Assessment of habitat representation across a network of marine protected areas with implications for the spatial design of monitoring

Networks of marine protected areas (MPAs) are being adopted globally to protect ecosystems and supplement fisheries management. The state of California recently implemented a coast-wide network of MPAs, a statewide seafloor mapping program, and ecological characterizations of species and ecosystems targeted for protection by the network. The main goals of this study were to use these data to evaluate how well seafloor features, as proxies for habitats, are represented and replicated across an MPA network and how well ecological surveys representatively sampled fish habitats inside MPAs and adjacent reference sites. Seafloor data were classified into broad substrate categories (rock and sediment) and finer scale geomorphic classifications standard to marine classification schemes using surface analyses (slope, ruggedness, etc.) done on the digital elevation model derived from multibeam bathymetry data. These classifications were then used to evaluate the representation and replication of seafloor structure within the MPAs and across the ecological surveys. Both the broad substrate categories and the finer scale geomorphic features were proportionately represented for many of the classes with deviations of 1-6% and 0-7%, respectively. Within MPAs, however, representation of seafloor features differed markedly from original estimates, with differences ranging up to 28%. Seafloor structure in the biological monitoring design had mismatches between sampling in the MPAs and their corresponding reference sites and some seafloor structure classes were missed entirely. The geomorphic variables derived from multibeam bathymetry data for these analyses are known determinants of the distribution and abundance of marine species and for coastal marine biodiversity. Thus, analyses like those performed in this study can be a valuable initial method of evaluating and predicting the conservation value of MPAs across a regional network.

A demandeur-centric theory of regime design in transnational commercial law

Recent scholarship on international agreement design has almost exclusively focused on the public international law area. The literature on regime design in the area of international private law lacks a solid theoretical foundation. Academic writing on public international law's state-centric approach is only amenable to crude transplantation and poses several puzzles in the international private law context. Resolving these puzzles is important because of the proliferation of transnational commercial agreements in areas that were traditionally the province of domestic law. This paper attempts to provide a starting point to address the theoretical vacuum. Part I argues that functionalist, liberal, and realist theories cannot fully explain transnational commercial law agreement design. Part II puts forth a demandeur-centric approach with the aid of examples that span the spectrum from hard law to soft law. Part III concludes that agreement design in transnational commercial law is premised on demandeur preferences and relative power.

Towards a theory of landscape iconoclasm

The destruction of Indigenous rock art sites in the Pilbara district in Western Australia has become a natural sight within the mining landscape of the area. Whilst much of the destruction is explained as acts of vandalism and as a result of the industrial activities that are propelling the Australian economy, I claim that a new theory of iconoclasm is needed to explain fully this disastrous example of heritage conservation. Henceforth, in order to explain the destruction of the Murujuga/Burrup Peninsula petroglyphs, the largest archaeological site in the world, this paper develops the theory of landscape iconoclasm. This theory states that the destruction of Indigenous landscapes can be compared to the destruction of religious images, by analysing the inherent symbolic functions of iconoclasm, together with those of heritage, the better to elucidate the state of affairs in the Murujuga/Burrup Peninsula. Furthermore, by drawing from Aboriginal mythology and art-historical and anthropological theories, the theory of landscape iconoclasm is able to explain the destruction of archaeological sites within a framework that falls outside prevalent discourses of heritage.

Individual differences in intention to fake job interviews: Personality, self-monitoring, and the theory of planned behaviour

When job applicants lie in job interviews, they can deprive a more honest candidate of a job and deprive an organisation of the best employees. To better understand job interview faking, the present study examined the effect of general dispositions and domain-specific beliefs on the intention to fake job interviews. A community sample of 313 participants completed measures of personality (i.e., extraversion, neuroticism, conscientiousness) and self-monitoring, and a domain-specific measure of beliefs about faking job interviews based on the theory of planned behaviour, which measured attitudes, subjective norms, and perceived behavioural control. Results indicated that the measure of attitudes was the strongest predictor of intention to fake. In line with the compatibility principle, the domain-specific measures based on the theory of planned behaviour correlated much more strongly with intentions to fake job interviews than did the general measures of personality or self-monitoring. Of the dispositional measures, lower conscientiousness, higher neuroticism, and higher self-monitoring was associated with greater intention to fake job interviews. The findings support a model whereby the effect of personality on intentions is partially mediated by domain-specific beliefs.

Overdetermination in a marxian theory of money

O presente artigo focaliza a genérica e abstrata análise monetária desenvolvida por Marx no inicio do Capital. Mais precisamente, pretende-se avaliar em que medida, se alguma, alguns aspectos da análise de Marx sobre o papel bastante contraditório desempenhado pela moeda no processo de circulação simples de mercadorias suportam uma interpretação sobre-determinista do método dialético por ele empregado. Baseando-se no conceito de sobre-determinação introduzido na literature Marxiana principalmente por Louis Althusser, o artigo conclui que o nexo real-monetário prevalecente na circulação simples de mercadorias pode ser concebida como um nexo sobre-determinado, ou seja, um nexo caracterizado por incorporar um regime de constitutividade.

