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Short‐term electricity prices are key economic input to model the optimal operation of grid‐connected microgrids. In competitive electricity markets, these prices are not known in advance, and need to be forecasted. Price forecasts, however, have uncertainty, and thus, their errors will impact economic gains. Three main approaches have been employed in the literature to mitigate the uncertainties associated with price forecasts, i.e. rolling horizon optimisation techniques, interval optimisation and scenario‐based methods. In this study, we investigate the economic values of using these approaches, as well as the combination of them, in the operation of microgrids. This is to inform microgrid operators on how to determine which approach should be adopted under different circumstances. Therefore, we first implement point, interval and scenario forecasting models for electricity market prices. The generated forecasts are then fed into a deterministic, robust and stochastic optimisation models for operation scheduling of a typical microgrid. The changes in total energy costs of the microgrid are then evaluated. The simulation results show that while the performance of different methods depends on the volatility of market prices, the model with point price forecasts and a rolling horizon operation scheduling either outperforms other methods or does equally well. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In genetic improvement programs, candidates for breeders are ranked by the profitability of their offspring, expressed as a weighted sum of the genetic gain from selection. In this paper, we estimate the economic values of a genetic improvement program for Australian farmed saltwater crocodiles. A bioeconomic profit function for a representative breeding pair is used to determine the optimal slaughter age following genetic improvement in each selection objective. The results indicate that estimated farm profitability increases by nearly $A111 for a 1-week reduction in juvenile slaughter age, $A78 for a 1 per cent increase in the proportion of first-grade skins produced, and $A33 for an increase in the number of viable hatchlings per clutch. The implications of the analysis for the Australian crocodile industry and the limitations of the research are explored. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To forecast the volatility of Chinese stock market, we use information from 28 international markets rather than relying on the Chinese market alone. A common factor, which we call the international volatility index, is constructed by the first principal component of all the 28 cross‐national stock market volatilities. We then add the international volatility index into the prevailing heterogeneous autoregressive model of realized volatility (HAR‐RV). The in‐sample estimation results show that the impact of this common index on future Chinese market volatility is statistically significant and positive. More importantly, the out‐of‐sample forecasting results suggest that our proposed model outperforms competing models including the HAR‐RV, kitchen sink model, and combination approaches. The results are similar when we use a wide range of robustness checks. Furthermore, the international volatility index also yields the highest economic value from an asset allocation perspective. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Biodiversity loss and climate change are often considered as intertwined issues. However, they do not receive equal attention. Even in the context of nature‐based climate solutions, which consider ecosystems to be crucial to mitigate and adapt to the impacts of climate change, the potential role of biodiversity has received little attention. Here this essay emphasizes biodiversity as the cause—not only the consequence—to help society and nature face challenges associated with the changing climate. Reconsidering and emphasizing the linkages between these twin environmental crises is urgently needed to make collective efforts for the environment truly effective. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Universities are accused of being left‐wing bastions, unwelcoming to conservative and right‐wing professors. However, we know little about the political orientation of professors in comparison to other professionals, which would be the right comparison group if we want to know whether universities are potentially hostile environments to conservatives. Examining culturally and economically oriented political orientations in Europe, it is demonstrated that professors are more liberal and left‐leaning than other professionals. However, there is no greater homogeneity of political orientations among the professoriate relative to other specific professions, suggesting that there is a diversity of opinions which is similar to what professionals would find in other occupations. One exception concerns attitudes towards immigration, on which professors have more liberal orientations and comparatively low residual variance around that more liberal mean. Importantly, the difference between professors and other professionals is not so clear within graduates from the social sciences, but emerges more clearly among graduates with a medical, STEM, economics or law degree. An important political cleavage exists between professionals and managers, a group of similar social standing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary: Economic values (EVs) of traits, accounting for environmental impacts and risk preferences of farmers, are required to design breeding goals that contribute to both economic and environmental sustainability. The objective of this study was to assess the effects of incorporating environmental costs and the risk preferences of farmers on the EVs of pig breeding goal traits. A breeding goal consisting of both sow efficiency and production traits was defined for a typical Brazilian farrow‐to‐finish pig farm with 1,500 productive sows. A mean‐variance utility function was employed for deriving the EVs at finishing pig level assuming fixed slaughter weight. The inclusion of risk and risk aversion reduces the economic weights of sow efficiency traits (17%) while increasing the importance of production traits (7%). For a risk‐neutral producer, inclusion of environmental cost reduces the economic importance of sow efficiency traits (3%) while increasing the importance of production traits (1%). Genetic changes of breeding goal traits by their genetic standard deviations reduce emissions of greenhouse gases, and excretions of nitrogen and phosphorus per finished pig by up to 6% while increasing farm profit. The estimated EVs could be used to improve selection criteria and thereby contribute to the sustainability of pig production systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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A bio-economic model including a computer program was developed where a large number of parameters can be modified to describe a great variety of production systems. Economic values for up to 27 traits can be calculated. Seasonal feeding is considered and protein requirement in addition to net energy may be taken into account when calculating feed requirement. Furthermore, the model allows for the evaluation of individual parts of the growth curve. The model was applied to the Czech Suffolk breed used in pure-breeding. An extensive pasture system with spring lambing and sale of surplus progeny for slaughter after weaning or after a finishing period was assumed. The economic values (in Euro cent per ewe, per year and per genetic standard deviation of the trait) were as follows: 9.9 for birth weight, −72.6 for mature weight, 142, 32.1 and 16.9 for growth rates till weaning, in rearing of breeding animals and in fattening, respectively, 19.9 and 101 for conception rate of female lambs and ewes, respectively, 690 for litter size per ewe lambing, 172 for productive lifetime of ewes, 402 and 503 for survival rate of lambs at lambing and till weaning, respectively, and 16.5 for fleece weight. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]