Policies for the regulation of coexistence between GM and conventional crops

Pollen-mediated gene flow is one of the main concerns associated with the introduction of genetically modified (GM) crops, since growers of GM varieties normally do not take into account its possible impact on conventional and organic growers therefore generating negative externalities. Should a premium for non-GM varieties emerge on the market, 'contamination' with GM pollen would generate a revenue loss for growers of non-GM varieties. The existence of such externalities has led the European Union (EU) to put forward the concept of coexistence in order to guarantee farmers' freedom to plant both conventional and GM varieties without generating economic losses to conventional farmers. The first part of this paper develops a simple economic model analysing the problem of pollen-mediated gene flow as a particular kind of production externality. The model, although simple, provides useful insights into the policy needed to regulate coexistence. Since pollen-mediated gene flow is distance-dependent, the externalities will depend on the spatial structure of GM adoption in the landscape. The second part of the paper, taking GM herbicide tolerant oilseed rape (Brassica napus) as a model crop, uses a Monte Carlo experiment to generate data and then estimate the effect of some important policy variables (i.e. number of GM and conventional fields in the landscape, width of buffer zones and spatial aggregation) on the magnitude of the externality associated with pollen-mediated gene flow. Our results show that buffer areas on conventional fields are more effective than those on GM fields and that the degree of spatial aggregation exerts the largest marginal effect on the externality to conventional growers. The implications of the results for the coexistence policies in the EU are then discussed.coexistence, pollen-mediated gene flow, Monte Carlo simulation, Crop Production/Industries,

Jesus in the Washat

This thesis explores the history and theology of the Washat religion. The indigenous Native American peoples along the mid-Columbia River and Cascade Range of Washington and Oregon have a rich, intriguing, spirituality connecting them strongly with the Creator. This thesis assumes a disconnection for most of American Christianity with regard to the worship of the Creator (from now on, Creator and God will be used synonymously) in connection with the earth, something that the Washat give supreme priority. American Christianity can learn much from a spirituality that takes stewardship of the earth, along with many other aspects overlooked in American Christianity, so seriously. Worship need not be relegated to the confines of church walls. American Christianity has come a long way in this sense, but more can be learned. The Washat have much to offer in this regard

The Impact of Public Law of Privatization, Deregulation, Outsourcing, and Downsizing: A Canadian Perspective

Globalization and Governance: The Prospects for Democracy, Symposiu

Interdisciplinary approaches to zoonotic disease

Zoonotic infections are on the increase worldwide, but most research into the biological, environmental and life science aspects of these infections has been conducted in separation. In this review we bring together contemporary research in these areas to suggest a new, symbiotic framework which recognises the interaction of biological, economic, psychological, and natural and built environmental drivers in zoonotic infection and transmission. In doing so, we propose that some contemporary debates in zoonotic research could be resolved using an expanded framework which explicitly takes into account the combination of motivated and habitual human behaviour, environmental and biological constraints, and their interactions

The Impact of Public Law of Privatization, Deregulation, Outsourcing, and Downsizing: A Canadian Perspective

Globalization and Governance: The Prospects for Democracy, Symposiu

Managing infectious diseases over connected populations: a non-convex optimal control

The paper develops an optimal control model to analyse various management options for infectious diseases that occur in metapopulations, under both Nash and cooperative behaviour. As pathogens are renewable resources with negative value, the problem may be non-convex. Since the disease can be transmitted across various connected populations, externalities are involved. Both aspects deserve attention as two issues arise: a) is eradication of the disease in finite time preferable to indefinite treatment? b) are cooperative solutions well-behaved? The problem is solved numerically and the results indicate that while eradication is likely to be an optimal strategy when initial levels of infections are relatively low, the internalisation of between-population externalities (as indicated by the first order necessary conditions of the cooperative optimal control problem) might not always be possible. Also, ignoring these two aspects can lead to inadequate policy design.infectious diseases; metapopulation; non-convexities; optimal control

Ghost Projection

Ghost imaging is a developing imaging technique that employs random masks to image a sample. Ghost projection utilizes ghost-imaging concepts to perform the complementary procedure of projection of a desired image. The key idea underpinning ghost projection is that any desired spatial distribution of radiant exposure may be produced, up to an additive constant, by spatially-uniformly illuminating a set of random masks in succession. We explore three means of achieving ghost projection: (i) weighting each random mask, namely selecting its exposure time, according to its correlation with a desired image, (ii) selecting a subset of random masks according to their correlation with a desired image, and (iii) numerically optimizing a projection for a given set of random masks and desired image. The first two protocols are analytically tractable and conceptually transparent. The third is more efficient but less amenable to closed-form analytical expressions. A comparison with existing image-projection techniques is drawn and possible applications are discussed. These potential applications include: (i) a data projector for matter and radiation fields for which no current data projectors exist, (ii) a universal-mask approach to lithography, (iii) tomographic volumetric additive manufacturing, and (iv) a ghost-projection photocopier.Comment: 32 pages, 15 figure

Effetti del cambiamento climatico e indicatori di stress per le specie ittiche

La definizione di strategie di adattamento ai cambiamenti climatici si articola su un ampio spettro di scale spaziali e temporali, e richiede un concerto di azioni diverse, integrate e sussidiarie a seconda del contesto considerato. L’Autorità di bacino del fiume Arno ha sviluppato da tempo una linea di ricerca tesa a valutare le peculiarità del cambiamento globale in atto nel territorio del bacino, attraverso l’attività di uno specifico laboratorio territoriale permanente. I risultati mostrano la validità dell’approccio e l’evidente deriva che caratterizza la non stazionarietà del regime delle portate alle scale d’interesse per la pianificazione territoriale. Ai fini del presente lavoro si pone particolare attenzione alla deriva del regime di portata che, a partire dagli anni ’70, mostra una sensibile riduzione della disponibilità idrica e una progressiva asimmetria rispetto agli usuali contributi stagionali. Tale effetto al suolo rispecchia gli aspetti del cambiamento climatico in termini di distribuzione spaziale e temporale delle precipitazioni e dell’andamento delle temperature. Tra gli indicatori di vulnerabilità l’evoluzione dell’Area Disponibile Ponderata (ADP, Bovee et al. 1998), in funzione dei diversi regimi, si è mostrata un indicatore efficace al quale è possibile affiancare specifici segnali di stress. Per questo si è effettuato un rilievo di dettaglio del fondo dell’alveo in un tronco posto nella sezione di chiusura del bacino laboratorio e, fissata la specie bersaglio nel barbo in fase riproduttiva, si è calcolata l’ADP utilizzando un modello idrodinamico bidimensionale a elementi finiti. Si è poi effettuata l’analisi della serie storica (quasi secolare) delle portate osservate scegliendo, come riferimento, la permanenza della portata media giornaliera al disotto del 50% e del 70% dell’ADP per due giorni consecutivi ed oltre. I risultati mostrano una forte dinamica del dato che, sopratutto negli ultimi dieci anni, indica un incremento notevole del numero di eventi e dei giorni di permanenza. Mostrano inoltre la validità dell’approccio seguito che tende a fornire una indispensabile dimensione temporale all’analisi alla scala del meso- e del microhabitat