USING ECOLABELING TO ENCOURAGE ADOPTION OF INNOVATIVE ENVIRONMENTAL TECHNOLOGIES IN AGRICULTURE

Environmental Economics and Policy,

CONSUMER DEMAND FOR ECOLABELED APPLES: RESULTS FROM ECONOMETRIC ESTIMATION

This article presents a theory and empirical estimates of consumer demand for ecolabeled apples. The effect of varying comprehensiveness of environmental claims and amount of proof supporting claims is examined. Data are from telephone interviews with 893 randomly selected U.S. households. Substantial demand for ecolabeled apples is found. Variations in claim comprehensiveness and amount of proof are statistically insignificant.Demand and Price Analysis, Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety,

CONSUMER DEMAND FOR ECOLABELED APPLES: SURVEY METHODS AND DESCRIPTIVE RESULTS

This paper examines potential consumer demand for ecolabeled apples. Since apples are purchased by 90% of U.S. households, we are able to investigate the choices of a large and diverse cross section of consumers. Focusing on a single agricultural product such as apples enables us to investigate more specific and realistic consumer choices. This paper also examines how different types of ecolabel claims might affect consumer demand. Ecolabels may vary in terms of the comprehensiveness of their environmental claims and the amount of proof substantiating claims. Ecolabels might claim to reduce only a single environmental impact or they might claim to reduce multiple environmental impacts. There may be no proof for the claims other than seller reputation or the claims might be documented and verified by a highly reputable third party (e.g. government agency, private firm, non-profit environmental group). Each unique combination of claim comprehensiveness and proof represents a different ecolabel and thus a different good. This paper examines how two levels of claim comprehensiveness and two forms of proof affect consumer demand. Finally, this paper examines factors affecting consumer demand for ecolabels. These factors include prices, income, household size and education. They also include familiarity with the claim and personal motivations such as improved health and environmental concerns. Both the purchase location of apples and whether or not an individual normally buys organic are also examined.Demand and Price Analysis, Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety,

\u3ci\u3eSteganoderma\u3c/i\u3e Stafford, 1904 (Digenea: Zoogonidae: Lepidophyllinae) from Two Species of Rockfishes from Deep Waters off Oregon Including a New Species and an Updated Key to Species of This Genus

Steganoderma eamiqtrema n. sp. and a single unidentified specimen of Steganoderma Stafford, 1904 (Zoogonidae: Lepidophyllinae) obtained from the intestine of the greenstriped rockfish, Sebastes elongatus Ayres, 1859, and the flag rockfish, Sebastes rubrivinctus (Jordan and Gilbert, 1880) (Scorpaeniformes: Sebastidae), collected from 190–200 m depths off Oregon, USA, are described. The new species is distinguished from its seven other congeners by a diagnostic combination of morphological features including an elongate oval to spindle-shaped body, a clavate to comma-shaped cirrus pouch located in the forebody and hindbody, a bipartite seminal vesicle, a bifurcal or just post-bifurcal genital pore, a larger ventral than oral sucker, and a smooth testes and ovary with a relatively small distance between them. We present an updated key to the eight species now in Steganoderma and provide a list of parasites known from Se. elongatus and Se. rubrivinctus. The discovery of S. eamiqtrema in Se. elongatus represents the second species of zoogonid known from this host, and the finding of Steganoderma sp. in Se. rubrivinctus represents the first report of a digenean from this host species. A detailed discussion also is given of the type species, S. formosum Stafford, 1904, and questions are raised as to whether this species has a worldwide distribution and infects such a wide variety of fish hosts. We present evidence including variation we observed in redescriptions of the type species, query the implausible idea that there could be gene flow between conspecific helminths geographically separated in the North Atlantic and North Pacific Oceans over such a vast geological period, and offer the possibility that some prior reports of S. formosum may, indeed, be S. eamiqtrema; all of which suggests S. formosum sensu lato may be part of a species complex and not the same worldwide species. Steganoderma is represented in the deep sea by S. eamiqtrema, S. formosum, and Steganoderma sp., and limited speculation is given as to the host specificity of this genus and life history strategies of the new species in deeper waters. Finally, molecular studies of species of Steganoderma are sorely needed (i.e., there is no DNA sequence data currently available in GenBank for any species of this genus), and we suspect that with further molecular, morphological, and life history work, this genus will be taxonomically divided up

