Borrelia burgdorferi (Spirochaetales: Spirochaetaceae) Infection Prevalence and Host Associations of Ticks Found on Peromyscus spp. in Maryland

Lyme disease, caused by Borrelia burgdorferi sensu stricto and most commonly transmitted by Ixodes scapularis Say (Ixodida: Ixodidae), is the most common tick-borne disease in Maryland. Because B. burgdorferi s.s. is maintained in enzootic cycles among wild mice (Peromyscus spp) and Ixodes spp ticks, differing patterns of parasitism of ticks on mice could impact the infection prevalence with B. burgdorferi. We determined the infection prevalence of Peromyscus spp as well as questing and partially engorged nymphal ticks collected at six sites on private land in five counties in Maryland from May to August 2020. Questing nymph infection prevalence (NIP) was 14%. We trapped 1258 mice and collected 554 ticks and 413 ear tissue samples. The prevalence of infested Peromyscus spp varied based on host age and sex, with older and male mice more likely to be infested. We detected a significant difference amongst the proportion of attached Ixodes and the location of trapping. Similarly, the prevalence of B. burgdorferi infected Peromyscus spp mice varied between locations (average mouse infection prevalence was 40%), with the highest prevalence in locations where Ixodes were the most commonly found ticks. The B. burgdorferi infection prevalence in partially engorged I. scapularis nymphs retrieved from Peromyscus spp was ~36% which lends further support to the host infection prevalence. Local differences in distribution of infected vectors and reservoirs are important factors to consider when planning interventions to reduce Lyme disease risk.

Grand Canyon-Parashant National Monument: Paleontological resource inventory (public version)

Grand Canyon-Parashant National Monument (PARA) in northwestern Arizona has significant paleontological resources, which are recognized in the establishing presidential proclamation. Because of the challenges of working in this remote area, there has been little documentation of these resources over the years. PARA also has an unusual management situation which complicates resource management. The majority of PARA is administered by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM; this land is described here as PARA-BLM), while about 20% of the monument is administered by the National Park Service (NPS; this land is described here as PARA-NPS) in conjunction with Lake Mead National Recreation Area (LAKE). Parcels of state and private land are scattered throughout the monument. Reports of fossils within what is now PARA go back to at least 1914. Geologic and paleontologic reports have been sporadic over the past century. Much of what was known of the paleontology before the 2020 field inventory was documented by geologists focused on nearby Grand Canyon National Park (GRCA) and LAKE, or by students working on graduate projects; in either case, paleontology was a secondary topic of interest. The historical record of fossil discoveries in PARA is dominated by Edwin McKee, who reported fossils from localities in PARA-NPS and PARA-BLM as part of larger regional projects published from the 1930s to the 1980s. The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) has mapped the geology of PARA in a series of publications since the early 1980s. Unpublished reports by researchers from regional institutions have documented paleontological resources in Quaternary caves and rock shelters. From September to December 2020, a field inventory was conducted to better understand the scope and distribution of paleontological resources at PARA. Thirty-eight localities distributed across the monument and throughout its numerous geologic units were documented extensively, including more than 420 GPS points and 1,300 photos, and a small number of fossil specimens were collected and catalogued under 38 numbers. In addition, interviews were conducted with staff to document the status of paleontology at PARA, and potential directions for future management, research, protection, and interpretation. In geologic terms, PARA is located on the boundary of the Colorado Plateau and the Basin and Range provinces. Before the uplift of the Colorado Plateau near the end of the Cretaceous 66 million years ago, this area was much lower in elevation and subject to flooding by shallow continental seas. This led to prolonged episodes of marine deposition as well as complex stratigraphic intervals of alternating terrestrial and marine strata. Most of the rock formations that are exposed in the monument belong to the Paleozoic part of the Grand Canyon section, deposited between approximately 510 and 270 million years ago in mostly shallow marine settings. These rocks have abundant fossils of marine invertebrates such as sponges, corals, bryozoans, brachiopods, bivalves, gastropods, crinoids, and echinoids. The Cambrian–Devonian portion of the Grand Canyon Paleozoic section is represented in only a few areas of PARA. The bulk of the Paleozoic rocks at PARA are Mississippian to Permian in age, approximately 360 to 270 million years old, and belong to the Redwall Limestone through the Kaibab Formation. While the Grand Canyon section has only small remnants of younger Mesozoic rocks, several Mesozoic formations are exposed within PARA, mostly ranging in age from the Early Triassic to the Early Jurassic (approximately 252 to 175 million years ago), as well as some middle Cretaceous rocks deposited approximately 100 million years ago. Mesozoic fossils in PARA include marine fossils in the Moenkopi Formation and petrified wood and invertebrate trace fossils in the Chinle Formation and undivided Moenave and Kayenta Formations.

