This paper explores the influence of regional climate variability on the elasticity of price for residential water demand in Spain. The data comes from the Spanish Survey of Family Budget (INE
2012
...), a national based survey of household living conditions including more than 15,000 observations. The econometric analysis included other determinants of residential water demand in Spain such as income and household characteristics. In line with the broad literature, the demand for water in Spain is found to be inelastic, although price elasticity differs notably when accounting for different climatic regions in the territory. The results have noteworthy policy implications as water pricing is considered an efficient means of long term sustainable planning of water resources management. The results imply that policy makers may have reasons to explore differentiating the impacts of water efficiency measures by region.
This paper provides with a review of the state of the art of environmental valuation with discrete choice experiments (DCEs). The growing body of literature on this field serves to emphasize the ...increasing role that DCEs are playing in environmental decision making in the last decade. The paper attempts to cover the full process of undertaking a choice experiment, including survey and experimental design, econometric analysis of choice data and welfare analysis. The research on this field is found to be intense, although many challenges are put forward (e.g. choice-task complexity and cognitive effort, experimental design, preference and scale heterogeneity, endogeneity or model uncertainty). Reviewing the state of the art of DCEs serves to draw attention to the main challenges that this methodological approach will need to overcome in the coming years and to identify the frontiers in discrete choice analysis.
This dataset presents a detailed description of the data and information used in the life-cycle assessment (LCA) of the Basque Y HSR line, which is a high-performance line for mixed traffic still ...under construction in 2023 (190 km). The LCI data presented in this paper support the original research carried out on whether the construction of the Basque Y HSR line infrastructure is justified in terms of reducing environmental impacts and energy consumption 1.
Life-cycle inventory (LCI) data related to the construction and maintenance phases of the infrastructure was collected using Google Earth tool following the information from stakeholder AHT gelditu 2, including the length of each item (bridges, tunnels, earthworks, railway tracks); and complemented with data obtained from the LCA carried out by Tuchschmid et al. 3. LCI data associated with the operation phase of the infrastructure was built on passenger data for the years 2020, 2030, 2040 and 2049 available in ADIF 4, and freight data for the period of 2023–2050 available in the report by ADIF and the Basque Government 5. Environmental impacts for transport modes were obtained from the ecoinvent v3.7 database 6,7 and processed with openLCA software 8. Life-cycle impact assessment (LCIA) results gathered in the dataset include Global Warming (GWP100a), Cumulative Energy Demand and total emissions for PM10, SO2, NOX and NMVOC.
Access to the explanation of these data allows any reader to reproduce the calculations of the main project and may be used as a baseline for future studies on transport economics too.
A life cycle assessment (LCA) of the Spanish high speed rail (HSR) network in service in 2016 (2583 km) was conducted. Life cycle inventory (LCI) data related to the construction and maintenance ...phases of the infrastructure was collected using Google Earth tool, and complemented with data obtained from the LCA carried out by Tuchschmid et al. 1. LCI data associated with the operation phase of the infrastructure was built on available fragmentary data on passenger movements for the year 2016 2–4, processed with a python algorithm to estimate the transport service provided by the infrastructure. Environmental impacts for transport modes were obtained from Ecoinvent v3.7 database 5,6 and processed with openLCA software 7. Life cycle impact assessment (LCIA) results gathered in the dataset include Global Warming (GWP100a), Cumulative Energy Demand and total emissions for PM10, SO2, NOX and NMVOC. This dataset presents a detailed description of the Spanish HSR network, including the length of each item (bridges, tunnels, earthworks, railway tracks), and a robust estimation of passenger transport over the infrastructure for year 2016. The LCI data presented in this paper support the original research done on whether the construction of Spanish HSR network infrastructure is justified in terms of reducing environmental impacts and energy consumption 8, and may be used as a baseline for future studies on transport economics.
Clinical patterns and the associated optimal management of acquired resistance to PD-(L)1 blockade are poorly understood.
All cases of metastatic lung cancer treated with PD-(L)1 blockade at Memorial ...Sloan Kettering were reviewed. In acquired resistance (complete/partial response per RECIST, followed by progression), clinical patterns were distinguished as oligo (OligoAR ≤ 3 lesions of disease progression) or systemic (sAR). We analyzed the relationships between patient characteristics, burden/location of disease, outcomes, and efficacy of therapeutic interventions.
