Genotyping: What Applied Economists Should Know

Livestock Production/Industries,

FLOOD EASEMENTS

We examine the efficiency of current flood risk allocation and the use of flood easements as a means of reallocating flood risk and reducing total flood damages in large river floodplains. Changes in agricultural floodplain land use and levels of crop insurance coverage as the risk of flooding changes are simulated using mathematical programming. The net benefits of flood easements to a portion of the Lagrange Reach of the Illinois River region are then simulated. Our results indicate that flood easements may provide positive net benefits. This positive result stems primarily from the decreased risk of flooding for non-inundated agricultural levee districts, rather than from reduced municipal flood damages. Our results are robust to changes in the estimated dollar damages, yet extremely sensitive to changes in hydrological estimates.Resource /Energy Economics and Policy,

The Value of Genetic Information to Bull Buyers: A Combined Revealed, Stated Preference Approach

Livestock Production/Industries,

Viséan

The quality exposure of Viséan rocks in southern Belgium, the diversity of facies, the pioneer palaeontological works that started in the mid 19th century and the development of the foraminifer, conodont and rugose corals zonations in the last decades were the main elements for the promotion of the international use of the Viséan Stage. Southern Belgium is probably the best-documented area for the Viséan Stage in the world. In the Namur-Dinant Basin the submarine topographic irregularities inherited from the late Tournaisian and due to different sedimentation rates on the platform, in the basin and on the Waulsortian buildups were progressively smoothed out by the Viséan sedimentation. During the Tournaisian/Viséan transition, the central Dinant type area was in a peculiar, restricted environment and poorly fossiliferous, peri-Waulsortian facies developed. A new criterion for a better definition of the base of the stage was needed and has now been adopted. It is based on the evolutionary lineage of the foraminifer Eoparastaffella. A proposed new GSSP (Global Stratotype Section and Point) in Southern China (the Pengchong section) is still under discussion, but the term Viséan will remain as a stage corresponding to the Middle Series of the Mississippian Subsystem

Ivorian

The Ivorian Substage is the upper division of the Tournaisian. Its base, emended in this paper, corresponds to the first appearance of the conodont Polygnathus communis carina in the Yvoir railway station section. Its top is defined by the base of the Moliniacian Substage which corresponds now to the base of the Viséan. The Ivorian is characterized by a rich and diversified conodont fauna throughout and by a diversification of the foraminifers in its upper part. It is therefore very well zoned and precisely correlated across the Franco-Belgian Basin and beyond. Its upper boundary is marked by a drastic reduction of the conodont fauna and the disappearance of selected Tournaisian foraminiferal taxa. Ivorian sedimentation reflects the evolution of the Namur-Dinant Basin from a homoclinal ramp in the early Tournaisian to a broad shelf of regional extent in the late Tournaisian. Waulsortian buildups started growing in the distal part of the ramp during early Ivorian and formed a discontinuous barrier over the southwestern part of the Dinant Sedimentation Area. Distal peri-Waulsortian facies are dominated by cherty crinoidal wacke- to packstones, thick-bedded crinoidal packtsones, grainstones and dolostones. An oolitic grainstone, the Avins Mbr of the Longpré Fm, caps the Ivorian succession in the inner shelf. Proximal peri-Waulsortian facies are cherty crinoidal wacke- to packstones and purplish blue, poorly fossiliferous wacke- to packstones

Tournaisian

The main elements that prompted the international community to use the Tournaisian as a name for the oldest stage of the Mississippian Subsystem are the same as those for the Viséan, i. e., the quality of exposures in southern Belgium, the diversity of facies, the pioneering palaeontological work that started in the mid 19th century and development of foraminiferal, conodont and rugose corals zonations in the last decades. The numerous Tournaisian sections in southern Belgium document a progressive change in environmental setting, from a ramp during the early Tournaisian to a shelf during the late Tournaisian. The spectacular late Tournaisian Waulsortian buildups that occurred within 2 third-order sequences had a strong impact on subsequent Viséan sedimentation. Recent advances in understanding the sequence stratigraphy has led to new insights on correlation between the central Dinant Sedimentation Area and more proximal areas

Moliniacian

The Moliniacian is the basal division of the Viséan in Belgium (regional Substage). Its base is identified by the entry of the foraminifer Eoparastaffella simplex in the Salet road section and correlates with the base of the Viséan Stage. Its top is defined by the base of the Livian Substage and coincides with a major bentonite, the ‘Banc d’or de Bachant’. It correlates with the late Chadian to Arundian of the British Isles and it provides a record of the final stage of the evolution of the Namur-Dinant Basin from a homoclinal ramp (in the Tournaisian) to a broad shelf of regional extend (end of the Moliniacian). It is characterized by varied facies reflecting different sedimentary environments across the basin and rich foraminifer and coral faunas that allow good biostratigraphic correlation. It is known from numerous sections in Belgium and Northern France

AN ECONOMIC ANALYSIS OF GENETIC INFORMATION: LEPTIN GENOTYPING IN FED CATTLE

The use of genetic knowledge is widespread in crop production but is just recently being utilized in livestock production. This study investigates the economic value to feedlots of a polymorphism in the bovine leptin gene. Previous studies indicate that this polymorphism is associated with fat deposition. Since fed cattle are often priced on a grid that considers both yield and quality grades, fat deposition is an important factor in the value and profitability of fed cattle. Using data from 590 crossbred steers and heifers, we estimate growth curves for relevant biological traits, both with and without genotypic information. Using the resulting functions, we then simulate carcass traits to various days-on-feed and compute the associated profit under three price grids. Maximum profits are determined in an unconstrained profit maximization model and in a model that constrains cattle to be marketed in 45-head "potloads." Results indicate that leptin genotypic knowledge has little impact on optimal days-on-feed but may play a role in valuing feeder cattle. The differences in value of cattle varied by as much as $37 per head between genotypes.genetics, leptin genotype, beef cattle, value of information, Livestock Production/Industries,

Modelling ricochet of a cylinder on water using ALE and SPH methods

The ricochet means the rebound off a surface and is a very important scenario in engineering applications. The specific case of an impact of a solid steel body on a water surface has been chosen for the ricochet example. This solid body hits the water surface with a certain velocity and angle and their dependency on the ricochet behaviour is of interest. This impact scenario can be further developed for more complex impact scenarios, like the ditching of aeroplanes, and has been extensively studied in the past. Due to that fact, it was decided to compare the two numerical analyses with each other; SPH in the internal developed code MCM at Cranfield University with the ALE method in the commercial programme LS-Dyna. The early state of the development was the reason that a 2D model was developed in the 3D solver and therefore verification with another method crucial. Therefore the two simulations were set up and the ricochet behaviour investigated. In contrast to the experimental results, these results demonstrate that independent of the numerical method, both models show an unexpected overproduction of ricochet at higher impact velocities, but agree in their over prediction. The benefits arising out of the collaborative approach of SPH and ALE to describe a problem are presented