598 research outputs found
Spatial Externalities in Agriculture: Empirical Analysis, Statistical Identification, and Policy Implications
Spatial externalities can affect economic welfare and landscape pattern by linking farm returns on adjoining parcels of land. While policy can be informed by research that documents spatial externalities, statistically quantifying the presence of externalities from landscape pattern is insufficient for policy guidance unless the underlying cause of the externality can be identified as positive or negative. This article provides a springboard for empirical research by examining the underlying structure, social-environmental interactions, and statistical identification strategies for the analysis and quantification of agricultural spatial externalities that are derived from observations of landscape change. The potential for original policy treatments of agricultural spatial externalities in development and environment outcomes are highlighted.
Assessing social-ecological connectivity of agricultural landscapes in Spain: Resilience implications amid agricultural intensification trends and urbanization
Supplementary data to this article can be found online at https://doi.org/10.1016/j.agsy.2022.103525Acknowledgements
Funding was provided through the following sources: a Fulbright Flex grant of the US-Spain Fulbright Commission that supported the first authorâs main component of field research beginning in 2017 with funding for related research in 2018 and 2019; the 3-year E. Willard and Ruby S. Miller Professorship of Environment and Society Geography and Penn State's Department of Geography (2019-2022); the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation, National Project I+D+i 2019, âMultifunctional and territorialized agri-food systems in Spain. Conceptualisation and governance. Analysis of cases in Madrid and Castilla-La Mancha,â ID2019-105711RB-C61/AEI/10.13039/501 100011033; the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation through the FEDER funds from the Spanish Pluriregional Operational Program 2014â2020 (POPE), LifeWatch-ERIC action line, with co-financing by the Provincial Council of Granada, for the project âThematic Center on Mountain Ecosystem & Remote sensing, Deep learning-AI e-Services University of Granada-Sierra Nevadaâ (LifeWatch-2019-10-UGR-01); and ERDF/Ministry of Science and InnovationâState Research Agency for the project âResearching how to integrate sustainability and competitiveness in Agrifood Mediterranean Landscapes: Agrobiodiversity, climate change and local developmentâ (AGROFOODSCAPES)" (PID2020-117198RB-I00). Initial versions of this work were presented to the Department of Geography at the Autonomous University of Madrid/ Universidad AutĂłnoma de Madrid in 2017 and the Institute of Regional Development at the University of Granada/Universidad de Granada in 2018. The support of both these institutions, their collaborative institutional networks, and their faculty, students, and staff are gratefully acknowledged. Additional feedback occurred in the first authorâs keynote addresses to the Permanent European Conference on Sustainable Rural Landscapes (PECSRL) in JaĂ©n, Spain, in 2021 and 2022. Insights and support before and during the 2017-2019 period, which are gratefully acknowledged, were offered by Darla Munroe, William Doolittle, Medora D. Ebersole, Tobias Plieninger, MarĂa Garcia Martin, Claudia Bieling, Carlos Barahona, Sam Dumble, JosĂ© Pepe Gonzalez, CĂ©sar LĂłpez Santiago, Carlos Montes, Irene Iniesta-Arandia, and Samir Sayadi. Numerous research and practitioner colleagues and partners, the members of the GeoSyntheSES Lab at Penn State, and the reviewers and editors of the journal provided helpful inputs that have been incorporated.CONTEXT
Accelerated intensification/disintensification and urbanization are changing agricultural systems and propel the need for spatial approaches to understand sustainability-enhancing resilience. Landscapes are key to this understanding though little is known of the broad-scale, cross-landscape connectivity of social-ecological factors amid changing agricultural systems.
OBJECTIVE
This study's goals are to identify broad-scale types of agricultural landscapes in Spain that are associated with intensification/disintensification and urbanization and then to use case studies to assess the types and extent of cross-landscape connectivity. It examines the social-ecological connectivity of environmental resources, resource users, and governance. The overarching purpose is to improve the understanding of social-ecological connectivity in strengthening the sustainability-enhancing resilience of agricultural landscapes amid global agri-food changes.
