Open geospatial technology standards and their potential in plant pest risk management—GPS-enabled mobile phones utilising open geospatial technology standards Web Feature Service Transactions support the fighting of fire blight in Norway

The threat posed by invasive alien species to global crop production and biodiversity is recognized as one of the major drivers of global change today. Here we report on a successful implementation and operational use of new technology to support risk- and crisis management in the case of fighting an invasive plant disease. The open geospatial standards Web Feature Service Transaction (WFS-T) was implemented in software for GPS-enabled mobile phones communicating with a GeoServer backend in order to track down and eradicate disease outbreaks and susceptible host plants. This new technology offering georeferenced events online from field provides new possibilities for real time action in risk and crisis management.     

浅谈疲劳与保健

近年来,越来越多的人因为对更高的物质生活追求而承受着巨大的工作压力,从而忽视了健康.大多数人都处于亚健康的状态.从日常生活出发,分析了健康对人类的重要性,以期有助于处于亚健康的人群.     

从规划上解决城乡脱节问题的对策建议——以山东省为例

城乡二元结构是当前我国城乡发展中面临的重大问题,而城乡在规划上的脱节既是城乡二元特征的重要表现,也在一定程度上是城乡二元结构延续的原因。完善规划体制,通盘考虑城乡发展规划编制,解决城乡规划脱节问题是城乡一体化发展背景下规划界需重点解决的问题。以山东省为例,介绍了其城乡规划编制情况,分析了城乡规划存在的主要问题及产生这些问题的根源,提出了相应的政策建议,以期能为规划上解决城乡脱节问题提供一些启发。     

Observations on relationships between regeneration stocking and yield

Explicit linkages between various levels of regeneration stocking and yield have been assumed for most of the last century but have rarely been quantified. There are many variations in methodology for measuring stocking, but the implications for yield prediction of employing different methods are poorly understood. For the purpose of yield prediction, contrasts are drawn here between several variations on two basic regeneration survey methodologies: stocked quadrats and the British Columbia Ministry of Forests’ well-spaced survey system. Curve shape and dispersion for the relationships between survey summary statistics and yield varied dramatically by varying survey parameters such as quadrat size and the maximum number of tallied well-spaced trees. Also of importance is the stand height at which yield is assessed. Finally, it is critical to standardize survey parameters so that summary statistics are consistently comparable.     

Standards and corporate reconstruction in the Michigan dry bean industry

Since the turn of the lastcentury, Michigan farmers, elevators, and stategovernment have used production and processstandards to shape the dry bean industry totheir interests and set a worldwide standardfor quality dry beans. Over the last 20 years,however, multinational agro/food firms haveintroduced their market criteria into standardssetting, and recent changes in Michigan beanstandards largely accommodate the interests ofthese firms. A review of the changes in thesestandards over time allows us to explore howconcepts of accountability and control improveour understanding of changes in the structureand operation of food production and marketing.What is the measure of state governmentaccountability to corporate capital and to thestate's bean farmers? In what ways can farmersuse standards to re-assert their priorities andgain a greater measure of influence overmarketing? What challenges do changing qualitystandards pose for public research as well asfor the institutions representing Michiganfarmers and elevators?     

The social construction of production externalities in contemporary agriculture: Process <Emphasis Type=\"Italic\">versus</Emphasis> product standards as the basis for defining “organic”

The analysis distinguishes two types of standards for defining organic produce; process standards and product standards. Process standards define organic products by the method and means of production. Product standards define organic by the physical quality of the end product. The National Organic Program (NOP) uses process standards as the basis for defining organic. However, the situation is complicated by agricultural production practices, which sometimes result in the migration of NOP prohibited substances from conventional to organic fields. When this interaction alters the value of the product or the costs of production, a production externality is said to exist. Defining organic using process, rather than product standards, influences the burden and character of production externalities. The NOPs emphasis on process standards reduces the likelihood that production externalities will emerge.B. James Deaton is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Business and Agricultural Economics, University of Guelph, Canada. His research examines environmental and natural resource issues. He is particularly interested in the manner in which laws, rules, and standards influence environmental quality, natural resource use, and economic development. Additional research examines the relationship between different forms of private property and economic development, public support for various criteria used to preserve farmland, and the social construction of production externalities in agriculture. Prior to his PhD training, he worked on economic development projects in Lesotho (Southern Africa) and the Appalachian region of eastern Kentucky.John P. Hoehn is a Professor of Environmental and Natural Resource Economics in the Department of Agricultural Economics, Michigan State University. His teaching and research activities address environmental and natural resource policies, benefit-cost analysis of environmental improvements, methods for valuing non-market goods, improved institutions for protecting, managing, and using environmental resources, and the economics of ecological resources. He teaches core courses in the departmental and university-wide graduate programs in environmental and resource economics.     

