Economic impact and public costs of confined animal feeding operations at the parcel level of Craven County,North Carolina

Conflicts have arisen between communities and operators of confined animal feeding as farms have become bigger in order to maintain their competitiveness. These conflicts have been difficult to resolve because measuring and allocating the benefits and costs of livestock production is difficult. This papers demonstrates a policy tool for promoting compromise whereby the community gets reduced negative impacts from livestock while at the same time continues to benefit from livestock jobs, taxes, and related economic activity. Public economic benefits and public economic costs of confined animal feeding operations are estimated for every farm and affected house in Craven County, North Carolina. The results show public economic benefits of $5.7 million and public economic costs of $5.7 million and public economic costs of 2.2 million, but that the ratio of benefits to costs for individual farm-house pairs varies in important ways across the 26 hog farms in Craven County.     

Science's Role in the World Health Organization

One hears often of the financial contributions made by the United States to the support of activities within the U.N. system, but much less frequently about benefits obtained. A particular instance of the latter is worth citing. An analysis was recently made by N.W. Axnick and J.M. Lane (3) of the costs associated with the protection of the United States against smallpox in 1968. This was estimated to be $153.8 million, of which $0.7 million was contributed to WHO specially earmarked for its smallpox eradication program, and $3 million in U.S. bilateral assistance to 19 countries in West Africa. Ihe success of the WHO-directed smallpox eradication program throughout the world has resulted in a 1972 decision by U.S. authorities to discontinue routine vaccination of the general population and of smallpox vaccination requirements for international travel to smallpox-free countries, which was estimated to involve economic costs of $135.7 million during 1968. The total current U.S. contribution (1972) to all activities of WHO is $27.6 million. Thus it will be seen that very substantial savings, probably exceding $100 million annually, wili accrue to the United States from the work of WHO on smallpox alone.     

An intercontinental array--a next-generation radio telescope

It is difficult to estimate accurately the cost of constructing a large scientific instrument that involves many techniques. On the other hand, most of the component parts of the VLBA consist of antennas and electronic systems that already exist or are being fabricated. The kind of 25-m antennas being constructed for the VLA will cost about $900,000 each and will work at wavelengths as short as 1 cm. A multifrequency radiometer, hydrogen maser frequency standard, small control computer, control building, and wide-band instrumentation recorder bring the cost to about $1.5 million per element, or $15 million for a ten-element array using tape recorders. A multistation playback facility, with ten recorders and enough correlators to handle all interferometer pairs simultaneously, together with the necessary computers to control the processor and reduce the data, may add $5 million. The total cost is thus about $20 million at current prices, including an adequate supply of magnetic tape. This is comparable to the cost of existing large radio telescopes and arrays. An array that used a geostationary communication satellite to transmit the data to a real-time correlator would cost $30 million to $50 million more, but this is still within the price range of other space astronomy projects. It is thus feasible to construct at reasonable cost an intercontinental very long baseline array which has sub-milliarcsecond resolution. This would complement the Very Large Array now being constructed (4), which is much more sensitive to objects of low surface brightness. This next step would permit the study of the universe with unprecedented angular resolution.     

The national forests

National forests are a valuable national asset. They produce important amounts of wood, recreation, wilderness, wildlife, and water, but good management could produce much more of each kind of output. The national forests are a major business enterprise, with $42 billion of assets and an annual cash revenue of $400 million to $500 million, but they have never been studied as business enterprises. The national forests are capital-intensive, but the capital is used wastefully, in large part because no charge is made for its use. Funds for management and investment are spent in economically unrewarding regions, forests, and sites. The availability of so much of their output at little or no cost to users seriously distorts management decisions. Major reforms in the management of the national forests are needed. If carried out, these could make the national forests much more useful to the American public.     

Academic research. California sets up three new institutes

Three University of California campuses were chosen last week as sites for a new $900 million program designed to keep the state a world leader in research and to bolster its economy. Each of the three schools will receive $25 million a year for 4 years from the state, with companies and other sources putting up at least twice that amount.     

白龙江林区森林资源价值评价研究

对白龙江林区森林资源价值进行了评价研究。指出:(1)森林资源价值由经济价值和公益价值组成。经济价值应用碳税法或培育成本法进行评价,公益价值应用工业成本法、机会成本法、水资源费等方法进行评价,两价值评价前应核准森林类型、面积、蓄积量等。(2)评价结果表明:白龙江林区森林总生物量55.13 Tg,即总碳贮量22．05 Tg C,折合总经济价值(即碳贮量价值)239.5亿元,生物量生产力为708．0 Gg／a,即碳贮量283.2 Gg C／a,折合经济价值3.1亿元/a;年均公益价值5.8亿元／a,其中释放O2量价值占52％、防止土壤侵蚀量价值占9％、涵养水源价值占39%,这些森林资源的年总价值在8．9亿元/a以上。(3)森林生物量是森林碳贮量的载体,用有林地的生物量与蓄积量建立的生物量经验系数R平=0.725 4、R幼=0.564 7、R中=0．671 0、R近=0．718 3、R成=0．742 9、R过=0.768 6符合甘肃实际情况, 所揭示的生物量数据是可靠的;评价森林资源的公益价值应从其实际防护重点入手,不区分防护重点地套用所有指标进行评价,会误导人们的认识和决策。     

Mars exploration. Plan for two rovers squeezes NASA budget

NASA's decision last week to send two rovers to Mars in 2003 is being hailed by researchers as affirming the agency's commitment to exploring the Red Planet. But once the applause dies down, cash-strapped space science managers will be forced to make tough decisions about how to shoulder the added $200 million cost of a second mission, starting with $96 million that must come out of NASA's 2001 budget.     

