External Creation Research Articles

Local Perception of Traditional and Avocado Crops as Ecosystem Services in the Mariposa Monarch Biosphere Reserve

The concept of ecosystem services (ES) refers to the goods and services that ecosystems produce for the benefit of people, serving as generators of well‑being. Three dimensions are recognized that promote the presence of these services: the material, the relational,and the subjective. These dimensions are highly influenced by the lifeworld, which has been crucial for documenting processes of environmental degradation. In this sense, it is important for geography to determine the connections between the socialtypifications of meaning and the spatiotemporal rhythms of action, contributing to the discovery of underlying structures of intentionality. One of the main challenges in the management of ES is their interdependence, as their relationships are often nonlinear,and there is a preference for the immediate provision of one service over others, resulting in trade‑offs characterized by the reduction of productive capacity in favor of another. This study analyzed, through semi‑structured surveys applied in the field, face to face, the perception that people living in the Monarch Butterfly Biosphere Reserve have regarding traditional and avocado crops, the latter characterized by promoting compensations through land use change from native forests to large monoculture areas in the State of Michoacán, which is rapidly expanding in the lower zone of the RBMM. The results show that perceptions and feelings associated with these services contrast with each other, daily life activities, means of family livelihood, and proximity to the core and buffer zone are determining factors in the perception of these ES. The results of this work, based on the geography of perception, can be useful as guiding threads for the development of effective, specific, and inclusive management and conservation plans based on the feelings, knowledge, and needs of people who are recognized as actors favoring ecosystem conservation or the creation of externalities.

Apostrophe as Play in Seventeenth-Century Lyric

This article offers a renewed consideration of the figure of apostrophe in seventeenth-century literature by focusing on a genre in which it is especially prominent: lyric poetry on the Creation. Drawing on Jonathan Culler’s account of apostrophe’s “effects of presence,” it shows that Renaissance poets apostrophize the created world not merely to praise it as something outside and before them, but also to channel the power that created that world into the rhetorical present of the poem. In readings of Italian, French, and English poems, the article argues that poetry’s own linguistic vitality, conferred by the “event” of apostrophe, becomes in these texts a proxy for the event of Creation itself, in which God’s word breathes life into matter—Creation understood, however, not as harmony or fixed order but as a power of free play. At the same time, the article is attentive to the ways in which the powers of apostrophe shift in different cultural contexts. In English poetry in particular, the overt exuberance of apostrophe’s “effects of presence” as seen in continental poetry turns inward, reflecting the creative power of a mind cut off from external Creation rather than recapitulating it. But the article shows that despite these differences, apostrophe’s function as a fundamental medium of rhetorical power—and as a means of negotiating the divide between human and divine forms of Creation—is a constant across lyric written in several languages at a time when national literary traditions are often thought to be diverging.

Analysis of the Interface Systems as Mediating Agents in University/Industry Relations. Proposal of the “Relationship Promoter” as a Strategic Role in the R&D Transference

