Modifying the yield factor based on more efficient use of fertilizer — The environmental impacts of intensive and extensive agricultural practices

The aim of this article is to draw attention to calculations on the environmental effects of agriculture and to the definition of marginal agricultural yield. When calculating the environmental impacts of agricultural activities, the real environmental load generated by agriculture is not revealed properly through ecological footprint indicators, as the type of agricultural farming (thus the nature of the pollution it creates) is not incorporated in the calculation. It is commonly known that extensive farming uses relatively small amounts of labor and capital. It produces a lower yield per unit of land and thus requires more land than intensive farming practices to produce similar yields, so it has a larger crop and grazing footprint. However, intensive farms, to achieve higher yields, apply fertilizers, insecticides, herbicides, etc., and cultivation and harvesting are often mechanized. In this study, the focus is on highlighting the differences in the environmental impacts of extensive and intensive farming practices through a statistical analysis of the factors determining agricultural yield. A marginal function is constructed for the relation between chemical fertilizer use and yield per unit fertilizer input. Furthermore, a proposal is presented for how calculation of the yield factor could possibly be improved. The yield factor used in the calculation of biocapacity is not the marginal yield for a given area, but is calculated from the real and actual yields, and this way biocapacity and the ecological footprint for cropland are equivalent. Calculations for cropland biocapacity do not show the area needed for sustainable production, but rather the actual land area used for agricultural production. The proposal the authors present is a modification of the yield factor and also the changed biocapacity is calculated. The results of statistical analyses reveal the need for a clarification of the methodology for calculating marginal yield, which could clearly contribute to assessing the real environmental impacts of agriculture.

Modifying the yield factor based on more efficient use of fertilizer — The environmental impacts of intensive and extensive agricultural practices

The aim of this article is to draw attention to calculations on the environmental effects of agriculture and to the definition of marginal agricultural yield. When calculating the environmental impacts of agricultural activities, the real environmental load generated by agriculture is not revealed properly through ecological footprint indicators, as the type of agricultural farming (thus the nature of the pollution it creates) is not incorporated in the calculation. It is commonly known that extensive farming uses relatively small amounts of labor and capital. It produces a lower yield per unit of land and thus requires more land than intensive farming practices to produce similar yields, so it has a larger crop and grazing footprint. However, intensive farms, to achieve higher yields, apply fertilizers, insecticides, herbicides, etc., and cultivation and harvesting are often mechanized. In this study, the focus is on highlighting the differences in the environmental impacts of extensive and intensive farming practices through a statistical analysis of the factors determining agricultural yield. A marginal function is constructed for the relation between chemical fertilizer use and yield per unit fertilizer input. Furthermore, a proposal is presented for how calculation of the yield factor could possibly be improved. The yield factor used in the calculation of biocapacity is not the marginal yield for a given area, but is calculated from the real and actual yields, and this way biocapacity and the ecological footprint for cropland are equivalent. Calculations for cropland biocapacity do not show the area needed for sustainable production, but rather the actual land area used for agricultural production. The proposal the authors present is a modification of the yield factor and also the changed biocapacity is calculated. The results of statistical analyses reveal the need for a clarification of the methodology for calculating marginal yield, which could clearly contribute to assessing the real environmental impacts of agriculture.

Integal futures based on the paradigm approach

The study discusses the interpretation of integral futures in the context of paradigm. The dynamic matrix model of futures paradigm has been developed for carrying out meta-analysis of futures. As a result of meta-analysis integral futures and its new paradigms are defined by way of reconstructing futures paradigm history as responses to changing societal needs and through the outcomes of dynamic and comparative analysis of futures paradigms. The study sets the argument that integral futures: a) is entering a new phase in development of futures that responses to societal demands for sustainability, democratic participation and continuous knowledge production and integration, b) it is the phase of cooperation building between theoretical and practical futures, c) it is the complementary development of co-evolutionary and participatory paradigms, d) it unfolds further research perspectives for futures.

