Price Uncertainty, Expectations Formation and Fishers' Location Choices

This paper deals with the effects of uncertain output prices upon fishers' location choices. It employs ARIMA models to construct the price forecasts used by fishers in a model which generates expected profits for three fishing locations in the British Columbia salmon fishery. A random utility model of fishing location choice is then estimated using two different sets of regressors. The first is expected seasonal profit and its variability. The second is expected wealth and its variability, where expected wealth is taken to be the sum of the known preseason wealth and the expected profitability of a given fishing location. Results show that expected profitability is a significant determinant of fishing location choice but that expected wealth plays an even bigger role. This suggests that there is a type of wealth or stock effect present in decisions made by fishers. The results also provide evidence that the variability of profits or wealth is generally a less significant component in regard to fishing location choice. In fact, some fishers thrive on greater variability, thereby providing some evidence of the risk loving behaviour typically attributed to fishers. This is not the case, however, for all fishers since some are found to be risk-neutral and even risk-averse. Given the finding that fishers do respond to economic incentives, one policy implication concerns the ability of fisheries managers to alter the dispersion of fishers over fishing locations via the adjustment of the economic incentives by means of differential royalty taxes. A second policy implication results from the finding of risk-loving behavior. This calls into question models that assume risk-averse behaviour and predict a dominance of crop-sharing contracts over wage contracts.Uncertainty, location choice, random utility, risk preferences, Environmental Economics and Policy, Production Economics,

MULTI-SPECIES INDIVIDUAL TRANSFERABLE QUOTAS: THE SCOTIA-FUNDY MOBILE GEAR GROUNDFISHERY

Few studies examine the economic effects of individual harvesting rights in multi-species fisheries. Using costs and earnings data from a multispecies individual transferable quota (ITQ) fishery in Nova Scotia, before and after the introduction of harvesting rights, the effects on inputs, outputs, prices, and vessel exit are examined. The results provide insights about the management of multi-species ITQs.Resource /Energy Economics and Policy,

High purity H2 by sorption-enhanced chemical looping reforming of waste cooking oil in a packed bed reactor.

High purity hydrogen (>95%) was produced at 600 degrees C and 1 atm by steam reforming of waste cooking oil at a molar steam to carbon ratio of 4 using chemical looping, a process that features redox cycles of a Ni catalyst with the in-situ carbonation/calcination of a CO(2) sorbent (dolomite) in a packed bed reactor under alternated feedstreams of fuel-steam and air. The fuel and steam conversion were higher with the sorbent present than without it. Initially, the dolomite carbonation was very efficient (100%), and 98% purity hydrogen was produced, but the carbonation decreased to around 56% with a purity of 95% respectively in the following cycles. Reduction of the nickel catalyst occurred alongside steam reforming, water gas shift and carbonation, with H(2) produced continuously under fuel-steam feeds. Catalyst and CO(2)-sorbent regeneration was observed, and long periods of autothermal operation within each cycle were demonstrated

A homological interpretation of the transverse quiver Grassmannians

In recent articles, the investigation of atomic bases in cluster algebras associated to affine quivers led the second-named author to introduce a variety called transverse quiver Grassmannian and the first-named and third-named authors to consider the smooth loci of quiver Grassmannians. In this paper, we prove that, for any affine quiver Q, the transverse quiver Grassmannian of an indecomposable representation M is the set of points N in the quiver Grassmannian of M such that Ext^1(N,M/N)=0. As a corollary we prove that the transverse quiver Grassmannian coincides with the smooth locus of the irreducible components of minimal dimension in the quiver Grassmannian.Comment: final version, 7 pages, corollary 1.2 has been modifie

The Impact of the Uniform Probate Code on Court Structure

After considering the present pattern of probate court structure in the United States, this article considers the need for probate court reform as reflected in the deficiencies of the present system. It further indicates that a realistic choice of court structure by legislatures will ultimately be made from among three options: (1) to enlarge the jurisdiction of the present probate court of the state more nearly to approximate the form currently obtaining in several states; (2) to appoint a new body of probate judges and thus create an entirely new court; and (3) to enlarge the jurisdiction of the present general trial court to include all matters cognizable under the Code. In choosing among these alternatives care must be taken to understand the nature of the probate situation in each state so that a practical solution will take into account reasonable objections to systemic reforms by interested parties such as current officeholders

