Economic parameters of deforestation

Recent debate about how timber prices affect deforestation has focused mainly on how log export bans (imposed in many developing countries to protect domestic timber processing) affect deforestation. One side argues that the lower domestic timber prices that result from banning log exports increase deforestation by making forestry less profitable than competing land uses, such as agriculture. The other argues that lower timber prices reduce profits from logging, so they slow down deforestation caused by logging. The author argues that the conflicting views result from simplistic analysis that ignores differences between types of forest. The two positions are reconciled by distinguishing between unmanaged forests (for example, biologically mature, previously unlogged primary forests) and managed forests (such as forest plantations cultivated for periodic harvest). This distinction allows the derivation of unambiguous comparative static results and is useful because many nontimber benefits from forests (such as biodiversity conservation) are associated mainly with unmanaged forests. The distinction between managed and unmanaged forests leads to both unconventional and conventional results. All things being equal, a lower timber price results in larger areas of unmanaged forests and smaller areas of managed forests. That is, measures that reduce the producer price for timber (for example, import restrictions in timber-consuming countries and export restrictions in timber-producing countries) are suitable as a second-best policy to reduce the pressure on unmanaged forest frontiers. Most logging in tropical forests occurs in unmanaged forests, so the claim that trade restrictions (such as log export bans) increase deforestation is inconsistent with profit-maximizing land use. A fee on land used for logging is preferable to a tax on timber output,which is far more common but encourages logging waste. Technological interventions that increase the intensity of forestry or alternative land uses are an ambiguous instrument for the conservation of unmanaged forests. If demand elasticity for outputs is high, an intervention that increases the intensity of agriculture, logging, or other land uses increases incentive for conversion of unmanaged forests. The building of roads is particularly harmful to the conservation of unmanaged forests, as it increases incentives for logging and subsequent alternative land uses. Proper pricing of forest lands would increase land prices and lead to market-driven intensification accompanied by forest protection. Such pricing policies would be preferable to a technological intervention that increases land use intensity with ambiguous outcomes for forest protection. If unmanaged forest is converted to agriculture, the effect of lowering the decisionmaker's discount rate depends on the size of timber rents from logging unmanaged forests. If the standing timber has high commercial value, a lower discount rate would slow conversion of unmanaged forests. If the standing timber has no commercial value, logging is an investment for obtaining future benefits of alternate land use. A lower discount rate would stimulate this investment and increase the conversion of unmanaged forests. Also, if unmanaged forests are converted to managed forests, a lower discount rate can increase conversion since profits from managed forestry are higher with a lower discount rate.Silviculture,Agribusiness,Forestry,Environmental Economics&Policies,Forests and Forestry

Floral and vegetative development in Dactylis glomerata as influenced by different temperature levels and durations

Growth chamber and field experiments were conducted to investigate the effects of different temperature levels and durations on floral induction and vegetative growth in orchardgrass. Propagules of two clones, XLI-8 (clone R) and MID-5 (clone 0), from the synthetic variety Pennlate, were used in all experiments. Clone R plants were less dependent than clone 0 plants on extended low temperature exposure for floral induction. Temperature regimes in the growth chambers, where daily maxima were above 65°F for the durations of exposure used in these experiments, did not induce clone 0 propagules. However, clone R plants were induced to some degree with all temperature regimes except where the maximum temperature reached over 90°F for 10 hours each day. The longer the exposure periods of inductive regimes, the higher the percentage of plants initiating an inflorescence and the larger the number of tillers induced. Clone R plants were usually induced in a shorter time than was true for clone 0. A positive linear relationship between floral induction and exposure time through the longest duration of 10 weeks suggests that the optimum duration of exposure under growth chamber conditions was not reached. Constant 38°F and alternating 38°-60°F induced the highest percentage of plants of both clones. Cyclic daily temperatures of 15 hours at 38°F and 5 hours at 60°F temperatures gave the highest number of inflorescences per plant for clone 0. This effect appeared to be due in part to the more favorable conditions for tillering with alternating temperatures, which resulted in more potentially inducible tillers. Alternating temperatures of 38°-60°F did not show a similar advantage over 38°F constant in number of inflorescence per plant for clone R, but did increase the number of tillers per plant. Cyclic temperatures with high temperature maxima usually favored tiller development, both in the controlled environment chamber and after they had been transferred to the greenhouse. Constant 38°F temperatures were less promotive to tillering and reduced leaf development on the main tiller. Leaf development was accelerated by high temperatures with response related to the duration of high temperature received in each cyclic regime. Field results indicated that the earlier the plant were transplanted to the field, the larger were the number of inflorescences. Differences in the number of floral primordia were more pronounced for clone 0 than they were for clone R plants. Earlier planting dates for either clone resulted in earlier inflorescence exsertion. Inflorescence exsertion started about a week earlier for clone 0 than for clone R. Clone 0 plants were superior to clone R plants in number of reproductive primordia, as well as in the total number of tillers developed in the field for early dates of planting. These differences were smaller or nonexistent with the later planting dates

