Consumer Preferences for Organic and Fair Trade Chocolate: Implications for Sustainable Agriculture in the Developing World

This paper examines results of a consumer survey measuring consumer awareness and attitudes concerning two labels, certified organic and certified Fair Trade. These labels provide information about the social, economic and environmental sustainability of the production and marketing practices of goods imported from the developing world. Conjoint analysis is used to measure how consumers value organic and fair trade compared to other attributes like price. Results indicate favorable attitudes and value placed on these the sustainable attributes, and imply a role for these labels to provide incentives for the adoption of more sustainable practices.conjoint analysis, Fair Trade, organic, Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety,

ECONOMIES OF SIZE IN PROCESSING MANUFACTURED DAIRY PRODUCTS AND IMPLICATIONS FOR THE SOUTHERN DAIRY INDUSTRY

Livestock Production/Industries,

Simulation-assisted control in building energy management systems

Technological advances in real-time data collection, data transfer and ever-increasing computational power are bringing simulation-assisted control and on-line fault detection and diagnosis (FDD) closer to reality than was imagined when building energy management systems (BEMSs) were introduced in the 1970s. This paper describes the development and testing of a prototype simulation-assisted controller, in which a detailed simulation program is embedded in real-time control decision making. Results from an experiment in a full-scale environmental test facility demonstrate the feasibility of predictive control using a physically-based thermal simulation program

PAN AIR: A computer program for predicting subsonic or supersonic linear potential flows about arbitrary configurations using a higher order panel method. Volume 2: User's manual (version 3.0)

A comprehensive description of user problem definition for the PAN AIR (Panel Aerodynamics) system is given. PAN AIR solves the 3-D linear integral equations of subsonic and supersonic flow. Influence coefficient methods are used which employ source and doublet panels as boundary surfaces. Both analysis and design boundary conditions can be used. This User's Manual describes the information needed to use the PAN AIR system. The structure and organization of PAN AIR are described, including the job control and module execution control languages for execution of the program system. The engineering input data are described, including the mathematical and physical modeling requirements. Version 3.0 strictly applies only to PAN AIR version 3.0. The major revisions include: (1) inputs and guidelines for the new FDP module (which calculates streamlines and offbody points); (2) nine new class 1 and class 2 boundary conditions to cover commonly used modeling practices, in particular the vorticity matching Kutta condition; (3) use of the CRAY solid state Storage Device (SSD); and (4) incorporation of errata and typo's together with additional explanation and guidelines

Entry in the ADHD drugs market: Welfare impact of generics and me-toos

Recent decades have seen a growth in treatments for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) including many branded and generic drugs. In the early 2000's, new drug entry dramatically altered market shares. We estimate a demand system for ADHD drugs and assess the welfare impact of new drugs. We find that entry induced large welfare gains by reducing prices of substitute drugs, and by providing alternative delivery mechanisms for existing molecules. Our results suggest that the success of follow-on patented drugs may come from unanticipated innovations like delivery mechanisms, a factor ignored by proposals to retard new follow-on drug approvals

A search for evidence of irradiation in Centaurus X-4 during quiescence

We present a study of the neutron star X-Ray Transient Cen X-4. Our aim is to look for any evidence of irradiation of the companion with a detailed analysis of its radial velocity curve, relative contribution of the donor star and Doppler tomography of the main emission lines. To improve our study all our data are compared with a set of simulations that consider different physical parameters of the system, like the disc aperture angle and the mass ratio. We conclude that neither the radial velocity curve nor the orbital variation of the relative donor's contribution to the total flux are affected by irradiation. On the other hand, we do see emission from the donor star at H${\alpha}$ and HeI 5876 which we tentatively attribute to irradiation effects. In particular, the H${\alpha}$ emission from the companion is clearly asymmetric and we suggest is produced by irradiation from the hot-spot. Finally, from the velocity of the HeI 5876 spot we constrain the disc opening angle to alpha=7-14 deg.Comment: 4 pages, 5 figures, accepted for publication in A&A as a R

Investigating Demand for Weather Index Insurance: Experimental Evidence from Ethiopia

There is much interest in weather index insurance as a poverty‐mitigating tool, but concerns persist about potential demand for the product among the poorest of the poor. This paper relates the experiences in rural areas of Tigray region, Ethiopia through both commercial sign‐up data and a series of experimental games conducted to test demand for weather index insurance. Demand was observed to be considerable in both.Risk and Uncertainty,

A web-based and mobile health social support intervention to promote adherence to inhaled asthma medications: randomized controlled trial

Background: Online communities hold great potential as interventions for health, particularly for the management of chronic illness. The social support that online communities can provide has been associated with positive treatment outcomes, including medication adherence. There are few studies that have attempted to assess whether membership of an online community improves health outcomes using rigorous designs. Objective: Our objective was to conduct a rigorous proof-of-concept randomized controlled trial of an online community intervention for improving adherence to asthma medicine. Methods: This 9-week intervention included a sample of asthmatic adults from the United Kingdom who were prescribed an inhaled corticosteroid preventer. Participants were recruited via email and randomized to either an “online community” or “no online community” (diary) condition. After each instance of preventer use, participants (N=216) were required to report the number of doses of medication taken in a short post. Those randomized to the online community condition (n=99) could read the posts of other community members, reply, and create their own posts. Participants randomized to the no online community condition (n=117) also posted their medication use, but could not read others’ posts. The main outcome measures were self-reported medication adherence at baseline and follow-up (9 weeks postbaseline) and an objective measure of adherence to the intervention (visits to site). Results: In all, 103 participants completed the study (intervention: 37.8%, 39/99; control: 62.2%, 64/117). MANCOVA of self-reported adherence to asthma preventer medicine at follow-up was not significantly different between conditions in either intention-to-treat (P=.92) or per-protocol (P=.68) analysis. Site use was generally higher in the control compared to intervention conditions. Conclusions: Joining an online community did not improve adherence to preventer medication for asthma patients. Without the encouragement of greater community support or more components to sustain engagement over time, the current findings do not support the use of an online community to improve adherence

Agent-Based Modeling of Intracellular Transport

We develop an agent-based model of the motion and pattern formation of vesicles. These intracellular particles can be found in four different modes of (undirected and directed) motion and can fuse with other vesicles. While the size of vesicles follows a log-normal distribution that changes over time due to fusion processes, their spatial distribution gives rise to distinct patterns. Their occurrence depends on the concentration of proteins which are synthesized based on the transcriptional activities of some genes. Hence, differences in these spatio-temporal vesicle patterns allow indirect conclusions about the (unknown) impact of these genes. By means of agent-based computer simulations we are able to reproduce such patterns on real temporal and spatial scales. Our modeling approach is based on Brownian agents with an internal degree of freedom, $\theta$, that represents the different modes of motion. Conditions inside the cell are modeled by an effective potential that differs for agents dependent on their value $\theta$. Agent's motion in this effective potential is modeled by an overdampted Langevin equation, changes of $\theta$ are modeled as stochastic transitions with values obtained from experiments, and fusion events are modeled as space-dependent stochastic transitions. Our results for the spatio-temporal vesicle patterns can be used for a statistical comparison with experiments. We also derive hypotheses of how the silencing of some genes may affect the intracellular transport, and point to generalizations of the model