ORCID Profile
0000-0002-4508-694X
Current Organisation
University of Western Australia
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Publisher: Wiley
Date: 06-11-2017
DOI: 10.1111/CJAG.12158
Publisher: Canadian Science Publishing
Date: 12-2015
Abstract: We examine public opinion of planting genetically improved poplars on public lands in western Canada. Policy scenarios consider the use of three different breeding methods (traditional selective breeding, genomics-assisted breeding, and genetic modification), each with and without poplars being used for biofuels. We employ a choice experiment to provide alternative outcomes to policy scenarios and to investigate differences among characteristics of respondents. Overall, a majority of respondents voted in favour of policies that allowed improved poplars on public land if the fibre is used to generate biofuels. Adding biofuel production to a policy scenario increases the probability of acceptance by 17%–32%. In contrast, the various types of breeding technology do not matter as much regarding public acceptance. Responses differ among segments of the population, but these differences do not greatly influence choices. Attributes that increase the probability of acceptance are being a male, being from Alberta, and being from a population centre of 10 000–100 000 people (relative to centers that are 000 people). Attributes that decrease the probability of acceptance are age, being from British Columbia, and being from a population centre of 000 people (relative to centers that are 000 people). Despite these significant patterns of preferences, there is substantial uncertainty underlying the responses.
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 09-2023
Publisher: Informa UK Limited
Date: 16-02-2017
Publisher: Now Publishers
Date: 05-12-2017
DOI: 10.1561/102.00000074
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 09-2023
Publisher: IOP Publishing
Date: 18-03-2019
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 03-2018
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 08-06-2023
Abstract: Choice models are used by applied economists for many purposes, such as non‐market valuation or estimating willingness to pay for novel food and product attributes. Mixed‐logit models allow researchers to account for preference heterogeneity and complex decision‐making processes when modelling choices. In mixed‐logit models, parameters of monetary attributes such as prices typically are assumed to follow a negative lognormal random distribution to ensure that the marginal utility of a price increase is strictly negative. However, this practice can cause means and standard deviations of welfare estimates to ‘explode’ to unfeasibly large levels, as the model assumes there are some marginal utilities of cost approaching zero. This paper examines whether cost non‐attendance, which occurs when respondents ignore costs in stated‐preference studies, could be a cause of inflated welfare estimates when a lognormal cost parameter is used. A two‐class equality‐constrained latent‐class model is proposed, in which the cost parameter is fixed at zero for a cost non‐attender class and is specified as a random lognormal parameter for cost attenders. This proposed model produces mean welfare estimates that are 17 times lower than a mixed‐logit model with a lognormal cost parameter, and 10% lower than a model with a non‐random cost parameter. These results suggest that cost non‐attendance can result in inflated welfare estimates when employing a lognormal cost parameter, and that accounting for cost non‐attendance could be a simple, parsimonious solution to this problem.
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 15-04-2019
DOI: 10.1038/S41467-018-08053-5
Abstract: Genome-wide association studies (GWAS) have identified more than 170 breast cancer susceptibility loci. Here we hypothesize that some risk-associated variants might act in non-breast tissues, specifically adipose tissue and immune cells from blood and spleen. Using expression quantitative trait loci (eQTL) reported in these tissues, we identify 26 previously unreported, likely target genes of overall breast cancer risk variants, and 17 for estrogen receptor (ER)-negative breast cancer, several with a known immune function. We determine the directional effect of gene expression on disease risk measured based on single and multiple eQTL. In addition, using a gene-based test of association that considers eQTL from multiple tissues, we identify seven (and four) regions with variants associated with overall (and ER-negative) breast cancer risk, which were not reported in previous GWAS. Further investigation of the function of the implicated genes in breast and immune cells may provide insights into the etiology of breast cancer.
No related grants have been discovered for Curtis Rollins.