Szolgálatosodás Nyugat-Európában és Magyarországon. Hol tartunk és merre haladunk? – Egy nemzetközi felmérés nyomán (Servitization in Western Europe and Hungary – Based on an international survey)

A szerző tanulmányában nyugat-európai és magyarországi termelővállalatok szolgálatosodását vizsgálta. A cél a szolgálatosodás mértékének és megtérülésének elemzése volt. A vizsgálatokat az IMSS kérdőíves felmérés adatain végezte el, stratégiai, operatív és eredményességi dimenziók mentén. Munkájában nemcsak Nyugat-Európa és Magyarország vállalatainak szolgálatosodásáról ad képet külön-külön, hanem az adatok közvetlen összehasonlításával megbízható összehasonlító elemzést is végzett a két térség között, melyet a tanulmány legfőbb hozzáadott értékének tekint. Nyugat-Európában a szolgáltatások kiemelkednek a versenycélok közül, míg Magyarországon gyenge helyezést érnek el a stratégiai prioritási sorrendben. Működési szinten mindkét helyen átlagosnak mondható a szolgáltatások nyújtását támogató akcióprogramokba fektetett erőfeszítés nagysága. Ez azonban nem feltétlenül mond ellent a stratégiai szintnek Nyugat-Európában, hiszen az is mondható, hogy a szolgáltatásokkal kapcsolatos programok nem zárják ki azt, hogy más területen is fejlesszenek (pl. lean programok). Az eredmények mindkét térségben a szolgálatosodás paradoxonát mutatják. ______ The paper focuses on the servitization of manufacturing companies in Western Europe and Hungary. The author's goal was to analyse the degree and the returns of servitization. The investigations were conducted using data of the IMSS, considering the dimensions of strategy, operations and returns. Besides giving a picture of the servitization of Western European and Hungarian companies, the paper also offers a reliable comparative analysis between the two regions, which can be considered as main value added of the paper. Services are among the most important competitive goals in Western Europe, but have a low ranking in Hungary. Regarding the operational level, programs supporting the offering of services are in the average in both places. This does not necessarily contradict the high strategic level in Western Europe, because we can say that programs related to servitization do not rule out improvement initiatives in other areas (e. g. lean programs). The service paradox is experienced in both territories.

The Butler wears Prada. A Hungarian case-study based on the analysis of the uniform and hotel industry from the point of sustainability

What is the connection between the hotel and fashion industry? The authors aim to answer this question approaching from different aspects. It can be stated that both of these industries are harmful for the environment from the point of sustainability. On the other hand there is a common solution from the viewpoint of sustainability: the uniforms and the primary materials, which are used during the production, such as the man-made and natural fibres. In our research the authors introduce the main problems which are related to the fashion industry, especially focusing on producing fibres from the viewpoint of sustainability. We introduce the solution for the fashion industry based on the literature and also present the emerging problems and solutions of the hotel industry based on the best practices. As a part of it, we are introducing the best practices from the hotel industry, where environmentally friendly uniforms are used. Finally, as a primary research part of our paper, we interpret the results of a Hungarian case-study.

Robust and high current cold electron source based on carbon nanotube field emitters and electron multiplier microchannel plate

The aim of this research was to demonstrate a high current and stable field emission (FE) source based on carbon nanotubes (CNTs) and electron multiplier microchannel plate (MCP) and design efficient field emitters. In recent years various CNT based FE devices have been demonstrated including field emission displays, x-ray source and many more. However to use CNTs as source in high powered microwave (HPM) devices higher and stable current in the range of few milli-amperes to amperes is required. To achieve such high current we developed a novel technique of introducing a MCP between CNT cathode and anode. MCP is an array of electron multipliers; it operates by avalanche multiplication of secondary electrons, which are generated when electrons strike channel walls of MCP. FE current from CNTs is enhanced due to avalanche multiplication of secondary electrons and in addition MCP also protects CNTs from irreversible damage during vacuum arcing. Conventional MCP is not suitable for this purpose due to the lower secondary emission properties of their materials. To achieve higher and stable currents we have designed and fabricated a unique ceramic MCP consisting of high SEY materials. The MCP was fabricated utilizing optimum design parameters, which include channel dimensions and material properties obtained from charged particle optics (CPO) simulation. Child Langmuir law, which gives the optimum current density from an electron source, was taken into account during the system design and experiments. Each MCP channel consisted of MgO coated CNTs which was chosen from various material systems due to its very high SEY. With MCP inserted between CNT cathode and anode stable and higher emission current was achieved. It was ∼25 times higher than without MCP. A brighter emission image was also evidenced due to enhanced emission current. The obtained results are a significant technological advance and this research holds promise for electron source in new generation lightweight, efficient and compact microwave devices for telecommunications in satellites or space applications. As part of this work novel emitters consisting of multistage geometry with improved FE properties were was also developed.