Зарубежные подходы к формированию государственной экологической политики

В современных условиях хозяйствования вопросы экологии и экологической политики приобретают особый статус. В связи с этим автором проведен сравнительный анализ отечественного опыта реализации экологической политики и разработаны рекомендации по внедрению в отечественную экологическую политику.In modern conditions of management issues of ecology and environmental policy acquire a special status. In this connection, the author carried out a comparative analysis of domestic experience in the implementation of environmental policy and developed recommendations on the introduction of domestic environmental policy

Beyond bevacizumab: an outlook to new anti-angiogenics for the treatment of ovarian cancer

In addition to the monoclonal vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) antibody bevacizumab, several alternative anti-angiogenic treatment strategies for ovarian cancer patients have been evaluated in clinical trials. Apart from targeting extracellular receptors by the antibody aflibercept or the peptibody trebananib, the multikinase inhibitors pazopanib, nintedanib, cediranib, sunitinib, and sorafenib were developed to interfere with VEGF receptors and multiple additional intracellular pathways. Nintedanib and pazopanib significantly improved progression-free survival in two positive phase III trials for first-line therapy. A reliable effect on overall survival could, however, not be observed for any anti-angiogenic first-line therapies so far. In terms of recurrent disease, two positive phase III trials revealed that trebananib and cediranib are effective anti-angiogenic agents for this indication. Patient selection and biomarker guided prediction of response seems to be a central aspect for future studies. Combining anti-angiogenics with other targeted therapies to possibly spare chemotherapy in certain constellations represents another very interesting future perspective for clinical trials. This short review gives an overview of current clinical trials for anti-angiogenic treatment strategies beyond bevacizumab. In this context, possible future perspectives combining anti-angiogenics with other targeted therapies and the need for specific biomarkers predicting response are elucidated

Inspired by Sea Urchins: Warburg Effect Mediated Selectivity of Novel Synthetic Non-Glycoside 1,4-Naphthoquinone-6S-Glucose Conjugates in Prostate Cancer

The phenomenon of high sugar consumption by tumor cells is known as Warburg effect. It results from a high glycolysis rate, used by tumors as preferred metabolic pathway even in aerobic conditions. Targeting the Warburg effect to specifically deliver sugar conjugated cytotoxic compounds into tumor cells is a promising approach to create new selective drugs. We designed, synthesized, and analyzed a library of novel 6-S-(1,4-naphthoquinone-2-yl)-d-glucose chimera molecules (SABs)—novel sugar conjugates of 1,4-naphthoquinone analogs of the sea urchin pigments spinochromes, which have previously shown anticancer properties. A sulfur linker (thioether bond) was used to prevent potential hydrolysis by human glycoside-unspecific enzymes. The synthesized compounds exhibited a Warburg effect mediated selectivity to human prostate cancer cells (including highly drug-resistant cell lines). Mitochondria were identified as a primary cellular target of SABs. The mechanism of action included mitochondria membrane permeabilization, followed by ROS upregulation and release of cytotoxic mitochondrial proteins (AIF and cytochrome C) to the cytoplasm, which led to the consequent caspase-9 and -3 activation, PARP cleavage, and apoptosis-like cell death. These results enable us to further clinically develop these compounds for effective Warburg effect targeting

Approved and experimental small-molecule oncology kinase inhibitor drugs: a mid-2016 overview

Kinase inhibitor research is a comparatively recent branch of medicinal chemistry and pharmacology and the first small-molecule kinase inhibitor, imatinib, was approved for clinical use only 15 years ago. Since then, 33 more kinase inhibitor drugs have received regulatory approval for the treatment of a variety of cancers and the volume of reports on the discovery and development of kinase inhibitors has increased to an extent where it is now difficult—even for those working in the field—easily to keep an overview of the compounds that are being developed, as currently there are 231 such compounds, targeting 38 different protein and lipid kinases (not counting isoforms), in clinical use or under clinical investigation. The purpose of this review is thus to provide an overview of the biomedical rationales for the kinases being targeted on the one hand, and the design principles, as well as chemical, pharmacological, pharmaceutical, and toxicological kinase inhibitor properties, on the other hand. Two issues that are especially important in kinase inhibitor research, target selectivity and drug resistance, as well as the underlying structural concepts, are discussed in general terms and in the context of relevant kinases and their inhibitors

A River Runs Through It: Tidal Creek Contributions to Salt Marsh Denitrification

Nitrogen is a key factor limiting primary production in coastal ecosystems. Determining how these systems modulate nitrogen availability is critical. Estuarine environments are heterogeneous, with physical differences such as tidal elevation and sediment characteristics that affect nutrient processing. I used membrane inlet mass spectrometry to measure changes in N2 flux, referred to as denitrification, in a channel and the nearby marsh of a tidal creek through an annual cycle. I will discuss how denitrification rates vary between habitat and the predictive factors that can be used to assess the ecosystem function associated with nitrogen cycling in estuarine sediments.Bachelor of Scienc