ECO-LABELING STRATEGIES: THE ECO-PREMIUM PUZZLE IN THE WINE INDUSTRY

Eco-labeling signals that a product has been eco-certified. While there is increasing use of eco-labeling practices, there is still little understanding of the conditions under which eco-labels can command price premiums. In this paper, we argue that the certification of environmental practices by a third party should be analyzed as a strategy distinct from although related to the advertisement of the eco-certification through a label posted on the product. By assessing eco-labeling and eco-certification strategies separately, we are able to identify benefits associated with the certification process independently from those associated with the actual label. More specifically, we argue in the context of the wine industry that eco-certification can provide benefits, such as improved reputation in the industry or increased product quality, which can lead to a price premium without the need to use the eco-label. We estimate this price premium of wine due to the eco-certification of grapes using 13,400 observations of wine price, quality rating, varietals, vintage, and number of bottles produced, for the period 1998-2005. Overall, certifying wine increases the price by 13%, yet including an eco-label reduces the price by 20%. This result confirms the negative connotation associated by consumers with organic wine. The price premium of this luxury good due to certification acts independently from its label, a confounding result not previously demonstrated by related literature.organic wine, wine market, price premium, eco-wine, Demand and Price Analysis, Environmental Economics and Policy,

Does Daylight Saving Time Save Energy? Evidence from a Natural Experiment in Indiana

The history of Daylight Saving Time (DST) has been long and controversial. Throughout its implementation during World Wars I and II, the oil embargo of the 1970s, consistent practice today, and recent extensions, the primary rationale for DST has always been to promote energy conservation. Nevertheless, there is surprisingly little evidence that DST actually saves energy. This paper takes advantage of a natural experiment in the state of Indiana to provide the first empirical estimates of DST effects on electricity consumption in the United States since the mid-1970s. Focusing on residential electricity demand, we conduct the first-ever study that uses micro-data on households to estimate an overall DST effect. The dataset consists of more than 7 million observations on monthly billing data for the vast majority of households in southern Indiana for three years. Our main finding is that -- contrary to the policy's intent -- DST increases residential electricity demand. Estimates of the overall increase are approximately 1 percent, but we find that the effect is not constant throughout the DST period. DST causes the greatest increase in electricity consumption in the fall, when estimates range between 2 and 4 percent. These findings are consistent with simulation results that point to a tradeoff between reducing demand for lighting and increasing demand for heating and cooling. We estimate a cost of increased electricity bills to Indiana households of $9 million per year. We also estimate social costs of increased pollution emissions that range from$1.7 to $5.5 million per year. Finally, we argue that the effect is likely to be even stronger in other regions of the United States.

A longitudinal study of factors associated with acute and chronic mastitis and their impact on lamb growth rate in 10 suckler sheep flocks in Great Britain

A 2-year prospective, longitudinal study of 10 suckler sheep flocks in Great Britain was run to identify factors associated with acute mastitis (AM) and chronic mastitis, and their impact on lamb growth rate. Data were collected on AM, intramammary masses (IMM; a marker for chronic mastitis), udder and teat conformation, teat lesions, body condition, ewe nutrition, litter size, lamb weight and general flock management. Each flock was visited twice each year, approximately 4 weeks before lambing and 9 weeks into lactation, for two years and all ewes present at a visit were examined. There were 7021 examinations in total. AM was reported in 2.1–3.0% of ewes/year; this ranged from 0.0% to 37.1% by flock. IMM were detected in 4.7% of ewes in pregnancy and 10.9% of ewes in lactation. Once an IMM had been detected there was an increased risk of future IMM although IMM were not consistently present. The majority of ewes had good udder conformation to suckle lambs. Factors associated with AM, IMM in pregnant and lactating ewes, udder conformation and lamb daily live weight gain were explored using mixed effect multivariable models. An increased risk of AM was associated with underfeeding protein in pregnancy (OR 4.05), forward pointing teats (OR 2.54), downward pointing teats (OR 4.68), rearing ≥ 2 lambs (OR 2.65), non-traumatic teat lesions (OR 2.09); and marginally associated with the presence of IMM. An increased risk of IMM in lactation was associated with AM during lactation (OR 12.39), IMM in pregnancy (OR 4.79), IMM in the previous lactation (OR 4.77), underfeeding energy in pregnancy (OR 6.66) and traumatic teat lesions (OR 2.48). An increased risk of IMM in pregnancy was associated with IMM in the previous pregnancy, IMM in the previous lactation and underfeeding energy in the previous lactation (OR 2.95). Lower lamb daily live weight gain was associated with traumatic teat lesions, IMM in lactation (−0.01 kg/day) and AM (−0.04 kg/day). We conclude that inadequate nutrition is an important cause of mastitis in suckler ewes which farmers could address in part using current nutritional guidelines but further work is needed. The relationship between AM and IMM indicates that separating or culling ewes with IMM would help reduce AM

