Can a State Funded Rural Economic Development Program Positively Impact the State’s Economy? A Case Study Application using Texas Department of Agriculture’s Rural Tourism Economic Development Program

In this paper, we review the tourism impact from supported tourism events and measure their economic value to the local economy. The economic values are the result of visitor spending and extrapolated to total event attendance creates economic values from the state-supported event. Communities receiving funding were responsible for collecting visitor surveys to measure consumer spending as well as the community completing a survey to record the investment cost of the event. The results were that state support represented 14 percent of the total event investment and total event value from visitor spending was $7.8 million for 31 events. The state percent share in value represents$1.1 million and considering the program-expended funds of $147,276 there is a$7.50 return for every $1 of state funding. Economic impacts from the funds add additional value and measure total economic value to Texas. We conclude that state supported programs focusing in the area of partial marketing support can create positive return on investment value of state funding.tourism, economic development, Texas tourism, state sponsored tourism, Agribusiness, Agricultural and Food Policy, Community/Rural/Urban Development, Marketing,

State Funded Marketing and Promotional Activities to Support a State's Winery Business; Are There Economic Returns?: A Case study using Texas Senate Bill 1370's support of the Texas Wine Industry

Texas wineries responded to a survey regarding their participation in wine marketing activities, annual changes in gross sales and level of sales growth they attribute to TDA’s support and if these funds create positive economic impacts to their winery. The response rate was 53 of the 93 registered wineries or a 57 percent response rate. Senate Bill 1370 funds allocate annually $725,000 to marketing and promotion of Texas wine. Combining the$725,000 and the normal funding of $250,000 identifies$975,000 in annual support to grow economic value. The most often utilized promotional activity is promotional materials and attending TDA supported wine events. Ninety-two percent of Texas wineries recognize an increase in awareness for the Texas wine industry and attribute 49 percent of the increase to state marketing efforts. A portion of TDA marketing funds were directed towards supporting wine events in Texas as they attract large numbers of consumers and allow promotional opportunities. One result found that 68 percent of consumers reported the event encouraged them to buy more Texas wine. Annual Economic Impact Results from supported marketing activities are estimated to create $8.42 per$1 of funding in direct sales increases, $15.33 per$1 of funding in economic impact of increases in sales and $1.54 per$1 of funding in value added impacts (based on IMPLAN Type II Economic Multiplier values). Annual Economic Impact Results from all funding activities are $2.16 per$1 of funding of total direct sales increases, $3.93 per$1 of funding in economic impacts of increases in sales and $.40 per$1 of funding in valued added impacts (based on IMPLAN Type II Economic Multiplier values). It is apparent that both direct and indirect economic results are positive returns to program funding and create economic growth in local economies.Texas Wine, Wine Economics, State Commodity Support, State Agricultural Marketing, State Commodity Marketing, Agribusiness, Agricultural and Food Policy, Marketing,

Discerning Differences between Producer Groups and Organic Adoption Barriers in Texas

The number of certified organic operations in Texas has remained relatively stagnant while nationally the organic food sector has experienced double-digit growth. To understand why this occurring, a survey was distributed to a random sample of 4,006 Texas producers. The results will assist in developing strategies to promote the growth of organic production in Texas.Crop Production/Industries,

Electric field dependence of spin coherence in (001) GaAs/AlGaAs quantum wells

Conduction electron spin lifetimes ($T_1$) and spin coherence times ($T_2$) are strongly modified in semiconductor quantum wells by electric fields. Quantitative calculations in GaAs/AlGaAs quantum wells at room temperature show roughly a factor of four enhancement in the spin lifetimes at optimal values of the electric fields. The much smaller enhancement compared to previous calculations is due to overestimates of the zero-field spin lifetime and the importance of nonlinear effects.Comment: 5 pages, 3 figure

Manipulation of External Tachodynamometer by the Patient: Case Report

External tachodynamometer has frequently been used to evaluate premature labor. In three cases, the patient was apparently able to record uterine contraction-like curves by means of abdominal pressure. In two of these cases, the patient was evidently using this manipulation to gain attention and support from her husband and/or family members. In the third case, described in this paper, because false curves were recorded, an emergency Caesarean section was performed under the impression that abruptio placenta had occurred

Location of an agribusiness enterprise with respect to economic viability: a risk analysis

This study analyzes the economic and geographic effects of alternative locations on risky investment decisions in a probabilistic framework. Historically, alternative locations for multi-million dollar investments are often evaluated with deterministic models that rely on expected values or best case/worst case scenarios. Stochastic simulation was used to estimate the probability distribution for select key output variables, including net present value (NPV), of a proposed biomass to ethanol production facility in three alternative regions in Texas. The simulated NPV probability distributions were compared using Stochastic Efficiency with Respect to a Function (SERF) to predict the location preference of decision makers with alternative levels of risk aversion. Risk associated with input availability and costs were analyzed for the proposed plant locations so each location resulted in different levels of economic viability and risk that would not have been observed with a traditional deterministic analysis. For all analyzed scenarios, the projected financial feasibility results show a positive NPV over the 16 year planning horizon with a small probability of being negative. The SERF results indicate the Central Region of Texas is preferred for risk averse decision makers compared to the Panhandle and Coastal Bend Regions. Risk premiums were calculated for the alternative locations and are consistent for all risk averse decision makers, indicating the ranking of alternative locations are robust. Positive community impacts and sensitivity elasticities for key variables were estimated in the model. The estimated positive economic gains for the local economy are quite large and indicate locating a production facility in the region could substantially impact the local economy. The calculated sensitivity elasticities show ethanol price, ethanol yield, and hydrogen price are the three variables that have the greatest affect on the feasibility of a biomass to ethanol production facility

LOCATION OF A MIXALCO PRODUCTION FACILITY WITH RESPECT TO ECONOMIC VIABILITY

Monte-Carlo simulation modeling is used to perform a feasibility study of alternative locations for a MixAlco production facility. Net present value distributions will be ranked within feasible risk aversion boundaries. If MixAlco is a profitable investment, it would have a major impact on the fuel oxygenate and gasoline markets.Resource /Energy Economics and Policy,

Non-magnetic semiconductor spin transistor

We propose a spin transistor using only non-magnetic materials that exploits the characteristics of bulk inversion asymmetry (BIA) in (110) symmetric quantum wells. We show that extremely large spin splittings due to BIA are possible in (110) InAs/GaSb/AlSb heterostructures, which together with the enhanced spin decay times in (110) quantum wells demonstrates the potential for exploitation of BIA effects in semiconductor spintronics devices. Spin injection and detection is achieved using spin-dependent resonant interband tunneling and spin transistor action is realized through control of the electron spin lifetime in an InAs lateral transport channel using an applied electric field (Rashba effect). This device may also be used as a spin valve, or a magnetic field sensor. The electronic structure and spin relaxation times for the spin transistor proposed here are calculated using a nonperturbative 14-band k.p nanostructure model.Comment: Accepted for publication in Applied Physics Letter