Fragile Resources Research Articles

The Perilous Life of Symphony Orchestras: Artistic Triumphs and Economic Challenges by Robert J. Flanagan (review)

MUSIC AND MARKETS The Perilous Life of Symphony Orchestras: Artistic Triumphs and Economic Challenges. By Robert J. Flanagan. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2012. [vii, 224 p. ISBN 9780300171938. $50.] Illustrations, bibliography, index.During the recent global financial crisis, businesses once accustomed to hefty profits were suddenly reporting unprecedented losses. Not surprisingly, nonprofit performing arts organizations faced an even grimmer reality, facing untenable funding cuts that threatened to deplete an already fragile resource base. The challenges facing symphony orchestras are particularly acute. In the last decade nearly a dozen orchestras have filed for bankruptcy, while countless more have grappled with the day-to-day realities associated with producing and presenting symphonic concerts. Nevertheless, many of these organizations continue to exceed artistic expectations, overcoming financial constraints to create art of remarkable breadth and quality. Robert Flanagan's new book explores the paradox between these artistic triumphs and economic shortfalls, shining an analytical light on the challenges facing orchestras in the twenty-first century. His argument-that this is not a new phenomenon caused by a sputtering economy, but instead the result of an outdated organizational structure- challenges musicians, administrators, policy makers, and audiences to rethink the role orchestras play in contemporary society.Flanagan's background as an avowed amateur musician and award-winning economist orients this study, which nests a series of statistical analyses within a broader historical narrative that traces the causes and consequences of the orchestra's current structure. Although he devotes some attention to how orchestras operate in Europe, he primarily examines orchestras in their American context, drawing on data from the League of American Orchestras and other industry sources to identify and analyze trends from the fifty largest U.S. ensembles (by budget size) between 1987 and 2005. The analysis is presented in a way that is easy to understand, limiting financial jargon to a minimum and placing more indepth explanations of statistical procedures in the book's appendices. A study that could have easily become a dry research report reads more often as a compelling story with significant practical implications. Important points are reinforced with pie charts and other graphics, and results are supplemented with a rich and relatively balanced collection of quotes drawn from industry experts. As a whole, the book provides an easily digestible narrative that should be of interest to orchestra scholars, administrators, and audiences.Before reviewing the content of Flanagan's findings in more detail, it is worth asking what's new here. The economic challenges confronting orchestras today have been the subject of considerable attention and research for some time, due in part to the complex amalgam of individual philanthropy, foundation grants, government support, and ticket sales that support orchestras' operations. The present study is rooted conceptually in research undertaken by two Princeton economists, who in 1966 identified and investigated the cost disease associated with the live performing arts (William Baumol and William Bowen, Performing Arts-The Economic Dilemma [Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 1966]). Flanagan's analysis does little to build on these findings, although his focus on the orchestra and use of updated data yield several new insights. Moreover, much of the material presented in Flanagan's book comes directly from a report prepared for the Andrew W. Mellon Founda - tion (Robert J. Flanagan, Report to Andrew W. Mellon Foundation: The Economic Environ ment of American Symphony Orchestras [New York: Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, March 2008]; see http://www.gsb.stanford.edu /news/packages/pdf/Flanagan.pdf, accessed 15 September 2012). The Mellon Foundation, along with a group of industry stakeholders coined the Elephant Task Force, hired Flanagan in 2008 to assess the financial challenges facing contemporary orchestras. …

Florida's water: a fragile resource in a vulnerable state

Florida's water: a fragile resource in a vulnerable state

Leptospirosis - importance of a One Health approach

The term leptospirosis represents a spectrum of human and veterinary diseases caused by pathogenic serovars of the spirochaete genus Leptospira. It is of global significance as a cause of human mortality and morbidity, and of disease in domestic and production animals and in wildlife. A One Health approach to leptospirosis control is essential because human infection almost invariably results either from direct animal exposure or from exposure to environments contaminated by infected animals. The relationships between human and veterinary leptospirosis are illustrated by Australian experience. A major factor limiting control of the disease is poor communication and cooperation between those working from medical and veterinary perspectives. Leptospira shows great antigenic and genetic diversity, and so international leptospirosis reference laboratories are a vital but fragile resource. There is a compelling need to maximise cooperation between all professions with an interest in leptospirosis, to create outcomes, to communicate with governments and to ensure essential resources.

