Breaking the 400 ppm barrier: Physical and Social implications of the recent CO2 rise

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Awakening a sleeping giant: The riddle of Latino political participation

For some time now, the Latino voice has been gradually gaining strength in American politics, particularly in such states as California, Florida, Illinois, New York, and Texas, where large numbers of Latino immigrants have settled and large numbers of electoral votes are at stake. Yet the issues public officials in these states espouse and the laws they enact often do not coincide with the interests and preferences of Latinos. The fact that Latinos in California and elsewhere have not been able to influence the political agenda in a way that is commensurate with their numbers may reflect their failure to participate fully in the political process by first registering to vote and then consistently turning out on election day to cast their ballots.

To understand Latino voting behavior, I first examine Latino political participation in California during the ten general elections of the 1980s and 1990s, seeking to understand what percentage of the eligible Latino population registers to vote, with what political party they register, how many registered Latinos to go the polls on election day, and what factors might increase their participation in politics. To ensure that my findings are not unique to California, I also consider Latino voter registration and turnout in Texas for the five general elections of the 1990s and compare these results with my California findings.

I offer a new approach to studying Latino political participation in which I rely on county-level aggregate data, rather than on individual survey data, and employ the ecological inference method of generalized bounds. I calculate and compare Latino and white voting-age populations, registration rates, turnout rates, and party affiliation rates for California's fifty-eight counties. Then, in a secondary grouped logit analysis, I consider the factors that influence these Latino and white registration, turnout, and party affiliation rates.

I find that California Latinos register and turn out at substantially lower rates than do whites and that these rates are more volatile than those of whites. I find that Latino registration is motivated predominantly by age and education, with older and more educated Latinos being more likely to register. Motor voter legislation, which was passed to ease and simplify the registration process, has not encouraged Latino registration . I find that turnout among California's Latino voters is influenced primarily by issues, income, educational attainment, and the size of the Spanish-speaking communities in which they reside. Although language skills may be an obstacle to political participation for an individual, the number of Spanish-speaking households in a community does not encourage or discourage registration but may encourage turnout, suggesting that cultural and linguistic assimilation may not be the entire answer.

With regard to party identification, I find that Democrats can expect a steady Latino political identification rate between 50 and 60 percent, while Republicans attract 20 to 30 percent of Latino registrants. I find that education and income are the dominant factors in determining Latino political party identification, which appears to be no more volatile than that of the larger electorate.

Next, when I consider registration and turnout in Texas, I find that Latino registration rates are nearly equal to those of whites but that Texas Latino turnout rates are volatile and substantially lower than those of whites.

Low turnout rates among Latinos and the volatility of these rates may explain why Latinos in California and Texas have had little influence on the political agenda even though their numbers are large and increasing. Simply put, the voices of Latinos are little heard in the halls of government because they do not turn out consistently to cast their votes on election day.

While these findings suggest that there may not be any short-term or quick fixes to Latino participation, they also suggest that Latinos should be encouraged to participate more fully in the political process and that additional education may be one means of achieving this goal. Candidates should speak more directly to the issues that concern Latinos. Political parties should view Latinos as crossover voters rather than as potential converts. In other words, if Latinos were "a sleeping giant," they may now be a still-drowsy leviathan waiting to be wooed by either party's persuasive political messages and relevant issues.

Deterioration and fragmentation of rivers in Malta

Malta, situated in the Mediterranean Sea south of Sicily, is a small island of less than 300 km2. Two hundred years ago Malta was a wet and sodden country. The limestone was like a sponge, with numerous perennial springs, great and small, and so full of water that most flat areas did not drain, but were marsh. Water from springs, rivers and marshes was in ample supply. In the space of two centuries, Malta's rivers have passed from being good, spring-regulated watercourses with a mixed community of clean limewater plants, to the present-day situation where many if not all are on the verge of extinction. This is the result of human impact, not climate change, and is set to continue and increase. Unfortunately the best wetland-type valley communities were scheduled to be destroyed in 1997 but, after a change of Government and vigorous representations, these may now be spared. However, there is at least a great opportunity to prevent further fragmentation of remaining rivers and to reclaim some of the fragmented portions.

