Municipal solid waste management in small towns : an economic analysis conducted in Yunnan, China

Municipal solid waste management continues to be a major challenge for local governments in both urban and rural areas across the world, and one of the key issues is their financial constraints. Recently an economic analysis was conducted in Eryuan, a poor county located in Yunnan Province of China, where willingness to pay for an improved solid waste collection and treatment service was estimated and compared with the project cost. This study finds that the mean willingness to pay is about 1 percent of household income and the total willingness to pay can basically cover the total cost of the project. The analysis also shows that the poorest households in Eryuan are not only willing to pay more than the rich households in terms of income percentage in general, but also are willing to pay no less than the rich in absolute terms where no solid waste services are available; the poorest households have stronger demand for public solid waste management services while the rich have the capability to take private measures when public services are not available.Urban Solid Waste Management,Environmental Economics&Policies,Waste Disposal&Utilization,Energy and Environment,Environment and Energy Efficiency

Valuing water quality improvement in China : a case study of lake Puzhehei in Yunnan province

While polluted surface water is encountered across most of China, few economic valuation studies have been conducted on water quality changes. Limited information about the economic values associated with those potential water quality improvements or deteriorations is a disadvantage for making proper choices in water pollution control and clean-up activities. This paper reports an economic valuation study conducted in Yunnan, China, which aims to estimate the total value of a real investment project to improve the water quality of Lake Puzhehei by one grade level. Located in Qiubei County, which is far from large cities, the lake has been experiencing fast water quality deterioration in the past years. A conservative estimation strategy shows that on average a household located in Qiubei County is willing to pay about 30 yuan per month continuously for 5 years for water quality improvement, equivalent roughly to 3 percent of household income. The elasticity of willingness-to-pay with respect to income is estimated to be 0.21. The economic rate of return of the proposed project is estimated to be 18 percent, indicating a strong demand and high efficiency of investment in water quality improvement in China. This study also demonstrates that previous knowledge about water quality changes and the project may have a significant positive impact on people's valuation, and that the interviewer effect on valuation can be negative.Water and Industry,Environmental Economics&Policies,Water Supply and Sanitation Governance and Institutions,Town Water Supply and Sanitation,Water Supply and Systems

Lifting Confidentiality of FRAND Royalties in SEP Arbitration

No patent dispute in recent years draws more attention than the “Smartphone Wars.” At the center stage of the Smartphone Wars is the “fair, reasonable, and non-discriminatory (FRAND)” commitment to license standard-essential patents (SEPs). Later added to the stage is the new form of SEP enforcement targeting small businesses and end-users. As a result, the efficacy of FRAND commitments comes under criticism from the antitrust enforcement agency, leading scholars, and the President of the United States. With a view to breathing life into the meaning of “FRAND,” this Article explores arguments against confidentiality of FRAND royalties in SEP arbitration, primarily focusing on an analogy to section 294 of the Patent Act. Section 294 may provide an adequate platform for this discussion because it already lifted confidentiality of patent validity and infringement in the interest of the public and competition. Similarly, lifting confidentiality of FRAND royalties in SEP arbitration could be an effective measure to tackle unfair competition and deceptive business practices and to empower the public in the Smartphone Wars and in the face of SEP enforcement

A Problem Solving Environment for Network Computing

The current advances in high-speed networks and WWW technologies have made network computing a cost-effective high performance computing environment. New software development models and problem solving environments must be developed to utilize the network computing environment efficiently. In this paper we present Virtual Distributed Computing Environment (VDCE), which provides a problem solving environment for high-performance distributed computing over wide-area networks. VDCE enables scientists to develop distributed applications without knowing the detailed architecture of the underlying resources. VDCE provides well-defined library functions that relieve end users from tedious task implementations and it supports software reusability. The VDCE software architecture consists of two modules: Application Editor, and VDCE Runtime System. Application Editor is a Web-based graphical user interface that helps user to develop network applications and specifies the computing and communication properties of each task within the applications. The VDCE Runtime System schedules the individual tasks of the application to the best available resources, runs, and manages the application execution on the assigned resources. We also present how VDCE can be used as a problem solving environment and how the users can experiment and evaluate the performance of their applications for different VDCE hardware and/or software configurations

Loss of synchronized retinal phagocytosis and age-related blindness in mice lacking alphavbeta5 integrin.