Mammographic density. Measurement of mammographic density

Mammographic density has been strongly associated with increased risk of breast cancer. Furthermore, density is inversely correlated with the accuracy of mammography and, therefore, a measurement of density conveys information about the difficulty of detecting cancer in a mammogram. Initial methods for assessing mammographic density were entirely subjective and qualitative; however, in the past few years methods have been developed to provide more objective and quantitative density measurements. Research is now underway to create and validate techniques for volumetric measurement of density. It is also possible to measure breast density with other imaging modalities, such as ultrasound and MRI, which do not require the use of ionizing radiation and may, therefore, be more suitable for use in young women or where it is desirable to perform measurements more frequently. In this article, the techniques for measurement of density are reviewed and some consideration is given to their strengths and limitations

Identification and reconstruction of low-energy electrons in the ProtoDUNE-SP detector

Measurements of electrons from $\nu_e$ interactions are crucial for the Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment (DUNE) neutrino oscillation program, as well as searches for physics beyond the standard model, supernova neutrino detection, and solar neutrino measurements. This article describes the selection and reconstruction of low-energy (Michel) electrons in the ProtoDUNE-SP detector. ProtoDUNE-SP is one of the prototypes for the DUNE far detector, built and operated at CERN as a charged particle test beam experiment. A sample of low-energy electrons produced by the decay of cosmic muons is selected with a purity of 95%. This sample is used to calibrate the low-energy electron energy scale with two techniques. An electron energy calibration based on a cosmic ray muon sample uses calibration constants derived from measured and simulated cosmic ray muon events. Another calibration technique makes use of the theoretically well-understood Michel electron energy spectrum to convert reconstructed charge to electron energy. In addition, the effects of detector response to low-energy electron energy scale and its resolution including readout electronics threshold effects are quantified. Finally, the relation between the theoretical and reconstructed low-energy electron energy spectrum is derived and the energy resolution is characterized. The low-energy electron selection presented here accounts for about 75% of the total electron deposited energy. After the addition of lost energy using a Monte Carlo simulation, the energy resolution improves from about 40% to 25% at 50~MeV. These results are used to validate the expected capabilities of the DUNE far detector to reconstruct low-energy electrons.Comment: 19 pages, 10 figure

Impact of cross-section uncertainties on supernova neutrino spectral parameter fitting in the Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment

A primary goal of the upcoming Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment (DUNE) is to measure the $\mathcal{O}(10)$ MeV neutrinos produced by a Galactic core-collapse supernova if one should occur during the lifetime of the experiment. The liquid-argon-based detectors planned for DUNE are expected to be uniquely sensitive to the $\nu_e$ component of the supernova flux, enabling a wide variety of physics and astrophysics measurements. A key requirement for a correct interpretation of these measurements is a good understanding of the energy-dependent total cross section $\sigma(E_\nu)$ for charged-current $\nu_e$ absorption on argon. In the context of a simulated extraction of supernova $\nu_e$ spectral parameters from a toy analysis, we investigate the impact of $\sigma(E_\nu)$ modeling uncertainties on DUNE's supernova neutrino physics sensitivity for the first time. We find that the currently large theoretical uncertainties on $\sigma(E_\nu)$ must be substantially reduced before the $\nu_e$ flux parameters can be extracted reliably: in the absence of external constraints, a measurement of the integrated neutrino luminosity with less than 10\% bias with DUNE requires $\sigma(E_\nu)$ to be known to about 5%. The neutrino spectral shape parameters can be known to better than 10% for a 20% uncertainty on the cross-section scale, although they will be sensitive to uncertainties on the shape of $\sigma(E_\nu)$. A direct measurement of low-energy $\nu_e$-argon scattering would be invaluable for improving the theoretical precision to the needed level.Comment: 25 pages, 21 figure

Observation of the Rare Decay of the η Meson to Four Muons

A search for the rare η→μ+μ−μ+μ− double-Dalitz decay is performed using a sample of proton-proton collisions, collected by the CMS experiment at the CERN LHC with high-rate muon triggers during 2017 and 2018 and corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 101  fb−1. A signal having a statistical significance well in excess of 5 standard deviations is observed. Using the η→μ+μ− decay as normalization, the branching fraction B(η→μ+μ−μ+μ−)=[5.0±0.8(stat)±0.7(syst)±0.7(B2μ)]×10−9 is measured, where the last term is the uncertainty in the normalization channel branching fraction. This work achieves an improved precision of over 5 orders of magnitude compared to previous results, leading to the first measurement of this branching fraction, which is found to agree with theoretical predictions