How I learned to stop worrying and love the crisis

In this paper we investigate the effects of economic crises on the subsequent economic performance, economic liberalization and institutional change. Our analysis is based on a sample of post-communist countries, most of which experienced severe economic crises in the early 1990s. We find that the severity of the crisis has a positive impact on the subsequent pace of economic reform and economic growth. The effect on institution change is more complicated: the crisis appears to cause an initial worsening of institutions followed by a subsequent improvement later on

Reform, uncertainty and spillovers a gravity model approach

Reforms often occur in waves, seemingly cascading from country to country. We argue that such reform waves may be driven by informational spillovers: uncertainty about the outcome of reform is reduced by learning from the experience of similar countries. We motivate this hypothesis with a simple theoretical model and then test it empirically. Our results confirm the presence of informational spillovers with respect to political liberalization but offer little support for informational spillovers with respect to economic reforms

Nutrient provision capacity of alternative livestock farming systems per area of arable farmland required

Although climate impacts of ruminant agriculture are a major concern worldwide, using policy instruments to force grazing farms out of the livestock industry may diminish opportunities to produce nutritious food without exacerbating the food-feed competition for fertile and accessible land resources. Here, we present a new set of quantitative evidence to demonstrate that, per unit of overall nutrient value supplied by a given commodity, the demand for land suitable for human-edible crop production is considerably smaller under ruminant systems than monogastric systems, and consistently so at both farm and regional scales. We also demonstrate that imposition of a naïvely designed “red meat tax” has the potential to invite socioeconomic losses far greater than its environmental benefits, due largely to the induced misallocation of resources at the national scale. Our results reiterate the risk inherent in an excessively climate-focused debate on the role of livestock in human society and call for more multidimensional approaches of sustainability assessment to draw better-balanced policy packages

Action versus Result-Oriented Schemes in a Grassland Agroecosystem: A Dynamic Modelling Approach

Effects of agri-environment schemes (AES) on biodiversity remain controversial. While most AES are action-oriented, result-oriented and habitat-oriented schemes have recently been proposed as a solution to improve AES efficiency. The objective of this study was to compare action-oriented, habitat-oriented and result-oriented schemes in terms of ecological and productive performance as well as in terms of management flexibility. We developed a dynamic modelling approach based on the viable control framework to carry out a long term assessment of the three schemes in a grassland agroecosystem. The model explicitly links grazed grassland dynamics to bird population dynamics. It is applied to lapwing conservation in wet grasslands in France. We ran the model to assess the three AES scenarios. The model revealed the grazing strategies respecting ecological and productive constraints specific to each scheme. Grazing strategies were assessed by both their ecological and productive performance. The viable control approach made it possible to obtain the whole set of viable grazing strategies and therefore to quantify the management flexibility of the grassland agroecosystem. Our results showed that habitat and result-oriented scenarios led to much higher ecological performance than the action-oriented one. Differences in both ecological and productive performance between the habitat and result-oriented scenarios were limited. Flexibility of the grassland agroecosystem in the result-oriented scenario was much higher than in that of habitat-oriented scenario. Our model confirms the higher flexibility as well as the better ecological and productive performance of result-oriented schemes. A larger use of result-oriented schemes in conservation may also allow farmers to adapt their management to local conditions and to climatic variations

Introduced species infiltrate recent stages of succession after glacial retreat on sub-Antarctic South Georgia

Biological invasions are one of the main drivers of global biodiversity decline. At the same time, glacial retreat induced by climate warming is occurring at an alarming rate across the globe, threatening unique taxa and ecosystems. However, we know little about how introduced species contribute to the dynamics of colonisation in newly-deglaciated forelands. To answer this question, detailed inventories of plant and invertebrate communities were undertaken during two summer field seasons in the forelands of three tidewater and three inland glaciers that are retreating on the sub-Antarctic Island of South Georgia. The vascular plant communities present included a large proportion of South Georgia’s native flora. As expected, plant richness and cover increased with time since deglaciation along a deglaciation chronosequence. Introduced plants were well represented in the study sites and two species (Poa annua and Cerastium fontanum) were amongst the earliest and most frequent colonisers of recently-deglaciated areas (occurring on more than 75% of transects surveyed). Introduced arthropods were also present around tidewater glaciers, including an important predatory species (Merizodus soledadinus) with known detrimental impacts on native invertebrate communities. Our study provides a rare and detailed picture of developing novel communities along a deglaciation chronosequence in the sub-Antarctic. Introduced species are able to track glacial retreat on South Georgia, indicating that further local colonisation and spread are inevitable as the region’s climate continues to warm.</jats:p

