Market structure and environmental amenities in hedonic pricing of rural cottages

Site-specific characteristics are attributes of tourism services for consumers and a factor influencing their costs and quality for producers. These services are a fine illustration of territorial rents. Using estimates from hedonic price equations, we test the role of environmental/territorial variables as services differentiation tools in the context of a non-competitive market, and recover the value of territorial rent generated by tourism managers' strategies. Two territories of reference are chosen, one currently benefiting from the renewed interest of the public, and a usual tourist destination. The results of a comparative analysis suggest that tourists' preferences for new destinations, combined with firms' strategies generate some catching up effect by emerging territories.ENVIRONMENTAL VALUATION; HEDONIC METHOD; SERVICE DIFFERENTIATION; TOURISM

Characterization of Siloxane-poly(methyl methacrylate) Hybrid Films Obtained on a Tinplate Substrate Modified by the Addition of Organic and Inorganic Acids

Tinplate is used to food packaging and other types of packages. The corrosion resistance of the tinplate has been study due the necessity of an alternative to high environmental impact of chromatization process. Therefore protective coatings as hybrid films base elaborations with different acids are studied to improve the barrier effect against corrosion. The objective of this work is characterize hybrid films deposited on a tinplate from a sol made up of the alkoxide precursors 3-(trimethoxysilylpropyl) methacrylate (TMSM), tetraethoxysilane (TEOS) and poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) together with one of three acids (acetic, hydrochloric or nitric acid) and to verify their action against the corrosion of the substrate. The films were obtained by a dip-coating process and cured for 3 hours at 160 °C. The film hydrophobicity was determined by contact angle measurements, and the morphology was evaluated by SEM. FTIR measurements were performed to characterize the chemical structures of the films. The electrochemical behavior of the coatings was evaluated by techniques open circuit potential monitoring (OCP), potentiodynamic polarization and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS). The results demonstrate that the siloxane-PMMA films improve the protective properties of the tinplate, with the films obtained by acetic acid addition exhibiting the greatest improvement

Rôles,impacts et services issus des élevages en Europe. Synthèse du rapport d’expertise scientifique collective

L’élevage, secteur majeur pour l’économie de nombreux territoires et structurant beaucoup de paysages ruraux européens, fait l’objet de controverses, depuis au moins une décennie, notamment du fait des dommages environnementaux qu’il engendre. Dans un tel contexte, il est apparu nécessaire d’étayer les débats en faisant le point sur l’état des connaissances scientifiques relatives aux rôles, impacts et services environnementaux, économiques et sociaux issus des élevages européens et leurs produits. Pour ce faire, les ministères français en charge de l’Environnement et de l’Agriculture ainsi que l’Agence de l’environnement et de la maîtrise de l’énergie (Ademe) ont sollicité l’Inra pour réaliser une expertise scientifique collective (ESCo) abordant conjointement les multiples conséquences sur les milieux et le climat, l’emploi et le travail, les marchés et certains enjeux sociaux et culturels, de la production et de la consommation humaine de produits d’origine animale (bovins, ovins, caprins, porcins et avicoles). L’analyse de ces diverses dimensions s’appuie sur les démarches d’évaluation rapportées dans la littérature scientifique internationale. Abordées, dans un premier temps, de manière analytique et globale, les connaissances ont ensuite été mobilisées par « bouquet de services » au sein de territoires contrastés. Les relations entre les différents impacts ou services permettent d’identifier des compromis et des leviers d’action envisageables pour les systèmes d’élevage. Livestock production is a sector of major economic importance that defines many European rural areas. It has become the focus of controversy over the past decade or more, particularly with regard to the environmental impacts it causes. In this context, it seemed useful to support this debate with a critical review of the state of scientific knowledge on the role, impacts, and services – environmental, economic, and social – associated with European livestock production. Accordingly, the French ministries responsible for Agriculture and the Environment, in cooperation with the French Environment and Energy Management Agency (ADEME), requested INRA to undertake a collective scientific assessment addressing the many consequences – for the environment and the climate, for employment and labor, for markets, and for a variety of social and cultural issues – related to the production and human consumption of animal products (cattle, sheep, goats, pigs, and poultry). Analysis of these diverse dimensions was based on assessment methods utilized and described in the international scientific literature. Using a broad, analytical overview as a starting point, the review proceeded by identifying the "service bundles" associated with livestock production in contrasting areas

La contribution de l'agriculture au développement rural: quel rôle de l'action publique pour soutenir la production jointe de biens publics nécesaires au développement rural ?