METHODS
To pursue these goals, we conducted a structured literature review of publications to identify major types of agricultural landscapes in Spain that reflect intensification/disintensification and urbanization trends. Case studies of agricultural landscapes and connectivity were undertaken in the Madrid and Granada regions. These case studies used a structured interview with experienced professional experts in fields of social-ecological sustainability and agricultural landscapes in each region. Analyses including Latent Block Modelling were applied to interview results on types and extent of cross-landscape connectivity in both conventional and alternative agriculture.
RESULTS and CONCLUSIONS
The structured literature review identified the predominance of three types of broad-scale agricultural landscapes in Spain: intensive, âtraditionalâ rural, and peri-urban/urban. Analysis of case-study results revealed variation of the extent and structure of connectivity among clusters of landscape interactions and social-ecological factors. Landscape-level connectivity created both negative agricultural impacts (e.g., extensive water transfers and nutrient pollution in conventional agriculture) and positive impacts (e.g., knowledge system and seed exchanges in alternative agriculture). Interactions of alternative agricultural systems in peri-urban/urban and âtraditionalâ rural landscapes have benefitted from cross-landscape connectivity amid accelerated agricultural change.
SIGNIFICANCE
Research and policy on the landscape-level connectivity of agricultural systems are needed to strengthen sustainability-enhancing resilience of both conventional and alternative agriculture. This study's approach and results are a strategic complement to existing emphasis on within-landscape cycles of social-ecological factors in alternative agriculture. This study's insights are important in the transition phases of alternative agriculture and associated food systems amid changes due to agricultural intensification/disintensification and urbanization. Understanding selective cross-landscape connectivity is important for spatial approaches to strengthen the sustainability-enhancing resilience of agricultural systems.Fulbright
Flex grant of the US-Spain Fulbright CommissionPenn State's Department of Geography
2019-2022Spanish Ministry
of Science and Innovation, National Project I+D+i 2019, âMultifunctional
and territorialized agri-food systems in Spain.
Conceptualisation and governance. Analysis of cases in Madrid and
Castilla-La Mancha,â ID2019-105711RB-C61/AEI/10.13039/501
100011033Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation through
the FEDER funds from the Spanish Pluriregional Operational Program
2014â2020 (POPE)LifeWatch-ERIC action line, with co-financing by
the Provincial Council of Granada, for the project âThematic Center on
Mountain Ecosystem & Remote sensing, Deep learning-AI e-Services
University of Granada-Sierra Nevadaâ (LifeWatch-2019-10-UGR-01)ERDF/Ministry of Science and InnovationâState Research Agency for the project âResearching how to integrate sustainability and competitiveness in Agrifood Mediterranean Landscapes: Agrobiodiversity, climate change and local developmentâ (AGROFOODSCAPES)" (PID2020-117198RB-I00)Universidad AutĂłnoma de MadridUniversidad de Granad
Training flexibility in fixed expressions in non-fluent aphasia: A case series report
Background:
Many speakers with non-fluent aphasia (NFA) are able to produce some well-formed word combinations such as âI like itâ or âI don't knowâ, although they may not use variations such as âHe likes itâ or âI don't know that personâ. This suggests that these utterances represent fixed forms.
Aims:
This case series investigation explored the impact of a novel intervention aimed at enhancing the connected speech of individuals with NFA. The intervention, motivated by usage-based principles, involved filling open slots in semi-fixed sentence frames.
Methods & Procedures:
Five participants with NFA completed a 6-week intervention programme. The intervention trained participants to insert a range of different lexical items into the open slots of high-frequency phrases such as âI like itâ to enable more productive sentences (e.g., âthey like flowersâ). The outcomes and acceptability were examined: The primary outcome measure focused on changes in connected narrative, and the availability of trained constructions (e.g., âI like itâ) was explored through a story completion test. Two baseline measures of behaviour were taken prior to intervention, and outcomes assessed immediately after intervention and at a 6-week maintenance assessment.
Outcome & Results:
A pre-/post-treatment comparison of connected speech measures showed evidence of enhanced connected speech for two of the five participants (P2 and P5). An analysis of story completion test scores revealed positive change for two participants (P1 and P2). Findings were mixed with regard to baseline stability of outcome measures and post-intervention stability of language changes. The intervention was acceptable to all participants.
