INTERREGIONAL EFFECTS OF REDUCED TIMBER HARVESTS: THE IMPACT OF THE NORTHERN SPOTTED OWL LISTING IN RURAL AND URBAN OREGON

A core-periphery, multiregional, input-output model of western Oregon is used to estimate impacts of periphery timber harvest reductions resulting from listing of an endangered species. Under the most probable scenario, 31,620 total jobs would be lost in the two regions. Fourteen percent of this impact is absorbed in the core (Metro) region. Forty percent of periphery and 80% of Metro jobs lost are from service sectors, a result of important core-periphery trade in central place services. Explicit inclusion of unemployment benefits for displaced workers reduces employment loss estimates by 12% to 14%.Resource /Energy Economics and Policy,

THE ROLE OF AGRICULTURE IN OREGON'S ECONOMIC BASE: FINDINGS FROM A SOCIAL ACCOUNTING MATRIX

Most studies of a state’'s economic base count as “"basic”" only the “"traditional"” exports of goods, federal spending, and business investment. “"Nontraditional”" elements of the economic base (including exports of services, federal transfers to state/local governments and households, and extraregional property income) are typically ignored. We construct a social accounting matrix (SAM) for Oregon and estimate Oregon’'s economic base accounting for both traditional and nontraditional elements. Almost 20% of Oregon’'s jobs depend on extraregional income to households (including government transfers and outside property income), 11% depend on lumber and wood and paper products, and 8% depend on agriculture.Agribusiness,

Look at Me Now: What Attracts U.S. Shareholders?

This paper investigates the underlying determinants of home bias using a comprehensive data set on U.S. investors' aggregate holdings of every foreign stock. Among those foreign stocks that are not listed on U.S. exchanges, which account for more than 96 percent of our usable data sample, we find that U.S. investors prefer firms with characteristics associated with greater information transparency, such as stronger home-country accounting standards. We document that a U.S. cross-listing is economically important, as U.S. ownership of a foreign firm roughly doubles upon cross-listing in the United States. We explore the cross-sectional variation in this "cross-listing effect" and find that the increase in U.S. investment is greatest for firms that are from weak accounting backgrounds and are otherwise informationally opaque, suggesting that the key effect of cross-listing is improvements in disclosure that are valued by U.S. investors. By contrast, cross-listing does not increase the appeal of stocks from countries with weak shareholder rights, suggesting that U.S. cross-listing cannot substitute for legal protections in the home country. Nor does the cross-listing effect appear to be driven simply by increased "familiarity"� with the stock or lowered cross-border transactions costs.

U.S. International Equity Investment

U.S. investors are the largest group of international equity investors in the world, but to date conclusive evidence on which types of foreign firms are able to attract U.S. investment is not available. Using a comprehensive dataset of all U.S. investment in foreign equities, we find that the single most important determinant of the amount of U.S. investment a foreign firm receives is whether the firm cross-lists on a U.S. exchange. Correcting for selection biases, cross-listing leads to a doubling (or more) in U.S. investment, an impact greater than all other factors combined. We also show that our firm-level analysis has implications for country-level studies, suggesting that research investigating equity investment patterns at the country-level should include cross-listing as an endogenous control variable. We describe easy-to-implement methods for including the importance of cross-listing at the country level.

A Search for Planets Transiting the M Dwarf Debris Disk Host, AU Microscopii

We present high cadence, high precision multi-band photometry of the young, M1Ve, debris disk star, AU Microscopii. The data were obtained in three continuum filters spanning a wavelength range from 4500\AA to 6600\AA, plus H$\alpha$, over 28 nights in 2005. The lightcurves show intrinsic stellar variability due to starspots with an amplitude in the blue band of 0.051 magnitudes and a period of 4.847 days. In addition, three large flares were detected in the data which all occur near the minimum brightness of the star. We remove the intrinsic stellar variability and combine the lightcurves of all the filters in order to search for transits by possible planetary companions orbiting in the plane of the nearly edge-on debris disk. The combined final lightcurve has a sampling of 0.35 minutes and a standard deviation of 6.8 millimags (mmag). We performed Monte Carlo simulations by adding fake transits to the observed lightcurve and find with 95% significance that there are no Jupiter mass planets orbiting in the plane of the debris disk on circular orbits with periods, P $\le 5$ days. In addition, there are no young Neptune-like planets (with radii 2.5$\times$ smaller than the young Jupiter) on circular orbits with periods, P $\le 3$ days.Comment: accepted to MNRA

Match- mismatch Regulation for Bluegill and Yellow Perch Larvae and Their Prey in Sandhill Lakes

Food availability may regulate fish recruitment, both directly and indirectly. The availability of zooplankton, especially to newly hatched larvae, is thought to be crucial to their early growth and survival. We examined stomach contents of larval bluegill Lepomis macrochirus and yellow perch Perca flavescens in Pelican Lake and Cameron Lake, Nebraska, in 2004 and 2005. We also determined zooplankton availability and calculated prey selection using Chesson’s a. In addition, we investigated potential match–mismatch regulation of recruitment from 2004 to 2008. Bluegill positively selected copepod nauplii and Bosmina spp., and yellow perch often selected copepods. Abundant zooplankton populations were available for consumption. Matches of both larval bluegill and yellow perch abundance to zooplankton abundance were detected in all years; exact matches were common. Mismatches in predator and prey production were not observed. Predation by age-0 yellow perch on age-0 bluegill was not observed, even though yellow perch hatched 2 mo prior to bluegill. Given that zooplankton were abundant and well-timed to larval fish relative abundance over the time span of this study, the match–mismatch hypothesis alone may not fully account for observed recruitment variability in these populations. Environmental conditions may also affect recruitment and warrant further investigation