Networking African journalism educators: bonding, bridging, and linking

Professional networking of African journalism educators is a complex matter for reasons related to thefragmentary identity and fragile resource base of this constituency. African journalism educators thusshare many characteristics which ironically dilute the sense of a clear and common identity that couldfacilitate networking as a community. The prospects for building a social network amongst thisconstituency can be analysed in terms of theories of social capital and a review of variousexperiences. The results suggest that “bridging” to external constituencies with resources is the mostfertile method of community creation, and this driver is central to building social capital via enhancedrelationships in the African journalism education sector.

Commercial fisheries in the northwestern Gulf of Mexico: possible implications for conservation management at the Flower Garden Banks National Marine Sanctuary

Abstract Levesque, J. C. 2011. Commercial fisheries in the northwestern Gulf of Mexico: possible implications for conservation management at the Flower Garden Banks National Marine Sanctuary. – ICES Journal of Marine Science, 68: 2175–2190. Marine resource managers designate marine protected areas (MPAs) to conserve, protect, and enhance fragile marine resources. A form of MPAs sometimes used by resource managers in the United States is a national marine sanctuary (NMS), and for all MPAs, managers need to use updated information during sanctuary management plan reviews (MPRs). In 2006, the Flower Garden Banks NMS (FGBNMS) began its first MPR by conducting public hearings and soliciting comments. Some 66% of comments were about the potential impacts fisheries posed to the sanctuary, so a description of commercial fishery activity in the NW Gulf of Mexico can help guide resource managers make sound, informed decisions. Despite limitations on data and knowledge of fishing effort spatially for the FGBNMS, commercial landings vary by Gulf state, area, and fishing gear, with most landings from the Louisiana and Texas coasts taken with trawls and nets. The main species landed from the NW Gulf of Mexico are shrimp, yellowfin tuna, and red snapper. Some conservation measures proposed for the FGBNMS will likely impact some commercial fisheries (hook and line, bottom longline), but not others (otter trawl, pelagic longline).

Recreational Fisheries and Marine Protected Area Management: Marine Policy and Environmental Management of the Flower Garden Banks National Marine Sanctuary (USA)

The demand on our marine resources is increasing at unsustainable rates; however, marine policy and management is complex, political, and time consuming. One tool that resource managers in the United States use for managing, protecting, and conserving fragile marine resources is the designation of Marine Protected Areas. Presently, the public is concerned with the status and health of the fish and fisheries associated with the Flower Garden Banks National Marine Sanctuary (FGBNMS). Given these conservation and social issues, the main goal of this study was to provide an evaluation of the recreational fisheries associated with the FGBNMS. Findings showed that recreational landings were dominated by red snapper, vermilion snapper, and gray triggerfish; landings varied significantly by month and location. The highest fishing effort was in summer and the highest catch rates were in spring and fall; catch rates varied significantly by species and location in some areas. The mean weight of the primary recreational species taken was correlated negatively with time, but statistical similar. Proposed management measures for the FGBNMS are expected to impact some recreational fisheries, but long-term outcomes should benefit the Gulf of Mexico ecosystem.

Chondrichthyan by-catch and discards in the demersal trawl fishery of the central Aegean Sea (Eastern Mediterranean)

Chondrichthyan (Chondrichthyes or cartilaginous) fishes, due to their special life history characteristics and the insufficient scientific information for the majority of them, constitute a very fragile resource of the world ocean, making their conservation a major concern. In Greece, a small portion of the chondrichthyan catch is marketed, 60% of which is produced by otter bottom trawls while other, more valuable species are targeted, and a large portion is usually discarded. A 10-year study in the Aegean Sea, divided into two sub-periods (1995–2000; 2003–2006) and based on bottom trawl fishery data, retroactively identified a total of 30 species making up 14.3% of the total catch in weight and 2.2% in number. A significant decrease in the chondrichthyan species richness, accompanied by an analogous decline in their abundance (catch composition and catch rate), was the most striking outcome. Species richness declined by an average of 0.66 species per year, and one third of the species collected during the earlier part of the study were absent from recent catches. Catch per unit of effort (CPUE) estimates in the mid-2000s were only half those in the mid-1990s. Although most species displayed a downward trend, certain Raja species displayed increased CPUE values in the recent years. More than 90% (in numbers) of the individuals caught were discarded at sea. The elasmobranch discards in the central Aegean included mainly Scyliorhinus canicula, Galeus melastomus and certain Raja species. It was clear that almost all the species were highly vulnerable since hatching due to the mesh currently in use, and there is a need to promote more selective gears. Although our findings provide signs of concern for the status of the chondrichthyan community in the study area, the processes influencing the population dynamics of the chondrichthyans are undoubtedly complex, and caution is needed in the interpretation of results. Further research based on surveys designed to place more emphasis on chondrichthyans is required and will contribute to the clarification of the observed trends.

