An evaluation of the welfare effects of United States meat import quotas using the concept of economic surplus : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Agricultural Science in Agricultural Economics and Marketing at Massey University

The original objective of this study was to estimate the effect of United States Meat Import Quotas on economic welfare in the United States and New Zealand. Welfare was to be estimated as the changes in the economic rent of United States producers, in United States consumers' surplus, and in revenue of the New Zealand beef industry, resulting from a change in quotas. An economic model was formulated expressing the relationship between the beef markets in the United States, New Zealand, and the rest of the world. The model was used to estimate the values of endogenous variables assuming the absence of United States meat import quotas. This was done by estimating the coefficients of the model based on those years in which quotas were not effective. It was expected that the projected values for endogenous variables, obtained by experimentation with the model, would provide a basis for the estimation of the welfare effects of quotas. However initial experimentation demonstrated that the estimated values for endogenous variables in the model were inconsistent with economic theory. As the New Zealand sector of the model required the use of inputs generated by the United States sector, experimentation with the New Zealand sector was abandoned. The points of disagreement between economic theory and the estimated model on the effect of quotas were as follows; (i) The supply and demand for fed beef was expected to rise, but the model predicted a fall. (ii) Domestic supply of manufacturing beef was expected to rise, but the model predicted a fall. (iii) Demand for manufacturing beef was expected to fall, but the model predicted a rise. (iv) Import supply was expected to fall, but the model predicted a rise. Disagreement (iv) is the most serious in terms of the objectives of this study as the restrictive effect of quotas on imports is the reason for their use. It was concluded that the unsatisfactory results obtained in the analysis were due to deficiencies in the econometric model or the data used to estimate the coefficients of the model. Four types of error were considered in term of their possible relevance to the model estimated in the study; specification error; errors in variables; multicollineanity; and autocorrelation. The most important source of error is considered to be in the specification of the model however the other sources of error mentioned are also considered to have been present. Although this study has not achieved the original objective it demonstrates a method whereby the welfare effects of restrictive trade practices can be assessed. For this reason it is considered that some contribution to applied economics has been made

Supporting Culture Change: Working Toward Smarter State Nursing Home Regulation

Examines how the legalistic and enforcement-based regulatory approach affects nursing homes' efforts to implement culture change. Highlights regulatory partnership models that promote high performance and outlines organizational and training issues

Octonionic Gravitational Instantons

We construct eight-dimensional gravitational instantons by solving appropriate self-duality equations for the spin-connection. The particular gravitational instanton we present has $Spin(7)$ holonomy and, in a sense, it is the eight-dimensional analog of the Eguchi-Hanson 4D space. It has a removable bolt singularity which is topologically S^4 and its boundary at infinity is the squashed S^7. We also lift our solutions to ten and eleven dimensions and construct fundamental string and membrane configurations that preserve 1/16 of the original supersymmetries.Comment: 17 pages, latex, no figures. References to earlier works adde

Z2SAL: a translation-based model checker for Z

Despite being widely known and accepted in industry, the Z formal specification language has not so far been well supported by automated verification tools, mostly because of the challenges in handling the abstraction of the language. In this paper we discuss a novel approach to building a model-checker for Z, which involves implementing a translation from Z into SAL, the input language for the Symbolic Analysis Laboratory, a toolset which includes a number of model-checkers and a simulator. The Z2SAL translation deals with a number of important issues, including: mapping unbounded, abstract specifications into bounded, finite models amenable to a BDD-based symbolic checker; converting a non-constructive and piecemeal style of functional specification into a deterministic, automaton-based style of specification; and supporting the rich set-based vocabulary of the Z mathematical toolkit. This paper discusses progress made towards implementing as complete and faithful a translation as possible, while highlighting certain assumptions, respecting certain limitations and making use of available optimisations. The translation is illustrated throughout with examples; and a complete working example is presented, together with performance data

The G_2 sphere over a 4-manifold

We present a construction of a canonical G_2 structure on the unit sphere tangent bundle S_M of any given orientable Riemannian 4-manifold M. Such structure is never geometric or 1-flat, but seems full of other possibilities. We start by the study of the most basic properties of our construction. The structure is co-calibrated if, and only if, M is an Einstein manifold. The fibres are always associative. In fact, the associated 3-form results from a linear combination of three other volume 3-forms, one of which is the volume of the fibres. We also give new examples of co-calibrated structures on well known spaces. We hope this contributes both to the knowledge of special geometries and to the study of 4-manifolds.Comment: 13 page

KINGSTON UPON HULL (Reino Unido) (Inglaterra). Planos de población (1784). 1:2500

