Simulated Economic Impact of TED Regulations on Selected Vessels in the Texas Shrimp Fishery

Shrimp fishermen trawling in the Gulf of Mexico and south Atlantic inadvertently capture and kill sea turtles which are classified as endangered species. Recent legislation requires the use of a Turtle Excluder Device(TED) which, when in place in the shrimp trawl, reduces sea turtle mortality. The impact of the TED on shrimp production is not known. This intermediate analysis of the TED regulations using an annual firm level simulation model indicated that the average Texas shrimp vessel had a low probability of being an economic success before regulations were enacted. An assumption that the TED regulations resulted in decreased production aggravated this condition and the change in Ending Net Worth and Net Present Value of Ending Net Worth before and after a TED was placed in the net was significant at the 5 percent level. However, the difference in the Internal Rate of Return for the TED and non-TED simulations was not significant unless the TED caused a substantial change in catch. This analysis did not allow for interactions between the fishermen in the shrimp industry, an assumption which could significantly alter the impact of TED use on the catch and earnings of the individual shrimp vessel

Oxygen production using solid-state zirconia electrolyte technology

High purity oxygen is required for a number of scientific, medical, and industrial applications. Traditionally, these needs have been met by cryogenic distillation or pressure swing adsorption systems designed to separate oxygen from air. Oxygen separation from air via solid-state zirconia electrolyte technology offers an alternative to these methods. The technology has several advantages over the traditional methods, including reliability, compactness, quiet operation, high purity output, and low power consumption

ACROLEIN AS A GROUND SQUIRREL BURROW FUMIGANT

Acrolein (Magnicide ®H) is registered in California as an aquatic herbicide. Studies in Alameda and Modoc Counties were conducted to evaluate the field efficacy of acrolein as a ground squirrel burrow fumigant. Applications of acrolein (92%) at 20 ml and 40 ml per burrow were made from a custom built jet gun connected to a hose which ran to a cylinder mounted on a pickup truck. The burrow openings were covered with soil after application. The application rate of 20 ml of acrolein per burrow provided approximately 90% control of ground squirrels. Acrolein applied at 40 ml did not significantly increase efficacy of the treatment

INVESTIGATING THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN YIELD RISK AND AGRI-ENVIRONMENTAL INDICATORS

Crop insurance provides risk reduction benefits yet may increase planted acres in risky areas. This paper investigates the relationship between environmental quality and crop insurance induced changes in cropping pattern. Results suggest that yield risk and soil erosion are positively correlated for the majority of acreage in the study area.Environmental Economics and Policy, Risk and Uncertainty,

An Economic Analysis of Texas Shrimp Season Closures

Management of the Texas penaeid shrimp fishery is aimed at increasing revenue from brown shrimp, Penaeus aztecus, landings and decreasing the level of discards. Since 1960 Texas has closed its territorial sea for 45-60 days during peak migration of brown shrimp to the Gulf of Mexico. In 1981 the closure was extended to 200 miles to include the U.S. Exclusive Economic Zone. Simulation modeling is used in this paper to estimate the changes in landings, revenue, costs, and economic rent attributable to the Texas closure. Four additional analyses were conducted to estimate the effects of closing the Gulf 1- to 4-fathom zone for 45 and 60 days, with and without effort redirected to inshore waters. Distributional impacts are analyzed in terms of costs, revenues, and rents, by vessel class, shrimp species, vessel owner, and crew

The Association between Bible Literacy and Religiosity

The purposes of this study were to estimate: (a) the extent of biblical literacy among convenience samples of adults from randomly selected religious and non-religious groups, (b) the extent to which American adults are religious, and (c) the association between religiosity and biblical literacy

Sociocultural Impact of Reservoirs on Local Government Institutions

This study of the probable sociocultural impact of a proposed reservoir in central Kentucky on the institutions of local governments of a community adjacent to the reservoir utilizes anthropological concepts of social values and cultural and social change as well as anthropological research techniques. Data on observed impact on the same institutions in communities adjacent to two recently completed Kentucky reservoirs permit inferences as to probable directions and extent of reservoir-related change. Specific aspects of impact considered include: effects of reduction of the county tax base due to Federal acquisition of lands, including necessity for increased severity of taxes and changes in assessments, problems related to effective planning and zoning, potential benefits from development or expansion of city and county potable water supply, effects of reservoir caused highway relocation on county roads and county road maintenance, and effects of reservoir-created tourism patterns on local law enforcement. The overall purpose of the study is to recommend to the agency (Corps of Engineers) that is causing massive environmental change through creation of a manmade lake, improvements in policies and procedures that will increase sociocultural benefits and decrease sociocultural costs