Undermining the Integrated Maritime Policy

The European Union’s Integrated Maritime Policy is intended in part to co-ordinate sectoral policies, to achieve joined-up thinking and action and overcome the inconsistency between policy approaches that has led to the degradation of European seas. An integrated governance would be relatively straight-forward if the different interests and actors were operating on the basis of shared values, but they are not. While the fisheries sector, whether large or small-scale, is driven by a commercial imperative which tends towards the greatest extraction of the resource possible, environmentalists would champion the removal of all human impacts, other than redress activity, as the optimum state for the ecosystem. However, the greatest impediment to an integrated approach is the failure to subject the EU’s Common Fisheries Policy to the objectives of the Integrated Maritime Policy. Instead, all decisions concerning fisheries will continue to be made in accordance with the Fisheries Regulation which demands exploitation of the fragile resource. Attention needs to be given to how EU fisheries policy is to acquire values beyond that of commercial extraction for immediate economic benefit so that it may cohere with objectives of the Integrated Maritime Policy and aid the regeneration of the seas.

Influenza vaccination in developing countries

Influenza virus (types A, B and C) infection is one of the most common infectious diseases globally and is responsible for millions of sick-days every year, especially in younger children and those with underlying chronic systemic diseases. The infection occurs both as sporadic disease and as epidemics/ pandemics. From public health point of view type-A influenza virus is most significant as it affects other species also (in addition to humans), undergoes frequent antigenic changes thus escaping immune system and leading to epidemics/ pandemics. Vaccination is considered one of the best preventive strategies against this virus. In general, two types of influenza vaccines are available: trivalent inactivated influenza vaccine (TIV) and live-attenuated influenza vaccine (LAIV). However, there are a number of challenges in implementing vaccination programs for influenza, especially for developing countries with limited resources and many other competing health priorities. The current influenza A 2009H1N1 pandemic has shown the world how fragile today's resources in pandemic and pre-pandemic, but also seasonal, vaccines are. This article discusses, in brief, the development, immunogenicity, efficacy and safety of influenza vaccines (seasonal, pre-pandemic and pandemic 2009H1N1 vaccines) along with the rationale, current status and future prospects of influenza vaccination in infants, children and adolescents.

Determining the Dynamics of Entanglement

The estimation of the entanglement of multipartite systems undergoing decoherence is important for assessing the robustness of quantum information processes. It usually requires access to the final state and its full reconstruction through quantum tomography. General dynamical laws may simplify this task. We found that when one of the parties of an initially entangled two-qubit system is subject to a noisy channel, a single universal curve describes the dynamics of entanglement for both pure and mixed states, including those for which entanglement suddenly disappears. Our result, which is experimentally demonstrated using a linear optics setup, leads to a direct and efficient determination of entanglement through the knowledge of the initial state and single-party process tomography alone, foregoing the need to reconstruct the final state.

Evolution equation for quantum entanglement

Quantum information technology1 largely relies on a precious and fragile resource, quantum entanglement, a highly non-trivial manifestation of the coherent superposition of states of composite quantum systems. However, our knowledge of the time evolution of this resource under realistic conditions—that is, when corrupted by environment-induced decoherence—is so far limited, and general statements on entanglement dynamics in open systems are scarce2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11. Here we prove a simple and general factorization law for quantum systems shared by two parties, which describes the time evolution of entanglement on passage of either component through an arbitrary noisy channel. The robustness of entanglement-based quantum information processing protocols is thus easily and fully characterized by a single quantity.

Preface

Preface

Livestock carrying capacity evaluation in an integrated farming system: A case study from the mid-hills of Nepal

