A TWO-STAGE MODEL OF THE DEMAND FOR SPECIALTY CROP INSURANCE

Legislators are considering raising catastrophic (CAT 50% coverage) crop insurance premiums. However, estimates of a two-stage coverage-choice and participation model using county-level data from California grape growers show that the demand for CAT insurance is price-elastic, therefore, premium increases will worsen the financial performance of the grape-insurance program.crop insurance, discrete / continuous choice, grapes, multinomial logit, Research Methods/ Statistical Methods, Risk and Uncertainty,

3D Imaging of Gems and Minerals by Multiphoton Microscopy

Many optical approaches have been used to examine the composition and structure of gemstones, both recently and throughout history. The nonlinear optical behavior of different gemstones has not been investigated, and the higher order terms to the refractive index represent an unused tool for qualifying and examining a stone. We have used a multiphoton microscope to examine the nonlinear optical properties of 36 different gemstones and demonstrate that it is a useful tool for imaging them three-dimensionally up to the millimeter scale below the sample surface. The polarization dependence of second harmonic generation signals was used to examine the crystal orientations inside the minerals.Comment: 9 pages, five figure

21st century social work: reducing re-offending - key practice skills

This literature review was commissioned by the Scottish Executive’s Social Work Services Inspectorate in order to support the work of the 21st Century Social Work Review Group. Discussions in relation to the future arrangements for criminal justice social work raised issues about which disciplines might best encompass the requisite skills for reducing re-offending in the community. Rather than starting with what is known or understood about the skills of those professionals currently involved in such interventions, this study sought to start with the research evidence on effective work with offenders to reduce re-offending and then work its way back to the skills required to promote this outcome

Managing Option Fragility

We analyze and explore option fragility, the notion that option incentives are fragile due to their non-linear payoff structure. Option incentives become weaker as options fall underwater, leading to pressures to reprice options or restore incentives through additional grants of equity-based pay. We build a detailed data set on executives' portfolios of stock and options and find that executive options are frequently underwater, even when average stock returns have been high. For example, at the height of the bull market in 1999, approximately one-third of all executive options were underwater. We find that, in contrast to the incentives provided by stock, the incentives provided by options are quite sensitive to stock price changes, especially on the downside. Overall, we find that the incentives created by all executive holdings have an elasticity with respect to stock price decreases of about 0.7, and this elasticity is larger for high-option executives and for executives with high percentages of options already underwater. The dominant mechanism through which companies manage option fragility is larger option grants following stock price declines; on average, these larger grants restore approximately 40% of the stock-price-induced incentive declines. Option repricings are far less prevalent, despite the attention they have garnered. Interestingly, we find that for positive stock returns, higher returns lead to larger option grants, which raise incentives further. Thus, option grants are largest when companies do very poorly or very well. Executive exercising behavior also affects option fragility. Since executives are much less likely to exercise options following stock price decreases, the natural declines in incentives due to exercises are attenuated on the downside, leading executives to 'manage their own incentives' in a way that augments company management of option fragility.

Description of path-in-the-sky contact analog piloting display

A contact analog display called Path-In-The-Sky (PITS) integrates information on airplane attitude, airplane kinematic performance, navigation situation, and path prediction into one instrument. The pictorial format utilized in the PITS display concept was designed to reduce the required instrument scan and to simplify interpretation of informtion with the objective of reducing pilot work load. Described are the symbology of the PITS display, the coordinate systems used to generate the display, and the magnitudes of pertinent geometric characteristics selected during the display development. Also included are examples of the PITS display generated on a stand-alone graphics computer

Climate change impacts on water for irrigated horticulture in the Vale of Evesham. Final Report

This project has undertaken a scoping review and assessment of the impacts of climate change on irrigated horticulture in the Vale of Evesham, an area of intense irrigated production located within the Environment Agency’s Warwickshire Avon CAMS Catchment. The research was based on a combination of methodologies including desk-based review of published and grey literature, computer agroclimatic and water balance modelling, GIS mapping, meetings with key informants and a stakeholder workshop. Future climate datasets were derived from the latest UK Climate Impacts Programme (UKICIP02) climatology, using selected emission scenarios for the 2020s, 2050s and 2080s. These scenarios were then used to model and map the future agroclimatic conditions under which agriculture might operate and the consequent impacts on irrigation need (depths of water applied) and volumetric demand. This was complimented by a postal survey to abstractors and a stakeholder workshop, to identify, review and assess farmer adaptation options and responses. The key findings arising from the research, implications for water resource management and recommendations for further work are summarised below. Using a geographical information system (GIS), a series of agroclimate maps have been produced, for the baseline and selected UKCIP02 scenario. The maps show major changes in agroclimate within the catchment over the next 50 years. The driest agroclimate zones are currently located around Worcester, Evesham, Tewkesbury and Gloucester, corresponding to areas where horticultural production and irrigation demand are most concentrated. By the 2020s, all agroclimate zones are predicted to increase in aridity. By the 2050s the entire catchment is predicted to have a drier agroclimate than is currently experienced anywhere in the driest parts of the catchment. This will have major impacts on the pattern of land use and irrigation water demand. Cont/d

Supervisors\u27 Reports of the Effects of Supervisor Self-Disclosure on Supervisees

Using consensual qualitative research, researchers interviewed 16 supervisors regarding their use of self-disclosure in supervision. Supervisors reported that their prior training in supervisor self-disclosure (SRSD) came via didactic sources and encouraged judicious use of SRSD. Supervisors used SRSD to enhance supervisee development and normalize their experiences; supervisors did not use SRSD when it derailed supervision or was developmentally inappropriate for supervisees. In describing specific examples of the intervention, SRSD occurred in good supervision relationships, was stimulated by supervisees struggling, was intended to teach or normalize, and focused on supervisors\u27 reactions to their own or their supervisees\u27 clients. SRSD yielded largely positive effects on supervisors, supervisees, the supervision relationship, and supervisors\u27 supervision of others