Organotins in marine mammals and seabirds from Norwegian territory

An increasing number of studies indicate that marine mammals and some seabirds are exposed to organotins. However, results from northern and Arctic areas are few. Here results from analysis of tributyltin (TBT), dibutyltin (DBT), monobutyltin (MBT), triphenyltin (TPhT), diphenyltin (DPhT) and monophenyltin (MPhT) in harbour porpoise (Phocoena phocoena), common seal (Phoca vitulina), ringed seal (Phoca hispida) and glaucous gull (Larus hyperboreus) from Norwegian territory are presented. Relatively high concentrations of DBT, TBT and MBT were observed in muscle, kidney and liver from harbour porpoises caught in northern Norway in 1988, just before restrictions on the use of tributyltin (TBT)(mainly on small boats) were introduced in several European countries. The concentrations in harbour porpoise muscle tissue were reduced significantly 11 years later, possibly as a result of the introduced restrictions. Considerably lower concentrations of butyltins were observed in the seals compared to porpoises. The lowest levels of organotins were found in ringed seals from Spitsbergen, where only traces of dibutyltin (DBT) and monobutyltin (MBT) were observed. Traces of DBT and MBT were also found in some individual glaucous gulls from Bear Island. The sum of the degradation products MBT and DBT in liver samples from all analysed species were generally higher than TBT itself. Triphenyltin (TPhT) was observed in all porpoise samples and in livers of common seals. Also the sum of the degradation products MPhT and DPhT in liver samples from porpoise and common seals were higher than TPhT. No traces of phenyltins were found in ringed seals from Spitsbergen or in glaucous gulls from Bear Island. The limited data available indicate low to moderate exposure to organotins in northern areas (Spitsbergen and Bear Island). Marine mammals are however more exposed further south along the Norwegian Coast.     

Cognitive skills and bacterial load: comparative evidence of costs of cognitive proficiency in birds

Parasite-mediated selection may affect the evolution of cognitive abilities because parasites may influence development of the brain, but also learning capacity. Here, we tested some predictions of this hypothesis by analyzing the relationship between complex behaviours (feeding innovations (as a measure of behavioural flexibility) and ability to detect foreign eggs in their nests (i.e. a measure of discriminatory ability)) and abundance of microorganisms in different species of birds. A positive relationship would be predicted if these cognitive abilities implied a larger number of visited environments, while if these skills favoured detection and avoidance of risky environments, a negative relationship would be the prediction. Bacterial loads of eggshells, estimated for mesophilic and potentially pathogenic bacteria (i.e. Enterococcus, Staphylococcus and Enterobacteriaceae), were used as a surrogate of probability of contact with pathogenic bacteria. We found that bird species with higher feeding innovation rates and rejection rates of experimental brood parasitic eggs had higher density of bacteria on their eggshells than the average species. Since the analysed groups of microorganisms include pathogenic bacteria, these results suggest that both feeding innovation and ability to recognize foreign eggs are costly and highlight the importance of parasite-mediated selection in explaining the evolution of cognitive abilities in animals.     

The optimal time path of clean energy R&D policy when patents have finite lifetime

We study the optimal time path for clean energy innovation policy. In a model with emission reduction through clean energy deployment, and with R&D increasing the overall productivity of clean energy, we describe optimal R&D policies jointly with emission pricing policies. We find that while emission prices can be set at the Pigouvian level independently of innovation policy, the optimal level of R&D subsidies and patent lifetime change with the stages of the climate problem. In the early stages of clean energy development, innovators find it more difficult to capture the social value of their innovations. Thus, for a given finite patent lifetime, optimal clean energy R&D subsidies are initially high, but then fall over time. Alternatively, if research subsidies are kept constant, the optimal patent lifetime should initially be long and fall over time.     

Farm Animal Welfare Influences on Markets and Consumer Attitudes in Latin America: The Cases of Mexico,Chile and Brazil

In recent years, animal welfare has become an important element of sustainable production that has evolved along with the transformation of animal production systems. Consumer attitudes towards farm animal welfare are changing around the world, especially at emerging markets of Asia, Africa and Latin America. Survey-based research on consumer attitudes towards farm animal welfare has increased. However, the geographical coverage of studies on consumer attitudes and perceptions about farm animal welfare has mostly been limited to Europe, and North America. Until now, Latin American consumers’ attitudes towards animal welfare have not been well studied. Despite the fact that Mexico, Chile and Brazil belong to the same region (according to international organizations), there are marked differences between these countries in terms of their economical and geographical characteristics among other factors. Those differences potentially have an impact on consumer attitudes towards animal welfare and livestock production systems in general. Given the evidence from the literature review, it seems advisable that Latin American producers and food industry who engage in animal welfare-enhancing practices should clearly label their products with information on the type of husbandry system to reach those consumers who want to make an informed choice. Therefore, there are some aspects that need to be studied and cannot be worked separately in order to promote and understand consumer attitudes towards dairy and beef systems, such as geography, economic development, and politics.     

Responses to accidents in different industrial sectors

Accidents produce external pressures on companies leading to new regulations and renegotiation of enforcement of regulations. Our perspective is institutional with a focus on the extended dialogue among regulators and the industry. The empirical focus is offshore oil and gas production, deep sea and coastal fisheries, and maritime transportation with a segment of older bulk carriers. The findings are that structural characteristics of both the industries and the regulatory regime determine the interactions between the regulated and the regulator. The paper illustrates that in industrial sectors where hazards and risks are visible and of public interest, it is easier to implement regulations through outside pressure from regulators and other stakeholders such as internationally organised unions.     

