THE ECONOMICS OF MANAGING WILDLIFE DISEASE

The spread of infectious disease among and between wild domesticated animals has become a major problem worldwide. Upon analyzing the dynamics of wildlife growth and infection when the disease animals cannot be identified separately from healthy wildlife prior to the kill, we find that harvest-based strategies alone have no impact on disease transmission. Other controls that directly influence disease transmission and/or mortality are required. Next, we analyze the socially optimal management of infectious wildlife. The model is applied to the problem of bovine tuberculosis among Michigan white-tailed deer, with non-selective harvests and supplemental feeding being the control variables. Using a two-state linear control model, we find a two-dimensional singular path is optimal (as opposed to a more conventional bang-bang solution) as part of a cycle that results in the disease remaining endemic in the wildlife. This result follows from non-selective harvesting and intermittent wildlife productivity gains from supplemental feeding.Resource /Energy Economics and Policy,

Relationship between dairy cow genetic merit and profit on commercial spring calving dairy farms

peer-reviewedBecause not all animal factors influencing profitability can be included in total merit breeding indices for profitability, the association between animal total merit index and true profitability, taking cognisance of all factors associated with costs and revenues, is generally not known. One method to estimate such associations is at the herd level, associating herd average genetic merit with herd profitability. The objective of this study was to primarily relate herd average genetic merit for a range of traits, including the Irish total merit index, with indicators of performance, including profitability, using correlation and multiple regression analyses. Physical, genetic and financial performance data from 1131 Irish seasonal calving pasture-based dairy farms were available following edits; data on some herds were available for more than 1 year of the 3-year study period (2007 to 2009). Herd average economic breeding index (EBI) was associated with reduced herd average phenotypic milk yield but with greater milk composition, resulting in higher milk prices. Moderate positive correlations (0.26 to 0.61) existed between genetic merit for an individual trait and average herd performance for that trait (e.g. genetic merit for milk yield and average per cow milk yield). Following adjustment for year, stocking rate, herd size and quantity of purchased feed in the multiple regression analysis, average herd EBI was positively and linearly associated with net margin per cow and per litre as well as gross revenue output per cow and per litre. The change in net margin per cow per unit change in the total merit index was h1.94 (s.e.50.42), which was not different from the expectation of h2. This study, based on a large data set of commercial herds with accurate information on profitability and genetic merit, confirms that, after accounting for confounding factors, the change in herd profitability per unit change in herd genetic merit for the total merit index is within expectations

Digital Heritage: Digitization of Museum and Archival Collections

The purpose of this paper is to trace the utilization of computer technology within museums and archival institutions, and relate how they have adapted to survive in today’s society that is obsessed with technological advancement. Beginning in the 1960s, computer technology started to integrate into the federal government and professional business sectors. Because of its success in these sectors, museums and archival institutions, began to gradually recognize the use of computers and associated technologies as a means to not only increase administrative productivity, but as a way to enable staff to delve deeper into their available collections through the automation of cultural heritage. This automation changed the way professionals accessed, interpreted and managed collections, and eventually led to technology’s use as a method to connect with other institutions and the public. It is crucial to understand the transformations that took place with the incorporation of technology into museums and archival institutions through the adoption of best practices through a formalized guide. A model of this type of guide is included in the paper and covers a range of essential procedures and information utilized within a digitization project. However, one has to also understand the issues that have arisen because of technology’s use and how they have been and can be resolved in cultural heritage institutions

A gravity model approach to forecasting tuberculosis transmission in cattle

Bovine tuberculosis (bTB) in cattle has caused significant economic losses to livestock producers and has proven difficult to eradicate. It is suspected that cattle movement across different farms and regions is one of the key factors of bTB transmission in the United States. Prior attempts to model the epidemiology of bTB infection within cattle to predict disease transmission have not adequately captured the behavioral aspects of trade. A better understanding of livestock trade patterns would help in predicting disease transmission and the associated economic effects. In this paper, we develop a gravity model of livestock trade and link it to an epidemiological model of bTB transmission, with the goal being that this information could lead to improved disease surveillance and management. Our findings suggest that feedbacks between jointly determined disease dynamics and trade system matter and should be considered together for efficient disease management.Bovine tuberculosis, Gravity model, disease management, Resource /Energy Economics and Policy,

GIS for Livable Communities: Examination of community Perceptions of Assets, Liabilities and Transportation Improvements, MTI Report 01-09

Urban dwellers navigate everyday journeys through a variety of transportation connections. Transportation planning can play an instrumental part in shaping livable community goals, as it is part of the built environment that citizens’ encounter on a daily basis. This report examines the role that the built environment plays in the shaping of an individual’s sense of community. Geographical Information Systems (GIS), can generate spatial maps of a citizens’s interaction with the transportation environment. Combined with survey data, these maps offer information to community members and leaders that can help guide decision making about livable community goals. Riverside, California serves as a case study for this analysis. Based on a questionnaire and map survey, the following recommendations are made: encourage walking along and within the Magnolia Corridor; explore multimodal transportation options; examine traffic patterns in neighborhoods; develop small scale commercial activity; foster existing asset areas; consider high density residential design that unites the neighborhood; study housing stock redevelopment options; utilize GIS to involve all stakeholders. This case study illustrates how GIS can be used to illustrate and analyze citizens’s interactions with the built environment