Conclusion & Implications:
While this pilot study yielded promising findings with regard to the intervention's acceptability and increased connected speech for some participants, the findings were mixed across the sample of five participants. This research helps inform hypotheses and selection criteria for future studies
Luminescence evidence for bulk and surface excitons in free xenon clusters
Cathodoluminescence spectra of free xenon clusters produced by condensation
of xenon-argon gas mixtures in supersonic jets expanding into vacuum were
studied. By varying initial experimental parameters, including xenon
concentration, we could obtain clusters with a xenon core (300-3500 atoms)
covered by an argon outer shell as well as shell-free xenon clusters (about
1500 atoms). The cluster size and temperature (about 40 K for both cases) were
measured electronographically. Luminescence bands evidencing the existence of
bulk and surface excitons were detected for shell-free xenon clusters. The
emission from bulk excitons in small clusters is supposed to be due to
processes of their multiple elastic reflections from the xenon-vacuum
interface. A presence of an argon shell causes extinction of the excitonic
bands. In addition, some new bands were found which have no analogs for bulk
xenon cryosamples.Comment: The final modified version will be published in Phys. Rev. A 76
(2007
Agri-Food Land Transformations and Immigrant Farm Workers in Peri-Urban Areas of Spain and the Mediterranean
Spain is a global hotspot of transformations of agri-food land systems due to changing
production intensity, diets, urbanization, market integration, and climate change. Characteristic of
the Mediterranean, these expanding intersections with the migration, livelihoods, and food security
strategies of immigrant farm workers urge new research into the âwho,â âhow,â and âwhyâ questions
of the transformation of agri-food land systems. Addressing this gap, we communicate preliminary
results from field research in the Granada and Madrid areas. We use a novel conceptual framework of
linkages among distinct agri-food land systems and the roles and agency of immigrant farm workers.
Preliminary results integrating a combined land- and labor-centric approach address: (1) how the
recent and ongoing transformations of specific agri-food land systems are indicative of close links to
inexpensive, flexible labor of immigrant farm workers; (2) how the connectivity among transformations
of multiple distinct agri-food land systems can be related to the geographic mobility of immigrant
farm workers and livelihoods (non-farm work, gendered employment, peri-urban residential location,
labor recruitment); and (3) how the struggles for food and nutrition security among immigrant farm
workers are indicative of links to local sites and networked agrobiodiversity. This study can help
advance the nexus of migration-land research with expanding ethical, justice, and policy concerns of
land system sciences in relation to the new suite of agri-food interest and initiatives.Fulbright Scholarship BoardBureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs in Spain and the U.S
"I don't know": a usage-based approach to familiar collocations in non-fluent aphasia
Background: Familiar collocations (e.g., âitâs alrightâ) are an important part of everyday conversation. Such word combinations are often retained in speakers with Brocaâs aphasia. However, only few investigations have studied the forms and functions of familiar collocations available to speakers with Brocaâs aphasia. //
Aims: We first apply a frequency-based perspective to word combinations produced by speakers with Brocaâs aphasia and their conversation partners (CPs), and compare the frequency characteristics of word combinations in dyadic and non-dyadic speech. Second, we investigate the conversational functions of one prominent familiar collocation, âI donât knowâ (IDK). //
Methods & Procedures: In the first analysis, speech samples from interactions of nine dyads (each a speaker with Brocaâs aphasia and their CP) were examined. Non-dyadic samples were selected from 39 speakers with Brocaâs aphasia from AphasiaBank (MacWhinney et al., 2011). The Frequency in Language Analysis Tool (FLAT; Zimmerer & Wibrow, 2015) was used to estimate collocation strength (the degree of association between words in a combination) of well-formed bigrams (two-word combinations) and trigrams (three-word combinations). The second analysis presents a qualitative investigation of uses of IDK in dyadic exchanges. //
Outcomes & Results: Analysis 1 revealed that residual trigrams in Brocaâs aphasia were more strongly collocated in comparison to language produced by CPs. There was no difference in frequency-based profiles between dyadic and non-dyadic aphasic speech. Analysis 2 indicated that speakers with Brocaâs aphasia and CPs used IDK to achieve a variety of communicative functions. However, patterns specific to each participant group were found. //
Conclusions: These findings highlight that frequency-based analysis is useful in explaining residual, grammatically well-formed word combinations in Brocaâs aphasia. This study provides evidence that IDK can aid turn construction in aphasia
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