2 response curves [at absorbed photon fluence rate (PAD) of 550 μmol m−2 s−1] of O2 evolution and CO2 uptake were measured in tobacco (Nicotiana tabacum L.) leaves grown on either NO3− or NH4+ as N source and in potato (Solanum tuberosum L.), sorghum (Sorghum bicolor L. Moench), and amaranth (Amaranthus cruentus L.) leaves grown on NH4NO3. Photosynthetic O2 evolution in excess of CO2 uptake was measured with a stabilized zirconia O2 electrode and an infrared CO2 analyser, respectively, and the difference assumed to represent the rate of electron flow to acceptors alternative to CO2, mainly NO2−, SO42−, and oxaloacetate. In NO3−-grown tobacco, as well as in sorghum, amaranth, and young potato, the photosynthetic O2–CO2 flux difference rapidly increased to about 1 μmol m−2 s−1 at very low PADs and the process was saturated at 50 μmol quanta m−2 s−1. At higher PADs the O2–CO2 flux difference continued to increase proportionally with the photosynthetic rate to a maximum of about 2 μmol m−2 s−1. In NH4+-grown tobacco, as well as in potato during tuber filling, the low-PAD component of surplus O2 evolution was virtually absent. The low-PAD phase was ascribed to photoreduction of NO2− which successfully competes with CO2 reduction and saturates at a rate of about 1 μmol O2 m−2 s−1 (9% of the maximum O2 evolution rate). The high-PAD component of about 1 μmol O2 m−2 s−1, superimposed on NO2− reduction, may represent oxaloacetate reduction. The roles of NO2−, oxaloacetate, and O2 reduction in the regulation of ATP/NADPH balance are discussed

Analysis of Genome Sequences from Plant Pathogenic Rhodococcus Reveals Genetic Novelties in Virulence Loci

Members of Gram-positive Actinobacteria cause economically important diseases to plants. Within the Rhodococcus genus, some members can cause growth deformities and persist as pathogens on a wide range of host plants. The current model predicts that phytopathogenic isolates require a cluster of three loci present on a linear plasmid, with the fas operon central to virulence. The Fas proteins synthesize, modify, and activate a mixture of growth regulating cytokinins, which cause a hormonal imbalance in plants, resulting in abnormal growth. We sequenced and compared the genomes of 20 isolates of Rhodococcus to gain insights into the mechanisms and evolution of virulence in these bacteria. Horizontal gene transfer was identified as critical but limited in the scale of virulence evolution, as few loci are conserved and exclusive to phytopathogenic isolates. Although the fas operon is present in most phytopathogenic isolates, it is absent from phytopathogenic isolate A21d2. Instead, this isolate has a horizontally acquired gene chimera that encodes a novel fusion protein with isopentyltransferase and phosphoribohydrolase domains, predicted to be capable of catalyzing and activating cytokinins, respectively. Cytokinin profiling of the archetypal D188 isolate revealed only one activate cytokinin type that was specifically synthesized in a fas-dependent manner. These results suggest that only the isopentenyladenine cytokinin type is synthesized and necessary for Rhodococcus phytopathogenicity, which is not consistent with the extant model stating that a mixture of cytokinins is necessary for Rhodococcus to cause leafy gall symptoms. In all, data indicate that only four horizontally acquired functions are sufficient to confer the trait of phytopathogenicity to members of the genetically diverse clade of Rhodococcus