Measuring Market Potential for Fresh Organic Fruit and Vegetable in Ghana

This paper examines the market potential for fresh organic lettuce and water melon with a recently collected data on consumers from Kumasi metropolis of Ghana. Using a doublebounded dichotomous choice contingent valuation technique, consumer’s willingness to pay is estimated with a Tobit model to address the zero willingness to pay responses in the sample data. As much as 71% of the consumers are willing to pay over 50% price premiums for organic vegetables and over 82% are willing to pay 1%–50% price premiums for organic fruits. The empirical results indicate that human capital, product attributes and consumer perception influence consumers’ willing to pay for organic food products. The estimated market potential for organic fruit is GH¢32,117,113 (US$26,453,433) per annum and that of organic vegetable is GH¢1,991,224 (US$1,640,083) per annum suggesting a huge market potential for organic fruits in Ghana.Willingness to Pay, Price Premium, Organic Products, Consumer Perception, Market Potential, Africa, Crop Production/Industries,

Navigating information, facilitating knowledge: the library, the academy, and student learning

Understanding the nature and complementarity of the phenomena of information and knowledge lend not only epistemological clarity to their relationship, but also reaffirms the place of the library in the academic mission of knowledge transfer, acquisition, interpretation, and creation. These in turn reassert the legitimacy of the academic library as necessary participant in the teaching enterprise of colleges and universities. Such legitimacy induces an obligation to teach, and that obligation needs to be explored and implemented with adequate vigor and reach. Librarians and the academy must, however, concede that the scope of the task calls for a solution that goes beyond shared responsibilities. Academic libraries should assume a full teaching function even as they continue their exploration and design of activities and programs aimed at reinforcing information literacy in the various disciplines on campus. All must concede that need for collaboration cannot provide grounds for questioning the desirability of autonomous teaching status for the academic library in information literacy educatio

Investigation of Feasible Pavement Design Alternatives for WisDOT

The current pavement design and selection process of WisDOT for all new pavements or reconstructions of existing pavement structures provides for the design of one asphaltic concrete (AC) and one portland cement concrete (PCC) pavement alternative. Life-cycle costs analyses are then used to determine the preferred alternative for construction. Previous restrictions in the WisDOT pavement selection process have essentially excluded the construction of thick AC (AC thickness \u3e 150 mm) and thin PCC (PCC thickness \u3c 225 mm) pavements and thus the validity of current life-cycle cost inputs for these pavement types is under question. This report presents a performance analysis of existing thick AC and thin PCC pavements constructed in and around Wisconsin. The performance trends developed indicate current design assumptions utilized by WisDOT, related to the expected service life to first rehabilitation of AC and PCC pavements, may also be used for thick AC and thin PCC pavements

Land Cover and Water Quality Patterns in an Urban River: A Case Study of River Medlock, Greater Manchester, UK

Urban river catchments face multiple water quality challenges that threaten the biodiversity of riverine habitats and the flow of ecosystem services. We examined two water quality challenges, runoff from increasingly impervious land covers and effluent from combined sewer overflows within a temperate zone river catchment in Greater Manchester, North-West UK. Sub-catchment areas of the River Medlock were delineated from digital elevation models using a Geographical Information System. By combining flow accumulation and high-resolution land cover data within each sub-catchment and water quality measurements at five sampling points along the river, we identified which land cover(s) are key drivers of water quality. Impervious land covers increased downstream and were associated with higher runoff and poorer water quality. Of the impervious covers, transportation networks have the highest runoff ratios and therefore the greatest potential to convey contaminants to the river. We suggest more integrated management of imperviousness to address water quality, flood risk and, urban wellbeing could be achieved with greater catchment partnership working

Performance Evaluation of Open Graded Base Course with Doweled and Non-Doweled Transverse Joints

The objectives of this study were to investigate the performance of 20-year old doweled/non-doweled and dense-graded/permeable base test sections on three concrete pavement segments in Wisconsin: USH 18/151 in Iowa and Dane counties, STH 29 in Brown County, and USH 151 in Columbia and Dane Counties. Five pavement bases were placed including: dense graded, asphalt-stabilized permeable, cement-stabilized permeable, and untreated permeable having two gradation sizes. USH 18/151 test sections had similar performance (PDI) for doweled unsealed pavement on dense and permeable base. Distresses common to all segments included slight to moderate distressed joints/cracks and slight transverse faulting. Asphalt-stabilized permeable base had no slab breakup or surface distresses, however it measured a greater severity of distressed joints and cracks. Non-doweled sections having asphalt-stabilized permeable base and Transverse Inter Channel drains had better performance and ride than the other non-doweled sections. IRI was generally higher on non-doweled pavements, but many doweled sections had an equal roughness to non-doweled sections. Sealed non-doweled joints produced a better performing pavement, however, sealant did not appear to improve ride. STH 29 unsealed sections performed better than the median PDI for the sealed sections. The sealed doweled pavement did perform a little better than the non-doweled section, but the opposite occurred on the non-doweled sections. Sealed doweled joints had a smoother ride than the other combinations. USH 151 test sections found the finer-graded New Jersey permeable base had the smoothest ride when compared to other permeable sections. Asphalt-stabilized permeable base had the roughest ride, and unstabilized and cement-stabilized permeable bases had intermediate values. The average hydraulic conductivity for the unstabilized permeable base was 17,481 feet per day and there appears little variation due to doweling or joint sealant. Deflection load transfer results indicate expected high average values for the doweled sections and fair to poor values for the non-doweled sections. Slab support ratios indicate variable results based on base type and joint reinforcement/sealant. Life-cycle cost analysis found dense-graded base was the least cost among all base alternatives, with a total estimated present-worth life-cycle cost of $665,133 per roadway mile. Untreated and asphalt-stabilized permeable bases were more expensive by 13% and 27%, respectively. Other factors in selecting dense-graded base over permeable base include project drainage conditions set forth in the FDM guidelines an anticipated increase in pavement surface roughness

DOES PROXIMITY TO A GOLF COURSE MATTER?

In this study, we augment an earlier study by estimating the effect of golf courses on housing values using a data set of single-family homes sold between 1994 and 2000. We find that there is generally a positive impact on houses proximate to open space (golf courses and neighborhood parks). The value of proximity to a golf course is found to be greater than figures reported in previous studies. Proximity impacts extend beyond abutting properties and go as far as to those within almost a quarter of a mile. The value of properties proximate to parks is found to be significant and varies with park size and type. Parks classified as small and medium had positive impacts extending over a quarter of a mile with the small parks having the greatest impact on the value of properties.Land Economics/Use,