The theory of storage and the volatility in commadity markets

Esse estudo estende a metodologia de Fama e French (1988) para testar a hipótese derivada da Teoria dos Estoques de que o convenience yield dos estoques diminui a uma taxa decrescente com o aumento de estoque. Como descrito por Samuelson (1965), a Teoria implica que as variações nos preços à vista (spot) e dos futuros (ou dos contratos a termo) serão similares quando os estoques estão altos, mas os preços futuros variarão menos que os preços à vista quando os estoques estão baixos. Isso ocorre porque os choques de oferta e demanda podem ser absorvidos por ajustes no estoque quando este está alto, afetando de maneira similar os preços à vista e futuros. Por outro lado, quando os estoques estão baixos, toda a absorção dos choques de demanda ou oferta recai sobre o preço à vista, uma vez que os agentes econômicos têm pouca condição de reagir à quantidade demandada ou ofertada no curto prazo.

Conexões e tensões entre representação e participação social: a elaboração de políticas culturais na democracia brasileira

Esta dissertação pretende examinar a relação entre democracia representativa (eleitoral) e democracia participativa, assim como os diferentes graus de influência da participação, direta ou indireta através de representantes, de atores e grupos socioculturais, antes excluídos, em espaços deliberativos, especialmente em conferências, conselhos, seminários e fóruns abertos para a elaboração de políticas públicas. Para tanto, o trabalho baseia-se na discussão sobre a crise da representação política e a relação com a participação social desenvolvida no âmbito da teoria democrática contemporânea e são utilizados aspectos extraídos da literatura sobre a elaboração de políticas públicas, o conceito de capital social de Pierre Bourdieu e a ideia de democracia comunicativa de Iris Young. A metodologia do trabalho consiste em três estudos de caso interligados: o nacional, relativo à participação em espaços deliberativos e à representação político-eleitoral principalmente para elaboração do Plano Nacional de Cultura; o estadual, relativo à representação política e participação para elaboração de políticas de cultura em Pernambuco; e um caso municipal, a análise da participação em espaços deliberativos abertos para a elaboração do plano e de políticas de cultura no município de Recife.

Contributions to the Theory of Optimal Tests

This paper considers tests which maximize the weighted average power (WAP). The focus is on determining WAP tests subject to an uncountable number of equalities and/or inequalities. The unifying theory allows us to obtain tests with correct size, similar tests, and unbiased tests, among others. A WAP test may be randomized and its characterization is not always possible. We show how to approximate the power of the optimal test by sequences of nonrandomized tests. Two alternative approximations are considered. The rst approach considers a sequence of similar tests for an increasing number of boundary conditions. This discretization allows us to implement the WAP tests in practice. The second method nds a sequence of tests which approximate the WAP test uniformly. This approximation allows us to show that WAP similar tests are admissible. The theoretical framework is readily applicable to several econometric models, including the important class of the curved-exponential family. In this paper, we consider the instrumental variable model with heteroskedastic and autocorrelated errors (HAC-IV) and the nearly integrated regressor model. In both models, we nd WAP similar and (locally) unbiased tests which dominate other available tests.

The role of the BNDES in the Brazilian development financing: contributions from the paper “towards a legal theory of finance” of Katharina Pistor

This paper aims to verify the main contributions and adjustments that the paper “Towards a Legal Theory of Finance” from Katharina Pistor may bring to the role of the Brazilian National Bank for Economic and Social Development (BNDES) in the Brazilian development financing. In order to do so, I work with two questions in this paper: (i) such theory presents elements which allow analyzing the role of the BNDES and from there, if it is required, adjustments can be made in the governance of the BNDES? and (ii) there are academics and scholars that, together with the theory, also contribute with the improvement of the BNDES role in the development of Brazil?

A theory of weekly specials

Multiproduct retailers facing similar costs and serving the same public commonly announce different weekly specials. These promotional prices also seem to evolve randomly over the weeks. Here, weekly specials are viewed as the strategic outcome of an oligopolistic price competition among multiproduct retail stores facing nonconvex costs. Existence of an equilibrium in mixed strategies is proven. ldentical stores serving the same public will never charge the same price vector with probability one (cross-store price dispersion). Mixed strategies can generate random price dispersion over time in the repeated version of the mode!.

Toward a theory of international currency : a step further

We generalize the two-country, two-currency model of Matsuyama, Kiyotaki and Matsui to resolve two "shortcomings" in their approach. First, we endogenize prices and excb.ange rates. Second, we introduce monetary policy. We then use the model to address the following new questions: How does the fact that a currency circulates intemationally affect its purcb.asing power? Where does an intemational currency purcb.ase more? What are the effects on seignorage and welfare when a currency becomes intemational? How is policy affected by concems of currency substitution? How are national monetary policies connected, and what is the scope for international cooperation?