The capital shortage phenomenon : Its impact on the US mineral industries

After examining the concept of a capital shortage, the author analyses the impacts of sectoral shortages in the mineral industries. He analyses the future capital needs of certain segments of the mineral industries and the prospects open to them. Finally, the author discusses some policy proposals to stimulate investment. These include the reduction of corporate tax, increasing investment tax credit, changing depreciation allowances to allow for inflation, and changing the tax treatment of capital gains.     

Implementation of US Surface Mine and Reclamation Act

The US Congress is currently studying various ways through which legislation similar to that of the Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act of 1977— which is concerned mainly with coal, can be applied to all minerals other than coal. This study analyses three US mineral industries—copper, iron ore, and phosphate rock - and identifies a number of areas which Congress and other decision makers ought to consider in arriving at such legislation. The author concludes that reclamation costs may affect the economic and financial performance of each of these industries in a different manner; furthermore, their economic behaviour is significantly different from that of coal. The author's main recommendation is that if surface mining regulations are to be legislated, they should be industry- and commodity-specific rather than umbrella legislation for all non-coal minerals.     

Tradable planning permits versus auctioned tradable development rights: different trading agents,different policy outcomes

The tradable planning permit (TPP) policy seeks to limit the land take by development. It can be used in countries where development rights are vested by land-use planning to certain landowners only. TPPs are traded among public authorities. We introduce here a new policy, called the auctioned tradable development rights (ATDR) policy, which takes advantage of unvested rights of development and of trading among private actors. We compare the TPP, the ATDR policy and our baseline land-use planning model using a set of criteria. There are trade-offs within compared models. Both trading policies extend opportunities for land protection from development in exchange for higher transaction costs (highest in the ATDR policy). Trading policies seek also to recapture a part of development rent, decrease rent-seeking, and locate new development more effectively from the investors' perspective. However, trading among public authorities in the TPP model may hinder attaining these effects.     

Does a ‘notched’ nuchal translucency indicate Down syndrome fetuses or other adverse pregnancy outcome?

The aim of the present study was to assess the sonographic contour of the increased nuchal translucency (NT) and to correlate this with pregnancy outcome. Fifty sonographic images of fetuses with increased NT [>95th centile thickness of the normal range for crown–rump length (CRL) between 38 and 84 mm] were retrospectively assessed. In all the cases a complete pregnancy and even infancy follow-up (<36 months) was available. The NT appearances were subdivided into two forms: a ‘notched’ or ‘uniform’ appearance. The images were correlated with karyotype results [trisomy 21 (DS) vs euploid cases] and pregnancy outcome. Complicated outcomes were classified as being either DS fetuses, miscarriage or termination of pregnancy because of structural anomaly. Thus 30/35 (86%) of the euploid fetuses had a ‘uniformly’ increased NT, whereas 8/13 DS cases (62%) had a ‘notched’ appearance (Fisher's exact test, p=0.004). Additionally, 27/29 fetuses (93%) which had an uneventful pregnancy outcome had a ‘uniform’ increased NT, whereas 12/26 (57%) of the fetuses which had adverse pregnancy outcome had a ‘notched’ appearance of their NT (Fisher's exact test, p<0.001). Although it was not possible to correlate the sonographic data with post-evacuation microdissection findings, it is possible that a uniformly shaped, increased NT may be more representative of a developmental delay in a normal fetus. Conversely, a ‘notched’ nuchal surface may represent abnormal lymphatic or cardiovascular development more commonly seen in DS fetuses. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

沙漠公路驾驶员心理、生理特性初探

针对沙漠公路交通安全现状,采用动体视力、速度估计、复杂(选择)反应、处置判断、血压脉搏检测仪等驾驶适宜性检测仪器,就长期从事沙漠公路运输活动的驾驶员群体进行了包括视觉、速度估计、反应、判断等在内的心理、生理特性的实地测试。检测结果初步表明,沙漠公路特殊的线形布设和修筑技术特征以及沿线的自然环境条件,使得驾驶员表现出有别于一般绿洲公路的驾驶心理和行为特性,其主要表现在在沙漠环境中,驾驶员的动体视力要较静体视力受到更大的影响;急躁心理影响,沙漠公路驾驶员的速度估计和复杂反应时间相应指标值均小于全国平均水平;沙漠公路驾驶员复杂反应错误次数和处置判断错误次数均高于绿洲公路。     