A Comprehensive Analysis of Gene Expression Changes Provoked by Bacterial and Fungal Infection in C. elegans

While Caenorhabditis elegans specifically responds to infection by the up-regulation of certain genes, distinct pathogens trigger the expression of a common set of genes. We applied new methods to conduct a comprehensive and comparative study of the transcriptional response of C. elegans to bacterial and fungal infection. Using tiling arrays and/or RNA-sequencing, we have characterized the genome-wide transcriptional changes that underlie the host's response to infection by three bacterial (Serratia marcescens, Enterococcus faecalis and otorhabdus luminescens) and two fungal pathogens (Drechmeria coniospora and Harposporium sp.). We developed a flexible tool, the WormBase Converter (available at http://wormbasemanager.sourceforge.net/), to allow cross-study comparisons. The new data sets provided more extensive lists of differentially regulated genes than previous studies. Annotation analysis confirmed that genes commonly up-regulated by bacterial infections are related to stress responses. We found substantial overlaps between the genes regulated upon intestinal infection by the bacterial pathogens and Harposporium, and between those regulated by Harposporium and D. coniospora, which infects the epidermis. Among the fungus-regulated genes, there was a significant bias towards genes that are evolving rapidly and potentially encode small proteins. The results obtained using new methods reveal that the response to infection in C. elegans is determined by the nature of the pathogen, the site of infection and the physiological imbalance provoked by infection. They form the basis for future functional dissection of innate immune signaling. Finally, we also propose alternative methods to identify differentially regulated genes that take into account the greater variability in lowly expressed genes

Exciting surface plasmons with transformation media

The final publication is available at Springer via http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s11468-012-9361-5We present a way of exciting surface plasmon polaritons along non-patterned metallic surfaces by means of a flat squeezing slab designed with transformation optics. The slab changes the dispersion relation of incident light, enabling evanescent coupling to propagating surface plasmons. Unlike prism couplers, the proposed device does not introduce reflections at its input interface. Moreover, its compact geometry is suitable for integration. A feasible dielectric implementation of the coupler is suggested. Finally, we show that the angular response of the device can be engineered by using a non-uniform compression factor. As an example, we design a coupler with a half-power angular bandwidth 2. 5 times higher than that of a conventional dielectric coupler. © 2012 Springer Science+Business Media, LLC.Financial support by Spanish Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovacion (contracts CSD2008-00066 and TEC2008-06871-C02, and FPU grant) is gratefully acknowledged.García Meca, C.; Ortuño Molinero, R.; Martí Sendra, J.; Martínez Abietar, AJ. (2012). Exciting surface plasmons with transformation media. Plasmonics. 7(4):701-707. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11468-012-9361-5S70170774Raether H (1988) Surface plasmons on smooth and rough surfaces and on gratings. Springer-Verlag, BerlinBarnes WL, Dereux A, Ebbesen TW (2003) Surface plasmon subwavelength optics. Nature 424:824–830Maier SA (2007) Plasmonics: fundamentals and applications. Springer, New YorkSchuller JA, Barnard ES, Cai W, Jun YC, White JS, Brongersma ML (2010) Plasmonics for extreme light concentration and manipulation. Nat Mater 9:193–204Brongersma ML, Shalaev VM (2010) The case for plasmonics. Science 328:440–441Liu Y, Zentgraf T, Bartal G, Zhang X (2010) Transformational plasmon optics. Nano Lett 10:1991–1997Huidobro PA, Nesterov ML, Martín-Moreno L, García-Vidal FJ (2010) Transformation optics for plasmonics. Nano Lett 10:1985–1990Kadic M, Guenneau S, Enoch S (2010) Transformational plasmonics: cloak, concentrator and rotator for SPPs. Opt Express 18:12027–12032Zhang J, Xiao S, Wubs M, Mortensen NA (2011) Surface plasmon wave adapter designed with transformation optics. ACS Nano 5:4359–4364Pendry JB, Schurig D, Smith DR (2006) Controlling electromagnetic fields. Science 312:1780–1782Leonhardt U (2006) Optical conformal mapping. Science 312:1777–1780Leonhardt U, Philbin TG (2006) General relativity in electrical engineering. New J Phys 8:247Sambles JR, Bradbery GW, Yang F (1991) Optical excitation of surface plasmons: an introduction. Contemp Phys 32:173–183Rahm M, Roberts DA, Pendry JB, Smith DR (2008) Transformation-optical design of adaptive beam bends and beam expanders. Opt Express 16:11555–11567Vasic B, Isic G, Gajic R, Hingerl K (2009) Coordinate transformation based design of confined metamaterial structures. Phys Rev B 79:85103Tichit P, Burokur SN, Lustrac A (2009) Waveguide taper engineering using coordinate transformation technology. Opt Express 18:767–772Zang X, Jiang C (2010) Manipulating the field distribution via optical transformation. Opt Express 18:10168–10176García-Meca C, Tung MM, Galán JV, Ortuño R, Rodríguez-Fortuño FJ, Martí J, Martínez A (2011) Squeezing and expanding light without reflections via transformation optics. Opt Express 19:3562–3575Li J, Han S, Zhang S, Bartal G, Zhang X (2009) Designing the Fourier space with transformation optics. Opt Lett 34:3128–3130Li J, Pendry JB (2008) Hiding under the carpet: a new strategy for cloaking. Phys Rev Lett 101:20390