Dedicatoría : "To Saml. Thorton Esqr. One of the Representatives in Parliament for the Town & County of Kingston upon Hull and Wn. Wilberforce Esqr. One of the Representatives in Parliament for the county of York This Plan is with Persission, most Humbly Dedicated by their much Obliged & Obedien Servant Robt. Thew"Escala gráfica de 500 pies [= 6,2 cm]. Orientado con lis en rosa de dieciseis vientosToponimia de calles y plazasRelación de los principales edificios civiles y religiosos, Indicados por clave alfabéticaTítulo enmarcado en cartela ovalada coronada por un estandarte con el escudo de la ciudad e incluida en paisaje con motivos referentes a la guerra y el comercio marítimo. Intercalados en la dedicatoria, figuran dos escudos en lazados, probablemente de aquéllos a los que se dirigeForma parte de la Colección Mendoz

Use of an autoinflation device does not lead to a clinically meaningful change in hearing thresholds in children with otitis media with effusion

Design: The objective of this study was to establish whether autoinflation was an effective intervention in a paediatric audiology service. This was a pragmatic retrospective study with historical controls using a paired availability design. / Setting: The study took place at a single paediatric audiology service in England. / Participants: All children seen in the clinic over a two-year period who were aged between 3 and 11 years and who had a type B tympanogram in at least one ear were included. The Otovent autoinflation device was available as a treatment option over the second year (Cohort B) but not the first (Cohort A). There were 976 children included in the study: Cohort A comprised 513 children, Cohort B comprised 463 children. / Main outcome measures: The aims were to evaluate whether there was improvement in hearing thresholds following introduction of an autoinflation device, and whether there was a reduction in further audiology follow-ups, and in referrals to an ear, nose and throat specialist for consideration of ventilation tube insertion. / Results and conclusions: There was a statistically significant improvement in hearing thresholds in Cohort B compared to Cohort A, however the improvements were clinically minimal with small effect sizes. There was no significant difference in improvement of tympanometry results between the two cohorts. Significantly more children in Cohort B (autoinflation group) were referred to an ear, nose and throat specialist after their second appointment compared to Cohort A. It was feasible to introduce autoinflation into the care pathway, however there was no evidence of clinically meaningful improved outcomes for patients

Modelling the Northeast Atlantic circulation : implications for the spring invasion of shelf regions by Calanus finmarchicus

The appearance in spring of the copepod Calanus finmarchicus in continental shelf waters of the northeastern Atlantic has been hypothesized to be mainly attributable to invasion from across the continental slope rather than in situ overwintering. This paper describes the application of a hydrodynamic circulation model and a particle-tracking model to Northeast Atlantic waters in order to assess the influence of the flow field and ascent migration parameters on the spring invasion of C. finmarchicus. For hydrodynamic modelling, the Hamburg Shelf-Ocean Model (HAMSOM) was applied to the North Atlantic and Nordic Seas and forced with daily mean atmospheric data. Simulated flow fields from HAMSOM serve as forcing functions for a particle-tracking model of the same region. The robustness of the simulated shelf invasion in three target boxes of the Northeast Atlantic Shelf was assessed by means of a sensitivity analysis with respect to variations in four key migration parameters: overwintering depth, ascent rate, ascent timing, and depth during residence in upper layers. The invasion of the northern North Sea and Norwegian Shelf waters is more sensitive to ascent migration parameters than invasion of the Faroese Shelf. The main reason for enhanced sensitivity of the North Sea invasion is the time and space-dependent flow structure in the Faroe-Shetland Channel. Dense aggregations of overwintering C. finmarchicus are found in the Channel, but because of the complex flow field only a proportion of the overwintering stock has the capacity to reach the North Sea

A search for distant radio galaxies from SUMSS and NVSS: III. radio spectral energy distributions and the z-alpha correlation

This is the third in a series of papers that present observations and results for a sample of 76 ultra-steep-spectrum radio sources designed to find galaxies at high redshift. Here we present multi-frequency radio observations, from the Australia Telescope Compact Array, for a subset of 37 galaxies from the sample. Matched resolution observations at 2.3, 4.8 and 6.2GHz are presented for all galaxies, with the z<2 galaxies additionally observed at 8.6 and 18GHz. New angular size constraints are reported for 19 sources based on high resolution 4.8 and 6.2GHz observations. Functional forms for the rest-frame spectral energy distributions are derived: 89% of the sample is well characterised by a single power law, whilst the remaining 11% show some flattening toward higher frequencies: not one source shows any evidence for high frequency steepening. We discuss the implications of this result in light of the empirical correlation between redshift and spectral index seen in flux limited samples of radio galaxies. Finally, a new physical mechanism to explain the redshift -- spectral index correlation is posited: extremely steep spectrum radio galaxies in the local universe usually reside at the centres of rich galaxy clusters. We argue that if a higher fraction of radio galaxies, as a function of redshift, are located in environments with densities similar to nearby rich clusters, then this could be a natural interpretation for the correlation. We briefly outline our plans to pursue this line of investigation.Comment: MNRAS in pres