From Management to Mediation: Local Forestry Management and the Forestry Crisis in Post-Socialist Russia

The local branches of the Russian Forestry Service, the leskhozy, were known for their efficiency and management skills in the Soviet era and were one of the very few community-based Soviet-type institutions to survive the transition. This article examines the role of the leskhozy in the new market economy. Our analysis is based on data from interviews with informants attached to the forestry sector in the Murmansk area. In some cases their knowledge of the leskhozy stretches back to the emergence of the system in 1947. Our principal finding is that the struggle to survive as a federal body in the current legal and economic climate is forcing the leskhozy to relegate sustainable forestry management, presumably their primary raison dêtre, to the lower portions of their list of priorities. Several consequences result. There is a heightened incidence of illegal logging, and corruption informs the allocation of forest areas to private interests. Stumpage prices have plummeted as timber from subsidized commercial cutting (ostensibly sanitary cutting or thinning) has flooded the markets. The root cause of these tribulations lies with the market-based harvesting permit system. Its introduction in the 1990s did little to eliminate the self-seeking practices of the old Soviet forestry management hierarchies. In the free market, local forestry managers can turn their dual responsibilities to their own advantage inasmuch as they control the allocation of harvesting permits while at the same time controlling logging practices.     

Innate humoural immunity is related to eggshell bacterial load of European birds: a comparative analysis

Fitness benefits associated with the development of a costly immune system would include not only self-protection against pathogenic microorganisms but also protection of host offspring if it reduces the probability and the rate of vertical transmission of microorganisms. This possibility predicts a negative relationship between probabilities of vertical transmission of symbionts and level of immune response that we here explore inter-specifically. We estimated eggshell bacterial loads by culturing heterotrophic bacteria, Enterococcus, Staphylococcus and Enterobacteriaceae on the eggshells of 29 species of birds as a proxy of vertical transmission of bacteria from mother to offspring. For this pool of species, we also estimated innate immune response (natural antibody and complement (lysis)) of adults, which constitute the main defence against bacterial infection. Multivariate general linear models revealed the predicted negative association between natural antibodies and density of bacteria on the eggshell of 19 species of birds for which we sampled the eggs in more than one nest. Univariate analyses revealed significant associations for heterotrophic bacteria and for Enterobacteriaceae, a group of bacteria that includes important pathogens of avian embryos. Therefore, these results suggest a possible trans-generational benefit of developing a strong immune system by reducing vertical transmission of pathogens.     

Incentives and prices in an emissions trading scheme with updating

Emissions trading schemes where allocations are based on updated baseline emissions give firms less incentive to reduce emissions for a given quota (or allowance) price. Nevertheless, according to Böhringer and Lange [On the design of optimal grandfathering schemes for emission allowances, Europ. Econ. Rev. 49 (2005) 2041–2055], such allocation schemes are cost-effective if the system is closed and allocation rules are identical across firms. In this paper, we show that the cost-effective solution may be infeasible if marginal abatement costs grow too fast. Moreover, if a price cap or banking/borrowing is introduced, the abatement profile is no longer the same as in the case with an auction (or lump-sum allocation). In addition, we show that with allocation based on updated emissions, the quota price will always exceed marginal abatement costs, possibly misguiding policy makers and investors about abatement costs. Numerical simulations indicate that the quota price most likely will be several times higher than marginal abatement costs, unless a significant share of allowances is auctioned.     

Can SVM be used for automatic EEG detection of drowsiness during car driving?

This study aims to develop an automatic method to detect drowsiness onset while driving. Support vector machines (SVM) represents a superior signal classification tool based on pattern recognition. The usefulness of SVM in identifying and differentiating electroencephalographic (EEG) changes that occur between alert and drowsy states was tested. Twenty human subjects underwent driving simulations with EEG monitoring. Alert EEG was marked by dominant beta activity, while drowsy EEG was marked by alpha dropouts. The duration of eye blinks corresponded well with alertness levels associated with fast and slow eye blinks. Samples of EEG data from both states were used to train the SVM program by using a distinguishing criterion of 4 frequency features across 4 principal frequency bands. The trained SVM program was tested on unclassified EEG data and subsequently checked for concordance with manual classification. The classification accuracy reached 99.3%. The SVM program was also able to predict the transition from alertness to drowsiness reliably in over 90% of data samples. This study shows that automatic analysis and detection of EEG changes is possible by SVM and SVM is a good candidate for developing pre-emptive automatic drowsiness detection systems for driving safety.     

Depletion of selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors during sewage sludge composting

Sewage and sewage sludge is known to contain pharmaceuticals, and since sewage sludge is often used as fertilizer within agriculture, the reduction of the selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) Citalopram, Sertraline, Paroxetine, Fluvoxamine and Fluoxetine during composting has been investigated. Sewage sludge was spiked with the SSRIs before the composting experiment started, and the concentration of the SSRIs in the sludge during a 21 day composting period was measured by liquid phase microextraction (LPME) and high-performance liquid chromatography–mass spectrometry. All the SSRIs had a significant decrease in concentration during the composting process. The highest reduction rates were measured for Fluoxetine and Paroxetine and the lowest for Citalopram. In addition three out of four known SSRI metabolites were found in all the samples, and two of them showed a significant increase in concentration during the composting period.