Littoral vegetation of Lake Tohopekaliga: community descriptions prior to a large-scale fisheries habitat-enhancement project

An extreme dry-down and muck-removal project was conducted at Lake Tohopekaliga, Florida, in 2003-2004, to remove dense vegetation from inshore areas and improve habitat degraded by stabilized water levels. Vegetation was monitored from June 2002 to December 2003, to describe the pre-existing communities in terms of composition and distribution along the environmental gradients. Three study areas (Treatment-Selection Sites) were designed to test the efficacy of different treatments in enhancing inshore habitat, and five other study areas (Whole-Lake Monitoring Sites) were designed to monitor the responses of the emergent littoral vegetation as a whole. Five general community types were identified within the study areas by recording aboveground biomasses and stem densities of each species. These communities were distributed along water and soils gradients, with water depth and bulk density explaining most of the variation. The shallowest depths were dominated by a combination of Eleocharis spp., Luziola fluitans, and Panicum repens; while the deeper areas had communities of Nymphaea odorata and Nuphar luteum; Typha spp.; or Paspalidium geminatum and Hydrilla verticillata. Mineralized soils were common in both the shallow and deep-water communities, while the intermediate depths had high percentages of organic material in the soil. These intermediate depths (occurring just above and just below low pool stage) were dominated by Pontederia cordata, the main species targeted by the habitat enhancement project. This emergent community occurred in nearly monocultural bands around the lake (from roughly 60–120 cm in depth at high pool stage) often having more diverse floating mats along the deep-water edge. The organic barrier these mats create is believed to impede access of sport fish to shallow-water spawning areas, while the overall low diversity of the community is evidence of its competitive nature in stabilized waters. With continued monitoring of these study areas long-term effects of the restoration project can be assessed and predictive models may be created to determine the efficacy and legitimacy of such projects in the future.

Death or taxes? The political economy of sanitation expenditure in nineteenth-century Britain

This thesis consists of three papers studying the relationship between democratic reform, expenditure on sanitation public goods and mortality in Britain in the second half of the nineteenth century. During this period decisions over spending on critical public goods such as water supply and sewer systems were made by locally elected town councils, leading to extensive variation in the level of spending across the country. This dissertation uses new historical data to examine the political factors determining that variation, and the consequences for mortality rates.

The first substantive chapter describes the spread of government sanitation expenditure, and analyzes the factors that determined towns' willingness to invest. The results show the importance of towns' financial constraints, both in terms of the available tax base and access to borrowing, in limiting the level of expenditure. This suggests that greater involvement by Westminster could have been very effective in expediting sanitary investment. There is little evidence, however, that democratic reform was an important driver of greater expenditure.

Chapter 3 analyzes the effect of extending voting rights to the poor on government public goods spending. A simple model predicts that the rich and the poor will desire lower levels of public goods expenditure than the middle class, and so extensions of the right to vote to the poor will be associated with lower spending. This prediction is tested using plausibly exogenous variation in the extent of the franchise. The results strongly support the theoretical prediction: expenditure increased following relatively small extensions of the franchise, but fell once more than approximately 50% of the adult male population held the right to vote.

Chapter 4 tests whether the sanitary expenditure was effective in combating the high mortality rates following the Industrial Revolution. The results show that increases in urban expenditure on sanitation-water supply, sewer systems and streets-was extremely effective in reducing mortality from cholera and diarrhea.

O revigoramento do poder legislativo: uma agenda para o século XXI

O Legislativo é vital para o autogoverno coletivo e para a contenção do poder. Impõe-se revigorá-lo. Esta dissertação traz propostas para incrementar a legitimidade do Poder Legislativo que independem da reforma política. A primeira proposta consiste na correção de algumas práticas comprometedoras da atuação do Legislativo, quais sejam, a falta de apreciação do veto, a atual forma de elaboração e execução da lei orçamentária, o poder excessivo dos líderes e a tutela jurisdicional limitada do devido processo legislativo. A segunda proposta reside no fortalecimento das comissões temáticas, arenas mais adequadas do que o Plenário para desenvolver o potencial deliberativo do Parlamento. Esses órgãos fracionários podem empregar a avaliação de impacto, recurso que se destina a aprimorar a legislação. A terceira proposta corresponde à regulamentação do lobby. A institucionalização dessa atividade revela-se essencial para imprimir-lhe transparência, de modo a possibilitar o controle, e para minimizar o desequilíbrio no acesso aos tomadores de decisão.