Extrait de documentUsing selected case studies, representing the full diversity of French rural areas, this document indicates the degree to which agricultural and agri-food activities contribute to the development of rural areas, essentially in the environmental, but also in the social fields. More precisely, using regional-economy models, estimations of direct and indirect jobs created by rural activities (and of the upstream and downstream linkages) show the great diversity of the basic activities in French rural areas and consequently the integrated character of rural development. Whereas in certain areas, agricultural and agri-food activities remain the primary basic activities, in other more attractive areas, the sectors related to the residential and recreational functions play the central role. What is more, agriculture provides agricultural goods and, in the process, environmental and territorial services that are indispensable for the development of the other rural activities, particularly in the more attractive rural areas. After describing these services in a few areas, we show the strong interdependence between the agricultural and agri-food sectors on the one hand, and the tourism and residential sectors on the other, via the notion of a set (or basket) of territorialised goods and services. In fact, these French case studies tend to show that the consistency of agricultural and rural development policies is improved when public action encourages, first, the continued existence of public goods provided by agriculture (some of which are purely public goods and could by financed by public funds over the long term), and secondly, the emergence of coordinated networks of actors capable of enhancing the value, via the market, of some of the services provided, e.g. by developing baskets of territorialised goods and services in which each product is worth more than if sold separately. In this case, the financing intended to enhance local coordination can be temporary.A partir d'études de cas choisies représentatives de la diversité des espaces ruraux français, il sera explicité dans quelle mesure les activités agricoles et agroalimentaires contribuent au développement rural essentiellement dans les dimensions environnementales voire sociales. Plus précisément, à partir de modèles d'économie régionale des estimations des emplois directs, indirects et induits suscités par l'ensemble des activités rurales (et donc des linkages aval et amont) ont montré la très grande diversité des activités motrices des espaces ruraux français, soulignant ainsi le caractère intégré du développement rural. Alors que dans un certain nombre d'entre eux, les activités agricoles et agroalimentaires demeure les principales activités motrices, dans d'autres plus attractifs, les secteurs liés aux fonctions résidentielles et récréatives occupent une place centrale. Par ailleurs, l'agriculture est pourvoyeuse de biens agricoles dont la production est jointe à celle de services environnementaux et territoriaux indispensables au développement des autres activités rurales, surtout dans ce second type d'espace rural. Après avoir caractérisé la nature de ces services sur quelques zones, nous montrerons les interdépendances fortes entre les secteurs agricoles, agroalimentaires et ceux liés au tourisme et au résidentiel à travers la notion de panier de biens et de services territorialisés. En fait, ces études de cas françaises tendent à montrer que les politiques de développement agricole et rural gagnent en cohérence lorsque l'action publique favorise, d'une part, le maintien de biens publics fournis par l'agriculture (certains d'entre eux étant des biens publics purs pouvant donner lieu à des financements publics pérennes), d'autre part, l'émergence de réseaux d'acteurs coordonnés à même de valoriser par le marché une partie des services fournis (par exemple, en développant des paniers de biens et de services territorialisés valorisant chacun d'entre eux à des valeurs supérieures à ce qu'elles seraient en cas de consommation séparée). Dans cas, les financements destinés à accroître les coordinations locales peuvent être transitoires

Un exemple d'évaluation de politique à vocation territoriale : l'évaluation des actions relatives à l'élevage du plan Etat-région (CPER) d'Alsace

