Livestock Policy Analysis Brief no. 12. Participation in the construction of a local public good with indivisibilities: An application to watershed development in Ethiopia

Limitations of both the market and the state have caused a growing interest in the potentialities of local-level collective action for development. The burgeoning literature on collective action suffers from two main weaknesses. First, theoretical studies typically fail to describe inter-agent interactions in a satisfactory manner. Second, empirical studies do not provide adequate hard data and quantitative analysis to allow us to advance our knowledge about individual motives for co-operation and conditions conductive to the emergence and evolution of co-operative behaviour. This study is a modest attempt to fill this gap in knowledge by depicting collective action in the provision of an indivisible public good in a simple game-theoretical framework. It systematically investigates the joint role of leadership and private interests as key determinants of farmer participation in the construction of a local public good, namely a central drainage channel, in a watershed area of the Ethiopian highlands

Un usage du logiciel Nvivo : Expérience et illustration au travers de l'élaboration d'un argument

Présentation de l'usage du logiciel Nvivo (analyse qualitative de données non-structurées) au travers de la construction progressive d'un argument socio-technique (selon l'approche dite de la sociologie de la traduction - ANT)

Citizen participation and the production of situated knowledge about pollution. Review on two experiments in the biomonitoring of pollution by the Ecocitizens Institute in Fos (France)

peer reviewedCet article repose sur la description du fonctionnement de l’Institut Ecocitoyen pour la Connaissance des Pollutions (IECP). Cet organisme atypique dans le paysage de la recherche française a pour but de produire, avec les collectivités locales et les riverains de la zone-industrialo-portuaire de Fos, les données sur les pollutions et la santé environnementales qui manquent pour éclairer le débat public. Nous revenons sur deux des expérimentations de biomonitoring participatif menées par l’IECP : un suivi lichénique pour l’évaluation de la qualité de l’air et l’usage du congre comme espèce sentinelle de la qualité du milieu marin. Notre recherche avance l’idée que des savoirs situés, sur la base de collaborations de différents niveaux entre scientifiques et profanes, peuvent contribuer à améliorer la gouvernance des risques technologiques, non seulement parce qu’ils sont générateurs de nouveaux liens socio-écosystémiques, mais aussi parce qu’ils provoquent un basculement cosmopolitique en faveur du care et de la précaution. Nous concluons sur l’émergence de sciences situées transformant la manière même d’envisager les pratiques scientifiques lorsqu’elles se rendent sensibles aux conditions communes d’habitabilité des vivants.3. Good health and well-being6. Clean water and sanitation9. Industry, innovation and infrastructure11. Sustainable cities and communities10. Reduced inequalities12. Responsible consumption and production14. Life below water16. Peace, justice and strong institutions17. Partnerships for the goals14. Life below water15. Life on lan

Lagrangian Time Series Models for Ocean Surface Drifter Trajectories

This paper proposes stochastic models for the analysis of ocean surface trajectories obtained from freely-drifting satellite-tracked instruments. The proposed time series models are used to summarise large multivariate datasets and infer important physical parameters of inertial oscillations and other ocean processes. Nonstationary time series methods are employed to account for the spatiotemporal variability of each trajectory. Because the datasets are large, we construct computationally efficient methods through the use of frequency-domain modelling and estimation, with the data expressed as complex-valued time series. We detail how practical issues related to sampling and model misspecification may be addressed using semi-parametric techniques for time series, and we demonstrate the effectiveness of our stochastic models through application to both real-world data and to numerical model output.Comment: 21 pages, 10 figure

Skin mucus of Cyprinus carpio inhibits cyprinid herpesvirus 3 binding to epidermal cells

Cyprinid herpesvirus 3 (CyHV-3) is the aetiological agent of a mortal and highly contagious disease in common and koi carp. The skin is the major portal of entry of CyHV-3 in carp after immersion in water containing the virus. In the present study, we used in vivo bioluminescence imaging to investigate the effect of skin mucus removal and skin epidermis lesion on CyHV-3 entry. Physical treatments inducing removal of the mucus up to complete erosion of the epidermis were applied on a defined area of carp skin just before inoculation by immersion in infectious water. CyHV-3 entry in carp was drastically enhanced on the area of the skin where the mucus was removed with or without associated epidermal lesion. To investigate whether skin mucus inhibits CyHV-3 binding to epidermal cells, tail fins with an intact mucus layer or without mucus were inoculated ex vivo. While electron microscopy examination revealed numerous viral particles bound on the fins inoculated after mucus removal, no particle could be detected after infection of mucus-covered fins. Finally, anti-CyHV-3 neutralising activity of mucus extract was tested in vitro. Incubation of CyHV-3 with mucus extract reduced its infectivity in a dose dependent manner. The present study demonstrates that skin mucus removal and epidermal lesions enhance CyHV-3 entry in carp. It highlights the role of fish skin mucus as an innate immune protection against viral epidermal entry

Options for Producing a Warm-Water Fish in the UK: limits to "Green-Growth"?

This paper explores the development of a sustainable production system for tilapia and the research implications involved with ensuring commercial viability of such a system for UK farmers. The tilapia is a warm water fish with firm texture, white flesh and mild taste quite similar to a cod or haddock. Whilst tropical in origin it is thought to be highly suitable for low cost aquaculture in temperate zones with the potential to be a more sustainable source of food with fewer environmental impacts than other substitutes. Drawing on a literature review and findings from technical trials the paper will review and compare two production systems - novel Activated Suspension Technology (AST) and conventional Recirculating Aquaculture Systems (RAS) - considering their feasibility in terms of potential and financial viability for scaling up to commercial production of tilapia and their environmental and sustainability benefits. The review concludes that AST based only on microbial floc is currently uncompetitive with RAS in a UK context although the approach has benefits that might be incorporated in a new generation of mixed systems. Refinement of such systems needs to occur with potential adopters and could be part of diversification of mixed farms. Such development might further enhance the ethical values of fish produced in small-scale, modular RAS