Brand Equity in the Australian domestic beef market

Branding remains in a fairly nascent state within the Australian domestic beef market. Several brands have begun to emerge in recent years including Certified Angus, 1824, Hereford Prime, Stockyard Beef and Diamantina. However, these primarily cater for restaurant rather than household trade. This contrasts with other countries, such as the US, where branded beef makes up a large proportion of the domestic market. Using random parameter logit models we examine the willingness of consumers to pay for one type of branded beef, as well specific beef attributes, in a regional area of NSW. We find that there is evidence that segments of the population would be willing to pay for branded beef. The value of the brand is related to several sociodemographic characteristics, as well as attitudinal variables.Agricultural and Food Policy, Marketing,

Offset Banking - A Way Ahead For Controlling Nonpoint Source Pollution In Urban Areas in Georgia

Nonpoint source discharges remain the major cause of non-attainment of water quality goals in urban areas within Georgia. Hence controlling nonpoint source discharges will be a critical part of achieving water quality goals within urban areas. Efforts to reduce nonpoint discharges are expected to intensify with implementation of Total Maximum Daily Loads (TMDLs) and changes to National Pollutant Discharge Elimination Program (NPDES) permits.Given the need to reduce existing nonpoint source discharges in many urban counties within Georgia, it is likely that regulatory authorities will become more circumspect about approving new developments with negative environmental impacts. Thus, given current policies, conflicts between environmental and developmental goals are expected to increase in future years.In this working paper we discuss the use of Offset Banking, which is flexible mechanism that can facilitate development, but with no net environmental impact. Indeed, it is possible to design an Offset Banking program that results in net environmental improvements from additional development. As well as benefits to the environment, offset banking can provide benefits to developers by enabling further development to occur, reducing overall nonpoint source discharge control costs and reducing uncertainty within the development process.Offset Banking is conceptually similar to wetland mitigation banking, except that it focuses on the control of nonpoint source discharges. In an Offset Banking program, an "Offset Bank" undertakes a series of projects to reduce nonpoint source discharges. In return for undertaking these projects, the bank receives offset credits. When new developments create net environmental impacts, they must offset these impacts by purchasing credits from an offset bank with credits available from a nearby project. In this way, development can proceed without there being an overall negative impact on environmental quality, and potentially an environmental improvement if developers are required to purchase more credits than the pollution generated. Offset Banking thus represents a pragmatic solution to future conflicts between developmental and environmental goals within urban areas. Working Paper #2002-00

Valuing New South Wales rivers for use in benefit transfer

The results from seven choice modelling applications designed to value improved river health in New South Wales are reported. These applications were designed to provide value estimates that could be used, through benefit transfer, to value improvements in the health of other rivers within the state. Because of limitations on the number of rivers that could be valued and populations sampled, a pooled model for use in benefit transfer was also estimated. The results indicate that both use and non‐use values were found to exist for all catchments. In addition, value estimates were found to differ across catchments when populations resident within catchments were sampled. However, when populations resident outside catchments were sampled for two of these catchments, value estimates were found to be statistically similar. This indicates the importance of valuing improved river health in specific catchments by sampling populations within catchments. Yet, it also indicates that it is less critical to conduct multiple surveys of residents outside catchments to value improved river health.Resource /Energy Economics and Policy,

Communicating Climate Change: A Literature Review

For climate scientists, climate change is a problem that has a significant chance of having catastrophic environmental, social and economic consequences during the course of this century. In contrast, public opinion seems to regard with scepticism the pronouncements on climate change that emanate from the scientific community. Why the difference? This is what our research project was designed to examine. Or to put it another way: Assuming that the scientific information is correct, and that without a dramatic change in technology (and policy to promote such a change) there would be a significant risk of man-made, global catastrophe, what must be done to communicate this urgent issue to the public? We have approached the analysis of this problem by reviewing the literature on communicating climate change. By organising the literature according to the role of the major groups of participants in the information transfer process, useful insights can be gleaned. These groups include scientists, business, the government, the media and the general public. This analysis leads to an overall model of the information transfer process that highlights various issues including the role that the media plays as a lens through which the public observes scientific results.Climate change, media, scientists, business, government, the general public, literature review, Environmental Economics and Policy, Marketing, Resource /Energy Economics and Policy, 1402,

Attitudes of Georgia Irrigators Regarding the Use of Water Meters

The primary purpose of this paper is to provide information, in terms of these three stages, about the position of Georgia irrigators with regard to the adoption of water meters. Understanding where farmers are in the HEM can be useful to policy makers in deciding the mix of promotion, incentives, and regulation needed to encourage the adoption of water meters. Working Paper # 2003-00

