If You Provide It, Will They Read It? The Effect of Information on Choices

This paper investigates the effect of information on respondent's choices in an internet survey for measuring the value of water quality improvements in Deckers Creek (DC) watershed in Monongalia and Peterson Counties of West Virginia, USA. A multiattribute, choice experiment and multinomial logit (MNL) models are used in estimating the marginal utilities of restoring the three attributes of DC: aquatic life, swimming safety, and scenic quality. Response times serve as proxy variables regarding whether respondents read or did not read all the information provided in the survey. Response times fell quickly, but then tapered off as they progressed through the various sections of the survey. Results show that the estimated coefficients of subsamples, read and did not read all the information, were statistically different from each other. Based on log likelihood tests of MNL models, two subsamples of the survey population (read and did not read all information) were found to be from different populations. Estimates of marginal utilities reveal that respondents value aquatic life restoration the highest, followed by scenic quality restoration. Average compensating variation estimates for full restoration of the aquatic life and scenic quality attributes are $9 and$ 6 per month per household, respectively, when the subsamples are pooled. However, the individual subsamples resulted in $5 per month for aquatic life and$3 per month for scenic quality for respondents that read the information, while respondents that did not read the information resulted in statistically higher estimates of $16 and$12, respectively. While respondents' motives for not reading the resource information provided is uncertain, results show their values for watershed restoration are substantially higher than respondents that read the information.Demand and Price Analysis,

Environmental Aid and Economic Development in the Third World

Climate change has a profound impact on the planet, especially on developing countries – as highlighted by the Stern Report to the British government in 2006. One solution to mitigating environmental degradation and achieving better outcomes appears to be through the provision of aid to poor countries. Using newly available data from the PLAID (Project-Level Aid) database project, we ask what determines the level of environmental aid to developing countries – and in particular whether such aid is affected by the level of economic development of the recipient country. At the same time, we investigate whether economic development is affected by the receipt of environmental aid. Implicit in the second question, of course, is the notion that, besides addressing the ecological outcomes, environmental aid may have the potential to enhance the economic prosperity of poor countries.Economic Development; Aid; Developing Countries

Diversity and Independence with Regard to BPCS and SIS Systems

PresentationWe live in a dangerous world. We work in a dangerous industry. Albert Einstein is quoted as saying, “The world is a dangerous place to live; not because of the people who are evil, but because of the people who don’t do anything about it.” As safety professionals, it is our job to do something about it. Yet, in the interest of ease of implementation or due to some belief that communications might be easier or for the more base reason that there might be a cost saving, we find ourselves making too many compromises. This paper will postulate that the Integrated Control and Safety System is one of those compromises. Since the beginning of this industry, separate and diverse systems have been the rule in processing facilities. Such systems provide the ultimate in safety and security. This paper will make the case for Independent and Interconnected Control and Safety Systems that will provide the ultimate in safety and cyber security

Fruit and Vegetable Bucks: Adams County Grocery Store Snap Incentive Program

Veggie Bucks provides a 50% discount on all fresh fruits and vegetables sold through Kennie’s Market produce department at the point of sale for the 5 highest cost items. The incentive period ran January - April, 2017. Intended outcomes include an increase in the number of fresh fruits and vegetables purchased by SNAP recipients at Kennie’s Market locations in Biglerville and Gettysburg by 10% in January-April 2017 compared to baseline figures obtained in 2016, and to familiarize SNAP recipients with fresh fruits and vegetables and to provide information about the ACFMA markets’ Double Dollars program. SNAP recipients were invited to sign up for the program upon showing their ID and EBT card and were provided a Kennie\u27s Frequent Shopper card if they did not have one already

Three essays on meta-analysis, benefit transfer, and recreation use valuation

This dissertation consists of three essays on meta-analysis, benefit transfer and recreation use valuation. The first two essays were based on the sportsfishing valuation literature in the US and Canada while the third essay was based on a study site in the Philippines and selected study sites from the US. The first essay evaluates the aggregation structure of primary research studies and its implications for benefit transfer using meta-regression analysis. Results indicate that single-site and regional studies should not be pooled without accounting for their differences in a metaanalysis. The second essay examines the implications of addressing dependency in the sportsfishing valuation literature using meta-regression analysis. Results indicate that median absolute percentage transfer error is lower for the meta-regression models based on a single value, i.e. average-set and best-set metadata than the meta-regression models based on all-set. The average-set and best-set are two treatments of the metadata for avoiding dependency. The third essay applies the methodological treatments learned from the first two essays to estimate the recreational value via benefit transfer of Taal Volcano Protected Landscape in the Philippines. Results show that single point estimate transfer worked better than the meta-regression benefit function transfer. Recommendations based from the three essays include: 1) the need to account for aggregation differences among primary studies to minimize biased value estimates in benefit transfer depending on policy settings; 2) the importance to correct for dependency and other methodological pitfalls in meta-regression is always warranted; 3) metadata sample selection is best guided by the goals of the metaanalysis and perceived allowable errors in benefit transfer applications; and 4) the conduct of primary study is still the first best strategy to recreation use valuation, given time and resources

An Android based Mobile Application for Color Recognition Assistance for Colorblind Individual Through Color Segmentation Using Color Threshold Algorithm

In the traditional setting, the only way to identify color-blindness is if an individual has a severe color deficiency which make it easy to identify due to individuals have difficulty in identifying colours. However, this is not the case for those suffering from mild color-blindness, as the only way to ensure that a person is truly color-blind with a mild case is to have a check up with an eye care professional. The proponents developed an Android mobile application that provides an Ishihara test, a standardized eye test which allows users to take a color-blind test to determine if an individual is color-blind. Existing adaptation tools, the color-blind uses an eyeglass or contact lenses modified for color vision deficiency to help distinguish colors. These types of products. Due to limited resources of supply in the Philippines, specialized type of eyeglasses is not readily available and there are people that cannot afford or are reluctant to purchase this type of device. The researchers developed an Android mobile application that aids with color-blind people using color segmentation and the Color Thresholding Algorithm