scholarly journals High-resolution land value maps reveal underestimation of conservation costs in the United States

2020 ◽  
Vol 117 (47) ◽  
pp. 29577-29583
Author(s):  
Christoph Nolte
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
High Resolution ◽  
The United States ◽  
Conservation Policy ◽  
Private Benefits ◽  
Private Lands ◽  
Public And Private ◽  
Land Protection ◽  
Conservation Costs ◽  
Fair Market Value

The justification and targeting of conservation policy rests on reliable measures of public and private benefits from competing land uses. Advances in Earth system observation and modeling permit the mapping of public ecosystem services at unprecedented scales and resolutions, prompting new proposals for land protection policies and priorities. Data on private benefits from land use are not available at similar scales and resolutions, resulting in a data mismatch with unknown consequences. Here I show that private benefits from land can be quantified at large scales and high resolutions, and that doing so can have important implications for conservation policy models. I developed high-resolution estimates of fair market value of private lands in the contiguous United States by training tree-based ensemble models on 6 million land sales. The resulting estimates predict conservation cost with up to 8.5 times greater accuracy than earlier proxies. Studies using coarser cost proxies underestimate conservation costs, especially at the expensive tail of the distribution. This has led to underestimations of policy budgets by factors of up to 37.5 in recent work. More accurate cost accounting will help policy makers acknowledge the full magnitude of contemporary conservation challenges and can help improve the targeting of public ecosystem service investments.

Revitalizing Human Communities and Reclaiming Biological Communities

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
William R. Burch ◽  
Gary E. Machlis ◽  
Jo Ellen Force
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Natural Resources ◽  
Ecosystem Model ◽  
The United States ◽  
Decision Makers ◽  
Public And Private ◽  
Integrated Network ◽  
Biological Communities ◽  
Human Ecosystem ◽  
Problems And Solutions

This chapter demonstrates how the Human Ecosystem Model (HEM) offers a unity of understanding with shared concepts, a framework, and a model for resolving complex human ecosystem problems. With it, decision-makers from different organizations—public and private—may coordinate their work with that of local citizens. The emphasis is on the whole system, which combines issues such as trends in crime, housing, education, health, natural resources, and community stability into an integrated network. The chapter illustrates how the framework and model was applied in a major city in the United States: Baltimore, Maryland. The Baltimore story emphasizes that certain universal problems and solutions confront all human societies. The universality of problems and the search for integrated solutions required a framework like the HEM to identify, apply, and store learning.

scholarly journals Patient Smartphone Ownership and Interest in Mobile Apps to Monitor Symptoms of Mental Health Conditions: A Survey in Four Geographically Distinct Psychiatric Clinics

2014 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. e5 ◽  
Author(s):  
John Torous ◽  
Steven Richard Chan ◽  
Shih Yee-Marie Tan ◽  
Jacob Behrens ◽  
Ian Mathew ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
United States ◽  
Psychiatric Symptoms ◽  
Mobile Apps ◽  
Mental Healthcare ◽  
The United States ◽  
Psychiatric Outpatients ◽  
Public And Private ◽  
Diverse Patient Population ◽  
Mobile Mental Health

Background Despite growing interest in mobile mental health and utilization of smartphone technology to monitor psychiatric symptoms, there remains a lack of knowledge both regarding patient ownership of smartphones and their interest in using such to monitor their mental health. Objective To provide data on psychiatric outpatients’ prevalence of smartphone ownership and interest in using their smartphones to run applications to monitor their mental health. Methods We surveyed 320 psychiatric outpatients from four clinics around the United States in order to capture a geographically and socioeconomically diverse patient population. These comprised a state clinic in Massachusetts (n=108), a county clinic in California (n=56), a hybrid public and private clinic in Louisiana (n=50), and a private/university clinic in Wisconsin (n=106). Results Smartphone ownership and interest in utilizing such to monitor mental health varied by both clinic type and age with overall ownership of 62.5% (200/320), which is slightly higher than the average United States’ rate of ownership of 58% in January 2014. Overall patient interest in utilizing smartphones to monitor symptoms was 70.6% (226/320). Conclusions These results suggest that psychiatric outpatients are interested in using their smartphones to monitor their mental health and own the smartphones capable of running mental healthcare related mobile applications.