The Politics of Medical Syncretism in the Ghanaian National Healthcare System

Efforts to create public policy integrating traditional/indigenous medical practices and practitioners into national healthcare strategies are currently being pursued in a variety of nations in the Africa region. The purpose of this research is to present a historical case study of the social and political factors associated with the passage of the Traditional Medicine Practice Act of 2000 in the West African nation of Ghana. Research methodology included conducting a thorough examination of available archival and secondary data as well as an abbreviated interview series (N=5). Research findings suggest that significant factors associated with Ghanaian medical revivalism were the role of cultural nationalism in creating a policy platform in the early post-independence period concerned primarily with redeveloping indigenous Ghanaian arts and sciences and the role of individual leadership -- personified by Kwame Nkrumah and Dr. Aku Ampofo

Variation in population synchrony in a multi-species seabird community: response to changes in predator abundance

Ecologically similar sympatric species, subject to typical environmental conditions, may be expected to exhibit synchronous temporal fluctuations in demographic parameters, while populations of dissimilar species might be expected to show less synchrony. Previous studies have tested for synchrony in different populations of single species, and those including data from more than one species have compared fluctuations in only one demographic parameter. We tested for synchrony in inter-annual changes in breeding population abundance and productivity among four tern species on Coquet Island, northeast England. We also examined how manipulation of one independent environmental variable (predator abundance) influenced temporal changes in ecologically similar and dissimilar tern species. Changes in breeding abundance and productivity of ecologically similar species (Arctic Sterna paradisaea, Common S. hirundo and Roseate Terns S. dougallii) were synchronous with one another over time, but not with a species with different foraging and breeding behaviour (Sandwich Terns Thalasseus sandvicensis). With respect to changes in predator abundance, there was no clear pattern. Roseate Tern abundance was negatively correlated with that of large gulls breeding on the island from 1975 to 2013, while Common Tern abundance was positively correlated with number of large gulls, and no significant correlations were found between large gull and Arctic and Sandwich Tern populations. Large gull abundance was negatively correlated with productivity of Arctic and Common Terns two years later, possibly due to predation risk after fledging, while no correlation with Roseate Tern productivity was found. The varying effect of predator abundance is most likely due to specific differences in the behaviour and ecology of even these closely-related species. Examining synchrony in multi-species assemblages improves our understanding of how whole communities react to long-term changes in the environment and suggests that changes in predator abundance may differentially affect populations of sympatric seabird species

Existentialist Themes in Three Works

The goals behind researching and writing this thesis are multifaceted and although many are outside of the scope of this paper, they express basic reasons for my choice. The paper is titled Existentialist Themes in Three Works , and development and discussion are literary and philosophical in focus. The first and most important reason for my choice was that, being a biology major, this project has provided the opportunity to pursue one of my minors, French. It has given me the chance to work under the direct tutelage of Dr. Lynne Goodhart, whom I would like to thank wholeheartedly. All three works were read in both French and English. Direct comparisons between the translations could then be made, greatly increasing my knowledge of French. Parallels in idiomatic language were quite interesting. Although my proficiency in French was not as I hoped or as it has been in the past, reading works in the author\u27s own language is best because many subtleties are indeed lost in translation . Also, I have developed a clearer understanding of one of the most debated philosophical theories of modern time, existentialism