Economic analysis for smart sprayer application in wild blueberry fields

The wild blueberry industry is spending over $80 million CAD per year on agrochemicals for 93 000 ha under production in North America. A pressing need to reduce agro-chemical usage and production cost has resulted in the development of a smart sprayer for spot-application of agrochemicals in wild blueberry fields. This paper encompasses the economic analysis to determine the potential savings for spot-applications of agrochemicals using a smart sprayer. The economic analysis compared the smart sprayer with two other commercially available sprayers (basic and swath control). The swath control sprayer and smart sprayer both featured GPS auto-steer and boom section control to reduce over-spray in already applied areas based on GPS position. The basic sprayer used a foam marker for guidance with no swath control management. The smart sprayer featured a machine vision system that automatically detected target areas in the field further reducing agrochemical input by shutting individual nozzles off in non-target areas in the field. The cost analysis was performed to compare the different features of the sprayer technologies, i.e., base sprayer, additional technology, training, usage, repair and maintenance. The additional components installed on the smart sprayer were justified in terms of agrochemicals/water savings via spot-applications, tractor fuel and operator’s time. The application total cost was $2052 ha^?1 using the basic sprayer, $1799 ha^?1 using the swath control sprayer, and $1138 ha^?1 using the smart sprayer over a 2 year production cycle of the selected fields that were used in this study. The payback period ranged from 2.0 years (60 ha field size) to 9.8 years (20 ha field size) using the swath control sprayer. The payback period ranged from 11 months (60 ha field size) to 3.5 years (20 ha field size) when using the smart sprayer. Results revealed that the smart sprayer had significant advantage from both an environmental and economic perspective over the other two sprayers.     

The tokamak: model T fusion reactor

During the past several years there have been significant scientific and technological advances related to the tokamak magnetic confinement scheme. These are summarized in the context of a recent tokamak reactor design study which emphasizes reduced size, higher power density, and enhanced plant reliability and maintainability relative to earlier tokamak reactor design studies. The direct plant cost of the proposed reactor is estimated to be in the range $1000 to $1500 per electrical kilowatt. A three-phase strategy for demonstrating tokamak fusion power generation at a committed site is outlined. It is estimated that implementation of the three-phase program would require about 20 years and a total escalated expenditure $10 billion to $15 billion. The tokamak power plant described here is not viewed as definitive but rather as a point of departure in the development of a plan to demonstrate tokamak power generation.     

Biomedical research. Hughes grants target infectious diseases

The Howard Hughes Medical Institute has launched a new program of 5-year grants that funds 45 scientists in 20 countries. The $15 million initiative, which supports research on a variety of infectious and parasitic diseases, marks the first Hughes program outside the United States that is tailored to a specific research area.     

Biomedicine. 'Glue grant' boosts cell signaling consortium

The National Institute of General Medical Sciences (NIGMS) is using a novel funding approach to bind together researchers in cutting-edge fields at many institutions, allowing them to transcend their individual areas of expertise. NIGMS has awarded $5 million a year for 5 years to a group of scientists studying cellular signaling. To speed their findings into the public domain and make them available for use in drug testing, members of the project have agreed to post new results in a public database and forgo some patent and authorship claims.     

EUROPEAN SCIENCE: U.K. Unveils 'Brain Gain' Initiative

Last week, U.K. Trade and Industry minister Stephen Byers announced a $6 million a year program to lure as many as 50 research stars to the country or persuade others who might accept lucrative offers from abroad to remain in Great Britain. The initiative is the latest in a series of moves in the past few weeks aimed at buoying up the British scientific community.     

EDUCATION: Gates Gives Cambridge a Rival to Rhodes

Thanks to a new $210 million trust announced on 11 October by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Cambridge University is launching a new high-visibility scholars' program, which each year will fund at least 225 students from outside the United Kingdom. The university will select Gates Cambridge Scholars based on merit, not need, focusing on academic ability and leadership potential.     