Daily phagocytosis by the retinal pigment epithelium (RPE) of spent photoreceptor outer segment fragments is critical for vision. In the retina, early morning circadian photoreceptor rod shedding precedes synchronized uptake of shed photoreceptor particles by RPE cells. In vitro, RPE cells use the integrin receptor alphavbeta5 for particle binding. Here, we tested RPE phagocytosis and retinal function in beta5 integrin--deficient mice, which specifically lack alphavbeta5 receptors. Retinal photoresponses severely declined with age in beta5-/- mice, whose RPE accumulated autofluorescent storage bodies that are hallmarks of human retinal aging and disease. beta5-/- RPE in culture failed to take up isolated photoreceptor particles. beta5-/- RPE in vivo retained basal uptake levels but lacked the burst of phagocytic activity that followed circadian photoreceptor shedding in wild-type RPE. Rhythmic activation of focal adhesion and Mer tyrosine kinases that mediate wild-type retinal phagocytosis was also completely absent in beta5-/- retina. These results demonstrate an essential role for alphavbeta5 integrin receptors and their downstream signaling pathways in synchronizing retinal phagocytosis. Furthermore, they identify the beta5-/- integrin mouse strain as a new animal model of age-related retinal dysfunction

Students Perceptions of Enjoyment in Physical Education

2001This study investigated middle school students' perceptions of specific factors related to enjoyment in physical education (PE). Middle school-aged students (269 males, 349 females) responded to an Likert type question on general enjoyment in PE and an open-ended question regarding the factors underlying enjoyment in PE. Descriptive statistics and Chi-square analyses revealed that approximately 85.3% of the students reported that they like PE. Gender differences in the level of enjoyment in PE were found with higher enjoyment for male students (75.0%) compared to female students (30.1%). A total of 1399 response on the open-ended question were content-analyzed. 12 general dimensions of enjoyment were emerged: (1) specific types of activities (e.g., soccer, basketball), (2) PE is fun and enjoyable, (3) PE is a break from classsroom work, (4) PE affords contact with friends, (5) PE is not theory subjects, (6) PE helps to release stress, (7) PE provides for health and fitness, (8) learning new skills is enjoyable, (9) feelings of achievement, (10) PE teachers, (11) easy to get high grade in PE, and (12) others (e.g., good facilities). The dimensions generally fit into the students' experience categories (Kwack & Park, 1998; Luke & Sinclair, 1991) and reasons for participating in PE (Baker et al., 1982; Browne, 1992; Butcher, 1976, 1980; Earl & Stennett, 1983). However, some unique aspects of enjoyment in PE (e.g., PE is not theory subjects and easiness to get high grade) reflect the nature of middle school PE in Korea. Gender differences in the dimensions of PE enjoyment were also identified. The findings provided greater understanding for the specific aspects of enjoyment in PE

The voltage-gated potassium channel Shaker promotes sleep via thermosensitive GABA transmission

Genes and neural circuits coordinately regulate animal sleep. However, it remains elusive how these endogenous factors shape sleep upon environmental changes. Here, we demonstrate that Shaker (Sh)-expressing GABAergic neurons projecting onto dorsal fan-shaped body (dFSB) regulate temperature-adaptive sleep behaviors in Drosophila. Loss of Sh function suppressed sleep at low temperature whereas light and high temperature cooperatively gated Sh effects on sleep. Sh depletion in GABAergic neurons partially phenocopied Sh mutants. Furthermore, the ionotropic GABA receptor, Resistant to dieldrin (Rdl), in dFSB neurons acted downstream of Sh and antagonized its sleep-promoting effects. In fact, Rdl inhibited the intracellular cAMP signaling of constitutively active dopaminergic synapses onto dFSB at low temperature. High temperature silenced GABAergic synapses onto dFSB, thereby potentiating the wake-promoting dopamine transmission. We propose that temperature-dependent switching between these two synaptic transmission modalities may adaptively tune the neural property of dFSB neurons to temperature shifts and reorganize sleep architecture for animal fitness. Ji-hyung Kim and Yoonhee Ki et al. show that low temperatures suppress sleep in Drosophila by increasing GABA transmission in Shaker-expressing GABAergic neurons projecting onto the dorsal fan-shaped body, while high temperatures potentiate dopamine-induced arousal by reducing GABA transmission. This study highlights a role for Shaker in sleep modulation via a temperature-dependent switch in GABA signaling