A large-scale dynamic vector and raster data visualization geographic information system based on parallel map tiling

With the exponential increasing demands and uses of GIS data visualization system, such as urban planning, environment and climate change monitoring, weather simulation, hydrographic gauge and so forth, the geospatial vector and raster data visualization research, application and technology has become prevalent. However, we observe that current web GIS techniques are merely suitable for static vector and raster data where no dynamic overlaying layers. While it is desirable to enable visual explorations of large-scale dynamic vector and raster geospatial data in a web environment, improving the performance between backend datasets and the vector and raster applications remains a challenging technical issue. This dissertation is to implement these challenging and unimplemented areas: how to provide a large-scale dynamic vector and raster data visualization service with dynamic overlaying layers accessible from various client devices through a standard web browser, and how to make the large-scale dynamic vector and raster data visualization service as rapid as the static one. To accomplish these, a large-scale dynamic vector and raster data visualization geographic information system based on parallel map tiling and a comprehensive performance improvement solution are proposed, designed and implemented. They include: the quadtree-based indexing and parallel map tiling, the Legend String, the vector data visualization with dynamic layers overlaying, the vector data time series visualization, the algorithm of vector data rendering, the algorithm of raster data re-projection, the algorithm for elimination of superfluous level of detail, the algorithm for vector data gridding and re-grouping and the cluster servers side vector and raster data caching.

Predicting Lodging Manager Annual Salary Based on Metropolitan Statistical Area Attributes and Lodging Industry Performance: Exploring the Concept

Using multiple regression analysis, lodging managers’ annual mean salaries in 143 Metropolitan Statistical Areas (MSA) within the U.S. were analyzed to identify what relationships existed with variables related to general MSA characteristics, along with the lodging industry’s size and performance. By examining the relationship between these variables, the authors predict the long-term possibility of predicting lodging industry managers’ salaries. These predictions may have an impact on financial performance of an individual lodging property or organization. Through this paper, this concept was applied and explored within U.S. MSAs. These findings may have value for a variety of stakeholders, including human resources practitioners, the hospitality education community, and individuals considering lodging management careers.

A model of the hydrothermal system at Casa Diablo in Long Valley, California, based on resistivity profiles and soil mercury analyses

A description and model of the near-surface hydrothermal system at Casa Diablo, with its implications for the larger-scale hydrothermal system of Long Valley, California, is presented. The data include resistivity profiles with penetrations to three different depth ranges, and analyses of inorganic mercury concentrations in 144 soil samples taken over a 1.3 by 1.7 km area. Analyses of the data together with the mapping of active surface hydrothermal features (fumaroles, mudpots, etc.), has revealed that the relationship between the hydrothermal system, surface hydrothermal activity, and mercury anomalies is strongly controlled by faults and topography. There are, however, more subtle factors responsible for the location of many active and anomalous zones such as fractures, zones of high permeability, and interactions between hydrothermal and cooler groundwater. In addition, the near-surface location of the upwelling from the deep hydrothermal reservoir, which supplies the geothermal power plants at Casa Diablo and the numerous hot pools in the caldera with hydrothermal water, has been detected. The data indicate that after upwelling the hydrothermal water flows eastward at shallow depth for at least 2 km and probably continues another 10 km to the east, all the way to Lake Crowley.

Water temperature reconstructions based on paired Uk'37 and Tex86 records, and paired surface and subsurface Mg/Ca records

This dataset contains the collection of available published paired Uk'37 and Tex86 records spanning multi-millennial to multi-million year time scales, as well as a collection of Mg/Ca-derived temperatures measured in parallel on surface and subsurface dwelling foraminifera, both used in the analyses of Ho and Laepple, Nature Geoscience 2016. As the signal-to-noise ratios of proxy-derived Holocene temperatures are relatively low, we selected records that contain at least the last deglaciation (oldest sample >18kyr BP).