Optimum Nutrient Concentrations and CND Scores of Mature White Spruce Determined Using a Boundary-Line Approach and Spatial Variation of Tree Growth and Nutrition

ABSTRACT

Standards of optimum nutrition are not readily available for mature trees of the Canadian boreal forest. The objective of this study was to determine foliar nutritional standards for white spruce for all major nutrients [nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P), potassium (K), calcium (Ca), magnesium (Mg), and manganese (Mn)] using critical values (CVA) and compositional nutrient diagnosis (CND). Trees were sampled at two locations in Ontario and Quebec to cover a gradient of soil fertility levels. A boundary-line approach was used in combination with quadratic regression models to estimate the relationship between growth and foliar-nutrient concentrations or CND scores when free of the effects of interacting environmental factors. White spruce optimum nutrition ranges were computed from significant relationships (P ≤ 0.10) for N, P, K, Ca, and Mn concentrations and for N, P, and K CND scores. Optimum concentrations for first-year needles were 12.3, 1.9, 7.3, 6.5, and 0.39 mg g^?1 for N, P, K Ca, and Mn, respectively, whereas optimum CND scores were 0.17, ?1.65, ?0.40, and ?0.30 for N, P, K, and Ca, respectively. Samples from a broader range of environmental conditions will be required in order to establish standards for all major nutrients and to ascertain toxicity levels of most nutrients.     

Comparison of Soil Clean-up Standards for Trace Elements Between Countries: Why do they differ? (9 pages)

Goal, Scope and Background

In the nineteen nineties most European countries issued legislation on soil protection, including soil contamination. In the case of a presumed contamination, soil investigation mostly follows a stepwise approach starting with a preliminary investigation, then an in-depth investigation and, finally, remediation. Soil clean-up standards are often foreseen as trigger criteria to determine the need for an in-depth soil investigation or for remediation. There are however large differences in soil clean-up standards. This is partly because of the different roles of soil clean-up standards in each legislative framework and partly because of differences in the soil clean-up standard (SCS) derivation procedures. Despites these differences there are large similarities in the concepts of the derivation procedures for clean-up standards. A better understanding of the differences in clean-up standards is needed. In order to clarify the variation, the background of the clean-up standards for a selected number of countries was investigated. The objective of this paper is to investigate the underlying reason why country-wide generic soil and groundwater clean-up standards of eight trace elements (cadmium, chromium (III), copper, mercury, lead, nickel, zinc and arsenic) differ between the selected countries.

Main Features

To avoid misinterpretation of the differences in application of the clean-up standards, a short overview of the legislative role of clean-up standards is given first. Differences in model concepts and parameter values are discussed, followed by a comparison of the generic soil and groundwater clean-up standards for trace elements and a discussion on the sources of variation. The influence of the use of ecotoxicological criteria and data for the derivation of soil clean-up standards will be discussed in more detail. Selected countries were Canada, the Flemish Region (Belgium), France, Germany, Great-Britain, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland and United States of America (USA).

Results and Discussion

When soil clean-up standards for eight trace elements (cadmium, chromium (III), copper, mercury, lead, nickel, zinc and arsenic) were compared between the selected countries differences of more than a factor 1000 arose. Notwithstanding the use of similar derivation procedures, differences were caused by the use of different software models with their specific input data, boundary conditions and applied protection criteria for humans and the ecology. Ecotoxicological criteria tend to lower the soil clean-up standard for the selected trace elements.

Conclusions

In the countries that are included in this study, clean-up standards are used is different ways, this is for the determination of the necessity for remediation or for the need for further soil investigation. This paper shows a wide variation in the clean-up standards, which has further implication on the decision for remediation or further investigation and, hence, the financial costs of soil management. All the clean-up standards have as primary goal the protection of human health. A number of countries also include the protection of the ecological function of the soil. Differences in selected software model, (standard) parameters values, selected human toxicological and ecotoxicological criteria, are reason for a substantial variation in the clean-up standards for trace elements.

Recommendations and Perspective

. Is this variation justified? The derivation of soil clean-up standards involves - besides scientific elements - political elements, like differentiation in landuse types (agricultural, residential, recreational, industrial), receptor at risk or protection level. It is obvious that harmonization of these elements will be complicated. However, a European action programme, like the thematic strategy for soil protection, could initiate this process of harmonization. Nevertheless, soil-clean-up standards could never be uniform over the whole of Europe because they include country specific elements (geographical, ethnological) and political decisions.