To strive to full self-sufficiency in water, Singapore has invested heavily in desalination, wastewater reclamation (branded as NEWater), water catchment management and other similar projects. Among the many alternatives to augment Singapore’s water supply, decision-makers need to know which one is the most sustainable plan to pursue. This research project aims to demonstrate the usefulness of ...

Beneficiaries of common pool resources (CPRs) may select available noncooperative and regulatory exogenous institutions for managing the resource, as well as cooperative management institutions. All these institutions may increase the longterm gains, prolong the life of the resource, and help to escape the tragedy of the commons’ trap. Cooperative game theory approaches can serve as the backbon...

This paper focuses on introducing and comparing various types of external regulatory institutions for management of common pool resources (CPRs), namely the quota-based management, resource status-based management, tax-based management, and bankruptcy management institutions. The performance of these regulatory institutions is demonstrated, using a numerical groundwater exploitation example. Re...

Plant Genetic Resources (PGRs) are one of the most valuable natural resources of anycountry. Biotechnology through genetic engineering of plants and the creation of new plantvarieties can increase the value of these resources. Different technical and legalmechanisms such as ex situ/in situ collection of PGRs, and Intellectual Property Rights(IPRs...

High-quality biospecimens with appropriate clinical annotation are critical in the era of personalized medicine. It is now widely recognized that biospecimen resources need to be developed and operated under established scientific, technical, business, and ethical/legal standards. To date, such standards have not been widely practiced, resulting in variable biospecimen quality that may compromi...

The meeting on 'Genetic Resources in the Face of New Environmental, Economic and Social Challenges' held in Montpellier (France) from 20-22 September 2011 brought together about 200 participants active in research and management of the genetic diversity of plant, animal, fungal and microbial species. Attendees had the rare opportunity to hear about agronomy, botany, microbiology, mycology, the ...

Convergence effects between telecommunication, information technology, media and entertainment (TIME) markets lead to additional value-added opportunities within these markets, allowing new intermediaries to enter the market [1, 2]. On the other hand, due to these effects traditional entry barriers of these markets disappear and new forms of competition and substitution for existing suppliers a...

Ammonia (NH3) is a key commodity chemical of vital importance for fertilizers. It is made on an industrial scale via the Haber Bosch process, which requires significant infrastructure to be in place such that ammonia is generally made in large, centralized facilities. If ammonia could be produced under less demanding conditions, then there would be the potential for smaller devices to be used t...