Valuing natural assets

Key points New Zealand producers and consumers get much value from natural assets. Much of this value is intangible. This is a fundamental reason to make special effort to measure the value of natural assets, to make sure we make the right decisions about their use and conservation.But a key barrier to using economic valuation is the cost and uncertainty of values obtained from the variety of techniques being used. This is a real issue, to the extent that doubts are being expressed in resource management cases whether economics has much to add when considering environmental effects.To remove this barrier, valuations need to be cheaper and easier to compare. A standardised technique could provide relative values for different types of natural asset or service. This would make economic value estimates from across a range of natural asset settings more consistent.Developing a practical, reliable standardised technique would involve: building on studies done to date , showing how much economic activity depends on natural assets in a robust and comparable waycarrying out a meta - analysis, to obtain consistent and comparable value estimates for a range of ensure economic activities from economic impact studies done to datelearning how biophysical cause - and - effect relationships translate into economic value, to identify the sensitivity of econo mic activity to changes in natural assets , such as biodiversitycommissioning a stated preference study of the value of broad categories of natural assets, as a starting point for identifying value in specific situations. Decision - makers need to understand how and where economic valuation can support their decisions. Providing them with explanatory materials will help.It is important to make progress. There is currently a gap in the knowledge about the full contribution of natural assets to New Zealand’s economic well-being. This creates a risk that natural assets will be undervalued. Ecosystems and the valuable services they provide may be lost or damaged.Economic valuation of environmental assets can fill the knowledge gap. To date, non-market valuations in New Zealand do not appear to have been used much to make management choices in conservation, whether those relate to responding to pest incursions or to economic development.A less ad hoc approach to weighing up the value of natural assets can make treatment of natural assets more consistent in decisions, and increase the efficiency of use of natural resources. A better approach is needed so studies inform policy and decisions about New Zealand’s natural assets. Our proposed approach could improve understanding of the value of natural assets — giving them more consistent weight in decisions, and improving the way we manage them

Neural Embeddings of Graphs in Hyperbolic Space

Neural embeddings have been used with great success in Natural Language Processing (NLP). They provide compact representations that encapsulate word similarity and attain state-of-the-art performance in a range of linguistic tasks. The success of neural embeddings has prompted significant amounts of research into applications in domains other than language. One such domain is graph-structured data, where embeddings of vertices can be learned that encapsulate vertex similarity and improve performance on tasks including edge prediction and vertex labelling. For both NLP and graph based tasks, embeddings have been learned in high-dimensional Euclidean spaces. However, recent work has shown that the appropriate isometric space for embedding complex networks is not the flat Euclidean space, but negatively curved, hyperbolic space. We present a new concept that exploits these recent insights and propose learning neural embeddings of graphs in hyperbolic space. We provide experimental evidence that embedding graphs in their natural geometry significantly improves performance on downstream tasks for several real-world public datasets.Comment: 7 pages, 5 figure

An investigation into H2 production by sorbent enhanced steam reforming of biomass

This thesis is based around the production of H2 via a process called Sorbent Enhanced Steam Reforming (SESR), which has the potential to drastically reduce CO2 emissions from H2 production therefore abating climate change. SESR is a combination of traditional Steam Methane Reforming (SMR) and Calcium Looping (CaL, a form of Carbon Capture and Storage, CCS), whereby the CaL sorbent removes CO2 from the gas stream and drives the reactions equilibrium to produce more H2. With the application of biomass as the fuel feedstock this process has the potential to produce H2 with net-negative CO2 emissions. Two main areas of work were conducted within this thesis, namely: examining the performance of CaL sorbents and novel sorbents under industrial conditions, and the development of combined multifunctional sorbent and catalyst particles for SESR with biomass. These particles were tested within a reactor that was specifically constructed for this set of work. A detailed investigation into the effects of various parameters on the rate of limestone calcination was conducted within an atmospheric fluidised bed reactor utilising high-temperatures and CO2 partial pressures. These conditions would typically be present within a CaL/SESR calciner and thus kinetic data with this environment was determined. Further to this, a single particle model was developed to shed light on the variances observed when calcining limestone in the presence of CO2 and steam or CO2 and N2. The application of a novel synthetic sorbent was also investigated under similar calcination conditions showing the impacts on the sorbents carrying capacity caused by high-temperature CO2 sintering. A mild-pressure, high-temperature spout-fluidised bed reactor was constructed for the purpose of continuous biomass feeding for SESR. Combined particles of catalyst, sorbent and a dicalcium silicate support were tested. These combined particles were manufactured utilising a simple and inexpensive method. An enhanced H2 yield of 120 gH2/kgbiomass was produced at ~75 % purity at a stoichiometric steam to carbon ratio.Open Acces

