Dynamic Feedback between Surface and Groundwater Systems: Implications for Conjunctive Management

A key feature of hydrologically connected surface and groundwater stocks is the two-way exchange of water between the systems. Increasing water scarcity, particularly in arid environments, has spurred debate on how to coordinate management of the two resources. In this paper, I present a model that describes the dynamic feedback loop between surface and groundwater systems when economic agents withdraw water from both for use in production. I use the model to describe optimal water extraction from both stocks and to evaluate how a conjunctive management policy shifts welfare between surface and groundwater user groups. Finally, I explore the importance of accounting for two-way feedback between the two stocks, when it exists, in estimating the benefits to a conjunctive management system. I estimate that the returns to conjunctive management in a closed system are greater than 6.5 times that in a system with an open feedback loop between water stocks.groundwater, conjunctive management, dynamic optimization, Gisser-Sanchez effect, Resource /Energy Economics and Policy,

Responsibility revolution : an international investigation of corporate social responsibility in professional sport

University of Technology, Sydney. Faculty of Business.Corporate social responsibility (CSR) has emerged as an increasingly important role in business and society today. However, prevailing approaches to CSR in professional sport are fragmented and disconnected from business strategy and have obscured many of the greatest opportunities for companies to benefit society. Increasingly, organisations need to find ways that their CSR initiatives can be more strategic and sustainable. Thus, the theoretical framework for this study emphasised shared value creation, a nexus between instrumental and normative based CSR theories. In other words, organisations can gain economic value by addressing the needs and challenges of society, resulting in shared value for the organisation and society alike. The aim of this research was to understand how CSR can be strategically implemented within professional sport organisations in order to create business benefits. To achieve this, multiple case studies were undertaken with 12 professional sport organisations based in Australia, North America and the United Kingdom. Interviews were conducted with senior executives from these sporting organisations who were responsible for the design, implementation and management of CSR policies and programs. Organisational documents and archival records were acquired over a period of 30 months to provide secondary supporting data. Collected content and transcribed interviews were analysed using a directed approach to content analysis, which involved three levels of coding. Results from this thesis identified ways in which PSOs bring social and economic goals into alignment through the notion of shared value, to improve both business and society. Specific dynamics, challenges and opportunities of stakeholder management, governance, strategy and measurement were examined. The research also identified significant perceived business benefits associated with CSR initiatives including cost savings, competitive advantage, brand association and awareness and commercial growth opportunities. These results were presented across three distinct geographical regions, highlighting international differences in CSR implementation. From a theoretical perspective, results reflected a progressive shift towards the concept of shared value, indicating that societal and economic goals can strategically align to improve an organisation and the communities in which it operates. This research extends the current two-dimensional understanding and conceptualisation of shared value theory to a third dimensional addition of an integration spectrum. Integration of CSR with core competencies and business operations was identified to be critical for successful implementation and realisation of shared value. This research also provides practical evidence-based implications of how sport management practitioners may transform the role of CSR into an opportunity for shared value creation

Using Bulk Rename Utility and Photoshop to Increase Efficiency of Digital File Processing

[Excerpt] The Special Collections and Archives Department at Washington and Lee University contains 2.5 FTE staff in addition to its department head. During each of the last two fiscal years these staff members created an average of 11,000 digital files while scanning materials from our collection to fulfill patron reference requests, which are received daily. Staff must also accession and process a steady stream of newly acquired materials and a substantial backlog of older materials, as well as prepare for and lead multiple visits to the archive each term by classes of students and groups such as university alumni. In short, it is a very busy department

Environmental Conservation on Agricultural Working Land: Assessing Policy Alternatives Using a Spatially Heterogeneous Land Allocation Model

Multifunctionality refers to the ability of agricultural systems to produce an array of non-market goods and services in addition to market commodities. This thesis focuses explicitly on the provision of environmental benefits, through reduced soil erosion and fertilizer applications, by agricultural producers. Soil erosion and nutrient contamination from agricultural production are the foremost contributors to ground and surface water degradation in the United States. Reducing their production implies gains in social welfare, but may generate significant private losses to producers. The objective of this analysis is to quantify the tradeoff between environmental improvements and producer welfare and to examine the extent to which public policy can influence that tradeoff. To address this objective, a land use allocation model is constructed using slope to reflect terrain heterogeneity. The model is formulated as a mathematical programming problem, with the objective of maximizing producer welfare subject to an exogenous land endowment and a series of production constraints. The model developed in this thesis differs from previous empirical models in several substantive ways. First, crop and livestock production activities are explicitly modeled as either separable or non-separable activities. The advantage to doing so is that it gives the model the flexibility to choose the optimal degree of integration between the two. The model also diverges from previous studies by incorporating a common set of variables that affect the economic and environmental aspects of commodity production. Specifically, the spatial allocation of land use practices impacts economic and environmental outcomes via a yield damage function and differentiated rates of soil erosion. These two aspects are expected to improve the model’s predictive ability. One of the primary benefits of the model is that it can be used to identify the economic factors driving landscape-level production patterns. The analysis demonstrates that the land use allocation is relatively insensitive to changes in commodity prices. Therefore, altering the level of commodity-based income support payments is insufficient to attain environmental improvements. Several hypothetical “green” policy instruments are simulated to estimate the cost to producers of reducing environmental damages. The results indicate that limiting soil erosion to an environmentally acceptable level with either a regulatory standard or a tax reduces the average return to land by ten percent. A program of green subsidy payments for less erosive land management practices cannot attain the same standard with less cost to producers. Overall, the inelastic response of land use change to commodity prices indicates that targeting the use of productive inputs, as opposed to commodity outputs, may be a more efficient means of encouraging agricultural producers to provide environmental benefits