广西公益林生态效益补偿研究

为了研究合理的公益林生态效益补偿标准,维持公益林的经营动力,该文采用林木资产评估方法和本金折息法,并以价值损失补偿计量标准,计算公益林生态效益补偿金额.结果表明:①如果政府一次性购买广西集体和个人经营的公益林归国家所有,对公益林经营者进行补偿所需的补偿金额为220亿元人民币;②如果公益林产权不变,仍由所有者按公益林建设规程进行经营,保证公益林正常发挥生态效益,每年对公益林经营者进行补偿所需的补偿金额为7.22亿元人民币.各树种类型公益林补偿标准为:杉木236.0元/(hm2·a)、马尾松214.4元/(hm2·a)、阔叶树219.1元/(hm2·a)、桉树195.4元/(hm2·a)、竹林87.4元/(hm2·a)、灌木林39.1元/(hm2·a).公益林有典型的外部经济性,政府必须对公益林经营者进行合理的经济补偿才能维持公益林的经营动力.      

Scientific misconduct. How prevalent is fraud? That's a million-dollar question

How often does scientific misconduct occur? There seems to be no consensus on the answer, although a range of estimates were presented at a conference called last month by a key federal watchdog agency to announce a $1 million grants program to investigate the prevalence of fraud, data fabrication, plagiarism, and other questionable practices in science. The 8-year-old Office of Research Integrity hopes to support studies gauging the frequency of misconduct and assessing efforts to raise ethical standards.     

2001～2006年广东省江门地区森林生态系统服务功能的经济价值评估

对森林生态系统生态服务功能进行了分析和探讨,并在前人研究的基础上通过采用市场价值法、造林成本法、影子工程法、替代花费法等方法计算了广东江门地区2001年至2006年森林生态系统服务功能的生态经济价值。结果表明2001年之2006年期间江门地区森林生态经济价值随当地森林面积的增加成逐年上升趋势,总值在323528万~339377万元变化。     

张家界武陵源风景区自然景观价值评估

自然景观提供给人们观赏、娱乐和休闲的效用和价值,长期以来,人们对自然景观的价值忽略并低估,导致在开发利用自然资源过程中出现资源浪费和生态破坏的问题.如果赋予自然景观合适的经济价值,能为其开发利用提供决策支持.为评价张家界武陵源风景区的景观价值,构建了相应的指标体系.自然景观价值乃使用价值与非使用价值之和,并对这两种价值分别运用旅行费用法和条件价值法进行评估.结果表明:2011年武陵源风景区的自然景观价值为89.01亿元,其中使用价值为79.30亿元,非使用价值为9.71亿元.分析表明,武陵源风景区的自然景观价值要远高于以往的研究及近年的旅游收入,建议景区当局全面认识其景观价值,在旅游人次不断攀升的形势下,全力保护该地生态环境,探究武陵源风景区的可持续发展道路.     

CANADIAN UNIVERSITIES: Funding of 2000 Slots Sets Off Musical Chairs

Four months before it goes into effect, a $605 million program to help Canadian universities attract and retain the best scientific talent has ignited a furor within Canadian academe. Research-intensive universities have begun aggressively shopping for prospective candidates, using the new chairs as bait. Smaller universities say that has left them fending off talent raids.     

The global impact of scaling up HIV/AIDS prevention programs in low- and middle-income countries

A strong, global commitment to expanded prevention programs targeted at sexual transmission and transmission among injecting drug users, started now, could avert 28 million new HIV infections between 2005 and 2015. This figure is more than half of the new infections that might otherwise occur during that period in 125 low- and middle-income countries. Although preventing these new infections would require investing about U.S.$122 billion over this period, it would reduce future needs for treatment and care. Our analysis suggests that it will cost about U.S.$3900 to prevent each new infection, but that this will produce a savings of U.S.$4700 in forgone treatment and care costs. Thus, greater spending on prevention now would not only prevent more than half the new infections that would occur from 2005 to 2015 but would actually produce a net financial saving as future costs for treatment and care are averted.     

The economics of resource recovery from municipal solid waste

A prototypical operating statement similar to that used by business firms has been shown to be a useful decision-making tool for a community choosing a solid waste management system. When applied to resource recovery, it highlights the economics of recovery and the values of the input parameters necessary to achieve economic viability, whether in the case of public or private ownership (23). In most communities, refuse processing to recover material resources must be based on more than one source of revenue. In addition to the revenues from the sale of by-products, there must be revenues from processing the incoming refuse and from a user, or dump, fee. In the first case discussed, that of materials recovery by a front end system, resource recovery is shown to be economically feasible for those communities in which the present cost of disposal is relatively high. The indifferent community was one having a current cost of $7.72 per ton; more accurately, this would be the cost for the near-term future. It is not necessary that current costs be used, since many communities are merely "dumping" their refuse. The indifference decision should be based on the cost of an environmentally sound alternative. Energy recovery from municipal solid waste can increase the number of communities in which resource recovery will be an economic adjunct to a solid waste management system. The analysis presented here was based on the assumption that the value of the fuel recovered exactly offset the additional capital and operating costs of the utility which burns it. There could be costs above and beyond this; similarly, there could be a saving by taking into account the economic value of the organic fraction as fuel. However, it is believed that the assumption under which the materials-plus-energy case was analyzed seems to be realistic at this time.