GUIDELINES FOR WESTERN JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURAL ECONOMICS AUTHORS

This article explains the current editorial procedures and policies of the Western Journal of Agricultural Economics. The contents should be of interest both to readers and to authors who plan to submit manuscripts to the Journal. The current editorial policy of the Journal is discussed, the review and publication process is explained, and detailed guidelines for the proper preparation of manuscripts for the Journal are presented.Teaching/Communication/Extension/Profession,

THE VALUE OF PROTEIN IN FEED BARLEY FOR BEEF, DAIRY, AND SWINE FEEDING

The impact of the protein content of feed barley on the costs of feeding beef, dairy cattle, and swine in Montana is evaluated. A model of least-cost feed rations is constructed to analyze the marginal value of additional protein content in feed barley. The results indicate that increasing the protein content of feed barley above 12% will not substantially increase the value of barley to feeders. This implies that the establishment and maintenance of a protein premium in the feed barley market would tend to result in lower average prices for feed barley because the feed value/protein relationship is concave and the market would be sustaining costs that the inherent value of the commodity could not support.Livestock Production/Industries,

Two-dimensional aerodynamic characteristics of the OLS/TAAT airfoil

Two flight tests have been conducted that obtained extension pressure data on a modified AH-1G rotor system. These two tests, the Operational Loads Survey (OLS) and the Tip Aerodynamics and Acoustics Test (TAAT) used the same rotor set. In the analysis of these data bases, accurate 2-D airfoil data is invaluable, for not only does it allow comparison studies between 2- and 3-D flow, but also provides accurate tables of the airfoil characteristics for use in comprehensive rotorcraft analysis codes. To provide this 2-D data base, a model of the OLS/TAAT airfoil was tested over a Reynolds number range from 3 x 10 to the 6th to 7 x 10 to the 7th and between Mach numbers of 0.34 to 0.88 in the NASA Langley Research Center's 6- by 28-Inch Transonic Tunnel. The 2-D airfoil data is presented as chordwise pressure coefficient plots, as well as lift, drag, and pitching moment coefficient plots and tables

ECONOMIC ANALYSIS OF ENVIRONMENTAL BENEFITS OF INTEGRATED PEST MANAGEMENT

Public support for integrated pest management (IPM) is derived in part from concerns over food safety and the environment, yet few studies have assessed the economic value of health and environmental benefits of IPM. An approach is suggested for such an assessment and applied to the Virginia peanut IPM program. Effects of IPM on environmental risks posed by pesticides are assessed and society's willingness to pay to reduce those risks is estimated. The annual environmental benefits of the peanut IPM program are estimated at $844,000. The estimates of pesticide risks and willingness to pay can be applied elsewhere in economic assessments of IPM.Integrated pest management, Willingness to pay, Environmental benefits, Crop Production/Industries, Environmental Economics and Policy,

The Public Resource Management Game

Use of public resources for private economic gain is a longstanding, contested political issue. Public resources generate benefits beyond commodity uses, including recreation, environmental and ecological conservation and preservation, and existence and aesthetic values. We analyze this problem using a dynamic resource use game. Low use fees let commodity users capture more of the marginal benefit from private use. This increases the incentive to comply with government regulations. Optimal contracts therefore include public use fees that are lower than private rates. The optimal policy also includes random monitoring to prevent strategic learning and cheating on the use agreements and to avoid wasteful efforts to disguise noncompliant behavior. An optimal policy also includes a penalty for cheating beyond terminating the use contract. This penalty must be large enough that the commodity user who would gain the most from noncompliance experiences a negative expected net return.Renewable resources, public resources policy, optimal contracts