Revealing the appetite of the marine aquarium fish trade: the volume and biodiversity of fish imported into the United States

The aquarium trade and other wildlife consumers are at a crossroads forced by threats from global climate change and other anthropogenic stressors that have weakened coastal ecosystems. While the wildlife trade may put additional stress on coral reefs, it brings income into impoverished parts of the world and may stimulate interest in marine conservation. To better understand the influence of the trade, we must first be able to quantify coral reef fauna moving through it. Herein, we discuss the lack of a data system for monitoring the wildlife aquarium trade and analyze problems that arise when trying to monitor the trade using a system not specifically designed for this purpose. To do this, we examined an entire year of import records of marine tropical fish entering the United States in detail, and discuss the relationship between trade volume, biodiversity and introduction of non-native marine fishes. Our analyses showed that biodiversity levels are higher than previous estimates. Additionally, more than half of government importation forms have numerical or other reporting discrepancies resulting in the overestimation of trade volumes by 27%. While some commonly imported species have been introduced into the coastal waters of the USA (as expected), we also found that some uncommon species in the trade have also been introduced. This is the first study of aquarium trade imports to compare commercial invoices to government forms and provides a means to, routinely and in real time, examine the biodiversity of the trade in coral reef wildlife species.

Regulação financeira sistêmica no Brasil: desafios e propostas de aprimoramento institucional

A presente dissertação versa sobre o estudo da regulação financeira sistêmica brasileira e está dividida em quatro capítulos. No primeiro capítulo, descreve-se a essência das atividades financeiras e narra-se a trajetória histórica que deu ensejo à criação de Bancos Centrais e o surgimento da regulação bancária no mundo. Em seguida, discorre-se sobre o processo de expansão do sistema financeiro e sua internacionalização face à globalização financeira dos mercados. Após a exposição de razões políticas, comportamentais, econômicas e técnicas consideradas determinantes para a consumação da última crise financeira mundial (caso subprime), demonstra-se que uma regulação financeira sistêmica adequada constitui um processo complexo, dinâmico e contínuo de gestão pública com vistas a evitar ou atenuar os efeitos de crises sistêmicas. Nesse sentido, são expostos os motivos por que o Brasil enfrentou bem tal crise, através da apresentação da evolução dos processos regulatórios domésticos nos últimos anos. No segundo capítulo, utilizado o marco político-filosófico de John Rawls, sustenta-se a ideia de que a estabilidade financeira sustentável ao longo do tempo é uma questão de justiça básica que deve influenciar o desenho político-institucional em sociedades democráticas constitucionais. Nesse sentido, afirma-se a possibilidade de geração de um consenso sobreposto, segundo o ideal de razão pública, quanto à necessidade de estabelecimento de instituições, relativamente descoladas dos ciclos político-eleitorais e dotadas de especialização técnica, responsáveis pelo planejamento e acompanhamento público e transparente da sustentabilidade da execução da política monetária e da regulação financeira sistêmica propriamente dita no longo prazo. Adicionalmente, em razão da globalização financeira dos mercados, discorre-se sobre os limites e possibilidades do ideal de razão pública nos organismos financeiros internacionais (redes globais de governo), instituídos para definir padrões de regulação financeira sistêmica, e são feitos comentários acerca da existência de um Direito Administrativo Global. No terceiro capítulo, defende-se a ideia de razão prática regulatória como a diretriz adequada de atuação sustentável do Estado na economia com foco em resultados, a fim de estimular o progresso nos processos regulatórios, mediante o uso do better regulation como paradigma de análise de custos e benefícios. Após, expõe-se a noção de juridicidade administrativa como a mais compatível com a Constituição, além de defender-se a legitimidade democrática e o poder normativo das agências reguladoras financeiras. Por fim, com fundamento nas características do desenho institucional da estrutura regulatória brasileira, são formuladas propostas de aprimoramento institucional. No último capítulo, são feitos comentários sobre as vantagens, limites e riscos de judicialização dos processos regulatórios financeiros em democracias constitucionais, o que motiva a construção de parâmetros institucionais e materiais de atuação judicial, posteriormente analisados em precedentes importantes julgados no Brasil nos últimos anos.

