The Value of Information in Invasive Species Management

Resource /Energy Economics and Policy,

Valuing Monitoring Networks for Invasive Species: The Case of Soybean Rust

Crop Production/Industries,

PROVIDING EQUITABLE SPATIAL DISTRIBUTION OF PROTECTED NATURAL AREAS IN A METROPOLITAN SETTING: AN APPLICATION OF THE LOCATION SET-COVERING PROBLEM

We use the location set covering problem to define a natural area site selection model for use in the Chicago region. This framework allows us to explicitly consider the equity of site distribution by stipulating that each population center has access to a recreational space within a specified distance.Land Economics/Use,

EXPLORING GOAL TRADEOFFS IN METROPOLITAN NATURAL AREA PROTECTION

This study examines the issue of natural area protection in an urban environment. We report on the results of interviews conducted with a wide range of land use planners in the Chicago region. Of particular interest are the unique goals and challenges of land acquisition programs in a metropolitan area.Resource /Energy Economics and Policy,

A Fresh Look At Economic Value Added: Empirical Study Of The Fortune Five-Hundred Companies

Rapid and complex changes in the economic and business environment are posing serious challenges to today’s business executives. Meeting these challenges requires effective measures for control and performance evaluation. This article focuses on the uses, benefits and limitations of economic value added (EVA) as a value creation measure. Calculation of this trendy measure is complicated because of the many adjustments needed to convert the generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP) based income to economic income. The article compares the performance of EVA user companies with non-user Fortune 500 companies for the years 1997 and 1998. It shows that users performance means profits as percentage of revenues, assets, and stockholders’ equity were higher than the means of non-users. However, the means for 1998 earnings per share (EPS), EPS change from 1997 and EPS growth for the years 1988-1998 were lower for the EVA user companies. EVA will become less popular in its use as an instrument of control and performance evaluation. Therefore, the conclusion of this research is not in support of EVA use as a measure of value creation to stockholders

The value of information in conservation planning

Conservation planning studies at small scales such as forest stands and below are uncommon. However, for retention forestry, developed during the last two decades and with current wide and increasing application in boreal and temperate regions, the need for cost-effective selection of individual trees is evident. In retention forestry certain trees are left at final harvest to promote flora and fauna. There is also a scarcity of studies on information costs and how these relate to the cost-effectiveness of conservation. We addressed both of these issues by studying whether decisions about the retention of aspen Populus tremula L. trees can be made more cost-effectively by including information about tree characteristics. We analyzed data from 12 recently harvested stands in middle Sweden containing 131 epiphytic lichen species (a biodiversity proxy) on 360 aspen trees. We related the presence of lichen species to bark and stem attributes and used those relationships to prioritize trees for retention. We estimated the value of using different sets of survey information (lichens, tree characteristics) to select retention trees to achieve various conservation goals. Depending on species or species groups of interest, and the type of tree information being collected, the value of collecting the information is up to 20% of the total value of all potential retention trees, which, given current labor costs, allows up to four hours for planning and selecting the right trees on an average-sized clearcut. The current practice of almost randomly selecting aspen trees to retain at final harvest can be improved by adding easily collected information on tree characteristics, such as black-colored bark, slow tree growth, inclining stems and speckled bark. This can lead to attainment of a given level of a conservation goal (like maximizing the number of lichen species of conservation concern) with fewer retention trees. Inventory of tree information often can be performed quickly, and if part of the gains from using such information to guide tree selection would be spent on additional conservation efforts, this would benefit biodiversity. Studies on more organism groups and tree species are needed to increase the applicability of results. (C) 2014 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V

NASA Data Archive Evaluation

The purpose of this study was to expose a range of naive individuals to the NASA Data Archive and to obtain feedback from them, with the goal of learning how useful people with varied backgrounds would find the Archive for research and other purposes. We processed 36 subjects in four experimental categories, designated in this report as C+R+, C+R-, C-R+ and C-R-, for computer experienced researchers, computer experienced non-researchers, non-computer experienced researchers, and non-computer experienced non-researchers, respectively. This report includes an assessment of general patterns of subject responses to the various aspects of the NASA Data Archive. Some of the aspects examined were interface-oriented, addressing such issues as whether the subject was able to locate information, figure out how to perform desired information retrieval tasks, etc. Other aspects were content-related. In doing these assessments, answers given to different questions were sometimes combined. This practice reflects the tendency of the subjects to provide answers expressing their experiences across question boundaries. Patterns of response are cross-examined by subject category in order to bring out deeper understandings of why subjects reacted the way they did to the archive. After the general assessment, there will be a more extensive summary of the replies received from the test subjects