Match–Mismatch Regulation for Bluegill and Yellow Perch Larvae and Their Prey in Sandhill Lakes

Food availability may regulate fish recruitment, both directly and indirectly. The availability of zooplankton, especially to newly hatched larvae, is thought to be crucial to their early growth and survival. We examined stomach contents of larval bluegill Lepomis macrochirus and yellow perch Perca flavescens in Pelican Lake and Cameron Lake, Nebraska, in 2004 and 2005. We also determined zooplankton availability and calculated prey selection using Chesson’s a. In addition, we investigated potential match–mismatch regulation of recruitment from 2004 to 2008. Bluegill positively selected copepod nauplii and Bosmina spp., and yellow perch often selected copepods. Abundant zooplankton populations were available for consumption. Matches of both larval bluegill and yellow perch abundance to zooplankton abundance were detected in all years; exact matches were common. Mismatches in predator and prey production were not observed. Predation by age-0 yellow perch on age-0 bluegill was not observed, even though yellow perch hatched 2 mo prior to bluegill. Given that zooplankton were abundant and well-timed to larval fish relative abundance over the time span of this study, the match–mismatch hypothesis alone may not fully account for observed recruitment variability in these populations. Environmental conditions may also affect recruitment and warrant further investigation

Pharmacist-led management of chronic pain in primary care:results from a randomised controlled exploratory trial

To compare the effectiveness of pharmacist medication review, with or without pharmacist prescribing, with standard care, for patients with chronic pain

A moderate increase in dietary zinc reduces DNA strand breaks in leukocytes and alters plasma proteins without changing plasma zinc concentrations.

BackgroundFood fortification has been recommended to improve a population's micronutrient status. Biofortification techniques modestly elevate the zinc content of cereals, but few studies have reported a positive impact on functional indicators of zinc status.ObjectiveWe determined the impact of a modest increase in dietary zinc that was similar to that provided by biofortification programs on whole-body and cellular indicators of zinc status.DesignEighteen men participated in a 6-wk controlled consumption study of a low-zinc, rice-based diet. The diet contained 6 mg Zn/d for 2 wk and was followed by 10 mg Zn/d for 4 wk. To reduce zinc absorption, phytate was added to the diet during the initial period. Indicators of zinc homeostasis, including total absorbed zinc (TAZ), the exchangeable zinc pool (EZP), plasma and cellular zinc concentrations, zinc transporter gene expression, and other metabolic indicators (i.e., DNA damage, inflammation, and oxidative stress), were measured before and after each dietary-zinc period.ResultsTAZ increased with increased dietary zinc, but plasma zinc concentrations and EZP size were unchanged. Erythrocyte and leukocyte zinc concentrations and zinc transporter expressions were not altered. However, leukocyte DNA strand breaks decreased with increased dietary zinc, and the level of proteins involved in DNA repair and antioxidant and immune functions were restored after the dietary-zinc increase.ConclusionsA moderate 4-mg/d increase in dietary zinc, similar to that which would be expected from zinc-biofortified crops, improves zinc absorption but does not alter plasma zinc. The repair of DNA strand breaks improves, as do serum protein concentrations that are associated with the DNA repair process. This trial was registered at clinicaltrials.gov as NCT02861352

Overwinter Mortality of Sympatric Juvenile Bluegill and Yellow Perch in Mid-Temperate Sandhill lakes, Nebraska, U.S.A

Substantial mortality can occur in age-0 fish populations during their first year of life, especially in winter; this can potentially influence overall recruitment into the adult population. As such, we compared relative abundances between fall and spring catches of sympatric juvenile bluegill Lepomis macrochirus Rafinesque and yellow perch Perca flavescens (Mitchill) to evaluate the magnitude of overwinter mortality across locations (five lakes for two years) and through time (one lake for six years). In addition, we compared both quantile-quantile and increment plots, based on length-frequency histograms from fall- and spring-caught cohorts from 2004 to 2010, to determine if mortality was sizeselective while accounting for over winter growth. Bluegill relative abundances (as indexed by catch-per-unit-effort) significantly decreased from fall to spring, although size-selective mortality was not detected in 10 instances. Yellow perch relative abundances were similar from fall to spring in five Nebraska Sandhill lakes; however, size-selective mortality was detected, with size-selective over winter mortality of smaller individuals occurring in one of eight instances, whereas greater mortality in larger individuals occurred in two instances. Positive growth occurred in both species but was variable among lakes and appeared to be system-specific. In Nebraska Sandhill lakes, over winter mortality likely differs between these two species in its severity, size-selective effect, and scale (i.e., lake-specific vs. large-scale processes), and is likely influenced by combinations of these (and potentially other) factors