Establishment and Operation of Private Land Credit Institutions in Penza Province in the Late 1860s – mid 1880s

Introduction. The abolition of public credit institutions in the first half of the 19th century meant that following after the peasant reform, private landowners were forced to rely entirely on their ability to conduct economic activities, they desperately needed the money demanded for the capitalist modernization of their estates. It was important under such circumstances the appearance in the mid-1860s of private land banks that have granted land collateral loans. Materials and Methods. The study of the claimed problem required the involvement of a number of historical and economic methods: historical, statistical and quantitative. At the same time, the question of the amount of debt owed to private land banks was examined on the basis of a comprehensive analysis of statistical data on land credit published by a committee of congresses of representatives of Russian land credit institutions. Results. The article analyzes the main indicators of the activity of the joint-stock land banks in the first two decades of their operation, considers the characteristics of the establishment and development of the private land credit system, the volume of loans issued, the size of the mortgaged land, the amount of the loans are shown by their regional characteristics. Discussion and Conclusions. Set up in mid-nineteenth century the system of equity land credit, which focuses on the granting of land mortgages by private landowners, has played an important role in the processes of land ownership mobilization and the development of capitalism in the agricultural sector. Private credit institutions were one of the most important components of the land credit system, and the activities of these institutions in the territory of the governorate in question resulted in: that almost a quarter of all privately owned land had been deposited in them.

Distributional Issues in Natural Capital Accounting: An Application to Land Ownership and Ecosystem Services in Scotland

Accounting for ecosystems is increasingly central to natural capital accounting. What is missing from this, however, is an answer to questions about how natural capital is distributed. That is, who consumes ecosystem services and who owns or manages the underlying asset(s) that give rise to ecosystem services. In this paper, we examine the significance of the ownership of land on which ecosystem assets (or ecosystem types) is located in the context of natural capital accounting. We illustrate this in an empirical application to two ecosystem services and a range of ecosystem types and land ownership in Scotland, a context in which land reform debates are longstanding. Our results indicate the relative importance of private land in ecosystem service supply, rather than land held by the public sector. We find relative concentration of ownership for land providing comparatively high amounts of carbon sequestration. For air pollution removal, however, the role of smaller to medium sized, mostly privately owned, land holdings closer to urban settlements becomes more prominent. The contributions in this paper, we argue, represent important first steps in anticipating distributional impacts of natural capital (and related) policy in natural capital accounts as well as connecting these frameworks to broader concerns about wealth disparities across and within countries.

Wykładnia pojęcia „dobrej wiary” w orzecznictwie w kontekście dokonywanych w okresie PRL naruszeń prawa własności

The article aims to asses the jurisprudence of the first decades of the 21st century regarding the good faith of stateowned enterprises that began, without a legal title, to use private land in the communist period, placing on them the infrastructure used to transmit electric energy. Courts interpreting general clauses referring to concepts and systems of values lying outside the legal system gain the ability to influence the decision of the case based on their own moral judgments. Therefore, the case where Polish courts operating in a state that respects the principle of equal property protection regardless if the entitled entity had the opportunity to assess the conduct of entities representing the state operating on the basis of a completely different system of values, should be considered particularly interesting. It is typical for totalitarian and authoritarian regimes to formally grant broad protection to individual rights and, at the same time ignore their existence in the activities of the state. It can be seen in the practice of carrying out some infrastructure investments in the communist period. Electricity networks were often built on private land. At that time, there were regulations allowing to obtain a legal title to use the land, both in private law (contract) and of an administrative (expropriation) nature. The state and state-owned enterprises, however, mostly did not use them, focusing on planning investments to obtain permits related to technical issues. The reasons for this behavior can be seen primarily in the basic assumptions of the socialist system. The described practice testified to the real attitude of the state to private property as a type of property that was ultimately to be ousted in the socialist system. The role of economic plans in the Polish People’s Republic was also significant. State bodies and state-owned enterprises primarily aimed at executing plans, regardless of whether or not they violated the individual’s interests in this way. After 1989, the legal status of many power grids, overhead lines, and other devices was therefore not regulated. State-owned enterprises, and the companies resulting from their transformation, used many properties without a legal title. Changes in the legal awareness of society and the grow-ing understanding of economic mechanisms based on the principles of responsibility for one’s own actions and protection of subjective rights, led to many court disputes between owners and entrepreneurs. The most common claims addressed to transmission companies were remunerations for the use of land without legal title and actio negatoria. The case law reacted to the increase in the number of disputes by creating a concept of usucaption of land easement for the benefit of the transmission entrepreneur. Its legitimacy from the beginning raised fundamental doubts in the legal doctrine, but it gained the full support of the courts. Many statements of the Supreme Court assessed the correctness of the state-owned enterprises’ conduct. The relatively numerous statements approving the omission of obtaining a legal title to seize someone else’s real estate in the investment preparation process ought to be considered inter-esting and surprising. They significantly influenced the practice of common courts, causing many claims of property owners against entrepreneurs to be dismissed. Moreover, by expressly praising unlawful interference with the right to property, carried out during the Polish Peopleʼs Republic, they probably also deepened the sense of harm and injustice — caused mainly by a surprising in-terpretation that allowed for the acquisition by prescription of a right unknown to the Act — and above all the belief that courts treated trade participants unequally and that courts granted significant privileging to the state and entities representing its interests.