La réalisation de l'évaluation d'un aspect d'une politique régionale (les actions agricoles liées à l'élevage dans le cadre d'un contrat de plan État-région) nous a permis de tester la mise en oeuvre d'une méthode évaluative qui s'appuie sur une grille générale d'analyse comportant trois phases : l'analyse de politique, une phase d'évaluation et de mesure et enfin l'évaluation stricto sensu. Les objectifs visant à améliorer la productivité des élevages ont été globalement atteints (construction de bâtiments, amélioration de la qualité des produits). En revanche, globalement, les aides octroyées n'ont pas favorisé un rééquilibrage du territoire. / The review of one aspect of a regional policy (agricultural activities linked to livestock breeding) allowed us to test the implementation of an evaluative method based on a general analytical grid comprised of three phases : the policy analysis, a review and evaluation phase and, finally, the assessment itself. Overall, the objectives that aimed at increasing the productivity of the livestock breeding farms were achieved (construction of buildings, enhanced quality of the products). However, on the whole, the subsidies granted did not contribute to the establishment of a territorial balance

Study of the hydrolysis of TEOS-TMOS mixtures under ultrasound stimulation

Pure and mixed tetramethoxysilane (TMOS) and tetraethoxysilane (TEOS) were hydrolyzed at 35 degrees C, using oxalic acid as a catalyst and ultrasound stimulation. The hydrolysis reaction was carried out in a specially designed device, in which a heat flow steady state, between the ultrasound source and an external thermostatic bath, was maintained, in the absence of reactions. The exothermic hydrolysis causes a time dependent thermal peak. An induction time is apparent in pure TEOS before the hydrolysis peaks starts, which has been explained by the initial immiscibility gap of the TEOS-water system. The induction time was found to be approximately of the same magnitude as in the HCl catalyzed hydrolysis, in spite of the uncertainty accompanying the peak definition. No induction period is apparent in pure TMOS, so that the hydrolysis starts with its maximum rate. Two independent thermal peaks in the mixed TMOS-TEOS samples were found, both associated to the respective hydrolyses of the pure component. The induction time for the TEOS hydrolysis is decreased as more alcohol (and silanol) is produced in the earlier TMOS hydrolysis. This effect is explained by improvement of homogenization by alcohol

Effects of the water quantity on the solventless TEOS hydrolysis under ultrasound stimulation

The acid hydrolysis under ultrasound stimulation of solventless tetraethoxysilane(TEOS)-water mixtures was studied at 40 degrees C, by means of a heat flux calorimetric method, as a function of the initial water/TEOS molar ratio (r) ranging from 2 to 10. The method is based on the time record of the exothermic heat peak of hydrolysis, arising after an induction time under ultrasound stimulation, which is a measure of the reaction rate. The hydrolysed quantity was found to be approximately independent of the water/TEOS molar ratio, even for r < 4. Polycondensation reaction takes place mainly for low water/TEOS molar ratio in order to supply water to allow almost complete hydrolysis. The overall process of dissolution and hydrolysis has reasonably been described by a previous modelling. The dissolution process of water in TEOS, under ultrasound stimulation and acid conditions, was found to be rather dependent of the alcohol produced in the hydrolysis reaction instead of the initial water quantity present in the mixture

A CALORIMETRIC STUDY OF THE ULTRASOUND-STIMULATED HYDROLYSIS OF SOLVENTLESS TEOS-WATER MIXTURES

The kinetics of ultrasound-stimulated and HCl-catalyzed hydrolysis of solventless TEOS-water mixtures was studied as a function of temperature ranging from 10 degrees C up to 65 degrees C by means of flux calorimetry measurements. A specially designed device was utilized for this purpose. The exothermic peak arising few minutes after sonication began has been attributed mainly to the hydrolysis reaction. The overall hydrolysis process, which was measured through the irradiation time up to the hydrolysis peak, was found to be thermally activated, with an apparent activation energy Delta E = 36.4 kJ/mol. The alcohol produced at the early hydrolysis due to sonication seems to further enhance the reaction, via a parallel autocatalytic path, which is controlled by a faster pseudo second order rate constant (k'). Our modeling yielded k' = 6.3 x 10(-2) M(-1) min(-1) at 20 degrees C, which is in a reasonable agreement with the literature, and an activation energy Delta E = 40.4 kJ/mol for the specific process of hydrolysis in presence of alcohol