bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Plant Succession as a Natural Range Restoration Factor in Private Livestock Enterprises
Authors: Huffaker Ray , Cooper Kevin 
Published: July 2006

AbstractWe formulate a grazing model linking privately optimal stocking rates to their longterm impacts on the succession of plant species on rangeland. The fast (annual) dynamics of a grazing‐decision component are put in phase with the slow (decadelong) dynamics of a plant‐succession component via the “slow‐manifold” theory of dynamical systems. The model provides the context for analytically approximating “successional thresholds,” partitioning rangeland conditions into those gravitating toward socially desirable or socially undesirable plant compositions over time. These thresholds are instrumental in determining whether grazing management alone can restore rangeland to a socially desired plant composition.
The Impacts of Brand and Generic Advertising on Meat Demand
Authors: Brester Gary W. , Schroeder Ted C. 
Published: July 2006

AbstractThe effects of meat advertising expenditures on quarterly beef, pork, and poultry demand are estimated using a nonlinear Rotterdam model. Advertising stocks are incorporated into the model as both demand shifters and price and total expenditure scaling factors. Branded beef, pork, and poultry advertising elasticities are each significantly different from zero. Generic beef and pork advertising elasticities are not significantly different from zero. Some cross‐advertising elasticities are significantly different from zero. Branded beef and poultry advertising have increased total meat consumption.
Competitiveness of U.S. Food Processing: Benefits from Primary Agriculture
Authors: Gopinath Munisamy , Roe Terry L. , Shane Mathew D. 
Published: July 2006

AbstractHigh‐value agricultural products such as processed foods are becoming increasingly important for both the production and trade of the United States. Efficiency gains in primary agriculture may be transferred to the processed food sector in the form of cheaper inputs because price declines and productivity growth have been coincidental in agriculture. In turn, efficiency gains in the processed food sector are transferred, in part, back to primary agriculture by increasing the derived demand and, thus, mitigating the decline in the latter's price. Efficiency gains are relatively more important in primary agriculture than in food processing. Policies which encourage productivity growth that lowers the production costs can increase the competitiveness of both sectors. The ultimate beneficiaries of the price declines in primary agriculture and food processing are consumers.
The Empirical Minimum‐Variance Hedge
Authors: Lence Sergio H. , Hayes Dermot J. 
Published: July 2006

AbstractDecision making under unknown true parameters (estimation risk) is discussed along with Bayes' and parameter certainty equivalent (PCE) criteria. Bayes' criterion incorporates estimation risk in a manner consistent with expected utility maximization. The PCE method, which is the most commonly used, is not consistent with expected utility maximization. Bayes' criterion is employed to solve for the minimum‐variance hedge ratio. Empirical application of Bayes' minimum‐variance hedge ratio is addressed and illustrated. Simulations show that discrepancies between prior and sample parameters may lead to substantial differences between Bayesian and PCE minimum‐variance hedges.
An Expected‐Indemnity Approach to the Measurement of Moral Hazard in Crop Insurance
Authors: Coble Keith H. , Knight Thomas O. , Pope Rulon D. , Williams Jeffery R. 
Published: July 2006

AbstractA definition of moral hazard in multiple peril crop insurance is proposed that focuses on expected indemnities rather than input use. Five years of production and insurance data for a panel of Kansas wheat farms is used to empirically test for this type of moral hazard. Results suggest that moral hazard affects multiple peril crop insurance indemnities in poor production years but that no significant moral hazard occurs in years when growing conditions are favorable.
Optimal Marketing of Nursery Crops from Container‐Based Production Systems
Authors: Stokes Jeffrey R. , Mjelde James W. , Hall Charles R. 
Published: July 2006

AbstractOptimal production and marketing decisions for a nursery producing ornamental plants from a container‐based production system are determined. The stochastic dynamic programming model developed captures the existence of a value‐added, serial‐stage production process with multiple products and intra‐ and interyear dynamics. Results suggest price differentials play an important role in determining the optimal size of plant to market. Further, federal taxes are important for determining the optimal production and marketing decisions while discounting and state taxes play minor roles. Analysis of the transition probability matrices associated with the optimal decisions indicate that the long‐run behavior of the system can be generalized.
Supply Response to Agricultural Insurance: Risk Reduction and Moral Hazard Effects
Authors: Ramaswami Bharat 
Published: July 2006