scholarly journals The Social Oikos

2021 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 20-32
Author(s):  
Michael Lee Humphrey
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
The United States ◽  
The Self ◽  
Ancient World ◽  
Public And Private ◽  
The Public ◽  
The Core ◽  
The Social ◽  
Nuanced Understanding ◽  
Core Points

In one of the foundational articles of persona studies, Marshall and Barbour (2015) look to Hannah Arendt for development of a key concept within the larger persona framework: “Arendt saw the need to construct clear and separate public and private identities. What can be discerned from this understanding of the public and the private is a nuanced sense of the significance of persona: the presentation of the self for public comportment and expression” (2015, p. 3). But as far back as the ancient world from which Arendt draws her insights, the affordance of persona was not evenly distributed. As Gines (2014) argues, the realm of the household, oikos, was a space of subjugation of those who were forced to be “private,” tending to the necessities of life, while others were privileged with life in the public at their expense. To demonstrate the core points of this essay, I use textual analysis of a YouTube family vlog, featuring a Black mother in the United States, whose persona rapidly changed after she and her White husband divorced. By critically examining Arendt’s concepts around public, private, and social, a more nuanced understanding of how personas are formed in unjust cultures can help us theorize persona studies in more egalitarian and robust ways.

scholarly journals The USA Federal Debt-to-GDP Ratio and The Unified Budget Act’s Lack of Generally Accepted Accounting Principles

2021 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 49-57
Author(s):  
Paul F. Gentle
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
The United States ◽  
Public And Private ◽  
True Nature ◽  
Generally Accepted Accounting Principles ◽  
Accounting Principles ◽  
Trust Funds ◽  
The Usa ◽  
Federal Debt ◽  
Blue Line

Here in the beginning of 2021, two of the truly relevant federal public finance issues are presented in this article. One is the Debt-to GDP Ratio. The second topic is the true nature of deficits, surpluses and future liabilities treated in budgets constructed via the Unified Budget Act. Two graphs on these issues are included. This article shows that the present Debt-to-GDP ratio is relatively high, as if the nation similar to when the United States was in a period of a major war. This graph is shown in this article’s Figure 1. There has been evidence in the macroeconomic literature that indicates a high Debt-to-GDP ratio can possibly result in some degree of slowed economic growth. Though the literature is varied on that point. The reason for the possible crowding out effect has to do with the competition for loanable funds. There is competition from both the public and private demanders of those loanable funds. Furthermore, there is the reality that all federal trust fund balances of the United States must be used to hold U.S. Treasury bonds. For figure 2, two categories on U.S trust funds are shown. One category is the combined total of Social Security. Medicare, Disability and related funds. This is shown in a red line. All the other federal trust funds are indicated in a blue line. There is a graph that shows these two lines. The graph is of the percentage share between the two categories. As a result, the red and blue lines are inverse functions of each other. Over the eighty-year period (1940-2020), there has been variation if both the red and blue lines. The goal of this articles is for leaders and government analysts to be more aware of the issues of the USA Federal Debt to GDP Ratio and the Unified Budget Act’s lack of Generally Accepted Accounting Principles.

scholarly journals Non-targeted Screening of Commercial CBD Products in the United States Reveals Common Contamination and Adulteration

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ben Orsburn
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Mass Spectrometry ◽  
High Resolution ◽  
The United States ◽  
Mass Spectrometry Data ◽  
Accurate Mass ◽  
Targeted Screening ◽  
Accurate Mass Spectrometry ◽  
High Concentrations ◽  
High Resolution Accurate Mass

AbstractThe production of hemp and products derived from these plants that contain zero to trace amounts of the psychoactive cannabinoid tetrahydrocannabidiol (THC) is a rapidly growing new market in the United States. The most common products today contain relatively high concentrations of the compound cannabidiol (CBD). Recent studies have investigated commercial CBD products using targeted assays and have found varying degrees of misrepresentation and contamination of these products. To expand on previous studies, we demonstrate the application of non-targeted screening by high resolution accurate mass spectrometry to more comprehensively identify potential adulterants and contaminants. We find evidence to support previous conclusions that CBD products are commonly misrepresented in terms of cannabinoid concentrations present. Specifically, we observe a wide variation in relative THC concentrations across the product tested, with some products containing 10-fold more relative signal than others. In addition, we find that several products appear to be purposely adulterated with over the counter drugs such as caffeine and melatonin. We also observe multiple small molecule contaminants that are typically linked to improper production or packaging methods in food or pharmaceutical production. Finally, we present high resolution accurate mass spectrometry data and tandem MS/MS fragments supporting the presence of trace amounts of fluorofentanyl in a single mail order CBD product. We conclude that the CBD industry would benefit from more robust testing regulations and that the cannabis testing industry, in general, would benefit from the use of non-targeted screening technologies.

