Prevention versus Treatment under Precautionary Regulation: A Case Study of Groundwater Contamination under Uncertainty

Policy discussions on agricultural pollution problems characterize prevention as more cost effective and precautionary than ex post treatment. We derive conditions under which treatment alone is more cost effective in situations involving multiple sources of emissions, multiple sites affected, and a commonly used precautionary approach to uncertainty. We also show that a greater degree of precaution can result in less reliance on prevention. An empirical case study indicates that treatment alone is the most cost-effective means of dealing with nitrate in most Maryland community water system wells. The use of leaching prevention measures is restricted to the most intensive poultry producing areas. The incremental cost of precaution is substantial.     

Modeling Conditional Yield Densities

Given the increasing interest in agricultural risk, many have sought improved methods to characterize conditional crop-yield densities. While most have postulated the Beta as a flexible alternative to the Normal, others have chosen nonparametric methods. Unfortunately, yield data tends not to be sufficiently abundant to invalidate many reasonable parametric models. This is problematic because conclusions from economic analyses, which require estimated conditional yield densities, tend not to be invariant to the modeling assumption. We propose a semiparametric estimator that, because of its theoretical properties and our simulation results, enables one to empirically proceed with a higher degree of confidence.     

Stochastic Technology, Risk Preferences, and Adoption of Site-Specific Technologies

A model of farmer decision making is developed to determine the extent to which uncertainties about soil fertility and weather affect the value of site-specific technologies (SSTs) using jointly estimated risk and technology parameters. Uncertainty can lead risk-averse farmers to apply more fertilizers and generate more pollution than in the certainty case. Ignoring uncertainty and risk aversion would overestimate the economic and environmental benefits of SSTs and underestimate the subsidy required to induce adoption. Accounting for uncertainties and risk preferences might explain the low observed adoption rates of SSTs. Improving the accuracy of SSTs would increase the incentives for adoption.     

Estimating Willingness to Pay for Improved Water Quality in the Presence of Item Nonresponse Bias

This article deals with the problem of item nonresponse in contingent valuation surveys using a payment-card method, by applying a grouped-data sample-selection estimation technique that is capable of imputing the missing values conditional upon a respondent's decision to answer a willingness-to-pay question. The advantage of the technique lies in its ability to utilize all of the information in the sample, permitting a more efficient estimation in the presence of item nonresponse bias. The major determinants of willingness to pay appear to be household income, number of children, education, perception of existing water quality, and identification with environmental issues.     

对《形状和位置公差》新标准的理解和应用

通过对《形状和位置公差》新、旧国际的对比，综述了新、旧标准间的不同之处、便于迅速了解和应用新标准。     

Price rigidities and institutional variations in markets with posted prices

Summary Standard laboratory posted-offer markets respond slowly and incompletely to demand shocks. In these one-sided markets, where sellers control the setting of prices, very little information is transmitted via the process of exchange. For this reason, traders have trouble distinguishing randomness in their own experience from changes in market fundamentals. This paper reports the results of twelve laboratory markets conducted to assess whether some common variants to standard posted-offer rules can correct the adjustment deficiences. Although discounting, multiple postings and excess demand information all improve performance, we find that response remains poor, and efficiencies low.Support for this research was provided by the National Science Foundation (SBR 9319842 and SBR 9320044), and the University of Virginia Bankard Fund. Data are archived at FTP address: fido.econlab.arizona.edu. We wish to thank Charles Plott and Shyam Sunder for useful comments on an earlier draft of this paper. The usual disclaimer applies.     

珠江特大桥吊箱围堰设计与施工

文章以广州南部快速路珠江特大桥主墩承台施工为背景,详细介绍了无封底钢吊箱围堰一次性整体吊装在大型承台施工中的应用。     

三峡三期工程帷幕灌浆施工与工艺管理

介绍了长江三峡三期工程坝基帷幕灌浆按照“自上而下分段、小口径钻孔，孔口封闭，孔内循环”的设计要求进行高压灌浆的施工方法，重点是几个典型工艺管理及其实施效果。     

江口拱坝坝基渗流场有限元法分析

运用固定网格结点虚流量法及排水子结构技术，对江口拱坝坝基的防渗与排水渗控制施、两岸山体边界条件、隔水岩层阻渗及岩体成层产状等因素在影响坝基渗流场特性中的具体作用进行了计算分析。结果表明，排水子结构技术在精细求解复杂坝基渗流场中具有明显的优势，它在理论和算法上严密，完全能仿真模拟各个排水孔的几何尺寸及排水降压的真实水力行为，不仅能明显地提高计算效率，还能使渗流场的精度大大提高。     

万安水利枢纽底孔坝段中隔墙流激振动响应分析

 研究了万安水利枢纽底孔坝段中隔墙在水流脉动壁压作用下的结构随机振动问题，进行了一种泄流工况下的隔墙结构流激振动响应统计量的理论计算，模拟计算了隔墙－水流－基础耦合系统固有频率对流激振动响应的影响，并对水流脉动壁压随机荷载作用下的结构动力可靠度进行了理论分析。