The YouTube - Savoring Model: YouTube as a Means of Increasing Savoring for an Upcoming Consumption Experience

YouTube started primarily as a means of entertainment. However, in recent years it has become a platform for both information-seeking and information-giving behaviors. Using the consumption, participation, and production framework for user generated media, YouTube is examined as a platform to influence an individual’s savoring and remembered enjoyment of a consumption experience. This study proposes a model for utilizing YouTube as a means of increasing savoring for an upcoming consumption experience through elaborative processing, minimizing distractions, and encouraging remembered enjoyment

How In-Silico Experiments Can Help Drug-Discovery: The Glutamatergic Synapse as an Example of Application

This work aims to show on a very concrete example that simulations (In-Silico experiments) can help drug discovery process and therapeutic strategies search. Such an approach must be based, to reflect the complexity of physiological systems, on a modeling methodology taking into account several organization levels and time scales, and focused on physiological functions and their interactions. First, we present shortly a modeling framework built on top of a physiological systems theory. Then, we apply this approach to model the memory induction at synaptic level where the described system includes some cellular and molecular mechanisms. Finally we propose an application of \u27in silico\u27 experiments in order to exhibit some synergistic effects of biochemical mechanisms and to suggest new combinatorial therapeutics

Transgenerational effects alleviate severe fecundity loss during ocean acidification in a ubiquitous planktonic copepod

Ocean acidification (OA) caused by anthropogenic CO2 emission is projected for thousands of years to come, and significant effects are predicted for many marine organisms. While significant evolutionary responses are expected during such persistent environmental change, most studies consider only short-term effects. Little is known about the transgenerational effects of parental environments or natural selection on the capacity of populations to counter detrimental OA effects. In this study, six laboratory populations of the calanoid copepod Pseudocalanus acuspes were established at three different CO2 partial pressures (pCO2 of 400, 900 and 1550 μatm) and grown for two generations at these conditions. Our results show evidence of alleviation of OA effects as a result of transgenerational effects in P. acuspes. Second generation adults showed a 29% decrease in fecundity at 900 μatm CO2 compared to 400 μatm CO2. This was accompanied by a 10% increase in metabolic rate indicative of metabolic stress. Reciprocal transplant tests demonstrated that this effect was reversible and the expression of phenotypic plasticity. Furthermore, these tests showed that at a pCO2 exceeding the natural range experienced by P. acuspes (1550 μatm), fecundity would have decreased by as much as 67% compared to at 400 μatm CO2 as a result of this plasticity. However, transgenerational effects partly reduced OA effects so that the loss of fecundity remained at a level comparable to that at 900 μatm CO2. This also relieved the copepods from metabolic stress, and respiration rates were lower than at 900 μatm CO2. These results highlight the importance of tests for transgenerational effects to avoid overestimation of the effects of OA

Green Building: Sustainable Water Consultancy

The aim of this report is to present the results of water and wastewater modelling undertaken as part of a sustainable water consultancy for the ACF/Surrowee Green Building Project. The Institute for Sustainable Futures was engaged to develop a series of options, and to undertake modelling of the hydraulic, technical, economic and other aspects of these options and their implementation, in cooperation with the Design Team and other stakeholders. For a building of this type to achieve the goal of worldâs best practice environmental performance in a commercially viable office building, it is imperative that scheme water demand be reduced as much as possible. The practical limits of demand reduction were tested by detailed end-use modelling of various sustainable water management âoptionsâ incorporating water efficiency, reuse and dry sanitation technologies. The results of modelling and the cost benefit analysis indicate that many of the options would provide net financial gains if the potential benefits from running tours and also from sale of produce from the roofgarden were included