Predicting cooperation in competitive conditions : the role of sportspersonship, moral competence, and emotional intelligence

Objectives The purpose of the present study was to examine the predictive capabilities of sportspersonship, moral competence, and emotional intelligence on cooperation in varying competitive conditions. Design An experimental study was conducted, examining responses in a prisoner's dilemma game with manipulated conditions. Method Forty-three participants were randomly assigned to an accumulative or competitive condition, in which they contested 10 rounds of choosing to cooperate or defect. Results Whether the condition was accumulative or competitive did not significantly predict cooperation. In the final round of each contest however, cooperation was significantly reduced. Sportspersonship predicted a significant amount of cooperation percentage, while final round cooperation was predicted by emotional intelligence. Conclusions Cooperation is in part determined by individual levels of sportspersonship in all conditions except when actions are free of future consequence. In such conditions, emotional intelligence appears to be a stronger indicator of cooperation. The implications of the study are that researchers and practitioners should consider how to develop sportspersonship and emotional intelligence to boost cooperation in various domains

Nuclear spin-lattice relaxation and activation energies of tunnelling methyl groups

The coupling of lattice vibrations with the rotational motion of hindered methyl groups is considered. It is shown that the apparent activation energy for methyl group rotation is determined at relatively high temperatures by the methyl group torsional energy splittings, but at low temperatures it depends on the frequencies of short-wavelength lattice modes which couple relatively strongly with methyl-group rotation. The temperature dependence of the proton spin lattice relaxation time from 6 to 50K is reported for three samples containing methyl groups whose tunnelling frequencies have previously been measured very precisely. They are 4-methyl-2,6-ditertiarybutylphenol (MDBP) and two deuterated derivatives. The activation energy measured at temperatures between 18 and 50K is in good agreement with the splitting between ground and first-excited methyl group torsional states, as computed from the known tunnelling frequencies assuming a three-fold hindering potential. At temperatures below 15K the observed activation energy is only about half this value

Electron spin relaxation and tunnelling methyl groups

The energy transfer has been studied between free radicals and nearby tunnelling methyl groups near the resonant condition that the electron Larmor frequency and the methyl tunnelling frequency are equal. The measurements were made in a gamma -irradiated single crystal of 4-methyl-2,6-ditertiarybutylphenol (MDBP) at 4.2K and consisted of saturating the ESR signal and observing its return to equilibrium. This has been done at eleven ESR frequencies in the range 8.97\u3c nu s\u3c0.63 GHz and for saturation times of 5, 50 and 200 s. A theoretical model has been developed for the non-exponential recovery which assumes that all the 4-methyl groups of the molecules surrounding a free radical have the same tunnelling rotation frequency nu t and that the only coupling between the electrons and the methyl groups is the intermolecular dipole-dipole interaction

Genetic regulation of parasite infection: empirical evidence of the functional significance of an IL4 gene SNP on nematode infections in wild primates

