RESEARCH AND ADVERTISING DECISIONS IN AN OPEN ECONOMY: THE CASE OF COLOMBIAN MILDS COFFEE

Research and advertising investment both offer the potential to increase producer surplus. A model is developed that includes applied research and generic advertising with the aim of measuring marginal and optimal returns from each. While applicable to specific firm behavior, the model is applied to data from the world coffee market, with particular focus on Kenyan and Colombian producer groups.Marketing, Research and Development/Tech Change/Emerging Technologies,

Food insecurity in veteran households: findings from nationally representative data

OBJECTIVE: The present study is the first to use nationally representative data to compare rates of food insecurity among households with veterans of the US Armed Forces and non-veteran households. DESIGN: We used data from the 2005-2013 waves of the Current Population Survey - Food Security Supplement to identify rates of food insecurity and very low food security in veteran and non-veteran households. We estimated the odds and probability of food insecurity in veteran and non-veteran households in uncontrolled and controlled models. We replicated these results after separating veteran households by their most recent period of service. We weighted models to create nationally representative estimates. SETTING: Nationally representative data from the 2005-2013 waves of the Current Population Survey - Food Security Supplement. SUBJECTS: US households (n 388 680). RESULTS: Uncontrolled models found much lower rates of food insecurity (8·4 %) and very low food security (3·3 %) among veteran households than in non-veteran households (14·4 % and 5·4 %, respectively), with particularly low rates among households with older veterans. After adjustment, average rates of food insecurity and very low food security were not significantly different for veteran households. However, the probability of food insecurity was significantly higher among some recent veterans and significantly lower for those who served during the Vietnam War. CONCLUSIONS: Although adjusting eliminated many differences between veteran and non-veteran households, veterans who served from 1975 and onwards may be at higher risk for food insecurity and should be the recipients of targeted outreach to improve nutritional outcomes

Promises of Confidentiality to News Sources After Cohen v. Cowles Media Company: A Survey of Newspaper Editors

We undertook a survey of newspaper editors to determine their views regarding promises of confidentiality, to determine the effect of the Cohen case on the newspaper industry, and to discover related information. This article will discuss the Cohen case and report the survey results. Section II of the article sets forth the facts that led to the lawsuit brought by source Dan Cohen against two Minneapolis newspapers for breach of promise of confidentiality. Section III sets forth the history of the lawsuit itself, as it proceeded through the Minnesota state courts to the United States Supreme Court, reaching a final resolution on remand to the Minnesota Supreme Court. The Minnesota Court of Appeals decision, the Minnesota Supreme Court\u27s first decision, and the United States Supreme Court\u27s decision in the case were all split decisions. Section III includes a summary of the arguments made by both the court majorities and the dissenters. Section IV reports and discusses the survey results. Section V provides a summary and conclusion

Promises of Confidentiality to News Sources After Cohen v. Cowles Media Company: A Survey of Newspaper Editors

We undertook a survey of newspaper editors to determine their views regarding promises of confidentiality, to determine the effect of the Cohen case on the newspaper industry, and to discover related information. This article will discuss the Cohen case and report the survey results. Section II of the article sets forth the facts that led to the lawsuit brought by source Dan Cohen against two Minneapolis newspapers for breach of promise of confidentiality. Section III sets forth the history of the lawsuit itself, as it proceeded through the Minnesota state courts to the United States Supreme Court, reaching a final resolution on remand to the Minnesota Supreme Court. The Minnesota Court of Appeals decision, the Minnesota Supreme Court\u27s first decision, and the United States Supreme Court\u27s decision in the case were all split decisions. Section III includes a summary of the arguments made by both the court majorities and the dissenters. Section IV reports and discusses the survey results. Section V provides a summary and conclusion

A healthy dose of Lynch : a study of how health-enhancing environmental qualities can be included in analysis methods based on Kevin Lynch’s theory

