Developing the first regional IPM training manual for wildlife control operators in the Northeast

The American public places a high value on wildlife, yet at the same time, “nuisance” wildlife may cause formidable and expensive problems. They may damage property, threaten human health and safety, or endanger native species and habitats. National estimates of the cost of wildlife damage to agriculture range up to $1.5 billion dollars annually, with equal costs associated with accidents caused by collisions between wildlife and cars or planes. Wildlife can spread diseases to people, livestock, or pets. Nearly all segments of society are vulnerable to wildlife damage. Traditionally, government agencies handled many of these conflicts. Public demand for wildlife control services has increased but government support for on-site assistance has not kept pace. Consequently, the commercial pest control industry is filling this need. Several state wildlife agencies are facing increasing public pressure to strengthen their oversight of this rapidly expanding industry. More than three-quarters of the Northeastern states lack training programs for wildlife control operators (WCOs), while half either lack regulations or are in the process of developing regulations for this industry. The goal of this project was to develop and distribute a comprehensive, scientifically based training manual (based on the New York curriculum) that could serve as the foundation for educational and regulatory programs throughout the region, while also enhancing professionalism within the industry. The New York State manual was reviewed for suitability for use throughout the region by state wildlife agencies and wildlife control associations. It is currently under revision and has been accepted for publication by NRAES, the Natural Resource, Agriculture, and Engineering Service, a publishing consortium of Northeastern universities. After another technical review conducted by the publisher, the manual will be published in 2005

Climate policy, interconnection and carbon leakage: the effect of unilateral UK policy on electricity and GHG emissions in Ireland. ESRI WP458. June 2013

This paper examines the effect on Ireland’s Single Electricity Market (SEM) of the UK’s unilateral policy to implement a carbon price floor for electricity generation based on fossil-fuel. We simulate electricity markets and find that, subject to efficient use of the interconnectors between the two markets, a carbon price floor will lead to carbon leakage, with associated emissions in the Republic of Ireland increasing by 8% and SEM’s electricity prices increasing by 2.4%. As the carbon price floor does not affect the number of ETS allowances no change is anticipated in aggregate European emissions. We also find that the EU’s proposal to postpone ETS allowance auctions will reduce Irish emissions somewhat but that the trade opportunities associated with the UK carbon price floor means that emissions reductions in Ireland will be lower than might have been otherwise. A carbon price floor will result in substantial tax revenues and had the carbon price floor been implemented in Northern Ireland the larger share of taxes remitted would be paid by Republic of Ireland customers within the SEM. A carbon price floor in the Republic of Ireland is a potential policy option that would generate revenues in excess of €250 million but associated electricity prices increases in excess of 17% would have significant negative welfare and competitiveness effects

County-Specific Net Migration by Five-Year Age Groups, Hispanic Origin, Race and Sex 2000-2010

This report documents the methodology used to prepare county-level, net migration estimates by five-year age cohorts and sex, and by race and Hispanic origin, for the intercensal period from 2000 to 2010. The estimates were prepared using a vital statistics version of the forward cohort residual method (Siegel and Hamilton 1952) following the techniques used to prepare the 1990 to 2000 net migration estimates (Voss, McNiven, Johnson, Hammer, and Fuguitt 2004) as described in detail below. These numbers (and the net migration rates derivable from them) extend the set of decennial estimates of net migration that have been produced following each decennial census beginning with 1960 (net migration for the 1950s: Bowles and Tarver, 1965; 1960s: Bowles, Beale and Lee, 1975; 1970s: White, Mueser and Tierney, 1987; 1980s: Fuguitt, Beale, and Voss 2010; and 1990s: Voss, McNiven, Hammer, Johnson and Fuguitt, 2004)