Of 1,536 patients, 312 (20%) had an initial response and 143 developed AR (9% overall, 46% of responders). OligoAR was the most common pattern (80/143, 56%). Baseline tumor mutational burden, depth of response, and duration of response were significantly increased in oligoAR compared with sAR (P < 0.001, P = 0.03, P = 0.04, respectively), whereas baseline PD-L1 and tumor burden were similar. Post-progression, oligoAR was associated with improved overall survival (median 28 months vs. 10 months, P < 0.001) compared with sAR. Within oligoAR, post-progression survival was greater among patients treated with locally-directed therapy (e.g., radiation, surgery; HR, 0.41; P = 0.039). Fifty-eight percent of patients with oligoAR treated with locally-directed therapy alone are progression-free at last follow-up (median 16 months), including 13 patients who are progression-free more than 2 years after local therapy.
OligoAR is a common and distinct pattern of acquired resistance to PD-(L)1 blockade compared with sAR. OligoAR is associated with improved post-progression survival and some cases can be effectively managed with local therapies with durable benefit.
This open access book offers up-to-date advice and practical guidance on how to undertake a discrete choice experiment as a tool for environmental valuation. It discusses crucial issues in designing, ...implementing and analysing choice experiments. Compiled by leading experts in the field, the book promotes discrete choice analysis in environmental valuation through a more solid scientific basis for research practice. Instead of providing strict guidelines, the book helps readers avoid common mistakes often found in applied work. It is based on the collective reflections of the scientific network of researchers using discrete choice modelling in the field of environmental valuation (www.envecho.com).
A narrowly endemic new species of Glossoloma is described from the Cordillera Oriental of the northern Andes, in the Colombian departments of Caquetá and Huila. Glossoloma magenticristatum J.L.Clark, ...D.Hoyos & Clavijo, sp. nov. differs from most other congeners by a habit that is usually epiphytic with elongate scandent subwoody shoots, the presence of a magenta corolla tube, and a creased calyx formed by tightly appressed adjacent lobes. A brief summary of Gesneriaceae diversity in the Colombia departments of Caquetá and Huila is discussed with an emphasis on the old highway between Florencia and Guadalupe. The conservation status of G. magenticristatum is assessed as Endangered (EN) based on IUCN Criteria.
One of the main problems that public institutions face in the management of protected areas, such as the European Natura 2000 network, is determining how to design and implement sustainable ...management plans that account for the wide range of marketed and non-marketed benefits they provide to society. This paper presents an application of a stated preference valuation approach aimed at evaluating the social preferences of the population of the Basque Country, Spain, for the key attributes of a regional Natura 2000 network site. According to our results, individuals’ willingness-to-pay (WTP) is higher for attributes associated with non-use values (native tree species and biodiversity conservation) than for attributes associated with use values (agricultural development and commercial forestry). The paper concludes that management policies related to Natura 2000 network sites should account for both for the importance of non-use values and the heterogeneity of the population's preferences in order to minimize potential land use conflicts.
The National Institute for Environmental Health Sciences has called for targeted efforts to engage underserved youth in environmental education programs that support environmental literacy and ...contribute to the development of a diverse workforce pipeline for environmental science-related occupations. Evidence suggests that career knowledge among low income and minority youth is more likely to be incompatible with post-secondary educational opportunities than other racial and ethnic groups. One approach to attenuating discordant college and career expectations among underserved youth is building networks for information sharing between secondary and post-secondary students. The purpose of this commentary is to describe the development and implementation of a high school curriculum on environmental science and environmental justice by Texas A&M University in collaboration with community engagement partners, students, and teachers at Furr High School, an innovative XQ Super School in Houston, Texas.
Landscapes throughout the world are increasingly being altered as a result of human actions and natural processes, therefore necessitating urgent management. Acknowledging this situation, the ...European Landscape Convention (ELC) was approved in 2000 with the explicit objective of protecting, managing and planning European landscapes. In this paper, we provide empirical evidence on the suitability of the Discrete Choice Experiment (DCE) methodology for valuing multidimensional landscapes under the ELC. An application in the Basque Country, Spain, serves as an example to illustrate that the DCE methodology may be suitable for supporting the aims of the ELC because: (i) it is a tool for public consultation; (ii) it offers an insight into the relative attractiveness of key landscape attributes, such as native forests and farming activities; and (iii) it provides policy-makers with quantitative information on the public preferences for potential future landscape protection, management and planning programmes. The results highlight the important role that the conservation of native forests and the promotion of organic farming may play in the management of European landscapes, which in turn is found to be strongly culturally dependent.
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