AbstractThis paper examines the consequences of agricultural insurance for expected supply. The effect of insurance is shown to decompose into a “risk reduction” effect as well as a “moral hazard” effect. The direction and magnitude of these effects depend on the parameters of the insurance contract, producer's risk preferences, and the underlying technology. Two models are considered for this purpose. In the first model, widely employed in the literature, a producer controls only one input. The second model uses a dual approach to extend the results to the case where a producer controls multiple inputs.
Risk Aversion and Yield Uncertainty in Duality Models of Production: A Mean‐Variance Approach
Authors: Coyle Barry T. 
Published: July 2006

AbstractA duality model of production is developed that endogenizes stochastic output decisions under risk aversion. The model incorporates both yield and price uncertainty and nonlinear mean‐variance risk preferences. This permits modeling of the firm's expected output supply and input demand decisions under risk and also, in principle, the firm's output variance decisions. The duality model is tractable for empirical research.
Rural Wheat Consumption in China
Authors: Carter Colin A. , Zhong Funing 
Published: July 2006

AbstractThe share of wheat in China's overall grain production and consumption has increased since economic reform. China is also a large wheat importer, but imports are erratic. In the literature, there is disagreement over future prospects for per capita wheat consumption in China and imports. Most of the wheat is consumed in rural areas where the majority of the population resides and where consumers have shifted from coarse grains and potatoes to wheat. We analyze rural wheat consumption using household data from two provinces. We find there is evidence to support a contention that China's per capita wheat consumption may not grow very fast in the future and could actually fall.
The Value of El Niño Forecasts in the Management of Salmon: A Stochastic Dynamic Assessment
Authors: Costello Christopher J. , Adams Richard M. , Polasky Stephen 
Published: July 2006

AbstractThe El Niño‐Southern Oscillation (ENSO) is the largest source of interannual variability in global climate. Variability in climate has been linked to variability in fisheries, specifically salmon stocks of the Pacific Northwest. The ability to forecast El Niño events already exists and is likely to improve in coming years. An accurate prediction may have value because it allows for better management decisions. In this article, we develop a bioeconomic model of the coho salmon fishery and derive the value of information from improved El Niño forecasting ability. We find that a perfect El Niño forecast results in an annual welfare gain of approximately $@@‐@@1 million, while imperfect forecasts lead to smaller gains. Results also suggest that optimal management in the face of uncertainty involves a “conservative” management strategy, resulting in lower harvest, higher wild fish escapement, and lower hatchery releases than management in the absence of such uncertainty.
Land Use with Heterogeneous Land Quality: An Application of an Area Base Model
Authors: Hardie Ian W. , Parks Peter J. 
Published: July 2006

AbstractArea base models are being used in resource assessments to project the availability of farm and forest land. In this paper we introduce a heterogenous land area base model and apply it to a five‐state region in the southeastern United States. Land quality turns out to be an important determinant of land use, suggesting that existing homogeneous land area base models may have an omitted variable problem. Parameter estimates are obtained using a modified multinomial logit model, which allows for error due to the use of county averages and error resulting from the use of sample estimates of land use acreage.
Estimating the Values of Cattle Characteristics Using an Ordered Probit Model
Authors: Sy Hamath A. , Faminow Merle D. , Johnson Gary V. , Crow Gary 
Published: July 2006