Do controle social à gestão participativa: perspectivas (pós soberanas) da participação política no SUS

Este trabalho parte da hipótese de que discutir a participação política no SUS exige a problematização das opções e concepções que orientam sua definição como controle social, operacionalizado por meio de mecanismos de representação de interesses. A intenção de promover uma reflexão sobre a participação política no SUS pé remetida ao cotidiano institucional, como desafio de construção de modos de gestão participativos. A proposta metodológica baseis-se em uma abordagem filosófica, que tem por objetivo delinear os conceitos e dispositivos de gestão propostos no campo da Saúde Coletiva, as inovações teóricas que ofertam ao debate sobre a gestão em saúde, tendo por marcador o tema da política. Denominamos matrizes conceituais os dois planos filosófico que selecionamos para estudo no campo da Saúde Coletiva, a saber, o Planejamento em Saúde e o Modelo Assistencial em Defesa da Vida. O conceito de Política que adotamos se define não em termos de igualdade (formal) que se contrapões às diferenças (sociais), mas como coprodução de realidade que se concretiza nas relações entre Igualdade e Diferença, como acesso e uso dos bens-comuns, em sua capacidade indeterminada e aberta de criação de valor. Pensar a participação nestes termos significa tecer participações como possibilidade de instituir normas, e não apenas com controle da execução e fiscalização das normas existentes. Nessa concepção propõe-se pensar a gestão como coprodução de saúde, a partir da publicização e articulação reticular da dimensão normativa da atividade humana, o que implica questionar a produção concreta (portanto local) das políticas e intervenções públicas. Dentre as principais questões teóricas discutidas, destacamos a articulação de redes de cooperação e a construção de saberes, artifícios técnicos e dispositivos que viabilizem a produção e legitimação do valor-Saúde como bem comum. Perspectiva que explicita as implicações que desejamos incorporar ao conceito de gestão participativa, como possível tecnologia de governo pós-soberana. A participação na saúde é pensada, deste modo, a partir do problema de constituição de uma política pública que consiga permanecer aberta e imprevisível, resguardando, contudo, condições materiais de igualdade. Nesse sentido, uma política pública que rompa com os mecanismos da soberania moderna ao incorporar em seus desenhos institucionais a imprevisibilidade da produção normativa, forjando-se como dispositivo ético (portanto aberto e comum) de produção de valor.

Community management of coastal resources, southern Thailand

The involvement of communities with the assistance and support of government and non government organizations on the management of the coastal resources in Southern Thailand are discussed. The 3 most important resources, mangrove, seagrass and coral, create a complex coastal ecology. Several man-made activities causing the deterioration of this resources are also presented.

Potential for the development of aquaculture in Africa

Aquaculture production in Africa has remained low despite the huge potential that exists on the continent. In order for this potential to be realized, it is necessary to refocus the direction of aquaculture development. This paper concludes that for further growth to occur it is necessary to: (i) widen the range of production systems; (ii) increase production intensities and efficiencies; (iii) develop management technologies for indigenous species that target local niche markets; (iv) put more emphasis on marketing and processing of high value products; (v) promote policy research on how aquaculture production can respond to changing macroeconomic policies; and (vi) accelerate the disengagement of government from activities that can best be done by the private sector.

Economic valuation of natural resources: a handbook for coastal resource policymakers

Professionals who are responsible for coastal environmental and natural resource planning and management have a need to become conversant with new concepts designed to provide quantitative measures of the environmental benefits of natural resources. These amenities range from beaches to wetlands to clean water and other assets that normally are not bought and sold in everyday markets. At all levels of government — from federal agencies to townships and counties — decisionmakers are being asked to account for the costs and benefits of proposed actions. To non-specialists, the tools of professional economists are often poorly understood and sometimes inappropriate for the problem at hand. This handbook is intended to bridge this gap. The most widely used organizing tool for dealing with natural and environmental resource choices is benefit-cost analysis — it offers a convenient way to carefully identify and array, quantitatively if possible, the major costs, benefits, and consequences of a proposed policy or regulation. The major strength of benefit-cost analysis is not necessarily the predicted outcome, which depends upon assumptions and techniques, but the process itself, which forces an approach to decision-making that is based largely on rigorous and quantitative reasoning. However, a major shortfall of benefit-cost analysis has been the difficulty of quantifying both benefits and costs of actions that impact environmental assets not normally, nor even regularly, bought and sold in markets. Failure to account for these assets, to omit them from the benefit-cost equation, could seriously bias decisionmaking, often to the detriment of the environment. Economists and other social scientists have put a great deal of effort into addressing this shortcoming by developing techniques to quantify these non-market benefits. The major focus of this handbook is on introducing and illustrating concepts of environmental valuation, among them Travel Cost models and Contingent Valuation. These concepts, combined with advances in natural sciences that allow us to better understand how changes in the natural environment influence human behavior, aim to address some of the more serious shortcomings in the application of economic analysis to natural resource and environmental management and policy analysis. Because the handbook is intended for non-economists, it addresses basic concepts of economic value such as willingness-to-pay and other tools often used in decision making such as costeffectiveness analysis, economic impact analysis, and sustainable development. A number of regionally oriented case studies are included to illustrate the practical application of these concepts and techniques.