Land-cover choices and governance structures: lessons from Māori

<p>Decisions on land utilisation and management have socio-economic and environmental implications. In this study, I use a mixed-methods approach to explore how Māori land governance structures influence decisions on land utilisation and hence greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions associated with rural activities on Māori freehold land. General land and Māori freehold land are the main land statuses in Aotearoa New Zealand. General land, under private ownership, is not subject to the distinct statutory regime of Māori freehold land and can be owned by any New Zealander. Māori freehold, under collective ‘ownership’, is regulated by the Te Ture Whenua Māori Act 1993 (TTWM) and its ‘ownership’ is based on a customary regime and ancestral connections. The TTWM provides a range of legal entities, including the two Māori land governance structures examined in this thesis – Māori incorporations and Ahu Whenua trusts – to facilitate decision-making and to administer land and assets on behalf of the ‘owners’. First, I explore how Māori land governance structures influence decisions on land utilisation and management. I discuss three case studies of Māori farms administered by different governance structures involved in agribusiness. Their decision-making process structure can be separated into two levels: the governance of the land and the operation of the enterprise. Maori land governance structures help to make ‘successful’ decisions, by balancing landowners’ interests with optimal operation and performance of the agribusiness. This success not only depends on the legal constitution of the governance structure, but also on processes that are highly variable due to cultural and social values, and the capability of the board members to reach decisions. Second, I explore decision-making processes concerning carbon farming, an opportunity to receive carbon credits from reforestation or afforestation. Face-to-face semi-structured interviews with a small group of Māori landowners revealed two central decisions: switching to forestry and joining the New Zealand Emissions Trading Scheme (NZ ETS). Forestry provides an economic opportunity to access long-term capital through timber harvests: but carbon farming is a relatively new experience, which provides additional short-term revenue prior to harvesting. Third, I extend the qualitative analysis by econometrically modelling the relationship between Māori land governance structures and land-cover choices. I use maximum likelihood methods to estimate the probability of allocation of land in 2012 and the probability of land-cover transitions between 1997 and 2012. For Māori freehold land, there is a positive relationship between having a Māori land governance structure in place and the allocation of land in 2012 in forestry and a negative association with pasture. From 1997 to 2012 Māori land governance structures were associated with more transitions to forestry and fewer transitions into scrub. Four, using hypothetical scenarios, I build on the econometric model of land-cover transitions to compare the effects of transitions between forestry, pasture and scrub across the period 1997–2012, and the role of the Māori land governance structures. I examine the implications of these transitions for private land and Māori freehold land in terms of both carbon dioxide equivalent and warming equivalent. Overall, Māori freehold land governance structures in the hypothesised scenarios would lead to an increase of the amount of carbon sequestered, relative to the actual levels of sequestration observed. The current way of counting GHGs leads to a much lower estimate of the contribution in reductions to the impact of warming. Understanding drivers for these decisions can help to identify areas for the development of effective public policies regarding climate change mitigation.</p>