AbstractIn this study we evaluate the preferences of cattle producers in Manitoba, Canada, for different cattle characteristics using the conjoint analysis methodology. Preferences are estimated for three different segments of the cattle production system: purebred breeders, commercial cow‐calf producers, and cattle feeders. Data were collected for steers and bulls via a mail survey in 1993. Here we provide relative valuation for the different characteristics by segment of the cattle sector. Evidence is provided that different segments of the cattle sector do not value characteristics the same. For example, purebred breeders have higher preferences for reproduction traits, while feedlot operators give higher values to commercial attributes such as heavy slaughter weight and carcass yield. The different valuations of characteristics across segments of the cattle sector suggest that signals regarding preferences may be noisy. As a result, it might be difficult to design some breed improvement programs to be broadly acceptable, if they have differential benefits to the different segments of producers, when using standard profit‐oriented selection indices.
The Changing Values of the Cooperative and Its Business Focus
Authors: Hind Abigail M. 
Published: July 2006

AbstractThis paper examines the range of objectives open to cooperative businesses and assesses the change in organizational focus over time through the semantic analysis of historical annual reports of seven agricultural cooperative businesses. The findings indicated that, although there was a positive relationship between business age and increasing corporate, as opposed to member, orientation, this phenomenon is not inevitable for all organizations. The results also offered evidence that some of the change in business focus is generated by the internal dynamics of the business rather than from external factors such as competition and economic trends.
Measuring the Importance of Transaction Costs in Cattle Marketing
Authors: Hobbs Jill E. 
Published: July 2006

AbstractTransaction cost economics recognizes that transactions do not occur in a frictionless economic environment. Information, negotiation, and monitoring costs arise in any transaction and can influence the vertical coordination outcome. This paper demonstrates a method for measuring the influence of transaction costs on slaughter cattle marketing. The paper focuses on the factors affecting the choice between liveweight (live‐ring auction) and deadweight (direct‐to‐packer) sales. Using Tobit limited dependent variable analysis, data from a survey of UK farmers are used to estimate the relative importance of various transaction costs and farm characteristic variables for the choice of marketing channel.
Development of Statistical Discriminant Mathematical Programming Model Via Resampling Estimation Techniques
Authors: Ziari Houshmand A. , Leatham David J. , Ellinger Paul N. 
Published: July 2006

AbstractThis paper uses resampling estimation techniques to develop a statistical mathematical programming model for discriminant analysis problems. Deleted‐d jackknife, deleted‐d bootstrap, and bootstrap procedures are used to identify statistical significant parameter estimates for a discriminant mathematical programming (MP) model. The results of this paper indicate that the resampling approach is a viable model selection technique. Furthermore, estimating the MP models via resampling techniques can also improve the classification performance compared to a deterministic discriminant MP model. In this study, the deleted‐d jackknife procedure was the most promising among the resampling estimation techniques examined.
A Dynamic Analysis of Land Prices
Authors: Chavas Jean‐Paul , Thomas Alban 
Published: July 2006

AbstractA dynamic model of land prices is developed. It derives arbitrage asset prices under nonadditive dynamic preferences, risk aversion, and transaction costs. The model nests as special cases risk neutrality, time‐additive preferences, the static capital asset pricing model (CAPM), as well as the dynamic consumption‐based CAPM. The model is applied to the analysis of U.S. land prices for the period 1950–96. The econometric results provide evidence showing that U.S. land price patterns are inconsistent with risk neutrality or with the static CAPM model. No strong evidence was found against time‐additive preferences. The econometric findings indicate that both risk aversion and transaction costs have significant effects on land prices.
Damage Control and Increasing Returns: Further Results
Authors: Hennessy David A. 
Published: July 2006

AbstractRecently, researchers have been paying attention to the possibility of increasing returns to the use of damage control inputs under very plausible technologies. By looking at the mathematical structure of damage and control functions, we can describe a necessary and sufficient condition on these functions for locally increasing returns to occur. Using examples, I demonstrate how the result can be applied to models with single or multiple control inputs. Because analytic solutions are sometimes not possible, a simple empirical test for concavity violations is also provided. A caution is given about problems associated with estimating the basic model specification.
Optimum Area Yield Crop Insurance
Authors: Mahul Olivier 
Published: July 2006