Heritability of phenotypic udder traits to improve resilience to mastitis in Texel ewes

There are no estimates of the heritability of phenotypic udder traits in suckler sheep, which produce meat lambs, and whether these are associated with resilience to mastitis. Mastitis is a common disease which damages the mammary gland and reduces productivity. The aims of this study were to investigate the feasibility of collecting udder phenotypes, their heritability and their association with mastitis in suckler ewes. Udder and teat conformation, teat lesions, intramammary masses (IMM) and litter size were recorded from 10 Texel flocks in Great Britain between 2012 and 2014; 968 records were collected. Pedigree data were obtained from an online pedigree recording system. Univariate quantitative genetic parameters were estimated using animal and sire models. Linear mixed models were used to analyse continuous traits and generalised linear mixed models were used to analyse binary traits. Continuous traits had higher heritabilities than binary with teat placement and teat length heritability (h2) highest at 0.35 (SD 0.04) and 0.42 (SD 0.04), respectively. Udder width, drop and separation heritabilities were lower and varied with udder volume. The heritabilities of IMM and teat lesions (sire model) were 0.18 (SD 0.12) and 0.17 (SD 0.11), respectively. All heritabilities were sufficiently high to be in a selection programme to increase resilience to mastitis in the population of Texel sheep. Further studies are required to investigate genetic relationships between traits and to determine whether udder traits predict IMM, and the potential benefits from including traits in a selection programme to increase resilience to chronic mastitis

Heavily loaded ferrite-polymer composites to produce high refractive index materials at centimetre wavelengths

A cold-pressing technique has been developed for fabricating composites composed of a polytetrafluoroethylene-polymer matrix and a wide range of volume-fractions of MnZn-ferrite filler (0%–80%). The electromagnetic properties at centimetre wavelengths of all prepared composites exhibited good reproducibility, with the most heavily loaded composites possessing simultaneously high permittivity (180 ± 10) and permeability (23±2). The natural logarithm of both the relative complex permittivity and permeability shows an approximately linear dependence with the volume fraction of ferrite. Thus, this simple method allows for the manufacture of bespoke materials required in the design and construction of devices based on the principles of transformation optics

Cortical and subcortical alterations associated with precision visuomotor behavior in individuals with autism spectrum disorder

In addition to core deficits in social-communication abilities and repetitive behaviors and interests, many 2 patients with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) experience developmental comorbidities, including 3 sensorimotor issues. Sensorimotor issues are common in ASD and associated with more severe clinical 4 symptoms. Importantly, sensorimotor behaviors are precisely quantifiable and highly translational, 5 offering promising targets for neurophysiological studies of ASD. We used functional MRI to identify 6 brain regions associated with sensorimotor behavior using a visually-guided precision gripping task in 7 individuals with ASD (N=20) and age-, IQ-, and handedness-matched controls (N=18). During 8 visuomotor behavior, individuals with ASD showed greater force variability than controls. BOLD signal 9 for multiple cortical and subcortical regions was associated with force variability, including motor and 10 premotor cortex, posterior parietal cortex, extrastriate cortex, putamen, and cerebellum. Activation in 11 right premotor cortex scaled with sensorimotor variability in controls, but not in ASD. Individuals with 12 ASD showed greater activation than controls in left putamen and left cerebellar lobule VIIb and activation 13 in these regions was associated with more severe clinically-rated symptoms of ASD. Together, these 14 results suggest that greater sensorimotor variability in ASD is associated with altered cortical-striatal 15 processes supporting action selection and cortical-cerebellar circuits involved in feedback-guided reactive 16 adjustments of motor output. Our findings also indicate that atypical organization of visuomotor cortical 17 circuits may result in heightened reliance on subcortical circuits typically dedicated to motor skill 18 acquisition. Overall, these results provide new evidence that sensorimotor alterations in ASD involve 19 aberrant cortical and subcortical organization that may contribute to key clinical issues in patients. 20 21 New and noteworthy: This is the first known study to examine functional brain activation during 22 precision visuomotor behavior in autism spectrum disorder (ASD). We replicate previous findings of 23 elevated force variability in ASD and find these deficits are associated with atypical function of ventral 24 premotor cortex, putamen, and posterolateral cerebellum, indicating cortical-striatal processes supporting 25 action selection and cortical-cerebellar circuits involved in feedback-guided reactive adjustments of motor 26 output may be key targets for understanding the neurobiology of ASD.NICHD 055751NIMH R01 12743-01NCATS TL1 TR002368,Kansas Center for Autism Research and Training (K-CART) Research Investment Council Strategic Initiative Gran