Ground-based electromagnetic (EM) and drill-hole ice and snow thickness and melt pond depth measurements during Polarstern cruise ARK-IX/4, ARK-XI/1, and ARK-XII

Drillhole-determined sea-ice thickness was compared with values derived remotely using a portable small-offset loop-loop steady state electromagnetic (EM) induction device during expeditions to Fram Strait and the Siberian Arctic, under typical winter and summer conditions. Simple empirical transformation equations are derived to convert measured apparent conductivity into ice thickness. Despite the extreme seasonal differences in sea-ice properties as revealed by ice core analysis, the transformation equations vary little for winter and summer. Thus, the EM induction technique operated on the ice surface in the horizontal dipole mode yields accurate results within 5 to 10% of the drillhole determined thickness over level ice in both seasons. The robustness of the induction method with respect to seasonal extremes is attributed to the low salinity of brine or meltwater filling the extensive pore space in summer. Thus, the average bulk ice conductivity for summer multiyear sea ice derived according to Archie's law amounts to 23 mS/m compared to 3 mS/m for winter conditions. These mean conductivities cause only minor differences in the EM response, as is shown by means of 1-D modeling. However, under summer conditions the range of ice conductivities is wider. Along with the widespread occurrence of surface melt ponds and freshwater lenses underneath the ice, this causes greater scatter in the apparent conductivity/ice thickness relation. This can result in higher deviations between EM-derived and drillhole determined thicknesses in summer than in winter.

The Lena River Delta - Land cover classification of tundra environments based on Landsat 7 ETM+ data and its application for upscaling of methane emissions

The Lena River Delta, situated in Northern Siberia (72.0 - 73.8° N, 122.0 - 129.5° E), is the largest Arctic delta and covers 29,000 km**2. Since natural deltas are characterised by complex geomorphological patterns and various types of ecosystems, high spatial resolution information on the distribution and extent of the delta environments is necessary for a spatial assessment and accurate quantification of biogeochemical processes as drivers for the emission of greenhouse gases from tundra soils. In this study, the first land cover classification for the entire Lena Delta based on Landsat 7 Enhanced Thematic Mapper (ETM+) images was conducted and used for the quantification of methane emissions from the delta ecosystems on the regional scale. The applied supervised minimum distance classification was very effective with the few ancillary data that were available for training site selection. Nine land cover classes of aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems in the wetland dominated (72%) Lena Delta could be defined by this classification approach. The mean daily methane emission of the entire Lena Delta was calculated with 10.35 mg CH4/m**2/d. Taking our multi-scale approach into account we find that the methane source strength of certain tundra wetland types is lower than calculated previously on coarser scales.

Algorithms for super-resolution of images based on Sparse Representation and Manifolds

lmage super-resolution is defined as a class of techniques that enhance the spatial resolution of images. Super-resolution methods can be subdivided in single and multi image methods. This thesis focuses on developing algorithms based on mathematical theories for single image super­ resolution problems. lndeed, in arder to estimate an output image, we adopta mixed approach: i.e., we use both a dictionary of patches with sparsity constraints (typical of learning-based methods) and regularization terms (typical of reconstruction-based methods). Although the existing methods already per- form well, they do not take into account the geometry of the data to: regularize the solution, cluster data samples (samples are often clustered using algorithms with the Euclidean distance as a dissimilarity metric), learn dictionaries (they are often learned using PCA or K-SVD). Thus, state-of-the-art methods still suffer from shortcomings. In this work, we proposed three new methods to overcome these deficiencies. First, we developed SE-ASDS (a structure tensor based regularization term) in arder to improve the sharpness of edges. SE-ASDS achieves much better results than many state-of-the- art algorithms. Then, we proposed AGNN and GOC algorithms for determining a local subset of training samples from which a good local model can be computed for recon- structing a given input test sample, where we take into account the underlying geometry of the data. AGNN and GOC methods outperform spectral clustering, soft clustering, and geodesic distance based subset selection in most settings. Next, we proposed aSOB strategy which takes into account the geometry of the data and the dictionary size. The aSOB strategy outperforms both PCA and PGA methods. Finally, we combine all our methods in a unique algorithm, named G2SR. Our proposed G2SR algorithm shows better visual and quantitative results when compared to the results of state-of-the-art methods.

On the Regulation of Small Actors: Three Experimental Essays about Policies based on Voluntary Compliance and Decentralized Monitoring

Monitoring and enforcement are perhaps the biggest challenges in the design and implementation of environmental policies in developing countries where the actions of many small informal actors cause significant impacts on the ecosystem services and where the transaction costs for the state to regulate them could be enormous. This dissertation studies the potential of innovative institutions based on decentralized coordination and enforcement to induce better environmental outcomes. Such policies have in common that the state plays the role of providing the incentives for organization but the process of compliance happens through decentralized agreements, trust building, signaling and monitoring. I draw from the literatures in collective action, common-pool resources, game-theory and non-point source pollution to develop the instruments proposed here. To test the different conditions in which such policies could be implemented I designed two field-experiments that I conducted with small-scale gold miners in the Colombian Pacific and with users and providers of ecosystem services in the states of Veracruz, Quintana Roo and Yucatan in Mexico. This dissertation is organized in three essays.

