1,720,979 research outputs found
The design of pricing policies for the management of water resources in agriculture under adverse selection
Full text linkWater pricing policy for irrigated agriculture is considered as a key issue in the Water Framework Directive (WFD) implementation. The main obstacle is that a large part of the water used in agriculture is unmetered. The objective of this study is to assess the Water Authorities (WA)'s choices between different options of incentive pricing policies (IPP) and to evaluate their economic performance compared with flat rate (FR) solutions. The applied method relies on a principal-agent model under adverse selection, in whichWAs are less informed than farmers about the water use costs and profits. In this respect, the paper provides a theoretical interpretation of how different information conditions, profit and cost structures contribute to affecting WAs' pricing strategies and their ability to deal with some of the WFD principles. The study shows that, in the absence of water metering, WAs can still set up incentive pricing strategies by formulating menus of contracts that are more effcient than flat rate payments. Also, we show that, at least for cases in which there is only a small differentiation in water costs among farmers or no transaction costs, the first-best solution (the solution that yields the highest return from the use of the resource) can also be optimal under asymmetric information. The main policy recommendation is that, in the absence of water metering, a wider set of incentive pricing options should be considered, the performance of which, however, should be evaluated based on the specificities of each irrigated region
The value of information for the management of water resources in agriculture: Assessing the economic viability of new methods to schedule irrigation
Full text linkThis study develops a methodology to assess the comparative advantages of new methods to plan irrigation with respect to prevailing existing irrigation practices. The methodology consists of a comparative cost-benefit analysis based on the Value of Information approach that makes it possible to analyse whether an improvement in the information available to farmers generates economic benefits. The method is applied to the problem of comparing computer irrigation models (providing irrigation advice based on measurements, water balance models and weather predictions) and prevailing irrigation practices (at times based on soil and plant observations, or on advanced technologies) in estimating and predicting crop water requirements, in pilot experiments located in four different European regions. The results reveal that the introduction of the alternative method improves the performance of irrigation practices in Mediterranean regions that are characterised by high weather variability and for those crops for which the consequences of failing to meet predictions are relatively low (i.e. tomato instead of maize, drip irrigated crops instead of sprinkler irrigated crops). Under favourable conditions, the use of the alternative technology generates a 0–20% increase in gross margin and a 10–30% water saving with respect to prevailing existing irrigation practices. The study concludes by addressing the conditions that justify the use of advanced information systems to schedule irrigation interventions and by offering some policy recommendations to drive their uptake. These include subsidising research at the evaluation stage and public investments aimed at knowledge creation (weather and shallow water table monitoring stations) and knowledge sharing (counselling) at the adoption stage
Digital irrigated agriculture: Towards a framework for comprehensive analysis of decision processes under uncertainty
Full text linkSeveral studies address the topic of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) adoption in irrigated agriculture. Many of these studies testify on the growing importance of ICT in influencing the evolution of the sector, especially by bringing down information barriers. While the potentialities of such technologies are widely investigated and confirmed, there is still a gap in understanding and modeling decisions on ICT information implementation. This gap concerns, in particular, accounting for all the aspects of uncertainty which are mainly due to a lack of knowledge on the reliability of ICT and on the errors of ICT-information. Overall, such uncertainties might affect Decision Makers’ (DM’s) behavior and hamper ICT uptake. To support policy makers in the designing of uncertainty-management policies for the achievement of the benefits of a digital irrigated agriculture, we further investigated the topic of uncertainty modelling in ICT uptake decisions. To do so, we reviewed the economic literature on ambiguity, in the context of the wider literature on decision making under uncertainty in order to explore its potential for better modeling ICT uptake decisions. Findings from the discussed literature confirm the capabilities of this approach to yield a deeper understanding of decision processes when the reliability of ICT is unknown and provides better insights on how behavioral barriers to the achievement of potential ICT-benefits can be overcome. Policy implications to accompany the sector in the digitalization process include mainly: (a) defining new approaches for ICT-developers to tailor platforms to answer heterogeneous DMs’ needs; (b) establish uncertainty-management policies complementary to DM tools adoption
Ambiguity, Familiarity and Learning Behavior in the Adoption of ICT for Irrigation Management
Full text linkSubjective behavior of decision makers (DMs) is paramount when modeling information
and communication technology (ICT) adoption choices in irrigated agriculture. Here, efficient ICT aided irrigation plans often involve a certain degree of uncertainty, and differential attitudes toward
it can cause uncoordinated actions between actors. Some DMs will implement ICT information, while
others will not because they do not trust ICT reliability. This risks undermining the achievement of
ICT benefits in terms of water saving at the irrigation district level. By distinguishing between differ ent sources of uncertainty, taking the form of risk and ambiguity, in the present paper, we developed
a new decision model to assess the impact that subjective behavior and learning processes have on
the efficiency of ICT-aided irrigation plans. A case study was selected to implement the model in
simplified settings. The results revealed the potential of ambiguity to limit ICT information implemen tation and to hinder water governance. Implications mainly concern the development of uncertainty
management policies to favor DMs becoming familiar with the new ICT with lower ambiguit
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
Full text linkThe present study examines one of the fundamental aspects of author co-citation analysis (ACA) - the way co-citation
counts are defined. Co-citation counting provides the data on which all subsequent statistical analyses and mappings
are based, and we compare ACA results based on two different types of co-citation counting - the traditional type that
only counts the first one among a cited work's authors on the one hand and a non-traditional type that takes into
account the first 5 authors of a cited work on the other hand. Results indicate that the picture produced through this non-traditional author co-citation counting contains more coherent author groups and is therefore considerably clearer. However, this picture represents fewer specialties in the research field being studied than that produced through the traditional first-author co-citation counting when the same number of top-ranked authors is selected and analyzed. Reasons for these effects are discussed
Variations on the Author
Full text link“Variations on the Author” discusses two of Eduardo Coutinho’s recent films (Um Dia na Vida, from 2010, and Últimas Conversas, posthumously released in 2015) and their contribution to the general question of documentary authorship. The director’s filmography is characterized by a consistent yet self-effacing form of authorial self-inscription: Coutinho often features as an interviewer that rather than express opinions propels discourses; an interviewer that is good at listening. This mode of self-inscription characterizes him as an author who is not expressive but who is nonetheless markedly present on the screen. In Um Dia na Vida, however, Coutinho is completely absent form the image, while Últimas Conversas, on the contrary, includes a confessional prologue that moves the director from the margins to the center of his films. This article examines the ways in which these works stand out in the filmography of a director who offers new insights into the notion of cinematic authorship
Appropriate Similarity Measures for Author Cocitation Analysis
Full text linkWe provide a number of new insights into the methodological discussion about author cocitation analysis. We first argue that the use of the Pearson correlation for measuring the similarity between authors’ cocitation profiles is not very satisfactory. We then discuss what kind of similarity measures may be used as an alternative to the Pearson correlation. We consider three similarity measures in particular. One is the well-known cosine. The other two similarity measures have not been used before in the bibliometric literature. Finally, we show by means of an example that our findings have a high practical relevance.information science;Pearson correlation;cosine;similarity measure;author cocitation analysis
Strategie imprenditoriali delle aziende zootecniche biologiche
No full textNel lavoro sono condotte nalisi al fine di valutare la diffusione della zootecnia biologica, definire il reddito ottenibile di alcuni casi studio e calcolare il livello di sostenibilità economica delle tecniche innovative sperimentate nel progetto E.qu.i.zoo.bi
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