Estado del arte de la quinua en el mundo en 2013

Alimento de base de las poblaciones andinas desde hace milenios, la quinua se ha convertido hoy en un producto apreciado en el mercado internacional de alimentos dietéticos, orgánicos y equitativos. Este cambio lo iniciaron los mismos productores del Altiplano Sur de Bolivia hace aproximadamente unos 40 años. En medio de un desierto de altura, ellos lograron desarrollar una floreciente producción agrícola de exportación. Aunque cuentan con lucrativos nichos de mercado, los productores de quinua no son agricultores especializados, ni residen de forma permanente en la zona de producción. Estas son algunas de las paradojas que caracterizan la producción de quinua en el Altiplano Sur de Bolivia. Después de describir el origen, la diversidad y los rasgos biológicos del ecotipo Quinua Real en el cual se basa la producción de esta zona, se plantea la importancia de la quinua en los agrosistemas locales y, más allá, en los sistemas de actividades agrícolas y no agrícolas manejados por las familias del Altiplano Sur. Movilidad geográfica y pluriactividad forman parte del modo de vida ancestral de estas poblaciones y determinan hasta hoy en día las condiciones de uso de los recursos territoriales y la organización de los productores en el contexto del auge comercial de la quinua. La producción actual de quinua en la región presenta rasgos de vulnerabilidad agroecológica y social, así como capacidades adaptativas para enfrentarlos. Se resaltan como puntos clave para la sostenibilidad de los agrosistemas locales : i) la concertación de reglas comunales e individuales para el acceso y uso de la tierra en agrosistemas socialmente equitativos y equilibrados entre cultivo y ganadería, ii) las normas internacionales para el reconocimiento de la Quinua Real en los mercados de exportación, iii) una actualización continua de las reglas y normas para mantener la adaptabilidad de los agrosistemas locales a los cambios imprevisibles del contexto socio-ecológico a varias escalas de espacio y de tiempo