AbstractThis article considers the problem of the optimal design of crop insurance when the indemnity is based upon the aggregate yield of a surrounding area. The optimal area yield crop insurance contract depends on the individual beta coefficient which measures the sensitivity of farm yield to area yield. Indemnity payments are made whenever the realized area yield is lower (higher) than a critical yield if the beta coefficient is positive (negative). The optimal contract contains a “disappearing deductible” if the beta coefficient is higher than unity.
Farm Growth and Survival: Econometric Evidence for Individual Farms in Upper Austria
Authors: Weiss Christoph R. 
Published: July 2006

AbstractThis article investigates survival and growth of more than 50,000 Upper Austrian farm households within a maximum likelihood sample selection framework. The results suggest that age, schooling and sex of the farm operator, size of the farm family, and off‐farm employment status, as well as initial farm size, significantly influence farm growth and survival. The present study provides support for the notion of a “disappearing middle” in the size distribution. The process of polarization is closely related to the off‐farm employment status of farms. Correcting for sample‐attrition bias is important when analyzing the performance of part‐time farms.
Compensating for Information Externalities in Technology Diffusion Models
Authors: Shampine Allan 
Published: July 2006

AbstractThe role of information in the adoption of new technologies is discussed, focusing on the role of information externalities when nonadopters observe adopters in order to gather information. A Bayesian model of aggregate adoption is derived and the social planner's relationship to the model is discussed. The fact that the information externality is uncompensated suggests that too little adoption may occur. The social planner's problem is solved numerically, demonstrating rapid learning on the part of adopters and a limited ability for the social planner to compensate for the information externality.
The Contribution of Genetic Resources and Diversity to Wheat Production in the Punjab of Pakistan
Authors: Smale Melinda , Hartell Jason , Heisey Paul W. , Senauer Ben 
Published: July 2006

AbstractRecent criticisms of the “green revolution” wheats concern the effects of their popularity on crop diversity and the consequences for productivity and conservation. We use a Just‐Pope production function to test the relationship of genetic resource and diversity variables to mean and variance of wheat yields in the Punjab of Pakistan. In irrigated areas, greater area concentration among varieties is associated with higher mean yields. In rainfed districts, genealogical variables are associated positively with mean yield and negatively with yield variance. Further research is needed to overcome data limitations, capture biological relationships more accurately, and specify a fuller decision‐making model.
The Choice of Tillage, Rotation, and Soil Testing Practices: Economic and Environmental Implications
Authors: Wu JunJie , Babcock Bruce A. 
Published: July 2006

AbstractFarmers' management practices can have a significant effect on agricultural pollution. Past research has analyzed factors influencing adoption of a single management practice. But often adoption decisions about many practices are made simultaneously, which suggests use of a polychotomous‐choice model to analyze decisions. Such a model is applied to the choice of alternative management practices on cropland in the Central Nebraska Basin and controlled for self‐selection and the interaction between alternative practices. The results of the choice model are used to estimate the economic and environmental effects of adopting alternative combinations of management practices.
The Effect of Rental Rates on the Extension of Conservation Reserve Program Contracts
Authors: Cooper Joseph C. , Osborn C. Tim 
Published: July 2006

AbstractGiven that the majority of conservation reserve program (CRP) contracts on approximately 36 million acres of enrolled land expire concurrently, re‐enrollment decisions by farmers and the federal government have high budgetary implications. Using a survey of over 8,000 CRP contract holders, we apply an ordered response discrete choice model to explicitly model the range in rental rates over which the representative farmer may be ambivalent to renewing the CRP contract. Given the empirical results from the ordered response model, we estimate acreage re‐enrollment as a function of the rental rate and compare them to results of a binomial choice model.
Relationship between One‐Electron Transition‐Metal Reactivity and Radical Polymerization Processes
Authors: Poli Rinaldo 
Published: July 2006

AbstractControlled radical polymerization has come along in leaps and bounds following the development of efficient transition‐metal catalysts for atom‐transfer radical polymerization. Another type of controlled radical polymerization process, namely organometallic radical polymerization, uses the reversible formation of metal–carbon bonds. Metals are also implicated in catalytic chain transfer, a process that involves the abstraction of hydrogen atoms. This Minireview discusses the importance of one‐electron transition‐metal reactivity in metal‐mediated controlled radical polymerization processes.
Nucleophilic Activation of Alkenyl and Aryl Boronates by a Chiral CuIF Complex: Catalytic Enantioselective Alkenylation and Arylation of Aldehydes
Authors: Tomita Daisuke , Kanai Motomu , Shibasaki Masakatsu 
Published: July 2006