Controls on coarse wood decay in temperate tree species: birth of the LOGLIFE experiment

Dead wood provides a huge terrestrial carbon stock and a habitat to wide-ranging organisms during its decay. Our brief review highlights that, in order to understand environmental change impacts on these functions, we need to quantify the contributions of different interacting biotic and abiotic drivers to wood decomposition. LOGLIFE is a new long-term 'common-garden' experiment to disentangle the effects of species' wood traits and site-related environmental drivers on wood decomposition dynamics and its associated diversity of microbial and invertebrate communities. This experiment is firmly rooted in pioneering experiments under the directorship of Terry Callaghan at Abisko Research Station, Sweden. LOGLIFE features two contrasting forest sites in the Netherlands, each hosting a similar set of coarse logs and branches of 10 tree species. LOGLIFE welcomes other researchers to test further questions concerning coarse wood decay that will also help to optimise forest management in view of carbon sequestration and biodiversity conservation.     

Controls on Coarse Wood Decay in Temperate Tree Species: Birth of the LOGLIFE Experiment

Dead wood provides a huge terrestrial carbon stock and a habitat to wide-ranging organisms during its decay. Our brief review highlights that, in order to understand environmental change impacts on these functions, we need to quantify the contributions of different interacting biotic and abiotic drivers to wood decomposition. LOGLIFE is a new long-term ‘common-garden’ experiment to disentangle the effects of species’ wood traits and site-related environmental drivers on wood decomposition dynamics and its associated diversity of microbial and invertebrate communities. This experiment is firmly rooted in pioneering experiments under the directorship of Terry Callaghan at Abisko Research Station, Sweden. LOGLIFE features two contrasting forest sites in the Netherlands, each hosting a similar set of coarse logs and branches of 10 tree species. LOGLIFE welcomes other researchers to test further questions concerning coarse wood decay that will also help to optimise forest management in view of carbon sequestration and biodiversity conservation.     

Old endemics and new invaders: alternative strategies of passerines for living in the Australian environment

Life history parameters of ”old endemics” and ”new invaders” among the Australian passerines were compared, controlling for phylogeny by using current, phylogenetic research methods. Old endemics were found to have significantly smaller clutches and demonstrated significantly more cooperative breeding than the new invaders, whose fledging periods are significantly longer than those of the old endemics. We argue that breeding under conditions of a small annual food increment during the breeding season, as is probably the situtation in Australia, is possible only when clutch size is small, or while breeding cooperatively, or by extending the fledging period. Our data show that the old endemics use the first two options, while the new invaders employ the third. Received: 10 February 1999 / Received in revised form: 10 November 1999 / Accepted: 20 November 1999     

Otolith ring deposition in relation to growth rate in herring (Clupea harengus) and turbot (Scophthalmus maximus) larvae

Larvae of Clyde spring-spawning Clupea harengus L. and hatchery-produced Scophthalmus maximus (L.) were reared from hatching through metamorphosis in 1980 and 1981 in laboratory tanks and in large enclosures under various light, temperature, and feeding regimes in order to study otolith ring deposition and growth under different conditions. Ring deposition and growth rates were significantly affected by rearing conditions in both species. The ring deposition rates observed under the conditions tested ranged from 0.34 to 0.92 rings d^-1 in herring larvae, and from 0.07 to 1.0 rings d^-1 in turbot larvae. Growth rates ranged from 0.11 to 0.42 mm d^-1 in herring and from 0.05 to 0.27 mm d^-1 in turbot. The number of otolith rings was dependent on the growth rate of the individual larva. At the population level, higher ring deposition rates were observed in faster growing populations. In herring larvae, the relationship between average growth rate and average ring deposition rate was logarthmic, reaching an asymptote at 1 ring d^-1 for growth rates approaching 0.40 mm d^-1. The relationship was linear for turbot larvae for the range of growth rates observed.