Livestock and the functional habitat of vicuñas in Ecuador : a new puzzle

Includes supplementary Appendix S1.Whether interactions between wildlife and livestock are competitive or facilitative is context dependent. Intermediary factors that explain how context (seasonal or regional characteristics of the ecological community) affects these interactions are rarely reported. We compared activity time and density in vicuñas (Vicugna vicugna) introduced into the Chimborazo Faunal Production Reserve (CFPR), Ecuador, to describe how they interact with livestock. We compared vicuña density in wetlands and uplands (two landscape structures) with and without livestock (two conditions) using an isodar approach. We measured, over two seasons, vicuña forage abundance, composition, preference and accessibility, time vicuñas spent vigilant, and their flight distances on approach. We tested optimal foraging theory relating to the hypothesis that time mediates behavior, and found that vicuñas were no less frequently vigilant, nor were flight distances greater, during a wet season or in habitats of greater forage abundance and accessibility. We also found no evidence that vicuña behavior was density dependent; instead, we found that more time was spent vigilant by vicuñas when they foraged near livestock in rainy regions during the dry season. Although forage abundance was similar throughout CFPR during a dry season, better forage quality in areas occupied by livestock may constitute an effect of their facilitating vicuñas. A puzzling finding, because it was not explained by any of the other variables we measured, was that at low densities vicuñas selected habitat irrespective of livestock, and where their density was higher, it was doubly so adjacent to livestock. We conclude that in the CFPR, spatial heterogeneity in habitat quality determines the interactions between livestock and vicuñas. To support recommendations that minimize competition between wildlife and livestock, and to expand on descriptions of the contexts that determine the direction of species interactions, future study may require a wider sampling of the densities of sympatric large herbivores in general, and, in the CFPR, a closer resolution of spatial heterogeneity in forage plant quality