Dissecting Common Ground: Examining an Instance of Reference Repair

How participants to a joint activity come to develop a shared or mutual understanding of what they are perceiving has long been a problematic issue for philosophers, sociologists, and linguists. We examine the abstract model proposed by Clark and Marshall (1981) whereby speakers and hearers construct mutual knowledge and by which discrepancies in definite reference are repaired. We focus in particular on forms of demonstrative reference that depend upon physical co-presence. We examine an attested example of reference repair in the operating room of a teaching hospital. It involves learning to recognize pertinent structures within endoscopic surgeries, that is surgeries in which internal spaces are rendered visible by inserting a fiber-optic lens into the body of the patient. Clark and Marshall provide a useful vocabulary for discussing referential practices in this applied setting. We are left with some questions about how to interpret certain features of their model, however. We conclude that further theoretical framing is required before we develop a full appreciation of how reference and reference repair is accomplished in day-to-day interaction

RECREATIONAL ANGLING TOURNAMENTS: PARTICIPANTS' EXPENDITURES. ESRI Research Bulletin 2017/05

Tournaments are a common feature of recreational angling, with upwards of 300 competitive angling events per annum in Ireland. Prior research has indicated that angler expenditures in Ireland exceed €555 million per annum but little is known specifically about angling tournaments and their economic contribution. Angling tournaments entail relatively short periods of intense activity, usually within a small geographic area, and consequently their economic impact can be quite significant in the local economy. A comprehensive understanding of tournament participants and their expenditures would be practical information for fishery managers and angling clubs seeking to raise funds, develop facilities, or boost local economic activity

Differential Signaling Profiles of MC4R Mutations with Three Different Ligands

The melanocortin 4 receptor (MC4R) is a key player in hypothalamic weight regulation and energy expenditure as part of the leptin-melanocortin pathway. Mutations in this G protein coupled receptor (GPCR) are the most common cause for monogenetic obesity, which appears to be mediated by changes in the anorectic action of MC4R via GS-dependent cyclic adenosine-monophosphate (cAMP) signaling as well as other signaling pathways. To study potential bias in the effects of MC4R mutations between the different signaling pathways, we investigated three major MC4R mutations: a GS loss-of-function (S127L) and a GS gain-of-function mutant (H158R), as well as the most common European single nucleotide polymorphism (V103I). We tested signaling of all four major G protein families plus extracellular regulated kinase (ERK) phosphorylation and β-arrestin2 recruitment, using the two endogenous agonists, α- and β-melanocyte stimulating hormone (MSH), along with a synthetic peptide agonist (NDP-α-MSH). The S127L mutation led to a full loss-of-function in all investigated pathways, whereas V103I and H158R were clearly biased towards the Gq/11 pathway when challenged with the endogenous ligands. These results show that MC4R mutations can cause vastly different changes in the various MC4R signaling pathways and highlight the importance of a comprehensive characterization of receptor mutations

The cultural dimension of uncertainty avoidance impacts police-civilian interaction

This research examines how the cultural dimension of uncertainty avoidance—a person’s (in)tolerance for uncertain or unknown situations—impacts communication alignment in crisis negotiations. We hypothesized that perpetrators high on uncertainty avoidance would respond better to negotiators who use formal language and legitimize their position with reference to law, procedures, and moral codes. Data were transcriptions of 53 negotiations from a Dutch–German police training initiative, where police negotiators interacted with a high (German) and low (Dutch) uncertainty-avoidant mock perpetrator. Consistent with accounts of cross-cultural interaction, negotiators tended to achieve more alignment in within-culture interactions compared to cross-cultural interactions. Moreover, German negotiators, who scored higher on uncertainty avoidance than the Dutch negotiators, were found to use more legitimizing messages and more formal language than their Dutch counterparts. Critically, irrespective of the negotiators cultural background, the use of these behaviors was a significant moderator of the degree to which negotiator and perpetrator aligned their communicative frames: Using legitimizing and formal language helped with German perpetrators but had no effect on Dutch perpetrators. Our findings show the effects of cultural background on communication alignment and demonstrate the benefits of using more formal language and messages that emphasize law and regulations when interacting with perpetrators high on uncertainty avoidanc