AbstractA new method for the catalytic enantioselective alkenylation and arylation of aldehydes involves the activation of alkenyl and aryl boronates by a catalytic amount of the CuIF–DTBM‐segphos complex through transmetalation, generating novel alkenyl and aryl copper species. These reagents act as the actual nucleophile. A range of aldehydes can be converted into optically active secondary allyl alcohols or diaryl methanols with excellent enantioselectivity. The appropriate choice of additives, depending on the substrate, is critical to ensure high yields of products. These additives possibly modulate the catalyst turnover step from copper alkoxide intermediates generated by the addition of organocopper reagents to aldehydes.
Polymerization in Coordination Nanospaces
Authors: Uemura Takashi , Horike Satoshi , Kitagawa Susumu 
Published: July 2006

AbstractInspired by elegant polymerizations in biological systems, polymer synthesis in confined artificial nanospaces is a key challenge in the control of polymer structures and the design of well‐defined nanostructures. In this regard, porous coordination polymers (PCPs) have a wide range of advantages, such as regular channel structures, controllable pore size, dynamic and flexible pores, and unique surface potentials and functionality, which can be utilized for precisely controlled polymerization and polymer arrangement. This Focus Review describes recent progress in polymerization in the nanochannels of PCPs and demonstrates why this polymerization system is so attractive and promising, from the viewpoints of three essential polymerization processes in PCPs, that is, monomer arrangement, polymerization methods, and control of polymer structure.
Endovascular stents for relief of cyanosis in single‐ventricle patients with shunt or conduit‐dependent pulmonary blood flow
Authors: Petit Christopher J. , Gillespie Matthew J. , Kreutzer Jacqueline , Rome Jonathan J. 
Published: July 2006

AbstractHypoxemia is a significant cause of early and interstage death in patients with single ventricle (SV). Obstruction of Blalock‐Taussig shunts (BTS) in patients with SV has traditionally been managed with surgical revision. Purpose: We report on the experience at our institution of deploying endovascular stents within BTS as well as obstructed right‐ventricle (RV) to pulmonary artery (PA) conduits in patients with modified Norwood (ie Sano modification). Methods: Medical records were reviewed for the time period between January 1, 2002 and November 30, 2005. All patients with SV who presented for intervention for BTS or RV‐PA conduit stenosis were reviewed. Specific endpoints reviewed included pre‐ and post‐intervention arterial oxygen saturation, type of intervention (stent vs. ballon dilation), need for subsequent surgical shunt/conduit revision, and interval to second stage palliation. Results: Fifteen patients with SV underwent intervention for acute cyanosis. Eight patients had BTS, and the other seven patients had RV‐PA conduit stenosis. Coronary stents were deployed in 14 of the 15 patients. Four patients also underwent balloon angioplasty of branch PAs. Oxygen saturations improved in all patients, with a mean increase of 13.9% (p = 0.0001). Four patients died before second stage palliation — one due to complications of the catheterization. Of the eleven remaining patients, nine have undergone second stage palliation; interval from intervention to Glenn ranged from 28–205 days (mean 163d). Two patients are awaiting cavo‐pulmonary anastamosis. Conclusions: Endovascular stenting in this high‐risk population is effective at improving oxygen saturation as well as obviating need to surgical shunt/conduit revision. © 2006 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Double Perovskites as Anode Materials for Solid‐Oxide Fuel Cells.
Authors: Huang Yun‐Hui , Dass Ronald I. , Xing Zheng‐Liang , Goodenough John B. 
Published: July 2006

AbstractChemInform is a weekly Abstracting Service, delivering concise information at a glance that was extracted from about 200 leading journals. To access a ChemInform Abstract, please click on HTML or PDF.