1. Introduction A regional, national or international innovation system's capacity to be innovative not only depends on its quantitative efforts in R&D&I [3] and its technological infrastructure, but also, and crucially, on the creation of externalities through interaction between various actors within the system (companies, government, universities and liaison organisations), so much so that it would not be possible to speak of such an innovation system if relationships between its different elements did not exist. Furthermore, these interactions should flow freely and systematically (Freeman, 1995, 2002). When a or research institute takes a proactive stance in putting results to use as an input into the creation of academic knowledge, it can be described as an entrepreneurial university (Etzkowitz, 2004). There is, however, no linear correlation between the effort expended (financial and human resources) and the amount and quality of scientific and technological results achieved. A minimum critical mass of resources (R&D budgets, human resources and intellectual capital) is required to obtain appropriate results for the effort expended. The need for resources, the existence of increasing returns in the use of facilities and technological equipment, the long maturation period of innovation activities and the need for highly specialised staff lead to a concentration of innovative activities (APTE, 2005) and the hindering of their commercial exploitation. This system implicitly involves a concept of innovation that not only includes the institutions that are directly linked to R&D activity, but also other actors in the system that indirectly influence innovative activities. These include financial and venture capital systems (environments) and, especially, regional intermediaries and interface organisations, the latter of which provide mechanisms to link universities to industry. In companies, linkage mechanisms are organisational design elements that enable conflicting objectives of functional departments to be resolved and facilitate joint projects between professionals from different areas. These linkage mechanisms, established by multidisciplinary committees, integrating managers or working groups (Mintzberg, 1984), do not necessarily have to operate exclusively within companies. Procurement centres, business associations or chambers of commerce, among others, are institutions that are capable of bringing together the interests of different corporate actors, promoting partnerships and facilitating the achievement of common goals. In the field of R&D&I, companies have traditionally organised their research and development activities through strategic alliances in the form of joint ventures, which require new organisational design rules to facilitate flexible cooperation between companies (Ritter & Gemuden, 2003). If we extend this collaborative framework to government research institutes, the existence of interface organisations, such as foundations, science and technology parks and research transfer offices (RTOs), are institutional initiatives whose basic objective is to promote and manage university/industry economic partnerships. The creation of an institutional framework, however, seems to be insufficient to ensure free-flowing university/industry relations and organisational flexibility based on projects (virtual organisation) that has been imposed on business relationships (Ritter & Gemuden, 2003). The financial results of patent marketing, contract research and collaborative agreements between research groups and institutes as well as companies do not live up to the expectations of these institutions. This is particularly evident in transregional and transnational university/industry relations. These interface organisations (foundations, science parks, RTOs) have a tendency to focus their attention on promoting business development in their local areas of influence. …

Externalities — A market model failure

We focus here on a set of conceptual problems related to the accepted theory of externalities. We are primarily concerned with difficulties that arise when a theoretical system is extended beyond its logical domain. This is the practice in externality theory when the market model assuming independent agents is used to analyze physical interdependency. The different kinds of dependencies obscure the standard use of the Paretian analysis, as the issues of rights and efficiency are mixed up. The creation of emissions and the creation of externalities are further not held apart producing flows in the efficiency evaluations. Due to the interdependencies involved, actions of both emitter and victim must be taken into account while searching for efficient policies. Finally, we analyze the interrelationships between what is termed the internal structure of the market model and the annexed sphere of externalities. We conclude that the accepted policy prescriptions both assume and demand no interrelationships between these two spheres. We find the assumption unrealistic and inconsistent as concerns the basic foundations of the market model. There are two main traditions addressing externalities — the Coasean and the Pigovian. This paper shows that both are vulnerable to the above critique. Thus the presumption that externality theory is now settled and coherent is seen to be without theoretical support.

The role of economics in environmental policy

Economic growth will almost certainly continue. Although there are those who dispute the compatibility between economic growth and environmental sustainability, it is likely that future economic development will be increasingly based on the principle of sustainability. Systems for decision making therefore need to be designed with this in view. A distinctive feature of the existing decision making process surrounding environmental policy is the minor role played by markets, and the predominance of government intervention in the allocation of resources. The resolution of environmental issues within the political process has been time consuming and in many cases inadequate. Critics of the market process argue that private sector agents will try to internalise benefits and externalise costs wherever possible. However, the political process also creates externalities by diffusing costs and concentrating benefits. Either way, the potential for the creation of externalities exists. Hence a combination of market-based policies with some outright regulation is suggested as a means of integrating economic and environmental considerations. There is undoubtedly more scope to use market-based mechanisms in the resolution of environmental problems. In the event of a move to a more market-orientated approach, the role of government would be more to ensure the smooth workings of the market through regulation, the provision of information and education. Direct regulation could be reserved for the more difficult environmental issues. In this paper, the potential role of market-based mechanisms in solving environmental problems is examined, with reference to some particular policy instruments.