The Health Status of Southern Children: A Neglected Regional Disparity

Purpose: Great variations exist in child health outcomes among states in the United States, with southern states consistently ranked among the lowest in the country. Investigation of the geographical distribution of children’s health status and the regional factors contributing to these outcomes has been neglected. We attempted to identify the degree to which region of residence may be linked to health outcomes for children with the specific aim of determining whether living in the southern region of the United States is adversely associated with children’s health status. Methods: A child health index (CHI) that ranked each state in the United States was computed by using statespecific composite scores generated from outcome measures for a number of indicators of child health. Five indicators for physical health were chosen (percent low birth weight infants, infant mortality rate, child death rate, teen death rate, and teen birth rates) based on their historic and routine use to define health outcomes in children. Indicators were calculated as rates or percentages. Standard scores were calculated for each state for each health indicator by subtracting the mean of the measures for all states from the observed measure for each state. Indicators related to social and economic status were considered to be variables that impact physical health, as opposed to indicators of physical health, and therefore were not used to generate the composite child health score. These variables were subsequently examined in this study as potential confounding variables. Mapping was used to redefine regional groupings of states, and parametric tests (2-sample t test, analysis of means, and analysis-of-variance F tests) were used to compare the means of the CHI scores for the regional groupings and test for statistical significance. Multiple regression analysis computed the relationship of region, social and economic indicators, and race to the CHI. Simple linear-regression analyses were used to assess the individual effect of each indicator. Results: A geographic region of contiguous states, characterized by their poor child health outcomes relative to other states and regions of the United States, exists within the “Deep South” (Mississippi, Louisiana, Arkansas, Tennessee, Alabama, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Florida). This Deep-South region is statistically different in CHI scores from the US Census Bureau– defined grouping of states in the South. The mean of CHI scores for the Deep-South region was \u3e1 SD below the mean of CHI scores for all states. In contrast, the CHI score means for each of the other 3 regions were all above the overall mean of CHI scores for all states. Regression analysis showed that living in the Deep- South region is a stronger predictor of poor child health outcomes than other consistently collected and reported variables commonly used to predict children’s health. Conclusions: The findings of this study indicate that region of residence in the United States is statistically related to important measures of children’s health and may be among the most powerful predictors of child health outcomes and disparities. This clarification of the poorer health status of children living in the Deep South through spatial analysis is an essential first step for developing a better understanding of variations in the health of children. Similar to early epidemiology work linking geographic boundaries to disease, discovering the mechanisms/pathways/causes by which region influences health outcomes is a critical step in addressing disparities and inequities in child health and one that is an important and fertile area for future research. The reasons for these disparities may be complex and synergistically related to various economic, political, social, cultural, and perhaps even environmental (physical) factors in the region. This research will require the use and development of new approaches and applications of spatial analysis to develop insights into the societal, environmental, and historical determinants of child health that have been neglected in previous child health outcomes and policy research. The public policy implications of the findings in this study are substantial. Few, if any, policies identify these children as a high-risk group on the basis of their region of residence. A better understanding of the depth and breadth of disparities in health, education, and other social outcomes among and within regions of the United States is necessary for the generation of policies that enable policy makers to address and mitigate the factors that influence these disparities. Defining and clarifying the regional boundaries is also necessary to better inform public policy decisions related to resource allocation and the prevention and/or mitigation of the effects of region on child health. The identification of the Deep South as a clearly defined sub-region of the Census Bureau’s regional definition of the South suggests the need to use more culturally and socially relevant boundaries than the Census Bureau regions when analyzing regional data for policy development

Eosinophilic esophagitis: search for non-invasive techniques for long-term monitoring

Comment on: Unsedated transnasal esophagoscopy for monitoring therapy in pediatric eosinophilic esophagitis. [Gastrointest Endosc. 2016

Tip aerodynamics and acoustics test: A report and data survey

In a continuing effort to understand helicopter rotor tip aerodynamics and acoustics, a flight test was conducted by NASA Ames Research Center. The test was performed using the NASA White Cobra and a set of highly instrumented blades. All aspects of the flight test instrumentation and test procedures are explained. Additionally, complete data sets for selected test points are presented and analyzed. Because of the high volume of data acquired, only selected data points are presented. However, access to the entire data set is available to the researcher on request

Utilizing Lipopolysaccharide in Exhaled Breath Condensate to Diagnose Gram Negative Pneumonia

A device for collecting exhaled breath condensate from a subject. The device comprises a plunger assembly and a stopper. The stopper is connected to the plunger disk of the plunger assembly by a plurality of support pins and is configured for sealing engagement. The device is utilized to collect exhaled breath condensate from both spontaneously breathing and mechanically ventilated subjects and the devices utilized to determine whether lipopolysaccharide is present in the collected exhaled breath condensate