The crop livestock integrated farming system practiced in hilly regions of developing countries largely depends on the ecosystem as a whole. More especifically, the livestock component of the farming system relies heavily on natural resources such as forest, grazing and agricultural land for the supply of feed and fodder. The importance of animals as agents of nutrient recycling, sources of rural energy in terms of draft power and fuel, as well as being major contributors to the farm economy, has resulted in an increased population of ruminants in these regions, creating a threat to the sustainability and productivity of these land resources. This paper is an attempt to evaluate the livestock carrying capacity of land resources and to formulate the optimum herd size compatible with the differently resourced farm categories within the sub-watershed region of the mid-hills in Nepal. Our analysis reveals that the livestock carrying capacity of the land resources at the watershed level is 11696 Livestock Units (LU), whereas current stocking is 12985 LU, suggesting an overstocking of 1289 LU at the watershed level. Total feed supply from different sources is 12668 mt/yr whereas current Total Digestive Nutrient (TDN) demand is 14060 mt/yr, a negative balance of 1393 mt/yr. The excess livestock at the sub-watershed level directly implies excess livestock holding, producing a poor nutritional status for the farm household. Linear programming analysis reveals that the farmers of large, medium and small category farms can optimize their livestock holding by a combination of 3 LU buffaloes and 4 LU goats, 2 LU buffaloes and 4 LU goats and 1 LU buffaloes and 4.4 LU goats, thus giving maximum return to the farm family without exerting pressure on fragile natural resources.

Ecotourism as a Means of Conserving Wetlands

The Nariva Swamp on the island of Trinidad in the Caribbean is being degraded due to increasing human activity. However, its conservation is desirable, as it is an internationally recognized wetland. The study examined an ecotourism project, with an emphasis on community participation, as a conservation approach to the Swamp, via benefit–cost analysis, where the benefits of conservation were measured by contingent valuation. Contingent valuation showed that the residents of Trinidad were willing to pay an average of $56 for conserving the Swamp. The analysis also showed that ecotourism represents an economically feasible use of ecologically fragile resources of this wetland.

Remote sensing and GIS in modeling visual landscape change: a case study of the northwestern arid coast of Egypt

Land use planners in many countries have recognized the importance of the aesthetic values of landscape. Their desire to incorporate these values into decision-making processes has created a need to identify valid ways to quantify the scenic characteristics of landscapes. This has led to an increasing interest in the use of spatial data and geographic information systems (GIS) methodology in assessing visual attributes of the landscape. The objective of the present study is to assess the visual changes in a rapidly developing coastal area of Egypt using remotely sensed data (satellite images and aerial photographs) and raster GIS modeling. The analysis assesses changes between a period characterized by a vernacular, relatively natural landscape (1950s) and the beginning of the exploitation of the region for resorts (1990s). Using land use/land cover classes extracted from the satellite images and aerial photographs, four visual attributes of landscape are identified: land use/land cover diversity, activity (degree of naturalness), proximity to the shoreline, and topographic variety. A composite index is also developed. Although these attributes and the composite index rely mostly on the type of land use/land cover information on the landscape under consideration, the adopted techniques succeed in detecting several changes in the attributes, spatially locating them and mapping the magnitude of their changes. This study demonstrates what can be done to analyze and assess what is usually considered an incommensurable resource, the visual attributes of landscapes. It also reveals the extent of the impact of unplanned or ill-planned activities on one of the fragile resources of arid landscapes.

The National Trust and its libraries

The National Trust’s many historic buildings range from country houses to vernacular architecture, industrial archaeology and literary shrines. More than 150 of these properties contain books, for the most part the historic collections of their original owners. Though, in common with other heritage bodies, the Trust has been rather slow to realise the importance of its books, these libraries together represent something equivalent to the rare books collection of a national library. They are an incomparable though extremely fragile resource for the history of private book ownership, besides containing many rare books, and others of great beauty and interest.

Brokered livelihoods: Debt, Labour Migration and Development in Tribal Western India

Seasonal labour migration is an increasingly important aspect of rural livelihoods in tribal areas of Western India. Such migration can no longer be viewed merely as an adjunct to an essentially agrarian way of life, but has to be seen as integral to the coping, survival and livelihood strategies of tribal farming families. Rural to urban migration is often viewed as a consequence of environmental crisis in which migrants as 'ecological refugees' [Gadgil and Guha 1995] are forcibly displaced by processes of deforestation, soil erosion, water scarcity, land fragmentation, declining agricultural productivity and population increase. While increasing pressure on a fragile resource base has indeed contributed to widespread failure to meet subsistence needs among tribal households, the research discussed in this study shows that the forces leading to migration are as much to do with the social relations of dependency and indebtedness which subsistence failure entails, as with ecological decline. The problem is not so much one of declining production, as of systems of usurious money lending, labour contracting and exploitation. The social experience and consequences of migration are far from uniform, but shaped by class and gender. For a minority of Bhil households migration offers positive opportunities for saving, investment and meeting contingencies. For the poorer majority, migration is a defensive coping strategy covering existing debts and extreme economic vulnerability. In combining unequal and individualised income accrual with the need for joint livelihood strategies, migration has a major impact on intra-household relations.