Marine eutrophication review. Part 1: Quantifying the effects of nitrogen enrichment on phytoplankton in coastal ecosystems; Part 2: Bibliography with abstracts

Professionals who are responsible for coastal environmental and natural resource planning and management have a need to become conversant with new concepts designed to provide quantitative measures of the environmental benefits of natural resources. These amenities range from beaches to wetlands to clean water and other assets that normally are not bought and sold in everyday markets. At all levels of government — from federal agencies to townships and counties — decisionmakers are being asked to account for the costs and benefits of proposed actions. To non-specialists, the tools of professional economists are often poorly understood and sometimes inappropriate for the problem at hand. This handbook is intended to bridge this gap. The most widely used organizing tool for dealing with natural and environmental resource choices is benefit-cost analysis — it offers a convenient way to carefully identify and array, quantitatively if possible, the major costs, benefits, and consequences of a proposed policy or regulation. The major strength of benefit-cost analysis is not necessarily the predicted outcome, which depends upon assumptions and techniques, but the process itself, which forces an approach to decision-making that is based largely on rigorous and quantitative reasoning. However, a major shortfall of benefit-cost analysis has been the difficulty of quantifying both benefits and costs of actions that impact environmental assets not normally, nor even regularly, bought and sold in markets. Failure to account for these assets, to omit them from the benefit-cost equation, could seriously bias decisionmaking, often to the detriment of the environment. Economists and other social scientists have put a great deal of effort into addressing this shortcoming by developing techniques to quantify these non-market benefits. The major focus of this handbook is on introducing and illustrating concepts of environmental valuation, among them Travel Cost models and Contingent Valuation. These concepts, combined with advances in natural sciences that allow us to better understand how changes in the natural environment influence human behavior, aim to address some of the more serious shortcomings in the application of economic analysis to natural resource and environmental management and policy analysis. Because the handbook is intended for non-economists, it addresses basic concepts of economic value such as willingness-to-pay and other tools often used in decision making such as costeffectiveness analysis, economic impact analysis, and sustainable development. A number of regionally oriented case studies are included to illustrate the practical application of these concepts and techniques.

Investigation of health status of juvenile exotic carps from various farming conditions of Bangladesh

Health status of juvenile silver carp, Hypophthalmichthys molitrix and silver barb, Barbodes gonionotus were investigated in three fish farms following different farming conditions through clinical and histopathological examinations for a period of nine months. Here the fishes and water quality parameters were sampled on monthly basis. Among the water quality parameters, water temperature has a distinct effect on fish health observed during the winter season. Different clinical signs like scale loss, dermal lesion, fin erosion were observed, while histopathologically necrosis, pyknosis, inflammation, haemorrhage, hypertrophy, vacuoles, missing of gill lamellae and clubbing were evidenced in the investigated fishes. The study showed that pathological symptoms were mainly increased during the winter season and H. molitrix exhibited severe pathological symptoms in compare to B. gonionotus during the investigation. It was also found that fishes of BAU farm was comparatively in the best condition, while, the fishes of other farms were severely affected during the experimental observations. In addition, disease like Epizootic Ulcerative Syndrome (EUS), protozoan disease and suspected bacterial colonies were clearly evidenced in the fishes of Government and NGO fish farms.

Reader development and ICT: an overview of projects in Welsh public libraries

Bird, A.,& Tedd, L. (2004). Reader development and ICT: an overview of projects in Welsh public libraries. Journal of Librarianship and Information Science, 36(4), 159-174.