Background Susceptibility to parasite infection affects fitness-related processes, such as mate choice and survival, yet its genetic regulation remains poorly understood. Interleukin-4 (IL4) plays a central role in the humoral immune defence against nematode parasite infections, inducing IgE switch and regulation of worm expulsion from the intestines. The evolutionary and functional significance of single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in IL4-genes is known, yet empirical information on the effect of IL4 SNPs on gastro-intestinal infections is lacking. Using samples from a population of wild red-fronted lemurs (Eulemur fulvus rufus, Primates: Lemuridae), from western Madagascar, we explored the association of IL4-gene promoter polymorphisms with nematode infections and investigated a possible functional role of the IL4 polymorphism on male reproductive success. Results Using sequence analyses of lemur DNA we detected a new SNP in the IL4 gene promoter area. Carriers of the genotype T/T showed higher nematode infection intensities than individuals of genotypes C/T and C/C. Genetic population analyses using data from more than 10 years, suggested higher reproductive success of T/T males than expected. Conclusions Our results suggest a regulatory effect of an IL4 gene promoter polymorphism on the intensity of parasite infections in a natural population of red-fronted lemurs, with a seemingly disadvantageous genotype represented in low frequencies. Long-term population analyses, however, point in the direction of a negative frequency-dependent association, giving a fitness advantage to the rare genotype. Due to low frequencies of the genotype in question conclusive evidence of a functional role of IL4 polymorphism cannot be drawn here; still, we suggest the use of IL4 polymorphism as a new molecular tool for quick assessment of individual genetic constitution with regard to nematode infection intensities, contributing to a better understanding of the actual components of the immune response that mediate protection against gastro-intestinal parasites

Education and the experience of language : a phenomenological approach to pupil talk.

The thesis argues that language research in education is implicitly positivistic, and that in:'focussing on communicative functions, most ,investigations ignore the processes of expression. This imbalance has influenced theory and method in English Studies, which should acknowledge both aspects. After a review of linguistic influences, a phenomenological epistemology is developed. This provides the basis for an account of language which restores the element of expression. The centre of the work comprises two parallel strands of enquiry which have an elaborated distinction of de Saussure's langue and parole as their common structure. After sketching a simple model of some of the features of langue, one part draws on phenomenological writing. It shows how the formal structure of language has its roots in experience; langue, therefore, - as a science of elements - is ,extended to comprehend the relationship of those necessary abstractions to the structures of experience underlying them. The other part shows how such a philosophical account has an empirical and useful validity; literary method is used to describe the expressive acts of students as they discuss poetry. Consonant with the first part, parole is viewed as so many instances of experience disposed to sharing meaning. This illumination of parole suggests some);"truths which research methodology must respect if it is to recognise the character and event of meaning. In conclusion, several principles of art which the expressive nature of language shares are elaborated with examples from 'literature, and pedagogic implications illustrated from the author's experience. Finally, phenomenological enquiry is characterised as a method which can investigate the experience of language in education; such work respects the personal, experience of meaning, and so the moral dimension of research lies in the problem of communicating that effort for meaning to others

An investigation of aerodynamic effects of body morphing for passenger cars in close-proximity

The potential energy-saving benefit for vehicles when travelling in a ‘platoon’ formation results from the reduction in total aerodynamic drag which may result from the interaction of bluff bodies in close-proximity. Early investigations of platooning, prompted by problems of congestion, had shown the potential for drag reduction but was not pursued. More recently, technologies developed for connected-autonomous vehicle control have provided a renewed interest in platooning particularly within the commercial vehicle industry. To date, most aerodynamics-based considerations of platooning have been conducted to assess the sensitivity of drag-saving to vehicle spacing and were based on formations of identically shaped constituents. In this study, the interest was the sensitivity of drag-saving to the shape of the individual platoon constituents. A new reference car, the Resnick model, was specially designed to include front and rear-end add-on sections to make distinct changes in profile form and simulate large-scale body morphing. The results of wind tunnel tests on small-scale models suggested that current trends in low-drag styling may not provide the ideal shape for platoon constituent members and that optimised forms are likely to be dependent upon position in the platoon

An overview of advances in biomass gasification

Biomass gasification is a widely used thermochemical process for obtaining products with more value and potential applications than the raw material itself. Cutting-edge, innovative and economical gasification techniques with high efficiencies are a prerequisite for the development of this technology. This paper delivers an assessment on the fundamentals such as feedstock types, the impact of different operating parameters, tar formation and cracking, and modelling approaches for biomass gasification. Furthermore, the authors comparatively discuss various conventional mechanisms for gasification as well as recent advances in biomass gasification. Unique gasifiers along with multi-generation strategies are discussed as a means to promote this technology into alternative applications, which require higher flexibility and greater efficiency. A strategy to improve the feasibility and sustainability of biomass gasification is via technological advancement and the minimization of socio-environmental effects. This paper sheds light on diverse areas of biomass gasification as a potentially sustainable and environmentally friendly technology