Assessment of erosion damage in Ndome and Ghazi, Taita Taveta, Kenya: Towards an integrated erosion management approach

Aerial photograph interpretation on erosion trends from 1961 to 1998 showed that by 1998, approximately 17 and 50% of agricultural land in Ndome and Ghazi respectively had been permanently lost due to the combined effect of rill, inter-rill, and gully erosion, and sand deposition. Although abnormally heavy rains received between 1996–98 caused much of the present land damage, the severity of the damage was enhanced by inappropriate and persistent human perturbations in the land-system notably through vegetative degradation and destruction of soil structure through inappropriate tillage practices. With soil organic matter contents of 1.6 and 1.9%, and clay ratios of 10.1 and 10.6 for Ndome and Ghazi, respectively, the areas inherent erodibility was considered as high thus pointing to the need for careful use and management of the soil resource. That farmers appreciated only land quality indicators that were visible to the naked eye and that directly affected their subsistence, revealed a knowledge gap that saw damages from intrinsic processes like rill and inter-rill erosion proceed unnoticed. This paper argues that the spread of erosion damage in rural agro-ecosystems is survival-driven. And as a remedy to this problem, there is need for the diversification of livelihood endeavours to alternative off-farm income sources to reduce pressure on the already fragile land resource. Further, being the ultimate implementers of conservation technologies and by virtue of the multiplicity and inter-relation of rural household needs, adoption of an integrated erosion management approach with food security as paramount presents the most practical entry point for sustainable land management in such rural agro-ecosystems.

State Coastal Program Effectiveness in Protecting Natural Beaches, Dunes, Bluffs, and Rocky Shores

This article reports on state coastal zone management (CZM) effectiveness in meeting the national goal of protecting natural shoreline resources. The research focuses on efforts to protect beaches, dunes, bluffs, and rocky shores. This study concludes that state CZM programs are effective overall in addressing the protection objective of the Coastal Zone Management Act of 1972 (CZMA). This conclusion recognizes that the CZMA requires states to balance competing needs and demands such as protection of natural resources from hazards and overdevelopment, promotion of recreational use, and respect for private property rights. Determination of CZM program effectiveness is based on process indicators and case examples. Outcome indicators were too sparse to allow an outcome effectiveness determination. All coastal states and territories use a wide variety of tools and processes to achieve resource protection, including regulatory, planning, state land management, acquisition, nonregulatory, and research tools. Regulatory tools are the most significant tools employed nationwide, because the majority of the oceanfront shoreline is in private ownership and is subject to significant shoreline change and development pressures. Over 60 significant upgrades to coastal management programs have been implemented over the years to protect natural shoreline resources. "Process indicators" of effectiveness show increased resource protection from CZM efforts. Of the 29 coastal states and territories studied, most (23) employ setbacks from the shoreline to provide a natural buffer between development and the water. All (27) but a few regulate shoreline activities to protect critical habitat and minimize adverse impacts on resources. All (28) but one regulate shoreline stabilizations to minimize adverse impacts on beach systems. Most (23) restrict pedestrian and vehicular access to channel human encroachment along boardwalks or dune crossovers, minimizing dune destabilization and impacts on fragile resources. All (28) but one use planning tools to designate and protect specific shoreline resources. Within state coastal parks, most (25) have designated natural protection areas and guided accessways. Many (21) have acquired additional coastal land holdings. Almost half use boardwalks or dune crossovers to protect dune vegetation and minimize adverse impacts on natural resources, and sand fencing and dune creation to restore the natural function of damaged dune systems. Over half (17) use beach nourishment to recreate eroding recreational beaches. Greater attention is needed to document on-theground results of CZM resource protection efforts through in-depth case studies and long-term monitoring of resource indicators of program success.

Evaluation of tourism and tourist resources in China

The evaluation of both tourism and tourist resources in China remains problematic. On the macro‐level, only the positive contributions of tourism have been evaluated, ignoring the aspects of disparities between the east coast and the inland area, inbound tourism and domestic tourism, nature‐based and city‐based tourism, positive and negative effects from tourism and so on. On the micro‐ and site‐ specific level, tourist resources characterised by non‐marketable and non‐use values are not properly evaluated, exposing these fragile resources to the plight of exploitation. Commercialisation of tourist resources, including natural environment and ethnic cultures, threatens further development of tourism in China. The limited applicability of the travel cost and the contingent valuation method in measuring the value of recreation sites in China is discussed.