The first essay, “Collective Incentives for Cleaner Small-Scale Gold Mining on the Frontier: Experimental Tests of Compliance with Group Incentives given Limited State Monitoring”, examines whether collective incentives, i.e. incentives provided to a group conditional on collective compliance, could “outsource” the required local monitoring, i.e. induce group interactions that extend the reach of the state that can observe only aggregate consequences in the context of small-scale gold mining. I employed a framed field-lab experiment in which the miners make decisions regarding mining intensity. The state sets a collective target for an environmental outcome, verifies compliance and provides a group reward for compliance which is split equally among members. Since the target set by the state transforms the situation into a coordination game, outcomes depend on expectations of what others will do. I conducted this experiment with 640 participants in a mining region of the Colombian Pacific and I examine different levels of policy severity and their ordering. The findings of the experiment suggest that such instruments can induce compliance but this regulation involves tradeoffs. For most severe targets – with rewards just above costs – raise gains if successful but can collapse rapidly and completely. In terms of group interactions, better outcomes are found when severity initially is lower suggesting learning.

The second essay, “Collective Compliance can be Efficient and Inequitable: Impacts of Leaders among Small-Scale Gold Miners in Colombia”, explores the channels through which communication help groups to coordinate in presence of collective incentives and whether the reached solutions are equitable or not. Also in the context of small-scale gold mining in the Colombian Pacific, I test the effect of communication in compliance with a collective environmental target. The results suggest that communication, as expected, helps to solve coordination challenges but still some groups reach agreements involving unequal outcomes. By examining the agreements that took place in each group, I observe that the main coordination mechanism was the presence of leaders that help other group members to clarify the situation. Interestingly, leaders not only helped groups to reach efficiency but also played a key role in equity by defining how the costs of compliance would be distributed among group members.

The third essay, “Creating Local PES Institutions and Increasing Impacts of PES in Mexico: A real-Time Watershed-Level Framed Field Experiment on Coordination and Conditionality”, considers the creation of a local payments for ecosystem services (PES) mechanism as an assurance game that requires the coordination between two groups of participants: upstream and downstream. Based on this assurance interaction, I explore the effect of allowing peer-sanctions on upstream behavior in the functioning of the mechanism. This field-lab experiment was implemented in three real cases of the Mexican Fondos Concurrentes (matching funds) program in the states of Veracruz, Quintana Roo and Yucatan, where 240 real users and 240 real providers of hydrological services were recruited and interacted with each other in real time. The experimental results suggest that initial trust-game behaviors align with participants’ perceptions and predicts baseline giving in assurance game. For upstream providers, i.e. those who get sanctioned, the threat and the use of sanctions increase contributions. Downstream users contribute less when offered the option to sanction – as if that option signal an uncooperative upstream – then the contributions rise in line with the complementarity in payments of the assurance game.

Table 1. Tree growth index and reconstructed precipitation series from 515 BC to AD 1993 based on the archaeological and living tree ring datasets from Dulan and Shenge, China

Annual precipitation for the last 2,500 years was reconstructed for northeastern Qinghai from living and archaeological juniper trees. A dominant feature of the precipitation of this area is a high degree of variability in mean rainfall at annual, decadal, and centennial scales, with many wet and dry periods that are corroborated by other paleoclimatic indicators. Reconstructed values of annual precipitation vary mostly from 100 to 300 mm and thus are no different from the modern instrumental record in Dulan. However, relatively dry years with below-average precipitation occurred more frequently in the past than in the present. Periods of relatively dry years occurred during 74-25 BC, AD 51-375, 426-500, 526-575, 626-700, 1100-1225, 1251-1325, 1451-1525, 1651-1750 and 1801-1825. Periods with a relatively wet climate occurred during AD 376-425, 576-625, 951-1050, 1351-1375, 1551-1600 and the present. This variability is probably related to latitudinal positions of winter frontal storms. Another key feature of precipitation in this area is an apparently direct relationship between interannual variability in rainfall with temperature, whereby increased warming in the future might lead to increased flooding and droughts. Such increased climatic variability might then impact human societies of the area, much as the climate has done for the past 2,500 years.