The Mechanical and Electrochemical Properties of Bulk Metallic Glasses

Bulk metallic glasses (BMGs) represent an emerging class of materials with an amorphous structure and a unique combination of properties. Some of these outstanding properties include exceptionally high strength, large elastic deformation, near-net-shape formability, and superplasticity. However, these materials are not commonly used in structural applications because of a lack of plasticity and a lack of clarity in terms of deformation and failure mechanisms. Furthermore, the electrochemical behavior of these materials with and without loading is not well defined. Thus, the objectives of this study were to define and model the electrochemical and mechanical behaviors of BMGs, in addition to the interactions between these. The electrochemical behaviors of Zr-, Ti-, and Ca-based BMGs have been studied in various environments. Moreover, the electrochemical behaviors of several common, crystalline materials have also been characterized in the same environments to facilitate comparisons. In general, the Zr- and Ti-based BMG alloys demonstrated relatively good general corrosion resistance in all of the environments. Mean corrosion penetration rates (CPRs) were found to be less than 30 μm/year for these alloys. On the other hand, the Ca-based BMG alloys were found to be highly active with CPRs ranging from 300 – 5700 μm/year in a non-aggressive 0.05 M Na2SO4 electrolyte. Furthermore, most of these alloys were found to be susceptible to localized corrosion in these environments. However, the Zr- and Ti-based BMG alloys exhibited relatively high, positive values for both pitting overpotentials (ηpit) and protection overpotentials (ηpp). The Zr-based BMG commonly known as Vitreloy 105 (Vit 105) was selected for further studies. This material was fabricated at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory by arc-melting and drop-casting into a water-cooled, copper mold. Mechanical characterization of this alloy was conducted through four-point bend fatigue testing, as well as tensile testing with in situ thermography. Fatigue testing in air revealed that both the fatigue lives at various stresses and the fatigue endurance limit are similar to those reported for this material in uniaxial fatigue. This result alone demonstrates that the great differences in fatigue results reported in the literature are not due to differences in testing geometry. In fact, the larger scatter observed in four-point bend fatigue at a given stress range was found to be due to variations in material quality. Thus, material quality is believed to be the primary reason for the great differences in fatigue behavior of various BMG alloys that have been reported in the literature since 1995. After the electrochemical and mechanical behaviors of the Vit 105 BMG alloy were defined separately, the corrosion-fatigue behavior of this alloy was studied. Corrosion-fatigue tests were conducted under identical conditions as those utilized during fatigue testing in air. However, in this case, the environment was a 0.6 M NaCl electrolyte, identical to one of the environments in which the electrochemical behavior was previously defined. The environmental effect was found to be significant at most stress levels, with decreasing effects at higher stress levels due to decreasing time in the detrimental environment. Furthermore, the corrosion-fatigue endurance limit was found to be severely depressed to a stress range of less than 400 MPa. Again, the variation in the corrosion-fatigue data at a given stress range was found to be primarily dependent upon material quality. In addition, the crack-initiation locations were observed to shift from the inner span, in air, to the outer loading pins in the 0.6 M NaCl electrolyte. This shift in initiation locations was due to wear at the outer pins that removed the passive layer, which promoted pitting and crack initiation. Cyclic-anodic-polarization tests were conducted during cyclic loading to elucidate the effect of cyclic stresses on the electrochemical behavior. It was found that a stress range of 900 MPa resulted in active pitting at the open-circuit potentials. Thus, ηpit had shifted from high, positive values in the static condition to low, negative values under cyclic loading. Next, the degradation mechanism was examined by anodic and cathodic polarization. While cathodic polarization extended the fatigue life, anodic polarization severely degraded the fatigue life. Based upon these dramatic shifts in the fatigue lives at 900 MPa, it was concluded that the degradation mechanism is stress-assisted dissolution, not hydrogen embrittlement. Finally, tensile tests were conducted with the Vit 105 BMG alloy with in situ infrared (IR) thermography to observe the evolution of shear bands during deformation. More importantly, the length, location, sequence, temperature evolution, and velocity of individual shear bands have been quantified through the use of IR thermography. This study revealed that multiple shear bands can initiate, propagate, and arrest within the sample during a single tensile test, contrary to popular belief. After arrest, many shear bands were reactivated at a later time and higher stress and propagated before arresting again. The velocity of shear band propagation was estimated to be a minimum of 1 m/s. The temperature profiles along the axis of shear band propagation were found to continually decrease from the point of initiation to the point of arrest. This gradual decrease in the temperature as the shear band propagates suggests that arrest occurs because the driving mechanism slowly decreases until it is exhausted. A maximum temperature increase of approximately 2.6°C was observed in association with the propagation of shear bands. However, this temperature change is likely an underestimate of the actual increase in temperature generated by the shear band due to the limited temporal and spatial resolution of the IR camera and rapid heat conduction in the sample. Finally, the maximum temperature of a shear band has been shown to be the best predictor of the shear band length out of all of the parameters examined in this study. Based upon this correlation, it can be concluded that the final failure must have occurred when a critical shear-band temperature was attained in one or more of the shear bands, preventing the arrest of the shear band before it attained a critical length. Based upon all of these studies on a variety of BMG alloy systems, it is obvious that these materials are extremely sensitive to both material quality and surface defects. Therefore, future research on the improvement of BMG alloys should be focused on these areas. However, these materials possess a unique collection of desirable properties despite these drawbacks. Thus, it is possible that the shortcomings of this novel class of materials can be remedied through further study and understanding