Quantum walks of a rubidium Bose-Einstein condensate and their applications

A quantum walk in momentum space with a rubidium spinor Bose-Einstein condensate was recently realized in our research group by applying a periodic kicking potential as a walk operator and a resonant microwave pulse as a coin toss operator. The generated quantum walks appear to be stable for up to ten steps and then quickly transit to classical walks due to spontaneous emissions induced by laser beams of the walk operator. The quantum to classical walk transitions were investigated by introducing well-controlled spontaneous emissions with an external light source during quantum walks. Our findings demonstrate a scheme to control the robustness of the quantum walks and can also be applied to other cold atom experiments involving spontaneous emissions. Our QW possessed behaviors that generally agreed with theoretical predictions; however, it also showed momentum distributions that were not adequately explained by the theory. A theoretical model is presented in which the coherent dynamics of the spinor condensate is sufficient to explain the experimental data without invoking the presence of a thermal cloud of atoms as in the original theory. These numerical findings are supported by an analytical prediction for the momentum distributions in the limit of zero-temperature condensates. This current model provides more complete explanations to the momentum-space QWs that can be applied to study quantum search algorithms and topological phases in Floquet-driven systems. Finally, a concrete theoretical proposal for detecting topological phase transitions in double kicked atom-optics kicked rotors with internal spin-1/2 degree of freedom is presented. Its implementation utilizes a kicked Bose-Einstein condensate evolving in one-dimensional momentum space. To reduce the influence of atom loss and phase decoherence, possible techniques to keep experimental durations short while maintaining a resonant experimental protocol are presented. Experimental limitations induced by phase noise, quasimomentum distributions, symmetries, and the ac-Stark shift are considered. These results thus suggest a feasible and optimized procedure for observing topological phase transitions in quantum kicked rotors

Geology of the East Lake Creek Area, Eagle County, Colorado

The East Lake Creek area is in the northwest part of central Colorado, west of the Continental Divide. The area consists of about 40 square miles of Paleozoic sedimentary rocks which dip off the extreme north end of the Sawatch Range. The medium-grained, nearly white Upper Cambrian Sawatch quartzite is about 190 feet thick, and grades into brown, sandy dolomite of the Peerless formation which is 80 to 100 feet thick. The Lower Ordovician Manitou dolomite rests unconformably on the Peerless, and is dark gray and medium to coarsely crystalline. The Manitou is absent east of East Lake Creek, but is up to 40 feet in thickness to the west. It is separated by an angular unconformity from the Middle Ordovician Harding quartzite. The Harding is a nearly white, medium-grained orthoquartzite with some grayish yellow green sandstone lenses, and is up to 20 feet in thickness. A prominent unconformity separates the Ordovician sediments from the Upper Devonian Chaffee formation. The white, vitreous, coarse-grained Parting quartzite member is about 75 feet thick. It differs from the quartzites of the Sawatch and Harding by its coarseness and more angular grains. The upper member of the Chaffee formation is the Dyer dolomite, which is uniform, finely crystalline, light gray, and approximately 100 feet thick. The Mississippian Leadville limestone disconformably overlies the Dyer, and is a gray, lithographic limestone, varying from 70 to 120 feet in thickness. The base of the Leadville is a grayish brown, dolomitic sandstone locally called the Gilman member. The Belden formation of Early Pennsylvanian age disconformably overlies the Leadville. It is about 400 feet thick, and is composed of alternating beds of dark gray, aphanitic limestone and gray to black, fissile shale. It is highly fossiliferous, while the older sediments yielded no fossils. Its fauna includes abundant specimens belonging to the genera Amphissites, Millerella, Climacammina, Lophophyllidium, Stereostylus, Fenestrellina, Rhombopora, Chonetes, Marginifera, Dictyoclostus, Spirifer, Composita, Echinocrinus, Stylophycus, and several others which were not identified. Abundant Millerella occur in a zone 100 feet thick above the middle of the formation. The presence of the Millerella, and the absence of more advanced fusulinids has led to the conclusion that at least this part of the Belden is of Morrowan age. The Belden grades into the Minturn formation which contains about 1000 feet of gray and brown, micaceous siltstones, fine to coarse gray sandstones, and thin partings of gray shale. This lower zone is overlain by several hundred feet of gray, massive beds of gypsum and anhydrite, with thin beds of dolomite, siltstone, and shale. Two reverse faults and one anticline trend about N45E across the southern part of the area; the faults have stratigraphic throws of 1200 to 1500 feet and can be traced for about 8 miles, and the anticline can be traced for about 5 miles. The structures all appear to be the result of a local compressive force applied to the sediments during the uplift of the Sawatch Range