Wheat Breeding and the Exercise of American Power, 1940-1970

1998 ◽  
Author(s):  
John H. Perkins
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
World War Ii ◽  
The United States ◽  
Wheat Breeding ◽  
Agricultural Science ◽  
World War ◽  
American Power ◽  
Public And Private ◽  
Foreign Governments ◽  
Natural Resource Base

American power at the end of World War II was paramount. The usual image of this might, however, is formed more by the array of military and industrial components of American culture than by something as seemingly mundane as wheat breeding. Nuclear-tipped missiles, airplane and tank factories, engineering prowess, and motivated soldiers are more generally assumed to be the components of military strength, not scientists patiently crossing one strain of wheat with another and searching through the progeny for a better variety. In the direct exercise of military power, of course, the weapon systems and soldiers are the most important elements of power. Armies, however, exist only on the foundation of food supplies that are adequate for both the military personnel and their civilian support force. American strategists in both world wars were acutely aware of the role of agriculture in the projection of military might, and they considerably amplified agriculture’s importance in the aftermath of World War II. Specifically, through a variety of public and private initiatives, wheat breeding and other lines of agricultural science became an integral part of postwar American strategic planning. Put somewhat differently, after 1945, wheat breeding by American scientists became more than just an exercise in the modernization of agriculture. Old motivations for seeking new varieties did not disappear, but new motivations arose to justify expenditures. In addition, American scientists came to do their work not only in the United States for American farmers but overseas for foreign governments. Wheat breeding acquired ideological dimensions more elaborate than simply “the promo tion of progress.” Instead, wheat breeding and other agricultural science became part of the “battle for freedom.” In the process, many countries moved to new relationships with each other and with their own natural resource base. How did wheat breeding get caught up with strategic and national security considerations? It is necessary to follow a somewhat convoluted trail to answer this question, and the story can begin with the status of the United States after the collapse of Germany and Japan in 1945.

A Comparative Study on Undergraduate Computer Science Education between China and the United States

2015 ◽  
pp. 918-933
Author(s):  
Eric P. Jiang
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Science Education ◽  
Comparative Study ◽  
Computer Science ◽  
Computer Science Education ◽  
Primary Source ◽  
The United States ◽  
Education Systems ◽  
Public And Private ◽  
Computer Scientists

With the rapid growth of the Internet and telecommunication networks, computer technology has been a driving force in global economic development and in advancing many areas in science, engineering, health care, business, and finance that carry significant impacts on people and society. As a primary source for producing the workforce of software engineers, computer scientists and information technology specialists, computer science education plays a particularly important role in modern economic growth and it has been invested heavily in many countries around the world. This chapter provides a comparative study of undergraduate computer science programs between China and the United States. The study focuses on the current curricula of computer science programs. It in part is based on the author's direct observation from his recent visits to several universities in China and the conversations he had with administrators and faculty of computer science programs at the universities. It is also based on the author's over two decades experience as a computer science educator at several public and private American institutions of higher educations. The education systems in China and the United States have different features and each of the systems has its strengths and weaknesses. This is likely also true for education systems in other countries. It would be an interesting and important task for us to explore an innovative computer science education program, which perhaps blends the best features of different systems and helps better prepare graduates for the challenges working in an increasingly globalized world. We hope the study presented in this chapter provides some useful insights in this direction.

scholarly journals Allocating resources for land protection using continuous optimization: biodiversity conservation in the United States

2020 ◽  
Vol 30 (6) ◽  
Author(s):  
Paul R. Armsworth ◽  
Amy E. Benefield ◽  
Bistra Dilkina ◽  
Rachel Fovargue ◽  
Heather B. Jackson ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Biodiversity Conservation ◽  
Continuous Optimization ◽  
The United States ◽  
Land Protection
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