Building aggregate timber supply models from individual harvest choice

Timber supply has traditionally been modelled using aggregate data. In this paper, we build aggregate supply models for four roundwood products for the US state of North Carolina from a stand-level harvest choice model applied to detailed forest inventory. The simulated elasticities of pulpwood supply are much lower than reported by previous studies. Cross price elasticities indicate a dominant influence of sawtimber markets on pulpwood supply. This approach allows predicting the supply consequences of exogenous factors and supports regular updating of supply models.Timber supply, harvest choice, conditional logit, elasticity, expectations, simulation.,

COMMUNITY CHOICES AND HOUSING DECISIONS: A SPATIAL ANALYSIS OF THE SOUTHERN APPALACHIAN HIGHLANDS

This paper examines land development using an integrated approach that combines residential decisions about choices of community in the Southern Appalachian region with the application of the GIS (Geographical Information System). The empirical model infers a distinctive heterogeneity in the characteristics of community choices. The results also indicate that socioeconomic motives strongly affect urban housing decisions while environmental amenities affect those of rural housing.Public Economics,

Distributive Effects of Forest Service Attempts to Maintain Community Stability

Community stability is an objective of USDA Forest Service timber sales. This paper examines that objective, and the success the Forest Service can have in attaining it, through its intended maintenance of a constant volume timber harvest schedule. We apply a three-factor, two-sector modified general equilibrium model with empirical evidence from the timber-based counties of western Montana. Departure from a market responsive timber policy can have positive impacts on the wood products sector, but the net effects on the local community are very small. The costs to the public treasury of pursuing such a policy dwarf these small community benefits

Discovery of functionally distinct anti-C7 monoclonal antibodies and stratification of anti-nicotinic AChR positive Myasthenia Gravis patients

Myasthenia Gravis (MG) is mediated by autoantibodies against acetylcholine receptors that cause loss of the receptors in the neuromuscular junction. Eculizumab, a C5-inhibitor, is the only approved treatment for MG that mechanistically addresses complement-mediated loss of nicotinic acetylcholine receptors. It is an expensive drug and was approved despite missing the primary efficacy endpoint in the Phase 3 REGAIN study. There are two observations to highlight. Firstly, further C5 inhibitors are in clinical development, but other terminal pathway proteins, such as C7, have been relatively understudied as therapeutic targets, despite the potential for lower and less frequent dosing. Secondly, given the known heterogenous mechanisms of action of autoantibodies in MG, effective patient stratification in the REGAIN trial may have provided more favorable efficacy readouts. We investigated C7 as a target and assessed the in vitro function, binding epitopes and mechanism of action of three mAbs against C7. We found the mAbs were human, cynomolgus monkey and/or rat cross-reactive and each had a distinct, novel mechanism of C7 inhibition. TPP1820 was effective in preventing experimental MG in rats in both prophylactic and therapeutic dosing regimens. To enable identification of MG patients that are likely to respond to C7 inhibition, we developed a patient stratification assay and showed in a small cohort of MG patients (n=19) that 63% had significant complement activation and C7-dependent loss of AChRs in this in vitro set up. This study provides validation of C7 as a target for treatment of MG and provides a means of identifying patients likely to respond to anti-C7 therapy based on complement-activating properties of patient autoantibodies