Squeezing and expanding light without reflections via transformation optics

This paper was published in OPTICS EXPRESS and is made available as an electronic reprint with the permission of OSA. The paper can be found at the following URL on the OSA website: http://dx.doi.org/10.1364/OE.19.003562. Systematic or multiple reproduction or distribution to multiple locations via electronic or other means is prohibited and is subject to penalties under law[EN] We study the reflection properties of squeezing devices based on transformation optics. An analytical expression for the angle-dependent reflection coefficient of a generic three-dimensional squeezer is derived. In contrast with previous studies, we find that there exist several conditions that guarantee no reflections so it is possible to build transformation-optics-based reflectionless squeezers. Moreover, it is shown that the design of antireflective coatings for the non-reflectionless case can be reduced to matching the impedance between two dielectrics. We illustrate the potential of these devices by proposing two applications in which a reflectionless squeezer is the key element: an ultra-short perfect coupler for high-index nanophotonic waveguides and a completely flat reflectionless hyperlens. We also apply our theory to the coupling of two metallic waveguides with different cross-section. Finally, we show how the studied devices can be implemented with non-magnetic isotropic materials by using a quasi-conformal mapping technique. © 2011 Optical Society of America.Financial support by the Spanish MICINN under contract CONSOLIDER EMET (CSD2008-00066) and PROMETEO-2010-087 R&D Excellency Program (NANOMET) is gratefully acknowledged. C. G.-M., R. O. and F.J. R.-F. acknowledge financial support from grants FPU of MICINN, FPI of U.P.V. and FPI of Generalitat Valenciana, respectively.García Meca, C.; Tung, MM.; Galán Conejos, JV.; Ortuño Molinero, R.; Rodríguez Fortuño, FJ.; Martí Sendra, J.; Martínez Abietar, AJ. (2011). Squeezing and expanding light without reflections via transformation optics. Optics Express. 19(4):3562-3575. https://doi.org/10.1364/OE.19.003562S35623575194Yang, R., Abushagur, M. A., & Lu, Z. (2008). Efficiently squeezing near infrared light into a 21nm-by-24nm nanospot. Optics Express, 16(24), 20142. doi:10.1364/oe.16.020142Vivien, L., Laval, S., Cassan, E., Le Roux, X., & Pascal, D. (2003). 2-d taper for low-loss coupling between polarization-insensitive microwaveguides and single-mode optical fibers. Journal of Lightwave Technology, 21(10), 2429-2433. doi:10.1109/jlt.2003.817692Pendry, J. B. (2006). Controlling Electromagnetic Fields. Science, 312(5781), 1780-1782. doi:10.1126/science.1125907Leonhardt, U., & Philbin, T. G. (2006). General relativity in electrical engineering. New Journal of Physics, 8(10), 247-247. doi:10.1088/1367-2630/8/10/247Rahm, M., Cummer, S. A., Schurig, D., Pendry, J. B., & Smith, D. R. (2008). Optical Design of Reflectionless Complex Media by Finite Embedded Coordinate Transformations. Physical Review Letters, 100(6). doi:10.1103/physrevlett.100.063903Rahm, M., Roberts, D. A., Pendry, J. B., & Smith, D. R. (2008). Transformation-optical design of adaptive beam bends and beam expanders. Optics Express, 16(15), 11555. doi:10.1364/oe.16.011555Grzegorczyk, T. M., Chen, X., Pacheco, J., Chen, J., Wu, B.-I., & Kong, J. A. (2005). REFLECTION COEFFICIENTS AND GOOS-HANCHEN SHIFTS IN ANISOTROPIC AND BIANISOTROPIC LEFT-HANDED METAMATERIALS. Progress In Electromagnetics Research, 51, 83-113. doi:10.2528/pier04040901Taillaert, D., Bogaerts, W., Bienstman, P., Krauss, T. F., Van Daele, P., Moerman, I., … Baets, R. (2002). An out-of-plane grating coupler for efficient butt-coupling between compact planar waveguides and single-mode fibers. IEEE Journal of Quantum Electronics, 38(7), 949-955. doi:10.1109/jqe.2002.1017613Roelkens, G., Vermeulen, D., Van Thourhout, D., Baets, R., Brision, S., Lyan, P., … Fédéli, J.-M. (2008). High efficiency diffractive grating couplers for interfacing a single mode optical fiber with a nanophotonic silicon-on-insulator waveguide circuit. Applied Physics Letters, 92(13), 131101. doi:10.1063/1.2905260Tsuchizawa, T., Yamada, K., Fukuda, H., Watanabe, T., Jun-ichi Takahashi, Takahashi, M., … Morita, H. (2005). Microphotonics devices based on silicon microfabrication technology. IEEE Journal of Selected Topics in Quantum Electronics, 11(1), 232-240. doi:10.1109/jstqe.2004.841479Li, J., & Pendry, J. B. (2008). Hiding under the Carpet: A New Strategy for Cloaking. Physical Review Letters, 101(20). doi:10.1103/physrevlett.101.203901Vasić, B., Isić, G., Gajić, R., & Hingerl, K. (2009). Coordinate transformation based design of confined metamaterial structures. Physical Review B, 79(8). doi:10.1103/physrevb.79.085103Shalaev, V. M. (2008). PHYSICS: Transforming Light. Science, 322(5900), 384-386. doi:10.1126/science.1166079Xiong, Y., Liu, Z., & Zhang, X. (2009). A simple design of flat hyperlens for lithography and imaging with half-pitch resolution down to 20 nm. Applied Physics Letters, 94(20), 203108. doi:10.1063/1.3141457Kildishev, A. V., & Narimanov, E. E. (2007). Impedance-matched hyperlens. Optics Letters, 32(23), 3432. doi:10.1364/ol.32.003432Gaillot, D. P., Croënne, C., Zhang, F., & Lippens, D. (2008). Transformation optics for the full dielectric electromagnetic cloak and metal–dielectric planar hyperlens. New Journal of Physics, 10(11), 115039. doi:10.1088/1367-2630/10/11/115039Tichit, P.-H., Burokur, S. N., & de Lustrac, A. (2010). Waveguide taper engineering using coordinate transformation technology. Optics Express, 18(2), 767. doi:10.1364/oe.18.000767Zang, X., & Jiang, C. (2010). Manipulating the field distribution via optical transformation. Optics Express, 18(10), 10168. doi:10.1364/oe.18.010168Chang, Z., Zhou, X., Hu, J., & Hu, G. (2010). Design method for quasi-isotropic transformation materials based on inverse Laplace’s equation with sliding boundaries. Optics Express, 18(6), 6089. doi:10.1364/oe.18.00608