University Students’ Perceptions of Social Justice: The Impact of Implementing a Summer Camp for Children with Disabilities

University students who experience real‐world service tend to develop a more inclusive world view and enhanced understandings outside of their personal perspectives. This project combined course objectives, community collaboration, and service provision to identify the impact of students’ understanding of social justice and disability access realities. The purpose of this study was to explore the impact of a service‐learning university course on social justice education. The study explored how constructs including empathy, attitudes towards diversity, self‐efficacy, and personal communication (of undergraduate university students) were impacted by interactions with children with disabilities in a summer camp setting that included various activities (e.g., art, equestrian). The study utilized surveys completed by university students prior to a service‐learning experience and again after the project. Pre‐ and during‐ camp reflection data were also analyzed

Nutrition and the circadian system

The human circadian system anticipates and adapts to daily environmental changes to optimise behaviour according to time of day and temporally partitions incompatible physiological processes. At the helm of this system is a master clock in the suprachiasmatic nuclei (SCN) of the anterior hypothalamus. The SCN are primarily synchronised to the 24-h day by the light/dark cycle; however, feeding/fasting cycles are the primary time cues for clocks in peripheral tissues. Aligning feeding/fasting cycles with clock-regulated metabolic changes optimises metabolism, and studies of other animals suggest that feeding at inappropriate times disrupts circadian system organisation, and thereby contributes to adverse metabolic consequences and chronic disease development. ‘High-fat diets’ (HFD) produce particularly deleterious effects on circadian system organisation in rodents by blunting feeding/fasting cycles. Time-of-day-restricted feeding, where food availability is restricted to a period of several hours, offsets many adverse consequences of HFD in these animals; however, further evidence is required to assess whether the same is true in humans. Several nutritional compounds have robust effects on the circadian system. Caffeine, for example, can speed synchronisation to new time zones after jetlag. An appreciation of the circadian system has many implications for nutritional science and may ultimately help reduce the burden of chronic diseases

Development of a tandem affinity phosphoproteomic method with motif selectivity and its application in analysis of signal transduction networks

Phosphorylation is an important post-translational modification that is involved in regulating many signaling pathways. Of particular interest are the growth factor mediated Ras and phosphoinositide 3-kinase (PI3K) signaling pathways which, if misregulated, can contribute to the progression of cancer. Phosphoproteomic methods have been developed to study regulation of signaling pathways; however, due to the low stoichiometry of phosphorylation, understanding these pathways is still a challenge. In this study, we have developed a multi-dimensional method incorporating electrostatic repulsion-hydrophilic interaction chromatography (ERLIC) with tandem IMAC-TiO2 enrichment for subsequent phosphopeptide identification by LC/MS/MS. We applied this method to PDGF-stimulated NIH 3T3 cells to provide over 11,000 unique phosphopeptide identifications. Upon motif analysis, IMAC was found to enrich for basophilic kinase substrates while the subsequent TiO2 step enriched for acidophilic kinase substrates, suggesting that both enrichment methods are necessary to capture the full complement of kinase substrates. Biological functions that were over-represented at each PDGF stimulation time point, together with the phosphorylation dynamics of several phosphopeptides containing known kinase phosphorylation sites illustrate the feasibility of this approach in quantitative phosphoproteomic studies