Optical Measurements of Viscous Interactions on a Hollow-Cylinder / Flare in a Mach 4 Freestream

Despite decades of research, shock-wave/boundary-layer interactions and laminar-turbulent transition remain uncertainties in the design of hypersonic vehicles. Due to the significant demand for hypersonic capabilities and the relevance of these flow physics to air-breathing, high-lift, hypersonic vehicles, continued study is necessary. In order to support such study at the University of Tennessee Space Institute, two optical diagnostics were investigated for use in the Mach 4 Ludwig tube at the Tennessee Aerothermal Laboratory, focused laser differential interferometry and schlieren. Significant attention was given to the theory behind and application of focused laser differential interferometry to support future work at the University of Tennessee Space Institute. These diagnostics were constructed and utilized in two studies, one investigating a laminar shock-wave/boundary-layer interaction on an axisymmetric hollow cylinder flare geometry, and one tracking the boundary layer transition along a hollow cylinder. Results of these studies show that FLDI and schlieren are an effective method for the non-intrusive study of boundary layer structure and breakdown, and show promising use for the study of shock-wave/boundary-layer interactions. Reported results include spectral distributions from the boundary layer, separation region, and reattachment region of a laminar shock-wave/boundary-layer interaction and from laminar, transitional, and fully turbulent regions in a boundary layer. In this study, the boundary layer was found to transition at a local Reynolds number of Re = 1.71 × 10^5 and gave way to fully turbulent behavior at Re = 3.34 × 10^5

Case Study: Washington and Lee\u27s First Year Using Archive-It

This case study reviews the planning, methodology, and lessons learned during the first year of Washington and Lee University Library\u27s web archiving program

The Role of Harvest Timing in Pest Management: Grower Response to Infestation by the California Olive Fruit Fly

Crop Production/Industries,

CSR in professional sport: an examination of community models

© 2017 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group. The purpose of this paper is to explore how corporate social responsibility (CSR) is implemented in professional sport, specifically to compare and contrast different organisational structures used in the implementation of CSR. A qualitative case study methodology was adopted, drawing on interviews with key stakeholders of 12 professional sporting organisations and their relevant CSR departments. Secondary sources such as annual reports, newsletters, websites and other organisational documents were also collected and analysed. This research found a variety of challenges and opportunities for employing CSR, including alignment of strategies, conflict of power and access to resources. Discussions explore how communication, collaboration and different governance models can improve the inter-relationship of these entities. This paper offers an empirical identification of critical opportunities and challenges within professional sporting organisations. This paper extends the current research by looking at CSR management and governance, specifically exploring the inter-relationship between professional sporting organisations and their associated foundations

Pests and Agricultural Commodity Losses: Evaluating Alternative Approaches to Damage Function Estimation

Estimating the economic impact of a pest requires linking biological and economic systems via a damage function. The most common damage function approach links exogenous pest populations to cumulative commodity yield losses at harvest. This type of representation is a reduced form because is not pest population levels per se that drive damage, but the underlying factors that affect pest populations and the susceptibility of the host. We specify and estimate a structural damage function and compare the results with those of the reduced form. We do so using two alternative models, one that explains the level of crop damage from a pest, and one that explains the timing of that damage during the host’s growing season. We address our objectives within an empirical application to the olive fruit fly in California. In formulating the structural damage function, we draw from current scientific literature on olive fly and olive fruit phenology. The structural damage function takes into account the feedback between climate, host susceptibility, and pest populations. Moreover, the structural approach disaggregates damage rates across space and time, unlike the typical reduced form. The estimation results indicate that endogeneity is a salient concern in both the timing of initial crop damage, and in the levels of damage evidenced in some cultivars. The structural damage function dominates the trapping-based reduced form in terms of explanatory power in every model estimated.Crop Production/Industries,

Multidisciplinary Research: Implications for Agricultural and Applied Economists

We detail the rewards and barriers to participating in multidisciplinary research (MDR) using a 2011 survey of applied economists at U.S. universities. We compare these findings with an earlier 1993 survey to assess if rewards and barriers have changed over time. Different administrative levels of U.S. universities are sending contradictory signals regarding rewards from MDR. External funding agencies convey positive signals. Although the scope and breadth of questions addressed by applied economists are changing over time, institutional incentives and reward structures are not keeping pace with these changes. Progress toward adapting to new professional demands has been slow