The effect of a seven-week exercise program on golf swing performance and musculoskeletal measures

As most golf exercise studies have shown improved golf performance as a result of two or three sessions per week, the present study investigated the effects of a supervised exercise session performed once a week for seven weeks on golf swing variables and musculoskeletal screening measures. Professional Golfers Association of Australia International Golf Institute student golfers (n ¼ 43) with a mean standard deviation handicap of 8.6 8.3 participated in the study. Each golfer performed 10 musculoskeletal tests and a standardised 60-shot golf performance test (TrackMan, Vedbaek, Denmark) on separate days before and after the seven-week program. Significant improvements in a number of musculoskeletal tests (i.e. left leg bridging (6.6%), thoracic extension (62.5%), right thoracic rotation (23.3%), and right (20.8%) and left single leg squat (29.1%)) were observed (all p 0.024); however, no significant differences were observed for any golf swing variables. Future research investigating different training protocols may help to determine whether the type or frequency of training has the greatest influence on golf swing performance

A Model of Incentive Compatibility under Moral Hazard in Livestock Disease Outbreak Response

This paper uses a principal-agent model to examine incentive compatibility in the presence of information asymmetry between the government and individual producers. Prior models of livestock disease have not incorporated information asymmetry between livestock managers and social planners. By incorporating the asymmetry, we investigate the role of incentives in producer behavior that influences the duration and magnitude of a disease epidemic.livestock disease, moral hazard, principal-agent model, Institutional and Behavioral Economics,

Livestock Disease Indemnity Design When Moral Hazard is Followed by Adverse Selection

Averting or limiting the outbreak of infectious disease in domestic livestock herds is an economic and potential human health issue that involves both the government and individual livestock producers. Producers have private information about preventive biosecurity measures they adopt on their farms prior to outbreak (ex ante moral hazard), and following outbreak they possess private information about whether or not their herd is infected (ex post adverse selection). We investigate how indemnity payments can be designed to provide incentives to producers to invest in biosecurity and report infection to the government, while simultaneously addressing the information asymmetry between producers and the government. We show how addressing the adverse selection problem leads to a risk-sharing tradeoff in the moral hazard problem. We compare the relative magnitude of the first- and second-best levels of biosecurity investment and indemnity payments to further demonstrate the tradeoff between risk-sharing and efficiency, and we discuss the implications for status quo U.S. policy.Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety, Livestock Production/Industries, Risk and Uncertainty,

Quantumness in decoherent quantum walk using measurement-induced disturbance

The classicalization of a decoherent discrete-time quantum walk on a line or an n-cycle can be demonstrated in various ways that do not necessarily provide a geometry-independent description. For example, the position probability distribution becomes increasingly Gaussian, with a concomitant fall in the standard deviation, in the former case, but not in the latter. As another example, each step of the quantum walk on a line may be subjected to an arbitrary phase gate, without affecting the position probability distribution, no matter whether the walk is noiseless or noisy. This symmetry, which is absent in the case of noiseless cyclic walk, but is restored in the presence of sufficient noise, serves as an indicator of classicalization, but only in the cyclic case. Here we show that the degree of quantum correlations between the coin and position degrees of freedom, quantified by a measure based on the disturbance induced by local measurements (Luo, Phys. Rev. A 77, 022301 (2008)), provides a suitable measure of classicalization across both type of walks. Applying this measure to compare the two walks, we find that cyclic quantum walks tend to classicalize faster than quantum walks on a line because of more efficient phase randomization due to the self-interference of the two counter-rotating waves. We model noise as acting on the coin, and given by the squeezed generalized amplitude damping (SGAD) channel, which generalizes the generalized amplitude damping channel.Comment: 8 pages with 8 figures, Published versio

Destination Management Systems – Electronic Distribution Effectiveness amongst SMEs in the Hotel Sector

Tourism is an information intensive activity and the generation, gathering, processing, application and communication of information are vitally important for day-to-day operations (Buhalis, 1994). Tourists rely on a wealth of information before making a decision (Horan and MacDonaill 1996). Hospitality operators, especially SMEs, have little data upon which to base an assessment of electronic distribution channel effectiveness with sparse look-to-book ratios being among the few metrics offered. This presentation attempts to assess effectiveness criteria from both client and server perspectives and will map both qualitative and quantitative data into a modelling process to represent the effectiveness of distribution channels, DMS in particular, and offer a methodology for SME electronic distribution channel benchmarking more generally