Risk Perception and Drug Safety Evaluation

The authors present a Risk communication framework based on a survey of empirical research concerning public Risk perceptions. They also apply it to the area of pharmaceutical regulation to suggest more effective regulatory strategies

Strategic Trade Policy with Endogenous Choice of Quality and Asymmetric Costs

This paper examines the strategic trade policy incentives for investment policies towards quality improvements in a vertically differentiated exporting industry. Firms first compete in qualities and then export to a third country market based on Bertrand or Cournot competition. Optimal policies are asymmetric across the two producing countries. Under Bertrand competition, the low-quality country subsidizes investment to raise export quality, while the high-quality country imposes a tax so as to reduce the quality of its already high quality exports. Under Cournot competition, the results are reversed with a tax in the low-quality country and a subsidy in the high-quality country.

Managing Forests for Multiple Tradeoffs: Compromising on Timber, Carbon, and Biodiversity Objectives

In this paper, we develop a multiple objective, decision-making model that focuses on forest policies that simultaneously achieve carbon uptake and maintenance of ecosystem diversity objectives. Two forest carbon measures are used – a nominal (undiscounted) net carbon uptake as a proxy for long-term carbon sequestration and discounted net carbon uptake that captures the “fast” carbon accumulation aspect. Ecosystem diversity is expressed in terms of desired structures for forest and afforested agricultural land. Economic effects of possible strategies are examined by comparing attainment of these objectives with the net discounted returns from commercial timber harvests and agricultural activities. The tradeoffs between timber and non-timber objectives are obtained by means of compromise programming. Two measures of distance between the current objective values and the ideal ones are used to assess attainment of multiple goals. We explore how the choice of a measure affects the decisions and overall performance. The model is applied to the boreal forest and accompanying marginal agricultural lands in the Peace River region of northeastern British Columbia.biological and ecosystem diversity, compromise programming, forest carbon sequestration, forest management, multiple objectives

Forest Management Zone Design with a Tabu Search Algorithm

Increased conflicts between timber production and environmental protection led some analysts to advocate land-use segregation, often referred to as forest management zoning. The objective of zoning is to create ecologically desirable non-fragmented forest reserves and group timber production areas. We formulate an integer programming model of forest zoning that explicitly addresses clustering of spatial units allocated to timber production and reserve zones while also promoting separation of these zones. A tabu search algorithm is developed, implemented and tested using a case study. The case study results indicate that up to 5% of the net financial return is sacrificed with a 'satisfactory' grouping of units within each zone. A 'good' separation between the reserves and timber production zone is achieved at the cost of further decline of the net financial return up to 11% relative to the unconstrained case.forest planning, integer programming, reserves, tabu search, timber production, zoning

Can Forest Management Strategies Sustain The Development Needs Of The Little Red River Cree First Nation?

In this study, we explore whether projected socio-economic needs of the Little Red River Cree Nation (LRRCN) can be met using the natural resources to which they have access. To answer this question, we employ a dynamic optimization model to assess the capacity of the available forest base to provide for anticipated future needs of the LRRCN. Results for alternative management strategies indicate that decision-makers face significant tradeoffs in deciding an appropriate management strategy for the forestlands they control.boreal forest, First Nations, forest management, sustainability

Biological-Based and Physical-Based Optimization for Biological Evaluation of Prostate Patient's Plans

Modern modalities of radiation treatment therapy allow irradiation of the tumor to high dose values and irradiation of organs at risk (OARs) to low dose values at the same time. In this paper we study optimal radiation treatment plans made in Monaco system. The first aim of this study was to evaluate dosimetric features of Monaco treatment planning system using biological versus dose-based cost functions for the OARs and irradiation targets (namely tumors) when the full potential of built-in biological cost functions is utilized. The second aim was to develop criteria for the evaluation of radiation dosimetry plans for patients based on the macroscopic radiobiological criteria - TCP/NTCP. In the framework of the study four dosimetric plans were created utilizing the full extent of biological and physical cost functions using dose calculation-based treatment planning for IMRT Step-and-Shoot delivery of stereotactic body radiation therapy (SBRT) in prostate case (5 fractions per 7 Gy)

Universities as Gaurdians of Their Inventions

Universities occupy a central position in U.S. innovation policy as the engines of innovation. To fuel the development of new and socially useful technologies, federal and state policymakers charged with encouraging innovation channel billions of dollars into universities for the purpose of generating and disseminating knowledge. They expect universities to produce inventions that can be patented and moved into the private sector for commercialization, a policy approach that was hardwired into law with the passage of the Bayh-Dole Act in 1980. The seeming success of this university-driven, patent-centered innovation strategy has prompted a number of other countries to pursue similar strategies