Omfattande trender av urbanisering och förtätning har medfört hälsorelaterade utmaningar, då urbana grönområden ofta tas i anspråk för exploatering. Medan många studier har undersökt grönområdens olika hälsorelaterade fördelar, har desto färre behandlat en inkludering av hälsoaspekter i välanvända stadsplaneringsteorier. Denna uppsats har till syfte att undersöka möjligheten att inkludera hälsofrämjande miljökvaliteter i Kevin Lynchs teori om stadens fem element, som används vid analys och utformning av städer. Detta för att utveckla en analysmetod baserad på Lynchs teori som möjliggör att hälsofrämjande aspekter tas i hänsyn. Hälsoaspekter representeras teoretiskt av perceived sensory dimensions (PSDs), vilka uttrycker åtta generella mänskliga behov i relation till urbana grönområden. Relationen mellan PSDs och Lynchs teori undersöks genom att tillämpa teorierna i analyser av Eriksberg, Uppsala, och sedan jämföra resultatet av de båda analyserna med varandra. Resultatet visar att det finns samband mellan PSDs och Lynchs teori, där PSDs kan användas för att utveckla en analysmetod baserad på Lynchs teori. I analysmetoden tillför PSDs beskrivningar om vilka hälsofrämjande kvaliteter elementen innehar eller bidrar med. Indelningen av PSDs i motsatspar kan också vara ett verktyg i analysmetoden, för att bättre förstå olika platsers förutsättningar och behov. Utvecklingen av analysmetoden är ett första steg i framtagandet av ett verktyg som kan försäkra att hälsofrämjande aspekter tas i hänsyn vid analys och utformning av städer.Comprehensive trends of urbanisation and densification have brought challenges regarding health aspects, as urban green spaces often frequently become the site of for new buildings. While many studies have examined different health benefits of green spaces, fewer have concerned the inclusion of health aspects in well-used urban planning theories. This thesis aims to review the possibilities of including health-enhancing environmental qualities in Kevin Lynch’s theory of the five elements of the city, which is used in urban analysis and design. This in order to develop an analysis method based on Lynch’s theory that enables health-enhancing aspects to be taken into consideration. The health aspects are theoretically represented by perceived sensory dimensions (PSDs), which express eight general human needs in relation to urban green spaces. The relationship between PSDs and Lynch’s theory is examined by applying the theories in analyses of Eriksberg, Uppsala, then comparing the results of both analyses with each other. The result shows that there are connections between the PSDs and Lynch’s theory, where the PSDs can function as a tool for further developing an analysis method based on Lynch’s theory. In the analysis method, the PSDs add descriptions of which health-enhancing qualities the elements have or contribute to. The division of PSDs in opposing pairs can also be a tool in the analysis method, to better understand the conditions and needs of different places. The development of the analysis method is a first step in creating a tool that can ensure that health-enhancing qualities are considered in urban analysis and design

Learning to Prune: Speeding up Repeated Computations

It is common to encounter situations where one must solve a sequence of similar computational problems. Running a standard algorithm with worst-case runtime guarantees on each instance will fail to take advantage of valuable structure shared across the problem instances. For example, when a commuter drives from work to home, there are typically only a handful of routes that will ever be the shortest path. A naive algorithm that does not exploit this common structure may spend most of its time checking roads that will never be in the shortest path. More generally, we can often ignore large swaths of the search space that will likely never contain an optimal solution. We present an algorithm that learns to maximally prune the search space on repeated computations, thereby reducing runtime while provably outputting the correct solution each period with high probability. Our algorithm employs a simple explore-exploit technique resembling those used in online algorithms, though our setting is quite different. We prove that, with respect to our model of pruning search spaces, our approach is optimal up to constant factors. Finally, we illustrate the applicability of our model and algorithm to three classic problems: shortest-path routing, string search, and linear programming. We present experiments confirming that our simple algorithm is effective at significantly reducing the runtime of solving repeated computations

Estimating Counterfactual Risk Under Hypothetical Interventions in the Presence of Competing Events: Crystalline Silica Exposure and Mortality From 2 Causes of Death.

Exposure to silica has been linked to excess risk of lung cancer and nonmalignant respiratory disease mortality. In this study we estimated risk for both these outcomes in relation to occupational silica exposure as well as the reduction in risk that would result from hypothetical interventions on exposure in a cohort of exposed workers. Analyses were carried out using data from an all-male study population consisting of 2,342 California diatomaceous earth workers regularly exposed to crystalline silica and followed between 1942 and 2011. We estimated subdistribution risk for each event under the natural course and interventions of interest using the parametric g-formula to adjust for healthy-worker survivor bias. The risk ratio for lung cancer mortality, comparing an intervention in which a theoretical maximum exposure limit was set at 0.05 mg/m3 (the current US regulatory limit) with the observed exposure concentrations, was 0.86 (95% confidence interval: 0.63, 1.22). The corresponding risk ratio for nonmalignant respiratory disease mortality was 0.69 (95% confidence interval: 0.52, 0.93). Our findings suggest that risks from both outcomes would have been considerably lower if historical silica exposures in this cohort had not exceeded current regulatory limits