Land-cover choices and governance structures: lessons from Māori

<p>Decisions on land utilisation and management have socio-economic and environmental implications. In this study, I use a mixed-methods approach to explore how Māori land governance structures influence decisions on land utilisation and hence greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions associated with rural activities on Māori freehold land. General land and Māori freehold land are the main land statuses in Aotearoa New Zealand. General land, under private ownership, is not subject to the distinct statutory regime of Māori freehold land and can be owned by any New Zealander. Māori freehold, under collective ‘ownership’, is regulated by the Te Ture Whenua Māori Act 1993 (TTWM) and its ‘ownership’ is based on a customary regime and ancestral connections. The TTWM provides a range of legal entities, including the two Māori land governance structures examined in this thesis – Māori incorporations and Ahu Whenua trusts – to facilitate decision-making and to administer land and assets on behalf of the ‘owners’. First, I explore how Māori land governance structures influence decisions on land utilisation and management. I discuss three case studies of Māori farms administered by different governance structures involved in agribusiness. Their decision-making process structure can be separated into two levels: the governance of the land and the operation of the enterprise. Maori land governance structures help to make ‘successful’ decisions, by balancing landowners’ interests with optimal operation and performance of the agribusiness. This success not only depends on the legal constitution of the governance structure, but also on processes that are highly variable due to cultural and social values, and the capability of the board members to reach decisions. Second, I explore decision-making processes concerning carbon farming, an opportunity to receive carbon credits from reforestation or afforestation. Face-to-face semi-structured interviews with a small group of Māori landowners revealed two central decisions: switching to forestry and joining the New Zealand Emissions Trading Scheme (NZ ETS). Forestry provides an economic opportunity to access long-term capital through timber harvests: but carbon farming is a relatively new experience, which provides additional short-term revenue prior to harvesting. Third, I extend the qualitative analysis by econometrically modelling the relationship between Māori land governance structures and land-cover choices. I use maximum likelihood methods to estimate the probability of allocation of land in 2012 and the probability of land-cover transitions between 1997 and 2012. For Māori freehold land, there is a positive relationship between having a Māori land governance structure in place and the allocation of land in 2012 in forestry and a negative association with pasture. From 1997 to 2012 Māori land governance structures were associated with more transitions to forestry and fewer transitions into scrub. Four, using hypothetical scenarios, I build on the econometric model of land-cover transitions to compare the effects of transitions between forestry, pasture and scrub across the period 1997–2012, and the role of the Māori land governance structures. I examine the implications of these transitions for private land and Māori freehold land in terms of both carbon dioxide equivalent and warming equivalent. Overall, Māori freehold land governance structures in the hypothesised scenarios would lead to an increase of the amount of carbon sequestered, relative to the actual levels of sequestration observed. The current way of counting GHGs leads to a much lower estimate of the contribution in reductions to the impact of warming. Understanding drivers for these decisions can help to identify areas for the development of effective public policies regarding climate change mitigation.</p>

Flexible, Family-friendly: Developing an alternative high-density, vertical housing option

<p>There are many benefits associated with living in low density, detached housing conditions. However, the increase in housing demands have prompted Auckland’s surge of peripheral land to be developed into homes and the amplified cost of housing. Defined as urban sprawl, many of these housing types are standalone and built on private land, as the preferred type of housing. Studies have demonstrated that Auckland families' housing preference is the standalone dwelling. The objective for this thesis is to gain a better understanding of urban sprawl, higher-density and vertical development conditions, and recognise the various family types and their associated living preferences. The collected data influences what is considered family-friendly housing attributes, which are reviewed in three different scales of urban, building and unit. This is with the aim to propose another housing option that considers and addresses a family’s housing requirements, as an alternative to the standalone housing option. The resulting design proposes flexible, expanding and contracting units as a solution to provide families the freedom to adapt their living spaces to suit their requirements. By providing family friendly, higher-density dwellings as a suitable option, this could off set the Auckland families’ preference of the standalone house, which is currently contributing towards Auckland’s sprawl.</p>

Flexible, Family-friendly: Developing an alternative high-density, vertical housing option

<p>There are many benefits associated with living in low density, detached housing conditions. However, the increase in housing demands have prompted Auckland’s surge of peripheral land to be developed into homes and the amplified cost of housing. Defined as urban sprawl, many of these housing types are standalone and built on private land, as the preferred type of housing. Studies have demonstrated that Auckland families' housing preference is the standalone dwelling. The objective for this thesis is to gain a better understanding of urban sprawl, higher-density and vertical development conditions, and recognise the various family types and their associated living preferences. The collected data influences what is considered family-friendly housing attributes, which are reviewed in three different scales of urban, building and unit. This is with the aim to propose another housing option that considers and addresses a family’s housing requirements, as an alternative to the standalone housing option. The resulting design proposes flexible, expanding and contracting units as a solution to provide families the freedom to adapt their living spaces to suit their requirements. By providing family friendly, higher-density dwellings as a suitable option, this could off set the Auckland families’ preference of the standalone house, which is currently contributing towards Auckland’s sprawl.</p>